The Winding Labyrinth

Running Lessons

2012-01-24T09:05:00.000-05:00

by Dr. Guy Sayles

It has been odd but good: over the last month or so, when I have been jogging through town, people have spontaneously decided to join me. I’m still not sure why. Maybe it’s because I was moving so slowly, they liked the idea of winning an easy race. Or maybe I looked so winded and in pain, they thought I might need them to call 911. I don’t know why they joined me, but I am glad they did.

I was running on Hilliard, just past the Orange Peel, and a young man carrying a backpack jogged with me for about five minutes. I couldn’t understand very well what he was saying to me as we went up and down the Hilliard hills, but he said something about being in training for the army and something about not being in very good shape. When he decided to drop back to walking, he thanked me for the company.

I was running up Market Street, near the Thomas Wolfe House, and an older man I know from the streets called-out, “Hey, Rev, let me run with you.” I said, “Come on.” He had on heavy shoes, and he seemed to have had a liquid breakfast and lunch, but he ran with me for a couple of blocks. We talked briefly about how getting older, with all its aches and pains, is better only than the alternative. We mostly laughed at ourselves.

Then, this past Thursday evening, as I was coming down College Street, I passed a young man and a little boy, father and son, who were walking. The boy was 4 or 5 years old. He was wearing blue jeans, a t-shirt, a leather-like jacket, and tennis shoes that lit-up with each step he took. As I passed them, the boy started running, too. It stunned his dad, who started jogging along behind us, and it surprised me. His dad said, “He’s just so excited to run; I hope you don’t mind.” I told him I thought it was one of the best things that had happened to me that day. I matched my pace to the little boy’s who would run like crazy for a while and then slow down almost to a walk. I told him how fast he was and how cool his shoes were. As with my older friend on Market Street, more than anything else, we just laughed. I’m not even exactly sure what we laughed about what, other than how weird but wonderful it was, that three people who didn’t know each other at all managed to play for a few minutes.

I’ve been surprised how much those runners have been on my mind. That young man with difficult speech, reporting to the army: What will happen to him? Will he make it through basic training? If he does, what kind of role will the army give him? I’m guessing, from the quick impressions I got, that there won’t be a lot of options for him. Will he, before long, be doing grunt work of some kind in harm’s way in Afghanistan? Did he enlist because he wanted to or because it was his last chance, a kind of forced choice? Do his parents know he’s enlisted? What are they feeling?

And, my friend from the streets is someone I have been seeing around town for some years now. I don’t know a lot about him, but I know he’s a Vietnam vet who saw bitter action in Cambodia, and that he was never the same after he came back home. I don’t think much is going to change for him; I am not even sure how much he believes things can or should change. I know that he sometimes drinks too much to forget for a while his days in the killing fields and to numb the shock he still feels over how those days changed him.

When the air turns cold and the wind howls through downtown, I will be worried about him and the other homeless men and women who will scramble to stay warm. I wonder what it feels like to spend most of everyday trying to figure out how to get enough of whatever it is they think they need.

And, what about that little boy and his young father? What will their futures be like? I don’t know, but I hope and pray that, whatever happens, whatever success they enjoy and failure they endure, they will always feel free to break into a run and to laugh for no reason at all with a complete stranger. The pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson said that the one gift all children should have is “a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength.” I hope that little boy will keep his sense of wonder. I know he won’t always wear light-up shoes, but I hope he will always know that he shines and the world is radiant. Such wonder belongs, though we lose track of it, to all God’s children—all of us.

In my every-day life—hurrying in and out of stores and restaurants, hustling from one meeting to the next, rushing from one event to another, and scrambling to get tasks crossed-off my to-do list—I run past people. I miss their stories, their hurts and hopes, their disappointments and dreams. I miss chances to cry and to laugh, to listen and to talk, to know and be known, to help and be helped, to love and be loved. I’m busy and preoccupied, so I miss a lot. I especially miss opportunities to experience Jesus, to offer and receive him, in encounters with the people I run by.

How much of my hurrying—how much of yours?—is driven by confusion about the purpose of life and by a distorted understanding of what it means to be successful?

Guy Sayles is the pastor of First Baptist Church of Asheville, NC. This article was originally posted on his blog, From the Intersection.

Christmas Lessons from a Toddler, Part 2

2012-01-13T12:08:00.001-05:00

Last year, you may have remembered me writing about my wonderful little niece Téa, whose innocent questions were a perfect lesson in the meaning of Christmas. Yet again, I was baffled at how her mind worked this Christmas. One day while babysitting, she asked to watch the “Jesus video,” which, after a bit of hunting through a stack of DVDs, turned out to be animated stories of Jesus’ life.

She is currently engaged with trying to figure out who’s bad and who’s good in every story. A pleasant little boy started off by explaining that the Jews were poor and hungry and tired of being treated badly and oppressed by the Romans and led into a story where Simon Peter was depicted being angry at Matthew, also called Levi, the tax collector, who was a Jew working for the Romans (though he will eventually become a disciple).

“Peter’s bad?” she asked.

“No, he’s just angry because he wishes Matthew wouldn’t work for the Romans. The Romans are hurting the Jews. But Matthew leaves his job, and both he and Peter end up helping Jesus.” I replied.

“Oh, ok,” she said

Next up was the story of John the Baptist, looking every bit the part of the rough wilderness type. His stern demeanor convinced Téa he was bad.

“He’s bad,” she said, pointing to John in the water.

“No, he’s helping people.” I replied.

“What’s he doing to Jesus?” she asked.

“He’s baptizing him. That means he’s putting him in the water and Jesus is saying he will follow God.” I replied. How do you explain such a complicated thought to a 3 year old?

“He’s appetizing him?” she asked.

John is then pictured in jail at the hands of Herod.

“But he’s in jail, so he's bad,” she pointed out.

“The people in power were bad, and they put him there,” I replied.

“Oh, ok,” she said, clearly trying to process what it all meant.

More exchanges followed, but she had fewer questions during the stories of the miracles of Jesus, which were told a little more simply. She asked to watch it again. After it was over, she looked up at me and said, “God helps us.”

How, after all my fallible attempts to explain what was going on in terms a tot could understand, did she get that? Touched, I hugged her and said, “That’s right, and God loves you very much, just like we do.”

Later, she repeated this to her mother and father while explaining to them what we did all day. Her parents beamed, proud that she had learned such a message of hope. Somewhere in the mystery of a child’s growth and a family’s love for them, they absorb things we could never dream. May the children of the next generation see the love of God reflected in our actions with them and our neighbors. As we leave the Christmas season, may we carry the hope of Christ in our hearts as we exhibit God’s love in the world.

Kairos>Chronos

2012-01-06T12:00:00.001-05:00

Rev. Aileen Lawrimore

“Where has the time gone?” I say to just about anyone who will listen. “Don’t get me wrong; I want my children to grow up (the alternative is unthinkable). I just want to know: Where has the time gone?”

It’s baffling. I can’t figure out how my brown-eyed girl (born just yesterday), is today a young lady looking at colleges. Or how, overnight, I went from buying my little boy light-up Batman sneakers to shopping for size 15 Nikes. And how–how in the world–did my baby girl get to her last year of middle school already, when just last night I was sneaking her ragged pink blankie into the laundry?

Where has the time gone?

I don’t know, but I think I’m looking for it in the wrong zone. In Greek, there are two words for time. There’s Chronos—time that is measured, ya know, chronologically. And then there is Kairos—time that is measured by experiences. Chronos dissolves into seconds, days, years. Kairos, though . . . Kairos remains.

Chronos counts birthdays by ordinal numbers: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, . . . . But Kairos thinks back to a ballerina party that blended over the course of chronos into a makeover session, a Firefighter party for preschoolers that ended as a pick-up basketball game for teenagers in the church gym, and a ladybug piñata in our backyard in Sanford, NC that exploded into one surrounded by teenagers in our Asheville garage.

Chronos sees the seasons come and go and checks off another year. But Kairos sees differently. Kairos sees the Queen of Hearts, Angelina Ballerina, and Thing 1, all with curly blond hair; a puppy, a robot, and a number of clowns, all making lots and lots of noise; a pediatrician, Hermione Granger, and Toy Story’s Jessie, all of whom were far more grown-up than they should have been. Kairos remembers . . . the ball dropping, its year changing in that chronos way all the way down; sandcastles washed away one year and built back up the next; trips to Houston, trips back home, & trips back out again. Kairos smiles remembering all the games of Barnyard Bingo, Blink, & Bananagrams; all the books we’ve read—from Dr. Seuss and Sandra Boynton to Brian Jacques and J.K. Rowling; all the hours of Veggietales, American Idol, and Psych. And Kairos weeps, weeps as faded faces and sharp memories come to mind: Wayne, Paxten, Matthew, Caleb, Cliff . . . . Chronos, distracted by the clock’s ticking, the days passing, just can’t keep up.

Chronos says things like, “How long’s it been . . . .”

Kairos says, “Remember when . . . ?”

Chronos, nervous and fretful, checks its watch and marks days off the calendar.
Kairos flips through photographs and artwork, videos and mementos.

Chronos grows anxious.

Kairos becomes nostalgic.

Where has the time gone?

Chronos doesn’t know.

But Kairos does.

Kairos says, “Look around you. It’s all right here.”

Aileen Lawrimore is a public speaker, freelance writer, and editor. This article originally appeared on her blog, Aileen goes on…and on.

A Living Prayer

2011-12-30T12:00:00.001-05:00

By Rev. Mark Reece

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” This week we wrap up our sermon series built from these words of Jesus offered in John 15:7. Jesus offers us the opportunity to ask of God in the spirit of abiding or obedience. Following the path and teachings of Jesus maintains an unselfish, giving and loving presence about us that will control our asking. This is particularly important because asking dominates much of our prayer life. The best preparation for prayer is to abide in Christ, through daily word and deed, in order to prevent us from offering what I’ve referred to as selfish reactionary and impulsive prayers. We are the branches and Christ is the vine. A clean and honest life keeps us connected to the life source.

There is a human asking and a divine giving at work in John 15:7. Gospel of John scholar Susan Hedahl says that it is “through this process of human asking and divine giving that we become disciples.” John 15:8 essentially says that the Father is glorified when we ask with obedience and our prayers are granted. This week I’m focusing on the divine giving. I was with a mentor of mine a few weeks ago for lunch and he pulled out a little book that was full of names. I could see the notes by each name and there were a few check marks. He was keeping notes of how God was in the process of answering his prayers. He had check marks by those prayers that he felt had been answered. I know that God answers prayers. God continues to answer my prayers. However, I’m continually amazed at the ways by which God answers my prayers.

John 15:7 begins with conditional statements “if you abide in me” and “if my words abide in you” and then moves to the declarative. One thing that I’ve discovered in my relationship with God is that the divine giving often comes with expectation. We often pray that God might give us more of something – perhaps patience, generosity or compassion. But what if God answers our prayer by giving us opportunities to exercise more patience? We pray to be more compassionate. Perhaps God gives us opportunities to exercise compassion. This thought process keeps us united in a partnership with God whereby we’re prevented from becoming complacent bystanders; rather, we’re always becoming active participants in our spiritual lives. We move from saying a prayer to living a life of prayer. Pray on and be blessed this week.

Mark Reece is the pastor of Piney Grove Baptist Church in Mount Airy, NC. This article originally appeared in their church newsletter, The Grove.

Jesus, an Immigrant

2011-12-23T12:00:00.004-05:00

By Rev. Len Keever

Recently, I was at a meeting where a representative from the North Carolina Council of Churches was presenting some interesting statistics on population changes in our state. He said that for many people in the world immigration is not a problem, it is a solution. I don’t think I’ve really heard it put that way before.

Immigration is hard on a family. The decision to leave home and perhaps never return isn’t made lightly. There are dangers involved. Loved ones are left behind. Why would someone take those risks? Several answers come to mind: freedom, safety, the ability to provide a better life for children through education, health care, and job opportunities. Few of us can imagine what it would be like if we were trying to raise our children in a place where violence, oppression, hunger, and poverty was the norm.

Hours later the speaker’s words were still trying to find a comfortable place to sit in my thinking. They couldn’t be dismissed easily. Then suddenly and without warning they struck a different nerve. A new thought came to mind and I found myself sitting up straighter in my chair. An unexpected ah-ha moment was happening. I heard myself say, “Wow!” There is another example where immigration is the answer to a problem---but this time it isn’t the one who is immigrating who is looking for a solution to his difficulties. The one immigrating came to be the solution to our deepest problem.

God saw that things here were getting desperate. The influence of evil was growing; the impact of faith was more and more hidden. People were hungry for the knowledge of God’s love; thirsty for the hope that things were somehow going to get better. God sent God’s One and Only Son with the promise that whoever believes in him will find eternal life (see John 3:16). The Advent of Jesus is an immigration where God sent “The Word become flesh to dwell among us,” (John 1:14). Jesus came to change our way of seeing where we are now, to help us discover hope, to help us find promise, to show us a love that was once hidden. The immigration of Jesus changes us and changes the world. If we will only follow Jesus, he will lead us to a better life now and a better life-everlasting. We could not cross the border to live with God so God crossed the border to provide a way that we can discover faith and hope for the present and the path to eternal life then.

Philippians 2:6-8 says it best: “Though he was in the form of God, [he] did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being found in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death---even death on a cross.” The decision to send Jesus to us was not entered into lightly. For God, this was an act of pure love. For us it is the solution to our deepest problem; our fallen state. “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved,” (Romans 10:9). The birth of Heaven’s Immigrant in a Bethlehem stable is the greatest gift ever given. He is not only our neighbor, he is our only hope.

Merry Christmas!

Len Keever is the pastor of First Baptist Church of Dunn. This article originally appeared in their church newsletter, The Builder.

Re-reading the Grinch

2011-12-16T15:00:00.010-05:00

Artwork for "Forgotten Joy 2011
Advent Guide" by Helms Jarrell

by Jason Williams

I have always been a bit confused by the Grinch's elaborate lie to little Cindy Lou Who. In my imagination, the Grinch plays the part a little too well. The fact that he was so smooth with his lie suggests that he was thoroughly formed by the trappings of Christmas as much as, if not more than, the child. The Grinch's belief that removing the trimmings would stop Christmas illustrates the extent to which he bought into the materialism of Christmas.

Through his observation of the Whos, down in Who-ville, the Grinch understands only the lie of Christmas told by the material things he sees. His experience begs the question: How do the trappings of Christmas lie to us as we observe and celebrate Christmas?

We know from the end of the story that the Whos represent those whose Christmas joy has not been obscured by materialism and consumerism. Their celebration continues in spite of the Grinch's efforts to stop Christmas. For most of my life I have identified primarily with the Whos. I suspect that I learned this identification from the people and societal practices around me. And I imagine that this is true for most of us.

We read the story of the Grinch in such a way that it reinforces our own perceived virtue. It reminds us that despite the trappings around us, we, like the Whos, are not fooled by them. It is through our true understanding of Christmas that we help change the Grinches around us. We all want to see ourselves this way and I imagine that desire directs us away from a more self-critical analysis of the story.

If we allow the story to reflect our practices and habits back to us as a mirror, I believe a different picture emerges. The Whos do not represent the virtue within us. Rather, they represent the virtue to which we aspire. The Grinch, then, becomes the character with which we most identify. This reading allows us to look deeply into ourselves to discover the ways that our Christmas traditions deceive us.

How might the anxiety, dread and fatigue produced by our material and consumer Christmastime traditions contribute to a spiritual amnesia? Might we, like the Grinch, need to extract the Christmas trappings around us from our vision in order to grow our understanding of the true joy of Christmas?

In the end, a story like the Grinch can serve to underwrite our perceived virtue or it can challenge us to live more faithfully. If we truly desire to follow the life and teachings of the One we seek to celebrate at Christmas, then the latter will guide our Christmas reflection.

Jason Williams is a graduate of the Baptist Theological Seminary of Richmond and a member of Hyaets, an intentional Christian community in the heart of the Enderly Park neighborhood of Charlotte, NC. A verson of this article is taken from their Advent Guide, Forgotten Joy, which can be found on their website: http://www.hyaets.org/.

Jesus, Bible and Missions, Not Politics

2011-12-08T13:33:00.000-05:00

By Rev. Dr. Larry Hovis

“Aren’t you concerned that critics might accuse CBFNC of being too political?” my friend asked, as we stood in the sanctuary of FBC Sylva following a Monday evening worship service last October. The service was part of a collaborative effort of CBFNC and the Western North Carolina Baptist Fellowship (WNCBF) to conduct a joint Fellowship on the Move and WNCBF fall gathering.

WNCBF leaders had requested that I enlist Rev. Hector Villeneuva to serve as the preacher for the service. The inquirer was a pastor, who had been out of circulation for much of the year and therefore was not aware of the events surrounding Hector’s arrest, attempted deportation, and eventual (Praise God!) release back to his family and congregation.

“Don’t get me wrong,” my colleague continued. “I’m in favor of CBFNC’s involvement in the immigration issue. Hector’s story is amazing. But it does concern me that some folks might see it in a more negative light, and might accuse us of violating the separation of church and state.”

“I hear what you’re saying,” I explained to my friend. “CBFNC still adheres firmly to church-state separation. It’s one of our bedrock principles. We’re not engaging in partisan politics. We didn’t even set out to get involved in the immigration discussion. But we did feel called by God to pursue missions with the growing Hispanic population in our state. And we discovered that when you reach out to people with the love of Jesus, when you truly try to be the presence of Christ with them, their issues become your issues.”

CBFNC is, above all, a missions organization. Our missiology is based on our reading of the Bible. By taking Scripture seriously, we are led to be a missionary people. By taking God’s call to mission seriously, we are led down paths that, on our own, we might not choose to go. But as the old hymn has us sing, “Wherever He leads, I’ll go.” And our Bible-based, Spirit-led, mission-focused life together is taking us down some new paths.

Because Jesus, echoing a repeated Old Testament refrain states, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Matthew 25:35), as missionary Baptists we are led to welcome the Hispanic immigrants who have come into our state.

Because Paul explains, “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility” (Ephesians 2:14), and “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28), as missionary Baptists we are led to seek reconciliation with brothers and sisters of other races.

Because repeatedly in the Old Testament God’s people are urged, “The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern” (Proverbs 29:7), and Jesus himself described as his personal mission “to proclaim good news to the poor” (Luke 4:18), as missionary Baptists we are led to engage in ministries that address issues of wealth and poverty in our state and world.

These are some of the new ministry paths the Spirit is leading us to take. I can’t say for sure where we’ll be called to go next. But I know one thing for sure. We have no interest in pursuing anybody’s political agenda. Our only agenda is to study God’s Word, listen to the Spirit’s call, and faithfully pursue that call consistent with our heritage as missionary Baptists.

Larry Hovis is the Executive Coordinator of CBF of North Carolina.

I Invite You to Join Me in the Recovery of a Christian Christmas

2011-12-02T11:06:00.000-05:00

By Rev. Randy Carter

Please read the title of this article. Yes, a “Christian Christmas.” It seems strange that the Christian church would have to fight to recover a season in the church calendar that has the word “Christ” in it. But, would you disagree that much of what happens in our culture during Christmas has nothing whatsoever to do with the remembrance of Jesus Christ, God in the flesh? Is Christmas even recognizable beyond an exercise in rampant, unbridled consumerism? Ask your children, “What is your favorite thing about Christmas?” Will they answer the family meal, the visit to Grandma and Grandpa, or the special parties and get-togethers with friends and others in the community? No. They will answer with one word: presents.

Presents are good. I give presents during Christmas. In fact, gift-giving during Christmas can be a sign of the divine gift-giving we celebrate at Christmas. If we can remember why we give gifts during the Christmas season, we can utilize the practice to teach the real lesson: God so loved the world that he gave His very best gift, His only Son, that whoever might receive this gift would receive also the gifts of forgiveness of sins, of hope for the present and future, and of eternal life. I am certain that a Mom with a Wal-Mart basket full of toys wishing Wal-Mart would bring back layaway practices so she could buy more than anyone has ever needed so she can be the coolest Mom ever has missed the point of the divine gift-giving.

It is not only the presents problem. It is a waiting problem. You’ve heard this before from me, but here it comes again. Before December 25th, the season of Advent invites us to wait and anticipate. Advent allows us to hope for Christmas to arrive so that when December 25th (and the 11 days that follow 12/25 that comprise the 12 days of the Christmas season) does arrive we feel joy and excitement that Christmas has come – similar to those who waited for the Messiah and felt joy and excitement over the news of the birth of the Savior. Here is what I think happens too often: we start hearing Christmas music in late October, we are inundated with commercials and sales flyers full of red and green by early November, we celebrate Thanksgiving with our eyes more focused on Black Friday than the bountiful feast before us, and then December finally arrives. All that before December even appears on the calendar! December, then, ends up becoming a pressure-packed month of worry and panic knowing that time is running out before the big day. And, when Christmas Day dawns (literally for many of you with young children), people are so sick and tired of all things Christmas they can hardly wait to see it go. That makes me so sad.

What, then, would recovering a Christian Christmas entail? Much more than I can write in this article, but here’s a start. First, wait and experience Advent. Second, reflect long and hard about the point of the presents and how the practice of gift-giving can be a sign of the great divine gift-giving. Third, ask yourself if your children truly understand Christmas and work to be sure they do. Fourth, if there are 12 days of the Christmas season (12/25 – 1/5), is there anything Christmas-related you can do after 12/25 to take reduce the stress before 12/25? Fifth, can your family find or create a way to serve others this Christmas (again, not just on 12/25, but during the 12 day season)?

What are your ideas? I’d love to hear them.

The Lord be with you all, Randy

Randy Carter is the pastor of First Baptist Church of Hillsborough, NC. This article first appeared in their church newsletter, The Messenger.

Grief and the Holidays

2011-11-24T09:00:00.001-05:00

Right now, when it seems everyone is making plans to purchase a turkey or ham and making lists of Christmas presents to pick up for their friends and family, many in our offices are facing a holiday season without a particular loved one for the first time. Whether it’s a grandmother, brother, aunt, or beloved friend, death has not been a stranger to us lately.

As I talk to my coworkers about their losses and my family about the recent death of my Aunt Shirley, a few thoughts, realizations, and hopes have come to mind for which I will be in prayer the next several weeks. First, this holiday season will feel different, no matter how much we might want to stick to the same schedule or traditions. For instance, my Aunt Shirley was not only known for helping my grandmother generously prepare Thanksgiving and Christmas meals, but she moderated fun post-meal activities like trivia games and our rowdy and hilarious “Everything-Under-$10-White-Elephant-Gift-Swap.” Particularly endearing memories to me are that we always made sure my beloved but oft-teased cousin Stuart got the worst gift. Aunt Shirley would have to cut off the bargaining, maneuvering, and wrestling for weirdly shaped gifts that turned out to be bizarre tools or a strange kitchen utensil. I will treasure these fun memories in my heart as a time of happiness untouched with this sadness and loss. However, I know that even if this tradition continues, we need to give ourselves permission not to strive to do it the same way that my Aunt Shirley did. She is irreplaceable, as is her particular type of humor, and we need to give space for others to adapt, change, or cease traditions that we know in our hearts will be different without her presence.

Second, I hope that families facing grief during the holidays will acknowledge the elephant in the room. We all know it will be hard to eat Christmas dinner with one less seat at the table, and all that represents. It is natural and healthy to cry, to remember, to tell stories, and let others know how we are feeling. Telling stories is how we carry our loved ones with us after they have passed. Stories remind us that Aunt Shirley, Brother Bill, Grandmother Gogo, and Beloved Friend Gloria have joined the Cloud of Witnesses in a long line that have gone before and that we still have lessons to learn from their time with us. With the hope of Christ, we have faith that death is not the last word in their story.

Third, I pray that we make space for one another to grieve differently. Some might want to continue old traditions while others may find it unbearable. It could take multiple holiday seasons to find a normal rhythm again. Ultimately, we need to have a spirit of grace when we encounter one other, realizing that the healthiest way to grieve this loss is to be honest with one another about our feelings and make clear our love for our family and the deceased. This will probably feel like walking a tight rope for the first few holiday seasons, but with grace and love for one another in the spirit of our loving God, I know that we’ll make it together.

May God bless you this Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year while you remember your loved ones, present and departed.

The Power of Half and Teenagers

2011-11-18T09:00:00.001-05:00

by Rev. Felicia Fox

One of the reasons I love my job is I get to see youth and children make a real difference in the world. They really do have a way of seeing past all of the surface level issues that seem to distract us adults. Here’s an example I found this week of a teenager who saw a need and came up with a pretty simple answer that transformed her family’s life.

One day a father was driving his fourteen year old daughter, Hannah through the streets of downtown Atlanta. Hannah noticed a homeless man with a sign asking for food. On the other side was a mercedes benz. The girl had a great idea. If the man in the mercedes had a less expensive car the homeless man could use some of that money to have a meal. It was a brilliant and simple idea. Over the next few weeks Hannah kept bringing the idea up with her family. One night her aggravated mother asked if she was suggesting they should sell their house and give away all their nice things. That’s exactly what Hannah wanted. That’s exactly what the family did. They sold their 1.5 million dollar home and brought one half the size. They donated all the things they no longer needed to charity. The money from their home when to fund projects in African villages. There are now villages in Africa that have medical clinics and schools thanks to Hannah and her family. This story was the inspiration for her book, The Power of Half.

Isn’t it just like a teenager to see a need and see a solution that no adult would ever think of? It seems pretty simple. If you have an extra car you don’t need, give it to somebody who needs it. If you have extra food, feed a hunger person. It is so simple but so hard for us adults to do. We have a way of finding reasons to keep all of our stuff. We often hide the motivation behind our real reasons by saying we are just being responsible. We might need those things one day. However, most of those reasons come back to our own selfishness and our lack of faith.

Jesus summed up the idea this way, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19 – 21)

This Sunday I’ll be sharing Hannah’s story with our youth during FLASH. We’ll be taking a hard look at our own lives and thinking about where our treasure really lies. I invite you to do the same. After all, none of us really own anything. It is all suppose to belong to God.

Felicia Fox is the Minister of Youth and Children at First Baptist Church of Mount Olive, NC. This article originally appeared on her blog.

Dig Some Wells for Others Along the Way

2011-11-11T12:23:00.000-05:00

By Dr. Mark T. White

A Winston-Salem columnist reminded his readers that self-focused living now surrounds us, and we cannot deny the escalation of “meism” in our society today. Delayed gratification is basically non-existent. Replenishing what we have taken is rarely a priority. Oblivious to the biblical principal that future generations suffer from the myopia of their ancestors, people continue to take, take, and take.

