John Nolte is narrowing down his list to review the the “Top 25 Greatest Christian Films.” Starting in March, he’ll be reviewing the films in ascending order, ending with his pick for No. 1 on Easter weekend. Janie Cheney at World writes, “It made me start thinking, not for the first time, about what makes a ‘Christian film,’ or what makes a film Christian.”
Well?
“My understanding of how you reach a culture is Christians have to be extremely like the people around them, and yet at the same time extremely unlike them. If Christians are not unlike they won't challenge the culture, but if they’re not like, they won't persuade the culture. Now, hitting that middle ground is hard.”
I completely agree with the Statesman’s Arnold Garcia that Austin’s City Council members need to represent particular districts. Way past time for that. But he lost me on the insistence that said districts be drawn by skin color:
It's going to be difficult to draw a "safe" black district, and anyone who knows anything about city politics knows that nobody is getting up from that conference table until one is found. Given that African Americans are no longer concentrated in one geographic area, the torture that will have to be inflicted on a city map to create a safe black district will spark an investigation by the world court at The Hague….A safe Latino district would be a lot easier to draw, but there are so many ways to draw districts that something that looks good on paper doesn't guarantee anything.
Why would we think that the issues a voter wants Austin to address are based on his or her skin color? C’mon. Are we still thinking in these terms?
Why should we think of the Facebook app threatening the Bible app? Why not the Bible app threatening the Facebook app, and the email app, and the RSS feeder, and the news?
Resolve that today you will press the Bible app three times during the day. No five times. Ten times! Maybe you will lose control and become addicted to Bible! Again and again get a two-minute dose of life-giving Food. Man shall not live by Facebook alone.
I’m serious. Never has God’s voice been so easily accessible. The ESV app is free. TheOliveTree BibleReader app is free. And so are lots of others. Let the Bible threaten your focus. Or better: Let the Bible bring you back to reality over and over during the day.
Changing minds is our job.
Of course, Scripture tells us that changing minds is a supernatural work of the Spirit. But you and I are God’s instruments in conversion.
And that means that if we’re not actually converting people to Jesus we’re, well, failing.
As church leaders (volunteer and paid), we can fall into thinking, “My job is to prepare a program, show up on time, and run it.” But God is looking to see if our leadership is resulting in anyone’s conversion.
How do I know this is what God is looking for? Because of the way he calls and commissions people in the Bible stories. John Piper wrote a helpful column about this. He outlined fived ways the Bible talks about our role in the conversion of others:
“I am sending you to open their eyes,” the risen Christ said to Paul (Acts 26:17-18). Opening the eyes of the spiritually blind is God’s work (2 Corinthians 4:6), but Jesus sends Paul to open their eyes.
“I have become all things to all people,” Paul wrote, “that by all means I might save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22). He knew that God does the saving (Jeremiah 24:7), and yet Paul said he did whatever it took to “save” people.
“Whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering,” James wrote, “will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:20). Isn’t God the one who brings people back to himself (Jeremiah 31:18; Isaiah 57:18)? Yes, and yet the Bible calls us to bring people back from sin and death.
“He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God,” the angel said of John the Baptist, “and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just.” (Luke 1:16-17). Again, though God works to turn hearts to himself (2 Thessalonians 3:5), John was commissioned to turn hearts to God.
“You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God,” Peter wrote, adding, “and this word is the good news that was preached to you” (1 Peter 1:23-25). So, the same Bible that says the Spirit of God causes new birth, blowing where he wills (John 3:8), also says that the new birth comes from someone preaching the gospel.
So, according to the texts above, we are to “open their eyes,” “save some,” “bring back” sinners from their wandering, “turn many” to the Lord, and see people born again through announcing the good news to them.
Our purpose is to be a community where people can find and follow Jesus together. Are you deliberately aiming any of your leadership activity toward helping people find Jesus, or are you just focusing on helping believers follow Jesus?
“God is the decisive, ultimate cause of conversion,” Piper writes, “but we are his agents, and he calls us to join him in this goal. Not to aim at it is to put ourselves out of step with his command and his Spirit.”
So . . . are you in step?
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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by more than 300 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.
Sometimes I have to repent of being too stubborn. Then again, sometimes I have to repent that I’m not stubborn enough!
This struck me in my daily Bible reading a few weeks ago. Bible Gateway’s reading plan had assigned Exodus 9-11 for the Old Testament reading and then Matthew 15:21-39 for the New Testament reading.
As I reviewed the familiar Old Testament story of the plagues Egypt endured because Pharaoh repeatedly refused to release the Israelites from slavery, I was reminded again of the cost of a hard and obstinate heart. When we push back against God’s calls and ignore God’s ways, we’ll suffer the inevitable consequences, just like Pharaoh.
But the New Testament reading for the day served as an interesting contrast. Because in Matthew 15:21-39, I reviewed the story of a very stubborn woman who received honor from Jesus.
