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3 Psalms for Men Who Are Struggling

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Men face overwhelming pressures both internal and external. We feel an internal drive to provide for our families and to contribute to our communities. Whether we want to admit it or not, we struggle with the expectations other people place on us too. We have trained ourselves to ignore the nagging pain because we can’t show weakness.

Our churches often don’t know what to do with the weight men carry. Too often, we berate men for their failures without pointing them to the resourses that will help them grow. We pretend like the inadequacies we feel either don’t exist or shouldn’t be talked about in polite company. The grace we talk about fades from view and we replace it with heavy weights that sink us deeper into the abyss.

Photo Courtesy: Thinkstock

Turning to the Psalms

Turning to the Psalms

The Psalms made no sense to me when I was in college because they sounded so bleak. Here were these compositions that were supposed to be so worshipful, but the Psalmists just spent too much time complaining about how hard life was. Now that I’m in my 40’s, the Psalms resonate with me because in my frustration with the difficulties of life I’ve said many of the things they say.

If you are a man who struggles in silence, turn to the Psalms. In them, you find strong men revealing their weaknesses and showing you where you can turn to for help. There are three Psalms in particular that give you grace for the difficult situations you face.

Photo Courtesy: Thinkstock

Psalm 127, for When You Feel the Weight of the World:

Psalm 127, for When You Feel the Weight of the World:

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” God built men to take responsibility, work hard, protect, and provide. In our brokenness and sin, this God-given wiring can become a complex where we feel like we have to become not only our own savior but the savior of the people who rely on us as well. When we do this, we take a responsibility upon ourselves that only God can fulfill. We wear ourselves down and exhaust the people around us.

Psalm 127 does not call us to a “let go and let God” approach to life, but rather to an appropriate understanding of God’s work and our own. We work, but we realize our work accomplishes nothing if the Lord does not work through it. We work hard, start new ventures, and look for new opportunities, but we do it entrusting the results to the Lord and praying he would give us the strength we need.

Photo Courtesy: Unsplash

Sleep for the Anxious

Sleep for the Anxious

The second verse speaks a truth that every man needs to hear. “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.” When we take the sole responsibility of leading, providing, and working upon ourselves, we tend to become slaves to our work. The anxiety this produces destroys our sleep. However, what does God give to those who don’t vainly toil day and night with an anxious spirit? Sleep. When we entrust our work and our provision to the Lord, we can lie down at night and sleep soundly knowing that God works even when we don’t.

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Source: Crosswalk


Adrian Pei: How Blind Positivity and Ignoring Pain Just Makes it Worse

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“Does anyone see me, or am I invisible?”

I was confused. In the big auditorium where five thousand staff were gathered, I looked over at two of my coworkers in the seats next to me. They were in tears. I had no idea what was happening, because all I had heard from the speakers on stage for the past thirty minutes was encouraging updates about their ministry. What could have made my friends so upset?

Every two years during July, Cru puts on a conference at Colorado State University where their United States–based staff gather for connection, learning, and worship. It’s quite an impressive production: huge television screens, skits, speakers like Tim Keller and Francis Chan, and even Christian bands like Rend Collective and Tenth Avenue North.

This conference is also quite a phenomenon for minorities, as the attendees are over 85 percent white. I still recall when one of my local Colorado friends who visited a session remarked, “I’ve never seen this many white people in one room before.” It can be a shock for those who live in more racially diverse places in the world.

But minorities can feel “invisible” in ways other than demographics. As I turned to ask my coworkers why they were crying, I learned that a painful experience in their organizational past had just been spun into a positive report by the speakers up front at the conference. As a result, they felt unseen by the organization and their leaders.

It then struck me:

Positivity can be blind.

Pain sees.

When Organizations Refuse to Address Pain

Over the next couple of conferences, I noticed there seemed to be an organizational commitment to share mostly uplifting stories of progress and success. On one level, it made complete sense. I mean, who goes to a big rally only to walk away, depressed and sad? However, over the years I started to sense a frustration and hopelessness from the minority community, and finally I started to get it.

It wasn’t that minorities didn’t want or like the positivity of the organization. They were more bothered by the seeming refusal to address difficulties, challenges, mistakes, and oversights.

After all:

• When the organization didn’t address challenges, it didn’t see or acknowledge the unique realities many minorities faced—pioneering, fundraising in new ethnic communities, and so on.

• When the organization didn’t address mistakes, who were the ones these mistakes had most impacted? Minorities.

Put another way: by refusing to acknowledge pain, the organization also refused to see or acknowledge the people in the most pain—minorities.

After all, pain is a very important part of reality. If organizational conferences and leaders don’t publically and consistently acknowledge pain, they can quickly become out of touch with reality, and with minorities who must constantly navigate additional layers of pain and complexity. And if minorities continue to feel invisible in this way, they may question their fit or place in the organization.

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Source: Crosswalk

Desire to Serve Keeps Texas Woman Rolling After 35 Years

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When residents at Baptist Retirement Community in San Angelo need transportation to a doctor’s appointment, they know they have more than a free ride available. They have a friend in the driver’s seat.

For 35 years, Sally Lugo has provided the retirement community residents transportation to and from medical appointments. She views the service she offers as more than a job.

“It’s a ministry to me,” she said. “I feel called to do this as a mission. I like to help people.”

Sally Lugo views her role in providing
transportation services for residents of Baptist
Retirement Community in San Angelo as a
calling. (Photo courtesy of Baptist Retirement
Community)

Lugo initially joined the senior living community staff as an aide, working late-night shifts. When a job became available in transportation services, she applied for the position. She wanted employment that allowed her to be home with her young children early mornings and every evening.

