‘Captain America’ Star: Those Who Oppose Same-Sex Kiss in ‘Lightyear’ Are ‘Idiots’; NAMB’s Next Gen Director Has Warning for Parents

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June 17, 2022

The Disney-Pixar “Toy Story” prequel, “Lightyear,” featuring the voice of “Captain America” star Chris Evans, hits movie theaters this weekend. The film received backlash from Christians after Disney announced it will feature a same-sex kiss.

‘Lightyear’: Same-Sex Kiss Is a First

Earlier this March, a report from Variety revealed that Disney re-added a scene it had cut from the film that includes one of the movie’s significant female characters sharing a same-sex kiss with another female character to whom she is married.

The announcement came after some Disney employees called on the company to do something regarding Florida’s House Bill 1557, a bill that has since been signed by Governor Ron DeSantis. The bill, which will become law on July 1, 2022, bans teachers from discussing sexual orientation or gender identification with children in grades 3 and under.

The bill made national news for being called the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by its opponents, but political commenter Bill Maher gave the bill his support, explaining that children that young shouldn’t be thinking about sex.

Evans takes the voicing duties of “Toy Story”’s iconic Buzz Lightyear. This is the first time Buzz is being voiced by someone other than actor Tim Allen, and it is also the first time one of Disney-Pixar’s blockbuster animated films features a same-sex kiss.

During interviews for the film, Evans has been asked about the backlash the same-sex kiss has produced. In one particular interview, Evans called those who oppose the kiss, “idiots.”

“Every time there’s been social advancement as we wake up, the American story—the human story—is one of constant social awakening and growth and that’s what makes us good,” Evans said. “There’s always going to be people who are afraid and unaware and trying to hold on to what was before, but those people die off like dinosaurs. I think the goal is to pay them no mind, march forward, and embrace the growth that makes us human.”

Evans expressed to Variety it makes him happy that Disney decided to put the same-sex kiss back into the movie.

“I mean, it’s great. As great as it is—and you know, I’ve been asked the question a few times—it’s nice, and it’s wonderful, it makes me happy,” Evans said. “It’s tough to not be a little frustrated that it even has to be a topic of discussion. That it is this kind of ‘news.’ The goal is that we can get to a point where it is the norm, and that this doesn’t have to be some uncharted waters, that eventually this is just the way it is. That representation across the board is how we make films. Look, it’s an honor to be a part of something that is taking those steps, but the goal is to look back on this time and just be shocked that it took us this long to get there.”

UPDATE: Tim Keller’s Son Says Dad ‘Is Doing Much Better’ After Scare

By

Jessica Lea

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June 17, 2022

UPDATED June 17, 2022: After asking for prayer for his father, Tim Keller, earlier this week, Michael Keller has posted an “encouraging update.”

“Hello everyone,” said Michael Keller in a tweet on June 17, “thank you for your prayers this past week. Things were scary for a bit but God was gracious, working through your prayers and the skill of the doctors, and now he is doing much better. He is due to be released from the hospital next week, and will have ongoing outpatient treatments for a while. Please continue to pray over the next 6 months as we wait on the Lord (Psalm 130) to destroy the cancer. We are hopeful.”

Encouraging update on Dad’s health:
Hello everyone, thank you for your prayers this past week. Things were scary for a bit but God was gracious, working through your prayers and the skill of the doctors, and now he is doing much better. He is due to be released from the hospital

— Timothy Keller (@timkellernyc) June 17, 2022

“So very grateful to hear that he’s doing better!” said user Matthew Browne. “Still praying for your dad.” User Wade Lewis responded, “Continuing to pray. Love you Brother.”

ChurchLeaders original article written on June 15, 2022, below.

Tim Keller is dealing with complications from the cancer treatment he is currently pursuing, according to a June 14 tweet posted by his son, Michael Keller.

“Dad is currently dealing with the side effects of an immunotherapy treatment that he is undergoing,” said Michael Keller. “We ask that you continue to pray for his healing and for guiding the decisions of his doctors and medical team who continue to provide excellent, compassionate care. Thank you for the outpouring of love and support. We deeply covet your prayers at this time.”

Quick Health Update on Dad-
Dad is currently dealing with the side effects of an immunotherapy treatment that he is undergoing. We ask that you continue to pray for his healing and for guiding the decisions of his doctors and medical team who continue to provide…1/

— Timothy Keller (@timkellernyc) June 14, 2022

Tim Keller’s Cancer Journey

Tim Keller is an author and the founding pastor of New York City’s Redeemer Presbyterian Church. In June 2020, Keller announced to his followers that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. At the time he had no symptoms.

Keller started chemotherapy, which had encouraging results, he reported in August. “Our situation has driven us to seek God’s face as we never [have] before,” he said in an update on Aug. 28. “He is giving us more of his sensed presence, more freedom from our besetting sins, more dependence on his Word—things that we had sought for years, but only under these circumstances are we finding them.”

In November of that year, Keller shared that the chemotherapy was continuing to have promising results and that he was tolerating it well. In an interview, Keller said that his cancer diagnosis has had a profound impact on his spiritual life, as well as that of his wife, Kathy. “We never want to go back spiritually where we were before the cancer diagnosis,” he said. “We never want to go back to that.”

Dealing with cancer, said Keller, has caused him to depend on God as he never has before. “He really is there. He is enough. I’m actually happier than I’ve ever been on a given day…I enjoy my prayer life more than I ever have in my life.”

Keller had surgery in May 2021 to remove some nodules and his update shortly afterward was hopeful. However, in September 2021, Keller said that due to a “mysterious lump” that turned out to be cancerous, his doctor was increasing his chemotherapy.

