Newsletters
Home Blog Page 787

How to Choose Worship Songs for Church Services

By
Stephen Miller
-
communicating with the unchurched

Choosing songs for corporate worship is different than choosing songs for my personal time of worship.

I’m choosing what words to put into a congregation’s mouths to sing to King Jesus. This is very important.

So the three primary filters I use are:

Content:

Are the words you are singing true?

This doesn’t necessarily mean that it must be word for word from the Bible, but is it inspired by and true to Scripture? You simply can’t improve on what God has to say about God – He is the ultimate authority on Himself.

There are songs out there, hymns and contemporary alike, that are simply nonsense when it comes to their content. Your best tool in this effort is simply to be a student of the character and ways of God as revealed in the Bible.

God-Centered:

Is this song making much of me or of God?

God is very passionate about His glory. He will not give it to another. Does this song focus on the attributes, character, and actions of God – His power, majesty, glory, justice, mercy, compassion, and greatness?

There will never be a shortage of things to focus on here, so a good test is to see how frequently you’re singing “I, Me, Us, and We” phrases. Then ask yourself, “Does this song focus on and exalt who God is and what He has done?”

Singable:

Can people sing along with this? Is it memorable?

You are aiming for maximum participation, not a spectator concert that showcases your wonderful voice or musical wizardry. While some people are naturally musically inclined and can catch onto melodies rather quickly, most people are not.

Stick to simple melodies within a relatively narrow vocal range that the average non-singer can sing along with. Singability is the most helpful tool in your tool belt for teaching people about God in a way that they will easily remember.

As you are listening to a song trying to decide whether to use it or not, pay attention to what songs get stuck in your head, and when you find yourself singing it in the shower or walking down the street, you know you have a keeper (assuming it passed through the first 2 filters).  

How to Glorify God? (1 Peter 1:13-2:3)

By
Jeff Baxter
-

I had the privilege to preach at Foothills Bible Church this past weekend on “Gaining Deeper Roots” from 1 Peter 1:13-2:3.  Here is the FBC sermon. 


Holiness is the road to glorifying God.  Read that again.  Do you believe it?  This is how we are to grow deeper in our relationship with God.  We live holy lives as followers of Jesus.


Here are my short notes from 1 Peter 1:13-2:3.

 

Simon Peter challenges us to taste the meaty truths of God’s Word and see that He is good and his Glory is worth every step.  Let’s see three areas where we need to grow wider and deeper in the Christian life so that we can experience the abundant life that God wants to give.
    
First, we are to deepen MENTALLY by “preparing our minds for action.”  Verse thirteen reads, “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
As followers of Jesus, we can’t be emotionally-driven or rationally-driven, but driven by the Scriptures.  We are to be Scripturally-Driven.  We are to prepare our minds to respond according to God’s commands.  First Peter 1:14 says, “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.”
     
To prepare your mind for action means you program your mind to respond to God’s will, even if it’s contrary to emotion and reason.  How do you do that?
    
The word “prepare” is in the tense that conveys the idea of continuing action.  You keep on preparing your mind.  Read the Bible regularly, meditate on it, memorize it…get it deep down in your soul.  David said, “Your word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against God.”
    
We are to allow God’s Word to so saturate our minds that we think God’s thoughts and react with God’s response.
     
Second, we are also to deepen MORALLY, by becoming like God in His holiness.  First Peter 1:15-16 reads, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”
    
What is meant by the word “holy”?  We speak of the “Holy Bible” or “Holy Land” and people say “Holy Cow” J.  The word “holy” means distinctive, pure, sacred—belonging to God. Holiness is not a negative word.  Holiness is more.  Holiness is not just an appropriate amount of sin avoidance; it is a passionate pursuit of God’s virtues while living in this world longing for Jesus’ return.
    
Holiness is becoming like God.  God is generous.  God is impartial.  God is faithful.  God is merciful.  God is love.  God is humble. God is pure.  God is just.  God is love.
The word “Holy” first shows up in the Bible with Moses at the Burning Bush in book of Exodus.  It is found 611 times in 544 verses in the Bible.  50 of the 66 books of the Bible speak directly of the word Holy.  It is a big deal to God and thus a big deal to Peter.
True holiness is powerfully attractive.  Because it is not expressed to it’s fullest in the world.  It is a moral courage and sacrificial love and sheer joy that make people sit up and say, “Wow!  So that’s what being a follower of Christ can look like!”  It’s being like Jesus whose goodness drew people to Himself like a magnet.
          
Beginning with verse 16 (1 Peter, Chapter 1) Simon Peter gives four motivations for holiness. 
1. The first is a desire to look like our Heavenly Father.  Verse sixteen reads, “for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”
        
2. The second motivator is a reverent awe of God’s judgment.  “Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear” (verse 17).
        
3. The third motivation to holiness is an Understanding of how shallow being unholy really is.  First Peter 1:18 says, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers.”  (Peter calls the ungodly life an empty life.)
     
4. The fourth motivator is the loving sacrifice of Jesus.  “You were redeemed…with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.  He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.  Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God” (1 Peter 1:19-21).
    
The cross was not an accident; it was an appointment.  It was not a human tragedy; it was divine strategy.  It was a part of God’s plan before time began.  Jesus Christ denied His personal desires and willingly sacrificed Himself on the cross for us because He loved us.
     
It’s certainly not too much to ask for us to sacrifice some personal pleasure for the One who sacrificed His all for us.
    
Gratitude is a powerful motivator to holiness.  Only Jesus loved you enough to pour out His life-blood on your behalf.  “Since He who called you is holy, be holy in all you do.”
 
 
Third, we are to mature SOCIALLY by loving one another deeply.  Verse 22 says,  “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.” 
    
One of the most difficult lessons for children to learn is to be unselfish.  Little children think the world revolves around them.  They have to be taught to go counter to their nature and share with one another.  The same is true spiritually.  One of the most difficult lessons of the Christian life is to put others ahead of self.
     
As you mature in the family of God (the church), that love deepens.  And you learn to take advantage of the opportunity to express love because you recognize that life is fleeting.  In verses 24-25 Peter wrote, “For, ‘All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.’  And this is the word that was preached to you.”
    
The more mature Christians recognize life doesn’t go on forever.  People die and your chance of influencing them is temporary.  So you take advantage of the opportunity you have to express love while they are alive.
  
In order for your love to deepen, you must get rid of wrong attitudes that alienate you from people.  We read in 1 Peter 2:1: “Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.”
    
Conclusion: 
Sometimes growing up in the Lord (Mentally, Morally, and Socially), like growing up in general is difficult and stretching.  It has growing pains, but with a pursuit after Holiness, glorifying God is easy!  Because, “Holiness is the Road to Glorifying God.”
 
How are you glorifying God through your holiness?  Go deeper in your prayer life.  Go further in your meditation and memorization of the Word of God.  Make the wisest choice.  Allow the Holy Spirit to guide you every step of the way.

I Still Believe Character Matters

By
Kevin A. Thompson
-
communicating with the unchurched

The core value of good leadership is character. Ability matters. Decision-making is vital. The skills to communicate and inspire are essential. But character trumps them all.

I was taught this growing up in a conservative, evangelical church in the late ’80s and early ’90s. I didn’t know it at the time, but the community that raised me was known as the Religious Right. Spending a few years around great biblical scholars would later show me that not everything that church taught me was true or biblical. Yet they got more right than they got wrong. (See: You Control What Matters Most)

Few things did they get more right than the idea that character counts.

While issues are important, my mentors preached the soul of a man or woman was of far greater importance than any individual debate. Two people can get a lot of work done even if they disagree on key issues, but only if trust is present. Trust is a byproduct of good character. Issues are debatable, character is not.

Character Is Not Perfection

Everyone is imperfect. The importance of character does not mean we expect our leaders to be different. Character is not perfection. Our leaders can’t be perfect. They will make bad choices, sometimes disastrous choices. Some of those choices can disqualify them from leadership, but rarely. More often than not, if a leader properly handles a bad decision—admits it, seeks forgiveness, makes amends—the mistake can actually propel them to better leadership.

However, we can’t fall for the false teaching that because every person is imperfect, bad choices can be ignored. Some are quick to excuse themselves or their leaders whenever they make mistakes by quickly comparing them to the mistakes of others. It’s a false comparison. Not every mistake is equal. Some things do have more penal consequences than others.

A pastor who has a series of affairs can be forgiven, but he should not continue to direct a church.

A teacher who says inappropriate things to a student can move on, but should never be trusted around children.

A leader who refuses to acknowledge his immorality can do significant things, but they should not be allowed to lead.

Character matters. (See: How to Better Control Yourself)

Quiz: How Charismatic Are You, Really?

