Court’s Term Delivers Wins for Life, Religious Liberty

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

Jesse T. Jackson

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

Randy Alcorn

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

Kathie Philips

July 5, 2022

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

Rick Warren

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

Brandon Kelley

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

Jesse T. Jackson

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

Mark Altrogge

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

Randy Alcorn

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:

Daughter Karina Franklin:

Son-in-law Dan Franklin:

Grandsons Matt, Jack, and David Franklin:

Daughter Angela Stump:

Grandsons Jake and Ty Stump:

This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.

Carey Nieuwhof: 7 Reasons Your Sermons Are Boring

Carey Nieuwhof

July 1, 2022

If there’s one thing you never set out to be as a leader or communicator, it’s boring.

And yet everyone who communicates, preaches, or even tries to persuade someone of an idea has discovered that sinking sense that your sermon just isn’t as riveting as it could be. Or that you’re dull. Even when you’re preaching the Word of God, which is anything but dull.

Let me ask you: How exactly does that happen?

Here Are 7 Common Reasons Your Sermons Are Boring

1. You’re actually bored with the message.

Oh, I know, let’s start by going right for the heart.

But let’s be honest: Have you ever preached a message you were bored with?

Looking back, I have.

So why would you ever preach a boring message?

Well, there’s the pressure of Sunday morning. You’re scrambling to get a message done and you just didn’t linger long enough over it to make it pop.

Another reason you’re bored with a message is that you haven’t yet figured out why it matters. We’ll look at that in more detail shortly.

If you sense you’re bored with a message, make that a hard stop. Don’t move forward until your message engages you.

I promise you this. Preachers, if you’re bored with the message you’re delivering, your audience will be, too.

Preachers, if you’re bored with the message you’re delivering, your audience will be too.

CLICK TO TWEET

So what do you do if you’re bored with the message? Move on to point two and ask yourself, “Why does this even matter?”

You need to know why it matters internally, and then you need to explain it to your audience, which will engage them.

2. You haven’t explained why what you’re saying matters.

Simon Sinek was right: People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.

Most preachers are really skilled at telling people what they need to know (as in, “Here’s what God’s Word has to say to us…”)

But if your message comes across as boring, it’s almost guaranteed that you haven’t explained to your listeners why any of it matters.

Why establishes relevance. For example, everyone knows you should eat healthy and exercise, but many don’t anyway. Why change? After all…food tastes good and exercise is hard.

But imagine going to your doctor and learning you are developing Type 2 diabetes and you’re a prime candidate for a heart attack in the next six months. All along, you’ve known the what. But you just got deeply motivated by a why.

4th of July Game for Kids: Celebrate Our Freedom in Christ

ChildrensMinistry.com

July 1, 2022

Play this 4th of July game with kids to celebrate our Christian freedom! Sunday school students of all ages will enjoy this activity. Best of all, it’s a fun, memorable way to teach a key faith concept.

This children’s ministry game works well at any time of the year. But it’s especially great around Independence Day, when we’re focused on freedom.

So grab some string, gather up the kids, and get moving. This active, life-application 4th of July game is a Bible-based blast!

Theme: Freedom in Christ

Text: Romans 6:20-23 in an easy-to-understand Bible translation

You’ll need:

a Bible
a ball of string or yarn
scissors

4th of July Game: Freedom in Christ

Hold up the string. Say: This string represents a chain. One person will begin by wrapping the string around a body part, such as an arm or leg. Then that person will name one sin that kids do. Next, that person will pass the string until each person has had a turn. The more tangled up the group gets, the better!

Allow time for everyone to get tangled up in the string. Then have kids sit down as one group on the floor.

Ask:

How does it feel to be tangled up by these “chains”?

Read aloud the Scripture.

Ask:

What does it mean to be a slave to sin? a slave to God?
How is being a slave to sin like or unlike being in these chains?

Have kids tear or cut off the “chains.”

Ask:

How is being free from the chains like or unlike the freedom from sin that Jesus gives us?
How can we receive the freedom from sin that Jesus wants to give us?
Finally, how can we share the good news of this freedom with other people?

Close in prayer, thanking Jesus for setting us free from sin.

Looking for even more great ideas for Independence Day? Check out these 4th of July posts.

This 4th of July game idea originally appeared here.

