Every spring DBTS hosts a theological lecture on current issues in Christianity. Speakers include recognized theologians and pastors with a commitment to the absolute authority of Scripture. The William R. Rice Lecture Series is named in honor of the Seminary’s founder, first president and long-time pastor (1949-1989) of Inter-City Baptist Church in Allen Park, Michigan.
RLS Past Conference Resources
2024 Rice Lecture Series – Dr. Andrew Walker, “Keys, Carrots, and Sticks: Baptist Reflections on Religious Liberty in Modern America”
2023 Rice Lecture Series – Dr. Kevin McFadden, “Faith in Christ or Faithfulness of Christ? The Pistis Christou Debate and Pauline Theology”
2022 Rice Lecture Series – Dr. Joel Beeke, “Pastoral Conflict and Criticism”
2020 Rice Lecture Series – Dr. Michael Haykin, “Historic Baptist Positions on Communion”
2019 Rice Lecture Series – Dr. Abner Chou, “Reclaiming Christ in the Old Testament”
2018 Rice Lecture Series – Dr. Roy Beacham, “The Biblical Covenants”
2017 Rice Lecture Series – Dr. Jeremy Pierre, “The Dynamic Heart in Daily Life”
2016 Rice Lecture Series – Dr. Kyle Dunham, “Holy War: Past, Present, & Future Implications”
2015 Rice Lecture Series – Dr. Deepak Reju, “Preventing and Responding to Child Abuse at Church”
2014 Rice Lecture Series – Pastor Peter Hubbard, “The Gospel, the Homosexual and the Church”
2013 Rice Lecture Series – Professor Brent Belford, “Paul’s Pastoral Use of the Scriptures in 1 Corinthians”
2012 Rice Lecture Series – Dr. Bryant Wood, “Archaeology and the Conquest: New Evidence on an Old Problem”
2011 Rice Lecture Series – Dr. Terry Mortenson, “Millions of Years and the Compromise of the Theologians”
2010 Rice Lecture Series – Dr. Michael Vlach, “Replacement Theology: Has the Church Superseded Israel as the People of God?”
2009 Rice Lecture Series – Dr. Mark Sidwell, “The Presbyterians: History, Controversies, and Trends”
2008 Rice Lecture Series – Dr. Andrew Naselli, “Keswick Theology: A Survey and Analysis of the Doctrine of Sanctification in the Early Keswick Movement”
2007 Rice Lecture Series – Dr. John Whitcomb, “Recent Trends in Creationism”
2006 Rice Lecture Series – Dr. Rodney Decker, “Is it Better to Bury or to Burn? A Biblical Perspective on Cremation and Christianity in Western Culture”
2005 Rice Lecture Series – Dr. John Makujina, “The Contemporary Christian Music Debate”
2024 William R. Rice Lecture Series
Date: Friday, March 22, 2024
Speaker: Dr. Andrew Walker
Theme: Keys, Carrots, and Sticks: Baptist Reflections on Religious Liberty in Modern America
Lectures:
Lecture #1: The Freedom of Our Gospel is Grounded in the Power of Our Gospel – MP3 – Video
Lecture #2: Exploring the Theological Foundations of Religious Liberty – MP3 – Video
Lecture #3: Something is Rotten in Finland: On the Ethical Perils of Church-State Establishment – MP3 – Video
About Our Speaker:
Andrew Walker is an Associate Professor of Christian Ethics at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Fellow with The Ethics and Public Policy Center.
2023 William R. Rice Lecture Series
Date: Friday, March 17, 2023
Speaker: Dr. Kevin McFadden
Theme: “Faith in Christ or Faithfulness of Christ? The Pistis Christou Debate and Pauline Theology”
Lectures:
Lecture #1: The Importance of Theology in the Pistis Christou Debate – MP3 – Video
Lecture #2: Paul’s Emphasis on Christ-Oriented Faith in his Letters – MP3 – Video
Lecture #3: “By Faith of Christ” as a Pauline Idiom for Christ-Oriented Faith – MP3 – Video
About Our Speaker:
Kevin McFadden teaches New Testament courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Before coming to Cairn he studied New Testament Interpretation at Southern Seminary and taught for three years in the Christian Studies department at Louisiana College. He is originally from Michigan.
