Interesting article from the New York Times. WORLD Magazine has been virtual almost from the beginning--editors are spread out all over the country.
What if No One Went to the Office? Inc. Magazine Finds Out
By JOSEPH PLAMBECK
“I thought it would involve so much change that it wouldn’t be feasible,” Mr. Chafkin said.
Then Jane Berentson, Inc.’s editor, gave the go-ahead. And in February, the staff of about 30 — editors, reporters and producers — created the April issue outside of the business magazine’s office in Downtown Manhattan. The issue goes on sale on April 6.
The production went off without a major hitch, with the staff members using nothing more than readily available technology, including Skype and instant messaging. And Ms. Berentson described Mr. Chafkin’s cover piece, “The Office Is Dead. Long Live the Office,” which is infused with first-person details, as richer and more unusual than it would have been without the experiment.
“I think about the magazine industry and how we’re going to use all of this new technology, such as the iPad, but there’s innovation in this very basic way as well,” Ms. Berentson said. “Why are we in the office in the first place?”
Away from the office, some staff members struggled to adjust, Mr. Chafkin said, as minor technical hiccups arose and parents working at home had to find ways to separate their work from their children. But in the end, most employees discovered that they could and should work out of the office more often — though they did not want to eliminate the office entirely.
Mr. Chafkin, 27, who has been at the magazine since 2005, found himself working more hours than usual in February and pining for the company of his colleagues.
“I was way more productive, but way less happy,” he said. “I think one of the reasons people get into magazines is that it’s collaborative.”
The collaboration that did happen needed to be arranged in advance, like setting a time for a conference call, rather than relying on an encounter in a hallway or chatting at a desk. Only once during the month did the entire staff gather, at Ms. Berentson’s home on the Upper West Side.
When everyone got together, she said, it was “exactly like seeing old friends.”
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Why Read Fiction?
Literary Witness
How Fiction Can Point to Christ
By Chuck Colson|Christian Post Guest Columnist
A woman who is a neighbor of one of my colleagues home schools her three kids. She does a great job-except for one thing: She won’t let them read novels. At worst, they might be trashy; at best, she says, they’re a waste of time.
This faithful Christian mom could not be more mistaken. But sadly, she has a lot of company-including great ministers of the faith. For instance, in the 19th century, American evangelist Charles Finney declared, “I cannot believe that a person who has ever known the love of God can relish a secular novel.” He explicitly denounced Byron, Walter Scott, and even Shakespeare.
Historically, American evangelicals have often been suspicious of secular literature. A few years ago-to give us the tools we need to counter that attitude-Os Guinness and Louise Cowan published a book entitled Invitation to the Classics. It helps Christians to understand not just what classic books to read, but how they can lead us to a richer understanding of the Gospel.
It’s hard to believe that Finney would have disdain for Shakespeare. One wonders what he would have made of Dostoevsky, who often wove Christian themes into his otherwise “secular” novels. Interestingly the work of both writers led Louise Cowan back to Christian faith after she had lost it.
Cowan had read various theological works, and even the Bible itself, but had failed to find faith. Then she read Hamlet, and other Shakespearian plays, and was struck by their frequent Christian themes.
Dostoevsky’s novel The Brothers Karamazov-my personal favorite-led Cowan to explore Christianity further, eventually resulting in her conversion. “Not until a literary work of art awakened my imaginative faculties,” she writes, “could the possibility of a larger context than reason alone engage my mind...I had to be transformed in the way that literature transforms-by story, image, symbol-before I could see the simple truths of the gospel.”
When it comes to learning moral lessons, I’ve often been much more impressed by profound works of fiction than by abstract theological discourses. Scenes from some of the greatest stories ever told have etched moral truths deeply into my soul. Their characters and lessons are so vivid I can’t forget them, and they’re a continuing source of inspiration in my Christian walk.
Biblical figures knew all about the power of a good story. Remember when the Old Testament prophet, Nathan, confronted King David about his affair with Bathsheba? Nathan didn’t offer David a dry lecture on the sin of adultery. Instead, Nathan spun a story about a rich man who took the only lamb belonging to a poor man. In order to get past David’s defenses, Nathan told an allegorical story. You and I can use exactly that same strategy.
