MEET THE
SPEAKERS
Dr. Michael Haykin
Professor, Author, Founder and Executive Director of The Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies
"May God bless my poor labours”: The life and ministry of a High Calvinist, Edward Trivett of Worstead, Norfolk
Dr. Haykin has taught Church History at different institutions in North America and abroad for over 40 years. He is a member of the Royal Historical Society and Evangelical Theological Society among others. Haykin is married to Alison and they have two children.
Dr. Bill DeJong
Professor, Author, and Director of he Albert M. Wolters Centre for Christian Scholarship
Abraham Kuyper on Worship: The Art and Craft of Theological Analysis
Dr. DeJong has served as a pastor for nearly 30 years in Canada and the US, most recently as the lead pastor of Blessings Christian Church in Hamilton, ON. He also serves as a Fellow of the Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology (Cambridge, UK) and as chair of the Scripture and Church Seminar for the Institute for Biblical Research. Dr. Dejong is married to Kim and they have four sons. He loves philosophy, the music of Bach, the Hamilton Ticats, Locke Street, family time, and discovering new ways in which the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus brings hope to humanity.
Obadiah Mariona
Co-founder, Emerging Christian Scholars
Christus Victor: Songs of Victory from the Old to the New Exodus
Obadiah Mariona is married to Brianna, and they are both joyful members of Hespeler Baptist Church. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Theology from Redeemer University in May 2025 and began his Master of Divinity at Heritage in September 2025. He serves full-time at Heritage as a Regional Hub Coordinator, connecting with local church pastors and helping recruit students. He also serves as Seminary Class President. One of his biggest passions is seeing the churches of Canada be revitalized and strengthened for the glory of God.
Matthew Waddell
Classical Theology and the “New Beginning”: The Son’s Gestation and Mary’s Maternity for Cultural Apologetics
Matthew Waddell and his wife Annika attend Hebron Christian Reformed Church. They enjoy hiking, road trips, and discussing issues in moral theology. Matt is currently finishing his Bachelor of Religious Education at Heritage, and following this is looking to continue his education at the Master’s level. He is interested in the doctrines of God, of the person of Christ, and of creation. He is also passionate about metaphysics and classical apologetics.
Morgan Dykstra
Dispelling Confusion: The Use of Psalm 8 in Hebrews 2: 5–9
Morgan Dykstra is the appreciative husband of the patient and gracious Kate. He was until recently a member of the Rock Bible Church in Woodstock, Ontario, but is currently looking for a new church family now that he is living in Hamilton, Ontario. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in History from Wilfrid Laurier University in 2018, a Master of Arts in History from the University of Waterloo in 2019, and a Juris Doctor from Washington and Lee University in 2022. He is currently pursuing a Master of Divinity from Heritage College and Seminary. Morgan is passionate about church history because it demonstrates time and again that there is nothing is new under the sun. He is also deeply interested in biblical interpretive methods. God-willing, his medium term plans are to return to the practice of law in the United States and to use his education at Heritage to bless whatever local church(es) he joins.
Peter Behnke
This New Temple: The Story of an Ordinary Church Building and the Surprising Way It Was Reclaimed for the Gospel
Peter serves as a pastoral assistant at Heritage Grace Baptist Church in Kitchener and a teaching assistant at Heritage Seminary. He and his wife Abby live in Waterloo and are both full-time students, Peter at Heritage Seminary pursuing an MDiv and Abby at Wilfrid Laurier University pursuing a BEd. Peter earned a Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo in 2025, completing his undergraduate research on the Christian context of the economist Bernard Mandeville. Peter has worked in a variety of industries, including insurance, finance, software development, academia, and church ministry. He is particularly interested in eschatology and the interpretation of apocalyptic texts.
Melissa KirkPatrick
Everlasting Love: Through Life's Sorrows, There is a Hope that Holds
Melissa Kirkpatrick attends Grimsby Bible Church, serving as treasurer and ladies study leader. She is married to Derek and they live in Welland, ON. She graduated from Heritage Seminary in April 2025 with a Master of Theological Studies and is currently a student of the Theological University of Apeldoorn, NL, writing her PhD thesis, The Ecclesiology of Maria De Fleury: a Female Theologian of the Long Eighteenth Century. She is the owner of a Bookkeeping and Tax firm but thrives on early English Baptist history, especially exploring the women from the seventeenth and eighteenth century. She is passionate about archival research and encouraging women to be soundly trained in theology for the glory of God and strengthening of Christ’s church.
Joel Carson
Engaging with the Educational Philosophy of Jan Waterink: A Study in Theological Anthropology
Joel received a BA from Redeemer University in 2025, and is currently working as a teacher, having served as Humanities teacher in secondary at Jordan Christian School. He worships at Rosedale Baptist Church in Welland, Ontario. Among his many academic interests, Joel is particularly captivated by a Christian philosophy of education, as well as historical revival and worship renewal, the history of mission, and a Christian/Neo-calvinistic understanding of language and culture. Joel’s outlook on the Church and her mission has been influenced by contact with a wide range of Christian traditions including the C&MA, Evangelical and Calvinistic Baptists, Dutch Reformed, and Anglicanism respectively. With roots based in the Tillsonburg area, Joel’s time is largely split between home in Niagara and family in Tillsonburg.
