Clayton Kershaw’s Fate (and the World Series) Is in God’s Hands

October 26, 2018

thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Clayton Kershaw is the Los Angeles Dodgers’ left-handed pitcher. The Dodgers have a lot of hope resting on the broad shoulders of this young man. He himself has a lot of hope resting in God.

“God gave me the ability to throw a baseball. He chose me for a reason, and I want to honor him with that,” Kershaw says. Number 22 for the Dodgers, Kershaw has been instrumental in the team making it to the World Series playoffs both this year and last.

Christian Athletes Have a Unique Platform

Kershaw calls it a blessing to be able to play baseball every day. He says baseball gives him a platform to interact with people who love the game.

The husband and father of two says his faith really came to fruition in high school, during which time he attended Fellowship for Christian Athletes (FCA) meetings. “Looking back, I realize the speakers we had when I was in FCA had a big impact on my life,” he told FCA Magazine in an interview.

Now, Kershaw speaks to that same FCA group for Christian athletes at Highland Park High School, the school he graduated from in a neighborhood outside Dallas, Texas. He takes this job very seriously, considering himself fortunate that the kids there might actually listen to him. He returns year after year to speak to the group.

In addition to his involvement with FCA, Kershaw and his wife, Ellen, lead the nonprofit organization Kershaw’s Challenge, which serves vulnerable and at-risk children in Los Angeles, Dallas, Zambia and the Dominican Republic. The organization puts on Ping Pong 4 Purpose, which is a competitive ping pong event featuring celebrities, professional athletes, fans and friends. The proceeds from the event go to support the Dream Center and Just Keep Livin’ Foundation’s initiatives in Los Angeles, and International Justice Mission’s initiatives in the Dominican Republic.

For Kershaw, “talking about [faith] is one thing, but living it is the most important.” In a video interview with FCA, Kershaw shared about one of his favorite verses. Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” For Kershaw, that means playing baseball for the glory of God, as if he were playing for God and not all the fans who cheer him on or the Dodgers’ owners that sign his paychecks.

Clayton Kershaw Is Just Stewarding This Gift

Kershaw is very intentional with his time and training schedule, as most athletes must be. “You can’t control the talents He gives you, no doubt about that. But you can control the effort you put forth with those talents.”

Whether or not the Dodgers win the World Series is up to God, as far as Kershaw is concerned. “He’s in control of [my life]” Kershaw says. “He brings joy to my life; he brings pain to my life; sorrow to my life, all for a purpose… Instead of trying to figure that all out on my own in my timing, he’s teaching me that I’m on his timing.”

The Dodgers are currently facing the Boston Red Sox in the World Series. As of the release of this article, Boston is leading the series 2-0. The two teams will face each other this evening to play game three.

Thanksgiving Wall—Helping Kids and Families Appreciate Your Volunteers

Danielle Bell

October 25, 2018

Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Each year I struggle with how to show my Sunday and Wednesday investors (volunteers) how much they are appreciated by the kids, the parents and me. So for the past two years I have started having a “thank you” wall. Here is how it works:

In a very visible hallway/lobby I place envelopes on the wall with the name and class of every investor, greeter, intern, etc.
On a table nearby, I place out cards and pens. For the whole month of November, I encourage not only children, but parents to write a note of thanks.
Some children choose to draw a picture or write notes at home and bring them to church and place them in the envelopes on Wednesday or Sunday.
I also include a thank you poem and a handwritten thank-you card from me in each envelope.
The teachers are asked not to look in their envelopes while they are hanging on the wall.
We take them down the Sunday before Thanksgiving and mail the envelopes to the teachers. Our goal is, while they are relaxing and being thankful, they will be blessed to read notes from the many who are grateful for the ways they share Jesus with the children.

This article originally appeared here.

4 Reasons Pastors Need Community

Chris Surratt

October 25, 2018

We all need community. In fact, we were designed by God to be in community. You can see it modeled for us with the perfect relationship of the Trinity in Genesis.

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” (Gen 1:26)

And then prayed for by Jesus with His final prayer before His death on the cross.

May they all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You. May they also be one in Us, so the world may believe You sent Me. (John 17:21)

So why do so many pastors try to go it alone? Most of us believe we need smaller groups in our churches for people to do life together in, but so many of us are not in one ourselves. There are a lot of excuses why you can’t be in a group, but here are four strong reasons why you should be.

Pastoring is a lonely world

A pastor is constantly pouring himself out to other people. With weekly sermons, counseling appointments, hospital visits, drop-ins in the office and impromptu stops in the grocery aisle—a pastor is almost always in “on” mode for the congregation. If you are not allowing others to speak into your life, there will eventually be nothing else to give. Poor decisions happen when we are the most spent out.

We all need accountability

I am not just speaking to moral accountability, although that is important. We also need to be held accountable for being a better spouse, a better parent and a better friend. We need accountability to study scripture outside of our weekly sermon study. Iron sharpens iron, and we become dull without a community to hold us to our commitments. Spiritual willpower is overrated and weak.

Your church needs a model

If the pastor is not a part of a small group, it’s likely that most of the congregation will not be as well. If your desire as a pastor is to see your congregation growing spiritually and being discipled in community, you will have to lead the way. Statistically, a church can expect less than 40 percent of the adult attenders to be in small groups if the pastor is not the champion of groups. That percentage can jump to 70+ with the senior leader modeling group life. That doesn’t mean you have to lead a group, just be a member and tell the stories to your congregation.

Growing leaders grow leaders

Every church needs more leaders. I have not communicated with a single church leader who felt like they were good with the number of current leaders in the church. The question is always, “Where do we find more leaders?” The answer is pretty straightforward—they have to be developed. Your church is full of potential leaders who just need someone to walk alongside them for a season. But, that will never happen if the pastors and staff are not growing. Every leader in your church should be in a smaller group making disciples who make disciples, and that has to start with the senior leader. Ask yourself, who am I personally discipling right now?

This article originally appeared here.

7 Other Weekend Metrics Church Leaders Should Study Regularly

Rich Birch

October 25, 2018

Too often, church leaders only pay attention to weekend attendance and revenue patterns at their churches. Sometimes these numbers are referred to as “nickels and noses” or maybe the slightly more vulgar “butts and bucks.” However, there are many other factors to consider if we’re trying to understand what’s really happening inside our churches.

Attendance and revenue numbers are limited indicators; they are simply the result of other things taking place. To have a true understanding of how our churches are growing, we need to dive into leading indicators.

Leading indicators are numbers that demonstrate what’s happening under the hood of your church and reveal the direction it’s heading.

We measure and study those numbers because we believe that if we focus on measuring, we will see a greater difference in the lives of the people in our church and in the community that we serve. It’s been said that what we measure is what really matters to us. If we consistently only report on attendance and revenue numbers, then we send a subtle message to our leadership team that at the end of the day the only things we care about are bigger numbers and more money.

We also need to move beyond how we feel about what’s happening at our church and look at the truth of the situation. Part of being a leader is defining reality, and numbers have a way of both doing that and sobering leaders in the process. Too many times I’ve heard church leaders talk about how they feel about what’s happening in their churches, but those feelings aren’t connected to reality in any way. Instead, we should be looking at numbers that reflect the truth about what’s actually happening at church.

An executive pastor or key team member should undertake the important practice of examining these numbers on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis. Keeping these metrics in front of your people can help the church develop strategies and approaches that drive your church to be more effective. Prevailing churches often have dashboards that they generate internally and distribute (via email or through other reporting mechanisms) that present these numbers graphically in order to keep people who aren’t interested in spreadsheets keyed in on what’s happening at the church.