Christians ought to become reacquainted with classic literature. We can allow its rich, evocative words to speak to our souls. And then we can pass on these stories as a comfort and witness to unsaved friends.
This is the message we ought to give Christian neighbors who think novels are a waste of time. Great works of fiction can whet our appetite, not only for good books, but also for the Good Book itself.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Sarah's the First!
All right . . . Sarah K. has e-mailed me the following ... "I just received a letter from the editor of Horizon Student magazine, saying they wanted to print my article (one on my mission trip to Zambia.) I just wanted to let you know about that."
Hopefully this is the first of many. Congratulations Sarah!
Everyone -- remember that Spring Break is a time when you might have excellent access to a good interview, a good personality profile subject, or an article that you can't easily source while here on campus.
See you all next Monday night!
Hopefully this is the first of many. Congratulations Sarah!
Everyone -- remember that Spring Break is a time when you might have excellent access to a good interview, a good personality profile subject, or an article that you can't easily source while here on campus.
See you all next Monday night!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Youth Magazine Looking for Articles
From CENational:
Vision For Youth is Looking for Articles for Next Magazine
3/3/2010
Vision For Youth has been a tremendous help to CE National over the last several years. Mel Walker, President, and Tim Ahlgrim, National Director, share CE National's passion for developing leadership. We've benefited from the teaching of Mel and Tim at Momentum Youth Conference. Now it's our turn to help them.
Mel writes:
"Vision For Youth is looking for articles from youth workers and other church leaders for the next issue of the Vision For Youth Magazine. The theme for the next issue is "developing student leaders." We are looking for specific ways to practically accomplish leadership development in youth ministry.
"Here are some key questions to get your juices-flowing:
•How can youth workers involve maturing senior highers in active leadership?
•How can we cultivate spiritual leadership in students?
•Are leaders "born" or are leaders "trained"?
•How to involve students in overall church leadership?
•What do you do to train spiritual leaders?
•How can you train current junior highers to be future leaders in your youth group?
•How are you training students to be future leaders in the church?
"We're look for practical and relevant articles aimed for church youth workers; with a word count of around 1,000 to 1,200 words. Please send the articles to me (in a Microsoft Word document) by March 15th! So, please tackle one of the specific aspects of developing student leaders and send us some articles. Don’t worry about the editing – we're just looking for your thoughts and ideas!
"Thanks for your help. We really appreciate your ministry of writing for other youth workers."
PS: If you are a youth leader and would like to receive a free subscription to "Vision For Youth Magazine" email me at mel@visionforyouth.com.
Vision For Youth is Looking for Articles for Next Magazine
3/3/2010
Vision For Youth has been a tremendous help to CE National over the last several years. Mel Walker, President, and Tim Ahlgrim, National Director, share CE National's passion for developing leadership. We've benefited from the teaching of Mel and Tim at Momentum Youth Conference. Now it's our turn to help them.
Mel writes:
"Vision For Youth is looking for articles from youth workers and other church leaders for the next issue of the Vision For Youth Magazine. The theme for the next issue is "developing student leaders." We are looking for specific ways to practically accomplish leadership development in youth ministry.
"Here are some key questions to get your juices-flowing:
•How can youth workers involve maturing senior highers in active leadership?
•How can we cultivate spiritual leadership in students?
•Are leaders "born" or are leaders "trained"?
•How to involve students in overall church leadership?
•What do you do to train spiritual leaders?
•How can you train current junior highers to be future leaders in your youth group?
•How are you training students to be future leaders in the church?
"We're look for practical and relevant articles aimed for church youth workers; with a word count of around 1,000 to 1,200 words. Please send the articles to me (in a Microsoft Word document) by March 15th! So, please tackle one of the specific aspects of developing student leaders and send us some articles. Don’t worry about the editing – we're just looking for your thoughts and ideas!
"Thanks for your help. We really appreciate your ministry of writing for other youth workers."
PS: If you are a youth leader and would like to receive a free subscription to "Vision For Youth Magazine" email me at mel@visionforyouth.com.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
How Would You Respond to Live-Blogging a Trial?
From Journalism 2.0:
Live-blogging a big trial: Journalism’s equivalent of long-haul trucking?