Roger Pearman illustrates from his own experience how we can reverse this and find hope. When he was five years old he was spending a long, hot summer at his great-grandparents farmhouse 50 miles past Spivey’s Corner in Sampson County, N.C. Play was hard due to the heat. Every few minutes he had to find a cool spot to rest.

On one particular day, he dipped the bucket into the well and pulled the water up. Once he had the bucket of cool water he poured it over his head and felt a wave of coolness sweep him.

As the cool water calmed his little body, his grandfather walked in and said in his typical terse, clipped way, “Remember boy, we all drink from wells we did not dig.” We share in the bounty of those before us, and it is our responsibility to dig wells for those who follow.

Roger says the importance of this moment did not come to him until years later when he was asked if he was a “self-made man,” to which he replied, “No, I have drunk from so many wells dug by so many people that the question makes no sense to me.”

We have all quenched our spiritual and emotional thirsts from the wells dug by those who have gone before us. I wonder…as you and I glance behind us at the next traveler coming down our same road, do we see them with bucket and dipper in hand drinking from a new well dug by us?

Mark T. White is the pastor of First Baptist Church of Clayton, NC. This article first appeared in their church newsletter, The Outlook.

This Odd and Wondrous Calling – A Review

2011-11-07T15:44:00.004-05:00

This Odd and Wondrous Calling: The Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers is written by Lillian Daniel and Martin B. Copenhaver, two United Church of Christ ministers. In the preface they note that there are a plethora of books and resources on doing various aspects of books, but little to no writing about the various aspects of lives of ministers. This book is for persons trying to discern a call to ministry, laypersons who want an inside perspective, and seasoned ministers who need hope and a sense of renewed calling. These ministers tell tag-team vignettes about various aspects of their lives—their marriages, ordinations, first pastorates, family deaths, delivering sermons, nurturing budding ministers, hospital visitations, and practicing justice work in the community. These stories are delightfully insightful, while being funny, down-to-earth, and relational in tone.

I found myself nodding and laughing as Daniel talks about delivering sermons and then finding what the congregation heard is not what you thought you’d said. Several stories emphasize that while this can be either amusing or troubling, it can also be miraculous when the Holy Spirit works to give a comforting word to a congregant in a time of need. Daniel’s honest tone as she talks about the blessings and difficulties involved with two married, dedicated people following their callings is refreshing and encouraging to many younger ministers who can’t seem to find enough time in the day for their family. Her struggle to be recognized a minister in spite of her age or gender is also one to which many can relate.

Beyond relating, there are also great examples of how to do ministry. Daniel is involved with community organizing and confronts injustices in her neighborhood along with other ministers. Copenhaver talks about how he found hope when tasked with the difficult job of delivering a benediction at his father’s funeral. Daniel addresses positive and negative models for the working relationship between senior and associate pastors. Copenhaver discusses important lessons he learned while shaking hands after the sermon. These lessons can be remarkably helpful for practicing ministry.

What struck me throughout the book was the playful, yet deeply thoughtful tone. These are two ministers, who, despite facing difficult times in their ministry, have fallen deeply in love with their calling. Daniel and Copenhaver present a hopeful and encouraging view of the church and ministry, while being realistic about the challenges of congregational ministry. Copenhaver reflects thoughtfully on the idea that people find God in nature. He states, “Given the demands of being in community with people, this should not be surprising. It is telling that the settings that we tend to describe as “peaceful” are invariably places with few, if any, people.” He goes on to challenge this notion by saying that the

“wonder is that God can be found inside the church, among quirky, flawed, and broken people who may have little in common and yet are bound to one another…But the Christian God seems to like to surprise us by showing up in the most unpromising of places, like a man from Nazareth and in a motley gathering of people known as the church” (232).

This is a beautiful statement that underscores the necessity of the hard work of reconciliation amongst church members. Only in reconciling in God can we learn to reconcile with our fellow church members and members of the community. Church is where we can learn to love our neighbor, welcome the stranger, and learn to forgive. It is clear that these ministers can clearly see and foster the ongoing work of God at hand in their congregations and community, while also having learned to set boundaries to give them time for rest and reflection. In that balance, ministry can be a truly wondrous thing, where liminal time is loosed and one has the refreshed eyes to see the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God in their church and community.

Check out the book on Amazon! http://www.amazon.com/This-Odd-Wondrous-Calling-Ministers/dp/0802864759

St. John’s Baptist Forms Partnership to House Transitioning Homeless Families

2011-10-28T13:00:00.004-04:00

Left to right: Dennis Foust, Darren Ash, and Larry Hewitt in
the new offices for Charlotte Family Housing.

In October 2010, St. John’s Baptist Church formed a Space Utilization Committee to assess how to use the second floor of their building, leading to an amazing partnership with Charlotte Family Housing that shelters families above their worship space.

Larry Hewitt, chair of the space committee, related that the church has previously housed a hospitality house for families of patients in the neighboring hospital. The hospital proceeded to build stand-alone facilities, and St. John’s wanted to figure out how to utilize the space in an ongoing partnership with the community and ensure that the building would be serving God beyond Sundays and Wednesdays.

Bert Green, Executive Director of Charlotte’s Habitat for Humanity, put the committee in touch with Darren Ash of Charlotte Family Housing, and they began talks to form only the second shelter in town that houses families. Moving in above the Fellowship Hall with the name “Hawthorne Place,” dorms will house six families at a time, with common areas for a computer lab, laundry room, kitchens and closets.

Ash relates that this move has been a blessing at a time when Charlotte seemed to be pushing homeless populations to the north side of town, making them feel unwelcome downtown. Many of Ash’s clients work at the neighboring hospital and will no longer face a long commute.

Ash shared that the goal is to transition these families out of the dorms and into the comfort of their own apartments, and then offer counseling services to help them cope with past traumas. Charlotte Family Housing has rental vouchers for about 120 apartment units for transitioning families, and the organization shelters and houses around 200 families a year.

Left to right: Ash, Hewitt and Foust in the living area of the
new apartments for homeless families.

In addition to living space, families receive asset-based social work to overcome obstacles to housing, as well as vocational counseling, housing advocacy and subsidies, financial incentives like microloans, ongoing clinical social work, and volunteer engagement with clients.

New pastor Dennis Foust is excited about the investment the church has made in their partnership, and is looking forward to building relationships between his congregants and the new residents through Wednesday night suppers, worship, and volunteer opportunities. Ash noted that the level of faith these families had was astounding and uplifting to the employees, who note their reliance on God during difficult times.

St. John’s partnership is prophetic for our times. Charlotte is ranked #2 in the nation for family homelessness. Charlotte Family Housing formed this year as a merger between three organizations to more efficiently and effectively care for homeless populations.

This partnership exhibits a church actively aware and engaged in their community and committed to what Jesus identified as the greatest commandment—loving God and neighbor.

Three Days and Nights

2011-10-21T11:30:00.000-04:00

Noah and Sophie 2 yrs. ago

by Dr. Dennis Atwood

It was Sunday night when we realized one of our cats was missing. For over two years the daily routine has been: pets outside during the day and inside the house at night. We have two cats and a dog—all female—which seems to provide some balance to our three boy universe, ying to our yang. (However, with son number one now in college the dog has defaulted to me.) My younger two sons each have a cat. The cats, and the boys, have a nightly drill. After showers and teeth-brushing is done, just before prayers, the cats assume their nightly position—Sox on Cole’s bed and Sophie on Noah’s bed. But Sunday night Sophie was nowhere to be found. This was the first full night in over two years that the cat had not come inside for the night. Noah, who is ten, was not happy about not having his sleeping buddy. We assured him the cat would show up. Next day, nothing. On Tuesday, I made some “cat missing” fliers and we put them all over the neighborhood. Tuesday night came. Still nothing. I called Animal Control. Nothing. For three days and three nights we scoured the neighborhood calling for a cat that was not there.

Since we live next to a small swamp I began to fear the worst. On Monday I heard a story about a hawk that had recently snatched up a small dog living nearby and dropped it several miles away—near a vet’s office ironically enough. That dog didn’t hunt again. I also heard about a coyote recently seen prowling the golf course behind my house. With each passing day Noah got droopier and droopier. It’s hard for a parent to watch a child suffer loss and not be able to fix it. But I knew there was nothing more we could do.

Then on Wednesday morning, as Noah and Cole were outside about to head off to school, suddenly Cole came running in the house saying, “I found Sophie!” “What? Where?” I asked. “In Miss Beth’s car! It’s still locked!” In a few minutes, after rustling up the next door neighbors, Sophie was free and Noah was a happy boy. Turns out curiosity almost killed the cat. Our good friends had been loading up their GMC Envoy on Sunday afternoon for a trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina. Apparently, Sophie crawled undetected into their SUV during the loading of golf clubs, beach stuff, and luggage. For three days and nights Sophie hunkered down in the belly of a GMC never making a sound. They never knew she was in there!

So as this cat’s tale turns out, Sophie took a spontaneous vacation to South Carolina for three days with no food or water. She could have jumped out along the way or been run over. But instead she hunkered down for three days and nights entombed in a GMC… and Wednesday morning was like resurrection! After the initial joy, Noah and Cole had to rush off to school. But their joy was palpable. Their beloved cat that was as good as dead, they could now touch and see and speak to. She was alive and present! It was priceless. More than the cat’s return, seeing my son’s joy was the greatest satisfaction of all.

So I’m going to tell them tonight to remember how it felt to experience the surprise and joy of being reunited with someone they thought was gone forever. I want them to remember the sights, the smells, the touches of holding someone they thought they would never see again. Separation and loss is indeed painful and real—even if it involves a family pet.

In a small, tangible way, Sophie’s excursion to Hilton Head reminded me of just how joyful and tangible and real it will be one day to be reunited with those whom we have loved and lost. Our pain here is real, and sometimes we need a signal of the greater reality that awaits people of faith in the Christ who spent three days in a tomb. That final Easter morning is truly going to be glorious. In a strange and funny way, a curious cat and a little boy gave me a grace-filled moment—a foretaste of the gift of eternal life.

Dennis Atwood is the pastor of First Baptist Church of Mount Olive. This article originally appeared on his blog.

Panelists Urge Repair of Broken Immigration System

2011-10-14T11:37:00.002-04:00

Interfaith panelists Carlos Arce, Hector Villanueva and Carol Goehring at screening.

by Steve Devane

A Catholic priest told an ecumenical gathering at the First Baptist Church of Raleigh, N.C., for a screening of the documentary "Gospel Without Borders" that his faith tradition's social teachings call for a good government to welcome the stranger and secure its borders for the common good.

"The first principle in the social teachings is that people have the right to move to other places to protect their life and the life of their family. This is a basic right," said Carlos Arce, vicar for Hispanics in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh. "Second, a country has the right to regulate its borders and to control immigration. These controls ... must be applied with justice, in human good and compassion."

Arce was one of three panelists who spoke after a screening of the EthicsDaily.com documentary that presents a biblical rationale for welcoming strangers and debunks several misperceptions about immigration.

Other panelists included Carol Goehring, executive director of Connectional Ministries in the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church, and Hector Villanueva, pastor of Iglesia Bautista La Roca in Siler City, N.C., who was featured in the documentary.

The Raleigh event was the third documentary screening sponsored by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina.

Villanueva gave his firsthand account of nearly being deported because of a 15-year-old crime for which he had already served a sentence.

Villanueva came to the United States from Mexico with his parents when he was 3 years old and acquired legal permanent residency due to a 1986 immigration reform law.

In the mid-1990s, however, he became addicted to drugs and was arrested for trying to cash someone else's check. He served 16 months in prison, became a Christian and was later ordained.

He moved to North Carolina with his wife and children to start a church in Chatham County, which has a large Hispanic population.

But in August 2010 he was arrested after applying for U.S. citizenship. The routine background check for citizenship uncovered the crime, and he was threatened with deportation to Mexico.

A judge ruled in Villanueva's favor last month, but the criminal record keeps him from becoming a citizen. He said to gain citizenship he will need a pardon from the governor of California, where the crime was committed.

"I want that right," said Villanueva. "I want to be able to vote."

Villanueva told stories of how police officers in his area hold license checks on the only road going to a neighborhood where immigrants live.

Yet no checks were made at a chicken processing plant where many Hispanics worked before it closed, he said.

"The people in the community don't want immigrants, yet they hire them," he said.

He said that undocumented workers cannot easily get legal status.

Acre said many immigrants want legal status, but don't have an "open window" to obtain it.

"The only way is to work for comprehensive immigration reform," he said. "This broken system is a real business for some people."

"The people you see in the documentary are not far from you," said Arce. "They are behind you. They are among you."

Goehring said churches could host "know your rights" seminars that teach immigrants how to navigate the legal system in the United States. Law students can often teach the workshops, she said.

Robert Parham, co-producer of the documentary and executive editor of EthicsDaily.com, moderated the discussion with an audience of mostly Baptists, Catholics and Methodists.

People of faith should still work for change, even if it's incremental, Parham said. For example, people should use the phrase "undocumented worker," instead of illegal immigrant.

Churches also could show the 31-minute version of the documentary to their congregations and use a longer version over several weeks in Sunday school classes, Parham said.

Parham noted that several churches are located around the North Carolina state capitol, and he suggested a copy of the DVD be given to each state legislator.

Steve Devane is a North Carolina reporter on staff with Baptists Today. This article originally appreared on http://www.ethicsdaily.com/.

Visit GospelWithoutBorders.net to learn more about EthicsDaily.com's new documentary on faith and immigration. All CBFNC partner churches, divinity schools, and colleges will receive this free resource in the mail within the next month. We encourage you to hold a screening, partnering with other congregations and non-profits, or break it up by chapter using the discussion guide at http://www.ethicsdaily.com/ for a Sunday School series. We are excited to be on the journey with you to discover how to help our immigrant neighbors. Visit CBFNC's Immigration page for additional resources.

Almost Christian - A Review

2011-10-07T12:28:00.000-04:00

I recently read Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers Is Telling the American Church by Kenda Creasy Dean, minister and Associate Professor of Youth, Church and Culture at Princeton Theological Seminary. This book is both a dissection and reflection on the findings of the recent National Study of Youth and Religion Survey. Dean outlines several points: most American teens view religion in a positive light but do not think about it often; teens reflect the faith of their parents; most teens do not possess the religious vocabulary to talk about their faith; a small group of teens claim religion is important and they are doing better in a number of areas than most teens; and most teens follow a weak form of faith dubbed “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” (21). Based on these findings, Dean explains and responds to the data while relating vignettes of certain teens’ stories.

Dean posits that the faith of many American parents, and what is presented in many churches, lacks the depth of a true, lived faith. Instead, churches and parents settle for a weak faith (Moralistic Therapeutic Deism) that leads them to be nice in order to advance in society and achieve the American dream. Dean examines Mormon children, one of the exceptions to the rule. They are highly invested in their faith, possess the language to talk about their religious views, and have a high level of investment in their faith community and service on its behalf. While Dean is clear that Mormon views and practices are not ideal for many of us (women are excluded from leadership positions and young adults are encouraged to marry early, among a few views objectionable to moderates and progressives), she tries to determine what we might learn from Mormons that could help mainline traditions.

Dean determines that our churches and parents must have “missional imaginations” that are willing to engage in the mission of God in our communities, not for the churches’ gain, but to further the kingdom of God (89). This involves a justice-filled faith that is active outside the walls of the church. Dean also encourages churches to pair adults with youth going through baptism or confirmation (118). These adults, or catechists, would serve as mentors who walk alongside the youth, share their stories, and show their interest in the youth. This encourages adults to talk about their faith and mature in their walk, as well. Ultimately, we should seek transformation through our teaching in the church (172). Dean illustrates this by showing how one set of lessons paired with a missions project out of middle class suburbia and into a poor Mexican town transformed one teenage girl. The teen was able to give up what was most important to her and obtain a deeper, more authentic faith that allowed her to view the poor through the eyes of Jesus. In this way, certain youth on this trip were able to take the focus off of themselves and onto God and their neighbors, maturing their faith and helping them become better disciples.

Dean’s conclusions are ones in which I can agree: The church is both the problem and the solution (189). When we present a weakened form of our faith that exalts “niceness” over engagement in justice issues, exclude people from our churches who are not like us in the name of Christ, or present the American Dream as Christ’s ideal for us, we fail our youth. Instead, we need to embrace the mission of God and reorient our churches, inspiring our youth to follow Christ out into the world to serve the poor and oppressed. Until we commit to this, we cannot blame our youth for thinking that “being nice” and following the status quo is the same as following Jesus.

Find out more about the book here.

Fall: Midlife and the Season of Harvesting

2011-09-30T10:33:00.001-04:00

By Dr. Guy Sayles

Midlife is the autumn, the fall, of the human journey.

Who knows precisely how young or old a middle-aged person is? Chronologically it starts within sight of 40 and ends within range of 70. But, chronology is not the main marker of midlife. The realizations and emotions, the challenges and invitations, of this season come to some people when they are younger and never dawn on others, even though they draw Social Security checks and take annual distributions from their IRAs.

Fall comes when the harvest comes. Whatever our age, midlife begins when we know that we are reaping, as Paul puts it in Galatians, what we have sown: what we have sown, not what our parents or our teachers or our culture planted in us—not merely the inevitable results of the unconscious assumptions and habits we received by inheritance or instruction and not the by-products of patterns we simply breathed-in from the atmosphere in which we lived.

Midlife begins when we taste the fruit, however sweet or bitter, that we planted: choices and decisions we made; results, however good or bad, which we produced by what we did and did not do; and consequences, however pleasant or painful, that we can trace to our own behavior.

There comes a point in life where the statute of limitations runs out on blaming other people for what our lives have become. Mature adults don’t keep protesting against the distant past and drawing up indictments against people who, long ago, failed them, hurt them, or disappointed them in some way. When it becomes clear that we can’t shift blame any more to “them”—to parents or teacher or bosses or spouses or children or God—then we are in midlife.

At midlife, we begin to see, if we haven’t before, that we are more responsible for who we are and for how things are with us than anyone else is. Yes, of course, people sometimes do maddeningly frustrating things: they let us down, betray us, and wound us. But, we choose how we will respond. We decide, even when we do not know we are deciding, whether to stew in the cauldron of resentment or to remove ourselves from their boiling anger. We decide, consciously or unconsciously, to be frozen in loneliness by their insensitivity and self-preoccupation or to seek the warmth of love. We decide, intentionally or unintentionally, to let ourselves be taken for granted or taken advantage of or to put in place the boundaries which protect us from having our lives leached away from us.

In the fall of life, we “get-it” that we are the only actor who is present in all the comedies and tragedies of our lives. If most of the reviews of our varied roles and life-performances say that we are too intense or too serious or too flighty or too passive or too aggressive or have problems with authority or have a tendency to procrastinate, then it might not be that all the reviewers are novices and amateurs who aren’t worth listening to; it might be that are lessons for us to learn and improvements for us to make.

If I keep running into the same kind of brick walls, whether at work or at home or in friendships, then it’s likely that I am the wall-builder, not someone else. If I continue to make the same kinds of mistakes, get the same kinds of feedback, and deal with the same kinds of problems, it’s probably the case that the issue belongs, not so much to “them,” but to me. It’s a midlife realization. We say, as the old spiritual says: “It’s not my mother or my father, not my brother or my sister, not the preacher or the deacon, but it’s me—me— O Lord, standin’ in the need of prayer.”

Midlife—fall-- is the season of harvest, of reaping what we have sown, and of assuming fuller responsibility for the shape and direction of our lives.

Guy Sayles is the pastor of First Baptist Church of Asheville, NC. This article was originally posted on his blog, “From the Intersection."

Discipleship, Stewardship and Missions: A Perspective from Haiti

2011-09-26T10:24:00.007-04:00

by Rev. Dr. Larry Hovis

At the CBFNC General Assembly in March at FBC Asheville, the mission offering we collected was designated for the newly formed Haiti Housing Network (HHN). CBF is one of the principal partners in this network, which has the ambitious goal of building one thousand homes in the Grand Goave community over the next three years. At the assembly, we asked Dr. Steve Bissette, a family physician and member of Ardmore Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, to issue the challenge and prayer for the offering. Dr. Bissette, husband of CBFNC moderator Donna Bissette, had taken a group of college students to Haiti to perform medical and construction work the previous summer. During his appeal, Dr. Bissette told the large group of worshippers that if they contributed enough money to build a house (then estimated to be $3,000, it has since been revised to $4,000), he would “personally guarantee that Larry Hovis would go on the trip and help build the house!” At the end of that service, in the euphoria of the moment, I upped the ante and challenged the assembly to contribute enough funds to build two houses, and publicly promised that I would, indeed, make the trip.

The trip was scheduled for the following August, right before the students were return to school. It was the hottest time of the year to visit one of the hottest places I’ve ever been. Prior to undertaking this journey, my daughter, Lauren, a college student for whom this was her third mission trip of 2011, encouraged me to read, When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor…and Yourself. I found the book to be extremely thought-provoking and it caused me to question, filter and analyze our mission trip (and all mission work) from a whole new perspective.

Our experience included meeting and worshipping with Haitian Baptists, meeting and learning from CBF global missions field personnel and partners, administering basic medical treatment (Dr. Bissette and a portion of our group for half the week), and working alongside Haitians in building a rubble house. Space limitations don’t permit me to describe the fascinating process of rubble house construction, so I encourage you to visit the following website for more information: http://www.haitihousingnetwork.com/. I emerged from this week hot, tired, and sore, but also spiritually renewed. After processing this experience, I’ve drawn three conclusions and want to issue a challenge.

CBF is Doing Missions Right

While the situation in Haiti is very discouraging in many ways, including the dysfunctional government and the ineffectiveness of much of the relief effort there, CBF and our primary partner, Conscience International, are functioning with good missiology and a wholistic, sustainable, Christ-centered approach. The field personnel whom we encountered (Mike and Brenda Harwood and Jenny Jenkins) are dedicated, smart individuals who would pass the muster of When Helping Hurts. Our CBF efforts are done with the Haitians, not for them, empowering them ultimately to provide for themselves, rather than perpetuating a culture of dependency.

Benefits of Short-term Mission Engagement

While our team, no doubt, rendered some genuine service to the Haitians we encountered, we were the primary beneficiaries of our trip. As we traveled together, experienced a new culture, prayed together, met and worshipped with Christian brothers and sisters who are materially poor but spiritually rich, and interacted with our CBF missions field personnel who have sacrificed greatly to live and serve in a hard place, our faith was challenged, strengthened and renewed. If we are honest, then we have to admit that in terms of impact, it was more of a discipleship development experience for our group of American Christians than direct ministry to needy Haitians.

Field Personnel More Important, Not Less

It’s been customary, after thirty years of the short-term volunteer missions movement, to pat ourselves on the back for taking a week or two of our lives every year for a mission trip, and call ourselves missionaries. Some Christians and churches have questioned the need for vocational, field-based, full-time missionaries, and their support of such personnel has declined as they devote more and more resources to supporting their members in short-term projects and trips. But I came back from Haiti more convinced than ever of the necessity of “professional” missionaries. Mike, Brenda, Jenny and others built the relationships and prepared the way for us to have a meaningful experience. They remain in place long after we are gone. They get to know the people and the culture and ensure that our brief work is done in a way that helps rather than hurts those we purport to serve. Ironically, the more volunteers we send on short-term mission trips, the more vital our field personnel become.

A Modest (or is it Radical?) Proposal

Because God’s mission to the most neglected and least evangelized people in the world along with the discipleship development of short-term missions volunteers is dependent on the presence, effectiveness and faithfulness of vocational missions field personnel, I propose that CBF Christians and churches make the following pledge: for every dollar we spend to send a team on a short-term mission trip we raise another dollar for the support of the field personnel with whom they work and their colleagues around the globe. For example, I estimate that the Ardmore group spent around $15,000 to send eleven persons to Haiti, not including the $6,000 CBFNC gave to the Haiti Housing Network. This money came from a combination of church funds and the personal funds of team members. Under this proposal, we would raise an additional $15,000 to support our CBF field personnel. If every CBF short-term mission team followed this practice, we would be able to increase the number of our career missionaries and significantly strengthen our mission efforts around the globe.

There was a time in which we outsourced mission engagement to professionals and assumed ordinary Christians had no responsibility for global missions, other than supporting vocational missionaries. Thankfully, that’s no longer the case. But has the pendulum swung too far in the other direction? In our time, have we assumed (by our stewardship, if not our words), that because we can travel all over the world we no longer need vocational missionaries? It’s not either/or, but both/and. Our recent trip to Haiti made that very clear – at least to me.

Larry Hovis is the Executive Coordinator of CBF of North Carolina.

Teach the Controversy

2011-09-16T11:39:00.004-04:00

by Rev. Jason Blanton

"We just don't talk about that kind of stuff!"

That is a common thought among families trying to "get along" during holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. People from far flung reaches of the country, with very different lifestyles and values coming together around the table can be quite challenging, so, in order to make things less challenging, we typically are taught to avoid certain topics.

Politics? Nope, can't talk about that!
How we raise our kids? Off limits.
Religion? Heavens No! (pun intended, wah wah)
How we hang our toilet paper? Forget it!

Unfortunately, that kind of attitude has infiltrated our churches, and so over the years we have avoided really talking about some things that really are quite important to believers, or at least should be. Now, in recent months, a couple of those topics have burst into the public conscience, and many believers have been left asking more questions than non-believers about what it is we actually believe.

It began with Rob Bell's book about Heaven and Hell. You guys remember that little tiff, right? It seems that what we have "always believed" about Hell may not be what WE'VE always believed. Or what we've ALWAYS believed. Or what we've always BELIEVED.

Many Christians were shocked to find that different interpretations of Hell, its nature and/or its existence have been prominent among different walks of faith for centuries - really since the very first theologians began to talk about such things. Yes, there is a general consensus, but it certainly isn't as open and shut as we've been led to believe.

Next came the Rapture - except, well, it didn't come! Evangelical American Christians were thunderstruck to read that a great majority of the world of believers think those "Left Behind" books should have been left behind - on the shelves of book stores.

At this point, the fangs and claws are usually extended, and we begin to divide ourselves up over these issues, not always fully understanding what it is that we think we understand so well.

So what happened?

A few thoughts. First, we've taken the Great Commission, to " as you are going, make disciples, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you..." and we've turned it into "go make converts."

We (I mean Evangelical Christians, because that is my context) have said that the most important thing we can do is get people to "accept Jesus," and we have structured ourselves according to that vision.

