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Why Your Character Is Crucial, and How to Develop It

By
Dan Reiland
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Competence may get you in the door, but character keeps you in the room.

Character is core to who you are as a leader, whether or not people trust you, and your overall effectiveness for the good of others.

Let’s be blunt.

People simply will not follow anyone they don’t trust.

Being really good at what you do is critical, but character is the bottom line for a spiritual leader.

When selecting a leader, there is a temptation to quickly pass over character and focus on competence and chemistry. We all know character matters; however, good character is often simply assumed. That’s a mistake.

It is good to assume the best, but when it comes to leaders, it’s difficult to “fix” a lack of character. The good news is that you can develop good character.

Intuitively, we understand how this works.

Character is something you first “feel” about others.

It’s a personal sense you have about a person.

For example, with a doctor, car salesperson, or public official. You immediately have a gut sense about whether or not you trust them.

That’s how your mind and emotion will first assess a person’s character. Your level of discernment determines how accurate you are, but that doesn’t change how you feel in the moment.

Then character is assessed by behavior, for example:

  • Do they keep their promises?
  • Do they do what they say they will do?
  • Do they do what is in the best interests of others?
  • Do they do the difficult thing rather than the easy thing?
  • Do they keep their promises?

As leaders, we are responsible for the development of our character and the character that we develop. 

(Some of the following content and quotes are from my new book Confident Leader!)

Principles and Practices in Character Development

1) Self-leadership is the foundation of character development.

You can’t lead others well until you can lead yourself well.

Leading yourself well may be about seemingly little things, such as being late for meetings or not following through in returning phone calls or email. Basically, not doing what you say you will do. It can, of course, escalate to much more significant issues such as inappropriate emotions or an overt need for control and authority.

The people who attend your church are not looking for a superhero to lead them; they’re looking for someone they can count on.

People want a leader who can consistently show up and do the right thing. The expectation is not one of a perfect leader; it’s of a leader whose self-leadership is worth following.

The bottom line is that a lack of competence can slow you down, but a lack of character can take you out.

If you lack skill, you can improve; if you lack character, you are destined for a fall.

2) Consistency is the real secret to character development.

Consistency, unfortunately, is often thought of as boring, inflexible, or lacking creativity.

Consistency, however, is not meant to reflect a lack of drive, unwillingness to risk, or stirring things up when needed.

Consistency is a core character trait, not a measurement of competence.

Consistency is about keeping your promises and doing what you say you will do; that’s character.

Consistency allows people to approach you not because your emotions are flat but because you are a safe person to talk to, and you can be counted on.

Consistency is a primary avenue to trust.

Consistency can best be developed in three areas: your habits, emotions, and your words.

Consistency in good habits.
As it relates to the development of consistent good habits, the majority of your effort and energy needs to be devoted to the development of good habits.

That seems obvious.

However, it’s scary what a few bad habits can do to a long list of good ones.

So start with an honest assessment of any bad habits you have and work to eliminate them by replacing them with good habits.

Most of us know our bad habits, but we all have blind spots, so you may want to ask a trusted friend to help you see what you can’t see.

If you fight to eliminate a bad habit without replacing it with a good one, your potential for success is limited.

Please don’t miss this next thought.

Don’t allow the pursuit of good habits to become a pursuit of perfection. That will backfire on you.

If you slip up, OK. Recognize it, and tomorrow is another day to do better.

And don’t make the practice of good habits a legalistic lifestyle. If you want a donut one day, have one. Having a donut one day is different than having a daily donut.

What bad habits do you want to eliminate?

What good ones do you want to become consistent in?

Recommended book: Atomic Habits, by James Clear.

Consistency in your emotions.
No one wants to follow a leader if they have to walk on eggshells wondering what mood they will be in that day!

God gave us the emotions we experience; they are part of our design as human beings. For a few examples, they are emotions such as fear, joy, anger, loneliness, compassion, and love.

How you handle your emotions can make or break your leadership.

Emotions have a place and purpose, and when demonstrated in appropriate ways at the right times, they add depth and meaning to your life and strength to your leadership.

When emotions are mishandled, depending on the circumstances, those moments can be difficult to recover from.

Consistency in your emotions does not mean a boring, lifeless person. Not at all.

Consistency in emotions means one who is self-aware and possesses the fullness of the fruit of the spirit (including self-control) that brings a healthy balance to the mix.

If the topic of leading your emotions rather than letting them lead you is of interest, here’s an entire blog post I wrote (it went viral) that may be helpful to you.

Consistency in uplifting and encouraging words.
Our choice of words on a daily basis seems like it ought to be the easiest of these three to be consistent.

But the book of James reminds us how easy it is to have a slip of the tongue and how much damage such a small part of our body can do. James 3:3-12

Whether with your spouse, kids, or those you lead, we’ve all spoken words we wish we could take back. It only takes a few seconds.

There is good news. There are other, better, and more redemptive words that help repair the damage of ill-spoken words, like the words in a sincere apology.

It’s amazing how much good the two little words, “I’m sorry” can do.

The best way to overcome speaking words that hurt and destroy relationships is to practice your consistency, from a heart level, on words that:

  1. Carry honesty
  2. Encourage
  3. Add value
  4. Honor others
  5. Bring hope

Increasing your consistency in these three practices will greatly strengthen your character resulting in greater trust and increased influence.

This article originally appeared here.

I Got on TikTok for You and Here’s What I Found Out

By
Christina Embree
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

“Kids ages four to 15 now spend an average of … 80 minutes per day on TikTok. [TikTok] also drove growth in kids’ social app use by 100% in 2019 and 200% in 2020.” (Source)

41% of TikTok users are between the ages of 16-24. (Source)

TikTok is one of the fastest growing social media platforms in our country today. It has recently been given an unusual spotlight at the top government level as a place of potential information harvesting by foreign countries. Despite that concern, which is being addressed at higher security levels than I feel comfortable talking about, the app continues to grow in popularity. It has been downloaded over 2 billion times with over 800 million users (Source).

So, what is TikTok?

It’s basically a media app that can be used for creating and sharing short videos. The appeal of TikTok is that it offers short, bite-sized content that can be curated for your likes and dislikes. There are “sides” of TikTok based on specific interests and allegiances. There’s a cooking side of TikTok and a book lover’s side of TikTok; there’s a political and social issue side of TikTok (with every political and social issue you can think of ) and a Marvel superhero/DC Comic side of TikTok. If there’s a subject or passion out there…you’ll find it on TikTok.

The scrolling feature of TikTok makes it easy to keep going and going and going which is why it is easy for people to spend hours a day camped out there. And TikTok knows it! In fact, if you scroll too long, a video will pop up reminding you that life exists outside of TikTok and to put your phone down, take a walk, get a drink or use the restroom.

Since kids and youth spend so much time hanging out here, I thought it would be a good idea for me to be there too.

So, I performed an experiment.

For the past two weeks, I tried to spend at least 80 minutes a day scrolling through TikTok. Since TikTok’s algorithm does a good job of curating a specific space for people based on your likes, videos that you watch longest, and accounts you click on or follow, I did my best to use my For You page as a starting point but then searched around for other “sides” of TikTok that didn’t naturally show up in my feed.

Also, as a point of information, while I did create an account so I could like and share videos, I did not post anything or offer any pertinent info about myself to the app.

What did I find out?

It’s easy to hang out there.

There’s no pressure! No articles to read. No long clips to watch. Videos are short, if you don’t like it you can skip it, and it’s easy to share videos you like with friends. And frankly, a lot of the videos are really funny or sweet.

A Hamilton fan could spend hours on the Hamilton side of TikTok and someone who loves to cook would love the cooking side. But it’s not all fun and games.

There’s no real filter for content or language

While TikTok may have some basic filters in place, let’s be real – it doesn’t catch much. Unless you “skip quick” when something comes up, just assume users will be seeing and hearing things that would be regulated by ratings if put in a movie.

There are definitely dark sides of TikTok but mostly what shows up in the “For You” feed will be mild language and sexual innuendos. But it is possible for dark stuff to sneak it pretty easily.

