How My Work as a Pastor Nearly Killed Me!

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January 13, 2023

Hebrews 12:3 is a verse I can’t seem to get out of my head these days. It’s just sort of there, buzzing in the background like the hum of a refrigerator. I can almost ignore it, and then, suddenly, I can’t: Consider Jesus, who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. —Hebrews 12:3

Weariness is a part of life. I know that there are seasons when it seems as though I’m running through thick mud. But here, the writer of Hebrews is pointing out that there is an exercise we can do that will relieve us from weariness.

Now the weariness that is being referred to here isn’t so much a physical weariness; rather, it’s an emotional weariness, a weary spirit. Anyone who’s doing anything knows that there are times when it seems like no matter what you do, there just isn’t enough juice in the tank to meet the challenges ahead. People are difficult, work can be challenging, and at times the pace at which life is happening, both good and bad, just saps us of our ability to manage well.

How My Work as a Pastor Nearly Killed Me!

A couple of years ago, I had a six-month stretch where it felt like I was drowning. My staff thought I was going to either quit or drop dead. The ironic part is that things were going good! Looking back, I was running at a pace that no human can sustain. I was sprinting a marathon. It nearly killed me.

But other times, things are not going so good. Every one of us goes through fire. Every one of us gets pinched in the hinges of relationships and work. What then?

Decision for Christ: When Kids Profess Their Faith Early On

By

Jenny Funderburke Smith

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January 12, 2023

Making a decision for Christ or profession of faith is a special occasion. But what happens when we tell children about Jesus and then kids question their beliefs years later?

My two older daughters both were baptized in kindergarten. Yes, they were very young. With both, I intended to encourage them to wait until they were older. However, each of them made a decision for Christ that I felt were genuine, both could explain the gospel in age-appropriate language, and both really were excited to go public with their faith.

Making an Early Decision for Christ

Brenna is now 10. A few months ago she told me she wasn’t entirely sure she understood salvation when she was baptized. Yikes. Isn’t this the moment we all fear when our own children or children within our church make early decisions for Christ?

We all know (and remember and maybe were part of) the multiple baptisms that happened in our youth groups because kids had second thoughts about their first decisions. How do we handle conversations like the one with Brenna?

1. Don’t freak out and don’t dismiss kids’ concerns.

Your child probably isn’t going to hell because he asked such a question. You probably didn’t ruin her whole spiritual future. Appreciate that your child felt safe enough with you to ask a really hard question. Don’t blow it off! But don’t blow it out of proportion either.

I think I said something like “What’s made you think about that?” or “Tell me more about that.” I tried to listen first. Then I told her that ultimately only she and God knew about her salvation. But I asked if I could share my thoughts with her. I then shared most of what is written below.

2. Understand that most of the time this is a developmental issue, not a false salvation issue.

As kids get older and as they learn more in church and at home, they will have a clearer understanding of what sin is, what Jesus did for them, and what it means for Him to be Lord of their lives. I have a better understanding of all of those things now than when I was 20!

Just because your child has a better understanding now doesn’t mean he didn’t understand it when he was younger. Brenna had a five-year-old faith when she was five, and Scripture speaks pretty highly of a child-like faith. It is natural and it is good that her faith and understanding have grown, but that doesn’t negate that she had a saving faith at five.

3. Remind them that salvation is based on God’s grace and our faith in Him.

Some kids don’t like that they can’t remember praying and asking Jesus into their hearts. I take them back to Romans 10:9. “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Transgender Student: Heartfelt Thoughts From a Youth Pastor

By

Michael Guyer

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January 12, 2023

If a transgender student attends your youth group or a nearby school, what will you say? Consider this approach, in one youth minister’s letter to a transgender student.

A Letter to a Transgender Student

Dear friend,

I’m so thankful I know you. It’s an honor that you’d share this struggle with me. I know it wasn’t easy, nor does sharing resolve everything. As you shared, I realized how deeply I desire to be truly known. God designed us for this—to know Him and be known by Him. God not only made us for Himself. He also made us for community—to know others and be known by them.

My heart groans with yours to be truly known as God intended from the beginning. But my heart also groans because I know the church hasn’t always felt like a place you could talk about your struggle with identifying as a transgender teenager.

As a result, you have felt disconnected and not truly known yourself. Along the way, the actions and words of Christians have disappointed, hurt and isolated you. I grieve over the pain and loneliness you have experienced.

Dear Transgender Student: I Love You

First, I want you to know I’m here for you and I love you. I’ll admit I haven’t always been careful in speaking about transgender issues. I have too easily settled for a shallow understanding of the issues. Please forgive me if I’ve ever done this in our conversations. I want you to know that your willingness to share has driven me to learn more and seek God’s wisdom.

I can’t pretend to know all the answers. Nor do I share any of this from a position of moral superiority. As you shared what it’s like to feel transgender, I heard you saying things just don’t seem as they should be. That you were born one way but feel the exact opposite. That your gender expression seems disconnected from your physical body.

You might wonder: Did God make a mistake? Why do I feel this way? Does God want me to embrace these feelings? No one should dismiss your questions. They need to be patiently and prayerfully answered. I cannot do that fully in a letter. But I hope we can continue getting together to talk through these things.

Dear Transgender Student: God Holds a Better Promise

In the meantime, I want to share a few things with you. Our world promotes a story of expressive individualism. Self-expression and self-identification are its supreme virtues. But God tells a different story. He tells a better story and holds out a better promise.

Tim Tebow Shares His Greatest Passion in Life Has Been Sports, Not Jesus

By

Jesse T. Jackson

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January 12, 2023

Popular ESPN college football analyst Tim Tebow was surprised during Monday night’s broadcast of the College Football Playoff (CFP) championship game with an announcement that he had been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.

