The Finest Young Writer in America: Thomas Lake<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Just posted a new piece at the Gospel Coalition on Sports Illustrated sportswriter Thomas Lake: It may surprise you to learn the finest young\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/10\/the-finest-young-writer-in-america-thomas-lake\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Finest Young Writer in America: Thomas Lake\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Just posted a new piece at the Gospel Coalition on Sports Illustrated sportswriter Thomas Lake: It may surprise you to learn the finest young\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/10\/the-finest-young-writer-in-america-thomas-lake\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Thought Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-10-03T13:59:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-10-17T20:21:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/292\/2012\/10\/ThomasLake.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Owen Strachan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Owen Strachan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/10\/the-finest-young-writer-in-america-thomas-lake\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/10\/the-finest-young-writer-in-america-thomas-lake\/\",\"name\":\"The Finest Young Writer in America: Thomas Lake\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-10-03T13:59:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-10-17T20:21:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#\/schema\/person\/75c661f536302cda0daa8b7615fd8e53\"},\"description\":\"Just posted a new piece at the Gospel Coalition on Sports Illustrated sportswriter Thomas Lake: It may surprise you to learn the finest young\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/10\/the-finest-young-writer-in-america-thomas-lake\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/10\/the-finest-young-writer-in-america-thomas-lake\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/10\/the-finest-young-writer-in-america-thomas-lake\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Finest Young Writer in America: Thomas Lake\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/\",\"name\":\"Thought Life\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#\/schema\/person\/75c661f536302cda0daa8b7615fd8e53\",\"name\":\"Owen Strachan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2dbab262f37be4cfe0660ee979173e8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2dbab262f37be4cfe0660ee979173e8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Owen Strachan\"},\"sameAs\":[\"brandygrenier\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/author\/ostrachan\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Finest Young Writer in America: Thomas Lake","description":"Just posted a new piece at the Gospel Coalition on Sports Illustrated sportswriter Thomas Lake: It may surprise you to learn the finest young","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/10\/the-finest-young-writer-in-america-thomas-lake\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Finest Young Writer in America: Thomas Lake","og_description":"Just posted a new piece at the Gospel Coalition on Sports Illustrated sportswriter Thomas Lake: It may surprise you to learn the finest young","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/10\/the-finest-young-writer-in-america-thomas-lake\/","og_site_name":"Thought Life","article_published_time":"2012-10-03T13:59:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-10-17T20:21:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":"300","height":"200","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/292\/2012\/10\/ThomasLake.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Owen Strachan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Owen Strachan","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/10\/the-finest-young-writer-in-america-thomas-lake\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/10\/the-finest-young-writer-in-america-thomas-lake\/","name":"The Finest Young Writer in America: Thomas Lake","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-10-03T13:59:10+00:00","dateModified":"2012-10-17T20:21:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#\/schema\/person\/75c661f536302cda0daa8b7615fd8e53"},"description":"Just posted a new piece at the Gospel Coalition on Sports Illustrated sportswriter Thomas Lake: It may surprise you to learn the finest young","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/10\/the-finest-young-writer-in-america-thomas-lake\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/10\/the-finest-young-writer-in-america-thomas-lake\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/10\/the-finest-young-writer-in-america-thomas-lake\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Finest Young Writer in America: Thomas Lake"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/","name":"Thought Life","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#\/schema\/person\/75c661f536302cda0daa8b7615fd8e53","name":"Owen Strachan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2dbab262f37be4cfe0660ee979173e8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2dbab262f37be4cfe0660ee979173e8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Owen Strachan"},"sameAs":["brandygrenier"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/author\/ostrachan\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":3896,"date":"2012-10-03T13:59:10","date_gmt":"2012-10-03T13:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/owenstrachan.com\/?p=3896"},"modified":"2012-10-17T14:21:14","modified_gmt":"2012-10-17T20:21:14","slug":"the-finest-young-writer-in-america-thomas-lake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2012\/10\/the-finest-young-writer-in-america-thomas-lake\/","title":{"rendered":"The Finest Young Writer in America: Thomas Lake"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a>Just posted a new piece at the Gospel Coalition on Sports Illustrated<\/em> sportswriter Thomas Lake<\/a>:<\/p>\n

It may surprise you to learn the finest young sportswriter\u2014perhaps the finest young writer\u00a0period\u2014in America is a Christian. It\u2019s true:\u00a0Thomas Lake<\/a>, all of 31 years of age and currently a senior writer for\u00a0Sports Illustrated, graduated from Gordon College in Massachusetts.<\/em><\/p>\n

Lake has drawn major attention for his long-form journalism, which expertly mixes soaring set pieces and ground-level investigation. In most cases a journalist excels at either the craft of storytelling or the labor of research. Lake succeeds in both areas, and a third of far greater importance: writing with genuine moral vision borne of\u00a0faith in a risen Christ<\/a>. Readers new to Lake should start with the stunning \u201c The Boy They Couldn\u2019t Kill<\/a>,\u201d \u201c 2 on 5<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0\u201c The Way It Should Be<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0and \u201c Bad Nights in the NFL<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0Be prepared to shed tears as you read these stem-winding articles.<\/em><\/p>\n

I recently conducted an appropriately long-form interview with this expert writer. Those who enjoy writing and examples of exceptional cultural engagement by Christians (recorded in books like\u00a0Faith in the Halls of Power<\/a>\u00a0by Gordon College president D. Michael Lindsay) will profit from Lake\u2019s commentary. During an exhilarating hour and a half, we covered many things: Lake\u2019s winding background, what it\u2019s like to work at the country\u2019s premier sports magazine, and how pastors can best preach the ultimate story.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read the whole thing.<\/a> \u00a0This is a two-part interview, and I think you\u2019ll enjoy it if you like writing, the life of the mind, sports, and the way that faith drives and inspires public work. \u00a0(Tomorrow I\u2019ll have a revealing bit on Lake\u2019s love of basketball.)<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"