Read About Books Authors
Gaylene Goodroad
Gaylene Goodroad became interested in the martial arts after an uncle, who earned a black belt in Goju Ryu karate during a military tour in Japan, demonstrated some of his techniques. During her freshman year in college, she enrolled in Tae Kwon Do classes, but left as a novice. Eventually, with continued study of the martial arts, she obtained a second-degree brown belt in Okinawa Kenpo karate while her husband was stationed in the Army in Hawaii. After returning to the continental US, she resumed karate training, ultimately holding the rank of nidan (2nd degree) black belt in both Shotokan karate and Aikido. Gaylene not only served as a sensei in a karate dojo, but also taught self-defense classes, alongside law enforcement officers, both in the public-school setting, as well as in training seminars for women. She renounced all martial arts belts following her conversion to Christianity in 1992, as well as the false Roman Catholic system and the Native American spiritual beliefs she embraced as a child. Gaylene graduated from the University of Minnesota, Moorhead, with a BS degree in Mass Communications in 1984. She has been married to her husband Steve, a retired military officer, for 40 years. They are the parents of two special needs sons, both now grown.
Travers & Jewel Van Der Merwe (Jewel Grewe)
Travers and Jewel van der Merwe founded Discernment Ministries, Inc. in 1989. They had been pastoring for a number of years and began to be deeply concerned with what they perceived within the church as a radical shift away from the authority of Scripture towards experiential faith. With the advent of signs, wonders and personal prophecy on a unprecedented scale, the church was using intuitive reasoning as a basis for faith rather than the immutable authority of the Word of God – the Holy Bible. These concerns led the van der Merwe’s to publish a bi-monthly Discernment Newsletter, then write their first book, STRANGE FIRE, which dealt with the revival of a neo-gnosticism developing at a rapid speed within Christendom. When Jewel and Sarah Leslie first met on Ed Tarkowski’s Internet discernment loop, Travers was dying of cancer. After his passing in 1995 Jewel gave this manuscript to Sarah Leslie for publishing. Jewel’s landmark book JOEL’S ARMY would be updated and republished a few years later. This book documents the early beginnings of what would later become known as the New Apostolic Reformation. Together these two books established a research foundation for other discernment writers including Dr. Orrel Steinkamp, Sandy Simpson, Mike Oppenheimer, and Sarah Leslie. In 2000 Jewel married David Grewe.
Jack Morlan
Jack Morlan has been married to Paula for 42 years. They have two sons and five grandchildren. In 1985 he founded Freedom Ministries, Inc. and became an ordained minister. He was appointed by Gov. Branstad to the Iowa Civil Rights Commission and served for six years. Jack has been in the hair salon business for over 50 years. He became a recognized leader in helping cancer clients, working with the American Cancer Society and Strands of Strength, and brought in Laser Hair Therapy to help restore hair loss. Jack has received numerous civic awards, including Edna Troutman Aware for Look Good – Feel Better Program, the CBI Community Service Award, and he was inducted into the Iowa Hall of Fame for Cosmetology in 2008. Jack was appointed by Gov. Vilsack to the Iowa Cosmetology Department where he served nine years. Jack delivers this testimony: “The best thing in my life was meeting JESUS and HE changed my LIFE.” Jack and Paula Morlan have been longtime friends with Lynn and Sarah Leslie as we have worked alongside in our various ministries.
Read About Research Resources Authors
Charlotte T. Iserbyt
Charlotte Iserbyt (1930-2022) was the consummate whistleblower! Iserbyt served as Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of Education, during the first Reagan Administration, where she first blew the whistle on a major technology initiative which would control curriculum in America’s classrooms. Iserbyt is a former school board director in Camden, Maine and was co-founder and research analyst of Guardians of Education for Maine (GEM) from 1978 to 2000. She has also served in the American Red Cross on Guam and Japan during the Korean War, and in the United States Foreign Service in Belgium and in the Republic of South Africa. Iserbyt is a speaker and writer, best known for her 1985 booklet Back to Basics Reform or OBE: Skinnerian International Curriculum and her 1989 pamphlet Soviets in the Classroom: America’s Latest Education Fad which covered the details of the U.S.-Soviet and Carnegie-Soviet Education Agreements which remain in effect to this day. She is a freelance writer and has had articles published in Human Events, The Washington Times, The Bangor Daily News, and included in the record of Congressional hearings.
Dr. Martin Erdmann
Dr. Martin Erdmann studied theology at Columbia International University, SC (Master of Divinity), the University of Basel, Switzerland and the University of Aberdeen, Scotland (Master of Theology). In 1999, he was awarded a doctoral degree in Modern Church History at Brunel University London, England. The senate of the Károli Gáspár University, Budapest, Hungary, conferred on him a Habilitation degree (Dr. habil.) in Systematic Theology in 2017. In 1996, he founded Online Communication Systems, Inc. in Columbus, Ohio. For four years he headed up the New Testament department of the Staatsunabhängige Theologische Hochschule Basel (State-independent Theological Seminary), Switzerland. In his position as Senior Scientist at the University Hospital in Basel, he was involved in researching the ethical implications of Nanotechnology for five years. From 2003 to 2010 he was Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies (distance education) at Patrick Henry College, Purcellville, VA. Since 2003 he has directed the Verax Institute (Christian apologetics).
Paul V. Zylstra
In 1985, I self-published a book using a copy machine titled A Christian Parents Primer on Iowa Education. It was copyrighted and I distributed it to the Iowa Legislature, Department of Education, Governors office, and many Christian organizations. It was instrumental in changing the Compulsory Attendance Laws in Iowa.
In 2017 I published the first book in this series through The Write Place publishers titled Our Spiritual Enemies: the World, the Flesh, and the Devil. The book was designed for people with problems to understand and overcome the pressures of the flesh to sin.
Our Spiritual Compass: The Conscience and Morality, relates why we decided to defy state law and homeschool our children.
The third book in the series is in progress and is titled Our Spiritual Destiny: Death and the Hereafter. It is designed to help people facing death to understand what awaits them on the other side. It will hopefully be an encouragement to the believing and a discouragement to those contemplating suicide.
The first draft of Our Spiritual Destiny was written in Baghdad under heavy rocket and mortar fire in 2008 while I was doing program management for Iraqi Reconstruction through the United States Army Corps of Engineers. I discovered that incoming did not even raise my blood pressure because I had assurance in the Lord. I was a civilian contractor helping to rebuild the Iraqi power grid. The fourth book in the series also had its first draft in Baghdad in 2007 and is titled Our Spiritual Restoration: Repentance, Forgiveness, and Reconciliation.
I am a veteran of four years in the United States Army during the Vietnam War. I have been an electrical engineer since 1978 and a licensed professional engineer in the state of Iowa since 1987.
I have owned my own business, Energy Technologies Inc., since 1991, with a primary service of process controls and machine automation.
I have also had three deployment with FEMA and am waiting on another. I did the ground work for the emergency communications system for the New York City Fire Fighters after 9/11.