2015 Sermon Seminar Sneak Peak


Austin Graduate School of Theology is pleased to announce the speakers and topics for our 34th annual Sermon Seminar to be held May 18-20, 2015.
 
Lynn Anderson, Ministry: Starting Strong, Staying Faithful, Finishing Well


Lynn Anderson spent four decades in full-time ministry in churches from Canada to Texas. He is the founder of Hope Network Ministries whose purpose is to coach, mentor and equip Christian leaders.

Lynn has been well trained in the formal sense with a doctorate in ministry, but he is also trained in the informal sense, through the school of hard knocks. Communicating the heart is his strength. Lynn has preached in evangelism campaigns, workshops and lectureships in several hundred congregations—rural, small town, metropolitan—domestic and foreign—large and small. 

For twenty-five years Lynn served as an adjunct professor at Abilene Christian University, teaching missions, ministry, and leadership courses. Through those years he was called on increasingly by scores of ministers and numerous churches to provide encouragement, resources, and counsel in the midst of the challenges of church leadership.

Lynn has published numerous articles and several books including: They Smell Like Sheep (Vols 1 and 2); Longing for a Homeland; The Jesus Touch; If I Really Believe, Why Do I Have These Doubts?.

Lynn and his wife, Carolyn, live in San Antonio, Texas.




Bruce Corley, Preaching Through Romans


Bruce Corley is a graduate of Northeastern State University (Tahlequah, Oklahoma) where he earned a BS Ed degree. He earned his MDiv and Doctrate in Theology in Fort Worth, Texas. He also studied at Spurgeon's College in London and at the University of Cambridge, also in England.
Prior to his appointment to B. H. Carroll Theological Institute and election as the Institute's first President (2003-2013), Bruce was a professor of New Testament and Greek (1976-95, 1996-2003) and Dean of the School of Theology (1990-95) at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He also served as Professor of Christian Scriptures of the George W. Truett Theological Seminary of Baylor University, Waco, Texas (1995-96).
 
Prior to his teaching career at Southwestern Seminary, Bruce served churches in Jonesboro and Breckenridge, Texas. He maintains an active schedule of Bible conferences, interim pastorates. His professional experience includes memberships in the Society of Biblical Literature, the Institute for Biblical Research, and the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion where he has held elected offices and worked on the editorial boards of two journals. 

Bruce has lectured in Europe and the United States, delivering the annual lectures at four universities and two seminaries. He has presented nine academic papers in the scholars' guild as well as three series of studies for field missionaries. Among the 25 books and essays he has written, there are commentaries on Romans and 2 Corinthians. He is presently completing a commentary on Hebrews and a research book on Paul.

From a previous marriage to Lois Krause (deceased, 1978), Bruce has three children: Dana Ruth, Kerri Ann, and Christopher Scott. He and his wife Linda have a daughter: Elizabeth Rae.



Jeff Peterson, Preaching Mark's Gospel


Jeff Peterson is the Jack C. and Ruth Wright Professor of New Testament at Austin Graduate School of Theology where he has taught since 1993. He was born in Houston and grew up nearby in Galena Park. Peterson holds the BA and MA degrees from Abilene Christian University, the MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary, and the PhD in New Testament studies from Yale University. 


In addition to his work at Austin Grad, Peterson has taught courses in New Testament and biblical Greek at the University of Texas at Austin, the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, Abilene Christian University and the Institute of Theology and Christian Ministry in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Jeff is an active member of the Society of Biblical Literature, and his scholarly publications concern the early development of Christian theology, especially in the Pauline letters and the Gospels. He coauthored the popular book Things That Matter: A Guide to Christian Faith, and has spoken at the Pepperdine University Bible Lectures, the ACU Bible Lectureship, the School’s own Sermon Seminar, Central Texas Bible Teachers' Workshop, and numerous churches.

Peterson has three children — Benjamin, Laura, and Brian — and is a member of the University Avenue Church of Christ in Austin. 




Charles Rix, The Ten Commandments


Charles Rix came to Oklahoma Christian from New Jersey where he taught at New Brunswick Theological Seminary and served as the pulpit minister of the Monmouth Church of Christ in Tinton Falls, New Jersey.  

Charles is also a concert pianist and has given master classes and benefit recitals around the globe.  As an artist, student, and teacher of Old Testament, Charles researches ways in which the scripture speaks to the issue of human suffering.  He is published in a series of essays exploring connections between the Bible, the Shoah, and the artwork of post-Holocaust painter Samuel Bak.  

Prior to entering ministry Charles worked in various financial positions with ExxonMobil Corporation both domestically and overseas.  He holds graduate degrees in business, theology, and philosophy and completed his PhD in Hebrew Bible from Drew University. 


Charles and his late wife Jenny (Alley) Rix have two children, Nathan Rix and Abby Rix Degge both of whom hold graduate degrees and work in the disciplines of public and social policy and practice.




Jim Roberts, Preaching from Isaiah 1-39


Jim Roberts is the William Henry Green Professor of Old Testament Literature (Emeritus) at Princeton Theological Seminary, and has been for 25 years. Prior to that he taught at the University of Toronto, Johns Hopkins University, and Dartmouth College. He is a graduate of Abilene Christian University, Harvard Divinity School, and Harvard University.

Jim is an internationally known scholar who has lectured abroad at universities in Israel, France, Austria, England, and Sweden, and in numerous universities in the United States. Since his retirement, Jim served as a visiting professor at Yale, Harvard, and Dartmouth universities. 

He has published and co-edited five books, and published more than 100 articles and reviews on a wide variety of topics in the area of Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern backgrounds to the Old Testament, including a number of articles in the New Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible.    

Jim served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Biblical Literature, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, Horizons in Biblical Literature, Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages, and Restoration Quarterly. He also served two terms as editor of the Society of Biblical Literature’s Old Testament dissertation series, and was a long-time member of the translation committee that produced the New Revised Standard Version. 

He is a member of the Church of Christ where he has served churches both as a minister and as an elder.