The Apostle Paul and the Wrath of God

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June 15, 2021

Twice in Scripture the apostle Paul paints a picture of a time when he should or would experience the curse of God. In both cases he uses the strong word anathema, which speaks to the curse of God, the wrath of God.

In his letter to the churches of Galatia, Paul boldly declares that if he or an angel preaches a different gospel, he should be cursed. Paul was so protective of the gospel, so alarmed by an attempt to change it by adding to it, that he declared a curse on himself if he ever wandered from heralding the good news of Jesus and turned to another gospel, which is really no gospel at all. His intense love for the gospel and his hatred for the effect on the church when a false gospel is preached caused him to desire a curse on those who change the gospel, even if he were among them.

“Anathema” and the Wrath of God

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel other than what we have preached to you, a curse be on him! As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone preaches to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him! (Galatians 1:8-9)

In his letter to those in Rome, Paul expressed an intense desire for his own countrymen—the Jews—to receive Christ. His heart broke for them. He longed for them to taste the goodness of Christ, to know Christ. So he chose the strongest language to express the anguish in his soul, essentially saying, “If it were possible (and it is not because I am in Christ), I would be cut off from Him and experience the wrath of God so they could know Him.”

I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience is testifying to me with the Holy Spirit—that I have intense sorrow and continual anguish in my heart. For I could almost wish to be cursed and cut off from the Messiah for the benefit of my brothers, my own flesh and blood. (Romans 9:1-3)

Paul, of course, never experiences the wrath of God. Christ keeps Paul to Himself, and Paul faithfully fulfills his ministry. He fights the good fight, finishes the race, and keeps the faith. But Paul’s use of anathema shows his passion for two things: the gospel and people.

These passages are deeply challenging. Do we feel that strongly about the message of the Christian faith? Do our hearts break for those who have not yet received Christ’s forgiveness, perhaps living under the wrath of God? Are the gospel and people the overarching passion of our lives? My life?

This article appeared here.

31 Ministry Roles and Responsibilities for Teens

By

Paul Turner

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June 15, 2021

I like a busy youth ministry. I also like when kids come in and have a job; that’s why I don’t do everything. When I leave things undone on purpose, kids have something to do when they arrive. Roles and responsibilities for teens are essential for growing young servants and leaders.

More Roles, More Vision

I believe in the economy of youth ministry, with each program operating like a small city. When people are working and invested, there’s less crime, less blight and less vandalism. The same is true for our ministries. With more roles and responsibilities for teens, more kids serve weekly and monthly, and there’s less griping, less boredom and more vision.

Throughout the years, I’ve handed out a variety of roles and responsibilities for teens. Some were a natural part of my youth ministry, and some I created because certain students were gifted in a particular area. By the way, nothing on the list below is sacred or proprietary. If you can do a task yourself, then students can do it too, though they might need a little training and mentoring.

Consider These 31 Ministry Roles and Responsibilities for Teens:

1. Create worship slides

2. Make announcements

3. Take the offering

4. Read poetry

5. Provide a rap intro for the message

6. Share a faith testimony

7. Operate the café (serve snacks)

8. Set up chairs

9. Clean up after events

10. Lead a game

11. Sing a song

12. Do a dance

13. Do a drama or monologue

14. Play in the worship band

15. Lead worship and/or prayer

16. Design graphics

17. Serve as photographer

18. Serve as videographer

19. Run the ministry’s social media accounts

20. Run the sound board

21. Preach

22. Teach

23. Lead a small group

24. Run the computer

25. Draw an illustration

26. Edit video

27. Make movies or slides for the message (or just for fun!)

28. Greet people as they arrive

29. Follow up with guests

30. Mentor middle school students

31. Disciple new believers

For more details about my philosophy of student leadership, check out this video: “4 Ways to Move Your Youth Group From Consumer to Creators.” For my thoughts on the economy of youth ministry, read my article “Is Your Youth Ministry Hiring?”

To receive more articles, tips and videos in your inbox, subscribe to my Youth Ministry Round Up newsletter (and get a free Bible study).

This article about roles and responsibilities for teens originally appeared here.

Gov. Ron DeSantis: New Law Will Let Public School Students ‘Pray As They See Fit’

By

Jessica Lea

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June 15, 2021

Florida governor Ron DeSantis has signed into law a bill requiring public school teachers in grades K-12 to observe at least one minute of silence at the beginning of the first class period of every day.

“The idea that you can just push God out of every institution and be successful, I’m sorry, our founding fathers did not believe that,” said DeSantis, speaking at a news conference at Shul of Bal Harbour in Surfside, Fla. “We have an opportunity here to really protect the religious freedom of everybody who’s going to school K-12 in the state of Florida and we’re really proud of that.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis: It’s Important

HB 529, which takes effect on July 1, states:

The Legislature finds that in today’s hectic society too few persons are able to experience even a moment of quiet reflection before plunging headlong into the activities of daily life. Young persons are particularly affected by the absence of an opportunity for a moment of quiet reflection. The Legislature finds that our youth, and society as a whole, would be well served if students in the public schools were afforded a moment of silence at the beginning of each school day.

The bill requires all first period classroom teachers in public schools to set aside at least one minute, but no more than two minutes, of silence at the beginning of each school day. Students are not to disrupt the moment of silence for one another, and teachers are not to “make suggestions as to the nature of any reflection that a student may engage in during the moment of silence.” Moreover, the bill instructs the teachers to encourage parents to discuss the moment of silence with their children.

HB 529’s sponsor is Rep. Randy Fine (R-Brevard), who claims to be the only Jewish Republican in the Florida House. DeSantis said, “We think it’s something that’s important, to be able to provide each student the ability, every day, to be able to reflect and to be able to pray as they see fit.”

Opponents of the bill have voiced concerns over its implications for the separation of church and state, while proponents have countered that it is merely establishing a daily time of quiet reflection. However, Gov. Ron DeSantis clearly presented the bill in religious terms during the news conference. Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez reiterated that way of thinking, saying that HB 529 would “allow for religious freedom and allow for students to have a minute or two at the start of their day.”

Rep. Omari Hardy (D-West Palm Beach) accused the bill’s supporters of lying about their motives: “The Republican who sponsored the bill said that it wasn’t about prayer in school. (Of course it was!) But when you question their motives, or their honesty, it’s called a personal attack & deemed out of order. No. The Republicans lie, and we need to call them on it every time.”

One Twitter user responded to the news, saying, “I want to be annoyed about this, but if they aren’t shoving a specific religion, what would a moment of self reflection hurt? Though there’s much bigger things he [DeSantis] should be doing than pandering to his base.”

At Founders Event, Southern Baptists Urged to Choose Bible Over ‘Paganism,’ CRT

By

Bob Smietana

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June 15, 2021

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS) — Southern Baptists worried about liberal drift in their denomination heard warnings about “paganism” and worldly ideologies such as critical race theory.

They heard sermons about the failures of God’s people in the Bible, from the Israelites’ worship of a golden calf to the Apostle Peter’s denials of Jesus in the Gospels.

They also got some fashion advice.

“The current battles our churches are facing in our culture require its pulpits to be filled with men who don’t wear lace on their skinny jeans,” Tom Buck, pastor of First Baptist Church in Lindale, Texas, told a crowd of about 1,000 people at the Founders Ministries gathering Monday (June 14) ahead of the Southern Baptist Convention. He also warned there could be no peace in the denomination without doctrinal purity.

Humor aside, the message of all the speakers at the “Be it Resolved” event, held at a hotel a few blocks from the site of the SBC annual meeting, echoed a similar theme. The SBC is in trouble and “worldly” ideas — from marketing schemes to critical race theory — can’t save it. Instead, speakers urged attendees to rely on the “sufficiency of Scripture,” the belief that the Bible contains everything Christians need to understand and to minister to the world around them.

