Contributors

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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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  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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  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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  Rebecca McLaughlin

  Author
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Team Members

Rebecca McLaughlin
Author
Rebecca McLaughlin, Author, grew up in the UK and holds a Ph.D. in English literature from Cambridge University and a theology degree from Oak Hill College in London. In 2008, she moved to America and spent 9 years with The Veritas Forum. In September 2017, she co-founded Vocable Communications. Rebecca is the author of Confronting Christianity; 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion and 10 Questions Every Teen Should Ask (and Answer) about Christianity. She continues her writing and speaking as one of the world’s leading Christian apologists while enjoying her family life with her husband and three children.
 
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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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  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.  
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  Dan Strange

  Author
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Team Members

Dan Strange
Author
Dan Strange is director of Crosslands Forum, a center for cultural engagement and missional innovation. Formerly he was college director and tutor in culture, religion, and public theology at Oak Hill College, London. Strange is a contributing editor for Themelios, and is a member of Hope Community Church, Gateshead, UK, which is part of the Fellowship of Evangelical Churches (FIEC). A former UCCF worker with a PhD in Theology and Religious Studies, he is author of several books including Their Rock Is Not Like Our Rock: A Theology of Religions which received an award of merit for theology/ethics in the Christianity Today 2016 Book Awards. His most recent books are Plugged In and Making Faith Magnetic.
 
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  Thomas A. Tarrants

  Author, President Emeritus, CSLI
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Team Members



Thomas A. Tarrants

Author, President Emeritus, CSLI

Thomas A. Tarrants is President Emeritus of the C.S. Lewis Institute. After serving twelve years as president and nine years as vice President, he retired from his position as Vice President for Ministry and Director, Washington Area Fellows Program, with CSLI in June 2019. He holds a Master's of Divinity Degree, as well as a Doctor of Ministry Degree in Christian Spirituality. Tom is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Church Alliance and a member of the Evangelical Theological Society. He spends his time writing, mentoring, consulting and traveling. His life story is told in Consumed by Hate, Redeemed by Love, published by Thomas Nelson Publishers.

 

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  Tom Schwanda

  Professor, Senior Fellow for Christian Spirituality, CSLI
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Team Members

Tom Schwanda
Professor, Senior Fellow for Christian Spirituality, CSLI
Tom Schwanda is associate professor of Christian Formation and Ministry emeritus at Wheaton College and senior fellow for Christian Spirituality at the C. S. Lewis Institute. Tom earned a Ph.D. from Durham University, a D.Min. from Fuller, and a M. Div. from New Brunswick Theological Seminary. He also studied at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He is the author of numerous articles and book chapters and four books, including The Emergence of Evangelical Spirituality: The Age of Edwards, Newton, and Whitefield and most recently George Whitefield, New Birth to Enjoy God, in the Crossway Theologians on the Christian Life series.

 
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  Jeff Schlenz

  Pastor
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Team Members



Jeff Schlenz

Pastor

Jeff Schlenz, is the pastor of The City Gates Church in Northern Virginia and has been in vocational ministry for twenty years serving as a missions pastor, assistant pastor, and senior pastor. He served for eight years on active duty in the United States Marine Corps and currently serves as a chaplain in the United States Air Force Reserve. He holds a Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary where his doctoral thesis examined the role faith played for POWs and hostages during cross-cultural captivity.
 

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  Roger Sherrer

  Podcast Guest
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Team Members



Roger Sherrer

Podcast Guest

Roger Sherrer, Podcast Guest, was an ardent atheist who thought belief in God was not only childish but bad and needed to be taken down. He shares his journey on Side B Stories.

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  C.S. Lewis Institute

  Author
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Team Members

C.S. Lewis Institute
Author
C.S. Lewis Institute, in the legacy of C.S. Lewis, works to develop wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ who will articulate, defend, share, and live their faith in personal and public life. Founded in 1976 by Dr. James Houston and James R. Hiskey, the Institute provides leading teachers who address important issues of the day from the perspective of Biblical orthodoxy, while also providing discipleship for individuals in small groups.