A biblical response to living in a platform society.Platform: A mentality, a way of approaching life, which promises to reinforce our uniqueness, deliver on our desires, and offer validation and visibility.A platform society emphasizes individualism and performance. It’s rooted in the belief that self and personal desires are preeminent. In Platforms to Pillars, cultural expert Mark Sayers explores how platform mentality is misshap...

For much of recent history individuals and institutions could plan, execute, and flourish with their visions of a better world. Volatile, complex forces could be addressed and confronted with planning and management. But crisis is a great revealer. It knocks us off our thrones. It uncovers the weaknesses in our strategies and brings to light our myths and idols. Our past strategies run aground, smashed by unpredictable and chaotic waves. Yet in the midst of the chaos of a crisis comes oppo...

When church and culture look the same...For the many Christians eager to prove we can be both holy and cool, cultural pressures are too much. We either compartmentalize our faith or drift from it altogether—into a world that’s so alluring.Have you wondered lately:Why does the Western church look so much like the world?Why are so many of my friends leaving the faith?How can we get back to our roots?

What if the rise of secularism is good news for the church?For decades, we set our hopes on technology, politics, and the appearance of peace. We wanted to believe we were headed somewhere better—that progress was happening. But now as our technology ensnares and isolates us, our politics threaten to tear us apart, and our cultural decline continues to accelerate, people are understandably distressed.But throughout history these periods of decline ...

What if you're living in the wrong reality?Doesn't everyone want the good life these days? Our shopping mall world offers us a never-ending array of pleasures to explore. Consumerism promises us a vision of heaven on earth-a reality that's hyper-real. We've all experienced hyperreality: a candy so 'grape-ey' it doesn't taste like grapes any more; a model's photo so manipulated that it doesn't even look like her; a theme park version of life that tells us w...

What in the world is going on?These days the world has everyone spinning. Weekly terrorist attacks. The refugee crisis. Transgender bathrooms. Academic safe spaces. Tensions with Russia. A perpetually uncertain economy. The list goes on. It’s enough to make us crazy… or want to put our heads in the sand.But we can’t, because these are our times, and we must face them. So what many Christians are looking for is someone to communicate a way forward—someone wh...

A biblical response to living in a platform society.Platform: A mentality, a way of approaching life, which promises to reinforce our uniqueness, deliver on our desires, and offer validation and visibility.A platform society emphasizes individualism and performance. It’s rooted in the belief that self and personal desires are preeminent. In Platforms to Pillars, cultural expert Mark Sayers explores how platform mentality is misshap...

It's time for a return to Radical Holiness.Welcome to the 21st century where you can now purchase and exchange personalities, depending on mood and circumstance; where you are told that you can be anyone you want to be, and identity is no longer based in a sense of self but rather in the imagery you choose at that moment.The Bible contains a radically different way of understanding our identity. The path that God has chosen for us to discover who we really a...

There are two styles of leadership at war in the world.On one side the mechanical leader casts a vision of heroic action aided by pragmatism, reason, technology, and power.On the other side the organic leader strives to bring forth creativity, defying convention, and relishing life in culture’s margins.This leadership battle is at the heart of our contemporary culture, but it is also an ancient battle. It is the reinvocation of two...

The content in this short e-book is excerpted from The Road Trip That Changed the World, by Mark Sayers. The book examines the influence of Jack Kerouac on Western Culture and the Church from a Christian perspective.We live in a culture of the road—restless for adventure, glorifying experience, seeing life as a journey. Dissatisfied with where we are, we are constantly on the move to redefine our sense of home.Why do we see the world like this? How did we come to b...

Can’t find no satisfaction?There’s no shortage of prescriptions for restlessness out there: Seek adventure. Live your life. Don’t hold back.Sound familiar?The Road Trip that Changed the World is a book challenging the contemporary conviction that personal freedom and self-fulfillment are the highest good.Like the characters in a Jack Kerouac novel, we’ve dirtied the dream of white picket fences with exhaust fumes. The new d...

For much of recent history individuals and institutions could plan, execute, and flourish with their visions of a better world. Volatile, complex forces could be addressed and confronted with planning and management. But crisis is a great revealer. It knocks us off our thrones. It uncovers the weaknesses in our strategies and brings to light our myths and idols. Our past strategies run aground, smashed by unpredictable and chaotic waves. Yet in the midst of the chaos of a crisis comes oppo...