I Met Jim Wallis Today

Jim Wallis came to Denver Seminary today to speak about his new book and do a book signing. Since I work in the bookstore I got paid to go to his lecture and then help out with the book signing. Wallis spoke for about a half and hour and then fielded questions the rest of the time. It was interesting to here him speak about how much of his journey began at 14 years old, when a white Detroit pastor told him that Christianity was totally private and had nothing to say about the horrors of racism or discrimination.

To sum up most of what he said I quote what I wrote about his book “Great Awakening” about a month ago when I saw him on John Stewart.

I think what Wallis was trying to say is that there is a new movement in younger Evangelicals to turn out and value such moral issues as poverty, the environment, and human rights. There seems to be a growing tension that has developed between my generation of Christians and the Baby Boomers. Both have locked into different paths of how our faith plays out in the political realm and what issues should compel them into action. I think this is a healthy change that will hopefully allow for some of the tired stereotypes that have long been attached to Evangelicals to fade away.

It was nice to hear Jim Wallis talk about the extremism of Presidential candidates during primary season, and how he has had personal conversations with each Presidential candidate about moving to a more centrist position during the general election. He also touched on the fact that great reform and social change does not occur and come about because we elect a certain candidate to the office, as it is not politics that brings change, but movements. This might be why Obama has taken on the word “movement” instead of “campaign.”He is right about the fact that politicians are usually inept without a strong wave of social outcry. He stated that “Lydon B. Johnson did not become a social reformer until Martin Luther King made him one.” Interesting idea that as Christians we should be more passionate about getting candidate to endorse biblical causes, rather than getting Christians to endorse their candidacy…

ryan