Leadership and Social Media

 

  Facebook…Twitter…Instagram…Pinterest….

As leaders we know (or should know) that social media gives us a larger platform to influence others. But it can also give us a larger platform on which to stumble miserably. To help us avoid those stumbles, I’m passing along to you some “don’ts” that James Emery White recently posted for his ministry leaders.

Don’t post anything that could potentially undermine your reputation or the church’s reputation for Christ-like character. Whether you’re on staff or a volunteer, you are never off-duty as a representative of this church. Never. Even online. Think twice before linking to a popular video or favoriting a website that has sketchy material. Be careful about how you, um, display your exercise of Christian freedoms. (Some alcohol-related posts make me wonder if I should send a cab.) When you share your political convictions, do so in a respectful way. Avoid the temptation to add to the inflammatory snark that passes for social discourse. “When you post something,” White warned, “you are putting it out for public consumption. Make sure it won’t cause indigestion.”

Don’t post anything that would potentially undermine the maturity and gravitas accompanying your leadership role. White wrote, “If you are a leader, people WILL Google you, search you, find you on Twitter and Facebook…and then make an evaluation. Does your online presence support your leadership role, or undermine it? Does it breed confidence in you as a teacher, as someone who is wise and mature?”

Don’t retweet from, or link to, any person or source you are not absolutely 100% willing to endorse. Before you retweet or share a quote you think is funny or thought-provoking, be sure you support other things the author or organization believes, too. Why? Because those you influence will surely assume you do.

Don’t overdo it. It undermines your leadership in the eyes of the average busy person who wonders why you’re not working very hard. And besides, if you’re constantly posting, it’s likely you’re not giving enough thought to what you want to say. “Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut” (Proverbs 10:19, NLT).

You’re a leader, so leverage social media as just one more effective tool to influence others. But you’re a leader, so think twice about how you’re posting on your never-off-duty time.

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“Everyone has to live with and possibly listen to people who see the world differently”

Emma Green, assistant managing editor for The Atlantic, believes it is insufficient to see “steadily increasing support for gay marriage” when “attitudes toward gay sex don't seem to have changed much at all.”

She offered a solution she must not have regarded as ironic: “Everyone has to live with and possibly listen to people who see the world differently.”

Ah, but she didn’t mean anyone should live with and possibly listen to those who see the world differently from her:

Everyone has to live with and possibly listen to people who see the world differently—and, for that matter, have sex in different ways. This seems most important in the sphere of politics, in which pluralism is mostly about rights and peaceful coexistence. But there's a deeper kind of tolerance that seems like it may still be long in coming for gay Americans, one in which sexuality isn't framed in terms of sin—just as another way of being.

One-way tolerance isn’t really tolerance.

ICYMI Thursday

In Case You Missed It:


Teacher Asks Students To Split Into 2 Groups To Simulate Ideal Class Size


Did you know that IBM had a corporate songbook?


The original Gone With The Wind script had some alternatives to the famous “Frankly my dear” line.


Mark Regnerus reports on belief in the resurrection of the dead. Overall, 37 percent of Americans believe there will be a bodily resurrection of the dead; 75 percent of evangelicals in particular.


“Americans are so used to thinking of the Middle East as Muslims surrounding an island of Jews that it rarely occurs to them that there might be some Christians in the birthplace of Christianity.” #WeAreN


“There are at least four types of Christians who often get cast as evangelicals who really are not evangelicals, if that term has any meaning.” Baylor’s Thomas Kidd explains.


Interesting summary of the options for biblically-faithful Christians to relate to culture. Some argue for withdrawal into faith-keeping communities, while others argue for the "Jeremiah option." 

Sermon Illustration Alert: Kissing Scars

Avoid These Four Staff Infections

A Chicago author who co-wrote the book “How to Survive the Bulls of Pamplona” was gored in this year’s bull run. There’s a lesson here for church leaders.

I’m sure you know of the annual tradition in Pamplona, Spain. They release bulls into a narrow street and men who want to demonstrate their bravery run ahead of the bulls. After a decade’s experience at this, 35 year-old Bill Hillman wrote a Kindle book on how to survive the ritual. But this year the bull won.

Hillman’s injuries weren’t serious, just humiliating.

