Written by Dr. Charles Zimmerman Tuesday, 03 January 2012 00:00

Where have they gone & where are they now? 

I thought that for my blog entries, I would contact former faculty members and provide an update on what they have been doing since they left Biblical and how they spend their time these days. 

Gary Cohen was the only member of the founding faculty that I never had as a teacher, in fact, I have never met him.  However, I have heard on good authority (Wayne Davidson) that he was not only good in the classroom; he was Wayne’s favorite seminary teacher. 

What years did you teach at Biblical? 

I taught at Biblical Sept 1971 to May 1976.  

What have you been doing since then? 

I spent 1976 -1981 as president of Graham Bible College, then at Clearwater Christian College.  I taught and served as Academic Dean at Miami Christian College, which became Trinity International University-Florida Regional Center, from 1981 to 2011.  There I was privileged to be voted in various years by the students as Most Merciful Professor and Most Humorous Professor.  I had the privilege to write eight books, be one of the translators of the NKJB, be a contributor to the OT Theological Word Book and the Christian Life Bible, as well as the Kirban Bible and the Red Letter Bible, published by R. Turner. I had the joy for about a dozen years to be a speaker for the Moody Prophetic Conferences held in churches around the United States.  The Lord allowed me to be an Army Chaplain (I joined as a private E-1 after college) and retired as CH (Colonel) USAR in 1992, and was also a graduate of the USAF Air War College. 

I have been connected to a zealous Korean work for some 20 years which has some 65 branches today. I have had the joy of speaking at their graduations in Osaka, Japan; Lima, Peru; Sao Paulo, Brazil, and other places as well as to teach in Miskolc, Hungary and Hong Kong.  With my family, we designed and built the prototype of the Jerusalem model which is at the Holy land Experience in Orlando.    I today have the joy of serving on the Boards of South Florida Bible College & Theological Seminary and of Zion's Hope, Clermont, FL. 

My wife Marion and I have been blessed with three fine Christian children and six grandchildren.  We now live in Clermont, FL near Disney World and I speak in churches and annually in Glendale, CA and at the Park of the Pines Bible Conference, between Seattle and Tacoma, WA. There, of course, have been difficulties, but we thank the Lord for His gracious presence through the years. 

Tell a favorite memory from your Biblical days

When I taught Introduction to Greek at Biblical, I would ask students to put an assigned sentence, English to Greek, from Machen's text on the board for the class to examine. We had two major rules: viz., once you put your marking pen down and took your seat, you were not allowed to return to the board again to make any changes, and the sentence had to be your own work. I would often offer some small award to any student who placed a sentence on the board with no mistakes. This was a rare feat as the sentences in Machen could be tricky, and for instructional purposes, we only asked students to put the more difficult ones on the board.  One day one of the students, as he took his seat, boldly declared to the class that he had put a mistake-free sentence on the board.  To that I raised the offered reward, which was an automatic 'A' for the next quiz and you didn't have to take the quiz. With clapping of hands and broad smiles the student glowed with joy and assurance.  I still recall, however, that I had spotted a misspelling, of all places, in the last letter of his last word! As I publicly analyzed the sentence, our confident student, with boastful words, took delight as I commended his work word by word as we progressed. Then as we came to the final word, he gave what sounded like the howl of a wounded wolf!  He saw it at the end of his last word. I still recall the shouts of the entire class at that "learning moment."     

Contact information:  drgarygc42@yahoo.com

Cordial regards to all at Biblical.  May our Lord continue to bless you!  Gary Cohen, Mark 10:45

Please add a funny or serious story that you have that includes Dr. Cohen. 

Charles Zimmerman is the Thomas V. Taylor Professor of Practical Theology.  He also serves as Teaching Pastor at Calvary Church in Souderton.  He is married to Kim and they have two daughters, Ashley and Megan.  See alsohttp://biblical.edu/index.php/charles-zimmerman