Here’s What You Need to Know About Boys and Violent Video Games

June 1, 2018

One of the findings in a new Pew Research Center study titled “Teens, Social Media & Technology 2018” is that video game use among teens continues to grow.

“Overall, 84 percent of teens say they have or have access to a game console at home, and 90 percent say they play video games of any kind (whether on a computer, game console or cellphone). While a substantial majority of girls report having access to a game console at home (75 percent) or playing video games in general (83 percent), those shares are even higher among boys. Roughly nine-in-10 boys (92 percent) have or have access to a game console at home, and 97 percent say they play video games in some form or fashion.”

The Pew findings combined with the fact that more than half of the 50 top-selling video games contain violence are causing concern amid continued allegations that violent video games are one of the reasons for the spate of school shootings in America.

One of the most offensive violent video games is “Active Shooter”

Just this week, a video game called “Active Shooter” was pulled from production after sweeping criticism from lawmakers, students and parents of school shooting victims—several of them from Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School community, the scene of a mass shooting in February that claimed 17 lives. More than 100,000 people signed a petition to boycott the game.

“Active Shooter,” which was originally scheduled for a June 6 release, was described as a “dynamic SWAT simulator.” Players could choose to be a SWAT team member or a school shooter in a setting that involved high school hallways, classrooms and a gym. From the shooter’s point-of-view, players could rack up points by the number of police and civilians shot.

The company’s first response to the criticism was chilling.

“Please do not take any of this seriously. This is only meant to be the simulation and nothing else. If you feel like hurting someone or people around you, please seek help from local psychiatrists or dial 911.”

“Revived Games believes violence and inappropriate actions belong in video games and not (in the) real world, and insists that in no event should anyone attempt to recreate or mimic any of the actions, events or situations occurring in this game.”

Valve Corp., a Seattle-based company, said it halted the game’s production after a brief investigation according to the Associated Press. The company also said the developer was a “troll with a history of customer abuse.”

Meanwhile, the developer of “Active Shooter” says he may still release the controversial title, despite its removal from Steam, the largest digital storefront for PC games.

Anton Makarevskiy, a 21-year old developer from Moscow, says he was surprised at the furor surrounding the game and he’s considering giving it away for free online, despite the protests from survivors and the families of victims.

Even if “Active Shooter” isn’t available this month as planned, it’s not the first video game to simulate a school shooting scenario or other combat style settings.

Violent video games have been blamed for school shootings, increases in bullying and violence toward women. Critics argue that these games desensitize players to violence, reward players for simulating violence, and teach children that violence is an acceptable way to resolve conflicts.

There are detractors from to that view. A week after the Parkland school shooting the New York Times reported:

“Shortly after the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., President Trump said that violent video games and movies may play a role in school shootings, a claim that has been made—and rejected—many times since the increase in such attacks in the past two decades.”

Shooters motivated by violent video games

But the connection, especially to school shootings, persists based on evidence revealed following several high-profile shootings.

The two teenage shooters responsible for the the massacre of 13 people at Columbine High School in Jefferson County, Colo., in 1999 were avid players of weapon-based combat games Wolfenstein 3D and Doom.

CBS News reported that the shooter at the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre “likely acting out the fantasies of a video game as he killed 20 first graders and six adults at the school.”

Are We Teaching Too Many Bible Stories?

Christina Embree

May 31, 2018

What’s your story?

If I were to ask you that, what comes to mind? For many of us, we begin to construct a short biography in our head. Where we come from, what our history is, how we got to where we are, what is happening in our life, what we think the future might hold. An overview of our life, an overarching narrative or succinct summation.

I doubt very much what you would share first would be the memory of your first bicycle ride or that time you fell out of your desk in middle school or the day you got promoted at your new job or when you got an A on your final exam. Those were all momentous occasions and probably formational in making you…you.

But those aren’t your story. Those stories are part of your story.

As I get to know you, I’d probably hear about all those other important moments. But if I were introducing you to another friend, I probably wouldn’t include any of them in my introduction.

So why do we do that with God?

We are masters at telling children stories about God but when it comes to telling God’s Story, we can fall short.

We love to tell them all kinds of wonderful Bible stories like David and Goliath, Noah and the Ark, Jonah and the Whale and Jesus and the 5,000. These stories make up the bulk of our Christian children’s books and Sunday school curriculum. It’s not unusual for children’s ministers to ask, “What are the key stories children need to know before they move into youth group? And how can I tell them in new, exciting ways?”

And those stories are PART of His story.

Important parts. Formational parts. Necessary parts.

But those stories get their meaning, find their place, and add the most value when they are told in the context of The Story, what theologian N.T. Wright calls “the metanarrative of Scripture.”

In their book The Drama of Scripture: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story, Craig Bartholomew and Michael Goheen share that individual experiences make sense and acquire meaning within the context of some story we believe to be the true story of the world. We need a large background story to ground us because when “people don’t know the whole story…they get the parts wrong” (Dr. Catherine Stonehouse).

Everyone has a metanarrative.

For Christians, Scripture is the metanarrative.

The Story tells us WHO God is. It tells us our place in The Story. It takes the disjointed stories of Scripture and weaves them into a beautiful seamless tale of perfect love created, thwarted, rescued and realized. It is God’s story as Creator, Father, Savior, Son, Friend and Spirit.

To tell the stories apart from The Story can leave us with moments rather than perspective. These powerful moments are essential to rounding out The Story and helping us know God better, but without the context of The Story, we can reduce God to a God of moments rather than the God of Eternity.

Written into each of the moments is the bigger story of God’s Love calling us back to a perfect love relationship with him. Even the moments we don’t write into curriculum like David and Bathsheba, Ananias and Sapphira, and Jacob and Tamar, we can see a bigger picture of sin, redemption and God’s unchanging nature of love and justice.

In context, the stories matter because they are more than moments; they are parts of a greater whole.

Recently a friend of mine shared with me that her grandfather, 85 years old, had begun to question his faith. After a stroke had left him in a place of needing care from others, he had time to really critically think about what he had heard in church his whole life. As she visited with him, he explained his frustration over the disjointed and seemingly discontinuous nature of the Bible stories he’d heard over and over again and how they had no relevance to his life.

One day it dawned on her; even though he’d been in church his whole life, he’d never heard The Story. So one afternoon she and her sister sat down with him and for the very first time, her grandfather heard The Story of God’s perfect creation, our separation because of sin, the reconciliation of the cross, and the invitation to us to join The Story for all eternity.

It changed everything for this 85-year-old man. For the first time, he understood the context. He saw what joined it all together.

He heard The Story of God…and it changed everything.

I believe it can…no, it will…do that for all of us too!

There are some really great resources out there that share some of the familiar Bible Stories in the context of The Story.

One of my favorites for younger kids is The Jesus Storybook Bible.
For older elementary kids, The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis is a great way to tell The Story in the form of an analogy.
For older teens and young adults, The Circle Trilogy (Black, Red and White) by Ted Dekker also tells The Story also in analogy.
If you want to tell The Story in the context of Easter or Christmas, here are two versions that use four simple symbols to bring the metanarrative to life.

