Go Tell it On Hog Mountain . . .

Hog Mountain Baptist Church has decided to get a new name. Reading about the whole process of their decision-making made me think about our mission.

For 150 years the church has been know by that venerable name. It’s not the most unusual name I’ve seen for a church. There’s the Jesus Lives Here Methodist Church in Roan Mountain, Tennessee. And in Campbell, Alabama, you’ll find the Witch Creek Baptist Church. There’s the Happy Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, or the Welcome Home Baptist Church in Mount Airy, Georgia (Great Hills Baptist Church can loan them some of their bumper stickers). I’m a little curious about why some churches chose their names: Rising Daughter Church in Camden County, South Carolina, or the Hanging Dog Baptist Church in North Carolina.

Hog Mountain Baptist Church was simply named after its community of Hog Mountain, an area in eastern Gwinnett County, Georgia. According to the article, “It was a high place on the ridge of the Eastern Continental Divide, where, the story goes, men would stop overnight while herding hogs to market. White settlers were there before the War of 1812. The Hog Mountain community saw Gwinnett's first courthouse and jail.” For decades, business signs adorned with large porkers proudly proclaimed Hog Mountain this or that.

But in recent years, Gwinnett County has developed considerably, including an upscale golf community. More and more, the area is known as Hamilton Mill. Long-established businesses have dropped “Hog Mountain” from their names in favor of “Hamilton Mill” this or that.

But when members voted to change their 150-year-old church from Hog Mountain Baptist Church to Hamilton Mill Baptist Church, it wasn’t without controversy.

“I think it's a shame to change the name,” said 49-year-old Claudette Miller, who has been a member since she was 12.

That’s what 65-year-old Charles Warbington said, too. “All the old people around here, their hearts are broken. What’re they going to do with the historic marker? Change it?” Not that he’s a member there anymore. According to the article, he’s been in a megachurch up the road for years. But it’s been my experience that moving one’s membership doesn’t keep someone from opining about what their former church ought to be doing.

Even the Gwinnett Historical Society weighed in on the name change. They wrote to the deacons at Hog Mountain Baptist, asking them to reconsider. But the vote passed on December 10.

As I said, reading about the whole event got me to thinking about a church’s mission. I can feel for those long-time members who saw that dropping the name “Hog Mountain” from their church was an act of disloyalty to their community heritage. But I’m on the side of the majority of the members whose eyes were on the future, not the past. Fewer and fewer people moving into the community saw it as Hog Mountain anymore. To them, it was Hamilton Mill. Even most business owners recognized this, and changed the name of long-established businesses.

Ironically, by changing the name, the church was keeping the mission they had known for 150 years. For nearly two centuries, they have ministered to the community known by most residents as Hog Mountain. They’re still ministering to the same community: it’s just that now the community--and the church--is known as Hamilton Mill.

The whole debate in this little church revolved around whether to preserve the church as a museum of past memories or position the church as a mission outpost to the community that has grown up around it.

When I served as pastor of the 175-year-old First Baptist Church in Eastland, Texas, I enjoyed leading worship in their new worship center. Twelve years before my arrival, a visionary pastor had led them to demolish the 1920s-era building so that a new worship center could be built on the site. The architect directed that the Tiffany-style stained glass windows be carefully removed from the old structure and incorporated into the overall design of the new building.

Ten minutes away in a First Baptist Church of another town, the members got a historical marker for their sanctuary.

H-m-m: a historical marker for a building that could never be changed, or a new worship center incorporating the beautiful stained glass of the old building into the fresh design of a new building for a new generation. I think the Eastland church got the better deal.

Do you make you church decisions based upon what will preserve the church’s memories . . . or what will propel the church’s mission?

(This article was sent to all subscribers of LeaderLines, my weekly e-newsletter to ministry leaders. If you want to subscribe to LeaderLines, click here.)

Physician, Heal Thyself

Those of us who are ministry leaders must remember we’re not just spiritual physicians. We’re spiritual patients, too. We lead others up the discipleship H.I.L.L. while making that vigorous climb ourselves.

Sam Hassenbusch can tell you something about being both a physician and a patient. In the current edition of Texas Monthly, Jan Reid has an article on Hassenbusch called, “Physician, Heal Thyself.” As Reid describes him:

At 51, Sam was full of energy, and his career was peaking. He was a senior neurosurgeon at the University of Texas’s M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston, and an internationally renowned specialist in pain research and management. . . . His idea of recreation was to turn a three-mile commute in the snarl of Houston traffic into a fifty-mile cruise on his Victory Vegas motorcycle.

But when Sam couldn’t overcome his persistent headaches with Tylenol, he scheduled an MRI. It was when they found glioblastoma, a malignant brain tumor that is one of the most aggressive of all human cancers. Says Reid:

Sam had treated about 500 brain cancer patients in the course of his career, and he had performed more than 150 surgeries to remove glioblastoma tumors. Whenever he had to break the news to patients that they had the cancer, he’d try to be upbeat about chemotherapy protocols and ongoing research, but he knew that glioblastoma typically kills half its victims within 52 weeks. With no hint of a cure, little progress had been made in treating the disease. It was a bitter dose of irony for a brain surgeon at the most celebrated cancer hospital in the Southwest to realize that the very kind of tumor that had most defied his training and skill was now growing inside his skull.

He knew he had a three percent chance of five years’ survival. But he also knew that God would provide for him. Again, from the article:

After his diagnosis, it took Sam about three days to steady himself, to “land on my spiritual base,” as he put it. He was brought up in the Reform Judaism faith in Saint Joseph, Missouri, where he met Rhonda when they were in their teens. He was educated in Catholic school, and one night on a date she gave him a copy of the New Testament as a gift. At Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, where he went to undergraduate school and continued with his medical training, picking up a Ph.D. in pharmacology along the way, he became a devout Christian. Sam is a lay biblical scholar and a fundamentalist whose faith is Scripture based. . . . He was an elder of churches when he and Rhonda lived in Maryland and Ohio, and in Houston they had joined a congregation called the Four-Square Church. A large part of its appeal to him was that 20 or 30 percent of the members shared his passion for riding motorcycles.

“In both Judaism and Christianity,” he said, “there’s a Bible passage of great importance: Genesis 22. Abraham is going up Mount Moriah with his son Isaac, who’s saying, ‘Where’s the ram? I thought we were going to make a sacrifice.’ Abraham doesn’t want to tell Isaac he may have to be the one offered, and he says, ‘God will provide,’ ‘Jehovah-jireh’ in Hebrew. And God does. They find the ram stuck in some thorns.” In different ways, through different vessels, he chooses to believe God will provide for him.

The surgery went well, and within a week he was back at work and within two weeks he was back on his motorcycle. Reid says, After he’d gone through the rounds of radiation and initial chemotherapy, he decided that he would keep his head shaved. He thought it enhanced his look as a biker.

Sam has actually become a “lab rat” for a new postsurgical option that he himself proposed, combining a chemotheraphy drug called Temodar with an experimental vaccine. From the article: Conceivably, the experiment could shorten his life, but the research opportunity was almost unparalleled. In addition to giving him a chance to fight the disease, it would enable him to become a part of his own medical team, to inhabit the roles of both patient and doctor in the same case.

So far so good, he says: “This observation from my blood tests on my white cells raises a whole new way that Temodar could be used to treat patients and even crosses over to a possible breakthrough in the treatment of patients with other kinds of tumors. Such is the fun of undergoing double-whammy treatment for the first time in humans with brain cancer.”

As a ministry leader, never forget that you will always be a spiritual patient as well as a spiritual physician. We never get to the point where we won’t have our own issues to deal with, our own knots to untangle, and our own dragons to slay. Even as we see after the soul health of those we lead, we have to see after our own soul, too.

This mentality has a number of benefits. For one, it keeps us from falling into the traps that have caught so many leaders who teach the Word but fail to rigorously monitor their own flaws. Also, openness about the fact that we’re still getting “treatment” from the Great Physician ourselves makes us more effective with those we lead. Someone said that we may be able to impress people from afar, but we’ll only influence people up close. And the only way we can get close with people is to be honest with them about who we really are.

“Praise be . . . to the God of all comfort,” Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”

(This article was sent to all subscribers of LeaderLines, my weekly e-newsletter to ministry leaders. If you want to subscribe to LeaderLines, click here.)

Recommended Film: "Merry Christmas" (Joyeux Noel)

Have you seen “Merry Christmas” (Joyeux Noel). It was nominated for a 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. If you don't like the audio/video quality of the trailer above, you can see a clearer version here.