One of his most formative experiences was a mission trip through Inter-City Baptist Church to Tanzania where he saw the sufficiency of Scripture in action as God used his word to build up his people. Another was a pastoral internship at Capitol Hill Baptist Church where he understood more clearly that the gospel teaches us that people are saved by faith in Jesus Christ and not by what we do.
His main role at Cairn is teaching students how to read Greek in order to better understand and interpret the New Testament. His thoughts about the importance of learning the original languages of the Bible can be read here. He and his wife, Colleen, are members at Trinity Community Church in Abington, PA.
2022 William R. Rice Lecture Series
Date: Friday, March 18, 2022
Speaker: Dr. Joel Beeke
Theme: “Pastoral Conflicts and Criticism”
Lectures:
Lecture #1: Learning from OT Examples – MP3 – Video
Lecture #2: Learning from Christ – MP3 – Video
Lecture #3: Learning from Ten Things to Consider – MP3 – Video
About Our Speaker:
He has written and co-authored over one hundred books (most recently, Reformed Systematic Theology, Vol. 3: Spirit and Salvation), edited another one hundred books, and contributed 2,500 articles to Reformed books, journals, periodicals, and encyclopedias.
His Ph.D. is in Reformation and Post-Reformation theology from Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia). He is frequently called upon to lecture at seminaries and to speak at Reformed conferences around the world. He and his wife Mary have been blessed with three children and seven grandchildren.
2020 William R. Rice Lecture Series
Date: Friday, March 20, 2020
Speaker: Dr. Michael Haykin
Theme: “Historic Baptist Positions on Communion”
Lectures:
Lecture 1: “Perspectives from the Puritan Era” – PDF
Lecture 2: “Practice in the Long Eighteenth Century” – PDF
Lecture 3: “Controversies: Debate about the Table” – PDF
About Our Speaker:
Dr. Haykin currently serves as the Professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
He is the author of a number of books, including The Spirit of God: The Exegesis of 1 and 2 Corinthians in the Pneumatomachian Controversy of the Fourth Century (E. J. Brill, 1994); One heart and one soul: John Sutcliff of Olney, his friends, and his times (Evangelical Press, 1994); Kiffin, Knollys and Keach: Rediscovering Our English Baptist Heritage (Reformation Today Trust, 1996); ‘At the Pure Fountain of Thy Word’: Andrew Fuller as an Apologist (Paternoster Press, 2004); Jonathan Edwards: The Holy Spirit in Revival (Evangelical Press, 2005); The God who draws near: An introduction to biblical spirituality (Evangelical Press, 2007); The Christian Lover: The Sweetness of Love and Marriage in the Letters of Believers (Reformation Trust, 2009); and Rediscovering the Church Fathers: Who They Were and How They Shaped the Church (Crossway, 2011).
He and his wife, Alison, have two grown children, Victoria and Nigel
2019 William R. Rice Lecture Series
Date: Friday, March 22, 2019
Speaker: Dr. Abner Chou
Theme: “Reclaiming Christ in the Old Testament”
Lectures:
Lecture 1: “Repairing Christ in the OT” – MP3 – Video
Lecture 2: “Recovering Christ in the OT” – MP3 – Video
Lecture 3: “Reclaiming Christ in the OT” – MP3 – Video
Q&A – MP3
About Our Speaker:
Dr. Chou currently serves as the John F. MacArthur Endowed Fellow at The Master’s University and Seminary.
He is the author of The Hermeneutics of the Biblical Writers (Kregel, 2018) and I Saw the Lord: A Biblical Theology of Vision (Wipf and Stock, 2014) amongst other books, essays, and journal articles.
