Homeland Security Appoints a New 25-Member Security Faith Advisory Council

September 21, 2022

(RNS) — The Department of Homeland Security has announced the appointment of a new, 25-member faith-based advisory council to assist Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in finding ways to protect houses of worship.

The council consists of Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh clergy plus some law enforcement and nonprofit faith group leaders.

The safety of religious congregations has been a growing concern for a decade — since the shooting at the Oak Creek, Wisconsin, Sikh temple in 2012. It was followed by the massacre at Emanuel AME in Charleston, South Carolina, a mostly Black congregation, in 2015; the killing of nearly two dozen worshipers at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas; the killing of 11 Jews at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018.

And those are only the most notable mass killings. Other acts of violence, include the 2017 and 2019 firebombings of mosques in Victoria, Texas and Escondido, California.

The council is expected to help the department evaluate the effectiveness of existing security-related programs and improve coordination and sharing of threat and security-related information.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, an agency of the Department of Homeland Security, has a Nonprofit Security Grant Program that provides federal funds for nonprofits and houses of worship to beef up security on their premises.

Funding for the program was increased to $250 million in 2022, up from $180 million in 2021. But not all houses of worship that apply get the grant. This year, just over half of the 3,470 applications received were approved, the Jewish Insider reported. Several religious groups are advocating for $360 million in funding in 2023.

The advisory council’s mission will be broader than advocating for more money through the grant program, said Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, who was appointed to the council.

“I don’t think we’re going to pay our way out of the crisis of white supremacy and violent antisemitism and too many guns in too many hands,” he said. “This is not just about more security cameras. We have to get to the root of these questions.”

Sunday night marks the start of the Jewish High Holy Days, beginning with Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. The holidays draw the highest attendance at synagogues across the country. While services in the last two years saw lower attendance because of the coronavirus pandemic, Jewish leaders are expecting a return to record attendance this year. With that comes a degree of anxiety about security.

“There’s a sense of both joy and return and renewal and fear,” Pesner said.

Shortly after 5 p.m., local time, authorities escort a hostage out of the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, Saturday, Jan. 15, 2022. Police said the man was not hurt and would be reunited with his family. (Elias Valverde/The Dallas Morning News via AP)

Shortly after 5 p.m. local time, authorities escort a hostage out of the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, Jan. 15, 2022. (Elias Valverde/The Dallas Morning News via AP)

Earlier this year a gunman entered a Colleyville, Texas, synagogue and took several congregants hostage as he demanded the release of a person in prison. The congregants and their rabbi managed to escape and the gunman was killed by an FBI hostage rescue team.

The Risks of Venting and 4 Tips To Safely Vent at Small Group

Chet Gladkowski

September 21, 2022

This side of eternity, people are going to vent. I know that’s so shocking to you, but it’s true. Think about the past few years with the pandemic, governmental and organizational failures, and fallen leaders. The cost of everything keeps going up while the availability of just about everything continues to remain tight. And the natural thing we humans do is to default by grumbling. Venting. Complaining. But what are the risks of venting?

The Risks of Venting

Sometimes, it feels like you just have to let it out or you’re going to pop. But do you really need to vent about your unbearable boss who you meet at the end of your morning’s grueling commute? There’s a mountain of stuff more important to grumble about these days.

But the risks venting are real. If you unburden yourself with the wrong person, you’ll never be able to take those words back. People who complain too much get tagged as negative, a complainer, or someone who never sees the good.

Ethan Kross, author of the book Chatter says it all. “We want to connect with other people who can help validate what we’re going through, and venting really does a pretty good job at fulfilling that need. It feels good to know there’s someone there to rely on who cares enough to take time to listen.”

But both the Bible and data suggest that there is venting, and then there is venting. Sometimes we get stuck in the “feel good” mode of venting. If all we do is vent, we never move to the place where we address both the external and internal problems.

4 Tips To Safely Vent at Small Group

So, how do we promote healthy venting? Also, how do we nip unhealthy venting in the bud? Here are four tips to use.

Venting Carefully. Just because you see a road doesn’t make it a great way to go, especially if there’s a “Do Not Enter” sign. Just because someone feels like venting doesn’t automatically make it right, or give them the go-ahead. It must be approached with wisdom and discretion, two attributes missing in lots of people that feel they have the spiritual gift of venting.

But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. Matthew 12:36 NIV

Venting Constructively. Like a piston that pushes out exhaust, it then immediately pulls in fresh air and fuel, so it is with venting. While there is an initial emotional “release” with venting, it’s never to end there. It must lead to building up and correction. Venting for venting’s sake is never constructive or a solution to anything except more hurt and pain.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Ephesians 4:29 NIV

Venting Peacefully. When we start venting, it’s so easy to fall into our long-practiced habit of uncontrolled anger. When we vent because we’ve been hurt, our rights have been violated, or because our expectations were not met, then we’re trading on ground that God claims responsibility for. So, we must tread carefully, with a goal of restoration, making peace.

100 Tips for Leaders That Everyone in Ministry Should Know

Joe McKeever

September 21, 2022

1. In all the world, there are only three Christians who love change; none of them are in your church.

2. When you speak before an unfamiliar group, be careful what you say because you never know who is listening to you. You’ll start to tell a story about some guy in your former church and his mama is sitting right in front of you.

3. There will never be a time in your life when you know all the Bible and have your questions all answered; if you cannot serve Him with some gaps in your knowledge and preach without knowing everything, you’re going to have a hard time.

4. Your church members should submit to your leadership, but you’re not the one to tell them that.

5. The best way to get people to submit to your leadership is for you to humble yourself and serve them the way the Lord did the disciples (John 13); they will trust someone who loves them that much.

6. The best way to get run off from a church is to take your eyes off Jesus and begin to think of yourself as hot stuff who is worthy of acclaim; from that moment on, your days are numbered.

7. In worship services, try not to talk so much, pushing events and meetings, that you are worn out by the time you open the Word and begin to preach.