By
Megan Briggs
-
communicating with the unchurched

Christian Comedian Declares Himself the ‘Christian Mingle Inspector’ and It’s Insanely Hilarious

By
Daily Buzz
-
communicating with the unchurched

John Crist is quickly becoming one of our favorite Christian comedians.

He packs so many Christian dating inside jokes into this video, you won’t believe it’s just three minutes long.

This is a joke, folks!

For more laughs, check out these hilarious posts:

24 Hilarious Church Signs That Probably Got The Sign Guy Fired

10 Games That Prove Your Youth Pastor Has Totally Lost Touch with Safety

Tim Hawkins: Worship Leader Requests

The Reason You’re Officiating Fewer Weddings These Days

By
Joshua Pease
-
communicating with the unchurched

There’s a reason you aren’t officiating as many marriages as you used to. Millennials are either waiting longer to get married, or are not getting married at all, leading to the lowest marriage rates in recorded U.S. history.

According to research presented in a recent Bloomberg article, culled from the most recent census data, the U.S. is mirroring a declining marriage trend similar to other modernized Western countries, although the U.S.’s rate is still higher.

“The U.S. marriage rate—the number of new marriages per 1,000 people—has been falling for decades,” the Bloomberg article reports. “It fell especially fast during the recession, in 2008 and 2009, but there’s little evidence that people started getting married again even as the economy recovered. And research firm IbisWorld predicts the marriage rate will keep falling over the next five years.”

As the social acceptability of living together and having children outside of marriage increases, more young couples find themselves postponing marriage or no longer seeing a need for it. It’s not that people do not want to be in lifelong, committed relationships, but that they see cohabitation as an important step in forming those relationships. Research shows, however, that cohabitation decreases the likelihood of a successful lifelong partnership.

A vitally important 2002 study by The National Marriage Project found that:

“social science evidence suggests that living together is not a good way to prepare for marriage or to avoid divorce. What’s more, it shows that the rise in cohabitation is not a positive family trend. Cohabiting unions tend to weaken the institution of marriage and pose special risks for women and children. Specifically, the research indicates that:

Living together before marriage increases the risk of breaking up after marriage.

     Living together outside of marriage increases the risk of domestic violence for
women, and the risk of physical and sexual abuse for children.

     Unmarried couples have lower levels of happiness and well-being than married
couples.”

As more and more teenagers believe cohabiting is a responsible step toward lifelong relationships, the research incontrovertibly shows it’s not working. In a New York Times editorial, clinical psychologist Meg Jay explained part of the reason why:

“I’ve had other clients who also wish they hadn’t sunk years of their 20s into relationships that would have lasted only months had they not been living together. Others want to feel committed to their partners, yet they are confused about whether they have consciously chosen their mates. Founding relationships on convenience or ambiguity can interfere with the process of claiming the people we love. A life built on top of ‘maybe you’ll do’ simply may not feel as dedicated as a life built on top of the ‘we do’ of commitment or marriage.”

marriage trend

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What this means is that more couples will cohabitate, leading to less stable partnerships, increased likelihood of domestic abuse, more divorce for those who are married and lower levels of happiness for everyone involved. It’s easy to read this as a church leader and be discouraged, but there’s a hopeful side to this research.

Most people eventually want to land in a lifelong committed relationship where they build a family. In other words, they want the very thing God says a sexual relationship between a man and woman is made for, they are just going about it the wrong way. What we can preach then—both to Christians and those exploring faith—is that research has proven God’s way is, in fact, the best way. His expectation of sex only existing in a monogamous, lifelong pledge between two people is not some archaic, repressive relic of a bygone era, it’s God’s guideline to us on how to find the romantic, committed love we’re looking for.

"I Love Jesus More Than Bacon."

By
Greg Stier
-
communicating with the unchurched

Yeah, I know, that should be a T-shirt or a bumper sticker or something. But it was just a simple sentence that came out of my six year old daughter’s mouth last night after I said good night to her at bedtime. Before I turned off the light she turned on the charm and blurted,“Daddy, I love Jesus more than bacon.” I laughed out loud and said, “I do too. Good night sweetie.”

But what started out as a kids say the darndest things moment of laughter turned into some deeper thoughts this morning. Sure, I love Jesus more than bacon (and I looooove bacon!) but do I love him more than my little daughter, my son, and my wife? Do I love him more than Dare 2 Share, the ministry he has called me to lead? Do I love him more than my aspirations and dreams to reach the world for Christ?

It’s easy to give a knee jerk “YES!” to these soul penetrating questions but, if I’m honest, there are times that I love all of these things more than Jesus. And I am not alone in my struggle. Even the great apostle struggled with this. Paul wrote in Romans 7:15-25, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

There were times when Paul loved other things more than Jesus and this struggle with sin was the ultimate frustration of his life. It was his internal struggle with sin that frustrated him more than any of his external problems. He hated his propensity toward not loving Jesus more than any conspiracy against him or beating he ever received. Why did he despise this struggle so much? Because it was during the times he gave way to sin that Paul loved other things more than Jesus. It was at these times that he was no longer walking as a disciple of Jesus.

The same is true of you and me.

Jesus himself gave a brutally honest requirement to be his follower in Luke 14:26, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.” The word for hate here is “miseo” in the Greek. It means to love less by comparison. In other words it means that our love for Jesus should be so grand, so overwhelming and so intense that our love for everything and every one else should look like hate by comparison.

It’s only through the power of the Holy Spirit made available to us through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ that we can have access to this brand of love. May we learn to depend on the Holy Spirit to give us this love from above for Jesus today and every single day. May we discover what it really means to love him more than family, friends and, yes, even bacon.

Signed, Greg Stier

They Call Me Mom: A Single Missionary’s Story

By
Leslie Peacock Caldwell
-
communicating with the unchurched

The words weren’t easy for Angela Dawson to hear: “If you go back as a single career missionary, you probably will never get married.” She understood that her adviser wanted her to consider the sacrifice she might have to make by committing to long-term missions. A one-way ticket to another country could greatly decrease her chances of meeting a husband and having a family.

“It was a count-the-cost moment,” Angela says, though she was not deterred from God’s call on her life.

In 2010 she was appointed by the IMB as a career missionary to Thailand and she built a fruitful ministry working with medical clinics as a translator and leading English camps in local elementary schools. She started her service in a rural area, but after a diagnosis of Meniere’s disease, which causes her vertigo, she moved to a town where she would be closer to the medical care she needed.

She also moved to a larger home and it didn’t take long for her to find out how God intended to use the house for ministry. As she was moving in, she heard about a 15-year-old girl, Ying, whose mother wanted her out of the house.

“My daughter is such a burden to me. Can you take her?” Ying’s mother asked Angela’s supervisor, Doug Derbyshire.

Wanting to protect this frightened teenager, Doug arranged for Ying to move into a dorm-style room at a guest house the team uses for volunteers. But Angela couldn’t imagine how scared this girl must be. She felt the Lord telling her to open her home.

Ying moved in, and the following week, Ying’s friend, Ploy, asked to move in too. Ploy’s family had sent her to work at a truck stop. Fleeing the terrible conditions, Ploy returned home only to face the anger of her parents. Her father beat her, claiming that she was refusing to support the family. With nowhere else to turn, she went to Angela’s house.

Ying and Ploy decided on their own to call Angela “Mom” from the very beginning. For Angela, God was making it clear that He was building a family she didn’t expect.

Angela was adjusting to two teenaged girls in the house when a third girl needed housing. Ann attended the church’s youth group but was not a believer, and her words and actions were evidence. Angela says that when they first met, Ann cursed a lot, was often angry, and could be very mean to other people. But she was a friend with the other girls and Angela wanted her to feel welcome. After a weekend slumber party at Angela’s house, Ann began to stay over more often. Soon she asked if she, too, could move in. Since her family was very poor, Ann’s departure would give them some relief.

Angela moved two sets of bunk beds and a spare mattress into her second room to make room for the girls and the extra company who often joined them on the weekends. She also converted a small office space into a room for Prame, a high school senior, who was living with her grandparents. Prame wanted to study and go on to college, but her grandmother was cruel toward her and made it very difficult for her to focus on school. Prame moved into the small office space and became one of the family. In Angela’s home, Prame had peace and encouragement in her schoolwork.

In December 2017, the year God first began to build this new family, Ying and Ploy left Angela’s house and never returned. At first, everyone was concerned, but later Angela found out that they were safe but were choosing to live a life apart from God. Angela missed them, but in the spring, God led another young woman to the family.

Noi had recently moved to the city to work as a nanny. Angela’s home and family were a perfect match for her. Noi was a brand-new believer and was seeking growth in her faith.

