Controversial Christian Diet Guru Gwen Shamblin Lara Dies in Plane Crash

June 1, 2021

Controversial Remnant Fellowship Church founder, diet guru, and best-selling author Gwen Shamblin Lara (66) was killed over the weekend when her private plane crashed into Percy Priest Lake in Tennessee shortly after take off Saturday, May 29, 2021.

Those also on board the Cessna 501 when it crashed were Lara’s husband and Tarzan actor Joe Lara (58), Remnant Fellowship Church leaders David Martin and his wife Jennifer, Jonathan Walters and his wife Jessica, and Gwen Shamblin Lara’s son-in-law Brandon Hannah, who helped out with the church’s youth group. All those present on the plane were killed upon impact.

The cause of the deadly plane crash is still under investigation.

Gwen Shamblin Lara founded Weigh Down Ministries, a Christian organization that provides a Godly approach to dieting.

Controversy Surrounding Remnant Fellowship Church

Remnant Fellowship Church was founded in 1999 by Gwen Shamblin Lara and has been reported to have over 1,500 members in 150 congregations spread all over the globe.

Lara regularly said that being “overweight was a sign of greed and gluttony,” leading some media outlets accusing Lara and her church of being a cult because their focus on Biblical principles for weight loss and addictions.

Lara’s book “The Weigh Down Diet” has sold over one million copies and has been used for teachings and group studies by other churches.

According to the Clarion Ledger, Lara has made “insensitive comments about thin Jews in concentration camps and has claimed genetics don’t play a role in weight loss.” During a Larry King interview she said “How in the Holocaust did you have all these people getting down real skinny? They ate less food.”

The church was also in the middle of a child abuse case that led to the death of 8-year-old Josef Smith. Remnant Fellowship Church congregants Joseph and Sonya Smith were convicted of murdering their son after beating him and locking him in a wooden box for hours at a time. The case prompted the authorities to raid the church because of its teachings that support corporal punishment for children. The parents claimed innocence and said their son carved death threats in the walls. They also said he was “soldier of the devil.”

Members of the church bailed the Smiths out of jail while the couple awaited trial. Both Joseph and Sonya Smith received life sentences.

Thomas Nelson Pulled Gwen Shamblin Lara’s Book

In 2000 Thomas Nelson pulled Gwen Shamblin’s (she wasn’t married to Joe Lara yet) upcoming book at the time due to her belief regarding the Trinity. Lara said in an email sent out to her followers that her ministry believes in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit: “However, the Bible does not use the word ‘trinity’ and our feeling is that the word ‘trinity’ implies equality in leadership, or shared Lordship. It is clear that the scriptures teach that Jesus is the Son of God and that God sends the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not send God anywhere. God is clearly the Head.”

He Was One of the Top Five Male Porn Stars in the World. Now He’s a Pastor

Jessica Lea

June 1, 2021

Joshua Broome was once one of the top five male porn stars in the world. Now, he is a husband, father, and pastor who wants people to know the depth of God’s mercy and kindness.

“Your story is powerful and your blessing is not only for you,” Broome said in a recent Instagram post. “It is to proclaim God’s glory and to let someone who is hurting know that there is freedom in the name of Jesus.”

During his six years in the porn industry, Joshua Broome made over 1,000 adult films, was named Top Adult Male Performer of the Year, and earned over one million dollars. In May, he appeared on the “Let’s Talk Purity” podcast and Fight the New Drug’s “Consider Before Consuming” podcast, where he shared how he got involved in the porn industry, the damage it wreaked on him, and how God truly brought him into a new life.

Joshua Broome Becomes Trapped

Joshua Broome’s first encounter with pornography occurred at age 13 or 14 and, as happens with any addiction, he started craving it more and more. At the time, however, he never envisioned himself actually working in the porn industry. Soon after that first exposure, he started modeling and continued to do so while attending college. Broome became so successful at modeling that he decided to drop out of college, move to Los Angeles, and become a professional model and actor.

While working at a restaurant in L.A., Broome met a group of girls who worked in porn and suggested that he consider doing so as well. He agreed to meet with an agent, who told him that because of Broome’s good looks and because there was a need for acting experience, he could likely have a successful career as a porn star.

Right before his first job, Broome said he felt a sort of sick excitement and that “I knew clearly that this was a bad decision.” Either it would go poorly and he would be humiliated, or it would go well and change his life. It was the latter that happened, and he would remain in the industry for the next five years.

Broome’s guilt and nerves gradually diminished throughout his first year working as a porn star. “The more numb I became to what it was, the less I felt conflicted about it,” he said. “It was just a transaction to me. A handshake was sometimes more personal than having sex.”

Broome explained that for men in the porn industry, “There’s so much pressure on you to perform.” And while what he was doing “was so not emotional in any regard,” at the same time, “there would always be repercussions from that because emotions are real. Intimacy is real.” He would feel the weight of his actions after he was done working when he went home.

As a way of coping, Broome became increasingly reclusive. He got to where he could not bear being around people when he was not working. “I exerted myself on an intimate level so much that the last thing I wanted to do was be around people.”

Broome also felt protected when alone because when there were no people around, that meant no one could reject him. “I’ve always kind of been a recluse in a certain degree,” he said, “and I think because I felt rejected in some regards growing up…I believed that when I was by myself…I felt safe.”

Broome’s isolation also stemmed from his sense of worthlessness. He thought being able to perform sexually on command “was why I was valuable.” He said, “The deeper I got into the industry, the more I isolated myself from people because I didn’t feel like I had anything genuinely to offer.” He felt used, useless, and dirty and believed that other people also saw him that way. “Every day I woke up and I was like, I better hide from the world because I’m not of any use. And that little voice grew inside my head and it got louder and louder and louder.”

‘Virtually Every Church’ Complicit in Canadian School ‘Catastrophe,’ but Only One Has Yet to Apologize

Stephanie Martin

June 1, 2021

A painful chapter in Canadian history resurfaced last week with news that the remains of 215 children were found at Kamloops, a former Indian Residential School in British Columbia.

The disturbing headlines also brought renewed calls for apologies and accountability, especially from the Roman Catholic Church. Although that isn’t the only religious institution connected to these schools, it’s the only one that hasn’t formally apologized for its role.

Schools Like Kamloops Amounted to ‘Cultural Genocide’

Between 1883 and 1996, almost 150,000 Indigenous children were removed from their families and sent to boarding schools. These institutions, run by government and religious authorities, forced assimilation by banning Indigenous languages and traditions. Neglect and abuse were reportedly rampant, and contagious illnesses, fires and accidents led to high death rates among students.

According to Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which called the residential schools a form of “cultural genocide,” about 4,000 children died. Most deaths went undocumented. Kamloops, the largest school in the system, was closed in 1978.

In 2008, the Canadian government formally apologized for the atrocities and established a massive class-action settlement for survivors. After human remains were discovered at Kamloops—the youngest estimated to be age 3—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted that it’s “a painful reminder of that dark and shameful chapter of our country’s history. … We are here for you.”

