Lakers’ New Coach Darvin Ham Praises God During Press Conference; Credits Christian Upbringing

June 9, 2022

Former 8-year NBA veteran Darvin Ham was named the 28th head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers franchise on Monday, June 6.

Ham went undrafted in 1996 but later signed with the Denver Nuggets at the start of the season that year. Ham was known for his powerful dunking style, which broke rims, shattered backboards, and instilled fear in defending opponents’ minds.

The NBA veteran won a championship as a member of the Detroit Pistons in 2004, beating the Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Karl Malone, Gary Payton, Horrace Grant, and the rest of the famous Los Angeles Lakers super-team.

In addition to the Detroit Pistons and Denver Nuggets, Ham also played for the Indiana Pacers, Washington Wizards, Milwaukee Bucks, and Atlanta Hawks.

Ham started his NBA coaching career in 2011 as an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers under head coach Mike Brown. After coaching for the Atlanta Hawks for a couple of seasons as an assistant, he followed head coach Mike Budenholzer to the Milwaukee Bucks in 2018, helping coach them to an NBA championship in the 2020-2021 season.

Ham replaces Frank Vogel, who was fired by the Los Angeles Lakers after three seasons, having coached them to an NBA championship during the 2019-2020 season. The championship gave the Los Angeles Lakers its 17th NBA championship, which tied it with the Boston Celtics for the league’s most championships by any team.

When Ham was introduced as the Los Angeles Lakers head coach by the franchise’s general manager Rob Pelinka, he immediately gave thanks to God.

“First of all, I want to thank God,” Ham told reporters. “Coming from where I’ve come from—I was raised in a household of a strong spiritual faith—belief in God and His Son Jesus Christ—so I want to start with that.”

Ham shared that everything he’s been able to overcome in life is because of his faith in Jesus Christ, which was instilled in him at a young age by his family.

“Everything I’ve been able to overcome in my life, along with the people around me, it’s been that spirit that was instilled in me as a youngster,” Ham said.

Southeastern Seminary Releases Statement on Leaked Draft of Tom Buck’s Wife’s Abuse Story; Clears Prior, Whitfield of Wrongdoing

Dale Chamberlain

June 9, 2022

On Wednesday (June 8), Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) president Danny Akin released a statement about a leaked article draft written by Jennifer Buck, wife of outspoken SBC pastor Tom Buck, explaining that following an internal investigation, no SEBTS faculty members were found to be involved in leveraging the draft against the couple.

Events surrounding an effort to use the draft as blackmail against Tom and Jennifer Buck have been unfolding for over two months.

On April 7, G3 Ministries, of which Tom Buck is Director of Expository Workshops, published an article written by Jennifer Buck, wherein she described struggles from the early days of the couple’s nearly 35-year marriage, as well as how they experienced restoration and healing.

On April 11, Baptist News Global (BNG) published a report painting that article in a different light. Revealing that they had come into possession of a 2018 draft of the article wherein Jennifer Buck provided further details of abuse she endured prior to her marriage to Tom, BNG reported that the Bucks were living under the threat of that draft being publicly leaked.

Following the report, Tom Buck stated that the threatened leak was an act of retaliation against him for privately confronting fellow SBC pastor and then SBC presidential candidate Willy Rice about a member of his deacon board who had, in Rice’s words, “committed a sexual sin that could also be described as abusive.” While Rice knew about the deacon’s misconduct when the church installed him, he did not interpret that misconduct as predatory until after Buck confronted him.

Rice withdrew his name from consideration for the SBC presidency shortly after publicly disclosing the situation and removing the deacon from the board in accordance with a 2021 SBC resolution that states those guilty of sexual abuse are permanently disqualified from pastoral leadership.

Though Rice and Buck are part of groups within the SBC that hold opposing visions for the denomination and Buck did not support Rice’s presidential bid for those reasons, Rice said that Buck had handled the situation with integrity and according to biblical standards of accountability.

On the same day Rice publicly disclosed the situation involving his church’s deacon (April 1), Buck was contacted regarding the possible leak of Jennifer’s draft in a clear act of retaliation. Since that time, Buck has been trying to ascertain the identity of the person threatening to leak it.

An April 19 statement published by Buck’s church further explained that Tom and Jennifer had given the draft to SEBTS professor Karen Swallow Prior—who was a professor at Liberty University at the time—so that she could help edit it in 2018. Due to injuries sustained in a freak accident shortly after receiving the draft, Prior was not able to offer editorial guidance.

Sometime prior to April 1 of this year, an unnamed party reached out to Prior via another SEBTS professor, Keith Whitfield, seeking to authenticate a leaked version of the draft. Prior refused to confirm the draft’s authorship, and Whitfield and Prior urged against a public release of the draft.

Johnny Hunt’s Church To Suspend His Role as Pastor Emeritus After Allegations of Sexual Abuse

Jesse T. Jackson

June 9, 2022

On Friday (June 3), First Baptist Church Woodstock (FBCW), the church where Johnny Hunt served as pastor for over 30 years, released a letter to church members stating their intent to suspend Hunt’s role as pastor emeritus following credible allegations of sexual abuse against him revealed in Guidepost Solution’s report.

Guidepost’s investigation took place at the request of SBC messengers at last year’s annual meeting. The report was released on May 22, and along with other findings, detailed a sexual encounter Hunt had with a pastor’s wife in 2010.

Johnny Hunt Accused of Sexual Abuse

The woman described the sexual encounter with Hunt as non-consensual, alleging that the former SBC President abused her by fondling her chest, pulling down her shorts, and kissing her. In the report, Hunt denied having any physical contact with his accuser but later released a statement to FBCW admitting to having an inappropriate encounter with the pastor’s wife. Nevertheless, he said, “It was not abuse nor was it assault.”

Hunt resigned as SBC’s North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) Senior Vice President of Evangelism and Leadership on the same day Guidepost’s report was released by the Sexual Abuse Task Force.

FBCW’s Pastor Addresses Guidepost’s Report; Hunt’s Abuse

FBCW pastor Jeremy Morton’s sermon on May 29 spoke to Hunt’s alleged sexual abuse.

Morton took over lead pastor duties in 2018 after Hunt stepped down to serve NAMB. Under Hunt’s leadership, FBCW grew from 1,000 to 19,000 church members.

During his sermon, Morton told FBCW that he voted alongside 15,000 other messengers to have the investigation done, saying, “What’s done in the light is done right. Let’s not be negligent about our convictions, particularly our conviction to honor and to protect women and children.”

Morton made it clear to his congregation that the investigation was not a result of a liberal drift in the SBC, a claim he referred to as misinformation.

“Southern Baptists were proactively trying to get our house in order based on public rumblings across the denomination. Let me be as clear as I can be. This was not a woke mob. This was not a witch hunt. This was not a group of liberals trying to take down the convention. If you say this, you are misinformed,” Morton said. “We, the people, allowed and called for this investigation to occur. No one anywhere can honestly say with integrity Southern Baptists are woke liberals. This is nonsense. Our theology of Scripture, eternity and mission is overwhelmingly clear.”

“I am heartsick and uncomfortable talking about the report’s conclusion, especially on a Sunday morning in a public venue,” Morton shared. “The details are disturbing and heartbreaking. Nothing can prepare you for the hellishness that has been documented.”

