Board of Directors
And Other Advisors
A Board of Directors was appointed in 1961 when the Institute was incorporated. The first chairman was Dr. G. A. Hemwall, a physician in Oak Park, Illinois, who served on the Board for 37 years until his homegoing in November of 1998.
The diversity of backgrounds and strengths, combined with a shared passion for God and commitment to Him, make this group of men a dynamic team. They are able to provide accountability and wise counsel to Bill Gothard for the direction of the IBLP ministry.
Board of Directors
Congressman Sam Johnson
Chairman of the Board
Congressman Sam Johnson is one of America’s finest modern-day heroes. While a pilot in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War, his airplane was shot down, and he spent nearly seven years as a prisoner of war. After his release in 1973, he remained in the Air Force until his retirement as a Colonel in 1979.
Today, Congressman Johnson serves the Third District of Texas in the U.S.
House of Representatives and participates in both the prestigious
Ways
and Means Committee
and the Committee
on Education and the Workforce.
He is able to give guidance to key issues of economic security, national
defense, health care, and education.
The numerous military awards that Sam has received give tribute to his outstanding character qualities of dedication, courage, endurance and longsuffering and his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Sam joined the IBLP Board of Directors in 2003. He and his wife, Shirley, have three children and ten grandchildren.
Dr. Roy Blackwood
Vice Chairman of the Board
For more than 45 years, Roy has faithfully served the Lord as a pastor, teacher, and discipler.
He began ministry as pastor of the Bloomington Reformed Presbyterian Church in 1955, and in 1963 he started evangelistic work and discipleship in Indianapolis. After a few years, this work developed into a congregation that God has since used to begin six other churches in Indiana. Presently, Roy serves as senior pastor of the Second Reformed Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana.
In 1963 he completed graduate studies in theology and political science at the University of Edinburgh. Along with his continuing pastoral and discipling labors, Roy has also taught graduate-level courses in theology and church history.
Roy and his wife, Margie, have actively applied the Biblical mandate to pray for all those in public office, and through their initiative, seminars designed to encourage and strengthen legislative and government leaders were begun more than 20 years ago.
Roy has been serving on the Board of Directors since 1980.
Dr. Billy Boring, Jr.
Board Member
As a medical student at the University of Texas Medical School, Billy attended a Basic Seminar, where he was challenged to begin meditating on God’s Word. As he did so, his grades began to climb. Later, as a resident at the University of Texas, Southwestern Dallas, he was an exemplary student and was voted outstanding resident teacher of the year.
Working alongside his father, Billy has practiced family medicine at the Medical Center of McKinney since 1988. Over the last decade he has sent more than 200 of his patients to the Basic Seminar and has discovered some intriguing statistics. Before attending the Seminar, his patients averaged 4.8 doctor’s visits per year. After attending the Seminar, their average number of visits to his office dropped to 1.2 visits per year.
Billy and his wife, Michelle, are active in their local church and community. He has also participated in several medical mission trips.
In 2005, Billy was elected to the Board of Directors.
Bill Gothard
Founder and President of IBLP
At the age of 15, Bill dedicated his life to helping teenagers and their parents make wise decisions. This commitment led to 15 years of work with inner-city gangs, church youth groups, high school clubs, youth camps, and families in crisis.
A graduate of Wheaton College, Bill wrote his master’s thesis on a youth program that eventually led to an understanding of seven Biblical, non-optional principles of life, which led to the establishment of the Basic Seminar.
In 1961, Bill founded the Institute in Basic Life Principles, and today there are more than 70 instruction- and service-oriented branches of the IBLP ministry in the United States and abroad. Bill continues to serve as president and a member of the Board.
Bill Boyd
Board Member
Bill graduated from SMU with a bacholor’s degree in economics in 1960 and from SMU Law School in 1963. He was elected district attorney of Collin County in his first year as a licensed attorney and served for 4 years in that office. He is believed to be the youngest elected district attorney in U.S. history. After a term in office, he returned to the law firm of Boyd-Veigel, P.C., a firm founded by his father.
Bill and his late wife, Betty, attended their first Basic Seminar in the spring of 1971, and in the summer of 1971, they attended their first Advanced Seminar. He has encouraged many of his clients and other friends to attend seminars, and many of them have expressed that their lives were changed.
After Betty’s death, Bill married Barbara White, a television journalist in Dallas for 20 years. Barbara currently owns and operates a communications strategy business that trains clients for interviews by television reporters, and all aspects of media relations.
In 2006, Bill was elected to the Board of Directors.
State Senator Ralph T. Hudgens
Board Member
After graduating from the University of Florida, Ralph worked for 18 years in the Agricultural Chemical Division of the Shell Chemical Company. In 1983 he founded Quality Propane, Inc., which he sold in 1987. Currently, he is President of Hudgens Enterprises, Inc. and Diamond Outdoor, Inc.
