107 years ago today,

Francis Schaefer was born. He was born on January 30,

1912. He is going to live through most of the 1900s, dying on May the 15th, 1984.

Francis Schaefer is a very significant figure in the 20th century.

And here to commemorate his birthday, let's talk a little bit about his life and

legacy. You could divide his professional life up into three periods. The first is as a pastor. So in 1937, Francis Schaefer began his pastoral

ministry. He was married to Edith Seville. She was from a family of

a family of missionaries to China, and he began his pastorate in the Bible

Presbyterian Church and largely caught up in the fundamentalist debate there in the 1930s and

40s and that was the first 10 years of his professional ministry. In 1947 he made an exploratory trip to Europe and shortly thereafter

he established what is the second phase of his life, the Lebree phase.

Lebree, of course, means shelter, and shortly after 1947 in an exploratory trip,

he and Edith and family established Lebree in the mountains of Switzerland.

This was a place where mostly college-age students,

but any age could just show up and engage

Francis Schaefer in conversation.

And they talked about everything. They talked about... and engage Francis Schaefer in conversation.

And they talked about everything.

They talked about French films.

They talked about biblical texts.

They talked about arguments for the existence of God.

They talked about arguments against the existence of God.

...