Michael Flynn: Faithful Pastors Preach the Constitution Just As Much As the Bible

July 13, 2022

Former United States National Security Advisor Michael Flynn is again making waves with statements about his beliefs regarding faith and politics. In remarks made at a ReAwaken America Tour event, Flynn claimed that preaching the Constitution is an essential responsibility for pastors.

The ReAwaken America Tour, which has ties to QAnon conspiracy theories and has featured speakers such as pastors Greg Locke and Artur Pawlowski, worship leader Sean Feucht, and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, has been selling out events at locations across the country.

Flynn, who pleaded guilty to felony perjury after lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador during the transition period to Donald Trump’s presidency, was later pardoned by then-President Trump. Flynn has openly expressed his support for QAnon.

Following his brief tenure as National Security Advisor, Flynn has become a prolific event speaker, often appearing at far-right political events and at program’s hosted by politically engaged evangelical churches.

In November, Flynn was featured at a ReAwaken America event hosted by John Hagee’s Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas. At that event, Flynn argued that America needs “one religion.” The event also featured an enthusiastic chant of “Let’s go, Brandon,” a popular euphemism among some conservatives for expressing displeasure with President Joe Biden.

On Tuesday, a clip from Michael Flynn’s address at a recent ReAwaken event began circulating on Twitter.

“I always tell people,” Flynn said in the clip, “a pastor or priest, they cannot stand there at the pulpit…and preach the Bible without the United States Constitution. And what they need to be doing is they need to be talking about the Constitution from the pulpit as much as the Bible.”

Flynn’s words received scattered cheers and applause.

“We have to remind this country, we have to remind every single one of us, why the Constitution was written,” Flynn went on to say. “What is the beauty of that document? What is the beauty of the Declaration of Independence? What is the beauty of the Bill of Rights? It all has found its foundation in the Bible.”

In another clip, Flynn said, “75, 80 percent of our Constitution, our way of life in this country, is based on biblical principles. That’s what pastors need to be doing. That’s what a pastor does when they’re leading their flock.”

Mark Moore: Are These Obstacles Keeping You From Getting To Know Jesus?

Jessica Lea

July 13, 2022

The Stetzer ChurchLeaders Podcast · Mark Moore: Are These Obstacles Keeping You From Getting To Know Jesus?

Dr. Mark Moore is teaching pastor at Christ’s Church of the Valley in Peoria, Arizona, which currently has eight locations and 28,000 in weekly attendance. He previously spent two decades as a New Testament professor at Ozark Christian College, and he is currently an online professor for Ozark, as well as an Adjunct Professor at Hope International University in Fullerton, California, and Haus Edelweiss, Vienna, Austria. Mark is the author of many books, including his latest, “Quest 52: A Fifteen-Minute-a-Day Yearlong Pursuit of Jesus.”

Other Ways to Listen to This Podcast With Mark Moore

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Key Questions for Mark Moore

–What is our biggest obstacle in really getting to know Jesus?

-What is it about the way that we understand Jesus culturally today that we might have wrong?

-What is the value of pastors deeply understanding Jesus’ context?

-How can pastors and church leaders live and walk in the way of Jesus, particularly when they have to make difficult decisions that might be painful for others?

Key Quotes From Mark Moore

“Often when we imagine Jesus just reading him in the Gospels, we imagine him to look like the person we see in the mirror. And so some of the things that Jesus says that should be offensive to us, we just overlook.”

“In Jesus’ day, meals were reserved for people you knew that were at your same economic and social strata. So when Jesus was eating with tax collectors and sinners, that would be unheard of. We think of it as an act of compassion, but Jesus was actually changing the dynamics of who is inside and who is outside.”

“One of the things that I’ve observed about Jesus is he didn’t just break his own cultural values. He breaks ours. So applying his Word is more about us bending to him rather than him bending to us.”

“When Jesus touched the leper, he changed a philosophy that every religion had that contagion or uncleanness was more contagious than cleanness. And he flipped that on its head and said, ‘No, cleanness is more contagious than uncleanness.’ How many churches still have not learned that lesson? Because we’re trying to avoid people who might contaminate us. That would be one example of a life-altering principle that I think we need to apply.”

Ministry by Churches Crucial in Post-Roe World, Advocates Say

Tom Strode

July 13, 2022

NASHVILLE (BP) – Churches and their members have essential roles to play in helping women and preborn children in a post-Roe world, Christians involved in pro-life ministry say.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s June 24 reversal of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision has given states the authority to put into effect abortion bans for the first time in almost 50 years. Nearly half of the states already have laws prohibiting abortion either throughout pregnancy or at some stage of pregnancy, although courts have blocked enforcement of some.

In states with abortion bans, the change in the legal landscape has placed a renewed focus on pro-life work – and on the ministry of the local church, Christian pro-life advocates said.

“What we want to see is the church is the first place that [a woman with an unplanned pregnancy] goes, that she feels that love and that compassion, that she feels that the church is going to be a refuge for her,” said Elizabeth Graham, vice president of operations and life initiatives for the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC). Her comments came during a June 13 panel discussion about the future of the pro-life movement that took place on the eve of the SBC’s annual meeting in Anaheim, Calif., and before the overruling of Roe.

Rick Morton, vice president of engagement for Lifeline Children’s Services, said, “We love crisis pregnancy centers [and] believe that there’s great necessity [in them]. And we believe in the church. We believe that ultimately the place that those women need — they need to be discipled, they need to be surrounded by community – is in the local church.”

Lifeline has prepared discipleship resources to provide churches with “the building blocks” to engage in ministering for the long term to women with unplanned pregnancies, Morton said.

Even before the Supreme Court overturned Roe, churches were asking how they could serve after a draft opinion annulling the 1973 decision was leaked in early May.

Churches reached out to Lifeline after the leak to say, “[W]e are recognizing that we need to do more, and so can you help us learn how to do more, can you help us figure out ways that we can get engaged?,” said Chris Johnson, the ministry’s national director of church partnerships.

The remarks by Lifeline officials came in a June 14 interview by Baptist Press at the site of the SBC’s annual meeting. Lifeline’s work includes pregnancy counseling, adoption and family restoration in the United States, with offices in 16 states. The 41-year-old ministry, which is based in Birmingham, Ala., offers international adoption in 18 countries.

Tiny Cottages, Compassion Tackle Homelessness in Church-Community Partnership

Diana Chandler

July 13, 2022

EL CAJON, Calif. (BP) – He only grunted — the homeless man who frequented Meridian Baptist Church’s weekly community meal in the fellowship hall.

“Every Wednesday night when he came, I would look, see him, and I would get my plate and go sit down next to him, say hello and talk to the other people at the table,” Senior Pastor Rolland Slade told Baptist Press. “But he wouldn’t talk. He didn’t speak to me. He acknowledged that I was there, kind of grunting. He did that for three months.”

Each cottage in Meridian Village, a pilot program to house homeless women and children in El Cajon, Calif., will include 96 square feet of living space.

Slade recalls when the man greeted him in return. “I was shocked. He said, ‘Good evening.’ After that, he said, ‘Pastor, I’m tired. I’m just tired of being on the street. It’s almost been three years.’ And he said, ‘I’m just tired and I just need help.’”