8. Only a pastor with a suicide wish will tell a story about his wife and children in a sermon without their complete and enthusiastic approval. Even if they give it, you should go over it with them ahead of time to make sure they’re OK.

9. Some of your biggest headaches will come from adlibbing in your sermons, saying things “off the cuff” which you just thought of. Try not to do that until you have fully mastered your tongue.

10. If the Lord is ever to use you mightily in His service, He will first have to break you. (Usually, this involves some failure on your part which comes to light and embarrasses you.) This will be humiliating to you and so painful you wonder if you can go back into the pulpit. However, you will survive and forevermore be thankful for what this taught you.

Are You Pastoring in the Death Zone?

David Manner

September 21, 2022

Death Zone is a mountaineering reference to the altitude above a certain point where the oxygen level is no longer high enough to sustain human life. It has been generally recognized as any altitude above 8,000 meters or 26,000 feet. Spending time in an oxygen-deprived atmosphere can cause climbers to make irrational decisions due to the deterioration of their physical and mental capacities. An extended stay in the death zone without the proper safeguards will ultimately lead to a loss of consciousness and death.

Pastoring in the death zone means attempting to sustain an elevated level or pace that has the potential to jeopardize your family, your ministry, and your health. How can you expect to lead others to a place you no longer have the spiritual, emotional, or physical resolve to go yourself?

Recognizing and acknowledging the following warning signs can help establish safeguards before you no longer have the capacity to replenish your reserves. Pastoring in the death zone may be a slow death, but it’s still terminal.

How to Know if You’re Pastoring in the Death Zone

1. You’re Trying to Do It Alone

You probably have enough talent to succeed alone for a time. But there will come a time when the risks of trying to succeed alone will cause you to fail…also alone.

2. You’ve Stopped Taking Care of Yourself

To sustain effective pastoral leadership, you must learn to take care of yourself spiritually, emotionally, and physically. If you aren’t doing it for yourself, no one else will.

3. You’ve Started Ignoring Your Family

Loving your family means spending time with them. Don’t ignore family in the name of ministry since taking care of your family is ministry. You’ll never recover those missed opportunities with your spouse and children.

4. You Aren’t Setting Appropriate Boundaries

Boundaries are those spiritual, familial, professional, emotional, physical, mental, ethical, and relational counter measures or limits. They are precautionary gauges put in place to ward off impending dangers before they occur. Boundaries give you permission to say no.

5. You’ve Stopped Learning Anything New

Pastors that ignore steps to recalibrate in order to actively increase their spiritual, physical, and professional shelf life often find themselves only prepared to lead a church or ministry that no longer exists. What you once learned is not nearly enough to sustain you for future ministry.

This article on pastoring in the death zone orignally appeared here, and is used by permission.

TikTok Suspends Controversial Pastor Mark Driscoll for Saying ‘Men Can’t Have Babies’

Jesse T. Jackson

September 20, 2022

Mark Driscoll, founding and senior pastor of Trinity Church in Scottsdale, Arizona, has dealt with controversy surrounding his ministry since planting Mars Hill Church in 1996 and then Trinity Church in 2016.

Driscoll, who has been accused of bullying staff members, elders, church leaders, and congregants throughout his years of ministry, has never hesitated to tell it as he sees it—even sometimes screaming it in his sermons.

This time, the world of social media took issue with Driscoll. TikTok temporarily banned him from posting on their platform for, according to him, arguing that men cannot bear children. The video appears to have been removed from the platform.

“What happens on TikTok when you say that men can’t have babies,” Driscoll tweeted alongside an image of his TikTok account status, which indicated that he had been temporarily prevented from posting due to “multiple violations” of TikTok’s community guidelines.

Driscoll followed up his comments with the Apostle Paul’s words from Romans 1:18: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”

TikTok warned the pastor that if he receives another violation, it could result in his account being restricted to view-only mode.

“Resistance often means you’re on to something,” Driscoll wrote in reply to a follower’s comment.

The Arizona pastor leads Trinity Church’s “Real Men” group, which meets for two hours every Wednesday. According to the church’s website, the group consists of men from the church who “come together to build each other up to be more like the true real man, Jesus Christ.”

In one of Driscoll’s latest Instagram posts, he shared that the group is starting a 9-week series titled “Real Men: ACT LIKE A MAN.”

“In a world void of strong men and fathers, we want to build you up to bless women and children, and transform legacies for generations to come,” the description reads.

“At ‘Real Men: ACT LIKE A MAN’, I will take you through exactly what the namesake says; how to act like a man,” Driscoll explains.

Is ‘White Evangelicalism’ the Same as ‘Historic Christian Theology’? Christians Debate Evangelicalism’s Place in Church History on Twitter

Dale Chamberlain

September 20, 2022

Debate about the place of evangelicalism in the scope of church history, as well as its relationship to race, swirled on Twitter this week in response to a tweet by author and apologist Neil Shenvi, wherein Shenvi argued that many public critiques of American evangelicalism are little more than attacks on Christianity itself.

“Railing against ‘white evangelicalism’ is often just a subtle way to rail against historic Christian theology,” Shenvi wrote.

In recent times, evangelicalism has come under public scrutiny for the brand of political engagement it has become associated with in the age of Donald Trump, as well as high profile revelations of abusive leadership within the movement. Evangelicalism has also often been criticized for its sexual ethics and conceptions of masculinity, which stand in contrast to the growing acceptance and celebration of LGBTQ+ values in America.

Further, the term “White” as a modifier to “evangelicalism” has become increasingly common in public discourse, which has served to highlight that large numbers of Black protestants and other American Christians of color often align with their White counterparts on issues of theology while differing significantly in how they view social and political issues.

In the past, Shenvi has noted that evangelicalism has even become the subject of public critique among those who might be considered to be within its own ranks.

This criticism is included in works such as “The Making of Biblical Womanhood” by Beth Allison Barr, “Jesus and John Wayne” by Kristin Kobes Du Mez, and “Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States,” by Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry—all of which have been lauded in popular media but which Shenvi fears provide a pathway for the denial of core Christian doctrines.

