Letter to a Young Man Desiring to Follow Jesus

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July 6, 2022

I received this letter from a reader:

Dear Mr. Randy Alcorn,

My name is Aidan. I am a senior in high school. I am a student, a fellow writer, and a follower of God. For a religion assignment, I had to find a Christian online who practices the four non-negotiables of our faith: have private morality, practice social justice, have mellowness of heart and spirit, and attend church with vigor and a desire to learn from it.

The second part of our assignment was to write a letter to you asking how to be an exemplary Christian like you, preferably through living the four non-negotiables. If you could take time out of your life to give some advice to someone just starting on their path to God, I would deeply appreciate it.

Here was my response:

Dear Aidan,

Great to hear from you as a fellow writer, and most importantly, as a fellow follower of Jesus.

My best writing advice to you is to immerse yourself in God’s Word, and study sound doctrine and good theology. (One great book, for reference or to read all the way through, is Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology, or his abridged version, called Bible Doctrine.)

If God’s Word is daily at home in your heart and mind, your writing will take on a perspective, and an air of solidity and permanence it won’t have otherwise. God promises His Word won’t return to Him empty, without accomplishing the purpose for which He sent it (Isaiah 55:11). He does not promise that about our words, but His. If we want our words to have lasting value and impact, they need to be touched and shaped by His words—and that won’t happen without a daily choice to expose our minds to Scripture.

You mentioned four nonnegotiables of the faith, and asked how to live those out. Here are my thoughts:

1. Have Private Morality.

I would rename this category as “character.” Image is how we look on the outside to people who don’t know us. Character is what we are in the dark when no one but God sees us. Character is what we really are.

Who you become will be the result of the daily choices you make. The key to spirituality is the development of little habits—Bible reading and memorization and prayer—which will develop into life disciplines. Through God’s Word, the Holy Spirit transforms our hearts and minds. However, don’t just read your Bible out of guilt; do it to find great joy in Jesus! David said of God’s words, “More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:10).

Abounding Love: My Life with Chronic Illness

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Bethany Faulds

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July 5, 2022

I can recall hearing the words “chronic illness” being spoken from a stage twice in my lifetime. Once was during a worship service during my orientation to Wheaton College in 2016. The other was also at Wheaton College, this time from my own lips as I shared about my illness in chapel the following year.

Since chronic illness is so infrequently discussed publicly, it leaves many people who are chronically ill dangling alone with unaddressed theological, emotional, and intellectual questions. For me, many of these questions centered around how the existence of chronic illness could possibly fit together with the love of God.

It wasn’t until spring of my sophomore year at Wheaton when I began studying systematic theology that I entered a safe space in which I could ask and deeply work through these questions.

A Glimpse into My Story

I have been chronically ill for nearly a decade—I started to develop my symptoms when I was 10 years old. The past nine and a half years have been a long and painful journey of doctors’ appointments and symptoms that have at times pushed my endurance to its limits. I am officially diagnosed with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), although since there is no test for IBS and my symptoms often vary from a typical experience of IBS, I cannot be completely sure of this diagnosis. However, having any diagnosis—even if its accuracy is tentative – is helpful in the chronic illness world because a diagnosis can give you access to the accommodations you need.

People often ask me what it is like to be chronically ill. The answer to such a question is long, because chronic illness affects virtually every aspect of my life. I once wrote a 25-page description of some of the ways my illness affects me to help a few of my closest friends understand better. I’m currently writing a book reflecting on my journey thus far with chronic illness and the ways I have seen Christ through it.

But here’s an attempt at a shorter answer: I am in near constant abdominal pain. I have a list of 12 dietary restrictions I must abide by to avoid having flares. I am frequently nauseous for most of the day. My body is usually too exhausted to push through a whole day without a nap. I often have headaches and I’m generally dizzy. I’ve had portions of time in which I was bleeding internally. I have random joint pains. I wrestle with brain fog and confusion that makes it difficult to think.

This isn’t an exhaustive list of my symptoms, but hopefully it provides a snapshot with which to imagine my life.

Christ is with me through it all.

I’ve tested negative to so many illnesses that I’ve lost count. I’ve passed out or fallen to the ground from lightheadedness enough times that it no longer startles my roommate. I’ve missed dozens of social occasions to stay alone in my room, managing pain or resting my fatigued body. I’ve had flares of pain so severe I wondered if I ought to go to the emergency room. I’ve advocated for myself more than almost any person I know. I’ve put in four times as much work as most of my classmates in order to combat my confusion and achieve the same grades.

I’ve cried more tears than I can keep track of.

God holds them all.

A decade of deep suffering has led me to ask a lot of hard questions. Does the existence and persistence of my chronic illness prove that God is not love? I wholeheartedly believe that God could fully and instantly heal me at any moment in this life. I am fully confident that one day he will completely heal me when we are given our new, resurrected bodies following the return of Christ.

Doors and Broken Handles: Discerning Where God Wants Us to Go

By

Dave Pederson

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July 5, 2022

I drive a minivan during the winter in Chicagoland. Last week, on a sleet-filled day in the grocery parking lot, I pulled the sliding door handle. In dismay, I found that the door was frozen shut. This was the third time this month this had happened. So I tried harder. And harder. Finally, I gave it one last yank. Next thing I knew I was flat on my back with a broken door handle in my hand.

We have all experienced open and closed doors in our Christian life. But how do we know when a door is really shut? How hard should we pull?

Certainly, sometimes in my life I have wanted to give up on a closed door. I recall the difficulty at finding the first church after seminary at which I could serve. Months passed and I began to doubt my call to ministry because all the doors seemed shut. As I was passing for one of the last times besides the “opportunity board” at the seminary, I saw an advertisement from a church in Greece.

After all the closed doors, this one felt wide open. Once there, we felt God’s hand on the ministry as we served that church in Athens.

What do you look for in closed and open doors so that you don’t end up flat on your back with the handle in your hand? I think there are ways we can be sure that a door is shut or open.

First, remember that the call God has given us will likely require intensive perseverance.

Consider that everybody around William Carey questioned his desire to go to India as a pioneer missionary. In one ministry meeting those around him actually said, “Young man, sit down; when God pleases to convert the heathen, he will do it without your aid and mine.” The minds of the resistant need to be carefully challenged, so Carey persevered by writing a book about the need to push open the door to converting the lost. And then he went to India with eventual success in planting missions. He persevered.

