BMA Theological Seminary (Arkansas) New Faculty/Staff Profiles 2014-15

(NOTE: Concurrent with the acquisition of new faculty/staff, we are offering 24 scholarships for new students for Fall 2014!  SEE here for details)

Below are the BMA Theological Seminary Arkansas campus NEW staff, faculty, and administrative profiles for 2014-15, as appearing on the BMATS Arkansas Facebook page.  Additional profiles will be added to this blog (every other week) as they are unveiled on our FB page.  Once completed, these will each be added to the Arkansas campus tab of the BMATS website. 

I. NEW ADMINISTRATIVE PROFILE: R. Brian Rickett, Administrator and Professor of Biblical Studies, The BMA Theological Seminary, Arkansas Campus

This year we have totally revitalized our Arkansas campus. This began with the appointment of Brian Rickett as our new Arkansas Campus administrator. Professor Rickett has been serving in our Biblical Studies department since 2009, but officially transitioned into the role of BMATS Ark. Administrator this summer. Along with this change has been a restructuring of our faculty and staff, the addition of new courses, events, and programs (some to be revealed in the next few weeks). We'll continue to highlight new faculty and staff over the next few weeks. However, we invite all friends, supporters, alumni, and denominational leaders to attend our Fall convocation service on Friday, August 22nd at 7:30PM in the CBC Toland Chapel. Our new Administrator will present a vision for the revitalized campus and will introduce the new faculty and staff. Our Dean, Dr. Philip Attebery, will be present from the Texas campus, and we will conclude the evening with a reception in the CBC Community Room, from 8:45-9:30PM. [Note: All students are required to attend.]

NEW ADMINISTRATIVE PROFILE: Prof. R. Brian Rickett (M.Div., Th.M., Old Testament; Th.D. studies, Old Testament, The Master’s Seminary; D.Min. in progress, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary), Administrator of BMA Theological Seminary (Arkansas Campus) and Professor of Biblical Studies

We are excited to announce that Prof. Brian Rickett has become the new Administrator of the BMATS Arkansas campus.  His stated ministry objectives are: To equip and build up the body of Christ in such a way as to bring God the greatest glory possible.  When preaching, to handle the Word of God with the greatest amount of integrity by performing scholarly exegesis on the biblical text, and then presenting His Word to the church in a clear, applicable manner; when pastoring, to conduct biblically uncompromising ministry that accomplishes the goals given to the NT minister in Scripture;  in a teaching environment, to exhort and challenge men aspiring to the office of overseer to take the greatest pains necessary to base their lives, teaching, and ministries on the Word of God accurately handled.

Brian married his college sweetheart, Janet in 1993 while a Bible major at Central Baptist College, and immediately began serving on the pastoral staff at his home church of Immanuel Baptist in Sheridan, Ark.  After graduating in 1996, they moved to Southern California where he attended and later taught at The Master’s College & Seminary.  Janet earned the M.A. in Biblical Counseling and also worked at The Master’s College.  Since 1996, the pair has participated in numerous ministry ventures including 2 church plants and 2 institution starts.  Additionally, Brian has taught/facilitated over 50 separate academic courses mostly at the graduate level, but spanning Jr. High through post-graduate levels.  He has taught 5 biblical/theological research languages as well as courses in each of the divisions of a traditional theological curriculum.  He has published several articles, has contributed to several books including a Hebrew Grammar, a Bible dictionary, and works in Old Testament studies.  He is the founding Pastor-teacher of The Bible Church of Beebe, which was planted in 2009. He is also currently pursuing a D.Min. in Christian Worldview and Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.  He is/has been a member of The Evangelical Theological Society, Evangelical Philosophical Society, and Society of Biblical Literature.  He blogs periodically at www.metataphysika.blogspot.com.

II. NEW STAFF PROFILES 

A. Zach Nance (M.Div., The BMA Theological Seminary; Th.M., Philosophy of Religion, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary), BMATS Ark., Recruitment and Administrative Support

This year, BMATS Arkansas has/is benefiting from several faculty/staff additions. We will be profiling these throughout the Summer. This week's profile is of Zach Nance (see attachment). Feel free to contact Mr. Nance with any recruitment/admissions related questions. We are excited to have him aboard!