Jesus was in a foreign region when a Canaanite woman came and begged him to heal her daughter. Jesus ignored her and even openly denied her requests for help. These verses shock people the first time they read them. But Jesus was holding a mirror up to his own disciples: He wanted them to see their prejudice and bigotry, and he wanted them to see the depth of faith in a woman they had completely overlooked.
And her depth of faith was evident in her stubbornness. She simply refused to take “no” for an answer. She believed in Christ’s ability to help her and she wouldn’t give up on her belief in his willingness to help her. So she persisted, she pressed, she called out—and Jesus gladly responded to her immovable faith and healed her daughter.
We can be stubborn like the Pharaoh God condemned—and we can fail to be stubborn like the Canaanite woman Christ commended!
It’s not often that my daily Bible readings converge into a single challenge like that. But I’ll admit I haven’t been able to get my mind off it ever since. How quickly do you give up on a prayer, a hope, a dream? Are you famous for your stubborn faith—or just famous for your stubborn rebellion?
Tom
P.S., I’m still serving in Jakarta, and I expect to arrive in Austin late Sunday night. This Sunday, welcome Marcus Bell-Winston to the pulpit. Marcus is going to plant a church in the Mueller area of Austin, and I wanted you to meet him and pray with him for the fulfillment of his church’s vision.
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Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 950 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.
The Cowboy’s Ten Commandments:
(1) Just one God.
(2) Put nothin’ before God.
(3) Watch yer mouth.
(4) Git yourself to Sunday meeting.
(5) Honor yer Ma & Pa.
(6) No killin’.
(7) No foolin’ around with another fellow’s gal.
(8) Don’t take what ain’t yers.
(9) No telling tales or gossipin’.
(10) Don’t be hankerin’ for yer buddy’s stuff.
WSJ:
Scientists have begun to outline the surprising benefits of not paying attention….Researchers have found a surprising link between daydreaming and creativity—people who daydream more are also better at generating new ideas. Other studies have found that employees are more productive when they're allowed to engage in "Internet leisure browsing”….
Such lapses in attention turn out to be a crucial creative skill. When we're faced with a difficult problem, the most obvious solution—that first idea we focus on—is probably wrong. At such moments, it often helps to consider far-fetched possibilities, to approach the task from an unconventional perspective. And this is why distraction is helpful: People unable to focus are more likely to consider information that might seem irrelevant but will later inspire the breakthrough. When we don't know where to look, we need to look everywhere.
And there was the oak tree in front of the house, much older than the neighborhood or the town, which made rubble of the pavement at its foot and flung its imponderable branches out over the road and across the yard, branches whose girths were greater than the trunk of any ordinary tree. There was a torsion in its body that made it look like a giant dervish to them. Their father said if they could see as God can, in geological time, they would see it leap out of the ground and turn in the sun and spread its arms and bask in the joys of being an oak tree in Iowa.
Marilynne Robinson, Home
After Thursday and Friday in the classroom, the weekend was spent visiting churches. First up, with Pastor David and his newlywed wife at their church on the outskirts of Jakarta:
On Saturdays, the women gather for fellowship. They had prepared a meal for our visit:
On Sunday, we traveled 2 hours from central Jakarta to visit with Pastor Hartono and his family in Bogor (pronounced Boh-GORE) in Western Java:
The service:
I was invited to preach with an interpreter:
My interpreter, Edwin Karwur, is a professor in a Baptist seminary in Minado, on another Indonesian island. He lived in Canada for 15 years but recently returned as a missionary to his home country. Edwin and his wife have 2 sons who were born in Canada and are experiencing Indonesia for the first time:
Following the service:
The only cinematic visions of the afterlife that are worth a damn are the ones that depict damnation. As long as your hero goes to hell, the audience stays engaged. Move the story upstairs, though, and God help you….
Yet painting and music have long evoked a sense of awe at the prospect of the divine. So it’s not a hopeless task for artists. (Have you heard of Michelangelo? Handel’s “Messiah”?) Shouldn’t moviemakers be able to do the same?
Chris Suellentrop at Wired on Why the Afterlife Is Box-Office Poison
Across the next few months, I want to periodically use LeaderLines to introduce you to some community leaders in our area. Since they serve the same neighborhoods we serve, we can benefit from their observations about our neck of the woods. I welcome your suggestions of community leaders you’d like me to interview. First up, Donna Houser, principal of Anderson High School.
Donna, tell us a little about yourself, where you were raised, your family, and what you enjoy doing when you’re not serving as a school principal. I am from Albuquerque, New Mexico. I am married to my high school sweetheart and we have two wonderful daughters. One of our daughters is a pediatrician in the Phoenix area and is expecting our first grandchild this month and one is an attorney outside of Dallas. I used to love to run but with five foot surgeries under my belt, walking will be my recreation of choice. I love to read and ballet is my passion – watching and appreciating, not performing.
