Jonathan Murphy: Salt and Light for a Skeptical World

March 3, 2023

How do we live as salt and light in a world that is growing increasingly skeptical toward all things of the Christian faith? In this week’s conversation on FrontStage BackStage, host Jason Daye is joined by Jonathan Murphy, department chair of pastoral ministries at Dallas Theological Seminary. Jonathan is also a teaching pastor and the author of Authentic Influencer. Together, Jonathan and Jason explore ways to overcome some of the challenges that society presents to us in ministry. They also look at how a specific biblical character models a way to release ourselves and our people to live as salt and light in our world.

FrontStage BackStage Podcast Guest Jonathan Murphy

View the entire podcast here.

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Amy Grant Reveals Bike Accident Nearly Took Her Life—‘It Was Good for Me’

Jessica Lea

March 3, 2023

Christian music icon Amy Grant revealed this week that her bike accident last summer nearly took her life. In an exclusive interview on the ‘TODAY’ show, Grant made the remarkable statement that the accident, as well as other recent health challenges she has faced, has actually benefited her.

“It was good for me,” Grant said of her bike accident. “It forced a kind of simplification of my life I’ve never known.”

Amy Grant Shares New Details About Bike Accident

On July 27, Amy Grant was hospitalized following an accident that occurred while she was biking with a friend in Nashville, Tennessee. Grant, who was wearing a helmet, hit a pothole and fell unconscious for 10 minutes. She had suffered a traumatic brain injury, and doctors said her helmet saved her life.

Grant recovered at home after a brief stay in the hospital and had to postpone concerts she had scheduled in August. She told ‘TODAY’ journalist Craig Melvin that she remembers nothing about the accident and was initially unable to remember family members’ names or even her own song lyrics—not even the lyrics to her hit single, “Baby, Baby,” or “Tennessee Christmas,” which Grant sings every year.

Grant returned to touring during the Christmas season and had to use a teleprompter for all 22 shows on her Christmas tour. The first night she was back performing was nerve-wracking. Grant says that before the show started, she thought to herself, “I am so scared, I’m so scared.” The other artists working with her, however, encouraged and supported her.

It could take Grant 18 months to completely recover from the cognitive problems caused by her accident.

Amy Grant says the bike accident is only one of several major health challenges she has faced over the past few years. She had heart surgery in 2020, and in January she had throat surgery to remove a cyst.

Grant told Melvin that a vocalist she was working with noticed that something was wrong with her throat. Grant had already noticed a problem herself. “It’s like I’ve got an Adam’s apple,” she said to the vocalist. “It keeps getting bigger.”

It turned out that what felt like an Adam’s apple was actually a thyroglossal duct cyst, which the Columbia University Irving Medical Center Department of Otolaryngology defines as “a neck mass or lump that develops from cells and tissues remaining after the formation of the thyroid gland during embryonic development.”

‘Woke Transagenda’ — Franklin Graham Denounces Hershey’s Ad Featuring Trans Woman

Dale Chamberlain

March 3, 2023

Hershey's Franklin Graham — Left: Council.gov.ru, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Right: screengrab via Twitter @FaeJohnstone

Evangelist Franklin Graham has weighed in with his thoughts on a marketing campaign for Hershey’s that features a trans woman.

Titled “She for Her,” Hershey’s unveiled the campaign on March 1, the first day of Women’s History Month. The first ad features Fae Johnstone, a 27-year-old trans woman who serves as executive director of Wisdom2Action, a Canadian social justice advocacy firm.

“We can create a world where everyone is able to live in public space as their honest and authentic self,” Johnstone says in the ad.

Later in the ad, Johnstone is seen alongside four women, laughing and smiling. Johnstone then encourages viewers to visit Hershey’s website to “see the women who are changing how we see the future.”

Upon the launch of the ad, Johnstone tweeted a link to the campaign’s landing page, which features the story of each woman who appears in the ad.

The chocolate’s out of the wrapper!

Honoured to be featured in this campaign by @Hersheys Canada for #InternationalWomensDay alongside 4 brilliant sisters and change-makers. https://t.co/0s9uh8MvHv pic.twitter.com/jdXNJfcZmo

— Fae Johnstone, MSW (@FaeJohnstone) March 1, 2023

Those women include Kélicia Massala, a gender equality advocate; Rita Audi, a gender and education equality activist; Naila Moloo, a climate tech researcher; and Autumn Peltier, an Indigenous rights and water activist.

“The chocolate’s out of the wrapper,” Johnstone wrote. “Honoured to be featured in this campaign by @Hersheys Canada for #InternationalWomensDay alongside 4 brilliant sisters and change-makers.”

International Women’s Day is on March 8, a tradition dating back over a hundred years to celebrate the contributions of historically significant women, particularly those who have been involved in the cause of seeing women treated equally under the law.

The Hershey’s campaign was met with considerable criticism from conservatives, including Franklin Graham, the son of legendary evangelist Billy Graham and CEO of humanitarian aid organization Samaritan’s Purse.

Graham is regularly vocal about political issues, often rubbing elbows with Republican politicians serving in the highest levels of government.

In Florida, Latino Evangelicals Mobilize Against DeSantis’ Crackdown on Immigrants

Alejandra Molina

March 3, 2023

latino evangelicals — People demonstrate outside the Florida Statehouse in February 2022 to protest against Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order that jeopardizes foster care licenses to those sheltering unaccompanied migrant children. The demonstration was spearheaded by the Florida Fellowship of Hispanic Bishops and Evangelical Institutions. Photo courtesy of Agustin Quiles

(RNS) — After Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered state regulators to deny licenses or renewals to those sheltering unaccompanied migrant children, more than 200 faith leaders and evangelical pastors of Spanish-speaking churches made their way to downtown Tallahassee last year in February to protest the governor for preventing them from doing the “work that God has called us do.”

Many of those shelters were housed in local Latino evangelical churches, according to the faith leaders who also demonstrated against a law that now forbids state and local governments from contracting with transportation companies that knowingly bring undocumented immigrants.