Frankly, I think that is all fine and dandy on Sunday Morning. Though I personally don't choose to do things that way, I understand why others do. It would have continued to be fine until we stopped having any other kind of discipleship.

I already hear you saying to your screen, "but Jason, we still have Wednesday services!," or, "we do small groups each week!." Those are great. Sincerely, I mean it, they are great, but they are only great if they are used as they are intended, to allow people to ask and probe and explore the depths of their faith.

If those smaller group times are only about teaching one particular viewpoint, or one particular interpretation, or one particular brand of orthodoxy, then we aren't making disciples at all, we are making robots.

Who do I blame? Me. Well, not just me, but all of my friends and co-workers who pastor churches. You see, we like being liked. And we like being smart. And we like being right.

We don't like when people question us, especially when they do a good job of it!

I distinctly remember going through seminary, and on a daily basis thinking, "why aren't the people in the pews being given any idea that these kinds of debates are happening every day among the people who stand in our pulpits every Sunday?"

I don't know if it is a lack of trust in our congregations, or a lack of trust in God, or a lack of trust in ourselves - but whatever the reason, we haven't done a great job of building theological depth in our modern congregations.

Its time to teach the controversy! Its time to have time set apart, in Sunday School, on Wednesday, or in small groups where people aren't just encouraged to ask questions, but also made to answer questions from believers in other denominations, or from other cultures.

Muscles only strengthen when you work them, and our faith only strengthens when we put it to the test.

I realize most of you reading this aren't preachers, so you may be asking what you can do. Take some initiative. Read more. Read people outside your comfort zone. Ask questions. Work your faith out with fear and trembling, and understand that God is big enough for any questions you may have, and that truth is true no matter how well examined.

Jason Blanton is the pastor of Grace Crossing in Charlotte. This article originally appeared on his blog, http://jasonblanton.blogspot.com/.

Justice for Hector, but a Long Road Ahead

2011-09-09T13:05:00.005-04:00

Friday, September 2, 2011, was over a year in the making for Hector Villanueva, CBFNC pastor and legal resident who faced deportation after applying for citizenship and was arrested for a 15-year-old crime for which he had already served time—cashing a check that wasn’t his while homeless. CBFNC staff organized ministers and laity to pack the courtroom in support, and Hector gave compelling testimony about his transformation in serving God through his ministry and his commitment to his wife and children, which includes two adopted daughters. The judge, moved by his testimony and our support, said that he was convinced of Hector’s “rehabilitation” and canceled his deportation. The judge carefully reminded him that he could never be a citizen under current U.S. immigration law, though his wife and children all enjoy that privilege.

Relief and joy washed over Hector, his family, and reverberated throughout the CBFNC network. We’ve received countless messages of support for Hector over the last year and in the wake of this positive decision. However, the fact that Hector is barred from citizenship is a reminder to us that our system is flawed and there is little room for grace. States across our union are faced with these realities every day. Denominations are suing the Alabama state government for violating the practice of their faith by passing a law indicating that anyone who aids an undocumented immigrant will be arrested. Arizona requires all immigrants to carry and show their papers. Here in North Carolina, our Hispanic Network of Churches is facing a growing crisis. Police officers camp outside their churches, checking the documents of every driver entering for worship. Many of our Hispanic pastors, who are citizens or legal immigrants, have to drive vanloads of members to church because the police can only check the driver’s ID. Our current system is clearly broken, and our immigration quota system has barred many immigrants from ever obtaining citizenship. This means there is no line for those without documents to get into in order to immigrate legally.

We as Christians are called to respond to our neighbor. In Matthew 25:40, Jesus reminds us, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Whatever your opinions on what immigration reform should look like, the gospel is clear in how we should treat the stranger in our midst.

What can you do for your immigrant neighbor? You can begin by getting to know them. Consider a partnership between your church and a Hispanic congregation. Listen to their stories. Learn more about our current immigration system, by non-partisan resources and not from the mouth of a politician trying to get your vote. CBFNC, along with the United Methodist Church and other faith groups, has partnered with the Baptist Center for Ethics to produce a documentary, Gospel Without Borders that can be used in Sunday schools paired with an online discussion guide. Consider attending an upcoming screening. The North Carolina Council of Churches also has an excellent church resource called Becoming the Church Together which includes lessons and a concise time line for learning about the history of immigration.

Throughout Hector’s ordeal, I learned that immigrants have no right to an attorney and no right to benefits other than public education and emergency care. Many states have barred children brought here by their parents from obtaining a college or vocational education. Immigrants are under such hardship they can barely attend church without getting deported. We must ask ourselves what an authentic Christian response looks like in these difficult situations. I, like many of you, am a white, U.S. citizen who has never had to worry about such consequences. Instead of harboring guilt for this privilege, the proactive question remains: How will we use the privilege we were born with to change the system for those who have none? I hope that you will take advantage of one of the above resources and walk with us on the journey.

Love Wins – A Review

2011-09-06T10:08:00.006-04:00

Intrigued by all the controversy about Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived by Rob Bell, I delved into this book expecting some shocking revelation similar to one of the tabloids in the grocery check-out aisles (i.e. “Christ Really an Alien!”). Alas, this book is not nearly as controversial as all the media coverage made it seem, and many of the detractors didn’t even read the book before condemning it due to rumors of its content before it hit bookstores. What I can say is this: If I had read this book in college after many bad experiences with churches, I wouldn’t have spent several years outside the church.

Rob Bell is writing this book for “all those, everywhere, who have heard some version of the Jesus story that caused their pulse rate to rise, their stomach to churn, and their heart to utter those resolute words, ‘I would never be a part of that.’(viii)” In other words, he’s talking to those who have left the church because they felt or observed others feeling excluded or judged which was not in keeping with their understanding of a loving God. Bell is careful to cite Scripture and theologians to show that his views are not new, though they may not currently be the loudest narrative on judgment and the afterlife in America.

Bell goes on to address the topics of heaven, hell, end times, and the good news. From my interpretation of his writing, Bell believes that both heaven and hell are present realities that extend beyond death. Jesus talked about the kingdom of heaven being near during his ministry and also talked about being with the thief on the cross in paradise after death. Bell says there is life-giving work that Christians can do to create the community and ministry of Christ on earth and after death. Here, the reality of heaven is not fully realized, and after death we are with God, but still have no body. We must work toward the day when the kingdom of heaven will be joined with earth (forget millennialism and the dozens of failed Rapture dates), answering Jesus’ prayer to see things “on earth as it is in heaven.” Only then will we see the kingdom of God fully actualized as described in Revelation—a beautiful city with open gates.

Additionally, Bell believes that hell is also a present reality that extends beyond death. We can freely choose at any point in this life or the next to live into God’s message of love. Hell isn’t permanent, but a state of being one chooses daily. Rejecting love is its own punishment—the isolation of living for one’s self, of embracing greed, and of not loving one’s neighbor. This is a daily misery from which God desperately wants us to turn. Bell works through all the passages in the Bible related to hell and cites many that talk of God’s love, justice, and grace to point toward a more redemptive, cohesive view of God as one of endless love and hope. Bell believes this view of God is more powerful than one that would limit God’s powers’ of salvation to a specific time period while one is living on earth. Bell states, “So when the gospel is diminished to a question of whether or not a person will ‘get into heaven,’ that reduces the good news to a ticket…The good news is better than that” (179). The good news is that God loves us, and we can be in relationship with a God whose arms are always open.

Ultimately, there will always be a wide range of ideas on the afterlife. Many of these can be healthy when Jesus’ message of love is taken seriously and given the utmost importance over that which we cannot know. I do think that many in my generation (Millenials or Generation Y) who are friends with people of all faiths and no faith see more traditional views on salvation as unhelpful in a post-modern reality. Bell’s book can start a discussion among many who have left the church or are considering leaving. According to Robert Putnam, author of American Grace, the fastest growing group of those considered religiously unaffiliated are young people. Until the 90s, about 5-7% of young people were religiously unaffiliated. That number has risen to between 25-30%. Perhaps beginning a conversation with young people that starts with God’s boundless love rather than fire and brimstone is a good starting place!

Prison Letters/Sacred Writings

2011-08-26T14:41:00.005-04:00

by Dr. Tim Moore

Recently, I’ve been reading “prison letters.” I find the experience of reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison depressing. It has been a very different experience than reading MLK’s Letter from Birmingham City Jail, Elie Wiesel’s Night, or Corrie ten Boom’s The Hiding Place. Each of them was a survivor. Bonhoeffer never walked free again. During the first year of his imprisonment, he wrote to his fiancé and to his parents of hope that he would have a trial date and would be released on the trumped up charges the Nazis had created. It is clear by the second year that he is aware that he will probably never be released and his only earthly hope of getting out alive is a quick end of the war.

It is however in the second year of his imprisonment that his writing takes on a much deeper level. In the first year of his imprisonment his writing is focused on his assimilation to prison life, concern for his fiancé and family, hope for a trial date, frustration when trail dates are postponed and, most obviously, a hope for being released from prison. By the second year of his imprisonment such “hope” is gone. It frees him to write philosophically and theologically in a more unattached way. It is almost as if he is already an outside observer to our human existence. In one sense he is already dead. The life he knew before he was arrested, before the plot to assassinate Hitler, before the foundation of the Confessing Church as a protest to the Lutheran Church, which supported Hitler, this life was gone. He was buried alive in prison. He could write to family and friends from the grave, even have short, supervised visits with a few of them once or twice a month. But they were visiting the living dead. Bonhoeffer admits in one letter to his friend Eberhard Bethge that he purposely focuses his attention to thinking and writing to avoid his own personal desires, which would be “simply self-torture.” In this way he lived beyond his life.

Christian mystics describe something like Bonhoeffer’s experience. That in the hours, or days, of meditation and solitude they transcend their own lives – forgetting their desires, detaching from their lives – which opens them to God in new and profound ways. But then, of course, their period of meditation ends, and they return to their lives, return from the dead. It is however different for Bonhoeffer, who knows he is under a death sentence. In that sense his writings are sacred, words shared from one whose life is gone but whose heart still beats. It’s also why reading “prison letters” are unlike any other reading.

Tim Moore is the Pastor of Sardis Baptist Church in Charlotte. http://www.sardisbaptistcharlotte.org/home. This article originally appeared in their church newsletter, Signposts.

In Solitude

2011-08-22T16:02:00.006-04:00

by Rev. Tommy Bratton

As I near the end of my sabbatical, I am spending time in solitude here in Kentucky at Bethany Spring, the retreat house for the Merton Institute for Contemplative Living, just down the road from the Abbey of Gethsemani where Thomas Merton lived as a monk.

According to the Merton Institute, when living contemplatively, we recognize:

*Our everyday, ordinary life is our spiritual life.

*It is every person’s primary vocation to be fully human, aware of who we are and how we relate to others.

*All relationships are interrelated and we see God in each of them.

*Our spiritual formation cannot take place in isolation. It is grounded in the experience of relationships and community.

*Our personal transformation is the foundation for societal and cultural transformation.

Words like solitude, silence, and contemplation are not words many of us find comforting. We are not used to being alone with ourselves and God. We might even be afraid of solitude. We definitely don’t think we have time or need for it.

But solitude is a time for rest, renewal, refreshment. We all need sacred spaces, “thin places” where the veil between heaven and earth is thin, where we can simply sleep and eat and pray. We need a space where God speaks to us and humbles us and re-commissions us. Do you have a place like that?

Trevor Hudson, in speaking of the transforming nature of solitude, reminded me, “The God who called you to solitude promises to meet you there.” I believe that to be true.

He also quoted Henry Nouwen who once said, “Solitude is the furnace of transformation.”

Here is a poem that I have written while here in the retreat house. While I am not much of a poet, these words reflect my experiences here.

In Solitude

In solitude, I was not alone.

The Spirit that infuses creation spoke loudly
through the chirping of crickets, the fluttering
of birds of all kinds, and the persistent buzzing
of a bee reminding me to respond.

Those whom I love were there in the silence.
I smiled as I recalled (how could I ever forget?) their faces,
their quirks, their hugs, their laughter,
their uniqueness as children of God.

And of course, the shadows were also there -
The need to be loved, the fear of failure,
the competition to be smarter, the temptation
to define others for my own sake.

But in solitude, the shadows are more recognizable and less frightening.

Then, a still small voice in the silence (because I am finally still and small and silent) reminds me . . .
“You are loved.”
“You are accepted.”
“You are not alone.”

In solitude, I can hear the Spirit’s voice.
In solitude, I can see myself more clearly.
In solitude, I am never alone – I am surrounded by love.

Tommy Bratton is the Minister of Christian Formation at First Baptist Church of Asheville. This article originally appeared in his blog, Getting Dressed in the Dark.

Gospel Without Borders - A Film Review

2011-08-12T17:12:00.008-04:00

From the start, the gritty images of border crossings, border patrol, police cars, barren deserts, and government buildings place the audience firmly in another world—one with which immigrants are all too familiar. The video begins with the question, “Lord, when did we see you?” as we watch a desolate path that evokes images of the Good Samaritan story.

Gospel Without Borders is a documentary produced by the Baptist Center for Ethics and sponsored by the United Methodist Church, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina, and other faith groups that shows vignettes of immigrant stories. Woven in are interviews with attorneys, ministers, immigrants, and government officials. The documentary challenges the audience to look through eyes of faith and step outside hyper-partisan, vitriolic viewpoints.

Eleven miles inside the Arizona border, the Presbyterian ministry “No More Deaths” offers water and food to immigrants near death after they have crossed a dangerous section of the Sonora Desert. In the last decade alone, at least 5,000 have died here because towns have been sealed off by border patrol, forcing immigrants to wander through treacherous paths. The ministers there share that they spend much of their time walking the migrant paths looking for the dead or near dying, who reluctantly cross the border to find jobs to support their family. Recently, they found the body of a 14-year-old girl, identified only by the green shoes in the missing person’s description.

Another vignette tells the story of CBFNC pastor and missions council member, Hector Villanueva, who was taken from his home in front of his children by local sheriff’s deputies. Hector, a legal resident who had applied for citizenship, served 16 months in prison in California almost 15 years ago for cashing a check that was not his. According to immigration law, if you’ve ever committed a felony, even if you’ve served time and paid for your crime, you can still be deported. Hector, who dedicated his life to God in prison, now faced deportation and a possible forced separation from his wife and children, who are all U.S. citizens. Still, he pastors Iglesia Bautista la Roca in Siler City and has faith that his case will be dismissed.

Though these stories are gripping, viewers might ask questions related to policy. Interviews with an immigration attorney and a Mexican consul engage some of the misperceptions created by partisan bickering. Attorney Paul Charton addresses the myth that these immigrants are merely skipping line to get in the country illegally and states, “There is no legal avenue for them.” Andrés Chao, the Mexican Consul in Little Rock, AR, refutes the rumor that undocumented immigrants don’t pay taxes. In fact, they do pay taxes and pay into social security, of which they are not eligible to receive benefits. They also confront the idea that immigrants drain money from social services. The only services they can receive are emergency health care and K-12 public education, which every person in America receives. All told, immigrants pay more into the system than they receive from these few programs.

There are several more compelling stories, and the documentary asks questions for thought and action. There is a review of what the Bible says about fear, justice, and a Christian response to the stranger in the land. Gospel Without Borders ends with suggestions for next steps for your congregation, and images of multicultural Christian worship, calling the audience to a kingdom-centered community.

This documentary has a short and long version and can be split into chapters for Sunday School viewings, study, and discussion. There is a balance between telling immigrants’ stories and confronting the questions that keep many Anglo Christians from engaging in ministry or justice work with immigrants. Perhaps the most poignant quote from the documentary comes from a Baptist minister in Alabama, Ellin Jimmerson, who asked us to remember that Christians should hold U.S. law in regard but recognize that it is not always moral. She states that, like WWII era Japanese interment camps, “Segregation was a system of laws, thoroughly legal and thoroughly immoral.” This quote stands out for me as a white, moderate, Baptist minister, because I will forever be haunted by Martin Luther King, Jr.’s statement in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail that he was more troubled by “the white moderate, who is more devoted to order than justice” than by the KKK. As a white moderate, I am reminded to be constantly vigilant and advocate justice for the oppressed.

The biblical call to welcome the stranger and work for justice is currently at odds with the treatment of immigrants. This documentary challenges us to think about those tensions and act. Now what is your congregation going to do about it?

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina is sponsoring screenings of "Gospel Without Borders" around NC. For more information, please check out CBFNC's Immigration Resource Page.

Setting Records

2011-08-08T09:58:00.005-04:00

by Rev. Dr. Larry Hovis

This column is the first in a series of periodic reflections from CBFNC executive coordinator Larry Hovis, distributed through various CBFNC electronic and social media, on CBFNC’s current ministry focus: “Collaborating with North Carolina Fellowship Baptists to strengthen and develop Christ-centered missional community in these rapidly changing times.”

At 2 pm on July 9, 2011, Derek Jeter, shortstop for the New York Yankees, made history. In a game at Yankee Stadium against the Tampa Bay Rays, in the third inning, Jeter hit a home run against David Price of the Rays. It was Jeter’s 233rd home run of his career. But more importantly, it was Jeter’s 3000th career hit. Because baseball is driven by statistics, here are a few related to Jeter’s achievement:

· Jeter is only the 28th player to reach 3000 career hits
· He is the first Yankee to reach that milestone
· He is the sixth youngest player to join the 3K club
· Jeter is the eleventh player to have made 3000 hits with one team
· He is the second person (the other one being Wade Boggs) to have reached 3000 with a home run

As great a feat as this was, another part of the story is even more amazing. What is every baseball fan’s dream? To catch a ball off a major league hitter’s bat, especially a home run, especially a record-setting home run. The lucky Yankee fan, a 23-year-old cell phone salesman who caught Jeter’s record-setting ball, was in the right place at the right time and benefited from the fact that his father couldn’t hold on to it. Experts estimated that the ball would fetch more than a hundred thousand dollars on the auction block. So what did this fan do? This fan with two hundred thousand dollars in college debt? He gave it back to Jeter. He said,

"Mr. Jeter deserved it. I'm not gonna take it away from him. Money's cool and all, but I'm 23 years old, I've got a lot of time to make that. It was never about the money, it was about the milestone."

The young man’s name, appropriately, is Christian Lopez.

What would our world be like of all people - no, narrow it down a little bit - if all Christians acted like Christian Lopez. If we truly thought of others’ needs before our own. What would our world be like if churches were communities that corporately modeled this kind of selfless behavior, and formed community members who put personal profit aside for the good of their neighbors? How would if affect our programming, our budgeting, our ministries?

I know nothing of Christian Lopez’ faith commitments, but whether he was conscious of it or not, in returning the baseball to Derek Jeter rather than keeping it for himself and possibly eliminating his debilitating college debt, Christian was following after the example of his namesake, a way of life described by the Apostle Paul in this way:

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others (Philippians 2:1-14).

What would our world be like if Christians and churches really, truly, every day acted like Christian Lopez, who gave generously and selflessly like Jesus? That would set a record to end all records.

A Christian Terrorist?

2011-08-01T09:32:00.002-04:00

In the wake of the horrible terrorist attack in Norway, many are left trying to make sense of all the violence, death, and loss. At last count, 68 people were killed at the summer camp site and eight died in the bombing of the Oslo government building. There has been some argument over whether or not to call Anders Behring Breivik, the suspect, a Christian terrorist. Piecing together information, it appears that Breivik thinks of himself as a sort of modern “Knights Templar” who is to crusade against Muslims and Marxists. He states there are others in this group who will carry out similar attacks across Europe, a claim that officials are now investigating.

For the first time, I feel like I have some personal understanding of what my Muslim friends must feel like when they fear public judgment of adherents to Islam based on the stories of extremists who claim their faith. What if the only knowledge some have of Christians are Breivik’s actions? Will Christianity be perceived in Norway similarly to how some Americans view Islam in the wake of 9/11?

Dr. Charles Kimball, a Baptist minister and scholar on comparative religion and Islamic studies, wrote a book shortly after the September 11 attacks called When Religion Becomes Evil. He discusses various signs that religion has been corrupted for evil purposes, including the belief that the end justifies any means and the inciting of holy war. I heard a report on NPR where officials said Breivik stated he was sorry that he had to kill so many, but that it was necessary in order to fight the acceptance of diversity in Norway. Similarly, Kimball discusses how the Church during the Inquisition used torture and burnings to root out “heretics” and force conversions. This violent approach caused 40,000 Jews and many Muslims to flee Spain, with others converting under fear and torture (149).

Breivik also believes this is the first in a line of attacks meant to start a holy war to claim Europe for Christians and drive out Muslims. This concept of holy war was embraced by the church to fight Muslims during the crusades, where slaughter of the enemy was considered a “penitential act” (162). However, the Templar scholar in the CNN article was careful to say that even the Knights Templar wouldn’t slaughter innocent civilians as Breivik did.

The point is that no religion is immune to violence or terrorism. While many Christians are shocked, there are documented cases of Christian terrorists, like Timothy McVeigh who carried out the 1995 attack in Oklahoma city (raised a Catholic and angered by government actions against the Branch Davidians in the 1994 Waco, TX, incident), the Ku Klux Klan, and a group called the Army of God, responsible for abortion bombings in the U.S.(45).

Instead of making the argument that Breivik and others are not Christians, it would probably be more productive to acknowledge his beliefs as a distortion and corruption of Christianity and work that much harder to explain Christ’s teachings of love. Kimball states, “Proximate justice and peaceful coexistence are realistic goals for those who avoid the pitfalls of absolute truth claims and who are committed to working toward a better future using means that are consistent with desired ends. People in various faith traditions must be clear among themselves and with one another: holy war is not an option” (212). Christians and Muslims in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and beyond must hold to this statement if we are to consider ourselves sincere followers of God and embrace one another in the spirit of our loving God.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength…Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31 (NIV)

“If God had so willed, He would have created you one community, but [He has not done so] that He may test you in what He has given you; so compete with one another in good works. To God you shall all return and He will tell you the truth about that which you have been disputing” (Qur’an 5:48).

Reflection on Cutting Edge Relationship Tools

2011-07-25T08:47:00.005-04:00

by Dr. David Rayburn

One of the ways that God loves each of God's children (and we all are God’s children, even those who do not believe) is by giving good gifts. Those gifts include making the sun to shine and the rain to come on the good and the bad alike. People that are atheists who are gardeners have wonderful gardens. There are thousands of ways God gives good gifts to us all. These gifts often include world-shaping ideas. It has not been only Christians who have come up with brilliant and universally helpful inventions or made vitally important discoveries. People from every philosophy, theology, ideology, and nation have provided these things.

What saddens me, however, is that I am encountering with greater frequency people having experiences and developing practices, especially when it comes to human relationships and interactions, outside of the church that they should be getting from the church. I am learning about people-skill tools, wisdom and discernment tools, and conflict resolution tools that are being created and developed by non-Christians outside the church. These should come from inside the church because of the way that we should be loving one another.

Why is it that the perception of so many about the church is that it is a place of disharmony, dissension, and mean-spirited fighting? Why are we not on the forefront of showing people what love, unity, and edification mean? But more important than these questions is the one that asks, “How can we become a place that is on the forefront of love, unity, and education?”

David Rayburn is that pastor of First Baptist Church of Black Mountain, and this article originally appeared in their church newsletter, The Builder.

How Do You Want to Be Remembered? by Dr. Steve Bolton

2011-07-18T10:01:00.003-04:00

I engaged in an interesting, if not uncomfortable, forum this week. A group of Baptist ministers and educators, who range in age from their forties and seventies, discussed and rather candidly shared their thoughts on the question, “How do you want to be remembered?” Someone shared that Norman Wiggins, who was President of Campbell College for decades and led it to become Campbell University, had asked that only one thing be inscribed on his tombstone — “United States Marine.”

Of course, most dedicated, sincere Christians would aspire to be remembered with something similar to that well-known motto of the United States Marine Corp, “Semper Fidelis” (“Faithful Forever”). A visit to any cemetery proves that most people would like to be remembered for the good they did and the best that they were. I read that a novelist researching a book about life in a certain New England town visited the local cemetery as part of his investigations. The writer noted with interest that nearly every tombstone from that era bore a final epitaph. Unfailingly, these were words of praise for the departed with references such as “kind, generous, upstanding, loving and faithful” appearing again and again. This prompted the researcher to ask, “I wonder where they buried the sinners?”

As I listened to the thoughtful reflections and tried to engage in some sort of meaningful reductionism regarding my own time and life, I realized how complex, selective, fascinating and often faulty is the human memory. As Robert Burns once yearned for “the gift to see ourselves as others see us,” perhaps it would be more interesting, if not humbling, to know how “others might remember us.” I suspect it is more productive for Christians to focus on things to remember than on how one might want to be remembered. The greater danger is forgetting rather than being forgotten. In a world that is quick to declare its accomplishments and takes far too much for granted, how easily one forgets life is largely grace and gift, granted, inherited, passed down by sacrifices and service of others. In a world where freedoms and rights are asserted, too many forget the importance of quietly fulfilling one’s responsibilities. In a society that is passionate about self, it is convenient to discount the call of Christ to love God and others first. The importance of a clear and good Christian memory is revealed in a memorial to a 19^th century soldier in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. It reads:

To Charles George Gordon –
Who always and everywhere
Gave his strength to the weak,

His substance to the poor,

His sympathy to the suffering,

And his heart to God.

Steve Bolton retired at the end of June as the pastor of Oxford Baptist Church in Oxford, NC. This article originally appeared in their church newsletter, The Forecaster.

Ecumenism Means You, Too - A Review

2011-07-11T10:48:00.001-04:00

Ecumenism Means You, Too by Steve Harmon is a book written for lay Christians to briefly explain the history, importance, and need to revive the ecumenical movement. Harmon uses the lyrics of the Irish rock band U2 as the chapter headings and backdrop for this book on interdenominational work. As one of the most famous rock bands in the world, U2 also embraces Christian symbolism in their music, as well as themes like unity, peace and social justice. Because they grew up in the religiously fragmented country of Ireland during the bloody clashes between Catholics and Protestants, their music prophetically calls for unity among division. In this spirit of common understanding among those who understand U2’s music, Harmon discusses the need to renew the ecumenical movement.

Harmon compares the necessity of the unity of the church to the unity of the Trinity. The three persons of the Trinity are one because they indwell in one another. In turn, God dwells in us and makes us one people in God. Harmon is careful to affirm the distinct nature of denominations, while explaining that these differences are human. Therefore, we must be willing to work together while respecting our different traditions. Harmon notes that young people do not think in denominational terms, attending many different kinds of churches and being reluctant to settle into one tradition. A strong ecumenical movement would affirm their interest in different traditions, while encouraging them to find one nurturing community. While Harmon is speaking to all Christians, his focuses on younger generations who might be the next leaders in the ecumenical movement.

