President’s Desk

Dear Friends,

I am persuaded that an open forum for skeptics is one of the most important and effective outreach opportunities of our time. Perhaps you have never attended such an event; so you can’t imagine leading one. If you have attended one, you may think only a Ph.D. or an M.Div. should give this type of outreach a try. I think not, but I certainly won’t discourage anyone with degrees from getting started.

An open forum will work if the Christians in charge are as eager to listen and learn as they are to speak. Respect for individuals, for their questions, and for their right to choose either fact or fiction as the basis for their "faith" is a God-honoring approach, and He works mightily through it.

The keys to launching and sustaining a fruitful open forum for skeptics, are these:

Find a team of people with different backgrounds and personalities rather than just one person, if possible. A nurse, a businessperson, and an engineer, for example, can cover a breadth of subject matter. So can just about any other threesome or foursome you assemble.
Equip yourself and your teammates with well-researched apologetics material, such as the books and tapes we make available. We offer an audiotaped training course already, and another is soon to come on videotape. Remember that skeptics everywhere tend to ask the same or similar questions. About ten of these are really common, but the total list comes to about 200. Familiarizing yourself with these questions (we can help) goes a long way toward preparing you for just about any question that is likely to come your way.
For discussion kick-off, take advantage of our written and taped reports on the latest scientific evidences for the Christian faith or use a brief segment (about 10 minutes) from a captivating, thought-provoking videotape, whether ours or someone else's. Experiment, prayerfully. We’ve seen a few-minute presentation on a science news article or a clip from the Jesus video lead to a two-hour, spiritually in-depth discussion on any number of topics.
Be honest. If you can't answer (or give anything more than a tentative answer to) a particular question, just say, "I'd like to study some more before I reply. Come back next time." If you meet once a month, you'll have 30 days to develop a response, and you can be sure our help is available.
Enlist the support of prayer partners, family and friends who share your vision for what a forum can accomplish, who affirm your calling to be involved, who will pray for you and the people attending.

I look forward to the day when hundreds of you, better yet thousands, are conducting open forums for skeptics across the country and around the world. Imagine what the Lord can do through us to help multitudes of doubters—as I once was—find faith and hope and eternal life in Christ.

Sincerely,

Hugh Ross

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