DownshoreDrift

Remembering Katrina

Five years ago, Hurricane Katrina was bearing down on the Gulf Coast and the City of New Orleans. My homeland was in the crosshairs of a Cat 5 monster that would change the lives of everyone associated with that region forever. My mom and dad lived in Picayune, MS, my hometown, which lay about 30 miles northeast of Waveland, MS and 40 miles northwest of New Orleans. The eye of Katrina passed right over Picayune and devastated the small town on the Louisiana-Mississippi state line. My Mamaw was in a nursing home 20 miles southeast of Picayune in Slidell, Louisiana. Living in Montgomery, Alabama, I could not get to them.  Our fourth child, Caelan, had just been born a few weeks earlier, and I was just about to become the pastor of our church, Gateway Baptist. My wife's grandmother had just died and we were returning from her funeral on Saturday night, August 27. That is the first I heard about Katrina.

I wrote about the events from Monday, August 29 to September 6, 2005 on my blog for the one year anniversary of Katrina in nine installments.   It makes for pretty good reading, I think. A lot happened that week. Katrina hit on Monday. I paced the floor and freaked out all day long. I lost final contact with my family around 4pm that day. Four trees had fallen into my Dad's house - the house I grew up in. He was disabled and was not able to take care of things very well. My Mom and her husband fared better, but I had lost contact with them as well. I had no idea what had happened to my Mamaw. Tuesday found me at an elder's meeting telling our church leadership that I had to go and help my family. They agreed and decided to send a team with me. Wednesday and Thursday were days of preparation with the Red Cross so that we could get emergency credentials and permission to enter the area. We collected supplies, money, people, and transportation. A team of 30 gathered Thursday night to load the trucks and get ready to go. 6 of us left Montgomery on Friday morning and we ended up in Ocean Spring, Mississippi setting up and running a shelter for 100 people. The other 25 arrived that night. By Saturday, I was on my way to Picayune with a quick diversion into the war zone that was Slidell to find my Mamaw. I got to her right before she was going to be evacuated to unforeseen parts and took her with me back to Picayune. She stayed with my Mom and the next day, my uncle and cousins came and took her back to Little Rock, where she would live until she died last December. I then met up with my friends who had all come back home to help their families and they in turn, helped me get the four trees off my Dad's house and lay plywood and roofing materials over the huge holes in the roof. We worked on that roof for about 13 hours on Monday. On Tuesday, I continued to work on the house, and on Wednesday, nine days after Katrina, I brought my father back home with me to Montgomery. It was a harrowing time that has left a mark on me. So much devastation and pain.

Over the past 5 years, thousands upon thousands of volunteers went down to the coast to help people there rebuild. Our church was a part of that. A couple in our church moved down there and stared Pathfinder Mission in Waveland, Mississippi, Ground Zero so to speak, and helped over 600 families rebuild their homes and their lives. We sent many missions teams down and joined with churches all over America by investing our lives in those communities. God has worked in powerful ways and cities have been rebuilt and restored.

New Orleans has revived in amazing ways. So much was lost, but so much has been regained. People have a way of pulling together in the midst of tragedy, and that has happened here. I think that New Orleanians value their unique culture and heritage even more now than they did before, if that is possible. Although I have been away for many years, I am proud to be a New Orleanian as well, when I see how the people there have pulled together to rebuild the city they love. The Saints winning the Super Bowl this past year showed the heart of the city and that it was all so much more than a game for them - for us.

I told my church at the time that if the leadership of Gateway did not lead them to get involved and help the people down there, they should never forgive us. It was a moral imperative and an opportunity that I praise God that we did not miss. So often, we look back in time with regrets and wish that we would have taken action in a situation. In the moment, we are often blind to what was really going on. this case, I am so glad that we did not miss our moment to be the hands and feet of Jesus. It was a privilege to serve alongside volunteers from all over America and to see amazing beauty come out of devastating tragedy.

Seriously, read my chronicles of the week of Katrina:  http://www.downshoredrift.com/downshoredrift/katrina_remembrances/

 

It Really Is OK to NOT Be Pro-Muslim

As I watch the continuing furor over the Ground-Zero Mosque in New York City, I am amazed at how many people in America have a problem with people having an opinion. Let me be clear up front: Muslims have a Constitutional right to build a mosque wherever they want. I defend their right to do so and if anyone were truly trying to keep them from building the mosque near Ground Zero through legal means, I would oppose that action. However, I don't have a problem with people thinking that it is a bad idea and that it is insensitive. I also don't have a problem with people defending the Muslims who want to build the mosque. The level of debate in America is at a serious low when we are attacking people for having opinions on things.  This is not a post about whether or not Muslims should build the mosque near Ground Zero. Rather, this is a post about how it really is okay to have a discussion about it without losing our minds.

Let me get my cards out on the table here. I am not pro-Muslim. Why would I be? I am pro-Christian. Of course, Muslims have the right to practice their religion in America and I defend that right. But, I am not an advocate of their religion. I disagree with it. I think that it is absolutely wrong because I believe in absolute truth and the exclusivity of Christ. But, I defend their right to practice their religion and I am not offended that they think that I am an infidel. Do you see the difference?  You can disagree with someone and their religion and actually believe that it is completely wrong while simultaneously defending their right to practice it and valuing them as a person. This is a subtlety lost on most in America today. Liberals are scared to death that if anyone disagrees with anything that they are going to somehow take away the rights of those they disagree with. Conservatives are scared to death that some non-traditional group is going to take over America any moment now. I think that both are wrong. Perhaps it really is possible to disagree with someone or with a belief system vehemently while not desiring to destroy the person or strip them of their rights.

Spiritual Questions . . . Spiritual Conversations

Today, I preached a message about the Gospel and the Biblical Story related to the universal questions that all people ask. Even though we disagree on the answers to these questions, the truth is, we all ask them all the time. And, when we ask these questions, we are actually engaging in spiritual conversations. We just don't realize it because we have been conditioned to think that we are to separate our spiritual lives from our public or secular lives. In reality, everything either points us to God or to the abyss that exists between us and Him. This blog is dedicated to chronicling the fact that everything in life is either bringing us closer to God or pushing us away from Him and that He is at work all the time in the world around us. So, I thought that I'd be a lot more active here trying to point out the spiritual nature of the public conversations that we are having in the world. Over the past several months, I have been more active on Twitter (see right column of the blog) than I have been in actually writing for the blog. I thought that I'd expand my Twittering over here and give more commentary of the issues of the day so that I can demonstrate how we are actually having spiritual conversations when we are discussing politics, social issues, war and peace, the economy, and how we are to best live life on the this planet.