His areas of interest include the biblical languages, biblical theology, and hermeneutics. Dr. Chou serves at Arcadia Bible Church, and is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society and Society of Biblical Literature. He and his wife, Johanna, have four children: Nehemiah, Naomi, Meital, and Hannah.
2018 William R. Rice Lecture Series
Date: Friday, March 16, 2018
Speaker: Dr. Roy Beacham
Theme: “The Biblical Covenants: Light from the Past, Hope for the Future” – PDF
Lectures:
Lecture 1: Covenants in Antiquity – MP3 – Video
Lecture 2: Covenants in Israel – MP3 – Video
Lecture 3: The New Covenant – MP3 – Video
About Our Speaker:
Dr. Beacham earned his MDiv and ThM degrees from Central Seminary in Minneapolis, MN, and earned his Doctor of Theology degree from Grace Theological Seminary. He currently serves as the Chairman of the OT Department at Central Baptist Theological Seminary.
He has written articles for the Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal, the Dictionary of Premillennial Theology, the Journal of Ministry and Theology, and the compendium Missions in a New Millennium. Along with other members of the seminary faculty, he co-edited and co-authored the book One Bible Only? and also contributed to the seminary’s devotional anthology entitled “Heart, Soul, Might.” He was a major interlocutor for the book Dispensational Understanding of the New Covenant, published by Regular Baptist Press, (2012).
Dr. Beacham and his wife Janet (Jansma) reside in Plymouth, Minnesota. They have three adult children, Amy, Sarah, and Paul, and five grandchildren.
2017 William R. Rice Lecture Series
Date: Friday, March 24, 2017
Speaker: Dr. Jeremy Pierre
Theme: “The Dynamic Heart in Daily Life”
Lectures:
Lecture 1: Introducing the Dynamic Heart – MP3 – Video
Lecture 2: Dynamic Ruin, Dynamic Restoration – MP3 – Video
Lecture 3: Context of the Dynamic Heart and Q&A – MP3 – Video
About Our Speaker:
Dr. Pierre is the author of The Dynamic Heart in Daily Life: Connecting Christ to Human Experience (New Growth Press, 2016) and co-author of The Pastor and Counseling (Crossway, 2015). He has contributed to various books, including Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling and Scripture and Counseling. His writing has also been featured in Tabletalk Magazine, Baptist Press, and the Gospel Coalition. He speaks at various engagements in the U.S. and internationally.
Dr. Pierre serves on the board of directors for the Biblical Counseling Coalition and is a certified member of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors. He is also a member of the Evangelical Theological Society.
Dr. Pierre currently serves as a pastor at Clifton Baptist Church, where he has served since 2002. He and his wife Sarah raise their five children in Louisville, Kentucky.
Dr. Pierre graduated from Cedarville University in 2001 with a B.A. in English and in history. He then attended Cleveland State University to earn an M.A. in literature. He then continued his education in theology and biblical counseling at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, earning an M.Div. and Ph.D.
2016 William R. Rice Lecture Series
Date: Friday, March 18, 2016
Speaker: Dr. Kyle Dunham
Theme: “Holy War: Past, Present, & Future Implications” – PDF
Lectures:
Lecture 1: The Lord is a Man of War: Holy War in the Old Testament – MP3 – Video
Lecture 2: The Cross and the Crescent: Genocide, Jihad and the Christian – MP3 – Video
Lecture 3: The Once and Future Holy War: Eschatological Implications for Israel – MP3 – Video
About Our Speaker:
A graduate of Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary and currently Associate Professor of Old Testament at Virginia Beach Theological Seminary, Dr. Dunham has distinguished himself as an outstanding Old Testament Scholar. His areas of expertise include the kingdom of God, ancient Near Eastern theodicy, the book of Job, and Israelite wisdom literature. Dr. Dunham and his wife Judith have two daughters. He is a member os the Evangelical Theological Society and the Society of Biblical Literature.