People will follow stories

While there’s plenty of random funny or political videos out there, the draw for many people is someone’s story. For instance, there’s a dog named Josh who was rescued by a family. Josh has some health issues and his owners document his progress. Josh has over a million followers. Other users tell their stories of huge life changes (there’s an entire ex-Mormon side of TikTok) and surgeries and weight loss.

These stories are highly empathetic and emotional and often told in a series of short videos with the storyteller telling you to “Double tap for Part 2” (follow or like). A good TikTok-er knows how to draw out the story and make it last over several weeks to build up a following.

There are a lot of “agendas”

Of course there are! Every “side” of TikTok creates a space for a platform to push an issue, belief, or way of life. It’s easy to stumble into these stories with agendas from every spectrum and, because of the high empathy, to begin to get engrossed here.

Parents and ministers, this is WHY you need to be on TikTok. Even if you don’t allow your kids to have the app, their entire generation is learning to lean into story this way. We have to understand the power of story and empathy.

My takeaways? 

Just like every other major social media app out there, TikTok has its ups and downs. It’s a tool. What matters is how we use it. If the kids at your church or your child/teenager are hanging out on TikTok or have friends who are, you need to be there. You need to feel it like they do. You don’t have to like it. But you do need to get a feel for it and for why it has such a reach in the Gen Z and Millennial generations.

I will likely not continue my “80 minutes of TikTok” experiment at this time. For one, who has 80 minutes to spend scrolling on TikTok?!? But also, it was draining. The high empathy and emotion while simultaneously engaging and addicting was also exhausting and depleting. I want to ensure my emotional availability to those around me whose stories are unfolding in real life as we journey together. If I am to follow people’s stories, I want it to be the stories I have been invited into as a human being, not a TikTok user.

If you see a teen or youth who appears emotionally done in, ask them about who they follow on social media; it really could be that a great deal of their emotional energy is being spent there.

There’s much more that could be said and there are plenty of experts in psychology, development, and mental health that can share their thoughts as well. If you’d like to follow up, here are a few resources that might be helpful. It’s best to steer clear of resources that lean toward one side or the other (“It’s evil!”or “It’s fine, chill out.”). Try to find balanced reviews that acknowledge both the opportunities and the challenges. This is an important conversation to engage with the next generation so let’s be ready to meet them where they are.

This article originally appeared here.

Can Men Lead if Women Are Smarter? A Biblical Perspective

By
Andrew Hess
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

The question, “How are men supposed to be leaders if women are smarter?” carries underlying assumptions that deserve closer examination. Here’s a thoughtful perspective based on biblical principles and practical leadership dynamics.

Understanding Biblical Leadership

The Bible identifies two specific areas where God has established men as leaders: the church and the home. In these contexts, men are called to lead, and women are invited into active, honorable, and supportive roles. However, it is important to note that the Bible does not teach that men must always lead in every aspect of life or in every institution.

Leadership Beyond the Church and Home

There are countless situations where women can and do exercise leadership:

  1. Professional Fields
    A woman may have unique God-given gifts, such as intellectual or technical expertise, that enable her to excel in her career. For example:

    • A woman may become a leader in medicine, pioneering research, or managing a healthcare team.
    • She may rise to prominence in academia, even serving as the president of a university.
  2. Leadership in Society
    God does not restrict women from leading in fields where their gifts and abilities can make a significant impact. The Bible does not mandate that men must lead in every institution or organization.

Leadership with Humility

Even in areas where men are called to lead, true leadership is characterized by humility. A good leader recognizes the talents and gifts of others and employs those strengths for the greater good. For example:

  • A wise leader surrounds himself with people who may be smarter or more skilled than he is in certain areas.
  • This delegation and recognition of others’ strengths are not signs of weakness but evidence of effective leadership.

Smart Leaders are Humble Leaders

Leadership is not about intelligence or superiority; it is about service, humility, and wisdom. Smart leaders—whether men or women—acknowledge and value the contributions of others. They understand that leadership is less about being the smartest person in the room and more about guiding and empowering a team.

Conclusion

The Bible defines two specific areas—church and home—where men are called to lead, but this does not imply that men must lead in every facet of life or that women cannot excel in leadership roles. Furthermore, true leadership, whether by a man or a woman, is marked by humility and the ability to recognize and utilize the gifts of others. God’s design for leadership is not about competition but about complementing each other’s strengths to fulfill His purposes.

10 Simple Ways to Remember Names

By
Doug Fields
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Let’s start with the very basics of relational ministry: Leaders know the people they are serving. You might be thinking: “I was afraid you were going to say that. I’m lousy at names.” Well, so am I, and so are the majority of people/leaders I know. It’s an easy excuse to fall back on.

I recently had someone say to me, “Thanks for knowing my name; that means a lot to me.” I know it means a lot. … Our name is our greatest possession. I felt good when this person said thanks, because more often they say: “Hey Doug, what’s my name? I bet you don’t remember.” Many times, I can’t. Shame, guilt and inadequacy quickly follow.

A name is a personal and powerful possession. It’s part of an identity. To know a person’s name communicates that you care.

Here are 10 practical suggestions for memorizing names (well, 9 plus your additional idea).

1. PHOTOS: Take photos of students on your phone and review them as flash cards.

2. REPETITION: Repeat a student’s name three or four times in your first conversation. (“It’s great to meet you, Tina. So, Tina, where do you go to school? Hey, Tina, how many times, Tina, do you think, Tina, I can say your name, Tina, in a sentence, Tina?” OK, maybe don’t be that obnoxious.)

3. GET MORE INFO: Ask for identifying information that can solidify a name. (“Hey, let me see your driver’s license, student ID, passport, bail bond, tattoo …”)

4. WORD ASSOCIATION: Associate his/her name with someone else you know of that name. (Dave—tall, thin, goofy hair—Dave Letterman.)

5. STUDY FACE: Study his/her face while you’re being introduced. Look for outstanding features and connect them with name (Neil = nose; Moses = mole; Brian = bushy eyebrows).

6. QUIZ: This is risky, but ask the student to test you on it next time they see you. (“What’s my name, Doug?”) Nothing like pressure.

7. WRITE IT DOWN: Write it down (into your phone, on your hand, whatever). The act of writing it will help you retain it—especially if the ink doesn’t wash off quickly.

8. PRAY: Ask God to help you remember and care—we remember what’s important to us.

9. BLAME: Blame old age and give up … or when all else fails, use name tags.

10. YOUR IDEA: Add it to the comments section here.

I wrote this a while back as part of a leader training (click here to see the whole thing) that I allowed Interlinc to use. Then, my buddy Brian Berry took the idea and used it for his group and sent me a copy. I thought, “That would be good for my blog.” So, there you go … the genesis of this idea.

Question: What’s your idea for remembering names? Share it here.  

Your Church Needs a Parking Lot Ministry (No Really, It’s Awesome!)

By
Thom Rainer
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Many times, when I mention church parking lots, eyes roll and people tune out. What is there to know about parking lots? Why is he being so pragmatic? Doesn’t he have anything better to discuss?

Please stay with me for a few lines.

Many years ago, I preached at a church in a rural area. I wish I could remember more details from that visit. But I do remember the church seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere. And I remember that the church was larger than its rural community, about 500 persons, if I recall. Finally, I remember the two parking lot ministers. That’s right, I called them ministers.

They were a married couple, and they both were in their 60s. When you entered the parking lot, they waved to you. If they knew you, they called you by name. If they didn’t know you, one of them came to the car to see if he or she could help in any way.

I would later learn from the pastor that this couple got to the church an hour before anyone arrived. They prayed over the entire parking lot, praying for those who would later come to that church. And they prayed silently for each person or persons who entered the lot by car.

I asked the pastor the question he had obviously been asked many times. How did the country church grow in the middle of nowhere? He pointed to the couple in the parking lot. “That’s one of the main reasons,” he responded.

Since then, I’ve never looked at church parking lots the same. I learned three important lessons that I will share with you.

Lesson 1: Every Church Should Consider Having a Parking Lot Ministry

We often think that parking lot ministries belong in large churches with lots of people in lots of cars who need to be shown where to park. But that perspective misses the point of it being a ministry.

Many churches have greeter ministries, but they place the greeters inside the church buildings, or just outside key entrances. I’ve been in some churches where the greeters do nothing more than stick a bulletin in my face with an indistinguishable grunt.

