The Gospel Project: An Interview with Trevin Wax
Trevin Wax is one of my favorite bloggers. If you’re not reading Trevin’s blog, you probably need to repent. I find him to be a consistently helpful thinker and writer.
Trevin is also the editor of The Gospel Project, a Christ-centered curriculum that examines the grand narrative of Scripture and how the gospel transforms the lives of those it touches. I’m grateful that Trevin was willing to answer some of my questions about this new curriculum.
What is the problem that The Gospel Project is attempting to address?
For many years now, churches have been asking LifeWay to develop more “in depth” curriculum. As the leadership team at LifeWay began to think through what an in depth curriculum would look like, they continued to come back to the centrality of the gospel and the need to focus our attention on Christ and how He is the focus of the Bible.
Interest in The Gospel Project seems to be stronger than expected. Do you have a sense of why it’s captured so much interest?
It appears that in many churches today, there’s a strong desire to be explicit about the gospel when we study the Scriptures together. People across the theological landscape are hungry for a curriculum that connects the dots of the Bible’s grand narrative. They’re also excited to see how Jesus is the Hero of the story. This approach of re-focusing our attention on Christ as we study the Scriptures is long overdue, even though there is great precedent for this approach throughout evangelical and Baptist history.
The Gospel Project helps us understand the storyline of Scripture, pointing to Jesus and to leading us to live on mission. This is much harder than just offering biblical principles for life. What resources did you find helpful in approaching the text this way?
A number of resources help us put the Bible together: D.A. Carson was on our advisory council. I can’t think of anyone more qualified to offer suggestions as to how the New and Old Testaments fit together. His book The God Who Is There
has been influential for us. J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays’
work together has been helpful too. Craig Bartholomew and Michael Goheen’s The Drama of Scripture
, Vaughan Roberts’ God’s Big Picture
, Sally Lloyd Jones’ Jesus Storybook Bible
, How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens
by Michael Williams, Graeme Goldsworthy’s Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics
, and older work by pastors like W.A. Criswell (The Scarlet Thread) and Herschel Hobbs – all of these resources have proven helpful in different ways.
What was your greatest joy as you worked on The Gospel Project?
It is a lot of work to get a curriculum off the ground. It doesn’t happen without great teams, great people, and great vision. I’d have to say that the biggest challenge was when we united all the age groups under one name. There were a lot of shifts that took place at that time, but the teams adjusted well and we kept our eyes on the end goal. Because of the great work from all involved, a potentially difficult transition was made much smoother. The greatest joy is knowing we’ve provided a resource that helps put participants in a posture to have an encounter with the living Jesus as they study the Scriptures. Missional passion comes from knowing and loving Jesus. Though a curriculum can’t do everything, it can make sure to point people toward Him. And that’s the most exciting thing to me.
How can we pray for you?
Pray that through our work, Christ would be exalted, His people edified, and a great number of churches would be on fire with evangelistic fervor as they go through this material.
