Sermon Prep for the Non-Vocational Preacher

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April 1, 2022

thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

It’s one of my favorite times of the year—I’m getting ready to preach for the first time in ages. With moving, settling into my new job, traveling for work and a host of other things, it’s been hard to even start looking for opportunities. So, God graciously provided one for me this coming weekend when I head down to Texas to work on a Gospel Project-related video.

Sermon prep methodology fascinates me. I love learning how pastors manage their time to prioritize prayer, study, writing and practice. Through the years, my own habits have changed pretty drastically. I used to joke that my prep was like “Forrest Gump”-ing my way into a good sermon. It was basically a happy coincidence. I don’t joke like that anymore (and not just because it annoys my wife). Actually, I work really hard to prepare any sermon or presentation. I’ve never considered myself a natural public speaker, so I don’t wing anything.

So what do I do? Today, I thought I’d share a bit about what my current process looks like:

How much time do I spend?

Around eight to 10 hours. This is the formal part of preparation: outlining the passage, checking sources and writing my manuscript. (Yes, I work from a manuscript.) Stewing on the passage, praying, letting it roll around in the back of my head…no idea.

How do I break up my time?

Once I’ve settled on a text (unless it’s been assigned), it looks sort of like this:

Day one: Read the passage three or more times in at least two translations. Get a feel for its rhythm and look for the natural breaks. Start working out the main point. (1 hour)
Day two: Once I’ve got my main point (the one thing the message is about), I start working on my outline and supporting points. Commentaries start coming into play toward the end of this time. (1-2 hours)
Days three and four: Write the manuscript and check commentaries. (2+ hours each day)
Day five: Read through and revise. My read-throughs are a little more elaborate. It’s more like dry-run preaching to myself (and sometimes my wife). (1-2 hours)

That’s typically what my process looks like. It’s not perfect, obviously, and doesn’t always line up to this. For example, sometimes there’s an additional day is needed because I need more time to make my manuscript shine. Other times, I find that what I’m saying doesn’t actually make sense, so I have to scrap it and start over. But despite these minor variances, this process works pretty well.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to start reading Jeremiah 31.

This article originally appeared here.

6 High-Impact Mother’s Day Outreach Ideas

By

Yvon Prehn

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April 1, 2022

Have you ever wondered why Mother’s Day has the third highest church attendance of the year?

The reason that churches are so full on Mother’s Day is not because it is the only time of year mothers come to church. Most of the moms are always there. It’s the husbands and kids who rarely come who show up with Mom that one day to make her happy.

The reason so many people come to church on Mother’s Day is the unchurched people in the lives of many mothers rarely, if ever, come to church, but they will come on this day to make mom happy. Mother’s Day outreach is a great evangelistic opportunity for your church! Here are high-impact Mother’s Day outreach ideas.

6 High-Impact Mother’s Day Outreach Ideas

1. Focus your planning on reaching the unchurched spouses and kids.

Flowers are nice, but far better than a rose for Mom would be a Sunday designed to speak to those she loves but who do not know Jesus.

Prepare your people by encouraging them to pray specifically for the unsaved, unchurched and straying family members who will come to church with Mom on this Sunday. Pray for sensitivity to their needs. Create attractive invitations for your members to give family members.

People Praising Jesus – Does God Really “Inhabit the Praises of His People?”

By

Daniel Henderson

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April 1, 2022

If you are like me, you are sometimes confused by obscure, out-of-context verses that are used to encourage our singing in a worship service. One very often-quoted verse utilized by worship leaders comes from the King James translation of Psalm 22:3: “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” By “claiming” this verse, these leaders are likely sincere in a desire to experience the Holy Spirit in the context of the corporate gathering. Yet, people praising Jesus have an obsession with this vague verse, as they are interpreting it, even though is not actually supported by New Testament teaching and, sadly, breeds significant confusion and false expectations. More importantly, it ultimately undermines the truths that are very clear in the New Testament about the person and work of the Spirit in the context of our corporate worship.

People Praising Jesus – Does God Really “Inhabit the Praises of His People?”

1. People Praising Jesus: a Needed Clarification

Commenting on the frequent use of this verse, worship pastor Zach Hicks confesses, “In an effort to elevate singing to nearly ‘sacramental’ status, (many have observed that evangelicals . . . have made congregational singing the ‘third sacrament’ of Protestantism because of how much weight we give to experiencing God’s presence in the midst of singing), this verse would be a slam dunk argument in less than ten words.”[i]

After a very careful examination of the original Hebrew translation, Hicks confesses, “Ultimately, it comes down to integrity. Will I approach the Scriptures as honestly as possible, and will I model that honesty thoroughly before the people I lead, even when it eliminates what I considered a major tool in my ‘worship theology shorthand’ arsenal? Sometimes (and I am guilty of this, too), we allow a little mis-exegesis to slide because ‘it’s just too good.’”[ii] (You can read Hick’s blog and certainly do your own study.)

2. Language and Context

Most scholars agree, and I am convinced, that the correct translation reads: “Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises” (NIV). “But you are enthroned as the Holy One, the one whom Israel praises” (GNB). Young’s Literal Translation reads, “And Thou art holy, Sitting—the Praise of Israel.” Hebrew scholar, John Goldingay states, “The idea of Yhwh’s being enthroned on or inhabiting Israel’s praise is unparalleled, and if either of these is the Psalm’s point, one might have expected it to be expressed more clearly.”[iii] His conclusion is that the idea of God “inhabiting” our praises is not a normal translation and not emphasized elsewhere in the Old Testament.

Worship pastor and blogger, Jonathan Aigner notes,

There’s another huge context clue we’ve got to look at. Read the whole of Psalm 22, especially the first half. It’s written out of the unpleasant and uncomfortable reality that God seems to be absent. It’s a powerful lamentation, crying out for an invisible God. It’s similar in tone to Jesus’ anguished cry on the cross (Psalm 22 is the lectionary Psalm reading for Good Friday). While this Psalm is certainly valuable for those of us who have felt God’s absence, the glib way we use verse 3, either as manipulation or justification, simply does not fit here. It is not a description of God reveling in human celebration.[iv]

Aigner continues,

The bottom line is this: the verse doesn’t give us carte blanche to sing (or preach, or pray) whatever we feel. Worship is not simply about singing and feeling nice things to God so that God will be able to take his rightful place. We cannot possibly add anything else to God’s glory by what we do in worship. God is Most High no matter what we think or feel. In worship, God is the subject, the great Mover and Shaper, and we are the ones being moved and shaped by God’s story. I know it sounds and feels sooo good to say that God inhabits our praises, but I don’t think we can get there from this text. I certainly don’t say it anymore, and if you share any part of my doubt, I’d encourage you to do the same.” [v]

I would simply reiterate that there is no New Testament verse teaching that music is a means of making God more than He already is — or in any way mediating the presence of the Holy Spirit. In some gatherings it seems that the worship leaders are trying to improve God’s status or even “channel” the Holy Spirit through the music, which is far more akin to mysticism than to biblical Christianity.