Recruitment and Administrative Support

Zach Nance joined BMATS Arkansas in the fall of 2014 and serves in Recruitment and Administrative Support. A native of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Zach moved to Conway to attend the University of Central Arkansas and play football. Upon graduating from UCA with a major in Sociology and a minor in Communication, he started attending classes at the BMATS Arkansas campus. In 2012 he graduated with a M.Div. from BMATS and went 

on to earn a Th.M. in Philosophy of Religion from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (2013) and is a member of the Evangelical Philosophical Society. Zach has been a guest lecturer at Central Baptist College covering various topics in Philosophy and Apologetics. His research interests include: Triperspectivalism, Presuppositional Apologetics, Philosophical Theology, and Religious Belief.  Zach has served on staff at Mt. Olive Baptist Church (2009-2012), and has served in leadership positions in collegiate ministry. ­ He and his wife, Ashley, live in Conway.

B. NEW STAFF PROFILE: Janet L. Rickett (M.A. Biblical Counseling, The Master’s College), Arkansas Director of Women

Since the establishment of BMATS Arkansas, we have had graduate programs available for women seeking formal academic training.  At the same time, the wives of our ministry students have always been a part of our seminary community.  Whether formally enrolled or not, there is an ongoing need to integrate the two groups as well as to provide all of our women with discipleship training and resources.  In order to better facilitate relationships among all of our women, as well as to equip the wives of our students without requiring them to enroll, we have begun a new Women’s Studies/Seminary Wives Discipleship program and appointed Janet L. Rickett as its director.

This program began informally about two years ago when Mrs. Rickett began meeting regularly

with the wives of some of our seminary students.  Since then enthusiasm among our women has grown, and so the time has come to provide a more formalized program.  In addition to informal biblical counseling training, our seminary wives discipleship program will provide opportunity for interested women to participate in DiscipleWay, the signature discipleship curriculum of BMATS. 

In addition to Janet’s active and integral involvement with her husband in all of his various ministries, she has been the Director of Development of a crisis pregnancy center (Glendale, CA), worked in the biblical counseling department at The Master’s College (Santa Clarita, CA), contributed a chapter to the book Women Counseling Women (Harvest House, 2011), served in the Seminary Wives Discipleship Program of The Master’s Seminary, and has ministered to women in various other capacities.  Additionally, she participates in the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors.  Janet will be accompanied by Pam Snider (wife of Dr. Snider), with whom she participated in the seminary wives discipleship program at The Master’s Seminary. 

III. NEW FACULTY PROFILES 

A. Andy Snider (MDiv; ThM; ThD--Systematic Theology), BMATS Ark., Professor of Theological-Historical Studies

Note: As previously mentioned, we will be profiling several NEW faculty members in the upcoming weeks (1 every other week), as well as new staff. One thing you’ll notice is that we have selected individuals with a balance of academic and church/ministry interests. In the profile below, observe that the academic specialization is systematic theology, but a more specific interest is in salvation, theology of worship, etc. This means that the below scholar/minister is not merely an academic, but desires to be intensely practical and ministry focused. This balance of the academy and church is a key distinction of BMATS.

Professor of Theological-Historical Studies

NEW FACULTY PROFILE: Dr. Andy Snider (Th.D. Systematic Theology, The Master’s Seminary), Professor of Theological-Historical Studies.

