[John Wesley] expected to be attacked for his assault on sin, for it fastened like barnacles to the foundations of society’s institutions, corrupting them and weakening them, and sin must be rooted out and plucked off. Who better to take on these tasks than Christian converts? Wesley understood that salvation is not the end of the story for those who come to Christ. Rather, it is the beginning of a life lived in service to God’s sacred creation, mankind. —Tom Minnery, Why You Can’t Stay Silent (pg. 31)

Cultural Commentaries

• Celebrating What Is Good - CCV's Inaugural Essential Summit a Sold-Out Success: Center for Christian Virtue (CCV) hosted its first conference in downtown Columbus on October 3. The conference was created to help Christians put their faith into action. With more than 600 attendees, the Essential Summit was an incredible success! The Church Ambassador Network had a Church Leaders track with four unique breakout sessions bringing together pastors and church leaders from all over Ohio to discuss topics relevant to biblical cultural engagement in 2024 and beyond. 

   

  The Church Leadership track sessions included:

• Get Married: Why it Matters More Than Ever with Brad Wilcox and Ian Rowe

  1. Wandering Worldviews: Discipling The Parents of the Next Generation a panel discussion

  2. John 17: Uniting the Body in Divisive Times a panel discussion

  3. People of the Word and words: the reformation of public life through the biblical view of words with Os Guinness

We are grateful to all of our sponsors, attendees, and speakers. 

If you couldn't make it this year, we hope to see you next year. We have already confirmed Rosaria Butterfield, and George Barna as 2 of our speakers for 2025!

• Creating What Is Missing - At the Essential Summit, we launched The Tom Minnery Fellowship for Cultural Engagement, which will provide ongoing educational opportunities for pastors and church leaders to dive into the practical issues facing Christians in culture and develop, with a cohort of their peers, Biblical strategies and messages to respond. Much like the “Continuing Legal Education” attorneys receive on an annual basis, The Minnery Fellowship is an ongoing equipping experience for pastors, not a one-time program. If you are a pastor or church leader, you can apply today.

• Restoring What Is Broken - In this article for World, Andrew Walker explores the opportunity for Christians to help society with a rapidly increasing identity crisis.“If all we are is our human will absent such things as reason, restraint, and the authority of our embodiment, humanity will give itself the license to raze itself to the ground and re-create itself in whatever image it wants. Culturally, that creates effeminacy, feminism, androgyny, and homosexualism.”

• Ending What Is Evil - In this article for First Things, Carl Trueman highlights the consequences of man becoming god unto himself. “Our modern Promethean aspirations are not merely marked by Frankenstein’s desire to play God in the creation of life. We have taken on the role of God in the bringing of death as well.”

Ohio Prayer Guide

We have partnered with Pray For Ohio to bring you a monthly topical prayer guide that can be shared with your church. The Prayer Guide for November will help us unite and focus our prayers as we pray for Ohio in the final months of 2024. 

Resources

• CCV's 2024 Nonpartisan Voter Guide and Issue 1 Explainer - Our free 2024 nonpartisan Voter Guide is now live—both online and in print! One of the most effective ways to discern how a candidate will govern is to know who stands with them. That’s why our online personalized Voter Guide showcases a database of endorsements from advocacy organizations across the political spectrum on a range of issues. Also available for download is our Issue 1 Explainer to help Christians understand the issue and vote wisely. Get your personalized Voter Guide and Issue 1 Explainer today.

• Is Evangelicalism Really Protestant? Recommended by a pastor in our network, this article was a thought-provoking read: “This, I think, should be a time to consider our ways. Where might we be out to sea and completely wrong on important topics? We all, myself included, have to be willing to consider that we might have gotten important things wrong. The fact that today’s evangelicalism is so different from yesterday’s Protestantism should be at least an indicator that it’s off base in some key ways.”

• The 1916 Project - This new film and book explore the racist history of Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger, her ties to eugenics and Hitler, and the radical, deadly modern-day implications. The film will stream for free on X from Tuesday, October 22 through Wednesday, November 13. This landmark documentary is by Seth Gruber who states: 

  "The 1916 Project is more than a documentary—it’s a call to action for the Church and for anyone who values human life. We must confront the lies that have led to our current 'Culture of Death'. Sanger’s work was the pivot point for Western civilization to arrive at the chaos we’re seeing today. If we want to understand the origins of third-trimester abortions, euthanasia, radical sex education, Critical Race Theory, and the broader cultural turmoil, this film connects every dot back to 1916."

  If you believe other pastors in your network would benefit from receiving The Times, please forward this to them and encourage them to subscribe!  

Upcoming Events

• Don't miss our final Prayer at the Statehouse for 2024! Gather with Christians from all over Ohio to lift up our state, legislators, and laws to God! Mark your calendar for Wednesday, November 13, from 10:00 to 11:30 am, and register today.

• The Minnery Fellowship application window for the January session is open! Learn more and apply today!

• Did you know churches can host a special screening of “Sound of Hope, The Story of Possum Trot”? You can facilitate a no-cost private screening in your own church, nonprofit, or child-serving agency for the purpose of raising awareness and driving action to help end the foster care crisis. Learn more and become an approved host.

Pastor Testimony

Center for Christian Virtue and the Church Ambassador Network have been a breath of fresh air. We have thoroughly enjoyed partnering with this amazing organization. Their passion for helping churches and pastors engage in courageous gospel conversations is exactly what is needed as we strive to lead people to Gospel transformation in our communities and around the world.— Doug Taylor, Executive Pastor, Crossroads Church, Mansfield

Closing Thoughts

"Modern culture is a mighty force. It is either subservient to the gospel or else it is the deadliest enemy of the gospel. For making it subservient, religious emotion is not enough, intellectual labor is also necessary. And that labor is being neglected. The Church has turned to easier tasks. And now she is reaping the fruits of her indolence. 

Now she must battle for her life. 

The situation is desperate. It might discourage us. But not if we are truly Christians. Not if we are living in vital communion with the risen Lord. 

If we are really convinced of the truth of our message, then we can proclaim it before a world of enemies, then the very difficulty of our task, the very scarcity of our allies becomes an inspiration, then we can even rejoice that God did not place us in an easy age, but in a time of doubt and perplexity and battle. 

Then, too, we shall not be afraid to call forth other soldiers into the conflict."— J. Gresham Machen, The Princeton Theological Review, Vol. 11, 1913

A number of churches have decided to support CCV and the Church Ambassador Network financially through their budget. To set up a recurring monthly donation to CCV, please visit CCV.org/Donate and make sure to click the check box at the end of the form, above the comments field, before submitting your gift. 

We would be honored if you chose to invest a portion of God’s resources into our effort to serve and support churches in Ohio with resources to help them carry out the Great Commission in the spirit of The Greatest Commandments in our current cultural context.