The man’s experience gives a glimpse into the lives of homeless people, a segment of the population that will benefit from Meridian Village, a pilot housing program under construction behind Meridian Baptist Church. In partnership with the nonprofit housing advocacy group Amikas, the city of El Cajon and social service agency Home Start of San Diego County, Meridian is hosting the pilot project that runs through December 2023 and will serve homeless single mothers and their children.

Women and children selected to participate will have secure lodging for up to 90 days, undergo an assessment and be connected with the services they need, including transitional or permanent housing.

“Our role in all of this – and not being the social service provider – our role is really to love them and to nurture them,” Slade said. “The Village is kind of a community within the community. It’s physically there on the church property. It will be separated by a fence, but we also will have our regular church activities.

“Our Sunday services, our Wednesday Bible studies, our food distribution, our Wednesday night community dinner, all of that, they will be invited to participate in. It will not be mandatory, but the thought is as we love them and care for them and build a relationship with them, they’ll want to be a part of what we’re doing at the church.”

Amikas has worked five years to establish the pilot program, securing permission in 2019 to build an unoccupied cabin behind Meridian Baptist in 2019. It took until 2021 to get permission to build six additional units, each measuring 12×12 feet with a front porch and 96 square feet of living space. Volunteers began construction in February. Electrical lines will be laid to serve the units, and residents will use plumbing facilities at the church.

Six units will house residents, with the seventh unit housing social service workers during the day and security at night.

A volunteer helps build Meridian Village to homeless women and children at Meridian Baptist Church.

Amikas treasurer Lisa Krogen told NBC San Diego of the lengthy journey to getting the program approved, expressing “a lot of highs and lows where we thought we had property and then we didn’t have property, trying to work with the city. There was just a lot going on, and there were times where we felt like it was never going to happen.”

Krogen hopes the project will inspire similar outreaches in other cities across the nation, a hope Slade has also expressed.

San Diego county’s homeless number about 8,500, according to the 2022 Point In Time Count by the San Diego Regional Task Force on Homelessness. El Cajon has the highest homeless statistics in the county, Slade said.

Episcopalians Approve Fact-Finding Commission on Indigenous Boarding Schools

Emily McFarlan Miller

July 13, 2022

(RNS) — The Episcopal Church will create a fact-finding commission to research the denomination’s role in the federal Indian boarding school system that separated generations of Indigenous children from their families and cultures in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Bishops and deputies at the mainline denomination’s scaled-back General Convention approved the Resolution for Telling the Truth about The Episcopal Church’s History with Indigenous Boarding Schools over the weekend in Baltimore.

The resolution encourages the Episcopal Church to hire one or more research fellows to work with dioceses where Episcopal-run boarding schools for Indigenous children were located and share records with the Indigenous Ministries of the Episcopal Church and the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.

It also directs the denomination’s archivists to create educational resources about the schools and encourages dioceses where boarding schools were located to gather information from survivors and their descendants about their experiences.

In addition, the House of Deputies — which, with the House of Bishops, oversees the church — elected an Indigenous clergywoman, the Rev. Rachel Taber-Hamilton, as its vice president. A member of the Shackan First Nation and a priest in the Diocese of Olympia, Taber-Hamilton is the first ordained woman — and only the third woman — to serve in that role, according to Episcopal News Service.

She was elected alongside President-elect Julia Ayala Harris, a Latina laywoman from the Diocese of Oklahoma. Their election marks the first time two women and two people of color will lead the house.

Those actions come as U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland kicks off “The Road to Healing,” a national listening tour in which the secretary will hear from survivors of boarding schools in the United States. Haaland’s department recently released the first volume of an investigative report into the country’s Indian boarding school system.

And, at the end of July, Pope Francis will travel to Canada to offer an apology to survivors of similar residential schools in that country, after the pontiff received representatives of Canadian Indigenous people at the Vatican in early April.

“This is a moment for us to really examine how we as a church might look at the ramifications of our unintentional sometimes and sometimes intentional acts of culturalism, racism and every other sin we could talk about,” Bishop Carol J. Gallagher told the House of Bishops before its vote on the resolution.

The Episcopal Church’s General Convention, normally held every three years, was already delayed a year by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the meeting that ended Monday (July 11) was shortened from eight days to four to minimize risks of spreading the virus.

Pope Francis Addresses Abortion, Mass Shootings and Resignation Rumors

Claire Giangrave

July 13, 2022

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — While Pope Francis said he has “no intention of resigning,” he laid out a broad view of what it would look like if he stepped down as pontiff in a long interview published on Tuesday (July 12). Francis also weighed in on many hot button topics in America, from abortion to mass shootings and drug trafficking.

The pope told the Mexican media outlet TelevisaUnivision that his knee troubles, which forced him to use a wheelchair for a short time, raised concerns he might not be able to perform his papal duties. “It’s getting better. Now I can walk,” he said. “But it never occurred to me to quit.”

Francis admitted his health struggles have “certainly limited” him in his role recently, namely in leading him to postpone a planned trip to two countries in Africa, but he insisted he has no intention of stepping down at the moment.

He did say that if he were no longer able to perform his duties, or if “I become a hindrance,” he would follow in the example of his predecessor Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, who in 2013 became the first pope to resign in 600 years.

“I hope that the strength of that example will help me make the decision,” he said. Pope Francis spoke highly of Benedict, who having added the title emeritus to his name continues to wear the white clothing of the pontiffs and lives in a monastery in the Vatican. “That man is supporting the church with his kindness and with his retirement,” he said.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, left, greets Pope Francis prior to the start of the beatification ceremony of Pope Paul VI and a Mass for the closing of a two-week synod on family issues, in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Oct. 19, 2014. Pope Francis has said that if and when he ever retires, he wouldn’t live in the Vatican or return to his native Argentina but would like to find a church in Rome where he could continue hearing confessions. “I’m the bishop of Rome, in this case the emeritus Bishop of Rome,” Francis said in an interview broadcast Tuesday, July 12, 2022, with Spanish-language broadcaster Univision. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)

According to Francis, the precedent set by Benedict does open the door for popes to resign — but with that possibility comes the need “to delineate things more” and create explicit guidelines for the role of the emeritus pope, he said, calling the initial framework created by Benedict a “first step.”

But Francis said if he were to retire, he would would not remain at the Vatican but would instead return to the retirement plan he’d laid out before being elected pope, spending the rest of his days as bishop emeritus in a home for priests in a Roman parish, living “in service to the people.”

“If I survive, I would like something like this: Confess and go see the sick,” Francis said.

In the two-hour interview, Francis also touched on a number of pressing issues concerning the United States, especially abortion, which has taken center stage after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, handing decisions around legalizing abortion back to the states.

While admitting he’s not knowledgeable on the U.S. legal system, Francis asked: “Is it fair to take a human life to solve a problem? Whatever it is? Is it fair to hire a hit man to eliminate a human life?” The pope referenced scientific research he said shows that “one month after conception, the DNA is already there,” while adding his position on this issue is “nonnegotiable.”

Anti-abortion protesters gather outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, June 24, 2022. The Supreme Court has ended constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years, a decision by its conservative majority to overturn the court's landmark abortion cases. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Anti-abortion protesters gather outside the Supreme Court in Washington, June 24, 2022. The Supreme Court has ended constitutional protections for abortion that had been in place nearly 50 years, a decision by its conservative majority to overturn the court’s landmark abortion cases. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

But the pontiff noted how polarizing the issue is and the risk of losing sight of the pastoral and human dimension, especially when clergy turn it into a “political problem.” Some conservative bishops in the United States have denied Communion to Catholic politicians who support abortion rights, including President Joe Biden and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, while encouraging others to follow their lead.

