Explore the Bible: Contributors

Elected on October 15, 2012, Dr. Jason K. Allen serves as the fifth president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Kansas City, Mo., and is one of the youngest presidents in all of American higher education. Since coming to Midwestern Seminary, he has led the institution to become one of the largest and fastest growing seminaries in North America.

In addition to his role as President, Dr. Allen serves the institution in the classroom, as an associate professor for preaching and pastoral ministry. More broadly, he serves the church through his preaching and writing ministries as well. He is the author of two recently-released books, The SBC & the 21st Century (B&H Publishing) and Discerning Your Call to Ministry (Moody Publishing). Dr. Allen regularly posts essays on his website, jasonkallen.com, and hosts a weekly podcast, "Preaching & Preachers," which can also be found at jasonkallen.com.

Before coming to Midwestern Seminary, Dr. Allen served as a pastor, and as a senior administrator at Southern Seminary in Louisville, Ky. He and his wife, Karen, are both from Mobile, Ala., and have five children: Anne-Marie, Caroline, William, Alden, and Elizabeth.

Clint Pressley is Senior Pastor of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C. He is leading the church through her three pillars: Exalting Christ, Making Disciples, and Passing the Torch.

He was a student athlete playing football at Wofford College where he earned his undergraduate degree. Pastor Clint received his Masters of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is currently working on his final project for his Doctorate of Ministry from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. In 2014-15, Pastor Clint served as First Vice President of the SBC and in 2013 he served as Vice President of the National SBC Pastor's Conference. He is currently serving as a Trustee for The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Clint is married to Connie and they are the proud parents of two sons, Mack and Nate.

Dr. Akin is married to Charlotte Akin. They have been married since May 27, 1978 for 37 years. They have four sons who all currently serve in the ministry. He has 3 daughters-in-law and 11 grandchildren!

Dr. Akin currently serves as the President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and is a Professor of Preaching and Theology.

Dr. Akin and his wife Charlotte have traveled to Sudan, Turkey, Middle East, Kenya, Asia, Central Asia, Thailand, India and Paraguay serving our students and missionaries and helping share the gospel.

• Website: danielakin.com
• Twitter: @DannyAkin
• Facebook: facebook.com/drdanielakin
• Instagram: danny_akin

Steve Gaines serves as the Senior Pastor at Bellevue Baptist Church, Memphis, TN. He has served in four churches as senior pastor over the past 30 plus years. He holds a Ph.D. in Preaching from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Ft. Worth, TX and currently serves at the President of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Steve is married to Donna Gaines. They have four children: Grant, senior pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, Jackson, TN; Lindsey, homemaker and wife of Ryan Wingo, worship pastor at Apex Baptist Church in Apex NC; Allison, homemaker and wife of Gentry Hill, who is the Senior Pastor of FBC, Poteau OK; and Bethany, a first grade teacher at Treadwell Elementary in Memphis and who is married to David Golding of Golding Mechanical Services. Steve and Donna have ten grandchildren. They are both authors, and Steve has published a musical worship CD and his latest books, Pray Like it Matters, Share Jesus Like it Matters and the re-release of his devotion book Morning Manna

Dr. Jeff Iorg is the president of Gateway Seminary. Prior to his service at the Seminary, Dr. Iorg was the Executive Director of the Northwest Baptist Convention for almost ten years. He was also the founding pastor of Greater Gresham Baptist Church in Gresham, Oregon and has served as a pastor in Missouri and a staff pastor in Texas.

Dr. Iorg teaches leadership, preaching, and church ministry courses at Gateway. He speaks frequently on these same subjects in conferences and other venues, including college campuses and leadership seminars. His publications include six books - The Painful Side of Leadership, The Character of Leadership, Is God Calling Me?, The Case for Antioch, Live Like a Missionary and Seasons of a Leader's Life - along with dozens of articles and curriculum materials. Dr. Iorg maintains a leadership resources website at www.JeffIorg.com.

Dr. Iorg is a graduate of Hardin Simmons University (B.A.), Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div.) and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (D.Min.). He is married to Ann and has three adult children. His hobbies include watching baseball, reading, and searching for the world's best barbeque restaurant.

