Special sessions at writers’ conference prepare Christians for battle

LONGVIEW, TX -- It is impossible to deny that we are in a culture war in our nation, as well as the rest of the world. What we believe as Christians is diametrically opposed to what we see around us daily.

“The culture war is really a war of worldviews,” says Tim Ewing, founder of Rare Jewel Magazine (now the online Rare Jewel Insight), a publication designed to inform, equip and inspire those who desire to see America’s Christian foundation restored. “The trouble is, far too many Christians just don’t feel the urgency to get involved.”

Apathy on the part of the church equates to surrendering territory that God calls us to defend. When we let another worldview dominate our culture without challenge, cultural change for the worse is inevitable.

“We tend to talk about a Left/Right dichotomy,” Ewing says. “In such an argument, a middle position is deemed as ‘best’. But compromise is bad.” Instead of thinking in terms of a linear diagram with Left on one end and Right on the other, Ewing sees a circle inside of a larger circle. The inner circle is what is right, true and righteous. Everything outside that circle is wrong. “There is no middle position when you think of it that way,” he says.

Ewing and fellow culture warrior Rick Marschall have made it their mission to challenge Christians to think deeply and act firmly in regard to cultural change. Marschall, who serves as managing editor for Rare Jewel Insight, is the author of 59 books. Bostonia Magazine described him as “perhaps America’s foremost authority on popular culture.”

The two are teaching a continuing session program August 9-11 at the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference in Langhorne, PA, that could be called Boot Camp for cultural warriors. Entitled “America at the Crossroads,” their six and a half hours of classes at the conference include examples from popular culture of the depth of the battle we are in, plenty of class discussion of the issues, and sharing of methods for standing up as cultural warriors wherever we may be.

The class is part of the larger GPCWC, which will welcome hundreds of Christian writers for workshops, critiques of their writing, meetings with editors and agents, and networking. It is the ideal setting for a program like Ewing’s and Marschall’s, since writers are perfectly positioned to take the cultural battle to the communities in which they live.

Much time in the class is spent on worldview and its importance in our day. “Everybody has a worldview,” Ewing says. “It’s impossible not to have one.” And how we look at the world, people, events, history, prophecy and the future determine how we act and choices we make. Ewing and Marschall help attendees develop a mature sense of outrage and a spirit of discernment to identify and confront today’s challenges. They also enumerate what tools have worked (and not worked) in the culture wars and provide practical application points for countering secularists and the ideologies infecting our churches.

Marschall is also teaching a special class on Saturday afternoon, Aug. 11, from 2:00 – 4:45 p.m. based on his most recent co-authored book, The Secret Revealed, to be published this summer by FaithWords. In it, he unmasks the deception inherent in this latest “spiritual” wave sweeping the country.

The conference, held at Philadelphia Biblical University and directed by Marlene Bagnull, Litt. D., is open to interested published and not-yet-published writers, and includes 42 workshops, eight continuing session programs, general sessions, worship times and all-important one-on-one meetings between conferees, established writers, editors, publishers and agents. But even if you’re not a writer, Ewing and Marschall’s America at the Crossroads could be a turning point in your life. Who knows, it could cause you to pick up your pen and charge into the fray.

For more information on America at the Crossroads and the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference, visit the website at www.writehisanswer.com/Philadelphia, call 610-626-6833 or email Marlene at mbagnull@aol.com to receive an 8-page brochure with full details and a registration form.

Note: The Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference is a ministry of Marlene Bagnull. It is one of two conferences a year that Bagnull directs. (The other is the Colorado Christian Writers Conference in May each year). Information on both are available on her website, http://www.writehisanswer.com/, as well as other resources.

© 2007 ASSIST News Service, used with permission