This article originally appeared here.

Church Growth Is OK, But Church Health Is What Matters

Rick Warren

May 31, 2018

The New Testament says a lot about the church health. Consider just a few verses:

“As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing.” – Eph. 4:16b (NLT)

“The focus of my letter wasn’t on punishing the offender but on getting you to take responsibility for the health of the church.” – 2 Cor. 2:9 (Message)

“You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other.” – James 3:18 (Message)

Church health is the key to church growth. All living things grow if they’re healthy. You don’t have to make them grow—it’s just natural for living organisms. As a parent, I didn’t have to force my three children to grow. They naturally grew up. As long as I removed the hindrances, such as poor nutrition or an unsafe environment, their growth was automatic.

If my children had not grown up, something would have been terribly wrong. I would have done whatever it took to discover the disease and correct it. I wouldn’t have remained passive, spouting clichés about faithfulness, or wanting “quality not quantity” in my children.

The same principle is true for the church. Since the church is a living organism, it’s natural for it to grow if it’s healthy. The church is a Body, not a business—an organism, not an organization. It’s alive. If a church is not growing, it is dying.

What then is the secret of church health?

In a word, it’s balance!

Your body has nine different systems (circulatory, respiratory, digestive, skeletal, etc.). When these systems are all in balance, it produces health. But when your body gets out of balance, we call that “disease.” Likewise when the Body of Christ becomes unbalanced, disease occurs. Health and growth can only occur when everything is brought into balance.

The Importance of Balance for Church Health

Our entire world is based on this principle of balance. Our planet was perfectly balanced by God, at just the right angle on its axis to support life. It rotates at a speed that minimizes vibration. If this planet were just a little closer to the sun, we’d burn up and, if it were just a few miles further away from the sun, we’d freeze to death.

Nature is a collection of ecosystems that live in balance with each other. We now know that even the tiniest variation in the ecosystem creates a chain reaction. God has set up a food chain with plants and animals in balance.

Church Growth Has Become Too Complicated. 3 Simple Steps Any Pastor Can Take to Increase Attendance

Brian Dodd

May 31, 2018

At a graduation party yesterday, a friend of mine and I found a quiet corner table to talk. He told me the story of a recent meeting with a church leadership team. Even though he did not use these words, he discussed their lack of passion, energy and vision. The church, while in a rapidly growing area, had not experienced numerical growth in decades. It appeared the pastor was content with just getting in another 10 years and retiring. He then asked, “What would you tell them?”

Sadly, this is not an unusual situation. I encounter similar church environments on a daily basis. Without any sense of context, here is what I would say to such a church leadership team:

We have made church growth too complicated. Yes, it is important we have demographic studies, great systems, quality services, excellent children and youth ministries, diversity, inspired preaching, and community outreach. If some of these items seem out of reach for whatever reason, any pastor or church leadership team can take these 3 Simple Steps to Increase Attendance:

Growing Churches Are Led by Spiritually Growing Leaders – You can’t take people where you have not been. I ask church leadership teams, “How are you growing in your relationship with Jesus? Tell me about a fresh word you have gotten from Him recently. What are your quiet times like? Describe for me something God showed you in His Word in the last week. What have you been convicted about recently? Is there unrepentant sin in your life? Tell me about something breaking your heart which is also breaking the heart of God. What did you do with these new insights?” If a leader is growing spiritually, I then get to ask my final question in this area, “When is the last time you personally shared your faith with a lost person outside of your pulpit ministry?” Spiritually growing leaders are actively sharing their faith.
Growing Churches Are Led by Personally Growing Leaders – Your personal leadership growth is your responsibility. What books are you currently reading? What podcasts are you currently listening to? What conferences are you attending? What people are you meeting with? What blogs are you reading? What questions are you asking? Forrest Gump famously said, “Been there. Done that.” That is a cute Hollywood statement. It is a terrible leadership statement. Yes, growing leaders have been there and done that. But they are more focused on going there and doing that. Personally growing leaders focus on taking new ground by advancing the mission and vision of their churches.
Growing Church Are Led by Leaders Who Invite Unchurched Friends to Church – Once again, do not make this too complicated. Churches grow from an increased number of visitors. A person is most likely to visit your church when invited by a friend. I look at each person around the leadership table and ask, “When is the last time you brought an unchurched friend to church?” So goes the leader, so goes the church. When the leadership are inviting friends to church, the congregation will do likewise and your church will grow.

For a church to grow, it is important to have the systems and all the programmatic functions in place. If not, you will experience expansion and contraction.

But if you really want your church to grow, do not make it so difficult. Be a group of growing leaders, spiritually and personally, who invites their unchurched friends to church.

It is not that complicated.

This article originally appeared here.

8 Signs You’re Following the Way of the Dragon Rather Than the Way of the Lamb

J.D. Greear

May 31, 2018

So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
–1 Peter 5:1-4 ESV

Recently our staff team read through a challenging and prophetic book The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb. The authors, Jamin Goggin and Kyle Strobel, talk about a dangerous trend in churches like ours—a trend toward focusing less on the humility, weakness and servanthood of sacrifice, instead prioritizing the triumph, power and boasting of success. They say,

With the decreasing emphasis on the pastor-shepherd, we have seen the rise of the leader. … We are often looking more for a dragon than a lamb. These pastors are much like the shepherds in Ezekiel 34, who were fixated on feeding themselves and disinterested in actually feeding the flock. (pp. 146, 141)

In contrast to the self-interested shepherds of Ezekiel 14, Goggin and Strobel point to Peter’s epistle. The word Peter uses for those of us in ministry is partaker (1 Peter 5:1). As they write, “We are invited to partake in [Jesus’] way. We become shepherds who serve in hiddenness and are surprised when recognition comes. We become shepherds who are committed to being personal and present” (143).

The danger here, as the authors remind us, isn’t power itself. Jesus spoke and healed and lived with incredible power, and he invites us into that same life. But the way Jesus used power was diametrically opposed to the way we inherently use it. Jesus’ approach to power, the “way of the lamb,” uses power for love. It is power that doesn’t come from talent or visibility. It is a power, ironically, found in weakness through faith.

The more prominent Christian leaders fall, the more Goggin and Strobel’s warning seems incredibly timely. So I tried to distill their advice into “8 warning signs” that well-intentioned ministers may be leaving the way of the lamb and following the way of the dragon:

1. Jealousy Toward the Success of Others

Here’s Goggin and Strobel again: “I have seen my thirst for power driving my ministry. I have viewed other pastors as competition and the church as a means of self-glory. I have acted in ways that place me alongside the powermongers I so readily critiqued” (5).

I have seen this in my own life, and it’s never been pretty. Early in my ministry, I was praying for miraculous revival in Durham, where our church is. The Holy Spirit impressed upon me this thought: “What if I bring the revival you are asking for…but do it through another church?” I knew the right answer. I should have said, “Yes, Lord! You must increase and I must decrease!” But the impulsive answer that bubbled up from my heart was much less flattering.