3. Bible Interpretation 101

Beyond the exact language and context of a particular verse, there are other essential principles for properly understanding the Bible. We must compare Scripture with other Scripture. We must interpret what is infrequent and unclear by what is paramount and very clear in the Bible. Further, we must understand all of Scripture through the filter of the gospel of Christ and the reality of the new covenant.

First, the Bible is abundantly clear that the finished work of Christ made it possible for God to now permanently inhabit the human soul through the saving grace of the cross. As redeemed souls we are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. There is no teaching in the New Testament that Jesus died in order to sanctify buildings, atmospheres, or the notes of our congregational singing. We cannot allow ourselves to diminish the power and teaching of the new covenant with pithy phrases or popular worship ideas about people praising Jesus.

One author, representative of this view, explains an aberrant idea: “It stands to reason that Presence is released. Atmosphere is changed… This is an amazing result from a dove being released… The atmosphere changes as the Presence is given His rightful place.”^[vi] Note the third person reference to the Holy Spirit. “Presence” is capitalized (seemingly as a “force” rather than as the indwelling PERSON of the Holy Spirit) and it appears that the goal is to give this “Presence” preeminence through the singing. Again, this contradicts all the New Testament teachings regarding the person and purpose of the Holy Spirit.

4. People Praising Jesus – The Power of Music in the New Testament

As Christians we must understand that music is an expression, or overflow, of the indwelling Holy Spirit controlling us (Ephesians 5:18-19). It is also the “word of Christ” at work in our hearts that gives us cause to sing (Colossians 3:16). Writer Bob Kaufflin makes an insightful observation at this point: “For those of us who think of worship primarily in terms of musically driven emotional experiences, Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman would be eye-opening. Jesus is talking about ‘true worshipers’ and he doesn’t reference music once. Not a whisper of bands, organs, keyboards, choirs, drum sets, guitars, or even lutes, lyres, and timbrels. Period. Music is part of worshiping God, but it was never meant to be the heart of it.”^[vii]

Speaking about music, Vaughan Roberts clarifies, “It is not the means by which we enter the presence of God, but it is one of the ways in which we can express our joy at the wonderful truth that we are already there, in his presence, in Christ.” [viii] The lyrics of clear biblical truth in music can certainly deepen our worship and positively affect our emotions. Yet, the Bible is clear that it is the work of Christ alone that has mediated the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives – not songs, smoke machines, lighting effects, or the energy of a gathered crowd. Any diversion from the truth of what really mediates God’s presence (other than Christ) dilutes the glory of the gospel and diminishes the power and truth of all His cross has accomplished for us.

5. Clarity About the Spirit and our Worship When There Are People Praising Jesus.

We do not sing in order to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We are filled with the Holy Spirit so that we might sing. The New Testament nowhere teaches that the Holy Spirit works through the medium of notes, sound systems, and tunes to deliver God’s presence or enabling the Holy Spirit to take control of our lives. Rather, the Holy Spirit’s control in us will produce heartfelt worship expressed in song for the glory of Christ. The truth in the songs can certainly inform and inspire our worship but the song is not the key to the “Presence.”

Michael Horton notes, “Vagueness about the object of our praise inevitably leads to making our own praise the object. Praise therefore becomes an end in itself, and we are caught up in our own ‘worship experience’ rather than in the God whose character and acts are the only proper focus.”^[ix]

6. People Praising Jesus – Our Response

The goal of all I have said is not to stimulate criticism toward your worship pastor. I hope you will pray for those who lead your worship and gently suggest biblical clarity when you have the opportunity. I simply want to help us all embrace paramount New Testament truth so that the Holy Spirit’s purpose of glorifying Christ and His finished work for us might be clear and compelling in our worship. Let’s set our hearts to worship “from the inside out” as the Holy Spirit and word of Christ compel us to make much of the cross – whether through hymns or new praise choruses – whether gathered in a simple chapel or a high-tech worship facility. The indwelling Spirit will produce people praising Jesus in our hearts as we are fully submitted to Him.

This article about people praising Jesus originally appeared here, and is used by permission.

(This article is adapted from Daniel Henderson’s book Transforming Presence: How the Holy Spirit Changes Everything from the Inside Out, presenting ten truths for a new experience of the Holy Spirit. You can learn more at www.transformingpresencebook.com.)

EXCLUSIVE: American Bible Society Gives Inside Look at Plight of Ukrainian Refugees

By

Jessica Lea

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March 31, 2022

ukrainian refugees — Jack Newman (left) and the Rev. Enid Almanzar (right) of American Bible Society pray over Pastor Sobczak Zbigniew (center), who serves at First Baptist Church in Krakow, Poland. Pastor Sobczak, who is Polish, and his team of Ukrainian volunteers have been working around the clock to provide physical and spiritual aid to displaced Ukrainians who have sought refuge in Poland. Image credit: Douglas Nottage, American Bible Society

Enid Almanzar, Director of Global Access Partnerships for the American Bible Society (ABS), recently returned from Poland, where she and a team assessed the needs on the ground for more than 2 million Ukrainian refugees. Since the invasion began on Feb. 24, ABS has received daily updates from colleagues at Ukrainian Bible Society.

In an interview with ChurchLeaders, Almanzar shared how churches are ministering to Ukrainians fleeing the war in their home country and how Bible societies are meeting the “critical need” for God’s Word.

Ukrainian Refugees Hungry for the Word of God

ChurchLeaders: The reports that we are seeing in the news about the plight of Ukrainian refugees are devastating. What stands out to you from your first-hand experience of what the refugees are going through?

Almanzar: What stands out to me is how many children we’ve seen impacted by this conflict. Since men are being required to stay behind in Ukraine to serve in the military, we’re seeing that the most vulnerable populations make up the majority of the refugees crossing the border—primarily mothers with their children and the elderly.

Tragically, we found that many of these women are traveling with multiple children alone, allowing them to only carry with them the most critical resources needed for their family. Since the journey is many miles to the border, mothers often have to carry smaller children and have little energy for anything else.

Here’s what we were told by a man named Matausz, who is on staff at St. Martin Lutheran Church in Krakow, Poland: “Most [Ukrainian] people walk in with one bag and two kids. . . They left behind their Bibles, telephones, shoes, even toothpaste. . . They don’t have anything. They just want a place to sleep.”

Children not only have to leave behind their beloved possessions and homes but also their fathers, their uncles, their older brothers, et cetera. They’re fleeing amid air raid sirens and explosions to travel into countries many have never visited and where people don’t speak their language. This is making a deep impact on these children, many of which already have early signs of trauma.

This is why one of the most critical resources we’re looking to deploy during this time is children’s Bibles—to help these children begin to process their hurt and to find strength in God and his Word. Having their very own Bible in their language also gives them something of their own again, something that reminds them of home and points them to heaven.

ChurchLeaders: How have you witnessed churches ministering to Ukrainian refugees?

Almanzar: We have been deeply encouraged to see local churches respond to the needs of refugees in so many beautiful ways.

From turning their facilities into temporary boarding houses for families, to installing things like showers and laundry facilities, to opening a free photo copy center just blocks from the consulate to assist refugees with paperwork—churches are finding creative ways to serve as the hands and feet of Jesus. Beyond just providing food and shelter, many of them are looking for ways to create a loving community for the many refugees struggling during this dark time.

