Nearly eight years ago, a preacher of otherworldly rhetorical force brought his powerful and intellectual message of Christ-centered hope to the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. Watching the live YouTube stream, I was taken in by the oratorical and erudite grace of Ravi Zacharias.
That was the first of many sermons I heard from Ravi, who died earlier this year. He was an evangelical Christian. I am a Latter-day Saint. Our doctrinal differences are real and sometimes rocky, yet we also share vast swaths of smooth common ground. From that day in 2014, I added Ravi to my quiver of leaders outside of my faith tradition who have something important to teach me. To borrow the words of the Catholic writer Peter Kreef, I have listened to Ravi with the “simple intention of becoming more saintly, more Christlike, more in love with and in the service of our common Lord.”
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