Month: June 2017

Vision tour opens pastors” eyes to church planting need in Houston

HOUSTON—From the inner city to the suburbs, low-income to affluent neighborhoods, about a half dozen pastors and local Baptist association leaders circumnavigated the nation’s most diverse city during the first Reach Houston vision tour, June 5-7.

Reach Houston is an intentional focus of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention in the areas of church planting and church revitalization. Ben Hays, pastor of Church in the Center in Houston, serves as the Reach Houston strategist and organized the vision tour to give churches a glimpse at the many ways they can partner with and support Houston churches and church plants.

Hays introduced the pastors and leaders to church planters throughout the city, which allowed each planter to share his calling and vision to reach his specific community. Additionally, planters offered ways churches around the state, regardless of their size, could work alongside them in areas such as evangelism, prayer support, resources and manpower.

Many on the vision tour described it as an “eye-opening experience,” including Shane Norcross, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Mexia. 

“I have a whole new appreciation for the difficult task that each of these church planters face,” Norcross said. “I look forward to partnering with Reach Houston.”

Justin Colquette, pastor of First Baptist Church in Wortham, said he was initially reluctant to go on the vision tour but saw things differently by the end of trip.

“I usually try to stay away from large cities as much as possible, but this trip has opened my eyes to the great need for church planters and for established churches to help them in that process. I never realized how diverse Houston was and probably never would have had we not spent the time visiting areas all over Houston. My eyes have been opened to an entirely new way of thinking about missions and in particular church planting.”

Similarly, Brian Givens, pastor of First Baptist Church in Colmesneil, noted that he often makes the two-hour trip to Houston to visit church members in the hospital but will never see the city in the same way as before.

“During those trips I would often look at the traffic and skyline and think, ‘what a headache’ and could not wait to return to my quiet little town. But my views have changed; I now see darkness, lostness and a great need for holding a light up in the midst of all this for the glory of Christ Jesus. I used to get a headache, now I feel a heartache of burden for praying and reaching this city.”

Stephen Chen, pastor of Beaumont Chinese Church, said the vision tour was a moving experience that challenged him in his own gospel ministry back home.

“Indeed the harvest is great and the workers are few,” Chen said. “This tour reminded me to work harder to win souls for our Lord.”

In addition to pastors, leaders from Tryon Evergreen Baptist Association, which covers the northeast part of Houston, also experienced the vision tour.

“The Reach Houston vision tour provided a clear and compelling understanding of the need for churches to become part of God’s work in the greater Houston area,” Executive Director Roger Yancey said. He encourages all churches to consider participating in future vision tours.

“The church planters you will meet will elevate your understanding of the needs that are being responded to and the lives changed by these new church plants. The Reach Houston vision tour is well worth the investment of your time and resources.”

Find out more about Reach Houston and how your church can be involved at sbtexas.com/reach-houston or contact Ben Hays at bhays@sbtexas.com.

REVIEW: Is “The Mummy” family-friendly?





Nick Morton is a fearless archeologist who travels throughout the Middle East in search of ancient treasures.

That’s fascinating enough, but Morton isn’t one to do things the “normal” way. He steals. He sells his goods on the black market. He’s even been in one or two gun battles.

Eventually, though, Morton’s carefree ways catch up with him, like when he and two others discover an Egyptian sarcophagus buried in a mysterious pool, deep under the Iraqi sand. Even crazier: It’s tied to an elaborate pulley system that defies logic.

His friends urge caution, but Morton thoughtlessly fires a shot at the pulley ropes, thus raising the sarcophagus and eventually freeing it of its content—the mummy Ahmanet, who once was a beautiful princess but now is your absolute worst nightmare.

The Mummy (PG-13) opens in theaters this weekend, bringing us a reboot of a franchise we thought, well, died several years ago. It is the first film in Universal’s “Dark Universe” series of films that will feature well-known monsters in live-action roles. (Bride of Frankenstein, coming in 2019, is the next one.)

Mummy stars Tom Cruise as Morton; Annabelle Wallis as his love interest, Jenny; Jake Johnson as his friend and fellow explorer, Chris; and Sofia Boutella as Ahmanet.

The action takes us from sunny Iraq to the historic (and often foggy) streets of London, where zombies seem to pop out every few minutes.

