Anne Graham Lotz Updates Daughter’s Condition; Says ‘God has Heard and Answered Our Prayers’

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January 14, 2022

On Friday (January 14), Anne Graham Lotz shared that her daughter, Rachel-Ruth, was being released from the hospital. Lotz shared earlier this week that Rachel-Ruth had experienced two heart attacks.

Lotz posted on her social media platforms on Tuesday that the cause of Rachel-Ruth’s heart attacks were a mystery, because there were no visible blockages. One doctor diagnosed her with a very rare condition called Broken Heart Syndrome.

With the cause of the condition unknown, Lotz asked people to pray as her daughter underwent tests throughout the week.

On Friday, Lotz posted an update along with a photo saying, “This picture was taken today at sunrise—the day Rachel-Ruth is scheduled to go home!”

“God has heard and answered our prayers,” Lotz shared. “Join us in praising Him! He has surely been an ever present help in times of trouble.”

Lotz also provided her followers with new information regarding Rachel-Ruth’s diagnosis, explaining that it wasn’t Broken Heart Syndrome after all.

“While the ER doctor initially thought Rachel-Ruth may have Broken Heart Syndrome, the cardiologist diagnosed SCAD: Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection,” Lotz said.

According to the Mayo Clinic, SCAD is an “emergency condition that occurs when a tear forms in a blood vessel in the heart.”

Her mother described Rachel-Ruth’s diagnosis as “extremely serious” and said it was the result of her two heart attacks.

Lotz thanked everyone for praying with them and shared Psalm 59:19, which says, “Like the sunrise, the Light of God’s presence, compassion, wisdom and peace have been present in this darkness,” she said. “Our ongoing prayer now is for Rachel-Ruth to recover her strength, health, and never again have any heart related issues. Thank you for praying with us. ‘I will sing of Your strength, in the morning I will sing of Your love; for You are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.’”

Francis Chan Says He Was ‘Too Quick to Label People as False Teachers’ in the Past, Calls Christians to Unity

By

Dale Chamberlain

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January 14, 2022

The last two years in America have been marked by deep division on a number of different fronts, including mask and vaccine mandates, Critical Race Theory, election integrity, and voting rights. These divisions that have characterized the nation have unfortunately been almost equally present within the walls of the church.

It is at this cultural moment that Francis Chan has an important message for Christians: church unity is not optional.

“The people who call themselves the followers of Jesus Christ are currently the most divided faith group on earth,” Chan said in a YouTube video. “And what’s crazy and terrible about this is that Jesus Christ Himself prayed that we would become perfectly one.”

As someone who founded one of the largest churches in Ventura County, CA, has authored multiple books, and is a sought after speaker, Chan is no stranger to the intramural disputes that often occur among fellow evangelicals. Nevertheless, Chan is convinced that Christian unity is more than a quaint idea.

“We worship a God who desires unity with His children and between His children,” Chan recently wrote in an article for Relevant. “As a father of seven, it would crush me to see any of my children rejected and separated from the others. It would anger me to see any of my children being divisive.”

Noting that “discord among brothers” is called an “abomination” in Proverbs 6:16-19, Chan said, “That should stop you dead in your tracks. You should be examining your own life right now to see if you are guilty of something that Almighty God hates so much.”

But far from pointing fingers, Chan set himself up as an example of someone who has fallen short.

“I am guilty of having sowed discord. Even now, as I study all these passages about division, I am embarrassed by my lack of remorse,” Chan said. “I have spent most of my Christian life wishing that certain pockets of Christians did not exist. I even had the audacity to pray for the deaths of certain people because I thought their removal would benefit His Kingdom on earth.”

“I was not just a run-of-the-mill arrogant person,” Chan continued. “That’s next-level stuff! Think about the pride it requires to come before an omniscient God to share that kind of idea…I was too quick to label people as false teachers, warning believers to keep their distance from them.”

“While there is a time to warn others about false teachers, there is also a time to do your homework,” Chan continued, clarifying that he isn’t relaxing his commitment to sound doctrine. “By being too quick to judge, I have made costly mistakes. I jumped on bandwagons that were popular in my theological circle, attacking men and women whom I now know to be God’s beloved children.”

Romanian Man Visits American Pastor Who Led Him to Faith 30 Years Earlier

By

Timothy Cockes

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January 14, 2022

ROANOKE, Va. (BP) – While staying at her parents’ house in Virginia, Cyndi Logsdon said she did not expect to receive encouragement from a surprise guest.

That unexpected guest came in the form of Eugen*, a Romanian man whom Cyndi’s father led to faith in Christ 30 years ago on a mission trip.

Logsdon is the central director of church groups at McLean Bible Church in Vienna, Va. She, along with her siblings, has been staying with her parents in Roanoke, Va., as the children help their parents deal with some health challenges.

Cyndi’s father, Paul Brown, went on a mission trip to Romania almost 30 years ago. Before going on the trip, Brown prayed earnestly that 10 people would come to know Christ as Savior while he was there ministering.

His prayer was answered when even more than 10 people came to know Christ as Savior while he was there, and Eugen was part of the answer to that prayer.

Logsdon said the two men kept in touch over the years by writing letters and eventually connected again on Facebook after briefly losing touch.

Last month, during his first ever visit to America, Eugen took a 10-hour train ride from New York City through the night to visit Brown and his family.

Logsdon said the visit, during which Eugen and the family simply talked for about an hour over refreshments, was emotional and “sweet.”

“We all cried. It was just a beautiful testimony of the grace of God,” she said. “It was an extremely tender and sweet time, and so often in life we don’t get to see these things. Eugen said, ‘I’ve waited 30 years just to say thank you for your investment in my life, and I wanted to thank you for your prayers.’”

While the emotional visit from Eugen was a surprise, Logsdon said a lasting ministry impact left by her father was not.

“In some ways it was not surprising, because my Dad shares the Gospel with people everywhere he goes, and he’s been like that his entire life,” Logsdon said.

“It’s nothing new to see my Dad share the Gospel, but it was amazing to see someone 30 years later take two days just to say thanks. It meant the world to my Dad. I think the phrase he used was ‘this is the best day of my year.’”

