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Revival 2K10

2010-04-02T20:21:00.003-04:00

Yo from sunny Philly. It's been a long time and believe me a lots been happening. Among them is an event that a few friends and I are putting together this coming June. It's called Revival 2K10 and you can find out more about it here.
This event has one main purpose. To launch a movement that seeks to restore a God centered focus to our faith, life and salvation. Below is a letter I wrote to several pastors in my denomination (Presbyterian Church in America) about the event and why I believe it's necessary. If you're in the area please consider attending the revival. If not, please keep it and us in your prayers.

Greetings brothers in the name of our Lord. I hope you, your families and God's people are doing well in Him.

In the sphere of religion, in particular, the present time is a time of conflict; the great redemptive religion which has always been known as Christianity is battling against a totally diverse type of religious belief, which is only the more destructive of the Christian faith because it makes use of traditional Christian terminology. —Christianity and Liberalism

These are the words which J. Gresham Machen used to describe the various forms of liberalism that presented a direct challenge to historic, redemptive Christianity. One of the things that made liberalism so dangerous was the way in which it used traditional Christian terminology to describe itself.

Brothers, myself along with a number of other black TE's within our church are convinced that a similar challenge now confronts orthodox Christian faith particularly within the historic black church. For the balance of the 20th century the mainstream historic black church while not reformed certainly held to the main tenets of orthodox faith. However towards the end of the last century the prosperity gospel (which in its various forms had always lurked near the fringe of the black church) moved closer and closer to becoming the central theology believed and practiced by the black church.

To give a little perspective on this imagine that the liberalism against which Machen wrote and he and other evangelicals fought against not only grew in prominence within theological circles but actually became the substance of the faith of many if not most of those within the pews. Imagine if relatives of yours who once held to the historic orthodox faith began articulating a full throttled liberalism even while continuing to use traditional terms. And imagine that they had little to no contact, input or challenge from evangelical churches that were countering this heresy.

That is the situation that most all of the black TE's within the PCA find ourselves. The churches in which we grew up or came to faith now spout this destructive form of heresy.

And this is where we need your help. A few of us are in the process of hosting an event that we pray will launch a movement to counter this heresy. Revival 2K10 is an event scheduled for June 4th through 6th at the New Song Community Church in Baltimore MD. The purpose of this event is to impact the black church and black community with historic, redemptive Christianity that is biblically grounded, gospel driven and Christ-centered. We are using the term 'revival' because so many within our community are familiar with that term. However, our hope is that in time more and more of our brothers and sisters in the Lord and in the flesh will attend this revival not too see sensational 'spiritual' antics but to observe and participate in Christ-centered worship that features sound, expository, passionate preaching. Moreover, our hope and earnest prayer is that having been exposed to worship that is Christ-centered, joyful and orderly they will listen to what we have to say regarding biblically reformed theology, mission and practice.

I've included the event schedule in this letter and am asking you to consider doing at least three things:
First, please pray for the speakers, the worship services, the breakout sessions and other activities connected with this event. I'd ask that either the session or one or more small groups within the congregation take some time to pray for these things on a regular basis.
Second, please consider annoucning the event to the congregation and encourage those who can to attend and worship the Lord with us.
Third, please consider giving us a one time donation to help offset some of the costs of this event.

In conclusion brothers please understand that we are in no way seeking to be exclusive or to just narrow our focus to the black church and community. We invite and welcome any who wish to be a part of this effort to bring reform to the black church. Our desire is not to cause any kind of separation. We only hope to see God work among our people who as we know have had little exposure to biblically reformed theology for over a hundred and fifty years.

Other than a $10.00 charge for lunch on Saturday afternoon there is no registration fee for this event. We are however asking people to register just so that we can have a count of whose attending. You can register by emailing New Song Community church at info@nsc-church.org (please be sure to put Revival 2K10 in the subject line) or via Facebook by searching for Revival 2K10: Worshiping God Through Preaching, Praise and Prayer and indicating your RSVP.
Thank you for your consideration and prayers.

Joyfully in Christ,

TE Lance Lewis
Pastor Christ Liberation Fellowship
Philadelphia PA
(267) 350-6456
lance818@verizon.net

Divided by Politics

2009-09-18T17:54:00.003-04:00

Hey out there. It's been a few months but I think I'm finally getting back in the swing of things. Let's start off the fall season with a topic it seems everyone is talking or thinking about. What's that you ask? No it's not fantasy football (although I do have a pretty good squad this year), it's politics.

I'm sure you've either gotten into or at least overheard a political discussion in the past few months. It seems that this country is growing more and more divided and hostile with each passing day. Most all of us have strong political opinions whether they fall on the left or the right. Below are just a few thoughts that I find helpful to remind myself just as a particular discussion is getting heated and I'm tempted to lose my religion just to score a few polticial points. Hope they're helpful to you.

My primary calling to my ethnicity and this country is one of witness, influence and discipleship. My main calling is to promote the King's agenda to all people. Am I particularly concerned with African-Americans? Yes I am just as Paul was particularly concerned with Jewish people (see Romans 9). But my concern for black folks doesn't and can never center on striving to see that we get our piece of the American pie. I must first concern myself with the souls of black folks for their souls will far outlast their sojourn in this country.

Does my concern for African-Americans lesson the concern I have and should have for others? Of course not, no more than Paul was less concerned about Greeks or Romans just because he yearned to see his own people embrace Christ. I am an American citizen and am therefore concerned for the overall well-being of this country just as I'm concerned for the overall well-being of those blacks who reside within it. However, just as I'm not primarily focused with the temporary fortunes of African-Americans so I'm also not devoted to America maintaining its military and economic dominance. While I wish no harm to America and certainly don't wish this or any country have to suffer undue hardships, I am not devoted to its continued world supremacy.

My real and lasting citizenship is in heaven. For now I live in a fallen broken world. And even if everyone whom I wished were elected and able to manage this country in the exact manner I believed it ought to be managed I'd still live in a fallen, broken country where things went wrong. I will only be completely safe, content, fulfilled, free from pain, sorrow or worry in the kingdom that is to come.

Those who oppose my political positions are not necessarily anti-black, anti-American or anti-Christian. I may believe they're wrong but that doesn't make them stupid, foolish or evil.

I really do have more in common with believers with whom I disagree politically than with unbelievers whose politics line up with my own.

Because I first and foremost represent the King and not a particular ethnicity or country I'm bound by His example and word to speak to, speak about and treat everyone with a measure of dignity, respect and kindness. And I must pay particular attention to how I regard and respect my elected officials. For me to belittle, demean or seek to humiliate anyone for any reason is to promote and endorse the very thing my King is against.

Regarding my political positions I could be wrong. I don't have all the information, cannot possibly with 100% accuracy predict the future, cannot be absolutely sure of everyone's motives and intentions and therefore should approach any political discussion with a measure of humility.

While I hope and would work to see that my politics reflect biblical principles I must admit that the application of those principles will differ depending on any number of factors. Thus a brother or sister in Christ who disagrees with my politics isn't necessarily unbiblical or even wrong.

I need to take the biblical mandate seriously and not put my trust in men no matter how sincere, competent and well-meaning I believe them to be. At the end of the day they are men.

The eternal kingdom of the living God is in no way dependent on a particular country for its inevitable growth and progress. If the U.S. dissolved tomorrow God's kingdom would roll on.

This is prime time for God's people. We live in a deeply divided country at a time of great uncertainty. What better time then to show the world what biblical reconciliation is. Since Christ reconciled His enemies by the cross I know we can show love and respect to those who differ from us politically. In the face of fear, frustration, uncertainty and division we present and proclaim Christ the one who drives away fear, has complete sovereign control of His world (and our lives), is a sure and certain hope for our souls and unifies men and women, blacks and whites, soccer moms and basketball moms, working income and middle income, city dwellers and suburbanites, and yes even republicans and democrats into one eternal family by His cross.

Finally, while I take politics seriously I do so with a grain of salt. I need to remember that the worst thing that could happen to me is not that my party fails to gain power, or that my people fail to take our place in America or that even America loses its worldwide influence, power and status. No the worst thing that could happen to me, my people or America is that we take this world so seriously that we completely neglect the world to come. That I'd be so convinced of the rightness of my arguments and the justice of my cause that how I spoke to and treated others didn't matter. The worst thing that could happen to me is that I would lose focus on the reality of the eternal yet to come and allow the reality of the temporary now to dominate my mind, heart and actions. The worst thing I could do is to so identify with black folks, or America or democrats or republicans that I actually replace the pursuit of God's eternal kingdom and agenda with the pursuit of their temporary agenda. The worst thing that could happen to me is that I pour all of my energy and efforts into a country destined for destruction and fail to tell the people of that country of a far better country with a far better destiny and far, far better King.

To Him Who Loves Us...
pastor lance

Michael Jackson

2009-06-26T10:30:00.003-04:00

Come on in ya'll it's about to start. My cousins and I (all between the ages of 5 and 8) dropped what we were doing, ran into the living room, quieted our voices and together with our families gathered in front of the t.v. to watch the Jackson 5. We were mesmerized, enthralled, entertained and impressed all at the same time. And little Michael Jackson was the star of the show. Here was a kid just a bit older than we commanding the stage and giving hope (shortly lived for the vast majority of us) that we too could do the same. It's difficult to put into words what the Jackson 5 meant to me and most every other black child in the late sixties and early 70's. Their sound, dancing, songs, clothes and afros signaled one thing and one thing only. They were BAD!

For many within the Black community during that time the Jackson 5 were more than just a group of talented brothers from Indiana who happened to have one unqiue, extraordinaly talented brother. They were part of the Motown business phenomena that produced hit after hit after hit with multiple groups and singers. The same crowd that filled the Spectrum in South Philly to cheer the Jackson 5 returned for the Temps, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Stevie Wonder and the Four Tops. Motown, The Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson in particular were an important part of our lives. They provided the soundtrack that helped get us through the 60's and into the 70's.

But things change, music progresses and little kid stars grow up and move onto other things. By the end of the 70's Motown moved to L.A., the Jackson 5 broke up and Mike went out on his own. My musical tastes in the the teen years veered from Billy Joel, to Earth Wind and Fire and other grown up acts. In the early 80's just as the black community was getting used to a new form of music called rap, Michael Jackson roared back and became the king of pop. Michael Jackson went from child prodigy to a legitimate on his own mega-superstar that did what few if any had ever done. He literally dominated the mid eighties making him one of the few singers who enjoyed significant success in three separate decades.

Much will be said about Michael's troubling and turbulent life. But before we evangelicals wax eloquent on another life that had everything but Jesus let's keep something in mind. From the time he was a small child Michael Jackson was pushed into the massive celebrity and fame. While we can lament how his life unfolded we should at least understand how it could have unfolded in that manner and be humble enough admit that we too would have had a difficult time had we been blessed with such once in a lifetime talent. And as far as I know most highly talented, very wealthy and famous people live and die without Jesus. I don't know Steve Jobs but my guess is that he was closer to death than many and yet I don't know if the man has repented of his sins and placed his faith in Jesus. But I'm pretty sure that most evangelicals who swear by their Macs don't think much about that as they fire up their machines, listen to their ipods and download apps on their iphones. True, Micheal's life and story were tragic, but judging from the rest of the celebrities in our fame saturated and ravaged culture it was not unusual. Speaking of the cult of celebrity let's be sure to check ours before we excoriate the world who swooned over Michael and stoked the fires of his double-edged fame. As much as we try and separate from the world we too like our celebrities and we do indeed celebrate when one of our own gains a bit of notoriety among the culture.

Sadly Michael Jackson's life was tragic and his death perhaps even more so. But remember saints but for the grace of God there go I. We usually invoke that phrase as we pass the homeless soul begging for his daily bread at a major intersection. However, it's probably more appropriate to think about it when we lose someone of Michael Jackson's stature. His life and death highlight our need for God's grace because apart from it we'd be just as lost regardless of whether or not we had all the other aspects of our lives together which as we know Michael did not. Michael Jackson entertained and impacted millions of people during his life. They will celebrate his talent and mourn his death. Should our Lord give us the opportunity to do so let's mourn with them and if given the chance to talk about his life be sure to remember that we too would be broken, confused and lost apart from God's marvelous grace found in Jesus Christ.

To Him Who Loves Us...
pastor lance

The BLACK man did it

2009-06-02T20:46:00.002-04:00

"It's a terrifying thing," she said, "for a community to hear that two black men in a black Cadillac grabbed a woman and her daughter."

Now that's an interesting statement isn't it. One would think that it's a terrifying thing for any community to hear that a woman and her daugther were grabbed and then shoved into the back of a car in broad daylight by anyone. But for reasons we know all too well the terror level jumps off the scale when an overwhelmingly white community (Bucks County PA is nearly 95% white) hears that two BLACK men grabbled a woman and her daughter. But the report wasn't merely confined to a few people in Bucks County. It seems that as soon as the police received a cell phone call from a woman who accused two BLACK men of abducting her and her child the report hit the local Philly area newscast at warp 9 and by the time the evening news cycle hit that was the big story for the 4 plus Million residents of the greater Delaware Valley. The 'liberal' media went into overdrive posting the young mother's picture, interviewing neighbors and telling her story. Bonnie's apparent abduction quickly hit the national news and for a day or so the hunt was on for the mythical BLACK men who brazenly rear ended Bonnie's vehicle and then supposedly got out of their Caddilac, pulled Bonnie and her child from their car, shoved them into the the trunk (not the back seat mind you) of the Caddy and then drove off. This all in broad daylight, (btw is there any such thing as narrow daylight) during rush hour at a busy intersection. And yet, no one else saw this. In a society where everyone and their 10 year old brat has a cell phone two BLACK men were apparently able to cause an accident, kidnap a woman and her daughter and no one else called the cops. And for reasons still unknown to me the police didn't seem to find that in the least bit odd.

For many Black folks the issue isn't just that Bonnie Sweeten played the 'BLACK man did it card' again, it's the ease of which it was accepted by the Bucks County police and news media. It was only after Bonnie's story began to unravel that some unsettling details began to come out regarding her recent activities much of which appears to involve embezzling money from the accounts of former close friends.
I'm bringing this up with the hope that we can learn something about ourselves, our society and our witness. We may have come a long way baby, but we still have a long way to go. 'But Lance, this woman committed an isolated incident that's now in the past'. We'll never get past race if you and others keep bringing incidents like these up to highlight our differences'. Perhaps. It's just that in this case the Clyde to Bonnie's caper included an eager police force and news media. Once the story broke the news media repeatedly declared that Bonnie had called from the trunk of a car driven by two BLACK men. After the truth came out all they seemed to say is the Bonnie committed a hoax. Perhaps I'm a concerned father about to send his BLACK teenage son to college and wonder what might happen if.... Perhaps we won't get past the issue of race/ethnicity unless and until we do actually talk about it. Perhaps if Bonnie was involved in a church where she regularly worshiped with, served with, got to know and love some BLACK men this ugly incident would never have happened in the first place. And perhaps the church should remember that the gospel cannot affect entrenched racial attitudes (whether they spring from blacks, whites or whomever) if we persist in being unwilling to even acknowledge they exist.

Whatever you think (and I'm sure I'll hear from some of you) there is one thing we can agree upon. Bonnie Sweeten set out to commit an act of fraud and knew that she could at least get a good head start by claiming that two BLACK men did it. And she was right.

Oh, and the quote that began this post. That was from Bucks County District Attorney Michelle Henry.

To Him Who Loves Us...
pastor lance

Suburban Myths Part 2

2009-06-01T09:45:00.003-04:00

'In the 60's the government fought a war on poverty and poverty won'. I'm pretty sure you've heard that one before. It's usually the prelude to a homily on how the church either abdicated its responsibility to care for the poor or the government usurped that role for themselves. The line of thinking behind such statements is that God charged the church to provide for the poor and that government has no business fishing in that pool.

I believe this thinking is faulty on a number of levels. That doesn't mean that the church as the church (I'll explain in a minute) shouldn't engage in consistent acts of mercy toward the poor along with advocating for justice for the poor and less powerful. What did I mean that the church as the church should commit to consistent mercy? Simply that the church (either denominationally or locally) acts as the body of Christ, representing her Lord in the capacity of witnessing of His mercy and justice to the community in which she serves. That's different from saying that individual believers should do acts of mercy with the conviction that the church only acts in an official capacity when she gathers for the formal worship of our Lord.

