Ryan Bomberger Cautions the American Church About Its State of the Union with Christ
“Imagine if there were a state of the union with Christ. … What would that sound like?”
Speaking to more than 650 students, faculty, and staff during a special America at 250 Community Chapel, Ryan Bomberger — co-founder of The Radiance Foundation and an Emmy® Award–winning creative professional — gave this answer:
“If I were to give the main address, I would say the state of our union with Christ is not good.”
Cornerstone’s National President’s Fellow turned directly to John 14:6 — Cornerstone’s academic year theme — where Jesus declares, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
“A War on Common Sense”
“There’s a war on common sense,” Bomberger said.
He noted that faith is being discussed openly across culture — from athletes to politicians to celebrities. Some speak boldly about Biblical conviction. But that visibility, he cautioned, also creates confusion when public figures who identify as Christian reinterpret or soften what Jesus clearly said.
“There is a lot of craziness going on with people who pretend to speak for Christ,” he said, “not at all reflecting who he is or what he has said in his word.”
Returning to John 14:6, Bomberger argued that:
If Jesus is not the way, we create our way.
If He is not the truth, we define our truth.
If He is not the life, we pursue our life on our own terms.
He warned against viewing everything “through the broken prism of race instead of the breakthrough filter of Christ.” He addressed cultural claims that gender is self-defined, pointing to Scripture that God made humanity male and female.
He rejected relativism. “There’s no such thing as your truth or my truth,” he said. “There’s just the truth.” He challenged slogans like “my body, my choice,” stating that free will “does not equal the freedom to kill,” while emphasizing that God is forgiving and brings wholeness and healing.
He also critiqued what he described as a “soft life” centered on comfort, contrasting it with Jesus’ words in John 16:33: “In me you may have peace … but in the world you will have tribulation.”
Bomberger cautions that cultural shifts occur when the church mirrors the world instead of reflecting who Jesus is and what He actually said.
A Story of Redemption
Bomberger, adopted into a loving family, learned at 13 that he had been conceived in rape.
“That’s a really uninvited narrative in your life,” he said. “It changes the way you perceive yourself.”
Though loved, he wrestled with rejection and worth. At a youth camp, after silently asking God if his life mattered, a speaker placed her hand on his shoulder and said, “You are worthy.”
Connecting with biological relatives years later who told him they had always loved him — he described it as “a decades-long kiss” from God. He also shared that after battling severe depression and nearly taking his own life, he was delivered in 2001.
“When Jesus says that I am the way, the truth and the life,” he said, “that is not a suffocating thing. It’s a liberating thing.”
A Call to Boldness
Quoting Romans 1:16 — “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ” — Bomberger urged students not to shrink back in a culture that pressures conviction into silence. Remain anchored in Christ — the way, the truth, and the life.
Bomberger’s message reflects Cornerstone’s newly launched general education curriculum, The Cornerstone Core™, which elevates the beauty of the Christian worldview and bold Biblical truth as enduring foundations for the American church, the nation, and society.
For more information about Cornerstone University’s President’s Fellows program for students contact admissions@cornerstone.edu.