Now, as DeSantis prepares for a possible 2024 presidential bid and as he’s unveiled an immigration package that seeks to impose stiffer penalties for Floridians who “knowingly transport, conceal, or harbor” unauthorized immigrants, some Latino evangelical leaders say they’re willing to break the law if it’s enacted and are mobilizing their flocks — this time in larger numbers — to “fight against DeSantis.”

As part of his immigration proposal, the governor wants to prohibit local governments from issuing ID cards to unauthorized immigrants, mandate hospitals to collect data on the immigration status of patients, reverse legislation granting out-of-state tuition waivers for eligible “Dreamers” and require all employers in Florida to use E-Verify to determine employment eligibility.

Under these proposals, some pastors fear they can get arrested simply for serving immigrant communities. Many churches provide food and shelter for those in need, which can include immigrants and unaccompanied immigrant children. Pastors often take ailing congregants to the hospital. Congregations travel to worship retreats and church vans frequently pick up and drop off church members.

“Allowing politics to interfere in the decision-making of congregations,” said Carlos Carbajal, who pastors an immigrant evangelical congregation in Miami, would be a “betrayal of the gospel.”

Carlos Carbajal. Courtesy photo

Though a relatively small demographic, Latino evangelicals are a fast-growing faith group in the United States and one that 2024 presidential campaigns will work hard to capture. However, many in the community caution that they are not easily swayed by traditional right-left arguments, even as more than half of Florida’s Latinos voted for DeSantis’ reelection last year.

To Agustin Quiles, a director of government affairs for the Florida Fellowship of Hispanic Bishops and Evangelical Institutions, which represents more than 2,500 churches and organizations across the state, DeSantis’ proposed immigration package “is the issue that is really going to wake up the Latino evangelical community.”

“Even though DeSantis uses some of our conservative values to gain the support of our community, when you touch the heart of our churches and the people that we love and care for … our pastors will not stand for this,” Quiles said.

Among those at risk, Quiles said, are “people that are faithful, that give tithings, that are supportive to the work of the church.” The governor is “making a big mistake and he should reconsider,” said Quiles, who is part of the “Evangélicos for Justice” campaign against the death penalty that called on DeSantis to stay the execution of Donald David Dillbeck. That campaign will now focus its efforts against the proposed immigration measures.

The Rev. Esteban Rodríguez, with Centro Cristiano Pan de Vida in Kissimmee, a city in central Florida just south of Orlando, said he’s willing to not only break the law if DeSantis’ immigration package takes effect, but also ready to stand up against it.

Rodríguez cited the biblical story of Pharaoh’s decree to kill newborn Hebrew boys in Egypt. He noted the midwives “who were wiling to break the law and that’s why they were able to save Moses.”

FILE - Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks to supporters and members of the media after a bill signing on Nov. 18, 2021, in Brandon, Florida. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks to supporters and members of the media after a bill signing on Nov. 18, 2021, in Brandon, Florida. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara, File)

12 Old Testament Verses That Challenge Me as a Church Leader—And That Are Good to Memorize in 2023

Chuck Lawless

March 3, 2023

thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

As a church leader, I daily need the truth of God’s Word to guide me and give me hope. These Old Testament verses are particularly challenging to me, and perhaps they will be to you as well. In fact, think about memorizing one of these verses each month in 2023:

1. Genesis 4:7 – “If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” As a church leader, I’m foolish if I don’t recognize that sin is ever crouching at my door.

2. Deuteronomy 7:22 – “The Lord your God will drive out these nations before you little by little.” I’m an impatient church leader who needs to remember that sometimes God gives the land according to His time schedule and plan. In fact, He always does that.

3. Joshua 1:9 – “Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” I can be weak, afraid, and discouraged all at the same time, so I need this verse in my pocket.

4. Judges 7:2 – “The Lord said to Gideon, ‘You have too many troops for me to hand the Midianites over to them, or else Israel might elevate themselves over me and say, ‘I saved myself.’” Even though I’m sometimes weak and afraid (see #3 above), I’m more often too strong and confident in myself. I need God to break me at times so He alone gets the glory.

5. 1 Samuel 17:47b – “. . . for the battle is the Lord’s.” It’s never my battle unless I choose to fight it on my own – and that’s not very smart.

6. 2 Chronicles 20:12b – “We do not know what to do, but we look to You.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve needed to say, “Lord, I don’t know what to do, but my eyes are on You.”

7. Nehemiah 1:4 — “When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for a number of days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.” I want my heart to be so tender that I weep when the people of God and the work of God struggle.

8. Job 1:22 – “Throughout all this Job did not sin or blame God for anything.” Job had been upright and faithful, and still he lost everything – but without blaming God. I need this reminder when faithful ministry seems to bring only pain.

9. Psalm 19:10b – “[The ordinances of the Lord are] sweeter than honey, which comes from the honeycomb.” I want the Word of God to be that way to me – so sweet that I can taste it going down.

Avoid These 5 Big Mistakes Pastors Make on Easter Planning

Brandon Hilgemann

March 3, 2023

Easter is a busy time for churches. It is easy to make mistakes when you feel overwhelmed with all the extra work and preparation. To help make this Easter the best yet, here are five of the common mistakes pastors make on Easter planning that I have noticed–and you can avoid!

Avoid These 5 Big Mistakes Pastors Make on Easter Planning

1. Not preaching with urgency.

Do you feel a sense of urgency about Easter? Do you feel the responsibility to make the most of every second you have? You may only have one shot to introduce someone to Jesus. Don’t fall into the trap of believing that you will have another chance.

They may not come back. They are not guaranteed to live to see another Easter.

You, yourself, are not guaranteed to live to see another Easter. Jesus could come back any moment. This could be it.

In the early church, the disciples operated under the assumption that Jesus could come back at any moment. Because of this, they preached with a sense of urgency.

They knew that they may never have another chance to reach people with the good news of Jesus.

We should all live with the same sense of urgency for sharing the Gospel before it’s too late.

2. Overcomplicated message.

Many Easter sermons are a boring list of bullet points or an ancient history lesson.

Don’t overcomplicate things for your Easter planning. Preach the simple, life-changing story of Jesus’ resurrection and what this means for all of us. Have one simple, clear message that you want to communicate, and preach that message with everything you’ve got.

