Faculty

More than lecturers, AMBEX instructors are ministers at heart.

Faculty Profile

The faculty and staff of AMBEX are selected on the basis of their spiritual maturity (1 Timothy 3), life experience and gift of teaching. They meet regional accreditation standards. More than lecturers, AMBEX instructors are ministers at heart—concerned with each student’s life and soul matters. AMBEX associates are humble servants, committed and accountable to the Word of God and numerous overseers.

Faculty Requirements and Qualifications:

Master’s Degree or higher in teaching/subject area.
Strong résumé—education, experience, references, etc.
Gifted teaching skills
Spiritual leaders (1 Timothy 3, Titus 2)

The teaching faculty associated with AMBEX:

Represent 11 Christian colleges, universities and faith-based organizations.
Rotate each semester, meaning no two semesters are alike.
Are experts in their fields. 80% of teaching faculty hold a doctoral degree or equivalent.
Leave a lasting impact beyond the AMBEX semester. 98% of AMBEX alumni surveyed agree that interacting with AMBEX faculty contributed to their professional success. (Survey Methods)

Professors who have taught at AMBEX

European History, Geography & Culture

Gerald T. Orr
AMBEX Director

Christian Worldview & Apologetics

Dr. Annette R. Harrison
Associate Professor of Intercultural Studies
Corban University

B.A. French – Northwestern College, Orange City, Iowa
Diplôme Supérieur d’Etudes Françaises Modernes – Alliance Française, Paris, France
Certificate in Linguistic Studies – Summer Institute of Linguistics, Dallas, Texas
M.A. Linguistics – University of California, Santa Barbara
Ph.D. Linguistics: Language, Interaction and Social Organization – University of California, Santa Barbara

Professional: Dr. Harrison teaches courses in language and culture acquisition, historical linguistics, sociology, cultural anthropology and intercultural communication. She served with Wycliffe Bible Translators for 23 years in France, Burkina Faso, the Republic of Niger, the Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic.

During that time, she studied people groups in west and central Africa in order to recommend Bible translation priorities and strategies. She also taught linguistics for Bible translation at the Bangui Evangelical School of Theology. She speaks several languages and has learned about many more through linguistic research.

Dr. Harrison has written papers and book reviews on language use in multilingual societies, discourse and pragmatics in African languages, language change in French, dialectology and sociocultural research methods. She has made conference presentations and taught in the United States, Canada, Central African Republic, Kenya, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Her current research interests include multilingualism and diversity in church life, the intersection between worldview, ideologies and language, and linguistic competence for language learners and teachers.

Personal: Annette has been married to Byron since 1985 and has 22 nieces and nephews. She enjoys reading, long conversations with her husband, walking, spiritual discussions with friends, some gardening, cooking and playing with her dog, Toby.

Why Corban: “I love nothing better than to be in a dynamic community of learners. And it is even better when those learners live Christ-centered lives. Corban is exactly that kind of community. In addition, I love being part of Corban’s vision to contribute to Christ-honoring education internationally. Our learning and growing is not only for ourselves, but to honor God and to serve others. It is a privilege to contribute to the education of men and women who will make a difference in the world for Jesus Christ.”

Dr. Tim Anderson
Professor of Theology
Corban University

Dr. Sam Baker
Chair, Christian Ministries
Associate Professor of Christian Ministries
Corban University

B.A. Biola University
MACE Talbot School of Theology
Ed.D. George Fox University

Ministry Experience

20 + years ministry experience, serving churches in So. California and most recently in Southwest Wastingon, in the following areas: sports and recreation ministries, youth ministry, children’s ministry, men’s ministry, adult minisitreis, family ministries, pastoral care and counseling, church administration, and Christian education. Also serves as teacher trainer, camp speaker, conference workshop and seminar leader, church leadership consultant, and regular pulpit supply.

Professional Service

Member: NAPCE – North American Professors of Education (member)
Member: AYME – Association of Youth Ministry Educators
Member: Exceptional Kids Incorporated – Special Needs Kids Organization
Member: Kappa Tau Epsilon Scholastic Honor Society
Member of IASYM (International Association for the Study of Youth Ministry)
Member and certified instructor ETA (Evangelical Training Association)

Publication

Baker, S. Review of KidLead: Growing Great Leaders, by Alan E. Nelson. Christian Education Journal 6:2 (Fall 2010).
Baker, S. Et. al. “Thoughtful Christian response to uncertain times.” Corban Magazine, Vol. IV, No. 1, 17.
Baker, S. (2007, October). Apophatic and Kataphatic spiritual types: A descriptive comparison of the similarities and differences between Protestant and Catholic seminarians’ spirituality. Paper presented at annual conference of the North American Professors of Christian Education. San Jose, CA. [Peer-reviewed].
Baker, S. (2007, September). Understanding postmodernism. Lecture presented at the annual meeting of Children’s Ministers Training Conference. Dallas, Oregon.

