Tag Archive for: Gospel

The Role of Apologetics in Student Ministry

I have recently become involved in student ministry as a Family Life Pastor over the last few months. As a trained academic with a PhD in Apologetics, I wondered how much of my training I would really be able to use in this capacity. Would students care about apologetics? Would they even need it? What I quickly learned is that apologetics can and really should have a major role in student ministry.

Students Have Access to More Challenges than Ever Before          

As someone that had mainly been involved with college students for the past decade plus, I was shocked at some of the questions that I received within weeks at the new ministry. One student said she had seen someone on TikTok claim that the New Testament was untrustworthy. Others asked about things like, Can I believe the Bible? Why is the Bible important? How do I even know that God exists? These are students between 12-18 years old. However, because of the wide impact of social media and the internet, they had been exposed to ideas that previous generations had not been hit with until much later in life.

Students Have Questions and Doubts About Their Faith and Identity       

Another thing that quickly came to my attention was the fragile state of many students’ faith and their confusion about their own identity. This is not limited to my own youth group; these questions and struggles are common throughout this age. Students have questions about why they should trust a Bible that attacks things like transgenderism or homosexuality. Why should they trust the Bible over other ancient texts, or even why should they trust any religious system at all? Gone are the days in America or the West at large where parents and pastors can take for granted that their kids will be predisposed to accept Christianity over other religious systems or secularism in general. This really hits home for students that have friends or family members that are a part of the LGBT movement. They struggle with saying the Bible is correct and their friend or family member is wrong. The days of saying, “Well, the Bible says so,” and expecting that to be an adequate answer to questions is long gone.

Apologetics Can Have a Major Positive Impact in Student Ministry          

Apologetics can become a major tool in the toolbox to counter this change in the culture and student ministry. Explaining to students why we can trust the Bible and why it is the Word of God can go a long way in giving the Bible the credibility they need to challenge the objections of their friends. Apologetics can explain how and why these students were created, that they were created in the image of God, and that God loves them and cares for them. This gives them a renewed sense of purpose in their lives, something that the secular world has tried to eliminate through things like nihilism and evolutionary theory. Indeed, don’t think your students are ever too young to learn some basic apologetic arguments and defenses of their faith. The odds are, they are already struggling with many of these issues in their own lives, even if they don’t know how to ask the right questions or where to look for the right answers. The time is now!

Recommended Resources:

I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist (Paperback), and (Sermon) by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek 

I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist’ [FOUR unique curriculum levels for 2nd grade through to adult] by Frank Turek 

Stealing From God by Dr. Frank Turek (Book, 10-Part DVD Set, STUDENT Study Guide, TEACHER Study Guide)

Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions by Greg Koukl (Book)

 

Daniel Sloan is an Assistant Professor at Liberty University. He was mentored by the late Dr. Ed Hindson. After Dr. Hindson’s untimely passing, Dr. Sloan was allowed to teach some of Dr. Hindson’s classes. In addition to his teaching duties, Dr. Sloan serves as an Associate Pastor at Safe Harbor Community Church in Lynchburg, Virginia. Daniel graduated with his PhD in Theology and Apologetics from Liberty University. His research and expertise is in Old Testament studies. He and his wife, Natalie, live in Lynchburg, Virginia. Along with his extensive knowledge of the Bible, Daniel is an avid sports fan.

Originally posted at: https://bit.ly/487YFzi

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The Persecution of Christians on Campus

[Editor’s Note: “The point of peak persecution on American soil is the University” – John Ferrer. This article from Christian Apologetics professor and high school Bible teacher, Steve Lee has been his passion project spanning most of his teaching career at the high school and college level.  Over the past 14 years, this list of anti-Christian incidents has steadily grown with the most recent example being perhaps the most significant religious and political assassination in this generation: Charlie Kirk’s shooting at the Utah Valley University.

Readers should note that this list is not exhaustive. There are many more examples beyond this list. Also, these persecution events on U.S. college campuses is not intended for petty games of comparison, as if our persecution is more important than someone else’s. No, this is just an attempt to be honest about the kind of environment that young people are going into when they go to college. If the last 5 years have taught us anything about Campus life, it’s that college can be a slaughterhouse for immature, half-hearted, and shallow ‘Christians.’ And even for mature, and motivated young Christians, or even professors and administrators, sometimes administration and oppressive policies can still do a lot of spiritual damage. A major motivation for teaching apologetics is to prevent that from happened by raising up smart, savvy, committed Christians who can stand against oppressive speech policies, restrictive event policies, or even over anti-Christian behavior. 

There are still tons of solid Christian clubs, local churches, and even some Christian professors who can help students make it through the gauntlet of university life. But, the point is that persecution is real, and Christian students have a better chance of standing up straight if they can brace for impact]    

Being a professional student and spending over fourteen years in undergraduate and graduate education and another seven years as a professor at the collegiate level, it is disappointing to see the anti-Christian bias that is found on the college campus today.  Instances have ranged from prohibiting Christian clubs from requiring their leaders (not members), their leaders to be Christian, to being shouted down in class for endorsing Christian views (and of late, being shot for discussing one’s Christian convictions). The rise of anti-Christian bias on campus is evident. Granted, many of the instances listed here are in no way comparable to what Christians are facing around the world, but an indicator of the rise of this attitude was found in a 2007 study by the Institute for Jewish and Community Research concerning anti-Semitism on-campus. Rather than finding anti-Semitism, the Institute discovered that 53% of college professors admitted to “unfavorable” feelings about evangelical Christians.  No other religious group (including Muslims) was even close to this number.

Below are some instances of these “unfavorable” feelings about Christians on college and university campuses today:

See the 96 Examples of Christian Persecution
on US Colleges and University Campuses
Page 1 – #87-96
Page 2 – #1-85

Recommended Resources:

If God, Why Evil? (DVD Set), (MP3 Set), and (mp4 Download Set) by Frank Turek 

Why Doesn’t God Intervene More? (DVD Set), (MP3 Set), and (mp4 Download Set) by Frank Turek

Why does God allow Bad Things to Happen to Good People? (DVD) and (mp4 Download) by Frank Turek 

Relief From the Worst Pain You’ll Ever Experience (DVD) (MP3) (Mp4 Download) by Gary Habermas

 

J. Steve Lee has taught Apologetics for over two and a half decades at Prestonwood Christian Academy.  He also has taught World Religions and Philosophy at Mountain View College in Dallas and Collin College in Plano.  With a degree in history and education from the University of North Texas, Steve continued his formal studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary with a M.A. in philosophy of religion and has pursued doctoral studies at the University of Texas at Dallas and is finishing his dissertation at South African Theological Seminary.  He has published several articles for the Apologetics Study Bible for Students as well as articles and book reviews in various periodicals including Philosophia Christi, Hope’s Reason: A Journal of Apologetics, and the Areopagus Journal.  Having an abiding love for fantasy fiction, Steve has contributed chapters to two books on literary criticism of Harry Potter: Harry Potter for Nerds and Teaching with Harry Potter.  He even appeared as a guest on the podcast MuggleNet Academia (“Lesson 23: There and Back Again-Chiasmus, Alchemy, and Ring Composition in Harry Potter”).  He is married to his lovely wife, Angela, and has two grown boys, Ethan and Josh.

Originally Posted Here: https://bit.ly/49kuGG4 

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Inside the Antifa Mind, Part 1: The Myth of Oppression

​​Welcome to my new series on the belief system known as Antifa.

If you’re a parent or student, you might be wondering: What do the Antifa professors on my campus actually believe? Why are they pushing communism?

My goal in this first installment is to explain their ideological foundation—how they think the world works—so that you can recognize their framework, understand their appeal, and ultimately see why it collapses under its own weight. This helps you see that such professors, for all of their study, have failed to become wise and cannot explain the basics of reality.

In the next part, we’ll expose the rational incoherence of that foundation. The public refutation of any movement takes away its influence over the minds of its adherents and potential converts once it is exposed as incoherent—when it’s shown to make no sense whatsoever. Its initial appeal, grounded in teenage angst and sin, dissipates went the adult wants wisdom instead of folly.

One of the best resources for understanding the Antifa movement from its own perspective is the 2017 book Antifa: The Antifascist Handbook written by Mark Bray.[1]  In it, Bray says: “This book takes seriously the transhistorical terror of fascism and the power of conjuring the dead when fighting back.  It is an unabashedly partisan call to arms that aims to equip a new generation of anti-fascists with the history and theory necessary to defeat the resurgent Far Right.”[2]

1. The Organizing Idea: “Oppression”

Every worldview has a core idea that organizes its moral and political vision. For Antifa, that concept is oppression.

To understand their appeal, you have to see that there’s always some admixture of truth—a kernel of reality—that draws people in. This one especially appeals to our sin and natural desire to cry, “life’s not fair.” Because we are made in the image of God we have a natural desire for justice. But our sin corrupts this into a merely materialistic justice.

Here’s what Antifa affirms, in their own way:

  1. We are born into systems over which we have no control.
  2. Those systems are mixed with moral evil.
  3. In every system, there are groups who are “marginalized”—used by the system but denied its benefits.
  4. In every system, others are born into privilege they didn’t earn and use it to preserve their power.

