Marsha Basner

Marsha Basner is a Registered Dietitian, has a Master's Degree in Food and Nutrition and runs a private practice. Affiliated with the Seventh Day Baptist Church in Tulsa. Her studies with a Baptist pastor (Southern Baptist Convention) resulted in his affiliation with the Seventh-day Baptist denomination. She is the moderator of the Sabbath_In_Africa Internet forum, which investigates primitive Sabbath observance on the African continent. (see <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sabbath_In_Africa>). She is a research fellow with the Sabbath In Africa Project at Oakwood College, Huntsville, AL, founded by Dr. Charles E. Bradford, author of Sabbath Roots researching the ancient Sabbath keeping traditions of the African continent where there have been recent discoveries of African Jews, Sabbath-keeping Christians and various Sabbath-keeping tribes. She is co-moderator of the SDA Feast Class Internet Forum investigating the relevance and continuity of the Sabbath and Biblical festivals in the Christian Church (see <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sdafeastforum>). Assists in organizing the annual "Proclaiming the Sabbath More Fully" Sabbath Conferences, a symposium of Biblical scholars and students investigating the Biblical Sabbath and Festivals. Served as a co-editor for "Proclaiming the Sabbath More Fully" newsletter and co-authored "The Creation Origin of the Festivals" (see <http://www.graftedin2torah.org/Gen1.html>). She has also authored an article entitled, "Should Christians Eat Kosher?" A passionate witness and evangelist for the Sabbath, she is actively involved in Biblical research, Bible studies and distributes tracts about the Sabbath locally, nationally, on the Internet, through postal mail and through "postage-paid" return envelopes.

Bryan Burrell

Bryan Burrell is a lifetime resident of Fairview, Oklahoma, where he and his wife, Sue, own a farm equipment business and manage a family farming operation. Their son Mark is the manager of the equipment business and their son Paul is a Continental Airlines Pilot.

Bryan and Sue were both raised in Sabbath-keeping homes as were their parents and grandparents and several great grandparents. Through the years they have attended many Sabbath-keeping churches and are active in the Fairview Church of God (Seventh Day) where they have served in many ways. They are life members of The Bible Sabbath Association and Bryan currently serves as Treasurer.

Bryan graduated from Oklahoma State University and enjoys taking additional college classes. He is a licensed insurance and securities agent in Oklahoma and specializes in assisting clients with financial planning. For over ten years Bryan has been a certified mediator for the Oklahoma Alternative Dispute Resolution System and volunteers his services as a mediator for businesses, individuals, families and churches.

Bryan is a graduate and member of Leadership Oklahoma, a member and past president of the Fairview Chamber of Commerce, a past president of the Fairview Board of Education and has served on an advisory board for the area Career and Technology Center, civic organizations and his local church. He is a certified pilot and flight instructor in private, commercial, multi-engine and instrument categories.

Calvin Burrell

Lifetime Bible Sabbath Association member and current BSA Board member; member and ordained minister of the Church of God (Seventh Day); current editor of the Church's BIBLE ADVOCATE magazine and director of its Ministries Training System; married 37 years, with three children and five grandchildren; age 60; currently resides in Houston, Texas.

 

 

 

Dr. Sidney L. Davis

Dr. Davis is a naturopathic physician (specializing in alternative therapies for over 25 years). He is also a retired naval petty officer. His church affiliation is with the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He is also one of the principle organizers of "Proclaiming the Sabbath More Fully" Sabbath Conferences which is a symposium of Biblical scholars and students dedicated to the promulgation of the Sabbath truth. Dr. Davis is also involved in an effort to open dialog between SDA's and Jewish believers in the study and investigation of anti-Semitism in the Christian church, the Jewish roots of the Christian faith and addressing the anti-Christian propaganda and attitudes in Rabbinic theology. He is the moderator of the SDA e-mail Feast Class Forum that is open to all interested in the investigative study on the relevance and continuity of the Sabbath and Biblical holy days (see <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sdafeastforum>). Dr. Davis is also presently involved in a research project that is studying the Sabbath-keeping traditions of the African continent where there have been recent discoveries of African Jews, Sabbath keeping Christians and various Sabbath keeping tribes throughout the continent. He is a registered research member of the Southern African Missiological Society (see <www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/8409/aic.htm>) He is co-moderator of the Sabbath In Africa e-mail Forum (see <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sabbath_In_Africa>) Dr. Davis is the past President of The Bible Sabbath Association.