In his recap of the Guidepost report, Morton said, “It breaks my heart as a daddy before it breaks my heart as a pastor,” explaining that a Baptist Press reporter shared with him “that over the last 25 years, around 400 Southern Baptist ministers have been arrested or charged with sex crimes involving minors. They estimate some 1,000 minors are known to be victims. These are just the ones that are known from public records. These are just the ones that involve minors. This does not include the number of pastors who have preyed upon adult women.”

Last fall, Morton preached a sermon wherein he implored men, especially those in powerful positions of authority, “to go to every length imaginable to honor and protect women and children—to walk in integrity, humility, transparency, and honesty.” Morton also made a plea to any women who had been a victim of abuse to contact law enforcement and/or reach out to leadership within the church.

ERLC Panel: God’s Design Vital in Addressing Sexual Ethics

Tom Strode

June 9, 2022

Sexual Ethics — Katie McCoy, director of women’s ministry at the Baptist General Convention of Texas, participated in an ERLC-hosted webinar called "“Discipling Your Church for a World in Sexual Crisis” June 7. The webinar was hosted by Jason Thacker (left), ERLC’s chair of research in technology ethics. Screen capture

NASHVILLE (BP) – Holding to God’s design in creating human beings provides a way forward for Christians during the current crisis regarding sexuality, speakers at a Southern Baptist-sponsored webinar said Tuesday (June 7).

The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) hosted an online event – “Discipling Your Church for a World in Sexual Crisis” – that featured a pastor, women’s ministry leader and seminary professor, all Southern Baptists. The hour-long webinar touched on such issues as gender dysphoria or confusion, transgender identities, sexual abuse, same-sex marriage and cohabitation, while addressing how Christians and churches should respond to these and other questions regarding sexual ethics.

Andrew Walker, associate professor of Christian ethics and apologetics at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, told the online audience, “If we are going to see ourselves out of this mess, we need to recapture the idea that there are … universal truths consistent with our design as human beings.”

This idea presumes “there is actually a composite, fixed human nature, and so, right now, we as Christians are some of the last, few people who will defend that concept of human nature,” he said. “And I think that we need to double down and plant some flags and be the champions of the fact that we have a fixed human nature and that it can be actually, objectively known, that who we are isn’t actually a mystery.”

Katie McCoy, director of women’s ministry at the Baptist General Convention of Texas, said issues such as transgender identities demonstrate a conflict in the culture – “that identity is self-created versus identity is God-given.”

The culture says the human body “is something that is basically irrelevant to human identity or at least incidental and that our sexuality would then be without purpose or without design that would guide us in how to use it,” she said.

According to the Bible, “the body is a distinct aspect of what we are, but what our culture would say is it is a divisible aspect of who we are. It is something that you can divide from your true self and then determine your own identity completely separate from your body,” McCoy told the webinar audience.

Dean Inserra, lead pastor of City Church in Tallahassee, Fla., said pastors and churches need to provide clarity on sexuality while being compassionate, including with Christians who struggle with same-sex attraction.

“Let’s be clear about what God’s design truly is and the greater purpose of it,” Inserra said. Marriage is a visible portrait of the union of Christ and His church, he told participants. A sexual relationship is reserved for a man and a woman in a marriage, he said.

“Heterosexuality is not the goal,” Inserra said. “Holiness is the goal. And so I want them to be following Jesus. What does that look like? It means they have the same exact standards that I do when it comes to sexuality.

“God’s will is your sanctification, that you keep yourself from sexual immorality.”

The online discussion followed the May 22 release of a report from Guidepost Solutions’ independent investigation that found some of the SBC Executive Committee’s leadership mishandled allegations from sexual abuse victims. It also uncovered additional claims of abuse.

The Church and Mental Illness: We Are Called to Care

Amy Simpson

June 9, 2022

church and mental illness — Image credit: Adobe Stock

It felt like an earthquake, the ground suddenly moving underneath us. When the quaking stopped, everything—and everyone—had changed… and the aftershocks would continue for decades. Only this was a different kind of shaking.

I was only 14 and my family was rocked to its foundation when my mother suffered a severe and disabling psychotic break. After that day, her illness could no longer be hidden; her symptoms could no longer be dismissed as quirks of personality. Eventually, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia, an apt explanation for her long history of challenges with cognitive functioning, emotional expression, and relationships. Her diagnosis was a helpful point of reference for the future as we walked through the harsh effects of her illness: delusions, paranoia, religious confusion, panic attacks, numerous hospital admissions, homelessness, criminal conviction, and even prison time.

My dad was a pastor until I was 13. After that we were committed laypeople, involved in a strong church that, like many, was in over its head when facing my family’s crisis. I had been in church my entire life and never heard mental illness mentioned in a sermon, youth group meeting, or any other theological conversation. So when mom’s breakdown created a spiritual crisis for me, I didn’t feel I could discuss my questions with anyone. That door just wasn’t open.

Destructive Beliefs

After growing and healing, I have written extensively about mental illness and the Church’s response, including the book, Troubled Minds: Mental Illness and the Church’s Mission. I regularly speak on the topic and have opportunities to hear from many people who have experienced mental illness personally and in their families. Although many of these individuals feel alone in their trouble, they share common experiences, questions, and needs.

For many, a mental illness—theirs or a loved one’s—cuts right into the way they see themselves, God, and their community of faith. Here are some common myths people need the Church to contradict:

“God has rejected me.” Painful thoughts and feelings convince people God has walked away from them because they did something unforgivable or do not have enough faith.
“My life is worthless now.” Although a great deal of mental illness can be successfully addressed, with some treatments up to 90% effective, many view a mental health diagnosis as the end of hope for a productive and fulfilling life.
“I’m alone.” Because of the stigma and silence surrounding mental health, many believe their problems are rare and no one can effectively relate to them.
“No one can answer my questions.” When there is little to no theological discussion regarding mental illness and the Church avoids the conversation altogether, many believe the Christian faith has nothing to offer in the face of this trial.
“If I speak up, I’ll be rejected.” Many are hiding in fear, convinced that if they admit to struggling with mental health issues, they will be ostracized… and in some cases, they are right.

Stigma in the Church

Churches, even those that want to help, frequently exacerbate the crisis by perpetuating a sense of shame. Here are some of the ways churches stigmatize mental illness:

They send the message that Christians do not have serious problems. Some churches embrace this idea as part of their core teaching; others suggest it without meaning to.
They perpetuate a misunderstanding and mistrust of psychology. There are outdated notions of psychology and the belief it leads people away from God because it is based on scientific research rather than pure biblical teaching—never acknowledging that every other field of medicine is also scientifically based.
They refer and forget. While it is appropriate for churches to refer people to mental health professionals, abandoning them without proper spiritual care communicates that the Church has nothing to offer in times of real darkness.
They stay silent. When failing to address mental illness as reality, we reinforce loneliness and marginalization and send a message that God offers no help or hope.
They assume all mental illness is caused by demons. This faulty belief undermines legitimate treatment and isolates people who need help.
They claim mental illness is evidence of weak faith or flagrant sin. Some blame people for their suffering, suggesting they are less spiritual and/or more sinful than the rest of us and withhold the grace and hope Christ gives freely.
They propose purely spiritual solutions to medical problems. Some discourage people from seeking medical help and, instead, suggest religious activity or intervention as the solution.