The fact that I'm for churches advocating for the poor and doing acts of mercy doesn't mean however that I believe that suburban churches and believers should assume the responsibility of reversing the cycle of poverty that's gripped several generations of poor people who live in America's large cities. Why is that? To begin with it's unlikely that suburban churches would really put the resources needed to tackle the problem which is deep and complex. Most churches (whether urban or suburban) follow the normal institutional sociological pattern of using their resources on themselves. As they grow and develop they tend to hire and expend resources on people and programs that for the most part serve the needs and desires of the church. I'm not saying if that's right or wrong, just that it is. Since that's the case it would be nearly impossible for a single church to commit resources to serve their needs and the needs of the poor. Could a group of churches or denomination do this? Perhaps, but think about this for a moment. Over forty years have passed since President Johnson initiated the Great Society and well over ten have slipped by since President Clinton declared that the era of big government is over. In all that time few if any evangelical denominations or group of churches has stepped forth to grapple with the challenges of the poor head on. This may be a difficult point for us to accept because it means that even if the government retired from caring for the poor tomorrow we know that the church wouldn't immediately step up to fill the gap.

The myriad of needs that challenge the poor and less powerful are a another reason that the church is not equipped to fully address this issue. A child born to an impoverished black family today will face a daunting maze of challenges to rise from that status. The church would have to find a way to connect with that child and his or her family and begin to see to the proper nutritional, social, emotional and intellectual needs even before they began formal education. Being that home schooling is an unlikely option some other type of academically challenging education must be sought and to give you an idea of what that could entail my son's private Christian school will charge nearly a thousand dollars per month to educate an elementary child in the coming school year. Take a breath for a moment. I've merely mentioned an avenue to begin helping one child out of one family. I haven't even dealt with health care needs, a stable home environment, setting aside money for college, developing non-academic interest etc. Nor have I delved into how to serve the rest of that family, their immediate neighbors and community.

Aside from directly serving the poor and less powerful there are the many factors that impact them that the church would have to at least consider. These factors involve the entrenched disinvestment in America's large cities, the ever changing world economic landscape, the complexity of large scale economic systems and the difficulty in addressing the effects of long-term, generational poverty among others. Addressing the needs of the poor is far, far more complex than giving a family a dinner basket on Thanksgiving or a child a toy on Christmas. A substantial portion of America's population was caught in the grip of cyclical poverty long before President Johnson suggested the Great Society. That will not be reversed in a season, year or even perhaps a decade.

One more thought on why the suburban church will most likely not ride to the rescue of the poor. The prevailing line of thought among of many evangelicals with respect to the poor is that they must do what is needed to lift themselves from poverty. Many evangelicals believe in less government (except for the military and law enforcement sectors) because of their convictions that government is by nature inefficient and ill-suited to do much more than the basics of protecting the country from outside harm and insuring a general degree of law and order within the land. Added to this is the evangelical conviction that the problems of the poor have much more to do with unwise choices and personal irresponsibility. While I don't want to debate these things now I do think it's helpful to highlight that the mindset that believes the poor should take much more responsibility for their own lives may be less likely to want the church of which he is a member to expend resources to assist them to do so. For them the issue isn't should the government or the church help the poor, it's why aren't the poor doing more to help themselves.

There does however remain a way the church could potentially make a substantial impact upon the poor, but that's for the next post.

To Him Who Loves Us...
pastor lance

BOOM Shaka-Laka!!!!

2009-05-31T14:36:00.002-04:00

Suburban Myths Part 1

2009-05-25T09:36:00.003-04:00

Just lookin' out of the window
Watchin' the asphalt glow
Thinkin' how it all looks 'hand-me-down'

Recently, Justin Taylor over at Between Two Worlds posted a link to an article that touched the age old (okay maybe it's not that old) suburban vs. urban debate. Part of the article states that for some it's cool to love the city and loathe the suburbs. As one who was born and grew up in the city, went to live in the burbs for a bit and have since returned to the city I thought I'd chime in on the subject. Some of you probably recognized the lyrics above from the closing song of the 70's show 'Good Times'. Many of us who were raised in poor black areas of America's large cities can readily identify with that song. Growing up in these areas I never met anyone from my family, friends, classmates, or anybody else who actually wanted to live in the city. As far as the city went the mantra of my parents, relatives and other adults in my life was 'get an education, get a good job and get out. My wife was the first black person I'd ever met who was raised in the city and still had a strong desire and determination to live in the city.

Over the last couple of decades much has been said about the mandate for Christians to move from the suburbs back into the city to bring the gospel to bear on the many challenges faced by those who live in the city. There has been however a fair amount of mythology that has also grown up around this subject. With that in mind then I'd like to do a short series of posts to expose and challenge some of these suburban myths.

Myth #1 - It is the church's responsibility to provide complete and comprehensive care for the poor. I call that a myth because while the church can and should certainly offer ministries of mercy toward the poor the entire problem of entrenched, generational poverty is not something we can or should try to solve on our own.

Myth #2 - White suburban evangelicals are indispensable to the recovery of our major cities, especially the poor black and Latino neighborhoods within those cities. I say this for three reasons. First, I don't want to ignore the ethnic dynamics of this discussion because it is still the elephant in the room. Second, I'm certainly not saying that suburbanites aren't welcome because they are (see next myth). Third I want to caution suburbanites against embracing a messiah complex with respect to the city.

Myth #3 - Moving into the city is the only way suburbanites can engage in effective ministry within the city. As Col. Sherman Potter would say 'that's horse hockey'.

Myth #4 - Ministry among poor blacks or Latinos is the only way suburbanites can participate in meaningful ministry. Trust me, having lived in the burbs I can tell you first hand that there are plenty of opportunities to serve the gospel among middle to high income suburbanites.

Myth #5 - The church can serve the poor most effectively by giving practical biblical advice and setting up practical anti-poverty programs.

In my view these are some of the myths that have grown up around the the urban vs. suburban ministry debate and thus must be addressed if we are to continue to work together to serve faithfully wherever our Lord has called us to serve.

To Him Who Loves Us...
pastor lance

Star Trek: Back To the Past

2009-05-08T14:00:00.004-04:00

The Trek is back and you can bet your bottom dollar that this ain't yo daddy's Star Trek. The names remain the same but the feel you get from Star Trek: The Future Begins is most definitely different than the previous versions. As a life long Trekkie I considered it my obligation to see the latest incarnation of one of entertainments longest running series. So early this morning me and seven other Trekkies boldly went to a local IMAX theater to see if the wait was worth it.

And by and large it was. I'm not a movie critic and won't pretend to be one here. I can tell you that this Trek is good, well paced fare that will please Trekkie and non-Trekkie alike. You really don't need to know a whole lot about the original series (especially since more than enough ST lore is in our pop culture) to get a firm grasp of the film's plot. That said being familiar with ST will help with a number of the lines and subplots. One of the things I liked about this movie that was absent from all other TOS movies (TOS stands for The Original Series) is how the bridge crew (Uhurah, Chekov, Sulu and Scotty) actually did something other than sit there and say 'warp factor four captain'.
Kirk and Spock were portrayed with relish and in my view exactly the way an old Trekkie would have thought they'd be at the start of their five year mission.

One of the holdovers from the last few Trek films is the realization of actual, real evil. Star Trek was born with a belief in the basic goodness in humanity and by extension all sentient beings. The basic premise of the Trek is that eventually humanity and other sentient beings will evolve to a point where we will all live to explore the galaxy, cooperate with others and better ourselves. The first Trek was groundbreaking in that it featured an international crew that consisted of a Russian (remember this was in 67, the height of the Cold War) an African, Asian, Scotsman and others. TOS dealt with issues like war, racism and the existence of a supreme being. Though the Federation had enemies (the Romulans and Klingons) they were usually cast in a light that reminded humanity of what it once was. The idea seemed to be that even these folks would grow up, join the Feds and enjoy a peaceful, prosperous galaxy.

Apart from a few good episodes on other ventures within the franchise TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise usually stuck with the good guys vs. bad guys theme. The movies followed the same path. After a disastrous first try (Star Trek: The Motion Picture) the folks at Trek got with the program and gave into the all too human reality that there are real bad dudes who do evil things because they are evil. I'm sure Gene Roddenberry would have loved to make shows and movies that highlighted space exploration that featured the discovery of new life and how that facilitated the exploration of our own humanity. But that don't sell tickets which is why Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek VIII: First Contact are still the most popular movies. (that Borg chica was creeeeepy)

The caretakers of the Trek either have realized or just given in to the fact that evil will be present even in the 24th century. With all of our supposed evolution, technological advances and history of our past mistakes in the end we cannot breed, education or reason our way to an existence that's devoid of real, actual evil. The villains Trek portrays may be from other 'races' but that may only be due to an unwillingness to admit that forty years after we boldly went where no man had gone before humanity is just as selfish, greedy and evil as it ever was. 1960's science fiction may have given us reason to put hope in the moral progression of humanity but 21st century science fact reveals a far different story.

So the future for Star Trek's continuing presence on the movie screen may have indeed begun. But one thing is for sure: we can boldly go as far as our warp powered ships will take us, but we will still not outrun evil. So take and escape and catch the Trek, but put your hope in Jesus.

Live Long And Prosper
LL

God's Dr. Phil

2009-04-23T08:46:00.001-04:00

Say what? You didn't get your fill of Dr. Phil? Couldn't make it to Chi-town and the video of his excellent message just whet your appetite? No worries matey. The good doctor will bless the good folks at CLF twice this coming Sunday, April 26th. That's right twice! He will speak in our regular morning worship which begins at 9 a.m. (yes, 9 a.m.) and then at CLF's service of organization (it's a PCA thing and trust me, I don't even understand) at 6 p.m. So if you're in the Philly area and want to hear Spirit-filled, anointed, humble and insightful preaching stop by CLF (801 N. 65th St. Philly 19151) at one or both of these service to get your fill of God's Dr. Phil.

always joyful
pastor lance

We... Are The Champions!!!

2009-04-09T10:37:00.002-04:00

That's right ya'll. The Red & White got their bling and then did their thing.

Go Phitins!!!
LL

A Tale of Two Peoples

2009-04-06T10:38:00.002-04:00

Hey ya'll what's up? It's been a long, long time. I'm chiming in now because though things are still going full steam ahead I thought I'd relay an interesting conversation I observed yesterday.

It happened during a meeting of Fruit of the Vine Ministries. FVI is a missions ministry began by a member of CLF which seeks to partner with orphanages in Kenya. What fascinated me about the conversation was how similar it was to some things I had said when teaching a new members class just a few hours before.

It began when one of our Kenyan brothers explained why some of the Maasai people who live in Kenya called him a white man. At first he didn’t understand but then they explained that black Christians don’t come out to the bush and do mission work. In fact some of the Maasai used to say that come Sunday if there wasn’t a missionary available there would be no church, this despite the fact that there are millions of bible believing Christians just four hours away in Nairobi.
A second Kenyan brother echoed and further explained this phenomena. He dropped the knowledge that despite millions of Kenyan Christians and thousands of churches there is little mission mindset. He even jokes with his Kenyan friends who’ve been trained as doctors and nurses but lament the lack of work in Nairobi by telling them that there’s plenty of work, but not if you want a great paycheck.

To sum it up it appears that many Kenyan believers lack a mission focused mindset and Christianity. This is where our new members class ties in. This week we spent time working through our mission and vision. To set this up I do my usual spiel about growing up in West Philly. In short I explain how the local news helped to shape my view of my community and fuel my desire to get an education, get out of the city and get into the suburbs as fast as my little brown legs could carry me. I go on to say how everyone in my extended family stoked this mindset. I cap this little commentary by noting how in my humble opinion far too many black folk long to live in a community built up by someone else. We seem to believe that it’s either impossible or just do hard to create the kind of community we’d like to live in and then feign righteous indignation when another group gentrifies it and we have to move onto to somewhere else. From there I explain CLF’s vision to participate in building a beautiful Christ-centered community in which we, our children and our grandchildren can live, thrive and serve.

What does this have to do with the price of tea in Chinatown? Perhaps nothing. But one thing I noticed is how important theology is. (That’s right the dreaded ‘T’ word). If you feed a community of believers a steady diet of theology that focuses on their problems, success, prosperity and comfort you will produce a community of believers who actually think that mission is for those white people. Thus when it comes to building up their own communities so that in time those same communities become places of mission they either wait for the government or business or some other group. Remember folks everyone has a theology, especially those who proudly proclaim they do not. Everyone has a set of beliefs about God, scripture, Jesus, salvation, sin etc. These beliefs that shape how they live out the faith they profess.
And judging by the state of things among black folks in Africa and America we’ve got some work to do.

Always Joyful
Pastor lance

GET OUTTA MY FACE!

2009-02-10T11:02:00.003-05:00

No I'm not talking about you. That the title of a new work from Dr. Rick Horne written for Christian parents, teachers and youth workers on the subject of reaching angry, unmotivated and disinterested teens with biblical counsel.
I'm recommending this book for a couple of reasons. First, I'm convinced that this book will prove a valuable tool as the church seeks to connect with a generation of young people who for a good many reasons are angry, unmotivated and disinterested. You can read more about the book here.

Second, I know the author. Dr. Horne has been a faithful member of CLF for several years. I've observed his humility and godliness up close and personal as well as his genuine love and care for young people. Everyone at CLF values the good doctor's counsel and we look forward to his weekly exhortation during the responsive reading of the Psalms. He also leads our adult Sunday school class and is doing a marvelous job taking us through the book of Revelation.

And it doesn't stop there. The good doc has also made a couple of guest appearances on holy, hip -hop projects.

So pick up the book and make good use of it in ministry and if you're ever in Philly on a Sunday please consider dropping by CLF to give a shout out to our dear brother Horne.

To Him Who Loves Us...
pastor lance

President and Mrs. Barack Obama

2009-01-23T10:05:00.002-05:00

Like many Americans I experienced a swirl of emotions this past Tuesday while watching the inaugural events of President Barack Obama. And perhaps like many I ruminated on how his adminiatration and example will affect this country for at least the next four years.

Of the many images that stood out for me two in particular are worth mentioning. The first was during the parade when President and Mrs. Obama got out of the limo and walked together hand in hand greeting the crowd. I wondered how the image of an African-American president and his wife walking side by side to lead a nation in one of its greatest times of challenge impacted young black people. I hoped that young men especially took note of the respect and love our President has for his wife. I hope they see that seeking to marry a gifted, wise and intelligent wife is a sign of strength and character, not an signal of weakness. I hope our young brothers (saved and not saved) could envision themselves as embodying leadership not by seeking to dominate our sisters but by acknowledging and thanking God for a wife who will walk by our side (not behind us) as together we tackle the issues of our community, country and world. It was indeed a beautiful sight, one that I am blessed to have watched.

The other was the first dance. If you haven't seen it do yourself a favor: take a few minutes, grab a smooth cup of coffee, look it up on the net and drink it in. It was fabulous. The dance occured at the Neighborhood Ball to the Etta James song 'At Last' performed by Beyonce. Before the dance President Obama spoke to the gathered crowd and highlighted the beauty of his wife. Following that Beyonce dedicated the song and serenaded the first couple as they took command of the dance floor. It was a most tender and touching moment. The image was as striking as their parade walk but for a different reason. Here our president showed the tenderness every man should have for his wife. Coupled with the parade walk the dance demonstrated how men can at the same time draw from the strength, wisdom and intellect of our wives while showing the kind of tender affection reserved for marriage only. I couldn't help but hope that millions of young black youth were viewing that dance and thinking 'so that's what it means to be a man'.

Why did these two images make such an impression on me? I suppose that the older I grow the more I comprehend the power of man of God displaying that godliness in the way he loves and respects his wife. Among evangelicals there's always a great deal of talk about ministry, culture, witness and relevance. We discuss, debate and argue about what the gospel is, the extent of its implications and the wisest and most effective ways to engage the culture (whatever that culture is) with the gospel. Well here's a bit of advice for those seeking to be winesome, witty, with it, relevant and attractive to our culture. And I'm particularly aiming this to our brothers.

Get married.

Find a wife to whom you can pour your love into and show authentic Christ-like leadership by serving her interest, issues and real needs. Establish a relationship in which you cultivate her beauty, gifts, intellect and wisdom and invite the community into your home to see that. Show some young men that though they may not rise to become president there's nothing stopping them (but their own fears and insecurities) from praying for godly wise wife and showing the beauty, order and goodness of the gospel of our Lord. by loving her as He loves His people.

For those of us who are married it's time to put all that theology into practice by learning to authentically love our wives as Christ loves the church. That might mean putting down your latest theology book (sacrilege I know) and actually participating in an activity your wife likes. It will mean shedding the myth that the husband's 'role' in marriage is to tell his wife what to do and makes sure she submits to him. It means humbling ourselves, learning to live selflessly and being the kind of husband that does all he can to genuinely serve the interest of our wives and not wait around for them to serve us. In short it means becoming and living like a man and not a spoiled 8 year old child.

If your lacking examples of this take a look at our President. (even if you didn't vote for him)
And think about the fact that having a brilliant, beautiful, educated and wise wife doesn't in anyway detract from his manhood but actually gives him a platform to show America, black men and the world what true manhood can look like.

To Him Who Loves Us...
pastor lance

Pass The Courvoisier

2009-01-02T10:06:00.002-05:00

So who passed the Courvoisier at your holiday party? Opps almost forgot this is a Christian blog and as such we don’t partake of such beverages in our celebrations. That’s cool, but it should be noted that cognac has made a comeback and that comeback is almost exclusively due to black folks.