Even Jim Morrison captured the mood:

“Into this world we’re thrown, into this house we’re born.”

It does seem unfair that some benefit from the lottery of birth while others suffer. These aren’t new insights—they’re ancient philosophical questions about justice, responsibility, and fate. They press us to think, “Are the economic advantages of life really our highest good, or is there something even better than money and status?” The problem isn’t the questions Antifa raises. It’s their answers.

The problem isn’t the questions Antifa raises. It’s their answers.

2. The Marxist “Solution”

Antifa’s answers are, quite simply, catastrophically incoherent. Generally speaking, theirs are the answers of the French and Communist Revolutions. Rousseau, the French philosopher who laid the philosophical groundwork for the revolutionary spirit, taught that humans are born good and crime is an invention of society due to private property. “Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains.”

Similarly, Antifa believes that through violent revolution they can overthrow the oppressive system and rebuild a materialistic utopia of communal living. Bray tells us, “Despite the various shades of interpretation, antifa should not be understood as a single-issue movement. Instead, it is simply one of a number of manifestations of revolutionary socialist politics (broadly construed).”[3] Anything that gets in the way of the socialist revolution, even small government constitutionalism, is “fascist.”

According to Antifa, anything that gets in the way of the socialist revolution, even small government constitutionalism, is “fascist.”

From their initial complaint about inequality, they leap into revolutionary nihilism by implementing old-fashioned Marxist materialism dressed up in radical chic:

  • Burn down the existing system—it cannot be reformed, only destroyed.
  • Replace it with the standard communist formula: redistribution of wealth and state control of production.

The modern twist is that their Marxism has become decentered and nihilistic, following the ideas of Michel Foucault rather than Joseph Stalin. They still want to overthrow all order, but they prefer to use chaos, bureaucracy, and “cultural revolution” instead of centralized Soviet power.[4]

Bray links the “anti-racism” movement championed by figures like the disgraced Ibram X. Kendi with the LGBTQ+ and decolonizing movements, and all under the umbrella of anti-racism.[5] In other words, all of the causes the radical university professors advocate in university classes across the nation.

That said, they’re always willing to use a government—when it suits their purposes—to impose their ideology on everyone else. This is why they are so sensitive to the appearance that someone else might do it. “The lady doth protest too much, me thinks.” In their view, there are only two options, communists and fascists, or international socialists and national socialists—both are radical leftist ideologies.

3. The Religious Core of a “Materialist” Movement


Despite claiming to be materialists, Antifa offers its adherents an unmistakably religious outlook. This can be seen in the zeal with which they pursue their goals and the strength of fideism by which they believe themselves to be justified. They are anarchists and decentralized but we can still define those terms to see what holds the group together even if it is in a loose sense.

“Antifa should not be understood as a single-issue movement. Instead, it is simply one of a number of manifestations of revolutionary socialist politics (broadly construed). Most of the anti-fascists I interviewed also spend a great deal of their time on other forms of politics (e.g., labor organizing, squatting, environmental activism, antiwar mobilization, or migrant solidarity work).”[6]

Like all cults, they are organized around an “us vs. them” mentality where the “them” are outsiders, followers, sheep, who cannot understand. And because “they” cannot understand, the focus for Antifa is not rational persuasion but “community organizing” to “resist.”

Marx borrowed heavily from Christianity.  He gave his own version of the fall and redemption.  The fall occurred when private property was introduced, the fallen system is the capitalist exploitation of workers, and redemption occurs (and the millennium is introduced) when the workers of the world unite to overflow that system and replace it with their own.

The materialism of the movement can be found in its often overt anti-Christian, anti-God rhetoric.  But it is also present in the absence of anything transcendent when the movement presents its utopian views. The human is a mere evolved animal that is to live in a materialist paradise where its material needs are met. The “revolution” is the only thing that gives the adherents of this religion any hope of a “cause” that transcends their lives and gives some appearance of meaning to their existence. This is why it has such a cult-like zealotry.

4. The “Authenticity” Creed


Their moral ideal is “authenticity.” They teach “existence precedes essence,” meaning you exist first and then define who you are. Echoing Sartre, Foucault said, “It’s my hypothesis that the individual is not a pre-given entity which is seized on by the exercise of power. The individual, with his identity and characteristics, is the product of a relation of power exercised over bodies, multiplicities, movements, desires, forces.”[7] That’s why they attach themselves to the LGBTQ+ movement—because both rest on the same principle: the will to power.

To be “authentic” means to exert your will, to define yourself, to reject all external authority. Again, Foucault said “The relationships we have to have with ourselves are not ones of identity, rather they must be relationships of differentiation, of creation, of innovation. To be the same is really boring.”[8]

This rejection of authority is also why the movement is anti-intellectual at its core. It abandons the authority of reason, dismisses logic as “oppressive” or “logocentric,” and replaces truth with the mantra: “Do what thou wilt.”

This is also applies to means/ends reasoning. All means are justifiable for the end sought by the radical. Saul Alinsky tells us, “If you actively opposed the Nazi occupation and joined the underground Resistance, then you adopted the means of assassination, terror, property destruction, the bombing of tunnels and trains, kidnapping, and the willingness to sacrifice innocent hostages to the end of defeating the Nazis.”[9] There are not “rules” for radicals; they are justified, in their own eyes, to do anything that achieves their goals.  If they label their opponent a “Nazi,” as we hear the radical left doing with Charlie Kirk and other conservatives, then they are justified to stop him at all costs.

5. The Luciferian Inspiration


Their own mentors don’t hide their allegiance. For example, in Rules for Radicals, Saul Alinsky’s handbook for modern activism, dedicates itself to the first radical—Lucifer. There, he says, “Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins—or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom—Lucifer.”[10]

That’s no metaphor. They admire the arch-rebel. Whether or not they think there is a being named “Lucifer,” they worship him as their “light-bearer.” They would rather, as Milton’s Satan put it, “rule in hell than serve in heaven.”

Their concept of being “oppressed” even includes living under God’s law—because to them, God’s authority itself is oppression. Saul Alinsky says, “The Revolutionary Force today has two targets, moral as well as material. Its young protagonists are one moment reminiscent of the idealistic early Christians, yet they also urge violence and cry, ‘Burn the system down!’ They have no illusions about the system, but plenty of illusions about the way to change our world.”[11] They are idealists but without Christ and therefore without any restraint.  They see the “system” as structurally racist and bigoted and not worth saving.

They would rather invent their own morality, even if it leads to ruin. The community organizer of Alinksy is to be a political relativist, and Machiavellian, who will use any means necessary to achieve his end. Nothing is off the table.[12]

The technical word for this is “heteronomy.” They opposed any law that originates outside of themselves. But their mistake is that God’s law is written on our hearts. It is a description of our being. God’s law describes the choices we must make to achieve what is best for us as humans. Seeing this, some are willing to take the step of denying their humanity and identifying as animals.

Alinksy goes on to teach about how to be a community organizer.  Here he is very clear about the radical’s intentions: “The organizer is in a true sense reaching for the highest level for which man can reach—to create, to be a ‘great creator,’ to play God.”[13] l think of Lucifer as the Phoenix who is cast from heavens, only to rise again in the flames and create his own reality.  These radicals are clear that this is their hero and their own aspiration.

6. Be Free in the U.S.A.

The sad irony is that those with communist leanings are nowhere more free to live that out than in the United States. Throughout our history, utopian groups have set up shop to show the rest of us how it is done.

In the United States, you’re free to voluntarily start a commune with others who are like-minded. Many have done this over the last few centuries. Such communes regularly fail disastrously, but you’ll still find groups that try again.

The keyword here is “voluntary.” In the United States, you can work together with others who voluntarily decide to do so. But the French and Marxist revolutionaries want to force everyone else to do it their way.

The United States is built on the idea of rational persuasion. That’s why we began our history with a Declaration of Independence where we presented an argument to the world. By comparison, the American revolution was far less bloody than any of the revolutions that followed. Our goal was not to destroy the British system, but to defend ourselves as having a right to our own system.

When a philosophy is essentially irrational, like that coming out of Marxism, it tends to hate the idea of rational arguments.[14] Instead, it seeks to force others to conform. That is why Antifa does not want to work within a system to change it, but wants to instead overthrow it.

7. What This Reveals

Once you understand these ideas, the Antifa professor’s worldview becomes predictable:

  • They see the world as an evil system that must be destroyed.
  • They justify rebellion as liberation.
  • And they redefine good and evil as power and weakness.

Their entire life’s work rests on shifting sand—a rebellion disguised as moral compassion. Their “system” is built on falsehoods and misunderstandings of reality.

It’s easy to convince people that they are oppressed and that life is unfair. That’s the seductive power of sin: the allure of rebellion.

What’s far more difficult—and far more valuable—is to pursue truth: to see the world as it really is, to understand our fallen condition, and to find redemption not in revolution, but in Christ.

