Zbinden Legacy Forum
The Zbinden Legacy Forum honors Rev. Dr. Louis Zbinden, former senior pastor of FPC. The forum brings expert theologians to FPC on a periodic basis.
Z-Talks 2023
Saturday & Sunday, February 25 & 26
Guest Speaker: Rev. Dr. Thomas C. Gibbs
First Presbyterian Church hosted the second event of the Louis H. Zbinden Legacy Speaker Series known as “Z-Talks.” The speaker was Rev. Dr. Tom Gibbs, President of Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. Many will know Tom as the founder and former Senior Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in San Antonio. See Tom’s full biography below. Tom spoke on the significance of theology in church life and the role that church planting plays in advancing the Christian faith.
Saturday, February 25
- Saturday Z-Talk and Q & A Session
- Topic: Dr. Gibbs’ journey with church planting; principles of church planting; education for church planters.
Sunday, February 26
- Sunday Service Message
- Sunday Z-Talk
- Topic: Christian/theological education today, state of the field and trends right now, the need for theological education in today’s culture.
Meet Our Guest Speaker
Dr. Tom Gibbs became the sixth President of Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri in July 2021 after serving as a pastor for 24 years. Previously, Dr. Gibbs served as the Senior Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in San Antonio, Texas, the church he planted and pastored for 19 years. Before planting Redeemer, he also planted a Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) campus ministry at Baylor University and had served as a youth director in Birmingham, Alabama.
Dr. Gibbs brings a commitment to organizational leadership and church planting to his experience in ministry. In addition to planting Redeemer Presbyterian Church and Baylor RUF, he oversaw numerous church plants through his role as the chairman of the Southwest Church Planting Network, a network encompassing more than 60 churches across four states. He also served as a church planting assessment director for Mission to North America, the Presbyterian Church in America’s church-planting agency, and founded and led Reach South Texas, an organization focused on strategic church planting in South Texas.
He has degrees from Auburn University (BChE) and Covenant Seminary (MDiv, DMin). He and his wife Tara have four children: Anna Catherine, Thomas, Lucy and Caroline.
Lecture Series 2021
The follow are lectures by Rev. Dr. Ligon Duncan, Chancellor and CEO of the Reformed Theological Seminary, discussing various subjects. The lectures were part of FPC’s 175th Anniversary Celebration.
