Contact/Email Us

• Before emailing please check out our Q & A page first.
• Contact/Email Us

Biographies

• For information about creation scientists and other biographies of interest, including many CMI staff and fellow creationists, please see Q&A.
• Concise biographies of our speakers are available here.

Volunteering and employment opportunities

• For information about working at CMI, please see ‘Get Involved’.

Link to us:

• For information about linking to us please click here.

Policies

• Privacy Policy
• Copyright Policy

What we believe

STATEMENT OF FAITH
(See also “Good News ”)

(A) PRIORITIES

1. The scientific aspects of creation are important, but are secondary in importance to the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as Sovereign, Creator, Redeemer and Judge.
2. The doctrines of Creator and Creation cannot ultimately be divorced from the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

(B) BASICS

1. The 66 books of the Bible are the written Word of God. The Bible is divinely inspired and inerrant throughout. Its assertions are factually true in all the original autographs. It is the supreme authority, not only in all matters of faith and conduct, but in everything it teaches. Its authority is not limited to spiritual, religious or redemptive themes but includes its assertions in such fields as history and science.
2. The final guide to the interpretation of Scripture is Scripture itself.
3. The account of origins presented in Genesis is a simple but factual presentation of actual events and therefore provides a reliable framework for scientific research into the question of the origin and history of life, mankind, the Earth and the universe.
4. The various original life forms (kinds), including mankind, were made by direct creative acts of God. The living descendants of any of the original kinds (apart from man) may represent more than one species today, reflecting the genetic potential within the original kind. Only limited biological changes (including mutational deterioration) have occurred naturally within each kind since Creation.
5. The great Flood of Genesis was an actual historic event, worldwide (global) in its extent and effect.
6. The special creation of Adam (the first man) and Eve (the first woman), and their subsequent fall into sin, is the basis for the necessity of salvation for mankind.
7. Death (both physical and spiritual) and bloodshed entered into this world subsequent to, and as a direct consequence of, man’s sin.

(C) THEOLOGY

1. The Godhead is triune: one God, three Persons—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
2. All mankind are sinners, inherently from Adam and individually (by choice) and are therefore subject to God’s wrath and condemnation.
3. Freedom from the penalty and power of sin is available to man only through the sacrificial death and shed blood of Jesus Christ, and His complete and bodily Resurrection from the dead.
4. The Holy Spirit enables the sinner to repent and believe in Jesus Christ.
5. The Holy Spirit lives and works in each believer to produce the fruits of righteousness.
6. Salvation is a gift received by faith alone in Christ alone and expressed in the individual’s repentance, recognition of the death of Christ as full payment for sin, and acceptance of the risen Christ as Saviour, Lord and God.
7. All things necessary for our salvation are set down in Scripture.
8. Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.
9. Jesus Christ rose bodily from the dead, ascended to Heaven, is currently seated at the right hand of God the Father, and shall return in like manner to this Earth as Judge of the living and the dead.
10. Satan is the personal spiritual adversary of both God and man.
11. Those who do not believe in Christ are subject to everlasting conscious punishment, but believers enjoy eternal life with God.

(D) GENERAL

The following are held by members of the Boards (Directors) of Creation Ministries International to be either consistent with Scripture or implied by Scripture:

1. Scripture teaches a recent origin for man and the whole creation.
2. The days in Genesis do not correspond to geologic ages, but are six [6] consecutive twenty-four [24] hour days of Creation.
3. The Noachian Flood was a significant geological event and much (but not all) fossiliferous sediment originated at that time.
4. The ‘gap’ theory has no basis in Scripture. Nor has the day-age idea (so-called ‘progressive creation’), or the Framework Hypothesis or theistic evolution.
5. The view, commonly used to evade the implications or the authority of Biblical teaching, that knowledge and/or truth may be divided into ‘secular’ and ‘religious’, is rejected.
6. By definition, no apparent, perceived or claimed evidence in any field, including history and chronology, can be valid if it contradicts the Scriptural record. Of primary importance is the fact that evidence is always subject to interpretation by fallible people who do not possess all information.

(Available in Russian)

What we are

Creation Ministries International is a group of non-profit ministries in several countries. Though each is a legally and financially autonomous body, we have formally unified our efforts as a federation of ministries under the banner ‘CMI-Worldwide’ that helps to ensure unity, harmony, and efficiency of outreach.