But, I digress.  Here are the four questions (tell me if you disagree):

1. Who/What is God or Ultimate Reality?

2. Who/What is Man?  What is our purpose?

3. What has gone wrong with the world?

4. How do we fix it?

I looked at questions #1 and #2 today and will explore questions #3 and #4 next week.  My premise is that everyone agrees on these four questions, but we radically disagree on the answers to them. If you have a conversation on any of these four questions, you are actually having a spiritual conversation, because these are the things that relate to the spirit of man and the purpose of the universe. So, a discussion on health care or education is not just a political or social policy discussion.  It is ultimately a spiritual discussion and what you believe about ultimate reality, man's origin and purpose, what is wrong with the world, and how you fix it, will tell you how you engage in these discussions.  This is why the rhetoric is so high and why people argue so passionately. We are not arguing about trivial things. Our very existence in on the line (or so we think).

What if we looked at the events of the day from this perspective?  Could we cut through the bombastic yelling and arguments and actually see that we are working from completely different worldviews?  Just because you are a Christian does not mean that you are working from a Christian/Biblical framework. The world's perspective is pervasive and has seeped into everything, even theology and the church.  But, what if we could peel the layers back and look at the issues of the day with discernment and see more clearly where each side was coming from? 

I don't pretend to be able to tell everyone what to think on every issue, but I do think that the Bible has something to say about most everything.  We might disagree on exactly what that is, but at least we can give it a shot.  More to come this week . . .

Anne Rice Rejects Christianity: What Can We Learn?

A couple of years ago, I was in an airport and I saw a book by Anne Rice about Jesus. I assumed that it was just another gnostic take on the life of Christ, considering that she had written all of those vampire novels. Later, I found out that she actually had become a Christian and had developed a sincere relationship with Jesus.

Today, I have learned that Anne Rice has rejected Christianity.  She maintains that she has not rejected Christ, but she is leaving the church behind because she refuses to be "anti-gay ... anti-feminist," and "anti-artificial birth birth control."

She also said that "In the name of ... Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen." You can read the article here.

Dr. Russell Moore from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has some great things to say about this. He says that even though Anne Rice is rejecting the church, the church should not reject her. He says that she might just be going through a dark night of the soul and that she needs our love and compassion as she wrestles with the complexities of her faith. I agree with what he says 100% and I recommend his perspective.

What Anne Rice is going through is a common thing. It is very difficult to look at the beauty of Christ and then turn and look at the failures and hypocrisy of the church and want to be involved with the church for very long. People keep looking for the perfect church and they become disappointed when they can't find it. It isn't there. The church is so messy. It is full of people who sin, fall short of God's glory, become judgmental, and wrap their own insecurities in a form of self-righteousness that is repulsive. But, the church is real because the church is us. It reflects our own very human struggle with self-righteousness, judgmentalism, hypocrisy, jealousy, and vindictiveness. I am not saying that any of that is right, but it is what it is. And, it is in that place that God chooses to reveal Himself through the suffering Savior.

The church, on its best day, is a group of people who are trying seriously to follow the commands of Christ and be the people that He wants us to be. You can't divorce the person and teachings of Jesus from the church. You can't say that you want to follow Jesus but have nothing to do with the church. The church is a mess. I get that. I am not defending its problems. But, unless we see the problems of the church as our own problems - yours and mine, then we will never understand what it is that God is doing in the world. He is taking a bunch of messed up, sinful, judgmental, broken people, and He is showing them grace and mercy and redemption and is forming them into a community of people who reflect His character and love in a broken world - falling down and getting back up again. 

There are days when I want to be done with the church. I get frustrated and critical and wish that everyone would do what they are supposed to do. But, then I look at my own heart and see that in those moments, I am being judgmental and harsh. I am not reflecting the love of Christ. To denounce the Church, the ones that Christ died for, does not make you loving to homosexuals, or women, or the oppressed. It is to divorce yourself from the heart of God because the religious need a Savior just as much as the irreligious do and to judge them is to do the same as what you are denouncing.

I have a lot of compassion for Anne Rice. She is me, so to speak. I am just as capable of throwing up my hands and walking away from the whole thing because the church does not fit my view of what it should be. But, if God is sticking with His people, warts and all, who am I to set myself up as judge over the very people that Christ died for. Maybe this mess of people trying to follow God and live life together, maybe this is exactly what we need to meet with Jesus and grow in Him. Eugene Peterson says that and I have come to think that he is right.

I get what Anne Rice is saying. I really do. It is not just the homosexual that needs to change. We all do. We are all sinful and in desperate need of a Savior. When the people who make up the church realizes that and runs to Jesus, it is what it is supposed to be. But, we must remember that God is merciful enough to love the church, and because of that, so should we.  

The Effects of the Big Sort: The Polarization of America and the Breakup of the Church

One of the most groundbreaking books that I have read in some time has been Bill Bishop's The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America Is Tearing Us Apart. As someone involved in church leadership and community development approaches, this book is very enlightening.  The main premise of this book, is that primarily since 1965, and especially since 1990, Americans have become increasingly mobile and have been sorting themselves geographically according to their personal preferences and lifestyle choices - not just because of economic necessity. The book is full of statistics to back it up and I have no intention of reprinting them all here. But, what I would like to do is to think through the implications of Bishop's thesis on the Christian life and church leadership over the next several posts.

While this is not a religious book, Bishop devotes chapter 7 (Religion: The Missionary and the Megachurch) to the emergence of the Homogenous Unit Principle in the rise of the megachurch.  The idea presented in this book is that affluence has allowed Americans to do what they want, and what they want to do is to be with people like themselves - even in church.  The more that people are educated and the more resources that they have, the more that they segregate themselves according to their personal preferences. So, you have the rise of cities like San Francisco that has become full of cultural creatives. In 1976, 44 percent of San Franciscans voted for the Republican candidate for president, Gerald Ford. In 2004, only 15 percent voted for George W. Bush. As time has gone by, liberal creatives have pushed out conservative value-oriented voters and those groups have moved to areas where they are able to live with people more like themselves.  These groupings have happened all over the country. People have done this in every walk of life, even in churches, as megachurches have arisen to cater to the desires of people who have similar socio-economic and value orientations.  Just like the denziens of San Francisco move their because of the cultural values, people choose churches based not on theological or denominational distinctives, but because of cultural values.