How to Pledge Our Allegiances on July 4

Eric Costanzo, Daniel Yang, and Matthew Soerens

July 1, 2022

During the hearings these last two weeks related to the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, Arizona speaker of the house Rusty Bowers made a bold statement related to God and the US Constitution. His resistance to pressure and decision not to alter election results illegally was influenced by his religious beliefs, as a practicing Mormon, that the US Constitution is “divinely inspired.”

Without question, the three of us are thankful to be Americans and we take our responsibility as citizens seriously. We are deeply committed to both the US Constitution and rule of law, and we find Bowers’ commitment to both admirable. At the same time, our personal commitment to the Bible as God’s only specific, inspired, and authoritative written Word is much greater.

Bowers’ statement wasn’t just a matter of personal opinion. Those familiar with Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, would know that he believed and taught the Constitution was divinely inspired. Mormonism emerged as a religious community trying to live out the ideals of this new nation defined by the Constitution and Bill of Rights. They believed the United States of America was how the kingdom of God was advancing in the world. In fact, Joseph Smith ran for president in 1844 motivated by this understanding. However, neither Bowers nor the LDS Church are alone in affirming divine inspiration for the US Constitution.

Although we have very different understandings of the Bible and the nature of God than Mormons, there are many who align more closely with us doctrinally who hold a view similar to Smith and Bowers regarding the Constitution—including some 4 out of 10 White evangelicals. While we believe in and respect our nation’s primary governing document, we’re deeply concerned by the prevalence of views that might give even the appearance of equating the U.S. Constitution with the Bible in terms of authority.

Even more troubling are the results of a 2020 survey analyzed by Joshua Wu, which found that just 13 percent of White evangelicals affirm their Christian faith is more important to their identity than “being an American.” Biblically, our identity in Christ should be primary, far more important than our citizenship in any particular country. Yet, few white U.S. evangelicals seem to agree, suggesting a conflation of American identity with Christian faith that’s of course nowhere to be found in the Scriptures and is both alarming and confusing to Christian brothers and sisters in other parts of the world.

This dynamic is more than evident, however, in some Christian worship settings. With July 4 nearing on the calendar, social media will undoubtedly be set ablaze with videos and images of a few churches filled with American flags, the singing of patriotic songs instead of worship music, and likely even fireworks or pyrotechnics. At the extremes, this syncretistic fusion of U.S. identity and faith manifests itself in Christian nationalism. Though patriotism and nationalistic fervor are not exclusive to the US, there is a unique kind of Christian nationalism in the American Church that has been present from the earliest days of our nation. Just a few decades after the signing of the US Constitution, the French diplomat Alexis de Tocqueville observed: “The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other.”

Though nationalism and patriotism are not themselves intrinsically sinful, when the Christian person elevates them over his or her commitment to the living God, His Kingdom, and His Word, they become idolatrous. When such idolatry is combined with the message of the gospel, it leads to syncretism—the blending or equating of Christianity with cultural beliefs, ideas, or institutions. As Latin American theologian Ruth Padilla DeBorst told us, when Christianity and Americanism come “in the same cultural packaging, U.S. Christians send destructive mixed messages both inside and outside of our culture.

New Disney Series ‘Baymax!’ Highlights Transgender Man Buying Tampons and ‘All Gender Bathroom’ in Middle School

Jesse T. Jackson

July 1, 2022

The characters from Disney’s animated blockbuster film “Big Hero 6” star in a new limited series titled “Baymax!”, which was released Wednesday, June 29, on Disney+.

The series focuses on Baymax, the lovable, inflatable robot who serves as a personal healthcare companion, helping others throughout the fantastical city of San Fransokyo.

“The six-episode series of healthcare capers introduces extraordinary characters who need Baymax’s signature approach to healing in more ways than they realize,” Disney’s description says.

Writer, filmmaker, and activist Christopher F. Rufo tweeted an exclusive clip of the new series in advance of it becoming available to stream on Disney+, saying the clip was leaked footage.

“I’ve obtained leaked video from Disney’s upcoming show ‘Baymax,’ which promotes the transgender flag and the idea that men can have periods to children as young as two years old,” Rufo wrote. “It’s all part of Disney’s plan to re-engineer the discourse around kids and sexuality.”

The clip, which has been viewed over 6.2 million times and has over 9,000 comments, is taken from the third episode in the series, titled “Sofia,” where a middle school student encounters some major life changes, which include experiencing her first period.

Sofia, who is 12 years old, enters an all-gender restroom at school and becomes horrified that her first period comes right before she is set to perform with her friend at a talent show.