Our role is to support the church in proclaiming the truth of the Bible and thus its gospel message. We provide real-world answers to the most-asked questions in the vital area of creation/evolution, where the Bible is most under attack today—Genesis.

We are apolitical and non-denominational (as an organisation, not as individuals within it). We try to confine ourselves to matters as defined broadly by our Statement of Faith, and try to not get involved as a ministry in other controversies or issues within Christendom, no matter how important we, as individuals, might regard these.

Structure

The setup of each ministry varies depending on the country, as described below:

Australia

Creation Ministries International Ltd., ACN 010 120 304, PO Box 4545, Eight Mile Plains, Qld 4113

Structure:	Non-profit corporation
Details:	Public company limited by guarantee, not shares. Members are the approximate equivalent of shareholders in an ordinary company.
Accountability:	Oversight by a Board composed of volunteers (apart from the Managing Director). In addition, those directors are ultimately answerable to the broader membership, and to ensure this extra layer of accountability, the constitution requires that non-director members, all volunteers, must at all times outnumber the director members. In addition, being a public company means it is strongly scrutinized under Australian law, with compulsory annual independent audit and financials on the public record.

Canada

Creation Ministries International (Canada), 300 Mill St, Unit 7, Kitchener, ON, N2M 5G8

Structure:	Registered charity
Details:	Registered with the CCRA as a charity and is, therefore, also a non-profit organization. Donations made to CMI–Canada by Canadian tax payers are tax deductible.
Accountability:	Oversight by a Board of Directors composed of volunteers in accordance with CCRA charity laws. Certified member of the CCCC.

New Zealand

Creation Ministries International (New Zealand), PO Box 39005, Howick, Auckland, New Zealand

Structure:	Charitable trust
Details:	Charitable trust registered under the Charitable Trusts Act (NZ)
Accountability:	Oversight by an independent Board of Trustees in accordance with the Deed of Trust.

Singapore

Creation Ministries International (Singapore) Ltd., PO Box 195, Singapore 911207

Structure:	Nonprofit Company
Details:	A Nonprofit Company limited by guarantee.
Accountability:	Oversight by a Board of Directors plus an additional layer of non-director Members in accord with the laws of Singapore.

South Africa

Creation Ministries International (South Africa), PO Box 3349, Durbanville 7551, South Africa

Structure:	Nonprofit Company
Details:	Section 21 Nonprofit Company with pending Tax Exemption and very limited, if any, tax deductions for donations.
Accountability:	Joint oversight by Members and a Board of 3 Directors from volunteer RSA Members. Compliant with RSA Law with annual independent Audit and annual Financial Statements available to the public upon request.

United Kingdom

Creation Ministries International (UK/Europe) Ltd., 15 Station Street, Whetstone, Leicestershire, LE8 6JS

Structure:	Nonprofit Corporation limited by guarantee and not shares—a common structure for charities.
Details:	All very similar to the Australian setup. Members are the approximate equivalent of shareholders in an ordinary company.
Accountability:	Approved as a registered charity, number 1117490.

United States of America

Creation Ministries International (US) Inc., 4355 J Cobb Pkwy, PMB 218, Atlanta GA 30339-3887

Structure:	501 (c)(3) non-profit, tax-exempt corporation
Details:	This is a standard structure for a US faith-based Christian ministry, an incorporated body that does not make profits for any outside party. All funds must be utilized for the stated aims of the ministry.
Accountability:	Governed by a board of directors (an unpaid role) who are the determinate authority. Accountable also to US law governing non-profits.
Tax-deductibility status:	CMI-US is an IRS approved 501 (c) (3)* organization with tax-deductibility for donations. *See US code TITLE 26, Subtitle A, CHAPTER 1, Subchapter B, PART VI, § 170.

The ministries in each country are also committed to operating within the same broad guidelines, with international checks and balances determined by a system of democratic multi-country involvement (CMI-Worldwide).

Brief History (to end 2008 only, to give some idea of the background of each ministry)

The parent organisation of CMI is the Australian ministry, so its history and background will be given first.

In 1977, the first official creationist organisation in Australia was commenced-the Creation Science Association (CSA) of Adelaide, South Australia. It was headed by Dr Carl Wieland, who had been speaking on the subject since being converted a few years earlier through a 1960s book written by Drs John Whitcomb and Henry Morris (of the Institute for Creation Research). Peter Sparrow, of Creation Bus renown, was on the first CSA committee. He had independently been making a public stand for creation at the university where he was doing his science degree.