3. No call to action.

You preached a great sermon…now what? What do you want the people sitting in front of you to actually do with what you just told them?

Many pastors preach a lot of information but forget to ask anyone to do anything with it.

It’s not enough to just know what you want them to do. Ask them.

Don’t assume that people will know what to do. What exactly would you like them to do?

It’s Not for Teenagers Only: Verses on Sexual Purity

Shane Pruitt

March 3, 2023

If we examine Bible verses on sexual purity, it is clear that purity is for all of God’s people, not just one segment of it.

I was 17 years old my “first time.” You know—the “first time.” There are a lot of firsts in our lives—first steps, first grade and the first bite of a perfectly cooked T-bone steak straight from the grill. Then, there is your first girlfriend, first kiss and THE “first time.” Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be my “last time” outside of marriage.

Ironically, even though I would not become a Christian until I was 21, somehow, I still felt guilty and ashamed every time. Even without the Holy Spirit living inside of me, I still knew I was entering into an area of life that was reserved for someone else. Reserved for people that were in a different stage of life and relationship than I was in. I knew I was trespassing.

At 25 years old I married the absolute love of my life. What’s the biggest regret of my life? Not being able say that my wife was my “first time.” However, I still rest in the truth that my Savior has redeemed me, restored me and has made me new. My sin was deep, but His grace was deeper.

At the time of writing this I have been in ministry for over 16 years. Every year I speak to tens of thousands of people, and a large segment of them are students and young adults. Of course, one of the big topics that people expect you to teach on when you’re constantly with young Millennials (born 1980–2000) and Generation Z (born 2001–present) is sexual purity and saving the “act of marriage” for marriage.

Now, I do believe that teaching on sexual purity is extremely beneficial. The world has a lot to say about sex, but what does God say when we examine Bible verses about sexual purity? We must know. Sadly, for the most part the church usually operates in one of two extremes when it comes to sex–we’re either completely silent about it (once again while culture as a lot to say about it), or we completely demonize it—“Sex is gross, vile and disgusting! So save it for the one you love!” How confusing is that?

Thoughts from Bible Verses on Sexual Purity

Nevertheless, a healthy biblical view of sex is this: God invented it. He is for it. He desires for people to enjoy it. Think about it, the first commandment He gave Adam and Eve was to “multiply and fill the earth” (Genesis 1:28). God didn’t create man and woman, then turn around to get a drink of water; only to turn back around in horror yelling, “Adam! What are you doing? Get off of her!” They were created this way. Sex was introduced this way. The enjoyment of it was commanded this way. And yet there is a lane that God created sex and intimacy for—marriage. “And the man and his wife were both naked and not ashamed ” (Genesis 2:25).

When it comes to relationships, marriage and sex—God invented it, so He gets to define what it is and how it’s used. Sex is like a Lamborghini. Yes, you read that correctly, a $250,000 Lamborghini was created for the racetrack. It would not be very smart for me to take that sports car off-road and drive it through mud pits. That very expensive car would break, wreck and be destroyed because a sports car is made for the racetrack. It’s the same with sex. It’s made for the roadway of marriage, and anytime it’s taken off that road and used in a different way, then people’s hearts break, emotions are wrecked, and our lives and testimonies can be destroyed.

‘Fight Together Not Against Each Other’ — SBC Abuse Reform Task Force Member Urges Unity

Jesse T. Jackson

March 2, 2023

On Thursday (Mar. 2), Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force (ARITF) vice chair Mike Keahbone told his Twitter followers why he joined the task force, arguing that there “some good” in the SBC that’s worth fighting for.

Keahbone started off his Twitter thread with an image of “The Lord of the Rings’” Samwise Gamgee telling Frodo, “There’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.”

The ARITF member recalled the day that he was asked to serve on the task force. He answered with an “easy yes,” due to his conviction to stop sexual abuse in SBC churches.

“That conviction is deeply rooted in being a believer, a pastor, a husband, and a daddy,” Keahbone stated. “Abuse has deeply affected my family and my ministry.”

Keahbone shared that he wasn’t aware of what that “easy yes” would cost. The Lawton, Oklahoma, pastor said that the “first step was diving into the deep and horrific world of those who had been victimized by abuse. Then it was swimming in the shameful depths of how victims were treated—not just by their abusers, but by those who should have been protecting them.”

Although the process has been grueling, Keahbone admitted it is “necessary.” The ARITF vice chair affirmed that each task force member loves Jesus, loves people, and hates abuse.

“Each of us has a story and a journey that made each of us willing to put our ‘yes’ on the table. Each of us has paid a heavy price,” Keahbone said. “The hours, the sleepless nights, the brokenness, time away from family, and even attacks from people who wear the same SBC jersey that we do. We are volunteers who answered what seems to be an impossible call.”

“I don’t share this for sympathy or for a pat on the back,” Keahbone clarified. “I say it because you need to know that we are on your side and that we want to get this right.”

The members of the ARITF are in a “constant state of praying, seeking the Lord, vetting, researching, meeting, problem solving, fire fighting, and picking each other up,” Keahbone informed. “When we offer suggestions and ideas, they are not aimless shots in the dark, they are the product of all those things. We don’t mind questions, we welcome them. We don’t mind suggestions, we’ve begged for them! The only way abuse is stopped is for all of us to work together and pull on the same rope. We need you.”

“There is some good in this convention…and it is worth fighting for,” Keahbone concluded, urging SBC messengers: “Let’s fight together and not against each other.”

Last week, the task force received criticism after announcing its decision to use Guidepost Solutions for the construction of the SBC’s “Ministry Check” website. The site will list any SBC leader (pastor, deacon, etc.) who has been found guilty of sexual abuse or has been credibly accused.

Religious Liberty Group Defends CU Coach Deion Sanders Against Claims of ‘Religious Coercion’

Stephanie Martin

March 2, 2023

Now that outspoken Christian Deion Sanders is head football coach at the University of Colorado Boulder, advocacy groups are advising school administrators about his faith-based actions. Sanders, known as Coach Prime, talks often about his faith and leads players and staff in prayer.

