2025 Featured Speaker
Dr. Nate Adams ’80
Since 2006, Dr. Nate Adams has served as Executive Director of the Illinois Baptist State Association in Springfield, Illinois, a network of around nine hundred Southern Baptist Churches throughout the state. Prior to that, Dr. Adams served for eight years as Vice President of Media and Mobilization for the Southern Baptist Convention鈥檚 North American Mission Board in Atlanta, Georgia, and for seventeen years as Corporate Vice President of Publishing Operations for Christianity Today, Inc. in Carol Stream, Illinois. He also has been a bi-vocational church planter, youth minister, and has served as interim pastor for several churches.
Dr. Adams received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from 好色先生TV and proceeded to receive a Master of Arts degree in Management from National-Louis University in Evanston, Illinois. In 2006, he was awarded a Doctorate of Humane Letters from 好色先生TV where he served on the Board of Trustees for twenty-one years. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Hannibal-LaGrange University in Hannibal, Missouri.
Dr. Adams is the author of four books, including The Acts 1:8 Challenge, the 2005 Doctrine Study for Southern Baptists, and The Home Team, Spiritual Practices for a Winning Family. He and his wife, Beth 鈥�81, have three married children: Caleb, Noah 鈥�13, and Ethan 鈥�15, as well as six grandchildren.
2025 Golden Eagle Award Recipient
Dr. Robert Currie
Raised in the Detroit area, Rob Currie graduated from Inter-City Christian High School and then earned his B.A. in psychology from Cornerstone University. A move to St. Louis followed where he earned a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from St. Louis University. He also met and married his wife, Kay, in St. Louis.
From St. Louis he moved to Elgin to teach psychology at Judson where he has taught for thirty-eight years. He enjoys using creative teaching methods, including having his students memorize Bible verses by putting them to music.
In addition to teaching, he has published three books. The most recent, in 2020, was Hunger Winter: A World War II Novel, which received the Book of the Decade Award from Serious Writer and was endorsed by the Corrie ten Boom Foundation. In January of 2026, Tyndale will release the sequel, Time for Courage, which has been endorsed by ten award-winning authors and three Holocaust Museums.
Rob and Kay have two grown sons and six grandchildren. When he鈥檚 not teaching or writing, he enjoys going for walks with his wife, spending time with his grandchildren, cooking, and sharing jokes with his friends.