In this article Greg Gibson begins his series, Questions for College, by asking the first question, “What is Biblical Manhood?”  Greg swings for the shins of most young college guys in this thought-provoking and challenging article. [...]

Every Christian is called to be a minister of the Gospel, and so every Christian is called to prepare himself to know the Word and be able to communicate it. This call to preparation is especially true for the one who aspires to the office of pastor (1 Tim 3:1, 2; 4:6; 5:17; 2 Tim 2:2, 15; Eph 4:11-12). [...]

TVN Community,

It must seem that everyday we are continuing to add something new to what we are doing as a ministry.  Over the past month there has been a lot of changes made to The Veritas Network, and honestly, changes that we are very excited about.  Changes are needed for something to continue to be exciting, and as we grow, we hope to continue to add ‘good’ changes that will keep you coming back as a reader and a networker of TVN.  With that in mind, I would like to share with you my heart on where I think God is taking The Veritas Network and what we will need from you guys to make that happen.  

Obviously, our passion and desire here at TVN is to ‘challenge our generation’ to love the church, the family, and the nations, as well as to challenge and equip young people to live with a biblical worldview.  We are all excited about the direction that we believe God is taking us as a ministry, and all 4 of these components above will play a vital role in the direction that we go.

But for right now, I would like to share with you what is ‘new’ over the past month or so and the direction that we believe God is taking us.

1. Veritas Radio Show.  Veritas Radio has been designed to be the mouthpiece of TVN.  Our hosts, Grant Henry and Whitney Clayton, are committed to and passionate about seeing young people grow in their understanding and knowledge of Scripture.  Every Sunday from 8-9pm you can tune in live by clicking on the tab that says “Listen Live” in the Radio drop down menu above.  
2. Podcast and Audio Resources.  We have begun a podcast that can be accessed in the iTunes store for free or by clicking on the Podcast tab above.  Our Podcast will be the central location where you can download all of our radio show episodes, audio resources, and sermons so that you can listen to them on the go and at your convenience.
3. TVN Events and Annual Conference.  This is something that I am really excited about.  We have decided to have a TVN annual conference every year in the month of July that is focused on continuing to equip our generation to think biblically about cultural issues and to engage the culture with the truth of the gospel.  Our first conference, ’1 Word/1 Lens,’ will be in July Twenty-eleven.  Registration is open already by clicking on the ’1 World/1 Lens’ tab under the Events drop down menu, and we are excited about what God is going to do in and through our labors and vision for this annual conference.  We will keep you posted with more details as the time roles closer to 2011.
4. Write for us.  Also, if you are interested in writing for The Veritas Network then please email us a sample or two of your writing, a resume, and a writing proposal to theveritasnetwork@gmail.com.  
5. Donations.  In reality, nobody likes to ask for money, but we can’t do what we think God as called as to do at TVN without the help from you.  Right now, all donations that we receive go directly to TVN so that it can be self-sustaining as we continue to labor toward our direction and calling of challenging our generation to love Jesus, his church, the family, and the nations.  We hope to be a resource for young people to engage the culture with the truth of the gospel.  Donations can be made via credit card by clicking on the ‘Donations’ tab above, or by sending a check made out to The Veritas Network to:  

The Veritas Network

11417 Bancroft Ln.

Knoxville, TN 37934

I, for one, am excited about what God is already doing through the labors of our writers and leadership here at TVN.  As we go forth, I am absolutely confident that God is going to do great things with this ministry… for his glory alone.  Continue to keep us in your prayers as we seek to continue to advance the gospel throughout our generation.  

Holding the convictions that we do is not easy.  We have seen success already with TVN; we have had thousands of hits and comments in only 5 months of being launched as a ministry; we have received countless emails and notes about our labors; but we have seen our share of criticisms as well.  TVN has been targeted on a few different sites for it’s absolute biblical convictions concerning biblical manhood, gender roles, and dating/courtship.  We have received hate email for some of the articles that we have written lately.  Most of these emails attack us personally and  forget to even mention something about the positions that we hold, much less even attempting to defend their own position.  This is something that we will see more of I am sure.  As the gospel goes forth, even in love, into enemy territory there will always be some from of persecution toward it’s takers.  