‘Credible’ Charges Against His Pastor Surprise, Sadden Scot McKnight

Stephanie Martin

June 9, 2022

The Rev. Canon Scot McKnight, a professor who has written extensively about Christian living and toxic church culture, has apologized to abuse survivors at the Chicago-area congregation he and his family attend. McKnight says he was “taken by surprise” by what unfolded and is sorry for anything he’s done or written that may have inadvertently “deepened [victims’] wounds.”

Church of the Redeemer, part of the Anglican diocese C4SO (Churches for the Sake of Others), recently learned that accusations of inappropriate behavior against the Rev. Jay Greener were found to be “credible and compelling.”

Days before the independent report was released, Greener resigned from the church, located in Highwood, Illinois. He had been on a leave of absence since December, when allegations came to light.

Scot McKnight Had ‘Admired and Appreciated Jay Greener’

In a July 7 blog post titled “An Apology,” Scot McKnight addresses the investigation and its aftermath. “Our family uniformly admired and appreciated Jay Greener,” he writes—so much so “that he appears in a couple of my books and I want today to apologize to his victims for what we have written about him.”

McKnight includes a brief summary from the report. Then he writes: “To all the survivors of these inappropriate actions (detailed as power, emotional, sexual misconduct) … First, I believe you and what you say. I cannot say this often enough or loud enough: I believe you. Second, I am, and my daughter and I are, very sorry for writing admiring statements about him that have wounded or deepened your wounds.”

McKnight has written more than 60 books, including 2020’s “A Church Called Tov: Forming a Goodness Culture That Resists Abuses of Power and Promotes Healing.” In the preface to his 2019 book, “Pastor Paul,” McKnight writes, “More than anyone else, Jay Greener’s pastoring at Church of the Redeemer has inspired this book. He probably knows…that my occasional scribblings during his sermons are as often as not ‘notes to self’ for this book. Jay—and this comes from the first chapter—pastors people.”

McKnight’s apology post continues: “This tragedy in our church has stopped me in my tracks about using names and personal stories, and it has made me suddenly far more cautious. We continue to wrestle with whether or not there were events or statements we missed that could have tipped us off to any unacceptable abuse.” He ends with a quote from C4SO Bishop Todd Hunter: “Pastors are called to the cure of souls, not to the wounding of souls.”

ChurchLeaders reached out to Scot McKnight, who declined to comment beyond what he had already said in his apology post.

On a 2020 episode of the ChurchLeaders podcast, McKnight spoke about the dangers of toxic church leadership. “We have to develop a ‘people-first mentality,” he said, “and to have a people-first orientation is to know their names and know their stories.”

Report: Accusations Against Jay Greener Were ‘Credible and Compelling’

In a June 2 letter to the C4SO community, Bishop Hunter recaps the 39-page report from Wade Mullen and Pellucid Consulting. After extensive interviews, investigators concluded “that they found ‘credible and compelling’ accusations of inappropriate conduct [by Greener], including the abuse of power, sexual harassment, and alcohol abuse.”

The Church and Mental Illness

Dr. Michael Lyles

June 9, 2022

In more than 30 years of psychiatric practice, it is still common for people of faith to confess shame, guilt, embarrassment and spiritual confusion over their struggles with mental illness. My average patient is more comfortable asking for prayer for cancer than mentioning a mental or “emotional” struggle to his or her faith community. Most of my patients struggle in silence as they have heard mental illness described as being a function of spiritual weakness, a personality deficit, a salvation issue or the lack of properly applied faith. They have tried to pray it away, claim appropriate Scriptures, simply get over it or plead for a miracle. When the immediate miracle does not transpire, some become so frustrated and hopeless they curse the day they were born (Job 3).

Mental Illness and the Christian Perspective

There are two basic problems with the inherent thesis that Christians should be immune from mental illness. First is the assumption that it is inconsistent with a biblical worldview for a person of faith to struggle with emotional issues. This orientation means the abundant life of John 10:10 does not include seasons of despair and emotional agony. Moreover, depression, anxiety, fear and confusion are not considered fruits of the Spirit and, thus, not part of the victorious Christian life. However, this stance can only be properly defended if one omitted most of the Psalms, the Book of Job, many of the personal experiences of the prophets, most of Isaiah 53, and the entire Book of Lamentations.

Jesus would have healed everyone the same way… and instantaneously. There would be no room for multiple variations of touching the eyes in healing. Words such as “suffering” and “heaviness” would need biblical omission and the Apostle Paul would not have a “thorn in the flesh” that he could not pray away. There would not be a need for a community of faith to comfort one another (I Thessalonians 5:11); listen to, and pray for, each other (James 5:16); and support each other through all manner of trauma and pain (Galatians 6:2, Acts 20:35, I Thessalonians 5:14). The reality is that the Bible is a “book of trauma” that describes many lives that were punctuated with pain. The message of the Bible is that God cares and has provided help for us to respond differently to the pain we experience.

Second, this position assumes that emotional symptoms consistently dictate a specific affective or spiritual causation, leaving no room for medical intervention. This is not defendable biblically as Nehemiah, David, Jeremiah, Job, Peter, Judas, Ezekiel and Elijah were all depressed at some point in their lives—for very different, not uniform, reasons. Furthermore, this view leaves no room for the impact of the central nervous system, especially the brain, as a mediator of emotional issues. In fact, the brain is not treated as an organ but, instead, relegated to a hybrid status as part physical and part spiritual.

In reality, the brain is an organ that impacts emotional perception and mood regulation, along with a myriad of other functions—motor movement, cognition, basic body drives (e.g., breathing, memory, and sensory perceptions such as hearing, sight, and taste), etc. As an organ, the health of the brain can be affected by toxins, infections, hormonal and metabolic imbalances, sleep deprivation, head injuries, insulin resistance, inflammation, degenerative changes, vitamin deficiencies, changes in blood supply, tumors, autoimmune diseases, and measurable genetic defects in the synthesis and management of brain chemicals such as serotonin. All of these factors can result in emotional, cognitive or behavioral symptoms that are consistent with mental illness.

The use of psychotropic medications as part of a holistic treatment plan is often frowned upon by people of faith and their theology who, as Christians, believe they could be spiritually harmed by taking them. The rant about psychiatry is often misapplied, especially given the fact that the majority of psychiatric medications in this country are written by primary care physicians and gynecologists. Nevertheless, even appropriately used medications should not be a substitute for Christian counseling or spiritual formation. Medication may decrease depression and isolation, but it does not promote joy or unconditional love… it can decrease worry, but cannot give peace in the midst of trouble… it can reduce rage about trauma, but does not synthesize forgiveness.

I encourage churches to actively train and deploy “Christian firemen”—running toward those being devastated by the “flames” of mental illness when everyone else is running away. Mental illness is very common within our churches and local communities. When we see people in need, we must endeavor to create a safe environment and listen to them, for they are our brethren (James 1:19). Then, we should minister to them with the trifecta of faith-based care—hope based on God’s love, appropriately applied science, and the ultimate truth of God’s Word.

This article originally appeared in Christian Counseling Today, Vol. 21 No. 2. Christian Counseling Today is the flagship publication of the American Association of Christian Counselors. To learn more about the AACC, click here.

