First Baptist Orlando to Completely Pay for Controversial Pastors Conference

February 18, 2020

After controversy arose about the speaker lineup for the 2020 Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Pastors Conference, its leaders announced that First Baptist Orlando, an SBC church, will pay all costs for the two-day gathering. The conference “will not receive any financial support of any kind from any SBC entity or auxiliary,” according to a February 17 statement.

First Baptist Church of Orlando, which is led by Pastors Conference President David Uth, is paying the entire cost of the event, held June 7 and 8 at the Orange County Convention Center. “Our hope is that this will ease conflicts or tensions that exist over the slated program for the conference,” the statement notes. “The 2020 SBC Pastors Conference is in no way being sponsored, controlled, or paid for by the SBC, even though its purpose is still to bless and encourage SBC pastors and wives.”

Though participants will be “encouraged in your personal walk with Jesus and in fulfilling your calling as pastor,” conference attendance is optional. “If you don’t feel comfortable attending, that’s okay too,” the statement says. “Your participation is desired but by no means required.”

What Sparked the Uproar?

Some SBC members are protesting a scheduled performance by Hosanna Wong, a spoken-word artist who’s also a teaching pastor at a non-SBC congregation near San Diego. Southern Baptist doctrine limits the pastoral office to men. Uth has clarified that Wong will be appearing as an artist, not as a preacher.

Objections also are being raised about David Hughes, a Florida pastor who has used sexually suggestive sermon titles and visuals, and Emerson Eggerich, author of a book that some leaders say is misogynistic.

Uth says he doesn’t necessarily agree with all the speakers but believes “they have a message for us” and “God wants to speak to us through them.” He never imagined how much “division and hostility” would result from the lineup, he says, and asks, “Could I appeal to you to be open and give God a chance to speak through every person who is a part of this program?”

Lineup Underscores Rancor in the SBC

The SBC, America’s largest Protestant denomination, has been experiencing division regarding issues such as social justice, racial reconciliation, and gender roles. Last week, a new Conservative Baptist Network launched in response to what organizers call liberal “drift” in the SBC. Founders Ministries president Tom Ascol, who supports the new network, calls the “problematic speakers” slated for the Pastors Conference “merely the most recent of the SBC foibles.”

Oklahoma pastor Wade Burleson, meanwhile, calls male domination and opposition to female speakers “sick.” Though he feared Wong would be disinvited from the conference, he offered “kudos to David Uth for sticking by his convictions” and urges pastors to “show up and be inspired.”

Burleson tweeted: “I long for the day when the Southern Baptist Convention is known for our love for people from all walks of life, our desire to lead people to follow Jesus above all else, and our desire to cooperate for Kingdom purposes, laying aside all our personal preferences for Christ’s sake.”

Pastor: Planned Parenthood Wants to Exterminate Black People

Jessica Lea

February 18, 2020

Speaking at Upper Room Church of God in Christ in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest said that the purpose of Planned Parenthood at its founding was to exterminate the African American population—and he implied that agenda continues to this day. Forest, who is white, has been met with opposition for those comments. However, the church’s pastor, Bishop Patrick Lane Wooden, Sr., who is black, says he agrees with them.

“How are you going to be a woke church, and don’t know this?” asked Wooden. Church leaders who do not tell their members about the abortion provider’s agenda against the black community, he said, “are the epitome of being asleep. You’re asleep at the wheel.”

What Dan Forest Said About Planned Parenthood

“There’s no doubt that, when Planned Parenthood was created, it was created to destroy the entire black race,” said Dan Forest, as reported by WRAL News. “That’s just the truth.” Forest went on to say, “How the black community can’t come together and see that and understand that and fight against it, I don’t know. And how the white community can’t come together and see that and fight against it, I don’t know either.”

Gerald Givens, who is president of the Raleigh-Apex NAACP and also black, took issue with Forest’s remarks, telling WRAL, “I’m not sure why the Lieutenant Governor feels he’s authorized to speak on behalf of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or on what African-American people see. His opposition to organizations like Planned Parenthood show he has not learned much from Dr. King.”

Elder John Amanchukwu, Wooden’s assistant and Upper Room’s youth pastor, spoke to WRAL about the controversy, saying, “I’m thankful for Dan Forest for speaking up and saying it, but as a local church, he didn’t have to say it for us cause we say it all the time.”

Amanchukwu then showed WRAL a placard with part of a quote by Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger, which read, “We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population…”

Although Wooden was not present to handle the controversy himself, he told his congregation that Amanchukwu handled the situation well, and he emphasized the importance of pastors addressing “the evils of Planned Parenthood.” According to Bishop Wooden, Planned Parenthood is the number one killer of African Americans and kills more of that population every two weeks than the Ku Klux Klan did in its entire history.

What Did Margaret Sanger Really Mean?

The quote Wooden and Amanchukwu referenced comes from a letter Margaret Sanger wrote to Dr. Clarence Gamble (of Proctor & Gamble). In the letter, Sanger is explaining the importance of having African American leaders help get the black community on board with her work.

The broader context of Sanger’s quote is: “The ministers work is also important and also he should be trained, perhaps by the Federation as to our ideals and the goal that we hope to reach. We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.”

The phrase as Wooden quoted it sounds damning, but pro-choice advocates argue Sanger was not arguing for exterminating an ethnic group. Rather, they claim, she was concerned that the Negro population would think that she and her associates were trying to exterminate them, and Sanger wanted them to know the truth—that they were not. The quote, says TIME magazine, when taken in context, “describes the sort of preposterous allegations she feared—not her actual mission.”

It’s difficult to know which interpretation of Sanger’s quote is correct without examining her other writings. No one denies that Sanger was a eugenicist, meaning she believed in using birth control to breed genetic defects out of people. This in itself is troubling. Even this article from Rewire.News, which arguably white-washes many of Sanger’s views, admits, “Margaret Sanger held many abhorrent ideas about population control and eugenics, ideas that any decent person today would find horrifying…she believed that the ‘reckless breeding’ of the ‘feebleminded’ was ‘the greatest biological menace to the future of civilization.’”

What Is Lent and How Should I Observe It?

An Anglican Pastor

February 18, 2020

I walked through my first Lent in 2004. I had been raised and later ministered in a church that didn’t observe Lent. This was all new to me.

On Ash Wednesday, I entered a darkened worship space. The Rector (Senior Pastor) was seated up front. He was wearing all black. Everyone was silently praying. We stayed like that for what seemed like an hour (it was actually only about five minutes). The pastor stood up and announced that Lent had begun. He announced that the church was calling us to the annual season of repentance. He reminded us that repentance is only possible because of God’s grace.

Then, after our prayers and Scripture readings, we lined up to receive the imposition of ashes. I watched as the pastor first knelt to receive the ashes himself, symbolizing the universal need for repentance. One by one each of us in the congregation knelt, receiving dark ashes pressed onto each forehead in the shape of a cross.

As we continued through the season of Lent, the next 40 days plus Sundays, we read of John the Baptist, the prophecies of Isaiah, the temptation of Christ in the wilderness, and of the passion. I was instructed to give something up for Lent, and to fast on Fridays.