Harmon notes that interdenominational work has stalled in recent years due to the slow nature of the work, a reaction to papal statements about the church, conflict within some denominations, as well as other factors (35). He devotes a chapter to discussing what ordinary Christian can do to revive this movement that was so active earlier in the 20th century, including prayer, being rooted in one denomination while learning about other, learning about church history and the ecumenical movement, and engaging in social justice work with other Christians. At the end, he includes an annotated bibliography for those who may be interested in learning more.

This book would be great for a Sunday School or book club to read and discuss chapter by chapter, and then decide how they want to act. Maybe your church would like to partner with a church from a different tradition for prayer and community work. Maybe you can learn from one another about the origins of your denomination, and in so, grow in appreciation of both your own tradition, and your neighboring church!

If you’d like to learn more and order the book, check it out here: http://www.amazon.com/Ecumenism-Means-You-Too-Christians/dp/1606088653

A Different Kind of Baptist

2011-07-05T09:27:00.001-04:00

Recently, I attended the 20th annual General Assembly of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in Tampa and stayed in a hotel which was full of two groups: CBF Baptists and participants in a worldwide ballroom dancing championship. Elevator rides bordered on the comedic: reserved Baptists in their polos and khakis standing shoulder to shoulder with dancers wearing long, feathery dresses and elaborate headpieces who kissed one another on the cheek and excitedly recounted their performances. The contrast between the two groups could not have been more drastic. However, members of these two groups mingled jovially in the lobby, and some Baptists even made it to a few of their competitions.

I was fortunate enough to overhear one conversation in the lobby, as a female dancer recounted a conversation with a CBF minister to her male dance partner:

“…and he said this group was a different kind of Baptist. He said that this group was more accepting and open and not like what I’d heard before with all that fire and brimstone. I told him I was spiritual but not religious. And then he shared his fascination with Christian mystics. I didn’t even know there were any! And he tells me that his church has done studies on the history of mystics and spirituality. I never heard of Baptists being into spirituality! And then, do you know what he told me? He said that he had two female ministers on staff, and one of them was a lesbian. Can you believe it? This kind of church would accept people like you and me! So he gave me his church’s website and contact information so I could access their resources on spirituality and learn more about them. I think I’m going to check it out and give him a call…”

This woman was beginning to overcome past rejection from interactions with unhealthy churches to the point where she could speak redemptively about the witness of this unnamed CBF minister. Sometimes, I struggle with calling myself a Baptist. That name has a lot of baggage that conjures up images of exclusion. In the last few years of working with CBF of North Carolina, I’ve been able to find pride in a Baptist identity that comes from engaging with more moderate and progressive churches who adhere to founding Baptist principles like soul freedom, the separation of church and state, and the autonomy of the local church. For me, this conversation between two dancers evoked not only a sense of pride in claiming the name “Baptist,” but also a feeling of immense hope for the next chapter of CBF life. May the next twenty years be filled with conversations of welcome, hope, and mission that exhibit the love of Christ being extended to all people.

Ministry as Spiritual Practice

2011-06-27T11:39:00.003-04:00

by Rev. Mahan Siler

I, like many of you, live from three public vows: baptism, to love from/with/as Jesus loves; marriage, to love Janice (and children); and ordination, to love and serve the church. Of course, at the time, I knew so little about the promises I was making. (Aren't you also amazed at your leaps of faith?) Nevertheless, these oaths framed my core identity, frames on which I have been hanging life experiences ever since.

The pressure I felt as a pastor, both external and internal, was to give priority to ordination. This priority was fueled by my need to do well and the needs of the congregation for my time and energy. That's appropriate. My baptismal journey toward Christ-ness is my responsibility, not theirs.

In this reflection, I am wondering about the ways that ordination, that is, serving the church, gave me a spiritual practice, a way of inner transformation dramatized in baptism. These come to mind.

Preaching was one. It seemed to come around every three or four days. But, more often than not, it was a rigorous spiritual discipline, a kind of extended “lectio divina.” All during the week I could ruminate on the upcoming texts, listening for the Word of life for me as well as the congregation. In my better moments, I carried the text with me into pastoral conversations and institutional concerns, on the look out for connections with the text. If I allowed it, the text would be working on me, more so than me working on the text. In retirement, someone asked if I would miss preaching. I remember my response: “How will I know what I believe?” I miss this regular spiritual practice.

Second, I think of our presence with the dying, death and subsequent layers of grief. It is our specialty in a generalist vocation. Along with the “fear and trembling” of being present in such vulnerable, sacred moments, there was also a mirroring of my own mortality. Always I left pondering, “what really matters?” Each time I felt more keenly the gift of “now” in all its preciousness. And returning home, invariably I hugged Janice a little longer.

Third, there is pastoral care in other contexts. Because of our calling, we enter, upon invitation, into the private places of a person's life and be there with presence, and sometimes sight. But also we are there as learners. We are privileged with a “ring side seat,” close to the fight for meaning and the yearning of faith. We are students. They teach us, each one.

I note one other way that ministry was a spiritual practice of transformation, when I allowed it. We engage in so many difficult conversations, difficult relationships, and difficult crises. When we declared our ordination promises, none of us anticipated so many difficult interpersonal challenges. But, if I had the courage to see, each encounter would unveil my huge needs for security, approval, esteem, power and control --- all characteristics of the egoic self. Each one offered the opportunity to transcend self-preoccupation. Each challenging difficulty invited the option of letting go, trusting, forgiving, and surrendering to Spirit at work for Shalom in all things.

A couple of quotes address this very point:

“Christ is revealed in those with whom we have the good fortune to be stuck.” Stanley Hauerwas

A Tibetan prayer: “Grant that I may be given appropriate difficulties and sufferings on this journey so that my heart may be truly awakened and my practice of liberation and universal compassion may be truly fulfilled.”

Nothing is wasted. Everything that happens is grist for transformation. Everything can contribute to our baptismal journey.

Mahan Siler is a retired pastor working with pastors and a member of the Circle of Mercy Church in Asheville. His website is http://www.mahansiler.com.

Generations & Generosity

2011-06-20T11:25:00.001-04:00

by Rev. Christina Whitehouse-Suggs

Being the mother of a five year old has taught me a few things. One, breakable things are NEVER as far out of reach as you think they are; two, hugs and kisses are usually the best medicine for a bump or bruise; and three, she is ALWAYS watching. That means that if I want Kara to be polite, use good manners, and clean up after herself, I’d better be doing it myself. The logic follows that if I want her to be a follower of the way of Jesus, devoted to the Church, concerned for the poor, and a generous giver, then I need to model those traits for her.

Too often, I hear the lament that young people just don’t give to the church the way older folks do, that us 30 and 40-somethings are cynical, “me” oriented, suspicious and only concerned about what’s in it for us. And to some extent, that is true. My question is, “Where did we learn these traits?”

We are the “fast food generation” who was raised on Happy Meals, taught to read by Sesame Street, and grew up in after-school programs. Who taught us how to care for others? Were we taught to give generously and support things we loved with our time, energy, AND money? The economists have labeled us “Generation Debt”, the ones who are “upside-down” in car payments, mortgages, and credit cards. We are a generation obsessed with instant gratification.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not placing the blame entirely on the shoulders of our parents and grandparents. At some point, we young adults need to suck it up and take responsibility for our poor giving (and spending!) habits. But we could use a little grace and education.

In her excellent article, “Generations and Generosity”, Ann Updegraff Spleth, ministry colleague with The Columbia Partnership, outlines some assumptions about generosity; that it is a learned or conditioned response, religiously motivated, shaped by childhood experiences, and influenced by our adult life experiences. That says to me that we can learn (even as adults) to be generous… but it helps if we are taught this Christ-like trait early on.

To all the saints in the Church who have the most generous hearts and spirits I have ever encountered, I am speaking to you. Help us. Teach us. Be patient with us. We are trying to grow up and be responsible and generous adults.

To my fellow Gen Xers who are struggling to pay bills and raise children and follow the risen Christ, I feel your pain. But if we are serious about following Jesus, then the generous Spirit of God should captivate us and become a priority. Let’s become a generation of redeemed Zacchaeuses who find the joy in giving.

Christina Whitehouse-Suggs is the Associate Coordinator of CBF of South Carolina. This article originally appeared in their monthly newsletter, Fellowship. Christina also blogs at Thoughts from the Journey.

Bible: The Story of the King James Version - A Review

2011-06-13T10:28:00.001-04:00

On the 400th anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible, I thought I would read a book that discussed how it came together. Bible: The Story of the King James Version was written by Gordon Campbell, Professor of Renaissance Studies at the University of Leicester in England. Parts of this book are interesting and informative, and ministers might want to use information gleaned from certain chapters if they are doing a history series in their church. Other parts, however, are very dry and tedious, which the author even admits at one point.

In general, the first four chapters on how the King James Version came about and the last four chapters on the KJV in America and modern times are worth a read to expand your knowledge on what many do not know about this translation. The middle contains details about various versions of the KJV, what passages were changed throughout the years in revisions, which printers got the rights to print the Bible, and various intricate details. The most important take away from this section is that the KJV you read today is not the original 1611 version. Revisions and different editions reflect the modernization of the English language and different interpretations of the original Hebrew and Greek that came about over the years.

The chapters on how the KJV came to be are fascinating. King James called a conference in 1604. The proposition of a new biblical translation came about, which pleased King James for several reasons. First, he could have an alternative to the Geneva Bible, which espoused criticism against the monarchy. Second, an authoritative translation dedicated to himself would reinforce the idea that he was the leader of a national church. Instructions, procedures, and translators were procured, and Campbell details the translation and production of the 1611 KJV.

One of the most interesting chapters is entitled “The Bible in America.” The British author discusses how the Unites States missed the rationalist movement that occurred in Europe due to the First and Second Great Awakenings. He appears to take the establishment side in the argument between Charles Chauncy (a rationalist) and George Whitefield, who argues for a personal conversion experience. The same day I read this chapter, I watched God in America, a PBS documentary where American religious historians discuss religious history. They side with Whitefield, because they link him to the champions against the establishment of religion (like the Virginia Baptists who would later implore Thomas Jefferson to fight with them for the separation of church and state). It is interesting to see the argument from both sides—American historians as the benefactors of the separation of church and state, and a British historian, who has no problem with the wedding of the two in England, where the queen is the head of the Anglican church.

Campbell catalogues later translations like the RSV and NRSV, as well as different editions and the motivations for their printing (The Green Bible, The American Patriot’s Bible). He also laments the decline in classes on the King James Version and literature. While the KJV was seen as being out of date linguistically at the time, it is now appreciated for its almost poetic prose. Campbell regrets our loss in understanding the effect it has had on the English language and our many idioms and sayings.

All in all, it was a fairly interesting read but very tedious in parts due to the high level of research and cataloguing of errors and misprints (especially the middle), but a more thorough reading of the first four and last four chapters with a brief skim of the middle should garner some interesting topics for any series on the KJV or the history of the Bible for educational purposes within the church.

http://www.amazon.com/Bible-Story-James-Version-1611-2011/dp/0199557594

American Wealth & Global Poverty

2011-06-06T10:06:00.006-04:00

by Dr. Randall Lolley

Did you see the headline, “Bottom Half Have Just 1% Of All Wealth”? The story is almost as much bad news as Christmas was good news this year. A recent report from the World Institute for Development of Economies Research of the United Nations provides some staggering statistics.

The richest 1% of the world’s population owns 40% of the world’s wealth. The richest 2% own 51%. The richest 10% own 85%. Now here is the horrible, scary part. The bottom half of the world’s people - 50% of the world’s population - own just 1% of the world’s wealth. That is 3 billion human beings virtually out of the wealth loop.

Whatever happened to human worth?

Whatever happened to basic equity?

Is it any wonder there is so little peace on earth? Hungry and sick folks have other priorities than well-fed, well-kept folks.

Consider this: $515,000 net worth (houses, land, salary, savings, retirement plans) catapult a family into the top 1% of the world’s entire population. How many people do you know who own that much or more?

The average net worth of us who are citizens of the USA is $144,000 per person. The average net worth per person worldwide is $2,200. We Americans comprise just 4.7% of the world’s population but own almost one-third (32.4%) of the world’s wealth.

How blessed are we to live in this good land! The Christmas season just past marked a period according to a variety of surveys, when the average American Christmas-season shopper spent between $775 and $875 on presents.

That is 1/3 as much as the average person on earth accumulates over a lifetime!

I am not speaking negatively about the wealth we have been able to enjoy in our country. People on the whole have worked long and hard for it. But, I do have to mention a Scriptural principle straight from the lips of our Lord’s Apostle, Paul of Tarsus: “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful to that trust.” (1 Corinthians 4:2).

What a trust ALL of us have been given; and it has come by way of amazing grace showered upon us by our Lord Jesus Christ who lived his entire earthly life among this world’s 99% at the bottom of the world’s wealth/food chain.

Randall Lolley is the current Interim Pastor of Greystone Baptist Church in Raleigh. He has pastored First Baptist Churches in Winston-Salem, Raleigh, and Greensboro, and was the former president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. This article originally appeared in Greystone's church newsletter, Greystone Today.

Why Doomsday Predictions Fail the Gospel

2011-05-26T10:40:00.004-04:00

Many of you saw, or rather couldn’t help but see, billboards for the past six months guaranteeing the rapture on May 21. I admit that I rolled my eyes at yet another self-proclaimed prophet who swears they know the hour and day of the Apocalypse (see a list of some of the failed predictions at http://www.religioustolerance.org/end_wrl2.htm). This particular “prophet” has now predicted the end of the world four times (May 21, 1988; September 7, 1994; May 21st, 2011; and now he's rescheduled it for October 21, 2011), and happened to rake in $80 million from contributors between 2005 & 2009.

NPR did before and after stories of the May 21st followers. Many of these people and families had quit their jobs and budgeted only to live to that date. Some choose to believe the date was off by a few days or weeks. Others claim it must have been a spiritual rapture, and that salvation is no longer possible. One more level-headed man said, “we obviously don’t understand the Scriptures the way that we should.”

The humility exhibited in the last statement might be the healthiest approach, and one that we could incorporate into our lives. The danger of a premillenialist eschatological view is that people believe they can escape the problems of the world, being sucked up into heaven. The non-chosen are left to deal with catastrophes while the chosen look down from the clouds. This begs the question: Why care for your neighbor, work for peace and reconciliation, and care of creation if God’s just going to snatch you up before destroying the world? Doesn’t this view negate the work Jesus asked us to do—loving our neighbor, healing the sick, caring for the poor and oppressed? Maybe, after countless failed predictions throughout Christian history, we might just realize that there is not a magic get out of jail free card. As followers of Christ, we must do the hard kingdom work he describes in the gospels through parables and examples.

While there is apocalyptic language, much of it refers to events that have already occurred (like the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE). Some passages talk about Christ returning, but the writer of the Gospel of Matthew cautions in Matthew 24, “about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (NRSV). Wouldn’t it be far more beneficial to spend time meditating on the parables and actions of Jesus rather than obsessing over and potentially misusing the more obscure and puzzling literature of the Bible, especially if we take it out of context and misunderstand the meaning? Jesus’ words and actions are timeless because they address real problems that require a response of hard work and an open heart. To lose sight of this for recycled, failed prophesies doesn’t do the gospel justice.

Preaching for the Missional Journey – A Review

2011-05-23T09:50:00.002-04:00

Preaching for the Missional Journey is a resource published by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and compiled by Charles B. Bugg who has served as a pastor, homiletics professor, and dean of Gardner-Webb University School of Divinity. This book of sermons by various preachers from around the country can be used in bible study, Wednesday night studies, planning teams, and retreats. The hope is that these resources might help your faith community to live into a missional existence. As Bugg says in the introduction, “The church is on mission not because a few persons in the church have a ‘thing’ for missions but because the Spirit is the creative and energizing force for the whole community of faith” (4). In this way, the church may follow God out into the world instead of clinging to long-running programs that may not be working anymore.

The first sermon is written by Rev. Darryl Aaron of First Baptist Church on Highland Avenue in Winston-Salem. He discusses the idea of facing a time, like Esther, when we “have to live out our private purpose for the public good” (11). He sites Rosa Parks and others who are tired of injustice and must take a stand for what is right, encouraging you and me to be ready to be called by God to “risk something big for something good” (13). Rev. Robert Baker, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Kentucky, encourages us to stop “playing church” like children going through the motions and “be the body of Christ” (19). Rev. Amy Butler of Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, DC, shares that letting the Spirit move in our congregations may be chaotic and change the way we operate, “blowing everything out of order, turning things on their heads, creating a situation that breaks every conventional idea of what God and church and faith are supposed to be” (33). We must be open to this as those on the Day of Pentecost, and look for new possibilities. Rev. Emily Hull McGee, Minister of Young Adults at Highland Baptist Church encourages us in a dual sermon with her father, Rev. David Hull, to see ourselves as the innkeeper in the story of the Good Samaritan and view ourselves as “entrusted with the job of tending wounds, creating hospitable space, bringing about healing, and supporting the recovery process” (65). Rev. Carlos Dario Peralta of Encuentro Ministries asks us to focus on impact over church attendance, and view God as “alive and active, transforming people and communities around the world” (81). In doing so, we can learn to “build bridges that bring us closer rather than walls that separate us” (81). These preachers and many others help to point toward a vision of the church as a living entity where members branch out into the community, with every member being a minister to people of all backgrounds. We do this not to gain church membership numbers. Instead, we do this because we are called by God to serve one another for the sake of the Kingdom, not the institution.

This resource is hope-filled and energizing, and could be used in a variety of settings. There are questions for reflection at the end of every chapter, as well appendices in the back with examples and further resources. To learn more or purchase this resource, check out this link to the CBF store: http://shop.1asecure.com/prod.cfm?ProdID=374301&StID=10604.

God and Natural Disaster

2011-05-16T12:44:00.003-04:00

by Rev. Randy Carter

When it comes to human suffering, natural disaster confronts Christianity with a real theological and intellectual challenge. We can assign the suffering of war to the sinfulness of our world. We can see the suffering of those who hunger linked to the corruption of governments and systems that keep people locked into poverty. We can work against the suffering of those who are abused because we can work against the abusers in hope of stopping them. When human suffering finds its cause in other humans, we can make sense of it and address it within the frame of sin, forgiveness, redemption, and justice.

The natural disaster, however, is different. We cannot assign an earthquake and tsunami to some Middle Eastern tyrant drunk with power. We cannot easily link the earth’s shifting ground to evil men who prey on children in human trafficking. We cannot neatly find another human to blame…which leaves God.

The new vocal atheists have already made their opinions known. Sam Harris, author of “The End of Faith” and a prominent atheist thinker and commentator, published the following on a CNN website blog: “Either God can do nothing to stop catastrophes like this, or he doesn’t care to, or he doesn’t exist. God is either impotent, evil, or imaginary. Take your pick, and choose wisely” (http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/20/finding-faith-amid-disaster). For Sam Harris, natural disasters that create human suffering reveal a multiple choice test for the reality of God. A, B, or C – make your choice. For someone as intelligent as Sam Harris, I am disappointed that his thinking comes down to a multiple choice.

Christianity cannot dismiss the real challenge natural disasters and the human suffering that results from them present to the faith. We, like atheists, struggle with questions as well. Why did it happen? Why did so many have to die? God, could You not have stopped this? The real challenge, however, is not about God’s existence. The real challenge is whether we can submit to the mysteries of life and death, admit there is power greater than we can control, and that as much as we would like to create a God whose only interest is being “nice” by our standards, we have no right to create God in our own image. The earth shakes and the oceans roar. We stand in worshipful awe of creation when we watch the sun rise above the watery horizon of the Atlantic Ocean. We stand in fearful awe of creation when we see the footage of a tsunami wash away houses and cars. But, we do not claim that these competing moments dismiss the reality of the Creator. Does the earthquake and tsunami, then, point to an “evil” Creator? Not it all. The Bible consistently assigns evil to humanity because evil is linked to sin. The natural disaster can be devastating and cause a great deal of suffering, but earthquakes and tsunamis and hurricanes are not “evil.” These natural events are part of a created world that exists in a tenuous balance of earth, water, and air, all held together by the mysteries of gravity and atmosphere. That life exists at all on this planet is a wonder – a wonder of the goodness of God.

So, Sam Harris can have his multiple choice. He is not looking to explore the mysteries of these things but have “reasons” to be free from God. I struggle with the suffering I see in Japan. I’ve got questions. I’ve got some frustrations that I’ve shared with God. But, in the midst of the suffering, God is present. God is at work for good. My faith centers not on “reasons” for God’s goodness, but the powerful “evidence” of God’s goodness at the cross.

The Lord be with you all, Randy

Randy Carter is the pastor of First Baptist Church of Hillsborough. This article was originally printed in their church newsletter, The Messenger.

Osama bin Laden Is Killed

2011-05-09T13:41:00.005-04:00

In an effort to provide different CBF voices in the Christian response to the death of Osama bin Laden, a significant current event, we're providing another post from a CBF minister. Below this post are links to other voices in the CBF network, all with different responses and perspectives.

by Dr. Don Gordon

I found out at the gym this morning that Osama bin Laden had been killed Sunday night (EST). The master-mind of the 9/11 attacks which killed more than 3,000 Americans was shot by Navy Seals in a daring move against his heavily fortified compound in Abbottabad, just inside the eastern border of Pakistan. Bin Laden was true to form in this final assault, using one of his wives as a defensive shield when the bullets started flying. He never regarded the lives of women and children as deserving of special protection during his reigns of terror. They continued to shield him from the consequences of his assault on humanity. Bin Laden’s dead body was buried (dumped?) within 24 hours into the sea. President Obama made the announcement to the American people and the international community in a nine minute televised speech not long after the assault took place. The President offered assurances to families who had lost loved ones in the 9/11 bombings, applauded the skill and courage of those who organized and carried out the raid, and concluded that justice had been done.

In the streets outside the White House and along the pavement of Ground Zero in New York, Americans spontaneously erupted in celebration at bin Laden’s capture and killing. The ten year hunt for bin Laden was over. Two wars—in Iraq and Afghanistan—had begun as a response to his actions and influence. For young Americans who have never known a time when their nation was not under terrorist threat, this death is especially satisfying. A sense of justice has been achieved. An evil man has been eliminated. The death of innocent lives has been has been met with some retribution, albeit a belated case.

How are Christians supposed to respond to the death of bin Laden? No doubt, the reaction is shaped by our proximity to those who have been killed, injured, and made sacrifices in these wars on terror. Our reactions are also shaped by our nationality and geography. American Christians will no doubt react differently to bin Laden’s death than Iraqi Christians or Pakistani Christians. There are Christians in those countries even though they live precariously as minorities. Acknowledging the impact on so many variables in our lives, are there any Christian principles that should shape our own response to the death of a merchant of evil? Fully aware of my own biases and limitations as a Christian who is also an American, I offer a few principles that come to my mind.

First, earthly justice is inferior to divine justice, but it is the means we have to limit the emigration of evil to the four corners of the world. Dietrich Bonhoffer, the Lutheran pastor who participated in plans to assassinate Adolph Hitler, didn’t start out wanting to kill Hitler. Eventually, however, he came to believe that the assassination of Hitler would save a nation, and much of the world, from horrendous evil. Sometimes the imperfect justice meted out on earth is better than unmitigated evil set loose on innocent people. Simply put, the killing of one man is sometimes the lesser of two evils.

Second, killing and death are never times of celebration except to the extent they are precursors to resurrection. I don’t presume to know with divine certainty the eternal destination of any man, but the evidence of bin Laden’s life doesn’t lead me to believe he is "bound for the promised land." In that case, we are faced with the stark reality of a lost, evil soul bound for hell. Christians don’t rejoice that people go to hell. We rejoice that God is the good, just, eternal judge of all people, and that his judgments are expressions of his perfect love and holy character. We rejoice in a holy, perfect God even while we lament the sinfulness of humanity and the terrible consequences that are deservingly received.

Third, Christians are called to be peacemakers in a broken world. This brokenness leads to the need for policemen, armed force, and legitimate authorities using appropriate means to protect the masses. Yet, Christians are called to be different than others. We’re called to turn the other cheek, walk two miles when asked only to walk one, and to love our enemies. This radical ethic should be driving us to make peace, absorb evil, and suffer patiently in obedience to the model of our Savior Jesus Christ. This does not mean we have to become doormats to the world (which is broken), but it does compel us to seek peace more than war, pray for our enemies more than plot their demise, and cooperate with others in promoting goodwill toward humanity.

This is not a recipe for every individual Christian’s response to the news of Osama bin Laden’s capture and killing by the authority of the government of the United States of America. It is simply my effort to offer a word I hope is pastoral, thoughtful, and most important, faithful to the guidance of the Good Shepherd, who came to take away the sins of the world.

Don Gordon is the pastor of Yates Baptist Church in Durham, NC.

Other Responses:

Dr. David Gushee, professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University: http://www.abpnews.com/content/view/6377/9/

Rev. Amy Butler, Calvary Baptist Church, Washington, D.C.:
http://www.abpnews.com/content/view/6365/9/

Dr. Tim Moore, pastor, Sardis Baptist Church, Charlotte (scroll to page 2): http://www.sardisbaptistcharlotte.org/userfiles/newsletter/file_534hUqH2_05-06-11.pdf

EthicsDaily Staff (Baptist Center for Ethics): http://www.ethicsdaily.com/faith-leaders-cite-justice-caution-celebrating-bin-ladens-death-cms-17858

The Death of Osama bin Laden

2011-05-02T12:18:00.003-04:00

Last night, I watched the breaking news story that Osama bin Laden was killed during a gunfight in Pakistan. I sat there, processing the news and trying to figure out how I felt, wondering how this would affect our country and the world. I fell asleep, feeling nothing emotionally, but praying that this military victory would move us closer to the end of our decade long war and bring our troops that much closer to home.

This morning, I awoke to see images from late last night. College students and passers-by partying outside the White House, near Ground Zero, throughout Boston, at a Phillies and Mets game, and on West Point’s campus. I felt a visceral reaction of disappointment. For me, bin Laden’s death is not an occasion for celebration, but one of solemn remembrance for all the soldiers and civilians who’ve died because of his actions. It’s an occasion for caution, as violence usually begets violence, and the government is already issuing warnings to Americans abroad fearing al Qaeda’s revenge. It’s an occasion for thoughtfulness, as bin Laden’s death does not rid the world of terrorism, suffering, or death.

