John Ankerberg | |
---|---|
Born | John Ankerberg December 10, 1945 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
Education | University of Illinois at Chicago Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (MA, MDiv) |
Alma mater | Luther Rice College and Seminary (DMin) |
Occupation(s) | Evangelist, Television personality, author, apologist theologian |
Employer | Ankerberg Theological Research Institute (President) |
Known for | Founder, President of Ankerberg Theological Research Institute, Chicago, IL Host, The John Ankerberg Show TV program (syndicated) |
Title | John Ankerberg |
Spouse | Darlene |
Children | 1 daughter, Michelle |
Website | www.johnankerberg.com |
John Ankerberg (born December 10, 1945) is an American Christian television host, author, and speaker. He is an ordained Baptist minister and has authored or coauthored more than 150 books and study guides. [1] He is the producer and host of the internationally televised weekly program The John Ankerberg Show. [2]
Ankerberg earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago, an M.A. in Church History and Philosophy of Christian Thought, and a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He earned a Doctor of Ministry from Luther Rice Seminary in Lithonia, Georgia. [3] He is an ordained Baptist minister. [4]
His ministry, the John Ankerberg Show, launched in 1980 on one network in Kansas City, Missouri. [5] His organization notes:
"While speaking at a Youth for Christ summer camp, he was first asked to host a Kansas City Christian television program. Structuring the program with a debate-format, the show quickly caught the attention of other networks. After moving to Chattanooga, Tennessee to serve another media ministry, The John Ankerberg Show was picked up on CBN, a new network that soon expanded nationwide. Within a short time, Dr. Ankerberg’s side project quickly became a full-time ministry in 1980, renting office space and studio time to produce additional programs." [6]
The television program airs on Daystar, God TV, and internationally in 10 languages with 4.5 billion potential viewers in virtually every nation. [7]
Influential among conservative evangelicals, John Ankerberg was a noted influence in the life of Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. [8] In 2018, Ankerberg met with a delegation of leaders regarding international Christian persecution with Vice President Mike Pence. [9]
Ankerberg is a member of the board of directors of the National Religious Broadcasters, a position he has held on multiple occasions. He was most recently noted as a member of the Board Class of 2020. [10]
In 1987, Ankerberg presented evidence that exposed the moral failings of televangelist Jim Bakker, which included solicitation for sex and homosexual relations. [11] [12] [13]
In 1995 Ankerberg and other evangelical leaders expressed opposition to the proposed Evangelicals and Catholics Together ecumenical document designed to foster a sense of unity and cooperation between Protestant evangelicals and Catholics. This opposition resulted in a meeting that drafted an amendment clarifying the beliefs of the evangelical signers, which stated that "cooperation with evangelically committed Roman Catholics, does not imply acceptance of Roman Catholic doctrinal distinctives or endorsement of the Roman Catholic Church system." Ankerberg stated that the meeting "heals the breach", but "failed to mollify the concerns of many evangelicals." [14]
Ankerberg has stated that he is non-partisan when it comes to voting for president. [15]
Ankerberg is married to his wife Darlene; they have one adult daughter. The Ankerbergs have lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee, since 1980. [16]
James Orsen Bakker is an American televangelist and convicted felon. Between 1974 and 1987, Bakker hosted the television program The PTL Club and its cable television platform, the PTL Satellite Network, with his then wife, Tammy Faye. He also developed Heritage USA, a now-defunct Christian theme park in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
Jerry Laymon Falwell Sr. was an American Baptist pastor, televangelist, and conservative activist. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch in Lynchburg, Virginia. He founded Lynchburg Christian Academy in 1967, founded Liberty University in 1971, and co-founded the Moral Majority in 1979.
The Moral Majority was an American political organization and movement associated with the Christian right and the Republican Party in the United States. It was founded in 1979 by Baptist minister Jerry Falwell Sr. and associates, and dissolved in the late 1980s. It played a key role in the mobilization of conservative Christians as a political force and particularly in Republican presidential victories throughout the 1980s.
Televangelism and occasionally termed radio evangelism or teleministry, denotes the utilization of media platforms, notably radio and television, for the marketing of religious messages, particularly Christianity.
The 700 Club is the flagship television program of the Christian Broadcasting Network, broadcast each weekday in syndication in the United States and available worldwide on CBN.com. The news magazine program features live guests, daily news, political opinion commentary, contemporary music, testimonies, and Christian ministry. Celebrities and other guests are often interviewed, and Christian lifestyle issues are presented. The program additionally features world news stories plus investigative reporting by the CBN News team.
