Gail Chord Schuler's Favorite Bible Teachers
When I listen to these guys I really feel like I’ve been fed the Word of God. Having read the Bible from cover to cover hundreds of times, there aren’t too many Bible teachers out there I respect, but these belong to that group. I strive to find Bible teachers who will teach me the Bible accurately, not just their opinions, and these belong to that rare group. Many of the teachers below teach at Chafer Theological Seminary (the one that is closest to my beliefs). I also have lots of respect for Dallas Theological Seminary. I really enjoy deep Bible study and dislike sermons that are purely topical and don’t give me a lot of Bible to chew on. This may reflect the fact that I have genius I.Q. and like my mind to be stimulated. If you’ll notice all the teachers below have earned doctorates in various fields. I consider Jesus’ statements in Bible for Tribulation Saints as Bible and I love hearing Brent’s take on what Jesus has said to us.
Andy Woods, Th.M., J.D., Ph.D.
Senior Pastor at Sugar Land Bible Church, Sugar Land, Texas
Andy became a Christian at the age of 16. He graduated with High Honors earning two Baccalaureate Degrees in Business Administration and Political Science (University of Redlands, CA.), and obtained a Juris Doctorate (Whittier Law School, CA), practiced law, taught Business and Law and related courses (Citrus Community College, CA) and served as Interim Pastor of Rivera First Baptist Church in Pico Rivera, CA (1996-1998).
In 1998, he began taking courses at Chafer and Talbot Theological Seminaries. He earned a Master of Theology degree, with High Honors (2002), and a Doctor of Philosophy in Bible Exposition (2009) at Dallas Theological Seminary. In 2005 and 2009, he received the Donald K. Campbell Award for Excellence in Bible Exposition, at Dallas Theological Seminary.
In addition, he has authored and contributed to many Christian books and theological journals and speaks on a variety of topics at Christian conferences and churches. Andy has been married to his wife Anne since 1998 and they have one daughter, Sarah.
Brent Spiner M.D., student at Dallas Theological Seminary
I led Brent to Jesus in September 2011. You can read about it in Brent Spiner’s Flames. Yes, this is the same Brent Spiner who played Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation. He is one of the authors of my Bible for Tribulation Saints, which has many actual quotes from Jesus Christ himself. He studied medicine at U.C.L.A. medical school (about 2002 to 2006) and complained to me that his coursework at Dallas Theological Seminary was too easy for him! That it didn’t challenge him. Leave it to my genius to feel that way! Jesus considers him my husband, though I have yet to live with him.
Dr. Mike Stallard, the Director of International Ministries for the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry.
Professional Information: B.S. (Mathematics), University of Alabama, 1975; M.Div. (Bible & Ministry), Liberty University, 1980; S.T.M. (New Testament), Dallas Theological Seminary, 1984; Ph.D. (Systematic Theology), Dallas Theological Seminary, 1993.
His passion for clearly teaching the Bible and its implications for daily living are evidenced through his life and ministry. He taught theology for 22 years at Baptist Bible Seminary in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania where he also served as Director of Ph.D. Studies and Professor and Academic Dean.
He is the founder and moderator of the Council on Dispensational Hermeneutics, and has been a frequent speaker at the Conservative Theological Society, The Evangelical Theological Society, the Council on Dispensational Hermeneutics and the Pre-Trib Study Group.
As an author, Dr. Stallard has written for publications such as The Journal of Ministry and Theology, The Baptist Bulletin, The Conservative Theological Journal/Journal of Dispensational Theology, Bibliotheca Sacra, Israel My Glory, Answers magazine and The Dictionary of Premillennial Theology. He has authored two books, The Early Twentieth Century Dispensationalism of Arno C. Gaebelein (Edwin Mellen Press) and The Books of First and Second Thessalonians: Looking for Christ’s Return (AMG Publishers) and edited a third book entitled Dispensational Understanding of the New Covenant (Regular Baptist Books). He is currently writing an exegetical commentary on the book of Revelation.
Dr. Stallard has has several years of experience as a lead pastor, including inner-city church planting. He is the founder and director of the Mission Scranton Urban Outreach Ministry and the founding pastor of New Life Baptist Church in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Before going into full-time ministry, he was an aerospace engineer including working on F-16 jet fighters for the Israeli Defense Force in Israel. Mike lives with his wife Cindy in the Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania area. They have three grown children.