As a congregation, together with Christians all around the world, and like Christians who have gone before us, we walked through Lent and then Holy Week together.

And when Easter Day came that year, my experience of the celebration of the Resurrection of our beloved Lord Jesus Christ was changed forever.

While this was all new to me, it is not new at all for most Christians in history or in the world today.

What Is Lent?

Lent began in the early church as a period in which catechumens (people being taught the Christian faith in preparation for their baptism) fasted and prepared for their baptism on the night before Easter morning.

As this practice developed everyone in the congregation began fasting and repenting together, because humility and repentance should be a part of every Christian’s life. Across the Christian world, this practice spread. Eventually it was associated with the 40-day fast of Jesus in the wilderness. This became an important part of the Church Year.

Why Observe Lent?

The Church Year is a cycle of fasts and feasts, celebrations and practices that walk a congregation through the life of Christ together. This allows for us to not just hear Scripture read about Jesus, but to actually practice disciplines that tap into all of our senses, and every part of our lives. And the beauty of these historic practices is that we do them together. We are being shaped into Christ’s image as a community.

And the Church Year also enables us to understand and draw from the experience of believers who have gone before us. In my first Lent, I read sermons written about Lent by Chrysostom. I was amazed about how his experience of fasting and repenting so matched my own. I felt like he could have written the same things in our own day and it would have been just as relevant.

This Church Year begins in Advent (four weeks before Christmas) and that prepares us for Christmas, which then flows into Epiphany. Lent is our preparation for Easter, which then flows into Pentecost. You see, both of the two major Christian feasts (Christmas and Easter), have a season of preparation before them.

Sadly, many churches have dropped off the preparation seasons completely. Christmas is celebrated before it starts, and Advent is skipped. Lent is often ignored, and so Easter just arrives one day. There isn’t a sense of humbling and preparing, and praying to get ready for these wonderful days.

So restoring the practice of Lent prepares us better for Easter, it reminds us to repent, and it reconnects us with the experiences of fellow Christians around the world and in our past.

3 Disciple-Making Catalysts in the Life of Jesus

Will Mancini

February 17, 2020

It’s easy for the church’s disciple-making mission to get cluttered with lots of programmatic stuff. So as you look ahead to this next year, try refreshing your conviction for disciple-making by looking to the Master himself.

In each of the three synoptic gospels, we see a different scene in the life of Jesus just before he calls his 12 disciples. Each snapshot, I believe, reveals a unique aspect of both the heart of Jesus and his earthly-eternal kingdom strategy.

Snapshot #1: The Great Opportunity Meets a Great Shortage (Matthew 9:35-38)

Before Jesus calls the Twelve from Matthew’s perspective, we see the compassion of Jesus for the crowds. As he looks over masses (sheep without a shepherd), he observes that “the harvest is plenty, but the workers are few.” His last command before selecting his inner circle is to pray earnestly to the Lord of the Harvest to send out laborers. In the light of the urgent opportunity, Jesus begins investing deeply into the Twelve. The first catalyst is the massive gap between the need and the manpower.

Snapshot #2: Building the Infrastructure, not the Popularity (Mark 3:7-12)

Mark shows us a different angle of Jesus’ motive just before he appoints the Twelve. In this passage, he repeats the phrase “great crowd,” showing for the first time the sheer volume of people who were responding to Jesus. Not only that, he shows the intensity of their pursuit by explaining how the people were “pressing around him” and how they needed to escape in a boat “lest they be crushed.” If that wasn’t enough, even the demons cried out that he was the Son of God. What was Jesus’ final act before appointing the Twelve? Jesus strictly ordered them NOT to make him known.

Why in the world did Jesus come to earth if he wanted to lower the volume of his identity and mission? Why would he intentionally minimize his platform? The answer is simple. He wasn’t building a stage and an audience, he was building a people movement. And the disciple-making infrastructure was being threatened by the quick popularity. Thus, he focuses even more on the Twelve. The second catalyst is the threat of a shallow and wide ministry.

Snapshot #3: The Weight of Life’s Brevity on Earth (Luke 6:6-11)

In Luke’s snapshot, before selecting the Twelve, we see a simple healing scene. This is where Jesus heals the man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. It’s also the first time we see the scribes and Pharisees filled with fury to the point that they begin plotting what they are going to do with Jesus. This is the fountainhead of the death plot that would end Jesus’ physical opportunity on planet earth to be a disciple-maker. The next thing we see him doing is praying to the Father all night and then recruiting his core team. The third catalyst is the recognition that you won’t be around forever.

What About You?

As you plan this year, how does Jesus’ disciple-making conviction, and especially these three catalysts, rescue you from a “program management” culture. Are you herding people through classes and events? Are you relying too much on better preaching? Or do you have a robust, disciple-making strategy built around life-on-life investment, like Jesus.

Take these catalysts into your planning time:

1. Helping people see the amazing opportunity of lost souls and recruiting them to pray for more harvest workers.

2. Building the core with significant time investment before gathering the crowd.

3. Being deeply aware of the finite window on earth to invest in others in light of eternity.

Laziness & Prayer Do Not Go Hand in Hand

Perry Noble

February 17, 2020

A few weeks ago, I put out a tweet that said the following…

“Covering laziness in prayer is not a spiritual discipline.”

It was retweeted several times; however, there were also a few people who said that the statement was confusing and asked for an explanation. So here goes…

I believe that many people in the Body of Christ use prayer as an excuse for inactivity and laziness.

Yes, I am ALL ABOUT PRAYER! I’ve seen Jesus do things through the power of prayer that would make a Methodist shout.

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However, there are some things that we simply cannot “cover in prayer” and hope they will get better. Nope, we’ve got to take action!!! Things such as…

If you need to lose weight, you are not going to “pray the pounds away!” It’s just not going to happen!!! You are going to have to get your butt up off the couch and exercise. You are going to have to stop slamming cookies in your mouth. You are going to have to stop drinking 10 sodas a day! You can pray all you want…but if you do not put action with your prayer, it’s NOT going to help!

If your marriage is in trouble and is on edge, then you are not going to “pray it back into a great place.” You are going to have to start paying attention to your wife…and turn the TV off. You are going to have to pursue her…and NOT just when you want something from her. You are going to have to stop being a jerk. And ladies, you are going to have to stop gossiping about your husband to your friends. You are going to have to stop telling your children their father is a loser.

Evaluating Safety in Your Kidmin

Jenny Funderburke Smith

February 17, 2020

We have had several instances at our church in the past couple of weeks that have reminded us how important it is to review the safety of our environments. We have always valued safety, but with everything else, if you don’t revisit and re-evaluate that value, things will start slipping. Here are the questions we are asking:

– Are our current policies being enforced? We are doing somewhat of an audit to make sure that everyone in our environments has updated background checks done. We are trying to update anyone whose background check is over 5 years old. We also have re-emphasized our pick-up procedures. Volunteers (and staff) need to be reminded that this is always important. We are reminding leaders that policies such as two adults in a room are not optional.