It's inspired by the true story from the First World War, when something fascinating took place on Christmas Eve 1914. As Ravi Zacharias tells it:

In the midst of an uneasy silence of the guns at night, suddenly a lone voice began to sing a Christmas carol. Irresistibly, another voice joined in, and before one knew it, there was a wave of music because of Bethlehem, cascading across enemy lines, as both sides joined in reading the same script. The story of the babe in a manger, the Prince of Peace, was able to bring communion between warring factions, even for a few hours. This is how a songwriter tells that story. Unfortunately, I can quote only a few stanzas here:

Oh, my name is Francis Tolliver,
I come from Liverpool.
Two years ago the war was waiting
For me after school,
From Belgium and to Flanders,
Germany to here,
I fought for King and country I love dear.

'Twas Christmas in the trenches
And the frost so bitter hung,
The frozen fields of France were still,
No sounds of peace were sung.
Our families back in England
Were toasting us that day,
Their brave and glorious lads so far away

I was lying with me mess-mates
On the cold and rocky ground,
When across the lines of battle came
A most peculiar sound.
Says I, "Now listen up, me boys,"
Each soldier strained to hear
As one young German voice rang out so clear.

"He's singing very well, you know,"
My partner says to me.
Soon one by one each German voice
joined in the harmony.
The canons rested silent
And the gas cloud rolled no more,
As Christmas brought us respite from the war.

As soon as they were finished
And a reverent pause was spent,
"God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"
Struck up some lads from Kent.
The next they sang was "Stille Nacht,"
"Tis 'Silent Night,' " says I,
And in two tongues one song filled up the sky.

The film is PG-13 for what the MPAA calls "some war violence and a brief scene of sexuality/nudity." So, keep that in mind. But good film-making here, and a worthwhile story. If you've seen it, or if you decide to, tell me what you think.

Parody of Mac/PC Commercials

Clever clip. And there are a couple of others from the same creator here.

What To Watch on the Web

If there's nothing good on TV and you're between novels, there's a growing collection of good material on the internet.

For example, go here to view musicians and speakers at Baylor University chapel services. Enjoy outstanding Christian musicians such as David Crowder Band, Steven Curtis Chapman, Robbie Seay Band, Shaun Groves, and others. Also, check out Christian speakers, including Anne Graham Lotz, theologian N.T. Wright, psychiatrist Armand Nicholi, New Testament scholar Ben Witherington III, Ragamuffin author Brennan Manning, popular speaker Neal Jeffrey, and others.

Also, Os Guinness at his elegant best at KU here. You'll find Dr. Guinness among a list of speakers from KU’s “Difficult Dialogues” series. Soon to be posted: Michael Behe, biochemist who’s become a major spokesman for the theory of intelligent design.

On YouTube, you can watch Craig Blomberg. In this video Blomberg assesses the past and present scholarly trends in the search for the historical person of Jesus. This is part 1 of 6. You can find the remaining 5 videos on the YouTube page.

Also, you can watch William Craig Lane. In this video he discusses the origin of the belief in Jesus as the resurrected Son of God.

The Virgin Birth and Christian Faith

“Must one believe in the Virgin Birth to be a Christian? This is not a hard question to answer. It is conceivable that someone might come to Christ and trust Christ as Savior without yet learning that the Bible teaches that Jesus was born of a virgin. A new believer is not yet aware of the full structure of Christian truth. The real question is this: Can a Christian, once aware of the Bible's teaching, reject the Virgin Birth? The answer must be no.”

Read more of Albert Mohler's comments here. Albert Mohler is President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Poems VI: “Totally like whatever, you know?”

Okay, one more and I'm done: Taylor Mali's “Totally like whatever, you know?.” You really need to hear him recite it himself--

In case you hadn't noticed,
it has somehow become uncool
to sound like you know what you're talking about?
Or believe strongly in what you're saying?
Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)'s
have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences?
Even when those sentences aren't, like, questions? You know?

Declarative sentences – so-called
because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true
as opposed to other things which were, like, not –
have been infected by a totally hip
and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know?
Like, don't think I'm uncool just because I've noticed this;
this is just like the word on the street, you know?
It's like what I've heard?
I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay?
I'm just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?

What has happened to our conviction?
Where are the limbs out on which we once walked?
Have they been, like, chopped down
with the rest of the rain forest?
Or do we have, like, nothing to say?
Has society become so, like, totally . . .
I mean absolutely . . . You know?
That we've just gotten to the point where it's just, like . . .
whatever!

And so actually our disarticulation . . . ness
is just a clever sort of . . . thing
to disguise the fact that we've become
the most aggressively inarticulate generation
to come along since . . .
you know, a long, long time ago!

I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you,
I challenge you: To speak with conviction.
To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks
the determination with which you believe it.
Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY.
You have to speak with it, too.

Poems V: Believe in Poetry, Not Poets

What the poet Octavio Paz said about poetry could just as easily be said about preaching:

"I have a great belief in poetry, but not in poets. Poets are the transmitter, the conduits. They are no better than other people. Poets are vain - we have many defects. We must realize that we are human beings, and be humble. Poetry is very important, but poets are not."

In The Language of Life Bill Moyers says "Octavio Paz--poet, essayist, critic, editor, journalist, and translator--became the first Mexican to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature (1990). A man of conscience, Paz resigned as Mexico's ambassador to India in 1968 to protest his government's massacre of student demonstrators in Mexico City. He has taught at universities around the world and resides today in Mexico City."

Poems IV: "Famous"

Here's one from Naomi Shihab Nye, "Famous"--

The river is famous to the fish.

The loud voice is famous to silence,
which knew it would inherit the earth
before anybody said so.

The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds
watching him from the birdhouse.

The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.

The idea you carry close to your bosom
is famous to your bosom.

The boot is famous to the earth,
more famous than the dress shoe,
which is famous only to floors.

The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it
and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.

I want to be famous to shuffling men
who smile while crossing streets,
sticky children in grocery lines,
famous as the one who smiled back.

I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,
or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,
but because it never forgot what it could do.

Poems III: "Early in the Morning"

Here's another favorite called "Early in the Morning," by Li-Young Lee . . .

While the long grain is softening
in the water, gurgling
over a low stove flame, before
the salted Winter Vegetable is sliced
for breakfast, before the birds,
my mother glides an ivory comb
through her hair, heavy
and black as calligrapher's ink.

She sits at the foot of the bed.
My father watches, listens for
the music of comb
against hair.

My mother combs,
pulls her hair back
tight, rolls it
around two fingers, pins it
in a bun to the back of her head.
For half a hundred years she has done this.
My father likes to see it like this.
He says it is kempt.

But I know
it is because of the way
my mother's hair falls
when he pulls the pins out.
Easily, like the curtains
when they untie them in the evening.

In The Language of Life, Bill Moyers provides this brief bio: "Li-Young Lee was born in Djakarta, Indonesia, to exiled Chinese parents. His grandfather was the first president of the Republic of China, his mother was member of the Chinese royal family, and his father was once personal physician to Mao Tse-tsung. Fleeing persecution in Indonesia, the family wandered through Southeast Asia for five years before arriving in the United States, where his scholarly father became pastor of a small Presbyterian church."

Poems II: "Problems with Hurricanes"

Another favorite poem: "Problems with Hurricanes," by Victor Hernandez Cruz--

A campesino looked at the air
And told me:
With hurricanes it's not the wind
or the noise or the water.
I'll tell you he said:
it's the mangoes, avocados
Green plantains and bananas
flying into town like projectiles.

How would your family
feel if they had to tell
The generations that you
got killed by a flying
Banana.

Death by drowning has honor
If the wind picked you up
and slammed you
Against a mountain boulder
This would not carry shame
But
to suffer a mango smashing
Your skull
or a plantain hitting your
Temple at 70 miles per hour
is the ultimate disgrace.

The campesino takes off his hat--
As a sign of respect
towards the fury of the wind
And says:
Don't worry about the noise
Don't worry about the water
Don't worry about the wind--

If you are going out
beware of mangoes
And all such beautiful
sweet things.

Poems I: Otherwise

Posting that poem by Garrison Keillor got me to thinking about other poems I've collected over the years. Here's Jane Kenyon's "Otherwise"--

I got out of bed
on two strong legs.
It might have been
otherwise. I ate
cereal, sweet
milk, ripe, flawless
peach. It might
have been otherwise.
I took the dog uphill
to the birch wood.
All morning I did
the work I love.

At noon I lay down
with my mate. It might
have been otherwise.
We ate dinner together
at a table with silver
candlesticks. It might
have been otherwise.
I slept in a bed
in a room with paintings
on the walls, and
planned another day
just like this day.
But one day, I know,
it will be otherwise.

