A
Divine
Appointment
R
ECENTLY, I flew home from working with a school in
Iowa and had the privilege of sitting next to an atheist.
I sincerely considered it a privilege because on the morning
of this particular flight, I had prayed and asked the Lord to
give me a divine appointment on that day.
As it often happens, when this atheist found out I had
given a speech the night before, he asked me what kind of
speech I gave. This led to his telling me that he was raised
in a Christian family but had rejected Christianity “a long
time ago.” Thankfully, he was a very nice older man who was
eager to have a robust discussion with a “man of faith.”
I mentioned believing in the facts that support Christi-
anity, and he quickly told me there were no facts to support
my beliefs; there was only faith. By the time we finished our
discussion, he had agreed with me that his beliefs were also
based in faith and that he couldn’t prove some of what he
believed with observational science. Before we parted ways,
he asked if he could have my business card because “I may
want to contact you someday.”
Several things come to my mind as I reflect on this conver-
sation with this precious, non-Christian man:
1. He is one of the millions of people in the United States
who were raised in a Christian home but have aban-
doned the faith. This broke my heart and renewed my
passion for helping today’s children develop a biblical
worldview.
2. In spite of his rejection of the Christian faith, he still
lived by many Judeo-Christian values. The teaching he
received as a child has been very hard for him to reject.
He agreed with me when I told him that many of his
beliefs are rooted in the Judeo-Christian worldview.
This reaffirmed my belief in the power and importance of
teaching children truth from a very early age.
3. As I made a solid biblical case on a number of issues
he raised, he seemed somewhat surprised at my argu-
ments. He seemed to have never heard a good argu-
ment for the Christian worldview in so many areas. This
reminded me that truth is like a lion. Just let it out of
the box, and it will defend itself. No falsehood looks good
when compared to ultimate truth.
4. Many of the arguments he gave in defense of his athe-
ism were easily turned around to show the hand of an
Almighty Creator. For example, he talked about how
impossible it was for a god to create the complexities of
28
By Jeff Keaton - Founder, CEO & President of Renewanation
the human body. I then simply asked him if he thought
it was reasonable to think this complex human body
came together with no designer and through random
chance. I asked him if he could imagine the plane we
were flying on coming together without a designer. I
told him that when I see the beautiful complexities of
the human body, I am drawn to worship the God who
is so brilliant that He could put this together.
5. The last thing that comes to my mind as I reflect on
this warm conversation is the need to be civil with those
we fundamentally disagree with. He told me he greatly
enjoyed our discussion and was possibly interested in
talking more in the future.
According to Michael Snyder, 6,000-10,000 churches
close every year in the United States. 1 He also states that in
1986 only 10% of those between the ages of 18-28 declared
themselves religiously unaffiliated. Today, 39% of the young
people in this age bracket declare themselves religiously
unaffiliated. That is an increase of 29 percentage points in
less than three decades!
In all the cultural centers of power, such as education, arts,
government, etc., the truth about God has been obscured
or completely rejected. If we continue to allow these secu-
larized centers of power to be the predominant influenc-
es in the training of our children, we will continue to see
outcomes like we have seen over the last forty years.
At Renewanation, we have been given a mandate to help
families, churches, and schools instill a biblical worldview in
the hearts and minds of today’s children. With every child
we reach, a new spark of hope begins to penetrate the dark-
ness. We invite you to join us in this epic battle for the hearts
and minds of our children. Visit renewanation.org to learn
how you can join the cause. ■
Jeff Keaton has been a successful pastor, church and school planter, and ministry entrepre-
neur. As the founder and CEO of Renewanation, Jeff now works across the United States
and Canada to help awaken the church to the great need to give every child a biblical worl-
dview. Jeff is married to his high school sweetheart, Michele, and they have two daughters,
two sons-in-law, and a grandson. He is the author of The Life of Radical Faith.
ENDNOTES
1. Michael Snyder, “Between 6,000 and 10,000 churches in the U.S. are dying each year,”
End Of The American Dream, November 27, 2018, endoftheamericandream.com/archives/
between-6000-and-10000-churches-in-the-u-s-are-dying-each-year-and-that-means-
that-over-100-will-die-this-week.