“This turned into a good time of discipleship,” Angela says of Noi’s move to the house.

As the leader of this family, Angela says that she has a few rules, but is glad that, for the most part, the girls have been very compliant.

“They have to help me clean the house and do dishes. And they have to go to church and have a quiet time,” Angela says. “And no boys in the house!”

Angela supports them as any mother would—making sure they have lunch money and school uniforms, reminding them to study and taking time to listen to them. Since going out for lunch is not expensive in Thailand, she takes the girls out to eat every day. She also provides food for the house and the household items they need. Angela explains that some of these girls could not afford to eat three meals a day before they moved into her house. Their lifestyle now, though simple, provides more than they’ve ever had.

“It’s nice not having an empty house. I like having them around,” Angela says of her family, which she is open to expanding. “I don’t have any limits about how many can be in the house. My home is open.”

Angela knew what she might be sacrificing when she chose to make Thailand her home for the sake of the gospel. She’s grateful that God planned for her to be a mom after all.

Each girl has a story of God at work, and Angela Dawson says she feels blessed to be a part of it. She describes one of the highlights in their family as Ann’s profession of faith. As Ann grows in her faith, Angela has seen a significant transformation in her attitudes and actions. Angela describes Prame as being very serious and never smiling when she first moved in. “She changed into this person who was able to laugh. And you can see joy in her face,” Angela says. “Noi was a brand-new believer when she first moved in, and now she is sharing Christ with people. She’s led a lot of people to the Lord.” Pictured left to right: Ann, Prame, Angela, Noi (IMB photo)

“These are some of my favorite times,” says IMB missionary Angela Dawson of family Bible study and prayer. “I really enjoy when we get to read the Bible together and I get to hear their insights on what we’re reading,” says Angela. (IMB photo)

To encourage family time, Angela Dawson told the girls in her home that they can only run the bedroom air conditioning units to cool their rooms at night. During the heat of the day, they gather in the living room if they want to be cool. This leads to some sweet family fellowship and discipleship.
(IMB photo)

This article originally appeared here.

Be Careful Which Way You Lean

By
Brandon Cox
-
communicating with the unchurched

I love the story of The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss, and one of the most impactful lines comes in an exchange between the Lorax and the Once-ler:

The Lorax: Which way does a tree fall?
The Once-ler: Uh, down?
The Lorax: A tree falls the way it leans. Be careful which way you lean.

I don’t know if Dr. Seuss read the book of Galatians before writing that line, but I wouldn’t be surprised.

We sometimes wind up in a lifestyle we never intended to be in, habitually committing the same sin and scrambling to figure out how we wound up in the destructive cycle. For some of us, it’s anger. For others, it’s lust, pornography, or an illicit relationship. It could be gossip, overeating, occult involvement, or many other things. And Paul, in Galatians, helps us to answer the question, how’d I get to this point?

It’s because we leaned toward sin.

He writes:

When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

– Galatians 5:19-21 NLT

It’s all about our trajectory. Andy Stanley called it The Principle of the Path. Dr. Seuss might say, we got to where we are because we leaned in this direction.

Let me slow us down a bit and follow Paul’s logic. When you follow – that is, when you make a conscious choice to stick with the thought that popped into your head… And why did that thought pop into your head to begin with? Because of your sinful nature. Even when we are saved and delivered forever from the penalty of sin, we still walk around in a human body in a fallen world and we have this tendency to be selfish and sinful. When we follow our sinful tendencies, the results are clear…

A life controlled by sin is the inevitable result of choosing to follow and giving in to what our sinful flesh wants.

We just keep falling in whatever direction we lean. If you want to break the pattern and end the repetitive cycle of sin, the pathway has to be short-circuited. But Paul doesn’t say it’s simply a matter of having more willpower or resisting temptation in the strength of the same flesh that got us here to begin with. Instead, he points to the One who can and will help every time we humble ourselves and lean into him.

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

– Galatians 5:22-23 NLT

If you lean toward sinful thoughts, the inevitable result will be sinful actions, which will produce a sinful lifestyle. If you lean into the Holy Spirit, the inevitable result will be a life filled with the good, fresh fruit that only the Spirit can produce.

So, which way are you leaning? What path are you following? In what direction are you headed? Your very next choice matters. A lot.

This article originally appeared here.

How to Leave a Footprint

By
Sarah Cunningham
-

Today, I watched a video collection of actors receiving their “stars” at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard.

Like any ritual in life–weddings, graduations, retirement parties–no two people navigated the moment the same way.

Some projected themselves as mock royalty–rocking furs and sunglasses, barely detaching from their limos, sunbathing in the flashbulbs of the photographers. Miss America waving.

Some shamelessly reviewed their own accomplishments while others excitedlty promoted their upcoming films.

But then there were others, like the loved Mr.Hanks below, who stole the crowd’s hearts with a different approach. I think they call it humility.

1. He thanked the theater.

2. He paid tribute to ceremonies he’d attended for great actors that had inspired his own journey.

3. He cast vision to the crowd, encouraging them to have hope that one day some of them might stand where he was.

4. He told the crowd who watched to mention they had attended if they accepted a star someday, because this would fulfill a personal dream of his – to pass on the inspiration to others.

Hanks’ speech stood out in contrast to many others I watched that day and I couldn’t help celebrating the wisdom in it. It was a beautiful reminder to:

Always view myself as part of a larger effort. None of us are the first to think deep thoughts or the first to dream big dreams and we will not be the last. We are part of something bigger, something that extends across history, that transcends any one people group or time…and THAT is part of what makes our roles as storytellers so exciting.

Always remember those who are starting out or who have been struggling to make it for years. No matter how accomplished we become, there is great grace and strength in being a person who does not forget the difficulty of the journey. When we take our own humble beginnings and failures with us, it gives us the awareness to speak hope and help to those who are working tirelessly to blaze their own trails.

Always realize that when many people advance, more is accomplished than if I advance alone. Especially those of us who are faith-minded,  who feel compelled to share meaning and purpose with our world, we can contribute more to our world often by releasing our desire to get the credit and pouring into the success of others. When others win, we all win.

Can Gentrification Be Just?

By
Bob Lupton
-
communicating with the unchurched

Building a new home in a run-down neighborhood in Atlanta was a decision that neither of our parents supported. It was a bad financial move, they counseled us, not to mention the danger. But my wife Peggy and I were not relocating into the inner-city for economic reasons. We had finally come to the conclusion that our ministry would be more effective if we lived among the people we felt called to serve than continue to commute from the suburbs. And so we graciously thanked our parents for their love and concern and went ahead with our construction plans.

New construction in the neighborhood was unheard of—at least for the past 50 years—and so the activity attracted much local attention. And some unexpected attention from outside real estate developers, as well. Within a few months of moving into our new home we were delighted to see four new homes go up just two blocks from us, as well as a good number of renovations beginning throughout the neighborhood. Our property value was going to increase after all!

But during prayer and sharing times at our neighborhood church we began to hear prayer requests for housing needs. “Please pray for us, our rents have just doubled.” “Please pray for us, we’ve just gotten an eviction notice.” It wasn’t until Opal, a church member who lived within sight of the church, came in weeping one morning that I first made a disturbing connection. She had just received an eviction notice from the home she had lived in for many years—the city told the landlord to fix it up or board it up and he had decided to board it up until property values made it attractive to sell. For the first time it dawned on me that as my property value was nicely increasing, so was the value of the surrounding affordable homes. As my wealth was accumulating, Opal’s poverty was deepening. It was my investment that was the catalyst for her displacement. I could no longer sit in the circle and pray with integrity. I was the problem!

There was a name for this dilemma, I soon learned: Gentrification. It comes from the old English word gentry, the land-rich ruling class of the 16th century who controlled the economy by virtue of their land holdings. “Landlords” they were literally, the rulers of all who lived as serfs on their vast estates. They eventually disappeared from the social landscape with the emergence of the industrial revolution as wealth shifted away from the land and to the factories in burgeoning cities. The term gentry has been resurrected in our generation to describe the return of landowners to the city. I discovered I was one of them. And it was not a complement.

Clinton, Bush, and Obama Remember John Lewis as Man of Great Faith

By
Megan Briggs
-
communicating with the unchurched

In each of their eulogies for the late John Lewis, former U.S. presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama each remembered the congressman as a man of deep faith. The theme of Lewis’ funeral, held on Thursday July 30, 2020 at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, was one of hope and love. Whether it was for his faith in God or faith in America, Lewis will be remembered as an exemplary leader who made America better.

