Dr. Ben Shaw initially went to Liberty University because they had a hockey team. He first met Dr. Habermas through the hockey team because “Habs” was the former head coach. During his time at Liberty, Ben came across the Minimal Facts Argument (MFA) for Jesus’ resurrection and eventually did his MA thesis on the subject. While “Habs” was not on his committee, he did attend Ben’s thesis defense. Ben’s research interests overlapped more and more with Habermas and in May 2013 he became his research assistant.

During his time as Habermas’ research assistant, Ben was able to learn first-hand how Habermas thought through problems, understood the wide-variety of resurrection topics, and integrated other relevant disciplines (e.g., near-death studies, doubt, etc.). As they worked together, Ben would often help talk with believers, doubters, and skeptics that Habermas would send his way. The two would often talk about the best ways to help different types of doubters. They published several articles, co-edited a book together, and traveled to multiple conferences where they would both give presentations on related subjects. Ben was asked to write a biographical chapter about Habermas for the book, “Gary R. Habermas: A Minimal Facts Ministry for Disciples and Doubters” in A History of Apologetics: Biographical and Methodological Introductions (Zondervan Academic, 2020).

Dr. Davis was introduced to Dr. Habermas when he encountered his first religious doubter in 2013. His book, The Thomas Factor, was an invaluable tool as Ron used it to help a college student overcome emotional doubt. This led to an engagement of the Minimal Facts Argument (MFA) and a subsequent desire to ultimately work on a PhD at Liberty to have the opportunity to sit under Dr H.

The first class Ron had with Dr. H was "Apologetic Methods." During this class he asked for volunteers to speak with religious doubters because he was in the beginning stages of working on his magnum opus on the resurrection. Ron was one of those who volunteered. This was the locus of what eventually became CORE Apologetics as Ron's passions and talents to help those dealing with religious doubt grew. Dr. H began sending most of his doubters to Ron as he continued to work on his magnum opus. Ron eventually wrote his dissertation in the area of religious doubt, and Dr. H was kind enough to be an honorary reader.

Ron has personally helped hundreds of  individual people with religious doubt while developing CORE Apologetics along the way. It was during this journey that he met Dr. Shaw. They shared many interests including: helping those with religious doubt, the importance of the MFA for everyday Christian living, the business world (Ben was a VP of an insurance adjusting company, and Ron owns an insurance agency), the intellectual side of Christian theism, and a true passion to make disciples of all disciplines by engaging churches, organizations, and individuals. Ben was on Ron's dissertation committee, and through this process they grew much closer as friends while developing a desire to labor together in the Lord.