– Do volunteers know all the policies? Right before the holidays we did a series of video trainings on youtube for all of our volunteers. We covered how to identify and report child abuse, how to protect yourself and the policies we had in place to protect children, and also general safety such as procedures for evacuation, severe weather or an intruder. We also created a document like the one Sojourn Church has that was distributed to all of our volunteers. We asked them to sign and return to emphasize the high importance. You can see it here.

– How can we better restrict access to kids? I am very jealous of you who have all of their kidmin rooms on self-contained halls with 1 safe door. 🙂 Our preschool hall has three entrances as well as a ~~stupid~~ door that goes from backstage of the worship center onto our hall. Our elementary hall is the only path for several adult classes that meet on the back hall. We get alot of non-kidmin traffic on both halls that we don’t love and limits our security. Our awesome preschool minister has decided to lock down preschool during services, allowing parents in who need to drop off or who have a parent security sticker to pick up or check on their child. This probably should have been done a long time ago, but I think we were erring on the side of not inconveniencing our people. Not a good way to err. Elementary is not nearly as easy of a fix, but our first step will be reinforcing the need for volunteers to wear nametags. That is something else we have gotten slack about. Evaluate your areas and see what needs to be done to make it safer? Are bathrooms open to adults as well? Are there ways for unauthorized adults to gain access to kids?

– How secure is our building during the week? Security needs to be important even when kids aren’t in the building. You don’t want valuable equipment to turn up missing. One pastor recently shared the story of finding a homeless man living in their church! That would not be the surprise guest you want for children’s church! Work with your staff to make sure the building is as secure as possible during the week.

– Do you have a plan? As children’s pastors, we are not always geared towards the worst possible scenario, but I believe it is important. What would you do if someone armed entered the church? What would you do if a child turned up missing? What would you do if someone became angry and violent in the church hallway? Lord willing, none of these things will ever happen… but what if they do? Have a plan and share much with your other leadership. Do you have a security team in place? Who do you call to come get the crazy person?

What are some other things that you evaluate about the safety of your children’s ministry?

Church Rises to CA Gov’s Challenge to Help Homeless Youth

Jessica Lea

February 17, 2020

St. Paul Church of God in Christ in Sacramento, California, hopes to partner with city leaders to help provide transitional housing for homeless youth. Pastor Larry K. Joyner told ABC 10 News that the partnership would simply continue the church’s posture of outreach toward the community.

“We’ve always tried to better the people that come here and to better our neighborhood and make sure our neighborhood never falls short,” said Joyner. By helping to provide transitional housing, he said, “We’re doing something that we’ve been doing for 30 years.”

Helping Sacramento’s Homeless Youth

St. Paul is offering Sacramento some of its vacant property in order to help the city respond to an initiative issued by Governor Gavin Newsom, reports ABC 10. In December 2019, Newsom launched a 100-day challenge, offering cities and counties in California additional government funding if they set and met specific goals to stop people from experiencing homelessness. These goals could look like getting 100 veterans off the streets or building 100 housing units, all within the 100-day time frame.

Local governments that wish to accept the challenge can apply to receive $35 million that comes out of a $650 million emergency aid fund. This money would supplement any other assistance cities and counties are receiving from the state. City leaders implementing the 100-day challenge do not have to follow specific guidelines, but have the leeway to determine how to meet their respective goals on their own. “We want to inspire community action at the local, county, and regional level,” said Newsom.

According to data provided by the U.S. government, the homeless population in the state of California is close to 25 percent of the total homeless population in the United States. The number of homeless in California totals nearly 130,000, surpassing the combined populations of Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Arizona.

Sacramento is one of “numerous” cities in California that have accepted the governor’s challenge. According to Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, the city has committed to getting “at least 100 efficiency housing units up and running.” The mayor noted that before these units are built, city leaders will need to secure the land on which to build them.

Pending approval by the city council, the proposed development on St. Paul’s property will be called “Emergency Bridge Housing at Grove.” A city council report states that the plan is to start by building 24 two-person cabins that could house up to 48 people between the ages of 18 and 24. Because St. Paul has additional land available, there is the possibility of building 26 more cabins so that the site could eventually house up to 100 people. A nonprofit called First Steps Communities would manage the shelters and property, and the goal would be for young people to stay in the cabins no longer than six to 12 months before moving to permanent housing.

Sacramento’s city council is set to vote on the proposal Tuesday, and Joyner said he hopes homeless youth will be benefiting from the land by March. If the city approves the plan, said the pastor, “This is going to give us the opportunity to help a lot of children.”

Priscilla Shirer Surgery: ‘It was curative—praise the Lord!’

Megan Briggs

February 17, 2020

Bible teacher Priscilla Shirer is recovering from lung surgery. The daughter of Tony Evans and the late Lois Evans, Shirer posted a video to her Instagram account thanking her supporters for their notes of encouragement, prayers, and gifts. She also shared a praise report: The surgery she underwent was “curative” and all she needs to do now is recover.

Priscilla Shirer: Surgery Was ‘Curative’

“I am recovering well from the surgery,” Shirer said in a video she posted over the weekend. “And the surgery was curative–praise the Lord…I don’t have anything else to do in that regard other than recover.”

Shirer says her breathing is still pretty labored, and that she is “working on my lung capacity and getting a little breath back here,” but she didn’t appear to be having any issue speaking.

The popular Bible teacher mentioned a couple times how “grateful” she and her family are for the support they have received during a particularly trying couple of years. Shirer assured followers she had received their gifts and letters. “Every card you’ve sent, every gift you’ve sent, I’ve read them all, gotten them all, and I’m really grateful. Thank you so, so much.”

“Thanks for continuing to pray for us, for our family as we recover from everything that has gone on,” she mentioned. “Many of you know that we’ve lost quite a few family members recently, the most recent of which was our sweet mom. And then after that I had to have a pretty major surgery, and you’ve asked how I’m doing and I haven’t had a chance really to respond. So I just wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for praying for us and for being mindful of us.”

View this post on Instagram

Just popping in to say hello 👋🏽 I want to express HUGE thanks to every Bible study group, young Prince/Princess Warrior or individual who has been connected to our ministry through books, Bible studies or even movies who has prayed for me & my family, sent a card or gift or posted a comment of encouragement. Please know that I have personally received every single one. You cannot imagine how much of a blessing it has been. 💜 With all my heart….Thank you.

A post shared by @ priscillashirer on Feb 14, 2020 at 2:36pm PST

Shirer is scheduled to minister at an event in Hawaii in May with her brother, Anthony Evans. In other Instagram posts, Shirer indicates she has been “home-bound and pajama-clad” for last several weeks. Shortly after posting the video thanking her supporters, Shirer shared about going to see Oprah–an event she had hoped to attend with her mother, Lois.