Former Youth Pastor Who Allegedly Murdered, Dismembered Teenage Boy in 1994 Begins Trial

By

Dale Chamberlain

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March 31, 2022

On Tuesday, trial began in Jacksonville, FL for Ronnie Hyde, a 65-year-old former youth pastor charged with the 1994 murder of 16-year-old Fred Laster. Laster’s body had been dismembered and was later found in the dumpster behind a gas station.

Disclaimer: some of the details of this story are graphic and disturbing. Discretion advised.

Though the murder occurred 28 years ago, Hyde was not charged until 2017 after DNA samples revealed Hyde’s possible connection to Laster’s death. According to WJXT, Hyde had also served as a foster parent for Laster.

Jurors were shown police footage taken from the crime scene, where Laster’s torso had been found.

“The head had been cut off, the hands had been cut off, both legs had been cut off, so it was just the torso of the body,” testified Brian Retz, who was a detective for Columbia County Sheriff’s Office at the time of Laster’s murder.

Forensic anthropologist Heather Walsh-Hayney testified that multiple knives were used to dismember Laster’s body, saying, “There were 25 sharp force trauma impacts with a total of 71 cut marks.”

Prosecutors also gave jurors a look at physical evidence taken from the crime scene, including knives, a bloody bed cushion, a red flannel shirt, and orange gloves with Laster’s DNA on them. Prior to the discovery of Laster’s DNA in 2014, the body had previously been unidentified. However, the defense argued that the sample on the glove was tainted, casting doubt on the veracity of that discovery.

Prosecutors matched Hyde’s DNA to a sample taken from the flannel shirt, and one witness said that they saw a car that looked similar to Hyde’s backed up to the dumpster where Laster’s remains were discovered.

According to PEOPLE, Laster’s family told investigators that Hyde had picked Laster up the same week his body would be discovered. This was the last time they saw Laster alive. They filed a missing persons report eight months later, having previously presumed that Laster had been traveling with his heavy metal band. He was a high school drop out and passionate about his music.

Hate Speech Charges Dropped Against Finnish Politician, Pastor’s Wife Who Spoke Out Against Same-Sex Marriage

By

Jessica Lea

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March 31, 2022

Päivi Räsänen — Soppakanuuna, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A Finnish court has ruled in favor of a pastor’s wife and politician charged with hate speech for comments she made on the Bible’s view of same-sex marriage. District court judges in Helsinki, Finland’s capital, ruled unanimously that Dr. Päivi Räsänen’s words were not a crime.

“I am relieved, happy and grateful to God and everyone who has supported me in this lifetime,” said Räsänen in a Facebook post after the ruling. “The decision was in accordance with my expectations—I never suspected for a moment that I would be guilty of anything illegal in my writings and statements.”

In a tweet after the ruling, Räsänen said, “Although I am grateful for having had this chance to stand up for freedom of speech, I hope that this ruling will help prevent others from having to go through the same ordeal.”

Although I am grateful for having had this chance to stand up for freedom of speech, I hope that this ruling will help prevent others from having to go through the same ordeal. https://t.co/sh4EnxfOrT

— Päivi Räsänen (@PaiviRasanen) March 31, 2022

Päivi Räsänen Walks Free

Dr. Päivi Räsänen, 62, is a physician, pastor’s wife, mother of five, and grandmother of seven. She has been a member of the Parliament of Finland since 1995, serving as chair of the Christian Democratic Party from 2004 to 2015 and Minister of the Interior from 2011 to 2015.

Räsänen was on trial for a pamphlet she wrote defending marriage as being between one man and one woman, statements she made during a radio interview, and a tweet she posted in 2019 expressing dismay at her church’s support for a Pride event. “How does the doctrine of the Church, the Bible, fit in with the idea that shame and sin are raised to the point of pride?” she asked.

Reuters called Räsänen’s case “unprecedented,” as the court was faced with deciding “whether citing the Bible can be considered a crime in some cases in Finland.” The court’s conclusion was clear: “It is not for the district court to interpret biblical concepts.”

All of the charges against Päivi Räsänen, who faced up to two years in prison if convicted, have been dropped. The prosecution must pay €60,000 in legal fees and has one week to appeal the ruling.

‘God Has Staked Everything on Men’: Theologian Owen Strachan Stokes Controversy With Viral Tweet

By

Dale Chamberlain

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March 31, 2022

Author and theologian Owen Strachan is no stranger to sparking debate online by tweeting controversial statements. This week, Strachan claimed that “God has staked everything on men” in a tweet that has elicited hundreds of responses.

Strachan, who authored “Christianity and Wokeness: How the Social Justice Movement Is Hijacking the Gospel – and the Way to Stop It” and formerly served as president for the Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood (CBMW), has often spoken publicly about the importance of masculinity against the backdrop of what he believes to be godless, progressivist ideologies that have infiltrated the Church.

“The LGBT movement…the transgender movement, even what we call the ‘woke’ movement today, social justice—all of those movements are attempts to find meaning in ‘me and my desires and my experience,’ not in God,” Strachan said in a recent interview.

While Strachan’s tweets regarding masculinity often include images of actors like Tom Hardy and Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday in the 1993 film “Tombstone,” his tweet about manhood on Wednesday included only five simple statements.

“God has staked everything on men,” the tweet said. “Strong men are the foundation of a strong marriage. Strong men are the foundation of a strong home. Strong men are the foundation of a strong church. Strong men are the foundation of a strong society.”

“God has staked EVERYTHING on men,” Strachan’s tweet repeated in conclusion.

Many were quick to express concern about the theological implications of Strachan’s statement, arguing that God had not “staked everything” on men but rather on one man, Jesus Christ.

“I see what you’ve done here. I’ll fix this for you,” one response read. “God has staked everything on Christ. Christ is the foundation of a strong marriage. Christ is the foundation of a strong home. Christ is the foundation of a strong church. God has staked EVERYTHING on Christ. Not you.”

A number of other responses expressed a very similarly worded sentiment.

“That’s not how it works. Strong women are the foundation of strong marriages, homes, churches, and societies, too,” someone else said. “And God has staked everything on his only beloved son, Jesus, including your salvation and mine.”

First Nations Meet With Pope Over Canada School Abuses

By

Nicole Winfield

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March 31, 2022

first nations pope — Former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Phil Fontaine, stands outside St. Peter's Square at the end of a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, Thursday, March 31, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

ROME (AP) — Drums pounded through the frescoed halls of the Apostolic Palace on Thursday and out into St. Peter’s Square as Pope Francis welcomed a First Nations delegation seeking an apology for the Catholic Church’s role in running Canada’s notorious residential schools.

Francis met privately for two hours with the representatives of the Assembly of First Nations, following his meetings earlier in the week with delegations from the Metis and Inuit communities of Canada.

“I feel the pope and the church have expressed a sentiment of working toward reconciliation,” said Grand Chief Mandy Gull-Masty of the Creen Nation, after the audience.

The trip was years in the making but gained momentum last year after the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves outside some of the residential schools.

