About two months ago I found a slew of free courses available as MP3 downloads from Covenant Theological Seminary. They had two courses, in particular, which interested me: Francis Schaeffer, Early Years & Francis Schaeffer, Later Years. I’ve read several of Schaeffer’s books over the past 3 years or so and I’ve always found him an interesting figure. It was some of his talk about life at L’Abri in The Church at the End of the 20th Century that piqued my interest in his life. He talked a lot about living out the Gospel in difficult ways right in front of people… of a Gospel that was no Gospel if it didn’t get down into the muck with people to help haul them out. In short, I’d never heard that kind of emphasis from a fundamentalist. Maybe I missed it. But I can guarantee I’d never heard anyone make his case with such biblical proofs and personal vehemency. And after studying his life, no one—no one—I’ve ever heard of lived this out so profoundly. Not perfectly, but fully. He let the implications of the Gospel soak areas of his life most of us keep hermetically sealed.
My tour guide on this fascinating journey into the Schaeffers’ lives was Jerram Barrs, Resident Scholar at the Francis A. Schaeffer Institute at Covenant. He was one of the founders of the English branch of L’Abri and worked with L’Abri for almost 20 years before accepting a teaching position at Covenant Seminary. Barrs’ experiences at L’Abri could form a book in and of themselves (which I wish he would write). He was a close friend of the Schaeffers and has an up-close-and-personal view of the ministry of the Schaeffers during their time at L’Abri. I’m meaning to write to Dr. Barrs and let him know what a wonderful set of classes the Schaeffer courses are. I listened to about 3 a day during my long commutes and it’s had a profound affect on my thinking and spiritual life. I would highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend these courses to everyone. The Schaeffers’ lives are an inspiration if you want to Read the rest of this entry »
A little while back, I got some extra money and I decided to donate it to Voice of the Martyrs, a wonderful relief organization that mainly helps persecuted Christians in closed nations get food, shelter, legal help, and Bible literature. I went to their website and they have a kind of shopping cart where you can select where you want your money to go… you add different donations to your cart and then check out. Well, I saw “Sudan Action Packs” and it said something about buying packs of clothes, toiletries, etc. (+ Bible literature they add in-country) that would be sent to displaced people in Darfur. Cool, I thought, I’ll donate to those. So I spent my $25 on it and thought that was that. Someone in Darfur would now get clothes and the Gospel.