I know that you have served as principal at Anderson High School since 2007. What other schools and positions did you serve in before coming to Anderson? I worked at the University of New Mexico in the Dental Programs as a part-time instructor for nine years when my children were small. I then went on to become a Science teacher in a middle school in Albuquerque and eventually went into administration. When I moved to Austin ten years ago, I joined the Bowie High School staff as an Assistant Principal. I was at Bowie for three years. I was then named the principal of Murchison Middle School and served that community for three years before moving to Anderson High School as the Principal. I am completing my fourth year as the Principal of Anderson High School.
Tell us a little about Anderson. Anderson High School is a comprehensive 5A high school educating approximately 2100 students. Faculty and staff take pride in serving the educational needs of all its students with instruction ranging from special needs to gifted. Rigorous curriculum offerings include Advanced Placement courses, International Baccalaureate courses leading to an IB Diploma or IB Certificate, and many dynamic Career and Technology Education courses. Anderson is a very successful high school. In December, Anderson’s Chinese language program was recognized as a Confucius Classroom Network School and is now a model for other schools in the country. Earlier this month, Anderson was named by the National Center for Educational Achievement (NCEA), a department of ACT, Inc., to its list of 2010 NCEA Higher Performing Schools in Texas. This recognition identifies schools that have consistently outperformed their peers serving similar student populations and recognizes their achievement in bringing more students to college and career readiness than expected. Our school’s football team went to regional play-offs this November. Our marching band made it to state competition for the first time ever. Our wrestling team won their 16th consecutive District title last week. Anderson’s SAT and ACT scores exceed district, state, and national overall average scores year after year. This is just a small sampling of the talent our students exhibit in athletics, fine arts, and academics.
Many of our fine arts classrooms were recently renovated to meet the growing student interest in those courses. We invite members of your church to attend our performances in music, theater, and art. You will not be disappointed!
We have a wonderful parent community who support our programs and school with their advocacy, their hard work and their resources. We have the highest level of PTSA involvement in our vertical team of schools of any schools in Central Texas. We could not have the fine programs at Anderson without the hard work of our parents.
What do you think are the biggest challenges students from this community face? Our student body is quite diverse. Some of our students face challenges associated with coming from homes that are struggling financially. We have recently created a clothes closet and now collect gently used items and gift cards to support students who are in need. Another portion of our student body, those arriving from middle and upper-middle class homes, are stressed as they feel the need to achieve and succeed. Whether this stress comes from parents, from the state’s top 10% law, or is self-imposed, these children strive to be the best and sometimes feel the pressure of it all.
As a community leader, how would you hope to see community organizations like Hillcrest Church address these needs within our own programs? Involvement from outside organizations is greatly appreciated at Anderson High School. When our students see that the neighborhood cares about them and is working in conjunction with school administration to make their campus a better place, then they work harder and appreciate what is before them. I believe that Hillcrest Church already donates their facilities to our Fellowship of Christian Athletes club so that they might meet weekly. That is a tremendous gift to our school, as our facilities are in constant use with extracurricular happenings. I might also suggest that your membership consider participating as speakers in our career chats. You could also partner with our PTSA and support our own parent education programming, our annual Trojan Spirit Fest, and our Resisting Alcohol & Drug (RAD) Committee.
What does the faculty at Anderson most need from parents and other adults in the community? Are there mentoring programs or tutoring programs that need adult volunteers? Anderson does welcome adult volunteers to mentor and tutor students. We have specific staff members who coordinate those programs once the volunteers have been processed by Austin Partners in Education. Many students are transferring into Anderson from schools that do not meet accountability standards. When they arrive at Anderson, they sometimes require interventions to bring them to grade level or they could use an understanding ear as they step into a new school environment.
In addition, Anderson is working to develop career-focused programming. This currently takes the shape of lunchtime career chats. We’d like to expand that effort to create field studies, or internships, with local businesses that welcome our students for an entire semester to learn about different occupations.
Every year for 30 years, Hillcrest Church has welcomed the Anderson staff back to the new school year by holding a lunch for your staff in our gym. One of the things we do is ask the faculty to complete a short form at their table, and we ask if the staff has any prayer requests as the school year begins. I’ve always been touched by the things the staff writes on those forms. As we close this interview, are there any items you’d want us to add to our prayer lists? We always appreciate prayers for our students and staff – that they remain healthy, safe, and focused at the task at hand, which is education. We also ask for your membership to pray for our local school board members and legislators as they make decisions on funding our public schools. We hope they will make decisions that will continue the improvements that are being made for the children of our community and state. With the newest round of budget cuts to education, we will be asking our community to volunteer even more in the school. We will be asking parents and community members to help in the library; copy and collate materials for the teachers; help in out science labs by organizing materials, setting up lab trays, and replenishing stock; become tutors in our Read Naturally classes for our Special Needs students, etc. There is always a need at a large, comprehensive high school.
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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by more than 300 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.