It was telling to me of all the scenes of jubilation, the most poignant were photos released from our soldiers oversees watching the President’s press conference last night. Rather than cheering, they sat solemnly, knowing that this was not the end and that one man’s death will never bring back the thousands of troops and civilians who’ve died. Perhaps the most poignant remarks I heard today were from Carie Lemack, co-founder of the Global Survivors Network, who lost her mother on September 11, 2001. While she felt a sense of relief that no one else would die by his hand, she has been disappointed in the amount of media attention bin Laden and his violence have received over the last decade. Rather, she wants the voice of those who work against terrorism to “be louder than those who advocate for terrorism.” With this violent figurehead gone, what hopes do you have for the future of the world? What good can we do together for peace and justice? Is God calling you to better your church or community? May we always be open to the Spirit with us.

Let us pray for our troops and civilians still in danger. May God be with them and hear their cries and fears.

Let us remember those who have died, both military and civilian, in the last decade due to bin Laden’s actions. May they be with God and in peace.

Let us pray for the survivors of war and terrorism. May God walk with them in their grief and be with them throughout the healing process.

Let us pray for the weakening of terrorism in all forms and the strengthening of peace around the world. May we see the in-breaking of God’s kingdom on earth.

Lord, hear our prayer.

The Morning After

2011-04-26T09:26:00.004-04:00

by Dr. Tony Cartledge

Every year I wake up on Easter Monday morning and wonder how the people closest to Jesus felt on the morning after the most shocking event of their lives. Did they finally get a good night's sleep after such a restless weekend, or had they stayed up all night debating the meaning of the resurrection? Were they confident of seeing Jesus again, or still caught by surprise every time he showed up? It's hard to imagine what those first couple of days must have been like for them.

And what are they like for us? Does the passing of Easter mean nothing more than freedom from our Lenten pledges, or the end of a holiday, or a chance to try new recipes with boiled eggs before they go bad?

I hope we'll spend some time on the day after Easter thinking about what resurrection means on every other day. How is my life different because Christ arose? How are my hopes for the future different? How does the reality of Easter impact my present actions, my state of mind, my decision-making?

If we are resurrection people, how can others tell?

How long will the flowers last?

Tony Cartledge is the contributing editor for Baptists Today, and also teaches Old Testament at Campbell University Divinity School. This post originally appeared on his blog at http://www.baptiststoday.org/cartledge-blog/.

Compassion: “Always Ask the Turtle”

2011-04-18T15:46:00.003-04:00

By Rev. Gerald Thomas

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed... – Jesus the Christ, Luke 4:18

A part of preparing to travel to Guatemala with our North Carolina mission team has been to consider the implications of compassion, that well worn admonition to “live in another person’s skin.” I keep hearing the words of an aboriginal Australian woman, “If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” These words from another continent pursue me on the way to Central America, making me hope that it can be true, that there will indeed be those who will offer to our group the gracious gift of working alongside. Then perhaps faith will be made to increase, together.

“Together” reminds me of a story from the life of Gloria Steinem, who relates an incident from her days as a geology student:

On a field trip, while everyone else was off looking at the meandering Connecticut River, I was paying no attention whatsoever. Instead, I had found a giant turtle that had climbed out of the river, crawled up a dirt road, and was in the mud on the embankment of another road, seemingly about to be squashed by a car. So I tugged and pushed and pulled until I managed to carry this heavy, angry turtle off the embankment and down the road. I was just putting it back into the river when my geology professor arrived and said, ‘You know, that little turtle probably spent a month crawling up that dirt road to lay its eggs in the mud beside the road, and you just put him back in the river.’ I felt terrible. But in later years, I realized this was a most important lesson: Always ask the turtle.

Knowing little of Guatemala, I look forward to asking a lot of questions and being helped by those whose lives are, in ways I am yet to understand, bound up with us all in our daily move toward liberation. Then I may know if I am ready for the “implications of compassion.”

Gerald Thomas is the pastor of Lamberth Memorial Baptist Church in Roxboro, North Carolina (http://lamberthmbc.tripod.com/) . This article originally appeared in their newsletter, Lamberth Lantern.

The Great Emergence – A Review

2011-04-11T15:52:00.003-04:00

The Great Emergence, by Phyllis Tickle, is a fascinating endeavor to explain the changes that Christianity is experiencing and attempt to guess at what will define the next epoch of human history. Tickle’s thesis is that Christianity undergoes a major shift every 500 years, and that we are in the midst of one today. From the advent of Christ, to the fall of the Roman Empire and rise of monasticism, to the Great Schism between the Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Churches, to the Great Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation, to the present “Great Emergence,” Christianity has adapted and restructured in order to produce new and more relevant forms of religion.

Tickle uses the history of the Great Reformation to relate the anxiety of that time to the current age. In the 16th century, religious battles and church corruption led to fractures in the church that sought new forms of authority outside of papal authority. Sola scriptura emerged, with Protestants affirming the Bible and the priesthood of all believes as the new foundation.

Flash forward to the past century. Wars with religious overtones, church corruption, new discoveries in science, people working and living in urban areas with people of all faiths and no faith, women and LGBT persons rising to positions of authority in the church are just a few emerging realities that all call this 500-year-old form of authority into question. New interpretations and questions arise from the global and post-modern experience. Historical analysis informs us of edits and changes made to scriptures over the ages, resulting in numerous translations and versions of the Bible. For several decades, the emergent movement has seen Christians form into new communities of faith and shift the foundation of faith from sola scriptura to both scripture and community. Scriptures, faith experiences, and theology are now discussed in these communities, as well as online social networks and blogs. Theological views can be refined, molded, and evaluated amongst vast networks of Christians like never before. This broad sharing of faith and ideals is both renewing and challenging our religious structures like never before. Tickle urges us to learn more and try to anticipate the trajectory of this new movement, both embracing and closely examining its progress.

This book is exciting to me because of the possibility—we are living in a time of great change, both in our faith and society. I know many persons in my generation are weary of listening to battles over proof texting certain verses, and yearn for a lived faith of justice and mercy that comes from a community of people actively seeking to follow Jesus. A shift to seeing the Bible as one of several powerful tools in our faith, instead of the only tool, seems like a freeing prospect. This doesn’t seem to lessen the importance of the text, which is being studied in these emergent communities through vibrant discussion. Rather, it seems to elevate God in our discussions that have been marred by so many exhausting scriptural battles.

Tickle notes that great shifts are taking place in other faiths, especially Judaism and Islam. We have seen this play out the Middle Eastern drive for democratic reforms, which unified Abrahamic faiths in Egypt as Christians and Muslims linked arms and cried out for freedom. As a Christian who is fascinated with the Reformation Era, I am both curious and hopeful for what this next century will bring to our different faith traditions. How exciting to work for the Kingdom of God in new and collaborative ways!

If you'd like to learn more, check out the website for the book: http://www.thegreatemergence.com/

When the Last Laugh Is Not Yours

2011-04-04T17:02:00.006-04:00

by Dr. Greg Rogers

Editor’s Note: Oakmont Baptist Church voted to purchase a neighboring apartment complex in order to be on mission in the community. Since then, they have been engaged in and continually discerning how best to use this property for the good of the community and Kingdom of God.

Since we purchased Oakmont Square Apartments in August 2007, I have heard countless people make the same statement and then ask the same question, almost in the same breath: “I know we didn’t buy those apartments to be in the ‘apartment business,' but I really do think God wanted us to have them for some purpose. So what’s the purpose for our owning them?"

If you had been a fly on the wall during our first Oakmont Square Apartment (OSA) Vision Team meeting on February 6, you might have reached the same conclusion that this team is reaching: perhaps God’s ultimate purpose for our owning them is already being seen in how we are using them now.

This Vision Team idea was birthed during our last coaching session on January 9 with CBFNC Church and Clergy Coach Eddie Hammett as a way of continuing the conversation on future next steps for our church to build more “go to” structures into our community. It is composed of 11 lay persons and three ministers, who either volunteered or were suggested by other people to serve on this team following our January 23 church-wide prayer meeting.

Our coaching sessions with Eddie led us to identify three target groups – at risk families, college students, and senior adults – for whom we might seek to address their educational, vocational, medical, and spiritual needs. The Vision Team dreamed about what is already happening and what could happen when we viewed the apartments as a “hub” of missions and ministry into our local community. Here are just a few of the possibilities the Vision Team considered:

medical clinics staffed by Oakmonters skilled in the healing of the body.
creating an Intentional College Community where a college intern (divinity school student) would work with college students, and develop them into leaders focused on spiritual growth and missional service to the community and world.
after-school tutoring for children, a ministry that is already occurring at the apartments under the capable leadership of a gifted team of Oakmont members.
providing affordable housing for at-risk families and/or senior adults.
a host of programs to grow a person spiritually as a follower of Jesus.

An interesting thought occurred to us all as we envisioned the possibilities: being in the “apartment business” may accomplish some or all of the above possibilities, placing us exactly where God wants us after all. If that’s the case just slightly, then God has a funny sense of humor and may have the last laugh on us before it’s all over.

Greg Rogers is the pastor of Oakmont Baptist Church in Greenville, NC. This article originally appeared in their church newsletter, “Connections.”

When Helping Hurts - A Review

2011-03-29T10:20:00.003-04:00

When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor and Yourself by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert is a fantastic resource for ministers and lay leaders who are both beginners and experienced veterans of community and mission work. The theologically conservative writers begin with a strong case for evangelicals to engage in community work. For moderates, this can be a helpful resource for communicating with conservatives on justice issues. The authors distinguish between old models of charity-based work versus new methods of promoting leadership and empowerment in poor communities through asset-based community development (ABCD). This holistic method of approach allows for a thoroughly coherent and helpful guidebook that people of all theological backgrounds should be inspired to use.

The authors start with a biblical basis for justice. In short, Jesus declared that the kingdom is both now on earth and in heaven. If Jesus is Lord, we should take his commands and lessons on the treatment of the poor seriously. Because the Church is supposed to follow the mission of Christ on earth, engaging our communities should be central to our narrative. Many times, the Church is sidetracked with personal piety issues (much like the Pharisees) and are distracted from its real mission. Fikkert, the main writer, quotes Scripture after Scripture on the poor and oppressed, and uses wealth and poverty statistics to bolster his point:

“Economic historians have found that for most of human history there was little economic growth and relatively low economic inequality…by the year 1820…the average income per person in the richest countries was only about four times higher than the average income per person in the poorest countries. Then the Industrial Revolution hit, causing unprecedented economic growth in a handful of countries but leaving the rest of the world behind…while the average American lives on more than ninety dollars per day, approximately one billion people live on less than one dollar per day and 2.6 billion—40% of the world’s population—live on less than two dollars per day. If God’s people in both the Old and New Testaments were to have a concern for the poor during eras of relative economic equality, what are we to conclude about God’s desire for the North American church today? (page 42)"

He cites the divide in the church between liberals and conservatives in the early 20th century for why evangelicals focused more on salvation than justice, and criticizes some government methods that have actually kept people in poverty. He condemns the old system of welfare for punishing those trying to work and affirms welfare reform.

Most practically, Fikkert tell stories about his own personal failings and long path toward realizing the best methods of community engagement. Fikkert talks about the difference between asset-based and needs-based approaches. The needs-based approach can enforce negative cultural assumptions that people who are both white and economically advantaged should be in charge. White, affluent outsiders tend to approach a situation by stating what a community, family, or person doesn’t have and what they need to obtain. This approach fails to encourage empowerment and leadership development. The asset-based approach starts by finding out what assets and skills a community has and builds on this information. He states that you should "not do things for people that they can do for themselves (pg 115).” Many times, a neighborhood can organize to find solutions that outsiders try to find for them.

He encourages churches to work with microfinance professionals who lend money, time, and business training to poor individuals to help them start businesses. He also encourages the “Business as Mission” model where small business can be used for ministry (see CBF’s work with Ben Newell and Delta Jewels, a mission where women earn their own college tuition while learning business skills). He gives less ambitious suggestions as well, including helping with job training and financial education.

Fikkert affirms the need to give immediately in crisis situations. For instance, when Hurricane Katrina hit, people needed rescue, medical care, debris clean-up, and more. Years later, he shares the example of a mission team that visits and paints houses while the owners sit back and watch. This approach reinforces the idea that outsiders are the only ones who can help, when the reality is that organizers could use empowerment to encourage leadership from within that community. Outsiders in these situations should plug-in only as secondary helpers to internal community leaders.

Fikkert’s approach is innovative and one that more churches and mission leaders should be willing to engage and discuss. Fikkert questions whether some missions work is really effective in the long run or only makes us feel good for getting something done quickly. His ideas of people-development over task-oriented missions have the potential for long-range, effective, and sustainable ministry. I urge you to read this book and have a discussion with your friends and church members!

Find out more about “When Helping Hurts” and related materials at this website: http://www.whenhelpinghurts.org/

Lord, I believe! But help my unbelief! -- Making Room for Faith, Doubt and Cynicism in Youth Ministry

2011-03-21T15:01:00.004-04:00

By Andrew S. Tatum

Often I think ministers, and ministers who work with young people, are pressured to be dispellers of doubt in the people with whom they minister. In both our cognitive work (i.e. doctrinal instruction) and our relational / spiritual work, it is thought that orthodoxy in belief and practice should be the primary goal for the people of our communities. In other words, we assume that in order for faith to be strong, genuine and generative there can be little room for doubt and no room at all for cynicism.

I cannot account for the experiences of others in this regard but I can share my own and recently, I have had many experiences that left me scratching my head and wondering where I went wrong.

The first of these came during a recent youth Bible study in which we were studying the "basics" of the Gospel message - i.e. sin & salvation through Christ. I found that the young people with whom I work genuinely believe the "facts" about the Gospel: that human beings are sinful and that Christ lived, died and was resurrected to bring a new kind of life that seeks God and serves others through the power of the Spirit. What is troubling, however, is that often it seems that this good news is received with glazed over looks and shrugged shoulders. In other words, many of the youth with whom I work genuinely believe the Gospel but they don't see where such belief makes a practical difference in their lives. Others of them, I am sure, "believe" the Gospel - i.e. they know the basic narrative and they can tell me all about it - but they are not fully convinced that it is true.

Another recent experience happened in discussing the fall of man and God's compassion and judgment for human disobedience. One of the young people in the room looked me in the eyes and - with a little laughter in her voice - said, "You mean God fixed the game." When asked her to clarify what she meant, she replied, "You're telling us that God created us for his glory and so that we could have new life in him and that the only way for that to happen is through Jesus?"

"Right," I said.

"Well, why didn't God just make it right from the beginning? It's like he wanted sin to happen so that he could show us how bad we are and teach us that we can't have life unless we follow Jesus. Did he send the serpent to us? I mean, did God make us fall?"

Of course, my outward reaction was to correct her and say something about "mystery" and God's "love" in general. But I have to admit that my inward thoughts turned immediately to David Bazan's song, "When We Fell" where he delivers a one-two punch of doubt and cynicism:

"When you set the table
when you chose the scales
did you write a riddle
that you knew they would fail?
Did you make them tremble
so they would tell the tale?
Did you push us when we fell?"

I know at least a handful of youth pastors who heard these lyrics and cringed. One of them even said, "If we let our youth hear this, we're screwed!"

What I'm getting at is this: when Christians begin being cynical and expressing doubt, are we doing them any favors when we try to suppress these doubts and feelings? For my part, I don't think that suppressing these sorts of thoughts and feelings is very helpful at all. Indeed, it may even be unfaithful.

Douglas John Hall once said, "I am not very much worried about the reduction in numbers where Christianity ...[is] concerned. I am far more concerned about the qualitative factor: what kind of Christianity...are we talking about?"

Indeed, what are we helping to create when we teach young people and adults that faith is about the suppression of doubt? What are we doing to the minds and hearts of young people when we don't honor their cynicism and encourage them to continue to question received tradition so that they can "own" the faith that they profess? I think we're creating individuals who do not know how to express their faith in meaningful ways because they have never had to grapple with its claims on their lives. We're creating religious people. However, we are not in any measurable way creating disciples of Jesus by telling young people and adults what they must believe without making space for them to express and grapple with their unbelief.

Paul Ricoeur wrote of a "second naivete" that comes only after one has both accepted and criticized the foundations of their world view. He wrote:

I]n every way, something has been lost, irremediably lost: immediacy of belief. But if we can no longer live the great symbolisms of the sacred in accordance with the original belief in them, we can, we modern men, aim at a second naivete in and through criticism. In short it is by interpreting that we hear again."

A man came to Jesus whose son was afflicted by an evil spirit. This spirit had "often thrown him into fire or water to kill him." The man asked Jesus, "Lord, if you can do anything take pity on us and help us."

"If you can?" Jesus replied. "Anything is possible for the one who believes."

The man replied, "Lord, I believe! But please help my unbelief." (From Mark 9)

I think that our young people need us to help them question their faith - to become believing unbelievers - so that they can live into genuine faith in Jesus because such faith is not easy and it will call them to do hard things for the rest of their lives. If the people you serve all believe easily and if they all believe without question, then I would say that perhaps you need to "help" their unbelief along. For it is by not believing, for a time, that we come to believe in ways that are good, true, beautiful and - most importantly - real.

I am not saying that we ought to help young people become atheists or agnostics - to actively give them questions and doubts that they may not already have. That, I think, would be
manipulative and just as unfaithful as suppressing doubt. What I am aiming it is simply the creation of imaginative space in which young people and adults can ask real questions about the truth claims of the Gospel and their practical significance - and yes, even to express doubt - without judgment or fear of disappointment on the part of their families, ministers and peers.

Lord, we believe! But help our unbelief!

Andrew Tatum is the Director of Youth Programs at Centenary United Methodist Church in Smithfield, North Carolina, and a graduate of Campbell University Divinity School. This post is originally taken from his blog. You can find out more about Andrew on his website: http://www.astatum.com/

Give Me Some of That New-Time Postmodern Religion

2011-03-14T16:07:00.007-04:00

On Ash Wednesday, I happened to tune in to both Conan and The Colbert Report and was not all that shocked to see a fairly usual sight. These Generation X and Y icons were humorously addressing Lent. A word of warning – some content may be seen as objectionable by certain viewers.

Conan's Ash Wednesday Play (skip to the 5 minute, 30 second mark):

Colbert gives up Catholicism for Lent:

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Stephen Gives up Catholicism for Lent

http://www.colbertnation.com/

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog

Video Archive

At first glance, their portrayals could be perceived as irreverent, but I, and others in my generation, see a kind of genius in their humor. Some religious establishments can be seen as self-righteous and unwilling to engage in a meaningful discussion on ideological differences. I believe that this seemingly reverent ban from the public sphere of comedy has actually done a disservice to the faith in terms of accountability. Younger generations communicate through humor and sarcasm and wisely do not trust entities that aren’t willing to be subjected to comedic scrutiny. Such jokes actually serve to shine a light on the tragic, corrupt or negative elements of religion, while lifting up the gospels. Catholic comedians Conan O’Brien and Stephen Colbert will rightfully mock the bad: sexual abuse, authoritarianism, discrimination, and hypocritical theology. Simultaneously, Colbert has done some hard-hitting segments that highlight Jesus’ gospel teachings and ethic of love, and has even addressed Congress to expose the conditions of migrant workers in the name of his faith.

Because these comedians keep religion on the table to be humorously discussed, they are more likely to be trusted by younger generations. In fact, Colbert has become a Catholic icon on college campuses and is generating excitement for the faithful. Jesuit priest Rev. Martin says, “He manages to raise the big questions very deftly. I think that is a great catechesis for many people because he might be reaching Catholics who never go to church and he is speaking to them in language they can understand.” I would add to Martin’s statement that he’s speaking to all young adults who are searching for meaning and showing them how to be faithful in a postmodern age where the rules have changed. In using their language of humor, he’s able to affirm viewers’ legitimate concerns about religion while also encouraging them to discuss their doubts and hopes with one another (doubting is another topic off-limits in many churches). These conversations are exactly what should be happening in the church, and my hope is that we can find ways to connect with younger people who expect the space to question, hope, doubt, and find humor in just about everything. We must be willing to listen and communicate in new ways with Generation X and Y. Not only are they our future, but they may have good reason to be reluctant to set foot in church.

Into the Wilderness - A Lenten Reflection

2011-03-08T11:03:00.008-05:00

Matthew 4:1-11 - Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." But he answered, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'" Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! for it is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'" Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

We are beginning the 40-day period of Lent, when Christians begin a period of reflection and strive for spiritual growth leading up to Easter. For a brief history of Lent, check out my post last year, where I also suggested a resource for prayer and meditation.

In the text above, Jesus has not yet
begun his ministry, yet is confronted
with temptation. Material wealth and coercive power are offered if Jesus will just change his path. Instead, Jesus is steadfast in his ways. He recognizes this as petty bribery and knows that he is destined to help God’s people. Often Jesus is pictured as above, a powerful image of a good man versus an ugly demon. I actually prefer the image to the right, with a fatherly looking figure talking to a young man, as if offering him something harmless. It seems to reflect reality and something we might face, making the biblical narrative more approachable. The painting illustrates that our seemingly innocuous decisions can have a large impact, for good or bad.

I wonder what this looks like in our own lives. Have you ever faced a time when you knew you were coming to a crossroads--that you could either go down a path of self-destruction and selfishness or follow the path of love shown to us by Jesus? Perhaps these are dramatic events like career changes or altering one’s worldview, or perhaps they are small, everyday occurrences like stopping to talk to someone who’s lonely, depressed or in trouble. Maybe it’s re-prioritizing our lives to attempt to make the needs of others more important than ourselves. Whatever that might look like, silence, prayer, and reflection could only help to sort out our confusion and make sure we are living for God and neighbor rather than living only to build wealth and fame for ourselves.

Spirituality and active love are interconnected. Only when we are striving for good practices of silence, meditation, or prayer, can we stop to hear the cries of others, as Jesus did. Most of us are used to a busy pace, so perhaps we would be more comfortable with a walking prayer. During such an active prayer, we can intentionally walk around our cities, towns, and neighborhoods, observing both needs and assets. As we go, let us give prayers of thanksgiving for community assets and ask God how we can help organize those assets to do the greatest good. This kind of walking prayer can be done with family, friends, or church members, and sharing what you discover with them and others might spark something –a new ministry, partnership or sharing of information that could better the community.

May your time of reflection lead you out into the world to join God’s good work.

What Is the Church to Do in Rapidly Changing Times?

2011-03-01T09:30:00.002-05:00

by Dr. Roger Gilbert

I think we all are keenly aware of the fact that our world is rapidly changing and that the changes impact all of life, including the church. Many of us grew up with the church being the center of the community and our family life. There was no question about what we did on Sunday morning. Likewise, the community around us was careful not to plan events that would conflict with church schedules. All of that has radically changed. So has church attendance and involvement.

What is the church to do? It is not likely that the culture is going to revert back to the way it was in the 1950’s, or even the 1990’s. There are a lot of different ideas about what should be done. One approach is to use the marketing techniques of the business world and remold the church so as to be attractive. There is validity in seeking to better understand our world and better relate to the people so we can share the gospel with them. There are also dangers in that approach. One danger is that the church may lose its distinctive as the church and simply become a reflection of the culture. That is already a reality to some degree. A second danger is that in an attempt to attract people we may use gimmicks with nothing more than shallow, short term results.

One of the difficulties within the church is that we are products of our culture and tend to measure “success” by numbers: membership, attendance, budgets, etc. While those factors are important, the calling of the church is to be the Body of Christ. We are to follow the example and teaching of Christ in loving and serving. We are to be faithful in using our gifts of time, talents, and resources in ministering to people and bearing witness to the gospel. Our attention is not to be directed toward tangible measurements of success but toward faithfulness to Christ.

Nearly a year ago nine of us pastors from across the state were on a retreat. While talking about similar issues, one of my good friends made reference to a saying that was popularized by Henry Blackby. He said, “discover what God is doing and join Him.” Since that time I have been intentionally asking questions and listening to what people are saying about both the needs in our community and the potential in our church. There are some exciting possibilities. I believe God is at work in a variety of ways in our community and may be inviting us to join Him in some of them.

I have shared some of this with our Church Council and asked for their input in how to involve the larger congregation in this conversation. In the months ahead we expect there will be some small group as well as large group participation as we seek to perceive where God is working in our community and how First Baptist Church can join Him. We are asking our members to think about the both needs and resources that God has given to our congregation. If one new ministry is the result of this process, it will be well worth the effort!

Roger Gilbert is the pastor of First Baptist Church, Mount Airy, NC. This article originally appeared in their church newsletter, "The Announcer."

Faith & Film: The King's Speech

2011-02-21T15:12:00.002-05:00

One of my co-workers has been instrumental in starting a faith and film series at her church for fellowship in and outside of the church walls. Because film is a common medium for discussion, we have chatted about possible films to include in the series. With this on my mind, I recently saw The King’s Speech, which may be one of the best films I’ve seen in a few years. It follows the true story of the reluctant King George VI (previously Prince Albert) who is afflicted with a stammer. As Prince Albert, he is second in line to the throne after his older brother Prince Edward. The film follows several speeches he gives where he struggles and pauses throughout, much to his discomfort and the disdain of the audience. After trying many unsuccessful speech coaches, he meets Lionel Logue at the insistence of his wife. They argue and debate about Lionel’s methods, but they soon become very close friends and Albert is able to share traumatic events from his life. His father, King George V passes away and his brother becomes King Edward VIII. When King Edward contemplates marriage to an American socialite who is twice divorced (deemed improper at the time), Edward faces abdication. The prospect of being King and preparing for the onslaught of Hitler hangs heavy on Prince Albert’s heart as he does some soul searching at the prodding of Logue. Edward marries the American, abdicates the throne, and Albert becomes King George VI. As Britain declares war on Germany, he faces the ominous task of delivering a powerful, yet comforting speech to his people.

While the tale is historical and you can simply “Google” his name to find out what happens, I don’t want to spoil it for you. Before this movie, the story was little known and even restricted from being published during the long lifetime of Prince Albert’s wife, Queen Elizabeth (the current Queen Elizabeth II’s mother), who died in 2002. She loved her husband deeply and the memories were too painful to re-live.