Founders Ministries was started in the 1980s by pastors who wanted Southern Baptist to return to the “doctrines of God’s sovereign grace.” Mostly made up of Calvinists, the group has long been concerned that pragmatism — rather than theology — shapes the world of many churches.

That pragmatism, Founders President Tom Ascol told Religion News Service in an interview, led to liberal theology in the denomination in the 1970s. Even when conservatives took over the SBC in the 1980s and 1990s, that pragmatism remained, according to Ascol. So churches, he said, are filled with people who think they are Christians but really aren’t.

“We still have churches filled with unregenerate people,” said Ascol, senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Florida. “Our evangelism, our church practice is still very much influenced by principles derived from something other than what we believe or say we believe in Scripture.”

Southern Baptist Convention Faces Push From the Right at Annual Meeting

By

Travis Loller

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June 15, 2021

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Southern Baptist Convention is electing a new president Tuesday amid a push to wrest control of the denomination by ultraconservatives who say some current leaders are too liberal on issues that include race and the role of women in ministry.

Mike Stone, a Georgia pastor, is the preferred candidate of a new group within the nation’s largest Protestant denomination that calls itself the Conservative Baptist Network. Some network members have adopted a pirate motif on Twitter while declaring their intention to #taketheship.

Stone has been campaigning hard, speaking in churches around the country, and the network has been encouraging supporters to attend the annual meeting as voting delegates. As of Monday, more than 17,000 voting delegates were pre-registered, positioning the meeting to be the denomination’s largest in 25 years.

Also vying for the presidency is Albert Mohler, who leads the denomination’s flagship Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kentucky. He’s not part of the new conservative network but has angered some Southern Baptists for endorsing Donald Trump last year and for signing a statement denouncing critical race theory.

A third candidate, Alabama pastor Ed Litton, was among an ethnically and racially diverse group of Southern Baptists who signed a statement asserting that systemic injustice is real. He is supported by Fred Luter, the only Black pastor ever to be denomination president.

Neither Litton nor Mohler have run aggressive campaigns like Stone.

The Southern Baptist Convention is structured as a loose network of independent churches that pools money for tasks like missions and evangelism. The role of president is primarily a bully pulpit, but the president does have the power to make committee appointments that can then set the direction of the denomination.

That’s what happened in the 1980s when a group carried out what they called the Conservative Resurgence, pushing out more liberal leaders and helping forge an alliance between white evangelicals and Republican conservatism. The recent charges of liberalism in high places have stunned many in a convention where leaders have to affirm a deeply conservative statement of faith. Among other things, it declares that marriage is between one man and one woman, that human life is sacred and begins at conception and that only men should be pastors.

At least one prominent Black pastor has said he will leave the SBC if Stone is elected. An effort to repudiate critical race theory, supported by Stone, has already led to the departure of some Black pastors over what they said was racial insensitivity from overwhelmingly white leadership.

The role of women in ministry could also pop up after bestselling Christian author Beth Moore left the denomination earlier this year. Beyond the issue of women pastors, some members believe that women should never preach to men or even teach them in Sunday school. Conservative Baptist Network members have accused Litton of being too egalitarian. And the Southern Baptist church founded by Rick Warren, author of “The Purpose Driven Life,” recently ordained three female ministers.

Meanwhile, the issue of how to handle sexual abuse allegations has recently blown up thanks to leaked letters from the SBC’s former top public policy official and secret recordings of meetings. They purport to show some leaders tried to slow-walk efforts to hold churches accountable and to intimidate and retaliate against those who advocated on the issue. Stone is specifically called out as pushing back against accountability efforts, an accusation he has called outrageous.

An announcement by Southern Baptist Executive Committee president Ronnie Floyd on Friday that the body is hiring a third party to investigate the allegations hasn’t satisfied everyone. Some pastors are demanding an independent task force, saying they don’t trust the committee to oversee an investigation of itself.

“It is hard to imagine that a body of believers of the Lord Jesus would vote to limit in any way an investigation to find the truth when there are serious allegations related to sexual abuse,” Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary president Danny Akin tweeted on Monday. “Praying our Convention charts the right course tomorrow.”

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support from the Lilly Endowment through The Conversation U.S. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

This article originally appeared here.

US Intel Report Warns of More Violence by QAnon Followers

By

Michael Kunzelman and Nomaan Merchant

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June 15, 2021

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new federal intelligence report warns that adherents of QAnon, the conspiracy theory embraced by some in the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol, could target Democrats and other political opponents for more violence as the movement’s false prophecies increasingly fail to come true.

Many QAnon followers believe former President Donald Trump was fighting enemies within the so-called deep state to expose a cabal of Satan-worshipping cannibals operating a child sex trafficking ring. Trump’s loss to President Joe Biden disillusioned some believers in “The Storm,” a supposed reckoning in which Trump’s enemies would be tried and executed. Some adherents have now pivoted into believing that Trump is the “shadow president” or that Biden’s victory was a sham.

The report was compiled by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security and released Monday by Sen. Martin Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat. It predicts that while some QAnon adherents will pull back, others “likely will begin to believe they can no longer ‘trust the plan’ referenced in QAnon posts and that they have an obligation to change from serving as ‘digital soldiers’ towards engaging in real world violence.”

As major social media companies suspend or remove QAnon-themed accounts, many followers have moved to less well-known platforms and discussed how to radicalize new users on them, the report says.

The report says several factors will contribute to QAnon’s long-term durability, including the COVID-19 pandemic, some social media companies allowing posts about the theories, societal polarization in the U.S., and the “frequency and content of pro-QAnon statements by public individuals who feature prominently in core QAnon narratives.”

The report does not identify any of those public individuals. But Trump, who has praised QAnon followers as “people that love our country,” has repeatedly refused to acknowledge the election is over and spoken baselessly of his victory being “stolen,” despite multiple court rulings and a finding by his own Justice Department upholding the integrity of the election. One longtime ally told The Associated Press that Trump has given credence to a conspiracy theory that he could somehow be reinstated into the presidency in August.

Heinrich and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., requested the assessment in December. Heinrich pressed FBI Director Chris Wray during an intelligence committee hearing in April to release an assessment of how the government views QAnon. “The public deserves to know how the government assesses the threat to our country from those who would act violently on such beliefs,” he said then.

The movement around QAnon has already been linked to political violence, notably during the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection in which some rioters believed they would reverse Trump’s defeat. At least 20 QAnon followers have been charged with federal crimes related to Jan. 6, according to an AP review of court records.

Some charged in the riot wore attire bearing the telltale letter “Q” when they stormed the Capitol. One of the defendants, Jacob Chansley, calls himself the “QAnon Shaman” and wore a furry hat with horns, face paint and no shirt that day. Others had posted about QAnon on social media before the riot.

The Justice Department has arrested more than 400 people in the insurrection, during which pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, caused about $1.5 million worth of damage and sent lawmakers running for their lives. Five people died and dozens of police officers were wounded. Defendants have argued that Trump himself spurred them on, or they were just following the crowd, or law enforcement allowed them in, or they were the victims of disinformation stoked by right-wing media.

Lawyers for some of the defendants have argued their clients were specifically misguided by QAnon.

Defense attorney Christopher Davis argued that his client, Douglas Jensen, is a victim of internet-driven conspiracy promoted by “very clever people, who were uniquely equipped with slight, if any, moral or social consciousness.” Jensen now realizes that he “bought into a pack of lies,” his lawyer maintains.

“For reasons he does not even understand today, he became a ‘true believer’ and was convinced he doing a noble service by becoming a digital soldier for ‘Q.’ Maybe it was mid-life crisis, the pandemic, or perhaps the message just seemed to elevate him from his ordinary life to an exalted status with an honorable goal,” Davis wrote.

A witness told the FBI that another defendant, Kevin Strong, expressed a belief that Jan. 6 would usher in “World War 3″ and the military would be involved. Strong, who was a Federal Aviation Administration employee in San Bernardino, California, had a flag with a QAnon slogan on his house and has declared that he had “Q clearance,” an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit.

