Thirty-eight years ago, a man named Don Wildmon felt a calling to step away from the church he was pastoring and form a nonprofit organization with the mission of impacting culture with the gospel. In the last few years, AFA has seen an influx of young, energetic individuals coming to work on its varied platforms.
Two years ago, some of those employees met in a small conference room to discuss a missing element in the ministry. There was little outreach helping people entering the workforce, building their families, and starting their adults lives to build a biblical worldview.
To fill the void, that small team developed EngageMagazine.net to help believers question the worldview thrown at them by the world and build one grounded on Scripture and the truth of the gospel. The message of Engage is timeless, but the truths are applied in the modern context.
Our task
Have you ever noticed that new philosophies are presented to us constantly? Each one promises fulfillment and inner peace. But as each one is tried, it is ultimately found wanting. We as a generation have become skeptical of anything promising the world, but we are still optimistic enough to give it a chance. Our generation’s perspective is like a tangled web intertwining the supposed best ideas of modernism, postmodernism, eastern mysticism, consumerism, and any other –ism that can be expressed behind a hashtag.
We aim to detangle that web and, through the practical application of Scripture and theology, build a "new" worldview that, in reality, is anything but new. It finds its origins in Genesis and has been embraced for thousands of years by great Christian minds. It is now our responsibility to press on, still expressing the unchanging truths of Scripture, yet doing so in a way that resonates with peers in an ever-changing world.
Our turn
We have been raised in churches ministering to us through children’s ministry, youth ministry, college ministry. That was a time preparing us for the work ahead. It is time to stop placing the responsibility of reaching our generation on the shoulders of other, older believers. While we desperately need and must receive the guidance of older and wiser believers, we must actively engage others who face the same trials, questions, challenges, and doubts that we face. It is our turn to wrestle with the powers of this world and experience the hand of God personally. Our presentation may be new, but our message is the same that has been spoken for 2,000 years.
Our team
Our small team began with a recent college graduate, a graphic designer, a film director, a film editor, a writer, and a handful of others. We had three things in common: faith in Jesus, employment by AFA, and a passion to present the gospel in a modern context.
While members of our team are close in age, we are in different stages of life. Some are single and using this season as a time of focused discipleship and service. Others are newly married and gaining a vision for the sacrificial love it takes to make that relationship succeed. A few of us are parents of young children and are finding out in a more personal way how difficult it must have been for God to watch as His Son was humiliatingly crucified on a tree.
Our team is not full of experts who have spent years studying Millennials. We are a part of our own audience. We have the same concerns, questions, doubts, and fears as the people we are writing for. What we know well is that the gospel is not just for the lost. Christians have a perpetual, second-by-second need of the gospel. It is that need that drove each of us to sacrifice our time and energy to take EngageMagazine.net from an idea to a reality.
Your time
After two years of prayer, work, and sacrifice, today we are making our national launch. We are flooding all three of AFA’s radio networks and other platforms. But we need your help to get the word out to the most people possible.
We are asking you to connect with us on Twitter and Instagram. Find us on Facebook and share a story you like. You can share it with all your friends or a particular person whom you believe the story will bless.
While you are reading the stories, interact with us. Our team wants to engage with readers in a real and transparent way. Our aim is not to tell people what to think, but to have a discussion. Have some extra tips on preparing to be a good spouse? Let us know. Know of some things that can distract while spending time with God? We want to hear them. Do you have suggestions for signs of spiritual growth? Let’s have a discussion about it. Let’s share truth and apply Scripture. … Let’s engage.
