Dan Nelson is clear and direct in his desire for everyone to know what Baptists believe and how they have survived their struggle to be the force they are today.
Each chapter contains ten descriptions of certain beliefs and practices amplified by Baptists in their churches and history. Eight appendices serve as a teaching guide for the information condensed into helpful instruction.
Nelson's writing is unique since he uses history to describe Baptist beliefs. His writing and research indicate how Baptists differ from other groups. Surprising facts and encouraging stories shared as illustrations reveal these truths.
Dan has taught Church History and is a Baptist historian specializing in writing about continuous Baptist history throughout the history of Christianity.
Dan Nelson is an author who writes about Baptist history and practice. He served as an ordained Baptist pastor of three churches for the last 50 years. He and his wife, Janice, live in Sherwood, Oregon, after Dan retired from a 35-year full-time pastorate at First Baptist Church of Camarillo, California.Dan writes and contributes various articles to Baptist History groups while serving as an administrator of a Bible Study online group. He has taught the History of Christianity at a Bible College and is the author of five other books. Dan also preaches and teaches at various churches on Baptist history and doctrine. He remains active through supply preaching in multiple churches in his area. Dan's most recent books continue his theme of seeking to write on Baptist history and biographies that cover the establishment and continuous story of Baptists. His ambition of writing on ongoing Baptist history was his motivation for his previous books on Baptist Biographies and Happenings in America and his book on A Comparative History of the Anabaptist and English Baptist Movements. Early Baptists is his most extensive and challenging work. It covers two centuries with many biographies, doctrinal explanations, and historical events in these groups during the Reformation era and the turbulent seventeenth-century religious conflict in England.Dan's new book on Baptist Revival 2.0: Baptist Faith and Practice: Analyzed and Explained Scripturally and Historically is a deeper understanding of Baptist beliefs and practice from his first book: Baptist Revival Reaffirming Baptist Principles in Today's Changing Church Scene. It gives a historical background of how Baptist beliefs were courageous and purposeful in Christian history. The content is a compilation of a series of articles Dan shared on various Baptist History groups in various social media venues. The quotes and understanding of what Baptists believed are explored from every angle. Dan hopes the information in this book can be used in teaching venues in churches and schools so that the appendices condense the book's content for this very purpose.A Burning and Shining Light was his biography of George Whitefield, the Great Awakening Preacher who led the Awakening Movement in England and America. This book was a product of many years of research with his Ph. D dissertation on the First Great Awakening Leaders and their preaching styles. The biography was listed in Amazon's "Hot New Releases" of the history section after its first week of publication. Dan also does a dramatic monologue and sermon excerpts on Whitefield dressed as Whitefield.Dan holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, a Doctor of Philosophy degree from California Graduate School of Theology in Glendale, California, a Master of Divinity degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in New Orleans, Louisiana and attended Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Mill Valley, California. He graduated from William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, with a B.A. degree.Dan and his wife Janice have two daughters: Krista and Kimberly, who live with their families in Texas and Oregon.Dan has served on the Board of Trustees at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and as National Alumni Chairman for New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He served as President of the California Southern Baptist Pastor's Conference in 2002.