None-the-less, we must go forth.  

We must continue to engage the culture with the truth of the gospel.  We must continue to challenge our generation to love Jesus by dying daily and taking up their crosses and following him.  We must continue to challenge our generation to love the local church by finding a good Bible-believing and gospel-centered church to serve in and be on mission with.  We must continue to challenge our generation to love the family by dating ‘intentionally’ with marriage in mind, to never even use the word ‘divorce’ in their vocabulary (but graciously love without judgment on those who have), and to have a passion for adoption, foster care and big families.  We must continue to challenge our generation to love the nations and live with a Great Commission lens wherever they are in the world.  And we must continue to challenge our generation to think biblically about the major philosophical, political, ethical, relational, social, and cultural truth issues of our day.  

These are the essentials that TVN will always do.  If you agree with this then we ask that you would partner with us and continue to spread our mission to the ends of the earth.  

What do you think?  Are you with us?  Are you in?  Will you help us battle the evils of this world and spread ‘goodness’ one hug, smile, donation, and article at a time?  I pray that you will.  

Challenging a Generation,

“Our walls are crumbling and our people are in shame.” This is the answer that Nehemiah received when he asked a fellow Jew about the state of their people. You see, Nehemiah was working in a foreign land in the court of a foreign king. Without the aid of the internet, he could only hear of his homeland through second and third hand sources. When he heard that answer, he was devastated, as I am sure you could imagine.

Fast forwarding in the story, we see the king allowing and assisting Nehemiah to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls and fix the gates. Along the way, Nehemiah shows himself to be a very adept and natural leader, securing the king’s grant of safe passage through the kingdom with all the materials necessary to complete the job, also given from the king. Once he arrived in Jerusalem, Nehemiah got to work. More specifically, he got the people to work.

Nehemiah scouted out the state of the city walls and he appointed all of the different people to different areas, and by the end of the day, the city walls were half their original height, much to the chagrin of the enemies of Judah. When they threatened to attack the city to stop the rebuilding, Nehemiah recorded his response in Chapter 4:

• 13. So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open spaces, I stationed the people by their clans, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. 14. And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and the officials and the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.

Now, I say to Christians living in America “Our walls are crumbling and our people are in shame.”

It is time for those with the authority of King Jesus to rebuild the walls in order to protect our land. I want to give three areas of Christian culture in America where I believe the walls are crumbling. Then I exhort all believers and, more specifically, pastors to defend the low places in our spiritual walls and bring honor and glory back to the Kingdom of God. The three areas are:

1. The Family. As the foundational institution of society, the slow eradication of the family is the first area where Christians need to buildup the spiritual walls of the Kingdom. Pastors should focus upon training men to be authentic husbands and fathers. They should love their wives as Christ loved us, his people. Christian men should raise their children in the way of the Word, teaching them honor and respect. If men were really being Christ-like husbands, I promise you that divorce would have no place in the church.
2. Doctrinal Integrity. In America today, it is cool to be spiritual. But Christians are not called to be spiritual. We are called to make disciples, baptizing in the name of the trinitarian God of the Bible, and teach these disciples to obey all the commandments God has given us. We are not supposed to follow our heart, seek a global truth, or define God in any way other than His revelation of Himself in the Bible. If we do not preach our doctrine, Christianity will become one more small voice lost in the crowd of modern spiritual seekers.
3. Missional Abandonment. By this I mean that pastors should encourage their people to adopt the zeal, determination, and reckless abandonment that is evidenced by foreign missionaries. What if God’s people began to reorient their lives around the Gospel instead of their career? What would happen if Christians moved places and set up their lives based upon the needs of the Kingdom, the spread of the Gospel, or the call of the Holy Spirit instead of following the call of their profession? That would not only change the face of Christianity in America, that would change America.

Therefore, I implore pastors and concerned Christians to concern themselves with the weakest areas of the spiritual walls of our time, just as Nehemiah stepped up and addressed the needs of his time.