Shortly thereafter, the CSA had branches in all states except Queensland, where schoolteachers Ken Ham and John Mackay had started ministering to churches using a ‘missions’ model, under the name Creation Science Educational Media Services.

In 1978, Carl commenced Creation magazine (then called Ex Nihilo, later Creation Ex Nihilo). In 1979/80, CSA joined forces with the Queensland group (which became Creation Science Foundation Ltd (CSF) in 1980 under founding chairman Prof. T. John Rendle-Short), and Carl handed the magazine to those (in Queensland, in the northern part of the country) who were working fulltime, a logical step. He continued writing and speaking part-time for the ministry while living (and practising as a medical doctor) in the southern part of the continent.

In 1987, after Ken Ham had been seconded by the Board of CSF to work with Dr Henry Morris’s Institute for Creation Research (ICR) in the USA, Mr Mackay resigned and Carl Wieland (then recovering from a serious car accident—see his fascinating account in Walking Through Shadows) was asked to head the Australian ministry. He has continued to do so until the present.

Creation magazine has since developed into a full-colour publication with subscribers in over 140 countries worldwide.

In about 1993, the Australian CSF ministry gave assistance (including substantial financial advances, first by loan and later a part of it by donation) to Ken Ham to form a ministry independent of ICR in the eastern part of the US. Unable to use the same name as its Australian parent (in America, a Foundation is something which gives away money), it was initially called Creation Science Ministries. It was felt after a while that this name caused occasional confusion with concepts like 'Christian Science' and 'Scientology'. So in due course, the ministry in the US was renamed Answers in Genesis. This name was well accepted, and the Australian ministry adopted the same name not long afterwards. Legally autonomous satellite ministries were progressively set up in UK, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa.

The Australian ministry has also long published the world’s leading peer-reviewed creationist research and review journal, formerly the Technical Journal, then TJ, now the Journal of Creation. This office has also been responsible for preparation of much of the newsletter, etc. content for many of the other ministries in countries outside of the US.

The AiG website was developed in the US and hosted there. It was heavily dependent for its intellectual content on the scientists and thinkers in the parent corporation, in particular Dr Don Batten, Dr Jonathan Sarfati and Dr Carl Wieland. These and other writers were heavily contributing to the site, as well as writing some of the best-selling books sold by all ministries (e.g. The Creation Answers Book, Refuting Evolution, Refuting Evolution 2, Refuting Compromise and One Blood). But in late 2005/early 2006, the US ministry withdrew themselves from the international ministry group (with the exception of the UK) with an expressed desire to operate autonomously from the four other offices bearing the same ‘brand name’.

At that time, in the midst of discussions about this and other differences in operating philosophy (not involving the statement of faith or similar), the Australian office was formally invited to form its own website. This required a new name to avoid confusion.

The four national ministries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa) which were committed to continuing their focus and operational ‘team’ philosophy, and to continuing to forge and strengthen a representative international ministry alliance structure (based on Proverbs 11:14), then rebranded as Creation Ministries International (CMI).

Brief history of the other offices

The New Zealand office commenced in Auckland in 1994 with the guidance and encouragement of CSF Australia. At first, it was led by Dr Tony Hanne, while also practising as a GP and running other Christian ministries. Then Albert Ruijne ran the office for a few years. In 2001 Adrian Bates, a former lawyer and evangelist, joined the NZ ministry. He is currently the CEO and an active speaker.

The Canadian office was established in late 1998 when the Creation Science Association of Ontario (established in Dec 1978) changed its name and ministry philosophy to match that of what is now CMI.

In December 1998 the office was moved from Toronto to Waterloo under the direction of current CEO and speaker Richard Fangrad, who was previously involved with communication satellites and digital radar systems. In 1999, Henry deRoos began speaking part-time, and continued for the next 5 years. In 2002 cave geology expert Dr Emil Silvestru joined the Canadian office as senior scientist and speaker, to be followed in late 2005 by Calvin Smith.

The South African office was established in June 2002 in the Cape Town region as a consequence of the vision of Dr Johan Kruger, currently Head of Ministry Outreach, who has a doctorate in zoology. (Prior to 2002, Joshua Gilbert of the Durban region, acted as the South Africa agent for Creation magazine. He continues specialist creation outreach (especially radio) in South Africa and surrounding countries. Joshua currently serves on the Board of CMI–South Africa.) In October 2003 Larry Dolezal joined the ministry as the General Manager. With Larry’s departure in June 2006 to manage the new CMI–USA office, Robert Zins now fills that position.