That led to a complaint from the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), which says Sanders must “cease imposing religion.” The secular group wrote to CU officials in January, telling them that “school-sponsored proselytizing” is not constitutionally allowed.

Deion Sanders Engages in ‘Religious Coercion,’ Says FFRF

On its website, FFRF notes: “Sanders’ team is full of young and impressionable student athletes who would not risk giving up their scholarship, giving up playing time, or losing a good recommendation from the coach by speaking out or voluntarily opting out of his unconstitutional religious activities—even if they strongly disagreed with his beliefs. That’s why Sanders’ use of his coaching position to promote Christianity amounts to religious coercion.”

FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor says, “There is no doubting the sporting accomplishments of Deion Sanders, but that doesn’t give him the right to force his religion upon student athletes at a public university.”

In a response to FFRF, CU Executive Vice Chancellor and COO Patrick O’Rourke says the university has met with Sanders “to provide guidance on the non-discrimination policies, including guidance on the boundaries in which players may and may not engage in religious expression.”

Religious Liberty Group: Coach’s Prayers Are Protected Speech

First Liberty Institute (FLI), an organization that defends religious freedoms, also wrote to CU officials, providing its take on protected speech. Counsel Keisha Russell explains why FFRF’s advice is incorrect and warns university officials against engaging in “state-sponsored censorship of Coach Sanders’ private speech.”

In a letter to CU, Russell writes that Sanders “does not lose his constitutional right to free exercise of religion simply because he is an employee at CU.” Citing U.S. Supreme Court cases such as Kennedy v. Bremerton School District (2022), she writes, “First Amendment protections extend to both public employees and students, ‘neither of whom shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.’”

Although private speech such as praying does not violate the Constitution’s Establishment Clause, says Russell, “censorship of such speech can quickly become a violation of the Free Exercise Clause.”

TGC Under Fire for Article Comparing Christ’s Love to a Sexual Encounter

Dale Chamberlain

March 2, 2023

An article recently published by The Gospel Coalition’s newly formed Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics has been the subject of considerable criticism for its description of sex as a metaphor for the salvific relationship between Christ and the Church.

The article, titled “Sex Won’t Save You (But It Points to the One Who Will),” was written by Keller Center fellow Josh Butler, an Arizona pastor and author. The article is an excerpt from Butler’s forthcoming book, “Beautiful Union: How God’s Vision for Sex Points Us to the Good, Unlocks the True, and (Sort of) Explains Everything.”

In the excerpt, Butler argues that while many within the current cultural climate look “to sex for salvation…idolizing sex results in slavery.”

“Sex wasn’t designed to be your salvation but to point you to the One who is,” Butler writes.

Describing sex as “an icon of Christ and the church,” Butler cites Ephesians 5:31-32, in which the apostle Paul refers to marriage as “profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.”

“It’s not only the giving of your vows at the altar but what happens in the honeymoon suite afterward that speaks to the life you were made for with God,” Butler argues. “This is a gospel bombshell: sex is an icon of salvation.”

Butler goes on to describe the man’s role in the sexual act as one of generosity and the woman’s role as one of hospitality.

Butler writes, “At a deeper level, generosity is giving not just your resources but your very self. And what deeper form of self-giving is there than sexual union where the husband pours out his very presence not only upon but within his wife? … Here again, what deeper form of hospitality is there than sexual union where the wife welcomes her husband into the sanctuary of her very self?”

“On that honeymoon in Cabo, the groom goes into his bride. He is not only with his beloved but within his beloved. He enters the sanctuary of his spouse, where he pours out his deepest presence and bestows an offering, a gift, a sign of his pilgrimage, that has the potential to grow within her into new life,” Butler goes on to describe, arguing that this “is a picture of the gospel. Christ arrives in salvation to be not only with his church but within his church.”

“Christ penetrates his church with the generative seed of his Word and the life-giving presence of his Spirit, which takes root within her and grows to bring new life into the world,” Butler muses. “Inversely, back in the wedding suite, the bride embraces her most intimate guest on the threshold of her dwelling place and welcomes him into the sanctuary of her very self. She gladly receives the warmth of his presence and accepts the sacrificial offering he bestows upon the altar within her Most Holy Place.”

“Their union brings forth new creation,” Butler concludes, referring both to the union between a husband and wife and the union between Christ and the Church.

While Butler’s article, as well as his book, represent a broader effort on the part of the Keller Center to provide a positive vision for the Christian sexual ethic in the face of changing norms and divergent sexual ideologies, many readers felt that the metaphor set forth by Butler missed the mark.

In particular, some took exception with Butler describing the presence of Christ as being poured “upon” and “within” the church through use of a sexual metaphor, as well as his use of the terminology of penetration in depicting the “generative seed” of the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit given to the Church.

Some questioned why editors did not advise against these word and metaphor choices.

Scholar and theologian Anthony Bradley said that Butler “clearly theologically exchanges marriage for sex creating a hermeneutic fatal flaw. The TGC post is the poor exegesis of mystical sacred eroticism.”

‘The Jezebel Spirit Literally Castrates Men’ — Mark Driscoll Plugs His ‘Most Controversial’ Sermon Series Ever

Jesse T. Jackson

March 2, 2023

Controversial pastor Mark Driscoll recently released a video for an upcoming sermon series titled “New Days Old Demons: A Study of Elijah.” The promo featured an image of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris while describing a Jezebel spirit that castrates, neuters, and controls men.

“I’m taking a flamethrower to the new prophets of old demons,” Driscoll wrote on his tweet, which shows him sitting by a campfire surrounded by snow-coated trees.

Driscoll told viewers that the Elijah sermon series will “probably be the most controversial, the most timely, the most prophetic sermon series I’ve ever done in my entire life.”

Starting March 4th, I’m taking a flamethrower to the new prophets of old demons. pic.twitter.com/S7rjugEZwx

— Pastor Mark Driscoll (@PastorMark) February 28, 2023

In a longer, 12-and-a-half minute video, Driscoll unpacks the current cultural topics he plans to address throughout the 4-month series, which will span 1 Kings 17 to 2 Kings 2. Some of those topics include gender confusion, “transgenderism,” and sexuality.

