The SALLT Academy

Recently I was invited by the former District Attorney of Oklahoma County, Wes Lane, to meet with a group of about twenty-five members of the Salt And Light Leadership Training Academy (SALLT), in Oklahoma City. I spent the day with them on October 9.

In my thirty years of teaching about biblical worldview, this is the most unusual group I've had the pleasure to address. Among its members are two sitting Oklahoma senators (one currently running for Lieutenant Governor), the County Commissioner, the President of Oklahoma Christian University, a former Miss America, an owner of the city’s baseball team, a member of the Oklahoma City School Board, the Director of the Oklahoma Memorial, prominent business leaders, numerous lawyers, and the list goes on.

The SALLT Academy is an eight-month curriculum in which members come together for one day per month to receive instruction, pray, and focus on city issues in light of the biblical worldview.

We spent the day looking at how to assess matters through the lens of a biblical worldview, and how to propose solutions to city challenges and opportunities that are specific, winsome and consistent with that worldview.

The group was very responsive to what was shared. By the end of the day, they were applying what they had learned to a particular issue that is facing one of their peers. It was truly an amazing thing to watch, and a privilege to be a part of it.

The model for the SALLT Academy is William Wilberforce, the 18th Century Christian who served in the British Parliament. By God's grace, Wilberforce, along with a small group of friends known as the "Clapham Circle," worked tirelessly to abolish slavery in Britain. They succeeded after 20 years of effort.

Wilberforce's Clapham Circle consisted of about ten followers of Christ who were businessmen, bankers, and politicians living in the village of Clapham, near London.

Wes Lane's vision is that many "Clapham Circles" will be spawned in Oklahoma City as a result of leaders' participation in the SALLT Academy curriculum.

Please remember Wes and the SALLT Academy in prayer. What is happening in Oklahoma City could be a model for other cities throughout the world. Pray that God will have His way in the development of the curriculum, and the birthing of "Clapham Circles" to follow.

For more about the SALLT Academy, see http://saltandlightleadership.com/