S-9 PEOPLE-FILES
- Daniel Strange - Lee Strobel - Allie Beth Stuckey - Tim Stuen - Brian Suave - Meera Subramanian - Jack Sullivan Jr - Josh Sullivan - Matthew Sullivan - Tony Sumpter - Greg Surratt - Matthew Sutton - Jen Sutphin -
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==Daniel Strange======
Daniel Strange is director of Crosslands Forum, vice president of The Southgate Fellowship, and in theological leadership at The London Project (City to City). He is a fellow of The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics and is the author of Their Rock Is Not like Our Rock, Plugged In, and Making Faith Magnetic. He is a contributing editor for Themelios and an elder of Hope Community Church, Gateshead, United Kingdom, which is part of the Fellowship of Evangelical Churches (FIEC).
Daniel Strange
Let’s state the obvious: Our cultural moment feels uniquely broken. Whether it’s political infighting, endless protests, or the pandemic’s lingering scars, incivility seems to be everywhere. Compounded by the ways online life divides us (I’ve seen the terms “cyberbalkanization” and “splinternet” thrown around), our posture toward one another is less open and more defensive. A 2022 U.S. study with 7,000 participants dug into how COVID-19 messed with our personalities. The study focused on the “Big Five” personality traits: extraversion versus introversion, agreeableness versus antagonism, conscientiousness versus lack of direction, neuroticism versus emotional stability, and openness versus closedness to experience. The findings are sobering. We’re less kind and empathetic, more closed off to new ideas, pulling away from people, and struggling to stay motivated for our goals. In other words, we’re becoming less good at being with each other. Inside the church and out, we’re talking past each other, slapping labels on folks we disagree with, and caricaturing their views. We’re all feeling the squeeze—squeezed for the time it takes to have a real conversation and squeezed out of the healthy spaces where those conversations used to happen. We’re afraid of being misunderstood or “canceled,” and that fear just makes things worse. This hostile climate affects our bodies, our minds, and our relationships. We all yearn for a comeback of basic civility, but here’s the thing—it’s not enough on its own. We need Jesus at the center, the One who mends what’s broken deep down. That’s where magnetic spaces fit in beautifully. They ease the immediate squeeze on our time by creating room for honest, kind conversations. At the same time, magnetic spaces open doors to lasting hope by pointing us toward the gospel. -Daniel Strange; Gospel Coalition; Why Churches Need ‘Magnetic Spaces’ 9.29.25
“Jesus is Lord is a political claim, but the transformation of society will not come about by political means”
In an interview, author and cultural analyst Dan Strange says Christians need to speak more about their faith: “All the things now valued in our post-Christian world have Christian origins, even when these have been distorted”. (Daniel Hofkamp/Evangelical Focus 11/10/23) Read More>>>>>
In an interview, author and cultural analyst Dan Strange says Christians need to speak more about their faith: “All the things now valued in our post-Christian world have Christian origins, even when these have been distorted”. (Daniel Hofkamp/Evangelical Focus 11/10/23) Read More>>>>>
Daniel Strange Files
Theologically speaking, we are in a spiritual battle. The Bible makes it very clear. We have a sense of being in a culture war because we're talking about different worldviews clashing with each other. And I think the Bible makes it very clear that idolatry in its modern form, whatever it might be, needs to be tackled and brought down. Now, the way we do that is certainly not through violence or through some kind of angry stance, but by giving reason for the hope that we have. It's trying to proclaim the gospel, and that involves confrontation and persuasion.However, we should not fit into the Culture Wars as they are drawn by the rest of the world, because sometimes it is set up as a very binary form of left or right. We are involved in a spiritual war and in a sense there is a cultural war, but the weapons we use in that war are not human weapons and we must give a reason for the hope we have with gentleness and respect, while at the same time trying to tear down idols and encourage people to turn from idols to the living God, as it says in 1 Thessalonians. -Daniel Strange; Evangeilkcal Focus; “Jesus is Lord is a political claim, but the transformation of society will no come about by political means” 11/10/23