“[T]hese authors’ ‘deconstructive’ approach to theology is necessarily a universal acid. Even if they weren’t explicitly committed to challenging evangelical doctrine broadly, their methodological approach makes such an outcome inevitable,” Shenvi wrote in a November 2021 article for CBMW. “This erosion is, perhaps, one of my greatest fears.”

When it comes to the criticism White evangelicals receive in public discourse generally, Shenvi emphasized on Twitter that such critiques are often levied against “historic theological positions related to gender and sexuality.”

To this claim, North Carolina pastor Ben Marsh responded, “Perhaps in the literature that you read, but most of the critiques that I see are leveraged against the historical positions on slavery, human dignity, and the role and nature of politics.”

Shenvi replied, “Take a look at the bios of the people who liked your tweet.”

Halloween Is a ‘Trick of the Devil,’ Warns Satanist-Turned-Christian

Stephanie Martin

September 20, 2022

john ramirez — Screengrab via YouTube / @CBNnewsonline

As the annual debate nears about whether Christians should celebrate Halloween, one man who spent 25 years immersed in Satanism issues a strong warning. John Ramirez, a born-again minister who strives to “make Jesus Christ proud,” tells CBN News he once “sold my soul to the devil.” He got married on Halloween in a “demonic wedding” and baptized his 11-year-old daughter “to the dark side.”

Satanism was his entire life, Ramirez tells Charlene Aaron. He “breathed, ate, and slept witchcraft,” trying to “capture” people for the devil by astral-projecting and placing curses.

Don’t ‘Cheat on God’ Says John Ramirez

When asked why he does not advise Christians to celebrate Halloween, even through Trunk or Treat events or biblical costumes, Ramirez says, “I don’t see how you can cheat on God…on the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Satanists don’t come hang out with Christians on Good Friday, he notes, so “why would you put your kids, your family…your whole eternity on a demonic altar? … Why would you bring that kind of curse into your house and curse your family for three to four generations?”

Don’t be fooled by fun aspects of the secular holiday, Ramirez warns parents. “People from different walks of life pray over these candies,” including witches. Then kids put that stuff into their bodies.

Pointing to the Fall in Genesis 3, Ramirez says Adam and Eve lost everything through one mistake. Though they were made in God’s image, Satan tricked them with sin and changed their identity. So even if you dress kids up as Bible figures, observing Halloween involves “changing your kids’ identity.” That, he adds, “is the trick of the devil.”

Ramirez quotes Anton LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan, as saying, “I want to thank every Christian parent for allowing their child to celebrate Halloween—the devil’s holiday—one time a year.” (The church denies LaVey said that.)

As Payback, Pastor Harvests Souls for Jesus

As a Christian minister, Ramirez now spreads his warnings about Halloween wherever he goes. Some churches get mad at him, he says, but “God told me to speak the truth.”

Are You ‘Called’ To Be Single? Sean McDowell Shares What the Bible Says

Jessica Mouser

September 20, 2022

Have you ever wondered if you had the “gift of singleness”? In a recent video, author and professor Dr. Sean McDowell explains how Christians can know whether or not God has “called” them to be single.

“How do you know you are called to be single?” asked Sean McDowell. “Here’s an answer you might not expect.”

Sean McDowell: Your Gift Is Where You Are Now

The idea of having a certain “gift” from God to either be single or married comes from 1 Corinthians 7, where the Apostle Paul discusses singleness and marriage. In verses 7 and 8, he says, “I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that. Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do.”

Because of this passage, some people have gotten the idea that God bestows either the gift of marriage or the gift of singleness on his followers and that believers must live with whichever one of the gifts God has assigned to them.

This view, however, is not the one that Sean McDowell takes. McDowell, who is associate professor in the Christian Apologetics program at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University, said, “If you are single, you are called to be single. If you are married, you are called to be married. I don’t think the Bible teaches that God has a unique call for us to be single or to be married.”

We do not need to determine which calling is on our lives before we decide whether or not to pursue a relationship, says McDowell. “I don’t find that in the Scriptures. Rather, as Christians and human beings, we can chose to be single, or we can choose to be married. Both are gifts for the body of Christ. The real question is, whatever state I am in, can I be content? And can I use that state as a gift for the church?”

Author, professor and speaker Dr. Christopher Yuan, shares McDowell’s perspective. In a 2020 interview with ChurchLeaders, Yuan explained why his view shapes his belief that the word, “celibacy,” is unhelpful.

“I don’t ever use the word ‘celibacy,’” said Yuan, “because it’s associated with a lifelong, chosen vocation, and I simply don’t find that in Scripture…but singleness is, and I want to tell people, ‘Do not plan out your future.’ You’re called to be single today, but who knows what tomorrow may bring.”

Are American Christians on the Path to Severe Persecution for Their Faith?

David Curry

September 20, 2022

american christians — Photo by Ismael Paramo on Unsplash

(RNS) — A retired U.S. Army lieutenant general spurred debate recently when he said that the rise in global attacks on Christians could become a national security threat to the United States.

In an interview with The Washington Times, retired Lt. Gen. William Boykin, a former commander of Delta Force and undersecretary of defense for intelligence, said the attacks indicate an increased religious intolerance that could hit closer to home. He warned that Christian persecution is “only going to grow unless we wake up and start taking a very strong stand against this.”

Boykin is not alone in his fear that America is plunging toward an increasingly anti-Christian future. A 2017 survey conducted by Public Religion Research Institute found that millions of Americans, including 57% of white evangelical Protestants, say that “there is a lot of discrimination” against Christians in the U.S. today.

Those who follow the news have heard countless stories of Christians who have, to one degree or another, experienced some level of pressure about their faith from individuals and institutions in our increasingly secular society. Certainly, domestic trends around religious freedom should be closely monitored.

