Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth. For the Coulson Center, I'm John Stone Street. Sir Isaac Newton, in a letter written in 1675 to fellow scientist Robert Hooke, said this, if I've seen further than most, it's by standing on the shoulders of giants.
Well, Chuck Colson was one of those giants for so many of us, and it's our privilege today to steward his legacy through the Coulson Center. In fact, Chuck Colson believed that his most important legacy, even more than the organizations that he founded or the books that he wrote, would be people. And that's why he started what he called the Centurions Program. It's something that continues today as the Colson Fellows Program. Here's Chuck Coulson in his own words describing the important vision that he had for this program.
I have a burning passion. It's the first item on my prayer list every day. And that's to see a movement of Christians raised up from the churches to defend truth in the marketplace of ideas and to live out the gospel. Nothing less than this kind of an awakening can possibly save our quickly deteriorating culture. That's why I'm now spending all of my time working at Breakpoint and the Coulson Center.
One of my major projects is developing Christian leaders who can understand and defend a biblical view of all of life. We call this the Centurions Program. For the past six years, we've brought 100 of the best and brightest into this year-long teaching effort to study under some of the best minds in the Christian world. It's demanding. We read books together, review movies, critique them, do a lot of teaching online, and have three residencies during the year in Lansdowne, Virginia, near our offices.
Our Centurion graduates are like the Marines or Navy SEALs. They're on the front lines, the next wave of leaders. Can this work? Just two weeks ago, I was in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for a rally on behalf of the Manhattan Declaration. It was organized by the Catholic Archbishop Michael Sheehan and a former congressman named Bill Redmond, who's a Centurion graduate.
You can imagine my thrill when I walked into the convention center to see 1,600 participants, and they were on fire. They were there to learn biblical worldview, how to defend the sanctity of human life, traditional marriage, and religious liberty, to learn how to become activists. There were representatives from across the denominational spectrum: Southern Baptists, Nazarene, Assemblies of God, Methodists, Presbyterians, Catholics. The church had come together. And all this was organized by one gutsy archbishop and one centurion graduate.
They in fact had built a powerful network across the state of New Mexico.
So yes, it can be done. And our centurions are doing a whole variety of important tasks right across the spectrum, like John Blankemeyer, who founded a safe home for girls rescued from forced prostitution. Jose Delgado, a hospital chaplain who teaches emergency medical technicians how to build stronger marriages. Kathy Peel, who founded a group to help mothers under distress, and so many more. By the time they're certified, centurions know how to write, discuss, and teach Christian worldview in all sorts of settings.
They know how to create God-honoring culture through the arts, media, literature, and business. They're able to debate ethical challenges with medical professionals, advocate human rights, and develop tomorrow's leaders by raising children grounded in biblical values. In short, they learn to defend truth in an age in which many believe such a thing does not exist. Look, folks, the reason the church today is having so little impact is too many Christians view their faith only in terms of a personal relationship with Jesus. But Christianity doesn't stop with salvation.
That's only the beginning. We've got to learn how to present our worldview in a winsome way. And if we don't do this, it simply dooms our churches to isolation and irrelevance, just when our culture desperately needs the hope of the gospel more than ever. Because that vision was so prophetic and remains so relevant today, we renamed the program after Chuck after he died in 2012. I think he would be ecstatic today that thousands and thousands of Christians all across the country, even around the world, have studied worldview, theology, and culture in the Colson Fellows program.
And what they learn is something that Michael Craven, dean of the Fellows Program, often says, that Christian worldview is not an elective of the Christian faith. It's essential. We're going to live faithfully in this time and place where God has called us. If you desire to make a similar impact in your community for Christ, consider studying with the Colson Fellows program next year. We have 74 regional cohorts around the country.
That means there's likely a cohort in your region. In fact, there's an interactive map of our regional cohorts at colsonfellows.org slash format. That's colsonfellows.org slash format. Outside of the U.S., there are 16 international cohorts, including in Latin America, a few in Australia. Canada, South Korea, and other nations.
And there's also online cohorts that are offered, and over 110 churches across America and internationally that host the Fellows program in their church. Learn more about the program by going to colsonfellows.org. That's colsonfellows.org. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street. Calling all listeners who serve the church, join us May 28th in Knoxville, Tennessee for a special church leadership summit preceding the 2026 Colson Center National Conference.
Our theme is forming courageous disciples. The rapid-fire pace our culture is changing can be disorienting, but it's also one of the greatest opportunities for the church. Featuring Oz Guinness, John Stone Street, and Carl Truman, this event will help you equip your church to see this moment clearly, believe they are called to it, and courageously act as agents of renewal in it. Register today at colsoncenter.org/slash church summit.