==Lee Strobel======
Zorek Richards
- January 28, 2022:
- Lee Strobel said the following in an announcement that he was headlining the 2022 Louisiana Baptist Evangelism Conference: “Evangelism is even more important today, but so is apologetics, or offering reasons for why we believe what we believe...My friend J. Warner Wallace, an atheist detective who came to Christ after his investigation of the Gospels, went so far as to say, ‘evangelism in the 21st Century is spelled apologetics.’ I think he’s on the right track. We need to help people know why we believe that Jesus is the unique Son of God. That’s going to be vitally important as we face a nation and world that are skeptical and sometimes even hostile toward our faith.” I agree and disagree with this. Apologetics is good to learn.. Sharpens the Bible knowledge. But, I believe every Christian has a testimony and a need to "testify" and give witness of why he or she believes what they do. But the commission in Acts 1:7–8 states Jesus said to the disciples, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Maybe conferences like the one Strobel mentions is helpful for some, but for the vast number of people who cannot attend such conferences...God has provided a way that keeps your testimony real that has no urgent need for conference. In 3 words: "Read Your Bible.": 2 Timothy 3:16–17: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
==tim stuen====== |
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August 4, 2016: KOTA: Neighbor wants city to sue Dove Christian Center
“We want our neighbors to know that we love them,” said Senior Pastor Tim Stuen of the Dove Christian Center. “And I think that's love for someone to be able to have a chance to come contact with Almighty God.” |
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==brian suave======
The rise and fall of Christian nationalism
Last week, Mahler’s podcast was recommended by Gab CEO Andrew Torba as the “#1 Christian Nationalist podcast in the world” on his new website ChristianNationalist.com. More concerning still was the fact that Torba’s website was immediately praised by Christian nationalist pastors like Joel Webbon and Brian Sauvé, whose ministries were also recommended on the site. How did Christian nationalism go from an ambiguous pejorative invoked primarily by progressives, to a small but growing movement among Reformed Evangelicals, to a repository for gutter racism, misogyny, and antisemitism? The story is complicated. (Christian Post; 12/8/25) READMORE>>>>>
Last week, Mahler’s podcast was recommended by Gab CEO Andrew Torba as the “#1 Christian Nationalist podcast in the world” on his new website ChristianNationalist.com. More concerning still was the fact that Torba’s website was immediately praised by Christian nationalist pastors like Joel Webbon and Brian Sauvé, whose ministries were also recommended on the site. How did Christian nationalism go from an ambiguous pejorative invoked primarily by progressives, to a small but growing movement among Reformed Evangelicals, to a repository for gutter racism, misogyny, and antisemitism? The story is complicated. (Christian Post; 12/8/25) READMORE>>>>>
Rev. Dr. John E. Jackson: What is ‘Too Black’?
I have spent most of my adult life dealing with people who look like me telling me that I was “too Black,” or “too pro-Black.” This has come from mostly Black people who were uninformed about their faith and/or duped by White people who convinced them that whiteness was the standard to aspire to in their faith and their Blackness was to be either diminished or erased. This notion of a person being too much of how God made them has been trending on social media lately. Somebody posted, “Don’t be so pro-Black that you become anti-Christ.” Biblical and social brainwashing is real. Let me first remind the people who look like me what a large segment of White Christian nationalists and White evangelicals think about them. A Utah pastor by the name of Brian Sauvé said—and I paraphrase from a podcast—that “Black people would be welcome to join his church as long as they did not practice Black culture.” He further stated that “Black culture is evil, murderous, violent, and bestial; Black culture people steal, kill, destroy, and they look like Satan. Black culture people are sinful to the core, have a high rate of fatherlessness, sexual immorality, and molest children at high rates.” He then said that “in every criminal statistic, Black culture people excel.”