Send Relief Offers $4 Million to Fund EC Sexual Abuse Response, Survivor Care Fund

Diana Chandler

June 9, 2022

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) – Send Relief announced its intent June 8 to give $3 million to fund the proposed Sexual Abuse Task Force (SATF) recommendations for sexual abuse reform, and an additional $1 million to establish a survivor care fund to provide trauma care for survivors and trauma training for pastors.

The $1 million would be allocated from Send Relief funds designated for its ongoing mission to protect children and families, according to a joint statement from Send Relief President Bryant Wright, North American Mission Board President Kevin Ezell and International Mission Board President Paul Chitwood. Send Relief is a joint compassion ministry of NAMB and IMB.

“Send Relief commits the $3 million in one-time funds the SBC Executive Committee estimates it needs to carry out reforms being recommended to the SBC messengers at the 2022 SBC Annual Meeting. This $3 million would come from Send Relief undesignated funds, not from Cooperative Program donations or gifts to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering and Lottie Moon Christmas Offering,” Chitwood, Ezell and Wright said in the joint statement.

“Send Relief’s contribution will allow Southern Baptists’ generous Cooperative Program giving to continue to serve and support SBC missionaries, church planters, and seminary students.

“In addition, consistent with its mission to protect children and families, Send Relief will provide seed funding of $1 million for a survivor care fund, providing trauma counseling for survivors of sexual abuse in the SBC, as well as for trauma-informed training for SBC pastors, churches, local associations and state conventions.”

In coordination with Send Relief’s announcement, the SATF has amended a June 1 funding request of $3 million to fund its recommended sexual abuse reforms over the next year. Those funds would have come in part from Cooperative Program overages and a portion of the Vision 2025 budget.

“We request that Send Relief contribute a minimum of $3 million to the sexual abuse reforms allocation for the first year,” the SATF said June 8 in amended recommendations. “We request the Executive Committee be the stewards of the allocation, in consultation with the ARITF (the SATF- recommended Abuse Reform Implementation Task Force), to fund the sexual abuse recommendations adopted by the Convention.”

In announcing the amended recommendation, SATF Chairman Bruce Frank noted several key changes.

“Some of the recommendations you will find in here are a new funding mechanism through Send Relief that will fund the reform entirely the first year without the use of Cooperative Program dollars,” Frank said in a video statement at sataskforce.net, “a more bottoms-up approach to the third-party investigation of alleged abusers, and give greater definition to Credential Committee standards on sexual abuse.”

Frank also released a new set of FAQs.

Vatican Bank Displays Financial Decline, Moral Gains After Papal Reforms

Claire Giangrave

June 9, 2022

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Pope Francis has been clear about his vision for Catholicism as a “poor church for the poor” and the 2021 annual report of the Vatican bank shows that the pope’s wish is closer than ever to becoming a reality.

In the report published on Tuesday (June 7), the bank, officially the Institute for Religious Works, announced that it made a net profit of 18.1 million euros (about $19.3 million) last year, a significant decrease from the 36.4 million euros it netted in 2020, but which Vatican officials defended as an able effort in difficult times.

“This is certainly an important result considering the low yields on financial markets,” said Cardinal Santos Abril y Castelló, president of the Commission of Cardinals, which oversees the bank, in a statement accompanying the report.

“The wise and prudent choices made by management continue to pay off,” he added.

The report said that two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, plus the war in Ukraine, put a strain on the church’s finances and that the repercussions will continue to harm its prospects.

Perhaps in light of the financial corruption trial going on at the Vatican tribunal, which has shown how church funds found their way into movie production and luxury real estate deals, the commission also underlined its commitment to “Catholic consistent investment criteria in line with the social doctrine of the church.” But curtailing high-risk investments and restricting its managers to ethical investing likely impacted the IOR’s bottom line, the report said.

The bank also highlighted its successes, particularly the 2021 report by Moneyval, the European anti-money-laundering entity, which gave the institution a good rating.

The bank, which provides services to 14,519 individuals and entities located in 112 countries, closed roughly 3% of its accounts in 2021. “The opening and/or maintaining of accounts at the IOR is destined to become more and more selective in the following years in order to protect the Institute’s service mission,” the report stated.

The costs of the institution grew in 2021 due to expenditures for providing digital services for clients and hiring new managers and employees. Total assets declined slightly because it acquired a pension plan for its employees in compliance with legal and accounting requirements.

The Institute for Religious Works was created in 1942 as a means to safely distribute funds to Catholic missions and dioceses during the Second World War. But since its founding, the bank has endured one wave of financial scandals after the next, the most recent resulting in the abrupt resignation of its president, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, after the Vatileaks scandals of 2012.

A Vatican trial found a former president of the bank, Angelo Caloia, guilty of money laundering, embezzlement and misappropriation of funds in January 2021. In 2022, former IOR employees were also brought to trial and found guilty of corruption.

Calls for SBC To Cut Ties With Guidepost Solutions Greet Firm’s Pride Month Tweet

Bob Smietana

June 9, 2022

(RNS) — Randy Davis, president and executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, said that a recent report detailing decades of sexual abuse in Southern Baptist Convention churches identified an important issue for the SBC to address. He also believes that members of the LGBTQ+ community “have value and worth.”

But in a statement this week, Davis has called on the SBC to “break all ties” with the investigative firm Guidepost Solutions, which produced the long-awaited sexual abuse report, after the company posted on Twitter its support for LGBTQ+ Pride month. The SBC should not have anything to do, he said, with a firm that “does not share our biblical perspective of human sexuality.”

Davis spoke out as news spread through the SBC community of Guidepost’s tweet Monday reading, “We celebrate our collective progress toward equality for all and are proud to be an ally to our LGBTQ+ community.”

Guidepost is committed to strengthening diversity, equity and inclusion and strives to be an organization where our team can bring their authentic selves to work.

We celebrate our collective progress toward equality for all and are proud to be an ally to our LGBTQ+ community. pic.twitter.com/i6DKiX36nm

— Guidepost Solutions (@GuidepostGlobal) June 6, 2022

Baptist leaders in Alabama also called on the SBC to cut ties with Guidepost. A Baptist abuse task force in Kentucky announced it will no longer work with the company.

Though a secular company, Guidepost has become a go-to firm for evangelical groups dealing with the issue of sexual abuse and is perhaps best known in Christian circles for a report on the culture at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries that found that RZIM board members were blinded by loyalty to Zacharias, a once-beloved author and speaker who has been credibly accused of sexual abuse.

The firm, headquartered in New York, was hired last year by the SBC’s Executive Committee to review how leaders there have responded to the issue of abuse. Guidepost’s work was expanded by the delegates to SBC’s June 2021 annual meeting, who authorized a more in-depth investigation. That investigation found that SBC leaders had mistreated abuse survivors for decades and had long worked to protect the institution and prevent any reforms to address abuse.

Southern Baptist leaders repeatedly tried to derail the investigation.

As part of its report, Guidepost suggested a series of steps to address abuse. An SBC task force on sexual abuse, which oversaw the investigation, has also suggested reforms, which will be voted on at next week’s annual meeting in Anaheim, California. Guidepost is also running a hotline for reporting abuse, which can be reached at 202-864-5578 or SBChotline@guidepostsolutions.com.