Thanks to a few hip-hop artists the once stodgy upper-crust drink has landed on the tables and in the gullets of the black masses. What’s of interest to me is not the kind of liquor one used to celebrate whatever holidays one celebrated this past season, but of the pull that African-Americans have in the world marketplace. Here’s an industry somewhere in France that was languishing in relative obscurity until about eight years ago when Busta Rhymes told his crew to pass the Courvoisier. Since then and with the aid of other rappers cognac has found new life. You can call it the black factor. A product may be on its last legs and then in a quirk of fate a rapper takes a liking to it, tells his or her dutiful followers that this is now cool and voila sales a million.

Some will point out how this shows the enduring power of hip-hop culture to affect world culture and thus why the church should just throw away any and everything that smacks of tradition and go all in with a Christianized version of hip-hop culture. I personally disagree with this sentiment but that’s not the subject of this post. I want to focus on the double-edged sword wielded by black economic power.

Thanks to the pull of hip-hop a whole, whole lot of French cats are now doing quite well. Sales are up which means that they, their communities and their families can enjoy a better standard of living. That’s one edge of the sword. Black people in America may have the unique privilege of increasing the wealth of almost any other group of people in the world. Since we still get far, far too much of our identity from what we have instead of who we are there remains the possibility that some fortunate manufacturer of something will hit the blackpot and enrich his or her family, community and country from the pennies of black folks. That’s not all bad. There is nothing inherently wrong with one group of people supplying the wishes of another so that both benefit. France benefits by sustaining an industry important to their country and heritage and black folks benefit by enjoying the fruit of the vine at our Christmas/Kwanzaa/New Year parties. Of course one of the downsides is that the French can reinvest the profits from their product in any number of ways to benefit the rest of their society whereas black folks are limited to enjoying a few glasses of booze and then maybe recycling the bottle.

It’s the other edge of that sword holds some intriguing possibilities. What might happen if African-Americans began to wield that edge of the sword with much more purpose and precision? We could for instance decide to throw our collective economic weight behind a crucial product in a developing country and then seek to influence the country to move toward adopting basic civil rights for its people. For example the West African country of Nigeria has developed into a global economic player with its recently found oil wealth. But how much of that wealth is being reinvested for the good of the common Nigerian citizen? What could happen if black folks did a little research, determined which oil companies are responsible for refining and delivering Nigerian oil into our vehicles and then determined only to gas up with those companies provided they would work with the Nigerian government to improve the living conditions of all Nigerians.

I mean if Gov. Sarah Palin can get the Alaskan legislature to pass a windfall tax on oil profits to benefit the ordinary citizens of Alaska why can’t the Nigerian government do the same their citizens? And even if they didn’t want to cut checks to every Nigerian couldn’t they mandate a percentage of the profits be used to build and rebuild the infrastructure of their country? And all it might take is a few rappers filling up their Escalades at couple of select gas stations.

Impossible you say? You’re probably right. I mean we might have a better chance at having a black man elected president of these United States of America.

Oh well you know what they say… mind as well pass the Courvoisier.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor Lance

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T11:52:00.003-05:00

Hey ya’ll Happy New Year!!!

My hope and prayer is that each and everyone enjoys a blessed, joyous and peaceful new year in our Lord.

I’m still not back to full strength blogging (we’ll still be in impulse power for at least another month or so) but I did want to give a heads up on a few series that are rolling around my egg nog saturated brain these days. Lord willing I’ll get to them this year so here they are in no particular order:

President Barack Obama – I’ll take a look at his historic presidency from the perspective of African-Americans, the black church, and the evangelical church. My take will be to examine what his presidency can mean for our witness of the faith.

The ‘G’ word. 2009 will no doubt continue the national discussion on homosexuality and how that impacts the church. I however wish to focus on Greed the other ‘G’ word. I wonder why is it that bible believing Christians and evangelicals speak so little about the vice of greed and how that might contribute to where we are economically at this time.

Christian Democrats? Are you kidding or crazy? Can there be no truer oxymoron. This series will trace the reasons why so many believers tend to vote with the Democratic party.

Abortion what next? This will resume the series I began on how bible believing Christians and evangelicals can address the issue of abortion during President Obama’s administration.

Black and Reformed? How are black led reformed churches faring? Should we rethink what we’re doing and go in another direction?

The new cessasionists. Don’t worry this will not be yet another discussion on spiritual gifts. This series will explore why the church continues to have those who insists that Christ has divorced His bride, decided to renege on His promise to be with her until the end of the age and that of course we need to do something else to ‘reach the culture’.

The religion of Star Trek. This will be in honor of the latest movie (which by the way is scheduled for release on my birthday). As an avid trekkie I want to examine the cultural foundations of the mission of ST and show how an avowedly atheistic series is in fact a vehicle for religious indoctrination. For those who still disbelieve check out the mission scene from ‘The City on the Edge of Forever from season 1 of ST TOS.
How can I do this you ask? Remember that old Vulcan saying ‘Only Nixon can go to China’.

Last but by no means least the CrockPot Kings will be back. The CLF Fantasy league will gear up for another season and that means the Pots will once again go for the Golden CrockPot.

That’s all for now folks. Once again enjoy a blessed, peaceful and joyous new year in our Lord Jesus Christ.

To Him Who Loves Us
Pastor lance

UUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!

2008-12-28T16:46:00.003-05:00

We almost had it.

The CPKings were on our way to our rightful championship when the low down dirty, dasterdly Dallas Cowboys once again proved why my disdain for them is not only well-founded but indeed everlasting.

Here's how it went down. Last week the Ravens and the Pokes were in a tight game when Not So Fast Willie McGahee ran straight up the middle for seventy something yards and a TD. The good news is that my worthy opponent started Leroy 'Die Hard' Mclain who up to that point had about 50 yards and a fumble.

The Pokes came back and scored and after the ensuing kickoff the Ravens had the ball on their 18 yard line. One would think that Dallas would decide not to run the same defense that just burned them a few plays earlier. WRONG!!!

The first play from scrimmage brother Leroy hits the hole, brushes off a couple sorry excuses for a tackle and rumbles 82 yards for a score. In one play with about a minute left Mcclain went from 3 to 19 points.

But I still had a chance. That was the Saturday night game and I still had Daring Drew, San and An Holmes and the Pittsburgh D. Unfortunately the Steelmen laid the biggest egg of their season garnering a grand total of 1 point.

On the other side my opponents D totaled 20 and thus the Pots dream season was over with a 9 point loss.

Well, them's the breaks. We had a fun season and I'm already scheming for next year. Don't worry loyal Pots fans we will be back. Until next season....

Go Pots

One Down, One To Go.

2008-12-16T08:32:00.003-05:00

THAT WAS CLOSE. The Pots eeeked and I do mean eeked out a crucial playoff win yesterday.

I made some bad calls (including picking up and starting Devin Hester and not following my gut on John Kasey) Thankfully the Lions are intent on redefining the word 'aweful'. D. Rhodes picked up over 80 yards and two scores and that was just enough to give me a four point lead going into Monday night.

Having played my hand I had to wait until my opponents last player, L.J. Smith did his thing on national t.v. Once in a great while L.J. plays like an elite TE grabs a bunch of balls and a score. But for the most part he stays quietly out of the way of the big boys and lets the grown-ups play the game. That's the L.J. I needed last night. Funny thing is I was talking to brother Bishop earlier that day and told him I needed the typical L.J. performance of 1 catch and 12 yards. So while brother Polycarp was exalting in a Birds victory I was on pins and needles hoping against hope that L.J. wouldn't suddenly morph into Super TE.

And boy did my man deliver. D Mac connected on 26 passes for 290 yards with L.J. collecting a grand total of 1 for 13 yards and most importantly no score thus preserving our slim 4 point victory.

So the Pots are in the championship, but more on that later.

Go Pots

Mega who?

2008-12-09T08:47:00.003-05:00

Megatron? Megatron? Who needs Megatron when you've got Antonio (Comeback Kid) Bryant.
Since the game didn't matter I wasn't going to bother telling you that the Pots went into Monday night's contest down 15 points with one player left in our quiver. I figured that even if A.B. had a good game (80 yds and a score) we'd still wind up a few points short, but it didn't matter since we already locked up the number 1 seed. But then A.B. had to put the BOOM SHAKA-LAKA on the Panthers doing a better Megatron imitation than the Meg man himself.
200 yards and two scores later A.B. pulled the Pots to our 12th victory.

On another note check out the stats and highlights of the Panther run game. I think they had over three hundred yards rushing and four rushing TD's. That's insane. And take it from a retired Madden guru that's hard to do even on Playstation. I mean the Bucs were supposed to have one of the better run D's in the league. In case you're wondering check out the schedule to see who they play on week 16 which is our championship week.

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas.

Go Pots

Go Time!

2008-12-08T13:35:00.005-05:00

Well, dudes and dudettes it's go time. Our reg season ended yesterday and now the team built for the championship enters the playoff dance with high hopes of lifting the golden crockpot in victorious jubiliation.

And as usual I need your help. My gut says 'lance don't be a complete dufus, play L.T. against the Chef's'. My guile says 'lance this is fun, cast those lots and play Dominic Rhodes against the kittens at home'.

To give some perspective here's the rest of the lineup:

QB - Daring Drew Brees. With still something to play for I'm hoping he lights up a Bears team that sports an average pass D.

Wideouts: Little Stevie B, (emerging as a prime target for 21st century version of the greatest show on turf and facing the Vikes who just gave up 220 and a score to D Culpeper) Antonio Bryant, (number one choice for TB and facing the ATL) Jericho C, (Bills at home) not sold on Jericho since I don't know how Brett could throw 31 times and connect with him just once. But the Bills are banged up and virtually out of it and my backups are D Mase (Steelers at home) and Santonio Holmes (at Ravens).

RB's: Flash (at Texans nuff said).
L.T. Will he or won't he show up? Will he be the L.T. of old and drop a buck sixty in total yards with 2 TD's? Or will he spew and sputter to 80 yards with no scores?

What's up with Smash and Slash? Lynch seems hurt and I don't trust him against the Jets. Slash goes up against a good Titans D.

On the other hand (there's always another hand) there's Mr. Rhodes who faces a truly sorry Lions D at home. With Joseph Addai hurt he could have a big game especially if the Ponies build a big lead and then lean on the run to close out things.

So what think ye? Do I stick with L.T. who might deliver a dud or hope the road to victory runs through Mr. Rhodes?

Go Pots
LL

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (Fantasy Style)

2008-12-03T09:28:00.003-05:00

Yo ya'll what's up?

Other stuff has kept me away from the blogosphere and due to a class I'm teaching and some other things the blogging will probably remain light throughout the rest of this year.

I'm sure however you're wondering how your favorite blogoshere fantasy football team is doing so I decided to drop a quick update.

The good: The Pots are squarely in the playoffs as the number 1 seed and coming off a big win in which we put up 117 points. Daring Drew wasn't spectacular but good enough to offset a good game by Eli (who needs Plax) Manning. And he gets the kittens in our championship round. All three receivers we played (Little Stevie B, D Mase, and Antonio B) all put up good numbers and a score.

And what can we say about Flash. Torched the kittins for a buck twenty and two scores on turkey day.

As if we didn't know it already them cats from the left side of the Keystone state can really play some D.

The Bad: We still have TE issues. Hopefully Kevin (E Street Band) Boss can keep grabbing at least one score per game going down the stretch.

The Ugly: L.T. 14 carries for 24 yards. L.T. could be the sin that does the Pots in.

The Hope: Looks like Slash and Smash have got their groove back. Slash carved up a disinterested Jags squad and with Ahman (Advil man) Green out again he's now Da Man in Houston. As it stands if we do reach the championship game Smash gets to batter Denver and Slash gets to slice up the Silver and Black.

Go Pots

Pots Playoff Bound

2008-11-18T09:06:00.001-05:00

Playoffs!!! Playoffs!!! Yeah, you can talk to me about playoffs!

*1.	CrockPot Kings	9-2-0	.818	962	L-2	9	54
2.	fightin falcons	8-3-0	.727	932	W-2	4	12
3.	Ferocious Felz	7-4-0	.636	855	L-1	8	35
4.	dark knights	6-5-0	.545	807	W-2	1	9
5.	Safety Number 1	5-6-0	.455	776	L-1	2	6
6.	Pontius Pilots	5-6-0	.455	706	W-4	6	13
7.	AirForce1	4-7-0	.364	762	W-1	5	4
8.	Allstars Sprbwl1Chmp	4-7-0	.364	706	L-4	10	36
9.	Roanoke Raiders	4-7-0	.364	581	W-1	3	18
10.	Blue Henz	3-8-0	.273	792	L-7	7	10

* = clinched playoff spot
= Recent Smack Talk

Pots Punked By Pilots

2008-11-17T16:41:00.002-05:00

82 to 58 would usually make for a very sad day in Potsville.

But we’re actually cool with that. Why you ask? L.T. actually ran well against one of leagues best defenses in their home park. Next Sunday he’s home against the Colts who may be without Bob Sanders.

Even though we’ve lost two in a row we’re still very much on track to make the playoffs. And if we do make the playoffs I like our match ups especially in the title game. There I get Daring Drew against Detroit, Slash Staton against Da Raidaz, Smash Lynch against Denver, Jericho C against the Seahawks and of course L.T. who’ll face Tampa Bay. Granted T.B. has a good D, but A.P. ran up 85 on them yesterday so I’d have no problem starting Vizor man in the final. I picked up Owen Daniels who along with Slash also gets to add some misery to the Silver and Black on week 16.

We just added Warren Dunn (a player I wanted to clue you in on for other reasons) since he takes over the run duties for Tampa against Detroit this week.

And I’m even encouraged by our receiving corps. Jericho C should continue to be in the mix with what’s turning out to be a decent Jets squad. Stevie B got shut down Sunday but you have to think that teams will try and dbl, triple, quadruple and then pray to cover the Fitz and Q show. Stevie will get his. D Mase came off a separated shoulder and still gobbled up over 80 yards in N.Y. We even had a slight Santonio sighting and he may yet be able to do some damage down the line.

Now if only Smash could put up a 30 spot tonight….

Go Pots

Pots Post First Loss

2008-11-14T16:38:00.001-05:00

What's happnen ya'll? I spent the week at our denomination's church planter assessment so I'm a bit behind.

Well, all good things must come to an end and thus the CPKings are no longer undefeated. We dropped our first game last week when our receivers accounted for a grand total of 1 point. But the bigger news is the casting of the lots (can a reformed dude say roll of the dice?) late season trade we pulled off. Yeah it may come back to bite me but what's fantasy football without at least one risky trade.

Here's how it went down. I offered Jericho C, Marshawn Lynch and Steve Slaton for the one and only L.T. The owner rejected that but countered with Derrick Mason (whose the # 1 receiving option on the Ravens) and L.T. for (gulp) Michael Turner and Megatron. My head said 'Lance, this is a bad idea', but my gut said 'go for it, I mean he is still L.T.' So I went for it and promptly lost my first game. L.T. couldn't get it going against the Chef's and Mason got hurt.

But that's water under the bridge or dam or whatever. Here's the deal for this week. I still have Daring Drew. Jericho C already gave me a decent game and I picked up Owen Daniels from the waiver wire. I also have Steve Breaston with hopes he'll continue to get huge chunks of yards in Arizona's Wild, Wild, West offense. I'm going to start Santonio (getting real, real, real close to bust) Holmes based on his matchup against a leaky Bolts D. And though I might even lose the week on this one I'm starting Smash (about to walk off the cliff bust) Lynch in place of Flash Johnson. Basically I'm giving two cats I drafted with big expectations a chance to redeem themselves. Blow it and in the immortal words of Colonel Klink they will be 'court martialed, shot and sent to the Russian front!'

Why start L.T. against one of the best run D's in the league playing at home? Don't know, just got a hunch.

I'll hit you back Monday to let you know what went down.

Go Pots

The Abortion Issue

2008-11-07T00:33:00.001-05:00

The year is 1993 and Bill Clinton recently won the 1992 presidential election. Clinton posted about 5 million more votes than incumbent president George H.W. Bush and easily won the electoral collage vote. Perhaps even more important was the fact that President Clinton entered the White House with majorities in both houses of congress.

It didn’t take long to for him to take his new mandate for a test drive and if I remember right made a few moves that immediately angered those conservatives who opposed him. The first was the passage of the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ bill concerning homosexuals in the military. The second was his failed attempt to pass health care reform.

Why do I mention this? I wanted to highlight how President Clinton took steps to address issues that important to different aspects of his base even though those issues angered and eventually galvanized those who opposed him. Health care reform was a major part of President Clinton’s 1993 State of the Union speech and in that speech he indicated a plan to send congress major legislation on health care in the spring of that year.