(New Pittsburgh Courier 11/17/25) READMORE>>>>
I have spent most of my adult life dealing with people who look like me telling me that I was “too Black,” or “too pro-Black.” This has come from mostly Black people who were uninformed about their faith and/or duped by White people who convinced them that whiteness was the standard to aspire to in their faith and their Blackness was to be either diminished or erased. This notion of a person being too much of how God made them has been trending on social media lately. Somebody posted, “Don’t be so pro-Black that you become anti-Christ.” Biblical and social brainwashing is real. Let me first remind the people who look like me what a large segment of White Christian nationalists and White evangelicals think about them. A Utah pastor by the name of Brian Sauvé said—and I paraphrase from a podcast—that “Black people would be welcome to join his church as long as they did not practice Black culture.” He further stated that “Black culture is evil, murderous, violent, and bestial; Black culture people steal, kill, destroy, and they look like Satan. Black culture people are sinful to the core, have a high rate of fatherlessness, sexual immorality, and molest children at high rates.” He then said that “in every criminal statistic, Black culture people excel.”
(New Pittsburgh Courier 11/17/25) READMORE>>>>
==meera subramanian======
Journalist Meera Subramanian found conflicting thoughts on climate and the environment from Christians through her own work as a freelance reporter. Subramanian went on to co-found the Religion & Environment Story Project, a group focused on the intersections between religion and the environment.
Following the 2016 presidential election, Subramanian traveled through the rural U.S. to gather environmental viewpoints from conservative communities, places at the “frontlines of the climate crisis,” as a part of a series of stories she wrote for Inside Climate News. Science and religion are often depicted as opposing forces in the debate over climate change, but Fargo isn’t afraid to make an explicitly Christian argument for environmentalism that he believes can capture hearts and minds.
In conservative Eastern Oregon, which has been battered by wildfires, floods and decades of drought, he’s counting on his message being especially relevant. And researchers are watching Oregon, and rural America at-large, to see if these types of arguments will break through in communities where these issues can sometimes carry political baggage. --Antonio Sierra: Oregon Public Broadcasting: The Christian case for fighting climate change is being tested in Eastern Oregon 2.25.23
Following the 2016 presidential election, Subramanian traveled through the rural U.S. to gather environmental viewpoints from conservative communities, places at the “frontlines of the climate crisis,” as a part of a series of stories she wrote for Inside Climate News. Science and religion are often depicted as opposing forces in the debate over climate change, but Fargo isn’t afraid to make an explicitly Christian argument for environmentalism that he believes can capture hearts and minds.
In conservative Eastern Oregon, which has been battered by wildfires, floods and decades of drought, he’s counting on his message being especially relevant. And researchers are watching Oregon, and rural America at-large, to see if these types of arguments will break through in communities where these issues can sometimes carry political baggage. --Antonio Sierra: Oregon Public Broadcasting: The Christian case for fighting climate change is being tested in Eastern Oregon 2.25.23
==jack sullivan jr======
'A broken nation': Columbus church leaders call for unity after Trump rally Shooting
The Rev. Jack Sullivan Jr., the executive director of the Ohio Council of Churches, a cross-denominational partnership composed of 4,000 congregations and two million members, said faith provides guidance when national events leave believers shaken. "(Faith) helps us to gain clarity concerning the values and the vision of God for humanity, which has to do with flourishing and abundant living and does not include any acceptance of violence," he told The Dispatch. "And so, people should be able to express their perspectives and their views on politics and life in general without violence and intimidation. And that goes for everybody.
(Columbus Dispatch 7/14/24) READMORE>>>>>
The Rev. Jack Sullivan Jr., the executive director of the Ohio Council of Churches, a cross-denominational partnership composed of 4,000 congregations and two million members, said faith provides guidance when national events leave believers shaken. "(Faith) helps us to gain clarity concerning the values and the vision of God for humanity, which has to do with flourishing and abundant living and does not include any acceptance of violence," he told The Dispatch. "And so, people should be able to express their perspectives and their views on politics and life in general without violence and intimidation. And that goes for everybody.
