The Apostle Paul met with the brethren in Jerusalem who had sent him out and "declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord" (Acts 21:19,20). In that same spirit, let me report to you what God has accomplished through the work of ICR this past year, with the expectation that it will be as encouraging to you as it is to the ICR staff.
Speaking of the staff and faculty, we have added several, especially Dr. Andrew Snelling to the geology faculty. In all, the staff exhibits like-mindedness and Christian unity, making employment here a real joy. God has also granted us overall good health. I continue to marvel at the vitality and productivity of the two stalwarts of ICR, Dr. Duane Gish and my father, Dr. Henry Morris. Their many years of experience underscore our need to pray for their continued ministry.
It has been a good year financially, even with the uncertainties of Y2K. As of this writing, it appears that once again God will enable ICR to finish the year "in the black" as He has for its entire 29 years of existence, to His glory. In November, we broke ground on a new laboratory and warehouse building next door to our headquarters. Building debt-free will facilitate the ministry and save money now spent on leased space.
Acts & Facts now goes in published form to 147,000 homes, while 270,000 copies of Days of Praise are printed. Both are augmented by untold myriads of pieces of information downloaded from our web page. Never has there been such a demand for creation information.
The radio ministry of ICR continues to expand with "Science, Scripture, & Salvation" now being heard on 826 outlets, "Back to Genesis" on 1200 outlets, and De Regreso a Genesis on 91 stations. Three radio specials were completed this year, "Mystic Invasion," "Apollo: Quest for the Moon," and "The Kansas Tornado" reaching many. All of these broadcasts are aired free.
The seminar department was quite busy with 13 large-scale seminars, 250 or so publicized speaking engagements and school assemblies, Good Science and Days of Discovery meetings for students, four overseas lecture tours, three debates, two creation science camps, and numerous other lectures reaching an estimated 75,000 people. The Creation Presentation Tours was a new wrinkle, with five tours reaching 134 locations in five states. We returned to Grand Canyon and Mount St. Helens with the popular study tours with 220 attendees. The Museum of Creation and Earth History hosted 20,000 visitors. All in all, a very busy and productive year.
The Creation OnLine course for high schoolers is fully completed, and a second online course, Advanced Creationism, is now being piloted by ICR graduate students. It is the first of a planned new graduate major in Creation Studies which will be taught substantially over the web.
Speaking of the web, our web site has been incredibly popular with some 280,000 visitors, 10.6 million hits, and 90 gigabytes of traffic this past year. It now offers all back articles, research papers, Days of Praise, radio broadcasts, and a new adventure page for kids.
Several new books have been written including Defending the Faith and Origin of Earth and Its People by Dr. Henry Morris; Over the Edge by Dr. Larry Vardiman; How Firm a Foundation in Scripture and Song by Dr. John Morris; Jonathan Park and the Secret of the Hidden Cave by Pat and Sandy Roy; The Mythology of Modern Dating Methods by John Woodmorappe; and The Kansas Tornado by Dr. Paul Ackerman and Bob Williams. Two new adventure videos for young people, "Marty's Fossil Adventure" and "Marty and the Last Dinosaur" have been quite popular.
The Graduate School has continued to thrive, with 20 courses being taught this summer by 15 faculty members, including newcomers Dr. Patti Nason and Dr. Joseph Mastropaolo.
The full-time faculty participated in numerous research projects, on subjects related to radioisotope dating through the RATE initiative, fossil nautiloids in Grand Canyon, polystrate trees at Joggins, Nova Scotia, efforts to delineate the limits of the Genesis "kind" weather patterns during the Ice Age, and numerous others.
The listing of these activities and projects fails to tell the whole story, however, for each one implies people reached, minds changed, and eternal destinies affected. ICR's hand in the recent school board decision in Kansas and the resulting coverage illustrates the fact that the ministry here is impacting the world. These blessings have come about as many have given and prayed. Thank you all for co-laboring with us in these weighty endeavors.
