Caleb Gordon & O’ Theophilus
In an increasingly digitized world, people are turning to the Internet and social media for answers in the chaos of health crises, social isolation, political turmoil, moral debates, and religious rejection. Seeking authentic relationships and answers to purpose and meaning, an ever-growing number of people worldwide co-exist on the plains of Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok, Google, and many other digital platforms. In such hopelessness and longing, the church has the opportunity to reach into this digital world to evangelize and disciple. To this end, several young Christians, equipped with the Word of God and a corresponding Biblical Worldview, are rising to the task.
Caleb Gordon, a former graduate of Smith Mountain Lake Christianity academy and Christian homeschool, is one of these young creators using his Biblical Worldview in the digital space. Here is a testimony of his work with the web platform, O’ Theophilus, and his desire to use his Biblical Worldview education to teach the Bible:
What is your name?
Caleb Gordon
How old are you?
I am 21 years old.
How many years of Christian education did you receive?
I received 12 years.
What kinds of Christian education did you experience during that time?
I was privileged to have been homeschooled by my parents with the additional support of Classical Conversations, a Christian homeschool co-op program, until my high school years. At that time, I enrolled at Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy. I graduated with Honors as salutatorian four years later, also amassing about a year’s worth of college credit through an online dual enrollment program through God’s Bible School and College in Cincinnati, OH.
What are you pursuing vocationally?
I am studying and working to be a teacher of God’s Word. To this end, I started O’ Theophilus as a way to teach others in this increasingly digitized world about the certainty of the Christian faith. In addition, I currently work as a Graduate Student Assistant at Liberty University’s Rawlings School of Divinity and as a part of the Christian Education non-profit RenewaNation.
Why are you pursuing this vocationally?
During my early youth, I discerned a calling to teach the Word of God to others for a vocation. I see my work with O’ Theophilus, Liberty University, and RenewaNation as a part of that calling. In addition, many Biblical Worldview educators and Christian scholars have poured into my personal and educational journey. I wish to provide that discipleship and educational opportunity to others from the standpoint of a Biblical Worldview.
How do you see your work as an advancement of God’s Kingdom?
I advance God’s Kingdom through my work as a teacher and writer by discipling others to find certainty in Christianity. Many voices are calling out to the next generation, desiring to lead them away from the Christian faith and undermining it as irrelevant and untrustworthy. Teaching God’s Word through a digital platform and in a physical classroom offers the chance to counter these voices and train the next generation to love and serve God in every aspect of their lives. O’ Theophilus specifically is a means of discipling others anywhere in the world who are searching for hope and for answers. While the digital world has its dangers, the lost are at our fingertips through the web, and a hungry church yearning for assurance and discipleship is searching for answers there too. O’ Theophilus is one step taken to reach them.
How did Christian education inspire, equip, or transform you for the work that you are doing now?
Without the careful and consistent discipleship that gained through Christian education, I would not have the relationship that I have with Jesus or a Biblical Worldview that motivates me to see my life’s work as a means to advance the Kingdom. I know that I am one of few K-12 students who have been blessed with such intentional and Biblical training, and I am compelled to give to others the gift that was given to me as a teacher of the Word. Christian education transformed me into a better disciple of Christ, and I want to join the effort to transform others through Biblical Worldview and Christian education as well.
Caleb Gordon is a blog writer and M.Div. student at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. As an author, he has contributed to the RenewaNation Review and the Worldview Matters Blog. Currently, he works with the RenewaNation Educator Advancement Program as a content editor and creator in addition to managing and writing for his own web platform, O’ Theophilus. With a passion for worldview and biblical studies, Caleb seeks to disciple fellow believers in biblical certainty so that they will confidently engage society and culture as representatives of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom.
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