"His Mountains All Uncrossed"

Why do these lines from a Garrison Keillor poem always choke me up? This is from his 1987 book, Leaving Home:

Our people aimed for Oregon
When they left Newburyport
Great-grandma Ruth, her husband John,
But they pulled up in Wobegon,
Two thousand miles short.

It wasn't only the dangers ahead
That stopped the pioneer.
My great-grandmother simply said,
"It's been three weeks without a bed.
I'm tired. Let's stay here."

He put the horses out to graze
While she set up the tent,
And they sat down beside their blaze
And held each other's hand and gazed
Up at the firmament.

"John," she said, "what's on your mind
Besides your restlessness?
You know I'm not the traveling kind,
So tell me what you hope to find
Out there that's not like this?"

The fire leapt up bright and high,
The sparks as bright stars shone.
"Mountains," he said. "Another sky.
A green new land where you and I
Can settle down to home.

"You are the dearest wife to me.
Though I'm restless, it is true,
And Oregon is where I'd be
And live in mountains by the sea,
But never without you."

They stayed a week to rest the team,
Were welcomed and befriended.
The land was good, the grass was green,
And slowly he gave up the dream,
And there the journey ended.

They bought a farm just north of town,
A pleasant piece of rolling ground,
A quarter-section, mostly cleared;
He built a house before the fall;
They lived there forty years in all,
And by God persevered.

And right up to his dying day
When he was laid to rest,
No one knew -- he did not say --
His dream had never gone away,
He still look to the west.

She found it in his cabinet drawer:
A box of pictures, every one
Of mountains by the ocean shore,
In the mountains he had headed for
In the state of Oregon.

There beside them lay his will.
"I love you, Ruth," the will began,
"And count myself a well-loved man.

Please send my ashes when I die
To Oregon, some high green hill,
And bury me and leave me lie
At peace beneath the mountain sky,
Off in that green and lovely land
We dreamed of, you and I."

At last she saw her husband clear
Who stayed and labored all those years,
His mountains all uncrossed.
Of dreams postponed and finally lost,
Which one of us can count the cost
And not be filled with tears?

And yet how bright those visions are
Of mountains that we sense afar,
The land we never see:
The golden west and golden gate
Are visions that illuminate
And give wings to the human heart
Wherever we may be.
That old man by dreams possessed,
By Oregon was truly blessed
Who saw it through the eye of faith,
The land of his sweet destiny:
In his eye, more than a state
And something like a star.

I wrote this poem in Oregon,
Wanting the leaden words to soar
In memory of my ancestor
And all who lie along the way.
God rest their souls on the golden shore,
God bless us who struggle on:
We are the life that they longed for,
We bear their visions every day.

Record-Breaking Striper!

John Erskine, my future brother-in-law, caught a state record striper on Saturday, December 2, from the Guadalupe river.

It beat the previous record by 14 pounds. It was 36.65 pounds and 43 inches long, caught on a fly rod.

Find out more about it on his website, along with more photos.

Congrats to John!

Psychological Warfare in Waco

Pop quiz: Who said the following:

"My tertiary specialty in the Air Force was psychological warfare, and I was no mean student thereof. It is imperative to know everything conceivably possible about your adversaries and their soft underbelly -- and have the patience to await the most strategic moment to strike."

(a) Karl Rove
(b) Jack Bauer
(c) Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

None of the above. It was written by Herbert Reynolds, past president of Baylor University, in an e-mail threat to Baylor personnel planning to release a book. The working title is Baylor Beyond the Crossroads: A Story of Aspiration and Controversy. The book covers the last few years at Baylor where controversy surrounded President Robert Sloan's "2012 Vision" designed to raise Baylor into the top echelon of research universities while strengthening its Christian character.

Reynolds sent a long, threatening e-mail, including the quote above, and the university backed out of their plans to publish the book. Now the book is in need of a new publisher.

The Chronicle of Higher Education has an article on the controversy. The site requires subscription, but you can read the article for free here. Dr. Sloan, a contributor to the book and now the new president at Houston Baptist University, expressed disappointment that Baylor's press was pulling the project: “I think it's always unfortunate when people give in to external pressure to suppress information. This is a very collegial disagreement that needs to be aired. That's why we have universities and books like these. The suppression of a book -- or threats that some have made if a book is published -- is completely antithetical to Baptist principles of academic freedom and open discussion."

Hear, hear.

I'm looking forward to reading the book when they get it published.

Seeing the Unchurched Returning

At Hillcrest we talk a lot about how to connect with “the unchurched.” People are “unchurched” who aren’t really connected to any church, even if they hold formal membership in one. You can divide the unchurched into two groups: those who have never had any real connection to a church, and those who used to. The first group could be called the “never churched” while the second group could be called the “formerly churched.”

Which is the largest group of unchurched adults? The second group.

Most of the unchurched have had some church involvement in the past, and LifeWay Research finds more than two-thirds of formerly churched adults are open to the idea of attending church regularly again.

This is good news for Hillcrest. Though we’ll reach a few “never churched” among unchurched adults, I believe God has prepared Hillcrest to be more effective at reaching the “formerly churched.” More and more of them are finding their way into our pews on Sundays.

From the Lifeway Research report:

In the summer of 2006, LifeWay Research conducted a survey of 469 formerly churched adults to better understand why people stop attending church and what it would take to bring them back. The “formerly churched” are defined as those who regularly attended a Protestant church as an adult in the past but who no longer do so.

“We were delighted to see such a large percentage of the formerly churched willing to consider church again in the future,” said Scott McConnell, associate director of LifeWay Research. “This was particularly surprising because the average formerly churched adult has not attended regularly for 14 years.”

Four percent of formerly churched adults are actively looking for a church to attend regularly (other than their previous church). Six percent would prefer to resume attending regularly in the same church they had attended. The largest group, 62 percent, is not actively looking, but is open to the idea of attending church regularly again.

McConnell noted that such openness may reflect a cultural Christianity rather than genuine interest, but the fact remains that the majority are not closed to the idea. “The small portion who are ‘unlikely to consider’ returning (28 percent) should be encouraging when you think about the three out of four who are willing to give it another try” said McConnell.

What would motivate the formerly churched to get active in a church again? From the report:

For some, the openness to returning is a real yearning for what they once had at church. More than a third are motivated to consider returning “to fill a gap felt since stopping regular church attendance” (34 percent). Despite multiple reasons for leaving that often include their own life changes as well as disappointing actions or inaction of the church, a number of the formerly churched miss the benefits of attending church.

The most common motivation of those who would consider returning comes straight from the soul: “to bring me closer to God” (46 percent). Not surprisingly, this desire for an improved relationship with God is expressed primarily by those who still consider themselves Christian.

. . .

Building relationships in a Christian community is another strong motivator to return to church. Thirty-two percent of those surveyed want to “be around those with similar values” and 31 percent would consider returning “to make friends.” Finally, a similar number would return “to make a difference/help others” (30 percent) in their community. “Too often churches wait for people to be spiritually mature to engage them in service when many projects or tasks are ideal entry or reentry points for people on their faith journey,” said McConnell.

How can we reactivate them? “Clearly we can encourage Christians to pray that the unchurched would sense God calling them back, but God works through His people,” said McConnell. “The survey showed that many would respond to an invitation from a friend or acquaintance (41 percent), their children (25 percent) or an adult family member (25 percent).” The issue of affinity also surfaced in the responses. Thirty-five percent indicated that they would be inspired to attend church “if I knew there were people like me there.”

Read the full article and take a look at the supporting charts (here). I think there’s a lot from this research that can inspire Hillcrest. A big part of our mission is to get the unchurched in our area connected to spiritual growth opportunities at our church. And, as I’ve said, though we’ll reach a few “never churched” among unchurched adults, I believe God has prepared Hillcrest to be more effective at reaching the “formerly churched.”

If that’s true, then it’s a good thing that we have so many to reach!

(This post is from today's LeaderLines, an e-newsletter I send out to leaders every Thursday. To read past LeaderLines, click here. To subscribe, click here.)

Womb With a View

James Taranto admits he is ambivalent about outlawing abortion, but the man behind the Wall Street Journal's "Best of the Web Today" is certainly no fan of the procedure--and no fan of the word games that abortion advocates use ignore the fact that we're dealing with unwanted children, not unwanted tissue, when we talk about abortion.

He turned his attention to this subject again in his post for Wednesday November 22. See the last item, entitled, "Womb With A View."

London's Daily Mail offers proof that human beings are not animals:

"An unborn elephant, tiny but perfect in every way. A dolphin swimming in the womb, just as it will have to swim in the ocean the moment it is born. An unborn dog panting. Each one amazing and now, thanks to these remarkable pictures, they can be seen for the first time. Using an array of technology, the images reveal what until now has been a secret--exactly how animals develop in the womb."

