Daniel Darling's Blog, page 30
April 12, 2018
The Way Home: Eric Geiger on faith, failing and starting over
Nobody starts out with the intention of ruining their life. But inevitably Christian leaders see their careers and marriages shipwrecked due to moral failure or financial impropriety. What factors lead to a major fall? Eric Geiger, Vice President of Church Resources at LifeWay Christian Resources, shares insights for leaders from his new book, How to Ruin Your Life: and Starting Over When You Do.
Show Notes
Book: How to Ruin Your Life: and Starting Over When You Do [image error]
Twitter: @EricGeiger
Website: ericgeiger.com
The post The Way Home: Eric Geiger on faith, failing and starting over appeared first on Daniel Darling, author, pastor, speaker.
April 10, 2018
The Church’s Next 10,000 Years
It was a slick PowerPoint—presented by a (self-described) cutting-edge ministry practitioner—that sent me over the edge. Carefully presenting cherry-picked research, this ministry leader offered a doomsday scenario for the American church: heresy is rising. Millennials are fleeing. Culture is changing.
Of course, this inevitable slouch toward Gomorrah could be prevented, we were told, if we purchased this organization’s brand-new curriculum.
If I sound cynical about the demise of the church, it’s because I am. I read Jesus’ words to Peter in Matthew 16:18 and I believe them: “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” I’m bullish about the future of the church because Jesus is bullish about the future of the church.
And not only “the church” as we think of the worldwide communion of saints, but your church, my church, and every local expression of Christ’s body. Healthy churches are not formed simply through handwringing, navel-gazing, or trend-setting, but through an appreciation for the past, a clear-eyed view of the present, and a fixated march toward the future—and not just any future, but the approaching kingdom of God.
Past: An Unchanging Problem
Every few years, well-meaning church practitioners urge the church to shed what is perceived to be “cultural baggage,” to let go of the past. In some ways, this is important for life-giving congregations. A crippling deadness can set upon a successful church when it continues to rest on a previous generation’s successes and cling to that generation’s methods and styles.
When churches act as if one time period in church history—the 1950s, for example—is the golden paradigm for ministry, they are effectively contextualizing their congregations for a certain demographic. In doing this, they worship a model instead of proclaiming a message. Change is good for a church.
Yet some of the most popular practitioners of change aim not at the peeling paint and the threadbare pews, but at the timeless body of truth passed down from generation to generation. Orthodoxy, they say, must change to fit a changing world.
Ironically, this is not a new argument, but an old canard, long disproven. Every generation since Pentecost has seen challenges to what we know is true. And every generation proves that it is fresh commitment to old paths that sustains God’s people.
The Christian story of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation—this story is vibrant and new for every generation. Only the gospel thread that runs through Scripture answers today’s pressing questions. Only a sinless, crucified, and risen Christ can offer hope for a world in turmoil.
Culture changes and people shift, but the problems remain the same: the curse of sin weaving its destructive path through the human heart and through the cosmos.
Present: An Answer to Injustice
Can we faithfully answer the questions of the hour—the real questions our people in our congregations are asking—with the old, old story?
It’s not enough to simply know theology and Scripture in the abstract if we are unfaithful shepherds to the people God called us to serve. Do we know their unique needs and problems? Are we listening to the soundtrack of our age: the longings, the hurts, the aspirations? And are we communicating in mediums and platforms where the questions are actually being asked?
We can, however, be so laser-focused on the culture that we hold theology too loosely. We can so identify with the people around us that we forget we are ambassadors of Christ’s kingdom. When we do this, we not only fail our mission as Christ’s followers, but we fail the people we are called to serve. Only the story of Christianity answers the deepest human longings.
Are we both “in the books” and “in the community”? Are we steeped in Christian theology and ethics and also deeply engaged with the people we serve? Are we ever-learning, winsome, teachable?
