About Garry
minister, author, scholar
Bible teacher, educator, speaker
actor, singer, musician
husband, father
‘Grandad’
Etc.
“D” Stands for: Dale
Birthday: October 12
Status: Married
Hometown: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Current: Rockwall, Texas
Education: B.A.; M.Div., Ph.D.
Schools: Oklahoma Baptist University; Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary,
Major: Religion/Bible; Theology
Minor: Philosophy of Religion
MY CONTACT
Email: gnation@seriouschristian.org
Twitter: @GarryDNation
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GarryDNation
Linked-in: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garry-d-nation-57057b11
Publications
Books:
Fool: Identifying & Overcoming Character Deficiency Syndrome, 2nd ed.--a biblical investigation of wisdom v. folly (Tate Publishing, 2016) *Currently out of print, but available from the author.
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)
Dissertation:
The Hermeneutics of Pentecostal-Charismatic Restoration Theology: A Critical Analysis. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1990.
SOME FAVORITES
Books: The God Who Is There, Mere Christianity, Lord of the Rings, Knowing God
Authors: Francis Schaeffer, C. S. Lewis, J.R.R.Tolkien, J. I. Packer
Quote: “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.” Charles Hadden Spurgeon
Scholarship & Ministry
He holds the B.A. magna cum laude from Oklahoma Baptist University(1975), the M.Div. and Ph.D. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (1978, 1990). He is a Fellow of the Oxford Society of Scholars and is a full member of the Evangelical Theological Society. His articles have been published in Christianity Today and the Journal for the American Academy of Ministry.
He has served as an associate pastor and worship leader, as the pastor of two churches, and as a Christian school administrator, and as an associate with Probe Ministries International.
In the fall of 1997, Garry left the staff of Probe Ministries and began an independent, self-supporting ministry in College Station, Texas. In collaboration with Dr. Robin Navarro Montgomery (Prof. Emeritus, Southwestern Oklahoma State University), he worked to develop the concept for the Institute for Christianity and Culture Studies under the umbrella of Christian Ages, Inc., a non-profit organization founded by Dr. Montgomery.
Through the ICCS Garry set up a variety of educational ministries. He has developed and taught a high school Christian studies curriculum including Bible, Christian history, apologetics, and contemporary worldviews. He has engaged in preaching and presenting lectures and seminars for churches, students, and professional groups, and conducted a tape ministry that sent his recorded talks to numerous subscribers.
His most intense focus in College Station was 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.
In 2006 he published his first book, Fool: Identifying and Overcoming Character Deficiency Syndrome, which appeared in 2016 in an updated 2nd edition (currently out of print, but available from the author).
In 2011 Garry established a new non-profit organization, Serious Christian, Inc., through which he continues his multifaceted ministry (501.c.3 pending). In 2017 he relocated to the Dallas, Texas area in part to facilitate travel.
Actor, singer, musician, performer
In addition to being a scholar, preacher, author, and lecturer, Garry is asinger, a musician who has written several songs, and a worship leader. He’s always been a performer and has appeared on stage in a number of dramatic roles, especially as biblical characters.
In 2011 he played the lead role of “Mordecai” in the first production of Esther: For Such a Time as This, a Broadway-style musical for stage by Mark Taylor and Steele Brand. In 2013 he broke into film in Indescribable playing an 11th century rabbi, and followed that with an award-winning turn as the Christian martyr Polycarp - the film that changed the trajectory of his own life and ministry. Follow his work as an actor at http://garrynation.com.
Personal
He’s been married to the former Linda Noland, a teacher, since 1978. They have three grown children, a son-in-law, a daughter-in-law, and six grandchildren.
The Oklahoma native has lived his adult life in Texas, currently in the lakeside city of Rockwall. He has also supported his own non-profit ministry by working as a baker, a sports official, a substitute teacher - and now as an actor.
Garry D. Nation
minister, author, scholar, educator, speaker, actor