“Hard to put into words right now. Just incredibly honored and grateful for the opportunity and all who helped make it possible!! All glory to God 🙌🏼,” Tebow tweeted.

Tebow played his college football career at the University of Florida from 2006 to 2009, leading the team to two BCS National Championship titles (2007, 2009). Tebow was the winner of the Heisman Trophy in 2007 and was a finalist for the most outstanding player award each of his final two years of college play.

The outspoken Christian still holds records at his alma mater. In 2010, he was also the reason the NCAA created what has been referred to as “The Tebow Rule,” which bans players from writing messages on their eye paint. Tebow would frequently write Bible verse references in white lettering on top of his black eye paint.

The ban came after Tebow promoted the Bible verse John 3:16 under his eyes during the 2009 BCS National Championship game, which prompted 94 million Google searches.

Sharing that God led him to write the verse, Tebow said that “leading up to the game I was really agonizing and contemplating what verse, and God kept bringing up to my heart and my head John 3:16, which is the essence of our Christianity. It’s the essence of our hope.”

After his senior season at the University of Florida, Tebow was drafted by the Denver Broncos as the 25th pick in the first round. He spent his career as an NFL quarterback fighting for a starting position and attempting to compete for roster spots on the New York Jets, New England Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles, and Jacksonville Jaguars.

Following his NFL career in 2016, Tebow signed a minor league contract with the New York Mets and worked toward making it onto a major league roster before retiring in 2021.

Tebow: ‘I’ve Given Up More in My Life To Win a Game Than I Ever Have for Jesus’

On January 5, Tebow stood before thousands of 18-25 year-olds in a crowded State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, for Passion 2023 and challenged them to make the cause of Christ their greatest passion in life.

Tebow, who was born in the Philippines on the mission field, said that a passion for the world causes Christians to not pursue their passion for the cause of Christ.

“I’ll be honest and want to admit that, I think, in my life, my greatest passion so far in my life, hasn’t been for Jesus. I’d say it’s honestly probably been for sports,” he told the crowd.

‘Lord Have Mercy’—210 House Democrats Vote Against Saving a Baby Born After a Failed Abortion

By

Jessica Lea

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January 12, 2023

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 220 to 210 Wednesday to pass the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which states that doctors are required to protect the life of a child who survives an abortion. All of the votes against the bill came from Democrats, leading some church leaders to condemn voting for the Democratic Party.

“It’s way past time for evangelicals who have given their blessing for Christians to vote Democrat to repent and say that voting for these evil people is a sin,” tweeted Tom Buck, pastor of First Baptist Church Lindale in Lindale, Texas.

Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act

The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act states that any infant who survives a failed abortion is a person in the eyes of the law and is therefore entitled to all the rights that a person is legally given.

The bill requires health care providers to “exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child as a reasonably diligent and conscientious health care practitioner would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age.” Healthcare providers must also immediately transport children born under these circumstances to a hospital.

Failure to comply with the law would result in a fine and/or a prison sentence of up to five years. Anyone who kills a child born under these circumstances would be treated as though they had attempted to kill a human being. Notably, the bill states that it may not be used to prosecute mothers of children born after a failed abortion.

Only one Democrat voted in favor of the measure; the other 219 members of the House who did so were Republicans. One member of the House, a Democrat, simply voted “Present.”

“Just let this sink in,” said Jack Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas. “210 Democrats voted to murder a baby who survives an abortion.”

Dr. Derwin Gray, pastor of Transformation Church in Indian Land, South Carolina, reacted to the news about the House Democrats, saying, “Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy.”

Activist and worship leader Sean Feucht tweeted a clip of Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI) quoting Jeremiah 1:5 to argue against the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act. “Just when you think you’ve seen it all,” said Feucht. “These are bloodthirsty people filled with demonic rage.”

“Pro-choice Christian” Rep (D-MI) @HillaryScholten uses Jeremiah 1:5 to advocate for child sacrifice in Congress.

Just when you think you’ve seen it all… these are bloodthirsty people filled with demonic rage. pic.twitter.com/tlkbvA2X5o

— Sean Feucht (@seanfeucht) January 11, 2023

27-Year-Old Man Found Dead Behind Memphis Church Building, Shot and Reportedly Burned

By

Dale Chamberlain

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January 12, 2023

On Tuesday (Jan. 10), detectives in South Memphis, Tennessee, discovered a body in the parking lot behind a boarded up church. The victim had reportedly suffered a gunshot wound and was pronounced dead on the scene.

According to a local CBS affiliate, a witness, who did not want to be named, reported seeing the body burning in the parking lot as he drove by to visit family in the area. Police, who received a “man down” call just before 7 a.m. Tuesday, have not confirmed whether the body was burned.

Police later identified the victim as being 27-year-old Larry Thorn, a Memphis-Shelby County School District secretary.

Lovanda Henderson, Thorn’s mother, told WMC that Thorn disappeared on Monday night around 11 p.m. and did not report to work Tuesday morning.

“Which is very unlike him not to show up for work, so immediately, when we found out he had been missing, we went ahead and called the police,” Henderson, who is now mourning the loss of her eldest son, explained.

Addressing Thorn’s killer, Henderson said in an interview with FOX13, “I wish that they would just come forward. Because, nobody deserves to bury their child and, you know, if it was a mistake then just come forward and let us know because we’re hurting inside. He had two other brothers and a grandmother who loved him dearly.”

“He was a very friendly, outgoing person that loved kids. He loved music; he loved church. He was just a real outgoing person,” Henderson said of her son. “Whatever he did, or what was going on, I don’t feel like he deserved to have gotten the treatment that he got.”

Thorn’s brother, Kevon, said, “To hear that he’s gone, I still haven’t processed in my head. It seems unreal to me.”

Thorn’s friend, Justin J. Pearson, expressed, “Our entire class of 2013 of Mitchell High School is mourning and grieving alongside his family.”