More than 150,000 native children in Canada were forced to attend state-funded Christian schools from the 19th century until the 1970s in an effort to isolate them from the influence of their homes and culture. The aim was to Christianize and assimilate them into mainstream society, which previous Canadian governments considered superior.

Even before the grave sites were discovered, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission specifically called for a papal apology to be delivered on Canadian soil for the church’s role in the abuses against the Indigenous.

Francis has committed to traveling to Canada, though no date for such a visit has been announced.

The Vatican said Thursday’s meeting was held “in a climate of listening and closeness” and would be followed by Francis’ audience with all three groups on Friday, when he is to deliver a public address.

“If you were to ask me am I optimistic leaving our discussion with the Holy Father, I am,” said Phil Fontaine, who was national chief of the Assembly of First Nations in 2009 when he led an Indigenous delegation to meet with Pope Benedict XVI.

At the time, Benedict only expressed his “sorrow at the anguish caused by the deplorable conduct of some members of the church.” But he did not apologize.

“It’s 2022, I’m back, for another shot at … convincing Pope Francis to apologize,” Fontaine told reporters in St. Peter’s Square, wearing a feathered headdress. “A full apology for all that he heard today and probably heard from the Metis and Inuit delegations about the horrible experience of too many of our people that attended residential schools.”

“Our preference is for the Holy Father to come to Canada and apologize on Canadian soil, and do it on one of our territories,” he added. “That is our hope and wish and we made that very clear to the Holy Father.”

This article originally appeared here.

Monsignor Accused in Vatican Financial Trial Says He ‘Only Obeyed’ Bishops Above Him

By

Claire Giangrave

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March 31, 2022

vatican trial — The dome of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. Photo by Steen Jepsen/Pixabay/Creative Commons

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Monsignor Mauro Carlino, testifying in a monthslong trial concerning corruption in the church, told judges on Wednesday (March 30) that his involvement in a 2017 London real estate deal was limited to obeying orders.

“Before the cross I have asked myself many times what I did wrong,” said Carlino. “I only obeyed,” he added.

A former personal secretary to Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who served as sostituto, or chief of staff, to the Vatican‘s secretary of state when the deal was made, Carlino is the second defendant to testify at the trial of 10 Vatican employees accused of defrauding the church of more than $200 million in the investment in a London apartment complex.

Prosecutors have charged Carlino with extortion and abuse of office in his role of negotiating the Vatican’s exit from the deal.

Becciu testified on March 17, addressing charges that he transferred Vatican funds to family members. He will resume his testimony on April 7, when he will discuss his dealings with Cecilia Marogna, a consultant on geopolitical affairs. Vatican judges announced on Wednesday that Pope Francis had lifted a ban on discussing Marogna’s activities in public due to her familiarity with intelligence on sensitive global matters.

Carlino, who declared his ignorance of complex financial matters, nonetheless described how he played a key role in the negotiations as the Secretariat of State attempted to regain control of the property in London’s posh Chelsey district that was losing money for the Vatican.

In 2019, Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra, who had replaced Becciu as sostituto, asked Carlino to talk to Italian financier Gianluigi Torzi, a co-defendant in the trial who had acquired a controlling stake in the London property after being retained to help the Vatican buy it outright.

Parra, Carlino testified, emphasized the importance of “loyalty, obedience and confidentiality” in his conversations.

“As a priest, on every occasion, I tried to be obedient toward bishops,” Carlino said, adding that the relationship between a priest and his bishop is much deeper than the one between an employer and employee, since bishops represent Christ’s apostles.

“I did not move a finger without the authorization of my superiors and more than anything I have worked only and exclusively in obedience to the sostituto,” Carlino said.

To advise Carlino as mediator with Torzi, Parra appointed a lawyer named Luca Dal Fabbro, as well as Luciano Capaldo, an architect, and Fabrizio Tirabassi, an employee of the Vatican Secretariat of State who was familiar with the London investment.

Duke University Divided Over Israel’s Treatment of Palestinians — and Antisemitism

By

Mark I. Pinsky

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March 31, 2022

DURHAM, N.C. (RNS) — As most of the Duke University community was glued to the basketball team’s march to the NCAA Final Four last week, a debate erupted on campus inflamed by months of feuding between two student groups — and a student government caught in the middle.

At a March 16 student government meeting, the campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine requested $16,000 to fund two events keynoted by three Palestinian activists, according to The Chronicle, the campus daily. The funding was approved, despite strong pushback from Israel supporters at Duke, who said at least one of the speakers has made inflammatory comments that crossed the line into antisemitism.

During the funding debate, Alex Dray, a student senator, quoted a passage from “Rifqa,” a book by Mohammed El-Kurd, one of the invited Palestinian speakers, in which El-Kurd wrote that Israelis “harvest organs of the martyred” Palestinians and “feed their warriors our own.”

Nicole Rosenzweig, another senator, quoted a tweet from El-Kurd stating that Zionists have “an unquenchable thirst for Palestinian blood,” which she said raised the infamous blood libel.

A member of SJP, who asked The Chronicle not to be quoted by name because of fear of online harassment, defended the invitation. He told the campus daily that “the (requested) honorarium and invitation to speak are by no means an endorsement of everything the speaker has or ever will say.”

The funding request was approved by the student government despite what appeared to be the lack of a required quorum.

For months leading up to the latest fight, the local Duke chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and a new group, Students Supporting Israel, have been in a virtual slugfest on the campus.

On Nov. 15, 2021, members of SJP challenged university funding for Students Supporting Israel, citing a response by SSI to a tweet critical of Israel. The tweet, posted by a Duke sophomore named Elyana Riddick, was in response to The Chronicle’s article about Duke Student Government’s initial recognition of SSI and was captioned “My school promotes settler colonialism.” SSI then circulated a screenshot of the tweet.

SSI replied with an Instagram to Riddick: “Please allow us to educate you on what ‘settler colonialism’ actually is and why Israel does not fall under this category whatsoever. These types of narratives are what we strive to combat and condemn, which is why Duke’s chapter of Students Supporting Israel has been officially established & is here to stay.”

Students for Justice in Palestine logo. Courtesy image

SJP charged that the reply violated student government policy prohibiting inappropriate social media conduct and called on Duke’s student government president, Christina Wang, to veto recognition and support of SSI as a Duke student organization.

Wang agreed, joining a unanimous vote by members of the student government’s executive board. She ruled the SSI post was “evidence that the group singled out an individual student on their organization’s social media account in a way that was unacceptable for any student group and appeared antithetical to the group’s stated mission to be welcoming and inclusive to all Duke students, and educational in mission and purpose.”

A brouhaha ensued in the Jewish American press and abroad, as well as in some Arab and Muslim media. Locally, however, the most furious debate was largely confined to social media between those immediately involved.

Wang became the object of a racist doxxing campaign, which she recounted in a column in The Chronicle.

Franklin Graham Writes to Putin, Zelenskyy to Ask for a Cease-Fire During Holy Week

By

Yonat Shimron

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March 31, 2022

(RNS) — Fresh from a two-day visit to Ukraine, the Rev. Franklin Graham said he wrote to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to ask for a cease-fire in the war in observance of Holy Week in the Western and Eastern Christian churches, which together span from April 10 to April 24.

