Happy Birthday, America...! (And a few theological reflections on the Revolution...)

After having lived on three different continents, and having visted many countries around the world, as much as I love cultural and linguistic diversity, I still have a deep love for the U.S.A. and a deep gratitude in my heart toward the Lord for the privilege of being born here. America is certanly not a perfect nation, but I believe it has been a blessed nation, in spite of our sins and our shortcomings. On this July 4th, I encourage you to pause for a moment and thank God for the U.S.A., asking God for His continued help and favor upon it.

Historian Mark Noll has written an interesting article in Christianity Today answering the question: "Was the Revolutionary War Justified?" (from a theological point of view.)

Happy Birthday, America, and may God bless all who live here...!

Grassley Houses and Kenneth Copeland's Jet

On a lighter note, concerning the Grassley investigations of television ministries, Doug Wead puts things in perspective in his blog post about ministers and their travel choices entitled, "Kenneth Copeland's Jet." He examines some of Grassley's own ties to a "mansion on the Potomac" in his post entitled, "People Who Live in Grassley Houses Shouldn't Throw Stones."

A Parable of Three Sermons on the Mount by Vinson Synan

During his extended article on the historical and theological roots of the Word of Faith movement, scholar Vinson Synan gives the following "parable" which explains the appeal of the prosperity message around the world. I encourage you to take the time to read his article in full by clicking here. Among other things, it highlights the historical differences between Protestants and Catholics regarding the theology of money, poverty, and prosperity.

A Parable of the Three Sermons on the Mount

Many have wondered why the prosperity message is so popular among the impoverished masses that flock to hear it. To answer, one might imagine the idea of three sermons preached on a “smoky mountain” like many such trash dumps outside large, Third World cities where people fight with rats to salvage food and waste products to survive the grinding poverty in which they seem to be hopelessly trapped. One day, three preachers came to minister to these people: one a traditional Christian teacher, one a social gospel teacher and the other a Pentecostal preacher with a salvation, healing and prosperity gospel.

The first, a traditional Christian, knowing Jesus said, “The poor will be with you always,” gave a message that has been heard for centuries. “Take comfort in your faith. Suffering builds character, and the Lord suffered, too. He will comfort you. In heaven you will have many mansions, but in the meantime, we will give you as much help as possible and try to console you.” Critics call this a “pie in the sky” message.

The second, a “social gospel” teacher spoke out. The gist of his message was, “The reason you are poor is the unjust distribution of wealth, the greediness of the rich and their domination of the government and power structures of society. If we can pass laws to change the situation by taking from the rich and giving to the poor, we can eventually help you. Help us to pass just laws, or if that fails, form a revolution where you will eventually rule, and then the wealth will be equally distributed. Have patience, the government will eventually change your situation.”

The third speaker was a Pentecostal or Charismatic evangelist who said in essence, “If you will believe the gospel, the Lord will immediately break the power of sin in your life and you can be filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak in tongues, cast out devils and evangelize the world. You can be instantly set free from your addictions to alcohol, tobacco, sexual promiscuity and drugs, and Jesus will make you into a healthy, honest member of society. God is not against you. There is no virtue in being poor just for the sake of being poor. So God will also bless you materially as you work hard, live honestly, save your money and give a portion of your own income to others.”

I will let the reader decide why many of the masses would listen to the last preacher and run down the smoky mountain as soon as possible to the nearest Pentecostal church or evangelistic crusade to find salvation and deliverance. These are the multitudes that fill the Reinhard Bonnke crusades and are crowding into Pentecostal churches, large and small, around the world. It may be that these people are now poor, but they do not intend to stay poor. They believe in a powerful Jesus who can break the bonds of sin, sickness, demonic oppression and poverty. It is indeed a very attractive message to the poor.

Jack Hayford on Pastoral Leadership, Etc.

While I was working at my laptop earlier today, I saw an interview on TBN between Matt Crouch and Jack Hayford that every pastor and church leader needs to watch. Pastor Jack says some great and very needful things about pastoral leadership, genuine ministry, and church growth. Click here to watch the program online from the TBN archives.

Black Pentecostal Voting Patterns - Eugene Rivers (NBC)

I just stumbled onto this interesting clip from the NBC Nightly News of an interview with Rev. Eugene Rivers regarding the way many African American Pentecostals vote for liberal candidates in contrast to their Causasian counterparts. I wish I could have seen the rest of this interview, dated December 18th. Thanks to Carl Thomas of http://www.revivalblog.com/ for pointing the way to this.