Applying trite phrases and yesterday’s talking points to new and dangerous assaults on human dignity will not equip our people for living on mission for God. In our congregations, the people who come on Sunday are facing temptations wildly different from those of our grandparents’ generation—technologies and trends that are all new and varied versions of the Fall. But amazingly, Christian theology is not surprised by today’s corruptions. It is instead able to meet them.
We must also be present—to inspire our churches to live out the gospel in fresh ways in the communities we serve. Where are the vulnerable, and how can we serve them? Where is justice being denied, and where can our influence make a difference?
People today are inundated with injustice: it’s on their social media timelines, on television, at the water cooler. But the ancient concept of the church—the gathered, Spirit-led people of God—is uniquely equipped to meet today’s challenges and offer a signpost to the kingdom of God.
Future: An Outpost for a Radical Kingdom
Most of the time, expert musings about what the worldwide church will look like involve demographic surveys, technological advancements, and philosophical reflections. Bestselling authors and popular conferences focus on future trends.
It’s important for churches to be part of this discussion so they can freshly apply the gospel to the moment and help their people think through inevitable ethical challenges.
Yet, when future-casting, leaders can often be ironically shortsighted. Our strategizing thinks in terms of 15, 20, and 30 years down the road. We worry about the church we will leave our children and grandchildren. We talk about investing in the next generation.
But is our vision sufficiently large? What if we dreamt about the next 10,000 years? What if we prepared our people for living as citizens of God’s future kingdom?
Sometimes, in our quest to create cutting-edge churches, we sacrifice our long-term futures for short-term benefits. I’ve often felt this way as I’ve walked into vibrant, well-known churches or as I attend popular evangelical conferences. It seems that we are often creating a church for the young, hip, and sexy. It’s as if we want our message to the world to be something like, “See, church is the place where the cool people gather on Sunday.”
But the kingdom of God takes the opposite approach.
Jesus said it is the poor, the downtrodden, and the marginalized who have a prominent place in the kingdom of God (Matt. 5:3, 20:16). Paul reminded his churches of the shocking ordinariness of God’s people (1 Cor. 1:26). James scolded those in the church of Jerusalem for their tendency to favor the wealthy and powerful at the expense of the poor (James 2:1-13).
Do our congregations look like outposts of this radical kingdom? Do people enter our congregations and wonder to themselves, How did these disparate people get here? What possible thread unites people so vastly separated by age, race, political affiliation, and class? Why is it that old and young, black and white, disabled and able-bodied, rich and poor, prominent and anonymous gather together every Sunday?
Imagine what the church would look like if we thought more about the future—our future as resurrected kings and queens in Christ’s new kingdom. What would it look like if we intentionally worked to image that kingdom here in the present, fallen world? What if we allowed the Spirit of God to shape us into a body that looks strange in a world of tribes, divisions, and class systems?
We might pray that God would not bring more people into our congregations who look just like us, but that God would bring people into our midst who have no business being there—people like us, who, though once far from God, are made near by the blood of Jesus’ cross.
This is the future we might hold in our sights, a future Jesus says can be experienced—in small part—right now.
This article originally appeared here.
The post The Church’s Next 10,000 Years appeared first on Daniel Darling, author, pastor, speaker.
March 29, 2018
The Way Home: Lee Strobel on sharing the gospel in an increasingly secular world
Decades after he published The Case for Christ[image error], apologist Lee Strobel reflects on his journey from atheism to Christianity and why how he shares the gospel in an increasingly secular world. Strobel rejoins the podcast to talk about his new book, The Case for Miracles, about being portrayed on the big screen, and that time he was summoned to explain Christianity to an NBA legend.
Show Notes
Book: The Case for Miracles: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for the Supernatural [image error]
Twitter: @LeeStrobel
Website: leestrobel.com
March 22, 2018
The Way Home: Jana Magruder on encouraging kids’ faith
What critical factors help create environments for kids’ faith to flourish? A brand-new Lifeway survey of 2,300 Christian kids and parents asks what factors encourage kids to stay in the church. Jana Magruder, LifeWay Director of Kids’ Ministry, joins me to discuss the surprising results and offers hope and encouragement for parents.