Concerning whether a politician supporting abortion rights should take Communion, Francis said he leaves it “to your conscience,” and a politician should “speak with his bishop, with his pastor, with his parish priest, about that inconsistency.” The pope added that faithful are more confused by the political attitude of bishops who are “so focused on an issue they can’t see past their own nose.”

We Owe the World Safe Churches

Brandon Cox

July 13, 2022

It seems evident that the church Jesus started was supposed to be a safe place for people, especially the most vulnerable. This included people guilty of sin and evidently very broken. And some ancient stories bear witness to this kind of church having existed for at least a few generations. But fast-forward a couple of thousand years in historical records and you’ll read another story about safe churches – a 400-page report issued by Guidepost Solutions detailing a massive cover-up of sexual abuse by leaders of North America’s largest Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention.

Dr. Russell Moore, former SBC insider and agency leader commented on the crisis:

The conclusions of the report are so massive as to almost defy summation. It corroborates and details charges of deception, stonewalling, and intimidation of victims and those calling for reform. It includes written conversations among top Executive Committee staff and their lawyers that display the sort of inhumanity one could hardly have scripted for villains in a television crime drama. It documents callous cover-ups by some SBC leaders and credible allegations of sexually predatory behavior by some leaders themselves

Source: This Is the Southern Baptist Apocalypse

The Catholic Church has certainly dealt with its own avalanche of sexual abuse scandals, as well. Thousands of church leaders have been guilty of criminal sexual acts, especially toward children.

It occurs to me that these scandals are the result of an age in which our connectedness and technology have made the exposure of such heinous stories more possible. These reports probably just scratch the surface of all that has really transpired within churches for generations.

We Owe the World Safe Churches

The world will truly never know just how many abuses have been committed in the shadows of secrecy and how many victims have been shamed, intimidated, and silenced into never reporting or sharing their stories.

This is not the church Jesus had in mind when he gathered and commissioned his earliest disciples to launch a movement designed to share the good news of God’s love and grace with the entire world. In other words, there is a rapidly growing and very justifiable belief within the church’s surrounding culture that the church isn’t a safe place.

I would suggest that if the church has failed at the most basic level of safety – protecting the physical bodies of people in proximity to those who lead the church – then it’s no surprise that the church has also become quite unsafe in other ways. For example:

People who struggle with mental illness are often stigmatized and shamed for their lack of faith or their lack of willingness to forgive people who have never been held accountable for their abuses.
People who wrestle with their gender identity or sexual orientation are often written off as simply confused, deceived, or particularly sinful and, rather than being able to work through their biggest questions in the context of a healthy community, are shunned and excluded instead.
Those who have walked through a divorce, even as the result of an abusive or manipulative relationship, are seen as damaged and less useful in the context of ministry to other people.
Individuals who are walking through any kind of religious deconstruction, experiencing spiritual doubt, or who are asking big theological questions are often seen as a threat and are silenced or warned about the danger of entertaining such thoughts.
Those who question and challenge broken political systems, especially in the areas of income inequality, racial inequality, and gender inequality, are accused of being brainwashed by some kind of antichrist political scheme.

The easiest thing we can do is to become defensive on any one of these topics. We can prop up the institution of the church as deserving of a free pass on any number of our failings because we’re too busy with the mission of rescuing people from eternal punishment.

Welcoming Youth Ministry: Invite Kids to Come and See

Youth Ministrycom

July 12, 2022

Do you have a welcoming youth ministry? What do kids see when they come check out your program?

It’s a bracing truth: How people see you affects how they see Jesus. The same is true of a ministry. Our programs represent Jesus, but do they also reflect him? No ministry is perfect, of course. But when teenagers come and see your youth ministry, do they see Jesus? Do you offer a welcoming youth ministry and a friendly environment?

Jesus was so interesting that people came from miles away to see this “God/man” in action. Jesus didn’t hate this; in fact, when he noticed the crowds, he had compassion on them (Mark 6:34). Jesus traveled through towns and villages teaching the good news of his Kingdom. He had a message for the world and wanted people to come see what it was all about.

When people asked Jesus where he lived, he said, “Come and see” (John 1:39). When people invited their friends to get close to Jesus, they said, “Come and see” (John 1:46). In Luke 19:5, when Jesus meets a notorious tax collector in a tree, he doesn’t hammer him with the four spiritual laws. Instead, he tells Zacchaeus, “Come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” It’s as if Jesus is saying, “Have no hesitation to come and see what I’m all about.”

By creating a “come and see” culture, Jesus gained a reputation of being a friend of sinners. I want that to be my reputation, too. I want that to be our youth ministry’s reputation with teenagers in our city.

4 Traits of a Welcoming Youth Ministry

A “come and see,” welcoming youth ministry has these four characteristics:

1. A friendly environment for everyone who enters.

A “come and see,” welcoming youth ministry helps teenagers connect to the group with more than a handshake or high-five. Young people will return to places where they’re connected to peers as well as to adults who care.

That’s why it’s important to:

Use student greeters to provide peer connections.
Have a welcoming crew that stays with guests throughout the meeting or event.
Communicate to kids, “You matter here!”
Provide friendly, loving follow-up.
Be genuine. Remember that you’re loving people, not projects.

Why Did God Make Mosquitoes: A Buzzworthy Children’s Lesson

ChildrensMinistry.com

July 12, 2022

Why did God make mosquitoes is one of the many intriguing questions children ask their Sunday school teachers (and parents!). Use kids’ curiosity to teach them about the wonders of all parts of God’s creation.

Children’s Message: Why Did God Make Mosquitoes?

Help children understand God’s purpose for everything he created.

Theme: God has a plan for everything.

Bible Reference: Psalm 89:11

You’ll need:

a Bible,
a globe (or you could substitute a world map), and
globe stickers.

Why Did God Make Mosquitoes?

Say: Let’s talk today about some of the wonderful things God has made. Place the globe in front of you. When God made the world spin the globe, he said that every part of it was good. Because God made our world, he understands it perfectly. He can see the whole earth.

Spin the globe again. Say: We can see only a small part of the world at a time. But God sees the biggest elephants and the littlest bugs, all over the world!

Ask:

What are some creatures that God can see right now in our world?

If the children need prompting, point to places on the globe. Ask, “What can God see in the jungle?” and “What can God see in the ocean?”

Say: God not only sees all the creatures of the world. He also has a plan for each one.

Ask:

What kinds of jobs did God give cows?
Why do you think God made dogs?
What job do you think God gave the mosquito?

To almost whatever the kids answer, you can respond with “You may be right.”

Say: Mosquitoes are pretty pesky to us. But even mosquitoes have a place in the world God made. Why did God make mosquitoes? For one thing, they provide food for bats and birds. From the little baby mosquito to the tallest giraffe, God has a plan for every creature in the world.

Applying Scripture

Open your Bible to Psalm 89:11. Say: Listen to what the Bible says in Psalm 89:11. I’ll read a phrase of this verse, and you repeat it back to me. The heavens are yours (have children repeat the phrase), and yours also the earth (repeat); you founded the world (repeat) and all that is in it. (Repeat.)

