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I’ve just returned from the Fellowship of Evangelical Seminary Presidents (FESP) annual conference. I have to confess that I didn’t even know that this group existed before becoming a seminary president. Soon after taking office, a couple of other seminary presidents called to congratulate me and encouraged me to come to FESP. (Actually, one of them called to offer condolences but still encouraged me to attend FESP!) After our first experience at FESP, we were hooked: egos and logos are checked at the door, suits and ties remain packed, and people who really “get” what you’re going through are eager to listen, offer tidbits of wisdom, and words of encouragement. It’s a powerful experience to be with those folks even just three days a year.

My prayer is that the alumni, staff, and faculty of Denver Seminary will encourage one another in a similar way. We “get” each other because we share so many common experiences, values, and desires. I pray that this monthly Alumni Connection will be a regular jolt of encouragement to you throughout the year.
We appreciate you!

Marisol Erlacher (M.A. Counseling 2004)
In December, Marisol’s husband Jeff was diagnosed with melanoma. Currently he is at MD Anderson, hoping to become a part of a clinical trial. If he does not qualify, he will return to Denver for treatment. Either way, the financial costs are staggering. Jeff is currently not working and Marisol has put her private counseling practice on hold. If you would like to offer assistance or encouragement to the Erlacher's, please contact Suzanne Berg Lieuwen at .

David W. Appleby (M.Div. 1974)
Dr. David W. Appleby, President of Spiritual Interventions, Inc. had It’s Only a Demon: A Model of Christian Deliverance published in 2009 by BMH Press. Dr. Appleby is currently working as co-editor with George Ohlschlager, of American Association of Christian Counseling fame, on another book tentatively entitled Transformative Spiritual Interventions in Christian Counseling. This book includes chapters written by more than twenty authors and leaders from the field of Christian counseling and academe. Each author discusses practices that they have developed and used in which the Holy Spirit intervenes in a transformative way. Publication date is tentatively set for late 2011 or early 2012. 

Ron Bard (M.Div. 1981)
Ron continues to serve as Chaplain at the Excelsior Youth Center facility for emotionally disturbed teenagers located in Aurora, Colorado. Along with his wife, Gail, they have been privileged to serve there for nearly 30 years.

Randy Brandt (M.Div. 1988)
Chaplain (Lieutenant Colonel) Randy Brandt is now serving as the Chief of Personnel Assignments for the Army Chief of Chaplains at the Pentagon in Washington, DC.

Gary Elkins (M.A. PR 1982)
Gary is professor of philosophy at Toccoa Falls College, GA (since 1999) and completed an M.A. in bioethics at Trinity Graduate School in December, 2010. Gary earned a Ph.D. 11 years earlier at the University College Dublin, Ireland. He recently published an article on embryonic stem cell research in "Ethics and Medicine, An International Journal of Bioethics."

Chaplain Chris Grizzle (M.Div. 2010)
Chris was promoted to the rank of Captain on January 7th, 2011. He and his wife Denise currently live in Fort Bragg, NC.

Jeff Haanen (M.Div. 2009)
Jeff recently launched a blog called Redeeming Education: http://redeemingeducation.blogspot.com.

Gary Johnson (M.Div. 1984)
Gary returned to the Boulder area this past summer to establish a private counseling practice. He was the associate pastor of counseling at First Presbyterian Church (FPC) of Boulder for 17 years before taking an associate pastoral position in Wichita, KS for a few years. He and his wife Cynthia are glad to be back in their home state of Colorado. During his stint at FPC Boulder, Gary completed his D.Min. in Christian Spirituality at Fuller Theological Seminary.

Frank Leeds III (M.Div. 1968)
Frank was recently selected as the Alumnus of the Year for The King's College.

Chris Miller (M.Div. 1985, D.Min. 1999)
From 1985-1995 Chris served in churches in various capacities. In 1995 he opened his own counseling office and ran that for over ten years. In 2006 he joined the staff of Grace Counseling Services in Denver, CO. He and his wife Jeanne have married off their two children and just celebrated their 31st wedding anniversary. He periodically teaches at Denver Seminary. Also, he continues to conduct divorce recovery workshops which he started in 1988 (his D.Min. thesis was on the topic of divorce adjustment). He travels to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania every summer to hike and study his passion of the American Civil War.

Penny Thome (M.A. Counseling 1998)
Penny continues to enjoy her work with clients in private practice, including current students from Denver Seminary who desire counseling. Since 2009 she has served as a board member for the Colorado Association for Play Therapy and edits their newsletter.

Michael Velardo (M.A. Biblical Studies 1975)
Michael retired from Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) on his 30th anniversary (8/13/08) after 20 years in Boston directing the ministries in Massachusetts and 10 years as the Executive Director in New York City. He is currently serving (since 9/1/08) as Director of Education and Dean, New York School of the Bible - Calvary Baptist Church. Shirley, his wife of almost 39 years, serves as a part-time legal secretary.

Jonathan Waits (M.Div. 2005)
Jonathan has been serving at Central Baptist Church in Church Road, VA for the past two years. He and his wife are busy with church ministry and keeping up with their two-year-old son Noah while they await the arrival of another baby boy.

We would love to hear what God is doing in your life!  Please send your personal and/or ministry updates to .