Morton has his eyes on Jenny, but Ahmanet has her evil eyes on Morton. Why? Because he brought her back to life, of course. What follows is the worst one-sided romance you’ll ever witness: her promising him god-like powers if he’ll just turn evil, and him trying to avoid her every move. Along the way we also meet Mr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde himself.  

So, is it any good? And should you let your teens see it? Let’s take a look …

Warning: minor spoilers

Violence/Disturbing Images

There’s a reason the film is rated PG-13 for “violence, action and scary images.” There are plenty of them.

Ahmanet, who was passed over for the throne, makes a pact with the underworld to gain power. This involves her murdering family members (we see that) and casting a spell in a demonic-like setting (we see that, too). She also cuts herself as part of the spell. She’s missing part of her cheek and nose, but her zombie army is missing far more than that. They play a prominent role in the film, trying to kill everything in their path. There are scenes involving hundreds of spiders and hundreds of rats. She prays to the “god of death” and turns others into zombies by kissing them.  

Morton battles zombies throughout the film, decapitating a few and stepping on their heads. There are several gun battles.        

Sexuality/Sensuality

Ahmanet is nude when she casts her spell. We see her briefly from behind and from the side in a very dark setting. Later, Morton and Ahmanet trade insults about a one-night stand (which we don’t see). He says it was satisfying; she disagrees.      

Language

I counted 18 coarse words: He– (7), OMG (3), SOB (2), da– (2), a– (2), ba–ard (1), s–t (1).

Christian Images/Dialogue

The opening scene shows Catholic priests in A.D. 1127 conducting a burial. Later, Ahmanet corners Morton in a historic countryside church, where she attempts to turn him to evil.

Life Lessons

Look hard enough, and there are a few lessons for teens. Among the topics: selfishness, self-sacrifice and the desires of the flesh.  

Cruise is an egocentric thief who thinks only about money and pleasure, which leads Jenny to ask: “Do you ever think about anyone but yourself?” By the film’s end he has a change of heart and faces a major choice.

Yet the bigger lesson might be more basic. Ahmanet promises Morton the “power of life over death” and the ability to become a “living god” but only if he joins forces with her. It’s similar to what the serpent promised Eve in the garden (Genesis 3:5). No, we won’t ever face an identical situation like Eve, but every time we disobey God, we’re committing an identical sin. That is, we’re entertaining the age-old question that Eve faced: “Has God said?”   

Worldview

I prefer scary movies that demonstrate God’s power over the forces of Satan. Sadly, that’s not part of The Mummy. Instead, we’re given a universe of curses and spells whereby Ahmanet can be defeated only by crushing a red crystal. We also hear that Morton and his friends have “angered the gods.”

It’s also worth considering Hollywood’s portrayal of evil. In The Mummy, evil is ugly and grotesque, but in the real world, evil is far more cunning. In fact, on the surface it can be downright attractive. Proverbs 5 describes a specific sin that appears as sweet as honey but eventually leads to hell. That’s a conversation worth having with our kids.

Family-Friendly?

The Mummy isn’t appropriate for children. But teens? Maybe. Honestly, though, if I had a teen, I’d find something more enjoyable.  

Thumbs Up … Or Down?

I enjoyed the first 30 or so minutes of The Mummy. Then the zombies attacked. Again. And again. Worse: The character development was so lacking that I almost didn’t care who survived. 

Picture Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video—without the music or the dance or the plot—and you’ve got The Mummy. Thumbs down.

Discussion Questions

1. What does Scripture say about the afterlife? About mummies? About zombies?

2. Do you think Morton regretted his past actions?

3. Compare yourself—and all of humanity—to Jekyll and Hyde.

4. What was your reaction when the insurgents destroyed the ancient statues?

5. What was more powerful in the film, good or evil?

Entertainment rating: 2 out of 5 stars. Family-friendly rating: 2 out of 5 stars.

The Mummy is rated PG-13 for violence, action and scary images, and for some suggestive content and partial nudity.

Men of Joshua discipleship program stresses accountability

Ronnie GoinesARLINGTON Though not yet 30 years old, Ronnie Goines was a successful development consultant for a Fortune 500 company when he led a fellow high achiever to Christ at a business conference—a life-changing encounter for both men. 

“I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life as an agent to lead people to Jesus Christ,” Goines said.

Shortly thereafter, Goines was asked to teach a men’s Bible study class and eventually felt the Lord calling him to become a pastor, which meant further education for the Shreveport, La., native. 