“Now my children are all adults, with families of their own,” Lugo said.

Extended family

After three and a half decades serving seniors at Baptist Retirement Community, a Buckner senior living facility, they treat her like extended family. Lugo appreciates when residents ask about her four grandchildren, and she eagerly shows their latest photos on her smartphone.

Lugo enjoys the opportunities her job offers to get acquainted with residents as she drives them to and from their appointments.

“I learn a lot from them. I like listening to their stories,” she said. “I have a lot of respect for them, and I feel like I understand where they’re coming from.”

Through the years, she has listened to retired missionaries describe their experiences in overseas service, as well as hearing more than a few humorous or touching stories from residents.

“If I could go back, I would have kept a journal,” she said.

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Source: Baptist Standard

Compensation for Full-Time Southern Baptist Pastors and Church Staff Has Fallen Behind Inflation Rate

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Compensation for full-time Southern Baptist pastors and church staff has lagged behind growth in the cost-of-living the past two years, and health insurance coverage remains low, according to the 2018 SBC Church Compensation Study.

The biannual study is a joint project of state Baptist conventions, GuideStone Financial Resources and LifeWay Christian Resources. Compensation and congregational data is collected anonymously from ministers and office/custodial personnel of Southern Baptist churches and church-type missions. The 2018 online survey was open from Feb. 1 to July 6.

According to the 2018 report, Southern Baptist churches spend an average of 51 percent of their budget on personnel expenses. This is the first year this spending was analyzed.

Below Consumer Price Index

Compensation—salary plus housing—increased 3.8 percent for full-time, Southern Baptist senior pastors over the last two years, 1.5 percent for full-time staff ministers and 2.3 percent for full-time office personnel. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index for the same two-year period increased 4.6 percent.

“After a period of very low inflation, the cost of living has moved closer to typical growth in consumer prices,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research. “Churches that are unable to reflect this in their wages will hurt their staff.”

Factors correlating with compensation for senior pastors include weekly church attendance, education level, and total years of experience. Larger churches tend to pay their pastors more, the study shows. For every additional 100 attendees, an otherwise similar pastor’s compensation is on average $3,641 higher.

Higher compensation also is linked to education level. Ministers with a bachelor’s degree earn an average of $5,681 more than similarly qualified pastors with no college education or an associate degree. Master’s and doctorate degrees correspond with compensation increases of $5,754 and $10,868, respectively, when compared to college graduates.

Years of experience also netted increased compensation. Pastors earned $358 more for each additional year of experience in ministry. In contrast, each additional year of a pastor’s age compared to an otherwise similar individual is predictive of slightly less compensation by about $500.

“It’s true that you can’t gain another year of experience without also getting one year older. But age and experience have opposite relationships with pastor compensation,” McConnell said.

“When age and other factors are similar, more experience is related to higher pay. When experience and other factors are similar, higher age is related to lower pay. Those who become pastors later in life receive lower pay.”

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Source: Baptist Standard

LGBT Activists and Antifa Groups Protest Celebration Church in Texas for Upholding Biblical Views on Sexuality

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Stonewall Militant Front activists protest Celebration Christian Church service in Austin, TX. Image via Twitter.

Antifa groups and gay rights activists protested a megachurch in Texas earlier this week and doxed the pastor’s son all because they oppose the church’s biblical views on sexuality.

Stonewall Militant Front-ATX and AZAAD Austin were among the groups protesting Celebration Church, a multisite nondenominational church in the cities of Austin and Georgetown. Antifa was reportedly protesting the Austin congregation on Sunday because they were meeting at the Austin Independent School District’s Performing Arts Center. The activists’ goal is to pressure the AISD to stop renting its space out to Christian “homophobes,” PJ Media reports.

“Defend our youth from these attacks! Pride means fight back!” protesters said, waving rainbow flags, as worshipers walked into the auditorium.

When those attending the service left, protested yelled: “Bigots out of Austin; don’t come back.”

A parishioner of Celebration Church watches protest from inside.

Under the Obama administration Antifa groups were designated as being a security threat and engaged in “domestic terrorist violence,” according to documents obtained by Politico, the National Review reports.

This week was the first time the church has rented the performing arts center in order to host a regular service at another location, its second in the Austin area. Church officials did not indicate how long they intend to rent the facility.

Celebration Church’s Executive Pastor Jim Kuykendall told The Statesman on Sunday that while the church is Bible-believing, he wants to welcome everyone, whatever their sexuality, religious views or political beliefs are.

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SOURCE: Christian Post, Brandon Showalter

Jackie Baugh Moore: Baptist Joint Committee’s Consistent Witness is Needed Now More Than Ever

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I am proud to be a board member of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. Like many Baptists, religious freedom is one of my foundational theological beliefs instilled in me by my family. The BJC carries on the historic Baptist tradition of fighting for religious liberty for all people, a mission made more difficult by the partisan jockeying over defining the term “religious liberty.”

Unfortunately, in the current climate, many are trying to co-opt religious liberty as a short-cut to a desired outcome. Instead of evaluating each religious liberty issue individually, some groups view our first freedom through the lens of another special interest.

The Baptist Joint Committee avoids this trap and has a long history of considering cases, legislation and executive orders through the sole question of what is best for religious liberty for all people. Sometimes doing so puts them on a side dominated by Democrats, other times by Republicans.

Baptist Joint Committee forges partnerships with diverse groups

Because of the breadth of groups that the Baptist Joint Committee has worked with in the past, it is not hard to find ideological boogeymen to use to taint the reputation of the BJC as guilty by association.

