Wally Funk’s Church Celebrates Her Blue Origin Spaceflight: ‘What an Inspiration’

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July 23, 2021

(RNS) — Six decades after being denied a spot in the space program by NASA because of her gender, 82-year-old Wally Funk finally reached space aboard the first human flight of billionaire Jeff Bezos’ space tourism venture, Blue Origin.

Few people were more excited for Funk than her fellow congregants at White’s Chapel United Methodist Church in Southlake, Texas.

About 300 members of White’s Chapel turned out for a space launch watch party Tuesday morning (July 20) to view a livestream of the launch that made Funk the oldest person in space. (She edged out the late Mercury 7 astronaut John Glenn, who returned to space aboard the Discovery shuttle in 1998 at age 77.)

Funk’s journey to space began in the 1960s when she volunteered for the Woman in Space Program, a privately funded project that tested female pilots’ fitness for space travel. She was the youngest graduate of the program, whose participants became known as the Mercury 13, outperforming the men who went on to become NASA’s first astronauts, according to Funk.

But NASA repeatedly turned down her applications to join the space program.

Already an accomplished aviator, she became the first female Federal Aviation Administration inspector and first female National Transportation Safety Board air safety investigator. With 19,600 flying hours, she’s taught more than 3,000 people to fly, according to her website.

“Everything the FAA has, I’ve got the license for,” she said in a video Bezos posted recently on social media.

Still, Funk never gave up her dream of spaceflight.

She applied to NASA again after it began admitting women in the late 1970s. In 2009, she told the alumni magazine at her alma mater, Oklahoma State University, “I’m still going into space one day.”

She finally got the chance when Bezos invited her earlier this month to be an “honored guest” aboard Blue Origin’s first human flight to space.

On Tuesday, Funk flung her arms wide jubilantly as she stepped out of the space capsule, back on Earth.

Photos and video shared online by a local Fox 4 News reporter showed her fellow church members at White’s Chapel counting down to the launch, projected on a large screen in the church sanctuary. Members cheered, clapped and jumped from their pews as the reusable suborbital space tourism vehicle, named the New Shepard, left the ground.

Priest Outed via Grindr App Highlights Rampant Data Tracking

By

Matt O'Brien and Frank Bajak

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July 23, 2021

priest outed — FILE - In this Wednesday, May 29, 2019 file photo, a woman looks at the Grindr app on her mobile phone in Beirut, Lebanon. With few rules in the U.S. guiding what companies can do with the vast amount of information they collect about what web pages people visit, the apps they use and where they carry their devices, there’s little stopping similar spying activity targeting politicians, celebrities and just about anyone that’s a target of another person’s curiosity. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)

When a religious publication used smartphone app data to deduce the sexual orientation of a high-ranking Roman Catholic official, it exposed a problem that goes far beyond a debate over church doctrine and priestly celibacy.

With few U.S. restrictions on what companies can do with the vast amount of data they collect from web page visits, apps and location tracking built into phones, there’s not much to stop similar spying on politicians, celebrities and just about anyone that’s a target of another person’s curiosity — or malice.

Citing allegations of “possible improper behavior,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on Tuesday announced the resignation of its top administrative official, Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill, ahead of a report by the Catholic news outlet The Pillar that probed his private romantic life.

The Pillar said it obtained “commercially available” location data from a vendor it didn’t name that it “correlated” to Burrill’s phone to determine that he had visited gay bars and private residences while using Grindr, a dating app popular with gay people.

“Cases like this are only going to multiply,” said Alvaro Bedoya, director of the Center for Privacy and Technology at Georgetown Law School.

Privacy activists have long agitated for laws that would prevent such abuses, although in the U.S. they only exist in a few states, and then in varying forms. Bedoya said the firing of Burrill should drive home the danger of this situation, and should finally spur Congress and the Federal Trade Commission to act.

Privacy concerns are often construed in abstract terms, he said, “when it’s really, ‘Can you explore your sexuality without your employer firing you? Can you live in peace after an abusive relationship without fear?‘” Many abuse victims take great care to ensure that their abuser can’t find them again.

As a congressional staffer in 2012, Bedoya worked on legislation that would have banned apps that let abusers secretly track their victims’ locations through smartphone data. But it was never passed.

“No one can claim this is a surprise,” Bedoya said. “No one can claim that they weren’t warned.”

Privacy advocates have been warning for years that location and personal data collected by advertisers and amassed and sold by brokers can be used to identify individuals, isn’t secured as well as it should be and is not regulated by laws that require the clear consent of the person being tracked. Both legal and technical protections are necessary so that smartphone users can push back, they say.

The Pillar alleged “serial sexual misconduct” by Burrill — homosexual activity is considered sinful under Catholic doctrine, and priests are expected to remain celibate. The online publication’s website describes it as focused on investigative journalism that “can help the Church to better serve its sacred mission, the salvation of souls.”

Its editors didn’t respond to requests for comment Thursday about how they obtained the data. The report said only that the data came from one of the data brokers that aggregate and sell app signal data, and that the publication also contracted an independent data consulting firm to authenticate it.

There are brokers that charge thousands of dollars a month for huge volumes of location data, some of which is marketed not just to advertisers but to landlords, bail bondsmen and bounty hunters, said John Davisson, senior counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center. He said someone looking to “reverse engineer” a particular person’s data from that bulk package could potentially get it from any of the many customers in the data chain.

U.S. Churches Reckon With Traumatic Legacy of Native Schools

By

Peter Smith

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July 23, 2021

Native schools — In this 1910s photo provided by the United Church of Canada Archives, students write on a chalkboard at the Red Deer Indian Industrial School in Alberta. In Canada, where more than 150,000 Indigenous children attended residential schools over more than a century, a National Truth and Reconciliation Commission identified 3,201 deaths amid poor conditions. (United Church of Canada Archives via AP)

The discoveries of hundreds of unmarked graves at former residential schools for Indigenous children in Canada have prompted renewed calls for a reckoning over the traumatic legacy of similar schools in the United States — and in particular by the churches that operated many of them.

