SeriousChristian.org
About Garry
Profile
D. Stands for: Dale
Age: 57
Birthday: October 12
Status: Married
Hometown: Tulsa, OK
Current Home: College Station, TX
Denomination: Southern Baptist
Publications
Books:
Fool: Identifying & Overcoming Character Deficiency Syndrome--a biblical investigation of wisdom v. folly (Tate Publishing, 2006)
Articles:
"Recovering Christian Ethical Absolutes." Journal of Religious and Social Research (1998)
“The Essentials of Worship: Toward a Biblical Theology of Worship.” Journal of the American Academy of Ministry, Winter/Spring 1997
“Character Deficiency Syndrome.” Probe Ministries, 1996.
“The Restoration Movement.” Christianity Today, May 18, 1992
“Jonathan Edwards on Testing Your Spiritual Experiences.” Mid-America Theological Journal 11 (Fall 1987)
“Jonathan Edwards on Testing Your Spiritual Experiences.” Mid-America Theological Journal 11 (Fall 1987)
Dissertation:
The Hermeneutics of Pentecostal-Charismatic Restoration Theology: A Critical Analysis. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1990.
Personal Interests
History (especially the Civil War and WWII; also the history of warfare and military strategy)
Genealogy: In particular Nation/Anderson; Robertson/Hicks
Music: Classical (esp. Beethoven), American Folk/Country (ex., Ricky Skaggs, Don Francisco), Christian Contemporary (Jars of Clay, Third Day), Southern Gospel (Gaither Vocal Band)
Classic Films: Drama, War, & Western (Hitchcock, Ford; Bogart, Grant, Stewart, Wayne); Comedy (Laurel & Hardy, Marx Brothers); Biblical Epics (Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments, The Bible, The Passion of the Christ)
Cooking & Baking: “I don’t consider myself a gourmet. I just like to figure out new ways to make good food.”
Books:
Recently finished: What...finish a book? I’ve started a lot more than I’ve finished recently.
Currently reading:
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•George Thomas: Virginian for the Union by Christopher Einolf
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•Battles of the Bible, by Chaim Herzog & Mordecai Gichon
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•The Soul of Battle by Victor Davis Hanson
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•Good Eats: The Early Years by Alton Brown
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Most influential (besides the Bible):
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•The God Who Is There by Francis A. Schaeffer
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Favorite authors:
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•Francis A. Schaeffer
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•James I. Packer
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•C. S. Lewis
contact
He has served as a pastor and as a Christian school administrator. He left pastoral ministry in 1996 when he was recruited by Jimmy Williams, the co-founder and then-president of Probe Ministries International, to become the director of a new Christian study center that would minister to the Texas A&M community.
Only a year later, however, other pressing ministry priorities and financial constraints required the Probe board of directors to terminate the ProbeCenter project. At that time Garry left the staff of Probe Ministries and began an independent, self-supporting ministry.
In the fall of 1997 he began a collaboration with Dr. Robin Navarro Montgomery (Prof. Emeritus, Southwestern Oklahoma State University). Together they developed the concept for the Institute for Christianity and Culture Studies under the umbrella of Christian Ages, Inc., a non-profit 501.c.3 educational and religious organization founded by Dr. Montgomery,.
Since that time Garry has engaged in a variety of educational ministries, including serving as Chaplain at a Christian school where he developed and taught a high school Christian studies curriculum including Bible, Christian history, apologetics, and contemporary worldviews; preaching and presenting lectures and seminars for churches, students, and professional groups; and a tape ministry that sent his talks to numerous subscribers.
His most intense focus in College Station has been with students and young adults, working with them individually and in small groups, imparting to them his vision of serious Christianity. In 2005 one of them proposed the idea of setting up a website. That project has been through several phases, and as a result of some of those efforts you are now reading this.
A Favorite Quotation from
Charles Hadden Spurgeon
“I am never ashamed to avow myself a Calvinist, although I claim to be rather a Calvinist according to Calvin than after the modern debased fashion. I do not hesitate to take the name of Baptist.... But if I am asked to say what is my creed, I think I must reply: It is Jesus Christ.... The body of divinity to which I would pin and bind myself forever, God helping me, is not...any other human treatise, but Christ Jesus, who is the sum and substance of the gospel; who is in himself all theology, the incarnation of every precious truth, the all-glorious personal embodiment of the way, the truth, and the life.”
Though a Baptist by practice and conviction, Garry takes a non-denominational approach to ministry. He believes in and follows an open-hearted evangelicalism, that regards a true confession of faith in Jesus Christ and submission to his eternal Lordship to be of far greater significance than our own earnest but temporal differences.
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He has also supported his own non-profit ministry by working as a baker, a sports official, and a substitute teacher. (Cash flow!)
An Oklahoma native, he currently lives and works in College Station, Texas. He’s been married to the former Linda Noland, a teacher, since 1978. They have three grown children, a son-in-law, and a grandson.
* Portrait by Studio One
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Garry D. Nation
is a minister, scholar, educator, speaker, and author.
He holds the B.A. magna cum laude from Oklahoma Baptist University(1975), the M.Div. (1978), and the Ph.D. (1990) from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a Fellow of the Oxford Society of Scholars, and is a full member of the Evangelical Theological Society and of the Evangelical Philosophical Society.