The more that people gather together with people like themselves in larger groups, the more safety that they can secure, or so the thought goes.  A reviewer on Amazon was nice enough to relay Bishop's interview with Republican strategist Matthew Dowd, who explained the thinking behind the 2004 re-election strategy of George W. Bush:

Dowd understood that "American communities were 'becoming very homogeneous'. He believed that to a large degree, this clustering was defensive, the general reaction to a society, a country, and a world that were largely beyond an individual's control or understanding. For generations, people had used their clubs, their trust in a national government, and long-established religious denominations to make sense of the world. But those old institutions no longer provided a safe harbor. 'What I think has happened,' Dowd told me (Bishop) early in 2005, 'is the general anxiety the country feels is building. We're no longer anchored'." Bishop decodes this further, saying "Unsurpassed prosperity had enriched Americans---and it had loosened long established social moorings. Americans were scrambling to find a secure place, to make a secure place...Most Americans have done that by seeking out(or perhaps gravitating toward) those who share their lifeworlds---made up of old, fundamental differences such as race, class, gender, and age, but also, now more than ever, personal tastes, beliefs, styles, opinions, and values."

So, we are no longer necessarily experiencing "White Flight." Rather, we are experiencing "Middle-Class flight," "Liberal Flight," "Conservative Flight," "Religious Flight," "Educated Flight," etc., etc. People want to be with people like themselves. So, they are moving en masse to communities where they can share the same lifestyle as their neighbors. As Bishop says, "Americans joined communities, churches, and political parties in a manner that was almost tribal."

What are the implications of this for the church?  Is this thesis even true?  As Bishop states in Chapter 7, many used this to appeal to people on the basis of their preferences or lifestyles when it came to the discipline of church growth. The church itself is becoming more tribal as churches form around personal preferences and the place that congregants are in their life. So, you have "niche" churches based on lifestyle choices begin to emerge. Is this a good thing?  Personally, I don't think so. The Body of Christ is not to be divided based on economics, interests, race, or personal preference. We are to be one in Christ, not in our hobbies or political persuasions. But, this clustering is happening faster now than ever. Smaller, community based churches are giving way to larger churches based on the preferences of people.

Bishop's research is also showing that people are not being shaped by their beliefs as much as they are being shaped by their geography, at least eventually. The more that like-minded people cluster together, the more that their beliefs harden and keep them from interacting with others who are different from them.  People are finding their safety and security in an ever-changing world by grouping together with people that they share common lifestyles with and America is becoming ever more polarized.

But, what if there was a community where people different in many ways could come together and exhibit a unity that would be shocking to a world that was breaking apart?  Could it be that Jesus' command for His followers to love one another in a way that the world would know that they were His (John 13:34-35) - could it be that this is exactly what America needs right now?  I think so, and I am going to be exploring this thought more throughout the week. 

CNBC: America Is Now Officially In Decline

This is really interesting. David Murrin, co-founder of Emergent Asset Management hedge fund manager, in an interview on CNBC, is predicting that the demise of the American Empire has already begun and that China is rapidly rising. Watch the video here.  Here are some experts from the article:

On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama signed into law health care legislation that expands health coverage for the poor, imposes new taxes on the rich and forbids insurance practices such as refusing coverage to those with pre-existing conditions.

In their expansionary phase, empires force people to go out, seek risks and fend for themselves, Murrin said, reminding of the dismantling of the British empire after the war, when the National Health Service, which ensures universal health coverage in Britain, was created.

"This (empire decline) is actually a dead-set course that societies get into and it will happen very quickly I'm afraid," he told "Squawk Box Europe."

"As you start to build a system it becomes cohesive because of its success… the fractures in the American system I think are more apparent than ever," Murrin added.

China's rise will be much faster than most people anticipate as the country's military prowess increases, he said.

"We all know there's going to be a change, the surprise will be the pace of that change," Murrin said, noting that "all empires when they decline they underestimate their challengers."

The peak for commodities will be reached somewhere between 2020 and 2025 and it's the period before that that must be watched, as China seems much more willing to take risks than Western countries, he predicted.

What will the world be like with an America in decline and a China on the rise? It is interesting that as Christianity is declining in America in many ways, it is exploding in China. By 2050, China will have a very large Christian influence, at the rate of current growth. How will that change China's stance in the world? What does this mean for the global church? I am 35 right now. That means that I will see all of this in my lifetime and my children will grow up in a very different world than I have lived in.

While I love America as my home country, I do not weep over her lost power. America is doing this to herself, as all empires throughout history have. You get to the point that your power and wealth is so great that you forget what got you there and you just want to have everything handed to you. That is where America is right now and it is the tide of history that is washing us out. It is almost as though an empire's success is its eventual undoing.

As Christians, may we not tie ourselves so closely to America and instead be tied to the Kingdom of God, realizing that we have brothers and sisters all over the world. Let us pray for America, but not that she regain her power. Let us pray that America's people cry out to God.

Similarities Between Health Care Reform and the #GCR of Southern Baptists

America is bracing for a vote this weekend on Health Care Reform. No one really knows what is in the bill and the entire process is complicated beyond belief. If you ask most Americans the question, "Do we need health care reform?", most people would say yes. I think that we need some level of reform to a system that sees premiums continue to go up and up while coverage continues to go down. It is not good for small businesses or for families to continue to pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars a month for health insurance that still does not cover everything, does not accept prior conditions, and that is often not transferrable. Who doesn't think that the system needs fixing on some level while medical costs continue to skyrocket? I have yet to meet anyone.

However, just because you think that the system needs attention because of skyrocketing costs does not mean that you accept the proposals that the Democrats are putting forward. They seem to have taken the fact that most Americans want some level of health care reform to mean that Americans want what they are putting forward, and if they don't, well, they just don't know what's good for them.  I am not going to debate health care reform here. The problem with the bill (whatever it is), is that it is impossible for people to actually know what it says or what it means. Even members of Congress do not fully know what they are voting for or against. The cable news pundits pick up on one detail and say that that is what health care reform is all about. Then, opposing pundits pick up on another detail and try to persuade the public based on their position. In reality, both sides might be right and both sides might be wrong. It is impossible to tell because the attempt at reform is complicated to the point of making it unintelligible. Still, we are going to have a vote and no matter how you feel about the particulars, President Obama and the Democrats are making this about whether or not you want health care reform, which completely misses the point, because you might actually want health care reform, but you don't want THIS kind of health care reform. Republicans did the same thing on the Iraq War, by the way, by appealing to American's desire to be protected from terrorists, so I am not being partisan here.

Which brings me to the Great Commission Resurgence (GCR) among Southern Baptists. Few would disagree with the fact that our churches, state conventions, and denominational entities are in trouble. Few would argue that declining baptism rates and giving is not a sign of difficult times ahead. Former SBC president Frank Page predicted that around 20,000 SBC churches would close their doors in the next couple of decades if we keep going the way that we are going because of the graying of our denomination (we currently have around 45,000 churches). Everyone agrees that there is a crisis going on. Who would argue that at this point?

