Bernice King: Love Is the Only Thing That Will Turn Our Nation Around

January 17, 2021

In 2018, Dr. Bernice King addressed the crowd gathered at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta to acknowledge the incredible example her father gave the world. The speech by Bernice King had a poignant message: In this day and age, if we don’t learn how to live together we are not going to survive.

Martin Luther King Jr. addressed what he saw as the triple evils of his time: poverty, racism and militarism. Today, Bernice King translated those evils into words that dominate the current headlines: poverty, xenophobia and war. We are still fighting the same battles, she implies, just in a different climate.

“We are in a season now where the entire creation is earnestly waiting and expecting and groaning for the manifestation of the children God,” the minister said.

Addressing the elephants in the nation

Addressing the ongoing division in the United States, Bernice spoke about feeling as if every year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day we’re trying to address the same issues. But, Bernice believes addressing these issues is more important now than ever. Speaking to “those on the front line of the freedom and justice struggle,” she used Scripture to encourage. “Do not grow weary in well-doing for in due season you will reap, if you do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). “Hold on to the truth. Hold on to the truth. Justice will roll down” (Amos 5:24), Bernice said, alluding to the verse her father famously quoted in his speeches in the 1960s.

The only way we’re going to counteract the divisions in our country is through love. “The world needs, now more than ever, that love,” Bernice said referring to her father’s example of love in the face of hate.

Getting along with those with whom you don’t agree

Bernice spent a sizable portion of her speech talking about living in a globalized world where we are sure to find people with whom we don’t agree. Again drawing on the example of her father, who she described as very learned, there is “always or many times” truth in those we don’t agree with. “I may not agree with you, but I have to open my mind and my heart to hear you. Because I might learn something.”

Bernice described how her father studied many philosophies and even other religions and found pieces of truth in all of them. Although he didn’t agree with everything they represented, he was aware that there was something to be learned.

“The only thing that divides us is a thing called sin. Sin separates us from God and each other,” Bernice said. She then gave an example from her personal life.

“I went through a phase where I literally hated all white people. I especially hated white males. God had to do something in my heart. Because that hate had the possibility of turning into bitterness and causing that seed to turn inwardly toward myself and shut out the possibility of God bringing into my life good things. Hate separates. Hate divides.”

Bernice said God began to bring examples into her life of good white men. One such man was an evangelical who supported Donald Trump: James Robison. While being interviewed by Robison, Bernice said he interrupted the interview to ask “Can I give you a hug?” Bernice recalls, “It was one of the most genuine hugs that I’d ever received in my life. God was doing a work inside my heart.” As genuine as the hug was, however, Bernice continued: “Love does not ignore the absence of justice.” What she believes the hug did was create the possibility for her to open her heart to love. “We have to make sure we cleanse our vessels of hate so we can do the work of God.”

Getting along with those who think differently than you do is an even bigger task today, in what Bernice calls “our world house.” Because of science and technology, we’re more connected than we’ve ever been, which is putting us in contact with more and more people with whom we can potentially disagree. In order for us to survive and exist in this world house, Bernice said, we are going to have to learn how to live together as brothers and sisters or we will “perish as fools.”

We are spiritual beings

Bernice said the Civil Rights movement was of the spirit of God. The participants followed the example of Christ’s love by refusing to give in to hate. “If there had been hate in their hearts, then we would not have witnessed the coming down of…segregation.”

We need to realize that we are spiritual beings first and foremost, Bernice said. It’s more important for our spirit man to manifest than our “human inclinations” which lead to hatred. “God has no body,” Bernice said. “His hands, feet…are people. God is calling out for vessels.”

Ministry With, Not Merely To

James Faris

January 16, 2021

John befriended me in the church nursery before I can remember. He had seniority since he’s a little older than I am. We grew up together and remain great friends today. As we grew, I learned that John has what are called developmental disabilities. But, to me, he was just my friend and the one constant peer I had in our small church as we grew up. John still ministers to me today, albeit from a distance. Whenever he calls me on the phone, I know he’s going to bring good news, because John loves to spread good news, and we love to share it together.

God taught me a principle organically through John that I later learned formally: The church ministers with, not merely to, people with developmental disabilities. People with such disabilities also minister with, not merely to, the rest of the body.

When we were in high school together, John and I attended all of our presbytery’s youth winter conferences. One year, we took a thirteen mile hike through the Hoosier National Forest. Split into smaller groups, the fifty of us embarked. As our group navigated the uneven terrain early in the day, John slipped and twisted his knee. After we treated him as best we could and saw that he was okay, there was nothing we could do but press onward. John needed encouragement and focus as he battled through the pain in the cold. Charging him not to worry about how much farther we had to go, I said, “John, just put one foot in front of the other. Just put one foot in front of the other.” He did so courageously, plodding onward.

When we stopped for lunch, I saw we were making slower than expected time due to John’s injury. Thus, it would be prudent for the two of us to forge ahead after only a brief break. As a pair, we struck out on the path, trusting that our team would catch up soon. An hour passed, and they didn’t catch us. “Hmm,” I thought, “Maybe John and I are making better time than I expected.” But, we weren’t going fast enough to see the group ahead of us either. More time passed, and I began to wonder if we were on the right trail. As the minutes wore on, I expressed something of my concern to John. The afternoon sun was descending, and I began to have visions of spending a December night with John in the Hoosier National Forest. Would we curl up together for warmth in the hollow of a sycamore tree? As time elapsed and as I peered backward and forward through the leafless forest for any sign of our comrades, my fear grew. I muttered, “John, I’m not sure we’re on the right trail. I think we might be lost.” Staring resolutely at the path, John encouraged me, “James, just put one foot in front of the other. Just put one foot in front of the other.” He had embodied my earlier encouragement, and now he dished it back to me. I could only smile and shake my head. Friends are amazing gifts. John had lifted my spirit. He was right, we arrived at our destination safely. We had still been on the correct trail. We just needed to take it one step at a time.

Some years later when I was home from break while in seminary, John was on the road with my family in our minivan. I don’t remember where we were going, but John was in the back seat sitting between our two children who were buckled into their car seats. One child was going on three years old, and the other had just turned one. My grandfather had been an elder in our congregation along with John’s father. My grandfather had passed into glory a little over a year earlier. As I looked in the mirror, I saw that John and the children were in their own world together, and I listened in as John looked left and right to engage each child, saying intently, “Now, you didn’t know your great-grandpa. He died a little over a year ago. But he died and is with Jesus now in heaven. Even though you didn’t know him, you’ll be able to see him in heaven if you love and trust Jesus too.” My heart filled with gratitude and my eyes with tears of joy. My friend who loves the best news of all was ministering with me by preaching Christ to my children. That’s what Christian friends do. They minister with each other and grow up together in Christ as Ephesians 4:15-16 describes:

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

As a pastor, I’m blessed to minister with a number of friends with developmental disabilities. I’m grateful for parents and family members who help us understand how best to minister together. The Lord has raised up wonderful men and women who organize and oversee our congregation’s Friendship Bible Study each Tuesday evening which is uniquely designed to serve those with developmental disabilities. Some people say this demographic is the least gospel-reached demographic in our nation. Though I don’t have the statistics to prove it, it seems plausible. My friend and mentor, Rich, heads up the Friendship Bible Study, and he constantly reminds us that we will minister with and not merely to those who come. It’s my observation that such a mentality fuels ministry that has the capacity to endure. Consequently, this demographic that is among the most unreached in these United States is a demographic which has most reached the congregation I serve.

Andrew, a man with Down Syndrome, supports the preaching ministry of the congregation in prayer. He reads the passage in advance, prays for the sermon through the week, and comes to worship ready to hear. I moved toward the conclusion of a particular sermon recently. It hadn’t come together as I’d hoped. The congregation stared back at me with an especially presbyterian expression that day awaiting the end. Except Andrew. My eyes caught his smile. He sat on the edge of his seat nodding, his muscles tense, and he was ready to extend his arms in joy and add his “Amen!” He wasn’t awaiting the end of the sermon; he was awaiting its crescendo. For him, the sermon was about to reach its climax in the glory of Christ. What he had prayed for all week – what we had worked on together, as it were – was coming to fulfillment. His heart and mine are full together as we co-labor in preaching.

In our evening service prayer time recently, Doug raised his hand for prayer. He’s a volunteer in the Friendship Study. He is awaiting surgery himself, and he asked prayer for the procedure, but mostly, he wanted to thank God for Austin, a Friendship Study regular, who is in constant prayer for Doug and regularly encourages him with calls and notes. Austin is one of Doug’s most faithful friends.

