Lee Strobel bares his soul at Break Forth
by Doris Fleck

Award-winning author and popular speaker, Lee Strobel, boldly told a packed auditorium of more than 10,000 people in Edmonton the "ugliest truth" about himself.

A featured speaker at Break Forth Canada’s equipping and renewal conference this January, Strobel explained to the crowd at the Shaw Conference Centre that before he became a Christian, his life was out of control.

The former atheist described himself as immoral, drunken, profane, self-centered and self-destructive.

When Strobel was in college and his girlfriend became pregnant, his attitude was, "If the baby’s in your way, get rid of it." He said, "I orchestrated the destruction of that innocent, unborn child. And you know what? I didn’t care."

Lee Strobe speaking at Break Forth January 25-27
at Edmonton’s Shaw Conference Centre. — photo by Doris Fleck

His troubles continued after he married and began working as the legal editor for the Chicago Tribune. One day Strobel found himself so enraged during an argument with his wife that he kicked a hole in their living room wall while his infant daughter looked on.

"When my girl, Alison, was just a little toddler, if she was on the living room floor playing with her toys, and she would hear me come in from work," Strobel heartbreakingly recounted, "her natural reaction was to gather her toys, go into her room and shut the door."

Strobel’s wife befriended a Christian woman in their condominium complex and soon after, committed her life to Christ.

The first word that went through Strobel’s mind when he found out, was "divorce." But after seeing positive changes in his wife, and being challenged by her pastor, Bill Hybels, Strobel realized that if Christianity was true, it had huge implications for his life. So he set out to use his legal and journalistic expertise to systematically investigate the evidence for Christ’s authenticity.

The resulting two-year investigation was the basis for his first Gold Medallion-winning book, The Case for Christ and Strobel’s own conversion to Christianity.

"I wrote down all the evidence that proved Christianity," Strobel said. "And I realized it would take more faith to stay an atheist."

Strobel knew God had transformed his life when his daughter "began to watch me as I began to walk with Jesus Christ. Five or six months later she said, ‘I want God to do for me what He’s done for Daddy.’ "

Eventually his son also made a Christian commitment at a young age, and both are currently involved in Christian ministry. In a personal interview, Strobel explained his goal "is to try to help every human being on planet earth make an informed decision about Jesus."

But that goal seemed in jeopardy when one of the scholars he interviewed for The Case for Christ cautioned him that nobody would read his book. The scholar explained in today’s post-modern world, young people don’t care about facts, evidence and historical data.

Initially discouraged by this statement, Strobel explained, "The single, largest group of people who’ve contacted me saying they came to faith in Jesus Christ through my book were 16 to 24-year-olds – post-moderns."

Strobel has now authored 22 best-selling books, including his latest, The Case for the Real Jesus.

His ongoing passion, Strobel said is to tell people, "They can know the God of the universe. He can change their life. He can change their eternity."