When Chuck Colson launched “BreakPoint” back in 1991, more than a few people told him that a show about Christian worldview would never take off and that he should just stick with prison ministry. But Chuck knew his worldview was the reason he did prison ministry in the first place, and that worldview also had something to do with the exploding prison population. He also realized that people were hungry to make sense of, and make a difference in, a rapidly changing world.
Chuck was right. The show became a success, and is now heard on nearly 1400 radio outlets. Here’s Chuck from a broadcast in 1998:
Why are all these people listening to BreakPoint? Why do you listen? I think it's because Christians and right-thinking citizens are looking for ways to understand what they see in the news, to make sense of cultural trends, and often, answer the questions their children bring home from school.
Which is to say that Christians are recognizing that Christianity is a worldview — a way of seeing all of reality. It isn't just salvation and a relationship with Jesus, vital though that is. It is a life system. God created the world and everything in it; therefore everything finds its ultimate meaning in relationship to Him. Christianity gives us the framework to understand politics, science, economics, the arts, education, and ethics. And that's what we do on BreakPoint: to articulate a Christian worldview.
Too often, you see, we treat our faith as just one more item on our to-do list. But if Christianity is true, it’s the central framework for everything, the grid that overlays all of life.
Why is it so important to have a Christian worldview? Because Christianity gives us a map to reality, an outline of the world the way it really is: God's moral and physical order. And if we want to make our way effectively through life, to live in accord with reality, we have to follow the map.
A Christian worldview also helps us defend our faith, giving us the language to explain why Christian ethics is good for society, or why a biblical view of human nature is essential to sound public policy.
Finally, a Christian worldview helps us to evangelize, giving us the tools to analyze what is shaping the values of the culture so that we can get the secularists attention, and they can hear the gospel.
And Chuck knew that for non-believers to “hear” the gospel, they also had to see it. It’s why he spent more than 35 years bringing the love of Christ to men and women behind bars. It’s why he once said, “The great satisfaction I have is pouring my life into other people and now seeing them pick up the cause and carry on God’s work in the neediest places.”
I think Chuck would have absolutely loved last month’s Wilberforce Weekend Conference, where we heard from several of our commissioned Centurions who have allowed their worldview learning to transform their Christian living.
Like Bethany Woodcock of Gordonville, Penn., whose organization “Not in My Back Yard” combats human trafficking in local communities.
Or Jimmy Lin, who founded the Rare Genomics Institute in St. Louis. He connects geneticists with funding and families of people with rare genetic disorders, to help diagnose and treat very rare conditions.
Like the transformed prisoners, these Centurions living out their Christian worldview are living testimonies of the Gospel to a watching world. And they are the true legacy of Chuck Colson.
Here at BreakPoint and the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, we mark the first anniversary of Chuck’s passing by inviting you to join this legacy as well. Consider becoming a Centurion — we’re accepting applications right now. Volunteer with Prison Fellowship. Support “BreakPoint” and The Colson Center by clicking on our “Founders’ Vision Drive” link at our website. And check out all the resources — the newsletters, articles, videos and teaching series — we have for you at Colson Center.org.
John Stonestreet, the host of The Point, a daily national radio program, provides thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.
BreakPoint commentary airs each weekday on more than one thousand outlets with an estimated listening audience of one million people. BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends via radio, interactive media, and print.
Publication date: May 16, 2013