Staff
Currently, Religious Debates is operated by three people: Ethan R. Longhenry, Larry Bunch, and Kenneth Thomas.
Ethan R. Longhenry
Religious Debates Owner and Website Administrator
Since late 2006, Ethan has taken over ownership of Religious Debates and also runs the website. Ethan was one of the founding moderators of Religious Debates and has participated in five debates himself. Ethan, 25, currently serves as the evangelist for the church of Christ in Norwalk, Ohio. He has been married to his wife Sarah since 2000 and has two daughters and a third child on the way.
Larry Bunch
Debate Administrator
Larry now serves as the debate administrator. Larry has been a long time member of the Religious Debates community has participated in debates himself. Larry currently serves as the evangelist for the church of Christ in Fairfield, Texas.
Kenneth L. Thomas
Group Administrator
Kenneth now serves as the group administrator. Kenneth was one of the founding moderators of Religious Debates. Kenneth serves as the preacher for the church of Christ at Beech Grove and is also a math teacher. He and his wife Judy have four sons and five grandchildren.
History
Religious Debates began in September, 2000, as the brainchild of Johnny Clark. The Internet had many forums for discussion, particularly e-mail lists, but the medium did not easily allow for the presentation of differing ideas in a systematic way. Therefore, Johnny, along with Kenneth L. Thomas, Kent Bailey, and Ethan R. Longhenry, started the Religious Debates e-group (now Yahoo! Group) so that there would be an online forum for formal debate of religious topics. Not long after, Jack Smith and Billy Yarbrough were added as moderators, and each was given a particular role in the group. To get things started, Johnny and the late Voyd Ballard engaged in a mock debate regarding baptism for salvation.
The group quickly gained interest and members, and debate propositions began to roll in. Moderator changes were made-- Jack and Billy left those positions, and Larry Bunch, Ira Mikell, Allen Boyd, and Dot Ketchum and Jeri Dentel were added as moderators over time. Ira, Allen, and Dot also left that position after awhile, and John, Kenneth, Kent, Ethan, Larry, and Jeri remained the moderators for a significant part of the history of the group.
Johnny's health unfortunately began to fail considerably, and Jeri Dentel took over much of the administration of the group, with the men present to help make any necessary decisions. The Religious Debates website also came forth, providing a more consistent and easier place to archive the past debates held and maintaining current list administration.
Johnny's passing from this world in 2006 led to considerable change in the ownership of Religious Debates. By this time, Kenneth, Ethan, Larry, and Jeri were left as the moderatorial staff, and Jeri recused herself of the responsibilities she was bearing. Ethan agreed to take over the website and ownership of the e-mail list and has continued in that role ever since.
Religious Debates is pleased to be in its seventh year. The group has over 250 members and a constant stream of debates to this very day. The administrators of Religious Debates feel that it has met and continues to meet its purpose, and pray that people have been benefited by the presentation of ideas in a formal way in this forum. In all things we have prayed that to Christ be the glory, and that in some way His truth has been discovered and promoted here.