Goines had already earned a finance degree from Louisiana Tech, but he and his new bride, Nikki, enrolled in Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and “went from making good money to going to food pantries to eat.”

Following graduation from Southwestern, Goines started a home church with five people, including his wife. Koinonia Christian Church grew to 5,000 in a dozen years. Today, the largely African-American congregation meets in a revamped former commercial property off Interstate 20 in Arlington. 

In 2009, Goines noticed a need for discipleship among men. 

“I saw a lot of Christians who weren’t disciples,” he said. “I met a lot of people on their way to heaven who were living in hell.”

One Sunday as he preached on Joshua 24:15, Goines felt compelled by the Holy Spirit to ask how many men had been discipled. 

He explained discipleship to them with a coaching analogy: “The best athletes in the world have never played for us on television. They didn’t make it because they couldn’t be coached. You can have all the talent in the world, but if you won’t be coached, you are not going very far.”

Goines asked the men: “Who feels like they have a lot of talent but they are sitting on the bench? Who is ready to be coached and get in the game?”

Seventy-five men came forward. Seven eventually completed Koinonia’s first discipleship course.

“Our church did a radical shift with these seven men,” Goines said. Over the next 13 months, attendance increased about eightfold to 1,300. “The word got out that we were discipling men.”

The Men of Joshua curriculum is based on the premise that “every man should be the pastor of his own home.” Recently published in the book As for Me and My House, the plan features model lessons and offers a glimpse into Goines’ background as the son of a single mother whose teachers and coaches believed in him.

“Jesus, in the Great Commission, never said, ‘Go and make Christians. He said, ‘Go and make disciples.’ It is the job of the Holy Spirit to make Christians. It is the job of us to make disciples. God always chooses us to disciple us.”

—Ronnie Goines

Goines teaches the class two or three times a year. Men enrolled in the program commit to 14 weeks involving mandatory attendance at discipleship classes, Bible study, prayer meetings, evangelism outreaches and worship. They must have a job, actively serve, practice stewardship and pass content exams.

If a man falls short in an area, he must repeat the course. Goines said some pastors think this is too regimented, likely to result in men leaving the church, but that does not concern Goines. 

“I would rather have four weeks to disciple you and then you leave,” he said, “than to have you here for four years and never hold you accountable.”

Single men take the course, too. “Even if you are not a husband, you should be husband material,” Goines explained. 

Women pursue a discipleship course called Women of Esther, a “less rigid” form of the Joshua program with different material. “The stress of being a mom is different from that of being a dad,” Goines said. “The ethos is a little different. They need a sisterhood.”

“The biggest thing in both is accountability,” he affirmed, noting that disciples sign a contract or covenant. 

The role of a teacher is vital in the process, just as “Jesus spent time living with and walking with the disciples,” Goines explained. One key is “the leader walking with those he has been called to disciple.” Koinonia recognizes graduates in a special ceremony, before which each disciple will have memorized 35 scriptures, learned apologetics and know how to disciple others. 

Disciples then become disciplers, required to lead others each year through an abbreviated curriculum.

“Jesus, in the Great Commission, never said, ‘Go and make Christians,’” Goines noted. “He said, ‘Go and make disciples.’ It is the job of the Holy Spirit to make Christians. It is the job of us to make disciples. God always chooses us to disciple us.”

Koinonia’s Daylon Furlough affirmed the program’s success: “Men of Joshua gave me the tools, the know-how, to live a life modeled after Christ.” He said his 17 fellow students are “brothers for life.”

The Men of Joshua curriculum has been adopted by churches in Texas, California, South Carolina, Hawaii and Michigan. Ten churches have implemented the entire program, while more than 100 others have adopted parts. Koinonia holds an annual conference for men from across the nation who have gone through Men of Joshua. Goines plans to work with SBTC discipleship ministries this fall on a video training module.

Southern Baptists influence orphan care reform in Texas

Texas capitol building image

AUSTIN—Southern Baptists’ history of caring for orphans made them key players in child welfare reform during the 85th session of the Texas Legislature. From authoring transformational legislation to advocating for its passage, Southern Baptists and their Christian allies worked across party lines to effect change for Texas children caught up in the child welfare system.

