Author: Frank

National Day of Prayer

Frank

Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper. -Jeremiah 29:7

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. -James 4:1-3

I wish they all could be California girls…

Frank

No, not really. Especially if they’re anything like Miss California, Carrie Prejean. Is anyone tired of this yet? She was asked a question on gay marriage from an openly gay host whose only claim to fame is running an online tabloid and having a name similar to Paris Hilton. She was open about her faith in interviews leading up to the pageant and California is home to the controversial Proposition 8, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman. What did she expect to happen?

So she lost. So she said it was because of her answer opposing gay marriage. So what.

So Miss Prejean did what Evangelical Christians have learned to do, not from the example of Jesus Christ, but from their political brand of American Christianity (TM)- she played the “persecution” card. Now she’s a celebrity to the Religious Right (scroll down down at the 558 mark and listen to the podcast if you want to hear this “great” interview) and a spokesperson for the National Organization of Marriage (I’d never heard of it before she came along, and I’m against gay-marriage).

Yes, the Perez Hilton went over the line by taking her response personal instead of crediting her for her honesty and not being tempted by peer pressure to be politically correct. He then left the line far behind in his rear view mirror when he went public calling her a “b—h” and “c–t” just because she thinks differently than he does. But that does not come close to equalling Christian persecution.

I’ve written several times before criticising the “persecution complex” of American Christianity (TM), and I’ll repeat myself by saying her crying about losing a beauty pageant is an insult to the thousands of Christians across the globe whose lives are threatened because of their faith.

Did I mention this was a beauty pageant? An celebration of vanity if there ever was one. And last I checked, vanity is a sin. It doesn’t help her cause that she got breast implants before the competition and that they were paid for by her California sponsor.

I’m sorry, but I have little sympathy for this woman. Was she treated unfairly? Yes, of course. Was it because of her faith? Not sure if it was as much a matter of faith than of politics. Is she being persecuted? Yes to a degree, but only because she’s elevated herself to the level of national celebrity. I’ll certainly pray for her and wish nothing but the best, but I won’t claim her as speaking for me, my politics, nor my faith.

Instead I turn to Jesus, who never backed down from persecution. “At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.” He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ “(Luke 13:31-32) But his goal wasn’t political or to change the social norms (though admittedly he did speak out against some of them, emphasis on some) but instead to offer redemption to the world through shedding his blood.

3 Year Plan

Frank

This week I started a new job. Actually, it’s the same job, but new employer. I’m proud of the fact that I’m now on my fourth employer in the last 18 months. A brother in my Small Group has me beat though. He’s had four different jobs in the past year!

Despite pretty much having the same job for seven years, I’m now under a three year probationary period with my new employer. That will put me at 10 years professional experience, a magic number if I look for jobs elsewhere. But more importantly it gives me three years to get my act together.

I expect and accept that my professional goals and my spiritual goals will someday diverge. And while I feel the Spirit pulling my heart, I don’t know where that leads. But one thing I do know, is that I want to write. That’s part of the point of this blog- to help me get my thoughts and feelings out there and to get in the habit of writing regularly. I also intend this blog to be more of a ministry than a simple outlet.

With that in mind, this blog is really the second step in a four-part plan. The first step was a failed attempt at an online newsletter linking churches, ministries, and friends with the goal of spiritual unity without any mandate from church leadership. It started out well, but at the time I wasn’t able to follow through and make it consistent.

This is the second step, and I’m a couple of years in. I want and pray for more traffic because I want this blog to be a pebble in the swamp of the internet sending ripples out from it.

The third step I’ve begun with some fits and starts, and that is to put the theme of this ministry, Public Christianity, into practice. So far I’ve steered the lessons and Bible Talks in my small group to be consistent with this and I plan on broader church-wide activities in the future.

The fourth step is the most intimidating and that is to publish. I already have the ideas for multiple books in mind but I need to set a deadline for myself to force me to write something down. So that’s three years from now.

Call it a fleece, if you will. In three years, if I finish my first book and can’t get it published, then I consider that door closed. If it’s published and I receive the same tepid response as this blog, well then I’ll keep plugging at it until it’s clear the effort is futile. If it’s published and creates the ripple I pray it will, then I’ll go forward full-bore. The trick, at the end of my probationary period at work, will be to see if this will balance or conflict with my career. So that will be the biggest leap of faith in three years.

So please pray for me. I don’t know how it will go, or even if it even if it should go at all. I trust the Lord to reveal what he has in store for me and to guide me along the way.

“Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed” (Pr 16:3)

“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD‘s purpose that prevails.” (Pr 19:21)

So Much for Kings

Frank

Well that didn’t take long. Only a few episodes in NBC has thrown in the towel on its series Kings, a loosely modernized adaptation of 1 and 2 Samuel. No, they haven’t cancelled it, instead putting it off until this summer when no one is sitting at home watching TV. Then again, no one was sitting at home Sunday nights when it first aired or Saturday evenings either after NBC moved it the first time.

Add this show to the likes of Jericho and SportsNight (and I’m sure you can list your favorites) as shows that were critically acclaimed, well written and acted, and not pushed by their networks before dying an inevitable death. It’s too bad too, I think the story was just beginning to pick up steam. Though the plot so far seems more like Frank Herbert’s Dune than the story of David from the Bible.

I was thinking about this the other day while watching the latest episode. David doesn’t yet seem like a “man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22) and Jack is nothing like the Biblical description of Jonathan. But King Silas rocks as an ego-maniacal version of Saul. If you’re looking for a better adaptation of David’s story I’d recommend instead A Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards. Or if a book written as a three act play isn’t your thing, check out either Kyle Baker’s King David one-shot comic or David: Shepherd’s Song originally published by Alias Comics.

(And yes, this is just a shameless post since “Review of NBC’s Kings” seems to be the only Google search that hits this site.)

Purpose

Frank

Purpose. It’s become a loaded word in my fellowship of churches. Some of you may recall the debate (still ongoing in my heart) between our “purpose” as Christians and our “mission.” I won’t get into that debate here other than comment that my heart has recently been challenged with a recent run of sermons on this topic. I want to stand up and shout, “our purpose is not to bring people to church!” The topic of evangelism always makes me queasy, because I relate that to “numbers” and “accountability” that were used as abusive, manipulative, incorrect means to the correct end. To me, evangelism isn’t about church invites, or “visitors”, or “cranking.” Instead it is literally about “sharing my faith” with someone else. If they respond, amen! If not, that seed is planted and I trust God to do with it what He pleases.

Sadly, whenever I hear “purpose” or “share your faith” in a sermon, my ears tune out the message and my ego turns on with defensiveness. So it took an outside source to shake this from me. I was listening to a radio sermon last week (if you haven’t read my last post, let me sum it up: if you listen to a radio ministry, support it financially!) and the topic was Purpose. Right away I wanted to listen thinking that this lesson would validate all my feelings on the subject. It didn’t. Instead it reaffirmed the Christian purpose to “seek and save the lost.”

This lesson referenced Philippians 1:12-30 where Paul is referring to being imprisoned for the sake of the Gospel: “Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel… The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice…I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death…If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me…Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel.” (Phil 1:12,18ff,20,22ff,27 emphasis added)

While the context was Paul’s sufferings, his encouragement to the Christians in Philippi was that this suffering can be used to advance the Gospel and therefore to not be discouraged by any hardship. With that in mind, I want to focus on how Paul was evangelistic here. Obviously he couldn’t invite his captors to church, where would they go? Instead he used his circumstance to explain his conviction. This is something we all can do, and is more literally sharing our faith than a simple invite to church.

Something else he points out here that is very important to me. He talks about “Christ being exalted in [his] body,” and, “conducting [our]selves in a manner worthy of the gospel.” Our lives should reflect the gospel of Jesus. Our very lives should be our evangelism. In my wallet I have a business card that reads, “How have I been Christ’s presence today?” I keep it in front of my driver’s license because I consider this my real ID. In this context, evangelism to advance the gospel of Christ is very much my purpose.

Purpose or mission, it’s all really just semantics anyway. The real question is how have you been Christ’s presence today?

Christian Payola

Frank

Today is the final day of the “Air 1 Revolution,” a drive to raise money to cover the station’s operating expenses. Listening to the radio the last couple of days made me feel like Homer Simpson in Missionary: Impossible, who pledges thousands of dollars to PBS to stop the pledge drive so he can get back to his favorite show. When he welshes, he has to flee to a South Pacific island and become a Christian missionary. (Save me Jeebus!) But I digress. I’m not meaning to knock Air 1, it is their choice to be ad-free. I only want to bring to light the challenges faced by Christian radio.

To give perspective, as of this morning they were 68% funded, increasing about a half a percent an hour. Over this hour, they marked off between 30 and 50 supporters committing a dollar a day. Extrapolating gives a total need on the order of $2 Million a year. Where does all this money go?