Fast forward to 2005. Here George W. Bush has be re-elected and also leads the party that controls both houses of congress. He too seeks to utilize his electoral mandate to address an issue important to his base even though it might arouse the anger of his opponents. That issue was the reform of social security and it was a major aspect of his 2005 State of the Union speech. And though President Bush was a pro-life president the issue of abortion wasn’t really mentioned in the speech. He did speak of building a culture of life, but connected it with his desire to ensure that embryos wouldn’t be created for experimentation or to be used to supply human body parts. While that is an important part of building a culture of life it is not the same as proposing a ban on abortion.

Now lets take a snapshot of this past election. I watched the Republican National Convention and paid particular attention to the Gov. Pailin’s and Senator McCain’s acceptance speeches. I watched all four debates and living in Pennsylvania couldn’t get away from the onslaught of political adds even if I tried real hard.

I bring this up to begin a dialogue regarding an issue that’s important to all of us. I (and I’m sure you also) received dozens of emails and read dozens of blog posts explaining why those who claim to believe in Christ should not vote for Senator Obama. My aim in this post however is not to revisit that argument. Instead I would like to give those who wondered why any believer could even consider voting for President-elect Obama knowing where he stood regarding abortion.

That’s where the examples cited above come into play and where I need your help. Many of us who did vote for President-elect Obama never got a clear idea of what Sen. McCain would do to outlaw the practice of abortion. Moreover I’ve always wondered why President Bush didn’t make outlawing abortion more of an issue during the first few months of his second term. For example in his 2005 State of the Union Speech President Bush declared his support for a constitutional amendment to protect the institution of marriage. Yet, apart from declaring that embryos should not be created for experiments or body parts there wasn’t any kind of legislative proposal having to do with abortion. I’m not sure why this was the case and would like to have the thoughts of those of my brothers and sisters who consider abortion the most significant issue that determines their vote. I want to know what were your thoughts when a self-described pro-life president who just won re-election with a majority in both houses of congress decided to make social security his primary focus? Please understand, my questions aren’t meant to provoke an argument but to gain a better understanding. Did you expect President Bush to address abortion through legislation or by simply appointing conservative justices? Beyond that what would have been the path to have Roe v. Wade revisited?

I’m asking these questions because I think it would be helpful to explain to those who didn’t vote for Senator McCain the pathway toward overturning Roe v.Wade and then eventually outlawing abortion. For many who voted for President-elect Obama it wasn’t enough to point out that he was pro-choice. And though I did receive dozens of emails and read dozens of blog post I can’t recall reading any that spelled out what Senator McCain would do to outlaw abortion. Following that line of thought I wonder why Senator McCain didn’t make outlawing abortion a more prominent part of his campaign. It barely came up in his acceptance speech and didn’t seem to be mentioned all that much in his campaign speeches. And when it was brought up during the third debate I was somewhat surprised to hear him say that he thought the issue should be decided by the states. Were any of you likewise surprised especially in light of the fact that pro-life ballot measures were defeated in South Dakota and Colorado? Many of the emails I received and the blog posts I read claimed that President-elect Obama was the most liberal, pro-abortion candidate ever. Despite this I never saw a McCain ad that brought this up. Did he run any ads in other states with a pro-life theme?

Let me reiterate that it’s not my intention to provoke an argument nor make light of an extremely important issue. But this election caused me to wonder why Senator McCain said so little about an issue that has apparently moved many of my brothers and sisters to become single issue voters. Had Senator McCain won the election what would you have expected of him? I think I understand the importance of appointing supreme court justices so perhaps I need to know if a pro-life president would be expected to do anything further to outlaw abortion. Please understand that this is a different question than what would he do to limit and curtail abortions. And even if he had the opportunity to appoint justices could they be as conservative as he would have liked given the new composition of the Senate? I’m not accusing or even suggesting that President Bush or Senator McCain merely used the pro-life issue to secure the evangelical vote. I believe both men are sincerely committed to overturning Roe v. Wade. I just want to know if there was a clear legislative path toward overturning ‘Roe’, what that path was and when and where was it articulated by either President Bush in the two times he ran for office or Senator McCain during this last campaign.

Finally, (or perhaps I should say for now) in light of the election what is the pathway toward ending abortion? If the political avenue is now closed what other avenues are there and what might be some of the more prudent ways to proceed? Before I close please forgive me if I’ve offended or hurt anyone by anything in this post because that certainly was not my intention. I do hope we can have a good and fruitful discussion about the wisest way to end abortion and genuinely protect the lives of all who are created in God’s image.

To Him Who Loves Us…

Pastor lance

Kings Close Curtain on Falcons

2008-11-06T12:08:00.003-05:00

I almost forgot. (you have to admit there’s a lot going on these days)

Anyhow remember how I said we needed to score points in bunches to win against my son’s team that featured Kurt Warner and All Day A.P.

Well here’s the deal. With Daring Drew on a much deserved bye week I started Matt Schaub who had been on fire lately. All Mild Mannered Matt had to do was keep pace with Kurt Warner by throwing for about 250 yds and two TD’s. Doing that would be enough for me to keep up with a team that along with Kurt featured All Day A.P., Reggie Wayne, Santana Moss and top five TE Chris Cooley.

And then it happened. Matt started badly with one INT and two lost fumbles before leaving the game with an injury. Instead of about 20 or so points Matt put up a grand total of 1.

Things weren’t looking good for the Pots. We went into Sunday night losing by two points and still having to face Reggie Wayne (Sun nite), Santana Moss, Hines Ward, Chris Cooley and the Skins kicker (Mon nite). All we had was the Pittsburgh D.

And that was all we needed. Pittsburgh resurrected the legend of the Steel Curtain, (if you’re not familiar with that it’s just a darn shame) shut down a good, disciplined Redskin offense and delivered 20 points to the Pots.

We’re 9 and 0 and have another tough match up this week. Based on performance Chris ‘Flash’ Johnson is now our #2 back with Michael Turner my # 1. I’m even leaning toward starting Flash against Chitown this Sunday.

Go Pots

Our Great Divide

2008-11-04T09:33:00.003-05:00

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ. We are deeply divided over this election in particular and politics in general. I was hoping that this election season could propel us to strive to pursue unity even while acknowledged our differences. I had hoped that the world might see that despite our political convictions God’s people enjoyed a bond that went far deeper than our politics. I had hoped that we could show the culture that the unity of the Spirit was strong enough to run across the growing (and rapidly calcifying) political divide gripping this country. I had hoped that at the very least God’s people could demonstrate the virtue of peacemaking in a time when respecting those who differ from you appears to be the second casualty of each presidential election cycle.

I realize that many of issues weigh heavily on the minds and hearts of most of God’s people during this and any election season. And I think I understand why those committed to voting for Senator McCain believe that this is perhaps the most crucial election in our lifetime with respect to the issue of abortion. Along with that, I’m aware of why those committed to voting for Senator Obama believe it’s so important for him to win this election. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that either side has the ability to come to the table, speak forthrightly about their cares and concerns and leave with our desire for continued unity, fellowship and dialogue intact.

The election will take place today and shortly thereafter we will have a president-elect. One side will be positively elated while the other will experience a profound sense of deflation. However, I’m still hoping that the people of God can find a way to be a witness of God’s gospel and the kingdom of Jesus Christ to a country that regardless of who wins will be deeply, deeply divided.

How can we begin the dialogue? Allow me to lead with a couple of comparisons which I hope will provide some needed perspective. The first is aimed at those of my brothers and sisters who intend to vote for Senator Obama. My hope is to give some insight into why our brothers and sisters who intend to vote for Senator McCain have reacted so strongly against Senator Obama.

Imagine it’s 1964 and you and your family are African-Americans living in the deep south. You’ve lived through multiple decades of Jim Crow with all of its enforced segregation, pain, stress and powerlessness. (you can read Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s Letter from a Birmingham Jail to get a better idea of what it was like living in the South at that time) After decades of struggle the Civil Rights Movement finally caps a protracted season of advocacy culminating in the passage of Civil Rights Act of 1964. This is also a presidential election year. From your perspective one candidate (Lyndon B. Johnson) puts his as well as his parties political future on the line by working for the passage of this legislation. The candidate from the other party (Senator Barry Goldwater) votes against the bill. In your mind and the minds of most of those you know a vote for Senator Goldwater is a vote to continue your existence as a second class citizen. With that in mind you simply cannot fathom why anyone from your family, community and church would ever entertain voting for him. Others bring up the fact that the country faces many other important issues (the Vietnam War, economy, Cold War among them) and that these issues should be weighed equally alongside the Civil Rights issue. For you however civil rights is the issue. And it’s this issue that makes you a single issue supporter of President Johnson even if you disagree with him regarding the economy and the war. For you the alternative is simply not acceptable period.

Before we go on it’s important to remember the point of this comparison. The aim of this post isn’t to detail the dynamics involving the Democratic and Republican parties, why African-Americans for the most part sided with Democrats in subsequent elections and why LBJ was right in saying that he lost the South for a generation. My hope is to get my brothers and sisters who intend to vote for Senator Obama to understand how those voting for Senator McCain might feel about this election and why they can’t bring themselves to vote for Senator Obama.

The next comparison is directed toward my brothers and sisters who intend to vote for Senator McCain. My hope is to give some insight into how our brothers and sisters who intend to vote for Senator Obama feel about him and this election.

Imagine it’s 1980 and you’re among a growing group of evangelicals who believe that now is the time to play a more active role in the political life of this country. For the past several years you’ve sense that the country is going in the wrong direction and that furthermore those in government just don’t seem to consider the concerns of people like you. There are several issues that matter to you and though you voted with the party in 76 you didn’t do so with a great deal of hope or enthusiasm. But now your excited by the candidacy of Gov. Ronald Reagan. Reagan gave an electrifying speech at the 76 convention leaving you and many of your fellow conservatives wishing that he’d been the parties nominee instead of Gerald Ford whom some considered to be a more moderate Republican.

From your perspective Ronald Reagan embodies exactly what you want in a president. Gov. Reagan is the one candidate who gives you real hope that this country can get back on track and move forward out of the malaise it’s been in for the last eight or so years. And words just can’t describe the connection Gov. Reagan has with you and your fellow evangelicals. To put it succinctly Gov. Ronald Reagan is perhaps as close to a dream candidate as you and those who attend church with you could imagine. Not only do you intend to vote for him, but along with many of your friends eagerly volunteer for his campaign. Gov. Ronald Reagan embodies all your hopes for what a president should be and could possibly do once he becomes the leader of this country. While you mean no disrespect to President Carter you simply cannot imagine why anyone would consider casting a vote for him.

Please remember that this is not a comparison between President Ronald Reagan and Senator Barack Obama. My aim is to highlight the similar feelings each man generated among their most fervent supporters. I hope in this way to get those of my brothers and sisters who intend to vote for Senator McCain to at least understand how some of their brothers and sisters feel about Senator Obama.

The aim of this long post is not to tell why you should vote for one candidate or another. My prayer is that we can begin the dialogue that will eventually lead to bridging our very real divide. We have spent this election cycle blogging, commenting and email at each other. My inbox and observations of those blogs tell me that the vast majority of them were intended to persuade or encourage believers to vote one way or another. Well now is the time to step away from the blogs and emails and actually talk to and not at each other.

I pray that you take the time to cast your vote today. But I’d also like you to consider doing something else. Consider contacting a friend whom you know did not vote as you did and make an appointment to have a leisurely Friday night dinner or Saturday afternoon lunch. Take that time to speak to him or her about their choice, what motivated it and why it was so important to them. And then with patience and humility explain why you voted in the opposite direction. Following that discuss some ways in which those believers who voted for Senator McCain and those believers who voted for Senator Obama can begin working together on all of the issues important to us.

Finally, commit to praying for whomever will serve this country as president for the next four years. Beyond that however pray for the Body of Christ that we will serve our Lord by remembering that our main mission is the promotion of His gospel and the extension of His kingdom. Pray that our Lord will heal the divide within us and that together we will show our culture the value of belonging to a more lasting kingdom than the country of America. And pray this as if our witness might depend on it because it very well might.

In the end brothers and sisters it does matter who wins this election. But our continued witness to this country may matter more. Because if we, the people of God cannot love each other through this election than no matter who wins, we’ve already lost.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor Lance

Fantasy Football Week 9

2008-10-31T09:21:00.003-04:00

Well dudes and dudettes it took nine weeks but it's finally here. This Sunday I square off against the league's second place team. A team led this week by Kurt 'Stubble Master' Warner and Adrian 'All Day' Peterson. Aside from that they get to throw Matt Forte against the toothless Lions D and supplement their air attack with Reggie Wayne, Santana Moss and Hines Ward. Oh and did I mention that this juggernaut is led by my son? He may be my son, but in fantasy football it's all business or in this case shall we say all empire.

Here's the deal. I'm need to score points in bunches this week. Daring Drew is on his bye so Matt Schaub heads the CPKing Air attack. I've decided to put 'Slash' on the pine since the Texans face a tough Viking run D. That leaves me with Chris 'Flash' Johnson (GB), Marshawn 'Smash' Lynch (NYJ) and Michael 'Burner' Turner (@Oak).

Right now I'm feeling the Burner and Flash. For the past few weeks I've benched Smash and it hasn't hurt me at all. He should do well at home but the Jets have a decent run D while the Pack and Da Raiders don't. But what do you think?

The next issue is wideout. For now I have Calvin 'Megatron' Johnson (@CHI), Donnie 'New Game' Avery (ARI) and Antonio Bryant (@KC). I'm starting Megatron because... well he's Megatron. Avery may have taken over Torry 'Big Game' Holt's role in the revived Ram offense. He can get deep and the Cards can't cover. Bryant could have a good day against a poor KC D. However I also have Jericho C (@BUF), Santonio Holmes (@WAS) and Bernard 'DBL B' Berrian (Hou). I'm probably sitting Santonio due to the tepid Steeler pass game and the fact that Nate Washington may have taken his place as Big Ben's deep threat. But that still leaves me with Jericho C and Berrian.

So folks who would you start, who should ride the pine and why.

Happy Reformation Day

Go Pots

PHINALLY

2008-10-29T22:36:00.003-04:00

Philadelphia Phillies

2008 World Series Champions!!!!!!!

How Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetttt it is!!!!!!!!

Pots Pummel AllStars

2008-10-27T11:29:00.002-04:00

What's that you ask? That's a shot of spectators streaming into London's Wembley Stadium to see the American Football match between the New Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers. Why am I drawing your attention to this pic? Take a closer look and tell me what you see. On first glance it looks very much like most football stadiums before a normal game. Did you notice the sky however? Seems cloudy, but not raining. Can't tell if there's much wind but from what we can see this may well have been a fairly average cloudy London day. And without driving rain and whipping wind it was the perfect kind of day for Daring Drew Brees to show his former mates how he's faring with his new new team. And Daring Drew had the great Bayou Air Show running on all cylinders. He slung the rock for over 300 yards with three scores and once again delivered 30 points to the CrockPot Kings. To put that in perspective my opponent mustered a grand total of 60 points. There's only one problem though. Daring Drew sat on my bench yesterday. 'Lance, what were you thinking' you exclaim?! I was thinking that Wembley would be a soggy, sloppy mess and that without Reggie Bush the Daring one would have a fairly pedestrian outing. Wrong!!!

But have no fear. For while Daring Drew was busy torching the Bolts, Merciless Matt Schaub took apart the Cincy Kittens. Homeboy went 24 of 28 for 280 and three trips to paydirt. Along with Donnie (I can flat out fly) Avery, Megatron and Slash the Merciless one led the Pots to our 8th straight victory. And this even before 'Flash' gets to dance against the Colts tonight.

Yet there's still work to do. It's likely that Santonio Holmes will be suspended for drug use so we might need another receiver. There's alot of season left and some big weeks coming up. Stay tuned.

Go Pots
LL

Smoke Screen

2008-10-23T11:11:00.003-04:00

“What we need to do is get the government out of the way and let the church do the job of caring for the poor“. I’m pretty sure you’ve heard that in one form or another. The logic seems to go like this:

1) The government always does a poor job caring for the poor (sorry for the pun). (Though it does seem they’re doing a pretty fair job helping out the not so poor these days).
2) God appointed the church to care for the poor and they did just that in the days of the Roman empire when there was no welfare state.
3) Government usurped the church’s role in caring for the poor, instituted programs that were a complete failure and now we have one big mess.
4) Government needs to get out of the way so the church can resume our rightful place and care for the poor.

Well dudes and dudettes it‘s time to go back into the hornets nest because I‘d like to challenge those assumptions. I’ll begin by asking what the average person in your church thinks about the poor? Who would they define as poor? Would they say that poor people are those with jobs that pay at or near minimum wage or those who just don‘t want to work? Are the poor those people who’ve failed to find jobs that pay a living wage and consequently have given up trying? Do they view poor people as those who lack the drive or imitative to take the necessary steps to climb out of poverty? Or do they see the poor as those who don’t have as much access to opportunity as others? How would we go about distinguishing those who need help from those who just want a hand out?

