Five Things Every Christian Should Know - Number 1

"Umm... err... well... Uh, you see, it's like uh... God. Yeah God, uh... well, we didn't, umm... but God umm... Hang on, let me call my pastor. Wait right here."

Studies have shown that the number-one nightmare that all of humanity has in common is a dream in which a person's teeth fall out. Apparently, this nightmare is common to people of all races, genders, cultures, and ages, although I've never experienced it myself.

This may be the number-one nightmare shared by all of humanity, but my guess is that the comments that opened this post reflect the number-one nightmare shared by most Christians: "having" to share the Gospel.

Most of us have our prayer list of people we know who are not believers. We mention them to our Sunday school class, and pray that God would send someone to reach those people with the Gospel. That is, someone else. Truth be told, most Christians know deep down that if they were ever called upon to share the Gospel, they would immediately lapse into their best impersonation of Bambi in the headlights of an oncoming Mack truck.

Studies indicate that the average Christian can expect to lead less than one person to Christ in their lifetime. Think about that - the average American household has 2.5 kids. It doesn't take a math whiz to recognize there's a problem. If those statistics are right, the church can expect to atrophy at the rate of around .5 person per household. That's downright scary.

Stop and think for a second about the conversations you've had with unbelievers this week. How many of those could have turned spiritual had you had the intestinal fortitude to turn them? (Don't beat yourself up... according to Stat Counter, nearly 200 people read this blog every day, and at least 150 of them are in the same boat as you). Why are we reluctant to turn conversations to spiritual things when we talk to unbelievers? For the majority of us the answer is that we're scared the conversation is going to turn all the way to the point that we're going to be responsible for sharing the Gospel, and we're not prepared to do that.

The number one thing every Christian should know is how to present the Gospel clearly, precisely, and confidently. If this eternal life thing is so great, shouldn't we be prepared to share God's gift with others when the opportunity presents itself?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know God's sovereign, and will draw people to Himself. But there are too many people in the world who use their theology as an excuse to ignore God's clear commands. Of course God is able to bring people to Himself without our involvement; He's God. But He has made it clear through Scripture that He gives us the opportunity to serve Him by sharing the message of life with others.

Think of that: there is one message that far surpasses all the other messages that mankind needs to hear. Of all the messages of God, the message of redemption is clearly the most rich from man's perspective. And God allows us to be His mouthpiece to the world concerning His unspeakable gift. The least we can do is to be prepared so we're ready when God chooses to use us.

You don't have to be a theologian. You also don't have to be the incarnation of Dana Carvey's Church Lady. But every Christian should be willing and able to be used by God in sharing the greatest message I can think of. "God so loved the world..."

So where do you begin? Check out 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 for starters. Paul's presentation is simple, short, sweet, and to the point. Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead.

There are a ton of "methods" out there that you can use to present the Gospel: the Roman Road, The Bridge, Good News/Bad News, etc... I honestly don't prefer to use a "method" because Christians who enter the Christian life based on a formula tend to think the whole Christian life is about formulas and methods, and it isn't. But use the methods to think through your presentation, and then share from your heart. You don't have to be fancy schmancy with bells and whistles. But know the Gospel and pray to God that it will be on the test.

Five Things Every Christian Should Know - Part 1

"Are we going to have to know this for the test?"

This is the one question everyone in my Jr. High, High School, and College classes wondered about but never had the courage to ask. There was always one guy though; he had the courage to ask the question.

I love that guy. He's my hero. That guy is like the class sacrificial lamb. He tips his hand right there in front of everyone so the rest of us don't have to.

Students don't really care about the subject matter. We could Google search the answer if the question kept us up at night, but it doesn't, so we won't. We just showed up at Jr. High because it would get us to High School. High School would get us to college. College would get us a piece of paper that would let us really do what we wanted to do. We didn't want the answers from the classes we took; we just wanted the piece of paper.

But nobody's willing to say that out loud. So, we sat there dutifully taking notes for the first couple of weeks until we figured out who "the guy" was. Once he was identified, the pens went away, and the baseball caps were pulled over our eyes. Don't bore us with the details; just tell us what's going to be on the test.

Whether it's fortunate or unfortunate, we can't be that haphazard with the Christian life. Life isn't about getting the piece of paper, it's about serving the Sovreign God of the Universe. And there's no "guy" asking the question for us. What exactly should we as Christians know to make it in the Christian life? I believe there are five things every Christian should know, and plan to spend the next couple of blogs talking through them. Some of them will be obvious, and some of them will probably surprise you. In each case, I'll try to do my best to describe exactly what it is the believer should know, and why they should know it.

First, a disclaimer: I didn't find these five things listed in Scripture, and I am not God. Therefore, my list isn't inspired. I don't intend to say that you're a bad Christian if you don't know #3 on my list, and certainly don't mean that you have to know all five of these things to go to heaven. Don't doubt your eternal security based on my list. These are simply the five things I believe every Christian should understand in order to faithfully live out the Great Commission, "Go and make disciples of all nations."

And oh yeah... this will be on the test.

Pimp My Devotional Time

Maybe you've seen the TV show "Pimp My Ride." It appears on MTV about as frequently as Britney Spears gets married, so your chances to catch it are fairly good. The basic idea of the show is to take someone's broken down jalopy and overhaul it into the newest, baddest, most hip car on the block. I've only caught the show once or twice, since I'm usually disappointed. I rarely think the end result is better than the original product. The first car had character; the end result has a DVD player and won't break down on the side of the road. Where's the excitement in that?

