sábado, 28 de julho de 2012

Introducing Dr. Gentry

Ken & Melissa
Dr. & Mrs. Kenneth Gentry

Dr. Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr. is a conservative, evangelical Christian minister, lecturer, and writer. He is committed to the Reformed faith as set forth in the Westminster Confession and Faith and Catechisms. He is an ordained minister in the Reformed Presbyterian Church General Assembly, a conservative, evangelical, Reformed denomination.

Birth, Conversion, and Family

He was born on May 3, 1950 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he was raised and where he graduated from high school and college. Though he is sometimes teased about his Southern accent, he points out that he does actually speak the King''s English. This is evident in that he is from the same state where Elvis lived.
He was converted to Christ in August, 1966 while attending a youth ministry in Baco Raton, Florida. The minister was preaching on Ephesians 2:8-9 when the Lord opened his heart to the gospel. He has been unwaveringly committed to conservative, evangelical theology ever since. He has been married to the former Melissa Gunn Pitt since July 31, 1971. They have three grown children all of whom are evangelical and Reformed Christians. He also has two small grandchildren.
Family
Dr. Gentry's Family (2010)

Education and Christian Service

Our Executive Director holds a B.A. in Bible (cum laude, 1973) from Tennessee Temple University. While attending that fundamentalist institution, his personal study led him to the doctrines of grace in Calvinism. Upon graduating there, he attended Grace Theological Seminary for two years (1973-1975) while he was still a dispensationalist. During his personal studies while a student there, he became convinced of a fuller reformed theology including a strong covenantalism which impacted his views on baptism, the church, and more.
Upon completing his theological transformation into covenantal Calvinism, he transferred to Reformed Theological Seminary in 1975. There he studied under several noted Reformed scholars, including Dr. Morton H. Smith, Dr. Simon J. Kistemaker, and Dr. Greg L. Bahnsen. While at RTS he became convinced of the postmillennial hope while studying under Bahnsen. He thereby brought his sovereign grace covenantalism to its logical conclusion. He graduated from RTS with an M.Div. degree in 1977.
After graduating from seminary Dr. Gentry pastored several Presbyterian churches, including the historic Reedy River Presbyterian Church (founded in 1887). He eventually enrolled at Whitefield Theological Seminary where he studied under Dr. Kenneth G. Talbot. There he earned a Th.M. (1985) and Th.D. (1988, summa cum laude). His 430 page doctoral dissertation was titled: "Dating the Book of Revelation: An Exegetical and Historical Argument for a Pre-A.D. 70 Composition." His dissertation readers were Dr. George W. Knight III, Dr. Jay E. Adams, and Dr. C. Gregg Singer. His dissertation was eventually published as Before Jerusalem Fell: Dating the Book of Revelation, and has gone through two editions and several printings.
He has taught various theological and biblical courses at Christ College in Lynchburg, Virginia and Bahnsen Theological Seminary in Fullerton, California. He has spoken at over sixty conferences throughout the nation, including the Ligonier Conference in Orlando, and has appeared on dozens of Christian radio programs. Though he lectures on a variety of theological and worldview themes, his conference and radio ministry has focused primarily on eschatology, the Book of Revelation, biblical law, and creation. He is available for conference ministry through GoodBirth Ministries.

Writing Ministry

Dr. Gentry not only has a great desire to teach Christian truth but also to promote it through writing. He founded and teaches a correspondence course on research writing, and publication called "Righteous Writing." In that course he trains Christians to be effective communicators (that course is available at his commercial site: KennethGentry.Com).
He has also written scores of articles appearing in Christianity Today, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Westminster Theological Journal, Tabletalk, The Banner of Truth, Faith Over All of Life, The Presbyterian Journal, Contra Mundum, Antithesis, and numerous other magazines and journals. Our ministry was established to provide him more time to release additional articles and studies of value to Christian faith and living.
In addition to brief articles, he has authored a number of books including:
  • The Beast of Revelation
  • Before Jerusalem Fell: Dating the Book of Revelation
  • A Biblical Defense of Predestination
  • The Book of Revelation Made Easy: You Can Understand Biblical Prophecy
  • The Charismatic Gift of Prophecy
  • The Christian Case Against Abortion
  • Covenantal Theonomy
  • God Gave Wine
  • God's Law in the Modern World
  • God's Law Made Easy
  • The Great Tribulation: Past or Future? (with Thomas D. Ice)
  • The Greatness of the Great Commission: The Christian Enterprise in a Fallen World
  • He Shall Have Dominion: A Postmillennial Eschatology
  • House Divided: The Break-up of Dispensational Theology (with Greg L. Bahnsen)
  • Lord of the Saved
  • Nourishment from the Word: Select Studies in Reformed Theology
  • Olivet Discourse Made Easy
  • Perilous Times: A Study in Eschatological Evil
  • Postmillennialism Made Easy
  • Predestination Made Easy
  • Yea, Hath God Said?: The Framework Hypothesis / Six Day Creation Debate (with Michael R Butler).
Books
    He has also contributed chapters to several books by various publishers:
  • The Covenant: God's Voluntary Condescension (Joseph A. Pipa and C. N. Wilborn, eds.)
  • Creation According to the Scriptures (P. Andrew Sandlin, ed.).
  • Four Views on the Book of Revelation (C. Marvin Pate, ed.)
  • The Standard Bearer: A Festschrift for Dr. Greg L. Bahnsen (Steven M. Schlissel, ed.).
  • Thine Is the Kingdom (Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., ed.).
  • Three Views on the Millennium and Beyond (Darrell L. Bock, ed.).
  • When Shall These Things Be: A Reformed Response to Hyper-preterism (Keith L. Mathison, ed.).
He is currently researching a full-length, academic commentary on the Book of Revelation. The working title for this project is: The Divorce of Israel: A Redemptive-Historical Interpretation of the Book of Revelation. This project is being subsidized by free-will gifts from interested donors. GoodBirth is now seeking to raise support for this important project. Please see our "Future Projects" section for project ideas for which we are currently seeking funding.

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