The unborn elephant, shown at the link, is quite something to see. By contrast, as we all know from reading the newspapers, there is no such thing as an unborn human being. We develop by a little-understood process in which a clump of cells, similar to a tumor or a fingernail, miraculously becomes a baby at the moment the entire clump is exposed to air.

Of course, Taranto is using one of his most effective weapons--sarcasm--to get his point across: too many abortion advocates ignore the obvious reality that abortion is an action done to a human being--and too many journalists simply pass along this duplicity in their coverage of the issue.

The Invisible Christians

Rod Dreher's blog, "The Crunchy Conservative" often has some good material. I liked his entry: "The Invisible Christians" posted Tuesday, November 28:

The Jewish historian Bat Ye'or has written about how invisible to the West are the persecuted Christians in the Islamic world. It has long been my view that American journalists are far more worried about offending Muslims than they are about standing up for human beings who are persecuted because they happen to be Christians. I believe that many US journalists hear "Christians" and think "Falwell" -- imposing their own American experiences and biases on Christian believers around the world. American journalists, in general, are far more worried that somebody in Peoria might look askance at a Muslim wearing a headscarf than they are concerned that Christians are being massacred by Muslims in Indonesia. Anyway, here's a real-life story I just heard from a friend of mine who's an immigration attorney here in Dallas. I publish his e-mail with his permission:

"I represented a Pakistani Christian for asylum successfully, beautiful man, very brave. He belonged to the Protestant church that was hand-grenaded in Islamabad. We were interviewed for a story for national TV for Thanksgiving. At the last minute they told us, our segment had been deleted out of concern by the network about ‘content.’ What content? The production co. said concern about Muslim sensibilities. My client spent hours in my office retelling the story only to be told after the fact (months later) that the network was concerned about sensibilities. Unbelievable.My anger eventually gave way to sadness that the plight of these brave people was not told. He’s even nervous here. Our contract stated his name could not be used and they would obscure his face. People should know these stories."

If it was for a Thanksgiving show, no doubt they were talking to this persecuted Christian about how grateful he is to live in a country where he has religious freedom, as opposed to Muslim Pakistan. But media elites cannot abide that. Too politically correct.

Operation Christmas Shoes

'Tis the season for Christmas music, and I want to hear from you. What are your favorite songs of the season?

Your most beloved Christmas carols . . .
New Christmas worship music . . .
Your most played renditions . . .
Favorites from "secular" artists . . .

I'm calling this "Operation Christmas Shoes." Don't get the title confused with Franklin Graham's worthy project, "Operation Christmas Child." No, my little project is named after the song, "Christmas Shoes," heard a mind-numbing every halfhour on any station dedicated to 24 hours of holiday music between Thanksgiving and Christmas:

Sir, I want to buy these shoes for my Mama, please
It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size
Could you hurry, sir,
Daddy says there's not much time
You see she's been sick for quite a while
And I know these shoes would make her smile
And I want her to look beautiful if Mama meets Jesus tonight

And the singer closes by saying:

God had sent that little boy
To remind me just what Christmas is all about

Now, I'm gonna get some responses from people who love this sappy tearjerker, I know. But, really, is this "what Christmas is all about"?

We can do better. What are your nominations for favorite Christmas songs? Sovereign Grace Music has a fine new song called "Hope Has Come," and many of the musicians on the "City on a Hill" project have given us some good stuff on their album, "Come Let Us Adore Him." Stephen Curtis Chapman has some memorable tunes, and Kathy Mattaea's version of "Mary Did You Know" ought to get lots of airplay. Michael W. Smith's 1989 project, "Christmas" deserves to be played in its entirity without interruption. Even many of the artists on "A Very Special Christmas" (up to Volume 3 now) treat their chosen Christmas songs reverently.

I have about six hours of Christmas music on my iPod, from the silly to the serene to the sacred. I'd love to hear your nominations for meaningful Christmas music.

You can write me, but I'd prefer you left a comment at the website so others could benefit from your suggestions, too.

Forward this weblog link to a friend so they can join the conversation, too.

8K iTunes Downloads a Month?

What's the cost of downloading 8000 songs a month from iTunes?

One fiancée.

When an Entertainment Weekly blogger asked readers to write in about their most embarrassing DVD purchase, one gal wrote,

I used to wonder how my husband-to-be had more than 700 music CDs and more than 300 movie DVDs and hundreds and hundreds of record albums until I discovered that he had $43,000 in credit-card debt. In looking at his last bill (for one month) he had charged more than 8,000 iTunes at 99 cents each and had charges at places that sell music and movies, too. This guy made $45,000 a year. Called off the wedding.

Yikes!

Now, I don't want you to rack up such a bill yourself. But you should check out Hillcrest Bold Gold (Volume 1) at iTunes. It gives you a chance get more familiar with the worship music in the Bold service and enjoy it throughout the week. By clicking on the hyperlink, you will find contemporary recording artists singing ten songs that our Hillcrest Praise Band leads us to sing. If you don't have iTunes on your computer, when you click Hillcrest Bold Gold (Volume 1), you will be directed to download your free copy of iTunes. Once you have the program on your computer, you can listen to 30-second clips of the 10 songs in the iMix. You can then choose to download the entire mix for $9.90 or select individual songs from the mix for $.99 each. You don't need an iPod to enjoy songs downloaded on iTunes. Even without an iPod, you can listen to the songs on your computer, or you can burn audio CDs from iTunes if you have a CD burner connected to your computer.

We'll create a "Hillcrest Bold Gold (Volume 2)" iMix in a few weeks. Send me your suggestions about what you want on it. Also, turn in your suggestions for "Volume 2"--coming soon!

Trailer for "The Nativity Story"

"The Nativity Story" opens December 1. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president Albert Mohler calls it "in season and on message."

It stars Keisha Castle-Hughes (Oscar nominee for Whale Rider), and it was written by Mike Rich (Radio, The Rookie) and directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen). Costing more than $65 million to make and market, "Nativity" is one of the biggest and most expensive biblical-themed releases from a major media company. The film, recounting Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem, will open on 2,700 screens. There’s an interesting article here about the growing interest in films respectful of the Christian faith. Here's the trailer:

Theological Triage

Sometimes Christians have a hard time distinguishing non-essential issues from essential issues in our efforts to accurately interpret the Bible. That's why I think Dr. Albert Mohler's explanation of "theological triage" is helpful:

The pastor must develop the ability to isolate what is most important in terms of theological gravity from that which is less important.

I call this the process of theological triage. As anyone who visits a hospital emergency room is aware, a triage nurse is customarily in place in order to make a first-stage evaluation of which patients are most in need of care. A patient with a gunshot wound is moved ahead of a sprained ankle in terms of priority. This makes medical sense, and to misconstrue this sense of priority would amount to medical malpractice.

In a similar manner, the pastor must learn to discern different levels of theological importance. First-order doctrines are those that are fundamental and essential to the Christian faith. The pastor's theological instincts should seize upon any compromise on doctrines such as the full deity and humanity of Christ, the doctrine of the Trinity, the doctrine of the atonement and essentials such as justification by faith alone. Where such doctrines are compromised, the Christian faith falls. When a pastor hears an assertion that Christ's bodily resurrection from the dead is not a necessary doctrine, he must respond with a theological instinct that is based in the fact that such a denial is tantamount to a rejection of the Gospel itself.

Second-order doctrines are those which are essential to church life and necessary for the ordering of the local church, but which, in themselves, do not define the Gospel. That is to say, one may detect an error in a doctrine at this level and still acknowledge that the person in error remains a believing Christian. Nevertheless, such doctrines are directly related to how the church is organized and its ministry is fulfilled. Doctrines found at this level include those most closely related to ecclesiology and the architecture of theological systems. Calvinists and Arminians may disagree concerning a number of vital and urgently important doctrines -- or, at the very least, the best way to understand and express these doctrines. Yet, both can acknowledge each other is genuine Christians. At the same time, these differences can become so acute that it is difficult to function together in the local congregation over such an expansive theological difference.

Third-order doctrines are those which may be the ground for fruitful theological discussion and debate, but which do not threaten the fellowship of the local congregation or the denomination. Christians who agree on an entire range of theological issues and doctrines may disagree over matters related to the timing and sequence of events related to Christ's return. Yet, such ecclesiastical debates, while understood to be deeply important because of their biblical nature and connection to the Gospel, do not constitute a ground for separation among believing Christians.