The SBC’s North American Mission Board has also announced plans to work with Guidepost on investigating any reported abuse allegations against its staff.

Guidepost’s tweet, which included a rainbow flag, led to an outcry on social media, especially from SBC figures who claim the denomination has become too liberal. Tom Ascol, a Florida pastor running for SBC president, said SBC churches and pastors had been betrayed.

“This is who we gave our tithe dollars to?” he tweeted.

1/ This is who we gave our tithe dollars to?

I & 47,000 other SBC pastors, plus millions of faithful members feel betrayed. We paid $millions to a LGBT-affirming & proud organization to guide us on moral & spiritual matters!?
Is there no fear of God? https://t.co/X9BcebKM9u

— Tom Ascol @tomascol (@tomascol) June 6, 2022

Mexican Megachurch Leader Gets More Than 16 Years for Abuse

Brian Melley

June 9, 2022

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The leader of the Mexican megachurch La Luz del Mundo was sentenced Wednesday to more than 16 years in a California prison for sexually abusing young female followers who said he made them his sex slaves.

Naasón Joaquín García, 53, abruptly pleaded guilty last week in Los Angeles Superior Court to three felonies on the eve of a long-awaited trial.

Prosecutors said García, who is considered the “apostle” of Jesus Christ by his 5 million worldwide followers, used his spiritual sway to have sex with girls and young women who were told it would lead to their salvation — or damnation if they refused.

“I never cease to be amazed at what people do in the name of religion and how many lives are ruined in the guise of a supreme being,” said Judge Ronald Coen, who called García a sexual predator.

The sentence came after nearly three hours of emotional statements by five young women García was charged with sexually abusing. They had once been his most devoted servants. But in court they called him “evil” and a “monster,” “disgusting human waste” and the “antichrist.”

“I worshipped my abuser,” said a woman identified as Jane Doe 4 and said she was his niece. “He used me over and over again like a sacrificial lamb taken to slaughter.”

García, dressed in orange jail scrubs and wearing a surgical mask pulled under his glasses, didn’t turn to face the women. He sat upright and looked straight ahead with this hands shackled at his waist as he followed along with the proceedings listening through ear phones to a Spanish interpreter.

García pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of forcible oral copulation involving minors and one count of a lewd act upon a child who was 15. In exchange, prosecutors dropped 16 counts that included allegations of raping children and women, as well as human trafficking to produce child pornography.

The victims objected to the plea deal, saying they only learned about it at the last minute and were not consulted. They implored Coen to impose a stiffer sentence but he said his hands were tied by the agreement.

“The world has heard you,” he told the weeping Jane Does and their supporters. “I promise you that.”

The church, which is also known as the Light of the World, said in a statement that García pleaded guilty because he didn’t think he could get a fair trial after prosecutors withheld or doctored evidence. The agreement would allow him to be freed sooner.

“The Apostle of Jesus Christ has had no choice but to accept with much pain that the agreement presented is the best way forward to protect the church and his family,” the church said. It repeated its support for him.

A Good Marriage Requires Work

Randy Alcorn

June 9, 2022

I keep thanking God for Nanci’s partnership and companionship in the gospel. I first heard the gospel from Nanci, and we discussed messages I was hearing at church and youth group for eight months before I came to Christ as a sophomore in high school. Later, we went through Bible college together and were in most of each other’s classes. We discussed lectures and did our homework together.

As the years went by, we discussed theology on the plane and in the car and in our living room. We would watch Bible Project videos together and listen to sermons online and talk about them.

Our marriage was far from perfect, because she was (and I still am!) imperfect. Being a man, I have a stupid gene. And no one saw it at work more than my wife. We said to each other honestly, “We are different enough that if we didn’t have the Lord we might have divorced for irreconcilable differences.” But God reconciled our differences and made each of us better. And in time the differences weren’t irritating; they became endearing.

We learned to like what the other liked. We both loved dogs and good movies and sports. From 1977 to 1990, when I was a pastor, we had staff meetings on Monday afternoons. I used to say to the other pastors, “Guys, we all need to love our wives sacrificially. So tonight, let’s do whatever our wives want to do. You can take your wife to a French restaurant and the ballet, but my wife wants me home for Monday night football and pizza. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it.”

Still, enjoying marriage didn’t come easily. It took a lot of hard work. But we did the work, by God’s grace. Early on, we spent too much time trying to change each other. When we stopped, our marriage got better and better. We learned to embrace our differences and enjoy them instead of resisting and resenting them. (Good luck trying to do that without the grace and power of God!)

We loved each other from the beginning, but we had to learn what sacrificial love really means. And by God’s grace, we did. It wasn’t automatic. It not only took work, it took a lot of repentance and forgiveness and humbling ourselves. And it happened—we became true soulmates.

And it was more than worth every sacrifice.

This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.

If Gen Z Is Awakened, Equipped and Unleashed

Greg Stier

June 9, 2022

If Gen Z is awakened, equipped and unleashed they will change the way we do and view ministry forever. They will embrace the Gospel as the ultimate cause and rally other young people to join the movement. They will feed the hungry with bread and point them to Jesus, the Bread of Life (John 6:35.) They will give the thirsty water and offer them Jesus, the Living Water (John 7:37-39.) They will seek to stop human trafficking, as well as “soul trafficking“, as Satan seeks to traffic the souls of the next generation to hell (2 Timothy 2:24-26.)

If Gen Z is awakened, equipped and unleashed they will use technology in mind-blowing ways to advance the Gospel. They will share their stories without shame and use TikTok, SnapChat and Instagram to point their friends to the hope that they have in Jesus. They will show us how to endure low-level persecution and answer their online critics with a smile emoji. 13 year olds will use their social media platforms to spread the Gospel faster and farther than Billy Graham ever dreamed of.

If Gen Z is awakened, equipped and unleashed they will look at their time at school just like they view a summer mission trip. Every cafeteria table will be viewed as an unreached people group, every walk down the hallway as a search and rescue mission, every teen sitting by themselves as an opportunity to show and share the love of Jesus.

If Gen Z is awakened, equipped and unleashed youth group will no longer just be a sanctified friend group hang out. It will be a weekly gathering of prayer warriors and Gospel advancers who come together to share war stories from the week, intercede for their yet-to-be-reached friends, encourage each other in the battle, experience passionate worship of the God who rescued them, receive more evangelism, apologetics and discipleship training and, of course, play some games and eat some pizza. After all, they’re still teenagers!

If Gen Z is awakened, equipped and unleashed they will turn our way of teaching them upside down. Their relentless evangelism during the week will trigger real and raw discussions during youth group. Questions like “How do we reach our LGBQT+ friends?” and “Why do we believe the Bible is the ultimate authority?” and “Why would we call God ‘loving’ if he created an everlasting hell for all those who reject him?” will often dominate youth group night. This will force youth leaders to always be ready to pivot from their curriculum approach to the messiness of letting teenagers ask the hard questions they are being asked by their friends as they share the Gospel.