And yet, at least right now, there is a marked difference between the treatment of Christians in many countries abroad and what believers are facing here at home. American Christians still enjoy broad religious protections under the law, and the intensity of what Christians face here pales in comparison to the depths of persecution suffered by followers of Jesus in many places around the world.

While a Christian college student in New York City might face ridicule for their beliefs, it would be impossible for them to live openly as a believer if they were living in Afghanistan, ranked No. 1 on Open Doors USA’s World Watch List of countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.

Last year, the Taliban began the restoration of their oppressive rule by going door to door looking for Christian leaders. Those who are identified as Christian face dire consequences — our sources indicate torture or death are possible. The prospect of fleeing the country is largely hopeless. Refugees face chaotic and difficult journeys, risking being kidnapped and trafficked along the way. The governments across the Pakistan and Iran borders are little more accepting of Christians. Given these dangers, unmarried women, widows and older people especially have a very small chance of getting out of Afghanistan safely.

Christian politicians in America have been attacked for their religious convictions, but in places such as Vietnam, Christians face much more than mere criticism. Several house churches in Dak Lok province were recently harassed and fined by police because they publicly honored the United Nations’ International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief.

In the central Vietnam province of Nghệ An, government officials compete to create “Christian-free zones,” and authorities pressure animist relatives to drive Christians from their homes and communities. Some have been forcibly separated from their spouses, children, farm fields and even their wedding rings. The head of the Montagnard Evangelical Church of Christ was tortured and imprisoned until the government yielded to international pressure urging his release. Despite his nominal freedom — the government tracks him constantly — he was kept from attending the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington this summer.

Candidates’ Views on Handling Sexual Abuse Will Be Factor, Nominations Committee Chair Says

Scott Barkley

September 20, 2022

NASHVILLE (BP) — The chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention Committee on Nominations wants his group to do its part to ensure board members of Southern Baptist entities reflect the Convention’s stance on addressing sexual abuse.

“The last three conventions (annual meetings) have spoken clearly about our desire to root out any type of hiding or concealing in regards of abuse,” Michael Criner, committee chair and lead pastor of Rock Hill Baptist Church in East Brownsboro, Texas, told Baptist Press this morning. “I felt like, as chairman, that we need to be very intentional in regard to those we propose to be elected to these trustee boards that they be just as consistent with how the Convention has spoken.”

Criner reminded Committee on Nominations members of that recent history in an Aug. 30 email.

“I dare say that the stakes before us are higher than ever, and our churches expect that our Committee will conform to the present convention’s determination to root this out and deal definitively with this matter,” he wrote. “… We will countenance no exception, and we will implement a rigorous vetting process to ensure eligible nominees are aligned with our convention’s resolve.”

The Committee on Nominations is tasked each year with identifying two nominees – one a layperson – from each qualifying state or regional Baptist convention to fill vacancies on Southern Baptist boards, institutions, standing committees and the Executive Committee. Those names are then presented at the next SBC annual meeting.

Taking a long-term perspective is necessary in order “to help the SBC become more transparent and healthy in regards to [addressing] sexual abuse,” Criner told BP. That includes all levels of involvement among Southern Baptists both in local and national leadership.

“The local church has to take ownership of what they’re doing,” he said. “For our part, we want people who are supportive of our efforts to ensure we’re caring for survivors and protecting our church members. There’s a theological piece to all that.

“We don’t want antagonistic mentalities towards addressing the value of the individual, the human life.”

That reflects what he has heard as a pastor.

“People don’t want to be associated with a network of churches that are known or accused of being known to cover sexual abuse up. My church members are saying, ‘Whatever we have to do to do the right thing, let’s do that.’”

SBC Should Be Known for Love, Firm Convictions, Barber Says

Diana Chandler

September 20, 2022

SBC President Bart Barber preaches at the SBC Executive Committee meeting on Sept. 19 in Nashville. (Baptist Press/Brandon Porter)

NASHVILLE (BP) – Southern Baptists need to uphold and support Scriptural truth while maintaining love and cooperation, Southern Baptist Convention President Bart Barber said in addressing the SBC Executive Committee Sept. 19 in Nashville.

“You are just as much a defender of the truth when you argue for cooperation, as you are a defender of the truth when you argue for (Scriptural) purity,” Barber told the EC as it convened for its fall session Sept. 19-20.

Both 2 John and 3 John were his primary texts, focusing on the call to Scriptural truth in the second epistle, and the call to love and cooperation in the third.

“And I want God to make us a family of churches who know how to hold firm convictions about the truth of Scripture, while feeling the obligation to bring everybody that we can who’s in agreement with our statement of faith and with our movement to go and reach the world with the Good News of Jesus Christ, to bring everybody that we can on board into that journey,” he said, “so that together we can fulfill the mandate of both of these books.”

Barber took time to announce the theme and Scripture for the 2023 SBC Annual Meeting set for June 13-14 in New Orleans. “Serving the Lord, Serving Others,” will be the theme, supported by 2 Corinthians 4:5.

“I wanted to have a theme that really just ties together who we are as Southern Baptists,” he said. “And the other thing I love about that theme is that if any community has seen what Southern Baptists are like, serving other people in the name of Jesus, it’s been New Orleans,” he said, referencing Southern Baptist rebuilding efforts after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and in subsequent disasters.

In his first presidential address since his June election, the rural cattle farmer and fulltime pastor of First Baptist Church of Farmersville, Texas, told the EC he discovered the meat of his message while on a mission trip to train pastors in Senegal.

“What happened in that moment in Senegal in that little mud house with those teachers, is that I found the Southern Baptist Convention in the Bible,” he said. “We live in this crack here of the pages between 2 John and 3 John.

“It is good and right that we be vigilant against doctrinal deviation. It is good and right that we be on guard against those who would work evil in the midst of the company of good.

“It is good and right that we be watching for sexual predators who would come into our flocks and destroy the hearts and the bodies and the lives of precious children of God. …

“It’s good and right for us to be on guard against people who are being led not by the truth of God’s Word, but by the convenience of the moment, who are being led not by the inerrant Word of Scripture, but by the fleeting opinions of the day.”