Hannah is a woman fervent in prayer like her namesake. She has a number of challenges, but she loves Jesus Christ. She fills her days praying for God’s people and asking questions about them. A daughter of the congregation, she has almost certainly brought more visitors to church than any other person in the church over the last two decades. She brings housemates, caregivers, and friends. They all get to hear the gospel.

Ivana’s eyesight and hearing are limited, and various facets of her development have been impacted through life. But her prayers are strong, and her faith and her conviction in the Lord is even stronger. When I speak with her and hear of her appreciation for the Lord’s love, of her love for him, and her resolute commitment to obedience, I am strengthened personally, and others are as well.

The Lord has used Down Syndrome in Stephen’s life to give him empathy for others along with a contagious joy in the Lord’s blessings. It is a beautiful thing to watch Stephen see another member of the body suffering in some way and put his hand on that troubled brother’s shoulder and remind him of God’s love for him.

Time would fail me to tell of Katie, Alec, Peter, and the many others who come to the study each week. We could also recount at length the many ways we all minister together. It may be working to help members move from one home to another. It’s beautiful to see the way we engage in evangelism together as many guests come to the Friendship study. Many people without developmental disabilities have grown too in studying Scripture together in the Friendship Study and in other forms of service. In regular church life, we share the joy of the Lord as we delight together in the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

We know the Lord will bless these efforts to minister with and to one another

until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. – Ephesians 4:13

This article originally appeared here.

Don’t Miss the Leadership Lessons 2020 Taught Us

Dan Reiland

January 16, 2021

Don’t Miss the Leadership Lessons 2020 Taught Us

What a year! It has been:

Over-flowing with difficult challenges.
Packed with good opportunities.
Flooded with tough disappointment.
Brimming with adaptation.
Full of hope!

You made it through!

Now what?

Your outcomes in 2021 will largely be based on what you learned and how you grew in 2020.

There will be those who tell you in January that “2020 isn’t over yet.” That won’t be true.

When 2020 is over, it’s over. If you don’t think that way, you can get stuck there.

Yes, we’ll have new challenges to solve in 2021, but let them be new. Come at them with a fresh approach.

Think about how much more you know because of COVID-19 than you did last March and April. It’s staggering. Your new knowledge affects how you live, think, and make decisions.

How much more do you know about yourself and your leadership?
What did you learn about the truth of God?
What changes will you make in your daily life?

One of my significant insights from 2020 is that I just don’t think big enough, and I’m going to change that.

It’s ironic when I consider all the big thinkers I’ve been around for such a long time; I should be better at it by now… but I’m fired up to see what progress I can make!

I’m confident that 2021 will require me to think bigger.

What new thing will 2021 require of you?

Here are some of the top leadership lessons from 2020 that may help your growth and process of change.

9 Leadership Lessons from 2020:

1) Conversation beats debate.

An honest and passionate conversation with differing views is healthy if all persons involved seek to learn and improve.

However, debate usually requires someone to be right and someone to be wrong, a winner and a loser. That rarely ends up in the best possible situation.

A productive conversation is an opportunity to understand the other points of view and end up with a better or best outcome because the conversation took place.

Another good test is to compare the quality of the relationships before the conversation and after. If the relationships are better after, you did a good job.

2) It’s easy to submit to fear over faith.

Through much of 2020, my faith conquered any fears related to COVID-19. But there were times, usually, when bombarded by negative news, that fear crept in and crowded faith out.

That happens easier than you might think.

When you are continually solving problems, helping people, and fatigued, fear can find its way in when your faith would normally carry you through. When your internal battery is low, your resistance to fear drops as well.

I’m not suggesting that a position of faith over fear dismisses the reality of COVID. It’s real, and it’s serious.

There are three practical things that help your faith win over fear:

Get the rest you need.
Quit listening to all the negative. (Find a couple of sources you can count on.)
When you sense fear creeping in, talk about it with a trusted friend.

3) You don’t have to know the future to lead into it.

The most common theme I’ve heard from leaders this year, by far, is the perceived inability to lead toward the future when we have no idea what’s around the corner.

The truth is, you did lead.

It wasn’t easy, and you may have felt like you took more hits than made progress, but you made it this far. You know a lot more than you did nine months ago, and you are now better equipped to lead forward.

You still don’t know everything that will happen in the next six months, but that’s not really a new thing, and you do know enough to take the next best steps.

That’s a good strategy for now.

When you can’t see around the corner, cast vision for shorter periods of time, if it doesn’t work as planned, adapt, and go again!

4) Values must always supersede pressure.

There are many possible examples; here’s one.

If a financial shortfall gets large enough, you might allow that pressure to override, for example, your value of generosity.

Enough pressure can do that to even the best of leaders.

What you’ve always believed and practiced can get crowded out because sustained pressure changes how you think and make decisions. Hold true to your values.

This begins with knowing your values at a convictional level and is enhanced with accountability from your team.

5) People are hungry for a spirit of optimism and hope.

People became increasingly discouraged as they heard continual predictions of bad things to come.

There will always be big problems to solve, that’s what leaders do, and we must lead with hope and belief that they are solvable.

I remember the first time I locked eyes with another leader this past Spring and said, “You know, we’re going to get through this.” It stopped him in his tracks. That’s all he needed. He tapped back into what he knew to be true.

It wasn’t pie in the sky, and I didn’t pretend to have all the answers; I just know we’re going to make it to the other side.

People need to hear that over and over again.

Your optimistic view of the future is critical to your leadership. Keep in mind; optimism doesn’t mean without problems; it means there will be solutions.

6) Joy is a choice.

Some might attempt to steal your joy, and life can throw tough things your way, but here are three helpful sources of joy:

Gratitude.
When you’re genuinely grateful for all you have, you feel blessed and a sense of joy within.

The Holy Spirit.
God’s Spirit promises a deep and abiding sense of inner joy that is always available to you.

First things first.
Joy comes from doing hard things first, for the right reasons, to benefit others.

7) Resilience is a game-changer.

Here’s a short excerpt from a recent post.

“2020 is a year in which it’s easy to give up, and that’s different than quitting.”

Far too many leaders have given up, resigned in their hearts, but still go to work every day. They go through the motions but have no resilience to bounce back from the tough stuff that life throws their way.

Resilience is like a leaders’ superpower. Part of your success is that you just keep going; you don’t give up.”

(For more on the topic of resilience (how to develop it), see chapter 10 in my book Confident Leader!)

8) Adaptability is crucial for progress to be achieved.

2020 has been a year of continually adapting to the rapid changes around us.

Adaptability has been essential to navigating this season of crisis, and it’s a core component to continued success in leadership.

You might pivot and change because you just don’t have a choice. But the best way to accept the challenge of a difficult situation and leverage the opportunity for the best results is to personally adapt to what is happening around you.

Continually think, innovate, experiment, and improve. And always include measuring the success of each endeavor by how much progress you made toward the vision.

9) Inner peace is not based on what you can control.

Under stress, we attempt to control more than usual to compensate for the inability to actually control anything of substance.

The more you attempt to control what you cannot control, the more peace will elude you.

In fact, we unknowingly attempt to control little things, which robs our peace even more because, at some level, we know that doesn’t really change anything for good.

Soul level peace that produces a non-anxious presence comes from knowing that God is in control and our job as leaders is to focus on what we can change, not fret about what we can’t change.

The peace we all long for, even in stressful times, is a result of letting go, not grasping tightly. That doesn’t mean you don’t care; it merely acknowledges that peace is a state of being, not about possession or achievement.

This article originally appeared here.

Joanne Rogers, Widow of ‘Mr. Rogers,’ Is Dead at Age 92

Adelle M Banks

January 15, 2021

(RNS) — Joanne Rogers, the widow of the star of the children’s program “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” died at the age of 92 on Thursday (Jan. 14).

“Fred Rogers Productions is deeply saddened by the passing of Joanne Rogers,” the organization, whose board she chaired after the death of Fred Rogers in 2003, announced Thursday on Twitter.

“Joanne was a brilliant and accomplished musician, a wonderful advocate for the arts, and a dear friend to everyone in our organization. We extend our heartfelt condolences to Joanne’s family and the thousands of people who had the privilege of knowing and loving her.”

The “partner of Fred Rogers for more than 50 years” remained interested in helping organizations in Pittsburgh—where the popular long-running program was produced—as recently as late last year.