The question for us is what numbers should we be looking at outside of attendance and revenue? Here are seven other areas that you can regularly study to help you understand what’s taking place in your ministry.

New-Here Guests

When a church leader talks to me about growth, I frequently find myself asking them about their new guest numbers. Understanding the ratio of new-here guests to your total average attendance can provide a clearer picture of what’s happening from an evangelistic perspective. This important indicator demonstrates whether or not the church is drawing in new people on a regular basis.

A good rule of thumb to follow is this: The yearly average number of new-here guests should be equal to the average number of regular attendees on a single Sunday at your church.

Example 1: If your church averages 200 people on a Sunday, then every weekend you should be averaging about four guests per weekend.

Example 2: If your church has 500 people in attendance on a regular basis, then every weekend it would be reasonable for you to see 10 new guests.

If your church typically averages less than that ratio, it could be that your new-here process isn’t robust enough or you’re not effectively gathering information from your new-here guests to get them connected. Likewise, it could be that your front door simply isn’t wide enough and that you need to spend more time reaching out to your community.

Year-to-Year Growth

I’m constantly surprised that many church leadership teams fail to reflect on what their regular attendance was a year ago in comparison to today. This is a relatively simple way to see what’s happening in the life of your church. By comparing numbers from year to year, you can quickly get a sense of the momentum that has been gained or lost in your church over the last year.

I suspect many churches don’t report their year-to-year attendance numbers because they’re concerned that it will show that their church has flat-lined or is in decline. However, keeping that number in front of leaders will force people to ask, what are we doing to reach more people this year than we did last year? If, in a worst case scenario, your church is in decline, ask yourself, “Why aren’t we growing, and why aren’t we impacting more people than we did at this point last year?”

Percentage of Volunteers

This is an important health metric for the church. In fact, I see this number as a core reflection of growth and potential for the future of a church. Oftentimes, churches that have plateaued or are in decline see somewhere around 20 percent of their people serving on a regular basis. You’ve heard the old adage that 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work. Well, that’s not a good percentage ratio for your church.

Engagement is critically important to a growing church and ensuring that your community has a high percentage of people serving regularly is an important factor that ensures engagement is possible. Tony Morgan states that 45 percent of your adults need to be serving in one way or another. This percentage is relatively consistent with numbers I’ve seen in growing churches; on any given weekend, 30 percent of the adults are volunteering in one way or another.

Let’s do the math: If your church had 300 people in attendance last weekend, it would be reasonable and appropriate to see 100 people serving next weekend.

What that number of volunteers does is provide a high level of service for your guests by aiding and driving growth. Volunteer percentage is a critically important piece of the puzzle that is necessary for us to understand what’s happening in the lives of our churches.

How to Know How Long Your Service Should Go

Rick Muchow

October 25, 2018

QUESTION:

“I would like to know about the number of songs you choose and the length of time for praise and worship for each service. Does the length of time for praise and worship depend on how the Holy Spirit leads you?”

RICK MUCHOW:

The question of how long is like a river that flows between two banks. If the senior pastor’s philosophy of ministry for the church is speaker-driven communication, this will result in less time for music. If his philosophy of ministry is experiential, this may result in more music. The congregational worship experience for most churches flows somewhere in between those banks.

The issue of time and the leading of the Holy Spirit is a common struggle in the church. The good news is that the Holy Spirit knows how to work within time and cultural constraints. The Holy Spirit works with great power, but in our humanity we often feel that we need to do more, to go longer. Longer does not necessarily mean more effective. Many times, longer is less effective as we start to lose the attention of parts of the congregation.

Careful preparation starts with the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Many services I plan are done by faith with as much info as I have at the time, asking God to bless it and remembering that flexibility is an essential quality of the servant worship leader. Proverbs 16:1 says, “We humans make plans, but the LORD has the final word,” and Proverbs 16:9 says, “We make our own plans, but the LORD decides where we will go.”

In addition, many times we underestimate how long it takes to do a song. Very few songs are three minutes. I allow five minutes per song as a rule. It’s important to time your songs to find out how long it takes for your team to really do them. Timing the service is the key. Go through the flow, imagining how these songs can help connect the congregation in worship and also reinforce and help people to understand the theme for that weekend, working out natural transitions including keys and song arrangements. Assuming that you don’t talk in-between songs, then three songs in a live situation generally equals about 13-14 minutes MINIMUM (usually 15 min.). For some music styles, three songs could take 30 minutes. Not timing songs out before the services is like going on a vacation not knowing how much you have to spend. Most often we will go longer than we think, and not due to the Holy Spirit. I’ve found that the longer the service, the less prepared my leadership often was.

If my pastor gives me 20 minutes and I feel I’m going to run long, I will cut songs so that I can end on time. It honors God when we keep our word and follow our senior pastor’s leadership.

When doing multiple services, time must be considered! The people coming to the next service have to be cared for. The parking lot needs to be cleared out from the previous service making room for new people to park, drop off their kids and get seated. Blessed are those that teach our children because they often have to improvise and scramble when services go overtime.

Many times at Saddleback if we go long at the first service, I will cut the closing song to save three to five minutes. I think it’s really important to sing the closing song, but it’s even more important that the childcare workers have enough time to change shifts or prepare and for the incoming cars to be able to find parking spots so the people can get to the next service.

At Saddleback, we have two basic types of worship services, each with a unique purpose: the evangelistic service and the believer service.

Most of our services are evangelistic services. They are designed to draw the unbeliever with an open heart to the possibilities of reality with God. The purpose of the music in the service is to reinforce the message; to prepare the people’s hearts for the message and reinforce the spoken word. In this service, the music selections are very focused on theme, framing and supporting the message. The message is usually 50-60 minutes (sometimes more) and the music is 20-25 minutes. Many times we’ll do a “Point and Play” service. Point and Play is where the service is divided into three to five sections with the speaking pastor making a key point and then the worship team reinforcing that point with a song. This is done for each key point in the sermon. Depending on the number of points, there may be only enough time for two or three songs before the message.

Believer services generally allow for more in-depth worship time, both in the spoken word and through music. We have monthly worship nights that take place on Wednesday where the focus of the service is more devotional and expressive.

The mix of people in the group can change your music goals. Every person is at a different point in their spiritual growth, and not everyone may be ready to worship through music. You probably have non-musical people in your group. We have to remember that there are people in our churches for whom music does not and probably never will have an impact. For most people, however, music is a very effective communication tool.

Another key consideration is the size of the group. A large group setting generally allows you to do more music than a smaller group setting.

Finally, the movement of the Holy Spirit can be like watching a Polaroid picture develop. It’s easy for us to think that we are the person holding the picture, but in reality the Holy Spirit is holding the picture and we’re just a part of the development process. We have to do the best we can to catch God’s vision and frame the service, and then have faith that God will develop it.

This article originally appeared here.

6 Marks of a Faithful Ministry

Tim Challies

October 25, 2018

God is good to give us pastors. The very fact that God calls certain men to “care for the church of God” (Acts 20:28) proves that the church is in need of care. God gives us pastors because we need pastoring. But what is this ministry? How does a pastor minister to his people in a way that expresses due care and concern for them? Last week I spent some time studying Paul’s charge to the elders/pastors in Ephesus (see Acts 20) and saw him lay out a series of marks of a faithful ministry.

The pastor’s ministry is a humble ministry. Paul reminded these church leaders, “You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility…” Paul could humbly say he had served them with humility. He had always desired their good and God’s glory rather than his good and his own glory. He had served them as a slave under the rule of God, faithfully carrying out his ministry. He was an example of selflessness, of esteeming others higher than himself. The pastor is to serve humbly, to serve just like Jesus served. An arrogant ministry is the most destructive kind of ministry.