So, if you ask the average Southern Baptist pastor or layperson, "Do we need a Great Commission Resurgence?", is anyone really going to say no? Would anyone argue that we need a resurgence of a passion for the lost and the mission of God in our churches? That would be foolish. But, just because we agree that we need a GCR, that doesn't mean that we agree on what a GCR should look like. I think that in this situation, taking a top-down approach to the renewal of the SBC does more harm than good.  The changes that have been proposed end up falling far short of what is needed and valuable capital and good will that has been built up through calling for reform is going to be wasted.  What happens in 5-10 years when we find ourselves in the same situation? Will we call for another GCR? Any GCR that does not begin with gospel renewal in the local church is ultimately going to wash out far short of what anyone would consider a success. If we say that we are incapable of bringing renewal to local churches and all that we can do is tinker with denominational entities, then that is the crux of our problem and sidestepping it doesn't change a thing.

When Southern Baptists meet in Orlando in June, the GCR (whatever it is) will be put forward before the delegates as a vote for the Great Commission itself. Watch the speeches given in support of it. "Do you believe in the Great Commission? Good, I do too. Vote for this. If you vote against it, you are voting AGAINST the Great Commission." That is not entirely honest, but it is what will happen and it will likely pass no matter what the GCR actually is because the right people will say that this is about the Great Commission and the masses will vote on the basis of which personality is for or against it.  That is how things work at SBC Annual Meetings and people know it.

Here is the truth: Unless we see real grass-roots gospel renewal in our churches, no amount of denominational tinkering is going to make a difference. As a matter of fact, it might make matters worse because it will give the illusion of change when our churches continue to decline.  Does that mean that we can't be more efficient on a national level? Of course not. There are always things that we can do to make the mission that God has called us to more accessible for each of us. But, unless local churches begin to lead the way, or unless denominational entities begin to really see themselves as servants to the local church, then we will not see a GCR just like current attempts at health care reform are unlikely to make the difference that people really want to see nationally.  Ironically, we already have a system in place in our state conventions and local associations that we can work through to try and bring about gospel renewal in our churches. Creating more systems will do little. The main problem is not our organization (although there is much that could be better about it). The main problem is that we need a heart change in our desire to follow Jesus instead of our own desires. Restructuring without a corresponding heart change will only move problems around to different places while ultimately leaving us in the same position as we started. 

So, how do you effect gospel renewal in local churches from a denominational perspective? What could the GCR Task Force have done if they had been thinking grassroots instead of top-down? How could state conventions and local associations play a vital role in this instead of being seen as competitors? The GCR took the microphone last year and had the chance to really call for sweeping change that almost everyone would have bought into, but they went for the easier approach of forced reorganization. What if they had done it differently?

I'll talk about what those changes could have looked like in a future post, but if you want a preview, read what I wrote last August at Missioscapes.com.

Still Grieving Over Haiti - What Do We Do Now?

Someone asked me today if I had recovered from my trip to Haiti yet. I told them that I had recovered physically, but emotionally and spiritually, I was still very affected. I cannot get the vision of the Haitian people out of my minds. The children, the men and women, the injured, the sick, the hungry, the scared. So many have lost family members and loved ones. Homes destroyed. Futures wrecked. They were a poor people to begin with, but they are a beautiful people. The worth of a person or a nation is not found in how much money they have, but rather in what God thinks of them. God loves them, I know that to be true. Do we love them, or have we moved on?

I am trying to figure out what I am supposed to do next. What are any of us supposed to do? The big organizations and the media tell us to give money. But, then you find out that what has been given has not made it to Haiti yet. It is on its way, but there is so much that has to be done to move the massive amounts of supplies that are needed in an organized way. There are so many obstacles in the way. I get that. But, it does not change the fact that people are suffering right now. Rainy season starts in March. Do you realize how many people are sleeping outside? How many children? No, just giving more money is not the answer. That is the easy thing to do. Cut a check for $100 and send it to one of the big disaster relief organizations and then go on with your life. That soothes the conscience, but the reality is that it is not filling the bellies of the children who are going to bed hungry again tonight - a bed that consists of some blankets piled on concrete in the open, or maybe under a sheet that is stretched out like a tent. The truth is that we do need to give money - but we also need teams of people to go and distribute the food and medicine and help with providing supplies to put up some temporary structures to keep people out of the rain and sun. We can't just feel good about giving some money. We also need people to go in teams and do the work of helping people and proclaiming Jesus.

I got to be on a team like that at the end of last month when I went to Haiti. They are Helping Hands Foreign Missions. They are not very large, but they are being the hands and feet of Jesus. They are bringing the Kingdom of God and Jesus said that the Kingdom was like a mustard seed, or yeast, or a treasure hidden in a field. Little children find it. I am finding that bigger is not always better in this type of thing. We just need to help people. Helping Hands is doing exactly that. If you want to invest in an organization that is truly impacting people in Haiti right now, I highly encourage you to support what they are doing. They are going back on March 8 and need people to join them either then or in the subsequent weeks. If you can go to Haiti, you should, and you should do it through this group.

Here is their blog from the weeks that they spent in Haiti. Read about how they ministered Christ and stepped into places of suffering. The blog is really full of some incredible stories of God working by putting this team exactly where they needed to be to minister to and feed and care for hundreds and hundreds of people. Watch this video that aired on CBS News in Atlanta about the work of Helping Hands in Haiti. Pray about what you can do and be the hands and feet of Jesus in a country that is suffering greatly.

  

Miracles in Haiti: Multiplying Food and Supplies Among Baptist Medical Teams

The following story from Baptist Press perfectly illustrates the point that I was making in my post earlier today. If we follow the Lord into hard places and show up, we can trust Him to multiply our provision and do miracles that astound us. If we try to work everything out in our own strength ahead of time, then we only have our own strength to depend on. We need to depend on God way more in the area of disaster relief. There is a way of Jesus here. Read my post from this morning and then read this report of God's miracle working power among a Baptist medical team that arrived a week after the earthquake:

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (BP)--Six state Southern Baptist Disaster Relief medical teams are among the first Baptists to minister in Haiti since the deadly 7.0 earthquake on Jan. 12.

SBDR medical volunteers from Arkansas and North Carolina have already come and gone, and Kentucky and Mississippi teams arrived on Monday, Feb. 1. Florida and South Carolina medical volunteers are due to arrive in Port-Au-Prince on Wednesday, Feb. 3.

The Mississippi and Kentucky teams wasted no time after arriving on Monday, turning a small library into a pharmacy and treating 550 patients. The Mississippi team is operating a small hospital out of a Haitian Baptist church located on the edge of one of Port-Au-Prince's larger tent cities directly across from the national capitol building. The Kentucky team is working at a clinic near the presidential palace.

