Eric Metaxas believes young people, especially young men, need heroes.
The bestselling biographer of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and William Wilberforce and keynote speaker for the 2012 National Prayer Breakfast spoke at the 18th John A. Hamrick Lectureship at First Baptist Church of Charleston, Jan. 27 and 28.
Bonhoeffer and Wilberforce “changed the world of their day,” Metaxas said.
“The importance of their lives to us today is what we can learn from them,” he said. “William Wilberforce was born into a world of unbelievable debauchery. He took Christian principles that were celebrated by those on the fringes of the society of his day and brought them into the center of society.
“His life was so changed by his acceptance of Jesus that he wanted to somehow give back. He truly believed that he was no better than any other person. He believed that whatever gifts God had given us were for us to help others.”
“We who are Christian have not done a good job of telling our story,” Metaxas told his audience. “We have allowed the secular world to forget where the great principles of justice, liberty, charity and responsibility come from. These are Christian values. If we have been saved by Jesus, we are responsible for taking the message to the marketplace, and we have not done it.
“Wilberforce believed that God called him to end the slave trade. We need to find out what God has called each of us to do, and to get busy doing it.”
The lectures are a memorial to the life and work of John A. Hamrick, pastor of the church for 29 years and founding president of Baptist College of Charleston, now Charleston Southern University.