Interview with Dr Megan Brown

TNG Radio, where today's culture and timeless truths come together. It's reasoned relevant content apologetics, worldview, and answers to the questions that you need to know. From Alex McFarland Ministries, this is Truth for a New Generation Radio.

And now the man who preached in 50 states in 50 days, speaker, writer, and advocate for Christian apologetics, Dr. Alex McFarland. And today's program, we're going to talk with Dr. Megan Brown. She's a professor at Cedarville. And I have to smile, Megan, when I say a professor at Cedarville, because when I first got here, where we are, and I'll explain this, I thought you were one of the youth.

And the Lord has blessed you with a very young-looking appearance, which when you're my age, you'll be grateful for. But you are a PhD, and we want to hear about that. You earned your degree at Ohio State. And I wanted to have you on to talk a little bit about some of the ways that academia is more of a challenge to the Christian faith than some moms and dads might realize. And we're going to talk about making sure your child doesn't lose their faith in the pursuit of a degree. But first of all, Dr. Megan Brown, welcome to TNG Radio. Thank you so much, Alex.

I'm excited to be with you today. And tell me about what led you to go to grad school, ultimately earning your doctorate, and what you did it in and what you're doing now. Dr. Megan Brown So I am actually certified as an elementary special education teacher. I did that for early, my education originally. And then I went in the classroom and really, God brought me through a whole lot of life experience where I realized he had a bigger plan than I even thought. And very clearly, one of my advisors from the Christian college I went to as an undergrad told me, Megan, I believe you really need to go be a professor, you need to get your doctorate.

And that night I signed up, I found the one program that really fit in my wheelhouse. And what I felt God wanted me to do ended up at Ohio State University, getting my PhD in education. Dr. Chris Smith Now, were you an exceptionally good student in high school? Or were you the valedictorian? Dr. Megan Brown I was fourth in my class. And I had, through my undergrad, had a few people who mentioned, Megan, you really should get your PhD. And I thought, that's so silly. I'm supposed to teach first graders. And I didn't believe them.

And I do now. Dr. Chris Smith Speak to us, because there are no doubt there are people listening that could be used by God in terms of academics. And really, talk to us a little bit about the stewardship of the mind. And really, if God has given a person the intellectual ability as he did you, if your PhD material and professor material, just settling for second best is not enough in terms of our stewardship to the Lord, is it?

Dr. Megan Brown Absolutely not. God has given us this wisdom that is His if we shepherd and use that. And not everyone's called to get their PhD. But He called me to that role. And it was hard. It's hard to be in academia. And so it was something where I felt like I needed to be pushing my brain a little further. I need to be challenging myself. I knew there was more to education than what I could see even in the grade school classroom.

And so I felt like I needed to push further with what I even knew, and how to use my mind for what He wanted me to do. Dr. Chris Smith Well, it is a challenge, no doubt, intellectually. But let's talk about even socially and spiritually. And this is a rhetorical question. And that's one, folks, where the answer is obvious. But Megan, let me ask you, going to Ohio State and all, as a believer, because you're a follower of Jesus, socially and spiritually, was it a challenge?

Dr. Megan Brown Absolutely. If I hadn't been through the growth that I'd had up until that point, I really would have struggled. Just mentally, emotionally, spiritually, I was being attacked throughout my whole time there. Just not constantly, but it just seemed like a very dark place to be coming in as someone who was a pretty strong Christian. I was able to notice there is so many things that I was just coming up against constantly in my coursework and with the other people in my program and my professors who didn't really, many of them, believe anything that I believed. And so having those classroom spaces where I'm trying to use the mind God has given me in a way that I believe is right, in a classroom where people don't think that that is right, was really challenging.

And really, it took a lot of me reflecting on what was God doing and why I knew he had taken me to that place for a specific reason for such a time as this. David Let's say when you were finishing high school, and you were going to do your undergrad and then ultimately grad and post-grad, did you realize that college could be a little bit hostile to God? Dr. Megan Brown So the colleges I looked at were all Christian. That's where my family went. My father had gone actually to a public state school because that was in proximity a good place for him to be.

