About Me
My name is Mark Ward. I hold a Ph.D. in New Testament Interpretation from BJU Seminary. My dissertation was entitled, Paul’s Positive Religious Affections.
I currently work as a YouTuber and web designer. Before going out on my own, I was an editor for Crossway, a writer/editor and presenter for Logos, and a Bible textbook author for BJU Press.
I have written several books, including Authorized: The Use and Misuse of the King James Bible, which comes “highly recommended” by D.A. Carson-and has an accompanying Faithlife documentary.
I attended Mount Calvary Baptist Church for 18 years while in Greenville, SC, and I “pastored” an outreach congregation there Sunday mornings for the last (almost) six of those years. After moving to Washington, I was something of an assistant pastor for six years—though ordained for only the last 9 months of that time—at Cornerstone Baptist Church of Anacortes. The church voted to close toward the end of the COVID era. My family now attends Emmanuel Baptist Church of Mount Vernon, WA, where we serve in various capacities.
I am also the president of the Bible Faculty Summit, a small annual colloquium for biblical scholars who hail from the same sliver of American Protestantism I do.
About the Blog
“By Faith We Understand” (why the name?) exists to glorify God by stirring up my readership—theologically thoughtful conservative Christians—to love and good works. It is mostly moribund now that YouTube gets so much of my attention. But I keep it around just in case. If you want a good flavor of what I like to write about, here are three posts that might do the trick:
A FEW MORE TIDBITS
- I got to know my lovely wife in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, and Lithuania on the 2006 Musical Mission Team.
- My interests include reading, hermeneutics, Bible translation(s), language, NT textual criticism, epistemology, biblical theology, biblical worldview, Bible typography, a cappella choral music, barbershop, and ultimate frisbee once a week (I’m a handler, and there’s nothing like a huck that hits your receiver in stride for a score, or a curving flick that goes out of bounds and back in, hitting your receiver in the end zone at just the spot where he is running flat-out).
- I used to do a fair bit of graphic design on the side as Forward Design, and I still do design sometimes because I can’t help it (websites and logos); I serve churches. I am interested in picking up hosting clients, especially. For details, email me.
- My wife is a micro-urban flower farmer, and her Blackburn Gardens has brought a great deal of joy into our lives. We’re surrounded almost year-round with some of the most beautiful of God’s creations.