Colson expressed optimism about younger evangelicalism, a renewal movement within the Protestant church. Yet he also acknowledged that there will be many challenges in the years ahead. Over the course of our conversation, he reflected on the unpopularity of the concept of Truth, and how being a Christian often requires one to stand alone against the flow of the current.

But Colson also expressed excitement about younger evangelical voices that are communicating the tenants of Christian truths in a fresh and relevant way against the backdrop of a postmodern and relativistic culture.

Time magazine recently listed Charles Colson as one of the twenty-five leading evangelicals in America. After examining his biography, it’s not difficult to understand why.

For an overview of Colson’s life, click here. And, for a recent interview with Chuck Colson published in Time click here.

The ultimate story of redemption, Chuck Colson’s life continues to inspire those inside and outside the walls of prison. For evangelicals everywhere, Colson remains a mentor, a hero, and a champion of Christian orthodoxy.

The Gospel Project is a new Bible study curriculum by LifeWay that takes the story of Jesus — the gospel — the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, and points to the one story that infuses Scripture from cover to cover — God’s redemptive plan to rescue us from sin and death. Because the entire Bible points to Jesus, it is important to examine the theology and mission within the text, as all of it is an important part of understanding the awesome depth and power of the gospel.

When we see how all the Scriptures point to Jesus, we allow the gospel to work on us, move through us, and ultimately, transform us. We become God’s gospel project.

These Christian leaders were part of a team who consulted on the creation of The Gospel Project. Visit the webcast, blog, and Facebook page.

Excerpt from Trevin Wax, managing editor of The Gospel Project:

And then it happened. Sometime around 4 B.C., “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us” (John 1:14). In other words, Jesus Christ became a man. A real man. A man that could bruise if you punched Him or bleed if you cut Him. He could feel the throb of a headache, the chills of a fever. The God who “measured the waters in the hollow of His hand” (Isaiah 40:12) could now wrap His palms around a cold pitcher of water. The One who “created the great creatures of the sea” (Gen. 1:21) could now sink His teeth into a tilapia sandwich. For 33 years, God walked a mile not only in our shoes, but also in our feet—in our ankles, kneecaps, shins and hip joints. The great Baptist preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, said it best, “The infinite has become the infant.”

American idol contestant Mandesa Hundley got it right. “What can be stranger than God in a manger?” And how odd of God! That He should be born out of wedlock to a peasant mother in an insignificant village. That the King of Kings should emerge from a virgin’s womb in a filthy stable. It was not a silent night. No “peace on Earth, good will toward men.” In fact, Mary and Joseph had to smuggle the infant Jesus to Egypt to save His life.

Excerpt from the Baptist Messenger of Oklahoma, 16 December 2011

Click here to read the rest of the story.

“What three questions should evangelical youth ministers ask when selecting theological resources for their students?”

1. Does this resource convey a theological understanding of the doctrine of justification, “the doctrine on which the church stands or falls” (Luther)?

2. Would this resource challenge youth or would it simply keep them gliding along with our culture’s low expectation of them?

3. Is this resource specific and biblical?  In other words, does it actually give helpful information and is that information grounded in Scripture?

Brian H. Cosby is an author, teacher, and Associate Pastor of Youth and Families at Carriage Lane Presbyterian Church in Peachtree City, Georgia.  His blog can be found here.

Obama’s message was not only Christo-centric in content, but cross-centered in emphasis. It included both the importance of Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

While it is often difficult to ascertain the percentage of political gain to authentic faith in prayer meetings of this nature, some evangelicals could rightfully posit that the only thing lacking in this specific presentation of the gospel was an invitation for those in the room to accept it.

Quick hitters:

“We’re reminded in that moment that he [Christ] took on the sins of the world – past, present, and future – and he extended to us that unfathomable gift of grace and salvation through his resurrection. In the words of Isaiah, ‘He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.’”

“. . . there’s something about the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ that puts everything else in perspective.”

“This magnificent grace, this expansive grace, this amazing grace calls me to reflect. And it calls me to pray. It calls me to ask God for forgiveness for the times that I’ve not shown grace to others.”

