Fellows
Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin is a fellow of the Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity. He is currently the Professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is also the Director of The Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies, located on the campus of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and the editor of Eusebeia: The Bulletin of The Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies.
Dr. Haykin has a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Toronto (1974), a M.Rel. from Wycliffe College, the University of Toronto (1977), and a Th.D. in Church History from the University of Toronto and Wycliffe College (1982). He is the author of a number of books, including One heart and one soul: John Sutcliff of Olney, his friends, and his times (Evangelical Press, 1994); Kiffin, Knollys and Keach: Rediscovering Our English Baptist Heritage (Reformation Today Trust, 1996); The Armies of the Lamb: The spirituality of Andrew Fuller (Joshua Press, 2001); and The Pure Fountain of the Word: Andrew Fuller as an Apologist (Paternoster Press, 2004). He served as editor for The Life and Thought of John Gill (1697-1771): A Tercentennial Appreciation (E.J. Brill, 1997) and The British Particular Baptists, 1638-1910. 3 Volumes (Particular Baptist Press, 1998, 2000, 2003).
Ambassador Dennis J. Ignatius is a fellow of the Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity. A Malaysian career diplomat, Dennis has served in London, Beijing and Washington before being appointed ambassador to Chile in 1992, Argentina in 1996 and Canada in 2001. He was also concurrently accredited to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay and Uruguay. He retired from the foreign service in 2008.
Dennis had a dramatic encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ on Embassy Row in Washington D.C. in 1986 that radically changed his life. Since then, he has preached the Gospel and ministered at churches and conferences and testified about his faith in Jesus to political and business leaders in Latin America, the United States, Canada, Europe and Malaysia.
He is currently an itinerant minister and motivational speaker. His passion is to see believers transformed by the power of the Gospel and walking out their full calling as ambassadors for Christ. His Christian ministry, Arise Ambassadors, is dedicated to helping believers pursue God with passion, serve God with excellence and honour God with a life lived well.
He is the author of Fire Begets Fire, a book about the passionate pursuit of God. His biweekly email devotional, Fuel For The Fire, has an international circulation.
Dennis is also an international affairs columnist as well as diplomatic advisor to First Step Forum, a Helsinki-based group of Christian professionals, business leaders and politicians committed to helping persecuted Christians by building bridges and promoting dialogue with national governments.
Dennis and his wife, Cherry, divide their time between Ottawa, Canada and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Jeffery Ventrella, J.D. is a Fellow of the Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity and Senior Vice President of the Alliance Defense Fund.
Jeffery regularly lectures in churches, campuses, and conferences throughout the United States and has lectured on six continents. After graduating first in his high school class, he received the B.M.E. degree (magna cum laude) from the University of Northern Colorado where he specialized in trumpet performance. He then attended law school, and after serving as the Production Editor for the Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly, he received the Juris Doctorate degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.
Serving ADF on the Advisory Cabinet and as the Senior Vice-President of the Office of Strategic Training, Mr. Ventrella oversees the design and implementation of the Blackstone Legal Fellowship and ADF Legal Academy programs. He also engages the culture through formal debate, media interviews, and serves as an “approved speaker” for The Federalist Society. Prior to joining the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) in 2000, Mr. Ventrella litigated for nearly 15 years, concentrating his work in complex commercial and insurance litigation, financial litigation, environmental and natural resource litigation, and appellate advocacy. He has presented numerous seminars for a number of organizations, including the Idaho State Bar, regarding a host of topics including motion practice, discovery practice, boundary law, legal reasoning and appellate advocacy. He is a member of the Idaho State Bar and is also admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Bar of the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Ventrella has testified before a Senate subcommittee concerning the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment and his professional writings have appeared in legal journals, law reviews, and periodicals, such as For the Defense as well as Christian publications such as Citizen Magazine, Penpoint, Fidelity, Christian Culture, Creation Answers, and New Horizons. He is a contributing author to several books, including: The Idaho Appellate Handbook (3rd Ed.); The Standard Bearer (2001); Thine is the Kingdom (2003); Backbone of the Bible (2004); and Speaking the Truth in Love: The Theology of John M. Frame (2009). In 2006, he served as an expert commentator for a two-part History Channel program exploring the role of the Ten Commandments in culture and law. His book, The Cathedral Builder: Pursuing Cultural Beauty (2007) is part of ADF’s Blackstone Core Curriculum Project, which he also edits.
As an adjunct instructor, Mr. Ventrella taught Ethics and Apologetics at the graduate seminary level. He has held formal ordinations in the CRC and the OPC and currently serves as a Research Fellow and on an ad hoc graduate thesis committee for the Department of Philosophy and Constitutional Law for the University of the Free State, South Africa. Mr. Ventrella is also a Distinguished Fellow of Law and Culture for the Center for Cultural Leadership. His martial arts training achieved the rank of 2nd degree black belt, Tae Kwon-do. Mr. Ventrella is married, and with his wife, Heather, enjoys the challenge of rearing four very active boys and one beautiful daughter: Jefferson (21), Chandler (19), Kirklan (17), Jackson (15), and McKenzie (6).
Dr. Scott Masson is a Fellow of Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity.
Scott grew up in London and studied English & History at Huron College, U.W.O. He left Canada to study Classical languages in Germany, earning a license as a German translator in the process, before doing his graduate studies at the University of Durham in England. He returned to Toronto and Canada seven years ago to teach English at Tyndale University College, where he is currently an Associate Professor. He also serves as Associate Pastor of Westminster Chapel, working in particular with the College and Career students, following several years working as an evangelist.
Dr. Masson's academic work has been in the Romantic period, with particular interests in literary theory and philosophical hermeneutics. His doctoral work, which traced the loss of intellectual integrity in the humanities in the wake of supplanting the Word of God with various humanistic alternatives, was published under the title Romanticism, Hermeneutics and the Crisis of the Human Sciences. Other works include a major entry on Romanticism for The Oxford Handbook of English Literature and Theology and entries on Christian Poetry and Romanticism and Christianity for the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization.
Scott lives in Toronto with his wife Christa and his daughter Grace.
Dr. Joanna Rivard is a Fellow of Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity. Joanna was born in Nigeria to missionary parents and grew up in London, UK. She holds a BA in French and Linguistics from Oxford University and a doctorate in French Literature from the University of Michigan.
Her doctoral thesis focused on the representation of fathers in existential literature in the 1940s, and her academic interests remain in the area of masculinity, fatherhood and the nuclear family.
Prior to moving to Michigan she worked for the Zacharias Trust in Oxford. Joanna lives in Toronto with her husband Matthew, and works as a writer.
Dr. David Robinson is a fellow of the Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity, and an associate pastor at Westminster Chapel. He oversees various ministries in the church (Children and Youth, Covenant Groups, Music, and Adult Education) and serves alongside Scott Masson in the College and Careers ministry.
David has a Ph.D. in Theology from the University of St. Michael's College (at the University of Toronto), where he studied the history and theology of Early Christianity. His doctoral dissertation translated and analyzed an early Christian commentary on the book of Revelation. He has presented papers at various academic conferences and has published articles in Studia Patristica, Worship, Theoforum, Humanitas, and Revista Vida y Espiritualidad. David also teaches courses in historical theology and church history at Tyndale University College.
He lives in Toronto with his wife Megan and two children, Samuel and Leah.