Pastor's Circle - Dan Boone

Dan Boone, president of Trevecca Nazarene University, joined the Pastor's Circle to talk about his testimony and the moments of grace that run throughout. Here are the "CliffsNotes" of his interview.

Tell us about your testimony.

I grew up in a Christian home that was so profoundly Christlike that my earliest memories are of family altars with three kids on their knees.

I was probably 5 or 6 when I made a public trip to an altar and asked Christ to forgive me of my sins.

I think everyone's journey in God probably has other key moments. I was 12 or 13 once, at a youth camp, and I remember this deep sense of God telling me that he wanted me to do something for him.

Although I didn't know what it was yet, I remember being at the altar committing my life to whatever he wanted for me.

When I was a sophomore in college, like most sophomore kids, I was discovering my freedom from home and starting to start my own path. The Lord really dealt with me about the discipline I was establishing in my life.

And I remember playing tug-of-war with God over that. I remember kneeling beside a bunk bed and settling with God that he would be Lord of my life. Something happened in that moment.

It was the shift of the magnetic needle in my life, from my will to God's will. From that day, the lordship issue was sealed. He saved me, he is saving me today, and he will continue to save me.

Are there more of those moments in your life?

In trying to view life as a relationship with God, I often use the picture of trying to get from Nashville to the West Coast.

There are many roads that will get you there, but they all have to go west. And God is standing at the fork of all of those roads, pointing you to where you need to go.

Sometimes I think we do the gospel disservice when we define theology as the front edge of the gospel. The front edge of the gospel has always been testimony.

We are to be out there telling this story. We are to tell what God did in our own lives.

"I want to see one of the great revivals...but the choice is in front of us."

Dan Boone, president of Trevecca Nazarene University, joined the Pastor's Circle to discuss God's judgment on Israel, and how that correlates to America today. Here are the "CliffsNotes" of his interview.

Babylon was God's "smackdown" on Israel. Is there a smackdown in store for America?

I actually think that the time that the people of God are in exile is the most likely place in scripture for us to address the American situation right now.

Sometimes God's judgment on his people is almost viewed as the end of the line. But I feel like it's the beginning. When God moves to save us, the beginning of that move is God saying, "This is how I feel about what your doing. I'm going to wake you up."

Even most of the prophetic messages have this deep sense of God's movement to restore his people.

Has America earned the right to be "exiled"?

I think we have. When I look at the top reasons the Israelites ended up in Babylon, it was wicked kings, their trust in "horses and chariots" instead of the power of God, their adaptation to the culture around them, their worship of false gods, and their lack of social justice.

I think you can find parallels in American culture for each of those.

Tell me about our idols.

I'm a lover of football. But I've watched sports become idolatry in America. It's more than being a fan of a team, but its getting depressed if they lose, or it's waiting all week long for the game. The list of idols in our lives has become very long.

Our own appearance has become an idol. I watch all these different kinds of pockets, and we pour our money into them, we devote our time to them, and the words out of our mouths become witness to these idols rather than to the God who gives us life.

And I think that grieves our God. God's very purpose even in getting us out of exile is that we might bear witness to the world.

Could it happen that God gives America up?

It could. I'm one of those whose belief in the way that history rolls forward is not that God preordains what will happen, but that he lays before us a choice. I believe today God is standing before us saying, "Will you walk with me? Will you follow my holy ways?"

Even in Europe, Christianity was embedded in every church and cathedral and song, and yet most Europeans are very post-Christian today.

I want to see one of the great revivals. And I think God longs to meet with His people in those ways. But the choice is in front of us.