Antifa has nothing lasting to offer its followers. It reduces human life to the material and promises a utopia it cannot deliver. To find meaning in life, we must come to know what is transcendent.

Next in the series:

In Part 2, we’ll examine the logical and moral contradictions in Antifa’s worldview—and show why their system not only fails philosophically but collapses under its own claim to justice.

Bibliography

  • Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals. New York: Vintage Books, 1971), at: https://ia801202.us.archive.org/28/items/RulesForRadicals/RulesForRadicals.pdf
  • Mark Bray, Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook (Brooklyn, NY: Melville House, 2017),

at: https://files.libcom.org/files/Antifa%2C%20The%20Anti-Fascist%20Handbook.pdf

 

  • Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), “Examining Extremism: Antifa,” (CSIS Briefs, 2021), at: Available at: https://www.csis.org/analysis/examining-extremism-antifa

 

  • George Washington University Program on Extremism, “Anarchist/Left-Wing Violent Extremism in America,” (Washington, D.C.: GWU, 2021), Available at: https://extremism.gwu.edu/

 

  • Ruth Kinna, “Heretical Constructions of Anarchist Utopianism,” Utopian Studies 15, no. 2 (2004), 97–121, at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20718631

 

  • Sophie Scott-Brown, “Utopian Anti-Utopianism: Rethinking Cold War Liberalism through British Anarchism,” Intellectual History Review (2025), at: https://doi.org/10.1080/17496977.2025.xxxxxx

 

  • Murray Bookchin, “Anarchism: Past, Present, and Utopia,” in The Anarchist Papers, Dimitrios Roussopoulos, ed (Montréal: Black Rose Books, 1980), at: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/murray-bookchin-anarchism-past-present-and-utopia

 

  • Marty Tomszak, “Anti-Fascism as Constitutive of the Gospel Ethic,” Political Theology Symposium (Political Theology Network, 2024), at: https://politicaltheology.com/symposium/anti-fascism-as-constitutive-of-the-gospel-ethic

 

  • Acton Institute, “Five Facts about Antifa,” Acton Institute (Religion & Liberty Online, 2017), at: https://rlo.acton.org/archives/97805-5-facts-about-antifa.html

 

References:

[1] Mark Bray, Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook (Brooklyn, NY: Melville House, 2017), xii.

[2] Bray, xii

[3] Bray, xvi

[4] Editor’s Note: In this way, Antifa is a decentralized, organized around different hubs of anarchist and marxist radicals, rather than a strict centralized hierarchy of power. In recent weeks, some voices on the left have argued that Antifa isn’t an “organization” but a leaderless ideology. But it’s naïve to think that a terrorist group cannot also be an ideology or that it would need a centralized power structure to exist. For an argument against antifa’s “terrorist group status,” see, Luke Baumgartner [interview], “What is Antifa and why Trump calls it a Terrorist Group?” [Video] Public Broadcasting System (23 September 2025) at: https://www.pbs.org/video/targeting-antifa-1758662072/

[5] Bray, xvi, xxii, 46-7, 93, et al.

[6] Ibid, xvii.

[7] Michel Foucault, “The Subject and Power” (1982), The Foucault Reader, edited by Paul Rabinow (New York: Pantheon Books, 1984), pg. 214.
in Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics, edited by Hubert L. Dreyfus and Paul Rabinow, 2nd ed. (University of Chicago Press, 1983), pages 208–226.

[8] Michel Foucault “Sex, Power and the Politics of Identity” [interview] (1982), in The Essential Works of Michel Foucault, Volume 1: Ethics, Subjectivity, and Truth, edited by Paul Rabinow, ed., Robert Hurley, trans., (New York: The New Press, 1997), 162.

[9] Saul Alinski, Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals (New York: Vintage Books, 1971), 27.

[10] Alinski, ix.

[11]Ibid, xiv.

[12] Ibid, 79.

[13] Ibid, 61.

[14] Editor’s Note: Rather than treating reason as a principled methodology, with reality and truth being an objective judge between competing parties, Antifa – with it’s Marxist and Machiavellian roots – tends to treat truth as optional, and reason as disposable. Reason is, for them, a mere tool, to be used for pragmatic purposes when it suits one’s interests, but its readily discarded whenever it begins to work against antifascist aims. For antifa (and disciples of Alinski), power is the guiding principle, leaving reason/rationality is merely a pragmatic tool to be used, abused, and discarded, in service to the greater pursuit of power. Truth itself is seen as sophisticated tool of oppression under the current hegemony. This anti-realistic stance stems not from Antifa’s Marxist roots but rather from it’s postmodern influence, via critical theory, wherein reality itself is seen as a malleable social construct rather than an objective reference point for adjudicating between competing claims.

Recommended Resources:

Correct not Politically Correct: About Same-Sex Marriage and Transgenderism by Frank Turek (Book, MP4, )

You Can’t NOT Legislate Morality mp3 by Frank Turek

Legislating Morality: Is it Wise? Is it Legal? Is it Possible? by Frank Turek (Book, DVD, Mp3, Mp4, PowerPoint download, PowerPoint CD)

Does Jesus Trump Your Politics by Dr. Frank Turek (mp4 download and DVD)

 

Dr. Owen Anderson is a Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Arizona State University, a pastor, and a certified jiu-jitsu instructor. He emphasizes the Christian belief in God, human sin, and redemption through Christ, and he explores these themes in his philosophical commentary on the Book of Job. His recent research addresses issues such as DEIB, antiracism, and academic freedom in secular universities, critiquing the influence of thinkers like Rousseau, Marx, and Freud. Dr. Anderson actively shares his insights through articles, books, online classes, and his Substack.

 

A version of this blog was originally posted at: https://bit.ly/4hGcv08

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The Bible Tells Us That We Need Apologetics

Paul met the Lord on a road (Acts 9:1-9), Peter fell down before him by the sea (Luke 5:1-11), the Ethiopian eunuch came to him after having the scriptures explained to him (Acts 8:26-40), and the man possessed by a legion of demons believed after experiencing a liberating miracle on his life (Mark 5:1-20). The same gospel which unites us reaches us in different ways.

Many people encounter Jesus and come to faith immediately when the Bible is preached and explained to them. Becket Cook is an example that immediately springs to my mind. Others encounter Jesus after a long and detailed analysis of the evidence, and after having their friends engage them with the evidence for Christianity. Nabeel Qureshi is a big example here. Still others encounter Jesus after seeing him in a dream or witnessing a miracle.

Humans are complex beings made in the image of the infinite God (Genesis 1:27), and the gospel draws in and unifies a host of people from all sorts of different backgrounds. The way we receive the gospel isn’t uniform, programmed, and mechanical. The unifying factor is the gospel we receive (1 Cor 15:3-8), not the way we receive it.

Evangelism Is Helped By Social Intelligence 

As we evangelise, we do well to have social awareness in understanding that people respond to the gospel in different ways.

Some people may need to witness a miracle before receiving the gospel, others may need to have the evidence for Christianity explained to them, and others may simply need the Bible preached to them plainly.

Some may need all three or a combination thereof!

This should be an obvious thing to say. But I’ve recently and repeatedly heard the absurd claim that apologetics is not necessary for the gospel, because the supposed key to every single human heart, and the only way to do evangelism, is by preaching the Bible and only the Bible to every unbeliever we encounter. . . without any need, ever, for apologetics.

Now of course, preaching the Bible is an eternally wonderful thing, and the Bible really does have all the answers to life’s most important questions. And there is no question that some people convert immediately when the Bible is simply preached to them. Charles Spurgeon is an example of such a person.

The Bible is a source of never-ending wisdom and insight that is a greater treasure than all the money in the world, and apologetics itself is empty without it, because without the Bible, apologetics leads nowhere. Christians who are privileged enough to own a Bible need to be reading it daily.

There is no dispute, regardless of theological conviction, that the Holy Spirit softens people’s hearts as they read and hear God’s word. But how can anyone who’s socially aware of the unbelieving world say that apologetics isn’t ever necessary . . . especially when the Bible itself tells us to use it?

The Bible Tells Us To Use Apologetics          

Peter (in 1 Peter 3:15) says that we always need to be ready to give a ‘defense’ for the hope that we have (‘apologia’ in Greek – the word from which we get the English word ‘apologetics’). Apologetics isn’t a random modern Christian word. Apologetics is a biblical word.

Paul – who uses apologetics in Athens (see Acts 17) – uses the same Greek word ‘apologia’ in writing that God has placed him to ‘defend’ the gospel in Philippians 1:16 (see also 1:7).

Are Peter and Paul wrong? Do they just need to understand that all we need to do is preach the Bible to each and every non-believer, without ever giving a reasoned defense for the Christian faith?

Paul also writes that if Jesus has not been raised then Christianity is false (1 Corinthians 15:14, 17). How are we to investigate whether Jesus has been raised? Are we only allowed to investigate that question by looking at what the Bible says?

“The Bible says Jesus was raised; therefore, Jesus was raised.” Is this really sufficient evangelism that will convince every single unbeliever in the world?