She joined celebrities such as Tom Hanks and Billy Porter on an honorary fundraising team to aid in the rebuilding of the Tree of Life Synagogue. The synagogue was the site in 2018 of an anti-Semitic massacre in which 11 Jews were killed.

“When you get to be 92, there’s not much you can do,” Rogers, a longtime resident of Pittsburgh, told Religion News Service in November. “I explained that to the rabbi. And he said, ‘Joanne, we just want your heart in it.’ And I said, ‘Great. It’s there.’”

In 2019, with the release of the movie “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” starring Hanks as Mr. Rogers, she spoke of how she and her husband shared a love for music and churchgoing traditions. The two attended Pittsburgh’s Sixth Avenue Presbyterian Church, and her husband was ordained by the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 1963.

“I had a lot of two-piano literature, and so, when Fred and I would have a chance, we’d sit down and sometimes I’d make him play the other part,” she told RNS, “so that I could practice a little, and he would do that. Had a good time at two pianos.”

This article originally appeared on ReligionNews.com.

Texas Megachurch Pastor Sent to Prison for Fraud Scheme

AP News

January 15, 2021

FILE - In this July 31, 2000, file photo, Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church, poses during an interview in Houston. Caldwell a Texas megachurch pastor and former spiritual adviser to two U.S. presidents has been sentenced to six years in prison for bilking investors out of millions of dollars. Caldwell was sentenced Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021, in Shreveport, La., where he and his co-defendant Gregory A. Smith, were indicted in 2018. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip File)

HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas megachurch pastor and former spiritual adviser to two U.S. presidents has been sentenced to six years in prison for bilking investors out of millions of dollars.

Kirbyjon H. Caldwell, 67, was sentenced Wednesday in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he and his co-defendant, Gregory A. Smith, were indicted in 2018.

Caldwell, who in March pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, was the senior pastor of Houston’s Windsor Village United Methodist Church, which has about 14,000 members. He’s been a spiritual adviser to Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

According to federal prosecutors, Caldwell and Smith, a Shreveport-based investment adviser, used their clout and influence to persuade people to invest about $3.5 million in historical Chinese bonds. The bonds were reportedly issued by the former Republic of China that lost power to the communist government in 1949. The bonds aren’t recognized by China’s current government and have no investment value.

Caldwell “used his status as the pastor of a mega-church to help convince the many victim investors that they were making a legitimate investment, but instead he took their hard-earned money from them and used it for his own personal gain,” Acting U.S. Attorney Alexander Van Hook said in a statement.

Caldwell used about $900,000 he received from the scheme to maintain his lifestyle and pay down credit cards and mortgages, according to the Justice Department. Caldwell has a master’s degree from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and had worked in the financial industry.

In November, Smith was also sentenced to six years in prison.

In a video posted on Facebook, Floyd LeBlanc, chairman of the Windsor Village Church Family Personnel Committee, said Caldwell has taken full responsibility and paid full restitution to all the victims.

LeBlanc said Caldwell has remained active within the church during his case, including helping with virtual ministry and weekly food distributions to families during the pandemic.

“Mr. Caldwell has apologized and asked forgiveness from the people harmed in this matter,” LeBlanc said.

LeBlanc also described Caldwell as a victim for choosing the wrong business partners.

“We’re very disappointed that Mr. Caldwell’s contributions to society and his extraordinary efforts to make every victim whole resulted in a sentence that is disappointing,” LeBlanc said.

Caldwell was set to report to federal prison on June 22.

This article originally appeared on APNews.com.

An Unholy Alliance: Christianity and Nationalism

Megan Briggs

January 15, 2021

The world watched supporters of President Trump breach police barricades and force their way into the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6. In addition to the Trump flags, those watching the news also saw rioters carrying signs that said “Jesus Saves” and “Jesus 2020.” An image that likely won’t be forgotten anytime soon is a person who made it into the Senate chamber while carrying a Christian flag.

Horrified at this new brand of Christianity, the world watched in shock, but is this a new brand of Christianity or is it something else? Christian leaders and sociologists have dubbed this “movement” as something very different from mainstream Christianity. Now a term that was relatively unknown to the broader U.S. population outside of the church is showing up in headlines and mainstream media: Christian nationalism.

“The January 6 attack on the Capitol was characterized not only by vicious lies, deplorable violence, white supremacy, white nationalism, and wicked leadership—especially by President Trump—but also by idolatrous and blasphemous abuses of Christian symbols,” a statement signed by over 250 Wheaton College faculty and staff reads.

People took to Twitter to express similar outrage at all the Christian symbols being brandished during last Wednesday’s troubling events.

If you need more evidence of Christian nationalism: a rioter/anarchist carrying a so called Christian flag on the floor of the senate after illegally storming the Capitol to stop the peaceful transfer of power.
(Also there is no such thing as a Christian flag) pic.twitter.com/dnMh5Ivd6A

— Lucas Parks (@lucas_parks) January 6, 2021

The Wheaton faculty and staff statement was released on Tuesday, January 11th, and expressed the signees’ condemnation of a form of Christianity on display at the riots, one that they believe bears “absolutely no resemblance to the Christian teachings or ethics that we submit to.”

The statement casts a level of blame at Christian leaders who either implicitly or explicitly encouraged the events at the Capitol Building:

In the days and weeks preceding January 6, many more leaders, including many evangelical leaders, could have spoken truth to the disillusioned supporters of President Trump—diminishing the prospects for violence and bolstering the witness of Christian love and the call for justice in our civic life. Some did. However, many wittingly propagated lies, or were unduly silent in a just cause.

Russell Moore: What Happened at the Capitol Is Satanic

Expressing similar outrage about the Capitol riot, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) president Russell Moore did not mince words when he referred to those who stormed the Capitol as “domestic terrorists” in an article posted to his blog on Monday. Moore went on to decry the conflation of the “Jesus Saves” message with the aims of the rioters:

The sight of “Jesus Saves” and “God Bless America” signs by those violently storming the Capitol is about more than just inconsistency. It is about a picture of Jesus Christ and of his gospel that is satanic. The mixing of the Christian religion with crazed and counter-biblical cults such as Q-Anon is telling the outside world that this is what the gospel is. That’s a lie, and it is blasphemous against a holy God.

Moore also pointed to the longer-term consequences this unholy alliance will continue to have when he wrote, “Every survey shows that the church is hemorrhaging the next generation because they believe that evangelicalism is a means to an end to this political movement.”

This idea that we will likely lose a large portion of the next generation of evangelicals over either our complicity toward or adherence to Christian nationalism is also being voiced by Skye Jethani, a minister and co-host of the Holy Post podcast. On Twitter, Jethani posted a thread which voiced his concern:

Franklin Graham Likens Republicans Who Voted for Trump’s Impeachment to Judas

Jesse T. Jackson

January 15, 2021

Evangelical leader and Samaritan’s Purse president Franklin Graham, who recently acknowledged President Trump’s defeat to Joe Biden, gave his thoughts on social media about the House Republicans who voted in favor of impeaching the president for a second time.

The members of the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald Trump (232-197) on January 13, 2021 for inciting violence against the government of the United States during the January 6, 2021 riots at the Capitol.

Ten of those House members that voted in favor of impeachment were Republicans who broke party lines. Rev. Franklin Graham was quick to voice his disapproval by comparing their actions to Judas’ betrayal of Jesus. He posted on Twitter and Facebook:

Shame, shame on the ten Republicans who joined with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats in impeaching President Trump yesterday. After all that he has done for our country, you would turn your back and betray him so quickly? We have never had a president like him in my lifetime. He gave us lower taxes, a strong economy, and low unemployment. He made NATO take notice and pay their own way. He had the guts to take on North Korea and meet with their leader personally. He didn’t let China walk all over us. Just his Mideast peace initiatives in the last couple of months deserve a Nobel Peace Prize. He has defended religious liberty like no president before him, and that matters to all people of faith. He has worked to bring prison reform and secured our southern border. He defeated the ISIS caliphate in Syria, and he strengthened our military. He was also the most pro-life president we have ever had. But the House Democrats impeached him because they hate him and want to do as much damage as they can. And these ten, from his own party, joined in the feeding frenzy. It makes you wonder what the thirty pieces of silver were that Speaker Pelosi promised for this betrayal.