Known as a hero of the Civil Rights movement of the United States, Lewis also served as a congressman for 33 years, representing the state of Georgia. It was fitting that Lewis, who helped organize 1963’s March on Washington with Martin Luther King Jr., was eulogized at Ebenezer Baptist Church. The church has been a symbol of the Civil Rights movement since Martin Luther King, Jr. co-pastored there with his father, Martin Luther King, Sr. from 1960 until his death in 1968.

Each of the three former presidents who spoke at Lewis’ funeral spoke of Lewis as someone who bettered the nation and helped move it toward becoming “a more perfect” one.

President George W. Bush Eulogizes John Lewis

President Bush explained about Lewis’ humble beginnings as the son of sharecroppers in Troy, Alabama. Bush described Lewis as a minister, who learned to take care of living things from an early age (in his case, chickens). Lewis “always looked outward, not inward. He always thought of others. He always believed in preaching the Gospel in word and in deed, insisting that hate and fear had to be answered with love and hope,” Bush said.

Out of the three presidents who spoke, Bush gave the most attention to Lewis’ faith in God:

John Lewis believed in the Lord. He believed in humanity. And he believed in America. He’s been called an American saint. A believer willing to give up everything, even life itself, to bear witness to the truth that drove him all his life: That we could build a world of peace and justice, harmony and dignity and love. And the first crucial step on that journey was the recognition that all people were born in the image of God and carry a spark of the divine within them.

Bush also compared John Lewis to the prophet Isaiah who said “Here am I, send me” in response to God’s call. “John Lewis heard that call a long time ago in segregated Alabama and he took up the work of the Lord through all his days,” Bush explained. His challenge to us to keep ourselves open to hearing “the call of love,” service, and sacrifice for others, Bush emphasized.

In a more stirring moment of Bush’s speech—one that has heavy implications given our current divisive political culture—Bush explained that he and Lewis had their disagreements as they worked together in Washington, but they still worked together. “In the America John Lewis fought for, and the America I believe in, differences of opinion are inevitable elements and evidence of democracy in action,” Bush said to loud applause from the crowd. 

In what became an often-repeated sentiment throughout the course of Lewis’ funeral, Bush said: “We live in a better and nobler nation today because of John Lewis and his abiding faith in the power of God, in the power of democracy, and in the power of love to lift us all to a higher ground.” 

“John Lewis lives forever in his father’s house. And he will live forever in the hearts of Americans who act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with their God,” Bush concluded, alluding to Micah 6:8. 

President Bill Clinton Eulogizes John Lewis

President Clinton focused on Lewis’ humanity. “He was after all, a human being. A man, like all other humans, born with strengths that he made the most of, when many don’t. Born with weaknesses that he worked hard to beat down when many can’t. But still a person…It made him, in my mind, even greater.” 

Pastor Resigns After Praying at Celebration for KKK Forefather

By
Stephanie Martin
-
communicating with the unchurched

After giving a convocation at an event celebrating a leader of the Confederacy and the Ku Klux Klan, Alabama Rep. Will Dismukes has chosen to resign as pastor of a Baptist church.

Last Saturday, the bivocational pastor spoke at the 199th-birthday celebration for Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate Army general and the first Grand Wizard of the KKK. In a Facebook post that has since been removed, Dismukes wrote that he “had a great time at Fort Dixie” at the event, which happened to coincide with ceremonies honoring late civil rights leader John Lewis.

‘Saddened’ Baptist Leaders Decry Racism

Dismukes, a Republican who describes his political views as “very conservative,” faced quick backlash from fellow religious leaders. In a blog post on Monday, Rick Lance, executive director of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, wrote: “We are saddened and grieved to learn of the recent Facebook post by State Rep. Will Dismukes, who also serves as a bivocational pastor. In the wake of tremendous controversy, we reaffirm our opposition to any kind of racism.”

The state missions board also reposted an article Lance wrote last month, titled “A Personal Credo Concerning Racism.” In it, he affirms “that I condemn racism in any form.”

The church from which Dismukes resigned, Pleasant Hill Baptist in Prattville, is a member of the Autauga Baptist Association (ABA). Mel Johnson, the ABA’s lead mission strategist, says,

Immediate effort was made to connect with Will on behalf of our leadership with commitment toward a biblically based process to mitigate controversy surrounding this issue. He was open and receptive to our call and subsequent in-person meeting on Tuesday.

About the deacon’s meeting at the church, Johnson says, “I am grateful for the opportunity to have met with the church’s leadership for prayer and encouragement as many, through no fault of their own, have found themselves caught in the midst of this issue that has drawn national attention. I am also thankful that Autauga Baptist churches can move forward and remain focused toward Great Commission efforts to communicate the gospel and reach our world for Christ.”

Johnson adds, “Scripture is clear that all people are created in God’s image and therefore equal in every way before Christ and our personal need of him as Savior and Lord.”

Dismukes Resigns, Citing ‘anti-Southern sentiment’

On Thursday, Dismukes announced that he was resigning from his pastorate. “After a conversation with the association,” he says, “I resigned…not at the request of the church but by choice, because I did not want to see the [Southern Baptist Convention] vote Pleasant Hill out of fellowship. The Lord will lead me to a church at his timing and direction.”

The Southern Baptist Convention has made efforts in recent years to apologize for past racism and to distance itself from connections to slavery.

Speaking to TV station WFSA on Monday, Dismukes said “anti-Southern sentiment” was behind the backlash. “It wasn’t some kind of shot at the passing of Rep. John Lewis,” he said of his convocation. “That didn’t even really go through my mind, I literally was really just reflecting on a previous day’s events, and it was taken in a completely different way that I didn’t exactly see coming, and I take responsibility for that.”

Lentz: White Christians Need to Stop Being Apathetic About Racism

By
Jessica Lea
-
communicating with the unchurched

Editor’s Note: After the publishing of this article, Hillsong fired Carl Lentz, who confessed to being unfaithful to his wife. Others have since come forward with allegations that Lentz committed sexual and spiritual abuse. We would be remiss not to disclose the painful truth of Mr. Lentz’s personal actions that have come to light. For further reading, please see:

Carl Lentz, Pastor of Hillsong East Coast, Fired for ‘Moral Failure’

Exclusive: Sex Abuse Allegations by Carl Lentz’s Former Nanny Put Spotlight on Hillsong Culture

Rampant Abuse, Misconduct by Carl Lentz, Others at Hillsong NYC Alleged in New Report

Emmanuel Acho wants to know: Why is the white American church largely absent from the fight against racism? This is a question the former NFL player explored with Hillsong East Coast pastor Carl Lentz in Episode 7 of Acho’s series, “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man.” 

“If change is truly going to start, it has to start in houses of worship,” said Acho. “It has to start with people of faith. It has to start with white people, black people, having an uncomfortable confrontation filled with compassion.” But the fact is, “Every Sunday morning in houses of worship, America is about as segregated as it ever can be.” Acho asked Lentz, “Why is that?”

“I think it could be said that churches might be one of the biggest propagators of racist ideology in our country,” said Lentz, observing, “There’s a difference between your principle and your practical.” Just because churches say in principle that they value all people does not mean they are living out this value in practice. One reason why Lentz believes black people stick to predominantly black churches has to do with white believers’ silence about racism. “It’s hard to listen to a preacher preach if you know that preacher believes in systems that are hurting your people,” he said. 

Acho expressed that the silence of the church is extremely frustrating to him. He would rather hear white believers say something about racism, even if what they say is wrong, than to continue in silence. “You can’t address a problem that you don’t admit exists,” he said. “It took a black man getting murdered on camera by an officer with his knee on his neck to finally wake people up.” 

Lentz: Think of It as a Filthy House

To explain why white believers do not want to speak out against racism, Lentz used the analogy of an extremely messy house. Contemplating cleaning a filthy home is overwhelming. 

“This is what happens with racism,” said the pastor. “The moment you start looking into this, you realize, oh wow, this goes all the way to the top. This is in our church choir, This is in our church administration, this is in the way we’ve taught the Bible. And there are a lot of Christians who set out to clean house until they find out how close to home it might come.” What white believers have been doing instead is comparable to throwing all of the junk in the house into one room when guests come over. We’ve been doing that “for decades,” said Lentz, but now all of our mess is “starting to overflow.”

In addition to their silence about racism, something else that frustrates Acho about white Christians is when they make ignorant statements, such as, “It’s not about race, it’s about grace” or “It’s not about skin, it’s about sin.” He said, “It is about skin and it is about race because race and skin is what is being punished and executed in America right now.”

The fact is, said Lentz, that white people have been able to get away with making ignorant statements for a long time. “Even the notion that we get to pick and choose when we want to invade this conversation is in essence racism at its finest.” 