But people first arrive via the parking lot. That’s the point of first contact. That’s where greeters should be.

Every church of every size should consider having a parking lot ministry.

ChinaAid’s Bob Fu and Family in Hiding After Harassment, Threats

By
Jessica Lea
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

ChinaAid founder Bob Fu and his family are now in hiding after protesters started showing up and harassing them at their home in Midland, Texas. These protesters, whose origin is unknown, have accused Fu of being an agent of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as well as creating the novel coronavirus. Fu, however, believes he is being targeted by a CCP operative masquerading as a dissident.

“The CCP today sent thugs as ‘fake protesters’ to Midland TX in front of our house trying to intimidate and harass my family for six hours while I am in Washington DC,” said Fu in a Facebook post on Sept. 26. “Indeed a big spiritual battle. Thanks for our Mayor Patrick Payton, our Midland Police Department, FBI, pastor Daniel Stephens, our board of directors, and many brothers and sisters in our community for your prayers and timely intervention. Those CCP hired thugs need to be held accountable by our government.”

Fu was attending the recent prayer gathering led by Franklin Graham in Washington D.C. when he received a call from his wife, Heidi, telling him the CCP had “sent their spies to our house. Now they are harassing me and our children.” Fu got this call right before praying for China at the D.C. gathering.

The ChinaAid founder believes the protesters are following the instructions of a man named Guo Wengui, alias “Miles Kwok.” Guo is a real estate mogul living in the U.S. and an associate of former Trump strategist Steven Bannon. He is currently under investigation by the FBI.

Bob Fu and Family Go into Hiding

At first only five or six people showed up to protest in front of Fu’s home in Midland, Texas. But in a press release, ChinaAid said that since Sept. 26, “the number of protestors has continued to increase as well as the calls for violence.” On Oct. 5, around 50 people showed up in front of Fu’s house, accusing Fu of being an agent of the CCP. 

“While the identity and origins of the protestors are unknown at this time,” says the statement, “they are listening to the instructions of one particular bad actor [Guo Wengui] who is utilizing social media and the internet to place monetary rewards for violence against Pastor Fu.” Federal and local law enforcement are protecting Fu, his family, and ChinaAid.

In a press conference on Oct. 5, Midland Mayor Patrick Payton said that the Fu family is in a safe location and observed that Midlanders do not do well with “terrorist threats against our citizens.” Various law enforcement agencies, the FBI, and CIA are “heavily involved” in the situation, said the mayor.

Since the protesters are accusing Fu of being a communist agent, the mayor sarcastically went on to read a list of people Fu would like the CCP to release. The list included a number of dissidents the Chinese government has imprisoned, including some pastors and a Uyghur Christian.

Regarding the protestors, the mayor said that they are “hired henchpeople” and “we know they’re not from here.” They refuse to pull down their masks, and when questioned, start speaking in Mandarin or chanting. When asked if he felt threatened, the mayor said, “I’ve felt threatened for the last week and a half, and so who knows what’s going to happen to me,” but added he trusts the police department to take care of him and his family. 

One reporter asked Payton if he thought there were CCP operatives in Midland, to which the mayor responded, “It would be rather naive to assume there weren’t operatives in this city and all over the city.” 

Even though the Fus are under police protection in an undisclosed location, protesters have continued to gather in front of the family’s home. According to NewsWest9, some sources believe the protesters have been hired, while others think it is possible they are being blackmailed.

Who Is Guo Wengui, aka Miles Kwok?

Bob Fu believes that Guo Wengui, who has directly threatened Fu online, has also been organizing multiple violent attacks in the U.S., Australia, and Canada on behalf of the Chinese government. On his Facebook page, Fu posted an open letter from some of the victims of these attacks. ChinaAid posted a video on Vimeo allegedly showing Guo encouraging his followers to participate in a violent, global “kill cheaters” campaign [Note: this video contains language and behavior some may find disturbing].

Redemption Church Returning to Greenville After Bungled Succession

By
Stephanie Martin
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

In an October 9 video announcement, megachurch Pastor Ron Carpenter revealed that his longtime ministry, Redemption Church, will get a new home in its birthplace of Greenville, South Carolina. He also shared his dream of expanding Redemption into a national presence, citing Lakewood and Hillsong as examples.

Carpenter founded Redemption in 1991, leading the church until he and his wife, Hope, moved to San Jose, California, in 2018. On the West Coast, they rebranded the Jubilee Christian Center megachurch under the Redemption name, and last weekend, the ministry celebrated its 29th anniversary.

Meanwhile, Carpenter leased Redemption’s Greenville campus to megachurch pastor John Gray, who rebranded it as Relentless Church. Carpenter has since sued Gray, attempting to have him evicted from the property.

Pastor Ron Carpenter: Redemption Retains ‘a lot of influence’ in SC

Carpenter says he expects Redemption’s new Greenville campus to open in January 2021. More details will be announced on October 24, at a “Vision Night” event. The website RedemptionEast.com notes, “We are taking the DNA of Redemption that you have always loved and packaging it up in a new contemporary look and sound that can only be experienced.”

“We have a lot of tenure there,” Carpenter says of Greenville. “We believe we still have a lot of influence there, and for those that want to be a part of Redemption, we want to give them a place they can call home.” The Carpenters plan to stay in California.

In the video, the pastor also speaks of closing the church’s campus in Raleigh, North Carolina, of experiencing pandemic-related financial strain, and of wanting to expand Redemption’s reach. “I don’t believe that we’re looking for a great preacher anymore,” he says. “I believe the world is looking for a great people. And I believe that you are a great people, and I believe we can expand across the nation and have campuses on the West Coast and on the East Coast, and God can make the ministry great.”

Addressing the fumbled transition with Gray and Relentless, Carpenter says things “were not handled exactly like we thought they would go in a succession,” leaving some church members “kind of disenfranchised.” Calling himself “a very responsible person,” Carpenter reinforces that he’s establishing the new Greenville campus to give people a church home.

Lawsuit Is ‘a fight over church members,’ say Attorneys for John Gray

John Gray, who previously served at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston, has faced several personal and professional challenges recently. His attorneys maintain that the legal dispute with Carpenter isn’t “as much about leases and occupancy of church buildings, as much as it is a fight over church members.”

In court filings, Gray’s lawyers say their client “greatly increased attendance,” boosted donations, made extensive repairs, and cut costs—and “Carpenter now wants to come back because the ministry is now in much better financial condition.”

In December 2019, Gray announced that Relentless would soon have a new campus in Greenville, as well as a new congregation in Atlanta. No additional details have been released.

Tim Tebow: The God I Serve Performs Miracles Every Day—Not Me

By
Megan Briggs
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Earlier this week, Tim Tebow wowed fans once again with his compassion and trust in God when he dropped everything to pray for a fan suffering from a seizure. Tebow said of the experience, “I know the God I get to serve is a God that always performs miracles in people’s lives, every day, all the time.”

Tebow was signing autographs after a baseball game on October 11, 2016, when he stopped to pray and lay hands on a man having a seizure. The man’s seizure stopped, and many called the incidence a miracle. Tebow tried his best to downplay his role in the event, saying that he doesn’t believe he himself has the power to perform miracles, but “in terms of the God we serve, yeah, I do believe in miracles.”

The former NFL football player turned baseball player took the time to answer some questions about the experience on Wednesday, October 12, 2016. “When the moment comes, you’ve just got to be ready to try to help people and try to care about people,” he said.

According to Tebow, the opportunity to pray for the fan was even better than the home run he hit in his first game playing for the New York Met’s minor league team. “That’s totally different than the home run. The home run’s great and it’s fun and hopefully I get to do it again soon, but in my opinion, they don’t even compare.”

You can watch more of the interview in the video below, posted by CBN News.

We recently interviewed Tim Tebow on the ChurchLeaders Podcast about his new book:

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Listen to the full interview below.

Refugee Data on Religion Disappears as Fewer Persecuted Christians Admitted to US

By
Emily McFarlan Miller
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

(RNS) — The State Department no longer is making publicly available a number of statistics about refugees admitted into the United States, including their religious affiliation.