Religious Liberty, Life Top ERLC’s 2022 Public Policy Agenda

By

Tom Strode

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January 14, 2022

WASHINGTON (BP) – Religious freedom and human dignity again lead the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission’s public policy priorities in 2022, the Southern Baptist entity announced Thursday (Jan. 13).

The ERLC released its annual Public Policy Agenda, which is organized in five categories: Religious liberty; sanctity of human life; family and marriage; justice; and international engagement.

The new agenda “focuses on the ways the ERLC represents and advocates for the policy interests of Southern Baptists before Congress, the courts and the administration,” said Chelsea Sobolik, the ERLC’s director of public policy.

“The second session of the 117th Congress opens as we’re still grappling with a global pandemic, supply chain issues and economic uncertainty,” she said in an ERLC news release. “But we will continue to defend the vulnerable, protect religious liberty, advance the cause of justice and work towards a day when abortion is unthinkable and unnecessary.”

The new agenda “is not an exhaustive blueprint, but a sketch of the core public policy priorities for the next year,” Sobolik and Brent Leatherwood, the ERLC’s acting president, wrote in the 16-page document.

On some of its priorities, “broad bipartisan consensus already” may exist, they wrote. These issues include criminal justice reform, payday lending regulation and a just solution for undocumented immigrants brought into the country as children, they said.

Other issues the ERLC has prioritized likely will be marked by far less agreement, they said. gAmong these divisive issues are the protection of unborn children and their mothers, heightened safeguards for conscience rights and support for at-risk religious minorities overseas, Leatherwood and Sobolik said.

The ERLC has “the opportunity to bear witness, to seek to persuade, and to build the consensus needed to make change” regardless of the popularity of an issue, they wrote.

As in the last session of Congress, the ERLC will face difficult challenges in reaching some of its policy goals. The Democratic Party – which supports abortion rights, as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights – controls both houses of Congress and the White House.

Based on history, however, the mid-term election in November likely will produce a change in the makeup of Congress, Leatherwood and Sobolik said.

The ERLC “has been through a season of transition …, but we have continued carrying out our ministry directive to serve the public policy interests of Southern Baptists,” they wrote. Russell Moore departed in June for a new role with Christianity Today magazine after eight years as the commission’s president.

Martin Luther King’s Last Full Year of Life: Protest, Praise, Ire, Incarceration

By

Adelle M Banks

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January 14, 2022

(RNS) — While Martin Luther King Jr. Day is mostly commemorated with quotes and clips of King’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech and footage of bus boycotts and the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, some of the most important moments of King’s work came later, as he turned his attention from civil rights to poverty and the Vietnam War.

As he made more appearances in Northern cities to protest segregation and unequal treatment of Black Americans, King’s popularity began to drop. Surveys of the American public as well as statements from some clergy and activists showed the cost of shifting his focus away from the South and Jim Crow after the passage of the Civil Rights Act.

In 1967 — the last full year of his life before he was killed in Memphis, Tennessee — Religion News Service (then known as Religious News Service) published dozens of stories about King, chronicling how his growing outspokenness against the Vietnam War and his advocacy for the poor, while it garnered support from celebrities such as Dr. Benjamin Spock, drew criticism from evangelist Billy Graham and others.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., discusses his planned poor people's demonstration from the pulpit of the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., on March 31, 1968. (AP Photo)

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. discusses his planned poor people’s demonstration from the pulpit of the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., on March 31, 1968. (AP Photo)

Here’s a sampling:

January 1967

When Gallup Poll’s 1967 list of “most admired” men was announced early in the year, King had dropped out of the top 10.

At the top of the list were President Lyndon Johnson, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower and Robert Kennedy. They were followed by the only two religious leaders cited that year: Graham, cited fourth, and Pope Paul VI, who was fifth.

King had been listed sixth in 1965 and fourth in 1964.

(By 1999, Gallup cited King second on a list of the most admired people of the 20th century, after Mother Teresa and ahead of John F. Kennedy, Albert Einstein and Helen Keller.)

April 1967

In the same month that King gave his controversial “Beyond Vietnam” speech at New York’s Riverside Church, he co-led a march for peace from Central Park to the United Nations Plaza. He marched with Spock, the renowned pediatrician and pacifist, and spoke at a rally along with Stokely Carmichael, leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks about his opposition to the war in Vietnam at Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, in New York. RNS file photo by John C. Goodwin

Police estimated the five-hour event drew a crowd of about 125,000, reads an RNS story headlined “CLERGY JOIN GREAT CROWD IN NEW YORK PEACE RALLY.”

But RNS also reported that King said the crowd was closer to 250,000 or 300,000, calling it the “largest peace demonstration ever held in the U.S.”

The Worst Job Description Ever

By

Paul David Tripp

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January 14, 2022

thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Have you ever held a job that you absolutely dreaded going to? Has there ever been a certain task that you had to complete as part of the job description that made you want to resign?

What about outside of the workplace, in your Christian life? Has God given you a job description you couldn’t handle? Has God ever asked you to do something that you dreaded? Or, is there one thing lurking that if God asked you to do, you would be inclined to say no and run far away?

In today’s story of faith, I want to introduce you to a fellow believer who was given what appeared to be the worst job description ever. Despite being afraid, this brother in the Lord went willingly toward what made him fearful instead of running away.

The Battle – Fear Against Faith

Our hearts are constantly torn between fear and faith. It’s the bipolar nature of every Christian who still has sin inside of them, no matter how long we have walked with the Lord or how many feats we have seen our God accomplish.

Maybe you can relate to some of these:

We’re afraid that we won’t be able to pay our bills, so we don’t give joyfully and liberally to God’s kingdom.
We’re afraid of what our neighbors, coworkers or family members will think, so we don’t share our faith as vocally as we should.
We’re afraid that we will be rejected, so we don’t lovingly confront a brother or sister in Christ when we need to.
We’re afraid of looking stupid, so at Bible study or small group, we don’t ask the questions that have been plaguing our faith.
We’re afraid of failure, so we don’t attempt to make the most of the gifts that God has given us.
We’re afraid to leave the comforts of our predictable lives, so we don’t step out into that ministry opportunity.
We’re afraid of what people will think if they really get to know us, so we find it more comfortable to hide rather than be open and vulnerable.