“He had recently purchased a new truck and believed that QAnon would cover the debt,” the agent wrote.

This article originally appeared here.

Coming Out, Mental Health Crisis in the Background of Steve Austin’s Suicide

By

Jessica Lea

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June 15, 2021

Recent blog posts from former pastor Steve Austin show that before he was discovered dead on June 7 from an apparent suicide, his wife, Lindsey Austin, was hospitalized for mental health problems. What’s more, these tragic events occurred shortly after Austin publicly came out as queer.

“Lindsey is now at a hospital downtown, where she’s been for a few days, and will likely be for another week,” said Steve Austin in a blog post from June 2. “I don’t want to go into too many specifics because I cherish Lindsey’s privacy. But please keep her brain and body in your prayers.”

Austin explained, “For a bit of back story, Lindsey switched from one SSRI to another a little more than two weeks ago. After several nights of no sleep, increased blood pressure, and some new mental health symptoms, she was treated at our local emergency room last Wednesday.” When Lindsey Austin’s symptoms got worse, however, she was hospitalized.

“SSRI” stands for “selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.” According to the Mayo Clinic, SSRIs “are the most commonly prescribed antidepressants.”

Steve and Lindsey Austin Search for ‘New Normal’

In his post, Austin requested financial help for his family, saying that Lindsey would not be working for at least two weeks and he would only be able to work intermittently “as we figure out our new normal.”

On May 23, in a blog post titled, “Embracing the truth of my sexuality,” Austin had announced that he identified as queer. “I’ve been attracted to both males and females for as long as I remember,” he said. “If you want to get specific, I check the boxes for bicurious, pansexual, questioning, and demisexual. So, I’m pretty sure that makes me the Q in LGBTQIA+.”

READ: LGBTQ and the Church Podcast Series: A Conversation We Need to Have

Austin said that his coming out had no impact on the status of his marriage. He had already shared the news with Lindsey in 2018, and her response had been to love him unconditionally. “Thankfully, my wife is celebrating my truth with me,” he said. Austin shared the news publicly with her “full support” and included in his blog post a statement from Lindsey that said, “This has changed nothing, other than permitting us to be more honest in our communication. And how can that be a bad thing?”

Austin explained that he was sharing the news about his queer identity out of a desire to live in courage and vulnerability instead of in fear and shame. “Do you have any idea how exhausting it is to perform your whole life for people who will only fully accept you if you deny anything about yourself that doesn’t meet their approval?” he asked. “For the past three decades, I’ve lived a lie, hoping to appease a group of people who only support you if you follow their rules and live up to their unfair and unrealistic expectations…Well, the hiding ends today.”

READ: Caleb Kaltenbach: Do You See the LGBTQ Community Through God’s Eyes?

If you would like to support Lindsey Austin and her children, Ben and Cara, during this difficult time, you can do so at their GoFundMe page here.

Simplifying Church Member Engagement: 6 Ways to Reconnect & Reclaim Your Confidence

By

Aware3

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June 15, 2021

It’s no secret that church leaders and staff are wearing many hats right now. 2020 hit the gas pedal on change and accelerated everyone 10 years into the future. Since then, churches have felt the pressure to go digital in a big way. To pile on fancy tools, lighting, and editing. To post, post, post on social media, email, and every other communication channel available. Unfortunately, all the expectations, upkeep, and overextending is taking a toll on churches.

As engagement specialists and champions of community, we encourage you to hit pause on all that noise and take a more simplified approach to church member engagement.

Push back on that pressure and try these 6 ways to reconnect + reclaim your confidence:

1. Re-center.

You were forced to adapt to so much overnight, and while some changes will stick, others may not make sense for your church in the long run. That’s why, if you haven’t reflected on your mission and your “why” lately, it’s a great time to revisit this. Grounding yourself and your team in the mission of your church is the first step to more authentic digital and physical experiences at your church. (Authenticity opens the door to engagement!)

2. Do an audit of your tech line-up.

You’ve probably added quite a few apps and other digital tools to your tech stack as of late. Now, it’s time to declutter, cut, and simplify where possible. Start by taking inventory of what you have, then assess if each “thing” is providing enough value to justify the cost, whether that’s money or time. Lastly, ask yourself: Can I integrate or consolidate any of my software? The more you and your members can do from one central place, the better.

3. Streamline processes, communication + connection.

You don’t want your members searching their inboxes for one thing, checking Facebook for another, and scouring your website for everything in between. All of that gets in the way of what matters: action + connection. Our advice is to establish one “go-to” place for church information and content, communication, and next steps. Not only will this save you and your team time and energy (no more fielding repeat questions, stressing about scattered communications, or hunting down participants!), it will also streamline connection within your church.

4. Lean into your talents (and your team’s).

Many church leaders and staff members are being forced to take on responsibilities and roles they aren’t passionate about or they aren’t good at. And that’s not a criticism, none of us are good at everything, nor do we really want to be. One thing that can help with this is to prioritize your goals and ministry initiatives based on your team’s strengths and talents.

5. Leaning on data doesn’t hurt, either.

Trusting your gut goes a long way, but when you’re constantly making decisions, it’s not practical or feasible to solely rely on intuition and hearsay. Making decisions based on your experience and expertise in addition to data will help you make more confident, informed decisions.

The easiest way to collect, view, and analyze data is through a connected engagement platform. For example, Together+ powered by aware3 collects and categorizes church member data from all tools in the platform, including church mobile app, church giving, forms + registrations and more! That way, whether it’s giving habits, in-app downloads or volunteer activity, you’ll have the data you need to plan, strategize, and better equip your people. (Plus, all the data + insights you need to easily track, measure, and grow engagement!)

6. Keep it simple, seriously.

It’s true that many methods for preaching the Gospel are evolving, but that doesn’t mean your mission, message, or the heart of your church should change with them. You don’t have to have a large online presence or a flashy personal brand to meet the needs of your people in today’s world. In our opinion, tech should never be the destination, it should be the bridge. Your digital tools should allow you to meet your people where they’re at, facilitate connection, and make it easy for them to take meaningful steps forward in the real world. And that can be as simple as sending a text or providing spiritual resources in an app.

Modernizing your church isn’t about elaborate solutions, complicated strategies, or grand digital experiences, it’s really about simplification—for you and your members. We live in an age where ease-of-use, clarity, and efficiency are the expectation, but the good news is, we also live in a time where people long for connection, community, and spiritual growth. Our hope is to help you bridge those worlds so you have a clear path to engagement.

We always say the journey’s better together, so if you’d like help working through any of the things we’ve covered here, we’d love to help.

Let’s chat!

Turn Any Screen Into Digital Signage to Drive Engagement in Your Congregation

By

OptiSigns

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June 15, 2021

Modern digital signage will enhance your congregation’s overall experience by having them stay updated about future services and events, receiving important updates, collaborating and sharing their ideas in social media with other members, among many more benefits.

You can easily turn any TV screen or monitor into a modern digital signage. To do this, we need a digital signage software solution that is reliable and easy to use. Optimally, you will not need any software or design skill to use the software. What you will need to get started is a Smart TV, an Amazon FireStick or a preconfigured device in order to connect the screens to the Internet and start driving better engagement.

Here are 5 easy ways to start driving engagement in your congregation:

Show up-to-date content. Keep your screens updated with messages like bulletin boards or upcoming events with QR codes where people can RSVP. Display upcoming events in a calendar with apps integrated to Google or Microsoft Calendar.
Show relevant content. Use apps to show the weather forecast in the area and the latest social posts with mentions or #hashtags from Instagram and Twitter. Also, you can add content from many platforms like Google Slides, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.
Manage your different screens in one place. Keep everything in sync with a central dashboard that allows you to easily manage and switch between screens with images, videos, apps and videos. You can configure the variety of content you have any way you want to. You can also add more users for collaborative work in the platform.
Create custom playlists. In order to manage the schedule of your content, create custom playlists with a variety of screen transitions. Also, you can use a playlist for stopping the content during service to avoid people getting distracted. You can easily set up the hours and days you want your content to appear.
Keep your content fresh. No one likes looking at the same sign each week. Regularly update your content with an online editor using different templates. You do not need design skills. Just choose one template, edit the text, and in minutes you can have it showing on your screens.