Darrell Estep

Darrell Estep and his wife Helen live in Port Orchard Washington. He was been a Sabbath keeper all his life and has worked with the General Council Churches of God 7th Day organization since its beginnings in 1947. He has served as President of the General Council for many terms. Darrell has been a staunch leader for his local church Congregation Beth El Messianic Congregation located in Western Washington on the Puget Sound Near Tacoma where he serves as Chairman of the Board. He states that once he actively began promoting the Sabbath real blessings came into his life! Darrell has been a College professor most of his life teaching engineering drawing and computer aided design. Since retiring from active employment he and his wife have committed to use their retirement years in service to the Lord. If reelected he is looking forward to continue his work with the BSA in promoting the Sabbath. Darrell and his wife have five children who all love the Lord!

John Paul Howell

A Christian for several years, and a Sabbath-keeper for the last nine years, John Paul Howell is also an Electrical Engineer and Software Developer, specializing in telecommunications and computer networks.

John Paul always had questions regarding the validity of the Fourth Commandment while growing up in a Sunday-keeping church. Ten years ago, while teaching youth about the Ten Commandments as part of a week long "Backyard Bible Club," the reality of the Fourth Commandment struck home. This caused him to begin the wonderful journey of proving to himself not only the validity of God's Sabbath day, but also of gaining a better understanding of God's wonderful plan for mankind.

Throughout John Paul's walk with Christ, he has readily volunteered for numerous speaking and teaching positions for both children and adults. For the past four years, he was the leader of the weekly Bible study group at his former company. He also regularly accepts song leader and speaking roles at either his local church or other Sabbath group meetings as the need presents itself.

John Paul is currently a member of the Bible Sabbath Association board of directors. He is also the current keeper of the BSA website, and a Lifetime BSA member.

John Paul lives in Baltimore, Maryland with his wife of 15 years. He and his wife have an nine-year-old boy and a seven-year-old girl.

Tom Justus

Tom Justus, a native of Northeast Arkansas, has been married to his wife Velma more than fifty years. They had four children. Bob, the eldest son, died in 1993. In the printing business most of his life, Tom's company, Just-Us Printers, prints The Sabbath Sentinel magazine, along with many full color magazines. It is among the top ten sheet fed printers in Arkansas, has thirty full time employees, and has recently expanded. Tom is a past BSA Vice President.

Tom was associated with the Worldwide Church of God from 1955 to 1978. He was ordained an elder in 1962, pastored churches, and set up and managed the Church's printing press at Pasadena, California, and in England, which published The Plain Truth magazine and all the Church's literature.

In early 1978 he left the WCG and started the Church of God International congregation in Pasadena. In 1979, he moved back to Arkansas and started his own printing plant. He continued to help Garner Ted Armstrong. He was on the CGI Ministerial Council for seventeen years. He was responsible for printing and mailing Watch Magazine until his departure in 1995.

Tom is active in community services, and is Pastor of the Church of God, Sabbath Day in Springdale, AR. He and his church started a basic doctrine booklet program reprinting old booklets, which are given out free in any quantity needed. Tom's goal now is to help as many people possible see the weakness of having a hierarchy and learn to evangelize in their own community.

Earl Lewis

Earl Lewis lives in a small town north of Joplin, Missouri. He and his wife, Wanda, recently celebrated forty-two years of marriage. They have three children and nine grandchildren.

In 1967, the knowledge of the Seventh Day Sabbath came through personal study and Earl attended and became active in the Joplin Church. He later moved to Stanberry, attended Midwest Bible College, and several summer sessions of Summit School of Theology.

Earl has served in a pastoral position for the Church of God (7th Day) since 1974. He recently retired from the pastorate but has not slowed down his involvement in the ministry. He continues to serve as an Elder and Board Member for the Joplin Church. He is outreach coordinator for the Joplin Ministerial Alliance and serves as a volunteer chaplain at the county detention center. He is Director of SEED Missionary Aid Association and operates the Giving & Sharing Bookstore. He leads a weekly Twelve Steps for Christian recovery meeting and an Overcomers Sabbath School class. He is a member of the city council and mayor pro-tem.

He actively spreads the SEED of God's love and way of life as he goes about. Many Gospel seeds are planted in foreign countries where the SEED and Giving & Sharing ministry assists foreign workers with Bibles, Christian magazines and other literature. His love and concern for people is exemplified by a willingness to serve others and be available to help them reach their full potential as God's children, and his unselfish promotion of the Bible Sabbath Association.