2015 William R. Rice Lecture Series
Date: Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Speaker: Dr. Deepak Reju
Theme: “Preventing and Responding to Child Abuse at Church” – PDF
Lectures:
Lecture 1: Understanding the Problem of Child Abuse – MP3
Lecture 2: How Do We Prevent Child Abuse? – MP3
Lecture 3: Responding to Child Abuse and Abusers – MP3
About Our Speaker:
Raised in New Jersey, Deepak Reju serves as an associate pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC. His pastoral responsibilities include oversight of the biblical counseling and family ministries at CHBC. A George Washington University graduate, he also holds the M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Deepak and his wife, Sarah, have five children, Zachariah, Lydia, Eden, Noelle, and Abraham.
2014 William R. Rice Lecture Series
Date: Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Speaker: Pastor Peter Hubbard
Theme: “The Gospel, the Homosexual and the Church” – PDF
Lectures:
Lecture 1: The Bible: A Framework for Understanding Same-Sex Attraction – MP3
Lecture 2: The Gospel: A Message of Hope for OSA and SSA Strugglers – MP3
Lecture 3: The Church: A Place Full of Grace and Truth – MP3
About Our Speaker:
Pastor Peter Hubbard is the teaching pastor at North Hills Community Church in Taylors, SC, where he has served since 1992. He is also the author of Love Into Light: The Gospel, the Homosexual and the Church, published in 2013 by Ambassador
International. He has two Masters degrees and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry degree in Pastoral Counseling at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. He primarily preaches and teaches, but is also involved in counseling and other
facets of leadership. Peter and his wife, Karen, have been married for twenty-five years and have four children.
2013 William R. Rice Lecture Series
Date: Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Speaker: Professor Brent Belford, Director of Graduate Studies, Northland International University
Theme: “Paul’s Pastoral Use of the Scriptures in 1 Corinthians” – PDF
Lectures:
Lecture 1: An Analysis of the Place of Scripture within Paul’s Argument in 1 Corinthians – MP3
Lecture 2: Looking Closer at Select Quotations of the Scriptures within 1 Corinthians: Quotations from the Torah – MP3
Lecture 3: Looking Closer at Select Quotations of the Scriptures within 1 Corinthians: Quotations from the Writings and Prophets – MP3
About Our Speaker:
Brent Belford is the director of the Graduate School and is a Bible instructor at Northland International University. Before coming to Northland, he served as a youth pastor at Cross Lanes Bible Church in Cross Lanes, West Virginia. He also helped to plant Norway Baptist Church (Norway, Michigan) and currently serves as an assistant pastor of that congregation. He desires to communicate the Word of God in a fresh and exciting way to the people of God.
Brent is married and has five children.
Brent Belford has completed the following academic studies in preparation for his current ministry: Ph.D. (IP), Ridley College (Melbourne, Australia); D.Min. (ABD), Northland International University; M.Div., Faith Baptist Theological Seminary; M.A., Northland International University; B.A., Northland International University; with additional studies at Central Baptist Theological Seminary (Plymouth, MN).
2012 William R. Rice Lecture Series
Date: Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Speaker: Dr. Bryant G. Wood
Theme: “Archaeology and the Conquest: New Evidence on an Old Problem”
Lectures:
Lecture 1: Background and Chronology of the Exodus and Conquest – MP3
Lecture 2: Digging Up the Truth at Jericho – MP3
Lecture 3: The Discovery of Joshua’s Ai – MP3
Supplemental Handout – PDF
About Our Speaker:
Bryant G. Wood holds a Ph.D. degree in Syro-Palestinian archaeology from the University of Toronto. He is the Director of Research at Associates for Biblical Research in Akron, PA. Dr. Wood also serves as the editor of ABR’s quarterly publication Bible and Spade. He is in high demand as an adjunct professor. His archaeological field work includes extensive excavations in Israel and Egypt over more than thirty years. He is the author of several books and scores of journal articles. For additional biographical and bibliographical information, click here.
Web Links:
Associates for Biblical Archaeology http://www.biblearchaeology.org/
Bible and Spade http://www.biblearchaeology.org/publications/bibleandspade.aspx
2011 William R. Rice Lecture Series
Date: Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Speaker: Dr. Terry Mortenson
Theme: “Millions of Years and the Compromise of the Theologians”
Lectures:
Audio recordings (MP3) for each of the lectures, along with video presentation files (PDF and PPT), are available for free download.