Psalm 139 Isn’t As Black and White As Jesus’ Love and Forgiveness, Churchome’s Pastor Tells Emmanuel Acho During Pro-Life Discussion

Jesse T. Jackson

July 12, 2022

prolife_prochoice_acho — Screengrab via YouTube @Emmanuel Acho

Emmanuel Acho, a former NFL linebacker and sports analyst, recently invited four women onto his “Uncomfortable Conversations” podcast to discuss “Pro-Life versus Pro-Choice: Overturning Roe v. Wade.”

Pastor Chelsea Smith (wife of Churchome pastor Judah Smith), four-time Olympic gold medalist Sanya Richards-Ross (who is married to two-time NFL Super Bowl champion Aaron Ross), Dr. Yeni Abraham (Pelvic Floor Therapist), and MJ Acosta-Ruiz (sports analyst for the NFL Network) joined Acho to share their stories and thoughts regarding the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last month.

The Court’s decision removed abortion’s status as a constitutionally protected right and sent the question of its legality back to individual states.

Three of the women, with the exception being Smith, shared with Acho that they had abortions, two of which were out of wedlock, and the other being the result of an ectopic pregnancy. All the guests on the episode, along with Acho, appear to consider themselves Christians—either by directly or indirectly saying so.

The episode included testimonies from the women, who shared the emotional pain a woman experiences after having an abortion, what role they want men to play in the decision making process when it comes to abortion, and the “nuance” of the pro-life versus pro-choice debate.

MJ Acosta-Ruiz was the first to share her experience, expressing that it isn’t something she has shared with many people, including her parents. Barely into her 20s, Acosta-Ruiz went back and forth on whether to get an abortion after having dropped out of college.

“[I was] very much at point in my life where I was lost,” she said. As a daughter of immigrants who left their careers to move to America and give her a chance at a better life, she felt pressure to not to let them down by bringing a child into the world who would be born into poverty. Acosta-Ruiz even said that she lied to her mother when she asked if she was pregnant so that her mother would be relieved.

She believes she made the right choice.

Acosta-Ruiz asked Smith for advice on how to have the conversation with her parents. Smith explained that her response to the question would be as a mother and not a pastor, saying, “I bet your mom’s first response is going to be, ‘I can’t believe you kept this from me for all these years. I can’t believe you carried this pain on your own without inviting me into it.’”

Richards-Ross shared with Acosta-Ruiz that she felt relieved when she finally told her father about her own abortion.

“My dad had no idea. I’ll never forget it was actually a lot easier conversation I ever anticipated,” Richards-Ross said about telling her dad, years later, that she had gotten an abortion.

“I went to him and I was in the room and I just started crying immediately,” she shared. “I just felt so much pain, shame, hurt, and everything.” That is when she told him that she had gotten an abortion the day before she left for Beijing to compete in the Olympics. Though he was hurt that his daughter hadn’t felt comfortable enough to tell him sooner, Richard-Ross said of her father, “He just loved on me. He hugged me. We had a moment.”

“Everything we go through in life for a reason and if you just helped one woman out there, it’s worth it,” Richard-Ross recalled her father telling her.

Tony Dungy Says He Bases His Abortion Stance ‘On What God Said’

Stephanie Martin

July 12, 2022

For the first time since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last month, football analyst and outspoken Christian Tony Dungy has addressed the abortion debate on Twitter. Dungy, a Hall of Fame NFL coach, has previously been vocal about the issue while encouraging healthy debate.

Dungy’s abortion-related tweets over the weekend came in response to questions and challenges from others on the social-media platform.

Tony Dungy Challenged About When Life Begins

New Yorker writer Adam Davidson, who describes himself as “an atheist Jew,” challenges Dungy about when exactly life begins. The “idea that life begins at conception,” Davidson writes, is “a brand new idea, made up in the 1970s. In the bible and for nearly all of Xn history, life was thought to begin sometime in the 2^nd trimester.”

In response, Tony Dungy encourages the journalist to read Jeremiah 1:5, Psalm 139:13-16, and Genesis 25:23—“then see what you think.” Davidson later tweets: “I have learned that it’s not as productive as I hoped to try to convince evangelical Christians that they are applying inaccurate and anachronistic readings to the bible.”

Someone replies that the biblical phrase “before I formed you in the womb” is “prior to conception,” so the verse “is not stating that life begins at conception.” Dungy counters that the wording indicates that “God formed the baby, not man.”

Another person tweets that the verses “deal with the foreknowledge of God,” while “the issue is how far the states are going with their abortion laws.” That person adds that after years of studying the Bible, “the one thing I’ve learned about God is how merciful he is. I just believe he will be merciful to that young woman or girl who can’t carry a rapist’s child.”

In rebuttal, Dungy writes that Scripture goes beyond God’s foreknowledge of us to “God seeing us in the womb, working on us in the womb and knowing us in the womb.”

Tony Dungy: ‘Why Not Focus on the Baby?’

Others joined the conversation, with one person wondering why Dungy is “siding with people from 2000 years ago who also had the belief that if you were sick it was most likely due to the fact that you had sinned.” Dungy responds that he’s “basing my opinion on what God said, not what people want to advocate.”

When asked why he’s not focusing on the woman, Dungy, a father of 11 including eight adoptees, counters, “Why not focus on the baby? Does that life mean anything?” Someone else cites a woman’s “right to privacy afforded to her by the 14^th amendment,” saying Scripture-followers can’t take that right “from their neighbor.”

Three Scenes: The Open Secret in Christian Adoption Circles and Why It Matters to the Church

Kelly Rosati

July 12, 2022

Note from Ed Stetzer: After the news of Roe, and the increased talk of adoption, I wanted you to hear from Kelly Rosati. Kelly is a lifelong child advocate and CEO of KMR Consulting. She’s an adoptive mom and former Vice President of Advocacy for Children at Focus on the Family and the Executive Director of Hawaii Family Forum. I am thankful for Kelly’s passion for adoption, and I hope you’ll benefit from her blog post today.

In the last two decades, I’ve met countless people who, even though they don’t feel personally called to be adoptive parents, are nevertheless excited about adoption. They understand that it speaks to the dignity of every human life and that it underlines some basic truths about their own Christian faith. So I thought I’d take a stab at painting a picture of some ways everyone can play a role in adoption and illuminating why I believe it’s such an important subject.

Scene 1 — On Stage in the Sanctuary (This Is a Real Story)

At a church-sponsored adoption event, passionate servant-leaders unpack the clear and resounding call from the Holy Scriptures to care for orphans. Whether speaking one-on-one or in front of the larger group, they eloquently raise awareness of the plight of millions of orphans worldwide. They tell stories about the more than 100,000 kids in U.S. foster care who need permanent families. And they help attendees better understand the very heart of God—a Father to the fatherless—and His desire to use His followers to “set the lonely in families” (Psalm 68:5)

Having been touched by God to answer this call themselves, these leaders are trying to walk the talk. Theirs is not a “Do as I say, not as I do” message. In their homes and their lives, they’re doing their best to live it out. And they are honest about counting the cost, careful not to give the impression that every adoption story has a fairy tale ending. Ever-so-delicately, they remind those in attendance that while not every Christ-follower is called to adopt, everyone is called to do something. There are many ways the church body can be involved in this issue.

The core of their message is that churches can and should take an active role in offering post-adoption support to adoptive families. This is critical, because parenting kids with trauma histories isn’t the same as parenting typically developing kids. And all kids who are unable to live with their birthparents have experienced a trauma.

