Why Are You an Evangelical?

We at the evangelical portal at Patheos are now beginning a series called YEV? or "Why are you evangelical?"  Our interviewees will come from across the spectrum of the evangelical communities of America; some will be prominent ministers or professors, while others are more likely to be found in coffee shops or marketplaces.  They will be asked just two questions.  First, why are you an evangelical Christian?  Second, where would you like to see American evangelicalism 10 or 20 years from now?  

Our first interviewee is Jeff Barneson, who has earned degrees from Stanford University, Denver Seminary, and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.  This "sandal-wearing guru" is something of an institution at Harvard, where he has forged strong relationships not only within the Christian community but also with the administration and with the other chaplains at Memorial Church.  Jeff has ministered to Harvard students for nearly twenty-five years, working with InterVarsity's Graduate and Faculty Ministry.  Having grown up in the suburbs of Los Angeles (where he occasionally saw Keith Green lead worship), Jeff has also worked and ministered with widows and orphans in the Guatemalan highlands, with doctors and pastors in Haiti, with families and small business owners in the garbage dumps of San Salvador and Tijuana, and with lawyers and inmates who work and live in the prisons of Bolivia and Ecuador.