The Book of Numbers tells of Israel at a
crossroads. God had rescued them from the slavery of Egypt and demonstrated His
power by wiping out the Egyptian army. Now, they faced a new challenge. Now,
they stood at the edge of the Promised Land, scared to enter due to the giants
living there.
It was then that the faithfulness of Caleb shone so brightly.
Caleb sought to rally God's people, telling them not to be afraid. With God's
help, they could defeat the giants and have the future the Lord desired for
them.
We live in a day where Christians fell a lot like those Israelites.
We've seen the blessings of God on our land and in our culture. But that past
has faded as the giants of secularism, compromise, and immorality have
overwhelmed the Christian in the pew. We are standing at a crossroads and God is
waiting for his faithful to take up His cause and face those giants with
knowledge and compassion.
The reason Come Reason Ministries exists is to
equip and strengthen God's people to answer that call. My mission is to provide
a thoughtful, attractive articulation of Christ to an increasingly hostile
world. As the culture shrinks into darkness, by God's grace I desire to help
Christians to confidently engage those seeking to undermine His truth.
Walking in Caleb's Footsteps
I want to see more Christians have the strength
of Caleb to face the battles of today. Those who oppose the Gospel are grabbing
the limelight and it's time to step up our efforts. We want to use the
gifts that God has given, including this ministry, to serve his body and make an
impact that cannot be ignored. We need to grow more Calebs for Christ.
Caleb
made his mark on both the believer and the unbeliever and he provided a legacy
for his descendants. Likewise, Come Reason's specific strategy focuses on three
key areas of engagement: strengthening the Christian—especially the youth—in
their ability to defend stand for their faith, reaching the lost, and ensuring
the next generation of believers have the necessary tools to face their giants
with confidence.
Strengthening the Church
The first group of Israelites
failed to enter the land of promise God had given them. They failed to reason
that the God who delivered them from Pharaoh could also deliver them from the
giants. Today, the church has grown soft intellectually. People don't know the
reasons why they believe what they believe, making them afraid to share their
faith.
We need to strengthen Christians in the pew. This means pastors need
to discuss how to better defend one's faith more often from the pulpit. Youth
groups need to discuss the hot-button issues and offer a regular Q&A time where
students can anonymously ask about things bothering them. Apologetics classes
and conferences need to be more prominent. The Church needs to help the
Christian who is afraid of the giants in the land by showing them the power of
God's word and his equipping.
Reaching the World
Caleb not only encouraged
his brothers, he also was a man of action. The Book of Joshua reports that when
entering the land Caleb asked for the hill country, some of the most difficult
terrain to conquer. Yet, he was wildly successful because he trusted in the
Lord.
I want to reach the world with the message of the Gospel. That's
why we leverage digital media so much at Come Reason. Our blogs, podcasts and
YouTube channels are visited by thousands and thousands of people seeking
answers to the big questions of life. I find myself regularly engaged in
online debates with atheists and others using Twitter or Facebook. But we do it
all in faith, asking the Lord to grow our efforts.
Providing for the Future
Joshua 14:14 declares “Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of
Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord, the
God of Israel.” Caleb provided a future for those who followed after him.
It's no secret that the church is hemorrhaging its youth. Without a specific
effort to reach kids in junior high and high school, we risk losing them
forever. Let's treat our youth not merely as those who seek to be entertained,
but as individuals seeking to understand their faith and their world for the
first time.
As an organization that has been at the forefront of the
struggle for truth since the 1990s, Come Reason is uniquely poised to make a
significant impact for the Kingdom. We have a vision to spread convincing
Christianity across the globe by stirring the hearts and minds of the lost and
the church. We've done this through our teaching, our youth training
initiatives, our on-campus engagements, and our publishing efforts, each of
which has been very successful given our modest budget and limited resources.
I'd like to ask you to consider
supporting Come Reason in
our efforts to create more Calebs. All the materials we offer free of charge,
but they do cost money. Will you consider partnering with us? To help support
this blog as well as out other efforts, click here to give securely. All gifts
are fully deductible as allowed by law.
Let's pray for more Christians to be
like Caleb. And then let's get to work making it happen.
Convincing Christianity
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