By the time you read this I should be recovering from jetlag on my first day in Indonesia. I’m in Jakarta to teach a course on Christian doctrine at a school for pastors.
You may recall a similar trip to teach in our Baptist seminary in Zambia in 2009. That assignment took me away from the Hillcrest pulpit for 5 Sundays. In this new assignment, I’ll cover 20 hours of classroom time in just 5 days.
On the trip, I will also tour the work of church planting being done by Indonesian Baptists, and I will preach in a couple of churches. I also plan to visit a young couple who surrendered to missions during my service in my previous church in the Cayman Islands. They are now serving in one of the islands among the Indonesian archipelago.
This Sunday as I serve in Jakarta, the president of the Jakarta seminary will be at Hillcrest. Ronny Serworwora is currently earning a PhD at Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth to improve his service to the Baptist family in Indonesia. You’ll enjoy meeting Ronny and his young family this week during Sunday morning activities.
I’ll be helping with Advance International, an organization that uses all-volunteer staff to train national Christian leaders in remote areas of the world. Advance is a recognized contractor of theological education with our International Mission Board, and our New Orleans Seminary provides the accreditation for the classes. I’m grateful to our own Jim McGuire for donating his air miles, which significantly reduced the expenses for this mission trip!
I can identify with Paul who wrote to the Roman congregation, “I appeal to you…to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf” (Romans 15:30, NASB).
So how can you pray?
Pray that no travel issues or health concerns will interfere with my ability to do the work I’ve been asked to do. Pray that my coursework, my sermons, and even my “informal” conversations will be useful tools to encourage and build up believers in the faith. Pray for my wife as she manages on her own for a couple of weeks. Pray that my reports upon returning home will inspire the Hillcrest family to continue the great work of missions support.
I look forward to filling you in upon my return!
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Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 950 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.
Women over 40 have more Facebook friends than their children
“Teenagers now post status updates that have two layers: A bland surface meaning intended for parents, and a deeper, richer significance that can be decoded only by close friends.” (Wired reports)
How to Make Marriage Work: Treat It Like a Business
Broken But Hopeful: Christianity Today reviews 3 redemptive films with Oscar winners in the lead roles: Get Low, Like Dandelion Dust, and Conviction.
"Treadmills of varying sizes for different body types; the bubble bath Jacuzzi with optional candles and music; the masseuse, the psychic, and...separate bathrooms for each gender [with] red fire hydrants for the boys and the demure potted plant and covered seating for the girls." Such are the preparations for the 135th annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. WSJ.
CNBC: Religion, Not Money, Often Motivates Corporate Whistleblowers. “The key, say the lawyers, is that religious people have an anchor to their personal identity that isn’t caught up in their place in the corporate ladder.
Posts at “Get Anchored” since last Tuesday:
“I don't want there to be a God; I don't want the universe to be like that.”
“The more sensationalistic he becomes, the more his books sell”
Drawing the Same Conclusions About Porn
“Faith and family are recurring themes within the musical genre”
LeaderLines: Starting Conversations About God
Winning Ways: Meet Steve Cloud
“A statistically impossible lack of diversity”
Most atheists would have us think they arrived at their view through cool, rational inquiry. But are other factors involved? Consider the candid remarks of contemporary philosopher Thomas Nagel: "I want atheism to be true …. It isn't just that I don't believe in God, and, naturally, hope that I'm right about my belief. It's that I hope there is no God! I don't want there to be a God; I don't want the universe to be like that." Could Nagel's attitude—albeit in a more subtle form—actually be common among atheists?
He adds, “As important as it is to remind atheists of the rational evidence for God, the real problem in many cases is moral and psychological in nature.” Some worthwhile insights here. Read the whole article.
If you’ve had a friend who’s been confused after reading a Bart Erhman book purported to be the latest and definitive scholarship on the unreliability of the Bible, James Emery White does a good job explaining the unreliability of Erhman as a scholar:
Bart Ehrman is the professor at UNC-Chapel Hill who has created a cottage industry of books attempting to tear-down the Christian faith, and belief in the Bible in particular. He's discovered that the more sensationalistic he becomes, the more his books sell. As a result, he long ago abandoned even trying to balance his rather sizable biases with the enormous weight of scholarship that is so heavily arrayed against his claims.
Here's his formula:
1. Pick out an obsolete perspective or, at best, a minority report on some matter supposedly related to the Bible's integrity.
2. Ignore the overwhelming weight of mainstream scholarship against said view. And for goodness sake, don't include it in the book.
3. Present "findings" as hitherto unknown, and in the most salacious manner possible. It helps to throw in that it will surely undermine two-thousand years of faith and history.
4. Screw peer reviews (it wouldn't pass anyway). Go straight to the tabloids, and laugh all the way to the bank.
White highlights two examples of how shallow Ehrman's contentions tend to run. Read the whole thing.
“It’s like I’ve got this ‘other woman’ … and the ‘other woman’ is porn.”