The “Bible-only, ever” method is inconsistent        

And there’s something awkward that needs to be pointed out:

Does the “Bible-only, ever” evangelist realise that they first have to use their philosophical, linguistic, and reasoning faculties to decide which part of the Bible to open up for every evangelistic conversation with an unbeliever?

It’s the “Bible-only” evangelist’s own philosophical and linguistic reasoning which directs them to show their non-believing counterpart John 20, say, and not Song of Songs 5:3.

So, if I were to grant that we should only use the Bible to evangelise and nothing else – never engaging in philosophy or apologetics with the unbeliever – then I’d be committing myself to an inconsistent epistemology and self-defeat. That should never be the case for the people of God who belong to the Truth!

Jesus himself isn’t a “Bible-only, ever” evangelist  

We must remember that Jesus himself demonstrates social awareness when, for example, he uses two different evangelistic methods in two different situations after his resurrection.

In John 20, Jesus convinces Thomas not by the scriptures but by the evidence of his broken body. Yet over in Luke 24, Jesus convinces the two disciples on the road to Emmaus not by his broken body but by unpacking the scriptures!

Here is my point:

With the Holy Spirit’s help, we need the social awareness and intelligence to understand the needs of the unbeliever in front of us.

Some will need apologetics. Some will need miracles. Some will just need straight preaching. Ask people “How did you come to faith?” and you’ll get a range of answers, appealing to different lines of evidence, apologetics included.

Recommended Resources: 

I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist (Paperback), and (Sermon) by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek 

Stealing From God by Dr. Frank Turek (Book, 10-Part DVD Set, STUDENT Study Guide,TEACHER Study Guide)

Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions by Greg Koukl (Book)

Can All Religions Be True? mp3 by Frank Turek

 

Sean Redfearn is a former Community Youth Worker who now works for Christian Concern in Central London, UK. He completed an MA in Religion at King’s College London, is in the process of completing the MA Philosophy program at Southern Evangelical Seminary, and is a 2022 CrossExamined Instructor Academy graduate. Passionate about Jesus, he is grateful for the impact that apologetics has had on his faith.

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Spiritual Foundation #4 Environmental Preparation

As we wrap up our blog series on foundational types of college preparation, let’s review what we’ve covered. We’ve surveyed laying a strong faith-based foundation with personal habits of Bible study and prayer. Then we built on the importance of intellectual preparation, largely using the study of apologetics and its related disciplines. Next, we discussed the need for relational preparation through campus ministry and local church involvement, as well as friendships and family support. In this final blog, we’ll explore how being prepared for the college environment can help your child be ready for a successful transition to college.

Knowing what you’re in for before you step on campus can help students acclimate more quickly and successfully to this new environment of strenuous academic expectations, new social networks and dynamics, and the responsibilities of adulting. That’s why the first two to six weeks can be so key to acclimation.

Philosophical Environment   

Secular Colleges: Be prepared for the philosophical challenges Christian students encounter at secular campuses: We’ll refer you to an excellent article by Professor Owen Anderson that does a comprehensive job of explaining these challenges. Anderson provides a “be prepared” list of 10 items that parents and students would be wise to add to their apologetics training, Bible study, and critical thinking training. Overall, training your student about the philosophical ideologies they will face on campus will prevent major shock to their systems and can actually strengthen their resolve about their own beliefs. It comes down to a slew of “isms.”

I’ve defined an “ism” as the “ideologies of sinful man.” Owen Anderson names academic secularism, religious/worldview pluralism, scientism, pragmatism, higher criticism, existentialism, cultural relativism, Marxism, LGBTQ+, and activism as the main philosophical challenges. Perhaps even more helpful than identifying these issues is knowing how to refute these errors in thinking. The Mama Bear “Cultural Lies” book (the one with the green cover) discusses many of these, but you can also check out our Guide to Sexuality and Gender Identity book for LGBTQ+ issues.

Christian Colleges: Even Christian colleges need to be vetted. Do they actually teach from a biblical worldview or do they just post a few verses around campus? Rather than doing a deep dive here, let us point you to existing information on this topic from people we respect. Just beware. Some Christian colleges are Christian in name only.

Free Speech and Political Environments      

Be apprised of the latest issues on campus. These issues may catch your student off guard if they’re not familiar and ready to respond. What is the spiritual, social, and political climate like on their campus? What major events should they look out for on the campus—do they have a Sex Week? (Yes, Mamas, it’s a real thing.) Look into the types of events and speakers their student government supports. Are they known for protests? What kinds? What kind of research is getting funded? Which books are available in their religion and sociology departments? What is their DEI policy (now known as “inclusion” or “belonging” policies, after the recent presidential mandate? Are campus ministries allowed to meet on campus? (You may be surprised at how many aren’t.) Does your student need to know how to navigate “safe speech” zones? Will they need to know what microaggressions are? Respect trigger warnings? Is there a mandatory “cultural sensitivity training” for incoming freshman?

  • Alliance Defending Freedom (adflegal.org) has incredible resources online regarding student rights, including a free speech conversation guide. They also provide free legal help to students and campus ministries whose religious freedom and free speech rights are violated.
  • The College Fix is an online news source covering breaking campus news. Seasoned journalists as well as student journalists contribute to the content. It’s a good pulse point for what’s happening on campuses in general.
  • The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education maintains a database that catalogs speech codes of campuses. They publish an annual Spotlight on Speech Codes reviewing the state of free speech on campuses. Use it to see how your campus scores.
  • Campus Reform is a conservative watchdog in the nation’s higher education system. Campus Reform reports on the conduct and misconduct of campus administrators, faculty, and students. You can click on the “campuses” tab on their website to see if your university is in the news.

Physical Environment

Not only is your college student entering a new and different environment of ideas and policies, but they are quite literally moving into a new physical environment from their dorm room or apartment to their campus hub and the surrounding town. Preparing logistically for this new environment helps them adapt better and start out ahead. Have them get their room completely set up with all they need for a place to study, sleep, and take care of themselves. Setting an understanding with roommates about quiet hours at night and in the morning, as well as personal boundaries, can help set the tone for respecting each other while still enjoying one another’s company.

Have them visit where they will do laundry, pick up physical mail, and grocery shop. Map out the best routes to dining halls and campus classrooms to know the time it will take to walk to class, catch a bus, or ride a bike. Encourage them to introduce themselves to their academic advisor and professors (staking out their offices and office hours). Get to know where the infirmary is in case they get sick and where the student resource center is for times when extra help is needed. (Don’t forget to discuss whether you will have access to your child’s medical information and if you will be called if there is an emergency. Once they are over 18, your child will need to sign a HIPAA release form to grant consent. For more information on legal documents needed when a child turns 18 see this article.)

Conclusion

Mama, you are no longer their personal EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). It’s up to them now. They need to guard their faith, their intellect, their relationships, their personal space, values, routines, and philosophy. Prepare them the best you can and then release them – all the while praying for them and their campuses.

We hope that this college prep blog series was helpful for those about to start college, even though it may have been a bit of a crash course. But we highly encourage those moms of younger students to begin this work now so that you can send them to college on F.I.R.E. for their faith.

Faith. Intellect. Relationships. Environment. Preparing in these four areas will help your college kids build a college experience that is stable and unshifting with their faith still a cornerstone.

Before we conclude, though, we’d love to offer a prayer. This comes from Jeremy Story, who runs Every Student Sent (which we referenced earlier in this blog series). He gave us permission to share it with you.

A Guided Prayer for the Class of 2025:

Heavenly Father, We lift up this generation of college freshmen to You. As they walk into the lecture halls and residence halls, may they first walk with You. 

Give them the boldness to stand firm in the faith and resist the pull of a culture that has forgotten You. 

Lord, lead them to rich Christian community –

To friends who encourage their walk with Jesus. To campus ministries, churches, and mentors who will sharpen and send them. 

Give them courage to share the Gospel –

To speak the name of Jesus with truth and love. To be a light in dark places. To love others radically and point them to the hope they’ve found in You. 

May they not just survive their college years, but lead others into eternal life. 

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.  

If you want another prayer (or two), we recommend the prayers “Releasing My Almost-Adult Children” and “Adult Children to Walk Faithfully with God” from our book, Honest Prayers for Mama Bears.

Recommended Resources: 

Jesus, You and the Essentials of Christianity by Frank Turek (INSTRUCTOR Study Guide), (STUDENT Study Guide), and (DVD)

How to Interpret Your Bible by Dr. Frank Turek DVD Complete Series, INSTRUCTOR Study Guide, and STUDENT Study Guide

Intellectual Predators: How Professors Prey on Christian Students (DVD) (mp3) (mp4 Download)

Can All Religions Be True? mp3 by Frank Turek

 

Julie Loos combined her passion for prayer and apologetics in her contributions to three Mama Bear Apologetics books. Her apologetics training came from campus ministry and certificates from Biola University and the Crossexamined Instructors Academy. Julie has been teaching, writing, and speaking on prayer for Moms in Prayer International for more than 23 years. She lives in Missouri with her husband, Todd, has two married sons, two grandchildren, and enjoys working out, Bible study, chocolate, coffee, and deep conversations.

