(Pastor) Eric Barger
After spending two decades immersed in the world as a record producer, rock musician, drug addict, and New Ager, Eric Barger (pronounced Bar-jer) is now widely recognized in the area of Christian Apologetics and Discernment Ministry. Eric's "Take A Stand! Ministries" confronts both the culture and the Church, focusing on the Cults, World Religions, the Occult, Spiritual Warfare, and, most particularly, the troubling unbiblical trends and doctrinal issues facing Christians in these end days.

He is the author of numerous books, including the best-seller "From Rock to Rock, Entertaining Spirits Unaware: The End-Time Occult Invasion" (with co-author David Benoit) and "Disarming the Powers of Darkness," Eric has written for "USA Today" and has been interviewed by hundreds of print and electronic media outlets, including "Time Magazine" and "Fox News." His articles are now syndicated on dozens of biblically-based prophetic and apologetics websites and blogs.

Eric has been a featured guest on many Christian and secular programs, such as "Southwest Radio Ministries, Christ in Prophecy," with Dr. David Reagan, "Understanding the Times" with Jan Markell, "Worldview Matters" with Brannon Howse, "Point of View" with the late Marlin Maddoux, "Unraveling the New World Order" with Dr. Larry Bates, TCT Network's "Rejoice," and Canada's "100 Huntley Street." In September, 2011, Eric's own radio broadcast "Take A Stand! With Eric Barger" began airing on over 400 outlets across North America each week.

October, 2011, marks the beginning of Eric Barger's 29th year of full-time apologetics and discernment ministry. Each year he travels more than 200 days across the US and Canada presenting his multi-media "Take A Stand!" Seminars in conferences, churches, and Christian schools.

With Evangelicals continuing to steadily slide into doctrinal chaos, Eric Barger is a voice of biblically-based reason -- and warning. Besides refuting unscriptural ecumenism, universalism, the normalization of Islam and Mormonism, and popular yet problematic fads such as the novel, "The Shack," one recent focus of Eric and Take A Stand! has been an understandable expose' and dialog concerning the heretical Emergent Church movement. His messages on this topic have become the most requested live seminars and video teachings Take A Stand! has ever produced.

Eric Barger is an ordained minister with United Evangelical Churches. He serves on the executive and advisory boards of ministries such as Jan Markell's Olive Tree Ministries, Columbia River Fellowship, Steering Wheel Ministries and the apologetics group, Saints Alive in Jesus. Eric and his wife, Melanie, have two grown daughters and four terrific grandchildren.

Eric spoke at Learn To Discern Ministries' second conference in May 2012, and we are pleased to have him at our third conference in August 2013.

Jacob Prasch
James Jacob Prasch is Director of Moriel Ministries.

Jacob was born near New York City in the USA where he became a Christian while studying science in university in February of 1972, after trying to disprove the Bible with science, history, and archaeology. He found so much evidence in support of the claims of Jesus and the Bible that it required more faith to reject it than to believe it.

Already frustrated by the failures of the hippie generation to build a better world, disillusioned by the Marxism to which he subscribed, and with the drug culture that claimed the lives of some of his friends and nearly his own, he put his faith in Jesus.

Jacob's family is a combination of Roman Catholic and Jewish. (In his youth he was forced to attend a Catholic school, but also attended the Jewish Community Center.) Jacob's wife Pavia, also from a science background, is a Romanian-born Israeli Jewish believer who is the daughter of holocaust survivors. Pavia was an atheist and Jacob was an agnostic. After coming to faith both switched from study in scientific fields to theological fields in Israel and in Britain. They have two children both born in Galilee.

Jacob is a Hebrew-speaking evangelist to the Jews and a Bible teacher elaborating on the original Judeo-Christian background and hermeneutics of the New Testament, and his emphasis is on church planting and missions. He and Moriel have also been a conservative voice for biblically-based discernment among moderate Pentecostals and Charismatics opposed to the seductions of the ecumenism, money oriented preaching and hype artistry, "charismania" and psycho-babble prevalent in today's church.