The solution for these adoptive families seems so simple. Helping with meals and respite care is doable for the larger church body. Surely the same members of the congregation who cheered on those prospective adoptive families will journey with them once the kids come home and the real work begins? That’s what community is all about, right? The leaders introduce the attendees to resources and tools to help non-adoptive families and their churches come alongside the adoptive families in their midst in tangible ways to help them thrive. When that happens, a Gospel picture of real family and real community emerges for the world to see. The leaders conclude their presentation with the encouraging admonition, “We can do this, Church!”

Scene 2 — 15 Minutes Later, in the Church Foyer (This, Too, Is a Real Story)

Away from the crowd during a break, these same leaders talk with one another in muted tones about their lives at home with kids whose backgrounds are filled with suffering, abuse, neglect, abandonment and deprivation. They recount incidents of violence and hours-long raging. They discuss the anguish of needing out-of-home care and the accompanying emotional agony and guilt. They lament the plight of healthier siblings who aren’t getting the attention they need. They note the stress that is added to their lives by extended family members who can’t or won’t understand and don’t help. They nobly attempt to soft-pedal the grief they feel when their church families offer a quick “atta boy” but nothing more practical. They talk about the strain in their formerly strong marriages, and the list goes on. Sleep deprivation. Secondary trauma. Hopelessness. Failure. And the feeling of being alone—so very alone.

But they try to remain thankful to the One who will never leave them or forsake them. They are trying to count it all joy. They are begging God for help, for healing for their children. They pray for strength to get up and do it all over again—day after day. They don’t like who they become at times, when the stress and fatigue take their toll—but they see no other way forward. They want to be filled with the fruit of the Spirit, but survival mode is the order of the day, every day, and it can go on for years. While their church friends talk about sports and college and music, they talk about individualized education programs, 504s, therapists and psychiatrists. All the adoptive families they know have versions of the same story.

Candace Cameron Bure Shares Spiritual ‘Fightin’ Words’ With Her Followers

Jessica Lea

July 12, 2022

In three short Instagram videos this past week, actress and outspoken Christian Candace Cameron Bure shared Scripture passages to show how she perseveres through difficult circumstances in life. The videos are part of a series Bure is doing to help her followers focus on God.

“I wanted to give you some fightin’ words, some spiritual encouragement straight from the Word of God,” said Bure in her first video posted last week. “A lot of people ask me, especially when times are tough, whether we are struggling mentally or with relationships or at work or just life, where do I go to in the Scriptures? And so I’m going to give you a few of my favorite verses.”

Candace Cameron Bure’s ‘Go-To’ Bible Verses

Candace Cameron Bure is an actress known for starring in “Full House” and “Fuller House,” as well as in a variety of Hallmark movies. In the caption of her first video, she said that when she is feeling discouraged, “I camp my mind on what Scripture says, meditate over it and redirect my thoughts to God’s Word.”

Bure’s purpose with the videos is not to address or comment on the significance of any particular event happening in the world, but to share Bible passages that help her personally.

In her first video, Bure read Philippians 4:6-9, which says:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Bure said that focusing her mind on the truths the Philippians passage outlines is how she stays “positive, knowing God’s hand is in control of everything. I trust that and I focus my mind on what is good and right.”

In the second video in her series, posted several days later, Bure read Ephesians 6:12-18.

Carey Nieuwhof: 5 Ways to Get Better at Preaching on Camera

Carey Nieuwhof

July 12, 2022

preaching on camera — Image credit: Adobe Stock

Amidst all the changes you’ve experienced, like a ton of leaders and pastors, you are likely trying to master the skill of speaking or preaching on camera.

With no audience.

And by now, you’ve realized just how challenging that can be.

As difficult as speaking in front of a live audience is, being in the room with a crowd gives you huge advantages as a communicator.

When you have an audience in the room with you, it’s easy to tell if people are paying attention and whether they’re leaning in. You can sense whether they’re tracking by whether they laugh at your jokes (please, laugh at my jokes…), sitting up during important points, or become so rapt that in moments you can hear a pin drop.

All of that plays into an invisible feedback loop in the speaker or preacher’s mind that gives you cues as to whether to speed up, slow down, move on, dig deeper, relax or make other adjustments as you go.

When there’s no audience, all of that is gone.

Completely gone.

I didn’t realize how heavily I relied on my ability to ‘read’ an audience and see how my message is tracking until I spoke straight into the camera in an empty room for the first time.

At first, it felt awful—almost as if I had never spoken before. I had no idea how to adapt.

These days, I shoot hours and hours of video each year with zero audience (just a camera) for everything from pre-recorded sermons, to creating my online courses, to leading webinars and livestreams. For a while I even live hosted a live national TV show (with no studio audience). I’ve learned some things along the way.

Here are a few tips that can help you get used to preaching on camera (with no audience).

1. Be Real. Real Is Resonating, Deeply.

It’s so tempting to think you’re only as good as your gear. And if you don’t have great gear, a crew, and amazing production, your message won’t resonate.

That’s not the case at all.

The truth is you’re every bit as good as your content and delivery. Gear can help, but in this moment, who you are is resonating far more deeply than the gear you use.

It’s so tempting to think you’re only as good as your gear. Gear can help, but in this moment, who you are is resonating far more deeply than the gear you use.

CLICK TO TWEET

Some church leaders are still doing big production on a stage without the audience, and you could argue that’s what people are longing for (can we please go back to normal?). No criticism here. We’re all trying to figure this out in real-time.

But for some that’s impossible or unwise (health considerations, number of crew needed, or frankly, you never had big production in the first place).

Only having your iPhone or something less than a pro-set up isn’t fatal at all. In fact, it gives you more opportunity than anything.

You can take the pressure off yourself and just be real. Our world needs real more than it needs anything right now.

Our world needs real more than it needs anything right now.

CLICK TO TWEET

You know who’s crushing the new low production reality? Jimmy Fallon is.

Jimmy Fallon didn’t try to pretend he wasn’t doing the Tonight Show from home. Instead, he embraced it in all of its ordinariness. Which is exactly what makes it work.

If you haven’t seen it yet, he filmed the entire Tonight Show from various places in his home with his wife as camera operator and video linking to guests in their homes. Here’s a link to one episode with John Legend, and another with Alec Baldwin and 5 Seconds of Summer.

Jimmy Fallon didn’t try to pretend he wasn’t doing the Tonight Show from home. Instead, he embraced it in all of its ordinariness. Which is exactly what makes it work.

CLICK TO TWEET

As you flip through the episodes, notice that Jimmy:

Doesn’t compete with his family…he includes them. His daughters make all the art for the show.
Reads his monologue from a printed sheet, the same way you’d read something in a meeting or casual conversation. That actually makes it funnier, because even someone with the gifting of Fallon realizes that without the studio audience there, it would be really difficult to get the delivery right.
Wears the clothes you’d normally wear at home (no suits).
The audio quality is really crazy low…including the musical guests (literally no mic other than the iPhone in a bricked room).
Does a low res Skype/Zoom iPhone interview with Alec Baldwin on his iPhone with his wife and daughter hanging out in the background.
Raises money for a new charity every night to try to help with the crisis.

The best part? It’s so real.

