Dr. Mark Farnham serves as Director of the Master of Arts in Christian Apologetics program at Lancaster Bible College | Capital Seminary in Lancaster, PA. He has been engaging unbelievers with the gospel using apologetics for almost twenty years. He is also the founder and director of Apologetics for the Church, a local church training ministry equipping ordinary Christians to share and defend their faith effectively. He earned his PhD in Apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. He is the author of Every Believer Confident: Apologetics for the Ordinary Christian and coauthor of Talking About Ethics: A Conversational Approach to Moral Dilemmas. He has been married to Adrienne for 34 years, and they have three married children and seven grandchildren. Mark is a kidney transplant recipient and cancer survivor.
Dr. Matt Lee is the director of the MDiv Global Program and an assistant professor at LBC | Capital. He obtained his MDiv from Fuller Theological Seminary, his MA in Christian Apologetics from Biola University, then his PhD in Christian Apologetics from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Prior to LBC | Capital, he served in various pastoral roles from 2001–2022, notably at SaRang Church in Seoul, Korea, as the lead pastor for the young adult singles ministry. Dr. Lee has released multiple worship music recordings in addition to publishing a number of writings which includes his book, Cultural Contextualization of Apologetics. Dr. Lee is a pastor-teacher, a passionate disciple-maker, and a fervent minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He believes in the power of the Gospel to change everything and seeks to carry out such Gospel-driven ministry through teaching, preaching, and disciple-making. He is married to Lindsey, and they have two children, Olivia and Matthew Jr.
Dr. Welton Bonner was born in Washington DC and raised in Prince Georges’s County, Maryland. Growing up as a pastor’s kid, he was well acquainted with the Bible and Christianity, however, he did not come to true repentance and faith until he was 18. Throughout his teenage years, he pursued the pleasures of the world that eventually landed him in jail on four separate occasions. On his fourth and final stay, the Lord drew him to himself, and Welton entrusted his life to the way, the truth, and the life. He has been passionately pursuing Christ and sharing His grace and truth ever since!
After graduating from DuVal High School (2010), where he had once dropped out, he attended Washington Bible College and later transferred to Lancaster Bible College where he graduated in 2014. It was at LBC that he met his wife Kacie. He and Kacie have three children: Elijah, Torah, and Moses. Welton and Kacie moved to Washington, D.C. to help his father plant Greater Love Church where he served as the preaching pastor. He is now an intern at Capitol Hill Baptist Church preparing to plant Eastside Community Church on the east side of the Anacostia River. He has his MA in Biblical Studies and received his Ph.D. in Biblical Studies in December 2022. Like Ezra in the Bible: “the good hand of his God was on him. For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of Yahweh, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel” (Ezra 7:9b-10). Welton exists to study, obey, and teach God’s Word to his people and has seen Yahweh’s good hand upon him to fulfill that purpose.
Dr. Al Huss recently retired from his position as Professor of Theology and New Testament with Lancaster Bible College | Capital Seminary and Graduate School. Prior to joining LBC | Capital, Al’s teaching ministry included twelve years as a Professor of NT at Calvary Baptist Seminary, Lansdale PA. Al’s interest in biblical studies and passion to teach God’s Word have encompassed a range of NT classes, including Biblical Greek, Pauline and Johannine Theology, NT Backgrounds, and the NT Use of the OT.
Al currently serves as an elder at Bethel Baptist Church of Wilmington, DE, where he is involved in various men’s ministries, teaches an adult Discipleship Curriculum class, and leads one of Bethel’s community groups. Al has been privileged to serve the Lord vocationally through two diverse callings – first as a research scientist and then as a seminary professor. In both callings, Al’s desire has been to honor Christ and proclaim His glory. He completed his engineering education at the University of Illinois and his theological education at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Al has been blessed to be married 51 years to his childhood sweetheart, Debby, and loves spending time with their three sons and their families. When not in Delaware, Al and Debby can generally be found in either Raleigh or Seattle enjoying time with their eight precious grandkids.
Tori Zbinden has worked with a college ministry named DiscipleMakers for the last 8 years. She spends much of her time doing evangelism, training, teaching, and discipleship. She has her Masters in counseling from Westminster Theological Seminary. She currently lives in Allentown, Pa, attends a PCA church in Quakertown, and does foster care for teenage girls.
Jesse Skaggs was born and raised in Lancaster, PA and has been a high school educator for over twenty years, teaching physics, astronomy, and Earth science. He developed an intense interest in apologetics as an adult and began formal training at Biola University. Jesse continues to pursue his Master of Science and Religion degree, which is an apologetics degree more narrowly focused on science. His research interests include the history and philosophy of science, evolution, and intelligent design. He co-directs a local chapter of Reasonable Faith in order to encourage Christians to grow in their ability to defend the faith, and he has spent countless hours over the years engaging in person with atheists and freethinkers in order to challenge their worldviews.