I know it’s true for me, and I’m sure it’s true for you as well: Faith collides with fear in our hearts more than we tend to think it does. Our confessional theology doesn’t always match our functional theology. Much of what we do is propelled by fear, and not motivated by a sure and restful faith in the presence, power and promises of the Lord.

This is why I find today’s story of faith, located in Acts 9, to be so engaging, convicting and encouraging.

I Prayed the Wrong Way for Years—I Learned This Secret and Everything Changed

By

Tyler Speegle

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January 14, 2022

I wish I could say that my prayer life is one defined by consistent authenticity and audacious faith, but if I’m being honest, prayer is one of the places where I struggle the most in my walk with God. I struggle with slowing down long enough to pray. I struggle with finding a quiet place and getting alone in my “prayer closet.” I struggle with praying big prayers with big faith. I struggle with being consistent and fervent with my prayers. I even struggle sometimes with following through with a promise I make to pray for someone.

What I realized recently though is that the place I may struggle the most in prayer is with expectancy. I’ve discovered that I “go through the motions” of prayer more often than I would like to admit.

I love our corporate prayer times at church because it reminds me to pray with faith and expectancy. At my church we meet weekly for a dedicated hour of corporate prayer and it is truly a beautiful sight. It’s also quite obvious that there is an atmosphere of expectancy. There’s really no other way to explain why hundreds of people would show up to pray together in the middle of the week.

We don’t just show up to pray. We show up to pray to watch God move.

As I glanced around the room at a recent prayer night, I felt like God began to point this out to me.

I watched as hands were laid on the sick and the broken hearted with an expectancy of healing. I watched as heads were bowed and hands were clasped with an expectancy of hope. I watched as an entire room stood to its feet with arms lifted with an expectancy of His presence.

You might be thinking that it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to go through the trouble of praying if you didn’t expect something to happen—but I can assure you that it is quite easy to do.

It’s not that I doubt God’s power; it’s just that I so easily fall into a pattern of checklist Christianity. I make prayer a religious task instead of a natural part of my relationship with Him. Instead of praying with heartfelt expectation, I often find myself just going through the motions. I allow it to become more discipline than delight—more duty than devotion.

Prayer without expectancy is prayer without power. And what I learned by watching a room filled with expectant prayer is that if I am praying without expectancy then I’m really praying without faith. And prayer without faith is not really prayer at all—it’s just empty religion.

How to Do a Soundcheck – Perfectly

By

Kade Young

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January 14, 2022

Frustrated with your worship band’s sound check? Are they taking too long? I am pretty sure that every worship team member has been fed up with sound check at some point, if not every week. Although there are probably several ways to perform an efficient sound check, I’ll walk you though the process of how to do a soundcheck I have settled into after 10 years of leading worship.

How to Do a Soundcheck

Step 1: Check Gain Levels

Most churches have the luxury of the same team members week after week. Others have rotating musicians or will occasionally have a new member on the team. When this happens, the first step is to set the gain for everyone who was not on the team the previous week.

You should also develop the habit of checking gain on every channel at the beginning of every rehearsal, even if they were on the team last week. There is always a good chance that guitar amp or keyboard settings are not in the same place they were last week.

Step 2: Set the Monitors

If you do not have the technology that allows band members to adjust their own monitors, you will need a pair of headphones on hand. Before taking orders from each band member on what they want, have the band play through an entire song.

While they are playing, put on the headphones and listen to each monitor mix, making adjustments to give them a nice, even mix. Of course, if it is a vocal monitor, have the vocals a bit louder than the instruments and vice versa.

Once this is done, ask if anyone needs changes and adjust accordingly. But, don’t let band members abuse this privilege or way too much time will be spent on monitor mixes.

Not sure how to listen to monitor mixes in the headphones? Look for a PFL, AFL or Solo button next to your Aux or Bus send master volume knob/fader. When engaged, you will be hearing the monitor mix instead of the main mix in your headphones.

Step 3: Set the Main Mix

Now, simply have the band continue practicing. The more they play, the better. You may need to communicate this to the worship leader if too much talking is taking place.

At first, I like to start with the faders all the way down. Then, as they are playing, use the following sequence to get a solid mix.

Bring up the kick drum and bass guitar until you have a nice solid foundation with plenty of energy in the room.
Bring up the guitars and keyboards to the appropriate place for the song. At this point, the sound should fill the room.
Bring up the snare drum until you feel its energy and punch. Then, mix in the toms and overhead microphones to complete the drum mix.
Mix in the background vocals so that they blend in with the instruments.
Bring up the lead vocal until it sits right at the top of the mix.

Keep in mind, you will need to use EQ to get everything married together instead of clashing with one another. Here are a few posts on EQ to help you out:

Step 4: Set It and Leave It (just kidding)

So, you achieved a great mix—awesome! You can just set it and leave it, right? Wrong. Every song should have a different sound. One song may have a prominent electric guitar while the next may have a prominent keyboard part instead.

A good sound tech listens to each song several times through so they understand how it should be mixed. Here are some things to listen for:

What is the lead instrument? Electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboard, synth?
Where do the other instruments fit in the mix? Are they audible or so blended you can’t even pick them out?
Where are the background vocals? Are they right under the lead vocal or mixed in with the instruments?

Diagnosing Problems

No sound?

If you have a microphone or instrument not working, the best way to diagnose is following the signal path. For example, start by changing the microphone. If that doesn’t work, change out the cable. Then, change channels on the stage snake. Finally, change channels on your mixer. At this point, you should have been able to narrow down where the problem is and fix accordingly.

Feedback/Ringing Microphones

The best way to ruin a worship service is to struggle with feedback problems, which is why I wrote this post to help you eliminate them: 3 Ways to Eliminate Feedback During Worship

No Energy

Energy comes from the drums and bass guitar. Start by bringing up the kick drum and bass guitar. Then, bring up the snare until you feel its punch. You also want plenty of the toms (especially the floor tom). Finally, use the overhead microphones to complete the sound scape with high frequencies.

Too Loud

The answer to this problem may seem obvious (turn things down, right?), but oftentimes it is an EQ problem. Revisit the list of EQ posts above to make sure you are using EQ to its fullest potential.