By Jake Batsell
When a high-profile trial hits town, today’s Web readers expect real-time coverage. But what does that mean for the courts reporter who also has to absorb, interpret and report the fine points of the case?
Last week in my Digital Journalism class, I led a Columbia University case study examining the Bakersfield Californian’s Web coverage of a quintuple-murder trial in 2007. The young reporter was under pressure from her editors to blog from the courtroom as often as every 10 minutes. Errors sneaked into the copy, and the blog updates mostly amounted to a blow-by-blow transcript.
In their written reactions to the case, many of my students were alarmed that the Californian allowed the reporter to directly publish her blog posts with no editing. And the students were skeptical that any reporter could file so many real-time updates without hurting the quality of the main stories for the newspaper and Web.
“As a journalist, and frequent news reader, I would rather have accurate and thoughtful information every few hours, rather than irrelevant, thoughtless information every ten minutes,” one student wrote.
Another student observed: “It seems brash to require such short publication in such an important case. No matter how good a journalist [the reporter] is, mistakes will always be made especially without the oversight of an editor.”
“Balancing the blog and daily posts to the blog as well as the news column on the trial is a lot to focus on all at once,” another student added.
So, is it possible for one human being to accurately cover a big trial in real time on the Web, while simultaneously crafting a front-page story?
“It is possible,” said Jason Trahan, federal courts reporter for The Dallas Morning News, who on Friday wrapped up his award-winning print and Web coverage of a Dallas City Hall corruption trial. (Full disclosure: the writer is a former staff writer and video journalist at the Dallas Morning News.)
Trahan was a fixture on page 1A last summer during three months of arguments, evidence and testimony. But he also continuously filed Web dispatches, either by live blogging or by posting individual updates every hour or so, a form Trahan calls “live blogging lite.”
He describes the experience as invigorating but mentally exhausting.
“It takes a toll,” Trahan said. “It’s like driving 1,000 miles without getting a break.”
His success, though, is reflected in the numbers: As many as 3,000 people tuned in for the daily live-blog sessions, and his individual posts drew hundreds of reader comments.
Trahan used his laptop and iPhone to cover the trial via a closed-circuit feed in an overflow room at the courthouse. The Dallas Bar Association specifically praised his trial blog coverage when handing him an award for legal reporting, and he also was named the paper’s 2009 Beat Reporter of the Year.
He said blogging throughout the day forced him to be more mentally focused during testimony, which then allowed him to “mine” from his blog entries at the end of the day while writing his newspaper stories.
“It is more work, but you are engaged way more in the process than if you were just sitting there with a notebook and a pen and filing one finished product at the end of the day,” he said. “It’s almost like working for your own miniature wire service.”
And Trahan adds, “In this day and age, when they’re cutting newsroom staff rather than adding to it, it’s just a matter of reality.”
His advice for rookie trial bloggers: Don’t try to include everything. You’ll drive yourself crazy.
“You have to have the confidence to say, ‘Enough is enough. I’m leaving that out,’ ” he said.
Trahan, who is married with four children, said he enjoyed developing his voice as a beat blogger during the city hall trial. But yes, he’s relieved that it’s over.
Jake Batsell is an assistant professor in journalism at Southern Methodist University and faculty adviser to the Daily Mustang.
Live-blogging a big trial: Journalism’s equivalent of long-haul trucking?
By Jake Batsell
When a high-profile trial hits town, today’s Web readers expect real-time coverage. But what does that mean for the courts reporter who also has to absorb, interpret and report the fine points of the case?
Last week in my Digital Journalism class, I led a Columbia University case study examining the Bakersfield Californian’s Web coverage of a quintuple-murder trial in 2007. The young reporter was under pressure from her editors to blog from the courtroom as often as every 10 minutes. Errors sneaked into the copy, and the blog updates mostly amounted to a blow-by-blow transcript.
In their written reactions to the case, many of my students were alarmed that the Californian allowed the reporter to directly publish her blog posts with no editing. And the students were skeptical that any reporter could file so many real-time updates without hurting the quality of the main stories for the newspaper and Web.
“As a journalist, and frequent news reader, I would rather have accurate and thoughtful information every few hours, rather than irrelevant, thoughtless information every ten minutes,” one student wrote.
Another student observed: “It seems brash to require such short publication in such an important case. No matter how good a journalist [the reporter] is, mistakes will always be made especially without the oversight of an editor.”