Rather than compete with the situation we’re all in, Fallon embraced it. And while he has a few more zeroes in front of the decimals in his bank balance than you and I do, he brought himself into the reality we’re all in. He went where his audience lives: to his home, adapting like everyone else.

Theologians might call that kind of approach incarnational. Incarnational is one approach our world is longing for right now.

Being with your people in a time like this means being real with your people in a time like this.

Deciding to be real is strangely, even more calming and anchoring than constant hype or constant hope.

2. Picture Your Audience.

Real is one thing, but how do you connect when you can’t see your audience?

Simple: imagine them.

Pick a person you know and talk to them. Maybe it’s an unchurched friend you’re trying to reach, a new attender you just met or a long time member you trust deeply. Just pick a person and speak to them.

Naturally, you can vary that from talk to talk or live-stream to live stream, but it really breaks down the digital wall.

When I record my leadership podcast I imagine a leader out for his morning run or in her car listening to the episode. I think about what he or she is struggling with and I try to speak directly to them.

When I film one of my online courses, I imagine a senior pastor listening and trying to apply it to his or her church, or a staff team trying to make it work in their context.

When I’m preaching on camera, I imagine room full of people, or in this case, a living room with a family.

All of that helps.

Imagining your audience will make your tone of voice more expressive and empathetic as well as more natural. And it will even help you think about whether your content is really going to help the people watching or listening.

If you imagine your audience when you’re speaking into a camera, you’re far more like to connect with them.

If you imagine your audience when you’re speaking into a camera, you’re far more like to connect with them.

CLICK TO TWEET

How to Solve the Absence of Children in the Church

Lydia Kaiser

July 12, 2022

Largest Children’s Ministry Focuses on Partnering with Churches to Reach Gen Z in the Public School

There always has been a full-blown, spiritual attack on children. But now it’s bolder. The church must engage in the battle like never before. Barna Research shows that what a young person believes by the time they are 13 years old is most likely what they will believe until death. After the age of 19, someone’s probability of accepting Christ drops to just 6%.1

Image credit: Child Evangelism Fellowship

The battle is more difficult than ever because children are not being taken to church. In the past, even wayward adults would go back to church once they had children—for the sake of their kids. This has not been true for over a decade.2 The social center of the community was the church, but now it is the school.

ChurchLeaders.com explains how in 2018 before the pandemic, church attendance had dwindled to a mere 18% of the USA population.3 Church attendees trend older, meaning far fewer than 18% of children were in church. Now we have the additional phenomena of people who never got around to returning to church after the pandemic.

“The percentage of people [with] a biblical worldview declines in each successively younger generation…to only 4 percent of Gen Z [teenagers].”4 This is a foreboding statistic for the Gen Z children who are coming next.

If we keep waiting for children to be brought to church, we will never reach them. We must take the Bible to where they are—the public school.

“But is that legal?” Yes, through after-school clubs. In 2001, the Supreme Court ruled in Good News Club v. Milford Central School District that schools must give the same access to clubs with a religious perspective as they give to clubs of a secular nature. Any restriction is discrimination based on viewpoint, a violation of First Amendment rights of free speech and religion. Parents give written permission for participation in all clubs; therefore attendance is voluntary and not an establishment of religion by the school.

Many working parents need their kids to attend clubs as part of after-school care. Other parents want kids to attend Bible club, knowing that they themselves are not providing spiritual guidance. Kids go because their friend invited them or because their God-given desire to discover Him and worship Him hasn’t been stamped out yet.

The largest elementary after-school club in the USA is the Good News Club®, operated by Child Evangelism Fellowship® (CEF®) and sponsored by local churches. These clubs numbered just over 6,000 pre-COVID with 5,000 located in school facilities. During the pandemic, CEF pivoted to Zoom clubs, reaching many children desperate for interaction, and even their families looked on. In-person clubs are now resurging.

Harvest Bible Church in Lancaster County, PA is an example of a sponsoring church.

First, the local CEF chapter held a training for all the church’s children’s workers. This gave their existing volunteers more confidence as well as added several to their number, strengthening the church’s ability to minister to children in the church.

Second, the CEF chapter director gained entry into Wharton Elementary School. CEF has it down to a science—meeting with school officials, training and screening club volunteers, and supplying proven processes and curriculum with an exciting program that keeps kids coming back.

Churches often begin with a Party Club to introduce kids to the after-school Christian club concept. It also gives volunteers their first taste of school outreach. After this positive experience, both volunteers and children are excited to begin a weekly Good News Club in the same or next semester.

After two years of operating successful clubs at Wharton Elementary School, Harvest Bible was eager to expand into Brecht Elementary in Manheim Township. When a club becomes too large, it is split into two classrooms. The church’s club team leader, Stacie Marrie, was asked why so many volunteers return year after year. She replied, “We love it!”

The team’s love for the children is evident as they listen carefully to prayer requests and address the children’s questions in small group time. As current students were asked what they enjoyed about club, each one mentioned something about the leaders. They know they are loved.

When kids get excited about Jesus and beg to be taken to church, their Good News Club teacher’s church is first choice.

Harvest Bible has a wonderful relationship with their school, due to investment such as hosting a staff breakfast and providing a “rainy day recess bin” for classrooms. The church invites children and their parents to regular church programs and sends a bus for kids who need a ride. A number of parents began attending as a result.

When a church loves and encourages children, parents appreciate it like nothing else. Parenting is such hard work that when a child comes home with a new attitude, parents take notice and want to meet whoever is responsible. For this reason, it is not uncommon to have parental visitors at club. When kids get excited about Jesus and beg to be taken to church, their Good News Club teacher’s church is first choice.

The three-fold purpose of CEF revolves around evangelizing children with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, discipling them through regular Bible teaching, and connecting them with local, Bible-believing churches for further growth and community. “This three-fold purpose is like a three-legged stool,” says Moises Esteves, Executive VP. “All three are essential for children to come into faith and follow Jesus throughout their lives.”

Over 85 years of reaching children, CEF has seen child converts grow into strong leaders—pastors, missionaries and CEF directors. When the National Association of Evangelicals surveyed adult members who are active in their Christian walk, 63% of them came to Christ by the age of 14. This window of opportunity has come to be known as the “4-14 Window” and is the sole focus of CEF.

The harvest field of children is more productive than any other, yet the typical church budget puts far more resources into adult ministries. Says Esteves, “Jesus put a priority on children, described throughout Matthew 18. The times are more urgent than ever, and we stand ready to support local churches in this most important mission.”

*********************

More information about the ministry of CEF can be found at cefonline.com. Information about Good News Clubs is at cefonline.com/gnc. State and local chapter offices can be found at chapters.cefonline.com

1 barna.com/research/research-shows-that-spiritual-maturity-process-should-start-at-a-young-age/

2 barna.com/research/does-having-children-make-parents-more-active-churchgoers/

3 https://churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/139575-7-startling-facts-an-up-close-look-at-church-attendance-in-america.html

4 access.barna.com/studies/gen-z/01-the-world-according-to-gen-z/

Former ‘Full House’ Star Dave Coulier on Grief, Alcoholism, and Faith: Love Is ‘The Only Thing’ That Can Bring Us Together

Dale Chamberlain

July 12, 2022

Comedian and actor Dave Coulier recently sat down with Faithwire’s Billy Hallowell, delving into his journey away from alcoholism and discussing his grieving process following the recent deaths of three people close to him, including his friend Bob Saget.