(Columbus Dispatch 7/14/24) READMORE>>>>>
==josh sullivan======
An American pastor was abducted at gunpoint in South Africa while preaching a sermon
Local media named the victim as Josh Sullivan, 45, from the US state of Tennessee, but police would not confirm the identification. According to the Fellowship Baptist church blog, Sullivan, who described himself as a “church-planting missionary”, his wife Meagan and two children arrived in South Africa in November, 2018, to run the Motherwell branch. An image showing Sullivan preaching behind a pulpit was uploaded on X by a user going by the name of Tom Hatley. Sullivan identifies a man with the same name as his childhood and training pastor on his own blog. Hatley claimed that he was posting on Sullivan’s wife’s behalf and prayed for a safe return. (Sight Magazine 4/13/25) READ MORE>>>>>
Local media named the victim as Josh Sullivan, 45, from the US state of Tennessee, but police would not confirm the identification. According to the Fellowship Baptist church blog, Sullivan, who described himself as a “church-planting missionary”, his wife Meagan and two children arrived in South Africa in November, 2018, to run the Motherwell branch. An image showing Sullivan preaching behind a pulpit was uploaded on X by a user going by the name of Tom Hatley. Sullivan identifies a man with the same name as his childhood and training pastor on his own blog. Hatley claimed that he was posting on Sullivan’s wife’s behalf and prayed for a safe return. (Sight Magazine 4/13/25) READ MORE>>>>>
==matthew sullivan======
March 27, 2023: Christianity Today: Presbyterian School Mourns 6 Dead in Nashville Shooting
Parents were invited into the chapel at The Covenant School in Nashville on Monday morning, like they are every school-day morning. They sung and prayed with the roughly 200 elementary students and 40 or 50 staff at the Presbyterian Church in America school and listened as pastor Matthew Sullivan “raises it to another level,” as one student put it, with his kid-friendly Bible lesson.
Parents were invited into the chapel at The Covenant School in Nashville on Monday morning, like they are every school-day morning. They sung and prayed with the roughly 200 elementary students and 40 or 50 staff at the Presbyterian Church in America school and listened as pastor Matthew Sullivan “raises it to another level,” as one student put it, with his kid-friendly Bible lesson.
==tony sumpter======
Tony Sumpter
Many of you are new to our community and church, and often one of the more challenging things is our worship services. You might describe our worship service as very traditional or you might be tempted to call it “seeker insensitive.” And as one of the disciples might have asked Jesus at one point, “What is up with that?” The answer is that we are committed to worshipping according to Scripture. Much of modern worship has become a highly consumer-driven product, from the worship songs and bands to the architecture and messages and coffee stations, the whole thing has become oriented to the tastes and preferences of people, and often even non-Christians. But one of the central messages of the Bible is that our desires, preferences, and tastes have all been twisted by sin, especially when it comes to spiritual things. This is what idolatry is: crafting our own images of God or of what we think a god or gods ought to be. Israel, emersed in Egyptian culture, thought that the worship of Jehovah needed a golden calf and sexual immorality. Many moderns, emersed in Netflix, and Instagram, and Spotify, think that worship needs to have a lot more entertainment value.
--Tony Sumpter; Having Two Legs; Worship According to Scripture; 9.5.23
--Tony Sumpter; Having Two Legs; Worship According to Scripture; 9.5.23
==greg surratt======
Jan 28, 2023: Christian Post: Rep. Nancy Mace jokes about premarital sex with fiancé at prayer breakfast attended by her pastor
Mace's comment on her sex life came several minutes after Seacoast Church Pastor Greg Surratt honored both her and Scott as a part of his congregation.
"I want to honor him today and Nancy Mace, who is also a part of our congregation," said Surratt, the co-founder of the church planting organization the Association of Related Churches.
Mace's comment on her sex life came several minutes after Seacoast Church Pastor Greg Surratt honored both her and Scott as a part of his congregation.
"I want to honor him today and Nancy Mace, who is also a part of our congregation," said Surratt, the co-founder of the church planting organization the Association of Related Churches.
==matthew sutton======
Review: ‘Chosen Land’ by Matthew Avery Sutton
There’s a true gospel, and there are false gospels. There are believers in historic Christianity, and there are unbelievers. People genuinely remade by the gospel don’t seek to remake the gospel. But this isn’t the way Matthew Avery Sutton—the Claudius O. and Mary Johnson distinguished professor and chair in history at Washington State University—describes American Christianity in his new book Chosen Land: How Christianity Made America and Americans Remade Christianity. As evident by his subtitle, Sutton contends that, in their 500-year quest to turn North America into a holy land, Christians have repeatedly reinvented their faith with virtually nothing tying the reinventions together in the way of creed or idea.
