Ron Gleason is the pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Yorba Linda, California. He's married, with six children.

Ron holds a Ph.D. (Systematic Theology) from Westminster Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania. He has studied at the Free University of Amsterdam, and then at the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, where he earned a Drs. (doctorandus) degree, with honors. He has also studied at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he earned an M.Div. and graduated magna cum laude (or as he likes to say, "Lawdy! Lawdy! Lawdy!"). His B.S. degree in Economics was earned at The Citadel.

Prior to his seminary training, Ron served in the US Army where, among other adventures, he taught a top-secret class from 1968-70 on the comparison of Soviet and US tanks at the US Army Armor School in Fort Knox, KY. He could tell you more, but then he'd have to kill you.

Ron has taught the Bible internationally, including at:
Freie Evangelish-Theologische Akademie in Basle, Switzerland
De Reformatorische Bijbelschool in Zeist, Holland
Het Evangelisch Instituut in Haverlee, Belgium
Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, FL
Westminster Theological Seminary in Escondido, CA and Philadelphia, PA
Ligonier Ministries of Canada

His outside interests include amateur wrestling, racquetball, baseball, history, art, and baroque music.

Who is Ron Gleason?

Ron Gleason was born on May 1, 1945 in Charlotte, NC. He attended Myers Park High School and graduated in 1963. From 1963-1967 he attended The Citadel in Charleston, SC. While at The Citadel, he was a platoon leader, a member of the Senior Sunday Color Guard, inducted into the Economic Honor Society, a member of the Dean's List, a Distinguished Military Student, and a member of the wrestling team.

Upon graduation, with a B.S. degree in Business Administration, he entered the US Army as a second lieutenant and was stationed at Fort Knox, KY. His first year in the military service found him as a tank commander of a M60A1 tank platoon. His second and third years he taught tank gunnery in the Weapons Department of the Armor School. He also taught a secret course on the comparison of US and Soviet tanks. He was honorably discharged and given the Army Commendation Medal in January 1970.

From 1970-1973 he worked for Pfizer Laboratories in Knoxville, TN, where the Lord called him out of spiritual darkness and into His light.

From 1973-1975 he attended Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, MA, receiving his M.Div. degree Magna Cum Laude. He was also a Byington Teaching Fellow in the Systematic Theology Department with Dr. Roger Nicole and was inducted into the Phi Alpha Chi academic honor society.

Upon completion of his M.Div., he pursued studies at the Free University of Amsterdam and completed his minor in the History of Dogma under Prof.dr. Jan Veenhof, the successor of Prof.dr. G.C. Berkouwer.

He was granted a full government scholarship from the Dutch government and transferred to the Theologische Hogeschool van de Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland, (Theological Seminary of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands) located in Kampen, in mid-1977. There, he completed his New Testament minor with Prof.dr. Herman N. Ridderbos as well as his major of Systematic Theology and Ethics with Prof.dr. J.T. Bakker. He received his doctoraal (Drs.) degree with honors in 1979. He also worked as a theological assistant to Dr. Bakker from 1979-1981.

Ron holds an earned Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, PA. His mentors and study leaders were Sinclair Ferguson and Richard Gaffin. His dissertation is on the centrality of the mystical union of the believer with Christ (unio mystica) in the theology of Dr. Herman Bavinck (1854-1921).

He was ordained in the Gereformeerde Kerk (Reformed Church [Article 31]) in The Hague in 1981 and served as the pastor of a Dutch speaking church from 1981-1985 in Rijswijk, Holland.

From February 1985 through August 1994 he served as pastor of Bethel Canadian Reformed Church in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. While there, he organized the Toronto Conference on Reformed Theology, started a group for victims of sexual abuse, and was on the board of Ligonier Ministries of Canada.

He is currently the pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Yorba Linda, CA.

He has lectured internationally at the Freie Evangelish-Theologische Akademie in Basle, Switzerland, Het Evangelish Instituut, in Haverlee, Belgium, and the Reformatorische Bijbelschool, in Zeist, Holland. He has also lectured at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, PA, Westminster Theological Seminary in Escondido, CA, and Reformed Theological Seminary, in Orlando, FL.

He has been married to Sarah Yopp Gleason for thirty-eight years and has six children, one of whom is with the Lord. He lives with his family in Orange, CA. Sally and Ron have been blessed with ten grandchildren.

Ron reads or speaks Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Dutch, German, Afrikaans, Spanish, French, and a little bit of English. He publishes a weekly ethical newsletter entitled "Ethos" as well as a weekly devotional called "What God Taught Me Today." Ron is also in the process of developing a newsletter for students at The Citadel (a military university in Charleston, SC) that will be carried on their web site and will bear the name The Armor of God. His articles are posted on numerous web sites. He is also a volunteer wrestling coach at El Modena High School in Orange, CA.

Ron has served on the boards of Growing Reformed Churches, the Southern California Reformed Fellowship, and has been requested to serve as adjunct faculty at the newly formed Providence Christian College in Ontario, CA. He is the chairman of the Candidates and Credentials Committee, the Christian Education Committee as well as being the Stated Clerk of South Coast Presbytery of the PCA. He was inducted into the Heritage Foundation's Who's Who in America in 2004.

He has written two children's books entitled The Little Lieutenant and Andy's Summer Adventure. He is currently working on three more books. The first is about baseball based on his son's being drafted out of high school by the NY Yankees. The book will chronicle the ups-and-downs of baseball. The second is about The Citadel and will be entitled End as a Man. Finally, he's writing one about amateur wrestling called Near Fall.

Academically, he is working on an ethical work on Just War and three other books on male spiritual leadership. He hopes to write a Presbyterian and Reformed social ethics in the near future. He and his wife are co-authoring a book on biblical manhood and womanhood based on Ron's sermons and the couple's twenty-five years of experience in pre- and post-marital counseling.

Ron has contributed to both popular magazines and technical scholarly journals in Holland, Canada, and the US. Many of those articles can be found on his web site at http://www.rongleason.org.