A memorial consisting of hundreds of children’s shoes has emerged on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery. And Canada’s House of Commons is considering a bill to establish a new national holiday honoring children who died at residential schools.

Apology Would Help Heal ‘Open Wound,’ Advocates Say

The Catholic Church operated about 70% of the residential schools, with the United Church of Canada and the Anglican and Presbyterian churches running the rest. Of those, only the Catholic Church has yet to issue an apology.

In 1991, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops formally apologized for the church’s role, but the Vatican has been silent. Trudeau personally appealed to Pope Francis in 2018, and the Truth & Reconciliation Commission also requested a papal apology.

Last week, Vancouver Archbishop J. Michael Miller pledged that the church will “do whatever we can to heal that suffering” among Canada’s Indigenous communities.

Advocates for those communities, however, say healing requires an apology. The Rev. Michael Coren, an Anglican priest and broadcaster, says the damage has left an “open wound” but apologies “at least help begin some sort of closure.” Although “virtually every church in Canada was involved in this catastrophe,” he says, the Catholic Church “will not make a commitment to its direct involvement in these atrocities because, I would argue, it’s terrified of the financial and legal consequences.”

Cohen says despite the Pope’s progressive stances, the church’s “traditional elements” and financial advisers are “terrified of prolonged compensation battles.” He adds, “That’s tragic not just for the victims of the residential schools but for the message of Christianity.”

Ongoing conversation also is key, says Angela White, executive director of the Indian Residential School Survivors Society. “We shouldn’t have to be figuring out how we’re going to heal, when they’re the ones that did the damage,” she says.

How Women in the Southern Baptist Convention Have Fought for Decades to Be Ordained

The Conversation

June 1, 2021

(THE CONVERSATION) When leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention meet during their annual gathering in Nashville, Tennessee, in June 2021, the issue of three women being ordained to ministry will likely be an intense topic of conversation. Convention leaders had decried the moves in May by Saddleback Church, in Lake Forest, California – one of the denomination’s largest churches – as a violation of biblical teaching and the Southern Baptist Convention’s stance on women in ministry.

As someone who was ordained as a Southern Baptist minister in 1993, I know that opposition to women’s ordination has always existed, but many denominational leaders, seminaries and local churches have supported the practice.

For Southern Baptists, ordination is an affirmation of a call to ministry that enables the church in its work in the world. Ordination recognizes a person’s calling and gifts for leadership and allows people to carry out certain ministerial duties such as being a pastor, administering communion, performing baptisms and officiating weddings. It does not necessarily bestow any religious authority.

The first woman to be ordained by a Southern Baptist church was Addie Davis in 1964 at the Watts Street Baptist Church in Durham, North Carolina.

At the time, the Watts Street Baptist Church was already known to be a progressive congregation that was supportive of the civil rights movement. So ordaining a woman fit within the church’s progressive vision, although most members weren’t aware they were making history with Davis’ ordination. The church’s pastor and Davis did receive some letters opposing her ordination, but the Southern Baptist Convention meeting a year later did not take up the issue.

However, it wasn’t until the 1970s that more women were ordained. As the women’s movement began to have influence across society, many churches and individual women began to recognize that if women could be CEOs and university presidents, they could also be pastors and denominational leaders. Soon, greater numbers of women began attending Southern Baptist seminaries, professing a call to ordained ministry. I was among them.

As a scholar who writes about Baptist women, I know how fundamentalists within the Southern Baptist Convention continue to oppose women’s ordination. I also know that there is not an awful lot fundamentalists can do to prevent it. Local churches are fully autonomous, and the Southern Baptist Convention cannot tell them what to do. At most, it can expel a congregation from membership.

Controversy Over Role of Women

In the 1970s, Southern Baptist publishing houses, seminaries, boards that appointed missionaries and commissions organized a number of national gatherings focused on the role of women in the church. Subsequently, a group known as Women in Ministry, SBC was formed.

During its first meeting in 1983, the group adopted a purpose statement that it should “provide support for the women whose call from God defines her vocation as that of minister … and to encourage and affirm her call to be a servant of God.”

Pastor, I’m Calling You Out on Your Preaching Topics

James Emery White

June 1, 2021

Scroll through the last 24 months and make a list of what the world has been talking about. The issues, people and events that cast themselves onto the main stage of our collective psyche, dominating conversations and arresting the attention of the epicenters of culture; meaning, media, the educational system, the government, the judicial system, the arts and more. We should have no trouble coming up with preaching topics:

MeToo
Woke
George Floyd
Critical Race Theory
QAnon
Black Lives Matter
Christian Nationalism
Transgenderism
Sexual Fluidity
Racism
Sexism

Now, there are several observations that can be made about this list. First, they were all either moral or truth issues. In other words, what they represented was something related to right or wrong, truth or falsehood. Which means second, they were all deeply spiritual issues. Third, as already mentioned, they dominated cultural conversation. The world has been openly wrestling with these issues, which means the world has been engaged in a deeply spiritual debate.

Ready for the fourth observation?

When it comes to these moral/truth issues that are spiritual in nature and are dominating cultural conversation, the one group of leaders who has been the most silent, seemingly trying to avoid said cultural engagement at all costs are . . . pastors.

And yes, as a fellow pastor, I am officially calling you out. Have you included any of these in your preaching topics?

What Do Your Preaching Topics Include?

Have you done a message or series on racism? #MeToo and sexism? Conspiracy theories? Christian Nationalism and the storming of the Capitol? The “T” in LGBT? Or have you done everything in your power to avoid these topics?

God has granted a great trust to us as shepherds to not only care and feed and protect our flocks, but to also reach out and engage a post-Christian world that is dealing with more issues related to right and wrong, good and bad, moral or immoral, than at almost any other time in recent memory. It is a moment where we can be relevant or irrelevant, salt and light or cast on a dung pile.

So why aren’t more of us seizing the cultural moment?

According to a report released by the Barna Group, nine out of 10 Christian pastors say, “Helping Christians have biblical beliefs about specific issues is a major part of their role as clergy.” Yet half go on to say that they feel they can’t speak to these issues as preaching topics. According to the study, they feel “limited in their ability to speak out by concerns they will offend people.” In 2019 when the survey was taken, this meant specifically speaking out on issues regarding homosexuality, same-sex marriage, abortion and sexual morality. I would dare say that since that time, issues related to social justice, immigration, religious freedom and politics have climbed up the ladder a bit.

So here’s the apparent dynamic at play: Pastors very much know that they are called to speak out on the issues of the day. But they don’t feel they can speak out on these preaching topics at the risk of giving “offense.”

Can we just go ahead and translate that? It’s called fear. They fear making people mad. They fear losing people. They fear conflict. They fear losing their job. And they are letting fear win.

Courageous Preaching Topics

Friends, it’s time to be courageous. Yes, you will offend some when bringing biblical truth to bear on cultural issues. And yes, some will get mad, some may leave, it may spark conflict, and yes, you may need to fight for your job.

But isn’t that what you signed up for? To take up your cross? You are not called to survive. You are called to be faithful to your calling.