A line from a New Yorker magazine article on how porn is affecting the American male libido. The author of the piece, growing tired of how porn affects his live relationships, finds the value of setting it aside.
Caution: Though it’s in a mainstream publication, this is a pretty blunt piece, so you’ve been warned. But it’s striking to read a secular article that ends up raising the (nearly) same alarms about porn as someone guided by the Bible.
It’s almost as if the Bible’s prohibitions on this subject aren’t motivated by a prudish fear of sex but by a practical desire to protect it like a precious gift. Hmm….
From Over the Rhine’s latest, featuring Lucinda Williams--
Sometimes all we believe
Turns out to be just a scam
Just trying to get my world
Get it undamnedIt’s been my lifelong song
Who’ll take me Just As I Am
Help me to get my world
Get it undamnedI’ve got a thousand lost songs
(Far too many they just got away)
I’ve done a thousand things wrong
(Far too many for me to name)
But I’m not too far gone
To fall
Headlong
Into the arms that love meDon’t count me out just yet
I’m not your little lost lamb
God might still get my world
Get it undamnedI’ve got a thousand lost songs
(Far too many they just got away)
I’ve done a thousand things wrong
(Far too many for me to name)
But I’m not too far gone
To fall
Headlong
Into the arms that love meI’ve got a thousand lost songs
(Far too many they just got away)
I’ve done a thousand things wrong
(Far too many for me to name)
But I’m not too far gone
To fall
Headlong
Into the arms that love meBut I’m not too far gone
To fall
Headlong…
You can hear the entire new album, “The Long Surrender,” at their website.
An examination of the sixty most popular country songs of 2010 reveals that faith and family are recurring themes within the musical genre: Fathers are mentioned in ten of the songs, mothers in seven, and children in five; six of the songs allude to marriage; mentions of prayer, preachers, church, heaven, and God are heard discussed in three songs; and the Bible is named in one. Altogether, twenty-three of the sixty songs include at least one of these themes.
He compares the presence of these things with their absence in pop music and Adult Contemporary. Read the post here.
This past Sunday we looked at Acts 17 to discern a 7-step process to begin believing. You can listen here. The message was aimed primarily at seekers. As leaders, though, we should also review this text for guidance on how to engage our world.
In Acts 17, we read that Paul is waiting in Athens for his friends to catch up with him. As Paul walked around the city, he noted it was “full of idols”—the Greek text could be translated it was “under” idols, it was overwhelmed with them, overrun with them. And verse 16 says he was “greatly distressed” at this reality.
He shared the message of Jesus with anyone who would listen, and soon someone said, “You need to present your case at the Areopagus.” That’s a Greek word that means Mars Hill, and it was a place where the philosophers of ancient Athens gathered to hear various opinions and then discuss them.
The interesting thing is that, although all the idols and wrong ways of understanding God disturbed him, when he was given a chance to speak, he didn’t blast the people for it. He actually used one of the many idols as a reference to start his message, and he even quoted from two of their familiar pagan poets as a way to support what he was trying to say. Here’s his speech:
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
24“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
29“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill. 30In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”
Now, obviously at this point in the speech, he’s starting to turn the conversation to Jesus, but this whole idea of a dead man alive from the grave brought the whole conversation to an end for the time being. Verse 32 says, “When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, ‘We want to hear you again on this subject.’” That was the end of the conversation for that day, but some of them expressed interesting in hearing more later, and verse 33 says some came to believe.
Acts 17 gives us a three-point outline for how to use the surrounding culture to begin conversations about Jesus.
First, know your world.
There’s a guidebook for preaching with the title Between Two Worlds. What a perfect description of anyone who wants to explain the faith to others. You have to know your Bible and you have to know the culture you’re in. Paul knew something about the culture he was in. In Acts 17, you see him walking around Athens, talking with the people, paying attention to their shrines. In fact, he was so well acquainted with their shrines that he could point out the inscription on one of them: “To An Unknown God.”
This also means that he was checking all this out for himself instead of just drawing conclusions about the culture based on what others were saying. That’s a lesson we could learn in outreach to our own culture. Did you notice that Paul quoted not one but two pagan poets that would have been familiar to his listeners?
Paul not only knew his Bible, he knew his world. He knew something about the customs and convictions of the people he was speaking to. You need this, too.
Second, respect your world.
I think it’s interesting that while verse 16 says Paul was deeply disturbed by all the idolatry he saw in Athens, and while verse 18 says that some people derided him and misunderstood him, still when he spoke at Mars Hill, he spoke with great respect. I say that’s interesting because not all of us are as spiritually mature. For a lot of us, if we’re disturbed by what we see and hear, and then if we feel we’re being made fun of or patronized by those around us, it’s hard to speak respectfully. We get defensive and let our conversation be a vent for our frustrations.
