Counter Culture for the Common Good
Graduating seniors were always a challenge for Nate Clarke when he was an InterVarsity staff worker at Hampden-Sydney College and Longwood University in Virginia. “I always wanted to help them think through how to be intentional about their Christian faith, after losing all of the structures that have been important in sustaining their spiritual life,” he recalls. He never did that as well as he wanted to.
He wishes he’d had the new video series he’s just directed, and he’s glad it’s now available to the public, as well as other InterVarsity staff . Intersect|Culture is a 6-session DVD curriculum jointly produced by Christianity Today International and InterVarsity’s Twentyonehundred Productions as part of the Christian Vision Project. The i>Christian Vision Project is directed by Andy Crouch, a writer and former InterVarsity staff worker, and explores how followers of Christ can be counter culture for the common good.
Each session of the Intersect|Culture DVD tells a real life story. Viewers see how individuals and families work together to be a positive influence in the situation where God places them. They observe challenges and breakthroughs. And they gain insight through commentary from pastors and Christian leaders such as Tim Keller, Lauren Winner, James Meeks, Brenda Salter McNeil, and Ken Fong.
“We’re not saying this is what your life has to look like,” Nate says. “We’re inviting people to wrestle with the same things these people have wrestled with. The one thing that comes through on this DVD series is following God’s call wherever he leads you.”
Nate believes that the stories on the Intersect|Culture DVD are similar to the parables and stories found in the gospels, such as the story of the Samaritan woman. “We see in the Samaritan woman ourselves, and our need to be healed and made whole and honest about lives,” he says. “And we also see in Jesus a model of how we should interact with the people in our society who are otherwise ignored.”
Working with Christianity Today International on the Christian Vision Project was an exciting new challenge for InterVarsity’s Twentyonehundred Productions. Nate believes the experience will help Twentyonehundred communicate better in their other work, including the videos they are producing for next month’s Urbana 06 Student Missions Convention. The objective of Twentyonehundred Productions is to use media to influence the hearts and minds of students with the good news of Jesus Christ.