A few years ago I allowed Prof Hendricks at Dallas Seminary to "Pimp My Devotional Time." I had been doing the whole devotional book plus a chapter of Proverbs a day thing for a while which was fine, but it's hard to find a good devotional book for guys, and I wasn't getting the type of big picture study that I felt like I needed. It was tired, run down, and needed an overhaul. So, on Prof's recommendation, I revamped the whole thing.

I put my devotional book on the shelf to be a placeholder for my dust collection. Now, I dedicate my entire month to the study of one book of the Bible in its entirety. On the first of the month I begin a new book, and on the last day of the month, I end it. No exceptions. Each month I alternate between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Last month, for example, I studied the book of 1 Timothy. This month, it's Malachi. Thursday I'll begin the book of Matthew.

The result has been unbelievable. I find that each month I'm excited to start a new book, and by the time I'm starting to get bogged down with the book, it is time to move on to a new one. The new system gives me the ability to move at my own pace at the depth I desire. I don't have to rely on an author of a devotional book to gauge my spiritual need or maturity.

You can really begin to understand a book after thirty days of study. For some books, like Philemon, I'm able to almost memorize the entire book. I'm able to study the background of the characters, the history of the times, and to experience life in Philemon's skin by the end of the month. But even with the huge books, like Genesis, I'm able to get a big picture that gives me the ability to see the overall purpose of the book, and how it's organized. It helps me understand what God says, and why He says it when He says it.

With this approach, I've also liberated myself from an unfortunate "checklist" mentality. Before, for whatever reason, there were days I would miss devotional times. (Get off my back... it's happened to you too). On the day following my miss, there was always an uncompleted page in my book glaring back at me. Often I would complete two days' worth of devotionals just to fill in the page. I got in the horrible habit of completing pages so I could check them off and get rid of the guilt. There's not one thing spiritual about that. I'd submit to you that if you're doing a devotional time sheerly because you feel guilty about it, you really shouldn't be doing a devotional time.

Offering God less than your best just so you can say you went through the motions is exactly what God judged the Israelites for in Malachi. (Malachi was my book of this month... I should know).

God said to them beginning in Malachi 1:13, "You also say, ‘How tiresome it is.’ You turn up your nose at it,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and instead bring what is stolen, lame, or sick. You bring these things for an offering! Should I accept this from you?” asks the Lord. (14) “There will be harsh condemnation for the hypocrite who has a valuable male animal in his flock but vows and sacrifices something inferior to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and my name is awesome among the nations.”

My new philosophy on quiet times has freed me from the legalism of offering an inferior sacrifice to the Lord so I can check it off my list. Instead, I'm actually growing. I can see the benefit. My life is being changed by the text, and I understand Scripture better when I'm done.

So beginning Thursday, give it a shot. Pimp your devotional time. Just think: In just over 6 years you'll have studied each book of the Bible for an entire month. And you'll grow closer to the God of the Universe, and better understand His plan for the ages. What do you have to lose?

Christian Perspective on Torture

I'm back from an early Thanksgiving celebration with my mom's side of the family. Although I'm furious with the local radio stations for jumping the gun on Christmas music, the holidays are truly my favorite time of year. The entire trip was great, but the highlight of the weekend was listening to the technologically-savvy Pyromaniac attempt to explain the intricacies of a wireless network to my 80-year-old grandparents. I'll probably get blogrolled as "annoying" for saying it, but he might have had a better chance had he tried to explain supralapsarianism.

A week or so ago I got into a discussion with a very educated person in one of the secular forums I read. The topic was "torture" and whether or not the United States government should torture prisoners of war in an attempt to gain critical information that might save lives. I took the position that torture might be necessary in some instances, and she took the opposite side. The discussion was going along fine until someone posted the following comment:

"I find it amazing how many so called Christians favor torturing Iraqi's. So called Americans who spout cliches about freedom and human rights as long as it is our freedom and human rights. But they are certainly willing to throw those moral values away pretty quick."

The fact that Christianity is not about human rights or freedom aside, the comment made me think about values we do hold dear and how they come in to play when we talk about this issue. And while I have in no way changed my position, the above comment made me realize that we as Christians need to be very careful when they talk about issues like this so as to both defend what we believe and clearly articulate the way our values play into these issues.

The first issue in play as we discuss torture is the value of universal human dignity. Scripture teaches that all humans are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26) - a little lower than God and crowned with glory and majesty (Psalm 8:4). As a creation of God, in His image, each human should be seen with dignity as such. Many of us as Christians are very good at pointing to this argument in defense of a pro-life stance (and rightly so), but the argument is tougher when we're discussing a rabid terrorist who wants us and our families dead.

Secondly, vengeance ultimately belongs to God (Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:19) Hebrews 10:30). He is the judge, and the ultimate avenger of the innocent. It is not the job of the Church, individual Christians, cultures, governments or armies to execute vengeance or judgment on evil doers at their own bidding.

Thirdly, although I would argue that the government may be used as an agent of God to execute His judgment (Romans 13), we must be extremely careful in claiming that the judgment we execute on prisoners of war is God-ordained judgment on these men. We have to tread very carefully when we speak with "authority" about God's intentions, even when they seem to be obvious. Speak when God has spoken, and remain silent where God is silent.

Personally, I find the practice of torture absolutely deplorable. And yet, I am convinced that such acts might take place in certain educated, specific, controlled situations, and remain completely in line with the values and principles found in Scripture.