Before a federal judge demanded changes in Texas’s broken Child Welfare System, lawmakers and agency personnel had been seeking solutions. This session lawmakers hammered out legislation that will prompt significant restructuring of the Department of Family Protective Services, give financial relief to some foster parents and provide legal protection to faith-based foster and adoption agencies. The changes are desperately needed within the agency that has come under severe criticism for failing the children it is sworn to protect.

“You will cast thousands of votes this session. Few will involve life or death decisions,” Gov. Greg Abbott told legislators in his January State of the State address. “Your vote on CPS is one of them. Last year, more than 100 children died in our Child Protective System. You can vote to end that. We can reform the system so that no more children die in it.”

The death of children in Child Protective Services custody or still in parental custody but under observation is the worst of violations cited by a federal judge last year in a lawsuit brought against the state. Additional grievances include children spending nights in CPS offices for lack of available foster homes; caseworkers quitting under unbearable caseloads; and children aging out of the child welfare system, which often puts them on a path toward poverty and incarceration.

Abbott demonstrated his desire to retain caseworkers in January when he ordered an infusion of cash into the DFPS and gave 75 percent of all CPS employees a $12,000 a year raise.

Lawmakers then passed and Abbott signed bipartisan legislation making DFPS a stand-alone agency accountable directly to the governor. The agency currently operates under the Department of Health and Human Services.

Rep. James Frank, R-Wichita Falls, who authored the bill, said the law allows the governor and department leadership to cut through bureaucratic red tape and address critical issues expeditiously. His family recently adopted two grade-school-aged brothers giving him a personal investment in the system’s overhaul.

Frank, a member of a Southern Baptist Church, noted that the biggest changes in the system must come from within the department, and the decision to bring the agency out from under the auspices of a HHS can force and encourage that change.

A bill authored by Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, takes the role of foster care recruitment and training out of Austin and puts it in the hands of the communities where the foster children come from. According to the legislative analysis the law gives “greater authority and accountability to local communities to positively affect foster care children in their community.”

Decentralizing the system will follow the successful pattern of Tarrant County, which over the past three years has operated its own regionalized recruiting and training system called community-based care.

Fifty percent of children removed from their homes by CPS end up in the homes of a relative. Unlike foster families who take in the children of strangers and receive financial support from the state, kinship care families receive a one-time outlay of about $1,000. They will now receive a monthly stipend, less than the other foster families, to help defray expenses.

One reform measure that received pushback from democrats gives faith-based adoption and foster care agencies legal protection for their religiously-grounded policies that prohibit them from partnering with married same-sex couples or individuals or providing abortions or contraceptives to young girls in their care. Democrats opposed the bill, authored by Frank, because they said it discriminates against gays and lesbians.

Estimates indicate up to 25 percent of all Texas foster and adoption care agencies are faith-based. Frank and other supporters insisted the bill is essential for keeping those agencies in the system. Without them the already shallow pool of foster care families will continue to dry up.

Ironically, a bill encouraging faith-based entities to actively participate in the recruitment and support of foster care families unanimously passed the Senate (A record of House vote is not available.). The faith-based foster and adoption care protection law also protects those agencies the state is asking to more actively engage in the system.

And that is the best way churches and Christians can hold the state accountable in its care of orphans.

“Get involved in the system,” Frank told the TEXAN. “Few if any constituents ask their representatives about how Child Protective Services are doing. The church should ask its elected officials, ‘How are you doing taking care of the least of these?’ By and large most constituents ask about taxes and other things. You hold [legislators] accountable by asking about it.”

One of the faith-based organizations that will benefit from the protections is Texas Baptist Home for Children, which has a ministry affiliation with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. Families and churches interested in information on foster care and adoption can contact Texas Baptist Home by visiting tbhc.org or calling (972) 937-1321.

Amendments produce victories for pro-life advocates but work to continue in special session

AUSTIN—Pro-life bills died in the 85th Texas Legislature before they saw the light of a full debate. Only through procedural wrangling did some of the measures pass as amendments, and even those victories did not come with the aid of many pro-life legislators, critics said. However, a special session called by Gov. Greg Abbott could breathe new life into those bills.

None of the pro-life bills backed by the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, Texas Right to Life, and conservative legislators passed as stand-alone bills. Pro-life advocates entered the bi-annual legislative session on the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Texas’s 2013 abortion-regulating House Bill 2. Frustrated by procedural maneuvering by House leadership that kept bills from getting a hearing, pro-life advocates used similar tactics to regain some regulatory ground.

