Language and Literature Department
Authors from 2007
Dr. Jerry B. Jenkins
Keynote speaker, has authored more than 160 books. Among these books are the best selling Left Behind series, which have sold more than 63 million copies. The 13th book in the Left Behind series The Rising, was a New York Times best seller. He wrote the sports story comic strip Gil Thorp from 1996 until 2004.
Jenkins has been a regular contributor to Time, Reader's Digest, Parade, Guideposts, and dozens of Christian periodicals. He also has been a frequent guest on Dr. James Dobson’s Focus on the Family radio program. Bethel College awarded Jenkins one of his two honorary doctorates in 2003. Jenkins is the former vice president for publishing and currently writer-at-large for the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago and owner of Jenkins Entertainment and the Christian Writers Guild.
Jenkins and his wife Dianna have three grown sons and three grandchildren and live in Colorado.
Andy Scheer
Keynote speaker, is managing editor and a writing mentor for the Jerry B. Jenkins Christian Writers Guild in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Previously he served for 18 years with Moody Magazine in Chicago — from 1990 to 2002 as managing editor. A journalism graduate of Colorado State University, he also studied at Denver Seminary. Andy lives in Colorado Springs with his wife Carol and their high-schooler Karl, while daughter Erica is studying at Anderson University
Lois Walfrid Johnson
Inspirational speaker and former instructor in fiction for Writer’s Digest School, has authored 34 books including The Disappearing Stranger and other best-selling novels in the Adventures of the Northwoods, Riverboat Adventures series and her new Viking Quest series.
Johnson’s novels target middle readers but are also loved by teens, young adults and adults, for individual reading or read-aloud groups. Her books have received numerous awards such the C. S. Lewis Award for Best Series and the Wisconsin State Historical Society Award of Merit for Distinguished Service to History. In addition to Johnson’s fiction titles, recent releases include the updated Either Way, I Win, to help adults grow in the power of prayer, and Burnt Cookies, a devotional book for girls.
Holly Miller
Author or co-author of 14 fiction and nonfiction books and more than 2,000 published magazine articles, teaches magazine writing at Anderson University. In her latest book, Feature and Magazine Writing, she shares experiences from her more than 20 years as an editor with The Saturday Evening Post. Holly is a judge for the annual Evangelical Press Association writing competition. Her byline has appeared in such diverse publications as TV Guide, Reader's Digest, Moody Magazine, Today's Christian Woman and Writer's Digest.
She has won writing awards from the Associated Press, Society of American Travel Writers, Evangelical Press Association, Midwest Travel Writers Association and the Society of Professional Journalists.
Dr. Earl Reimer
Renowned Bethel College playwright and director since 1961, has developed the college’s drama program into the successful program it is today. Dr. Reimer has published 25 world-performed plays and is a winner of the Religion and Theatre Division of the American Theatre for Higher Education’s one-act play competition. He also directed and wrote plays for Bethel’s Genesians traveling drama troupe for 30 years and began Bethel’s annual summer Dessert Theatre. Dr. Reimer was also awarded the Indiana Arts Commission Master Playwriting Fellowship for his play about the life of 17th-century poet John Donne entitled Man in the Shadows
Rachael Phillips
Adjunct writing professor at Bethel College, has written four biographies in the Heroes of the Faith series: Frederick Douglass, Billy Sunday, St. Augustine and a collection of four mini-biographies of hymn writers, Well with My Soul. The 2004 Erma Bombeck Global Humor Award winner, she has published stories in Zondervan’s 2006 collection Help, I Can’t Stop Laughing and written humorous magazine articles in Today’s Christian Woman and Marriage Partnership, one of which won an award from the Evangelical Press Association. Rachael writes a weekly humor column called “Coffee Corner.”
