Who's the pastor?

Review and insight from We Have This Ministry by Samuel Proctor and Gardner Taylor

In an age of declining youth and young adults desiring to be a part of organized religion, the church must evaluate what has caused this precipitous decent.  We must take a hard look at those who are charged with and aid our spiritual growth, the pastor.  Of course the pastor doesn't get all the blame, but he/she is the spiritual leader or undershepherd of congregations across the US and beyond thus necessitating the need to look at these spiritual leaders.  In The Last Dragon (click HERE to reminisce/remember), Sho'nuff asked Bruce Leroy the question, "Who's the Master?"  But Bruce was unwilling to acknowledge that Sho'nuff was the master.  Why?  Could it be that Sho'nuff did not exhibit the character of a master?  I also believe that Bruce Leroy realized that being the master wasn't about him, but those he cared about.  So I ask the question, "Who's the pastor?"

What will cause the great falling away?

"At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, ¹¹and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.¹²Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, ¹³but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:10)

I bet you have some great friends, I know I do. I believe they would drop everything to be there for me just as I would for them. Local churches are full of groups that consider themselves close. Yet Jesus says in the end times that MANY of these “friends” will betray and hate each other.

What We Can Learn About Preaching from 'Parks and Recreation'

For the moment, the sitcom seems to have forgotten to be funny. Or to be thoughtful. Or that I might even be watching.

Russell Moore [ posted 10/25/2012 ]

There aren't many television situation comedies left, and one of the last standing is NBC's Parks and Recreation. This show has succeeded so far with its creative and fresh writing, along with a talented ensemble cast of likable characters. I happened to catch a new episode last week though, and clicked it off.

The show was culture-warrior preachy, almost like a throwback to a 1970s Norman Lear sitcom. The more I thought about it, the more I realized there's something we ought to pay attention to about public discourse.

The episode was about an outbreak of sexually transmitted diseases among the elderly in a Pawnee, Indiana, nursing home. The show's lead character, councilwoman Leslie Knope, takes on the mantle of educating the elders about preventing STDs with condoms, and is stymied by a Religious Right activist and her stereotypically and flamboyantly gay husband. It turns out there is a law forbidding anything but abstinence education in Pawnee.

UnCHURCHED

Unplugging from being "churched" for a "Tru REALigion"

To quote 2 Chainz on the Understatement track, “Real recognizes real, and you don’t look familiar!”  Today’s society is looking for authenticity from the “faithful.”  In other words, has there been an expungement of the sermon by our lifestyle?  Have we been guilty letting our sermons outrun our character?  A lack of authentic “faithful”, in my opinion, has contributed to the growing number of disinterested individuals in religion.  I suggest that “REALigion” begets the notion of transparency and the ability to connect with people without the false pretense of having it all together.  It’s heretical to portray a life that is so far removed from our former lives.

God In America: The Black Church

In the fall of 2008, newspapers, talk shows and blogs exploded with news that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the African American minister from Chicago's Trinity Church, had denounced the United States with inflammatory language: "God damn America!" Wright's most famous parishioner was the leading Democratic contender for the presidential nomination, Barack Obama. Trinity was Obama's spiritual home -- the place where he had found religion, where he was married, and where his daughters had been baptized. Rev. Wright, a former Marine with a Ph.D., had served as his spiritual mentor.

While many white voters seemed surprised, puzzled and shocked by Wright's angry rhetoric, African Americans were less so. Obama seized the moment to deliver a profound meditation on race in America, a speech titled "A More Perfect Union." Tracing the deep historical roots of racial inequality and injustice, Obama put Wright's anger into historical context. In very personal terms, he also described his experience at Trinity:

Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.

The Bonds of Freedom

There is paradox in the Christian understanding of what it means to be free.

No single word resonates with Americans and millions of others quite like freedom. A television commercial announces that buying a certain automobile or flying with a certain airline will make you "free." People celebrate their country's independence with songs of "freedom" on their lips and ringing in their ears. Politicians, businesspeople, advertisers, salesmen, military leaders and recruiters—all know how to use "freedom" to attract attention and draw interest. Few words are so common while carrying so much weight.

The word is also found throughout Scripture and Christian tradition. Everyone raised in Sunday school knows "the truth will set you free" (John 8:32) and "[i]t is for freedom that Christ has set us free" (Gal. 5:1). Freedom is not just an American or humanitarian theme; it's also a gospel theme.

'No Religion' Is Increasingly Popular Choice For Americans: Pew Report

Sarah Garrison grew up Catholic, but today she does not consider herself part of any religion. Yet as someone who meditates and prays every day to the "God here in our hearts," she would never call herself an atheist or agnostic and thinks church can play a positive role in society and individual lives.

"Some people need [religion]," said Garrison, 26, who works as a training coordinator for an online news company in Moline, Ill. She mentions her older sister, a Catholic nun, who "couldn't be happier" with structured religious practice.

According to a new report from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, Garrison has plenty of company in her spiritual beliefs and practices.