“We wrangled some successes out of this session despite the leadership, despite efforts to sabotage pro-life wins,” Emily Horne, Texas Right to Life senior legislative associate, told the TEXAN.

The legislation that finally received Gov. Greg Abbott’s signature increases funding for abortion alternative services, bans dismemberment abortions, enhances abortionist reporting requirements, restricts the handling of post-abortive fetal remains, and bans partial-birth abortion. The latter is already federal law.

Texas Right to Life priority legislation included the dismemberment ban, Senate Bill 415, authored by Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock. The bill called for the end of the abortion practice that requires an unborn baby’s body be torn apart before being extracted from the uterus.

SB 415 never received a hearing in the House Committee on State Affairs chaired by Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana. Horne said all pro-life legislation died in Cook’s committee.

Conservative legislators have criticized House leadership and their control over the fate of legislation (See Legislative Wrap up for details). The House Committee on State Affairs, nicknamed the “committee where bills go to die,” received the pro-life legislation. But Cook refused to allow hearings or a vote on the bills, which prohibited their advancement to the full chamber for debate, Horne said.

So pro-life legislators circumvented committee procedures and resurrected their bills in the form of amendments. Horne said pro-life legislators, especially the 12-member Texas Freedom Caucus, played a key role in the victories. Senate Bill 8, which prohibits partial birth abortions and regulates the disposal of fetal remains, served as the host for some of the pro-life amendments, including the dismemberment ban.

Cook voted for the dismemberment ban amendment despite his failure to give the measure a hearing in his committee.

A bill requiring physicians to obtain patient or surrogate consent before giving a “Do Not Resuscitate” order failed as did a measure that would have stripped abortion coverage from some insurance policies paid for, in part, with taxpayer funds.

But legislators took advantage of the reauthorization of the Texas State Board of Pharmacy to insert protective language for pharmacists who refuse to dispense abortifacients. Last year the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case of a family owned pharmacy in Washington whose owners did not want to dispense abortion-inducing medications. Despite the fact that 30 pharmacies within a 5-mile radius sold the drug, the high court upheld the state’s demand that all pharmacists carry the drug regardless of conscience objections.

Horne said pro-life legislation that failed to get a hearing during the regular session could get new life in the special session. Pro-life items Abbott wants addressed include insurance reform, prohibitions on taxpayer-funded abortions, abortion reporting requirements, and strengthened “do not resuscitate” orders.

Legislators failed to reauthorize the Texas Medical Board, which they are required to do every 10-12 years. During the last reauthorization process, Horne said, legislators amended the bill to include a ban on third trimester abortions and the requirement that minors receive parental consent before obtaining an abortion.

Texas legislature ends in frustration, call for special session

Texas capitol building image

AUSTIN—The 85th session of the Texas Legislature gaveled to an end May 29 only to have Gov. Greg Abbott call the lawmakers back for a special session to address unfinished business. The Legislature will reconvene for 30 days beginning July 18 with no less than 20 bills on the call, including SBTC-supported legislation.

The regular session ended as tempers flared and civil decorum, by some, died along with several prominent pieces of legislation championed by Christian and conservative legislators. Frustration came to a head on the final day as a Republican member of the conservative Texas Freedom Caucus announced on the House floor he had called the Immigration Control and Enforcement (ICE) tip line to report self-proclaimed illegal immigrants protesting in the House gallery. That prompted threats of violence from a Democrat lawmaker. The dustup served to illustrate the fractures between the two parties and draw attention to the growing fissure between conservative and moderate Republicans.

In announcing the special session, Abbott scolded the legislators.

“A special session was entirely avoidable, and there was plenty of time for the legislature to forge compromises to avoid the time and taxpayer expense of a special session,” he said.

Among the bills left languishing in the regulation session that Abbot wants reintroduced are the Women’s Privacy Act, abortion regulation, school choice for special needs children, an extension of the maternal mortality task force and property tax reform.

But not all bipartisanship was lost as legislators agreed on a long-overdue overhaul of the Department of Family Protective Services, which is facing a lawsuit for its fractured system in which more than 100 children died in 2015 while under its observation or care. And some children removed from their homes under the shadow of abuse or neglect have had to sleep in the offices of Child Protective Services caseworkers due to an inadequate pool of foster families to take them in.