“Balancing the blog and daily posts to the blog as well as the news column on the trial is a lot to focus on all at once,” another student added.
So, is it possible for one human being to accurately cover a big trial in real time on the Web, while simultaneously crafting a front-page story?
“It is possible,” said Jason Trahan, federal courts reporter for The Dallas Morning News, who on Friday wrapped up his award-winning print and Web coverage of a Dallas City Hall corruption trial. (Full disclosure: the writer is a former staff writer and video journalist at the Dallas Morning News.)
Trahan was a fixture on page 1A last summer during three months of arguments, evidence and testimony. But he also continuously filed Web dispatches, either by live blogging or by posting individual updates every hour or so, a form Trahan calls “live blogging lite.”
He describes the experience as invigorating but mentally exhausting.
“It takes a toll,” Trahan said. “It’s like driving 1,000 miles without getting a break.”
His success, though, is reflected in the numbers: As many as 3,000 people tuned in for the daily live-blog sessions, and his individual posts drew hundreds of reader comments.
Trahan used his laptop and iPhone to cover the trial via a closed-circuit feed in an overflow room at the courthouse. The Dallas Bar Association specifically praised his trial blog coverage when handing him an award for legal reporting, and he also was named the paper’s 2009 Beat Reporter of the Year.
He said blogging throughout the day forced him to be more mentally focused during testimony, which then allowed him to “mine” from his blog entries at the end of the day while writing his newspaper stories.
“It is more work, but you are engaged way more in the process than if you were just sitting there with a notebook and a pen and filing one finished product at the end of the day,” he said. “It’s almost like working for your own miniature wire service.”
And Trahan adds, “In this day and age, when they’re cutting newsroom staff rather than adding to it, it’s just a matter of reality.”
His advice for rookie trial bloggers: Don’t try to include everything. You’ll drive yourself crazy.
“You have to have the confidence to say, ‘Enough is enough. I’m leaving that out,’ ” he said.
Trahan, who is married with four children, said he enjoyed developing his voice as a beat blogger during the city hall trial. But yes, he’s relieved that it’s over.
Jake Batsell is an assistant professor in journalism at Southern Methodist University and faculty adviser to the Daily Mustang.
Online News More Popular Than Newspapers or Radio
Survey: More Americans get news from Internet than newspapers or radio
By Doug Gross, CNN
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Six out of 10 Americans get news from the Internet, survey says
Online news is now more popular than newspapers or radio
(CNN) -- More Americans get their news from the Internet than from newspapers or radio, and three-fourths say they hear of news via e-mail or updates on social media sites, according to a new report.
Sixty-one percent of Americans said they get at least some of their news online, according to a survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
That's compared with 54 percent who said they listen to a radio news program and 50 percent who said they read a national or local print newspaper.
Almost all respondents, 92 percent, said they get their news from more than one platform.
"In the digital era, news has become omnipresent. Americans access it in multiple formats on multiple platforms on myriad devices," reads the report, based on a survey conducted in December and January. "The days of loyalty to a particular news organization on a particular piece of technology in a particular form are gone."
Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have made news a more participatory experience than ever before, the survey suggests.
People share links to news stories by e-mail, post articles on their Facebook and other networking feeds and tweet them on Twitter -- often following up by discussing the articles on message boards and other sites.
Seventy-five percent of respondents said they get news forwarded through e-mail or posts on social networking sites, while 37 percent of online users said they've reported news, commented on a story or shared it on sites like Facebook and Twitter, the survey said.
"To a great extent, people's experience of news, especially on the Internet, is becoming a shared social experience ... ," reads the report. "[T]he advent of social media like social networking sites and blogs has helped the news become a social experience in fresh ways for consumers."
Most people said they use between two and five online news sources, and 65 percent said they don't have a single favorite Web site for news.
When looking for news online, people said they're most often seeking information about a common topic: the weather.
Eighty-one percent said they search for weather information online, followed by national news at 73 percent. Just over half -- 52 percent -- said they look for sports news, while 47 percent said they look for entertainment or celebrity news.
Online news users are generally younger than the average population, according to Pew. About two-thirds of the study's online news users were younger than 50, and nearly 30 percent were younger than 30.