Eric Geiger is the senior pastor of Mariners Church in Irvine, California. Before moving to Southern California, Eric served as senior vice-president for LifeWay Christian Resources. Eric received his doctorate in leadership and church ministry from Southern Seminary. He has authored or co-authored several books including the best selling church leadership book, Simple Church.

Eric is married to Kaye, and they have two daughters: Eden and Evie. During his free time, Eric enjoys dating his wife, taking his daughters to the beach, and playing basketball.

Raised in a Christian home and mentored by his father, a Southern Baptist Minister, Vance surrendered control of his life to Jesus Christ at age seventeen. At age eighteen, in response to God's call, he relinquished his life to preach the Gospel, and vowed to serve the Lord the rest of his life. He was licensed to the Gospel ministry on December 12, 1990 and ordained to the Gospel ministry on June 22, 1994 at First Baptist Church, Muscle Shoals, Alabama. He holds a Bachelor's Degree, with a major in History and a minor in Business Management, from the University of North Alabama, and a Master's Degree in Divinity from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary.

With a passion for God's kingdom, Vance had a vision to launch a church focused on joining in God's activity locally and globally – thus, Hope Church was born in the fall of 2001. From a small group of eighteen adults in a living room, Hope's fellowship has grown to over 2,000 people in small groups desiring to connect people to live the life of a Jesus follower. Vance has led Hope to understand that what God is doing is bigger than one church. Since its launch in 2001, Hope Church has sent hundreds out of its fellowship on mission, invested millions of dollars in God's global activity, and planted over a dozen churches in the Western U.S.

Vance speaks all over the nation to stimulate awareness that the Gospel is very needed in our own country as well as all over the world. His expositional teachings and command of the diverse biblical vernacular captivate his audience and urge them to ask, "How can I be more involved in the Kingdom?"

Vance resides in Henderson, Nevada with his wife, Kristie. They have four children: Hannah, Caleb, Elijah and Faith.

Gregg Matte is the senior pastor of Houston's First Baptist Church. Under his leadership, this historic church founded in 1841 has moved to the cutting edge of ministry and experienced tremendous growth. Before coming to Houston in 2004, Gregg founded Breakaway Ministries at Texas A&M University, the largest college Bible study in the nation. What started with twelve participants in his apartment grew to a weekly gathering of thousands of students each Tuesday night under his leadership. He continues to serve on Breakaway's Board of Directors.

Gregg holds a Master's degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of the Bible study guide The Highest Education: Becoming a Godly Man and Finding God's Will. His latest book is I AM Changes Who i Am. Gregg has received the "Outstanding Alumni Award" from the Mays Business School at Texas A&M. He was the first pastor and youngest person to receive the honor in the history of the award.

Most importantly, Gregg is married to Kelly and together they have a son and a daughter, Greyson and Valerie.

Afshin was born in Houston, Texas. He moved with his family to their native country of Iran when he was two years old. In the midst of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Afshin's family moved back to Houston when he was six years old. In the second grade, he was given a Bible by a tutor who was teaching him the English language. He read that Bible 10 years later as a senior in high school and came to faith in Christ. His conversion to Christianity was only the beginning of his journey to understand what it would look like to follow Christ.

Ultimately, his family would disown him because of his faith in Christ. His story illustrates the call of Christ on each of our lives: to follow Him regardless of the cost. In so doing, Afshin found that the reward was greater than the cost—he found the life Christ had for him. Afshin says, "My story is not about a man's faithfulness to God; it's about God's faithfulness to a man." His story is one of hope and inspiration, which demonstrates the truth of Matthew 16:25, that whoever loses his life for the sake of Christ will find it.

Afshin received his Master of Divinity with Biblical Languages degree from Southwestern Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas.

Currently, Afshin resides in Frisco, Texas, with his wife Meredith. He is the Lead Pastor of Providence Church in Frisco, Texas. He is also the founder of Afshin Ziafat Ministries and travels nationally and internationally proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ in churches, retreats, camps, conferences, and missions. Afshin speaks weekly at Vertical Bible Study at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He also partners with Elam Ministries and travels into the Middle East regularly to train Iranian pastors. Afshin's passion is to teach the Word of God as the authority and guide for life, to preach Jesus Christ as the only Savior and Redeemer of mankind, and to proclaim the love of Christ as the greatest treasure and hope in life.

