by David Geisler
Today marks the first anniversary of my father’s passing. As Josh McDowell said in his interview for our upcoming documentary on my father’s life, “He paid the price… he paved the way.” Ravi Zacharias also said to me personally one year ago, “There’ll never be another Norm Geisler.” …If this is true, what does this mean for we who have learned and benefitted from his 60+ year ministry?
We have learned that there are battles that my father faced which have not yet been won. My father said there are four battles we must face:
- the battle for God,
- the battle for the Bible,
- the battle for the Resurrection,
- and the battle for Truth.
To learn more about these four battles, watch our recent live stream with Joe Holden, Doug Potter, Chris Haun, and Don Deal.
As Josh McDowell says in our upcoming documentary, “I have to be prepared philosophically, because philosophy often gives context for the evidential, and I learned that from Norm.” So what does this mean for us today who bear the burden of leading others into the uncertain future?
I have learned that my father was more than an author, teacher, mentor, trailblazer, and influencer of influencers. He shored up the foundations of evangelical Christianity at a pivotal time in our history by battling within the church to draw the line for Biblical inerrancy. He lead the charge for Christians to engage in changing the culture instead of retreating to safe places, skillfully demonstrating at both a scholarly and a lay level that faith does not have to deny reason, but rather is supported by reason. He influenced those who would go on to influence others by pouring his time and energy into the one-on-one mentoring of his students, giving generously of his gifts to anyone who was hungry for truth.
My father was a great man, a “giant” who stood “on the shoulders of giants” who came before him, and he has left us the tools and resources to continue the work he began. God worked in my father to bring him from a poverty-stricken, uneducated upbringing during the Great Depression, even being virtually illiterate throughout high school, to becoming the author of over a hundred books, wielding a photographic memory in academic debates with top experts, and crafting a three-tiered model of understanding the Christian faith that earned him the title “premier apologist of the 20th century.” So what does this mean for all of us who have been influenced by the miracles God worked in his life?
For me, it means doing something I do not feel qualified to do… and yet that is the legacy my father has left us! As he says in our upcoming documentary, “I never thought I’d write a hundred books, I never thought I’d read a book to begin with… but God could do anything.” So I’m asking all of you, what do we need to do to allow God to work through us in the same way he worked through my father, even if we feel “not qualified?”
Our small ministry has come to have a bigger calling than I ever imagined it would have when my father and I began NGIM five years ago. We believe that through a comprehensive model that combines my father’s three-tiered classical apologetic framework with practical models of evangelism, catalyzed by discipleship, Christians can change their culture for Christ… But our ministry alone is not called to this task.
In an age of information overload, how can Christians discern what information should be trusted? It is up to all of us who were influenced by my father’s work, to point the way for the church to find a solid rock of information, a trusted source. As Ed Hindson says in our upcoming documentary, “Much of what Norm Geisler said in the 20th century, was really speaking to the 21st century, and needs to be heard today.” My father was the teacher and mentor for many, many leaders of our time. Many of these leaders are now passing away. Who will we point the next generation to, as a voice that can speak to the battles they continue to face?
It is my conviction that the church did not listen to my father, when they should have. He was a trailblazer in apologetics, almost the only American voice answering the doubts of his generation, which eventually grew into a tidal wave of cultural exodus from the church. He stood in the gap between the church and the culture, looking ahead to see where seemingly innocent ideas would lead to dangerous outcomes. But the church did not listen, and we have seen the values of postmodernism infiltrate our culture, from elementary schools to movies to government, on the slippery slope that leads away from God’s truth.
So what are we who are aware of the tools my father left us going to do now?
I am asking every one of you to come together as a collective to carry on the legacy of Norm Geisler through your own ministries. I humbly ask you to help us carry on that legacy as we seek to call more to join us in picking up the mantle. I ask you to pray that God will enable us to mentor leaders who will follow in the footsteps of my father, who, as Ed Hindson says, was “the Lord’s servant, doing the Lord’s work, in the Lord’s way.” The church around the globe needs new voices to speak to us for our time, but they can only do so by standing on the shoulders of the giants who came before them. Now, through the Norm Geisler Institute’s e-learning and membership-based discipleship model, we have a timely opportunity to nurture thousands in the upcoming years. Pray that we will be able to carry out the leadership task that God has placed on our ministry, as we prepare men, women, and youth around the globe to change their cultures by putting Christ first.
If you would like to learn more about our ministry model and our plan for expansion over the next two years, please contact me at dg@ngim.org and we can set up a time to talk and take a look at the specifics. You can also take a moment to read my interview with the Christian Post last year here. If your church or ministry would like an overview of our practical model for combining my father’s three-tiered apologetic framework with evangelism and discipleship, please contact me and I will be happy to offer a 90 minute training and q&a session at no cost to you.
If you would like to support the efforts of our new Norm Geisler Legacy Initiative to preserve, protect, and continue my fathers work by restoring, repurposing, and translating his resources, join us in praying that we will receive the funding to do so!
I encourage you to seek the Lord about how he wants to work in your life to continue my father’s legacy, even if you, too, feel “not qualified.”
To learn more about our upcoming documentary, “Norm Geisler: Not Qualified,” visit www.NormGeislerthemovie.com