Although the church, personified by the Archbishop of Canterbury is portrayed as somewhat antagonistic and disapproving of Logue’s methods, the story itself draws interesting parallels to the story of Moses. Both Moses and King George VI struggled with a stammer, were reluctant to lead, wanted someone else to be chosen instead, and had to find a way to stand up to a frightening, oppressive dictator. It was powerful to see Prince Albert wrestle with his disability in order to be comfortable being the leader his people needed, much in the same way Moses had to overcome his discomfort with his speech in order to confront the Pharaoh.

I recently read a news article about how children who stutter found a role model in watching this film. In the story, kids who stuttered expressed the need to be listened to and not judged. They were inspired by the leadership portrayed in the film after facing similar humiliating public speaking experiences. Parents discussed the need for optimism, patience, and support. I encourage you to read the story to see the real life applicability.

This true story incorporates the themes of friendship, overcoming adversity, and leadership, and could be very popular in community-wide or small group viewings. Discussions could be held about thematic elements, biblical allusions, and/or addressing stuttering and fear of public speaking. The acting is superb by every performer, and I encourage you to see it as soon as possible!

The movie is rated R, most likely for language, which is used during the course of the unorthodox therapy session. It stars Colin Firth as King George VI, Helena Bonham Carter as Queen Elizabeth, and Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue. Check out more details about the movie here: http://www.kingsspeech.com/

The Spirit of Cairo

2011-02-14T16:09:00.008-05:00

by Thomas Whitley

Our interim pastor, Dr. Gerald Keown, preached this past morning from Isaiah 58. Verses 6-7 speak of the type of fast that God desires:

Is this not the fast which I choose:

To loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into the house…

It occurs to me that this is exactly the spirit we have seen in Cairo as of late where Christians have protected Muslims at prayer and vice versa. People are fighting against wickedness and oppression and are caring for one another in remarkable ways. I have even seen a picture today of rocks that had been used to defend Tahrir Square turned into a cross and crescent.

As my late mentor and friend Dr. Goodman used to say, when you see God at work among another group, recognize it for what it is and celebrate and honor it. Many people in Egypt are showing us what it is like to live a life in line with the spirit of God, yes secular Egyptians, Christians, and even Muslims. I, for one, recognize it and celebrate it.

Thomas Whitley is an adjunct professor of religion who lives in Columbia, SC, with his wife, Trinity, who is a Student Minister. This article originally appeared on his blog, http://thomaswhitley.com/.

Faith Postures – A Review

2011-02-08T10:51:00.002-05:00

Faith Postures: Cultivating Christian Mindfulness is the first book by Holly Sprink, a graduate of Truett Seminary. In it, she relates the mindfulness of yoga to the Christian faith. Sprink’s hope is that we can make our faith a fully present reality in our daily lives and actions, rather than relegating it to Sundays and Wednesday evenings. Through short vignettes and assignments at the end of each chapter, the reader is invited to come along on the journey toward a greater understanding of the present reality of God, our neighbor, and the wonder of creation.

Sprink shows how a person can use intentional, contemplative spirituality to move from an inward to an outward focus. By being conscious of our thoughts and practices, we begin to shape and mold our behaviors to incorporate compassion for our brothers and sisters in Christ. In the first part of her book, we are invited to perceive how God works in our lives, take notice of ourselves and our capabilities, look for the kingdom of God, notice where Jesus story meets ours, realize when obstruct the witness of Christ, and learn about the plight of our neighbors, near and far. In one chapter, she recounts her story of being a chaplain in a South African support group for women infected with HIV and AIDS. The experience was overwhelming, but her ability to comfort these women was strengthened by her capacity to see Jesus in the room with them. At the end of the chapter invites us to, “Voice a prayer of thanks for God’s total identification with us, the objects of his love” (31).

In the second part of Faith Postures, Sprink invites us to realign ourselves to God’s reality by seeking different “postures” or practices of faith. She encourages us to find beauty in the monotonous, to renew and excite ourselves with worship, look for hope in death, realign ourselves to hospitality, be contented, become peacemakers, share, show toleration for others’ beliefs, and above all, love. She shares the story of finding hope throughout the last days of her grandfather’s life. Along with her anger and fear, she found ways to remind herself that God was with her and also mourning this end. She incorporates biblical stories and scriptures throughout each vignette to center us in scripture. Her ability to weave biblical texts into her own narrative connects her thesis to scripture and tradition, and also allows for the verses to come alive as she relates each topic to our present reality.

Perhaps the best way that she invites us to mindfulness is the reflection questions at the end of each chapter. Sometimes there are active assignments, like reading about issues facing foreign countries. Many times, we are invited to pray, reflect on our day, or find ways that the lesson intersects with our lives. As someone who formerly took yoga, and would like to take it up again, I appreciated the translation of yoga’s lessons into the Christian life & scriptures for further contemplation. I encourage you to read this for personal reflection, renewal, and deepening of your active spirituality.

For more information on Faith Postures, check out this website: http://www.helwys.com/books/faith_postures.html

Celebrating 200 Years – Old Records Tell a Story

2011-02-01T09:13:00.003-05:00

by Dr. Mark T. White

From the yellowing pages of The Raleigh Times, the Triangles’ now defunct “evening paper,” comes the story of a church which dates back to 1811. Voices of the past, speaking through spidery, old-fashioned handwriting, tell the trials, triumphs, and even the misdemeanors of a once small church of long ago, now the First Baptist Church of Clayton.

Our church, which now covers over two city blocks, was once only an ambitious little church located across the railroad tracks from what was Bartex Mill and near the old McCuller’s Cemetery in what is now West Clayton.

Records show that the church was founded by William Creath of Virginia and Robert T. Daniel of Wake County. It was then called Johnston Liberty Meeting House. The first two members received into the church were Judith Avery, and Regdon Johnson, who became its first pastor.

According to The Raleigh Times article written by Betty Garvey, who was a member of our church, the elders kept a careful eye on their flock and condemned offenses such as card playing, gossiping, drinking, dancing, and something they discreetly called “disorderly walking.” Anyone who stepped out of line was reported to a committee composed of the pastor and church elders. Unless the sinner repented and asked for forgiveness, he was either expelled for a limited period, or excommunicated from the church.

From 1839 to the latter 1800’s, the church diary is merely one long record of misdemeanors. The clerks who kept the records seemed to record every detail of member’s offenses. “The elders probably became distraught with some of their women folks,” wrote Miss Garvey. “The strict rules and regulations of the church stamped out all the women’s natural forms of expression such as gossiping, arguing, and bustle-twitching; therefore, the women who yielded to their natural impulses could be assured of monthly meetings with the elders.”

Now, the Baptists and the Methodists are on the best of terms, but once the relationship was not so loving. In March of 1842, “Eliza Turner was excommunicated for disorderly conduct and for associating with the Methodists in Raleigh.” The career of Lewis Poole can be followed with interest. After a long life of ups and downs and monthly moral skirmishes with the elders, he finally wrote a letter of apology to the church in May of 1858. He was given the gentle boot of the church elders; however, evidently he and the church became reconciled because six years later he was excommunicated again for associating with the Methodists!

I’m glad we’re living in the 21st century, because oftentimes I’m found associating with those pesky Methodists myself!

Mark T. White is the pastor of First Baptist Church of Clayton, NC. This article first appeared in their church newsletter, The Outlook.

True Power in an Angry Age

2011-01-25T11:02:00.001-05:00

by Dr. Steve Bolton

Our country has again been shocked and grieved by senseless murders and mayhem. Does it not seem that America is afflicted and even infected by violence? Hardly a month goes by that random citizens aren't victimized by some miserable, angry young man with a gun who feels justified in wounding and destroying human life. Anger and insanity have always been at work in the world and, certainly, in this country. Our nation has too often suffered the tragedy of cold blooded assassinations: Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and others. Politics and racial hatred have always incited violence. Yet, today, there is evidence of an unnamed, but seething rage bubbling just below the surface. Since the University of Texas massacre in 1966, there have been over 100 school shootings in the United States, with Columbine High (2004), the Amish School (2006), and Virginia Tech (2007) murders among the most senseless and shocking. America suffered eleven school shootings in 2010, and already in 2011 another has occurred in Omaha, Nebraska. These troubling situations point to an epidemic of anger. How easily we escalate and intimidate. Too often retribution is justified and revenge glorified. It seems as if America has become addicted to anger and the false sense of power that using angry words or dangerous weapons gives us.

I recall a story about a man who was held up and threatened with death by a bandit if he didn't give him his money. As the robber brandished his sword in his face, the man confessed that he had no money. But pointing at a nearby tree he said, “But if you are going to take my life, grant me two dying wishes. First, cut off the branch of that tree.” The thief swung his sword and the branch fell to the ground. “Now what?” he asked. “Now put the branch back again,” the man said. “You must be crazy. No one can do that!” the bandit said. Then the would-be victim replied, “On the contrary. You are crazy to think you are mighty because you can wound and destroy. The truly mighty are those who know how to create and heal.” As the story goes, this caused the bandit to spare the man. It’s only a story, but there’s truth in the statement that the true power in life is not to be found in either anger or violence, only in healing and creating.

For Christians, these violent events are not cause to despair...only reasons to witness to true Power. We who follow Jesus, the Prince of Peace, have the creative power of His healing touch in our hands and hearts. There are many situations where we, as servants of Christ, by acting with His compassion, self-control, and patience can bring healing and life. It is time for Christians to quell destructive anger, control our tongues, wage Christ's peace, promote God's goodwill, proclaim and exhibit the power of God's love and forgiveness. In every public and private discourse this wounded world desperately needs a Christian witness of reconciliation and an example of Christian kindness. Therefore, in an angry and violent world, let us be instruments of His peace.

Steve Bolton is the pastor of Oxford Baptist Church in Oxford, NC. This article originally appeared in their church newsletter, "The Forecaster."

Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr.

2011-01-18T10:07:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, I attended a Martin Luther King, Jr., march in downtown Winston-Salem. We sang songs along the route from Mount Zion Baptist Church to Winston-Salem State University. It would have been easy for us to end there, pat ourselves on the back for getting together as a community and call it a day. Instead, the march led us to the first-annual program sponsored by the Martin Luther King, Jr., Coalition (made up of several local non-profit groups). This group realized that we could take some extra time to further MLK’s dream of a just and equal society.

We all filed into Anderson Auditorium and listened to community leaders talk about problematic issues in our neighborhoods before we broke up into workshops. One leader shared that while the 2008 infant-mortality rate was at an all time low in North Carolina, it was at a 15-year high in Winston-Salem. The workshops covered topics from the Racial Justice Act to inequities in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Public Schools. Once the brief educational sessions concluded, attendees helped leaders come up with action plans to move forward on the issues. People made commitments to continue to meet, contact city leaders, and increase parental involvement in their schools. Additional meetings will take place throughout the spring with a progress report meeting in May.

This group realized that it’s easy to remember and be grateful for Martin Luther King, Jr. It’s even easier to think that we’ve already accomplished his dream. The challenging work is to roll up our sleeves, become educated about problems that effect people in our community, and work toward positive change. What is your community doing to make King’s dream a reality? What can you do to help?

Missional Renaissance, A Review

2011-01-10T21:13:00.005-05:00

by Dr. Larry Hovis

Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church, Reggie McNeal, Jossey-Bass Publishers, 224 pages

Much of my professional reading in recent years has been on the Missional Church. I truly believe it is not only the most authentic way to understand the Church of Jesus Christ, but this vision of the church provides the greatest hope for free and faithful Baptist congregations who are trying to find their way in these changing times. Unfortunately, most of the books on the Missional Church I have read are either too academic, or too "non-Baptist" to be accessible to most of the folks with whom I work. This book is, thankfully, a huge exception to that rule.

In this work, McNeal uses language and concepts that are familiar to Baptists (after all, he worked many years for the South Carolina Baptist Convention), but accurately and compellingly shares a new vision for the church based on missional theology. Eminently practical and thoroughly readable, I think every pastor, staff minister and lay leader should purchase and devour this book.

In general, McNeal argues that effective ministry in our time requires that churches and church leaders make three major shirts: from internal to external, from program development to people development, and from church-based to kingdom-based. For each shift, he suggests practical ways to change the scorecard so that churches can measure what matters when it comes to our efforts to pursue the mission of God in the world.

These three shifts call for a new scorecard for the missional church. The typical church scorecard (how many, how often, how much) doesn't mesh with a missional view of what the church should be monitoring in light of its mission in the world. The current scorecard rewards church activity and can be filled in without any reference to the church's impact beyond itself (p. xvii).

We must change our ideas of what it means to develop a disciple, shifting the emphasis from studying Jesus and all things spiritual in an environment protected from the world to following Jesus into the world to him in his redemptive mission (p. 10).

Larry Hovis is the Executive Coordinator of CBF of North Carolina.

What Are You So Worried About?

2011-01-04T09:30:00.002-05:00

by Rev. David Stratton

I think we received more requests for a recording of the sermon of this past Sunday than any sermon I've ever preached. I'm not convinced the sermon was all that good. It just took up a topic that is a struggle for many people: worry.

Sunday's sermon was the second in a series on the story of a leper named Naaman found in 2 Kings 5. In this installment we focused on verses 4-8 in which the King of Israel received a request that he misinterpreted badly. Naaman was the commander of the military forces of neighboring Aram and he received word that there was a prophet in Israel who could cure him of his leprosy. He went to the King of Israel with a note from the King of Aram requesting healing for Naaman.

Somewhere in the chain of communication there was some confusion because the note from the King of Aram asked that the King of Israel rather than the prophet to cure Naaman. When the King of Israel received this request that he could fill he assumed the worst. He tore his robes in an expression of grief and stated his conviction that this must be part of a plot to start a war.

Well, that wasn't it at all. This was no prelude to war. Naaman just needed some help and he heard that he could find that help in Israel. The King of Israel was very worried about what might happen. He was worried about a threat that did not exist. He thought there was a threat--a very serious threat--but he was wrong.

When Elisha the prophet heard about the King's response to the note, he sent a message to him in which he asked, "Why have you torn your robes?" (2 Kings 5:8, TNIV). Again, the tearing of the robes was an expression of grief and, in this context, it was specifically an expression of the King's worries about what might happen. So, in essence, the prophet asked the King, "What are you so worried about?"

The truth was the King had nothing to worry about.

As we saw on Sunday, this episode points us in the direction of several New Testament teachings that make us aware that the followers of Christ should not be worriers. One of the most significant passages in this regard is this word of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount: "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matt. 6:34, TNIV).

Don't worry about tomorrow. Don't worry about what might happen in the future. This is the teaching of Jesus to his followers. He didn't say that we won't have any troubles, for we will have troubles. He didn't say that we won't experience pain in this world, for we will experience pain. But the Lord did indicate that we must not worry about such things. Can we do that? Is it realistic?

Do we believe the Bible?

The King of Israel was worried about what might happen but things weren't nearly as bad as he thought. That's often the way it is with the things we worry about. But the really good news is that, even if things are as bad as we think or even worse, Jesus indicates that we still must not worry.

The thing that really gets me about Jesus' saying that we must not worry about tomorrow is that he was on his way to the cross and he knew it. And the cross was really horrible. Still he said, "Don't worry about tomorrow." In other words, no matter what you face, don't worry about tomorrow. The promise of the resurrection made Jesus that confident.

Do we trust him? Then what are we so worried about?

Dave Stratton is the Pastor of Brunswick Islands Baptist Church in Supply, NC, and he serves as Chair of CBFNC’s Wealth and Poverty Task Force. This article originally appeared on Dave’s blog, David’s Deliberations.

A New Year’s Resolution

2010-12-28T09:50:00.001-05:00

This is the time of year when we frantically realize December is coming to a close and we haven’t yet made our resolutions for the coming year. Whether it’s joining a gym, losing five pounds, or eating better, we think this will be the year. According to research done by the professors at the University of Scranton and published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology, around 40-45% of adults in the United States make New Year’s resolutions. Only 46% of these resolutions are maintained six months later. My longest New Year’s resolution, to work out at a gym three times a week, lasted for eight months one year. Most likely, this was because I had fear motivating me to fit into a wedding dress.

What is it about us? We like fresh starts and new beginnings, a chance to get it right this time. It’s only natural. Perhaps instead of or in addition to the usual resolutions, we should resolve to listen to God in our lives. The more we spend time trying to discern where we see God in our lives and our communities, the better disciple we can be. If we spend a few times a week in silence for 15 minutes, perhaps we’ll begin to notice people and places we neglected before because of hectic routines and schedules. We might find our perspectives moving from stressful inward worrying to productive outward care and mindfulness.

Here are some possible questions to process as you pray or meditate, some of which we’ve discussed in my workplace as a guide for our ministry:
Where is God working in my life?
Do I know anyone that needs extra care?
How do I exhibit the love of Jesus in my daily life?
Where is God working in the community?
What are some concerns I’ve seen in my community?
What kind of community does God intend us to become?

Don’t be too hard on yourself if you don’t make it through the New Year with your goal. That same study showed that those who do make resolutions are 10 times more likely to achieve their goals than those who do not. And though I don’t still go to the gym three times a week, I have drastically changed what I eat and stay more active than before. Hopefully, remembering this can help motivate me to spend more quiet time with God, even if I fall short of my goal. Have a blessed New Year, and may your resolutions be fruitful!

Christmas Lessons from a Toddler

2010-12-17T11:30:00.006-05:00

We all have multiple titles and identities, but the one of which I’m the most proud is the role of “Aunt Laura.” My sister, Jeri, and brother-in-law, Hans, have been intentional about closing the 400-mile gap between us by sending photos and videos of my niece, Téa, on a weekly basis. In watching these videos, I’ve been fascinated by her sense of wonder at Christmas. The lights and sounds are affecting her as if she’s conscious of them for the first time. When I came home for Thanksgiving, I was eager to see what she said about each holiday.

As her mother and I were explaining Thanksgiving and Christmas, she understood that one of them was Jesus’ birthday. We kept working to distinguish the two and told her that we would start to celebrate Jesus’ arrival after Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving Day came, and Téa sat at the table, eating her food and looking from face to face. She got down from her chair after eating, ran around playing, and gave out hugs. Soon Téa laid down on the floor, crossed and elevated her legs, clasped her hands and looked up at the ceiling—an exercise she’s done since before she could walk that we’ve affectionately dubbed “baby yoga.” She seems to do this when she’s thinking or wants to relax. Téa looked at Jeri and asked, “Where Jesus? I thought we see him today. He come see me?” After a moment of “awwws” from the family, my sister explained that Jesus was always with her and loved her very much. She looked up at the ceiling, resuming her “baby yoga,” and thought for a minute. “He love me?” she asked. “Yes, Jesus loves you very much,” my sister replied. After a few more minutes in thought, Téa resumed her play time and commands of Uncle Ryan to “be a giant” and chase her. Before the week was out, we had built Téa her first fort and invented games she played for the first time as if they were magic.

This childlike wonder at the world, with its close by-product of hope, was infectious. As much as I am annoyed by many of the commercial aspects of Christmas, I’ve struggled to come to terms with it and stake a claim on the meaningful aspects of the holiday. As Christians, we must do this in order to honor the reason we celebrate. It may be as simple as finding a child to remind you to look for that star in the East as a sign of hope, rather than to be consumed with the bargains of Black Friday. That child might inspire you to look for the newborn that shall be called Emmanuel, God With Us, who will show us a new Way and let us know that we are truly the beloved of God. How is the hope for a new Way exhibited in your life? How will you let others know that they, too, are loved? May you have a blessed and hope-filled Christmas.

A New Kind of Christianity - A Review

2010-12-14T10:10:00.005-05:00

by Dr. Larry Hovis

This book shares a similar title to McLaren's first big "hit", A New Kind of Christian. Since the publication of that book, he has written many others, with his more recent releases challenging traditional thought to greater and greater degrees. This book continues that trend. In the second half of the book, he tackles such challenging topics as homosexuality, eschatology and pluralism. But for perceptive readers, his most radical proposals come in the first half of his book, in which he questions our most basic assumptions about theology and the Bible.

Specifically, he suggests that the overarching storyline which has guided Christian thought since Augustine is not the only way to view Christianity. This storyline develops in six stages: perfection, fall, condemnation, and then choice: hell/damnation or salvation/heaven. He then shows that there is an alternative meta-narrative which, if followed, drastically alters conventional Christian thought. He also argues that Christians have traditionally read the Bible as a constitution, when it should be read as a community library.

I think many free and faithful Baptists will readily embrace McLaren's second point about the Bible, but will struggle a bit more with his first point about the overarching narrative by which we interpret the Christian story. While I'm still thinking through, arguing with, and pondering the meaning of this book (and by no means accept every word at face value), I am grateful to McLaren for his courage to show us what he believes is a "more excellent way" and for doing so with grace and humility."

As a follower of Jesus and a devoted student of the Bible for many decades, I certainly believe that in a unique and powerful way God breathes life into the Bible, and through it into the community of faith and its members, and into my soul. And I certainly believe that the biblical library has a unique role in the life of the community of faith, resourcing, challenging, and guiding the community of faith in ways that no other texts can. It is uniquely valuable to teach, reprove, correct, train and equip us for love and good works, as the apostle Paul says. It provides a kind of encouragement that is central and unique to the community of Christian faith (p. 83).

Larry Hovis is the Executive Coordinator for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina. For more information on A New Kind of Christianity, click here.

Can Christians Reclaim Our Saint Nick?

2010-12-07T11:19:00.002-05:00

by Jason Williams

Gift giving is one of the chief practices of Christmas in our culture and the principal gift giver is Santa Claus: a white-bearded, rotund ‘saint’ clad in red with a big sack of toys whisking around the earth on Christmas Eve to shoot down chimneys and deliver toys to children of all ages.

The figure of Santa Claus is traced back to Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra during the fourth century. What we know about Saint Nicholas is limited and mostly from legend. He was a man of great compassion and concern for the poor. Tradition tells us that he inherited a large sum of money from his parents when they died while he was still young. He used this money to practice charity and help those in need. Beth Bevis relates the following legend:

A family in his community was desperate; the father had lost all of his money and had been unable to find husbands for his three daughters. The daughters were in danger of being given over to prostitution or another form of degradation when, one night, Nicholas appeared at their home. He tossed three bags of gold into the open window (or down the chimney, in some versions) – thereby saving them from a terrible fate.

Though a connection to our current practice of gift-giving is found within such a tale, we must question how gifts such as iPods, candy canes and legos faithfully reflect the practice of charity seen within the stories of Saint Nicholas. Surely Nicholas was not canonized because he gave dolls and toy trains to children who had their basic needs met!

Over the past 200 or more years, the faith and practice of Saint Nicholas has been co-opted. In the US, 17th century Dutch settlers first brought legends of Sinter Klaas (Klaas is the Dutch short-form of Nicholas), a red-vested bishop who brought them gifts on his feast day. Then Clement Clarke Moore, a wealthy scholar, elaborated upon the Dutch tradition in his 1823 poem A Visit from Saint Nicholas (more commonly known as The Night Before Christmas). Liturgical vestments became the fur garments of an elfish peddler. Secret charity for the poor became expected toys for those affluent enough to purchase ‘kerchiefs and dream of sugar plums. The faithful practice of a sainted bishop became masked by rosy cheeks and tiny reindeer.

In 1863, Harper’s Magazine began to publish the first pictures of Santa Claus. Thomas Nast, a political cartoonist, illustrated the pictures based on Moore’s poem and through them created the popular image of Santa. But Nast’s illustrations were not merely pretty pictures. In an 1863 image, for example, Santa is robed in stars and stripes and offers a special gift: a dancing doll depicting Jefferson Davis hanging by a noose. Yes, Santa is pictured as lynching the President of the Confederacy. With this image, the man once associated with charity, which sustained the lives of the poor, had become political messenger and herald of victory for a nation at war.

In 1931, Coca-Cola used a human-sized version of the jolly old elf in a series of advertisements. Eight years later Montgomery Ward invented Rudolf and his shiny red nose. Santa Claus became associated with his famous Coco-Cola red suit and songs about magical creatures and fanciful toys for children who were good. I imagine daughters about to submit themselves to prostitution to feed and shelter their families would not fall on the “nice” list of the newly imaged Santa, bishop of Coca-Cola and saint of corporate America.

The Santa Claus of which we sing today is not the fourth century Saint Nicholas. Santa Claus is a cultural icon formed and shaped by salesmen, political cartoonists, and the poetry of the wealthy elite. As such, Santa Claus has more to do with consumerism, nationalism and sentimentalism than any kind of saintly life, most especially one centered on charity.

Can Christians reclaim our Saint Nick? Within our current practice of Santa Claus, I have little hope. But when our gift giving turns from toys and treats to charity and almsgiving for those whose basic needs go unmet, then perhaps invoking the name of Saint Nick will teach us all what it means to follow the Christ child born on Christmas day.

Jason Williams is a graduate of the Baptist Theological Seminary of Richmond and a member of Hyaets, an intentional Christian community in the heart of the Enderly Park neighborhood of Charlotte, NC. A verson of this article is taken from their Advent Guide, "Christmas Is Not...Advent in the Apophatic Tradition," which can be found on their website: http://www.hyaets.org/.

The Practice of Friendship

2010-11-30T09:36:00.002-05:00

by Dr. Rick Jordan

Editor’s Note: Rick Jordan went on sabbatical this summer for 13 weeks and journaled about his experience . His hope in sharing his journal entries is to encourage churches and faith communities to offer their ministers a sabbatical for rest, reflection, and a renewed commitment to their work.

The week after our trip to PA was to be a week at home, doing bills, chores and maintanence. We began on Monday with a day of painting. As I was cleaning up, around 8 PM, Susan got a phone call. It was a friend, Cecil. His wife, Resa, had been in an accident in the Myrtle Beach area. It was a single car accident, she was in the hospital and Cecil was leaving to see her. He wanted Susan to email their Sunday School class to ask for prayers. As the call was finishing, I whispered to Susan, “ask if he wants me to go with him.” I knew that would be a long 4-5 hour drive alone, just thinking about what he would be facing. He said yes.

Cecil swung by the house that we are renovating to pick me up. I jumped in the car and we took off. I had not had a chance to talk much with Cecil about my sabbatical thus far, so that took up a lot of our time. There was also discussion about the accident, about his job and there were periods of silence.

When we got to the hospital, Resa was awake and alert. She’d passed out while driving. The major concern not not her few bumps and bruses, but the reason for passing out, so many tests were scheduled to be run the next day. Cecil and I found a hotel near the hospital and stayed the night. The next morning, he and I went to the car lot where Resa’s car had been taken. As he was collecting items from the car, I called Susan to give her an update. “You’re going to have to come get me,” I told her, “because Cecil is going to need to be here for several days.” I had no extra clothes or toiletries, etc. So, Susan made plans to bring me a change of clothes and to pick me up.

