A Special Anniversary: 50 Years Since My First Creation Talk

by Ken Ham on January 17, 2025
Featured in Ken Ham Blog

I gave my first-ever creation apologetics talk in 1975 in Dalby, Queensland, Australia, at Dalby Baptist Church (about 2.5 hours west of the city of Brisbane)—that makes this year the 50th anniversary of that first talk. Wow! Look what the Lord has done in 50 years!

Here’s just a little bit of history that brings back a lot of memories (we made some of our best friends ever during our time in Dalby).

During my teaching time at a high school in Dalby, my science students were asking questions about evolution, and I saw how evolution/millions of years being taught in their textbooks had such a negative impact on them even listening to the Christian message. Because of this, the Lord burdened me to found a ministry that today impacts tens of millions of people a year in the USA and around the world. This was the embryonic beginning of what is now the Answers in Genesis ministry.

Also, when I took students from my classes on excursions, the museums were all secular (atheistic), so the Lord burdened me at that time to want to build a Creation Museum. The Creation Museum was opened in 2007, and the Ark Encounter in 2016. They are now the two leading Christian themed attractions in the world.

The ministry as an organization (then called Creation Science Supplies) began in our house in Brisbane in 1977. But in a sense, the Answers in Genesis ministry really began 50 years ago in that Australian country town of Dalby.

But in a sense, the Answers in Genesis ministry really began 50 years ago in that Australian country town of Dalby.

Here’s a photo of Dalby Baptist Church, where I gave my first creation talk. That church building is no longer there as they moved and built a larger modern structure, but a great friend of ours we met when we first lived in Dalby was able to find and send me a copy of a photo of the church.

Dalby Baptist Church

And here’s the house in Brisbane where the ministry officially began, the Creation Museum, Ark, and the Headquarters building in Northern Kentucky that houses our Christian school, Answers Academy, and is currently being renovated to house the offices for the entire ministry.

Brisbane house, Creation Museum, Ark Encounter, new headquarters

Stand back and be in awe of what God has done and praise him.

I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!

“I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad.
Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!” (Psalm 34:1–3)

Celebrating 50 Years

In celebration of 50 years of ministry, this summer we’re hosting the Legacy Conference, June 13–14 at the Ark Encounter. Over two days, I will give my eight classic presentations in the Answers Center. I’ll be covering these topics and more:

  • The authority of God’s Word
  • The importance and relevance of Genesis
  • What a biblical worldview is and why it matters
  • How to live in today’s culture

Don’t miss this special celebration of all the Lord has done—and the message he put as “a fire in my bones” half a century ago—taking place at the full-size Noah’s Ark he enabled us to build. When I think back to that first presentation before that congregation at Dalby Baptist Church, I’m just in awe of what the Lord has done. He has been so faithful and so good and is worthy of all our praise!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.

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