Without a proper sense of priority and discernment, the congregation is left to consider every theological issue to be a matter of potential conflict or, at the other extreme, to see no doctrines as worth defending if conflict is in any way possible. (The Pastor as Theologian, pages 8-10)

Reaching Out to a Friendless Culture

In a recent Christianity Today editorial (here), they promise "a radically old way to reach out to a friendless culture." After commenting on the recent report showing increasing social isolation in our culture, the CT editors write:

People may fear the commitment friendship entails, but they remain fascinated with it. The long-standing popularity of TV programs such as Cheers, Friends, and now Grey's Anatomy—which portray the lives of people in multilayered friendships—signals that fascination.

One wonders what it would take for the church, the new community, the friends of Jesus (John 15), to hold equal fascination for our lonely culture. To draw our culture to Christ, evangelical churches spend enormous amounts of money on slick marketing materials, enormous amounts of creative energy crafting "authentic" worship, and enormous amounts of intellectual capital on postmodernizing the faith. We're not convinced these strategies get to the heart of our cultural malaise.

Perhaps another "strategy" is in order. What if church leaders mounted a campaign to encourage each of their members to become friends, good friends,with one unchurched person this year?

That's where our small-group ministry comes in. As you see a new face in the worship service, introduce yourself and invite your new acquaintance to join your class. If you meet them in the 9:30am "Bold" service, encourage them to join you at the Common Ground Cafe. And if you meet them in the 10:45am "Smooth" service, invite them to join you next week an hour earlier for Sunday School. Our Adult-4 department has enjoyed some good growth in the last few months through welcoming newcomers. And now we have a new experience called "The Gathering" for those in their 20s, 30s and 40s who prefer to attend the Smooth Service. "The Gathering" is a coffee fellowship from 9:15 to 9:45am before the Sunday School classes convene.

Spread the word!

Sweet Prayer

Our youth Drama Team did a great job with their dessert theater last Friday. Many of the skits and prayers were prepared by the students themselves. I thought Mareike Zapp's prayer was particularly sweet. She is an exchange student from Germany living with the Nordins, who attends our church. Her prayer was entitled "Danke/Thank You." She presented it to us in German, but here is the English translation. Obviously, the Nordins live near a canyon in River Place, so they get a few more "critters" in their yard than some of us:

Dear God, I thank you for being in such an exotic place -- Texas! It's awesome, these various animals I've never seen before: mountain lions, snakes, coyotes, geckos (though I don't like them very much, but I heard they are good) . . . let's see, lions, snakes, scorpions, geckos, and -- oh yes not to forget the POODLES! Not one, no, two -- what a blessing for the house! I mean without them it would be pretty boring -- they're like party animals! Additionally I want to thank you for the weather; the sun shines all day instead of being covered by clouds like in my homeland. I enjoy being outside! The school is also alright. The people are totally friendly and open here. In all I think I have a really good deal with my year. Thanks! Bless the ones I left in Germany and be with them. Amen.

Misunderstood Evangelicals

In the New York Times Book Review, Books and Culture editor John Wilson writes about the gross mischaracterization of evangelicals in fiction and non-fiction. Excerpt:

In their fictional guise, evangelicals and their kin -- fundamentalists, Pentecostals and all manner of weird cultists calling fervently on the name of Jesus -- are . . . drawn in broadly satiric strokes. Charmless, ignorant, homophobic and either brazenly hypocritical or obnoxiously sincere, they quote scripture unctuously and have bad sex.

. . .

Ever since Jerry Falwell and his Moral Majority began making headlines in the 1980s, it has served the purposes of certain conservative activists and their ideological foes to exaggerate the influence they wield among evangelical Christians. In fact, it is both a strength and a weakness of evangelicalism that the “movement” lacks a center. Yes, a significant majority of evangelicals voted for George W. Bush. Big deal. At the moment, it appears unlikely that a Republican of any stripe will win the White House in 2008, though the Democrats may yet find a way to squander their advantage. So much for theocracy.

. . .

Many years ago, when I was teaching English at a large state university, I sat through part of a faculty debate on the problem posed by evangelical groups who were “proselytizing.” These professors, you understand, were fully committed to free speech — they’d swear to it, so help me Mario Savio — but they were concerned about the vulnerability of impressionable young minds to the seductive wiles of Campus Crusade for Christ, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and other such evangelical organizations.

I left while the hand-ringing was still in progress and walked across the campus, passing a row of tables. . . . The university was a marketplace of ideas. Wherever I turned, someone was trying to persuade me to do something. A young woman in a fetching tank top wanted me to join the army of the credit-card indebted. (I had already enlisted and re-upped, foolishly, at great eventual cost before I was discharged.) A couple of beefy guys wanted me to drink beer and do whatever else fraternity guys do. But some ideas are more threatening than others. So the evangelicals were a problem.

Evidently we still are.

Passion Again

A few years ago, a job placement service ran this Super Bowl ad with children talking about what they want to be when they grow up:



The commercial was so effective because it touched on the disconnect some of us have between what we wanted to be and what we are.

Let me play off that line. When you became a new believer, I doubt you said:

“In the future, I hope to lose all interest in prayer.”
“I want staying current with my TV shows to be more important to me than influencing people’s lives.”
“I hope to complain and groan more than I do now.”
“I want to lose my passion for working in God’s service.”

I doubt that was what you thought about in those days and months following your conversion. No, I think that when you first committed your life to Christ, your days were filled with purpose and dreams and expectancy and energy. I’m sure you were willing to rearrange anything and everything about your life in order to please God.

Since that time, though, some ask, “What happened? My fire has died down, my passion has faded.”

As for me, my passion for God rises and falls. At times, I burn intensely for him: I consume his word like food, I pray expecting miracles and I share my faith without hesitation. But at other times, the passion cools: I coast, my prayers go flat, and I turn inward in self-pity. I bet that’s your story, too.

Colossians 2:6-7 tells us how to fan our faith into flame again: “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”

This Sunday, November 19, we’re going to look carefully how to continue in Christ. If you live in Austin, join us this Sunday at Hillcrest at 9:30am or 10:45am, or catch the sermon online next Monday (iTunes or website).

Baptism Cannonball

This hasn't happened to me yet (but don't get any ideas!)

Ted Haggard and Staff Infections

A friend of mine nearly lost a finger from a wood chopping accident, but not from the axe. He received only a minor cut from the axe blade, but he developed a “staph” infection in the wound that resulted in serious complications.

A leadership team can develop some “infections” that result in serious complications, too. There are four “Staff Infections” can affect all of us as church leaders. Review your life for symptoms of the following diseases:

Immorality: Our personal failures aren’t as “personal” as we’d wish. Just ask Ted Haggard. He was the high-profile founding pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs and director of the National Association of Evangelicals. But last weekend he was accused of a three-year affair with a male prostitute from whom he also purchased crystal meth. Haggard admitted that many of the accusations were true, and resigned from all of his positions of influence.

Haggard’s scandal should serve as a warning for all of us in ministry. Reflecting on the unfolding moral tragedy, Gordon MacDonald wrote:

I have come to believe that there is a deeper person in many of us who is not unlike an assassin. This deeper person … can be the source of attitudes and behaviors we normally stand against in our conscious being. But it seeks to destroy us amasses energies that – unrestrained – tempt us to do the very things we “believe against.”

Our failures have a major impact on the rest of the leadership team. Let’s be sure we deal ruthlessly with our moral weaknesses instead of privately entertaining them.

Incompetence: Leadership teams are plagued by this infection when team members have no interest in improving their performance. Symptoms include excuses, inattention to standards, and resistance to things that would help them improve.

In 1 Timothy 4:14, what Paul urged the young pastor of Ephesus remains good advice for ministers today: “Do not neglect your gift.” We need to develop ourselves into highly competent servants of the Lord.

Insubordination: We call our leadership group a “team,” but have you noticed that the teams we love to watch in sports have captains, coaches, and managers? To call a group of leaders a “team” doesn’t mean that lines of authority don’t exist. Teams don’t work well when members ignore these lines of authority.

At the same time, the Bible calls us to mutual submission as well. Ephesians 5:21 says, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Ministry teams suffer when colleagues do not support each other.

Ingratitude: This is the worst of all staff infections, and source of the other three. Think about it. When I lose my grateful wonder that God has called me to serve his people, I can fall into sloppy habits (Incompetence). When I lose my thankfulness for the gifts of those I work with, I can quit being a team player (Insubordination). When I’m no longer grateful for what God chooses to give me, I can turn to embezzlement or adultery (Immorality).

David Livingstone said, “Forbid that we should ever consider the holding of a commission from the King of Kings as a sacrifice, so long as other men esteem the service of an earthly government as an honor.” In Philippians 4:12, Paul said, “I’ve learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.”

Staff infections, like staph infections, can create a lot of harm to the Body. Make sure that you’re not giving any opening for these infections to invade your life. I’m so grateful for the team of leaders we have at Hillcrest!