“We must always make sure that we are keeping things in perspective.”

“Nothing beats Scripture and the reminder of the eternal.”

“I pray that our time here together will strengthen us both as believers and as Americans.”

“I just have to make a quick point – you know these days, prayers are on an iPad.”

David Crosby has been the senior pastor of First Baptist Church in the predominantly Catholic city of New Orleans for 15 years. “I try to make my focus ‘faith expressing itself demonstrated through love’” (Galatians 5:6), he writes. David blogs here.

David kicks off the new series by addressing the following question:

1. Should evangelicals recognize the Lenten season?
2. How can we utilize these 40 days to foster spiritual disciplines personally and corporately?
3. Can we learn anything from this ancient practice of life change and spiritual preparation?

So, what are your answers to these three questions? What question would you add to the list?

This perspective caught my eye as I walked along the edge of the cliff leading to the pier in St. Andrews. The left tower is a medieval dungeon where some have claimed to see the “White Witch” who was once imprisoned there. Legend has it that she still haunts the cathedral cemetery. Can’t say I’ve ever seen her, though.

The middle tower is St. Rule’s, where the bones of St. Andrew were housed in the medieval era. Once a year, they were removed from the tower in a processional that went up North Street and back down South Street.

The far right tower is the eastern spire of the St Andrew’s cathedral. As these towers aligned on my walk, they formed a staircase leading into the sky – a reflection of the biblical account of salvation, from the dungeon of depravity to the divinity of the spire. From degeneration to regeneration.

What prevents us from seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary?

Today, new generations of Christians are asking the same question—by what authority? Against the backdrop of a postmodern society where the gods of relativism and subjectivism seemingly dwarf objective, absolute truth, this question becomes especially significant. Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, says, “The inherent flaw of postmodernism is becoming a practical obstacle to unity because there is no source of authority to determine what constitutes orthodox or heretical doctrine.”

Read the rest of this article from Modern Reformation magazine here.

It’s a buzz word, for sure. But what’s all the hype about?

Interdisciplinarity comes from two words: “inter,” meaning “between,” and “discipline,” that is “a systematic method of obtaining information” (i.e. science, chemistry, mathematics, fine arts, music, etc.). So interdisciplinarity is the idea of bringing disciplines together for a common purpose. To solve a problem – say, how to plug an out-of-control oil leak on the bottom of the sea floor – requires various disciplines to work in harmony with one another (in this case, welding engineers, creative visionaries, submersibles, and architects).

Where Does interdisciplinarity Come From?

Since Plato was the first to propose philosophy as a unified science, many credit him with the origins of interdisciplinarity. In the medieval era, the concern with the problem of overspecialization led to the inclusion of both trivium (logic, rhetoric, and grammer) and quadrivium (music, geometry, arithmetic, and astronomy) in the courses of education.

As the Enlightenment found full expression in art, literature, science, and astronomy, the knowledge of each individual discipline expanded. Disciplines became more sophisticated, and subsequently, students who wanted to master a field needed to spend a great deal of time specializing in that field. To be a lawyer, for instance, required law school. Eventually further specialization in subcategories of law were necessary.

Over the last one hundred and fifty years, higher education has depended on individual disciplines to generate knowledge. In the United States, the liberal arts college model has been used as a corrective to a myopic education in that students are exposed to a wide range of disciplines. In the United Kingdom, a more specialized approach is encouraged. One of the benefits of the UK educational model is that a student is given the time and resources to go very deep into a discipline, even to the point of mastering it. A weakness in the system is that breadth is often sacrificed for depth.

Why We Need It

Specialization is a blessing for those living in an age of information. It allows us to focus on the problems of humanity and dig deeply to locate solutions. Yet when it comes to the church, specialization can foster a kind of compartmentalized Christianity. Ours is the era of analysis and taxonomy, and in our Christian lives, we enable ourselves to separate what happens on Sunday morning from what happens during the rest of our week. “The blood of Christ,” so to speak, doesn’t bleed into every aspect of our lives.