(It should be noted here that I am not arguing for the abuse of prisoners for sport, or for the personal enjoyment of the soldiers involved. It shouldn't even have to be said, but such acts are reprehensible, disgusting, and inherently wrong. The acts for which I'm arguing are acts conducted on known terrorists with terrorist ties who are suspected to be withholding information that could be used to protect innocent lives.)

The inherent dignity due to a terrorist POW as one created in the image of God is not greater than the dignity of the person or persons that terrorist intends to kill either directly or indirectly through the withholding of information. If a person held my wife at gunpoint, I would be foolish and sinful to not protect my wife in that situation if I was able. The very analogy makes my stomach churn, but I believe it is apt. If anything, it is over states the point, as we're not debating the use of lethal force against terrorists, but the physical coercion of a terrorist in order to gain information. When we're forced to make a choice, it is foolish to sacrifice the dignity of many people for the dignity of one.

In order to protect the dignity of its citizens, it is my belief that government is completely with in its God-ordained boundaries to engage an enemy of that dignity in whatever way necessary. It should be done as minimally as possible, and only when necessary as a last resort, but if necessary it should be done.

The failure to protect individual human dignity is as egregious a sin as the failure to respect it.

No Place Like Home...

I'll be leaving Dallas for a few days beginning tonight. The Pyromaniac's in Tulsa for Thanksgiving, which means that entire side of the family will drop everything to head his way. (Actually, don't tell him, but Darlene's the one we really want to see.) We'll be doing the Thanksgiving thing this week instead of next, so Phil and Darlene can head back to Southern California in time to cook their Thanksgiving pizza on Thanksgiving day.

Yeah, you read me right... Thanksgiving pizza. Mothers, beware of moving your children to the left coast. It really does warp your brain.

Chances are, blogging will be sparse over the next week or so, since I always feel bad making the 4 hour trek to Oklahoma only to sit in front of the computer, something I could have done here in Dallas. Plus, I'm working on something right now regarding the Christian perspective on torture as it relates to the interrogation of prisoners of war. The topic came up on a secular bulletin board I read, and one of the posters indicated the concept of physical coercion during war is an anti-Christian concept. Within limits, I'm convinced that it isn't. If the topic is still a big news story next week when I get back, I'll crank something out.

Until then...

Take it off...

I'm beginning an official campaign against the "Jesus Fish."

Earlier today during my morning commute, I was within inches of being an agent used by God to usher another person into Glory. There I was, minding my own business while listening to Mike and Mike in the Morning, eating my Fudge Graham Balance Bar, drinking my Coke C2 (the breakfast of champions), and working on the list of things I needed to accomplish today. Traffic was heavy, but not nearly as bad as it can be at 7 o'clock in the morning on the way in to Dallas.

Suddenly out of the corner of my eye, I saw a streak of blue come flying across my rear view mirror. A middle aged man in a brand new Tahoe shot from the left lane to the right lane, causing three different cars to swerve onto the shoulder to avoid the early morning opportunity to swim with the Trinity River fishes.

As the Tahoe goosed the gas, missing me by a fraction of an inch, the car in front of him slammed on his brakes join the traffic jam already in progress ahead of us, obviously having been distracted by the commotion behind him. The Tahoe reacted by slamming on his own brakes, and swerving towards the left shoulder only to realize that the left shoulder was protected by a concrete barrier. With cat-like reflexes, he swerved back into the center lane, narrowly missing a car whose driver had already suffered a corronary because of a first near-miss. She honked, which allowed the Tahoe to swerve back into my lane where he finally came to a stop.

That's when I noticed the Jesus fish on the back of his car. Not just one, but a family of 5 Jesus fish; a mommy and daddy Jesus fish followed by 3 little Jesus fish.

It would have been cute if I hadn't developed an incontrolable urge to strangle the guy.

The Jesus fish isn't a good idea. It's hard to represent heaven when you drive like a bat out of, well, you know...

Under the Radar

Last week, I was pretty rough on the makers of "End of the Spear," for casting a gay activist for a lead role in the new movie documenting the life of Jim Elliot and his partners in ministry. Although I stand by my original post, there is something about this movie that is praiseworthy, and I want to make sure to point that out as well.

When was the last time the Christian community put out a high quality, high caliber movie, with high quality actors that wasn't overtly Christian? I can't think of one since Chariots of Fire, which means it's high time for one.

Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with overtly Christian movies. I loved the Passion of the Christ, despite its mystic Catholic underpinnings. But the Christian community doesn't always have to be blatant in portraying its message. In fact, being less overt with an agenda is often more effective than making the agenda readily apparent.

Let me give you some examples:

One of my favorite sitcoms, Seinfeld, contains an episode in which one of the characters is attempting to decide, with the help of her friends, whether or not her current boyfriend is worthy of her birth-control method of choice. She only has a few, and they're expensive, so she doesn't want to waste it on the wrong guy. The subtle agenda? Casual sex is normal to the point that it's not even a topic of conversation. The issue for "normal" people is not whether or not to have sex outside of marriage, but whether or not a current sexual partner is worthy of the "good" birth control.

Another popular sitcom that is extremely funny is Will and Grace. The show is funny, and two of its main characters (Will and Jack) are likeable and funny. They're also both gay. Jack is the stereotypical gay man, if you will, while Will is an average, good looking guy that would pass under the "gaydar" of most heterosexuals. The subtle agenda? Homosexuality is completely normal behavior practiced by many "regular" people.

Will and Grace would never be successful in accomplishing its goal of normalizing homosexuality if it was completely overt, over the top, and in-your-face. But by going under the radar, it has won the viewership of many people I know who would vehemently oppose its view on homosexuality, but love the humor and characters of the show. Meanwhile, week after week, the characters seem more real, and their behavior more acceptable.