I am reminded of an early adherent to the Protestant Reformation who, in 1526, said:

“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christianity. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace to him, if he flinches at that one point.” (quoted in Chronicles of the Schönberg-Cotta Family (New York, 1865), p. 321.)

Now is not the time to flinch.

This article appeared here. If you would like resources on preaching topics for the issues of the day, including messages given at Mecklenburg Community Church on everything from #MeToo to racism, politics to all things transgender, visit churchandculture.org/culture.

In Biden Communion Debate, Will U.S. Bishops Test Pope Francis?

Claire Giangrave

June 1, 2021

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Meeting as a body next month for the first time since a pro-choice Catholic was elected president, the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference is expected to address at its spring general assembly the question of whether President Joe Biden or any Catholic politician who supports abortion rights should be allowed to receive the Eucharist.

But according to some observers, the controversy is less about the sacrament than it is about the lack of communion among the U.S. bishops themselves and between the U.S. conference and the Vatican.

“This is more about Pope Francis than it is about Joe Biden,” said David Gibson, director of Fordham University’s Center on Religion and Culture, in an interview with Religion News Service on Thursday (May 27). “It’s more about the future of the church than it is about Eucharistic theology.”

The Vatican and the U.S. bishops are uniform in their opposition to abortion, with Pope Francis likening getting an abortion to “hiring a hit man.” The pope’s vocal opposition to abortion, which he calls “a grave mortal sin,” is often quoted by prelates who object to administering Communion to pro-choice political leaders.

The division between the Vatican and the American bishops is not about content, then, but method.

In almost all matters, Francis is an advocate for the winding and difficult path of dialogue and discernment, an approach reflected in a letter sent May 7 from the Vatican’s doctrinal watchdog to the president of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, as the issue of denying Communion to pro-choice politicians heated up.

Cardinal Luis Ladaria, the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, called on the bishops to hold an “extensive and serene dialogue” among themselves, while reaching out to “engage in dialogue” as well with Catholic politicians who hold pro-choice positions. The bishops should make “every effort,” the letter said, to take into account the global context of the church.

Tulsa Pastors Honor ‘Holy Ground’ 100 Years After Massacre

Peter Smith

June 1, 2021

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — When white attackers destroyed the prosperous Black neighborhood of Greenwood 100 years ago this week, they bypassed the original sanctuary of the First Baptist Church of North Tulsa.

By the church’s own account, the attackers thought the brick veneer structure was too fine for a Black-owned church. The mob destroyed at least a half-dozen other churches while burning and leveling a 35-square-block neighborhood in one of the nation’s deadliest spasms of racist violence. Estimates of the death toll range from dozens to 300.

On Sunday, First Baptist’s current sanctuary throbbed with a high-decibel service as six congregations gathered to mark the centennial of the massacre and to honor the persistence of the Black church tradition in Greenwood, as shown in the pulsing worship, call-and-response preaching and heavy emphasis on social justice.

Greenwood is “holy ground,” said the Rev. John Faison of Nashville, Tennessee, who preached at the service and is assistant to the bishop of social action for the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship.

He said the centennial both honors the victims of the massacre and “celebrates the resilience and the resurgence of an amazing people of God.”

Similar commemorations took place at many houses of worship throughout Tulsa and across Oklahoma on Sunday, a day ahead of the official centennial dates. More civic activities are planned for Monday and Tuesday, including a candlelight vigil and a visit by President Joe Biden.

The commission that organized the centennial designated Sunday as Unity Faith Day and provided a suggested worship guide that each congregation could adapt, including scriptures, prayers and the singing of “Amazing Grace.”

Particularly at historically Black churches, speakers emphasized a call for financial reparations — both for the few centenarian survivors of the massacre and for the wider, economically struggling North Tulsa area, where the city’s Black population is largely concentrated.

“The main problem is that our nation is always trying to have reconciliation without doing justice,” Faison said. “Until repentance and repair are seen as inseparable, any attempt to reconcile will fail miserably.”

The Rev. Robert Turner, pastor of nearby Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church, which also traces its roots to before the massacre, echoed that sentiment in an interview before his own church’s service.

Lawsuit: Only Christians Could Apply for Jail Chaplain Job

Michael Kunzelman

June 1, 2021

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Applicants for a chaplain’s job at a Maryland county jail had to sign a statement affirming that they are Christians, a Muslim man claims Thursday in a federal lawsuit accusing the county and a contractor of religious discrimination.

Lawyers from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group, sued Prince George’s County on behalf of Edrees Bridges, who has been a volunteer chaplain at a county jail in Upper Marlboro since 2018.

Bridges, 49, learned in April that the county was hiring a paid chaplain. He asked for an application but couldn’t complete it because all applicants were required to sign a “Statement of Applicant’s Christian Faith” that would force him to abandon his religious beliefs as a Muslim, his lawsuit says.

Prison Ministry of America, which also is named as a defendant in the suit, has a contract with the county to provide religious services to jail inmates. The statement on its job application says Prison Ministry of America employees are “committed to a lifestyle of Christianity and agree with our statement of faith.”

It also asks applicants to affirm that they “believe in one God, Creator and Lord of the Universe,” that “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, was conceived by the Holy Spirit” and that “the Bible is God’s authoritative and inspired Word.”

The lawsuit says that kind of religious test is illegal under the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which prohibits government from establishing a state religion. It also claims the statement violates Bridges’ religious freedom rights.

Bridges said he was shocked and saddened to learn that his Muslim faith would exclude him from the applicant pool.

“I have always encountered people that have been open to that diversity of ideas, diversity of thought,” he said in an interview Thursday. “As a chaplain, one of the core ingredients to being a chaplain is to be there for all.”

Prison Ministry of America Executive Director Mark Maciel said non-Christians aren’t disqualified from applying. The nonprofit already has Muslims who work as chaplains under its umbrella, he added.

“We don’t exclude anybody,” Maciel said.

Spokespeople for Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks didn’t immediately respond to an email or phone call seeking comment.

Bridges is an assistant imam at the Ali Khan Islamic Center in Maryland. He has a master’s degree in divinity with a concentration in Islamic chaplaincy from the Claremont School of Theology in California and is pursuing his doctorate in ministry from the same school.

Prison Ministry of America is a nonprofit based in Paramount, California. CAIR attorney Gadeir Abbas, one of Bridges’ lawyers, said he doesn’t know if Prison Ministry of America includes the same statement on applications for jobs in other jurisdictions.

“But if it’s going on in (Prince George’s) County, I bet they’re doing it in other places as well,” he added. “At Prison Ministry of America, their objective is to is to bring Christianity to the folks who are incarcerated.”

Bridges says he told Maciel during a telephone call last month that he was interested in applying for the chaplain’s position. Maciel emailed him a copy of an application and a job description.

Maciel said he told Bridges on May 3 that they were conducting interviews if he was interested in the job. Maciel said Bridges never told him he is Muslim.

“It didn’t matter. And I didn’t even ask him,” Maciel said.

The lawsuit asks the federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland, to rule that limiting the applicants to Christians is illegal and to block the county from using the “Statement of Applicant’s Christian Faith” in the jail’s job application process. Bridges also is seeking unspecified monetary damages.

