You wrote:
“He’s hardly a recent Christian. He’s been one for years, he has a major evangelical ministry, and has brought many people to Christ.”
No, he himself says his conversion came about after 9/11. That means he has been serious about Christianity for less than 7 years. That’s a relatively recent conversion.
I guess that’s a matter of interpretation. I don’t think 7 years is “new”. 2 years would be “new”.
I guess we can say that Paul was a recent convert also. What has being a recent convert got to do with how God uses us to bring glory to His name? Is there a timeframe that has to transpire for us to be effective as christians? What about the Disciples, who dropped what they were doing and followed Christ? Can we say recent converts?