Many folks have heard of Lee Strobel, the author of the apologetic “The Case For..” series. He started out as an atheist, trained in law and worked as a newspaper journalist on issues of law for many years before applying his training to study the Gospels. Upon coming to faith, he started writing about what he learned, eventually joining the staff of Willow Creek Community Church for a few years before writing full time. It was at Willow Creek that he got to know Mark Mittelberg, their evangelism director and co-creator of the “Contagious Christianity” curriculum that was so widespread in the 1990’s.
In the spirit of the Vibrant Dance Symposium about which I wrote extensively in the fall, I am excited to announce that Stobel and Mittelberg have teamed up for a live webcast coming up in March, “The Case For Christianity.” In an all day seminar and worship format, they will “present the latest scientific and historical evidence for Christianity—and answer the two biggest objections to the faith. Plus ask your own questions during this compelling interactive telecast.”
According to the website, “1 Peter 3:15 tells all Christians to be ready to defend why they believe what they believe - yet most Christians don't feel prepared to do so. This one day event will help participants walk away encouraged in their own faith and feeling more confident in discussing the claims of Christianity with friends, family members, and others.”
Here are the details:
March 12, 2011—Live via satellite & webcast:
8:30 am - 2:30 pm MST
9:30 am - 3:30 PST & CST
10:30am - 4:30 EST
Event format:
Several high-energy sessions featuring music, visuals, and easy-to-understand illustrations, as well as time for dealing with the provocative questions submitted by satellite viewers, including:
-Affirmative scientific evidence for God (note: the contents are appropriate for any church, regardless of their position on age of the earth.)
-Historical evidence for Jesus' divinity.
-Confronting why God allows pain and suffering, which is the biggest objection to Christianity that is raised by skeptics.
-How Christians can deal with questions raised by their seeking friends.
-Lee and Mark respond to questions from the satellite audience (via email, text messages,) and the studio audience.
Websites:
In my conversations with one of the promoters, I found out that they not only want churches to serve as hosts, but also schools, parachurch organizations, well, pretty much anyone. They see it as a great extra credit event for religion majors, seminary students and others in related fields. I will be sharing this information with pastors, campus ministers and our faculty fellowship, to encourage more opportunities to host this. If possible, I hope to post about it during and after.
This webcast has the potential to help shore up believers’ confidence in the reliability of their faith, and to reach out to folks still asking questions. While events like this are wonderful, mountain top times, their impact is limited unless the viewers act on and pass on what they learned. As many of you know, we really develop mastery of new material when we teach it to others.
Thus, I encourage you to help host the event, attend, and then share with those God brings to you.
SDG
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