Paul Garner

Paul speaks regularly on both the biblical and scientific aspects of the origins question. He can offer Powerpoint-illustrated talks on the biological challenges to evolution, geological dating methods, the evidence for a young world, dinosaurs, case studies of Grand Canyon and Mt St Helens, as well as many other topics.

Paul is well-qualified to speak on these important subjects. He has a BSc (Hons) in Environmental Sciences – Geology/Biology and is a Fellow of the Geological Society. Until October 2002, he was employed as a Senior Information Scientist for a pharmaceutical company. He has written very extensively on the subject of origins and has taken part in international conferences. Paul travels all over the UK – and overseas – speaking in churches, public meetings, schools, sixth-forms and universities. He has taken part in radio and newspaper interviews too.

Paul is married to Debbie. They attend Cambridge Presbyterian Church and have two children.

If you would like to arrange a meeting, Paul will be happy to offer you help and advice – see the contact page for details.

Dr Steve Lloyd

Steve joined us as a new part-time speaker at the beginning of November 2007. He worked in scientific research for eight years before entering pastoral ministry.

The following list of talks indicates the general areas in which Steve is happy to speak. Talk titles with brief descriptions are given as examples, but these can be tailored to what is most appropriate for a particular audience:

• Intelligent Design: friend or foe? This talk can be readily adapted for a Christian or non-Christian audience, and does not assume the Christian audience is pro-ID. The main themes are to discuss what ID is, and its relationship with creationism.
• Creation and evolution: choosing between heresy and apologetic suicide? This talk is aimed at Christians trying to understand what they should believe about origins. It is really a critique of theistic evolution that can be focused on the interpretation of the biblical text or more theological arguments such as the ‘god-of-the-gaps’ objection.
• Why does it matter? What’s @stake in the creation/evolution debate? Here the aim is to address Christians who are deliberately agnostic on the issue because they think it is of marginal importance. It addresses both scientific issues and the importance of biblical history in authentic Christianity.
• A new creation: new answers to old questions. This talk will give an overview of the recent scientific work building a creationist understanding of earth history as well as showing that the biblical basis for creationism is not primarily concerned with the interpretation of Genesis 1, but the whole story of the Bible.
• What do I do when the ‘facts’ contradict the Bible? The aim of this talk is to outline a strategy for Christians when they face seemingly insurmountable evidence contradicting or questioning the Bible. The focus will be on questions arising from science and history, but the strategy is also applicable to countering attacks on the ethical teaching of the Bible. This talk would be particularly relevant to students or prospective students, or those involved in presenting a Christian viewpoint in the public sphere.

Sermons suitable for Sunday services:

Steve is also developing sermon style messages suitable for Sunday services that focus on themes that show how a creationist understanding of the early chapters of Genesis is essential to Biblical theology. Possible topics include:

• The flood. “How does the flood fit into the story of the Bible?”
• Adam and human evolution. “Could Adam eat his parents?”
• A biblical theology of violence and animal suffering. “Why should vets use anaesthetic?”
• Giants in the Bible. “Why did David have to kill Goliath?”
• The destruction of Jericho and historicity of the Bible. “If Jericho was not razed is our faith in vain?”

If you would like to arrange a meeting with Steve, see the contact page for details.