Alan has served as a pastor, teacher, trainer, speaker, consultant, and missional leader for over 20 years. He earned a Master of Divinity with a focus in Intercultural Studies from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary (SBC, Mill Valley, CA) and a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education, Social Studies from Mississippi State University.
He has written two books, When Heaven and Earth: Racism, Southern Evangelicals, and the Better Way of Jesus (NewSouth Books, 2014) and Joy Persevering: The Ray and Ruth Bozeman Story of Living in the Better Way of Jesus (CreateSpace, 2015).
Alan Cross has blogged regularly for over ten years at http://www.alancrosswrites.com and tweets at @alanlcross.
With a background in theology, Missiology, Intercultural Studies, and the Social Sciences, Alan is able to see the world and how it works from multiple angles. One of his academic disciplines. Social Studies, was defined by the NCSS Task Force on Standards for Teaching and Learning in the Social Studies in 1993 as
"The integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence. Within the school program, social studies provides coordinated, systematic study drawing upon such disciplines as anthropology, archaeology, economics, geography, history, jurisprudence, philosophy, political science, psychology, religion, and sociology, as well as appropriate content from the humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences. The primary purpose of social studies is to help young people develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world."
That description and mandate has shaped Alan's thinking for over two decades as he has applied that framework to gospel ministry in ways that creates context and understanding for what is happening in the world with theological insight into what God may be doing as He is revealed in Scripture, in the person and work of Jesus Christ, and through the ministry of the church.
Alan's speaking and writing seeks to help people focus on Christ and the implications of the gospel in a broken world. Those implications bring healing and wholeness - what the Hebrews called "Shalom" and what we call peace.
Speaking:
Interview with Dan Darling of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission from The Way Home podcast:
Preaching at Ridgecrest Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama, January 10, 2016