“Where are all the women in apologetics?”

Over the last decade, I’ve been asked this question many times. Typically, the question arose because someone in the audience noticed that I was the only female speaker at that particular apologetics conference. I would assure the questioner that other women speakers existed in apologetics and I would begin to rattle off a list of names, including my colleagues at Houston Baptist University. I would then follow up with, “You’ll see, the women are there.”

Back in 2014, when Christianity Today ran the cover story, “The Unexpected Defenders,” about the women in apologetics, I began to realize that women in the field of apologetics just aren’t as well known. My understanding was confirmed over and over from experiences with female audience members who are searching for female apologist role models. It took awhile for this one fact to sink in: women are encouraged to engage in the life of the mind when they see other women doing so. And that is one reason why I’m grateful for the organization, Women in Apologetics.

Women in Apologetics is an organization dedicated to the promotion of female apologists across the world. According to their website, WIA’s “focus is to equip, encourage, and educate women in Christian apologetics.” They have “a passion for encouraging and equipping other women in the church who are interested in learning how to think more deeply and intelligently about their faith.” WIA just sponsored their first “Love God With All Your Mind” Apologetics conference that was fully staffed by female apologists.

In talking with some of the attendees, I heard story after story about how excited they were for this conference and how important it was to their lives! One woman told me she had taken my bible study, “Why Do You Believe That?” and became extremely interested in apologetics. When she saw this event advertised, she immediately booked her flight from Nashville to Los Angeles. She told me that this unique conference was so uplifting because of the worship, fellowship, and intellectual inquiry with a group of women.

If you’ve ever wondered “where are all the female apologists?” I recommend beginning with a look at the Women in Apologetics website!

Also, check out the WIA facebook page.

“As we rebuild our city, let us not rebuild the walls that Hurricane Harvey tore down.” – Words from my pastor

Over the past few weeks in southeast Texas, we have endured flooding and catastrophe. We’ve seen the heavens open up and relentlessly saturate our cities. There’s been no rainfall event its equal in the recorded continental U.S. history. The hurricane stalled so long over Houston, one meteorologist described the hurricane as pulling up its own flood waters to dump them back down again. After the storm finally left, we saw devastation everywhere. And we are still flooded in some places.

Just days ago, Hurricane Irma ravaged islands in the Caribbean and continued on a path that devastated the Florida Keys and brought significant flooding and destruction to other large areas of Florida as well. Plus, the Pacific Northwest and parts of California are currently aflame in huge forest fires, some with zero percent containment, threatening lives and filling the air with thick smoke.

So allow me to say again, ““As we rebuild our city, let us not rebuild the walls that ___________ tore down.”

In the midst of calamity, we have risen and will rise above our dividing lines. I’ve heard many words of hope come out of the disaster in Texas. I began to feel a sense of brotherhood with my fellow mankind…a sense of true community based in love for one another. Yet, a gnawing remembrance has already begun to chip away at my hope: these words of love and grace are so easily dismissed once there is recovery. We quickly return to agendas that divide us and to the polarizing language that destroys us. With the Texas flooding, the return began even before the rains ceased.

The kind of love that reaches across division seems to be an unnatural love for us humans. It is the kind of love of which Jesus spoke in the Sermon on the Mount when he taught us to love our enemies and do good to those who do not do good to us. He told us that whatever we would have done to us is what we should do for others. (Luke 6:27-31) This practice does not come about easily. I know that there are everyday occurrences of such great love, but on a larger scale, such as a city, it took disaster to see this love demonstrated across all lines.

So my question is: How do we hold onto such great love for each other? Or will we just slip back into our old habits and ways of thinking once we have recovered? “A fool wastes the pain of suffering and goes right back to his former ways, learning nothing”…more words from my pastor. We’ve had a glimpse of what it looks like to live in love and goodness, but the truth of man’s nature is that he will do what is not good. He will return to his former ways. (Psalm 14:3, Romans 3:12) I’ve already seen people using the hurricane as a platform for their own agendas and political statements. The great good of our love for one another already being warped and spoiled for personal and political gain.

This is why we humans need a Savior. We need One who truly knows goodness and love because He is Goodness and Love. We need One who will not spoil any situation, but rather redeem it. We need a reason to love, a reason to hope, a reason to change our ways. We need the goodness of God.

We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19

For some quick ways to dive in deeper on God’s goodness:

Mary Jo recently had the privilege of being a featured guest on Jonathan McLatchie’s Apologetics Academy webinar.

She discussed Conversational Apologetics, which focuses on four elements of good dialogue; including how to use common questions to uncover what people really believe and to spark a deeper discussion on belief in God.

