When I was younger, I was not the cool kid.
I spent too much time away from the status quo to be invited into or maintain cool crowd credentials.
That was fine with me.
Being in the cool crowd does not mean you are bright or right; it means you tow a line for unity and popularity within a certain crowd. That line is keeping the group’s tradition (fashion, trend, or training) and never calling out a cooler kid.
Now that I am not so young, and have learned some Bible, I’m still not in the cool crowd. That’s still fine with me.
When megachurch pastor Josh Howerton blasts King James Bible believers as “weird” and “conspiracy theorists”, you know where the line is for evangelicals.
When popular internet apologist Wes Huff asserts that the King James Bible is “not understandable”, “not the best nor the most accurate”, “we have more information now”, and that some passages “simply don’t make any sense”, then you know what they teach the cool kids at seminary.
If you want to be in the cool crowd of any group, don’t do anything unfashionable or fringe (like being a Mid-Acts Pauline Dispensational Bible believer). It’s even worse if you start calling out wrongs or correcting those in your group. (Not surprisingly, these are the same rules in politics.)
People enjoy being accepted by the more popular in a group. Every group has cool kids, and every group has those who seem not to care what the cool kids are saying.
For many Christian groups, it is “not loving” (uncool) to take such a strong stand on some doctrine. In some groups, it is seen as “not gracious” (uncool) to reprove, correct, or make others in the group feel ashamed. Want immediate disdain? Try to communicate the need for separation from error as the Bible teaches in 2 Tim 2:16. Not cool.
Jesus did not win friends with many things he started saying when he turned 30. It got so bad that he was crucified according to popular preference.
To this day, Christians who work to be accepted by large groups do not like to mention the awkward things he said (Matt 16:23; Matt 23:14; Matt 25:41). If it sounds weird or offensive, it is something for the popular to avoid.
Paul was stoned, whipped, beaten by his peer group, and betrayed by those he fathered in the gospel. Either his doctrine, reproof, and correction got in the way, or he didn’t wear a designer t-shirt when he preached. I’m still studying that out.
Tomorrow, we head out for meetings in Knoxville (Mon), then Birmingham (Wed), and wrap up the week in Cincinnati (Saturday).
https://graceambassadors.com/travel2026
I do not know how many cool kids will be there, but you are welcome to join us anyway. You will hear Christ preached according to the mystery, a Bible with every word preserved, and enough correction to perfect the man of God (2 Tim 3:16-17).
We know that is unpopular (our meetings are not big conferences), but that has never been our goal. Instead, we look forward to edifying those who attend with Q&A, singing, prayers, personal conversation, and likeminded fellowship as fools for Christ’s sake (1 Cor 4:10).
In His service,
Justin “uncool for Christ” Johnson