2012 Keynote Speaker
Dr. Charles Ware
President
Crossroads Bible College
Dr. Ware is president of Crossroads Bible College, a biblically conservative, evangelical, accredited post-secondary institution dedicated to training Christian leaders to reach a multiethnic urban world for Christ. He has been president since 1991. Established in 1980, Crossroads Bible College (formerly Baptist Bible Institute and College of Indianapolis) birthed Crossroads Bible Church in 2001. For five years, Dr. Ware served as both senior pastor of the church and president of the college. In 2007, he decided to refocus 100 percent of his energies on running the college, and a new senior pastor was hired. The church and the college share the same mission: to reflect ethnic diversity, promote urban ministry, and be living examples of the fruit of Bible-based racial reconciliation.
Dr. Ware is chairman of the Association for Biblical Higher Education’s Koinonia Committee. For six years, he served on the board of ABHE and currently is on the board of the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE). Dr. Ware speaks at churches, Christian schools, colleges, seminaries, mission conferences, camps, prisons, and civic functions in the United States and abroad. He is a consultant on racial reconciliation and leadership to various organizations and companies (including Walmart). He is a speaker at chapels for such sports teams as the Indiana Pacers and the Philadelphia 76ers, and he is an adviser to the chaplain of the Indianapolis Colts. His ministry is well received by audiences of all races.
Dr. Ware encouraged CBC to take four actions in the partnership with the NCAASI. First, CBC translated the NCAASI materials into a three credit hour college course and made it a required course for all CBC students. Second, CBC hosted Dr. Evans in Indianapolis to launched the NCAASI and provide training this past summer. Third, CBC is serving as a facilitator and promoter of the NCAASI statewide. Fourth, CBC has set some scholarships aside for graduates of Arlington Community High School, where CBC works with a former student.
Dr. Ware has written, co-written, and edited several books. His most recent book, co-authored by Answers in Genesis founder and president Ken Ham, is One Race One Blood (previously published under the title Darwin’s Plantation: Evolution’s Racist Roots (Master Books, 2007). In February 2009, Moody Radio’s Prime Time America and CBN’s The 700 Club aired interviews with Dr. Ware about the book and the college.
Dr. Ware also authored the book Prejudice and the People of God: How Revelation and Redemption Lead to Reconciliation (Kregel, 2001). He co-edited the books Reuniting the Family of God (Baptist Bible College, 2000) and Prejudice and the People of God: Racial Reconciliation Rooted in Redemption and Guided by Revelation (Baptist Bible College, 1998). He contributed to the books Just Don’t Marry One: Interracial Dating, Marriage, and Parenting (Judson Press, 2003) and Building Unity in the Church of a New Millennium (Moody Press, 2002).
Dr. Ware and his wife, Sharon, have been married for 38 years and have six children: Kristin, Timothy (Kim), Jonathan, Matthew, Karen, and Justin.