Second, remember that open and closed doors are often group efforts.

Acts 13:1-5 is a great example of the group effort between the Holy Spirit, the leaders of the church, and the two who were to go through a new door of ministry, Paul and Barnabas. The Spirit called. The leaders responded. The church sent out.

It is a picture-perfect example of a clear open door. Yours might be more messy. But seeing the coincidence of Scripture, the Holy Spirit, and good counsel from mature believers is a pretty safe direction.

As a caution here, I would say that some closed doors are screen doors, with plenty of breeze, perhaps a nice view on the other side, and easy access. But they are closed, nevertheless. There have been times in my life that it just took a little push to open the door, but it was not right according to Scripture and to those best counselors around me.

One of the most painful choices of my life happened when all counsel pointed to not take a door that seemed open. I took the door nevertheless because it was so easy to open. In the end, the counsel that warned me was proven right. And there is much pain as I look back on that decision.

Third, know that some doors have windows.

What I mean by this is that some closed doors have a really clear view of what might be on the other side. They are a bit like the screen door. But the counsel and direction is not so clear to press in or to move on. In this case, I recommend sitting by the door for a while and judging what God is affirming and confirming in your heart. Perhaps it is a life decision such as adoption, or a move to another region, or an assumption of a significant ministry commitment.

If it is not quite clear, sit and look at what you might see on the other side. Weigh what might be felt if you pass the door by. And weigh the costs that you can see if you persist in pressing to open the door. Sometimes we do not tarry and wait on God enough for the door to remain closed or to clearly open.

Creflo Dollar: Some of My Teachings About Tithing ‘Were Not Correct’

By

Jessica Lea

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July 5, 2022

Creflo Dollar, senior pastor of World Changers Church International in Atlanta, told his congregation that some of his teachings about tithing have been wrong. Dollar is known for promoting a prosperity gospel and made this confession in a sermon posted to YouTube Sunday, June 26.

“I want to start off by saying to you that I’m still growing,” said Dollar after opening his sermon with prayer. “And that the teachings that I’ve shared in times past on the subject of tithing were not correct. And today I stand in humility to correct some things that I’ve taught for years and believed for years, but could never understand it clearly because I had not yet been confronted with the gospel of grace, which has made the difference.”

Creflo Dollar’s Sermon on Tithing

Creflo Dollar is a controversial church leader for a few reasons. In 2012, he was arrested for allegedly choking his 15-year-old daughter. Prior to that, Dollar was one of six televangelists who were the subject of a financial investigation spearheaded by Iowa Senator Charles Grassley. The inquiry lasted more than three years and wrapped without “definitive findings of wrongdoing.” Benny Hinn and Kenneth Copeland were among the other televangelists investigated.

Dollar is also known to promote a prosperity gospel, a teaching that God will bless those who follow him. Often this blessing is financial and based on people’s faithfulness to God. Dollar is wealthy and drew criticism in 2015 for raising money for a private jet that cost over $60 million. His other assets have included several expensive properties and two Rolls Royces.

Creflo Dollar did not ask forgiveness from his congregation for promoting false teachings on tithing. He said, “I won’t apologize because if it wasn’t for me going down that route, I would’ve never ended up where I am right now. But I will say that I have no shame at all at saying to you, throw away every book, every tape and every video I ever did on the subject of tithing unless it lines up with this.”

Dollar said that he had done some “corrective teaching” within the last 10 years, but “not to the degree” of what he planned to preach that morning and in the next couple of weeks. The pastor did not list which of his past teachings he was correcting, but said that the church’s tendency to use fear and guilt to encourage tithing needs to be “corrected now.” Dollar did not put responsibility on his specific church for this error, but spoke of “the church” in general terms.

One of Dollar’s main points in a sermon filled with Scripture references was that tithing 10% of one’s income is a concept found in the Old Testament law, a system that no longer applies to believers set free through the death of Jesus.

Pastor Matt Chandler: The Church’s Post-Roe Moment Is Bigger Than Legislation

By

Stephanie Martin

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July 5, 2022

In a June 26 sermon titled “A Sober Celebration of Life,” Pastor Matt Chandler challenged Christians to “step up” and push back darkness in a “brutally difficult” world. Chandler, pastor of The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas, gave that call to action two days after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Chandler, who heads the church-planting organization Acts 29, prefaced the message by saying he celebrated Roe’s reversal but “did so with a great deal of sobriety.” He tells congregants, “Before you wave those pom-poms, you’d better understand what’s at stake and the moment that we’re in.” The pastor warns, “This had better not be about legislation; this better be bigger than that for us as the church.”

Matt Chandler: ‘Tweeting or Posturing’ Won’t Help

Referring to passages from Matthew 5, Chandler urges congregants to be salt and light, speaking compassionately to abortion supporters instead of vilifying them. “If you give into the compulsion to vilify the other,” he says, “you will harden your heart to the ways Jesus wants to use you to stop the decay and to push back the darkness.”

By putting your “whole self” into the kingdom of God, Chandler says, Christians can mourn over our brokenness and the world’s brokenness—and then receive God’s comfort. The pastor admits our world is filled with “a kind of hopelessness that will rot a soul out,” pointing to the example of a young pregnant woman who drank bleach to try to self-abort. “How hopeless do you have to be to do that?” he asks.

Christians can’t “care for the most marginalized [people by] tweeting or posturing,” Chandler tells listeners. Neither can we quickly or easily fix the problem of abortion by “throwing diapers at it.” But “we’re far more powerful than we think we are,” he says. “As [abortion] was given back to the states, it was also given back to the church.”

Chandler warns that this can’t be merely “a moment of adrenaline” for the church but must be a sustained effort. “You grow in mercy by having your mercy tested,” he says.

God’s Grace Extends to Abortion, Says Matt Chandler

To anyone who has had an abortion, funded one, or been involved somehow, Chandler shares words of mercy and forgiveness. “You have not out-sinned the grace of God,” he says. “You don’t have to carry that” guilt. At The Village Church, he adds, people won’t be “disparaged or hated” for their “backstory.”