Originally posted at: https://bit.ly/4hytqBA

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Spiritual Foundation #3 Relational Preparation

As excited as I was to go to the university of my dreams, 40+ years later, I still remember the empty feeling of watching my parents and sister drive away. What would things be like at home without me? What would things be like at college without them? Will I make friends? Will I find my way?

One of the first ways to prepare your child relationally for college is to prepare you both for your relationship to change. Going off to college is an adjustment for the entire family. Your relationship with your child is going to naturally change as they move toward calling more of their own shots (and calling you less). So let me give you my $5 piece of advice: Mama, you need to let go. And your cub needs you to let go. 

While they lived at home, you helped lay a strong foundation for them. And while it’s ultimately their choice whether or not to build on that foundation, let’s discuss how to keep your relationship strong while helping them navigate this new terrain. Let your child know these will be real choices and issues they will face and that you are confident they can handle them, but if things ever get a little heavy, you are just a phone call away.

Prepare for Vertical and Horizontal Relationships

As you and your college-bound child adjust to these changes, consider some structures to support their relationships. Just as there are vertical and horizontal aspects to a house via the foundation and the frame, so there are to your child’s relational structures. How can they pour into their vertical frame of faith with Jesus and His church while on campus? How can they support their horizontal foundation of relationships with fellow Christians, friends, and family?

Supporting the Vertical Structures (especially in the first two weeks)

I remember my first two weeks at college like they were yesterday. When I woke up that first Sunday in my college dorm room, I realized that – for the first time ever – I alone could decide whether I would go to church. Granted, it was over four decades ago, I lived in the Bible Belt, and going to church was still the “normal” thing to do. But go, I did. And I continued to go throughout my college years, but that’s likely because I made the decision early on.

Young people retrospectively report that the first two weeks of their college freshman year set the trajectory for their remaining years in school. According to the Fuller Youth Institute, we tend to overestimate how ready our youth group grads are for the faith struggles they will face in college. Parents and leaders should talk earlier and more frequently with their entering freshmen about developing a plan for the first two weeks, especially on how to investigate local churches and on-campus ministries.

Finding a church

One pervasive struggle for college students is finding a new church, as evidenced by the 40 percent of freshmen who report difficulty doing so. The group Every Student Sent helps incoming freshmen connect with ministries and churches on their campus, find community with other Christian students, and grow their faith through exclusive online courses. And a lot of this can be done before they ever set foot on campus. Plus, it’s free. There are portals for students, parents, school administrators, and youth pastors, so anyone can help get the student engaged and connected.

College Church Connection (CCC) is another great resource, providing a detailed report for your child based on a personal survey. CCC will recommend Christian contacts, college-town churches, and campus ministries based on the college he/she will be attending. Not only is this helpful, it’s successful. CCC reports that 80 to 90 percent of the students who receive a report find a church and a ministry they love during their first semester of college. The cost is minimal and a huge investment in your student’s spiritual health. This would make a great graduation gift for all church youth groups to give their seniors.

Finding a campus ministry

Keep in mind that your student may want a full-orbed type of ministry (worship, fellowship, Bible Study, prayer, recreation) as well as a more topic-specific ministry like Ratio Christi (RC). RC strategically trains students to participate in conversational evangelism by studying apologetics—the scientific, philosophical, and historical reasons for adhering to a Christian worldview (learn more about the intellectual foundation here). This can be a spiritual lifesaver when they are tossed into an environment where everything they thought they knew is being undermined by the secular humanism which pervades college campuses (even Christian ones!).

There are non-denominational and denominational campus ministries. If you have enough lead time during your child’s senior year of high school, subscribe to campus ministry newsletters, and “like” or “follow” the ministries’ social media pages to get a feel for their teaching and activities. Your student can get to know the DNA of each group through websites or by talking with upperclassmen from their church or campus about the ministries they are involved in.

On campus orientation days, look for representatives at tables for the campus ministries and churches. Check out campus ministry offices, the school’s religious life office, and nearby churches. Find out what night a campus ministry meeting is held and attend it. Some campuses even have student housing for Christians (for example, Christian Campus Fellowship).

Talk to a campus minister you might know. If your family, your church, or another family you know sponsors a campus minister somewhere, see if you could meet in person or virtually to discuss their insights into finding Christian community on campus.

Don’t confuse church and campus ministry!

Make sure your student knows that a campus ministry is not a substitute for a local church in their college town. Each institution plays a different relational role in your student’s life, and being involved in both is important for maintaining a well-rounded faith experience. Being part of a local church connects a student to the larger body of Christ and allows him/her to be accountable, to be spiritually fed, and to contribute. It also helps prepare for transition back into a local church, not only when home on break, but once they have graduated. There’s something to be said about the “muscle memory” of returning to church. Local church attendance during college also fosters intergenerational relationships, which have been shown to be important in retaining faith.[1]

The Horizontal Structures

Supporting your child’s horizontal structures means preparing them for what will happen with family, friends, and Christian fellowship.

  1. Family check-ins. While we may be great at checking in with our students about classes, grades, social life, roommate issues, health, and when they’ll be home on break, we should also check in about their spiritual health as well. Whether by phone, text, video chat, or visits home, judge the best time and place. Pray for God’s leading on when and how to bring these things up. Longer breaks, like Christmas, might provide time for more in-depth discussions. But don’t go that many months without a check-in, or you may find your Christian student has already checked out. Here’s a link to a PDF with conversation starter questions you can use.
  2. Navigating old friendships. Friendships also change in college. Your child may or may not remain close to their childhood friends. Help them navigate the loss of those friends and help them nurture them if they desire to keep them.
  3. Navigating new friendships and forming their “inner circle.” College gives students an incredible opportunity to meet new friends from all over the world. While you want them to be discerning in the company they keep, you also want them to develop relationship and communication skills with a diverse set of people. Living in the world means learning how to interact with people from all walks of life. Remind them that though we are to be kind to all, we do not have to have equally deep relationships with all. Who they choose for their “inner circle” often dictates who they become. As your child gets involved in campus ministry and a local church, hopefully, they will find close Christian fellowship for counsel, accountability, and fun.
  4. Navigating intergenerational friendships. While they may only think of friendships with their dormmates and classmates, their relationships will extend much further. They are also in relationships with their professors, ministry leaders, and pastors. They are in intergenerational relationships through choice – like their ministry leaders and pastors– and sometimes not of choice – like with their professors. Peers are important, but so are mentors. Your child should choose wisely, both spiritually and educationally. In Cultural Captives, Stephen Cable reports that college graduates with a biblical worldview are more likely to point to someone other than a family member as the most influential source in their faith. He thinks this is likely because when faith is challenged in college, those who don’t fall away can’t look to their fallen peers for guidance. They need an entire faith community at college, consisting of campus ministers and a college-town church.
  5. Navigating relationships with their home church. If your home church has a current college small group, encourage your student to attend when home on breaks. If your church does not, how about starting one? It could fill a giant hole in a college student’s life. Facilitate a way for your home church to intentionally stay in touch with your college student—you are, in essence, sending them out as missionaries into hostile territory. The church has a vested interest in this while they are on campus and when they are home on “furlough.” Perhaps older adults in your church could adopt college students to stay in contact with while they are away. Our church sent an encouraging note and gift card for coffee right before exam time to all our college students as a way to let them know we cared.

Prepare for Future Success

Campus ministry, Bible study, and a weekly prayer partner were part of my spiritual syllabus. God used my college years to help me forge my faith. But if I were going to be a coed on campus this fall, in our current climate, I’m honestly not sure how well I would fare. Building a relational foundation vertically through connection with campus ministry and a local college church and horizontally through open communication with family and lasting friendships of all ages can make a concrete difference for yourself and your student in this journey.

References: 

[1] For more about how a local church can help their collegians, visit https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/college-students-church-ready/.

Recommended Resources: 

Jesus, You and the Essentials of Christianity by Frank Turek (INSTRUCTOR Study Guide), (STUDENT Study Guide), and (DVD)

How to Interpret Your Bible by Dr. Frank Turek DVD Complete Series, INSTRUCTOR Study Guide, and STUDENT Study Guide

Intellectual Predators: How Professors Prey on Christian Students (DVD) (mp3) (mp4 Download)

Can All Religions Be True? mp3 by Frank Turek

 

 

Julie Loos combined her passion for prayer and apologetics in her contributions to three Mama Bear Apologetics books. Her apologetics training came from campus ministry and certificates from Biola University and the Crossexamined Instructors Academy. Julie has been teaching, writing, and speaking on prayer for Moms in Prayer International for more than 23 years. She lives in Missouri with her husband, Todd, has two married sons, two grandchildren, and enjoys working out, Bible study, chocolate, coffee, and deep conversations.

Originally posted at: https://bit.ly/4oyK4n2

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Spiritual Foundation #2 Intellectual Preparation

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In the previous blog in this series, we recommended starting spiritual college preparation with the faith-based foundation of Bible study and prayer. To that, we suggest adding several intellectual disciplines, which together help us love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We start with the faith-building strength training of apologetics.

