Bio

[Quick Links: Book Steve / Bio PDF / Sample Introduction / Promo Pics / What People Are Saying about Steve’s Work / Steve in Action: Audio/Video / Interviews & Podcasts / See Steve in “Unborn in the USA” / Professor Jon Shields Comments on Steve, STR, and JFA / Books, Articles, Blog Posts]

“Destroy confusion…not people.”

Stephen Wagner is the Executive Director of Justice For All, an organization that trains Christians to actively love every human being touched by unintended pregnancy and abortion.  He has spent over 1000 hours interacting with abortion-choice advocates on 60 university campuses in the United States and Canada.

Frustrated by shallow stereotypes and disrespectful activism, he passionately works to build common ground in the seemingly endless abortion debate and make a reasonable and clear case for the pro-life position.  He has debated professors at the University of Toronto and California State University and regularly trains students at the Focus Leadership Institute of Focus on the Family.

Steve is the author of Common Ground Without Compromise: 25 Questions to Create Dialogue on Abortion (2008), and he contributed to Apologetics for a New Generation (2009) and the Apologetics Study Bible for Students (2010, 2017).  A native Californian, Steve now resides with his wife, Rebeccah, and their five children in the Washington, D.C. area.

Presentations, Seminars, Workshops

Steve is available to speak to your group.  See the Justice For All “Invite a Speaker” page.

Vitae

Positions and Experience 

• Executive Director, Justice For All (2014-present)
• Director of Training, Justice For All (2009-2014)
• Bioethics Associate, Stand to Reason (2001-2008)
• Has spent over 1000 hours in conversation with average Americans about abortion and human rights.

Publications

• Common Ground Without Compromise: 25 Questions to Create Dialogue on Abortion (Stand to Reason Press, 2008).
• “Abortion and Common Ground,” in Apologetics for a New Generation, ed. Sean McDowell (Harvest House, 2009)
• Apologetics Study Bible for Students (Holman Bible Publishers: 2010, 2017)  – Contributor
• Editor and principle author of Abortion: From Debate to Dialogue – The Interactive Guide, which in its various versions has been used to train thousands of pro-life advocates through JFA’s seminar-and-outreach training program since 2005.

Film

• Unborn in the USA

Debates

• “Is Elective Abortion Wrong?” vs. Wayne L. Sumner, University of Toronto
• “Is Elective Abortion Wrong?” vs. Sara Waller, California State University Dominguez Hills

Presentation Highlights

• Has spoken to 25,000 at the Cotton Bowl (Dallas, TX)
• Has trained pro-life students and participated in large-scale debate on over 30 major university campuses (see full list below)

Praise from Academia 

• Jon Shields (Assistant Professor of Government at Claremont McKenna College) gave Steve’s work a positive review in two publications: a book entitled, The Democratic Virtues of the Christian Right (Princeton, 2009), and a peer-reviewed journal, Society (March 2006)

Education

• University of Southern California (summa cum laude) 
• Studied philosophy at Talbot School of Theology 

Personal

• A California native, Steve now resides with his wife Rebeccah and four children in Wichita, Kansas
• Steve is the second of seven kids.
• In his spare time, Steve enjoys good coffee and conversation, marveling at the improvisations of his kids, writing songs, living in community, and thinking of ways to surprise people.

More Information

• Blog and Links: www.hbmm.net
• Networking: www.facebook.com/steve.wagner, www.twitter.com/stephenmwagner

List of College Communities in which Steve Has Spoken, Participated in Formal Debates, Led Open Microphone Dialogue Sessions, or Conducted Outreach

1. AL – Auburn Univ. (Auburn)
2. AZ – Arizona State University (Tempe)
3. AZ – Univ. of Arizona (Tucson)
4. CA – UCLA
5. CA – UC Santa Barbara
6. CA – UC San Diego
7. CA – Cal. Polytechnic Univ., San Luis Obispo
8. CA – Pasadena City College
9. CA – Cal State Northridge*
10. CA – Chapman Univ. (Orange)**
11. CA – Cal. State Univ. Los Angeles**
12. CA – Cal. State Univ. Dominguez Hills**
13. CA – Cal. State Univ. Long Beach**
14. CA – California State Univ. Fresno*
15. CA – Fresno City College
16. CO – Colorado State University (Fort Collins)
17. CO – Focus on the Family Institute / Focus Leadership Institute (Colorado Springs, CO)**
18. CO – Colorado Christian Univ. (Denver)**
19. CO – Fort Lewis College (Durango)*
20. CO – Univ. of Northern Colorado (Greeley)
21. CO – Univ. of Colorado at Colorado Springs
22. CO – Metropolitan State University of Denver (also: University of Colorado, Denver)
23. CO – Univ. of Colorado at Boulder
24. CT – Yale University*
25. GA – Univ. of Georgia (Athens)
26. GA – Georgia State University*
27. GA – Kennesaw State University (Kennesaw)
28. IL – Wheaton College (Wheaton)**
29. IN – Purdue University
30. KS – Benedictine College
31. Wichita State University
32. KS – Sterling College (Sterling)**
33. KS – Kansas State University
34. KS – University of Kansas (Lawrence)
35. KS – Pittsburg State University (Pittsburg)
36. KY – Univ. of Louisville
37. KY – Univ. of Kentucky (Lexington, KY)
38. LA – Louisiana State Univ. (Baton Rouge)*
39. MD – Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore)
40. MN – Univ. of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN)
41. MO – Univ. of Missouri (Columbia)
42. MO – UMKC Medical School (Kansas City)*
43. NC – North Carolina State Univ. (Raleigh)*
44. NC – Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
45. NE – University of Nebraska (Lincoln)
46. NM – Univ. of New Mexico (Albuquerque)
47. NM – New Mexico State Univ. (Las Cruces)
48. NV – Univ. of Nevada at Las Vegas
49. OK – Univ. of Central Oklahoma (Edmond)
50. OK – Oklahoma State Univ. (Stillwater)
51. OK – University of Oklahoma (Norman)*
52. OR – Oregon State University (Corvallis)
53. PA – Grove City College (Grove City)**
54. TX – Univ. of Texas at Austin
55. TX – Univ. of Texas at San Antonio
56. TX – Univ. of Texas at Dallas*
57. TX – Texas A and M
58. TX – Univ. of North Texas (Denton)
59. TX – University of Dallas**
60. TX – Univ. of Texas, El Paso**
61. VA – George Mason University (Fairfax)*
62. WA – Gonzaga Univ. (Spokane)**
63. Ontario, Canada – Univ. of Toronto**

* denotes conducted free speech outreach only

**denotes public presentations or public debates only

Pictures for Marketing Materials 

• Call the JFA office to request photos: 316.683.6426.