HOW COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT , SOCIAL JUSTICE , GAY CHRISTIANITY ARE CONVERGING TO ORGANIZE THE “NEVER AGAIN ” TRUMPERS .
By Rev Thomas Littleton 3/20/2019
Gabe Lyons of Q Ideas /Q Conference forum is no stranger to progressive politics . As reported last year Lyons, “Good Faith” co-author /Barna guy David Kinnaman, and Tim Keller were at the forefront of evangelical third way compromise during the Obama administration.
https://thirtypiecesofsilver.org/2019/02/19/collapsing-conservative-america/
The Q Ideas Nashville Conference is coming up April 24th-26 and has a revealing mix in its lineup of “Thought Leaders”.
“From the ideas and current issues shaping society, to the truth that transforms the world, you will be informed and gain confidence that God is at work in his mission to renew all things. Education by thought leaders and stories from change-makers will inspire a hopeful way forward. Join us to be equipped for the difficult conversations and extraordinary opportunities that lie ahead.”
Q SPEAKERS AND Q POLITICS
Among the speakers is The Gospel Coalition and SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberties political favorite Senator Ben Sasse. Senator Sasse topic is “State of Our Union” which is a predictable topic for a US Senator to speak on. What is far less in keeping with the evangelical target audience is the radical edge of sexual /LGBT+ activist and Revoice supporters who are gathering with Sasse at Lyons event.
BEN SASSE JUST GOT KISSED
Make no mistake SASSE IS the “Never Trumpers” of TGC and the ERLC candidate of choice to lead the evangelical flock. As Billy Graham found himself “kissed by William Randolph Hearst” media machine years ago in Los Angeles – Ben Sasse is the darling of the progressive evangelical third way. This is political posturing Q / Keller / Moore style. GOP candidates beware. There is more going on in this conversation and christianized “TED Talks” forum .
Q REVOICE
Revoice Speaker Laurie Krieg of Hole in My Heart Ministries is speaking on “My Mixed Orientation Marriage” .
Revoice advocate -speaker -co-organizer Preston Sprinkle is in the Q Ideas lineup speaking on the topic of Sex Gender and Faith. Sprinkle is head of the Center for Faith Sexuality and Gender which is also a sponsor of the event along side World Vision, Barna , Made To Flourish and the longtime evangelical progressive organization Leadership Network . Sprinkles organization which promotes LGBT+ Flourishing in the church is endorsed by fellow Q Speaker /TGC leader Matt Chandler .
Revoice organizer and advocate / PCA fringe dweller Scott Sauls is speaking at Q on Irresistible Grace . Perhaps this title reflects an effort to perhaps appear more orthodox in his reformed circles. Sauls, like Lyons is a close associate of Tim Keller. Sauls spent 12 years on staff as a “preaching elder” at Keller’s Redeemer Church in NYC. Sauls continues to skirt the radical fringes of his conservative PCA denomination in the company of Tim Keller . Against the efforts of their own finely tuned TGC media machine -TGC brand is finally reaping some long overdue scrutiny from real conservative evangelicals. Sauls appears to be a primary Q leader in this Nashville event. Afterall it is his adopted hometown .
Also at Q on the Faith and Sexuality front is artist and musician Matthew Liu speaking on ” Sex, Gender and Faith”. Liu is a presenter at other events held by Preston Sprinkle’s Digital Leaders Forum.
Conference Speaker Andy Crouch (former editor of Christianity Today ) is recently revealed to be a Revoice Advisory Council Member . Crouch topic at Q Conference is “A Theology of Cyborgs ”
Q TRANSGENDER CHRISTIANITY
In its ongoing effort be appear on the cutting edge -Gabe Lyons Q Ideas is presenting a self identifying “transgender Christian” speaker . Kat Laprairie is also speaking on “Sex Gender and Faith. This person’s ( pronoun caution taken ) bio reads:
“Kat identifies as a Transgender Christian, who came to Christ once discovering the reckless, boundless love He has for Kat. Through Kat’s story of growing up in church culture amidst wrestling with gender identity, Kat is eager and passionate about sharing God’s good news with others.”
