Recently it was reported that the Southern Baptist Convention reported a decline in baptism for this year to the lowest since 1987 and that their membership had dipped by about 40,000 in 2007. This news is a bit of surprise for America’s largest protestant denomination. More surprising, however, was SBC PResident Frank Page’s remarks, “”Our culture is increasingly antagonistic and sometimes adverse to a conversation about a faith in Christ. Sometimes that’s our fault because we have not always presented a winsome Christian life that would engender trust and a desire on the part of many people to engage in a conversation on the Gospel.” Interesting “sometimes that’s our fault” but most of the time it’s someone else’s?
Is Frank Page stating that the reason people aren’t coming to Christ is because they don’t want to? Hasn’t that always been the problem? Wasn’t Jesus crucified because his culture was “antagonistic and adverse to a conversation about a faith in Christ?” Weren’t the disciples martyred because their culture was “antagonistic and adverse to a conversation about a faith in Christ?” What culture hasn’t been “antagonistic and adverse to a conversation about a faith in Christ?”
The problem is not that people are “antagonistic and adverse to a conversation about a faith in Christ” it’s that they’re particularly “antagonistic and adverse to our portrayal of faith in Christ.” We have recreated Christ in our image and it’s not pretty. We have made an idol and called it contemporary Christianity. What we need a is a restoring of the right image of Christ so that people would deal with Christ, not our distortions of it.
Page gets at this when he says, “We have not always presented a winsome Christian life that would engender trust and a desire on the part of many people.” True, but not enough, it’s not the lifestyle choice of Christianity that brings salvation or is desirous. It is Christ who brings salvation and is desirous, not the lifestyle choice - we’ve gotten it wrong!
On a more encouraging note this same article in the Lexington Herald-Leader acknowledges that independent and community churches are growing. Is it because these churches are less steeped in excessive dogma? Is it because they have less trappings surrounding their image of Christ? I don’t know, but I’m glad that I’m a part of one and that we have the ability to be a body of believers - attempting to be the Body of Christ and nothing else.
Mike Huckabee has seen his fair share of controversy, so has Jeremiah Wright. Both were pastors, but that’s about where the similarities end. With Wright’s renewed media attention and controversy I thought it would be fun to dig up this quote and throw it out there for consideration.
“As easy as it is for those of us who are white to look back and say, “That’s a terrible statement,” I grew up in a very segregated South, and I think that you have to cut some slack. And I’m going to be probably the only conservative in America who’s going to say something like this, but I’m just telling you: We’ve got to cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told, “You have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can’t sit out there with everyone else. There’s a separate waiting room in the doctor’s office. Here’s where you sit on the bus.” And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say, I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had … more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.”
- Mike Huckabee, his perspective on the preaching of Jeremiah Wright. ( Source: MSNBC, cited by Sojomail 3/27/08 )
Forgiveness is giving up the right to retaliate. Forgiveness is the willingness to have something happen the way it happened. It’s not true that you can’t forgive something; it’s a matter of the will, and you always have the choice. Forgiveness is never dependent on what the other person does or does not do; it is always under our control. Forgiveness is giving up the insistence on being understood…. Jesus forgave those who crucified him. This is a radically new way of thinking. For those who accept and practice this discipline, there is a release of energy and a sense of freedom.
- Pixie Koestline Hammond
For Everything There Is a Season
Quoted in Sojomail.net 4/15/08
Click on the picture to go to Rick O’Shay’s blog and read the horrifying truth!!!
Does it count as a book if it’s a few sheets bound by two staples? I only ask because Miley Cyrus, of Hannah Montana fame, recently announced that she would be publishing her memoirs. At fifteen, she has accomplished more notoriety, fame and probably does more work than I’ll ever do in my life. But I wonder, what memoirs does any fifteen year old have? I recently asked if Disney would allow me to review them, they turned me down…so I’ve made up my own preview of Ms. Cyrus’ memoirs for you (this will probably spoil the plot, so if you plan on buying the book don’t read any further):
“It was dark and warm, I don’t remember much, then a bright light came and my dad started crying. I couldn’t talk so I cried, there was so much more room on the outside of the womb! I remember it was cold until they wrapped me in a blanket. Things are a little fuzzy after that, a lot of plush toys, I started to walk after I mastered crawling - of course. My favorite toy growing up (until last week) was a microphone, I used to sing a lot (my dad is a professional musician after all). I graduated from a toy microphone to a real one, then I got famous, some money and that’s all for now. My show is really clever I put on a wig when I want to be famous and then take it off when I go back to my ‘normal life.’ [Which coincidentally is what I do...only on Thursdays between 8am and 8:30am.] My parents are making me turn out the flashlight so I’ll have to finish this tomorrow. I’ve colored a picture for the illustrations, if you’ve enjoyed this then thank my tutor for my mad English skills!”
I love the fact that we have a great relationship with the Northwest Haitian Christian Mission! I love that we send people to help with this ministry, not just money. I love the we know some of the workers and those who come to the mission for aid on a first name basis. I love that I have a postcard hand painted by a man there at the mission. This card reminds me that our church’s influence is bigger than Bowling Green. We recently received an update from Kathie Perkinson, one of our regular short term missionaries, and I wanted to pass it along. Haiti has been in the news lately and is experiencing a great unrest, this update helps to make their situation and our connection there a little more personal:
Please ask people to pray for the mission and the Haitian people. The political situation is still not good and the mission is having to cut feeding programs to be able to buy diesel fuel. It is very hard to find and they are only finding two or three barrels at a time–they need about 25 per month @ $9.00/gallon. How does one not feed the elderly who only got one meal a day before (and that from the mission) and now just are not eating at all? The prices of food and EVERYTHING have skyrocketed and they struggled before. We are safe and working on a limited scale because our food and supplies are in Miami in customs and the shortage of fuel limits generator use and thus the surgeries and other mission activities and supplies — like water for the mission as well as the community. Be thankful to be an American — except by the grace of God, we could be living here!!!! Those of us Americans who are here get to return home — the Haitians have no jobs, no way to find one and no way out!