View this post on Instagram

More than 6 months ago, we purchased tickets to take our Mom to see @oprah on her #oprahs2020visiontour 💜 Well, mom left us 6-weeks too early to make it today but I know she’s having more fun than we are anyway, that’s for sure! #heavenisreal. HEY MOM! LOOK!!! WE BROUGHT YOU TO SEE LADY O. 💜💜💜

A post shared by @ priscillashirer on Feb 15, 2020 at 10:56am PST

The Evans family has sustained the loss of many family members recently, including Shirer’s grandfather, Arthur Evans. Additionally, Tony Evans’ niece, Wynter Evans Pitts, died suddenly in her sleep in the summer of 2018 at age 38. Pitts was the founder of the ministry For Girls Like You. Only six months before Wynter’s death, Tony Evans lost his brother. Adding to these tragedies, Evans lost his sister, Beverly Johnson, unexpectedly in January 2019.

Pastor Among 24 People Killed in Attack in Burkina Faso

Stephanie Martin

February 17, 2020

In the latest attack on civilians in Burkina Faso, gunmen killed 24 people—including a pastor—on Sunday and wounded 18 more. The violence occurred near a Protestant church in the town of Pansi, in Yagha province. About 20 gunmen killed Christians as well as Muslims, and then set the church on fire.

A week earlier, suspected jihadists in the West African country abducted seven people from a pastor’s house; five bodies—including the pastor’s—were later recovered.

‘It hurt me when I saw the people’

Sunday’s attack took place during a weekly worship service, according to regional governor Colonel Salfo Kaboré. He described “armed terrorists” attacking “the peaceful local population, after having identified them and separated them from non-residents.”

The gunmen also looted rice and oil from local shops and kidnapped three young people to help them transport the goods via motorbike.

After visiting some of the wounded victims in a hospital about 110 miles away, Mayor Sihanri Osangola Brigadie said, “It hurt me when I saw the people.”

Rise of Anti-Christian Violence Is ‘alarming’

Targeted attacks have become increasingly common in Burkina Faso, leading to a humanitarian crisis. In 2019, more than 1,300 citizens were killed, a seven-fold increase from 2018. The resulting fear has led to the internal displacement of more than 760,000 people.

Corinne Dufka, regional director for Human Rights Watch, says the attacks, often aimed at Christians, have grown at “an alarming rate.” She explains, “Perpetrators use victims’ links to government or their faith to justify the killings, while others appear to be reprisal killings for killings by the government security forces.”

Open Doors, which lists Burkina Faso 28^th on its latest World Watch List of persecuted Christians, notes that fear prevents many Christians from attending worship or sending children to school. “Christians of Muslim background are the most persecuted Christian group in the country,” the group states. “Family and community members reject them and attempt to force them to renounce their Christian faith.” Of Burkina Faso’s 19 million residents, about two-thirds are Muslim and one-third are Christian.

Conflict, Poverty, and Drought Play a Role

Though the former French colony had a lengthy history of religious tolerance, Burkina Faso has been affected by “spillover” fighting in neighboring Mali, where Islamist militants seized control. The impoverished nation also has high unemployment and failing infrastructure.

Severe droughts amplify the crisis in West Africa, where an estimated 70 percent of people rely on agriculture and livestock for sustenance. “This is an area that is being first and hardest hit by climate change,” says Alice Hunt Friend at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The economies in these regions are very, very difficult, and so militancy is one answer for a lot of young men.” Hunt Friend is among the experts pushing back against proposed U.S. troop withdrawals from West Africa.

Jihadist terrorism throughout Africa’s Sahel region concerns Pope Francis, who prayed in his Christmas message that Jesus would “bring comfort to…the victims of attacks by extremist groups, particularly in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria.”

Three Lessons from Simon the Magician

Warren Peel

February 17, 2020

Last Lord’s Day in our congregation we were confronted by the unsettling figure of Simon the Magician in our series in the book of Acts (8:9-24). Luke seems to include his story in his treatment of the Samaritan church for the same kind of reason he includes Ananias and Sapphira in his chronicle of the Jerusalem church: to serve as a sobering warning to all churches. In particular he is a warning of at least three things:

1. The reality, power and danger of magic.

How many Christians think there is no such thing as magic? Listen to what John Wesley said on the subject, writing in his journal in 1768: ‘the giving up of [belief in] witchcraft is in effect giving up the Bible.’ The Bible affirms clearly the existence of supernatural power, and gives many illustrations of how people successfully harnessed demonic power. 1 Samuel 28 records the story of Saul trying to contact spirit of Samuel through the medium of Endor. Whatever else this episode tells us, it shows us the reality of a spirit world. Whether it was actually the spirit of Samuel who came up out of the ground, or an evil spirit pretending to be Samuel, there is no question that a spirit appeared.

Or remember how the magicians of Egypt were able to perform some genuine miracles. Pharaoh’s wise men, sorcerers and magicians were able to turn their staffs into snakes by their occult arts, and to imitate the first two plagues on Egypt.

Simon the Magician was a man steeped in the occult who practiced real magic. Luke emphasizes just how successful he was in Samaria: They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, ‘This man is the power of God that is called Great.’ (Acts 8.10) He may not mean much to us, but he was a household name in Samaria—in the poorest and in the richest homes. Nor was Simon some cheap conjurer, pulling rabbits out of a hat or coins out of people’s ears: …they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. (Acts 8.11) You don’t keep a grip on the popular mind year after year by doing the same old tricks over and over. Simon the Magician had tapped into real supernatural, demonic power.

2. Believing the truth in your head is not the same as trusting it in your heart.

The commentators debate back and forth whether or not Simon was a true Christian or not. The reason why some are prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt is because of Acts 8.13. When many people in Samaria were believing the message about Jesus Christ that Philip was preaching …even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. Simon the Magician believed the gospel. It’s not that he pretended to believe the gospel—he really did sincerely believe the message about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He of all people in Samaria had no problem believing in supernatural realities—he had witnessed them at work first-hand for many years.

But it becomes clear that although he believed the truth in his head, his heart was unchanged. Peter is given the ability by the Holy Spirit to look inside Simon’s heart and what he sees is very unpromising: ‘…your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.’ (Acts 8.22-23)

Simon the Magician had the same faith as James says the demons themselves have: ‘You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder.’ (Jas 2.19). The demons are perfectly orthodox in their theology—and so are many people who think they are true Christians. Perhaps there could be a ‘Simon’ reading this blog—you like theology, you enjoy discussing it and reading about it and thinking about it. You have impeccable Reformed credentials—you hold to the five points of Calvinism without reservation. It’s good to know and believe theology, but we must be on our guard that it doesn’t become a substitute for trusting Christ. But Simon shows us you can have a sincere head knowledge of the truth without actually being saved, because you’ve never turned from your sins & trusted Christ to save you from the punishment you deserve.

3. The desire for power is powerful.

When Simon sees the transformation the Holy Spirit brought about in his fellow Samaritans after Peter and John laid their hands upon them, he wants to buy the power to confer such life-altering blessing. ‘Give me this power also,’ he says (Acts 8.19). The old Simon the Magician hadn’t really gone away. He had simply discovered a greater power than the one he had tried to manipulate before.