Rick Perry's Witness to the Real Good Sheperd

While novelty candidate Kinky Friedman wants to be the Good Shepherd for Texas, incumbent Governor Rick Perry is taking heat for pointing people to the real Good Shepherd.

Perry attended Cornerstone Church in San Antonio this Sunday, where John Hagee presented the gospel in black-and-white. "If you live your life and don't confess your sins to God Almighty through the authority of Christ and his blood," Hagee said, "I'm going to say this very plainly: you're going straight to hell with a nonstop ticket."

After the service, Governor Perry was asked by a reporter whether he agreed with Hagee's statement that non-Christians will be condemned to hell.

"In my faith, that's what it says, and I'm a believer of that." the governor replied.

He's getting some heat for that, as you can imagine (stories here and here).

Now, let me be clear as to why issue has caught my attention. This blog entry isn't an endorsement of either Hagee as a Christian spokesman or Perry as a governor. Hagee doesn't speak for me on a number of issues, and, regarding the governor's race, vote for the candidate of your choice.

But three cheers for a Christian brother willing to stand with Jesus! Isn't it ironic that a politician in a crucial race showed greater boldness answering that question than a Houston pastor who was asked the same question? After an appearance on the Larry King Live show June 20, 2005, Joel Osteen faced much criticism from some evangelicals over uncertainty in his answers about the Christian faith. When Larry King asked "What if you're Jewish or Muslim, you don't accept Christ at all?", Osteen replied "You know, I'm very careful about saying who would and wouldn't go to heaven. I don't know ..."

Osteen later apologized for his hemming and hawing; Perry won't have to apologize for his answer.

No matter who we are--pastors, governors, newspaper reporters, math teachers, store clerks, anyone--if we belong to Christ, we have to stand by his claims. And it was Christ who said, "I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6). Here's the way I discuss this issue in my book, The Anchor Course:

Once while making a connection at an airline terminal, I took advantage of the airport’s long “moving sidewalks.” I stepped on, put down my heavy bag, and let the conveyor do the work of carrying me along. As I approached the end, however, I noticed that a passenger had stepped off the moving sidewalk and had simply stopped. His briefcase was at his feet and he was consulting a terminal map. I could have stubbornly refused to step aside, but the relentless motion of the conveyor would have sent me crashing into him. Instead, I chose to step aside, and the sidewalk deposited me into an open space.

Like an airport conveyor belt, time moves us relentlessly toward judgment, but the cross gives us a way to “step aside” so that we will not run into judgment. Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24).

This corrects one of the most widespread misconceptions of the Christian message. I’ve had people ask, “Why do you believe that God sends someone to hell just because they don’t accept the gospel of Christ?” God does not send someone to hell for rejecting the Christian message. No, the basis for God’s judgment lies in our sin. We are rescued from hell upon receiving the offer of Christ’s salvation, but rejecting that offer simply keeps you moving toward the same judgment you’ve always been moving toward.

Keep in mind that Perry hasn't been going around preaching the message of Christ: he is campaigning to be our governor, not our pastor. But when he was asked what he thought about the exclusive claims of Christ, he stood by them. Kudos!

Pray for the Persecuted Church

"'I have tortured and killed many people," he said, "but since the death of this young man I have been troubled."

Those are the words of a prison warden in the article, "From torturing to tears." This Voice of the Martyrs story highlights the transformation of one man from tyrant to believer after the martyrdom of a young Christian. To prepare to observe the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church on November 12, be sure to read this story.

Your Mission Dollars At Work

“They could have gone to anyone, but they came to the Jahanka. They could have gone to any village, but they chose our village. They have come with a message from God, and we’re waiting for them to be able to speak our language so we can hear this message that they have brought to us.”

That was what one Jahanka man said of a married couple sent to his village by the International Mission Board (IMB). In many parts of the world, the names of IMB missionaries cannot be released for security reasons, and so this couple has not been identified in the report. The Jahanka of West Africa number only about 60,000, with fewer than 20 known followers of Jesus. But the Southern Baptist missionary couple are winning friends.

This is good news from the recently-released report of 2005 IMB global work. Southern Baptist missionaries and their international Baptist partners baptized more than 475,000 new believers last year, started nearly 23,500 churches and began church planting among 104 people groups for the first time. They also planted churches among 19 people groups where no Baptist churches previously existed -– including 13 peoples with no evangelical churches of any kind.

A major part of our mission dollars at Hillcrest go to support the global efforts of the IMB. See the full story here.

QB Kurt Warner and Stem Cell Research

According to this article, Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner says his deep Christian faith led to his decision to appear in a television ad opposing a proposed constitutional amendment in Missouri that would allow stem cell research that would destroy human embryos.

Warner, who led the St. Louis Rams to two Super Bowls and remains a highly popular figure there, joined St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jeff Suppan, among others, in the television spot against the amendment.

“I am all for finding a cure for any and every disease known to man," Warner said in an interview with The Associated Press after the Cardinals practiced Thursday, "but there are certain issues that outweigh just finding a cure and doing research, and life is one of those.”

Don't get confused about stem cell research. There's great progress in the field that doesn't involve destroying human embryos. Learn more about stem cell research by watching the video Stem Cell Research: Beyond Hype, Real Hope.

What Will Scorsese Do with "Silence"?

Martin Scorsese is working on an adaptation of Silence, a novel by the late Japanese author Shusaku Endo (1923-1996) who also wrote the screenplay for the 1971 Japanese film Chinmoku (Silence). Endo was a Christian and Silence tracks the struggles of a Portugese Jesuit called to Japan during a season of severe persecution designed to obliterate Christianity. Jay Cocks (who wrote the screenplay for Scorsese's Gangs of New York) is the screenwriter, and production is due to begin in the summer of 2007.

What drew Scorsese to this project, and what will he do with the material? Worthwhile questions, considering that this was the director behind the camera for the 1988 film The Last Temptation of Christ, and the director who turned the murderer in the 1991 remake of Cape Fear into a Pentecostal Christian (in reaction--some say--to the way Christians attacked his Last Temptation film).

What will the acclaimed director focus on from Endo's novel? What concerns me is what will be done with the priest's spiritual struggles and with the challenges from his tormentors. The priest in the novel often asks himself about the silence of God in the face of such intense suffering on the part of faithful Christians. And the tormentors often remind the priest that the Japanese have their own religion (Buddhism) and the Christian faith he is trying to transplant in that foreign soil will never survive. The Japanese officials, in fact, consider Christianity just one more Western characteristic they are trying to expel from their islands.

Could it be that it's this theme that has captured the attention of the director and screenwriter: the conviction that Christianity is part of "Western culture" that shouldn't be imposed on other cultures? Never mind that it's this conviction that led 17th century Japanese magistrates to devise the most inhuman of tortures for their own Japanese citizens who embraced Christianity.
Will the magistrates become "the voice of reason" in this film adaptation of the novel? Will the film convey the futility of missionaries like this priest who bring Christianity to other cultures only to bring trouble to the people who embrace it? It would certainly fit the spirit of the age: to many, Christianity is looked upon as a "Western religion"--even an "American religion"--that shouldn't be transplanted to other cultures. In reality, Christianity is a universal faith that transcends passports, flags, and national customs. Far from being "Western" or "American," culturally-speaking, Christianity actually sprang from a Jewish messianic movement in first-century Jersusalem under Roman occupation. It spread from there south, east, west, and--for our interests in America--it also spread north into what is now Europe and the British isles to take root in Anglo-Saxon soil and from there made its way to America. In other words, cultures now considered "Western" and specifically "American" were recipients of missionary outreach long, long before they became supporters of missionary outreach.

So, I'm waiting to see how Jay Cocks and Martin Scorsese deal with this theme in Endo's novel. It would be ironic if the film looked sympathetically upon the novel's characters who justify their inhumane torture of Japanese Christians on the premise that a "Western" religion had no place in Japanese culture.

Hat Tip to Jeffrey Overstreet, who announced the upcoming film adaptation of Endo's novel in his review of Scorsese's current film, The Departed. Overstreet wrote:

Shazuko Endo’s Silence . . . gives Scorsese the richest, most profound source material he's ever had to work with. Let's hope that he finds himself more inspired by the passion of the missionary than by the malevolence of the devils who try to discourage him.

Get Our New iMix of Praise Music

Here's how to get more familiar with the worship music in the Bold service and enjoy it throughout the week. I've created an "iMix" at iTunes called "Hillcrest Bold Gold (Volume 1)." By clicking on the hyperlink, you will find ten songs by contemporary recording artists that our Hillcrest Praise Band leads us to sing.