Racially, that group is more white and Hispanic than the national average, while half of non-Hispanic black respondents said they get all of their news from offline sources.
Only television news still outpaces the Internet, with 78 percent of respondents saying they watch local news and 73 percent saying they view a national network or cable news channel like CNN, Fox News or MSNBC.
The report was based on a daily tracking survey of 2,259 adults age 18 or older. The margin of error for all respondents is plus or minus 2.3 percentage points -- 2.7 percentage points for Internet users. A combination of land line and cellular numbers was used in the survey.
By Doug Gross, CNN
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Six out of 10 Americans get news from the Internet, survey says
Online news is now more popular than newspapers or radio
(CNN) -- More Americans get their news from the Internet than from newspapers or radio, and three-fourths say they hear of news via e-mail or updates on social media sites, according to a new report.
Sixty-one percent of Americans said they get at least some of their news online, according to a survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
That's compared with 54 percent who said they listen to a radio news program and 50 percent who said they read a national or local print newspaper.
Almost all respondents, 92 percent, said they get their news from more than one platform.
"In the digital era, news has become omnipresent. Americans access it in multiple formats on multiple platforms on myriad devices," reads the report, based on a survey conducted in December and January. "The days of loyalty to a particular news organization on a particular piece of technology in a particular form are gone."
Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have made news a more participatory experience than ever before, the survey suggests.
People share links to news stories by e-mail, post articles on their Facebook and other networking feeds and tweet them on Twitter -- often following up by discussing the articles on message boards and other sites.
Seventy-five percent of respondents said they get news forwarded through e-mail or posts on social networking sites, while 37 percent of online users said they've reported news, commented on a story or shared it on sites like Facebook and Twitter, the survey said.
"To a great extent, people's experience of news, especially on the Internet, is becoming a shared social experience ... ," reads the report. "[T]he advent of social media like social networking sites and blogs has helped the news become a social experience in fresh ways for consumers."
Most people said they use between two and five online news sources, and 65 percent said they don't have a single favorite Web site for news.
When looking for news online, people said they're most often seeking information about a common topic: the weather.
Eighty-one percent said they search for weather information online, followed by national news at 73 percent. Just over half -- 52 percent -- said they look for sports news, while 47 percent said they look for entertainment or celebrity news.
Online news users are generally younger than the average population, according to Pew. About two-thirds of the study's online news users were younger than 50, and nearly 30 percent were younger than 30.
Racially, that group is more white and Hispanic than the national average, while half of non-Hispanic black respondents said they get all of their news from offline sources.
Only television news still outpaces the Internet, with 78 percent of respondents saying they watch local news and 73 percent saying they view a national network or cable news channel like CNN, Fox News or MSNBC.
The report was based on a daily tracking survey of 2,259 adults age 18 or older. The margin of error for all respondents is plus or minus 2.3 percentage points -- 2.7 percentage points for Internet users. A combination of land line and cellular numbers was used in the survey.
Monday, March 1, 2010
NRB First Report
First report from NRB convention, now in progress, from ChristianPost.com:
Christian Communicators Inspired to Engage, Transcend Secular Culture
By Kenneth Chan|Christian Post Correspondent
NASHVILLE – Though critics of the long opposed, recently passed Matthew Shepard Act say the legislation could be used to prosecute broadcasters and pastors who preach homosexuality as sin, the world’s largest network of Christian communicators was impelled Saturday to stand firm, speak with a “holy boldness,” and proclaim with great confidence the message they’ve been called to deliver.
“It will be a matter of great concern if our government can successfully force us to stop proclaiming the full counsel of God,” acknowledged Dr. Frank Wright, president and CEO of National Religious Broadcasters, at the opening session of the 67th NRB Convention & Exposition in Nashville.
“But when we put the shackles on our own arms, that is a matter of great sadness. That is a matter of great unbelief. Because if we don’t believe in the power of the gospel, what other power do we have available to us, especially those of us who have been called to proclaim it?” he added.
In front of the thousands gathered for the four-day gathering, Wright pointed to a number of examples in which prominent Christians chose not to respond to questions about their faith with the full message of the gospel but rather self-censored versions of it.
He shared about a well-known Christian broadcaster who appeared on CNN’s Larry King Live and was asked “Is Jesus the only way to Heaven?”