Dispute Over Abuse Hotline Reveals How Far the SBC Still Has To Go

By

Bob Smietana

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January 12, 2023

(RNS) — For years, Southern Baptist Convention leaders refused to listen to abuse survivors, ignoring their concerns and labeling them as enemies of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

After the release last spring of a major report detailing decades of mistreatment of survivors, Southern Baptist leaders pledged to change.

One of their first steps: setting up a confidential hotline where allegations of abuse could be reported to trauma-informed experts.

The hotline was meant as an interim measure until long-term responses were put in place. But until recently, very little was known about how it operated. That led one survivor and longtime abuse advocate to ask some pointed and uncomfortable questions about the hotline in an online publication.

“I had questions about the process,” Christa Brown told Religion News Service in an interview.

In particular, Brown said she was concerned about the role Rachael Denhollander, another survivor, had with the hotline. A prominent advocate and lawyer, Denhollander has publicly criticized SBC leaders over their treatment of survivors and her activism helped prompt the Guidepost investigation. She has also helped advise abuse survivors and consulted with Christian groups, including the SBC, on how to better care for survivors.

Brown argues that Denhollander’s roles as both a survivor advocate and a consultant for the SBC could lead to a conflict of interest. Brown worried survivors who call the hotline might be referred to Denhollander without knowing that she also works with church leaders.

Brown’s Baptist News column led Guidepost Solutions, which oversees the hotline, and the SBC task force working on abuse reforms to release statements about how it works.

But it also prompted a public conflict among abuse survivors and advocates, which played out on social media. Some backed Brown. Others saw her column as an attack on Denhollander.

The conflict also revealed a deeper challenge for Southern Baptist leaders trying to address abuse in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. Because SBC leaders mistreated survivors for years, no one trusts them. Every attempt they make at reform is viewed with skepticism, most of it justified.

Brown worries readers missed the bigger point of her column.

“My purpose is not in any way to degrade Denhollander, an individual for whom I hold great admiration and gratitude for all she has done in broadly raising awareness about the dynamics of sexual abuse,” she wrote.

Instead, Brown wanted to draw attention to the lack of transparency about the hotline.

According to the response put out by Guidepost, a small number of trauma-informed staffers respond to callers. Any information collected by those staffers is kept confidential. Guidepost does not investigate any allegations. Instead, they are referred to the SBC’s Credentials Committee.

Guidepost said that on two occasions, out of “hundreds,” people reporting allegations have asked to be connected to an advocate.

The SBC task force also said all reports are kept confidential. No task force member or adviser, including Denhollander, was given information about callers to the hotline.

South Carolina pastor Marshall Blalock, who chairs the task force charged with implementing abuse reforms approved last summer, said survivors and advocates have every right to ask questions in this process.

“When concerns are raised, it is important to hear them,” he said.

Baptist Woman in Mexico Near Death After Alleged Beating by Catholic Leaders

By

Diana Chandler and Mark Kelly

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January 12, 2023

Mexico attack — Hidalgo state in Mexico. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

HIDALGO, Mexico (BP) – A Baptist woman is hospitalized in critical condition after a beating tied to unjustly applied local customs and laws in an indigenous Catholic community in Mexico, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reported.

Catholic leaders are accused of severely beating Maria Concepcion Hernández Hernández because of her Baptist faith.

Hernández Hernández, a member of the Great Commission Baptist Church in the majority Catholic community of Rancho Nuevo, was not expected to live after the leaders tied her to a tree and severely beat her Dec. 21, Anna-Lee Stangl, CSW joint head of advocacy, told Baptist Press Jan. 5. Hernández Hernández’s pastor, Rogelio Hernández Baltazar, was beaten and detained when he intervened, CSW reported, referencing local sources.

The beatings allegedly stemmed from a dual legal system in Mexico that allows local indigenous communities to govern based on customs that vary by village, Stangl said, known as the Law on Uses and Customs.

“Some of these villages interpret that as, they can mandate what everyone in their village believes and practices,” Stangl said of the uses and customs laws. “The law actually says that it has to be operated in accordance with the constitution and human rights protections. But in practice, the government very rarely intervenes to make sure that that’s done.”

Since 2015, the indigenous community has prohibited Protestants and other religious minority landowners from accessing their land or cultivating crops. Among the 450 residents of the village, about 160 are members of the Baptist church, CSW told Baptist Press.

“The Baptist church has been growing even in the midst of the aggressions,” CSW quoted a source.

The U.S. Department of State, in is 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom; the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, in its 2017 Annual Report; and persecution watchdog Open Doors International, in its 2021 World Watch List of countries where Christians face the most persecution, have all reported that customs and use laws have led to the persecution of religious minorities.

Persecution from customs and use laws is more common in isolated communities with large indigenous populations, Stangl said, particularly Hidalgo, Guerrero, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Puebla and Michoacán.

CSW has asked Southern Baptists to pray for the communities and advocate with U.S. congressional leaders for intervention.

“This case is really typical in that it’s been going on for at least seven years,” Stangl said of the Rancho Nuevo case. “It began with the village taking away the basic rights of the Protestants and telling them they couldn’t vote anymore, they could no longer access medical services. In 2018 they forbade their children from attending the local school, which is a public school. Then it escalated to what we saw on the 21st of December.”

Hernández Hernández was attacked when she visited a plot of land she owns after a neighbor asked her to remove two trees, CSW reported, a move that might have been designed to intentionally draw Hernández Hernández to her attackers.

Radical Muslims Kill Christian After Religion Debate

By

Morning Star News

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January 12, 2023

Somali_Knife — AMISOM Public Information, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – A 37-year-old father of four was killed on Jan. 2 after participating in a Christian-Muslim debate in eastern Uganda at which 13 Muslims put their faith in Christ, sources said.

