Blogging from the EFCA National Leadership Conference, Installment 1
June 30, 2005
Having just found free Wi-Fi access a few moments ago, courtesy of the Evangelical Free Leadership Conference, I can now post to my blog, and I thought I’d send 2-3 brief updates on the conference.
First, I’m reminded during my time at conference every year of just why it is that I’m so happy to be part of the Evangelical Free church. Having grown up and ministered in a mix of independent and Southern Baptist churches, I just have to say that I find myself at home here. I learned, during my time in the Convention, to appreciate the concept of connectedness of purpose that one has in a denomination, as opposed to being more of a Lone Ranger. I appreciate so much about my background, the commitment to the Word and God’s priorities of world mission that I learned as an independent Baptist. Still, this is where I am at home, in the EFCA.
I don’t mean to write a “suck up” post now that I’ve learned that Bill Hamel, president of the EFCA, has begun to read my blog (although I believe I’ll take this opportunity to say that Bill is a wonderful, witty, committed, and handsome Christian gentleman, probably the finest preacher I’ve ever heard, and undoubtedly the greatest president a denomination has ever had or ever will have…just throwin’ that in) 
Nor do I mean to suggest that we are without our faults; certainly, we’ve got our own feet of clay.
But there are just a whole lot of genuine, sincere, warm, wonderful folks in this movement, people who are deeply committed to the task of taking the gospel of Christ to the world, never compromising the truth of the Word, while at the same time not getting all bent out of shape over the minutiae of doctrine, nor jumping to judge others over tiny difference of lifestyle choice. Our movement is growing, and though growth isn’t necessarily an indication of being pleasing to God—there are lots of ways to get numbers of folks to join your church or your movement—nonetheless, I believe that in this case, our growth is due in no small part to our commitments, summed up in the purpose statement of our movement: The EFCA movement exists to glorify God by multiplying healthy churches among all people. Unpack all that that entails, and it’s pretty hard to argue with the fact that the priorities articulate therein lie close to the heart of God.
Yesterday, our pre-conference meeting for pastors, relative to expository preaching, featured D.A. Carson. He hit it out of the park in delivering two excellent messages, modeling what it means to effectively preach expositionally, letting the Word set the agenda for the sermon (as opposed to the newly-popular preaching that seems, from my perspective, to determine the sermon’s topic and points, and then try to shoehorn Scripture—often derived from a variety of translations—back into the message to justify the pre-conceived points….do I sound cynical? I am.). President Hamel spoke last evening, focusing on the “One” part of the conference theme of “The Church in Real Time: One Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Community”. The EFCA is making bold attempts to bridge some of the diverse gaps that have divided the evangelical church; we’re committed to urban and intercultural mission expansion, and a parade of speakers gave testimony last evening to God’s work among African-Americans, Hispanics, Muslims, and other groups of people.
Today, seminars focused on practical training in a wide variety of areas, after Lee Eclov, a friend of mine, delivered a great message stressing the mandate of holiness from Hebrews 12. As I hurriedly type, the music for this evening’s session has begun…so I’d better leave it off for now. More later on why I’m so thrilled to be Free…
Apparently, You’re in Bigoted Hands with Allstate
June 28, 2005
Tip of the cap to my friend Glenn, a member of the Yahoo Group Men of Promise, for alerting me to this story:
LifeSiteNews.com on Friday featured the following news story that, sadly, seems to be more evidence of a gathering storm of bigotry against those who dare speak out on their Christian beliefs:
Allstate Fires Employee for Pro-Family Column Critical of Gay “Marriageâ€
Here’s WorldNetDaily‘s take on the issue:
Allstate terminates manager over homosexuality column
I’ve never patronized Allstate Insurance, but I’m pretty certain now that I never will, if this story is true. I’d encourage those of my readers who do business with Allstate to research this situation a bit more, write to Allstate demanding an explanation, and then, in the event no satisfactory explanation is forthcoming, cancel your insurance with this company immediately, and write to them, explaining that you choose not to do business with a company that is bigoted against your beliefs.
Encourage Your Local Pastor
June 27, 2005
I guy I don’t know named Curt Hendley wrote me an email a couple of weeks back—just before I went on vacation—which read thusly:
I’m writing to you and other blogging pastors because I have a question only a pastor can answer. I’ve been growing increasingly aware of how difficult the job of pastor can be. I know that pastors often receive a lot more criticism than encouragement, and that can lead to all sorts of bad feelings. I think, though, that most congregations truly love their pastors but don’t understand how much encouragement is needed or how to practically provide that encouragement. I also think that pastors are generally and understandably reluctant to ask for such encouragement or display any human weakness at all.
I personally love my pastor, and I’m keenly aware of many things that beat him down in his ministry. Most of those things are entirely out of my control or influence. I would like to provide encouragement to him myself and incite others to do so as well. But I know enough to know that I have no idea exactly what issues a pastor faces that members of the congregation could alleviate. I just don’t know what to do or how to go about providing the most effective encouragement for him.