Acho pointed out that the goal of Christianity is to emulate Jesus Christ and wondered what Jesus would be doing in our situation. “I ask you,” he said to Lentz, “if Jesus was walking the earth, would he be marching? Would he be posting a black square on his Instagram?”

“There’s no question where Jesus would be,” Lentz answered. “Where did you find him when we have record of him? Who was he with?” 

“Who was he angering is more important,” the pastor continued, seeming to imply that Jesus was angering the religious leaders of his day. The people he spent time with were the “wrong people,” such as women or tax collectors like Zacchaeus, said Lentz. “He’s where the hurting are.”

The pastor believes one of the reasons why many white Christians are not fighting for those who are hurting from racial inequality is that it will cost those believers money, acclaim, and power. Another is that some do not understand how to be a true peacemaker. To truly make peace instead of merely keeping it, said Lentz, “You have to go find war. You have to find trouble. You have to find the hurting in order to bridge this gap.”

Journal As a Pathway to Joy

By
David Mathis
-
communicating with the unchurched

Maybe you’ve never thought of journaling as a spiritual discipline.

It’s seemed like something only for the most narcissistic of introverts, or cute for adolescent girls, but impractical for adults. What, me? Journal? I’m much too occupied with today and tomorrow to give any more time to yesterday. You might be right. Maybe your idea of journaling is too heavy on navel-gazing and too light on real-world value.

But what if there was another vision? What if journaling wasn’t simply about recording the past, but preparing for the future? And what if, because of God’s grace in our past and his promises for our future, journaling was about deepening your joy in the present?

Perhaps no single new practice would enrich your spiritual life as much as keeping a journal.

No Wrong Way

A good journal really is what you make it. It can be a document on your computer, or just a good old-fashioned notebook. It can be formal or very informal, have long entries or short ones, and be a daily stop or just where you pop in on occasion. It can be a place for recording God’s providences, peeling at the layers of your own heart, writing out prayers, meditating on Scripture, and dreaming about the future.

The goal is not to leave an impressive catalogue of your stunning accomplishments and brilliant insights for future generations to read and admire. Die to that before picking up your pen. The goal is the glory of Christ, not your own, in your ongoing progress in his likeness, for the expanding and enriching of your joy.

No Obligation

Even if many of the Psalms do read like divinely inspired journal entries, nowhere does Scripture command that we keep a journal. And as Don Whitney observes, “Jesus did not live and die for sinners to turn us into journal-keepers” (Spiritual Disciplines, 251). Unlike other spiritual disciplines, Jesus left us no model for journaling; he did not keep one.

Journaling is not essential to the Christian life. But it is a powerful opportunity, especially with the technologies we have available today. Many throughout church history and around the world have found journaling to be a regularmeans of God’s grace in their lives.

Why Journal?

With the eyes of faith, the Christian life is a great adventure, and a journal can be greatly beneficial in ripening our joy along the journey. There is always more going on in us and around than we can appreciate at the time. Journaling is a way of slowing life down for just a few moments, and trying to process at least a sliver of it for the glory of God, our own growth and development, and our enjoyment of the details.

Journaling has the appeal of mingling the motions of our lives with the mind of God. Permeated with prayer, and saturated with God’s word, it can be a powerful way of hearing God’s voice in the Scriptures and making known to him our requests. Think of it as a subdiscipline of Bible intake and prayer. Let a spirit of prayer pervade, and let God’s word inspire, shape, and direct what you ponder and pen.

To Capture the Past

Good journaling is much more than simply capturing the past, but recording past events is one of the most common instincts in it. For the Christian, we acknowledge these as the providences of God. When some important event happens to us, or around us, or some “serendipity” breaks in with divine fingerprints, a journal is a place to capture it and make it available for future reference.

Writing it down provides an opportunity for gratitude and praise to God — not just in the moment, but also one day when we return to what we’ve recorded. Without capturing some brief record of this good providence or that answer to prayer, we quickly forget the blessing, or the frustration, and miss the chance to see with specificity later on how “‘tis grace hath brought me safe thus far.” A journal also becomes a place where we can look back not just on what happened, but how we were thinking and feeling about it at the time.

But good journaling isn’t just about yesterday, but also about growing into the future.

To Build a Better Future

It’s one thing to think something in a fleeting moment; it’s another thing to write it down. As we capture in writing the careful thoughts we’re having about God and the Scriptures and ourselves and the world, those impressions are being stamped more deeply on our souls and changing us more in the short term and for the long run.

Journaling is an opportunity to grow into tomorrow. We can identify where we need change and set goals and pinpoint priorities and monitor progress. We can evaluate how we’re doing in the other spiritual disciplines we want to be practicing.

And the regular habit of journaling will help you to grow as a communicator and writer, as you practice getting your thoughts into words and onto the page. Your journal is your sandbox, where you can try your hand at daring metaphors and literary flair. It’s a safe place to take practice swings before stepping to the plate in public.

To Enrich the Present

Finally, but most significantly, journaling is not just about yesterday and tomorrow, but today, and our joy in the present. Here are three ways, among others.

1. Examine

Socrates overspoke, but was onto something, when he said the unexamined life is not worth living. While limited, there is an important place for introspection and self-examination in the Christian life. For one, it’s an opportunity for the Christian to learn “not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment” (Romans 12:3). Our tendency in journaling is to begin with self-examination, even though we want to move beyond it and see the gospel break in with fresh rays of hope.

An essential part of good journaling is not just self-examination, but getting outside yourself and being caught up in something great — in particular, Someone Great. When you’re sad or angry or anxious, let your journal begin with your heart’s state. Be honest and real, but ask God for the grace to get beyond your circumstances, however bleak, to finding hope in him. This is the frequent pattern in the Psalms: begin harrowed, end hopeful. Journaling is an opportunity to preach the gospel freshly to yourself, beginning where you are, without simply feeding yourself the canned lines of truth you’ll default to without pausing to think and to write it out.

2. Meditate

Think of journaling as the handmaid of that vital Christian discipline calledmeditation. “Perhaps the most valuable contribution the discipline of journaling makes to the pursuit of godliness,” says Whitney, “is how it facilitates meditation on Scripture, especially the ability to intensify attention on the text” (254).

Take some juicy bit of gospel from your Bible reading, or a puzzling passage you’re stuck on, and let your journal be your laboratory of learning. Pose a hard question, propose a biblical answer, and apply it to your heart and life.

3. Disentangle, Draw Out, and Dream

Finally, as we journal, we’re able to disentangle our thoughts, draw out our emotions, and dream about new endeavors. The discipline of writing facilitates careful thinking, catalyzes deep feeling, and inspires intentional action.

Deep joy and satisfaction can come from getting our complicated and confusing thoughts and feelings into words on the page. Our heads and hearts carry around so many unfinished thoughts and emotions we’re only able to finish as we write them down. As praise is not just the expression of joy, but the consummation of it, so is writing to the soul. Writing doesn’t merely capture what’s already inside us, but in the very act of writing, we enable our heads and hearts to take the next step, then two, then ten. It has a crystalizing effect. Good writing is not just the expression of what we’re already experiencing, but the deepening of it.

It is a remarkable thing that God made a world so ready for written words, and designed human beings so naturally to write them and read them. And he made our minds such that we’re able to take thoughts further, and do so in greater detail, than our short-term memory can keep track of in the moment. When we write, we not only disentangle our thoughts, draw out our emotions, and dream about fresh initiatives, but we develop them.

Which makes journaling not just an exercise in introspection, but a pathway for joy — and a powerful tool in the hands of love.

Spreading the Worst Infection

By
Andrew J Miller
-
communicating with the unchurched

“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere” (2 Cor. 2:14).

What are you spreading? The COVID-19 pandemic has upended our entire world. Schools, workplaces, and churches enacted dramatic measures to combat the spread of the sickness. Millions self-isolated, canceling nearly everything on the calendar. Many use hand sanitizer compulsively, and only leave the home wearing a mask.

These serious measures reminded me of when my father underwent heart bypass surgery a few years ago and I spent much of the week in the hospital visiting him. Being well at the hospital, I noticed that everyone uses hand sanitizer to prevent the spread of disease to the vulnerable. Each and every person who entered the room sanitized their hands. How careful people are when it comes to spreading disease! Even those who are not “germaphobes” do this because of the great danger of spreading sickness—especially to the vulnerable, like those recovering from heart surgery.

These measures should challenge us: How slow we are to take care to limit the spread of spiritual sickness! How little do we think of the deadliness of sin. We all know the dangers of cancer and we know the deadliness of disease; yet we hardly think about the cancer of sin and how it affects our lives. Like a person walking around ignorant of their cancer, many people in our world—perhaps even in the pews beside you—ignore the dangers of their spiritual unhealthiness.

