Thanks to you, a gifted new speaker joins our team
June 1, 2015
When I attended our annual reTHINK youth conference in Southern California last fall, I had a special guest by my side—my nine-year-old daughter, Annabeth. I thought she might be too young for the material, but she was thrilled.
One speaker stood out for her, a lanky, middle-school science teacher named Tim Barnett. He was engaging, he was clear, and he was funny. And even though his talk was on the design argument for God’s existence, because of Tim’s style, clarity, and fascinating PowerPoint presentation, Annabeth got it. And she loved it.
This was Tim’s first time presenting for Stand to Reason, but as it turned out, he had a long, arm’s-length history with STR. He’d listened to our podcasts for years, he’d studied our material, and he’d incorporated our content into his teachings for his own organization, Clear-Thinking Christianity, that he’d founded a few years back.
When I saw Tim’s skill as a communicator—especially with young people—and over the next few months got to know his character, his passion for apologetics, and his commitment as a disciple of Christ, I knew we had to have him as a permanent member of our STR team.
Tim gets it. He understands our heartbeat. He’s deeply committed to building ambassadors in knowledge, wisdom, and character. In fact, he’s been doing it himself for years. Now, through us, he’ll have a chance to reach a much wider audience—especially among young people—with his unique abilities.
Strategically, there is no greater need than passing the baton of the Gospel to the next generation. Bringing Tim Barnett on board is part of STR’s continued commitment to raise up a new wave of thoughtful, winsome, and courageous Christians.
With Tim, though, we get an added bonus. He’s Canadian. He lives in the Toronto area with his wife, Stacey, and their young daughters, Julianna and Jocelyn. This gives STR local access to a large group of beleaguered Christians who desperately need our help.
The cultural pressure against Canadian Christians is even more severe than for Americans. To complicate matters, they have not had as strong a tradition of personal evangelism and apologetics as we’ve had here in the States. Consequently, they’re not as ready to rise to the challenge of defending the Gospel in their own country. At Stand to Reason, we want to help them, and Tim will be on point to do that.
Though a Christian most of his life, Tim had to deal with challenges from friends and colleagues along with his own seasons of doubt, causing him to thoroughly investigate the claims of Christianity. As a result, Tim has been having a powerful impact as a “case-maker” for the Christian worldview, both in the church and on the university campus. Now his heart’s desire is to train other Christians to think clearly about their convictions and to defend the foundational truths of Christianity.
Tim Barnett studied physics and mathematics at York University in Toronto, where he earned his Bachelors of Science with Honors before going on to earn a Bachelors of Education at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. He’s now working on his M.A. in Philosophy at Southern Evangelical Seminary and hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in either Philosophy or Apologetics down the road.
We are all thrilled to welcome Tim Barnett on board the STR speaking team, and we’re anxious to see how God will use him working with us for the Kingdom in the coming years. If you’re interested in scheduling Tim on either side of the border, contact dawnielle@str.org.
Your gifts make it possible for us to build STR’s team and expand our impact. And the need has never been greater. Christians face growing hostility in our culture, and your generosity equips you and many others to defend Christian public values with grace, clarity, and conviction.
Will you help STR train more believers with a generous gift today? Your support helps fund STR’s gifted new speaker, Tim Barnett, and multiplies our reach to equip even more Christian Ambassadors in the U.S. and beyond our borders.
Thanks for supporting STR with a gift today.
Your partner in the fight,
Gregory Koukl