And it has so many more uses besides churches. If you own a shop, hotel, restaurant or anywhere you have customers looking at signs, turn them into digital signs to start showing your business in a more valuable way and improve the look of your location.

We recommend Optisigns that offers a free trial here for up to 2 screens. For more screens, it is just $10 per screen per month. Churches have a special offer for 25% off.

The Problem With Summer Camp

By

Dennis Beckner

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June 15, 2021

Dear Youth Pastors, I’ve got a bone to pick with you about summer camp. Isn’t that an awesome and encouraging way to start a blog post?

But seriously, there something I see a lot in relation to summer camps and retreats. It’s the problem of being sold out. Some youth pastors wear that as a badge of honor year after year. Please stop doing that! Sold out summer camp means students are getting left out. Sure it could happen by accident one year. If that problem becomes an annual tradition, it means you’re not taking steps to fix the problem.

3 Top Excuses Why You’re Not Solving The “Sold Out” Summer Camp Situation

Excuse #1: The Sacred Cow

Here’s the great news! Some of you have to use the same summer camp year after year because the pastor’s cousin’s sister-in-law is married to the person who runs the camp. We’ve always gone there and we always will! Sold out camps are your leverage for killing that sacred cow.

The Fix: Leverage the cow over a cliff

If your pastor is nursing a sacred cow and won’t consider other options for camp, it’s time to come at it from a different angle. Don’t ask to move the camp to a new location. In your next meeting, share the amazing successes that came from summer camp. Get him all fired up about the decisions made. Tell him how it’s impacted your youth ministry for the better. Then lay it on him. Show him your waiting list of students who didn’t get to go because that camp can’t accommodate your ministry. Be ready with a list of camps where you can get more bang for your buck and have room for more students.

That’s a long shot. However, the approach of asking to change camps up front has never worked, so taking a different angle might.

Excuse #2: There Are No Other Options

The only camp within 200 miles of our church is the one we go to. There literally are no other options.

The Fix: The fix for Excuse #2 is the same as Excuse #3…stay tuned

Keep reading

Excuse #3: Because of family/church schedules, this is the only week we can go on a weeklong camp

The Fix: Offer more options

8 Ways God Protects Us From Ourselves

By

Dr. James Scott, Jr.

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June 15, 2021

There will never be anyone who does more harm to your life than yourself.

Just by bringing sin into your life, you’ve done more damage to yourself than anyone else possibly could.

When we think of turning to God to protect us, we usually think of how God provides cover from external threats. But fortunately for us, God does great things to provide us with protection against the terrible things we would do to ourselves. Here are just eight ways God protects us from ourselves.

8 Ways God Protects Us From Ourselves

1. GOD TRANSFORMS US.

God best knows just how corrupt our minds, our hearts, and our desires really are. Without Him, they would always default to sin. So God offers to transform our minds and mold us into the likeness of His Son:

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect,” Romans 12:2.

“But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God — truly righteous and holy,” Ephesians 4:20-24.

God reconciles us to Himself through Christ, lavishing upon us His perfect love, His grace, and His mercy, all of which cushions us from our selfish, fleshly desires as He molds us into being holy as He is holy: “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him,” Philippians 2:13.

What greater way to protect us from the sin that ruins us than to be transformed from sinners into saints?

2. AN EDUCATION BY JESUS

From our own foolishness we rush headlong into the world and do harm to ourselves in many ways. What if Jesus Himself offered to teach us a better way of living? He does! Most of us likely miss in the following scripture an offer from Jesus for Him to be our teacher:

“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls,” Matthew 11:28-29.

Jesus wants to teach us to live in such a way that doesn’t harm us (or anyone else!), but helps us live holy lives that are pleasing to our heavenly Father.

3. A HOLY HELPER

To be able to understand this better life God has for us, and to have the power to live it, He provides us with the Holy Spirit as the perfect helper:

“But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative — that is, the Holy Spirit — he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you,” John 14:26.

“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will,” Romans 8:26-27.

“When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives,” Galatians 5:19-25.

Willow Creek’s Core Meeting: A Response

By

Laura Barringer

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June 15, 2021

Three years have passed since the evening of March 23, 2018, the night in which a Chicago Tribune article revealed allegations of misconduct against Willow Creek’s senior pastor Bill Hybels. The article, expertly written by reporters Manya Brachear Pashman and Jeff Coen, left our family stunned, bewildered, and disoriented. That Bill Hybels did such things was hard enough, but we simply could not believe that a church we loved and trust(ed) would so callously brand Hybels’ victims as liars and colluders. I have language now to understand the events as a predictable pattern of institutional betrayal, but at the time I felt thrown into a tailspin. For me a common disorientation was the question Why are people angry at me for asking Willow Creek to tell the truth?

As a once-insider-now-outsider, I watched Willow Creek move on without seeking true, redemptive healing. (More on that later.) The story about Hybels quieted, but emotions lurked and simmered at the surface always, victims and family and former staff and members triggered by sermon titles and Willow Creek’s flashy events and snippets of weekend messages that seemed careless in light of its larger story. A pattern developed: We reeled and then we processed and some tried to meet with elders and begged for truth-telling and then the story quieted once again.

Unreconciled relations and unfinished reconciliations, however, seemed to be put behind us even if uncompleted.

Then, last week, a YouTube video dropped. I clicked on it, wondering why Willow Creek watchers responded to it so viscerally. I read comments before I watched the video, and twenty seconds into it I understood. I understood and I was stunned, shocked, alarmed and bewildered.

Willow Creek held a core meeting for members on May 26, where new senior pastor Dave Dummitt and new South Barrington campus pastor Shawn Williams fielded questions from those in attendance. Among others, this question was asked: “Why is Bill Hybels’ name rarely mentioned?” Let me pause here: The answer to that question is sacred. It is delicate. It can shatter or it can contribute to a redemptive process. It holds the stories of abused men and women within it, men and women who suffered faith-shattering wounds and were buried beneath a powerful institution. We know their stories, we know (some of) their names, and we honor them by responding to their soul-trauma with compassion and truth and grace.

Before I continue, I offer this prayer my father and I wrote, printed in our recent book A Church Called Tov— that God will be gracious, that God will forgive, that God will heal, that God will restore people to himself and to one another, and that tov (goodness) will abound in Willow Creek.

Back to the video. I was instantly alarmed by the tone and the applause and joking and fist-bumping and laughter over who should answer the question: “Why is Bill Hybels’ name rarely mentioned?” I was alarmed by appeals to being “the new guy” as an excuse for not knowing how to respond. Abuse was labeled a “polarizing reality of people’s perspectives.” Shawn Williams said he talked to people “who can’t understand why Bill was treated the way he was treated.” I was alarmed that an answer to a question so delicate and sacred would be treated with cavalier attitudes and back-slapping and no mention of the victims. Or concern for their deep, enduring wounds.

And then this: Williams spoke about the life-changing impact Bill Hybels had upon his life. He described Hybels as a “once-in-a-generation leader.” Williams described Bill or Willow Creek as a broken tree who produced good fruit. The senior pastor at Willow Creek Community Church, the successor to Hybels, Dave Dummitt added, “I agree with everything you said,” labeling Williams’ words beautiful. On that stage, with seemingly no pre-planning, he invited Williams to share that same message at a weekend service to a wider audience. They spoke of Hybels with great respect and deference.

Good and Bad Reasons for Taking Small Group Attendance

By

Allen White

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June 14, 2021

A debate runs between small group pastors and sometimes senior pastors about whether to keep small group attendance and why. While it can be difficult at times to get relational small group leaders to accomplish the task of keeping small group attendance, here are some benefits to taking weekly small group attendance.