“I can’t believe this is happening! I wasn’t prepared for this,” Sofia tells Baymax, who entered the bathroom after hearing her scream “No! No! No!”

When Baymax realizes Sofia doesn’t have any “menstrual hygiene materials,” he walks to a convenience store. But when he arrives, the inflatable robot becomes utterly confused while staring at all the possible hygiene products he could purchase.

Baymax then asks a fellow shopper, who is an adult female, for some help.

After the shopper provides Baymax with a recommendation, other shoppers suddenly appear in the aisle, offering the robotic healthcare assistant further advice on which product to purchase.

The advice Baymax receives doesn’t seem out of the ordinary at first, until the camera pans out and shows a transgender man telling Baymax, “I always get the ones with wings.”

The next scene shows Baymax returning to the school’s all gender bathroom with bags full of “menstrual hygiene materials” for Sofia. “You may select your preferred sanitary napkin,” Baymax tells her.

During the duration of the 12-minute episode, Sofia explains in detail what is happening to her body to her talent show partner, who is a boy, and receives an inspirational pep talk from the robot that helps her deal with what just happened to her.

Disney shared in March that they would be including more LGBTQ+ scenes and story lines in feature films and popular releases. Last month, Disney-Pixar backed up that statement by including a same-sex kiss in “Lightyear,” which told the story of the lovable Toy Story character Buzz Lightyear.

‘God Fits Us Together Like Living Stones’: SBC President Bart Barber’s Latest Update

Dale Chamberlain

July 1, 2022

Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) president Bart Barber sought to encourage his fellow Southern Baptists on Friday (July 1) with his hope that this year within the SBC will be marked by “strength and unity.”

The newly elected president of North America’s largest denomination has set before him the task of appointing an Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force for the Convention, in light of the overwhelming affirmation of proposed reforms following the Sexual Abuse Task Force’s report and accompanying recommendations.

Barber has expressed his commitment to addressing sexual abuse scandals in the Convention, declaring in remarks following his election that “the hunter is now the hunted” with regard to sexual predation in the SBC.

Tweeting a video taken from his farm on Friday, Barber explained that he was thinking about the SBC while building a shed.

“You might be taking a look at my construction work, and you might be saying, ‘Bart, I’m just not sure that you have a clue what you’re doing,’” Barber said. Assuring viewers that he has been on many disaster recovery mission trips, Barber joked, “We’ve done a lot of construction work, and you’re absolutely right. I don’t really have a clue what I’m doing. I’ve demonstrated that on many occasions.”

“But as I was working here, I was thinking about the Southern Baptist Convention. And really kind of what I had in my mind was the way the Bible talks about how, in churches, God fits us together like living stones to build us into one unified temple of the Holy Spirit,” Barber said. “The Bible—in one place it says that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, but then it also says that the Church, the collection of believers, is a temple of the Holy Spirit that’s being fitted together.”

“And that just had me thinking about us in the Southern Baptist Convention, and about my great optimistic hope that our convention will continue to grow in strength and unity,” Barber expressed. “Not because we’re smart, not because I’ve got all the secret answers, but because there’s a God in heaven who is at work through the Holy Spirit in the heart of every believer in the Southern Baptist Convention.

“And there are rough edges, and it doesn’t go together easily right off the bat,” Barber conceded. “But He’s fitting us together. So join me this year in praying that God’s work in that way succeeds, and succeeds beyond our furthest imagination.”

Barber signed off from his video by encouraging viewers to “share the gospel with someone this weekend.”

Black Woman Turned Away From Arkansas Church, Referred to as ‘Colored’

Dale Chamberlain

July 1, 2022

A Facebook post of a woman who was turned away from a Forrest City, Arkansas, church for apparent racial reasons is garnering social media attention.

Donna Mac, who attempted to visit First Baptist Church in Forrest City this past Sunday (June 26) after being invited by someone, reported that she was questioned at the door by one church member and later referred to as “colored” by another.

After leaving the church before service started, Mac posted about her experience on social media.

“I’ve never in my 34 years of living [witnessed] a church turn someone around because of the color of their skin,” Mac wrote. She then described walking up the steps of the church, where she was met by an older white male who asked her what she came in for, to which she responded, “Church.”

“He stated, ‘Church doesn’t start until 11am,’” Mac wrote, noting that other members were entering the church at the time. “After speaking with the 2nd member (older white lady) I stated, ‘Is everyone not welcome here?’ She stated, ‘We’ve had COLOREDS here before.’”