SBC President Bart Barber Defends Tweet Praising Rick Warren’s Advocacy for Religious Liberty for Muslims

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Jessica Lea

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June 17, 2022

Newly-elected Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) president Bart Barber defended himself on Twitter regarding a tweet where he expressed gratitude for Pastor Rick Warren’s outreach to Muslims.

“I’m thankful for @RickWarren’s courageous advocacy for full religious liberty for Muslims, our different opinions over pastoral complementarianism notwithstanding,” Barber tweeted on June 16. “It was a pleasure to meet him this week. #SBC22.”

I’m thankful for @RickWarren’s courageous advocacy for full religious liberty for Muslims, our different opinions over pastoral complementarianism notwithstanding. It was a pleasure to meet him this week. #SBC22

— Bart Barber (@bartbarber) June 16, 2022

While some responded positively to the tweet, a number of people reacted negatively, taking Barber’s words as an endorsement of Islam.

Bart Barber Begins His SBC Presidency

At the SBC annual meeting in Anaheim, California, this week, Bart Barber defeated fellow candidates Tom Ascol, Frank Cox and Robin Hadaway to win election as president of the SBC. His tweet’s reference to “different opinions” with Rick Warren alludes to the decision Warren’s church, Saddleback, made in May of last year to ordain women and give them the title of “pastor.”

One consequence of this decision was that Saddleback’s status as an SBC church was in question at the annual meeting. In discussion Tuesday, June 14, some, including Ascol and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president Albert Mohler, advocated that Saddleback be disfellowshipped for violating the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 (BF&M). The BF&M states, “While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”

During the debate, the Credentials Committee recommended that a study committee look into how Saddleback’s use of the title “pastor” applies to women on its staff. Hours later, Warren made a surprise appearance, taking seven minutes of a 15-minute miscellaneous business slot to read a “love letter” to those in attendance in which he expressed his debt to the SBC for the success of his ministry.

“You’re never going to find another Baptist who agrees with you completely on everything,” said Warren, later adding, “But we manage to somehow get along with them. So as Western culture grows more dark, more evil, more secular, we have to decide: are we going to treat each other as allies or adversaries?”

After Warren’s speech, the Credentials Committee announced that it was withdrawing its recommendation to evaluate Saddleback Church’s use of the title of “pastor,” leaving Saddleback in the SBC for now. The Credentials Committee will meet throughout this year and might take action on this issue at a later date.

Bart Barber Responds to Critics

Among the negative reactions to Barber’s tweet of appreciation for Warren were one from a user who said, “Americans love lofty ideals of which the consequences are lost to them. I don’t think you guys understand what unrestrained Islam looks like.”

“Celebrating ‘advocacy for full religious liberty for Muslims’?” another said. “When did we start celebrating other gods?”

One user commented, “Sir, congrats on your election victory. How is Mr. Warren’s view on pastoral complementarianism compatible with the most recent BFM?”

Yet another asked, “How many other SBC ‘pastors’ (whatever that is) would be given an untethered platform to speak to SBC messengers at the spur of the moment?” To this Barber replied, “Any of them whose theological fidelity were being questioned and whose church’s disfellowshipping were being debated. See Robert’s Rules on Trials of Members and on Questions of Privilege.”

Fatal Church Shooting in Alabama Takes the Lives of Two Members, Injures Another; Gunman Stopped by Churchgoer

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Jesse T. Jackson

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June 17, 2022

Tragedy in the form of a church shooting struck St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, on Thursday (June 16. 2022) night after a gunman opened fire, killing two church members and wounding another.

Church Shooting Results in Death, Injury

The church was hosting a potluck dinner when the shooting took place in a suburb of Birmingham. Vestavia Hills Police Department stated that at 6:22 pm they were informed of an active shooter at the church. Captain Shane Ware shared that a lone suspect, who is in police custody, entered the church and began shooting. “Three people were shot. Two people are deceased. One person is being treated for an unknown injury at a local hospital,” Ware said.

The department is praying for all who are involved, said Ware. “The Vestavia Hills Police Department would like to express our prayers for the families of the victims of this tragic event and for everyone in our community and greater community that is affected by this tragedy.”

The shooter, a 71-year-old white male, occasionally attended the church. According to police he pulled out his concealed handgun and started shooting, resulting in the deaths of 84-year-old Walter Rainey (white male) and 75-year-old Sarah Yeager (white female). The shooter also injured an 84-year-old white female who is still in the hospital.

Police shared that a person attending the church event heroically restrained the gunman and held him down until the authorities arrived.

During a press conference held on Friday morning, Ware said, “The person that subdued the suspect in my opinion is a hero,” and that this hero’s actions were “extremely critical in saving lives.”

A statement released by the Vestavia Hills Police Department said that the gunman will remain in jail at the Vestavia Hills Police Department until warrants for “Capital Murder are issued by the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office later today.”

St. Stephens Episcopal Church’s Pastor out of the Country

St. Stephens Episcopal Church’s Rector Rev. John Burruss is currently out of the country on a church pilgrimage with other members in Athens, Greece.

Burruss posted a short video on the church’s Facebook page thanking people for their love and support in the midst of what has taken place. The pastor shared that he working to get home, while saying, “In the coming days, in the coming hours, we’ll have announcements about updates of ways to pray and to gather—that is what we do as people of faith: We come together in the midst of life and death.”

Pastor Who Called Gay People ‘Reptilian’ Not Guilty of Hate Speech, Say Idaho Police

By

Stephanie Martin

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June 17, 2022

joe jones — Pastor Joe Jones preaches a sermon titled, "The Reptilian Mindset." Screenshot from Facebook / @Shield of Faith Baptist Church Boise

In Idaho, anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and actions have been on the rise, and some people say a Boise pastor is contributing to it. During recent sermons, posted to YouTube and Facebook Live, Joe Jones refers to gay people as “Sodomites” and says they’re “reptilian” and “reprobate.”