June Narber

June Narber has been active on the BSA Board of Directors for eight years and with TSS (associate editing/writing) for six. She is the chair of the BSA Scholarship Essay Program. She was called by God in her early teens to keep the Sabbath alone, apart from her family. She holds a Masters Degree in International Development with a concentration in anthropology/forestry coursework from North Carolina State University and a Bachelor's Degree (theology) from Ambassador College. She currently teaches ESL (English as Second Language) at two community colleges and through private lessons. She also does non-profit organization consulting; occasional technical writing projects and has been a traditional herbalist/natural healing consultant for over ten years.

June is a researcher, writer, non-profit organization participate, public speaker; counselor, and service focused individual, She is focused on promotion of the Sabbath truth across "all" the humanly created boundaries and into the international areas, having had first had experience living/working in Thailand. She is internationally and interculturally aware. She believes that the Sabbath is the key that unlocks a human being to the greater truth of scripture. Her interests include the international church, the community church at the local level; the empowerment of the individual believer through obedience to God's laws and through local evangelism and through service to "neighbor." She sees a great work needs to done to unite brother and sister in the church, in learning how to love and serve each other, yet while living, working and functioning in the modern world.

Richard Nickels

Rich Nickels has been associated with the Bible Sabbath Association since the 1980s, serving as Board Member, President, and Secretary. He is a lifetime BSA member. His wife, Shirley Nickels, is BSA Office Manager. They have three grown children.

Rich was baptized in 1969, was a church administration employee of the Worldwide Church of God from 1971-1973, and currently worships with the United Church of God and Living Church of God. In 1978, he founded Giving & Sharing, a non-profit ministry providing Bibles and other Christian literature to Sabbath-keepers around the world. See <www.giveshare.org>. He was ordained as an elder in the Church of God in 1999, and frequently gives Bible Studies and sermons.

Rich Nickels is the editor of "The Giving & Sharing Newsletter," publisher of "Church of God News," and author of many Bible Studies and books, such as History of the Seventh Day Church of God, Biblical Holy Days, Biblical Marriage and Family, Biblical Law, and Biblical Health and Healing.

During his work for the BSA, Rich has greatly expanded the BSA literature list, established the BSA website, compiled the 2001 edition of the Directory of Sabbath-Observing Groups, expanded The Sabbath Sentinel circulation by moving it to a free publication, and answered numerous requests to the BSA by personal correspondence.

The Nickels family strongly supports the BSA's mission to promote the Sabbath and cooperation among Sabbath-keepers.

Barbara Parada

Barbara Parada is a 28-year old native of Oregon, U.S.A. who has lived in Washington, Wyoming, Missouri, Texas, Mississippi, and Florida and is currently a permanent resident of El Salvador, Central America. She is a graduate of Texas A&M University with a degree in marine biology. She is a member of the United Church of God, an International Association. She moved to El Salvador in 2001 with two dreams: one, to marry her prince charming, and two, to open a home for children. She lives with her husband, José Roberto Parada Guerrero, outside the capital of El Salvador. They are very involved with their church and love working with children, teaching Sabbath School for a group of 30 children ages 2 to 13.

Barbara serves as the graphic designer and one of three editors and principal writers for a woman's magazine, "Ellas," published by the UCG congregation in San Salvador. The Paradas founded Close to You, Inc., a U.S. non-profit, tax-exempt charity organization, in 2002. They founded this organization first, to provide an educational facility and jobs for members of their church, and second, to help the children and adults of El Salvador. Barbara serves as chairman of the board of directors for the organization and as secretary and treasurer for the El Salvador office. She is also a board member of the El Salvador chapter of LifeNets International, Inc. and volunteers regularly at a nearby Seventh-day Adventist orphanage. She is fluently bilingual in English/Spanish.

Ken Ryland

Ken is editor of The Sabbath Sentinel magazine and a Sabbath keeper of nearly 40 years. Ken lives in Kansas with his wife Patti and son Daniel where they regularly attend the Wichita South Seventh-day Adventist Church, and on occasion attend other local Sabbath-keeping congregations.

Ken first came to faith in 1965 while attending the University of Mississippi and was baptized in Memphis, Tennessee, in May of that year. Since completing a B.A. in Spanish and History at Ole Miss, Ken has graduated from Ambassador College and from Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas with a Master's degree in Spanish. Ken moved to Pasadena, California, in 1972 to work for the Spanish Plain Truth magazine and was eventually made managing editor of that magazine. Ken also taught Spanish and American History at Ambassador College for several years.

Ken currently works for a large aerospace firm as a senior technical editor and has his own Web site at <http://kvryland.tripod.com> and is a regular contributor to the Association for Christian Development Web site and ACD's New Millennium magazine.