Not Paul. He was distressed and yet respectful. He said, “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.” Now, I know that some Bible teachers mistakenly think that Paul was being sarcastic there—maybe to justify their own rudeness! But I don’t think of his words as sarcasm. The man who wrote in 1 Corinthians 13, “Love is not rude,” would not act in rudeness when given the chance to present the gospel. No doubt he points out that they have fulfilled their religious impulses in the wrong way, but he acknowledges their spiritual hunger as a starting point for what he wants to say.
This respect extended to accurately quoting from the idol and from their pagan poets. We Christians can be infamous for spreading urban legends through e-mail instead of checking the facts. We show our respect not only by what we say but also by the accuracy with which we talk about someone else’s views.
Third, inform your world.
In other words, show how God’s Word addresses the issues, questions, and concerns you’ve identified through studying your world. That’s what Paul did. He respectfully started with the spiritual interest represented by all the idols, and he focused on that one admission of mystery and ignorance in the idol with the inscription, “To an unknown God.” And then he said, “Let me tell you about that God.” He told about how God created the world, about how people search for God, and about what God expects of us. As I said earlier, you can tell in verse 31 that he’s just starting to talk with them about Jesus when they cut him off. Verses 31-34 say, “‘For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.’ When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” At that, Paul left the Council. A few men became followers of Paul and believed.”
So, Acts 17 gives us a three-point outline for how to use the surrounding culture to begin conversations about Jesus: Know your world, respect your world, and inform your world. As a result, some will sneer, some will say, “Let’s keep talking,” and some will say, “I’m ready to cross the line of faith.”
Let’s ask God for his blessing as we put Acts 17 into practice in our lives.
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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by more than 300 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.
Steve, 35, graduated from Hardin-Simmons University in 1997 and has been serving in student ministry ever since. Steve’s wife, Amy, is also a Hardin-Simmons graduate. They have 2 girls: Meaghan is almost 10 and Meredith just turned 6. He currently serves on staff at the Highland Baptist Church in Clovis, New Mexico, while also working as academic advisor for Wayland Baptist University in Clovis.
In addition to leading student ministry, Steve has experience leading worship in several settings, notably fronting a praise band for a semester of the Sunday morning gathering of 70 college students at Southcrest Baptist Church in Lubbock. Steve counts missions experience as important, and he’s led teams to other cities and nations to engage in practical activities that share the love of God. In fact, he and Amy just returned from Budapest where they served on the staff of MKR, the Missionary Kids Retreat for the teens of our International Mission Board missionaries.
You can meet Steve and his family this Saturday and Sunday, February 12-13.
For Students (Grades 7-12): On Saturday at 6:30 p.m., students in grades 7-12 can meet the Clouds. Since a free meal is included, tell us you’re coming! Text Paul at 512-789-7304.
For Youth Workers: On Sunday at 8:45 a.m., youth workers and their families are invited to the Summit for a breakfast to meet the Clouds. Again, text Paul at 512-789-7304.
For Parents: Following the Sunday morning service, parents are invited to meet the Clouds in room A-161 at 11:00 a.m. This is for parents of elementary school children as well as for parents of middle school and high school students. This gathering will take place during the Sunday School and Common Ground hour.
For All Members and Supporters of Hillcrest: Following Sunday night classes, all members and supporters of Hillcrest are invited to the auditorium at 6:30 p.m. to meet the Clouds.
For All Members: Please join us at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 16, in room A-161, for a special called business meeting to vote on Steve Cloud as our next Minister to Students.
Absentee ballots will be available during the Sunday meetings, morning and evening, for those who cannot attend the Wednesday business meeting.
This is an exciting weekend for the Hillcrest family! Come be a part of it!
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Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 950 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.
John Tierney at the NYT reported on Jonathan Haidt’s call to his fellow social scientists to include more of a particular kind of minority.
He polled his audience at the San Antonio Convention Center, starting by asking how many considered themselves politically liberal. A sea of hands appeared, and Dr. Haidt estimated that liberals made up 80 percent of the 1,000 psychologists in the ballroom. When he asked for centrists and libertarians, he spotted fewer than three dozen hands. And then, when he asked for conservatives, he counted a grand total of three.
“This is a statistically impossible lack of diversity,” Dr. Haidt concluded, noting polls showing that 40 percent of Americans are conservative and 20 percent are liberal.
…
Dr. Haidt (pronounced height) told the audience that he had been corresponding with a couple of non-liberal graduate students in social psychology whose experiences reminded him of closeted gay students in the 1980s. He quoted — anonymously — from their e-mails describing how they hid their feelings when colleagues made political small talk and jokes predicated on the assumption that everyone was a liberal.
No doubt, anyone in academia with the slightest leanings to views regarded as conservative knows exactly what he’s talking about.
Among other recommendations Haidt proposes his colleagues adopt is a sort of “affirmative action” goal of having 10 percent of their membership be ideologically conservative by 2020.
