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Dr. Ostrander's Personal Profile

Spouse:

Carla, wife of 32 years.

Children:

Alison, 30; Mark, 28; Andrea, 24, adopted from Romania in 1991; and Sara, 17.

Hometown:

I was born in St. Louis, Missouri, but I’ve lived most of my life in Dallas, Texas.

Current church:

First Baptist Church, Soperton, Georgia.

Current ministry:

Chair of the Religion & Philosophy Division at Brewton-Parker College.  Preaching via pulpit supply comes my way often as well.  I'm also something along the lines of a lay missions leader at First Baptist Soperton.

Why did you come to BPC?

In the summer of 2003, the Lord opened the door for me as wide as you can possibly imagine, bringing me here to Mt. Vernon to lead BPC’s Religion & Philosophy Division in a theologically conservative direction.

Courses you teach:

Theology, apologetics, philosophy & church history.

Interesting family facts:

My Dutch ancestors came to the new world from Amsterdam in 1660 on a ship called De Bonte Koe – The Spotted Cow.  (Hey, I couldn't make this stuff up!)  Something a whole lot more contemporary is the fact that, strangely enough, my four children hardly resemble each other, either in looks or as far as goals in life are concerned.  Andrea's adopted, of course.

Hobbies & interests:

Reading, writing, music, playing with the dogs, coming up with inventive ideas (that will probably never see the light of day or make any serious money!), and conversing about all sorts of matters on a Yahoo Group made up of several life-long friends.

Most influential persons in your life:

Dr. William Bell and Dr. David Fletcher, two of my undergraduate professors at Dallas Baptist College.  I’m doing what I’m doing now, humanly speaking, because of them. 

And I can’t forget Dr. Bob Hartman, my current colleague in apologetics ministry, without whom BPC’s ministry to former Soviet Union republics would have remained a mere pipe dream instead of becoming the productive and rewarding reality it has.

Favorite BPC memory:

Our division winning the “Outstanding College Department” award for the academic year, 2005-2006.

Favorite preachers:

Alive or dead?  Dead – Charles Spurgeon.  Alive – Alistair Begg or David Jeremiah.

Favorite authors: 

If you mean Christian authors, they would be D. A. Carson, William Lane Craig, Norman Geisler, Carl F. H. Henry, Arthur Holmes, C. S. Lewis, Martin Lloyd-Jones, J. P. Moreland, Nancy Pearcey, John Piper, and Francis Schaeffer.  Also, classic works by the Reformers and the often-maligned Puritans. 

If you mean secular writers, contemporary fiction especially, I’d say David Baldacci, R. Scott Bakker, Bernard Cornwell, Ken Follett, George R. R. Martin, and Iain Pears.  Sorry, folks, not Grisham or Tolkien!  Martin's crea-tive menagerie of worlds out-Tolkiens Tolkien!

Favorite music groups:

It’s probably the better part of wisdom to answer this one with an “era” instead of specific groups.  So I must confess that I'm a 60s music aficionado!  Finding garage-band one-hit-wonders from the era is always fun.  I do have appreciation, however, for some of the musical trends each decade since then has brought to the mix. To pay tribute, however, to classical music, little else compares to the simple beauty, elegance, and symmetry of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata."      

Favorite movies:

This is a tough one.  I rarely go to movies these days, but if push comes to shove I’d say the STAR WARS saga.  Plus I really get a lot of laughs out of the old 50s sci-fi and monster flicks!  I guess they were doing the best they could at the time.  The one movie genre I can do without completely, however, is westerns.

Favorite TV shows:

From the "old" days, the original STAR TREK series.  In the here and now, it's probably NCIS or White Collar.

Favorite restaurants:

Cracker Barrel for breakfast and Applebee's for any other meal.  For special occasions, either P. F. Chang's or The Cheesecake Factory.  Here in the booming township of Ailey/Mt. Vernon, it's The Great Wall.

