2011 Speakers

• John M. Hodges

  John M. Hodges is a conductor, composer, professor, and author. He has been conducting orchestras and choruses since completing graduate studies in music at Indiana University in 1983. He lectures in the U.S. and in Europe about aesthetics, education, and music, and he contributes articles to various arts publications. He founded and directs the Center for Western Studies, a college tutorial program that teaches a Christian worldview through the great books; and he helped found and lectures at Westminster Academy, a classical Christian school in Memphis. John is married to Day, his wife of 25 years.

  
  
• Mark R. Rushdoony

  Mark R. Rushdoony is president of Chalcedon Foundation and of Ross House Books. He is also editor-in-chief of Faith for All of Life (formerly Chalcedon Report) and Chalcedon's other publications. He is also a well-known speaker and pastor. You can listen to his sermons at SermonAudio.com.

  
  
  
• Brian M. Abshire

  After six years of military service, "Dr. B" graduated from Bethel College (Magna Cum Laude) in two years, with a double major in Psychology and Biblical Studies.

  He attended Bethel, Talbot, International and Covenant Seminaries, earning an MA (Summa Cum Laude - emphasis in Apologetics and Contemporary Culture) and a Masters of Theology (Magna Cum Laude thesis “The Use of Evidence in Presuppositional Apologetics”).

  His Ph.D. is from the International Institute for Advanced Studies, Greenwich University where he studied the Sociological Effects of New England Puritanism on the Development of American Cultural Values.

  "Dr. B" has served as a Biblical counselor, lecturer in theology, youth, singles, young married and senior pastor. He has addressed the members of the parliaments of South Africa, Zambia and Australia on the practical application of Biblical principles to social issues.

  He is currently the Teaching Elder at Highlands Reformed Church, (Hanover Presbytery, Reformed Presbyterian Church). Along with his pastoral duties, “Dr. B” is also the director for the International Institute for Christian Culture, has served as an adjunct instructor in Religious Studies at Park University and is a visiting Professor of Comparative Religion at Whitefield College.

  Dr. B’s greatest accomplishment was convincing a beautiful, godly and gracious woman to marry him thirty years ago who gave him six wonderful children who love the Reformed faith and seek the glory of God.

  
  
• Gary DeMar

  Gary DeMar grew up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is a graduate of Western Michigan University (1973) and Reformed Theological Seminary (1979). He has lived in Marietta, Georgia, since 1979. Gary is president of American Vision, a Christian educational and communications organization whose purpose is to help Christians in their development of a comprehensive biblical worldview.

  Gary is the author of more than twenty books covering a full range of topics: The three-volume God and Government series (1982–1986), Ruler of the Nations (1987, 2002), The Reduction of Christianity (1988), Surviving College Successfully (1988), Something Greater Is Here (1988), “You’ve Heard It Said” (1991), America’s Christian History: The Untold Story (1997), War of the Worldviews (1994), Last Days Madness (4th ed., 1999), Is Jesus Coming Soon? (1999, 2006), Thinking Straight in a Crooked World (2001), End Times Fiction: A Biblical Consideration of the Left Behind Theology (Thomas Nelson, 2001), Liberty at Risk: Exposing the Politics of Plunder (2003), America’s Christian Heritage (Broadman & Holman, 2003), Myths, Lies, and Half-Truths: How Misreading the Bible Neutralizes Christians (2004), Zechariah 12 and the “Esther Connection” (2005), Islam and Russia in Prophecy (2005), The Christian Foundation of America (2005), Whoever Controls the Schools Rules the World (2007), Memory Mechanics (2008), Why the End of the World is NOT in Your Future (2008), and Why it Might be OK to Eat Your Neighbor (forthcoming). He is also the general editor and co-author of A New World in View (1996), Building a City on a Hill (2005), On the Road to Independence (2005), the first three volumes in the To Pledge Allegiance American history textbook series, and co-author with Francis X. Gumerlock of The Early Church and the End of the World (2006).

  Gary has been interviewed by Time magazine, CNN, MSNBC, FOX, the BBC, and Sean Hannity. He has done numerous radio and television interviews, including the “Bible Answer Man,” hosted by Hank Hanegraaff and “Today’s Issues” with Tim Wildmon and Marvin Sanders. Newspaper interviews with Gary have appeared in the Washington Times, Toledo (Ohio) Blade, the Sacramento Bee, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Marietta Daily Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Chicago Tribune.

