DESMOND ALLEN

Desmond Allen (now in his forties) received Christ at the age of 14 during summer camp at Mt. Hermon, California. Although he spent the next few years mischievously and without spiritual direction, he was once again confronted with the gospel during his senior year in high school. He repented immediately, joined a local church and began serious biblical studies with an unmatched zeal.

Desmond left for college in 1973 to study respiratory therapy, getting married that same year. In 1979, he and his wife moved back to their home town where Desmond began to study for the ministry. For years he served as the assistant pastor under the most influential man in his life, his mentor and friend, Pastor Wilmer Brunner. He was nearly 70 and Desmond in his mid twenties. Like Elijah and Elisha, he attended to him like a father, took him fishing, debated ideals and learned at his feet. In 1982, Desmond was ordained to the ministry, assuming the role of senior pastor later that same year.

Having completed a Th.M. and still hungry to learn more, the Allens left the church they loved and moved to Portland. Oregon, to attend Western Conservative Baptist Seminary. There Desmond completed the M.Div. degree, took another pastoral position and continued seminary, studying for the doctorate.

Through the years Dr. Allen has amassed an eclectic background. Aside from the ministerial experience, off and on, he has continued to worked in healthcare. He has a Ph.D. in Education and Health Science, with Honolulu University and another Ph.D. in Health Care Management, with Hawthorne university. Dr. Allen has been married for twenty-five wonderful years and has three amazing daughters, each one a Christian.

STEVEN CAMP

The name Steve Camp will immediately be recognized by fans of contemporary Christian music. Making music since the 1980s, Steve has matured over the years - both musically and theologically. Steve is still very active in music ministry. His last two projects, Abandoned to God and Desiring God, are both outstanding. Steve's music reflects his deep convictions concerning godly music, reformed theology, and a transparent view into his own life. Visit Steve's new website, Audience One.

SUE DONAHOE

Sue Donahoe is a single woman in her forties who attends Fairmont Park Baptist Church in LaPorte, Texas (also where the webmaster attends) and works with the singles ministry there. She is an aspiring Christian writer with a gift for expressing her discovery of God in the mundane and ordinary affairs of life. Her passion is to share her story concerning how the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ transformed her life, a life which formerly included homosexuality.

ERNESTO FLORENDO

Born 01-09-61 and raised in the Church of Christ, Ernesto decided to follow Christ and was baptized at the age of 12. He was always religious and took the Bible seriously. However, young Ernesto remained anxious about his final destiny - especially at the thought of dying with some unconfessed sins. In his 2nd year of high school, Ernesto began to have peace of mind about his eternal destiny as he realized that Christ's atonement was the once for all sacrifice for his sins.

He began to visit CMA and Foursquare Churches while still in high school. In college, he became involved with the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at the University of the Philippines. There his theological perspectives were broadened some more, and he eventually became Vice President (3rd year College) and President (4th year college) of the local IVCF chapter. Ernesto went to Medical School at the University of the Philippines College of Medicine (1982-1986). Through those years, he was involved with the local hospital Christian Fellowship, and worshipped with a fundamentalist Baptist Church and later with "liberal" CofC group. After Medical School, he returned to his childhood Church (CofC) where he taught Sunday School and later regularly preached (once a month). Ernesto's contributions to that Church were initially appreciated until about a year and a half later, when the church became uncomfortable with his expository preaching, specifically on topics related to grace, faith, salvation, and works. He was so emphatic about salvation by grace through faith apart from works that he decided to leave due to irreconciliable disagreement over the matter.

Since 1989, Ernesto has been regularly involved with the Christian & Missionary Alliance. He has also been preaching once a month at an independent Baptist Church. In addition, he regularly conducts Bible Studies with a group of friends, a hospital group, and a group of employees of a christian friend. Ernesto presently lives in the Philippines with his wife and four children. Although having no formal theological education, Ernesto has made a personal pledge to God, that he shall "master Theology more than Medicine."