When I told Cecil of that plan, he said, “Why don’t you plan to stay the week? The condo we rented has two bedrooms.” I called Susan and we worked it out! Resa was released after a couple days. We got to eat meals together, relax on the beach together and just enjoy being together.

Cecil said at the end of the week, “Thanks, I couldn’t have done this without you,” which surprised me, but made me feel good. But actually, I was appreciative, too. I was glad to have a week away from the renovation. I was glad to have an unexpected week at the beach. Most of all, I was glad to practice being a friend.

Rick Jordan is the Church Resources Coordinator for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina. You can read more about his sabbatical on his blog, Rick’s Reflections.

A Thanksgiving Reflection

2010-11-17T15:18:00.004-05:00

by Rev. H. Michael Johnson

When I come to Thanksgiving each year and begin to meditate upon my blessings, I have to give thought to what is “a blessing?” What should I count first as a blessing? It is the little things that count most. Most folks would join me in thanksgiving for their family. What others don’t know about my family is the love my wife gives as she makes sure I get the drops in my ailing eyes on schedule no matter how far she has to go to get the drops. Others don’t know how much it means for our son to call as he travels to update us on his life or our daughter’s efforts for months to pick out the right gift for a special occasion.

The blessings we each receive, we may never know the cost to others. No one sees the hours spent in raising children. No one hears the quiet conversations spent in building a marriage. No one knows the worry business people put into doing the right thing for their employees' well being. No one knows the hours and tears that teachers devote to students or the extra effort service persons put into getting our needs met without a thought by us. No one knows the commitment to detail that laborers a world away have put into the clothes we wear or the stuff we enjoy in our lives every day while we pay as little as possible.

Which does God treasure more—that which everyone sees and applauds—or that which is unseen or done because it is right and in the fiber of one who will do the “right thing” regardless of notice or acclaim?

Give thanks to those around you who love you and care for you. Show your appreciation in tangible ways when possible. Humbly give thanks to God always for his grace that comes through the lives of all kinds of people because you never know all that has made your life better or how you could possibly thank those who have been God’s channels to you.

Michael Johnson is the pastor of First Baptist Church of Rowland, NC. This article first appeared in the November edition of their church newsletter, First Baptist News.

Are We Answering the Right Questions?

2010-11-16T10:55:00.002-05:00

by Rev. Mark Mofield

So I heard a story the other day about a Christian search engine called Seekfind.org.

(OK, I’ll stop right here to explain that a “search engine” is what you use to find information on the Internet. If you have heard of Google or seen ads for Bing or Yahoo, these are search engines. Yes, I am a geek.)

Anyway, there is this search engine called Seekfind.org. It helps you find information on the Internet, but it limits its searches to those websites that, by its own definition, advocate and support a Christian worldview. The story said that if you did a search for “Democratic Party," the first result to pop up was a web page about socialism. (When I tried, it was actually the second result). When I checked it out, I thought I would try some other searches. I did a search for “Duke Blue Devils” and got a whole bunch of results, only 2 of which had anything to do with sports at Duke University, and both of which were articles about the Duke Lacrosse scandal from a couple of years ago. Then I did a search for “bologna sandwich” (I was still a little hungry after lunch). The first result was a website about a children’s game and the second result – and I am not making this up – was a web page about witnessing to atheists.

I never knew how short a jump it was from my favorite lunch meat to evangelizing the world. I thought I needed to be more specific, so I typed in “making a bologna sandwich”. The first result was a web page about the accounts of the trial of Jesus in the gospels and the second result was an article entitled, “Is God Making a Difference in Hollywood?”

Seekfind.org states that its purpose is to “provide God-honoring, biblically based, and theologically sound Christian search engine results in a highly accurate and well-organized format.” It seems to me, though, that in their desire to proclaim sound Biblical truth they are overlooking that there are people who might be looking to put together a really good sandwich. The search engine is providing answers to questions not being asked and not answering the questions that are asked. While the purpose is good, the result is frustrating and ultimately unfulfilling because you have to ask the questions the search engine wants you to ask.

I wonder if this is why people sometimes tear down the church for being “irrelevant.” I wonder if we as Christians sometimes grow too quiet because we wait for somebody to say just the right word to let us know we can talk about faith. Or sometimes we think evangelism has to mean taking every conversation and ending it with “Let me share with you God’s plan for your life.” Relevance doesn’t have to mean accommodating the gospel to the world. I think relevance can mean simply being willing to answer the questions that are asked, being willing to listen and to speak. Sometimes someone may ask us how to make a bologna sandwich. So we tell them how to make a bologna sandwich. If our desire to serve and relate to others is authentic, those questions can establish a foundation of trust for other, more spiritually profound questions.

“God is calling us to be a church that is compassionate, serving, and accepting. God is calling us to minister in ways that are honest, loving, respectful, and faithful.” These values demand that we be relevant, that we listen to what is being asked of us by God and by our community, and that we answer in the love and grace of Christ so that Christ might ultimately be glorified.

Mark Mofield is the pastor of First Baptist Church of Elon, NC. This article originally appeared in their church newsletter, "The Courier."

Church in the Inventive Age - A Review

2010-11-09T09:57:00.004-05:00

Church in the Inventive Age, by Doug Pagitt, is a book that aims to help American readers understand the changes happening in their church and world, and give them tools, examples, and options to not only adapt, but also to thrive. Pagitt posits that we have been through three ages already in America: the Agrarian, Industrial, and the Information. We are now delving into the Inventive Age, when everyone can be producers information through social networking sites. This age is also marked by people who care deeply about relationships, but who also recognize and encourage major shifts in authority. Pagitt explains each of the four ages clearly and concisely, covers current rifts in the church and provides hope for a way forward, and then advises churches on three different ways to serve proactively in the Inventive Age. Miraculously, he does it all in only 111 pages, and it only took me 2 hours to read it (including note-taking and underlining)!

Pagitt’s explanation of the four ages helps the reader to understand their history, as well as parts of our culture that are stuck in the past. He makes clear that elements of past ages still exist and are still the reality for many people in various parts of the United States, but his generalization of ages helps us to understand shifts in culture. The Agarian Age is everything before the mid-1800s. Communities were more homogeneous and rural, and the church was a small parish church that valued having a shepherd as a leader. The Industrial Age followed, from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s. Many moved to the cities to find jobs and found themselves working side by side with more diverse people. There were many churches in one neighborhood to choose from, many catering to particular ethnicities or groups. The lines between denominations became more clear, and many churches modeled the magnificent buildings being built around them. The Information Age began in the mid-1900s, with many WWII veterans moving out of the city to own farms and create suburban communities. More people could read than before, and more schools were opening. Education wings were more widespread in churches, and it became an important cultural value to see churches as “learning centers” through Bible studies, programs, and classes (23). The pastor was, and still is in many churches, valued as a CEO type of minister, where people join and stay because of pastoral teachings and passive learning (mega churches are a good example of this model). Pagitt posits that we are now in an Inventive Age, with people increasingly comfortable creating their own content on the internet and deconstructing hierarchical structures. Authority is found in relationships. This is already leading to more conversational, emergent sermons with the pastor being the facilitator.

Pagitt helpfully points out that currently, neither the mainline or evangelical sides of Christianity have a good model. The evangelical group is willing to embrace new technology and ideas about where they meet for worship, but tend to be rigid on doctrines and values. The mainline group is more accepting in values, but is rigid in liturgy. Both could learn from one another, and embrace the cultural marks of the Inventive Age to move past their weaknesses.

Pagitt gives three models of churches with examples for how they can relate to the Inventive Age: churches for the Inventive Age, churches with the Inventive Age, and churches as the Inventive Age. These churches are essentially on a scale from welcoming those who think differently to fundamentally changing how to do church. One new church start hecites meets entirely online in a program called Second Life, with real people making avatars of themselves to meet and talk in a virtual church. Moreover, there are good examples of how this church has been redemptive to people who had been previously scarred by bricks and mortar churches.

Pagitt's ideas are valuable in this age of rapid change. He affirms the place of churches that fall into each of these categories, giving each type of church ideas on how to preserve their traditions while not becoming obsolete. Pagitt also gives churches hope for the future by encouraging them to be ahead of the cultural curve instead of lagging behind, as we so often tend to do. I would encourage pastors and church leaders to read this in a peer learning group or book study and have a discussion. See what kind of church you will be in the Inventive Age!

Doug Pagitt is a missional community leader, professional speaker, author, and radio host. Find out more about his book, Church in the Inventive Age, here.

An Update on Church-State Separation

2010-11-01T14:50:00.005-04:00

by Rev. Dr. Charles P. McGathy

As national political fires heat up, the subject of separation of church and state once again becomes a topic of intense debate. We Baptists may belong to different political parties or prefer to vote as independents, but we ought to be clear when it comes to the separation of church and state that there is historically one consistent position for Baptists. Our faith is founded upon the notion that there should be religious freedom for all people and that the separation of church and state is a biblical principle supported by Jesus. When he taught his followers to “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s,” he established a wall that we should understand and respect.

Our Baptist forbearers understood this. As Baptists they were frequently the recipients of unfair treatment of a church-dominated state, both in the old world an in the fledgling American colonies. That is why Baptists like John Leland are so important. He demanded an absolute separation of religion and government. Leland argued to men like James Madison who framed the U.S. Constitution:

Government should protect every man in thinking and speaking freely, and see that one does not abuse another. The liberty I contend for is more than toleration. The very idea of toleration is despicable; it supposes that some have a pre-eminence above the rest to grant indulgence, whereas all should be equally free, Jews, Turks (Muslims), Pagans and Christians.

I mention John Leland intentionally because he would be mortified to learn that the award that bears his name has just been awarded by the Southern Baptist’s Ethics and Religious Commission to Alan Sears. Alan Sears who heads up the Alliance Defense Fund has actually advocated the removal of a wall of separation between church and government. He has said, “One by one more and more bricks that make up the artificial 'wall of separation' between church and state are being removed, and Christians are once again being allowed to exercise their constitutional right to equal access to public facilities and funding.” Surely John Leland would be turning in his grave, where inscribed upon the tombstone it says:

Here lies the body of John Leland, 1754-1841, who labored sixty-seven years to promote piety and vindicate the civil and religious rights of men.

Perhaps such Baptist capitulation to the demagoguery much in vogue these days inspired the political candidate who recently proclaimed that the idea of church and state separation did not come from Thomas Jefferson in his letter to the Danbury Baptists, but from Adolph Hitler. Glen Urquhart (candidate for House of Representatives from Delaware) addressed a crowd of supporters when he made this startling announcement:

Do you know, where does this phrase “separation of church and state” come from? It was not in Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists. …The exact phrase “separation of Church and State” came out of Adolf Hitler's mouth, that's where it comes from. So the next time your liberal friends talk about the separation of Church and State, ask them why they're Nazis.

Actually he is quite wrong. As James Evans points out:

Hitler was, in fact, a great promoter of the union of church and state. One of the main features of his consolidation of power in Germany in the early 1930s was the effort to nationalize the Christian church. And for the most part he was successful. Whether out of loyalty or fear, many if not most of the churches in Germany signed on to Hitler's vision as expressed through the Nazi Party.

The fact remains, however, that such irresponsible statements are made with increasing regularity and actually supported in essence by the very ones who should speak most clearly on religious liberty. As Free and Faithful Baptists, we will not succumb to the temptation to retreat from our founding values. Let us advocate for religious freedom for all. That means that no religion is favored by the state. God’s church does not need the state to interfere or to assist in her mission. All real Baptists know this.

Chuck McGathy is the pastor of First Baptist Church of Madison, NC. This article originally appeared in their October church newsletter.

Bullying: An Unacceptable Reality

2010-10-26T09:02:00.007-04:00

Last week, a study published from Clemson University showed that one in six school children have experienced bullying. Many respondents felt that teachers had done little or nothing to stop it. The study also showed that as children get older, they are more inclined to engage in bullying. In the wake of the teen suicides of Tyler Clementi, Billy Lucas, Seth Walsh, Asher Brown, and others because of anti-gay bullying, I think it is important to reflect on what our children might be subjected to in our schools and become part of the solution.

In the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, teens have started a chapter of the Interfaith Youth Core and chose bullying months ago as the single issue on which they wanted to act. Many of these children told their stories at a C.H.A.N.G.E. assembly in April comprised of 54 faith communities and neighborhood associations. I was shocked by what these children had experienced. One Jewish girl told a story about swastikas being drawn on her desk and money being thrown at her feet, and a Jewish boy said a group of guys asked him why he was at “their school,” saying, “I thought you all died during the Holocaust.” A Muslim boy told a story about being called a “terror baby,” while a Catholic boy shared that he and his friends were called “gay” during the accusations of sexual misconduct among some priests. One Latino Christian described his fear of succeeding in class, saying that the gangs would bully him for being a nerd if they knew how smart he was. From sexual harassment to racial discrimination, it was truly heart wrenching to hear the stories of our youth. In a group of Muslim, Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and Unitarian youth, every single child had, at the very least, witnessed some form of bullying or discrimination in their school.

According to a report compiled by the US Department of Justice from worldwide studies, Australian researchers discovered that children who were victims of weekly bullying “experienced poorer health, more frequently contemplated suicide, and suffered from depression, social dysfunction, anxiety, and insomnia.” When they grew up, they had an increased likelihood of having children who would be subjected to bullying (pg 12). It’s a problem that has long-lasting effects.

So, what can and should we do? First, we need to become more educated about what our children face in their schools (check links below to start). Second, find out what you can do to stand with those who are bullied. To show immediate support, many celebrities, political figures, and regular folks like you and me have been making short videos and posting them to YouTube to say that “it gets better,” both as you get older and as time progresses and views change about gender, race, and sexuality. Parents can work to be more engaged in the schools, listening to their children and reading between the lines. Teachers can respond and stop the bullying when it starts. Churches and their members can mentor schools and students, and be safe havens for children and teens who are being bullied and contemplating suicide.

Each of us is a child of God, made in God’s image and deserving of love and respect. Gen 1:27-31 states, “God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them…God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good.” We can and should show our children that their lives are precious, and that their potential is great. Jesus tells us not to be “a stumbling block before one of these little ones” and to “become humble like this child” in order to be “the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (NRSV, Matthew 18). Let us commit to love, stand with, and speak out for these children in Jesus’ example. That these kids can’t see tomorrow for all the pain of today is a tragedy we shouldn’t be willing to let continue.

Additional Resources:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Bullying Initiative: http://www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/kids/

The National Center for Bullying Prevention: http://pacer.org/bullying/

Stomp Out Bullying: http://stompoutbullying.org/

Proof of Faith

2010-10-19T10:23:00.003-04:00

by Rev. Jack Darida

A recent poll demonstrates public confusion concerning President Barack Obama’s faith. President Obama consistently professes to be a Christian. However, poll numbers demonstrate a change in public perception. In 2009, 11 percent of the public believed the President was Muslim. This year that number increased to 18 percent. Why is this? Maybe it is because these people do not like his positions and refuse to embrace his Christian profession. The White House claims there is a concerted effort to distort the President’s faith. I choose not to get into the middle of this controversy. If the President professes faith in Christ, I take him at his word. Nevertheless, the confusion over President Obama’s faith brings up a significant question. If people who know you were polled, how many would question your Christianity?

How do you tell whether someone is a Christian? Jesus told His disciples that the world would know they were His followers by their love. Love is the quintessential mark of the Christian. If you are a loving person, your friends might recognize you as a Christian.

Another acid test for Christianity is your belief system. If you believe the Bible is the Word of God, and live your life according to its principles, your friends might recognize you as a Christian. True Christians are serious about living out their faith. Doctrine is not dry and meaningless. Doctrine comes alive through the life of the believer in Christ.

Followers of Christ also have a habit of talking about Him. Christian speech is salty, sometimes causing unbelievers to take notice. When you are in a loving relationship with someone who means everything to you, you can’t help but include him in your conversations.

What about the church? While attending church does not guarantee you are a believer in Christ, the committed believer in Christ will be committed to His body. A couple of years ago, the Barna research group discovered that over half of professing Christians in the United States do not attend church. Dan Kimball reflects this in the title of his book about a new generation of believers: “They Like Jesus but Not the Church.” In spite of the trend, it is important for believers in Jesus Christ to worship, fellowship, learn, grow, and experience life together. The majority of the New Testament applies to a community and loses its force when directed only to the individual. Observable Christians actively plug themselves in to Christ’s body, the church. Perhaps consistent video clips of President Obama leading his family to church for worship would lay any questions to rest.

Someone once asked the question, “If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” Christ-like love, living what you believe, salty speech, and a commitment to church togetherness would all stand up nicely in the court of public opinion.

Jack Darida is the pastor of Quaker Gap Baptist Church in King, NC. This article originally appeared in their church newsletter, The Messenger.

Baptimergent - A snapshot of a new century of faith

2010-10-12T09:36:00.004-04:00

Baptimergent: Baptist Stories from the Emergent Frontier is a compilation of essays published by Smyth and Helwys and edited by Zach Roberts. The 13 authors are a mix of new and established Baptist leaders who identify themselves as Emergent Baptists. These Baptists value a new way of practicing faith which has the following characteristics: reconciliation over ideological fighting; reclaiming ancient spiritual practices; a strong desire to follow Jesus in newer and deeper ways; a commitment to Baptist principles; and an open mind in following Jesus and encountering others.

The diversity of writing styles and perspectives among the essayists is refreshing. For those who want to delve into a more theological approach, Tripp Fuller encourages us to rethink our concept of power within Christianity in the opening essay, The Time Is Now, The Place Is Near. His piece reads like a deep theological work, mulled and mused over many a long night of discussions with friends, and ends with a call for the church to renew its commitment to the gospel and the hope found in God, identified as Abba by Christ.

For a great piece on the difference between Generation Y and The Greatest Generation, read Wanda Kidd’s Give Us Ears to Hear. The essay challenges us to “create opportunities for conversation across generational experiences for storytelling and name recognition.” She notes, “Community is a bankrupt concept if the exchanging of ideas, dreams, hopes, and promise is held only within one segment of the people” (62).

Those who want to learn more about ancient spiritual practices like lectio divina and walking the labyrinth will want to read Cathy Payne Anderson’s 21st Century Ancient Practices to discover how she integrates those elements into her life.

The piece that resonated most with me was Christina Whitehouse-Suggs’ Making Space at the Table. Her piece courageously recounts her navigation of complicated ministry situations outside the church and in diverse settings—which is familiar territory for many Generation X and Y ministers. Her triumphs and failures, which exude a conversational honesty, read like a guidebook for a new minister or Christian. She concludes that we must always err on the side of Christ-like grace and continue to make “space at the table” for all (87).

All the essays included in the book are well chosen and address some of the major problems or issues I see facing the church, our culture, and our faith in the coming century. A familiar theme for many of the authors seems to be growing up in a conservative Southern Baptist church and realizing at some point that the God of exclusion preached from the pulpit was at odds with the God of love they knew in their hearts or saw exhibited in the actions of another.

Based on my own similar experience and that of many others in my generation, I believe this book will resonate with many who are devoted to the Baptist principles of the priesthood of all believers, church autonomy, religious freedom, and the centrality of Scripture. As Tim Conder notes in the closing, these same Baptists are seeking new ways to practice their faith relationally against the individualism, consumerism, and nationalism that can plague our culture. And for those who are firmly rooted in the traditional Baptist liturgy and practices of the last century, this book would be a great resource to begin dialogue with other generations and encourage the true listening community. As Wanda Kidd states, “We are called to hear and respond to those who surround us, and it is a mighty calling” (67). Amen.

Baptimergent: Baptist Stories from the Emergent Frontier is available from Smyth and Helwys Press. For more information, visit their website: http://www.helwys.com/books/baptimergent.html

Lesson from a Tree

2010-10-05T12:26:00.004-04:00

by Dr. Roger Gilbert

Last night, our grandchildren, Jessie and Jacob, spent the night with us. Bedtime is a story time, so I told them to each pick out a book and I would read to them. Jessie, who is eight, said she wanted to do the reading from her book. So, while I read to Jacob, Jessie read to Deidra.

The book Jacob chose is a long-time favorite, The Giving Tree. It is the story of a boy and a tree. When the boy was little, he loved to climb the tree, swing on the branches, and eat the apples. Both the boy and the tree were happy. But, as the boy grew up, he had other interests. He wanted money. That, he said, would make him happy. So, the tree suggested he pick the apples and sell them so he would have money. The story states that when the tree gave the apples, "The tree was happy."

Some time later, the boy, now a young adult, came back. The tree was delighted, but the boy was not interested in climbing or swinging. He wanted to build a house. The tree gave him her limbs so that the boy would be happy. But, again, the story says that when the tree gave the limbs, "The tree was happy."

A long time went by before the boy came back again. This time, the boy, now obviously a middle aged man, wanted to build a boat so he could sail away. The tree told him that he could cut down its trunk, make a boat, and sail away to be happy. So, the boy cut down the trunk of the tree, made a boat, and sailed away. The story says, "The tree was happy. But not really."

The next time the boy came back, he is obviously a very old, tired man. The tree is sad that she has nothing else to give. Perhaps that is why the giving of the trunk left her not really happy. The boy, now an old man, states that he is too old and tired to do much of anything. He just needs a place to sit down. Suddenly, the tree has an idea. She straightens up as best a stump can straighten. A stump makes a good place to sit. So, the boy, now the old man, sits down. The story ends, "And the tree was happy."

The message of the children’s book is profoundly true. Over and over again it is the giving tree that is happy. In the first part of the story when both the boy and the tree are enjoying their mutual give and take, they both are happy. But after that period, not once does it say that the boy is happy. It is always, "And the tree was happy."

Ben Gill in his book, The Joy of Giving, says in the opening paragraph:

"My life has been spent helping people to learn the gift of giving. After twenty-five years in this pursuit, I come now to tell you that one fact has become increasingly clear: the happiest people on earth are the people who have learned the joy of giving."

Much of our world is obsessed with the pursuit of temporary happiness, missing the basic truth that genuine, lasting joy is the product of giving, not getting. Giving is not limited to contributions of money, but rather is a lifestyle that encompasses one’s whole personality. It is a lifestyle perfectly exemplified in Jesus Christ. It is the product of the Spirit of Christ functioning as the Lord within us.

May the grace of Christ produce the joy of Christ within each of us.

Roger Gilbert is the pastor of First Baptist Church, Mount Airy, NC. This article originally appeared in their church newsletter, "The Announcer."

Answering the Door

2010-09-27T14:34:00.003-04:00

A couple of months ago, I wrote an article entitled “The Power of Persistence,” which I cut from a sermon I delivered recently. The whole point of the entry was for Christians to encourage themselves to live out an active prayer, answering the door when our neighbors knocked and were in need. Somehow, I’ve always found that my sermons have a way of challenging me either when I’m writing them or in the weeks after, but I’ve never faced a more direct challenge that I did a few weeks ago.

It was a late Saturday night, and my husband and I were exasperated with some home projects that including putting up a very complicated ceiling fan and light fixture. It was now 11:45pm, and we’d been at it for a few hours. Parts of all shapes and sizes were strewn about our dining room table with confusing directions to piece it all together. All of a sudden, the doorbell rang. We hesitated for a second, wondering if we should answer the door. It was late, the streets were deserted, and we were tired. After a few more seconds, Ryan and I went down the steps and opened the door to a man who looked both tired and upset. “Do you have a problem with black people?” he asked. My husband, a community organizer, answered no and said, “What do you need?” He continued by talking about his experiences with some local non-profits that had treated him very poorly and refused him services. Before long, he was sitting on our step, pouring his heart out about how badly people treat him on a daily basis. He had asked for a little bus money somewhere in the conversation, which we gave him (we don’t usually do this—we’d rather direct people to services or give food), but he still stayed, telling his story.

Pastoral listening ensued and my tiredness and fear of answering the door at night abated. As children, we are taught to fear strangers and not answer the door, which is healthy and appropriate to some degree. For some reason, that fearing of the stranger seems to be hard to let go in our adult life, and can keep us from embracing fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

After about a half hour of discussion, we encouraged him to visit a local church that had a good homeless ministry. He nodded approvingly, and said he wanted to be around people that would treat him as an equal and not look down upon him because of racial or economic prejudice. He walked off toward the bus station, but his impact stayed with me. I turned to Ryan and said, “We both wondered whether or not to answer the door, and I just preached on this a few Sundays ago!” Ryan responded that my sermon was the first thing he had thought of when the door rang, and that’s why he’d answered it.

I don’t say this to pat myself on the back. On the contrary, I am humbled and alarmed at how close any of us are to turning our backs on others simply because we are tired. At any point in our lives, we can find ourselves playing the various roles portrayed in Jesus’ parables. Though we might try to be that Good Samaritan, we might find ourselves playing the role of the priest passing by the wounded man on the road. This was a helpful lesson in humility to me to practice what I preach!

Facing Life's Challenges: Thoughts from Inside the MRI Machine

2010-09-20T14:39:00.006-04:00

by Rev. Jayne Davis

All I could think about as I entered the tube of the stark white MRI machine was Toy Story 3 - Woody, Buzz Light Year, the Potato Heads – all grasping for metal objects so they would be sucked up by the powerful magnet and avoid the fiery furnace at the city dump. I was certain the myriad of fillings in my mouth would be ripped right from my teeth by the pull of the “strong magnetic field” that the ‘Caution’ poster in the dressing room warned me about. My morning had been frustrating enough already. I really didn’t need this kind of stress.

The MRI was for my shoulder – nothing life threatening. Just some eye watering pain when I reach too far into the refrigerator. I’ve put all of the high fat foods way in the back in a Pavlovian effort to train myself not to want them. It’s amazing how much pain a person can bear.

I didn’t want to be in the doctor’s office or dealing with my shoulder. Life’s challenges are always an interruption to the way we’d like things to be. Sometimes they’re an annoyance. Sometimes they shake the very foundation of our world. However serious, however sudden, however uncertain… some thoughts from inside the MRI machine may help you as you face the challenges in your life.

1. Don’t let the chaos drown out the music.

The technician gave me a pair of headphones and my choice of music stations – [80’s] - to drown out the loud noise of the machine. Between the screeching of what sounded like dental drills and the pounding of my heart in my chest, I had to strain at times to hear Twisted Sister on the radio.

In the midst of it all, there is music still playing in your world. Listen for it.