“Well, he’s the only way for me,” Wright recalled the unnamed broadcaster as saying.
In another example, Wright referred to a well-known pastor who was asked in an interview about the verse in which Jesus proclaimed himself to be “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” and how “no one comes to the Father except by me (Christ).”
“And this pastor, this well known pastor – if I named him, you would know the name immediately – said, ‘I don’t think it’s particularly helpful to preach that verse in our day,’” Wright recalled.
“[I]nstead of being constrained by the forces of legislation or regulation or even legal opposition, we’re in a place where broadcasters, where the Church, might begin to censor itself,” added Wright later.
Following Wright, convention attendees heard from author and teacher Del Tackett, who warned against the consequences of relativism, which he described as the “sand” upon which lives disintegrate – a reference to Jesus’ parable of wise and foolish builders.
“We must engage in the battle of great wisdom and grace. Speaking the truth is not an act of judgment. Speaking the truth is an act of compassion,” said the on-air personality for Coral Ridge Ministries.
“My prayer is that … we’ll begin to be the light and salt we were made to be, that we will engage our culture with the grace and compassion God has shown to us, that we would do so united in love so that the world will know that the Father has sent the Son, not for our glory, but for His alone,” he added.
Regarding how to engage today’s society while not compromising Christian values, Dr. Jim Garlow, senior pastor of Skyline Wesleyan Church in La Mesa, Calif., provided NRB Convention attendees with a model from the Bible that he has been looking at in recent times.
The prominent evangelical preacher began the opening session's last message with a three-minute history lesson that started from 1607, when Bible-believing Christians were part of the establishment, and passed through seven stages before reaching to today – the first time in which the Church of Jesus Christ in North America can “legitimately” refer to itself as the persecuted Church.
Today, Garlow said, “we are citizens of Jerusalem but residents of Babylon.”
“Somebody moved the country. We didn’t go through a geographical change, but we are in exile in a nation called America,” he added.
So the problem today, according to the megachurch pastor, is that believers in America find themselves having to be prophetic to the same people they want to be evangelistic to.
“We have to say ‘No, stop it, that’s wrong, that will cause us all to self-destruct’ to the very same people who do not want to hear that and that we’re turning around and we want to have a relationship that they love us or trust us enough that we can share the gospel,” he said.
That said, Garlow presented attendees with a model on how to engage the society - the story of Daniel, as recorded in the Bible.
Garlow highlighted three steps that Daniel took that allowed him to engage the people, and even the king of Babylon, without compromising his identity.
Specifically, Garlow noted how Daniel learned the language of the Babylonian, learned the literature, and fasted.
For Christians today, that would entail knowing more than just “Christianese,” knowing the research that’s already out there in secular sources that backs up biblical truth, and doing what might be very uncomfortable – i.e. fasting and forming relationships with those who may seem far different from Christians in their beliefs an ideologies.
“They’re not nearly as hostile to us as I thought, but they do not understand us at all,” Garlow recalled being told by an evangelical who works at CBS when asked about what he’s learned in the secular news company.
“I challenge you to form relationships with those who you are most uncomfortable. Learn the language of the Babylonians. Learn the literature … that we can leverage from the world. And thirdly, saturate it in fast,” Garlow exhorted.
In concluding, Garlow reminded attendees that they are "spiritual warriors" in the midst of a war, and that they have all been “made for this moment.”
“If we don’t use carnal weapons but spiritual forces, this is a winnable war,” he concluded.
This year’s NRB Convention is being held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, which will also be the site of the world’s largest gathering of Christian media professionals for the next three years. NRB 2010 concludes Tuesday.
Christian Communicators Inspired to Engage, Transcend Secular Culture
By Kenneth Chan|Christian Post Correspondent
NASHVILLE – Though critics of the long opposed, recently passed Matthew Shepard Act say the legislation could be used to prosecute broadcasters and pastors who preach homosexuality as sin, the world’s largest network of Christian communicators was impelled Saturday to stand firm, speak with a “holy boldness,” and proclaim with great confidence the message they’ve been called to deliver.
“It will be a matter of great concern if our government can successfully force us to stop proclaiming the full counsel of God,” acknowledged Dr. Frank Wright, president and CEO of National Religious Broadcasters, at the opening session of the 67th NRB Convention & Exposition in Nashville.