Chandler emphasizes that his church has long been active in pro-life ministries, with groups for pregnancy support as well as post-abortion support. During his sermon, he yielded the floor for several minutes to Andrea Brakner, who works with the church’s Young Lives group to assist teen moms and dads.

Chick-fil-A Continues 8-Year Reign, Keeps Crown of America’s Favorite Restaurant

By

Jesse T. Jackson

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July 5, 2022

America’s favorite restaurant for the eight consecutive year is Chick-fil-A, according to the recent American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) Restaurant Study 2021-2022.

The report is based on interviews of over 20,000 customers who were chosen at random.

Chick-fil-A, which is known for their Christian faith and family values, received a score of 83 out of a possible 100—the same score it tallied last year.

The “Freaky-Fast” sandwich maker Jimmy John’s came in third this year with a score of 79, while LongHorn Steakhouse and Texas Roadhouse were number two overall with a score of 80.

Both Domino’s and KFC received a score of 78, while Chipotle, Panera Bread, and Pizza Hut received a 77. McDonald’s finished last in the fast-food category, receiving a score of 68.

The beloved fast-food chicken restaurant was ranked number second behind Trader Joes on the top ten ACSI’s company list, the only restaurant to make the list.

“We are honored by the results of this survey and we are grateful to our customers for choosing Chick-fil-A. It’s truly our pleasure to serve them,” a Chick-fil-A representative told Fox News Digital.

With more than 170,000 employees representing 2,700 restaurants, which are closed on Sundays, Chick-fil-A’s representative shared that this “recognition is acknowledgment of the care” the company puts into serving great food with gracious hospitality. “Every day, our restaurant Team Members go above and beyond each day to create a friendly, welcoming place to visit.”

Chick-fil-A has experienced political and consumer backlash for its outspoken stance regarding biblical family values. In 2012, the restaurant’s CEO, Dan Cathy, said that America is “inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say we know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage,” referring to widespread acceptance of same-sex marriage.

Brazilian Pastor Receives 18-Year Prison Sentence After Calling for Second Jewish Holocaust

By

Dale Chamberlain

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July 5, 2022

Tupirani da Hora Lores, pastor of Pentecostal Generation Jesus Christ Church in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has been sentenced to 18 years and six months in prison for antisemitic rhetoric espoused at his church, wherein he has called for a second Holocaust.

According to Jewish Telegraph Agency, the sentence is historically significant for Brazil, making headlines across the nation.

In a video captured in 2020, da Hora Lores can be heard calling on God to ordain a second Holocaust for Jewish people.

“Massacre the Jews, God, hit them with your sword, for they have left God, they have left the nations,” da Hora Lores said in the prayer, according to The Times of Israel. A clamor of affirmation can be heard from the congregation.

“They contrived, went with prostitutes, and when they were told to repent they said they’d do it but they lied,” the pastor said, in what may have been a reference to the forced conversions of Jewish people to Christianity during the Portuguese Inquisition. “God, what you have done in World War II, you must do again. This is what we ask for in our prayers to you: justice, justice, justice!”

Last year, Brazilian federal police raided de Hora Lores’ church, confiscating literature. De Hora Lores has now been convicted and sentenced for antisemitic hate speech.

“A historic sentence in the fight against anti-Semitism—it is the largest penalty applied in Brazil for this type of crime, which will help to inhibit this odious practice,” said Ricardo Sidi, who is legal director of the Brazilian Israelite Confederation and acted as assistant to the prosecution.

Judge Valeria Caldi Magalhães said that da Hora Lores used his position as pastor to commit a crime, “which increases the potential to induce followers to act similarly.”

“With regard to social conduct, the records showed that the defendant maintains an ostensible behavior that confronts public institutions,” Magalhães said.

“This sentence demonstrates the hardening of justice with cases of hate speech, which has grown exponentially, especially in the face of the Jewish community. The case is very serious and the reprimand received by the defendant is proportional to his dangerousness,” said Andrea Vainer, another member of the Brazilian Israelite Confederation legal team.

Da Hora Lores will have an opportunity to appeal the ruling.

California Christian Groups Fight Post-Roe Measures to Expand Abortion Rights

By

Alejandra Molina

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July 5, 2022

post-roe california — Mitzi Rivas, left, hugs her daughter Maya Iribarren during an abortion-rights protest at City Hall in San Francisco following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Friday, June 24, 2022. The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to end constitutional protections for abortion has cleared the way for states to impose bans and restrictions on abortion — and will set off a series of legal battles. (AP Photo/Josie Lepe)

(RNS) — Religious anti-abortion advocates in California may be celebrating the end of Roe v. Wade, but they face a push by their government to expand abortion access, even as other states enact bans on the procedure.

On the day the Supreme Court handed down the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision, Gov. Gavin Newsom, signed a bill shielding abortion patients and providers from civil liabilities imposed by other states.

A package of other bills seeking to make California an “abortion sanctuary” is also moving through the legislature in Sacramento, including a measure that would enhance privacy protections for abortion related medical records. In November California voters will decide whether to enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution.

In response, anti-abortion religious organizations such as the California Catholic Conference and the California Family Council are mobilizing their followers to stand against these efforts in a state where, according to a recent poll, nearly 80% of adults didn’t want Roe overturned.

Anti-abortion activists are rallying behind the state’s pregnancy resource centers and calling on residents to vote against the constitutional amendment on abortion, which, they say, is too broad and could allow late-term abortions. California law permits abortions up until fetal viability and allows a physician’s “good faith medical judgement” to determine when a fetus is considered viable.

The California Family Council, a nonprofit aiming to advance “God’s design for life, family and liberty,” said “pro-lifers should prepare to face more persecution than ever before,” as they “enter a new phase of the fight for life.”

Kathleen Domingo, executive director of the California Catholic Conference, has called on Catholics to recognize this as “our moment.” Acknowledging California as a “deep blue state,” Domingo said they had no illusion “that we were going to have any different outcome.”

“So many of us have worked for a large part of our lives to see Roe end and then to realize that as Roe is ending, in response California is increasing abortion — that is very difficult,” Domingo told Religion News Service.

Other faith leaders have publicly supported abortion rights. In early June, a multifaith group from California including Sikh, Muslim, Jewish, and Christian leaders met with Vice President Kamala Harris in Los Angeles.

