This week’s blog is a bit of a potpourri, written in Ft. Myers, FL, where I’m traveling with my wife for the College. Yesterday I preached at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Naples in the morning and at North Ft. Myers Presbyterian Church in the evening, and today I speak in the chapel service at Evangelical Christian School of Ft. Myers.

1. My travels have recently taken me to Miami and Ft. Lauderdale; Baltimore and Annapolis; Jackson, MS; Washington, D.C.; and soon again to Miami. These trips have included several preaching engagements, visits to schools, gatherings with Covenant alumni and parents, and conferences connected with my work as college president. Kathleen has enjoyed speaking engagements with women’s groups from Wichita, KS; Greensboro, NC; Suffolk, VA; and even Dubai, where she spoke at a women’s conference and was hosted by the parents of a Covenant student. What a joy it is for both of us to connect with the larger Covenant family around the world, and to see the church at work in so many remarkable ways in so many interesting places!

2. A couple of weeks ago, we provided space and logistical support for a pilot project sponsored by the Heritage Foundation: a conference aimed at the rising generation of evangelical students with the purpose of demonstrating an integrated vision for a free and moral society, grounded in a biblical doctrine of creation and attempting to reconnect those with deep convictions about moral issues in society (e.g. the sanctity of life and the biblical views of sexuality and marriage) with those with deep convictions about the value of a free economic order for addressing important issues of poverty and social justice and promoting the well-being of all people. An outstanding array of speakers addressed various aspects of how younger Christians can “seek the welfare of the city” morally and economically, on the basis of a faithful and effective biblical worldview.

3. In a couple of weeks, I will have the privilege of providing the closing talk for a conference in Chattanooga addressing the rise of neopaganism and the calling for Christians to think and live biblically and courageously for the gospel and the Kingdom of God in a culture increasingly confused about, and even hostile toward, biblical faith. The conference is sponsored by truthXchange, an organization founded by Dr. Peter Jones, who taught for many years at Westminster Theological Seminary in Escondido, CA, and who now focuses all his time on the important work of calling Christians’ attention to the expansion of neopagan philosophy and theology, not only in the broader culture but also within the church. Dr. Jones recently attended the National Pastors’ Conference in San Diego, sponsored by Zondervan and Intervarsity Press, and writes with considerable dismay about the theological trends on display among the speakers. You can read his report online. Here is one more reminder why we rejoice in and strive to nurture the historic biblical orthodoxy which is our legacy and our trust at Covenant College.

4. Fresh winds – although not refreshing ones – are blowing in the higher education world regarding sexual morality and how colleges and universities may be expected to “toe the line” on sexuality and sexual orientation in the years ahead. First, Al Mohler calls attention to a movement that would encourage the Association of Theological Schools, the main accrediting agency for theological schools in the U.S. and Canada, to include assessment of an institution’s commitment to “sexual justice” in granting accreditation.

Secondly, a petition is circulating, currently with more than 1,000 signatures, urging the Executive Committee of the American Philosophical Association to ban institutions like Covenant, with hiring policies which reflect our institutional convictions regarding biblical sexuality and sexual orientation, from advertising their open faculty positions in the APA’s job posting service. Not only in philosophy but also in economics, anthropology, education, and psychology, there are growing movements to inhibit the alleged “unacceptable discrimination” on the basis of sexual orientation at institutions like Covenant. While there are articulate responses to these criticisms and attacks, and the issues are by no means resolved against us, the momentum in this direction is increasing, joining with the momentum of the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which some believe will soon be proposed for congressional vote. Several Christian organizations are carefully thinking through the implications for our foundational missions should laws and censures rule our mission-based and biblically-grounded policies out of bounds. Please pray for God’s wisdom and care as we navigate through these cultural rapids.

5. “Creation care” is the current term of choice for the movement toward environmental stewardship among today’s generation of Christian students. Many excellent enterprises and resources are calling attention to the need for appropriate care for the earth, as a crucial aspect of our biblical stewardship before God. At the same time, the creation care movement includes an array of organizations and gatherings whose calls to environmental stewardship rest on weak, false, and even silly representations of the Bible’s teaching. Christians need to practice careful and Scriptural discernment to differentiate a truly biblical case for creation care from a syncretistic or even pagan one. I recently came across a brochure for an organization founded by and aimed at Christian college students that made much of Paul’s language about creation’s groaning as biblical support for environmental advocacy (e.g. planting community gardens, protecting endangered species, inhibiting climate change, and so on) – with no attention to the immediate context of this phrase in the midst of Romans 8, much less the context and gospel argument of the entire letter. I bring this to my readers’ attention because of the need, in this particularly popular arena of activity, to exercise keen biblical insight and careful biblical thinking so as to continue to live as faithful witnesses to the biblical gospel, and not be distracted or swept away by viewpoints that purport to be Christian and biblical but which in fact ignore or reject the historic faith.

I am very grateful for the community of faith that includes Covenant College, the PCA, and a whole host of believers and churches of many stripes, who share deep and lasting commitments regarding the authority and sufficiency of Scripture, the gracious clarity of the biblical gospel, and the faith which Paul calls “the good deposit” and which Jude tells us was “once for all delivered to the saints.” In a world where there are so many ways to be confused and trapped, God has mercifully granted us his Word and his Spirit and his Church so that we can be taught and equipped and emboldened for his Kingdom work.

Thank you to so many of you who pray for and support the important work of Covenant College as we stand together with God’s faithful people across the country and around the world – to declare and demonstrate the preeminence of Jesus Christ in all things.