Save the Date - Denver Seminary coming to Phoenix and Tucson!

Mark your calendars for March 25-30, 2011 as Denver Seminary returns to Arizona to cheer on the Colorado Rockies at their new Scottsdale stadium. Baseball, golf, alumni lunch – mark your calendar for some fun! More details coming soon!

More alumni gatherings are being planned in 2011. Keep an eye on this section for future announcements!

A Big Old Book: Codex Vaticanus on display at Denver Seminary

Denver Seminary has had the privledge of displaying a copy of the Codex Vaticanus at the Carey S. Thomas Library. Read Dr. Rick Hess' (Earl S. Kalland Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages and Editor of the Denver Journal) commentary on the importance and history of the Codex Vaticanus below.

When I began teaching the first Old Testament survey course at Denver Seminary, I realized that we needed to include a section that explains why we accept as God’s Word the 39 books of the Old Testament, and not other books (such as the Apocrypha). Even though we don’t have the very first manuscripts written by the authors of the Bible, how can we be sure that our copies are reliable when they describe the basis for our faith? One of the most important early witnesses to the reliability of the Bible is the Codex Vaticanus. It is exciting to have this book on display in our library and to be able to take students to see it and view what an early copy of God’s Word looked like. Christians were reading this book fifteen hundred years ago. It changed their lives just as it changes ours today. What an honor to join with the Christian Church of the centuries as we look at this ancient testimony to God’s faithfulness in preserving his Word.

The copy of this ancient book, the earliest book that contains the complete Bible, is a treasure for Denver Seminary and will be a resource for study and understanding the Bible and its words of mission. In the time of Jesus the Bible was still preserved on scrolls. Each of the larger books would have been written on a separate scroll. Smaller books, such as the twelve Minor Prophets (from Hosea to Malachi) were probably joined onto a single scroll. However, soon after Jesus’ life on earth, the scroll began to be replaced by books as we know them today. These were called codices, or codex for one book. The Codex Vaticanus was a good example of how Bible scholars took all the scrolls, by now containing the books of both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, and put them into a single convenient book that could be kept in a church where it would be read and studied.

As the earliest such Bible that we have preserved for us, the Codex Vaticanus is written entirely in Greek. Of course, this is the language of the New Testament and is an important example of the New Testament. However, the Old Testament was originally written mostly in Hebrew. The Greek text of the Old Testament in Codex Vaticanus reflects something called the Septuagint, the earliest translation of the Bible from Hebrew into another language. This was very important when the translation was made in 275 B.C. because it allowed the Greek speaking Jews in communities all around the Mediterranean Sea to read and understand their Bible in their own language. The Septuagint was probably first translated in Alexandria in Egypt, which had one of the largest communities of Jews outside of the Holy Land. Since every translation is to some extent an interpretation, the Septuagint represents the Jewish understanding of the Bible in the centuries before the coming of Jesus.

When the gospels and letters of the New Testament were written in the first century A.D. the writers used the common language of their readers. That would have been Greek. They naturally drew upon the Greek translation of the Septuagint to quote the Old Testament passages that foretold the coming of the Christ or Messiah. Because the New Testament writers understood Christianity as building on the Old Testament covenants and revelation of God, they used the Septuagint as their basis for connecting the earlier revelation of God to the life and teaching of Jesus. For this reason the Septuagint is the key book for understanding the relationship between the Old and New Testaments and for appreciating the single plan of God for the salvation and redemption of the world. Without it we would not see the connections that the New Testament writers saw and made.

At Denver Seminary I have the privilege of teaching a course on the Septuagint every few years. Our students read and compare the original Hebrew of the Old Testament with this Greek translation and see how it was understood by the early Jews and then applied to Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. Although it is a difficult course that requires the understanding of both biblical languages, it is an exciting one that reveals insights into the way in which Jesus was and is our Messiah.

This copy of the Codex Vaticanus will be useful as a study resource for scholars. The first English commentary on each of the Old Testament books in the Septuagint is now being produced. So far, about six Old Testament books have been published with the Greek text, a translation, and a commentary going verse by verse. I have the honor of being on the editorial committee of this new commentary series. Because this is primarily a commentary on the literary form of the Septuagint, we needed to use a single early manuscript. We chose the Codex Vaticanus as the main text for our work. The result is that the facsimile of this ancient book has formed the primary source for comment by our authors.

It is important to have direct access to this book, because we can see not only the Greek text (which is available in other published versions) but also the paragraph divisions and various notations around the text that reveal how it was interpreted and regarded in the fourth century A.D. This forms the basis for groundbreaking and exciting work on the Septuagint and its importance as a book in its own right.

If you have the opportunity, please visit Denver Seminary and see the Codex Vaticanus copy on display in the Carey S. Thomas Library. It is a vital link to our ancient heritage as Christians and an exciting witness of the manner in which God has preserved the Bible for us through the millennia.

Biblical Studies Conference

"The Holocaust and the Bible"

February 10-11, 2011

Black History Month

"Love Your Neighbor... Love Your Enemies"

February 14-15, 2011

Grounds Institute of Public Ethics hosts

The Rally for the Common Good

"Thinking Christianly About Immigration"

February 20-22 2011