Q QUESTION ?
With the convergence of The Gospel Coalition ERLC and Revoice people at Q and many other events- how much REAL (safe) space exists between the TGC mainstream and the Revoice radical fringe?
Q ANSWER ?- TIME WILL TELL -SOON!
IS BEN SASSE WANTING TO BE KISSED BY REVOICE AND TRANSGENDER FAITH
The better question for Ben Sasse is does he really want his political career to be kissed by TGC / ERLC or his political future to be determined by the success of Tim Keller and Russell Moores hatred of the Trump White House? Does Sasse realize Keller and Moore’s determination to redefine Evangelicalism altogether?
Careful Ben- these kisses come with even more baggage .
Q FAITH AND WORK
The Faith and Work organizations and ideologies are well represented among the sponsors including the Tim Keller / Redeemer mentored “Nashville Institute for Faith and Work . https://www.nifw.org/staff
Scott Sauls and his Executive Pastor Bob Bradshaw at Christ Presbyterian Church are on the board of this organization.
BOB BRADSHAW, ADVISOR
“Bob serves as Executive Director at Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, TN. Before joining CPC’s pastoral team in August 2012, he served as Executive Director at Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, AL. Prior to entering full-time ministry, Bob worked as Chairman and CEO of Boston-based MSL Corp. as President and COO of SCI Corp. in Huntsville; as Eastern Region President for Solectron Corp. in Charlotte, and as Senior Executive-Site General Manager for IBM in Charlotte. Bob holds a bachelor’s in math from Westminster College (New Wilmington, PA) and is certified in Crown Financial Ministries. Bob co-founded a small creamery business in Charlotte with his wife, Rose. They are the parents of four daughters.”
SCOTT SAULS, ADVISORY PASTOR
“Scott is the Senior Pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, TN (March 2012–present) and the author of Jesus Outside the Lines: A Way Forward for Those Who Are Tired of Taking Sides and Befriend: Create Belonging in an Age of Judgment, Isolation, and Fear. He is a graduate of Furman University and Covenant Seminary, a former Lead and Preaching Pastor at New York City’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church, and the founding pastor of churches in Kansas City and Saint Louis. Scott is married to Patti and has two daughters, Abby and Ellie.
In short this ideology heralds the value of promoting the realization of purpose found in merging of faith and work for the common good and human flourishing . The ideology and favored terminology is right out of the Keller associates and Frankfurt School inspired UVA “Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture” . The Princeton based center that bears the name of the Faith and Work branding provides centralized planning for spread of the ideology . Faith and Work is carefully promoting an idealized form of evangelical socialism and socialist economics wrapped in a hyper-thin layer of Hayek ,free-market lingo and Keller’s idiotic “Theology of Vocation “. Its’ endgame is to harness next generation Christians hearts minds into collectivist ideologies for harvesting their productivity for the global common good. Sound anything like New Testament Christianity ?”
Q SOCIAL JUSTICE
The Faith and Work and Cultural Engagement organizations on the campuses of most conservative Christian institutions are now the subject of considerable attention as well given their role in and funding for promoting Social Justice as a”Gospel Issue”. TGC leadership is reeling from the public scrutiny that their MLK/50 conference / Revoice connections and then the anti social justice “Dallas Statement ” have brought. A deep and growing divide appears to have formed among top tier leaders in TGC. Meanwhile Russell Moore’s rhetoric in the run up to 2020 may cost his position in the SBC if 2016 reactions are repeated. Conservatives can hope and pray for Moore to maintain his brazen posture.