The UK/Europe organisation was registered in the 2nd half of 2006, initially as a safe distribution point for our periodicals, Creation magazine and Journal of Creation (formerly TJ). From January 1, 2007, Philip Bell recommenced speaking ministry as CEO of CMI–UK/Europe, which is now a full-fledged outreach operation and a registered charity.

The United States ministry in Atlanta, Georgia commenced in 2006. In the latter part of that year, Larry Dolezal moved to the region (from Capetown, South Africa) to be General Manager. Larry, a US citizen, had been the General Manager of CMI’s South Africa office while he was a missionary in that country, until his work visa expired. Before his arrival, recruitment and training of the first speakers had already commenced, to meet CMI’s rigorous accreditation standards in order to best serve the church.

In the spring of 2008, Jared Vallorani (who had for some years been Director of Outreach at AiG-US, then worked for another ministry for a time) was appointed to head CMI-US with Larry continuing as GM.

CMI’s statement of faith, our mode of operations, and our commitment to keep on expanding the global outreach of the phenomenally effective publications Creation and Journal of Creation, continues, as does our commitment to the centrality of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word in all things.

What we do

1. Speaking and direct ministry

Each office has its own speaking staff (who generally perform other functions) whose role it is to go out to where the people are and reach them with the message of the truth and authority of the Bible, and its relevance to the real world. We’ve found that an extremely effective way to get this message out into the population in general, and thus to increase the number of people getting converted, etc. is to arm and equip Christians. We

• give them answers to the common objections and queries people have on these issues, which are some of the most frequent objections to faith in Christ.
• show them how the Bible (and in particular its broad outline of history in Genesis, which is foundational to the gospel) is relevant to all of reality.
• provide them with resources (books, magazine, DVDs, etc) to be more effective in their own personal outreach. The most powerful tool, we find, is to ‘link’ people to be ‘fed’ via Creation magazine, the 56-page full-colour no-advertising family publication that is an incredible faith-building and witnessing tool. People who subscribe are automatically eligible to get our various printed newsletters as well, which provide further encouragement and information about what the ministry is doing.

Our accredited and experienced speakers do this ‘linking and feeding’ mostly via

1. direct ministry in church services (the most effective way, because many people are reached and ‘switched on’ to the power of creation evangelism who would not have thought it important enough to come to a special meeting on the subject).
2. public meetings, advertised through churches in particular (NB we are ‘arming God’s army’)
3. in-depth seminars
4. family camps and live-in conferences, both those which we organize ourselves and those to which we are invited as speakers.
5. other means: breakfast meetings, media interviews and so on.
   

2. Publishing

a) Periodicals: CMI produces

• Creation magazine—with subscribers in over 140 countries, the world’s most widely read and enjoyed creation family magazine.
• Journal of Creation—a peer-reviewed in-depth journal (formerly ‘TJ’). The Journal is generally acknowledged by leading creationist researchers as the world-leader in its genre, and has the widest circulation.

b) Books: CMI has published/produced some of the most popular creation books of all time. For example, The Answers Book, Refuting Evolution (1 and 2) and Refuting Compromise, which have between them had a distribution of well over a million copies globally. Answers to 4 Big Questions has been used in witnessing efforts at two Olympic Games and is available in several languages other than English. We keep updating our materials, and working on new ones.
c) Multimedia resources. DVDs, CDs, etc.

Our position on science issues, etc.

You will find that our team of scientists/speakers globally are almost always of ‘one voice’ in their positions on various issues that may be the subject of controversy even within creationist circles. This is because we consciously spend time interacting with our peers both inside and outside the organisation so that we can do this. (Our ministry position might be, of course, that the options on a particular issue are still open, pending further information.) One of the fruits of this peer interaction has been a formal section of our site headed ‘Arguments Not To Use ’, written by CMI’s Dr Jonathan Sarfati.