Hold on there, big fella. You sure you aren’t being too aggressive to get social scientists to actually raise the number of conservatives they count as real colleagues to a whopping ten percent—and in just 10 years? The mind spins.
Elizabeth BernsteiN for the WSJ:
How is it that we find a way to ask a boss for a raise or tell a spouse we hate their outfit, but we end up tongue-tied when we try to say "I love you" to the people who matter most to us?
10am Tuesday is the most stressful time of week: So stop and read “Links to Your World.”
Dad Helping with the Kids: “We women talk a good game about wanting our partners to step up and parent alongside us. But a new study has found that when dads do that, it doesn't necessarily spark domestic bliss.”
Man Struck Playing Real-Life Frogger
An online guide to determine if you’re drinking too much, and advice.
Garbage pile saves suicide jumper. There’s a sermon illustration in here…
Jack LaLanne Pops Back Up After Cool Down
"Credit Card Bait" In-App Purchases Worries Parents
“In a cautionary tale about Americans' (over)reliance on technology, The Sacramento Bee recounts the tragic journey of a California woman and her young son who were lost for five days in California's Death Valley after following their SUV's GPS directions. The boy died.” (story)
Planned Parenthood Aids Pimp’s Underage Sex Ring
Do you know how much an average house sold for in the year you were born? What about the price of a pound of steak? Use this interactive graphic to discover how much inflation has affected prices since your birth year.
Posts at “Get Anchored” since last Tuesday:
“What is a church's economic worth to the community it serves?”
To God be the glory!
We now have seven NOMAPs, and I’m thrilled to see people signing up as team members!
What’s a NOMAP, you ask?
It’s a brainstorm of Herb Ingram designed to get us reaching out to the neighborhoods surrounding our church facility. A NOMAP is a “Neighborhood Outreach Mission Action Point.” (Can you guess that Herb was in the military?)
Wherever you live in the Greater Austin area, you need to be building relationships with your neighbors in hopes of involving them with your church family. But in addition, we need to open our eyes to the neighborhoods immediately surrounding the church facility. The neighborhoods surrounding our campus are not just designed for us to drive through on the way to our activities. No, we need to see what God sees in these ZIP code areas, and he sees people precious to him.
NOMAPs will help us to this end.
NOMAPs are mission teams formed to do ministry/mission projects in neighborhoods around our church campus utilizing member's homes as a base of operations. This is intentional ministry outside the walls of our church facility as we engage in periodic mission action projects in neighborhoods. Mission teams will decide on their own the scope and frequency of what they want to do in the neighborhood. I’ve added some suggested NOMAP projects at the end of this article.
Our seven NOMAP sites are currently recruiting team members to do mission projects based at their home during 2011. Here are the names:
Debbie Marett - 78727 - 573-6532 - debbie.marett@yahoo.com
Karl & Jami Dismukes - 78729 - 331-6007 - jamidismukes@gmail.com
Lewis & Kathy Aven - 78731 - 350-2890 - laven@austin.rr.com
Paul & Marina Rusch - 78750 - 431-1756 - mrusch@alphafitness.com
Marilyn Monroe - 78757 - 413-8489 - chef_about_town@yahoo.com
Bruce & Jean Murray - 78758 - 836-3422 - bmm007@sbcglobal.net
Dan & Pat Stivers - 78759 - 345-5223 - longhornchef@gmail.com
I’ve already received a report from Dan and Pat Stivers that 16 people have signed up for their team! Thanks to Lisa Livingston, Mike & Kathy Wiederkehr, Katie Cline, Mike & Margaret Miller, Curtis & Michelle Roberts, Sheila Foster, Jennifer Adams, Jennifer Moreno., Barbara Fowler, Karen & Dan Raulie, Gayla Raulie, and Emily Slaughter! I look forward to enlistment reports from the other teams, too!
For more information, or to join one of the NOMAP teams, contact one of the NOMAP leaders by phone or email (listed above) or visit the NOMAP leaders in the gym following this Sunday’s worship service. You can also sign up this Sunday using the communication card. NOMAP teams will be holding planning meetings soon, so don’t delay!
What a great way to get to know other church members and serve the city God loves at the same time!
Tom
P.S., I asked Herb to give us some ideas of possible NOMAP projects. His reply:
Pretty much anything we do at Hillcrest could be downsized and imported into a branch location. For example: If we do a musical production, smaller groups from that production could be enlisted to do a version of it at a neighborhood event. If we do a children's sports camp, a version of that could be done in a neighborhood, or at a park. Instead of a churchwide picnic with games, we could hold neighborhood picnics and games. If we have a live nativity, we could have a mini-nativity at our NOMAP sites. If we have a pumpkin party at the church, we could also have neighborhood pumpkin parties. The list goes on. Parenting classes - fianancial manangement classes, Beth Moore studies . . .
Meet and Treat Boxes, (Halloween) Church hands out boxes that fold up from a sheet with printed info all over them. Church members take them, assemble and put candy in them, and drop them in treat bags.
