Voice of the Martyrs Prayer Guide Expands List of Nations Hostile to Gospel

January 20, 2023

BARTLESVILLE, Okla. (BP) – The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) 2023 Prayer Guide expands by four its list of “hostile” nations where Christians are regularly persecuted for their faith despite governmental efforts to protect them.

The African nations of Benin, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Mozambique and Niger join 19 additional nations globally where Christians are routinely persecuted by family, community members and/or extremist groups, VOM said in releasing its guide designed to mobilize prayer for persecuted Christians.

“The ongoing spread of radical Islam on the African continent is increasing the daily danger for our Christian brothers and sisters there,” VOM spokesperson Todd Nettleton said in announcing the release of the prayer guide. “The first thing that persecuted Christians ask Christians in free nations to do for them is to pray.

“With this newly updated VOM Global Prayer Guide, every Christian can be equipped to pray with a real understanding of the needs and specific ways to pray.”

Members of a church in Boga, DRC, raise their hands to indicate having lost a family member to Allied Democratic Forces attacks. VOM photo

In addition to the 23 nations classified as hostile, VOM’s prayer guide classifies 41 nations as “restricted,” where Christians face governmental as well as societal persecution.

The prayer guide, a free resource available here, provides in-depth information about the plight of persecuted Christians in designated countries, thereby equipping Christians to pray for specific and pertinent concerns.

“Every Christian should have a copy of the VOM Global Prayer Guide in their prayer closet or beside their Bible” Nettleton said, “where they will be reminded to pray for these brothers and sisters throughout 2023.”

VOM expanded its list of hostile nations to mobilize prayer for Christians in nations where radical Islam is driving increased persecution.

In Benin, which VOM said is considered the birthplace of voodoo, Christianity is seen in the north as a threat to traditional beliefs. The west African country of about 13 million people is about 30 percent Christian, 8 percent of whom are evangelical, VOM said.

In the DRC, Islamic groups “severely persecute” Christians, “raiding villages, destroying churches and brutally killing hundreds of believers,” VOM said in its press release.

Mozambique, an eastern African nation of 31 million, is suffering an Islamic insurgency that began in 2019 and “continues to create chaos and instability in the northern province of Cabo Del Gado,” VOM said.

Christian Broadcasting Network Towers Vandalized

Scott Barkley

January 20, 2023

radio towers vandalized — Stu Epperson, Jr., founder and CEO of Truth Network, sits on one of the felled radio towers in a photo that went with his Jan. 10 Facebook post. An FBI investigation is underway into the matter. Photo from Facebook

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (BP) — Local police and the FBI are investigating mysterious damage done to three radio towers belonging to a Christian radio network.

The founder/CEO of a North Carolina-based Christian broadcasting company reported in a Jan. 10 Facebook post that several of the company’s towers had been destroyed by an unknown party.

“Today has been one of the toughest days of my broadcasting life,” wrote Stu Epperson, Jr., of Truth Network. “…Criminal investigation is underway.”

The towers, located near Winston-Salem, were destroyed in a span of less than three weeks, COO Michael Carbone told Baptist Press.

The destruction comes amid nationwide concern over attacks on substations and the electric power grid. At least 10 occurrences have taken place in the Pacific Northwest in addition to a Dec. 3 attack on a Moore County, N.C., substation that left 45,000 customers without power.

Carbone, however, does not think those attacks are related to Truth Network’s vandalism.

“I don’t think they’re connected,” he said. “This seems to be a personal act of malice.”

The loss of the towers affected two signals – one AM and the other FM – to a Winston-Salem station. Temporary repairs are underway, with plans to build new towers in a different location.

Truth Network’s scope includes 20 radio stations in over a dozen cities. Programming is also available online at truthnetwork.com.

The first tower went out Dec. 22. The outage was initially attributed to weather as heavy rains delayed a personal inspection. When a second tower was lost on Jan. 5, Truth contacted local police and the FBI.

“We knew then it wasn’t an accident,” said Carbone.

Officials found that a guide wire at one of the anchor points has been sheared by a specialized cutting tool.

“This wasn’t kids having a good time,” Carbone said. “It was done at 10 in the morning with something you wouldn’t find in your daddy’s toolbox.”

The company hired police as security to watch over the last tower in the field. Hours after the police left on Jan. 10, it was also destroyed. No further information is available due to the ongoing investigation.

The company had not received any specific threats leading up to the damage, Carbone said.

In his Facebook post, Epperson, Jr. asked for readers to pray “for the person responsible to come to faith in Christ, for law enforcement and for our team as the rush to get us back on the air.”

In addition to founding Truth Network in 2000, Epperson, Jr., is on the board of directors for Salem Media Group, which was founded by his father, Stu Epperson, Sr., as Salem Communications.

This article originally appeared here.

After Roe, 50th March for Life a Turning Point for National, State Abortion Protests

Adelle M Banks

January 20, 2023

WASHINGTON (RNS) — Frank Pavone, an anti-abortion activist who was until recently a Catholic priest, addressed a small crowd outside a Planned Parenthood clinic on the eve of this year’s March for Life, the annual demonstration against the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, and repeated what has become a frequently posed question in the wake of Roe’s reversal in June.

“Many people in the recent months have been asking, ‘Will there still be a March for Life in Washington?'” said Pavone, who was defrocked in November for “persistent disobedience” of his bishop’s orders to stop his political activity and for what the Vatican called “blasphemous” social media posts. “And our response as a movement has been: ‘Yes, of course there will be. There needs to be. We continue marching simply because abortion continues killing.’”

There will be a 50th anniversary March for Life on the National Mall on Friday (Jan. 20), with an appearance by evangelist Franklin Graham and other prominent religious figures. But since last summer’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision allowed states to determine their own abortion policies, much of the focus of the abortion fight has moved to statehouses across the country.

In North Carolina, where abortion is permitted through 20 weeks of pregnancy, about 1,000 anti-abortion protesters descended on Raleigh to pray and march past the governor’s house, for the state’s 25th annual March for Life.

“Because of the overturn — thank God — of Roe versus Wade, now it’s on the state level,” said Angela Harrigan, who traveled by bus with dozens of others from St. Therese Catholic Church in Mooresville, where she is a Respect Life Committee co-chair. “We want our actions to be witnessed at a state level, that we’re for life and Jesus is the author of life.”

In Michigan, where voters approved Proposal 3, a constitutional amendment preserving the state’s abortion rights, in November, anti-abortion advocates say the energy spent fighting the proposal afforded them less time to organize to attend the national march this year.

