Dr. Vernon Carl Grounds (July 19, 1914 – September 12, 2010) was an American theologian, Christian educator, Chancellor of Denver Seminary, and one of the leaders in the development of American evangelicalism.[1]
Grounds was born July 19, 1914, in Jersey City, New Jersey,[2] the youngest of three children born to John and Bertha Grounds. He studied at Rutgers University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1937, then studied theology at Faith Theological Seminary in Wilmington, Delaware and obtained a Bachelor of Divinity.[3] He was part of a group that included notable evangelical leaders such as Arthur Glasser, Kenneth Kantzer, Joseph Bayly, and Francis Schaeffer. On June 17, 1939, Grounds married Ann Barton, with whom he has one child, a daughter, as well as three grandchildren.[2] He also studied at Drew University and received a doctorate in 1960. [4]
While pursuing his degrees, Grounds served as pastor at the Gospel Tabernacle in Paterson, New Jersey from 1934 until 1945. During this time, he also taught at the American Seminary of the Bible in Wayne, New Jersey, the Hawthorne Evening Bible School, and King's College (then in Belmar, New Jersey).[4] His full-time teaching career began in 1945, when he became dean and professor of theology and apologetics at Baptist Bible College & SeminaryinJohnson City, New York. He served there until 1951, when he moved to Denver to become academic dean at the Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary. He later served as president from 1956 until retiring in 1979. Grounds continued in a teaching and counseling role as president emeritus, and was named chancellor in 1993, where he actively served until his death.[5]