(Gospel Coalition; 3.5.26)READMORE>>>>>>
There’s a true gospel, and there are false gospels. There are believers in historic Christianity, and there are unbelievers. People genuinely remade by the gospel don’t seek to remake the gospel. But this isn’t the way Matthew Avery Sutton—the Claudius O. and Mary Johnson distinguished professor and chair in history at Washington State University—describes American Christianity in his new book Chosen Land: How Christianity Made America and Americans Remade Christianity. As evident by his subtitle, Sutton contends that, in their 500-year quest to turn North America into a holy land, Christians have repeatedly reinvented their faith with virtually nothing tying the reinventions together in the way of creed or idea.
(Gospel Coalition; 3.5.26)READMORE>>>>>>
David A Hollinger
We now have a formidable body of scholarship that establishes the depth and extent of these features of the American evangelical tradition, confirming and expanding on Richard Hofstadter’s legendary analysis in his 1964 book, Anti-intellectualism in American Life. This new body of scholarship is the work of a remarkable generation of young historians who have yet to receive the credit they’re due, so I name some of them here: Darren Dochuk, Matthew Sutton, Anthea Butler, Timothy Gloege, Jesse Curtis, Lerone Martin, J. Russell Hawkins, Stephen Young, Daniel Hummel, Daniel Silliman, and—the only one in this cohort to gain wide media recognition--Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of the justly famous and marvelously titled, Jesus and John Wayne. Sadly, while the majority of these scholars have written for Religion Dispatches, the conclusions of these bold and creative scholars have been largely ignored in the discussion of religion and politics found in the pages of The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other media of comparable reach and influence. --David Hollinger; Religion Dispatches; The Critiques of Evangelical Writers Opposing Christian Nationalism Fail to Recognize Evangelicalism’s Troubling History 6/18/24
==jen sutphin======
Jen Sutpin
Jen Sutphin, host of the YouTube channel Fundie Fridays, observed, “The Duggars became a beacon for the evangelical community, the fundamentalist community, and they finally saw themselves represented on TV.”
Evangelicals watched because they recognized themselves in the Duggars. The Gospel Coalition responded because they recognized they are going to be categorized as part of the same theological framework as IBLP. And everyone who has deconstructed conservative evangelicalism recognizes the story of the Duggars and IBLP is our story, no matter what part of evangelicalism’s tower we grew up in.
We all recognize what’s going on here. Sure, there are some nuances between the Duggars, Bill Gothard, IBLP, The Gospel Coalition, fundamentalists, John Piper, Kevin DeYoung, John MacArthur, Voddie Baucham, Al Mohler, and all the organizations they write for or denominations they are members of. But they’re not fundamentally different from one another. They’re simply contractors building the same tower, with different assignments. So let’s stop pretending like the entire tower doesn’t need to be taken down.
--Baptist News Global: How to connect the dots while watching Shiny Happy People 6-7-23
Evangelicals watched because they recognized themselves in the Duggars. The Gospel Coalition responded because they recognized they are going to be categorized as part of the same theological framework as IBLP. And everyone who has deconstructed conservative evangelicalism recognizes the story of the Duggars and IBLP is our story, no matter what part of evangelicalism’s tower we grew up in.
We all recognize what’s going on here. Sure, there are some nuances between the Duggars, Bill Gothard, IBLP, The Gospel Coalition, fundamentalists, John Piper, Kevin DeYoung, John MacArthur, Voddie Baucham, Al Mohler, and all the organizations they write for or denominations they are members of. But they’re not fundamentally different from one another. They’re simply contractors building the same tower, with different assignments. So let’s stop pretending like the entire tower doesn’t need to be taken down.
--Baptist News Global: How to connect the dots while watching Shiny Happy People 6-7-23
