Today's interview is with Greg Forster, program director for Faith, Work, and Economics, part of the Kern Family Foundation. Greg is also an author, his latest book being Joy for the World: How Christianity Lost Its Cultural Influence and Can Begin Rebuilding It. Today, we talk with Greg about discipleship, vocation, and developing a theology of work.

1) A lot of people lament the demise of the church in the Western world, but you seem to view this as an opportunity for renewal. Why the optimism?

The darker the world gets, the more opportunity we have to shine like stars in the darkness (Philippians 2:15). Scripture teaches us to expect that when Christians are not only faithful, but find ways of actively manifesting their faith within the life of their culture—the culture within which we are embedded will not be able to ignore this.

American culture mostly ignores Christianity now, but that's because we have forgotten how to manifest our faith within cultural activity. There's ...