This article on how to do a soundcheck originally appeared here.

Faith-Healer Todd White has a Serious Heart Condition Resulting From a Virus

By

Jesse T. Jackson

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January 13, 2022

Todd White is the founder and president of Lifestyle Christianity (LCU) located in Watauga, Texas and is known by many as a prosperity gospel preacher and street healer. Last week, White shared that he is suffering from a heart condition, which caused the left side of his heart to only pump at 20 percent capacity.

White posted the video to explain his absence during LCU’s Expand 22, a campaign created to raise money for what they call “planting a seed to propel the Gospel in these unprecedented times and see as many sons and daughters commissioned to go and make disciples among the nations.”

LCU’s website says that the ministry exists to witness people walk in their “God-given identity,” and for discipling others in order to reach the lost.

“Unfortunately, for the beginning of this campaign, I had an issue come up with my heart,” White said. “I haven’t been here at the training center. I haven’t been able to preach like I want to. I haven’t been able to speak like I want to.”

White, who was a former drug addict and atheist, shared that his doctor recommended 90 days of medical rest [bed rest]. “I had some kind of virus come in and weaken the left ventricle side of my heart,” White said, going on to explain that he eats healthy, works out, and does cardio exercise. White said that the virus “caused my left side of my heart to get weak, and so the pumping capacity was at 20 percent.”

At the time of White’s video, he said that his heart is better than it was and is on the mend. “I’m only 60 days out from being fully released to be able to go and preach the gospel and do everything that I’m called to do, and that is going across America, bringing the power and love; it’s making LCU as strong as it can possibly be,” White said.

“We want to bring God’s kingdom right here, right now,” White said as he concluded his video. “We want to see America saved, but we need you guys to help partner. Please help us right now with this Expand 22. We really need help. We need you to sow now…Bless you. We love you. Help us, if we’ve helped you. Love you.”

White: God Using Sickness in People is ‘Twisted and Stupid’

In a video that can be found in multiple places on YouTube, White says that it is “twisted and stupid” to believe that God uses sickness to build character in people.

Caleb Corneloup’s video on the “iThink Biblically” YouTube channel highlights a sermon White preached wherein he says that it is a “demonic doctrine to say that the Lord doesn’t heal.”

Judge Dismisses Challenge to Connecticut Law Ending Religious Vaccine Exemption

By

Susan Haigh

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January 13, 2022

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging a law passed last year that eliminated Connecticut’s long-standing religious exemption from childhood immunization requirements for schools, colleges and day care facilities, saying the state has an interest in protecting the health of Connecticut’s students.

In a 33-page decision, U.S. District Court Judge Janet Bond Arterton said the plaintiffs failed to prove state’s decision to end the exemption was “motivated by any religious animus,” noting concerns raised publicly by state legislators about the growing number of religious exemptions being sought by families and declining vaccination rates.

“Connecticut has chosen to protect the safety of schoolchildren by requiring all students who may be safely vaccinated to be vaccinated, exempting those in grades kindergarten through twelve with existing religious exemptions, and this same interest is not advanced by an overarching religious exemption which jeopardizes the community immunity,” Arterton wrote. The decision was released late Tuesday.

The lawsuit was filed by the groups We The Patriots USA, Inc., the CT Freedom Alliance, LLC, and three parents of Connecticut schoolchildren. Brian Festa, founder of CT Freedom Alliance, said in an online statement that the plaintiffs expected the judge’s decision.

“We have said from the very start that we believe strongly that this case will be won at the United States Supreme Court, not in the District Court, or at the Second Circuit,” wrote Festa, an attorney. He said the plaintiffs plan to swiftly appeal the decision in hopes of the case ultimately reaching the nation’s highest court.

“Quite frankly, that’s where we want the case to land, so that when we emerge victorious (as we fully expect we will), a new day will dawn in this country, when no state anywhere will ever be able to deny a child an education on the basis of the child’s sincerely held religious beliefs,” he wrote, urging supporters to “never lose faith.”

Attorney General William Tong, a Democrat, praised Arterton’s ruling, which dismissed all five of the plaintiffs’ claims on various grounds.

“Vaccines save lives. The legislature’s action was fully lawful and necessary to protect public health,” he said in a written statement released Wednesday. “The plaintiffs threw a laundry list of claims against the state, and every single count was dismissed.”

The list of required vaccinations required by the state does not include the COVID-19 vaccines.

This article originally appeared here.

Pastor Discovers After 15 Years That His Long-Lost Bible Helped Someone Find Jesus

By

Stephanie Martin

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January 13, 2022

About 15 years ago, Paul Daugherty lost the “old messy scribbled-in Bible” he’d used throughout middle and high school. Last weekend, it resurfaced at Victory, the megachurch Daugherty now leads in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

On his Facebook page, Daugherty posts a photo with a man named Clayton holding a large, dog-eared book. In the caption, titled “Crazy Story,” the pastor describes an encounter he says shows the power of God’s Word.

Paul Daugherty’s Lost Bible Finds a New Home

Daugherty’s old Bible ended up at a shelter, where Clayton found it about a decade ago. “Paul Daugherty” was written on the cover, but Clayton didn’t know who that person was.

Throughout the years, Clayton occasionally read from that Bible, and “he treasured those little scribbled thoughts and notes as much as the Bible verses,” Daugherty writes. “He surrendered his life to Christ recently and broke free of a lot of stuff.”

When Clayton came to worship at Victory Church last weekend, he showed the book to Daugherty. The pastor soon realized it was the Bible he’d lost 15 years ago. “God used my old messy scribbled-in Bible to save this guy’s life who now is saved, set free, and brought his whole family with kids to church tonight!” the pastor writes on Facebook. “The Word is alive and powerful!”

Story of God’s Mysterious Ways Resonates With People

More than 13,000 people have already “liked” Daugherty’s post from January 8. Many have commented about God’s mysterious, behind-the-scenes workings in people’s lives and hearts. “Our ways are not His ways!” one writes. “God never ceases to amaze me.”

Another person notes, “God will always find a way to reach someone who needs Him and is searching.” And someone comments, “Another example to show why I don’t believe in coincidences—too good and too perfectly planned to just happen.”