These questions are important since how I view the poor will directly impact the way I believe they either should or should not be helped. If I genuinely believe that poor people are or remain poor due to a lack of desire to move out of poverty then perhaps the help they need is a swift kick in the pants. And if that’s the case the issue isn’t whether they should receive help from the church as opposed to the government but whether they should receive any ‘help’ at all. If I and those I worship with are convinced that the poor somehow lack the necessities to make it in a society that provides equal opportunity for all then the root issue isn’t a lack of help and it therefore follows that few if any resources (time, counseling, money etc.) should be spent on them. Why open and maintain a soup kitchen for those who could just as easily get a job and buy their own soup?

There are times when I wonder if the whole ‘get the government out of the way so the church can do the job mantra’ is a smoke screen. I wonder about that because we haven’t settled on who we believe is poor, why they are poor and the causes of their poverty. In fact we rarely even really talk about the poor. They always seem to be those people out there who remain on the fringes of our world until someone laments what a poor job the government did in trying to lift them from poverty. I wonder if it’s a smoke screen because if we’re honest with ourselves we know that if the government turned the care of the poor over to us tonight that we most likely would not be ready, nor able, nor particularly eager to address their challenges. I wonder if it’s a smoke screen because it sounds good, gets hearty ‘amens’ and knowing nods without us having to actually come up with a plan to actually address the issues of the poor.

So the next time someone confidently declares ‘What we need to do is get the government out of the way and let the church do the job of caring for the poor’, ask the following:

Solid, the government should get out of the way and let the church do our job. What is your church’s (or denomination’s) plan for helping the poor in your area? Have you thought about how much this will cost? What percentage of your church budget would you be willing to devote to this and for how long?

Brothers and sisters I have no problem with the church helping the poor. But let me leave you with this. Over the last several years there’s been a growing number of reformed theological conferences. How many of those conferences have focused on what scripture says about the poor and powerless? If our conferences are indicative of what we believe is important and the theme of poverty rarely if ever makes a peep at those conferences then why in the world would those who do believe that government has a role in assisting the poor entrust us to care for those we’re not even talking about?

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor Lance

Pots Plaster Raiders

2008-10-21T10:02:00.003-04:00

I knew the day would come. Daring Drew Brees ran into the Dangerous Carolina D and the Great Bayou Air Show came to a screeching halt. What's worse I benched Matt (Hey Lance I'm playing the Lions dummy) Schaub who put up a pretty decent 20 point showing. No worries though mates. I still had Flash, Slash and Calvin (please just throw him the darn ball) Johnson. Along with them we had solid contributions from Bernard (DBL B) Berrian and the Pittsburgh D. Not sure what happened to Jericho C though I heard he may be injured. I sat Santonio and Smash Lynch but it didn't hurt me too much. And as of this writing I'm pretty sold on going with Flash (Indy at home) and Slash (Cincy at home) this week.

Well onto next week in our quest to run the table.

Go Pots
LL

Pots Set to Cook

2008-10-16T14:45:00.002-04:00

Hey dudes and dudettes. Sorry I couldn’t get to you with the latest news on Da Pots, but between increased busyness and a cold it was a bit difficult to get around to. We did win our sixth in a row with the help of the ‘B’ squad. Bernard Berrian and Steve Breaston had big days receiving and that was just what the doctor ordered since I decided to do the unthinkable and bench Megatron.

And now for the hard part. I picked up Dbl B because he’s the Vikes #1 receiver and with teams gearing to stop All Day I was thinking he could have some nice games and he has. I rolled the dice on Breaston based on two good games and the fact that Kurt Warner is slinging the rock like it really is 1999. Breaston’s on his bye week but that still leaves me with Santonio Holmes (@Cincy), Calvin Johnson (@ Houston), Dbl B (@ Chitown) and Jericho C (@ Oakland). Somebody’s got to ride the pine this week so what do you think?

While your mulling that one over chew on this. One of these three must bide his time on the pine: Chris ‘Flash’ Johnson (@ KC), Steve ‘Slash’ Slaton (Detroit) and Marshawn ’Smash’ Lynch (Diego).

So who sits; Flash, Slash or Smash?

Thanks for the feedback.

Go Pots
LL

BasketBall Moms

2008-10-16T13:30:00.002-04:00

Who in the world are basketball moms? Glad you asked. I’m going to define basketball moms as those women who live in the working income communities of large cities, have school aged children and are employed in low paying retail or service jobs. (between $7 and $12 dollars an hour) As the title suggest their children are much more likely to spend time at the local basketball court instead of a soccer field or hockey rink.

Basketball moms are not regarded as the middle class but they do make up the new working class of this country. And let’s be clear. These people work. They do not sit at home and collect a check from the government. For those who wish to question that fact and live near a typical large city just check out a suburban mall or the local airport, many supermarkets or your average doctor’s office or hospital or any number of other businesses that employ this new working class. Like most other Americans, basketball moms are law abiding citizens who play an important part in this country’s economy. And like most of their soccer and hockey counterparts basketball moms are concerned with their children’s education and well-being. Unlike many of their counterparts however basketball moms are far more vulnerable to fluctuations in the economy. Their salaries don’t offer much flexibility when gas, home heating oil and food prices begin climb.

I’m not surprised at the lack of attention basketball moms get during the election cycle. Most politicians are far more interested in identifying with the ‘hard-working suburban middle-class’ who we’re told are the backbone of this country. Consequently, Bball moms get few visits from the candidates or even their running mates. (Though Sen. Obama did a four spot swing through Philly this past Saturday. Other than that however I know of no other times when the candidates visited the average basketball mom community). But again this isn’t surprising.

What does concern me is how the lack of interest in basketball moms can indicate that they and their issues are somehow less important than those of soccer or hockey moms. I’m not saying that basketball moms are poor (though I do believe that many of our new permanent working class live precariously close to the margins of society) nor am I advocating that the government shower them with money as if they were a mismanaged investment bank.

But since the president pledges to govern the United States of America shouldn’t he at least listen to the concerns of basketball moms? I ask this because it does seem that for the foreseeable future the country will have a new permanent working class. However due to a number of factors this working class may spend much of their lives walking the tightrope between making it and poverty. The cost of health care, (many of them don’t have employer sponsored health plans) housing and college may permanently lock them and their children into a lifestyle of barely getting by.

And I wonder if it’s in the long-term interest of this country to have a group of people who indeed work but can’t imagine their work ever really paying off or that their children will be able to secure the kind of education that will propel them into better careers. Nor do I believe that it will do to merely dismiss them to find their own way into the middle class while their government provides hundreds of billions of dollars to companies whose executives make a hundred times more than they. I have no problem with our politicians speaking to the concerns of soccer mom Susie or hockey mom Heather. But if we are to grow into becoming one nation our leaders along with the rest of us must also speak to the issues of basketball mom Brenda.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor lance

Ace In The Cole

2008-10-16T00:35:00.001-04:00

The Phiting Phils are back in the show. Paced by NLCS MVP Cole Hamels the Phillies earned their first trip to the World Series in 15 years.

Celebrations are breaking out all over Philly (what do you want we don’t win much around here).

Now onto the Series to bring home the bacon and paint the town red.

Go Phils
LL

Love Your Enemies?

2008-10-10T14:06:00.003-04:00

The final stretch has begun. With about three weeks to go the nation’s highest office is still up for grabs as the candidates make their final push.

My interest in this post however isn’t in making an endorsement or even examining a particular position. I want to talk about us. What us you ask? The us that claims to belong to the King of kings and Lord of lords. I’ve already written about how this is yet another election that will reveal the very real political differences of God’s people. My hope and prayer is that we will at least handle these differences biblically while striving to maintain kingdom focused unity.

One of my main concerns is our witness to those who are united with us politically yet apart from us spiritually. That concern springs from the reality that many with whom we agree with politically have a narrow, short-sighted view with respect to politics in particular and life in general. By this I don’t mean that they’re utterly foolish people who lack the intelligence and sophistication to see this country’s challenges from multiple perspectives. I do mean that lacking a biblical perspective on life, the future and ultimate reality they actually believe that the political process offers the best way to the kind of lifestyle and country they wish to have. Many of them genuinely believe that if their candidate isn’t elected the country will unravel, things will begin to fall apart and desperate and dire times will certainly arrive. For them a victory by their man is the only thing that stands between what America is today and what may be a drastically different America.

Such people can begin to view their candidate’s opponent and those who support him in the worst possible light. You see without a biblical perspective their only hope is in life in the here and now. And the factor that weighs most heavily in the here and now is the nation’s political process. Lose out in politics, lose out in life. By the grace and power of God those who trust in Jesus Christ have been freed from such a mindset. Our ultimate confidence in a better future isn’t centered on Pennsylvania Avenue, Wall Street or Main St. Thus we are free to work for the good of our community, region, nation and world with the full confidence that God is still seated on His throne and will be there on Wednesday Nov. 5th regardless of who is elected the next president. That doesn’t mean we have to ignore the political process. It’s just that we can engage it without the feeling of absolute dread and despair should our candidate lose.

And this is why it’s imperative that we serve as kingdom focused witnesses to those who are united with our party but not to our Lord. Many of them may be terrified at the prospect of an Obama or McCain administration. Driven by fear they may say and even be willing to do things that cause or exacerbate lasting and bitter divisions within the country. They will view their political opponents as enemies and in desperation treat them that way. How can we be a witness in this atmosphere? Think about it for a moment. How do believers treat their enemies? Did our Lord have anything to say on the subject? What did the apostles teach and write about this? Our witness during this time is the way that we treat, regard and respect our political opponents. We follow the dictates of scripture regarding how we treat our enemies while refusing to just join our crowd and thus give in to the desires of our sinful nature. Why do we do this? We do so because as important as this election is we are the ones who can show those united with us politically yet apart from us spiritually that there are matters even weightier than the direction and state of this country.

But perhaps even more than that the people of the living God are determined to treat those who oppose us with kindness because that’s how the Lord treated us when we were His enemies. Need proof? Check this out.

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. Rom. 5:6-11.

Who are the ungodly to which Paul referred? It’s us. We were ungodly. And it didn’t matter if we carried our ungodliness in a more moral manner than others. There was enough ungodliness within us to earn the just, fair, fierce, certain and eternal punishment of the living God. What did it mean for us to be God’s enemies? (vs. 10) It meant that we were opposed and hostile to God’s Person, worship, rule, word, will, ways, agenda, salvation and Son. And once again it didn’t matter if we carried out our opposition in a more moral manner than others. What could we have done about our situation? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. We were helpless and completely without power to change ourselves or our destiny.

How did God therefore treat those of us who were His enemies? He committed His Son to live a perfect life for us, die to pay the penalty our rebellion had earned and then rise from the dead proving the Father accepted His sinless life and sacrificial death. Did this happen once we awoke to the fact that we were enemies and pleaded for God to do something? Nope. God demonstrated the depth of His love for His enemies in this specific manner: While we were still spewing our venomous hostility toward God, His rule, worship, will, word, ways, and agenda Jesus Christ His Son died for our sins. What would have happened had God determined to deal with us fairly, give us what we deserve and treat us as enemies? Damnation. Total, unrelenting, unending, punishing damnation.

And one of the best times for us to highlight these precious truths is election time. And one of the best ways for us to highlight them is to treat those who oppose us the way the living God has treated us.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor Lance

Kings Clip Air Force One

2008-10-07T09:25:00.003-04:00

Go Steve Go! Let by Slippery Steve Slaton the CrockPot Kings posted our 5th straight victory. Steve rushed for over 90 yards and hit pay dirt twice racking up the most points for the Pots. And we needed it because for the most part everybody else bombed. Everybody that is except for my man Michael ‘yeah I can burn on the road too’ Turner. I stayed with my gut and played the new dirty bird who rewarded me with over a hundred and twenty yards and one score. Staying with names that begin with 'M', Matt 'nothing but the bottom of the crossbar' Prater blasted another 50+ yarder. If you're in a league and he's available get him. Get him now.

Now onto next week and we have problems. Our receiver corps totaled 7 points. That’s not 7 points for one guy, that’s seven with all three combined. Santonio is on a bye this week, but I do get Jericho C back at home against Cincy. I don’t know what’s going on in Detroit but hopefully they get it fixed and get Megatron the ball. I also decided to pick up Bernard Berrian since he is the Vikes #1 wideout and gets to face the toothless lions at home.
I’d consider a trade for top flight flanker but all of them seem so up and down this year. So for now I’ll stay pat and hope for the best. See you Friday.

Go Pots
LL

Fantasy Football Friday - Week 5

2008-10-03T13:29:00.002-04:00

Another Friday another decision. Thankfully we still have Daring Drew Brees leading the passing attack and we get Calvin 'Megatron' Johnson back in the receiving corps. I'm sticking with Santonio 'split the seam' Holmes and hoping the Steelmen will throw it more now that they're down to their fourth string RB. I've plugged Amani 'GQ' Toomer in at the other wideout position since Jericho C is taking a much deserved break and Mr. Burress has been asked to take a week off. Picked up Anthony Fasano to man the TE spot with hopes that he can burn the Bolts like Zack Miller did last week. Mike 'give me 50 baby' Prater handles the kicking game and I've held my nose and pegged Big D's D. (sorry Philly for this act of treachery but they should be able to generate some points against Cincy's kittens).

The issue is the running game. Last week the Michael Turner and Marshawn Lynch combined for a total of 11 points. And that just ain't going to cut it especially since I'm going up against 'LT' this week. I've got four RB's for two slots. Turner is at Green Bay and so far hasn't done well on the road and against teams with good defenses. However, Green Bay's D is a bit beaten up and has a few starters out this week. Marshawn travels to the left coast to meet the Cards. Chris 'Flash' Johnson is on the road against Baltimore and Steve 'Philly Boy' Slaton is home against the Colts. I'm leaning on playing Turner and Slaton. Slaton is getting more involved in the Texan's offense which uses him effectively as rusher and receiver. He's also home against the Colts who are without all world safety Bob Sanders.

But what do you think? Of the four who should start and who should ride the pine.

Go Pots
LL

Peas In A Pod

2008-10-01T14:27:00.003-04:00

I have a predication to make regarding the presidential election. And this is a predication that you can take to the bank (provided there are any you still trust). Despite who wins this next election most bible believing African-Americans will pull the lever for Sen. Barack Obama while most white evangelicals will cast a ballot for Sen. John McCain. There are many reasons for this and while I doubt that we'll be able to explore all of them before the election I want to put forth a little proposal.

Despite our political differences bible believing blacks and evangelical whites are two peas in a pod. Both groups are subcultures within the larger society complete with their own traditions, history, customs and lingo. Both are viewed somewhat negatively within the larger society. Neither group trusts the mainstream media all that much and both carry a general feeling of being on the outside looking in. Both groups are loyal soldiers of their respective political parties but at times feel taken for granted. Both groups are extremely important in national elections and are counted to deliver by their respective parties. Moreover, it’s unlikely that the Republicans could win without the support of a good number of white evangelicals, nor could the Democrats re-capture the White House without a large turnout of bible-believing African-Americans. Despite this however neither group seems to get what it wants from those they support.

So here's the deal. Why don't we forge an alliance? We could agree on a common set of issues and throw our support behind the candidate who vows to promote them. An impossible dream you say? Perhaps. But though it wouldn't be easy we might be able to change the very nature of upcoming elections. Think of the possibility of candidates having to consider the primary issues of a voting bloc that consists of multiple millions of bible believing African-Americans and multiple millions of white evangelicals? What would it be like to have a pro-life candidate who spoke with as much enthusiasm for the interests of basketball moms as he or she did for soccer moms? How might the race for the nation's highest office change once a candidate had to address the top two or three concerns of both groups? And how might we work to address the needs of others as a witness of God's righteousness, wisdom and compassion?

How could this happen? Perhaps with both groups getting to know each other, understanding where each is coming from and having some genuine humility with respect to the issues they hold important. Such a step is both necessary and significant for we have to comprehend what drives us to vote the way we do. It will also be important for us to establish the important essentials of the gospel and the supremacy of God's kingdom. That will help us to keep our political ambitions in proper place. From there we can hash through the issues to be addressed recognizing the limits of the political process and be willing to accept that no one gets everything they want in any political situation.