Bridges doubts he would apply for the job if he does prevail in his lawsuit.

“I don’t think so at all because I really don’t have a lot of faith in whether or not I will be accepted,” he said.

This article originally appeared here.

Why Do People Leave Church? Maybe the ‘Box’ We’ve Created Is Way Too Small

Christina Embree

June 1, 2021

There are times that my mind is stirred by a memory; this weekend was one of those time. My oldest daughter went to prom and there she was, all decked out in her beautiful dress, twirling like a princess, her face beaming with happiness. And it brought this experience from her childhood to mind and with that, this blog post, which I’ve shared before but it absolutely bears sharing again.

When our oldest daughter was preschool age, she was obsessed with The Nutcracker Suite. Well, let’s be honest, it was the Barbie version, but she loved it. She would dress up like a princess and dance around the house pretending that she was the star of the show. When the Nutcracker came to town for holidays, my husband asked her to go with him. They dressed in their finest; she even got put her hair in an up-do, and off they went.

It was a long show. There were many in attendance, almost all older than her. While she loved being with her dad and seeing the show, she was also a preschooler so she wiggled and squirmed and squealed and giggled. She had to go to the bathroom. She got hungry and wanted snacks.

But when she got home, she beamed.

I asked her to tell me about it and all she could remember was the scene with The Rat King (“Oooo…Scary!”).

I asked Luke to tell me about it and much of what he could remember was her wiggliness. But then I asked if people seemed bothered by her and he said, “No. Actually I had a few people compliment me on bringing her to the ballet.”

I posted an adorable picture of their date on Facebook and many similar comments were posted, things like, “So good that you are giving her this experience at such a young age” and “This is exactly what kids should be experiencing.”

Surprisingly, not one person commented, “Hmm, seems like a waste of money to me. I mean, did she even understand anything?” Nobody criticized us for forcing her to sit through a long performance filled with imagery and dialogue she couldn’t follow. No one complained about her fidgeting or her outbursts. And nobody questioned whether this was beneficial for her.

Because as everyone recognized, it wasn’t about her understanding the “story” of The Nutcracker Suite or her watching the ballet with a critical eye or even her sitting still through the performance.

It was about giving her an experience, a total package, filled with sights and sounds and smells and stories that could be felt and experienced even if they couldn’t be understood or comprehended.

A few years ago, a mom shared with me that the reason her kids didn’t join us in Kids Church is because every now and then she wants to them to get to experience the traditional service at church, to hear the liturgy, to listen to the hymns, to be a part of a service that replicates the services that she grew up in and that have been part of their family’s tradition.

You see, for this mom, it’s not about her children understanding each word of the sermon or comprehending the history of the liturgy or the meaning of the hymns. It about the total package; the experience of being in church, surrounded by the things that have been formational for generations and by the people who make up the body of Christ. These children get to be seen, they get to see, and they get to experience church.

The church experience is much bigger than a sermon.

Big or little, child or adult, the sermon is only part of the whole experience. Not understanding the sermon in no way negates the rest of the experience. Seeing the people. Singing the songs. Giving our tithes and God’s offerings. Praying, at your seat or at the altar or in small groups or corporately as a whole church. Reading Scripture. Reciting psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Smelling the incense. Tasting the communion elements. Serving. Celebrating. Fellowshipping. Communing with God and with each other.

It’s a total package.

And much of what is included in that package is not comprehended through the mind, but through the heart. It’s not things that require a certain level of development but things that are experienced through the senses and understood through emotions. A sense of belonging, a place in community, an important part of a body. All of that can be experienced, regardless of age. When we squish church into a box that can be experienced only by adults in less than an hour…we miss the point. We miss the whole idea of church. And that is why it is so easy for people to leave the church, because what they are leaving isn’t really the church, it’s the box we’ve created for church to fit into.

Yesterday, in our small church, a teenager led worship, a 3rd grader read the Psalm, a 4th grader helped lead communion, and the adults shared prayers and praises from one generation to another. It was so much more than just any one of these things alone. As adults, we can recognize that there is more to the church service than just the sermon or the worship or the program of events. The same holds true for children too. Giving them the opportunity to experience the total package is a gift; whether they understand parts of it or not.

This article originally appeared here.

Summer Vacation? Use Tech to Supplement Your Ministry

Jonathan Smith

May 31, 2021

Summer vacation used to be a well-defined period of time. Depending on where you live in the country, school would get out at the end of May or beginning of June and start back in late August or early September. Now with balanced school calendars and year-round education “summer vacation” isn’t quite so clear. What is clear is that summer is not a time to step away from God or ministry opportunities.

Summer is a great time to make some ministry hay. While it is good to rest and take a vacation (even God took a day off when creating the universe) the entire summer is not one big vacation from church and ministry. Many times the summer season affords us new ministry opportunities for which we have to not be on vacation to take advantage. Ministries like Bible clubs, Vacation Bible School, summer childcare, camps, family activities, missions trips, and more are all available because of the change in schedule (and weather) during June, July, and August.

Although church attendance typically dips during the summer months, who knows what this post-Covid summer will bring? Unfortunately, many folks take the summer off from God and church completely. Staffing core church operations, like Sunday morning, becomes a challenge as volunteers disappear for weeks at a time. Again, rest is good, but not rest to the exclusion of loving Him who died for you.

Technology and Summer Ministry Opportunities

As our culture becomes less and less about church and the gathering of the saints it is imperative, we ask if we are doing all we can to encourage engagement and help summer not to be the low point of the ministry calendar. Technology is one of the tools we can use to build relationships, foster community, and ensure Christianity isn’t only a commitment only nine months a year.

Creative videos are a great way to encourage summer involvement while also highlighting summer ministry opportunities. Special videos and creative technology in worship can help communicate a summer emphasis on ministry. Many churches have themes over summer vacation, but fail to use all the technology at their disposal to connect the theme with the ministry opportunities around them.

These videos can also be shared on social media. Short, well-produced videos can communicate a lot and help draw folks into ministry and living for Jesus all year long. These videos can also help encourage social media sharing. Do you use the content created by your church to share the good news on social media or is that just for pictures of your cat?

I hope you enjoy summer and all it offers. I also hope summer isn’t a vacation from ministry opportunities and serving the King.

Jonathan Smith is the Director of Technology at Faith Ministries in Lafayette, IN, an author and frequent conference speaker. You can reach Jonathan at jsmith@faithlafayette.org and follow him on Twitter @JonathanESmith.

Christian Higher Ed Courses in Prisons Continue, Adapt Amid COVID-19

Religion News Service

May 31, 2021

prison — Vickie Reddy, assistant director of North Park’s School of Restorative Arts, right, poses with a student at Stateville Correctional Center in Illinois in Oct. 2019. Photo by Karl Clifton-Soderstrom, courtesy North Park University

(RNS) — At North Park Theological Seminary, an evangelical school in Chicago, faculty opted for pen-and-paper classwork to continue courses for inmates during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At Rockhurst University, a Catholic institution in Missouri, the president tried new technology that enabled him to co-teach a “Human Geography” virtual course with prisoners at the Chillicothe Correctional Center.