A spokesperson for the department cited two main reasons for the changes, which took place Friday (Oct. 9): the development of a new information technology system, which won’t be completed until December 2021, and concerns about privacy.

The department eventually will produce more reports after the system is completed, but the spokesperson could not confirm whether they would include religion data. Meanwhile, the “interactive reporting feature” that contained religion-related data on refugees already has vanished.

“The interactive reporting feature will not return due to privacy concerns,” the spokesperson told Religion News Service. “The specific reports that will be available are yet to be confirmed but will take into account data protection and refugee privacy concerns.”

The shift has raised concerns from at least one of the faith-based organizations tasked with resettling refugees in the country. The data helped groups such as World Relief track whether the federal government is living up to its pledges to help those facing religious persecution.

“It certainly will make it more difficult to hold our government accountable to its commitments to protect those fleeing violations of their religious liberty globally,” said Matthew Soerens, U.S. director of church mobilization and advocacy for World Relief and national coordinator for the Evangelical Immigration Table.

Soerens also said he has never heard privacy concerns raised about the information previously shared by the State Department. All of that data, he said, was aggregated and anonymous.

World Relief, an evangelical Christian organization that works with the U.S. government to resettle refugees, relied on State Department data to document what it calls “the startling reduction in the resettlement of persecuted Christians and other religious minorities” in a report it issued last summer with Open Doors USA, Soerens said.

The data showed a precipitous drop in recent years in the number of Christian refugees admitted to the U.S. from the 50 countries at the top of Open Doors USA’s World Watch List. The annual list tracks the places where Christians face the worst persecution.

President Donald Trump promised in his first days in office to make helping persecuted Christians a priority for his administration.

But the last numbers made available by the State Department — which Soerens downloaded Friday before they disappeared from the department’s website — show the number of Christians admitted from those countries dropped 83.2 percent from fiscal years 2016 to 2020.

Just 2,811 Christian refugees were admitted to the U.S. from the countries on the World Watch List in fiscal 2020, which ended last month. By contrast, 16,714 Christians from those countries were admitted to the United States in fiscal 2016, former President Barack Obama’s last full year in office.

Overall, 8,720 Christian refugees were admitted to the U.S. this past year, nearly a 77 percent drop since 2016. At the same time, 2,600 Muslim refugees were admitted, more than a 93 percent drop since Obama’s last full year in office.

This year’s sharp decline in refugees is partially attributable to the ongoing pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus, but the change predated the virus: Trump has repeatedly slashed total refugee admissions to historic lows each year he has been in office and this year he proposed only allowing a maximum 15,000 refugees into the U.S.

By comparison, Obama set that number at 110,000 his last year in office.

Soerens said the State Department now will only broadly release how many refugees have fled their countries based on “religious persecution.”

That includes those who qualify under the Lautenberg Program, which admits citizens of former Soviet-bloc countries who are members of certain religious minorities and have family in the U.S. They are not required to demonstrate the same individual fear of persecution other refugees do, he said.

The work of helping refugees find a home in America is largely done by faith-based organizations such as World Relief.

Of the nine groups authorized by the U.S. government to resettle refugees, six claim a religious affiliation. Others include Church World Service, Episcopal Migration Ministries, HIAS (founded as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society), Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Jack Jenkins contributed to this article.

This article originally appeared on ReligionNews.com.

SBC Seminary Votes to Retain Slaveholders’ Names on Buildings

By
Adelle M Banks
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(RNS) — The flagship seminary of the Southern Baptist Convention decided Monday (Oct. 12)  to maintain the names of campus buildings named for school founders who had connections to slavery. At the same meeting, the trustees of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary created a multimillion-dollar scholarship fund for African American students.

“We’re not going to erase our history in any respect or leave our history unaddressed,” said the school’s president, R. Albert Mohler Jr., in a statement. “We are seeking to respond to the moral and theological burden of history by being a far more faithful institution in the present and in the future than we’ve been in the past and in this central respect we acknowledge a special debt to African American Christians.”

Starting in the 2022-23 academic year, the school will earmark $1 million of restricted and endowed funds for the Garland Offutt Scholars Program to honor the first African American full graduate and assist Black students at the seminary. It plans to contribute an additional $1 million every three years until a $5 million goal is reached.

The seminary trustees also declared vacant the Joseph Emerson Brown Chair of Christian Theology, which was held by Mohler. Brown, governor of Georgia during the Civil War, earned a substantial part of his fortune from the exploitation of mostly Black convict-lease laborers and gave a gift of $50,000 to the seminary that helped save it from financial collapse.

slaveholders
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Photo courtesy of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Mohler, who in a report to the board described the previous chair title as “problematic,” was elected to a new role titled Centennial Chair of Christian Theology.

The decisions came in response to requests from some SBC members to change the names of the buildings on the campus of the 161-year-old school. Two years ago, the seminary released a 71-page report that showed the founders owned more than 50 slaves and said slavery was morally correct.

In 2019, the seminary denied a request from an interracial ministers coalition to financially support a nearby historically Black college as a form of reparations.

The Southern Baptist Convention annual meetings have long been opened with a gavel named for one of the founders, James A. Broadus, author of what Mohler has called a “definitive book” on sermon preparation. SBC President J.D. Greear said in June that he thinks the gavel should be retired from use.

In an eight-page report outlining the board’s decisions this week, Mohler quoted Scripture and secular scholars who warned against attempts to “erase history.” The report, titled “The Burden of History & The Blessing of Heritage,” opened with a verse from the biblical Book of Deuteronomy: “And I prayed to the Lord, ‘O Lord God, do not destroy your people and your heritage.’”

He noted that founders with links to slavery who were honored on campus buildings were instrumental in the seminary’s development. James Boyce donated his personal library while Broadus was instrumental in creating the school’s academic reputation and Basil Manly Jr. wrote the school’s confession of faith.

Mohler, who has declared his plans to seek the presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention, also noted leaders of the Christian church could be considered “both saint and sinner,” starting with the apostles.

“Our task is to honor the saintly without condoning, hiding, or denying the sinful,” he said. “We have not done this well in the past. We must do better in the present and be more faithful in the future.”

Mohler also said giving the founders recognition does not honor the Confederacy or slavery.

“We are not honoring any form of racial supremacist ideology — specifically, we are not honoring white supremacy,” said Mohler in his report. “We honor the founding of this Seminary, their sacrificial devotion and leadership.”

Thabiti Anyabwile, an African American pastor in Washington, D.C., critiqued the announcement of the trustees’ decisions in a thread of tweets that said comparing Southern Seminary’s founders to biblical figures “is chalk and cheese” and noted that the scholarship “ought to be called an effort at reparations.”

But, in sum, he said, “I think it’s a disappointing and inconsistent decision.”

Texas minister Dwight McKissic, who was instrumental in getting Southern Baptists to repudiate the Confederate flag in a 2016 resolution, was among the leaders who requested that the seminary consider renaming its buildings.

“I would be the last person to be an apologist for SBTS decision to not remove the slaveholders names,” he said in a Tuesday tweet. “However, shouldn’t they be appreciatively applauded for hopefully providing full scholarships to potentially thousands of AA students? Lament & appreciation are in order.”

This article originally appeared on ReligionNews.com.

7 Ways to Serve Your Local Schools

By
Bill Nance
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

In my early years of ministry, one of the most effective ways to connect with students was through the schools. Schools were typically very open, allowing local youth ministers such as myself to work with the local Christian club and to talk with students during lunch hours. I had amazing access to students and teachers, and it was extremely valuable.

How times have changed.

Schools are, understandably, more security conscious. They don’t want random people wandering the halls. Most schools are locked down and visitors rigorously scrutinized. The likelihood that you could simply wander the halls as freely as I did just a decade ago is slim to none.

That doesn’t mean you have no access to schools. You just need to be more creative in how you work with schools. Instead of using schools for our own aims, we should minister to schools holistically—administrators, teachers and students—to be able to maximize our influence in the school community. Service will go a lot farther than taking advantage.

So here are seven ways you can serve schools and grow your influence with them…

1. Substitute teach 

Most schools are desperate for quality substitute teachers. This is the best way to get into schools to meet students and connect with your own students. The plus side is that you get paid to do it! This can cause additional strain on your life because it is in essence a second job, but it is the easiest way to connect with schools.