Awards

Member, Kappa Tau Epsilon Scholastic Honor Society.

Personal

Has been married to his wife Alyson since 1986. They have two daughters, Courtney and Katie. “We also have a dog named ‘Cozmo” – I’ll leave it to you to guess his breed…?” In his spare time Sam enjoys playing as much golf as possible, reading, hangin’ with family, spending time with students outside of class, and all kinds of sports and recreation activities.

Dr. Greg Trull
Dean of Ministries, Professor of Biblical Studies
Corban University

B.A. Ministry – Independent Baptist College
B.S. Education – Dallas Baptist University
Th.M. Christian Education – Dallas Theological Seminary
M.A. Old Testament – Western Seminary
Ph.D. Biblical Studies – Dallas Theological Seminary

Professional:

Gregory Trull teaches Old Testament, bible interpretation and homiletics, serves as Dean of the School of Ministry, senior pastor of Valley Baptist Church in Perrydale, Ore. since 1992.

Background:

Started teaching at Corban in 1991. He previously worked as an associate pastor and church planter.

Affiliations:

Vice-President of Northwest Evangelical Theological Society from 2001-02, President of the Northwest Evangelical Theological Society from 2002-03, Current member of the Evangelical Theological Society and a member of the Associates of Biblical Research

Steering Committee member; Expository Preaching and Hermeneutics Study Group;

Evangelical Theological Society, 2006-current

Home Church: Valley Baptist Church

Family: Trull married his wife, Tiffany in 1991 and they have three children; Bradley, Bailey and Bethany.

Interests: He loves the outdoors: camping, hunting, fishing, hiking and cycling. He’s also a hardcore Dallas Cowboys fan.

Favorite Verse: Ezra 7:10 because describes the threefold goal of any minister: to know, to live and to teach His Word.

Why Choose Corban: “Jesus spent three years with 12 students, one of whom flunked out. The remaining 11 changed the world. We spend four years with a few hundred students who can also change the world.”

Publication

“Proclaiming Proverbs without Overpromising or Underpreaching” Northwest Evangelical Theological Society 2006.
“Views on Peter’s Use of Psalm 16:8–11 in Acts 2:25–32” Bibliotheca Sacra April 2004.
“An Exegesis of Psalm 16:10” Bibliotheca Sacra July 2004.
“Peter’s Commentary on Psalm 16:8–11 in Acts 2:25–32” Bibliotheca Sacra October 2004.
“Making His Story Our Story: Models for Validating Applications from Old Testament Narrative” Evangelical Theological Society 2004.
Fabulous Finds or Incredulous Fakes? An Examination of the James Ossuary and Jehoash Tablet” Northwest Evangelical Theological Society 2003.
“Peter’s Interpretation of Psalm 16 in Acts 2” Northwest Evangelical Theological Society 2001.
Journeying with God. Purposeful Design publications, 2008.

Awards

Valedictorian, 1985
L.S. Ballard Preaching Award, 1985
Alpha Chi Honor Society, 1986
Donald K. Campbell Ph.D. Award for Bible Exposition, 2002

Dr. Gary Derickson
Chair, Biblical Studies and Theology
Professor of Biblical Studies
Corban University

B.S. Texas A&M University
M.S. Texas A&M University
Th.M. Dallas Theological Seminary
Ph.D. Dallas Theological Seminary

Professional Service

Member of: Evangelical Theological Society, Grace Evangelical Society, Rolling Hills Baptist Church where he teaches an adult Sunday School classes