  Gary also hosts a weekly radio show heard on 22 stations and Sirius radio. For information about the work of American Vision and a sample copy of Biblical Worldview magazine write to American Vision, 3150-A Florence Rd., Suite 2, Powder Springs, Georgia 30127 or call 1–800–628–9460. Gary can be contacted at GaryDeMar@AmericanVision.org. American Vision’s website is www.americanvision.org

  
  
• Kevin Swanson

  Homeschooled himself in the 1960's and 70's, Kevin Swanson and his wife, Brenda, are now homeschooling their five children. Since graduating from his homeschool and then serving as student body president of a large west coast university, he has gone on to other leadership positions in corporate management, church, and other non-profits. Kevin has 35 years of experience in the homeschooling movement and serves as the Director of Generations with Vision – a ministry he founded to strengthen homeschool families around the country. As a father who wants to leave a godly heritage for his own five children, Kevin’s passion is to strengthen and encourage the homeschooling movement all over the world, and to cast a vision for generations to come. For the last 6 years Kevin has hosted a daily radio program – Generations Radio – the world’s largest homeschooling and Biblical worldview radio program that reaches families across the US and in over 80 countries.

  Kevin also served as the Executive Director of Christian Home Educators of Colorado from 1998-2009, and still works actively with CHEC in his work with Generations with Vision. He has also authored several popular books for homeschoolers, including Upgrade-10 Secrets to the Best Education for Your Child, Second Mayflower, the Family Bible Study Guide Series, Christian Classics Study Guide, and others. Serving as a passionate supporter of home education, he has been interviewed on hundreds of media outlets, including Dr. James’ Dobson’s Focus on the Family and the Fox News Network.

  Kevin Swanson may be contacted through his website at www.GenerationsWithVision.com or via email at kevin@generationswithvision.com.

  
  

2010 Speakers

• John M. Hodges is a conductor, composer, professor, and author. He has been conducting orchestras and choruses since completing graduate studies in music at Indiana University in 1983. He lectures in the U.S. and in Europe about aesthetics, education, and music, and he contributes articles to various arts publications. He founded and directs the Center for Western Studies, a college tutorial program that teaches a Christian worldview through the great books; and he helped found and lectures at Westminster Academy, a classical Christian school in Memphis. John is married to Day, his wife of 25 years.

   

• Joel McDurmon, M, Div., is the director of research for American Vision, Inc., a Christian-worldview publishing company. He is the author of God Versus Socialism: A Biblical Critique of the New Social Gospel, and four works about apologetics: Manifested in the Flesh; The Return of the Village Atheist; Zeitgeist: The Movie Exposed, and Biblical Logic: In Theory and Practice. He serves as a speaker for American Vision and is a regular contributor to their Web site (www.americanvision.org). Joel and his wife and two sons live in Dallas, Georgia.

   

• James D. Nickel, B.A. (Mathematics), B.Th., B.Miss., M.A. (Education), taught high-school mathematics in Hawaii and Australia and has nearly 30 years of experience in Information Technology. In the 1970s he designed test software for the F14-A Tomcat and the Tomahawk cruise missile. He teaches mathematics for The Potter's School (www.pottersschool.org). He is the author of Mathematics: Is God Silent? (Ross House Books, 2001), and is writing three mathematics textbooks. (For further details, see www.biblicalchristianworldview.net.) James and his wife have three grown children.

   

• Mark R. Rushdoony is president of Chalcedon Foundation and of Ross House Books. He is also editor-in-chief of Faith for All of Life (formerly Chalcedon Report) and Chalcedon's other publications. He is also a well-known speaker and pastor.

   

• Dr. Roger Schultz is Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Liberty University. He is a graduate of Oak Hills Christian College, Bemidji State University, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and the University of Arkansas, where he received a Ph. D. in American Religious History. Dr. Schultz’s specialties are America’s Christian heritage, the American independence era, and American Presbyterianism. He is interested in Christian Worldview integration and his articles have appeared in many publications, including Faith for All of Life. Dr. Schultz is a minister in the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Hanover Presbytery. Roger and Ann Schultz have nine children, all home-schooled, and three grandchildren.

Past Speakers