U.S. Catholic and Protestant denominations operated more than 150 boarding schools between the 19th and 20th centuries, according to researchers. Native American and Alaskan Native children were regularly severed from their tribal families, customs, language and religion and brought to the schools in a push to assimilate and Christianize them.

Some U.S. churches have been reckoning with this activity for years through ceremonies, apologies and archival investigations, while others are just getting started. Some advocates say churches have more work to do in opening their archives, educating the public about what was done in the name of their faith and helping former students and their relatives tell their stories of family trauma.

“We all need to work together on this,” said the Rev. Bradley Hauff, a Minnesota-based Episcopal priest and missioner for Indigenous Ministries with the Episcopal Church.

“What’s happening in Canada, that’s a wakeup call to us,” said Hauff, who is enrolled with the Oglala Sioux Tribe.

This painful history has drawn relatively little attention in the United States compared with Canada, where the recent discoveries of graves underscored what a 2015 government commission called a “cultural genocide.”

This photo made available by the Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia shows students at a Presbyterian boarding school in Sitka, Alaska in the summer of 1883. U.S. Catholic and Protestant denominations operated more than 150 boarding schools between the 19th and 20th centuries. Native American and Alaskan Native children were regularly severed from their tribal families, customs, language and religion and brought to the schools in a push to assimilate and Christianize them. (Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia via AP)

That’s beginning to change.

This month top officials with the U.S. Episcopal Church acknowledged the denomination’s own need to reckon with its involvement with such boarding schools.

“We must come to a full understanding of the legacies of these schools,” read a July 12 statement from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings, president of the denomination’s House of Deputies. They called for the denomination’s next legislative session in 2022 to earmark funds for independent research into church archives and to educate church members.

A Guide to Effective Preaching – Introduction. Explanation. Application.

By

Brian Jones

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July 23, 2021

Give me 10 minutes, and I’ll teach you an approach to effective preaching that might be a game-changer. This is an approach that can be used with any preaching archetype, any personality, any length of message, any passage, etc.

Your Guide to Effective Preaching

In seminary, I was taught the “three-point” outline, which I quickly abandoned after about a year of preaching. Then I experimented with Andy Stanley’s well-known Me-We-God-You-We outline. After a year or so I found it didn’t work very well for me either.

The Limitations of Me-We-God-You-We

Since Andy’s outline is by far the most popular approach taught among evangelical preachers, I assumed that everyone who used it felt it fit them like a glove. That is until I started coaching Senior Pastors.

What I’ve discovered is that the majority of the Senior Pastors I coached who used the Me-We-God-You-We outline later admitted that they felt like David trying to use Saul’s armor.

But not initially though.

Initially, leaders who used Andy’s outline told me, “The Me-You… thing works great for me.” Then I started digging around and asking a whole bunch of uncomfortable questions. And read their last 10 messages. And watched their last 10 sermons. And got feedback from their staff and congregation.

That’s when I realized “works great for me” is a phrase used by preachers who have been too busy and exhausted to do a deep dive into how they are wired to preach.

Heroic Leadership Positions Other People to Be Heroes

By

Gavin Adams

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July 23, 2021

As a leader, have you ever played the role of hero? Perhaps a difficult decision needed to be made and you stepped in? Or maybe an employee made an error and you took the public blame? You played the part of hero by delivering great news or offering a job or increasing a budget. Point leaders often have opportunities to do provide heroic leadership, but what about the other “leaders” in the organization?

It’s an important question. There are lots of people in every organization leading something or someone. There is one point leader, but there are numerous other leaders.

What I see too often (and maybe you’ve seen this a lot, too), is point leaders hogging the hero moments while lower-level leaders are forced to handle the day-to-day, non-hero stuff. And unfortunately, there are not enough “hero” moments day-to-day.

I’m guessing the hero-hogging is mostly accidental. In leadership, there are few things more rewarding than feeling like a hero, mostly because leadership can at times feel more like the “art of disappointing people at a rate they can stand (John Ortberg coined that little gem)!” So hero moments — although few and far between — are to be cherished for sure.

But here’s a thought: The lower-level leaders in every organization — those involved in the more day-to-day tasks — are leading people more directly than anyone. They are closer to the action. If Ortberg is right, then these leaders are disappointing people more frequently than anyone. Pushing people more frequently. And saying “no” more frequently. If anyone needs to be recognized heroic leadership, it’s these leaders. That’s exactly why point leaders need to ensure they are never “hero hogging.”

2 Ways Heroic Leadership Avoid Being a “Hero “Hog”

1. Choose to own the disappointing stuff.

2. Choose to pass along the good stuff to other leaders in the organization.

Literally, that’s it.

Simple Example: Like most companies and organizations, at Woodstock City Church we do what we can to increase salaries and even provide an occasional bonus at the end of every year. It’s normal for us to solicit salary increase suggestions from every manager within the organization, but when it’s time to communicate the increases, it’s too easy for the point leader to hog the good news. After all, being a hero is fun! And increasing salaries is fun, too!

We’ve collectively chosen a better solution. We push down the good news delivery as far as we can. In most cases, every staff member informs their own direct reports of salary increases. What a win for every manager! What a hero moment for every manager!

Of course, this is just one example of heroic leadership. There are so many ways to allow other leaders to be the hero:

Share your budget with a lower-level leader so they can pay for the team’s meal.
Publicly celebrate other leaders in front of their direct reports.
Give credit to other leaders whose ideas and work are making a difference.
Allow every leader to be the “face” of their team.
Focus on serving the organization over leading the organization.

I’m sure there are many, many more ways to display heroic leadership. Maybe you can share some of your ideas in the comments below.

This article on heroic leadership originally appeared here, and is used by permission.

Why Your Youth Ministry Program Can’t Stay Stuck in the ’80s

By

Greg Stier

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July 22, 2021

What was the formula for a youth ministry program in the awesome and audacious decade of the ’80s? It was a weird-science mixture of dodgeball games, sing-along worship, quick lessons, cold drinks, hot pizza, caffeinated all-nighters, occasional mission trips, week-long camps and weekend retreats.

Although clothes have changed since then (thank goodness), most of our strategies to reach and disciple young people have not. I’d venture to guess that at least some aspects of your youth ministry program remain stuck in the ’80s.