Ahamada Mafabi was returning from the debate in Nakaloke, Sironko District outside Mbale when men on two motorcycles shouting the jihadist slogan, “Allah Akbar [God is greater],” knocked him off his motorcycle and sliced his neck with a knife, one of the Christians sent to escort him said.

The attack took place at about 10 p.m. in Munkaga cell, Bukasakya Ward in Mbale, said his pastor, whose name is withheld for security reasons.

“Muslims responded openly to receiving Christ,” the pastor said of the public debate that took place before the attack. “There were shouts from the Muslims demanding that Mafabi leave the grounds of the meeting, saying, ‘Mafabi, stop your blasphemous utterance of equating Issa [Jesus] to God, calling him the Son of God.’”

Seeing the hostility, the pastor assigned two Christians to escort Mafabi to his home in Butaleja District, he said.

One of the men escorting him, whose name is withheld for security reasons, said they saw two motorcycles coming from behind carrying four people after they reached Munkaga.

“As they bypassed us, they shouted the Islamic slogan, ‘Allah Akbar’ and then hit our motorcycle down with a metal object,” he said, adding that he and the other escort fled for their lives. “The attackers overpowered him and cut his neck with a long Somali knife.”

Mafabi is survived by his wife and four children, ages 3 to 14 years old, all of whom need to be relocated, the pastor said.

Mafabi had left Islam to put his faith in Christ in December 2020 after several visits with the pastor in an undisclosed village in Butaleja District. Initially the pastor housed him to protect him from Islamists upset with his conversion, and later his church rented a house for him elsewhere.

Knowledgeable in both Islam and Christianity, Mafabi helped the pastor begin Christian-Muslim debates in mid-2021, and in one year more than 100 Muslims put their faith in Christ, he said. Mafabi faced severe Islamist hostility, escaping four assassination attempts, and the pastor also received threatening text messages.

One such message, he said, read, “Stop taking our members to your church. Let this be known to you that your church and your life is at risk.”

The pastor requested prayer for the widow and her children, who need support for food, shelter and school fees. He also expressed concern for his ministry’s newly built center for converts from Islam, where they are discipled and trained in job skills to make up for losing employment because of their faith.

The pastor has reported the crime, and police are investigating.

“I have some fears, but this is part of the spiritual warfare that comes with Christian persecution, and I am ready to face it,” he said.

The attack was the latest of many instances of persecution of Christians in Uganda that Morning Star News has documented.

Uganda’s constitution and other laws provide for religious freedom, including the right to propagate one’s faith and convert from one faith to another. Muslims make up no more than 12 percent of Uganda’s population, with high concentrations in eastern areas of the country.

This article originally appeared here.

Living Alone: A Christian Response to Rising Isolation

By

James Emery White

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January 12, 2023

The New York Times (NYT) recently ran an article on how more older Americans are living by themselves than ever before. In fact, people 50 and older who live alone constitute one of the country’s fastest-growing demographic groups.

To put this in perspective, in 1960 only 13% of all American households had a single occupant. Today it is fast approaching 30%. Among households headed by someone 50 or older, it climbs to 36%.

Among the factors driving this trend are changes in attitudes surrounding gender and marriage. As the NYT reports, “people 50-plus today are more likely than earlier generations to be divorced, separated or never married.”

Regardless of how people themselves may feel about their housing situation, the research has been deemed unequivocal: people aging alone experience worse physical and mental health outcomes and shorter life spans. According to the research of Markus Schafer, a sociologist at Baylor University, “Even with an active social and family life, [people in their 50s and 60s who live alone] are generally more lonely than those who live with others.”

In his groundbreaking book Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam noted the loss of social capital in the world. As the title suggests, once we bowled in leagues, now we bowl alone. Long before the time when the internet became the wallpaper of our life (Putnam’s book was released in 2000), there were already the signs of a culture becoming increasingly disconnected from family, friends, neighbors and other social structures. Putnam notes that as the 19th century turned into the 20th, social capital was also at a low point. Urbanization, industrialization, and widespread immigration uprooted Americans from friends, social institutions and families. New organizations were created to fill the need. His book argued for needing to do the same as the 20th century turns into the 21st.

The Church is uniquely poised, as it has always been, to provide just that.

But the isolation and individualism present in our world is not simply solved through an embodied community. A recent Lifeway study found that less than half of all Christians active in church spend time with other believers to help them grow in their faith. The younger the age, the more individualistic they are. Two-thirds say they don’t need anyone in their life to help them walk with God.

This suggests that the need is not for less online community and more in-person community. Rather, the need is to use every available means at our disposal to foster community, and then to cast the biblical vision for going higher up and deeper in.

Or more to the point,

… closer in.

This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.

R.C. Sproul: What Is Grace?

By

R.C. Sproul

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January 12, 2023

A number of decades ago at the Ligonier Valley Study Center, we sent out a Thanksgiving card with this simple statement: “The essence of theology is grace; the essence of Christian ethics is gratitude.” In all the debates about our role versus God’s role in sanctification—our growth in holiness—we’d stay on the right track if we’d remember this grace-gratitude dynamic. The more we understand how kind God has been to us and the more we are overcome by His mercy, the more we are inclined to love Him and to serve Him.

Yet we can’t get the grace-gratitude dynamic right if we aren’t clear on what grace means. What is grace? The catechisms many of us learned as children give us the answer: “Grace is the unmerited favor of God.” The first thing that we understand about grace is what it’s not—it’s not something we merit. In fact, if that is all we ever understand about grace, I’m sure God will rejoice that we know His grace is unmerited. So, here’s our working definition of grace—it is unmerit.

Paul’s epistle to the Romans sheds light on what we mean when we say that grace is unmerit. In 1:18–3:20, the Apostle explains that on the final day, for the first time in our lives, we will be judged in total perfection, in total fairness, in absolute righteousness. Thus, every mouth will be stopped when we stand before the tribunal of God. This should provoke fear in the hearts of fallen people, as condemnation is the only possible sentence for sinful men and women: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (3:23).

