Chip Bayer is a graduate of Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Ark. and Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Memphis, Tenn. (That’s him, pictured at right, pretending to be deep in thought or something). He served more than five years on the staff of the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana as Director of Communications and Public Relations, editor of the Indiana Baptist newsjournal, and regular contributor to the Baptist Press, the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.
In 2004 he founded Thideology Ministries, an online resource providing readers with articles, book reviews, and (at some point in the future, if Chip will get his act together) books, Bible study material and short films. According to Chip, Thideology was established because of his deep concern for the education of the Church.
“When I entered seminary I was absolutely amazed at the amount of material to which I was being introduced,” said Chip. “I grew up in church but had never studied God’s Word so in-depth. I felt cheated. It occurred to me that I shouldn’t have had to go to seminary to learn these things — I should have been learning them in church all along. We shouldn’t be shocked that the church in America is becoming more and more theologically shallow — we’re not making disciples as we should.
I became convinced that I would invest my effort in an attempt to make sure other Christians would have an opportunity to learn the deeper things of God without having to attend seminary. The meat of God’s Word is not for the ‘professional’ clergy alone, it is for every Christian. It is for the church.”
In 2005 he took the lead in developing a church curriculum for his home church that included classes in theology, church history, biblical backgrounds, hermeneutics, modern religions, apologetics, and evangelism. Eventually the material used in that program (complete with leader guides and student notes) will be made available on this website.
In 2006 Chip wrote, directed, and produced his first short film — which somehow earned semi-finalistist honors at the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival. It, too, will one day be available here. Several other films are in the pre-production stage. To learn more about For One Films click right…here.
Chip currently makes his living as a writer — though certainly not with the pitiful sort of material he posts here.
If you have any questions for Chip or would like to request that he please, please stop cluttering the internet with his wacky ideas you may contact him at thideology@aol.com.
