Dear friends,
I’ve just finalized our plenary speakers and their titles for the upcoming ISCA conference April 10-11. This meeting is going to be both high-powered and practical!
First we have as a one-two punch two giants from the Southern Baptist Convention, Richard Land and Paige Patterson, who will talk about the struggle for inerrancy in that denomination and what we can learn from it for the struggles ongoing in other Evangelical churches and organizations. Nobody has had more personal experience with such things than these two. Land will talk about the history of the struggle for inerrancy in the SBC, and Patterson will focus on the practical lessons to be learned from it. This will be balanced by rising star Sarah Geis, Doug Groothuis’s protégé at Denver, who will speak on making the case for inerrancy, not so much to the church as to the world. The titles are as follows:
Richard Land, “The Southern Baptist Convention, 1979-1993: What Happened, and Why”
Paige Patterson, “The Consequences of Revolution: The Conservative Resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention: A Case Study”
Sarah Geis, "The Apologetics of Inerrancy: Making Our Case to the World"
Then I will do a presidential address on “Discerning the Times: Why We Lost the Culture War and How to Make a Comeback,” in which I will address the related area of how a subjectivist hermeneutic undermines biblical authority and our ability to apply it to the world around us.
This conference has the potential to advance the cause of biblical inerrancy in profound and practical ways. With headliners like Patterson and Land, we have the opportunity to attract a larger audience than we have enjoyed in the past, and, given the nature of their presentations and others that we will be offering, we have a responsibility to see that the word gets out. Please join me in trying to do that through every means and medium at your disposal, and please share any ideas for doing it more effectively with the group.
Also, if you have not yet done so, please send me your own titles for workshop (breakout) sessions. Papers that support and back up and flesh out what our plenary speakers are doing will be greatly appreciated, but so will other apologetic topics of ongoing relevance.
And, most importantly, please join me in praying daily for this meeting, that the Lord will draw to it those who need to hear the message and use it for His glory and the advancement of His kingdom. Pray for health, wisdom, and power for the plenary speakers, other presenters, and those working behind the scenes. Pray for health and the Providential removal of obstacles for those interested in coming. Pray that God will be at work in ways we cannot anticipate. We have an opportunity here to make an unusual impact for Christ. Let’s grasp it with both hands!
I’m grateful to have you all as part of the team. Deo gratias.
Yours for His glory,
Don
Donald T. Williams, PhD
R. A. Forrest Scholar & Prof. of English, Toccoa Falls College
107 Kincaid Dr., Toccoa Falls, Ga. 30598, 706-886-6831, ext. 5213
President, International Society of Christian Apologetics
Web Site: http://doulomen.tripod.com
Blog: http://lanternhollow.wordpress.com
E-Mail: dtw@tfc.edu