Check out the two-hour long webinar below and let us know your thoughts!

Tomorrow (Thursday, April 13th, 2017) Mary Jo will be a guest on the Iron Sharpens Iron radio program with Chris Arnzen. The show will be live from 4:00-6:00 p.m. EST.

The first hour she will be discussing her personal testimony of abandoning atheism and embracing Jesus Christ and His Gospel, and the second hour she will talk about apologetics in women’s ministry.

If you can’t tune in live, we will post the link to the program after it airs!

Do current trends in society set your teeth on edge? Do you fear for the changes yet to come in the lifetime of your kids? Can I make a recommendation? If you have a 16-21 year old that you know and love, send them to Summit Ministries.

For over 50 years, thousands of families have trusted Summit. Graduates have gone on to be leaders in every facet of society. The Summit 12-day course (in CO, TN, & CA) prepares young adults to stand for truth and gives them opportunities to think deeply about subjects like gender issues, sanctity of life, biblical economics and more.

Now is the time to invest in preparing mature, thoughtful, and focused young leaders. I think Summit is key. That’s why I’m honored to be on their Board of Reference.

Find out more and register your young leader by 5pm MTN on March 31st to receive early-bird discount of $200 off.  Receive an additional $200 off their conferences in California and Tennessee! www.summit.org/student

Mary Jo was recently featured on “The Table Podcast” with Dr. Darrell Bock of Dallas Theological Seminary. They discuss defending the faith, focusing on spiritual conversations and tolerance. Listen below and let us know what you think! 

How do you respond when people call you judgmental?

I first ask, “What do you mean by that?” I want to discover how the person understands his or her own use of the term “judgmental.” I also want to know what they found to be a “judgmental” statement on my behalf.

In the logic course I teach at Houston Baptist University, our text is broken up into the three acts of the mind: understanding, judgment and reasoning. Notice the second act of the mind, judgment. A judgment is when we put two concepts in relation to one another. Typically a judgment is a declarative sentence. For example, “The professor’s 10:30 a.m. logic class is the class with the highest grade average of all the professor’s classes.” This declarative sentence has told the reader something about the professor’s 10:30 a.m. logic class. A judgment has been made in this statement. Does that make the author of the statement a judgmental person? No.

While a person may find my above example tedious, if not out right boring, it has immense value in today’s marketplace of ideas. Human beings are the kind of things that make judgments. We do it all the time. A judgment happens whenever we make a declarative statement. So in some sense, we are actually all judgmental people (which relates to one of the definitions of “judgmental”). Making judgments does not equal being judgmental…even when discussing a hot topic issue. Continue reading “Responding: When People Call You Judgmental”

As 2016 comes to a close, we’re reflecting on all the ministry opportunities Confident Christianity had this year.

We began the year with Mary Jo teaching a logic fast term class at Houston Baptist University. It was in that class that one of her students came up to her after the first day and said thank you for talking with him about his Islamic faith and his view of God. He had left Islam and become a Christian. He said he was now attending a local church.

MJ then took two trips out to California. One of those trips was for a conference sponsored by the Christian Apologetics Ministry, Reasons to Believe. At the conference, there was a wide array of apologetics topics from how to have good conversation to science and faith to MJ’s topic on the problem of evil.

In March, MJ and Roger went up to Canada for the “Faith Beyond Belief” conference. MJ spoke at the conference, at a Bible college, at a private Christian school, and on a Canadian television program.

Throughout the spring, CC was ministering in Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. In the summer, MJ took two trips out to Colorado for Summit Ministries Worldview Camps and for a newer apologetics event in Manitou Springs called “Every Thought Captive.” At this event, she met a Sufi Muslim who came to hear her speak on Islam! She was also able to do some speaking in Sunday School classes at her home church on the subject of Islam.

When fall rolled around, MJ and Roger went back up to Canada for an event with Ravi Zacharias and Andy Bannister. The three apologists spoke in Vancouver and Victoria, with Andy and MJ speaking in Comox, as well. We had great turn-outs for each event and fielded a lot of one-on-one questions. We also had a special event to minister to local pastors in the Victoria area (Andy Bannister spoke). It was a special time of encouraging one another in ministry.

As the year wrapped up, MJ spoke in California once again, Georgia, and Nashville at the LifeWay Women’s Leadership Forum. She also attended the Evangelical Theological Society conference finishing her three-year stint as the first woman to serve on the Executive Committee of the Evangelical Philosophical Society (an organization established in 1974). MJ has also been teaching an online course with Houston Baptist University which will end in mid-December.

There are so many good things going on with Confident Christianity! We are planning much more for 2017 so stay tuned. If you’d like to invite Mary Jo to speak at an event, click here.