Encouraging Young Brothers in Christ

   I just returned from spending the lunch hour with LeCrae, Tedashi and the rest of the guys. They are ministering here in Phoenix tonight, so, thanks to Twitter (and whoever hooked us up yesterday by that means!), we got together at their hotel. I brought my MacBook and my projector and gave my NT Reliability presentation over lunch. I figure if you are traveling and presenting a Christian message in our nation today, there are few things more foundational than knowing why you can trust the New Testament.
   I was tremendously encouraged by meeting these young men. First, we share a bond that the world can’t understand. Look at that picture. Who is the odd man out? Yeah, the white pasty bald Scotsman in the middle. But they told me about how my ministry has been an encouragement in their lives, so we share a relationship that transcends race and background. One told me about how The Forgotten Trinity had been used of God in his life, and I could only feel a deep thanksgiving at such words. And what kind of questions did they ask? A wide range, but two that I recall were, “How do you respond to folks when they bring up texts like Mark 16:9-20? How can you maintain an emphasis upon the reliability of the text in light of variation like that?” And toward the end LeCrae asked, “How do you handle the hypostatic union and the death of Christ? How do you explain the meaning of Christ’s death?” Now that’s the kind of discussion you want to have over the lunch table!
   So, thanks to Twitter, I have some new friends in the Lord, and hopefully I have been able to encourage them in their walk with Christ.