During study for this sermon series, the former Mars Hill Church founder claimed that the Holy Spirit taught him things he had never known before and helped him write things he has not learned anywhere else.

“1 Kings 16 talks about generation after generation, political leader after political leader going from bad to worse and from the flesh to the demonic,” Driscoll said. “It’s much like our own day when just it seems like government is the problem, not the solution.”

Driscoll related the two demon gods King Ahab and Queen Jezebel introduced to the nation of Israel—Baal (a male deity) and Asherah (a female deity)—to the Grammy performance of Sam Smith and the Super Bowl performance of Rihanna. According to Driscoll, Baal and Asherah would supposedly have “really nasty sexual relations,” therefore the paralleling the two recent, questionable primetime performances by today’s popular musicians.

“Just real naughty, kind of need some hand sanitizer just for your eyes if you’re going to see that,” Driscoll artistically verbalized.

When Ahab and Jezebel got married, they aligned the kingdom of Israel with the kingdom of Sidon, a nation that worshiped pagan gods.

“This is syncretism,” Driscoll said. “This is where you take Bible belief and demonic, cultural sexuality, politics, apostasy and you combine it together. It’s same thing that’s happening right now in the church with the woke-joke-folk, the rainbow flag churches, the denominations getting so overtly ungodly and anti-Bible that it causes you to shudder. You can’t even say, ‘Good day, men and women or boys and girls at Disney.’”

Meet the Organization Preserving and Promoting the Stories of Black Methodists

Emily McFarlan Miller

March 2, 2023

Black Methodists — The congregation of East Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church gathers for worship in Philadelphia. Photo © United Methodist Commission on Archives and History.

(RNS) — When most people think of the United Methodist Church, Carol Travis said, they don’t picture Black people.

“People still think that the United Methodist Church is white,” said Travis. “You don’t see enough Black faces even though we have been there from the beginning. We never left.”

The African American Methodist Heritage Center, where Travis is executive assistant, aims to change that image.

But after funding from the United Methodist Church General Conference ended and in-person events were put on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic, the AAMHC is looking for donations in order to continue its work, which includes recording oral histories and making its collection more widely available.

“We just want it so people will not forget that we have been there all along and that we’ve made major contributions to the denomination and to the world at large,” said Travis, who has been part of the AAMHC since its early days.

In 1939, during what the United Methodist Church now calls a “painful period of segregation,” Methodists created a separate Central Jurisdiction for Black congregations alongside its geographical jurisdictions.

When the Evangelical United Brethren Church and the Methodist Church merged to form the United Methodist Church in 1968, the Central Jurisdiction was disbanded. White Methodists dominated the pews, and, Travis said, “there was a concern that with the United Brethren, with the Methodist Church, with Black folks coming back from the Central Jurisdiction, that our story and our issues would be lost.”

That’s when Black Methodists for Church Renewal, one of five ethnic caucuses in the United Methodist Church, was founded.

In 2001, the caucus created the African American Methodist Heritage Center to recover and remember Black Methodists’ contributions to the denomination.

Under the leadership of Bishop Forrest Stith, now retired, the center began collecting photos, records, papers from prominent Black Methodists and other artifacts from congregations across the denomination. It also created videos about Black history within the denomination and led workshops across the country training congregations to preserve their histories.

“We did a lot of good things, and we broke down our goals to be: to preserve our rich history, to promote our rich history, to also do some research and to ensure that local churches and other entities kept their history alive as well,” Stith said.

In recent years, the AAMHC also has begun recording oral histories from Black leaders within the denomination, including bishops, their wives and others who belonged to the Central Jurisdiction. The organization is working with the denomination’s General Commission on Archives and History to digitize and make them widely available.

US Government Calls for the Release of Imprisoned Christian Leader in Myanmar

International Christian Concern

March 2, 2023

myanmar persecution — Photo by aboodi vesakaran (via Unsplash)

On Thursday, February 23, the US government condemned the Myanmar military’s arrest and detention of Baptist leader Hkalam Samson.

Samson is the former head of the Kachin Baptist Convention, an organization located in northern Myanmar’s Kachin state that represents much of the nation’s Christian minority. He was detained in December 2022 by authorities under the military junta that sized power two years ago.

State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters recently, “We condemn the Burma military regime’s arrest and detention of prominent ethnic Kachin Christian leader Rev. Dr. Hkalam Samson.”

Prominent NGO Human Rights Watch called on the military junta, which has controlled the country since the February 2021 coup, to drop the “politically motivated” charges against Samson. The charges included meeting members of an ethnic armed group under Myanmar’s Unlawful Associations Act and an indictment relating to a prayer meeting between Samson and members of Myanmar’s parallel civilian government.

Price added, “We are extremely concerned for his wellbeing and safety and encourage our partners and allies to join us in calling on the regime to drop all charges and immediately and unconditionally release Rev. Samson.”

Please pray for the acquittal and release of Rev. Samson.

This article originally appeared here.

For Many Congregations, Wiping out Medical Debt Has Become a Popular Calling

Yonat Shimron

March 2, 2023

DURHAM, N.C. (RNS) — When members of First Presbyterian Church decided to launch a capital campaign to expand and renovate their imposing Gothic Revival edifice, they also wanted to take on a service project to help the poor.

The congregation settled on raising $50,000 to eliminate medical debt for people living below the poverty line.

Helping ease medical debt, especially for people of color, is an increasingly popular social justice project among liberal Christian, Jewish and Muslim congregations. Over the past few years some 800 U.S. congregations have partnered with RIP Medical Debt to do so.

The 9-year-old nonprofit uses donations to buy large bundled portfolios of medical debt from collection agencies and other third parties at a steep discount. It then turns around and notifies people their debts have been erased.

“For churches seeking to make a difference for those suffering under the weight of debt, this is an instrument we can use to try to take it off their shoulders so everyone can flourish,” said the Rev. Mindy Douglas, pastor of First Presbyterian. Last year, the church was able to raise almost $26,000 and pay off $5 million in medical debt in Durham and surrounding counties. This spring, the church will kick off the second leg of its campaign with the goal of raising at least $25,000 more.

