Daniel Darling's Blog, page 51

The Way Home Episode 29 featuring Tony Reinke

Most people know John Newton as the author of the classic and beautiful hymn, “Amazing Grace.” The hymn represents his own life story, as former slave owner and slave ship captain who was radically saved by God’s grace. However, few of us know what Newton was like as a pastor, the role he served for more than forty years.

Today on the podcast, I have Tony Reinke, author and staff writer for Desiring God. He’s the host of the popular podcast, Ask Pastor John. He recently released a book, with Crossway Publishers, on the ministry and theology of John Newton.

Listen to this week’s episode

Show Notes:

Tony on Twitter: @tonyreinke
Tony’s website: http://tonyreinke.com/
Desiring God: desiringgod.org


On the podcast I mentioned our new resource, The Weekly. This is a weekly email newsletter, written by our staff, that curates the most important news stories and offers some brief explanation. Most of us are incredibly busy with our families and our jobs and don’t time to digest the news from a distinctly Christian worldview. The Weekly is a quick, but informative read that will show up in your inbox every week. You will want to sign up for this email.

Pastors, Don’t Be Passive on Planned Parenthood

This is my latest piece for Leadership Journal: how pastors can lead their churches to fight for life in this cultural moment: 

Pro-life activism has been a part of Christian witness throughout church history, but has received particularly focused attention by evangelicals and Catholics since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

Now, though, we find ourselves in a unique cultural moment. The third in a series of undercover sting videos was just released this week, bringing to light the hideous reality of Planned Parenthood’s macabre abortion enterprise. To hear medical professionals casually discuss the deliberate termination, dismembering, and sale of babies has stirred the American conscience. Congress is opening investigations and voting on legislation to strip Planned Parenthood of federal funding. Corporations are distancing themselves from the abortion provider and even progressives not known for anti-abortion advocacy have spoken out against Planned Parenthood.

Millions of people are seeing the brutal reality of what has always been labeled by abortion providers as a safe and clinical practice.

Millions of people are seeing the brutal reality of what has always been labeled by abortion providers as a safe and clinical practice. New technologies, such as ultrasound machines, smart phones that capture video, and social media have converged to cause us to see what we didn’t previously: the humanity of the unborn and the gruesome nature of abortion. As Columnist Ross Douthat puts it, we’re just starting to realize that “an institution at the heart of respectable liberal society is dedicated to a practice that deserves to be called barbarism.”

But how do pastors and church leaders lead their people through the outrage to champion the sacred value of human life? How do we bring the hope of the gospel into the brokenness of our world?

Rightful rage

There are many opportunities for outrage these days, but our people are right to be deeply angry at what they are seeing in these videos. President of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission Russell Moore points out that “for a Christian, such language ought to trigger in us thoughts of Jesus of Nazareth, who identified himself with human nature, taking on flesh and dwelling among us (Jn. 1:14).”

Our moral indignation reflects the righteous anger of a God of justice. Cain, the murderer, was told by God that the blood of his brother Abel cried to him from the ground. Jesus, upon viewing the lifeless corpse of his friend Lazarus, wept and groaned angrily at the curse of sin and death. When we protest the killing fields of Planned Parenthood, we’re rightfully raging against the Serpent himself, whom Jesus called a murderer (John 8:44).

Expressing sadness, anger, and grief on social media is not a wasted effort. It can mobilize the Christian community and strike at the consciences of those outside the faith. It can nudge public officials and community leaders to act in response.

Pastors should not shy away from stewarding their influence and addressing this issue. They should model for their people how to think and act in this cultural moment. For some pastors this might mean thoughtful engagement on blogs and social media, not only helping their people process what they are seeing in these videos but to saturate the conscience of those outside the faith and point them to redemption in Christ. For others it might mean pursuing conversations with church members and community leaders, helping to localize a national story.

But seeing, grieving, and speaking is only the beginning of our call to defend and work toward human dignity.

Read the full article here:

The Way Home Episode 28 featuring Owen Strachan

Chuck Colson was a towering figure among evangelicals in the last half of the twentieth century and on into the twenty-first. His story of redemption motivated generations of young people to commit to Christ and his winsome cultural witness is still being felt today. This is why I’m delighted to be joined on the podcast by Owen Strachan, newly minted associate professor of Christian theology at Midwestern Seminary and author of a great new book, The Colson Way. Owen and I discuss the model of cultural engagement championed by Colson and how it instructs today’s generation of evangelicals.

Listen to this week’s episode

Show Notes:

On the podcast I mentioned our new resource, The Weekly. This is a weekly email newsletter, written by our staff, that curates the most important news stories and offers some brief explanation. Most of us are incredibly busy with our families and our jobs and don’t time to digest the news from a distinctly Christian worldview. The Weekly is a quick, but informative read that will show up in your inbox every week. You will want to sign up for this email.
Owen’s twitter: @ostrachan
Owen’s blog: Though Life
Owen’s book,  The Colson Way

Why Encouragement is Not Optional

From my recent article at In Touch:

“I love working with you, Dan.” It was only a simple text from a colleague, but it buoyed my spirits during an intense week of work on a project together.