While I'm at it, I should mention my friend Stowe Campbell. He's a student with me at DTS, but has spent years collecting and archiving episodes of various MTV television shows. His ministry, Know Consequences, talks to teenagers about the underlying messages of MTV's programs. Accompanied by video clips, the messages are pretty scary.

Even the Mormon community has caught on to the idea. Napolean Dynamite was an instant cult-classic that arose out of a dare. A secular man told a Mormon that it was impossible to make a high quality movie without foul language and sexual inuendo. The Mormon took the challenge, and produced Napolean Dynamite. Suddenly, the secular world takes notice. Mormons are just regular guys with great sense of humor like us. How scary is that?

Why can't the Christian community fight fire with fire? What's wrong with producing a high quality television show that highlights a good Christian family who are "normal?" What's wrong with producing a movie that presents good moral values accompanied by an interesting story line, good cinematography, and good acting? We don't always have to be on the attack with our message. Maybe we could invest some time and money into priming the pump so that people are able to see normal Christian people who are not so disconnected from the rest of humanity that we're seen as walking freak shows.

This is not to say that we should ever be scared, intimidated, ashamed, or afraid of boldly proclaiming the Gospel. May it never be! But if the Christian community is always involved in a full frontal assault against secular culture, we run the risk of being seen as antagonists instead of those who offer the message of reconcilliation to God. Meanwhile, the secular community isn't involved in a visible battle with anyone. They don't have to be. By going covert, they're slowly winning the war without firing a shot.

Goodnight Vienna

Goodnight Vienna! (And Guam, and Iceland, and United Kingdom).

While websurfing the other day, I happened upon Clustrmaps. This is one of the coolest things that I am aware of in the area of webstat tracking. Click on the map on the right sidebar and check out where our visitors are coming from every day.

Aside from the humbling reality that the words we write tonight can be read seconds later by almost anyone, anywhere, I'm completely curious as to how someone from Iceland happens upon a blog written by a nobody in North Texas, USA.

So drop us a note. How's life in Guam anyway?

And while you're at it, tell your friends in Big Sky Country that they really should get on the stick. We've got the United States surrounded with the exception of the Montana/North Dakota crowd. There's a reward for the person who logs on and posts a comment from the weirdest spot.

A Confession...

People who know me know that I have a fairly long fuse, and that I've learned to control my "passion" about a subject to a certain extent before reaching my breaking point. Rarely is the threshold met, but on certain occasions the stars line up and I go kamikaze on something that has been cooking for a while. I get irritated about things on a regular basis (hence this blog), but rarely do I go over the edge from irritation to explosion. But I almost got there last night.

I was sitting in class listening to a pretty good lecture on the book of Daniel, specifically Daniel 9, when the professor asked a rhetorical question about the overall theme of Scripture. Now, rhetorical questions by definition don't expect an answer, but the guy in the back row decided to give it a shot anyway. He responded with some gobbledygook about the "antithesis of the contrast of the realities of redemptive history and reprobation." Don't rub your eyes - it didn't make sense when he said it either.

The story isn't over, but I feel the need to make clarification.

This is not the first time something like this has happened. In every class, there's some genius who feels the need to either (1) Demonstrate his brilliance in front of the entire class by reading "Word Power" in Readers' Digest before coming to class, and figuring out a way to incorporate every word in their questions. Or, he feels the need to correct the professor in matters of theology. This is especially comical when 25 year old seminarians attempt to correct a 70 year old professor on matters of theology over which the 70 year old professor has written three books.

Back to last night, the professor asked the back row scholar to clarify his answer. The guy replied back that God's ultimate plan for humanity was heaven or hell. Disagreeing, (heaven and hell are not eternal... God's plan for believers is and eternal state that includes a New Heavens and New Earth, and a lake of fire for unbelievers) the professor responded with another question.

This is where the story goes from making me mad to making me profoundly sad.

Looking directly at the know-it-all student, the professor asked him, "Where will you go when you die?"

"Heaven, I hope. Day by day I hope," replied Mr. Know-it-all, who suddenly didn't know at all.

"You hope?" asked the professor. "This is something you should know."

And he proceeded to share the Gospel with this guy, who has been in seminary nearly 4 1/2 years.

For 4 1/2 years this guy has been attending a conservative evangelical seminary dedicated to teaching believers to "Preach the Word." And somehow this guy missed the most simple and profound truth of all. "Jesus loves me, this I know."

I'm not blogging about this guy in order to give him a hard time. I'm blogging about this story because late into the night last night I was bothered by two lessons this story taught me.

1. It is entirely possible to worship the idol of black and white (and red) words on a page, and altogether miss the God they represent. The study of God's word is vastly important, but can't supercede a relationship with the God of which they speak which comes through faith in Christ.

