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.