Richard Flory, executive director of research and evaluation at the University of Southern California’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture, said that while evangelicals are a “shrinking part of the population” and the Catholic establishment show signs “out of step with their membership,” their efforts are “not going to go away.”

“They thrive on opposition … that people are against them for their beliefs,” Flory said. “Even though they made this huge victory, they’re not framing it as a victory.”

Flory pointed to the institutional religious power still wielded by the Catholic health systems affiliated with hospitals across the country. Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Orange County, California, recently disaffiliated from Providence, a Catholic health system, filing a lawsuit to terminate the affiliation — a move supported by healthcare providers concerned that the partnership resulted in a “denial of basic reproductive rights.”

Demonstrators rally to demand continued access to abortion during the March for Reproductive Justice, Oct. 2, 2021, in downtown Los Angeles. On Dec. 8, 2021, a group of abortion providers and advocacy groups recommended that California use public money to bring people to California from other states for abortion services should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade. The report has the backing of key legislative leaders, including Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, a Democrat. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, file)

Christian Methodist Episcopal Church Elects Second Woman and African Bishops

By

Adelle M Banks

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July 5, 2022

(RNS) — The Christian Methodist Episcopal Church has elected its second woman bishop and received its first episcopal address from a woman during its quadrennial General Conference.

“I think when you elect the first you have to be really careful that they just don’t become a token and so I was really excited,” said Bishop Teresa Jefferson-Snorton, who was the first woman elected in 2010 and serves as the secretary on the College of Bishops.

The Rev. Denise Anders-Modest, pastor of Trinity CME Church in Memphis, Tenn., and coordinator of the CME Commission on Women in Ministry, will serve the 2nd Episcopal District, which includes Kentucky, Ohio and Central Indiana.

The Rev. Denise Anders-Modest. Photo courtesy of Farish Street Baptist Church

Her forerunner was particularly pleased that voting delegates chose Anders-Modest as the second to win election to the role of bishop, not waiting until the last opportunity to add another woman to the CME episcopacy. “That’s also quite commendable that people were able to see her qualifications and not just, ‘oh, we need a woman bishop.’”

Jefferson-Snorton achieved another first this year, becoming the first woman to give the episcopal address — the message given on behalf of the bishops to the denomination — on June 25, the first official day of the gathering at the Duke Energy Center in Cincinnati. The meeting, which was attended by about 2,500 people, is set to conclude Friday (July 1).

She also was elected as the denomination’s new ecumenical and development officer, a role that no longer requires her to also lead a district of churches. Part of her role will be to seek resources to create and work on ministry and outreach programs at both the denominational and local levels.

“I see lots of our churches that are in communities that have such need but the local church itself doesn’t really have the capacity to go out and look for funds or even manage the program,” she said.

The delegates, who attended in person, also elected the second African bishop in the history of the denomination, which was founded in 1870 and claims 1.2 million U.S. members. It has sister churches and missions in 14 African countries, Haiti and Jamaica.

The Rev. Kwame L. Adjei, a member of the CME Church’s Judicial Council and a former associate pastor and high school chaplain in his native Ghana, will serve the 11th District, which is in East Africa.

Mexican Bishops To Put Photos of Dead Priests in Churches

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AP News

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July 5, 2022

Mexican bishops — Faithful mourn in front of the photos of Jesuit priests Javier Campos Morales and Joaquin Cesar Mora Salazar during a Mass at a church in Mexico City, Tuesday, June 21, 2022. The two elderly priests were killed inside a church where a man pursued by gunmen apparently sought refuge in a remote mountainous area of northern Mexico, the religious order's Mexican branch announced Tuesday. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s Roman Catholic Council of Bishops called Monday on parishes throughout the country to put photos of dead nuns and priests in their churches this Sunday and to hold Masses for all those killed in gang-fueled violence.

The call for special celebrations throughout July came after two Jesuit priests and a tour guide were murdered June 20. Authorities have identified a local gang boss reportedly affiliated with the Sinaloa cartel as the suspect in the those killings. He remains at large.

The council also called on the faithful to pray on July 31 for the conversion or redemption of the killers.

Meanwhile, another priest said he was beaten over the weekend in the violence-plagued western state of Michoacan.

Rev. Mateo Calvillo wrote in an open letter that men travelling in another vehicle cut off his car, forcing him to stop, and that one of them came around to his window and beat him savagely. The priest said he knew of no motive for the June 29 attack in the town of Querendaro, saying the man appeared irrational.

On June 24, the Council of Bishops issued an open letter telling the government that “it is time to revise the security policies that are failing.”

The two murdered priests — Rev. Javier Campos, 79, and Rev. Joaquín Mora, 80 — had spent much of their lives serving Indigenous peoples of the Sierra Tarahumara mountains. The Jesuits were shot to death in the small church in the town of Cerocahui.

The church’s Catholic Multimedia Center said seven priests have been murdered under the current administration, which took office in December 2018, and at least two dozen in the six years of the previous president.

This article originally appeared on APNews.com.

Pope Denies Resignation Rumors, Hopes to Visit Kyiv, Moscow

By

AP News

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July 5, 2022

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has dismissed rumors he plans to resign anytime soon, and says that he hopes to visit Moscow and Kyiv after traveling to Canada later this month.

Francis also told Reuters in an interview published Monday that the idea “never entered my mind” to announce a planned retirement at the end of the summer, though he repeated he might step down some day as Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI did in 2013.

He revealed that his knee trouble, which has caused him to use a wheelchair for over a month, was caused by a “small fracture” that occurred when he stepped awkwardly while the knee ligament was inflamed.

He said it is “slowly getting better” with laser and magnet therapy.

Francis was due to have visited Congo and South Sudan this week but had to cancel the trip because doctors said he needed more therapy. He said he was on board to travel to Canada July 24-30 and said he hoped to visit Russia and Ukraine sometime thereafter.

This article originally appeared here.

Court’s Term Delivers Wins for Life, Religious Liberty

By

Tom Strode

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July 5, 2022

WASHINGTON (BP)—The U.S. Supreme Court delivered deeply consequential victories for the sanctity of human life and religious freedom in its just-completed term, advocates for both causes said in assessing the justices’ work.

The justices issued their final opinions Thursday (June 30) to close a 2021-22 term in which they eliminated near the end two high court standards from five decades ago that were long opposed by pro-life and/or many religious liberty advocates.

