The 16th annual Defend apologetics conference at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary drew nearly 400 attendees from more than 100 different churches and 21 different states Jan. 6-10.
Conference guests heard lectures from a variety of plenary and breakout speakers about various apologetics topics including transgenderism, sexuality, doubt and suffering, the deity of Christ, science and Christian faith, atheism, beauty, the purpose of apologetics and much more.
Tawa Anderson, NOBTS associate professor of philosophy and apologetics and first-time director of Defend, opened the conference with a plenary message about the importance of Christian apologetics for all believers, drawing from the well-known passage of 1 Peter 3:13-17 from which the conference gets its name.
“If you’ve been to Defend before, you’ve seen this verse,” Anderson said to the audience Monday night (Jan. 6). “As you’re at Defend this week, you’re going to see this verse multiple times.
“This passage is a well-known passage where we see what we call the ‘apologetic mandate.’ God is commanding all Christians to be ready to answer questions that people have concerning our faith. It’s not the apologetic suggestion, where God gives us the option, if we are so inclined or feel we have the right abilities, to try to answer people’s questions.
“It’s an apologetic mandate, commanding believers everywhere to always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. All believers are commanded to participate in apologetics.”
Anderson, who also serves as the director of New Orleans Seminary's Institute for Christian Apologetics and the Greer-Heard chair of faith and culture, said not only does the Bible command believers to engage in apologetics, but Scripture also provides examples of apologetics being done.
“Scripture presents us with examples of apologetics and the commandment to engage in apologetics. God commands it, the Bible demonstrates it and we ought to be doing it,” Anderson said.
Anderson then presented his ‘apologetics matrix’ approach to doing apologetics that examines how apologetics can be done to strengthen the faith of both believers and skeptical non-believers.
Other plenary speakers at the week-long conference included Mike Blackaby, pastor and church planter; Mary Jo Sharp, author and apologist; Mike Strauss, professor of physics at the University of Oklahoma; James Walker, president of the Watchman Fellowship; Melissa Cain Travis, science and religion scholar; Rob Bowman, apologist and scholar, and many more.
Breakout topics included:
Several of the plenary and breakout speakers were returners to the conference, while some were first-time presenters at the conference.
After the conference, Anderson affirmed the additional impact the conference’s speakers made beyond the stage.
“Our invited speakers did an excellent job not just in their presentations, their content was outstanding, but also in just their ministry presence throughout the week,” Anderson said.
“They shared meals with attendees and group leaders, they were gracious and generous with their time talking with people who had questions in between sessions and in the evening, and they truly treated this as a ministry opportunity. They don’t have to do all of that, but they’re doing so because they see the ministry value of doing it and their primary desire is to build the Kingdom of God and not their own Kingdom. I so admire and respect and appreciate the heart of our Defend speakers.”
Anderson saw this trend in action long before he became the director of Defend.
“When I brought groups to Defend in past years, that was one of the major values that I saw as a group leader, was seeing my students get that exposure to speakers and I’m really thrilled that it continued this year,” he said.
Among the returning speakers was Bob Stewart, retired NOBTS professor of philosophy and theology and founder of the Defend conference.
This was the first year Stewart had not overseen the conference since founding it 16 years ago. Stewart retired following the spring 2024 semester.
“It’s kind of intimidating, taking it over for Dr. Stewart, but there’s several things that make it less so,” Anderson said.
“For the last two years I got to kind of walk alongside Dr. Stewart and learn some of the ropes as he was handing off leadership to me. He was very intentional about mentoring me through that process and making sure that I knew all of the team members and the step of everything. Dr. Stewart made it as easy as possible to step into his shoes.
Stewart previously recommended Anderson to Seminary leadership as someone who he wanted to take over the conference upon his retirement. Anderson said he is grateful for this opportunity.
“I’ve loved Defend for over a decade,” he said. “To have the privilege of carrying on Dr. Stewart’s legacy with Defend is truly an honor and I enjoyed it.”
To learn more about upcoming NOBTS conferences and events, click here.