And faculty of New Orleans Theological Seminary’s Leavell College, a Southern Baptist school, have taught socially distanced students at the Louisiana Penitentiary in Angola, standing some 20 feet away from the closest prisoner.

Despite the elimination of most prison visitations for many months of the COVID-19 pandemic, some religious higher education institutions have found ways to stay connected with prisoners.

The pandemic has caused a “lockdown on top of the lockdown” for many incarcerated students, said Vickie Reddy, assistant director of North Park’s School of Restorative Arts and an “outside student” in its first cohort.

“Many of them have had long lockdowns, but not like this. So it really has taken a mental health toll beyond the trauma that’s already there,” Reddy said.

North Park, which is affiliated with the Evangelical Covenant Church, began piloting courses inside the all-male Stateville Correctional Center, a maximum security prison outside Chicago, about five years ago, according to Michelle Clifton-Soderstrom, director of its School of Restorative Arts.

Within three years, it had launched a program offering a master’s degree in Christian ministry and restorative arts, including courses in theology, history and pastoral care alongside race relations, healing from personal trauma and mobilizing for justice, Clifton-Soderstrom said. Its first cohort, set to graduate in 2022, includes about 38 students both inside and outside the prison who have met weekly at Stateville, sharing meals between classes.

North Park was ready to launch its first cohort for women at Logan Correctional Center several hours south of the city when the COVID-19 pandemic put prisons on lockdown and pushed pause on outside visitors and programming.

At Stateville, two students died from COVID-19 early in the pandemic, Reddy said.

Inside, students have largely been quarantined in their cells for months on end, she said. They haven’t seen each other, not to mention outside students or instructors from North Park.

“It’s only just started to open up,” she said in mid-April.

Still, classes have continued at Stateville, with Reddy compiling individual packets of materials from instructors and dropping them off at the prison each week. She then returns to pick up students’ completed assignments, scan them and send them back to instructors.

North Park has organized the students into small groups, too, helping them stay connected with each other inside the prison and with those outside by exchanging correspondence.

Without study halls, inside students have completed their assignments hunched over bunk beds too small to allow them to sit upright or sitting on toilets in their shared cells, according to Reddy. They don’t generally have access to computers or to the internet in the best of times, she said, much less in lockdown.

“It’s remarkable,” she said. “And there’s no concession. … There’s no, ‘OK, we’ll go easy on you because you’re in prison.’ It’s a full load and they have high expectations.”

Within the last three weeks, she said, students and instructors finally have been able to meet over Zoom, nine students at a time from the same housing units, all distanced and masked. Reddy called it a “game changer” — one small step to reopening.

One student has described the program as the “prison to school pipeline,” a play on the so-called school to prison pipeline, she added. For many inside students, it’s a pathway not only out of prison, but also out of the cycle that brought them to Stateville in the first place.

At Rockhurst University, a Jesuit school in Kansas City, President Thomas Curran said he was determined to keep its college-credit courses going at Chillicothe Correctional Center without using the correspondence course option.

Discipleship of Young Men, Otherwise Known as ‘Fight Club’

Clint Archer

May 31, 2021

The language of Christian discipleship is charged with the vocabulary of warfare.

We contend for the faith (Jude 3), we wrestle against spiritual forces in this present darkness (Eph 6:12). We do not pull punches (1 Cor 9:26) when we beat our bodies into submission. We fight the flesh, resist temptation, and take thoughts captive.

Preachers launch a missile in the Sunday sermon, aimed at destroying sin, and we long to guide that ordinance to its desired target. This is where discipleship comes in. Preaching is the air assault; discipleship is the ground war. Pastors need to get in the trenches with their people and marshal the fight against sin.

To this aim I have developed a little method I employ to disciple young men in my church. I have shared it with other pastors, who said they found it helpful.

So, over the next couple of weeks I’ll unfold what I do, making it available as an example for others who want to use it as a starting point to make their own version. Use it as is if you like, or tweak and customize it for your needs.

I think it could be effective for ladies in a “Titus 2” style relationship, or youth groups, or even parenting. I use it with married men slightly younger than myself, or at the stage in parenting a little behind my own experience.

I like to pick a name that sounds hard core. You could call it “Brothers-in-Arms” or “Band of Brothers” or “Task Unit Bruiser” if you like.

I call it Fight Club.

Who?

I usually select between 4 and 6 men, based on who I think will find it useful, will actually show up and commit, and who could duplicate the process with others in the church.

When?

After consulting with the group we select a time we can all make. It doesn’t have to be convenient. Every group has chosen to do it in the early morning, usually a Saturday.

Where?

We always meet at a coffee shop. I don’t want to do it at someone’s home or the church. I like the symbolism that it is out in public. We are setting an example and normalizing Bible study and accountability.

What?

This is the little speech I give them on day one.

Why?

1 Tim 6:11-12 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

The Christian life is a fight.

It is a constant fleeing and pursuit. Fleeing temptation, worldly influence, the curse, Satan, and our own flesh. This is war. We need to be serious about fighting the enemies of godliness. Fight club is the attempt to fight our weakness as a band of brothers.

This is not a “church program.” It is just a bunch of men who love the Lord and want to grow in godliness, trying to spur one another on.

Heb 10:24-25 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Rules:

Invitation only. The first rule of fight club is that you do not talk about fight club. Don’t talk to other men in the church about it. And don’t bring a buddy along. I don’t want people ticked off that they are excluded. There is a reason I selected you and not them. I want to keep it small so we can open up to each other. And one of these years, they will get their turn. Only our wives and us are privy to what we do.

How to Perform a Wedding Ceremony: The Pastor’s Complete Guide

Brandon Hilgemann

May 30, 2021

“Will you perform our wedding ceremony?” Few questions bring a greater sense of honor and anxiety wrapped into one. As a pastor for 10 years, I’ve performed my share of weddings, and I still get a bit nervous. So if you’ve never done it before, it’s incredibly intimidating. Here’s a rundown of everything I’ve learned about how to perform a wedding ceremony.

WHAT TO DO BEFORE THE WEDDING CEREMONY

Take care of legal issues. First, make sure that you are legally able to perform the wedding ceremony. If not, the marriage might be valid in God’s eyes, but it won’t be according to the government. Requirements vary from state to state, so check with your local court for specific requirements. Typically you must be either licensed or ordained to perform a wedding, but some states have additional requirements. If you’re seeking for professionals, Designed Dream, a wedding planning service situated in Toronto, offers well-thought-out wedding planning choices. For more info: https://www.designeddream.com/wedding-planner-barrie-ontario/.

Second, the wedding will not be legal unless the bride and groom get a marriage license from their local court. After the wedding ceremony, the bride, groom, wedding officiant (that’s you) and two witnesses (typically the maid of honor and the best man) sign the license.

Finally, the signed license is returned to the court where it the marriage officially becomes legally binding.

MEET WITH THE BRIDE AND GROOM BEFORE THE WEDDING CEREMONY

Before agreeing to perform the wedding ceremony, schedule an introductory meeting with the bride and groom.