I, for one, am proud to be associated with a Baptist group known for its ability to forge partnerships with diverse groups. I wish more organizations emulated this in their advocacy approach rather than hiding behind an issue purity checklist, requiring agreement on all issues before working together on any issue.

Baptist Joint Committee’s advocacy for religious accommodations

It is impossible in this forum to thoroughly describe the more than 80-year record of the Baptist Joint Committee in defending and extending religious liberty for all, so I’ll focus on one issue: religious accommodations.

The BJC is known for its advocacy for finding practical solutions—or “accommodations”—for religious objections to government policies. When the U.S. Supreme Court declared that Americans do not have a right to ask for an accommodation to a law that unfairly burdens religious exercise, the BJC led the coalition to pass the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1993. RFRA requires the government to take religious objections seriously and work to accommodate them.

In recent years, one of the most discussed and dissected religious accommodations is found in the Affordable Care Act. In keeping with its tradition, the Baptist Joint Committee never took a position on the ACA as a whole but defended the accommodation provided to religious nonprofits who objected to the contraceptive mandate.

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Source: Baptist Standard

Eric Black: Is Right Measured in Talking or Doing?

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What people are saying about John McCain

Many knew John McCain as a fighter. His war record and congressional record indicate as much. We may not have been with him in the Hanoi Hilton, but we saw its influence on him when he responded to political opposition time after time. We saw his fearlessness, and we respected him for it.

Lesser known was John McCain as a person of faith. Preferring not to make his faith public, McCain was shaped nonetheless by his Christian faith at least as much as he was shaped by the military, perhaps in ways we overlook because of his pugnaciousness.

Immediately after McCain’s passing, several news outlets—including the Baptist Standard—published stories of his quiet faith, citing his interview with Rick Warren, in which McCain defined being a Christian as being “saved and forgiven.” Others trumpeted his attendance at North Phoenix Baptist Church.

About that: I’m not sure why it’s so important to evangelicals to claim important people as their own. Why must we make sure people know John McCain said the right thing about what it means to be a Christian? Why must Baptists make sure people know McCain was one of them, a Baptist, and not just any kind of Baptist, a Southern Baptist?

What’s behind the need to tie powerful and well-known people to the words “saved and forgiven,” evangelical, Baptist? Could it be our hope that the powerful and famous will replace our loss of cultural cachet with their own prominence?

Actions speak louder than words

Of all the words I’ve come across in the days since John McCain’s passing, one story speaks louder to me than the rest. Several top lawmakers were interviewed about the historic moment McCain cast his “thumbs-down” vote against a “skinny repeal” of the Affordable Care Act.

Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer of New York recounted McCain walking into the Senate chamber to cast his vote, saying: “I knew what would happen. John McCain again would do what he thought was the right thing no matter what the pressure.”

We might quibble about Chuck Schumer’s definition of “right,” but we shouldn’t be distracted from a larger point his words indicate. Schumer’s words indicate McCain was more concerned with doing the right thing than with being liked.

What we should take from Schumer’s assessment of McCain is not that McCain bucked the Republicans but that McCain was known to his colleagues as a person who acted on his principles regardless of how his actions would be received.

Given our “voting record,” how are we known by those around us?

Are we known for talking right or doing right?

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Source: Baptist Standard

Kay Warren, E. Dewey Smith, Trillia Newbell, Anthony Bradley and Other Christian Leaders Show Support After California Pastor Andrew Stoecklein’s Suicide

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Andrew Stoecklein, 30 (kneeling), the late pastor of Inland Hills Church in Chino, Calif., is blessed by his father Dave Stoecklein (wheelchair) and other members of his church and immediate family in May 2015 as he becomes lead pastor. His father who was suffering from leukemia at the time, died in October that year.
(PHOTO: INSTAGRAM)

Sunday services at Inland Hills Church in Chino, California, will be dedicated to a time of worship and reflection in the wake of the recent suicide of Pastor Andrew Stoecklein, the church has announced.

“In lieu of our regular Sunday services, be with us for Open House Sunday anytime between 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., as we process and respond in the wake of Pastor Andrew’s passing last weekend. May our church family declare God’s goodness at all times, in every season. #godsgotthis#inlandhills,” the church noted in a statement on Facebook Thursday.

Stoecklein, 30, waged a very transparent battle with depression and anxiety before attempting suicide at the church last Friday. He was pronounced dead at a hospital several hours later on Saturday.

Since his tragic death, Stoecklein’s suicide has triggered a strong show of support from prominent Christian leaders and others, many of whom did not know him. Stoecklein’s death has also sparked a discussion about pastors and mental health which many say is well needed.

“My heart is heavy although I did not know Pastor Andrew personally, he is still my brother. Reading through what his wife, friends and congregation wrote about him, he was a man of great leadership and passion for Jesus,” Miles McPherson, lead pastor of Rock Church in San Diego, California, wrote in a statement Monday.

“Often times it can be discouraging when we hear someone of leadership committing suicide. We tend to believe they’re invincible, have it all together and don’t go through struggles that most face but time and time again we see that suicidal thoughts don’t discriminate. Whether you’re rich, poor, married, single, Christian, not Christian, young, old,” McPherson continued. “Rather than being discouraged by this loss, let’s commit to praying for those in leadership to us. Pray for your pastor today, pray for your boss, your leaders, your parents/guardians. To whom much is given, much is required and the burden can be very heavy.”

Saddleback Church co-founder and best-selling author Kay Warren whose son, Matthew, died by suicide at age 27 in 2013, reminded her supporters in a post on Twitter Thursday that pastors are not immune to mental illness. “Pastors are human & susceptible to mental illness. Some, like dear Pastor Andrew Stoecklein, bravely share their struggle. Others keep it hidden. Just b/c a pastor talks about their own mental health doesn’t mean they aren’t still at risk. Pray 4 ur pastor,” she said.

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SOURCE: Christian Post, Leonardo Blair


Jake Raabe: Keeping Church From Becoming a Show

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About a year ago, a friend, who only recently moved to the United States, was asked by an acquaintance if he wanted to come to “a concert and a speech.” This was how the invitation was worded.

As you may have guessed, he was tricked into going to church.

The person who invited him was certainly being coy with the sneak-invite. But I wonder if he felt he gave an accurate description of a church service.

Church as a show becomes church as a commodity

Churches certainly seem like performances sometimes, with ministers taking the role of performers on a raised platform and congregants acting as the audience watching the performance. Elements of the service, like music and preaching, are determined by what the audience wants to see and hear.

In short, the mentality that church is just “a concert and a speech,” which just happens to be religious in nature, makes church become a commodity like any other. Church offers goods and services of a spiritual nature for consumption as desired.

When church becomes a commodity, we shouldn’t be surprised when people stop showing up. Whatever spiritual commodity the church can offer them—inspiration, comfort, moral guidance—can be attained from a variety of other places.

The “concert and speech” church, in other words, is church that will inevitably lose to better concerts and better speeches.

Involving the people: Communicating the purpose of the church

How do we keep church from becoming a show to be consumed rather than a community in which to participate?

First, as I wrote about in my last column, we must think hard about why the church exists.

What does the church offer that no other institution or organization can offer? What do people gain from being a part of the church that they can’t gain from being a part of anything else?

These are the questions we need to answer if church is to avoid becoming a product like any other.

Beyond developing and communicating these answers, those of us in the ministry should avoid making church seem like a show. If the congregation never participates in what is happening in the service or feels like their role doesn’t have the same significance as that of the pastor, why wouldn’t they think church is a type of performance or show?

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Source: Baptist Standard

Lisa M. Rainey: God’s Word Applied to Back to School

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Back to school is a return to routine

For many of us, the start of a new school year means we can get back to our routines. Yes, we may have to buy new school clothes, but the kids are off to school again. We can work at home or away from the house knowing our children are in a structured learning environment with trained professionals for the next seven hours.

Back to school holds a different meaning for each of us, and as a former teacher, back to school has especially significant meaning for me. During my teacher preparation program, I was taught child development, lesson planning and professional/academic teaching standards to guide my work and career.

Back to school is a return to longsuffering

As I soaked in God’s word to me this week during our Wednesday Bible study and Sunday’s sermon, the concept of longsuffering loomed large. Reflecting on this time of year and the idea of longsuffering, I could see vividly how God encourages teachers with this particular fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

While the rest of us get back to our routine(s), teachers are about to enter a plethora of the unpredictable. Any given day, legislators and governing bodies can put forth new laws, district and school administrators can change the game plan, parents can selfishly expect too much from teachers, and students can come to school sick, hungry, angry and/or unprepared for learning.

Since teacher annual salaries can still average around $45,000, some teachers must negotiate updating their own child’s wardrobe amidst saving for a rainy day at the same time many of us will purchase new school clothes for our kids without too much agony.

While the rest of us leave for work prepared to use our training, teachers often use their heads, hearts and hands in ways for which they were not trained. Even so, they must perform. Their jobs are on the line. More importantly, more than 20 pairs of young eyes are focused on them daily.

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Source: Baptist Standard

California Lawmaker Who Introduced Homosexual ‘Conversion Therapy’ Ban Bill Withdraws It from Consideration

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Legislation in California that sought to ban what is often derisively referred to as gay “conversion therapy” died Friday, as its main sponsor pulled it from consideration.

The bill, AB 2943, declared therapy to help individuals with unwanted same-sex attraction overcome it to be a fraudulent business practice under the state’s consumer fraud laws.

The Sacramento Bee reported Friday that Evan Low, the Democrat assemblyman who introduced the bill, withdrew it and was abandoning pursuing it this year. The bill had been green lighted by both chambers of the state legislature but had to be voted on again by the Assembly to approve the final version. Low said he pulled it because of insufficient time and that additional discussion was needed.

“The best policy is not made in a vacuum and in order to advance the strongest piece of legislation, the bill requires additional time to allow for an inclusive process not hampered by legislative deadlines,” Low said in a statement Friday, the last day of the legislative session for 2018.

“I believe we are on the side of the angels on this issue,” Low said. “Having said that, in order to get it right, why wouldn’t we want to engage in meaningful, thoughtful, transformational relationships and conversations?”

Christian groups across the state and nation have vocally opposed the measure since it was first introduced earlier this year, calling it a threat to religious freedom.

The bill was expected to easily pass the legislature and be signed by the governor. But amid massive public outcry, Low decided to delay moving the bill forward after meeting with clergy and others across the state on a listening tour.

Meanwhile, religious liberty advocates have welcomed the news.

“We are inexpressibly grateful to Assembly member Low for meeting personally with faith leaders over the last several months and sincerely listening to our concerns,” said Jonathan Keller, president of the California Family Council, in a statement Friday.

Click here to read more.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Brandon Showalter

With Depression and Suicide On the Rise, Pastor Arthur Mackey Shares How to ‘Overcome’

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Overcoming the Spirit of Depression: Recover All, Pastor Arthur L. Mackey, Jr.
Overcoming the Spirit of Depression: Recover All, Pastor Arthur L. Mackey, Jr.

DALLAS, TX – “Major depression is on the rise among Americans from all age groups,” a recent NBC News report states. It “is rising fastest among teens and young adults.” However, “The findings are almost certainly an underestimate.”

Data from the Centers for Disease Control also shows that suicides have been rising in the U.S. for the past fifteen-plus years. The recent high-profile suicides of a California pastor and a nine-year-old boy indicate that this is a serious problem.

In his new book, Overcoming the Spirit of Depression: Recover All, Pastor Arthur L. Mackey, Jr., presents a way that people struggling with depression can tackle the problem on a personal level.

The book’s description states, “We all face challenging times of deep crisis which can potentially bring about deep depression. But we can overcome the spirit of depression by developing a Christ-centered, radically renewed, and totally transformed mindset.

“This book will help you develop the right coping skills to deal with distress, grief, sadness, and deep depression. Coping instead of doping. Coping by praying instead of straying. Coping by walking instead of stalking. Coping by healing instead of stealing.

“Whether admitted or not, everyone on the earth will experience some level of depression in this journey called life. Yet we can overcome the spirit of depression through God’s grace and guidance.”

Black Christian Book Review calls Mackey’s release, “a dynamic book for our difficult times.”

The book does not replace personalized, professional counseling.

Overcoming the Spirit of Depression: Recover All is available wherever fine books are sold, including Amazon, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble, and Books-a-Million.

Arthur L. Mackey, Jr., is the senior pastor of the historic Mount Sinai Baptist Church Cathedral in Roosevelt, New York, owner of I Support Roosevelt Youth Center, and the upcoming Mother Barbie Lee Scott Senior Housing and Mount Sinai Workforce Housing. He is also president of Vision of Victory Ministries and Arthur Mackey Ministries, and Chairman of the Mount Sinai Development Corporation and I Support Roosevelt Youth Center of Long Island. He is a graduate of Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia, where he majored in religion and philosophy. He is married to Elder Brenda J. Mackey, a Social Worker and Mental Health Counselor. They have three children: Yolanda, Jordan, and Faith.

SOURCE: Vision Public Relations Group

Church-State Watchdog Says White House Meetings With Evangelicals Are Illegal

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A church-state watchdog is demanding a halt to meetings between the Trump administration and an informal group of evangelical advisers who have proved to be among the president’s staunchest supporters.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State said the group is violating the Federal Advisory Committee Act, a 1972 law that provides transparency and procedural standards for committees created to meet with the executive branch. The watchdog called for a stop to the group’s meetings and advising “unless and until” it complies with the law.

“It is clear that the President’s Evangelical Advisory Board is doing substantive work with the Trump Administration behind closed doors — without any sunlight for the public to understand how and why decisions are being made,” wrote Americans United Associate Legal Director Alex J. Luchenitser in a Thursday (Aug. 30) letter addressed to White House counsel Don McGahn and other administration officials. It also was sent to Johnnie Moore, who has served as an unofficial spokesman for the evangelical group.

The letter comes in the same week that President Trump hosted a dinner for close to 100 evangelicals in the White House’s State Dining Room. The president welcomed them on Monday by saying “these are very special friends of mine, Evangelical pastors and leaders from all across the nation.” Ticking off the names of leaders in attendance, including Florida megachurch pastor Paula White, evangelist Franklin Graham and Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr., Trump added: “I know you, I watch you, I see you. Yours are the words we want to hear.”

President Trump bows his head in prayer as pastor Paula White leads the room in prayer during a dinner for evangelical leaders in the State Dining Room of the White House on Aug. 27, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Evangelicals who have met with the Trump administration have told Religion News Service they have discussed a range of policy issues, from abortion to transgender rights to international religious freedom.

“The Administration continues to engage hundreds of faith leaders on various issues that directly impact their communities,” Hogan Gidley, deputy press secretary, told RNS. “The White House does not have an Evangelical Advisory Board; instead, the President signed an Executive Order establishing the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative that serves all faith-based communities.”

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Source: Religion News Service

What Was the First Bible Like?

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In the years after Jesus was crucified at Calvary, the story of his life, death and resurrection was not immediately written down. The experiences of disciples like Matthew and John would have been told and retold at many dinner tables and firesides, perhaps for decades, before anyone recorded them for posterity. St Paul, whose writings are equally central to the New Testament, was not even present among the early believers until a few years after Jesus’ execution.

But if many people will have an idea of this gap between the events of the New Testament and the book that emerged, few probably appreciate how little we know about the first Christian Bible. The oldest complete New Testament that survives today is from the fourth century, but it had predecessors which have long since turned to dust.

So what did the original Christian Bible look like? How and where did it emerge? And why are we scholars still arguing about this some 1,800 years after the event?

From oral to written

Historical accuracy is central to the New Testament. The issues at stake were pondered in the book itself by Luke the Evangelist as he discusses the reasons for writing what became his eponymous Gospel. He writes: “I too decided to write an orderly account … so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.”

In the second century, church father Irenaeus of Lyons argued for the validity of the Gospels by claiming that what the authors first preached, after receiving “perfect knowledge” from God, they later put down in writing. Today, scholars differ on these issues – from the American writer Bart Ehrman stressing how much accounts would be changed by the oral tradition; to his Australian counterpart Michael Bird’s argument that historical ambiguities must be tempered by the fact that the books are the word of God; or the British scholar Richard Bauckham’s emphasis on eye-witnesses as guarantors behind the oral and written gospel.

St Paul: numero uno. Image
courtesy Creative Commons

The first New Testament books to be written down are reckoned to be the 13 that comprise Paul’s letters (circa 48-64 CE), probablybeginning with 1 Thessalonians or Galatians. Then comes the Gospel of Mark (circa 60-75 CE). The remaining books – the other three Gospels, letters of Peter, John and others as well as Revelation – were all added before or around the end of the first century. By the mid-to-late hundreds CE, major church libraries would have had copies of these, sometimes alongside other manuscripts later deemed apocrypha.