President Trump isn’t a perfect person. I don’t support or agree with some of the things the President said and did the last couple of weeks. January 6 was a low point in his presidency. We knew he had flaws when he ran for office in 2016. But I, and millions of others, voted for him because of the platform and policies he promised. I still support those. The Democrats have been trying to get rid of the President since the day he took office. What they did yesterday only further divides our nation. I hope President-elect Biden will keep his word and work for unity as he has said.

Graham’s Facebook post is getting a lot of attention. As of the publishing of this article, it has over 54k comments and over 80k shares, while over 249k people have clicked on it.

Other evangelical leaders, however, such as Russell Moore, have said they believe the president should be impeached.

Martin Luther King Teach-In Will Focus on How to Carry on His Legacy

Jessica Lea

January 15, 2021

As Martin Luther King Jr. Day approaches, two pastors will join the mayor of San Francisco to host a virtual teach-in honoring King’s legacy and educating viewers on how they can be involved in carrying that legacy forward.

“I don’t think it’s an accident that what happened January 6, and its aftermath, is leading in to the celebration of such an amazing prophet who called himself a drum major for justice, a drum major for peace,” the Rev. Dr. Frederick D. Haynes III told Fox 4 News.

Haynes is an activist and the pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. He will lead the teach-in along with Mayor London Breed and the Rev. Dr. George Mason, the senior pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas.

4th Annual King Teach-In Focuses on Opportunity Amid Challenges

The 4th Annual King Teach-In will take place Saturday, Jan. 16, at 11 a.m. CT. Viewers can register for the free event here or watch the discussion via their preferred social media platform. The teach-in will be livestreamed on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Friendship-West’s website.

The hosts will not only focus on key events from King’s legacy but will also explore how those events led to the passing of laws that changed people’s lives. Said Haynes, “We often miss the fact that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is celebrated, not because he had a dream, but because his prophetic witness led to change in public policy.” For example, King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech during the 1963 March on Washington. That protest, said Haynes, led to the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, similar to how the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March led to the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

A panel of young people will participate in the teach-in, and Haynes said one point he plans to focus on is that activism goes beyond protesting and can include being knowledgeable about current events and serving in our communities.

Despite the polarization we see in our country, Haynes says he sees the opportunity presented by the challenges we face. “Right now,” said the pastor, “we have the opportunity, if we handle this moment right, to produce a third reconstruction as we move toward making America a more perfect union.”

Why Kids Should Not Sit Still at Church

Dale Hudson

January 15, 2021

Consider how we normally treat kids at church. In many churches, you will hear this in the children’s ministry areas.

“Ssssshhhhhh…”

“Okay…everyone….let’s get quiet…”

“Please stop squirming in your chair…”

“Slow down…don’t run in the hallway…”

“Sit still…”

“I’m not going to continue until everyone gets their eyes up front and listens…”

Struggles with Kids at Church

Sound familiar?

And if you sit in on a volunteer meeting, you may hear this…

“I can’t get the kids to listen…”

“The kids in my class are so hyper…”

“I have one little boy that disrupts the entire class…”

“Wow…kids’ attention spans are so short now-a-days…”

“I’m having a really hard time keeping my class under control…”

Sound familiar again?

If so, don’t be discouraged. It’s probably not your teaching ability with the kids at church…more than likely it’s your teaching methods.

More and more evidence is proving that kids are more attentive and learn better when they are allowed to move. Let’s look at some recent data from leading experts.

We need to recognize that children are movement-based. In schools (and churches), we sometimes are pushing against human nature in asking them to sit still and be quiet all the time.” Brian Gatens, Superintendent of Schools, Emerson, New Jersey

A 2013 report from the Institute of Medicine concluded that when children are more active, they show greater attention, have faster cognitive processing speed and perform better on tests.

We fall into this trap that if kids are at their desks with their heads down and are silent and writing, we think they are learning. But what we have found is that the active time used to energize your brain makes all those still moments better or more productive.
Brian Gatens, Superintendent of schools, Emerson, New Jersey

And a study by Lund University shows that students, especially boys, who have daily physical education, do much better in school.

Daily physical activity is an opportunity for the average school to become a high-performing school. Jesper Fritz, physician at Skane University Hospital in Malmo

Professor James F. Sallis of the University of California says, “Activity helps the brain in so many ways. Activity stimulates more blood vessels in the brain to support more brain cells. Active kids do better on tests and pay more attention in school.”

Professer John Ratey from Harvard Medical School says, “Movement activates all the brain cells kids are using to learn, it wakes up the brain. Plus, it makes kids want to come to school more—it’s fun to do these activities.”

Kids aren’t meant to sit still all day and take in information. Adults aren’t wired that way either. Steve Boyle, Co-Founder of National Association of Physical Literacy

Lindsay DiStefano, professor at the University of Connecticut, says the country is due for a major shift toward appreciating the benefits of physical activity in the classroom.

It’s obviously important for kids to be able to move in a classroom or even worship experience.

I believe if churches will take this to heart and make some changes in how they teach kids God’s Word, we can see behavior problems basically disappear. I believe most “behavior problems” with kids at church are simply “lack of movement” problems.

Take a look at your lesson plans. How much are you allowing kids to move? Are you expecting them to sit still and be quiet while you talk for 20-30 minutes? Even if you do get them to sit still, they are probably enduring it more than they are enjoying it.

I believe the more kids move, the more they learn. I believe the more kids move, the more they enjoy coming to church. I believe the more kids move, the better they will retain what you’ve taught them.

Here are some questions to think through with this in mind…

What are some ways I can give the kids at church more opportunities to move during class?

How can I get the kids at church involved in the lesson rather than just listening the lesson?

What is stopping me from letting kids move more? Am I afraid I’ll lose control of the class? Am I uncomfortable with trying a different approach? Am I equating stillness with learning and engagement?

Here are some ideas to get kids at church moving…

Give kids the freedom to move, jump and praise God with all their energy during worship. Remember…David danced before the Lord.

Have kids act out the Bible story while you are telling it. Example: If you’re telling them about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, divide them up in groups and act it out. One person could be Lazarus by the other kids wrapping him or her in toilet paper. Two kids could make the tomb entrance by holding their arms out. One person could be Jesus. Other kids could be the disciples, etc. Another example is the story of the walls of Jericho falling. Have the kids get up and march around the room seven times.

Have kids make up motions for Bible verses you want them to memorize.

Use active review games that let kids move rather than just sitting and saying answers.

Don’t make kids sit down for more than five minutes at a time.

Have pre-service activities that allows kids to move.

Does this mean there shouldn’t be any quiet, still time during a class or worship experience? No. I believe there is great value in kids spending some time in quiet prayer and contemplation. But it should be a short period of time and should be guided.

Here’s an example. I love taking one to two minutes each class for elementary kids to spend time with Jesus in quiet prayer. For the first 30 seconds to one minute, I will give them some things to talk to God about. Then, for the last 30 seconds to one minute, I will have them simply listen to what God is saying to them through the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit.

And here’s what I’ve found. The moving, active times greatly enhance the quiet times of prayer and worship. It makes it even more special and impactful.

Ever have trouble getting adults to volunteer? Maybe it’s because we told them when they were children to sit still and be quiet in church. And so that’s what they did then…and now. We trained them that way.

It’s time we allow kids to be kids and worship God with all the passion of their youthful energy.

Your turn. The floor is yours. Do you think it’s important for kids to move at church? What are some things you do to get kids moving in your ministry? How do you balance movement with the quiet times?

This article originally appeared here.

Ask Yourself These Two Questions Before You Agree to Get Married

Gary Thomas

January 15, 2021

Determining someone’s character can be a bit tricky if your brain is a little fogged by infatuation, so I’ve come up with a question that helps singles look at their potential mate with a little more clarity:

“After watching this person interact with others, would you like to become more like them? Because if you marry them, you will.”

If you go into marriage assuming you’ll be the one to “pull them toward Jesus,” consider Paul’s admonition in 1 Corinthians 15:33: “Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”

Are you risking your character—one of the most precious things about you—by spending more and more time with this person? Or would marrying this person likely elevate your character? It might also be wise to to know details like how to elope.

If you’re younger and would like to eventually have children, ask yourself another question: “Would I want my daughter/son to be just like this person I’m thinking of marrying? Would I want my son to treat women the way my boyfriend treats women? Would I want my daughter to have the same passion (or lack thereof) for God as my girlfriend does?”

When Jesus tells us to seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness (Matthew 6:33), He’s making character development a key priority for His followers. Nineteenth century writer Henry Drummond wrote, “Since we are what we are by the impacts of those who surround us, those who surround themselves with the highest will be those who change into the highest.”