Last month, Jones, pastor of Shield of Faith Baptist Church, preached that “when [gay people] die, that stops the pedophilia.” But he denies accusations that he’s advocating for his church members to kill homosexuals. “It is the government’s job to rid the country…of wicked evildoers,” Jones clarifies.

As ChurchLeaders has reported, a Texas pastor recently called for gay people to be executed by being “shot in the back of the head.”

Because Idaho’s Code for Malicious Harassment doesn’t include protections for sexual orientation or gender identity, Boise police say Jones’ words can’t be categorized as criminal hate speech.

Joe Jones: Gay People Aren’t Welcome

Joe Jones says gay people are not welcome at Shield of Faith, a congregation of about 50 people. “I don’t care if you’re bi, I don’t care if you’re tri. I don’t care if you’re quasi. I don’t care what you are,” he says in a recent sermon. “Stop emailing, stop texting and asking if you can come to the church because the answer is no.” To prevent gay people from entering or joining Shield of Faith, he says they are carefully “screened.”

When clips of Jones’ sermons recently went viral on TikTok, he called the video’s creator a “whiny little person” who “chopped and spliced” his words. Jones insists his church is “about soul-winning,” adding that it’s important “we don’t waste time on people who can’t hear the truth.” Sodom and Gomorrah serve as important examples and warnings for Christians today, he says.

In an interview with TV station CBS2, Jones says, “If Jesus was in charge of this nation, if he was the king and our leaders reported directly to him, we would not have a Pride Month. There would be no Sodomites. He would have them removed from the land.” He also expresses approval of England’s 16^th-century Buggery Acts, which allowed the execution of homosexuals.

But Jones says his congregants shouldn’t physically harm anyone. Murder is “unlawful in this country,” he says. “We don’t condone [hate crimes]. You wouldn’t be able to attend this church if you were out doing stuff like that.”

Anti-Gay Rhetoric Has Escalated During Pride Month

Last weekend, 31 men were arrested for allegedly conspiring to riot at a Pride event in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Officials say the men have ties to Patriot Front, a white supremacy group.

SBC Messengers Lament, Take Steps To Address Sexual Abuse

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Scott Barkley

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June 17, 2022

ANAHEIM, Calif. (BP) – Southern Baptist messengers took a strong stand against sexual abuse in Southern Baptist churches on June 13-14 at the 2022 SBC Annual Meeting. It was the first time in more than 25 years that California hosted the annual meeting.

The recommendations of the Sexual Abuse Task Force were passed by messengers after a drama-filled year surrounding the independent investigation of the SBC Executive Committee for the alleged mishandling of sexual abuse allegations.

One recommendation calls for newly elected SBC President Bart Barber to appoint members of an Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force who will begin to create policies and practices for preventing and responding to abuse in Southern Baptist churches.

The convention was filled with close elections as the elections for president, second vice president and recording secretary were forced into run-offs.

The meetings drew 8,133 messengers, according to SBC Registration Secretary Don Currence. There were 2,856 registered guests and 1,554 registered exhibitors leading to a total attendance of 12,543.

Barber elected SBC president, Yeats completes 25 years of service

Messengers elected Texas pastor Bart Barber as the next president of the SBC. Barber and Florida pastor Tom Ascol met in a run-off election after they received more votes than Frank Cox and Robin Hadaway in the initial election.

California pastor Victor Chayasirisobhon was elected first vice president, and Alex Sands was elected second vice president.

Nathan Finn, provost of North Greenville University, was elected recording secretary. Longtime Recording Secretary John Yeats chose not to run for reelection after 25 years of serving in the role for the convention.

Sexual abuse reforms bring lamentation, repentance

A Convention-wide awakening to the impact of sexual abuse and need to address it brought a seminal moment for Southern Baptists in adopting recommendations brought forward by the Sexual Abuse Task Force. Those recommendations include the formation of a “Ministry Check” website and the establishment of an Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force to work over the next three years.

Messengers also adopted Resolution 6: On Lament and Repentance for Sexual Abuse. In citing Scripture that condemns abuse and charges the church to care the vulnerable, the resolution included public apologies and repentance from Southern Baptists to survivors of sexual abuse.

Crossover yields 547 salvations

Thirty-four churches engaged their communities on June 11 through Crossover in a partnership with Send Relief’s hosting a Serve Tour experience in advance of the annual meeting. Local churches, the Orange County Southern Baptist Association, the California Southern Baptist Convention and the North American Mission Board combined efforts in a series of sports camps, block parties and other outreach events.

In its report June 14, NAMB said 572 volunteers served more than 2,400 children and their families with 547 people surrendering their lives to Christ.

Rolland Slade, SBC Executive Committee Chair: Seeking ‘To Make a Wrong Right’

By

Adelle M Banks

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June 17, 2022

rolland slade — Executive Committee Chairman Rolland Slade speaks at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting on June 15, 2022, in Anaheim, California. Photo by Justin L. Stewart/Religion News Service

ANAHEIM, Calif. (RNS) — A week before the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting, when a massive report about its leaders’ mishandling of sexual abuse claims was already drawing attention, Executive Committee Chairman Rolland Slade was asked to read Scripture before a worship service at the start of the two-day gathering.

He chose Psalm 51, David’s song of lament after being caught in his abusive and immoral behavior.

“That’s David’s heart in that, his prayer to the Lord to clean him, to make him whiter than snow,” said Slade in a Wednesday (June 15) interview. “And that’s my heart’s desire for us as a convention, and as a network of churches.”

Over the course of several days, Slade, SBC President Ed Litton and the Southern Baptists who joined them apologized to abuse survivors, including some in attendance at the annual meeting and Monday’s Executive Committee plenary.