Most of all, we can commit to following this course not just for the good of the country but for the strength of our witness. And that could be the action that puts shoe leather to the words of unity we often speak but for any number of reasons can't seem to demonstrate apart from a stray joint worship service. That witness could shine especially as we champion our unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ over the unity we have with those who agree with our politics. And that’s at least worth dreaming about.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor Lance

Kings Crunch Knights

2008-09-30T21:34:00.002-04:00

Six touchdowns. Six! Old Man #4 showed he's still got it after all. Put up 45 points all by himself! Mind you the team I squared off against mustered a grand total of 49. So why was the ageless wonder on my bench? Because when Daring Drew gets the 9ers at home you start him. Especially since the Old Man looked pretty old the previous week. And Drew didn't do all that bad throwing for over three c-notes with three TD's. 30 points at bad and once again the Daring One led the CPKings to victory.
But game balls go to the defenses of the 9ers, Skins, Cards and Ravens. No I don't own any of them but they stepped up big time for us Sunday. Both my RB's (Lynch and Turner) were pretty much shut down and shut out. The 9ers stopped Reggie 'skip, jump and hop' Bush for next to nothing and the Skins bottled up the Barbarian in similar fashion. And they did this on the road! The Cards decided to do their best impersonation of the Mets bullpen and fall apart just long enough for Jericho C to snatch two scores. The nightcap was provided by the Baltimore 'that's so Raven' defense who held Big Ben in check while at the same time allowing Santonio to slip by for the long TD I've been looking for.

Well onto next week and their are decisions to make. But we'll let that wait till Friday.

Go Pots
LL

We Are The Champions (of the NL East)

2008-09-27T19:16:00.004-04:00

The Phiting Phillies Phinish in Phirst for the second straight year. Ryan, Utley, Rollins, Lidge, Myers, Hamels, Old Man Moyer and crew came through once again catching the Mets in the last couples of weeks of the season. Hopefully we'll last a bit longer in the playoffs then last time.

Go Phils
LL

Fantasy Football Friday

2008-09-26T14:12:00.003-04:00

One of the fun things about playing fantasy football is the freedom of taking a chance knowing that it's only a game and (at least the way we play) no money is involved. There's also the thrill of seeing a long TD pass and then waiting to see if it's your first string receiver who nabbed it or some third string cat you've never heard of.

Which brings us to the first bye week of the season. For the most part the Kings intact. Drew Brees will start at QB with Michael Turner and Marshawn Lynch driving the ground game. I decided to drop the TB D and pick up the Jags especially since they have an enticing matchup against the flailing Texans this week. I also decided to replace my kicker with the kid from Denver whose showing some serious potential.

And now for the hard part. I went into this season with a what I thought would be a fairly strong receiving corps. Calvin Johnson led the way with Santonio Holmes and Jericho Cotchery. While none of these occupied the top tier of receivers with the likes of Moss, Owens and Wayne I thought they'd provide the good consistent production needed to put and keep the Kings on top. I also had Nate Burleson as a solid backup. We ended up at TE with Greg Olson who I thought might be a cool sleeper candidate only to have him become a big bust to this point. And apart from a beast like game by Johnson in week 2 my receivers have been just okay if less so. And now Burleson is out for the year and I need some help. I'm starting Cotchery as he may be finally developing some rapport with Brett Farve. I've also picked up two short term newcomers. Robert Meachem was supposed to be the next big thing in the Big Easy. He's got the size and potential to be a big time threat in an offense that will throw early and often. He's in for this week.

And now for the hard part which is where I need your help.

For now I've decided to bench Santonio Holmes and start Antonio Bryant of TB. Holmes hasn't done much so far and faces a Ravens D that's similar to the Birds. Why Antonio instead of Santonio? I think he can have a good enough game against a banged up Packers D that allowed Miles Austin to get deep on them. But what would you do? Stick with Santonio or drop the S and go out on a limb with Antonio?

Go Pots
LL

Kings Keep Rollin'

2008-09-24T09:44:00.003-04:00

The Kings rode strong performances by Wild Buffalo Marshawn Lynch and Michael 'the Burner' Turner to our third straight victory. And now we've got some decisions to make. Our starting QB 'Daring' Drew Brees just lost Jeremy Shockey in addition to Marques Colston. And though I almost stepped out on a limb and started J.T. O'Sullivan in his place this past week I'm still willing to stick with the daring one at Frisco this week. My other backup is Brett 'I'll throw it to anybody, at anytime and anywhere' Farve. We don't have cable so I didn't see the Monday night game but from what I've read Brett looked bad. I'm thinking of dropping the mythical #4 and keeping Sully in his place.

Sunday begins the season's bye weeks which means it's time to surf the waiver wire for intriguing pickups for Sunday's game. So far I've decided to go with Josh 'who dat' Reed and Robert 'kings kid' Royal. Both play for the Bills which means both will get to start against St. Louis. And right now it doesn't look like the Rams could stop our community flag football team. Reed replaces Calvin Johnson who gets the day off and Royal (talk about a name fit for the CPKings) replaces my TE whose also on a bye week. For now I'm still sticking with Santonio Holmes but getting nervous. Well that's it for now dudes and dudettes. I'll hit you back Friday with the final lineup.

Go Pots
LL

This

2008-09-18T11:43:00.015-04:00

I meant to mention this a couple of weeks ago. Registration has opened for the Miami Pastor’s Conference. The conference theme is 'What Christ is Saying To and Through His Church.' Featured speakers include Voddie Baucham and Michael Campbell. You can view conference info and register here. As I said last year this conference won’t necessarily change your life but I believe it’s a valuable time of fellowship for any and all who wish to see biblically reformed theology impact the Black community.

And who knows if you’re good enough you might even be able to try out for the Fins.

Peace

That

2008-09-18T11:43:00.012-04:00

The venerable Spectrum in South Philly is set to be demolished to make way for a new hotel/retail/entertainment complex. For years the Spectrum was home to the Flyers and Sixers and is the last Philly sports venue to host a championship team (83 Sixers though they won the championship on the Lakers home court).

The Spectrum was where I saw the Temptations, the Jackson Five, Disney on Ice and the circus. It was a pretty cool place that holds some nice memories for many of us Philly folk.

Peace

The Other

2008-09-18T11:43:00.010-04:00

Speaking of championships it’s been a long, long drought for Philly fans. But might that change soon. Monday eve. The Birds showed that they might have what it takes to make it back to the Big Dance. Yes they still need to fix a glaring problem in the middle of the defense and their last play on Monday shows that a big play, big target receiver is still needed. But the Birds can hang with Big D and probably the rest of the league.

The Fightin Phils are attempting to somewhat repeat last year’s exciting pennant run and hit the playoffs for the second year in a row. If they continue to keep it together it’s possible that they too could bring home a 21st century trophy for the City of Brotherly Love. Though they may not be as good as the Mets and Cubs on paper and certainly would have an uphill climb against the Angels, Bosox or Rays the Phils could get hot at just the right time and bring home the bacon.

Whatever happens it looks like there will be plenty of fireworks in South Philly over the next couple of months.

Peace

Then Some

2008-09-18T11:43:00.008-04:00

We had another great night at our weekly bible study. One of the blessings of a small church is that we can fit about a third of us in one house and have a blast with a good meal (yesterday was salad bar night) good singing (how many of you remember ’I’m running for my life’) and a good study. I’m always really encouraged by how the brothers lead the study by having us break into groups, borrow into the text and then lift insightful and enriching truths that move us to worship our Lord and witness of His gospel. The fact that I get to sit and just participate is icing on the cake (well almost but more on that later). I love just listening and hearing how the saints work through a text and see God’s character and nature revealed in His word. I’m also edified by their comments.

The groups end in prayer and it’s especially precious to hear many of the teens and even children pray for their families, their own growth in the Lord and their neighborhoods.

And now for the icing on the cake. It seems that more often than not we get to celebrate someone’s birthday with a sheet cake from a local bakery along with the requisite ice cream.

A good meal, wonderful fellowship, encouraging study, precious prayer and real icing on the cake. Priceless.

Peace

And Some More

2008-09-18T11:43:00.003-04:00

Our brother Anthony Carter has begun East Point Community Church, a new church plant in the ATL. Let me be the first to encourage any who live near to check them out as soon as you can. If you don’t live near please begin to pray for this new fellowship that our Lord will use it to bring glory to the gospel of Christ and proclaim clear truth to those in Peachtreeville. Click here to learn more about this new outpost of grace.

To Him Who Loves Us...

pastor lance

Pro-Life and Pro-Glock?

2008-09-15T10:59:00.002-04:00

What’s up with the gun you ask? That my friends is no ordinary pistol, not by a long shot. That my fellow blogmates is a state of the art, standard issue, top of the line, combat ready United Federation of Planets Attack Phaser. In other words when needed this bad boy can do some serious damage. This is the little trick up your sleeve you want when confronted by two very big and very drunk Klingons in a dark alley on Rigel VII.

Why a need for a weapon of this type? And why would the Federation which is dedicated to discovering and studying new life create and distribute a weapon that can easily vaporize a target at 100 feet? A couple of reasons. We at the Fed are peaceful, but not stupid. We know that not everyone shares our desire to explore the galaxy, check out new things and then cap off a hard day sipping Romulan ale in the holodeck. There are some dangerous species and dangerous beings out there. While we wish others no harm, we will if necessary defend ourselves and others who may not be able to. But the other nice thing about sassy sue (that’s our nickname for this little package) is its easy to use VPS feature. For you twenty-first century blokes VPS stands for Variable Power Setting. Simply put it means that with the press of a button I can set sassy sue from light stun to kingdom come. This gives me the advantage of instantly and completely incapacitating a potential threat without causing any lasting damage.

While the Phaser is still a figment of science-fiction the reality of non-lethal personal defense weapons is not. I’m bringing this up to deal with a subject that frankly has troubled me for a long time. As a believer in Jesus Christ I’m convinced that each and every person is created in and bears the image of his or her creator. I’m convinced that a person is a person at the moment of conception and furthermore that the government should extend individual rights to these persons and protect them from harm. Furthermore, I’m convinced by scripture that all of humanity has a duty to protect and preserve life and that those who believe in Jesus Christ should especially take care to do all within our power to see that no harm comes to anyone.

Those reasons contribute to my passionate anti-gun stance. I do not believe Christians should support, own, or encourage the use of these weapons of individual destruction. I realize that the Supreme Court recently ruled that citizens have a constitutional right to bear hand guns. I simply disagree with that decision as I don’t believe it promotes the culture of life that we as believers should seek to cultivate in this country. A handgun is not like an automobile. A reckless individual can misuse a car ending someone’s life. Yet the manufacturer did not make the vehicle with the intent that it would be utilized in this way.

The handguns manufactured and sold in this country today are designed and built for one purpose and one purpose only; namely the destruction of human life. Thus in my view they have no place and can serve no constructive purpose in a society that strives to value life.

This leads me to question how long evangelicals can continue to claim to be both pro-life and pro-Glock? I don’t believe we can convince those we accuse of promoting the culture of death if we are among the main champions of the latest version of the Saturday night special. But shouldn’t citizens be able to arm themselves in case the government seeks to overthrow our rights by force? Let me answer that in two ways. First, imagine you had a handgun, even a very good one. Do you really think you could take down the average military attack helicopter with it? The second amendment regarding bearing arms was written at a time when the government didn’t have vastly superior weapons than the average citizen. That has changed. The U.S. military now has the weapons and skills to level whole neighborhoods in a matter of hours.

The other answer to that question goes to a deeper level. What rights do we enjoy as American citizens that are worth taking someone’s life over? Let’s imagine that the government decides that we can no longer own property for the express reason of congregating as a church. For that matter they decide that it’s illegal for Christians to gather anywhere for the purpose of worship in any sense of the term and will confiscate immediately any building whether public or private (including homes) used for that purpose and sell it to someone else. Would we take up arms with the intent of shooting and killing the police who came to seize our property?

The issue is this: What scenario could we come up with that would justify the taking of a human life?

Ok Lance riddle me this. It’s 3 o’clock in the morning, you hear a commotion in your house and are convinced that someone has broken in and intends to rape and murder your family. Do you just sit back and let them do so just to preserve their life? Good question. Again allow me to present a couple of possible solutions. If the issue is that owning a gun is necessary to protect my family then why stop at just having one gun in my home. Why shouldn’t I arm myself and family in case we’re attacked while out? Is it more likely that I’ll be attacked at three in morning while in my home or at 9 p.m. while walking home? But let’s say I do feel the need for a gun to protect my family and possessions. How many do I need? Why must I demand that the government protect my right to own multiple firearms one or more of which might fall into the wrong hands? And why would the NRA stand against a proposed law in the Commonwealth of PA that would require me to report if my gun is lost or stolen?

The other answer to that question goes back to the beginning of this post. Technology is developing and delivering non-lethal weapons that can effectively take down an intruder without taking his or her life. Many of these weapons are now available to the general populace. For example, the Dept. of Homeland security is working with a company that produces a flashlight that projects a beam of light directly into the eyes causing temporary blindness, disorientation, nausea and even vomiting. (okay maybe that’s a bit messy for home use) The company that’s developed tasers for police departments are now manufacturing and marketing a slightly scaled down model for private use. I’ve even seen a combination flashlight/taser that can be carried around and used to incapacitate a would be attacker. This could be carried around easily and used in little or no time for personal defense. In other words we now have the technology to obtain devices that can effectively protect our families in a time of crisis without the danger of ending someone else’s life.

That being the case one has to wonder why is it that those who are most ardently pro-life zealously align themselves with those who are the most pro-gun? I realize that there will always be those who for the sake of investing in, manufacturing and profiting off the sale of guns will seek to protect and extend their rights by any means necessary. But must we lend a moral voice to their cause? Can we really stand and say with a straight face that we are committed to promoting and cultivating a culture of life while bolstering an industry that creates weapons specifically designed and used to end human life? And this at a time when we and the society knows of the availability of non-lethal weapons to replace the guns we felt so vital to our private security.

It’s time for the Christian community to promote the cause of life by laying down our weapons and refusing to support those who insist on filling our society with instruments designed for the sole reason of ending the life of one who bears the image of God. It’s time for us to realize that we cannot be both pro-life and pro-gun.

To Him Who Loves Us…

Pastor lance

Kings Cruise!

2008-09-15T09:46:00.002-04:00

And go off he did. Calvin Johnson of the Detroit Lions enjoyed a rip-roaring day leading the CrockPot Kings to our second win in a row. And his timing couldn’t have been better. Brother Aaron was right in advising me to bench Michael Turner who turned in a dud. What I didn’t expect was the shaky performance of Drew Brees. Thankfully the TB D made Matt Ryan look like a rookie QB giving me a much needed boost. Chris Johnson did alright gaining a c-note on the ground though he didn’t hit pay dirt. I have no idea of what happened to Jericho Cotchery, but off games happen.

But you know what they say. An ugly win is better than a pretty loss any and every day of the week. See ya on football Friday.

Go Pots

Pastor lance

The Tennesee Two Step

2008-09-12T09:32:00.003-04:00

Another Friday, another decision. For the most part my lineup is set. Daring Drew Brees will command the air attack and hopefully dissect a struggling Redskins defense. Also returning is Michael ‘the Burner’ Turner who lit up the dreadful Detroit D for 220 and two TD’s. He may not post that against a good TB squad, but I’d settle for a good day’s work of 100 yards and a TD. I need Santonio Holmes to bounce back from a poor effort in week 1 and rip through a Brown defense that looked like confused children against Big D. I’m also counting on the Lions to continue playing from behind thus giving Calvin Johnson plenty of oppts to just go off. For some reason Jericho Cotchery played pretty well against the Pats last year and now there’s a new sheriff in town so he should do okay.

I picked up Anthony Fasano from waivers since it looks like he’ll get more targets with the Fish than Greg Olsen gets with da Bears. Robbie ‘nothing but the bottom of the crossbar’ Gould will handle the kicking duties and TB will bring the dreaded cover 2 against rookie QB Matt Ryan.

And now for the ‘out on a limb’ start of the week. I’m going to sit Marshawn ‘lance you’ve got to be crazy to bench me’ Lynch. He’s got a tough match up against a good Jags D that usually plays well at home. In his place I’ve put rookie RB Chris Johnson. Johnson did some damage against the Jags and now for dessert gets the dysfunctional Bengals and their paper tiger D. Why take the chance? CJ is an explosive player who can both run and catch. Last week Joe Flacco the Raven QB scrambled 42 yards to the house against the kittens. I see CJ breaking a few big ones on the way to a 150 total yards and two scores.

Go Pots

Pastor lance

The Troublesome Choice of Sarah Palin

2008-09-08T12:22:00.002-04:00

Imagine it’s the beginning of August. You're hanging out with a group of friends following service and talking about the usual stuff. Someone brings up an issue for which he would like some advice. A friend of his is considering taking a very demanding position at a major Fortune 50 company. The promotion would make her the vice-president of the company. Initially the group has few reservations about this although there’s slight concern with the general trend of women holding positions of authority over men. However no one has any real objections since this isn’t a ministry setting.