The pastor’s ministry is a bold ministry. Paul was humble, and his humility allowed him to be bold. “I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable.” Paul didn’t just whisper or suggest what was true. He declared it. He declared anything and everything that would be beneficial to his congregation. He held back nothing that would be good for the state of their souls. A few verses later he says “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” This church got all of it. They got the whole Bible, not just the parts that are easy or the parts that play nice with the surrounding culture. His confidence was in God, so he boldly declared the whole counsel of God. Pastors aren’t called to be popular, but to be heralds of the truth.

The pastor’s ministry is a teaching ministry. Paul reminds this church that he was “teaching you in public and from house to house.” There were both public and private dimensions to his ministry. There was a preaching component to it as well as a teaching or counseling component. He would preach before the entire congregation and he would meet with an individual or a small group. The pastor is first and foremost a minister of the Word of God and he is called to take the Word to the people by preaching it or by teaching it. Wherever they are is exactly where he will bring the Word.

The pastor’s ministry is a wide ministry. The pastor’s ministry goes out to all kinds of people and does not deliberately exclude any group. Paul reminds the church that he testified to both Jews and Greeks. He preached to anyone and everyone who would listen. He even actively sought out different kinds of people. Whoever was in his neighborhood would hear his gospel. He knew that the gospel is good news for everyone and he wanted everyone to worship together in one church, as one body. The news was too good to hold back from anyone.

The pastor’s ministry is a gospel ministry. What was the content of Paul’s message? When he spoke humbly and boldly, when he taught publicly and privately, when he went before Jews and Gentiles, what was it that he taught? “Repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is the gospel, the gospel of repenting of sin and putting faith in Jesus Christ. Paul’s gospel was not a social gospel or a prosperity gospel or any other misaligned or flat-out false gospel. It was the true gospel. The whole gospel. The saving gospel. It was the good news that declares “Repent and believe and you will be saved.” The pastor’s ministry is a ministry that is all about the gospel.

The pastor’s ministry is a pure ministry. This one is so important in an age where the prosperity gospel has risen to such prominence. “I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Paul’s ministry was not about personal enrichment. It was not about ego or status. It was about serving God by caring for God’s people. He served as a living, breathing illustration of Jesus’ words, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” If his church ever wanted to know what that looked like in real life, they just needed to think about him. Paul was not opposed to paying a pastor for his work, but in this context he wanted to demonstrate to these people the value of hard work and the beauty of a pure and selfless ministry. Paul could look these people in the eye and say, “I only ever gave. I never took.” The pastor’s ministry is a pure ministry that cares about souls, not self. The pastor who loves your money hates your soul.

The pastor’s ministry is humble and bold and pure. It is concerned with all kinds of teaching before all kinds of people. Its content is the gospel. This is the kind of ministry that fulfills the pastor’s duty to care for the church of God which he purchased with his own blood.

This article originally appeared here.

Filtering + Accountability + Humility: Protecting You and Your Family From Internet Pornography

Brandon Cox

October 25, 2018

Most of the conversations I have with men that go deep and personal pertain to lust and Internet pornography. Sometimes it’s deeper and even darker, especially when porn has created the illusion that people (especially women) are mere objects to be stared at and lusted after rather than souls to be loved.^*

I never, ever ask, “Have you seen online pornography?” Instead I ask, “When was the last time?” or “How bad is it?” It’s nearly universal. We even created what we call our church’s “porn page” to catch and help people who struggle.

Some people actually still argue that Internet pornography is a consent-based free enterprise and affects no one negatively. I can’t disagree strongly enough.

Porn is an enormous industry with many terribly dark and illegal spots where minors—boys and girls—and sometimes unwilling adults are forced, coerced or manipulated into participation.
Porn takes the act of sex, which is the most deep and intimate kind of exchange that can take place between two people, and reduces it to the observation of a purely physical exchange.
Porn breeds tremendous mistrust within marriages and relationships. Couples who claim that it helps their sex life are misinformed, misguided and are usually headed for disaster.
Porn weakens people (especially men) spiritually, causing them to struggle under the weight of tremendous shame and the fear of exposure.
Porn suggests to people (especially women) that they will never be able to live up to the acts portrayed on the screen or the page.
Porn promotes the dehumanization of people in our minds. We wind up seeing people as objects to consume mentally rather than souls needing genuine connection and love.

I’m speaking out of personal observation, plus empirical evidence from a multitude of studies. As FightTheNewDrug.org reports:

Studies have found that frequency of porn use correlates with depression, anxiety, stress and social problems.
Porn use has been found to influence some users’ sexual preferences, leaving them wanting what they’ve seen on screen and significantly less satisfied with sex in real life.
After being exposed to pornography, men reported being less satisfied with their partners’ physical appearance, sexual performance and level of affection, and express greater desire for sex without emotional involvement.
Among the effects of the use of pornography are an increased negative attitude toward women, decreased empathy for victims of sexual violence…and an increase in dominating and sexually imposing behavior.
The Department of Justice and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children both recognize that pornography is an element that adds to the serious problem of sex trafficking.

When it comes to solving the porn addiction epidemic, I don’t have all the answers. But when it comes to the desire of the next person who wants to be done with porn or to protect their family effectively, I do consider these three elements to be essential when balanced.

Still doubt? Download CovenantEyes’ Free Ebook, Your Brain on Porn »

1. Internet Filtering.

No system is flawless. If you want to see porn badly enough, you’ll find a way. But if you don’t want to see porn, you don’t have to and there are systems that are almost unbreakable.

I highly recommend CovenantEyes. It uses a VPN that works flawlessly. It doesn’t interfere with your normal Internet browsing, social networking or email. CovenantEyes offers multiple levels of filtering and allows you (with a family plan) to tailor the filtering to each age group represented in your home.

Further, it works on every device whether on wifi or a cellular network.

Check Out CovenantEyes’ Filtering & Accountability Software »

2. Accountability.

When someone like a close friend or my spouse is going to have access to my history and receive a weekly accountability report, I’m all the more careful when it comes to what I click on.

If you’re already struggling, there are two resources I highly recommend…

Subscribe to Overcome Porn: A Free 40-Day Email Challenge »

3. Humility.

Neither of the above options are helpful if you believe you don’t really need them, or if you decide you just don’t want them. But when I remember that I am made of flesh, subject to temptation and always the target of a sinister enemy, I can then humbly and gladly submit to both filtering and accountability.

If you’re in deep and need help breaking free…

Enroll in No More Porn: A 90-Day Online Recovery Program

Always remember, God’s will for you is to be sexually pure. That means that it IS doable. And when you have a relationship with Jesus, the Holy Spirit lives inside you, guarding your heart like a military garrison from the attacks of the enemy.

You can do this! You can live with a clean thought life. You can overcome!

^{* I’m well aware that porn affects women, too, and dehumanizes both the men and the women involved. Statistically, it affects women more, and I’m writing this article to speak strongly to the hearts of men.}

This article originally appeared here.

The Church Model Doesn’t Matter (as Long as You Stick With It)

Brian Jones

October 25, 2018

I have a friend who swears that drinking water and walking is the key to optimal health. He walks 50 miles a week and is in great shape.

I have another friend who does CrossFit four times a week and claims his Paleo eating plan is the best way to stay fit. He too has the physique to prove it.

I have yet another friend who claims that eating a purely vegan diet and long-distance running is the key to getting shredded.

And I have another friend who eats nine small meals a day.

