Atheism is on the rise. If you haven’t been confronted by it yet, you will be.

Your children are already being challenged by it. Here are some sobering facts:

•  1 in 4 Americans under 30 now describe their religion as “atheist,” “agnostic,” or “nothing in particular”
• the number of Americans with no religious affiliation has doubled since 1990, to 15 percent
• young people are dropping out of church at 5-6 times the historic rate, often because of intellectual doubts
• books by the New Atheists have gone mainstream, many becoming international bestsellers
• skeptic groups are becoming aggressive; the Secular Student Alliance has doubled in two years, and has established 250 chapters in U.S. schools



Even if you and your church have not yet run into militant atheism head-on, the effects of it are seeping into our culture and, increasingly, into the church. We must confront this challenge! We need to be ready — and help our church members become ready — to not only “give an answer” (1 Pet. 3:15), but also to “take every thought captive” for Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).

That’s why we’re offering this vitally important live simulcast on Sunday evening, Oct. 14, 2012, called “Unpacking Atheism.” Apologetic veterans Lee Strobel and Mark Mittelberg will host this event as they interview Dr. William Lane Craig, perhaps the leading defender of Christianity today.

Together, Strobel, Mittelberg, and Dr. Craig will unpack the central claims made by atheists and discuss how we can best answer them. In addition, they’ll disclose inside stories of Dr. Craig’s landmark debates with many of the leading atheists and skeptics around the world. They’ll also interview other guests with fascinating stories of coming out of atheism to follow Christ.

This promises to be one of the most exciting and informative simulcasts ever offered — and your church can participate! It’s simple to sign up and host this event. Then promote it to your congregation, youth ministries, and entire community — including spiritually curious visitors.

Together we’ll answer the toughest challenges to our faith, hear stories of truth triumphing over doubt, and point people confidently toward trust in Christ.

TIMES

This simulcast is now on-demand.
 

Lee Strobel:

Atheist-turned-Christian Lee Strobel, the former award-winning legal editor of The Chicago Tribune, is a New York Times best-selling author of more than twenty books and has been interviewed on numerous national TV programs, including ABC, Fox, PBS, and CNN.

Described in the Washington Post as “one of the evangelical community’s most popular apologists,”Lee was educated at the University of Missouri (Bachelor of Journalism degree, 1974) and Yale Law School (Master of Studies in Law degree, 1979) and holds top honors for investigative reporting.

After a nearly two-year investigation of the evidence for Jesus, Lee became a Christian in 1981. He joined the staff of Willow Creek Community Church and later joined Saddleback Valley Community Church as a teaching pastor in 2000. In recognition of his extensive research for his books, Southern Evangelical Seminary honored Lee with the conferring of a Doctor of Divinity degree in 2007. For more information about Lee Strobel visit leestrobel.com

Mark Mittelberg:

Mark Mittelberg is a best-selling author, sought-after speaker, and a leading strategist in evangelism and apologetics-oriented outreach. He is the primary author (with Lee Strobel and Bill Hybels) of the updated Becoming a Contagious Christian Training Course, through which more than a million people have learned to effectively and naturally communicate their faith to others.

Mark’s newest book, The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask, is based on a survey of 1000 Christians commissioned through the Barna organization, and deals with the ten issues that believers most want to avoid—but must not!

Mark was the evangelism director at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago for seven years and for the Willow Creek Association for a decade. He is a frequent contributor for Outreach magazine, and he was an editorial consultant and periodic guest for Lee Strobel’s Faith Under Fire television show. He and Strobel have been ministry partners for over twenty years. Mark earned a Master’s Degree in Philosophy of Religion from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. In recognition of his achievements in the areas of evangelism and apologetics, he was recently honored by the conferring of a Doctor of Divinity degree from Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina

William Lane Craig:

William Lane Craig is research professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University. He has earned doctorates from the University of Birmingham (England) (Ph.D. 1977), and the University of Munich (Germany) (D.Theol. 1984) and has taught at Trinity Evangelical Seminary and Wheaton College, along with pursuing research at the University of Louvain (Belgium).

He has authored or edited over thirty books, including noteworthy Crossway titles like The Two Tasks of the Christian Scholar (co-edited) (2007), Hard Questions, Real
Answers (2003) and Time and Eternity (2001).

Dr. Craig is an international lecturer and debater. He has spoken at numerous universities, including Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge, Moscow, and Peking. Moreover, he has spoken at numerous conferences and churches, including Willow Creek Community Church (Chicago), All Soul’s (London), and McLean Bible Church (Washington, D.C.). Given his extensive experience, he is known for his skillful communication to both scholar and student alike.

Randall Niles:

Randall Niles was the stereotypical skeptic, critic, and cynic of all things “religious.” Forged in the fires of Georgetown, Oxford, and Berkeley, Randall’s peers knew him as a “practicing atheist.” Then, in what seemed to be overnight, people witnessed a dramatic shift in his life. Randall is a business attorney who now spends the bulk of his time developing online media to spark critical thinking and truth-seeking in a new generation. He currently serves as co-founder and COO of www.AllAboutGOD.com and a director of www.GotQuestions.org. Randall also teaches courses at Colorado Christian University in the areas of business, law, ethics, and philosophy. He lives in Colorado with his wife and three kids, and can be reached at Randall@RandallNiles.com.

Dr. Holly Ordway:

Dr. Holly Ordway is a poet, academic, and Christian apologist on the faculty of Houston Baptist University, where she is Chair of the Department of Apologetics. She holds a PhD in English from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, an MA in English from UNC Chapel Hill, and an MA in apologetics from Biola University. She is also a regular speaker on imaginative and literary apologetics, with special attention to the work of C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams. She is the author of Not God’s Type: A Rational Academic Finds a Radical Faith (Moody, 2010) and the forthcoming Literary Apologetics: An Introduction (Moody, 2014). She blogs on literature, culture, and apologetics at Hieropraxis.com.

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