On his third-to-the-last day as committee chair and member, the California pastor oversaw the last procedural votes needed to support the recommendations of a sexual abuse task force that were adopted the next day, including the creation of an abuser-tracking “Ministry Check” website.

Slade, 63, who pastors a church in El Cajon, said he was grateful to close out his committee service at a point where there was more being said and done than apologies.

“It’s appropriate for us to apologize,” said the longtime leader of a small multiethnic congregation. “It’s also appropriate for us to be grateful for the opportunity that God’s given us to correct our behavior, to correct what we have done wrong, to make a wrong right.”

It was Slade who signed an updated letter of engagement — with “no hesitation whatsoever” — with Guidepost Solutions after a lengthy 2021 battle to permit the waiving of privilege. Sixteen members of the committee quit along with President and CEO Ronnie Floyd and its long-term general counsel, objecting to the decision that would mean records of conversations about legal matters between committee staff and board members would no longer be confidential.

Once the independent investigation was complete, Slade, like anyone else interested, read the resulting 288-page Guidepost report.

“I think the one thing that surprised me more than anything was the list,” said Slade of the revelation that — after years of leaders denying requests from survivors and supporters to keep track of convicted abusers — the committee had been keeping a secret list doing just that.

Looking back, Slade said, he thinks he didn’t ask the proper question about the possibility of such a list, especially since “I’d thought a database would make sense.”

Slade, the first Black chair of the Executive Committee, mentioned when he led his first meeting as chair that his perspective on abuse was “personal” because his wife of more than 40 years is a survivor.

ERLCs Elizabeth Graham: Work Will Not End if Roe Reversed

By

Tom Strode

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June 17, 2022

abortion — Elizabeth Graham, ERLC vice president of operations and life initiatives, speaks about the potential upcoming shift in the pro-life movement with the possible overturn of Roe v. Wade. Photo by Adam Covington

ANAHEIM, Calif. (BP)—The reversal of the Roe v. Wade decision will be cause for celebration if it occurs, but it will not change the fact that the church must compassionately reach abortion-minded women, Southern Baptist pro-life specialist Elizabeth Graham said Wednesday (June 15) at the SBC’s annual meeting.

The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) presented “Standing for Life: Equipping the Church for a Post-Roe World” during the afternoon session while Southern Baptists await what they hope will be a Supreme Court opinion overturning the 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide.

The high court is expected to issue a ruling by early July regarding a Mississippi ban on abortions of preborn children whose gestational age is more than 15 weeks. A draft opinion leaked in early May appeared to indicate a majority of the court is ready not only to uphold the ban but overrule the Roe v. Wade decision. If that opinion becomes final, abortion policy would return to the states.

“If the Supreme Court overturns [Roe], it will be a historic day for life, and we will celebrate the thousands and thousands of lives that will be saved,” said Graham, the ERLC’s vice president of operations and life initiatives. While the ERLC “will pursue every legal option available to restrict the taking of life, an equally important goal is for abortion also to be unthinkable and unnecessary in the hearts and the minds of our culture,” she told messengers.

“A post-Roe world is good, but a post-abortion world is what we continue to fervently work to achieve by reaching these women where they are in their time of crisis,” Graham said. “The work does not end if [Roe] is overturned. It is the beginning of a new chapter for us. It’s critical that we inspire, disciple, equip and mobilize a new generation to defend the dignity of all human life, transforming our culture so that they see abortion as unnecessary and unthinkable.”

Graham acknowledged some messengers may question the use of the word “unnecessary.”

“When we say we want to make abortion unnecessary in our lifetime, we don’t use that term because we believe it’s necessary,” she explained. “We absolutely believe it is unnecessary. But because so many women believe abortion is their only option, we’re speaking their language to them because they feel scared, oftentimes trapped, shamed and don’t know where to go — which makes these women feel it is the only choice to make.”

The ERLC also uses “unnecessary” to refute “the constant narrative” fed women by Planned Parenthood for 50 years that abortion is necessary for them to flourish and to make a living, Graham said. Planned Parenthood is the country’s No. 1 abortion provider.

“This is what these women have heard, and this is what they feel in their time of desperation,” she told messengers. “We don’t need to be an echo chamber in our own community, using words and language that we approve and that make us comfortable. Rather, we must reach these abortion-minded and abortion-vulnerable women where they are and speak with empathy and relevancy to their situation, which is often messy and complex and dire.”

California Again Seeks To Pass Human Composting Bill as Catholic Bishops Oppose It

By

Alejandra Molina

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June 17, 2022

Human Composting Bill — An example vessel that is used in the Natural Organic Reduction process created by Recompose. Photo by Sabel Roizen, courtesy of Recompose

(RNS) — Seeking to legalize the process of converting bodies into soil, a California legislator is attempting, once again, to pass a bill that would allow human composting in the Golden State.

Burial, cremation and alkaline hydrolysis are the only death care choices available in California, and proponents say the new bill, AB 351, “offers another option for individuals who want a different method to honor their remains after death.”

The process for composting a body was introduced by the Seattle-based company Recompose, which is now open for business after the state of Washington legalized the process in 2019. Colorado was the second state to legalize it, followed by Oregon, when Gov. Kate Brown in 2021 signed House Bill 2574 into law. New York’s bill is awaiting Gov. Kathy Hochul’s endorsement.

In California, where the massive number of COVID-19 deaths inundated funeral homes and even led to Los Angeles County’s suspension of air quality regulations on cremation, State Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, a Democrat who introduced the legislation, said this is another “sad reminder that we must legalize a more environmentally friendly option as soon as possible.”

Garcia introduced a similar bill in early 2020, but it did not make it out of a Senate committee due to costs. The new bill made it through the Senate Business, Professions, and Economic Development Committee on Monday (June 13).