Choosing a person based on their character is thus one way to trust Jesus and obey His words in Matthew 6:33. You are more likely to seek first His righteousness when you surround yourself with others who seek His righteousness, especially when it comes to marriage.

Drummond goes on to say, “There are some men and some women in whose company we are always at our best. While with them we cannot think mean thoughts or speak ungenerous words. Their mere presence is elevation, purification, sanctity. All the best stops in our natures are drawn out by their conversation and we find a music in our souls that was never there before.”

Remember how astonished the religious leaders were that the disciples exhibited such bravery and wisdom even though they were “formerly unimpressive and unschooled”? And what was their conclusion? “They took note that these men had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13).

Do your friends and family think you are a better version of yourself since you have been dating your partner? Or are they worried that you are changing for the worse? Do you like who you’re becoming when you spend more time with this person, or do you wince with regret and try to pacify your concerns with excuses: “He’s a young believer yet, but I’m sure he’ll grow.” “She’s preoccupied with worldly things now but our church will help her mature.”

With this principle in mind, here are two questions to ask. Even better, get some feedback from objective friends and family members.

Do I want to become more like this person in character and faith?

Would I want my future children to model themselves after the person I am dating?

For more on making a wise marital choice, check out Gary’s book, The Sacred Search

This article originally appeared here.

2021 Ministry: It’s Time to Break Out an Old-School Piece of Equipment

Jeff Pinkleton

January 15, 2021

We can talk all day about the challenges, setbacks and devastation in many ways that Covid has put before us as a people and in our communities. It has been both a very personal moment to most and a very collective time because of much adversity to seemingly every facet of everyday life. Something as simple as meeting a friend, client or community leader for coffee doesn’t just happen anymore.

Closures, partial closings (a positive employee Covid test), drive-thru and carryout only, mixed with social distancing concerns and two people not being on the same page about meeting in public, change the landscape. A cup of coffee out was fairly easy to make happen. Not so much now.

But while we can focus only on the negative, let me tell you about a new tool reimagined. The telephone! No, I didn’t find out about a new app. No, I’m not streaming a new viewing option. No, not a new game my kids told me I had to have. I’ve realized how good it feels and what can be accomplished by calling someone.

You read that right. A phone call.

Because of our shutdown back in the spring and a recent quarantine, the phone became my friend, my ministry and a dynamic instrument to use for my advantage. If you are over 40 and/or a parent, you have said, “Remember when we used a phone to actually call people and have a conversation.” Yes, it seems like eons ago. But I’ve found the good and the value.

I caught up with leaders. I prayed for people with significant concerns and worries. I got to encourage someone who means something to me. Most people have all called someone and gotten off the phone and been surprised by how long they were on the phone. Hours.

On the flip side, I can get straight to the point and accomplish much in a shorter period of time. Most meetings with one other person, I typically meet for 60-90 minutes. I can sometimes have three to four purposeful conversations in one hour. I have left numerous voice mails where I just prayed for the person. Letting someone simply know you were thinking about them will never be in error.

There are 3D layers with our voice and added humor and empathy that telephones offer that typed communication doesn’t always provide. Praying in person adds power!

If you still need to see who you are talking to, there is Zoom and many other alternatives. I know three women who have built an intimate, fun, powerful sisterhood through Marco Polo during 2020 because of Covid. Another benefit of phones (and Zoom and the like) is you can connect wherever you are. No drive time, appearance/dress don’t matter.

We have seen drive-in movie theaters repurposed and reimagined greatly in 2020 for the purpose of movies, concerts, comedy shows and community events. I encourage you to reflect on the ways you can improve your relational equity by using it for what it was intended for. Talking to people. Voice to voice.

It’s a beautiful, albeit old school thing!

This article originally appeared here.

Brian Howard Thinks Pastors Have Reason to Be Hopeful About This Year

Jessica Lea

January 14, 2021

Brian Howard has a unique perspective on the hardships church leaders faced in 2020 and those that followed us into the new year. Yet while the executive director of Acts 29 would not typically describe himself as an “optimist,” Howard says he is hopeful as the Church heads into 2021.

“I am very optimistic for the future,” said Brian Howard in an interview with ChurchLeaders. “I didn’t feel like that six months ago—I felt like we were surviving six months ago. But I feel like I’m very optimistic about the Church, about church planting, about what God is going to do during this time.”

Acts 29’s Brian Howard: Pastors Across the World Have Common Pain Points

In early May, Brian Howard stepped into the role of executive director at Acts 29, where he oversees seven global church planting networks that include around 800 churches. He says it has been a “rollercoaster of a year.” In addition to “thousands of Zoom calls and very little travel,” it has involved “lots of coaching pastors and church leaders through how to plant churches and lead churches in really difficult contexts.”

Acts 29 typically plants around 50 churches during a normal year. This year, the church planting network launched 25 church plants. Said Howard, “The fact that we got 25 churches planted this year seems pretty extraordinary because it feels like we could have planted no churches this year.”

But it was still a hard year for church planting for obvious reasons. “I think what was so challenging,” said Howard, “is that if you are a church planter preparing to plant a church and all of a sudden COVID hits, where do you meet? Are your finances still in order? Are people still with you?…It just feels like this whole blizzard of things that have happened this year have affected church planting.”

As someone in contact with a variety of church leaders throughout the world, Howard says he has a sense of the pain points many pastors are experiencing. “Because my job is really to keep my pulse on the whole,” he said, “I feel like I’ve been able to have a pretty broad view of it…I’m working with churches all around the globe, and I think there are some really common themes.”

One pain point pastors are feeling is not being able to meet in person. While it is not news to anyone that not meeting in person has been difficult for churches, Howard pointed out this is a completely new problem. “Nobody has ever experienced that in our lifetime,” he said. “I’m 50 years old. I’ve gone to church most of my life and have never wondered if church was open this Sunday before.” And when churches suddenly had to go online, many of them lacked the training or the technology to livestream their services.

A second pain point pastors are experiencing is not knowing who is actually still in their churches. Said Howard, “I think pastors and church leaders have found it really difficult to even know, ‘What does church look like for us now? Who is in it?’”

Howard also sees a theme of pastoral discouragement. It has been hard for pastors to know how to lead when they lack training and experience in certain areas and when they are wondering if they will be able to open or if any more lockdowns will occur. “Another challenge,” he said, “has been just navigating the political culture, particularly in the United States. I think this is much more intense [here].”

Those are just a few common pain points. Said Howard. “I feel like I could name 10 more. It’s been a really challenging year.” And many of these difficulties could carry over into 2021. Acts 29 is planning to plant churches this year, but how that process goes really depends on how soon communities reopen. Howard lives in Southern California, where, “Our hospitals are completely overflowing.” He knows of two local churches where large percentages of people tested positive for COVID-19 within very short timeframes. He said, “So you hear those stories and you go, ‘Ok, what does it look like for me to plant a church’?”

2021 World Watch List: The 50 Most Dangerous Places to be a Christ-Follower

Stephanie Martin

January 14, 2021

In its newly released 2021 World Watch List, Open Doors USA paints a picture of escalating religious persecution throughout the globe. The watchdog group reports a 60 percent increase in the number of Christians killed for their faith, noting that COVID-19 restrictions have made many bad situations “unbearable.”

Open Doors president and CEO David Curry, who once called 2015 the “worst year in modern history for Christian persecution,” now says, “I’m afraid I could repeat that same statement” about 2020. An estimated one in eight Christians worldwide faces faith-based persecution.

Every year, Open Doors reveals the top 50 countries where it is most dangerous to be a Christian. On the new list, all 50 have very high or extreme levels of persecution, a trend Curry expects to grow due to the rise of religious extremism.

For the 20^th straight time, North Korea tops the World Watch List. The rest of the top 10, most of which have remained there for years, are Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Eritrea, Yemen, Iran, Nigeria, and India.

COVID-19 Is Used as a Cover

Anti-religious bigotry and violence increased during 2020 partly due to the pandemic, says Curry. “This public health crisis created an opportunity to expand faith-based discrimination and violence in regions where religious persecution has already reached alarming rates.”

In India, for example, 80 percent of the Christians who sought assistance from Open Doors’ partner organizations said other places had turned them away due to their faith. In Northeast Nigeria, Christians indicate receiving only 15 percent of the standard emergency rations.