Good Reasons for Taking Small Group Attendance

Groups who typically have 80 percent or more of their group members in a meeting on a regular basis are in their sweet spot. Even if their attendance occasionally dips below 50 percent, there really is not much to worry about. But there are two situations where you or your small group coaches need to intervene:

1. Groups with Too Many Members

Warm, welcoming groups can’t help but to grow. The members keep inviting their friends and in a matter of days to weeks, the group can grow well beyond what’s comfortable for a group meeting or even the average sized house. Rather than putting a cap on how many new people the group can invite, it’s time for a conversation. What’s next?

If the group is sub-grouping to smaller groups of eight or less, discussion can continue and everybody can get their word in. Sub-grouping paves the way for new groups to form potentially. But, I would not recommend using words like: birth, split, multiply or divide. These are code for “the small group pastor is only concerned about his/her own success and doesn’t truly care about people.” While small group pastors know that’s simply not true, the reality is our group leaders and members are wise to us.

The best way to get a group to multiply/divide/birth/split is to allow the size of the group to become a problem for the group. When they “feel the pain” of an oversized group, they will be more motivated to relocate some of the sub-groups to another house. Coach them toward this decision. Don’t dictate this, but guide them into something they will feel good about down the road.

2. Groups In Rapid Decline

For most small group leaders, especially new group leaders or hosts, a significant decline in attendance often feels like personal failure, even though it’s not. If they started with 14 and are now sitting in a cavernous living room with four people, they assume it’s their fault – maybe they’re just not cut out for this. But, we know better than that.

These group leaders need to know 100 percent small group attendance is not necessarily the goal. What we’re striving for is letting God work in the group. Sometimes God can’t do what he wants when 14 people are there, but He can when it’s only four. When attendance drops, leaders need to be reassured.

But if small group attendance drops and stays low, that’s whole other issue. What’s going on in the group that might be keeping people away? Are the meetings going to long? Is the leader unprepared? Is someone dominating the discussion and turning this into his/her personal support group? Not only is it time to coach the leader, it’s also time to conduct some “exit interviews” with group members who have left the group. This is not license for whining, but it could certainly give insight into what’s going on in the group.

The presence of a narcissist (read more here) or someone with a major life issue could certainly curtail the group’s effectiveness and ultimately its existence. Intervention by a group coach is essential to the group’s survival. Don’t hesitate to act.

3. Identifies Potential Trouble Spots

If a group fails to report attendance, it either means the group leader is not a detail-driven, task-oriented person or the group is facing trouble they’d rather not report. If the group leader is not a report-taker, then have them designate someone else in the group to submit the reports. Sometimes the leader’s spouse is more diligent with reporting. After all, opposites do attract.

If the group leader has gone silent, then the group coach needs to investigate. Maybe the group has stopped meeting. Maybe their attendance has dropped and they’re embarrassed to report (see above). If they miss one week of reporting, it’s probably no big deal. But missing multiple weeks should put the group on your hot list for follow up.

4. Warns of Groups Going Underground

If groups aren’t reporting their attendance and leaders aren’t calling anybody back, either the group has failed or gone underground. While we live in a free country and people can gather and study whatever they want, there are some key advantages to staying connected to a group coach and a small group system (Article: Why Do I Need a Coach?)

Failure to take attendance is certainly only one indicator that a group may have “gone rogue.” This is not the time to evoke a strict, controlling approach to group oversight. Group coaching is built on relationship (Article: Why Small Group Coaching Fails). Encourage their small group coach to work on the personal relationship. In time, this will bring the group and its leader back in the fold.

Practical Solutions to Group Attendance

Back in the day, the Sunday School superintendent left a folder in every classroom. The teacher would check off the attendance and put the folder outside of the door. Attendance was fairly easy to collect. But, collecting attendance from off-campus groups can be a little trickier.

Paper forms are probably not the solution, especially if they need to be mailed or dropped off at the church. Digital solutions are far superior. You can use a survey tool like Surveymonkey.com to send a simple survey to your group leaders asking them to list their members by name or just give a total for the week, add any prayer requests, and ask questions about group life.

A far superior solution is an online database such as churchteams.com which sends a report reminder after each group meeting. Leaders just need to click a link, fill out their report, click “save,” and then they’re done. Churchteams saves all of the data online and sends out analytics at the end of each month identifying potential trouble spots.

Bad Reasons for Taking Small Group Attendance

While there are many good reasons to take attendance in groups, there are also some negatives around record-keeping. While megachurches are often accused of being “only about the numbers,” it seems like others have a little number-envy going on themselves.

Small group pastors ask me, “Is weekly small group attendance really important?” While the small group pastor acknowledges those benefits, he or she soon confesses the pressure for attendance numbers is coming from outside – from a tote board-obsessed senior pastor. They don’t care who’s signed up for a group. They want to know on a weekly basis who’s actually attending the group. Here is why this recordkeeping might be a bad idea.

1. Small Groups Are More Like Families Than Classes

Let’s say you have a family of five. Your son has a late practice so he can’t make dinner tonight. Sitting around the dinner table, do you have a family of four or a family of five? Small groups are more like families than classes.

Groups are built on community around a Bible study. Classes are based on a course of study. If you skip too many classes, then you miss the content – the class is really of no benefit to you. But, a group is not a class.

Yes, there are group rosters. And, yes, attendance may vary. But, what happens not only during group meetings, but also in group life is what causes small groups to stand apart. Whether you attend the meeting or not, you’re a part of the group.

Years ago, we had a neighbor who attended our church and wanted to join our small group. She lived right around the corner, so our group was convenient for her. She also wanted her husband to attend the group. He came once, but obviously didn’t want to be there.

They had busy lives, so rather than spending an evening apart with her at group and him at home, she opted to stay home as well, but we kept her on our roster. She never attended a meeting, but my wife would check in on her regularly, go for walks, and once in a while, she would show up for group.

She wasn’t a part of anybody else’s group. This was her group, whether she was there or not. Attendance records would report her as “inactive,” but we connected with her every week outside of the group meeting. See where record keeping can go a little haywire?

2. Small Group Attendance Alone Is a Poor Measure of Church Health

While it’s important to know over all how many people are connected to groups, ministries and classes, numbers should never be an end in themselves. What do those numbers mean? “Well, we have 80 percent in groups, so our small group pastor can keep his job.” “We’ve gone up and down with group attendance. Small groups aren’t working in our church.” That may be, but are you really getting the information you need?

Better Metrics for Group Health

How many leaders have you developed?

Every believer is called to “go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19-20). There are no exemptions from the Great Commission. How are you empowering and equipping your members to gather a circle and make disciples? For many churches, an easy-to-use DVD curriculum is the answer. The person doesn’t need to be a leader or a Bible scholar. They just need to invite some friends. What makes this even better is if you create the video teaching yourself.

How’s the load of pastoral care?

When numbers go up, care goes down. I believe Pastor Rick Warren said that. This is why even though Saddleback Church has well over 25,000 in attendance, they also have well over 4,700 small groups.

A church will never be able to hire all of the staff it needs – mini-church or megachurch – it’s the same case for everybody. But, there are gifted people sitting in our pews every Sunday. If we encouraged them, and they said, “God use me,” we shouldn’t be surprised, but God uses them.

As people care for each other in groups, the need for pastoral care goes down. The Body is encouraging and serving one another.

Now, every church culture is a little different. Some church members are well trained in calling the church office for every little thing they need. Others simply feel out rightly entitled. But, when care goes up in groups, phone calls to the church office will go down.

How has assimilation improved?

When people start attending your church, how easy is it for them to make friends? How are they connecting? Groups are a great place for people to start.

In most churches, everyone can’t know everybody. But, everybody needs to know somebody. Statistically, that number is around 6-7 people. That’s all it takes for a person to stick. And, that sounds like a small group to me!

