I’ve been absent from these pages for several weeks, concentrating on higher priorities. My wife gave birth to our second child. I thought it was important for me to focus on making sure I could help him get a good start in life, and to take care of my family in a wonderful yet stressful time.

The break was good: it allowed me to step back from the debates of the day. I’ll admit I was seriously tempted at times to interject myself into our nation’s discussions on Trumpism, immigration and Christianophobia. I have two boys now, after all. I want my boys of color raised in a society where we have honest racial dialogue, where we seek solutions rather than confrontation. I want a society where I can raise my boys in my faith without them facing the ugly Christianophobia my work has often documented.

Having children means I have a heavy investment in what happens in the next generation. It motivates me to keep to raising my voice on these and other issues.

To Be There For My Sons

Speaking out is important. Sometimes, however, I wonder if we can become so committed to internet and social activism that we lose sight of our immediate families’ needs. I am no saint in this regard. I have let my family down at times with some degree of workaholicism.

Nevertheless, having been raised in a single-parent family, I am determined to make sure my sons know their father and that I can positively influence them. If God allows me to live throughout their childhood, I will endeavor to be there for them until they make the transition from boys to men.

I am greedy. I want more for my sons than to merely live out their faith.

I’m grateful to be able to get my message out to a broad audience, but my primary duty is to my family. That primary duty is also the key to changing our society. We live in a world that is becoming more hostile to our faith. We will need strong Christian men and women, if we want that faith to survive.

No Guarantees But Also No Shortcuts

There are no guarantees in parenting. I could do everything “right” and my sons could still turn from the faith, or adopt a lifestyle that fails to build the Kingdom of Heaven.

On the other hand I know that my actions can increase the chances that they will strive to live a godly lifestyle. There is no shortcut to developing the kind of relationship that will have that effect. I must simply spend time with them. I must honor my relationship with my wife, too, and let them see me doing that.

I am greedy. I want more for my sons than to merely live out their faith. I want to raise two boys who will become leaders in the church and elsewhere. I want them to become men who will lead others toward what’s right and holy.

They will ultimately choose the directions they take, but I’m committed to keeping my ultimate goal for my sons in mind, and finding routes toward achieving that goal.

To Raise Up a Godly Generation

It means nothing if we do not raise up a godly generation to follow us.

Many Christians feel relatively helpless in light of some of our recent social changes, but we are neither helpless nor hopeless. Every Christian with children can invest in their children’s lives. If we do it well, that will be our best contribution to reshaping the society to become more godly. Regardless of what else might go on around us, politically and culturally, that is still our prime responsibility and best strategy.

I remain ready to put myself on the line to fight for free speech and religious freedom, for taking care of “the least of these,” for confronting ethnocentrism, for honest racial dialogue, for dealing with academic dogma and promoting Christian values. I am eager to do so as long as I do not compromise the needs of my family.

With this op-ed I put myself back into the fight — but I am not deceived. I know that it means nothing if we do not raise up a generation to follow us — a generation of godly men and women who will enjoy the fruits of our activism.