Briarwood Christian School has started a Distinguished Visiting Scholar lecture series. The purpose of this lecture series is to give our students and faculty an opportunity to learn from internationally respected Christian scholars and leaders. I believe this is essential as we seek to encourage our students to “love God with all of their minds” and to interact with living examples of what it means to apply the truths of God’s word to one’s life and vocation.
In God's kind providence, last year we were privileged to have Dr. John Lennox[1] address our high school students and faculty as the inaugural Distinguished Visiting Scholar. Last month, Mr. Truett Cathy, Founder and CEO of Chick-fil-A restaurants, addressed our high school students. This month, we are privileged to have Dr. Os Guinness[2] as our keynote speaker.
Several years ago, at my previous school, I was privileged to secure Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia as a guest speaker. Our students read several of his books prior to his lecture and had prepared questions for discussion after Justice Scalia’s presentation. Our seniors were honored to have a private reception with Justice Scalia after his presentation.
We have just confirmed that Dinesh D'Souza has agreed to speak to our faculty and students in 2009. I share this information with the hope that it will stimulate visionary 
thinking as we consider how to create world-class Christian schools. The video clip (CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO SEE a Video of a recent DEBATE) is a wonderful example of how God can use a Christian to defend The faith and spread the Gospel.
Response:
Have you had special guest speakers whom you would recommend?
What are the challenges, "dangers" of having guest speakers?
Would you ever invite speakers who were totally against your school's philosophy and mission, e.g, the ACLU et al? Why or why not?
Endnotes:
[1] Dr. Lennox is a graduate of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and took his doctorate there in 1970. Then for 29 years he was Reader in Pure Mathematics at the University of Wales from where he has a D.Sc. He is currently a Research Fellow in Mathematics at Green College, Oxford, and a Senior Fellow of the Whitfield Institute. John has lectured extensively in Europe, both Western and Eastern, including many visits to Russia as a guest of the Academy of Science. John is very involved in the science-religion debate, having been active in Christian work since his student days. For example, he gave the Whitefield Institute annual public lecture in 1998 on the topic "Is the watchmaker really blind?" in which he challenged the materialistic atheists like Dawkins et al.
[2] Dr. Os Guinness was Educated in England, he did undergraduate studies at the University of London and postgraduate studies at University of Oxford, where he graduated with a D.Phil. in the social sciences from Oriel College. He has written or edited more than twenty books, including The American Hour (Free Press, 1993), The Call (Word 1998), Time for Truth (Baker 2000), Long Journey Home (Doubleday 2001), and Unspeakable: Facing Up to Evil in an Age of Genocide and Terror (HarperCollins, 2005).
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