Sure, now we can download our lessons online and get games from an app. But essentially we use the same strategy from decades ago. Underneath it all is the assumption that if we can attract a crowd of teens, then we can transform a crowd of teens.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the ’80s. I love the music and movies (think Back to the Future, The Breakfast Club, Indiana Jones and The Terminator…just to name a few). I graduated from high school in 1983, so I know what youth group in the ’80s feels like. And it was great! At one point the youth ministry program I was part of had more than 800 teenagers attending. We had massive games, huge camps, tons of fun and, of course, cheap and delicious pizza (thank you, Little Caesars!).

But for the most part, the ’80s strategy isn’t doing so well in the 21st century. At the minimum, it’s not effective enough to close the skyrocketing trajectory of the rejection of the historic Christian faith among Generation Z.

Here are 3 reasons your youth ministry program may need an upgrade:

1. Teens are busier today.

Ask the typical youth leader about their top challenges, and teen busyness will be in the top three. From insane athletic schedules to growing academic pressures to after-school jobs, teens today have full days and short nights. All this busyness has led to deeper levels of anxiety for teenagers. According to Psychology Today, “The average high school kid today has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the early 1950s.”

So while teens have deeper levels of anxiety than ever and need spiritual guidance more than ever, they’re often too busy to attend youth group…or think they are, anyway.

2. Teens are more distracted now.

From SnapChat to Instagram to Google to YouTube, teenagers today are bombarded by messages. As a result, they’re more distracted than ever. It’s common to witness teenagers mid-conversation with friends reach for their phones several times to respond to whoever happens to be pinging them that moment.

Room for 10,000: Inside China’s Largest Detention Center

By

David Kang

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July 22, 2021

China Largest Detention Center — Barricades stand in front of a vehicle entrance to the inmate detention area at the Urumqi No. 3 Detention Center in Dabancheng in western China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on April 23, 2021. Urumqi No. 3, China's largest detention center, is twice the size of Vatican City and has room for at least 10,000 inmates. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

DABANCHENG, China (AP) — The Uyghur inmates sat in uniform rows with their legs crossed in lotus position and their backs ramrod straight, numbered and tagged, gazing at a television playing grainy black-and-white images of Chinese Communist Party history.

This is one of an estimated 240 cells in just one section of Urumqi No. 3 Detention Center in Dabancheng, seen by Associated Press journalists granted extraordinary access during a state-led tour to China’s far west Xinjiang region. The detention center is the largest in the country and possibly the world, with a complex that sprawls over 220 acres — making it twice as large as Vatican City. A sign at the front identified it as a “kanshousuo,” a pre-trial detention facility.

Chinese officials declined to say how many inmates were there, saying the number varied. But the AP estimated the center could hold roughly 10,000 people, based on satellite imagery and the cells and benches seen during the tour, and many more if crowded. The AP was the first Western media organization allowed in.

This site suggests that China still holds and plans to hold vast numbers of Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim minorities in detention. Satellite imagery shows that new buildings stretching almost a mile long were added to the Dabancheng detention facility in 2019.

China has described its sweeping lockup of a million or more minorities over the past four years as a “war against terror,” after a series of knifings and bombings by a small number of extremist Uyghurs. Among its most controversial aspects were the so-called vocational “training centers” – described by former detainees as brutal internment camps.

Under heavy international criticism, China said in 2019 that all the occupants had “graduated.” But the AP’s visit to Dabancheng, satellite imagery and interviews with experts and former detainees suggest that while many “training centers” were indeed closed, some like this one were simply converted into prisons or pre-trial detention facilities. Many new facilities have also been built, including a new 85-acre detention center down the road from No. 3 in Dabancheng that went up over 2019, satellite imagery shows.

The changes seem to be an attempt to move from the makeshift and extrajudicial “training centers” into a more permanent system of prisons and pre-trial detention facilities justified under the law. While some Uyghurs have been released, others have simply been moved into this prison network.

However, researchers say innocent people were often thrown in detention for things like going abroad or attending religious gatherings. Darren Byler, an anthropologist studying the Uyghurs at the University of Colorado, noted that many prisoners have not committed “real crimes by any standards,” and that they go through a “show” trial without due process.

“We’re moving from a police state to a mass incarceration state. Hundreds of thousands of people have disappeared from the population,” said Darren Byler, an anthropologist studying the Uyghurs at the University of Colorado. “It’s the criminalization of normal behavior.”

David Platt and McLean Bible Church Elders Sued After Recent Elder Vote Exposes Major Problems

By

Jesse T. Jackson

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July 22, 2021

On June 30, 2021, McLean Bible Church (MBC) in Vienna, Virginia, held a members meeting to affirm three new elders via vote. MBC is pastored by former Southern Baptist’s International Mission Board (IMB) president and bestselling author David Platt. At that time, the vote was too close to confirm the new elders because the Church’s constitution states it must have at least a 75-percent affirmative majority to elect a new elder to the leadership team.

In his 4th of July sermon, Platt revealed to the 11,000-plus congregation that a disinformation campaign by a small group had been undertaken to persuade others to vote down the new elders and take control of the church.

Disinformation to Take Control of McLean Bible Church

Platt started his sermon directly addressing what he called a “dynamic” within the church family. Platt told the McLean congregation, “I don’t think I have ever had to [address a church like this] or wanted to [address a church like this] in all my years as a pastor.”

Platt continued: “I want you to listen closely to the words I’m about to say.” He asserted that a small group of people within MBC and some outside the church had “coordinated a divisive effort to use disinformation in order to persuade others to vote these men down as part of a broader effort to take control of this church.”

The group had used private church member information, according to Platt. He said the group somehow acquired “a membership list improperly accessed from our database” which it then used to “improperly” contact MBC members. The private information included names, addresses, phone numbers, and birth dates. Platt warned that the improperly acquired information could “cause real harm. All in an effort to keep these biblically qualified men from becoming elders and to try to take control of this church.”

By contrast, all of McLean’s other campuses showed almost unanimous favor for the new elders, except for the main Tysons campus where Platt preaches.