He described both epistles as written in the defense of truth, one focusing on supporting only adherents of God’s Word; the other extolling the church’s faithful love.

McLaurin: ‘Convention Is Only as Strong as Our Relationships With One Another’

Timothy Cockes

September 20, 2022

NASHVILLE (BP) – In his Monday night (Sept. 19) plenary session address to the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, Willie McLaurin urged Southern Baptists to continue to cooperate in carrying out their shared mission.

McLaurin, interim president and CEO of the SBC EC, said just like the early church, the SBC must set the correct priorities during difficult times.

“The early church understood what it meant to embrace the priorities and the mission of Jesus,” McLaurin said. “As a network of partnering churches, if we would draw near to God and allow the Lord Jesus Christ to set the priorities of our beloved Convention, we too will experience the blessings of Almighty God.”

McLaurin said Southern Baptists should prioritize healing their relationships, both with each other and with God.

“Our Convention is only as strong as our relationships with one another, and we must be intentional in lengthening, strengthening and deepening relationships,” McLaurin said. “We must take the time to build trust, and trust is built and rebuilt one person and one relationship at a time.

“Let’s be honest tonight. Over the past 15 months, relationships have been damaged, some have even destroyed. Words have been exchanged and reputations have been tainted. Brothers and sisters, this is not who we are.”

McLaurin pleaded for fellow Southern Baptists to have honorable relationships.

“We need to model to the world how to operate according to kingdom values,” he said. “Tonight, I’m simply calling on every Southern Baptist to lay down your swords and make sure that your relationships with one another are honoring unto the Lord Jesus Christ. We do this through four things: love one another, forgive one other, serve one another and pray for one another.”

While encouraging fellow Southern Baptists to look forward to next year’s annual meeting in New Orleans, McLaurin appealed to a memory of the SBC from more than 100 years ago.

It was in 1917 that James Bruton Gambrell was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Gambrell, known by some as “Uncle Gideon,” served in a variety of Southern Baptist positions, including as editor of the Baptist Standard newspaper in Texas, state mission secretary in Mississippi and professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

In April 2017, two months before that year’s annual meeting, also in New Orleans, Gambrell said, “We need a great big convention in New Orleans, but that cannot be unless we go there with a big spirit, to do big things.”

New Museum Exhibit Seeks To Show Samaritans Are More Than a Biblical Parable

Menachem Wecker

September 20, 2022

museum of the bible samaritans — 'The Samaritans: A Biblical People,' opened Sept. 16, 2022, at the Museum of the Bible. Photo courtesy of Museum of the Bible

(RNS) — Growing up, when Steven Fine learned about the Kutim, the Samaritans, in the Talmud, the references “went in this ear and out the other.” In 1977, he met a Samaritan for the first time at one of the salons the late Jewish folklorist and Hebrew University professor Dov Noy hosted — “Every week, it was like going to the all-star game!” — but he didn’t meet just any Samaritan that day. Benny Tsedaka, who remains a friend, was the son of the community’s leader.

Suddenly, that biblical people — best known for the protagonist in Jesus’ famous parable of The Good Samaritan — became real to Fine, a college sophomore at the time.

Now a professor of Jewish history at Yeshiva University, Fine still has that biblical people on the brain, and Samaritans are having something of a cultural moment.

Fine co-curated the exhibit “The Samaritans: A Biblical People,” which opened Sept. 16 at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, and edited a new scholarly volume of the same title. He was academic adviser to the first-ever Samaritan cookbook in 2020 and to a new documentary about Samaritans by filmmaker Moshe Alafi.

Steven Fine at the sukkah in the Samaritan exhibit at the Museum of the Bible. Photo by Menachem Wecker

Also in 2022, the superhero film “Samaritan” starring Sylvester Stallone ostensibly pits — without too many spoilers — the good-guy Samaritan against evil brother Nemesis. The film takes for granted that viewers recognize the reference from Luke’s gospel.

In his parable, Jesus tells of a “certain Samaritan” who tends to the wounds of a man, whom bandits left for dead. Though a priest and Levite pass the victim by, the Samaritan loads him on his animal, takes him to an inn and settles with the innkeeper.

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” Jesus asks, per the New International Version.

Today, every state in America has a version of a “Good Samaritan Law,” shielding those who provide emergency treatment from most malpractice suits. In an unlikely turn of fate, Tzili Charney, widow of Leon Charney, who was instrumental in creating New York’s Good Samaritan Law, has supported many of Fine’s Samaritan projects.

Photos of the Samaritan community on display at the Museum of the Bible. Photo courtesy of Museum of the Bible

Jeffrey Kloha, chief curatorial officer at the Bible Museum, cites the “Seinfeld” episode, in which the main characters are arrested under a Good Samaritan Law for not helping someone in need. “The Samaritans were an ancient tribe — very helpful to people,” Kramer (Michael Richards) explains. Kloha laughs off the latter clause but corrects the tense of the former. The Samaritans are not a relic of the past, but a living people.

That is the main lesson Fine and exhibit co-curator Jesse Abelman, the museum’s Hebraica and Judaica curator, hope visitors will take away from the show.

In an interview at the Bible Museum, which mostly transpired in Hebrew with a translator present, Yefet Tsedaka — whose brother Fine met in 1977 — said the Samaritan community is pleased with the exhibit, with which it was very involved.

Disarming a Weaponized Church: Moving Forward Amid Turmoil in the UMC

Michael Adam Beck

September 20, 2022

Rash words are like sword thrusts,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
(Proverbs 12:18)

The United Methodist Church feels like a war zone. Tribal factions seem to be battling for resources, property, and people. If we let the headlines tell the tale, Methodists are destroying each other through schism. We do so while largely remaining irrelevant to a post-Christendom world.

