KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

JOE BOOT
Director of Westminster Chapel in Toronto

Rev. Joe Boot and his family are from England, having come to Canada six years ago to work in Christian apologetics, education and evangelism with a particular focus among university students and cultural influencers.  Joe is an apologist, educator, author and senior pastor of Westminster Chapel in Toronto.  He served with Ravi Zacharias for seven years as an apologist in the U.K. and Canada, working for five years as Canadian director of RZIM.  Prior to this he served as an associate pastor with Christ Church Fulham, heading up their evangelism work in central London, England.  In his first ministry role he traveled as national evangelist for Saltmine Trust in the U.K.

He has spoken all over the world in over 25 countries in numerous universities, seminaries, churches, colleges and conferences, including Eton College Windsor, Oxford University, University of Toronto, University of Waterloo, Carlton University, London School of theology, Virginia Tech, Forman University in Lahore, Pakistan and has publically debated leading atheists in North American universities.  A theology graduate of Birmingham Christian College, England, his post-graduate research Masters focuses on the field of missiology with Cliff College and the University of Manchester.  His apologetic works include Searching for Truth, Why I Still Believe and his latest volume, How Then Shall We Answer, which have been published in Europe and North America. He is visiting lecturer at the Oxford Centre for Christian apologetics at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, England and is a contributing author to Thomas Nelson’s major apologetics volume Beyond Opinion.  He is regularly seen on the Michael Coren show and addresses apologetic questions for ListenUp TV.  He is currently in the process of launching the Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity.

Joe lives near Toronto with his wife Jenny and three children Naomi, Hannah and Isaac.
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STEPHEN MEYER
Discovery Institute, Director

Stephen C. Meyer is director and Senior Fellow of the Center for Science and Culture at the Discovery Institute, in Seattle.  Meyer earned his Ph.D. in the History and Philosophy of Science from Cambridge University for a dissertation on the history of origin of life biology and the methodology of the historical sciences. Previously he worked as a geophysicist with the Atlantic Richfield Company after earning his undergraduate degrees in Physics and Geology.

Dr. Meyer has recently co-written or edited two books: Darwinism, Design, and Public Education with Michigan State University Press and Science and Evidence of Design in the Universe (Ignatius 2000).

He has also authored numerous technical articles as well as editorials in magazines and newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Houston Chronicle, The Chicago Tribune, First Things and National Review.

 A·POL·O·GET·ICS (noun) -
"to explain or speak in defense of faith"

"Be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in you." (1 Pet. 3:15)

Many people scorn apologetics because it feels too intellectual, abstract or even callous.  Some contend living a Christian life and modeling Christ's love is more important than reason.  Yet the alternative to engaging the world intelligenlty is to hide from the difficult questions raised by people desperate for salvation. Because reason is employed by people daily the only way to ignore it is to ignore the world surrounding us!

The conference will help students discover thoughtful answers questions like the following:

1.  "Isn't it a contradiction to claim that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine?"

2.  "Are there not many ways to God?"

3.  "How can God claim to love us, yet still end people to hell?"