Coulier has portrayed the lovable Joey Gladstone in “Full House” and “Fuller House” and is the star of the new show “Live+Local,” which is now streaming on Pure Flix. In the sitcom, Coulier plays an early morning radio show host, and he compared the show to the popular mockumentary “The Office.”

Best known for his role alongside Bob Saget in “Full House,” Collier met the fellow stand-up comedian when he was 18 years old, and the two remained close friends following the end of “Full House.”

“Bob and I became instant brothers,” Coulier said of Saget. Coulier slept on Saget’s couch while he looked for a place to live after arriving in Los Angeles to pursue a career in comedy. Coulier joked that appearing in a sitcom wherein he played roommate to Saget was something fit to be called “Full Circle” rather than “Full House.”

Reflecting on Saget’s unexpected death in January, and how his faith has helped him process the tragic loss of his friend, Coulier said, “I grew up in a very Catholic community here in Detroit—in the suburbs of Detroit—in a very large Catholic family. So the beauty of that is that I always had wonderful people to lean on through tough times.”

“Now, later in my life, I went through a long period of alcohol abuse, and I always equate my faith to a fire that’s burning inside of you. And I almost extinguished that fire because of my abuse with alcohol,” Coulier went on to explain. “And so I got sober two and a half years ago. And then in this last year, I lost my brother who took his own life, I lost my father, and I lost Bob—all in the same 12-month period.”

“And my thought from that terrible, you know, I’m not joking, like a hat trick of losses like that—was such a heart punch and such a gut punch that the only thing I could think was, ‘Thank goodness I don’t have alcohol in my life that is extinguishing that fire, which is my faith,’” Coulier said. “And I was able to feel those raw emotions, which I never would have felt had I been abusing alcohol, and I was in touch with myself spiritually.”

“So, for me, it was allowing that flame to ignite again, and to find my spirituality,” Coulier continued. “And it helped me through all of that.”

“It doesn’t help the sting,” Coulier clarified, “but it certainly helps you to have the fuel to continue forward and make the best of your life.”

When asked about how he has been able to move forward with his life and sobriety, particularly after he was the one to discover his brother’s body after he died by suicide, Coulier said, “I kind of have a well. When I feel as though that well is filling with sorrow and pain and anguish, I have so many wonderful stories about my brother that make me laugh and make me smile.”

Churches Adjust As Talk of Recession, Inflation Impacts Ministry Costs

Scott Barkley

July 12, 2022

NASHVILLE (BP) – The weekday preschool ministry at Englewood Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, N.C., feeds approximately 60 children a day, a number that doubles in the fall. Food costs have always been a part of such ministries, but it’s just one of several areas where inflation has commanded more attention.

Financial giving has remained on par, but the church struggles to keep up with the current costs of ministry, said Senior Pastor Chris Aiken.

For instance, Englewood has been looking for a worship pastor for more than a year. The current housing market has made it more challenging to meet candidates’ needs. Travel costs also must be considered for outreach and mission trips. Today (July 11), gas in the Rocky Mount area averaged $4.15 a gallon, according to GasBuddy.

“These are just the circumstances we find ourselves in,” Aiken said. “We’re not going to slow visits or pastoral care, though. If it costs more to go on missions, we’re still going to find a way to do it.”

He’s quick to point out that you can’t get lost in stressing over what might be considered First World problems. Friends of his serving in South Asia churches, Aiken said, are dealing with much weightier issues than whether or not to buy a new whiteboard for a classroom.

The unofficial marker for a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth, which the U.S. hit last week. Some economists cite various factors in saying the country hasn’t technically hit a recession. But for Americans facing decades-high inflation and record gas prices impacting grocery bills, it certainly feels like one.

David Spika, chief investment officer for GuideStone Financial Resources, said that although recessions are viewed negatively, they serve a purpose in putting the economy closer to where it should be.

“In our current situation a recession, assuming it’s not a significant and deep one, would be the best-case scenario because it’s the only way to reduce inflation to a manageable level,” he said.

Southern Baptists are not immune to a recession’s impact. According to research conducted by former SBC Executive Committee CFO Bill Townes, the sharpest decreases in CP giving came during The Great Depression and the recession that occurred in the early 1970s. CP giving fell by 19.57 percent in 1932 and then again by 22.09 percent in 1933. In 1972, giving witnessed a 21.4 percent drop.

The Great Recession that began in 2008 was the longest economic contraction since The Great Depression and led to a worldwide economic crisis. It also served as a marker for a pattern of decreased giving to CP, as the annual amount fell nine of the next 12 years.

Government stimulus checks issued during the COVID pandemic gave consumers cash on hand, which alongside a turn toward digital tithing helped church budgets to this day. However, it also laid the groundwork for the current inflation crisis.

Did David Rape Bathsheba? John Piper Says ‘Yes’

Dale Chamberlain

July 12, 2022

John Piper David and Bathsheba — Pictured: John Piper (left, Rsparakulathu, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons); Artist depiction of the prophet Nathan rebuking King David (right).

In the biblical story of David and Bathsheba, was David guilty of adultery, or was it actually much worse than that? On his “Ask Pastor John” podcast, pastor and theologian John Piper shared his thoughts.

The well known Bible story appears in 2 Samuel 11. In the account, David catches a glimpse of Bathsheba bathing while strolling on the rooftop of his palace. He then summons her so that he can sleep with her. After David discovers that Bathsheba is pregnant, he has Bathsheba’s husband killed.

In recent years, some debate has arisen as to how this story should be interpreted. Was Bathsheba complicit in an adulterous affair, or did David’s abuse of his kingly power and apparent coercion constitute sexual assault?

In the podcast, which responds to listener questions, Piper was asked, “Did Bathsheba sin with David? Was she complicit in the sin? Or was she simply taken advantage of?” The listener expressed that they had heard Piper use the word “rape” when discussing the David and Bathsheba story in the past, and had heard from “feminists” that the power David exerted as king would immediately classify the incident as rape. The listener asked, “Are there any pointers for us in the text itself?”

“Yes, I think there are pointers that David exerted a kind of pressure on her to warrant the accusation of rape, and I don’t say that because I think the act couldn’t be consensual given the power dynamics at play,” Piper said in response. “It is possible for a woman to be sinfully complicit in committing adultery with a very powerful man. I don’t see any evidence for that in this text.”

Piper went on to explain that the biblical narrative doesn’t use any language of wooing or seducing. It simply says that David “took” Bathsheba.

Piper further explained that the prophet Nathan’s parable about David’s offenses is also telling. In the story, Nathan speaks about a wealthy man with many flocks and herds who lived near a poor man who only owned one lamb. The poor man loved his lamb like a child. But when the wealthy man received a visitor, instead of taking from his own flocks or herds to feed the traveler, he instead stole his poor neighbor’s lamb, killed it, and served it to his guest.

“[Nathan] really re-created the adultery in the categories of theft and killing. Not Uriah’s killing—that’s an added evil—but as it were, Bathsheba’s killing represented by the little, little, helpless pet lamb being killed and served up as a meal,” Piper said. “So, I would say, for these two reasons, we are not exaggerating to use the word rape for David’s abuse of his power in the indulgence of his sinful lust in the way he took Bathsheba.”