Some of the lies being propagated by the group included telling people in the lobby before the elder vote that leadership would sell the Tysons building if the new elders were affirmed, according to Platt. After the vote, leaders learned that many had voted against the prospective elders because they trusted the sources who lied to them. Those people requested to have their vote back after learning the truth.

Still other members shared with leadership that they had been told the building would be sold to Muslims so they could build a mosque and that MBC would give the proceeds to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).

Former NBA Player Stan McKenzie, Husband of First Woman AME Church Bishop, Dead at 76

By

Adelle M Banks

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July 22, 2021

(RNS) — Stan McKenzie, the first male episcopal supervisor of missionary work in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the husband of Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, has died.

The Christian Recorder, the official publication of the denomination, announced his death, which occurred on Wednesday (July 21). Stan McKenzie, 76, died in Dallas after a brief illness, John Thomas III, the publication’s editor, told Religion News Service.

Less than two weeks before, McKenzie’s wife — the first woman bishop in the denomination’s 205-year history — praised her spouse at the retirement service for bishops during the AME Church’s General Conference.

“He is unique in that his ego does not get in the way of me being who I am and I don’t get in the way of who he is,” she said in Orlando, Florida, on July 9. “This is a man that listened to every sermon before you heard it and listened to it patiently and supportive — this is the man who when God called me to preach said ‘yes’ because he knew that God was calling us together.”

The bishop said she, in turn, supported her husband’s career when he was an NBA player for teams that included the Baltimore Bullets, the Phoenix Suns and the Portland Trail Blazers. His basketball career concluded with the Houston Rockets and he holds a more-than-50-year record for the most free throws attempted in one quarter.

After he retired from the NBA in the 1970s, McKenzie was employed for more than 20 years in the personnel services and human resources fields, according to his bio from the AME Church’s 10th Episcopal District, from which he and his wife had just retired. He was a manager for corporations, negotiating contracts, overseeing operations and supervising staffs.

In 2000, with his wife’s election as bishop, McKenzie became the first man in the role traditionally held by female spouses of bishops.

Bishop Anne Henning Byfield, president of the AME Church’s Council of Bishops, described his service as stellar.

“Stan McKenzie modeled male leadership as a Supervisor of Missions with creative and imaginative ways,” Byfield said in a statement to RNS. “At the same time, he was her partner in ministry, marriage, and family. He served as a model for male supervisors who followed him.”

In a recent tribute video, Vashti McKenzie thanked him for his efforts within their denomination.

“We have a lot to thank Supervisor for,” she said. “I mean, he was absolutely fabulous doing the work of missions.”

She cited examples of his achievements in their U.S. districts based in Tennessee, Texas and an African district based in Lesotho. He supported community service projects, fostered entrepreneurial programs and was instrumental in “helping to fill 11 tractor-trailer trucks that went down into Mississippi and to Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina.”

The 10-minute video, posted in late June as he completed his supervisory role, included a photo montage that showed him standing by his wife’s side, officiating at a ribbon-cutting ceremony, and gathering with AME Church groups.

“I want to thank the district leadership,” he said of the 10th Episcopal District. “They did a marvelous job day in and day out. We started strong, we stayed strong and today we stand strong. We are a marvelous team doing mission work all over the district. God bless you. See you. Thank you.”

This story has been updated.

This article originally appeared here.

Milwaukee Bucks Stars Give Credit to God for Blessings Beyond Basketball

By

Stephanie Martin

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July 22, 2021

During this month’s NBA Finals, many faith-related stories focused on Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams. But the Milwaukee Bucks, who defeated the Suns in the deciding game six Tuesday night, also have on their roster outspoken Christians who give glory to God. As the Bucks and their fans celebrate the team’s first championship in 50 years, two stars are making headlines for discussing their faith.

NBA Finals MVP Does ‘Everything’ Through Christ

After his 50-point performance in Tuesday’s series-winning game, Milwaukee Bucks standout Giannis Antetokounmpo told reporters he’s “extremely blessed” and wants to “give everybody around the world hope.” As the child of Nigerian parents who immigrated to Greece, Antetokounmpo endured poverty and started playing basketball primarily “to help my family,” he says.

The versatile 26-year-old, who’s been with the Bucks since they drafted him in 2013, was named the NBA regular-season MVP in 2019 and 2020. “First of all, I want to thank God for blessing me with this amazing talent,” Antetokounmpo said while accepting the 2019 MVP trophy. “Everything I do, I do through him. I’m extremely blessed.” The player is being praised for his loyalty to the Bucks, as well as for his humility, which he describes as his “mindset.”

Known as the Greek Freak, Antetokounmpo is Greek Orthodox and speaks fondly of his time in Sunday school. He was baptized in 2012 and wrote in a 2015 blog that his motto, based on 2 Corinthians 5:7, is “Walk by Faith, NOT by sight.”

A priest from Antetokounmpo’s childhood describes him this way: “I don’t remember him ever complaining or having a sense of being wronged by life and being aggressive towards society. He may be flying on the court, but in real life, I think he stands firmly on his feet.”

‘This Is Only God,’ Says Bucks Guard

Joining his teammate in crediting God for victory is Milwaukee guard Jrue Holiday, who was traded to the Bucks just before the season tipped off. Holiday, who scored 12 points in the game-six win, said afterward, “This is such a blessing, man. This is only God.” Earlier in the playoffs, he said God had blessed him and put him “in a position to go to the Finals.”

Holiday, who’s been vocal about his faith since playing collegiately at UCLA, said last year, “Making Christ a priority is huge because without him I wouldn’t be here. None of us would.” The 31-year-old guard says he’s happy in his supporting role with the Bucks, who humbly support one another with “no envy or jealousy.”

Five years ago, Holiday took an indefinite leave from basketball when his wife, Lauren, was diagnosed with a brain tumor while pregnant. After giving birth, she had surgery and recovered, and the couple’s second child was born late last year, during the pandemic. (Holiday contracted and recovered from COVID-19 this spring.) “I’m a Christian athlete who has faith in Jesus Christ,” Holiday said in a previous interview. “So when I encounter circumstances over which I have no control, I believe and have peace.”