On June 24, the Supreme Court overruled the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that largely controlled its decision-making on the issue and ushered in an abortion regime that produced a death toll estimated at more than 63 million preborn babies. The justices also reinforced during the term their recent pattern of rulings that safeguard both free exercise of religion and equal access to public benefits for faith-based organizations. They crowned a series of such opinions with a June 27 decision in which they all made clear the court’s test regarding government establishment of religion instituted in a 1971 case was dead.

“The opinions the justices released in this Supreme Court term demonstrated a commitment to protecting our foundational, Constitutional rights to free speech and free exercise,” Southern Baptist public policy specialist Chelsea Sobolik told Baptist Press. “Additionally, they handed down a landmark pro-life decision that allows states the ability to take steps that will end abortion — a monumental decision that countless Christians have fervently prayed for.

RELATED: BREAKING: Supreme Court Overturns Roe

“As this term wraps up, more Americans will now be able to legally protect the preborn, and we all will be able to continue faithfully living out our individual faith in the public square,” said Sobolik, director of public policy for the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), in written comments.

The high court should receive “at least a 95 percent,” said Kevin Theriot, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), when asked what grade he would give the justices for the term on such issues as abortion and religious liberty.

If “extra credit” is given, the justices deserve it “for taking on issues that are controversial and that courts in the past have been reluctant to take up and . . . for fixing long problems that have been around for 50 years,” Theriot told BP in a phone interview.

The term’s close brought about an official change of justices on the high court. Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in Thursday after the high court issued its final two opinions of the term and Associate Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement became effective. Jackson, who received Senate confirmation in April, became the first African-American woman to serve on the court.

Gay Spider-Man To Be Introduced by Disney-Owned Marvel Comics This September

By

Jesse T. Jackson

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July 5, 2022

Web-Weaver is the first gay Spider-Man to be introduced by Marvel and will make his debut in an upcoming comic edition of Edge of Spider-Verse.

The comic is written by Steve Foxe, and images of the new character have been shared across social media.

Comic Book Resources posted an image last week of the Spider-Man with alongside the caption, “Marvel introduces its first gay Spider-Man as the latest Edge of Spider-Verse variant.”

The comic book is scheduled to be released in September.

Foxe explained that his homosexual version of the beloved superhero doesn’t represent “all gay men.”

“Something I realized immediately when conceiving Web-Weaver is that he can’t—and shouldn’t—represent ALL gay men. No single character can,” Foxe tweeted. His Twitter account has seen been made private. “His fearlessly femme identity is central to who he is, but it’s not the STORY…which you can experience for yourself in September!”

Marvel unveiled one of its popular superheroes as gay for the first time in its 80-year-old history last year when it introduced Aaron Fischer, the “Captain America of the Railways,” who is openly gay.

The gay Spider-Man will be known as the “Web-Weaver” and is described as a “not-so-mild mannered fashion designer at Van Dyne [who] gets spider-powers and shows us a very different kind of Spider-Slayer.”

Many Spider-Man fans weren’t excited about Marvel’s announcement, which came close to the end of Pride Month, calling it “unnecessary,” with some asking, “did anyone even want this,” and others saying, “we are living in a clown world,” and “dude, why do you have to ruin Spider-Man?”

One person wrote, “the real agenda for ‘gaying’ everything up is to normalize their degeneracy and then ultimately demonizing their real target: Christians.”

Marvel made an announcement in May that they would introduce their first transgender mutant superhero, named Escapade, who debuted in the comic “Marvel’s Voices: Pride.”

Disney, who purchased Marvel in 2009 for $4 billion, recently witnessed their recent animated film “Lightyear” take a major hit in theaters after parents voiced displeasure with the film’s same-sex kiss.

Parents nevertheless showed that concerns about going to the theater amid the COVID-19 pandemic are, by and large, over after Universal Pictures’ “Minions: The Rise of Gru” made over $108 million in only three days—a feat that “LightYear” has struggled to accomplish since it’s release on June 15.

Josef Tson: What His Suffering for Christ in Communist Romania Taught Him, and Can Teach Us

By

Randy Alcorn

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July 5, 2022

Josef Tson — Screengrab via YouTube / @sermonindex

Richard Wurmbrand’s Tortured for Christ influenced me profoundly as a young Christian. In Romania, guards tied prisoners to crosses and smeared them with human excrement. From our perspective, the perpetrators might have seemed beyond redemption; yet some of the guards who did these unspeakable acts saw the inexplicable love, devotion, and faith of the Christians they tortured.

Wurmbrand wrote, “I have seen Christians in Communist prisons with fifty pounds of chains on their feet, tortured with red-hot iron pokers, in whose throats spoonfuls of salt had been forced, being kept afterward from water, starving, whipped, suffering from cold—and praying with fervor for the Communists.”

Josef Tson, once the best-known pastor in Romania, was one such suffering saint. At a time when the Christian faith had become virtually illegal, he openly preached the gospel. Police threatened him repeatedly with imprisonment and arrest. In his sixties he studied at Oxford for his doctorate, writing a dissertation that became a book titled Suffering, Martyrdom, and Rewards in Heaven.

I opened the Scriptures with Josef in 1988, with a group of theologians discussing eternal rewards. Twenty years later, writing my book If God Is Good, I remembered his stories and insights and called him again, in order to share his insights with others. Josef explained to me how the belief that God doesn’t want His people to suffer once corrupted the Romanian church. In the interests of self-preservation, he said, they failed to speak out against injustice, tyranny, and the idolatry of turning men into gods. He recalls joining the crowd on the streets and crying, “Glory to Stalin.”

God convicted Josef. As a pastor he refused to glorify communist leaders and started to speak out boldly for Christ. Interrogators threatened him with death every day for six months. Finally he told them, “Your supreme weapon is killing. My supreme weapon is dying. My preaching will speak ten times louder after you kill me.”

Josef said, “During the time I was expecting to be crushed by the Romanian secret police interrogators, God became more real to me than ever before or after in my life. It is difficult to put into words the experience I had with God at that time. It was like a rapture into a sweet and total communion with the Beloved. God’s test for me then became the pathway to a special knowledge of the reality of God.”