Jim Shaddix (BS, Jacksonville State University; M.Div., D.Min., Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; Ph.D., New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary) serves in a dual role as Professor of Preaching at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., and Pastor of Teaching and Training at The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Ala. He has pastored churches in Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Colorado, and also served as Dean of the Chapel and Professor of Preaching at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in New Orleans, L.A.

Jim is the author of The Passion Driven Sermon (Broadman & Holman, 2003) and co-author of Power in the Pulpit with Jerry Vines (Moody, 1999). Jim and his wife, Debra, focus much of their attention on discipling and mentoring young leaders and spouses. They have three grown children and reside in Birmingham.

Dr. George Guthrie serves as the Benjamin W. Perry Professor of Bible at Union University in Jackson, TN. As a student of the New Testament and Koine Greek, he is the author of numerous articles and has written eleven books, including: The Structure of Hebrews: A Textlinguistic Analysis, Biblical Greek Exegesis (Co-authored with J. Scott Duvall), the NIV Application Commentary: Hebrews, and Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Hebrews.

As the chief architect on the Read the Bible for Life biblical literacy initiative, he has published four works, including Read the Bible for Life: Your Guide to Understanding & Living God's Word. Dr. Guthrie has participated in translation projects, such as the revision of The New Living Translation, and has served as a consultant on the Holman Christian Standard Bible, the New Century Version, and the English Standard Version. He has also served for five years as a co-chair of the Biblical Greek Language and Linguistics Section of SBL, has served on the Executive Committee of the Institute for Biblical Research, and has served on the editorial board for Sheffield's JSNTS monograph series.

At Union University he has led in the establishment of, and serves as Senior Fellow in, the Ryan Center for Biblical Studies, which is committed to promoting sound Bible reading, study, and interpretation at the grassroots level of the church. Dr. Guthrie holds both the Ph.D. and the M.Div. degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Th.M. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

Dr. Tony Evans is one of the country's most respected leaders in evangelical circles. He is a pastor, best-selling author and frequent speaker at Bible conferences and seminars throughout the nation.

Dr. Evans has served as the senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship for over 36 years, witnessing its growth from ten people in 1976 to now over 8,500 congregants with 100 plus ministries.

Dr. Evans also serves as president of The Urban Alternative, a national ministry that seeks to restore hope and transform lives through the proclamation and application of the Word of God. His daily radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on nearly 1,000 radio outlets throughout the United States and in more than 130 countries.

Dr. Evans has authored over 60 books including Kingdom Man, Oneness Embraced, The Kingdom Agenda, Marriage Matters and Victory in Spiritual Warfare. Dr. Evans serves as chaplain for the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, a ministry he has done for over 30 years. He is also the former chaplain for the Dallas Cowboys.

Through his local church and national ministry, Dr. Evans has set in motion a Kingdom Agenda philosophy of ministry that teaches God's comprehensive rule over every area of life as demonstrated through the individual, family, church, and society.

Dr. Tony Evans is married to Lois, his wife and ministry partner of over 40 years. They are the proud parents of four: Chrystal, Priscilla, Anthony, Jr., and Jonathan, as well as proud grandparents of eleven.

Dr. David Jeremiah serves as senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, California. He is the founder and host of Turning Point, committed to providing Christians with sound Bible teaching relevant to today's changing times through radio and television, the Internet, live events, and resource materials and books. A best-selling author, Dr. Jeremiah has written more than forty books including Captured by Grace, Living with Confidence in a Chaotic World, What in the World Is Going On?, The Coming Economic Armageddon, and God Loves You–He Always Has. He Always Will.

Dr. Jeremiah's commitment to teaching the complete Word of God continues to make him a sought-after speaker and writer. His passion for reaching the lost and encouraging believers in their faith is demonstrated through his faithful communication of biblical truths.

A dedicated family man, Dr. Jeremiah and his wife, Donna, have four grown children and eleven grandchildren.