Jacob and Moriel are committed to the conviction that we are in the Last Days approaching the return of Christ and that contemporary events in the Middle East, the moral deterioration of society, the destruction of the environment, the globalization of the world economy, the rise of a pseudo-democratic federal Europe and, above all, the apostasy in the contemporary church, are all events of prophetic significance eschatologically.

August 2013 will be Mr. Prasch's first time speaking at the Learn To Discern Ministries conference. We look forward to hearing to everything he has to share with us.

Jay Seegert
Born in 1963 (Waukesha, Wisconsin), Jay was raised in a strong Christian home and accepted Christ as his saviour while he was in grade school. His entire family attended a very Biblically sound church, where they were all involved in various ministries.

After graduating from a public high school, Jay attended John Brown University, a Christian college in Arkansas. Just after his junior year, he changed his major from Mechanical Engineering to Physics, and transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. While attending UW-Whitewater, he was elected as a member into Sigma-Pi-Sigma (National Physics Honour Society). Jay graduated in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics (UW-Whitewater) and an Associates of Science degree in Engineering Technology (John Brown University).

Jay's initial interest in apologetics, especially Creation Science, began while attending UW-Whitewater in 1985 (largely due to the fact that all of his science professors were evolutionists and/or atheists). It was there that he wrote his first paper on creation science and gave his first lecture (to the university's Physics Club). Since that time, Jay has spoken, both formally and informally, hundreds of times on almost all major aspects of apologetics.

Mr. Seegert's passion has grown and matured over the years. Rather than simply being focused on the more technical/scientific aspects of apologetics, he had a heart for strengthening the believer's faith in the Word of God and helping them develop a biblical "worldview", which in turn aids them in being a better leader in the home and church, mentoring their children, being a stronger testimony at work and in the community, etc.

Over the past 25 years, Jay has spoken in churches, schools (both public & private), Bible studies, universities, society meetings, camps, private homes and men's conferences (where over 5,000 attended). In addition to creation related topics, some of the other topics that he has spoken on are as follows: "The Existence of God", "The Origin of the Bible", "The Inspiration & Authority of the Bible", "Alleged Errors/Contradictions of the Bible", "Science & the Bible", "Prophecy & the Bible", "Jehovah's Witnesses", "Mormonism", "The Deity of Christ", "Old Testament History", and "Witnessing & Evangelism Training". He has approximately 1,500 apologetic resources in his personal library.

Jay has served as the President of the Creation Science Society of Milwaukee for 3 years, stepping-down in order to focus on fulltime ministry with the Creation Education Center. Jay was awarded the prestigious "Faithful Servant Award" by the Christian Stewardship Foundation in 2007 which included a grant to the Creation Education Center.

In late 2008 he accepted an offer to be a part-time speaker for Creation Ministries International (CMI -world's largest creationist organization). In 2008, Jay gave-up his own computer programming business (Integrity Computer Consulting, LLC) to move into fulltime ministry as the President and Principal Lecturer of the Creation Education Center.

Jay Seegert and his wife (Amy) have been married 18 years and have a 15 year-old son (Taylor), and a 13 year-old daughter (Tori). Amy works part-time as an independent Interior Design Consultant. Their family attends Spring Creek Church (Pewaukee, WI) which has been in existence for 128 years.

Learn To Discern Ministries looks forward to hearing Mr. Seegert share his information with everyone in August 2013. This will be Jay's first time as a Guest Speaker at the 3rd annual LTDMin Conference.

Ray Yungen
Ray Yungen, author, speaker and research analyst has studied religious movements for over twenty seven years. Mr. Yungen resides in Salem, Oregon.

With the fast spread of contemplative/emerging spirituality taking place today, Ray Yungen has recently decided to enter full-time ministry. His books include A Time of Departing – How Ancient Mystical Practices are Uniting Christians with the World's Religions, and For Many Will Come in My Name. His DVDs under the series "The New Face of Mystical Spirituality", are The Invisible Denomination: the New Age, Contemplative Prayer, and The Emerging Church and Interspirituality.

Ray spoke at Learn To Discern Ministries' first conference in May 2011, and we are pleased to have him at our third conference in August 2013.