Finally, in 1981, the Romanian government exiled him.

After facing much evil and nearly being martyred in Ceauşescu’s Romania, Josef told me, “This world, with all its evil, is God’s deliberately chosen environment for people to grow in their characters. The character and trustworthiness we form here, we take with us there, to Heaven. Romans and 1 Peter 3:19 make clear that suffering is a grace from God. It is a grace given us now to prepare us for living forever.”

He also told me he believed that 95 percent of Christians pass the test of adversity, while 95 percent fail the test of prosperity.

In the West, with our conspicuous prosperity and ease, Christianity’s popularity continues to shrink. In Africa, Asia, and South America, with much greater adversity and suffering, it continues to grow.

Josef Tson believes, “The gospel will never be spread without someone suffering.” He said our first question in suffering should not be, “Why?” but, “God, what do you want to do in the world through my suffering?”

13 Sanity Savers for VBS Directors

By

Kathie Philips

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July 5, 2022

thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

We are busy preparing for our church’s VBS (we call it Summer Bible Camp) next week. Details—big and small—must be planned out, tweaked and re-tweaked to welcome a few hundred campers and volunteers to our program each day. If you are overseeing VBS, you know exactly what I mean!

This summer will mark my third year leading VBS at my church. Each year has brought different joys, challenges and lessons. I often give myself pep-talks throughout the weeks and days leading up to kick-off to encourage myself when I start feeling overwhelmed. Can you relate?

When it’s all said and done, I rely on tried and true strategies that keep me sane before, during and after the madness—I mean planning.

13 Sanity Savers for VBS Directors

BEFORE VBS

1. Work ahead. VBS season falls during my busiest time of year (ministry-wise and personally) so working ahead on projects helps me not to cram at the last-minute.

2. Limit unnecessary meetings and appointments. Doing this allows me to be available to meet with VBS leaders and help them brainstorm ideas, gather supplies, answer questions, etc. If I’m diligent about working ahead, I can be available to them and give them my undivided attention.

3. Clearly label borrowed items. That way, you can return things with ease once camp concludes.

DURING VBS

4. Eat breakfast every day. Trust me, you’ll need the fuel to start each day off right.

5. Speaking of food, plan simple, easy-to-prepare meals. I use my slow cooker almost every day during VBS because I’m too exhausted to cook. I’ve also been known to keep the pizza delivery guy’s number on speed dial during VBS week!

6. Go to bed at a decent hour. I don’t know about you, but I’m no good if I’m sleep deprived. Close your computer, put the electronic devices away, turn off the TV and lights, and go to bed!

AFTER VBS

7. Accept offers of help in putting things away. Many hands make light the load!

8. Take inventory of supplies for future reference. Not only will this save you time down the road but it can also save you money.

9. Organize as you pack things away. Clearly label supplies so they can be easily located for future use.

10. Celebrate the wins. You and your team have worked incredibly hard to plan a wonderful week for the children and volunteers. Take time to celebrate the stories you hear and the children who received Christ or took next steps in their faith journey. Celebrate your volunteers, your planning team and all that God did during the week!

11. Debrief and evaluate with your team. Talk about what worked well and what needs to be changed to make next year’s VBS even better.

12. Rest! You deserve it for a job well done.

THROUGHOUT VBS

13. Power up with prayer. As the days become busier and the details are far too many to count, spending time with the Lord in prayer helps you stay focused on what’s most important. Encourage your team and volunteers to pray throughout also by providing a prayer list for them to pray through together.

Keep the conversation going! What would you add to this list? Share your ideas below!

This article originally appeared here.

God’s Strategy for Success

By

Rick Warren

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July 5, 2022

God’s strategy is straightforward: learn from your mistakes. In Joshua 1:7 God tells Joshua, “Be strong and very courageous and be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you. Don’t turn from it to the right or to the left [don’t get off track] that you may be successful wherever you go.” Be careful. Don’t get sidetracked. When you make a mistake, don’t get off course.

God’s Strategy

Mistakes are part of life. Everybody fails and makes mistakes. If you have made a mistake, welcome to the human race! We all make mistakes. We all blunder. The Bible says, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”

There’s an entire industry that makes a profit on your mistakes. They’re built around the fact that you’re imperfect. It’s the pencil eraser industry. If everybody were perfect, we wouldn’t need pencil erasers. Nobody would ever make any mistakes. There’s an entire industry making a profit off your boo-boos! Be corrected by your defeats.

This is part of God’s strategy: successful people learn from their failures. They learn from their mistakes. Unsuccessful people give up after their first failure.

A young executive came to a senior executive and said, “I want to know the secret of success.” The wise old executive said, “The secret of success, young man, is making the right decisions.” “Great! How do you learn to make right decisions?” the young man asked.

“By experience!”

“How do you get experience?”

“By making the wrong decisions!” the older man added with a smile

Edison said, “Don’t call it a failure. Call it an education.” Don’t call it a mistake, call it an education. If that’s true some of us are highly educated! Geniuses!

We can learn of God’s strategy from the Book of Joshua. Joshua 7 describes the story of the defeat of the Israelites in a little town called Ai. Joshua and the children of Israel went into the Promised Land and won battles right and left. They took over Jericho, the most fortified city in the country, and they were triumphant everywhere they went. They couldn’t lose. They were invincible. Or so it seemed.

They became overconfident. They started saying, “Look what we’re doing!” instead of “Look what God’s doing!” “We can do it. We don’t need God. We’re doing this all on our own.”

Then they came to a little town named Ai with several hundred people in it. They said, “That’s nothing. Let’s just send out a platoon to wipe those guys out. We don’t even need to send our army.” They sent out the platoon and lost the battle. They were failures. They turned tail and ran.

Joshua comes back and cries before the Lord, “What’s happening, God? You brought us through the Red Sea. You brought us through the desert. Forty years and You brought us to the Promised Land. We’re winning big victories and then some little, two bit town embarrasses us.” Isn’t that the truth? It’s the Ai’s of life that kill us, not the Jericho’s. It’s the little things that can destroy us.