If you don't have iTunes on your computer, when you click Hillcrest Bold Gold (Volume 1), you will be directed to download your free copy of iTunes. Once you have the program on your computer, you can listen to 30-second clips of the 10 songs in the iMix. You can then choose to download the entire mix for $9.90 or select individual songs from the mix for $.99 each.

You don't need an iPod to enjoy songs downloaded on iTunes. Even without an iPod, you can listen to the songs on your computer, or you can burn audio CDs from iTunes if you have a CD burner connected to your computer.

I'll create a "Hillcrest Bold Gold (Volume 2)" iMix in a few weeks. Send me your suggestions about what you want on it.

Our "Hillcrest Connection" to an Austin Film Festival Winner

Diane and I got a chance to see "Chalk" at the Austin Film Festival last night. Katie Brock, a vocalist in our Hillcrest Praise Band, has a role as a math teacher. They mis-spelled her name on the credits (to keep you humble, Katie!), but it was still fun to see her up on the big screen!

The film is a "mocumentary" in the style of "The Office" on NBC. Instead of tracking the hapless happennings of a sales force in a paper supply company, though, "Chalk" follows four green teachers in their struggles.

"Chalk" was one of the few locally-produced films screened at the Austin Film Festival. It was written by Mike Akel (who also directed), and Chris Mass. Both have had experience as teachers in area high schools (Travis and Lanier).

I hear that the film has been picked up by a major distributor, and deservedly so. The four actors who play the key roles do a great job, and the pace and comic timing is nearly perfect.

To see the trailer, click here. To read an article from the Austin Chronicle, click here.

Richard Dawkins on The Colbert Report

Stephen Colbert matches wits with Richard Dawkins. . .

Our Convention President's Three R's

In his recent column, our new Southern Baptist Convention President, Frank Page, said that he's been touring the convention preaching the "Three R's" that must be in place for our convention's churches to thrive:

"Those Rs are rightness, revival and relevancy. While we thank God for the wonderful men and women who fought for many years to return our convention to a strong affirmation of the inerrancy of the Word of God, I challenge our convention to realize that rightness alone with not bring about church transformation and revitalization of our convention. With equal passion, we must seek a revival from God and also, relevancy for this world and for future generations."

Be sure to read his full comments here.

Gay-Rights "Train Wreck"

In “Train Wreck Coming,” former Time writer, David Aikman, explains why homosexual marriage has begun to threaten the free expression of religion guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. He says, “After the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was legal, a 1971 IRS ruling came into play. It decreed tax-exempt status should be denied to non-profit groups that hold views ‘contrary to public policy.’ Since same-sex marriage had been defined by Massachusetts as ‘public policy,’ any organization that refused to extend social services to same-sex couples would be liable to lawsuits for discrimination.”

His brief commentary illustrates some of the religious organizations and individuals that have been impaled on this legal spear: the Swedish pastor imprisoned for preaching against homosexuality, Massachusetts Catholic Charities decision to shut down rather than face state prosecution for refusing to give adoptive children to same-sex couples, and campus organizations like the Christian Legal Society and InterVarsity being denied campus recognition because of their stance on homosexuality.

It's a chilling prediction of conflicts to come from a level-headed source. "The issue has gone far beyond the freedom of homosexuals to live and act openly," he says. '''The issue is now the freedom of religious people and organizations to criticize that lifestyle.”

Three Things Christians Must Highlight

How can churches reach people in a culture increasingly unmoored from a Christian worldview? When Tim Stafford at Christianity Today asked John Stott that question, Stott said we should pay attention to three things: transcendence, significance, and community. Here was Stott's reply to the question of reaching our secular Western culture:

I think we need to say to one another that it's not so secular as it looks. I believe that these so-called secular people are engaged in a quest for at least three things. The first is transcendence. It's interesting in a so-called secular culture how many people are looking for something beyond. I find that a great challenge to the quality of our Christian worship. Does it offer people what they are instinctively looking for, which is transcendence, the reality of God?

The second is significance. Almost everybody is looking for his or her own personal identity. Who am I, where do I come from, where am I going to, what is it all about? That is a challenge to the quality of our Christian teaching. We need to teach people who they are. They don't know who they are. We do. They are human beings made in the image of God, although that image has been defaced.

And third is their quest for community. Everywhere, people are looking for community, for relationships of love. This is a challenge to our fellowship. I'm very fond of 1 John 4:12: "No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us." The invisibility of God is a great problem to people. The question is how has God solved the problem of his own invisibility? First, Christ has made the invisible God visible. That's John's Gospel 1:18: "No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known."

People say that's wonderful, but it was 2,000 years ago. So in 1 John 4:12, he begins with exactly the same formula, nobody has ever seen God. But here John goes on, "If we love one another, God abides in us." The same invisible God who once made himself visible in Jesus now makes himself visible in the Christian community, if we love one another. And all the verbal proclamation of the gospel is of little value unless it is made by a community of love.

These three things about our humanity are on our side in our evangelism, because people are looking for the very things we have to offer them.

The complete interview can be found here.

Jesus in History and the Bible

I’ve uploaded my article, “Jesus in History and the Bible” at AnchorCourse.org. This article shows that even without a New Testament we can learn seven things about Jesus from the writings of non-believers in the first and second century.

God's Gym

I admit it. I have an unusual way to count off my reps during my exercise routine.

Like most people who work out, I do three sets of ten with my weight-lifting or push-ups or (yuk) sit-ups. But I have a different way to count to ten. I count the first motion with, “The fruit of the Spirit is. . . .” and I continue the count by saying, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

That’s a line from Scripture that’s worth memorizing--Galatians 5:22-23. There Paul lists the “fruit” or “outcome” of a life controlled by the Holy Spirit. I use the list in my exercise routine to remind me of the character God wants to form in me. The Bible says, “Physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8). So, while I work out in my home gym, I review how I’m developing in God’s Gym, too.

Look at that list again. Think about each word carefully: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Who would not want this kind of life? The Bible promises that this kind of life can be ours as we depend upon the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit.

In other words, the nine fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5 isn’t a “to do” list. Instead, it’s evidence. The more you yield to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the more these nine qualities will show up in your life.

If we’re going to depend upon the Holy Spirit’s guidance and power, we need to know more about the Spirit. That’s our topic this Sunday morning at Hillcrest. We’ve been going line by line through the ancient Apostles Creed, and this Sunday we’ll examine what it means to say, “I believe in the Holy Spirit.”

If you live in the Austin area, join us this Sunday at 9:30am or 10:45am for this important study. To catch up with the series, listen online (iTunes or website). You can receive a free book when you attend Hillcrest during our current sermon series, or you can order copies online by clicking here. To learn more about the book, read the introduction by clicking here or check out the website at www.AnchorCourse.org.

Raising the Bar

At his weblog, Ben Witherington asks, “Where Are our Evangelical Youth Going? He comments on the widely-circulated warning that so many churchgoing teens will drop out of church by the time of adulthood that only four percent will be Bible-believing Christians in adulthood.

Now, not everyone agrees with that dire warning. See comments at Weblog at ChristianityToday.com and the Austin-American Statesman coverage of a recent national youth leaders conference held here in Austin. Still, Witherington has some important comments.

He challenges leaders of student ministries to raise the bar and raise the passion level. He writes:

Here's a simple truth--- God's Word does not wear out or fail. It doesn't have built in obsolescence like pop culture. So here's my formula of the day--the less Biblical substance to a Christian pop event, song, etc. the less likely it
will have any staying power.

In addition, leaders of student ministries need to live the message and not just teach it. They need to experience worship and not just lead it. He writes:

And here's another other factor. You need to draw your water from a deep well. By this I mean that a Christian musician, minister etc. needs to have a deep and abiding relationship with the Lord and deep and profound grounding in God's Word and in God's community. If you try to proclaim something that has not first catalyzed your own soul and spiritual life, it will ring hollow, rather than true.

In short, Witherington calls on youth leaders to give students “a close encounter . . . with the Word of God Incarnate, and the Word of God written, and the Word of God incarnated in his community.”

Good stuff. I’m grateful that Jim Siegel and his youth leadership team do that very thing at Hillcrest. It’s a formula worth following not just in youth ministry but in our outreach to every age group in our community.

Friday Night Lights

Did you see Friday Night Lights last night? I enjoyed the show, and it had lots of Austin-area locales in the shots: the Pflugerville stadium, the Hutto stadium (home of the "Hutto Hippos"!), EZ's restaurant on Lamar across from Central Market. Two of our members, Michele Roberts and her son Bryce, had their moment of national fame in one of the shots. I also thought that UT head coach Mack Brown's cameo appearance was hilarious: he played a businessman giving lots of "helpful advice" to the head coach at a social function. One passing line was gold: "Now, you got a great quarterback, coach, but don't get to thinking that having a great quarterback is all you need to win a national championship." The prayer from the star player at the end of the hour was a good one, too. Friday Night Lights continues next Tuesday on NBC.