EDWARD FUDGE

Edward Fudge is a well-known speaker and author serving the Lord in many denominations, as He provides opportunity. Edward has a master's degree in biblical languages (ACU), studied at Covenant Theological Seminary, and also a doctor of jurisprudence degree from the University of Houston. He lives in Houston, Texas where he serves as elder in the Churches of Christ and practices law. Edward has written many articles for various periodicals, including Christianity Today, as well as several books, including The Fire That Consumes. Edward Fudge Ministries is on the web and the home of the free newsletter gracEmail.

JAMES HARRISON

Jim Harrison was born and raised in the strangely named "Garden State" of New Jersey. After being drawn to faith in Christ as a young adolescent and drifting through his teenage years, the Holy Spirit confirmed to him by the fruit of his ministry and the counsel of his elders that he had been gifted for the pastoral ministry. After graduating from Philadelphia College of Bible, he married Frances and worked in the financial district of New York City until Fran completed her MBA. They then moved west where Jim received his M.Div. degree from Denver Conservative Baptist Seminary.

After four years on the staff of Highland Park Baptist Church in Southfield, MI., they made their way back east to Mahopac, NY where Jim has been the Pastor of Red Mills Baptist Church, leading his people into a love for the doctrines of grace since 1993. He is the proud father of two boys, Christopher and Benjamin. The supreme goal of his life is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.

KEN MANSFIELD

Kenneth (Ken) Mansfield lives in the Northwest portion of Tennessee, USA along with his wife, Marion, and daughter, Rachel. He has been a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ for many, many years. Ken prayed years ago, and continues to pray, that God would give him knowledge, wisdom, and insight into His Word and how to understand the things contained therein, that He would grant him the ability to rise above the conflicting views and seeming contradictions that are so prevelent today in theological concepts. Having received no training from man, God continues to answer Ken's prayer in wonderful ways as he studies the Scriptures.

Ken is currently a member of a Southern Baptist Church, but also fellowships with many Christians across denominational lines. Within the past two years Ken has begun a writing ministry and occasionally has been afforded the opportunity to speak before various congregations of believers. He enjoys playing guitar, has worked up several solo arrangements of spiritual music and has been called upon several times to lead worship with instrumental music. Although making his living as a court reporter, Ken writes: "I am, by profession, a Christian."

MARK MCNEIL

Mark McNeil is an old friend whom I enjoy discussing theology and philosophy with when occasion permits. Mark graduated with honors from Texas Bible College, groomed for ministry in the United Pentecostal Church. He left the UPC after discovering that the sect did not square with Biblical doctrine, doctrines which included the Trinity. Mark spent many years working with Pilgrim Publications, within the Assemblies of God, and with various para-church ministries which included overseas missions and cable television. Mark is currently working on his Phd. and resides in Pasadena, Texas with his wife and son. Although Mark has converted to Roman-Catholicism, I am pleased to include his excellent articles on those doctrines where Catholics and Protestants find unity.

CURT PEGRAM

Curt Pegram: Born April Fool's Day, 1960, in a cotton mill town in NC. Grew up in a dispensational Pentecostal denomination; left home as soon as possible and was nearly seduced by the ideas of naturalistic rationalism (and nearly destroyed as well) in college, where I majored in music performance/piano and played first team hooker for the rugby team. Enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, 1980; spent two years in the air wing as a tactical airfield refueler and Cobra gunship aircrew member; last four years transferred to a combat engineer company, demolitions platoon (explosives and landmine warfare); discharged, 1986; entered paramedic school and played jazz piano professionally. Graduated nursing school, 1992 (wide experience in medical-surgical nursing, including ICU and ER); became an informed adult convert to the Faith, 1995; finished bachelor's of science, Biblical Studies, 1999, Columbia International University, SC; currently pastor of Forest City Church of the Nazarene, Forest City, NC; married to Alice Jones Pegram (an RN and former associate in commodities, stock, and real estate brokerage); two sons, Joshua and Caleb; and two step-sons, Andrew and Brian. We have one medical mission to Ecuador under our belts (2000) and are in preparation for other opportunities for foreign missions.