Dr. J. B. Hixson
Dr. Hixson is a nationally known author, speaker, and radio host, with more than 30 years of ministry experience in the pastoral and academic arenas.
Recognized for his expertise in the areas of Systematic Theology, Bible Prophecy, Evangelism, Discipleship, and Hermeneutics, Dr. Hixson has a passion for communicating important theological truths from God’s Word in a clear and easy to understand way, and for helping others learn how to study the Bible effectively for themselves.
Dr. Hixson has served on the faculties and adjunct faculties of nine colleges and seminaries. He earned his B.A. degree from Houston Baptist University, Th.M. degree from Dallas Theological Seminary, and Ph.D. degree from Baptist Bible Seminary. He is the author of numerous books including: Getting the Gospel Wrong: The Evangelical Crisis No One is Talking About; The Gospel Unplugged: Good News Plain and Simple; The Great Last Days Deception: Exposing Satan’s New World Order Agenda; What Lies Ahead: A Biblical Overview of the End Times; and the NBW Book of Theological Charts, Diagrams, and Illustrations; and he is the editor of the book Freely By His Grace: Classical Grace Theology. Dr. Hixson has also authored and contributed to many theological journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles, and other print and online media.
J. B. and his wife Wendy have been married for 27 years and have six children.
Dr. Tom Stegall
Tom came to trust in the sufficiency of Christ’s saving work alone and received eternal life by God’s grace in 1987. Soon afterwards he attended Duluth Bible Church in Minnesota where he began to grow spiritually and become equipped for ministry primarily through the faithful expository teaching of God’s Word and shepherding ministry of the church’s leadership. From 1999–2011 he served as the pastor-teacher at Word of Grace Bible Church in Milwaukee, WI. Tom is married to Debbie and has three children. He has degrees from Moody Bible Institute, Grace Institute of Biblical Studies, University of Minnesota Duluth, and Grace Biblical Seminary (Th.M., Th.D.).
Dr. Dennis Rokser
Pastor-teacher Dennis Rokser came to trust the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior at the age of 18 through the faithful witness of some friends. Upon later attending Beacon Bible Church in Aurora, Minnesota, he was spiritually fed and grounded in the Word of God through the expository, grace-oriented bible-teaching of Pastor Leonard A. Radtke. Dennis was further prepared for the ministry by attending Appalachian Bible College in Bradley, West Virginia, along with additional study from Tyndale Theological Seminary. He also has Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Grace Biblical Seminary. Dennis shares the ministry with his wife, Nancy, and their children, Ian, David, and Sarah.
Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum
Arnold Fruchtenbaum was born in 1943 in Siberia, Russia after his Jewish father — falsely accused of being a Nazi spy when he fled Poland from Hitler — was released from a Communist prison. With the help of the Israeli underground in 1947, the Fruchtenbaum family escaped from behind the Iron Curtain to Germany, where they were confined to British Displaced Persons’ camps. There, Arnold received Orthodox Jewish training from his father before the family finally immigrated to New York in 1951. Before their release, however, the family was befriended by a Lutheran minister; and it was this contact that eventually led Arnold and his mother to the New York headquarters of the American Board of Missions to the Jews (ABMJ). Five years later, this same meeting brought Arnold, at age 13, to saving knowledge of Jesus the Messiah.
His father strongly opposed Arnold’s beliefs, and when the family moved to Los Angeles in 1958, Arnold was forbidden to read the Bible, attend Christian meetings or associate with Jewish-Christian groups. Under these difficult circumstances, Arnold continued as best he could to maintain contact with Jewish believers and to walk with the Lord.
Upon graduating from high school, Arnold was forced by his father to leave home because of his faith. In 1962, he began undergraduate education at Shelton College in New Jersey. Transferring to Ohio’s Cedarville College, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Hebrew and Greek in 1966. He then moved to Israel, where he studied archaeology, ancient history, historical geography, and Hebrew at the American Institute of Holy Land Studies and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. During this time, he witnessed the historic Six-Day War in 1967. Later that year, Arnold returned to the U.S. and entered Dallas Theological Seminary for studies in Hebrew and Old Testament. He also began working as a missionary with ABMJ (today, Chosen People Ministries).