Favorite vacation spots:

Colorado!  Also, I really loved Montana when I went backpacking there with a group of high school friends in the early 70s.  Although not on vacation at the time, the most fascinating city I've ever visited is Prague, Czech Republic, with Vienna, Austria, a close second.

Surprising facts that students don’t know about you:

I play the piano, ride unicycles, concoct one-of-a-kind salads (Sometimes I throw just about anything edible into the bowl!), and like putting together 1,000 piece puzzles with my family.

Former vice now given up:

Fanaticism about anything that smacks of the Dallas Cowboys and their former days of glory under Coach Tom Landry.  I even used to sell programs at the old Cotton Bowl venue because you'd earn a little money and get a free ticket to the game.  We'd hang out afterwards at the dressing room exit and get players' signatures.  Anybody remember ol' Dandy Don Meredith?  But now that Romo's come to town, I'm starting to feel those old fanatical stirrings again....  Guess I'd better keep an eye on things!

Pet peeves:

Unregenerate Hollywood celebrities advising people about spiritual matters; Joel Osteen; tailgaters; the annoying sound of paper sacks crinkling; yard work in the middle of summer; willful ignorance; spiritual elitism (whether seen in persons or congregations); wealthy Christians who mistake their abundance for God's approval of their lives; and the trendy phrases that crop up through the years like – "You go, girl!" - "Spot on!" - "My bad!"  But the worst of all is, "You got that right!"

What books, besides the Bible, have influenced you the most and why?

THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY by Charles Bridges, because it sets forth an honest, hard-hitting scriptural appraisal of what it means to be in full-time ministry.  None of that Osteen fluff and clap-trap whatsoever, that's for sure! 

THE DEFENSE OF THE FAITH by Cornelius Van Til.  While it's true I'm not a presuppositionalist in the purest sense, I nevertheless cut my teeth on Van Til as far as apologetics is concerned back in the mid-70s.  Ultimately, Van Til's position is unbalanced scripturally.

THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH by Hal Lindsey, because it proved to be an instrumental factor in my salvation back in November of 1971.  Although I'm hardly a dispensationalist these days, the book certainly convinced me that Jesus will come back someday. Biblical eschatology, however, is far richer in content than dispensationalists of the Lindsey and LaHaye/Jenkins stripe seem able to articulate.

THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS by C. S. Lewis, because it compelled me to take spiritual warfare seriously.  To be clear, I'm not talking about mystic-like incantations with which to fight the adversary; rather, the bringing down of unscriptural strongholds through educating folks with doctrinal truths and ways to apply those truths consistently.

ALL TRUTH IS GOD'S TRUTH by Arthur Holmes, because it launched me toward a life-long interest in apologetics and philosophy of religion.  The Holmesian approach to understanding Christian truth is better balanced by far than that of Van Til and company. There's a pragmatic realism, theistically based in scope, intrinsic to the thinking of Holmes and those of like mind that the presuppositional system can't seem to emulate.

Ministry philosophy:

To hold high and help reveal a three-fold truth: 1) Jesus Christ as God’s living Word incarnate; 2) the Bible as God’s written Word inerrant; and 3) creation itself as an unmistakable sign of God’s transcendence and imma-nence, each pointing the way clearly to the Christ of the Bible.

Ministry passion:

To impart to the heads, hearts, and hands of students nothing less than an unapologetically evangelical, Christian framework for living and serving the Lord Jesus Christ.

Favorite thing about teaching:

Seeing those “eureka” moments flash across students’ faces when they finally “get it” concerning some vital Christian teaching.

Life-changing Bible verse:

Ephesians 2:8-10 – “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (NASB)

Words of wisdom:

Learn the greatest lesson about why we're here as early in life as possible – it’s all about Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  That means it's not about you, your fun, your comfort, your vocational accomplishments, your financial stability, your social notoriety, nor the deceptive ideology known as the "American dream" that everyone is compelled to pursue!  And that's a fact!