North American Mission Board disaster relief consultant Terry Henderson and a team of six will leave Atlanta on Thursday, Feb. 4, to serve as an incident command team in Haiti. They will link up with Fritz Wilson and Dennis Wilbanks of the Florida Baptist Convention, who are on the ground in Haiti for the second time since the earthquake.

Henderson and his team will be busy planning logistics, lodging, transportation, feeding and communications for SBDR's eventual "D Day" -- the day dozens of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams from the state conventions begin to be deployed to Haiti, a process that will extend over many months.

The Arkansas medical team was the first to land in Point-Au-Prince, ministering from Jan. 19-22.

Veteran disaster relief workers Tamara Gore and Jerry Gay were two of the 10 members of the Arkansas unit. Nothing prepared them for their first drive through downtown Port-Au-Prince, they reported. The unmistakable smell of death was pungent and everywhere.

Haiti was in only its seventh day following the devastating earthquake. More than 100,000 bodies had already been recovered, and most had been buried in mass graves to stave off disease. The temperature was in the mid-80s.

"I was in the first car," said Gore, a law enforcement chaplain from Benton, Ark. "You could see the bodies. We would pass a collapsed building and you would smell the bodies. Everybody knew what it was without talking about it."

Gay, associate missionary for the North Pulaski Baptist Association in Sherwood, Ark., thought he had seen it all after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

"I've never seen anything even close to this disaster, even Katrina," Gay said. "My wife and I both worked after Katrina. It was bad but this was a different kind of bad. This was sudden with no warning. At least there was some warning for Katrina."

Gay said his worst memory came while riding in downtown Port-Au-Prince one afternoon. Spotting the rubble of a flattened building and trying to stomach the accompanying stench, Gay asked his driver what the structure had been. The driver told him the building had been a school.

"Immediately, I thought of my little granddaughter back in Arkansas," Gay recounted. "I thought I was ready for what I would see, but my mind raced to my granddaughter.... That's the kind of thing people who come down here need to be prepared for."

As the additional SBDR teams arrive in the Haitian capital in the days and weeks to come, Gay advises them to know why they're going before they get there.

"The mission ought to be clear," Gay said. "Folks need to be mentally, emotionally and spiritually prepared."

Gore said it another way: "I would tell disaster relief people that they need to be prayed up before they get there, because they don't know what they're going into and what they're going to be dealing with," said the 51-year-old chaplain with 28 years of experience.

Gore said the Arkansas medical team -- two medical doctors, four nurses, a nurse practitioner, a physical therapist, an emergency medical technician, a crisis counselor and Gay, the unit's communications expert -- flew directly into Port-Au-Prince via Mission Flights International (MFI) on Jan. 19. They set up a clinic at El Shaddai Baptist Church on the northern outskirts of Port-Au-Prince, near the airport and across from the U.N. compound.

During their four-day stint, the team saw around 70 patients a day at the makeshift clinic, including children from the El Shaddai Orphanage where they stayed at night.

The two physicians -- one a pediatrician, the other a surgeon and pediatric urologist –- treated patients for broken bones, cuts, abrasions, depression and stress-induced gastro-intestinal problems. They also saw patients who had to be transported to other medical sites because of the more serious nature of their injuries.

The clinic had no electricity. Team members slept on air mattresses on the floor. Gore said sleep was difficult at best because of the tropical heat and the nightly crowing roosters and bleating goats and sheep. Gay had the only cell phone that worked. Otherwise, communications was possible only by satellite phones.

Until the Arkansas team departed Haiti on Jan. 23, its biggest concern was running out of the precious antibiotics, pain medicines, bandages, snacks and other supplies they needed to treat the Haitians. Because of weight restrictions on the MFI plane, the team had brought only two large black bags of medical supplies.

But here's where both Gore and Gay tell a remarkably consistent story -- the story of just one of the miracles in Haiti so far.

"The first night there, we were afraid of running out of supplies," Gore recounted. "So when I gave the devotional that night, I talked about the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5,000 with the loaves and fishes. I talked about how we needed to pray for God to bless what we had, show us how to distribute what we had, and that God would give us what we needed."

Unbeknownst to the rest of the team, the two physicians and the physical therapist circled the two medical bags of supplies that same night and also prayed that the supplies would be sufficient, Gay said.

After two days and seeing 180 Haitian patients, Gore and Gay both insist that the two bags -- neither of them cram-packed even upon arrival -– were still full at the end of the second day. They said the same was true of a large sack of peanuts, cheese snacks and pretzels donated to the team by Southwest Airlines. Two days later, the bag had more snacks than they started with.

"People can draw their own conclusions," Gay said. "We're not crazy people, we're professional people. We carried in two bags of supplies. The bags were full but not bulging. When we got ready to leave, it was all a couple of us men could do to zip up the bags. Nobody came in and gave us any additional supplies or snacks. We left two full bags for the next medical team coming in.

"All we could do is look at each other and laugh -- knowing that it had to have been God who had multiplied that stuff," Gay said.

Gay and Gore both said they are already making plans to return to Haiti. In addition to the two men, the other eight members of the Arkansas medical team were Deborah Quade, Angela Titus, Emily Magnusson, Rebecca Brown, Carl Garvin, Larry Gore, John Redman and Katherine Durham.
--30--
Mickey Noah is a writer for the North American Mission Board.

What if we had had 60 teams in Haiti within the first 3 weeks instead of 6? What if we were feeding people who are starving?  Could God protect and supply those teams as well? I don't want to presume upon God or tempt Him. We need to make sure that we are being led by the Holy Spirit. But, sometimes I think that we don't hear from God because we think that we already know what we can and can't do and we make decisions based off of our ability instead of God's supernatural power. I am so thankful for the team from Arkansas and I praise God for the miracle of multiplication that He provided.

Haitian Orphans and UNICEF's War Against International Adoption

On Wednesday of last week, I found myself traveling through the rubble strewn streets of Port-au-Prince on my way to the US Embassy. We went there to inquire about bringing 50 Haitian orphans to the United States. A ministry that I am familiar with called Bridges of Faith in Alabama has the facilities and the desire to take care of up to 50 Haitian orphans on something that the State Department calls a Humanitarian Waiver. When we got to the embassy we were told that the Haitian government was allowing orphans to leave the country last week. But, then things changed. Inexplicably, they changed direction and now no orphans were leaving Haiti. The 10 Americans who are now being detained in Haiti got caught up in this confusion, it appears. Some reports state that they had permission but they needed one more piece of paperwork to leave the country. What they did was not wise, but the rules have kept changing in Haiti regarding the orphan situation. Apparently, UNICEF (United Nations Childrens Fund) is playing a huge role here.