Pandemic-related job loss is another subtle form of faith-based discrimination. After being laid off due to coronavirus lockdowns, some Christians are simply never rehired. “We’ve definitely seen that both extremists and governments are taking advantage of or using this opportunity to justify an increase in persecution,” Curry says. When COVID-19 restrictions weaken governments, extremists know “they can steal food and medical supplies from already embattled Christian communities around the world.”

Although people throughout the globe have suffered from the pandemic, “for some their faith has made them more vulnerable,” according to Open Doors. “The clear discrimination and oppression suffered by Christians in 2020 must not be forgotten, even after the COVID-19 crisis fades into our collective memory.”

Surveillance Tech Is on the Rise

Another trend noted in the 2021 World Watch List is a growing use of high-tech censorship. This is especially prevalent in China, which—now at #17—is back in the top 20 for the first time in a decade. In addition to increased Sinicization of their faith, Christians in China endure surveillance and tracking systems that have become normalized. Other religious minorities, including Uyghur Muslims, also are targeted.

Chris Meserole, research director at the Brookings Artificial Intelligence & Emerging Technology Initiative, says, “This goes beyond where you’re going to church or where you’re going to temple, to what it is you’re writing about on your phone. There’s no country that can match the sheer scale of surveillance technologies that China has developed and also deployed.”

The Chinese Communist Party also is exporting these technologies to other authoritarian regimes.

Where to Find the Courage to Do Whatever God Asks

Colin Smith

January 14, 2021

Where to Find the Courage to Do Whatever God Asks

Leaders are people who set out on a journey and take others with them.

The Bible tells us of two leaders who moved in very different directions. Ahab took a journey of rebellion against God, and thousands of people went with him. Elijah chose a different path—a journey of obedience to God, and he found it lonely. If you’re a Christian today, you’re probably experiencing this in some way, shape, or form.

Ahab and Elijah were both leaders of vast influence. They led people in different directions, and their lives had extraordinarily different outcomes.

A Warning to Heed

Ahab reigned over Israel for twenty-two years—an entire generation. He brought political stability (and with it came economic prosperity), but evil went from bad to worse under his leadership. Ahab’s story tells of the progress of evil in a person’s life, and in a society. It begins with disobeying the command of God. It continues by subverting the worship of God—if this god does not suit us, we will reshape the god in our own image. It intensifies in provoking the anger of God, and it ends up with men and women ignoring the warnings of God.

It’s clear that our beloved nation is on this same path today. We define our own morality and choose our own gods. God says “I Am who I Am,” but instead of bowing before Him and believing God is who He says He is, we redefine God, and we act as if God is who we say He is.

What does God do when a culture is charging down the broad road? He raises up men and women who walk on the narrow path. And that is what God did in Elijah.

An Example to Follow

God brings out His brightest light in the hardest place at the darkest time. If you find yourself in a hard place at a dark time, do not be surprised at this. This is the way God works.

One writer says:

“To see Elijah appear like this, unexpected and unheralded, reminds us that we need not despair when we see great movements of evil achieving spectacular success on this earth. We can be sure that God, in unexpected places, has already secretly prepared his counter movement. Therefore, the situation is never hopeless where God is concerned. At the height of the triumph of evil, God is there, ready with His man and His movement and His plans to ensure that His own cause will never fail.” [1]

Try to imagine the scene in 1 Kings 17. Somehow Elijah gets into the presence of the king and says to Ahab:

As the Lord the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word (1 Kings 17:1).

Where did Elijah find the kind of courage to tell the truth? Where can we find this kind of courage?

1. Stand in the presence of God.

Picture the palace as Elijah walks up to Ahab. The driver of Ahab’s chariot stands before him ready to move at his word. The waiter stands before Ahab, ready to serve food or drink at the movement of his finger. All around the room, the king’s servants stand before him, ready at any moment to respond to his direction.

1 Kings 17:1 tells us that Elijah says, “I stand before the Lord.” This means to come to the place where you are ready, available, and responsive to whatever He commands you to do. In the darkness, we need men and women who are standing before the Lord. Is that you?

2. Believe the Word of God.

What could Elijah do—just one man surrounded by a tide of evil, more flagrant than in any previous generation? He could believe the Word of God. And as he searched the Scriptures, he would have found this promise:

Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you… (Deut. 11:16-17).

If God’s people turned aside and worshipped other gods, He said there would be no rain. So, Elijah began to pray, “O, God, what you warned about is everywhere. Nobody cares about your Word. They think your Word is only words. They think it is only sociology, only psychology. Do what you said.”

3. Pray for the will of God.

Elijah… prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth (James 5:17).

If there’s no rain for three years, then cattle and people die, and famine ruins the economy. Elijah prayed fervently that God would wreck the economy of his own beloved nation! What kind of prayer is that?

Even though Elijah himself would personally share in the suffering, he prayed that it would happen. Why? Elijah cared more about God’s glory than his own comfort. He cared more about peoples’ eternal destiny than their physical well-being. Elijah knew that it is better to endure any suffering in this world, and turn to God, than to enjoy any comfort in this world, and to live without Him.

4. Speak in the name of God.

Standing before the Lord gave Elijah courage to stand before the king. His engagement with the Word, and his submission to God’s will, enabled Elijah to speak the truth to Ahab: “The Lord the God of Israel lives!”

Ahab had never thought about that. He had thought of religion as a branch of sociology to be manipulated for the benefit of politics, an expression of human spirituality, a force in the community that could be used for good social purposes. He had never seriously considered that there was a God who really is. Suddenly, perhaps for the first time, the thought enters Ahab’s mind: What if there really is a God? What if the Lord, the God of Israel lives?

A Better Example than Elijah

Reading about Elijah standing before the Lord, interceding for the people of God, and speaking His Word, makes me think about Jesus, who says:

The gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. So enter by the narrow gate (Matt. 7:13-144).

To all who are ready to walk the narrow way of faith and obedience to God, there’s good news today: Jesus stands before the Father for us. He is the Word of God to us. He opens the seals to enact the will of God for us.

Jesus speaks a better word than Elijah did. Elijah spoke a word of judgment so that people would seek mercy, but Jesus speaks a word of mercy to people who deserve judgment. That’s the gospel!

Thank God we are not called to go out and somehow pray for judgment on the world, but in Christ’s name we are to call people to repentance and we are to offer grace to people in this world.

Where are you today?

We live and work with thousands who are on the broad road with Ahab, choosing their own morality, shaping their own god, provoking the Lord to anger and ignoring His warnings. I invite you to step out from the crowd and offer yourself to God today. Place yourself under His authority; tell Him you’re ready to do whatever He asks of you. Ask Him to make you a person who really believes His Word, and to help you seek His will, even when it’s going to be costly for you. Ask Him to give you courage—to speak in His name and be light in this dark world where you’ve been placed.

_____

1. Ronald Wallace, Elijah and Elisha (Hodder & Stoughton, 1999), 11.

This sermon is an adaptation of Pastor Colin’s sermon, “Courage When You Need It”, from his series, The Surprising Influence of a Godly Life.

This article originally appeared here.

God Also Cares About Your Personal Drama

Jojo Agot

January 14, 2021

God Also Cares About Your Personal Drama

In Genesis 41, the Pharaoh had two dreams that warned him of the famine that would soon sweep the whole region. No one in the palace could interpret the dreams, except for Joseph who was still in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Then the chief cupbearer remembered him.

I’ve always read this account with a delicious sense of irony. The guy who would save them all was right there all along, under their noses, suffering an injustice, forgotten by the people who were supposed to help him out of his prison cell. There are so many things to be gleaned from this story, most of them are already clichés to our ears. Let’s venture to mention a few.

First, no suffering is random; each has a divinely appointed purpose. Joseph was in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Mrs. Potiphar accused him of rape when he really just refused to sleep with her. Unknown to Joseph, his imprisonment would soon land him the important job of saving Egypt from famine.

Second, preparation time is not wasted time. Whether in Potiphar’s household or in prison, Joseph showed aptitude for leadership. This prepared him to lead the entire nation face the biggest threat to their survival. When the seven years of famine hit Egypt, Joseph was ready.

Third, people may forget you but God won’t. The chief cupbearer forgot about Joseph after he was restored to his position. He only remembered Joseph when he needed help. How typical of human friendships. The good thing is that God is not as forgetful. He has a plan in place and he remembers you.