‘Give me this power.’ Those words reveal a desire that is found in the warp and woof of the fallen human nature of every one of us—the desire for power. It’s this desire that is almost always behind every other desire we have. What is the desire for money but the longing to be able to control your environment? How many young women long for the kind of outer beauty that the world rates? But why? So they possess the power to turn the heads of men and have superiority over other women. Ever since Eden we have lusted after power, when Satan whispered that empty promise into Eve’s ear, ‘You will be like God’. Does this help explain in part the enduring popularity—and even proliferation—of superhero movies? Because it taps into a yearning we all have.

We need to be on our guard against this subtle and powerful desire. The desire to help others in ministry can be perverted into a desire to exercise power over them—that they become dependent on us, consulting us, looking to us, needing us. And we who are involved in ministry can unwittingly encourage people to depend on us rather than the Lord.

It’s good to remind ourselves that our God is the source of all power and that all power belongs to him; but also that he gives his people strength and power. (Ps 68.34-35)

This article about Simon the Magician originally appeared here.

Free eBook: Commentary on Exodus

Daniel So

February 17, 2020

Free eBook

Download The International Critical Commentary on Exodus by James Murphy.

You can download in a variety of formats, including:

Get Download Now

Resource provided by Archive.org

Too Busy to Lead Family Worship?

Don Whitney

February 16, 2020

Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) was a Baptist pastor in London for most of the second half of the 19th century. His is one of the most recognized names in Christian history, but he’s best-known today as the Prince of Preachers.

An electronic search of the mountain of material produced by Spurgeon reveals that he often referred to family worship, which he also called “family prayer.” “I esteem it so highly,” he said, “that no language of mine can adequately express my sense of its value.”[1]

Some may think that Spurgeon lived in a much simpler era that afforded him more time to practice family worship than Christians would have today. I’ve conducted a great deal of Ph.D. research on Spurgeon’s life and pastoral ministry, and can confirm this isn’t so.

Spurgeon’s autobiography, as well as many firsthand observers, tell us that Spurgeon …

(1) pastored the largest evangelical church in the world at that time (with more than 6,000 active members),

(2) preached almost every day,

(3) edited his sermons for weekly publications, and thereby

(4) produced (in the 64-volume Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit) the largest collection of works by any single author in English,

(5) wrote an additional 120 books (one every four months throughout his entire adult life),

(6) presided over 66 different ministries (such as the pastor’s college he founded),

(7) edited a monthly magazine (The Sword and the Trowel),

(8) typically read five books each week, many of which he reviewed for his magazine, and

(9) wrote with a dip pen 500 letters per week.

And I think I’m busy! Five hundred hand-written letters? I couldn’t write 500 tweets per week! Even if I were just copying verses from the Bible!

God gave Spurgeon an extraordinary capacity for work and productivity. And yet, despite the ceaseless, crushing demands on his schedule, at 6:00 each evening, setting aside a to-do list that few could match today, he gathered his wife, twin boys and all others present in his home at the time for family worship.

After his death, his wife Susannah wrote this glimpse into their lives together with their twin boys, both of whom became pastors:

After the meal was over, an adjournment was made to the study for family worship, and it was at these seasons that my beloved’s prayers were remarkable for their tender childlikeness, their spiritual pathos and their intense devotion. He seemed to come as near to God as a little child to a loving father, and we were often moved to tears as he talked thus face to face with his Lord.[2]

A visitor to the Spurgeon home once wrote,

One of the most helpful hours of my visits to Westwood was the hour of family prayer. At six o’clock all the household gathered into the study for worship. Usually Mr. Spurgeon would himself lead the devotions. The portion read was invariably accompanied with exposition. How amazingly helpful those homely and gracious comments were. I remember, especially, his reading of the twenty-fourth of Luke: “Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.” How sweetly he talked upon having Jesus with us wherever we go. Not only to have Him draw near at special seasons, but to go with us whatever labour we undertake. … Then, how full of tender pleading, of serene confidence in God, of world-embracing sympathy were his prayers. … His public prayers were an inspiration and benediction, but his prayers with the family were to me more wonderful still. … Mr. Spurgeon, when bowed before God in family prayer, appeared a grander man even than when holding thousands spellbound by his oratory.[3]

You may know of no one as busy or as burdened as yourself, but can you honestly say you have more responsibilities than Spurgeon?

Despite his innumerable and important responsibilities, Spurgeon made the privileges and delights of family worship a priority. How about you?

[1] C. H. Spurgeon, “Hindrances to Prayer,” Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol. 20, (London: Passmore and Alabaster, 1874; reprint, Pasadena, TX: Pilgrim Publications, 1981), 506.

[2] C. H. Spurgeon, C. H. Spurgeon’s Autobiography. Susannah Spurgeon and J. W. Harrald (comps.). (London: Passmore and Alabaster, 1899; reprint, Pasadena, TX: Pilgrim Publications, 1992), 64.

[3] Arnold Dallimore. Spurgeon: A New Biography (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1985), 178-179.

Don has published a book on Family Worship: In the Bible, In History and In Your Home.

Ransomware Roundup: What You Need To Know Right Now

Steven Sundermeier

February 16, 2020

Over the last few months, there has been tremendous growth in the number of ransomware attacks running rampant in the wild. Cybercriminals have not only cracked this ‘business model’, but are successfully generating a significant amount of money through this attack avenue. What was once an attack technique that was aimed solely at susceptible individual users has now been strategically developed into the ability to penetrate advanced enterprise networks as well. Ransomware attacks are capable of causing significant system downtime, loss of critical data, Intellectual Property (IP) theft and more. In several industries, a ransomware attack is now considered on par with a significant data breach.

When compared against other malware, ransomware is highly destructive in nature and its popularity indicates how at-risk critical/important user data is and how this data is made unusable until a ransom is paid.

Here we will discuss ransomware under the following broad sections:

•What is Ransomware?
•Infection Vectors
•Payment Mechanisms
•Mitigation Techniques

What is Ransomware?

Ransomware is a type of malware that restricts access to or damages infected computer systems for the sole purpose of extorting money from victims (holding them ransom). This money can be in the form of direct payments or via Bitcoins. Ransomware also has the capability to encrypt user files on a system and display threatening or incriminating messages on screen in order to demand money via online payment mechanisms. Ransomware can be broadly classified into the following two types:

Encryptor:
In this case, it encrypts all important files and asks for a ransom to decrypt the files.

Screen Locker:
It locks the infected system completely and prevents the usage of the system until a ransom is paid.