Rep. James Frank, R-Wichita Falls, who authored most of the child welfare reform legislation (See Article), said it is imperative that churches get involved with the foster and adoption care services. Not everyone can foster or adopt, but all Christians are mandated to care for the widowed and orphaned Frank said.

Legislators moved the Department of Family Protective Services out from under the Health and Human Services Department making it a stand-alone agency directly accountable to the governor. Another law begins the process of decentralizing the DFPS by creating community-based foster care, where regions across the state will be responsible for recruiting and training prospective foster and adoptive parents.

Key reform legislation included passage of a law protecting faith-based foster and adoption care agencies from legal challenges to their convictions, prohibiting them from partnering with gay couples or providing abortions and contraceptives to children in their care.

Abbott also called for and received a ban on sanctuary cities. The legislation does not change federal immigration law but prohibits governmental entities from creating policies  or practices that flout those laws.

The bill’s author, Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, a member of an SBTC-affiliated church, said the law does not target illegal immigrants but stops “officials who have sworn to enforce the law from helping people who commit terrible crimes evade immigration detainers.”

Passage of the sanctuary cities prohibition demonstrated the Republican divide in the Texas House. Once the contentious bill passed the Senate along party lines, House State Affairs committee “basically took the meat out of the sandwich” according to Rep. Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler, a member of the Texas Freedom Caucus. Using procedural maneuvers on par with House leadership, the caucus “put the teeth back in the bill.”

Schaeffer called that a tipping point in the session. The caucus—a thorn in the side of Democrats and moderate Republicans—realized it could “do an end run around leadership obstruction.”

Cindy Asmussen, advisor to the SBTC Texas Ethics and Religious Liberty Committee, said the caucus provided effective, yet limited, pushback to attempts to water down legislation generated in the Senate.

“They were extremely productive, and had it not been for them we would not have had a lot of conservative legislation added as amendments, [such as] the dismemberment abortion ban and church security added back in,” Asmussen said.

But efforts by the caucus, Texas Pastors Council and conservatives across the state could not get the Women’s Privacy Act passed. The bill would have regulated the use of public restrooms and single-sex changing rooms, an effort led by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick that passed handily in the Senate only to die in the House.

It passed swiftly along party lines in the Senate only to arrive in the House where Speaker of the House Joe Straus refused to send the bill to a committee. Without a committee hearing a bill dies. Straus, R-San Antonio, claimed the bill would harm the Texas economy.

“One state representative out of 150 … decided it would not be passed,” Dave Welch, director of the Texas Pastors Council, told the TEXAN.

Social conservatives within the Republican-controlled legislature have, for the past two sessions, criticized the control Straus holds over all legislation making its way through the chamber. Every bill must be appointed to a committee for review and public debate, and only the Speaker has the authority to assign bills to committees. He also appoints the committee chairman who then control what bills pass out of committee to the House floor for debate.

PASTOR AS EVANGELIST: Building Evangelistic Fervor in a Congregation

“Do the work of an evangelist.” (2 Timothy 4:5)

The climax of Paul’s second pastor manual to Timothy is introduced by these sobering words in 2 Timothy 4:1:  “I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and because of his appearing and his kingdom …”  As the solemn charge unfolds in the chapter, we discover a central aspect of leading faithfully as a pastor is “doing the work of an evangelist.”

Building evangelistic fervor in a congregation is one of the most difficult challenges on this side of heaven. I don’t know of a single pastor who feels his church’s evangelistic efforts are enough. I know of many pastors, including myself, who wish their churches did more to share the gospel with unbelievers. 

Be encouraged my fellow pastors, the struggle is real, but it is not unique to you. Every pastor struggles to mobilize his congregation in evangelism. I do.

Move forward by working with the 5 to 20 percent of your congregation who are ready to join you in evangelizing the lost. Allow me to share some lessons learned along the way for moving forward as a leader in evangelism. 

First, know who you yourself are as an evangelist and play to your strengths. I am personally not an effective soul winner. I’m only a “one to two converts per year” guy when it comes to one-on-one evangelism. I’m not smooth with people, I’m not very relational, and I don’t have a good poker face. But while I’m not personally effective in terms of converts, I am personally motivated. I am not scared to bring up the gospel with strangers; I’m comfortable leading with a direct, diagnostic question. I’m also not afraid to hand out gospel tracts to strangers. So I’m much more of a seed sower than I am a conversions guy, and thus I focus on seed sowing and take delight in the rare occasions I get to lead someone to faith in Christ. Another thing I’ve learned about myself is I’m fairly effective at training people in personal evangelism. The Lord has taught me how to train and loose personal soul winners who are far more effective with actual conversions than I am. So I play to my strengths—I personally try to sow lots of seed as I go around my town, and then I focus on training and mobilizing my members for one-on-one soul winning.

