A Time to Pursue Truth

The Centurions Program

By Chuck Colson, Christian Post Guest Columnist Saturday, October 11, 2008

It's getting to the point where I hesitate to turn on the TV. From the financial crisis, to hurricanes, to Iran, to fuel prices, you name it. And it's not just the news, it's the media's—and the public's—voyeuristic preoccupation with chaos that troubles me. The news is grim.

But don't just hide in bed and pull the blanket over you. We need to understand what's happening in the world, not as mere spectators, but in order to engage the world in a winsome way, ourselves to be light in the darkness.

I can't help but be reminded of a lesson taught by a certain Oxford don named C.S. Lewis. Yes, these are frightening times today. But 60 years ago the entire world was at war. It was then that he preached his famous sermon The Weight of Glory. This is what he had to say: "Human culture has always had to exist under the shadow of something infinitely more important than itself. If men had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure, the search would never have begun."

Lewis' words could not be more appropriate for us today. It's precisely during times of crisis that we must persevere all the more in our quest for beauty and truth.

Five years ago, sensing that Western culture was being pressed on all sides by relativism, radical secularism, Islamo-fascism, I launched the Centurions Program—an intensive, year-long program designed to equip men and women to understand and articulate a Christian worldview; to teach others to be able to do so; and to engage—and shape—the culture at every level.

Today there are almost 500 men and women who have gone through the program. They form the core of what I hope becomes a veritable movement of cultural change-agents.

One of our graduates, Roger Arnold, has taken his deeper understanding of a biblical worldview to help him combat the cycle of crime in his community as he mentors ex-prisoners. Roger says, "Going through the Centurions program has made me a better mentor on a macro level, because the total immersion in the Word that is required by" the program.

Or take Centurion Peter Johnston of Texas. He is now running for the state board of education and credits the Centurions program for training him to serve.

And there's Tom Maxwell in Missouri, who worked side-by-side with prisoners on work release to restore a historic home in his community used for civic events.

There's Casey Cook in Texas, who communicates biblical truth about complex issues like bioethics through 3D art renderings of DNA double-helixes.

And in the "timing is everything" department, three of our Centurions are on the front lines of the financial crisis, striving to bring sound ethics and biblical truth to impact their place of work. In their cases, at Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, and J.P. Morgan.

The list goes on and on. And I couldn't be more excited. As long as God gives me breath, I want to continue to pour myself into these men and women who are bringing truth and beauty to every sphere of life during this critical time in our history. Will you be one of them?