Q BORDER POLICY
Speaker Gena Thomas works for the Covenant College based/ Q Ideas sponsor “The Chalmers Center” Her topic is “”Children at The Border “. Q likely assumes that Evangelicals must surely be made to care about the Border “crisis” and be turned against President Trump’s Border Wall . According to her bio Thomas “served as a missionary in northern Mexico for over four years with her husband, Andrew. She has two children, works at The Chalmers Center, and writes as often as she can. She holds a masters in International Development.” Chalmers Center is schooling young conservative Christians in Christian Community Development ,which also explains the presence of Russell Moore – friends and mentor -civil rights leader John Perkins in the Q Ideas line up. Perkins is speaking on “Repairing the Breach “.
Q SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Tim Keller is an exuberant globalist – like his Leadership Network trained pal Rick Warren. However the book of Revelation reveals a pretty bleak outcome and future for globalism. Still these evangelical leaders are undeterred in their love of and promotion of globalism and all its anti-christ vision into the church. One speaker in the Q forum lineup boldly merges the Global Sustainability Goals of the United Nations and other international partners into the church.
Jason Fileta – Q Bio
“Jason grew up in Wheaton, Illinois, the son of Egyptian immigrants. The plight of the persecuted church in Egypt compelled him to commit his life to fighting for a more just world. Since then he launched his career in advocacy focused on ending extreme poverty.”
Fileta’s group Tear Fund is an advocate for Global Warming and Global Sustainable Development Goals . https://www.tearfund.org/2017/05/climate_of_hope/.
It is also part of the Lausanne Movements -“Micah Challenge ” which supports and includes a prayer guide for the “Global Sustainability Goals”. Sound unthinkable ? Think again -it is happening.
Click to access Prayer_Stations.pdf
Q CONFUSION OR Q TRANSFORMATION AND CHANGE ?
Q Ideas is a forum that may confuse some listeners as it mixes these polar opposite ideologies of Christian faith and progressive social causes together on its’ stage and in its’ events .But make no mistake – Q Ideas is not here to confuse you -but to engage you while it helps you embrace its’ Third Way worldview and merges it with your faith .
LIPSTICK STAINED REPUBLICANS
Ben Sasse may or may not be aware of whose lipstick will linger on his own political (COLLAR) career and may not be aware that he is being used.Still he may want to reconsider this path.
In the 2016 election cycle Tim Keller and Russell Moore failed in their big hairy audacious goal of detracting enough of the Evangelical vote from Trump to prevent his Presidential victory (an elect Democrat Hillary Clinton by default). They continue to this day to shame and belittle evangelical voters for supporting Trump accusing them of everything from hurting the Gospel- alienating the culture -to racism and bigotry. Keller and Moore who serve as mentor figures in TGC and to many of the young idealists in these Q meetings are quickly becoming more Political Pariah than Prophet.
Unless GOP guys like Ben Sasse want their own political message “Revoiced ” by Social Justice, LGBT+ Thriving , Transgender Christianity, Global Sustainability Goals , Climate Change and the like- perhaps they had better choose their evangelical associations more wisely.
Conclusion – The Gospel Coalition and the neo-reformed movement it represents in the PCA, the SBC, and other smaller denominations and independent churches is NOT a theological movement in the least . It is a progressive political movement wearing a thin veneer of theological orthodoxy . As its brazen left leaning and “Third Way” politics become more and more glaring- so will grow the Evangelical divide it had hoped to bridge. Take a deep breath believers – more shame and confusion efforts await in the rapidly approaching 2020 election cycle. Keep your heads. TGC and their ilk are just a floating object in the progressive floodtide of social change . Stick with your Bible and the Holy Spirit for your convictions .
Proverbs 23
6 Do not eat the bread of a miser,
Nor desire his delicacies;
7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
“Eat and drink!” he says to you,
But his heart is not with you.
8 The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up,
And waste your pleasant words.
9 Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,
For he will despise the wisdom of your words.
10 Do not remove the ancient landmark,
Nor enter the fields of the fatherless;
11 For their Redeemer is mighty;
He will plead their cause against you.
12 Apply your heart to instruction,
And your ears to words of knowledge.
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