Second, be the face of evangelism in your church. Like it or not, some ministries of the church will not thrive if the senior pastor is not the lead voice championing the effort. Evangelism is one of them. You have a variety of tools at your disposal such as entire sermons, sermon illustrations, two-to-three-minute exhortation segments in a worship service, corporate prayer times, blog posts, social media, etc. Talk about it often with your people—celebrate salvations, baptisms, tracts and Bibles distributed, doors knocked on, etc. 

Third, train your people in personal soul winning. It is one thing to know information; it is another thing to know how to communicate that information clearly and concisely to someone who has never heard it before. After fear, the most common reason Christians do not share their faith is they feel ill-equipped to do so. Your people won’t go to war empty-handed. There are some great tools out there such as the 3 Circles: Life Conversation Guide and Can We Talk?  Our church offers a personal evangelism training workshop four times per year. 

Finally, try to provide your members with multifaceted opportunities to share the gospel. For example, our church has members who will share the gospel house-to-house, others who will gladly do it through an open door such as a food pantry, and still others who will do it through “adopting” an international college student at a nearby university and building a relationship with that person. The more evangelism avenues you offer your members, the more members you’ll find plugging in. Some strategies only have a two-to-three-year shelf life, so when you find one dying out, cancel it if you can and add new ones. 

While you may be discouraged by a lack of evangelistic zeal in your congregation, pray for God to change you and your people as you implement the above strategies. I’m convinced that the Lord will answer that prayer and use your church to reach a lost world in need of Christ. 

Sunnyvale church emphasizes “bottom-up” approach to discipleship

SUNNYVALE Pastor Adam Dooley once thought of discipleship as simply teaching the Bible in a “top-down approach.” Then his son Carson’s battle with leukemia coincided with “a difficult season of ministry” in another church, and Dooley’s notions of discipleship changed from “top-down” to “bottom-up.”

Dooley still believes in the primacy of preaching and the systematic study of Scripture, but for his church, Sunnyvale First Baptist, discipleship is now linked with accountability and small groups.

“I think discipleship is less today about learning more biblical truth and more about living out the biblical truths we do know,” Dooley said. “I wouldn’t go back to doing it the way I did before.”

More than 300 Sunnyvale members meet in small groups each week to pray, discuss Christian books, memorize Scripture and hold one another accountable to the disciplines of the faith, including evangelism. Groups meet both on and off the church campus. 

“We are seeing a lot of people come alive in their faith for the first time as a result,” Dooley said.

In its third year of the discipleship emphasis, Sunnyvale has more than half its adult population involved in groups.

“Our goal is to fully saturate the congregation with small groups,” Dooley said.

The goal is multiplication of ministry. Group leaders are charged with forming new groups each year. After a year together, group members recruit other to begin new groups.

While the small groups are “organic” in that leaders choose members, they also are highly organized with lists of recommended books to read and Scriptures to memorize.

Small group leaders are chosen, a practice that started during Dooley’s first year at the church. He first taught his staff the discipleship process, then staff members led the first groups from which the next generation of leaders emerged. Dooley now meets weekly with four other men who have covenanted to be in his group.

“We’re really not trying to teach people new things. We are just trying to engage them with what they know or have known, in some cases, for years.”

—Adam Dooley, pastor, Sunnyvale First Baptist

A disciple is “someone who makes other disciples,” Dooley said. “When they are clearly growing in their faith, we really try to push them out of the nest and encourage them to begin investing in other people.”

Discipleship groups typically last 12 months, with occasional interruptions. After a group ends, members disperse and form new groups. The church launched new groups in January, but the process is ongoing, with groups constantly ending and new groups beginning. 

The church’s discipleship model is based on Robby Gallaty’s books Growing Up: How To Be a Disciple Who Makes Disciples and Rediscovering Discipleship: Making Jesus’ Final Words Our First Work, Dooley said, adding that small groups read books on prayer, church membership and Bible study in addition to learning to journal and to have quiet times.