Mark Lamontia just retired as a Corporate Fellow at a major specialty materials company, with 43 years working in Application Design and Development. Mark has a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from The Ohio State University. He has 38 commercialized products, 91 publications in technical literature, 20 patents, and 63 mentees. He contributes to many NASA, military, and aerospace contracts, and is a frequent speaker at international conferences.
Experience in Apologetics
Mark has been a lecturer on Intelligent Design and the ID/Darwinism controversy since 1995. Mark also guest taught Cosmology at Towson University. More recently, he has spoken/debated at West Virginia University, Towson University, Penn State University, the University of Delaware, Drexel University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Maryland-Baltimore Campus on the origin of the information content required for life, the Darwinism/Intelligent Design controversy, the engineering evidence for Intelligent Design, and Christian apologetics.
Jeff Mindler is an alum (14′) of Lancaster Bible College where he earned his Bachelor’s and Master of Arts degrees shortly after becoming a Christian in high school. It was at LBC that he found his love and passion for the Bible, systematic theology, church history, and apologetics. Jeff returned to LBC in 2019 to work as an admissions counselor and begin teaching as an adjunct faculty member in the Bible & Theology department.
He is now an MTh student at Union Theological College in Belfast, Northern Ireland studying systematic and historical theology, with an interest in seventeenth-century reformed theology and the person of John Owen in particular. He has had the opportunity to engage in numerous apologetic encounters for several years with a variety of unbelievers in the greater Lancaster area and enjoys helping Christians know what they believe and how to defend it against all opposition.
Jeff is also married to his lovely wife Joe’l, whom he met while a student at LBC, and the father of their son, Judah. They are members of Grace Baptist Church of Millersville where Jeff has served as an elder and regular teacher. He enjoys reading, weight lifting, Star Wars, and playing chess when the opportunity may arise.
Engaging LGBTQ+ identity in a post-Christian era
Chris Torchia is a Licensed Professional Counselor with over 10 years of experience counseling in private practice and parachurch ministries. Chris holds a B.A. in Intercultural Studies from Lancaster Bible College. He also earned his M.A. in Counseling from Westminster Seminary, as well as a Certificate in Advanced Professional Counseling from Missio Seminary. Following his graduate work, Chris served 9 years at Harvest USA, a ministry focused on caring for individuals and families affected by issues of sexual brokenness. During his time there, Chris actively participated in the Men’s Ministry and teaching staff, and held the position of Director of Parents and Family Ministry, providing care for Christian parents of LBGTQ+ identified children.
Currently, Chris is a Pastoral Counseling Associate at Calvary Church of Lancaster. Here he brings his extensive ministry experience to serve the local church community. His passion lies in developing leaders and equipping the church to effectively care for individuals struggling within their congregation. Prior to his counseling career, Chris co-founded a breakdance ministry focusing on teaching and mentoring youth, through which he met his now wife of 7 years while teaching in the Dominican Republic. Chris and Yoana are now on a new adventure raising their two young boys aged 2 and 4 years old.
Leigh Ober is a reader, writer, teacher, runner, and overall nerd. Her love of nerdy things ranges from science fiction and fantasy books to the history of words. She grew up in a “Christian bubble” going to school at Lancaster Christian School and attending Calvary Church, both of which are still relatively true today. She now works and teaches at Lancaster County Christian School (her high school merged with another one to become LCCS) and still attends Calvary Church. Here she has served in student ministry as a small group leader and coach for 20 years and in women’s ministry as a teacher and writer for several years. To break out of her bubble, she earned her BSE in English Education from Millersville University with the goal of becoming a missionary.
However, God had other plans to keep her within a mile of her childhood home in Lancaster City. For her, the beauty of living in the city means that the world comes to her, even though she is still pursuing her life goal of visiting every country. While she loves the variety of cultures and worldviews that coexist in such a unique space, she mostly enjoys building relationships and having conversations with people in her neighborhood and in downtown spaces. Recently her desire to be a lifelong learner has led her to LBC where she is now one year from finishing her Master of Divinity in Leadership Studies and Christian Apologetics. With her in all of this is Jonathan, her extremely supportive husband of 19 years, and their two beautiful, weird, amazing, creative, talented teenage daughters, Morgyn and Bailey.
Carey Walton holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy of Religion from Southern Evangelical Seminary and also a Master’s degree in Biblical Apologetics. She teaches and speaks on a variety of apologetic subjects at conferences and churches, and periodically runs an apologetics conference for high school/college-age youth called Truth Matters. She and her family make their home in Lititz, PA.