Prepared to Answer Faith's Hardest Questions

Can we trust the Bible? Does Prayer Work? Is Satan and hell real? These are questions that many believers have wrestled with on a personal level, but perhaps even more so emerging generations of young people after they have left behind the comfort of a Christian subculture and gone off to attend a public university or serve in a secular workplace where the Sunday School answers they grew up with are often aggressively challenged.

This was the personal story for Dr. Todd von Helms during a class he attended on the Bible as literature at a public institution during his undergraduate degree. Unprepared for the professor's critical questions, this spurred Todd on to a more rigorous study of the ancient context and meaning of Scripture that could answer the skeptics.

Over the years, Dr. von Helms has been working with teens, college students, and clergy in multiple academic, ministerial, and denominational settings across the United States, including as Chaplain and Interim Headmaster at St. David's, a pre-K-12 independent Episcopal school, which provided him a sabbatical to complete his new book.

Along his vocational path, Dr. von Helms has encountered honest but common questions posed to the Christian faith by culture and recognized that young believers from evangelical backgrounds, much like he was, are not often prepared to handle them. In his new book, Before You Leave for College, Career, and Eternity, he shares his wisdom along with historical and biblical research addressing topics such as prayer, atheism, Satan, and others, providing a tool to better equip young minds to defend their faith intelligently when they are sent out into the world.

Dr. von Helms received degrees from Dallas Baptist University, the University of Texas, Southwestern Seminary, Southern Seminary, Duke University, and SMU. Currently, he is a Senior Fellow at both The King's College in New York City as well as the Center for Faith and Culture at Southeastern Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

More recently, Dr. von Helms was appointed as Presidential Scholar of Christianity and Culture at Dallas Baptist University.

"We are so thrilled to have alumnus and former religion professor Dr. Todd von Helms serving his alma mater in this role," stated DBU President Dr. Adam C. Wright. "He has a passion for Scripture and for college students, especially to see young believers love God with their minds so they can serve as witnesses of the truth before our skeptical world."

Before You Leave is now available on Amazon in Paperback and Kindle versions.