Here are some things you should cover in your first meeting.

1. Ask about their relationship.

Begin with some basic questions about their relationship to get to know them better.

How did you meet? What do you like doing together?

How did you propose? What are you doing for your honeymoon?

What do you value most in your relationship? What do you appreciate the most about him/her?

2. Lock in the date.

What will be the date, time and location of the wedding?

When will the rehearsal be?

Check your calendar to make sure it all works with your schedule write it down somewhere so you won’t forget.

3. Lay out the order of the wedding ceremony.

It’s helpful to have a Wedding Planning Sheet for yourself and a copy to hand out to the couple, so they get a clear understanding of their options.

You can get my Wedding Planning Sheet here if you want.

Simply walk them through each element and have them select what they want or don’t want. See an example with more details in the next section.

4. Talk about the reception.

If I have a great relationship with the couple, I’ll try to stay for the reception.

However, if you know that you have a busy weekend, politely let the couple know that you won’t be able to stay for the reception or that you’ll only be there for a little while.

Set this expectation up front, so they don’t expect you to stay if you can’t.

Plus, you don’t want them to assume you are staying and pay for your meal. You’ll save them money by letting them know you cannot attend.

Often, I’ll just explain that I do a lot of weddings and the receptions run for hours that take me away from my family and I simply cannot stay for all of them, or that I have other commitments early the next day.

5. Talk about the marriage license.

It’s the bride and groom’s responsibility to get a marriage license from the state. Make sure they know that they need to get one as soon as possible and have it ready by the day of the wedding.

After the wedding, before they do anything else, you must meet with them to sign the license along with two witnesses.

Some pastors will take the license and turn it in for the couple, but that is way more responsibility than I want.

I usually suggest that they assign this responsibility to someone they trust or do it themselves.

5. Schedule premarital counseling.

Will you do premarital counseling sessions with the couple?

If so, agree in your first meeting how many sessions you will you meet for, and when you will you meet.

Schedule it all upfront.

6. Agree on payment.

If you charge for officiating a wedding, which I think you should since you are working and taking time away from your family, you need to agree on the payment amount and when the payment is due.

For example, if you decide to charge $100 to perform their wedding, make sure they know that you will need the $100 a week before the wedding.

Decide what you think is best. It’s not unusual to charge between $100-300 for a wedding.

If you struggle with taking money to perform a wedding, think about the number of hours it requires of you.

First, you have the meeting with the couple which may run for an hour. Then, if you do premarital counseling, you may meet three or four times for another hour each time. Next, you’ll spend time preparing and practicing the ceremony. And if there’s a rehearsal ceremony, you’ll spend an hour or two there. Plus, you’ll spend at least two hours at the wedding.

So in total, you could easily spend 10 or more hours on one wedding.

You deserve to be compensated for your time just as much or more than the photographer, wedding coordinator, caterer, DJ and all the other professionals that charge for their services in exchange for the value they provide.

7. Pray with the couple.

It’s easy to get caught up in the practical side of scheduling and planning the wedding and neglect the spiritual side.

Don’t forget to bring God into every step of the process.

The Rise of Christians in Hollywood

Phil Cooke

May 30, 2021

When I first arrived in Hollywood after college in 1976, it was tough finding anyone who would admit to being a Christian. Granted, you could find some Christians in Hollywood, but they were hidden away and rarely heard. With few exceptions, the cycle was almost always the same: if they were concerned about their job, they kept quiet on the set about Christian issues, but if they were at the top of the industry, they felt a bit more free to express their faith. But only those retired or at the end of their career felt the confidence to actually “come out” as a believer.

Today, that world has changed. Not only are there many Christians in Hollywood who take their faith seriously, but for years now, major film studios and television networks have actively sought out “faith based” content.

There’s no question that the success of Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ” was a key to that resurgence. Once the studios starting seeing record setting box office (they called it “Passion dollars” back then), they took notice and wanted in.

Christians in Hollywood – A True Story

I remember one influential production company calling me up about the issue (and I’m not making this up):

“Phil, we’re interested in producing “faith based” movies because we hear there’s a lot of money to be made in that new genre. But the problem is, we have no idea what “faith based” means. We’ve been told that you understand that subject, and we’d like you to read a couple of our scripts and tell us if they’re faith based.”

Needless to say I read the scripts, and they were in no way “faith based.”

Fortunately, today that’s much less a problem. While many producers and studio executives don’t know the differences between faith traditions, they at least understand (and in some cases) respect the values that audience represents.

For the most part, that change happened because of the vast number of Christians in Hollywood pursued a career in the media and entertainment industries. Over the years I’ve met major producers, actors, directors, and even studio presidents who were (and still are) professing Christians. Mentored and encouraged by insider ministry outreaches like Mastermedia International, The Hollywood Prayer Network, The Greenhouse, the Act One Program, The Influence Lab, and others, having a strong personal faith has sometimes moved from a reason to be fired, to a reason to be promoted.

Obviously, there are plenty of non-believing leaders in Hollywood that aren’t interested in any religious experience or those who profess it, just as there are in any industry. But in the last 20 years there’s no question that we’ve seen a resurgence of men and women who take their faith seriously in all areas of the industry.

For experienced, successful producers, this gives faith based projects a new legitimacy and major talent want to be involved. For others, it opens the door to pitch spiritually themed movies, TV programs, and other projects. For still others it gets someone of faith in the room when major decisions are being made. One network TV writer who’s a Christian was criticized by other Christians because he worked on a series focused on violent demonic activity and the supernatural. His response: “Can you imagine where that series would have gone had I not been in the writer’s room to influence it in a better direction?”

Will Christians in Hollywood Last?

That largely depends on the success of these projects and the talent of the people behind them. If you have the desire to pursue a career among the Christians in Hollywood, my advice is: Lead with your talent, not with your faith. I’ve seen far too many young people come to Hollywood with a message from God to change the industry. In every case, they get laughed out of the room or tossed off the lot. But those who come with real talent, and the spiritual integrity to pursue a career against all odds will get respect. Those are the men and women who will impact the industry in a positive way.

This article appeared here.

If You’ve Decided It’s Time to Reboot Your Church Small Groups . . .

James Browning

May 29, 2021

Take a look at yourself, soldier. You’re a disgrace! (Actually, I think you look great. But really, now that churches are opening back up or welcoming back members, it is time to evaluate your church small groups.)

It’s Time to Reboot Your Church Small Groups

For those of you who are into those fixer upper type tv shows, how do you know when a house needs remodeled or just plain torn down and rebuilt? Sometimes it can be tough call. But if a raging pandemic sweeps through and burns it all down, the decision gets a lot easier. Congratulations! But honestly, you’re never going to have a better time to start over than right now. If you were day dreaming about it in the past, now’s the time to pull the trigger.

So if you decide to do a reboot, then what types of church small group program should you consider? I’m glad you asked!