The point at which the books come to be seen as actual scripture and canon is a matter of debate. Some point to when they came to be used in weekly worship services, circa 100 CE and in some cases earlier. Here they were treated on a par with the old Jewish Scriptures that would become the Old Testament, which for centuries had been taking pride of place in synagogues all over latter-day Israel and the wider Middle East.

Others emphasise the moment before or around 200 CE when the titles “Old” and “New Testament” were introduced by the church. This dramatic shift clearly acknowledges two major collections with scriptural status making up the Christian Bible – relating to one another as old and new covenant, prophecy and fulfilment. This reveals that the first Christian two-testament bible was by now in place.

This is not official or precise enough for another group of scholars, however. They prefer to focus on the late fourth century, when the so-called canon lists entered the scene – such as the one laid down by Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, in 367 CE, which acknowledges 22 Old Testament books and 27 New Testament books.

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Source: Religion News Service

Bishops Back Victims’ Compensation Fund Over Abuse Lawsuits in Pennsylvania

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Roman Catholic officials in Pennsylvania began lining up quickly and publicly with a key state legislative ally in backing the creation of a victims’ compensation fund as an alternative to allowing victims in decades-old child sexual abuse cases to sue the church in court.

Erie Bishop Lawrence Persico said he would collaborate in the creation of a compensation fund that is administered by a neutral third party, while the Philadelphia Archdiocese and the Harrisburg and Allentown dioceses suggested they are open to the idea.

Allowing lawsuits to be heard in courts, however, would force bigger payouts by the church and force the church to disclose more about clergymen who preyed on children and a church hierarchy that helped cover it up, say victim advocates.

A fight over the competing ideas could arrive in the state Legislature next month, on the heels of a state grand jury report released this month that said about 300 clergymen had sexually abused at least 1,000 children over seven decades in six dioceses.

The report prompted new calls for changing state law to allow adults abused as children to sue in court, even if they had been barred by a prior time limit in law.

It is a change in state law that bishops have successfully fought in recent years, even as a handful of other states have opened such windows to let victims sue the church.

Catholic Church officials maintain that such a so-called “reviver” law is unconstitutional in Pennsylvania, although legal scholars disagree over the question. Current law gives victims of child sexual abuse until they turn 30 to file a lawsuit.

The Philadelphia Archdiocese said Wednesday (Aug. 29) it has paid more than $10 million in recent years to help hundreds of victims, “regardless of whether their claims are barred” by time limits in state law.

“Thus, we are receptive to any fair and reasonable program to help victims whose cases are barred,” it said in a statement.

The state Senate’s top Republican floated the idea Wednesday of a compensation fund, although the chamber’s top Democrat said church officials privately had been discussing setting up a $250 million fund well before.

However, the grand jury and state Attorney General Josh Shapiro urged the Legislature to change state law to provide a two-year window for victims to sue, and many lawmakers expect the state House of Representatives will approve such a provision after voting sessions resume in September.

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Source: Religion News Service


Inland Hills Church to Replace Regular Sunday Services With ‘Time of Worship and Reflection’ After Pastor Andrew Stoecklein’s Suicide

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One week after the death of 30-year-old Pastor Andrew Stoecklein by suicide, Inland Hills Church announced its plans for services on Sunday. The church will hold a “dedicated time of worship and reflection” on the pastor’s passing instead of a regular worship service. Plans for a memorial service will be announced later.

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Kayla Stoecklein, the wife of Andrew Stoecklein, also wrote a letter to her husband sharing her pain and how she will tell their three young sons the news of his death. Read below:

Mess To Miracle

To My Andrew,

Today marks one week since that tragic morning. The darkest week of my life. The emotions that I have faced this week have crushed me: mind, body, and soul. The gaping hole I feel inside now that you are gone is suffocating. Oh, how I long to be with you, right now. I would give anything just to cuddle up into your chest and hold you again.

The last few days have been incredibly difficult. There are countless decisions that need to be made to honor you and put your body to rest. What will you wear? What type of casket will you lay in? How will we pay for it? What location will be best? Do we buy 1 plot or 2? Who will speak at the service? These are questions we shouldn’t be facing. These are questions I was supposed to answer 50 years from now when I am old and grey. How do I do this without you? Why are you gone so soon? How do I tell the boys?

Today we walked the cemetery. It was surreal. Overwhelming and peaceful at the same time. We felt a small kiss from God when He graciously provided a place for you right next to your dad. Now every time we visit we can remember you both and imagine the joy you must feel now you are together.

Tomorrow I will tell the boys. The life they once knew will never be the same. The dreams they had with you are gone, just like mine. The daily routines, the daddy dates, the donut runs and the soccer games now distinctly different than before. The house will be quieter, lonelier, and duller without you. You filled our house with joy. You filled our home with fun and laughter that only comes from a dad. You knew how to crack just the right joke to cheer me up when life felt overwhelming. I miss you so much, Andrew, every single part.

I hate the loss and the pain, but there is nothing I can do to change it. There is nothing I can do to bring you back, so I will choose to lean into God. The stories flooding in are lifting me up and holding me up. The life change that is happening only comes from God, because He promises to work all things together for good, even this.

Your story, your life and your death is opening the floor for conversations all around the world. Your story is helping people to share their hidden thoughts and secret struggles with their family and friends. Your story is paving the way for an even bigger conversation about how the church can better come alongside people with mental illness, including pastors. God is using your story and this tragedy to do miracles in the lives of other people. As much as I don’t want to, I can’t help but see God’s hand in all of this.

My mind keeps wandering back to the last message you gave titled, “Mess to Masterpiece.” Just as you told the church about how God will meet them in their mess, I believe God is meeting us, right here, right now, in this mess. And my prayer today in my darkest hour is, “Heavenly Father, complete the work you’ve begun in me.” Only God can turn the greatest tragedy in my life into triumph.

I love you and I miss you with every piece of me,

Your Girl

— Blair Halliday

Toronto Shuts Down First-Ever Sex Doll Brothel One Week Before Opening Day

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Toronto has shut down what was going to be the first-ever sex doll brothel in North America just a week before it was slated to open.

Because of a decades-old bylaw, city officials in the North York region of Canada’s most-populous city said this week that the Aura Dolls brothel would be illegal because it falls under the category of “adult entertainment parlor” and is therefore not allowed in the neighborhood in which it had planned to set up shop, Toronto’s CityNews reports.

Councilman John Fillion said in a letter to residents obtained by the news outlet that he met with city staff to see if the doll brothel was legal in that location following a barrage of complaints he had received from his ward. The city’s declaration that the shop was indeed illegal was based on a motion Fillion made approximately 20 years ago restricting sex retail shops to industrial areas.

“Both the business owner and property owner were advised by city staff that the proposed use is illegal and that, if the business opened, they would be charged,” Fillion said in the letter to residents.

“As a result, I am pleased to advise you that city staff were told that the lease has been canceled.”

He tweeted Thursday, noting the backlash from local residents: “Thanks to all who spoke up for our community. I received many emails, and 1 from a young female student concerned about the objectification of women wrote that such businesses ‘wrongly educate men that women are plastic dolls, rather than human beings who exist for male pleasure.'”

Meghan Murphy, editor of the Canadian website Feminist Current, concurs. Murphy weighed in on the controversy Friday, noting in an interview with CBC radio that doll brothels are similar to actual brothels in terms of the destructive messages they send to men about women, particularly that it turns them into objects.

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SOURCE: Christian Post, Brandon Showalter

Pastor Jasper Williams Turns Prophet to Black America as He Rebukes Black America for Her Sins

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A Georgia pastor’s eulogy of Aretha Franklin has sparked criticism from some people who accused him of being homophobic, sexist and demeaning to other black people.

The Rev. Jasper Williams Jr. of the Salem Bible Church in Atlanta touched on Franklin’s life and career but also criticized black-on-black crime and said single mothers are incapable of raising sons by themselves. He said black America has lost its soul and that it’s “now time for black America to come back home.”

“There was a time when we as a race had a thriving economy,” Williams said. “I remember we had our own little grocery stores. We had our own little hotels. They weren’t big and fancy, but they were ours. …

“As bad as the days as Jim Crow and segregation were … it forced us to each other instead of forcing us on each other. We quickly come to realize that as a people, all we really have is one another.

“But when we marched, when we protested, when we got through saying we shall overcome, yes, we were rewarded with integration, we got what we fought for, we got what we marched for. But with the birth of integration, there also came the loss of not only the black community’s economy, but there also came the loss of the black man’s soul.”

Williams said the majority of black households are run by women — but also said women cannot raise boys to be men.

“Where is your soul, black man?” he asked. “As I look in your house, there are no fathers in the home no more. Where is your soul?”

“Seventy percent of our households are led by our precious, proud, fine black women. But as proud, beautiful and fine as our black women are, one thing a black woman cannot do. A black woman cannot raise a black boy to be a man. She can’t do that. She can’t do that.”

Then, Williams touched on the Black Lives Matter movement and called for an end to black-on-black violence.

“It amazes me how it is that when the police kills one of us, we’re ready to protest march, destroy innocent property,” he said. “We’re ready to loot, steal whatever we want. … But when we kill 100 of us, nobody says anything. Nobody does anything.”

He continued: “If you choose to ask me today — Do black lives matter? Let me answer like this. No. Black lives do not matter. Black lives will not matter. … Black lives should not matter. Black lives must not matter. Until black people start respecting black lives and stop killing ourselves, black lives can never matter.”

Williams talked about the importance of strengthening black households and the importance of homes led by a man and a woman.

“Anytime we stray away from God’s design for what the home is supposed to be, heavy will be our results,” he said.

“God has told us what to do with our home. He designed the home. I mean God put in a home a man and a woman, a father and a mother. God put in the home a husband and a wife. A provider and a nurturer.”

Twitter user A’Ja Lyve, who uses the handle @ajalyve, accused the pastor of being homophobic and sexist.

“Reverend Jasper Williams Jr, pastor of Salem Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA, is a homophobic, sexist, misogynist, ableist, uneducated bigot who is disrespecting Auntie Aretha Franklin at her funeral,” Lyve wrote. “She wasn’t about nonsense.”

Twitter user Tariq Nasheed, using the handle @tariqnasheed, wrote:

“Reverend Jasper Williams plantation style speech at #ArethaFranklinFuneral is a prime example why there is a total disconnect between young Black people and the older Black church crowd. All that cowardly “you’s gots to do better” talk ain’t fooling these kids.”

One Twitter user, @FreeBlackMan, seemed to like the pastor’s message.

“There’s a reason Aretha Franklin ASKED Jasper Williams to do her eulogy. She knew what time it was. She knew her people needed some truth. Most will reject it and continue to embrace chaos. Some will hear, learn, and change course. Time is running out. #ArethaHomegoing,” he wrote.

He also said: “What good is a community without the strength and discipline of fatherhood? We see the results every day. Black boys and men slaughter each other by the thousands. No one can bring correction, because the community has no manhood. Men bring strength, correction, and direction.”

Source: USA Today

What Happened When a Chinese House Church Refused Government Demand to Install Cameras in Their Worship Space

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The head pastor of the Zion church in Beijing Jin Mingri poses for picures in the lobby of the unofficial Protestant "house" church in Beijing, China, August 28, 2018. (REUTERS/Thomas Peter)
The head pastor of the Zion church in Beijing Jin Mingri poses for picures in the lobby of the unofficial Protestant “house” church in Beijing, China, August 28, 2018. (REUTERS/Thomas Peter)

The Zion church in Beijing, one of the city’s largest unofficial Protestant “house” churches, has operated with relative freedom for years, hosting hundreds of worshippers every weekend in an expansive, specially renovated hall in north Beijing.

But in April, city authorities asked the church to install 24 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in the building for “security”, Zion’s head pastor, Jin Mingri, told Reuters.

“They wanted to put cameras in the sanctuary where we worship. The church decided this was not appropriate,” Jin said over tea in his spacious, book-lined office. “Our services are a sacred time.”

When the request was refused, police and state security agents started harassing churchgoers, calling them, visiting them, contacting their workplace and asking them to promise not to go to church, according to statements from the church and interviews with attendees.

China’s constitution guarantees religious freedom, but since President Xi Jinping took office in 2012, Beijing has tightened restrictions on religions seen as a challenge to the authority of the ruling Communist Party.

China’s religious affairs bureau and the public security ministry did not respond to faxed requests for comment.

The Chinese government says greater oversight of religious activities is needed in order to regulate believers and facilitate worship, as well as to prevent foreign forces from influencing China’s internal affairs using the guise of religion.

HOUSE OR OFFICIAL

China’s Christian believers are split between those who attend unofficial “house” or “underground” churches and those who attend government-sanctioned places of worship.

The unofficial establishments, which range from small living room-gatherings to large, professional operations like Zion, had in recent decades been tolerated by authorities.

They were often able to rent large spaces, though these are rarely identifiable from the outside. The only church exteriors in China adorned with steeples or crosses are officially sanctioned.

In February, new legislation increased oversight of religious education and practice, with harsher punishment for practices not sanctioned by the authorities.

In addition to being asked to install security cameras, some unofficial churches have been asked by police to take detailed lists of attendee IDs and phone numbers, churchgoers and activists say.

Some who push back have been visited by police and asked to switch places of worship to officially sanctioned churches, they added.

The Zion church, which occupies an office building floor that was previously a nightclub, is now being evicted despite previous verbal assurances from its landlord that it could rent the location until 2023, Jin said. The landlord could not be reached for comment.

Jin does not expect to be able to find a landlord that would rent the church another suitable location.

RARE PROTEST

There are roughly 60 million Christians in China, most of them Protestant, with about 10 million Catholics, according to independent estimates.

The Vatican and Beijing are locked in talks to resolve a decades-long dispute over appointing bishops in China that, if resolved, could make underground Catholic churches official, with Holy See-approved bishops

On July 23, more than 30 of Beijing’s hundreds of underground Protestant churches took the rare step of releasing a joint statement complaining of “unceasing interference” and the “assault and obstruction” of regular activities of believers since the new regulations came into effect, according to a copy of the statement seen by Reuters and confirmed by Jin.

“We call on the government to respect history and the current situation of house churches, respect the means and practices of religious work, and respect citizens’ basic freedoms and rights to believe,” the letter said.

Wang Yu, a prominent rights lawyer who has defended Christians from harassment and was recently baptized at Zion after years of worship there, said she believes the pressure on believers is an attempt to force the church to close.

“The authorities hope numbers will dwindle till it becomes impossible to continue, but in recent months ever-more churchgoers have been attending service,” she said.

Wang fears, however, the situation will worsen, given the authorities have started describing the church as a “cult” when pressuring churchgoers. In one of its statements, Zion also says authorities have called the church a cult.

“Being labeled a cult was how it all started for the Falun Gong in 1999,” Wang said, referring to the spiritual movement the Communist Party banned that year.

The new regulations have increased government pressure on the churches to “sinicize” – to be culturally Chinese and submit to oversight from the Communist Party – but many have resisted, saying this would be a fundamental betrayal of their faith.

“House churches believe that our spiritual needs and the content of our faith is ruled over by God,” Pastor Jin said.

“What we need is the freedom to believe. Without this, it is not real faith.”

SOURCE: Christian Shepherd 
Reuters

Bishop Who Officiated Aretha Franklin’s Funeral Apologizes to Ariana Grande for Joke About Her Name & Inappropriate Touching

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The bishop who officiated Aretha Franklin’s funeral, Charles H. Ellis III, apologized Friday to Ariana Grande for how he touched her onstage and a joke he made about her name.

Accompanied by her fiance Pete Davidson, Grande traveled to Detroit to attend the ceremony and perform one of Franklin’s signature hits, “(You Make Me Feel Like) “A Natural Woman,” which she previously sang on the “Tonight Show” on Aug. 16 shortly after Franklin’s death.

After Grande’s performance, Ellis , the officiant leading the service, brought the singer to the podium, where he cracked a joke about her name sounding like a Taco Bell menu item and awkwardly greeted her on stage.

Images of the moment showed Ellis’ hand holding Grande well above her waist, with his fingers pressing against one side of her chest.

The preacher apologized in an interview with The Associated Press at the cemetery where Franklin was interred late Friday.

“It would never be my intention to touch any woman’s breast. … I don’t know I guess I put my arm around her,” Ellis said, adding: “Maybe I crossed the border, maybe I was too friendly or familiar but again, I apologize.”

He added: “The last thing I want to do is to be a distraction to this day. This is all about Aretha Franklin.”

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Source: USA Today

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