R. C. Sproul Jr.

Robert Craig Sproul, better known as R.C. Sproul, Jr. (born 1965), is a Calvinist Christian minister and theologian and is the son of Robert Charles Sproul, a noted Reformed theologian and founder of Ligonier Ministries.

Sproul holds degrees from Grove City College (Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Literature, 1986) and Reformed Theological Seminary (Master of Arts in Theological Studies, 1991) and received his D.Min. in theology from Whitefield Theological Seminary (2001).

After working with Ligonier Ministries for some years, Sproul founded Highlands Ministries (formerly Highlands Study Center) in Bristol, Virginia, in 1996, which he still heads. In the same year, he planted Saint Peter Presbyterian Church in Bristol and until 2001 served as its senior pastor and then until 2010 as its Associate Pastor of Education. He is also a teaching elder of Heritage Presbyterian Church (Centerville, TN). Sproul serves as executive editor of Every Thought Captive, a bimonthly magazine published by Highlands Ministries. During 2009–10, he worked as a teacher for Veritas Press, which specializes in Christian educational texts.

In 2010, Sproul was appointed a Teaching Fellow and Assistant Professor of theology, philosophy, and apologetics at Ligonier Academy in both the Bible college and D.Min. programs. He has spoken at a number of conferences and is a vocal supporter of homeschooling, traditional family roles, Biblical patriarchy and limited government.

Sproul was married to Denise Elizabeth Sproul (née Rocklein), who died December 18, 2011 at the age of 46 after a long battle with cancer. Sproul and his late wife have eight children aged from 18 to 2. Their disabled daughter Shannon died October 3, 2012.

Sproul was first ordained in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARP). After a failed attempt to transfer into the Presbyterian Church in America, he was ordained in the Reformed Presbyterian Church General Assembly (RPCGA) in 2000.

In January 2006, Sproul and the Session of Saint Peter Presbyterian Church, its governing body, were deposed from office by the RPCGA under charges including "abuse of authority in an inexcusable manner" against several families, alleged illegal use of the ARP's tax identification number, planting a church without authority, and practicing paedocommunion. The SPPC Session issued a letter of apology and asked to be released from general membership in the RPCGA, and the denomination granted their request. SPPC requested pastoral oversight from the CREC, which accepted the congregation as a full member in October 2007. The Confederation of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC) examined the case and accepted Sproul as an ordained minister in good standing in 2006. In 2010 Sproul transferred his ordination to the denomination Covenant Presbyterian Church (CPC) and is an elder in Heritage Presbyterian Church of Centerville, Tennessee.

Sproul has written ten books, including When You Rise Up: A Covenantal Approach to Homeschooling, Bound for Glory, Biblical Economics, Almighty Over All, Eternity in Our Hearts, and Tearing Down Strongholds. He has edited four books, including After Darkness Light: Distinctives of Reformed Theology, and contributed to several others. He was a regular columnist for World magazine, Homeschooling Today magazine and the Covenant Syndicate. For eleven years he was the editor of Tabletalk magazine, a publication of Ligonier Ministries, and is still a monthly contributor.