Who’s the “New Guy”?

Hello and welcome to my first blog post, the beginning of an exciting new adventure in God’s calling on my life.

My name is Bryan Osborne. I’ve recently joined Answers in Genesis as a full-time speaker and curriculum specialist. Here is a little of my story: After graduating from Bryan College with a bachelor of arts in biblical studies and minors in Greek and Christian education, I later received my master’s degree in education from Lee University. I have worked with youth for about 20 years, and for the last 13 years, I had the distinct privilege of teaching Bible history in a public school system (more on this in future posts). In 1998 I married my wife—my greatest earthly blessing—and God has recently blessed us with our first son.

Looking back over my life it is quite easy to see God’s fingerprints at every turn. To me, it’s a lot like the book of Esther. When I was younger I never pictured myself as a public high school teacher and certainly didn’t think I’d be a speaker for Answers in Genesis. Yet here I am by God’s grace and direction.

To explain why I’m here and the purpose of this post requires a little more history. I grew up in a wonderful Christian home—whenever the church doors were open we were there and involved. My parents put me in a private Christian school for as long as they could afford it, and I eventually went to two Christian universities. But it wasn’t until about nine years ago that I was first introduced to creation apologetics. I was blown away.

I discovered that we as Christians had answers to things I didn’t know we had answers to! We had real biblical answers for things like dinosaurs, rock layers, fossils, radiometric dating, etc. Vitally more important, I realized that a lot of our culture’s secular humanistic thinking has crept into the church right under our noses. This stealth attack by the enemy assaults the history of the Bible to undermine the authority of the Bible and to discredit the gospel of Jesus Christ.

To put it bluntly, if we can’t believe the history of the Bible, then how can we believe the message of salvation that is based in that history? And one of the primary reasons this stealth attack has been so successful is the epidemic of biblical illiteracy in the culture, and more important, in the church.

Once I understood this, I made the connection to what I had witnessed as I worked with youth in the church and in public schools. The reason that more and more youth (and people in general) continue to walk away from the faith—despite the fact that our culture has more churches and Christian resources than any other country throughout all of history—is that a foundation has been attacked and is crumbling before our very eyes. What foundation? The foundation of the authority of the Word of God. There has been a shift in our culture—actually throughout the entire western world—from God’s Word as the authority, to man’s word.

I began to wonder, “Since I haven’t heard any of this throughout my entire Christian upbringing, training, and education, there must be many others who haven’t heard it either.”

God put a “fire in my bones” to spread this message and eventually directed my steps to Answers in Genesis (another account of God’s providence I plan to write about soon).

I’m the “new guy” on the speaker team here and brand new to the blogosphere! I am thankful for the privilege of writing this post, and it is my hope that you will join me on this journey. Our goal will be to look at current events through the lens of a biblical worldview and to equip ourselves with answers to the skeptical questions of this age by standing boldly on the Word of God. By God’s grace and leading, you and I can help turn the tide of biblical illiteracy—starting in our own homes, small groups, and Sunday school classes—and be the salt and light that God will use to change this culture through His gospel.

Only when we stand on the authority of God’s Word can we be obedient to the Lord’s command in 1 Peter 3:15: “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.”

For an audience of One,

Bryan