QUESTION #3: What are the immediate steps necessary to reshape American Culture?
Answer:
George Barna:
“Well, you know, first of all we’ve got to understand the importance of timing. When I see results like this and recognize that they’re tied to recent circumstances, the election, some of the cabinet appointments and some of the executive orders that have been signed and so forth, what that says to me is that all of this has been building momentum. Momentum is a resource that has to be used carefully and in a timely manner. If you squander it, it’s very, very difficult to regain that momentum. It takes a lot more energy to re-stoke the momentum than it would take to simply exploit it when it already exists.
I would say timing is critical. Recognizing that right now, sage cons are saying yeah, let’s go. This is our moment. That’s an important statement for leaders to hear and to recognize okay, I’ve got to rev it up. I think there’s a second thing to keep in mind here as well which is that part of what is keeping that enthusiasm level of SageCons so high is the high level of activity from the left.
You look at all the demonstrations, the protests, the use of the media in the exaggerated way that’s been happening by people who don’t like Mr. Trump. They don’t like some of the policies that he’s advancing. They’re concerned about the direction that the nation may be shifting in. All of that has energized the left. If conservatives were to look at that and simply sit back and say, ‘huh, isn’t that interesting? They’re having a good time.’ without playing ball at the same time, without getting on the field and being ready to do something, well, that in and of itself is a very significant indicator of where the culture is and where it could go.
They have to be competitive, if you will, when the time is right and that time is now. What happens, too, when you don’t take advantage of the opportunity to get people who are willing to act, to do so when they’re ready is that you dissipate their sense of hope and optimism about what could be for the future. We all know the children’s stories, the fairy tales, but we also know real life examples of when leaders didn’t take advantage of that moment of opportunity and it was lost and it wasn’t regained.
I would say it’s important for Christians right now to go into this knowing that it’s a culture war. This isn’t just friendly discussion over… lunch. This is people really putting themselves on the line and saying these are the values that I believe in. These are things that I’m willing to fight for. For Christians, to go back to the Scriptures and understand well what are the principles that have to inform the way that I’m willing to engage in this cultural battle. Recognizing that you know we’ve been called to love and to serve and to bless everybody. This is not about an ideological war.
This is about being Christ like in a culture that doesn’t have nearly as much Christ likeness or as many Christian role models or as much spiritual coaching as it needs to become more like the Kingdom of God because ultimately that’s what we want to do. That’s what we want to see happen. For us to recognize it’s not our job to bless just Republicans. It’s not our job just to bless conservatives. It’s not our job just to bless Christians. It’s our job to love and to serve and to bless everybody here, to try to lift everybody up and to bring them closer to Christ in the process. Well, that’s a big challenge, but that’s the challenge for us.”
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