Here’s how the human composting method works: A dead body is broken down through a process known as Natural Organic Reduction by placing the body in a reusable vessel, covering it with wood chips and aerating it, which creates an environment for microbes and essential bacteria. The body, over a span of about 30 days, is fully transformed into soil.

Catholic bishops have opposed this process in states where human composting has been legalized.

The California Catholic Conference on Tuesday submitted a letter of opposition in reaction to the bill.

Kathleen Domingo, executive director for the California Catholic Conference, said the process “reduces the human body to simply a disposable commodity.”

In the letter, Domingo likened Natural Organic Reduction to methods of disposal of livestock, “not as a means of human burial.” Using this method, Domingo said, “can create an unfortunate spiritual, emotional and psychological distancing from the deceased.”

Death care specialists say this new and environmentally friendly procedure is crucial as mortuaries fill up and people seek more sustainable practices.

In public testimony, the Oregon bill garnered widespread support, with one Portland resident saying the method provides a “spiritually grounded way” to “return to the land that sustained us in life.” In other parts of the country, people are hoping the process is legalized in their states to, as Cory Ruetten of Maryland put it, “return us to the earth … the way that we were meant to.”

The next scheduled hearing for the proposed measure will be Wednesday with the Senate Health Committee.

This article originally appeared here.

The Ending of Seminaries as We’ve Known Them

By

James Emery White

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June 17, 2022

thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary recently announced its intent to sell most, if not all, of its 102-acre campus in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, in order to try to survive financially. This would have been unthinkable even 15 years ago.

I know because 15 years ago I was its president.

A lot can happen in that length of time. Gordon-Conwell’s enrollment plummeted from 1,230 full-time equivalent students in 2012 to 633 in 2021. When I assumed full fiduciary responsibility as president in 2006, I learned that we needed to raise $1 million before year end to meet the budget. That challenge apparently only grew over time as tax records show that from 2016 to 2019, the school consistently faced a year-end deficit between $600,000 and $2.4 million.

But Gordon-Conwell isn’t alone. Other well-known evangelical seminaries such as Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) and Fuller Theological Seminary are facing similar challenges. Earlier this year Trinity was forced to slash its budget, eliminating multiple faculty positions. In 2018, Fuller closed three of its satellite campuses along with voting to sell its property in Pasadena, California. Its financial future is again in jeopardy as its planned relocation was recently blocked.

I don’t fault the decisions of any of these institutions. I know only too well what it’s like to be handed a set of financial realities in one hand, and the expectations of students and faculty in the other. And there are many other challenges facing seminaries today, as noted by a recent article in Christianity Today magazine:

Many seminaries are facing declining enrollments with the declining birthrates and increased secularization in the US. There are about 4 million fewer people in Gen Z than in the millennial generation, and 44 percent of those born after 1996 do not identify with a religious tradition. Only about a quarter of those under 26 attend a religious service once a week or more.

Evangelical seminaries are also grappling with the tensions and divisions within evangelicalism… [they have] struggled to maintain the trust of churches, donors, and prospective seminarians amid polarizing arguments over race, gender, abuse, sexuality, and the fraught political choices of the 2010s and 2020s.

This is all true. Also true is what Scott Sunquist, Gordon-Conwell’s current president, assessed as a leader: “You can’t cut your way to success. Either you do something as dramatic and radical as relocation, or you make incrementalized cuts and die.”

My challenge is the deeper reason why seminaries are struggling so mightily in the current day because increased secularization alone does not explain the widespread decline in seminary enrollment. When I became president of Gordon-Conwell, there were several challenges facing all seminaries that seemed apparent to me:

Seminaries needed to offer courses and degrees online as well as in person.
Many residentially based seminaries were located in areas where the cost-of-living was high, the local government was hostile, and the demographics of growth had long moved elsewhere.
The curriculum of many seminaries was far more oriented toward pleasing the academy than serving the church and the practice of ministry.
The doctrine of the church ran weak, and large, contemporary churches in particular were deemed suspect. There was less of a partnership with the local church than there was a condescending posture of superiority and judgment.

I think it is now safe to say that any attempt to broach these areas was filled with more peril than tackling the Arminian-Calvinist debate.

I’m rooting for seminaries. I’m rooting for their presidents and boards, faculty and staff. I’m rooting most of all for the future of the Church and the decisive role theological education – and the preparation for ministry in general – needs to play in that future.

But as with many areas of challenge, there is a time when “thoughts and prayers” are not enough. It will take more than right sizing, relocations and reductions to put seminaries on solid ground. They need to rethink seminary education itself.

Strong Women are Vital to God’s Purpose in the Church

By

Paul Maxwell

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June 17, 2022

I’ve heard it too many times: “A man likes a quiet woman.” “Guys don’t respond well to smart girls.” “Educated women are too intimidating to attract good men.” I understand why we believe these things. It’s a nice story. It makes sense of the success of some women to find husbands, and the failure of others. As Christians (and as humans), we feel very clever when we get to diagnose the cause and cure of singleness. “You’re too opinionated.” “You’re too boisterous.” “A woman should be small, and quiet and delicate.” Yet strong women are as vital as strong men to God’s purpose in the church.

Yet, it’s easy to forget in the midst of all our diagnosing: whether a woman is “intimidating” is a factor of male perception, not female personality. Do we want women to be less intimidating? That’s a question to be put to men who experience them as such, and we can only wait for such men to grow. The real question we need to ask is: Do we want women to be weak? And the answer must forever be, on the basis of Scripture, “May it never be.”

Strong Women are Vital to God’s Purpose in the Church

1. Strong women expose evil men

I can’t speak for Christian men everywhere, but I can speak for myself, and for many of the men in the Bible: Godliness is attractive to both men and women (Proverbs 31:30). And often, godly femininity requires being strong, even intimidating. Consider Jael in Judges 4. Jael’s husband, Heber, “had separated from the Kenites,” and “had pitched his tent as far away as the oak in Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.”