The whole saga of Abraham’s family is a goldmine of life lessons and faith boosters. Biblical theologians will tell you how these stories point to God’s bigger plan to bring Jesus into the picture, to fix what’s broken at the Fall of man. That is true. But what is equally true is that these stories also tell us how God is actually deeply involved in the personal details of our lives. He cares about your personal drama too.

This article originally appeared here.

Francis Chan on the Question Your Church Needs to Ask

Jason Daye

January 13, 2021

Francis Chan is widely known as the founding pastor of Cornerstone Community Church in Simi Valley, Cali., where he pastored for 16 years before stepping down. He has written several best-selling books, including “Crazy Love” and “Forgotten God,” and has spoken at numerous conferences around the world. Francis and his family also started a house church movement called “We Are Church” in the San Francisco bay area, a movement that is challenging what we typically think of when we think of the Church. In the early part of 2020, Francis and his family moved to Hong Kong after they felt God’s calling to pursue ministry opportunities there.

Other Ways to Listen to this Podcast with Francis Chan

► Listen on Apple
► Listen on GooglePlay
► Listen on Spotify
► Listen on Stitcher
► Listen on YouTube

Key Questions for Francis Chan

–What did you experience during your time in Asia that impacted you the most?

-Your posture in your newest book seems to be that of a prophet. Would you agree with that?

-What would you say to young pastors struggling with the tension of wanting to speak to their audiences while still honoring God above anyone else?

–How have you experienced intimacy with God while in community?

Key Quotes from Francis Chan

“What changes us is the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.”

“You know how when you’re around someone, you can tell by their actions and words that they know Jesus? It’s convicting…it was like that in Asia and it made me want to change my life.”

“What I tried to do in the book is not write anything that wasn’t biblically obvious.”

“The two questions I ask myself before I speak are 1) am I most concerned about pleasing God or the people? and 2) do I genuinely love these people?”

“There are times when I sense the presence of God with us in a deeper way…when we get together, we fire each other up.”

“When I understand the church biblically, it makes sense that the more of us that gather to pursue him, the more of Him we’ll experience.”

“In Scripture, it talks about how [Christians] together form a singular temple of God, and we together create this dwelling place for God. And so when I understand the church biblically, it sure seems like it would make sense that the more of us that gather just to pursue him, the more of him we’re going to experience.”

“There are those who are seeking after him so much and they really love him….they just love the presence of God. There are other circles of people who aren’t.”

“God wants believers to cause other believers to love him more. I’m not hearing many leaders talking about how much they love God.”

“Are we producing lovers of Jesus and each other so much that the world notices?”

“We’re not asking, ‘What would please God most?’ That question has a huge cost to it.”

“When Jesus says you can do the things he does, you need to stop looking in the mirror and into Scripture.”

Mentioned in the Show by Francis Chan:

“Letters to the Church” by Francis Chan

Francis Chan on ChurchLeaders:

Francis Chan: If You Think a Loving God Wouldn’t Judge, Have You Read the Bible?

Francis Chan: The Two Scariest Lies in the World Right Now

12 Questions Church Leaders Need to Ask Monthly

Chuck Lawless

January 13, 2021

The Bible assumes believers will be striving to follow God, continually living in an ongoing state of evaluation, repentance, and growth. While I’m not suggesting Christian leaders need to ask all of these questions below every day, I do think we need to ask them at least monthly:

Are the people serving around me more godly or less godly because of their time with me? The answer should be, “More,” but sometimes it’s, “It depends on who it is” because we let our guard down around “safe” people. That’s a problem.
If the people I lead believe I truly walk with God, is their belief accurate? Only you can answer that question. Even leaders fall into hypocrisy at times.
Have I shared the gospel with anyone this month? If not, you’ll find it tough to challenge your church members to do evangelism.
Am I doing anything – and challenging my people to do anything – that I/we could not do in our own strength? One way to evaluate this question is to assess how much time you spend on your knees. Leaders who pray only perfunctory, surface-level prayers aren’t likely tackling any God-sized challenges.
What one area of my life would I not want my followers to know about? I hope that all of us can think of no such area, but I doubt that’s the case. Be honest with yourself in your assessment – and then repent as needed.
What specific steps am I taking to improve as a leader? If you can’t name particular, intentional steps you’re taking to be a stronger leader, it’s possible you’re plateaued (or even arrogant if you’re assuming you’ve reached the pinnacle).
Into whose life am I pouring myself? If you’re not raising up another generation of leaders by mentoring someone, you’re not fully following in the footsteps of Jesus and Paul.
Would my family say I’m the same person at home as I am in public? I’ve learned from the Scriptures and by experience that our hearts are deceitful. Sometimes, we need those who know us best to evaluate us.
Do I need to forgive someone or seek someone’s forgiveness? An unwillingness to seek or grant forgiveness as needed only weakens our ministries. Bitterness is a tool of the enemy.
If my role didn’t require it, would I still strive to read the Word regularly? Of course, I’m assuming here that we’re reading the Word at all. If, on the other hand, we read it only to get our job done, we’ve missed the point.
Do I really love the people of God, or do I just say I do? When ministry leaves us scarred, we often try to lead people for whom we’ve lost our love. That kind of leadership doesn’t last long.
What are my leadership goals for the next three months? six months? the next year? Having no goals = stagnation. Having unstated goals = no accountability. Either one is a problem.

Schedule time to ask three of these questions each week, and complete all of them over a month. What other questions would you add to this list?

This article originally appeared here.

You Need to Break Up With Your Angry Friend

Mike Leake

January 13, 2021

You Need to Break Up With Your Angry Friend

“Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.” –Proverbs 22:24-25

Twitter can’t be my buddy. Neither can talk radio.

This Proverb is simple, really. Anger in others tends to be repulsive, but when it comes from within our own tribe it’s justified. If we makes friends with angry people we’re going to be trapped in their snare, and we’ll become angry people ourselves. Charles Bridges says it well:

Common intercourse with a furious man is like living in a house that is on fire. His unreasonable conduct stirs our own tempers. One fire kindles another. Occasional bursts of passion soon form the habit. The habit becomes our nature…We learn anger easier than meekness. We convey disease, not health. (Bridges, 420)

I try to read through a chapter of Proverbs every day. I read Proverbs 22 on a day when I had a steady diet of Twitter conversations. I was feeling deeply discouraged. It felt as if the world around me was burning (and indeed it might be). There was so much anger. So much injustice being exposed. So many tweets pointing out hypocrisy. Some I agreed with—others made me hot with the rage of disagreement.

Then I read this Proverb and thought about Twitter as an angry friend. If this “friend” is fueling this type of negativity in my life then it’s not a friend. An angry friend probably has a few redeeming qualities, but this proverb calls us to not befriend a person given to anger. Never. Ever. Period.

The Lord convicted me about 15 years ago concerning talk radio. I was working for a parts store, delivering parts, listening to angry talk radio during the day then being a youth pastor at night. This proverb was playing out in my life and I didn’t like it. I’m thankful the Lord deeply convicted me in this area. I turned them off and haven’t looked back.

I also looked back over some of my sermons during those years. It pained me to see how tainted they were by a bubbling rage. I didn’t view people with hope. I viewed them with suspicion. I was a cynic and it occasionally peaked through the pages of my sermons. I”m grateful for the Lord’s grace in tempering me.

I had to break up with my talk radio friend. And I’m beginning to wonder if I need to do the same with Twitter. It’s not apples to oranges though. You’re entirely passive when it comes to your talk-radio buddy. Social media is more given and take. So, I’m trying to figure out how to engage but to not be sucked into the negativity. If I find that I cannot, I suppose we’ll need to break up.

One thing I do know, we cannot tolerate angry friends. If we aren’t speaking into their lives then we’re being influenced by them and being sucked into their rage. We have to keep our pulse on this. We will not drift into holiness in this area. We are bent towards negativity. The gospel calls us to something higher.

I write this the day of angry protestors stormed the Capitol building. I also write it the day after God providentially had me teaching out of Philippians 4:4-8. Watching the news and having Philippians 4:4-8 encouraging my soul provided a sharp contrast. David Murray is correct when he says,

“we are what we think. If our minds constantly feed on all this negativity, our moods will inevitably darken, taking everything else—our words, actions, health, relationships, and so forth—down with them into the abyss.” (Murray, xv)

Philippians 4:8 is also true. When we challenge ourselves to cast our cares upon the Lord and think about His goodness and grace it transforms our thinking. It’ll cause you to be a bit more off-put by that angry friend. There is goodness and beauty in our world.