Millions of Years and the Compromise of the Theologians, part 1 – PDF (11MB) PPT (25MB) MP3
Millions of Years and the Compromise of the Theologians, part 2 – PDF (10MB) PPT (19MB) MP3
Millions of Years and the Compromise of the Theologians, part 3 – PDF (20MB) PPT (24MB) MP3
Ape-men: The Grand Illusion – PDF (9MB) PPT (14MB) MP3
About Our Speaker:
Like most people, Dr. Mortenson grew up in an education system that taught evolution as fact. During his first year at the University of Minnesota (where he majored in math) and shortly after becoming a Christian, he began to see the fallacy of the idea of millions of years of evolution.
With a PhD in the history of geology from the Coventry University in England and an M.Div. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago, Dr. Mortenson has lectured on the creation-evolution controversy in 19 countries since the late 1970s.
He has spoken in homes, churches, schools, secular universities, Bible colleges, and seminaries. Several of his popular lectures have been produced as DVDs and as TV programs. He has also participated in seven formal debates with PhD evolutionary scientists in secular venues in four countries.
He is the author of numerous magazine and journal articles and several book chapters. The revised version of his PhD thesis was published as The Great Turning Point: the Church’s Catastrophic Mistake on Geology—Before Darwin (Master Books, 2004). With a deep burden for seminary professors and students, he co-edited and contributed two chapters to the scholarly 14-author book, Coming to Grips with Genesis: Biblical Authority and the Age of the Earth (Master Books, 2008).
He is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society, has presented six creation-related papers at ETS annual meetings, and spear-headed the formation of—and co-chairs the steering committee for—the “Creation Consultation” paper sessions at the ETS annual meeting beginning in 2008. He has also helped to organize and lead three heavily scholarship-focused, by-invitation-only, 7-day rafts trips down the Colorado River through Grand Canyon for seminary and Christian university professors and other key Christian leaders from America and several other countries.
He and his wife, Margie, have been happily married since 1976 and have eight children and five grandchildren.
2010 William R. Rice Lecture Series
Date: Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Speaker: Dr. Michael Vlach
Theme: “Replacement Theology: Has the Church Superseded Israel as the People of God?” – notes
Lectures:
Introduction to Replacement Theology – mp3
A Critique of the Arguments of Replacement Theology – mp3
The Case for the Restoration of Israel – mp3
About Our Speaker:
Dr. Michael Vlach serves as Assistant Professor of Theology at The Master’s Seminary in Sun Valley, CA. Before joining The Master’s Seminary faculty in 2006, Dr. Vlach functioned as a Professor of Humanities at Southeast Community College in Lincoln, Nebraska. He also taught Bible, Theology, and Hermeneutics for Grace University in Omaha, Nebraska. While working on his doctorate, Dr. Vlach was the Senior Researcher/Writer at Church Initiative, a church-equipping ministry in Wake Forest, North Carolina.
An ordained minister, Dr. Vlach served as an assistant pastor in Lincoln, Nebraska for five years where he headed up a church-based Bible training institute. Michael speaks regularly at churches and conferences and has appeared on several national radio broadcasts. He has also published numerous articles in Christian magazines and scholarly journals.
Dr. Vlach began his tenure at TMS in 2006. His educational training includes these degrees: B.S., University of Nebraska-Lincoln; M.Div., The Master’s Seminary; and Ph.D., Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Books and Monographs
The Church as a Replacement of Israel: An Analysis of Supersessionism. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2009.
Dispensationalism: Essential Beliefs and Common Myths. Los Angeles: Theological Studies Press, 2008.
Philosophy 101: The “Big Idea” for the 101 Most Important People and Concepts in Philosophy. Los Angeles: Theological Studies Press, 2007.
Journal Articles
“Rejection Then Hope: The Church’s Doctrine of Israel in the Patristic Era”, TMSJ. 19:1 (2008): 51-70.
