American Christians Need to Prepare for Civil War, Pastor Warns

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March 17, 2021

On Monday’s episode of The Jim Bakker Show, Pastor Rick Joyner urged viewers to buy arms in preparation for a “civil war” and to “push back” against evil in America. Joyner, founder of South Carolina-based MorningStar Ministries, also repeated unproven claims that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” from Donald Trump.

Bakker, a televangelist who was ordered to stop selling coronavirus “remedies” last spring, introduced Joyner as a prophet and also conversed with him about “cancel culture” eroding America’s foundations.

Pastor Rick Joyner: ‘People need to be prepared’

Joyner, an author who describes dreaming in 2018 about “a coming second American Revolution/Civil War,” said on Bakker’s show: “It will be a civil war, and it’s going to be increasingly worse with the increasing time it takes for Americans to stand up and push back against this evil that has taken over our land.”

Quoting from Ecclesiastes 3, Joyner said, “There’s a time for peace and a time for war … we’re headed towards conflict of war. And we need to prepare for it. We need to put out the word that people need to be prepared.” He added that Christians, as the true “body of Christ,” will be “separated from the chaff” during that upcoming civil strife.

‘Unified belief’ of Election Fraud, Says Pastor Rick Joyner

Referring to Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in November, Joyner said, “There is a unified belief with deep conviction that our last election was a stolen election, and it was something that we can’t just let go.” Though such claims haven’t been proved and Trump’s legal challenges weren’t successful, Joyner said, “Anybody who looks at the evidence, even superficially, sees right away that [it] was impossible for Trump not to have won that election.”

The pastor continued, “Trump really won by a huge margin. Maybe one of the biggest margins ever. How did [the election] get stolen from us like it did?” Joyner added, “We have lost our country. We have lost our republic if we lose the integrity of the elections, and this was the worst voting fraud in our country’s history.”

When Bakker asked why so-called cancel culture is “trying to erase the foundations this country was built upon,” Joyner replied, “Because they were godly foundations, what we have is evil. It’s moving, it’s Isaiah, ‘darkness covering the earth, deep darkness the people, Isaiah 5, ultimate depravity where they’re calling good evil and evil good. Honoring the dishonorable, dishonoring the honorable. And all of this is a major threat; the freedoms we have are a major threat to evil.”

Pastor Rick Joyner: No Stranger to Controversy

MorningStar Ministries, founded in 1985, purchased part of Bakker’s Heritage USA property in 2004. Joyner has faced controversies about religious-based tax exemptions, his connections to evangelists who claim to be faith healers, and his extensive visions. In 2013, his climate-activist daughter Anna Jane Joyer, made headlines when she tried to change her father’s opinion that climate change isn’t real.

Late last year, Joyner described his experience of having COVID-19 as a 15-day “exciting” supernatural experience. “All of a sudden, it’s like I’m in heaven. I was in heaven,” the pastor said on Sid Roth’s show It’s Supernatural.

WATCH: Drew Brees Lets His Kids Announce His Retirement from the NFL

By

Bri Lamm

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March 17, 2021

After a 20 years of playing in the NFL, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees announced Sunday that he’s decided to retire.

The 42-year-old let his kids make the announcement for him in a video he shared to Instagram.

Sporting their dad’s football jerseys on the couch, Baylen, 12, Bowen, 10, Callen, 8, and Rylen, 6, each had a line in revealing their dad’s big announcement.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Drew Brees (@drewbrees)

“After 15 years with the Saints, and 20 years in the NFL, our dad is finally gonna retire,” the three boys said in the video before all four kids joined together to shout, “so he can spend more time with us!”

Along with the video, Brees shared a heartfelt message to his fans and everyone who has supported his career over the last two decades.

“After 20 years as a player in the NFL and 15 years as a Saint, it is time I retire from the game of football,” he wrote. “Each day, I poured my heart & soul into being your Quarterback. Til the very end, I exhausted myself to give everything I had to the Saints organization, my team, and the great city of New Orleans. We shared some amazing moments together, many of which are emblazoned in our hearts and minds and will forever be a part of us”

He continued, ”You have molded me, strengthened me, inspired me, and given me a lifetime of memories. My goal for the last 15 years was striving to give to you everything you had given to me and more. I am only retiring from playing football, I am not retiring from New Orleans. This is not goodbye, rather a new beginning. Now my real life’s work begins!”

Samuel Rodriguez – Biden’s Border Crisis Is a “Dream Come True for Human Traffickers”

By

Christine Yount Jones

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March 17, 2021

There is a crisis on the US-Mexico border and Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, is speaking out.

“The Biden administration is unfortunately continuing a multi-presidential administrative legacy allowing chaos and facilitating humanitarian crises at America’s southern border,” Samuel Rodriguez says. “President Biden has thus far failed in his commitment to do something different. He has failed to develop a viable plan to protect the citizens of this country and the innocent lives of those men, women and children approaching our border.”

As reported by AP News, “More than 4,000 migrant children were being held by the Border Patrol as of Sunday, including at least 3,000 in custody longer than the 72-hour limit set by a court order, according to a U.S. official.”

The number of migrants being stopped at the US-Mexico border has been rising since last April. Many come in hopes of the new administration’s rhetoric and policy changes regarding immigration. But in recent weeks, the president has sought to back-pedal on his promises.

In an ABC interview with George Stephanopoulos, President Biden said his message to migrants is “I can say quite clearly: Don’t come over. Don’t leave your town or city or community.”

The humanitarian crisis at the border incited Samuel Rodriguez to issue this statement, warning about human traffickers seizing opportunities with vulnerable minors: “To be clear: the President of the United States has himself given a haphazard and de facto green light to human traffickers around the world to apply their profane trade on the dreams of the most vulnerable.”

Rodriguez challenged the president to consider the cost before speaking or acting. “President Biden’s words and actions are now prompting record numbers of migrants to approach our southern border, producing an overwhelming backlog, and all the predictable effects,” Rodriguez says. “An application of biblical wisdom is in order: ‘Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?’ Was there no plan, no study, no analysis, no reform? Just permission?”

Any president’s words have consequences, and for Rodriguez, Biden’s words are resulting in dire consequences. Rodriguez says, “Former President Obama famously stated that elections have consequences. But policies also have consequences. Biden’s wink and nod has come with dire consequences. It is a dream come true for the coyotes, cartels and human traffickers. The American people and desperate, innocent immigrants are losing—not only their security but often their lives.”

And Rodriguez ends with a challenge for the Biden administration. “It’s over time for the Biden administration to work with Congress to move forward on comprehensive immigration reform that will protect our border, and incorporate advanced technology to vet those seeking entrance to our country. In the meantime, the southern border must be secured, now.”

Chip and Joanna Gaines Tell Oprah How God Speaks to Each of Them

By

Bri Lamm

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March 17, 2021

Chip and Joanna Gaines were the featured guests on this week’s edition of Oprah Winfrey’s “Super Soul Sunday,” where they discussed their personal relationships with God, and how they’ve managed to navigate their widespread success.

The dynamic duo, who are gearing up for the launch of their Magnolia Network on Discovery+ later this year, sat down with Oprah for what Joanna says is a moment they will never forget.

Joanna has historically shared about the ways God has led her in some of the largest decisions of her life—for example, the first time she and Chip closed their Magnolia Market over a decade ago because God told Jo he had bigger plans for her.

Struck by Joanna’s ability to hear from God, Oprah asked the designer and mother of five to explain what it means to hear God’s voice, pressing to know whether it’s a “voice in your head, is it a feeling, is it prayer?”

Joanna responded: “all three of those things, for sure,” along with an overwhelming “presence of peace.”

“I will say there probably been five pivotal moments in my life where I can say that was God’s voice, that was Him, and I felt the sense of peace, almost like that moment where you get chills and you know there’s something else,” Joanna explained of the difference between the thoughts in her mind and God’s voice.

“That’s something that since I was a little girl, I’ve experienced God in that real way, very relational,” she continued.

Though she was raised in a Christian home, and remains a strong believer today, Joanna told Oprah she avoids the idea of religion, saying that God’s connection with His creation is very relational, where religion is often an imposed set of beliefs.

“With the idea of religion, I shy away from that, my relationship with God, it’s like no one else’s,” the 42-year-old explained. “God is so creative that I can’t impose what my belief. … He shows up in beautiful unique ways for all of us.”

“I’m very realistic. I need to hear it. I’m literal. And so that’s how He shows up for me,” Joanna reiterated, adding that the relationship between God and her husband is very different.

How We Stop Short in the Debate on Christians and Alcohol

By

Sam Luce

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March 17, 2021

How We Stop Short in the Debate on Christians and Alcohol

I came across this article on Facebook a few years back “Can a Christian drink alcohol?” It did an excellent job of warning people of the very real dangers of alcohol. It’s important. People need to hear those dangers loud and clear. Alcohol, when abused, causes much pain. My grandfather was an alcoholic and was apart of AA his whole life. I understand.

The problem with the debate of alcohol is every person I have heard preach against it has stopped short of the real problem alcohol represents. In stopping short, they make alcohol out to be evil when there is nothing in scripture or in 2000 years of church writing that would show alcohol as evil. Alcohol is not evil; the abuse of it is. The excessive reliance on it is. Alcohol does not ruin marriages as the author of the above link purports. It’s something far more sinister that ruins marriages. Just talking about the adverse side effects of alcohol as he does isn’t even intellectually honest.

I grew up in a church culture that, through proof-texting and liberal interpretation of the scripture taught that Jesus never drank wine, he only drank grape juice. I have also been in situations where I have been teased by Christians because I was not drinking alcohol. Both are wrong. We stop short in the debate over the consumption of alcohol when we fail to communicate and that the problem is not fermented grapes; the problem is you and me. We hammer on the symptom but fail to address the cancer far below.

Love how Tim Keller, in his commentary on Romans, addresses the Idols of our hearts.

In the book of Romans, Paul develops a profound anatomy of sin. He shows us that sin goes much deeper than mere behavioral violations; it begins at the motivational level. This is why, as he will go on to explain in Romans 8, sin cannot be resisted through mere willpower. The only cure to sin through the application of gospel truth by the Holy Spirit, at the motivational level.

1. Our root problem is our unwillingness to glorify God, to give him the centrality that is his due

2. Therefore, we choose to create things to be our “gods.” In order to deny God control of our lives, each of us chooses a created thing (or things) to live for and worship instead.

3. Therefore, each life is distorted by a life lie. At the base of all our life choices, our emotional structure, and our personality is a false belief system centered on an idol—the belief that something besides God can give us the life and joy that only God can give. We have “exchanged the truth of God for a lie” (1:25). We look to something besides Jesus to be our “savior,” our “righteousness,” the thing that makes us good and acceptable.

4. But each life is a kind of bondage. No one is actually “free,” for we must serve whatever it is we have decided to live for—so people have “worshiped and served created things” (1:25). Since every human being must have an ultimate “good” by which all other choices are made, and values are judged, we all “offer [our]selves” to something (6:16). Therefore, every human being is in “covenant service” to a “lord” that works out its will through our bodies (6:16-19).

5. Even after conversion, our old, false saviors/lords and their attendant false belief systems still distort our lives—unless the power of the Holy Spirit continually renews our minds and hearts (7:14-25).

6. The key to freedom is the application of the gospel of grace. “Sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace” (6:14).

The debate we rarely have in Christian circles is what we are clinging to more than Jesus. Why, when we feel scared or lonely, do we turn to the abuse of alcohol to numb our pain. The cancer below the symptom of alcohol abuse is sin. Pure and simple. I have counseled many many marriages, and you know what destroys far more marriages than alcohol? iPhones, iPads, and computers. I don’t see people tearing up Facebook to ban and demonize those. Lets bring the debate back to what the whole of scriptures are trying to get at and that is the idols we have lodged in our hearts, enthroned were Christ alone should be. When we understand what Christ has done for us, we are free not to drink because having a beer doesn’t make you godly, cool,or relevant, and we are free to drink because Christ is our treasure.

This article originally appeared here.

Who Qualifies for Minister Tax Status?

By

Clergy Advantage

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March 17, 2021

A common misconception about minister tax status is that it is only available to ordained ministers. The IRS criteria for church staff members to qualify for minister tax status is a lot more inclusive than you might expect. The IRS actually views ordained, licensed, and commissioned ministers as all having equal minister tax status. Additionally, the IRS recognizes the authority of the church or the denomination to determine who qualifies as an ordained, licensed, or commissioned minister.

Is Your Church Denominational or Non-Denominational?

Denominations typically have their own pre-set standards to determine who will qualify for minister tax status and the IRS acknowledges those standards for that denomination. Most decide and apply these standards uniformly to all of their ministers although some denominations may allow individual churches to determine who might be qualified to be commissioned or licensed as a minister.

Non-denominational churches are allowed to determine who qualifies to be an ordained, licensed, or commissioned minister based on their church policy and their interpretation of the three IRS qualifications outlined below. This can vary greatly from church to church. For example, some churches will only confer ordination on ministers with seminary education and will commission or license other ministers, thereby making them eligible for a housing allowance.

When it comes to settling your income taxes in Singapore, one particularly important document that you’ll be required to follow is the Notice of Assessment. You can view this page – what is noa to learn more.

The IRS has three essential requirements for minister tax status. These requirements are subject to each individual church’s interpretation and philosophy.

The authority to perform sacerdotal functions.

The IRS requires that a minister have the authority to perform sacerdotal functions, i.e. conducting weddings, funerals, baptisms, etc. The IRS does NOT require that a minister is regularly performing sacerdotal functions, only that the minister is eligible to do so if called upon. In its definition of sacerdotal functions, the IRS includes such duties as teaching, leading, praying for the sick, and more. The IRS interpretation of sacerdotal functions is more liberal than one might expect and sometime even less restrictive than some churches’ policies.

Essential to worship

For a staff member to qualify for minister tax status, the person must be considered essential to the overall worship experience of the church. This does not mean the minister is required to be on stage every Sunday. This qualification is subject to each church’s philosophy about who is essential to the overall worship experience. For some churches this definition rightfully applies to the majority of the church staff and for others it is limited to a select few depending on how the church defines the term.

Recognition by a board resolution and a certificate

The IRS wants a minister to be recognized officially. The most effective way to recognize a minister as ordained, licensed, or commissioned is through a board resolution and a certification of ordination, licensure, or commissioning. The church board should recognize the minister tax status in a board minutes resolution. And the church should provide a certificate of ordination, licensure, or commissioning that includes the date, the title, and the signatures of church officials.

Clergy Advantage can help you extend minister tax status to staff members who qualify according to your church’s overall philosophy, document this appropriately and educate your staff on their clergy tax benefits. Start with our free resources on our website and this 4-minute video “Who Qualifies for Minister Tax Status.”

Dead Sea Scrolls Heroically Recovered Before Looming Theft

By

Laycie McClain

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March 17, 2021

Dead Sea Scrolls — Photo: Highlight Films, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority

It sounds something like a thrilling plot for a new Indiana Jones movie, but it is a non-fiction story of archeological heroism coming out of Israel. A team of archeologists and young people participating in pre-military programs executed a highly technical cave expedition to rescue priceless artifacts—newly-discovered fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

In a report by CBN News, director of the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA), Israel Hasson, said, “The desert team showed exceptional courage, dedication, and devotion to purpose, rappelling down to caves located between heaven and earth, digging and sifting through them, enduring thick and suffocating dust, and returning with gifts of immeasurable worth for mankind.” The artifacts in this recent discovery came from a cave dubbed the Cave of Horror in the Judean Desert.

The originally discovered scrolls hold the earliest written pieces of Biblical Scripture ever found and are one of the most celebrated finds in Biblical archeology. Many caves in Israel’s Dead Sea region are thought to hold more scroll fragments. These caves have been targeted by thieves for a century or likely longer, putting pressure on the archeological team to recover pieces that could remain.

The First of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Their Ancient Keepers

An article by Church Leaders, gives a brief background on the originally discovered Dead Sea Scrolls. “The first Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1946 and 1947. More were discovered in 1956, and now we have this new finding [of additional caves, identified in 2017, that could hold more scrolls]. The Scrolls are a collection of 981 manuscripts that are believed to be from 408 BC to 318 AD. The caves containing the scrolls derive their name from the nearby Dead Sea and are located in the West Bank of the Jordan River.”

The Dead Sea Scrolls were written and preserved by an ancient sect of Jewish men called the Essenes. They lived an ascetic lifestyle and remained separated from the rest of society—living in the caves near the Dead Sea and establishing a community known as Qumran. Much else about this group of Essenes is shrouded in historic mystery but an article in Christianity Today fills in more details.

“Like the Pharisees, they [the Essenes] stressed strict legal observance, but they considered the temple priesthood corrupt and rejected much of the temple ritual and sacrificial system. However, the Essenes were never mentioned in the Bible, unlike the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Mentioned by several ancient writers (such as Philo of Alexandria, Josephus, and Pliny the Elder), the precise nature of the Essenes is still not certain, though it is generally agreed that the Qumran community that produced the Dead Sea Scrolls was an Essene group. Pliny numbered the group at around 4,000 men.

The name Essenes was not a name chosen by the group itself, but rather assigned by scholars and writers. The Qumran community referred to themselves as ‘Sons of Zadok,’ ‘Men of the Community,’ ‘Members of the Covenant,’ ‘Sons of Light,’ etc. The root meaning of Essenes is debated to mean either ‘The Modest Ones,’ ‘The Silent Ones,’ or perhaps ‘pious.’”

Additional Artifacts Found With New Scroll Fragments

Excavations of the roughly 300 caves near the Dead Sea ramped up in 2017 and this fresh discovery of scrolls is the first in 60 years. The artifact recovery came with a few other archeological and historical treasures. Fox News offers the interesting details:

“The operation uncovered additional finds from various periods: rare coins from approximately 2,000 years ago, a 6,000 year old skeleton of a child, likely female, wrapped in cloth and mummified, and what may be the oldest surviving basket in the world, made of woven reeds.

The basket, complete with lid, is more than 10,500 years old, based on radiocarbon dating by Professor Elisabetta Boaretto of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, the IAA said. That is the Neolithic period, predating the arrival of pottery in the region.”

The new scroll fragments themselves reportedly contain pieces of the books of Zechariah and Nahum. The contents are written primarily in Greek but also contain Ancient Hebrew letters for spelling the name of God.

This latest discovery highlights the importance of the current excavation efforts of the many Dead Sea region caves. Hasson urges the continuation of the work. In the CBN News report, “Hasson said the scroll fragments are a ‘wakeup call to the state’ that it must allocate resources to complete ‘this historically important operation.’ He said they need to ensure that all the data is discovered and recovered before the robbers find it.”

After Having Suicidal Thoughts, Comedian John Crist Says Prayer Is the Reason He’s Alive Today

By

Jesse T. Jackson

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March 16, 2021

Popular Christian comedian John Crist returned to Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry stage Saturday night for the first time since stepping away from the spotlight to seek help for, as he put, it his “problem.” Crist was outed when Charisma Magazine revealed sexual misconduct allegations against Crist.

Charisma Magazine’s report included testimonies from five young women who accused Crist of using “his Christian reputation and platform to harass, manipulate and exploit young women over the last seven years.”

After Crist’s Grand Ole Opry performance, he posted a heart-felt segment on his Instagram stories titled ‘Life.’ He explained that prayers from his supporters during his time in therapy kept him on this earth even amid his suicidal thoughts.

Crist said he believed at that time that the world would be a better place without him in it. He said, “I believed something about myself that was untrue.”

“About 16 months ago, I really was going to end my life,” the successful comedian shared. He recalled the exact moment he had one of his thoughts, “I remember specifically this story. I was in rehab, out in the desert in Arizona, and I was so sad and I was full of so much shame.” He told his listeners, “I didn’t want to participate in the recovery process or try to get better or anything.”

His therapist Jackie asked him what he wanted to do and Crist specifically told her, “I want to go home and I want to withdraw all of my money from the bank and go down to Broadway (where all the bars are located) get drunk…bring girls back to my condo…and I want to do that every night until I run out of money and then I want to kill myself.”

“This is hard for you to believe about me, but if I can think this about myself then anyone can think that [the world is a better place without them in it.],” Crist shared. He hopes to help others who are feeling or have felt this way.

Crist said all of what he has gone through is because of his own “horrific choices” and he takes full responsibility for the “whole situation.”

“I wouldn’t wish what happened to me on my worst enemy,” he said. Then he explained, “The only thing worse than what happened to me, is if it would have never happened to me.”

Without his crisis, Crist said he would have just continued on a road that would have resulted in him being ‘alone’ and finding worth in others liking his social media posts and videos.

Being very transparent, Crist said he doesn’t want to be a role model “I still make tons of horrific choices,” he said.

The funnyman is about to celebrate being 17 months sober and equated his sobriety as a miracle, saying, “if you don’t believe in miracles just come my way, I’ll tell ya’ several.”

He explained his fear of being ‘cancelled’ again so he’s hesitant about sharing his story and called himself the “chief of sinners” because he has so many struggles and knows he could fall at anytime. “I’m not sad anymore,” Crist said and wanted people to know that.

“All I wanted to know when I was in the darkest place is that I wasn’t alone,” he said. Then he shared that his fans have shown him a love that he had never experienced in his life before. “If I can do anything to pass that on to someone else,” he said and then got emotional.”

“I don’t want to exaggerate this,” he said as he finished up his story. “In some type of way, you kept me on earth with your prayers, and your letters and your love. And I would regret if I didn’t stay on the path to recovery and try to do the same for you all.”

The Los Angeles Dream Center Celebrates 5 Million Meals Served During COVID Relief

By

Christine Yount Jones

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March 16, 2021

The effects of the pandemic left millions in desperate need. Yet since March 2020, through the Los Angeles Dream Center’s quick-response COVID relief efforts and the support of the community, donors, corporations, volunteers, and small businesses, they were able to distribute 7 million pounds of food processed through their food bank. In total, they have now served 5 million meals, 1.6 million of which were hot meals made right in the Dream Center’s kitchen.

In addition, an average of 60 students per day were supported with remote learning through their Restart Learning Center on the blacktop at the Dream Center’s Echo Park campus. And hundreds of men and women continued to rebuild their lives through their transitional housing programs.

Now, one year since the initial pandemic lockdown, the Los Angeles Dream Center is excited to announce they are embarking on the next phase of helping their city come back from the devastating impact of the pandemic by renewing hope, rebuilding lives, and restoring LA. To kick off this year’s “Restore LA®” initiative, on Tuesday, March 16, the Dream Center is celebrating the expansion of their transitional housing program for families to a total of 42 rooms, allowing spaces for 42 family units to stay together and rebuild their lives. They will be hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the new rooms that are now ready for homeless families in the transitional housing wing on their campus.

“This past year has included ministries and emergency relief I never imagined needing to provide for the people I love in Los Angeles,” said Dream Center co-founder Matthew Barnett. “But watching those in my orbit rally together to provide food, essentials, housing, tutoring and so much more to the folks who need it most has been a silver lining in a cloudy year. I’m blown away with each measure of generosity from those that desperately want to see this city recover. Our work is certainly not over; so as we launch Restore LA, my hope and prayer is that our partners, volunteers, and donors will keep it at full throttle as we seek to revive a community in need.”

Attending the day’s festivities will be representatives from World Vision and Baby2Baby, along with former LA Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey, Kelly Stone, and others. LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva will also be joining the ribbon-cutting ceremony at 3pm.

Restore LA is the Dream Center’s big push this year to help individuals and families facing homelessness, food insecurity, poverty, addiction, mental health issues, or seeking help from domestic violence situations. They will do this by:

Reconnecting with surrounding underserved communities through new outreach and resource programs
Bridging gaps between the community, businesses, leaders and other influencers through collaborative events, partnerships, and fundraisers
Expanding their current transitional housing program capacity to create even more available spaces and opportunities
Keeping their life-saving programs free of charge to anyone and everyone who needs them

The Los Angeles Dream Center is a faith-based non-profit organization located in Echo Park, dedicated to transforming lives and underserved communities in the city of Los Angeles. By offering residential and outreach programs to individuals, families and communities in the areas of homelessness, hunger, poverty, addiction, domestic violence, education, and human trafficking, the Dream Center is committed to enabling immediate and long-term transformation. The Dream Center welcomes those in need into their community completely free-of-charge with the resources, training, and support they need, regardless of faith, age, gender, orientation, nationality, or any other defining factor.

More details about Restore LA and all that the Dream Center has planned for the rest of the year will be available at dreamcenter.org.

Tim Keller’s New Book Dives Deeply Into Race, Justice and Resurrection

By

Maina Mwaura

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March 16, 2021

(RNS) — I was a seasoned flyer in December of 2016 when the plane carrying me to my interview with Pastor Tim Keller started its descent into New York, so my jitters weren’t due to landing at LaGuardia. I was a newbie journalist — feeling uncertain about my future and vulnerable about meeting the influential thought leader and church planter.

Keller was the pastor who had conquered Manhattan, starting one of the most popular evangelical churches (now five churches up and down the borough) in a city that prays even less than it sleeps.

To be honest I was so green I hadn’t even grasped what Keller meant to the Christian world until, a few weeks before, I mentioned it to a friend whom I was interviewing and he reeled off Tim’s resume: founder of Redeemer Presbyterian Church; chairman of City to City, which trains pastors all over the world; author of multiple New York Times bestselling books.

Tim’s list of accomplishments did not match what I found when I was ushered into his office that December afternoon. Tim’s office was small, quaint, more like an intern’s quarters. I tried not to knock into anything as the camera man set up his equipment.

“Hi, my name is Tim” is how our relationship began. In my earlier career, I had been around enough leaders who were very conscious of who they were. Not so with Tim. He is comfortable with who he is, but, more importantly, he wants to make sure that you’re comfortable, too.

Bespectacled and more professorial than pastoral at first glance, Keller, now 70, is nevertheless warm and transparent. Before I could ask my first question, I realized I wanted to be his friend, which is what we have been for the last four years.

As in any good friendship, our subsequent interviews — number four coming just last week (March 5) by Zoom — have picked up where we left off at the end of the previous one. But I was nervous again.

Last May, Tim was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and though he appears to be doing well, I wondered whether we would be able to just talk as before. But with Tim, there never seems to be an agenda, which may explain why he succeeded in New York amid a sea of motives and agendas.

As we caught up with each other’s news and walked through current events, I teased him about a recent set of viral tweets in which he’d weighed in on race, justice and the Southern Baptist Convention leaders’ rejection of critical race theory.

“You’re hot right now,” I joked.

“Almost everything is hot right now. It’s hard to not be ‘hot’ with where we’re at in our culture when it comes to race and justice issues,” he said.

But Keller, low-key as he is, makes his own heat. He is one of the few major evangelical leaders who has been up front in saying that as Christ followers we need to embrace a multiethnic world. He takes stands when it comes to biblical justice. Supporters and critics alike label his comments “controversial,” but Tim is doing what God called him to do, not what he thinks will sell books. I start to ask him where his authenticity comes from, but before I can, he’s asking what I’ve been up to.

Only when we bring up his new book for Easter, “Hope in Times of Fear: The Resurrection and the Meaning of Easter,” does it become apparent that he is thinking seriously about the last chapter in his life. During the writing process, Tim said, “the only way I could face the future is because I believed in the resurrection.”

And the book, which Tim says he studied the most carefully to write, explains just how that belief comes out of Scripture.

“I go line by line, explaining Scripture step by step,” Tim said. “I believe that if you’re going to write a book on the resurrection, you have to ask ‘did it happen?’”

It’s the hopeful theme of resurrection that gave Tim the strength to write it, most of which was written while he was undergoing treatment. “I had plenty of time to write,” he said, “and even when I didn’t feel up to it during the chemotherapy, I would write.”

Despite the fact that he had only 25% of it written when he got his diagnosis, “Hope in Times of Fear,” a companion to a Christmas book he released in 2016, doesn’t focus on Tim’s journey with cancer. “Except towards the end of the book,” Tim said. “I wanted the book to focus primarily on the resurrection and the hope that we have.”

Pastor, Formerly Convicted of Statutory Rape, Resigns After Church Is Ousted by SBC

By

Adelle M Banks

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March 16, 2021

(RNS) — A Tennessee pastor who confessed two decades ago to statutory rape has resigned after his church was recently removed from the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) for hiring him.

Pastor Randy Leming Jr., who served at Antioch Baptist Church in Sevierville, announced his resignation on Feb. 28, the Baptist and Reflector reported on Thursday (March 11).

The Baptist and Reflector, a publication of the Tennessee Baptist Convention, said Leming had been with the church since 2014.

The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, meeting in February, determined that the church was no longer “in friendly cooperation” with the denomination because “the church knowingly employs as pastor a man convicted of statutory rape.”

The SBC voted in 2019 to amend its constitution to make sexual abuse one of the stated grounds for disfellowshipping a church.

Leming declined to provide a statement to the Baptist and Reflector. Religion News Service could not immediately reach the church for comment.

According to a 1998 decision in a Tennessee appeals court, Leming was 31 and a pastor at Shiloh Baptist Church in Sevier County in 1994 when he performed oral sex on a 16-year-old victim on two occasions. Shiloh Baptist is within six miles of the Antioch church.

Leming appealed the two concurrent sentences of 18 months in prison he received, claiming the sentences were excessive. The judge in the case upheld the lower court decision, calling the committed offenses “especially shocking and reprehensible.”

The Tennessee Baptist Mission Board was not informed of the disfellowshipping of Antioch until after the Executive Committee decision had been reported in a state newspaper, the Baptist news journal said.

“Now that this has been brought to our attention, we will begin the process to better understand the circumstances surrounding Antioch Baptist Church’s situation,” said Randy C. Davis, president of the mission board. “The SBC Executive Committee had a full year to work through its process and to better understand the situation. It is important that Tennessee Baptists also understand the complexities.”

This article originally appeared here.

Eugene Peterson Authorized Biography Backs Up His ‘Yes’ on LGBTQ Inclusion

By

Religion News Service

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March 16, 2021

(RNS) — The late Eugene Peterson, the pastor and theologian best known for his popular paraphrase of the Bible called “ The Message,” steered clear of controversy most of his career. But in July 2017, I published an interview with Peterson in which he told me homosexuality is “not a right or wrong thing as far as I’m concerned.” When asked if he would perform a same-sex wedding ceremony if he were still ministering, Peterson responded flatly, “Yes.”

Conservative Christian leaders who once adored Peterson publicly denounced him. The Babylon Bee, a Christian satire site, mocked him. Lifeway Christian Stores, America’s largest religious retailer at the time, threatened to pull Peterson’s books unless he recanted.

One day after the uproar, a statement, released on Peterson’s behalf, said the author reaffirmed a belief marriage should be “one man to one woman” and claimed he felt “put on the spot” by my questions. Regarding his assertion he would perform a gay wedding, it stated, “I hope I never am asked,” and, “on further reflection and prayer, I would like to retract that.”

Peterson died the next year, leaving his fans and followers wondering what this paragon of Bible wisdom actually thought about LGBTQ inclusion.

This murky water may clear later this month, when a long-awaited authorized biography of Peterson is released. Drawing on never-before-published letters, journals and exclusive interviews, Winn Collier’s “ A Burning in My Bones ” reveals while Peterson long wrestled with the Bible’s teachings on homosexuality, he at last embraced LGBTQ inclusion on the grounds of Christian love.

Collier expends many words demonstrating Peterson’s desire to steer clear of “combustible issues.“ While Peterson questioned the existence of a literal hell and leaned toward universalism, the notion that all will ultimately be saved and enjoy relationship with God, “he’d not arrived at any definitive position” on many of these issues, Collier writes. Peterson was “far more comfortable with ambiguity” than many culture-warring theologians and pastors today.

According to Collier, “Eugene thought that the hardened, absolutized positions of opposing theological poles typically framed conversations in ways that lacked wisdom, humility, and a Spirit-inspired way forward.”

But above all other divisive issues, “the controversy that vexed Eugene the most, the one he struggled the most to understand, centered on the question of same-sex marriage.” For most of his life and career, Peterson “understood marriage in historic terms.”

Affirmation In the Home: “Say What You Want to See”

By

Andrew Linder

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March 16, 2021

Galatians 5:14-15 “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.”

Living in a home with other sinners day in and day out can become taxing at times. We get to know each others’ faults and weaknesses like no one else on the planet, and sometimes, if we’re not careful, that’s all we’ll see.

When that happens, a critical spirit is born, and critical spirits once born, die hard. It could be a parent who’s critical of a child, a child who’s critical of a parent, or even a sibling who’s critical of their brothers and sisters.

And before you know it, it seems like everyone always has something to say about everyone, and none of it seems to be positive. Everyone’s faults are magnified. Everyone’s always going straight for the throat in every conversation. And no one is happy in the family because we’ve been guilty of “biting, devouring, and ultimately consuming one another.”

However, the verses above offer a much better way in these words – “love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Seems simple, right? Because it is.

Rather than consuming through criticism, let’s love others as ourselves by trying to edify through affirmation.

I like to think of affirmation this way – “Say what you want to see.” When we acknowledge more of the things that we want to see, we’ll start to see more of the things we want to get.

Affirmation always accomplishes more than criticism. Here’s why:

1. Affirmation is Positive – Criticism is Negative

If what you’re looking for in your home is more negativity, then a critical spirit is the way to go. You’ll be guaranteed bad attitudes, lots of disagreement, and an unhappy home. Make sure to always point out everything others fail to do and put little or no emphasis on the things they do right. Simply look for everything that’s wrong with your family, and make sure to point them out. They won’t be hard to find.

But if what you’re looking for in your home is more focus on the positive, affirmation is a great tool to keep in your family tool belt. Speaking words of praise often, on purpose, and with the desire to edify someone else is a great way to brighten the daily atmosphere of your home.

2. Affirmation is Helpful – Criticism is Hurtful

When we constantly criticize those we say that we love, it causes pain and naturally distances us from one another. There’s a time and a place for correction and even constructive criticism in the home, but there’s nothing helpful about simply tearing one another down.

But when we affirm the positive things we see by magnifying the good and micro-scoping the bad, others in our lives feel more loved, more encouraged, and more inspired. Don’t we want our home to be a place of restoration and escape from the negativity of the world around us? A place where we can come for our body, mind, and spirit to be refreshed and strengthened before having to face another day?

Ken Blount said it this way, “Support your spouse (children) as they move towards being more Christlike, don’t tear them down because they’re not already there.”

3. Affirmation Breeds Results – Criticism Breeds Repetition (more of the same)

Have you ever found that your constant nagging and criticism changes the behavior of your family members? Does it motivate them to improve and change their actions? Or does it simply seem to go in one ear and out the other? Regular criticism breeds more of the same actions and behaviors, but rarely, if ever, changes them.

Affirmation works the same way but in a good sense. You always get more of what you affirm. Others, including those in our family, naturally perk an ear at the sound of someone praising and affirming them and what they are doing right. As humans, we’re wired to respond positively to what is positive, especially when it’s specifically directed toward us and our actions. It’s really simple – say what you want to see.

4. Affirmation Infuses Life – Criticism is an Instrument of Death

Prov. 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.”

Every day, we have the opportunity to infuse life into our family through words of affirmation, or the opportunity to take life away and crush the spirit of our family through words of unnecessary criticism.

Our words have tremendous power! And according to the verse above, we will eat the fruit of them. We can either create the fruit we want by saying what we WANT to see, or endure the fruit we get by just saying WHAT we see. When the fruit of our words produces a regular diet of affirmation, everyone becomes more healthy.

When we realize that our words matter, especially with our children and our spouse, we’ll begin to be more intentional with what we say. The last thing we should ever want to do is bite and devour the very people we say we love the most. So instead, let’s intentionally love them with our words as we would love ourself.

Every day, make the choice to speak life through affirmation – Say What You Want to See, and mark it down, you’ll begin to start seeing more of it!

This article originally appeared here.

What Are the Origins of Lent?