But those who trust in Christ Jesus have hope, for if we are in Him by faith, we have been “justified freely by His grace.” Note that justification is accomplished not by obligation, but freely through grace on account of the redemption purchased by Jesus alone. There’s no room for boasting, for we are justified not by our works but by grace alone through faith alone. Paul goes on to cite Abraham as the preeminent example of one who was justified by faith alone and therefore free from God’s sentence of condemnation. If the basis for Abraham’s salvation, his justification, was something that Abraham did—some good deed, some meritorious service that he performed, some obligation that he performed—if it were on the basis of works, Paul says, he would have had something about which to boast. But Abraham had no such merit. All he had was faith, and that faith itself was a gift: “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” (4:3; see Eph. 2:8–10).

Romans 4:4–8 is a key passage here:

Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.

That’s grace. Paul couldn’t say it any other way. To him who works, it’s debt; if you merit something, it means that someone is obligated to pay you. If I hire you as an employee and promise to pay you one hundred dollars if you work eight hours, I must pay you for working the eight hours. I’m not doing you a favor or giving you grace. You’ve earned your pay. You’ve fulfilled the contract, and I’m morally obliged to give you your wages.

With respect to the Lord, we are debtors who cannot pay. That’s why the Bible speaks of redemption in economic language—we were bought with a price (1 Cor. 6:20). Only someone else—Christ—can pay our debt. That’s grace. It’s not our good works that secure our rescue but only the works of Christ. It’s His merit, not ours. We don’t merit anything. He grants us His merit by grace, and we receive it only by faith. The essence of grace is its voluntary free bestowal. As soon as it’s a requirement, it’s no longer grace.

4 Ways Husbands Should Lead

By

J.D. Greear

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January 12, 2023

There are four primary ways from the Bible that husbands should lead.

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word.”
Ephesians 5:25-26 CSB

Many people get stuck on Paul’s directive in Ephesians 5 for wives to submit to their husbands. But Paul gives three times as much space to his instructions for the husbands as he does their wives. We may be quick to miss it, but what Paul says to men is just as counter-cultural today as any biblical teaching on submission. Our society certainly does not like the idea of submission. But as it turns out, the men of our society don’t really like to lead, either.

Paul’s instructions in Ephesians 5, which draw from the creation narrative of Genesis 2, give us at least four ways husbands should lead in a Christ-like leadership role.

4 Ways Husbands Should Lead

1. Husbands should lead by providing for the wife.

Before God created the woman, he had the man working in the garden. Only after Adam had a job did God bring him a wife.

There’s a very simple application here: Ladies, if he can’t hold down a job and still uses his parents’ credit cards, you might want to think twice!

2. Husbands should lead the way spiritually.

When Eve was brought to Adam, he already had a relationship with God. He was tasked with relaying to her the commands of God and leading her in obeying them.

Men, as the spiritual leader in your home, you are to wash your wife, as Paul says, “with water by the word.” That means you lead your family in the application of Scripture.

This doesn’t mean you have to lead your wife in a Bible lesson every night—though it wouldn’t hurt. It could be as simple as saying, “Hey, baby, how can I pray for you?” and then holding her hand and praying over her. When you look up, she’s probably going to be crying, and you’re going to be leading…and then you can write me a thank you note for that simple piece of advice.

Washing your wife with the word means you become the primary mouthpiece declaring to her God’s feelings about her—that she is valued, cherished and precious in God’s sight, with a bright future because of God’s plans for her. Ask yourself: If your wife’s spiritual identity was based solely on your words to her, what would she think of herself?

3. Husbands should lead in romance.

The first human words recorded in the Bible were Adam composing a love poem about his wife. (It sounds better in Hebrew.) He was the one expected to take initiative and romance his wife.

Men, you should be the one budgeting for and suggesting date nights. You should be expressing your love in ways that don’t come as naturally to you because that’s how your wife needs to be loved. You should be the one figuring out when the relationship is in trouble and that you need some counseling.

4. Husbands should lead in sacrifice.

In Ephesians 5:31 Paul references God’s instruction to the man to leave his previous life and cleave to his wife: “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”

Paul then makes a startling comparison. He says that when husbands do this, they mirror Jesus’ relationship with us: Jesus left his heavenly home and laid down his life for us. Now we are to do that for our wives.

Laying down my life doesn’t simply mean being willing to die for my wife; it means daily putting her needs above mine and using my power to serve her.

It means that in decisions, I give her needs and preferences more weight than my own. If I am serving my wife like Christ served the church, then in 90 percent of instances where we disagree, we are going to end up doing what she wants, because most decisions are not spiritual leadership decisions—they are preferences, and mine should always be second to hers.

C.S. Lewis says that in the marriage relationship, men wear a crown, but it is first and foremost one of thorns.

Humanity fell because men didn’t lead like Christ. It was Adam, not Eve, who sinned first. Genesis 3 says that he was “with” the woman when she ate, which means he failed to be the spiritual leader and protect Eve. The first sin was as much one of omission as it was commission: the failure of man to lead. It’s the same sin besetting the men of our society today. When men in the church re-assume their leadership role, their families and our society will be transformed.

Men, your families will be most impacted when you are the one leading family devotions, when you are the one setting the priorities, when you are leading in discipline and keeping the family schedule on track.

Leading your family is your most important assignment.

For more, be sure to listen to the entire message here.

This article about how husbands should lead originally appeared here.

Rumors ‘The Passion of the Christ’ Sequel Is Shooting in Spring Confirmed To Be False

By

Jesse T. Jackson

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January 11, 2023

passion_2 — (L) Mel Gibson Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (R) Screengrab via IMDB

Last week (Jan. 4), “World of Reel” published an article announcing that Mel Gibson’s highly anticipated sequel to the 2004 blockbuster “The Passion of the Christ,” titled “The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection,” would start shooting this spring.

