Retreat Speakers & Performers

Speakers
Bruce L. Edwards — Professor of English and Africana Studies, and Associate Vice President for Academic Technology and E-learning at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. He has been a faculty member and administrator at Bowling Green since 1981. He has served as a C. S. Lewis Foundation Fellow at the Kilns in Oxford, England; a Fulbright Fellow in Nairobi, Kenya (1999-2000); a Bradley Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC (1989-90); and as the S. W. Brooks Memorial Professor of Literature at The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia (1988).
Preachers
Gary Durham Dr. Gary L. Durham — Senior Pastor/Teacher of New Hope Fellowship, which is affiliated with the Churches of the Nazarene. He has served his denomination as a conference speaker, teacher, missionary and pastor since 1975. He holds three earned degrees, including the Ph.D. in Theology and has done post-doctoral Ph.D. work in philosophy with Trinity Seminar. He served for over 20 years as theologian, textbook author and master teacher for Freedom Ministries International, a pastoral-training institute. He has two books scheduled for release: The Other Side of Reality (Book One) and The New Great Commandment (The Centrality of Divine Love).
Performers
Pierce Pettis — Musician and recording artist. He began his career in 1979 when Joan Baez covered his song, “Song at the End of the Movie” on her album Honest Lullaby. He released his first solo album Moments in 1984. In the years following he released While the Serpent Lies Sleeping, Tinseltown, and Chase the Buffalo, after which he became known as a “songwriter’s songwriter.” He balances a folk-rock sound with introspective lyrics, balancing songs looking inward and looking outward. His music has been described as “roots folk” but not in a old-times way. Many of his songs reflect his Christian faith and have been recorded by numerous artists, including Garth Brooks, Susan Ashton, and Art Garfunkel.
Ad Deum Dance Company — A professional Houston, Texas, based contemporary/modern dance company founded and directed by Randall Flinn. The company is comprised of dancers that have found home in Houston from all across the globe. Dramatic passion, flowing grace and fierce athleticism abound as these artists explore the mysteries of faith, grace, beauty and redemption through the freedom created by God for the expressions of the human body, soul and spirit.
Randall Flinn — Founder and Artistic Director of Ad Deum Dance Company. He has served on the artistic faculty for Houston Ballet Academy, Project Dance NYC, and as an artist-in-residence for The High School for Performing Arts, Ballet Magnificat, Belhaven College and Youth With A Mission. As a lecturer, he has addressed many artists on the topic of “Servant Artistry” and is now celebrating over twenty five years as a Believer-artist.
Seminar Leaders
Terry Glaspey — Director of Acquisitions and a Senior Editor for Harvest House Publishers. He is the author of several books, including Not a Tame Lion: The Spiritual Legacy of C.S. Lewis, The Book Lover’s Guide to Great Reading, Pathway to the Heart of God, The One-Minute Bible Guide, and others. He also worked on putting together a recent collection of art and essays entitled The Lion and the Land of Narnia.
Andrew Lazo — Scholar and speaker on the Inklings. He holds an M.A. in English from Rice University, where he was Jacob K. Javits Fellow in the Humanities. He also teaches Mythology at the University of Houston and is author of several articles on C. S. Lewis and the Inklings and is co-editor of Changed Lives: C. S. Lewis as Spiritual Mentor, (forthcoming), and Mere Christians: Inspiring Stories of Encounters with C.S. Lewis. He is currently working on two book projects, one unlocking the mysteries of Till We Have Faces and the other doing primary research on friendship in the Coalbiters, Tolkien’s Old Norse reading group.
Louis Markos Louis Markos — Professor in English and Scholar in Residence at Houston Baptist University. He has authored several books including Lewis Agonistes: How C.S. Lewis can Train us to Wrestle with the Modern & Postmodern World, Apologetics for the 21st Century, and Restoring Beauty: The Good, the True, and the Beautiful in the Writings of C.S. Lewis. He has written many essays, often dealing with themes from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. He speaks widely across the United States on several topics including apologetics and C.S. Lewis and his works.
Holly Ordway Holly Ordway — Writer and a teacher of composition and literature. She holds a doctorate in English from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and an MA in English Literature from the UNC Chapel Hill, and is completing an MA in Christian Apologetics from Biola University. She is the author of Not God’s Type: A Rational Academic Finds a Radical Faith as well as various articles on literary apologetics. She speaks and writes regularly on literature, focusing on the metaphysical poets, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and fantasy literature, especially that of Tolkien and Lewis.
Lancia E. Smith — Author, speaker, and photographer. She brings a rare integration of literature, arts, and spiritual maturity to her readers and audiences. She has been photographing professionally for more than 20 years; taught English and Art as an integrated subject for 5 years; and writes on topics related to C.S. Lewis, spiritual development and arts intersecting culture. Widely read and passionately involved in teaching at all levels of communication, she is completing her degree in English Literature at the University of Colorado in Boulder with a specific focus on the works of C.S. Lewis. Lancia hosts the website “Cultivating the Good, the True and the Beautiful on her website where viewers can read her latest posts and view samples of her images including events related to the C.S Lewis Foundation.