To influence culture, use schools and churches, evangelical Christian broadcasters say

Leaders of the conservative evangelical Christian broadcast industry told fellow influencers at a conference Thursday that classrooms and the pulpit are equally critical channels of influence amid a seemingly triumphant secular culture.

During day three of four at the National Religious Broadcasters association's annual conference at Nashville's Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, Christian rock musicians and pundits were unified in sending a message that a crisis is at hand and something needs to be done about it.

The National Religious Broadcasters serves hundreds of Christian media organizations producing radio stations, movies, television shows and streaming services and podcasts, among other content.

But the tone of two keynote panels on Thursday — the first titled "Engaging a hostile culture" and the second, "Biblical worldview under attack" — was that other tools need leveraging in addition to Christian media to influence the broader culture.

"There are a few things today that are really pushing against the purpose and the mission of the church," said Lucas Miles, an Indiana pastor and moderator of the first panel.

"Why all of a sudden is the church finding itself in a precarious position?" Miles asked his panelists.

Diagnosing the problem, speakers took aim, for example, at "cowardly pastors," as panelist Eric Metaxas put it.

"Good people, good pastors, good Christians can get it wrong," Metaxas, a conservative pundit and podcaster, said about pastors who avoid preaching on certain political and social issues. "They all thought that what they had were legitimate reasons for keeping their mouth shut."

Joining Metaxas were John Cooper, lead singer of Christian rock band Skillet, Allie Beth Stuckey, host of a podcast for BlazeTV, and Darrell Harrison, dean for California pastor John MacArthur's media ministry.

Education was another area that speakers said is a root problem.

"We’re starting to see the effects of replacing education with indoctrination really have become the United States,” Isabel Brown, a content contributor for Turning Point USA — a group that advocates for conservative activism on college and high school campuses — said during the second panel.

"The ideas that are fostered on college campuses never stay there," Brown said, arguing that left-leaning colleges and universities influence culture by graduating students who become teachers, corporate executives and politicians.

Alongside Brown were Jeff Myers and Rick Green, both leaders of organizations that produce content to teach young people conservative ideas, Summit Ministries and Patriot Academy, respectively, and Ryan Dobson, a podcaster and son of Focus on the Family's James Dobson.

In Tennessee alone, lawmakers have introduced several pieces of legislation this session that attempt to defend against seeming liberal curriculum in schools.

One bill aims to prohibit Tennessee-based colleges and universities from teaching "divisive concepts," while another bill would require review of K-12 schools' library inventory. Meanwhile, the state invited a group affiliated with Michigan-based Hillsdale College to launch new charter schools.

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Some of the new education initiatives in Tennessee have ties to religious figures or have received support from religious leaders.

The threat is more nefarious than public schools, Cooper said during the first panel. "Our theology schools are no less lefty than all our other schools out there," Cooper said about Christian colleges.

"The quickest way to get away from the divinity of scripture into a leftist view...is to go Bible college and you have all these smart people pontificate," Cooper said in response to a question about deconstructing, a phenomenon the rock musician has been outspoken about.

In the context of Cooper's comments, deconstructing refers to people who grew up evangelical Christian, but end up reexamining those beliefs.

As described by Cooper and other panelists, fewer Americans are embracing Christianity. The U.S. adult population is 12 percentage points less Christian in 2021 than it was in 2011, and nearly a third of U.S. adults identify as religious "nones," according to recent Pew Research Center data.

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At the same time, Christian media maintains a wide reach. The National Religious Broadcasters says on its website that 141 million Americans listen to Christian broadcasting every month and there are more than 4,000 Christian radio and television stations in the country. The 2022 annual conference featured 166 organizations in the exhibitor hall, according to a directory.

Education was a major theme throughout the conference. Conservative law firm Alliance Defending Freedom sponsored a panel Wednesday on "Courage in our schools: When parents & teachers take a stand."

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn were scheduled to make special appearance on Friday.

Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean. Reach him at ladams@tennessean.com or on Twitter @liamsadams.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Christian broadcasters emphasize schools, churches to influence culture