“New Covenant Theology and Covenantalism”, TMSJ. 18:2 (2007): 201-19.
“Americans and the Bible”, www.pastors.com (2002).
“Has the Church Replaced Israel in God’s Plan?” The Conservative Theological Journal. 4:11 (2002): 6-32.
2009 William R. Rice Lecture Series
Date: Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Speaker: Dr. Mark Sidwell
Theme: “The Presbyterians: History, Controversies, and Trends” – notes
Lectures:
Four primary areas were addressed in the three lecture sessions, providing some overlap in the recordings: (1) Fundamentals of Presbyterianism; (2) Approaching American Presbyterianism; (3) Presbyterianism in the 20th Century; (4) Contemporary Presbyterian Groups and Controversies.
Session 1 – mp3
Session 2 – mp3
Session 3 (including Q & A) – mp3
About Our Speaker:
Dr. Mark Sidwell is Professor of History at Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC, and has served in that capacity since 2001. Prior to that, he served as Director of the Fundamentalism File (1998-2005) at the BJU Library. Mark also held a variety of editorial and managerial posts at BJU Press (1984-1998), and served as the Book Review Editor (1995-2005) for Biblical Viewpoint, the journal of the BJU School of Religion.
Mark earned a Ph.D. in church history from Bob Jones University (1988). He also received his B.A. (1980) and M.A. (1982) degrees from BJU.
In addition to his classroom duties, Dr. Sidwell is also a frequent conference speaker and a published author.
Books
The Dividing Line: Understanding and Applying Biblical Separation
Faith of Our Fathers: Scenes from Church History
Faith of Our Fathers: Scenes from American Church History
For God and His People: Ulrich Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation
Free Indeed: Heroes of Black Christian History
The Triumph of Truth: A Life of Martin Luther
United States History for Christian Schools
World Studies for Christian Schools
2008 William R. Rice Lecture Series
Date: Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Speaker: Dr. Andrew Naselli
Theme: “Keswick Theology: A Survey and Analysis of the Doctrine of Sanctification in the Early Keswick Movement” – presentation – notes
Lectures:
A Historical and Theological Survey of the Early Keswick Movement – mp3
A Theological Analysis of the Early Keswick Movement – Part 1 – mp3
A Theological Analysis of the Early Keswick Movement – Part 2 (with Q & A) – mp3
About Our Speaker:
Dr. Andrew David Naselli is working on a Ph.D. in Theological Studies with a concentration in New Testament Exegesis and Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, where he serves as research assistant to Dr. D. A. Carson, teaching assistant to Dr. Robert Yarbrough, part-time Greek faculty, and Administrator of Themelios.
Andy earned a Ph.D. in theology from Bob Jones University (2006), an M.A. in Bible from Bob Jones University (2003), and a B.A. in Bible from Baptist College of Ministry (2002). His 2006 dissertation is entitled, “Keswick Theology: A Historical and Theological Survey and Analysis of the Doctrine of Sanctification in the Early Keswick Movement, 1875-1920,” and its thesis is that Keswick theology’s view of sanctification is theologically erroneous. He and his wife, Jenni, live in Deerfield, IL and maintain AndyNaselli.com.
2007 William R. Rice Lecture Series
Date: Wednesday, March 15, 2007
Speaker: Dr. John Whitcomb
Theme: “Recent Trends in Creationism”
Lectures:
The Creation of the World – mp3
The Origin of Man – mp3
Dinosaurs and Men – mp3
About Our Speaker:
Dr. John C. Whitcomb is the president of Whitcomb Ministries, Inc. He is also the founder and a professor of Christian Workman Schools of Theology. Dr. Whitcomb has taught Old Testament and theology for more than 50 years, and is widely recognized as a leading biblical scholar. Dr. Whitcomb taught at Grace Theological Seminary in Winona Lake, Indiana, from 1951-1990, and gained recognition for his work on The Genesis Flood, co-authored with the late Dr. Henry Morris. This book has been credited as one of the major catalysts for the modern biblical creationism movement. Dr. Whitcomb’s main teaching emphases have included biblical creationism, Old Testament exposition, dispensational theology, premillennial eschatology, and presuppositional apologetics.