But that just wasn't something we ever talked very much about. However, for my PhD and my master's program, I looked at these private institutions and trying to weed through what do they even talk about and what do they actually believe and can I really give them my money and learn from them took almost more work than when I was looking for undergrad places. But I really didn't know the difference when I was an undergrad. David What were some of the things in your master's or PhD program that made you say, Okay, I'm really going to have to stand strong for what I believe? Dr. Megan Brown So thinking about issues of sexuality, I had a lot of professors who were homosexual, and openly homosexual. And so conversations about sexuality in our class came up frequently, and we were just sort of sometimes expected to think that it was okay. And yes, from my perspective, yes, I love them as as humans on this earth, but thinking through how do I interact and what do I say, and it was just a hard balance. What truth is, was really complicated. Truth was very relative in a lot of my master's and PhD classes where if you want to believe it was true, you're welcome to do so unless you're Christian. David You're listening to Truth for a New Generation Radio.

Alex McFarland here with Dr. Megan Brown. Stay tuned. We're going to come back after this brief break and talk more about not losing your faith in college. DNG Radio From I Am a Watchman Ministries, here's today's I Am a Watchman Minute. David About 3000 years ago, a young David stepped out on the battlefield to face the mighty giant Goliath. The epic battle has become well known inside and outside the church. What's amazing to me about this story is not David's aim, but his faith. It was precisely because his faith was greater than his fear that David had the victory. Now, when your problem is great, and it seems like a giant is in your path, what do you see?

A giant that's a problem that's too big to overcome? Or are you like David and see a giant that's a target that's too big to miss? Have faith. Strive to see things through eyes of faith. And remember, the I Am a Watchman Ministry is here to help you grow and be the overcomer that God wants you to be. Be bold, be faithful, be a watchman.

I am a watchman.com. First Peter 3 15 tells us to be ready always to give an answer for the hope we have. We're instructed to be prepared to defend our faith. This is Alex McFarland for the Life Answers Teams, students we train at North Greenville University, a leading Christian college in South Carolina. The Life Answers Teams are made up of students who will inspire and equip your congregation. These apologetics teams we train speak in churches to youth groups and train Christians of all ages to address key issues of our times from a biblical perspective. Like, is there a God?

Is the Bible true? What about gender and moral issues? Call me at 864-977-2008 and we will arrange for the Life Answers Team to come to your church and give a presentation that will benefit your people for years to come.

864-977-2008 and always be ready. You know Romans 1 16, it says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. That's what your kids need before they go to college. And that's the theme for the 2019 TNG Christian Apologetics Youth Camp, July 29th through August 2nd at Camp Cale, North Carolina. Speakers include, of course, Alex McFarland, along with Daniel Ritchie, Andy Lorentzen, and Miki Addison. Exciting worship every night and rock solid teaching every day.

And yes, it's a summer camp with all the summer camp activities your kids would expect. The TNG Christian Apologetics Youth Camp, July 29th through August 2nd at Camp Cale. To learn more and to register, call 800-YES-GOD-1, 800-YES-GOD and the number one, or email info at truthforanewgeneration.com. In the midst of a culture obsessed with relativism, Alex McFarland is a voice you can trust to speak the timeless truths of Christianity in a timely way. You're listening to Truth for a New Generation Radio. Welcome back to TNG Radio.

Alex McFarland here. We're going to resume our conversation with Dr. Megan Brown, but I do want to remind you, hey, coming up right away is our Apologetics Camp, and I'm so excited. We've got students coming from several states, and we're going to be talking about truth and how do we know God exists and can we trust the Bible and also stand strong in college. And I want to remind everybody, we created a book based on my seminar, What You'll Hear Your Freshman Year, Preparing for the Ways that College Will Challenge Your Faith. The book Stand Strong in College contains interviews with over 100 college students, over 50 college professors, and we talk about the four areas in which college life can challenge your faith.