The obvious answer is advertising and promotions, but these more or less pay for themselves. The less obvious answer is licensing their stations. Back when radio first started to be broadcast in this country, the decision was made to offer this service free to consumers (notice all the “free music” ads on the radio to counter the popularity of outlets like Pandora or iTunes). But that service still costs. The provider has to pay for the license ($2900), the station frequency (auctioned up to tens of thousands), the tower and equipment (hope one exists, otherwise it’s another $600,000) and this is before labor costs, licenses and fees for the music you’re playing, and you can see how this adds up quick! To hammer the point even more, this is for a single station- imagine a nationwide network. (For more information than you would probably ever want, go here.)

So why reference “payola“, the scam of pay-to-play on the radio, in the title of this post? I showed you how tough it is to be a station, now imagine you’re a half-hour preaching ministry. Because of the costs above, oftentimes ministries have to pay these stations to be on the air. Here, the costs are daily, per station, costing hundreds of dollars a single day for a half a sermon to be broadcast nationwide on multiple stations. If it was illegal for music in the 60’s, (and for third-party promoters more recently) why isn’t it illegal on Christian radio? Because the stations mentioned above are non-profit. Worse, they generally operate, like Air 1, with little or no advertising. There’s simply no other way to make up the costs.

You can decide for yourself whether this actually hurts spreading the Gospel. But to put it in real dollars for a listener like you or me, I recently purchased a lesson series from a particular ministry. I also bought the study guide to go along with it. By the time it was all said and done, including shipping, it cost me $90 for an 8 CD set. If I wanted to buy last Sunday’s sermon at my local church, it would cost me a little over a buck.

***edit***
After hopping in my car and turning on the radio, I remembered a couple of points I left out. First off, I’m not against “listener supported radio”. My “Homer Simpson” reaction above is just my human nature. Instead of being flippant, I simply wanted to bring attention to the nature of the business and pray that it would change to enable these ministries to thrive without the stress of wondering how to stay on the air.

Some numbers from Air 1 that I forgot to mention above: For every 100 people listening, only three financially support it. In other words, 97% listen without any personal investment. Also, to run enough ads to cover the cost, they would have to broadcast the equivalent of 78 days worth of advertisements a year. To the station, that’s 78 days they’re not pursuing their ministry.

***update***
Only a couple hours left for Air 1 and they’re now almost at 80%.

Family Values

Frank

“You are what you do when no one is looking.” This is one of my favorite sayings and is true whether you’re talking about spirituality or not. What is interesting though, is that it is so hard to put into practice.

Christian or not, there are “rules” for acceptable behavior in the public square- cussing at work is generally frowned upon, you can be ticketed for road rage, there are laws against public indecency, and so on. But at home, anything goes.

I’m guilty of this myself. I was talking with a coworker about an ongoing problem that was increasingly frustrating and I totally went off. I didn’t cuss, but by my tone, I might as well have. He commented that he’s never seen me so upset about anything before (he should see me watch sports). But I don’t apply that filter at home with my own family. I’m quick to raise my voice at my children and vent my frustrations to my wife. While I wouldn’t cuss in front of my boss, I don’t have a problem cussing in anger in front of my family.

What that tells me is that I value my boss, my job, and others outside of my home more than I value my very own family. I care more about what coworkers think of me than what my children think of me. Now deep down that’s not true, but that’s what my actions say.

This came to me the other night during a discussion with other brothers about the fights they have at home, and it convicted the tar out of me. Why should I treat my family worse than I treat my coworkers, or even strangers on the street?

While the title of this blog is “Public Christianity” with the emphasis being to live and express our faith in the public square, our faith needs to be deeply rooted in our homes as well. “… choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve… but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15) The Bible is ripe with instruction on how to live and manage our homes. If what only mattered was what people see of us in public, then why include instructions to women in Timothy and Titus?

Sin is sin, regardless of where we indulge in it. God sees us in the privacy of our homes, just as strangers see our deeds in public. Don’t think you’re hiding sin just because it’s not public. Value your family more than that.

“Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” (John 3:20)

“For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.” (Eph 5:12)

You’ve Come a Long Ways, Baby

Frank

Tonight my congregation is hosting a public showing of the movie Fireproof, complete with all the resources available afterword. The movie kicks off the 8-week Marriage Dynamics course that we’ve been offering twice a year the past few years. Meanwhile, we’re a couple of weeks into the Financial Peace workshop done by Dave Ramsey.

Once upon a time, I’d hear criticism of the closed-mindedness of our fellowship of churches and the monopoly we thought we held on spiritual truths. A common statement would be something like, “I hear you guys are only allowed to read books written by other members of your church.” While that was never literally true (at least since I’ve been faithful), there was a point. You didn’t dare bring in another ministry, offer a different point of view, or even reference a pastor/bishop/deacon from another church. Though we isolated ourselves on a spiritual island, my best material as a first-time Bible Talk leader came from sermons I heard on the radio.

