Course Overview

The purpose of this course is to deepen each student’s understanding of and faith in the foundational truths of Genesis 1-11 and to equip them with the Biblical and scientific evidence to teach and defend that literal history in their ministry to the church and in their witness to a lost world that has been largely brainwashed with the ideas of evolution and millions of years and as a result is in deep moral perversion and spiritual darkness.

Lectures

1. Creation vs. Evolution: Why It is Vitally Important
2. The Question of Origins and the Christian Worldview
3. How to Think Correctly about Origins
4. Millions of Years: The Idea’s Unscientific Origin and Catastrophic Consequences
5. Six Days or Millions of Years of Creation?
6. Big Bang: Exploding the Myth of Evolutionary Cosmology
7. Noah’s Flood: What the Bible Teaches
8. Noah’s Flood: Geology Confirms the Bible
9. Origin of Species: Was Darwin Right?
10. Ape-men, Adam and the Gospel
11. Dinosaurs: The Scientific Evidence Confirms the Bible
12. Intelligent Design Arguments vs. The Intelligent Design Movement

Textbooks

• Mortenson, Terry and Thane H. Ury, eds. Coming to Grips with Genesis. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2008.
• Mortenson, Terry, ed. Searching for Adam. Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2016.
• The Global Flood: A biblical and scientific look at the catastrophe that changed the earth (Pocket Guide).
• Should Christians Believe in an Old Earth (Pocket Guide).
• Osborne, Brian. Quick Answers to Social Issues.
• Osborne, Brian and Bodie Hodge. Quick Answers to Tough Questions.
• Snelling, Andrew. “Radioactive & Radiocarbon Dating” video lecture.
• Mortenson, Terry. “Systematic Theology Texts and the Age of the Earth: A Response to the Views of Erickson, Grudem, and Lewis and Demarest,” Answers Research Journal 2, 2009.
• Mortenson, Terry. “Theistic Evolution: A Response to Wayne Grudem, Making the Same Errors He Opposes in Others,” Answers Research Journal 14, 2021.

Meet the Professor

Dr. Terry Mortenson holds an MDiv and a PhD in the history of geology. He has lectured in 35 countries and formerly served for 26 years with Campus Crusade for Christ in the United States and in Eastern Europe. He now serves as an author, speaker, and researcher with Answers in Genesis.

Course Dates

• Course Work: July 8 - September 9, 2024
• Class Module: August 5-9, 2024

Course Overview

What is the role of the church in today’s culture? This accredited graduate course will examine that question and determine the answer by establishing the appropriate definition of success for the church and by exploring the sufficiency of Scripture for practicing that role within our culture. Review will be made of current cultural issues confronting the church. Students will examine what constitutes the assigned task for the church as well as how that task interacts with today’s culture. Each student will compose a Biblical philosophy of the church and culture. This course may also be taken live online for credit or audit. 3 credit hours

Meet the Professor

Daniel Anderson, Th.D., has served as President of Appalachian Bible College since 1983. After receiving a Bible/Theology diploma from ABC, he completed undergraduate studies at Faith Baptist Bible College. He earned a Master of Divinity degree from Grace Theological Seminary while being ordained to the ministry and serving as a pastor. Dr. Anderson later earned a Master of Sacred Theology and Doctor of Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary. The passion of Dr. Anderson’s life and ministry has centered upon nurturing servants for the fields of the world. The motto of ABC, …Because Life is for Service, captures his heart.

Course Dates

• Course Work: December 9, 2024 - February 10, 2025
• On-Campus Module: January 6-10, 2025

Course Overview

This course examines the central place of the Scriptures for all of life and ministry. Included in the course is an examination of the Bible's own claims for the primacy of authoritative revelation, contemporary challenges to a Bible-based ministry, and a course project designed to foster a Bible-based ministry in the student’s setting. This course may also be taken live online for credit or audit.
3 credit hours

Textbooks

• Dever, Mark and Paul Alexander. The Deliberate Church: Building Your Ministry on the Gospel. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2007.
• Frame, John. The Doctrine of the Word of God, in A Theology of Lordship, Vol. 4. Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R, 2010.
• Brash, Richard. How God Preserved the Bible. Scotland: Christian Focus, 2019.

Meet the Professor

Jonathan A. Rinker is the Chair of the Bible/Theology Major at Appalachian Bible College, where he has served for fifteen years with his wife Sarah and their four children. He has also been the lead elder at his local church during this time, exercising his gift in preaching and applying a Biblical philosophy of ministry to practical issues in a local church. In this course he communicates his passion for a philosophy of ministry that is driven by the authority of Scripture, showing how this applies to every area of ministry, including family life, evangelism, counseling and preaching, and corporate worship. Dr. Rinker earned his B.A. from Appalachian Bible College, M.Div. from Virginia Beach Theological Seminary, and Ph.D. from Baptist Bible Seminary.

Course Dates

• Course Work: February 3 - April 7, 2025
• On-Campus Module: March 3-7, 2025

Course Overview

Counseling III builds on the two prerequisite ABC graduate classes Counseling I and Counseling II. The trajectory of study will begin with the topic of premarital counseling and will move through such topics as communication, roles, intimacy, unsaved spouses, singlehood, and moral crisis issues. 3 credit hours

Textbooks

• Archer, Clint. The Home Team.
• Ricucci, Gary and Betsy. Love That Lasts.
• Harvey, Dave. When Sinners Say, "I Do."
• Priolo, Lou. The Complete Husband.
• Peace, Martha. The Excellent Wife.
Textbooks are subject to change. Consult current syllabus.

Meet the Professor

Dr. Jim Newcomer serves as Senior Pastor at Calvary Baptist Church of Ypsilanti, Michigan. He entered pastoral ministry in 1994 and has served as a youth pastor (6 years) and an executive pastor (11 years). He has also held two senior pastorates—one in North Carolina (5 years), and now in Michigan. In addition, Jim has been actively teaching pastoral theology and Biblical counseling on both undergraduate and graduate levels in several institutions since 2000. He serves on the boards of Grace Biblical Counseling Ministry and Freedom That Lasts. Jim is a Level II certified counselor with the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC). He is also certified with the Association of Biblical Counselors (ABC). He and his wife Lorie have three adult children and several grandchildren.

Course Dates

• Course Work: July 7 - September 8, 2025
• On-Campus Module: August 4-8, 2025