Welcome to this bonus episode of Five Minutes in Church History. We are releasing this episode on August 1st because as you will soon hear, August 1st of 2021 is a special date here at Ligonier Ministries and to join me to celebrate this moment is Ligonier's President and CEO Chris Larson.

Mr. Larson it's a real pleasure to have you on Five Minutes in Church History. I think this is the first time for me to join you on this podcast.

It is indeed. You know Chris I found this archival picture of a postcard I believe that was sent out as promotional material from Ligonier and it said take RC to the beach with you and it was a picture of RC in a vintage, very vintage bathing suit with a book in his hand teaching at the beach.

That's right Steve you've been able to go through a lot of the Ligonier archives as you were working on the biography for Dr. Sproul and resurfacing some of these treasures, but I know that you're eager to really talk about what's happening this month as Ligonier's anniversary.

This is our 50th anniversary month and so when you go back to those early documents you see that the Ligonier Valley study center began there in Western Pennsylvania in August of 1971.

That's right the 50th anniversary this is very exciting and as part of that 50th anniversary one of the projects that Ligonier has done has made available.

What were the columns of Dr. Sproul that were published in table talk going all the way back to 1977. So these were published as four volumes as a four volume box set called right now counts forever by RC Sproul.

Tell us a little bit more about what this is and why Ligonier published it.

This is a beautiful set that helps to preserve Dr. Sproul's timeless teaching and that column right now counts forever sewing capsulates much of what we're about at Ligonier Ministries.

And what Dr. Sproul did over those 40 years really parallels a lot of what's happening in the broader Christian community and then Dr. Sproul in his own inimitable way seeks to apply timeless theological principles to current thinking.

These are just some of the titles roots in the Pepsi generation the sex revolution and the Christian the American dream God violence pro football God and the Johnstown flood the press profits or cynics and then he ends 1977 with this one the Elvis phenomenon.

Now it's what we have here a theologian offering cultural commentary.

Yes, but there is far more going on here. We don't see RC just commenting on headlines.

What Dr. Sproul has done is help the church think theologically about the issues that confront us. I'm looking here at the very first issue from May 1977.

And then here he speaks of the Pepsi generation as you just mentioned, but then within the space of several hundred words.

He touches on the televised drama roots by Alex Haley that was quite a phenomenon.

It was it was huge in the 1970s and then he also addresses rocky Philadelphia zone.

You know what we have here is 40 years of theological reflection.

I think that's what we love about RC and his methodology and the gifts that God gave to him to rise above the moment, but also to speak in a way that was enduringly relevant because it was gripping the way that he would pull you in through what he was teaching and then help you to understand how I am going to live.

For the glory of God. Let's go back to that first column. This column's title right now counts forever is designed to focus attention on the relevancy of our present lives to the eternal destinies we all face.

We live in a culture that places the stress on right now. It's called the Pepsi generation. We are told to live with gusto because we only go around once.

Short range goals, pragmatic methods of problem solving, a quiet hysteria to make it happen now all point to modern man's despair regarding the future.

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