BreakPoint

BreakPoint: Shape Your Sphere of Influence

It’s time to consider a challenge: Can you impact the culture for Christ right where you live? Just before the outbreak of World War II, Oxford don C.S. Lewis wrote, “Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason because bad philosophy needs to be answered.” Lewis’s students had questioned the importance of studying the humanities and sciences with war on the horizon. But Lewis understood, as he said so beautifully in his classic lecture Weight of Glory, that “to be ignorant and simple now...would be to throw down our weapons and to betray our uneducated brethren who have, under God, no defense but us against the intellectual attacks of the heathen.” This is why six years ago we launched a year-long mostly distance education program called Centurions, designed to equip 100 men and women each year to defend Truth in an age when too many are throwing their weapons down. Sadly, bad philosophy—like relativism, naturalism, and secular humanism—runs rampant in our legislatures, schools, movie theaters, and even our churches. In the face of this, the Centurions Program is preparing men and women not just to understand and articulate their own Christian worldview, but also to proactively teach that worldview to others and engage the culture in their own particular sphere of influence. One of our Centurions graduates, Christian Overman, describes how the program affected his life. “As a result of my Centurions experience,” he wrote, “I was inspired and motivated to teach a two-day conference...on how Christians can integrate the biblical worldview with their everyday work. For about 75 percent of the group, it was the first course they had ever taken on how to [do that].” He’s put it into a film teaching series, and is now teaching it over and over. Another graduate, Matt Guerino, put it this way: “A majority of evangelical churches today seem intent on feelings—how people feel when they walk in the door, when they listen to the preacher, when they leave after the service. Much of our preaching sounds like a Christianized version of popular self-help thinking.” Matt adds: “The concept of worldview, and particularly biblical worldview, that we learned through Centurions has been a vital part of my strategy as a pastor to teach more effectively.”

Not only are Centurions sharing the training they’ve received, they are also impacting the culture firsthand. Centurion Vern Ludden used his training to prepare more than 120 doctoral students in understanding their worldview and how to apply it as leaders. Roger Arnold taught biblical worldview to 20 men recovering drug and alcohol abusers. Roger writes, “Biblical worldview is bringing home to them some really powerful and realistic worldviews that they got caught up in during their dark days.” Sue Thielke is organizing “the largest mission trip ever...into cyberspace.” Visit BreakPoint.org, and we’ll link you to her website, which seeks to impact the culture through music and drama. If you’d like to find out more about how to join the ranks of the next class of Centurions, please visit us at BreakPoint.org. The deadline for application is November 25, so don’t delay. C.S. Lewis was right. Our culture needs more men and women who will wield good philosophy to counter the bad philosophy of the postmodern era—men and women who can winsomely present the Christian worldview in their own sphere of influence. Are you ready for it? Take the challenge! This commentary originally aired September 29, 2009.

FURTHER READING AND INFORMATION

Colson Fellows: Formerly Centurions Program Your Worldview Matters Lynne Smith | Mansfield News-Journal | September 20, 2009 Framework Productions Sue Thielke Of Crime and Worldview: Seeing the World the Way It Is Chuck Colson | BreakPoint Commentary | September 9, 2009

10/23/09