Dr. Edward DeVries         

The following article about the life of Dr. DeVries appeared in the Wikipedia Encyclopedia in 2007:

Edward DeVries, an author and Baptist preacher, is president of The School of Biblical & Theological Studies, a private Bible college and seminary. He was born in October of 1972 in Hammond, Indiana.

DeVries' father and grandfather were the owners of Lansing Auto Glass and Glass Wholesalers, one of the largest wholesalers of automobile glass in the United States. However, the young DeVries made a conscience decision at age 15 not to pursue the family business, choosing instead to enter the ministry.  

Having been converted at age 13, by the age of 15 DeVries had become a member of the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana. At that time, with an average weekly Sunday School attendance of about 28,000 the First Baptist Church was considered to be the largest church in the world. It was under the influence of the preaching of the First Baptist Church's pastor, Dr. Jack Hyles, that DeVries felt "called" into the preaching ministry.  

Recognizing his nephews' "call" and believing it to be genuine, DeVries' maternal uncle, who was a member of the pastoral staff of the Hammond, Indiana Church of God invited the young DeVries to preach a special evangelistic meeting at the Church of God. Shortly thereafter DeVries approached First Baptist Church youth pastor Dr. Eddie Lapina about the possibility of preaching at the First Baptist Church. Dr. Lapina's reply was "has Chicago run out of street corners?"  

Immediately the 15-year-old DeVries engaged earnestly in the task of preaching on the street corners of Chicago, Illinois; Gary, Indiana; and Hammond, Indiana. He would also preach open-air meetings at the city's bus stops, train terminals, and in municipal parks. These soul-winning efforts resulted in many professions of faith and regular baptisms at the First Baptist Church. This earnestness was rewarded very quickly and DeVries was offerered a position on the staff of the First Baptist Church.  

As an Assistant to the Pastor of the world's largest church DeVries' duties included nursing home chaplaincy, working in the children's ministries, the deaf ministry, the blind ministry, the ministry to the retarded and educably slow, and an assignment as a Bus Captain in the church's bus ministry. The bus route supervised by DeVries was in a ghetto neighborhood on the south-side of Chicago, Illinois in the vicinity of 86th and Commercial streets. DeVries' continuous visiting of the homes in the area and his late-night street preaching activities resulted in the development of a bus route that averaged 130 riders weekly on two buses and that had high-attendance days in the 300's. Most of the riders were members of rival gangs who would surrender their weapons to DeVries prior to boarding the busses.

At the age of 17 DeVries enrolled as a student at Hyles-Anderson College in nearby Crown Point, Indiana. Hyles-Anderson College had been founded just weeks prior to DeVries' birth and was named for the pastor of the First Baptist Church who founded the school and for Dr. Russell Anderson who donated the first $1,000,000 to the school's establishment fund.   

In 1993 DeVries moved to Texas with the intention of going to work for the People's Baptist Church and Roloff Homes of Corpus Christi, Texas which had been founded several years previous by Evangelist Lester Roloff. However, during a stop-over in Houston, Texas DeVries visited the Star of Hope Rescue Mission. After preaching in a chapel service at the mission he was offered a position as the mission's evening shift supervisor and as an assistant to the Director, Dr. Bill Reed, who had previously served both as an attorney to Lester Roloff and as the former Director of the famous Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago, Illinois. It was at the Pacific Garden Mission where the famous baseball player turned evangelist Billy Sunday first professed Christianity. It was through his involvement at the Pacific Garden Mission that Reed knew of DeVries and his work at the First Baptist Church of Hammond since many First Baptist Church and Hyles-Anderson College groups would volunteer at the Pacific Garden Mission. 

Accepting the position in Houston, DeVries enrolled in the American Baptist College of Westlake, Louisiana and began attending classes at the school's extension campus in Alvin, Texas. Shortly after his enrollment he was offered a scholarship in exchange for his working part-time as an Administrative Assistant to Dr. Franklin Michael Minter, Vice-President of the college. DeVries also enrolled in the correspondence program of the Andersonville Baptist College in Andersonville, Georgia.