In the past few years however, we’ve begun to open ourselves up to the fact that maybe we aren’t the only ones who might know a thing or two about spirituality and discipleship. Congregations have studied The Purpose Driven Life together while leaders studied Leading Life-Changing Small Groups from Willow Creek. The Los Angeles Church of Christ hosted a “Men in White” retreat that spawned men’s purity groups based on Every Man’s Battle. Many congregations have done financial courses through Crown Financial Ministries, and I already mentioned the Marriage Dynamics course that many churches have conducted.

Personally, I’m very encouraged by this despite the present undercurrent that seems to want to keep us on our own spiritual and doctrinal islands. (Cooperation does not have to equal conformity!) I’m a bibliophile, and I’ll suck up any Christian resource I can get my hands on despite whatever theology is behind it. I hope we’re mature enough to discern the truth based on our own Bible study (“Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” Acts 17:11). And by the looks of these ministries, it appears our spiritual leadership agrees. Amen to that.

The Wages of Sin

Frank

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

Tomorrow the largest federal tobacco tax increase in history takes effect as the tax on a pack of cigarettes goes from $0.39 to $1.01. This “sin tax” is expected to raise $33 billion towards health care expansion for children. This continues a trend to tax specific products to pay for social programs. Even the state of Nevada was considering taxing prostitution to make up for shortfalls in their budget.

There are three choices to politically curb social vices, legislate/regulate, tax, or use the bully pulpit as a platform for change. Social conservatives have traditionally taken the legislate/regulate route, while taxing is more palatable to social liberals. Sadly, we rarely see anyone use their political power to address vices. Nancy Reagan’s campaign to “just say no” is the most obvious, and maybe even the most recent, that I can think of (up until only recently, following the over-hyped “value voter”, other issues such as health care, immigration, and so forth have seldom been approached as social ills).

The irony of course, is that while so many cry foul whenever someone tries to pass legislation to curb something like abortion which infringes on a woman’s right to choose, few voices are heard when something like cigarettes are excessively taxed. And unless I’ve missed it, people still have the right to “choose” whether or not to smoke. You could argue that these aren’t morally equivalent, but we’re not talking morals here- we’re talking legal rights.

Not that it matters anyway. Every vice could be taxed to the point of being prohibitively expensive, regulated far beyond mere inconvenience, and outlawed with the strictest penalties and people would still choose to indulge in their favorite sin. It is, after all, in our nature. The only way to effectively curb a social vice is to address it on moral grounds. That cannot be done from the ballot box, but from the pew; not during an election cycle, but every day; not from an elected leader, but from our own Christian example.

Of course we all know the real “sin tax” is the eternal penalty to be paid for our sins. Thanks be to God for our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who paid that tax in advance for us.

Sell Out

Frank

One of the “tests of fellowship” my sisterhood of churches was infamous for was the call to be “sold out disciples” of Christ. As part of multiple lukewarm campus ministries over the years that sales pitch worked on me. While there is nothing wrong with that call in and of itself, that expectation unfortunately opened the fellowship up to all sorts of abuses. Part of the problem has been some just don’t get it. If they’re not being told how to be “sold out” they won’t be. While there have been many efforts to change parts of that old culture over the past few years I’ve noticed the cost has been “sold outedness”. Brothers and sisters just don’t seem to be motivated to serve and follow Jesus because no one is explicitly telling them to be. Don’t get me wrong, that’s not universal, but is prevalent enough to be noticeable.

I do believe there is a Biblical call to be sold out in our faith. Romans 12 reads, “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” (Rom 12:11) At the same time, we can’t be zealous for zealous’ sake. Paul writes to the Galations, “Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them. It’s fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good.” (Gal 4:17-18) And Proverbs 19:2 reads, “It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.” That’s what I think hurt our churches in the past- too many were zealous more for their leaders, the latest evangelism drive, etc and not for zealous for Jesus.

I also think this is part of the problem in the American Christian Church (TM). Many are happy to be Sunday morning Christians, give their tithe (sometimes), and be on their way. For many, living as a disciple of Jesus means having a particular political persuasion rather than daily taking up their cross. Or they’re proud to be a member of some megachurch led by a best-selling author.

So we could all use a little wake up call. I mentioned before that some just don’t get it. Praise God though, some do. Thanks to Jessie at Surrender All and Marcus at Transplant Ministries for bringing these videos to my attention.