Well Done, Mike Riddle.
Nate Loper – August 1, 2026
For those of us who knew him personally, learned from him, or were shaped by his ministry, the loss is deeply felt. Mike was a strong and steady voice in the biblical creation movement for decades. He was a teacher, author, apologist, curriculum developer, international speaker, and mentor. Yet perhaps the role that best expressed his heart was that of a trainer.
Mike did not simply want to give effective presentations himself. He wanted to equip other Christians to teach, communicate, and defend their faith with clarity and confidence. He understood that a ministry becomes far more influential when it prepares others to carry the work forward.
His path into creation ministry drew together an unusual range of experiences. Mike earned degrees in mathematics and education, taught mathematics, worked in technical and engineering education, and directed professional training programs for organizations like Sprint and Microsoft. Earlier in life, he had been a captain and instructor in the United States Marine Corps, and even a 1976 national champion in track and field in the pentathlon.
Each of those experiences contributed something to the man many of us came to know.
The mathematician valued careful reasoning. The educator understood that possessing information was not the same as knowing how to communicate it. The athlete understood preparation and perseverance. The Marine brought discipline, focus, and a willingness to speak plainly—knowing that people do not become strong merely by being told that they are already doing well. Sometimes they need to be challenged.
Mike worked with several leading creation ministries during his career. He served as an adjunct teacher with the Institute for Creation Research and later joined Answers in Genesis as a full-time apologetics speaker. In churches, schools, conferences, and training workshops, he taught biblical creation and apologetics while helping others become more capable communicators.
With his passing, the creation movement lost more than a familiar speaker. It lost a man who invested much of his life in preparing others.
Mike took speaking seriously because he took the message seriously. He believed that Christians who stood before an audience should be prepared, accurate, clear, and engaging. He could be direct in his feedback, and those who knew him understood that he was unlikely to offer praise merely for the sake of being polite.
Yet his honesty came from a genuine desire to help people become better at what God had called them to do. Mike wanted speakers to succeed. He wanted teachers to connect with their students. He wanted churches to be equipped, and he wanted Christians to be ready to give thoughtful answers.
His directness was balanced by encouragement, humor, generosity, and a deep willingness to invest time in people.
That made one particular speaking engagement especially memorable for me.
I was in Idaho giving a presentation on the Grand Canyon, and Mike and his wife, Lesley, happened to be in attendance. I would also be staying at their home the next couple of days.
Knowing Mike’s experience in training speakers, I was naturally interested in what he thought. I was also a little nervous with him being there, since this would be the first time he heard me present. I knew he would be honest, and I valued his opinion.
When the talk was over and we climbed into their car, I asked him, “Hey, so how did I do? Give me your ‘Mike Riddle’ review.”
Mike paused for a few seconds.
Then he said, “I thought you did quite well. I really enjoyed not just the information you shared since there were some new things I’ve not heard, but how you presented it and engaged with the audience. Well done.”
Whew.
I remember smiling with relief. I had passed the Mike Riddle test.
But what I remember most was not simply the approval of a respected speaker. It was the encouragement of someone who had spent years helping others find their voice and use it well.
We headed to their home and spent the evening discussing the history of various creation ministries, developments within the movement, and ideas for how we could become even more effective in the future.
That conversation reflected who Mike was.
Mike was a builder.
He built presentations, training programs, educational materials, and ministries. More importantly, he built people. He encouraged them, challenged them, and helped them recognize that effective communication could be learned and strengthened.
I was attending the annual meeting of the Creation Research Society when I heard of his passing. Around me were hundreds of scientists, researchers, educators, speakers, ministry leaders, and others committed to the study and defense of biblical creation.
Looking around the room, I found myself wondering how many of them had been influenced by Mike somewhere along the way.
Perhaps they had heard one of his presentations.
Perhaps they had attended one of his training seminars.
Perhaps they had used his materials, received his advice, or been encouraged by him at an important point in their journey.
Others may have been influenced by people Mike had trained and may never have known that a portion of his legacy had reached them indirectly.
That is the nature of a life devoted to equipping others. Its influence extends far beyond the audiences a person personally addresses. It continues through every teacher who becomes more effective, every speaker who gains confidence, and every student who hears the message more clearly because someone took the time to prepare well.
Through his own talks, Mike blessed many thousands of people.
Through his influence, perhaps millions.
A gifted speaker can leave people remembering a presentation. A gifted teacher can leave people understanding a subject. But someone who trains others leaves behind speakers and teachers who continue the work long after he is gone.
That may be one of Mike Riddle’s greatest legacies.
His influence remains in the people who prepare more carefully because he taught them that preparation matters. It remains in those who communicate more clearly because he showed them how to engage an audience. It remains in pastors, parents, researchers, teachers, and ministry leaders whom he encouraged to think carefully, speak confidently, and remain faithful to Scripture.
I cannot know what Mike’s first moments in the presence of Christ were like. But as I have reflected on his life, I cannot help but wonder whether Mike asked the Teacher the very same question I once asked him:
“So, how did I do?”
I pray he heard from our Savior the words that carried infinitely greater weight than any evaluation he ever gave or received:
“Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Those are the words that ultimately matter.
Thank you for the truth you defended, the people you encouraged, the speakers you trained, and the generations you helped prepare to carry the work forward.
Well done, Mike Riddle.
