Yet another trip through my always overactive, spinning brain . . .
I can't help but think that the Carrie Prejean/Miss California controversy is a look into the future of what awaits those who take a stand against gay marriage. I generally don't like to be alarmist and I know that most Christian ministries that make big statements about what is coming follow them up with an address where you can send THEM money to fight the encroaching evil, but it still seems like a well-worn strategy of attacking mercilessly those who deviate from the accepted PC response so that no one will dare utter a deviation again without also fearing persecution. It usually works. We'll see what happens here.
I returned from India a week and a half ago and I'm still excited about what I see happening. It seems as though God is using us in some ways to come alongside the believers there and pray for them and encourage them. We are not the ones doing the evangelism or development work, but they are. It is hard work and there is a reason that Northern India has been so resistant to the gospel all these years. We are trying to go back in October and are working on dates. If you want to go, let me know.
This Sunday, my church, Gateway Baptist, celebrates our 25th anniversary. I've been there for 9 1/2 years of the 25, so I have seen a lot of the recent history. I've been the pastor for almost 4 years after serving as associate pastor the first part of my time here. It is a great church with a lot of love for one another and a real desire to follow Jesus. It is a privilege to be a part of this church and to be able to pastor here. God has been really good to us and I look forward to celebrating what God has done this past weekend.
Matt Capps has a really good post on Christianized Therapeutic Deism. He quotes from David Wells from his 2007 plenary address at the Evangelical Theological Society. Good stuff. Check it out.
About a month ago, I felt convicted about the lack of intentional prayer in my church. I felt that it was important that our leadership begin to seek God for the ministry of our church. So, I sent an email to those involved in ministry leadership at Gateway and I asked them to commit to praying for the ministry of our church for one hour per week. One hour out of 168 spent in prayer for the ministry of our church. We had around 40 people agree to do so and since then I have seen a real difference in our church. My level of peace has greatly increased and I have seen a much greater excitement about what God is doing. Also, there have been several salvations over the past month from both people who are coming to our church as well as from the personal ministry of our folks out in the community. And, we have seen a huge basketball ministry develop and grow in our parking lot with a good number of our folks engaging the kids coming. God seems to be moving and I think that He is calling us to pray and ask Him for His power. Who knew?
I am working on a New Believer's Study as well as discipleship material that fits with the vision/mission of our church, which is Loving God, Loving People . . . To the Ends of the Earth. I taught a summary of this in India at a conference that we were speaking at and am trying to get it written up to give to every person who comes into our church. It will be in the form of a small booklet. I am pretty excited about it. The New Believer's Study will cover issues like the Kingdom of God, gospel/salvation, baptism, the Holy Spirit, assurance, the local church, the Lord's Supper, the Bible, sanctification, and what happens when we die. We have a lot of young people and new believers coming in, including children, so I think that this will be helpful. The discipleship material will base our Christian growth around the relational flow of the Great Commandment (Loving God & People) and the Great Commission (Acts 1:8 - receive power from the Holy Spirit to be Christ's witness all over the world, starting at home to the ends of the earth). So, this will occupy a lot of my writing emphasis over the next few weeks. I hope to have it finished by the beginning of June.
Along those lines, many churchgoers and pastors are confused about what defines spiritual maturity. According to Barna research, the answers are all over the place. Since Christianity has been around for 2,000 years, shouldn't we have a perspective on what it means to be spiritually mature? The lack of discipleship in our churches is killing us. Here is a starting point: Spiritual maturity maturity means that we look like Jesus. We follow Him and obey Him. His life becomes our life. The fruit of the Spirit is evident in us because that is the character of Christ. Just a thought.
That's enough for now, I guess. Lots to do today. I'm beginning our Summer Bible Study on Developing Intimacy With Christ tonight. It goes for seven weeks. I am praying that God will draw us closer to Him and refresh us as we focus on Him. I'm looking forward to it.
In re: Carrie Prejean, I am not sure exactly what has "happened" to her save from the situation elevating her from z-list celeb to maybe q-list celeb. Yes, she has been ridiculed in some circles, yet she has also been elevated in others. This may be very cynical of me, but isn't the point of these "beauty contest" to get attention for oneself and to increase one's general celebrity/find career opportunities? As such, wasn't she actually a phenomenal success? Can any of us even name one other contestant? Did we know anything about Prejean prior to this situation?
I think that the bottom line is that she has enhanced her career situation rather than having suffered from the event.
(I had some links to include, but it appears that comments are set not to allow HTML).
BTW--I don't want my tone (which is often difficult to construe in comments) to sounds argumentative--it is just that this has been my basic response to the situation. Indeed, I am sufficiently cynical to think that she knew that her statements would bring attention onto her, which, again, was the whole point of the process.
Posted by: Steven Taylor | May 13, 2009 at 01:31 PM
Hey--the New Believers Study is a GREAT idea!
I wish more Churches did this.
Posted by: Mich | May 13, 2009 at 02:02 PM
The whole Carrie Prejean thing is a great example of why we do not need "heroes" to champion the cause of marriage. We need to share the gospel with others and as such present the holy standard of God in marriage and the message of the grace and healing of Christ.
Were we really naive enough to try and find a champion in a person in a beauty contest where over 90% of the contestants have had plastic surgery? (Not to mention the not so modest pictures linked to the internet).
