Can You Identify Facts in a News Story? Many Americans Can’t

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June 22, 2018

A new study finds Americans struggle to identify factual statements, as opposed to opinion, in news articles. The findings address concerns over fake news.

Not surprisingly, the Pew Research study also found that people were more likely to think news statements are factual when the statements appeal to their side, even if the statements were opinions.

Factual statements, as defined by the researchers, is information that is capable of being proved or disproved by objective evidence.

Study participants were given five factual statements such as “spending on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid make up the largest portion of the U.S. federal budget,” and five opinion statements such as “democracy is the greatest form of government.” They were asked to identify which ones were factual and which were opinions.

Only 26 percent were able to correctly identify all five factual statements. On opinions, about 35 percent were able to correctly identify all five statements. Roughly a quarter got most or all wrong in identifying facts and opinions, the research showed.

Conversely, 75 percent of American adults (if you extrapolate those 5,035 respondents to the total population) can be fooled by at least one out of every 10 headlines they come across. It is an indication of why “fake news” is so successful at promoting a particular viewpoint.

The study found that participants’ ability to classify statements as factual or opinion varied widely based on their political awareness, trust in the news media, and “digital savviness” or degree to which they are confident in using digital devices and the Internet.

“There is a striking difference in certain Americans in distinguishing what are factual statements and what are not, and that depends on one’s level of digital savviness, political savviness,” Amy Mitchell, director of journalism research at Pew Research Center, said in an interview.

The study also found that when Americans call a statement “factual,” they overwhelmingly also think it is accurate. They tend to disagree with factual statements they incorrectly label as opinions, Pew said.

For example, one statement told participants “immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally have some rights under the Constitution.” Forty-three percent of identified Republicans called that statement factual while 65 percent of Democrats responded that it was true.

Another politically charged statement posed was “immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally are a very big problem for the country today.” Only 19 percent of Democrats said that the statement was factual while 50 percent of Republicans believed it to be correct.

The survey authors contend that these findings demonstrate the need for the public to learn how to sort through news with a more critical lens, but also states that “at this point the U.S. is not completely detached from what is factual and what is not.”

Meanwhile, another media study by the Knight Foundation found that Americans believe 62 percent of the news they see on television, read in newspapers and hear on the radio is biased. They also think 44 percent of it is inaccurate.

The results are even starker on social media. Respondents estimated that 80 percent of news on sites like Facebook and Twitter is biased—and 64 percent of it isn’t accurate.

You can take the Pew quiz for yourself here.

Supernatural Power for Those Who Don’t Fit In

By

Jared C. Wilson

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June 21, 2018

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
–Romans 15:13 (CSB)

The young man approached me with tears in his eyes.

I’d spoken about God’s amazing love for us and how His love gives us freedom to walk humbly and confidently amid life’s difficulties. I shared my personal story of always feeling like an “alien” no matter where I lived and my perpetual wrestling under a shadow of assumed disapproval and exclusion.

He approached me cautiously. He said he knew God loved him but struggled…because he didn’t believe anyone else did.

Can you relate? The gospel he heard intellectually was not what he knew experientially. Although he was aware of God’s grace, his world still seemed steeped in a climate of measurement and merit.

I asked about his relationships to discern if perhaps he was in an abusive situation of some kind. He shared he just didn’t feel like he belonged anywhere. He identified with my testimony of always feeling like I don’t quite fit in. Maybe you do, too.

Growing up, he was immersed in a shame-based culture. Family and church relationships were inauthentic and superficial because nobody felt free to open themselves to criticism or stand out from the crowd.

Achievement and accomplishment were key, and anyone who fell short was treated as a failure. This pressure, coupled with a lack of affection and encouragement, had taken its toll.

Then he left for college. While he hoped things would change in a new environment, he found himself alienated again. An intellectual and theological sort, he considered most of his peers disinterested in deep discussions and thoughtful debates. Nobody read many books that weren’t assigned or seemed too concerned about the deep things of God.

This young man never had someone close enough to be his “me too” kind of friend—his young life was marked by solitude, grief and loneliness.

I understood all too well and followed the Spirit’s prompting to suggest he try reorienting his perspective. “Is it possible,” I asked, “that you enter every potential relationship wondering how that person might satisfy your need for companionship and solve your need to be loved?”

He agreed it wasn’t just possible, he was most definitely doing that. Influenced by his loneliness, without trying, he’d become the relational sponge in small groups, the hangdog sad sack at fellowships and the “Debbie Downer” among the few friends he still had.

This young man’s felt needs became his relational operating system, so he treated others like they existed primarily to show him love. This became a self-perpetuating cycle. If the primary way you relate to others is to get love from them, you’ll always be dissatisfied, because nobody can love you like God can.

If anything, recognizing his self-centeredness should have made him feel less alone, as we’ve all done relationships this way (since the fall of mankind!). We’re not alone. We’re all self-focused together! We seek in others what we can only find in God. Consequently, we never quite feel loved, and eventually, the people we want love from end up feeling used.

Christians want to be channels of the Holy Spirit at work in the world. We can’t do that, however, if we’re constantly worried about having others meet our needs. When we realize the Holy Spirit has already filled our cup through the gospel of Jesus, we begin to see ourselves more as need-meeters than need-takers.

Overflowing. Just like we see in Romans 15:13…“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Of course, no amount of spiritual perspective makes the wrongs people do to us right, or the hurtful things they say to us OK. But following the Spirit’s counsel through these complex interactions can affect how we interpret, process and respond. Watching the Holy Spirit apply the Bible in our hearts is how we end up supernaturally loving our enemies and blessing those who persecute us.

When we’re filled with God’s Spirit, we worry less about fitting in and more about pouring out.

This article originally appeared here.

How to Effectively Use a Communications Team to Create All the Communications Your Church Needs

By

Yvon Prehn

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June 21, 2018

You need a team of communicators to get all the work done you need in any size of church. Some may be paid staff, some volunteers, or they might be all volunteers. Whenever I mention volunteers in my seminars there is a gasp and the spoken or unspoken fear expressed, “What if I can’t get them to do what I want them to do? What if volunteers create materials that are not appropriate or up to the quality we want for the church?”

These are valid concerns and I’ve found that almost all of them can be answered if you divide your church communication team of staff and volunteers into two production levels.

The Two Production Levels of Effective Church Communications are:

The PR Communication Production Level
The Ministry Communication Production Level

It is important to understand these two levels in terms of:

The communications produced in each one
Who does the communications in each one
The guidelines and standards for each one

Important reminder of the need for multichannel communications

Before we look at each level in detail, it is very important to keep in mind that the communications produced need to be produced in both print and digital formats. In this column, I talk about this a lot, but it serves us well to always remind ourselves that we live in a time of multichannel communications, of both/and, not either/or and to reach all of the people in our congregations we need communications in all media formats.

This is another reason why it is so important to have a communication TEAM. Each person on the team will have his or her favored communication methods, often divided along the lines of whether they prefer print or digital media. Following that media preference that person is most likely the most skilled and comfortable working with that media channel. To reach all of the church and to have a harmonious communication team, it makes sense to have a variety of people who prefer and are good at the different media channels.

With this foundation in mind, here are some suggestions on how to divide the communication tasks in the church:

PR Communication Production Level

Communications produced— Overall pieces that represent the church or ministry area, such as the logo, stationery, business cards, primary bulletin, newsletter, major outreach pieces and major ministry brochures; the primary church website and social media. In the case of a ministry within the church, the primary pieces and the pieces that interface with the church communications program overall would also be included
Communications producer— Usually a staff person, whose job may or may not have other responsibilities. The larger the church, the more it is recommended that the church hire someone specifically to create and oversee communications. This could also be done by a volunteer who has the time and commitment to work closely with the church staff, or who is in charge of a ministry communications program within the church.

