Pastor's Circle - Jim Garlow

Dr. Jim Garlow pastors at Skyline Church in San Diego, CA. He also serves as the chairman of Renewing American Leadership, and is the author of a number of books. 

He joined the Pastor's Circle to talk about using buildings for discipleship. Below are the "CliffsNotes" of his interview.

You build your facilities with the intention of discipleship. Tell us about that.

We build our building with a great symbolism. Out in front will be a sidewalk called the Heritage Walk.

On the tiles will be the names of the top 300 leaders in Christian history. I can use it as a teaching device so that we can help the people understand the level of sacrifice that came before them.

Right out beside that is a playground with a sidewalk and the books of the Bible, in a hopscotch pattern.

As you walk on this heritage sidewalk is a fountain that we call the "Revelation Fountain", based on Revelation 4. It's also a baptismal font.

The fountain is loaded with symbolism, all based around Revelation chapter 4. All this is done to draw people's hearts in. All this is designed for beaming strong, theological messages.

Do you include contemporary leaders in your Heritage Walk?

I do. It starts actually with the figures of the Old and New Testaments. The trinitary revelation is built into it. Then it goes through church history.

Of the three hundred leaders on there, 290 of them are deceased. But there are 10 that are still living; Billy Graham, for instance, is on there.

Who are a few more of those leaders?

Jim Elliot, for example, never made it to his 30th birthday. He was included on there just by virtue of the impact he had by his death.

There are other names; Orange Scott was one who fought hard to free the slaves. He didn't live past 37.

You don't have to live long to have a huge impact.