About I am the current President of the International Society of Christian Apologetics. I am an adjunct faculty member at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Capital Theological Seminary, Columbia Evangelical Seminary, and Hannibal LaGrange University. I also travel to teach at Nueva Providencia: Instituio Biblico Reformando in Medellin, Colombia. I am the author of several books including Defending Inerrancy: Affirming the Accuracy of Scripture for a New Generation and Hermeneutics as Epistemology: A Critical Assessment of Carl F. H. Henry’s Epistemological Approach to Hermeneutics. I have been recognized in Christianity Today and World Magazine for my authored and co-authored books. This is my personal website and blog. It is focused on a “Vision for Confessional Theology and Apologetics.” My conviction is that Jesus Christ is Lord, and for that reason, present-day evangelicals should be thoughtful and intentional to express and defend the gospel in the twenty-first century context. My primary focus is to write and address theology and apologetics, but also from time to time, I will address social, ethical, cultural, church, and practical issues. It is my belief that because Jesus Christ is Lord of all, we as God’s redeemed people, are called to engage each aspect of society with the mind, compassion, love, and grace of Christ for the furtherance of the gospel and the glory of God. My goal with this website is to purposefully and thoughtfully create an avenue to defend the gospel of Jesus Christ through apologetic and evangelistic ministry. My goal is to edify believers and strengthen the local church. If you are a person who is interested in seeing how confessional theology and apologetics applies to our present-day culture and church, this website and blog is for you. I plan to post throughout the week. The best and easiest way to make sure you do not miss any of my material is to subscribe to the website via email. My Biography I was born and raised in Salem, Iowa. I grew up in a small town where my mother worked hard in a local factory and my father operated a farm and ran a small business. I was not raised in a Christian home. By the time I was in middle school, I was on a path that was explicitly and openly opposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Shortly after finishing middle school I was invited to a church camp where I heard and responded to the gospel. Immediately upon returning home I was bombarded with numerous objections to Protestant Christianity from Roman Catholics, secularists, friends, and family. During that time, I learned how to “set Christ apart as Lord” and “defend the faith once for all given unto the saints.” Throughout my high school years, I was still required to defend the faith (even though I didn’t know I was doing apologetics) because I received numerous objections to Christianity as I tried to evangelize my lost friends. After high school, I left for Bible College and Seminary. This time in my life also presented a crossroads in my attempt to preach the gospel in our secular age. Two examples will suffice. First, while living in Chicago I was bombarded with objections from secularists, world religions, and cultists. Second, on a mission trip to New Orleans, I struck up a conversation with a Muslim man, who took my own Bible and attempted to demonstrate that Christianity was false. In short, I either needed to get answers or stop sharing my faith in Christ. Following these events, I began to read books by Francis Schaeffer, Norman Geisler, Ravi Zacharias, Carl F. H. Henry, Cornelius Van Til, Ronald Nash, John Frame, R. C. Sproul, and numerous other Christian apologists. I also continued to study theology and the original languages with the hope of becoming a pastor and expository preacher. Some of my favorite included men like Martyn Lloyd Jones, John MacArthur, Alistair Begg, and Mark Dever. These dual influences manufactured an apologist as pastor and pastor as apologist mentality in me. Throughout college and seminary, I spent most of my time preaching in the pulpits and engaging a wide range of people, both inside and outside the church, in apologetics and biblical theology. I soon realized modernity presented a unique battle for the heart, mind, and soul of Christianity; both inside and outside the local church. Formattable apologists, Carl F. H. Henry in particular, led me to see the need for engaging the “gods of this age” with the “God of the ages.” My doctoral studies primarily focused upon philosophy of religion, religious epistemology, and hermeneutics. I wrote my doctoral dissertation on Carl F. H. Henry titled: Hermeneutics as Epistemology: A Critical Assessment of Carl F. H. Henry’s Epistemological Approach to Hermeneutics. Beyond completing the Ph.D., I also completed a Th.M. in Greek and New Testament at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. I also completed an undergraduate and graduate degree at Southern Evangelical Seminary. I currently teach adjunctly as various seminaries. I teach theology, philosophy, apologetics, New Testament, hermeneutics, and Greek. I also speak in various churches and conferences throughout the country. My wife is one of the greatest joys of my life. Molly and I have been married for four years. I admire her for numerous reasons and believe she is one of God’s greatest gifts in my life. She is a graduate of NC State and the University of South Carolina. Molly currently works as a Speech-Language Pathologist in Wake Forest, NC. Best of all, in our free time we enjoy spending time with our two Labrador retrievers, Wrigley and Bailey. To Listen To My Testimony Follow This Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMgFbnEXFzM DISCLAIMER This is a personal blog. The opinions I express here do not necessarily represent those of my employer(s) or my church. The opinions expressed by my guests do not necessarily represent my own opinion.