In addition to being the primary producer of communications, this person should also be in charge of training staff or volunteers in the various ministry areas of the church so they can create the volume of materials that are needed to complete the communications needed. My website, http://www.effectivechurchcom.com has many resources that will help you do this.

Communications standards (much more flexible)—You do not need the same standards of design or perfection for a one-time postcard to remind the guys of the men’s breakfast that you do for the four color, outreach brochure for the church.

If you are too hard on volunteers, they’ll quit. People do improve in communication creation skills with time, training, and encouragement and the ministry communication staff person needs to decide what is really important in standards and what picky personal preference is. Train to bring up to important standards and let the personal preference issues slide.

Remember, the Lord put us into a body in the church, in part so our gifts can help and build up each other. The Two Production Levels of Effective Church Communication gives you a way to practically live out this biblical reality and can enable your church to create all the communications needed to help your community come to know Jesus and your congregation to grow to mature disciples.

Mobile Websites vs. Mobile Apps: Which One Is Better?

By

Jason Caston

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June 21, 2018

There is a huge difference between an app and a website, and organizations of all size need to consider whether theirs is a “one or the other” or “both” situation. Any organization knows they need to have a mobile accessible presence, still many are unaware of which choice is the best.

To help you make the right call about your organization’s needs, let’s take a moment to compare a mobile website versus mobile apps.

THE DIFFERENCES

A mobile website is one that contains the entire website, and usually means that it has either been entirely redesigned for use on a mobile device or is the end result of responsive design that allows the site to automatically adjust based on the browser. Whether you are using a mobile tablet or smartphone, responsive design will know what to do to let you see the entire site.

Mobile apps, on the other hand, are just that — applications. An app must be downloaded to your mobile device and then installed before it can be used. It allows a user to connect with your organization and find information.

THE BENEFITS

If you are wondering if your organization needs both, let’s look at the benefits. A mobile website gives potential visitors the full deal. It can feature the same content and functions as the website when accessed through a computer. However, the wise choice is to have your church website made with a responsive design.

Let’s focus on that for a second because many organizations wonder how to easily create a mobile website. The easiest way is to use a responsive design layout for your regular (desktop) website and make sure it adapts to any device. There is no reason to have a separate desktop and mobile website, and this is because when you update the desktop website, you automatically update the mobile website.

Mobile apps may have a huge array of the same features as the mobile website, but there is one major advantage: an app lives on the user’s device. This means it can provide geo-targeted notifications, collect information about the user’s behaviors and preferences, and mobile apps can be designed to make it amazingly easy to enjoy things like mobile payment or loyalty programs.

THE END CALL

So, should you stick with a mobile website or are mobile apps the way of the future? In reality, there is one smart course of action for any organization. The answer is to be sure your website is mobile-ready with responsive design, but consider a mobile app in the near future if it’s not already in the works.

In 2016, Mobile Internet usage surpassed desktop usage for the first time in history. People are looking at websites on their mobile devices more than they do on desktop or laptop computers.

Additionally, users are using up to 30 apps per month. However, it had better be a good one because statistics also reveal that 20 percent of consumers drop mobile apps that do not function well, and even if they give them a second try, less than 16 percent go back for a third shot. So troubleshoot any mobile apps long before they are released.

Mobility is a must, and around 85 percent of the consumer market has indicated a preference for apps over mobile websites. It is interesting to consider where these technologies are going, but one certainty is that they are here to stay and your organization must be prepared to respond to whatever direction consumers go.

The original article appeared here.

The Way We Do the Things We Do

By

Christina Embree

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June 21, 2018

In his book The Perks of Being a Wallflower, author Stephen Chbosky wrote, “We accept the love we think we deserve.” I’ve seen this posted as inspirational memes and quotes on people’s walls for years, but it wasn’t until I started really digging into generational discipleship that I saw how this concept plays out in ministry, especially in intergenerational relationships within the community of faith.

We all know that communication is more than just words. Communication takes many forms, from verbal to nonverbal, intentional to non-intentional, systemic to institutional. The way we do the things we do speaks volumes. The words we use pale in comparison to the actions we take and the method by which we take them.

In my last few years of observing how we go about discipleship in church, hearing the verbal communication of welcome and community and observing the nonverbal communication like methods and actions, it’s becoming clearer to me that one reason the church is losing the rising generations is due in part to the fact that they only accept the love they’ve been told they deserve.

Stripped of our words, what do our churches often communicate to the generations who attend?

My Space, Your Space – If we look at most church buildings, we will tend to find wings that are set apart by age, often down hallways or even separated by floors, much like school buildings or nursing homes in society. The common space, the sanctuary, can be a place where all ages gather but in many cases that doesn’t happen frequently.

My Service, Your Service – A lot of churches have at least two if not more services and often those services look and sound different (contemporary, traditional, blended, etc.). Frequently these services become equally age segregated simply by the fact that they are intended to reach specific age groups or worship preferences.

My Time, Your Time – When describing worship experiences, often people will say it is their time in the week to connect with God, to be renewed and refreshed, to have a personal experience. Distractions and discomfort is often minimized during the service time to allow for that so that even when we are together, we are essentially alone, but occupying the same space.

My Church, Your Church – Having served on two church staffs and having consulted and coached with many more, this is something that repeatedly comes up; namely, the idea that within a church there may be two or more distinct faith communities based on age, likes/dislikes and preferences, and that people in these groups don’t even know the people in the other groups. One church I worked with once described their church as “Five Churches under one roof.”

So what does this have to do with accepting the love we think we deserve?

Well, if we say things like, “We welcome all ages into our community,” but the proceed to navigate the children to one area, the youth to another, the adults to yet another, and the seniors to another, that verbal communication becomes muddied. It is difficult to enter a space that isn’t “ours” even if we hear that we are welcome.

If we say, “All ages are members of our church community,” but the youngest members never or rarely see or hear from the pastor or other adult leaders in the church or just other adults in the church except children’s ministry volunteers, do they feel truly part of the congregation?

Conversely, if the older members of the congregation never or rarely get to interact with or build relationships the younger generations, can either accept love, advice, encouragement or even just friendship from the other?

We use a lot of words to indicate unity and cohesion, but often our nonverbal communication speaks to separation and division, which, in turn, often falls along generational lines. And that makes it very hard for each generation to accept love and friendship from the other because it doesn’t feel “right.”

I wonder what would happen if instead we embraced the uncomfortable.

If we sang some songs we don’t necessarily love.

If we allowed for some distraction and discomfort during our corporate worship time.

If we intermingled with generations who say and do things we don’t understand.

If we prioritized relationships with the whole body over the comfort of those we know best.

I mean, it would be uncomfortable to be sure. But, as a friend of mine who attends a church who is working to become intentionally unsegregated on Sunday mornings shared, maybe that is the point.

Maybe it’s not supposed to be comfortable. Maybe it is supposed to take work, to challenge us to grow beyond what feels good, to be surrounded by a much bigger world that doesn’t look and act and sound like us. Maybe there is room for both times of corporate worship and times of age-appropriate teaching. Maybe an either/or way of doing church isn’t the only way of doing church.

And maybe, if we can find time and space for the both/and, the generations who are following ours may not agree with everything we say and do but they will accept the love of the church and the Lord because they know they are truly a part of the church, the community, the body of Christ.

I think at the very least these are ideas worth exploring, even if the questions we ask and conclusions we land on make us a just little bit uncomfortable.

This article originally appeared here.

The Kobayashi Maru of Sunday Sermons

By

Dan Reiland

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June 21, 2018

Are you a Star Trek fan? If not, perhaps you’re not familiar with the term Kobayashi Maru.