Joshua tore his clothes and he fell face down on the ground before the ark of the Lord and remained there until evening. Joshua is praying and weeping and God comes to him, and in verse 10, God says to Joshua, “Stand up, what are you doing on your face?” Get up and do something about it. Verse ten tells us, “Israel has sinned and they’ve violated my covenant.” When they were taking the city of Jericho, one man named Achan kept some of the spoils of the war for personal profit and God had told them not to keep any of the spoils of war in that particular battle. One man disobeyed the Lord and his disobedience affected the rest of the people.

Joshua got to his feet, found Achan and his family, and confronted him with this sin. They punished the man and from that point on, God gave them victory again.

What’s the point? When you have been defeated, when you’ve failed, when you’ve made a mistake; simply discover the cause and take the appropriate action. That’s what made Joshua a successful person.

Next Church: 10 Predictions for the Next 10 Years

By

Brandon Kelley

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July 5, 2022

What will the next church, specifically in North America, look like in 10 years? There is a convergence of trends happening right now that I see that make for an intriguing outlook for the future. Think about how much has changed just in the last 10 years. Predictions of the next church is risky business, but consider:

The multi-site trend has absolutely exploded. It’s not just mega-churches that are adopting the model, but churches of all sizes are expanding with multiple campuses.
Church planting and church planting networks have grown and grown and grown.
Remember phone books? They used to be a major advertising opportunity.
How about the explosion of social media? Yeah, it hasn’t been that long. But today most churches have a presence on social media and it’s one of the primary ways they interact with their people.
Youth ministry is rapidly changing and shifting (it always has, but the speed has increased). In many areas, sports were left for Monday-Saturday. Today, Sunday is a full-fledged option. And not just in the evening, but in the morning too. This is, of course, only one dynamic at work in the changing culture of youth ministry.
Bivocational pastors have become more and more common. Karl Vaters points out that “according to the 2015 Faith Communities Today survey, fewer than two-thirds (62.2 percent) of U.S. churches have a full-time pastor. That’s down from 71.4 percent in 2010.” That’s a dramatic change in a five-year period.

All of this to say: things have changed dramatically in the church in the last ten years.

And the next 10 years? Buckle up, ministry friends. The change dial is going to get cranked to the right.

Next Church: 10 Predictions

1. There is a wave of succession coming and churches that ignore it will rapidly decline.

The churches that were started in the 70s, 80s, and 90s that have thrived are still being led by their founding pastor. And as the founding pastor ages, the need to take succession seriously is growing dramatically.

But this isn’t only a dynamic at play for those church plants that grew in the seeker-sensitive, attractional movement, but this dynamic is at play in the majority of churches that are being led by Baby Boomers.

No matter the church’s context, there is a wave of succession coming in the next 10 years and the churches that ignore this and try to fill the position reactively will struggle and many will rapidly decline.

Gen X and Millennial leaders will increasingly be in positions of senior staff and this, I’m sure, is hard to imagine for many leaders. But it’s coming — fast.

The next church will decide to be intentional about pastoral succession will thrive in the next 10 years and beyond.

William Vanderbloemen has written a book on the topic. If you want to consider what good succession can look like, give it a read. “Next: Pastoral Succession That Works”

2. Preaching and teaching will become even more important.

The next church that thrives over the next 10 years will see the Internet as a vast mission field. The sermon that happens at the big gatherings will be repurposed for consumption on video and social media platforms.

I understand that this is already happening and has been for a while, but it’s going to begin happening on another level.

Instead of just finding random clips from a sermon, repackaging them, and promoting them, churches will begin to think about keyword research and look for ways to serve people who are seeking Bible teaching.

Additionally, teaching like what would have been in a Sunday School environment will begin being offered as online courses.

People want to learn. It’s just that adding another weeknight to their already busy lives is becoming a no-go for many.

For this reason, classes will be offered online for on-demand consumption.

3. Youth ministry will be a crisis for some and thrive for others.

What will youth ministry look like in 10 years?

I don’t really know. But I have some general thoughts that might prove to be somewhat intelligent — maybe.

Youth ministries that are program-driven will struggle tremendously.

Youth ministries that get out of the program box will thrive. The problem will be that most churches gauge success, whether they want to admit it or not, based on the metric of attendance.

The youth ministries that see themselves as a ministry that exists to disciple youth will thrive — but it won’t be easy.

Emphasis on digital strategies and communication will need to increase.
Leader training will need to increase. Youth ministries will need an army of caring adults who are willing to go to games, plays, recitals, etc.
Experiential opportunities will need to increase — things they can’t do online like serving someone in need.
The table will be the best gathering place.
Partnership with families will need to move from theory and ideal to reality and mission.

4. A church’s programming will either simplify or it will be a catalyst for the church plateauing.

The more a church will offer in way of programming and events, the less engagement that church will have. Now that’s not to say that a church should offer zero programming. Not at all.

But in thriving churches, the mission and vision will be so crystal clear that the church can decide what it is willing to say no to.

Busy churches will continue to be plateauing churches.

Laser focused churches will continue to be thriving churches.

How we make disciples through programs must simplify. Less is more. Every time. And in the future church, this truth will become even more evident.

5. Church revitalization will be the new “in thing” in ministry.

When I was in Bible College, church planting was the thing to do in ministry. And I think this is still true.

But as more opportunities come to younger leaders to lead in established churches, an emergence of a new “in thing” will come with it — church revitalization and church replanting.

While some churches will refuse to change, many churches will choose to put aside their preferences in order to reach those who don’t have a relationship with Jesus.

And with that, an already growing trend will pick up even more steam: churches will reinvent themselves.

They will change their name, change locations or revamp their current location, change their discipleship strategy, change their worship style, and when those things are done, they’ll go ahead and change even more things.

Thom Rainer, who has been spending a lot of attention in this area, recently said:

Of the 300,000 churches in need of revitalization, 100,000 will revitalize organically or internally, and another 100,000 will be revitalized through replanting. It’s a bold assertion, but something that could very well unfold over the next five to ten years.

What about the other 100,000 churches? He projects that they will decline and eventually die.

The reality is, over the next ten years, we need church revitalization and church replanting to be a major emphasis.

For many who have been considering church planting to be the pathway they are called to, they’ll see the need and answer the call to be the catalytic leaders who will help bring new life to established churches. And that will be a beautiful thing. A hard thing. But a beautiful thing.

YOU’RE HALFWAY THERE: SEE PAGE TWO FOR FIVE MORE PREDICTIONS OF THE NEXT CHURCH.

