I was standing in line at the grocery store today, and I noticed the Time magazine cover story: 25 Most Influential Evangelicals. Here’s the Time magazine list with my comments in parentheses:
Howard & Roberta Ahmanson: The Financiers (Maybe so, but I’ve never heard of them. Maybe they’re the stealth financiers, or maybe I’m just not well-versed in the world of finance.)
David Barton: The Lesson Planner
Doug Coe: The Stealth Persuader
Chuck Colson: Reborn and Rehabilitated
Luis Cortes: Bringing Latinos To the Table (I’ve never heard of him either, but it sounds as if he’s doing great work.)
James Dobson: The Culture Warrior
Stuart Epperson: A High-Fidelity Messenger (Name sounds vaguely familiar.)
Michael Gerson : The President’s Spiritual Scribe
Billy & Franklin Graham: Father and Son In the Spirit
Ted Haggard: Opening Up the Umbrella Group (Who? Oh, the NAE guy.)
Bill Hybels: Pioneering Mass Appeal
T.D. Jakes: The Pentecostal Media Mogul (I think he’s got some doctrinal problems, but he seems like a well-meaning guy.)
Diane Knippers: A Think Tank With Firepower (Again the name sounds vaguely familiar.)
Tim & Beverly LaHaye: The Christian Power Couple
Richard Land: God’s Lobbyist
Brian McLaren: Paradigm Shifter (I hear he’s some pomo guy. Is he any good?)
Joyce Meyer: A Feminine Side Of Evangelism ( Can anyone say “prosperity gospel”? I ‘m thankful Time left most of the prosperity gospel people off this list even though some of them are quite influential. Maybe their influence is declining. We can only hope.)
Richard John Neuhaus: Bushism Made Catholic ( A great thinker, but he’s Catholic, not evangelical.)
Mark Noll: The Intellectual Exemplar
J.I. Packer: Theological Traffic Cop
Rick Santorum: The Point Man On Capitol Hill (According to Hugh Hewitt, he’s also Catholic. Great senator. I wish he were mine.)
Jay Sekulow: The Almighty’s Attorney-at-Law
Stephen Strang: Keeper of “The Faith” (Yet another vaguely familiar name.)
Rick Warren: America’s New People’s Pastor
Ralph Winter: A Global Mission (Who?)

First of all, such a list depends on the question you’re asking in the first place. Which evangelicals are influencing politics and the culture at large? Or which evangelicals have great influence among evangelicals and are beginning to influence the culture at large? Here’s my list of “evangelical influencers.” the names I hear among evangelicals every Sunday (and during the week):
1. Rick Warren,. Yes, Saddleback and Willow Creek have been tremendously influential, for better or for worse, and now The Purpose Driven Life is literally everywhere. Unlike some reformed kibbitzers, I don’t think that’s a bad thing. The book presents the gospel and preaches to our me-centered culture that “it’s not about you.” So what if it’s not a full course in reformed or even Baptist theology.
2. Jay Sekulow. Yes, he’s helped evangelicals to see that they too can use the court system to win some victories.
3. JI Packer. He’s the “old man” whose wisdom is still influencing evangelicals through his book Knowing God and through his other writing.
4. Mark Noll. Yes, his book The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind gave a lot of people food for thought and started a push toward evangelical scholarship that is being carried on at schools like Baylor University and Wheaton and Biola, to name a few. I hope.
5. Richard Land. Politically very influential, and he influences other evangelicals’ political opinions.
6. Tim and Beverly LaHaye. Unfortunately, I think LaHaye has been tremendously influential. I don’t agree with his eschatology, and I’m not sure about his theology. But he is influential, no doubt.
7. Bill Hybels. Ditto Rick Warren without the best-selling book.
8. Billy and Franklin Graham. Of course. Franklin is carrying “compassionate conservatism” around the world through Samaritan’s Purse.
9. Michael Gerson. The president’s speech writer. Of course.
10. James Dobson. If these were listed in order of influence, Dobson would probably be number one. I hope he will tone down the “you owe us” rhetoric with President Bush, but as far as his radio program and the information that FoF gives out, I have few problems. And most evangelicals have even fewer than I do.
11. Chuck Colson. Yes, I see him as a man who struggles with power and the pride that is power’s accompanying temptation, but nevertheless has used his influence to do a great deal of good in the prisons, in the world, Sudan in particular, and in calling evangelicals to think about worldview and apologetics.
12. Doug Coe. I don’t know much about him, but I’m willing to go along with Time and say that he probably does have a great deal of influence in Washington evangelical power circles.
13. David Barton. I can’t believe Time came up with this name, but I agree he’s tremendously popular among evangelicals, particularly my particular sub-sub-culture, evangelical homeschoolers.
So, my list overlaps Time magazine by about half of the names. Who would I add to replace the ones I dropped?
14. D. James Kennedy. He’s still around as far as I know, still active in politics and in Evangelism Explosion, argueably the most popular tool for evangelism among evangelical churches.
15. R.C. Sproul. He has been an influence on Chuck Colson and also on many, many evangelicalswho have heard his radio program or read his books.
16. Tony Evans. Dr. Dobson sort of sponsored him several years ago, but now he’s made a name for himself with, again, books and a radio program. He’s a good preacher.
17. Ted Baehr. Editor of Movieguide a guide to popular movies from a Christian point of view.
18. Mike Farris. Former president of Homeschol Legal Defense Association and tremendously influential in that sub-sub culture I mentioned above. He’s controversial even among homeschoolers, but definitely influential. He is now president of Patrick Henry College, a colege that was designed with Christian homeschoolers in mind
19. Tony Campolo. He’s a little on the liberal side, politically speaking, which means he speaks to all those “other” evangelicals who aren’t political conservatives. Actually, there are a lot of those guys, even if the MSM seems to classify all evangelicals into one political party.
20. Marvin Olasky. Editor of World magazine and architect of the idea of “compassionate conservatism.”
21. George Barna. “Barna . . . is to evangelicals what George Gallup is to the larger culture. Pastors frequently cite his statistical findings in sermons, and his many books about church ministry sell consistently.”
22. Rich Stearns. President of World Vision. i don’t know much about the man, but I surely do hear about the organization almost daily on Christian radio, in magazines, etc.
23. Phillip Johnson. Author of Darwin On Trial and spokesman for the Intelligent Design movement.
24. Ravi Zacharius. Christian apologist and leader. He has recently made an attempt to reach out to Mormons.
25. George W. Bush. He’s certainly an influential evangelical.

I’m not saying my list is better than Time’s list. I just know about the influence of the people on my list, whereas I’m just now hearing about some of the people on the Time list. There are also a lot of “second tier” leaders who may become the really influential people in the future, at least within evangelicalism: Beth Moore, Dave Ramsey, Henry Blackaby, Douglas Wilson, Gary Bauer, Nancy Pearcey. Whom do you see influencing the evangelicals and the culture around you?