Types Of Church Small Groups To Consider

We here at SGN can sometimes be accused of pushing “The Saddleback Way” on everyone. Well, good news, everybody! I’ve only been at Saddleback for a month and I don’t even know what the “Saddleback Way” is! Actually, that’s not entirely true, I’ve been reading my boss’s books just in case the “Saddleback Way” involves pop quizzes. But there are plenty of types of groups represented in our fair network, here are some of the most popular for you to check out.

Aligning groups with your church vision
Evangelistic groups
We even have an article on how to choose the group system that works for you.

Church Small Group Help from SGN

Right now, you’re saying, “James, reading one article on a church small group isn’t going to help me get leadership buy-in, build my leadership pipeline, and help me launch a new small group program.” Ah, ha! I thought you might say that. That’s why I’m here to offer you some further learning tips.

Did you know we offer courses? It’s true! If you want to jump in and learn from the best, we have done our best to make them affordable so even your boss can’t complain about the cost. Check out our courses on our site.

To join a huddle, just find one in your area by clicking here OR start your own! Especially if there isn’t one in your area, there are loads of other small group point people who would love to get together and talk shop. To start one, just click here or reply to this email and let us know that you’re interested in starting a huddle in your town. And don’t forget to check out our facebook group. It is basically made up of over 5500 small group leaders just like you!

This article appeared here.

Of All That Heaven Will Offer, What Are You Most Looking Forward To?

Randy Alcorn

May 29, 2021

First and foremost, I look forward to being with Jesus, my Lord and Savior and best friend. To be in His presence, to listen to Him and walk with Him…nothing could be better than that. To look into Jesus’ eyes will be to see what we’ve always longed to see: the person who made us and for whom we were made. And we’ll see Him in the place He made for us and for which we were made. Seeing God will be like seeing everything else for the first time. WOW!

Secondly, I look forward to meeting other people. I’d like to ask Mary to tell stories about Jesus as a child. I’d enjoy talking with Simeon, Anna, Elizabeth, and John the Baptist. I want to hear Noah’s accounts, and his wife’s, of life on the ark. I’m eager to listen to Moses tell about his times with God on the mountain. I’d like to ask Elijah about being taken away in the chariot and Enoch (and Enoch’s wife) about his being caught up by God.

I want to talk with Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus. I’ll ask people to fill in the blanks of the great stories in Scripture and church history. I want to hear a few million new stories. One at a time, of course, and spread out over thousands of years. I imagine we’ll relish these great stories, ask questions, laugh together, and shake our heads in amazement.

We’ll each have our own stories to tell also—and the memories and skills to tell them well. Right now, today, we are living the lives from which such stories will be drawn. Are we living them with eternity in mind? We’ll have new adventures on the New Earth from which new stories will emerge, but I suspect the old stories from this life will always interest us too.

I can’t wait to reconnect with many old friends including Greg Coffey and Jerry Hardin, as well as my mom and dad. I look forward to thanking C. S. Lewis, Francis Schaeffer, and A. W. Tozer for how their writings changed me. I anticipate meeting William Carey, Hudson and Maria Taylor, Amy Carmichael, Jim Elliot, Charles Spurgeon, Dwight L. Moody, Harriet Beecher Stowe, some of the Amistad slaves, and a host of others.

Seeing my friends who suffered physically on earth enjoy living in their new bodies will be a special joy. My old friend David O’Brien, who was always with me at Ecola Hall and Cannon Beach Conference Center the dozens of weeks I spent there, was a brilliant man trapped in a body that groaned for redemption. His cerebral palsy was gone the moment he left this world for the present Heaven, but the biggest treat will be at his resurrection, when he will have a new body, forever free of disease. I picture David never having to repeat himself because others don’t understand him. I see him running through fields on the New Earth. I look forward to running beside David . . . and probably behind him, because I doubt I could ever catch up with such a godly brother.

Many of us look forward to Heaven more now than we did when our bodies functioned well. Our dear friend Joni Eareckson Tada says it so well: “Somewhere in my broken, paralyzed body is the seed of what I shall become. The paralysis makes what I am to become all the more grand when you contrast atrophied, useless legs against splendorous resurrected legs. I’m convinced that if there are mirrors in heaven (and why not?), the image I’ll see will be unmistakably ‘Joni,’ although a much better, brighter Joni.”

Finally, my wife, Nanci, is my best friend and my closest sister in Christ. I fully expect no one besides God Himself will understand me better on the New Earth, and there’s nobody whose company I’ll seek and enjoy more than Nanci’s.

My heart explodes with happiness as I anticipate the world to come and its endless delights of closeness with Jesus, first and foremost, and the people of God and angels and creatures we have known and will one day know in a vast and beautiful new universe!

This article originally appeared here. You can find more of Randy Alcorn’s writing at www.epm.org.

12 Vital Reasons Each of Us Should Be Part of a Church

Mark Altrogge

May 29, 2021

Do you really need to be involved in a church for God’s word?

Can’t believers just worship Jesus on their own? Why do we need to be involved in “organized religion?” It seems like a growing trend that many Christians don’t believe they need to be part of a church.

Yes, we can and should worship and love Jesus individually. But we should also worship, pursue God’s word and love him with others. In fact, it is essential and vital to our spiritual lives and health as believers.

Here are 12 crucial reasons why every Christian should be part of a local church to be in God’s Word.

1. We need to be built together with other believers.

“Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” Eph 2:20-22

2. We need brothers and sisters to encourage, exhort, challenge, and build us up in our faith, and we need to encourage and build up others.

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom…” Colossians 3:16

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11

“But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” Hebrews 3:13

3. We need to worship together with others.

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:16

“Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the godly!” Psalm 149:1

“I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.” Psalm 22:22

4. We need to be stirred up by others to love and good deeds.

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:24-25

5. Jesus is uniquely present when believers gather together.

“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” Matthew 18:20

6. The church grows as believers meet together and use their gifts.

“From whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” Ephesians 4:16

7. We need to benefit from the gifts of others and serve others with our gifts.

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 4:10-11

8. We need brothers and sisters to pray for us and they need us to pray for them.

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” James 5:16

9. We need to be taught and fed God’s Word and equipped by pastors and teachers.

“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” Ephesians 4:11-12

“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” Acts 20:28

“So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight,not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.” 1 Peter 5:1-3

Herdsmen Attacks Kill 37 Christians in Plateau State, Nigeria

Morning Star News

May 28, 2021

JOS, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Fulani herdsmen on Sunday (May 23) killed 14 Christians in a village near Jos, Plateau state and eight others in another village, sources said.

Herdsmen attacked Kwi village, Riyom County, near Jos, at about 11 p.m., said area resident Solomon Mandiks, a Christian rights activist.

“Fourteen Christians were butchered to death, including children,” Mandiks told Morning Star News in a text message. “Eight members of one family have all been killed. This is beside an additional six other Christians killed by the herdsmen in the village.”

Earlier that night in Dong village, Jos North County, armed herdsmen attacking at 8 p.m. killed eight Christians, area residents said. Asabe Samuel, 60-year-old member of the local Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) congregation, said in an interview at her home that a large number of herdsmen invaded as residents were about to go to sleep.