Also, we have the top 20 questions of all the students that I interviewed in about 30 states. What are the top questions that you need help with if you're going to stand strong for Christ on the campus? So what you can do for your support gift of at least $25 and you're supporting events, broadcasting, publishing, you're enabling TNG Ministries to see over 3,000 people a year come to Christ, mostly young people, write to us.

The info is at the end of the program, but a gift of at least $25 will send you a copy of Stand Strong in College. Great time of the year as summer is going to wind down, school will resume, you could give this to a young person and I would encourage you to pass on a resource that could be an encouragement and really equip them to defend their faith and not be a part of the statistic of those that fall away after high school. Well, I'm so honored to have with me Dr. Megan Brown. We met at a camp where we're doing the Super Summer Camp in upstate New York. George Sweat, Family Life Radio. This is my second visit to this particular seminar and it's, as far as I can see, probably the most well-run Christian camp in the country.

And Megan and her husband are here as leaders. And what was your major, what did you write on, and what are you doing with it? So I got a PhD in teaching and learning with a focus in children's literature and disability studies. And my dissertation really focused on judging books by their covers. So I worked with fifth graders really in education and thinking about having them look at covers of books about disability and how disability is represented and how we talk about identity of disability with children in school so that we can sort of maybe change the conversation using books with what we're doing in the classrooms in grade school. And then I'm a professor of literacy at Cedarville University and I teach the early childhood teachers. So I basically teach teachers how to teach reading is kind of my role. You're training the trainers and teaching the teachers. You know, as you talk about literature for young people, speak to us for a moment, if you would, about the parents' responsibility at making God-honoring entertainment choices for their children. Yes, absolutely. The hardest thing about literature is there's so much of it and it's so accessible, which is amazing.

However, there's so much to weed through. I think part of it is just having quality conversations with your child. So if your child's reading a book, maybe try picking it up and reading some of it or sitting down and asking them what they're reading.

Start a conversation. Talk about what they know about the Bible. How did that affect how they're reading this book?

Having making those connections to scripture is so powerful. You know, as you talk about literature for young people, I've read that if a child is a strong reader, chances are they can do well in almost any subject. And so much of what we read right now is on screens.

I know the research you've done is probably more current and more recent than any I've done. But I was reading a couple of different articles about how, you know, we read so much on screens nowadays. But when we read out of a book, I mean a book book, that our recall is better, our assimilation is better. Speak to the parent whose child, if they even do read, 99% is off of a screen. And maybe give us a challenge to keep books, real books, as part of our home as well. I think start with bringing the books onto the screen.

So there's so many free ebooks out there and available. Use that research your child loves first. And then once they're hooked, show them that there's a whole bigger world of these books that they can hold in their hands.

And just sort of start blending them together. Maybe take some time as a family to read a paper book together as a family and to just sort of flip through the pages and see what's going on in that book. And your children will follow your model as well. Take them to the library and see, help them make choices and that sort of thing.

If you as a parent make that choice, they will follow. It's not a bad thing to read on a screen. We are careful about, be careful about eyes and amount of time, but having a Bible on your phone for your child is better than not having a Bible at all. But showing them that they can, there's different options and that they don't have to have technology in order to access the world of books is important. And I was going to ask you, how can a parent introduce their child to the Bible and really cultivate the habit of Bible reading?

First, make sure you're doing it yourself. Your children are watching you. Also talking through what they're reading.

So a child will remember what they're studying more if they know someone's going to ask them about it. So ask them what surprised them. Simple questions. What surprised you? What was confusing? And what have you learned? Just those simple questions will help your child sort of focus in on what would I even get out of this thing that I'm reading?

It's so massive. And knowing that they're going to have a conversation will really help. Megan, were you a reader growing up? And if so, who were some of your favorite authors? Absolutely, I was a reader growing up. I read everything. As I would say, I've actually remember more of the books that I read now as an adult, because truly I find that a lot of children's literature is deeper for me than any adult book that's out there.