ChurchLeaders reached out to Gibson’s creative marketing and communications agency representatives, Rogers & Cowan PMK, and asked if the rumors were true.

They are not.

Rogers & Cowan PMK representatives informed ChurchLeaders that although it has been reported that the movie is currently in the works, there are no immediate plans to move forward.

“The Passion of the Christ,” a film that depicts the 12 hours leading up to Jesus’ death on the cross, was released on February 25, 2004. It collected over $611 million worldwide—an enormous success, especially considering it only had a budget of $30 million.

The sequel was first rumored to be happening in 2016 when Gibson teased it during an episode on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Gibson revealed to Colbert that he was working on the sequel, adding that the account of Christ’s resurrection is more than a single event.

“It’s an amazing event and to underpin that with the things around it is really the story. To enlighten what that means. It’s not just about the event. It’s not just some kind of chronological event,” Gibson said.

In 2020, actor Jim Caviezel, who was rumored to be reprising his role as Jesus of Nazareth, told Alex Marlow of Breitbart News Daily that “it’s going to be the biggest film in world history.”

Since the “The Passion of the Christ” was released, both Gibson and Caviezel have made various news headlines.

The 67-year-old Gibson was scheduled to appear alongside Tulane University’s football coach Willie Fritz as the co-Grand Marshal of the 2023 Mardi Gras parade but was recently removed after some raised concern about Gibson’s past history of making antisemitic, racist, and misogynistic comments.

Caviezel (54) recently made the news after he spoke “The Patriot Voice” conference, which is known for its association with QAnon, a speech wherein he quoted lines from Gibson’s Academy Award winning film “Braveheart.”

Demi Lovato Ad Featuring Bondage, a Crucifix and the F-Word Banned in the UK

By

Jessica Lea

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January 11, 2023

A poster of singer Demi Lovato wearing bondage-style clothing and lying on a bed shaped like a cross has been banned from the United Kingdom for being “likely to cause serious offence to Christians.” The ad, which promotes Lovato’s latest album, “Holy F***,” and uses artwork from the album, was removed in August 2022. The U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld the decision in a ruling released today (Jan. 11).

“We considered…the image of Ms Lovato bound up in a bondage-style outfit whilst lying on a mattress shaped like a crucifix, in a position with her legs bound to one side which was reminiscent of Christ on the cross,” said the ASA in its ruling. The ASA goes on to say that the image, “together with the reference to “holy [f***],” which in that context was likely to be viewed as linking sexuality to the sacred symbol of the crucifix and the crucifixion, was likely to cause serious offence to Christians.”

Lovato’s album title does not technically include a swear word, but changes one letter of the f-word so that, says the ASA, the meaning “would be clear to most readers.”

Demi Lovato’s Album Wrestles With Her Demons

Demi Lovato got her start in entertainment as a child actor on “Barney & Friends,” and she went on to appear in TV series and films including “Camp Rock,” “The X Factor” and “Glee.” She released her debut album, “Don’t Forget,” in 2008 and her latest album in August 2022. It is her eighth studio album. Lovato’s newest album debuted in the top spot on Billboard’s Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart and in the seventh position on the Billboard 200.

Throughout her career, Demi Lovato has had serious challenges with substance abuse and has struggled with bulimia and self-harm. In 2018, she suffered a widely publicized drug overdose from opioids. She has also revealed that she has been raped twice. In 2021, Lovato came out as non-binary and said that her preferred pronouns were “they/them.” She has since changed her pronouns to “she/her,” explaining that she had been “feeling more feminine.”

In its ruling about Lovato’s poster, ASA said the ad was featured in six places throughout London in August 2022, drawing complaints from people who found it offensive and who were concerned that children would see it. The ads were up for four days before being taken down on Aug. 23, 2022.

Polydor Records told ASA it did not believe that the poster was offensive, but ASA concluded it would be clear to people that the album’s title refers to the f-word and said the ad was “targeted irresponsibly” because children could see it. ASA also concluded that Christians would find it offensive because of the religious imagery incorporated in the ad. ChurchLeaders has reached out to Demi Lovato for comment and will update this article in the event of a reply.

Notably, Lovato has explored Christianity at least at one point in her life. In 2020, she shared with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe that she had been attending church. “I was not really a big ‘church’ person, like even a month ago,” she said at the time. But she went when her manager, Scooter Braun, invited her to a Bible study. Lovato said, “I just heard God clearer than I had heard him in a long time.”

‘Cancel Culture Is a Tactic the Left Uses’—Kirk Cameron Hosts Controversial Pastor Douglas Wilson on ‘Takeaways’

By

Dale Chamberlain

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January 11, 2023

Douglas Wilson on Takeaways with Kirk Cameron — Screengrab via TBN

In a recent episode of his TBN show “Takeaways,” Kirk Cameron tackled the topic of “cancel culture.”

In the course of the episode, Cameron interviewed controversial pastor Douglas Wilson. Known for wanting to make his hometown of Moscow, Idaho, a “Christian town,” as well as for his Christian defense of antebellum slavery in a pamphlet titled “Southern Slavery: As It Was,” Wilson has often been the subject of criticism for his views on race, gender roles, and Christian nationalism.

“Cancel culture: we hear about it. We feel it. We see prominent people being made examples of through pressure campaigns,” Cameron said to open the episode. “Tolerance for differing points of view seems to be at an all-time low.”

“‘Adhere to secular woke dogma or you’re toast,’” Cameron continued. “That’s how it feels, right?”

Cameron went on to say, “The fear of being canceled can sometimes result in self-censorship—arguably the most painful kind of censorship.”

The episode featured two interviews. The first was with authors and speakers David and Jason Benham, and the second was with Wilson.