“We had amazing, really pro-life laws that, with the overturning of Roe, would go into effect,” said Kathleen Wilson, who coordinates the Archdiocese of Detroit’s Pro-Life and Project Rachel Ministries. “So we went from fighting for that and having so many great laws in place, to now being one of the most extreme permissive states with what’s in our constitution.” She described the success of Proposal 3 as “kind of a gut punch.”

Christen Pollo, executive director of Protect Life Michigan, plans to attend the national march but is also intent on showing the governor and legislators “that we are not giving up in the wake of Proposal 3” with a significant turnout for the Roe v. Wade Memorial March at the state Capitol on Jan. 28.

“My organization usually takes three busloads of college students and we didn’t this year,” she said of the national march. “We’re actually holding one in Michigan now to represent the fact that this battle has now returned to the state. So I’m interested in seeing what the crowd sizes will be like this weekend, given that I know many states are doing that same thing.”

Ten years ago, when she was new to her role, national March for Life President Jeanne Mancini said she expected marchers to continue their annual pilgrimage to Washington “until we work ourselves out of a job.” But days before the national gathering, Mancini said the mission is far from complete.

At Boston-Area Church, a Theology Lab Tackles Complex Topics With Humility, Curiosity

Bob Smietana

January 20, 2023

(RNS) — The word “evangelical” is a bit like the word “apocalypse.”

Both have theological meanings understood by pastors and church insiders. But the general public has other ideas.

“For the specialists, apocalypse means ‘revelation’ or ‘unveiling,’” said the Rev. Dennis Edwards, dean of North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago. “But for the masses, apocalypse means disaster.”

The same is true for the word “evangelical.” While that word has a set of theological connotations about the Bible and Jesus, for most Americans today it’s synonymous with conservative Republican Christians.

“I don’t think we’re ever going to recapture the real meaning of apocalypse,” said Edwards. “I sometimes wonder if we can ever recapture the sense of evangelical — meaning something that comes from the ‘evangel’ or good news, the message that Jesus has come to rescue humanity.”

Edwards was one of the featured speakers in an online theology lab run by Highrock Church, a multiethnic congregation that’s part of a network of churches in the Boston area that bear the same name. The lab, a series of online discussions that began in the fall of 2022 and run through this spring, is designed as an exercise in theological formation for laypeople, said Scott Rice, a theologian in residence at Highrock.

The idea is to give church members — and other interested Christians — a broader understanding of their faith and the way Christianity is lived out in the world.

The church has held past discussions about Black theology and Asian American theology. For the current series, Rice said, group members wanted to talk about American evangelicalism, in part because Highrock belongs to a denomination — the Evangelical Covenant Church — with the word right there in its name. It’s a reality that has become more complicated as the term “evangelical” has become more politicized and identified with conservative politics, especially under former President Donald Trump.

He said that while not all church members identify with that term, the church has been influenced by the broader evangelical movement.

“We are a community where some identify as evangelical and some do not,” he said. “Some want to keep using the word and some do not.”

The discussions are held online so people from different congregations in the network can take part in what he called a learning community. Rice and the Rev. Meghan DeJong, a pastor at Highrock, help lead the discussion with speakers and moderate the follow-up question and answer sessions. Then participants break up into small groups to discuss what they have learned.

“Folks have a chance to process together,“ said Rice. “There is no one saying this is exactly what you have to believe to be part of the community.”

YouVersion Bible App Hires Former Facebook Exec To Fuel Growth

Bob Smietana

January 20, 2023

(RNS) — This past Sunday (Jan. 15), more than 12 million people turned on their smartphones to open up the Good Book. It was the highest ever daily engagement in the nearly 15-year history of the YouVersion Bible app.

If Bobby Gruenewald, the Oklahoma-based pastor who has overseen the free Bible app since the beginning, has his way, that number will soon become routine.

“That’s been an aggressive goal, but that’s the trajectory that we’re mapping towards,” said Gruenewald, innovations pastor at Life.Church, one of the nation’s largest congregations.

Bobby Gruenewald. Photo courtesy of Life.Church

Gruenewald first thought of the idea of an online Bible while in a security line at Chicago’s airport in 2006. YouVersion began as a website, then transitioned to smartphones when the app store for the iPhone launched in July 2008.

The app hit 500 million downloads in 2021. In a video conference call on Thursday, Gruenewald said he hopes to pass 1 billion downloads in the next five years. To help continue the app’s growth, Gruenewald said YouVersion recently added some new leadership staff, including Nona Jones, who until recently was an executive at Meta, where she had been head of global faith partnerships at Facebook.

Jones, whose husband is a pastor, has served as a teaching partner for YouVersion and has authored several books on faith.

Some of the most recent growth for YouVersion, which Gruenewald said offers translations in 1,900 languages, has been in Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America. In December, Life.Church launched a new, low-data version of the app in several African countries. The new version is easier to use offline and takes up less space, making it better for low-capacity devices. YouVersion has also seen growth in Europe, which had not been a growth area in the past.

Hiring Jones and two other leaders from Fortune 500 companies is part of the larger plan to grow YouVersion. Currently, 165 people work on the app, said Gruenewald, and there are plans to double the team in the next few years. About 1,000 volunteers also help with the app, which offers 27,500 Bible reading plans in more than 80 languages, along with videos, a popular verse of the day and other functions.

YouVersion engagement statistics for 2022. Courtesy image

Sundays remain the highest-use day of the week, often around the hours when church services are normally held. Usage remains high at the beginning of the week, then tends to drop off by Friday and Saturday. Historically, there’s usually been a spike in the month of January, often fueled by New Year’s resolutions.

Gruenewald said he feels like YouVersion—which is a ministry of the church and supported by donors and church funds—is just getting started and plans to invest heavily so it can continue to grow.

“There’s a lot of people that we want to be able to reach with the Bible,” he said.

This article originally appeared here.

Two Years After US Recognized Uyghur Genocide, Rights Groups Warn Time Is Running Out

Kathryn Post

January 20, 2023

Uyghur genocide — Members of the Uyghur community living in Turkey hold banners while protesting against China, in Istanbul, Feb. 26, 2021. (AP Photo/Omer Kuscu)

(RNS) — Two years since then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called China’s repression of the Uyghurs a genocide, rights groups and political leaders continue to demand an end to China’s human rights abuses.

“Time is running out,” said Salih Hudayar, prime minister of the East Turkistan Government in Exile and leader of the East Turkistan National Movement, at a news conference Thursday (Jan. 19). “If China’s genocidal policies and colonialism continue, Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples … will cease to exist as a people within 50 years.”

