The Institute for Religious Research (IRR) is a
nondenominational, evangelical Christian ministry of
apologetics and discernment. It was founded by Roger Hansen,
a Christian businessman who serves still today as Chairman
of the Board of Directors. IRR, which was originally known
as Gospel Truths Ministries, was established as a nonprofit,
501(c)(3) organization in 1986 and officially changed its
name in 1989. From that time until his passing in November
2007, Luke P. Wilson was IRR’s Executive Director.
Throughout this entire period Luke worked alongside Joel
Groat, who continues as IRR’s Coordinator of Spanish
Language Ministries. They were joined in 2000 by Glenn
Evans, a Research and Counseling Associate who oversees IRR’s Mormons in Transition (MIT) ministry. In September
2008, Rob Bowman, a veteran of nearly twenty-five years in
apologetics ministry, joined IRR as its new Executive
Director.
Rob Bowman
Executive DirectorRobert M. Bowman, Jr., is IRR’s newly appointed Executive Director. Previously he served as Manager of Apologetics & Interfaith Evangelism for the North American Mission Board (2006-2008). For ten years Rob taught graduate courses in apologetics, biblical studies, and religion at Luther Rice University (1994-99) and Biola University (2001-2005). He has also worked with other apologetics and discernment ministries, most notably the Christian Research Institute (1984-91), the Atlanta Christian Apologetics Project (1994-99), and Watchman Fellowship in Alabama (1999-2000). Rob has spoken at over a hundred churches and at some three dozen conferences and debates. He has five years of experience hosting call-in radio talk shows focusing on apologetics, including the nationally famous Bible Answer Man show.
Rob Bowman earned the M.A. in Biblical Studies and Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary in 1981 and completed doctoral studies (all but dissertation) in Apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary. He is currently pursuing the completion of his doctoral dissertation at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. He is the author of over 50 articles (e.g., in the Christian Research Journal, Moody Monthly, Pastoral Renewal, Mission Frontiers, and Journal of Evangelism and Missions) and 12 books pertaining to apologetics, religion, and biblical theology, including two winners of the Gold Medallion Award, An Unchanging Faith in a Changing World (1997) and Faith Has Its Reasons (2001; 2d ed., 2006). His most recent book (co-authored with Ed Komoszewski), Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ (2007), has received numerous endorsements from such scholars as Ravi Zacharias and Richard Bauckham.
Rob and his wife, Cathy, have been married since 1981 and have four children, three of them still living at home.
Joel Groat
Coordinator of Spanish Language MinistriesJoel B. Groat has served with IRR since 1987, first as a Research and Counseling Associate, then as Coordinator of Spanish Language Ministries. A missionary kid and later a missionary himself in Venezuela, Joel has spoken hundreds of times for IRR throughout North, Central, and South America as well as in Spain and Hungary. On his numerous trips to Latin America he has distributed over 160,000 pieces of literature on Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and other apologetics-related issues, and has been the featured guest on various radio and television programs.
Joel earned a Master’s degree (MTS) in New Testament from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary in 1990. He has contributed to and translated many of IRR’s tracts, authored numerous web articles, contributed articles to the Christian Research Journal and has extensive experience speaking to the media and at conferences. He has been an adjunct professor at Cornerstone University and is active in his church’s missions program and youth ministry.
Joel and his wife, Lois, have been married since 1983 and have seven children.
Glenn Evans
Research and Counseling AssociateGlenn Evans joined the staff of IRR in 2000 and serves as its Research and Counseling Associate specializing in Mormonism. (For those who are curious to know, Glenn has never been a member of the LDS Church.) His responsibilities at IRR include moderating two Bible-centered online support groups (MIT-talk, CAM-talk), managing the non-denominational self-study Bible courses (online and correspondent), and the Former Mormon Mentoring Program, and contributing to the IRR website content.
Glenn is a graduate of the College of the Redwoods, Air Force Community College, and Liberty University, and is currently pursuing a Master of Divinity from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He retired from the Air Force Reserve in 2007.
Glenn and his wife, Diana, have been married since 1993 and have four children.