Intellectual Challenges Your Kid May Face   

For a while now, the stats haven’t been good for Christian kids’ faith to come out intact after they hit the college campus or even after high school. (If you want the facts, just read a summary here.) In recent months there has been some better news about Gen Z: they are more open spiritually, and young men are attending church more. However, there are still questions about  that “spirituality” leading to Christianity and whether the habit of church attendance sticks.

No doubt your child will need some intellectual muscles to stand strong against key challenges they will face in college. These include the gender/sexuality issue, competing worldviews (Marxism in particular), science, and how to integrate their faith into their chosen profession — just to name a few.

When it comes to the gender/sexuality issue, we recognize the difficulty in navigating it, much less understanding all its nuances. Critical thinking skills, conversational tactics, and a strong knowledge of the why behind God’s laws all come into play when dealing with this hot topic. We’ll give you general resources below to help with all of these intellectual challenges, but the greatest resource we can point you to about gender and sexuality is our book,  Mama Bear Apologetics Guide to Sexuality and Gender Identity: Empower Your Kids to Understand and Live out God’s Design — especially the updated and expanded version that comes out in March 2026. We also recommend our various podcasts about these issues. We can’t refute what we don’t understand, so let’s start understanding!

How Apologetics Can Help   

Anyone working out realizes that strength training can be uncomfortable in the moment (can you really do one more bicep curl?!). You push through a tough workout for the long-term results. Likewise with apologetics. If the thought of apologetics makes your heart rate increase, don’t sweat it. It will be worth it in the end for you and your child. This is partly because apologetics is more than just an intellectual exercise. It helps answer doubts, build confidence about Christianity, and protect your kids from the ideological mind viruses being spread on campus by any worldview which “sets itself up against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Apart from these obvious benefits, apologetics also:

  • Enhances worship. As students explore the reasons why Christianity is both true and good, they will learn much more about the character and nature of God. This increases their love for Him because they now love Him with their minds, not just their hearts. It also develops their trust at times when His involvement in their lives might not be as easily traced. By learning that He is immaterial, timeless, spaceless, powerful, intelligent, purposeful, morally perfect, and personal, they can’t help but worship Him.
  • Fosters discipleship. Digging into apologetics can develop relationships and therefore discipleship, both between the teacher and the student and between the student and the Word. That discipleship multiplies to others relationally as students share what they’ve learned. We are called to both be disciples and make disciples, so learning apologetics is a way of fulfilling God’s purpose for us.
  • Promotes evangelism. Let’s be honest. When it comes to sharing our faith, the church is more like a 90-pound weakling than a strong man. The statistics from Barna are downright embarrassing: evangelicals have among the highest rates of failure in follow-through from conviction to action when it comes to sharing their faith.[1] Many of us do not share because we have not developed our intellectual muscle for contending for the faith. Learning the reasons for our faith is like taking an evangelism energy drink.
  • Develops critical thinking. Studying apologetics is also a great exercise in critical thinking. Learning the reasons for and against Christianity (and how to refute the deficiencies of other worldviews) is a spiritual warm-up for the academic environment they are about to enter. It will help them listen more carefully, think more clearly, and speak more accurately.

That’s where instruction in critical thinking and tactical conversations is important. Greg Koukl’s book, Tactics, is the premiere resource here. In summary, Tactics puts you in the driver’s seat and diffuses defensiveness by learning to engage with three questions: 1) What do you mean by that? 2) How did you come to that conclusion? and 3) Have you ever considered….?”

Studying logical fallacies sharpens critical thinking—key not only for religious claims, but educational, political, and more. There are several books and/or online courses you will find helpful like the Filter It Through A Brain Cell and Fallacy Detective.

We’ve Got You Covered        

When I started studying apologetics 20 years ago, the resources were few and far between. Not so today. And they no longer exist just in book form. Websites, apps, podcasts, and videos abound. We direct you to our Resources page, which includes a link to our Recommended Resource list and our Busy Mom’s Guide to Apologetics.

You might also show your kids how to use their phones as their intellectual strength training workout partner. For those who would like to get started with younger kids, there are what I call digital forms of “flashcards” available in the following apps:

  • CrossExamined — “Quick Answers” section. There’s even a “start here” section followed by four main content sections covering the basic questions Christians come up against: Truth, God, the Bible, and the 4 Es (Evolution/Evil/Ethics/Eternity).
  • Stand to Reason Quick Ref App — Includes several hot topics (morality, other religions, tolerance, same-sex marriage, and abortion) icons with a brief written overview of the topic and a link to a podcast for more depth.

In addition to using apps, encourage your kids to develop apologetics playlists of podcasts and YouTube videos that can exercise their minds.

Michael Sherrard, president of Apologetics, Inc., sums it up well: “… after an apologetics conference a young man told me that for the first time in his life, he saw that Christians weren’t dumb. It was encouraging for him to see that you can love God with your mind and that Christians have reasons for their belief.”

Conclusion

With discernment, consider sharing your own strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures, doubts and fears from your college years. Your vulnerability could go a long way to keeping the communication lines open. Parental influence is still key in the college years when it comes to faith, and as you engage in building the intellectual foundation of faith with your kids, you both will be loving the Lord with all your mind and strength.

References: 

[1] See https://www.barna.com/research/sharing-faith-increasingly-optional-christians/ and https://www.barna.com/research/is-evangelism-going-out-of-style/

Recommended Resources: 

Jesus, You and the Essentials of Christianity by Frank Turek (INSTRUCTOR Study Guide), (STUDENT Study Guide), and (DVD)

How to Interpret Your Bible by Dr. Frank Turek DVD Complete Series, INSTRUCTOR Study Guide, and STUDENT Study Guide

Intellectual Predators: How Professors Prey on Christian Students (DVD) (mp3) (mp4 Download)

Can All Religions Be True? mp3 by Frank Turek

 

 

Julie Loos combined her passion for prayer and apologetics in her contributions to three Mama Bear Apologetics books. Her apologetics training came from campus ministry and certificates from Biola University and the Crossexamined Instructors Academy. Julie has been teaching, writing, and speaking on prayer for Moms in Prayer International for more than 23 years. She lives in Missouri with her husband, Todd, has two married sons, two grandchildren, and enjoys working out, Bible study, chocolate, coffee, and deep conversations.

Originally posted at: https://bit.ly/3J49XMD

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How Can Biblical Leadership Save America? with Pastor Robert Furrow

Are we experiencing a revival here in the United States and maybe around the world? Pastor Robert Furrow, long-time leader of Calvary Chapel Tucson, joins Frank to share what he’s witnessing firsthand and to unpack insights from his new book, ‘The Making of a Biblical Leader: A Practical Guide to Leading Others Well‘. They discuss what true leadership looks like, and how every Christian can make a difference in this historical moment of renewed interest in the truth of the Gospel.

Tune in as they answer questions like:

  • What is biblical leadership and how does it differ from worldly leadership?
  • How can everyday Christians—not just pastors—lead people to Jesus?
  • How is politics an “on-ramp” to Christianity?
  • What important life lessons did Robert learn from his mentor, Skip Heitzig, about leadership and adding value to people’s lives?
  • What is the “inversion principle”?
  • What made Jesus such an effective leader?
  • What leadership principles can we learn from biblical figures like King Asa?
  • How can Christians apply biblical principles even in secular workplaces or hostile environments?
  • How have figures like Charlie Kirk been so effective at influencing the next generation?

Whether you lead a family, a business, or a church, this conversation will help you take the next step in living out your faith with courage and purpose. Tune in to learn how God can use your influence to impact others and move His Kingdom forward—right where you are.

If you enjoyed this podcast episode PLEASE HELP US SPREAD THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY BY SUPPORTING OUR MINISTRY USING THE LINK BELOW. 100% of your donation goes to ministry, 0% to buildings!

Resources mentioned during the episode:

Donate to CrossExamined
The Making of a Biblical Leader by Robert Furrow
Calvary Chapel Tucson – website
Calvary Chapel Tucson – YouTube channel
The Truth Quest Podcast

Download Transcript

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How To Prepare Your Kids Faith Before They Leave For College, Part 2: Faith-Based Preparation

It’s doubtful parents would send their kids to college without some sort of meal plan, but are parents as diligent in helping set up a spiritual meal plan for their children? Once that dorm key is issued, there will be no more spoon-fed lessons by the youth group. When our kids head to college, it’s time for them to feed themselves, or they could spiritually starve to death.

In our previous blog, we addressed the top four preparations to keep your kids on FIRE for God: faith-based, intellectual, relational, and environmental. In this blog, we’ll discuss how to prepare your kids spiritually for college, specifically through spiritual disciplines.

Developing Good Faith Habits  

Helping your child establish the habits of personal Bible study and prayer while they are still living in your home is an important part of encouraging them to remain connected and committed to their local church and their Christian beliefs. (I contend it’s not too late, even if they’ve already gone off to college and even if they have already graduated. If we’re still breathing, it’s not too late.)

If you are at a parenting stage where you can model this for your kids, go for it. If that discipline has not yet been developed, don’t let a guilt trip or excuses stall you into inaction.  Why not express your current desire to engage and use it as an incentive for both of you to start? You could even hold one another accountable and/or share what you’re learning.