Some people on social media are sharing their own stories of losing a beloved Bible—and hoping it has found its way to someone who needs God’s good news.

Influential Assemblies of God Leader George O. Wood Passes Away

By

Dale Chamberlain

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January 13, 2022

Former Assemblies of God General Council superintendent George O. Wood passed away on Tuesday at the age of 80 after a battle with stage IV cancer. Wood will be remembered for his service in the Assemblies of God denomination, which experienced tremendous growth both in numbers and in diversity under his leadership from 2007 to 2017.

Born in 1941 as the son of missionaries in China, Wood’s family moved back to the United States in 1949 where they pastored a local church and served as traveling evangelists.

Wood held a Ph.D from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California and pastored a church in the same city for 17 years. From 1965 until 1971, he was director of Spiritual Life and Student Life at Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri, where he had received his undergraduate degree.

In 2007, Wood became the general superintendent of the General Council of the Assemblies of God in the United States of America (AG), where he would serve for 10 years. During his tenure, the denomination’s membership grew by over 375,000 members, and 661 churches were added.

Wood also focused heavily on increasing diversity among AG leadership. When he came into his role as general superintendent, the Executive Presbytery consisted of 14 white males. By the end of his tenure, the council had grown to 21 seats, seven of which were held by people of color and two by women. In the 10 years that Wood served, the percentage of female ministers in the denomination rose from 19.2 percent to 24.3 percent.

Wood also authored a number of books, including titles such as “Fearless: How Jesus Changes Everything” and “Living in the Spirit: Drawing Us to God, Sending Us to the World.”

In August of 2021, it was discovered that Wood had esophageal cancer, which had also spread to his liver and vertebrae. A family statement said that Wood passed away peacefully on the morning of January 11 with his wife, Jewel, at his side.

Wood is survived by his wife of 56 years and their children George Paul Wood and Evangeline Hope Zorehkey.

Biblical Literacy by the Numbers, Part 3: Fixing the Problem

By

Ed Stetzer

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January 13, 2022

This is the final of a three-part series. See Part 1 here and Part 2 here. In this article, we focus on some other facets of how we can solve the biblical illiteracy problem in many of our churches.

Again, I’ve got just a few stats at the bottom to illustrate our need to address this issue.

Faithful and Fruitful: How Do We Fix the Problem?

Of course, you already knew that reading the Bible helped you to grow. It’s actually doing it that’s a challenge. What are some ways churches are helping people to engage the Scriptures more intentionally? Based on work with churches, we’ve seen a few patterns. Those producing the most fruit concerning Bible engagement do the following:

See the Bible as a Whole.

It’s not just that we read our Bibles, but the way we read our Bibles that increases biblical literacy. I believe there’s a link between biblical illiteracy and our habit of fracturing the Bible into pieces and parts. We read a verse here, a chapter there. We need a quick verse for anxiety, so we run to Matthew 6:34 (“Take no thought about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take thought about the things of itself”). We need another verse about fear, so we jump to 1 John 4:18 (“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear”). These verses can help when we’re dealing with life’s difficulties, but a steady diet of verses and chapters digested in this way amounts to spiritual “fast food” from our McBibles. We need a whole Bible approach to Bible reading and study.

I served as the founding editor of The Gospel Project, a curriculum that takes such an approach. TGP has grown from zero to over 1.7 million weekly users. Why? Because people see walking through the Bible, following Scripture’s redemptive storyline, as a way to combat biblical illiteracy. The Bible isn’t 1,000 stories or even 66—it’s one story. Helping people see this encourages them to read the Bible more faithfully and fruitfully. Some resources for this include The Drama of Scripture (Michael Goheen and Craig Bartholomew), Gospel-Centered Teaching (Trevin Wax), The Story: The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People (Zondervan) and, for kids or families, The Jesus Storybook Bible (Sally Lloyd-Jones).

It’s critical for church leadership to challenge believers to be in the Word of God, consistently growing in their knowledge of the Scriptures. I often hear of people who’d rather read devotional books than read the Bible. That’s because most of us need a specific plan to consistently be in the Word.

One thing I do for my own Bible engagement is to make a habit to read through the Bible once a year. If I simply read the parts I think I need the most, I’ll miss a big part of God’s design for my growth. Though my tendency, like many Christians, is only to read the New Testament, I need to spend time in the Old Testament as well. It’s essential for all believers to get the full picture of God’s revelation.

You, or your whole church, can follow a plan. There are plenty available online and already in many Bibles. You can lead your church through plans from YouVersion, George Guthrie’s Read the Bible for Life or others. The important part is that you and your congregation are engaging all of God’s Word.

Teach the Bible.

Teaching through books of the Bible at church models for the hearers how to read the Bible on its own terms, especially the unfolding of the one storyline of the Bible that culminates in Christ. Fighting biblical literacy means preaching from the pulpit the way people read the Bible—moving through the text.

When people see and hear their pastors preaching the text as a whole and allowing the text to determine the message (not vice versa), they go home and read their Bibles the same way. When they see us jumping around the text in sermons, they jump around in life. Let’s teach them that the Bible is worth engaging, one book at a time.

Biblical Literacy by the Numbers, Part 2: Scripture Engagement

By

Ed Stetzer

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January 13, 2022

In Part 1 of this three-part series we focused on the challenge we face when we address biblical literacy. In this article, we focus on one of the ways (perhaps the most effective way) to begin leading people to be more familiar with the Bible: Scripture engagement.

It’s All About Engagement

The bottom line is that too many Christians are simply not reading and studying their Bibles. This goes beyond simple trivia questions aimed at revealing how few facts we know about our Bibles. American evangelicals increasingly lack spiritual depth. Our lives betray a lack of Christian character. We don’t seem to be very Christlike to a watching world and we often copy the world rather than confronting it with the gospel. What do we do about it?

There are several things we can do to reverse biblical illiteracy here in America. What is Bible engagement? LifeWay Research defines Bible engagement as “allowing God, through His Word, to lead and change an individual’s life—one’s direction, thinking and actions.” Research shows this maxim to be true: Engaging the Bible impacts one’s spiritual maturity more than any other discipleship attribute. In fact, “reading the Bible” topped our list of things we found impacting spiritual maturity (followed by such things as praying for unbelievers, confessing sins and asking God for forgiveness, and witnessing to an unbeliever).

