Ed Stetzer is the president of LifeWay Research and a prolific author of too many books to list here. (OK, here are a few recent ones you should note: Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches that Reach Them, Compelled by Love: The Most Excellent Way to Missional Living, and Breaking the Missional Code: Your Church Can Become a Missionary in Your Community.)

Ed has also written the Foreword to Holy Subversion. I’ll be posting a few sections of that Foreword in the coming weeks. Before he wrote the Foreword, he wrote an endorsement for the book, included below.

I’m thankful for Ed Stetzer’s commitment to encourage us young guys. I’m also grateful for his contributions to the Southern Baptist Convention and the wider world of evangelicalism.

In the midst of much debate and uncertainly about the Kingdom of God in the world today, Wax makes it clear that Jesus’ kingdom challenges our allegiances. Wax looks at issues of idolatry and stronghold and, one by one, show us how the gospel of the Kingdom requires a new loyalty. Holy Subversion: Allegiance to Christ in an Age of Rivals is a helpful and challenging book.

- Ed Stetzer

In the past few years, Kevin DeYoung has written three books that I have thoroughly enjoyed: Just Do Something, Why We Love the Church and Why We’re Not Emergent (the latter two co-authored by the inimitable Ted Kluck). More recently, I’ve benefited from the pastoral wisdom displayed his blog.

Kevin is the senior pastor at University Reformed Church in East Lansing, Michigan. I am grateful for his kind words about my book:

“Holy Subversion reads like a series of very good sermons. There is pastoral wisdom, balance, and conviction in these pages. Trevin Wax helps us remember what really matters.”

- Kevin DeYoung

During my years of study in Romania, I was challenged by the example of one professor in particular – Dr. Radu Gheorghita. Dr. Gheorghita is a Romanian scholar who now teaches at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. I was fortunate enough to take Hermeneutics, Greek, and New Testament with him while studying at Emanuel University.

I have never met someone so passionate about knowing the Scriptures in the original languages. Dr. Gheorghita disciplines himself in the memorization of the Greek New Testament – having committed several books to memory already. I am thankful for his love for the Bible and also for his endorsement of Holy Subversion.

The bridge between the biblical world and ours is a two-way path. Most travelers start from the Here-and-Now world and equipped with the tools of exegesis step back in space-time into the There-and-Then world.

Trevin Wax makes a bold proposal for a journey in the opposite direction. What would it be like if the biblical authors were to step into our own world? How would Moses, David, Paul, or even Jesus proclaim God’s message if they were living today?

The author’s creative and persuasive proposal invites the readers to ponder what they might plausibly hear if the biblical imperative against idolatry were given to us today.

- Dr. Radu Gheorghita
Associate Professor of Biblical Studies
Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Dr. Nicholas Perrin is the Associate Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College. I thoroughly enjoyed Lost in Transmission , his book about the historical reliability of the biblical Gospels. (Check out my interview with Dr. Perrin here.) He is also the author of Thomas, the Other Gospel.

I am grateful for Nick Perrin’s work and for his endorsement of Holy Subversion:

“There is the sense that something is wrong in the church, very wrong, and most prognosticators have been telling us what we need to do get back on track. Trevin Wax takes a different approach, a more radical approach — he calls us to come face to face with the ‘Caesars’ in our life. Only once we have understood the dire effect of these allegiances, as Wax shows, can we then hope to subvert the kingdoms vying for our localities. Holy Subversion: Allegiance to Christ in an Age of Rivals makes clear the contours of the sacred revolution which is ours to undertake.”

- Dr. Nicholas Perrin
Associate Professor of New Testament, Wheaton College

Dr. David Dockery is the president of Union University. Since he has become president, enrollment at Union has 1,975 to 3,800. He is also the author of several books, including Renewing Minds: Serving Church and Society Through Christian Higher Education and Southern Baptist Consensus and Renewal: A Biblical, Historical, and Theological Proposal.

I have been blessed personally by Dr. Dockery’s interest in younger Southern Baptists like myself. He has been a source of encouragement to me, and his works have greatly influenced my thoughts on the future of evangelicalism and the Southern Baptist Convention.

I am grateful for David Dockery and for his kind words about my book:

In Holy Subversion: Allegiance to Christ in an Age of Rivals, Trevin Wax issues a wide-ranging invitation for believers to rethink what it means to be a Christ-follower in a culture that offers rival ways of thinking and living at every turn. Those who wrestle with this timely and biblically-based challenge will be called to nothing less than whole-hearted faithfulness in all areas of life.

- David S. Dockery
President, Union University

Collin Hansen is an editor-at-large for Christianity Today. In 2006, he wrote an article entitled, “Young, Restless, and Reformed,” which documented the rise of Calvinism among many young evangelicals. By 2008, that article had turned into a full book, Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist’s Journey with the New Calvinists.