Sin That Spreads

We see, for example, the spreading of sin among the people of Israel when they wandered in the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt. Specifically, notice how grumbling and complaining devastated the people in Numbers 11:1-3:

And the people complained in the hearing of the LORD about their misfortunes, and when the LORD heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire died down. So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the LORD burned among them.

Grumbling, far from being a “victimless crime,” was punished by God. Our grumbling may be directed against people, but ultimately it is an issue between us and God, the Sovereign. When we complain about our circumstances, or even about the people around us, we are complaining about God’s provision for us.

At least the effects of that sin were limited; only the outskirts of the camp burned. However, as Numbers 11 unfolds, we learn about a second and more serious instance of grumbling. It started among the people the outskirts of the camp, the “rabble that was among them,” and spread, like an infectious disease! Iain Duguid comments,

“It typically originates among those with little or no spiritual insight, but it can easily be passed on from them to the whole community and draw in those who know better…Grumbling is a sin you can catch from others, which means that you need to be careful who you spend your time with and how you spend your time with them.”[1]

Not only did the grumbling spread from person to person, but it spread from subject to subject—they complained about their hardships, and about the delicious manna, and about how they had been better off in Egypt.

Grumbling spread from the spiritually weak even to the spiritually stronger.m Even Moses became infected by the sin of grumbling (Num. 11:11-15). He focused on himself: “Moses said to the LORD, ‘Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me?’”

Like him, we are vulnerable to the sin of grumbling, which can spread like wildfire. Perhaps you are grumbling now about the many inconveniences caused by COVID-19. We do well to give heed to Philippians 2:14’s exhortation, which reflects back on Numbers 11: “Do everything without complaining and arguing” – an instruction that leads into the reminder in Phil. 2:15 that believers shine as lights in a dark world because of our union with Christ, the light of the world. Grumbling spreads the very opposite of what believers are called to spread to a needy world. We are called to spread true gospel hope to our neighbors (1 Pet. 3:15).

We therefore take precautions against the spread of negativity to us and from us. Numbers 11 not only warns of our vulnerability to the influence of bad character and the spread of sinful attitudes (1 Cor. 15:33), it reminds us to be careful not to spread our sinful attitudes to others. Are we spreading the aroma of Christ to our neighbors and children, or complaining to them about the events that have been canceled? Do we spend more time grumbling about the government, or gracing others with our steadfast hope that transcends circumstances?

The Most Dangerous Disease

Jesus reminds us in Luke 12:4-5 that the stakes are even higher when it comes to the spread of sin. As dangerous as any pestilence is for our physical health, sin endangers our immortal souls:

“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!”

In fact, when we think that the precautions taken against the spread of COVID-19 might be too extreme, we should remember the drastic measures Jesus suggested in Matthew 5:29-30:

“If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”

Jesus does not call us to jettison body parts—but he does call us to consider taking serious measures to avoid sin—because sin’s consequences are terrible.

This difficult time of Coronavirus provides an opportunity to consider what actions we are taking to avoid sin and to limit the impact of our sin upon others. Granted, our sin comes from within, and not from our circumstances (Mark 7:21-23; James 4:1-4), but we are also called to avoid situations that tempt us. As Proverbs 6:27-28 warns, “Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched?”

There may not be spiritual equivalents to hand sanitizer and face masks, but we can give ourselves to those proven balms for sick souls—the means of grace—experienced most intensely in public worship and the preached Word. We pray for the joy of the Lord, which is our protection (Neh. 8:10). How tragic it would be if we took drastic action to keep ourselves physically healthy while giving no thought to our spiritual health.

John Newton often referred to sin as a sickness, and to Christ as his divine physician. Jesus presented himself this way in Matthew 9:12: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” In one of his letters, Newton lamented the physical illness of the recipient’s sister, and encouraged them to look to Christ with faith:

“Hide yourself under the shadow of his wings; rely upon his care and power; look upon him as a physician who has graciously undertaken to heal your soul of the worst of sicknesses, sin!”[2]

In another letter, Newton adds, “All our soul complaints amount but to this—that we are very sick; and if we did not find ourselves to be so—we would not duly prize the infallible Physician.”[3] Praise the Lord that through Christ, God has undertaken to heal our hearts.

During this health crisis, let us commend our Physician to others; He can heal their worst sickness.[4]

Andrew J. Miller is the pastor of Bethel Reformed Presbyterian Church (O.P.C.) in Fredericksburg, VA.

Related Links

“Curbing Our Complaints” by Jonathan Landry Cruse

“Lament: Self-Indulgent Whining, or Faithful Complaints?” by J. Todd Billings

The Life of Moses by James Boice

Sanctification: The Long Journey Home [ Audio Disc  |  MP3 Disc  |  Download ]

Sanctification, ed. by Jeffrey Stivason  [ Print Booklet  |  PDF Download ]

Notes

[1] Iain Duguid, Numbers: God’s Presence in the Wilderness, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2006), 149.

[2] John Newton, letter 4, London, dated August 19, 1775, which can be accessed online: https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/newton/The_Letters_of_John_Newton_-_John_Newton.pdf

[3] John Campbell, ed., Letters and Conversational Remarks, by the Late John Newton (NY: 1811), 32.

[4] See John Newton, “Letter III. — Christ the great Physician — Spiritual prosperity at Olney. June 2, 1772, letter To B. West, Esq,” which can be accessed online: https://gracegems.org/Newton/additional_letters_of_newton.htm

This article originally appeared here.

10 Secrets Missionaries Won’t Tell You

By
Adam Mosley
-
communicating with the unchurched

Being a missionary is hard work. Everybody knows that. But the things we think of as the hard parts—lack of modern amenities, exposure to disease and the like—only begin to scratch the surface of the difficulties of real missionary life. Often, it is the things left unsaid that really begin to erode the passion and soul of missionaries.

Here are just a few of the things missionaries won’t tell you…

1. Missionaries don’t have the time or energy to write … but they do it for you.

WHAT MISSIONARIES SAY

Have you read my latest newsletter?

WHAT THEY WANT TO SAY

Newsletters, blog posts, website updates—all the “experts” tell me that I need to be sending you fresh content on a regular basis so you won’t forget about me. But here’s the thing … writing is hard, especially for those who aren’t natural writers. You know what else is hard? HTML, CSS, PHP, and a bunch of other tech-geek stuff that you have to learn about just to make a decent-looking website or email. I really want to tell you what’s going on, but it’s hard to turn out gripping narratives while I have a sick child asleep in my lap. And if I have to look up how to code a “mailto” link one more time, I’m going to scream!

2. Facebook “like” don’t pay the bills.

WHAT MISSIONARIES SAY

Thank you so much for the encouragement!

WHAT THEY WANT TO SAY

I’m glad that you liked my Facebook status. I really am. The thing is, when I say we need $1,200 by the end of the week to pay the school fees for orphaned children, I’m talking about actual dollars and actual need. Contrary to the rumors, Bill Gates doesn’t donate a dollar for every Like. That part is up to you. So, the next time you Like my status, consider sending a few bucks my way too.

3. Missionaries ask for money because they have no choice.

WHAT MISSIONARIES SAY

I’m trusting God to provide, and I’m so thankful for our donors.

WHAT THEY WANT TO SAY

Lest you think #2 sounded a little whiny and money-hungry, you should know that I truly despise asking for money. I always have. And now I have to ask for it almost all the time. Even when I’m not asking for it, I’m thinking about asking for it. There are never enough funds to do all the good I’m trying to do, and I live with a nagging feeling that the one person I don’t ask is the one who would have written the big check. So, when I ask for money, know that I do so with fear and trembling.

4. You’ll never hear about their worst days.

WHAT MISSIONARIES SAY

Please pray for me. It has been a challenging week.

WHAT THEY WANT TO SAY

Things are pretty bad here. If I told you what’s really going on, you would either come rescue me or think I was exaggerating. If you heard some of the things I’ve said out loud, you might question my salvation. If you knew some of the thoughts I’ve had rattling around in my head, you might question my sanity. Sometimes good days are hard to come by, but I don’t dare tell you the worst. If I did, you would probably tell me to throw in the towel.

5. Missionaries need a vacation … but won’t tell you if they take one.

WHAT MISSIONARIES SAY

I just need a time of refreshing.