“All of that is based on the idea that people are educated beyond their obedience,” Dooley explained. “We’re really not trying to teach people new things. We are just trying to engage them with what they know or have known, in some cases, for years.”

“I once believed that if I taught the Bible correctly, people would just naturally become disciples,” Dooley said. “The Holy Spirit can do that, but the Holy Spirit also works through accountable relationships with other believers. We see that pattern in Scripture.” 

In prior years, discipleship might have been a class offered at the church, Dooley said, but this has changed. 

“We really think it’s a way of life. You should always be looking for someone to invest in you. And you should always be looking to invest in other people. If you are constantly doing that, you are growing and the other people around you are growing. That is what we are trying to create around here.” 

To my three adult children on Father”s Day

Dear Kids, 

I invoke “gray privilege” on this occasion—the first Father’s Day when all of you are parents—to offer unsolicited advice and to call you (aged 27 to 34) “kids.” It is an unmixed joy to observe you doing the needful things for small dependent people who bear your name. I’m proud and grateful that you are, one and all, employed, married, reproducing and following Christ. Let me tell you what’s on the agenda for the next 20 years. 

The culture will scoff at what you do. I’ve read some shockingly stupid opinions, from people who were paid to express them, on the bondage of marriage and the uselessness of parenthood. These columns seem to cluster hatefully around Mother’s Day. A society that values the futile journey toward self-discovery above all things will never understand generous love. You’ve signed up to grow in love, patience and sacrifice while you disciple your children. One day you’ll look back and see that they, and you, are grown up in eternally important ways. 

Those you love are inside your guard. It’s a risk to love someone unconditionally. They know your soft spots, and their welfare becomes a question that disturbs your sleep and even grieves you at times. In a little over a decade, the number of people for whom I feel most spiritually (and otherwise) responsible has grown from four to 12. That’s a lot of people with access to all that I can give. That’s the risk of love, and it teaches us all a bit more about the love of God expressed ultimately in Christ. 

It’s “all about the kids,” kind of. There are some things children need that trump many other priorities. People who can’t feed themselves or otherwise provide necessities sometimes jump to the front of the line—above hobbies, sleep, personal goals, careers and wealth. For some of us, that provision is an instinct, but for all of us it is a commitment. 

It’s not “all about the kids.” Listen. This is big. If you’ve ever heard an airline briefing, you’ve noticed that we’re told to put on our own oxygen masks before putting masks on dependent children. Why do that? Clearly, unconscious adults can provide no help to anyone else. That’s true generally. It’s critical that parents provide a dependable foundation for everything a family requires. Mom and Dad’s marriage is that foundation. After our individual obedience to God, nothing is more important than this primary of all human institutions, which has implications for parenthood. After they have what they need (see above), the kids are not a higher priority than the relationship between their parents. That’s a false dichotomy. Keeping a strong marriage until the day we die is very much in the best interest of our children. This is not an argument for neglect or “us time” when we should be doing something else. It is an argument that Dad should never stop being attentive to the one for whom he has forsaken all others. It means that his buddies or TV programs take a seat further back than ever before. For Mom, it means Dad is still her beloved even when he grows less handsome and huggable than the babies. As they get older, children notice how Mom and Dad get along. And they will file it under “how men and women behave.” Teach that lesson intentionally, constantly, wholeheartedly.  

If it doesn’t mark you, you may not be doing it right. Fathers and mothers are by definition generous with their families. It’s strangely easier to say, “I’d enter a burning building for my family,” than to actually stay up late, work longer hours and pray fervently for the good of those entrusted to us. Maybe we’d all look younger, be richer and achieve more in our careers if we didn’t have kids, but that boat has now sailed and those “might have beens” are no longer ours. If stretch marks, baggy eyes, gray hair and “dad bod” really come with this parental role, they have their own glory, unattainable along any other course. 

You alone will answer for this stewardship. Teachers and pastors and grandparents have their own part to play, but you are the teachers and your own children are the disciples. Hold the rest of us accountable for what we teach your children. Guard them from fools, regardless of the role they occupy. Know in detail what others are telling your kids. Close some doors; turn off some devices. 

I could go on (you know that) but these seem prominent among the things I have learned in 34 years. You doubtless know and believe much of this already. I needed reminders along the way; maybe you will too. Mom and I are here for that.  

Happy Father’s Day, and a belated happy Mother’s Day, to us all, 

Dad