One who swears by the Ketogenic diet.

Another who has had DNA testing and is eating a meal plan perfectly suited to fit his exact physiological makeup.

And another who does this weird intermittent fasting thing.

All of my friends (1) eat vastly different things (2) exercise in vastly different ways and (3) think the other people are doing it wrong.

So, who’s right?

They’re ALL right.

There is no one “perfect” approach to eating and exercise.

For all our similarities, every human body is different. We have different goals and interests and our lifestyles differ depending on age, family composition and career aspirations.

Here’s a not-too-well-kept secret of physical fitness: The diet and exercise regime that “works” is the one you actually stick with.

Save Your Sunday With These Simple Worship Ministry Hacks

Mike O’Brien

October 25, 2018

After 18 years of leading worship for the same church (14 of those in the same building), I’ve had the privilege of over time adding some helpful tools to our setup that serve the congregation and band in simple ways. Check out these 5 simple Worship Ministry hacks you can do now to help your team and church engage with the Living God.

Provide Earplugs at the entrance to the sanctuary

Most of a churches volume issues can be handled before [the] sound gets the loudspeakers and ears of the congregants. With that in mind, it’s [a] nice gesture to supply earplugs at the entrance for anyone that might prefer an attenuated experience. I have found that even when the sound is appropriate by any standard of measurement, there is still a small percentage of congregants that would benefit from a set of free earplugs. We refill this bin only once or twice a year and that’s taking into account that some kids think it’s candy

Buy a Backstage Tea Kettle For Your Singers

Christianity is a SINGING FAITH! Adding an affordable electric hot water kettle a great way to bless the singers of your worship team and encourage good vocal health! As I mention in the $200 Voice Lesson (free if you register to my newsletter), hydrating our bodies with room temperature and lukewarm fluids is crucial for a great vocal.

ALSO: MY 12 GO-TO APPS FOR WORSHIP LEADERS

Make a Diagram of the Stage Inputs and Put Them Everywhere

We’ve all been there. Screaming back and forth from the sound team and stage to “turn up this or that”. In addition to numbering cords and DI boxes, it’s a great idea to POST the inputs for the WHOLE STAGE at the soundboard and on the stage somewhere. Musicians and sound personnel can easily locate each numbered stage input with a legend that shows the whole stage at once. Instead of only you and Elder Bob knowing that 5 is now 7 and 8 is 9, let everyone in on the info!

Attach A Drum Key to the Drum Set with a String

As I covered is Winning the Volume War for Drummers, the drum set is one of, if not the MOST crucial instruments on the stage. Think of how many times those drums are hit during the course of several songs — tuning something that gets hit several times is a great idea! Many times drummers will not have drum key and attaching one to the community drum set (hi-hat stand) will keep it handy at all times.

Permanently Tape Worship Leader Cues on the Music Stand

“Uh, it’s time for the announcements… uh…. welcome to Faith Chapel…. uh, now is when we do the pass the thing…” As worship leaders, we lead the congregation with simple instructions every week that can become mundane. Instead of each leader creatively using his or her own language for those transitions TAPE the most CRITICAL information to a music stand. Use this for the call to worship, communion, tithe or exit language. Visitors will thank you.

Animated Show ‘Big Mouth’ Raises Big Concerns for Parents

Stephanie Martin

October 25, 2018

Parents and family organizations are speaking out about Big Mouth, an animated Netflix show about puberty that they say sexualizes children. The series, now in its second season, is rated TV-MA, for mature audiences, yet its cartoon format and juvenile humor seem targeted to preteens and teens.

Using crude humor and foul language, Big Mouth conveys the horrors of puberty (via “hormone monsters”) while dealing with a wide range of sex-related topics. The show also features cartoon nudity and jokes about drugs and alcohol. Celebrity voices on the comedy series include Maya Rudolph, Jordan Peele, Kristen Bell and John Mulaney.

Big Mouth’s Planned Parenthood Episode Exploits Young People, Critics Say

A recent Big Mouth episode about Planned Parenthood drew fierce criticism from conservative and pro-life groups. Skits covered topics such as contraception choices, sexually transmitted diseases, and a mother getting an abortion.

“This is more evidence that Netflix is becoming an evil media empire intent on corrupting its millions of young viewers with liberal theology,” said Jack Fonseca, spokesman for Campaign Life Coalition.

Nick Kroll, co-creator of Big Mouth, says the goal was to address misunderstandings about Planned Parenthood. “People think it’s only a place where you get abortions,” he says. Kroll realized the episode would generate pushback, noting that “Planned Parenthood is a real trigger for a lot of people.”

Monica Cline, a former sex educator who left Planned Parenthood, calls the episode “way off the mark.” She writes, “Planned Parenthood and the liberal elite normalize adolescent sexual promiscuity, adult sex with minors, and ending the life of pre-born children. The way to normalize these beliefs in our culture is by weaving it into consumable entertainment like Big Mouth.”

In a statement, Planned Parenthood said intimate discussions and decisions “are all a normal part of people’s sexual and romantic lives and should also be a normal part of what we see on TV and film.”

Hand Masters Game Represents “new low”

To promote the new season of Big Mouth, streaming giant Netflix launched a Facebook mobile game called Hand Masters. Players shake their cell phones, simulating male masturbation, and then receive raunchy feedback about their performance. The game, which generates sexually oriented nicknames for players, also offers sexual advice. “It’s time to play with yourself,” reads a promotional tweet from @BigMouth.

The Parents Television Council (PTC), which advocates for family-friendly media content, calls Hand Masters a “new low” for Netflix in its “sexualization of children.” The game is “crude, debasing and demeaning,” says Melissa Henson, PTC program director. “I don’t think anybody would say that this is healthy or developmentally appropriate for a teenager or junior-high-school-aged kid or prepubescent-aged kid.”

An Unclear Target Audience Adds to the Confusion

A major problem with Big Mouth, Henson says, is that the show’s intended audience is unclear. The TV-MA rating indicates “it’s for adult audiences only,” yet it is animated and addresses puberty in a juvenile manner. Either Netflix is “deliberately marketing very adult content to very young kids” or “intending adult audiences to watch this show where they’re sexualizing very young kids in a very disturbing way,” she says.

Kroll, the show’s co-creator, admits Big Mouth is controversial and that some children likely watch it. But he claims families will be “healthier” when they discuss the content.

Henson encourages parents to be aware of what their kids are watching and to employ parental controls, even though they aren’t always kid-proof.

Lauren Daigle on “The Ellen Show”: Watch Her Powerful Performance

Megan Briggs

October 25, 2018

Lauren Daigle on Ellen Show — YouTube @Singer Lauren Daigle Makes Her Ellen Debut

Lauren Daigle performed her song “Still Rolling Stones” on The Ellen Show this week. The Christian singer with a soulful voice blew Ellen’s diverse audience away with a powerful song about the saving power of Jesus.

“It’s all about the things we think are dead, and a reminder that all losses can be revived. They can all come back,” Daigle has said of the song. She performed it with a small host of backup singers and a band. The effect was powerful.

Host Ellen Degeneres’ announcement to the audience that she was giving them a copy of Daigle’s new album, Look Up Child was met with energetic applause. Degeneres remembered Daigle from the brief amount of time she, Degeneres, spent as an American Idol judge. Daigle competed in the show in 2010 and again in 2012.

Lauren Daigle’s Powerful Lyrics

Although her time on the show was brief, Daigle’s lyrics will likely stay with the audience members for a while. The song, while not mentioning Jesus explicitly, has plenty of touchstones to him, including the word Savior.

