SoCal Winter Conference 2020 Presentors

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2020 Conference Speakers (not all speakers are confirmed)

DALE RATZLAFF, Founder, Life Assurance Ministries

Dale Ratzlaff is the founder of Life Assurance Ministries which publishes Proclamation! magazine, and LAM Publications.. He was a fourth-generation Seventh-day Adventist and pastored in the church for 13 years, seven of which he spent as a Bible teacher at Monterey Bay Academy, La Selva Beach, California.

Near the end of his doctoral program at Andrews University in the 1980’s, Dale did an in-depth study of the investigative judgment and the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, events which Adventists teach began in 1844. Becoming convinced he could no longer teach this doctrine in clear conscience, he and his wife Carolyn left the Adventist denomination. Dale and Carolyn reside in Arizona.

GARY INRIG, Lead Pastor, Redeemer Fellowship

Gary Inrig is the lead pastor of Redeemer Fellowship, a new church plant in Loma Linda, California. He also leads a community Bible Study, Loma Linda Word Search, designed to be a place where students and residents of Loma Linda as well as the surrounding communities can come and hear the Bible taught by a Christian expositor.

Formerly Gary served as the senior pastor of Trinity Church in Redlands, California, from September, 1992, until June, 2013. Prior to coming to Trinity, he had many years of fruitful ministry in Calgary and Dallas. He holds D.Min. and Th.M. degrees from Dallas Theological Seminary. He has authored many books and has taught in various capacities in many seminars and Bible colleges.

Gary has been the pastoral mentor for Former Adventist Fellowship since its inception at Trinity Church in 1999. He and his wife Elizabeth reside in Southern California.

COLLEEN TINKER, Editor, Proclamation!

Colleen Tinker is the editor of Proclamation! magazine and also co-leads Former Adventist Fellowship with Richard, her husband. She was a third-generation Seventh-day Adventist and spent 15 years teaching English in both Adventist and Christian junior high and high schools.

In 1999 Colleen resigned as managing editor and news editor of Adventist Today when she and Richard left Adventism to make their behaviors congruent with their belief that Jesus alone saves.

JIM VALENTINE

Jim Valentine is the president of Christian Apologetics Research and Information Services (C.A.R.I.S.), an apologetics ministry based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Jim has never been Adventist. His early career was in industrial chemistry, but he realized God was calling him to apologetics work, and he has become an expert in the pseudo-Christian cults.

Jim has been instrumental in helping connect Life Assurance Ministries with other apologetics ministries in the Christian community.

MARTIN L. CAREY, Board Member, Life Assurance Ministries

Martin L. Carey grew up as an Adventist in many different places, including the northeastern US, the Midwest, and Guam. During daylight hours he works as a psychologist for a high school in San Bernardino, CA. He is also a licensed family therapist. He is married to Sharon and has two sons, Matthew and Nick.

As an amateur astronomer, he continues to search for darker skies with telescopes up to 20 inches. Family, research, and telescope-making take up his remaining energy. You may contact him at martincarey@sbcglobal.net.

KASPARS OZOLINS, Research Associate, Tyndale House (Cambridge)

Kaspars Ozolins was born in Latvia to an Adventist family. They moved to Los Angeles where Kaspars attended Adventist elementary and high schools in Glendale, California, and his father was an Adventist pastor. He met Ieva, his wife, while studying in Latvia before pursuing a doctorate at UCLA in historical linguistics.

Kaspars just completed an M. Div. at The Master’s Seminary in Sun Valley, California, and lives with his family in the the UK where he is a Research Associate in Old Testament and the Ancient Near East at Tyndale House, an evangelical biblical research center in Cambridge.

RICHARD TINKER, President, Life Assurance Ministries

Richard Tinker is president of Life Assurance Ministries and a founding member of its board of directors. He was at least a fourth-generation Adventist and spent his life until 2006 working for Adventist institutions including Adventism's Pacific Union Conference, The Quiet Hour, and Loma Linda University. He also designed Adventist Today magazine for several years.

Richard co-leads the weekly Former Adventist Fellowship with Colleen, his wife. He also serves as an elder at Redeemer Fellowship, a new Bible-based church in Loma Linda, California.

PAUL CARDEN, Director, The Centers for Apologetics Research

Paul Carden is executive director of The Centers for Apologetics Research. He has devoted over 30 years of his life to cult-related research and outreach in Latin America, Africa, eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union. He spent 15 years working with Walter Martin in the Christian Research Institute, spending six years in Brazil and six as co-host of the live radiobroadcast “Bible Answer Man”.

Paul is also the general editor for various apologetics-oriented pamphlets produced by Rose Publishing, and his articles have appeared in a variety of missions and ministry publications. He and his wife Lisa have four children.