Graham visited Ukraine this week to see the work that his humanitarian relief organization, Samaritan’s Purse, is doing to aid refugees and other victims of the war. He said he was not confident he’d get a response from Putin but said he viewed the message as necessary.

“If they can stop fighting for a week or 10 days, maybe they can stop fighting for two weeks,” said Graham, speaking by phone from his home in North Carolina. “If they stop for two weeks maybe they can stop for a month. If they stop for a month, maybe they can stop for good. You’ve got to start somewhere.”

Holy Week, which begins with Palm Sunday and concludes with Easter Sunday, begins April 10 on the Gregorian calendar observed among Western churches. Eastern Orthodox churches follow the Julian calendar and celebrate Holy Week beginning on April 17. The vast majority of Russians and Ukrainians are Orthodox Christians.

Graham, a conservative evangelical who met with Putin in 2015, has praised the Russian president in the past, mostly for his promotion of what some Christians view as “traditional family values.” Graham drew widespread criticism when he asked people to pray for Putin shortly before the war, but he has more recently said he doesn’t support war and agrees the U.S. and the West must sanction Russia.

Franklin Graham, left, speaks to staff at a Samaritan’s Purse Emergency Field Hospital in an underground parking structure in Lviv, Ukraine, during a recent trip. Photo courtesy of Samaritan’s Purse

Earlier this month, Samaritan’s Purse set up an emergency field hospital in an underground parking garage in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. It has since expanded its work to include three medical clinics — two in Lviv, one at the train station and the other at a bus station, and a third in Chernivtsi in southwest Ukraine.

Now the organization, pushing farther east, plans to open a second emergency field hospital by this weekend. Graham said he did not want to identify the location while the teams were setting up, but will make it public once the hospital is up and running.

The majority of people seeking medical attention at the Lviv hospital are Ukranians fleeing their homes and in need of medicines and treatment for ordinary ailments, Graham said.

Anglican Church of Canada Blunders Stoke Calls for General Secretary to Resign

By

Kathryn Post

-

March 31, 2022

(RNS) — Survivors of abuse and anti-abuse advocates in the Anglican Church of Canada are calling for the denomination’s general secretary to resign, saying he and other ACC leaders have continued to bungle their response to the leak of a draft of an article on sexual misconduct written for the denomination’s paper.

“The ACC absolutely has the capacity to respond in an appropriate way, but it has made deliberate and calculated choices not to out of its need for self-preservation or out of fear,” said Cydney Proctor, a self-identified survivor of sexual misconduct.

In February, an advocacy group called ACCToo published an open letter claiming a “high-ranking official of the ACC” leaked a draft of an Anglican Journal article about the ACC’s mishandling of abuse allegations to some of the ACC authorities implicated in the story.

On March 13, the executive office of the ACC’s governing body, called the Council of General Synod, apologized and said it was conducting reviews of the ACC’s journalistic practices and sexual misconduct policies.

ACCToo, however, noted that the council did not fully address ACCToo’s original demands, which include a request that the person who leaked the draft resign.

Two days after the council’s statement went live, General Secretary Alan Perry, chief operating officer of the ACC’s governing body, was identified publicly as the person who shared the story draft.

Perry had been known to be the leaker by some inside the church since at least September 2021, when the church’s top official primate, Linda Nicholls, referred to him by title in a summary response to the incident that was published on the ACC website March 15. “In light of the sensitivities of such an article,” Nicholls wrote, “a draft was shared with the Director of Communications, General Secretary and Primate. Believing it was a penultimate draft, it was shared by the General Secretary with dioceses/institutions reflected in the article.”

On March 23, Perry said in a statement that the sharing of the article “happened on my watch.” He also expressed “regret” at the harm caused to survivors but did not accept personal responsibility for circulating the draft. Perry and Nicholls did not respond to requests for comment.

It’s not clear whether the ACC intended to reveal that Perry had leaked the draft when it posted its response this month, but now, the Anglican Journal’s former editor-in-chief Matthew Townsend, Proctor, ACCToo and at least one member of the council told Religion News Service they are calling for Perry’s resignation.

ACCToo also learned last week that a report of an investigation into the Anglican Journal leak had been shared with the Anglican Journal’s editorial board. That report — which ACCToo has repeatedly requested be shared with survivors — contained an appendix with confidential information about Proctor’s original complaint, according to Townsend.

Cydney Proctor. Courtesy photo

“Multiple sources have confirmed that in fact, the full report received by the editorial board included an appendix that not only identified one of the perpetrators in my story, it also provided details of my complaint against them,” Proctor said in a March 24 video. “This further degrades the trust which remains between me and the General Synod’s senior leadership. It is another breach for which I demand another apology.”

The chair of the editorial board did not respond to request for comment.

Jesus’ Politically Diverse Disciples

By

Scott Sauls

-

March 31, 2022

Jesus’ Politically Diverse Disciples

Sometimes a sermon can be a polarizing thing. Once I was preaching to a crowd of New Yorkers about how Christians should respond to the problem of poverty. I will never forget two e-mails I received the following week, both in reference to the same sermon.

The writer of the first e-mail, among other things, accused me of being a RIGHT-wing extremist.

The writer of the second e-mail said that he was certain that I must be a LEFT-wing extremist.

There are few subjects that cause people to become more heated and opinionated than the subject of politics. Yet in the public discourse, the most heated and opinionated people seem to get nowhere with their heated opinions. During a previous presidential election cycle, a friend of mine posted the following on his Facebook page:

Dear person passionately pushing your political agenda on Facebook,
Congratulations!
You have convinced me to change my vote.
Thank you for helping me see the light.
Appreciatively yours,
– No one.

When I received the two critical e-mails in response to my sermon about poverty, I shared them with Tim Keller, who at the time was my boss and older mentor. Tim recommended that I seek to learn what I could from the experience, but not worry too much about the negative feedback, because it actually could be a good sign.

For us preachers, Tim said, the longer it takes people to figure out where we stand on politics, in all likelihood the more faithfully we are preaching Jesus.

Some may object, “Well, what’s the proof of this?” I believe the proof lies in the fact that significant political diversity exists among committed followers of Christ. For example, there can be two churches in the same city but different Zip Codes and life circumstances. The members of both churches affirm that 100% of the Bible is God’s Word, is absolutely true, and that they are doing their best to submit their entire lives to it. Yet, strangely, most members of the church in Zip Code A will say, “It’s hard for me to fathom how a person can simultaneously be a Christian and vote Democrat,” while most members of the church in Zip Code B will say, “It’s hard to fathom how a person can simultaneously be a Christian and vote Republican.”

What’s going on in this (very real, in virtually every city) two-church scenario? There are only two possibilities. Either (a) one church really “gets” the Bible on the subject of politics and the other church — even though its members are as sincerely committed to the Bible — is not intelligent enough to understand the Bible correctly, or (b) both churches are sincerely committed to the Bible, but also have significant blind spots. In other words, they need each other in order to understand the Bible more accurately, and live more faithfully. As Christena Cleveland has said, the best way to understand what our blind spots are is to get into personal relationship with other Christians who have divergent political views.