If Gen Z is awakened, equipped and unleashed stories of changed lives, saved souls and mobilized teenagers will start circulating online. A revival underground will begin that turns the spark of spiritual awakening into an unstoppable inferno that will burn up the dead wood of religion and tradition and, in the process, set entire churches ablaze for Christ. Revival will spread from the youth room to the church auditorium as moms and dads, grandpas and grandmas, pastors and people, get convicted, then inspired, then transformed by the example of teenagers who are setting the pace for evangelism and discipleship in their communities and churches.

If Gen Z is awakened, equipped and unleashed with and for the Gospel they will be the greatest missionary force in the history of the church!

This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.

Six Considerations Before You Share on Social Media

Randy Alcorn

June 9, 2022

Last year I did a series of blogs on what Scripture has to say about the power of the tongue. The cumulative weight of those verses is stunning. In today’s social media world, which allows us to publish comments to the world with the mere push of a button, more than ever we as God’s people need to read and meditate on Scripture, and examine our heart and habits. We need to be slower to anger and slower to speak, and quicker to hear and think biblically.

God says, “The tongue has the power of life and death” (Proverbs 18:21). Take a look through your Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter feed, and you’ll see that we as God’s people need discipleship to develop more godly technology habits.

I say this in my book Happiness:

There are valid reasons why unbelievers fear that becoming a Christian will result in their unhappiness. They’ve known—as many of us churchgoers have also known—professing Christians who go out of their way to promote misery, not gladness. I’ve seen Bible-believing, Christ-centered people post thoughts on a blog or on social media only to receive a string of hypercritical responses from people who wield Scripture verses like pickaxes, swiftly condemning the slightest hint of a viewpoint they consider suspicious. Others quickly join the fray, and soon it appears that no one has bothered to read what the blogger actually said. Responders assume the worst, not giving the benefit of the doubt and engaging in shotgun-style character assassination. If I were an unbeliever reading such responses, I certainly wouldn’t be drawn to the Christian faith.

I wonder why it’s not immediately recognized by those engaging in such behavior that what they’re doing is utterly contrary to the faith they profess and the Bible they believe. How is it that perpetual disdain, suspicion, unkindness, and hostility are seen as taking the spiritual high ground? Perhaps the message that Christians shouldn’t be happy has really been taken to heart! Hence, curmudgeon Christianity abounds.

That’s why I so appreciated an episode of Ask Pastor John titled, “Before You Tweet Criticism: Six Considerations.” What John Piper has to say is so good, and I can’t encourage you enough to listen to or read the whole thing.

Here are his six points:

1. Speak the truth.

“First, the very minimal expectation of our speech on social media should be that it is true — that is, factually true, biblically sound. …Now, I say that’s minimal, and the reason I stress that it is only minimal is that you can handle truth in ways that are sinful. Speaking truth doesn’t guarantee that you are speaking righteously or lovingly.”

2. Aim at Godward good.

“Am I aiming in my social media posts to help the person that I’m talking to or talking about know God better, trust God more, love people better, walk in less sin and more holiness?”

3. Know your audience.

“…what’s peculiar about this occasion called the Internet is that it is contextless. We don’t have any control over who or how or where or when a person reads what we have written. There are thousands of different settings, and emotional conditions, and levels of maturity, and states of spiritual height or depth, and immediate experiences, and on and on. In other words, we are unleashing our sentences into an unknown welter of occasions.”

4. Seek peace and pursue it.

“My fourth suggestion is that we measure what we say on social media by whether it communicates a heartfelt desire, not just that a person grow in their relation toward God, but that they realize we would like to have them as more unified with us than we presently are.”

5. Be slow to anger.

“Be slow to anger, slow to speak, because it’s very, very, very (I’ll say three and stop there: very, very, very) likely that your anger is not righteous, and mine isn’t either, and it will not produce the good you think it might.”

6. Let your treasure shine.

“Can people detect that your heart is deeply content in and satisfied by the beauty and worth and greatness of Jesus? That’s why we exist: to display Jesus Christ as the supreme treasure of the world. Do they taste that? Do they taste that when they read or listen to what we say?”

This article originally appeared here.

Key Characteristics for a Church Communications Director

Phil Cooke

June 9, 2022

Since the church shutdown began in March of 2020 I started telling pastors that while outreaches like missions, education, and children’s ministry are all important, during the pandemic it was the communication and media team that was keeping your church in business. If there’s been a remotely positive outcome of the virus, it’s been that church leaders are finally realizing that their online congregation matters, and the role of church communications director communicating and connecting with that congregation is more important than ever.

As a result, churches around the world have been re-thinking their communication strategy, and particularly the lead role of “Communication Director.” Our team at Cooke Media Group has been deeply involved in these conversations, so I asked our Lead Strategist, Dawn Nicole Baldwin to share a little about how she sees this transition happening and what church leaders need to consider:

Dawn: “Communications” wasn’t always considered important in most churches. Actually, there was a time when it was not considered at all— church secretaries updated bulletins and even websites in their free time using whatever clipart they could find.

As ministries evolved, most created a dedicated Communications Director position and built departments with supporting roles as needs required. But these roles were still primarily designed to serve the needs of ministries, and typically were not allowed to say “no” to requests. A drive-thru mentality became the standard operating procedure, with many ministry leaders filling out an order form of sorts, listing all of the ways they wanted to promote their event. (Do you want fries with that?)

This led to ministries inevitably competing with each other for the congregation’s attention, and “success” was determined by how many people showed up at an event.

COVID-19 changed all of that. Without live events many ministries were forced to reconsider their end games, and the role of communications has shifted once again to become more strategic than ever. People still need to feel connected and belong, even if you’re not meeting in person. They need to know how the church’s vision may have adjusted to meet immediate needs, and what role they have to play in all of this moving forward.

This is more than just deciding who gets logos and what the next sermon series graphic should look like. This is about communicating vision & keeping people connected.

Ultimately the senior/lead pastor is responsible for communicating that vision, but typically he isn’t involved with the nuts and bolts of all the different tools and channels available to make this happen. Or how this fits with everything else that’s going on at the church. Or how the assimilation process is communicated along the way to ensure people aren’t falling through the cracks (or slipping out the back door).

A communications department is usually responsible for the social media, digital, and print touch points to reach your congregation, the community at large, as well as the staff. This is a lot to put on one person’s plate, especially if this same person is also responsible for executing everything. You need someone who isn’t drowning in the day-to-day to help communicate where the ship is headed.

So if you think your church may have outgrown its previous communications structure, here are a few key characteristics to consider for a great Communications Director moving forward:

Key Characteristics for a Church Communications Director

1. Strategic thinker

Able to see the big picture, a church communications director typically is on the executive team or working closely with senior leadership.

2. Team builder

Even if your church is in a hiring freeze, these skills are invaluable as it includes building teams of volunteers. You’ll only grow as far as the person leading your efforts, so aim high.

3. Collaborator

Your church communications director needs to work with various ministry leaders as well as creative types. So knowing how to understand WHAT needs to be communicated and HOW to translate that creatively takes spirit of collaboration (and the ability to speak fluently in the languages of both strategic thinkers and creatives).

And this is very important to understand: creative technical skills like graphic design or video are helpful, but much lower on the priority list since these can be outsourced if needed.

It may be time for you to move your church communications director role from a “technical” position to a “leadership” position, because it’s difficult (if not impossible) for creative or technical expertise to overcome a lack of vision.