Here’s a snippet of the lyrics to Daigle’s “Still Rolling Stones”:

Six feet under
I thought it was over
An answer to prayer
The voice of a Savior
Rise up (rise up)

All at once I came alive
This beating heart, these open eyes
The grave let go
The darkness should have known
You’re still rolling stones

Now that You saved me
I sing ’cause You gave me
A song of revival
I put it on vinyl
Rise up (rise up)

I once was blinded
But now I see it
I heard about the power
And now I believe it
Rise up (rise up)

It’s obvious Daigle sees her music as more than performance or entertainment. “We’re starving for hope. We’re starving for joy in the world right now,” Daigle told Billboard Magazine. Daigle has already heard of evidence her music is helping people. She told Billboard a fan told her they were contemplating suicide but decided not to go through with it after listening to one of her songs.

Daigle’s new album is striking a chord with a broad audience and gaining her new fans outside her Christian base. In fact, Look Up Child debuted at number three on the Billboard Top 200 chart. Above her on the chart were Paul McCartney and Eminem. Below were artists such as Nicki Minaj, Cardi B and Drake. Look Up Child boasts the best sales week for a Christian album in nearly nine years. The last Christian album to do so well was Casting Crowns’ Until the Whole World Hears in 2009.

Daigle may be positioning herself to spend more time in the non-Christian music world. Speaking to Billboard Magazine, she indicated she would like to be able to make music for both Christians and non-Christians alike:

I want to let authenticity be the thing that people hear and that people connect to and that people don’t feel left [out]—the Christian fan base doesn’t feel left, but the non-Christian fans don’t feel isolated or excluded, because that’s the exact opposite of what I would want as well. It’s balancing that, and that purest form of balancing that is just staying genuine, staying authentic to who you are and who God created you to be.

The Antifragile Pastor

Chris Pascarella

October 24, 2018

What if hardships made you better? What if opposition and criticism energized you instead of drained you? Impossible? Think again.

The Teacup and the Skeleton

While engaged, my mom made me and my wife register for a set of china dishes… They’re the worst. You can’t put them in the dishwasher. You don’t use them very often. They break easily. They’re fragile. Fragile things break when stress comes. Rocks, on the other hand, are resilient. They don’t change much from stress. But author Nassim Taleb in his book Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder calls resilience “sissy resilience.”

Sounds harsh, right? But what if the opposite of fragile wasn’t resiliency but something else? What if something could be made better from stress?

Taleb labels things which gets better from stress as antifragile. For example, God made our bodies antifragile: Your muscles and skeletal system need stress to grow and stay healthy.

An Antifragile Faith

Our faith actually gets better from stress too. Check out these verses:

“We rejoice in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance” (Romans 5:3).

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance” (James 1:2).

“You have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7).

Trials can make us better Christians. They can also make us better pastors.

Becoming an Antifragile Pastor

Taleb’s book unpacks the concept of antifragility in way more depth than a blog post can do justice too. For a great summary of Taleb’s work check out this article. While he often he speaks to the business world, his principles can apply to pastoral ministry.

Sermon Feedback

Antifragile things grow from some stress being injected into them. To become a better preacher, have trusted friends give you (honest) sermon critique and feedback. It’s better to hear criticism from a good friend than to be savaged online. Plus, if you’re used to hearing feedback from those you trust, you will develop the ability to ignore the keyboard tough-guy who spouts his mouth off.

Plurality of Leaders

Taleb goes on to show that antifragile things have built-in redundancies. Think emergency winter supplies in your house.

Do you have redundancies in your ministries? If you were hit by a bus today, would your church survive? In other words: Have you raised up leaders to replace you? Our job is to equip the flock, not do all the work ourselves. We must be raising up new leaders. Plurality is antifragile.

Risk Is Right

Taleb unpacks something called the barbell strategy: “playing it safe in some areas…and taking a lot of small risks in others” (161). For the whole church, this could mean adding one new outreach initiative you’ve always wanted to add. By not adding a ton of ministries at once, you will better be able to handle the workload which comes with it. By not changing the core of what you do as a ministry, more of the congregation will find it easier to get on board with the new idea.

Rather than a complete overhaul of a ministry, think about what the easy wins are. What are small changes that could have a huge payoff? Make sure you stay strong in the foundation of what you are as a church while at the same time look for opportunities to stretch.

This article originally appeared here.

10 Ways to Develop as a Church Leader

Philip Nation

October 24, 2018

The work of the minister, pastor, elder and/or church leader is to equip the church as a whole and believers individually for God’s work in the world. But how do the equippers get equipped?

On a recent vacation from my full-time work as a pastor, I spent the time in three specific ways:

Unhurried time with my wife, Angie
Reading seven books on a few topics
Prayerfully discussing and dreaming about the future

A church leader expends great effort and energy in developing other disciples. We do so on a micro level of individual discipling and training. We do it on a macro level of developing a churchwide system for moving people from unbelief to globally engaged disciples. So how is a church leader to engage in personal development? Here are a few suggestions.

1. Ask your church to make it a priority. Ministers fail to engage in personal development because they are fearful it’s perceived incorrectly. Discuss this issue with the leaders of your church whether they be an elder board, personnel committee or church council.

2. Schedule time for personal development. If you do not block it off on your calendar, the tyranny of the urgent will undermine your effort. Plus, what is on your calendar is a declaration of your priorities.

3. Budget financial resources for it. A great deal of personal development does not cost any money. But books, online courses, the occasional conference or a trip to the counselor requires payment. Ask your church to make a commitment and then do the same from your own resources. Like a calendar, our budget is a declaration of your priorities.

4. Vary your spiritual content that you consume. I generally consume material from people whom I agree with on first and second order issues. However, it is beneficial to consume material from those who think differently from me on second and third order issues. Reading those that the church at large deems as heretics (for instance, someone who denies the divinity of Jesus) is of little value to me. But it is helpful for me to read books by thoughtful leaders that are outside of my denominational or methodological “tribe.”

5. Read books on strategic leadership by church and business leaders. Some pastors love to read the books by Malphurs, Mancini, Rainer and Hirsch. Other pastors loathe the idea as too sterile and unspiritual. Some pastors, like me, read a wide array of leadership books from the church, business and nonprofit realms. Obviously, I suggest that you consume more rather than less. Choose books that will stretch your thinking about how people process the concepts of change, growth, decline and success.

6. Biblically filter everything. As with all material, filter it through your best understanding of the Scriptures. I write this article with the assumption that you are regularly digging into the Word and allowing the Word to dig into you. In your development plan/process/retreat/vacation, bring the Word to the center of it all and to test it all.

7. Recognize the limitation of a conference. I’m a fan of conferences. I go to them and sometimes speak at them. But they are a place to receive group encouragement and generalized information. For your personal development, seek out specific help for your specific needs.

8. Stop reading a book if it’s not helping you. The same principle is for any podcast, article, lecture or any other piece of content. (Except my blog. Grin.) Your time is too important to waste on unhelpful items. Quit what is not working.

9. Call on leaders for help that you don’t expect to answer. Why? You’ll be surprised as to how many “busy leaders of influential churches/ministries” would love to encourage you. I press the guys on my staff to limit their time at conferences and replace it with connecting with other leaders who are ahead of us in maturity, skill and experience.

10. Build a local coalition. Our city is blessed to have a group of pastors that like one another and gather periodically for prayer. I frequently call on a few guys for encouragement and insight. They periodically call on me for the same. You’ll be amazed at how refreshed you’ll feel as a leader when you have a regular rhythm of interaction with other leaders dedicated to each other.

This article originally appeared here.

