LILY RESLINK
Staff Writer
CEO and President of Christianity Today the Rev. Nicole Martin gave an Interfaith Lecture that might more accurately be described as a “call to action.”
Referring to Week Two’s themes, “Truth, Trust and the Sacred” and “Breaking the News: Charting a New Media Landscape,” Martin said, “We are indeed a new landscape, and we need to believe that a new story can be told.”
Martin read Hebrews 10: 32–39. Among these verses is this call to action: “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” Encouraging boldness, these verses spoke out against those who “shrink back.”
If she had to title her Thursday lecture, she said it would be: “Faith That Won’t Flinch.”
Martin began by taking listeners to the scene of segregated housing projects post-WWII; she told the true story of a woman who protested inequality by handcuffing herself to the radiator of the housing manager’s office. Both impoverished white and Black families lived in these houses, but only the white families’ houses would be “afforded the dignity of refreshed paint.”
Management denied the woman’s initial request for all houses to receive the same maintenance. By day three of the woman coming in during the office’s hours to make her point via handcuffs, all houses were set to receive the same maintenance. This woman was Martin’s great-grandmother, Estelle Cartledge.
“Estelle Cartledge exercised her faith in God’s story when the stories around her were uncertain. She had faith to believe that her actions could change outcomes. She had faith to accelerate justice,” Martin said.
This anecdote kicked off Martin’s conversation of faith’s role in inciting change with courage.
“Because just as the world in the 1940s needed faith-filled people to activate change, our world in 2026 needs that kind of faith as well,” Martin said.
Martin referenced the acronym “BANI” to describe the uncertainty and chaos of modern society: brittle, anxious, non-linear and incomprehensible. She said this connects to technological development that blurs what is truthful and what is falsely generated, as well as polarization in beliefs that she said prevents disagreeing individuals from inhabiting the same rooms.
“No longer is someone on the other side not the same; now, they’re the enemy.” She said this “BANI world” has contributed to growing feelings of disconnection.
She said times of uncertainty — times when “truth is tested, trust is tried and the sacred seems to have lost its savor” — are exactly when we need faith to believe that our actions can change outcomes. This also poses considerations of one’s legacy and the duty to benefit future generations.
Martin said she often wonders how God will break through the noise in this new media landscape. “But what keeps me going is the fact that I’m living on the harvest that was planted before me, and I have the grace to steward the seeds that I get to plant right now.”
She said in college, she once declared her final day as a Christian — which was to be naturally followed by a venture to the club in a newly-purchased mini skirt. On that day, she said she experienced several callings back to God.
“I never made it to the club that day, but my life was changed forever,” Martin said.
She said this is a reminder to lean into faith during hard times.
“The love that brings you to the altar is the love that is designed to sustain you when you can’t remember the altar,” Martin said.
She said God’s love keeps us going through hardship, which is what we can cling to during uncertainty, and what she clings to as president of CT.
Martin said the pressure to prioritize everything — job, family, degree, finances, health — leads us to prioritize nothing. She called listeners to “reset our priorities.” She said the Bible says that what is eternal is above all else.
She said this comes with avoiding temptations motivated by seeking power and feeling good, as they are “false temporary vapors that leave us empty.”
In looking at the past and present, Martin also called to go move forward and practice “bold faith.”
“The God who was with you then is the God who is with you now,” she said, adding that these terms will eternally carry on.
She said a large part of finding the courage to act is remembering our passions and what moves us.
“So let’s lean into this new media season with fierce, unwavering, unflinching faith. Let’s go boldly into this new venture with unwavering hope in God,” Martin said.