As I said, there’s a lesson here for church leaders. We’re in danger of suffering the perils we teach others to avoid.

You've probably heard of a "staph" infection. It often enters the body through a minor cut, but ends up causing serious complications. A leadership team can develop some "infections" that result in serious complications, too.

Each year in the Fall I take a moment in one of our Tuesday staff meetings to go over the four "staff infections." Last Tuesday we reviewed the list again. It's not just paid leaders who need the annual reminder, though. Let's make sure none of us in Hillcrest leadership suffer from the following plagues:

Immorality. Our personal failures aren't as "personal" as we'd wish. 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. Of course, this includes sexual immorality, but it also includes misuse of funds and church property, gossip, abuse of alcohol, and crossing any other line God has drawn in his Word.

Incompetence. Leadership teams are plagued by this infection when team members have no interest in improving their performance. Symptoms include inattention to standards, constant excuses for failure to perform, 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." When ministers leave unopened the gift God has given them, laziness replaces vigor, routine ruts replace creativity, and the safety of sameness replaces the venture of faith. Instead, 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.

To be honest, none of us always agrees with those who lead us. But when this devolves into disrespect and open resistance, a staff infection has invaded the Body.

But insubordination can happen in our relationship with team members, not just in our relationship with team leaders. Remember, the Bible calls us to mutual submission. Ephesians 5:21 says, "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." Ministry teams suffer when members allow personal differences to remain unresolved. Ministry teams suffer when colleagues do not support each other in conversations with other church members.

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 had the right antibiotic for the infection of ingratitude. He 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!

__________________________________________

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it will arrive in your inbox each Thursday

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Mission Work Across the Ocean and Across the Aisle

During the last two weeks I was on a teaching trip in East Asia. Just like past trips, I expect I learned as much from the church leaders as they learned from me.

I went with an organization which brings theological training to under-resourced church leaders around the world. The organization partners with personnel from our International Mission Board. Students who complete the 2-year course receive a Pastoral Ministry Certificate from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. I taught one of the required classes for this certificate.

I’m sure you’ve heard about the Chinese “house church” movement. My class in Shanghai was made up of preachers and musicians from a single association of house churches. Every Sunday about 50 workers in this association lead gatherings in believer’s homes around the city. Most workers will travel to four or more homes each Sunday to lead services. All total, this one association serves about 10,000 worshippers each week.

Are You Greeting Guests? You don’t have to cross the ocean to do missions work; you just have to cross the aisle. As our worship service wrapped up this Sunday, I noticed one of our members engaged in conversation a young couple. The member called me over and introduced me to the first-time visitors. This is a vital ministry that all of us can perform! When you see an unfamiliar face in your area, smile and say, “Hi, I’m ____. How long have you been attending?” By asking the question in this way, you don’t have to worry if you’re introducing yourself to a member or a visitor. If they’re a member you haven’t met before, you can get acquainted with one more member of Hillcrest family. If they answer, “This is my first time,” introduce them to your circle of friends and offer to escort them to the Connections Table in the MPC.

The Quest and the Battle. Every story we care to hear involves two things: a worthy quest and a daring battle. Life with your Lord is very much like that: it includes both a quest that compels us forward and a battle against forces that hold us back. This Sunday we’re going to look at Colossians 3:1-11 to find out what we must seek and what we must fight. Join us at 10!

God Heals Families!

Every day I pass a billboard with the words “Major to Minor.”

It’s an ad for a hospital ER, promising professional care for whatever medical incident you have, from stroke to stitches.

Hillcrest wants to be a billboard promoting another kind of care. We want our community to know that God heals families.

We are a “billboard ad” to this truth not only through our church’s teaching but also through our personal testimonies. Families at Hillcrest don’t pretend to be flawless specimens of ideal family life. Rather, we are each under the treatment of a skilled Physician who is bringing our relationships to health. We recommend his care to others.

And God’s healing care is available “major to minor.” Whether your family is coming apart at the seams or just suffering the stress common to any family, God can mend things.

For the next two Sundays, we’ll have a special focus in our church called “Mend: God Heals Families.” Guest speaker Heath Peloquin will lead us to claim the promise found in the last verse of the Old Testament: “He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents” (Malachi 4:6).