2. We can't take peoples' individual stories for granted. I was fuming at this know-it-all guy trying to stump the professor with the student's infinite knowledge. Now, my response is compassion and sorrow for a guy who probably isn't even a believer. He can't help it. "The natural man can't receive the things of the Spirit because they're foolishness to him. He can't understand them because they're Spiritually appraised" (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Why Young Pastors Leave The Ministry

A recent blog on Nakedreligion.com listed the top ten reasons young pastors leave the ministry. Although it's mostly intended as humorous, there are some pretty interesting things mentioned here. The tenure of a young pastor is around the same amount of time one could expect Liz Taylor to stay married... not good. This list explains why:

1. The discontinuity between what they imagined ministry to be and what it actually is is too great.
2. A life without weekends sucks.
3. The pay is too low (most pastors in my denomination make less money than a school teacher with five years experience).
4. They are tired of driving ten year old cars while their congregations trade in their cars every two years.
5. Many young pastors are called into difficult congregations that chew pastors up and spit them out because experienced pastors know better.
6. Even though the search committee told them they wanted to reach young people, they didn’t really mean it.
7. When the pastor asked the search committee if they were an “emergent church”, the members of the search committee thought he said “divergent church” and agreed.
8. Nobody told the young pastor that cleaning the toilets was part of the job description.
9. The young pastor’s student loans came due and the amount of money he/she owes on a monthly basis exceeds his/her income.
10. Working at McDonalds has alot less stress.

Although some of these are obviously intended as purely humorous, and there are other issues in play here such as the honesty and integrity of churches during the search process, it seems the majority of problems we face as young pastors stem from a lack of proper perspective. From my limited experience, the solution seems to be in the training and relationships pursued by young pastors.

First, the pastor needs to be prepared for ministry on the front end. Frankly, seminaries are not doing this well. The vast majority of seminaries with which I am familiar do a great job of churning out biblical scholars, but there is a huge disconnect between someone who can explain a passage and someone who can wisely apply it to leadership in a church. The value of internships, and apprentice-type learning environments should not be underestimated in the training of young pastors. These situations give the pastors a laboratory to experiment and fail with some type of safety net in play. Frankly, I wouldn't hire a pastor who hadn't served in some type of formal ministry training that included a prolonged internship; the risk is too high.

Secondly, young pastors must be connected to older pastors who can serve to help buoy a pastor through the inevitable messes he finds within the church. These relationships don't need to be formal, but they need to be existent. I thank God on a regular basis for the 3 men in my life who currently pastor churches, and have served as mentors to me during my various involvements in ministry. Their perspective, input, advice, and wisdom have kept me out of several messes, and have encouraged me through some extremely difficult times.

The NakedReligion Blog is right: McDonalds would be less stress, but the rewards of offering someone the opportunity to Super-size their value combo doesn't compare to the reward of being used by God in changing lives.

If you've got a young pastor, it might be worth encouraging him to pursue some of these relationships. Who knows? You might end up saving your pastor.

When evangelism goes too far.

I'm all for evangelism. I think the church needs to be involved in sharing the gospel with the lost. Many of us have been taught the "Bridge Method" where we draw the gap between God and Man on a napkin, and show how the cross bridged the gap. I've used modifications of this approach before, and found it to be a simple way to explain a profound concept.

If you're not familiar with the concept, it's illustrated to the left. We're separated from God because of our sin. No matter how hard we try, we can't bridge the gap because once we've sinned we're separated from God, and owe Him death. (Romans 6:23). Fortunately, Jesus Christ died and offers eternal life by faith in Him (John 3:16, Ephesians 2:8-9). Thus, the cross bridges the gap.

Well, the bridge method made more than one impression on this guy.

Sorry... I'm all for evangelism, but if evangelism means someone's going to stick a needle in my body, I'm too carnal for that.

Courage? Finally someone says it.

NEW YORK (AP) - Houston Comets forward Sheryl Swoopes is opening up about being a lesbian, telling a magazine that she's "tired of having to hide my feelings about the person I care about."

Swoopes, honored last month as the WNBA's Most Valuable Player, told ESPN The Magazine for a story on newsstands Wednesday that she didn't always know she was gay and fears that coming out could jeopardize her status as a role model.

"Do I think I was born this way? No," Swoopes said. "And that's probably confusing to some, because I know a lot of people believe that you are..."

Read the Entire Article Here:

I've always wondered why the homosexual community hasn't poured its assets into discovering the "gay gene" in people so they could prove once and for all that homosexuality isn't a behavioral choice, but a genetic trait like having blue eyes or red hair.

Everyone always wants to talk about the courage of celebrities who "come out" publicly, but I've never been that impressed. Every homosexual I've ever seen interviewed on TV plays the creation card - this is the way I was made... you have to accept me.

To me, it's not courageous to admit something that is a part of your genetic makeup.

Admitting something that you can't help doesn't highlight your courage, but your insecurity. Admitting something you can help but have chosen not to help takes courage. Because the responsibility for that is on you, not someone else.

Sheryl Swoopes? There's a woman with courage. I don't agree with her decision to practice homosexuality. But she has effectively alienated herself from two groups of society. The homophobes are upset with her because she pulled a fast one on them and didn't "come out" before they were fans. And the homosexuals are upset because she pulled a fast one on them and let the cat out of the bag.

Born this way? Not Sheryl Swoopes. This was a choice for her, and she knows it.

I can't agree with her choice, but at least she's honest. That takes courage.

Rogue Choirs

Check out this article from MSNBC. Why am I not surprised?

CHARLOTTE HARBOR — The pastor of a Charlotte Harbor church had 16 church members booted from a service after they allegedly refused to stop singing and let the clergyman preach.
Deputies were called at 10 a.m. Saturday by Pastor David Noel of the Seventh Day Adventist Church on Harborview Road.

Noel told a deputy he was instructed by regional church superiors to involve law enforcement to remove the rogue choir. The deputy issued trespass warnings to the group, and all 16 left the church without incident.

The sheriff's office got another call from the church shortly before noon when a parishioner wanted to file assault charges against Noel. Edourd Pierrelus, 57, of Port Charlotte, said Noel got mad at him, hit him in the chest and twisted his earlobe during a church service a week earlier.
The man told the deputy the entire congregation of 25 witnessed the attack. Pierrelus said that because of the way the singing dispute was resolved, he now wanted to pursue charges of simple battery.