I believe this challenge from David Murray is fitting for our day. “Don’t look for what you can critique; look for what you can admire and invite others to enjoy it with you.” (33)

I realize the irony of this post being about the potential need to “break-up” with social media. But that’s actually what I’m attempting to say here. If I cannot find the goodness and beauty in social media, if it doesn’t lead to a greater enjoyment of God, then it’s not serving it’s purpose. It’s only an ensnaring friend.

Social media cannot be our friend. It’s too angry. The same goes for talk radio. Redeem them, speak truth to them, try to infuse beauty into them, but don’t befriend them.

This article originally appeared here.

How to Know You Know God

Clint Archer

January 13, 2021

How to Know You Know God

One of the most recognizable images of WW2 is the iconic photograph of six Marines planting the American flag on the island of Iwo Jima. That famous picture was circulated in many newspapers in 1945. One morning airman Ed Block was on leave and was reading the newspaper in the home of his mother, Belle. As Belle walked by, she glanced at the newspaper photograph, pointed to the Marine who was thrusting the flagpole into ground, and declared matter-of-factly, “That’s your brother, Harlon.”

That man had his back to the camera, was wearing a uniform, and a helmet. No part of his face or body was visible and he had no distinguishing marks. Ed patiently pointed this out to his mom, and added that no one knew where Harlon was stationed, nor if he was anywhere near Iwo Jima. Belle declared simply, “I know my boy.”

Later, the men in the photograph were identified by the press. The one thrusting the pole into the ground was identified as Henry Hansen, not Harlon Block, who was killed in action on Iwo Jima. But even after this news, Belle maintained that the newspapers were mistaken. Her son may be dead, but he died after he planted that flag.

Two years later, after additional testimony had been gathered about the famous photograph, a correction was published. Harlon Block had indeed been the marine who planted the flag. When Belle heard this, she wasn’t in the least surprised. All she said was, “I know my boy.”

There is something very precious and unmistakable about the bond that is forged by an intimate love relationship. A mother and her boy, a husband and his bride, or as we shall see in our text, a believer and his God.

I’m concerned about people who know about God but do not know him. I also feel sympathy for true believers who could enjoy the security of their salvation but are not sure that they know God in a saving way.

Psalm 116 illuminates this topic.

4 ASPECTS OF AN INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD

1. RELATIONSHIP OF LOVE AND PRAYER

Psalm 116: ¹I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. ²Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.

The psalmist’s opening declaration is: “I love the Lord.” He can’t contain his heart’s cry.

And the love he feels is not based on a warm and fuzzy sentimentalism, or a burning in the bosom; his relationship of love is based on a knowledge of God’s saving, merciful, forgiving character.

Those God has saved are in a two-way, dynamic, living relationship with him. He is not a dumb idol that we carved out of wood, chose to bow down to, and have an imaginary friend relationship with. No, we love him because he hears us, he saves us, we experience his response to our prayers.

Even in the midst of chaotic distractions, I know my God and I know he hears me when I cry…

Psalm 116:³The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. ⁴Then I called on the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!”

God hears and answers the prayers of his children as a sign of his caring relationship with us. There may be prayers that you are praying that God does not seem to be answering, and there are a number of reasons for this, (e.g. your unrepentant sin, God’s better will for your life). But one of the ways we know we are in a real, saving, intimate relationship with God is that we pray to him and we see him answer our prayers. If this is absent from your life, you may lack assurance of your relationship with him, you may doubt at times whether God even exists.

But a healthy prayer life is only one trait of intimacy with God…

2. REST IN TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS

Psalm 116: ⁵Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful. ⁶The Lord preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me. ⁷Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. ⁸For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; ⁹I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. ¹⁰I believed, even when I spoke, “I am greatly afflicted”; ¹¹I said in my alarm, “All mankind are liars.”

Don’t you feel this cynicism these days? When you encounter fake news, read false claims, discover hidden agendas of politicians, scientists, and journalists, don’t you want to cry out “All mankind are liars”?

But in the milieu of death and tears, and the mayhem of affliction and falsehood, the psalmist exhibits one of the most telling characteristics of a person who knows God: peace.

He is at rest, secure, confident—in life, in death, in trials and tribulations—because of his knowledge of God.

A restful, peaceful spirit in the eye of a storm of life’s stress and anxiety and threats and chaos, is a sure sign of knowing God. When you know his strength and wisdom, then fear doesn’t drag you around like a frightened horse; fear is easy to rein in.

What about you? Do you know God well enough to let that knowledge calm your spirit? Are you sure in your relationship with him, enough to believe he is able and willing to help you, and that he is on your side?

If not, you need to talk to yourself, reining in your fears, and stop listening to your frenetic riderless thoughts. Recall God’s works, his promises to you, and his character.

3. RESPONSE OF GIVING AND SERVING

Psalm 116: ¹²What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? ¹³I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord, ¹⁴I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.…¹⁷I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. ¹⁸I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people,¹⁹in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!

These phrases—render, lift up, call on, pay vows, offer—are all from the language of response.

When you are in relationship with someone, and they do something for you, you naturally respond to them. Different people have different ways they like to be loved…quality time, words of affirmation, gift-giving, and others. But God’s love-language is obedience.

1 John 2:³And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.

To know God is to love him and to love him is to obey him.

Anyone who calls themselves a Christian but refuses to repent of what Jesus hates, like premarital sex, adultery, lying, laziness, gossip, greed, selfishness, and the other sins mentioned in Scripture, cannot be sure that they are in a saving love relationship with Jesus.

In a relationship with God, our obedience expressed through our financial offering, our serving in his kingdom, our participation in his work of evangelism and missions and church and worship is not payment, it’s an expression that is an overflow of our hearts.

4. REJOICING IN THIS LIFE AND THE NEXT

Psalm 116: ⁹I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.… ¹⁵Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. ¹⁶O Lord, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds.

When you love your pet, there is always the nagging reality that pets tend not to live as long as their owners. Usually one spouse will die before the other. Chrildren will bury their parents and sadly, sometimes, the other way around.

The unique aspect of our relationship with God is that it will never ever end. In fact, your relationship with God grows stronger and closer every year you are alive and then suddenly, in death, receives a massive upgrade!

Death is the most ominous, inescapable enemy of life. Every day that we live is one day closer to our expiry date. Death is something we try desperately to stave off with diet, medication, exercise, and seatbelts. But in the end death comes to all.

And yet, for believers, death only brings us to the object of our deepest love and affection, our Lord and Savior. This begets rejoicing in this life and the next. Paul, who understood this reality better than anyone, seemed positively schizophrenic when it came to his excited anticipation of death.

Phil 1:²¹For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. …23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

The death of saints is a precious thing in God’s sight because it is a homecoming to the one we love.

CONCLUSION

If you realize you do not know Christ. Or you are not sure….you can either…

– Ignore that dissonance in your soul, close down this blog, have dinner, watch TV, and tomorrow you will get back on the treadmill of work, parenting, hobbies, and entertainment. This option is a devastatingly common and perilous choice. It will culminate on Judgment Day, where you will call out to Jesus with a list of reasons why you should go to heaven, and he will reply with a chilling finality, I never knew you, depart from me.

OR…

– Cry out to Jesus. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Call to him and say: “you are the only hope I have of having my sins forgiven. I trust in you Jesus to save me from my sins.”

And then you will start to notice changes in your life…you will have: a relationship of love and prayer, rest in trials and tribulations, a response of giving and serving and rejoicing in this life and the next.

This article originally appeared here.

9 Leadership Lessons from 2020:

1) Conversation beats debate.

2) It’s easy to submit to fear over faith.

3) You don’t have to know the future to lead into it.

4) Values must always supersede pressure.

5) People are hungry for a spirit of optimism and hope.

6) Joy is a choice.

7) Resilience is a game-changer.

8) Adaptability is crucial for progress to be achieved.

9) Inner peace is not based on what you can control.

Russell Moore: What Happened at the Capitol Is Satanic

4th Annual King Teach-In Focuses on Opportunity Amid Challenges

Struggles with Kids at Church

Acts 29’s Brian Howard: Pastors Across the World Have Common Pain Points

COVID-19 Is Used as a Cover

Surveillance Tech Is on the Rise

A Warning to Heed

An Example to Follow

A Better Example than Elijah

1. Ronald Wallace, Elijah and Elisha (Hodder & Stoughton, 1999), 11.

This sermon is an adaptation of Pastor Colin’s sermon, “Courage When You Need It”, from his series, The Surprising Influence of a Godly Life.

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