“I asked, ‘What do you mean Coloreds? Do you mean Black people,’” Mac continued. “Her response, ‘No COLOREDS! When I was growing up we always called them COLOREDS!’”

Following the exchange with the older white church member, Mac “just looked at her and left.” After Mac’s post went viral, the pastor of the church, Steve Walter, told WREG that he believes the incident was a result of “miscommunication.”

“I was deeply grieved that we’re perceived or that what that young woman experienced because that is what we sought to fight against, what she experienced, according to her testimony, according to her Facebook post,” Walter said. “That’s where my heart is, that she experienced something.”

Walter went on to express that he saw this as a “teachable moment” for members of a community that historically has been racially divided.

Notably, Forrest City is named for Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Klu Klux Klan leader and Confederate general. Nevertheless, this is the area in which Mac grew up, and she lives within a few blocks of the church that turned her away, according to a later Facebook post.

Responding to questions as to why she would have even attempted to attend the church, Mac said, “Yes, there are multiple Black churches in the area, however this one happens to be in MY community. It’s located in a PREDOMINANTLY BLACK NEIGHBORHOOD.”

“So, I didn’t have to go far to find hate did I? No. It was right on the next block,” Mac went on to say.

Referring to other comments she has received about First Baptist Church in Forrest City, Mac said, “For those [saying] ‘they were good to me,’ that may have been the case…I’m sure you were there when they [were] fundraising, ‘giving back to the community,’ hosting an event, and/or playing sports in their facility, all things that were beneficial to the church.”

Focus on Gospel Vital in Reaching the Next Generation

Timothy Cockes

July 1, 2022

Next Generation — Shane Pruitt (far left) leads a discussion at the SBC Annual Meeting in Anaheim on reaching the next generation. (YouTube screen capture courtesy of Baptist Press)

ANAHEIM, Calif. (BP) – Shane Pruitt and several other SBC leaders discussed the challenges and opportunities of ministering to Generation Z during a CP Stage panel at the SBC Annual Meeting in Anaheim, Calif.

Pruitt, national Next Gen direction for the North American Mission Board, led the panelists in a conversation about the struggles that Generation Z is facing and how churches can step in and be a light in that darkness they are facing.

Other panelists included Paul Worcester, national collegiate director for the North American Mission Board, Chip Luter, senior associate pastor at Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, La., and RJ McCauley, Student Ministries Pastor, Magnolia Baptist Church in Riverside, Calif.

McCauley opened the panel by stating the importance of preaching Gospel hope to young people.

“One of the things about Generation Z is that they need hope,” McCauley said.

“There is so much hopelessness around them, and all they see is bad news. They need good news and we need to preach the good news more than ever before right now.

“That’s what I would say to all of us is that at times youth ministry becomes games or gimmicks, but it needs to be Gospel and we need to be bolder with that more than anything else. You miss what you dismiss by proximity, so if you want to reach young people then you need to be around young people.”

McCauley also serves in a role as a youth coordinator with the California Southern Baptist Convention.

He said one of the main issues Gen Z is dealing with in California, as well as around the country, is an identity crisis.

“Out here in Hollywood, we are the image capital of the world, and identity crisis is a reality,” McCauley said. “So many people have misplaced identity because they are putting it in the wrong things. Now the culture is even saying you can identify as whatever you want, so Gen Z is very confused because they are not sure what their identity can be.

“We need to get back to reality and preach the truth about our God-given identity as men and women in his Image and for his glory. When we know Christ, it changes everything and repurposes our lives for the right things, not the wrong things.”

Regarding Generation Z students currently in college, Worcester said it is a great time in their lives to reach them despite the struggles they may have.

“Among college students there is so much brokenness with anxiety, depression, addiction and you name it,” Worcester said.

“Yet, in my opinion it’s the best time to reach someone with the Gospel. They’re trying to decide what they’re life is going to be about and who they’re friends are. I see a lot of hope there.”

Pruitt echoed the sentiment about Gospel hope amidst the brokenness of the generation.

“Generation Z has realized at a very early age that the world is broken, they are broken and they are looking for answers, Pruitt said. “We know that the answer has a name and that’s Jesus and as a church we get to come in and point this generation to Jesus.”

Luter described the importance of church leaders to invite, involve and invest in the next generation.