Deputies say the dispute is rooted in concerns about the handling of church funds. The members of the rogue choir told deputies they'd handle those concerns within the church.

Prayer in School

A New Jersey football coach resigned his position last week after school officials requested that he no longer lead his football team in prayer before games. You can read the whole story here.

Not long ago I posted my thoughts about schools teaching creation science in schools. I'm against it. Our schools are currently falling behind schools from other countries in many key areas like math, technology, and even literacy. Why should the school spend its time teaching a theory that it doesn't understand, either pro creation or against it? It's not the public school's responsibility to teach my children about God, it's mine.

I feel the same way about the current controversy surrounding this New Jersey football coach. While he's attempting to be a sacrificial lamb, it's my opinion that conservative Christians should back the school in this instance, not the coach.

If public school teachers are allowed to pray on behalf of my child, who governs what can be said in those prayers? Could my child's Muslim teacher lead the class (including my son or daughter) in a prayer to Allah? Could my child's Buddhist teacher lead my child in meditation? This New Jersey coach is Catholic, which only reinforces my point.

If I send my son or daughter to athletic practice, I don't expect the coach to venerate Mary. I expect him to teach my son or daughter to play a sport. My son or daughter should be allowed to pray. But public school teachers, coaches, and administrators don't need to lead my son or daughter in prayer.

Authenticity

The pastors at FBCN are engaged in a discussion right now about the vision for the future of the church. It's a healthy discussion, and comes at a great time - the church just transitioned in a new senior pastor after Gene Getz, the former senior pastor retired to devote his time in other pursuits. In addition, the church is in the process of beginning a new building that will mean moving the entire campus of the church north about two miles. The momentum in the church is strong, and the pastors are committed to keeping the church focused through the move, so the discussion has been fun to be a part of.

Yesterday, during the discussions, the topic of authenticity came up. It has become the code word for today's Christianity, and is used to describe everything that is both right and wrong with Christianity today. Everyone agrees that authenticity is good, but it seems nobody can define it.

We talked a lot about what things could be described as "authentic" behaviors by the church. Some people brought up the idea of helping transients, feeding the hungry, and loving the hurting. The majority of the examples pointed to authenticity as the importance of Christians not portraying the "holier than thou" attitude, to the point of disclosing their own weaknesses, struggles, and shortcomings so that those on the outside don't see Christians as acting as though they "have it all together."

The idea of authenticity as disclosure seems to be the most popular way to understand the word. Basically, I'm authentic if I share my shortcomings and struggles with someone else so they know I'm not perfect.

While I think there's probably something to disclosure as a part of authenticity, I think that's a misdefinition of what the church truly needs as far as authenticity goes. Frankly, I don't need to disclose my shortcomings to other people - the majority of the time they're as plain as day. I have never met an unbeliever who stumbled because he thought I had it all together, but I meet unbelievers all the time who struggle because they know Christians don't have it all together, but are put off by the attitude of Christians who like to pretend otherwise.

Authenticity is more about attitude than disclosure. Although there's a healthy intimacy level with various people in which we are able to disclose our struggles at different levels, there are times at which such disclosure would be horribly inappropriate. But an attitude of humility in recognition of what God has done in my life completely apart from my own acting is never inappropriate.

As an authentic church, and as authentic believers, we should seek to refine our attitude to be an attitude of authenticity rather than the false masks we like to wear. But we don't have to be a culture that magnifies our weaknesses to win others - they know our weaknesses; our responsibility is to magnify our gracious God.

Brrrrr

They were supposed to show our house today, so the puppy and I went to Petsmart to look around. She doesn't care for strange people in the house who don't let her out to play with them. The sad puppy dog eyes work on Kari but don't seem to work on potential homebuyers, plus the dog loves to visit Petsmart, so off we went.

This week Dallas had what the meteorologists are calling a "cold snap." Basically, for non-texicans, that means the weather finally dipped below a hundred degrees. There's nothing cold about a cold snap in Dallas. In fact, the weather today is sunny and nearly 70 degrees. But don't tell the Texans. Between the house and Petsmart, I counted 8 people walking outside with heavy winter coats and gloves. Eight.

Texans notoriously overreact to the weather. Two or three weeks ago, Hurricane Rita was supposed to pass over Dallas with the potential of 10 inches of rain in the metroplex. You couldn't find bottled water in the grocery stores, and there were fights in gas stations between people trying to hoard imperishable items in case of the worst. Our houses might float away, but I'll be darned if she's going to take the last Snickers bar.

Don't even mention snow around here. If the weather man even says words that rhyme with snow, people lose control of their cars, lock themselves in their homes, and light fires in trashcans in their backyards, "just in case."

And today, on the first truly beautiful day this fall, Texans are bundled up like Eskimos.

As I laughed at the sheer lunacy of what I was seeing, a commercial came on the local Christian radio station about an upcoming church conference coming to our area that promised to "completely revive today's dying church." That's when I realized it; it isn't just Texans. The church overreacts in the same way.

Why do we need a completely new paradigm for church? Why does the church need a one-hundred and eighty degree perspective switch from its previous philosophy? I've been to these radically different churches - the ones who are redoing church to "revive today's dying church." Ask them how they know we're dying, and they point to the churches seeming inability to reach the postmodern generation. So they're redoing church to "fix it." The church has missed this entire generation, so they're going after it. They're starting whole churches aimed at fixing the problem of the church. How do we know they're successful? The postmoderns are showing up in droves.