Our worship service starts at 10:00 a.m. and runs for an hour. We then encourage people to stay for our small-group ministry for a second hour. This is where adults and youth and children can each gather with others in their age-range and build friendships as they explore the Bible together.

Help us spread the word about our “Mend” event! Just forward the link to this post to a friend with an invitation to attend. Or join our “social media blitz” September 1-6 with the tools you can find at www.HillcrestAustin.org/MendBlitz.

Whether our relationship issues are major or minor, God heals families! That promise deserves to be on a billboard. Be that billboard for someone today.

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Upcoming Activities

The Fall Semester of the Hillcrest Institute is Starting! Learn more about our short-term classes and sign up at www.HillcrestAustin.info/discipleship.

Get Anchored! If you're exploring Christianity, or if you want to better explain it to others, The Anchor Course can help. The "Get Anchored" Dinner will introduce you to this 8-week study through a book I've written called The Anchor Course: Exploring Christianity Together. Learn more about the course at our website.

ICYMI Thursday

Thankfully this is not my experience among Hillcrest’s deacons:

In Case You Missed It:

"Never marry someone who lacks a good sense of humor. She will need it. It is a challenge to live intimately with your best-informed critic." And other Keillor advice here. 

“Reporters in The Times UK's newsroom are working under a constant soundtrack of (artificial) typewriter clatter. It's an experiment to "increase energy levels," and for a generation of reporters who grew up on word processors, it's probably torture. Times journalists walked into the newsroom today to find loudspeakers on podiums broadcasting the long-forgotten sound of newsprint being hammered out on mechanical typewriters. The Woodward and Bernstein soundtrack starts out with one quiet typewriter, then grows in number and volume as writers' print deadline approaches.” (story)

 

When Prayer Makes Anxiety Worse: The Atlantic reports on several new studies that show that praying might help alleviate worries—but only if the person has a secure relationship with God.

 

Agnes Howard explains why the real selfies were taken by Puritans.

 

At death, here’s a proposal to compost your body, turning it into soil-building material for nearby farms and community gardens, so people literally become part of the city they once lived in. Would you have this done yourself?

 

Really grateful for those asking pesky questions about where #IceBucketChallenge donations go. We support research looking for a cure to ALS, but we don’t want our dollars going to experiments on embryonic stem cells. Learn more at our ERLC website.

 

Does a college education weaken faith? The Atlantic says that’s a myth.

Join Our Social Media Blitz

God heals families!

We’re going to claim that promise during a special 2-Sunday emphasis called “Mend.” We’re going to spread that promise through a social media blitz.

“Mend” takes place on September 7 and 14. Guest speaker Heath Peloquin will lead us to claim the promise found in the last verse of the Old Testament: “He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents” (Malachi 4:6).

That’s a promise worth sharing as well. Let’s generate a “social media blitz” to spread the word that God heals families. Sometime between Monday and Saturday, September 1-6, use the following tools. Most of these items will be available online starting September 1 at www.HillcrestAustin.org/MendBlitz.

Postcards: Your Bible study group can send postcards to prospects and absentees encouraging them to attend “Mend.”

Impact cards: These are the size of business cards, small enough for a shirt pocket or a purse pocket. Pick up a stack on Sunday or in the church office, and hand them out during the week.

Evite card: You can email an “evite” to your friends from our website.

Text invitation: We’ll have an image promoting “Mend” you can save among the photos on your mobile device. Text this image to friends with an invitation to join you.

“Share” a Facebook Image: We’ll have images promoting “Mend” that you can share with your Facebook friends.

Forward “Winning Ways”: Most of you receive this devotional from me in your email inbox each Wednesday. The one we send September 3 will be designed for you to forward to friends. Add an invitation for them to join you.

Your chance to join this “social media blitz” is for a limited time. Just the six days of Monday through Saturday, September 1-6. Don’t think of it as some kind of sales campaign. Instead, think of it as spreading some wonderful news: God heals families! It’s a promise worth sharing as well as claiming.

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Upcoming Activities

The Fall Semester of the Hillcrest Institute is Starting! Learn more about our short-term classes and sign up at www.HillcrestAustin.info/discipleship.

Get Anchored! If you're exploring Christianity, or if you want to better explain it to others, The Anchor Course can help. The "Get Anchored" Dinner will introduce you to this 8-week study through a book I've written called The Anchor Course: Exploring Christianity Together. Learn more about the course at our website.

3:16

Some of the most significant Bible verses are at the third chapter and sixteenth verse of a Bible book. Have you ever noticed this?

I’m not saying there’s anything mystical about this. It’s just an intriguing point.

John 3:16 is probably the most famous scripture reference. Read it and you learn the message we should embrace and then share with others: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Read Colossians 3:16 and you learn the importance of worship: “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.”

Read 1 John 3:16 and you discover the nature of Christian fellowship: “Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”

Read 2 Timothy 3:16 and you find out why Bible study is so important: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”

Some creative person could probably create a discipleship course based upon the “3:16” passages. It’s all there. At our church, we use the acronym “HILL” to remember the four actions that disciples should develop to perfection. Notice how the “3:16” passages correspond:

Honor the Lord of Life (Colossians 3:16)

Invite Your World to Life (John 3:16)

Love the Fellowship for Life (1 John 3:16)

Live the Word in Life (2 Timothy 3:16)

In our Sunday morning “Back to Basics” series, we’ve been working through this acronym. This Sunday we’ll work through that last line. Following Jesus includes cherishing and obeying the Word of God. Join us @ 10!

ICYMI Thursday

 

In Case You Missed It:

A Christian woman forced to flee Mosul describes the terror there. This Irish Times article is worth your while.

 

Study Finds Blame Now Fastest Human Reflex

 

Your Whole Foods Tote Could Be More Harmful Than a Plastic Bag

 

How to Stop Fighting on Facebook: Dealing with divisive issues on social media

 

You’ve noticed that people are, like, ending their sentences with an inflection that makes it sound like a question? Where did that begin?

 

The "Left Behind" view is popular in America, but there is a more historic take.

 

Sermon Illustration Alert: “Never Let a Good Scar Go to Waste”

 

“Liberal sexual beliefs work, in the long run, to make fewer Christians.” From a report on Mark Regnerus’ recent study. Mark is a professor at UT: We hosted him at a “Winning Ways” Banquet last year.

 

How an Extremist Buddhist Network Is Sowing Hatred Across Asia. Wait: “Extremist?” “Hatred?” Those words don’t match the West’s romantic version of Buddhism.

 

Lots being written about the launch of WWI these days. C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien both served on the battlefield of that war.  In the WSJ piece, “Of Hobbits, Narnia and Postwar Belief,” Loconte discusses how their faith and their novels were shaped by this.

Encouraging Encouragement

His parents called him Joseph, but his friends had another name for him.

Barnabas.

The nickname means "Son of Encouragement."  People looked at Joseph and said, "If Encouragement itself had a son, Joseph's a chip off the old block!"  Every time we meet him in the pages of Scripture, he's cheering someone on.

We are commanded to “build one another up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11), “spur one another on” (Hebrews 10:24), “encourage the fainthearted” (1 Thessalonians 5:14), and to do so “daily” (Hebrews 13:3).

So what does it take to be a Barnabas?

First, seek out new or unconnected church members.  Barnabas did this in Acts 9:26-27.  When Paul quit persecuting the believers and joined them instead, the other believers were slow to receive him.  It was Barnabas who took him in.  When was the last Sunday you stepped outside the tight circle of those you already know at Hillcrest to befriend someone new?

Second, offer special attention to new believers. Barnabas did this in Acts 11:22-23.  People today are coming to Christ with little church background or knowledge of the Bible.  Do you look for ways to cheer them on?

Third, encourage Christian workers to keep going. Barnabas did this in Acts 11:23.  Not only did he build up the new believers in Antioch, but he strengthened the Christians who had led them to the Lord.  When was the last time you thanked someone for serving at Hillcrest?

Fourth, employ uninvolved kingdom citizens. Barnabas did this in Acts 11:25-26.  When he looked at the new Christians in Antioch, he said, "I need someone to help me -- and I know just the person!"  He traveled to Tarsus to get Paul, and he introduced him to what would become Paul's lifelong ministry to Gentiles.  Do you bring out the full potential of those you know?

Fifth, encourage those who need a new opportunity after failure. Barnabas did this in Acts 15:36-41.  John Mark, an immature young man, had deserted Paul and Barnabas in the middle of their first missionary journey.  As they planned their second trip, Barnabas wanted to give the young man a second chance.  How quickly do you give up on people?

If you're grateful for those who have encouraged you, learn to be a Barnabas to others!  This Sunday, August 17, we'll dig a little deeper into these five challenging qualities of Barnabas.  Join us @ 10!

ICYMI Thursday

In case you missed it:

I’d encourage you to read this article on the value of pessimism, but you probably won’t, so I won’t get my hopes up.

 

“If private religious organizations have the right to define their communities in terms of doctrine, does this First Amendment right no longer apply to doctrines linked to sex?” GetRelgion’s TMatt asks a critical question for our Times.

 

From the “No, Duh” Department: Studies show that men regard women who pay attention to them as more attractive while women aren’t necessarily attracted to men who pay attention to them.

 

Your Edgy Billboard Is My Kid’s Nightmare

 

Do churches in the American South still maintain an implicit policy against interracial marriage? Romesh Wijesooriaya knows the answer first-hand. 

 

New technology has always received complaints that its ruining us. In 1858, People Said the Telegraph Was ‘Too Fast for the Truth.’

 

It's healthier to see love as a journey two people undertake rather than as a union of two people who are destined to be together.

 

"Women love to invade guy spaces – but men avoid gal spaces." David Murrow explains why the design choices of our church buildings will either draw men or repel men.

 

Which form of contemporary Christianity is best suited to living out the time of exile that is fast approaching American Christians? Rod Dreher started a fascinating online discussion off a Carl Truman article. 

 

“Most people in the West would be surprised by the answer to the question: who are the most persecuted people in the world? According to the International Society for Human Rights, a secular group with members in 38 states worldwide, 80 per cent of all acts of religious discrimination in the world today are directed at Christians.” The Independent

 

Chilling: “An Australian couple rented a Thai woman’s womb, and in due course, she delivered twins. But one of the babies has Down syndrome, and that just wouldn’t do. So, they simply left the disabled baby behind with no means of support except the love of the surrogate mother.”

ICYMI Thursday

 

In case you missed it:

I want a T-Shirt from the Liberal Redskins (“Home of the Angry Red!”) but their online store probably isn’t prepared for the orders about to come in.

 

An Austin smoke shop is taking bids for a “drunk hipster soul.” It was given to them by a customer in exchange for a lighter, and now sits in a jar on their counter.

 

Losing Korean baseball team replaces missing fans with cheering robots.

 

“Do a barrel roll,” “Zerg rush,” “Google in 1998,” and other search terms that generate unusual results in a Google search.

 

David Murray says there are 14 kinds of spiritual seekers. “It would help ‘seekers’ if we acknowledged they exist and that there are many different kinds of them with many different and challenging needs.”

 

First Things Pete Spiliakos says conservatives send a “mixed message” on immigration and the way forward is to make sure that “internal immigration enforcement (especially universal job verification and a visa tracking system) is put in place first and that, after such a system is institutionalized, long-standing unauthorized immigrants get both legalized status and a relatively quick path to U.S. citizenship."

ICYMI Thursday

This was from the Hillcrest Picnic and Baptism 2013.
We’re doing it again this Sunday!
Learn more here.  

In case you missed it:

Everyone In Middle East Given Own Country In 317,000,000-State Solution

 

A tree planted in memory of Beatle George Harrison is being destroyed by…beetles.

 

You need The Nostalgia Machine today.

 

“We force the servers to grovel for tidbits left out of the kindness of customers' hearts, and we extort customers into paying their salaries. No matter where you go and who you talk to, it seems like everyone hates America's tipping culture.” Hear hear.

 

Sermon Illustration Alert: If you’re a preacher and you can’t find a way to use this story in a sermon, turn in your ordination card. In “The Chameleon,” the New Yorker’s David Grann reports on a French serial impostor who has taken on the identities of the missing or dead, including the long-lost son of a Texan family.