According to reports, UNICEF has a standing policy against international adoption (see HERE).  According to missionaries in Haiti and other reports from those trying to adopt, UNICEF has pressured the Haitian government to adhere to their policies on international adoption and cease releasing children to adoptive parents that have already been approved. The U.S. government is trying to get the children released and a stalemate has ensued. This is what we were caught up in at the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince and it is why the policies changed. The UNICEF perspective is that children in poverty-stricken condiitions are better off if they stay in orphanages in their native culture than if they leave their native culture and go to families in other countries. You can debate this all you want, but that is what is behind the fact that Haitan orphans are not being allowed to leave right now. UNICEF saw an opportunity to spread their philosophy to Haiti and they have a lot of money that the Haitian government needs. At least that is the story that is being reported by people in Haiti who are in the know.

As for the 10 missionaries from Idaho, the media is presenting this like they are bunch of sex traffickers that got caught. Did they make a mistake? Yes. Were they foolish and ill-informed? It appears that they were. However, it is easy to speculate that an example is being made of them to send a message that children are staying put, despite the best intentions. One report stated that they had full approval from the orphanage and the parents of the children that they were taking. 21 of the 33 children had parents and those parents actually put them on the bus to get them out of Haiti and to the Dominican Republic. I don't know the full story. It is doubtful that anyone does at this point. I fully understand the need to have things documented and for the proper paper work to be done. Actually, I fiercely support things being done the right way when it comes to children. There are many ill-intentioned people out there that would take advantage of a situation like this and it is possibly that the group from Idaho was in that number. But, when international power plays begin to get involved in things like this, then the story is not always as it appears. 

The role of the church is to be an advocate for justice and righteousness all over the world. The Haitian children should be protected from predators that would seek to exploit them in this time of disaster. At the same time, children that can be taken care of and provided for in these types of situations should be. If they cannot leave Haiti, then we should go to them and help care for them there. The 11 year old orphaned girl that we rescued from sex slavery last week is burned into my mind. Fortunately, she is in an orphanage that we are working with and is not being prostituted on the streets of Port-au-Prince. But, how many more are suffering? What else can we do?

My heart aches. 

White Christians, MLK, and the End of Racism in the Church

Things are definitely changing. We celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday today in an America that is moving beyond its racist past. Sure, racism and prejudice still exists, sometimes disgustingly so. But, it is obvious that things are changing.  I am primarily talking about the Church. I don't know exactly where America is headed in regard to racial prejudice. I have a suspicion that things will always be difficult in that area and perhaps increasingly so as America becomes more diverse. But, in the Church, I am seeing real progress, and for that I am very glad.

In the church that I pastor in Montgomery, AL, we continue to see blacks, whites, and people from other countries worship together. The racial diversity in our church is growing. I praise God for that. Dr. Martin Luther King asked us to imagine a day when people would be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. That is happening in our church, as it should, and I am grateful. The Church of Jesus Christ is the only place where we have a real chance of seeing racism end, in my opinion, because it is the only place where grace can truly be experienced and proclaimed. We are all sinners and we have nothing within us to merit the merit of Christ. How can any real church separate on the basis of race, skin tones, culture, economics, or class? How can there be elitism of any kind in the church? How can we ever think that we are better than anyone else on any basis?  We are all alike in desperate need of the grace of God. If not for Christ, we would all be lost. How can we separate from others?

Dr. King was a prophet and a great leader who pointed to a better way of living that was based on the equality that can be found in the midst of the beloved community. Neither he nor his theology were perfect, as has been documented by his adversaries repeatedly over the years. Still, he had the courage and vision to call us to a way of life that was very biblical when it came to racial justice and equality. The gospel does not allow there to be divisions based on race or people groups. Christ died for all.  Ephesians 2:11-22 tells us that Christ Himself is our peace.  The Civil Rights Movement in America was a movement that was born in the church and was victorious because it was on the right side of history and on the right side of God's will. Dr. Russell Moore from Southern Seminary eloquently made a case for the righteousness of the Civil Rights movement and why it ultimately prevailed over white racism today. I urge you to read it.

I have become quite a student of the role of both the white and the black church in segregation and the Civil Rights movement. I am convinced that there are valuable lessons for us today that we must learn or we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past in different forms. Here are some of the questions that haunt me:

• Why was the white evangelical church so blind to the evil of its racism?
• Why was the true gospel subverted under a false gospel that caused people to look down on and separate from others because of the color of their skin?
• What would have happened if the Evangelical Church would have righted itself and led the Civil Rights Movement against a Southern culture that was steeped in deplorable practices?
• How would America have been different from the 1960's onward if the Southern church would have led the way on the issue of racial equality?
• In what area are we now being affected by a blindspot prophetically? What are we missing today that could affect future generations?
• How can we be more aware prophetically so that we can throw off the trappings of cultural Christianity, not subvert the gospel to false concepts, and boldly proclaim the biblical Jesus?

I have been trying to answer these questions for some time now and I believe that they are very important in developing a missiology for the American South and for America as a whole. People like Dr. King, Nelson Mandela, Fannie Lou Hamer, Phule in India, and others have had the vision to see what was wrong and what needed to happen to make things right. God has been working through people like this since the time of John the Baptist and earlier in the lives of the prophets of Israel. How can we recover their voice and apply it to our own times? What would that look like? 

If we are to truly celebrate the birth of Dr. King, let us praise God for the progress made in the area of race while also asking Him to show us how we can continue to proclaim truth from the rooftops in a world groping in darkness.  I am looking forward to the day when the Church leads the way in restoring the world to God's intentions. I think that I am seeing that beginning to happen and for that I am very glad.

Hinduism, India, Jesus, and Thanksgiving Prayers

The Hindus just began a sacrifice of 250,000 animals in Nepal.  As you know, there are about 1 BILLION or so Hindus in India, the country where our church does the majority of its mission work. They are sacrificinng animals for a Hindu festival honoring the goddess Gadhimai.

The world's biggest animal sacrifice began in Nepal today with the killing of the first of more than 250,000 animals as part of a Hindu festival in the village of Bariyapur, near the border with India.

The event, which happens every five years, began with the decapitation of thousands of buffalo, killed in honour of Gadhimai, a Hindu goddess of power.

With up to a million worshippers on the roads near the festival grounds, this year's fair seems more popular than ever, despite vocal protests from animals rights groups who have called for it to be banned. "It is the traditional way, " explained 45-year old Manoj Shah, a Nepali driver who has been attending the event since he was six, "If we want anything, and we come here with an offering to the goddess, within five years all our dreams will be fulfilled."

Crowds thronged the roads and camped out in the open, wrapped in blankets against the cool mist. The festivities included a ferris wheel, fortune-telling robots and stalls broadcasting music and offering tea and sugary snacks.