The ETGE is an exile government that sees itself as representing East Turkistan, a region China calls “Xinjiang,” meaning “New Territory.” It is the historic home of many Uyghurs, who are predominantly Sunni Muslim, and other ethnically Turkic people. Both the ETGE and East Turkistan National Movement advocate for the end of Chinese occupation in the region, which was most recently colonized by China in 1949.

Mamtimin Ala, strategic adviser of the ETGE, said the world has an “inescapable, sacred and humanistic responsibility” to stop the genocide. Speakers at Thursday’s conference said the violence can only be halted via East Turkistan independence. They noted that while the overwhelming majority of Turkic people from the region practice Sunni Islam, the movement for independence is not tied to any form of Islamic extremism.

Ghulam Yaghma, president of the ETGE, announced that the exile government and East Turkistan National Movement would soon be releasing a 300-page report to combat Chinese propaganda about East Turkistan and the Uyghurs. A nine-page summary of the report is available online.

Dr. Aziz Sulayman, from left, acting foreign minister of the East Turkistan Government in Exile; Salih Hudayar, prime minister of the East Turkistan Government in Exile and leader of the East Turkistan National Movement; Ben Lowsen, U.S. Army (retired) and independent researcher; Ghulam Yaghma, president of the East Turkistan Government in Exile; and Mamtimin Ala, strategic adviser of the East Turkistan Government in Exile and author of “Worse Than Death: The Uyghur Genocide,” participate in a news conference Jan. 19, 2023. Video screen grab

China has long targeted Uyghurs in the East Turkistan/Xinjiang region, where there is a history of tensions between the group and the Chinese majority Han people. In response to the Uyghur independence movement and an uptick in Uyghur attacks against civilians in 2014 — which East Turkistan groups claim were actually carried out by Chinese intelligence operatives — President Xi Jinping began detaining reportedly more than 1 million Uyghers in prisonlike camps for alleged infractions, ranging from having more than two children to wearing a headscarf.

Despite global attention on the plight of the Uyghurs, China has unilaterally denied accusations of genocide and forced labor. While the government acknowledged the existence of the camps, it called them “vocational education and training centers” and said they were designed to promote counterterrorism. The government maintained that the centers closed in 2019. The United Nations has been unable to confirm whether the camps are still in use, but in a 2022 report, the U.N. contended that “the legal and policy framework that underpins the operation” remains and could be reengaged at any time.

The U.N. report detailed mass detention in camps where Uyghurs and other Muslim-majority groups endured forced labor, birth control, abortions and unidentified injections. Detainees interviewed for the report also described torture, sexual violence and being in a state of constant hunger and surveillance. They said they were forbidden from speaking their languages or practicing their religion and were subjected to overt political indoctrination.

The Xinjiang province in western China where many Uighurs live. Map courtesy of Creative Commons

The Xinjiang province in western China where many Uyghurs live. Map courtesy of Creative Commons

Since January 2021, other governments, including Canada, France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, have joined the U.S. in condemning China’s actions as genocide. In December 2021, Congress passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which presumes that products made in Xinjiang were manufactured with forced labor and blocks them from entering the United States. But the leaders at Thursday’s conference said those actions fell short.

“The only way forward for people of East Turkistan … is to restore our independence and our freedom,” said Hudayar. “That is the only way to truly end the genocide and ensure the survival of our people.”

This article originally appeared here.

R.C. Sproul: Principles and Situations

R.C. Sproul

January 20, 2023

Every so often, I run across a news story that’s emblematic of our times. Recently, I read of a case wherein a woman contracted with a man to be a surrogate mother. The man agreed to pay her to bear the children, who were conceived by in vitro fertilization using the man’s sperm and eggs donated from another woman. Triplets were conceived, but the man wants to abort one of them, and the contract he signed gives him the legal right to do so. The woman does not want to abort the child, so she has sued to prevent it and has offered to raise the unwanted child herself. But the man does not want that, and now thinks it would be better to put the child up for adoption himself.

The commodification of children, the nonchalant manner in which the man wants to get rid of one of the babies, and other issues raised by this case send chills down one’s spine. Here we see the logical results of what happens when human beings have no fixed, objective standard of right and wrong.

Modern science and technology have introduced questions that the church has never had to deal with before. When it comes to many biomedical issues, we don’t have the advantage of two thousand years of careful research, debate, and insight into complex and weighty problems. The availability of life-support systems, cloning, in vitro fertilization, and other technologies have introduced new dilemmas and pose new ethical questions.

It’s not that we don’t have basic principles to apply to these issues, for Scripture does provide them. The difficulty lies in applying these principles to new situations we’ve never faced before. And we aren’t facing abstract theoretical questions but life-or-death questions that must be answered in concrete instances. Pastors, for example, are often called to help determine when to extend and when to end life support for a patient.

Without clear, normative principles, we’re left rudderless in these situations. Our decisions apply principles in specific situations, but the situations cannot dictate the decisions. And we can’t decide to make no decision. To make no decision is to make a decision.

We need principles that are absolute and normative; otherwise, the decisions we make will be arbitrary, and we’ll have no basis for distinguishing right decisions from wrong decisions. Our human-enacted laws can be helpful, but they can never provide absolute norms. This is particularly clear in societies where the laws are enacted according to popular will. We will find conflict and contradiction between the laws of one society wherein laws are made by an elected body and the laws of another society that makes laws in a similar way. In the United States, abortion is legal. In Chile, abortion is illegal. Does this mean that it is ethically right to abort American babies but wrong to abort Chilean babies? Was it ethically wrong to have an abortion before Roe v. Wade but ethically proper after Roe v. Wade? The answer is yes if popularly enacted laws and court decisions are the absolute norm.

Only the character of God as revealed in His law provides us with absolute norms for ethical issues. It gives us fixed principles to apply in specific situations. God’s law is both situational and non-situational. It’s situational because it must always be applied in specific situations, but it’s non-situational because the situation itself never dictates the good. The unchanging principle from the law determines the good.

In popular culture, we see a definition of right and wrong that says we must do what love requires in any situation. Why not let two men or two women get married? we are asked. After all, they love each other. How is it loving to bring a child into a situation of poverty? we are often asked in the abortion debate.