We are excited to announce that Dr. Andy Snider has joined the BMATS Arkansas faculty and will begin teaching classes in the fall 2014 semester. After attending Cedarville University in the late 80s, Andy married his college sweetheart, Pam, and they settled in south

west Ohio. Andy worked in the corporate world for 8 years before the Lord placed in his heart a desire to serve the church in full time ministry. So in 1997 Andy and Pam packed up their three daughters and moved to the Los Angeles area to attend The Master’s Seminary. What they intended as a three-year interlude became a 17-year chapter in life as Andy finished the M.Div., Th.M., and Th.D. degrees at TMS and taught theology there for 11 years. An active member of the Evangelical Theological Society, his research interests include aspects of the doctrines of God, Scripture, Salvation, and theology of worship. In addition to teaching at The Master’s Seminary, Andy has taught in churches, pastoral training conferences, and seminaries in the U.S., Ukraine, Russia, and South Africa. He has written various papers and articles along the way, and he periodically blogs at www.theologyislife.com. The Sniders have one married daughter, one engaged daughter, and a third daughter who is in high school. Pam is an accomplished pianist and piano teacher and for many years has been involved in music ministry and discipleship in the church. Andy, Pam, and their youngest daughter will be moving to central Arkansas in June.

Also, see Dr. Snider's blog post entitled "Intellect, Worship, and the Irreducible Complexity of the Christian Life," here:


B. NEW FACULTY PROFILE: Dr. Gary O’Neal (Ph.D. New Testament, Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary; M.Div. BMA Theological Seminary), Professor of New Testament and Discipleship

Note: We are continuing to profile NEW faculty/staff members who are joining our team--1 every other week for the summer. As previously mentioned, one thing you’ll notice is that we have selected individuals with a balance of academic and church/ministry specializations. In the profile below, observe that the academic specialization is New Testament, but the professor is also an experienced pastor with an unusually strong interest in discipleship. For example, his doctoral dissertation begins with the line, “One of the most heart-wrenching issues with which pastors must deal is that of believers who fail to follow through on their commitment to Christ.” He then goes on to complete his study entitled, “Bringing many sons to Glory: the ἀρχηγός motif in the letter to the Hebrews.” Additionally, note the theme of his many writing/publishing endeavors. As said of a previous faculty member, this means the below scholar is not merely an academic, but desires to be intensely practical in his field.

NEW FACULTY PROFILE: Dr. Gary O’Neal (M.Div., The BMA Theological Seminary; Ph.D. New Testament, Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary), Professor of New Testament and Discipleship

We are excited to announce that Dr. Gary O’Neal has joined the faculty at BMATS Arkansas!  Over the summer, Dr. O’Neal has become Pastor of Oak Park Baptist Church in Little Rock, AR and concurrent with this transition, will begin serving our Arkansas campus Fall 2014.  Dr. O’Neal is a BMATS alumnus and has already been teaching online courses for our distance education program, as well as for Southeastern Baptist College.  Since 2001, he has been an active writer and contributor for DiscipleGuide, the publishing house of the BMA.  More notably, he has been a key contributor to DiscipleWay, the signature discipleship material/method used in discipleship courses at BMATS and in other departments of our association.  Additionally, he has been a regular writer of Compass Teacher (Advancer) publications each year.  

Prior to moving to Arkansas, Dr. O’Neal was the pastor of Greenwood Baptist Church in Fulton, MS where he served for 14 years. He earned a Ph.D. from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary (New Testament studies) in 2013, has a M.Div. from The Baptist Missionary Association Theological Seminary, and a B.A. from Trinity Baptist College of Jacksonville, FL.  He is also a member of the Evangelical Theological Society.

Gary grew up in south Mississippi, attending Paramount Baptist Church of Perkinston. As a young man he was working in Valdosta, Georgia, when he surrendered to the ministry and enrolled in Trinity Baptist College of Jacksonville, Florida. While attending Trinity, Gary met and married Lynn Smith. After graduating in 1986, the couple moved to New Hampshire where Gary served as an associate pastor and then pastor for 10 years. Gary had long desired to pursue further training which would prepare him to teach in a Bible college or seminary setting. To this end, he and Lynn moved to Texas so that he could attend the BMA Seminary. After finishing his M.Div. degree, he and his family relocated to Mississippi where he pastored Greenwood Baptist Church. To complete his educational training, Gary then attended Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Memphis, Tennessee where he earned a Ph.D. in New Testament studies 2013. Recently Gary and Lynn moved to the Little Rock, Arkansas area where he is now the pastor of Oak Park Baptist Church.  Gary and Lynn have four adult children as well as 2 grandchildren.  We are excited to have the O’Neals as part of our team!