4 Ways to Involve Your Small Groups in the Great Commission

Rick Warren

October 24, 2018

If you want your church to balance God’s purposes and grow in a healthy way, your small groups must lead the way in the Great Commission.

It’s like this: You’re only as healthy as the cells in your body. It’s a basic truth of human health. If your cells are sick, your body will be sick, too.

The same is true in churches. Your church will only be as healthy as the cells within it.

And your small groups are those cells. They help build God’s purposes into every heart, every group and every ministry.

In Acts 2, we can read about the first small groups in the early church. The Bible says:

- They grew spiritually (v. 42)
- They ministered to one another (v. 45)
- They fellowshipped (v. 46)
- They worshiped (v. 47)
- They evangelized the spiritually lost (v. 47)

Unfortunately, many small groups today just focus on one or two purposes. Often, it’s fellowship or discipleship (or both). Maybe they’ll add some worship songs at the beginning of the meeting time. They might even be involved in ministry as a group.

But evangelism and missions tend to get left behind. This means many small groups aren’t balanced, and that stunts their influence. Yet small groups—the “cells” of a congregation—have such great potential when it comes to helping your church fulfill the Great Commission.

In his book Planning Small Groups with Purpose, Steve Gladen, the pastor who’s overseen Saddleback’s small groups for many years, writes: “The world can be the mission field for your small group ministry—from your front door to the farthest reaches. You can help your church define its global, local and personal opportunities to evangelize, and then equip your groups to meet those needs.”

It’s no coincidence that Jesus started his ministry by forming a small group. If anyone could have handled his mission by himself, it was Jesus. But instead, Jesus gathered a group of 12 to serve with him.

Here’s why it’s so important that we mobilize our small groups to fulfill the Great Commission.

We’re a family. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3:9, “We work together as partners who belong to God” (NLT). God wants his family to work together in the mission he has given us. God wants our relationships to grow as we serve.
We need each other. Nobody has all the gifts and talents we need to reach our communities and our world. God created us that way so we would need each other. The Bible says we’re a part of the body of Christ. We are a foot. Or we are a hand. Or we are a head. Or we are a mouth. We can’t fulfill our God-given mission on our own.
We get more done. The Bible tells us, “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed” (Ecclesiastes 4:9 NLT). Teamwork multiples effectiveness. God wants to use the people in your church in ways they never dreamed possible. But they’re not enough on their own. No one is. God wants to use us as part of a team to fulfill the Great Commission.

Your small groups can do this. They can work together to share Christ with friends locally and around the world. Here are a few easy steps to get people started.

1. Ask small groups to enlist a missions champion.

You really can’t create balanced small groups without champions. You need one for each of the five purposes (worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, evangelism/missions). You need someone passionate about fulfilling the Great Commission in every group to “own” evangelism and missions. If promoting missions is everyone’s responsibility, it’s no one’s responsibility.

Your missions champions will keep your small groups alerted to new opportunities to serve. This person will coordinate the group’s missions opportunities and make sure it’s a good experience for all who participate. They may also remind the group to pray for mission needs around the world. These champions will ensure that missions remains a part of each group’s experience together.

2. Encourage groups to pray for people who don’t know Jesus.

People can reject your arguments. They may refuse to listen to your logic. But they are powerless against your prayers. It goes straight to their hearts. The people in your small groups know people who don’t have a relationship with Jesus. Make sure it’s a habit for them to lift these people to the Father.

But also, ask your small groups to pray Colossians 4:3: “that God will open doors for telling the mystery of Christ” (The Message). When they pray, opportunities will come. Prayer makes us aware. They’ll start seeing those opportunities everywhere.

3. Build relationships with non-Christians.

Steve Gladen notes in his book that most classes and sermons focus on “closing the deal” and the final commitment of people coming to faith in Christ. Steve writes, “So in spurring small groups toward outreach, we will focus predominately on how to mobilize groups to plant and water—to love non-believers through all the weeks and years it often takes to build trust and overcome their misconceptions about Christianity.”

It’s important for the people in your small group, as they look for ways to engage non-believing friends with the Gospel, to appeal to common interests. We encourage small groups at Saddleback to make a list of interests they share in common. Then they can invite their friends to participate in these activities with them. It could be watching football, going to movies or gardening. Invite friends and relatives to participate in common recreational activities that the group enjoys doing together. These relationships will provide opportunities for the group to plant and water the Gospel into these relationships.

4. Serve together.

We also encourage our small groups regularly to participate in local mission projects together. Our church purposely provides mission opportunities that can be done as a group.
But you don’t have to stop with local involvement. Every small group can plan a mission trip somewhere together. Just like every person should have a global mindset, so should every small group.

Your small groups present the best way for you to get your entire congregation involved in God’s mission around the world.

Your church’s worship services are the mouth of the church. It’s where you preach the Gospel. It’s where you worship together as a body of believers.

But the heartbeat of your church is found in your small groups. It’s in the cells of your church where you determine its health. If your small groups aren’t balancing all five purposes (including evangelism), your church won’t balance the purposes. Your church won’t be healthy.

On the other hand, healthy churches have small groups that engage non-believing friends and take the message of Jesus around the world.

This article originally appeared here.

Will My Child Ever Be Able to Live Independently?

Mike Berry

October 24, 2018

We’re parenting children who have come from past trauma. Some have major special needs that require us to be hands on all the time. This begs the question: Will he or she ever live on their own, apart from us?

I pick my child up from the residential facility he lives in on a warm Sunday morning. He’s in high spirits as we slowly walk through the reinforced doors and down the sidewalk toward my car. Our conversation bounces from movies, to who the Colts are playing later that day, to whether or not I think Thanos can be defeated in the next Avengers film. It feels good to be with him. I love him deeply.

Unfortunately, we’re in this season because of his dangerous choices. A little more than a year ago, the choice to have him in our house was taken from us. It was excruciating, but the right choice to make. He’s a good kid, but a vital part of his brain is missing due to pre-natal drug and alcohol exposure. He often is incapable of keeping himself, or others around him, safe. When he lived with us, there were good days, but oftentimes, many more bad ones. And unfortunately the bad ones could have been fatal if a change didn’t happen.

On this day, for the next 10 hours, he’s all ours, and to the core of my being it feels good. This feels right. He should be with us.

Later in the day, as I watch him help his mother with a project on our farm, a series of questions flash through my mind. “Will he ever not need assistance? Will he be able to live in an apartment when he’s in his 20s? Go to college? Hold down a job? Get married? Raise a family of his own?”

Until this point, he hasn’t been able to do anything on his own. Granted he’s only 15, but anytime he’s been with us, or lived at home, we’ve had to keep two sets of eyes on him at all times. The tragedy of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder is that it primarily damages the pre-frontal cortex of the brain. Logic, reasoning, impulse control are all affected. Really bad, impulsive choices often ensue. It’s exhausting. For him and us.

And then I realize that he’s a freshmen in high school. In less than four years he’ll graduate from high school. Kind of mind blowing considering that it felt like just yesterday I was changing his diapers and laying him down for naps in his crib! The reality of life closes in on me like an evening fog. At this stage in parenting, most parents are envisioning their child moving into the college they chose, and then graduating, and then getting a job, and then raising a family. And then…ahh, the golden years where they travel to the kid’s house, stay for the weekend, and spoil those precious grandkids!

I don’t want to claim delusions of grandeur here…but? Just not reality for us. And it might not be reality for you either. The reality is that my child, and yours, may never fully be independent. That’s the truth we are wrestling with.

Here’s what I’ve journeyed through and now grasped fully…

My child may never fully live independently.