Though this debate is not settled in the minds of some evangelicals, Piper is not alone in his understanding of the text. For example, sexual abuse survivor advocate Rachael Denhollander tweeted a link to Piper’s podcast episode, saying, “I have many concerns and disagreements with John Piper, especially on teachings that influence sexual and domestic abuse dynamics, but I truly appreciate his willingness to address a ‘controversial’ issue again and do so with clarity and firmness.”

Lifeway Research: Americans Believe Religious Liberty Is Declining, More Believe Christians Face Intolerance

Marissa Postell Sullivan

July 12, 2022

While most Americans say religious liberty is on the decline in the country, even more believe Christians are increasingly confronted with intolerance in the U.S. But some say American Christians complain too much about how they are treated.

Over half of Americans (54%) say religious liberty is on the decline in America, including 24% who strongly agree, according to a Lifeway Research survey of 1,005 Americans in September 2021. Nearly 1 in 3 disagree (32%), and 14% aren’t sure.

Although a similar percentage of males (53%) and females (54%) agree religious liberty is on the decline, more females say they are not sure. Males (36%) are more likely than females (29%) to say religious liberty is not on the decline in America.

Religious affiliation, worship service attendance and religious beliefs are also factors in a person’s belief about the state of religious liberty. Americans who are more engaged with their faith are among those most likely to believe religious liberty is on the decline in America. Those who are religiously unaffiliated are least likely to agree that it is declining (40%). And among Christians, those who attend a worship service at least four times a month (64%) are more likely to believe religious liberty is on the decline in America than those who attend less than once a month (53%). Furthermore, those who hold evangelical beliefs are more likely to say religious liberty is declining than those without evangelical beliefs (74% v. 48%).

“Freedoms are not limitless,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. “As some groups seek more freedom, it often encroaches on another’s freedom. It’s not surprising those who are more religiously active are the ones noticing reductions in religious freedom compared to those who don’t practice religion.”

Belief in Declining Tolerance for Christians in America

When asked specifically about how Christians are treated, Americans believe religious tolerance for Christians in America is declining. Over half of Americans (59%) say Christians are increasingly confronted with intolerance in America, including 24% who strongly agree. Fewer than 1 in 4 (24%) disagree, and 18% say they are not sure.

African Americans (68%) and white Americans (59%) are more likely to agree than people of other ethnicities (47%).

Those with more education are more likely to disagree. Americans with a bachelor’s degree (30%) or graduate degree (31%) are more likely to say Christians are not increasingly confronted with intolerance in America today than those who are high school graduates or less (21%) or with some college (20%).

“Intolerance is about cultural pushback,” McConnell said. “In the American marketplace of ideas, not all systems of thought are welcomed. The majority of all religions notice this pushback against Christians today.”

Again, religious affiliation, worship service attendance and religious beliefs are factors in a person’s beliefs regarding tolerance levels for Christians in America. Protestants are the most likely to agree that intolerance is increasing (69%), followed by Catholics (59%), people of other religions (53%) and the religiously unaffiliated (41%). Evangelicals (84%) are more likely to agree than non-evangelicals (52%). And among Christians, those who attend a worship service less than once a month (55%) are least likely to believe Christians are facing increasing levels of intolerance in America.

Too Much Complaining

More than 1 in 3 Americans (36%) say American Christians complain too much about how they are treated, including 14% who strongly agree. Nearly half (49%) disagree, and 15% aren’t sure.

“While people of faith have had real challenges to their religious liberty in recent years in the U.S., it’s easy to become known only for talking about these issues,” McConnell said. “It’s ironic that the very ones people of faith would like to convert are noticing what Christians say about what they’re losing rather than what good they have to offer.”

EU Parliament Urges Vatican to Defend Human Rights in Hong Kong

Claire Giangrave

July 12, 2022

EU parliament — FILE – Hong Kong’s outspoken cardinal Joseph Zen, center, and other religious protesters hold placards with “Respects religious freedom” written on them during a demonstration outside the China Liaison Office in Hong Kong, Wednesday, July 11, 2012. Reports say a Roman Catholic cardinal and three others have been arrested in Hong Kong on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces to endanger Chinese national security. U.K.-based human rights group Hong Kong Watch said Cardinal Joseph Zen, lawyer Margaret Ng, singer Denise Ho and scholar Hui Po-keung were detained Wednesday, May 11, 2022, by Hong Kong’s National Security Police. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — While the Vatican hopes to renew a secretive and controversial deal with China regarding bishops’ appointments, the European Parliament urged the Catholic institution to stand in defense of religious freedom in Hong Kong.

The European Parliament called on the Holy See to “strengthen its diplomatic efforts and its leverage on the Chinese authorities” in a resolution on Thursday (July 7), as some Catholics and other religious minorities face growing persecution in the country.

On May 11, the former bishop of Hong Kong, Cardinal Joseph Zen, was arrested by Chinese authorities along with four other pro-democracy activists. The cardinal was released a day later, and his trial is expected to take place Sept. 19, with Zen pleading not guilty on all charges.

The EU resolution encouraged the Vatican “to give full support to Cardinal Zen and other religious leaders who face persecution or the risk of detention under the national security regime in Hong Kong.” The parliament also called on the Vatican “to demand that all charges against Cardinal Zen be dropped and (for) an end to persecution and human rights violations.”

Hong Kong, which had enjoyed a special status within China, has been facing a crackdown as the Chinese government introduced national security laws that have led to mass pro-democracy protests and thousands of arrests. The Vatican envoy in Hong Kong warned Catholic missionaries in the city on July 5 that “change is coming, and you’d better be prepared” and that the city is no longer “the great Catholic beachhead it was.”

The EU resolution described Zen as “one of the strongest advocates of the city’s pro-democracy movement.”

While the resolution is nonbinding, it specified that the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, must communicate its content to the Holy See.

The European Parliament isn’t alone in calling for a stronger condemnation of China on the part of the Vatican, which has been embroiled in a lengthy and complicated diplomatic dialogue with the rising economic power. Many Catholics have criticized a provisional agreement between China and the Vatican signed in 2018 and renewed every two years.

The Sino-Vatican agreement has already been renewed once in 2020 and is expected to be up for negotiations soon. While the text of the document has been kept secret, Vatican officials have confirmed that it builds a compromise between the pope and the Chinese Communist Party for the appointment of bishops.

While the Catholic Church in China defies easy categorization, it operates in an uneasy space between official recognition as a church by the Chinese government and a so-called underground church that only swears fealty to Rome.

FILE – Hong Kong’s outspoken cardinal Joseph Zen, center, and other religious protesters hold placards with “Respects religious freedom” written on them during a demonstration outside the China Liaison Office in Hong Kong, Wednesday, July 11, 2012. Reports say a Roman Catholic cardinal and three others have been arrested in Hong Kong on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces to endanger Chinese national security. U.K.-based human rights group Hong Kong Watch said Cardinal Joseph Zen, lawyer Margaret Ng, singer Denise Ho and scholar Hui Po-keung were detained Wednesday, May 11, 2022, by Hong Kong’s National Security Police. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

Zen has been an outspoken critic of the deal and has publicly condemned the Chinese government for its violations of religious freedom. After his arrest, the No. 2 official at the Vatican, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, expressed his relief the cardinal “was freed and treated well.”

Parolin, who was among the main architects of the Sino-Vatican deal, also voiced his “most concrete hope that initiatives like this cannot complicate the already complex path of dialogue between the Holy See and the Church in China.”

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