C. NEW FACULTY PROFILE: Dr. Scott Attebery (M.Div., The BMA Theological Seminary; D.Min. Outreach and Discipleship, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary), Professor, Church Ministries

We are excited to announce that Dr. Scott Attebery will be joining the BMATS Arkansas faculty in the fall 2014 semester.  Scott has a B.A. in Bible (Central Baptist College, 1999), a M.Div. (BMA Theological Seminary, 2010), and a D.Min. (Gordon-Conwell, 2014).

Scott has a passion for discipleship that has been a central feature of all his ministry endeavors. 

Most recently, he completed a doctoral dissertation on the subject, entitled, “Disciples for Life: Maximizing Explicit Discipleship Training to Create Life-Long Learners of Christ.”  Early on, Scott distinguished himself as a leader in various denominational and student ministries.  He was the Director of the Association of Baptist Students, at the University of Central Arkansas from 1999-2005.  During this time he also coordinated student conferences (SOAR, Great Escape, First Week) for the BMA’s Department of Church Ministries and led in the development of short-term team mission trips and training through the BMA’s Volunteer Student Mission program.

Beginning in 2005 Scott served as pastor of Wyatt Baptist Church in El Dorado, Arkansas for 7 years.  Concurrently, he aided in the founding, development, and instruction of a Bible Institute for Nicaraguan jungle pastors in Espabel, Nicaragua (2006), he preached expositorily through 20+ book of the Bible, and was a frequent guest speaker at churches and conferences both home and abroad.  During this time, he also particularly enjoyed developing discipleship relationships and mobilizing church members for missions.

In 2008 Scott was selected as the Executive Director of DiscipleGuide Church Resources, the church resource provider and publishing house of the Baptist Missionary Association of America. He is the author of Navigate: Understanding and Pursuing God’s Will and Defining Salvation.  He regularly contributes to magazines such as Mission World and Homelife magazine.  He blogs regularly at www.scottattebery.com and has been featured on pastors.com, ministrytodaymag.com, and crossmap.christianpost.com. His wife having preceded him to heaven, Scott’s most important ministry is to his son, Bryce. They love to play in the backyard and cheer for the Razorbacks together.

D. NEW FACULTY PROFILE: Dr. Steven Crawley (M.B.A., William Carey University; M.A.R., The BMA Theological Seminary; Ph.D. Leadership Studies, Dallas Baptist University), Professor, Church Ministries.

In the next of our series of announcements regarding the revitalization of BMATS Arkansas, we are delighted to announce today that Dr. Steven Crawley, the Executive Director of BMAA’s Lifeword Media Ministries, will be joining our faculty to teach classes in the field of Church Ministries.

Steve has a passion for church leadership arising from years of experience in both business and church/parachurch settings.  After earning his B.S. in Business Administration at the University of Southern Mississippi, Steve spent 14 years working in the business world as a financial analyst and corporate controller, earning an MBA at William Carey University along the way. In 2004, Steve committed his life to serving the Lord vocationally, and he came to work for Lifeword Media DiscipleWay textbook.

Ministries as its chief operating office and chief financial officer. He subsequently enrolled in BMA Theological Seminary and earned a Master of Arts in Religion, then went on to Ph.D. studies at DBU. Since 2011 he has served as Executive Director for Lifeword and recently lead the integration of multiple BMA departments into the BMA facility in Conway, AR. But beyond his ability to lead an organization Steve is devoted to living out the gospel in evangelism and discipleship, as seen in his contribution to the DiscipleWay project as its co-leader and one of the co-authors of the

Steve has been married to his best friend and ministry partner Daura for 24 years, and the Lord has blessed them with four children, ages 11-20. In addition to discipling their own children, Steve and Daura have led small group ministries together to help families apply biblical principles to their relationships at home.