My request to you is that you respond with a blog post (or a link to a post if you’ve already written one) listing some practical ways a congregation can encourage their pastor.
Curt says he’ll post all responses at his website. I promised him I’d post when I got back, and so allow me a few words:
1. Be a friend to your pastor. For whatever reason, there seem to be few folks who really feel comfortable just hanging out with their pastors like they might with other friends. I’ll use this as an opportunity to say a great “thanks!” to Frank and Jan Dalton, long-time members of my current church, who are moving to North Carolina in a week. Frank and Jan, about as well as anyone I’ve ever had as church members, understand this point: they have been, as well as parishioners, good friends. They aren’t intimidated by THE PASTOR—YIKES! No, they’ve always been the kind of folks who will call us up just to hang out—and there aren’t many who do that, truthfully; at least that’s been my experience. I remember getting mild criticism years ago from someone in a church who felt that we were “playing favorites” with a particular family in our church. The truth of the matter was that we did do a lot of things with this particular couple—because they, like Frank and Jan, would call us up just to hang out. Yes, we did more things with this couple than most in our church—because they asked us much more often than did most (and frankly, we turned them down more than we turned down anyone else—for precisely the same reason!). I like to do normal stuff during my time off—and it’s cool when folks understand that, remove their pastors from whatever silly pedestals they’ve put us on, and invite us to the ballgame/cookout/night of doing nothing but just hangin’…
2. Ask me how I’m doing sometime. Got a guy in my church now who is just great at this, and it means a whole lot to me. We’ll get together 3-4 times a year for nothing in particular, just to grab lunch and shoot the breeze, generally, but he often (not every time, but often) will ask, “how are you doing?” He wants to know how I’m handling the stress and issues of life in ministry, and he’s sincere and helpful. Twila Paris was right: “deep inside this armor, the warrior is a child”.
3. Once in awhile, tell me how something I’ve done has made a difference. I’d trade 20 “that was a good sermon, Pastor” words at the door for one “you know, something you said a few weeks ago stuck with me, and God’s using that to change me”. John said, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth”—ditto. Hearing your testimony of spiritual progress/change is music to my ears.
4. Think of the little extras occasionally—at times of the year other than “Pastor Appreciation Month”. Handwritten notes are wonderful…wonderful. Remember milestones. Marking anniversaries of service, particularly “milestone” ones, is a nice touch. A little bit goes a long way with some of these things.
I’m sure I could think of more, and there are other pastors who’ve probably responded with better ideas, but at least these are some that occur to me off the top of my head. Thanks for asking, Curt, and I hope that my words make a difference.
The Continuing Enigma of Billy Graham
June 27, 2005
This from today’s Agape Press headlines:
…Rev. Billy Graham doesn’t sound ready to stop preaching. In the final sermon of his three-day New York crusade, the evangelist said he hopes “to come back again someday.” Graham said he has learned to “never say never” — adding that he is considering an invitation to preach a crusade in London, perhaps around his 87th birthday in November. But he also said he could die anytime, and looks forward to seeing Jesus face-to-face. On a hot Sunday afternoon, Graham told tens of thousands in the outdoor park that they will join him in heaven someday if they confess their sins and trust Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Many did, as people have done at Billy Graham crusades for 60 years. But the crusade was not without controversy. The president of the National Clergy Council says he walked out on Billy Graham Saturday after the evangelist let former President Clinton speak at his New York crusade. Rev. Rob Schenck says he became even more upset when Billy Graham said Clinton “should be an evangelist” and “leave his wife to run the country.” New York Senators Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer were onstage at the crusade after taking part in the city’s homosexual “pride parade” earlier in the day. Schenck says he “was stunned and appalled” at what he considered exploitation by the Clintons, and could not bear to stay and hear Billy Graham preach. [AP]
Billy Graham is 87 years old and still hale and hearty enough to preach the gospel in New York City—assumedly joined by Cliff Barrows and Bev Shea still—Bev must be 108 by now. I still remember listening to Billy as a kid, folding his Bible as he did, preaching in that funny North Carolina-esque brogue that couldn’t be mistaken for another person on the planet. And he cut it straight, he did; always has. I remember going to Bible college at a fairly right-wing school and sitting in a class when one little smart aleck decided to assume that he knew what all of us straight-laced fundies thought: “I know what you all think of Billy Graham”, he said—implying that we considered Billy some “neo” (which was the worst word you could use other than “librul” to describe someone). I still remember thinking, “no sir, you have no idea what I think of Billy Graham.” Fact of that matter is that I’d not have been sitting in that class that day were it not for Billy Graham, because (I didn’t learn until later) my father came to faith in Jesus listening to Billy, and that changed Dad’s life, which in turn changed mine. So I have little patience for people who find it fashionable to rail on Billy Graham for his “compromising”; I want to invite them to criticize Billy when they’ve had a hand in 1% of the people coming to faith that Billy has.
