John S. Dickerson (born 1982) is a Christian pastor, author [1] and a nationally awarded American journalist. [2] [3] [4] He has written essays and opinion columns for USA Today , [5] CNN, [6] The New York Times Sunday Opinion Page, [7] and the religion pages of The Washington Post . [8]
In 2004, he joined The Scottsdale Times as a staff writer and later became features editor. [9] While at The Scottsdale Times, his reporting earned honors from the Arizona Press Club. [10] [11] [12] [13] The Arizona Newspaper Association named him non-daily "Journalist of the Year" in 2007. [14] He then took a staff writer position at the Phoenix New Times , an alternative weekly owned by Village Voice Media. [15]
In 2009, he was named winner of the $10,000 Livingston Award for Young Journalists. [16] "The Livingston Awards for excellence by professionals under the age of 35 are the largest all-media, general reporting prizes in American journalism. [17] " Charles Gibson (ABC News), Michele Norris (NPR), Tom Brokaw and Clarence Page are among the judges [18] who selected Dickerson's investigative series about medical regulations in Arizona, "Prescription for Disaster", [19] as the national winner for local reporting. The Association of Alternative Newsweeklies also named Dickerson national winner for investigative reporting. [20] Three of his stories are printed in the book anthology Best AltWeekly Writing 2009 and 2010, published by Northwestern University Press. [21] Dickerson eventually left Phoenix New Times to pastor Cornerstone Church in Prescott, Arizona. [22]
His book The Great Evangelical Recession [23] (Baker Publishing Group, 2013), combines his investigative journalism background with his embedded understanding of American Christianity as an insider. The book documents the decline of Christianity in the United States and suggests potential solutions for American church leaders. [24] Ken Auletta, media critic for The New Yorker, endorsed the book: "A first rate journalist and writer, Dickerson writes with empathy, preferring to explain rather than scold. He's written an illustrious book." [25]
In 2015 Dickerson accepted the role of teaching pastor in residence at Venture Christian Church in Los Gatos, California. [26] The same year, HarperCollins publishers' Zondervan released his book, I Am Strong: Finding God's Peace and Strength in Life's Darkest Moments, in which he offers hope to those enduring chronic sickness or loss., [27] [28] On October 28, 2017, Dickerson was announced as the new lead pastor of Connection Pointe Christian Church in Brownsburg, Indiana [29]
In October 2019 Baker Publishing Group released Dickerson's fourth book, Jesus Skeptic: A Journalist Explores the Credibility and Impact of Christianity. [30] In Jesus Skeptic, Dickerson presents images and evidence demonstrating that "Jesus really existed and launched the greatest movement for social good in human history." [31]
The Christian countercult movement or the Christian anti-cult movement is a social movement among certain Protestant evangelical and fundamentalist and other Christian ministries and individual activists who oppose religious sects that they consider cults.
John Stephen Piper is an American theologian and pastor in the Reformed Baptist tradition. He is also chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Piper taught biblical studies at Bethel University for six years (1974–1980), before serving as pastor for preaching and vision of Bethlehem Baptist Church (Converge) in Minneapolis for 33 years (1980–2013).
Charles Rozell Swindoll is an evangelical Christian pastor, author, educator, and radio preacher. He founded Insight for Living, headquartered in Frisco, Texas, which airs a radio program of the same name on more than 2,000 stations around the world in 15 languages. He is currently the Founding Pastor at Stonebriar Community Church, in Frisco, Texas, and also sits on their elder board.
Richard Duane Warren is an American Baptist evangelical Christian pastor and author. He is the founder of Saddleback Church, an evangelical Baptist megachurch in Lake Forest, California. Since 2022, he is executive director of the Finishing the Task mission coalition.
Gordon Donald Fee was an American-Canadian Christian theologian who was an ordained minister of the Assemblies of God (USA). He was professor of New Testament Studies at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Lee Patrick Strobel is an American Christian author and a former investigative journalist. He has written several books, including four that received ECPA Christian Book Awards and a series which addresses challenges to the veracity of Christianity. He also hosted a television program called Faith Under Fire on PAX TV and runs a video apologetics web site.