2. Coach a sports team

If you have a unique set of athletic skills, why not use them to help the school and interact with students? Or, maybe you’re not athletic, but are great musically and can help with the marching band. I know some of the most influential adults in my life in high school were coaches and band instructors because I spent so much time with them. You can speak into their lives and communicate a lot of Christian principles without ever even preaching at them.

3. Sponsor a class

Your church can sponsor a class or a grade and provide them with school supplies, throw parties for them, provide gifts to them or whatever you can think of. It helps to create a special bond with a smaller group of students and teachers. The sky is the limit with this idea.

4. Reward teachers

Teachers work hard and often feel unappreciated. We should spend time to minister to the teachers as well as the students. Provide special meals to them. Bring donuts a couple times a year. Give them gift cards at Christmas. When you have teachers on your side, you’ll find that you have a lot of influence in the schools.

5. Volunteer for events

Schools are increasingly relying on volunteers to make their events run. Join the PTA and offer to help out with school dances or special activities. Offer to chaperone field trips. Work concession stands at sports. Look for ways to get involved.

6. Do office work

Just like events, lots of the office work in schools is handled by volunteers. If you can give a couple hours a week, the schools will appreciate the help and you’ll have another connection to the schools.

7. Be a classroom helper

Teachers need classroom aides, tutors and a wide variety of other helpers. Typically you don’t need a teaching degree for these options, and as class sizes grow and funding decreases these options will be that much more important.

Remember, this is about serving the schools. This isn’t about finding loopholes to get into schools to get them involved in your church. When we go to serve, we will create opportunities to minister, but we shouldn’t abuse the access we are given nor should we break rules just because we’re doing “God stuff.” Be salt and light to the schools, not spit and vinegar.

What ways have you found to serve schools?

Chuck DeGroat: How to Recognize Narcissism in a Church Leader

By
Jason Daye
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Chuck DeGroat is Professor of Counseling and Christian Spirituality at Western Theological Seminary and Senior Fellow at Newbigin House of Studies in San Francisco. He has served as a pastor at churches in Orlando and San Francisco and has founded two church-based counseling centers. Chuck is a licensed therapist and spiritual director and for over 20 years has been counseling pastors with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), as well as those wounded by narcissistic leaders and systems. He is the author of several books, including his most recent, When Narcissism Comes to Church: Healing Your Community From Emotional and Spiritual Abuse. Chuck is married to Sara and has two teenage daughters.

Key Questions for Chuck DeGroat

-What is “narcissistic personality disorder”? How prevalent is it among evangelical church leaders in the U.S.?

-What is the difference between someone who has narcissistic tendencies and someone who has narcissistic personality disorder? 

-Do you think that churches are particularly susceptible to being taken over by people with narcissistic personalities? 

-What is your encouragement to those who have suffered from someone else’s narcissism?

Key Quotes from Chuck DeGroat

“The faces of narcissism are many.”

“Those who have narcissistic personality disorder can show a kind of faux vulnerability because they can make you think they’re attuned to what others are feeling.”

“We don’t really have hard and fast statistics as far as it goes for pastors. We just know, many of us who do this work have seen the prevalence of it with our own eyes.”

“We talked about narcissistic “style,” “type,” and “disorder.” And I often talked about style as like having a light cold maybe. Type is like a really bad cough on top of a cold, And disorder is like a full-blown flu.”

“Those who do this work are seeing, more and more, men in particular on the narcissistic spectrum, and that’s alarming.” 

“There are features of grandiosity [in a certain personality type] that we might want to have a conversation about.”

“What gives me hope is that pastors are becoming more curious about this.”

“I think that centeredness is so very important. And I’ve worked with pastors who might be on the narcissistic spectrum and they might’ve gotten some feedback…And they’ll do the work to get to a place of greater groundedness. Those with NPD are really not interested in doing that work. There is such a high wall of defense that keeps them from any sense of vulnerability which leads to any sons of honest confession or repentance that that’s where we get into problems.”

How to Know if You’re a Powerful, Fruitful Christian

By
Mark Alan Williams
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Are you a fruitful Christian? I live in California, where “fruits, nuts and flakes ripen in the sun.” There’s some truth to that barb. But there’s also great truth to the idea that as Christians, we’re called to be fruitful. In John 15:1-17 Jesus gave an entire teaching about fruitfulness. He said, “When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father” (John 15:8 NLT).

But this presents a problem when we look around and see the successes of other Christians. Who do we often compare ourselves to? Answer: to those with more. More fruit, more numbers, more finances, more Facebook and Twitter followers, more “likes,” more awards, and so on.

Compared to great Christian leaders, I’m a complete and utter failure IF I look at fruitfulness in the wrong way.

So how should we look at fruitfulness?

Here are four ways to know that you are a powerful, fruitful Christian:

01. You see success from God’s perspective

I believe numbers can be a good indicator of success. However, they are not the only indicator of success, and sometimes they are deceiving

When Jesus completed His ministry on earth, he had only a handful of committed followers. I use the term “committed” loosely. Jesus’ 12 disciples all deserted Him in His greatest hour of need. They couldn’t even pray with Him for an hour! Peter, His team leader, denied he even knew Jesus.

Yes, there were sometimes multitudes who had followed Jesus. But when He said challenging things and didn’t give out free lunches, things went south. “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him” (John 6:66 ESV).

From an outside perspective, Jesus was:

-A once popular teacher who lost His following
-The leader of a small and uncommitted band of societal dropouts
-Just another criminal crucified by the Romans

But Kingdom success is not what we often think it is. Jesus taught this: “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches” (Matthew 13:31-32 ESV).

So numbers can be deceiving and a poor measure of fruitfulness. If God gives numbers, we thank Him. And if He doesn’t, we still praise Him. Our job is to be faithful.

The commendation we seek is NOT: “Well done thou good and successful servant.” The commendation we seek is, “Well done thou good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21 KJV).

02. You abide in Christ.

Rather than numbers, Jesus told us what fruitfulness means: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:8 ESV).

So fruitfulness means “abiding in Christ.” But what does that mean? It seems pretty clear to me. To be fruitful, we live in day-by-day, hour-by-hour, even minute-by-minute abiding fellowship with Jesus.

We must not be:

• Sunday only Christians—who praise the Lord on Sundays and ignore Him the rest of the week.

• Christ-like at home but not at work.

• Christ-like at work but not at home.

• Godly when we have our daily devotions, but devilish when we deal with others.

Instead, we are fruitful when we continuously “abide” in Christ.

Perhaps you think you can’t do it, and I would say you’re right. That is why I wrote “3 Steps to Get the Help You Need Today.”

03. You believe and obey the Bible, even when you don’t like what it says.

Jesus made this point three times in this passage:

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7 ESV).

“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love” (John 15:10 ESV).

“You are my friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:14 ESV).

Each of these verses has the same message with a different outcome:

  • 7 says that if we obey His commands, prayers will be answered.
  • 10 says that if we obey His commands, we’ll “remain in His love.”
  • 14 says that if we obey His commands, we’ll be His friends.

Do you want to be Christ’s friend, be loved by the Lord and have your prayers answered? Then you must obey His commands.

Notice that above I said we must believe and obey not only Jesus’ commands, but the whole Bible. Why? Because Jesus affirmed, taught, lived and obeyed all of Scripture written up to that point (the Old Testament). By implication, He affirmed that we obey the rest of Scripture that would be written after His life: the New Testament, the story of His life and His “body” the church. (If you wonder about this, check out this great article “Jesus Christ on the Infallibility of Scripture.”)

So to be fruitful, believe and obey the Bible, even when you don’t like what it says:

• About hell

• About forgiveness of others

• About homosexuality

• About sin

• About judgment

• About giving (tithing)

Perhaps you have questions about whether or not you can really trust the Bible. I suggest you study the topic further, starting with my article “4 Reasons You Can Love and Trust the Bible Today.”

04. You practice self-sacrificing love

Jesus also said that you are fruitful if you practice self-sacrificing love.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. These things I command you, so that you will love one another” (John 15:12-13, 17 ESV).

