Lecrae says So-Called Sacred, Secular Divide Hinders Christians from Impacting Culture

Christian hip-hop star Lecrae (Lecrae Moore) set his musical artist persona aside during a leadership conference recently to talk about the subject of engaging American culture in a non-typical, yet Christian way in order to further the Gospel.

"I think we don't engage culture because we're scared. We don't want it corrupting our kids. I think we're scared because ultimately we're still caught up in a sacred-secular divide," said Lecrae, who is also a ministry leader, to a crowd of more than 2,000 church leaders Thursday at the Resurgence Conference (R12) at Mariners Church in Irvine, Calif.

"We are still caught up in the reality that everything is broken up in two and if you go too far here you are going to get messed up," he said. "There is a sacred-secular divide that hinders us from impacting culture."

Lecrae was one of one of eight well-known Christian leaders speaking at the event geared for young pastors and ministry leaders. He took a break just long enough to give his message while traveling in the U.S. for the "Unashamed Tour 2012: Come Alive" concert series featuring Reach Records label mates Andy Mineo, Trip Lee, Tedashi, KB, Pro and other artists.

"We (Christians) are great at talking about salvation and sanctification. We are clueless when it comes to art, ethics, science, and culture. Christianity is the whole truth about everything. It's how we deal with politics. It's how we deal with science. It's how we deal with TV and art. We can't leave people to their own devices," Lecrae said during his talk at the conference.

"We just demonize everything. If it doesn't fit in the category of sanctification or salvation it's just evil."