Totomundo [the whole world]
March-April
Totomundo: Vision and Purposes
Greetings fellows, families, and friends.
Welcome to the first issue of Totomundo. We are
rejoicing in Christ for the unveiling of this publication.
God is using our fellowship and He has brought us a
long way from where we began. We are being
continually restored in ambition and focus by God,
and Totomundo is a direct result of that. Totomundo
means the whole world. We hope to interact with
Biblical spirituality in a way that can function
worldwide, across cultures, times, places, and topics.
There are a few intentions for this publication.
One is that it would encourage us to continually seek
after Christ through reflection on the basic,
foundational worldview issues. God will use these
articles to grow our unity in Spirit and in thinking on
the essential issues of a comprehensive practicing of
Biblical spirituality. Most of what will be in Totomundo
this year will directly address these basic matters.
This should help us put clear words to the feelings of
our hearts, that through clear communication we can
What the Creation Museum Says About American Christianity
I recently visited the Creation Museum located
near the Cincinnati International Airport. Here are a few
observations that came to mind as I considered what this
museum’s existence says about the direction of American
Christianity.
Lessons Learned Late But Never Too Late
It took 82 years from the Scopes Trial in 1925 until
American Christianity had a winsome popular response to
Darwinian evolution. It is a sad testimony to the
pervasiveness of restricted pietism, that is, reverence for
God that is limited to a few “spiritual” categories.
Research has shown us that a leading cause of
decline of belief in scripture, even among faithful church
attendees, is due to the “accepted fact” of a naturalistic
approach to science. Yet too little is done to confront this
teaching as evidenced by the paucity of support for
building the museum or supporting organizations seeking
academic redress of these issues. These efforts, the
museum and others, could potentially have a dramatic and
substantial impact on the re-introduction of the gospel to
the next generation.
Few theologians, over the last 82 years, actually
held to a clear position on the direct creation of a real
Adam and Eve at the beginning of earth history.
Totomundo@gmail.com
Vol. 1, Is. 1
help those around us better grasp Biblical living,
feeling and thinking. These three elements, living,
feeling, and thinking, are often not seen as equals yet
they are. We need to graciously and consistently
assert and show in the Scriptures that they are
exactly that.
Totomundo will also tighten up our community,
as some articles will be written by our very own
fellows. Our fellows are engaged in a wide variety of
disciplines, oftentimes at an academic or professional
level. Their articles will be a bold display of bringing
together the disciplines under God’s Word and in
connection with all the other disciplines, not as
segregated, independent fields. Also related to this,
appearing shortly will be an online forum for this
publication that we will be able to interact through, so
that even though we are spread throughout the
country (and even over a few continents) we can
expand our conversation and encourage one another.
Continued on Page 2
Thankfully, recent efforts acknowledging that design in
nature calls for an intelligent designer serve to bring this
issue to a larger audience as well as to evangelical pastors
and theologians. Ranald Macaulay of Christian Heritage
Cambridge recently noted that the seminal work of Francis
A. Schaeffer was largely dismissed by scientists and
theologians in Great Britain due in part to his insistence on
accepting an historical Adam and Eve. Those days are
waning as a new generation is bolstered by a group of
young scientists, leaders, filmmakers, pastors, and
theologians.
A Broader Vision of the Glory of God
Churches catching the larger vision are making a
difference across the cultural landscape by fostering such
approaches in many fields and disciplines while scaling
back some of the inward focus on more buildings for
mega-campuses (which are rapidly becoming passé,
anyway). A rising group of bright, young Christian leaders
have recognized the need to be relevant to truth itself for a
lost culture around them. A re-building of a more
comprehensive approach from a biblical worldview is
occurring.
Continued on Page 2
 Totomundo
Vision and Purposes Cont.
Also, this publication is a living out of Biblical
worldview in itself. We are seeking to do all things for
the Glory of God, and writing articles and doing this
publication is one option. How great a freedom! This
fellowship rests upon the Biblical principle that people
together, in community and in complimentary effort,
are much more effective and even more beautiful
than individuals. Totomundo will serve our
community, edify it, and allow us to work together in a
much more powerful way than we could individually.
The whole truly is greater than the sum of its parts,
and we know that all of our individual interests,
callings, and backgrounds are vital to the fellowship,
and to doing this fellowship successfully. A body
does not work quite right with out each part
accounted for, properly connected, and in connected
in the right place in the right way.
American Christianity Cont.
The Connectedness of All Things Reasserted
The Creation Museum, among other public and
scientific efforts, clearly upholds an explicit
acknowledgment that any one thing is connected to all
other things. Reductionism’s negative impact is being
addressed and countered to encompass a larger vision.
Scientific research done to the glory of God must be
fostered by the church in order to be obedient to Christ.
Some leading families, Christian education heads, and a
few church leaders are actually encouraging young people
interested in the sciences to answer the call of God to
obedience in this arena of His kingdom.
Doing all to the glory of God is becoming more and
more a reality as a younger generation throws off the old
sacred-secular divide and sees making disciples as a
comprehensive responsibility and not one restricted to a
few “super-spiritual” categories.
Christian Thought Making a Comeback
Finally, the museum is driven by an insistence on the
sufficiency and veracity of scripture as a proper foundation
upon which to establish, build, guide, and discern scientific
inquiry. Theologians William Alston and Russell Moore
have recently defended and promoted this foundational
approach to the whole of life and culture. Similarly, William
Lane Craig and many other evangelical philosophers have
reasserted a biblical framework which is widely noted as
leading in the field, even by others who espouse different
approaches.
Ideas Shape Our Actions
So what responses are indicated going forward?
Totomundo@gmail.com
March-April Vol. 1 Is. 1
Lastly, this publication will lead into our
Chautauqua meeting in June 2008. This will be held
in the Louisville, KY area from June 5th-9th. Our
focus is doing all legitimate human endeavors to the
Glory of God and in full obedience to Christ. These
articles will spark thinking on this topic and help us be
well prepared for our time together. We have
planned five issues for 2008 to be released bi-
monthly. Overall, we are expecting God to present
new opportunities and methods so that we may grow
to longer issues or more frequent issues in the future.
Be praying for God to better shape and guide our
efforts to fit his purposes in this publication, as a
fellowship and in our lives individually.
Clayton Rothwell, Managing Editor
Louisville, KY
Realize that restricted pietism as the most pervasive
default setting in American Christianity can be effectively
overcome by the rising generation of young leaders.
Reject the old shibboleth of “full-time Christian service”
from bringing a sense of disenfranchisement to your
calling. Subscribe deeply in mind and heart to a
comprehensive and historic biblical theology.
Second, take action to form new efforts and
organizations that will carry forward a comprehensive
vision of God’s glory. One doesn’t have to wait for properly
slow-moving institutions to sanction such developments.
For example, the Alliance Defense Fund, a leading
Christian legal firm, like the Creation Museum, was not
established by institutions or academics per se, but by
well-informed activist leaders who responded with
theological clarity and focused action. This pattern can be
repeated across the culture. Institutions will eventually
catch up to provide the depth of encouragement and
academic assistance needed for such leading-the-way
efforts.
Take heart that a few good examples at a world-class
level have arisen publicly in the last ten years, even as we
face the sad results of decades of ignoring the larger
picture of God’s glory. Consider how God has burdened
and called you to serve our families, our churches, and
communities then take action in faith toward that purpose.
Rejoice that God is prepared to bless and honor your
efforts to bring glory to Him in all aspects of what makes up
His kingdom, including establishing technologically
advanced interactive museums.
Ross McGary, Publisher
Falls Church, VA & Nashville, TN