If you’d like to talk to someone about what this could mean for your church, feel free to contact us here.

This article on the role of a church communications director originally appeared here, and is used by permission.

When Bad Things Happen to Good People: Youth Discussion Starter

Youth Ministrycom

June 8, 2022

When bad things happen to good people, Christians of all ages have questions. Teenagers especially may wonder where God is when tragedies, disasters, and tough times hit.

It doesn’t take long for young people to discover that life doesn’t always seem fair. Sometimes, the odds seem stacked against you.

Discussion Starter: When Bad Things Happen to Good People

To spark conversation on this topic, watch the movie Holes as a group. Then follow it up with this devotion. It’s one of many great activities from Bryan Belknap’s Blockbuster Movie Events for Youth Ministry: Relevant Retreats and Movie Nights.

Holes introduces Stanley Yelnats (Shi LeBeouf), a young man who follows his family’s tradition of having incredibly bad luck. Wrongfully convicted of stealing shoes and sentenced to juvenile detention, Stanley joins the ranks of the orange jump-suited teen prisoners at Camp Green Lake. Located in a barren desert, the “camp” forces kids to dig massive holes as “rehabilitation.”

As Stanley slowly makes friends among the delinquents, he begins to suspect that the warden (Sigourney Weaver), psychotic guard Mr. Sir (Jon Voight), and whacked-out Dr. Pendanski (Tim Blake Nelson) are less interested in rehabilitation than finding something buried in the dried-up lake bed. It’s up to Stanley and his buddy Zero (Khleo Thomas) to unravel the mystery of the hidden treasure of ancient outlaw Kissing Kate Barlow. Then they must use what they discover to secure their freedom.

This movie hits perfect notes of humor, adventure, mystery, sweetness, and meaning. The plot dives into issues such as generational sin, judgment, mercy, racism, friendship, substitution, grace, and oppression.

Holes becomes a valuable ministry tool by addressing the conundrum of when bad things happen to good people. Help young people lay the blame for tragedy at the feet of the proper culprits instead of on their loving Lord.

Gather everyone around the TV to watch the movie. Start the film, sit back, relax, and enjoy! After the movie, allow a five-minute stretch and bathroom break.

Discussion Questions

When everyone has returned, ask:

How would you have felt if you’d been a character in the movie who didn’t “earn” the bad things that happen?

How have you felt when you’ve been involved in a bad experience you didn’t really deserve?

What do you think about God when you learn of horrible current or historical events that affect seemingly decent people? Explain.

When you hear people blame God for painful or unjust events, do you think it’s fair? Why or why not?

The Biblical Enquirer

Say: Next let’s explore when bad things happen to good people in the Bible.

I Don’t Want to Go to Church! Responding to Kids’ Complaints

Kenny Conley

June 8, 2022

“I don’t want to go to church!” “I don’t like church.” “My parents make me go to church!” Most parents, pastors, and children’s ministry leaders hear these types of complaints from time to time.

How should we respond when kids says, “I don’t want to go to church”? It’s a valid question. And we need to be ready when kids whine, “I don’t like church.”

Several times a year I teach a Child Dedication class. One of my favorite parts is embracing the tension between letting kids making their own choice and making some choices for them. In class, we cover Deuteronomy 6:4. This tension lives in the words “Impress them on your children.” What this verse unpacks isn’t quite applicable for the parents of babies in the class. But it’s a huge principle that parents need to carry with them as kids grow.

In more than 15 years of ministry, I’ve seen patterns emerge. There are almost always more 4-year-olds than 9-year-olds at church. There are almost always more 9-year-olds than 13-year-olds. And there are almost always more 13-year-olds than 18-year-olds. Why?

Simply, kids say, “I don’t want to go to church,” and parents don’t want to make them. I think most parents mean well. They don’t want to force faith on their kids in fear that their kids will reject it. When kids complain, “I don’t like church,” their parents don’t want to be the bad guys. They don’t want their kids to say, “My parents make me go to church!”

I Don’t Want to Go to Church: How to Respond

At TruthNotes.net, Ruth Meyer wrote a great blog titled “Why I Would Never Force My Kids to Go to Church.” She uses the same examples I’ve been using in my Child Dedication classes. Kids don’t always understand what’s best for them. And they don’t have the wisdom (life experiences) to make certain decisions until they’re older.

For example:

If my child doesn’t want to brush his teeth because he doesn’t like it, it doesn’t matter. I know better than he does. He’s going to brush his teeth.
If my child doesn’t like school, it doesn’t matter. I know better than she does, and it’s the law. She’s going to go to school.
If my child doesn’t like vegetables, it doesn’t matter. I know they are healthy and that my child’s taste will change. We’ll keep trying them.

These things don’t make me a bad parent. They make me a good parent.

Church is no different. Kids will wake up and say, “I don’t want to go to church.” They may be like this for months or even years. It’s normal. Parents need to be encouraged to parent well through these phases. They know better, and they need to do what they know is best for their child.

Exception: I think there’s space for an exception. If you’re forcing a child to attend a church that makes Jesus boring… then maybe reconsider your church. Or see how you can help be the change to make ministry to kids relevant, exciting and relational. After all, when kids complain, “I don’t like church,” they may have some valid points!

One More Thought

Here’s a final thought from Meyer’s post:

Church isn’t a place you go to get pumped up about life. It isn’t entertainment like a movie or concert. It is literally a life and death matter. Eternal life. Just as a loving parent wouldn’t allow their child to wander in the road or to quit school, a loving Christian parent also does not give the option to their children about going to church, learning Bible stories at home, and praying together.

Do your kids always jump for joy when they hear you say, “Time to get up! Let’s get ready for church!” No. They won’t. Do they get excited for school every morning? Hardly. But you still make them go. Why? Because you are the parent and you know what’s best.

Even when they complain, you serve them healthful meals and limit their junk food intake. You set boundaries for their own safety when playing outside. You insist they go to school because you’re looking at the long term picture. And you are right to do those things. How much more so are you responsible for doing all you can to secure their eternal well being?

Communicate this to parents. Encourage them so they’re prepared when kids say, “I don’t like church.” Cast this vision when they have babies, when their babies become preschoolers, when preschoolers become elementary age, when those kids become preteens, and when preteens become teenagers. Stick with it because this is the only chance they get!

Is It Wrong To Raise Your Hands in Worship? One Theology Professor Thinks It Can Be

Jessica Mouser

June 8, 2022

A tweet from Dr. Scott Aniol regarding raising hands in worship has Christian Twitter all aflutter. Aniol, who is executive vice president and editor-in-chief of G3 Ministries and Professor of Pastoral Theology at Grace Bible Theological Seminary, said when emotion moves us lift our hands in worship, that behavior is motivated solely by “20th century Pentecostalism.”

“The only reason you feel like raising your hands at a high point in a worship service is that your expectations have been shaped by 20th century Pentecostalism,” he said. “If you lived before 1900, it wouldn’t even occur to you to raise your hands while singing.”

When people pushed back on Aniol online, he repeatedly asked for biblical examples of raising of hands in worship that were not motivated by an individual’s emotions.

Raising Hands in Worship Tweet Sparks Debate

Several people responded to Aniol by posting Bible verses that describe people raising hands in worship. One user quoted Psalm 63:4 and 1 Timothy 2:8. The former verse says, “I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands,” while the latter says, “Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.” Aniol responded, “Prayer. Not emotional singing.”