Heritage USA was an American Christian-themed water park, theme park and residential complex in Fort Mill, South Carolina, built by televangelist Jim Bakker and his wife Tammy Faye Bakker, founders of The PTL Club.
The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) is an American association of Evangelical Christian denominations, organizations, schools, churches, and individuals, member of the World Evangelical Alliance. The association represents more than 45,000 local churches from about 40 different Christian denominations and serves a constituency of millions. The mission of the NAE is to honor God by connecting and representing Evangelicals in the United States.
National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) is an international association of evangelical communicators. While theologically diverse within the evangelical community, NRB members are linked through a Declaration of Unity that proclaims their joint commitment and devotion to Christianity.
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Religious broadcasting, sometimes referred to as faith-based broadcasts, is the dissemination of television and/or radio content that intentionally has religious ideas, religious experience, or religious practice as its core focus. In some countries, religious broadcasting developed primarily within the context of public service provision, whilst in others, it has been driven more by religious organisations themselves. Across Europe and in the US and Canada, religious broadcasting began in the earliest days of radio, usually with the transmission of religious worship, preaching or "talks". Over time, formats evolved to include a broad range of styles and approaches, including radio and television drama, documentary, and chat show formats, as well as more traditional devotional content. Today, many religious organizations record sermons and lectures, and have moved into distributing content on their own web-based IP channels.
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) is an academic divinity school founded in 1897 and located in the northern Chicago suburb of Deerfield, Illinois. It is part of and located on the main campus of Trinity International University. It is among the largest theological educational institutions.
John Vernon McGee was an American ordained Presbyterian minister, pastor, Bible teacher, theologian, and radio minister.
Dennis James Kennedy was an American Presbyterian pastor, evangelist, Christian broadcaster, and author. He was the senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from 1960 until his death in 2007. Kennedy also founded Evangelism Explosion International, Coral Ridge Ministries, the Westminster Academy in Fort Lauderdale, the Knox Theological Seminary, radio station WAFG-FM, and the Center for Reclaiming America for Christ, a socially conservative political group.
The PTL Club, also known as The Jim and Tammy Show, was a Christian television program that was first hosted by evangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, running from 1974 to 1989. The program was later known as PTL Today and as Heritage Today. During its final years, The PTL Club, which adopted a talk show format, was the flagship television program of the Bakkers' PTL Satellite Network.
NRB TV is an evangelical Christian cable channel founded by members of the National Religious Broadcasters, an international association of Christian communicators. While the NRB association is located in Manassas, Virginia, the channel's corporate headquarters is located in Nashville, Tennessee. Created in 2005, the network can be seen on DirecTV satellite and broadcast affiliates and is viewed by an audience of over 40 million viewers. Programming can also be streamed at nrbtv.org, on Roku players, and via a mobile app available for iPhones, iPods, iPads, Android phones, Android tablets, and Windows Phones.
The 2008 United States presidential campaign exposed candidates to a number of controversies based on associations with religious advisors, either in a personal capacity or through the pursuit of their political endorsements.
The PTL Television Network, often referred to as simply PTL, is an American evangelical Christian television network originally located in Fort Mill, South Carolina, founded by Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker in 1974 and dedicated in April 1977. During PTL's fourteen-year history, the Bakkers, as hosts of the network's flagship talk show, The PTL Club, became two of the most recognizable and highly-rated televangelists in the U.S. However, PTL collapsed in 1987 after a former church secretary, Jessica Hahn, accused the evangelist of rape, while later financial scandals revealed that the couple had used the nonprofit PTL's donations to fund an opulent personal lifestyle. Bakker went to prison for embezzlement in 1989.
"Evangelicals and Catholics Together" is a 1994 ecumenical document signed by leading Evangelical and Catholic scholars in the United States. The co-signers of the document were Charles Colson and Richard John Neuhaus, representing each side of the discussions. It was part of a larger ecumenical rapprochement in the United States that had begun in the 1970s with Catholic-Evangelical collaboration and in later para-church organizations such as Moral Majority founded by Jerry Falwell at the urging of Francis Schaeffer and his son Frank Schaeffer.
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Emir Caner is the eighth and youngest president of Truett McConnell University, a private Baptist university in Cleveland, Georgia. Since 9/11, he and his brother Ergun Caner have been credited with playing a significant role in cultivating "Islamophobia" and "militant nationalism" in the evangelical Christian community.