On the one hand, it’s correct that we must always do what love requires. Love is the linchpin of God’s law, the very fulfillment of the commandments (Rom. 13:10). But love isn’t a vacuous feeling; it’s something objective. Love is defined by God Himself, for Scripture tells us that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). And the God who is love has given us a law that defines and applies what love looks like in concrete situations. For instance, Paul lays out the principle that we must “walk in love,” but then he immediately tells us that “sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints” (Eph. 5:2–3). God defines love as being the rejection of sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness. Anything that includes such things cannot be love even if the designation of love is claimed.

In most ethical decisions, we must apply more than one principle. This requires wisdom, but we won’t be prepared to balance these principles unless we know them. That’s why we must continue to study the law and the principles revealed therein, principles that are not subject to the shifting sands of relativism. At the final judgment, we will have to answer for what we have done with this law, for we are the creatures and God is the Creator. He has the absolute right to demand from His creatures what He defines as right. The will of the creature must submit itself to the will of the Creator, and if we don’t bow to His lordship, we will be judged accordingly.

God’s law is the absolute, objective norm that is to govern the behavior of all people. It’s not a norm hidden from us, but it has been revealed. So, we have the responsibility to know and do what righteousness requires.

This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.

4 Wins When a Leader Takes an Extended Break

Eric Geiger

January 20, 2023

thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

When I became senior pastor of Mariners Church, a four-week extended break for the senior pastor was the existing practice of the church. And I am so thankful. I recently returned from my third study break and have learned that taking an extended break each year is fruitful for me, for my team, for the church, and for the future. Whether leading in a ministry or marketplace environment, time away is healthy for you and for the team.

1. The leader

Leading is sometimes thrilling and sometimes painful, but it is always tiring. Continuing to push through the grind of leadership results in exhaustion and diminished health – physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Exhausted leaders make poor decisions and tend to get frustrated more quickly. Time away to read, rest, think, and play can rejuvenate the leader. On my study break, I spend lots of time with Jesus in His Word, take more walks and bike rides, and enjoy extra time with my wife and daughters. I return from study break in a better place and this is good for the people I serve. They get a better me.

2. The team

Over-reliance on the leader hampers the growth of the team. When the leader takes an extended break, others on the team are placed in positions where they must make decisions, respond, and plan and execute without the leader’s involvement. This is good for the team. It increases their capability, their capacity, and their confidence.

3. The ministry/organization

When a leader takes an extended break, inevitably the leader is able to think more creatively and strategically. For example, in his book No Rules Rules, Reed Hastings of Netflix shares how some of the team’s best thinking happens during long breaks. I find this true for me. On study break, I am able to prayerfully map out the teaching for the next year. By doing so, the church benefits from teaching series that are coordinated with our team over months with the church’s spiritual development in mind.

4. The future

The leader won’t lead in the ministry or organization forever and extended breaks help both the leader and the organization learn this. Kenton Beshore, my predecessor, shared with me that it was through his annual study breaks that he learned to let go of leading – a discipline he needed to develop before he could navigate succession conversations. The leader stepping away from the role for a break also helps the organization learn to live and move without the leader.

Some leaders fear that if they take an extended break that the people will learn “they don’t need me.” If they learn that, this is really good news! It means you have led in such a way that not everything depends on you. It means the ministry or organization is bigger than you. Well done. Fight that fear by taking a break. You, the team, and the whole ministry/organization will benefit.

This article on the benefits of an extended break originally appeared here, and are used by permission.

5 Ways to Activate Faith Over Fear

Dan Reiland

January 20, 2023

These are uncommon days when fear can wear down even the most courageous, positive, and level-headed leaders. More than ever, we need people who are leading from faith. The constant bombarding of messages with looming news is exhausting to absorb, and there is no way to escape it. And candidly, we should not escape it. COVID-19 is a reality, and we have the opportunity to lead our families and congregations through it with grace and poise.

This isn’t our time to turtle up, pull back, and hunker down. It’s our time to stand up, be strong, and shine brightly in the darkness. In fact, the stories of online services have been very encouraging!

Leaders are concerned about losing momentum for physical attendance in a culture that already attends church irregularly at best. But fear is the worst approach; leading from faith is the best.

Acknowledging the reality is needed, but then asking the question, “How might God want us to use this for His glory and the good of the Church?’ is a better way to address the situation.

Rather than leading from faith, leading from fear, even a quiet, subtle fear, drains you of energy, and discourages your soul.

Leading from fear results in:

1) Leading defensively.

The result of leading from a defensive position is trying to protect what remains good rather than helping solve the problem, and thereby taking new and positive territory.

It’s impossible to completely avoid some defensive leadership because whatever the situation may be, it often changes rapidly. In the case of the Coronavirus, it changes at lightning speed.

The goal is to do everything you can to get out in front.

2) Leading reactively.

Leading reactively is a sister to leading defensively.

The difference is that reactive leadership is often hasty due to pressure, lacking data, and being unprepared. The result is poor decisions.

The remedy is to slow down just a little. We can’t be indecisive in crisis, but sometimes an hour or two makes all the difference between a poor, average, or good decision.

3) Leading thoughtlessly.

You can see the connectedness in all three results of leading from fear.

When insecurity gets added to the mix, reactive and defensive culminates in leading thoughtlessly. Here’s what I mean by that.

You absorb so many voices, and that combined with pressure from the need to move quickly is a recipe for mistakes.

For example, this might cause you to choose a course of action because the big church down the street did it, rather than also doing the hard work of thinking your own thoughts in the matter.

The more you gain wise counsel and also think through the problem for yourself, the better and more confident leader you become.

We don’t know the timeline for this difficult season of panic, fear, and worry. But the Church is always at its best under pressure when we focus on others.

That requires faith and fortitude.

How Natural Growth Teaches About Spiritual Growth

Ray Hollenbach

January 20, 2023

I think telling the same joke over and over again somehow makes it funnier. Here’s one of my favorites: when I visit friends with a newborn baby I take the child in my arms and stare lovingly at the infant. The baby and I coo and chat with one another. But when I hand the baby back to its mother, I strike the most serious posture possible. “I’m so sorry,” my voice is filled with deep concern, “but I think your child is illiterate.” Hysterical, right? But it’s actually a parable about how natural growth has something to teach us about spiritual growth.

How Natural Growth Teaches About Spiritual Growth

It gets worse. Not only do I think my comedic stylings rival those of Jack Black, I also think my philosophical depth rivals Kierkegaard. Each one of us is born fully human. Each of us has the potential for relationships filled with love, kindness, mercy, and grace. And each of us is born a complete idiot.

Bart Barber Addresses Costs to SBC Sexual Abuse Hotline; SBC Pastor Calls President’s Words ‘Hypocritical’

Jesse T. Jackson

January 19, 2023

On Tuesday (Jan. 17), Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) president Bart Barber tweeted a video addressing the cost of the SBC sexual abuse hotline hosted and answered by Guidepost Solutions.