With research showing Bible engagement being so important to life change and spiritual maturity, is there any doubt our failure to read our Bibles impacts everything? The Holy Spirit works though the Scriptures, leading us to maturity in every area. That can’t happen if we are not in the Word.

What Leads to Bible Engagement?

When we talk about research, we look for things that predict—if you do one thing, you’re likely to do another. We found eight things that lead to a higher likelihood that people will engage the Bible, which leads to growth in everything else. (Spiritual growth is a cycle—a cycle that leads to maturity!)

1) Confessing sins and wrongdoings to God and asking for forgiveness.

2) Following Jesus Christ for years (i.e., the longer you’ve been a disciple of Jesus, the more serious your commitment to engaging the Bible).

3) Being willing to obey God, no matter how costly the decision.

4) Praying for spiritual status of unbelievers.

5) Reading a book about increasing your spiritual growth (excluding the Bible).

6) Being discipled or mentored one-on-one by a more spiritually mature Christian.

7) Memorizing Bible verses.

8) Attending small classes or groups for adults focused on Bible study.

Our research shows that as Christians increase their participation in small groups, their Bible engagement scores go up. For example, average Bible engagement scores were as low as 60.6 when there was little or no participation in small groups, and as much as 79.4 when a believer participated in a small group four or more times a month.

No matter how you look at it, Bible engagement is related to spiritual growth. Growing Christians don’t just read the Bible; they value and engage it because God is at work in their lives.

Some Stats to Consider

Bible Engagement Goes up, Church Goes on Mission.

Our research has found a strong correlation between Bible Engagement and mission. Or if we flip it around, we’ve found strong evidence that the lack of Bible Engagement coincides with the growing problem of a lack of mission engagement. Our numbers are reflecting a serious problem with a church that increasing seems to lack the will to carry out Christ’s mission to bring unbelievers to himself.

Here is a comparison of churchgoers who read the Bible more than once a week (45% of those surveyed) and those who read the Bible less than once a week (41% of those surveyed).

Churchgoers who read the Bible more than once a week are more likely than those who read less than once a week to:

Currently be involved in ministries or projects that serve people in the community not affiliated with their church (46% v 27%)

Have participated in a mission trip in another country (10% v 4%) or in the United States (13% v 4%)

Biblical Literacy by the Numbers, Part 1: The Challenge

By

Ed Stetzer

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January 13, 2022

Do you recognize these Bible phrases or allusions?

Rarely a week goes by without any one of us quoting or alluding to that great book simply in our conversations and chatter. These are among the phrases having origins in the Bible:

“Bite the dust” (Psalm 72:9)
“Land of the living” (Psalm 27:13)
“A drop in the bucket” (Isaiah 40:15)
“The blind leading the blind” (Matthew 15:14)
“Made a scapegoat” (Leviticus 16:22)
“Go the extra mile” (Matthew 5:41)
“A leopard can’t change its spots” (Jeremiah 13:23)
“By the skin of your teeth” (Job 19:20)
“Fly in the ointment” (Ecclesiastes 10:1)
“As old as the hills” (Job 15:7)

More and more people don’t recognize the biblical origins of those phrases. Be sure to check here for a longer list.

Biblical literacy—or more precisely biblical illiteracy—is a real issue today. This is the first of three articles on the subject. The series is based on an article I wrote for Charisma magazine some time ago.

America can be proud of many things: our innovation, generosity and entrepreneurial spirit are unsurpassed. Yet when it comes to our nation understanding one of the greatest gifts ever given to humanity—the Bible—we’re moving from dumb to dumber … and it’s no laughing matter.

Both inside and outside the church, there is a problem. Non-Christians don’t have even the general idea of the Bible they once did. Christians are not seeing the life change that real Bible engagement brings. The result is a nation in spiritual free fall, and while most cultural analysts point to such culprits as church leadership scandals and government failings, the true answers start with the foundational Word of God—if we’ll take seriously the challenge, look to best practices in the research, and faithfully and fruitfully engage the Scriptures.

The Challenge: Biblical Literacy Is Getting Worse

The Bible’s impact on American culture is unmistakable; it has shaped our laws, social systems and even our language. People unknowingly quote biblical phrases every day. It’s a tragedy so many have used phrases such as “the good Samaritan,” “you reap what you sow,” and “do unto others” but don’t actually know the Scriptures or the Savior to which they point.

Study after study in the last quarter-century has revealed that American Christians increasingly don’t read their Bibles, don’t engage their Bibles, and don’t know their Bibles. It’s obvious: We are living in a post-biblically literate culture.

Just as critical is the second word of the Bible literacy problem: literacy. Pew Research tells us that according to a survey conducted at the beginning of 2021, 23 percent of us didn’t read a single book in the last year. That’s three times the number who didn’t read a book in 1978. Whether it’s the Internet, video games, the TV or increased time spent on entertainment and sports, Americans are spending less time between the pages of any book, not just the Good Book.

The situation should be different with Christians. We believe the Bible is the Word of God—His divinely inspired, inerrant message to us. To experience the Bible firsthand, whole people groups have learned to read, and new translations were created. Yet a recent Lifeway Research study found that 36 percent of evangelicals who regularly attend church read the Bible more than once a week. That means almost two-thirds of church attending evangelicals read their Bibles from never to occasionally.

Sean Feucht Says HarperCollins Cancelled New Book Because of His Political Views

By

Jesse T. Jackson

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January 13, 2022

Former Bethel Church worship leader, musician, and “Let Us Worship” founder, Sean Feucht, announced this week that world-leading publisher HarperCollins cancelled his upcoming book deal. Feucht alleged that the cancellation was because of his Christian beliefs and political views.

“Just got a call from my book publisher @HarperCollins and they are canceling my book because of my political views,” Feucht wrote on Twitter. “This is nuts!!!”

In 2020, Feucht ran for congress on the Republican ticket, attempting to win a seat at California’s 3rd congressional district table. He received 14 percent of the vote and placed third in the primaries. The musician and political activist then started a movement called “Hold the Line,” which was birthed out of his congressional run. The movement seeks to “rally the global church to engage their civic duty—to vote and stand up for causes of righteousness and justice in the governmental arena.”