 

“‘The Dark Night Project,’ is an effort to document, analyze, and publicize accounts of the adverse effects of contemplative practices.” Adverse effects? Of meditation? “In late January this year, Time magazine featured a cover story on ‘the mindful revolution,’ an account of the extent to which mindfulness meditation has diffused into the largest sectors of modern society….What the cover story did not address are what might be called the revolution's ‘dirty laundry.’” The “dirty laundry” includes meditation practitioners who were “fairly out of commission, fairly impaired for between six months [and] more than 20 years.” After all, meditation isn’t about learning to “get in the zone” but about discovering things such as life’s impermanence and the self’s non-existence. Interesting perspective.

 

Anderson Cooper tries getting through a typical day using a schizophrenia simulator.

ICYMI Thursday

In case you missed it:

8 of the Absolute Worst Times to Take a Selfie

 

Kathryn Gin Lum of Aeon does a pretty good job with her overview of the concept of hell—and why it’s not going away any time soon.

 

I bet you didn’t know some Southerners moved to Brazil after the Civil War instead of endure Yankee occupation. Enclaves of descendents still exist.

 

Is man-made climate change “settled science”? And who benefits from overblown climate change forecasts? An interview with Lord Christopher Monckton.

 

OZY reports on Swiss “Carriers of the Secret” or “Fire-Cutters” who have been healing burns for centuries with prayers they don’t charge for. Doctors are baffled.  

 

“Millennial politics is simple, really. Young people support big government, unless it costs any more money. They're for smaller government, unless budget cuts scratch a program they've heard of. They'd like Washington to fix everything, just so long as it doesn't run anything. That's all from a new Reason Foundation poll surveying 2,000 young adults between the ages of 18 and 29. Millennials' political views are, at best, in a stage of constant metamorphosis and, at worst, "totally incoherent," as Dylan Matthews puts it.” The Atlantic

 

“If a brother or sister has cancer, diabetes, or a stroke, we pray that God will give the doctors and nurses wisdom and skill to relieve their suffering. We realize there is an important place for caring for their bodies and souls, for their medical needs—which are beyond the church's competence—and for their relationship with God. And yet, when it comes to mental illness, we still don't really believe that it is a medical problem.” Michael Horton explains how ignorance about mental illness is based in poor theology.

On His Mind, In His Heart, The Apple of His Eye, From the Foundation of the World

Christ died for a people he would bring to himself. We were on his mind, in his heart, the apple of his eye, from the foundation of the world. As we sometimes sing (emphasis added):

The church's one foundation
is Jesus Christ her Lord;
she is his new creation
by water and the Word.
From heaven he came and sought her
to be his holy bride;
with his own blood he bought her,
and for her life he died.

John Piper explains five results that come to pastors and their congregations when gripped by this conviction:

Knowing and experiencing the reality of definite atonement affects us with deeper gratitude. We feel more thankfulness for a gift given to us in particular, rather than feeling like it was given to no specific people and we happened to pick it up.

Knowing and experiencing the reality of definite atonement affects us with greater assurance. We feel more secure in God’s hands when we know that, before we believed or even existed, God had us in view when he planned to pay with his blood, not only for a free offer of salvation but also for our actual regeneration and calling and faith and justification and sanctification and glorification—that it was all secured forever for us in particular.

Knowing and experiencing the reality of definite atonement affects us with sweeter fellowship with God. A pastor may love all the women in his church. But his wife feels a sweeter affection for him because he chose her particularly out of all the other women, and made great sacrifices to make sure he would have her—not because he offered himself to all women and she accepted, but because he sought her in particular and sacrificed for her. If we do not know that God chose us as his Son’s “wife” and made great sacrifices for us in particular and wooed us and wanted us in a special way, our experience of the personal sweetness of his love will not be the same.

Knowing and experiencing the reality of definite atonement affects us with stronger affections in worship. To look at the cross and know that this love was not only for the sake of an offer of salvation to all (which it is), but more, was the length to which God would go so that I, in particular, would be drawn into the new covenant—that is the bedrock of joy in worship….When a church is faithfully and regularly taught that they are the definite and particular objects of God’s “great love” (Eph. 2:4), owing to nothing in them, the intensity of their worship will grow ever deeper.

Knowing and experiencing the reality of definite atonement affects us with more love for people and greater courage and sacrifice in witness and service. When a profound sense of undeserved, particular, atoning love from God combines with the unshakable security of being purchased—from eternity, for eternity—then we are more deeply freed from the selfish greed and fear that hinder love. Love is laying down one’s conveniences, and even one’s life, for the good of others, especially their eternal good. The more undeservingly secure we are, the more we will be humbled to count others more significant than ourselves, and the more fearless we will be to risk our lives for their greatest good.