Eliminating medical debt has become a popular cause over the past few years. Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams donated $1.34 million to RIP through her political action committee, wiping out $212 million in medical debt for 108,000 people in five states. Hawks point guard Trae Young and football wide receiver Michael Thomas have also donated to RIP.

Last year, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott added $30 million to the $50 million she donated to RIP in 2020, jumpstarting the nonprofit’s expansion.

Medical debt is a huge problem in the U.S. Americans owe at least $195 billion of medical debt, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. More than 100 million people — about 41% of U.S. adults — have debt from medical or dental bills. Among Black and Hispanic Americans that figure jumps to about 60%.

RIP’s model of buying debt at discount prices is especially attractive to donors because on average, every $1 donated abolishes about $100 in face value medical debt.

To date, RIP has abolished $8.5 billion in medical debt and relieved 5.4 million Americans of their unpaid bills.

While donations from religious groups constitute less than 20% of RIP’s overall revenue, they have becoming an increasingly common way for congregations to engage in social justice work.

One reason may be that debt relief has deep biblical resonance. The Book of Leviticus speaks of the jubilee year as a time when the people of Israel were required to free slaves and cancel debts.

“It’s a wonderful way to take ancient biblical values and actualize them,” said Rabbi Ari Hart, whose Agudath Jacob Synagogue in Skokie, Illinois, partnered with two predominantly Black churches in Chicago to raise $10,000 for medical debt relief last year.

RIP used the money to purchase $1.9 million in debt and unburden 2,327 people in the Chicago area of their medical debts.

The campaign also coincided with the Jewish sabbatical year known as “shmita” or the year of release. Hart said he would propose a similar campaign during the next Jewish sabbatical year, which falls in 2028.

The Mid-Michigan Campaign, started by St. John’s Episcopal Church in Midland, Michigan, is another interfaith venture. Last year it raised $62,452 to abolish $28 million worth of medical debt among 14,241 individuals.

This year it has launched another campaign with the Mid-Midland Interfaith Friends, a group of 14 congregations, including Jewish, Muslim and Baha’i.

Making Disciples Like Jesus Through Small Groups

Josh Hunt

March 2, 2023

Doubling groups is a worthy goal. Here is why. There is no discplemaking without small groups. It is the way Jesus did it. He gathered a group together and taught them. He taught them in the context of a group; in the context where they could discuss what was taught. This is how life-change happens. This is how Jesus did it and it is how we can do it.

Consider these words from Robert Coleman:

It all started by Jesus calling a few men to follow him. This revealed immediately the direction his evangelistic strategy would take. His concern was not with programs to reach the multitudes, but with men whom the multitudes would follow. Remarkable as it may seem, Jesus started to gather these men before he ever organized an evangelistic campaign or even preached a sermon in public. Men were to be his method of winning the world to God.

Having called his men, Jesus made a practice of being with them. This was the essence of his training program—just letting his disciples follow him.

When one stops to think of it, this was an incredibly simple way of doing it. Jesus had no formal school, no seminaries, no outlined course of study, no periodic membership classes in which he enrolled his followers. None of these highly organized procedures considered so necessary today entered into his ministry. Amazing as it may seem, all Jesus did to teach these men his way was to draw them close to himself. He was his own school and curriculum.

The natural informality of this teaching method of Jesus stood in striking contrast to the formal, almost scholastic procedures of the scribes. These religious teachers insisted on their disciples adhering strictly to certain rituals and formulas of knowledge which distinguished them from others; whereas Jesus asked only that his disciples follow him. Knowledge was not communicated by the Master in terms of laws and dogmas, but in the living personality of One who walked among them. His disciples were distinguished, not by outward conformity to certain rituals, but by being with him, and thereby participating in his doctrine.

(Coleman, Robert E. 2006. The Master Plan of Evangelism)

God’s plan for forming spiritually mature disciples involves getting them in groups. People do not climb Mt. Everest alone. But every year, little groups, little bands of friends, scale its lofty heights.

People do not reach spiritual maturity alone. But in groups, with friends, in little platoons they can reach maturity and have fun while they do it. It will not be easy, but it can be fun.

Let me explain what I mean. Vietnam veteran William Broyles writes in his book, Brothers in Arms:

A part of me loved war.

A part of me loved war. Now, please understand, I’m a peaceful man, fond of children and animals. And I believe that war should have no place in the affairs of men. But,” he said, reflecting on his tour of duty in Vietnam, “the comradeship our platoon experienced in that war provides a moving and enduring memory in me. A comrade in war is someone you can trust with anything, because you regularly trust him with your life. In war, individual possessions and advantage count for nothing. The group, the unit, the platoon is everything.

Church Problems: 12 Ways Churches Are Failing Kids

Dale Hudson

March 2, 2023

We see the numbers of kids who are walking away from the church when they get out on their own.

We read the data about more and more kids adapting a secular worldview.

We hear reports that 13 percent of Gen Z kids say they are atheists.

What used to be called sin is being accepted and approved by the next generation.

We often blame the culture for leading children away from the faith, and Hollywood is considered an evil influence that wrecks kids’ faith.

We blame schools and colleges for teaching the opposite of what Christianity is about.

We even blame parents because of their lack of commitment to pass along the faith to their children.

While some of these things can and do contribute to the demise of a child’s faith, the church must also look in the mirror and see that we are a big part of the problem. We are failing kids in many areas and it becomes glaringly apparent as they grow older.