Over at the futureag blog, there is some interesting conversation going on in response to River's statements.

Here are a series of videos from BET that tell the life story of this unusual man...parts IV & V are specially good, but after you watch them, you will probably want to watch the others...!

Elusive Excellence

Thanks to Skye Jethani for pointing the way to an article on the perils of pursuing perfection in ministry by Daniel Schantz entitled, Recovering from Excellence. Schantz writes,

To aim for excellence seems like a good thing, but it harbors some subtle dangers...The term excellence is often spoken by church leaders in condescending tones, as if to say, “Others may be content with being average slobs, but not us. We must have only the best.” This can be a slap in the face to members who don’t have the capacity or means to be excellent—the “good,” the “fair,” the “poor.” Can only good-looking, gifted singers serve on the worship team? Must church buildings resemble palaces in order to be useful? Do all preachers have to be Madison Avenue models, professional comedians, celebrities, best-selling authors, and able to speak five languages? The gospel was targeted to the poor, not just to the exceptional.

His words brought to mind a conversation I had once with a friend who pastors a congregation in the same area as one of America's most famous churches, one that I happen to admire, by the way. He recounted how a person with significant musical talent had begun attending the church he serves after having been told by the leadership at the other congregation that they would never be allowed to participate in its music ministry. The reason given? Their minor physical deformity did not fit the image they needed to project from their platform in order to appeal to seekers. Somehow that doesn't sound much like Jesus to me. What do you think?

Pastors and Politics

The Out of Ur blog by Leadership Journal has an informative post entitled Politics from the Pulpit, reviewing the legal limits imposed upon American pastors expressing their opinions regarding the political issues and candidates.

Following up on Willowcreek's Repentance

There is a great, thought-provoking article on Christianity Today's website entitled, "Am I Growing Yet?" by Mark Galli. It is good follow-up reading to the links I have referenced in my post, "The Wake Up Call of His Life" - Bill Hybels on discipleship failures at Willowcreek."

"The Wake Up Call of His Life" - Bill Hybels on discipleship failures at Willowcreek

If you have not yet done so, I urge you to click here and watch Bill Hybels at the last Willowcreek Church Leadership Summit share how their congregation's leadership has recently been confronted with their inneffectiveness at turning seekers into fully commited followers of Jesus Christ. I also urge you to click here to watch Greg Hawkins' comments on the process the Willowcreek leadership went through that led them to that conclusion.

While the congregation I lead (Hillcrest Church) is not a "seeker-driven" church like Willowcreek, I have great respect for Bill Hybels. I am convinced his passion for bringing people to Christ is authentic. Knowing the criticism he and his team have received over the years for some of their innovations, I honor him for the tremendous courage it must have taken to publically acknowledge the results of their research. I urge you as a leader to watch these two video clips and then ask yourself the hard question, "Regardless of whether or not the church I serve is the same style as Willowcreek, do their conclusions apply to us, too?" Chances are they do, at least to some degree, as is the case in certain ways here at Hillcrest Church.

In the final analysis, the command Jesus has given to us to make disciples requires effecting profound life-change in people. May God give us the insight we need in order to know the truth about how well our ministries accomplish that goal, and may He grant us the wisdom we need in order to become much better better at doing it...!

Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into, thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually; when the data actually cameback it wasn’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for. … We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their Bible between services, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own." —Willow Creek Community Church senior pastor Bill Hybels [revealnow.com, 10/19/07]

Missional Leadership from Across the Pond

It is hard to imagine that a full six weeks or so have gone by since I last posted on this blog. Between parenting, pastoring, and pursuing my studies at the King's Seminary, more time has passed than I would have liked.


Here is a link to a new podcast on missional leadership that I encourage you to check out. It is updated regularly throughout the school year by leaders at Mattersey Hall, a Bible College and Seminary in the U.K. which not only offers a Master's level program in Missional Leadership, but also the only fully accredited Pentecostal or Charismatic Phd. program in the world.

After I spoke there in chapel a while back, they asked me if I would be willing to record a couple of these "off the cuff." Here is one dealing with how the four basic leadership styles (Commander, Performer, Scholar, and Parent) each need something very different when leaving a place of long-term ministry. (I hope the striped shirt shows up better on your monitor than it does on mine...! Smile!)

I would love to have your thoughts on my thoughts...!
I will be back online again, soon!