Rooftop Shooter Kills 7 and Injures 30 Others During Chicago-Area Independence Day Parade

By

Jesse T. Jackson

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July 4, 2022

Highland Park — Screengrab via Twitter @NYCGreenfield

At least seven people have been confirmed killed and over 30 others were injured after a gunman opened fire on the suburban Chicago area of Highland Park during their Independence Day parade on Monday morning.

Videos uploaded across social media platforms show parade marchers and attendees screaming and running for their lives after they heard gunshots which where thought to be fireworks to some at first.

“Oh my God!” New video of mass shooting at Highland Park, Illinois 4th of July Parade. You can clearly hear the rapid-fire of the gun. 6 now confirmed dead. pic.twitter.com/tzFJDmd1Sl

— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) July 4, 2022

The gunman, who was up on a rooftop, opened fire a few minutes after 10 a.m. releasing an reported 70 rounds into parade participants and spectators while the event was three quarters of the way finished.

A father who was attending the parade with his family told ABC 7 Chicago he put his son in a dumpster to protect him from the gunfire after the shooter kept popping off round after round.

Authorities said that the gunman used a legally purchased high-powered rifle which was recovered at the scene. His position on the rooftop made it difficult for law enforcement to locate where the gunshots where coming from–alluding that the shooter’s position was intentionally planned out.

Investigators also reported that shooter disguised himself as a woman in order to blend into the crowd in order to evade authorities.

The shooter was identified during a statement late Monday afternoon, authorities released the name Robert [Bobby] E. Crimo III, a 22-year-old white male as a person of interest they are seeking to apprehend. They believe Crimo is driving a 2010 Silver Honda Fit (Illinois license plate: DM80653) and warned that he should be considered armed and dangerous.

Shortly after making the announcement, law enforcement found Crimo driving on U.S. 41 and was placed into police custody without any incident after being peacefully pulled over following a short chase.

Five of the shooting deaths were confirmed to be adults; the sixth one is unknown because they were taken to the hospital and died there. The hospital where the gunshot victims were treated shared that the ages of those who had been treated for injuries ranged from 8-years to 85-years of age and that at least four of them had been children. One of the injured taken to the hospital died on Tuesday as a result of their injuries.

The aftermath of the parade route is littered with abandoned baby strollers, blankets, and chairs due to people running for cover after they heard the gunfire. One video shows the Maxwell Street Klexmer Band continuing to play atop a flatbed truck as parade attendees were frantically fleeing the scene, the band was unaware what was taking place.

“You have a tragic mass act of violence that was random here today at a community event where people were gathered to celebrate, and the offender has not been apprehended thus far,” Lake County Major Crime Task Force spokesman Christopher Covelli told reporters at a news conference. “So, could this happen again? We don’t know what his intentions are at this point, so certainly we’re not sure of that.”

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a statement, “Today, I ask all Illinoisans to pray for the families who have been devastated by the evil unleashed this morning in Highland Park, for those who have lost loved ones and for those who have been injured. I also ask that we all pray for our first responders at all levels of government who are actively working to bring the suspect into custody, and whose bravery undoubtedly saved innocent lives on the scene.”

Settle This In Your Hearts

By

Mark Altrogge

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July 4, 2022

Settle this in your hearts: “Whether I am up or down, the Lord Jesus Christ is the same. Whether I sing or sigh, the promise is true and the Promiser is faithful. Whether I stand on the summit or am hidden in the vale the covenant stands fast and everlasting love abides.” – Spurgeon

Settle This in Your Hearts

Last Friday, a man in our church was in a snowmobile accident and broke his neck. For the first couple days he was in intensive care, unable to sit up or eat, and unsure as to the extent of his injuries. Yet his wife, Satin, told me that from the first night, despite being in a lot of pain, Dave was joking with the doctors and nurses and in good spirits. And both Dave and Satin have steadfastly kept their eyes on Christ, confessing complete confidence in his love, goodness and sovereign purpose in this trial.

Yesterday the doctor went through the front of Dave’s throat and attached steel plates to two of his vertebrae to fuse them together. In God’s kindness, there was no damage to Dave’s spinal cord. Dave will have to wear an uncomfortable neck brace for a number of weeks, but he should be fine eventually.

Again today, Dave and Satin glorified God, declaring his sovereignty, goodness, faithfulness and love. How can they do this? Because they have settled this in their hearts: Whether they are up or down, Jesus Christ is the same. Settle this in your hearts: the Promiser is faithful. The covenant stands fast and everlasting love abides.

How about you? Have you settled this in your heart?

Her Children Rise up and Call Her Blessed: Thoughts From Nanci’s Family at Her Memorial

By

Randy Alcorn

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July 2, 2022

call her blessed — Adobestock #189602225

One of the more unique things at Nanci’s service was that she had requested her family be given the opportunity to record some thoughts on video about her rather than having to stand up and speak live. She didn’t want them to be nervous or self-conscious on that weighty day.

I want to share these videos not only to celebrate and remember Nanci (many of you who follow me online didn’t know her personally) but also to learn from how she lived faithfully over her lifetime, and especially in her last four years. People talk about finishing well, but she really did finish SO WELL.

Still, it was hard for Nanci to think of being separated (though temporarily) from her beloved family. In 2019, she wrote in her journal, “My greatest ‘fear’ is not being here for my family: Randy living alone; my grandsons not having me to cheer them on. I fear that resentment toward God might grow in their hearts—or that they will question the efficacy of prayer. I don’t want people to be sad or discouraged because of my death. I really want to stay around and be here for my loved ones. Deep in my heart I really feel that it is not my time to go. I am not afraid of dying. I sometimes get excited about entering Paradise and seeing Jesus and my loved ones and meeting the saints! But of course, God has everything planned. He knows, and I trust Him. Really.”

And for the next years God gave her, she truly did model trusting Him. And then, a week before Jesus took her home, she was surrounded by the other ten of us and spoke into our lives.

I loved what her sister and each of our kids and grandkids had to share about Nanci. The video of our youngest grandson, David, might make you laugh and cry, like it did many of us. But each of them are precious in their own special ways, and you’ll see that too.

Proverbs 31:28 describes Nanci perfectly: “Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also praises her.”

Sister Donna Schneider: