40: God’s Number for Life Change

By

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March 1, 2021

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the 40 days of Lent. For reasons unknown to us, the length of 40 – whether 40 days or 40 years – has been significant throughout biblical history:

The great flood lasted 40 days.
Moses was on the mountain with God for 40 days before he brought down the Ten Commandments.
The establishment of the Kingdom of Israel was founded on its first three kings – Saul, David and Solomon – and each ruled for exactly 40 years.
The prophet Elijah fasted for 40 days.
Jesus fasted and prayed in the wilderness for 40 days.
Jesus walked the earth for 40 days following His resurrection before returning to heaven.

The common thread tying all of these together is that each period of 40 days or years was associated with something new—a new development in the history of God’s activity or new beginnings. In other words, God led people into various seasons of “40” – usually days, but sometimes years – for the purpose of inaugurating a new era or a new season in their life. Forty days to turn things around. Forty days to change. Forty days to have one chapter of life end and another begin.

In the Bible, every new chapter of God’s work was marked, at the onset, by some period of time related to 40:

The cleansing of evil from the world through the flood
The journey of the people of Israel out of bondage and into the Promised Land
The entire prophetic era
The beginning of the public ministry of Jesus
The birth of the Church

It’s a fascinating thing to explore. In each chapter of God breaking out anew – of seeing life change raging through a person, a community, a nation or a world – you find that the number 40 has always been at its heart. This is why throughout Christian history, 40 days has taken on a special significance, particularly through the season of Lent.

The word Lent comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word that simply means the Spring season of the year. In Christian history and tradition, it is a period in the Spring set aside for fasting in some way (giving up something for spiritual reasons) in preparation for Easter and the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.

Traditionally, it starts on Ash Wednesday, which is the Wednesday that falls 40 days before Easter. The purpose for Lent has always been clear: to get spiritually ready. To use the time for life change by taking 40 days to turn away from something or turn towards something that will allow your life to honor God more deeply and to live the life you’ve been called to live.

In other words, take 40 days and use it for your resurrection.

There’s nothing unique or special about doing something like this only during the season of Lent. What is special is the number 40 itself—the length, the time period. Have you ever done a “40” focus before? Have you set aside 40 days to be sure you’re doing what God wants, to prepare yourself to do what God wants, or to address something in your life so that you’re living the way God wants?

Have you ever taken 40 days to fast from something, to turn toward something, or to pray about something you know is critical to who you are and who you are becoming? Have you ever taken 40 days to become a different person, to set a new path, to chart a new course? Forty days to end a bad habit or to start a good habit?

If you spend some time digging into studies of human behavior, you’ll find that 40-day periods have begun to surface all over the place. It’s as if human behavior – or at least our understanding of it – has finally caught up with the Bible in terms of the studies now being done. For many years, research found if you wanted to change something in your life – to end a habit or start a new one – it would take just three weeks. So, all of the marketing strategies were focused on the number 21 to break a habit or form a new one.

But we’ve learned that’s not really the best number to get something to stick. For whatever reason, 21 days simply isn’t enough. In fact, research has now found that it takes twice that length – not three weeks, but more like six weeks – which comes out at right about… you guessed it… 40 days.

Studies now show if you stick with something for six to eight weeks, that somewhere around the 40-day mark it will set in. You will have established a new habit for your life. Research seems to be showing that 40 really is the key to life change. So, whether the goal is to start something or stop something, reflect deeply on something or remove something harmful from your vision completely, 40 days is what it will take.

It could be 40 days without eating carbs. Forty days off of social media. Forty days without online games. Forty days without reading anything about anyone tied to the latest “it” celebrity. But it’s not just about going without something. It can be about something that you add to your life. Forty days with exercise. Forty days of reading. Forty days with prayer. Forty days of trusting God financially.

No matter what it is, if you want to experience life change – real life change – give it 40 days.

Did I mention yesterday was Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent?

Sources

This is an excerpt from the ebook by James Emery White, 40: God’s Number of Life Change, available HERE.

Ben D. Gardner, “Busting the 21 Days Habit Formation Myth,” UCL London’s Global University, June 29, 2012, read online.

This article originally appeared here.

In Our Discipling Relationships, Best-Sellers Are Great . . . But the Bible Is Best

By

Sam Koo

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March 1, 2021

Books are tremendous tools for discipling. But with so many good resources out there, we can be tempted to forget the best book on discipleship—the Bible.

Throughout history, pastors and theologians have used the catchy acronym S.C.A.N to summarize four important attributes of the Bible: its sufficiency, clarity, authority, and necessity. In this article, I want to explain what those attributes mean and how they should shape how we disciple others.

1. Sufficiency

Is the Bible sufficient in teaching us how to change a flat tire? Can it help us file our taxes? Of course not. But the Bible is sufficient for teaching God’s children how to live in godliness as they cherish God. In other words, if Christians want to grow in maturity, they don’t have to look anywhere but the Word. Note the common factor in the psalmist’s boast in Psalm 119: he has more wisdom than his enemies because God’s law is with him (v. 98); he has more prudence than his teachers because he meditates on God’s testimonies (v. 99); he has more understanding than the aged because he keeps God’s precepts (v. 100).

The sufficiency of Scripture is good news for Christians. As we seek to be discipled and disciple others, we can have confidence that the Bible can get the job done. Of course, other helpful resources may be of some use. But we must never neglect the Bible in our discipling. To do so would downplay the notion that the Bible is indeed “profitable” for godliness (2 Tim. 3:16).

Are you or your friend struggling with anxiety? Know that the Bible is sufficient to address anxiety and remind each other of the sovereign Father who cares for our daily needs (Matt. 6:25–33). Are you discouraged in your fight with sin? Read together about the great comfort that God is forgiving and he will complete his work of sanctification in you (1 John 1:9; Phil. 1:6).

2. Clarity

Is the entire Bible crystal-clear? Not always. Even the Apostle Peter admitted that some of Paul’s teachings are “hard to understand” (2 Pet. 3:16). Further, we know from experience that some doctrines or passages, like the Revelation 20 or Romans 7, are hard to understand (which is why so many faithful Christians differ with one another!).

So what does it mean to say the Bible is “clear”? It means that the essential truths about Christianity from the Bible are clear. “The truth, the knowledge of which is necessary to everyone for salvation,” writes Bavinck, “is written in such a simple and intelligible form” (Bavinck, RD, 477).

The clarity of Scripture is essential in discipling because it reminds us that what we need for godliness and salvation is clearly presented in the Bible. Ordinary Christians can understand justification, the deity of Christ, the atonement, and many other important doctrines. They’re unambiguous. We don’t need a human priest or an enlightened guru to uncover the gospel for us. Instead, all of God’s children, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, can read and learn from the Bible and grow in godliness.

3. Authority

One of the five driving mantras of the reformation—sola scriptura—was directed against the Roman Catholic Church’s inadequate view of Scripture. Rome argued that church tradition rivaled Scripture’s authority. The Reformers, however, argued that Scripture alone is the final authority for both believers and the church. No person, organization, or political power stands above it. Scripture brooks no rivals. What the Bible declares is final.

Monarchs are authoritative. Presidents are powerful. They can direct and command their citizens with their words and policies. But we serve a King who is far more sovereign and powerful than any human king. This King of creation spoke and indeed continues to speak to us through his Word. No matter how upside-down our society and our political world may become, God has given us his immovable, certain, and authoritative book to live by. So read to each other from it, knowing that the book in your hands holds more authority than any kings or presidents in history.

4. Necessity

Nature tells us something of the character of God. David proclaimed that “the heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his work” (Ps. 19:1). Paul writes that creation reveals God’s “invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature” (Rom. 1:20). The skies reveal God’s majesty, the seas unveil of his power, and the animals exhibit his wisdom as the Creator.

But as much as they tell us about God, they never explain how to be reconciled to God. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ fully and clearly reveals to us our depravity and God’s grace. Only Scripture empowers us to grow in maturity and godliness as we continue to battle sin and forget our right standing with God. And this good news is written and recorded in a book. Nature doesn’t tell us how to know God and be reconciled to him. We can only know this by reading and believing the words of the Old and the New Testaments. Scripture is necessary in a Christian’s life because it reveals the gospel.

The doctrine of the necessity of Scripture reminds us that we cannot push aside the Bible in our discipleship ministry. Are there other helpful resources? Absolutely. But we need the Scripture to encourage each other when others are discouraged. We need the Scripture to convict us of our sins. We need the Scripture to remind us of the gospel of Jesus. If we want to grow in Christlikeness, we need to the Scripture to do its work. Consider Psalm 119 as the psalmist praises God because he uses his Word to illuminate their ways and their paths of life (vv. 105–106).

CONCLUSION

Mark Dever defines discipling as “helping others to follow Jesus by doing deliberate spiritual good to them.” While there are many ways to do this, why not read the Bible together?

Christian, consider reading and studying the Bible to each other in your discipling relationships. Read one of Paul’s letters on a Saturday morning at a coffee shop. Try to memorize the a few psalms together during the week. It may seem fruitless or awkward at first, but remember this—the Word of God is sufficient, clear, authoritative, and necessary for you and your brothers and sisters to grow in godliness as you cherish God.

So trust in his Word and tolle lege.

This article originally appeared here.

How Your Students’ Sleep Deprivation Is Affecting Your Ministry

By

Aaron Helman

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March 1, 2021

How Your Students’ Sleep Deprivation Is Affecting Your Ministry

I stumbled across some research last week that absolutely blew me away.

I mean, I already knew that this generation of teenagers was sleeping less than every generation before them.

But I guess I just didn’t realize how much less.

According to this, more than half of teenagers are now chronically underslept.

And while I know that a student’s salvation is a more important priority than a student’s sleep habits …

… this issue matters more than most of us realize, and it’s already affecting our ministries.

Poor sleep habits lead to a host of other problems for teenagers, and those problems quickly become your problems.

DEPRESSION and ANXIETY
Sleep deprivation is a key indicator of and a direct contributor to depression and anxiety disorders.

You’ve probably noticed it in your own ministry, and the statistics would prove you right. The number of students fighting depressive disorders is skyrocketing, and it’s happening at almost the same rate and on the same timetable that sleep hours are plummeting. This is no coincidence.

In my career, I’ve been likely to recommend Christian counseling and prayer as effective tools in combating depression.

I should also recommend sleep. It’s effective and it’s biblical too.

EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING
You know those eighth-graders who are always riding an emotional roller coaster? They make friends and enemies at the same time, love and hate the same things in the same day, or regularly laugh and cry in the same sentence.

Some of that is media- and culture-driven. Some of that is the cost of being 14-years-olds and excessively hormonal.

But much of it is a direct result of a lack of sleep.

If you’ve ever dealt with an emotional student calling or texting you at 2 in the morning because of social drama, the temptation is to want to talk them through their issue.

But sometimes, the solution they need is just to go to sleep.

APATHY and DISINTEREST
If you’ve got students who sit in your Sunday school classes with blank expressions and silent mouths, it’s natural to issue the classic youth worker’s lament:

“They just don’t seem to care about their faith!”

But would those students act any differently if they were simply exhausted instead of spiritually apathetic?

The truth is that those two states look nearly identical, and the good news is that what we see as apathy could simply be a total lack of sleep. Sometimes when we’re dealing with apathetic students, we’re really dealing with very tired students.

What should youth ministry do about sleep habits?

This is a significant challenge to overcome. Helping students to develop Bible-reading habits or to adopt a prayer plan requires them to find 10 extra minutes throughout the day.

But the data suggests that if students are going to solve their sleep problems, they’re going to need to track down an extra hour or two. That’s tough, and it’s not something we can fix on our own.

Here are four quick steps you can take starting right now to address the silent problem that’s hurting our students more than they realize.

EMPHASIZE REST AT YOUTH GROUP EVENTS
When you’re at camp or on retreat, build your schedule so that students sleep eight to nine hours without exception. Be militant about maintaining lights out, for your students’ sake.

When everyone’s feeling that “camp high,” make sure to point out the very valid reasons for it. Fellowship with others, quiet time with God, intentional periods of worship …

… and for the first time in who knows how long, actually sleeping like humans are supposed to sleep.

It’s not lost on me that while many students will hang on to the spiritual habits they developed at camp for at least a few days, they return to poor sleep habits almost immediately, and everything falls apart shortly after that.

DON’T GLORIFY BAD SLEEP HABITS
I am so guilty of telling awesome stories about the epic all-night cram sessions that I pulled in college fueled by insane quantities of caffeine and sugar.

I don’t tell those stories anymore, because the last thing I want to do is to tell students how amazing it was when I did something certifiably unhealthy.

I wouldn’t tell them about how awesome it was that time I got super-drunk. I wouldn’t tell them about how awesome it was that I drove 120 down the freeway. Neither would you.

Sleep deprivation is a very real problem that very often leads to other very real problems. It’s not something we should lift up or tacitly encourage.

EDUCATE PARENTS
Sleep-science is an emerging field, and so much of the data that it holds is new. Adults already know that their teens aren’t sleeping much, but there’s an excellent chance they’re not fully acquainted with the consequences of that.

Twenty years ago, the common thinking was that the primary consequence of not sleeping was that you would feel tired.

But today we’re armed with information about sleep and its affect on overall health, sleep and its affect on academic achievement, and sleep and its affect on attitudes and behavior.

Maybe it’s not terribly likely that the parents of a 17-year-old will start implementing a strict bedtime, but a little well-placed parental encouragement can go a massively long way.

ENCOURAGE STUDENTS
Jesus said it first: “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”

Today’s teenagers are nothing if not weary. They’re flat-out exhausted.

Students hear that it’s a very Christian thing to go and do and love and serve. But they also need to hear that it’s a very Christian thing to rest.

Years ago, a well-known teen-evangelist told my students to do “whatever it took” to reach their friends for Christ and added that “you’ll have plenty of time to sleep when you’re dead.”

And while I’m no prophet, I can say with some degree of certainty that those are not the words that Christ would have used in the midst of the most underslept and overstressed generation that we’ve ever tried to reach.

P.S. Everything that I wrote about students? It goes for you, too. Sleep deprivation is absolutely a contributing factor to youth worker burnout. Take care of yourself.

This World IS My Home and I’m NOT Just Passing Through

By

Jeff Clarke

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February 27, 2021

Many Christians view the call to follow Jesus as some sort of out-of-body, other-worldly affair that shouldn’t occupy itself with this-worldly concerns. The Christian life is largely arranged around the concept of escape—we will one day leave this world for good, go to heaven when we die and forever live in some kind of angel-like existence.

Those who frame and understand salvation this way believe the Gospel looks something like this:

I am a sinner. Jesus died for my sins. I asked Jesus into my heart to forgive my sins. When I die I will be removed from this world and will live in heaven for all eternity.

Within this framework, the world is seen as a really awful place that God hates and salvation is viewed as God’s evacuation plan to one day get His followers out of it.

More than we realize, this understanding of the Gospel not only does a grave injustice to God’s cosmic redemptive story, a story that seeks to redeem and renew all of creation, but more closely resembles the second-century heresy of Gnosticism than Christianity.

Gnosticism and the New Testament

Gnosticism has many facets worthy of discussion, but one of its main features, and one that is particularly relevant to this conversation, is the idea that all matter is essentially evil. Our bodies are evil, the world is evil and both are without value, destined to be destroyed. The only important part of us that really does matter is our immaterial soul. Soul good, body and all matter, evil.

In the past, people who embraced Gnostic teaching treated their bodies poorly through malnutrition, even self-mutilation, on the assumption that it didn’t really matter what they did to their flesh because, after all, our bodies are essentially evil and destined for destruction.

For many, the body was something they needed to escape from, not something to be honored as a God-given gift, and certainly had no place in God’s future plan. The body was a temporary home and the earth was a place they were just passing through. Matter, in all of its forms, was evil, temporary and assigned for destruction.

However, the biblical storyline is quite clear that our bodies and the earth are not evil and destined for destruction. And that our bodies and world are not places from which we will one day escape.

God created the earth and called it good. God created human beings and called them good. God didn’t change his mind half-way through His project and decide to call all matter evil. In fact, if we believe this way, I think we’ve misread, misunderstood and misinterpreted God’s story altogether.

God’s Cosmic Restoration Project

My point in saying all of this is simple—matter is not evil, the body is good and the earth is good.

God has not abandoned his cosmic restoration project, a project that Jesus inaugurated and which he will one day bring through to completion in the form of a renewed and restored creation. (I highly recommend this post from Brandon Andress titled “A New Earth or a Renewed Earth: Reflecting on a Theology of the Last Things.“)

The Equality Act Is the Most Significant Threat to Religious Liberty in a Generation

By

Ed Stetzer

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February 26, 2021

Congress will consider the Equality Act, which its proponents indicate would ban discrimination toward people based on sexual orientation and gender identity. While discrimination toward people created in the image of God should, indeed, be opposed, the Equality Act does so in ways that significantly disregard religious liberty concerns.

Just how far remains to be seen.

In all likelihood, based on a briefing I received yesterday, this won’t pass the Senate. However, since it will be global news today, it is still important now that we articulate our concerns.

The Equality Act Will, Eventually, Pass. The Question Is What the Final Version Will Be.

I’ve spoken to members of Congress in the House and Senate, and to senior leaders in the Biden administration. Many (not all) assure me that there will be accommodations for the sincerely held religious beliefs of evangelicals, but also for Catholics, Mormons, Muslims, and people of no faith for that matter.

However, that’s not the rhetoric we are hearing and seeing today, in the halls of Congress and online. And, honestly, I think there is some naivety from some that their more progressive colleagues will actually want to find a compromise.

In October 2019 following the CNN Equality Town Hall meeting I tweeted this:

2009: How is my gay marriage going to hurt you? We just want marriage equality.

2019: We want the tax-exempt status of the churches, charities, and colleges revoked for your failure to change your views on gay marriage.

As I said in an article then, in the span of one decade the goal posts have been changed from “we just want equality” to “affirm the new orthodoxy on same sex marriage—or lose tax exempt status.”

Let me be clear, I am not talking about churches losing tax exempt status, though that is exactly what some are requesting (and I was responding to Beto O’Rourke’s comment in that tweet).

Yet, it is important to note, stripping churches of their tax exempt status would not make it through Congress now or anytime in the near future. However, the Equality Act would indeed impact religious liberty and Christian mission at multiple points.

Let me explain.

Impact on Evangelicals

The Equality Act would have a significant impact on evangelical practice and mission in multiple contexts.

An article by the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) stated in May 2019, “If the measure became law, many religious schools and charities would have to change their faith-based policies and practices, or face sanctions that could force them to close their doors.”

At the time, NAE president Leith Anderson wrote a letter to congress arguing the following are likely outcomes if this becomes law:

Houses of worship and other religious spaces will be turned into places of “public accommodation”; Federal funds will be denied to thousands of houses of worship, schools and charities that currently receive them; Religious adoption and foster care providers would be devastated, harming innocent children and families; Many privately funded shelters for the homeless and victims of domestic violence would be rendered illegal, ripping a hole in the social safety net; Core rights would be stripped from religious colleges and universities; Houses of worship, religious charities, and religious individuals will lose the protection of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act; and Religious individuals would be forced to take part in weddings and funerals that violate their religious beliefs.

As I wrote after the Town Hall meeting:

At Wheaton College where I serve, we have a community covenant that aligns our life and beliefs. We affirm the biblical teaching that marriage is designed and created for one man, one woman, and one lifetime.

The Equality Act would in essence say that our beliefs are unacceptable and that we must change.

Not Only Evangelicals Are Impacted

But evangelicals—though making up a significant percentage of the United States citizenry—are not the only group concerned about the Equality Act.

SBC’s NAMB Questioned for Funding Church Plants With Female Pastors

By

Jesse T. Jackson

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February 26, 2021

Last month, SBC Pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral, Florida and President of Founders Ministries, Tom Ascol questioned the Southern Baptist Convention’s church planting network North American Missions Board (NAMB) about funding Florida church plant 1Name Church that has a woman pastor on staff. Using Twitter to call on NAMB’s President Kevin Ezell to explain why this happened, Ascol said, “This is unacceptable.”

Ascol cited the SBC statement of faith titled ‘The Baptist Faith and Message 2000‘ that states in section six called ‘The Church‘ that “Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.”

Shortly after Pastor Ascol questioned why NAMB funded the new plant 1Name Church, he was informed the church had left the SBC and he was asked to “please leave them alone.” Ascol wanted to be clear that he wasn’t questioning 1Name Church and said, “My questions were directed to @NAMB_SBC, the agency owned by SBC churches. If the church isn’t in agreement with SBC confessional commitments then it was an honorable decision to leave.”

SBC Executive Pastor Nate Schlomann of the Village Church in Richmond, Virginia, published an article on Conservative Resurgence Voices that asked the question “Has the SBC, without a vote, become an egalitarian convention based on its actual practice?” In the article, Schlomann said he had observed four more current NAMB church plants that have women pastors on staff, and he made clear his intent in sharing about the churches wasn’t to shame or embarrass them individually for the theology they strongly believe in. Rather, he was directing his questions to NAMB and SBC leadership, expressing “We must have clarity on this issue.”

One of the churches Schlomann alludes to is ECHO.CHURCH in California that has lead pastor Andy Wood’s wife Stacie Wood is listed as a ‘Teaching Pastor’ on their website, and she can be seen preaching on a Sunday morning here. Along with Mrs. Wood, Lori Adams-Brown and Lucile Sablan are listed as an associate campus pastors, Karen McGovern is listed as a groups pastor, and Linnea Hedgecock is listed as an administrative pastor.

SBC Pastor of First Baptist Church of Lindale, Texas, Tom Buck (who recently was in the news for comparing Vice President Harris to pagan queen Jezebel) posted on Twitter referencing ECHO.CHURCH and the women pastors they have on staff saying, “SBC leaders need to be held accountable! I also asked about Echo church & women pastors in @NAMB_SBC churches. I received the same word-for-word response as @cuatronelson. We don’t need shifting things around in the dark, but for truth to come into the light.”

Buck referred to Conservative Resurgence Voices’ Allen Nelson’s article “PragNAMBtism: Dr. Ezell’s Position on Women Pastors in SBC Church Plants” where Nelson asked Dr. Ezell to clarify an email he received that said, “…we do not fund any plants who have women as lead pastors, etc,” asking the question “Does this mean you do fund plants that have women on staff as pastors in other capacities? For example, children’s pastor, youth pastor, administrative pastor, or any role with the title of a pastor?”

Dr. Ezell responded saying, “NAMB only approves Biblically qualified men to serve in the role of a pastor at plants which we endorse and fund. In addition, they are required to whole-heartedly embrace Baptist Faith and Message 2000. BFM2000, and specifically the role of women in the church are among the things our assessors discuss with candidates during assessment – all of it in harmony with BFM200.”

Not completely satisfied, Nelson gave Dr. Ezell two quick examples of churches funded by NAMB that have women serving as pastors. Explaining his desire isn’t to be controversial, but he wanted to point out that it seems NAMB is failing at making sure SBC church plants are in agreement with the BFM2000. Nelson asked, “How can this be made right?”

In the response, Dr. Ezell gave more detail as to how women pastors are serving in some of the NAMB Church Planted SBC churches. He said, “At all of our plants, men occupy the senior pastor role. We don’t look at staff rosters to see what titles they’re using for other roles. The 52,000 autonomous churches in the Southern Baptist family use a wide variety of titles for staff roles.”

Nelson wrote in his article, “A church cannot be whole-heartedly embracing the BFM 2000 and have women serving in the role of a pastor.” After emailing Dr. Ezell and talking to a NAMB employee, he said NAMB’s position is that they are fine with women pastors as long as they aren’t the ‘lead’ pastor.

Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary President Danny Akin tweeted, “To bring clarity: women cannot serve as a pastor. Pastors are always men in the Bible. To call a women a pastor in any capacity is not faithful to the biblical revelation. She can serve in many capacities but it is theologically in error to call her a pastor. The Bible is crystal clear there are many things women can do in the church. It is also clear that God reserves the office of pastor, elder & overseer to men. Scripture makes no distinction between Sr Pastor which applies only to men and other pastors which can be men or women.”

Fellow SBC Pastor Dwight McKissic responded to Akin’s post by asking the questions, “Does that mean then of the many local SBC churches where a woman carries the word ‘pastor’ in their title, that church is out of line, with the Bfm2k & should be disfellowshipped? Is the SBC going to dictate titles for staff in local churches, forbidding ‘pastor’ in women titles?… Should a church be disfellowshipped for doing so? Doesn’t it violate autonomy? Isn’t it going beyond the parameters of the BFM2K to do so?”

As customary at the SBC Annual Meeting in June, President Ezell will give a report on NAMB and will have an open mic question session following his address. It’s a high probability that the questions Ascol, Buck, and other SBC pastors have been asking since the beginning of this year will be answered more in depth then.

United Methodist General Conference Postponed Until 2022

By

Heather Hahn

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February 26, 2021

General Conference 2022 — Bishop Elaine J.W. Stanovsky presides as delegates hone their electronic voting skills during a practice election at the 2016 General Conference in Portland, Ore. In response to the Commission on the General Conference’s decision to further postpone the 2020 General Conference until 2022, the Council of Bishops has called a special session of the General Conference to be convened online on May 8, 2021. File photo by Paul Jeffrey, UM News.

(UMNews.org) General Conference organizers announced that the denomination’s top lawmaking assembly — long postponed by pandemic — must wait to meet another year. The global gathering is now scheduled Aug. 29-Sept. 6, 2022, in Minneapolis.

At the same time, the Council of Bishops has announced a special one-day General Conference on May 8.

The special global gathering has only 12 pieces of legislation before it — all basically intended to help the church function until the full General Conference meets.

The virtual gathering is to form a quorum to suspend the rules and allow paper balloting. The vote on suspending the rules will be online. But after the online meeting’s adjournment, the delegates will have an extended period in which to vote by paper ballot on the 12 legislative items.

Those ballots will be mailed in, with results to be announced by July 13.

“The exclusive use of paper ballots will allow for the fullest participation of delegates from across the denomination,” said Council of Bishops President Cynthia Fierro Harvey in a statement. “This is why the convened session online must be confined solely to gaining permission for the mailed-in paper ballots.”

Not on the agenda is any proposal to split the denomination, including the much-endorsed Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace Through Separation.

In October, the Commission on the General Conference named a technology team to look at virtual options for ensuring full participation. The team’s report outlined several challenges before such a conference.

Those hurdles include the 16-hour time difference between delegates who live in the Philippines and on the U.S. West Coast, the inequity of internet availability and the difficulty in safeguarding voting.

With the slow rollout of vaccines, continued travel restrictions and limitations of virtual technology, the commission concluded Feb. 20 that a full, 10-day session was not possible this year either in-person or online.

“The commission shared the study team’s findings and recommendations with the officers of the Council of Bishops in a collaborative effort to jointly explore how this alternative might be utilized to address critical matters until an in-person gathering of delegates can be safely convened next year,” said Kim Simpson, General Conference commission chair, in a statement.

Chip and Joanna Gaines Transform an Emergency Girls Shelter into a ‘Comforting Place to Land’

By

Bri Lamm

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February 26, 2021

Chip and Joanna Gaines’ latest fixer upper looks a little different than the Waco, Texas farmhouses we’re used to seeing the dynamic duo flip. In the most recent episode of Fixer Upper: Welcome Home, Chip and Jo partnered with an emergency girls shelter in Waco to transform it into a cozy and welcoming place for its short-term residents.

“There are certain projects that sit in our hearts long after the reveal. This is one of them,” Chip and Jo wrote in a post on the Magnolia blog. “The shelter was in need of a renovation so that it could not only meet the girls’ everyday needs but also feel like a warm and comforting place to land.”

The shelter is a transitional home to about 16 girls at a time, ages 5 to 21. The girls typically stay up to 90 days as they transition into a more long-term solution like foster care.

Chip and Joanna worked with Barbara, who runs the shelter, and Trasha, a former resident of the shelter who now works there, to transform the 3,900-square-foot space.

Barbara said the remodeling will help the girls understand that there can always be change, and that change can be a good thing. She added that the mission of the shelter is to “give each girl a chance to succeed.”

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The inspiration behind the design was to make the house’s common places feel warm and inviting, giving the girls plenty of comfortable places to be together. Chip and Jo even knocked down a wall in the dining room and created an extra long table so that all 16 girls would be able to eat together.

“This is just wonderful,” Barbara said. “It just speaks home. It speaks warmth. It speaks caring. It speaks perseverance.”

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The renovation also included a garden with diamond lattice fence panels where the girls could work with their hands and see beautiful things grow.

“Now that it’s renovated, it’s gonna help me help the girls to understand that there can always be change, and it’s OK to be with us even though it’s not where they want to be,” Trasha added.

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“What an honor it has been to be a part of rebuilding this space that will continue to be a place of hope and healing for years to come,” the Gaines wrote in their blog, thanking the community of people who donated money, time, and labor to make the project happen.

Catch the first four episodes of Fixer Upper: Welcome Home, now streaming on Discovery Plus.

Islamist Terrorists in Nigeria Threaten to Execute Pastor

By

Morning Star News

-

February 26, 2021

pastor in nigeria — Screenshot of pastor Bulus Yikura with ISWAP captor from prior video released in January 2021. (Morning Star News)

JOS, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – A pastor abducted from northeastern Nigeria by Islamic extremist militants reportedly says in a video that they will kill him on Wednesday (March 3) if their ransom demands are not met.

In the video sent to Nigerian online news outlet Human Angle, Pastor Bulus Yikura of the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria (EYN) pleads for government and Christian leaders to secure his release. Human Angle reported today that the video came from the Abubakar Shekau-led faction of Boko Haram, which in 2015 formally aligned with the Islamic State and changed its name to Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).

“I’m calling on President Muhammadu Buhari and the governor of Borno to help me, because I have been given a one-week ultimatum today, Feb. 24,” Pastor Yikura reportedly says in the video. “If you want me alive, I beg you in your capacity as president, the governor and our local government chairman to save me from this suffering.”

Human Angle released a screenshot of the video showing his captor wielding a knife as he stands behind the kneeling Pastor Yikura and reported that the deadline to receive ransom money ends on Wednesday (March 3).

The news outlet reported the pastor’s name as Yakuru, but in a prior video obtained in January by Morning Star News, the church leader pronounces his name as Yikura.

Area Christians said Pastor Yikura was captured on Dec. 24 in Pemi village, near Chibok in Borno state, by Islamic extremists they identified as members of Boko Haram. The Islamic State recognizes the ISWAP faction that broke away from Shekau in 2016 as its cell in the region, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), and many Nigerians still refer to the Shekau-led faction of ISWAP by its original name, Boko Haram.

In the new video, Pastor Yikura also calls on the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the EYN president to secure his release.

“Please pray for me,” he reportedly says. “Today is the last day I will have the opportunity to call on you in your capacity as my parents and relatives in the country. Anyone who has the intention should help and save me. Please release me from this pain.”

The Christmas Eve attacks on several villages near Chibok killed 11 people and destroyed homes.

The prior video obtained by Morning Star News on Jan. 31, which begins with the ISIS logo and identifies itself as from ISWAP, shows Pastor Yikura speaking in Hausa as he appeals to church and other Christian leaders, along with government officials, to secure his release from his captors, referring to the Shekau-led faction of ISWAP by its prior name of Boko Haram. He does not identify his church affiliation in the video, which is believed to have been forwarded to his family and then sent to Morning Star News by a concerned Christian in Borno state.

In the prior video, his captor in military camouflage asks him his name and occupation in the Hausa language. He then asks him, “What is your message to your brethren?”

When Hearing God’s Voice Is ‘Listening to Your Gut’

By

Cath Livesey

-

February 26, 2021

Hearing God’s voice is something that every growing Christian longs for…

Deep calls to deep… Psalm 42:7

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things… When he comes, he will guide you into all truth… John 14:26 & 16:13

As we continue looking at different ways we can hear God’s voice and receive his revelation, in this blog we’re moving beyond ‘seeing’ and ‘hearing’ to explore the somewhat less tangible idea of ‘sensing’ or prophetic instinct.

Sometimes we just know something because we know something. Which shouldn’t surprise us, because the Holy Spirit is residing within us, connecting us to the Father, and committed to leading us into all truth. That’s good news! And if we’re pursuing an increasingly close walk with the Spirit we can expect God-given revelation to come to us in the form of gut-feelings, impressions and intuition: that ‘just-knowing’ awareness that defies logic.

Another way to describe this is as a Spirit-to-spirit connection: deep calling to deep.

This is challenging for those of us who prefer a logical and rational approach to life, and it’s easy to look at our more intuitive friends and misunderstand or dismiss their instincts and perceptions as lacking in substance. But regardless of our personalities I believe that we all need to learn to connect with the ‘just-knowing’ part of walking with the Spirit.

We can describe this type of revelation as ‘sensing’ and it’s a really valid way of hearing God’s voice; in fact, for many prophetic people it’s their primary way of receiving revelation. However it’s quite hard to pin down and describe, so sometimes we’re in danger of not paying as much attention to those Holy Spirit ‘vibes’ as we do to more concrete things like words and pictures.

A great first step in hearing God’s voice is to learn to monitor our internal sense of peace. Paul’s advice to us in Colossians 3:15 is to let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts (literally ‘be an umpire’) and it’s by paying close attention to the peace of Christ that we take important steps toward a prophetic lifestyle. This first of all means learning to recognize the peace, and then monitoring it regularly: In every decision we make and path we take we ask ourselves where the peace of Christ is leading us. And if we find we’ve lost the peace then we stop and pray and ask the Lord to re-set our steps.

As I’ve allowed the peace of Christ to be an umpire in my life it means that from time to time I get a sense of warning or an ‘unsettled’ feeling in my spirit, and I’m then prompted to listen carefully to God for how to respond. Sometimes he tells me to pray protection over a particular friend or family member; sometimes it’s because I’m about to do something I shouldn’t. Yes, sometimes it seems easier to ignore these little prompts, but more and more I’m taking them seriously and acting on them straight away. And the more I practice responding to them the more I learn how to weigh them (because, as with all prophetic experiences, they need to be tested!).

When I’m trying to make a decision about something—those times when there are two options in front of me, and I have to choose one of them—I try to spend at least a few moments stepping back into my spirit and sensing which one comes with a deep sense of peace and a feeling of ‘right-ness.’ This is one practical outworking of a commitment to keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25) on a daily basis.

Whenever we have the opportunity to pray and minister to people we should be paying attention to Holy Spirit prompts and impressions. We may experience physical sensations or emotions that point our ministry in the right direction. Perhaps the Lord allows us to feel what he is feeling for that person, or we get insight into their pain or brokenness. With each piece of revelation we get it’s important to keep an ongoing dialogue with the Holy Spirit so that he can lead us step by step. As with all forms of revelation we need to be disciplined in asking God for the interpretation and application.

For a lot of people ‘sensing’ is the form of revelation they receive in the busyness of daily life, when there is little practical time to find a quiet room and wait for the word of the Lord. But those little impressions and prompts are God’s grace at work in the activity of our lives, and we can wait on God for them on the busiest of days. A God-conscious lifestyle is one that delights in the smallest of touches or impressions.

Why don’t you stop right now and become consciously aware of the presence of God. Give thanks that he’s right here with you, that his Spirit is connected to your spirit. Have a go at tuning in to his quiet nudges and prompts. Where is his peace leading you?

This article about hearing God’s voice originally appeared here.

The Key to Growth: Multiplying Yourself

By

Allen White

-

February 26, 2021

At some point you encounter the thought, “There’s just not enough of me to go around.” When you consider your spouse, your family, your church, your groups, (and don’t forget yourself), this admission is accurate. You are insufficient to accomplish all that God has called you to do. But, this is not necessarily bad news.

Have you ever called tech support only to hear that your problem is “user error?” I am so relieved when it’s just user error. I don’t have to send my device in or buy a new one. The problem is me! This is great news, because I can fix me. Once you discover this, you can fix it!

Don’t Put a Lid on Your Small Groups.

Once upon a time my groups were stuck at 30% after seven years of very hard work building a small groups ministry. I handpicked all of the leaders. I trained all of the leaders. I coached all of the leaders. Our small group ministry had grown as far as it could under my leadership. At this point, there was a choice: (1) Blame my senior pastor for not promoting groups, (2) Blame our people for being selfish and unwilling to leave their groups to start new groups, (3) Find another job, or (4) Change myself.

After spending a fair amount of time on options 1 and 2, I finally came to the realization that the solution was to change myself. This wasn’t easy. After all, my name is Allen, and I’m a recovering control freak.

John Maxwell coined “The Law of the Lid” which states, “Leadership ability is the lid that determines a person’s level of effectiveness.” We were stuck at 30% of our congregation in groups, because that’s the most I could effectively lead by myself. If I didn’t multiply myself and raise my level of leadership, then our groups would never have grown.

Where Do You Start?

The bad news was that I wasn’t adequately serving my small group leaders. The good news was that I still had small group leaders. They had figured out how to lead their groups and keep them going. Now, I didn’t completely neglect them. We did a lot of training meetings that were half attended at best. (Did I also mention that I oversaw the entire children’s ministry, some of the church administration, and led worship for a season? It wasn’t a very good season.) I’ll stop making excuses. As John Maxwell also says, “People who are good at making excuses are usually good at little else.”

My motivation to shift my leadership came in the form of a crisis. We doubled our groups in one day. From a coaching perspective, I now had twice the problem. I wasn’t adequately coaching the leaders I had, then suddenly I had an equal number of new leaders. I was overwhelmed. Then, something dawned on me.

If half of my leaders were new, then that meant that the other half had some experience. While they weren’t trained as coaches, they had enough to answer the new leaders’ questions and encourage them. I matched them up in a buddy system. Looking back, it was quick and dirty and very chaotic, but it moved my leadership enough for the next time our groups doubled, which was six months later.

Empower Coaches to Serve.

Even though I had leveraged a crisis to recruit coaches, I still had another problem. Remember that part about “My name is Allen, and I’m a recovering control freak.” Yea, that didn’t go away quickly.

I had coaches. This was a big step. I had willing, capable, and experienced leaders to coach new small group leaders. But, my coaches became bored and frustrated.

I was still running the monthly huddles. I did all of the training. I sent the coaches into the groups to gather information for me. No wonder that one coach, Carol, complained to me, “I feel like I’m your spy.” She was!

This forced another leadership growing pain for me: if I didn’t get out of my coaches way, then I would lose my coaches. I’ll admit it – I was insecure. I had never led a small group ministry with 60% of our adults in groups. If 30% was too much for me to handle alone, then 60% was way beyond my ability individually. I couldn’t lose my coaches. But, I had only given my coaches half of what they needed.

I gave my coaches the tasks of coaching, but I hadn’t given them the authority of coaching. I trusted them to do the grunt work, but I didn’t trust them to make wise decisions. At this point two major shifts were necessary: (1) I needed to get over myself, and (2) I needed to invest more in the relationships with these coaches and allow them to invest in the leaders. This worked.

When I began to regard my coaches as partners rather than subordinates, they began to shine. They loved helping other leaders. And, I was grateful for the help.

Final Thought

Carl George, my friend and mentor, often asks: “How are you getting in the way of accomplishing your goals?”

This article originally appeared here.

Are You Praying? Effectively?

By

Colin Smith

-

February 26, 2021

Are You Praying? Effectively?

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit (James 5:17-18).

We learn about Elijah’s prayer in two places in the Bible: 1 Kings 18 and James 5:17-18, where God gives us further light on the story. Putting these two scriptures together, I have made seven observations. All of them begin with the letter “P.” I’ve put these into a sentence that I hope might be useful to you: Position yourself in private to pray what God has promised with precision, passion and persistence.

Seven P’s of Effective Prayer

1. Private

Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:42).

Think about what had happened: Elijah had called down fire from heaven. The people were shouting “The Lord, He is God.” Elijah was the man of the moment. The crowd would have cheered him like a sports celebrity, if he had stayed with them. But Elijah pulls away from the crowd, and goes to the top of Mount Carmel to pray.

You find the same pattern in the ministry of Jesus. He has just performed a great miracle, healing the mother-in-law of Simon Peter. The whole town hears about it, and crowds gather. They brought all the sick and all the oppressed to Him. Mark says the whole city was at the door (Mark 1:33). Jesus healed many. But early the next morning, we read that Jesus departed and went to a lonely place where He prayed (1:35). Christ withdraws from the crowd and gives Himself to prayer. That is what Elijah did, too.

Praying with other people is important, but there is a kind of praying that you can only do on your own. Lovers like to be alone together, and God who is the great lover of your soul wants time alone with you. Jesus said, “When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret” (Matt. 6:6). Do you do this?

A.W. Pink points out: “shutting the door” means more than being alone, “it also signifies the calming of our spirit, the quieting of our feverish flesh, the gathering of all our wandering thoughts, that we may be in a fit frame to draw near and address the Holy One.” [1]

This is important for all Christians and especially for Christian leaders. The public work of proclamation must be followed by the private work of intercession.

2. Position

[Elijah] bowed himself down to the earth and put his face between his knees (1 Kings 18:42).

God always speaks with intent and with precision, and the Holy Spirit has preserved this vivid description of Elijah’s posture when he prayed. Picture him kneeling, with his head all the way down to the ground. The mighty prophet looks like a little ball before the Lord.

Again, this makes me think about our Lord Jesus. We are told that in the Garden of Gethsemane, “He fell on his face and prayed” (Matt. 26:39). Most likely, He draped Himself over a large stone.

Different postures are appropriate for different situations in prayer. You can pray while you walk, and you can pray while you are driving, though it is good to keep your eyes open if you do! The Bible does not mandate a position for prayer, but it often records the posture people adopted in prayer, which must mean that this has some significance.

Elijah’s body language is significant: It speaks of his total dependence on God and his intense seriousness before God. People had been dying in the drought. It had gone on for three and a half years. This prayer matters. Elijah kneels on the ground and puts his face between his knees.

In the church I served in London, it was the pattern for our leaders to gather on Sunday mornings, and for the best part of an hour we would kneel and pray for God’s blessing on the ministry and on the congregation. It’s become a pattern for our church board here to end its meetings with all the board members on their knees, seeking the blessing of God.

I find that if I am to engage in prayer seriously, I need to make some time to get down on my knees and pour out my heart to God. It’s like saying “Lord, here I am again. I’m serious. I feel the weight of who you are. I feel the weight of what I bring to you.”

3. Promised

The word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying… “I will send rain upon the earth” (1 Kings 18:1).

When Elijah prayed for rain, he prayed with confidence because he was asking for something that God had already promised. Faith is a believing response to the word of God. The prayer that flows from faith has the same character.

God has given you an open invitation to ask anything of Him. But the freedom to ask anything does not come with a commitment from God to give all that we ask. Prayer is never a means of manipulating God into something He did not plan to do. That would be the worst kind of idolatry.

It is a great mistake to imagine that if we can muster enough faith, we can somehow strong-arm God into getting what we ask. Many of us will know someone who was told at one time that, if only they had more faith, they would be healed. To say that is cruelty of the worst sort, adding insult to injury for a person who suffers.

Elijah prayed for what God had said He would do, so cultivate the practice of praying what God has promised. Here’s how you can do that: Use the Bible as fuel for your prayers. Pray with an open Bible, and as you read the Bible, turn what God says to you back to Him in prayer.

Recently, I was reading Daniel 12:3: “Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” God wants His people to be wise, and turning a person to righteousness is a work with never-ending value. There’s fuel in that to pray for people in different situations today. Tomorrow there will be something fresh in the scripture that will provide fuel for your prayers. Engines run better when there is fuel in the tank.

Put some fuel in the tank before you start the engine of prayer.

4. Pray

Then he prayed again, and the heavens gave rain (James 5:18).

Why should we ask God for something He has already said He will do? If God has already promised, why pray? The answer is that God decides not only what will happen, but also how it will come to pass. God determines ends, but He also determines means. The what is His promise, the how is our prayer. So, God’s promises tell us what we should ask for.

A.W. Pink says that God’s promises are “the mold in which our petitions should be cast.” [2]

What God has willed in His promise will be done through your prayer. That gives huge significance to our lives and our ministries, and especially to our prayers. We are God’s fellow-workers (2 Cor. 6:1).

5. Precision

He prayed fervently that it might not rain… He prayed again, and heavens gave rain (James 5:17-18).

Elijah was very clear in what he asked for. Jesus asked a man, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mk. 10:51). What would you say if Jesus were to ask you that question? You might have a request for someone you love, but if He pressed you and said, “What do you want me to do for you,” what would you say? That’s a great question to talk about in your family, your small group, or with your friends. And it is much more difficult to answer well than you might first imagine.

Elijah knew what he wanted, and he was looking for the answer. Some folks find journaling helpful in being clear about what they ask, and in looking for the answer. However you do this, it’s important to be clear in your asking. Almighty God has invited you to ask, so ask!

6. Passion

Elijah prayed fervently (James 5:17).

Literally, that reads: “In prayer he prayed.” This is a Hebrew way of speaking. When Jesus told the disciples that He “eagerly desired” to eat the Passover with them, the words He used were literally, “With desire, I have desired, to eat the Passover with you” (Luke 22:15). Here you have the same form. There was life and energy in Elijah’s praying.

It is easy, even for the best Christians, to fall into a spiritual drowsiness in which we pray with little faith, little energy, and little desire. There is no power in that kind of prayer. Elijah’s prayer was different. He prayed fervently. What he asked for mattered to him. He brought it before God with life and vigor—in prayer he prayed!

7. Persistence

And at the seventh time, he said, “Behold, a little cloud the size of a man’s hand is rising from the sea” (1 Kings 18:44).

Elijah prayed for what God had promised. He prayed with precision and with passion, but the answer did not come straight away. He sent his servant to look toward the sea for a sign of rain. The servant came back saying, “There is nothing” (18:43). So, Elijah says, “Go again.”

Get the picture: The prophet is praying. The servant is running—still nothing. Elijah says to the servant, “Go again!” More praying, more watching—still nothing.

When you get to the fifth or sixth time, you get tired of praying and you get tired of looking. You may have prayed the sixth time or the sixtieth time or the six hundredth time. Jesus told his disciples that they should always pray and not give up (Luke 18:1).

Elijah did not give up. When his servant looked the seventh time, he saw a little cloud and “in a little while, the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain” (1 Kings 18:45).

Position yourself in private to pray what God has promised with precision, passion, and persistence. This kind of praying avails much! Lives were changed through Elijah’s prayer. Families will be changed, the church will be changed, and you will be changed through your praying, too.

Andrew Bonar wrote this encouragement to a friend:

O brother, pray. In spite of Satan, pray;
Spend hours in prayer. Rather neglect friends than not pray.
Rather fast, and lose breakfast, dinner, tea and supper-and sleep, too-than not pray.
And we must not talk about prayer-we must pray in earnest. [3]

_____

1. A.W. Pink, Elijah (Banner of Truth, 1963), 182.

2. Ibid., 184.

3. Andrew Bonar, Diary and Letters, 7^th edition (Hodder & Stoughton, 1894), 129.

This article is adapted from Pastor Colin’s sermon, “Prayer 101”, from his series, The Surprising Influence of a Godly Life.

This article originally appeared here.

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Final Thought

Seven P’s of Effective Prayer

1. A.W. Pink, Elijah (Banner of Truth, 1963), 182.

2. Ibid., 184.

3. Andrew Bonar, Diary and Letters, 7th edition (Hodder & Stoughton, 1894), 129.

This article is adapted from Pastor Colin’s sermon, “Prayer 101”, from his series, The Surprising Influence of a Godly Life.

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3. Andrew Bonar, Diary and Letters, 7^th edition (Hodder & Stoughton, 1894), 129.