Interdisciplinarity can be used as a tool to combat this kind of inward sectarianism. How? Because it shows us Christ in everything – science, music, art, literature, recreation . . .
In one sense, it returns us to medieval spirituality. But in another sense, it becomes the logical conclusion of taxonomy.

If we believe that there is only one fixed point of truth (not a popular concept in a postmodern age), then our disciplines, as they develop, will eventually point to that one source of truth – God. If all creation comes from the same hand of the Creator, eventually, every aspect of creation will in some way point to it’s original artist.

What’s Forever For?

It’s interesting to see what happens when philosophy’s great question, “what?” joins forces with science’s great question, “how?” Add Christianity’s great question, “who?” into the mix, and you have yourself a good conversation!

Maybe that’s what eternity is all about. Maybe that’s what forever’s for! Spending time in the presence of God, digging into who he is and what he has accomplished, all climaxing in perfect and total adoration of the Creator. Perhaps. In the “foreverness” of it all, perhaps we will have the time to reflect on how mathematics and astronomy and architecture and painting and soccer in some way point to the God who, once upon a time, kicked it all into existence.

Until then, our Christianity doesn’t have to be limited to Sunday morning experiences. The entirety of our lives can become an activity of worship – going to work, taking missions trips, preaching, hitting the gym, waiting in airports (of which I am most weary), vacationing, writing, fasting, eating barbecue, playing ping pong – everything.

The time has come for God to burst out of the tupperware we seal him in!

Bring the forever into the now. I dare you.

An author, speaker, pastor, and activist, McLaren is a frequent guest on television, radio, and news media programs such as Larry King Live, Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, and Nightline.

In this interview, Brian shares his thoughts on the authority of Scripture:

Christian: What additional sources of authority do you find those in the emerging church using in place or in addition to the Scriptures?

Brian: I don’t find people in the emergent conversation using other sources of authority in place of or in addition to the Scriptures. If anything, I think the emergent conversation is asserting the primacy of Scripture over other prevailing sources of authority – including many conventional interpretations of Scripture. What I do find people questioning, though, are the assumptions that lie within the word “authority” itself. A lot of us feel that the concepts of authority we inherited were naive – implying, for example, that Scripture can exercise authority without interpretation. Also, many of the concepts of authority we inherited seem to be part and parcel of a Cartesian or foundational epistemology; many of us are questioning the epistemological assumptions that lie unexamined in the word “authority” for many people.

Christian:  How does the doctrine of “sola Scriptura” affect your ministry? 

Brian: Let me speak of Scripture itself rather than a doctrine about Scripture. Scripture gives me the courage to question human assumptions, traditions, and conventions. It teaches me to see the world narratively rather than ideologically. Most importantly it is, as Luther said, the manger on which Christ is presented to the world.   

Christian:  Concerning the authority of Scripture, what one piece of advice would you offer younger generations of Christians?

Brian: Four things come to mind.

First, one of the biggest challenges in my life has been to distinguish between what Scripture says and what people say Scripture says. I’ve learned to have more confidence in Scripture itself, rather than in conventional interpretations of Scripture.

Second, I’ve become suspicious – not disdainful, and not against, but suspicious – about non-biblical words that are imposed on Scripture – words like “the Fall,” for example, that may carry unacknowledged conceptual freight and may cause us to see things that aren’t there in the text and miss things that are there.

Third, I’ve learned to ask what very familiar terms meant to their original hearers, which may differ significantly from what we assume they mean – words like salvation, Christ, baptize, Savior, etc.

Fourth, I’d encourage people to read the Bible not as a constitution, but rather as a library containing the diverse and vibrant literature of the people of God.

Christian:  Thank you for your time. 

To learn more about McLaren’s ministry and theology, here are some resources that may be helpful:

Here is a list of some of McLaren’s books:

A New Kind Of Christianity
Everything Must Change
A Generous Orthodoxy
Finding Our Way Again
A New Kind Of Christian
The Story We Find Ourselves In
The Secret Message Of Jesus

You can also visit his website.