Bahnsen was my theological mentor, though I discovered him 8 years after his death.
I treasure what I have learned from him, even where I take it to different areas, which is something we all should do. Bahnsen would not want us to sit around meditating over the Stein debate (and I have memorized much of it). He certainly wouldn't want us to hinge our apologetics around a few key phrases of his turning them into cliches.
It is hard to put into words how much he means to me. I disagree with him on eschatology (being one of the few theonomic premillennialists!) and I tinker with his apologetics (still holding to the same format, though). I actually think his TAG can be reconstructed (no pun intended!
) along narratival lines. You can kill about 8 birds with that one stone.
Sadly though, people only see him as an ethicist/apologist when his courses on the Christian life, Calvin (get that if anything! 80 lectures on John Calvin! Who said theonomists didn't like Calvin? Actually, I know who said that in an encyclopedia on Apologetics, but I digress). Also get his systematic theology tapes. Very heartwarming.