During the latter half of 2020, Feucht organized worship concerts to protest government lockdowns, with the focus of bringing revival to cities across America. The movement was called “Let Us Worship” and attracted thousands of people who gathered together to sing worship and praise the name of Jesus.

“Let Us Worship” events have visited over 130 cities and, according to Feucht, have seen people getting saved, healed, and delivered.

The political activist has also been known for standing up for those whom he believes are being censored by social media platforms and canceled by culture for voicing opinions that others don’t want the world to hear.

In 2021, Feucht didn’t back down from former Southern Baptist Convention member Beth Moore after she criticized unvaccinated and unmasked Christians on Twitter, telling them to wear a mask if they aren’t going to get vaccinated. Moore told Christians that wearing a mask will save others lives and compared doing so to following Jesus.

Feucht replied to Moore saying, “Because ‘following Jesus’ equates to getting an experimental vaccine for a virus with a 99.8% survivable rate?! I believe Jesus stepped INTO people’s sickness, fear and heartache bringing healing and hope. That’s truly loving your neighbor. Not hiding in fear & self-preservation.”

Feucht shared a video on Instagram, which he captioned “A message the enemy doesn’t want us to hear,” and said that Instagram kept taking his video down. “It’s been a crazy day. Thank you so much for those of you that’ve reached out, standing with us, praying with us—you guys are amazing,” Feucht told his followers.

“I’m going to keep posting this until Instagram does not take it down anymore,” Feucht said laughingly. “So, been working on this book. Signed an agreement with the second largest publisher in the world—I think—HarperCollins. We’ve been working on it for three months together. [We] have an agreement [and] had it signed. [We’re] pretty far into this process and we were just notified today that they’re cancelling it.”

Court Dismisses Louisiana Pastor’s Virus Restrictions Suit

By

Kevin McGill

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January 13, 2022

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Louisiana pastor’s lawsuit over Gov. John Bel Edwards’ past COVID-19 restrictions on public gatherings was rejected for a second time Wednesday by a federal judge.

U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson in Baton Rouge said the lawsuit by Tony Spell seeking an order blocking the restrictions is moot because the restrictions expired long ago. And Jackson rejected Spell’s request for damages from state officials.

Spell garnered national attention in March 2020 when he began to flout the state’s public health order at a time when much of the country was in lockdown over the emergence of COVID-19. Louisiana was being hit especially hard at the time, but hundreds showed up to hear Spell claim that the virus was nothing to be concerned about.

Jackson first rejected the lawsuit in November 2020. The following July, a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled that the judge should look at the case again in light of three recent Supreme Court opinions blocking some restrictions on indoor worship in New York and California. The panel stressed that it wasn’t ruling on the merits of the case.

After reviewing the case again, Jackson again dismissed the lawsuit.

“Plaintiffs’ demand for damages fails because there is not now, and never has been, a ‘clearly established’ right to unrestricted religious assembly, and at all relevant times Defendants reasonably believed that they were acting within the constitutional limits set by the Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit,” Jackson wrote.

Spell also is fighting state charges for the violations of pandemic-related gathering limits.

This article originally appeared here.

New Mexico Church Official Urges Nuclear Disarmament Talks

By

Susan Montoya Bryan

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January 13, 2022

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The head of one of the oldest Roman Catholic dioceses in the United States says now is the time to rejuvenate and sustain a global conversation about the need for nuclear disarmament and how to develop ways to avoid a new nuclear arms race.

Santa Fe Archbishop John Wester released a lengthy pastoral letter on the subject Tuesday, noting during a virtual news conference that Los Alamos National Laboratory — the birthplace of the atomic bomb — is preparing to ramp up production of the plutonium cores used in the nation’s nuclear arsenal.

Wester called the arms race a vicious spiral.

“We can no longer deny or ignore the extremely dangerous predicament of our human family and that we are in a new nuclear arms race far more dangerous than the first,” he said. “We need nuclear arms control, not an escalating nuclear arms race.”

Nuclear watchdog groups welcomed the letter, which marks just the latest instance of the Catholic Church wading into the debate. In 2020, Pope Francis marked the 75th anniversary of the nuclear attack on Hiroshima by calling for peace and repeating that the mere possession of atomic weapons is immoral.

Last week, the chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace welcomed a recent pledge by several countries that are members of the United Nations Security Council to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. Wester said he also was encouraged by the pledge.

Wester said the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, which covers parishes throughout northern New Mexico, has a special role to play given that two prominent federal laboratories — Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories — are located in the state. He also mentioned the U.S. government’s repository of nuclear weapons at an air base in Albuquerque.

Scholar: America Is Still Reacting to the Religious Right, in More Ways Than One

By

Jack Jenkins

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January 13, 2022

WASHINGTON (RNS) — A religion scholar believes major trends in religion and politics can be traced back to the rise of the religious right in the 1990s, a sea change moment that set in motion an array of phenomena ranging from an uptick in religious disaffiliation to the radicalization of some Christian conservatives.

The sweeping theory is outlined in a new paper penned by Ruth Braunstein, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut. Her paper, titled “A Theory of Political Backlash: Assessing the Religious Right’s Effects on the Religious Field,” published late last year in Sociology of Religion, offers an unusually broad-based examination of the interplay between the religious right, the religiously unaffiliated and the power of political backlash.

Braunstein grounds her study in a trend well known to scholars and everyday religious practitioners alike: The number of “nones,” so called because of the answer they give to the question “what is your religious affiliation,” has increased dramatically in recent decades. In 1972, the General Social Survey reported that 5% of Americans did not claim a religious affiliation. But that number shot up during the 1990s and again in the 2010s: According to the Public Religion Research Institute, the religiously unaffiliated represented around 23% of the country as of 2020 — a larger percentage than white evangelical Protestants, white mainline Protestants or white Catholics.