People who feel the connection and care of the church body outside of the Sunday morning service are more likely to stick around. A few months ago, our family started attending the Greenville, SC campus of NewSpring Church. Our kids where actually invited first and loved it. My oldest son would like to go to church twice per week!

My wife and I joined a small group – not because we had to – but because we were invited. Here’s the interesting thing – even though over 3,000 people attend the Greenville campus, we run into members of our small group on a regular basis. We just pick each other out of the crowd. There’s just something really great about seeing a smiling, familiar face in a large crowd. [Begin Cheers theme song…]

Other than our small group and our children’s teachers, we don’t know anybody else at NewSpring. We’ve never met our pastor. We don’t know the staff. But, we do know our group, and that’s all we really need.

What’s more important: attendance or relationship?

If attendance supersedes relationship, then if you lose a member here or there, you just replace them to keep your numbers up. After all, if you’re posting numbers on a tote board, a decline is sending a bad message.

But, if relationship is valued over small group attendance, people will invest in each other and build into each others’ lives. Whether members are present at each meeting or not, they are loved, valued, encouraged and supported. These are harder things to measure, but are far more meaningful.

Helping Children Cope With Trauma: 8 Important Steps

By

Greg Baird

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June 14, 2021

Unfortunately, daily news and headlines are filled with tragedy, disasters and violence. Despite our best efforts, we can’t always spare children from hearing about or experiencing tragedy. Yet those of us who minister to kids can have a huge impact in helping children cope with trauma and grief.

Tough circumstances are hard to watch and hard to deal with, even for adults. Because we can’t completely shield children from being exposed to tragic events, we need to be proactive in helping them process their thoughts and emotions.

How should we be helping children cope with trauma? I’m by no means an expert in this area, but I’ve learned a few things along the way. (Of course, always use the lens of “age-appropriateness” with each of these tips.)

8 Pointers for Helping Children Cope With Trauma

1. Let kids be kids.

Children are still learning to manage emotions in general, let alone feelings about tragic news. They may express anger, sadness or any number of other emotions. That’s okay.

2. Be real.

One of the most unsettling things for children is to see us as adults wildly emotional. It’s okay to allow them to see you upset about the tragedy, but be careful to control your emotions as much as you can. Seeing the “usual” you goes a long way toward helping kids believe that everything in their world is okay. Remember that they’re looking to you as the model for how to respond to challenging events.

3. Be honest.

Kids will look to you for answers, but let’s face it: Answers are often hard to come by. It’s okay to admit that. When you can provide an answer, limit the amount of information you give. Usually, children don’t need to know most of the details.

4. Point children to a loving God.

God didn’t intend tragedy for his beloved creation. But each and every tragedy has some element of the “why” question attached. Continually assure children of God’s love for them and for all the people involved in and affected by the tragedy.

5. Pray with them and for others.

One of the most settling practices we can do is simply pray with our kids. Together, pray for the victims, everyone who’s impacted, and all the first responders and medical personnel. Not only is prayer a great habit for children to learn, but it also helps them feel as if they can do something. Or even better, that the God who loves all of us can and will do something!

6. Look for other ways to help.

Having a regular prayer time for all involved is a great help and comfort. But you also may be able to donate essentials to help people in need. As a family, go buy these things at the store. Let kids be part of the process. If you can only donate money, tell children you’re donating as a family. Perhaps even let them contribute from their allowance or coin bank.

7. Limit exposure (as much as possible).

With the media saturation in today’s culture, children are bound to hear about major tragedies. But allowing them to be exposed to endless hours of TV coverage, or constantly talking about disturbing headlines in their presence, just isn’t healthy for them. Kids need to continue in some sense of calm and routine.

8. Keep an eye on kids.

Just because you had a good talk with children initially doesn’t mean that all will remain well. Monitor kids carefully, and proactively manage any changes you notice in their emotions, behaviors or daily routines.

Click here to read more about helping children cope with trauma. And please share your suggestions in the comments below!

Tim Keller Cancer Update: Recent Scan ‘Was Extremely Encouraging’

By

Jesse T. Jackson

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June 14, 2021

UPDATED June 14, 2021: The former senior pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church Tim Keller posted an update regarding his pancreatic cancer treatment on Sunday, letting his Twitter followers know that his latest scan in May showed encouraging results.

Keller said that he is “very, well, writing, speaking (via zoom), and enjoying my grandchildren.” Thanking everyone for praying, Keller shared that he has been using a less-aggressive chemotherapy and that scans show no cancer growth.

During a recent surgery, Keller had “several nodules” removed because they hadn’t changed in size for nine months. The only cancer that remains visible at this time is a tumor on his pancreas. Keller said he is praying the tumor will shrink away to nothing or not grow.

Please continue to pray for Tim Keller and his family.

Read Tim Keller’s full update below:

“Cancer Update: I had a scan in May that was extremely encouraging, showing no cancer growth under less aggressive chemotherapy. A surgery at the end of May removed several nodules that had remained unchanged for 9 months. At this point the only visible cancer is the primary tumor on the pancreas. We are praying that it will decrease to the point of invisibility or remain unchanged. In any event, we want to glorify God by “running the race set before us with perseverance.” (Hebrews 12:1-2. All while we know that he is always loving, wise, and good. Meanwhile I am very well, writing, speaking (via zoom) and enjoying my grandchildren. Thanks so much for continuing to pray!”

ChurchLeaders original article written on February 16, 2021, below.

Counterfeit Gods author and world-renowned theologian Tim Keller shared another encouraging update on Friday regarding his battle with pancreatic cancer that he began treatment for in May 2020.

Keller, who recently said in an interview that his greatest fear isn’t death but regressing spiritually, posted on Twitter giving honor to God for those faithfully praying for him.

He said that he has only experienced “mild side effects” from the the 14 rounds of chemotherapy he’s received so far. The side effects include some neuropathy in his hands and feet. As he continues his treatment with a less aggressive form of chemotherapy, Keller reports his latest scans show “significant decrease in size and number of tumors.”

“What the future holds I do not know,” the retired pastor said, “but we will continue to trust His plan and allow Him to shepherd us along his chosen path.”

Tim Keller Cancer Update

You can read the entire update he posted on Twitter below:

By giving you an update, I want to honor God and the many who have so faithfully prayed for me during my treatment for pancreatic cancer that began last May, 2020. I was on chemotherapy for 14 rounds, and have had relatively mild side effects, although the neuropathy in my hands and feet increased over time. I’m hoping that will start to improve now that I have been downshifted to a less aggressive (and physically damaging) chemotherapy.

Since May I have had three CT scans—in August, November and last Monday, February 8. The first two scans each showed a significant decrease in size and number of tumors. The February scan also showed that in an area that had previously had numerous nodules there are now none visible.

This is excellent news, so we are rejoicing that God has worked through your prayers and chemotherapy to accomplish so much. What the future holds I do not know, but we will continue to trust His plan and allow Him to shepherd us along his chosen path.

By giving you an update, I want to honor God and the many who have so faithfully prayed for me during my treatment for pancreatic cancer that began last May, 2020.

I was on chemotherapy for 14 rounds, and have had relatively mild side effects, although the neuropathy in my 1/4
— Timothy Keller (@timkellernyc) February 12, 2021

SBC Executive Committee Vote Shocks As Abuse Survivors Urge ‘Immediate Action’

By

Jessica Lea

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June 14, 2021

Eight people who have survived abuse at the hands of leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) have published a joint statement calling for several “immediate actions” ahead of the SBC’s annual meeting. But Monday morning, the SBC Executive Committee (EC) decided not to consider a motion that presents some of the SBC sexual abuse survivors’ very requests.

“We come now collectively, as SBC sexual abuse survivors, to make our wishes known in regard to the ongoing crisis of the sexual abuse within the Southern Baptist Convention,” says the joint statement. Jules Woodson, whose abuser, Andy Savage, recently started his own church, is one of the signees. She posted the statement on Twitter on June 13, saying, “I want to make sure every #SBC21 messenger and leader knows exactly where #SBC survivors stand! If you want the pdf file to print copies and pass out in Nashville, please DM me.”