Need some help? Host a get-together with other college-bound Christian friends to encourage and equip them to dig into this discipline. Call in a trusted Christian mentor to share their personal insights on the importance of reading the Word, committing to prayer time, and using trusted tools and resources. Research shows that maintaining relationships with parents and having other adults they respect invest in their lives helps young adults stay connected to church through and after college.

Ways To Nurture Your Kid’s Faith

Devotionals
Devotionals can serve as an appetizer to prepare the palate for the main course, like a warm-up to a workout. Encourage your child to use a devotional book that quotes Scripture daily. If they never get to the main course, at least they will have had a taste of God’s Word that day.

Although there are many modern-day devotionals that are great, don’t be afraid to introduce your kids to classic devotionals. The writing and theology are rich, and these writers connect your kids to our shared Christian heritage and history. (Consider Oswald Chambers, Charles Spurgeon, and A.W. Tozer to start. Want something from the 21st century? Try Paul David Tripp.)

Bible Study
Talk about a smorgasbord! There are so many approaches to Bible study, it’s often hard to know where to start. Why not ask your child what appeals to them? A historical biblical figure? A book of the Bible? A theme? A word study? Use this list to help if they aren’t sure:

  • Basic theology. Studying basic theology can be helpful and grounding for students. An introduction to the orthodox Christian tenets is key to recognizing heresy (anything that denies the teaching of Jesus). (Try Wayne Grudem and Norman Geisler.)
  • Attributes of God. Studying the attributes of God can develop your child’s understanding of God, fortifying their trust in Him. Knowing our never-changing God provides a compass in an ever-changing culture. (Try A.W. Tozer, R.C. Sproul, and J.I. Packer. We also recommend a book by Lydia White for parents and kids ages 4-11.
  • Fruit of the Spirit. Studying the fruits of the Spirit help develop spiritual maturity in college (and it’s a way to personally measure their growth).
  • Specific passages. While still at home, have your child study the passage your pastor preaches from on Sunday morning. Then, when they join a campus ministry and a local church while at college, they can continue the habit.
  • Wisdom literature. A chapter a day from Proverbs is easy to digest and gives great insight into both wisdom and warnings. (Help your child keep in mind that these pithy sayings are principles, not promises.)
  • Apologetics (we’re kinda partial to this one!). The Apologetics Study Bible has great articles on pertinent faith questions that will come up in college, a worldview chart explaining what other religions believe, and sections called “twisted scripture” about passages commonly misused or misinterpreted. It’s a great reference tool and study Bible. You can sign up for 52 weeks of free apologetics content and use that to spur study. Online videos also offer tough questions. If your church offers a RightNow subscription, use it!
  • The ESV Study Bible continues to get high marks both for the translation and the study materials. Download the free app for robust resources and reading plans.
  • Consider teaching your child the inductive Bible study method. This discipline will set them on a lifelong trajectory of rich study that they can do on their own without Bible study books.

Go Digital
Since our students are such digital natives, engage them through their thumbs and earbuds. Bible study and prayer apps might be the best way to get them connected, literally.

  • YouVersion has access to multiple translations of the Bible at your fingertips. Plus, Bible reading plans can be chosen both by topic as well as by length of time to complete the study. Includes video, audio, and much more. Be discerning about the content.
  • Blue Letter Bible has a Bible reading plan in addition to devotionals, dictionaries, lexicons, Bible studies, maps, charts, free online books, and more. Those who want to can really “nerd” out here as they deepen their study time and tools.
  • Bible Gateway has a verse of the day upload, a Bible reading plan with a daily reminder alarm, and an audio version of Bible readings, which could be nice to listen to on the way to class or while they are working out.
  • The Bible Recap app is an excellent way to read through the Bible in a year with succinct commentary.

Don’t forget: While there are advantages to digital–based content, reading a printed Bible has even more benefits. If your child doesn’t have a Bible of their own, consider getting them one before they leave for college.

Prayer
There’s no better way to learn how to pray than by actually praying. Use an acrostic like ACTS (Adoration/praise, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication) – it’s instructive, biblical, and focused. The ACTS method can help your children develop their relationship and trust in God. Teach your child as they read the Bible to highlight these four aspects of prayer.

Another thing you can try is praying God’s Word — in context, of course. While there are tremendous books and studies on prayer, learning to use your Bible to pray will be rich and requires no other material.

There are apps for prayer as well. YouVersion includes a prayer module with guided prayer prompts, a way to create your own prayer list and track answers, and a tool to set a daily reminder to pray.

Personally, having a prayer partner in college with whom I studied a book on prayer (and who held me accountable to pray daily) changed the trajectory of my prayer life. (We’ll talk more about how to pray for your kids in college in a later blog in this series!) While corporate prayer is extremely important (prayer groups are popping up on college campuses everywhere), personal prayer time lays the foundation.

Model prayer for your kids. We recommend our book, Honest Prayers for Mama Bears, to help you. It’s topical, so it’s easy to find a prayer that fits your particular situation. To help you get started, we’ve created these images that you can download and print. There are two for boys and two for girls. Pick your favorite, print it out, and then put it up to remind you to pray for your kids.

Time
Encourage your child to find the time that is best for them, so they will stick with a plan. Chances are that if they have an 8 a.m. chem lab, they are not going to get up and have quiet time. But if they have a break on campus in the early afternoon, maybe they can find a nice spot to spend 15-20 minutes in the Word and prayer. Be willing to share your own struggles and successes with maintaining a consistent personal study and prayer time.

A Faith They Can Own 

So, before that last duffle bag is packed, consider giving your child a special new study Bible, pocket Bible, or leather-bound devotional book with a personal inscription in it. Wrap it up with a new set of earbuds with a note to “plug in daily” to God’s Word. Challenge them to weave Scripture reading and prayer readings into their playlist. And don’t forget the value of Scripture memorization, which requires active mental engagement. (Mama Bear Hillary recommends the BibleMemory app) You can also check out this classic tool from Navigators.

A nourishing daily diet of God’s Word and prayer will go a long way to help our college students resist the temptation to ingest the spiritual junk food offered by some of their peers and professors.

Recommended Resources:

Jesus, You and the Essentials of Christianity by Frank Turek (INSTRUCTOR Study Guide), (STUDENT Study Guide), and (DVD)    

How to Interpret Your Bible by Dr. Frank Turek DVD Complete Series, INSTRUCTOR Study Guide, and STUDENT Study Guide

Intellectual Predators: How Professors Prey on Christian Students (DVD) (mp3) (mp4 Download) 

Can All Religions Be True? mp3 by Frank Turek

 

Julie Loos combined her passion for prayer and apologetics in her contributions to three Mama Bear Apologetics books. Her apologetics training came from campus ministry and certificates from Biola University and the Crossexamined Instructors Academy. Julie has been teaching, writing, and speaking on prayer for Moms in Prayer International for more than 23 years. She lives in Missouri with her husband, Todd, has two married sons, two grandchildren, and enjoys working out, Bible study, chocolate, coffee, and deep conversations.

Originally posted at: https://bit.ly/3JoRnic

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A Twofold Calling: Why God Raised Up the Church for the Gospel and the Jewish People

Throughout the history of Christianity, God has raised up His people in specific places and times for unique purposes. The early church carried the gospel from Jerusalem across the Roman Empire. The Reformation revived biblical faith and reshaped the Western world. In our time, many Christian leaders believe that God has entrusted a distinctive mission to the American church — a mission with two inseparable parts: to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations and to stand with the Jewish people, including the modern State of Israel.

These two callings are not separate tracks. They emerge from the same biblical story, reflect the same divine purposes, and together represent one of the most important responsibilities of the church in our generation.

Preach the Gospel — and Fuel a Global Missions Movement        

The first and most fundamental calling of the church is as old as Christianity itself: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:19). The Great Commission is not a suggestion for particularly zealous Christians — it is the church’s central identity and purpose. And for the past two centuries, the American church has played a uniquely significant role in carrying out that mission.

Beginning in the early 19th century, especially during the Second Great Awakening, revival movements in the United States helped spark a powerful missionary effort that would go on to shape global Christianity. Out of this wave of spiritual energy came the Student Volunteer Movement, founded in 1886, which mobilized more than 20,000 young Americans for overseas missions before World War I. In the years that followed, organizations such as the International Mission Board, Wycliffe Bible Translators, and Youth With A Mission (YWAM) played a key role in advancing the gospel by translating Scripture, planting churches, and training local leaders around the world. At the same time, American Christians poured significant resources into building seminaries, hospitals, schools, and humanitarian projects, all of which opened new doors for ministry and helped expand the global reach of the gospel (Noll, 2002)[1].

Of course, this work has never been exclusively American. British, German, Australian, Korean, Brazilian, and African churches have all been deeply involved in global missions. But the American church, uniquely resourced with wealth, freedom, technology, and global influence, has often functioned as a catalyst, multiplying the reach of others and pioneering new frontiers. The missiologist Christopher Wright notes that mission is not an activity the church does but the very identity of God’s people, participating in God’s mission to redeem all nations (Wright, 2006)[2]. This identity must remain central as the global landscape changes. Billions still live without access to the gospel, and God’s call to the American church remains: to send, support, and sustain a movement that reaches every tribe and tongue.

