Cultivating Creation: Every Square Inch Conference Teaches Theology And Culture

Student Activities and the Liberty University Center for Apologetics and Cultural Engagement will be co-hosting the sixth annual Every Square Inch conference on March 4-5, featuring pastor and author Gavin Ortlund.

The conference is set to be held at Liberty and will focus on theology and culture.

“This event provides resources to help students be a positive influence in the world,” Jack Carson, coordinator for the Center for Apologetics and Cultural Engagement, said. 

Ortlund, the featured speaker, is the senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Ojai in Ojai, California.  He is also the author of several bestselling books: “Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals: Why We Need Our Past to Have a Future” and “Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn’t: The Beauty of Christian Theism.”  He has also published several articles on different subjects in theology such as the resurrection, the necessity of hell and baptism.

Dr. Mark Allen, a Liberty professor and executive director for the Center for Apologetics and Cultural Engagement and Dr. Troy Temple, dean of the School of Divinity at Liberty will also be speaking at the conference. 

Every Square Inch will begin on Friday, March 4, at 12:45 p.m. with a workshop featuring Ortlund.  This workshop will focus on “The Death and Need for Humility in Public Theology” and will take place in the Alumni Ballroom in Montview Student Union. During the workshop, students will be split into small groups, so they can more easily reflect on the issues discussed and how they can move on in life with a better knowledge of them.

Following the workshop on Friday, the main lecture by Ortlund will begin at 7 p.m. in the Alumni Ballroom and will be followed by a moderated Q&A session.  He will be discussing “Why God Makes Sense in a World that Doesn’t: Respectability, Desire, and Truth.” 

Saturday will include an exclusive lecture and workshop for graduate students enrolled in the School of Divinity and a free concert open to everyone featuring Jervis Campbell held in the LaHaye Event Space.

The Every Square Inch annual conference was first inspired by the life and work of the Dutch politician and theologian Abraham Kuyper, particularly one of his more famous declarations.

“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!” Kuyper said.

Taking this quote into consideration, the Center for Apologetics and Cultural Engagement wanted to help students understand what they can do in their work for Christ to care for Christ’s domain.

“Christians have a duty to fulfill when it comes to cultivating his creation,” Carson said. “Part of that duty is how to speak God’s truth in a broken world.”

For more information, students can visit liberty.edu/esi.

Kicinski is a news reporter.