That said, Billy’s always had a broad circle, hasn’t he? And yeah, sometimes it does make me itch and squirm and shake my head—sheesh, Hillary and Chuckie Schumer? One can only hope that they were listening to the message Billy was preaching…
The “Flag-Burning Amendment”: Much Ado about Nothing
June 24, 2005
I believe that it’s a heinous thing to improperly burn an American flag in protest. I believe that it is well outside the bounds of acceptable political dissent, that it tramples on what our nation stands for, that those who engage in it are cowards who fail to appreciate the blood shed for the protection of the rights that the flag stands for, that states should retain the right to outlaw it, and that a person who burns it ought to be publicly disgraced, at the least, and prosecuted for a crime. Anybody have any doubt about where I stand on the idea of burning the American flag?
I also think that the current craze to amend the Constitution to prohibit such behavior is an exercise in silliness, much ado about nothing.
Why in the world would a good conservative such as myself be opposed to a constitutional amendment? Because I don’t use a sledgehammer to swat a fly, that’s why.
Here’s an article on the fact that the House of Representatives passed the Amendment, as it’s done before:
Flag Protection Amendment Advances in House
What’s different this time, of course, is that the makeup of the U.S. Senate has changed, and now there are more Republicans, and even a newly-elected Democrat or two might get on board, and there might be enough votes to hold off one of those dreaded filibusters, and the Prez will sign it, and it’ll go to the states, and it might well pass.
Yawn.
It’s not so much that I’m per se against the thing as that it is, as I said, much ado about nothing. According to another article I read, there is on record one instance of flag-burning taking place in the U.S. in the last year. One. From all the rhetoric we hear from the right, you’d think that there was a veritable epidemic, that stores were opening for the express purpose of catering to the maggot-infested Commies who were ready to burn them, that the Zippo futures were off the charts. No…one time in the last year. One.
What we will do is to spend gazillions of dollars—because these kinds of things take all sorts of government spending to enact—for the purpose of stamping out this viral pandemic of flag-desecration. Sorry…I’m on board with Hillary on this one…yes, that Hillary, the one whose presidency I’ll fight tooth-and-nail. She’s against the amendment, but says that she is in favor of “legislation” to curb the practice. OK, I can go with that (although it ought to be a state matter instead of a federal one)…it’ll cost way too much still, but a whole lot less than amending the Constitution to keep Old Glory from being burned a time or two each year.
“Ah…but there’s principle at stake here, Byron!”
Spare me. For all of us conservative Christians who want to “go to the wall” for a Flag-Burning Amendment, I have just one question: would we expend the same energy, yea, even more, to push for a constitutional amendment to outlaw the practice of burning the Bible? Isn’t that a more egregious offense, to burn a holy book (assumedly, we’d extend the same protections to the Koran, etc.)? Don’t we love the Bible more than we love the American flag?
In our current state of affairs, perhaps that last question is the best one I can ask…
Christian Carnival Number…Next
June 24, 2005
If you want some good thought-provoking reading from the best of the Christian blogosphere, you should take a gander each week at the Christian Carnival—which will be hosted, incidentally, by yours truly in a few weeks! At any rate, check out this week’s entries (and I’ll be back on the beam and posting there myself come next week!):
That Giant Sucking Sound…
June 24, 2005
is your freedom being sucked away again by a Supreme Court that has lost its way.
Seizing land for private use OK’d
Once again, “moderate” Anthony Kennedy proves to be a disaster, casting the tie-breaking vote in this eminent-domain case in which the justices found (by a 5-4 vote, of course) that it was perfectly acceptable for homeowners to be forced out of their homes to make way for, among other things, a marina and some hotels. Thomas Jefferson must be spinning in his grave. Kudos to Sandy O’Connor, who got it right this time, for her stinging dissent, which included this comment: “Nothing is to prevent the state from replacing any Motel 6 with a Ritz-Carlton, any home with a shopping mall.”
I’m given to understand—and I could be wrong about this, but I’ve heard it—that the original draft of the Declaration of Independence had, instead of “the pursuit of happiness”, the word “property”. If that’s the case, then to the extent that this wording influences our national ethos, it’s a crying shame that it was changed…
Always remember that the only reason that Anthony Kennedy is on the court is because the Senate lynched Robert Bork, Senate Democrats joined in their crime of character assassination by Republican weenies like John Warner and Arlen Specter. Remember that when C.J. Rehnquist retires in a few weeks, and/or others step down, and the battle over Supreme Court nominees heats up. Watch what the Republican weenies do…and by all means, hold them accountable!
This phrase comes from the 1978 "Jonestown massacre" in which most members of the Peoples Temple cult, blindly following their leader Jim Jones, committed suicide by drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid.
Osborne: A Contrarian's Guide to Knowing God
Schlossberg: Idols For Destruction