“They are at the age that if they are going to do something big, they are ready for it,” Luter said. “Just as we’ve been saying, give them something to go towards. Jesus launched the 12 and they were young people. That was a high calling, but they were crazy enough to believe that they could do it.”

Pruitt reiterated that amongst all the tips and practical steps for reaching young people, the bottom-line advice is to be intentional with the basics of Gospel ministry.

“Generation Z is always saying that they are a cause-oriented generation, and there is not a greater cause than the Great Commission,” Pruitt said. “We don’t have to overthink it as leaders, and forget the basics. The same Gospel that has worked for over 2,000 years still works today.”

The full video of the panel can be found here.

This article originally appeared at Baptist Press.

Columbia Theological Seminary Accused of Racism Amid Influx of Black Students

Kathryn Post

July 1, 2022

(RNS) — In 2018, the incoming class at Columbia Theological Seminary, a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) seminary in the tree-lined suburbs of Atlanta, was 47% white and 16% Black. Just three years later, a 2021 admissions brochure advertised an incoming class that was more than 64% Black and 32% white.

Many of the Black students at CTS credit the Rev. Sam White, a beloved admissions director, who is Black, with the surge in diversity, and when White was terminated on June 21, it set off a week of recriminations and protest.

The day after the Juneteenth holiday, White was called into a meeting with President Leanne Van Dyk and informed he was no longer an employee at the school, according to White’s lawyer, Grace Starling with Barrett & Farahany. Starling said her client was told the firing, which the attorney says came without warning, was for “insubordination” — which White disputes. Instead, Starling said White’s termination constituted discrimination and retaliation.

“In the middle of recruitment season, they’re pulling their director of admissions,” said Leo Seyij Allen, vice president of the seminary’s student government association. “I used to work in admissions at Candler (School of Theology, at nearby Emory University) so I know from experience, this is not what you do. And you don’t do it lightly.”

A seminary spokesperson said the school could not comment on legal matters, including “responses to unadjudicated statements or allegations from complainant’s attorneys.” The spokesperson added, “As a general statement, we regret that these limitations often hamper balanced narrative in public reporting.”

White arrived at the school in March 2020, two months before the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis set off nationwide protests. In the aftermath, the new admissions director played a critical role in forming the seminary’s Repairing the Breach scholarship, according to students.

Launched in June 2020 as part of a series of racial justice commitments, the scholarship covers tuition and student fees for all Black students admitted into master’s degree programs. Many Black students said it was White and the Rev. Brandon Maxwell — a Black administrator who resigned in November — who made them aware of the scholarship and welcomed them to the seminary.

“Dean Maxwell was very adamant that this was the place I needed to be,” said Allen. “He told me, you want a place where you’ll be heard, you’ll be seen, and that there are faculty and staff and other students who have a similar mindset that’s oriented toward justice.”

Maxwell declined to speak with Religion News Service for this story.

Relations between White and the administration soured in September of 2021, according to a charge White later filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. White said in the filing that he informed Van Dyk that he had been interviewed by an attorney investigating racial and sexual-orientation discrimination against a colleague. After informing Van Dyk that he opposed how his colleague had been treated, White alleges that the administration retaliated.

“(M)y supervisors who are privy to my opposition have degraded my work product and work ethic to others at CTS, including the Board of Trustees, resources I need to do my job have been delayed, and duties have been removed from my purview,” White wrote in the EEOC charge.

The charge also claims Van Dyk denied White seminary-owned housing, though the benefit had been granted to other senior administrators, including White’s predecessors who were white.

‘Somebody Must Care.’ George Liele Award Supports Mission Trip to Zambia

Diana Chandler

July 1, 2022

LUSAKA, Zambia (BP) – When Ricky Wilson began taking African American pastors on mission trips to Zambia in 2008, he had to dispel a myth.

“A number of the Africans have shared with us, what they were told (in the past) by the white missionaries, is that African Americans don’t care about the spiritual state of Africans in Africa. And we shared with them, a number of the African American pastors articulated that that’s not a truism,” Wilson told Baptist Press after his latest trip to Zambia.

“Because of the conflicts and issues that African Americans were dealing with in America, (we) had a lot on our hands during those times. But it’s not because people did not care, If you notice,” the earlier groups told Zambian pastors, “we brought all these pastors. That lets you know somebody must care.”

Wilson took a team of 21 African American pastors and laypersons from five states to Zambia April 22-May 6 for a multifaceted mission outreach through the Zambia Partnership in founded 15 years ago. Wilson is senior pastor of Christian Faith Fellowship in Downingtown, Pa.