Having established that for the most part it’s alright to have a female v.p. in a high powered, demanding position you then get into a few details of your friend’s life. You reveal that she’s in her mid forties and is already the head of the one of the companies smaller divisions. She also recently had a child who is now about five months old. Along with that she has a thirteen and seven year old. After a pause someone asks for more information about the new position. You respond by saying that it is a very demanding position which involves a good deal of travel. Now your friends begin to question why she would accept a position that would take her way from her young children so much. A couple of them grab bibles and after turning to the second chapter of Titus remind you (as if you didn’t know) that the scriptures command mothers of small children to remain at home to raise their children and support their husbands. While this doesn’t mean that a mother can’t work outside the home her priority should be to remain their to raise her children if at all possible. Some even begin wondering why she stayed on as head of the small division following the birth of her last child especially in light of the fact that she has a child entering teen-age years and one in the first years of elementary school.

Finally, you drop the bomb. Your friend also has a teenager who has become pregnant out of wedlock. Blank looks accompanied by incredulous gasps tell the tale of the group reaction. After assuring you that they don’t condemn this sister for her child’s choice nor question her parenting skills they do wonder out loud why she would in any way even consider taking a more demanding position knowing that her teenage daughter will soon be a mother who will need all the help and support she can get. The discussion seems to be over when you launch one last volley.

You mention that this is a historic opportunity and that due to her age and the timing of the offer it’s very unlikely that it will come around for her again. Furthermore, if things go well this position could lead to becoming the CEO of the company where she could do a great deal of good for families just like theirs and be a strong witness for the gospel of Christ. One of the group, a stay at home mother with a similar family situation looks you straight in the eye and with strong conviction declares that God has already told the church how mothers are to make a difference in this world. They do so by staying home, loving their husbands and raising the next generation of believers who will be salt and light in our country. With that the discussion ends and you prepare to tell your friend that the vast majority of those he’s asked about this have counseled that her primary calling is to remain at home raising her children. And in light of her present family situation it would be unwise and perhaps even unbiblical to make an unnecessary career move that would mandate her spending an even greater amount of time away from them.

Now brothers and sisters let’s be straight with each another. How many of us would have actually encouraged a woman with a newborn infant, a budding teenager, an elementary aged child and a daughter who will give birth within the next few months to take a promotion that would actually mean much more responsibility and time away from her family? You might say ‘but no one asks how Barack Obama will care for his two small children should he become president’. True they have not and probably still won’t. But it’s been conservative evangelicals who’ve declared with relish that mothers with small children must remain at home with those children if at all possible. We’ve used this as one of the arrows in our quiver in the ongoing culture war with the ‘Liberal elite’. We’ve chided and yes judged those women who put career over family for the sake of pride and position. And that’s what’s made Sarah Palin’s acceptance to be John McCain’s running mate so troublesome.

The world knows how we feel about the importance of the home and the mother’s role within it. In many ways conservative evangelicals have been the lone voice extolling the virtues of stay at home motherhood. For instance, in a 2006 article by Mary K. Mohler the following statement was one of many used to support the importance and value of stay at home mothers; “We firmly believe that the finest daycare, the sharpest nanny, or even my mom or his mom would not pass our qualifications for one reason: they are not me. Do we have an inflated opinion here? No, not at all. We believe there is no one on this earth who can love, nurture, and care for our children like I can. God made me the mother of Katie and Christopher. No one else has that distinction.” You can find the entire article here.

Over the past thirty years or so there can be no doubt that most evangelicals accepted as gospel that a mother’s place was in the home and not the high powered and high pressured environment of the corporate world. That’s not to say that evangelicals condemned any and all employment outside the home. But to act as if we've championed the rights of moms to climb the corporate ladder armed with a blackberry in one hand and baby bottle in the other is just not true and we know it. But what’s more damaging the world knows it.

While I have nothing against Governor Palin personally and think she could make a very good vice president I just don’t believe many evangelicals have thoroughly thought through what a Palin vice-presidency and possible presidency might mean for them. In accepting with great zeal her historic choice evangelicals have once again doubled back on what they themselves declared was an unmovable, authoritative scriptural mandate. A generation ago evangelicals claimed that ethnic segregation was the clear will of the living God. When asked about becoming involved in politics they made it equally clear that politics have nothing to do with the gospel and thus should have no place in the church. Now they’re willing to accept a woman who if things work they way many of them hope could end up spending the next four to sixteen years away from her young family. Look folks, we can only cry wolf so many times. If scripture mandates that mothers with young children remain home to raise those children and support their husbands than that goes for vice-presidential candidate Palin just as much as it does for the liberal mom who leaves her infant in daycare so she can continue the climb up the corporate ladder.

And if we’re willing to accept with little question and no real dissent Governor Palin’s nomination what happens the next time we decide to lecture the country on the biblical view of ’just war’, ’small government’, ’strong defense’ or the right to pack our pistols?

To Him Who Loves Us…

Pastor lance

Kings Crown Competition

2008-09-08T09:57:00.002-04:00

Led by monster performances by Daring Drew Brees (thanks for the advice Aaron) and Michael 'the Burner' Turner the CrockPot Kings scored over 100 points in our first win of the FF season.

Stay tuned for next week's matchup madness.

Go Pots

pastor lance

All My Rowdy Friends

2008-09-05T08:59:00.003-04:00

Alright crew. For the next eight weeks or so we’ll probably have much to talk about regarding the election, the direction of the country and the place of politics in general. But in an effort to keep it somewhat light I’d like to spice up the convo from time to time by asking your help with something that is very, very important.

What is that you say? Who should I start in my fantasy football league. The CrockPot Kings enter our third season looking to finally capture the holy grail. Last year we survived an atrocious start to come on strong in the end, make the playoffs and end up in third place.
But that was before I had my blogging buddies to help a brother out. I’m sure with your sage advice I’ll finally climb to the top of the CLF fantasy football mountain.

So let’s get down to business. In week one I can start either Daring Drew Brees or Back for an Encore Brett Farve. Both had a good preseason. Both have ample weapons at his disposal although in my view Daring Drew has some serious juice to sling the rock to. The downside to Drew this week are the Bucs who have one of the better defenses in the league. As far as I know Miami does not which is one for Old Man #4.

So who should start and who should sit. Drop me a line with your thoughts and I’ll let you know the results Monday morn.

Go Pots
Pastor lance

A King, Not A Candidate

2008-09-03T09:28:00.002-04:00

The teams are set, Labor Day is over and as of now the next ten weeks will go a long way to determining who will be the leader of the free world for at least the next four years. Many believe that this could be one of the most important elections of our lifetime. The next administration could shape how America faces the important issues of abortion, healthcare, foreign policy, climate change and the economy. Should either Senator Obama or McCain get elected and then win re-election we could be living in a very different country than the one we have right now. Beyond that there is the reality that eight years from now many of our children will be entering the next phase of their lives and beginning to take their place as adult citizens of this nation.

However, as important as this election is, it is not the most important issue in our lives or the lives of those we know, work with and live among. And it is not the most important factor that will weigh upon the lives of our children within the next several years.
Why? For one America is a temporary country and thus the blessings of being an American citizen while important are only temporary.

Secondly, there is another kingdom that exists among the nations and countries of this world that while not seen is nonetheless very much real. And as important as they are the blessings of American citizenship are simply not effective in this kingdom.

Thirdly, the kingdom of the living God will have a far, far more profound effect upon both the temporal and eternal lives of those Americans we know and are acquainted with.

Fourthly as great as this country may be the eternal kingdom of God will be infinitely greater. It is infinitely more valuable, infinitely more durable, infinitely more beautiful, infinitely more precious and infinitely more righteous.

And lastly but certainly not least the kingdom of which we speak is ruled by a king we can believe in, hope in, count on and rely on with total and absolute confidence.

The issue for us then is preparing ourselves and our children to press, pursue and actively participate in the eternal kingdom of the living God which is ruled by Jesus Christ.

And therein lies another golden providential opportunity the citizens of the kingdom have to highlight, emphasize and proclaim the kingdom of the living God. In a recent post entitled ‘Let The Games Begin’ I exhorted the saints to take the opportunity to be witnesses of the gospel by speaking respectfully of those with whom we disagree. Now I’m encouraging the saints to pray for opportunities to tell of the eternal kingdom of our Lord to those who will vote with us and those who will not. What’s more I want to pray that the citizens of the kingdom of the living God will have the same kind of enthusiasm and zeal for our King that the delegates of the respective political conventions have for their candidates who at most will enjoy a temporary rule over a temporary country.

Look, whether we want to admit it or not whoever winds up in office will not solve all of the countries problems, cannot heal all of our national ills, and will still leave much that is undone. I for one doubt that either candidate will lead the country toward the brink of complete ruin or unparalleled overall prosperity. They are fallen men, who will surround themselves with fallen people and lead a country filled with fallen citizens. While I have no idea who might run for this nation’s highest office in 2016 you can bet the house, ranch and two bus tokens that he or she will promise to address the issues of education, the economy, taxes and of course champion the cause of the middle class.

I’m not saying that this election nor the institution of government is irrelevant or even marginal to the lives of God’s people and the rest of the country. I am saying that the people of God must take great care to make a clear distinction between the two kingdoms. One is temporary, flawed, fading and destined for destruction. The other is eternal, perfect, glorious and destined for absolute triumph. And no matter how bad you think your life and the lives of your fellow citizens could be under a democratic or republican administration trust me they will survive. And if you don’t believe me just take a quick peek at history. Democrats did indeed survive twelve years of republican rule in the White House from 1980 until 1992. Following that republicans managed to get through eight years of democratic rule from 92 to 2000. The moral of that story is simple: should your guy lose it will not be the end of the world.

But the end of this world is in fact at hand. And when it ends the fact that you cast your vote for Senator Barack Obama or John McCain will be the least of your concerns. And the issue for our fellow citizens won’t be whether they voted, supported, campaigned, donated to and fervently followed either of these two public servants. No dear ones the issue will be where they stand with the King of kings and Lord of lords. And the issue for us now is whether we will take this opportunity to declare our undying love and loyalty to our immortal, eternal, invisible yet very present King or if we’ll squander it away in hopes of getting our guy in the White House.

When this election is over will the people of God be known as just one more constituent group to be pandered to or will we let it be known that as important as this election is our allegiance is ultimately not to a candidate or even a country, but to Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor lance

Philippians 4:5

2008-08-29T10:07:00.002-04:00

This summer I’ve preached an overview of the book of Philippians in a series entitled ‘The Gospel Driven Life’. Sunday brings me to a very short and seemingly out of place passage in the fourth chapter of that book. It reads as follows: Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand (ESV). The NASB translates the same passage this way: Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. The term translated ‘reasonableness’ in the ESV and gentle in the NASB is a compound term that conveys the idea of having a consistent attitude of mildness, patience with a view toward expressing meekness under pressure. Furthermore it carries the notion of treating others with respect, consideration and dignity and may especially be applied to those who either disagree with or oppose us. Though the term reasonableness is a good and accurate way to translate the word I’m a bit more partial to the NASB rendering of gentle spirit. Gentleness calls us to treat others in light of considering how our words, disposition, tone and actions affects their feelings. It calls for the saints to refrain from doing or saying things that would demean or belittle someone else. The word picture associated with gentleness is the way a loving mother treats a young infant.

From this passage Paul expects the saints not only to relate to each other in this way but also to those who oppose them and the gospel. This is a significant point and one which we must not be too swift to gloss over. We would certainly expect the apostle to exhort the saints to relate to each other with a gentle disposition. (see Eph. 4:2) This would be applicable within the church generally and during times when God’s people see things differently. Here however Paul is careful to alert the Philippians to express this gentleness to the wider society. The weightiness of his imperative comes into focus when we consider that those to whom the Philippians were called to display gentleness to were some of the very people who actively opposed the gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ and His church.

Ok Lance, what in the world does this have to do with the price of tea in China? Now that the election season has begun in earnest I want to encourage God’s people to consider this short but significant passage in the way we relate to those who may oppose our chosen political party and candidate. We may genuinely believe that they are totally wrong, completely off base, incredibly out of touch and even maliciously devious. But even if we think their unstated but very real goal is the destruction of this country we must still treat and relate to them with an authentic gentleness.

About twenty years ago this might not have been that big of a deal. For the most part we would have hung with those who agreed with our politics and even if we ran into those at work who didn’t it wasn’t that big of a deal. But now dear ones we have the blogopshere. And I’m becoming more and more convinced that cyberspace is the last frontier of sanctification for God’s people. The world wide web can give us an access and boldness that many of us would not otherwise have. Here we can write things from the relative safety of our keyboards with the knowledge that more than likely we’ll never sit face to face with someone we’ve insulted or mistreated. But don’t be fooled. The world is still watching and even if we think it unfair will judge us by what we write, how we write it and what it says about our true thoughts about them and the truths we confess. Am I advocating we stay away from the important political discussions happening in this country? Not at all. I’m am asking all of us to engage in those discussion in light of Phil. 4:5.

Why? Because in the end our primary purpose and calling isn’t the election of a candidate, the dominance of a particular party or even the overall supremacy of a temporary country. Our primary purpose and calling with relation to this society is to call men and women, boys and girls into a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ whose return in nearer now than when Paul penned his words 2000 years ago. Our main calling is far more important then who gets to occupy the White House for the next four years for it deals with who gets to live in God’s house for the next eternity.

So my brothers and sisters by all means discuss, debate, advocate, defend, campaign and vote. But in all things whether you are democrat or republican let your gentleness be known to everyone, for the Lord is near.

The Lord’s Peace
Pastor lance

August 28th

2008-08-28T13:40:00.002-04:00

When all is said and done in this election season one thing is sure. August 28th will once again be a historic day not only for African-Americans but for the United States of America. Forty-five years ago today Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave one of the most stirring and moving speeches in American history. His speech voiced the hope of some 20 million black people along with millions of other Americans who genuinely wished to live in a country where one’s ethnicity didn’t determines one’s fate from cradle to grave.

Now another African-American will give a historic speech but this time to accept his party’s nomination for president. And he’ll do so just one generation removed from the time when this country prevented many of his people from even casting a vote. Indeed we’ve come a long way baby. For most black people this will be the most significant political event we’ve ever witnessed. Millions of African-Americans will sit down with their children and watch a black man call the country to rise to its potential to live as one unified nation. And these millions will relish the possibility of seeing a black man, his wife and their children occupy the signature symbol of power of this country.

Does that mean that black folks believe that Senator Obama’s nomination has ushered the country into some kind of new racial utopia? No it doesn’t. But I believe there is a hope that successive Obama administrations can go along way to changing the racial climate of this country. Here’s what I mean. While most African-Americans deny that ethnicity is the single greatest impediment toward opportunity in America, we nonetheless still believe that it carries some weight. There is still the belief that you always start out as a suspect until you prove yourself otherwise. There persist the belief within much of black America that the mainstream society feels much more comfortable with us on the ball field than the boardroom. To this day many of us still shake our heads and wonder when someone from the mainstream society notes with surprise how ‘articulate’ a particular black person is. (if you don’t believe me just ask your best buddy black reformed cat how many times someone remarked how articulate he was)

And it’s my view that this belief has become so persistent among so many within the black community that many of us give up without even trying. Far too many of us seem to think that there’s little or no chance that the mainstream society will view us as little more than either potential ball players or criminals. Perhaps at one time there was the hope that America’s collective consciousness would change, that she’d open her arms wide to those whose ancestors built the country and we would indeed live as one nation, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. But that ship has sailed. While it would be nice to live in a land without racial prejudice that just ain’t going to happen.

And if we need any more proof then the reality that some life-long democrats will refuse to vote for Senator Obama just because he’s black confirms it. His nomination proves however that we no longer have to wait for the collective acceptance of the white community to do what is needed to address the issues of ourselves, our families and our communities. Just like Barack and Michelle Obama we too can focus on obtaining an education so that we increase our chances to climb out of cyclical poverty. Just like Barack and Michelle Obama we too can see the value of using our education and abilities to work on the behalf of others and not just ourselves. And just like Barack and Michelle Obama we too can approach life with a sense of confidence, a desire to make a difference and a genuine hope that the world of our children can be better than ours.

The Lord’s Peace
Pastor lance

Let The Games Begin

2008-08-26T08:51:00.002-04:00

The games are over and now the game is on. As the Olympics fade into the background the U.S. presidential race takes center stage. From now until at least early November the American voting populace will be deluged by candidates, commercials and commentary.

And now’s our chance. Once every four years bible believing Christians get the opportunity to demonstrate a powerful, humble, authentic witness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Presidential campaigns usually highlight the divisions that persistently remain in this country. Each side seems to go out of its way to demonize their opponent and cast him in the very worst possible light. And judging from how things have transpired thus far we will be treated to more of the same for the next few months.

So how can we inject a bit of godliness into the process? Elementary my dear Watson, just follow a few of the biblical injunctions God has given His people for such occasions. For instance both Paul and Peter told the saints to respect (not just submit to) the secular public officials of the country in which we live (Rom. 13:7; 1 Pet. 2:17). What did it mean to honor the king and how can we apply that today? It meant to speak respectfully to and about a country’s leaders. It meant that the church, its leaders and its people did not seek to demean or demonize their local or national officials. Remember this respect was to be given to officials who weren’t elected and who were at times openly hostile to the followers of the Way.