I see more parallels to scripture. I love the Mysterious Benedict Society. It's a really large book that can be read by children who are advanced at younger ages because the material is appropriate for younger ages, but they're pretty thick books and they're a series.

And I love that opportunity. As a child who read every book in the library that we had to move to a different library, I love the idea of having that resource available for anyone at any age. You know, one of the authors we've had on the show is Marianne Hearing of the Imagination Station series. Over a million books sold.

They're all historical, but from a Christian perspective. But I've got to throw a name out here before we take a break. Beverly Cleary. Henry and Beezus, are they still around? They are. They're loved.

I think more they're loved because parents love them and now they're just sharing them with their children. And I think that's an amazing thing. I think it's good to branch out. So start there and then move to what your children love as well.

But absolutely easy to read, easy to understand, great quality literature. We're going to resume our conversation in just a moment with Dr. Meghan Brown. She did her Ph.D. at Ohio State, and we're going to give some tips for children or teens, I should say young adults, not walking away from Christ during those post high school college years. Stay tuned.

TNG Radio is back after this. ... As a group, millennials have more than a trillion dollars in purchasing power. So, you know, businesses are watching us.

By 2025 will comprise 75 percent of the workforce. So employers are watching us. Despite these positives, millennials are losing our faith. So we know Satan is watching us. Engage Magazine is for millennials by millennials, and it speaks to faith, purpose, and a closer walk with Jesus. Because above all, God is watching us.

Visit engagemagazine.net. If you're a Christian parent, you of course want to instill a biblical view of life in the hearts of your children. If you're a pastor, you want to offer ministry that draws young families to your church. This is Alex McFarland encouraging you to check out my new book and video curriculum, The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask About Christianity. Why do bad things happen? I interviewed hundreds of children, ages 5 to 12, and we address actual questions from actual children, the spiritual issues that are on the minds of your kids.

Did Jesus ever sin? The book and video lessons are great for groups of any size and was produced with the goal of equipping kids to stand strong for Christ in any situation. The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask, the book, study guide, and video series, you'll find it at afastore.net.

That's afastore.net. Endless Truths in a Soundbite Culture. Truth for a New Generation Radio. Welcome back to Truth for a New Generation, and we appreciate all of you that pray for this ministry, support this ministry. Most of all, we commend you, all of you, that you walk with the Lord. You represent the Lord. You pray for this country, and you're raising your kids and the young people that you have entree into their life. You're raising them to love God and country, because this really is a joint effort. I mean, we need a great move of God in the church, and everybody is significant.

I think about Esther 4.14 when Mordecai said to Esther that you have come to the kingdom for just such a time as this. My dear friend, if you know the Lord, then your privilege is to help make Him known, and your life matters, not only in terms of salvation and all that you do for your family and your church, but every one of you listening, your life matters in terms of the gospel in our culture, a spiritual awakening. And one person that I know that God is using to make a difference for the gospel and for the kingdom is Megan and her husband, Jeremy. Both of you are dynamic, inspirational Christian people. In the few minutes we've got left, Megan, I want to talk about your experiences in college, because they probably are not terribly different from the experiences of other kids that go to state schools and secular schools. If you could say one thing to the high school seniors that are—they're Christian young people, I'm not disputing that—but they're about to enter a completely new universe. What advice do you have for the Christian person that only weeks from now may be a freshman in college?

Absolutely. I would say, first thing, get involved with a Christian group. Find your inner varsity's, any of those types of programs that are really on your campus, like Campus Crusade and that sort of thing. That, I know, is so beneficial to just surround yourselves with other Christians who are going through the same life as you are at potentially the same university or ones in the area. You also then get some mentorship from those that are maybe seniors in that same position or adults that have been trained in how to do college ministry.

They can sort of help guide you and mentor you. I also then would say, read that Bible every day. Pray every single day that God continues to move through you. If you do choose to go to a state school or somewhere that's not a Christian university, know that you're now entering a mission field. You are in an amazing opportunity to be in a space that is primarily not Christian.

