For the past few days, I’ve been in Orlando, Florida, attending the National Religious Broadcasters convention. The last time I attended was about 15 years ago. Most of my time has been spent meeting with other ministries that share a similar vision with American Vision. I’ve been able to reconnect with people I haven’t seen for awhile, and I’ve made some new friends. Many of the old guard broadcasters are in attendance. You would recognize their names if I mentioned them. Many are walking more slowly than when I last saw them. The spring is out of their step. Legacy is an important consideration. Who will carry on their work? It reminded me of my own mortality and the work that is still to be done in the time God has set before me in the limitation of my days. I think about this when I consider the future of American Vision.
When Greg Bahnsen died, we wondered why God would call a brilliant spokesman for and defender of the Christian faith home at such an early age. Greg left a legacy in the people he trained. His legacy continues in the works he left behind. Many of these works are getting out to a larger audience in new ways. It has made us who had the privilege of studying under him to work harder. While no one has filled Greg’s apologetic shoes, there are a lot of us who are applying his principles in the advance of the Christian message in the world. While the New Atheists are trying to revive a dead-end faith, they will not succeed partly because there are many well trained apologists who are forcing atheists to live consistently with their materialistic presuppositions. Today’s unholy trinity—Daniel C. Dennett, Richard Dawkins, and Sam Harris—cannot defend a worldview that cannot account for morality, reason, and hope given naturalistic assumptions. We’re pushing them to see the absurdity of their atheistic religion. You’ll see a number of books from AV dealing with this issue.
Pushing the Antithesis
Manifested in the Flesh
Letter from a Christian Citizen
The Return of the Village Atheist
There’s a lot more material coming on other topics as well. The goal is to raise up a new generation of Christian thinkers who can deal with the important topics of the day in every area of life. You don’t have to be blessed with the intellectual abilities of a Greg Bahnsen to be faithful to God’s Word and to know how it applies in the world, but it certainly helps to learn from those whom God has given special abilities.
For a number of years I have been on the look-out for someone to take my place to continue what has been started at American Vision. In fact, I’m looking for several people. My work load has increased beyond my ability to complete the numerous projects that I believe need to be done. There was a time when I had the luxury to research and write undisturbed. Those days are long gone. This does not mean that I’ve stopped writing; it only means that it requires more time to get a book written.
In addition, God has opened up new opportunities that I need to explore. These are not things I would have pursued on my own, but since they’ve come my way I can not dismiss them.
America is at a critical place in its history. There is no time to rest. The enemies of the gospel are looking for soft spots in our armor to attack with blind fury in their attempts to relegate Christianity to the dust bin of history. They continually “test the fence” for weak points. We cannot rest because they never do.
Gary is a graduate of Western Michigan University (1973) and earned his M.Div. at Reformed Theological Seminary in 1979. Author of countless essays, news articles, and more than 27 book titles, he also hosts The Gary DeMar Show, and History Unwrapped—both broadcasted and podcasted. Gary has lived in the Atlanta area since 1979 with his wife, Carol. They have two married sons and are enjoying being grandparents to their grandsons, Calvin and Paul. Gary and Carol are members of Midway Presbyterian Church (PCA).