Questions surrounding the hotline arose shortly after the Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force (ARITF) released an update regarding the role and function of the hotline on January 9.

The update was given after the hotline’s processes were brought into question by SBC abuse survivor and advocate Christa Brown. Specifically, Brown questioned whether the role that Rachel Denhollendar, a prominent advocate, lawyer, and abuse survivor herself, is playing in the SBC constitutes a conflict of interest.

Last year, Tom Buck, SBC pastor of First Baptist Church in Lindale, TX, voiced concern about whether the sexual abuse hotline was functioning in a way that would produce the desired results. Buck’s concerns were raised after his wife, Jennifer, was told to call the hotline and report that people affiliated with SBC entities leaked an unreleased draft of a personal article, which she authored and included details of her sexual abuse.

Jennifer Buck’s Sexual Abuse Hotline Experience

Jennifer’s leaked draft was used to threaten her husband after he confronted another SBC pastor who had a person serving as a deacon in his church who had previously committed sexual abuse, which is a violation of a resolution passed by the SBC in 2021 titled “On Abuse And Pastoral Qualifications.” The resolution states that “any person who has committed sexual abuse is permanently disqualified from holding the office of pastor,” including “all positions of church leadership.”

Jennifer reached out to SBC president Bart Barber when she didn’t receive any follow-up from the sexual abuse hotline. In a letter to Barber, Jennifer shared that she had reached out to the SBC Executive Committee, and they informed her that “they had not received any information from the hotline and that there was no investigation.”

The Executive Committee reportedly told Jennifer that Guidepost Solutions passes sexual abuse hotline calls on to the Credentials Committee. Jennifer told Barber she contacted them, and “they too said they had received no information and there was no investigation.” Due to the lack of response, Jennifer asked Barber to meet with her so he could hear her story in person.

In a reply to Jennifer, Barber apologized for what she has endured, telling her, “I believe that any survivor of abuse has the right to determine whether their story remains private or is shared.”

However, although Barber stated that she is “important,” he was “not presently able to schedule a meeting” with her because he was focusing on “any instances of criminal activity, particularly as perpetrated against minors or the disabled by Southern Baptist churches or church leaders.”

Barber explained, “It seems to me that this set of priorities delivers the help most needed to the people least able to help themselves.”

Tom Buck Asks How Much Sexual Abuse Hotline Costs

After Brown voiced concern about the sexual abuse hotline and after Jennifer experienced inadequate results, Buck asked Barber and ARITF member Mike Keahbone how much the “SBC is paying monthly for Guidepost” to operate the hotline.

Christian Worship Service Prohibited in Indonesia

Morning Star News

January 19, 2023

SURABAYA, Indonesia (Morning Star News) – A church in Indonesia on Jan. 8 was prohibited from holding a Sunday service in front of a city hall building, where it had gone after losing its prior worship venue in a mall, sources said.

Following opposition to the church’s services in a mall in Medan, North Sumatra Province, the head of the Medan Public Order Enforcer (Satpol Pamong Praja, or SPP), Rakhmat Harahap, and his unit banned an Elim Church Indonesia Christian (GEKI) congregation from holding worship near the Medan City Hall.

Harahap said the church had no permission to worship in front of the Medan City Hall, just as officials earlier had said they had no permission to worship at the Suzuya Mall in the Marella area of Medan.

A video appearing on social media shows a row of Medan Municipal SPP members with congregation members in the middle of traffic on Kapten Maulana Street, in Medan Petisah Sub-District’s Petisah Tengah, Medan. The site is about 150 meters from Medan City Hall.

The video shows a church leader asking Harahap to reveal who ordered the ban on the congregation from holding the Sunday service, to which Harahap replies, “I don’t have to let you know.”

“We need to know,” the church leader replies, then raises his hand saying, “This man has an order from his commandant.”

A woman is heard saying, “There will be a wedding—we have to bring the needed things,” before unresponsive officers.

A video narrator states that Public Order Enforcer staff prohibited church members from parking vehicles at the site and kept them from opening car doors.

In the video, Harahap says the site near the city hall was not allocated for religious service and so was opposed by area people. Harahap on Jan. 14 told online newspaper TribunMedan that the GEKI congregation lacked permission to hold a religious service at the site. He added that there is no ban on Christian worship, but that all parties must comply with legislation.

The Rev. Henrek Lokra, executive secretary of justice and peace of the Communion of Christian Churches (PGI), told Morning Star News that the GEKI congregation previously rented a room at Suzuya Mall for worship, which ended abruptly.

“They had rented a room in Suzuya Mall but were opposed by a group of people,” Lokra said. “Later on, the local administration opposed it as well, since the mall, they say, is not allocated as a place of worship.”

Tennessee Pastor Is Only Survivor of Texas Plane Crash That Killed 4 Church Members

Jessica Lea

January 19, 2023

Pastor Kennon Vaughan is the lone survivor of a Texas plane crash that occurred Tuesday morning and killed four members of his church: the executive pastor, an elder and two staff members. Harvest Church, located in the Memphis suburb of Germantown, Tennessee, has been posting regular updates about Vaughan’s physical condition.

“Kennon was given an epidural last night which really helped to ease his pain,” said the church in its latest update Thursday at 12:28 p.m. “An hour ago his doctors said that Kennon was progressing as expected and he was able to sit up in a chair and drink fluids as well. The continued prayer is against any infections as his internal injuries continue to heal. Thank you again for your prayers as they are cherished by our church and the Vaughan family.”

Texas Plane Crash Kills 4, Injures 1

On the morning of Tuesday, Jan. 17, a single-engine Piper PA-46 crashed outside of Yoakum, Texas, as it was preparing to land at the Yoakum Municipal Airport. On the plane with Kennon Vaughan were executive pastor Bill Garner, church elder Steve Tucker, and church staff members Tyler Patterson and Tyler Springer. Tucker owned the plane and was its pilot.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) are investigating the Texas plane crash, which the FAA currently says occurred “under unknown circumstances.” According to ABC News, residents say the weather conditions Tuesday morning were foggy.

On Tuesday at 12 p.m., Harvest posted on its website, announcing the deaths of Garner, Tucker, Patterson and Springer. “All were beloved members of Harvest Church and their loss currently leaves us without the proper words to articulate our grief,” said the church. “Kennon Vaughan is in stable condition in a Texas hospital. We ask for your prayers and kindly request that the families of all involved are given the proper space to grieve at this time.”

