Wednesday, June 24, 2009

GARBC Conference

Just wanted to give a quick post and say hello from the GARBC (General Association of Regular Baptist Churches) National Conference at the First Baptist Church in Elyria, Ohio.

Elyria is located just East of Cleveland and is a beautiful part of the country. I got to fly out of Des Moines on Monday afternoon and after a brief layover in Chicago, I arrived in Cleveland with plenty of time to get a rental car and get to the conference before the evening service.

The speaker this year are:

Dr. Kevin Bauder in the evenings and Dr. Renald Showers in the mornings:

Kevin T. Bauder is president of Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Plymouth, Minn.

Before going to Central Seminary, Dr. Bauder was engaged in pastoral ministry and church planting. His prior teaching experience includes a professorship in ecclesiastical history at Denver Baptist Bible College, where he also served as dean of men.

A 1979 graduate of Faith Baptist Bible College, Bauder earned an MDiv and ThM from Denver Baptist Theological Seminary, a DMin from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and a PhD from Dallas Theological Seminary. He was the pastor of GARBC churches in Colorado and Iowa, a professor and dean of men at Denver Baptist Bible College, and a church planter in Sachse, Texas.

Dr. Bauder contributed essays to Pilgrims on the Sawdust Trail: Evangelical Ecumenism and the Quest for Christian Identity and Missions in a New Millennium: Change and Challenges in World Missions. He was coeditor of One Bible Only? and author of Evaluating the Da Vinci Phenomenon. His 2005 address to the American Association of Christian Colleges and Seminaries, A Fundamentalism Worth Saving,” has been credited with igniting a new defense of the ideals of fundamentalism.

Since February 2005 he has written In the Nick of Time, a weekly electronic newsletter addressing current issues within Christianity. He is a chaplain with the Civil Air Patrol, the auxiliary of the United States Air Force. Dr. Bauder’s academic interests include ecclesiological issues, Baptist distinctives, and the development of American evangelicalism and fundamentalism. He and his wife, Debbie, have two children.

Renald E. Showers is a popular speaker at college campuses, GARBC churches, and Bible conference audiences coast to coast. He represents the church ministries division of The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry.

Dr. Showers grew up in DuBois, Pa., and is married to the former Eleanor Eby. A 1956 Bible major graduate of Philadelphia Biblical University (then Philadelphia Bible Institute), Showers earned a BA in history from Wheaton College, a ThM in church history from Dallas Theological Seminary, and a ThD in theology from Grace Theological Seminary. He has served in the pastorate; as a member of the faculties of Lancaster Bible College, Moody Bible Institute, and Philadelphia College of Bible; and as a visiting lecturer at Word of Life Bible Institute, Calvary Bible College, and Baptist Bible Theological Seminary.

A recognized scholar of modern dispensational theology, Rennie Showers is the author of There Really Is a Difference, a well-regarded study of the major differences between covenant and dispensational theology and the various millennial views.

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