Helping to bring some answers to tough questions.
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He is the former Director of Worldview Eyes, a youth grant program launched in 2000 that received five grants from the Lilly Endowment totaling over $1,000,000. The program helped youth understand different worldviews and challenged them to live a consistently-applied Christian way of life.
His formal education was done at St. Louis Christian College (BA in Christian Ministry), Lincoln Christian Seminary (MDiv in Philosophy & Theology), Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (MA in Philosophy), and the University of Illinois at Champaign (PhD in Philosophy).
His particular interest is the relationship between science and the Christian faith. He was a $10,000 award winner from the Templeton Foundation for developing an integrative seminary course in science and religion. His most recent work is Truth about God: What Can We Know and How Can We Know It? (2021). In addition, Rich has articles in four journals, chapters on Christianity and science in two books (Taking Every Thought Captive and Theology in the Present Age), a chapter on Christian ethics in I Am Put Here for a Defense of the Gospel, and a chapter on philosophy of science in relation to the Stone-Campbell religious tradition in Restoration and Philosophy.
Rich has delivered special lectureships or multimedia presentations at a number of popular and professional conferences, including the North American Christian Convention; the International Conference on Missions, The Stone-Campbell Journal Conference; the Association of College Ministries, the Midwest and National Evangelical Theological and Philosophical Society Conferences; the Wheaton Theology Conference; and the Center for Research in Science at Azusa Pacific University. He also serves on the board for the Christian Campus Foundation (Axiom), a campus ministry at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.
Rich and his wife, Paula, have three married children and seven grandchildren. He has traveled to England, France, Italy, New Zealand, Fiji, Australia, Jamaica, Greece, Turkey, and China. He was a gifted athlete who was a high school all-state second baseman in North Carolina and played for a AAA State Champion baseball team. In 2013, he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Athletic Hall of Fame for basketball at St. Louis Christian College where he held the all-time scoring record (2,225 pts.) for about 20 years. He is second on their all-time scoring list, second in average pts/game (22.7), and first in free throws made (515).
Zach graduated with a BS in Computer Science from North Carolina State University, where he was Valedictorian, graduating with a 4.0 GPA. While at NC State, he also earned Academic All-American honors three times as an NCAA Division I college wrestler. Zach earned his MBA at NC State and worked for American Airlines in Dallas as a contract negotiator.
With a passion for Christian apologetics, Zach was led to the Seminary at Lincoln Christian University. He taught undergraduate courses in business and theology and received an MA in Christian Apologetics with highest honors.
For several years after graduating from Lincoln, Zach taught New Testament, Apologetics, and World Religions to high school students at Northside Christian School in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he also served as wrestling coach.
In 2019, he completed a PhD in Theology & Apologetics from Liberty University and became the Room For Doubt Assistant Director. He has published articles in the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Philosophia Christi, Southeastern Theological Review, Journal of the International Society of Christian Apologetics, Themelios, and Irish Theological Quarterly. In 2021, he published the book, Slipping Through the Cracks: Are Some Lost Who Would Have Been Saved in Different Circumstances?
Zach grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and has traveled to China, Japan, Ireland, Germany, Greece, New Zealand, Hawaii, Haiti, Israel, Italy, and more. His hobbies include Bible study, listening to podcasts, playing games with friends and family, coaching wrestling, and watching sports.
He has been a regular contributor to the R4D website since 2015.