As dawn broke, the fair officially opened with the sacrifice of two rats, two pigeons, a pig, a lamb and a rooster in the main temple, to cheers of "Long live Gadhimai" from spectators pushing against each other for a better view.

The article goes on to say,

Chandan Dev Chaudhary, a Hindu priest, said he was pleased with the festival's high turnout and insisted tradition had to be kept. "The goddess needs blood," he said. "Then that person can make his wishes come true."

Every time we visit, we go to the Hindu holy city of Rishikesh on the Ganges River. This city is full of temples, idols, holy men, ashrams, yoga centers, and pilgrimage sites. It reeks with incense and sacrificial prayers. Bells are constantly ringing to awaken the deities from their slumber in the thirteen story high Kailashananda Ashram on the banks of the Ganges. Westerners flock to this place to study yoga and fulfill their search for enlightenment. But, darkness is all they find.

"The goddess needs blood."  This is true about every religion. Blood, sacrifice, and our offerings are required to awakent the gods and goddesses to our plight and give us good fortune. Religion tells us that we can get to God through what we do. This is the spell that the Hindus are under. But, the Bible declares this perspective to be patently false. We can never get to God, no matter what we do.  Yes, blood is required because our sins are great and they require punishment. But, we are incapable of paying the punishment of our sins. A sacrifice is needed, but the blood of bulls and goats is not sufficient. We need a Perfect Sacrifice. This is who Jesus is. He was the atoning sacrifice for our sins. The full wrath of God was satisfied by the punishment that was laid upon Christ. We do not have to continue to offer sacrifices for our sins to to gain good fortune. We must only look to Christ in faith in what He did for us. His death and resurrection is sufficient.

Hebrews 9:11-15 says,

¹¹When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. ¹²He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. ¹³The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. ¹⁴How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

 ¹⁵For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

Religion tells us how we can climb to God. True Christianity tells us that God has come to us to rescue us and make things right. We must only respond to what God has done for us in Jesus Christ in faith and repentance. We must look to Jesus. Hinduism only keeps people in perpetual bondage. Christianity sets people free. People who say that all religions are basically the same know nothing of what world religions teach. They are as fundamentally different as night is from day. As Christians, we no longer have to make sacrifices or perform rituals for salvation, but rather, we must only believe in Jesus Christ, the One that God has sent.

And for that I am truly thankful.

 

 

The Heavens Declare the Glory of God: Pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope

I am completely mesmerized by the pictures that the Hubble Space Telescope keeps sending back to us. We see a universe in motion that is more vast than we can possibly comprehend - and more beautiful. God is an artist and His creativity knows no bounds. Take a look at this one:

I saw where they were calling this a space butterfly. Basically, streams of gas are being shot out from a dying star for billions of miles and Hubble captured it. What beauty. In the vastness of space, God is painting a picture. This has been going on for aeons, but we are only just now able to see it.

Hubble has been sending back many amazing pictures of the beauty and vastness of the universe. Just seeing these pictures causes me to think about how small we are, how unfathomably large the universe is, and how much God loves us to do all that He has done for us. Amazing (click on the picture below for a bigger view).

The beauty and diversity of God's creation is beyond my comprehension. The heavens truly declare the glory of God. How can we not praise Him?  How can we not see?

__________________________________________________________________________________

It is always shocking to meet life where we thought we were alone. "Look out!" we cry, "it's alive". And therefore this is the very point at which so many draw back - I would have done so myself if I could - and proceed no further with Christianity. An 'impersonal God' - well and good. A subjective God of beauty, truth and goodness, inside our heads - better still. A formless life-force surging through us, a vast power which we can tap - best of all. But God Himself, alive, pulling at the other end of the cord, perhaps approaching at an infinite speed, the hunter, king, husband - that is quite another matter. There comes a moment when the children who have been playing at burglars hush suddenly: was that a real footstep in the hall? There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion ('Man's search for God!') suddenly draw back. Supposing we really found Him? We never meant it to come to that! Worse still, supposing He had found us?

C.S. Lewis ~ from Miracles.

What the Health Care Debate Says About Post-Christian America

This is a spiritual conversation that everyone is having without the Church.

Death panels. Town hall meetings. Grandma dying because she can't get the hip replacement. Socialized medicine. Communism. Nancy Pelosi's swastika meltdown. Chuck Grassley's whatever that was. So-called mobs protesting the whole thing and wanting to keep their privatized insurance. The public option now being removed. Obama's presidency sinking. Life, death, choice, autonomy, personal freedom, and the role of government all rolled into one big yelling match. Taxes, deficits, the slumping economy, and fear for the future. The media going nuts over all of it.

The Legacy of the Baby Boomers: Consumerism & Self-Indulgence?

Forbes.com released a survey that says that when people think of the Baby Boom generation born after World War II that is now entering their 60's, what most comes to mind is consumerism and self-indulgence (HT: Ed Stetzer via Twitter). Ouch. 42% of respondents chose that answer. 27% said changing values and ending a war (Vietnam), and 32% said that either nothing came to mind or they weren't sure.  The Baby Boomers were shaped by the events of the 1960's, where battles over race, the Vietnam War, sexual experimentation, and the changing role of women and the family took center stage.

John Zogby, who orchestrated the poll says,

Some sociologists have observed that youth culture of the 1960s wasn't so much a rebellion against our parents' values as it was a cry out for society to literally and completely follow values of democracy and egalitarianism, ones that the World War II generation fought for in battle and after the Great Depression.

NYC Schools to Celebrate Muslim Holidays

Claiming that Christian and Jewish holidays are celebrated, the New York City Council voted last week to add two Muslim holidays to the city's public school calendar, citing the annual observance of Christian and Jewish holidays.  Mayor Bloomberg objects, saying that you can't take off school for everything. Apart from the fact that I would have welcomed the extra days off when I was a kid, this move is truly unbelievable.  Has anyone noticed the rush to secularization of what used to be considered "Christian" holidays in America. Under the guise of separation of church and state, vestiges of Christianity are being removed as quickly as possible. But, under the guise of tolerance and pluralism, some are establishing the recognition of Muslim holidays. Admittedly, this is not a nationwide thing and I don't want to be alarmist, but I wonder if we will one day see an America that is protected from Christian influence while similarily being wide open to recognizing and making allowances for other non-Christian religions? It seems that we are headed down that path.

