Favorite reads of 2021 1-6

 Today I want to continue my list of my top 10 favorite reads in 2021. Yesterday I covered 6-10; today we will look at the top five.

5. Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church by Kenda Creasy Dean is a fascinating if somewhat disturbing read about the faith of American teenagers. This book relies on the National Study of Youth and Religion study that looked deeply into the faith of our teens. What was found in that study is that, while these teens are mostly positive about Christianity, they are mostly apathetic about its practices. Fortunately, Dean provides guidance for teen workers, pastors and parents who want to help their teenagers experience a more robust, and biblical, faith.

4. For some reason I resisted buying Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory for a long time. Written by Tod Bolsinger, this book describes how Lewis and Clark were so certain they would find a waterway to the Pacific Ocean they never dreamed they would need anything but their canoes. They were shocked when they encountered the Rocky Mountains and realized their canoes were worthless. They could either return home defeated or they could seek new ways to reach their goal. Sounds like the church today doesn't it? We are facing new challenges today that our old methods can not resolve. We must choose whether to find new ways to achieve our mission or give up and abandon the purpose God has for us. This turned out to be an excellent book.

3. Don't let the title scare you. Human Freedom, Divine Knowledge, and Mere Molinism: A Biblical, Historical, Theological, and Philosophical Analysis by Timothy A. Stratton is an important read for those who are trying to understand how human freedom can exist in light of a sovereign God. This is not a book you will read quickly nor are you likely to agree with everything the author writes, but you will profit from the time you invest in this book. In much of the book Stratton discusses the theological thinking from Augustine to Edwards and compares them to Scripture and philosophy. He then introduces the concept of middle knowledge and looks at the significance of Molinism to this discussion of free will and predestination. Again, this is not light reading but one that will be very profitable.

2. Where Do We Go from Here?: How Tomorrow’s Prophecies Foreshadow Today’s Problems by David Jeremiah examines some of the issues in our culture in light of biblical prophecy. Some of the issues discussed in the book are the growing cries for socialism in our nation, the pandemics that threaten to overtake our world, cancel culture as well as many others. However, this is not a book of despair nor is it written to inspire fear in the reader. Rather, it reminds us that God is in control and is working out His will for our lives. Jeremiah writes to inspire hope in the reader, and I found that it did that very well.

1. Drum roll, please. My #1 pick for 2021 is We Will Not Be Silenced: Responding Courageously to Our Culture's Assault on Christianity by Erwin W. Lutzer. As we watch American moving further away from God and biblical teaching many Christians find themselves silenced due to fear of facing condemnation, ridicule and even physical attacks. Those who demand freedom of speech refuse to allow those who hold opposing views the same freedom. Lutzer pulls no punches as he points out the dangerous trends impacting our culture today. He addresses the hypocrisy of the left and the lies we are fed on a daily basis. He then challenges the church to speak boldly to those issues while at the same time showing compassion to those who have views that differ from our own. This is a serious book for our time and one that every Christian leader should read.

Here is my annual list of my ten favorite reads of the year. I encourage you to check them out and let me know what you think.

Favorite reads of 2021 6-10

As I've mentioned before in this blog, my goal is to read 50 books a year. I reached that goal again this year. Last year I reported I had more than doubled my goal due to Covid restrictions, but I had also began reading books from the Star Wars series. I continued that trend this year and read a number of books from that series. With over 250 Star Wars books available to read, and more being published every year, I'm not apt to run out of any to read for a time. However, it is time that I report on my top 10 favorite reads of 2021. Today I will go through the bottom five and share the top five tomorrow.

10.   Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World by Craig Groeschel is a book I read a few years ago when it was released. This year I read it for my devotional reading early in the year. Let's face it, life can get confusing. No matter how long one has been a Christian, we can allow bad things to enter our lives and begin to contaminate us and our witness. In this book the author challenges us to identify the false beliefs that often hold us hostage, to uncover the hidden sins in our lives, to deal with unresolved anger and many other such issues. This is a great book to use to check your heart and the way you live your life.

9. Winning the War in Your Mind: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life is another book by Groeschel. This is another book I used for devotional reading, and it is another re-read. The first words in the introduction hooked me: "Our lives are always moving in the direction of our strongest thoughts. What we think shapes who we are." How true this is, so what we think about ourselves, God and life will determine the person we will become. This book will challenge the way you think about these things. Zig Ziglar used to call negative thinking "stinkin' thinkin'" and he always pointed out the ways such thinking damaged us as God's creation. If you struggle with such thinking, this book can help you.

8.    Does anyone need another book on how the culture is impacting the church? Yes, if that book is Positively Irritating: Embracing a Post-Christian World to Form a More Faithful and Innovative Church by Jon Ritner. The author believes that the church needs to learn to embrace the challenges our churches face in this present culture. He served as pastor of a megachurch and left feeling called to plant a new church in a very unchurched region in Europe. He then returned to lead a church in Los Angeles. His experiences help him bring a perspective that church leaders need to understand. 

