Canyon Ministries
Canyon Ministries (www.CanyonMinistries.org) is a Christian apologetics ministry and creation-based tour company founded in 1997 by Tom and Paula Vail and currently led by Executive Director, Nate Loper. The organization provides daily Christian rim tours and guided hikes in the Grand Canyon National Park, and multi-day backpacking adventures and river trips on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon from a young earth creation perspective. Headquartered in Flagstaff, Arizona, they are the only daily operating Christian tour company at the Grand Canyon.
Grand Canyon River Trips
As a commercial river guide at the Grand Canyon since 1983, and after becoming a Christian in the mid-90s, Tom Vail decided he wanted to share the truth of creation and the Bible to people from around the world. In 1997 Canyon Ministries launched its first Christian river trip through the canyon, and have been doing it ever since with hundreds of people each year from around the globe.
Over the years they've partnered with and have taken many leading creation ministries through the Grand Canyon, including the Institute for Creation Research, Focus on the Family, and Answers In Genesis who also provide scientists and teachers from the participating organizations to help lead the trip and share from their own experience and expertise.
Canyon Ministries provides an annual scholarship-based Christian Leaders Trip for people from around the world who are involved in the leadership and direction of Christian-based colleges, seminaries, church denominations, and other areas of Christian ministry and influence.
Grand Canyon Rim Tours
Canyon Ministries conducts Morning, Sunset, and Full Day tours along the Grand Canyon's South Rim and to its various overlooks. These tours are enjoyed by thousands of people each year, and include presentations on the creation account of Genesis, Noah's Flood, Flood Geology, and the formation of the Grand Canyon and much of the American Southwest. Their team of trained guides also teach about the people-history of the Grand Canyon, as well as highlight the flora and fauna seen on the 4-8 hour tours.
Grand Canyon Research
Canyon Ministries is active in leading ongoing Grand Canyon study and research projects. Over the years they have helped facilitate fieldwork, sampling, and study within the Grand Canyon for various creation institutions and scientists, including Dr. Andrew Snelling, Dr. John Whitmore, Dr. Steve Austin, Dr. Tim Clarey, and others. They are active in ongoing study and writing regarding the geology and history of the Grand Canyon and the surrounding Southwest landscape.
Book Controversy
The founder of Canyon Ministries, Tom Vail, made international news with his creation-based book Grand Canyon: a Different View. For years the book was carried in the bookstores within Grand Canyon National Park and came under considerable fire from the evolutionary camp. On December 16, 2003 the presidents of 7 major scientific organizations jointly issued a signed letter to the National Park requesting the book be removed from the bookstores because “it advances a narrow religious view about the Earth.”
The story hit the Associated Press wire shortly after that and exploded from there. Over the next year, it was in most of the major newspapers across the country and on at least 3 other continents, as well as several television and dozens of radio programs.
Official links
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