Creation Speakers: Eric Hovind

Eric Hovind and Paul Taylor

As you know, one of my favorite creation ministries to keep up with is Creation Today. I especially love how the their ministry’s show interviews all kinds of individuals who aren’t with the “big guns” about their particular focus in the Creation and Bible worldview.

I’ve been getting updates from the ministry since before I started blogging and spotted something interesting last Fall. Turns out, the two guys who head things up and host the show travel around to churches for meetings! I ran into a notice that Paul Taylor was going to be speaking at a church in eastern Florida a few weeks before our family was in the area and that sparked my thinking. How I would have loved to meet this gentlemanly, wise man in person!

When I checked the itinerary for more events, Mr. Taylor wasn’t going to be anywhere within reach, but Eric Hovind was speaking the Sunday we were in Florida just 1 and 1/2 hours away from our place! Remember, we drove the 1,000 plus miles [1600+km] to get there, what’s an extra bit a day later? I guessed he wouldn’t be that bad a substitute for Paul Taylor.

So, on Dec. 2nd, my kids, dad and I headed down to the church where he was speaking. We almost got lost (the landmark Google earth gave me was too tiny to notice) and arrived at the church with just 3 minutes to spare. I settled my youngest two in the nursery and slipped in the back to see what it would all be about.

The church wasn’t tiny, but it wasn’t a mega church by any means. That evening there were probably about 250 people including lots of kids, Praise the Lord! They very wisely skipped all the preliminaries and after opening prayer let Eric have at it. What a fun time we had.

The man is funny. He has rather a Far Side sense of humor with some crude “flatulence killed the dinos” jokes, but nothing I was too horrified to hear as a mom. I was especially thrilled to be the one person in the audience who knew what we do with whale puke because I’d just read about it in National Geographic! That alone made my evening. 🙂

Hovind left plenty of time at the end for questions and I took lots of notes. It was nice to see that you can find answers to most of their questions on my blog already. At the end of the service, a church leader shared how Creation Today only asks churches to cover travel expenses and take up a love offering. So, if your church isn’t too far away, is big enough, or you can get enough people to work together- you can have your own creation seminar with one of the faces you already know from the internet. Awesome!

Of course, I very much wanted to say “hi” to a real, live creation science guy afterwards. There weren’t that many people hanging around since he’d been there in the morning as well, so I had just time to scan the books for sale while Hovind was busy. Right there was a single copy of a book I’d been particularly interested in that Answers in Genesis doesn’t carry: Dire Dragons.

I felt a twinge of guilt at the thought of some poor kid not getting it, but not enough to stop me snatching it up. Turns out, Hovind wasn’t sure I would want it since the book wasn’t shrink wrapped. Seems they’d had a pile that morning and almost sold out. I insisted that the book would have lost its plastic within the hour anyway, so why should I care? and the book was mine.

Then I handed him my blog card explaining who I was and why we came all the way from Michigan to hear him. Next, I asked if he could autograph the book for me. I was so excited because I’ve never asked to have something autographed before. While I started searching in my Bible cover for something suitable, another guy handed Hovind a silver marker. As you can see, that was just what the inside cover needed.

(I’ll tell you about the book itself tomorrow.)

Meeting someone else as passionate about God and His creation as I am was worth the extra drive. Hovind reminds me a lot of one of my brothers and was completely friendly and approachable. Although, he did give every kid he met a rubber band to shoot around, so maybe he’s a little too relaxed!

Since we got home (minus some rubber bands), I’ve noticed that my oldest son perks up his ears every time he hears Hovind’s voice. He now has an automatic connection with him and is excited about the things he learned and that we as Christians stand for.

There are dozens of people crisscrossing the USA and the world speaking to audiences about the truth of God’s Word as seen in nature. I’ve got as many as I’ve found listed on my Traveling Speakers page. Maybe it’s a good time for your church to find someone close by and have them in. Perhaps you could even sell them on the idea of having Eric Hovind come as a good, clean comedian!

Then they that feared the LORD spoke often one to another: and the LORD perked up his ears, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. Malachi 3:16

Me: “What did you think of going to see Eric Hovind?”

Oldest son: “I liked him. He’s funny.”

Oldest daughter: “I liked how he talked about how the dinosaurs died.”