Show Notes
Book: Kids Ministry that Nourishes: Three Essential Nutrients of a Healthy Kids Ministry [image error]
Twitter: @jana_magruder
Website: lifeway.com/kidsministry
March 20, 2018
The glory we don’t see: Looking harder for glimpses of God at work around us
Every week I met with a drug dealer, a shady business-man, and a serial gambler. Only you wouldn’t know it, because sitting in the pew next to me, they looked just like church people.
Middle class. Put together. Churchy. But here they were, trophies of grace, evidence of some strange and mysterious redemption. Glimpses of some other world where sinners become saints, not at all of their own making.
Chances are, this is your reality, too, if you attend church regularly. It may seem everyone is gathering from the corners of your community on Sunday, dressed up and spiritual. But until you get to know some of these brothers and sisters and hear their stories, you will be oblivious to the sheer amount of redemption taking place around you.
Because Christ’s kingdom is present but not fully consummated, we live in the tension of victories already won and victories to come. We should expect change in this life but not expect too much. We must believe in miracles but not demand them. We yield to the patient work of the Spirit in regenerating our hearts but need to trust His unforeseeable timing.
Perhaps the apostle John knew something about this mystery. As a young disciple, he had witnessed the whipsaw ministry of Jesus: miracle after miracle followed by betrayal, death, and resurrection. He was present at the cross, at the empty tomb, and at Pentecost. He saw the church spread far and wide in his time, growing, enduring persecution, and building a massive global gospel movement.
Yet John also saw what Christianity looks like up close. The first-century church was both transformational and messy, obedient and rebellious, Philadelphian and Corinthian. This is why, in one of his final letters, the aging apostle wrote of the already-but-not-yet nature of redemption: “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:2).
We are God’s children now, yet we are not what we will be. We are changing, yet we don’t have a clue as to how full our sanctification will one day be.
Longtime Christians like me often get stuck in the “not yet.” Decades of ministry can form a cynical crust around our hearts. Caught in the misery of slow growth, vexing problems, and sinful saints, we too often close our eyes to the small but miraculous change happening in the pews. Former prostitutes, embezzlers, and gossips are all around us, and we fail to see what is happening. What’s more, we miss the glimpses of heaven in our own lives. We are not who we should be, but we are also not who we once were.
Yet there’s a remedy for our blindness: entering into the stories of our brothers and sisters, asking about their journeys to faith, and offering worship to a God who still, in the 21st century, is busy calling and transforming a people for Himself.
We know by now that our churches are far from perfect. We know by now where the pockets of sin and despair still hurt gospel witness. We know the frustrations of living in community with sinners. But what we might gain afresh, by intentional effort at storytelling and listening to others, is a renewed faith in the power of God to change lives. We’ll understand better the struggle against sin that some of our Christian family members endure. We’ll have spiritual data to reinforce our faith in the transformative power of the gospel.
And the next time we are discouraged or silently wonder if this whole enterprise of church even matters—the next time we’re searching for a hint of glory in a world of corruption—we’ll be able to point to our neighbor and say: “God can do this. God is doing this. God has done this.”
And we will also be able to look in the mirror and know God will perform His acts of gradual restoration in us, in the deepest and most sinful recesses of the heart we know best—our own.
This grace won’t make the storms go away, but it will remind us of the One who leads us through them. It won’t make the struggle against death easier, but it gives a bit more light to our path. We won’t see the full flower of our own sanctification, but we might find hope in these small patches of glory.
There is redemption all around us. Take a look—can you see it?
Originally appeared in In Touch Magazine
March 15, 2018
The Way Home: Michael Kelley on demystifying discipleship
When we think of discipleship, we think of “growing up in the faith.” But what if we have to “grow down” in order to understand the way of the kingdom of God? Michael Kelley, director of discipleship at Lifeway, stops by to demystify discipleship and teach us what it looks like to “unlearn” sinful patterns in order to learn the way of Christ.
