Come Saturday at the annual William Wilberforce Weekend, the 10th class of Centurions will walk across the stage at their commissioning service. In their lives and in their ministry, they embody Chuck Colson’s vision of Christian leaders trained to think deeply from a Christian worldview and equipped to re-shape and restore their communities and our culture.
Since Chuck founded the Centurions Program in 2004, there are two things he might not have imagined. First, how wildly successful this intensive program would become. More than 900 Centurions have been equipped to take their faith into areas of law, family, the arts, the sciences, theology, medicine, government, and more. And they’re making a difference. Like Kristin Waggoner defending conscience rights as a lawyer, or John Murray leading a Christian school in Maryland.
Second, I don’t think Chuck could have possibly conceived the rocket pace of social change. Just think about all that has happened in the last decade, or in the two years since Chuck went home to be with the Lord, for that matter.
Same-sex “marriage” is no longer something on the horizon, it’s here in 17 states. And who knew what twerking was? And who cares? Or who knew that the religious persecution of Christians around the world would reach the intensity it has? Or that the government, our government, would seek to force religious believers—even Catholic nuns!—to violate their consciences by covering contraception and abortion-inducing drugs?
I think Chuck would agree with me that not only is the Centurions Program more important than ever, but that it needed to grow and adapt to new challenges.
And that’s why I am beside-myself thrilled to announce that BreakPoint’s very own John Stonestreet has agreed to lead the Centurions Program beginning with the class of 2014-15.
In addition to getting to study under John’s leadership, here’s what you’ll be doing if you apply and are accepted into the program.
Over the nine-month course, you’ll begin to grasp what we call “the big picture”—the grand narrative of the Christian faith and God’s plan for you, the world and His Kingdom: From creation, through the Fall, to redemption and restoration. You’ll study and plumb the depths of what it means to be made in the image of God and how that should affect how we view God, people, and cultural institutions.
You’ll be interacting with other Centurions through webinars and discussion boards, learning how to read the culture by watching films, entering into discussions about current events and trends, and you’ll work toward implementing a Christian worldview in the personal mission field God has put around you.
Also, three times a year, you will gather in person with other Centurions and incredible thought leaders like John himself, theologian T. M. Moore, Dr. Glenn Sunshine, Jay Richards, and Prison Fellowship President and CEO Jim Liske.
Most importantly, you’ll gain perspective on how God can use you to be a redemptive presence in your community and culture—all while working on a practical plan to put what you’ve learned into action.
There’s no doubt about it, the Centurions Program is demanding. But God will use it to prepare you for frontline Kingdom work.
Here’s what I’d like you to do. Please check out the Centurions Program at CenturionsProgram.org, or come to the BreakPoint website. We’re accepting applications now for the 2014-15 program.
And a year from now, I would love to see you walking across stage as a commissioned Centurion.
Again, please visit CenturionsProgram.org.
BreakPoint is a Christian worldview ministry that seeks to build and resource a movement of Christians committed to living and defending Christian worldview in all areas of life. Begun by Chuck Colson in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today’s news and trends via radio, interactive media, and print. Today BreakPoint commentaries, co-hosted by Eric Metaxas and John Stonestreet, air daily on more than 1,200 outlets with an estimated weekly listening audience of eight million people. Feel free to contact us at BreakPoint.org where you can read and search answers to common questions.
Eric Metaxas is a co-host of BreakPoint Radio and a best-selling author whose biographies, children's books, and popular apologetics have been translated into more than a dozen languages.
Publication date: June 2, 2014