Author Jennifer Greenberg replied, “Hymns are prayers. Worship songs should be prayers. I can’t sing Be Thou My Vision without tearing up, and I think if it didn’t move me emotionally, it would be a sign that I didn’t truly believe it or hope it. Doctrine without emotion, mind without heart; we need both.”

Pastor Joe Thorn replied to Aniol, “Raising your hands is [sic] in worship is adiaphora. If you don’t understand what that means then you shouldn’t be offering hot takes on worship practice or culture. If you do, then you know better and are trying to get a response from ppl you know will take issue. Just chill.”

One user posted what he said were images of Douglas Wilson’s Christ Church congregation in Moscow, Idaho, stating, “Every member with hands raised in worship as they sing the Doxology. Clearly this is a church heavily shaped and influenced by 20th century Pentecostalism.”

“This I absolutely support (and have joined myself),” Aniol responded. “It is a corporate act and not just an outburst of an individualistic emotional high.”

When user Eric Pazdziora asked if Aniol had read the Psalms lately, Aniol said, “I have! Where do you see an example of lifting hands at an emotional high point of a song?” Pazdziora quoted from Psalm 143:6, which says, “I spread out my hands to you; I thirst for you like a parched land.”

Pazdziora concluded, “There you go: A song (‘psalm’) with an emotional high point (‘my soul thirsts’) which an individual (‘I’) expresses by stretching out their hands. Delete your account.”

Another user quoted Psalm 134:2, which says, “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD.”

Others saw racial implications in Aniol’s tweet about raising hands in worship. User Joseph Magara said, “Not making this a racial issue or anything like that [but] as an African, we are generally very expressive in all parts of our lives including when we worship (& when we sing & dance in other contexts). This is the same [for] middle eastern cultures from which Christianity emerged from. “

How to Combat the Uptick in Antisemitic Attacks

John Hagee

June 8, 2022

antisemitic attacks — Image credit: Adobe Stock

Violent antisemitism has become a plague upon the United States and we must continue to vigorously combat it. In recent weeks and months, America has seen terrifying attacks against Jewish communities. Over the past two years, the entire nation has grappled with the deadliest of attacks against our Jewish neighbors. From Poway to Pittsburgh to Monsey, antisemitic terrorism has reached fever pitch.

The Jewish community may have, at times, felt besieged and alone. It is not alone. Across America, there are more than 8 million committed, and unwavering Christian Zionist allies in the grassroots army that makes up Christians United for Israel (CUFI). We boldly stand with Jewish Americans and the Jewish people around the world against the evils of anti-Semitism and we will work together to turn back its rising tide.

Now that President Trump has extended federal protections to our most vulnerable population – students – against antisemitism on college campuses, two main policy prescriptions for combating antisemitism in our broader society remain: education and security.

More than a year ago, a study was released that betrayed a shocking ignorance about the Holocaust among Americans. Thirty-one percent of Americans, and 41 percent of millennials, believe that two million or fewer Jews were killed in the Holocaust. Forty-one percent of Americans, and two-thirds of millennials, do not know what Auschwitz was.

The failure to educate students about the evils of anti-Semitism enables its growth. We understand the tradition of local control of education, but just as elementary students in every school district need to learn math and reading skills, no high-school graduate’s education is complete without a firm understanding of the greatest genocide ever committed.

Local, state and federal education authorities need to immediately prioritize Holocaust education. And Congress needs to pass the Never Again Education Act to ensure educators have the training and resources they need to be successful. Most often, bigotry is a symptom of ignorance, and right now our population is ignorant of the Holocaust. That must change — not tomorrow, today.

Proper education will help combat antisemitism for future generations, but the problem exists here and now. That is why we welcome and fully endorse Sen. Chuck Schumer’s call to quadruple the funds provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency administered Nonprofit Security Grant Program. This is commonsense policy that should enjoy widespread bipartisan – if not unanimous – support in Congress.

Steps must be taken to harden and protect religiously oriented locations. The bigots see synagogues and community centers as soft targets; it is incumbent upon our government to ensure that when people of faith gather, they are safe, secure and protected.

It is not 1938. In Israel, there is a country and a military that flies the flag with the Star of David. And in America at least 8 million Christians stand with their Jewish friends and neighbors. Washington must hear our voices and heed the warnings of the past. “Never Again” is not a bumper sticker or a slogan, it is call to action, a promise and a responsibility.

We can debate other issues on other days, but at this moment, if we fail to educate the next generation about the horrors of the Holocaust and protect the Jewish community against antisemitism sweeping across this country, we fail to uphold the most basic values upon which this country was founded. Americans of conscience must set aside their political and religious differences and come together to protect our first Constitutional freedom against the world’s oldest hatred.

Antisemitism in the West Is Out in the Open, Not Hiding in Plain Sight

John Hagee

June 8, 2022

For several years, Christians United for Israel (CUFI) has been deeply concerned that antisemitism was hiding in plain sight in the US and Europe. We’ve worked to sound the alarm and advance policies in Washington that combat this abomination. But in recent months we have seen that those Westerners who hate Jews no longer feel the need to hide.

The antisemitism that once hid behind a fig leaf of anti-Israel sentiment has largely shed this pretense. Antisemites are now comfortable being open about their hatred. And they are acting on it in the most horrific and violent ways. They are no longer hiding. They are here and their mask has been discarded.

In just a few short years, antisemitism went from taboo to chic. On college campuses across the country hatred for both the Jewish state and the Jewish people is not simply accepted, it is often expected from those who seek to don the post-patriotic and post-religious cap and gown. Likewise, antisemites from the fringe Right and Left have found favor and followings across the West – from small communities to the halls of Congress.

This is the world that leaders must confront. Likewise, as allies in the fight against antisemitism, we must acknowledge the problem and seek ways to solve it.

At its core, the spread of antisemitism is enabled by ignorance. A 2018 study found that while a majority of Americans “believe something like the Holocaust could happen again,” nearly a third of Americans and more than 40% of millennials “believe that substantially less than 6 million Jews were killed (two million or fewer) during the Holocaust,” and nearly half of millennials cannot name a single concentration camp.

The adage that “those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it” is sadly being proven accurate.

It is with this in mind that several months ago CUFI set out to educate a new generation about the history and horrors of antisemitism. Today, we are announcing that we are in the end stages of producing a feature length documentary film, “Never Again?”

From Dr. Deborah Lipstat, to ambassador Michael Oren, to Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, this film gets to the heart of the issue and confronts the consequences of antisemitism. As a result, viewers, who will be guided on this journey by a Holocaust survivor and a former radical Islamist, will learn about the dark history of this scourge and come to understand why all of us, regardless of faith or political persuasion, have a holy and solemn responsibility to keep the promise of Never Again.

We must fight against the rising tide of antisemitism sweeping across the West. We must confront the antisemites, regardless of their stated rallying cry, wherever and whenever we find them. And above all, we must educate the next generation about the perils and horrific consequences of this hatred.

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1. Strategic thinker

2. Team builder

3. Collaborator

Discussion Starter: When Bad Things Happen to Good People

Discussion Questions

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One More Thought

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