A $5,000 George Liele Scholarship, an incentive launched in 2021 by the National African American Fellowship of the Southern Baptist Convention (NAAF) in partnership with the International Mission Board, helped cover expenses. Those taking the trip raised their own fare and other expenses in the two years preceding the trip, which Wilsons said amounted to $165,000.

The team held three days of simultaneous revivals at several churches, conducted pastors’ and women’s conferences and training, conducted community cleanup, held a multi-village cookout, and in advance of the trip, sent clothing and books. The partnership has built nine water wells since its founding, including two completed in 2022.

Revivals drew standing-room-only crowds. Vacation Bible School drew 500 – 700 youth daily, and the cookout planned for 300 drew about 1,000, Wilson said.

Jerome Coleman, NAAF Eastern regional director and senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Crestmont in Willow Grove, Pa., describes the George Liele Scholarship as a recognition that African Americans have always been on mission.

“Missions for African Americans starts in the community and expands from there. We take seriously Acts 1:8, ‘and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth,’” Coleman told Baptist Press. “From South Carolina, to Georgia, to Jamaica, Liele embodied what it is to be a witness for Jesus.

“We are godly proud that Liele has finally been recognized, not only as the first American missionary, but if William Carey is considered ‘the father’ of the modern missionary movement, then George Liele is ‘the grandfather,’ since he left America and preached the Gospel in Jamaica 10 years before Carey left England for India.

“We are overjoyed that, along with Annie Armstrong and Lottie Moon, (Liele) is now on the pantheon of SBC missionaries.”

Larry Anderson, director of church health and evangelism for the Baptist Resource Network of Pennsylvania/South Jersey (BRN), traveled to Zambia for the first time this year after making other mission trips to Africa.

The Zambians he ministered to considered themselves blessed to be able to worship the Lord irrespective of any wealth, Anderson said, with praise and worship lasting 45 minutes before the sermon was preached.

“It impacted me in a major way,” Anderson said, “in regard to the appreciation of the Lord and the worship of the Lord that wasn’t (based) on materialism. These folks were blessed. They were willing to worship and praise the Lord for hours. And they may have 10 percent of the materialism that we have here in America.

Fundie Fridays, the Snarky Critic of Conservative Religious Zeal, Faces YouTube Termination

Riley Farrell

July 1, 2022

fundie fridays — Jennifer Sutphin records a Fundie Fridays episode. Video screen grab

(RNS) — A young couple sit in front of a webcam trading commentary. Today’s subject: their feelings on a particular set of conservative Christian influencers. Together, Jennifer Sutphin and James Bryant chronicle their concerns about an internet popular Christian couple, Paul and Morgan Olliges, who could very well be described as Sutphin and Bryant’s inverted mirror.

While both couples foster a devoted online following via longform YouTube content, they represent wildly divergent values and lifestyle. The Olliges, young and preppy, subscribe to a literal interpretation of biblical gender roles. Sutphin (she/they) and Bryant (he/they) maintain fluid ideas of gender identity. The Olliges underscore evangelical tradition, Sutphin and Bryant are asking: What happens outside, and after, a life of religious submission?

The comparisons are stark, and judging from the video’s comment section, well taken. As one commenter puts it, “you and James play off each other so well.” The comment received 2,300 likes.

“We wanted to show a good relationship,” Sutphin and Bryant responded in a follow-up comment, alongside two laughing emojis.

Jennifer Sutphin, left, and James Bryant record a Fundie Fridays video together. Video screen grab

Their channel, Fundie Fridays, is validating to some, bewildering to others, evocative always. Each of the channel’s 90 videos functions as an installment from the reigning rulers of Reddit’s r/fundiesnark’s video counterpart. R/fundiesnark, a subreddit with at least 75,000 users, is a forum for those aggrieved by fundamentalist Christianity. As the name implies, the discussions bend toward humor, albeit with an often caustic tone.

A subculture within that subculture, those who watch Fundie Fridays are the “best of the fundiesnark community,” insists Sutphin.

Friday as a New Holy Day

Fundie Fridays is a YouTube channel in which Sutphin, 28, sometimes with the company of their partner Bryant, 33, publishes weekly video essays — generally compilations of cuts of sermons, TV shows, Instagram Reels and other public content, with Sutphin’s sardonic commentary layered on top. Often, she gets ready in front of a mirror along the way. A trademark line starts most videos: “Here on my channel, I talk about different aspects of Christian fundamentalism, while doing my makeup.”

