Mark Sayers – författare

A biblical response to living in a platform society.

Platform: A mentality, a way of approaching life, which promises to reinforce our uniqueness, deliver on our desires, and offer validation and visibility.

A platform society emphasizes individualism and performance. It’s rooted in the belief that self and personal desires are preeminent. In Platforms to Pillars, cultural expert Mark Sayers explores how platform mentality is misshaping our contemporary world and contrasts this to the biblical call of Christians to live as pillars.

By looking at the ancient world—a world remarkably similar to our own—Sayers explores the flaws of a platform society. Sayers takes a deep dive into the influence and allure of digital platforms on individuals and society, and he invites readers to envision a legacy that lives beyond themselves. Like columns in buildings, human pillars provide support and strength. They work together to create space for others, partnering with God as He advances His kingdom in the world. Human pillars fortify and protect community through virtue and character and pass these values to others.

Sayers shows us how to delight in God’s presence, enjoying the freedom that flows from belonging to Him. A much-needed corrective, Platforms to Pillars models a biblical and better way for Christians to live.

A biblical response to living in a platform society.

Platform: A mentality, a way of approaching life, which promises to reinforce our uniqueness, deliver on our desires, and offer validation and visibility.

A platform society emphasizes individualism and performance. It’s rooted in the belief that self and personal desires are preeminent. In Platforms to Pillars, cultural expert Mark Sayers explores how platform mentality is misshaping our contemporary world and contrasts this to the biblical call of Christians to live as pillars.

By looking at the ancient world—a world remarkably similar to our own—Sayers explores the flaws of a platform society. Sayers takes a deep dive into the influence and allure of digital platforms on individuals and society, and he invites readers to envision a legacy that lives beyond themselves. Like columns in buildings, human pillars provide support and strength. They work together to create space for others, partnering with God as He advances His kingdom in the world. Human pillars fortify and protect community through virtue and character and pass these values to others.

Sayers shows us how to delight in God’s presence, enjoying the freedom that flows from belonging to Him. A much-needed corrective, Platforms to Pillars models a biblical and better way for Christians to live.

Can’t find no satisfaction?

There’s no shortage of prescriptions for restlessness out there: Seek adventure. Live your life. Don’t hold back.

Sound familiar?

The Road Trip that Changed the World is a book challenging the contemporary conviction that personal freedom and self-fulfillment are the highest good.

Like the characters in a Jack Kerouac novel, we’ve dirtied the dream of white picket fences with exhaust fumes. The new dream is the open road—and freedom.

Yet we still desire the solace of faith. We like the concept of the sacred, but unwittingly subscribe to secularized, westernized spirituality. We’re convinced that there is a deeper plot to this thing called life, yet watered-down, therapeutic forms of religion are all we choose to swallow, and our personal story trumps any larger narrative.

This is the non-committal culture of the road. Though driving on freely, we have forgotten where we’re headed.

Jesus said His road is narrow. He wasn’t some aimless nomad. He had more than just a half tank of gas—He had passion, objectives, and a destination.

Do you?

The content in this short e-book is excerpted from The Road Trip That Changed the World, by Mark Sayers. The book examines the influence of Jack Kerouac on Western Culture and the Church from a Christian perspective.

We live in a culture of the road—restless for adventure, glorifying experience, seeing life as a journey. Dissatisfied with where we are, we are constantly on the move to redefine our sense of home.

Why do we see the world like this? How did we come to believe that our best chance of finding home is to be constantly moving?

Jack Kerouac was one of America’s original proponents of the culture of the road, documenting his famous road trip across America in his classic work, On the Road. The standards he set forth in that book have influenced Western culture and church so much that we still read his book, echo his philosophies, and make movies in the vein of his iconic road trip. (A movie adaptation of On the Road is set to release winter 2012.)

In this twenty-minute read, Australian cultural commentator Mark Sayers examines how Kerouac’s influence has shaped Western traditions, our cultural identity, and the church. By analyzing our culture of the road and its influence on us, he leads us to understanding what it means to have a true sense of home.

There are two styles of leadership at war in the world.

On one side the mechanical leader casts a vision of heroic action aided by pragmatism, reason, technology, and power.

On the other side the organic leader strives to bring forth creativity, defying convention, and relishing life in culture’s margins.

This leadership battle is at the heart of our contemporary culture, but it is also an ancient battle. It is the reinvocation of two great heresies, one rooted in an attempt to reach for godlikeness, the other bowing before the sea monster of the chaotic deep.

Today’s leader must answer many challenging questions including:

Weaving a history of leadership through the Enlightenment, Romanticism, tumultuous 19th-century Paris, and eventually World War II, cultural commentator Mark Sayers brings history and theology together to warn of the dangers yet to come, calling us to choose a better way.

When church and culture look the same...

For the many Christians eager to prove we can be both holy and cool, cultural pressures are too much. We either compartmentalize our faith or drift from it altogether—into a world that’s so alluring.

Have you wondered lately:

Disappearing Church will help you sort through concerns like these, guiding you in a thoughtful, faithful, and hopeful response. Weaving together art, history, and theology, pastor and cultural observer Mark Sayers reminds us that real growth happens when the church embraces its countercultural witness, not when it blends in.

It’s like Jesus said long ago, “If the salt loses its saltiness, it is no longer good for anything…”

What in the world is going on?

These days the world has everyone spinning. Weekly terrorist attacks. The refugee crisis. Transgender bathrooms. Academic safe spaces. Tensions with Russia. A perpetually uncertain economy. The list goes on. It’s enough to make us crazy… or want to put our heads in the sand.

But we can’t, because these are our times, and we must face them. So what many Christians are looking for is someone to communicate a way forward—someone who both understands culture and trusts the Bible. Mark Sayers is such a leader, one who “writes from the future.” He is a gifted cultural analysist who combines his biblical knowledge, curious mind, and pastoral heart to offer a guide to the times. Strange Days will help Christians slow down, get their bearings, and follow God with wisdom and tact in this wild world.

“Take heart, for I have overcome the world,” Jesus said nearly 2,000 years ago. And that’s the message of Strange Days, the message the church needs today.

What if the rise of secularism is good news for the church?

For decades, we set our hopes on technology, politics, and the appearance of peace. We wanted to believe we were headed somewhere better—that progress was happening. But now as our technology ensnares and isolates us, our politics threaten to tear us apart, and our cultural decline continues to accelerate, people are understandably distressed.

But throughout history these periods of decline traditionally precede powerful spiritual renewal—and even revival. What if all the bad news in this world is actually good news for the church?

Discover why there’s reason to be wildly hopeful and how to prepare yourself and your church to be a part of renewal now and in the future.