Next up, Holiday heads to Tokyo with Team USA, aiming to become a gold medalist like his wife, a championship soccer player.

World Relief Announces Myal Greene As New Head Amid ‘The Most Significant Crisis of Our Lives’

By

Emily McFarlan Miller

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July 22, 2021

(RNS) — World Relief announced Tuesday (July 20) that longtime staff member Myal Greene will become the next president and CEO of the evangelical Christian humanitarian organization.

The announcement comes after current World Relief President Scott Arbeiter and CEO Tim Breene announced in February they were stepping down after a combined 30 years serving the organization.

Greene will step into the combined role of president and CEO on Aug. 16.

“During my fourteen years with World Relief, I have seen God at work in our organization in countless ways,” Greene said in a written statement on World Relief’s website.

“I am grateful for the extraordinary leadership of Tim and Scott, and I am continuously inspired by our more than 1,500 staff in the U.S. and around the world. I believe God has used all of my experiences to equip me for this new role and to help me magnify the life-changing work our team is doing.”

Most recently, Greene has served as World Relief’s senior vice president of international programs, leading efforts to scale its grant-funded programs and launch a significant gender equity initiative, according to the organization.

Greene began his work with World Relief in Rwanda in 2007, leading the development of a new church-based programming model known as Church Empowerment Zones that is now used in nine countries. He later served as World Relief’s Rwanda country director, its Africa regional director, then its developing countries unit director.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and a master’s in global leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, and is pursuing a doctorate in organizational leadership from Eastern University in Philadelphia.

“Nearly 80 years ago, World Relief was founded in response to the world’s greatest humanitarian crisis. Today, we face the most significant crisis of our lives,” Greene said.

“Much of the world is still facing rising COVID-19 cases, and hundreds of millions of people have fallen deeper into poverty due to the pandemic. Domestically, our work to serve refugees and immigrants is more relevant than ever. World Relief, in partnership with churches across the globe, has a critical role to play in the lives of millions of people around the world.”

Lawsuit Accuses Liberty University of ‘Enabling On-Campus Rapes’

By

Emily McFarlan Miller

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July 22, 2021

(RNS) — A new lawsuit against Liberty University claims the Lynchburg, Virginia-based evangelical Christian school has “intentionally created a campus environment” that makes sexual assaults and rapes more likely to occur.

The complaint points a finger at the “weaponization” of Liberty’s student honor code, known as the Liberty Way, which it claims makes it “difficult or impossible” for students to report sexual violence. It also claims such violence, particularly by male student athletes, was excused while the women who reported it faced retaliation.

In a written statement, Liberty University said it was looking into the allegations, which it called “deeply troubling, if they turn out to be true.”

“Many of the claims are the complete opposite of how the University’s policies and procedures were designed to operate over the years,” according to the statement provided to Religion News Service.

The suit, brought by 12 women who chose to remain anonymous, was filed Tuesday (July 20) in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York and first reported by ABC 13 News in Lynchburg. The women are said to include former Liberty employees and students and one woman who attended a summer camp on the school’s campus as a minor.

Liberty was aware its “policies and procedures, as written and implemented, were enabling on-campus rapes,” according to the lawsuit.

Some of the women, all identified as Jane Doe in the suit, allegedly were discouraged from reporting they had been assaulted because they were told they would be disciplined for violating the Liberty Way, according to the lawsuit.

Some women who reported their assaults to Liberty’s Title IX office or campus police allegedly were subjected to investigations that presumed they had consented to sex unless they could prove otherwise, the suit said.

Some allegedly were fined or penalized under the honor code, which the lawsuit claims has discouraged other victims from coming forward.

“The Liberty Way and its weaponization by Liberty University, as well as Liberty University’s well-documented pattern of discrimination against women victims and in favor of male assailants, created an atmosphere on campus that was permeated with discriminatory intimidation, ridicule and insult that was sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter the conditions of the education and create a sexually hostile environment” for the plaintiffs, according to the complaint.

Randy Alcorn: Choose Your Friends Wisely

By

Randy Alcorn

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July 22, 2021

It’s our nature to be influenced by our surroundings. When we put ourselves in a godly atmosphere with godly people, we are influenced toward godliness. When we put ourselves in an ungodly atmosphere with ungodly people, we are influenced toward ungodliness. God’s Word says, “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character’” (1 Corinthians 15:33). A few years ago, the night before an NFL game, my wife Nanci and one of my daughters and sons-in-law and their two sons, then 12 and 13, met with a quarterback who loves Jesus. I asked him, “What advice do you have for these boys?” He said a number of good things, but one of the central ones was, to summarize what he said, Choose your friends wisely. He spoke from his life experiences, both good and bad. There’s no way to overstate the importance of having godly friends.

The principle is, we become like the people we spend the most time with. God speaks of those who are “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” and warns us, “Have nothing to do with such people” (2 Timothy 3:4-5).

That’s why my advice to young people, and to people of all ages, is this same thing: “Choose your friends wisely.” Don’t just let friendships happen by circumstance. Make them happen by choice—careful, thoughtful choice.

There are many areas of life where you can make wise choices that will be rewarded, and poor choices that will result in destruction—perhaps none so dramatically as who you choose as friends. Some poor choices (like choosing dinner on a menu that doesn’t turn out that good) are secondary, and you might get away with them. You will never get away with an unwise choice of friends. It will hurt you and haunt you. Don’t let it happen. God tells us exactly how to become wise. Walk with—that is, befriend and spend time with—those who are wise.

Thomas Brooks said, “Let those be thy choicest companions who have made Christ their chief companion.”

Choose Your Friends Wisely

Your friends will greatly influence your values, attitudes, and behaviors. I know young people (and older ones too) who love Jesus and have chosen their friends wisely. Their friends have raised the bar for each other, challenging them to jump higher in the areas of following Christ and maintaining purity. I also know people who have made poor choices and have experienced terrible consequences, some that will affect them the rest of their lives.