Decision making paradigms and "A/G Leadership Interrupted"

I just stumbled onto an article by Rich Tatum of PneumaBlogger renown over at BlogRodent that touches on ways we leaders can improve the process we go through when we make and announce major ministry decisions. It deals with the recent, abrupt resignation of Thomas Trask from the senior spot in the American branch of the Assemblies of God denomination.

If you read Rich’s post all the way to the end, past his speculation regarding what political maneuvering or other considerations may or may not have prompted Trask’s recent step, which is not of interest to me personally since I am not A/G and have no plans to be, you will find he expresses some interesting thoughts about the way the Apostle Paul and his peers interacted regarding a critical ministry decision in the Book of Acts. Given the number of times in my life that I have seen Christian leaders announce very drastic ministry changes with a simple, "I feel this to be the leading of the Holy Spirit," I urge you to think about what Rich says.

Let me hasten to add that, although I have never met the ex-General Superintendent, I have heard wonderful things about him over the years. He may well have extensively and confidentially processed his pending action among a closed circle of peers before announcing it officially, along the lines of the "Pauline model" Rich has sketched out. Be that as it may, for me the greatest personal "take-away" is that each of us who serve as a spiritual leader needs to continually keep in mind just how far-reaching the consequences of our personal decisions are in the lives and ministries of those we serve.

In another vein entirely, reading this and Rich’s other posts about the recent General Council of the Assemblies of God caused me to remember the fact that blog posts on the internet had also substantively impacted the agenda this year at the national convention of the Southern Baptists, another leading evangelical denomination in America. For instance, check out the FutureAG blog hosted by such leaders as Mark Batterson, Paul Stewart, Brad Leach, Jeff Leake, and Tony Farina, especially the bullet point notes of Bryan Jarrett's presentation at the 2005 General Council, and the archives of SBCOutpost.com.

In my view, the astonishing influence of the internet on very weighty deliberations in these two denominations this year highlights the drastically different ways younger people process organizational decisions as compared to their elders. For more of my thoughts on this sea-change in what is perceived to be acceptable process that we all must come to grip with as we lead church groups in conducting their affairs, including the growing desire for greater openness and public debate in all levels of organizational life, see my earlier post entitled, “Generation Gap.”

I would love to hear your thoughts...!

Billy Graham on 20/20 - Pastor to Power

This Friday, August 10, 2007, the ABC News program 20/20 is airing a special entitled, "Billy Graham: Pastor to Power." For a preview following a brief, obligatory commercial, click here.

John Piper on Hometown Bridge Collapse

As pastors, one of the things God calls upon us to do is help our people interpret and respond to the tragedies of life. John Piper is the celebrated authorof books like, "Let the Nations Be Glad." He is also the lead pastor of a church in Minneapolis that is very close to the bridge that fell into the Mississippi River a few days ago. His blog post entitled, Putting My Daughter to Bed Two Hours After the Bridge Collapsed is a classic example of how spiritual leaders function in such situations.

He writes,

The word “bridge” does not occur in the Bible. There may be two reasons. One is that God doesn’t build bridges, he divides seas. The other is that usually his people must pass through the deadly currents of suffering and death, not simply ride over them. “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you” (Isaiah 43:2). They may drown you. But I will be with you in life and death.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life . . . will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-38)

Killed all day long. But not separated from Christ. We go through the river. Not over it. He went before us, crucified. He came out on the other side. He knows the way through. With him we will make it. That is the message we have for the precious sinners in the Twin Cities. He died for your sins. He rose again. He saves all who trust him. We die, but because of him, we do not die.

Jesus said, "I am the resurrectionand the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25)

His post also illustrates how God uses His Word to speak the specific truths we need to hear at exactly the right moment. He opened his article with the words,

At about 6 PM tonight the bridge of Interstate 35W over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis collapsed. I am writing this about three hours after the bridge fell. The bridge is located within sight of Bethlehem Baptist Church. Most of us who minister at the church cross this bridge several times a week. At this point I don’t know if any staff was on the bridge. Desiring God offices are about a mile from the bridge.
...
Tonight for our family devotions our appointed reading was Luke 13:1-9. It was not my choice. This is surely no coincidence. O that all of the Twin Cities, in shock at this major calamity, would hear what Jesus has to say about it from Luke 13:1-5. People came to Jesus with heart-wrenching news about the slaughter of worshipers by Pilate. Here is what he said.

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

Jesus implies that those who brought him this news thought he would say that those who died, deserved to die, and that those who didn’t die did not deserve to die. That is not what he said. He said, everyone deserves to die. And if you and I don’t repent, we too will perish. This is a stunning response. It only makes sense from a view of reality that is radically oriented on God.