He may always need my assistance, or involvement, beyond that of other children. The tough thing about the trauma our kiddos have gone through is that it impacts their entire life, well into adulthood. And that, in turn, impacts ours. And I’m OK with that. I’m not bitter toward my child. I’m not bitter toward his past. This is what it is. I am his dad. And I love him more than anything.

The positive here is that I get to continue to be involved in his life. Of course, in today’s age, lots and lots of services have begun to pop up all over the country that are drastically changing the future for our children. We have already begun to research and plan for this. We want his life to be as bright and full of possibility as it can be. Because…it is! And we continue to believe in our child even though this journey has been hard. He’s smart, and funny, and charismatic. He has so much potential. I’m thankful that I get to be involved in that.

Maybe you’re reading this and feeling hopeless. I get it. If you’re like me, you didn’t sign up for this. But let me encourage you by telling you that you’re not alone. If I can offer you nothing else through this post, let me just say that I am right there with you. And, I would love to hear from you. We created this community as an outlet for parents to share, and lead on one another. Use the comment section below and let us know what has been the hardest part about parenting children from hard places.

Let’s together believe in a bright future. Let’s believe in our children. They are beautiful, and they are worth it!

This article originally appeared here.

8 Concerns That Church Members Seldom Tell Pastors

Chuck Lawless

October 24, 2018

If you read this blog regularly, you know my love and respect for pastors (I am one). I write this post not to offend pastors, but to help us be aware of some perceptions and realities. In my church consulting work, we often hear concerns that church members readily express to their leaders (e.g., they don’t like the music; they don’t like the way money is spent, etc.). We also hear, though, concerns that members tell us but often choose not to express to their pastors. Here are some of those unexpressed concerns we’ve heard:

“We’re struggling with your preaching.” Most church members love their pastors, and they don’t want to hurt them. Because they know preaching is a personal love for their pastors, they often don’t tell them their concerns.
“We feel like the church lacks a vision.” The members themselves may not know what the vision should be, but some of them recognize when there doesn’t seem to be one. Still, they’re more likely to talk about it among themselves than with their pastor.
“We don’t think you care about us.” Even the people who feel this concern most deeply sometimes wrestle with verbalizing it, perhaps because saying it aloud sounds almost selfish. Some members see their pastor as less than a caring shepherd, however.
“We’re not sure we can trust you.” It takes only one betrayal of trust to create distrust that can quickly spread through a congregation. Rather than tell pastors, though, members simply share their burdens with someone else.
“We don’t like our church growing this way.” Few people want to admit this concern publicly, but it’s out there. Sometimes the very committee that called the pastor gets upset when the church grows so much that they lose some of their power.
“We’re worried about the health of your marriage.” You can understand why nobody says anything here, even when the concern is genuine (and frankly, sometimes justified).
“We want you to put your phone down and listen to us.” It’s hard to tell a pastor these words, though, because most of us also bury our heads in our devices and don’t listen well.
“We wonder if it’s time for you to retire.” This concern is especially tough to put in words when the pastor has been a beloved, long-term, faithful leader.

Church members, what other concerns would you want to lovingly and respectfully express?

This article originally appeared here.

John MacArthur Stepping Down as The Master’s University President

Megan Briggs

October 24, 2018

John MacArthur, president of the Master’s University and Seminary (TMUS) in Santa Clarita, California, a framer of the Statement on Social Justice, and pastor of Grace Community Church, announced on Monday that he is resigning his position as president of TMUS.

“With the growth of the University and Seminary, demanding more leadership now and in the future, the time has come for me to transition,” MacArthur writes in a statement released Monday, October 22, 2018.

John MacArthur Will Still Have a Role at the School

In lieu of the presidency, MacArthur plans to keep a presence at TMUS and take on the role of Chancellor of the University. He will maintain his position as president of the Master’s Seminary. The transition period will be 18 months, during which time a new president for the university will be named.

MacArthur has held the position of president for 33 years, a position he calls a “rare and enriching privilege.” He writes:

I originally signed up for five years, thinking I would be able—along with my pastoral ministry at Grace Community Church—to help strengthen the University and Seminary. I underestimated the hold that educating young Christians for gospel influence on the world would have on me.

Class after class, year after year, as new students arrived, I found it impossible to let go of the opportunity to educate their minds and hearts to take the Light of God’s truth into this dark world. So, I have stayed and loved every day of my service.

MacArthur gives no indication of leaving under distressing circumstances or being asked to leave. He rejoices in the “91-year impact of this institution, because of its faithfulness to the Bible, to the glorious Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and His beloved church.” Additionally, he is looking forward to continuing serving the university in the years ahead.

John MacArthur’s Announcement Comes at a Curious Time

However, his announcement comes at a curious time. Earlier this year, TMUS was placed on probation by the accrediting agency Western Association of Schools and Colleges’ Senior College and University Commission. Among the issues cited in the report on TUMS include a lack of board independence, allegations of conflicts of interest regarding student financial aid, institutional leaders being hired who lack qualifications for the higher education positions they hold, and what the agency described as “a disturbing climate of fear, intimidation and bullying” at the university.

One of the concerns specifically involved MacArthur. TMUS is associated with the church MacArthur pastors (Grace Community Church) and the agency voiced concerns over the fact that MacArthur and other members of the board and cabinet members of TMUS are also on staff at GCC.

TMUS has less than two years to remedy the accrediting agency’s concerns with their school. Although he did not indicate this, MacArthur’s announcement may be tangible evidence TMUS is keeping their word to take the situation “seriously” as they try to remedy their probation.

More Religious Exemptions to Birth Control Mandate Expected

Stephanie Martin

October 24, 2018

Based on a new rule sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget last week, the Trump administration is expected to try again to broaden faith-based exemptions for health-insurance coverage of contraception. If the regulation clears the review process, it could expand the number of employers able to opt out of paying for birth control through company health plans.

Last October, the Trump administration attempted to weaken the so-called “birth control mandate” of the Obama-era Affordable Care Act (ACA). Two new federal rules permitted universities and publicly traded for-profit companies to forgo the mandate because of religious or moral beliefs, even if the organization isn’t faith-based. Those new rules have been on hold, however, due to lawsuits from several states, including California and Pennsylvania. The new regulation could be an effort to work around pending litigation, say some health advocates.

Critics warn that increased exemptions are radical and jeopardize women’s well-being. After the October 2017 rules were announced, Louise Melling, deputy legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union, said, “Any rule that allows employers to deny contraceptive coverage to their employees is an attempt at allowing religion to be used as a license to discriminate.”

Some Say the Mandate Violates Their Conscience

In May 2017, President Trump signed an executive order seeking to “address conscience-based objections” to birth control coverage. Attending that ceremony were nuns from the Little Sisters of the Poor, an order that tried to weaken the contraceptive mandate beyond the landmark 2014 Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby ruling. In that case, the Supreme Court said private, for-profit companies weren’t required to pay for employees’ contraception if the business had religious objections. The Court, in a 5-4 decision, said the mandate “substantially burdens the exercise of religion.”

Hobby Lobby president Steve Green, an evangelical Christian, argued that some forms of birth control “violate our conscience” because they induce early abortions. “We believe that life begins at conception,” he said, “and it’s something that we have no desire to fully fund, which is what the mandate requires.”

The ACA’s birth control mandate includes coverage of drugs known to cause “chemical abortions” after fertilization. That’s one reason the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had called the mandate an “unprecedented attack” on religious liberty.

Soon after the mandate was announced in 2012, a poll showed that 57 percent of people said contraceptive coverage should be optional for religious-affiliated organizations.