The Kobayashi Maru is a training exercise in the fictional Start Trek universe designed to test the character of Starfleet Academy cadets in a no-win scenario.

What does that have to do with Sunday sermons?

I admire and respect senior pastors and teaching pastors who carry the weight of communicating to such a diverse crowd on Sunday mornings.

It doesn’t really matter if it’s 80 people, 800 people or 8,000.

It’s nearly impossible to teach in such a way to reach the entire congregation right where they live.

Consider this list:

The generational differences
The cultural and ethnic diversity
The varying levels of spiritual maturity
The theological differences
The individual life situations

This can feel like a no-win situation, but courageous communicators go for it every Sunday and make it work.

But there is ONE factor that in my observation appears like the un-winnable situation.

For more than 30 years I’ve heard this phrase from church attendees all over the country: “The sermon isn’t deep enough.”

The right amount of “depth” is the Kobayashi Maru of any Sunday morning sermon.

Too deep for who?
Not deep enough for who?
What is “deep?”
What is the purpose of depth?

These questions are part of the Kobayashi Maru scenario.

4 ways to beat the Kobayashi Maru, without cheating!

1) Pick a lane and stay in it.

You can’t let 80 or 800 or 8,000 people vote on this. You’ll go crazy trying to make everyone happy. And yet people have a right to their own opinions.

The communication lane you choose will entirely define the ministry of your church.

What is your aim?

Do you aim toward the evangelistic side? Do you want to lean more toward those that are far from God? That may contain a little less depth. However, keep in mind, there is absolutely nothing shallow about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Porn Industry’s Biggest Customer

By

Mike Genung

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June 21, 2018

For our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities: transgressing and denying the Lord, and turning away from our God…
Isaiah 59:12-13

In her book Sex, Lies and the Media, Eva Marie Everson recounts the following story:
“My friend Jack Samad with the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families shocked me with the story of his attendance at a religious convention. The manager of the hotel where he had been staying noticed the posters and other paraphernalia he had carried through the lobby early one morning and then back in again later that afternoon. He stopped Jack and asked him what he was doing with all that information on pornography. Jack told him he was part of the Christian conference being held in the city. The manager chuckled. “Get real,” he said. Porn movies in our hotel are accessed at a higher rate during Christian conventions than at any other time.”

With statistics showing that 60-70 percent of Christian men and 20 percent of women are viewing porn (see Porn Statistics), this means that the church, God’s people, are:

1. Funding the multi-billion dollar porn industry. Millions of Christian Americans are tithing to two churches: the church of God and the porn-church of Satan. We’re literally backing the work of demons.

2. Supporting the destruction of men, women and children. The U.S. is the porn producer of the world, and the church is paying pornographers so they can continue to produce more materials that will destroy the lives of the actors and actresses in those movies, and the marriages, families and children in every corner of society.

3. Corrupting ourselves. Our hearts are stained with lust and our marriages and families are paying the price.

4. Giving mixed messages to the world. On one hand we’re holding God’s standards for sexual purity aloft, while in the next we’re winking at the enemy. The Bible calls such people Hypocrites…Pharisees.

5. Dishonoring the Lord. What does our approval and funding of the porn industry say about God? Does it make the outside world question His power, or even His existence? After all, shouldn’t a powerful God be strong enough to free His people from sin? Or…is the problem that we really want our sin more than God?

6. Fueling the demand for porn. A big market for their product encourages the porn industry to ramp up production; more lives are destroyed.

7. Putting ourselves nearer to God’s judgment and discipline (or scourging, as the writer in Hebrews 12:6 puts it). Not a good place to be.

The above should make us sick to our stomach…angry…and broken hearted. We’re destroying lives. We’re backing Satan’s work. We’re sending people to hell. A church does this when it refuses to take bold action and confront the truth.

In Revelations 2, Jesus convicted two of seven churches for not dealing with the sexual sin among them (Thyatira and Pergamum). The consequences of David’s adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband were severe. Paul warned, twice, that “the sexually immoral will not inherit the kingdom of God” (1^st Corinthians 6:9, Galatians 5:19-21). This isn’t about teaching a few guys how to quit viewing porn and masturbating, there’s a lot at stake here, including the eternal destiny of many.

My hope is that we will take action. Forward this article to your pastor, youth minister or friends. If you’re ensnared in sexual sin, now is the time to get serious. You don’t know how many tomorrows you have left, and you surely don’t want to waste another minute of your vapor-life (James 4:14) masturbating to porn. The things we do in this world echo for all of eternity.

See Porn, The Church, and What to Do About It for more information and an effective action plan.

This article originally appeared here.

The Problem When Your Ministry Is Your Passion

By

David Santistevan

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June 21, 2018

We begin our lives with big vision, don’t we?

Think about your answer to the most common question when you were a kid: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” When you’re 6 years old, you don’t consider the cost of tuition, the extra years of graduate school or how difficult it is to make the NFL draft.

You are going to be an astronaut. You’re going to be a firefighter. You will be the next Quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers and lead your team to yet another Super Bowl Championship. There’s no doubt or debate. Consider it done.

For those of us in ministry, it’s a similar start. The world is ours for the taking. Nothing is impossible.

Expectations are high. We have dreams. We have prophetic words. We have youth camp encounters. We carry all of this into our first ministry position. We’re pumped for God’s promise to come to pass.

Until we get started, and it’s not what we thought it was:

Your pastor doesn’t like that song.
People wonder why you can’t sing more hymns.
No one comes to your events.
You (or your spouse) has to work a second job to pay the bills.
The congregation doesn’t respond in worship.
Bad attitudes fester among your team.
Attendance is going down.
Student loan payments begin.
No one appreciates how talented you are.

I started ministry with a passion to be used by God and to do great things for God. Of course, the emphasis was on big things. But my idea of big was different then God’s.

There’s a problem when ministry is your passion over and above Jesus.

A singular focus on the Son of God—His heart, His beauty, His values—leads to a life of ministry. Why? Because you want to be like Jesus wherever you are and bring His kingdom wherever you go.

Do You Love Ministry More Than Jesus?

A passion for ministry can often lead to a longing for more and more influence, bigger and bigger crowds, and more attention for your talent.

God never called us to ministry or called us to love ministry. We are called to love Him.

“Love the Lord your God with all you heart, soul, mind and strength.”

Ministry begins with ministering to His heart, above all.

Sometimes, this singular attention and focus on the Lord leads us to massive influence—a large following and massive crowds. But most of the time, it’s a monotonous, normal habit of small actions. But this is ministry. And we love it because we love Jesus.

The more we keep our eyes on Jesus, the more we live like Jesus did—and most of the time it was the little, everyday things.

Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount to a large crowd on a mountainside, but had time to give the woman with the issue of blood some singular attention.

Jesus fed the 5,000 but also took hours out of his day to travel and raise Jairus’ daughter from the dead.

Jesus could preach like no one else in history, but always withdrew to invest in his 12 closest friends, even after they betrayed Him.

A love for Jesus leads us to be faithful with the small miracles in front of us. The ones without applause, compliments, recognition or global fame.

The Challenge

So here’s my challenge: Open your eyes. See who is right in front of you. Choose to love where you are and what you get to do. Pour yourself out in the place God has you.

Maybe the big things God has planned for your life are discovered by cleaning the toilets after the youth retreat, singing hymns for the widows and running errands for the pastor you don’t really like.

Open your heart. Open your hands. Open your life to what God has in front of you.

And most importantly, keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Without a singular attention on His heart, everything loses focus.

Let’s do some big things today, shall we?

This article originally appeared here.

Steve Scalise Thanking God and Playing Baseball Again

By

Bob Ditmer

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June 21, 2018

One year ago Rep. Steve Scalise was shot by a gunman while practicing for a baseball game among lawmakers. He almost died.