Arnold was married in 1968 to Mary Ann Morrow, a graduate of Gordon College in Massachusetts. Three years later (1971), he graduated with a Master of Theology degree from Dallas. He and his wife then went to Israel, settling in Jerusalem to work with the local church and to train young Israeli believers for Christian service. Their activities for Christ drew much attention and anger from the religious authorities in Jerusalem, who eventually applied enough pressure upon government officials to force the Fruchtenbaums to leave Israel in 1973.
For the next two years, Arnold served as a minister and as editor of the monthly publication, “The Chosen People,” with ABMJ at its headquarters in New Jersey. In 1976, he joined the staff of The Christian Jew Foundation as associate director of the largest Hebrew-Christian broadcasting ministry in the world.
That summer, Arnold met with others in the field of Jewish missions to discuss the problem of the lack of discipleship and the need for intensive biblical and theological training for Jewish believers. The early concepts of Ariel Ministries were born at that time. In December 1977, after a year and a half of prayer and much encouragement from like-minded Jewish believers, Ariel Ministries became a reality. Arnold continues to serve as a director of the ministry and is in great demand as a conference speaker.
He has traveled widely in Europe, Israel and the United States, becoming intimately acquainted with the messianic movement in all its forms and struggles. The completion of his dissertation, Israelology: The Missing Link in Systematic Theology, was the culmination of 13 years of research for which he earned his Ph.D. at New York University in 1989. Dr. Fruchtenbaum has authored numerous published works and recorded many Biblical studies of keen interest to both Jews and Gentiles. We share with you the fruits of his labor in the “Messianic Studies” pages of this website, as well as that of several others who share his vision to reach Jewish people for Messiah.
Dr. Robert Dean
Dr. Robert L. Dean, Jr. is pastor of West Houston Bible Church in Houston, Texas.
Dr. Dean grew up in a solid Bible-teaching church where he learned about the full, true grace of God, that there is no place for human works, effort, morality or anything on man’s part for salvation or the spiritual life. God has supplied everything for us and blessed us with every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1:3). Further he learned the significance of a consistent, literal interpretation of Scripture and the importance of God’s plan for Israel.
Dr. Dean’s teaching emphasis is on helping people learn the Bible through an in-depth teaching of Scripture in the belief that no one can grow beyond the level of their instruction. Believers are challenged by the Scripture to grow to spiritual maturity. Only a mature presentation of the Scripture can produce believers of spiritual maturity: Shallow teaching produces superficial Christians. Let us all press on to the high calling for which Christ laid hold of us.
Before coming to West Houston Bible Church, Dr. Dean was the Pastor of Preston City Bible Church in Preston, Connecticut. Prior to that he had served churches in both the Dallas and Houston, Texas areas and has over 40 years of pastoral experience, including experience with Christian camping and youth groups.
Dr. Dean is a much sought after Bible teacher both in the United States and overseas. He has taught as adjunct professor at Faith Evangelical Seminary and the College of Biblical Studies in Houston. He is now an adjunct professor at Chafer Theological Seminary and also serves on the Governing Boards for Chafer Theological Seminary and the Pre-Trib Research Center.
Dr. Dean trained for the ministry at Dallas Theological Seminary where he earned a Th.M. in Hebrew and Old Testament Studies and later returned to pursue a Ph.D. in theological studies with an emphasis in Historical Theology. He also earned an M.A. in Philosophy from the University of St. Thomas (1987) and a Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) degree from Faith Evangelical Seminary (2002). In 1988 he was recognized as an Outstanding Young Man of America, and in 1989 was listed in the Who’s Who in American Christian Leadership.
Dr. Dean is the co-author of What the Bible Teaches About Spiritual Warfare, with Dr Tommy Ice (available from Dean Bible Ministries), and God’s Powerful Promises. He has also authored numerous theological articles which have appeared in Bibliotheca Sacra, the Chafer Theological Journal, and the Conservative Theological Journal, and several Bible Dictionaries and Encyclopedias, as well as contributed articles for the Tim LaHaye Prophecy Study Bible and The Popular Handbook on the Rapture.
His academic training in Greek, Hebrew, theology, philosophy, and history enables him to study the Bible in the original languages and show how these eternal truths are as vital today as always.