WHAT THEY WANT TO SAY

After two or three years of hard work, most people feel like they deserve a little break. Take the family to the beach. Visit a theme park, a national park or Park City. I would love a vacation, but honestly, I feel guilty “pampering” myself rather than putting all my time and resources into the ministry. On top of that, I know some people will judge me if my vacation is “too nice.” If I scrape and save pennies for five years so I can spend a week on an exotic island, you’ll never hear about it, because I can’t handle the snarky “It must be nice” comments (the ones you’ll say to my face), or, “My donations paid for your vacation” (which you’ll think, but not say out lout—at least not to me). So, I keep some great stuff to myself for fear of being judged.

Why I Won’t Quit Social Media

By
Christina Embree
-
communicating with the unchurched

Over the past few weeks, I’ve seen a number of my Christian friends post that because of the divisive nature of social media, they will be deleting their account and no longer present in that space. Reasons for doing so range from political to personal, and while I do understand that for one’s mental health, a step away from social media might be necessary, I question if a complete break is the best call for Christians. Bear with me as I explain.

I currently live in Lexington, Kentucky. In Lexington there are over a hundred murals painted on the sides of buildings, in alleys, up and down streets, throughout the city.

Each mural has a story. Each story is a part of what makes Lexington the city that it is. 

Our church hosted the walk through the city as part of our Lex Get Together activities aimed at helping people who are new to the city get to know it better and those who are old to the city to learn something new. We figured there’s no better way to get to know a place and the people who live there than to explore it, engage with it, and experience it.

Which is why I have an Instagram account.

You see, I’m the mother of an almost 17 year old and a 14 year old. Her “city” is Instagram. Her “streets” are the people she follows. Her “murals” are found in that lovely search feature at the bottom of the screen. And her community is found in the multiple group conversations she is a part of.

Each image has a story. Each story is a part of what make their world what it is. 

Realistically, I know this is, like everything is, a phase that she is going through, an experiential stage common to most kids her age. I don’t think that for the rest of her life she will “live” there but for now, it’s where she is interacting with people on a daily basis. More importantly, her generation is there. Even if she wasn’t present on a social media platform, the majority of her friends and fellow Gen Zers are there.

And I need to be there.

I need to be on her streets and in her community. I need to understand viral videos, trending memes, and the language that is spoken. More than that, I need to be aware of the messages that are being given and received, not so that I can control them, but so I can have a conversation about them.

Children and youth are our first ministry but if we are not where they are, if we are not engaged, not experiencing their world, we will have a much more difficult time having conversations that lead to discipleship and faith formation.

I get made fun of by my girls for being old and not understanding all the things, but that doesn’t deter me from remaining engaged and aware. If I’m willing to walk the streets of a city so I can know it better, I’m definitely willing to scroll through a social media app to know my children better.

Be where your kids and their friends are. Be present and aware.

Ask questions like, “Have you seen anything interesting lately?” and “What’s new on Instagram?” For younger children, let them sit with you and see how you interact with people. Teach them healthy ways to engage digitally with you because one day, even if it’s after they leave your home, they will engage.

Establish the culture of loving God and loving others in all areas of life, including the digital one, so that even when you are not there, they will be able to approach technology of godly, responsible ways.

Discipleship at home is more than family devotions and Bible stories before bedtime. It’s intentionally welcoming Christ into every area of our lives and looking for opportunities to grow our faith no matter where we are and helping our children to see Him.

This article originally appeared here.

20 Signs of an Unhealthy Church Staff Culture

By
Brian Dodd
-
communicating with the unchurched

Management and leadership expert Peter Drucker famously said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”  So what is culture? There are many quality definitions but I will give you mine: Culture is the collective character, competence, and creativity within your organization that drives day-to-day behavior and results. Within every industry, there are healthy and unhealthy cultures, even churches. After witnessing the behind-the-scenes activities of hundreds of churches, the following are 20 Signs of an Unhealthy Church Staff Culture I have noticed.

Before getting to this list, it is important to note that cultures are usually the embodiment, the physical manifestation of the organization’s leader.  So goes the leader, so goes the people.  Now onto the list.

1. Sin Is Not Addressed In Unhealthy Church Staff Cultures.  Leaders are not held accountable to living Godly lives.  Personnel preferences are elevated above personal holiness.

2. Unhealthy Church Staff Cultures Have Inappropriate Communication.  This would include insensitive comments, crude language, dismissiveness, tearing people down, or even yelling.

3. Unhealthy Church Staff Culture Have More Conflict Over Collaboration.  The staff has silos and assigns blame for failed or missed opportunities rather than having an “all hands on deck” approach to major initiatives.

4. Unhealthy Church Staff Cultures Value Potential Over Production.  The value of individual staff members is based upon affinity and cliques rather than who actually delivers results.

5. The Past Is Not Honored In Unhealthy Church Staff Cultures.  Senior adults and others who built the church are marginalized.  Today’s staffs stand on the shoulders of those who came before them and invested their time, money, energy, and very lives into their church.

6. Unhealthy Church Staff Cultures Degrade Staff In Front Of Other Staff.  This is a complete sign of disrespect, not to mention a self-examination of sin in someone’s own life.

7. People Are Continually Late For Meetings In An Unhealthy Church Staff Culture.  Tardiness is a sign a person feels their time is more important than others’.

8. Unhealthy Church Staff Cultures Are Arrogant And Assumptive.  No one knows more than they do. They do not gather information at one level before making decisions at their level.

9. Unhealthy Church Staff Cultures Have Unhealthy Inner-Circles.  They gather information from the wrong people and sources before making decisions.

10. Unhealthy Church Staff Culture Have No Long-Term Strategy.  Many pastors and staff in a COVID-19 world struggle seeing farther than two weeks out.

11. Unhealthy Church Staff Culture Avoid Important Decisions.  Passivity erodes trust and confidence in the staff.  Many times the worst decision you can make is no decision.  People value clarity over accuracy during these times.

12. Unhealthy Church Staff Culture Are Impulsive.  This is a sign of emotional instability or lack of self-control.

13. Unhealthy Church Staff Cultures View People As Commodities.  They value processes over people.  People are simply a means to an end.

14. Unhealthy Church Staff Culture Do Not Listen To Each Other Or Those In Their Congregations.  They have all the answers.  Opinions and insights of others’ are not valued.

15. Unhealthy Church Staff Cultures’ Meetings Are Uninspiring.  Rather, the meetings are deflating and only survived.  Here’s a test – track how many people are reading their phones or doing other work during meetings.

16. Unhealthy Church Staff Cultures Continually Resurrect Past Mistakes.  This shows a lack of grace.

17. Unhealthy Church Staff Cultures Think Money Solves All Issues.  When you can buy solutions, it masks inefficiencies and often injects embalming fluid into creativity and innovation.

18. Leaders Are Not Empowered In Unhealthy Church Staff Cultures.  Everything must be run through and approved by senior staff.

19. Unhealthy Church Staff Cultures Micromanage Processes Rather Than Outcomes.  If the mission is achieved, celebrate.  In fact, if someone does something different than you would have but the job still gets done, perhaps it is a chance for learning and innovation.

20. MOST IMPORTANTLY Unhealthy Church Staff Cultures Omit God From The Day-To-Day Decision-Making Process.  You base decisions on everything but a biblical decision-grid.

As a pastor or church leader, how many of these apply to your current culture?  While this may be a sobering exercise, it is also a mirror which shines a light on the opportunities you need to work on.

This article originally appeared here.

WordPress Stands Strong As The Best CMS Choice

By
Duke Taber
-
communicating with the unchurched

What are the best CMS solutions for church websites? There are content management system (CMS) platforms that provide free solutions for building professional-looking websites. These options include WordPress, Wix, SquareSpace, Joomla, and Drupal. Each platform provides its own set of pros and cons. Wix and SquareSpace are essentially website builders with streamlined, drag-and-drop interfaces. Joomla and Drupal provide more customization options, but they come with a steeper learning curve. WordPress provides the most complete CMS solution. There are over 45,000 WordPress plugins and thousands of themes, allowing users to create any type of website and customize it to their liking.

WordPress Is the Top Choice for CMS Platforms

WordPress is the most used platform for all types of web design. From small businesses to bloggers to churches, this platform includes features that should appeal to almost everyone. WordPress offers two different options for setting up your website. You can either use WordPress.org or WordPress.com.

WordPress.com provides free website hosting and limited access to the thousands of plugins created for the WordPress platform. By upgrading your account, you can get increased storage and access to more plugins and themes.

The main advantage of WordPress.com is the price. A basic account is free and provides a simple option for quickly setting up a website. However, if you want more customization options and access to more plugins and themes, WordPress.org is the preferred choice.

WordPress.org is the standard WordPress platform. The WordPress platform is completely free. However, you do need a web hosting account to host your website and a domain name.

You can manually download the latest WordPress release, upload it to your hosting provider, and install it. Due to the popularity of WordPress, many web hosts now include one-click installs for WordPress, making it even easier to set up this CMS platform.

