Christ & the Constitution: Navigating the “wall of separation between church and state” / July 2025

 

OCF MINISTRY NEWS 

• Sign up for summer programs at the Conference Centers: Visit ocfusa.org/CCexperience to find the right program and week for you at Spring Canyon (Buena Vista, Colo.) or White Sulphur Springs (Manns Choice, Pa.). https://www.ocfusa.org/CCexperience/  

• Consider your next steps at the Caleb Challenge Career Transition Strategies Workshop (12-14 September): Visit White Sulphur Springs’ website to learn more about and sign up for this impactful weekend. https://www.whitesulphursprings.org/event/caleb-challenge-career-transition-strategies-workshop/  

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• Check out Crosspoint Highlights: Don’t miss our new episode format, designed to share just a portion of a previously posted podcast for an encouraging listen even when you’re short on time. Find Crosspoint Highlights wherever you get your podcasts. 

GUEST SPOTLIGHT 

What does it look like to follow Christ in uniform? LTC Lee Robinson, USA, director of the U.S. Military Academy’s American Politics Program and an academy professor in the Department of Social Sciences, joins the podcast to address questions like this.  

Hailing from Georgia and having graduated from West Point in 2000, Lee now teaches and researches topics like civil-military relations and organizational leadership. In this episode, Lee shares about the cadet ministry that takes place through USMA OCF, led by Field Staff Bob & Tracy Phillips, then dives into complex topics ranging from balancing personal and professional choices to studying the United States’ historical approach to religion. 

If you would like to share your own story, complete the form on OCF’s “Be a Guest” webpage. Alternatively, if you have an idea for a guest or topic we should consider for a future episode of the show, send an email to [email protected]. https://www.ocfusa.org/podcastguest/ 

POINTS TO PONDER 

As you listen to this conversation with Lee, here are a few questions to ponder in your personal time, with a small group, or with a mentor: 

1. Why is it important to understand the historical context of the First Amendment? 

2. How does the vague language of the First Amendment impact us today? 

3. As you listen to Lee's example of the company commander with the cross on his desk, how would you respond if you were in Lee’s position? 

4. How do you think you balance your private and public personas? 

5. What do you learn from Jesus' example of rejecting political power? 

6. “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.” How does this quote from seventeenth-century German Lutheran theologian Rupertus Meldenius tie into today’s conversation? 

7. In what ways can your life be an example of the gospel and the work of Christ? 

8. What Scriptures shape your leadership philosophy, even in ways that might be subtle to the non-believer? 

9. Where's the line between encouraging religion and morality and compelling it? 

10. What can we learn from the Founding Fathers as they faced tension and disagreement regarding the government's approach to religion? 

11. Lee explains that "liberty is freedom to follow laws and freedom of conscience." What are your thoughts on this definition? 

12. Why is it important to understand not only what the Constitution says but also why it says what it does?