Craig L. Blomberg is an American New Testament scholar. He is currently the Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the New Testament at Denver Seminary in Colorado where he has been since 1986. His area of academic expertise is the New Testament,including subjects relating to parables, miracles, the historical Jesus, Luke-Acts, John, 1 Corinthians, James, the historical trustworthiness of Scripture, financial stewardship, gender roles, the Latter Day Saint movement, hermeneutics, New Testament theology, and exegetical methods. Blomberg has written and edited multiple books.
Donald Arthur Carson is a Canadian evangelical theologian. He is a Distinguished Emeritus Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and president and co-founder of the Gospel Coalition. He has written or edited about sixty books and served as president of the Evangelical Theological Society in 2022.
The Neo-charismaticmovement is a movement within evangelical Protestant Christianity that is composed of a diverse range of independent churches and organizations that emphasize the current availability of gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as speaking in tongues and faith healing. The Neo-charismatic movement is considered to be the "third wave" of the Charismatic Christian tradition which began with Pentecostalism, and was furthered by the Charismatic movement. As a result of the growth of postdenominational and independent charismatic groups, Neo-charismatics are now believed to be more numerous than the first and second wave categories. As of 2002, some 19,000 denominations or groups, with approximately 295 million individual adherents, were identified as Neo-charismatic.
Norman Leo Geisler was an American Christian systematic theologian, philosopher, and apologist. He was the co-founder of two non-denominational evangelical seminaries.
Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, public theologian and was a leading figure in the emerging church movement. McLaren is often associated with postmodern Christianity.
Dennis James Kennedy was an American Presbyterian pastor, evangelist, Christian broadcaster, and author. He was the senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from 1960 until his death in 2007. Kennedy also founded Evangelism Explosion International, Coral Ridge Ministries, the Westminster Academy in Fort Lauderdale, the Knox Theological Seminary, radio station WAFG-FM, and the Center for Reclaiming America for Christ, a socially conservative political group.
Timothy James Keller was an American Calvinist pastor, preacher, theologian, and Christian apologist. He was the chairman and co-founder of Redeemer City to City, which trains pastors for service around the world. He was also the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City and the author of The New York Times bestselling books The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith (2008), Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God (2014), and The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism (2008). The prequel for the latter is Making Sense of GOD: An Invitation to the Skeptical (2016).
Robert Holmes Bell Jr. is an American author, speaker, playwright, musician and former pastor. Bell founded Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan, and pastored it until 2012. Under his leadership, Mars Hill was one of the fastest-growing churches in America.
Rich Nathan is an American pastor and author who has been the senior Pastor of Vineyard Columbus since 1987. In January 2021, Pastor Nathan handed the Senior Pastor role to Eric and Julia Pickerill. He is still on staff as Founding Pastor and in charge of the Pastors Residency Program.
Gregory A. Boyd is an American theologian, Anabaptist pastor, and author. Boyd is Senior Pastor of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minnesota and President of Reknew.org. He is one of the leading spokesmen in the growing Neo-Anabaptism movement, which is based in the tradition of Anabaptism and advocates Christian pacifism and a non-violent understanding of God.
John Carl Ortberg Jr. is an American evangelical Christian author, speaker, and the former senior pastor of Menlo Church in Menlo Park, California, an ECO Presbyterian church with more than 4,000 members. Ortberg has published many books, including the 2008 ECPA Christian Book Award winner When the Game is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box, and the 2002 Christianity Today Book Award winner If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat. Another of his publications, The Life You've Always Wanted, has sold more than 500,000 copies as of 2008. On August 13, 2012, Ortberg's book Who Is This Man? debuted at #3 on the New Release chart at Amazon.com.
Robert "Bobby" Brewer was an American pastor, author, and talk radio personality based in Phoenix, Arizona. In addition to being the co-host of a Christian radio show and pastor, he was known for being an Evangelical Christian who witnessed the 1997 Phoenix Lights. In 2002, he wrote an article for the Christian Research Journal. In 2022, he wrote a book, UFOs: 12 Things You Should Know (ISBN 9781640795617), in which he gave his assessment of the phenomenon.
The Ordinary Radicals is a 2008 documentary film directed by Philadelphia filmmaker Jamie Moffett.
Andrew Farley is an American Evangelical Christian, the author of nine best-selling books, including The Naked Gospel and God Without Religion, and the Lead Pastor of The Grace Church, in Lubbock, Texas. He served as an Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at Texas Tech University.
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