Frederic Baue wrote a book on this a few years ago called The Spiritual Society: What Lurks Beyond Postmodernism. It is excellent. He says that we are not moving toward a secular society, but rather, a neo-pagan spiritual society that will be very hostile to Christianity. We works off of the observations of sociologist Pitrim Sorokin regarding cultural shifts. He says that we are moving toward a more spiritual age that will affirm pluralism of belief but will reject Biblical Christianity as a valid belief system during this time. It was written in 2001 and everything that has happened since then only confirms his thesis.

Michael Jackson, Celebrity Worship, and Jesus Christ

We've seen this story play out many times before. Adoring fans. Memorial service watched by millions. Weeping. Platitudes given, speaking of the best of a person while ignoring negative qualities. The past week of tributes to Michael Jackson after his death culminated yesterday in a veritable worship fest for the man known as the "King of Pop." I observed it briefly before quickly losing interest in the coverage.

I was never a fan of Michael Jackson. I just didn't get the appeal. Sure, he was talented, but I didn't see where he was more talented than others. I didn't really like his music, even as a kid in the 80's when he was so popular. So, needless to say, his death did not affect me that much.  As a Christian, however, I should not be so quick to look down my nose at the swooning multitudes who adored the man and are now pouring out so much grief and adulation over his death. How often have I done the same thing, just in different ways?

We really shouldn't be too critical of what we are seeing happen over Jackson's death, because celebrity worship has been around for a VERY long time. It is not just a product of the shallowness of this generation. It is a product of our lostness and spiritual emptiness, but it is as endimic to humanity as the air we breathe out of our lungs. Sure, we express our worship for people in different ways and maybe we aren't screaming and crying over a celebrity, but we still do it.

Can the Christian Church Help Montgomery, Alabama?

I live in Montgomery, Alabama. I have lived and ministered here for almost 10 years. This past week, a horrible division occurred on Montgomery's school board along racial lines. Today, an article comes out confirming what everyone knows: White flight has completely taken hold in Montgomery County.  In just 8 years, whites have gone from 50% of the population of the county to 45% and the number is declining fast.  What will it be in 10 more years? Blacks have gone from 49% to 54% approximately. Of course, whether the city is primarily white or black does not really matter - it is the stigma that is attached to racial differences here that is so devastating. Racial division increases here as whites move to northern

Phil Busbee, Pastor of First Baptist, San Francisco, Passed Away June 27th

This is very sad news.  Pastor Phil Busbee of First Baptist Church, San Francisco, passed away June 27th. Visitation will be on July 6 and the funeral service will be July 7. All of the funeral arrangements are listed at First Baptist's website.

When I was a seminary student at Golden Gate in the late 90's, Erika and I spent months looking for a church where the Bible was taught and believed and where we could engage in ministry with a loving body of believers. We looked for several months and had trouble finding the place that we felt God wanted us to be. We went to a store front church for a few months led by Andrew Jones (Tall Skinny Kiwi), and ministered to street kids in the Haight-Ashbury on Sunday afternoons. But, that wasn't where we ultimately connected. A friend of mine invited me to First Baptist Church, San Francisco where Jim Higgs was the pastor. Erika and I visited and immediately sensed God's presence and a leading to join with this wonderful church. Two weeks later, Pastor Higgs retired after 17 years or so pastoring the church. We stayed.

Eighteen months later after a long search, FBCSF hired Phil Busbee to be the pastor. He was from Southern California and had served under Thom Wolf at The Church on Brady (now Mosaic). Pastor Phil had a great heart, a focus on Jesus Christ, a love for the city and the nations, a love for people, and rock solid Biblical convictions. He took stands against homosexuality in San Francisco, yet he loved gay people sacrificially. He was a man after God's own heart. He was also an extremely generous and compassionate man. Our daughter, Ashtyn, was dedicated to the Lord by his prayers when she was just a few months old. He blessed us as we left San Francisco and moved to Alabama to minister. I returned to San Francisco on mission trips for during two summers (2000 & 2001) after moving to my current church and he let us stay in the church basement and use the church as a home base. When we visited, he invited me to pray during a service, which was a surprise to me. I was also fortunate to visit with him at a conference that he was speaking at in Seattle in 2005 and we had rich fellowship together. 

This past March, I took Ashtyn back to San Francisco on a Daddy-Daughter trip, my first return to San Francisco in 8 years. Of course, we visited First Baptist for their Sunday worship service and I was fortunate to see him one last time.  He preached from a stool that he was rolled up to in a wheel chair. Because of diabetes and other health issues, Pastor Phil was very sick and frail at this point. Yet, he spoke of God's love and care for him, even though he did not understand the reasons for everything that was happening to Him. He trusted God and he was passionate for Christ, even as he faced his own decay. I sensed God's presence in that church and during the worship I was greatly moved. Pastor Phil was a leader, a pastor, and a prophet to so many people. Hundreds of seminary students came through First Baptist during the 10 years he pastored there and I know that they are better for it. 

When he first came to FBCSF, Pastor Phil preached a series on worship. I'll never forget that. He started his ministry there by teaching us about passionate worship of Christ. He ended his ministry there worshiping Christ and I praise God that that is what he is doing now with the Lord. I can still see him sitting in that wheel chair in March, with his hands lifted praising His King. He will be greatly missed and even though I only sat under his ministry for about a year, I was greatly impacted by his heart for God, his passion for prayer and worship, his missional lifestyle, and his deep love for people. 

I am praying for his family and for First Baptist Church, San Francisco. 

~ Alan Cross, Golden Gate Alum and member of First Baptist Church, San Francisco 1997-1999.

I also found this video of Pastor Phil teaching last year at a minister's meeting about bringing transformation to San Francisco through prayer and marketplace ministry.

Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, and the Fleeting Nature of Life

Two major icons from the 1970's and 80's have died today, according to internet reports. Michael Jackson has died according to TMZ.com (via Drudge Report). Apparently, he had a cardiac arrest. He was 50 years old. Farrah Fawcett also succumbed to cancer today. She was 62.

Was Michael Jackson a Christian? Was Farrah Fawcett a Christian? What happened to them when they died?  I am not aware of any confession of faith in Christ or attempt to follow Jesus by either of them (UPDATE: apparently, Farrah Fawcett was a Catholic - I still don't know what Jackson believed). The Bible says that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Him (John 14:6). The only way to Father God and to receive His love and forgivness for our sins is through faith in Jesus Christ. Apart from faith in Christ, we will all perish in our sins, separated from God.  Hollywood and the media will tell us that the good life can be found when we are famous, popular, wealthy, and beautiful. Image is everything, they say. We believe it and we fawn over celebrities and movie stars and live our lives through them. But, Jesus says that that is not where real life is found. Real life, abundant life, eternal life, is only found in a relationship with Him. I pray that all those who hear about the death of these two celebrities today will think about the shortness of life and think about if they have been reconciled to God themselves through a relationship with Jesus Christ.