“But when we put the shackles on our own arms, that is a matter of great sadness. That is a matter of great unbelief. Because if we don’t believe in the power of the gospel, what other power do we have available to us, especially those of us who have been called to proclaim it?” he added.
In front of the thousands gathered for the four-day gathering, Wright pointed to a number of examples in which prominent Christians chose not to respond to questions about their faith with the full message of the gospel but rather self-censored versions of it.
He shared about a well-known Christian broadcaster who appeared on CNN’s Larry King Live and was asked “Is Jesus the only way to Heaven?”
“Well, he’s the only way for me,” Wright recalled the unnamed broadcaster as saying.
In another example, Wright referred to a well-known pastor who was asked in an interview about the verse in which Jesus proclaimed himself to be “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” and how “no one comes to the Father except by me (Christ).”
“And this pastor, this well known pastor – if I named him, you would know the name immediately – said, ‘I don’t think it’s particularly helpful to preach that verse in our day,’” Wright recalled.
“[I]nstead of being constrained by the forces of legislation or regulation or even legal opposition, we’re in a place where broadcasters, where the Church, might begin to censor itself,” added Wright later.
Following Wright, convention attendees heard from author and teacher Del Tackett, who warned against the consequences of relativism, which he described as the “sand” upon which lives disintegrate – a reference to Jesus’ parable of wise and foolish builders.
“We must engage in the battle of great wisdom and grace. Speaking the truth is not an act of judgment. Speaking the truth is an act of compassion,” said the on-air personality for Coral Ridge Ministries.
“My prayer is that … we’ll begin to be the light and salt we were made to be, that we will engage our culture with the grace and compassion God has shown to us, that we would do so united in love so that the world will know that the Father has sent the Son, not for our glory, but for His alone,” he added.
Regarding how to engage today’s society while not compromising Christian values, Dr. Jim Garlow, senior pastor of Skyline Wesleyan Church in La Mesa, Calif., provided NRB Convention attendees with a model from the Bible that he has been looking at in recent times.
The prominent evangelical preacher began the opening session's last message with a three-minute history lesson that started from 1607, when Bible-believing Christians were part of the establishment, and passed through seven stages before reaching to today – the first time in which the Church of Jesus Christ in North America can “legitimately” refer to itself as the persecuted Church.
Today, Garlow said, “we are citizens of Jerusalem but residents of Babylon.”
“Somebody moved the country. We didn’t go through a geographical change, but we are in exile in a nation called America,” he added.
So the problem today, according to the megachurch pastor, is that believers in America find themselves having to be prophetic to the same people they want to be evangelistic to.
“We have to say ‘No, stop it, that’s wrong, that will cause us all to self-destruct’ to the very same people who do not want to hear that and that we’re turning around and we want to have a relationship that they love us or trust us enough that we can share the gospel,” he said.
That said, Garlow presented attendees with a model on how to engage the society - the story of Daniel, as recorded in the Bible.
Garlow highlighted three steps that Daniel took that allowed him to engage the people, and even the king of Babylon, without compromising his identity.
Specifically, Garlow noted how Daniel learned the language of the Babylonian, learned the literature, and fasted.
For Christians today, that would entail knowing more than just “Christianese,” knowing the research that’s already out there in secular sources that backs up biblical truth, and doing what might be very uncomfortable – i.e. fasting and forming relationships with those who may seem far different from Christians in their beliefs an ideologies.
“They’re not nearly as hostile to us as I thought, but they do not understand us at all,” Garlow recalled being told by an evangelical who works at CBS when asked about what he’s learned in the secular news company.
“I challenge you to form relationships with those who you are most uncomfortable. Learn the language of the Babylonians. Learn the literature … that we can leverage from the world. And thirdly, saturate it in fast,” Garlow exhorted.
In concluding, Garlow reminded attendees that they are "spiritual warriors" in the midst of a war, and that they have all been “made for this moment.”
“If we don’t use carnal weapons but spiritual forces, this is a winnable war,” he concluded.
This year’s NRB Convention is being held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, which will also be the site of the world’s largest gathering of Christian media professionals for the next three years. NRB 2010 concludes Tuesday.
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