Meet the Speakers

Meet the Speakers
April 16-18, 2010

Bryan Hughes	D. Ministry
Dr. Bryan Hughes has a B. A. in New Testament Greek and Theology from Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, IL; M. A. in Exegetical Theology from Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, Portland, OR; and a Doctorate of Ministry from Trinity Theological Seminary, Newburgh, IN. Bryan is the Senior Pastor at Grace Bible Church and he is on the board of The Master’s College and teaches at Montana Bible College.
Perry Fishbaugh	B. S. Biology
Perry Fishbaugh received his B.S. in Wildlife Biology from Montana State University in 1989 and has taught 6-12th grade sciences for 19 years with public, private and now home school students. He attended Moody Bible Institute and completed his studies in Bible Theology in 1974. He is co-owner with his wife of a business that has contracted with the Forest Service for 21 years to operate 55 campgrounds located in Wyoming and Montana.
Terry Mortenson	Ph.D. History of Geology
Dr. Terry Mortenson (1953-) is a lecturer and researcher at Answers in Genesis (based in the United States). Dr. Mortenson earned a B.A. in math from the University of Minnesota in 1975, a M.Div. in systematic theology from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Illinois, in 1992, and holds a Ph.D. in history of geology from Coventry University, UK, in 1996. Dr. Mortenson married Margie in 1976 and together have 5 daughters 3 sons. Like most people, Dr. Mortenson grew up in an education system that taught evolution as fact. During his first year at the University of Minnesota (where he majored in math) and shortly after becoming a Christian, he began to see the fallacy of the idea of millions of years of evolution. With a Ph.D. in the history of geology from the University of Coventry in England and an M.Div. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago, Dr. Mortenson has lectured on the creation-evolution controversy in 18 countries since the late 1970s. He has spoken in homes, churches, schools (primary, middle and secondary), secular universities, Bible colleges and seminaries. Several of his popular lectures have been produced as DVDs and as TV programs. He has also participated in seven formal debates with Ph.D. evolutionary scientists in secular venues in four countries. He is the author of numerous magazine and journal articles and several book chapters. The revised version of his PhD thesis was published as The Great Turning Point: the Church’s Catastrophic Mistake on Geology—Before Darwin (Master Books, 2004). With a deep burden for seminary professors and students, he co-edited and contributed two chapters to the scholarly 14-author book,Coming to Grips with Genesis: Biblical Authority and the Age of the Earth (Master Books, 2008). He is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society, has presented six creation-related papers at ETS annual meetings, and spear-headed the formation of the “Creation Consultation” sessions at the ETS annual meeting beginning in 2008. He has also helped to lead two by-invitation-only 7-day rafts trips down the Colorado River through Grand Canyon for seminary and Bible College professors and other key Christian leaders. He and his wife, Margie, have been happily married since 1976 and have eight children and three grandchildren.
Michael Oard	M. S. Atmospheric Science
Michael Oard earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Atmospheric Science from the University of Washington. He retired after 30 years as a professional meteorologist with the National Weather Service. He also was a research meteorologist for 6 years at the University of Washington and has published several research articles in journals of the American Meteorological Association. He has been doing creation research in the earth sciences for about 35 years and has published well over 100 articles in creationist periodicals. Mr. Oard has also authored or coauthored 12 creationist books on the Flood, the Ice Age, and weather. He is on the board of the Creation Research Society.
Werner Gitt	Ph.D. Information Technology
Gitt was born in Raineck, Ebenrode East Prussia, in 1937, the son of Hermann Gitt, a farmer, and his wife Emma (née Girod). During the Second World War, his 15-year old elder brother Fritz was taken away and killed by the Red Army, his mother was taken to a Soviet labor camp where she died and his uncle Fritz was killed fighting for the Volkssturm. His father survived and was taken prisoner of war in France. He and his aunts were relocated to Föhr in the North Frisian Islands where he was reunited with his father. In 1963 he enrolled at the Technical University of Hanover and in 1968 he completed his studies as Diplom-Ingenieur. Thereafter he worked as assistant in the Institute of Control Technology at the Technical University of