Because computer users save and store multiple mediums of important documents, images, photos, source code etc. on their systems, ransomware variants ensure that they have the capability to encrypt all possible file types, in order to capitalize on saved personal data and images across the board. The extensions that are culpable to attack by ransomware are listed below:

*.c *.h *.m *.ai *.cs *.db *.db *.nd
*.pl *.ps *.py *.rm *.3dm *.3ds *3fr *.3g2
*.3gp *.ach *.arw *.asf *.asx *.avi *.bak *.bay
*.cdr *.cer *.cpp *.cr2 *.crt *.crw *.dbf *.dcr
*.dds *.der *.des *.dng *.doc *.dtd *.dwg *.dxf
*.dxg *.eml *.eps *.erf *.fla *.flv *.hpp *.iif
*.jpe *.jpg *.kdc *.key *.lua *.m4v *.max *.mdb
*.mdf *.mef *.mov *.mp3 *.mp4 *.mpg *.mrw *.msg
*.nef *.nk2 *.nrw *.oab *.obj *.odb *.odc *.odm
*.odp *.ods *.odt *.orf *.ost *.p12 *.p7b *.p7c
*.pab *.pas *.pct *.pdb *.pdd *.pdf *.pef *.pem
*.pfx *.pps *.ppt *.prf *.psd *.pst *.ptx *.qba
*.qbb *.qbm *.qbr *.qbw *.qbx *.qby *.r3d *.raf
*.raw *.rtf *.rw2 *.rwl *.sql *.sr2 *.srf *.srt
*.srw *.svg *.swf *.tex *.tga *.thm *.tlg *.txt
*.vob *.wav *.wb2 *.wmv *.wpd *.wps *.x3f *.xlk
*.xlr *.xls *.yuv *.back *.docm *.docx *.flac *.indd
*.java *.jpeg *.pptm *.pptx *.xlsb *.xlsm *.xlsx

Here are some screenshots of a few ransomware families:

Encryptor: CTB-Locker

Encryptor: Cryptolocker

Screen Blocker: Urausy

Liberation Must Include Reconciliation

Efrem Smith

February 16, 2020

I have an issue with folks who deal with the race issue by simply talking about liberation and the end of white supremacy. This limited solution to the issue of race misses the mark in two ways. One, it doesn’t go far enough in bringing a more comprehensive solution because it keeps the issues within the matrix of race. The further development of blackness becomes the solution for dealing with the problems of a dominant whiteness. The more comprehensive solution must include pulling the covers back on both blackness and whiteness and exposing this false social construct. Blackness and whiteness must be dismantled. Ethnicity and culture are truer elements of humanity than race. Whiteness rose by making itself good while blackness was bad. Is the solution to simply reverse this and make blackness good and whiteness evil? Or to fight for the empowerment of blackness?

The second issue is that a race-based solution doesn’t work within a true biblically-based, Christian theology. Now I know that there are many who are fighting for racial justice who don’t care if the solution to racism is deeply connected to a Christian theology. Well, as a Christian, this is of utmost importance to me. Christianity works for me because it is about dealing with sin. Racism, injustice, prejudice, and oppression are forms of sin, and the God of the Bible has a solution for this. This solution is about liberation and reconciliation. Racism is truly dealt with in Christ. Not the black or white christ, but the true multi-ethnic Christ who is both Jew and Gentile. Jesus Christ walked the earth as a multi-ethnic and multicultural human being (Matthew 1). When we are reconciled to God through Christ, we are born again and given a new identity beyond the social construct of race. Until we get to heaven though, we still live in this race-based society. This is why we must dismantle the segregated state of the church so that the church becomes a true new and reconciling community. This kind of community can in part deal with the ugly and sinful issue of racism and the injustices that come from it.

The Bible is the story of God delivering a people out of oppression, and it’s also about the opportunity for reconciliation and new identity for all humanity. To separate these two critical points is to limit freedom and salvation.

Crucial Elements of a Youth Ministry Training Session

Rachel Blom

February 16, 2020

Today I want to give you some ideas for what a youth ministry training session could look like, assuming you’re doing a ‘live’ one and not one via video or podcast. Here are the essential elements of a youth ministry training session:

1. Opening

I think it’s crucial to always start your training with reading from God’s Word. It’s helps us to focus on why we’re doing youth ministry, Whom we’re serving in it all. I really advice you to prepare this part just as well as the actual training. It happens too often that we pick out some random Bible passage without really linking it to the rest of the day and the content of the training.

Take the time to find a fitting passage that will inspire your volunteers in their role in youth ministry, don’t stay on the beaten track here. Something new and fresh often works very well. Prepare it well, explain the context and link it to the rest of the day. It would be even better if you can find a passage as a central theme for the day and keep coming back to it…

Prayer is an essential element of a youth ministry training session. Make sure you time it well and that you use creative methods and approaches.

2. Prayer

A time of prayer is an essential element in youth ministry training. It encourages us, helps us stay dependent on God and it helps create unity in your group. The only issue is that you need to time it well. Starting with an extended prayer time isn’t the best option, because it’s a ‘low-energy activity’ and you want to start with something energizing. Ending with prayer time often doesn’t work either because people are tired, need to leave already and nobody has the mental ‘rest’ anymore to pray. In my experience, planning prayer time right before a break (lunch for example) often works well.

Whenever you plan it, make sure you use different ways, methods and approaches. Don’t always do group prayer, but vary with prayer walls, praying in twos, writing our prayers, silent prayers, etc. It’s a great opportunity to model fresh ways to pray for your students to your leaders and volunteers!

3. Why

One essential element that is often forgotten in youth ministry training is the ‘why’ of the training. Don’t assume your volunteers know why you think it’s important for them to learn whatever you’re teaching on. Make it very clear what your motives and goals are. Inspire them to do the training by sharing your mission and vision for your youth ministry, for applying this knowledge or skills, etc.

4. Fun

Always do something fun together that helps the group bond and get to know each other better. I’ve often started with short icebreaker-type games that don’t last too long, but at the same time are a high-energy start of the day. Do the same after a lunch break to get everyone energized again. If you have a fairly ‘theoretical day’ with loads of new information, doing a physical game works well.

5. Food

I’ve said it in one of the previous posts in this series, but I’ll say it again: whenever possible, share a meal together. It’ll give your volunteers the opportunity to relax, get to know each other better, share stories or experiences, catch up, etc. Don’t do this in a hurry, you can easily take an hour. Other than that, providing good food and nice drinks are necessary as well. Make sure you have great snacks in between sessions. Spending a little extra time on these can really make your volunteers feel valued!

6. Diverse training program

If you want to take the learning styles of your volunteers into account, you’ll need to make a training program that’s diverse. Here’s how to do that:

Make your monologue-type sessions 30 minutes long, maximum. Whenever possible, use creative methods in the teaching sessions as well like videos, songs, demonstrations, etc. Make it as interactive as possible.
Don’t schedule two teaching sessions back-to-back but do something different in between.
Use handouts for each session, make sure there’s room for making notes.
Don’t let everyone sit too long, schedule an activity in between where they have to stand, walk around or move, for instance brain storming sessions, exercises, etc.
Use visual elements in the teaching sessions like graphics, videos, Powerpoint, etc.
Silence can also be a very effective element, for instance a couple of minutes of silence reflection on the teaching.
Plan one or two discussion rounds where your volunteers can discuss what was said. Prepare good questions for these. Doing this in twos is also a good option.
Use different teachers, don’t let them listen to the same teacher all day. Select teachers who are passionate about their subject.
Explain the theory behind what you’re teaching, cite research where relevant. Give suggestions for further reading for those that are interested. You could even set up a ‘reading table’ with examples of great books on youth ministry related topics.
Share stories, preferably out of your own ministry to demonstrate the validity of what you’re teaching.
Ask questions, involve your volunteers as much as you can in the training.