So, when a Canaanite military general Jabin the King of Hazor—the enemy of the people of God—tried to seek refuge, he went to Heber’s tent, “for there was peace between Jabin the King of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite” (Judges 4:17). Deborah later sang of Jael, “Most blessed of women be Jael. … She sent her hand to the tent peg and her right hand to the workmen’s mallet” (Judges 5:24 –25).

Thank God Jael wasn’t meek and submissive and respectful toward this friend of her wayward husband. She wasn’t one to be trampled on. Strong women reject the requests of evil men.

2. Strong women rebuke good men

When David set out to kill Nabal—the brash and brute man who embodied pure masculine folly—Nabal’s wife Abigail offered hundreds of fig cakes and loaves of bread and wine skins to David. Yet, she uses the opportunity to warn David that he should “have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord working salvation for himself” (1 Samuel 25:31). In other words, Abigail warned: “Be careful. Don’t use your power in a way that will make you guilty.”

David responds, “Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from bloodguilt and from working salvation with my own hand!” (1 Samuel 25:33).

David was attracted to this strong woman for her strength, for her rebuke and for her character. Abigail made life harder for David. And David, in a moment of grace, was able to see that Abigail’s standing in David’s way was a gift of purity to him. That day, David was seeking salvation for himself, but it was gifted to him by God in Abigail, who, even while she was at his mercy as his subject, told him what he needed to hear.

Strong women rebuke good men, who need help in their weaknesses, who need someone to help them see how to be strong.

How to Get Closer to God as a Teenager: 6 Community Builders

By

Youth Ministrycom

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June 16, 2022

How to get closer to God as a teenager is a vital question for everyone working with young people. Play a game with me… Imagine you weren’t allowed to have small groups of any kind in your youth ministry. How would you build community?

We all know that creating relationship-rich spaces to grow community is important. But what if our go-to greenhouse for friendship-building wasn’t an option? What would you recommend for how to get closer to God as a teenager and as a youth group?

And before you answer “Sunday school,” let’s take that off the table, too. Seriously, how would we nurture relationships in youth ministry if we were forced to abandon our current templates?

I’m asking because every model has its nasty blind spots and hidden deficits. For example, what if your “time-tested” strategy for deepening intimacy in your marriage involved only a quick peck on the cheek, once a day? Of course, “friendly” affection is not-nothing. But you’d be missing out on a world of possibilities if you… settled.

Let’s stop settling in youth ministry. Read on for important insights about how to get closer to God as a teenager and as a youth group.

How to Get Closer to God as a Teenager: 6 Practical Steps

Most of us have a love-hate relationship with traditional models of ministry. We love their predictability, and we hate their predictability. We love their history of impact, and we hate that we’re forever-tied to that history.

As an exercise in risk and creativity, let’s make believe relationship-building can infiltrate a wider swath of our ministry. For example, check out these practical steps.

1. Box of Fun

Once a month, we celebrate birthdays by bringing teenagers up front to receive a random, quirky giveaway from a box they can’t look into. Only the leader gets to put his or her hands into the box. Teenagers must choose “right” or “left.” Then they get whatever item the leader is touching.

It could be a T-shirt, water bottle, candy, body spray, a cheap drone… or a can of dog food. You get the idea. We once warmed up a full steak dinner and had it ready to go in the box. The spontaneity and regularity of this new twist on community-building means our kids (and adult leaders!) never miss the first Wednesday of the month—our Box of Fun day.

2. Owning Our Social Media

We all know that teenagers don’t always exercise the best judgment on social media. So we’ve decided to pull a Jesus-juke and “put Judas in charge of the money.” We give a few of our kids access to our Instagram account. Then we encourage them to post content they think reflects our values as a ministry.

It’s a back-door way to help teens grow in their discernment of what’s appropriate. Meanwhile, it’s a way of transferring “ownership” of the group from the adults.

3. Community-Building Onramps

Once a month, we have a special event or surprise as a prompt for teenagers to invite their friends into our community. It might be seasonal (a Christmas Bash) or an acronym-based fun night (SPAM Nights: Some Pizza And Movie, Some Pancakes And Movie, Some Popcorn And Movie, and so on).

We plan these fun onramps at the beginning of a teaching series. They give us an easy way to invite teens into the “meat” of our ministry.

Mississippi Church Cancels All In-Person Events Wednesday After Shooting Threat

By

Jessica Lea

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June 16, 2022

Brown Missionary Baptist Church (BMBC) in Southaven, Mississippi, canceled all in-person activities Wednesday, June 15, after a man threatened to “shoot up” the church.

“Out of an abundance of caution, our campuses were temporarily closed today due to a potential security threat,” said the church in a statement on its social media. “All BMBC staff, volunteers, students and other personnel are safe and were never in any danger. The Southaven Police Department is currently on the scene at both campuses to ensure there is no further threat to our church. All IN-PERSON meetings, rehearsals and practices are cancelled TODAY, June 15 as a precaution.”

Brown Missionary Baptist Church Receives Shooting Threat

According to the Southaven Police Department (SPD), Brown Missionary Baptist Church got a call just before noon Wednesday from a man who threatened to “shoot up” the church “at a specific time.”

“Officers and detectives responded and began to assess the scene,” said the department in a statement. “The specific details of the response will not be disclosed.” Investigators identified a suspect at the scene and took him into custody. He was “charged with making a terroristic threat and also has a warrant for contempt of court,” said SPD, which increased the police presence in both of Brown Missionary Baptist Church’s locations. The SPD statement continues:

The Southaven Police Department would like to thank Brown Missionary Baptist Church for their assistance and patience during the course of the investigation. The Southaven Police Department would also like to thank the public for their understanding during this sensitive time. We are mothers and fathers as well, and we would like to put out as much information as we can during the active scene. However, this would not be prudent, or safe for the officers on scene. The Southaven Police Department will continue to use any and all resources to protect our children, and the citizens of Southaven.