Church Problems: How the Church Is Failing Kids

The church is failing to teach kids doctrine.
We’re teaching them to be good. We are teaching them to do good. We’re teaching them character traits. But we’re not teaching them doctrine. We’re not teaching them about the Trinity. We’re not teaching them what baptism is. We’re not teaching them that the Bible is the Word of God. We’re not teaching them what the Gospel is. It’s hard to defend and share what you don’t know or understand.
The church is failing kids by not giving them opportunities to serve.
We’ve forgotten that “faith without works is dead.” We are taking kids who are anxious and ready to serve and telling them that their time will come…that they have to wait until they are grown to start serving. The problem with this is that when they grow up, since we didn’t give them opportunities to serve as children, they want no part of it when they are older.
The church is failing kids by not teaching them how to walk with God.
We are not placing the tools in their hands and showing them how to use them. They are ready to move past the spiritual baby food we’ve been giving them.
The church is failing kids by not teaching them why we believe what we believe.
We are failing to take kids on a “deeper dive.” Their shallow faith has nothing of substance underneath the fluff. When they get to college and their faith is tested, it becomes glaringly obvious they can’t back up what they believe.
The church is failing to disciple kids through relationships.
We are shoving them in rooms with dozens of other kids where they will not have the opportunity to develop a relationship with a caring leader and other kids.
The church is failing to teach kids that the Bible is God’s Word. They can’t back up the claims that the Bible is inspired and infallible.
The church is failing to help kids enter a relationship with Jesus.
We know that the vast majority of people who come to Christ do so before they are 18. We don’t have a strategic plan like Starting Point to reach them.
The church is failing to show kids how to share their faith.
We haven’t given them the tools and infused them with the confidence that God is with them when they share the Gospel with others.
The church is failing to help kids see that it’s not about them…it’s about bringing honor and glory to God.
We’ve unknowingly taught kids that God is a divine therapist that exists for our pleasure.
The church is failing kids by not equipping their parents to lead them spiritually.
We know parents are the number one influencer in kids’ lives. They want to lead their children spiritually…they just don’t know how. We’ve failed to give them simple, easy to use tools for this.
The church is failing to help kids develop a biblical worldview.
Because of this, the next generation has bought into the postmodern worldview that holds up the mantra for tolerance, pantheism, abortion, same sex relationships, don’t judge anyone and more.
The church is failing to help parents see how important it is to have their children in church consistently. Church attendance has become just another item on a to-do-list. If nothing else is going on, they will show up for church. But if there’s something that’s more appealing, they will skip church. As a result, kids have shallow biblical knowledge and are only loosely connected at church.

I don’t want this article to be discouraging for those reading it. I simply want to wake up churches that are failing their kids. We can’t keep doing the same old same old and expect kids to follow Jesus for a lifetime.

I would encourage you to take each of the failings I listed and sit down as a team. Talk through these points and see how your church can improve in these areas. It may mean some radical changes. It may mean a new ministry philosophy. It may mean changing your strategy. It may mean asking some hard questions and pursuing the answers you find.

I am reminded of what happened in the Old Testament.

After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the LORD or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel. -Judges 2:10

The next generation didn’t remember or know God. Why? Because those who should have been teaching them neglected to do so.

Those walking in our footprints are counting on us. Let’s not let them down.

This article originally appeared here.

Does Your Mission Statement Suck?

Geoff Surratt

March 2, 2023

Why do you do what you do?

Recently Sherry and I were in a pre-service meeting at a church where we were speaking that morning. The young lady leading the pre-service meeting of core volunteers asked, “Who knows the mission of our church?” There was some nervous laughter and feet shuffling, but no one had a clue. She turned to another staff member to see if he knew, but he was equally clueless.

Finally she read a well-crafted phrase that had been pasted onto the church website and promptly forgotten. There was nothing wrong with the stated mission, it was simply irrelevant to the people charged with executing the mission. In the end none of us who assembled to conduct church that day had the faintest idea of why we were there.

Contrast that with another church I am connected to, Real Life Church based in Orlando. On a recent weekend a stage host sprang a pop quiz on the congregation at the largest campus, “Hey, who knows the mission of Real Life?” Immediately almost the entire congregation responded, “Changed lives!”

There was no doubt the bottom line for everything that happens at Real Life, “Will what we are do lead directly to changed lives?” The mission is clear and easily understood.

One of the things I love about Community Christian in Naperville is the clarity and consistency of their mission. “Helping people find their way back to God” isn’t just a tagline on their website, it is the driving force behind everything they do. In the 13 years I’ve known Dave and Jon Ferguson their commitment to that one line has never wavered, and everything CCC does is organized around that simple concept.

The mission at Willow Creek has never changed since the church was planted in 1975, “We exist to turn irreligious people into fully devoted followers of Christ.” My guess is that every staff member and most members could tell you some form of that sentence without hesitation. Community Christian and Willow Creek know what they do and why they do it.

Jesus was a strong believer in a simple mission. In Luke 19 church people were outraged that he would seem to endorse the lifestyle of an infamous “sinner” in the community by having lunch at Zaccheus’ house. To help them understand they why behind the what of his actions Jesus gave this simple and memorable mission statement, “The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.” Simple, direct and memorable. I imagine each of Jesus’ disciples knew exactly why Jesus came and what it was he was about. He came to seek and save the lost.

What about your church? Do you have a mission statement that is compelling, memorable and actionable? If I met five regular attenders and asked them, “What is the mission of your church?”, how many could tell me? I’ve worked with some churches with no mission statement at all. They have no idea why they do what they do. I’ve worked with many churches with a long, detailed mission statement they had spent a lot of time crafting. The challenge was their mission was unknown and meaningless to most of the attenders.

Why Isn’t the Civil Rights Movement Considered a Revival Movement?

Derwin Gray

March 1, 2023

civil rights movement — A young woman at the Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. Rowland Scherman, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A revival broke out at Asbury. Lord knows the Church in America needs to be awakened from our slumber to see our need for Jesus and his transformative gospel of grace. When we respond in faith to the Holy Spirit, he opens our eyes to the beauty of God’s holiness, the radiance of his glory in Jesus, and his mission to reconcile the world unto himself.

Evangelical scholar Richard F. Lovelace summarizes Jonathan Edwards’ (1703-1758) definition of revival. Revival is “not a special season of extraordinary religious excitement, as in many forms of latter American revivalism. Rather it is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit which restores the people of God to normal spiritual life after a period of corporate declension. Periods of spiritual decline occur in history because the gravity of indwelling sin keeps pulling believers first into formal religion and then into open apostasy. Periods of awakening alternate with these as God graciously breathes new life into his people.”¹

America has had her share of revivals over years, from Jesus People Movement of the late 1960s and the 1906 Azuza Street Revival to the two Great Awakenings (1730-1770 and 1795-1835). It is hard to reconcile how the demonic institution of enslaving Black people survived, and even flourished, during the first two Great Awakenings.