David and Jason Benham: Now Is ‘Not a Time to Be a Lamb Led to the Slaughter’

Cameron’s first interview was with David and Jason Benham, twin brothers who are real estate entrepreneurs known for their dispute with HGTV, wherein the network canceled a reality show planned to feature the brothers in 2014 after controversy arose in light of their views on LGBTQ+ issues.

The controversy specifically centered on comments David made about “homosexuality and its agenda” being connected with “demonic ideologies.” He also had compared same-sex marriage with Nazi Germany.

While HGTV canceled the show, they still funded the Benham brothers’ work on six Charlotte-area homes that were to be featured in the now-defunct real estate reality program.

To begin his interview with the brothers, Cameron said, “When I look at your life, one big word comes to mind: courage. You had courage to stand up. You had courage to speak up. You don’t shrink back from the fight, but you do it in a way that is admirable.”

Cameron went on to ask the brothers where their courage comes from.

“The Spirit of the living God lives inside of us, just like he lives in you and the viewers that are watching this,” David replied. “And he is the lion of the tribe of Judah. He’s also the lamb that was slain. And so there’s a delicate balance when we are walking by the power of the Holy Spirit with the lion and the lamb.”

Speaking about opportunities he and Jason have lost because of their public comments, David said, “It’s almost always rooted in the fear of man and a man-pleasing spirit. There is an agenda. There is, what Jason and I call, a ‘spiritual thought-mafia’ that’s out there and it’s the spiritual forces of darkness that are empowering a very mob mentality in mainstream media, and even many people in the church.”

A Restored Medieval Depiction of the Crusades Shows How England Embraced Islamic Culture

By

Menachem Wecker

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January 11, 2023

Crusades artwork — Digital reconstruction of Richard the Lionheart and Saladin and proposed reconstruction of surrounding text. Eames design 466. Photo © Janis Desmarais and Amanda Luyster

(RNS) — An 800-year-old puzzle about a set of 13th-century floor tiles has added to historians’ thinking about the relationship of Europeans and Arabs at the time of the Crusades.

Amanda Luyster, assistant visual arts professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, has spent more than two decades studying the so-called combat series, a group of floor tiles uncovered in the 1850s at the ruins of Chertsey Abbey, some 20 miles southwest of London.

Luyster’s research findings underpin the exhibition “Bringing the Holy Land Home: The Crusades, Chertsey Abbey, and the Reconstruction of a Medieval Masterpiece,” which runs Jan. 26 to April 6 at the college’s Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery.

The tiles, which were illustrated and annotated with Latin inscriptions, are among the most significant medieval objects of their kind from England, if not all of Europe, according to Luyster. But since the discovery of the highly fragmented tiles, scholars had largely focused on reconstructing the illustrations, which include scenes of Richard the Lionheart battling Saladin in the Third Crusade a half-century before. The Latin text was too badly broken up at the time to be pieced together and read.

Working with colleagues who coded programs to digitally fit the letters together and cross-referenced them against known Latin texts of the era, Luyster assembled about half of the Latin inscriptions to her satisfaction. She also arranged the illustrations as her research suggests they would have appeared on the abbey floor.

Once restored to their original look, the new design reminded her of Muslim and Byzantine silks that Crusaders brought back as souvenirs.

Digital reconstruction of the Chertsey combat tile mosaic pavement. Photographic composite showing roundels surrounded by partial Latin texts. Photo © Janis Desmarais and Amanda Luyster

Luyster has no illusion that the Crusades, waged from 1095 to 1291, were anything less than major confrontations. But she sees the tiles as telling visual evidence that England during the Middle Ages had robust contact with the rest of the world and that Christian Europe was more porous than historians have believed.

Instead, Luyster said, while the tiles depict Europeans clashing with the Muslims who ruled Jerusalem and the Near East, their manufacture and design reflected familiarity with, and admiration for, Arab artistry. They support the idea that far from thinking of themselves as European, the English who went on Crusades and came back to create these tiles were in deep conversation with Arab culture.

“The Crusaders and other Western Europeans see themselves as Westerners becoming Easterners. Their whole identity is changing, as they move and start living in the area around Jerusalem,” Luyster said.

This cultural fluidity is at odds with a picture of medieval English society as isolated, purely Christian and culturally homogeneous — a view that is increasingly outdated among historians of the period, even as white supremacists in England and the United States have latched onto it.

The key to Luyster’s insight are tiles illustrating the English King Richard I, known as Richard the Lionheart, wounding the Muslim ruler Saladin with a lance, and of a Muslim soldier with an arrow piercing his forehead.

Amanda Luyster at the British Museum photographing the Chertsey tiles in 2017. Courtesy photo

Historians had long known that Richard and Saladin appeared in the overall design of the abbey’s tiles, but other tiles were thought to represent other battles. Luyster’s high-tech detective work on the Latin inscriptions showed, she concluded, that the entire design, not just the Richard and Saladin illustrations, depicted the Third Crusade, led by Richard.

Young Evangelicals Listen to Their Pastors. Do Pastors Listen to Them?

By

Ken Chitwood

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January 11, 2023

younger evangelicals and their pastors — Photo by Jesus Loves Austin (via Unsplash)

(RNS) — “When students come back at semester breaks, that’s when the conversations really pick up,” said Jon-Michael Phillips, 35, a youth pastor at a nondenominational church in Jackson, Michigan, a city of about 31,000 between Ann Arbor and Lansing, the state’s two big college towns.

As students from the University of Michigan and Michigan State return home for the holidays, Phillips is less concerned about college football rivalries than about the political discussions he is bound to have. “Every year, students want to talk to me about things they are struggling with,” he said, “and one of the topics a few are sure to bring up is politics.”

Phillips said students often share that when it comes to LGBT issues, the environment or the Republican Party, they increasingly feel at odds with the politics they often heard from the pulpit as they grew up or what was shared at home.