7. Pastoring a church during the Covid pandemic has been a challenge.  Thom Rainer helps us understand how to survive this challenge in his little book The Post-Quarantine Church: Six Urgent Challenges and Opportunities That Will Determine the Future of Your Congregation (Church Answers Resources). He identifies six challenges for the church and suggests how to best address them. This little book is only 111 pages, but I encourage you to slow down to absorb what Rainer is suggesting. I think this is a valuable book for the time in which we live.

6. Side Door: How to Open Your Church to Reach More People by Charles Arn is a book I've used a lot this year as I encouraged our church to begin small groups to provide side doors into the church. In a time when people are reluctant to attend church services it's possible to encourage them to enter through side doors. These side doors enables the church to connect with people and begin to introduce them to the person of Jesus Christ. I believe such evangelistic efforts are necessary today, and Arn does a great job of detailing how to do it right.

Tomorrow I will share my top 5 reads for 2021.

Bivocational pastors are needed

 In the past few weeks I have talked with a number of people from various churches that are seeking a pastor. Many of them are in smaller churches who need a bivocational minister. Some have been looking for a long time, and they are beginning to wonder if there is anyone for their church. They often call me hoping I might know someone seeking to lead a church from my days as a Resource Minister in our region. Unfortunately, I retired in 2015, and I am completely out of the loop. I don't know who is looking, and even if I did, their names need to go to the church through their Region Minister, not me.

One thing I tell these churches is that God has someone to lead them. The fact that they are without a pastor and struggle to find one does not catch God by surprise. They need to be patient and work within God's timing. Most do not want to hear that and feel it's important to find someone as soon as possible. No, it's not. It's important to find the person God has prepared to lead that church.

So what do these churches need to do in the meantime? Pray as they have never prayed before. In the last church I served as the Transitional Pastor the deacons called for a 24-hour prayer vigil at the church during the search process. People signed up for a 30 minute time period in which they would be at the church praying for the search team and the person God wanted to bring to the church. The deacons rotated in 3 hour shifts to provide security at the church during this prayer vigil. Every Sunday for months people would come to the altar during the invitation to pray specifically for the search process. That is not something you often see in a Baptist church! Members would line the entire pulpit area praying that God would reveal the person to them He had prepared for the church.

I would also encourage a church to look at itself during this transition time. How have previous pastors been treated in the church? Does the church have a history of short-term pastors? If so, why? Be honest. Some churches struggle to find a pastor because they don't deserve one. One of the churches that was in my area had ran through dozens of pastors during my 14 year service as their Region Minister. When they called asking my help in finding another pastor I said, "I am not going to sacrifice any more good pastors on the altar of your dysfunction. If you want me to help you become a healthier church, I will be glad to work with you. If you merely want the names of more pastor candidates, I will not give them to you." I never heard from that church again.

While there is much more I could say, I will close this post with this. You may want to look within your church for your next pastor. In a few cases churches in my area  called a lay leader to serve as their pastor, and these individuals did a fantastic job. Think about this. These are people who are already well-known to the congregation. They enjoy a level of trust that a new person will spend years earning. They are invested in your community so it's likely they will stay for a longer period of time. There are numerous ways a person can grow in biblical knowledge and learn pastoral skills. Your best candidate may already be sitting in your congregation.

The opportunities and challenges of a new year

 As we approach a new year many of us wonder what it will bring. This past year has brought increased inflation, a growing divide between Americans, a new strain of Covid, a Federal government with some of the lowest approval ratings in modern times, new threats coming from Russia and China, a rising distrust of the media and our political leaders, and a rejection of the church and traditional biblical teachings from many Americans. Since no one has a crystal ball or is able to predict with any certainty of what the future holds, I guess we'll have to wait and see what transpires in the coming year. But, there are some things we can know with certainty.

First, God is already there. While we may not understand why He allows some things to happen, we can be certain that nothing that will occur will catch Him by surprise. He remains the omnipotent, omniscience God. Whatever the future holds, we can trust Him. Our God is sovereign over all.

The second thing we can know with certainty is that the church has a role to play in the events that will take place. Our role is to continue to speak God's truth to a world that wants to reject that truth. Our role is to offer hope to a world that will find hope in no other place. Our role is to invite people to become part of God's family. Our message may not be a popular one in the time in which we live, but we are called to faithfully proclaim it regardless of its popularity.

A third thing we can be assured of is that people are going to be looking for something to believe in as this world continues to implode all around us. This is the opportunity. As we are inundated with lies from the media and our political leaders, people are going to be seeking truth. As some churches abandon the biblical teachings of Scriptures, people are going to want to hear a clear message of hope and salvation. This is not a time to be timid. God has called the church to such as time as this, a time to speak boldly about the the Kingdom of God and to invite people to enter that Kingdom.

