Not Safe, But Good
About GoodLion
Pointing to Christ and His Kingdom
We live in a postmodern, post-Christian age. Christianity is dwindling, secularism is rising, and the faith of many is being shipwrecked on the rocks of doubt and deconstruction.
It’s into this world that GoodLion was born.
It started with two youth pastors with a heart to see young people caught in the storm of modern culture find an anchor in the person and teachings of Jesus Christ.
The name GoodLion comes from C.S. Lewis’ classic Narnia stories.
The child Lucy asks if Aslan is a safe lion, and to this the woodland creatures respond… “Safe? Of course he’s not safe… he’s a lion! But he’s good.”
It’s our deepest desire for people everywhere to encounter this Jesus, the God who is not safe but is very good.
We want to see people break free from apathy. We want to help doubting Thomases see the holes in the hands of Christ. We want to help people move from a place of cheap grace and easy-believism to radical discipleship. We want to raise up powerful peacemakers in a hostile and divided culture.
Most of all, we want to help people live their lives for the Kingdom of God.
We are GoodLion, and we are glad you are here.
GoodLion Founder
Aaron Salvato
With over a decade of experience in youth ministry, Aaron Salvato has served as a middle school pastor, high school pastor, and Bible college teacher. Today, Aaron serves as the founder and director of GoodLion Ministries, as well as the head Content Strategist and Podcasting Director at Calvary Global Network. Aaron blends his passion for the gospel and his creative skills to produce Gospel-centered content through podcasts, writing, videos, and theological courses.
As an avid reader, lifelong learner, and dedicated Bible teacher, Aaron is passionate about helping young people navigate the challenges of our post-Christian culture. He prioritizes the ministry of peacemaking in a divided world and finds great happiness in mentoring others on their journey with Christ.
With the heart of a pastor and the hands of an artist, Aaron brings a unique blend of spiritual passion and creativity to his work. He lives in Oklahoma with his best beloved wife Brooklynn and their son Jack, and considers his role as a husband and father to be the most rewarding ministry role he has ever had.
Philosophy of Ministry
Evangelistic / Jesus Centered
We want to preach and proclaim Jesus through our content, because we truly believe Him to not only be the most compelling and amazing person in history, but the literal savior of the world and source of all truth! Jesus is our master, teacher, friend, and king.
Because of this stance, we want to make sure we are always pointing people back to Jesus. Currently in Christian culture deconstruction has become popular, and we see why, many Christians have grown up with the baggage of poor theology, doubts and questions that were never addressed, as well as personal experiences of abuse in the church and failures of leaders.
It’s important to not only address these these things, but to have the courage to help others remove some of these negative influences. That’s where, for many, deconstruction comes in, but we believe all deconstruction needs to be paired with healthy reconstruction that is centered around pointing people back to Jesus.
We want to help draw unbelievers to Christ, and help Christians who’ve lost their way find the path back to the Cross and the Way of Jesus.
Theologically Conservative / Historic Orthodox
Essentially what we mean by this is:
We believe Scripture to be true in all it affirms.
For deeper analysis of this view, see here for a good example.We believe that God and the Biblical authors had specific intentions for what they wrote and it’s important to do our best to learn and honor that intention.
We believe context, church history, and the metanarrative of Scripture to be extremely important when it comes to forming theological views.
Exegesis > Eisegesis
We believe all of Scripture is one story pointing to Jesus, and that all Scripture is important to understanding and living out our faith.
We believe that Jesus is the Word of God and the only way to salvation.
We believe that Jesus’ Kingdom is “already but not yet”, and that followers of Christ are called to live out the Kingdom in the present while we wait for Jesus to finally redeem and restore things in the future.
We want to avoid promoting the views of those that differ from the core beliefs of Christianity. While open to dialogue, we want to try our best to advocate for what we believe to be true during discussions because we think truth matters.
We place a high value on Truth + Love.
Social media has built a model that drives traffic through outrage and anger. We believe that this method can be effective, but it’s not the Way of Jesus!
We don’t want to create any content that is rude, condescending, or “trolling” to those who disagree with us. Instead we want to work hard to impart truth while loving those we believe are in the bondage of lies. We want to be generous, charitable, and willing to be “quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.”
We desire to create resources not just for people who agree with us. We want to lovingly draw in those who disagree to consider what we have to say.
In Essentials Unity, In Non-Essentials Liberty, In All Things Charity
The core team that runs GoodLion comes from the Calvary Global Network. CGN may have it’s own theological baseline (click to read more about our theology), but the team at both CGN and GoodLion desire to be theologically generous and work together with those who may have differences with us. We want to foster a community of openness. While we will preach what we believe to be true, we also want students to learn how to honor those with differing perspectives within the family of orthodoxy.
We believe the church is bigger than any one particular evangelical movement, denomination or church. Valuing God’s work and wisdom through the worldwide body of Christ, CGN seeks to partner with churches and leaders from diverse theological and ministry convictions.