By

The Conversation

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March 16, 2021

(THE CONVERSATION) In late winter, many Christian denominations observe a 40-day period of fasting and prayer called Lent. This is in preparation for the spring celebration of Easter, a religious holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

The word “Lent” has Germanic roots referring to the “lengthening” of days, or springtime. But facts about the early origin of the religious observance are not as well known.

As a scholar who studies Christian liturgy, I know that by the fourth century, a regular practice of 40-day fasting became common in Christian churches.

Early Christianity

The practice of fasting from food for spiritual reasons is found in the three largest Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In all three, refraining from eating is intimately connected with an additional focus on prayer, and the practice of assisting the poor by giving alms or donating food.

In the Gospels, Jesus spends 40 days in the wilderness to fast and pray. This event was one of the factors that inspired the final length of Lent.

Early Christian practices in the Roman Empire varied from area to area. A common practice was weekly fasting on Wednesday and Friday until mid-afternoon. In addition, candidates for baptism, as well as the clergy, would fast before the rite, which often took place at Easter.

During the fourth century, various Christian communities observed a longer fast of 40 days before the beginning of the three holiest days of the liturgical year: Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter.

Spiritual renewal

As Christianity spread through Western Europe from the fifth through 12th centuries, the observance of Lent did as well. A few Lenten days were “black,” or total, fast days. But daily fasting came gradually to be moderated during most of Lent. By the end of the Middle Ages a meal was often permitted at noon.

Also, bishops and theologians specializing in church law specified restrictions on the kinds of acceptable food: no meat or meat products, dairy or eggs could be consumed at all during Lent, even on Sundays.

The idea was to avoid self-indulgence at this time of repentance for one’s sins. Marriage, a joyous ritual, was also prohibited during the Lenten season.

Today, Catholics and some other Christians still abstain from eating meat on the Fridays of Lent, and eat only one meal, with two smaller snacks permitted, on two days of complete fasting. In addition, they also engage in the practice of “giving up something” during Lent. Often this is a favorite food or drink, or another pleasurable activity, like smoking or watching television.

Other activities are also suggested, in keeping with the idea of Lent as a time for spiritual renewal as well as self-discipline. These include making amends with estranged family and friends, reading of the Bible or other spiritual writers, and community service.

Though some practices may have changed, Lent in the 21st century remains essentially the same as in centuries past: a time of quiet reflection and spiritual discipline.

This article originally appeared here.

The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. The Conversation is wholly responsible for the content.

Church After Covid-19: Three Hard Realities the Church Must Face

By

Derek Allen

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March 16, 2021

Back in March, many of us pressed pause on “regular” church, assuming we would be back in a few weeks. Four months later most churches are trying to sputter back to some form of in-person ministry, and we’ve all realized the impact of this crisis will not be measured in weeks or even months, but years. Consider three realities the church must face as we prepare for church after Covid-19.

1. Church After Covid-19: We can’t go back.

“I just can’t wait until we get back to normal!” We’ve all said it, but as the Covid-19 crisis moves into its fourth month with no real end in sight, we have to accept that church as we knew it has changed significantly.

Does that mean we can’t engage in the type of ministries we had pre-covid? No. It just means we will have to rebuild them rather than simply restart them. The leaders, volunteers, participants, and systems for each ministry will need to be reengaged, reenergized, rebuilt, and in many cases, replaced. That will not happen quickly, which leads me to the second reality we must face.

2. Church After Covid-19: This is going to be a two-year process.

When this first started, I challenged our staff to put together a disciple-making strategy that would work through August without in-person ministries. I remember saying, “We know this isn’t going to last that long, but we need to be overprepared.” We thought we were overpreparing when in fact, we were woefully underestimating the length and impact of the pandemic.

Now, we are taking a two-year approach. What does it look like to reengage our faith family in discipleship and missions over the course of two years? Before we ask that difficult question, however, we need to ask two more. First, what does it mean to make disciples? And second, how will we know when we are making disciples? That leads me to the third reality we must face.

3. Church after Covid-19: The metrics have changed.

During Covid, our online engagement has skyrocketed. Our giving has increased. When we opened registration for socially distanced services, the seats started filling up quickly. Those are great signs of connection and engagement, but what do they really mean when it comes to discipleship?

In what seems to be the distant past, we measured the quality of our environments, which were designed to make disciples, and we measured the number of people engaged in those environments. Those measurements just aren’t working for us in the current moment, and as we embark on a two-year rebuilding process, they seem inadequate. So what do we measure to gauge effectiveness? I’m not sure yet, but 1) it won’t be what we were measuring four months ago and 2) it must be more individually focused. Discipleship can’t be measured in groups.

Do You See the Opportunity for Church After Covid-19?

This is not a doom and gloom article. While these new realities are difficult to face, they are also incredible opportunities, and I don’t mean that in the “let’s all look for the silver lining” kind of way. This is a once in a generation opportunity, and we can’t afford to miss it.

Don’t Go Back, Go Forward

We desperately want to go back to the way things were—that’s the choice most of us would make—but that’s not an option—it is not a choice that any of us can make. We cannot go back; we can only go forward. The truth is, however, we don’t need to go back. Many of us were stuck in ministry ruts that were no longer effective. Now, we have the opportunity to go forward without the demands and even constraints of existing ministry structures.

Embrace a Two-Year Rebuilding Strategy

Building new, more effective structures is going to take time. That’s why this is such a great opportunity! If it’s going to take two years to rebuild, why not rebuild better, more effective structures? One of the reasons church planting produces growth is that leaders have the opportunity to build ministries from scratch using current best practices over a one to two year period. That takes programmatic bandwidth and a clean slate—two things established churches aren’t known for. Most of us never have that kind of opportunity in established churches, but Covid-19 has changed all of that.

Create a New Scorecard

What really matters in disciple-making? For the past few decades, the church has been in an uncomfortable relationship with numbers. We know that nickels and noses don’t add up to disciple-making, but trying to reimagine what we should be measuring has been like walking the wrong way up a crowded escalator. Even when you know it’s the right way to go, the pressure from those around you makes it almost impossible.

What other hard realities must the church face? What other unique opportunities have we been given in this season? I hope pastors and church leaders everywhere are asking these questions, and I trust the next season of church life in North America will be filled with God’s goodness and grace.

This article about church after Covid-19 originally appeared here.

Harry Connick Jr. Releases New Gospel Album for Doubters & Christians Alike

By

Kelsey Straeter

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March 16, 2021

In the realm of entertainment, Harry Connick Jr. is a man of many talents. He’s “exemplified excellence in every aspect of the entertainment world,” his bio of many accolades reads:

“He has received recognition with multiple Grammy and Emmy awards as well as Tony nominations for his live and recorded musical performances, his achievements on screens large and small, and his appearances on broadway as both an actor and a composer.”

But one project that has always been on Connick Jr.’s mind is creating a gospel album. With a reduced work schedule due to COVID, he decide to make use of the extra time. He spent the better part of last year working on his new album, which is set to release on March 19th.

The album, entitled Alone With My Faith, is dear to the singer’s heart, since he wrote the songs, played every instrument, and sang every part.

Connick Jr. claims his one-man-band production is not quite the gospel album he had originally planned on making.

“I wouldn’t call this the gospel album I had thought about making only because it’s not a collection of spirituals that everyone knows,” he explained in a CBN interview. “It’s got some original songs and quite honestly, some of the songs deal with struggling with faith as much as having faith so when I was home, I found myself counting on my faith or questioning my faith.”