Graphic courtesy of PRRI Census of American Religion

Religious leaders and scholars have pondered the ongoing shift since it began, with some speculating the root cause is political. The rise of the nones, so the theory goes, is largely a backlash to the rise of the religious right in the 1990s: As campaigns by conservative Christians increasingly became associated with all religion in the public square, religious Americans who rejected their messages — particularly a subset of liberals with weaker connections to institutional religion — ultimately cut ties with religion altogether, identifying as nones instead.

But in her paper, Braunstein hypothesizes this cause-and-effect relationship is actually more complicated — and more wide-ranging. The uptick in liberal-leaning nones, she says, is but one example of “broad backlash” — a backlash against religion in general, even as some nones don’t necessarily give up religious practices or belief in a higher power. But, she argues, there are also at least three “narrow” backlashes to the religious right that have gone relatively unnoticed, all of which are helping shape the modern religious and political landscape.

“Backlash against the religious right doesn’t actually have to mean leaving religion altogether — even though that is a choice that many people are making,” she said in an interview this week with Religion News Service.

“There are some narrower forms of backlash that involve narrowly rejecting the religious right’s brand of politicized conservative religion by either reclaiming or reformulating a way of doing religion, of being religious and engaging in public religious expression.”

Ruth Braunstein. Photo courtesy of PRRI

Braunstein pointed to data from Pew Research showing an increase in Americans who identified as “spiritual but not religious,” rising from 19% in 2012 to 27% in 2017. In her paper, she acknowledged that while the category likely includes people who agree with the campaigns of the religious right, other scholars have studied people who claim the moniker as a reaction to the “moral lapses of organized religion,” signaling that at least some spiritual-but-not-religious Americans are “moderates, neither religious zealots nor dogmatic atheists” seeking to distance themselves from conservative Christians.

“It is plausible that the rising embrace of a spiritual identity can be read partially as a narrow backlash against the religious right, even as it also seems clear that it cannot be read exclusively in these terms,” writes Braunstein, who also heads the Meanings of Democracy Lab at the the University of Connecticut.

Second, she notes the growth in positive attention paid to liberal religious activists, sometimes described as members of the religious left, who are known for passionately decrying the political efforts of conservative Christians. Braunstein argues “progressive religious mobilization represents a different form of backlash than the one associated with religious disaffiliation,” one that doesn’t reject religion altogether but uses “the presence of the religious right to cast more moderate forms of public religious expression in a positive light.”

Your Husband’s Pornography Problem Is Not About You

By

Melissa Edgington

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January 13, 2022

She pulled me aside to confess her painful secret: she had accidentally discovered that her husband was looking at pornography. She was hurt and confused, and her question dropped into the church hallway air between us like a deflated helium balloon: “Why?”

I could see it in her face. In her posture. In her balled fists and her furrowed brow. She was wondering why she wasn’t enough for her husband. She was trying to wrap her troubled mind around what this discovery means about her marriage, about her husband’s love for her, about her physical appearance and her sex life. She was trying to decide how to think about what she could only describe as a betrayal. And she was desperately searching for someone who could explain it all to her.

The black-hole-like pull of pornography is complicated and yet so simple. Men and women alike are drawn to it for various reasons and keep coming back to it because sin is like that—it always seems so glittering and alluring while it kills us little by little. Like all sin, it hurts. It hurts us and it hurts those closest to us. Marriages everywhere are struggling to stay afloat in the middle of the vast ocean of pornographic material that is so readily available. Women often want to know what they are doing wrong to cause their husbands to keep going back to the source of the shame and the failure.

I looked into her precious, worried face, and I told her one thing that I have learned about pornography through the years: Your husband’s pornography problem is not about you.

In fact, it has very little do to with you. It isn’t about how you dress or how you look naked. It isn’t about how you treat your husband or whether he feels loved by you. It isn’t about which sex positions you’re willing to try. And, even if your husband says it is about any of those things, it isn’t.

Your husband’s pornography problem is about one thing. It’s about how sin is always crouching at our door, waiting to devour us. Pornography is such a quick and easy temptation, and it’s everywhere. Your husband wouldn’t be normal if he didn’t struggle with the desire to look at pornography. He didn’t suddenly develop a taste for lustful thoughts and images when he married you. Chances are, he has struggled for most of his life with this issue, and despite what many think, even a happy marriage isn’t a cure for the desire to look at what can be so easily found on the internet.

You may be the sweetest, most doting wife in the world. You may be attentive in the bedroom. You may be in great shape. You may be none of those things. But, nothing you have said or done and nothing that you are or aren’t has driven your husband to look at pornography.

I’m not saying it doesn’t affect you. It does. Very much so. His private struggle is also yours. His failure in this area hurts you deeply. You can help him in many ways as he deals with this temptation, but ultimately it is his battle to fight, and his failures are not yours to own.

Wives, be prayerful. Be gracious. Be tender. Be tough when you must. But, don’t believe for one second that your husband’s pornography problem is about you. Pornography robs a marriage of lots of things: trust, intimacy, openness. Real choices lead to real consequences. But, don’t forget that this is ultimately a spiritual issue, just like your own struggles with sin. It isn’t about your husband’s level of satisfaction with you.

In most cases, pornography is a source of terrible shame for a Christian husband. You can be a great ally for him in this area. I know it’s difficult. I know it’s heartbreaking. But, the more you recognize that your husband’s feelings about you are not the source of the problem, the easier it will be for you to help him gain victory here.

This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.

January 1967

April 1967

The Battle – Fear Against Faith

How to Do a Soundcheck

Step 1: Check Gain Levels

Step 2: Set the Monitors

Step 3: Set the Main Mix

Step 4: Set It and Leave It (just kidding)

Diagnosing Problems

No sound?

Feedback/Ringing Microphones

No Energy

Too Loud

White: God Using Sickness in People is ‘Twisted and Stupid’

Paul Daugherty’s Lost Bible Finds a New Home

Story of God’s Mysterious Ways Resonates With People

Faithful and Fruitful: How Do We Fix the Problem?

See the Bible as a Whole.

Teach the Bible.

It’s All About Engagement

What Leads to Bible Engagement?

Some Stats to Consider

Bible Engagement Goes up, Church Goes on Mission.

Churchgoers who read the Bible more than once a week are more likely than those who read less than once a week to:

The Challenge: Biblical Literacy Is Getting Worse

New Articles

New Podcasts