These issues are not unique to Methodism. Sadly, this polarization exists across the many expressions of the body of Christ. While this is an oversimplification, in many cases, a minority of extremists at far ends of the spectrum have weaponized different theological distinctions. Conservatives have weaponized the term “orthodoxy” and accuse progressives of abandoning the historic faith. Progressives have weaponized the term “inclusion” and accuse conservatives of injustice towards the LGBTQ+ community. Both use Scripture, what Walter Brueggemann has referred to as texts of “rigor” and “welcome” to justify their positions. These passages are wielded like swords slicing opponents to pieces.

Yet, many everyday believers live in the wide middle between these extremes.

Amid this seemingly endless diatribe, how do we be faithful and fruitful in our task of sharing “good news for all people” (Luke 2:10-11) with people for whom it is not only good but also news?

I believe the way forward is to “beat our swords into plowshares” (Isaiah 2:4) on the anvil of compassion. Here are three principles that can guide us.

1. Recentering Missio Dei in Passio Dei

Has the missional church conversation become a shouting match? Both conservatives and progressives increasingly use the term “missional” to describe their activity.

Perhaps we can experience a course correction through recentering mission in the compassion of Jesus?

Missio Dei (Latin for “mission of God”) understands mission as an attribute and activity of God, and furthermore that the church is missionary by its very nature.

Passio Dei (Latin for “passion of God”) is grounded primarily in the incarnation, suffering, crucifixion, and death (passion) of Jesus.

Matthew 9:36 reports that when Jesus “saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” The Greek word for compassion, splanchnizomai: means to be moved as to one’s bowels. Jesus experiences a gut-wrenching love that inspires him to act.

The unbounded mercy of God manifests in Jesus’ ministry of compassion and finds ultimate expression in the cross. God’s nature is the self-emptying (kenotic), other-oriented, and sacrificial love fully displayed in the crucifixion. The passion of Christ expresses God’s inhabitation of human vulnerability and suffering.

The church as the “body of Christ” (1 Cor 12:27) in the world is an expression of Christ’s own compassion. An active, practical, inclusive and holy compassion should emanate endlessly from the church.

Overemphasis on orthodoxy (“right belief”) or orthopraxy (“right practice”), while disregarding orthopathy (“right pathos/suffering” i.e., experience of God), causes harm. The passio Dei seeks to normalize the experience of Jesus’ passion in our own missional approach.

The Passional Church Movement reminds us that the great commandment (love God and neighbor) comes before the great commission (go make disciples). Missional describes what God does, passional describes how God goes about it.

11 Characteristics of Spiritually Weak Christian Leaders

Chuck Lawless

September 20, 2022

I’m hesitant to write this post because I know I probably exhibit some of these characteristics. Nevertheless, I’ve seen a lot of Christian leaders who never fully live up to their potential in the power of God’s Spirit. Here are some of the primary issues I see in this group of weak Christian leaders:

11 Characteristics of Spiritually Weak Christian Leaders

They lead in their own power rather than God’s power. They may use the language of “God’s power,” but honesty would require them to say that they’re living in their own strength. They’re tackling very little that they could not do on their own.

They manage rather than lead. They’re not casting vision. They cannot talk with specificity about what they believe the church should be three to five years from now. Most of their work relates only to managing what’s already happening.

They pray reactively, not proactively. In fact, most of them are not prayer warriors. Their tendency is to plan first and then ask God to bless their plans. Seldom do they genuinely seek God first and then follow His lead.

They lead an organization, but not their family. They might even appear to be great leaders of their church, but they’re losing their family in the process. Externally, they get good publicity. In their home, everything is in shambles.

They firefight rather than ignite fires. That is, much of their ministry is responding to fires, often because they believe that putting out little fires saves the church from facing bigger fires. They’re always watching for the fires of conflict, and they consequently give no attention to igniting fires of worship and evangelism among their church members.

They lead out of charisma rather than crucifixion. On the stage, they excel. Any thought of “dying to self,” though, is more a matter of saying the right words than living the life. Leaders who love being on the platform seldom think about being on the altar.

They speak the gospel on Sunday, but “foolish talking and crude joking” (Eph. 5:4) the rest of the week. For some reason, they give themselves permission to talk privately in ways they would never talk from the pulpit.

They tell others to evangelize but expect the lost to come to them. Others must reach out to their friends and neighbors; these leaders, though, evangelize only from the pulpit and within their office. Any initiative belongs only to the non-believer seeking help.

They call for sacrificial effort from their people while they maximize their leisure. That’s often the case when no one holds them accountable for how they use their time.

They’re aware of everyone else’s sin, but not so aware of their own. Apparently, their discernment stops with their own lives, and they genuinely miss what others see so obviously in them. Hence, they can be both arrogant and unaware—a dangerous combination.

The Bible is their source for sermons, not their source for life. Beyond sermon preparation, their spiritual habits suggest that the Word means little to them.

Pastors, do you find yourself in any of these descriptions? If so, spend some time with the Lord.

This article originally appeared here.

5 Things Your Pastor Needs to Know About Media Ministry

Phil Cooke

September 20, 2022

As a media consultant, I have the opportunity to help some of the largest churches and ministries in the country create effective, high quality media ministry outreaches. In most cases, they are experienced, committed Christian leaders who understand the value and the power of the media. But I also have the opportunity to spend time with less experienced pastors and ministry leaders who feel just as called to use media in a meaningful way, but have serious questions like:

“Will it compromise my message?”
“Will it be too expensive?”
“Will my preaching or teaching ministry really work on television?”
“I only have 100 people in my congregation, can I still use the media?”
“Is it an effective use of our money?”

There are many questions, and many options as well. Perhaps you’ve wondered about many of these issues before, or listened to Christian radio or watched Christian television late into the night thinking, “I could do that,” but just have no idea where to start. I feel your pain. But the good news is, yes—even if you have only a handful of people in your congregation, you can use the media. I’ve taught media classes and workshops around the world, and I’ve seen people in the most remote places in Russia, Africa, India and South America producing programs. Today, there’s a young Russian woman producing a local Christian television program in one of the most isolated cities in Siberia. She started with a department store video camera and a VHS tape deck, and yet it’s reaching thousands of people with a message of hope.