May God help us of us live lives, "radically oriented on God," so that we can lead the people we serve to Him in their times of greatest need...!

Fire in Grady's Bones

Just when I thought I had heard it all, J. Lee Grady over at Charisma Magazine tells a story that blows my mind in his column entitled, "The Deadly Virus of Celebrity Christianity." In his "Fire In My Bones" column dated, July 27, 2007, he writes,

One friend of mine in Texas recently inquired to see if a prominent preacher could speak at her conference. The minister’s assistant faxed back a list of requirements that had to be met in order to book a speaking engagement. The demands included:

• a five-figure honorarium
• a $10,000 gasoline deposit for the private plane
• a manicurist and hairstylist for the speaker
• a suite in a five-star hotel
• a luxury car from the airport to the hotel (2004 model or newer)
• room-temperature Perrier

This really makes me wonder how the apostle Paul, Timothy or Priscilla managed ministering to so many people in Ephesus, Corinth and Thessalonica. How did they survive without a manicurist if they broke a nail while laying hands on the sick?

Amen, Mr. Grady...!

Leading through change via the RASCI model

Yesterday I preached a sermon at the church I serve entitled, "Following Jesus through Change." Some of the insights I shared are very helpful to me as a leader. An important part of what you and I do is influence people around us to implement some degree and type of change.

All change involves decisions. One of the most helpful tools I have enountered for leading people through this process is the RASCI matrix. It is a simple acrostic that helps leaders quickly identify every individual in a group who needs to be involved in the decision-making dynamic. I do not not know who originally developed it, but I follow it as a mental checklist when processing people through change:

R - These individuals are RESPONSIBLE for the decision. Ultimately, the power to make the decision and the responsiblity for its consequences rests with them. They are usually vested with some form of legal and titular authority that defines their role.

A - These people do not have the official authority to make the decision, but they must AGREE with the decision or the proposed change will fail. They have the power to veto the decision. In the U.S. government, for instance, our Congress has the power to make laws, not our President, but he has the power to veto certain laws under certain circumstances. While he signs many laws he would not have crafted or promoted, it is usually very unproductive for Congress to send him a bill they know he will veto. (Some models link the words, "Approve," or "Accountable," with the letter "A" in the RASCI acrostic.)

S - These people must be willing to SUPPORT the decision. They do not have the power of a legal veto, but without their backing, the proposed change will not be able to be implemented succesfully. In a sales context, customers fall into this category. They may not have any formal right of input into the decision making process, but any refusal by them to embrace its outcome will have devastating results. Witness the failed rollout a few years ago of a "New" kind of Coca-cola.

C - These people expect to be given the right to CONTRIBUTE to the decision. Usually this means that they need to be given a chance to share their thoughts and concerns and to feel like they have been "heard." The decision does not necessarily have to directly reflect their desired outcome for them to support it. Sometimes they will agree to back the proposed change anyway as long as they believe their ideas have been given genuine consideration during the decision-making process. (Some models link the word, "Consult," with the the letter "C" in the RASCI acrostic.)

I - These people need to be INFORMED promptly once the decision has been made. It is best to to do this before the change is actually implemented because it will impact them directly on either a personal or a professional level. If the people who are responsible for the decision fail to inform this group of people, very negative consequences can develop within the organization.

If you would like to know more of my thoughts on following Jesus through change, check out my written notes on my Sermon Seeds blog. The audio can be downloaded or listened to online via our Hillcrest Church website on the Sermon Audio page.

Emotional Prejudice and Spiritual Gifts

The International Missions Board (IMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention recently decided to no longer appoint missionaries who pray in tongues privately. This has generated a lot of discussion in the blogosphere. One of the more interesting posts I have read is by Pastor Dwight McKissic entitled, "The IMB tongues policty: “Emotional Prejudice” or Exegetical Precision?" In his view, much of the current controversy within the Southern Baptist Convention regarding whether or not the exercise of a "private prayer language" (PPL) is proper for Baptist believers has much more to do with social prejudice and emotional backlash than with serious study of the Scriptures.

The mystery is, how could a convention that is usually biblio-centric and exegetically accurate reject plain, clear, scriptural, authoritive, inerrant and infallible biblical truth regarding the Spirit’s gifting of some believers to pray in tongues in private according to the sovereign will of God (I Corinthians 12:7,10, 30; 14:2, 4, 5, 13-15)? Just as the SBC initially adopted unbiblical views on slavery, segregation and abortion, then later recanted, I believe the SBC will eventually adopt a biblical position on tongues or drop restrictions regarding private praying in tongues for staff as did Campus Crusade for Christ who once held similar strict cessationist, anti-tongues policies for staff and students.