Show Notes
Book: Growing Down: Unlearning the Patterns of Adulthood that Keep Us from Jesus [image error]
Twitter: @_michaelkelley
Website: michaelkelley.co
March 8, 2018
The Way Home: D.H. Dilbeck on the legacy of Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass used the power of gospel preaching to challenge the slave-holding religion of the white Christian church. Douglass used the biblical language of God’s judgment and hope to shape the consciences of his generation. D.H. Dilbeck, author of a great new book Frederick Douglass: America’s Prophet[image error], joins the podcast to discuss the legacy of this heroic abolitionist.
Show Notes
Book: Frederick Douglass: America’s Prophet [image error]
March 1, 2018
The Way Home: Jenny Yang on being an advocate for refugees and immigrants
Why should Christians advocate for refugees and immigrants? Jenny Yang, daughter of an immigrant and advocate, says it is her pro-life convictions that compel her to speak up. Jenny is the vice-president of advocacy for World Relief. She joins the podcast to talk immigration, refugees, and Christian leadership.
Show Notes
Twitter: @JennyYangWR
Website: worldrelief.org
Book: Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion & Truth in the Immigration Debate [image error]
February 27, 2018
The Tension of Influence and Humility
In his book Playing God, Andy Crouch writes of an incident with a well-known megachurch pastor. In the pastor’s study, Andy quizzed the leader about how he managed his power. “We are all servant leaders here!” he said. “We don’t care about power.” Then the two left and walked into an office space where church staff members were busy working. When the pastor entered the room, the staff immediately sat up straighter and acted busy—a visible sign that the pastor had power he didn’t want to admit he possessed.
This a fitting anecdote for the age in which we live, the era of the #humblebrag—the golden age of servant leadership, where leaders at all levels of society want to be known for their humility. This is a tension that doesn’t exist only for people in public vocations, but for influencers across the spectrum.
Social media has democratized authority in numerous ways, deregulating influence in a manner that enables not just power brokers but people in many kinds of positions. We’re all public figures now. All possessors of influence. This is why it is important for Christians to pause and think deeply about how we’re presenting ourselves to the world.
LOOK AT ME
The evangelical world has lately been wrestling with controversies over celebrity, power, and influence. Many people are asking good questions about the impact of megastars on the church. But what many of these discussions miss is the inevitability of influence.
For some called to public vocations, such as writing, speaking, or performing, this conversation is especially prescient. Inherent in the creative arts, there is an assumption of an audience. We want to be discovered, to have the world read our work, hear our speech, or consume our art. As I’m writing this article today in a downtown Nashville coffee shop, I’m writing with the hope that more eyeballs than my own will see it. I’m writing because I think I have something worth reading. The moment any of us press send or publish, we are saying, “What I have just created is worth someone’s time.”
You might be tempted to think it’s only creative or public vocations that must wrestle with such things, but this isn’t true. Because work is a gift of God that impacts humanity, every Christian has a sphere of influence. Consider your family, your immediate circle of friends, work colleagues, or your church. And in this inter-connected age, anyone with a smartphone and a social media profile has a platform.
Influence is unavoidable.
OUR SOURCE OF POWER
We’re rightly suspect of power, especially in a fallen world. In recent years, many of our major institutions have failed us. Armed with a growing sense of cynicism about leadership and the tools of our media age, we’re wary of acknowledging our own influence or accepting others’. But we must be wary of adopting an impoverished view of power.
The Christian story reminds us that we have the responsibility to leverage power for the flourishing of our fellow humans and the stewardship of creation. Genesis 1:28 and 2:15 present a world breathed into existence by a Creator—and a human race sculpted by His hands, made in His image. We most resemble God when we assume power over creation to cultivate His raw materials and share them to help the human race thrive. This whole arrangement, God declares, is very good.
The cultural mandate here assumes power, a kind not given to the plant life, the animal kingdom, or even the angelic realm. A power reassigned from God to humans. Crouch writes, “Why is power a gift? Because power is for flourishing. When power is used well, people and the whole cosmos come more alive to what they were meant to be.”