Harvest said that its worship center would be open from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. “for a time of prayer and mourning with Harvest elders, staff and fellow members.”

Dr. Kennon Vaughan is the lead pastor of Harvest Church, according to an archived biography on the church’s website. He is a husband, father of five boys, and the founder of Downline Ministries in Memphis, Tennessee. Downline’s mission “is to encourage a restoration of biblical discipleship in and through the local church by equipping men and women to know God’s Word and make disciples.”

In his bio, Vaughan said, “It is such a privilege to pastor a church so loving, so authentic, and so deeply committed to God’s Word and the Great Commission, and I stand in awe at the work God is doing in and through Harvest to make disciples in our community and to the ends of the Earth.”

Further updates from Harvest Church reveal that Vaughan was intubated and underwent surgery Tuesday night for “significant internal injuries.” The surgery was successful, and the pastor was able to come off the breathing tube and communicate to his wife through writing. Harvest did state, however, that Vaughan would require further surgeries.

“As of this evening Kennon is resting and it seems that some of his pain is easing for which we are incredibly grateful,” said the church on the night of Jan. 18. “Please pray for God’s hand to continually bring healing to Kennon’s body and for the strength of God’s spirit to sustain Kathryn who remains by his side. Kennon has been communicative today and undoubtedly feels your prayers.”

Conservative Baptist Network Report Downplays SBC Sex Abuse Crisis, Raises Alarms About CRT, Feminism, LGBTQ+

Dale Chamberlain

January 19, 2023

In May 2022, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) made publicly available a bombshell report by Guidepost Solutions regarding the denomination’s systemic failure to properly respond to sexual abuse allegations over the period of 20 years.

Now the Conservative Baptist Network (CBN) has released a report of its own, outlining what they believe to be the failures of the SBC to respond to the threats of, among other things, critical race theory and the rise of women in pastoral leadership. The report also called into question whether the sexual abuse crisis is as much a cause for alarm as many SBC leaders believe it to be.

Since its creation in 2020, the CBN has been a vocal and consistent detractor of SBC leadership, often accusing them of various improprieties that the CBN believes are pulling the SBC away from its traditional values and convictions.

While the CBN mobilized a large number of Southern Baptists around the vision to “change the direction” of the denomination in the run-up to the 2022 annual meeting in Anaheim, California, the candidates they endorsed for various high level leadership positions, including SBC President and President of the SBC Pastors Conference, failed to win those elections.

Nevertheless, the CBN boasts that their “grassroots effort has grown significantly since its founding in 2020, with individuals and churches from all across the nation linking arms to stand together for the biblical gospel.”

The CBN released its comprehensive, though “not exhaustive,” list of grievances with the SBC on Wednesday, Jan. 18. Titled “The Evidences of Concern Within the Southern Baptist Convention,” the 49-page report was prepared by Klayton A. Carson and “a team of researchers from the Conservative Baptist Network.”

CBN Criticizes CRT in the SBC

With regard to the issue of critical race theory, the report castigated the SBC for not taking a harder stance against CRT, pointing to the contentious Resolution 9 that was passed in 2019 and which referred to CRT and Intersectionality as “analytical tools” that “can aid in evaluating a variety of human experiences,” even though they are “subordinate to Scripture” and “alone are insufficient.”

The report also pointed out a number of key institutional leaders in the SBC whom the CBN believes are responsible for the alleged spread of CRT throughout the denomination. Those leaders include Southern Baptist Seminary professor Jarvis Williams, Southeastern Seminary professor Walter Strickland, Southeastern Seminary President Danny Akin, SBC pastor Kevin Smith, former Send Network president Dhati Lewis, former dean at Southwestern Seminary Jeffrey Bingham, and, somewhat surprisingly, Southern Baptist Seminary president Al Mohler.

Specifically, the CBN criticized Mohler for publicly speaking against CRT on his podcast, while when it came to Resolution 9, he “did not speak against it, or offer an amendment to it, on the floor at the Annual Meeting prior to the resolution’s adoption.”

The report also named former SBC president Ed Litton for his racial reconciliation work with the Unify Project, the tactics of which the CBN believes to be “problematic.” The CBN also cited Litton’s sermon plagiarism scandal later in the report.

CBN on Women in Leadership

Turning from its concerns about race, the CBN report then focused on what it believes to be a significant departure within the SBC from its historic view on gender roles and women in leadership.

Kenyan Faith Leaders Fight To Preserve ‘Sunday Best’ at Church

Fredrick Nzwili

January 19, 2023

Kenya church dress codes — Kenyans dance, sing and clap during a service at the Salvation Spirit of East Africa Church in the Kibera neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya, Aug. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — The quaint term “Sunday best” is still in current use in this East African country to refer to the choice of attire worn to church. At church on Sundays — and at mosques at Friday prayer — a well-fitting dress, a well-pressed shirt or the hijab is common among worshippers.

But in practice, dressing up to attend worship has become controversial, with some religious leaders in the predominantly Christian country demanding their followers abide by dress codes as others campaign for more choice.

While some analysts say “freedom of dress” is critical, especially in keeping the youth on the pews, religious leaders and scholars explain that the highest kind of reverence is needed in places of worship, and that how people choose their clothes should represent their religious beliefs.

The Rev. Stephen Njure, a Catholic priest in the Diocese of Eldoret, in Kenya’s west, said attendees’ dress should reflect the “image and likeness of God.” The priest, a Catholic Church historian, said that dress is instead affected by competing loyalties, including husbands who determine what their wives wear and vice versa. But Njure said worshippers must be loyal to themselves and to the church.

There are also practical considerations, said Njure. “One needs to be properly dressed so that they are not a distraction to other worshippers who want to focus on their creator,” he said.

That includes the worship leader. Pastor Nyabuto Marube of the evangelical Christian Church of Christ in Kayole, a suburb east of Nairobi, said churches allowing people to come for worship wearing whatever they choose resulted in unwelcome amounts of exposed skin or transparent fabrics.

“Preachers and pastors go through a lot when preaching in front of congregations,” he said, explaining that intervention is necessary when worshippers in miniskirts sit carefree in the front pews. He would prefer that “people going to church chose decent dress similar to what they wear in offices.”

Some church leaders are boldly instructing parishioners in what to wear. In December, the Rev. Felix Ongaka, the priest-in-charge at St. Monica Catholic Church in Kitengela, a southern suburb of Nairobi, hoisted a conspicuous banner on a church wall with pictures showing forbidden attire. He justified his action, saying, “Faith and morals are intertwined.”