Aachen. Following two years of research work, he received his doctorate in engineering summa cum laude in 1970 together with the prestigious 'Borchers Medal' of the Technical University of Aachen. In the same year Werner Gitt started his career at the Federal Institute of Physics and Technology (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt Braunschweig,'PTB'), Brunswick. In 1978 he was promoted to a Director and Professor at the PTB. From 1971 to 2002 he was the Head of 'Information Technology'. He has written numerous scientific papers in the field of information science, as well as many others concerned with mathematics and control technology. He has held lectures on related topics at numerous universities at home and abroad. Since 1984 he has been a regular guest lecturer at the State Independent Theological University of Basle, Switzerland, on the subject of 'The Bible and Science'. He has spoken in all five continents and in many different countries (e. g. Australia, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Lithuania, Namibia, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, USA, White Russia). Most of these talks were strongly evangelistic. He is best known for his opposition to evolution. In his book In the Beginning was Information and in an article for Answers in Genesis he argues that information theory refutes evolution. I n his later book In the Beginning was the Big Bang?, he argues that the Big Bang Theory is weak due to the lack of arguments and evidence pointing towards the Big Bang, and its reliance on the existence of Dark Matter which he claimed may not exist. (This biography is from excerpts from the biographies of Wikipedia, Answers in Genesis and The Creation Ministries websites.)
Georgia Purdom	Ph.D. Molecular Genetics
Dr. Georgia Purdom is a compelling and dynamic lecturer and well qualified to speak on the relevance of Genesis to the issue of biblical authority. She is the only female Ph.D. scientist engaged in full-time speaking and research for a biblical creationist organization in North America. Dr. Purdom states, “A proper understanding of Genesis is very important because it is foundational to biblical authority and a Christian worldview. It’s about so much more than the creation/evolution controversy. It’s about the truthfulness and authority of God’s Word.” Dr. Purdom graduated in 2000 with a Ph.D. in molecular genetics from Ohio State University. Among Dr. Purdom’s professional accomplishments include the winning of a variety of honors, research presentations at national conferences with six years of teaching at Mount Vernon Nazarene University (Ohio) where she served as a professor of biology. Dr. Purdom has published papers in the Journal of Neuroscience, the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research and the Journal of Leukocyte Biology. She is also a member of the Creation Research Society, American Society for Microbiology, and American Society for Cell Biology. She is also a member of the research team for the GENE project being conducted by the Institute for Creation Research. Dr. Purdom’s main area of specialty is cell and molecular biology. Her graduate work focused on the genetic regulation of factors important for bone remodeling. Her creation research interests are the role of microbes before and after the Fall and the speciation of animals after the Flood. Dr. Purdom organized and led the first ever meeting of creation microbiologists (called Microbe Forum) at AiG. This meeting resulted in the formation of a collaborative research project on the origin of pathogenicity with the intended outcome of a publication. Dr. Purdom’s scientific research focuses on the roles of natural selection and mutation in microbial populations. She seeks to understand the original, created, “very good” roles of bacteria in the pre-Fall world and genetic mechanisms that have led to their adaptations and pathogenicity in a post-Fall world. She has presented her research in this field at two Microbe Forum conferences and the 2008 International Conference on Creationism. Dr. Purdom also has published papers in the 2008 Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism and Answers Research Journal. In addition, she has numerous lay-friendly and semi-technical articles in Answers magazine and on the AiG website. She is also interested in studying the formation of stromatolites, animal speciation after the Flood, and the Intelligent Design Movement.
Brian & Carla Estell	Children's Creation Ministry
Both Brian and Carla are graduates of Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA; and have been involved in Christian education since 1988. In 1998 they began a part time creation ministry called “The Stones’ True Story” which focuses on the Flood and the geological features it left in its wake.

Home | Schedule | Directions | Speakers | Contact Us