About Donald W. Ekstrand

Donald W. Ekstrand is adjunct professor of Christian Studies at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, and Religious Studies in the Maricopa Community College District in Arizona. Dr. Ekstrand holds degrees in Business, Secondary Education, Theology, and Divinity, and is a graduate of Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ), Talbot School of Theology (LaMirada, CA), and Western Seminary (Portland, OR). He has served in positions of teaching and executive administration for more than 30 years. Don and his wife, Barbara, have two grown daughters and reside in Phoenix, Arizona.

Don was born in Calgary, Canada, in 1943, and his family moved to the states in 1948. He grew up in Pasadena, California, became a naturalized citizen at the age of 12, and attended Pasadena High School. Don was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. After completing his military obligation, he then continued his college education at Pasadena City College where he also played football. He transferred to Arizona State University on a football scholarship and there completed his undergraduate education.

Following his studies at Arizona State, he came to the realization that there is more to life than the physical realities that had dominated his thinking and living. As the result of numerous experiences, the spiritual realities he had been introduced to when he was younger, now became the very foundation of his existence – no longer was God just a mysterious unknown, He was now the supreme personal reality behind all things.

The next step in Don’s spiritual pilgrimage was that of teaching and discipling young people and college students. During the 1980s his college ministry grew to more than 500 students. In addition, he also developed an institute for biblical studies for adults, called Aletheia Bible Institute. The word aletheia in Greek is our English word “truth” – as such, the purpose for the school was to help students discover the essence of divine truth.

Over the years, Don assisted a number of leading Christian figures in their ministries – he served with Josh McDowell at a number of his conferences and seminars… he worked with Francis Schaeffer and Dr. C. Everett Koop on their project, Whatever Happened to the Human Race? He traveled with Franklyn Graham to Southeast Asia to participate in a ministry to pastors on the island on Borneo… and he conducted a tour of the Holy Land with Roy Gustufson of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

Today, Don continues to teach and study those divine truths that bring meaning and understanding to life. He is presently working on a book that addresses the root of humanity’s problem – the natural propensity to sin. It will identify the many aspects of this problem, including the frustration and confusion that exists in the minds of most Christians on this subject. The book will also address the lack of coherent preaching on this topic in our pulpits. This work is projected to be completed by the end of next year (2009).