Grill hotdogs on the driveway and pass out to neighbors as they come along with children getting treats, (Halloween)
National Night out hosting. Provide refreshments and enlist special guests (police or fire personnel.
Neighborhood food drive for the Austin Food Bank. (Anytime)
Neighborhood bbq, (Anytime)
Life needs classes on parenting, finances, marriage. (anytime)
Fire pit gatherings on the driveway (Fall/Winter)
Neighborhood directory creation, (Anytime)
Children’s party, (Anytime)
Neighborhood car wash, (Anytime)
Yardwork for neighbors who have surgery or become physically unable for a time.
Help fix up or do odd jobs for elderly neighbors.
Extreme Bakeover. Make stuff and give to neighbors with a message about Hillcrest, (Anytime)
Musical Groups from Hillcrest (Bells, Praise Band, Orchestra, Choir, Herb & Spices) doing concerts in front yard, or at local park/pavilion, (Anytime)
Backyard Bible Clubs/Sport Camps (Summer)
Neighborhood Anchor Course Study (Anytime)
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Each Thursday I post my article from "LeaderLines," an e-newsletter for church leaders read by more than 300 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "LeaderLines," sign up here.
What is the dollar value of a marriage saved? A suicide averted? An addiction conquered? A teenager taught right from wrong?
In short: What is a church's economic worth to the community it serves?
Last summer, a University of Pennsylvania professor and a national secular research group based in Center City took up that seemingly unanswerable question. With a list they devised of 54 value categories, they attempted to calculate the economic "halo effect" of a dozen religious congregations in Philadelphia - 10 Protestant churches, a Catholic parish, and a synagogue.
...
The grand total for the 12 congregations: $50,577,098 in annual economic benefits.
...
Some valuations were drawn from existing academic research, such as $19,600 for pastoral counseling that prevents a suicide and $18,000 for an averted divorce. Cnaan himself arrived at other values - for example, $375 on "teaching pro-social values" to a young child.
"Look, it's quite possible that someone will say we calculated all wrong" in some categories, he said. But, he added, he welcomed scrutiny.
If you consider yourself a seeker after God, you should seriously consider if you're ready to meet the God you say you want to know.
I remember an experience on a fishing trip from many years ago. I must have been only 9 or 10 when it happened, but I still remember how weak my knees got and how hard my heart pounded.
My uncle had baited my line and dropped it over the railing of a walkway that ran along a Gulf coast causeway in Pensacola, Florida. The bridge had been decommissioned for anything but foot traffic, and it was a rickety old thing. The wooden planks were weather-beaten and rough under my bare feet, and the whole contraption shuddered with every footfall. My uncle had walked ahead of me, trolling his line over the handrail as he went. Soon he was a hundred yards away, and it was quiet enough to hear the rhythmic slapping of the seawater upon the pylons twenty feet below.
Little boys love to "go fishing," but they can quickly get bored without any action on the line. I had fallen into that bored state, dully letting my bait sway upon the surface of the rolling swells.
Suddenly, a huge fish emerged from the murky waters and shot toward my line. Fearing that such a magnificent fish would pull me off that old wooden walkway and into the wild, deep sea far below, I panicked and yanked my line out of the water. The fish disappeared into the deep as quickly as it had appeared, and I was left alone again with unsteady legs and a thumping heart.
While many of the people I've talked to are on a sincere spiritual search, others merely "troll" for God. They have no anticipation of finding what they say they're searching for. If God's presence actually welled up from out of the mysterious deep, they would abandon their search for fear of being pulled away and overwhelmed.
What will you do when what you've been searching for actually responds?
This Sunday we’ll look at a seven-stage process that many go through as they move from unbelief to belief. You can see this process at work among the philosophers who listened to Paul at Mars Hill (Acts 17:16-34). If you’re a believer, the study will help you relate to your non-believing friends. And if you’re exploring Christianity, the study will help you make up your mind. Join us @ 10!
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Each Wednesday I post my article from "Winning Ways," an e-newsletter that goes out to over 950 subscribers. If you want to subscribe to "Winning Ways," sign up here.
More Kids Can Work a Smart Phone Than Tie Their Shoes
The Church Secretary is the Most Powerful Person in the Church
8 to save, 8 to shred: Determining which documents are worth keeping
Turn Down the Thermostat, Drop a Few Pounds?
John Piper: Saying What You Believe Is Clearer Than Saying “Calvinist”: The “five points” of Calvinism, beautifully and briefly presented.
China might force adults to regularly visit mom and dad: Under proposed law, parents could sue offspring who don't see them often enough.
For Funerals Too Far, Mourners Gather on the Web
IKEA designs their stores like a maze to make the customer disorientated and thus more likely to pick up strategically placed impulse purchases according to a study.
Posts at “Get Anchored” since last Tuesday:
LeaderLines: Update on Our Youth Minister Search
The Real Reason for Hope During Illness
