Department Faculty

 

Dr. C. Doug Bryan

Dr. Bryan, Chair of the Department and Professor of Religious Education, came to Gardner-Webb in the spring semester of 2002.  Before coming to Gardner-Webb, he served for over sixteen years at Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas as both a faculty member and administrator.  Dr. Bryan received a B.A. in English from Furman University, a B.S. in Social Work from Howard Payne University, an M.A. in Religious Education, a Graduate Specialist Degree in Religious Education, and a Ph.D. in Psychology and Counseling from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.  He has done additional study leading to counselor licensure and public school teacher certification in Texas.  Publications include two books:  Relationship Learning and Learning to Teach/Teaching to Learn.  He has served as a faculty member at the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary from 1980-82 with the Missionary Journeyman program of the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board.  Additional overseas teaching experiences include the Kong Hong Baptist Theological Seminary and the Lithuanian Christian College.  You may contact Dr. Bryan at dbryan@gardner-webb.edu.  

 

Dr. Ron Williams

Dr. Williams,  Associate Professor of Religion, came to Gardner-Webb in the winter of 1997. Prior to coming to Gardner-Webb, he was Assistant Dean and Professor of New Testament at the Boyce Bible School of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He earned a B.A. in Religious Studies from Western Kentucky University, M.Div. and Ph.D. in New Testament Interpretation from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Williams has served local churches as pastor or minister of youth since 1970. Teaching responsibilities include New Testament and biblical studies. You may contact Dr. Williams at rwwilliams@gardner-webb.edu.

 

 

  

Dr. Lorin L. Cranford

Dr. Cranford, Professor of Religion, joined the faculty in January 1998, after teaching New Testament, Koine Greek, and German for over twenty-three years at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He earned a B.A. degree in religion at Wayland Baptist University, M.Div. and Th.D. degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Additional study has been done at the University of Texas at Arlington, the German universities in Bonn and Heidelberg. Also, studies were done in the Goethe Institut in Freiburg and Ulm Germany and at the Alliance Francoise in Paris France. Dr. Cranford has been active in numerous professional societies, including the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), Institute for Biblical Research (IBR) at the national level, and at the regional level, having served as a officer in the SW region of the SBL, the Southwest Biblical Studies Seminar and the Seminar on the Development of Catholic Christianity. Numerous publications have been produced both in English and German and released in the US and Germany; most recent are the articles "Revelation" and "Inspiration" in the Encyclopedia of Early Christianity from Garland Press, "Lost and Found" in the February 1998 issue of Decision Magazine, and "Modern New Testament Interpretation," chapter seven in Biblical Hermeneutics from Broadman Press. Dr. Cranford served as a pastor for ten years prior to beginning his teaching career and subsequently has served often as interim pastor of churches both in the US and Germany. You may reach Dr. Cranford at lcranford@gardner-webb.edu.
Homepage: http://cranfordville.com/

Dr. Kent Blevins

Dr. Blevins, Professor of Religion, joined the Department of Religious Studies in August, 1998.  He earned a B.A. degree in Religion from Wake Forest University, and both an M.Div. and Ph.D. in Christian Ethics from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He served for over 15 years as a missionary, first with the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board (1982-1992) and then with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (1993-1998). During those years he taught at the Portuguese Baptist Theological Seminary in Quelez, Portugal, the Baptist Theological Seminary in Ruschlikon, Switzerland, and the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague, Czech Republic. He has also served as pastor and supply preacher in many churches in the United States, Portugal, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic. You may reach Dr. Blevins at kblevins@gardner-webb.edu.

 

Dr. Paula Qualls

Dr. Qualls, Associate Professor of Religion, joined the faculty in the fall of 1999. She earned a B.A. degree in Religious Studies with a minor in Psychology from the University of South Carolina, and M.Div. and Ph.D degress from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. She also studied archaeology at Tel Aviv University in Israel. Prior to coming to Gardner-Webb, she held several adjunct teaching positions, and served as Assistant Professor at Campbellsville University from 1997-1999. Publications include several articles and expository sermons. Dr. Qualls has remained active in the local church,  serving as youth ministry, teacher, or conference speaker.   You may contact her at pqualls@gardner-webb.edu.

 

Dr. Eddie Stepp

Dr. Stepp, Assistant Professor of Religion, joined the Gardner-Webb faculty in the fall of 2003.  Prior to his coming to Gardner-Webb, Dr. Stepp taught for three years at Bluefield College in Bluefield, VA.  He did his undergraduate work at Baylor University and graduated with a B.A. in Sociology.  He attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, TX, before returning to Baylor to complete his Ph.D. work in the field of Church History.  Dr. Stepp has been active in local church ministry since 1985.  He has served churches in Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, North and South Carolina in a variety of capacities (pastoral, youth, music).  His teaching responsibilities include classes in Church History, World Religions, Missions, Evangelism, and Religion and Culture.  Please feel free to contact Dr. Stepp at estepp@gardner-webb.edu.

 

Dr. Joe Collins

Dr. Joe Collins joined the Religion Department in the Spring of 2005, but he has been in the immediate area since the Summer of 1986.  It was then that he answered the call to Elizabeth Baptist Church of Shelby to serve as Minister of Education.  After 13 ½ years at Elizabeth, he served the Greater Cleveland County Baptist Association as Church Development Director, working with over 80 churches in various areas of church life including conflict resolution, youth ministry, education, organization, committee training, and missions.  He received undergraduate and graduate degrees in English at East Carolina University (1978 & 1981), a Master of Divinity with Religious Education from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (1986), and a Doctorate in Adult Education from North Carolina State University (2004).  His dissertation addressed the meaning of “calling” to adult Sunday School teachers in Baptist churches, and the area of calling and lay recognition of calling remains one of his primary research interests. You may contact Dr. Collins at jcollins@gardner-webb.edu.