But what does “love” mean? Jesus defined it in verse 13: Real love means being willing to lay down our lives for others. Love means self-sacrifice for others. I wrote about this in my article “Who Will Get the Biggest Mansion in Heaven?”

You and I might not become famous, sought out, a best-selling author or hold an impressive position in the church. But that doesn’t mean God will not consider us powerful, fruitful Christians IF we do these things.

Based on these guidelines from Jesus, are you a powerful, fruitful Christian?

3 Things That Need to Change About How Our Kids Worship

By
Sam Luce
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thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Most of the time when we talk about kids worship or youth ministry its most often in the context of practical tips. What songs are hot right now? Where can I get videos for this song? Most recently can I use worship songs that have copyright for our online services during COVID-19? What we fail to ask is why we worship and are we worshiping God in the way he desires to be worshiped. Here are three things that need to change about how our kids worship.

This question of how we should worship is not new. For centuries the church has referred to this question as “the regulative principle it is simply the assertion that we must worship God in the way that he has revealed himself and the way he has commanded us to worship Him in His word. We need to worship God according to Scripture. Our worship needs to be directed by Scripture. The form and the content of our worship needs to be in accord with the Bible, informed by the Bible, and warranted by the Bible. It needs to be founded in the Scriptures. That is an emphasis that is so important today.” (via RTS.org)

It seems today the questions that we ask in the arena of worship are more around production value than around the Biblical basis for the songs we sing. We need to think deeper about how our songs are forming our kids. We need to think about how our songs are painting a picture of who God is and what he has done.

Yancy, recently released a new worship album aimed at pre-school and early elementary it’s called Ready, Set, Go! It’s fantastic. Yancy’s passion for the local church and for worship is so evident in everything she does. I love that her focus is always faithful over famous. I sat down with Yancy Richmond to talk about three things in kids’ ministry worship that need to change.

Engagement Not Just Aerobics

The first thing that needs to change in kids is we have to engage kids and not just lead them in aerobics. It seems in the last six or seven years that actions in kids ministry worship have gone from something helpful to being almost the totality of the worship experience. We seem to no longer judge our worship by transformed hearts but by how many people are moving at the same time. We are all guilty of this one because it’s easier to measure how many kids are jumping, it’s much more difficult to measure how many hearts are being transformed.

I think it gives kidmin leaders a false sense of participation. To be able to step inside the room and see it bouncing up and down and think “Yeah we are winning at worship.” Motions have a time and place but somewhere along the way, we started to shove motions in every part of every single song that we do instead of when it actually makes sense and when it actually enhances that song.

Yancy

We rightly want our kids to engage but what I’ve found is that when kids do dance moves they don’t sing. When kids don’t sing they don’t memorize the words of the song that when written well will be truths from God’s word that will be forever lodged in Kids Hearts. It seems that we have lost the art of teaching our kids to sing a heart song in exchange for Tik Tock.

We have lost the art of teaching our kids to sing a heart song in exchange for Tik Tock.

Lyrics Must Matter more than Music

We like songs because of how they sound. We remember what we sing longer than we remember messages or lessons that are taught. I have taught hundreds of messages to kids and adults over the years. I have listened to thousands of messages preached in my lifetime how many do I remember maybe one or two. I can remember most of the songs we sang in church when I was in elementary school. Music has a power that spoken words don’t have.

I have always been a lyrics person. There have been times in my life where I have needed the vocabulary in certain songs to help me get through what I was going through. There have been times in my life where I have needed the words in a song to help me articulate my faith and my trust in God. They gave me the words to pray and to cry out to God.

Yancy

What I remind our kids during our time of song singing is two things. One worship is us proclaiming who God is. Two worship reminds us of who God is. If a song doesn’t proclaim who God is doesn’t remind us of what he is like we should play it at home or on the radio. We shouldn’t sing songs that sound good but the words fail to point us to Christ to reveal who Christ is to us.

We have a massive responsibility as pastors. What songs are shaping the hearts of your people. Your messages will shape them, but they will forget most of what you say. The songs you sing in church they will sing on their death bed. Word for word.

More Scripture Less Pop

Growing up in the ’80s there were lots of Christian bands. I remember listening to a tape of Petra until the tape fell apart. There were no worship bands. Hosanna worship music perhaps but they were not famous and their focus was completely on Sunday mornings. You would never hear their stuff on the radio. It seems that in the past several years Contemporary Christian music and Worship music have collided. All the songs on the radio are now performed by church bands. Which is good in some ways but I think it is also not so good in other ways.

When I sit down to read my Bible I am amazed how many songs will come back to me as I read through the scriptures. I am getting concerned that this isn’t happening with our kids. The songs we sing in church sound way better than they did in the ’70s and the ’80s but they sound less like the Bible. This has to change.

I remember reading a tribute to Dana Key people saying that the words he wrote shaped their theology. I remember thinking…what a responsibility. Most musicians and songwriters are not thinking about it from that perspective of the responsibility that you have that these songs you are writing and creating and what they do to someone else’s spirit.

Yancy

I think a better way to say it is with the rise of modern worship and the mixing of CCM. There are some songs that we should rightly be listening to in our cars, but because they have been written by worship bands, we sing them in church. They are both essential. Songs that encourage and express in poetic form what we think about God are good and necessary. I am just not sure that we should sing them as the church gathered.

Our kids need to be challenged to engage in worship. As pastors, we must not simply tell kids what to do. We must bring them to a place we have already been to. We need to be the gatekeepers of the words our kids repeat to music. Lastly, we need to look for songs that have more Bible in them so our kids will hide God’s word in their hearts and will be transformed because of it. Pastor, I beg you to hang up Tik Tock and teach your kids to sing heart songs to Jesus.

This article originally appeared here.

Painting During Worship

By
Manuel Luz
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Many churches are beginning to incorporate live painting into their worship services. For those who haven’t experienced this, a painter(s) will begin with a large, blank canvas at the beginning of a service and paint throughout the worship time, sometimes through the sermon and even through multiple services. The painter (or other visual artist) is considered a worship leader, and often stands alongside the other members of the worship team. The content of the painting is often related to the theme of the worship or message, and the painting is characterized by some sense of spontaneity, experimentation, discovery, and artistic virtuosity.

Oak Hills Church has been incorporating performance artists into our services for a number of years now, an extension of the Art & Soul Gallery which hangs in our church lobby. Beyond the superficial “cool factor,” there really is a theological and philosophical rationale undergirding this trend.

So I thought it would be helpful for those who have or are contemplating live painting to know the reasoning behind live painting. In other words: Why paint during a worship service?

05 P1010845 CBsm• Live painting is an act of creativity. And the act of creativity reminds us that we worship and are made in the image of an Eternally Creative God. Watching a painting take shape evokes a Bob Ross sense of wonderment and curiosity, two necessary characteristics of the growing worshiper.

• Live painting is a non-verbal expression of the sermon. The Church has a long-established history of displaying paintings and sculpture and other visual means as aids to worship, but unfortunately some of our faith traditions walked away from much of this during the Reformation. Stained glass, as an example, was an art form that brilliantly and boldly preached the story of God to an illiterate laity. And although we generally have a literate population in this day and age, the visual arts still speaks boldly to the visual learner. At our church, a performance artist recently painted the Biblical figure, Abagail, in support of a message preached from 1 Samuel 25. It was quite effective.

• God meets us in the act of creation. The Holy Spirit is our Inspirer. He works not only through the artist to express each brush stroke, but also works through the audience to ascribe meaning to that colored canvas. If we truly believe that God speaks to us, then performance art gives us the opportunity to open the eyes of our hearts to Him. This is just as true with works of abstraction as well as of realism or metaphor.

• Art can be Prophetic. The artist of faith has the ability to tell the story of God, and share the heart of God, through means beyond mere words. Prophetic art has been defined as, “revealing by divine inspiration, to reveal the will or message of God, to illuminate or bring revelation to a situation.” When we let artists of faith express themselves in a service, we release a prophetic stream often untapped in many of our churches.

• Live painting is an expression of faith. Live painting gives the visual artists in our church a venue for publicly expressing their faith through non-musical worship. We strongly believe that the non-verbal testimony of those who paint is as important as the verbal testimonies we share in our services.