Of course, it can be corrupted. Adam and Eve’s sin was a failed attempt at assuming more power than the Creator intended. And since then, man has often used his God-given endowment to kill, exploit, and hoard instead of create, cultivate, and multiply. It took only one generation for a man to use his power against his brother through violence. But the right application of power is not to abdicate it altogether or to pretend that influence doesn’t exist, but (through redemption in Christ) to use our gifts for the good of our neighbor and to the glory of God.
A properly exercised position of influence can lead many toward their Creator. Consider the reluctant influence of Moses, who had to be coaxed into a position of authority. Think about Jeremiah, the hiding and weeping prophet who was used by God, not to amass a large following but to be His voice to a disobedient nation. Then there is the apostle Paul, who urged his followers to “be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1).
EMBRACING THE TENSION
So Christians must embrace the tension of humility and influence. We’re heralds of a message that must be heard and stewards of gifts that must be exercised. Yet we are servants of Christ. We live not for our own indulgence but for the glory of God. To hoard glory, seek after fame, and make our work about ourselves violates why we were created in the first place. It’s also not the path to true joy.
We’ve all seen the corrosive effects of corrupted power, a grasping at god-like status that began with one serpent’s seductive whisper. This occurs when power is our object of worship instead of the means by which we worship our Creator. Says Tony Reinke:
The aim to become famous is a pitifully pathetic god. Fame will never satisfy your heart. It may give you a buzz for a while, but those who try to feed on the buzz of fame are in for the harsh reality that fame only feeds unquenchable desires for more fame, eventually filling the heart with dread and anxiety of the coming day when the fame has passed.
C. S. Lewis, in his book The Allegory of Love, says, “The descent to hell is easy, and those who begin by worshipping power soon worship evil.” So how do we know when influence has become all-consuming instead of being properly used for glorifying God and loving our neighbors?
We can use simple diagnostic questions. Those in more public callings might ask: Has fame or platform become my all-consuming idol, or am I willing to allow the Spirit to empower my gifts for the benefit of others? Those in less visible vocations might ask different questions: Do I work to earn the praise of those around me? Am I in this only to earn a paycheck and advance my career, or do I seek to genuinely serve those around me?
This honest dialogue with ourselves begins with a commitment of love and humility. Love, Paul reminds us, is the motivation for all spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 13). Bereft of love, we have nothing. It frightens me sometimes to think that I could gain the entire evangelical world and lose my own soul—that all my accomplishments could be refuse because of a lack of love. So when power tempts us, the solution is not to become sheepish about the work of our hands and hide the gifts God has given. Neither is it to pursue fame and fortune. Instead, it is to steward our gifts, opportunities, and resources, and to hold loosely the life we have. We do this by realizing fame and fortune are lesser pleasures than that of knowing Christ.
Power can be a lethal weapon that, used improperly, can crush those it was meant to serve. Used well, it can lead to human flourishing. Wherever we are, our first question shouldn’t be “How can I accumulate more power?” but “What would I do with more power if I had it?” Few Christians are prepared for the sudden gift of new influence. Michael Hyatt, former CEO of Thomas Nelson and popular author and blogger, says this:
For more than 30 years, I have worked in the publishing field with Christian leaders, authors, and other creatives. During this time, I have witnessed the corrosive effects of fame. Very few have been able to handle the temptations that come with increased influence. I have seen leaders get prideful, greedy, and demanding. Sadly, it has increasingly become the norm in a world that values charisma above character.
We should embrace influence as a good gift from God and steward it wisely. Love and humility, flowing from our identity in Christ, will help us redeem that influence and leverage it for the service of others and the glory of God. Few of us will be truly famous, and few will have a kind of platform that attracts thousands. But all of us, regardless of where we stand, have someone looking at and learning from our life.
Originally appeared in In Touch Magazine
February 22, 2018
Ann Voskamp, Russell Moore, Jim Daly, and Jenny Yang on what it means to be pro-life
Show Notes
Twitter:
@AnnVoskamp
@drmoore
@dalyfocus
@jennyyangtv