In this minute-long clip, I talk about the importance of friendships:

I came to Jesus in high school, and I had close friends who studied the Bible together, prayed together, read great books together. We stayed away from the things that tempted us toward evil. We asked each other how we were doing in our walk with God. Find friends like that. They might not just naturally come your way. Look for them. Seek them. Hang on to them. My friend and pastor Steve Keels has been that for me for over 45 years. Other friends who follow Jesus have also had a major influence on my life. Sure, I have friends that aren’t as strong in their walk with Jesus, and I seek to befriend and reach out to those who don’t know Him at all, but my closest friends are strong in Him…and we help each other.

What Real Love Means – God is Real!

By

Jared C. Wilson

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July 22, 2021

Have you ever wondered where love comes from?

If our atheist friends are right, love is in large part just sort of a trick our chemistry plays on us. It is simply a feeling generated by attachment or conditioning or evolutionary expediency. Imagine a little boy running up to his mother and crying out, “Mommy, I love you!” What would you think of the mother who responded, “Yes, I feel a release of serotonin in a conditioned biological response to my familial attachment to you, as well?”

I have a friend who on Facebook always tells people “Happy Birthday” by posting, “Congratulations on the completion of your gestation!” The point of the joke is to sort of take the romance out of the whole event.

What Real Love Means

It’s in religion generally that we learn that love comes from somewhere. Not from the right firing of the chemical lightning in the goop of our genes, not from the conditioned response to social attachments and the furtherance of the species, but from a kind of outer space, from outside of ourselves, from a place like heaven, actually. Most religious people believe love comes from outside of humans and is put inside of them. There are a variety of feelings about this. The monotheistic religions believe that love in some way comes from God.

But only Christianity holds that the one God is actually a community of three Persons who eternally and co-equally love each other so much that this love overspilled the bounds of their perfect relationship into the world they created to reflect their own love. And only Christianity believes that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, come to embody this love of God in the flesh and love his neighbors and love his Father perfectly, that he might bridge the gap created by sin between mankind and the Father, that mankind might have the Father’s love and that the Father might have the love of men.

I confess I feel a little breathless just writing that! And I think that’s kind of the point. I don’t think it’s right to talk about love in dispassionate, disconnected ways. Christians believe that humans love because God has put the capacity to know and give love inside of them. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

We are made in the image of God, but Jesus Christ is the perfect image of God (Colossians 1:15). This is not only unparalleled among religious worldviews, but is offensive to many of them. But biblical Christianity will not shy away from this, because we know to have love that never lets us down, love that will forgive us forever, love that will sustain us and secure us and satisfy us, the kind of perfect love that is described in 1 Corinthians 13, it must come from someone who is perfect. And only Jesus Christ fits the bill, because only God is perfect.

Church Hiring Practices vs Software Platform Policies

By

Nick Nicholaou

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July 21, 2021

The U.S. Supreme Court confirmed that churches and ministries have the right to only hire those who agree with their religious and doctrinal views, but many IT solution providers require churches and ministries to certify that they do not discriminate in their employment or hiring practices as a condition of qualifying for a donation from that provider in the form of a heavily discounted charity license. Let’s talk about software services and what’s changed since the U.S. 2020 election.

Many of us on every side of the political spectrum were surprised to see some things politicized that we never anticipated would be. That includes things like what you could say in the ‘public square’ using tools like Twitter and Facebook. It also includes things like what results search engines would show— or, more importantly, would not show.

Is there a lesson for the church in what we saw? There is, and it directly relates to Matthew 10:16 — I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. (NIV)

Churches and ministries have the opportunity to purchase many software licenses at charity rates, but it is possible to jeopardize some rights otherwise guaranteed to churches and ministries in how that is done! Here’s how to avoid that possibility.

The Church in the World

The Church operates in the physical world, of course, and to do that efficiently, we are wise to use the tools available to help us fulfill our call. We recognize that our message is contrary to that of the ruler of the kingdom of the air (Ephesians 2:1-2). It should not surprise us, then, that some of the providers of the tools we like to use are in opposition to the church and some of its doctrinal positions. This will likely increase in the future.

I have heard from many Christian churches and ministries who are concerned that their data is hosted by a platform that is beginning to act in opposition to their doctrine. Those churches want to move away from those platforms. The current area of major concern is the requirement of many providers to accept their charity license terms, some of which include agreeing not to discriminate regarding employment practices along religious or sexual orientation/expression lines. That is problematic for a large percentage of churches and ministries.

(I am not advocating for any doctrinal positions in this article. I am hoping to bring awareness of an important trend.)

Hiring Practices vs Software Platform Policies – What’s the Problem?

Most churches and ministries want to reach those who do not agree with them religiously or doctrinally. That’s not what the concern is. The concern is whether or not those churches can choose to only hire those who agree with their religious and doctrinal views.

The challenge is that U.S. Supreme Court recognized that churches have the right to only hire those who agree with their religious and doctrinal views. Yet, in order to receive a discounted charity license, many IT solution providers require churches and ministries to certify that they do not discriminate in their employment or hiring practices.

UPDATE: Apology to Franklin Graham Could Be ‘Turning Point’ for Religious Freedom in UK

By

Bob Ditmer

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July 21, 2021

UPDATED July 21, 2021: Franklin Graham has received an apology from Blackpool Council and Blackpool Transport regarding a joint decision the two entities made three years ago to ban ads for an upcoming crusade in Blackpool, England. Ads for “Festival of Hope” were removed from the sides of buses following complaints from British LGBTQ advocates.

“In a day and age where religious freedom is continually being clamped down at seemingly every turn,” said the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) in a statement, “a significant settlement in the United Kingdom from a landmark ruling earlier this year may provide a turning point for Christians throughout England and beyond.”

As ChurchLeaders previously reported, in April Judge Claire Evans ruled that the decision to pull the advertisements had violated freedom of expression. Even though the dispute surrounded the fact that Graham (who is president and CEO of the BGEA), believes in traditional marriage, the ads simply presented the details of his event and said, “Time for Hope!” On July 9, Blackpool Council and Blackpool Transport published the same apology, which said in part:

We accept that the advertisements were not in themselves offensive. We further accept that in removing the advertisements we did not take into account the fact that this might cause offence to other members of the public and suggest that some voices should not be heard. We also regret that we did not consult with the organisers prior to taking our decision.