As I thought over his kind comment, it reinforced to me a simple truth I’ve learned during my years in leadership: Affirmation may be the most valuable currency in building relational capital. I’ve served on large ministry teams, I’ve led a small church staff, and now I serve in an executive role. I’m also a husband and a father of four. In all of these contexts, regardless of the environment, I have found that nothing is more important than consistent encouragement.

People closest to us need to hear words of affirmation from us. They need to hear them regularly, consistently, and sincerely. Not empty words of flattery, like something we’d type on Facebook on someone’s birthday (“best husband in the whole world!”), but genuine and heartfelt praise for the unique gifts and contribution of those closest to us.

What’s interesting is how little we think about encouragement. It seems a nice thing to give to others, but not terribly important. Yet in Scripture we find not only the wisdom that reveals the utility of kind words (Proverbs 25:11), but also the command to encourage, especially among followers of Christ. God’s children should be people who “build one another up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11). Pastors and church leaders are tasked with the ministry of encouragement (2 Timothy 4:2 NIV). And this is not just a once-a-year-at-the-company-party type of empty praise. The writer of Hebrews says encouragement should be a daily part of Christian witness (Heb. 3:13).

So why don’t we encourage more? Read the full article here. 

The Way Home Episode 27 featuring Jon Acuff

Today’s workforce is increasingly more mobile. People are facing career transitions at younger ages and are being forced to adapted to changing environments. So how do pastors and church leaders help their people facing new careers? Today’s podcast features Jon Acuff, blogger, best-selling author, and speaker. He was recently profiled in Christianity Today. Jon first burst on the scene as the very funny proprietor of the Stuff Christians Like blog. He’s since written several books on career and calling and is a great voice on applying the gospel to work life. His latest book is Do Over. Jon and I discuss career transitions, calling, and his own recent career do over.

Listen to this week’s episode

Show Notes:

On the podcast I mentioned our new resource, The Weekly. This is a weekly email newsletter, written by our staff, that curates the most important news stories and offers some brief explanation. Most of us are incredibly busy with our families and our jobs and don’t time to digest the news from a distinctly Christian worldview. The Weekly is a quick, but informative read that will show up in your inbox every week. You will want tosign up for this email.
Jon Acuff on Twitter: @jonacuff
Jon’s website: acuff.me
Jon’s new book:  Do Over

A Moving Speech by Senator James Lankford

This is a powerful and moving speech by Senator James Lankford on the subject of Planned Parenthood. I’ve had the privilege to meet Sen. Lankford, a faithful follower of Christ. I really hope you take 8 minutes or so and watch. I pray this stirs the hearts of American consciences to protect the life of the unborn.

The Way Home – Episode 26: Tony Evans and Jim Daly

Why is orphan care so important for the church? I ask Jim Daly, President of Focus on the Family. Daly’s life story is unique, as told in his powerful memoir, Finding Home. Bounced around in the foster care system, Jim experienced so much family dysfunction before a dramatic conversion to Christianity as a teen. Today he leads Focus on the Family and has used his life experiences to encourage the church to care for orphans. He joins me on the podcast along with Tony Evans, pastor, author, and founder of The Urban Alternative. Evans is a longtime radio pastor and has published numerous best-selling books. Dr. Evans talks to me about the importance of racial reconciliation and his own experience as an African American evangelical leader.

Listen to this week’s episode:

Show Notes

Both of these interviews came from our new series of training courses offered through Ministry Grid. ERLC is offering ten courses on difficult moral ethical issues featuring well-known Christian leaders such as Jim Daly, Tony Evans, JD Greear, Russell Moore, Dennis Rainey, Trillia Newbell and many others.
 Twitter: @dalyfocus @tonyevans
Website: focusonthefamily.org; tonyevans.org
Books: Oneness Embraced by Tony Evans; Finding Home by Jim Daly

Outraged at Planned Parenthood? Here are 6 Things You Can Do Now

I hope you are, like me, outraged and sickened by the macabre Planned Parenthood practice of selling the body parts of aborted babies (let’s call them babies and not fetuses, shall we?). The gospel of Christ demands that we adopt a prolife ethic. We see every human soul as created in the image of its Creator God. Every soul deserves dignity and respect.

But what should you do with the outrage you feel at the abortion industrial complex, the wicked conglomerate, Planned Parenthood, that targets vulnerable young women for profit? Here are five things we can do, right now:

1) Speak out for the sanctity of human life. Despite how it has been politicized, the dignity of human life is not a political issue, it’s a gospel issue. Use your voice and your influence to winsomely express your disgust and outrage over this terrible practice. Don’t be silent. Speak up for those who can’t speak up for themselves. Remember to model Christian civility, to speak with grace and truth.

2) Commit to engaging and voting to protect the unique dignity of human life. As citizens of a representative republic, we have a unique stewardship of our government. We should be involved in electing officials who commit to protecting the dignity of human life. Politics isn’t our only answer to reducing the number of abortions in America, but studies have shown that enacting prolife laws at the local and national level has led to a drop in the number of abortions. Christians should seek the welfare of the cities in which they live, working and praying for just laws.