5 Things Your Pastor Needs to Know About Media Ministry

1) Think Quality People Before Quality Equipment

Most churches and ministries are happy to spend serious money on equipment, and then hire untrained volunteers to operate it. But remember—God works through people, not equipment. I would much rather have creative, innovative people working with second rate equipment, over great equipment operated by average people. When you allocate your budget—concentrate on qualified and committed people before you purchase state-of-the-art equipment.

2) Consult With Someone Who Understands the Media

Your brother-in-law may be a wonderful guy who loves your ministry, but chances are he doesn’t know anything about the media. Find someone with real experience in the business who can guide you and give you the best advice. Perhaps there’s someone in your church with experience. If not, call a media ministry you watch and respect, or Christian college with a mass communications department, and ask for their recommendations.

3) Learn How to Tell a Story

It’s no surprise that the most watched programs on secular television are story based. Even reality programs are built around a story. It’s critically important to remember that ultimately, as a pastor, you’re telling a story. A simple story about how God chose to become one of us and share His eternal plan with people who didn’t deserve it. That’s it. It’s not just about close-ups, cuts and dissolves, better lighting, or quality sound. It’s about telling a story. This coming Sunday, thousands of pastors will step up to the pulpit without telling a single story. And yet, when you study the life of Jesus, that’s just about all he ever did. Stories touch people, and change their lives.

4) Forget Christian Lingo

Christian media is so filled with its own “lingo,” that most of the people we’re trying to reach can’t even understand us. But when I read the New Testament, Jesus spoke in a language and style people understood. Why have we lost that ability? Why have we created an entire vocabulary of words and phrases that only church members can understand?

5) The Importance of the Package

On our home cable TV system in Los Angeles, we have nearly 500 channels. With TV remotes, our experience and research indicates that most people take an average of two to three seconds to decide which program to watch. Therefore, it doesn’t matter how powerful your message is—if the rest of the program can’t keep their attention, they’ll never watch long enough to hear it. We need to package our messages in an innovative and exciting way so people will want to watch and listen.

You can make a difference in media ministry.

This article about media ministry originally appeared here, and is used by permission.

Brooklyn Pastor Who Had Million Dollar Jewelry Stolen Arrested After Forcefully Grabbing Woman During Live Sermon

Jesse T. Jackson

September 19, 2022

Brooklyn Bishop Lamor Whitehead is making headlines following an incident on Sunday (September 18), wherein he forcefully grabbed a woman by the back of the neck for disrupting his live sermon, leading her out of the room.

Whitehead first made the news in July when he and his wife were robbed of jewelry at gunpoint while he was preaching during his church’s livestream on a Sunday morning. According to police, the value of the jewelry stolen was estimated to be worth over $1 million.

Police officers were called to the scene after Whitehead, bishop of Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries located in Brooklyn, New York, was interrupted by two women who started shouting from the back of the room at the bishop.

The incident, which was captured on video (1:31:00 mark), shows that Whitehead stopped his sermon and confronted the woman who was taking pictures and video of their altercation. “Do you want to come preach,” the bishop asked the disrupter and told her to come up to the front, adding, ”I’m gonna make you famous.”

Whitehead then proceeded to repeatedly say “Yes Lord” and “In the name of Jesus” while he smiled in what appeared to be in her direction. The bishop then told the congregation to pray in the Spirit and started speaking in tongues. He then told someone to remove the woman from the room and repeated, “Let’s give Jesus a round of applause,” several times to the congregation.

The woman then appeared on camera walking in front of Whitehead, shouting and pointing her finger.

As the woman was walking away from Whitehead, the bishop abruptly grabbed the back of her neck and led her off camera, telling her to “go over here.” He then told others to grab her and take her out of the room. Someone who is off camera could be heard saying, “Let her go.”

The protesting woman told Whitehead she was going to press charges. The bishop responded, “Press whatever charges you want…You’re not going to come in my space. I feel threatened.” Whitehead then appeared on camera, walking back to the pulpit to resume preaching.

“I was almost done with my preaching and these two young ladies came in and sat in the back,” Whitehead told the New York Daily News, sharing that the woman who approached him was shouting obscenities and calling him names.

Whitehead explained, “She came back storming toward my wife and my 10-month-old baby. She went toward my wife, and that’s when I grabbed her. I grabbed her and took her out of my church. All I could remember was the guys with the guns who put their gun in my baby’s face.”

Donald Trump Is Openly Embracing QAnon, Say Critics, Who Cite ‘Messiah-Like Status,’ ‘Deeply Weird’ Hand Gestures

Stephanie Martin

September 19, 2022

The use of certain hand gestures and music at recent Republican political rallies, including a recent Ohio rally where former president Donald Trump appeared, is raising eyebrows and concerns. Video clips from the events are being called everything from creepy and bizarre to Nazi-like and supportive of QAnon.

Doug Mastriano, a Republican gubernatorial candidate in Pennsylvania, told attendees at a weekend rally to “put your right hand in the air” as he prayed for America to “have a new birth of liberty.” Although some online commentators characterize the raised hands as a Nazi-type salute, others point out it’s a common posture of prayer for Christians.

Ohio Rally Attendees Salute Donald Trump

At a September 17 rally for J.D. Vance, a Republican Senate hopeful from Ohio, former president Donald Trump delivered an ominous message about America’s decline. While music played that apparently sounded similar to a QAnon-linked song, many listeners at the Ohio rally raised their hands in a one-finger salute. Journalist Aaron Rupar, who tweeted clips from rally, called it “weird and cult-like,” adding “all it is missing is passing around Kool-Aid right after.”

Some people are labeling the event fascist, while others raise concerns that Trump has been seeming “to more fully embrace QAnon” lately. The music accompanying his speech Saturday was very similar to the song “Wwg1wga,” which stands for the conspiracy theory’s slogan “Where we go one, we go all.”