Publication

“The Relationship of Endogenous Abscisic Acid to Peach Chilling Requirement, Bloom Date, and Applied Gibberellic Acid,” HortScience, 13:6 (1978): 694-96. Co-authored with Dr. H. H. Bowen
“Engineering for Transportability’s Role in the ILS Effort,” Translog, 12:7 (July 1981): 14-15
“What is the Message of 1 John?” Bibliotheca Sacra. 150 (January-March 1993): 89-105
“Viticulture’s Contribution to the Interpretation of John 15:1-6.” Bibliotheca Sacra. 153 (January-March 1996): 34-52
“The Cessation of Healing Miracles in Paul’s Ministry.” Bibliotheca Sacra. 155 (July-September 1998): 299-315
Study Notes on 1-3 John in The Nelson’s Complete Study Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1997
Study Notes on 1-3 John in The Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999
“Incarnational Explanation for Jesus’ Subjection in the Eschaton.” In Looking into the Future: Evangelical Studies in Eschatology. ETS Studies Series. David W. Baker, editor (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2000).
The Disciplemaker: What Matters Most to Jesus. Co-authored with Dr. Earl D. Radmacher. Salem, OR.: Charis Press, 2001
“Matthean Priority/Authorship and Evangelicalism’s Boundary” The Master’s Seminary Journal. 14:1 (Spring 2003): 87-103.
“Viticulture and John 15:1-6” The Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society. 18:34 (Spring 2005): 23-43.
“Commentary Sneak Peak: 1 Peter 3:18-21 by Gary Derickson,” Grace in Focus 21: 2 (March/April 2006): 4.
“Matthew’s Chiastic Structure and its Dispensational Implications.” Bibliotheca Sacra. 163 (October-December 2006): 423-37.

Awards

Texas State Farmer, Future Farmers of America, 1971
Gamma Sigma Delta, Honor Society of Agriculture, 1976
Distinguished Graduate, Transportation Officers Basic Course 3-77 (Top Graduate), 1977
Donald K. Campbell Award in Bible Exposition, D.T.S., 1993.

Personal

Family: Wife, Rebekah; son, Ian (1992) Personal Notes: Writes fiction (fantasy and science fiction). “I enjoy seeing students grow spiritually and make life changing decisions to follow Christ.”

Dr. Kent Kersey
Professor of Theology
Corban University

Dr. Allen Jones
Assistant Professor of Bible
Corban University

Dr. Steven Pointer
Trinity International University

Theology of Reformation

Dr. Jonathan Master
Professor of Theology
Cairn University

Dr. Bradley Gundlach
Professor of History
Trinity International University

Dr. Greg Quiggle
D. L. Moody Professor of Theology
Moody Bible Institute

Dr. J. Gregory Behle
Professor of Christian Education
The Master's University

Dr. Kent Kersey
Professor of Theology
Corban University

Dr. Aaron Smith
Associate Professor of Theology
Colorado Christian University

Ph.D. Systematic Theology (Marquette University)
M.Div. (Bethel Seminary-San Diego)
B.A. (California State University-San Diego)

Other Experience:

Dissertation Fellowship, Marquette University, 2006-2007
Stipendienprogramm, Johannes a Lasco Bibliothek, Emden, Germany, 2006-2007
Full Teaching Assistantship, Marquette University, 2004-2006
One-half Teaching Assistantship, Marquette University, 2003-2004
Teaching Assistantship, Bethel Seminary, San Diego, 2001-2003
Eta Beta Rho (Hebrew Honor Society), 2002-2003
Zondervan Publishing “Greek Award”, 2001

Professional Accomplishments:

Professional Development and Conference Participation:

“Christocentric versus Theocentric Theological Methods in the Secular Age: The Significance of Karl Barth for Contemporary Evangelical Higher Education;” Secularization and Revival: The Fate of Religion in Modern Intellectual History, Third Annual Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture, Waco, Texas, October 2009
“Currents of Justification: Calvin’s Theology in, with, and under the Registers of the Geneva Consistory 1542-1544;” Sixteenth Century Society and Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, October 2005
“The Expressive-Constitutive Word: Karl Barth, Charles Taylor, and the Nature of Language;” American Academy of Religion Upper-Midwest Regional Conference, St. Paul, Minnesota, April 2005

Published Articles and Book Chapters:

“God’s Self-Specification: His Being is His Electing,” Scottish Journal of Theology 62:1 (2009): 1-25
“Karl Barth,” in Dictionary of Christian Spirituality, ed. Glen G. Scorgie (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010)
“Knowledge of God,” in Dictionary of Christian Spirituality, ed. Glen G. Scorgie (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010)
“God Is As He Wants to Be: Letting God be God in the Relationship between Will and Being,” in Trinity and Election in Contemporary Theology, ed. Michael Dempsey (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, forthcoming)

Translations:

Peter Opitz, “Calvin as Bible Translator from the Model of the Hebrew Psalter,” in Herman J. Selderhuis, ed., Calvinus sacrorum literarum interpres: Papers of the International Congress on Calvin Research 2006 (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008)

Dr. Steve Casseli
Senior Minister
Holy Trinity Presbyterian Church

Dr. Ken Cleaver
Associate Professor of Church History and Theology
School of Divinity, Liberty University