Nathan Vandermeer
A Defense of the Practical Syllogism as Warranting Assurance of Salvation
Nathan VanderMeer is an undergraduate student at Redeemer University, pursuing a double major in Biblical and Theological Studies and Philosophy, graduating in May of 2027. He is a member of Grace Community (Ancaster) Christian Reformed Church and participated in the 2026 Synod of the CRC. Nathan intends to pursue a Master of Divinity and ordination in the CRC. His research interests are in the field of analytic theology, including theories of divine predication; the doctrine and interpretation of Scripture (particularly the history of the debates on this topic within the CRC); and broader debates from within the Reformed tradition on ecclesiology and anthropology. Nathan also has an interest in Puritan and Nadere Reformatie thought.
Nadia Van Kesteren
Fondly Overcome by Female Charm: an analysis of sexual temptation in Milton's 'Paradise Lost' and 'Samson Agonistes'
Nadia Van Kesteren is an alumnus of Heritage College and Seminary, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Theology in Spring 2025. She is currently pursuing the necessary credits to start her Bachelor of Education in Fall 2027, with the goal of becoming a high school English literature and history teacher. Nadia is a member at The Branch Baptist Church, a church plant under Maple City Baptist Church in Chatham, Ontario. She is passionate about helping youth and young adults in Canada’s churches build strong biblical and theological foundations for their faith, as well as using literature and story to reveal the need for Christ in the life of every individual. Her particular literary interests lie in the fiction of the Romantic and Neoclassical eras and in historical British drama. Nadia works for Heritage College as a teacher’s assistant and hopes to pursue graduate studies after her teacher’s education.
Jacquelyn Goligher
The Shadow of Doubt: Chesterton’s Epistemological Defenceof Belief in God in The Man Who Was Thursday
Jacquelyne Goligher is a third year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto and attends Christ Church Toronto. She is completing a degree in Philosophy and English literature, and her research interests lie at the intersection of these two disciplines. She particularly enjoys studying Early Modern English literature and Victorian literature, and hopes to specialize in one of those fields in graduate school. Jacquelyne is passionate about assisting people on their educational journey, having volunteered in various mentorship roles at UofT.
Shalom Voskamp
More than Mere Intellect: Finding Personhood in the Person of Jesus Christ
Shalom Voskamp is a fourth-year Redeemer student studying English Literature and Psychology. The second-youngest of seven, Shalom was homeschooled on a farm in rural Ontario. She spent her childhood roaming woods, wrestling brothers, and rounding up pigs, but mostly reading books. Through these books and a strong Classical Christian education, Shalom grew to love learning. She loves to question, to explore areas previously unknown to her and to learn from others. She is specifically intrigued by the way stories contain a vision of reality, a worldview, a way of making sense of life. Shalom hopes to continue her studies and earn an MA in Literature to further understand the power and purpose of stories.
Andrew Usher
The Ontology of Language as Evidence for Christian Theism
Andrew Usher is married to Madison Usher where they reside in Brantford and attend James North Baptist Church (Hamilton). He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Theology from Redeemer University in May of 2026, and is currently attending McMaster University undergoing his Master’s in Philosophy. Andrew’s active research interests reside in philosophy of religion and philosophical theology. He studies differing conceptions and the nature of fundamental reality, classical and neo-classical theism, divine omniscience, and theories of linguistic meaning. He hopes to continue his academic career by completing a PhD in philosophy after his Master’s. Andrew is passionate about free, rational, and critical thinking to honor and exercise the faculties bestowed upon us by God.
Micah Sauder
To Sing or Not to Sing: The Seventeenth-Century English Baptist Singing Controversy
Micah is married to Julia, and they attend Benton St. Baptist Church, where Micah serves as the Interim Director of Music and Worship. He began piano lessons at a young age, and his love of studying music led him to Heritage in 2020 to pursue a Bachelor of Church Music. He graduated in 2024 and is currently working toward a Master of Divinity. He enjoys studying the history and theology of church music and how music can be used to serve the church for the glory of God.
Brad Bowman
Declared, Not Decorated: Edward Taylor's Dogmatic Poesis of the Lord's Supper
Revd. Bradley Bowman is married to his best friend, Sofia (Stergianis) Bowman. He holds a master's degree from Toronto Baptist Seminary and will complete his Ph.D. later this year at the Theologische Universiteit Apeldoorn, NL, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. H. J. Selderhuis and Dr. Christopher Trigg, Associate Professor and Head of English in the School of Humanities at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. He is also pursuing a Licentiate in Theology and Patristic Studies (S.T.L.) at St. Augustine's Seminary at the University of Toronto. Bradley serves at Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in London. His academic interests include the New England Puritans, Puritan and Metaphysical poetry, and the transmission of texts in late antiquity. Together with Sofia, he is developing a curriculum for teaching Greek with an emphasis on modern pronunciation.
Steve Lambert
Subjected for Us: Retrieving Cyril of Alexandria's Christology as a Theological Buttress for Partitive Exegesis in Response to Eternal Functional Subordination
Steve Lambert is the Pastor of Teaching and Discipleship at Forward Baptist Church in Toronto. He has served there since 2008, originally as youth pastor before being called into his current role in 2015. He and his wife Becky have four young children that keep them busy and joyful. Steve has a Bachelor's degree from Baptist Bible College (formerly in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania) where he majored in Bible and Youth Pastoral studies and an MDiv from Heritage Seminary. He is currently working on a ThM at Toronto Baptist Seminary with a focus on Systematic Theology. He finds it a profound privilege to teach God's Word to God's people through preaching and writing. He is the author of The God who is Trinity: Marveling in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (forthcoming in early 2027 from Heritage Seminary Press).
PURCHASE YOUR TICKET
Tickets include access to the conference, snacks throughout the day, and a copy of the journal.
Note: lunch will be provided!
$50 CAD
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