Last week, he fielded the first play of the game from his position at second base in the annual congressional baseball game. After throwing the runner out, he pointed to the heavens.

“To think that after nine surgeries and everything I get to be back out here with my colleagues, God bless America,” he said.

Scalise credits the Lord for his recovery and his life.

“I almost lost my life, and through God’s grace and the marvels of medicine I’m here,” Scalise said.

Doctors doubted whether Scalise would live through the night let alone play baseball again. He told CBN News a few months ago he knows this was all a part of God’s plan for his life.

“It was tough,” recalled Scalise. “A lot of those dark days, just to lean back on the strength of God and not question what happened but to be able to focus on just getting better—that’s what God has provided me.”

“I can tell you, the power of prayer is real,” says Scalise. “It’s powerful and it was incredibly helpful to give me the strength I needed to come back.”

Throughout the ordeal, Scalise has credited God for standing by him and answering his prayers including the presence of a fellow lawmaker who served as a combat surgeon in Iraq who administered first aid and a traffic jam that forced him to take a helicopter to the hospital. The trip only took four minutes. Scalise said, “I would not have made it to GW if not for that helicopter.”

Scalise said he also prayed for his 10-year-old daughter Madison: “The first thing that came to my mind was, ‘God, please don’t let Madison walk up the aisle alone,” he told an audience. “Then I started praying for the ability to see my family again.”

Three others were shot that day, and miraculously, all four were on the field at this year’s game.

5 Reasons You Shouldn’t Preach Other People’s Sermons

By

Carey Nieuwhof

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June 20, 2018

These are interesting times for communicators and preachers.

Never have we had access to so many other people’s messages. And never have we felt more pressure in delivering our own.

Almost monthly I hear of pastors (most of whom will never make the headlines) who are losing their job because of plagiarism—using someone else’s content but passing it off as their own.

That’s just sad on about 100 levels.

First, it’s sad for their church, who lost a leader and saw some trust fractured.

Second, it’s sad for the pastor who obviously got into some kind of content trap he or she didn’t know how to get out of. I’m sure a few of the people who got fired intended to steal other people’s work and didn’t care about the consequences. But my guess is that’s a small group.

I’ll bet the majority actually just got caught in a trap of overwhelm and shame: They felt too busy/inadequate/desperate to write their own content, downloaded someone else’s, and were too ashamed/insecure/embarrassed to admit that. Rinse, lather and repeat and you have a fireable offense.

A third factor may be that vicious cycle of jealousy and inadequacy. Because we can access messages by world-class communicators every day for free (as can our congregations too), it’s not that hard to get lulled into thinking we can never measure up, so we beg, borrow and steal other people’s ideas without giving credit.

A Rip Off Epidemic

If you don’t think this is an epidemic, please know I’m not even close to being the most well-known preacher on the planet, nor the best-known writer. But my team has found other preachers preaching our local series verbatim, with no permission and zero attribution. Even the jokes were re-used.

Ditto with my blog. My team has found other bloggers who have taken my content, pasted it word for word into their blog, and written their name above the post as the author. (We’ve asked them to take it down.)

So what’s the problem with idea-theft, sermon-theft or writing-theft?

It’s an integrity issue. It’s a character issue.

And at the heart of it is giving credit where credit is due.

There is nothing wrong with using other people’s ideas. Only fools think they are truly original thinkers. There really isn’t much new under the sun, so to quote, share and borrow ideas is fine. You just need to give credit.

And that’s the crux of it. If you mostly do other people’s content, then you’ll end up saying, “Today’s message is based on a message written by Mark Batterson/Beth Moore/Andy Stanley/Tim Keller/Steven Furtick/Sheryl Brady/John Ortberg.”

There is nothing wrong with that occasionally. A few times a year I’ll open a message saying, “What’ I’m sharing with you today aren’t my ideas—they’re based on the work of X, or come from a message/book by Y.”

But do that week after week after week, and people will begin to realize you aren’t writing your own stuff. Which is exactly why most pastors who plagiarize resist giving credit.

So what should preachers do?

I suggest a simple guideline for preachers:

Write your own stuff. And if you didn’t, tell people.

That’s it.

So why do we want to rip off other communicators? There are at least five reasons that get pretty ugly if we’re honest.

1. You Want People to Think You’re Smarter Than You Actually Are
Let’s be honest…one reason we borrow other people’s ideas and make them appear to be ours is so it makes us look smarter than we are.

Don’t think you can give credit and still seem smart?

Just listen to Tim Keller. In virtually every message, Keller references a book he’s read or a thinker he’s borrowing from. He does this regularly and generously.

And guess what? Keller’s one of the sharpest thinkers alive today. Also one of the smartest.

Quoting other leaders doesn’t make you seem dumb. It actually makes you look smart.

It’s evidence you’ve read more than a few tweets, and that you’ve dug deep into the heart of history or current events. It’s a sign you’re not lazy.

Ripping people off is lazy. Learning from other authors and thinkers isn’t.

2. You Lie
Lying is an integrity issue.

People rightly assume when a speaker, artist or writer shares something without citing a source, it’s their take on an issue.

Far too many preachers today are literally downloading another pastor’s messages every week and preaching them verbatim.

If you steal money, you get fired. If you steal ideas, maybe you should be fired too.

3. You Stop Growing
Of all the leaders and communicators who have their ideas ripped off, Andy Stanley is likely at top of the list. He’s one of the most quoted leaders alive today in the Western church, and for good reason. He’s brilliant.

I had a chance to talk with Andy on my Leadership Podcast and I asked him about how he felt about others ‘stealing’ his material and ideas. I loved his answer (you can listen to the episode here or on Apple Podcasts—Episode 1).

Andy said—so accurately—that preachers who preach other people’s messages forfeit the growth that comes with preparing a message from scratch. They miss the angst, the frustration and the tremendous reward that comes from wrestling down ideas until they come out in a powerful and helpful way.

Andy’s so right. Preachers, when you start stealing, you stop growing.

You also lose your own voice. If you’re like me, you may not be the biggest fan of your own voice, but it’s a voice God gave you and that God loves.

Further, if you’re simply a copycat, my suspicion is a younger audience will eventually tune you out. Why? Because Millennials can smell a lack of authenticity a mile away.

You may not be quite as clever or articulate as your favorite preacher, but you’re real. And real resonates.

But wait, you say, can’t you buy Andy’s sermons so you can reteach them at your church? Can’t you download Craig Groeschel’s messages and reteach them at your church? Both legally?

Yes, you can.

There can be strategic purposes for doing so. And when you do, give credit.

But on all those other weeks of the year, don’t lose the edge you gain by wrestling through your own ideas, your own reading of God’s word, and finding your own voice on a regular basis.

4. You Lose Touch With God
When you plagiarize, you lose touch with God in at least two significant ways.

First, the sins of lying and stealing are themselves a barrier. Confession stands between you and God.

Second, stealing ideas required zero reliance on the Holy Spirit for inspiration, direction, courage or insights.

Ironically, in trying to make your content better, you’ve made it worse. You’ve robbed it of its true power. The real power in preaching comes not from our words, but from what God does with our words.

Do the hard work. You and everyone around you will be better for it.

5. It Creeps Into Other Areas of Your Life
I don’t know for sure, but I think it’s generally true that when you compromise in one area of your life, it doesn’t take much to start compromising in other areas.

Sin is like a weed: It grows fast and you never have to water it.

The best way to tackle sin is to pull it out by its root before it creeps into other areas of your life.

So What Do I Do?
What should you do in a hyper-connected era when you and I are exposed to more ideas in a day than our grandparents were in a month or year?

First, use other peoples ideas generously. Just give credit where credit is due. Quote. Attribute. Link back.

That covers most of us.

