Within the last two weeks, Franklin Graham has publicly celebrated what he describes as hundreds of people responding to the invitation to repent during evangelistic events in Argentina. Images of crowds and language of spiritual breakthrough have echoed a revivalist…
The conversion of a secular scholar raises hard questions
In a recent column, I explored the unusual friendship between Jonathan Rauch, a gay Jewish atheist, and a circle of evangelical heavyweights like Russell Moore and the late Tim Keller. Rauch, a leading public intellectual, drew sustenance and inspiration from…
Can We Predict a Christian Conversion?
There’s this huge disconnect between what religious people want and what social science can provide. It’s one of the biggest frustrations of the type of work I do. I get asked hundreds of questions a year that I totally understand the…
Wikipedia co-founder finds Christian faith anew
Larry Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedia, announced Feb. 5 that he’s no longer an atheist but a Christian. In an exclusive interview with Baptist News Global, Sanger explained his five-year journey to discover whether God is real. “The Great Commission says…
Christian conversion is no Jesus vaccination
In January 2015, seminarians in a 12-day January course on Appalachian religion sponsored by Wake Forest University Divinity School heard the “testimony” of a twenty-something Burnsville, N.C., resident named Adam who recounted a life of youthful “screw-ups” — cooking meth,…
A baptism that redeemed us all
During my lifetime, I’ve witnessed the baptisms of about a thousand people — mostly children and teens, few adults. While all baptisms are meaningful and contain an element of tenderness and vulnerability, there is something a bit “different” about adult…
Beth Moore is not the first Baptist to journey to the Anglican Church
When Beth Moore left the Southern Baptist Convention in 2021 and soon after was seen in a photo serving Communion at an Anglican church, the social media outrage became a reminder that few people seem to rile up Southern Baptist…
Faith can come rather quickly, but conversion takes a lot longer
Simon Peter denied Jesus three times; the Apostle Paul testified to a mysterious “thorn in the flesh” that even heartfelt prayer could not remove. St. Augustine cohabitated with a female “partner” for 15 years. They had a child together, yet…
Redefining evangelism: It’s not ‘us versus them’
Recently, BNG has had several stories about evangelism (here, here, and here). The word evangelical comes from the Greek euangelion, and it means “good news.” Christians have good news to share. But sharing does not mean converting. Why do we…
Conversion crisis?
By Bill Leonard Of his 1821 conversion, evangelist Charles Finney wrote: “As I went in and shut the door after me, it seemed as if I met the Lord Jesus Christ face to face. … No words can express the…
Needed: Christian ministers who do the stuff
A dramatic story—perhaps an urban legend—about John Wimber, one of the founders of the Vineyard Movement, relates to something that happened following his conversion to Christianity around 1963. It is said that he began attending a church nearby. After several…
Repenting of Christianity
Chinua Achebe’s classic novel Things Fall Apart centers around the life on Okonkwo, the powerful leader of his clan and their village, one of nine villages in the Umuofia region of Nigeria. Okonkwo is a fearsome warrior, well-respected among his…