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Today, those who publicly state that they are born-again Christians include the President of the United States, the attorney general, the national security adviser, governors of many states, members of Congress, senators, CEOs of our largest corporations, university professors, bestselling authors like John Grisham, country music stars like Randy Travis-on and on the list goes.

New York City had a reputation a generation ago for being one of the dirtiest and most unsafe cities in the world. Today it has one of the lowest crime rates, per capita, in the country. More than three-quarters of Americans describe themselves as Christians. Churches where the Bible is taught and holiness is lived are multiplying and flourishing. The largest and most effective churches in America, almost without exception, have a serious commitment to the truth of the Bible and the authority of Jesus Christ.

There are fewer R-rated films produced now than there were 10 years ago. And one of the most successful R-rated films is The Passion of the Christ. The bestselling books in America, and around the world, in recent years have included The Prayer of Jabez, Left Behind, and The Purpose-Driven Life.

I remember well when pornography magazines were sold in 7-Eleven and other convenience stores. I don't recommend that you go and look for them, but you would have difficulty finding those publications readily available in those stores today.

The New York Times editorialized recently that evangelical Christians in America are shaping U.S. foreign policy toward righteousness.

And on it goes. Christians are living holy lives that are having an enormous impact within our society.

Some Christian leaders say that Christianity in America is, in fact, 3,000 miles wide and one inch deep. As someone who travels a great deal in this country and interacts across the nation on a weekly basis with Christians, I simply say, that's not my experience.

One way to test that theory is to take out the sharp knife of tragedy and cut deep to see what's under an inch of American Christianity. I remember the day of tragedy at Columbine High School. My wife, Charleen, and I walked the perimeter of the fence and saw the thousands upon thousands of notes and little shrines that were established. We spent hours reading them, and almost all of them acknowledged a loyalty to God and a love for Jesus Christ.

I was commuting to a job in Washington D.C. when the sniper tragedies were taking lives at random around the metropolitan area. And I watched carefully on television when people who were absolutely shaken by the tragic deaths of family members stated that their only hope and confidence was in Jesus Christ and that Jesus Christ had given them strength, stability, and peace in the midst of their difficulties.

September 11, 2001, produced more testimonies to Jesus Christ than anything that I can remember in recent times.

On September 29 of last year, there was a shooting in a Hennepin County Courthouse in the Twin Cities in Minnesota. A severely wounded attorney lay bleeding on the floor of the courthouse hallway. The Minneapolis Star Tribune in a front-page story told about the woman who knelt down in front of this man. She pressed her navy blue suit jacket so hard against the wound on his neck that her arm shook. "Jesus, please save this man," she prayed over and over. "Jesus, don't let this man die."

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August 2004, Vol. 48, No. 8