But the senior adults aren't. Neither are the middle-aged people. The kids usually come with the middle-aged people, so they're missing. We've overcorrected our philosophy so much that now, instead of missing one generation, we're missing three. Surely that can't be church the way God intended it to work.

I would argue that the vast majority of churches today don't need a major paradigm shift. They don't need to go back to the drawing board. We don't need an entire overhaul, we just need a tune-up. The world today doesn't need a postmodern church, it needs to be brought into a relationship with God through saving faith in Jesus Christ. We don't need new paradigms, we just need people who love our generation enough to share God's Word with us, and to welcome us to the family.

Earth to Dallas: lose the coat, it's seventy degrees outside.

A Life With Purpose - Book Review

On one of my bookshelves I have two stacks: books I have to read, and books I want to read. The first stack is books I have to read for school or work, and the second stack is usually full of random books I've received as gifts, or that I stumbled on at Half Price Books, my favorite used bookstore. The drill is this: after I finish one of the "have to reads," I grab one of the "want to reads" as a reward.

I have great in-laws, and last Christmas they loaded me up on "want to read" books. After ten months, I'm finally about to exhaust those books, and am in dire need of some more. Fortunately, Christmas is just around the corner.

Today, I finished a major exam for one of my classes and searched for a "want to read" book. I picked out "A Life With Purpose" by George Mair. The subtitle of the book is "Reverend Rick Warren, The Most Inspiring Pastor of Our Time." It was a freebie somewhere, and since I love biographies, I figured it might be interesting.

If you're one of those over-sensitive types who believes you really shouldn't say anything at all if you don't have something nice to say, it might be advisable to stop reading here and pretend I wrote no more. I have absolutely nothing nice to say about this book. Consider yourself warned.

For starters, I feel the need to say that I'm not opposed to Rick Warren. I personally enjoyed "The Purpose Driven Church" very much. "The Purpose Driven Life" was for me a lot like Jurassic Park - the hype oversold the actual experience, and I was left disappointed once I finally got around to reading the book. But I didn't hate it.

This book on the other hand... well, let's just say about halfway through the book I promised myself if I could get through it, I'd treat myself to my "have to read pile." (I always finish books... period. It's part of being a type-A, obsessive compulsive guy. What can I say?)

For starters, from the forward, and from the book itself, it's obvious Warren had nothing to do with this book. The guy writing the book is an admirer of his who talked with his family, and friends, but didn't spend time with Warren in the writing of this book. For that I'm thankful. Like him or not, Rick Warren is one of the most listened to spokespersons in America when it comes to Christianity. To think that one of the most powerful men in American Christianity today's sole mission in life is actually to be like Robert Schuller and Norman Vincent Peale is frightening. But that's what this book insinuates.

This book insinuates that Rick Warren is carrying the torch first lit by Bob Schuller (of Crystal Cathedral fame) and Norman Vincent Peale (writer of "The Power of Positive Thinking"). In fact, there's more biographical information about these two men in the book than there is about Rick Warren himself. Interestingly, if you do the math, Saddleback was several years old before Warren and Schuller met, although this book claims Schuller was the primary influence in the bedrock principles Warren used to start his ministry.

I got the distinct picture throughout the book that the author had an ulterior motive, and it wasn't to describe Rick Warren. Rather, the book seemed to be an attempt to give credibility to the Positive Thinking gospel on the coat tails of Rick Warren's success.

Although I haven't agreed with everything Warren has put out, I don't get the impression that the Purpose Driven Life is truly the revival of the Power of Positive Thinking gospel. If it was, the Purpose Driven Life would amount to no more than the Ego Driven Life. I find that philosophy hard to derive from a book that begins by saying "It's not about you."

The Purpose Driven Life is an utter contradiction if we take it in light of Norman Vincent Peale's philosophy. The Power of Positive Thinking is an exaltation of humanity, and the philosophy that you are what you think you are; it's the "Little Engine That Could" mentality. But the Little Engine was a train, and trains aren't fallen humans. Trains might be able to climb mountains they didn't think they could cross, but humans are unable to bridge the gap between themselves and God that was created by their sin.

True significance for humanity is not found in humanity, but in what God has said about the crowning jewel in His creation: we are created in His image. Beyond that, humanity who is in a right relationship with God (through faith in His Son) is seen as the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, who is loved and cherished by God. There is no power in positive thinking, other than positive thinking about who God is, and who humanity is in light of who God is. If the Purpose of the Purpose Driven Life is anything other than "to glorify God and enjoy Him forever," we fall tragically short of the purpose for which we were intended.

Christian Porn

I first became acquainted with Mike Foster and Craig Goss's ministry during an online church service I watched about a year ago. The People's Church in Frankin, TN archives their worship services, and when I was a worship leader I frequented their sites as a way to learn new songs. Because of time restraints, I didn't usually listen to the sermon although Rick White, their pastor is an extremely good communicator and worth listening to.

One day, I logged on to listen to a worship service and heard someone announce that it was "Porn Sunday" at The People's Church. Now, you need to know that although they don't make a big deal about it, The People's Church is a Southern Baptist congregation. Having grown up in a Southern Baptist church, my jaw just about hit the floor. I didn't know Southern Baptists knew what porn was, and I was darn sure they weren't allowed to talk about it in church - much less devote a Sunday to it. But that's what The People's Church did. And you can bet I didn't miss the sermon that week.