2. Dissatisfaction in How Little You Have Accomplished

“Success,” Goggin and Strobel write, “is not determined by what I accomplish, but rather by my faithfulness—faithfulness to the One who called me and to his gracious invitation” (129). I am no longer a man in my 30s, but I remember the anxiety and comparison that filled that decade. Everyone else seemed to be accomplishing more, and I had nothing to show for my efforts.

Or so I was tempted to think. The more we find ourselves frustrated at our lack of “accomplishments,” the less we will compassionately focus on the ministry God has put right in front of us. Fruitfulness matters, but the only road there is through consistent faithfulness.

3. Resentment at Not Being Recognized

If we are partakers with Christ in his ministry, we should expect most of our service to be done in secret, often overlooked and rarely praised. The shepherd, after all, is more concerned with caring for his sheep than for his reputation among the other shepherds. If others praise you for your service, accept it with humility. But you can’t be in this for the recognition. You’ve got to be in this because you want to serve God and his people.

5 Steps to Restore Your Staff Team to Full Health

Dan Reiland

May 31, 2018

Is your staff team a healthy team?

How do you know?

It’s easier to know when a team is not healthy, especially if you look at the extremes.

The obvious symptoms are things like:

Gossip
Negativity
Silos
Complaining
Conflict
Unproductive

The outcome is that the team and organization do not function as they should.

But it’s not always that obvious because most teams are not in the red zone of extremes. There may be some isolated problems but not pervasive conditions.

Many teams are in fact healthy, but experiencing a temporary setback.

A good comparison is the human body. A healthy body will function as it should. All organs and systems are working together as designed.

However, a healthy team doesn’t mean a perfect team.

Your body can have a bad cold, flu or bacterial infection and still be perfectly healthy. You can have a cut or a pulled muscle and still be in good health. The condition temporarily affects how you function, but you are still healthy.

Your healthy body goes to work to restore the condition.

If you ignore the health condition, it can get worse. If multiple issues arise, what was a simple cold or flu can become a complicated health risk, and your body may function poorly.

Your staff team is very similar. A healthy staff can handle difficulties, recognize problems and solve them. It has built-in systems to restore the condition back to health.

It’s possible to get overloaded if too many things happen all in the same season, but you can still regain maximum health, (functionality), it just takes longer.

Symptoms of health look like this:

Trust
Honesty
Alignment
Joy
Commitment
Results

What is the state of your team’s health? Excellent? Good? Average? Poor?

Whatever the condition, this process will help you gain full health as a team.

5 Steps to Restore Health:

1) Don’t ignore the current condition.

If you have high blood pressure, it’s not smart to ignore it. Right? The same is true for your staff.

Get honest about whatever condition might be present in your staff team. From performance to attitude, always deal with reality. If a ministry isn’t working, expectations are unclear, trust is low, etc., get it on the table.

Don’t gossip in the hallways. Do what you can personally, and if you can’t solve it alone, get it to the table that can make a difference.

2) Play hurt.

It’s nearly impossible to run consistently for more than 30 years and not have some minor injuries, but I just keep going.

More than 20 years ago, I was inspired by a friend in San Diego who had severe shin splints but kept running anyway. Jan would ice them down and keep going. It was painful, but she pressed on. I asked her why and she said, “Until I simply can’t run, quitting is not an option.” I’ve never quit since.

Sometimes your team is hurting. Keep leading. It’s not a good practice to shut things down and focus so entirely inward that you can’t keep building. You build new leadership muscle when you press through.

Make another phone call, invite another guest, pray again tomorrow, but keep going.

3) Shift leadership energy and stick together.

A friend of mine asked for advice about a situation on his staff that really rattled the whole team.

One of their staff fell into significant ethical and moral misconduct. The repercussions shook up the team and part of the congregation.

It caused doubt, mistrust, some people took sides, and a few left the church. The staff was definitely off their game and results began to wane.

I’ve been around too many churches that shoot their wounded, and leave others to pick up the pieces themselves. That never helps.

Healthy teams stick together. They do make the necessary tough decisions, but with as much grace as possible. Other leaders on the team will need to shift some of their time to step in and help with the ministry that is now suffering.

In this story the staff member had to be released from the team, in other situations, restoration is possible.

In all cases, talk openly with the staff. Treat them like adults; they know what’s going on. Talk about it and process it appropriately. Stick together.

Top 5 Most Misused Bible Verses

Brian Orme

May 31, 2018

The Bible is a sharp, double-edged sword—able to pierce the heart. However, when Bible verses are applied in the wrong context, it’s like trying to fight with the butt of the weapon instead of the blade. Misused Bible verses are just not effective.

Over my years in ministry and as an ongoing student of the Bible, I’ve come across many biblical misquotes, misunderstandings and flat-out misuses.

However, if I’m honest, many of these have come from my own lips. I confess: I’ve been guilty of abusing passages, ignoring context and, even at times, stretching the meaning for my own teaching needs, but I’m seeking to reform my loose ways in favor of something much more beneficial—the original interpretation.

Top Misused Bible Verses

Here are the top five misused Bible verses, in my opinion, that get misapplied in the church today—with a brief description of the original context.

I invite you to comment on each one or to provide additional passages you think should appear in the top five. Also, just to be clear, I don’t think referencing these passages in a slightly different context is a biblical felony—if it was, I’d probably be doing hard time—but it’s always good to know the heart of the original meaning.

Misused Bible Verse #1. I Can Do All Things

I can do all this through him who gives me strength. — Philippians 4:13 (NIV)

The first of our misused Bible verses is often quoted by sports teams, bumper stickers and taglines as a rally cry to accomplish great things like running a marathon, climbing a mountain, winning the championship, finishing the remodel on the kitchen, etc.

However, this short—and powerful—passage gets its meaning amidst the context of contentment. Paul is writing this letter to the church in Philippi to let them know that God has taught him to be content in times of plenty and in times of desperation (he’s writing this letter in prison).

So, in its proper meaning, this verse is a tribute to a man who learned to follow God in any circumstance. Whatever came Paul’s way, he handled with faith. It could be stoning, prison, shipwreck, beatings, etc. This passage is not a clarion call to go out and accomplish great feats of strength, but a beautiful reminder to pursue faith and trust God in the midst of the ups and downs of a life given fully to the cause of Christ.

So, if you get put in prison for preaching Christ, beaten, and learn to live with little food or possessions, and you find yourself content because you have Christ, well, this verse should definitely be quoted.

Misused Bible Verse #2. Plans to Prosper

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” — Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

The second of our misused Bible verses is often quoted during a trial to encourage or inspire—pointing us to the promise that God has specific plans to help us prosper so don’t worry!

20 Bible Verses That Will Make You Appreciate the Significance of Family

Bob Ditmer

May 31, 2018

God places a great deal of importance on the family. After all, it was his first institution by way of Adam and Eve. That’s why there are so many Bible verses about family.