The Whitcombs live in Indianapolis, Indiana, and enjoy spending time with their six children and seventeen grandchildren. They maintain an active schedule of speaking engagements in churches, Bible colleges, and seminaries. Schedule and further information are available on www.whitcombministries.org.
2006 William R. Rice Lecture Series
Date: Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Speaker: Dr. Rodney Decker
Theme: “Is It Better to Bury or to Burn? A Biblical Perspective on Cremation and Christianity in Western Culture” – pdf
Lectures:
Biblical Data Related to Cremation – mp3
Theological and Historical Issues in Cremation – mp3
Cultural Issues Related to Cremation, and Q&A – mp3
About Our Speaker:
Born and reared in Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania, Dr. Decker was saved at the age of five. He was baptized at, and later ordained by, the Osterhout Bible Church in Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania.
Dr. Decker attended Baptist Bible College and Seminary in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, receiving his bachelor’s degree in 1974 and his Master of Divinity degree in 1978. After several years of ministry as an assistant pastor at Fellowship Baptist Church (Philadelphia) and at Calvary Baptist Church (Detroit), he completed his Master of Theology degree at Detroit Baptist Seminary.
After completing his graduate studies, Dr. Decker pastored The Country Church in Caro, Michigan for eight years. He then taught on the faculty of Calvary Bible College and Theological
Seminary from 1990 to 1996 as chairman of the Department of Biblical Languages, and professor of Greek and theology. During the 1994–95 academic year he was granted a sabbatical to complete residence work for his Doctor of Theology degree in New Testament. Upon completion of dissertation research, he was awarded the doctoral degree by Central Baptist Seminary in Minneapolis in 1998. In 1996 he returned to Baptist Bible Seminary as associate professor of New Testament and Greek where he teaches courses in both the Master of Divinity and the Doctor of Philosophy programs.
Dr. Decker has published articles in Bibliotheca Sacra, Grace Theological Journal, Trinity Journal, Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal, and in the Journal of Ministry and Theology. He has written three books, including a technical study of the Greek verb in Mark’s gospel, and two shorter ones on dispensational theology and a history of the English Bible. Two additional books are in preparation, one a reader in Koine Greek, the other a grammatical commentary/handbook on the Gospel of Mark. He is also the creator of an extensive Internet web site, New Testament Resources. He is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society.
When not involved in a writing project, he enjoys various home-improvement projects, font design, database programming, and reading. He and Linda, his wife of 30+ years, have three grown children and several grandchildren. The Deckers were involved for several years in the ministry of a church plant project in the Mayfield/Jermyn/Carbondale, Pennsylvania area (North Valley Baptist Church) sponsored by First Baptist Church, Marilla, New York in cooperation with BBS’s Project Jerusalem. They are presently members of the Northmoreland Baptist Church in Centermoreland, Pennsylvania.
2005 William R. Rice Lecture Series
Date: Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Speaker: Dr. John Makujina
Theme: “The Contemporary Christian Music Debate”
Lectures:
Theological Foundations for Music and Worship – mp3
Historical and Philosophical Foundation of CCM – mp3
Impact of CCM on Today’s Churches – mp3
About Our Speaker:
The guest lecturer was Dr. John Makujina. He holds advanced degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Westminster Theological Seminary. Dr. Makujina has lectured extensively in biblical languages and Old Testament and has published articles in numerous scholarly journals. He is also the author of Measuring the Music: Another Look at the Contemporary Christian Music Debate.
Dr. Makujina’s lectures addressed the necessity of a strong theological foundation in order to adequately address the issue of musical choices for individual believers and the corporate worship of the church. Special emphasis was placed on examining the historical and philosophical foundation of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) and its impact upon the church today. He also held an open Q&A forum for all the students and the area pastors and alumni who were visiting.