Join us for the keynote address of the Sayers Conference on Friday, October 4th at 8m in Statler Auditorium.

Parking Info: Please allow at least 15 minutes to park and walk to the lecture. Due to homecoming events at Schoellkopf Stadium, the best parking option will likely be the lot on Tower Road across from Bradfield Hall. There will be road closures on Campus Rd and Garden Ave.

About the Talk:
In our era of rapid cultural change, the very idea of a “cultural institution” seems increasingly irrelevant. The institutions of our society, from government to journalism to higher education to churches, are under great pressure. They command less and less loyalty and trust, and the mechanisms for real change seem to lie outside or beyond them — in new kinds of media, new social movements, and technological disruption. But the paradox of cultural change is that it only lasts if it is “institutionalized” — made available to future generations through durable structures and patterns of life. Otherwise it’s merely fad and fashion. What does it mean to contribute to this kind of lasting change? How can we build institutions that do not become rigid and oppressive? Is there hope for restoring existing institutions? And what is the unique role that organizations like Chesterton House can play in the health and renewal of institutions like Cornell? This talk will explore the three-generation horizon of lasting, beneficial cultural change.

About the Speaker:
Andy Crouch is partner for theology and culture at Praxis, an organization that works as a creative engine for redemptive entrepreneurship. His two most recent books—2017’s The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place and 2016’s Strong and Weak: Embracing a Life of Love, Risk and True Flourishing—build on the compelling vision of faith, culture, and the image of God laid out in his previous books Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power and Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling.

Andy serves on the governing boards of Fuller Theological Seminary and the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. For more than ten years he was an editor and producer at Christianity Today, including serving as executive editor from 2012 to 2016. He served the John Templeton Foundation in 2017 as senior strategist for communication. His work and writing have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time, and several editions of Best Christian Writing and Best Spiritual Writing—and, most importantly, received a shout-out in Lecrae’s 2014 single “Non-Fiction.”

From 1998 to 2003, Andy was the editor-in-chief of re:generation quarterly, a magazine for an emerging generation of culturally creative Christians. For ten years he was a campus minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Harvard University. He studied classics at Cornell University and received an M.Div. summa cum laude from Boston University School of Theology. A classically trained musician who draws on pop, folk, rock, jazz, and gospel, he has led musical worship for congregations of 5 to 20,000. He lives with his family in Pennsylvania.

This event is part of our Homecoming Weekend Dedication Celebration. You can view the weekend’s full line-up of events and register to let us know you’re coming here.