From the closing chapter of the book, From Heaven He Came and Sought Her: Definite Atonement in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective, Various Authors

ICYMI Thursday

Nothing says "Happily Ever After" than
wedding photos with a tornado in the background.

 

Sermon Illustration Alert: A Chicago author who co-wrote the book “How to Survive the Bulls of Pamplona” was gored Wednesday morning during the Pamplona bull run

 

Booze Causes 10 Percent of Working-Age U.S. Deaths

 

The Time headline is: “What Starbucks Tells Employees About Breastfeeding Customers.” My guess is they tell their employees not to. But maybe I should read the article.

 

British phrases Americans should start using right away:

 

Kirsten Powers: “Liberals who obsessed over President Bush's abuses of executive power are suspiciously silent now, or worse, defend the same behavior they found abhorrent in a Republican.”

 

“Some people are asking whether society’s concern for the constitutional rights of people with mental illness has led to their abandonment.” WaPo

New Adult Groups and other Hillcrest Happenings

Several new Common Ground groups are starting this summer. All of these will begin on July 20 in the MPC unless otherwise noted.

Newt and Judy Hamlin begin a group for grandparents.

Paul and Marina Rusch begin a group for parents of middle schoolers.

Charles and Jan Dunn have already begun a group for parents of children in the later years of high school and college.

On August 17, David and Linda Green will begin a group for young couples “BC” (before children).

Diane and I begin a “newcomers” group on July 20. In addition to reaching out to newcomers, we’ll invite worship service attendees who haven’t yet connected to a small group. After 8-10 weeks in our group, participants will be guided to join the Sunday School class or Common Ground group that’s best for them.

No one is being asked to leave their existing group to participate in these new formations. But if you’re interested in joining any of these new tables or if you have questions, contact me. Be in prayer for the continuing growth of our Bible study ministry!

Church Picnic and Baptism. Join the Hillcrest Family for a picnic and outdoor baptism! On July 27, we'll gather for worship at our normal time (10am) and place (Steck Avenue). Then at 11am, instead of gathering for small group Bible study, grab some lunch and bring it to City Park! We have a section of picnic tables reserved until 3pm. You can learn more at our website, where you’ll find a video explaining baptism and a slide show of last year’s picnic.

“God Is Closer Than You Think.” This week our Sunday morning sermon series continues with a message called “Finding God in Your Crisis.” In 2 Kings 6, when Elisha was surrounded by enemy forces, his servant was in a panic. The prophet prayed for his servant: “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” The prayer was answered, and the servant saw they were protected by angelic forces in “chariots of fire.” Join us this week so you’ll be ready to look for God at work in your next crisis.

Discover Hillcrest. This Sunday I host my “Discover Hillcrest” class for those ready to join and for those just checking out the church. It’s a one-time class that meets for one hour in the MPC after the morning service.

“The Supreme Court has assumed such overwhelming national, unilateral authority”

Baylor prof Thomas Kidd on the Hobby Lobby case:

The fact that four of the justices would not extend even such a modest grant of religious liberty is sobering. It reveals again why perhaps the most important issue in presidential politics is the question of Supreme Court appointments. The Supreme Court has assumed such overwhelming national, unilateral authority on issues such as religious liberty, that the switch of just one justice can reverse the status of a basic freedom in America today. This is not a good system, and one wishes that on this and many other issues we could return to an actual federal system in which states and localities had leeway to craft their own policies according to local sensibilities, instead of those of five unelected justices. But we are where we are.

ICYMI Thursday

Not sure why you’d want to advertize
how slow your church services are…

 

In case you missed it:

Tim Howard: Futbol’s most famous saver knows the Savior.

 

Utah man sent to jail for fighting—over church seating

 

Why Younger Evangelicals May Feel Uneasy In A Patriotic Church Service

 

ESPN’s Jon Mooallem wants you to meet the pastor who has baptized 66 professional umpires, “calling them safe in the only way that matters.”

 

Here’s a woman who set her apartment on fire to kill a spider

 

The average American reads 19 minutes a day