I am not a prophet, but I can see people growing weary of the pain and confusion of living in a world that offers them no real hope of a better life. The church has been given such a message to proclaim. We sometimes hear that the time of the church has ended. Don't you believe it! Our time is now! This is the time for the church to step up and be the church God has called it to be. Many are ready to hear a clear message of salvation. Preach it! Let 2022 be a year when many will come to Christ through the faithful ministry of your church.

Merry Christmas

 I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas on my last blog before the holiday. As I look back on the past year it has been one with many challenges and many victories. As we go into the Christmas season I am thankful for the Child for whom we celebrate this holiday. I can truthfully say that without Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior I could not have survived the past 40+ plus years since I invited Him into my life.

For the first 27 years of my life I lived for myself. I spent four years in the Navy, was married and had two children during that time. Life was good in many ways...until it wasn't. As I hit a major roadblock in my life I realized that I needed the faith I once knew in my early childhood but had turned away from. As the pressures of that time intensified it drove me to my knees one day in our home where I asked Jesus Christ to become my Lord and Savior. My life has never been the same!

A few years later I became the pastor of a church, and this year I celebrated 40 years as an ordained minister. I have served as a pastor, a denominational minister and an Intentional Pastor of two churches. During that time I have spent time in both the valleys of life and the mountaintops, but not once has God ever left me. He has allowed me to publish 10 books and lead conferences and speak at seminars for many denominations across the US and Canada. I have enjoyed opportunities I never thought possible while growing up on dairy farms in southern Indiana.

As He promised in the Bible, he has forgiven me of every sin, and there have been many. He has saved me and assured me when this life ends I will be with Him for all eternity. I have many more years behind me now than I have before me so that is a promise I receive gladly.

My prayer for everyone reading this post is that you know the Savior as I do. I pray that you have invited Him into your life as your Lord and Savior and received the gift of eternal life that only He can give. Frankly, if you've not experienced that for yourself, you really cannot celebrate Christmas as you should.

Let me ask you the most important question you will ever be asked. Do you know for certain that if you were to die today that you would go to heaven? Please don't answer with "I hope so," or "I think so." This is too important to not be absolutely certain. The follow-up question is "If you were to die today and God was to ask you why He should let you into heaven, what would your answer be?" Many would point to their church membership, their good deeds, their baptism or confirmation, or many other things they have done, but these would all be wrong answers. The only right response to that question is that you have received Jesus Christ into your life as your Lord and Savior. 

My final question: Have you done that? Your answer to this questions will determine your eternity so it's vital that you get it right. I invite anyone who may have questions or doubts about this to contact me. 

My prayer for each of you is that you and your family have a very Merry Christmas and a blessed 2022!

What is truth?

 This was the question Pilate asked Jesus as He was being questioned by Pilate. As a lifelong politician Pilate struggled to recognize truth when he heard it. I would imagine many struggle with the same problem today.

Last week we visited our son and his family in Texas. One of the things I immediately noticed at many of the places we went was a sign near the cash register stating that due to a national coin shortage they were requesting that people pay with other methods, of course, meaning by debit or credit card. Such signs were fairly common during the pandemic when it first hit, but I had not seem many of them since. One place refused to accept cash claiming it was company policy. At the airport my wife was going to buy a bag of candy to take on the plane but left when the store required a credit or debit card before allowing her to enter the store. 

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm getting tired of being lied to every single day. There is no national coin shortage! If you doubt that, go to the webpage of The Federal Reserve which states that there is an adequate supply of coins in the economy. Yes, there was a disruption in the flow of coins during the 2020 pandemic due to businesses and banks closing, but this is a year later. To address that disruption, in 2020 14.8 billion coins were minted, a 24% increase over the number of coins minted in 2019. These are the facts, and a computer printed sheet of paper claiming a national coin shortage isn't going to change that.

Some argue that avoiding the use of cash is necessary because of Covid. People don't want to handle dirty money that might be infected with disease. Well, the fact is that money has always been dirty, and nobody was that concerned about that before. And, how is using a plastic card more sanitary? In many cases, you are handing the card to the cashier, and even when you are putting the card into the machine yourself, you are then required to punch in your access number on the same keys that countless other people have used just before you. You are handing your merchandise to the cashier who is touching it before placing it in a bag that other people have touched. Plus, let's not forget the numerous people who shipped your purchase to the store, those who removed it from the boxes and stocked the shelves with the items you purchased. Anyone with the ability to think for themselves will recognize that using plastic is not more sanitary than using cash. So, what is really going on?