...

Why is there such strong “emotional prejudice” or “charisphobia” driving this policy? In conclusion, I offer three reasons: (1) Tongues historically has been associated with Pentecostals and charismatics. Certainly there has been a lot of abuse and misuse of the gift of tongues, by some in the Pentecostal movement. There was an abuse and misuse of tongues in the Corinthian church. Paul did not use the abuse of tongues as a rationale to disallow or rule out tongues, he simply regulated the use of the gift of tongues rather than forbid praying tongues.

Because of an “emotional prejudice” toward Pentecostals or charismatics, many Southern Baptist reject any practice or belief no matter how biblical that has any remote association with Pentecostals. Let’s throw out the bathwater of misuse and abuse but let’s keep the baby.

(2) Tongues have been historically associated with poor and uneducated people. This is true. However, I’m aware of highly educated and wealthy people, many who are Southern Baptist and other Bible believing Baptists who pray in tongues in private. The IMB tongues policy is driven by an “emotional prejudice” toward poor and uneducated people. The posture is certainly elitist and arrogant.

(3) Tongue speakers have often held viewpoints that they were spiritually superior to others without this gift or they have expressed a Pentecostal viewpoint of “the Baptism of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues” as an absolute normative or universal experience and as an experience subsequent to salvation. Baptists recognize that these viewpoints do not have a biblical basis. Paul makes it clear that all believers do not have the gift of tongues (I Corinthians 12:30 and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit occurs simultaneous with salvation (I Corinthians 12:13). Baptists recognize that all who are genuinely born again have been baptized by the Holy Spirit at salvation, but all do not speak in tongues (I Corinthians 12:30). But because many Pentecostals have taught an erroneous viewpoint of tongues and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit along with being elitist and arrogant at times, many Southern Baptist respond in kind with an “emotional prejudice,” “charisphobia” and an elitist and arrogant attitude as well.

I pray that God will forgive us as Southern Baptists for rejecting the truth about tongues as taught in the Bible and for rejecting missionaries who speak in tongues in private prayer. As a fellow Southern Baptist I confess our unbelief, “emotional prejudice,” “charisphobia” and arrogance and ask the Lord’s forgiveness.

One comment posted by a reader named BaptistBlog adds to that analysis,

Tongues is commonly associated with the poor, and evidence of charismatic advances in the Third World is regularly cited as a cause for the kind of prohibitive policies aggressively implemented and vigorously defended by our more elite cessationist kinsmen. They won’t say it, but here’s what they mean:

Tongues will drive the Southern Baptist Convention away from her “solid roots” in Anglo-American culture to become like those wild tribal peoples who don’t know any better than to mutter gibberish to idols.

While I certainly do not have any desire to comment on the internal politics of a denomination of which I am not a part, and for which I have tremendous respect, coming as I do from a classical Pentecostal background, I was struck by McKissic's analysis of the role the desire for social respectibility and upward mobility may have played in shaping the posture some of his peers have adopted toward the gift of spiritual language.

Pentecostal and Charismatic pastors are susceptible to falling into the same trap. They may feel compelled to "hide," "disguise," or "demphasize" the role of supernatural spiritual gifts in the life of their congregation in order to "market" their ministry to a broader audience. Somehow they come to believe that even biblically balanced charismatic activity in their public worship services will narrow the appeal of the church they lead and thereby hinder its growth.

A lot of ink (and electrons, too!) have been used over the years dissecting, discussing, and debating exactly what the phrase, "Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers...(1 Cor 14:22)" means. One thing seems obvious in the verses that follow: The Apostle Paul believed both tongues and prophecy are powerfully effective evangelistic aids when they occur within proper parameters in public worship services,

"22 Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers. … 24 But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, 25 and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”" (1 Corinthians 14:22-25, NIV)

My own roots and life experience compell me to acknowledge that some segments of the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements have failed to observe fully biblical paradigms in the operation of spiritual gifts. I am deeply saddened, though, when I see some of my colleagues with similar backgrounds backing away from an integral part of the spiritual life of the church in the New Testament. The reality of supernatural experience was a key reason why our wing of the Christian church experienced such unprecendented global expansion throughout the last century. As we lead our people forward in this 21st century, let's be sure to lead them into all of God's truth and into all of the Spirit's fullness!