Ralph served as State Representative in Georgia from 1996-2002. In 2002, he was elected as the State Senator for the 47th District, where he currently serves as the Chairman of the Insurance and Labor Committee, Vice-Chairman of the Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee, Vice-Chairman of the Banking and Financial Institution, and participates on several other committees.
He and his wife Suzanne have been married since 1963 and have 4 children and 10 grandchildren. Ralph and Suzanne are active members at Winterville First Baptist Church.
In 2007, Ralph was elected to the Board of Directors.
Board of Advisors
James A. Sammons
Chairman of the Advisory Board
Jim Sammons has been an integral part of the IBLP ministry for many years. Thousands have been helped through the Financial Freedom Video Series, which he developed from personal experiences (including nearly going bankrupt) and application of Biblical principles to his life, marriage, and business.
He is the president of the Advanced
Training Institute International,
and served on the IBLP Board of Directors from 1980 to 2002. He continues to
serve this ministry as Chairman of the Advisory Board.
Jim and his wife, Fay, live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where they have established a successful, respected real-estate development company.
Dr. Dean Youngberg
Advisory Board Member
After attending a Basic Seminar in 1976, Dean and his wife Judy began to implement Scriptural principles in their marriage, family, and medical practice. As a result of following Biblical principles of finance, Dean obtained release from a medical partnership and established a private practice.
Dean served on the Board of Directors from 1994 to 2003 and continues to give input as a member of the Advisory Board. He and his wife reside in Kansas.
Pastor Jerry Wells
Advisory Board Member
Jerry Wells is the pastor of
Western
Hills Church
in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He and his board have restructured their church to
follow the example of the first church of the first century, making them a
powerful example to the Christian world.
Pastor Wells is a member of the Advisory Board and is the personal pastor of Bill Gothard, a member of his church.
He and his wife, Debbie, who went home to be with the Lord in 2007, are the parents of eight children.
Wes Cantrell
Advisory Board Member
Wes began his career in 1955 as a field engineer for Lanier Business
Products, Inc. Over the years, his diligence earned him increasingly responsible
positions within the company, until 1987, when he was named president and CEO of
Lanier Worldwide,
Inc. In 1999,
he was named chairman and CEO, a position he held until 2001, when he retired.
He attended his first Basic Seminar in 1972 with his wife, Bernadine, who had attended the Seminar in 1971. Since then, they have faithfully brought children and grandchildren to the Seminar and have sought to implement these Biblical principles in all aspects of their family, business, and ministry.
Wes served on the Board of Directors from 2003 until 2005.
Dr. James Leininger
Advisory Board Member
An emerging entrepreneur with a heart for God, Dr. Leininger was working as an
emergency room physician in San Antonio, Texas, when his concern for patients
led him to develop special equipment designed to save lives by providing mobility
after surgery. God has blessed his determination and desire to help others
through the success of Kinetic
Concepts, Inc.
and many other businesses and ministries that Dr. Leininger has established.
He is also characterized by his passion to see God’s truth and ways
promoted in government and actively contributes to this effort through the support
of organizations such as the Texas
Public Policy Foundation,
which is designed to provide sound research and information on state issues to policy makers,
media, and the general public.
Jim and his wife, Cecelia, have four children and live in Texas.
Dr. Spiros Zodhiates
Advisory Board Member
Spiros Zodhiates was born on the island of Cyprus and was invited to come to the United States
in 1946 to undertake the leadership of AMG
International,
a worldwide evangelistic and relief organization.
He has been the president of AMG since 1966.
Dr. Zodhiates has an incredible love for God’s Word and is regarded as one of the world’s leading Greek scholars. He has authored more than 100 books in both English and Greek, has a daily radio broadcast—New Testament Light—and contributes to numerous periodicals and newspapers.
His work as editor of the Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible has helped thousands increase their understanding of God’s Word and its application to daily life.
John Beckett
Advisory Board Member
John Beckett is chairman and CEO of the R. W.
Beckett Corporation,
a family-owned manufacturing company with more than 200 employees.
He is actively involved in ministry as an author and lecturer,
helped found Intercessors
for America,
and is a board member of numerous Christian organizations. His first book,
Loving Monday: Succeeding
in Business Without Selling Your Soul,
was published in 1998 and is John’s account of how he personally sought to
practically integrate his faith with his work.
John and his wife, Wendy, have been married for more than 40 years and live in Ohio. They are the parents of six children and nine grandchildren.
Board of Reference
Thomas A. Hill
Tom and his wife, Kay, attended their first Basic Seminar in 1974 and brought home to their family the truths presented at the seminar. The principles they learned and applied enabled them to work through problems such as anger, bitterness, and rebellion. The result was harmonious family relationships.
Tom and Kay have three married children and twenty grandchildren who are living evidence of the abundant grace of God toward His children.
The family business, Kimray
Inc.,
of which Tom is the president and chairman of the board, has also benefited from the application
of Biblical principles. In 1992, they developed and piloted the
CharacterFirst!®
program, which is now being used by cities and companies around the world.
Tom served on the IBLP Board of Directors from 1993 until 2005.
