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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  Jack Barsky

  Speaker
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Team Members

Jack Barsky
Speaker
Jack Barsky, This true spy story had a very humble beginning in the most backward corner of the old East Germany. Smarts and hard work got Jack out into the world, where he started a career teaching chemistry and math at a well-known university. Then his life took a fantastic detour – Jack was recruited by the KGB and infiltrated into the US where he spent ten years spying for the Soviet Union. He “resigned” from the KGB and was eventually discovered by the FBI. Today, Jack is a law abiding patriotic American citizen who is taking advantage of one last chance to live a normal life. He is now taking his story and his vast experience on both sides of the iron curtain to live audiences.
 
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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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  Joel Woodruff

  President, C.S. Lewis Institute
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Team Members

Joel Woodruff
President, C.S. Lewis Institute
Joel Woodruff, President, C.S. Lewis Institute, has worked in higher education, “tent-making,” nonprofit administration, and pastoral ministries in Alaska, Israel, Hungary, France, and Northern Virginia. He served as Dean of Students, Chaplain, and Professor of Bible & Theology at European Bible Institute, where he helped train Europeans both for professional ministry and to be Christian leaders in the marketplace. Prior to joining the Institute, he was on the leadership team of Oakwood Services International, a nonprofit educational and humanitarian organization. He is a graduate of Wheaton College, earned his M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and has a doctorate in Organizational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University. As a Parish-Pulpit Fellow, he studied Biblical Backgrounds & Archaeology in Israel for a year.
 
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  Chris Morris

  Speaker
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Team Members

Chris Morris
SpeakerChris Morris, Speaker, is Chairman of the Board of Directors at C.S. Lewis Institute and COO of Bonaventure, an alternative investment manager and real estate investment firm. Formerly he worked at MPact Partners, a strategy, operations and finance consulting firm. . He has a master’s degree in business administration from the Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Stanford 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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  Mary Poplin

  Professor
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Team Members

Mary Poplin
Professor
Mary Poplin, Professor, was spiritual, not religious and sampled many ideologies until a vivid dream made the Jesus of Christianity undeniable to her. She is also the author of Is Reality Secular? Testing the Assumptions of Four Global Worldviews, Finding Calcutta: What Mother Teresa Taught Me about Meaningful Work and Service, and Highly Effective Teachers of Vulnerable Students: Practice Transcending Theory.
 
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  David Mathis

  Pastor
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Team Members

David Mathis
Pastor
David Mathis is senior teacher and executive editor of desiringGod.org, pastor at Cities Church, and adjunct professor for Bethlehem College & Seminary. He is author of Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines, Humbled: Welcoming the Uncomfortable Work of God, and Rich Wounds: The Countless Treasures of the Life, Death, and Triumph of Jesus. David has also co-authored Thinking. Loving. Doing with John Piper and How to Stay Christian in Seminary with Jonathan Parnell.
 
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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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  Daniel Rodger

  Podcast Guest
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Team Members

Daniel Rodger
Podcast Guest
Daniel Rodger, Podcast Guest, used to subscribe to a culturally informed form of atheism because he had grown up in it. In the Side B Stories podcast, he shares about his journey from atheism to faith in Christ, which has transformed his life.
 
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  Matt Harmon

  Speaker
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Team Members

Matt Harmon
Speaker
Matt Harmon, Professor, of New Testament studies at Grace Theological Seminary in Winona Lake, Indiana. He holds a B.S. in Communication from Ohio University, M.Div from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and a Ph.D. in Biblical Theology from Wheaton College. Matt has a passion for research and writing, specializing in the use of the Old Testament in the New Testament, biblical theology, commentary writing and the Pauline epistles. He is the author of several books including, Philippians: A Mentor Commentary, The Servant of the Lord and His Servant People: Tracing a Biblical Theme Through the Canon, and co-authored Living in the Light of Inextinguishable Hope.
 
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  Nikki Naparst

  Podcast Guest
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Team Members

Nikki Naparst
Podcast Guest
Nikki Naparst, Podcast Guest, a Jewish atheist, wanted nothing to do with Jesus until an unexpected spiritual experience caused her to question all she believed as real and true.