DSC07327 Paint Kent CBsmNow that I’ve shared with you five reasons to incorporate live painting into your services, let me give you three quick reasons why you shouldn’t:

• Because it sounds like it would be something cool. Please don’t do this because you saw something like it on “America’s Got Talent.” It is crucially important that expressions of the arts in your local church be premised by a foundational theology of the arts. In other words, what you do should spring from your beliefs, not from simple stylistic preferences.

• Because you’re trying to create a spectacle of some sort. Don’t use artists like so many side shows in a circus. Art is not the show before the sermon. The arts are, for artists of faith, an expression of life lived in Christ. Respect the arts and your artists—for who they are and not simply for what they do.

• Because Aunt Betty took a class in painting at the community college. As I’ve preached before, medium and message are inextricably entwined. And as such, we cannot settle for art that is simplistic, derivative, superficial, propaganda-driven, or mediocre, for it reflects on the message. And our message is that of God’s love through Jesus Christ. If the story of God is to shine from our work, and we must be diligent and committed to pursue excellence, originality, and honesty as we express it.

Do you have other thoughts? Is your church incorporating performance artists, and if so, do you have substantive reasons why? Let me know your thoughts.

[Photo Credits: [Top] Randy Blasquez interprets a view of the Lord’s Supper; [Middle] Anna Agundez sculpts two people in embrace (the flat screen to the right allows the audience to see her work in more detail); [Bottom] Melinda Word paints during the message given by Pastor Kent Carlson. Photos taken by Dave Kilborn.]

This article originally appeared here.

Do You Want a Long Tenure as Pastor? Thom Rainer Gives 10 Traits You Can’t Ignore

By
Thom Rainer
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Imagine what might take place if pastors consistently stayed at churches for 10 or more years. Imagine that their tenure was largely healthy. Imagine what would happen in our congregations.

The median tenure of a pastor at a church is around four years. Simply stated, over one-half of pastors leave a church before their fourth anniversary. And our research shows that the time of greatest fruit in a pastor’s ministry does not begin until somewhere around years five to seven.

Is it possible, then, for pastors to stay longer in a healthy situation? In many cases, the answer is a resounding “yes”!

I approached this issue by looking at over 30 pastors whose tenure exceeded 10 years. And from my perspective, their tenures have been healthy and loving. Here are the 10 traits of those pastors:

  1. They pray daily for their church members and staff. Many of the pastors kept the church membership roll in front of them and prayed through the entire congregation and staff every year.
  2. They view their family as their first line of ministry. They did not see a dichotomy between church and family. To the contrary, they saw their family as the first priority of ministry in the church. I will elaborate on this matter in my post this Saturday, where I will share ways Satan seeks to destroy the families of pastors.
  3. They connect with and love people in their community. Pastors are more likely to stay at a church longer if they love the community in which they are located. That love must be deliberate and intentional.
  4. They choose their battles carefully and wisely. Not every issue is worth a fight. Long-term pastors are not cowardly; they are just highly selective and wise.
  5. They welcome structures that make them accountable. Certainly, they don’t seek structures that hinder their leadership. But a leader who avoids accountability is headed down a path of destruction.
  6. They spend time developing staff. These pastors view their staff, whether full-time paid, part-time or volunteer, as one of their highest priorities for development and mentorship.
  7. They expect conflict and criticism. They are a reality in any family or congregation. But these leaders are not surprised or frustrated by conflict and criticism. They realize, if it is handled well, it can be healthy for the church.
  8. They connect with other pastors and ministries in the community. They realize that their congregations cannot minister to and reach the community alone. Other churches and pastors thus become partners in ministry rather than competitors.
  9. They affirm both theology and practical ministry. Their foundation is the Word of God. They have a robust theology. But they don’t neglect such practical issues as attendance trends, outreach ministries, financial health and parking lot capacity.
  10. They ask long-term questions. They are constantly seeking to lead the church beyond their own tenure. They avoid short-term solutions with long-term negative consequences.

On Wednesday, I will address the other extreme and share with you traits of a toxic pastor. So give me your feedback today, and join me on Wednesday as well.

So what traits do you see in long-term healthy pastorates, specifically from the perspective of the pastor?  

Phil Vischer: This Is How Race Shapes the Way Christians Vote

By
Jessica Lea
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In his latest video tackling the complexities of race in the United States, VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer explores the question, “Why do white Christians vote Republican and Black Christians vote Democrat?” There are many factors that play into the answer to this question, but Vischer suggested the reasons have a lot to do with the very different histories and life experiences of white and Black Christians in the U.S.

“Everyone knows conservative Christians vote Republican,” said Vischer. “It’s like one of the rules of nature.” But at the same time, “Most African Americans self-identify as Christian and most African-Americans vote Democrat.” 

As an illustration of that point, Vischer cited data from Pew Research Center that found that 96 percent of Black Protestants voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, while 81 percent of white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump. How is it possible for two groups of people who claim to be following the same faith to come to such different conclusions about which candidate or party they will support? To answer this question, Vischer gave a brief history lesson, starting in 1870.

Phil Vischer on the History of Our Political Parties

When Black men gained the right to vote in 1870, the terms “Democrat” and “Republican” had connotations very different from what we think of today. President Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, and when they got the right to vote, most Black people were Republicans as well. “In fact, the first 23 Black congressmen were all Republicans,” said Vischer. This was in part because of Lincoln, but also because most slave owners and many members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) were Democrats.

The commitment Black people had to the Republican party was shaken, however, by the Great Compromise of 1877. Lincoln’s assassination in 1865 had jeopardized the voting rights of Black Americans in the South, so Republican presidents sent federal troops there to protect those rights. But when the election of 1876 fell into a deadlock that threatened to send the country into another civil war, Rutherford B. Hayes (a Republican) became president in exchange for the withdrawal of the troops in the South that had been protecting African American rights. “Yep, Northern Republicans sort of threw southern Black people under the bus,” said Vischer. 

Between 1868 and 1898, the South had elected 22 Black representatives. But when the federal troops were withdrawn, the “elimination of Black votes was so complete,” said Vischer, it would be 30 years before another Black man would be elected to Congress.

States then passed Jim Crow laws and Black people became more vulnerable to the KKK. This led to the Great Migration, where six million African Americans left the South to escape segregation and lynchings. Another advantage of leaving the South was that in the North, Black people could vote. Some still voted Republican because of Lincoln, but Republican leaders were not advocating for them, and in 1926, the NAACP encouraged Black voters not to be loyal to either party. 

During the Great Depression, unemployment was twice as bad for Black people in the North as it was for white people there, and the Black community favored Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. Roosevelt was a Democrat, and he “received overwhelming support from Black voters.” Another noteworthy event during this time was Arthur Mitchell’s election to Congress in 1934. He was “something Washington had never seen before: A Black Democrat.”

For the next 20 years, said Vischer, the Republican and Democratic parties each supported different civil rights measures and Black voters voted for both Democratic and Republican candidates. “Though today this seems hard to believe,” he said, “there used to be conservative and progressive wings of both parties.” The conservative Southern Democrats and conservative Republicans were united in their desire to limit the size of the government. Both factions also opposed new civil rights measures. So fighting for states rights and limited government became associated with opposing civil rights. 

As Northern Democrats proposed more civil rights legislation than Republicans did, Black voters gradually voted Democrat more than they voted Republican. And as the Southern Democrats continued to oppose civil rights laws, this tension, said Vischer, led to a “breaking point, and that break would radically alter American politics.” 

The political career of Strom Thurmond, who was governor of South Carolina and then a senator for five decades, “almost perfectly illustrates the shift in political parties over the last 80 years,” said Vischer. Thurmond was a Southern Democrat and a staunch advocate of keeping the South segregated. When Harry Truman integrated the Army and proposed “aggressive civil rights legislation,” Thurmond and other Southern Democrats formed the States Rights Democratic Party, or the “Dixiecrats,” “a conservative party dedicated to preserving segregation.” 

Greg Laurie Will Return to Pulpit This Sunday: ‘My Symptoms Were Never That Bad’

By
Jesse T. Jackson
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Riverside, California’s Harvest Christian Fellowship Pastor, Greg Laurie tested positive for COVID-19 just a little over a week ago. In an update posted to Facebook on Friday, October 5, 2020, Laurie said he plans on preaching this coming Sunday, October 18th.