The People's Church was hosting a couple of guys named Mike Foster and Craig Goss, the founders of the self-proclaimed "#1 Christian Porn Site on the Internet." Don't worry - you won't find distasteful pictures of Billy Graham on the site. It's a site dedicated to combatting the porn industry, and to helping those involved in that industry and those addicted to porn.

I read about a year ago that addiction to porn was the #1 addiction among males. More men are addicted to porn than are addicted to cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs. And it's easy to get. Twenty years ago, you had to drive to the gas station to pick up your magazine of choice. But we run into people we know at the gas station all the time; most people wouldn't be willing to take the risk.

But today, you're only two clicks away. Men (and women) can access porn for free in the privacy of their home without anyone else ever finding out. And it's rampant in society. Forget the disgusting picture it gives men and women of the opposite sex; it's tearing families apart. I know guys at seminary who are hooked on this trash, and it's destroying their marriage, destroying their family, and destroying their ministry.

Craig and Mike are determined to see the trend reversed. On their site you can download free software that will email a list of sites you visit to your parent, spouse, or accountability partner. There are resources for parents, for those addicted, and for those who just want to see some staggering statistics about the dangers of pornography.

Not everyone agrees with their methods. These guys are the creators of the "Jesus Loves Porn Stars" t-shirts, and of Pete the porn control puppet. They bought a booth at the Las Vegas porn festival, and handed out materials to the porn stars and porn addicts who attended. They're blunt, slightly off color, and thrive when they're teetering on the edge. But regardless of some of the means they use to acheive the end, the end is a desperately needed ministry in today's culture.

Marriage and Faith

There's a good article about marriage and faith on MSNBC's home page this morning. Apparently, those who base their marriage on the foundation of faith fair better than those who don't. Imagine that.

This past weekend during a class on marriage at DTS, the topic of divorce and its consequences to the family unit came up. It's a hard discussion, because I've seen the devastation that comes from divorce in a family, and its impact on the divorcer, divorcee, and the innocent bystanders of the decision to divorce. As we discussed it, I was reminded of how thankful I am that Kari and I both grew up in homes not only with two parents, but in homes where divorce was not even a vocabulary word. It wasn't ever an option for our parents under any circumstances.

Our faith has been far and away the most important thing to Kari and my marriage - so much so that I often wonder how unbelievers make it in marriage. When there is no eternal perspective present in the life of husbands and wives, what keeps those people going through the really tough times? When there's no ultimate picture of the purpose of marriage, what keeps married couples together when everything falls apart? How could marriage last and be based on anything other than faith?

Church Based Training

I'd love to write a book. When I was a freshman in college, I started one. But you need two things to be able to write a book: knowledge, and experience. As a freshman in college, I had neither. So I finished the prologue, wrote the dedication page, and quit. Maybe I'll take it back up when I'm 50 and actually have a little more life under my belt.

For now, I read a lot of other peoples' books. And I've noticed something about books recently: many of the very best ones don't come up with revolutionary ideas that have never been thought before. Conservative estimates believe humans have existed for at least 6,000 years, so to believe one of us actually has a novel idea that was never before thought of by one of the billions of people who have existed throughout history is pretty far out. Instead, some of the best books out there take things we already knew, package them in a new way, and sell them to those of us who didn't know we knew what we know.

That's what Rowland Forman, Jeff Jones, and Bruce Miller have done in their book "The Leadership Baton." These men are all affiliated with the Center for Church Based Training, which is a group that functions as a part of Fellowship Bible Church North, where I'm now employed. This book defines the principle that drives the ministry at Fellowship Bible Church North, and has helped not only FBCN, but the numerous churches planted by this ministry.

The principle is called "Church Based Training," and it's not new - not completely. One could argue Paul was practicing the philosophy of "Church Based Training" when he told Timothy to take the things he had learned, and teach them to others who could teach others as well. But somewhere in history, the church got away from Church Based Training. Oh, we had discipleship class. We had Bible Studies. We taught people how to be scholars, and students, and theologians. But we didn't teach them to be leaders.

That's the downfall of the seminary today. Every year hundreds of men and women graduate from seminaries and Bible colleges with a grasp of God's Word, a knowledge of theology, and sometimes even a familiarity with the Bible's original languages. But when they show up in our church as our pastor, they don't know how to lead. The luw paradigm won't help even the best Greek scholar survive a board meeting, or set direction for the church.

Don't get me wrong. I believe, and know the writers of this book believe graduate studies are vastly important. I wouldn't trade my seminary experience for anything. But seminaries can't teach everything.

And Church Based Training is not just for pastors. This principle drives all of Fellowship's ministries. The youth ministry, worship ministry, men's and women's ministries, and the small group ministry of which I'm a part have all bought in to the Church Based Training philosophy, and it has made Fellowship a better place.

The philosophy isn't complex. There isn't a secret meeting room full of charts, graphs, names, and pictures. Only a group of people who are determined to be intentional about developing the people around them. Each emerging leader is given a baton like the ones used in a relay race. It is inscribed "2 Timothy 2:2." The leader is told that the baton isn't for them, but for the person they will train to come after them. And from day one, the leader is given a tangible reminder of the importance of passing a legacy from one leader to the next.

All over the church, batons are being passed along. Small group leaders train other small group leaders. Youth leaders train other youth leaders. Pastors train other pastors. Elders train other elders. It's a simple concept, but because the church and its leadership are serious and intentional about it, it is making a huge difference.

I'll write more in coming days and weeks about how this philosophy actually plays out as I get the opportunity to observe it. For now, buy the book. You won't be disappointed.