In the spring of 1994 DeVries would graduate concurrently from both American Baptist College with an Associate's Degree in Biblical Studies and from Andersonville Baptist College with a Bachelor's Degree in Theology. In 1995 he would receive the Master of Theology Degree from Andersonville Baptist Seminary and in 1996 he would be awarded a Doctor of Ministry degree in the field of Religious Education from Lake Charles Bible College. In addition to driving two-hours to take classes on Monday evenings in Lake Charles, he would also teach undergraduate classes for the college on Monday afternoons. His doctoral project, which he did in place of a major dissertation, was to establish an Internet Bible College and Seminary which operated for one year as an extension of the Lake Charles Bible College. When, at the end of that year, the board of Lake Charles Bible College voted to discontinue the on-line experiment, deciding that it had been a "noble failure," DeVries reorganized the school independently as the School of Biblical & Theological Studies. In the 11 years that DeVries has served as president of the school the enrollment has grown from 12 to over 400. 

DeVries would remain in the Houston, Texas area, establishing a Baptist church which he would pastor for the first 3 years of its operation and subsequently pastoring three other Baptist churches. During this time he would also begin writing books.  

In November of 1999 DeVries was awarded the Doctor of Theology degree by Dr. Roy Branson of the Landmark Baptist University in Bristol, Tennessee. Transcripted as an earned doctorate, DeVries' dissertation was a 250-page treatise on ''the Theology of Prayer'' that would later be published as a nine-chapter book titled Lord Teach Us to Pray. 

In 2004 DeVries moved to Wichita, Kansas where he served as the pastor of an inner-city Baptist church for approximately 2 years.   

DeVries was much in demand as a conference and revival speaker during the years 1996-1999, taking meetings when they did not interfere with his other duties. From 2001 through 2004 he travelled 46 weeks a year speaking and preaching in churches, as well as at schools, seminars, conventions, camps, colleges, and to various civic groups. Dr. DeVries resumed his full-time travelling schedule in 2006 and has been "living on the road" for over a year now, preaching in a Baptist church every Sunday and speaking in as many as 4 states every single week.  

DeVries has preached in nearly all 50 States as well as in Canada, Mexico, throughout Central America and the Caribbean. His weekly radio broadcasts reached a national audience (2001 - 2003) and his weekly columns and editorials for the Baptist Information Service (1996 - 2001) were E-mailed to over 36,000 people every week. Over 10,000 people have downloaded sermons from his website.

Through the years Dr. DeVries has served as the Director of Development for a Southern Heritage organization and as a State officer for the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma. DeVries also served as a national officer for the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He has received numerous awards. He is also the founder and organizer of the annual Southern Heritage Minister's Conference which he usually serves as moderator.

Dr. Edward DeVries has written numerous books on Theology, Christian, and Southern American History.

 

==Published Books==

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES of 126 Men Who Greatly Influenced Fundamentalism

Divinely Inspired – Inerrantly Preserved

Bible Teaching About the Rapture

Bible Teaching About the Tribulation

Every Member A Minister

Three Sins That Will Curse A Church

Dressing For The King King

A Symbol of Hate? or an Ensign of the Christian Faith?

Understanding The Doctrine of the Trinity

For Our Children’s Future

Do You Really Believe In Hell?

The Road To Rome

Divorced Preachers - Are They Qualified?

The Profitable Servant: A verse-by-verse commentary on the Book of Philemon

The History of Landmark Baptist Church

The Christian Testimony of General Robert E. Lee

The Christian Testimony of Major-General James Ewell Brown Stuart

The Life and Ministry of Brigadier-General Richard Montgomery Gano

Guidebook for Pastor Search Committees

150 Years of Faith and Faithfulness – the History of Oakland Baptist Church

SACRED HONOR: The Faith of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence

Lord, Teach Us To Pray

Glory In Grey (4-volumes, 425 Chapters) 

The First 100 Years - The History of the First Baptist Church

 

 

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