Barry Creamer candidate to lead Criswell College

DALLAS—Barry Creamer, vice president of academic affairs and professor of humanities at Criswell College, will be considered as the school’s next president when the Criswell Board of Trustees meet on July 7.

The announcement was made on Tuesday (June 24) by Jim Richards, presidential search committee chairman, and John Mann, chairman of the Criswell trustees.

Creamer, 51, has served as professor of humanities at Criswell College since 2004 and is a leading voice on cultural and theological issues, often addressing them on the radio program “For Christ and Culture,” which he hosts on KCBI-FM in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Richards, in a statement, said the search committee was unanimous in its choice to bring Creamer to the full board.

“No one has a better grasp of Criswell College than Dr. Creamer,” Richards said. “He understands the historic connection to the founder, Dr. W.A. Criswell. Dr. Creamer lives with daily responsibilities of the college in his current role as vice president and academic dean. He has an understanding of the future of the school with both the challenge of expanding the curriculum and relocating the campus.”

Richards said the committee worked nine months and thoroughly vetted well over a dozen potential candidates, “many qualified, godly men,” but it came down to one interview.

“Dr. Barry Creamer has demonstrated, throughout his ministry, that his academic ability and administrative skill is among the best in Christian education,” Mann said. “Criswell College has received immeasurable benefit from his years of service as a professor and administrator.

“Throughout the interim period led by Dr. Jimmy Draper, Barry accepted and excelled at the challenges that were given to him by the leadership of the college. He is now positioned to lead Criswell College into the future as a liberal arts institution that is placing witnesses for Christ into strategic fields for the fulfillment of the Great Commission. Exciting days are ahead for Criswell, and I am thankful for Dr. Creamer’s leadership in the years to come and overjoyed to be a part of what the future holds.” 

Creamer earned a Ph.D. in humanities with a philosophy and history emphasis from the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). He graduated summa cum laude with a master of divinity degree from Criswell College in 1994 and a bachelor of arts in English from Baylor University in 1985.

He has served churches in a variety of roles, from pastor to minister of evangelism, since 1982. While teaching adjunctively at Texas Woman’s University in Denton and at UTA, Creamer was pastor of Woodland West Baptist Church in Arlington from 1987-2004.

Creamer has taught classes on topics ranging from sermon delivery to the Greek world, critical thinking to bioethics and logic. He wrote a chapter, “Article XIII: Stewardship,” in the 2007 academic book “The Baptist Faith and Message 2000: Critical Issues in America’s Largest Protestant Denomination.” He is a member of Lake Highlands Baptist Church in Dallas and has been married to Joan for 31 years. The couple has four adult children.

“I share the board’s vision for Criswell College, and, with the blessing of their upcoming vote, will be honored to build on an already storied and influential foundation to lead the school through what I believe are its most promising days,” Creamer said.

The other members of the Criswell search committee are: Joshua Crutchfield, Andrew Hebert, David Galvan, Keet Lewis, Jack Pogue, board chairman John Mann, and committee alternate Paul Pressler.

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