After the previous post about the prophetic voice of the church, it was quite timely to see Pope Benedict’s comments on his first American journey. He spoke out very strongly against the sin the church had suffered at the hands of her priests. He spoke out against the mishandling of these cases by many bishops and cardinals throughout America (See CNN’s coverage). He is attempting to rebuild the moral foundation for the prophetic voice of the Catholic Church. He then goes on to state very prophetically, “What does it mean to speak of child protection when pornography and violence can be viewed in so many homes through media widely available today?” What a statement! This is what I love about the Catholic Church, they are clear on their positions (not all of which I agree with). The Pope’s speech is clear when asks how we can fret over molestation and abuse when we celebrate it in our media! He speaks in the tradition of the prophets, against culture and gives a way of life to those who are seeking. He serves as the moral compass and the voice in the wilderness calling people to God. There has been great sin at the hands of many priests, it has been a disgrace to Catholics - to all Christians. This honesty, humility, repentance, and perseverance to rise above will carry this message and this pope a long way in being a minister of God in the prophetic tradition.
I just returned from a fantastic whirlwind tour of Joplin, MO. Home of Ozark Christian College, and their “Deeper Life” rally. A small group of our senior high students traveled with me to both have a spiritual retreat and a preview of this great school. I went as both friend and spiritual leader - all to cover a covert mission as a glutton on a spiritual pilgrimage of my own. I returned to the home of “Fred and Red’s” famous “Spaghetti Red” and “Tamale Spread” (read a review here). This unbelievably small and inexpensive restaurant serves up mass amounts of chili everyday. People stand in line to eat at this restaurant which serves maybe thirty at a time. Thankfully our students loved it as much as I did (although I suspect their enthusiasm was not as genuine as my own…thanks for humoring me).
We went other places, Braum’s Ice Cream and Lion’s Choice. Both shrines to my college eating days. But the biggest hit among the students was Imo’s pizza. This we called in for take away so that we might feast on it while picnicing under the St. Louis arch. Imo’s pizza is the definitive place to sample the not as well-known “St. Louis Style Pizza.” Their pizza is served on a thin crust and with provel cheese. This pizza is so popular it can be overnight delivered to anywhere in America for all of you St. Louis ex-pats.
There were other good things that happened on this trip as well. We heard some great messages, experienced great worship, I reconnected with some old friends. But the only thing I have to work off and pay for in the gym is the food. Missouri may be a little lacking in the excitement department - but the “fine cuisine” makes up for it. I will remember this trip, some lessons I learned about life and ministry, the decisions our students made, the fellowship I shared…but right now I’m reliving the food…
This post has been brought to you by Tums Antacids.
A friend of mine has a blog (www.contend4thefaith.org) and has started a discussion of church doctrine and tradition. His first and most recent post deals with the Trinity, something we don’t talk a lot about in church. We affirm it and accept it, but do we think about it? Is it important to us? The early church fought vehemently over this teaching! They realized how important this doctrine was and it is something that we think so little about.
But why is the Trinity so important? Why is this doctrine essential to us? For a couple of reasons, first it is the only doctrine which is consistent with the Biblical witness. For example, when Jesus was baptized he ascends from the water, the Father’s voice calls down from heaven and the Spirit descends on him as a dove (Luke 3:21-22). This is worth noting for it is the Spirit that enables Christ’s ministry (Luke 4:18-21)and it is the same Spirit that enables the believers’ ministry (Acts 1:8). Without the differentiation between the Son and the Spirit who would come and enable us to do “greater works than these (John 14:12).”
There is another differentiation which is needed. The Son and the Father must be held as one yet separate. As Christ prays in the garden, “Not my will but yours be done (Luke 22:42),” he is pleading with the Father for himself. This is not to say that Christ went to the cross unwilling - he was willing. But, he was willing to submit to the Father’s will. This is important because it was the Father’s will and in many senses the debt was owed to the Father. This debt must be paid, supposedly by the debtor (read as “sinner”), yet humanity was unable to pay this debt. God had to pay the debt but God was owed the debt, this meant a second personage in the Trinity was required to satisfy this debt to the Father. This is where the role of the Son shines out, not that he was made for this purpose (for he has existed from the beginning of time). This is the pinnacle of the Son’s roles throughout eternity, it is the climax of God’s divine mystery. The Trinity is so important because enables substitutionary atonement and the Christian faith.
Garrison Keillor nudged Isaac Watts out of Sunday’s message…I’ll pay for that later. I wanted to share this poem of his as found in Charles Spurgeon’s Treasury of David (Vol 1). It’s inspired by Sunday’s text, Psalm 42 and is a beautiful prayer from a heart desiring to see God.
While I am banished from thy house
I mourn in secret, Lord;
“When shall I come and pay my vows,
And hear thy holy word?”
So while I dwell in bonds of clay,
Methinks my soul shall groan,
“When shall I wing my heavenly way
And stand before thy throne?”
I love to see my Lord below,
His church displays his grace;
But upper worlds his glory know
And view him face to face.
I love to worship at his feet,
Though sin attack me there,
But saints exalted near his seat
Have no assaults to fear.
I am pleased to meet him in his court,
And taste his heavenly love,
But still I think his visits short,
Or I too soon remove.
He shines, and I am all delight,
He hides and all is pain;
When will he fix me in his sight,
And never depart again?
- Isaac Watts from his sermons