That doesn't mean that you're not in classes with other Christians or your professors aren't. However, it's a very primarily hard space to be a Christian right now in our country because of the views of a lot of people. I would say, make sure you maintain some mentorship, you study your Bible, and you continue to do what you have done in high school, continue to grow as a Christian, get involved in a local church. Not just as a one-day person, but involved in a ministry. Try to serve, get to know some older, wiser people in your area who can just pour into you as a Christian. Otherwise, I will tell you, it will be hard. That's why there's a lot of kids that are losing their faith in college.

They're not connected to the local body. They were there as kids, there with their parents, but you need to be connected. How does a person pass a class without compromising their Christian convictions? Be honest with yourself and who God has made you.

Start there. And yeah, it'll be hard. I know even just stories in the past of my mother being in college in her master's program, the professor asked all the Christians to stand up. And her and her friends stood up and they fought for the grades they got in that class and worked really hard. It was a struggle all semester long. Their professor knew. But by the end, they had been a witness in this class to this professor that you can be a Christian and work hard and stand for your beliefs.

And you know what? Sometimes people won't understand, and it will be hard. That honestly is a great opportunity for growth if you're willing to allow God to help you grow in that and not to give in. Stand your ground.

You'll be rewarded in the end. It's not going to be easy, but standing your ground and being open with your professors about why you're standing your ground and being honest and having quality conversations about it instead of just being aggressive about it. Why do you think so many American professors, and not all, I know there are many Christian valiantly standing really at risk of their job, but why have so many of the professors kind of turned over and believed in relativism and the rejection of truth? Why has the classroom, to a large degree, fallen to unbelief and apostasy? I would say some pieces it's easier. It's easier to follow some sinful beliefs.

Satan will leave you alone. And following the culture is easier than going against it. And we have people who are trying to get tenure, who are trying to maintain jobs in a profession that is actually really complicated right now. There's people who are losing jobs left and right in academia. And so also there's some fear that goes along with it. If you don't say these things, then you are ostracized or you are not the professor people choose. And so your class isn't as popular and it might get dropped and then you don't have a job. So it sort of becomes this terrible snowball that I think there's a lot of fear that Satan uses around that in academia right now, where it's just easier to follow society's wave of relativism.

And honestly, people believe it. Some people are called to the ministry. Some people go into business or law or medicine. All wonderful pursuits.

Some people just build a great family and a home. Praise the Lord. Speak as we are just about out of time to that person of any age who may be called to serve the Lord via education.

Megan, Dr. Brown, what would your message be to them? Pray. Make sure it's right. Make sure you're not just doing it for you. Make sure you're doing it for the Lord because it is not easy. It's not about making kids happy.

It's not about having kids like you. It's about teaching what you believe is right and furthering the knowledge and the wisdom that God has placed in this world in the minds of students and the children you have with you. Wow. I want to thank you for being on TNG Radio. And I think about John 14.6, where Jesus Christ, he said that he is the way, the truth. There really can't be knowledge and truth, wisdom without Jesus, who's the foundation of truth and really the foundation of reality, our Creator, our Savior, our soon coming King. I want to challenge everybody to take these words to heart.

Build your life on truth, which begins with a relationship to the one who is truth, Jesus. Thank you for listening. Thanks for your support.

Go out and make a difference for God and country. TNG Radio is made possible by the friends of Alex McFarland Ministries, P.O. Box 10231, Greensboro, North Carolina 27404. That's P.O. Box 10231, Greensboro, North Carolina 27404. Call us at 877-Yes-God-1.

That's 877-Yes-God and the number 1. Or give online at AlexMcFarland.com. While you're there, listen to program archives, read Alex's blog, invite Alex to speak at your event, or contact Alex with a question or comment. AlexMcFarland.com. Thanks for listening today and join us again next time as we bring you more truth for a new generation on TNG Radio.