Stand with the Jewish People — Beyond Prophecy Charts

The second calling, standing with the Jewish people, is more controversial but no less biblical. It is not merely a matter of eschatology or politics. It flows from God’s covenant promises, from the church’s spiritual heritage, and from a moral responsibility rooted in history.

God’s relationship with Israel did not end with the coming of Christ. His promise to Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you…” (Genesis 12:3), was never revoked. Paul makes this point clearly in Romans 11, using the image of a cultivated olive tree to describe the relationship between Israel and the Church. Gentile believers are like wild branches grafted into Israel, drawing life from its covenant blessings (Romans 11:17–18). The root itself remains essential, and “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). Moreover, Paul envisions a mysterious future in which the salvation of the Gentiles will provoke Israel to jealousy, ultimately leading to its redemption, and that redemption, he writes, will mean “life from the dead” for the world (Romans 11:15).

This vision offers a deeper reason to stand with the Jewish people than geopolitical alliances or prophetic speculation. At its heart, this is about covenant faithfulness and gratitude. From Israel came the Scriptures, the prophets, the covenants, and ultimately the Messiah Himself (Romans 9:4–5). Christianity isn’t a replacement for Israel — it’s the continuation and fulfillment of God’s promises through Israel. Supporting the Jewish people today, including affirming their right to security and self-determination in their ancestral homeland, is a way of honoring God’s faithfulness and participating in His unfolding plan (McDermott, 2017)[3].

The Moral Imperative: Confronting the Oldest Hatred      

Even apart from theology, there is a profound historical and ethical reason for Christians to stand with the Jewish people: antisemitism. Often called “the world’s oldest hatred,” antisemitism has plagued humanity for millennia, from ancient slanders to medieval blood libels, from forced conversions to expulsions, and culminating in the Holocaust. Tragically, much of this hatred was fueled or tolerated by Christians, particularly in the Church in Europe and the Middle East. The Church fathers also wrote polemics against Jews, medieval councils imposed discriminatory laws, and even Martin Luther penned vitriolic works that were later exploited by the Nazis (Noll, 2002)[4].

Yet the story also includes courage and repentance. Believers such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Corrie ten Boom, and André Trocmé risked their lives to resist antisemitism and protect Jewish lives. Their example demonstrates what faithful Christian witness looks like amid hatred and violence. Today, antisemitism is resurging in new forms like conspiracy theories, Holocaust denial, and the delegitimization of Israel itself. The Church needs to, once again stand in the gap. Confronting antisemitism isn’t about politics — it’s about living out Christian love and obedience to Jesus’ command to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31).

Historical Responsibility and Theological Gratitude

Christianity is inseparable from its Jewish roots. Every page of Scripture, every covenant, and every prophecy is part of Israel’s story. Jesus Himself was a Jew who observed Jewish festivals and fulfilled Jewish prophecy. As N.T. Wright argues, the church does not replace Israel but participates in its vocation, to bear witness to God’s faithfulness and salvation before the nations (Wright, 2013)[5].

That shared story carries responsibility. After centuries of persecution, I believe Christians have a moral responsibility to stand up for the dignity and safety of the Jewish people. One important way we can live out that responsibility is by supporting their right to self-determination, including the existence and security of the State of Israel. Doing so doesn’t mean we have to agree with every policy or turn a blind eye to the suffering of Palestinians, but it does mean recognizing a deep obligation shaped by history and conscience. Justice, as the prophet Micah reminds us, requires that we “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly” (Micah 6:8). Christians can oppose antisemitism and advocate for Palestinian dignity simultaneously. Compassion is not a zero-sum game.

“Compassion is not a zero-sum game.”

Engaging Objections: Supersessionism and Political Zionism                     

Some Christians reject this emphasis on Israel, arguing that the church has replaced Israel in God’s plan — a view known as supersessionism. But Paul directly refutes this in Romans 11:1 “Has God rejected his people? By no means!” The inclusion of the Gentiles does not mean the exclusion of Israel; God’s promises are enduring. Theologian Gerald McDermott argues that the church’s historic neglect of Israel stems from theological misunderstandings that flatten the biblical story and ignore its Jewish context (McDermott, 2017).

Others fear that Christian support for Israel leads to uncritical nationalism or partisan politics. This is a legitimate concern, and precisely why Christian support must be rooted in biblical theology and wisdom, not worldly ideologies. Supporting Israel does not mean endorsing every action of its government. It means affirming the Jewish people’s right to exist, opposing antisemitism, and advocating for policies that uphold human dignity on all sides.

Mission and Israel: Two Callings, One Story

It is important to see that these two callings, mission and solidarity with Israel, are not separate. They are deeply intertwined in God’s redemptive plan. Paul’s vision in Romans 11 suggests that Gentile evangelism will one day stir the Jewish people toward faith, and their redemption will bring even greater blessing to the world. In this way, mission and Israel’s restoration are part of the same divine trajectory, one that points to the final renewal of all creation.

Moreover, antisemitism itself is a barrier to the gospel. How can the church credibly proclaim the love of God if it remains indifferent to hatred against the people through whom God brought salvation into the world? Standing with the Jewish people is therefore not a distraction from the church’s mission but an essential part of it.

Strategic Pathways for the American Church          

The American church has been uniquely positioned by God, with resources, freedoms, and global influence, to play a leading role in this twofold calling. But how can we move from ideas to action? Here are five strategic ways churches and believers can live out this mission:

  1. Recommit to Global Mission. Renew investment in missionary sending, cross-cultural training, and gospel-centered partnerships. Support indigenous leaders and prioritize unreached peoples.
  2. Confront Antisemitism Locally. Educate congregations about antisemitism’s history and current expressions. Partner with Jewish organizations to stand against hatred in your community.
  3. Build Bridges with Jewish Communities. Foster relationships based on respect and trust. Participate in dialogues, attend cultural events, and demonstrate solidarity.
  4. Advocate for Justice and Peace. Support Israel’s right to exist while calling for policies that promote peace, security, and dignity for both Jews and Palestinians.
  5. Teach the Church’s Jewish Roots. Recover the Old Testament story, celebrate the Jewishness of Jesus, and help Christians understand how they are grafted into God’s covenant story.

Conclusion: A Church for This Moment       

When we step back and see the bigger picture, the twofold calling of the church becomes clear. God has entrusted His people, and especially the American church, with immense opportunity and responsibility. We are called to proclaim the gospel with boldness and compassion, fueling a global missions movement that reaches every nation. And we are called to stand with the Jewish people, opposing antisemitism, honoring God’s covenant, and seeking justice and peace in the land where God’s promises began.

These are not two competing agendas; they are two sides of one mission — the mission of God to bless all nations through the family of Abraham and to reconcile the world through His Son, Jesus Christ. If the American church embraces this calling with faith, humility, and courage, it will not only shape the course of history but also bear powerful witness to the unchanging faithfulness of God.

References:

[1] Noll, M. (2002). A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

[2] Wright, C. J. H. (2006). The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic.

[3] McDermott, G. (2017). Israel Matters: Why Christians Must Think Differently About the People and the Land. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press.

[4] Noll, M. (2002). A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

[5] Wright, N. T. (2013). Paul and the Faithfulness of God. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.

Recommended Resources:

Correct not Politically Correct: About Same-Sex Marriage and Transgenderism by Frank Turek (Book, MP4, )

Was Jesus Intolerant? (DVD) and (Mp4 Download) by Dr. Frank Turek 

Legislating Morality: Is it Wise? Is it Legal? Is it Possible? by Frank Turek (Book, DVD, Mp3, Mp4, PowerPoint download, PowerPoint CD)

Jesus, You and the Essentials of Christianity by Frank Turek (INSTRUCTOR Study Guide), (STUDENT Study Guide), and (DVD)      

 

Tim Orr serves full-time with the Crescent Project as the Assistant Director of the Internship Program and Area Coordinator, where he is also deeply involved in outreach across the UK. A scholar of Islam, Evangelical minister, conference speaker, and interfaith consultant, Tim brings over 30 years of experience in cross-cultural ministry. He holds six academic degrees, including a Doctor of Ministry from Liberty University and a Master’s in Islamic Studies from the Islamic College in London. In September, he will begin a PhD in Religious Studies at Hartford International University.

Tim has served as a research associate with the Congregations and Polarization Project at the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at Indiana University Indianapolis, and for two years, he was also a research assistant on the COVID-19 study led by Hartford International University. His research interests include Islamic antisemitism, American Evangelicalism, Shia Islam, and gospel-centered ministry to Muslims.

He has spoken at leading universities and mosques throughout the UK, including Oxford University, Imperial College London, and the University of Tehran. His work has been published in peer-reviewed Islamic academic journals, and he is the author of four books. His fifth book, The Apostle Paul: A Model for Engaging Islam, is forthcoming.

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