The truth is, it is not possible to be a wholesale follower of the Bible and Jesus and be a wholesale follower of any political party. God created government, but people created politics, and people are sinful so our political systems will also contain elements of sin and blindness in them. As such, wholesale followers of Jesus will carry with them a both/and and a neither/nor posture concerning political parties and platforms. Unless a human system is fully and consistently centered on God (no human system is), Jesus will have things to affirm and things to critique about the system. The American political left and the political right are no exception.

That helps me. I hope it will help all of us, especially those who are tired of the rancor and caricature and canceling that so often accompanies political discussions — especially in 2020.

This does not mean that Christians cannot align themselves with a political party. But if we do align with a political party, we must hold our loyalty to that party loosely in comparison to the way we hold onto the Kingdom of Jesus, or, rather, to the way Jesus’s Kingdom holds onto us. As a tax collector, the disciple Matthew was aligned politically with the Roman state. As a zealot, the disciple Simon was aligned against the Roman state. On the one hand, neither appears to have left his political affiliation in the gospels. On the other, we have no record of either of them conflating his politics with his Christianity, as if the two were one and the same. Jesus, the King of all kings and who holds the hearts of every ruler in his hands, rules as sovereign over THE Kingdom — the one that encompasses the entire cosmos and that will have no end — “that is not of this world.”

Presidents, congressmen and -women, senators, governors, mayors, aldermen and -women, as well as police officers, military personnel, park and school district employees, and other public servants play an important role in God’s plan to renew the world. At the same time, they cannot be to us the answer to the world’s greatest problems, which are much too complex for sinful humans and institutions to solve on their own. As the Scripture says, “Some trust in princes, some trust in chariots, but we trust in the Name of the Lord Our God” (Psalm 20:7).

We also know that Jesus paid taxes and encouraged his disciples to do the same. To those living in Rome, whose government was no friend to Christians, the Apostle Paul encourages submission to the governing authorities, who are “ministers of God” and to whom taxes, respect, and honor are owed. Peter likewise tells believers that part of their service to the common good is to fear God and honor the Roman emperor (Matthew 17:24-27, Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:17.)

Indeed, the Bible also highlights God-fearing men and women who served in public office. Debra served as judge over Israel, Joseph served as prime minister for the Egyptian Pharaoh, Daniel served in the court of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon, and Nehemiah was a trusted official for the Persian king Artaxerxes.

In the New Testament, Jesus gave high praise to a Roman soldier for his exemplary faith (Matthew 8:5-13). These and other examples confirm that government, whether in theocratic ancient Israel or secular Egypt, Babylon, Persia and, or Rome, has always been part of God’s plan.

But when it comes to politics, the Bible gives us no reason to believe that Jesus would side completely with one political viewpoint over another. Rather, when it comes to kings and kingdoms, Jesus sides with himself.

The following encounter between Joshua, an Israelite military commander headed into battle, and the angel of the Lord, is instructive:

When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so (Joshua 5:13-15).

“Lord, are you for us, or are you, for our adversaries?” the ancient partisans cry.

“No, I’m not,” he replies.

The question we should be asking, then, is not whether Jesus is on our side, but whether we are on his. Or as one former U.S. President said, “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democrat answer, bu the right answer.” This is the appropriate question not only for politics and government, but also every other concern.

Consider the Gospel according to Matthew, where the disciple states that he, Matthew, was a tax collector and Simon was a Zealot (Matthew 10:3-4). This is significant, because Simon’s Zealot party worked against the government, while Matthew’s tax collecting party worked for the government. You might say that Simon was a right-leaning “small government” loyalist who thought the State should keep out of people’s business, and Matthew was a left-leaning “bigger government” loyalist who made a career out of collecting taxes for the State. As far as we can tell, Simon remained a Zealot, and Matthew remained a tax collector, even after they started following Jesus. Despite their opposing political viewpoints, Matthew and Simon were friends, and Matthew wanted us to know this.

Matthew’s emphasis on a tax collector and a Zealot living in community together suggests a hierarchy of loyalties, especially for Christians. Our loyalty to Jesus and his Kingdom must always exceed our loyalty to an earthly agenda, whether political or otherwise. It was also Matthew who relayed to us the part of the Lord’s Prayer that says, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

Christians, then, have been given an other-worldly ability to feel “at home” with people who share our faith but not our politics even more than we do with people who share our politics but not our faith. If this is not our experience, then we very well may be rendering to Caesar what belongs to God.

People from varying political persuasions can (and are meant to) experience unity under a single, first allegiance to Jesus the King, who on the cross removed and even “killed” the dividing wall of hostility between people on the far left, people on the far right, and people everywhere in between.

Wherever the reign of Jesus is felt, differences are embraced and even celebrated as believers move toward one another in unity and peace.

This article originally appeared here.

What’s YOUR Average Time Spent on Technology?

By

Phil Cooke

-

March 31, 2022

What’s the average time spent on technology, as in: how much time each day do you spend with technology? By “technology” I mean watching video, listening to audio, working on the computer, engaging social media, video gaming, or online reading. The answer may surprise you. New research from consulting firm Activate indicates that Americans are spending 11 hours a day with technology.

What’s YOUR Average Time Spent on Technology

The fascinating aspect of the research indicates that with multi-tasking figured in, we essentially get 31 hours in the day. (Don’t get me started about how multi-tasking doesn’t work.) And all that time isn’t scattered across all digital platforms. The vast majority of that time is concentrated on just a few sources like Facebook and Pandora.

This is a question about much more than how much time children spent in front of a screen. Variety Magazine reports that major brands are happy to just get seconds of your day. Vice, BuzzFeed, and Shazam attract 16, 36, and 19 seconds of people’s average time.

In the digital age, even a slice of consumer’s time is coveted by big companies. I’m curious: Where in the digital world do you spend the most time?

This article on Average Time Spent on Technology originally appeared here, and is used by permission.

ERLC Expresses Concerns About Biden’s Proposed Budget

By

Tom Strode

-

March 30, 2022

ERLC proposed budget — Photo by Edoardo Cuoghi (via Unsplash)

WASHINGTON (BP) – President Biden’s $5.8 trillion proposed budget for the next fiscal year contains elements of “deep concern,” according to the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

In an article on its website, the ERLC expressed its consternation at the White House budget proposal’s elimination of long-established, pro-life protections. It marked the second consecutive year Biden has excluded the Hyde Amendment and other prohibitions on federal funding of abortion. In its concerns, the commission also cited the proposed budget’s embrace of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as categories to be protected in federal law.

The ERLC found areas for commendation, however. The entity welcomed the proposal’s investments in rebuilding the refugee resettlement program and in addressing “food insecurity and the opioid crisis.”

The president’s budget, which was released March 28, is a request, not a binding document. Congress will consider it as both the Senate and House of Representatives go through the appropriations process to fund the federal government in fiscal year 2023, which begins in October.