The banner told male parishioners to shun ragged jeans, shorts, sweatpants and sleeveless shirts. Female worshippers are required to arrive in dresses or skirts below the knee. Those in miniskirts, skirts or dresses with slits, transparent dresses or high-heeled shoes risk being sent away. Chains, bangles and certain hairstyles are also banned.

Kenya Methodist University, meanwhile, has banned miniskits and dresses with slits above the knee, among other offending attire. Male students are not allowed to wear dreadlocks, plait their hair or wear earrings.

Kenyan Muslims pray for the last Friday in the month of Ramadan at Masjid Noor in Nairobi, Kenya, Friday, April 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Sayyid Abdul Azim)

Kenyan Muslims pray for the last Friday in the month of Ramadan at Masjid Noor in Nairobi, Kenya, April 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Sayyid Abdul Azim)

Dress codes have come up as an issue with Muslims as well, after Kenya’s defense secretary, Aden Duale, said in December that Muslim women should wear the hijab in public as part of their culture.

“Anywhere the government requires the Muslims to sit during public holidays, we will respect the Islamic culture and we will make sure our girls wear hijab,” said Duale.

4 Keys To Flourishing Small Group Friendships in 2023

Chet Gladkowski

January 19, 2023

small group friendships — Lightstock #214581

Everyone knows in their heads that friendships are important. The pandemic seemed to heighten interest in the topic of friendship. You could hardly turn on your phone or TV without a significant number of popular culture events and stories through the news and social medias related to the subject.

But the experience of many is that we’re in a pronounced decline when it comes to experiencing friendships. The May 2021 American Perspectives Survey came to the following findings about people and their friendship experiences.

Fewer close friendships than they once did.
Talking to their friends less often.
Relying less on their friends for personal support.

Small Groups are the strategic place where friendships are made. We need to be intentional about making friends and connections throughout our Small Group efforts. Here are four key steps and skills that you need to develop in order to get the most out of your Small Group friendships.

1. Vulnerability Takes Practice. Our modern, 21^st century live puts a premium on having our life together. Our teeth are straight and gleaming white. All our social media posts only talk about the success of ourselves and those around us. So, to become vulnerable, we have to practice it over and over, moving forward in step.

And just in case you’re normal, this is going to make you feel uncomfortable. The first time you try to be vulnerable it’s going to feel like someone’s pushing your guts through an emotional sausage grinder.

But like all things that we learn, it will get easier over time. If it takes practice to learn how to play a musical instrument, hit a golf ball, or drive a car, so it will take practice to become more and more vulnerable.

I don’t believe that two people have the capacity to connect unless they both have their guards down, and one of the best ways to get people to relax is to lead with vulnerability. (Will Guidara)

2. There’s No Autopilot Option. Cars and planes have autopilot capabilities. All digital devices come with defaults that will get you going. But there’s nothing inside of us that will automatically guide us along the path to building connections and friendships.

I’d venture to say that the first tools we used to develop relationships no longer work. For example, how many times did you meet someone for coffee in years gone by? Today, there’s an undercurrent of distrust. The default for many is to avoid new people and public places. We need new strategies to spend time with people.

Be creative by asking more than one person to join you. Bring along someone that they already know and trust. This will give you an opportunity to prove yourself to them. Building trust one step at a time.

The people we spend time with daily have a “very large impact” on our well-being. (Gabrielle Pfund)

3. Leverage Events. When there’s a public gathering, use that time to start building connections and relationships. Use the event as a connection point, reaching out to those on the fringes. Those who are standing alone around the edges

How Can We Welcome Kids to Big Church?

Christina Embree

January 19, 2023

Every now and then, I notice a trend in the questions, comments, and emails that we receive here at ReFocus and right now, this is the big one! Many churches are returning to worship with all ages included in the service for the entire time or for a portion of the time. And for many, that is new, which means this question is being asked: “How can we welcome children and youth into worship service times?”

When we talk about opening corporate worship times to all ages, we need to take into consideration the substance and structure of the service. Frankly, a traditional church service format is often difficult for kids to engage with. Kids are relational; services tend to be focused on the individual. Kids like to talk; services tend to encourage silent reflection. Kids like to move; services tend to lend towards sitting still…for a long time…

Before we launch into ways that we can work towards making church more welcoming to kids, we must first acknowledge this simple fact: If kids aren’t truly welcome, no strategy in the world will make them feel welcome. If they are just seen as a distraction that the parents and congregation has to put up with, then they will probably be just that, no matter how many cool things there are to do.

But if a congregation truly has at their heart a desire to welcome kids as an integral and participatory part of their worship, that heart will shine through in each tip that is employed. It really does have to start with the heart and go from there. (For more on this, check out this article – Do Not Hinder: Welcoming Kids into Worship)

Here are some practical tips for making your church service a welcoming place to kids, as well as adults while keeping the focus on Christ.

1. Welcome the kids, every week, by name – This may sound redundant, but there is much to be said for a personal greeting from a friendly face and welcome to the service.

2. Have a kids bulletin – Many churches use a bulletin for the service. A fun way to invite kids into the service is to have a bulletin just for them.

3. Create Kid’s Activity packets – Make life a little easier for mom and dad and have kids activity packets with coloring sheets, crayons and quiet activities for the kids to use during the quieter service times.

4. Provide space for parents with little ones – In the back of the sanctuary, consider putting some rocking chairs or space for parents to walk or bounce their littlest ones to sleep.

Apologetics: Should Pastors Preach for Conversions?

Timothy Paul Jones

January 19, 2023

In the churches where I first came to know Jesus Christ, no service was complete without an invitation—a time for the people in the pews to respond to the message by making their way down the aisle. Especially during weeklong revival services, “Just as I Am” inevitably ran out of verses before the preachers ran out of steam. And so, with “every head bowed, every eye closed, and no one looking around,” the preacher would call for “one more, just one more” as the pianist continued to play. As a child, I remember watching these visiting revivalists through half-closed eyes, waiting for the preacher’s furtive nod to the pianist that would bring the invitation to an end. Whatever you may think about invitations in general or about those preachers’ particular methods, one thing is clear: They weren’t afraid to preach for conversions. Preaching for conversions was part of what they did and how they lived.

Neither were the preachers and prophets whose words the Holy Spirit has preserved in the pages of the New Testament.

