Ep. 270 Nontraditional Ways to Mobilize to Make a Difference

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Shows Main Idea – We live in three worlds today, or perhaps it would be better to say that there are three cultures. There is the Christian culture, which is a subset of the larger one. The larger one divides in half: some are conservative, generally speaking, and the other is against traditional conservative values. In this episode, Rick challenges you to make some practical decisions about your alliances to maintain a vibrant Christian impact on our culture and world. You can no longer be passive about cultural dynamics.

Show Notes

You may want to read:

• Why Christians Should Engage in Politics
• An Analysis of How to Destroy a Family, Church, or Country
• The New Slave Owner Is a Liberal, Paternalistic Government

Three Worlds

• The Christian World – Our world is Christ. We are always carving out our niche to tell folks about Christ, e.g., marriage, children, community, church, workplace, school, and social media.
• The Conservative World – There is a group of people who love the conservative aspects of our country. All of these folks are not believers in Christ, but they are believers in freedom. I’m appealing to you in this episode to connect with and support some of these folks.
• The Non-Conservative World – These folks do not just reject God, but their intent is to censor and punish those who are against their worldview and agendas. We call them woke, who are beholding to intersectionality and identity politics.

Please give my thanks to your team. The articles and resources have been life-giving as I make sense of what God is doing right now. Thank you. —Nathan

I want to increase the amount I give monthly. I am very excited about your ministry. —Jo

I was so impressed with your heart’s desire to equip people for counseling and discipling. I am not able to make the monetary investment at this time to do the Mastermind Course. But could you recommend some resources (here, here, here) I could do on my own to become better equipped to disciple informally? Thank you so much! Your ministry is amazing! We will be donating to you all and spread the word. May God continue to use you mightily. —Tina

Fight for Freedom

In the past, we did not engage the secular demographic as far as partnering with them. We were mostly spectators to the “two cultures.” Some believers do not believe we should engage in cultural matters. I challenge this perspective. Our Christian opportunities sit on top of the culture, regardless of the culture that we call home. Some countries make it harder to evangelize individuals and share the Christian message while others do not.

America has a historical record of freedom of speech, which has been one of the most significant reasons we have had a massive impact on our country and worldwide. If you want this kind of freedom to continue, you must get over any inhibition, disdain, or criticisms of folks who love the country the way you do, though they are not Christians—as best we can know.

These are the people with the loudest voices in the marketplace who communicate the American values that you love. They might not follow our Christ, but they will do more than we can to build, fortify, and maintain an America that will permit us to tell others about Christ.

Activation Required

If we don’t come together over our conservative values, we will sabotage our unique Christian values and the ability that we have to share Christ with the world. We can accomplish much through suffering, but if there is a way to take Christ to the nations without conflict and hardship, it seems prudent that we should do what we can to maintain this privilege.

Because of this cultural crisis, our ministry has shifted how we help folks to live effective lives. We are no longer producing just evergreen content, but we’re blending evergreen and time-dated resources. The best way to explain it is to say, “We’re speaking into current issues with evergreen values.”

We’re teaching Christians how to think about current problems through a biblical lens, and we will continue to speak to our “common to man” problems. Rather than just addressing timeless, Adamic struggles, we’re speaking into culture shifts and dynamics. Here are a few things we’re doing; it’s a non-exhaustive list as we continue to evolve to position ourselves to help the most folks.

What We’re Doing

• We will continue to speak to “common to man” problems. That passion will not change.
• We will speak into current cultural issues from a Christocentric perspective.
• We have the “big-box store” to accomplish all the changes we need.
  • We are redesigning our Home page.
  • We changing our forums.
  • We’re adding topical study programs.
  • We’re changing our Mastermind Program.
  • We’re increasing LOC production.
  • We’re collaborating with Dr. Daniel Berger.
  • We’re moving all our resources to our website so we own it.
  • We have moved from Twitter to Parler to keep from censorship.
  • There are many more rollouts and changes coming.

Suggestive Actions

These ideas are suggestive only in order to give you ideas of some of the possibilities. Our hope is that the Spirit of God will lead you to think and act in ways that impact our culture, whether or not these suggestions are part of what you do.

• Do not self-censor yourself. You don’t have to be unkind. Be gracious, but don’t apologize for not being whatever folks accuse you of being. Stand for your beliefs. Do not be afraid of what others think about you.
• Stop watching legacy media, e.g., NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, and PBS.
• Stop supporting pro sports, e.g., NFL and NBA.
• Stop supporting Hollywood, e.g., watching movies and following stars.
• Support non-legacy media to stay informed and help them build conservative media platforms, e.g., Ben Shapiro, Dennis Prager, Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele, Candace Owens, Charlie Kirk, Dave Rubin, Dan Bongino, and Steven Crowder (PG-13)

Call to Action

1. What can you do to make a difference in your community and your country? Do not think you don’t matter. Every soul matters. You can do something, even if it’s just sharing quality resources that help your “neighbor.”

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Rick Thomas

Rick launched the Life Over Coffee global training network in 2008 to bring hope and help for you and others by creating resources that spark conversations for transformation. His primary responsibilities are resource creation and leadership development, which he does through speaking, writing, podcasting, and educating.

In 1990 he earned a BA in Theology and, in 1991, a BS in Education. In 1993, he received his ordination into Christian ministry, and in 2000 he graduated with an MA in Counseling from The Master’s University. In 2006 he was recognized as a Fellow of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC).