death

How to stop, pray, and respond to Dallas shooting

The gun violence this week is unbelievable. Unnecessary killings. Alton Sterling. Philando Castile. Many more unreported shootings. And now, 5 Dallas law enforcement officers are dead and 7 more injured. As Black Lives Matter protesters and others were peacefully gathering in Dallas and other cities around the country, an individual (or individuals) decided to take wrongful action with gun violence. The main target? White police officers.

Our police officers need our prayers. Victims of this violent crime need our prayers. However, not everyone shares such thoughtful compassion.

In time of violence, trauma, racial tension, and death, I’m shocked and appalled at some of the responses – the insensitive responses. One such response comes from radio host and former U.S. Congressman Joe Walsh who tweeted: Continue Reading…

blog, Christianity

3 things churches can learn from David Bowie

bowie

As the death of David Bowie, the provocative entertainer, artist, actor, and singer, continues to shock fans and the general public, his mark upon culture is undeniable. David Bowie’s work spans decades and touched millions of people. As musicians rise and fall with cultural tastes, Bowie was able to keep the attention of the masses. Bowie’s success is obvious. He sold over 140 million records.

Despite Bowie’s brand of suggestive visuals and content, churches have a lot to learn from this cultural icon. Though Bowie was mostly agnostic and didn’t really dive into religion, (some flashes of spiritual moments, though) his ability to stay relevant is unmistakable. As churches struggle to understand how to “be church” in the 21st century, Bowie’s life teaches pastor and church leaders how to thrive:
Continue Reading…

Christianity

Are social media thoughts and prayers helpful anymore?

In the wake of tragedy it has become an automatic social media response for many Christians: Our thoughts and prayers are with… I know, I said it on social media after the shootings in San Bernardino, Sandy Hook, and Aurora. Maybe you were like me and wanted to express your grief and wanted to respond.

However, not everyone sees “thoughts and prayers” as a helpful expression of grief in the face of tragedy.

After the shootings in San Bernardino, The Daily News featured several Republican politicians’ Twitter posts expressing their “thoughts and prayers” for the victims with the headline “God isn’t fixing this”. The response from many Christians was sharp and curt.

It seems that mass shootings are growing. According to The Washington Post, there have been 351 mass shootings in the United States this year alone. That’s 351 “thoughts and prayers” to shooting victims on Facebook and Twitter feeds. To many observers, politicians who claim to be Christian and use “thoughts and prayers” on social media and yet do nothing about reasonable gun control laws, are seen as tone deaf.

As a pastor, I use my own Facebook and Twitter feeds to express grief, sadness, and lament in times of tragedy. I read the “God isn’t fixing this headline” and sat in contemplation. I wondered, “How does the world see Christian “thoughts and prayers” on social media? Is that all we are as followers of Jesus? Thoughts and prayers? Continue Reading…

Evangelicals

Evangelicals, admit racism is real

News broke recently that South Carolina deputy Ben Fields, who brutally abused a student in school – WWE-styled – was fired. The abuse was caught on tape. This incident was the latest in a series of police related violence. Many have called the act racially motivated. As these events have transpired many Evangelicals have either turned their head or flat out rejected racism was involved.

Evangelicals, popular on television and radio have sparked a debate by refusing to begin a conversation on racism or by rejecting that racism has a part in recent violence. Former presidential candidate and Evangelical pastor Mike Huckabee once remarked that Jay Z had pimped out his wife Beyoncé. Oblivious to the obvious to the racial stereotypes and cultural references, Huckabee did not retract his statement. Calls for Evangelicals to abandon their tone-deff cultural views have largely gone unnoticed. In 2012, speaking on the death of Trayvon Martin, Southern Baptist Convention Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission said black leaders were use Martin’s death to“gin up the black vote” and that black man is “statistically more likely to do you harm than a white man.” Land learned he was living in a different world when he lost radio show and resigned his Southern Baptist leadership position because of his comments.

The Public Religion Research Institute asked if violence and killings in Ferguson were racially motivated and 59% of white Evangelical Protestants said the police killings were isolated events. In contrast, with a minority of 39% of all Americans who said recent violence was not racially motivated. Perhaps the most damning evidence that racism is alive and well is a 2015 Department of Justice study that found that police are searching black drivers more often, but finding more illegal contraband among white drivers.

Evangelicals have to wake up to the reality before them: racism is still a part of American culture. Evangelicals have been been fighting against a narrative of American racism since the founding of this country. My own denomination, the American Baptist Churches split with Southern Baptists mainly on the issue of slavery. Segregation was codified by white Evangelicals in the South. Evangelical pastor and author Billy Graham addressed this issue in 1993 when he wrote,

blog

Be informed, not ignorant on Baltimore

Baltimore is a great city. It is home to the sports teams I follow, universities, churches, an inner harbor, and more importantly where people live. My mother was born and raised in Baltimore. I was born outside Baltimore in Maryland and lived there for about 20 years. As a former Marylander, I’m shocked at the reporting in Baltimore that I’ve seen.

The scenes and pictures of Baltimore rioting over the death of Freddie Gray by police is inescapable. Facebook, Twitter, TV, and the internet are all reporting using words like “thugs”, “vandals” or “rioters”. However, media talking heads are blaming, criticizing, and pointing fingers. As usual, the media are driving a very specific narrative and image: inner city [racial] chaos.

An example of this is on Fox News

Another protester told Vittert he’s upset about all the police brutality, but it was drowned out by more indiscernible shouting. The audio feed briefly cut out, but one f-bomb was picked up on the air. Kelly immediately said, “This is ridiculous. This is how folks want to be heard? They want to shout down the reporter? They want to endanger him?”

One person equals “This is how folks want to be heard”? One story, one person does not equal the whole story. However, that is the picture that many in the media want to paint. Geraldo Rivera told a ~~vandal~~ protester who was blocking the news camera, “You blocking my camera… You’re making a fool of yourself!” to which someone replied, “We don’t want your false coverage!”

With cities like Ferguson, Cleveland, Brooklyn, and Baltimore protesting what residents feel as injustice, the media captures the worst of the worst. Riots in other cities, for other reasons, are often reported differently by some news outlets. It seems that scenes of violence fill the airwaves more than the scenes of peaceful protests. What about the scenes of people trying to help? Perhaps one of the most powerful and important news worthy events that are occurring in Baltimore is what the clergy are doing. Hundreds of clergy marched in Baltimore to promote peace. WBAL in Baltimore reported first hand what occurred on April 27:

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Why pastors need pastors

Much of what we pastors do is to minister, care, support, and uplift the people in our congregations and community. We go through college and graduate school (seminary) and learn the basics of sociology, psychology, and therapy. We pastors walk with people through depression, grief, and death.

Through all those hours, days, weeks, and years of care-giving, what happens when we pastors need a pastor? Who will be the care-giver to the care-giver? Who will be the pastor to a pastor?

I recently posted an Baptist News Global article, written by Jeff Brumbly, on Facebook with some startling statistics for pastors:

Christianity

Learning church growth trends in England

As American churches slowly declined, we watched our European neighbors over the pond decline even faster. The “Death of Christianity” was forecasted to spread from England, Germany, and Norway to around the world. Surprisingly, a new study has revealed church growth trends in Europe. The death of Christianity story is greatly exaggerated.

What can we attribute to this growth? Hipper churches? Better social media? Flasher worship bands?

No… none of the above were found to produce long term church growth and revitalization.

The church growth movement in England has discovered deeper trends that can help American churches. A 10 year study was completed by the Church Growth Research Programme to study British churches. The study found that 18% of churches in Britain grew over a 10-year period. The study aimed to uncover what was different about those churches. The findings were reported by the Lewis Center for Church Leadership:

blog, Churches

Church gun giveaways send wrong message

A local church in Troy, NY is promoting a gun giveaway and its not the first church to do so. Churches in Texas and Kentucky have offered gun giveaways.

The practice of a church gun giveaway sends the wrong message. Is it wrong because it is illegal to own a gun? No. Is it wrong because it is immoral to own a gun? No.

The apostle Paul once wrote to the church in Corinth,

All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify.

It may be lawful for a church to have a AR-15 gun giveaway, but it is not profitable to Christianity. To some, having more guns means more safety. However, studies show no strong empirical evidence to support this. For instance, in the only peer review published study on gun related deaths, the Annals of Emergency Medicine reported:

“…on a case-controlled study in which household were matched on a number of demographic factors, and then incidences of gun violence were compared. They found that people who keep a gun in their home are almost twice as likely to die in a gun-related homicide.”

In 2004, American Journal of Epidemiology published a study that found:

clergy burnout, pastor

Proof being a pastor is a tough job

As the pastor, I’m shaking hands with church goers after worship one Sunday, I talk with a congregant about meeting him during the week. His reply?

“I thought pastors only worked one day a week!”

Truth be told, we full-time (and part-time pastors) do not work one day a week. I work anywhere between 35 and 75 hours a week. My congregation expects a full-time, ordained, college educated, graduate school 90-credit hour trained, and spiritual pastor to lead the congregation. And so, I provide that. However, there are unspoken and unwritten expectations: my wife and children share in the full life of the congregation, I give 10% (and more) of my income to church, I’m available 24/7, be an excellent preacher, sound teacher, be a chaplain, be a theologian, providing counseling, give financial leadership, bring people to church, and sometimes even clean up a mess in a common area.