Discovering Jonny Lang

I just downloaded Jonny Lang’s latest release, Turn Around (A&M Records). He camps out on the funk side of rhythm and blues, with some urban gospel mixed in as well. He sings a duet with Michael McDonald on “Thankful,” and other well-known artists join him at points: Buddy Miller, Sam Bass, Nickel Creek violinist Sara Watkins, and Steven Curtis Chapman, five- time Grammy winner and GMA's most awarded artist.

Now if we can just get Lang and Joss Stone together for a duet. Oh my. (I stand corrected: A quick Google search put Stone and Lang together for U2’s “When Love Comes to Town” on Herbie Hancock’s Possibilities. Too bad it’s only available for download when you buy the whole album.)

Regarding Turn Around, Lang told ModernRock.com, “Outwardly, I wouldn't consider it a Christian album. But a lot of songs are about my relationship with the Lord. Because of those changes in my life, they brought about restoration and healing to some things that were going on in my life and really made me a new person.”

Jonny Lang burst onto the mainstream music scene in 1996 at the age of 15, capturing critical acclaim with two million-selling albums for A&M -- 1997's Lie to Me and '98's Wander This World. He also toured with the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith and Sting and had a role in the movie Blues Brothers 2000.

Lang disappeared for a while, in part because of changes at his record label, and in part because of problems with drugs and alcohol. In 2002, Lang had a spiritual transformation, reflected on his 2003 release, Long Time Coming.

Now, three years in the making and ten years into his recording career, Turn Around is getting some real praise. “Nobody has sung soul with this much passion and energy since James Brown was at his peak in the sixties,” says The Phantom Tollbooth. “The title track ‘Turn Around’ alone is worth the price of the CD. There is an extended guitar solo by Lang that ranks up there with anything you have heard from Bonnie Raiit and Eric Clapton.”

I missed his Austin concert on his current tour. But I didn’t miss out on getting the album. You shouldn’t either.

You can listen to songs at his website and his MySpace page. ChristianMusicToday.com has a good review here.

Waiting on "The Perfect Righteous Human Being"

The writers at GetReligion.org critique the news media for their coverage of religious issues. It's worth a review at least once a week. On Monday, September 25, they posted comments about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s address at the United Nations: "Waiting on the perfect righteous human being ." To introduce you to this important story and to GetReligion, I'm going to copy the entire post here:

Here is your first assignment as we start a new week. It has to do with the most amazing quotation from last week.

First, open Google. Now, insert — in direct quotation marks — the phrase “perfect righteous human being.” Search in the News category.

Now, what did you find? Not much.

This phrase is, of course, taken from the final act of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s dramatic address at the United Nations. Click here for the full text, but here are the crucial quotes:

“I emphatically declare that today’s world, more than ever before, longs for just and righteous people with love for all humanity; and above all longs for the perfect righteous human being and the real savior who has been promised to all peoples and who will establish justice, peace and brotherhood on the planet.

“O, Almighty God, all men and women are your creatures and you have ordained their guidance and salvation. Bestow upon humanity that thirsts for justice, the perfect human being promised to all by you, and make us among his followers and among those who strive for his return and his cause.”

Does that sound familiar? Did you see this passage played over and over on the evening newscasts and debated on the niche-market shows on cable?

You didn’t?

To grasp the importance of what is happening in these paragraphs, please head on over to The New Republic (that right-wing rag to which we link quite a bit) and read the fairly recent cover story titled “Ahmadinejad’s Demons: A child of the revolution takes over” by Matthias Kuntzel.

Now, back to the United Nations. Try to imagine what would have happened if President George W. Bush had ended his U.N. address with a call for the second coming of Jesus Christ and pledged that he would strive to see this event come to pass, sooner rather than later. Imagine the mainstream media response. Do you think this would be mentioned in major media? Do you think journalists would jump to cover that topic (as well they should)?

Andrew Sullivan states the obvious, quite well, beginning with an appeal for readers to read the quotes in question a second time:

Ahmadinejad is calling upon God to bring about the coming of the Twelfth Imam (“the perfect human being promised to all by you”), who heralds the Apocalypse. He is also saying that he will “strive for his return.” It is the most terrifying statement any president of any nation has made to the U.N. We have a dictator on the brink of nukes, striving to accelerate the Apocalypse. Think of the Iranian regime as a nation-as-suicide-bomber. And anything serious we can do to prevent it may only make matters worse. No wonder Ahmadinejad smiles. Paradise beckons.

So why have newspaper readers and television viewers not been swamped with coverage of this part of this address? Why is that Google News search so wimpy?

Here is what Joel C. Rosenberg has to say over at National Review. I think you will not be surprised to learn that his argument, when boiled down to its essentials, is this: Too many people in the mainstream media simply do not get religion. But, beyond that, there is a good chance that many journalists are simply afraid to dig into the details of Ahmadinejad’s beliefs and his own unique faith journey (which includes some literal minefields).

It is, you see, much, much easier to stick to writing stories about the Left Behind novels. Saith Rosenberg:

American journalists aren’t asking Ahmadinejad about his Shiite religious beliefs, his fascination with the coming of the Islamic Messiah known as the “Twelfth Imam” or the “Mahdi,” his critique of President Bush’s faith in Jesus Christ and encouragement of President Bush to convert to Islam, and how such beliefs are driving Iranian foreign policy.

Time’s cover story and exclusive print interview with Ahmadinejad never broached the subject of his eschatology. Nor did [Brian] Williams. Nor did [Mike] Wallace. Nor does a just-released book, Confronting Iran: The Failure of American Foreign Policy And the Next Great Crisis in the Middle East, by British Iran expert Ali M. Ansari. Nor does almost any of the saturation coverage Ahmadinejad is receiving.

Journalists aren’t typically shy about asking tough, probing questions about the religious views of world leaders. President Bush has been grilled at length about being an evangelical Christian and how this informs his foreign policy, particularly with regards to Israel and the Middle East. Clearly the pope’s views of Christianity and Islam are now under fire. Why such hesitancy when it comes to the religious beliefs of a leader who has called for the Jewish state to be wiped off the planet and urges fellow Muslims to envision a world without the United States?

Good question. Of course, you knew that’s what we would think here at GetReligion.

Control the Definitions, Control the Debate

“We find ourselves mildly bemused by those benighted people who respect science but refuse to bow down to its unassailable authority.”

Okay, you won’t find that exact quote from Scientific American’s October editorial, “Let There Be Light.” But you’ll find that tone.

The editors say, “Science and faith can coexist happily as long as neither tries to take on the functions of the other.” Where is that dividing line? “Scientific research deals in what is measurable and definable,” they say, and “it cannot begin to study what might lie beyond the physical realm or to offer a comprehensive moral philosophy.”

With the theory of evolution being applied to why we have a longing for God and why we have the particular moral framework we have, I’d say that science has crossed that line time and again. Indeed, when they reach the end of their editorial, they refer to “the fault line between science and religion” as “illusory.” So, scientists like Francis Collins who have written books expressing their Christian belief “are not expressing a strictly scientific perspective,” the editors say. “Rather, they are struggling, as people always have, to reconcile their knowledge of a dispassionate universe with a heartfelt conviction in a more meaningful design.”

Read the carefully-chosen words of that last line again: it’s a “struggle” when you have to “reconcile” knowledge and heartfelt conviction. From the realm of “knowledge” we see a “dispassionate universe”—cold, meaningless, and unmindful of human existence. If one wants “a more meaningful design” to the universe, one has to stir it up with “heartfelt conviction.”

These are loaded words that express a strong bias: a meaningless view of the world equals “science” equals “knowledge.”

C.S. Lewis addressed this issue nearly sixty years ago in his important little book, The Abolition of Man, where he complained that our world is removing concepts of beauty and virtue and loyalty from the realm of what is objective and instead assigning the concepts to the wooly world of what is merely subjective. As a result, we a building “men without chests”--people without the moral backbone to sustain civil societies.

But it doesn’t take “heartfelt conviction” to fill the world with purpose. Instead, it just involves a decision to quit suppressing the evidence. Paul wrote in Romans 1:19-20 that people “suppress the truth.” Indeed, “what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. From the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse.”

In Chapter Five of my new book, The Anchor Course, I outline five realities about the natural world that will open our eyes to God once stop ignoring them. Attend Hillcrest during our current sermon series and receive a free copy (one per household), or order online.