I consider thinking Christians to be no contradiction of terms, but a very real necessity in the commission of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have rejected pentecostalism and dispensationalism outright in favour of an informed faith that does not deny the power of God. I believe that the four pillars of Wesleyan thought: the sure foundation of God's inerrant Word, the accepted tradition of the Apostolic Church, our God-given reason, and our personal experience with the living God, should inform our walk with Him. We are all called to be evangelists, apologists, missionaries, and theologians. I believe we are called to go into our culture and change it for the glory of God and His Christ.

I have the blessings of Wesleyan-Holiness and Calvinist theological training, a deep love of reading and teaching, and a rich family life with my wife, my children, and my congregation. I consider myself a 'mere Christian' with my theology in process and as it formulates, the closer I get to the holy God, the more wretched I see myself, and the deeper my longing for His transformation of my being becomes.

I enjoy C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, F.F. Bruce, Chuck Colson, Philip Yancey, and a host of others. The love of my wife and sons, World, Church, and military histories, Biblical archaeology, apologetics, Creation science, writing and research, expository preaching, jazz, blues, mountain hiking and camping, gardening, cooking, seashells and rocks, a good laugh, and the problems of pleasure and pain, The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, and Philipps, Craig, and Dean, are a few of my enjoyments in my Christ-blessed existence in this life. I look for the City whose Builder and Maker is God.

PHILIP VEITCH

D. Philip Veitch was raised in the Lord by godly parents. He was living in Naples, Italy, where he worked as a U.S. Navy Chaplain under the auspices of the Reformed Episcopal Church, USA until September, 1999 (see the article in THINKMAIL #21 for details). He and Sharon, his wife of 21 years (first and last), and four children (ages 15, 13, 11, and 9) are currently living in North Carolina and preparing for future ministry as civilians.

Philip's training includes Wayne State University (B.A., philosophy), Westminster Theological Seminary (M.A.R., Bible), The Theological Seminary of the Reformed Episcopal Church (M.Div., General Studies), Villanova University (postgraduate studies, theology) and, currently, Carolina University of Theology (Th.D candidate, Church History). He is currently interested in the English Reformation specifically, but also Reformation studies more generally (e.g., Calvin, Luther).

Philip maintains warm and affectionate ties with many in the Presbyterian Church of America, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, Southern Baptist Churches, and the Lutheran Churches (Missouri-Synod). As a Chaplain, he associated with many other faith groups as well. Philip considers himself an evangelical and a Calvinist, and believes in inerrancy, the substitutionary and penal nature of the atonement, the Deity of Christ, and miracles. He loves the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England (1571), Thomas Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer (1552) and the Westminster Confession of Faith (1647).

Philip believes that our most urgent need of the hour is to recover our lost heritage bequeathed to us in the Reformation. He writes: "I believe we need our pulpits to ring with power, passion, conviction, clarity and cogency in the biblical verities lest we forget, including God's sovereignty and infallible Word."

TOM WARNER

Tom grew up Roman Catholic, but left the Catholic Church to become a devoted Beatle-worshiper in his teens. Following them into drug use led him to "hit bottom" in 1969. After many visits to counselors at a local mental health facility, Tom finally cried out to God. Within a week, a fellow student at Boise State College shared the Gospel with him, and the Lord Jesus began to make him a new person.

Tom studied for pastoral ministry at Central Baptist College in Conway, Arkansas and Multnomah Bible College in Portland, Oregon. He's ministered with Baptist and Advent Christian Churches over the years, and has enjoyed writing for periodicals such as the A. C. Witness, Resurrection (in its good days) and Henceforth.

Tom currently lives in San Diego,California with his wife Shelley and two children, Andy and Corina. He is the pastor of North Park Community Church (Advent Christian). His mission in life seems to be proving that God's power can work in the midst of human weakness, and that those who study the Bible may have to change their minds now and then.