We accept the findings of the Court that we discriminated against Lancashire Festival of Hope because of the religious beliefs of Franklin Graham and in doing so interfered with Lancashire Festival of Hope’s right to freedom of speech.

We sincerely apologise to the organisers of the event for the upset and inconvenience caused.

We have learnt from this experience. We are committed to ensuring equality of access and opportunity for the population of Blackpool and providing and improving quality services for all. We have now introduced clear and transparent policies that will ensure no repeat of events such as these.

“This is the type of ruling and settlement that could have ripple effects impacting religious freedom protection beyond the U.K. and even the EU,” said the BGEA. “This remedies settlement can’t be appealed, and the order approving it is public, meaning both the ruling and the remedies can serve as precedent for other cases…We’re grateful to God for the final outcome of this case, and for what it will mean for churches and Christians across the U.K. in the years ahead.”

ChurchLeaders original article written on July 16, 2018, below:

A transit company in England has removed ads from the sides of its double-decker buses promoting the planned Franklin Graham crusade in Blackpool on September 21-23.

Beth Moore: SBC Seminary Presidents Made CRT ‘Witch-Hunt’ Unavoidable

By

Jessica Lea

-

July 21, 2021

There is a “witch-hunt” going on in churches and Christian organizations that is targeting people who support critical race theory (CRT), says Christian author and teacher Beth Moore. Moore believes that a November statement issued by the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) six seminary presidents made this situation “inevitable.”

“The moment someone preaches, teaches or speaks against racism or injustice,” said Beth Moore in a Twitter thread Wednesday, “many church congregations, Christian organizations, students & faculty members of Christian universities & seminaries are now primed to see devils behind every bush and holler ‘CRT!!’ I beg you to hear me here: godly people are losing their jobs and WILL lose their jobs by the hundreds over this witchhunt for simply teaching Biblical righteousness. They are no more proponents of CRT than they are horned toads.”

Beth Moore: The Handwriting Was on the Wall

In November 2020, the presidents of the six seminaries of the Southern Baptist Convention issued a statement declaring that CRT is incompatible with the Baptist Faith & Message (BF&M). This statement from the presidents, who are all white, proved to be controversial.

Some Black SBC leaders, including Rev. Marshal L. Ausberry Sr., published statements conveying that they thought certain aspects of CRT could be helpful. Ausberry is the president of the National African American Fellowship (NAAF) of the SBC, as well as a pastor and the SBC’s first vice president. He requested a meeting with the seminary presidents about the statement. Several church leaders left the denomination, including Rev. Ralph D. West, a pastor in Houston, Texas. West also left Southwestern Theological Baptist Seminary, where he was pursuing a doctoral degree.

The NAAF did meet with the seminary presidents on Jan. 6, 2021, after which the presidents publicly apologised for the hurt they had caused their Black brothers and sisters. All parties agreed that CRT should not be taught in SBC seminaries, and J.D. Greear, the SBC president at the time, acknowledged that SBC leaders of color should have been consulted about the statement.

However, CRT has continued to be a hot topic within the SBC (and American culture). Several resolutions explicitly condemning CRT were proposed at the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting that took place in June. However, messengers chose instead to pass a resolution affirming the sufficiency of Scripture for racial reconciliation that did not mention CRT by name. Another key outcome from the meeting was messengers’ decision to elect as president Ed Litton, who is known for his racial reconciliation work, over Mike Stone, who supported a resolution declaring CRT incompatible with the BF&M.

Beth Moore, who recently left the SBC, said that when the seminary presidents issued their statement, “the handwriting was on the wall that this witch-hunt was tragically inevitable.” She believes there are two reasons why. The first is that, in the statement, the presidents did not define what CRT is and what it is not. The second is that very few people are going to do the work to learn about the differences between CRT in biblical justice. The result is that now, when believers speak out against actual injustice per the Bible’s commands, others accuse them of promoting CRT.

“I am not a proponent of CRT,” said Moore, “but I will not for one second relent on stating as obvious fact that systemic injustice thrives in America. You have to have a blindfold on [sic] not to see it. Believing there is such a thing as systemic injustice does not equal CRT. Brothers & sisters, we are spreading lies and it is harmful & sinful.”

Moore believes fear, as well as a desire to protect “our positions & power structures,” is driving people to misconstrue biblical justice for CRT. She concluded, “I’m not an academic. I’m a Bible studying Jesus freak who loves the church. I’ll inevitably have said some of this poorly. I require a lot of grace and I ask you to look to the heart of it and test the spirit. I have written these things in love and deep concern.”

Global Interfaith Prayer Service Advocates for Vaccine Equity

By

Renée Roden

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July 21, 2021

(RNS) — Faith leaders from across the globe and from numerous faith traditions gathered together on Tuesday (July 20) both on Zoom and with some 100 participants in person on the National Mall in Washington to urge President Joe Biden to share COVID-19 vaccine stockpiles and to advocate for equitable global distribution of vaccines.

“Unless the pandemic is over for all of us, it is not over for any one of us,” said Mathews George Chunakara, the general secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia, addressing the assembly via Zoom.

Besides demanding equitable distribution of vaccines, the Interfaith Vigil for Global COVID-19 Vaccine Access called on the World Trade Organization to waive intellectual property rights for vaccine manufacturing in order to enable more countries to produce COVID-19 vaccines domestically. Laura Peralta-Schulte, one of the organizers, said the vigil was scheduled to coincide with meetings of the World Trade Organization in Geneva this week.

“World leaders have to make a decision,” Peralta-Schulte said in a phone interview with Religion News Service. “Are they going to protect pharmaceutical companies’ profits or share vaccine technology and end the pandemic?”

For the better part of two hours, secular advocates and faith leaders of 70 different organizations, from Jewish to Islamic to Christian and from Amsterdam to the Fiji Islands, urged listeners to fight for vaccine equity and emphasized human solidarity in the global struggle against the virus.

“It’s called an international pandemic for a reason,” said U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat.