A Facebook user named Lindy Covington Reynolds commented on the SPD’s statement, saying, “Put him away for life!!!! There are children in that church every day for school and daycare! They deserve to be safe!”

User Steven F. Sanders commented, “As one of the parents on scene that interacted with the responding officers, I would like to commend and thank the Southaven Police Department for their professionalism and duty to the parents like myself who were obviously beyond concerned for our children’s well being. We thank you all for everything you did today with all we have.”

NFL Player Khari Willis Walks Away From Millions To Pursue Ministry

By

Stephanie Martin

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June 16, 2022

Earlier this month, Indianapolis Colts starter Khari Willis was excused from team activities, including a mandatory minicamp, for “personal reasons.” On Wednesday, the 26-year-old athlete revealed that after three seasons of pro football, he’s taking his career in a different direction.

“With much prayer and deliberation, I have elected to officially retire from the NFL as I endeavor to devote the remainder of my life to the further advancement of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” Willis announced on Instagram June 15.

The strong safety is walking away from a base salary of $2.54 million for the 2022 season. He was less than a year away from free agency and the opportunity for a heftier contract.

Khari Willis: ‘Humbled and Excited to Pursue the Holy Call’

On Instagram, Khari Willis thanked the Colts for “the opportunity to compete,” as well as for “lifelong relationships,” support, and valuable life lessons. He also thanked his family and friends, adding, “I look forward to your continued support through the next phase of my life.”

His retirement post concluded: “I am both humbled and excited to pursue the holy call that God has for my life which brings me much joy and purpose. Thank you for all your support over the years. God bless.”

Willis, a Michigan native, is the seventh of 10 children. At the Catholic high school he attended, Willis set a football rushing record. He graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in interdisciplinary studies in social science, with an emphasis on community governance and advocacy.

In the 2019 NFL Draft, the Colts drafted Willis in the fourth round. During 39 games (33 of which he started), Willis made 219 tackles, four interceptions, a touchdown, and 3.5 sacks.

Colts Coach Frank Reich: ‘I Admire and Respect His Decision’

Colts coach Frank Reich, an outspoken Christian, thanked Khari Willis for his three seasons of on- and off-field contributions to the organization. “Khari’s character, leadership, and professionalism will be missed in our locker room as will his play on Sundays,” Reich said. “I admire and respect his decision to transition into the next stage of his life and ministry, and my prayers will always be with him.”

Teammates and fans expressed surprise at the career-change news but wished Willis well. “Good for him” and “respect,” some tweets read.

SBC Apologizes to Sexual Abuse Survivors, Reaffirms Pro-Life Beliefs in Resolutions Adopted at Annual Meeting

By

Dale Chamberlain

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June 16, 2022

Messengers at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in Anaheim, California, voted to adopt nine resolutions, including an apology to sexual abuse survivors within the denomination that specifically addressed survivors named in the Sexual Abuse Task Force’s (SATF) report on the Executive Committee’s handling of sexual abuse allegations from 2000 to 2021.

Other resolutions adopted included a reaffirmation of the SBC’s pro-life stance in anticipation of the possible overturn of Roe, a public condemnation of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, a statement against the prosperity gospel, a denunciation of gun violence, and a call for gospel advancement in American rural areas.

Twenty-nine resolutions were submitted for consideration to the Resolutions Committee by SBC churches who were eligible to send messengers to the annual meeting. All nine resolutions the committee ultimately presented were adopted by the messengers via raised ballot vote.

SBC Apologizes to Abuse Survivors

In a resolution titled “On Lament and Repentance for Sexual Abuse,” the SBC said, “Sexual abuse is an abomination before God and an affront to the teachings of Scripture,” that “grieves Christ” and “is in violation of the Imago Dei, dishonoring and degrading human dignity.” Further, when that abuse is perpetrated by a pastor or church leader, sexual abuse “is a violation of the sacred trust for pastoral leaders and all believers to care for and minister to people.”

In light of these realities, the SBC has resolved to “denounce in the strongest possible terms every instance of sexual abuse, those who perpetrate abuse, and those who seek to defend or protect these perpetrators,” further resolving to “publicly lament the harm our actions and inactions have caused to survivors of sexual abuse” and “publicly apologize and ask forgiveness from survivors of sexual abuse for our failure to care well for survivors, for our failure to hold perpetrators of sexual abuse adequately accountable in our churches and institutions, for our institutional responses which have prioritized the reputation of our institutions over protections and justice for survivors, and for the unspeakable harm this failure has caused to survivors through both our action and inaction.”

The resolution further recognized the need for systemic change in the denomination with regard to addressing sexual abuse, a process that was begun last year with the formation of the Sexual Abuse Task Force and their launch of a third-party investigation, and was continued at the 2022 annual meeting when messengers overwhelmingly voted to adopt the SATF’s recommended reforms.

The resolution also apologized, by name, to the abuse survivors who were named in the Guidepost Solutions report, whether they were called out by name in the report or referred to anonymously. The Resolutions Committee was granted permission by each survivor before their names were put in the resolution.

Those names included: Christa Brown, Susan Codone, Megan Lively, Jennifer Lyell, Anne Marie Mille, David Pittman, Tiffany Thigpen, Debbie Vasquez, Hannah-Kate Williams, and Jules Woodson.

The Resolutions Committee gave special emphasis to this resolution when they presented it to messengers, with each member of the Resolutions Committee and the Sexual Abuse Task Force standing on stage during its presentation as a sign of solidarity and corporate repentance.