But what about those preachers who realize they’re guilty of knowingly stealing entire messages or lines of thinking and passing it off as theirs…and no one has confronted them on it (yet)?

I would strongly encourage anyone in this category to come clean. Talk to your board. Explain what’s been happening, and tell them you want to stop.

See a counselor if you need to (there’s something inside that drove you there in the first place), and start writing fresh.

Want to Develop as a Preacher?

Having preached regularly now for 25 years, I realize the weekly pressure and reward that content creation is.

That’s why I’m really excited to tell you about a brand new online course Mark Clark and I have put together called The Art of Better Preaching.

Mark is the lead pastor of Village Church in Vancouver and I’m the Founding and Teaching Pastor at Connexus Church north of Toronto. Between us, we speak to over 10,000 people every weekend in person and online, many of whom are previously unchurched and all of whom live in a post-modern, post Christian culture.

In the course, Mark and I (who have very different styles, by the way) open the vault and give you practical strategies, tips and tricks that show you how to:

Create biblically authentic sermons unchurched people love
Craft and deliver messages that will help your church grow
Create killer bottom lines for your talk people will remember for years
Deliver a talk without using notes
Keep your mind, heart and content fresh for years on end
The purpose is not to help you preach like us, but to help you become the best communicator YOU can be as you explore God’s word and connect with an increasingly post-modern, post-Christian culture.

Curious?

Join the waitlist today to get in on the course as soon as it releases.

Thoughts?
What do you think?

Am I being too hard on us as communicators? What’s been your experience?

This article originally appeared here.

Shaping a Prayer Legacy

By

Lauren McAfee

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June 20, 2018

Did you realize that a woman who took part in influencing the history of Christianity in modern western society is someone you’ve likely never heard of?

She lived in the rural village of Epworth, England, in the 1700s, and her name is Susanna Wesley. For those of you who don’t recognize the name (and I don’t blame you), you may at least be thinking that her last name “Wesley” seems familiar—the same as some famous Christian influencers that you’ve heard about before: John Wesley and Charles Wesley.

If your brain was trying to associate them, then you are headed in the right direction!

John and Charles were two of the 10 children that Susanna Wesley raised. John Wesley was a preacher who is estimated to have taught nearly a million people in his long, fruitful ministry. It is hard to overstate the impact John has had on theological thought and denominations in the western world. His brother Charles Wesley also made a significant impact as a musician and lyricist. He wrote more than 6,600 hymns, many of which are still sung today. Two accomplished world changers, but it was their mother that helped shape their faith.

Though Susanna was a woman who crafted an impressive legacy, it didn’t come without its trials. Susanna’s husband, Samuel Wesley, was not particularly good at his job. Nor was he good with money. This left Susanna and her children to fend for themselves, working hard just to have enough for their large family to stay fed. On top of that, Susanna was responsible for all of the household duties and managed to provide a world-class education to her children through homeschooling.

Despite difficult circumstances, Susanna always trusted in God and never let her busy schedule keep her from praying.

Susanna was sure to schedule two hours of time with God every day, even amidst the most complex and busy years of raising her children. She was known to go to her favorite chair in the living room with her Bible and throw her apron over her head to allow for some “privacy” so she could spend time in prayer. Her faith and consistent prayer life obviously left their mark on her children, as we can see through the faith legacy of her sons! What a seemingly simple act—carving out time for prayer—yet it was more powerful than she could imagine.

Prayer can be a difficult thing to value these days. In a world of endless busyness and the constant bombardment of distractions, it’s hard to set things aside and just be in the presence of God. Yet prayer is one of the most influential things any of us can do.

Susanna created a legacy of prayer and faith that lived on long after her time on earth. We each have the opportunity to invest in the eternal and, in a sense, “outlive our lives” by doing so. What can you invest your time in today that will matter in eternity?

This article originally appeared here.

Ten Ways Every Christian Can Strengthen Their Church

By

Paul Chappell

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June 20, 2018

Do your church members know how to strengthen the church? In the early days at Lancaster Baptist Church, I gave a “Visit With the Pastor” almost every Sunday night in which I tried to infuse our young church with the DNA of New Testament Christianity. Usually these was a brief topical lesson on topics ranging from how to lead someone to the Lord to having family devotions to encouraging new Christians.

Now fast forward 30 years. This past fall, one of our early members, Denise Lofgren, went to be with the Lord after a sudden battle with cancer. Denise and her husband, Gary, came to Lancaster Baptist in 1987 and have stayed for these 30 years as they raised their four boys here.

Shortly after Denise went to be with the Lord, her husband, Gary, found the handwritten outline below on a scrap of paper in her files. It was from a Visit With the Pastor titled, “How to Build a Great Church.” In the top right corner, she had written, “May 1988.” And in the top left corner, “Read Bk. of Acts.” Below was a list of 10 basic principles I had given that night on how every Christian can help build their church.

I look at this list now, and I smile a little at the alliteration and even the order in which I listed some of these. But I also thank God for people like Gary and Denise Lofgren who took these biblical principles to heart and lived them.

How to Strengthen the Church

The truth is, these are what builds a godly church. These are the attributes of church members who are growing in the Lord and helping to strengthen the church body.

1. Stay—Learn to stick.

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. —Hebrews 10:25

(Obviously, there are times God moves people. But don’t allow an offense with another Christian or backsliding in your own heart to keep you from your church family.)

2. Sweet Spirit—Love your church.

And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. —Hebrews 10:24

3. Stewardship—Give liberally to God and man.

But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. —2 Corinthians 9:6

4. Separation—Live in a way that is distinctly for God in this world.

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. —2 Corinthians 6:17

5. Stick with Scriptures—Read, study and hear the preaching of God’s Word. Make it your ultimate authority.

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. —Hebrews 4:12

6. Sold out—Be fully committed to the things of the Lord, your marriage and family, and your church family.

And Jesus said unto him, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” —Luke 9:62

How to Find Unlimited New Small Group Leaders

By

Mark Howell

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June 20, 2018

How to Find Unlimited New Small Group Leaders

Help! I can’t find enough small group leaders!

One of the most common challenges for small group pastors is finding enough small group leaders. To top it off, just when you think you’re getting a little bit of traction you learn that some of your best leaders are moving away or taking a break.

Can you relate?

Now, you may think this problem is just part of serving at your church. And you may have concluded that the reason your friend across town has more leaders than he needs is simply a matter of the church he serves. But I bet it has to do with the fact that he’s learned a few secrets and it hasn’t occurred to him that you haven’t.

You see, over the years I’ve discovered that it’s actually possible to discover an unlimited number of leaders…once you unlock a few secrets.

8 secrets to finding an unlimited number of small group leaders:

Leverage your senior pastor’s influence

It is impossible to overstate the potential of your senior pastor as small group champion. So much of building a thriving small group ministry depends on your senior pastor’s willingness to play the role of champion and effectiveness at playing it well.

When your senior pastor learns to make the ask, to invite participation effectively, you will have unlocked a powerful secret. Until you’ve learned to leverage your senior pastor’s influence you will be playing with both hands tied behind your back.

Set minimum leader requirements at an entry level

Churches have many reasons for setting high minimum requirements for small group leaders. Protecting the flock and providing excellent examples for group members are just two of the many reasons for high standards.

And yet, setting minimum leader requirements too high only ensures you will not be able to find enough leaders. Don’t miss the fact that Jesus did not look for Jesus Jr. when he recruited the 12. He chose the 12 from a slightly larger group that had responded to an invitation to come and see and invited them to come and follow. And once they were moving in the right direction He invited them to come and fish.

We often have it backward and then complain that we can’t find enough leaders. Worse, when we don’t have enough leaders we chalk it up to congregational immaturity or unwillingness to put the interests of others ahead of their own.

Making it easy to begin leading and leader development nearly automatic will open the door to a new wave of high potential leader candidates who say yes to the right invitation.

Keep your most important leader identification strategies focused on the edges.

There is nothing wrong with insisting that every leader have an apprentice. It is a biblical strategy. It is a really good leadership development strategy. It’s just not an adequate group multiplication strategy in most cases. In fact, it almost never produces new leaders and new groups fast enough to be the main or only strategy.

And that’s OK because in most churches the largest number of potential group leaders are not currently in a group.

Think about what that means. For starters it means they are almost certainly not part of the core, committed or inside edge of the congregation (to use Saddleback’s concentric circles metaphor). It actually means they are most likely part of the crowd.

So, if your leadership identification strategies can’t see beyond those already connected in groups, you’ll miss out on the largest number of potential leaders.

Get over the idea that the best candidates are people you know

As your church grows it becomes increasingly less likely that your pastor and staff will know everyone. This makes any leader identification strategy that depends on the personal knowledge of staff doomed to fail. This makes a small group connection (where the event itself identifies leader candidates) or the HOST strategy (which recruits people who know at least two other people) excellent strategies.

It also means that unless you serve in a very small church, there is a really good chance that you don’t know who the potential leaders are.

And that means you must learn to use a few strategies that identify high potential leaders (and that’s where the strategies we use come in).

An important side-note on this secret:

The least connected people in your congregation are often the most connected in the community. Please don’t miss this game-changing secret. They have friends already. Their friends don’t attend your church…yet.

Provide high quality just-in-time coaching for new leaders

Prerequisite completion of a leader training class often puts the cart before the horse and at the same time eliminates easy steps into leadership.

Adults learn on a need-to-know basis. Aand brand new leaders definitely have a need-to-know.

When you connect new leaders to a coach (who really knows the ropes) at the very beginning, it assures your newest leaders that help is available. It also sets in motion a discipleship relationship that may long outlast the need for a small group coach.

Don’t expect the best candidates to volunteer

A widespread trend in America is for people to migrate from smaller churches to larger churches where they and their family members will have access to more attractive opportunities.

Within the migration are many who were the 20 percent who did everything in their old church. In many cases they are temporarily happy with the opportunity to arrive at 10:55, drop their kids in an excellent children’s program, sit in on a weekend service where they are anonymous, and be pulling out of the parking lot at 12:20 on their way to lunch.

They may respond to an opportunity to join a small group, but they will rarely volunteer to lead one.

If your leader identification strategies depend on potential leaders volunteering their services, you need to learn this secret.

This trend makes a small group connection a very effective strategy because the event is designed to identify leader candidates.

Create first steps that are short-term no-obligation test-drives

You will engage many more leader candidates when you learn to create and implement first steps that feel like a test-drive. If it feels like a lifetime commitment, you will miss out on many, many people who are reluctant to say yes.

Instead, positioning short-term commitments (six weeks is ideal) as try-it-and-see-if-you-like-it opportunities will help many potential leaders to put a toe-in-the-water and experience confirming satisfaction and affirmation.

Create mission opportunities with built-in end dates

While many of the best leader candidates are people you don’t know, we all know that some existing groups are full of people who should be leading a group.

You know who they are.

You’ve probably even tried to recruit them to lead a group.

When you’ve tried to recruit them they’ve said, “This group is how we are fed!” Or maybe they’ve said, “We are already serving in two other ministries. This is where we can get our own needs met.”

Sound familiar?

In my experience those same people who wave off your best efforts will often respond to an invitation to “help start a new six-week group and then you can go back.” Essentially you are only asking them to take a six-week vacation from their current group.

This strategy works best when your senior pastor makes the ask of all groups to consider “taking a small group vacation” to help start a lot of new groups and connect lots of unconnected people.

This article originally appeared here.

A Super Simple Way to Encourage Volunteers

By

Brandon Horst

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June 20, 2018

One of the best ways to maintain a healthy volunteer base is, not just to continually recruit, but also to retain volunteers for the long run.

Of course, it is not an either/or strategy but a both/and strategy.

This post is about one simple way you can regularly encourage volunteers, an important ingredient in retaining them.

Volunteers who know they are cared for and feel supported tend to stick around for the long run and not burn out.

Here’s how to encourage volunteers (the first part is something you probably already do, but it is the second part that really makes this meaningful): Gather prayer requests from your volunteers AND follow-up later in the week.

Step 1: Gather Prayer Requests

You probably already pray with your volunteers before services, but are you writing down all the prayer requests?

If you are, then keep it up; you’ll need this information for the second step.

If you aren’t, create a word doc that says prayer requests a the top and has lines below for you to write requests on.

Throw that piece of paper on a clipboard and get the requests written down.

Also, make sure someone is responsible to do this, so that volunteers who are late are still tracked down and have a chance to share their prayer requests.

Step 2: Follow-up Later in the Week

Once you have a system for recording the prayer requests of your volunteers, here’s the part that makes it really meaningful.

Most of your volunteers expect to share prayer requests and pray, but what they don’t expect is for you to follow-up outside of Sunday.

This is as easy as taking 30 minutes to an hour on Thursday or Friday to let your volunteers know you’re praying and/or ask a question about their requests.

For example, if someone’s request was for a child who is sick, you could text them, Praying for Jimmy this week. Is he feeling better?

And that’s it (I told you this was super simple, although depending on how many volunteers serve at your church, you may need to layer this or pick and choose 10-12 volunteers/week).

How do you keep volunteers encouraged at your church?

This article originally appeared here.

20 Encouragements for Struggling Church Leaders

By

Brandon Kelley

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June 20, 2018

O ministry, where is your sting? Ouch. Right there! And there!

I don’t know what struggle you are facing right now. I’m not sure what your context is. I don’t know how frustrating or how encouraging your elders or board members are. I’m not sure how supportive your family is of the work you do.

But I do know what you know: Ministry can be an enormous blessing and it can be an enormous source of pain and heartache.

People you thought were in it for the long haul have left. Leaders you thought were solid and God-honoring have turned on you and the church. Families have opted to invest their Sunday mornings on the soccer field during their kids’ most faith-formative years. You’ve counseled married couples through their problems only to see their family be torn apart by divorce.

You and your leaders have helped families in financial need only to see them leave a couple weeks later because of their own pride and shame. You’ve preached with everything you’ve got and more only to be criticized a few hours later through an email, or worse—an anonymous note sitting on your office desk.

But what you do is worth it. In spite of all the heartache, in spite of all the pain, you are being used by God and I pray that what follows encourages you to keep stepping forward.

20 Encouragements for Struggling Church Leaders

God used your last sermon or teaching lesson to impact someone’s life no matter how you think it went.
Many people don’t tell you this, but they are thankful for your sacrifice and your dedication.
The storm you’re in isn’t in the forecast forever. It will pass, the sun will come out, and things will turn around.
God has called you to be faithful, not “successful.” Don’t let your worth be tied to whatever level of success you think you do or don’t have. Give ministry your all, but let God handle the results.
For every loudmouth critic, there are exponentially more people who support you and trust you.
Conflict is the passageway to relational breakthrough. You can navigate conflict—be quick to listen and slow to anger. Lead with mercy. And in no time, you’ll have an advocate rather than a perceived enemy.
God isn’t done with you yet. He’s just getting started. Keep growing. Keep learning. Plod ahead.
The impact of your ministry is going to have and has had a positive ripple effect on entire families.
Your small gestures of kindness have been used by God to literally save people from giving up.
With every week you have served your congregation, you have made another deposit in the “trust account.” Keep showing up. Don’t give up.
The person who is insulting you is likely dealing with a hurt that isn’t at all about you.
“[You] are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that [you] would walk in them.” – Ephesians 2:10 [modified] Your good ideas aren’t even your ideas. They were the Lord’s. So just walk in them and give Him the credit and the glory!
For every challenge, there is an opportunity. See the latter as the way forward.
More people are praying for you than you realize.
God is with you. The Almighty infinite God is with you. Yes. You. He will never leave you or forsake you.
You have room to grow in every area of your life. You can become a better leader. You can become a better communicator. You’re not at your ceiling.
If you’re willing to let go, God will turn your past and present brokenness into a future ministry opportunity.
If you’re struggling, try this: Send a text of gratitude to three people in your church. Sometimes all we need is to get the focus off ourselves and onto being a blessing to someone else.
Future church leaders will point to you as a key influence in their lives.
You are a child of God. Your heavenly Dad loves you.

Encourage Another Church Leader

If this encouraged you, bless another church leader by sending it their way.

This article originally appeared here.

End to Separations at the Border in Sight With Executive Order

By

Bob Ditmer

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June 20, 2018

Saying, “It’s about keeping families together while ensuring we have a powerful border,” President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that is meant to keep families together at the border as part of U.S. Immigration policy.

The order would allow families to be detained together but would not stop the “zero tolerance” policy of charging people with a misdemeanor for entering illegally. Under the policy, families would be held in immigration detention together and escalates hearings for families in detention, putting them at the head of the line, to speed up processing.

The order directs other agencies, including the Pentagon, to take steps to find places to house family units. It also specifies that migrants entering the U.S. with children will not be kept together if there’s a fear for the child’s welfare.

The executive orders will go into effect following input from the Office of the Legal Counsel. The details of the executive order were worked out between the White House, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security, according to CNN sources.

The family separations came about because of the zero tolerance policy, which aims to prosecute all illegal border crossers, and a 1997 order, known as the Flores settlement, that states children cannot be detained for longer than 20 days even if they are with their parents.

Fox News quotes sources who believe the executive action by Trump could be seen to run afoul of Flores and would likely draw a lawsuit. But the White House wants to try to take steps to uphold the enforcement of the law, while at the same time lessening the trauma of children being separated from their parents.

Other news reports say Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen is likely to recommend that Trump support developing House legislation or, if that doesn’t pass, a standalone bill to close the “loopholes” regarding family detention. During the order-signing, Nielsen again called on Congress to act.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said the House would vote Thursday on a compromise between conservative and moderate Republican lawmakers that would address the issue of family separations. And Senator Ted Cruz has said he plans to introduce legislation this week that also would keep families together.

Rev. Dr. Samuel Rodriguez, President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, and a Trump advisor, said in a statement:

“I join with millions of Americans of all political persuasions in expressing my relief that our country’s collective crescendo of horror at seeing families separated at our southern border has led this administration to urgently advance an executive order to keep families intact during processing. Indeed this policy was misguided, poorly communicated to the public, and is anti-American. We must be able to agree on something so simple and so fundamental as keeping families intact whenever it’s in our power to do so.”

Rodriguez said the executive order is just a start and hoped for true reform to correct the immigration system.

Democrats welcomed Trump’s apparent change of course but said he had only himself to blame.

“The President is the one that created this humanitarian crisis,” Texas Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “I hope the President will fix the problem that he created.”

Controversial Conference Hopes to Embrace ‘Gay Christians’

By

Bob Ditmer

-

June 20, 2018

A conference in St. Louis next month is generating a lot of conversation and controversy. It’s called “Revoice” and its mission is “to encourage, support and empower gay, lesbian and other same-sex-attracted Christians so they can experience the life-giving character of the historic, Christian sexual ethic.”

Greg Johnson is the lead pastor of Memorial PCA, the church that’s hosting the conference. He said the idea for the conference name comes from music.

“The idea behind “revoicing” a piano is that you keep the piano but tune it to bring out the beauty of the instrument’s sound. Often, our teaching about homosexuality is simply that gay sex is wrong. And that much is true. That’s one note, one indispensable key on the piano. But what of the teenager in our churches who only hears that one note over and over again whenever gay people are discussed—a teenager crushed by the shame of a sexual orientation he has acknowledged to no one? Is the Bible’s message to him only negative? A well-voiced piano can make a much more complex and beautiful sound. Yes, that message still includes a call to self-sacrificial discipleship. (That’s the same for all of us.) But the gospel offers the believer with same-sex struggle a positive vision of flourishing in Christ as a part of his body the church.”

Nate Collins is the founder of Revoice and one of the speakers at the event. He also describes himself as a “Christian gender and sexual minority.” He says this group needs some kind of visible, public support from the evangelical Church.

“We want Revoice to be a community where this group of people can feel safe to come as they are and to be known by other Christians who want to love and encourage gender and sexual minorities. At the same time, we’re aware that the conference itself will attract a wide variety of people who are outside that category who also want to encourage and support Christian gender and sexual minorities.”

He says Christians who identify as homosexual and who adhere to historic, Christian teaching about marriage and sexuality often feel caught between two worlds…“the world of our faith community, and the world outside our faith community. Revoice exists to embody a kind of faith community where we can feel like we truly belong.”

Collins says he represents a new generation of Christian gender and sexual minorities who are resolutely following Christ while also trying to discover creative ways to integrate their faith, gender and sexual identities.

He also wants respect and repentance from the evangelical church for its posture toward the mainstream LGBT community.

In addition to keynote speakers Wesley Hill, Eve Tushnet and Nate Collins, there are also workshops. They will address issues such as: Does the Bible really prohibit all homosexual behaviors? What do I do if I develop a same-sex crush on my brother or sister in Jesus? What particular challenges and opportunities have others in ‘mixed-orientation’ marriages faced?

Is there anything admirable that we can acknowledge within the literature, art and struggles of “queer” culture? From a biblical perspective, what is redeemable—what evidence of the imago dei is present within the literature of that movement? What longings does one find in “queer” art and film that point to a bigger need for God?

The conference and its goals have drawn a host of criticism. Some say the term “sexual minority” is grossly out of order and that those who struggle with sin should not be encouraged to identify themselves by their sin. The term makes disordered sexual desires essential to personhood and the group has adopted an unbiblical view of human identity—one that treats same-sex attraction as a matter of moral indifference and homosexual orientation as an identity to be embraced.

A key point of the effort is to make churches welcoming to homosexuals, but some wonder if a church violates that objective by holding to biblical truth about sexuality, gender identity, sin and repentance.

Pastor Johnson says he’s been asked why an evangelical church would host such a controversial gathering.

“Because there are a lot of gay men and women becoming Christians—or who grew up in Christian homes—and found themselves attracted to the same sex. They aren’t always sure what that means for their sexuality or for their church life. They want to obey God, but they often feel like they don’t fit in the body of Christ. The goal of the conference is to help those who believe in the historic, biblical sexual ethic figure out how to thrive within churches that share those biblical commitments. These are sisters and brothers who are paying a lot more than a tithe to follow Jesus.”

He also says the conference will give pastors and other church leaders ideas on helping sexual minorities connect, feel loved and grow as disciples of Jesus while offering guidelines for pastoral care.

Organizers are hoping for 425 attendees at the July 26-28 gathering. They are also making plans for next year’s conference.

Tony Morgan: Know Your Mission Field

By

Jason Daye

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June 20, 2018

Tony Morgan is founder and lead strategist of The Unstuck Group. For 14 years, he served on the senior leadership teams at West Ridge Church (Dallas, GA), NewSpring Church (Anderson, SC) and Granger Community Church (Granger, IN). He’s written several books, as well as articles that have been featured with the Willow Creek Association, Catalyst and Pastors.com.

Key Questions for Tony Morgan:

– How can pastors best grow those who attend their church?
– How can pastors determine the spiritual background of their community?

[SUBSCRIBE] For more ChurchLeaders podcasts click here!

Key Quotes from Tony Morgan:

“Church leaders should ask, ‘Who are we trying to reach?’”

“Understanding who is in our mission field is pretty critical to our mission.”

“Every church needs clarity about what their growth engines are.”

“Churches need to determine the spiritual background of the people they’re trying to reach.”

“Churches that are more focused on who they’re trying to reach and get intentional about everything they do…end up reaching a broad cross section of the community.”

“It’s about being intentional, not being exclusive.”

“Many churches are holding onto the same methods we’ve always used and we’re having trouble connecting to an ever changing culture.”

“One church we’re working with had more than 200 people on the deacon board. It’s hard to make a decision with that many people involved.”

“We too often put people in leadership roles that don’t have a gift of leadership.”

“Some churches have strong, biblical leaders but they’re not empowering them to use their gifts.”

“Avoidance of pain is not the win, health of the ministry is the win.”

Links Mentioned by Tony Morgan in the Show:

https://tonymorganlive.com/

The Unstuck Church

Tony Morgan on ChurchLeaders:

Tony Morgan: 8 Reasons Your Church Is Stuck

Tony Morgan: Favorite Quotes from the Global Leadership Summit

Why Suicide Doesn’t Always Lead to Hell

By

Jarrid Wilson

-

June 19, 2018

Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade are just two of the many people and/or celebrities who have committed suicide in the just the last year. It’s heartbreaking to say the least, and I believe our society and culture is in need of a great awakening in regards to priorities, mental health awareness and the love of God. My heart breaks for the families of Anthony and Kate, and I’m praying God will cover them with nothing but peace and comfort.

While observing the many comments and articles related to suicide in response to the recent deaths of Anthony and Kate, I couldn’t help but notice how many people were quick to point out what many believe are their eternal destinies. “Anyone who commits suicide ends up in hell,” said one Twitter user, while another said, “Suicide is an unforgivable sin.”

I’m writing this post because I want people to understand that these statements couldn’t be more wrong. In fact, they’re ill-thought and without proper biblical understanding. Did Anthony and Kate commit their lives to Christ, even in their last moments of pain and suffering? I hope so. But only God knows. And I’m not here to judge whether or not they did. No. I’m here to discuss something quite different.

Those who say suicide automatically leads to hell obviously don’t understand the totality of mental health issues in today’s world, let alone understand the basic theology behind compassion and God’s all-consuming grace. Heaven is a place for people who have a personal relationship with Jesus, not a just a place for people who didn’t commit suicide. We must do better at educating people on things they have a hard time wrapping their heads around. And mental health is definitely topic Christians around the world must yearn to better understand.

Mental Health Issues

As terrible as it sounds, mental health issues can lead many people to do things they wouldn’t otherwise do if they didn’t struggle. If you don’t believe me, I’d encourage you to get to know someone with PTSD, Alzheimer’s or OCD so that you can better understand where I’m coming from. As someone who’s struggled with severe depression throughout most of my life, and contemplated suicide on multiple occasions, I can assure you that what I’m saying is true.

The reality is, you wouldn’t dare say that someone who died of cancer is going to hell just because of their illness would you? I hope not. Then please don’t assume someone who died of suicide via severe depression is going to hell either. Both are illnesses. Both can lead to death. The deciding factor for someone entering heaven vs. hell in regards to Christianity is this: knowing Jesus as your personal Lord and savior. And guess what? There are many who know Jesus as Lord yet still suffer with and illness such as severe depression and other mental health issues.

Does God approve of suicide? Nope!
Does God view suicide as a bad thing? Yup!
Is God’s grace sufficient even for those who have committed suicide? Yup!

Some Statistics

1. Over 80 percent of people who are clinically depressed are not receiving treatment.

2. The number of people diagnosed with depression increases by 30 percent every year.

3. An estimated 121 million people around the world suffer from depression.

4. In 2013 41,149 suicides were reported, making suicide the 10th leading cause of death for Americans

5. In 2013 someone died by suicide every 12.8 minutes.

Suicide doesn’t lead people to hell. Not knowing Jesus as Lord and Savior does. And while suicide is in fact a sin that will judged by God, so is stealing, cheating and lying. And these are all sins that all Christians commit on a daily basis, yet they don’t necessarily keep someone out of eternity in heaven.

“The Angry Few” in Local Church Conflicts

By

Chuck Lawless

-

June 19, 2018

I’ve seen it happen. Just a few angry or frustrated people in a church can create havoc for an entire congregation. What I’ve also seen in decades of pastoring and church consulting, though, are these things:

We shouldn’t be surprised by the few. Jesus had 12 men in his group, and one of those was a fake from the beginning. I doubt our ratio will be better than His.

The few are seldom as powerful as they think they are. Sometimes they’ve taken power when leadership voids existed, and they assume they still have that power. Or, they’re fighting to keep the power they lost when new leadership arrived.

The few are often louder in voice than they are mighty in influence. My experience is that the few are often just that—a few. They just happen to be louder than others.

The few sometimes genuinely believe in their positions. They’re fighting for something they truly believe, even if their position is invalid.

The few have often never truly been discipled. Somebody has given them a voice (and often a position and power), but without truly walking with them to follow Christ. They may not be believers at all, or they may still be baby believers.

The few often assume that their giving keeps the church afloat. More often than not, however, I’ve seen churches lose very few dollars when the few stop giving—which means that the few may not have been giving much anyway.

Some churches give up trying to change the few. The patterns of the few become so much a part of the church’s history that everybody else assumes nothing will ever change. Nobody is willing to stand against the few.

The few are still men and women for whom Jesus died. We know that truth intellectually, but we fail to think about it when anger consumes everybody. Sometimes, the few have a valid point—they just don’t know how to express it in a Christ-honoring way. Consequently, nobody listens to them because their attitude blocks their message.

The few need our humble prayers. They need our prayers because they’re still part of our local body. We must be humble about it because any of us could quickly become part of an angry few, also.

Confronting the few sometimes becomes necessary. Let’s just make sure we do so in a way that pleases the Lord. A second angry few confronting the first angry few can become war.

If your church is dealing with an angry few, take time to pray for them today. Pray as well for those church leaders who much deal directly with them.

This article originally appeared here.

THE DIFFERENCES

THE BENEFITS

THE END CALL

4 ways to beat the Kobayashi Maru, without cheating!

1) Pick a lane and stay in it.

Do You Love Ministry More Than Jesus?

The Challenge

A Rip Off Epidemic

How to Strengthen the Church

1. Stay—Learn to stick.

2. Sweet Spirit—Love your church.

3. Stewardship—Give liberally to God and man.

4. Separation—Live in a way that is distinctly for God in this world.

5. Stick with Scriptures—Read, study and hear the preaching of God’s Word. Make it your ultimate authority.

6. Sold out—Be fully committed to the things of the Lord, your marriage and family, and your church family.

How to Find Unlimited New Small Group Leaders

8 secrets to finding an unlimited number of small group leaders:

Leverage your senior pastor’s influence

Set minimum leader requirements at an entry level

Keep your most important leader identification strategies focused on the edges.

Get over the idea that the best candidates are people you know

Provide high quality just-in-time coaching for new leaders

Don’t expect the best candidates to volunteer

Create first steps that are short-term no-obligation test-drives

Create mission opportunities with built-in end dates

Step 1: Gather Prayer Requests

Step 2: Follow-up Later in the Week

20 Encouragements for Struggling Church Leaders

Encourage Another Church Leader

Key Quotes from Tony Morgan:

Links Mentioned by Tony Morgan in the Show:

Tony Morgan on ChurchLeaders:

Mental Health Issues

Some Statistics

New Articles

New Podcasts