John the Baptist heralded the coming of Christ with a call to turn from one way of life to another (Mark 1:3-5). When Jesus made his way back to Galilee from the desert of temptation, his proclamation to the people was, “The kingdom of God is at hand! Repent and believe the good news.” (Mark 1:15). Repentance was an imperative in Simon Peter’s message on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:38). In a letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul put it this way: “We are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God!” (2 Cor 5:20). “Urge immediate decision and acceptance of the gospel terms, with public confession of Christ,” one nineteenth-century professor of preaching instructed his students in a call to preach for conversions.

When you preach for conversion, you imply that the way people are is not the way they ought to be

In a culture intoxicated with the rationalization and justification of each individual’s lifestyle, no call for “immediate decision and acceptance of the gospel terms” will ever be particularly popular. After all, to urge such decision is to declare implicitly that the way hearers are is not the way hearers ought to be—this, in a world where the way people are is widely assumed to be the inescapable result of their own unquestionable expressions of their own individuality. Possibilities for popularity plummet even further when proclaimers of the Word introduce the inconvenient truth that explicit faith in Jesus represents the sole pathway for persons to become what they ought to be.

Early in my ministry, there were a couple of years when I flirted with theological liberalism and found myself uncertain about the exclusivity of the gospel. During those months, I looked back on the decision-seeking preachers of my childhood with embarrassment and disdain. Convinced that I had grown beyond the need to call for conversions, I placed as many miles as possible between my pulpit and the proverbial sawdust trail.

I soon realized that — without a passionate conviction that the gospel of Jesus Christ is necessary and exclusive — preaching quickly degenerates into therapeutic moralisms, denuded of power and authority. I assuaged my conscience during those months by appealing to an aphorism supposedly spoken by a popular medieval saint: “Preach the gospel at all times; if necessary, use words.” What I wasn’t willing to admit at the time is that, because the gospel includes assent to specific truths about a specific person, preaching the gospel requires words. A gospel without words is something less than the life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ.

3 Essentials to Building Gospel Community in Small Groups

Logan Gentry

January 19, 2023

This past Sunday, we had our second of three equipping classes focused on our core values of Gospel Enjoyment, Intentional Community and Prayerful Mission. We focused this past week on Intentional Community. Our aim in this core value was to take two Christian buzzwords and slam them together (not really). The fact is we all want to be known by other people. We all desire to have people concerned with us, caring for us, and to be a part of a group making a difference. Though this is a desire, it does not happen unless it is pursued, and you have to be intentional to pursue anything well. Community is a Christian buzzword, usually meaning a group of Christ followers that care for one another, but the scriptures expand on this definition to cast a vision for gosepel community that can truly change the world.

Intentional Community means gospel communities on mission, defined as a (1) shared rhythm of (2) life by the Spirit of God for (3) the mission of God.

3 Essentials to Building Gospel Community

Christian community is supposed to function as a healthy family that uses each person’s unique gifts, talents and resources for the benefit of the whole community. But this healthy family doesn’t just function well for one another; they are consistently extending this love for one another to those outside of the community. In essence, the world should look at the way a Christian community loves one another and their neighbors and say, “If this community is anything like Jesus, I want to know Jesus.”

Gospel Community: Shared Rhythm

For a Christian community to truly embody Jesus, they must get out of the event-Christianity mindset that reserves faith for Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. For too long we have tried to cram all of our Christian fellowship, prayer, learning about God, and extending this love and message to others into a span of three hours.

Reasons Not to Smoke Weed (Even if It’s Legal in Your State)

Greg Stier

January 18, 2023

These days, many U.S. teens need to hear reasons not to smoke weed. I live in Colorado, which pioneered the legalization of recreational marijuana use. As a lifelong resident, I’m not happy about that. Unfortunately, more states have followed Colorado’s example in the past decade.

As the founder of a ministry that’s committed to reaching teenagers with the hope of Jesus Christ, I’m very concerned about the legalization of weed. I had an interesting conversation with my 15-year-old son. I realized I’d never clearly, biblically laid out a comprehensive case against weed. Sure, we’ve talked about it. He doesn’t do drugs or want to try them. But he wasn’t as clear about the “why” as I’d hoped. So I decided to build a strong biblical case against marijuana use for the Christian teen. I made a list of 10 specifics reasons not to smoke weed.

By the way, I’m not totally against legitimate medical marijuana use. I watched my mom die slowly and painfully of stage-four cancer. I would’ve rather watched her smoke a joint to ease her pain in her final days than the total-shut-down-of-her-senses medications the doctor prescribed.

But I also believe recreational marijuana use can be absolutely devastating to younger and older people alike. And Christians should never use marijuana “just for fun.” This is especially true of Christian teenagers.

The more I travel, the more I talk to youth leaders whose kids think marijuana use is “no big deal.” These Christian teens view weed as less dangerous than drinking and less addictive than heroin. In their view, it just makes you feel good and, well…what’s wrong with that?

So, as an evangelist to young people and a dad, I want to provide 10 arguments against using marijuana.

10 Reasons Not to Smoke Weed

1. It’s a sin for Christians to let any controlled substance control them.

“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” Ephesians 5:18

When your stomach is full of wine, your bloodstream is full of alcohol. When your lungs are full of marijuana smoke, your bloodstream is full of THC (the active drug in marijuana).

As believers, the only “controlled substance” that should overtake our minds, bodies and senses is the power of the Holy Spirit. Any other mind-altering drug is off-limits for Christ followers. As believers, we should never get drunk with alcohol or high on drugs. Instead we should be full of the Holy Spirit!

2. For teens, using weed is illegal.

“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.” Romans 12:1-2

Even in my free-wheeling state, you must be 21 to consume recreational drugs. In other words, to smoke weed before then is breaking the law…and breaking the law is a sin.

1. The leader

2. The team

3. The ministry/organization

4. The future

Rather than leading from faith, leading from fear, even a quiet, subtle fear, drains you of energy, and discourages your soul.

Leading from fear results in:

1) Leading defensively.

2) Leading reactively.

3) Leading thoughtlessly.

How Natural Growth Teaches About Spiritual Growth

Jennifer Buck’s Sexual Abuse Hotline Experience

Tom Buck Asks How Much Sexual Abuse Hotline Costs

Texas Plane Crash Kills 4, Injures 1

CBN Criticizes CRT in the SBC

CBN on Women in Leadership

When you preach for conversion, you imply that the way people are is not the way they ought to be

3 Essentials to Building Gospel Community

Gospel Community: Shared Rhythm

10 Reasons Not to Smoke Weed

1. It’s a sin for Christians to let any controlled substance control them.

2. For teens, using weed is illegal.

New Articles

New Podcasts