The SBC also adopted a resolution titled “On Support for Consistent Laws Regarding Pastoral Sexual Abuse,” advocating for laws that would “empower churches by shielding them from civil liability when they share information about alleged abuse with other organizations or institutions.”

Litton, Luter, Tony Evans To Lead National Grassroots Racial Unity Work

By

Diana Chandler

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June 16, 2022

racial unity — “When it comes to our racial divide, it was the failure of the pulpit and the failure of the church, which has put us in this ignominious situation today,” Pastor Tony Evans told Southern Baptists at the 2022 SBC Annual Meeting June 15. Photo by Karen McCutcheon

ANAHEIM, Calif. (BP) – Outgoing Southern Baptist Convention President Ed Litton, former SBC president Fred Luter and noted author and pastor Tony Evans announced an initiative June 15 to build racial unity nationwide, conducted by the local church.

“Southern Baptist Convention, what we hope to do,” Litton said, “is to start a grassroots movement, a local church initiative in your communities to cross barriers of race, different denominations and groups, to begin to meet with people who are likeminded in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to offer a kingdom solution for the divisions that exist in our land.

“The church should be on the frontline of bringing hope and healing to our communities for the glory of God,” said Litton, senior pastor of Redemption Church in Saraland, Ala.

Luter, the only African American to have served as SBC president, elected in 2012 and 2013, acknowledged “we as a Southern Baptist Convention have made a lot of progress, but now it’s time to take it to the next step.”

Luter referenced Ephesians 2:13-15, that God is our peace who has torn down the “dividing wall of hostility” to “create one new man from the two, resulting in peace.”

Describing the work as critical, the senior pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, La., said “it’s time for the Southern Baptist Convention to deal with and confront the racial divide in our communities and in the nation with the Gospel of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

The announcement was part of a segment titled “Jesus the Center of Racial Reconciliation: Adopting a Kingdom Race Mindset” during the morning session of the second day of the 2022 SBC Annual Meeting.

The failure of the church instigated the problem of racism in the nation, Evans asserted in referencing 2 Chronicles 15, and the church must lead in the solution.

“When it comes to our racial divide, it was the failure of the pulpit and the failure of the church, which has put us in this ignominious situation today,” Evans said. “And we are told in 2 Chronicles that only when they came together in unity did God bring them rest, verse 15 says, to the distress that was in the land.

“The political, the social, the racial, the class distress that we are facing, that has helped to be caused by the church, can only be properly dissolved by the church,” Evans said. “If God can’t get the church right, the culture can never become right.”

Build Church on Word of God To Look Like Jesus, Sanchez Exhorts SBC

By

Diana Chandler

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June 16, 2022

ANAHEIM, Calif. (BP) – “Is it possible that the reasons our congregations have been so thrust against the winds and the waves, is because we have not ground them in the Word of God?”

Juan Sanchez posed the question in his June 15 convention sermon to Southern Baptists gathered at the 2022 SBC Annual Meeting.

“The church has been tossed about by every wind of doctrine, by human philosophies, by conspiracy theories, by worldly opinions,” said Sanchez, senior pastor of High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin, Texas. “Pastors, if we want to ground our members, we must ground them in the Word of God. Church members, receive the Word of God in your church. Are you growing in maturity and Christlikeness? Are you growing to look more and more like Jesus?”

Sanchez posed that many have a view of the church that is too small, as he himself once held.

“The apostle Paul blows up our small view of the church. He helps us to see that God’s eternal plan is to exalt His son Jesus Christ as King and Lord over all things in heaven and on earth,” Sanchez said, referencing Ephesians 1. “He helps us to see that in Christ the Father is uniting all things … in that He is placing all things under Christ. … We (the church) are the fulness of Christ on the earth.”

Christ unites all things that have been fractured by sin, Sanchez said, especially a fractured humanity.

“In Chapter 2, he talks about Jew and Gentile coming together as one new man. And this multiethnic assembly, we’re told in Chapter 3, verses 8-11, that as we live together as this unified, diverse church, we display to the cosmic powers the manifold wisdom of God, the wisdom of God’s eternal plan in exalting Christ, and bringing together this fractured humanity under Christ, and under His authority.”

With Ephesians 4:11-16 as his main text, Sanchez encouraged pastors to build congregations on the Word of God.

“Here’s my argument for us this morning. A healthy church is built on the Word of God, that we might look like the Son of God for the glory of God. And we see this laid out in Ephesians 4:11-16,” Sanchez said. “First of all, we want to look at the structure of Word ministry, in verses 11 and 12. Secondly, we’ll look at the goal of Word ministry in verses 13 and 14, and thirdly we’ll look at the practice of Word ministry in verses 15 and 16.”

God has structured the church for its work, Sanchez said, placing spiritual gifts in the church body for jobs including a foundation of apostles and prophets, evangelists to spread the Word and pastors and teachers as shepherds of the Word.

“We cannot build the church on any other foundation,” Sanchez said. “If our primary end is merely church growth … we will be tempted to build on other foundations. We’re tempted to build our churches on the foundation of music styles or age-graded ministries or even politics or social justice or even our own personalities.

“Growth that comes by something other than the Word of God and about Jesus is not lasting, nor is it God-glorifying.”

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Strong Women are Vital to God’s Purpose in the Church

1. Strong women expose evil men

2. Strong women rebuke good men

How to Get Closer to God as a Teenager: 6 Practical Steps

1. Box of Fun

2. Owning Our Social Media

3. Community-Building Onramps

Brown Missionary Baptist Church Receives Shooting Threat

Khari Willis: ‘Humbled and Excited to Pursue the Holy Call’

Colts Coach Frank Reich: ‘I Admire and Respect His Decision’

SBC Apologizes to Abuse Survivors

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