God’s intent for the family was to provide a safe, nurturing, transformative environment for each of us. In God’s plan, within the circle of family we are cared for, loved and protected. It is a group of connected people growing, loving, and building together, encouraging each other’s highest potential.

From the first book of the Bible we learn that families are close to God’s heart. Answers in Genesis tells us “From the beginning, when God created man, He said, “It is not good for man to be alone,” so He created woman as a “help-meet, suitable for him”. Then, He blessed them and told them, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth”. Even after they fell into sin, God continued with His plan for families, and even spoke prophetically of the salvation that would come through the seed of the woman.

But it’s not just in those first few three chapters of Genesis where we find Bible verses about family– they are sprinkled throughout scripture. They tell us about all kinds of family situations including love, difficult relationships, values, children, death, and more. God created humans to live as a family unit.

Here are 20+ Bible verses about family

“Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” 1 Timothy 5:8

“He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.” Acts 10:2

“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” 2 Colossians 3:13

“Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4

“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12

“Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” Proverbs 22:6

“But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15

“My son, keep your father’s command and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.” Proverbs 6:20

“Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him. 4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. 5 Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.” Psalm 127:3-5

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

“For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’” Matthew 15:4

“A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish man despises his mother.” Proverbs 15:20

“Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.” Proverbs 1:8

UPDATE: Paige Patterson Fired and Stripped of Benefits

Bob Ditmer

May 31, 2018

Update June 5, 2018

This morning, Baptist Press published an article with a statement released by Paige Patterson’s personal attorney, Shelby Sharpe. In Sharpe’s lengthy statement, Sharpe outlines how the information relating to Patterson has been mishandled. His aim with the statement is “to straighten out erroneous statements that are in” a June 1 statement released by Southwestern trustee chair Kevin Ueckert (the summary of which you can read below). Sharpe indicates a request has been sent to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary to pursue a path of reconciliation between that organization and Patterson via Peacemakers Ministries.

In response, SEBTS has also released a statement indicating they have not yet received a request from Peacemakers Ministries and that their internal review of the allegations relating to Patterson while on their staff “is not complete because SEBTS is not in possession of documents deemed as being owned by the seminary.”

Update June 4, 2018

The Chairman of the Board of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) has issued an additional statement following social media reports of an incident at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) that led to the dismissal of Dr. Paige Patterson as president of SWBTS.

Kevin Ueckert wrote, “We confirmed this week through a student record, made available to me with permission, that an allegation of rape was indeed made by a female student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2003. This information contradicts a statement previously provided by Dr. Patterson in response to a direct question by a Board member regarding the incident referenced in our May 30 statement. The 2003 rape allegation was never reported to local law enforcement. SWBTS will not release the student record to the public without additional appropriate permissions.”

“In addition, as previously disclosed, a female student at SWBTS reported to Dr. Patterson that she had been raped in 2015. Police were notified of that report. But in connection with that allegation of rape, Dr. Patterson sent an email (the contents of which were shared with the Board on May 22) to the Chief of Campus Security in which Dr. Patterson discussed meeting with the student alone so that he could “break her down” and that he preferred no officials be present. The attitude expressed by Dr. Patterson in that email is antithetical to the core values of our faith and to SWBTS. Moreover, the correlation between what has been reported and also revealed in the student record regarding the 2003 allegation at Southeastern and the contents of this email are undeniable.”

The saga of Paige Patterson and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has taken another turn—perhaps its last.

Patterson has been terminated “effective immediately,” according to a statement released Wednesday evening by the school.

In addition to losing his status as “president emeritus” at SWBTS, the board’s executive committee also stripped Patterson of all “benefits, rights and privileges.” Those privileges included a house on campus that is under construction and the title of theologian-in-residence with compensation. The position and benefits were granted to Patterson just a week ago.

The decision, according to the statement, was based on “new information confirmed this morning…regarding the handling of an allegation of sexual abuse against a student during Dr. Paige Patterson’s presidency at another institution and resulting issues connected with statements to the Board of Trustees that are inconsistent with SWBTS’s biblically informed core values.”

The “other” school was Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. Patterson was its president from 1992 to 2003.

Last Tuesday, a former SEBTS graduate student told The Washington Post that after she reported to Patterson and fellow seminary officials in 2003 that she had been raped on campus, they failed to notify authorities and the former president encouraged her to forgive the perpetrator. Patterson did not respond to the claims, but SEBTS launched an internal review of its own.

Patterson has been under fire for weeks, including calls for his dismissal, over his past counsel and statements regarding women, abuse and divorce.

The announcement was followed by tweets from a host of Southern Baptist officials.

Today I will pray for @swbts, their trustees, faculty, staff & students. I will pray for @_PPatterson_ & @_DKPatterson_ . I will ask God to flood all with grace, mercy & wisdom. I will ask Him to work all things together for good. That is what I will do.

— Daniel Akin (@DannyAkin) May 31, 2018

Had some good friends who kept me from tweeting some things tonight. They don’t want to be named, but they know who they are… and they were right.

— Ed Stetzer (@edstetzer) May 31, 2018

The statement from the Executive Committee said it took the action without a vote in a regular meeting of the board because “the information demanded immediate action.”

Take Off Your Mask

Adam Weber

May 30, 2018

My kids love to dress up and wear costumes and masks. Halloween is one of their favorite holidays for this exact reason. Yet even after the trick-or-treating is over, they still like to run around in their masks, sometimes refusing to leave behind being Darth Vader or a Nascar Driver for months on end.

Pretending to be someone they’re not is fun for my kids, but even as adults we do a very similar thing, don’t we? As adults, we often put on “masks” trying to be someone different. Unlike our kids though, it’s not a good thing!

Have you ever felt like you’re wearing a mask?
Like you’re putting up a front?
Ever felt like you’re trying to make yourself look better than the person that you really are?

I’ve been there. I think we all have.

But I’ve just got to ask, why do we do this? Why do we wear masks?

The answer is probably different for each of us. I know for some the answer is pride. We want everyone to see how great we are, and by wearing a mask we can look even better.

Just look at how religious I am!
How spiritual.
How successful.
How perfect I am, we think to ourselves.

While for others of us, we wear masks for the complete opposite reason: We wear a mask to hide our insecurity, to cover up our past mistakes, because we feel so imperfect.

If my friends saw me, or my coworkers, or people in the church, for who I really am…
If people only knew about my mistakes, my brokeness, my sin, there’s no way that they would like me.
There’s no way that they would accept me.
Want me.
Love me.

And so we wear a mask in an attempt to hide.

…

And so that’s why we wear masks, but I also think it’s good to talk about who we hide from.

The obvious answer is other people.
Friends.
Neighbors.
People in church.

But more often than not, the person we hide from the most is God. We hide from Him because we’re ashamed, because we feel unlovable, like we’re not good enough for Him.

Now here’s the hard truth: A mask might be a place that we can hide in, but it’s also a place that we can die in.