Since its creation in July 2019, Fundie Fridays has accumulated more than 30 million views and 280,000 subscribers — whom Sutphin affectionately refers to as “Jennonites,” a cheeky nod to Mennonites, an Anabaptist group. The religious allusions don’t stop there. Audience members sometimes call Bryant “King James,” hinting at the Scottish-English king who commissioned a new translation of the Bible in 1611. Sutphin jokes her fan base gives her a “god-complex.”

Today, Sutphin and Bryant are full-time content creators. The two are now engaged and have six pets. With the income they generate from Patreon subscribers and merchandise, they publish videos on famous Christians, ranging from internet sensations like the Olliges to reality TV darlings the Duggars and TV evangelists of old, such as Tammy Faye Baker. The channel also crosses into politics (covering conspiracy theorist and politician Marjorie Taylor Greene) and practitioners of other faiths (including Jewish conservative influencer Abby Shapiro).

ERLC Objects to Biden Effort to Counter Court Ruling

Tom Strode

July 1, 2022

WASHINGTON (BP)—Efforts by the Biden administration and congressional Democrats to counteract on multiple fronts the effect of the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of the Roe v. Wade decision have drawn a robust objection from the Southern Baptist Convention’s ethics entity.

President Biden condemned again Thursday (June 30) the high court’s 5-4 opinion that overruled the 1973 decision that legalized abortion throughout the country, something he also did June 24 on the same day the ruling was issued. The decision in Dobbs v. Mississippi Women’s Health Organization returned abortion policy to the states, where it had been before the watershed Roe opinion.

In a news conference Thursday at the NATO Summit in Spain, Biden described the ruling as “outrageous” and called for Congress to codify Roe into law through an exception to the Senate’s filibuster rule, which requires 60 votes to end debate and take floor action on legislation. Such a rule change would enable consideration and passage of a bill with only a majority in support.

Biden also repeated his June 24 request for voters to elect enough senators and representatives to codify abortion rights in law. He had previously said “Roe is on the ballot” in November.

The president already had announced after the Supreme Court’s ruling his administration would protect interstate travel for abortions and access to drugs that end the lives of preborn children. The administration also established a new website that helps women find an abortion provider and obtain funds to pay for such a procedure.

Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress urged the president to take more decisive action for abortion access. Some have called for Biden to declare a “public health emergency.” Some have promoted a legislative effort to “crack down” on pro-life pregnancy resource centers.

Brent Leatherwood, acting president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), told Baptist Press, “These actions and proposals constitute an effort to completely obliterate this nation’s bipartisan consensus, that has held for years, that taxpayer resources should not go to the promotion and promulgation of abortion. Implementing them would assault the consciences of millions of Americans who believe each person, born and preborn, is made in the image of God and worthy of protection.

“In the wake of the monumental Dobbs decision, our nation’s leaders should come together and institute a true culture of life that saves lives, supports mothers and works for the flourishing of families,” he said in written comments. “Instead, these policies represent a commitment to an extreme view that continues to treat our most vulnerable neighbors as disposable inconveniences.”

Regarding Biden’s call to suspend the filibuster to codify abortion rights, Leatherwood said, “Just as our nation enshrined protections for minority rights in our Constitution, the filibuster has served as a procedural safeguard of the minority perspective in the U.S. Senate. President Biden, who served so many years in the Senate, uniquely understands that, which makes this call for an exception all the more disheartening.

“[A]n exception here will render the filibuster meaningless for all future debates where the majority wants to force its will whenever it feels it necessary, an effect that will have devastating consequences for American politics,” he said. “Governing and legislating are challenging, but bulldozing over viewpoints one disagrees with is no way to make policy for our nation.”

During his June 24 speech, Biden announced:

— His administration will fight any state or local official who seeks to prevent women from traveling from a state in which abortion is prohibited to another state for an abortion.

— He is directing the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to work to protect access by women to medical/chemical abortions.

13 Sanity Savers for VBS Directors

God’s Strategy

Next Church: 10 Predictions

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

2. Preaching and teaching will become even more important.

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

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

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

Settle This in Your Hearts

Here Are 7 Common Reasons Your Sermons Are Boring

1. You’re actually bored with the message.

2. You haven’t explained why what you’re saying matters.

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