If you ask me or my colleagues, it’s tough being a pastor.

If you think I’m just complaining and think I have cushy job, don’t take my word for it. Take Forbes Magazine’s top 9 toughest leadership roles into consideration:

#9: CEO, lots of pressure for profit
#8: Congressman/Congresswoman, everyone (sometimes including your mother) hates you
#7: Newspaper editor, sorry that your job is almost extinct
#6: Mayor, “Unlike most politicians, you actually have to make sure that garbage gets collected, snow gets shoveled, and things get done.”
#5: Pastor/minister

Other than #1 on the list, Forbes collected the most cons of being a pastor:

blog, Christianity

Duck Dynasty, free speech, and persecution

By now you have heard about controversy involving ‘Duck Dynasty’ A&E star Phil Robertson. Robertson, recently spoke to GQ about his personal beliefs:

Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there… Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men… It seems like, to me, a vagina — as a man — would be more desirable than a man’s anus. That’s just me. I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical…

In addition, Robertson made controversial comments on race. Phil Robertson was recently suspended by A&E because of his statements. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal responded to the controversy by saying,

I remember when TV networks believed in the First Amendment. It is a messed up situation when Miley Cyrus gets a laugh, and Phil Robertson gets suspended.

Sarah Palin responded on her Facebook page with the message:

Free Speech is an endangered species….Those ‘intolerants’ hatin’ and taking on the Duck Dynasty patriarch for voicing his personal opinion are taking on all of us.

blog, Christianity, peace

Be a peace-wager like Nelson Mandela

As the world reacts to the death of Nelson Mandela, we cannot help but read and understand his amazing history of peace. Fighting against injustice and apartheid in South Africa were his notable achievements, but Mandela did so much more.

Mandela spent 27 years in prison for fighting for his beliefs and for justice. Emerging for oppressive imprisonment, Mandela spoke about peace, reconciliation, and forgiveness. How can someone emerge from such hate, injustice, and pain to take about reconciliation? He became a symbol of truth, reconciliation, grace and peace.

Many talk about peace, but few understand what it takes. It’s easy to speak about peace but if one truly wants to achieve peace, one must “wage peace”. Nelson Mandela died in the midst of Advent, the precursor to Christmas. The story of Christmas is the story of God waging peace with the world. Making peace is not an easy business. Mandela was a peace-wager.

Peace amid tragedy is challenging. Mandela was one who could find peace in tragedy.

The message of Christmas is this: Christ was born to all the world for the redemption of the world. However, as Christians, we often believe that peace is to be something to pray for yet it is never accomplished. It is common for Christians to think that peace is to be prayed for and never acting on.

Jesus said,

social media

In the wake of Boston, social media heals

It was last week American experienced its first terrorist act through the lens of social media. Millions turned to Twitter, Facebook, and other social media networking sites to gain information on the bombings in Boston. During 9/11, many turned to TV and radio to seek information but in 2013, social media led the way in information and healing. This is a different internet age.

When the bombs when off in Boston, I was driving my friend Gary Long to the airport. Gary checked his iPhone and said, “A bomb went off at the Boston Marathon.” Immediately, my Twitter and Facebook media feeds contained with first hand accounts, information, and pictures. At times media reports were riddled with errors and misinformation. Our culture’s need to immediately digest information fed inaccuracies.

Quickly after the bombing, social media was ablaze with pictures and stories of regular people rushing to the scene of the explosions. There was something different about this act of terrorism. The shock was lessened by bystanders heroic action rather than fearful reaction to the explosions. The emerging story on Facebook and Twitter was not about details of death, grief, and loss but stories of healing, hospitality, and love. Google quickly set up a missing persons exchange to find loved ones in Boston.

Facebook messages of prayer and sentiments of grief for Boston filled my feed:

After the wake of the Boston bombings, social media became a tool for American to heal. A tool used to gather together as a digital community. Social media became the mechanism by which people shared a common grief and a common resolve to heal. The pictures and stories of average people doing powerful things to save lives gave us hope. Social media brought us together. We all saw the pictures, witnessed the tragedy, and experience grief through social media.

In the end, the power of social media brought us together to pray, cry, and mourn. But, we didn’t stay mournful long because our collective social media conscience encourage us to respond with healing and prayer – not anger or fear. As we move forward as a country, social media will increase our sense of national community and will play a greater role in healing.

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