I hope I’ve given you some creative ideas on how to set up a good and diverse youth ministry training session. I’d love to hear good practices that you’ve discovered when training your volunteers!

The Importance of Building Genuine Relationships with Other Believers

Philip Wagner

February 16, 2020

One of the most important aspects of becoming strong in your faith, is building healthy relationships with other believers who have a genuine & mature walk with God.

The lack of mature followers of Jesus in your life will result in difficulties that are unnecessary.
No friends.
Wrong friends.
Friends who you think are spiritually strong – but are not.

Some people enjoy a large church because of its focus on others while other people want a small, intimate church.

We believe that our church must become larger and smaller at the same time.
The size of the church does not change the opportunity for close connection.

How can a church grow large yet maintain close friendships?
Getting connected and growing at Oasis Church means participating in a ‘small group’. At Oasis we call our ‘small groups’ – Connect Groups.

They are one of the most important things we focus on at Oasis.

(They met) day after day, in the Temple courts and from house to house.
Acts 5:42 NIV

You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. Acts 20:20 NIV

Connect Groups provide 3 things:

1. A place to Connect with others.

“…yes, whatever a person is like, I try to find common ground with him so he will let me tell him about Christ and let Christ save him.” 1 Corinthians 9:22 LB

2. A place for Protection.

We know what real love is because Christ gave up His life for us. And so we also ought to give up our lives for our Christian brothers and sisters.
1 John 3:16 NLT

3. A place to Grow.

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17 NIV

Oasis CONNECT GROUP System

Variety of groups
Our groups are varied as we are, with various topics, various locations and various times of the week.Whatever your age, interest, or location – there is a group that is just right for you.

We have groups of all areas of focus from relationships, prayer, faith, outreach, and marriage and family. Our newest group is the Alpha Course- which I highly recommend- is for anyone exploring Christianity or wanting to grow in their faith after recently making a decision for Christ.

We have Celebrate Recovery: a group that helps people overcome grief, addictions of all kinds (sex, alcohol, drugs, food etc.) It helps overcome insecurities, discouragement or relationship struggles.

We even have Financial Peace University, which would be a crucial class for most people.

Three semesters
New groups start and stop three times a year—spring, summer and fall semesters. Each semester is kicked off with an online registration and a new small group directory.

We are signing up right now for our new Connect Groups. I ask you to sign up this weekend at oasis in one of our 5 services. Or click on the link below to sign up today.
http://www.oasisla.org/life–oasis/connect-groups/

Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing. Instead, let us encourage each other. Hebrews 10:25 (GN)

In our personal relationships we need – Frequency, Authenticity, Affinity, Empathy, Humility, Honesty, Mercy, Confidentiality and Unity. Connect groups provide the opportunity for all of these.

May the Lord make your love to grow and overflow to each other… so that you may stand before him guiltless on that day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns with all those who belong to him. 1 Thess. 3:12-13 LB

I am giving a new commandment to you now – love each other just as much as I love you. Your strong love for each other will prove to the world that you are my disciples.
John 13:34-35 LB

Mike Breen on Missional Communities, Part 1

Mark Howell

February 16, 2020

Mike Breen is one of the most prominent leaders in an important grouplife trend referred to as missional community. Formerly the Senior Rector at St. Thomas Crookes, Sheffield, Breen currently leads 3DM, the global home for an organic movement of biblical discipleship and missional church that is centered in the United States. While at St. Thomas Crookes his team pioneered some very different ways of being the church and grew to be the largest church in England by the time he left.

I recently had the opportunity to ask Mike a few questions about missional communities. Here’s part one:

Mark: Let’s start with a little bit of definition. When you’re talking missional communities, what do you mean by that term?

Mike Breen: First off, I think it’s important to note that Missional Communities really isn’t a “new” thing. It really isn’t a fad or the savior of the church. Really, it’s something we see quite clearly in scripture when you begin understanding that every single letter that Paul wrote was to churches with an average size of about 45. Furthermore, while it’s a bit new to the United States, it’s been happening in Europe and other places for decades. So that really informs the discussion.

A Missional Community (MC) is a group of 20 to 50 people who exist, in Christian community, to reach either a particular neighborhood or network of relationships. With a strong value on life together, the group has the expressed intention of seeing those they are in relationship with choose to start following Jesus through this more flexible and locally incarnated expression of the church. They exist to bring heaven to the particular slice of earth they believe God has given them to bless. The result is usually the growth and multiplication of more Missional Communities. These MCs are networked within a larger church community allowing for both a scattered and gathered church. These mid-sized communities, led by laity, are “lightweight and low maintenance” and most often meet 3-4 times a month in their missional context. Each MC attends to the three dimensions of life that Jesus himself attended to:

Time with God (worship, prayer, scripture, teaching, giving thanks, etc)
Time with the body of believers building a vibrant and caring community
And time with those who don’t know Jesus yet

Now this may sound a bit complicated, but it’s actually quite simple. It’s really just a spiritual extended family on mission together. That’s really it! If you’d like a bit more info on it, I think you’ll find this Wikipedia article is really helpful.

Mark: Thanks Mike! That gives us a good overview of the idea. What do you think are the most important advantages of this kind of group?

Mike: MCs first began as missional small groups (groups of 8-15 people) more than 20 years ago in England, and honestly, that’s where many churches begin in the United States, trying to make their small groups more missional. However, after a few years it became clear they were small enough to care, but not large enough to dare. Missional growth, multiplication and momentum was rare with these smaller, more missional groups. Leader burnout was common. Quite honestly, it took several years for this to surface as a recurring problem that needed to be dealt with. In fact, a lot of small group research coming out now shows that even the healthiest and mostly missionally minded groups can only multiply three times; it’s just too hard and too painful. Why go through that again?

After a few more years of experimenting, mid-sized groups, about the size of an extended family, emerged as a missional and discipleship vehicle that was capable of the exponential growth and depth we see today. As Missional Communities continued to develop further and as we began to research why, something exciting came to light: Every culture (and sub-culture) gathers and finds identity in groups the size of extended families. When natural genetic extended families break down, people of all races, ethnicities and backgrounds organically begin to re-create the extended family. Missional Communities were simply tapping into something hardwired into human DNA.

Mark: I love that phrase. “Small enough to care, large enough to dare.” That really says it well.

Are you on the missional community path? Exploring the concept? What do you think about it? How’s it working? You can chime in by clicking here.

Hope you found part one of my interview with Mike Breen helpful. I’ll be posting part two tomorrow. You can make sure you don’t miss anything by signing up to my updates right here.

Do We “Bring” God’s Presence When We Worship?

Dan Wilt

February 15, 2020

It is for those who love when God’s presence is experienced, at all levels, by a community who has gathered to worship.The following is, I submit, a theological course correction necessary for Worship Leaders and Pastors who lead in settings that intentionally welcome the Holy Spirit to be “manifest” as we engage in worship.