Church Hopping Blog - What Agnostics Think About Church

Thanks to Chris Glazier at MinistryToday magazine for pointing the way to a website called, "Church Hopping." It is written by two self-proclaimed agnostics who are visiting churches around Cincinnati incognito and then posting their thoughts about what they saw and heard. They are using a specific template of questions that includes ranking the church on a scale of 1 - 10 from "1: I was so uncomfortable and/or offended that I did not stay to the end of services." to "10: This church was welcoming and thought-provoking. I would recommend that others experience this church."

As a pastor, I found it very interesting to read their posts, especially since I was familiar with at least one of the congregations they rated. I wish they were in the Dallas area so that they could visit our church anonymously and send us their thoughts. Things sometimes look very different to someone who is from "outside" the Christian community...!

Updated and Corrected Turkish Martyrs Report

I just came across information on the web indicating that the report I posted earlier, while substantively true, may contain some inaccuracies. I'll post more information as it becomes available. For now, Christianity Today's website has an article here giving a more irenic report on what happened.

They loved not their lives unto the death - Persecution of Christians in Turkey

The British Christian Today website is carrying an item (click here) about three Christian missionaries in Turkey who were martryed on Easter Sunday. Unfortunately, severe persecution of Christians is alive and well around the world today.

"32 And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37 They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them..." (Hebrews 11:32-38, NIV)

For more information on the persecuted church, check out www.persecution.org and www.opendoors.org.

Breakout Churches

If you are like me, you are always looking for a great book, particularly one that communicates information you find helpful that you have not seen before. On a couple of recent flights from Dallas to London to Amsterdam back to London on to Prague, I read Breakout Churches: Discover How To Make The Leap by Thom Rainer. It takes several of the principles from the business bestseller, "Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't" and applies them to churches that have gone from plateaued or declining membership to significant growth over a period of several years.

Based on extensive research and analysis of several tens of thousands of congregations, Breakout Churches details how several congregations of different sizes, movements, and regions of the country experienced lasting turnaround. Director of the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism, and Church Growth at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, Rainer's obvious passion is to see churches increase numerically through conversion, not transfer, growth.

Every one of the churches he profiled broke out of their previous pattern without changing senior pastors. Perhaps above all else, Rainer's work points toward the necessity of a leader's willingness to not only persevere, but to also undergo deep, personal change in their life and methodology. Many other factors contributed to the tremendous, positive change each church experienced, but nothing was more important than the Senior Pastor's profound personal transformation.

Don Imus & Bishop G.E. Patterson

Frank Lockwood, the Bible Belt Blogger who in his day job is Religion Editor at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (since leaving the Lexington Times-Herald in Lexington, Kentucky) just ran an interesting piece connecting radio talk show host Don Imus with Bishop G.E. Patterson. Imus, who was fired a few days ago for making racist comments on-air, had apparently recently devoted a substantial portion of his show to commemorating the passing of Bishop G.E. Patterson who presided over the nation's primary African-American classical Pentecostal denomination, the Church of God in Christ.

Lockwood writes,

On March 20, the leader of the nation's largest African American Pentecostal denomination passed away in Memphis. The death was ignored by most members of the mainstream media's millionaire news readers -- people who wouldn't know the difference between the late G.E. Patterson's Church of God in Christ, the Churches of Christ, the Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn.), the Church of God (Anderson, Ind.) and the Church of God of Prophecy. As far as I know, Patterson's demise wasn't big news on Fox & Friends, CNN, the Today Show or Good Morning America. But there was one news outlet that owned the story: MSNBC.

Shock jock Don Imus thought Patterson's passing was a really big deal and he devoted a lot of time to honoring the memory of the Pentecostal pastor. Patterson's widow appeared on Imus' program soon after the preacher's death, and Imus spoke movingly about the bishop's contribution to America's spiritual life. Imus played excerpts of Patterson's sermons -- including a clip (if I recall correctly) that called for the church to reach out to all of God's children regardless of color.

What a strange thing that someone who would make such ugly comments about a girl's basketball team would be so moved by the death of a very old-fashioned Pentecostal preacher...! It makes me wonder if Imus is yet another celebrity who has spiritual roots in his background we know little or nothing about ... and if Imus is one of those silent, successful, even famous, viewers in Christian television's global audience who are deeply touched by some things they see that we would never imagine would be capable of impacting their souls.

Here is one of many clips available on Youtube. This one is a blend of several excerpts that show the evolution of Bishop Patterson's preaching style over the years.