2. Open your eyes along the way – even when it’s scary.

Life is fascinating. There’s always something interesting to be seen, maybe even something inspiring. When I finally got up the courage to open my eyes during the MRI, I was amazed by … nothing. There’s nothing visible going on inside the tube. Smooth white walls. No zig-zaggy neon radio waves flashing across my body. Just like God at work in my life, so much was happening that I couldn’t see, but had to trust to be so.

This season of struggle is not an intermission until your real life begins again. This is the journey. Open your eyes. Live it.

3. Don’t over think it.

If I’d known ahead of time they were spinning the protons on my hydrogen molecules, I’d have been itchy the whole time. And dizzy, as they altered my magnetic field. If you have a renegade imagination, don’t allow it to dwell on the fact that the MRI machine looks like a giant blood pressure cuff that you’re precariously smack in the middle of.

We cannot control what thoughts come in to our minds, but God does give us the power to choose which ones we allow to take up residence there. Choose wisely.

4. Be grateful for the small things.

Sometimes God’s grace takes the form of a pillow under your knees, the kindness of a technician, the chance to close your eyes and rest in the middle of a Monday.
Notice these small graces and you recognize what abundant life feels like.

5. Take the blanket.

It’s cold in there. You’ll need it, even if you think you don’t need anything.

People want to help. Let them.

6. Focus on the important things.

Nothing culls down a prayer list like being strapped to a table to keep you from moving. God’s peace and presence. Family. Trust. The essentials.

Now is not the time to be carrying unnecessary baggage. Give it to God. He’ll dispose of it for you. If it’s really important, he’ll give it back to you when you’re ready.

7. Wiggle your toes every now and then.

Sometimes life’s challenges can keep you stuck in one position for a long time.

Wiggle your toes and remind yourself that you’re still there. Whatever helps you to feel alive… and keep your legs from going numb. You'll smile... and probably catch the technician off guard.

8. Sometimes you have to be still until it’s over.

We can’t fix everything. We can’t control everything. Sometimes we have to ride it out and trust that Jesus will guide us safely to shore.

“Be still and know that I am God."

Jayne Davis is the Minister of Spiritual Formation at First Baptist Church of Wilmington, and this article originally appeared in her blog.

"This Is What a Preacher Looks Like" - A Review

2010-09-14T10:17:00.005-04:00

This is What a Preacher Looks Like: Sermons by Baptist Women in Ministry is a wonderful compilation of sermons from amazing female ministers. The book, published by Smyth and Helwys and edited by Pamela R. Durso, is divided into two sections. The first section, entitled “Sermons by Baptist Women at Historic Moments in Baptist Life” has homilies by noted women who gave courageous sermons during crucial moments in our Baptist history. Nancy Hastings Sehested’s sermon, “We Have This Treasure,” was delivered in 1983 at the first meeting of Baptist Women in Ministry. She likens the path of women in that moment to the Israelites being freed from Egypt, and needing the faith, fortitude, and courage to keep moving forward.

The most compelling sermon in the first section, however, is a sermon that was never given. F. Sue Fitzgerald was an alternate to give a sermon at the 1996 Baptist State Convention, entitled “The Kingdom of God Is Among You.” The elected male preacher, while having many personal difficulties, attended the convention and gave his sermon instead, leaving this inspiring homily to remain unpreached. Fitzgerald implores us to hear that the Kingdom of God is among us, rather than inside us, which encourages hard communal work over the individualism of personal spirituality so indicative of American culture. She attempts to heal the wounds of the time by encouraging listeners to acknowledge their pain and choose the love and power of God over “the power rooted in our desire to make something happen a certain way” (23). Her healing way with words, charming personal anecdotes, and deep rooted wisdom leave the reader sad that sermon was not preached.

The second section, entitled, “Sermons by Women from Beginning to End” contain sermons preached by women from texts throughout the Bible. Humorous, powerful, and challenging, these sermons demand the reader’s attention. Amber Inascore Essick’s text from Genesis 18 calls us to make time for strangers and make room for hospitality, despite our fears and of vulnerability. Essick states, “To open ourselves to the other is scary and risky. But it just might hold redemption and life for us” (37). Amy Butler delivers her Exodus 14-15 sermon as Moses’ sister, making the message of God’s eternal presence all the more realistic and meaningful. Isabel N. Docampo connects the Luke passage of the hemorrhaging women, oppressed by societal views on cleanliness, to her chronic illness and the treatment of minority women in society in “Women: Beloved, Brave, Bridge Builder.” She encourages listeners to tell their faith story, which will build bridges to peace and progress. Molly Marshall pushes us to proclaim truth, faith, and freedom from fear in a post-9/11, MTV generation world in “Living in Our Own Time…Wisely,” as she weaves together texts from Chronicles and Matthew. Lisa Thompson encourages us to participate in God’s redemptive story in, “Yes, God,” grounded in Isaiah 6:1-13. Bonnie Oliver Brandon shares the good news of “A Homeless Jesus," preaching from Matthew 8. The good news keeps on coming with sermons from Pamela R. Durso, Andrea Dellinger Jones, Suzii Paynter, Julie Merritt Lee, Joy Yee, and others.

From beginning to end, this book brought me on a journey through the faith and strength of these ministers. My only wish was that this work was published years ago before I ever went to seminary (I’d never heard a women preach before my years at Wake Forest University School of Divinity), so that I could be more confident in my path. I hope that many of you will get to enjoy this fine book, and that our notions of what a preacher looks like are continually expanded. In my lifetime, I have found that God has no limits for who God can use to bring a message of salvation, renewal, and announcement of the kingdom of God, if we are willing to have faith and listen.

A Reflection on Immigration

2010-09-07T10:17:00.005-04:00

A few weeks ago, a heated political issue took on a very real human face for my co-workers and me when one of the pastors in the CBFNC Hispanic Network of churches was arrested. Rev. Hector Villanueva was arrested at his home on the morning of Thursday, August 19, simply because he applied to become a citizen. Though he has had a green card and a social security number for decades, he once served time for trying to cash a bad check when he was homeless in California 15 years ago. Because of an inane law in US immigration policy, anyone who isn’t a US citizen can be deported if they have been convicted of a felony, regardless of whether or not they have paid for their crime.

Shortly after his arrest in California, Hector became a Christian and worked hard to share his love and ministry with others. He moved to North Carolina, married a US citizen, had four children, and is currently in the process of adopting two more. Hector started churches with the help of Rev. Javier Benitez, CBFNC’s Hispanic Leader Coach, and exhibited love for his neighbors. My co-workers and I have written character reference letters to encourage the judge to grant a petition for bond, which he did last week. Hector will now await his trial at home with his family, but I think we all still feel relatively helpless against such a confusing, overwhelming immigration system. Hector’s wife, Martha, has remained a rock to her children throughout these weeks, and I’m always amazed by her strength and composure when we speak.

One night after speaking with Martha, it occurred to me the level of privilege I have. In high school and college, I had friends get arrested for possession of drugs, driving drunk, failing subsequent drug tests and still not serve any time. Moreover, they had it expunged from their records. We see “stars” like Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton, Mel Gibson and others get slaps on the wrist for repeated crimes and misdemeanors. I find it difficult to understand why there is a law stating that any non-citizen who serves time for a crime, even though they have paid their dues, can be deported years later when they have clearly been bettering society for years through their actions.

Perhaps it is time for lawmakers to stop worrying about poll numbers, reelection, and belittling their opponents and come together to work for truly important policy like immigration reform. I think the only reason immigration reform is a divisive issue is that politicians have chosen to make it a wedge issue. There are many aspects of immigration policy that both sides agree are bad, but politicians are so busy spinning the truth that they won’t sit down to address actual problems.

Let’s ask our politicians to come to the table and do what we elected them to do—solve problems. I would much rather see Republicans and Democrats sitting down to discuss the issue, having respectful agreements and disagreements, than waste Americans’ time hurling insults at one another. Frankly, we have a lot of work to do to see the Kingdom of God flourish, and I’m tired of excuses--especially when one of our ministers recently sat in jail and still faces deportation because of our government’s unwillingness to cooperate in a bi-partisan manner.

So, I would ask you to get to know Hispanics in your area and exhibit the love of Christ to those who are treated like the “least of these” (Matthew 25:40). Learn more about how police and immigration officials operate in your area. What is your church doing to reach out to Hispanics? What are the concerns of Hispanics in your area, and what can you do to help? May our hearts and minds always remain open to fulfill Jesus’ summation of the law that we should love God and love our neighbors.

Further resources:

Bible study curriculum on immigration by Interfaith Worker Justice and compiled by the NC Council of Churches: http://www.imym.org/immigrationintervisitationproject/imymintervisitationimmigration/foryouwereonceastranger/view

Article on the browning of America by Tom Ehrich, Episcopal minister: http://www.biblicalrecorder.org/post/Time-for-a-little-honesty.aspx

Build the Mosque, Build Good Will

2010-08-31T11:06:00.002-04:00

by Dr. Tony Cartledge

The proposed construction of a mosque two blocks from Ground Zero has reached "scorching" on the hot-button scale of controversy. Political conservatives almost uniformly oppose the mosque, arguing that it encroaches too closely onto the sacred soil where thousands of Americans were killed by Muslim extremists. More moderate and liberal folk, including President Obama, say the issue is a matter of religious freedom and point out that it was fanatical members of Al Qaida, not Muslims in general, who carried out the attacks.

Opponents of the planned mosque, people who often like to fly the flag of patriotism, are hurting their cause and their country with their ill-conceived opposition. I suggest several things to consider:

1. Violent extremist groups such as Al Qaida recruit true believers by convincing them that Americans hate Muslims. The rabid opposition some have shown to the mosque's construction plays into their hands and works to the extremists' favor.

2. Any number of violent, senseless, and terroristic acts have been undertaken in the name of Christianity. Untold thousands of Muslims (and people thought to look like Muslims) were killed during the Crusades, including women and children. The Ku Klux Klan, which brought a reign of terror to blacks in the American South, claimed to be Christian. Even domestic terrorists like Timothy McVeigh, who carried out the Oklahoma City bombing, were strongly influenced by supposedly Christian beliefs. Arguing that a mosque near Ground Zero is an offense to the "hallowed ground" where the attacks took place, if followed to its logical conclusion, suggests that churches located near places where Christian-related acts of violence were committed should be torn down. That would include all the majestic churches built by the Crusaders to symbolize Christianity conquering the Muslim world.

3. Have you been to the neighborhood near Ground Zero lately? If anything, a new mosque would be an improvement over the bars, strip clubs, and porn shops that now populate the area. Do those honor the dead?

4. America is indeed built on a foundation of religious freedom. If the people who want to build the mosque own the land and meet the local zoning requirements and building codes, they have the right to build a mosque, or a temple, or a synagogue, or a church -- and denying that right is just wrong.

Tony Cartledge is the contributing editor for Baptists Today, and also teaches Old Testament at Campbell University Divinity School. This post originally appeared on his blog at http://www.tonycartledge.com/.

Live Simply That Others May Simply Live!

2010-08-23T10:06:00.005-04:00

by Dr. Dennis Herman

It’s tomato season again. This year I have again fought drought and deer to have a few tomatoes to harvest. My tomato plants are, again this year, in my front yard. It’s the only sunny spot in my yard and I am convinced that it is more important that I grow some food, no matter what the neighbor’s say about “Dr. Herman’s front yard, overgrown veggie patch.”

Why fill the yard with vegetables rather than petunias? For one, I want to remember where my food comes from. And I want all the kids on my street to see that food actually grows on plants and just doesn’t “appear” in the produce department. I am hopeful that the kids on my street (unlike the young clerk at the supermarket where I shop) will someday know the difference between a tomato and a turnip.

I am defying my professional yard “fertilizers” and going to a natural lawn care service. I am attempting to eat less meat because the way our meats are raised and processed tend to, well, turn my stomach. I don’t like the fact that poultry cannot breathe or even walk where they are raised, or that beef is injected with any number of hormones and antibiotics, or pork is...well, you get the picture.

No, I’m not a rabid animal “rights” person, or a tree-hugging environmentalist, or a fanatic about every health fad that comes along. But I am seriously trying to understand “Christian stewardship” as being about more than giving to the Church. It’s about how we treat our earth, our animals, our humans, and our food and water sources.

I believe some resources of our earth are limited and others, while limited, are replenishable. I believe there may just be enough food and resources for all of us if some of us don’t mess it up or use it up! And I believe that good stewardship calls me to live simply that others may live.

This is a counter-cultural idea and you may not agree. But if you can’t get any tomatoes or basil, come by my house. I don’t mind sharing.

Dennis Herman is the senior Pastor of Greystone Baptist Church in Raleigh, NC. He will be retiring next week. This article originally appeared in the church newsletter, Greystone Today.

God Is Present

2010-08-16T14:12:00.004-04:00

by Dr. Marion Aldridge

On Thursday, June 17, 2010, I was in a bad wreck. The people at the scene of the accident could not believe that I survived my car taking a direct hit from a logging truck. But, thankfully, I did. A week after the wreck, I have only one small scratch remaining. People told me how “lucky” I was. They mentioned that I had been protected by my guardian angel. “God is not finished with you yet,” was a frequent phrase. I don’t intend to argue with any of those sentiments.

My primary thought and emotion has been one of gratitude. As a pastor, I know how many dumb things people say after a tragedy. They may be well-meaning, but there is a lot of bad theology that surrounds heartbreaking disasters. Be careful with your words in times of crisis.

The two sentences that made the most sense to me are these:

• I say my Alleluias softly, and
• God is present.

I am happy to be alive. I am grateful that on July 3, 2010, I was able to walk my baby girl down the aisle and present her to the man who is now her husband and my son-in-law. All four of Julie’s grandparents are dead and my best friend, her second dad, passed away this past year. I am grateful that I was there for Julie and Tom, and not in a hospital room or in a grave! I am glad that I am still here to cuddle with Sally at night. I am thankful I can still take my other daughter and her husband and my grandson to a baseball game. More than ever, I appreciate peach cobblers, roses, jazz, waterfalls, and good books. I love my friends. I am grateful to be alive.

But I do say my Alleluias softly, because everyone who has been in a wreck did not survive and/or thrive. Many sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, mothers, dads and best friends have been seriously injured or even died in tragic accidents. I don’t think God loves me more or that my prayer life is better. Anything that credits my survival to my good works is probably bad theology.

As I was sharing this perspective with two friends at our recent Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly, I discovered that one of them, my seminary buddy Don Garner, had indeed lost a son in a car wreck about a decade ago. God loves and loved Don and his wife and their son as much as God loves me. Don told me that their “lesson” during their awful grief is that God is always present. God is present when I survive my wreck, and God is there when Don’s son did not survive his wreck. God is present.

Those are lessons enough for me.

Marion Aldridge is the Executive Coordinator of CBF of South Carolina, and has written several books and hundreds of articles for South Carolina Wildlife magazine, Tennis magazine, Church Administration and others. This article originally appeared in CBF South Carolina's magazine, Fellowship.

An Altar on the World - A Review

2010-08-10T10:45:00.002-04:00

An Altar on the World by Barbara Brown Taylor takes a meditative look at how we divide the sacred and the profane. Taylor encourages the reader to view the world as an altar, a place to encounter God, a temple without boundary. She encourages us to do so with frequent reminders of biblical passages – Jacob encountering the ladder out in the wilderness, Moses stopping on holy ground to speak to God in the form of a burning bush, and Jesus asking us to consider the lilies of the field. In a series of chapters about different practices or senses that should be awakened, the author hopes to show us that we have everything we need within us and around us for a fruitful spiritual journey with God.

Taylor’s spiritual practices might not be ones of which you’d readily think, but they show the depth of a person who has tried to find ways to dedicate her whole life to God. She cover practices like “Paying Attention”, “Getting Lost”, “Encountering Others”, “Living with Purpose”, and “Saying No.” Her chapter on encountering others is a prescription for people to overcome their differences by seeing God in each other. She quotes Jonathan Swift who said, “We have just enough religion to make us hate one another, but not enough to make use love one another” (99). As Christ’s followers, we must love both God and our neighbor, because we are all created in God’s image (105).

I resonated with her chapter on prayer, because she admits to feeling like a failure in this area. I have often felt like my way of praying is not how others pray—to stop and stare at the sky and marvel at creation, to become enraptured at watching a National Geographic special about another culture and be thankful for the diversity of God’s people, to be silent and still, or do some sort of action trying to live out the example of Jesus. I’m not a spontaneous pray-out-loud kind of person. To hear her feel like a misfit in this spiritual practice reaffirmed my calling, and reinforced to me that everyone has their own way to come before God. She states, “Prayer is more than my idea of prayer and…some of what I actually do in my life may constitute genuine prayer” (176). I love the idea of prayer being both contemplative and a way of life or actions we choose to take.

She ends the book with a chapter on blessings, encouraging everyone to take the time and opportunity to pronounce blessings on one another. Taylor encourages us to realize that everyone can do this, not just clergy or certain types of people. She points out that “pronouncing a blessing puts you as close to God as you can get,” because you “learn to look with compassion on everything that is” (206). Taylor encourages us to imagine a world where more people are eager to do this.

The strength of this book is the uniqueness of the spiritual practices she covers, which are readily accessible and encourages the reader to look for God in everything from gardens to dumpsters. This book is an inspiration to adopt a sense of mindfulness in the world and be ready to, as God told Moses, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground” (pg 66).

Church as a Healthy Community

2010-08-03T13:29:00.003-04:00

by Dr. Steve Bolton

The church, in spite of her ideals, has not always been a healthy environment. Too often personal politics, dysfunctional family and community dynamics, and failure to follow scriptural guidelines create dissension and division in the body of Christ. Parker Palmer wrote a book back in 1980 entitled, "Going Public," in which he outlined his vision of the ideal community and how it should function. It seems to me that when talking about any ideal community one has to consider the community of faith, the church, and her successful and not so successful efforts over the centuries to provide a people and a place where Christians from all walks of life can join and feel that they belong. Loren Mead (The Once and Future Church, The Alban Institute, p. 179ff) has suggested that Palmer's principle characteristics of an ideal community are relevant to any church, and in fact, may only be possible with the gifts which the Spirit of God has provided His people. See what you think. According to Palmer, in a healthy community:

1. Strangers meet on common ground. In a world where children are taught not to speak to strangers and people are suspicious of "new folk," Christians have a deeply seated tradition of practicing hospitality, welcoming new people, and making them feel wanted. Even more so, Christians are called to the kind of openness and friendliness that crosses social and cultural barriers to meet needs and engage people on behalf of the good news of Christ. Healthy congregations always resist their community paranoia and prejudices about others not "like us." They face up to their fears of the stranger and risk a relationship based on mutual faith in Christ and His Lordship.

2. Scarce resources are shared and abundance is generated. In a world where its every person for him or herself, where it seems the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, the healthy church is a generous and a giving fellowship. Everyone gives generously in proportion to their resources out of a heart of gratitude for what God has given and done for us in Jesus Christ. Giving and meeting needs for the common ministry and mission of Christ is a way of life for healthy churches. The generous church becomes a blessing to the world and such a church is blessed because of its members' open hands and open hearts.

3. Conflict occurs and is resolved. We all are aware that the public arena can be a seething cauldron of perpetual conflict. With different ideas, different ways, and different personalities conflict is inevitable whenever two or three are gathered together. Fighting seems to go on forever between persons, clans, races, and political opponents. Some fights are the knock down, drag out, and win-lose kind. Others become the seething, long-term grudge bearing types of broken relationships. The healthy congregation has learned, however to listen carefully and to treat each other with respect. They always try hard to communicate caring, and, with God's help, use their energies to seek and find forgiveness, working toward consensus and reconciliation rather than competition.

Steve Bolton is the pastor of Oxford Baptist Church in Oxford, NC. This article originally appeared in their church newsletter, "The Forecaster."

The Power of Persistence

2010-07-27T09:47:00.006-04:00

Most people think ministers have a solid prayer life. When I envisioned my call to divinity school, I couldn’t help but picture cloistered little monkish students squirreled away in their rooms or libraries juggling thick books on the history of the church, stopping their study every so often because they are overwhelmed with the urge to pray. Divinity school, as many of you know, is nothing like that. The image of monkish little cloisters was destroyed by the reality of theological arguments and all night study sessions fueled by copious amounts of coffee and cookies with the fear of failure hanging thick overhead. Many of my former classmates are now ministers, and I know we are just like most people--busy, running about, answering emails, talking on our smart phones, trying to figure out how to squeeze in a pastoral visit when we are also supposed to attend a committee meeting. Trying, like all of us, not to let anything slip through the cracks.

It’s hard to get all the chatter out of our heads when we pray. We are busy people, with spouses and children, work and deadlines, school and soccer practice, and all sorts of crazy and new-fangled types of social media like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, LinkedIn, and so on, with countless requests to join one more thing that will take up our time.

This past Lent, I tried to take 15 minutes a day and listen to a guided prayer meditation produced by Benedictine monks in England, but I kept missing days. Once I missed because of a CHANGE meeting where we discussed the creation of disaster response teams from churches, negotiating with banks to put foreclosed properties on the market, and pushing forward on education reform. Another day I missed because I was helping organize racial reconciliation and social justice workshops at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina General Assembly. One night I missed because I fell asleep early. I had dinner with friends visiting from out of town another time. Once, I went on a long walk and just forgot. I’m not very good at being still when I’m supposed to.

Jesus tells us in Luke 11:5-8, part of the lectionary text for this week, that we must be persistent in our prayer. He gives an example of someone who has unexpected company and goes next door to ask for food, but his neighbor won’t answer the door. Jesus encourages him in verse 8 to keep knocking, for, “even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.” This persistence passage tells me that prayer isn’t always a passive activity, but an active response to make something happen. Like the anecdote about the praying man who was drowning and passed up two ships and a helicopter because he thought God would save him and still died, we know we should use what God gives us to make change. The real blessing occurs when we do this not only for ourselves, but for the good of others. We know from many of Jesus’ parables that “other,” “neighbor” and “friend” stretch our mindset for our day-to-day frame of reference for church relationships (think of The Good Samaritan story in Luke 10, where Jesus gives a parable about a total stranger in need as an example of “neighbor”).

Everyone has talents and gifts through which he or she can persevere in a life lived as prayer. What gift, talent, or resource do you have to offer your community? I encourage you to pray about it, and then act on it persistently.

Let us challenge ourselves to always answer that knocking door, knowing that in doing so we are living into our calling as children of God, disciples of Christ, and agents of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Separate but Equal

2010-07-20T09:10:00.005-04:00

by. Rev. Darryl Aaron

Traveling abroad really does take one out of his or her comfort zone. Early on during my recent travel abroad it was clear that I was stepping into unfamiliar territory. The mission of the trip was titled, “Going into Hard Places: Trips That Make a Difference.” Actually, I welcome the opportunity to enter hard places. However, all too often some who enter hard places enthusiastically come away from these tough territories highlighting the differences between “them and us” and thereby increasing, rather than decreasing, the chasm between God’s people. Traveling to Moldova and Bucharest took me more than a few miles away from home, but the distance covered could not erase the eternal imprint which I made upon each different person that I met. Throughout our journey I encountered experience after experience that validates this truth.

When my traveling partners and I arrived at our destination, our host and his young son met us. Later on that evening at their house both miles and mores were linked by the simple act of a father shoving his kid in the right direction. Specifically, the dad asked the son to play the piano for us but the boy wasn’t interested; he didn’t like to play the piano even though he had excellent skills. After a little coaxing (and eye-balling) from his dad, the boy eventually did what all young kids do when parents have made positive investments into their lives. The reluctant adolescent slowly meandered over to the piano and artfully displayed his gifts through song after song. His music alleviated the fatigue which resulted from our long excursion and reminded us that God’s gifts in each of us sometimes need a little push. The dad of this young boy has done what parents all over the world have always been doing: sacrificing so that the rooms for their kids will always have high ceilings. The father’s persistent insistence reminds us of the wedding at Cana where Jesus’ mother had to ignore her son’s reluctance to exercise his gifts so that the guests could discover that joy was available and burdens could be lifted. Sometimes many years and many miles separate us, yet we still find ourselves on the same plane—separate but equal.

Various experiences in Bucharest and Moldova underscored the truth that we are separate but equal. These experiences ranged from discerning that pastors everywhere want to be successful at what they do, to realizing that ministry everywhere is ebb and flow, to understanding that marriages are both rewarding and regretful, to seeing that universally people really are trying to be good witnesses, even while stumbling and falling. However, there is one incident that provided the strongest impetus for my putting these thoughts on paper.

One morning we visited a college in Moldova where we met and worshiped with a group of students. During lunch the professors were discussing the students’ curriculum and the discussion proved to be lively and stimulating. Noting that there are more than 12 nationalities represented in the college, the professors shared how specific missionary methods were given to exclusive students for “hard places. “ The professors said that because many of the diverse cultural mores and folkways of their pupils do not overlap, students are separated into groups where individual needs can best be addressed. Hearing this, I immediately thought, “Separate but equal!” In fact, as soon as I heard this concept of separating students in an academic setting voiced, history erupted from a soft spot within me and spilled out of my mouth in these words, “To me this sounds like separate but equal.” Right away, all of the Americans at the table knew the connotations of my remark. Sadly, although I had lost my luggage and my claim check somewhere along the trip, I was still carrying some “baggage.”

The College is sending young Christian missionaries back into Islamic regions with a thorough knowledge of both Christianity and Islam, and yet I was afraid that their backpacks might also be filled with the old burdens of racism and prejudice. If there is ever going to be authentic reconciliation among people, then all walls must be torn down. Dilemmas and controversies are best resolved when we all sit at the table and reason together. Differences are more readily recognized and celebrated when partitions are eliminated. Miles and mores can easily separate us but we can never be equal unless we believe that each of us must learn from one another. I can never really love my neighbor unless I sit at his table and eat his food. The professors learned of the baggage inherent in “separate but equal” because we were at the table together. There we exchanged disappointments and dreams—we touched each other’s marks of Christ.

I am grateful for the chance to have gone to another hard place and to have had God reveal himself one more time in the hard and soft spots. It is my hope that all missional efforts provide opportunities for God’s people to come to the table to simultaneously acknowledge our separation and affirm our equality in the kingdom of God. Amen!

Rev. Darryl Aaron is the pastor of First Baptist Church East Winston on Highland Avenue in Winston-Salem, NC. He wrote this reflection after a trip to visit CBF field personnel in Bucharest and Moldova, led by Rob Nash of CBF National and Pat Anderson of CBF Florida. Rev. Aaron was also a featured preacher during Dr. Charles Bugg's "Preaching the Missional Journey" workshops at the 2010 CBF General Assembly in Charlotte.