SBC Sexual Abuse Survivors ‘Strongly Urge’ Several Steps

The SBC sexual abuse survivors’ statement is not long. It references what seems to be one of several motions to be presented to messengers at the 2021 SBC Annual Meeting, which will take place June 15-16 in Nashville, Tenn. Say the survivors, “Together, we strongly urge that these immediate actions are taken.” Those actions are:

1. All SBC messengers support the motion of Todd Benkert for the hiring of an outside organization to audit and assess abuse and mishandling of abuse within the denomination.
2. The scope of the Guidepost investigation into the Executive Committee is broadened to include the Credentials Committee and all paid, appointed, elected or volunteer staff or leaders of the Convention, the Executive Committee and the Credentials Committee.
3. The Executive Committee waives all privileges, allowing Guidepost complete and full access to all data and information.
4. The Executive Committee commits that any final report of the Guidepost investigation will be made public in full, without redaction or revision, except for the firm’s protection of the personal identifying information of abuse survivors.
5. Any future investigations or audits regarding sexual abuse within the SBC which are approved, include the services of GRACE [Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment].

In addition to Woodson, the statement’s signees include Dave Pittman, Hannah-Kate, Anne Marie Miller, Christa Brown, Jennifer Lyell, Tiffany Thigpen, and Megan Lively.

The eyes of many in the evangelical world are on the SBC this week to see how its leaders respond to such requests. After the Houston Chronicle published an exposé in February 2019 detailing hundreds of stories of sexual abuse within the SBC, the denomination took some steps address those allegations and the systemic brokenness they indicated. However, many believe the SBC’s response has fallen significantly short of a true reckoning and still reveals patterns of self-protection instead of a love of victims and the truth.

Two leaked letters from Dr. Russell Moore, who recently resigned as the president of the SBC’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, describe serious failures of members of the SBC Executive Committee in this regard, including SBC presidential candidate Mike Stone and SBC Executive Committee president and CEO Dr. Ronnie Floyd.

READ: Floyd, Stone React to Second Leaked Moore Letter–‘It’s Outrageous’

The EC issued a press release on June 11 announcing that Floyd had engaged Guidepost Solutions to conduct an independent investigation into the allegations against the EC. The release stated Floyd had asked Guidepost to do the following:

-Review these recent allegations against the SBC Executive Committee of mishandling sexual abuse cases and mistreating sexual abuse victims; the allegations of a pattern of intimidation; and
-Review and enhance training provided to SBC Executive Committee staff and its board of trustees related to these matters, as well as its communications to cooperating churches and congregants in cooperating churches.

On the morning of June 14, the EC held an on-the-record meeting, which was reportedly standing room only. During the meeting, Jared Wellman, an EC member and pastor of Tate Springs Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, asked the committee to consider discussing a motion that would expand the independent investigation.

Wellman’s motion requests an independent task force, whose members would not be involved in the investigation; the task force would receive the full report from Guidepost. The motion expands Guidepost’s investigation “to include all paid, appointed, or elected leaders or staff, previous or current, of the Executive Committee, Convention, and Convention entities in this commission; there should be no limit to who can be interviewed.” The motion also states that Guidepost should get access to “all data and information” and says there should be a public report that the EC does not vet or edit.

Jory Leedy, Ex-Church Bus Driver, Sentenced for Sexually Abusing 2 Boys

By

AP News

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June 14, 2021

CINCINNATI (AP) — A man who sexually abused two young boys he met while serving as a volunteer bus driver for a church was sentenced to 30 years in prison, according to federal prosecutors.

Jory Leedy, 51, of Franklin, had pleaded guilty in June 2019 on the day his trial was due to start. Authorities said he is a registered sex offender who had provided the victims’ parents with a false name.

Leedy met the boys, who prosecutors say were around 7 and 8 years old at the time, while serving as a volunteer driver for Target Dayton Ministries. The children and their mother rode the bus to the church on Sundays, and Leedy would stop by their home to play with the boys and eat dinner with the family.

Leedy soon stopped volunteering as a bus driver, but began going to the family’s home on a nightly basis. He began buying the boys clothes and games and took them on several trips, both local and out of state. He also arranged for the family to buy a car, helped enroll the boys in a private school and paid part of the family’s rent for a home that was owned by a friend of his.

Leedy’s true identity and sex offender status was discovered after an altercation with the boys’ father in which police were called.

This article originally appeared here.

Diver’s Whale Tale Draws Comparisons to the Biblical Account of Jonah

By

Stephanie Martin

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June 14, 2021

When Michael Packard headed to work on Friday, he didn’t expect to make international headlines. Of course, the commercial lobster diver also didn’t expect to end up inside a humpback whale’s mouth.

That’s what Packard says happened off the coast of Provincetown, Massachusetts, when he was about 10 feet from the ocean floor. “All of a sudden, I felt this huge shove, and the next thing I knew it was completely black,” says Packard, 56. “I could sense I was moving, and I could feel the whale squeezing with the muscles in his mouth.” The ordeal, which he estimates lasted 30 to 40 seconds, left the diver with bruises and minor injuries but no broken bones.

Michael Packard: Whale ‘Tried to Eat Me’

The first thing that came to mind was a shark attack, but Packard didn’t feel teeth. Josiah Mayo, his fishing partner, also feared the worst when he saw a huge creature emerge and thrash its head. “It was a relief because it wasn’t a shark, which meant Michael would be all done at that point,” he says. “It seemed like it fully enveloped him immediately. That’s kind of remarkable, and so we can only imagine the whale was probably feeding.”

Packard says he thought about his family and assumed he would die. “I was inside its mouth,” he told Mayo. “It tried to eat me.” The diver describes eventually seeing light, feeling the whale shake its head from side to side, then ending up in the water.

After Packard landed on the surface, Mayo summoned help. Hospital staffers were amazed by the diver’s story and condition, especially because rapid surfacing can cause embolisms.

Incident Is Extremely Rare But Plausible

Although some experts say Michael Packard’s tale sounds fishy, others admit it might have happened, though it’s almost unheard of. Humpback whales, known as gentle giants, aren’t aggressive toward humans, so it was most likely a fluke.

“So many things would have had to happen to end up in the path of a feeding whale,” says marine biologist Jooke Robbins. “Based on what was described, this would have to be a mistake and an accident on the part of the humpback.”

Whales without teeth have an esophagus that’s too small to swallow a person, but they billow their mouths out like parachutes during a process called lunge feeding. Iain Kerr of Ocean Alliance says whales swoop swiftly and “take in 10 SUVs worth of water and fish and then everything else,” yet “it’s a one-in-a-million shot that [Packard] just got rolled into the mouth.”

With such a large creature, Kerr says, this situation “could have gone 20 different ways that could have killed [Packard],” including a broken neck. “To be clear, the whale did not want him in its mouth,” he adds, just as a biker might accidentally ingest a fly while riding.

Because Packard has been diving for decades, locals tend to believe his account. He insists he’ll be back in the water after he recovers. “I think we’ll probably be diving [again] in a week,” says Mayo, “which is pretty remarkable.”

Packard hasn’t mentioned faith or how the ordeal may have impacted him spiritually, but some friends now call him Jonah. This isn’t Packard’s first near-death experience. When he worked as an abalone diver on the West Coast, some of his friends were killed by sharks. He also survived a plane crash in Costa Rica that claimed several lives.

At Least Three Critical Race Theory Statements Proposed for Southern Baptist Meeting

By

Adelle M Banks

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June 14, 2021

critical race theory statements — Voddie Baucham Jr. Courtesy photo

(RNS) — If he had the chance to turn back time, Pastor Stephen Feinstein says, he might not have proposed Resolution 9.