As they become more politically aware and active, Phillips said, they start to question how their evangelical Christian parents and pastors have presented these issues and others.

“The nice thing is they still want to talk and want to know what I think,” Phillips said. “The question is what I can do with these conversations.”

According to a recent report from Neighborly Faith and Springtide Research Institute, young evangelicals are highly politically engaged, and they continue to be inspired, and influenced, by pastors and other spiritual leaders at their church.

The study, which surveyed 1,989 young adults ages 18 to 25, oversampling for evangelical and born-again young adults, sought to trace who young evangelical adults are listening to in their political, social and religious lives and to provide recommendations on how spiritual leaders can best partner with them for social change.

Kevin Singer. Photo courtesy of Springtide

The report suggests that young evangelicals’ political activities — from community service and volunteer work to activism as well as their voting patterns or attitudes toward the “religious other” — tend to align with their religious leaders’ emphases. The study reported that among other Christians and people of other faiths, evangelical young adults were the only group to say religious texts and leaders influenced how they felt about political issues or participated in their communities.

Kevin Singer, president of Neighborly Faith and Springtide’s head of media and public relations, said the finding that young evangelicals are inspired by their faith leaders and Scripture was expected. “What is especially striking, however, is how much more young evangelicals are inspired by their faith leaders,” Singer said. “The influence of the pastor seems to be alive and well in the lives of young evangelicals.”

Daniel Bennett, professor of political science at John Brown University, a private Christian school in northwestern Arkansas, and a consultant on the survey, said he sees young people coming to university with an earnest desire to make sense of the world around them and act accordingly.

Saying he was passionate about making sure students get faith-filled formation, Bennett was encouraged that young evangelicals continue to turn to pastors, Bible study leaders and other church mentors for advice on how to be politically engaged.

“At college, young evangelicals are disrupted in a sense,” Bennett said. “They are learning how to think, how to wade through religious, cultural and political diversity and difference.”

Ministry Equips Churches To Serve Refugees in Kansas City

By

Timothy Cockes

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January 11, 2023

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP) – More than a year after American withdrawal created massive instability in Afghanistan, refugees from the war-torn nation still need practical help and a friendly face.

RefugeKC is a non-profit ministry seeking to equip churches in the Kansas City area to step into this ongoing need.

Founded in late 2015 by Richard Casebolt, a graduate of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, RefugeKC focuses on building relationships with refugees and meeting their practical needs.

In addition to physical needs, RefugeKC offers prayer and Bible study for refugees.

Casebolt and his wife Vicki met while attending Midewestern. The two, along with their four children, served in missions in Thailand before returning to the States in 2011.

Casebolt began working for a non-profit coffee shop where he started a Bible study with refugees who had spent time in Thailand and could speak the language.

The more relationships he built, the clearer the need became.

“It just became increasingly obvious that there was a need for full-time work among the nations that God was bringing into Kansas City,” Casebolt said.

“That mission and vision ought to include making disciples among the nations according to the Great Commission. We want to help equip churches to do that and help raise awareness to the issue.”

After the fall of Afghanistan in 2021, refugee resettlement agencies around KC reached out to RefugeKC to assist with the influx of displaced Afghans coming to the area.

The organization helped coordinate thousands of volunteers, who served by picking up refugees from the airport, preparing meals, leading activities for children and transporting families to temporary housing.

Casebolt said the city’s Afghan population grew from around 300 to more than 1,200 in a matter of months.

Richard and Vicki met as students at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Richard started RefugeKC in 2015.

Now more than a year later, Casebolt said ministry among refugees from a variety of nations continues. The organization is now more focused on developing deeper personal connections with their new neighbors.

The form this personal ministry takes is small support groups called Ambassador Teams.

Cardinal George Pell, Conservative Force at the Vatican, Dies at 81

By

Claire Giangrave

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January 11, 2023

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Cardinal George Pell, who once spearheaded financial reform for Pope Francis at the Vatican, died Tuesday (Jan. 10) at the age of 81 due to complications after hip replacement surgery in Rome.

An influential conservative figure at the Vatican, he was praised for his forceful efforts to reform Vatican finances, but his life and career were marred in recent years by sexual abuse allegations.

The Priesthood of the Father Giving up the Son

By

Nicholas Batzig

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January 11, 2023

Father giving up the Son — Adobestock #448753824

In his outstanding book Christ Crucified: Understanding the Atonement, Donald Macleod gives an intriguing insight about the priestly role God the Father played in giving His Son up as an atoning sacrifice. He writes,

[Luke 22:19 and Romans 8:32] point to a priesthood of God the Father, ‘giving’ or ‘giving up’ His only Son. . .What can we say as to the precise nature of the Father’s action at Calvary? The New Testament answer is breathtaking. He acted in the role of priest. Just as Jesus ‘gave’ His life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45) so God the Father ‘gave’ His one and only Son; just as Christ ‘delivered up’ Himself as a fragrant offering (Eph. 5:2) so God the Father ‘delivered up’ His own Son (Rom. 8:32). Clearly, then, corresponding to the priesthood of the self-giving Son there is a priesthood of God the Father. From this point of view, Golgotha becomes His temple, where. . .He is engaged in the most solemn business that earth can witness. He is offering a sacrifice. The cross is His altar, and His own Son the sacrifice.

When we think of the priestly ministry of Christ—from His incarnation to His substitutionary atoning death on the cross—we should do so with an eye to what the Scriptures teach about the priestly act of the Father giving up the Son for the salvation of His people. The Son is the priest who offers Himself without spot to God, and the Father is the priest in giving His eternally beloved Son as a sacrifice for the sin of His people. Jesus has been ‘given for us’ by the Father (Isaiah 9:6) so that we might be reconciled to God.

This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.

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