Schakowsky is one of nine signatories of a letter appealing to German Chancellor Angela Merkel to join with the Biden administration in supporting the waiver. The German government currently opposes relaxing intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines.

Schakowsky spoke to the crowd in Washington about the necessity of working together as a global community. “Would you try to patent the sun?” Schakowsky asked.

“Viruses recognize no borders, color, creed or nationality,” said César García of the Mennonite World Conference. García preached on the question posed by Cain in the Bible’s Book of Genesis: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

García ended his remarks with a prayer for forgiveness. “God of mercy, we are sorry. We have not cared enough for all people. Forgive us, through Jesus,” he prayed.

The vigil, which was attended by representatives of mostly liberal-leaning groups, opened and closed with the Christian hymns “O God Our Help in Ages Past” and “God’s Got the Whole World,” and included a song of lament in the middle of the afternoon, in commemoration of lives lost to COVID-19.

“In a global emergency, profits and politics need to be set aside for the good of the people,” said Don McCrabb, executive director of the United States Catholic Mission Association.

“The coronavirus is not the Titanic, everyone can live — there are more than enough lifeboats for every person on the planet.”

This article originally appeared here.

Ben & Jerry’s Threatened Ban in West Bank Creates Ripples Beyond Ice Cream Stores

By

Michele Chabin

-

July 21, 2021

JERUSALEM (RNS) — Ben & Jerry’s announcement that it will ban the sale of its ice cream in what it calls the “occupied Palestinian territories” beginning in 2023 could have wide-reaching legal and political ramifications, Middle East observers say.

In a statement Monday (July 19), Ben & Jerry’s said that continuing to sell products in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the Six-Day War in 1967, “is incompatible with our values.”

The Vermont company, which its founders, both Jewish, sold to the British company Unilever two decades ago, said it would not renew the contract of its Israeli licensee, which expires at the end of 2022, because the licensee sells Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in what the company calls “occupied” areas.

“We have been working to change this, and so we have informed our licensee that we will not renew the license agreement when it expires at the end of next year,” Ben & Jerry’s said.

The statement added that the company “will stay in Israel through a different arrangement,” but did not elaborate. The Israeli franchise is located in southern Israel, within Israel’s internationally recognized pre-1967 borders.

Many Israeli and Diaspora Jews say that Ben & Jerry’s has singled out Israel while ignoring the actions of other nations, and that it was the Palestinians who rejected the two-state solution drafted by the United Nations.

“There are over 100 disputed territories that involve over 120 countries around the world, yet Ben & Jerry’s only decided to boycott Israel. Don’t tell me it has nothing to do with antisemitism,” Yoni Michanie, a Jewish Israeli, wrote on Twitter.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid termed the territories’ boycott a “shameful surrender to antisemitism, to BDS and to all that is wrong with the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish discourse,” using the acronym for the “boycott, divest, sanction” movement that targets Israel for its treatment of Palestinians.

Lapid urged the 30-plus U.S. states that have passed laws prohibiting their local governments from contracting with people or entities that boycott Israel to enforce them against Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever.

Some U.S. Jewish groups have called for a stateside boycott of Ben & Jerry’s, and several Jewish-owned stores in the U.S. have said they will no longer carry its products.

Proud Boys Leader Pleads Guilty for Burning Church’s Black Lives Matter Banner

By

Kathryn Post

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July 21, 2021

(RNS) — Proud Boys national leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio pleaded guilty to two charges on Monday (July 19), including the burning of a Black Lives Matter banner taken from Asbury United Methodist Church, a historic Black church in Washington, D.C.

Tarrio, 37, also pleaded guilty in the D.C. Superior Court to one count of attempted possession of a large-capacity ammunition feeding device. Both offenses carry a maximum sentence of a $1,000 fine and/or six months in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 23.

The banner burning occurred on Dec. 12, 2020, when thousands flocked to Washington, D.C., to protest the election of Joe Biden as president. Tarrio was among a group of Proud Boys who tore down Black Lives Matter signs belonging to a number of churches in Washington.

A viral video shows the Proud Boys, wearing their standard black and yellow colors, burning a Black Lives Matter banner with the Asbury United Methodist logo on it. Tarrio later admitted to burning the banner on social media.

“It pained me especially to see our name, Asbury, in flames,” said Asbury’s pastor, the Rev. Ianther M. Mills, in a statement released on Dec. 13. “For me it was reminiscent of cross burnings.”

Tarrio, from Miami, was arrested on Jan. 4, 2021, when he returned to D.C., two days before the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, he was carrying two high-capacity firearm magazines bearing the “Proud Boys” insignia. Tarrio later admitted he had intended to give the magazines to a customer who was also coming to Washington, D.C.

By the day after Tarrio’s arrest, more than $100,000 had been raised for his legal defense on the self-described Christian crowdfunding site GiveSendGo.

Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, another historic Black church in Washington, announced a lawsuit on Jan. 4 against the Proud Boys for destroying the church’s Black Lives Matter sign. In April, a Superior Court judge granted a default judgment that declared the Proud Boys had forfeited the case after failing to respond to the lawsuit.

The Proud Boys is a far-right group that’s been categorized as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Members were also present at the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

This article originally appeared here.

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The Limitations of Me-We-God-You-We

2 Ways Heroic Leadership Avoid Being a “Hero “Hog”

1. Choose to own the disappointing stuff.

2. Choose to pass along the good stuff to other leaders in the organization.

Literally, that’s it.

Share your budget with a lower-level leader so they can pay for the team’s meal.

Publicly celebrate other leaders in front of their direct reports.

Give credit to other leaders whose ideas and work are making a difference.

Allow every leader to be the “face” of their team.

Focus on serving the organization over leading the organization.

Here are 3 reasons your youth ministry program may need an upgrade:

1. Teens are busier today.

2. Teens are more distracted now.

Disinformation to Take Control of McLean Bible Church

NBA Finals MVP Does ‘Everything’ Through Christ

‘This Is Only God,’ Says Bucks Guard

Choose Your Friends Wisely

What Real Love Means

Hiring Practices vs Software Platform Policies – What’s the Problem?

Beth Moore: The Handwriting Was on the Wall

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