According to Time Magazine, here are the 25 most influential evangelicals in America:
1. Rick Warren (America's New People's Pastor)
2. Howard and Roberta Ahmanson (The Financers)
3. David Barton (The Lesson Planner)
4. Doug Coe (The Stealth Persuader)
5. Chuck Colson (Reborn and Rehabilitated)
6. Luis Cortes (Bringing Latinos to the Table)
7. James Dobson (The Culture Warrior)
8. Stuart Epperson (A High-Fidelity Messenger)
9. Michael Gerson (The President's Spiritual Scribe)
10. Billy and Franklin Graham (Father and Son in the Spirit)
11. Ted Haggard (Opening Up the Umbrella Group)
12. Bill Hybels (Pioneering Mass Appeal)
13. T.D. Jakes (The Pentecostal Media Mogul)
14. Diane Knippers (A Think Tank with Firepower)
15. Tim and Beverly LaHaye (The Christian Power Couple)
16. Richard Land (God's Lobbyist)
17. Brian McLaren (Paradigm Shifter)
18. Joyce Meyer (A Feminine Side of Evangelism)
19. Richard John Neuhaus (Bushism Made Catholic)
20. Mark Noll (The Intellectual Exemplar)
21. J.I. Packer (Theological Traffic Cop)
22. Rick Santorum (The Point Man on Capitol Hill)
23. Jay Sekulow (The Almighty's Attorney-at-Law)
24. Stephen Strang (Keeper of "The Faith")
25. Ralph Winter (A Global Mission)
A lot could be said regarding Time's inclusions and exclusions. It will be interesting to see the response by the God-blog-osphere. A few quick observations, in no particular order: (1) I'm thankful they didn't include Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. They obviously have a degree of influence, but I don't personally know a single person who reads their books, listens to their shows, etc. In other words, their influence is grossly exagerrated, and it's good to see Time not perpetuating the illusion. (2) They are obviously some notable evangelicals missing. Al Mohler? Hugh Hewitt? John MacArthur? R.C. Sproul? Beth Moore? (3) It seems to me that the selections were heavily weighted, in my cases, toward political allegiance with President Bush. This is understandable to some degree, given that the re-election of the President has been one of the impetuses for the desire to reexamine who the evangelicals are. (Even more strange, then, that Hewitt wasn't mentioned.) (4) I hadn't heard of four of the entries before (numbers 2, 3, 6, 14). Can you be among the most influential evangelicals if the vast majority of evangelicals don't even know your name? I think you can. But it creates a bit of surprise/dissonance upon initially reading the list. (5) Interesting absence: Bruce Wilkinson. A couple of years ago he probably would have been at the top of the list. (6) I was glad to see entries like Winter and Noll. They are not the sort of guys who are going to be on Larry King Live or the O'Reilly Show. But their influence is immeasurable. Hats off to Time for doing their homework. (7) Strange: two Catholics (Niehaus and Santorum). Then why call it a list of 25 most influential evangelicals?
The list could have been much worse. All in all, I'd rate the article a B--and give the idea for the list an A.