I mean, trying to be someone we’re not is exhausting, right? Constantly trying to impress others and be fake. It’s exhausting…and it’s also a dark and lonely place to be, a place where Satan can mess with us.

On the outside your mask, it might say that you’re perfect, while the backside says you’re struggling with addiction.
The front might say that you’re happy while the back says you’re broken.
You might look really tough, but on the inside you’re scared and live out of fear.
On the outside you might portray that you’re so religious and godly, but the truth is you haven’t felt God in a long time.
Maybe your mask says perfect mom, while you secretly feel like you have no purpose.
On the outside, it might look like your house, marriage or career is so awesome, but on the inside you’re lonely, hurting and you feel completely lost.

What does your mask say? What are you trying to hide behind?

We all wear masks for different reasons, we all have different things we hide from others, from ourselves, from God, but today I want to challenge you to take that mask off.

Take it off and give it to a God who loves the real you, not the person you’re pretending to be.

Take off your mask.

This article originally appeared here.

The Power of Love Is Needed in the American Church Right Now

Ronnie Floyd

May 30, 2018

This past Saturday, the world watched Britain’s Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, an American actress, unite in marriage in their captivating royal wedding.

Michael Bruce Curry, an Episcopalian Bishop from the United States, delivered the message at the wedding. He quoted the powerful words of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who once said, “We must discover the power of love, the redemptive power of love. And when we discover that, we will be able to make of this old world a new world. Love is the only way.”

On This Side of the Pond

While the royal wedding was happening, on this side of the pond, our hearts were breaking from another evil shooting in one of America’s schools, resulting in 10 people killed and an additional 10 wounded. This time, the shooting occurred on Friday, May 18, in the Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas.

From South Florida to Southeast Texas, this evil knows no boundaries.

What is the answer?

Love Can Help and Heal When Nothing Else Can

As Bishop Curry stated in the royal wedding on Saturday, “There’s power in love. Do not underestimate it.” After quoting from I John 4, reminding everyone to love one another, he later spoke these powerful words, “Love can help and heal when nothing else can.”

It is love like this that will not just hold a marriage together, but it is love like this that has the power to mend over time the broken hearts and lives from the devastation of a school shooting.

While the World Is Breaking, the Church in America Needs to Rise Together in This Kind of Love

Since the power of God’s love can help and heal the brokenhearted, the church in America needs to become so immersed in this love, individually and collectively, that we rise to offer this kind of love in the world today.

The church in America is facing challenges at every level. At times social media amplifies them before the world. I fully realize these challenges cannot be ignored or minimized. I have never been timid or fearful in dealing with any of them, and I certainly am not now.

Yet, there is a right way to deal with these problems, and it is through the power of love.

The power of love has seen us through problems before and the power of love will see us through again.

Love leads to unity, not division. Love keeps everyone in mind, not just ourselves. Love respects and honors all people.

While this world is breaking before our eyes and making promises it cannot keep, the entire church in America needs to rise together in love in order to give this world the only thing we can give them that will last forever…the love of Jesus Christ.

When we present this love, it must be real within us individually, but it also must be experienced between us as a family dynamically. This kind of love changes everything.

Let Love Be Our Way Forward

Our world cannot afford for us to be sidelined because of our attitudes. Our world needs us, but more than us, it needs the gospel of Jesus Christ that we are called to advance to every corner of this universe.

Therefore, let love be your way forward. Never let anyone outside of your circle of love.

As Christ followers, we do not just believe in the sanctity of human life, but also in the dignity of human life; that is treating each other in the right way while we are on this earth.

Jesus prayed for us to be one, “so that the world may believe you sent me” (John 17:21).

Therefore, let love be our way forward. Through our issues and through our problems, let love prevail through them all.

God’s way is the always the right way. God’s way is always through love.

Regardless of differences, love is still the way forward. We do need to rediscover the way of love, the redemptive power of love. Let love be our way forward.

This article originally appeared here.

How to Disagree About Theology Without Kicking Each Other Out of the Church

Bonnie Kristian

May 30, 2018

We need to be very careful about how we use our Christian dogma.

Humans are tribal.

This is not a new insight. We’ve been splitting ourselves into groups based on any and every available characteristic for millennia.

In her important new work, Political Tribes, Yale’s Amy Chua writes:

We crave bonds and attachments which is why we love clubs, teams, fraternities, family.

But though this inbuilt tribalism pushes us toward positive engagement and creation of community, it has its dark side, too. Chua notes:

[T]he tribal instinct is not just an instinct to belong. It is also an instinct to exclude.

Danger of Christian Dogma

Christianity does not erase our tribalism. But it should transform it—recreate it into something useful in service to God and others. At its best, our tribal instinct can help motivate us to love our neighbors well, to put down roots and serve our communities in love.

Following Jesus, for we were all once “separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.” Yet now, we “who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

God in Jesus has brought reconciliation to those both near and far, killing our hostility and “creat[ing] in himself one new humanity.”

Should We Alert the Heresy Police?

Yet our tribal instinct is not always at its best. Even inside the church, it is often at its worst.

Instead of seeing ourselves as one body of Christ—varying in theology, culture and giftings, but united by our focus on Jesus—we default to that instinct to divide and exclude.

We like to police the margins, and we can all too easily escalate any disagreement into a declaration of heresy.

3 Leadership Lessons the SBC Can Learn From Starbucks, Roseanne and ABC

Aaron Coalson

May 30, 2018

The gauntlet dropped yesterday, and it dropped hard. When Roseanne Barr tweeted on Tuesday an incendiary and racist tweet, it took ABC execs merely hours to resolve how to handle the situation. Their solution was swift, albeit costly. The hit show will end this year’s TV season as the #3 show of the season, raking in over 45 million dollars in ad revenue for ABC, yet the network took the high road and decided that any star who compares African-American women to apes was no star of theirs. ABC not only condemned the comments, but moved quickly to cancel the hit show, sending a statement to the entertainment world: The era of words without consequences is unilaterally, over.

This then brings us to Starbucks. At the exact same time Roseanne was canceled, Starbucks made a pivotal, historic and costly move—to close their stores for eight hours, while every employee nationwide walks through racial bias training. This move cost the company over seven million dollars to close down over 8,000 stores, yet Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz says, “This is probably one of the most important transformational moments in the history of our company, and we’ve taken it very seriously,”

I write and reflect on this this as a pastor within the SBC who is committed to seeing a way forward for our convention that has a severely checkered past, riddled with racism and white supremacy, yet stands currently at this moment as the largest mission sending agency in history. I’m committed as a pastor to our local church, and I’m committed to seeing our convention get this moment right, as we grapple with our own #MeToo moment. As one of our leaders, Al Mohler, writes: Judgment has now come to the house of the Southern Baptist Convention. How we choose to handle our own inevitable crises due to the depravity of all human nature will chart the trajectory of our future and influence in our culture. So what leadership lessons can our evangelical culture, and more specifically our own Southern Baptist Convention, glean from these cultural moments?

3 Leadership Lessons for the SBC:

1. Words have consequences and leaders must use them as tools for healing.

In his powerful book The Weight of Glory, Lewis writes this:

It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbor. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor’s glory should be laid on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all out dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.

This means that when an SBC leader is on video making unwise, unbiblical, hurtful, dangerous and misogynist statements about women, we need to remember that as leaders, we are men and women of reconciliation. We are created in God’s image, so human flourishing is a distinctly Christian concept, and to dismiss derogatory statements against gender, racial or sexual minorities, we’re ranking humanity on a scale of who is and who isn’t worthy of flourishing. This is opposing the work of restoration the Father is about in our world. As Lewis writes: All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations…you have never talked to a mere mortal. Every day, every word, every interaction is helping those in our spheres of influence move toward redemption or destruction. We must never take our words lightly, particularly in this digital age.

2. Christian leaders should be more aggressive in justice and human flourishing than the unbelieving world.

Doing what is right is always costly, but we should be willing to pay the cost. Canceling a hit show, closing 8,000 stores, making public statements, investing in millions of dollars to retrain—these decisions are costly. However, in all areas of leadership, the upfront cost pales in comparison to the long term loss of ignoring systemic issues. Christian leaders should not shy away from making bold, swift statements due to initial short term fallout, whether that cost is financial or the loss of internal public opinion. As Christian leaders, we also must be more intentional, decisive and affirming of speaking out against anything that tears at the fabric of our whole-life/pro-life ethic of human flourishing. Standing firm on a “womb to tomb” theology, we must never allow men or women, old guard or new, to speak or act disparagingly against another image-bearer. It is in our swift defense and action that our culture will begin to believe us when we discuss pro-life issues. Being pro-life regarding the unborn, but dismissive about women or minorities, rips at the fabric of our argument, leaving us sounding like hollow hypocrites, an emperor with no clothes. We must fight for all human flourishing at a pace that sets the standard for culture, not the other way around.

J.D. Greear: Judgment Begins at the House of the Lord/SBC

Megan Briggs

May 30, 2018

Just a couple short weeks before the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting, one of their most visible and influential leaders, J.D. Greear, posted a video commenting on all the turmoil the SBC has faced lately. Greear points to what he believes is the Lord’s attempt to correct and purify the convention and outlines the things the convention must do to move forward. In particular, Greear believes the convention needs a cultural course correction from tolerating sins such as abuse, inequality, disunity and immorality in its midst.

“God brought a day of reckoning to us,” Greear says soberly at the beginning of his Facebook Live video. Greear, who is running for the office of SBC president this year, says the current president, Steve Gaines, has asked all the leaders to be in prayer leading up to the annual meeting.

“A dizzying amount of revelations have come forward that reveal a deep problem in the heart of our leadership and the heart of our convention,” Greear offers as an explanation for the call to prayer.

Greear has a theory about why all the “revelations” have come up now, and so publicly with int he SBC. He believes God’s judgment is starting exactly where the Bible told us it would start: at the house of the Lord. “Whom the Lord loves he chastens…but it is fearful and it is sobering,” Greear says.

“Our doctrine and our mission are solid…but I think we need a new culture and a new posture in the Southern Baptist Convention,” he says. “There are things in our culture that grieve the Holy Spirit” and the convention must work to change them, Greear believes.

He then outlines these “cultural” things the convention needs to re-commit itself to in order to thrive in the future.

The 8 Things J.D. Greear Is Asking the SBC to Recommit To

On equipping women: A complementarianism that “recognizes the gifts that God gives to women of the church and seeks to empower them, that honors our sisters in Christ as equal in salvation, equal in value and equal in spiritual giftings.” While Greear makes it clear he believes God has given men and women different roles in the home and in the church, his point is we need to be equipping and leading women to develop their gifts “as much as we do our sons.”

On racial diversity: A representation of people of color in the “highest levels of our leadership in a way that’s proportionate to their presence in our convention and in our community.” Additionally, the failure of the SBC in the past to include women and racial minorities in the top levels of its leadership has hindered “our ability to see sin and injustice and call it out.”

A people committed to protecting the vulnerable and exposing the abuser. “We have to make it absolutely clear that we are a place that realizes that God hates abuse.”

A culture that insists on transparency in leadership. Greear says plainly the convention must refuse to turn a blind eye to abuses of power and that more transparency is required when big decisions are made for the convention.

On those seeking to cause division: Mark those in our convention of a divisive spirit who seek to create division over secondary and tertiary things and keep away from them. Greear cites Romans 16:7 as the instructing Scripture in this situation. Whether we agree with them or not over these secondary and tertiary things, Greear says there are some in the convention who have elevated these things as primary to the exclusion of others. Agreeing on the Gospel, the mission of the SBC, and the Baptist Faith and Message should be primary things, Greear says, everything else is secondary or tertiary.

Refuse to tolerate those who slander others.

Speak the truth about one another in love. Greear says it’s important to call things out in one another and speak the truth about one another, but it must be done in love and absent of a divisive spirit.

Supreme Court Ignores Planned Parenthood’s Outrage in Arkansas

Bob Ditmer

May 30, 2018

The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for an Arkansas law that blocks medication-induced abortions to go into effect.

The law, originally passed in 2015, says that any physician who “gives, sells, dispenses, administers, or otherwise provides or prescribes the abortion-inducing drug” must have a contract with a physician who has admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.

The order, issued without comment, would allow the law to take effect in mid-July if no other legal action is taken.

Planned Parenthood sued the state of Arkansas after the law after was passed, arguing it placed an undue burden on a woman’s right to have an abortion.

A federal district court in Arkansas issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Arkansas law from taking effect. In her ruling, Judge Kristine Baker said the Arkansas law was a “solution in search of a problem.”

But a three-judge panel on the 8th Circuit vacated the district court’s injunction, saying the lower court did not make “factual findings” estimating how many women would be impacted by the law. Planned Parenthood appealed that decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a statement, the abortion provider said it would “move swiftly for emergency relief in the district court” but is telling patients they can no longer access medication abortions at its clinics in the state.

“Arkansas is now shamefully responsible for being the first state to ban medication abortion,” Dawn Laguens, Planned Parenthood executive vice president, said in a statement. “This dangerous law also immediately ends access to safe, legal abortion at all but one health center in the state. If that’s not an undue burden, what is? This law cannot and must not stand. We will not stop fighting for every person’s right to access safe, legal abortion.”

Arkansas officials and pro-life groups disagree.

Jerry Cox, president of the Arkansas-based Family Council welcomed the action, “This is very good news for people who care about the safety of women in Arkansas. It’s not too much to require an abortion doctor to have a contract that allows him or her to have their emergency patients to be admitted to a local hospital. Women who are bleeding from a botched abortion shouldn’t have to drive to the emergency room and admit themselves into the hospital. They deserve better treatment and this law does that.”

According to the pro-life group Operation Rescue, an ambulance has been called to the Arkansas Pregnancy Resource Center in West Little Rock three times this year alone. It is the only surgical abortion clinic in Arkansas.

Lawyers for Arkansas say the law is a “commonsense requirement” that “merely requires medication abortion providers to have a contractual relationship (to ensure follow-up treatment if needed) with a physician that has admitting privileges.”

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge also celebrated the ruling. “Protecting the health and well-being of women and the unborn will always be a priority,” she said in a statement. “We are a pro-life state and always will be as long as I am attorney general.”

Kristen Padilla: Discerning Your Call

Jason Daye

May 30, 2018

Kristen Padilla is an author, speaker, wife, and mom located in Birmingham, Alabama. In 2008 she received a Master of Divinity degree from Beeson Divinity School of Samford University in Birmingham, and has been involved in mentoring young women called to ministry, speaking on the topic of calling at retreats, writing Bible studies, and teaching Scripture at women’s events.

Key Questions for Kristen Padilla

– What is does it mean to be called into ministry?
– What are the different types of calling?
– Does the Bible restrict women in ministry?

[SUBSCRIBE] For more ChurchLeaders podcasts click here!

Key Quotes from Kristen Padilla:

“We are all called to ministry…ambassadors for the gospel. But he calls some…to equip the saints for the work of ministry.”

“God is the one who calls us. It’s not a calling that is within us.”

“There is a sense in scripture that you are not a good shepherd if you are not feeding the flock.”

“My call to ministry was like being in a dark room with my hands outstretched searching for the light switch.”

“For women called to ministry there’s not a clear path…My church did not know what to say to me. They said I either had to be the next Beth Moore or marry a pastor.”

“The call is a journey. It’s not going to flourish or be all that it is meant to be at once.”

“I went through a period of ten years not in full time vocational ministry and asking “God, did I mis-hear you?” Only by looking retrospectively I see that God was working all along.”

“God put women in my path who had similar experiences who were asking the same questions.”

“God was engaging women in ministerial roles…where it would be surprising to find a woman.”

“Whatever tradition you’re in, there is ministry space for women.”

Links Mentioned by Kristen Padilla in the Show:

Now that I’m Called

https://www.kristenrpadilla.com/

7 Common Traits of the Best Leaders I Ever Followed

Ron Edmondson

May 29, 2018

I’ve been a wisdom-seeker all my life. Thankfully, I have had some great leadership influencers in my life and I have sought to learn from each of them.

Beginning with my high school principal when I was student body president. He taught me to take responsibility for my actions, but not to trip over my own humility. And a man in retail, who took interest in me in college. I was technically his “boss,” but he was every bit the leader to this young, inexperienced, first-term manager. He taught me I cannot lead alone. I may be the leader, but there is no leader without people.

I’ve been blessed with good role models. And, I have had some leaders who were not so good. Such as the guy who threw my sales book at me across the room.
Looking back, though, the best leaders I ever had shared some common traits. There were things that set them apart from other leaders, helped them be successful, and caused me to take notice in them.

7 Common Traits of the Best Leaders I Ever Followed

Had a character worthy of following. They were the same people on the job as they were off the job. They kept their word, but didn’t over-commit themselves to things they couldn’t do. I trusted their word, mostly because their actions backed up what they said. They loved their families and other people—including me.

Believed in me more than I believed in myself. They told me I had what it takes. They encouraged me to pick my head up after a mistake. They gave me courage to succeed. They encouraged my dreams, but they equally provided me a sense of reality.

Available to me when I needed them. They didn’t micromanage me. I was free to make decisions on my own, but they were there when I had a question, needed some advice, or they sensed I could use a word of encouragement.

Challenged me to be better than I thought I could be. Some of the leaders who inspired me the most always asked me good, often hard, questions. They didn’t let me give up easily. They kept me pressing forward even when I was ready to quit.

Skillful and competent, but not arrogant or self-serving. The leaders who impacted me most were humble, but capable. They often knew more than they allowed me to see at first. They wanted me to learn on my own, so they didn’t give me all the answers up front. I had to be with them long enough to realize just how wise they were. They continued to learn personally. I have always been encouraged to see someone I felt was so wise still learning from others—even from people younger and less experienced. Teachable leaders are easy to follow.

Visionary and challenged mediocrity. The leaders who inspired me most saw the future as brighter than today, if, as a team, we were willing to challenge our current paradigms. They weren’t content with settling for second best if first place was in our grasp. They didn’t label everything amazing. They were celebratory of each achievement, but they pushed the team (and me) toward continual improvement.

Lived for a legacy not immediate recognition. Leaders who have inspired me most weren’t looking for the attention of success. They were investing in the lives of other people. Sometimes they had to be gone as the leader before you knew just how valuable they were. They didn’t place their name on everything. They didn’t have to have all the ideas or be the center of the celebration. They weren’t afraid for others to succeed even above their own accomplishments. They acknowledged—and encouraged—the contributions of others on the team.

This article originally appeared here.

A Pastor’s Sabbath: What to Do When Sabbath Is Sporadic

Josh Weidmann

May 29, 2018

“You need to take some time off soon,” Donna said. She runs our HR department at the church.

“I know. I am not good at taking time off. I have never been,” I retorted.

Taking time off is not something that I despise. I love downtime. I don’t look for work just to stay busy, avoid homelife or to “escape” reality by feeling accomplishment. In fact, I have often said, I am not a workaholic—I just have a job that demands me to work all the time. And while the role of pastor never seems to end, it can be controlled and doesn’t have to take over our every-waking-moment. Being a pastor is what we do but it doesn’t also have to be who we are.

We have a family.
We have hobbies.
We like to read things that are not commentaries.
We like to hang out and laugh.
We need sleep.
We like really good food.
Pastors are real people too.

Maybe you have been where I often find myself—the email never stops, the requests for meetings could take you months to fulfill, there is always a sermon to write, a counseling session to prep and a person to call (among other things). In this role, there are always many people asking for our time and they are unaware of the other many people that are also asking for our time. So how are we to find rest in a world of demands that never seems to end?

3 Ways to Find Rest in a Busy World

First off, we have to remember the command is to “Watch over ourselves first”—and THEN the flock of God of which we have been given responsibility (Acts 20:28). If we are not healthy physically, spiritually and emotionally, then we will not be able to help people gain health either. God was clear through Paul—take care of yourself first. I can be terrible at caring for myself first because I would gladly give over and over, denying my own physical, spiritual or emotional needs, just to serve others. I don’t do this to get a prize or the accolades of men. I just love and live for people. But I have been reminded that if I am not caring for myself first, I will have nothing good to give to anyone else. Tim Keller said it well—“Leadership is stewardship.” That starts with stewarding ourselves and then stewarding the calling to serve others.

Second, taking time to care for ourselves helps us regain perspective on the work of God in us and through us. The reason that rest and the Sabbath was originally created was to enjoy the results of our work. Exodus 20:9-10 says, “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.” As pastors, we miss the power of what is said here. There is one day when we sit back and regain perspective of who God is and who we are. Working non-stop may cause our hearts to believe that we are God and He is not. We do our work for God, but we do the work with and by God’s gracious power in our life.