With WordPress, you can choose from thousands of free and premium themes. There are also many plugins that add more functionality to your website.

Whether you use WordPress.com or WordPress.org, you do not need any previous web design experience. The interface is easy to use, and there is plenty of documentation to help you with any issues that you may experience.

WordPress maintains a large forum with helpful tips, tutorials, and advice on building a website with this CMS platform. There are also hundreds of independent websites dedicated to troubleshooting issues with WordPress.

Keep in mind that WordPress.com is not a complete CMS solution. It does not include some of the advanced options found on the standard WordPress platform. With regular WordPress, you can add forums to your site and create and manage users. It provides the flexibility needed to appeal to a wide audience.

While there are other options, WordPress is the go-to solution for building a website. Within a few hours of installing the platform, you can have a basic website up and running.

You also have many customization options. Many of the free and premium WordPress themes allow you to easily change fonts, color schemes and add custom backgrounds or headers. These options are a little more restricted when using other CMS platforms.

With WordPress, you have an endless supply of options for making your website into a truly original online representation of your church. The various plugins include options that can make your life easier.

There are plugins for adding online forms so that you can collect email addresses for an email newsletter. There are also plugins for improving the search engine optimization on your site. Several developers create plugins designed specifically for churches, such as the Church Content plugin that provides custom types of posts.

There are just two potential issues with using WordPress to create your website. It up to you or your administrator to ensure that the various plugins, the theme, and the WordPress installation are up to date.

Whenever WordPress discovers a security flaw, they update their platform. You receive notifications about these updates. However, they are not automatically applied. You need to update your WordPress installation, themes, and plugins when new updates are released to maintain the security of your website.

The other potential issue is that you have so many plugins and themes to choose from that you may become overwhelmed. The variety and flexibility provided by WordPress is both an advantage and a disadvantage.

Due to the variety of options, some plugins and themes are mediocre or poorly coded, resulting in slower page loading speeds or other performance issues. However, there are still thousands of quality plugins and themes designed by experienced developers.

Wix and SquareSpace Offer Affordable Options

Wix and SquareSpace are two other popular options. Like WordPress.com, they are essentially website-builders and lack some of the features provided by a complete CMS platform. However, these website builders are incredibly easy to use.

In fact, some people may find the interfaces a little bit easier to navigate and understand compared to WordPress.

Wix simplifies the process of setting up a website. It includes hosting, website templates, and widgets in one spot. You do not need to buy a domain name, sign up for a hosting account, and upload the platform to your account.

Wix also provides a clean, simple dashboard and a drag-and-drop website editor. You can choose from a variety of templates and drag and drop elements on the page.

The one drawback to this simplified website-building experience is that the drag-and-drop feature can add unnecessary code to your website, resulting in slower page loading speeds.

With Wix, you also have a limited number of templates compared to the themes offered on WordPress. Wix offers over 500 templates. All themes are customizable. However, many of them are not free.

While Wix provides fewer templates compared to WordPress, most of these themes are professionally-designed. WordPress offers a combination of professionally-developed themes and themes designed by independent developers, resulting in a mixed bag of options.

Many organizations choose Wix due to the simple interface. You also get a guided setup that walks you through each step of the setup process. However, you get fewer designs, add-ons, and potentially slower web pages.

Wix offers a free user account along with a tiered membership plan. The least expensive plan starts at $11 per month and allows you to remove Wix ads from your free website.

SquareSpace shares many features with Wix. It is also more of a website builder than a true CMS platform. However, they do not provide free membership. You can use the free trial to test the platform, but the membership plans start at $12 per month.

SquareSpace provides a streamlined user interface, allowing you to customize your website from a single interface. You can insert custom CSS coding, change the layout and design, and control your SEO from one dashboard.

You can build a basic website with a professional design in just minutes. You do not need to buy a separate domain or web hosting. They are included in the cost of your membership.

The company also takes care of all maintenance, including updates. You do not need to worry about security issues or check for updates.

The drawbacks to using SquareSpace are the same drawbacks provided by Wix. You have less flexibility and customization options compared to WordPress. While you get fewer templates and add-ons to use on your site, you can still create a quality site in a short amount of time.

Weebly is another simple website builder platform and a close rival to Wix and SquareSpace. It provides a free option but requires your website to display Weebly ads. Like WordPress.com, you do not need to purchase a domain name or web hosting.

Everything is included with Weebly. However, they only offer a few dozen templates and several hundred add-ons. The customization options are also limited. The main benefit of this platform is that it is free and one of the easiest platforms to use.

Joomla and Drupal

Joomla and Drupal are free CMS platforms. Like WordPress, you can download the latest release of either platform and upload it to your web host for installation. Many web hosts also include automated installations for these platforms.

Joomla and Drupal are both open-source and suitable for creating any type of website, including a church website or a detailed e-commerce site.

Traditionally, Joomla has been the go-to platform for developers who want to create forums. However, it still allows you to create a standard website. It also provides better security compared to WordPress.

As WordPress is the most used platform, hackers spend more time targeting WordPress than any other platform. Joomla is not as big as WordPress, so it is less of a target. However, the company behind Joomla still takes extra steps to enhance the security of their websites, providing SSL certificates and two-factor authentication.

The main benefits of Joomla include enhanced security, SEO features, and a robust selection of CMS solutions. Besides creating a standard website, you can create forums. They also offer a hosted solution, which allows you to set up a free website, similar to the websites created on WordPress.com.

Unfortunately, Joomla can be difficult to use for those who lack technical knowledge. If you have never built a website before or used a CMS platform, you may struggle to get your website up and running. It is also harder to search for quality add-ons and templates for your website.

Drupal is comparable to Joomla and WordPress. All three options are open source, and they will allow you to install the platform on your hosting account and use it with your own domain name.

Drupal is also more secure compared to WordPress. It uses enterprise-level solutions to provide better security for your website. It is also a full CMS solution, with complex features that you let do just about anything with your website.

Some users may find it difficult to create a website with Drupal. It is not user-friendly. The menus and options can be a challenge to figure out while finding suitable themes and add-ons are even harder.

In many cases, organizations end up hiring experts to handle their website creation with Drupal. The complexity of the platform offers more customization. However, you need some technical knowledge to install add-ons and work with this detailed CMS platform.

Each of these options includes advantages and disadvantages. While Drupal is more functional compared to the other options, it is also more of a challenge to work with.

Choosing the right option for your church depends on several factors. You should think about the person who is going to handle your website creation. If you hire a professional website developer, any of these solutions should suffice. However, a professional is more likely to work with WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal compared to the other choices.

If you are handling the website creation yourself or allowing a volunteer to build the site, you may want a CMS platform that offers a simple user interface. Wix, Weebly, and SquareSpace provide easy-to-use website builders that anyone can use. However, they possess fewer features, add-ons, and themes than WordPress.

WordPress is a full CMS solution and it provides access to the widest range of customization features. It may not be as user-friendly as Wix or SquareSpace. However, it is still easy to use compared to Drupal and Joomla.

Conclusion to the Best CMS For Church Websites

WordPress, Wix, SquareSpace, Joomla, and Drupal are five of the most used CMS platforms. They are used by all types of organizations, from businesses to churches. WordPress is widely considered the best option, as it provides access to the greatest selection of plugins and themes, including many free options.

Wix and SquareSpace provide streamlined drag-and-drop website building tools. While they include various add-ons and themes, these features are typically costly. Joomla and Drupal are closer to WordPress, as they offer a variety of free add-ons. However, the interface is less user-friendly compared to WordPress and may be too difficult for a novice who has never built a website.

In the end, WordPress provides the easiest solution for building a professional-looking website for a church, even if you do not have any HTML or CSS coding experience.

 

This article originally appeared here, and is used by permission.

1...786787788...1,190Page 787 of 1,190
855,266FansLike

New Articles

New Podcasts

Joby Martin

Joby Martin: What Happens When Pastors Finally Understand Grace

Jessica Lea -
Joby Martin joins “The Stetzer ChurchLeaders Podcast” to discuss what happens when a church leader has truly been run over by the “grace train" and understands the profound love and grace of God.
Jennie Allen

Best of 2024—Jennie Allen: Why Church Leaders Need To Pay Attention...

Jon Acuff

Best of 2024: Jon Acuff—How To Pursue Success Without Destroying Your...

Libin Abraham

Libin Abraham on God’s Surprising Job Description for the Pastor

ChurchLeaders.com is dedicated to resourcing, informing, and connecting a community of church leaders for greater Kingdom impact worldwide.
Contact us: support@churchleaders.com

Company

Trending

Popular Categories

© ChurchLeaders