Today there are several well-intentioned, though wildly off the course, Christians trying to find a way to “redeem” the use of secular categories for the sake of Christian theology. In the past we had a term for this—accommodation. Christians do recognize there are some truths that can be reconciled with the Christian faith. For example, … More What Hath the Synthetic A Priori Got To Do With It?
Dear Wormwood, I write to you again, my most dear and appreciated under worker. It seems that you have taken heed of my advice in our great new war upon those vile underlings of the Enemy. This battle we find ourselves in is nothing new, we parade on the feelings of man making them believe … More The Woke War
John Gerstner used to offer the Jonathan Edwards challenge to his students. The challenge before the class asked the students to read through Edwards’ 2 volume work throughout the course of one calendar year. How many finished this challenge? Who knows? However, no one can dispute that Gernster offered the challenge and the church is … More Jonathan Edwards: The Gerstner Lecture Series
There has always been an ensuing debate within the Reformed community pertaining to apologetic methodology. For academic purposes, I want to highlight an article by Paul Helm responding to Scott Oliphint’s book on Thomas Aquinas. One must view Helm and Oliphint as the two key interlocutors pertaining to the modern debate over Aquinas and Reformed … More Paul Helm: Who is afraid of Thomas Aquinas?
Inspiration without inerrancy is an empty term. Inerrancy without inspiration is unthinkable. The two are inseparably related. They may be distinguished but not separated. So it is with hermeneutics. We can easily distinguish between the inspiration and interpretation of the Bible, but we cannot separate them. Anyone can confess a high view of the nature … More Sproul: Inerrancy and Hermeneutics
Two cross currents from the twentieth century have affected evangelical apologetics: apologetic methodology and Carl F. H. Henry. Henry was considered the dean of American evangelicalism, who shaped the movement by providing a rational and propositional apologetic. Henry also engaged the issues in the midst of a larger question of apologetic methodology, primarily, between presuppositionalists … More Presuppositional or New Historiographical?
Recently, professor of theology at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Rhyne Putman published an article titled: Sola Scriptura and Christian Charity. Putman attempts to engage the recent debate in the SBC and broader evangelicalism over the use of Critical Race Theory (CRT). In particular, Putman attempts to address the passing of Resolution 9 at the … More A Friendly Response to Rhyne Putman’s: Sola Scriptura and Christian Charity
“I am put here for the defense of the gospel”—The Legacy of Dr. Norman L. Geisler The death of Dr. Norman L. Geisler is yet a reminder of what the noted Reformer Martin Luther saw when he wrote: “Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also; The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth … More “I am put here for the defense of the gospel”—The Legacy of Dr. Norman L. Geisler
On May 2nd, 2019 I was asked to give the presidential address before the International Society of Christian Apologetics. I gave a message titled: The Pastor as Apologist & The Apologist as Pastor. The goal of the message was to address an intrinsic problem facing the apologetics movement. Specifically, I wanted to deal straight-forwardly with the … More Bill Roach: The Pastor As Apologist
One of the most inspiring preacher’s in my life has been Erwin Lutzer. His humble beginning and the way God used Lutzer throughout the years has inspired me for over a decade. I have met Erwin on a few occasions and received a letter from him one time, nearly 10 years ago. That being said, … More Erwin Lutzer Testimony