3) Get involved in your local pregnancy resource center. Public policy is not the only way to protect the unborn. The most immediate way is to donate time and money to a local pregnancy resource center. I’ve had the privilege of being involved with a number of PRC’s and have seen, firsthand, the vital, lifesaving, gospel ministry they do, often on a shoestring budget. ERLC has a program that annually grants a life-saving ultrasound machine to a pregnancy resource center. You can donate here. And if you are looking for a center in your neighborhood, please visit Care-Net’s directory or Focus on the Family’s Operation Ultrasound. If there isn’t one in your neighborhood, maybe God is calling you to start one. Prolife is more than being mad on Facebook every four years at election time. It’s about saving the babies in front of you, right now.

4) Support and get involved with the growing Adoption Movement. My boss, Dr. Russell Moore, has written, perhaps, the seminal book on adoption, Adopted for Life. He has personally adopted two children from Russia. Today in America, thousands of young children are waiting for a home and yours might be the one they need. The people of God are called to serve the widows and orphans among us. A great place to start getting information is either Christian Alliance for Orphans or Focus on the Family. You should also read Jim Daly’s book, Finding Home.

5) Join us next year in Washington, D.C. for our first Evangelicals For Life. ERLC is partnering with The March for Life and Focus on the Family to gather thousands of young people on the National Mall to stand up for the dignity of human life. Not only will you get equipped to become a champion for life, you will hear about what it means to adopt a whole-life/pro-life ethic. You will understand what it means to see the image of God in every person. Join us next February at Evangelicals for Life.

6) Pray, support, and get involved in the mission of your local church. This is the last item on this list, but it should be the first. Your prolife ethic begins by joining yourself as a member to your local expression of the body of Christ. The most subversive weapon against the enemy, who plots the death and destruction of human life, is the gospel story. Today, as in every age, the Spirit of God is busy turning former enemies into friends through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Don’t ever forget that some of the most vocal supporters of abortion on demand today maybe your brothers and sisters in Christ tomorrow. Christ is active today turning Sauls into Pauls. And he’s calling you and me to be the vessels through which this message is proclaimed.

The Way Home – Episode 25 featuring J.D. Greear

Can a church really grow if they give away their members? This seems to fly in the face of church growth methodology. And yet, this is exactly what my friend J.D. Greear is saying churches should do. They should give away their people to mission. J.D. Greear is the lead pastor of The Summit Church, in Raleigh-Durham, N.C. He’s a well-known author and speaker. I especially appreciated his recent book, Jesus Continued on the work of the Holy Spirit. Today I’m talking with him about his latest work, Gaining by Losing. We also discuss racial reconciliation and the church and . . . whether Lebron is really better than Michael.

Listen to this week’s episode of The Way Home

 
Show Notes


On the podcast I mentioned our new resource, The Weekly. This is a weekly email newsletter, written by our staff, that curates the most important news stories and offers some brief explanation. Most of us are incredibly busy with our families and our jobs and don’t time to digest the news from a distinctly Christian worldview. The Weekly is a quick, but informative read that will show up in your inbox every week. You will want to sign up for this email.
Twitter: @jdgreear
Website: jdgreear.com
Book: Gaining By Losing: Why the Future Belongs to Churches that Send

The Way Home – Episode 24 featuring Os Guinness

Today I have the honor of talking with Os Guinness, one of the foremost intellectuals in the evangelical world. Os is a longtime social critic, commentator, and author. Os has quite a story. From the bio on his website:

Great-great grandson of Arthur Guinness, the Dublin brewer, he was born in China in World War II where both his parents and grandparents were medical missionaries – his grandfather having had the privilege of treating the Empress Dowager, the Last Emperor and the Imperial family. A survivor of the terrible Henan famine of 1943, in which five million died in three months, including his two brothers, Os was a witness to the climax of the Chinese revolution in 1949 and the beginning of the reign of terror under Mao Tse Tung. He was expelled with many other foreigners in 1951 and returned to Europe where he was educated in England. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of London and his D.Phil in the social sciences from Oriel College, Oxford.

Os, has written many books and is an outspoken advocate for religious liberty in America and abroad. We talk about his latest project, Fool’s Talk where he encourages Christians to recover the lost art of persuasion. I will also press him on the important topic of what he labels the “civil public square.”

Listen to this week’s episode of The Way Home

 
Show Notes


On the podcast I mentioned our new resource, The Weekly. This is a weekly email newsletter, written by our staff, that curates the most important news stories and offers some brief explanation. Most of us are incredibly busy with our families and our jobs and don’t time to digest the news from a distinctly Christian worldview. The Weekly is a quick, but informative read that will show up in your inbox every week. You will want to sign up for this email.Twitter: @osguinness
Website: osguinness.com
Book: The Global Public Square: Religious Freedom and the Making of a World Safe for Diversity