Third, be realistic about what is needed for you to get rest and regain perspective. I believe that we all have different “Responsibility to Rest” ratios. Some people are 1 for 1—they need equal amounts of work and downtime to feel healthy. Others are 1 to 2 or 1 to 10. You can look around your life and see, we all are made different with various capacity levels. That does not mean that a person is better because their capacity for responsibility or work is greater than the others. Nor is a person who has a higher working capacity to be judged for not resting enough. We are all different. So whatever your work capacity is, you need to be realistic about it and strive to rest at a level that will keep you healthy. I would even say that you should pray and ask the Lord to reveal to you what the right “responsibility to rest ratio” is for you. I would guess this won’t take a lot of thinking to figure out.

4 Questions to Consider

Once you know what kind of rest you need, I encourage you to consider the following:

1. When will you rest on a weekly basis?
2. What are some rhythms of rest you would like to maintain monthly and quarterly?
3. Is your rest more about contemplation, relaxation or aesthetics? Do you need to sit in a coffee shop or be hiking a mountain?
4. What part of your “Rest” is with family and/or friends and what part is alone?

Resting for me doesn’t always come on the same day each week. For the most part, I take Saturday off as my “rest” day. But the truth is, it is very full of family stuff, house stuff and usually an hour or two of sermon rehearsing. Therefore, I take about a day a month to just “unplug” in addition to that Saturday. This is a day that I lay in the grass at the park while the kids play; work in my basement; or go write, walk and pray. Then about once every two or three months I take an entire week to say at a cabin across town and write. I still go home in the evenings, but I don’t go to the office for a week just to break the norm. This is still a “work week” for me (I usually get the most work done that week) but it is extremely restful and refueling for my soul.

Balancing Rest and Responsibility

If you are a pastor, you know, our “sabbaths” are not like everyone else’s. On the weekends when others are getting refilled, we are getting poured out. So we must plan a specific time each week, month and quarter to get refueled. I’ve also learned that I have to let go of the pressure I feel from everyone wanting something from me all the time. I am always disappointing people and I’ve had to learn that comes with the job. I strive to love them endlessly, but that doesn’t mean I can please them continuously.

Finally, when it comes to balancing rest and responsibility, I have accepted that I live only to please God. He knows when I work, how hard I work, how long I work, and how intentional I work. I work only to please Him. On the flip side, He also knows if I am stopping to ‘give Him my rest’ as Exodus points out, so I live to please Him in the moments I can do nothing.

Failing to rest is failing to lead myself well, and this will result in failing the people God’s entrusted to me. I am in this calling for the long-haul. I will strive to keep my priorities, peace and control while pouring my life out for the Lord and the joy of His people.

This article originally appeared here.

7 Things We Need to Understand About Training Volunteers

Greg Baird

May 29, 2018

As church leaders, one of our primary roles is to “equip volunteers to do the work of ministry). In fact, I would argue that this is our job description! To do this, however, it’s important that we understand some key elements of the training & equipping process. Here are a few that come to mind:

7 Things We Need to Understand About Training Volunteers:

1. Volunteers are typically not as passionate about ministry as we are.

And that’s OK! We live and breath ministry. It’s our job that we focus on all week long. In some sense, weekend services are “game day” for us.

Not so much for our volunteers. They work just as hard, are consumed just as much and invest as passionately all week long—in something else.

So being trained for children’s ministry is secondary to them. And that’s OK.

2. Volunteers are as busy as we are.

I’ve had the “it’s all about me” syndrome when it comes to having a busy schedule, and many ministry leaders I come across seem to have the same issue. We think we’re busier than anyone else. But we’re not. We might be busy, but so is everyone else. And—after 25 years in ministry—I can easily conclude that people are more busy than ever. And that’s not just with items on their calendar, but also things that consume their brain. Social and other forms of media take a mind-boggling amount of time to keep up with, and many people are completely consumed by them, making them feel that much more “busy.”

3. Volunteers will not accept training in the same way.

Not everyone will attend your annual training event. Not everyone will read the newsletter you send out. Not everyone will “like” your Children’s Ministry Facebook page. Not everyone will want to sit down at coffee with you and their team to chat about the class.

We’re all different and accept information differently. That’s why we need to have many different avenues to deliver training.

4. Volunteers will not participate in training the same way.

Confession: When I’m in a workshop and the trainer wants my table to play a silly game…I HATE it! I’m an introvert. I’ve learned to dive in and act the part, but I dread every second and can’t wait to sit back down and start filling in the blanks again. But I know that active learning is the best way to learn for most people. So I appreciate it when a trainer offer a variety of teaching methods within the same session.

When we’re doing training, our expectations of how people respond have to be realistic. That’s yet another reason why our ministries ought to be built on relationships. When we really know people, the way they respond won’t be as much of a surprise and, in fact, we’ll understand that maybe we are getting through even though they slipped out the back for that game portion of our training class.

5. Volunteers need a reason to engage with training.

Busy people who aren’t living and breathing ministry have a lot of other options for their Saturday morning. If they give up time to come to a training event and aren’t engaged…well, good luck getting them to come to another one. Even though I don’t like the interactive learning part as much as others might, I know it’s important and I dislike even more someone who is up there droning on in a boring and unengaging manner. We’ve got to find what works with our team when it comes to engaging them appropriately with the content we need them to learn.

6. Volunteers like food and free stuff.

I hesitated to add this to the list because, well, it kind of makes our volunteers seem shallow—but it’s true! Just like you and me, volunteers like to be fed and they like to be given stuff. The conclusion I’ve come to, however, is that it’s not really about the food. And it’s not really about the free stuff. It’s about our efforts to offer them something they enjoy and like. Plain and simple, people like to be pampered and appreciate it when someone in our role does that for them.

7. Volunteers want to be trained.

In spite of all the challenges to actually getting them trained, I’ve learned that the vast majority actually do want to be trained! No one wants to fail, and if they are giving their time and effort to ministry, they do want to do it right—and they need to be trained in order for that to happen. If this is true, then make your training:

Easy to access (offer it through multiple avenues)

To the point—no single training should take long to complete

Immediately applicable (go light on theory and heavy on practical application)

Engaging—enjoyable to participate in

Beneficial—feed them, give them gifts and offer practical tools to use this week in their ministry

What would you add about training volunteers?

This article originally appeared here.

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7 Things We Need to Understand About Training Volunteers:

1. Volunteers are typically not as passionate about ministry as we are.

2. Volunteers are as busy as we are.

3. Volunteers will not accept training in the same way.

4. Volunteers will not participate in training the same way.

5. Volunteers need a reason to engage with training.

6. Volunteers like food and free stuff.

7. Volunteers want to be trained.

What would you add about training volunteers?

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*Pete Scazzero on the 5 Leadership Questions Podcast, Episode 238, March 27, 2018.

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