Dr. Steven Pointer
Trinity International University

Art History of the Western World

Dr. Grant Horner
Associate Professor of English
The Master's University

B.A., York College
M.A., University of Alabama
Ph.D./ABD , University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Additional Ph.D. work at Duke University
PhD Fellow, Claremont
Joined TMC 1999

Professor Grant Horner’s academic specialty is the literature, theology and philosophy of the Renaissance and Reformation, with primary concentration in Milton, Shakespeare, Erasmus, Luther, Calvin and late sixteenth and seventeenth century intellectual and cultural history. His research and writing has focused on Christian Humanism in the Reformation, particularly the complex relationship between developing Reformed thought and Classical Graeco-Roman pagan mythology and philosophy. He has worked on the citation of classical Greek and Latin authorities by Renaissance writers, published on theology and the arts, and is actively researching and writing a full-length work on John Milton and John Calvin. His book on film and theology is under contract with Crossway and will appear in late Fall 2009.

Horner was named “Professor of the Year” in May 2001, his second year at The Master’s College, and again in 2007. He has taught at the University of Alabama and UNC-Chapel Hill, and was appointed Hudson Strode Scholar in Renaissance Studies (1994-96). At Master’s, Professor Horner teaches courses on Medieval and Renaissance literature, Film Studies, Shakespeare, Milton, Drama, Poetry and Poetics, Comedy, Critical Theory, Western Art History, Epic, Christian Humanism, and Classical Latin. He also serves as Chair of Humanities in the Rhetoric School at Trinity Classical Academy.

Prof. Horner speaks regularly in a number of venues including national radio, particularly on current theological trends, philosophy and popular culture. He has spoken to Berkeley students on Christianity and popular culture, was invited to lecture at Caltech on representations of human consciousness in philosophy and art, and speaks regularly on the radio. He and his wife, Joanne, have three children: Seth, Josiah and Rachel, and they live in Santa Clarita, California. They love to watch and discuss movies! Grant has been involved heavily in rock climbing, ice climbing, and mountaineering since 1979, and he has made four one-day speed-climbing ascents of Yosemite Valley’s 3000′ El Capitan – the largest vertical granite cliff in the world. He is one of a handful of climbers who has done the route in less than 24 hours (usual ascents are 3-6 days). He spends much of the summer in the High Sierra on huge, high-altitude rock walls. He has recently rekindled a longtime passion for sailing around the Channel Islands off Southern California’s Pacific coast.

Dr. Colette G. Tennant
Professor of English
Corban University

B.A. in English from Ohio State University
M.A. in English from Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia
Ph.D. in English from Ohio State University

Began teaching at Corban University in 1995.
Areas of expertise: American Literature, Minority Authors, Creative Writing and Poetry (writing and reading).
Attends Salem Alliance Church and is the founder of Corban’s poetry club Pen & Chalice and theLiterary Arts Council. She is also the Vice President of Oregon State Poetry Association and a member of Peregrine Writers of Salem, Oregon, Modern Language Association, Oregon Christian Writers, and the Oxford Round Table.

Published Works:

In December, 2003, my book Reading the Gothic in Margaret Atwood’s Novels was published. I have also had approximately 40 poems published.

“As a Christian, I thought it would be wonderful to teach at a Christian college since I had taught at secular universities and colleges before. Prospective students should know that they would be hard pressed to find a more caring college than Corban. We have an excellent English department with lots of outlets for creativity.”
“I am married and have three children. Along with Literature, I am very much interested in music. I play the piano and write music. I have written six Christmas programs for children, including the scripts and music, and I compose the music for the Corban Theater Arts Camp.

I grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and still cheer for Ohio State’s football team. I was a pitcher for softball teams for 30+ years. I have played lots of tennis and have been a member of many USTA tennis teams.

My favorite place to eat in Salem is China Faith, at least some days. My favorite Bible verse is, “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy, was not ‘Yes’ and ‘No,’ but in him it has always been ‘Yes.’ For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘yes’ in Christ.” I Corinthians 1: 19-20.

A quirky thing about me – I love rodeos. Here’s another – I got locked in a graveyard in Canterbury England when the rest of my family was 6000+ miles away, and nobody knew I was there!”

Dr. Jon Wilson
Professor of English
Corban University

Dr. Linda Samek
Provost
George Fox University

Christopher Palladino
Assistant Professor of History, Humanities and Social Science
Cairn University

Dr. Jay Casbon
Professor of Education
Oregon State University

Modern European Literature

Dr. Jim Hills
Professor of Humanities
Corban University

Dr. Jon Wilson
Professor of English
Corban University

Dr. Stephen Baarendse
Professor of English
Columbia International University