Related articles

• Ministry programs for your church

Who we are: the people involve

Australia | Canada | New Zealand | South Africa | UK/Europe | United States

Note: the people listed here are the ‘public face’ of Creation Ministries International. Many others work ‘behind the scenes’ (including in some very senior roles), in both a volunteer and paid capacity, to enable us to carry out our ministry objectives. Clicking on the pictures below will take you to the (short) speaker biographies. To see the (long) creation scientist biographies, please visit that page via the ‘Info.’ menu or click on the longer biography button on the short bio page of interest.

AUSTRALIA OFFICE

Scientists/speakers

	Name	Main qualification	Roles
	Dr Carl Wieland	Degrees in medicine and surgery.	Managing Director Speaking Writing/Editing
	Dr Don Batten	Ph.D. in Plant Physiology	Senior Scientist Speaking Writing/Editing
	Dr Jonathan Sarfati	Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry	Senior Scientist Speaking Writing/Editing
	Dr Tas Walker	Ph.D in Engineering, honours degree in Geology	Senior Staff Geologist Speaking Writing/Editing Geological fieldwork
	Dr David Catchpoole	Ph.D. in Plant Physiology	Staff Scientist Speaking Writing/Editing
	Dr Pierre Jerlström	Ph.D. in Molecular Biology	Staff Scientist Chief Editor, Journal of Creation
	Peter Sparrow	Science degree in Biology/Paleontology	Part time speaking
	Russell Grigg	M.Sc. in chemistry Former editor-in-chief of a major publishing house	Writing/Editing
	Dr Mark Harwood	Ph.D. in science/engineering (satellite specialist)	(Regular part-time) Speaking
	Dr John Hartnett	Ph.D. in Physics, fulltime university Research Fellow	(Regular part-time) Speaking Journal of Creation articles/research
	Rod Walsh (Ark Van)	Noah's Ark specialist and model builder	(Regular part-time) speaking with the Ark Van
	Dr Stephen Grocott	M.Sc. in chemistry, Ph.D. in organometallic chemistry, GM (R&D) Southern Pacific Petroleum	(Regular part-time) Speaking
	Dr John Anderson	M.B., B.S.; Licentiate in Theology (ThL); General Practitioner	(Regular part-time) speaking

CANADA OFFICE

Scientists/speakers

	Name	Main qualification	Roles
	Richard Fangrad	Diploma in electronics, worked in missile development and testing.	CEO Speaking Writing
	Dr Emil Silvestru	Ph.D. in geology (cave specialist)	Senior staff scientist Speaking (English, French, Romanian) Writing and fieldwork
	Calvin Smith	Extensive background in pastoral youth teaching; led an on-campus study group refuting evolution at university level.	Speaking Writing Ministry coordination
	Cory McKenna	Pastor with extensive first-hand experience in open air witnessing	Speaking

NEW ZEALAND OFFICE

Speakers

	Name	Main qualification	Roles
	Adrian Bates	Law degree, background as a practising barrister and solicitor, and as an evangelist.	CEO Speaking Writing

SOUTH AFRICA OFFICE

Scientists/speakers

	Name	Main qualification	Roles
	Dr Johan Kruger	Ph.D. in zoology (nematology).	Head of Ministry Outreach Speaking Ministry Coordination

UK/EUROPE OFFICE

Scientists/speakers

	Name	Main qualification	Roles
	Philip Bell	B.Sc.(Hons) zoology	CEO Speaking Writing
	Phil Robinson	M.Div.	Speaking
	Robin Greer	Th.D.	Speaking
	Dominic Statham	B.Sc.	Speaking Writing

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA OFFICE

Scientists/speakers

	Name	Main qualification	Roles
	Gary Bates	Extensive background in corporate management and marketing.	CEO CEO of CMI–Worldwide, (CMI's global Federation of ministries) Speaking Writer/Editor
	Dr Rob Carter	Ph.D. in Marine Biology.	Staff scientist Speaking Writer Researcher
	Dr Russ Humphreys	Ph.D. in physics.	Speaking Writer Researcher
	Skip Tilton	B.A. in Bible with a minor in Pulpit Speech; Master of Ministry degree; Ordained Baptist pastor.	Speaking
	Scott Gillis	B.A. in Religious Studies	Speaking
	Jay Seegert	B.S. (physics)	Speaking

Our logo: explained

The logo of Creation Ministries International symbolizes the literal reality of a Genesis creation day: alternate periods of light and dark on a rotating earth. A real evening and morning, just as the text makes clear.

See also ‘How could the days of Genesis 1 be literal if the Sun wasn’t created until the fourth day?’