I am beginning to believe (and I could be wrong) that the way to impact our society for Christ will be in grass roots proclamation of God's truth instead of having someone champion our first amendment right and then become embroiled in scandal. No one is perfect, hence the reason why we do not need celebrity endorsement but to talk with our neighbors at our house over dinner.
Posted by: Jeff Moody | May 13, 2009 at 03:30 PM
Alan,
You should have your book published for all to have a study guide.
wayne
Posted by: Wayne Smith | May 13, 2009 at 07:02 PM
Wayne,
Right now, it will go to my church for free That's likely where it will stay. But, I'll be better off for it and I think that it will be helpful for the church as well.
Jeff M.,
I don't think that Carie Prejean is trying to do evangelism nor should we use her as a poster child for affecting the gay community. I'm not a big fan of beauty contests but I also don't like attacking people who share their opinions. No, I don't see her as a role model either, but I also think that what she said should not have been attacked the way it was. But, that is life in the public eye, I guess.
Steven,
I think that it ended up benefitting her, no doubt. But, I don't think that this was planned or orchestrated in any way. It will benefit her because she is beautiful and people will want her to be a spokesperson for their cause. All of that is terribly misguided, in my opinion. But, the next person who receives this treatment might not have as many opportunities as Miss Prejean. It is the attacking behavior against her that I find dangerous. I'm not really thinking about whether or not she benefitted from it in the long run.
Posted by: Alan Cross | May 13, 2009 at 08:44 PM
Alan,
My argument is not against Carrie Prejean herself (though it sounds that way, sorry about that) but the way organizations like NOM immediately made her a spokesperson. We tend to think we are going to stand against gay marriage if we get that one guy or girl to champion our cause.
My argument is that we do not need heroes. Ted Haggard, Carrie Prejean, James Dobson and whoever else will ultimately disappoint. We must impact our community with the gospel, hence my argument that we impact society with the truth of God, not a flawed spokesperson.
Posted by: Jeff Moody | May 14, 2009 at 08:34 AM
Alan - can you stand one more comment on Prejean. I (respectfully) disagree with your conclusion. I think the problem is not her conviction, but the fact that she lacks both intellect and integrity. If we are going to "speak out against" any moral issue, we must do so intelligently and with integrity, otherwise, we are only hurting the "cause". I was embarrassed to read that she was on "Focus on the Family". Conservatives and Christians shoot themselves in the foot by aligning with questionable spokespersons. Can anyone honestly say that Sarah Palin was NOT one major reason that McCain lost the election? She, too, lacked both intelligence and integrity on the issues!
Posted by: Doug | May 14, 2009 at 09:33 AM
Jeff and Doug,
You aren't saying exactly the same thing, but I'll lump you together because I think that my perspective will answer what both of you are saying.
I don't like celebrity spokespersons for "causes" that relate to the Christian life at all. They are all flawed, by the way. Just like I am flawed. She might lack intellect and integrity, but she was not in the Miss USA pageant for those reasons. She was not trying to be a flawless spokesperson. She was asked a question and she shared her honest opinion, as unintelligent and as flawed as it might have been. I happened to agree with her overall perspective on gay marriage, but she gave a poor answer to the question about what states should do She shared her personal opinion on the issue and did not address how states should handle. It was a bad question all around, actually.
At any rate, all that I am addressing here is that someone should not be attacked for sharing their opinion. I don't think that Perez Hilton should be attacked for sharing his opinion on gay marriage. That is his opinion. Carrie Prejean shared hers. Disagree with it. Debate it. But, don't attack the woman.
Similarly, we are all tired of trotting out every celebrity that happens to agree with us on an issue to be our spokesperson. Prejean is definitely flawed and is not a good example I agree, Sarah Palin ended up being a disaster after she got off of her initial talking points. But, is it right to attack them in the media because they have different views than those doing the attacking. No. That is all that I am saying and I see a pattern developing here that we had better get used to. If you disagree with the PC position on gay marriage, you will be persecuted. We just need to be ready for that.
The integrity and validity of Prejean as a spokesperson or a strategy on how to change America through personal, relational evangelism is divergent from what I was initially saying. I don't disagree with what either of you have promoted. But, my point deals with the fairness of attacking someone for expressing their opinion the way that Prejean was attacked.
Now, this paragraph was four times longer than my initial statement about Carrie Prejean. Hopefully, I have done a better job here of explaining what I meant than I did in the initial paragraph. :)
Posted by: Alan Cross | May 14, 2009 at 01:09 PM
Yes, I understand your point now and agree.
Posted by: Jeff Moody | May 14, 2009 at 03:23 PM
Wow. I went back and read my comment and I seem to have had trouble hitting the "period" key on my keyboard. Massive run-on sentences were the result. The punctuation was terrible. I only say that because I know that Jeff is getting a master's in English and my butchering of the language is shameful.
Thankfully, blog comments are not closely scrutinized for their literary value.
Posted by: Alan Cross | May 14, 2009 at 03:46 PM
They will be for the book I am writing about you.
"Alan Cross: Used by God Despite Bad Grammar."
Posted by: Jeff Moody | May 14, 2009 at 03:57 PM