Rapt Is Our Obsession. Why Should It Be Yours?
Justin Camp
4 min read ⭑
If your only exposures to the movements of God were headlines and news articles, you’d be dismayed, disappointed and distressed — understandably. Journalists and statisticians, secular and Christian alike, profess doom and gloom. They tell us we people of faith are divided by politics, theology and scandal — and we are. They write that church attendance is declining — and it is. They inform us that the “nones” (people not identifying with religion) are increasing in staggering numbers — and they are.
But those headlines miss the much larger story.
➸ In our world today, God is moving as powerfully as ever before.
“For I the Lord do not change” (Malachi 3:6, ESV).
Therefore, we people of faith must look through and beyond the distractions, arguments and consternations — to discover and discern what he’s up to. It’s the most important thing in the world. No breaking news, no political dust-up, no new poll numbers, nothing else comes anywhere close.
We must awaken to his presence here and now and always. We must come alive to his love, wisdom, provision and peace — and strive to come into ever deeper, ever closer relationship with him. Because he moves for us. He works on our behalf. He moves so you and I and anyone else who wants it “may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10, ESV). He moves because he’s the God of the furthest reaches of the universe and an outrageously extravagant father who loves and loves and loves to bless and be with his children.
Stories fascinate us; complaints make us bored.
Beauty amazes us; fear leaves us cold.
God’s presence thrills us; putting limits on him makes us yawn.
Here’s one way we here at Rapt see God moving today ➸ We look around and find ourselves living in a golden age of technology, content and discipleship. Breakthroughs in publishing, filmmaking, recording, podcasting and software are enabling a large and growing faction of the faithful to encounter God (and one another) in ways that are innovative and profound.
That’s huge. It’s something to be shouted from the rooftops, and we’re doing that. But we’re not the only ones with something to proclaim. It’s noisy out there. Researchers at UC San Diego estimate that the average American is bombarded with something like 34 gigabytes of information each and every day. This translates, they say, into approximately 100,000 words, counting those read in print and online, and those heard on television, podcasts and radio. By way of comparison, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick contains 209,117 words.
That’s why we created Rapt, an online magazine designed to cut through the noise and curate an essential selection of ideas and resources that will usher you into God’s presence and brighten the next stretch of your spiritual journey. We help you uncover and recover the most interesting, excellent, hallowed and indispensable, current and convenient ways of meeting and experiencing the Ancient of Days, our Abba Father. We spotlight books, fiction and nonfiction, devotionals, Bible studies, films, podcasts, tech, habits, music, art, poetry and so much more.
So, that’s what Rapt’s all about — encountering God. We’re a magazine for the few who will settle for nothing less than the astonishing gift of God’s presence.
Why is the encounter so important? Well, we’re made to be in loving relationship with God, obviously. The Bible is clear. But to love him, we must know him first. We cannot love someone we do not know — not really, not intimately. And when Jesus talked about that kind of knowing, he meant something specific. In Scripture, Jesus prayed that we would come to know his Father (John 17:3). And the Greek word used in his prayer is ginōskō — a verb that connotes “familiarity acquired through experience.”
To move from knowing of God to knowing him, we must encounter him personally. We can settle no longer for the idea of a relationship. We must move into an actual one-to-one relationship with him — one that is real and true. And we do that by doing things with him.
And Rapt curates the best things.
“We must never allow the authority of books, institutions or leaders to replace the authority of ‘knowing’ Jesus Christ personally and directly. When the religious views of others interpose between us and the primary experience of Jesus as the Christ, we become unconvicted and unpersuasive travel agents handing out brochures to places we have never visited.”
Now, you might be thinking, what entitles you to curate stuff for me? Well, we do loads of interviews with so many fascinating people:
➸ World-class Christian leaders and entrepreneurs
➸ Culture-changing pastors and professors
➸ Blue-ribbon writers and filmmakers
➸ Front-line musicians and mystics
➸ Cutting-edge artists and comedians — and even a magician, too
We ask them questions and immerse ourselves in their testimonies. We get deep into their stories of how God’s love and grace is flowing through their lives.
We then pull data points from those hundreds of conversations — suggestions, recommendations, endorsements, stories — and enter those into our exclusive database, right alongside data from the New York Times, Publisher’s Weekly, Amazon, ECPA and Christianbook bestseller lists, the Billboard and K-Love spin charts, and data from outlets like Dove.org, Christian Cinema, Rotten Tomatoes, Netflix, Google, Apple, Spotify, Substack and Goodreads.
Interviews Conducted ➼ more than 200 to date
So, data. But the best kind of data: testimony data. That’s what makes Rapt an award-winning site. That’s why you can trust our curation.
And that’s not all. We then try really hard to present all that data in ways that are (hopefully) thoughtful, enjoyable and easy to access — in our articles, lists and newsletters. We have great writers and syndicate work from the best faith-focused journalists in the country.
So, here it is ➸ We do the work. You get the stuff that matters. Ideas and resources that connect you most easily, deeply and often with God.
Come along with us! Bookmark our front page. Or sign up for the Rapt Newsletter here, and don’t miss a thing!
Justin Camp is the editor-in-chief of Rapt Interviews. He also created the WiRE for Men devotional and wrote the WiRE Series for Men. His writing has been featured and seen on Charisma, Moody Radio, Focus on the Family, GOD TV, The Christian Post, Crosswalk, Belief.net, LifeWay Men and other media outlets.
