Originally broadcast at 9:15 a.m. EDT Friday, August 28, 2020.

Revelation 21:1-5

Our nation is polarized, often down political lines. We all feel it in conversation, on social media, and in our news. Whether we’re talking about kneeling athletes, police presence, immigration or even wearing masks the divide is deep and the tension, thick. And it’s an election year! It seems everyone is politicked off. How can we navigate the age of outrage? What posture and practices may a follower of Christ take so we can be part of the separation of church and hate?

Ben Cachiaras has served since 1997 as Lead Pastor with Mountain Christian Church located on the outer reaches of Baltimore, Maryland. He began in ministry with Valley Christian Church in Apple Valley, Minnesota and also served with Grandview Christian Church in Johnson City, Tennessee.

A graduate of Minnesota Bible College (renamed Crossroads College), he has studied at Bethel Theological Seminary and Fuller Theological Seminary, and graduated with the Master of Divinity degree from Emmanuel Christian Seminary where he is currently completing his Doctor of Ministry final project.

Ben served as Trustee for Emmanuel Christian Seminary for twenty years, and now as Trustee with Milligan College. He has served as President for the North American Christian Convention (2010) on its Board of Stewards, and as a Contributing Editor for Christian Standard magazine as well as on the Publishing Committee for Standard Publishing and on various other ministry boards. He is the co-founder of MOVE Northeast, a church-planting network. Ben follows in the footsteps of his grandparents and parents who spent their lives in ministry among the Christian churches, mostly in the state of Minnesota.

With its beginnings in 1824, the story of the Mountain Church is remarkable. Located in the Northeast U.S., which is a vital mission field with a high concentration of unchurched people, God is using Mountain to make a regional and global impact. God has given Mountain many stories to tell, amazing fruit and growth to celebrate, and a huge vision to fulfill. Mountain’s mission is to make disciples who love God, love people, and serve the world. Mountain is known for ministry that happens in the community as the people of God scatter on mission. Mountain is a multi-ethnic, multi-site church that gathers in four locations. Mountain’s newest campus runs over 1200, another is thriving in a health club, and Mountain’s Edgewood campus is also a community center for ministry outreach, with a focus on changing the trajectory of the lives of under-resourced children through incarnational love.

Ben and his wife Karla, have three awesome children, Nathan, a ministry student at Emmanuel Christian Seminary, Andrew, a senior at University of Maryland, and Ellie, a sophomore at Milligan College. He has an irrational devotion to the Minnesota Vikings, bats around a lot of tennis balls, gets a kick out of skiing on water and snow and remembering when he did more rock climbing. Most of all, he loves his family, has a passion for preaching and leadership, and is devoted to building Jesus-shaped communities that draw people to the love of God.

This program was made possible by Alison and Craig Marthinsen Endowment for the Department of Religion and the Daney-Holden Chaplaincy Fund.

About Chautauqua Institution: Chautauqua Institution is a community on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York state that comes alive each summer with a unique mix of fine and performing arts, lectures, interfaith worship and programs, and recreational activities. As a community, we celebrate, encourage and study the arts and treat them as integral to all of learning, and we convene the critical conversations of the day to advance understanding through civil dialogue. CHQ Assembly is the online expression of Chautauqua Institution's mission.