“So I said, ‘I’m gonna write about it,’ the artist continued. “And so the album that I thought was going to be a *Gospel* album 5-10 years down the road turned out to be this album now because it was really helping me get through this time.”

The meaningful collection of songs is as much about faith as it is doubt, and wrestling with God—something that many Christians have battled in their spiritual journeys.

Connick Jr. shared that his daughter, Georgia, had a hand in creating his album cover, and she also directed his rendition of “Amazing Grace.”

“She is an amazing photographer and film director,” the proud father boasted. “It came time to shoot the album cover and I said, ‘Georgia, I’d love for you to do it.’ She took an amazing picture, then it came time to do the video and I said, ‘Do you feel like working with me on this?’ And she said ‘I’d love to.’ She found the location and mapped out her artist vision and I thought it was terrific. She’s just a super talent and I couldn’t be more proud.”

Connick Jr. wanted his album to be an anthem of solidarity and hope for the millions of people struggling during this unprecedented pandemic.

“This is a situation that we’re in literally right now where it’s a shared experience of loss, confusion, and hope,” he said. “I don’t know you, but I know that you’re feeling what I’m feeling because we’re all wondering when this is going to end. I needed it for myself to sort of sing the songs that help me to articulate my feelings.”

The artist intended to integrate the secular and the sacred with this musical collection. He wanted Alone With My Faith to be a mix of familiar songs as well as those that may be “unexpected.”

“I’m a Christian and I’m proud of my faith, but I also realize this is a big world and there’s a lot of people in it,” he shared. “I love and respect them so much and I wanted to include them in this process too.”

A few of the songs he sang from a Christian point-of-view include “How Great Thou Art,” “Old Rugged Cross,” and “Because He Lives”…”But but there are other songs that I wrote that are about faith and every level of faith,” Connick Jr. explained.

“Whether you’re feeling doubtful about it or you’re super powerfully strong about it – this is shared experience so these songs were written for what we’re all going through together.”

This article originally appeared here.

How the Groundbreaking KAIROS IT/IP Live Video Platform Improves Video Production

By

MinistryTech Magazine

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March 15, 2021

Until recently, only a small number of churches livestreamed their Sunday services. Then—almost overnight—livestreaming became the lifeline between churches and congregations. Now live video production has become vital component in a church’s technology toolbox. The new KAIROS IT/IP Live Video Processing Platform can help transform your church’s live streaming capabilities as well as dramatically improve communications to your congregation within the sanctuary or from wherever they are joining.

The KAIROS live video production platform enables your tech team to adapt to new challenges and requirements without the constant need to set up or tear down existing gear. It offers full flexibility of inputs and outputs to improve production efficiency and does away with the constraints of a traditional hardware-based system. Engineered to be highly scalable to address multiple campuses, KAIROS unleashes your creative vision for crafting inspirational worship experiences.

Unrestricted Flexibility and Scalability

With its IT/IP-centric platform, KAIROS is based on an entirely new concept and architecture. It incorporates newly developed ground-breaking software that processes ST 2110, SRT, RTMP, RTSP & NDI streams of any resolution. The platform achieves higher performance by fully utilizing the power and flexibility of its CPU and GPU in the KAIROS Core, balancing total processing load without the configuration constraints of traditional hardware-based systems. Churches can take advantage of the flexibility and scalability built into the IT-based open architecture platform, easily composing compelling content for many screens or streams within the sanctuary, campus or the larger on-line community, providing a customized upgrade path as more content sources and destinations are brought on board over time.

Resolution and Format

Since KAIROS is resolution and format independent, it allows for operation regardless of media formats or the resolution capabilities of various hardware. Mixed input sources with different resolutions, such as HD and UHD, can be processed simultaneously and combined into the same output scene. KAIROS fully supports baseband and IP signals such as SDI, ST 2110 and NDI, As well as streaming with SRT, RTMP and RTSP in any combination For example, it enables video production output as a standard 16:9 format, and also in the 32:9 format suitable for video walls, all managed from one controller.

Layered Structure

KAIROS has a layered structure for versatile video expression and is not restricted by the number of MEs or keys like a conventional switcher. Keys, effects, transitions and scaling can be added layer by layer without any limitations, and the total number of layers is limited only by the maximum GPU capacity. The KAIROS processing latency can be as low as one frame, so IMAG for services and music events can be presented on a large LED wall without concern for lip-sync issues.

User-Friendly Interface

Tech staff with diverse experience and skills can work with the user-friendly GUI of KAIROS Creator to delivery engaging content. KAIROS’ layer-based desktop GUI brings a familiar interface like desktop publishing and editing. This easy PC or Mac control of the powerful Linux based processing engine helps utilize valuable human resources with its intuitive functional layout, and its ability to support growing deployments in every aspect of production, and its fully customizable KAIROS Control panel sets a new standard of usability, enabling technicians to manage unlimited layers and effects through an intuitive tactile interface.

The KAIROS platform empowers every area of church ministry because its open architecture platform facilitates the integration of hardware and software-based systems.

Worship Leaders Can Do More With Smart Studio

By

MinistryTech Magazine

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March 15, 2021

What if—even after Covid—the new church model for praise and worship is distributed worship? Worship ministry continues to change in these ways:

Livestreaming is here to stay (it was growing before the pandemic).
Churches with large campuses are already beginning to meet in a variety of venues spread across the same location;
The trend toward multisite churches continues to grow.

All these trends put pressure not only on staffing your worship team with excellent musicians, but also on recruiting people with the technical skills to support the effort. And the need continues for software and gear flexible enough to respond to rapidly-shifting church environments, but budgets and volunteer staff have not kept pace, which puts pressure on the ministry of worship.

That’s why Panasonic’s KAIROS live video production platform is the most exciting addition to the tech tool-kit required by contemporary churches. The Smart Studio powered by Panasonic’s KAIROS system equips your tech team to adapt to changing environments and requirements without the constant need to set up or tear down existing gear. The Smart Studio provides central control interface for all systems—even systems that may have been previously incompatible. It means flexibility and cooperation with the ever-changing needs of church presentations.

The KAIROS solution from Panasonic will assure that your worship ministry stays up to date with growing virtualization by providing a scalable, virtually future-proof tech solution. Most important, the Panasonic KAIROS live video production platform provides your technical support team with the tools they need to seamlessly support praise, worship, and video productions.The Panasonic KAIROS live video production platform ensures a rapid learning-curve, maximum functionality, and the flexibility to meet the pressures of worship ministry.

Worship Leaders Need Higher Performance Technology. Open architecture is the key: There’s no single-source hardware compatibility required. Panasonic’s KAIROS platform achieves higher performance by fully utilizing the power and flexibility of its CPU and GPU, balancing total processing load without the configuration constraints of traditional hardware-based systems. This open architecture platform facilitates the linkage of diverse external sources and destinations as well as the integration of hardware and software systems. This new, evolved system ensures complete operational freedom at all levels. As a native IP system, the KAIROS is well suited to be used for remote video production as part of a completely IP-based environment.

Worship Leaders Need Sophisticated Presentations. Contemporary congregations have become media-savvy, which means they now have come to expect the church to present the same level of sophistication they see from for-profit streaming platforms and business settings. The KAIROS Smart Studio has high flexibility and scalability. Since KAIROS is an IT-based open architecture platform, functional enhancements and control linkage with external devices are possible with the addition of application software. Therefore, it can easily expand and integrate the system without additional investments in hardware.

