About

IMG_0079IMG_0079IMG_0079IMG_0078We are living in the midst of the fastest, deepest cultural change ever. My desire is to help you live wisely in today’s culture from a strong faith and a Christian worldview and love well with God’s grace for others.

You’ll find an overview of my work and this website here.

My Story

I’m a former radio host, a national speaker and author of four books, most recently Faith and Culture: The Guide to a Culture Shaped by Faith (Zondervan), an Amazon best-seller.

Living wisely from a Christian worldview

trinity christian academy fine arts

Trinity Christian Academy, Dallas

After I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, before “worldview” was cool, I was teaching high school students at Trinity Christian Academy.  One fall, Christian worldview apologist Francis Schaeffer brought his How Shall We Then Live?  film series to town and changed my life.

I began to understand how politics, pop culture, home decorating, business, law, fashion, education, music, art—everything  flows downstream from worldview. Once we grasp the larger story of what is good, true and beautiful, of where we’ve come from and where we’re going, it gives us such a clearer path to live with purpose and meaning in between.

Most of our students would attend public Universities, so I proposed teaching them a Christian worldview from Schaeffer’s films and book, content still included in the TCA curriculum today.

To better equip my students, I enrolled in the University of Texas at Dallas to pursue a Master’s degree in Teaching (MAT) in Humanities, majoring in History of Ideas and minoring in Aesthetics. Since 1992 I’ve been speaking and writing on worldview. I love helping people in everyday life understand the times so they can live wisely in the tensions between their faith and today’s culture.

Loving well with God’s grace for others

I know what it’s like to live with shattered dreams. At twenty-nine I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. My experiences with chronic physical pain and loving a prodigal have deepened my life with Christ.

I can’t settle for an intellectual acknowledgement of Truth. I strive to connect what we learn in our heads with the life of our hearts. Especially to connect our belief in God with a desire for God. From my own journey, I desire to help others move from following Jesus out of duty and resignation (which I’ve known too well) to pursue him out of joy.

celebrating our 40th at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford 

I’ve been married to Jack for over forty years, all but three of them with RA. He has helped me face the limitations and challenges with daily help, unswerving faithfulness and a light-up-my-life sense of humor.  I could never have done what’s written on this page without him.

 Professional Bio

I’m a speaker, a former radio host, a blogger, and the author of four books. Most recently I partnered with Kelly Monroe Kullberg to author and edit Faith and Culture: The Guide to a Culture Shaped by Faith (Harper Collins), an Amazon “All Books” best-seller.

With a BA from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master’s Degree in History of Ideas and Aesthetics  from UT Dallas, I’ve taught courses in Western Civilization and cultural apologetics at secular and Christian colleges.

I’m both an educational and an inspirational speaker on worldview, faith and culture. I’ve spoken to a wide variety of groups from MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) to prisoners to university honor students, and many women’s conferences and retreats. I’ve also been honored to speak at schools and educators’ conferences, as well as Glorietta Christian Writer’s Conference, Wisconsin Right to Life, The CS Lewis Foundation Summer Institute (Oxbridge at Oxford Univ), Global Pastor’s Network, Chamber of Commerce and Rotary.

TTTMM 6For almost five years I co-hosted a radio show, The Things That Matter Most, on major secular talk radio stations in Houston and Dallas. With true respect, Rick Davis and I interviewed terrifically diverse guests about what they believed and why they believed it—including Christian philosopher Dallas Willard, Muslim Reza Aslan, health guru Deepak Chopra, and Human Genome Director Francis Collins. You can listen to some of our best shows here.

In 2009 the Bible.org women’s collective of bloggers invited me to join them at Engage. In August 2015 I launched a faith and culture blog at this site.  My posts are often picked up by The Stream news digest.

In addition to Faith and Culture I’ve authored Pilgrim’s Progress Today (NavPress), a retelling of Christian’s journey set in today’s cultural landscape, Worldproofing Your Kids: Helping Moms Prepare Their Kids to Navigate Today’s Turbulent Times (Crossway) and Godsight: Renewing the Eyes of Our Hearts, part spiritual memoir (Crossway).

My books have been featured on Chuck Colson’s Breakpoint, in Focus on the Family and World magazines. I’ve enjoyed many national radio and television interviews on programs like Family Life Today, Point of View, HomeLife, Janet Parshall’s America.

We lived for twenty-seven years in Houston where Jack was president of a Bible College, then pastor of a church. In 2010 we moved to South Carolina, again for Jack to pastor a church. I help with women’s ministry, outreach and mentoring aspiring writers.

Jack and I make our home in the azaleas and wooded hills of Columbia. We’re delighted when our son Zach visits from Austin, Texas where he works in the tech sector and moonlights as an alternative rock star.

My Contact Info

You can contact me on Facebook or Twitter, or contact me by email here.

Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.

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3 thoughts on “About

  1. Hi Lael,

    I am glad you were able to save some of the best of the things that matter most especially the interview with Don Piper which was the first interview I heard you do on your program. I live on Lake Livingston only about 20 miles from the bridge he was killed on crossing the Trinity River which feeds into the lake. I hope y0u and Jack have a very Merry Christmas.

    Don

  2. Hi Lael,
    We have a men’s group studying _Faith and Culture_. Thanks for such an engaging set of essays! I’m having trouble with the website listed in the opening chapter. The URL “www.culturedevo.com” links to what appears to be a Chinese website. Is there another URL to access the site for the book? Or has it been removed?
    Thanks!
    Chris