In 1845, this blatant hypocrisy moved the great Frederick Douglass to write, “We have men sold to build churches, women sold to support the gospel, and babies sold to purchase Bibles for the poor heathen! All for the glory of God and the good of souls! The slaves auctioneer bell and the church bell chime in with each other, and the bitter cries of the heart-broken slave are drowned in the religious shouts of his pious master. Revivals of religion and revivals in the slave trade go hand in hand.”²

Douglass’ vision of Christianity was closer to Jesus’ vision than those who led revivals while supporting slavery when he wrote, “I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, woman whipping, cradle plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land.”³

On April 9, 1906, William Seymour, a Black man, was used by God to birth the modern-day Pentecostal movement through what is called commonly called the Azusa Street Revival. The Azusa Street Revival was a multiethnic movement. Sadly, the sin of racism divided this unified movement quickly. In 1912, a group of white pastors asked Black pastors to create their own national conference because the large number of Black Christians in attendance discouraged white Christians from attending.⁴ The Black pastors created the National Association of the Church of God, and the white pastors created the Assemblies of God.

In 1918, Francis Grimké, a former enslaved Black man, one of the founders of the NAACP, Presbyterian pastor, and biblical scholar, spoke out against Billy Sunday’s two-month crusade in Washington D.C. He wrote, “For all Sunday’s denouncing of sins, he never mentioned rotten, stinking, hell-born race prejudice…When we think of the thousands of white men in this country, claiming to be ministers of the gospel, claiming to be ambassadors of God, representatives of Jesus Christ; and yet sitting down quietly in the midst of this spreading leprosy of race prejudice, and doing nothing to stay its ravages, content to have it spread, and to curse, as it is doing, both races, embittering the Negro and debasing the white man.”⁵

I’ve often wondered why the Civil Rights Movement is not considered a revival. In 1957, the Civil Rights Movement was started by Black Christians in the South “with the goal of redeeming ‘the soul of America’ through nonviolent resistance”⁶ in response to the evils of racism and injustice. I cannot imagine how deep a person’s discipleship must be to stage sit-ins in restaurants and other nonviolent protests in the face of lynching, brutal beatings from police, dogs ripping into your flesh, church bombings, and racial injustice, all for simply wanting to exercise my rights as an American.

Did Pharaoh Have Free Will? Mike Winger Discusses When God ‘Hardened Pharaoh’s Heart’

Jessica Lea

March 1, 2023

“Did Pharaoh have free will when ‘God hardened his heart’?” was a question apologist Mike Winger explored yesterday on his YouTube channel. The question touches on the troubling thought that God could be causing the very problem for which he is holding people responsible.

Mike Winger Looks at Pharaoh’s Response to God

Mike Winger is a pastor who runs the ministry, BibleThinker, where he seeks to help people evaluate different areas of life based on Scripture. One of his followers asked a question about Exodus 9:12, which says, “But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said to Moses.”

“Did Pharaoh have free will?” the person wanted to know.

Winger first pointed out the importance of taking information in context. Sometimes, he said, he will hear a statement from someone on social media and make a wrong assumption about their beliefs. Later, he realizes that their teaching is solid after he understands the context for what they said. In the same way, it is important to take Exodus 9:12 in context.

The first part of the Book of Exodus describes the plight of God’s chosen people, the nation of Israel, as slaves in Egypt. When the Israelites cry out to God to save them from their oppression, he sends Moses to confront Pharaoh, the ruler of the Egyptians, and to say that God commands him to let the Israelites go. When Pharaoh repeatedly refuses to do so, God sends a series of 10 plagues on Egypt until Pharaoh finally acquiesces. Exodus 7:1-4 says:

Then the LORD said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites.

Mike Winger pointed out that there are several times apart from Exodus 9:12 when the writer of Exodus refers to Pharaoh’s heart hardening. Exodus 7:13 says, “Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.”

In this example, Pharaoh’s heart is becoming hard on its own apart from any act on the part of God. “This is important to recognize,” said Winger, “because this matters when we understand the ‘causal nature’ of what happened to Pharaoh’s heart.”

Tennessee Church Showcases Tyre Nichols’ Photography

Janna Firestone

March 1, 2023

tyre nichols photography — Screengrab via FOX13

Less than two months after the tragic death of Tyre Nichols, his photography is on display at Saint George’s Episcopal Church in Germantown, Tennessee.

The church’s rector, Dorothy Wells, has a daughter the same age as Nichols. She followed his story closely and saw photographs that he had taken and posted on social media.

As a tribute to his life, Wells had the photographs printed and framed. They’re on display just outside the church’s sanctuary. After the exhibit closes, she plans to send the prints to Nichols’ family.

Photography: Seeing the World Through ‘The Eyes of the Photographer’

“I thought that a good way to honor him and to honor his memory was to be able to see the world through the eyes of the photographer,” Wells shared.

A local news station covered the exhibit and the beautiful intentions behind its display.

Wells reflected on her favorite images—especially of bridges. She said, “Perhaps that’s an image to help remember him by. That we are in a fractured community, and we need bridges to understanding, peace, justice and compassion. That seemed like a very good image to describe that.”

The church’s congregants have viewed and appreciated the works of art. But the display has reached much further than the church’s walls. Visitors have traveled great distances to see the photographs.

“Very real passions and very real goals. He is a very good photographer,” Wells offered. “To be able to see him as a human being and not just a victim of what happened that evening, I thought was very important, and very important for our worshiping community as well.”

While the exhibit of photographs was scheduled through February, Wells expects to extend the display through part of March.

Tyre Nichols Died Days After Police Beating

Video footage showed Tyre Nichols, a Black man, being beaten by police officers after a traffic stop on Jan. 7 in Memphis.

Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner said that the murder of Tyre Nichols was a “callous disregard and indifference to the value of human life.”

Five police officers face criminal charges for Nichols’ death. This case is a bit different from other historical cases of police brutality in that many cases involve white officers and Black victims. In the case of Nichols, all five of the officers were also Black.

FrontStage BackStage Podcast Guest Jonathan Murphy

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