First of all, let me affirm this: I love the Holy Spirit. I also love when the Holy Spirit is manifest in a room in a palpable way, and people are responding (aided by expressions of worship) to the invisible, yet overwhelming, presence of the living, loving, ever-present God.

But as pastors and worship leaders, we have a responsibility to think about the way we talk about that experience to our congregations. We may mean one thing theologically, but when we’re not careful with our words, we communicate another. Theological ideas can be helpful or unhelpful to the discipleship of Christians—what we believe about God and how He works—and the following addresses what I believe to be a theologically faulty way of talking about God’s presence in any given worship environment.

Do We Bring the God’s Presence When We Lead Worship?

Here is my answer: We don’t “bring” God’s Presence by our music, worship, messages or prayers.

I believe such language is theologically faulty, and confuses Christians when we use it. It suggests that we ourselves are the primary actors in the worship story, and that our actions precipitate whether or not the omnipresent God is “there” or not.

God is already present. God is the primary Actor in worship. Ours is to respond (1 John 4:19).

We turn our hearts to perceive Him, welcome Him and to request His Presence be ever more manifest among us (ex: Solomon and the dedication of the Temple in 2 Chron. 5:13-14, and the disciples in the Upper Room in Acts 2). God doesn’t “show up” in this sense; He reveals Himself and we perceive Him—as we are open to a revelation of Him.

If We Don’t ‘Bring’ the Presence of God, Can We ‘Welcome’ the Holy Spirit?

Welcoming the Holy Spirit is an act of invitation, yes, but not an invitation for the Holy Spirit to come into the room as if the Spirit has been absent.

Welcoming the Holy Spirit is an invitation to the already-present God to more fully overtake our hearts and to make His presence more evident, to more of us, in revelatory and transforming ways.

Worship leaders and pastors then create environments that help a community to become aware of His presence (well-curated worship environments can beautifully facilitate this), and to engage with Him as the already-active God who is near and can be perceived.

Our liturgies do not make God do anything, that would be magic (performing certain actions in order to get a divine being to do our will).

Rather, our liturgies (including rockin’ worship sets) invite Him to more fully do what He is already doing in and among us, even as they open our hearts to respond to the Spirit’s active, manifest presence.

God may choose, in some instances, to make His presence more evidently manifest in various environments. In this we can think of the examples of the Spirit filling Solomon’s Temple (2 Chron. 5:13-14), or the rushing wind empowering the disciples in Acts 2:1-4.

But we should not take the credit for His choice, even as we create environments where we as people are able to be more perceptive of what is actually happening in the room.

God “brings” Himself if you will, and is present before we ever begin the music. (I.e., Omnipresence is the theological presupposition to which we must orient before language for what is happening in the room falls from our lips.)

10 Ways to Become a Plastic Church

Chad Missildine

February 15, 2020

article_images/2.17.BecomePlasticChurch_593103538.jpg — image

What is a Plastic Church?

A Plastic Church is a church that looks like church from the outside: building, services, staff, etc. Who knows, there may even be a steeple! On the inside, however, the Plastic Church barely resembles a church at all. No real community of believers, no prayer, no real concern for people, no application of Scripture in real life, no transformation.

These are all signs of a real, authentic church. Could you have a Plastic Church or be on your way?

Here are 10 Ways to Become a Plastic Church:

1. Devalue authenticity.

Don’t Miss

Don’t create an environment where people can come as they are, baggage and all. This is easy when you, the church leader, are not authentic and genuine. Act as if you have it all together, and everyone else will act the same way!

2. Don’t push people to serve out of obedience to Jesus.

Talk instead about what’s in it for them. Better yet, don’t encourage people to serve at all.

3. Be a fake Follower of Christ.

There is no better way to have a fake church than to be a fake follower of Christ as a church leader. Talk the talk, but don’t get off your tail to walk the walk. Be a Plastic Church leader.

Choose Your Attitude: 4 Attitudes You Can Choose Today

Brandon Cox

February 15, 2020

Sometimes God takes me back to kindergarten, spiritually speaking. I spend time reading theological treatises, but I sometimes forget the most basic and simple of truths. Here’s one of those basic truths I sometimes struggle with: You can choose your attitude.

We don’t choose our circumstances. We don’t choose the weather, the direction of the economy, what people around us will do, or the direction of world events. If we could choose our circumstances, we would avoid discomfort every time, and in doing so, we would miss out on some amazing opportunities for growth. So we don’t get to choose our situation, but we do get to choose our attitudes.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

~ Philippians 4:8 NIV

In other words, focus your thinking on better alternatives. Here are at least four attitudes we get to choose.

4 Attitudes You Can Choose Today

1. Choose Your Attitude of Confidence In Spite of My Circumstances.

My situation might stink, but God is always alive, awake, actively working, and attentive to my situation. He saw it coming. He’s fully prepared. He wants to grow me through it and He’s on my side. Those are little truths to throw in the face of the enemy when he plants seeds of doubt. If God is for us (and we know He is) then who or what can possibly be against us?

2. Choose Your Attitude of Being Positive In Spite of Criticism.

Anyone who has ever had any influence on their surrounding culture has endured criticism. And often that criticism comes from the circles of people from whom we would least expect it. But criticism doesn’t have to defeat us. We should draw out of criticism anything that might be true and use it to our advantage. Everything else, we should throw at the feet of Jesus and turn our desire to be defensive over to Him (this is one of my biggest struggles). And we should be tenacious and stubborn enough to keep pressing toward God’s goal for us regardless of what others might say.

3. Choose Your Attitude of Being Hopeful When Nothing Seems Certain.

Some of the toughest times we go through aren’t necessarily times of deep loss, but rather are times of waiting, times of uncertainty and unrest. When our presumed reality seems to be threatened and the positive things we were counting on seem to fall through, we can still be hopeful. God’s goal for us doesn’t change. He still intends to shape us into the image of Christ. He’s still going to return in absolute victory someday. He’s still causing us to be more than conquerors through Christ.

4. Choose Your Attitude of Being Content with Christ Alone.

Of the four choices I’m mentioning, this one is by far the toughest. In fact, it really takes a lifetime for us to get this one down. Being content with Christ alone is a difficult attitude to gauge in our western culture because we have so much more than Jesus. I have a family, a home, two cars, food on the table, cable television, air conditioning, and gadgets galore. Will I ever know if I would truly be content with Christ alone? I’m not sure, but what I can do is walk in this attitude on a daily basis when deals fall through, when people let me down, when losses come. I can practice the discipline of saying “Jesus, You are enough. If all I have is You, I’m okay.” Contentment boils down to accepting with gratitude whatever God has in mind for us, surrendering our own idea of what is necessary in exchange for His idea of it.

These are tough. Adopting healthy attitudes is a daily discipline that requires our enjoying time with God in prayer, yielding to others, and cultivating thoughts of gratitude for God’s grace. Regardless of the size of the challenge, I know that all of these attitudes are possible because they are all commanded and exemplified in Scripture.

So choose wisely.

This article originally appeared here.

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