From GCSI to ABSA
Founded in 2009, the Genesis Creation Science Institute provided creation science education, Genesis Camps, conferences, presentations, and field experiences. In 2025, the organization was reestablished as the Association for Biblical Science & Archaeology, reflecting its expanded work in creation science, biblical archaeology, and church history. Learn more about the institute and the people and initiatives behind its work.
The Genesis Creation Science Institute was founded in 2009 in Los Angeles as a Christian nonprofit ministry devoted to creation science education, biblical teaching, and creation apologetics. From the beginning, the goal was practical as well as educational: to give students, families, churches, and educators accessible ways to explore the biblical account of creation, engage scientific questions, and become better equipped to understand and defend their faith. Nate Loper served as the organization’s Executive Director during this period.
Over the next decade, GCSI developed a broad range of educational programs and outreach projects with the help of volunteers, speakers, ministry partners, and supporters. These included Genesis Camp, Genesis Conference, church and college presentations, field experiences, creation tours, and Genesis CSI, a free mobile app designed to make creation science resources more accessible. Genesis Camp became one of the institute’s best-known programs, bringing hundreds of students through hands-on teaching, apologetics instruction, activities, and field-based learning.
GCSI also organized conferences, seminars, and speaking events for churches, schools, colleges, and community groups. As the ministry grew, its work increasingly moved beyond classroom-style teaching into educational travel and field experiences. Trips and tours connected biblical teaching with geology, history, archaeology, and the natural world, including programs in national parks and later multi-day Christian heritage tours in London.
In 2014, the ministry relocated to northern Arizona in the heart of Grand Canyon country. That move placed GCSI’s work alongside the expanding ministry of Canyon Ministries, where Nate became deeply involved in developing creation-focused Grand Canyon tours and educational programs. Canyon Ministries has since reached thousands of guests through South Rim tours, guided hikes, backpacking programs, and Colorado River trips that combine biblical teaching with firsthand exploration of the canyon.
As the work at Canyon Ministries expanded, GCSI’s day-to-day focus gradually shifted. Even so, the institute’s educational mission continued through online creation science resources, speaking, research interests, and travel-based initiatives. Projects that grew from this period included the London Christian Tour, alongside continuing interest in creation science, biblical history, archaeology, and educational field experiences.
In 2025, that broader educational and research mission was reestablished as the Association for Biblical Science & Archaeology. The new organization reflects the natural expansion of GCSI’s original purpose, bringing creation science together with biblical archaeology, church history, research, education, and field study. The name changed, but the underlying goal remained familiar: helping people examine the biblical record, engage the evidence, and learn through serious study and firsthand exploration.