The Riddle of Creation/Evolution

While many ministries are seeing less of an emphasis on conducting public teaching meetings, the six worldwide AiGs have decided to go in the other direction. In the United States alone, over 300 teaching meetings will be held in 2005 (250 were conducted in 2004, reaching over 90,000 people).

To meet the growing need for AiG teaching meetings, AiG-USA is particularly happy to announce that Mike Riddle of Washington State is now coming on board as a full-time apologetics speaker. Over the years, Mike has become much in demand as a creation speaker, including as an adjunct lecturer with the Institute for Creation Research. Joining him (and as a volunteer) will be his wife Lesley, who shares her husband’s passion for proclaiming the creation/gospel message.

Because Mike can give powerful, well-illustrated talks on

• the importance of upholding biblical authority during these challenging “culture wars” in Western nations
• dinosaurs and the Bible
• the six days of creation
• astronomy and the Bible
• the origin of life, and many, many other fascinating talks

He already has a rather busy schedule lined up for 2005 (see a partial list below).

As a former world-class athlete in the multi-event decathlon (i.e., becoming proficient in ten athletic events, with each decathlon conducted over two grueling days), it’s not surprising that Mike is also versatile in his “creation evangelism” efforts. Not only will he be a speaker out on the field to conduct meetings in churches, schools and other venues, Mike will also be holding workshops in the new AiG-USA facility (within the Creation Museum) in Northern Kentucky. Thirdly, he will also help AiG develop additional curriculum materials for various age ranges on the Book of Genesis.

Mike holds a degree in mathematics and a graduate degree in education. He has been heavily involved in creation ministry for more than twenty years, and has gained such a good reputation as a speaker, that he is often a keynoter at many meetings, including various homeschool conferences in the United States. (In fact, US supporters might want to mention Mike Riddle’s name to the leaders of their statewide homeschool group and ask its program committee to consider inviting Mike to bring his talks on biblical authority.)

Before becoming involved in creation ministry, Mike was a US Marine (rising to the rank of captain) and during his career as a Marine, appeared on a widely distributed recruiting poster for the Marines. Mike tells us that his goal with AiG is to have the Marines’ famous Latin motto semper fi (“always faithful”) be applied to his ministry of traveling around America (and overseas) to proclaim the creation/gospel message (and thus fittingly fulfilling the Apostle Peter’s command to be faithful in being “ready always to give an answer” (1 Peter 3:15).

Before becoming a Marine, Mike became a US national champion in the track-and-field version of the pentathlon (in 1976). His best events were the 400 meters, javelin, long jump and 1,500 meters (almost a mile). In his professional life, Mike worked for many years in the computer field with Microsoft (yes, he has met Bill Gates).

Mike told us that while he conducts dozens of layperson meetings each year, “my primary passion is to train the trainers—the teachers and pastors—to be able to defend the Christian faith, and then have them teach others. I see it being done through teaching workshops here at AiG’s new headquarters and elsewhere, such as the possibility of web-based, distance learning instructional courses, as well as written materials. We need to be equipping more Christians to uphold their faith and to evangelize more effectively in these challenging times.”

As a speaker, hosting Mike will be even more “cost efficient” for churches (and other groups) who may want to hold an exciting AiG meeting. You see, his wife Lesley will be serving AiG as a volunteer, and will join Mike at most of his events as AiG’s on-site representative (whose salary we don’t have to pay, and thus hosts only have to take care of her travel expenses).

Ken Ham, AiG-USA president, encourages US visitors to this website to have their church leadership contact AiG to have Mike come out and impact their churches and communities with the creation/gospel message: “Mike is a dynamic and passionate speaker, with a wealth of experience in creation ministry. He already has a phenomenal reputation, and brings another exciting dimension to the AiG outreach-including his ability to produce curriculum for many age ranges. Mike’s a great speaker and curriculum developer.”

To request Mike as an excellent speaking choice for your church, school or other group in North America, go to our outreach page.

A partial list of Mike Riddle’s 2005 speaking engagements

January

• Jan. 23: Bellevue, WA, Grace Community Church, junior & senior high students
• Jan. 30: Bellevue, WA, Grace Community Church, junior & senior high students

February

• Feb. 12: Anaheim, CA, Steeling the Mind national conference

March

• March 2-13: Israel, Bible study tour with Compass International

April

• April 1-2: Philadelphia, PA
• April 8-10: Bellevue, WA, Worldview Conference
• April 17-19: Grangeville, ID
• April 22-23: Santa Clara, CA, Christian Home Educators of California (CHEA) convention

May

• May 21: Santa Barbara, CA, Steeling the Mind Conference

June

• June 9-11: Denver, CO, Christian Home Educators of Colorado convention

July

• July 8-10: Ontario, CA, Christian Home Educators of California (CHEA) convention
• July 15-16: Bellevue, WA, Seattle area creation conference
• July 17-22: Lynchburg, VA, AiG's Creation Mega-conference

August

• Aug. 27: Denver, CO, Steeling the Mind Conference

September

• Sept. 16-17: Hagerstown, MD, Antietam Bible College and Seminary

October

• Oct. 22: Coeur d’Alene, ID, Steeling the Mind Conference

Find out more by going to Mike’s creation website, www.creationmatters.org.