Expanding a Religious Exemption Could Have a Major Impact

Half of Americans, some 157 million people, have health insurance through an employer. After the ACA required company health-care plans to cover birth control at no additional cost, access to contraception was greatly expanded.

The mandate, according to one estimate, has saved U.S. women $1.4 billion on birth control. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that only 4 percent of privately insured women now pay out-of-pocket for contraception, compared to 20 percent before the ACA passed.

Details about the new rule haven’t been made public yet. But some people say it’s part of the Trump administration’s big-picture effort to broaden religious objections to certain medical procedures, tighten abortion restrictions and limit family-planning services.

Daniel Grothe: The Church Has Lost a Holy Hero in Eugene Peterson

Daniel Grothe

October 24, 2018

Remembering Eugene Peterson:

The news has spread throughout the land and many of the tribes of God’s people are in mourning today: Eugene Hoiland Peterson has entered his rest. The Pastor has completed his pilgrimage. He was nearing his 86th birthday, and his days in the land of the living numbered 31,397.

In December 2008, I wrote my first letter to Eugene after reading his book, The Contemplative Pastor. I was a 26-year-old pastor serving in a church that was walking through the valley of the shadow of death, but something about Eugene’s writing awakened hope in me that we could find our way back to the quiet waters. I had never met Eugene before I sent that letter and, frankly, he had no reason to write me back. He was 76 and could have ridden off into the sunset of the retirement he had earned. Nobody would have blamed him, not even I. But to my great surprise, he wrote back and invited me to their home in Montana for a few days of conversation and prayer. Since then, I’ve made seven trips to be with Eugene and Jan, their kindness making possible a friendship for which I’ll be eternally grateful.

The Loss We’ve Suffered With Eugene’s Passing

For my whole life, I have been told that heaven rejoices in moments like this. I believe that with all my heart. But today I’m sad.

Sad for Jan, who has now said goodbye to her best friend and lover of over 60 years; sad for their three kids, who mourn the passing of the father they have spent their lives loving.

On a personal level, I’m sad because I can’t pick up the phone anymore and call him for advice and prayer, because I can’t share another meal with him on their back deck, or take another dip with him in Flathead Lake.

But I’m also sad for the church in America because we have lost a holy hero, a living witness, someone worth emulating, who can say with authority, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” Eugene is one of the last of a generation of saints who had the courage to go slowly, who had the faith to live in obscurity. We have forgotten that it takes great faith to be small. Moses lived in wilderness-obscurity for forty years before leading the people out of Egypt. David lived in wilderness-anonymity before becoming king. Jesus himself lived the first 30 years of his earthly sojourn in quietude. As for Eugene, he spent 29 years tending a flock of saints in Bel Air, Maryland before the world knew about him. It wasn’t until the publishing of The Message that he became known, which means that it only took Eugene Peterson 65 years to become an “overnight success”.

And even when he became known, he ran from the spotlight and turned down opportunities that most of us would chase. This is the man who said no to an invitation from Bono, the world’s most iconic rock star, because he was too busy translating Isaiah. Sure, in the last few years they got together and formed a beautiful friendship, but not until it was time. Eugene was never in a hurry.

But I’m afraid that much of pastoral ministry as it is practiced in America today is marked by our impatience with the pace of life in the Kingdom. Instead of giving ourselves over to anonymity, we admire celebrity. While Jesus stripped himself of his robe to wash the feet of the world, many of our leaders in the church are recognized as fashion icons. Eugene called us to live The Jesus Way, but every day we’re seeing how easy it is to tell the story of the humiliated Jesus with all the hubris of Caesar Augustus. If we are not careful, we will live a long distraction in the wrong direction. But Eugene won’t let us get away with it that easily. His life and writings remain a provocation for the church as we move forward.

In the Exodus narrative, Moses is preparing to lead the people out of Egypt. After 400 years of slavery, they couldn’t get out of there fast enough. But before Moses leaves town, he makes one final stop. This detail found in the text should not be missed:

“Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the Israelites solemnly swear to do it, saying, ‘God will surely hold you accountable, so make sure you bring my bones from here with you.’”

Exodus 13:19, MSG

So many years before, Joseph, one of Israel’s sons, was sold into slavery by his brothers. He found himself imprisoned in Pharaoh’s Egypt. Though the environment was entirely hostile, Joseph had figured out how to maintain his faithful witness in an unfaithful land. So, before Moses charges out of Egypt and into the unknown, he slows down, goes to the grave of Joseph, exhumes his remains, and carries them with him all the way into the Promised Land.

Corey Nelson: How to Unintentionally Start a Church for Children

Jason Daye

October 24, 2018

Corey Nelson is a former Marine turned pastor. His unusual journey to ministry included a debilitating shoulder injury that subjected him to a battery of surgeries and left him virtually dependent on painkillers. After earning his degree from Asbury Seminary in Kentucky, Corey took the reigns of a United Methodist Church in one of the roughest neighborhoods of Louisville, Kentucky. Corey and his team have transformed that church into Grace Kids, a church completely devoted to children.

Editor’s Correction: In the interview, Jason mentions Corey pastors a church in a neighborhood the governor of Kentucky has described as the most dangerous in Kentucky. In actuality, the governor described it as one of the five most dangerous in Kentucky.

Key Questions for Corey Nelson:

– How did you go from pastoring an older congregation in a rough neighborhood to pastoring a church dedicated to reaching children?

– How has the church focusing on children impacted the community?

– Tell us about the personal trials God used to lead you into the ministry.

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Key Quotes from Corey Nelson:

“In those early years, we really focused on the gang bangers, the prostitutes, the convicts, the drug dealers. We really felt a push towards the people that it seems the Church claims to want, but I don’t really see a lot of action towards that, necessarily. And so, we wanted to create a safe space for them.”

“I just relate to kids. I never wanted to do children’s ministry, that was never on my radar, but I relate well to kids.”

“Mark 2:13-17 had a profound impact on me in seminary…with Jesus eating with the sinners and tax collectors and the idea that that was not your garden variety sinners.”

“I would pray to God for direction…but it felt like as I was praying I was shaking kids off.”

“We have seen just absolutely amazing fruit.”

“What if the church really believed the things that we proclaim? How different would the world be, how different would the church be? Because we say a lot of things, but we don’t live as if we believe.”

“We have kids that come in the door that literally have never heard the name of Jesus Christ. I’ve had kids come in the door that if I mention Jesus, will cover their mouths because they think that I’ve said a swear word.”

“[These kids] are finding hope…and restoring their ability to be kids and what God created them to be.”

“We can teach them Bible verses all day long, and we can train them to recite them back to us, but if they never commit to living it, if they never understand contextually what that means for them today, then we’ve failed here. I don’t want a bunch of robots that can recite John 3:16 for me.”

“I told my assistant if we can’t convey the message in 10 minutes, we’re failing.”

“We decided to make play a part of worship.”

“These kids are drinking up everything, and we’re beginning to see the fruits of that in their performance at school, in the way the way they behave in the neighborhood. We’ve seen a decrease in crime…”

“When we recognize that God loves them and wants them more than we ever could, and that God really is in control of this, that is so freeing.”

“I always told people that God and I were fighting this whole time. In hindsight, I was the one fighting, God was holding me like the petulant child lashing out.”

“I told the surgeon: If things went bad, I don’t want to come back from this.”

Links Mentioned in the Show:

The Emmaus Walk
Asbury Seminary
Mark 2:13-17
Gracekidschurch.com
Facebook: GraceKids Louisville

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Key Quotes from Corey Nelson:

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