Contributors

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  Jana Harmon

  Senior Fellow For Christian Apologetics, CSLI
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Team Members

Jana Harmon
Senior Fellow For Christian Apologetics, CSLI
Jana Harmon, Ph.D, is the Senior Fellow For Christian Apologetics for the C.S. Lewis Institute and a Teaching Fellow for C.S. Lewis Institute Atlanta. She serves on the Atlanta Advisory Board and as an Adjunct Professor of Cultural Apologetics at Biola University. Her doctoral research studied the religious conversion of atheists to Christianity looking at the perspectives and stories of 50 former Atheists. She views apologetics through a practical, evangelistic lens. She is the host of the podcast eX-skeptic for the C.S. Lewis Institute. Jana received her PhD from the University of Birmingham, England.
 
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  Malia Sienkiewiez

  Student
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Team Members



Malia Sienkiewiez

Student

Malia Sienkiewiez, a former atheist, once thought belief in God was not compatible with reason, with evidence or science. A student of apologetics, she now studies the rational grounding for the Christian worldview, focusing on practical apologetics.  

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  Andy Bannister

  Author and Speaker
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Team Members

Andy Bannister
Author and Speaker
Andy Bannister is an author, speaker, and broadcaster. He is currently the Director of the Solas Center for Public Christianity, an evangelism and training ministry, as well as the Adjunct Research Fellow at Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology. He holds a PhD in Islamic Studies and has taught extensively at universities across the world on both Islam and Philosophy. Andy speaks regularly on Christianity to audiences of all faiths across Europe, Canada, the US, and further afield. He is an author of several books including: The Atheist Who Didn't Exist, Do Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God? and most recently, How to Talk About Jesus Without Looking Like an Idiot.
 
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  William L. Kynes

  Pastor, Senior Fellow for Pastoral Theology, CSLI
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Team Members

William L. Kynes
Pastor, Senior Fellow for Pastoral Theology, CSLI
William L. "Bill" Kynes is the Senior Fellow for Pastoral Theology at the C.S. Lewis Institute, and retired Senior Pastor of Cornerstone, an Evangelical Free Church, in Annandale, VA, where he served from 1986 - 2022. He majored in Philosophy at the University of Florida, where he also played quarterback and was later inducted into the university’s Athletic Hall of Fame. He attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, receiving an MA in theology. He received an MDiv from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, before returning to England for a PhD in New Testament from Cambridge University.
   
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  Aimee Riegert

  CSLI Fellow
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Team Members

Aimee Riegert
CSLI Fellow
Aimee Riegert, CSLI Fellow, earned bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and foreign language studies from Southern Methodist University. In addition to supporting various national security efforts in Northern Virginia, she has worked as an itinerant high school math teacher and drama coach, and has served in women’s ministries, praise teams, on the adult support team for Young Life and as a “mentor mom” for MOPS International ministries, as well as English instructor in several ESL programs in Japan. She is a graduate of the C.S. Lewis Institute Year One Fellows Program.
 
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  Ben Clifton

  Podcast Guest
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Team Members



Ben Clifton

Podcast Guest

Ben Clifton, is a former atheist who began a journey to Christian faith. He is one of the founders of Apologetics On Mission.


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  Ben Virgo

  Speaker
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Team Members

Ben Virgo
Speaker
Ben Virgo, Speaker, is a Director of Christian Heritage London, a ministry which serves churches as a resourcing hub, putting on events and taking tours through London’s church history. He has worked in marketing, as a unit trust dealer and in and mergers and acquisitions. Ben holds a degree in Classics at University College London. He is planting a church on a council estate in East London.
 
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  Randy Newman

  Senior Fellow for Apologetics and Evangelism, CSLI
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Team Members

Randy Newman
Senior Fellow for Apologetics and Evangelism, CSLI
Randy Newman (1956-2024) was the Senior Fellow for Apologetics and Evangelism at the C.S. Lewis Institute. He taught at several evangelical seminaries. After serving for over 30 years with Campus Crusade for Christ, he established Connection Points, a ministry to help Christians engage people’s hearts the way Jesus did. He has written seven books, Questioning Evangelism, Corner Conversations, Bringing the Gospel Home, Engaging with Jewish People, Unlikely Converts: Improbable Stories of Faith and What They Teach Us About Evangelism, Mere Evangelism. and his most recent, Questioning Faith: Indirect Journeys of Belief through Terrains of Doubt. Randy has also written numerous articles about evangelism and other ways our lives intertwine with God’s creation. He earned his MDiv and PhD in Intercultural Studies from Trinity International University. Randy went home to be with the Lord in May 2024.
 
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  Nico Tarquinio

  Lawyer
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Team Members



Nico Tarquinio

Lawyer

Nico Tarquinio, is a former atheist who rejected a religion he thought was not worthy of belief.  As a lawyer, he considered both sides in a search for truth and changed his mind about Christianity.


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  Gavin Ortlund

  Pastor
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Team Members

Gavin Ortlund
Pastor
Gavin Ortlund is a pastor, author, speaker, and apologist for the Christian faith. He serves as the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Ojai in Ojai, California. Gavin has a Ph.D. from Fuller Theological Seminary in historical theology, and an M.Div from Covenant Theological Seminary. He is the author of seven books including Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn’t and Retrieving Augustine’s Doctrine of Creation as well as numerous academic and popular articles. He also runs the YouTube channel Truth Unites, which seeks to provide an irenic voice on theology, apologetics, and the Christian life.
 
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  Jim Phillips

  CSLI City Director, Annapolis & Senior Fellow for Cross-Cultural Discipleship
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Team Members

Jim Phillips
CSLI City Director, Annapolis & Senior Fellow for Cross-Cultural DiscipleshipJim Phillips founded the C.S. Lewis Institute in Annapolis, Maryland in 2009 and is currently a Senior Fellow helping facilitate the discipleship of Believers in Christ from non-Western cultural backgrounds. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. After graduation he served in the U.S. Marine Corps as an AV-8A Harrier pilot and in the corporate world as an information technology executive. He received an MLA from St. John’s College, Annapolis, Maryland, a Post Graduate Diploma in Theology and Religion, Oxford University, UK, and a PhD in Islamic Studies from the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies/Middlesex University, Oxford, UK. Jim has authored several books which can be found at https://amazon.com/author/phillipsjim.  
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  Ken Boa

  Speaker
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Team Members

Ken Boa
SpeakerKen Boa is engaged in a ministry of relational evangelism and discipleship, teaching, writing, and speaking. He is the president of Reflections Ministries, an organization that seeks to encourage, teach, and equip people to know Christ, follow Him, become progressively conformed to His image, and reproduce His life in others. Ken is also president of Trinity House Publishers and president of Omnibus Media Ministries, a nonprofit that generates transformative media to encourage global audiences to think, live, and act as they really are in Christ. He holds a B.S. from Case Institute of Technology, a Th.M from Dallas Theological Seminary, a Ph.D from New York University, and a DPhil from the University of Oxford in England.