Here is a clip showing some eulogies, including footage of him in the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., and from celebrities like Jesse Jackson.



Click here to listen to live streaming from the radio station owned by the church he pastored in Memphis, Tennessee.

Charles Spurgeon on Church Growth

Justin Taylor has a great excerpt on his Theologica - Between Two Worlds blog from Charles Spurgeon, who built the world's first "megachurch" in London, England over a century ago, giving Spurgeon's recipe for growing a large church. Like all of Spurgeon's writings, the English is a bit antiquated and flowery compared to the way we speak today, but it's worth reading.

Here's a taste (there's more on Justin's site):

My good ministering brother, have you got an empty church? Do you want to fill it? I will give you a good recipe, and if you will follow it, you will, in all probability, have your chapel full to the doors.Burn all your manuscripts, that is No. 1. Give up your notes, that is No. 2. Read your Bible and preach it as you find it in the simplicity of its language. ... Begin to tell the people what you have felt in your own heart, and beseech the Holy Spirit to make your heart as hot as a furnace for zeal. Then go out and talk to the people. Speak to them like their brother. Be a man amongst men. Tell them what you have felt and what you know, and tell it heartily with a good, bold face; and, my dear friend, I do not care who you are, you will get a congregation.But if you say, "Now, to get a congregation, I must buy an organ."That will not serve you a bit."But we must have a good choir."I would not care to have a congregation that comes through a good choir."No," says another," but really I must a little alter my style of preaching."My dear friend, it is not the style of preaching, it is the style of feeling... Preach out of your hearts just what you feel to be true, and the old soul-stirring words of the gospel will soon draw a congregation.

Death by Ministry

Last May, Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church had a provocative post on the Resurgence blog dealing with pastoral burnout entitled, "Death by Ministry." After listing some sobering statistics on burnout in the ministry and symptoms to look for (some of which I had never considered before), he provides a list of preventions and solutions:

1. Fill your plate.
2. Exercise.
3. Do not allow technology to be your Lord.
4. Sabbath.
5. Pick a release valve.
6. Work on your life, not just in it.
7. Leave margin.
8. Spend most of your time training leaders.
9. Work from conviction, not guilt.

His most recent post (Of Brokennes and Buddies) shares some of his own battle with burnout in the face of church growth at the rate of 1,000 plus per month. (Can you imagine that kind of stress?!?!!!!) Whatever your opinions may be of Mark's theology or even his personality, our brother is obviously impacting a great many people in one of America's least churched cities. Why not take a moment to breathe a prayer for him and his family during this time? Whether our church is larger or small, any one of us could be where he is right now, and probably will be at some point in our lives and ministries.

"Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." (Galatians 6:2 NIV)

If you have never heard of Mark Driscoll, there are many articles about him on the web, including one from Christianity Today magazine entitled, "Men Are From Mars Hill." You may find his opinions enlightening, you may find them strange, you may even find them offensive, but if you are like me, you will usually find them thought-provoking! Here are a couple of quotes from the CT article to show you what I mean...

You say there are particular theologies attached to traditional, contemporary, and emerging churches? What are they, and what are Mars Hill's distinctives?

Traditional churches have either leaned toward being fundamentalist and separated from culture, which has led to legalism and irrelevance; or they have leaned toward being liberally synchronized with culture, which leads to compromise and irrelevance. Either way, many traditional churches are irrelevant, whether they lean to the Left or the Right theologically and politically. Most contemporary churches are not very theological beyond a few evangelical basics, because they are guided more by pragmatism and programming than theology. At Mars Hill Church, we are driven by Reformed theological convictions and emerging missional methods. I like to say we are theologically conservative and culturally liberal.

What are some of the major blind spots of megachurches?

The major blind spot of megachurches is that they tend to be very effeminate with aesthetics, music, and preaching perfectly tailored for moms. Manly men are repelled by this, and many of the men who find it appealing are the types to sing prom songs to Jesus and learn about their feelings while sitting in a seafoam green chair drinking herbal tea—the spiritual equivalent of Richard Simmons. A friend of mine calls them "evangellyfish" with no spiritual vertebrae. Statistically, traditional churches are in steep decline, contemporary churches will dominate in the foreseeable future, and emerging churches are just beginning to sort out what the future holds for them.

Are young people becoming more sympathetic to Reformed theology?

