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Mike Nappa (MN): Let’s talk first about your new book, BOILING POINT. What kind of work went into creating this one?

George Barna (GB): My research firm is constantly conducting national surveys as well as other types of primary research. Because our research covers a pretty wide range of interests, this book is a natural outgrowth of many of the strategic and timely topics that we have studied recently. I used dozens of our surveys as well as some research from a handful of other firms whose research I respect and trust.

MN: What do you hope people will gain from BOILING POINT?

GB: On one level, I want people to become comfortable thinking ahead. I intentionally limited the statistical content in favor of providing a more conversational narrative. Statistics speak to me, but I realize that most people go numb pretty quickly when a researcher starts spewing percentages. Instead, we’re telling people the story of the likely future, relying on reams of data without anesthetizing people with all the details. I want readers to get the big picture. Hopefully readers will find BOILING POINT to be an interesting, startling, scary, affirming story about what their life will be like during this decade.

MN: Anything else?

GB: On another level, though, I want everyone who reads the book to be motivated to go beyond absorbing information. For this book to be a success, believers will reflect on the information, pray about how God would have them respond, and then do something significant in response to the situations described in the text. The book is a call to action. The Church is typically pretty far behind the culture when it comes to effectively adapting to change or leading the way in exploiting new developments for the kingdom of God. My desire is to stimulate some thought, some conversation, and a whole lot of action that will enable the Church to be a major player in America in this new millennium.

MN: How did you come to be involved in doing research and compiling statistics on issues of faith?

GB: From the earliest time I can remember, I have always loved working with numbers. As a kid, I was infatuated with baseball, basketball and football statistics. In college I was drawn to the art of public opinion and behavioral research, to try to understand what makes people tick and to predict what they’ll do next. After college I was immersed in politics, running election campaigns and doing campaign polling for a variety of candidates and causes.

After finishing my graduate degrees I got involved in marketing research. One of the clients I was assigned to was a Christian ministry – and that experience hooked me on using my skills for the benefit of the Church. You can only conduct so many marketing studies on how to get people to buy more toothpaste, or to find out what options people most want in a new car, before you realize that you’re wasting your time on meaningless things. Having the chance to apply my skills to the development of the Church, and to help individuals become disciples, has been an incredible gift.

MN: It must be a challenge as well.

MN: Do you ever find yourself unhappy with the results of your research?

GB: I have to admit that sometimes the research gets me discouraged. The Church has been losing ground in the U.S. for some time. But the reality is that there is nothing I’d rather be doing than seeking creative, practical ways to help the Church to glorify God. And the points of encouragement are knowing that I serve a God who rules now and forever, and that the focus of my efforts must be obedience to His calling to me, not on how much I achieve.

MN: A lot of your work—BOILING POINT included—identifies current trends and then attempts to predict how those will play out in the future. What goes through your mind when you’re making those kinds of predictions?

GB: Writing a book like BOILING POINT was a real challenge because of the ever-present temptation to make wild but titillating predictions. I can’t tell you how many times I had to go back to a chapter, re-read a prediction, pray about it, and then eventually scrap a comment or section because I was not ultra-confident that the available data supported the conclusion I had written.

MN: How did working on BOILING POINT affect you personally?

GB: It caused me both anxiety and excitement – probably emotions similar to those that many of the book’s readers will experience. I got excited about some of the technological advances and some of the business and political possibilities. But I also felt acute anxiety about the world my daughters, who are only 6 and 9, will have to navigate during this decade. And I felt nauseous sometimes when I thought through what it’s going to take to get the churches to strategically address many of the changes and challenges they will face very soon. The challenges are energizing—but daunting.

MN: Have you ever been notoriously wrong in a prediction?

GB: I’m not sure if the truth is that I have never been grossly inaccurate about a prediction or simply that when it happens I completely erase that incident from my memory bank!

Overall, our track record has been incredibly solid. Sometimes I estimate that a change will happen more quickly than it does, but overall we’ve been blessed with a very high hit rate on our predictions. Among the keys to that level of performance are staying focused, employing the highest standards possible in the research process, and staying conservative in our projections. I’d rather describe something accurately than get headlines, so we’re pretty careful. And I have also worked very hard to make sure that if I don’t have persuasive data to support a position, I’ll just tell a reporter or leader that I don’t know the answer to their question. I want people to know that when I say something it’s not just George Barna’s opinion. Who cares about that? I’m just one person of six billion on the planet. If I speak, I want people to know that my comments are based on objective research, not personal feelings.

MN: What's your passion for today's church and for today's Christians?

GB: I long for us to provide a realistic and righteous alternative to what the world has to offer. I am totally committed to helping to identify, prepare and support leaders that God has called to lead the Church. I am completely sold out to the idea of altering the way we disciple people so that we get beyond head knowledge and facilitate godly character and a truly Christian lifestyle. And I am wholeheartedly focused on pushing the local church to the next level – which means embracing and perfecting new models of ministry delivery, consistent and accurate evaluation of life transformation and releasing the enormous gifts of the laity to be the church rather than to simply attend the church.

MN: Can you tell us more about that?

GB: It is so debilitating to listen to interview after interview with Christians and sense their spiritual disabilities. It is so frustrating to work with churches and pastors and hear the same excuses over and over as to why their church cannot make progress.

America needs a wholesale moral and spiritual revolution, and the local church must be at the center of that movement. The local church is not poised to lead such a transformation today, but I pray that God will use me and many others of like heart to generate fundamental changes in why and how we minister in the name of Christ.

MN: What do Christians have going for them in the 21st Century?

GB: The love of God, the model of Jesus Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit, the clarity and accessibility of the Bible, the lessons of history, an unbelievable reservoir of talent and resources within the body of believers, the pain and confusion of the world, and the freedom to minister.

MN: What do Christians have going against them in the 21st Century?

GB: Biblical illiteracy, the absence of visionary leadership, a commitment to outdated ministry models, ignorance of church history, moral relativism, lukewarm commitment to discipleship, and an ineffective process for training pastoral leaders. All of those deficiencies can be overcome, but we have to have the will, a strategic plan, and a firm commitment to making those changes.

MN: Based on what you know from your work on BOILING POINT, what is the best advice you could give parents about raising children and teenagers in the 21st Century?

GB: First, don’t preach to them about your faith, show them that faith through your lifestyle. Most kids tell us that they think adult Christians are generally hypocrites. Instead, we must show them what it looks like to live the Christian life, and to mentor them in that process.

Second, take charge of their spiritual development. Americans tend to leave spiritual growth up to the church. That’s utterly unbiblical and the evidence convincingly shows how poorly that strategy works. As parents, the spiritual development of our children is our responsibility, not that of the church. The church is there to support and supplement what we do in our homes, not to usurp or replace us.

Third, help them to ask questions so that they are deeply satisfied with the integrity and substance of Christianity. We cannot assume they will adopt Christianity because it’s the family faith; they must embrace it because they know that it is real, true, genuine, reliable, pragmatic and worthy. The only way they will get there is by asking tons of questions, and experiencing our willingness to help them complete that journey.