The one-finger salute may have referenced the “one” in that slogan, some people say. Others link it to Trump’s America First platform. Confusion exists even in the Trump camp about the salute’s exact meaning, says NBC’s Ben Collins. “Whatever it is, it’s deeply weird, and I haven’t seen it before.”

A Trump spokesperson says the song, titled “Mirrors,” appeared in a Trump video at CPAC, a conservative gathering. “The fake news, in a pathetic attempt to create controversy and divide America, is brewing up another conspiracy about a royalty-free song from a popular audio library platform,” says Taylor Budowich.

Is Donald Trump ‘Welcoming’ QAnon Members?

Several media outlets are writing about Trump’s move from merely “winking” at QAnon to “welcoming” it. Trump recently posted a photo of himself wearing a Q pin, captioned “The Storm is Coming.” In late August, he reposted—then deleted—a so-called “q drop” message.

According to AP, more than one-third of the accounts Trump reposted on his Truth Social platform during the past month promoted QAnon somehow. The movement’s adherents often brag about being reposted—or “retruthed”—by the former president, whom many consider a savior figure.

Pastor Arrested While Watering Neighbors’ Flowers Extends Love to the Woman Who Called 911 on Him

Jessica Mouser

September 19, 2022

Michael Jennings, a pastor in Childersburg, Alabama, who was arrested while watering his neighbors’ flowers, says he extends love to the neighbor who called the police on him. Jennings has, however, filed a federal lawsuit against the city and three police officers on the grounds that he was racially profiled and his civil rights violated.

“I don’t hold anything against my neighbors,” said Jennings in an interview with Dr. Rasha Richey of The Young Turks. “I still speak to them. Matter of fact, I’ve talked to her husband [of the neighbor who called 911] since the incident, and he was telling me how bad she feels about it, so. I love that neighbor just as well as I love the one where I was watering their flowers. May not have to like them all the time, but we have to love them anyway.”

Michael Jennings Files Federal Lawsuit

Michael Jennings, who is Black, is pastor of Vision of Abundant Life Church in Sylacauga, Alabama. He was watering his neighbors’ flowers on May 22 when police approached him, questioning him about his actions and saying they had received a call about a “suspicious individual.” Police body camera footage released in August captured the interaction.

Jennings said that the residence belonged to his neighbors, who were out of town and had asked him to watch their house while they were gone. “I’m Pastor Jennings,” he said. “I live across the street.”

The situation escalated after an officer asked Jennings for identification and the pastor refused to give it, saying he was not suspicious, that he had a background in law enforcement, and that he had every right to be on the property.

A different neighbor, identified as “Amanda,” eventually showed up on scene and corroborated Jennings’ claim that he knew the people whose plants he was watering.

Amanda, who is white, told the officers that she did not know if Jennings were taking care of the plants for the neighbors, but said that for him to do so would be “completely normal.” She also admitted to being the person who placed the 911 call, saying, “This is probably my fault.”

Jennings’ wife later appeared with the pastor’s wallet, but officers nevertheless arrested Jennings and charged him with obstructing government operations. On June 1, a judge dismissed the charges with prejudice.

A transcript of the 911 call shows that Amanda voiced concern to the operator over there being a gold SUV parked in the neighbors’ driveway, as well as there being a “younger Black male” on the property.

Pastor Michael Jennings says that police violated his civil rights. On Sept. 9, he filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Childersburg and Childersburg police officers, Christopher Smith, Justin Gable, and Jeremy Brooks. The suit states that under Alabama code section 15-5-30, Jennings was not required to provide his ID to officers.

Lifeway Research: Americans’ Theological Beliefs Changed To Suit Post-Pandemic Practice

Aaron Earls

September 19, 2022

theological beliefs — Photo by Ben White (via Unsplash)

Americans experienced seismic changes over the past two years, including, for many, how they attend church. The shift in behavior coincides with a shift in theology.

The biennial State of Theology study conducted by Lifeway Research found relative stability in some of the religious and cultural beliefs U.S. adults hold. After months of quarantines and social distancing, however, Americans increasingly believe worshiping apart from a church is as good as attending church services.

In March 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic was just beginning in the United States, 58% of Americans said worshipping alone or with one’s family was a valid replacement for regularly attending church, with 26% strongly agreeing. In 2022, 66% believe worshiping apart from a local congregation is as valid as worshiping with one, with 35% strongly agreeing.

Additionally, most Americans (56%) don’t believe every Christian has an obligation to join a local church. Fewer than 2 in 5 (36%) say this is something all Christians should do.

Tracking surveys from Lifeway Research throughout the pandemic found U.S. Protestant churches were open at pre-pandemic levels by summer of 2021 and into 2022, but early this year few churches had reached pre-pandemic attendance levels.

“Religious identity, beliefs and behavior are interrelated,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. “When in-person church attendance behaviors were interrupted and habits were broken, it affected some Americans’ beliefs about the need to gather with other believers to worship.”

With many theological beliefs remaining stable, those that did shift point to areas where a changing U.S. culture may be impacting Americans’ religious perspectives.

The 2022 State of Theology study, sponsored by Ligonier Ministries, surveyed more than 3,000 Americans and follows previous versions in 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020.

God-Sized Confusion

Most Americans believe in God, but they’re a little confused about who the divine is.

While 66% of U.S. adults say God is a perfect being and cannot make mistakes, half (51%) say God learns and adapts to different circumstances.

Almost 7 in 10 Americans (67%) say God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism and Islam. A similar percentage (71%) say there is one true God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

Despite a majority of Americans affirming a Trinitarian God with three divine persons, most still aren’t sure about how that applies to Jesus or the Holy Spirit. Slightly more than half (55%) believe Jesus is the first and greatest created being. Another 53% say He was a great teacher but not God. Close to 3 in 5 (59%) believe the Holy Spirit is a force but not a personal being.

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5. You’ve Stopped Learning Anything New

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3) Learn How to Tell a Story

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