Worship Leaders Need High-Performing Tech Teams. Finally, the user-friendly (GUI) interface is easy to use and enables intuitive operation, which means volunteer worship and tech staff can be trained quickly—and be able to utilize the full functionality of the software and controller. The layout of the customizable control panel provides excellent operability in the smallest space and unleashes the operator’s creativity, which will set a new standard of operation. This means that the tech side of your worship team can add their inspiration and creativity to the Sunday morning worship experience.

Worship leaders are charged with providing compelling worship experiences. This responsibility originally meant contemporary music and arrangements; then it meant quality sound systems, and now it means the integration of audio, visual, and live video distribution across multiple platforms using an ever-growing array of gear. Worship leaders have come a long way from an acoustic guitar and a mic stand.

‘I’m Not perfect.’ Kirk Franklin Apologizes After Angry Call With Son Goes Viral

By

Jesse T. Jackson

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March 15, 2021

Popular gospel legend and 16X Grammy award winning artist Kirk Franklin (51) made national headlines over the weekend after his oldest son Kerrion Franklin (32) released a recorded argument. In the recording, Kirk Franklin used profanity and physically threatened Kerrion.

In the recording posted on Instagram, Kirk Franklin can be heard yelling at his son, using profane language, and threatening to hurt him. We have chosen not to transcribe what can be heard in their conversation due to the NSFW content, so please be warned if you choose to listen to it.

Kirk Franklin has been married to his wife Tammy for 25 years, each of them had one child from previous relationships. Kirk had son Kerrion, and Tammy had daughter Carrington. They share two other children together, Kennedy and Caziah.

Kerrion wrote on his Instagram page, “I don’t think I’ll ever trust my father to be alone around him ever again.” He continued on explaining, “I didn’t want to do this. I probably won’t release the entire recording because it’s too embarrassing that I’m even dealing with this.”

“Let’s talk about why counseling stopped because you caused #Battery,” Kerrion wrote explaining his side of why counseling didn’t work. He said, “I still didn’t press charges and you quit counseling. All the money you ever spent can’t replace the lack of effort.”

Revealing why he posted the recorded call with his father, Kerrion wrote, “We can keep this up. You should have chose to make peace with me, not PROVOKE ME. ReRead your BIBLES PLZ if that’s what you get payed to read.”

After their conversation went public, Kirk posted a video on social media saying his oldest son’s relationship has been toxic to their family for many years. He explained that through the years, the family has attempted counseling and therapy in N attempt to “rectify this private family matter.”

In the conversation Kerrion recorded, Kirk said he felt “extremely disrespected” and that he lost his temper. In Franklin’s video, he shared that he said words “that are not appropriate,” and he told his followers “I’m sincerely sorry to all of you. I sincerely apologize.”

“I want you to know as a father that during that conversation I called the family therapist and got that therapist on the phone to try to help,” Kirk explained and said, “He (Kerrion) never played that part of the recording.”

The father of four said, “I’m not perfect. I’m human and I”m going to make mistakes and I’m trying to get it right.”

Kirk Franklin asked his followers to “Please keep me and my family in your prayers.”

Over the course of his career Kirk Franklin has collaborated with artists TobyMac, Lecrae, Stevie Wonder, Tori Kelly, For King & Country, Mandisa, Chance the Rapper, Whitney Houston, and many more.

$1 Million Pledged by Women for Bible Translation at IF Gathering

By

Laycie McClain

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March 15, 2021

On March 6, thousands of women attended the virtual IF: Gathering—a growing women’s conference and women’s ministry resource hub with an international reach. This year’s conference featured a partnership with IllumiNations’ 12 Verse Challenge (12VC). The partnership between IllumiNations, a Bible translation alliance, and the IF: Gathering conference quickly proved fruitful as hundreds of the conference’s attendees pledged $1 million funding for the 12VC project within five minutes of the challenge’s presentation. Donating requires a pledge of $35 a month for a year and will aid in meeting the cost of translating 12 verses of Scripture over the course of that year.

IF: Gathering founder Jennie Allen posted a celebration of the conference attendees’ pledges on her Instagram. “Nearly 6,000 of you [IF: Gathering attendees] have given 1.5 million in 3 days. We are on our way to putting a Bible in 2 languages for 2 people groups that have never had it. Thank you! Our minds are blown right now!!! Can you even believe this?!” The enormous fundraising effort will cover translation costs for creating two complete Bibles in languages that have never had a Bible translation. In a Christianity Today article, Allen is quoted saying of the IF: Gathering ministry, “This is our most important work to date.”

Translation Answers the Challenge of “Bible Poverty” Across the Globe

According to the IlluminNations’ 12VC website, “there are more than 3,800 language groups with little or no access to Scripture.” They refer to that lack of Bible translation into languages of less widespread use as “Bible poverty.” Making God’s Word accessible and understandable is a centuries-long goal spearheaded by missionaries, Bible translators, churches, the prayers of Christians, and countless other efforts of the Church. Through great work and dedication, there have been incredible, exciting strides in Bible translation and IllumiNations seeks to continue this historic effort.

“IlluminNations is harnessing Bible translation partners from across the globe to translate the Bible into every living language within our generation. This can seem like a daunting task, but we know it’s worth it because we know that God’s Word is our most valuable treasure. We know that where God’s Word is accessible, radical change happens. God promises that his Word will accomplish its purposes:

‘For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.’ (Isaiah 55:10-11)

The hope of salvation revealed to sinners is found in God’s Word. And this hope has brought together organizations, individuals, churches, and Christians from all walks of life—and all across the globe—into unity around this goal.”

IllumiNation’s Globally Inclusive Bible Translation Accelerates

In “The Story” section of IllumiNations’ website, they explain that the 3,800 language groups they have identified as still in need of a Bible translation equals roughly one billion people globally. And that, “over 2,000 of those language groups do not have a single verse of Scripture [translated into their language.] Right now, ten of the leading Bible translation agencies and their global partners are working in a unified and coordinated effort to see the Scripture translated and delivered to the remaining [3,800] language groups by 2033. Because of their unified approach, this monumental task, which just a few years ago was slated to be completed in 2150, is on track to be finished in 2033.”

This year’s IF: Gathering provided a sizeable boost to the funding for 2021, but IllumiNations invites anyone to take part in their Bible translation efforts. Individuals can pledge funding directly on the website. They also invite churches to rally as a community to offer support. This year’s current tally for involvement and donations on the website states, “Across 6 events we have had 6,362 people take the IllumiNations 12 Verse Challenge resulting in $1,623,348.00 raised to translate 46,381 verses of Scripture.”

Another Recent Stride in Bible Translation

The goals within Bible translation are not only for spoken languages. Until recently, the lack of Bible translation also applied to the unspoken language of American Sign Language (ASL). It took 38 years of work, but there is now a complete Bible translated into ASL, offering a deeper understanding of the Bible for deaf or hard of hearing communities around the globe. A September 2020 Church Leaders article explains, “Contrary to what some assume, sign languages are unique languages, not simply ‘different versions’ of spoken languages. Therefore, if ASL is a Deaf or hard of hearing person’s first language, then for that person to read the Bible in English means he or she is reading a foreign language.”

The completion of the ASL Bible was an important first step in translating the Bible for those whose language is heavily visual. It also offers a reminder for considering other forms of language utilized across the world when translating God’s Word for full accessibility.

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