The two hot theologies today are Reformed and emerging. Reformed theology offers certainty, with a masculine God who names our sin, crushes Jesus on the Cross for it, and sends us to hell if we fail to repent. Emerging theology offers obscurity, with a neutered God who would not say an unkind word to us, did not crush Jesus for our sins, and would not send anyone to hell. I came to Reformed theology by preaching through books of the Bible such as Exodus, Romans, John, and Revelation, along with continually repenting of my sin. I am,however, a boxers, not briefs, Reformed guy. I am pretty laid back about it and not uptight and tidy like many Reformed guys.

What do you think needs to be the relationship between church and culture?

The difficulty is that there are actually three ways that faithful Christians and churches must respond to culture:

Reject—Some aspects of a culture are simply sinful and should be rejected by God's people. In our day this would include sexual sins (fornication, pornography, homosexuality, adultery), illegal drug use, and the pluralistic notion that every religion is an equally valid path to salvation.

Receive—Some aspects of a culture are the result of common grace and should be received by God's people. Examples in our day would include stewarding and enjoying creation, building community, and acts of mercy for the poor, widows, orphans, sick, and elderly.

Redeem—Some aspects of a culture are, in and of themselves, morally neutral but are used for evil, and can be redeemed for good. Examples in our day include using media portals (e.g., internet, podcast, vodcast) for the gospel, celebrating sex within heterosexual marriage, and spending money and using power in such a way that honors Jesus and demonstrates his love for people.

Podcasts I listen to...

I frequently use the free itunes software to download and listen to audio and video podcasts from a variety of churches, ministries, and news organizations. (Please note that you do not have to have an ipod to do this. The software also lets you do it on your computer.)

If you would like to check out the podcasts I subscribe to, just click here and do the following steps (If you have not yet installed the itunes software, then click here first...!):

1. When the window opens up, a bunch of text will appear on your screen that you do not have to try to understand. Just save the page to your harddrive somewhere via the "Page" then "Save As" on your browser menus.
2. Then, open up the itunes software and choose the "File" then "Import" menu selections from inside itunes and click on the name of the file you just saved and voilà...you will be subscribed to all the podcasts that I am subscribed to...!
3. Depending on what settings you have selected under the "Edit" and "Preferences" menu selections in the itunes software, your computer will start downloading all the podcasts I either listen to regularly or am checking out at the moment. It is easy to delete the ones you don't like and only keep the ones you do like.

Enjoy...! And, let me know what great podcasts you find on the web, too!

Stuart Briscoe on Preaching Today

Here is a great link to an audio interview with Stuart Briscoe on what preaching means today. If you do not yet have the free ITunes software installed on your computer that makes listening to podcasts easy (whether on your computer or by transferring them to an ipod), you can download it by clicking here.

Millions of Muslims Coming to Christ...!

While browsing the web this morning, I noticed an item entitled, Six Million Muslims A Year Coming to Christ on a blog by a Vineyard leader called, "Charismatica." The post points the way to a video on YouTube containing a clip from an interview with a Muslim leader stating admitting that statistic, which works out to about 667 Muslims coming to Christ per day. (The broadcast begins in Arabic, then after a moment, English subtitles pop up.) Interesting...! Here is a link to a partial transcript.

In a similar vein, a friend of mine was flying across Pakistan a few years ago when he came across an article in an English language paper with the headline, "Warning! Our Children Are Becoming Christians!" It was a translated excerpt from an article in a Saudi Arabian paper saying that while rich Saudis were out jet-setting around the world spending their petrodollars, the foreign nannies they had imported were singing their children to sleep with sweet worship choruses about Jesus, and their kids were converting to Christianity at an alarming rate...

Just like Jesus promised,

"...this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." (Matthew 24:14)

Dr. David Shibley's "Open Letter to Southern Baptist Leaders"

Earlier, Dr. David Shibley's blog was carrying the text of his, "Open Letter to Southern Baptist Leaders" regarding the IMB Trustee's decision to no longer appoint missionaries who practice a private prayer language. It is now on the Charisma magazine's website. As a charismatic alumnus of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, his perspective is well worth reading.

His blog also contains other interesting posts, including his TOP 10 THINGS I AM LEARNING FROM FRONTLINE SHEPHERDS WORLDWIDE, and his 10 HOPES FOR FULFILLING THE GREAT COMMISSION.

Generation Gap 2007

The stunning rise in influence of bloggers on public opinion is nowhere more evident than in the ongoing controversy in the Southern Baptist Convention over the decision taken last year by their International Missions Board to ban the appointment of missionaries who exercise private prayer languages according to 1 Corinthians 12 and 14. (