The innocuous-sounding and nonbinding statement adopted by Southern Baptists who attended their 2019 annual meeting has contributed to a fierce battle over critical race theory, an academic approach to understanding systemic racism. The resolution allowed for CRT to be used as an analytical tool but also stated that it should be subordinate to Scripture.

The debate around CRT has only grown more contentious in the years following, even as the nation’s largest Protestant denomination was unable to meet in person for two years due to pandemic restrictions.

“Oh my gosh, I had no idea, and if I could do it all over again, I would have just shut my fingers up and not typed anything,” said the California pastor and U.S. Army Reserve chaplain who admits he might have naively thought it would be adopted and harmony would reign.

“That is not what happened.”

As the 2021 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting grapples with a number of serious challenges — at least a four-way presidential election, declining membership, charges and countercharges about how it has handled sex abuse claims — some will be focused particularly on resolutions related to CRT and to Resolution 9.

The two-day gathering is set to begin on Tuesday (June 15) in Nashville, Tennessee, with attendance expected to be more than 16,000 people, the highest in 25 years.

The CRT debate reached a higher dimension when the SBC’s Council of Seminary Presidents issued a statement late last year declaring CRT and intersectionality, another academic theory that addresses exploitation when gender and race intersect, are incompatible with the latest version of the denomination’s faith statement, adopted in 2000.

On Wednesday, two Southern Baptist pastors, Tom Ascol of Florida and Tom Buck of Texas, called on delegates to rescind Resolution 9.

But according to Southern Baptist polity, each meeting’s resolutions represent the thinking of the messengers, or delegates, attending that particular gathering. A new resolution could be adopted, but historically, old ones aren’t removed.

Pastors, How Do We Protect the Flock ?

By

Chris Pascarella

-

June 13, 2021

One wolf in a sheep pen can ravage the whole flock. The same is true in the church. One false teacher in the congregation can cause untold damage. As pastors, it is our job to protect the flock. Paul certainly knew this well. During his final charge to the pastors at the Ephesian church, he warns them:

Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. – Acts 20:28-29

An essential component of pastoral leadership is the call to protect the flock.

Protect the Flock — From Who?

To protect the flock well we must know who we’re protecting them from. Although our main adversary, the devil, is unseen, he manifests himself in very tangible ways through others.

From wolves

As mentioned in Acts 20, pastors must protect the flock from wolves: false teachers. False teachers come in great variety. Some are legalists, seeking to add rules to the gospel of grace (Galatians). Some are libertines, seeking to subtract Christ’s Lordship from the believer (Jude 4). Some are motivated by money; others by sex. All seek to destroy God’s church.

Now, wolves often don’t come walking into your church, announcing their presence. They try to creep in unnoticed. Sometimes, the individual may not even be trying to intentionally lead people astray. Nevertheless, their false teaching hurts people. This is why it is extremely important to evaluate and coach those who are leading.

From temptation

We also need to protect people from temptation. Once we put our faith in Christ, we are declared righteous, filled with the Holy Spirit, and even called saints. Yet, we still sin. All of us still have a self-destructive streak. Protecting our flock from temptation means exposing the temptations that our people face. Personal knowledge of their strengths and weaknesses is essential. For example, a recovering alcoholic in your congregation may need extra support. Or those who struggle with sexual temptation may need extra resources. We must remember, though, that temptation is not sin. May we never discount leaders for the mere fact that they fight temptation. The fighting is what counts.

From the world

I don’t mean this in a kind of retreat-to-the-hills-only-watch-Christian-movies way. What I mean is this: All week our people hear lies. They hear lies in the movies and media. But they also hear lies in our supposedly “Christian” sub-culture. They hear the lie that sex outside of marriage brings fulfillment. They hear the lie that we can “take back America” through the voting booth. They hear the lie that suffering isn’t normal for Christians.

So we need to preach and teach the truth. We must combat the lies of the world and present Christ in all of Scripture. We must tell people the truth about sex, politics and suffering in a compassionate and articulate way.

How Do We Protect the Flock?

So how do we actually do this? How do we protect our flock? Scripture gives us three main ways: prayer, encouragement and rebuke.

Prayer

Prayer is the foremost tool we have for protection. Our main adversary is a spiritual being. So the best method for protecting our flock from spiritual attack is a spiritual weapon: prayer (Ephesians 6:18)! So pray for your leaders on a consistent basis. Need help? Check out the PrayerMate app.

Encouragement

Encouraging people in their faith is an often missing element of protection. One of the best defenses is a good offense! Encouragement is the offense that helps people pursue Christlikeness. The book of Hebrews tells us to encourage each other every single day so that we’re not lulled into sin (Hebrews 3:13). So write an encouraging note, email or text today. You just don’t know what it might mean to someone.

Rebuke

An important, but often unpleasant, thing pastors must do is to rebuke. To rebuke means calling out sin in people’s lives and pleading for them to turn from it. Paul explicitly tells Timothy that one of the facets of his ministry is to rebuke: “Preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season; reprove; rebuke; exhort, with great patience and instruction” (2 Timothy 4:2). For proper rebuke, the goal is restoration and the motive is love.

Needed: Gospel-Courage

All of us need courage, which comes from the gospel. When we realize that we have already died with Christ, then the opinions of others will not matter. We will not fear. When we realize that we have already been raised with Christ, the powers of this world cannot stand against us. We will not fear. Knowing that our Good Shepherd will build His church, we will aim to protect the flock from all harm through His strength!

This article originally appeared here.

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More Roles, More Vision

Consider These 31 Ministry Roles and Responsibilities for Teens:

1. Create worship slides

2. Make announcements

3. Take the offering

4. Read poetry

5. Provide a rap intro for the message

6. Share a faith testimony

7. Operate the café (serve snacks)

8. Set up chairs

9. Clean up after events

10. Lead a game

11. Sing a song

12. Do a dance

13. Do a drama or monologue

14. Play in the worship band

15. Lead worship and/or prayer

16. Design graphics

17. Serve as photographer

18. Serve as videographer

19. Run the ministry’s social media accounts

20. Run the sound board

21. Preach

22. Teach

23. Lead a small group

24. Run the computer

25. Draw an illustration

26. Edit video

27. Make movies or slides for the message (or just for fun!)

28. Greet people as they arrive

29. Follow up with guests

30. Mentor middle school students

31. Disciple new believers

Gov. Ron DeSantis: It’s Important

Steve and Lindsey Austin Search for ‘New Normal’

1. Re-center.

2. Do an audit of your tech line-up.

3. Streamline processes, communication + connection.

5. Leaning on data doesn’t hurt, either.

6. Keep it simple, seriously.

3 Top Excuses Why You’re Not Solving The “Sold Out” Summer Camp Situation

8 Ways God Protects Us From Ourselves

1. GOD TRANSFORMS US.

2. AN EDUCATION BY JESUS

3. A HOLY HELPER

Good Reasons for Taking Small Group Attendance

1. Groups with Too Many Members

2. Groups In Rapid Decline

3. Identifies Potential Trouble Spots

4. Warns of Groups Going Underground

Practical Solutions to Group Attendance

Bad Reasons for Taking Small Group Attendance

1. Small Groups Are More Like Families Than Classes

2. Small Group Attendance Alone Is a Poor Measure of Church Health

Better Metrics for Group Health

What’s more important: attendance or relationship?

8 Pointers for Helping Children Cope With Trauma

1. Let kids be kids.

2. Be real.

3. Be honest.

4. Point children to a loving God.

5. Pray with them and for others.

6. Look for other ways to help.

7. Limit exposure (as much as possible).

8. Keep an eye on kids.

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SBC Sexual Abuse Survivors ‘Strongly Urge’ Several Steps

Michael Packard: Whale ‘Tried to Eat Me’

Incident Is Extremely Rare But Plausible

Protect the Flock — From Who?

From wolves

From temptation

From the world

How Do We Protect the Flock?

Prayer

Encouragement

Rebuke

Needed: Gospel-Courage

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