BreakPoint: A Movement Has Begun

People across the country are getting it: If we’re going to change the culture, we need a movement. A movement has begun.  We just held a national simulcast on “Doing the Right Thing,” our six-part DVD series and corresponding radio specials, on restoring ethics and ethical behavior in American life. Against all good marketing advice, we held the event at 9:30 AM eastern time on a Saturday — competition with football, anyone? — and it lasted four hours! But more than 300 people joined us at Christian Fellowship Church in Virginia — where the event was hosted — and thousands more joined in via the web at more than 400 locations across the country! Dr. Robert George, John Stonestreet, Del Tackett, Mike Miller, and I constituted the panel, moderated by Eric Metaxas, author of the great biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. If what happened at Christian Fellowship Church is any indication of what happened in the rest of the country, the event was nothing less than amazing. The 300 or so folks gathered there were intently listening to the presentation, taking notes, absorbing the very lively discussions that took place in between each presentation. If you saw the simulcast, you know that it was not simply a repetition of the “Doing the Right Thing” DVDs. We did explain “Doing the Right Thing,” however, a good commentary for the series, and we discussed the importance of Christians today forming a movement to really penetrate culture, to teach biblical truth in a winsome way. Francis Schaeffer once said Americans have to learn to act as missionaries in their own culture. If you’re a missionary, you learn the language of the people in the mission field. Many of us spend most of our time in church at Bible study but never figure out how to relate what we learn to the culture, or to even understand the culture in the first place. This series teaches us how to do that, and does it effectively. Among the crowd at Christian Fellowship was a group of students from Patrick Henry College. I’m told that student groups were well-represented at other venues around the country. If I ever get discouraged in the future, I’m going to call those students and ask them to come back and visit with me. They were so engaged, bright, quick minds, and they were really getting it. What thrilled me more than anything else was the number of people afterwards who said they wanted to go out and teach “Doing the Right Thing.” This is really good news. This is how movements are born. And, as you’ll hear me talk about often in the coming months, only a movement can penetrate culture — when people are passionately committed to a common vision. If you attended one of the sites across the country, I would love to hear from you. Please, come to BreakPoint.org and click on “Speak Out with Chuck.” Share with me and other web visitors how the simulcast went in your area. If you didn’t attend, there’s good news — the sponsors of this event are so eager for this simulcast to be made available that they are offering a DVD of the whole event below cost. You can find out how to get a copy at BreakPoint.org. And of course, the entire “Doing the Right Thing” DVD series is available there as well. If you can’t tell, I am really excited about the simulcast and about “Doing the Right Thing” going forward. And my excitement will only grow as more and more Christians across the country join this movement committed to doing the right thing. Save Save

10/3/11