Some people believe that this is an attempt to move us towards a cashless society in order that Revelation 13:17 might be fulfilled. Others think it is just another attempt to manipulate the public to give the government more control over our daily lives. I'm not going to speculate on what the purpose of claiming a national coin shortage is. I'm just tired of being lied to every single day by people who should be concerned about the welfare of our nation and its people.

Even though Pilate questioned truth, he seemed to recognize it in Jesus because as soon as he asked the question he went to the public and claimed he found no fault in Him. The church needs to follow the example of our Lord. In a time when many of us cannot trust our government leaders, the media, or businesses to tell us the truth, the church must be the one place that stands upon the eternal truths of Scripture. Many will not like to hear the truth because 2 Thessalonians 2: 11 tells us that they will believe the lie and reject the truth. Paul further told Timothy that the time would come when people "according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned to fables." (2 Timothy 4: 3-4)

As we plan our preaching for 2022 let's determine to preach the truth of God's Word.

Ministry today

 In 1981 I was called to be the pastor of a small, rural church. For several years I functioned much like the pastors I had growing up. Our challenges were about the same as the churches in which I was raised. My sermons were probably very similar to those I had heard growing up. In time I began addressing some of the social issues that my pastors would have avoided, and when 9/11 occurred I realized ministry, like the rest of life, would be forever changed. However, at the time I could not have realized how much it would change because at the time I doubt that many of us understood how much our world would change. Today's churches must be able to speak to issues previous generations never faced. Failing to do that makes us irrelevant to the culture in which we live.

A few months ago I published an eBook that addresses some of those issues. In Is Your Church Ready for Ministry in the Coming Decade? I focus on some of the challenges today's church must address if it is to reach our generation. Some of these are not new, racism, poverty, mental illness, for example. While these are not new, they are issues much of the church has largely ignored. Other issues I write about in the book are newer challenges for the church such as gender dysphoria, sexual issues, the rising number of suicides, the growing violence in our society, and several others. In the book I try to help the reader understand why it's important for the church to understand each issue and suggest ways to address them in a positive, biblical manner.

These issues are tearing families apart and causing untold damage to individuals. Society presents its worldview to each of these topics; the church must present a biblical worldview to them as well. Yet, studies find that many churches never speak to any of them. We often act as if these issues don't exist. Even thinking about preaching on many of them makes pastors uncomfortable. The worldview of our culture is being heard. Do not the people in our congregations and communities deserve to hear what the Bible has to say about each of them even if it makes us uncomfortable?

The problem with publishing an eBook is it can get lost in the tens of thousands of such books published every year. This book is finding an audience because it is helping pastors and individual Christians understand how to speak to these difficult issues. You can order it for your Kindle device for only $6.95.

Church guests during the Christmas season

 Many churches will see new faces during the Advent season. Parents and grandparents may attend the service where their children will perform in a cantata or program. Some who were raised in church but drifted away over the years might return simply because it's Christmas. Others will be there because a friend invited them to see the church's Christmas program. There may also be a few who feel that God is satisfied with them attending church services on Christmas and Easter. Whatever the reason for their appearance, your church is likely to see higher attendance during the next couple of weeks. The question is what will you do with this opportunity?

This first suggestion isn't very spiritual, but it's important. Make sure the church is ready to have guests. If you had invited someone to your home you would work hard to make sure it looked good. Everything would be clean and in the proper place. You would want your guests to think well of you and your home so you would spend time making sure it was guest-ready. The same should be true of our churches. It is true that we only get one chance to make a good first impression. If we want to increase the chances of our guests returning we need to make sure that everything is looking good when they arrive.

It's important that church members introduce themselves to their guests. Most of us do not enjoy going someplace new and not having anyone speak to us while we're there. Depending on what the pastor needs to do before the service begins, he or she should greet every new guest and introduce himself to them. I think this simple gesture sends a message to your guests that you are glad they are with you, and it gives them a sense of comfort knowing before the service who the pastor is.

Of course, it's vitally important that your guests hear a simple gospel message while they are in your service. This is an opportunity to plant some seeds that God can use later to speak to them. This is not the time to be using big theological words and speak in Christian-speak. The key word here is simple. Take them from the cradle to the cross and explain why Christ died on the cross. While some churches have done away with the altar call, that is a mistake especially when we know we are likely to have many unchurched people attending our services. An invitation gives them an opportunity to respond to the message they just heard.

If possible, this is a good time to give them a gift for attending, and I'm not talking about a mug or pen with the church's name engraved on them. Give them a book or something they can take home and learn more about Christ and the hope He brings into people's lives. Some churches give The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus (Case for ... Series) or something similar that can help draw them closer to Christ.

Finally, it's important that the church capture the names and addresses of their guests when possible. Follow-up is important. When you follow up you have the opportunity to answer any questions they might have about the service they attended and to learn their impressions of the church. You can invite them to another service or a major event your church might be planning. But, without that contact information you will lose them unless they decide to return sometime in the future.