Pastor Laurie thanked people for the prayers and attributed his lack of symptoms to those prayers. He said, “My symptoms were never that bad. Thank God for that! I know it isn’t that way for everyone, but it was for me and I attribute that to so many people praying.” The pastor also said he was thankful for all the encouraging comments on his social media accounts.

Laurie attended the White House’s Supreme Court nomination ceremony of Judge Amy Coney Barrett on September 26, 2020. That event reported at least 11 positive cases and has been called a “superspreader event” by White House coronavirus task force member Dr. Anthony Fauci. The nomination event has been named as the possible location where the President of the United States, Donald Trump, contracted the virus that sent him to Walter Reed Hospital for three days. On October 12, 2020, the Physician to the President, Dr. Sean P. Conley, released a statement saying President Trump has tested negative consecutive days for the COVID-19 virus, and he is not infectious to others.

On Friday, Laurie announced that he has completed his 10-day isolation period and is planning to be back in the pulpit this coming Sunday, October 18, 2020. Both Harvest Christian Fellowship’s locations in California have been meeting outside and practicing social distancing. The Orange County location has created a safe space to worship by converting their parking garage into an area they now call their church home. The Riverside location holds two worship services under a large tent outside.

In the closing statement of the short video, the pastor asked everyone to please continue to pray for those who have been infected by the coronavirus “that they too would have a quick and complete recovery.”

Sean Feucht Brings COVID Worship Protest to Nashville, Had No Permit Say Health Officials

By
Bob Smietana
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NASHVILLE (RNS) — Christian musician Sean Feucht brought his worship protest tour to Nashville on Sunday (Oct. 11).

Feucht played before a mostly maskless crowd gathered on a public square in front of the Nashville Metropolitan Courthouse. Video of the event shows thousands of tightly packed people jumping and raising their hands as Feucht and his band play.

“We had THREE venue changes and so much resistance,” Feucht wrote on Twitter. “BUT THE CHURCH WILL NOT BE SILENCED!”

The Christian musician and worship leader has held a number of outdoor concerts and protest events around the country in recent months. After a September concert was canceled in Seattle, Feucht held an impromptu musical street protest instead.

Feucht has ties to Bethel Community Church, a prominent California charismatic congregation. Earlier this year, the church criticized a concert held in its community by Feucht for failing to follow planned safety precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The Metro Nashville Health Department issued a statement Monday, saying that Feucht did not apply for a permit.

“The Health Department is very concerned by the actions that took place at the event and we are investigating and will pursue appropriate penalties against the organizer,” the department said in a statement.

At least one conservative Nashville pastor was perplexed by Feucht’s choosing Nashville for his event, noting that the city’s churches and other houses of worship have been cleared to meet in person.

“I don’t mind people protesting where churches aren’t able to meet,” said the Rev. Thomas McKenzie, pastor of Church of the Redeemer, a conservative Anglican Church in North America congregation. “Nashville makes no sense.”

McKenzie said his congregation has been meeting at their church for months. They follow Nashville’s guidelines for meeting in person, including wearing masks and social distancing. McKenzie has also offered drive-in communion in the parking lot.

As far as he could tell, Feucht’s worship protest ignored the city’s advice.

“All I see is a concert with no social distancing,” he said. “It seems to be this is more about Sean and less about Jesus.”

Many of Nashville’s largest congregations, including Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Long Hollow Baptist Church, and CrossPointe Church, have been holding online services due to COVID-19.

A strategic planning document posted on the Mt. Zion Baptist website outlines the process the Black charismatic megachurch used to determine its response to the coronavirus pandemic. After consulting health experts and church leaders, the megachurch has decided to keep worshipping online.

“Because of Mt. Zion’s size, capacity, and reach in the community, hosting in-person worship services now and in the near future (before a COVID-19 vaccine) are not felt to be safe,” the report states.

An analysis of cell-phone travel data found that worship attendance in September was down 30 percent from February 2020, according to the Tennessean newspaper in Nashville. Tennessee’s governor, Bill Lee, has encouraged congregations to meet online but has not issued any formal restrictions on worship.

City officials have planned to allow about 7,000 fans to attend Tennessee Titans football games. Nissan Stadium, where the Titans play, can hold about 70,000 fans.

Tennessee legislators have taken steps to limit protests near the state’s capitol building in downtown Nashville. After activists — including faith-based activists — camped out near the capitol to protest police brutality and racism, state legislators passed a new law making camping near the capitol a felony.

This article originally appeared on ReligionNews.com.

Is it Accurate and Loving to Point Out that Mormonism is not Biblical Christianity?

By
Randy Alcorn
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The presidential candidacies of Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman have raised again the “Mormon question.” A pastor’s comment about Mormonism being a cult generated a tornado of media reaction.

We all know and love Mormon friends and neighbors, and don’t want to appear negative or judgmental. Ironically, national media comments and columns abound which show extreme intolerance of evangelical Christians thinking a candidate’s religious worldview is important. Unless, of course, the candidate is an orthodox Bible-believing Christian, in which case he is clearly a wacko, and who in his right mind would vote for a wacko? This is the routine assessment of some who pride themselves on being tolerant and non-judgmental.

The who-do-you-vote-for-question isn’t an easy one, but I have found there is an immense amount of confusion among evangelical Christians about what Mormonism really is. Many view it as if it were just one more Christian denomination. Historically, that is simply false. Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, made that emphatically clear. My reason for this blog is not to argue about who to vote for, but to argue that we should all acknowledge what is objectively true, and not true, about Mormonism and actual Mormon teachings. The beliefs of the LDS religion are not speculation. They are all a matter of record. I have read the Mormon holy books and hundreds of pages of theological statements made by Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and other Mormon leaders. I know what they teach, and have had long conversations with Mormon elders about their doctrines. I have read to them from the teachings of their own prophets, and they have read to me the same.

Al Mohler has expressed some clear thoughts about Mormonism and whether or not it is a cult or claims to be the one true religion, an alternative to historic orthodox Christianity. He also goes on to tackle the more difficult question of whether true followers of Jesus should support and vote for a Mormon. I encourage you to read carefully Al’s thoughtful piece (and I encourage you to listen to or read him regularly, as he is a good and biblical thinker). I know there will still be disagreement, but please, in addition to being kind and gracious, let’s try to be truthful and accurate about Mormonism.

One thing important to remember—and this has nothing to do with politics, and everything to do with how we can show the love of Jesus to people—it may appear unkind to suggest a professing Christian is not a true follower of Jesus. And it may seem kind and gracious to call someone a true Christian just because he professes to be and thinks he is. But if he is not a true Christian who believes in the true Christ revealed in Scripture, it is terribly unkind. Why? Because the worst possible condition for unbelievers is to think they are believers. Only when we realize we are without Christ and do not know Christ can we turn to Christ. Only when we believe we are sinners desperately in need of a salvation that can only come through turning to and believing in Christ, the divine Son of God not by being a good person and doing good things and belonging to a certain church—can we actually experience the saving grace of Jesus.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

“But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7).

There is the true Christ, and there are false christs. There is the true gospel, and there are false gospels. Paul says this in Galatians 1:6-10:

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

At the risk of further controversy, here is a contrast between key biblical teachings and Mormon teachings: And here is a summary of key LDS doctrines by a former Mormon who came to faith in Christ and left Mormonism.

Don’t ask yourself, “How can I appear to be kind and non-judgmental in the eyes of the world and other Christians?” Ask yourself, “How can I actually please my Lord, the Audience of One? And how can I truly love my neighbor who doesn’t know Jesus? What can I do for him and say to him that God’s Holy Spirit could use to reveal to him his unbelief in the true Jesus and the true gospel, and his need to turn to Christ in repentance and faith, and embrace the gift of eternal life?”

The important thing is not to appear to love our neighbors (by ignoring their lostness and withholding the truth), but to actually love our neighbors by acting in their best interests. We do that by lovingly sharing the truth about Jesus and the good news He offers to sinners, who can be saved only by Him, never by a church, religion or human effort.

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