“For the most part, the president’s budget proposal in any given year is more about messaging than policy,” Southern Baptist public policy specialist Chelsea Sobolik told Baptist Press in written comments. “That’s true with this document. While there are a handful of areas where consensus could be achieved, there are multiple aspects that are deeply concerning.

“For the second year in a row, the White House proposal removes all longstanding, pro-life riders and provisions from the federal budget, items that were once considered untouchable,” said Sobolik, the ERLC’s director of public policy.

“Additionally, it includes increased funding for initiatives that advance ‘gender equality’ on the basis of ‘sexual orientation and gender identity.’ Should this blueprint actually be fully funded, it would have the effect of paving over the conscience of millions of citizens – something every American should be against.”

Though Biden excluded the Hyde Amendment and other pro-life measures from his proposed budget last year, the eventual omnibus spending bill he signed this month after its passage by Congress included them. The Hyde Amendment and other pro-life protections must be approved each year as “riders” to spending bills.

Hyde, adopted each year since 1976, prohibits federal funds in Medicaid and other programs from paying for abortions. The ban is estimated to have saved the lives of about 2½ million unborn children.

Biden supported the Hyde Amendment during his 36 years in the Senate but reversed his position while running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2019.

In the ERLC article examining Biden’s proposed budget, Sobolik and Policy Associate Hannah Daniel said Hyde’s “success across the generations is not due to a shared belief about abortion but precisely because those representatives and senators believed the disagreement deserved respect.”

Former Pastor in Georgia Faces Felony Charge for Child Molestation

By

Jessica Lea

-

March 30, 2022

A former bus driver and former pastor from Powder Springs, Ga., was arrested on March 21 and charged with child molestation. Rodney Colston, 64, drove a bus for Cobb County Schools and was the pastor at Temple Baptist Church of West Cobb in Powder Springs.

“As pastor and as a ministry we want justice to be done,” said Joshua Hon, Temple Baptist’s current pastor, in a statement to ChurchLeaders. Hon added that he and his church “are cooperating with authorities and the investigation” and “stand for the protection of children.”

Rodney Colston Faces Felony Charge

Authorities began investigating Ronnie Colston in February after being tipped off by another bus driver. Colston was released on March 22, the day after his arrest, on a $25,000 bail bonds.

A warrant shows that three survivors have alleged Colston molested them at his home in Powder Springs. Because of the statute of limitations, it is too late for officials to charge Colston based on the allegations of two of the girls, who are older. However, Colston has received one felony charge based on the allegations of the youngest, who is 14 years old. She told officials that Colston molested her about seven years ago. According to a CBS affiliate that reported on the story, the victims are relatives of Colston.

Colston has admitted to molesting one of the older girls, but has denied the other allegations. He initially agreed to sit for a formal interview with the special victims unit, but changed his mind after hiring an attorney.

According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Rodney Colston was the pastor of Temple Baptist Church for 20 years before resigning near the end of 2021, and he began driving a bus for the Cobb County School District in 2010. In a statement to ChurchLeaders, a district spokesperson said, “We understand this individual has been arrested for allegations in Rome, Georgia and do not involve Cobb or Cobb students. Although he has resigned his position with the District, we will continue to provide support as needed to the Cobb Police Department and their ongoing investigation.”

Rome is about an hour’s drive from Powder Springs, where Colston resides, and it is not clear that the current allegations are connected to an incident that took place in that city.

A post on Temple Baptist’s Facebook page shows that Hon was welcomed as the church’s new pastor in December 2021. He told the Marietta Daily Journal that he does not believe Colson’s resignation, which occurred two months after Colston’s wife died, was related to the molestation charges.

Editor’s note: This article was updated on March 31, 2022, with a statement from Temple Baptist Church’s pastor, Josh Hon. The article was updated on April 1, 2022, with a statement from a Cobb County School District spokesperson, and wording was changed to clarify that Colston no longer works for the district.

‘God Is Good!’: Ukrainian-American Pastor Freed by Russian Kidnappers

By

Stephanie Martin

-

March 30, 2022

Dmitry Bodyu, a pastor and missionary in Ukraine, has been released by Russian troops who kidnapped him from his Melitopol home March 19. In a Facebook post on Monday, March 28, his wife, Helen, writes: “Thank you all so much for your prayers!!! Dmitry is home. He’s doing well. Thank you for your participation, for your concern, help and love! God is good!!! Praise the Lord!”

Helen Bodyu had previously described how Russian troops entered their home and confiscated their phones, computers, and documents. The couple’s daughter, Esther Bodyu-Ogawa, said soldiers weren’t aggressive but “took him against his will.” Troops seemed to know that her father was a pastor, she adds, and they inquired whether the family had U.S. citizenship.

Dmitry Bodyu Sheltered Ukrainians at His Church

Pastor Dmitry Bodyu, 50, was born in the Soviet Union, and his family moved to America in 1990, when he was a teenager. After settling in Texas, he became a U.S. citizen. Later, he and Helen moved to Crimea and then Ukraine, where they planted several churches. “We do everything that God is telling us to do,” the pastor said in 2017. “That’s the most important thing.”

In his last social media post before being kidnapped, Bodyu told Ukrainians they could take shelter at his church, Word of Life. He indicated he was at the building, which has “very thick walls,” adding, “We will try our best to supply as much as possible.” His daughter says about 50 people accepted the offer, “and he was feeding all of them too,” she adds.

On Facebook, the pastor offered words of comfort to refugees after Russia’s invasion: “Let’s all pray and call on the Lord that the Lord will keep us from every harm in the name of Jesus Christ.”

Bodyu’s family said they had no contact with Dmitry during his ordeal, and news of his kidnapping spread slowly due to communication disruptions. The U.S. State Department indicated it was aware of abduction reports but didn’t comment, citing privacy concerns. Melitopol is the same Ukrainian city whose mayor was kidnapped by Russian forces and later released in a swap for nine Russian soldiers.

Ukrainian Pastor Captured ‘Those Who Captured Him’

Pastor Bodyu is well known in Ukraine, and his daughter says his status likely made him a target. “It could be because we’re American citizens,” says Bodyu-Ogawa. “It could be because he’s…a big influencer. A lot of people follow him and really want to know what he’s preaching about and what he’s telling people, making sure he’s not talking about Russia and trying to tell people, ‘Yes, this is a bad thing.’”

Longtime family friend Otis Gillaspie, a pastor in Texas, tells the local NBC affiliate people had warned Bodyu to leave Ukraine when war broke out. But “he won’t leave his people, his flock,” says Gillaspie. “He feels a mandate from God to do what God has told him to do, no matter what is happening around him.”

‘Stop This Progressive Train’: Tom Ascol and Voddie Baucham Discuss Their Vision for the SBC

By

Dale Chamberlain

-

March 30, 2022

Tom Ascol Voddie Baucham — Screengrab from YouTube.

On the most recent “The Sword and The Trowel” podcast episode, Florida pastor, Founders Ministries president, and SBC presidential hopeful Tom Ascol discussed his hopes for the future of the SBC with author and missionary Voddie Baucham, who will accept a nomination for president of the SBC Pastors’ Conference.