Collin is a good journalist, and I am thankful that he took the time to read and recommend Holy Subversion:

“Trevin Wax delivers a sober challenge for the church to live up to her lofty calling. By God’s grace, may Christians heed his warning and follow the narrow path prepared by Jesus. Perhaps we will then see the fruit of the Spirit’s transforming power in our midst.”

– Collin Hansen, Christianity Today editor at large,
author of Young, Restless, Reformed

R. Albert Mohler, Jr. is the president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and the most significant cultural commentator in the Southern Baptist Convention. His recent books include He Is Not Silent: Preaching in a Postmodern World, Desire and Deceit: The Real Cost of the New Sexual Tolerance and The Disappearance of God: Dangerous Beliefs in the New Spiritual Openness.The remarkable turn-around of Southern Seminary since he has become president is an occasion for profound gratitude.

I am grateful for the leadership of Dr. Mohler and for his kind recommendation of Holy Subversion:

“Trevin Wax faithfully sounds the call for world-changing, Christ-exalting Christian practice. By unmasking contemporary ‘Caesars,’ he reveals the true dangers, and points to pitfalls of which many believers are completely unaware. This book serves as a helpful reminder and competent guide to draw out the implications of true allegiance to Jesus Christ.”

- R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY

Dr. Paul Negruț is the president of my alma mater, Emanuel University of Oradea, Romania. He is also one of the pastors of Emanuel Baptist Church, one of the largest evangelical churches in Europe.

Dr. Negruț has been a life-long friend to my wife and her family, and he has been a major influence in my life through the years. His wife of 30+ years is Delia, and he has two daughters.

He is the author of several books in Romanian, including Revelație, Scriptură, Comuniune, Cristos, Biserica și Lucrurile de pe Urmă, Suveranitatea lui Dumnezeu și Sensul Vieții sub Soare, Nu este Bine ca Omul să fie Singur, and Biserica, Statul și Autoritatea.

I am grateful for Dr. Negruț’ endorsement of Holy Subversion:

“In Holy Subversion: Allegiance to Christ in an Age of Rivals, Trevin Wax engages both the Church and the world with clarity and conviction. With great insight into the heart of the apostolic gospel, Wax highlights the profound impact of early Christians’ complete allegiance to Jesus of Nazareth as Savior and Lord over all aspects of personal life and society. True Christianity, contends the author, dethrones the Caesar of our days and enthrones Jesus Christ as the only Savior and Lord over all life.

“This is a timely and prophetic book for our generation. I highly recommend it to pastors, evangelists, missionaries, Sunday-school teachers, and all believers in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ’s life death and resurrection and the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit according to the inspired and infallible Word of God represents the foundation for the author’s call to contemporary Christians to the ‘Ephesians Road’, that is, to live and labor with undivided loyalty for the glory of one and the only Master of time and eternity, Jesus Christ.

- Dr. Paul Negruț

Pastor of Emanuel Baptist Church

President of Emanuel University, Oradea, Romania

J.I. Packer is one of my spiritual heroes. His book, Knowing God, is considered one the most influential evangelical books of the past century.

Dr. Packer has also been a firm defender of traditional Christianity in the midst of the shifting tides of religion in the 21st century. His disagreement with the Anglican Church of Canada’s redefinitions of human sexuality led to events in which he, a world-class scholar already in his 80′s, was suspended and threatened by the denomination to have his ministerial credentials revoked.

I admire Dr. Packer for the consistency of his witness and the unfading passion he has for the church today. I am most grateful for his endorsement of Holy Subversion:

“How should God’s American people put the lordship of Jesus Christ on display in their lives? Trevin Wax’s searching answer is biblical, basic, businesslike and blunt.”

- J.I. Packer,
Professor of Theology, Regent College,
author of Knowing God

Dr. Russell Moore is the Dean of the School of Theology at Southern Seminary. He is the author of an influential book on the evangelical view of the kingdom of God, The Kingdom of Christ: The New Evangelical Perspective and a very good book on adoption, Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families & Churches.

During my time at Southern, I have been blessed by Dr. Moore’s books and blog, but most of all by his friendship and his commitment to serving the local church. I am grateful for the ministry of Russell Moore and his gracious recommendation of Holy Subversion: Allegiance to Christ in an Age of Rivals:

“Christianity is all about paradox. We lose our lives to gain them. We find life in crucifixion. We serve in order to reign. In his book, Holy Subversion, Trevin Wax takes up the question of how to be both a rebel—against the false authorities of this time—while simultaneously being submissive—to the divine authority of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This book is a helpful warning against both nihilism and cynicism.”

- Russell D. Moore,
Dean, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Louisville, Kentucky