“I was by the central area of the village, which has shops and serves as a market, when I heard Fulani gunmen shooting around my house,” Samuel told Morning Star News. “This forced us to run to hide.”

As the sounds of gunshot were coming from the direction of her house, others advised her not to return home, she said.

“I still rushed to my house, and just as I was getting closer to my house, I found that one Istifanus Shehu, 40, a member of COCIN [Church of Christ in Nations] who has had mental health challenges, was shot dead, and his corpse was lying beside my house,” Samuel said. “We heard the attackers retreating and shouting ‘Allahu Akbar [Allah is greater].’ The herdsmen were also communicating with themselves in the Fulani language.”

After they retreated, residents found eight Christians were killed in attacks on four houses, she said. Besides Shehu, she identified those slain as Ruth Adamu, 20, an ECWA member; Naomi Adamu, 40, of the ECWA; Friday Danladi Riya, 22, of the ECWA; Awuki Matthew, 28, Catholic; Gospel Matthew, 4, Catholic; PraiseGod Matthew, 2, Catholic; and one identified only as Chinyere of St. Jude’s Anglican Church.

“Awuki Matthew was killed alongside her two daughters, Gospel Matthew and PraiseGod Matthew, leaving behind her husband, who’s blind,” she said. “Who will care for this blind man, and how will he cope with life without his wife and children?”

Monday Auta, an ECWA member and her neighbor, was shot in his shoulder and was receiving hospital treatment, she said, adding that Ruth Adamu and daughter Naomi Adamu were her neighbors and members of her ECWA church.

The late Shehu’s sister, Jummai Shehu, a 32-year-old COCIN member, said her brother was visiting the house of Samuel, where they once lived.

“The armed Fulani herdsmen spotted him and shot him dead,” she said, weeping. “I feel very sad about the way my brother was killed in cold blood. Why must we live in fear every day, not knowing the evil that awaits us as Christians in this country?”

The pastor of the ECWA church in Dong, Jonathan Kyoomnom Bala, said police did not show up until 10 a.m. the next day.

Ramsey Employee Fired for Having Premarital Sex Speaks Out for the First Time

Stephanie Martin

May 28, 2021

For the first time, Caitlin O’Connor is speaking publicly about Ramsey Solutions, the Christian company that allegedly fired her for becoming pregnant out of wedlock. The Tennessee-based company, founded by financial guru, author and radio host Dave Ramsey, has a Bible-based “righteous living” policy that forbids employees from having premarital sex.

After O’Connor filed a federal lawsuit against Ramsey Solutions, citing discrimination, the company admitted terminating nine employees for similar infractions but denied any wrongdoing. The resulting publicity led Inc. magazine to drop the company from its 2020 list of “Best Workplaces.”

Caitlin O’Connor: Ramsey’s Words ‘Grossly Inappropriate’

Caitlin O’Connor, who worked as an administrative assistant at Ramsey Solutions for four years, initially declined interviews. That changed, she tells a reporter from WSMV News4 Nashville, after she heard a recording of Ramsey allegedly mocking her at a staff meeting. If a potential employee doesn’t “agree with the righteous living core value,” Ramsey asks, then “why did you come [work here], stupid?”

Calling her stupid “in front of 900 of my team members” was “grossly inappropriate,” O’Connor says. “That was really the straw that broke the camel’s back for me.”

In her lawsuit, the former employee describes contacting the human resources department to apply for pregnancy-related family leave. The reaction from a superior shocked her. “His exact words were ‘classless,’” O’Connor says. “It broke me. It broke my soul. I’m a very stoic person. I am a strong person, and it killed me,” she says of the response.

Ramsey Solutions says it was justified in firing O’Connor and ending her health insurance benefits. “There is no dispute that Plaintiff was aware of this [righteous living] rule and terminated for violating it,” a lawyer for the company states in court filings. O’Connor, meanwhile, claims the organization “discriminates against employees who do not strictly adhere to Ramsey’s interpretation of ‘Judeo-Christian’ values for non-work-related behavior.”

Caitlin O’Connor: ‘It’s Like Leaving a Cult’

When asked if she was afraid she’d risk her job by revealing her pregnancy, O’Connor admits, “Yeah, I was terrified.” She uses the same word to describe challenging the company in court. “I knew that I would be taking on these bullies,” she says. “That was terrifying, I mean, it’s terrifying right now.”

Describing her experiences at Ramsey Solutions, O’Connor says, “It’s like leaving the cult.” Though she admits she’s “not a cult expert,” she says she’d be “very interested” to get an opinion from one—or from “someone who is an expert in high-control groups.”

Although O’Connor says no written agreement ever clarified that premarital sex was cause for termination, she had heard conversations about the topic. For example, she once heard a superior warn a male colleague that “you can’t have sex with your girlfriend and work here.” Her reaction? “I was like, ‘Oh, that’s reaching.’”

After O’Connor sued Ramsey Solutions, prominent employee Chris Hogan announced he was stepping down. “I need to let you all know about some things going on in my personal life,” he shares in a YouTube video from March. “Recently, it’s come to light that I’ve done some things personally that are not in line with Ramsey Solutions. And as a result, I am no longer a team member at Ramsey.”

O’Connor’s attorneys had requested Hogan’s personnel file as part of their legal case.

John Piper on Repentance, Confession, and How to Kill Lust

Jesse T. Jackson

May 28, 2021

A listener recently asked the theologian John Piper on his ‘Ask Pastor John‘ podcast, “How can I say that I have repented if I commit the same types of sin over and over?” The listener, “Doug,” said he often is “seized by depression” when he thinks of having to ask for repentance over and over again for the same sin.

Piper responded by first telling all his listeners, “Doug’s question is one of the most common questions that an honest and serious Christian has to ask.” This question is an “urgent” and “common” one within the lives of honest Christians.

Piper Says, ‘Don’t Call It Repentance’

Piper said its incorrect to use the word repentance for habitual sins we commit. He pointed to language in the New Testament, specifically in 1 John 1:8-9, where the word confession is used instead of repentance.

The 75-year-old theologian said, “Any thought, any attitude, any word, any facial expression, any gesture, any action that does not flow from a treasuring of Jesus is sin….Sin is a condition of the heart that is bent away from God in preference for other things, and sin is any expression of that preference in our mind or attitude or behavior.”

When the Bible uses the word repentance in the New Testament, it is referring to the experience Christians have when they surrender their life to Christ, Piper continued. Repentance happens if a Christian’s life “takes a terrible turn into a path of destruction from which we need to be called back,” he said, and referenced the beginning chapters from the book of Revelation.

Confession and Repetitive Sin

Piper defined two different types of confession. One type of confession is an expression of guilt and sorrow for a sin that one really has no faith they can’t control themselves in giving into it again. He gave five different examples, one of those was this: “I’m going to respond in a belittling way to my wife when she looks that way at me again, probably two days from now.” Meaning the confession is “superficial” and is a “cloak for fatalism” regarding those type of sins. He called this an “I feel bad about them, but I can’t help myself” type of mentality.

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1. Ask about their relationship.

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5. Schedule premarital counseling.

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