Baucham had previously been rumored to be eyeing a nomination for SBC president, rumors he denied, citing that he was not a member of an SBC church and therefore not eligible. Requirements for the SBC Pastors’ Conference are less specific and therefore Baucham is eligible to run for that position.

Both men are a part of a movement of SBC leaders campaigning to “change the direction” of the SBC, which they feel has begun to drift from its conservative values toward left-wing progressivism.

Key points of contention for the “Change the Direction” movement include Critical Race Theory, which Baucham has written a book to denounce, as well as keeping women from preaching in SBC pulpits or being ordained in SBC churches. Baucham recently became a member of the steering council of the Conservative Baptist Network, a coalition on a mission to “save the SBC” from liberal drift.

While Ascol and Baucham have many supporters within the SBC, other leaders are concerned that they may be seeking to steer the SBC not toward greater conservatism but rather fundamentalism.

“I think, somewhere, there are people, you know, in little situation rooms trying to figure out what to do,” Baucham joked regarding him and Ascol both running for key SBC offices.

Baucham went on to explain that he has been “no stranger to controversy” in the SBC, claiming that he had been “blacklisted” by the SBC publishing arm, Lifeway Christian Resources, for standing up for author and Bible teacher Beth Moore after witnessing what he called “unethical behavior” toward her.

“Now, wait a minute. What’s a misogynist like you doing helping an author like Beth Moore,” Ascol jokingly asked.

While some have had questions about Baucham’s recent involvement in the SBC given that he is the Dean of Theology for a Christian University in Zambia, Baucham said that he is “as Baptist as it gets,” having graduated from three SBC educational institutions, including a Doctor of Ministry from Southeastern Seminary, and having planted an SBC church.

Baucham also said that, at one point, there were talks of him being nominated to be the first Black president of the SBC, hopes that were soon dashed after he “came out as a Calvinist.”

Robert Wolgemuth: How Pastors Can Minister to Men Facing the End of Their Lives

By

Jessica Lea

-

March 30, 2022

The Stetzer ChurchLeaders Podcast · Robert Wolgemuth: How Pastors Can Minister to Men Facing the End of Their Lives

Robert Wolgemuth is a former president of Thomas Nelson Publishers and the founder of Wolgemuth & Associates, a literary agency exclusively representing the writing work of more than 100 well-known, Christian authors. He is also a speaker and best-selling author who has written over 20 books. His latest is “Gun Lap: Staying in the Race with Purpose.”

Other Ways to Listen to This Podcast With Robert Wolgemuth

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Key Questions for Robert Wolgemuth

-What is a “gun lap,” and what are the specific challenges that men face in their gun lap phase of life?

-How can men finish well despite the regrets and even past failures they see in their lives?

-What challenges do you think church leaders and pastors face when it comes to running their gun laps?

-Can you help pastors think through how to relate to members who are in their gun lap? How do you effectively befriend, minister to and walk alongside them?

Key Quotes From Robert Wolgemuth

“When the lead runner starts lap number eight, his last lap, the starter fires the gun again. And that’s the gun lap…I’m running my last lap. I don’t know how long it’s going to last, but that’s what I’m doing.”

“When I moved to Michigan, when I married Nancy Leigh DeMoss, first thing I said is, ‘I want to build a deck on the back of our house.’ She had one, but it was too small, so I built a deck. Now, that was six years ago, and I’m going to tell you…I could not do that again.”

“You become more and more aware as the years go by of your own mortality. And it’s really easy to get discouraged.”

“What do you do when you forget somebody’s name or forget a place where you were or you find yourself repeating yourself? You can be really embarrassed by that. And what do men my age often do? They withdraw.”

“A brilliant man about my age said, “I wake up every morning and wonder why I’m alive. My health is failing. I have no job. No one needs me. I have no reason to live.” Now, you say that’s a really dramatic thing. I mean, that’d be a rare thing. No, not necessarily. Because a man gets payoff from what he accomplishes, what he does.”

CSB Marks Fifth Anniversary With 10 Percent of Bible Sales in US

By

Diana Chandler

-

March 30, 2022

NASHVILLE (BP) – The award-winning Christian Standard Bible translation reached its fifth anniversary in March, a milestone marked by a 10 percent market share of Bible sales, according to top industry tracking data.

Andy McLean, Lifeway’s director of Bibles and reference, said the sales milestone is rare for new translations. Lifeway Christian Resources’ publishing arm, B&H Publishing, released the CSB in March 2017 as a significant revision of the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB).

“Back in the HCSB days, I think some of those prime market share numbers were around 6 percent market share,” McLean told Baptist Press. “As part of the five-year celebration, … we’re also celebrating the fact that the CSB has surpassed 10 percent market share, which is something that we’re certainly celebrating and proud of, given the fact that the translation’s only five years old.”

The sales ranking is based on 2021 New Product Release (NPD) data, which in March garnered the CSB fifth place on the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association’s (ECPA) sales ranking.

Thomas Schreiner, a Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) associate dean who co-chaired the Translation Oversight Committee, said translators appreciated the HCSB, but made significant changes in rendering the CSB.

“In many ways the HCSB was a very good translation. We revised the translation we thought had a number of strengths, but we also think that it had some weaknesses that could be remedied by a revision,” said Schreiner, SBTS James Buchanan Harrison professor of New Testament interpretation, professor of biblical theology and associate dean of the SBTS school of theology.

“Furthermore, every translation including the CSB needs periodic revisions, and we’ve seen that in the history of translations throughout the years,” Schreiner said. “Every translation that is done needs to be revised as the English language changes, as our knowledge of the original text changes as well, to reflect changes in scholarship.”

Among the most significant changes, Schreiner said, is the observance of the standard English practice of translating LORD (in all capital letters) as LORD, as compared to its rendering as Yahweh in the HCSB.

In a number of passages in the CSB, he said, the Greek and Hebrew words that were translated as slave in the HCSB – dulos and ebed, respectively – are rendered instead as “servant,” while retaining “slave” in other passages.

“Now we did make some significant changes,” Schreiner said. “And then we made hundreds, probably thousands of other changes as we worked on the translation. It wasn’t just a light revision.

“It was a very thorough revision. But that doesn’t mean we’re not thankful for the HCSB. We’re very thankful for the work that was done on the HCSB.”

The CSB’s fifth-place ECPA sales ranking puts it just below the top-selling New International Version, New Living Translation, English Standard Version and King James Version.

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People Praising Jesus – Does God Really “Inhabit the Praises of His People?”

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3. Bible Interpretation 101

4. People Praising Jesus – The Power of Music in the New Testament

5. Clarity About the Spirit and our Worship When There Are People Praising Jesus.

6. People Praising Jesus – Our Response

Ukrainian Refugees Hungry for the Word of God

ChurchLeaders: The reports that we are seeing in the news about the plight of Ukrainian refugees are devastating. What stands out to you from your first-hand experience of what the refugees are going through?

ChurchLeaders: How have you witnessed churches ministering to Ukrainian refugees?

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Rodney Colston Faces Felony Charge

Dmitry Bodyu Sheltered Ukrainians at His Church

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Key Quotes From Robert Wolgemuth

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