How can we put this into practice today? We can start by refusing to disrespect those running for president and we can do this while still disagreeing with their views on various issues. We can affirm the reality that they too have been made in God’s image and through God’s providence have risen to a place of leadership in this country. We can also refuse to speak about them as if they are utterly depraved and completely beyond God’s grace of redemption. We must also refuse to listen to and pass on bad jokes about the candidates and their wives.

It’s also a good idea for us to remember that the way we speak of or about a particular candidate extends to those who support him. Is it worth unnecessarily alienating a whole group of people just to get in a couple of cheap shots? Do we really see ourselves as taking the gospel to the whole culture or just those who align with our politics? Regardless of how things turn out in this election the fact is that about 50 or so million people will not agree with our choice for president. Can we truly see some of those people as part of our church or is our fellowship more based on what we have in common politically as opposed to spiritually?

To Him Who Loves Us...
pastor lance

The Content of Our Character - Billboard Wars

2008-08-11T11:49:00.002-04:00

The billboard wars are alive and kicking in Philly. As you can see from the pic our friendly neighborhood atheist launched a salvo that challenged God’s existence. This was met by our Roman Catholic hombres who counterpunched with a plea to pray the rosary. And thus the battle for the religious hearts and minds of the citizens of Philadelphia has been joined.

I’m pretty sure that it’s fairly safe to say that the Christian church has been looking for ways to connect with unbelievers and deliver the message of the gospel for the last two thousand years. And now 20th century marketing techniques have given us a new tool in our arsenal of weapons. We may not be able to get you in church, nor are we likely to meet you as we serve in our local community (since we may not be too enthused to be about that) but by golly we will grab your attention as you fly by on I95.

So just how should believers in 21st century Philly, or Detroit, or Berlin, or Nairobi or anyplace else in the world seek to connect with nonbelievers? Should we spend lots of money (they’re not giving away billboards you know) and come up with clever ad campaigns tailored to speak to a technologically sophisticated, entertainment saturated society? Perhaps. One of the advantages the church has in addressing this question (or for that matter any other question regarding church ministry, mission etc. ) is our access to the scriptures. The ability to read, study and rely on scripture to answer our questions keeps us from endless speculation concerning what we should do and how we should do it. Could we be wrong in how we read, interpret and apply scripture? Of course we can. The alternative however is far, far worse. Why? Because without referring to scripture we’re left to the speculation of people. And I for one don’t think it’s a good idea to leave the witness of our Lord in the hands and minds of people who’ll decide to do what they think is right based on whatever man-made criteria they dream up.

So what does scripture say about our witness, where should we look in scripture and how can that help us today? While there are many places I’d like to begin with the beatitudes. Why you ask? Leading off it seems that Jesus had the gospel witness in mind when He proclaimed the beatitudes. Look at Matt. 5:10-16. Notice how that passage assumes that believers will come into contact with non-believers. It’s just makes common sense that one cannot be persecuted for the sake of righteousness if one isn’t in a position to express righteousness in a hostile environment. To put it another way Jesus didn’t expect His followers to confine our practice of proactive biblical holiness to ourselves. In fact He expected us to be among those who would actively reject our visible demonstrations of Christ likeness.

Another reason I’m partial to the beatitudes is that they don’t make our witness dependent on any particular expertise. You don’t have to be a theologian, seminary graduate or student, pastor or even deacon. And you don’t even have to be a talented Christian rapper. This allows our witness to branch out much farther than if we only relied on the theological experts or artistically talented. The beatitudes are also particularly relevant as they address the basic issues with which people from all times and all places struggle. It is the people the Way who by God’s grace can actually speak to the root issues of fulfillment, grief, power, integrity and reconciliation that weigh so heavily in our culture.

Lastly, but by no means least the beatitudes propel the church to highlight and emphasize the uniqueness, supremacy and deity of Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Himself who embodies each of the beatitudes and in so doing each of them makes the case that He alone is the only way that anyone can be assured of a place of honor, acceptance and delight before the Father.

So brothers and sisters let’s join the battle. Armed not with clever slogans but with the power of Christ transformed life.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor lance

Shawn Andrews

2008-08-06T20:29:00.001-04:00

I’m sure at least one of two of you follow the NFL. Is so you may have heard that the two time Pro Bowl right guard of the Philadelphia Eagles recently disclosed that he had not reported to camp due to struggles with ongoing depression. For those who do follow such things please keep Shawn Andrews in your prayers. In my view it took a lot of courage to publicly admit what is in essence a very private issue. Mr. Andrews has played in Philly long enough to know that Eagle fans can be most unforgiving and merciless. That said most folks have been supportive of him and genuinely hope that he’s able to fight this battle successfully.

Another reason I applaud Mr. Andrews for going public is that it helps remind me as well as others that he is a real person with real issues and not just a football player. His worth as a human being can’t be measured just by what he does on a football field. There are times when our society can de-humanize athletes and treat them as if there their only value lies in providing our entertainment. Hopefully Mr. Andrews’ struggle with depression will help us to re-evaluate that view and help us to see that there is much more to all of these men than just a uniform and a game.

Peace
LL

Between Three Worlds - Forward March!

2008-07-28T13:33:00.002-04:00

So here we stand at the precipice of a new century with what could be a golden providential opportunity before us. Not only could we reshape how the black church and black community think and practice the faith once delivered to all the saints, but we might actually re-form a church that truly includes all the saints.

So in a journey of a thousand miles where do we start?

Determine that reform is both desirable and necessary. There are many we know who for the most part see little if anything wrong within the black church. From their perspective each new successive “move of God” should be welcomed and followed until it fails to titillate and we then move onto something else. Some however see that at this point in time the black church is for the most part living in Ephesians 4:14. Change is necessary and sorely needed. And now is not the time for us to just sit back and watch the black church crash on the rocks of false destructive teaching.

Form a functional connection. This may be the most challenging step that we face. It calls for the growing number of African-Americans embracing reformed theology to let go of our distrust of others and ourselves, learn flexibility and actually begin working toward something meaningful. For some this might be especially difficult because their pain may have caused them to distrust any kind of structure organized for the purpose of expanding the kingdom. Many may genuinely believe that they must go it alone if only to avoid being disappointed by yet another leader. But I don’t think we can allow that to prevent us from engaging our people and our culture with the true gospel of God’s grace. Think how many are still caught in the snare of the wolves who even now ravage the saints.
A functional connection means that we pursue a broadly reformed association for the purpose of impacting the black church and black community with the gospel of God’s grace with the goal of galvanizing the evangelical church to embrace a biblically driven, kingdom focused, Christ centered witness. It means that we will seek out others of like mind and heart and embrace them in fellowship even though they don’t line up exactly with our 34 point criteria for what is truly reformed. It means that we’re willing to work with, support and worship with those who’ve embraced the doctrines of grace, the five solas and long to see them impact the black church, black community and American culture.

Will we all agree on who is baptized and the mode of such baptism? No. Will we all agree on the biblical form of church government? No. Will we all concur on the biblical or reformed way God’s people ought to express themselves in worship? No. Will we all agree on the continuing validity of spiritual gifts? No. Will we all agree on all issues regarding eschatology? No. Should we allow such differences to prevent us from forming a working fellowship? Absolutely not. And no it doesn’t mean that we’re an open ended group in which anyone who is sincere enough can join. By God’s grace and the wisdom of the saints who went before us there are enough creeds and confessions we can all agree on that can form the basis for a working association. Remember I’m calling for a functional connection not a formal one. Those who want a formal connection with a body of believers who share their concerns on the above mentioned issues can probably find at least one reformed denomination to become apart of. For those who cannot then I appeal to you to at least consider linking up with our functional connection.

How shall we begin? Let me give three specific actions and then perhaps in another post suggest a few more.

Generate a unifying statement of faith, identity and vision. A few of us are actually in the process of doing this over at the Council of Reforming Churches. The purpose of the statement is to define what we believe, who we are in Christ and what we hope to see our Lord do in our churches and communities. Our goal isn’t to weed out as many as possible but to give all who wish to join us a realistically biblical basis for working together.

Form regional geographic networks for the purpose advancing biblical theology and practice in our area. These groups could decide to meet a certain number of times per year to pray, fellowship and plan for the revival and even resurrection of God’s church in that area. These networks could have three primary purposes. 1) Draw into fellowship various people and churches seeking to impact the black church and community with biblically reformed theology. 2) Devise strategies for spreading the basic biblical truths of scripture which may be the best way to combat false teaching. 3) Develop church planting networks consisting of existing churches, committed leaders and lay people willing to give of their time and money to do biblically driven church planting.

Draft a uniform training curriculum. Most of us within reformed circles believe that formal education for the ministry is a necessary and wise requirement. However there’s no reason that such an education must happen within a traditional seminary. The wealth of books, DVD’s, MP3’s and whole courses available on the internet means we can construct a robust seminary level curriculum and deliver it within the context of the local church. This means that we can prepare the next generation of ministers, officers and other lay leaders using both an academic and hands on mentored ministry approach. We can also remove the potentially high cost of obtaining a seminary education from the ministry equation of those young men who wish to obtain it but are hindered by finances.

By the grace of God brothers and sisters let’s begin to pray for our Lord to once more revive and enliven His church so that she will indeed live out her calling to be the house of God which is the church of the living God the pillar and foundation of the truth. And then let’s be ready to respond to His answer by joining with those He’s called to press this battle on.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor Lance

Between Three Worlds - Vision Pt. 4

2008-07-25T13:15:00.003-04:00

So just what can two cats (Justus and Epaphras) from the first century teach today's church regarding employing a kingdom focused, biblically driven witness that leads with truth and engages people from multiple cultures?

Enlarge our vision. Presently we tend to only engage distinct subcultures within our society perhaps believing that young white goatee sportin post-modern artists could never have anything to do with middle aged, black modern entrepreneurs. We then craft a mission strategy that heavily depends on entering their cultural world. The end result are churches that consist mainly of young white post-moderns and middle aged, black moderns. However, instead of seeing the white post-moderns as the problem and purview of the white evangelical church and the black, middle aged moderns as the challenge for the bible believing black church let’s go after both with the belief and intention of seeing God transform them to the extent that they recognize see that what we have in common in Christ is far more important and far more valuable than what naturally divides us.

Don’t worship your culture. Both Justus and Epaphras had to part with aspects of their culture which were very important to them. This didn’t mean that Justus ceased being Jewish or Epaphras stopped being Greek. It did mean that upon believing in Christ they chose to focus on those aspects of biblical culture transmitted though the faith once delivered to the saints. This also enabled them to enjoy the flexibility of adopting certain non-sinful human aspects of culture for the purpose of advancing the kingdom. It’s here that Paul’s maxim from 1 Cor 9:19-23 is particularly important to us. Like Paul we must learn to wear human culture loosely. The extent that we’re wedded to a specific culture is the extent that we will shrink the reach of our witness. And we might be surprised at how flexible others are with respect to culture once we’re committed to biblical driven cultural flexibility.

Don’t waste our culture. Part of the challenge with any culture is the way that it defines who people are and marks them as belonging to one people group and therefore standing apart from other people groups. And in my view that’s one of the biggest obstacles facing the expansion of an authentic, biblical driven, unified witness in the 21st century. White evangelical believers and bible believing black believers have identified and held onto their natural cultures far too tightly and far too long. In doing so we’ve failed to emphasize and embody genuine biblical culture for the witness of the gospel and the glory of Christ. We spend so much time attempting to be culturally relevant to our niche human cultures that we’ve failed to produce a people that who are mainly known for the culture embodied in passages such as Ten Commandments, Beatitudes or Colossians 3. The result is believers who are far more American or African-American than we are Christian.

What could a focus on biblical culture look like? Let me give an example from each of the passages I just mentioned. From the Ten Commandments God’s people could nurture a culture of contentment. This could be especially valuable in a society that prizes covetousness. Through our lives we could demonstrate the advantages of gratitude, giving and biblical contentment. We could show our society that life isn’t about things and that our identity isn’t found in having the latest and best gadgets. We could also learn to be a people who intentionally live beneath our means so that we could increase what we give to those who have less than we.

From the Beatitudes we could prize the biblical cultural virtue of meekness. We could then find ways to use whatever strength we have be it emotional, financial, psychological, social or political on behalf of those who are weak and have less strength. And we could apply this meekness towards all kinds of people who for whatever reason need it. Imagine a group of churches in a particular city or region deciding to gather together and speak out and support the latest group of immigrants just because God providentially provided us with the opportunity to do so?

Lastly, from Col. 3 we could cultivate a taste for the life yet to come. We could become so enamored by our next life and the Savior who awaits us that we literally reorganized our time, finances and lives around the pursuit of His kingdom and promotion of His gospel.

The basis of this way of thinking is the view that the strength of our witness doesn’t spring from having worship events that mimic our human culture as much as it is having the One we worship transform us as we engage the culture.

Check your politics at the door. I’m using the term politics here in the generic sense of the way societies organize resources. I’m not asking for anyone to change his or her political views. Instead I’m asking that we don’t hold our politics so dear as to just about mandate that those who believe like us must vote like us. Also we need to be crystal clear with ourselves and our culture concerning which things are so important that they should occupy out time, thought, conversation and fellowship and which are not. Frankly brothers and sisters it is both unwise and detrimental to our witness to be so identified with and tied to one political party or another. And it is also unwise and potentially damaging for any aspect of God’s church to speak or act in such a way that lifts the temporal earthly agenda of a country or people to the level of God’s eternal kingdom. We are not here to promote or preserve the overall economic, political and military supremacy of the United States nor the lifestyle to which that supremacy brings us. Nor are we here to see that African-Americans or any other ethnic group levels the playing field and grabs their slice of the American dream along with everybody else.

Is there a place for politics in this new 21st century church? Yes there is. These churches should work together and work with the local officials of our cities, counties, townships and regions to advocate for policies that will benefit everyone who lives in the region.

Work hard. Isn’t it interesting how Paul the apostle of God’s grace mentioned how hard people worked to see that the message of grace impacted the Roman world? First century discipleship wasn’t a casual affair. Those who embraced Christ adopted the promotion of the gospel as a way of life and not merely a religious addition to their existing life. They gave themselves to the task of the gospel doing whatever was necessary to see to that it spread. Though we’re not sure what all of them did we do know that whatever it was they did it willfully, consistently, whole-heartedly and joyfully.

The current community of believers in America may have to look at itself in the mirror and make a hard choice. We can adopt the path of following Jesus by the way of the cross and truly embody biblically informed culture. This will mean wrapping our lives around the promotion of the gospel and thus radically altering how we spend our time, money and organize our lives. Or we can continue to be molded by our current culture of commerce and entertainment, wrap our lives around the comfort and convenience that culture affords us and then wait for the next church growth guru to tell us the real secret to connecting with the culture.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor Lance

Between Three Worlds - Vision Pt. 3

2008-07-23T07:44:00.003-04:00

Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts, and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here. Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions— if he comes to you, welcome him), and Jesus who is called Justus. These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas. Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house. And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. And say to Archippus, "See that you fulfill the ministry that you have re ceived in the Lord." I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.

What were some of the keys to the planting, rooting and expansion of God’s church in the first century? And how can those keys propel us into a genuine multi-ethnic gospel witness in the 21st century? God’s sovereign power of course. True, but how did God exercise that power? Answering that may help provide some of the keys to the spread of the gospel. So what were some of those keys? They include the power of the gospel message, the geopolitical context of the Roman empire, the overall spiritual climate of the Roman empire at that time, the explosive power of the Holy Spirit and if we’ve read the book of Acts the courage and perseverance of the apostles.

One other key that I don’t hear mentioned a great deal however is the quality and dedication of the ordinary disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. The section of scripture printed above comes from the end of Paul’s letter to the Colossians. (a church by the way that he did not plant) In it he mentions ten people who were instrumental in the planting, growth and expansion of the church in the first century. And it was disciples like these who played a significant role in propelling the gospel throughout the Roman world. And I don’t think that the strength of their witness was based on their ability to do the miraculous, artistic talent, cutting edge cultural relevance or powerfully gifted speaking skills.

What then was the key to their witness? To boil it down the early disciples were willing to wrap their lives around the message of the gospel and work hard for its promotion and expansion in their world. And to do that they had to step out of their birth culture and give themselves fully to the culture of the kingdom. What do I mean by that? Take another look at that passage from Colossians. Note how Paul distinguishes between Jewish and Greek believers. He speaks of those men who are among the circumcision (that is his Jewish brothers) and then writes ‘Epaphras, who is one of you’ indicating that he was Greek. What did they have in common?

Whether Jew or Greek their commitment to Christ automatically distanced themselves from their natural culture. Thus, for Justus to answer the call of the gospel meant that he had to reject the Jewish sacrificial system and the cultural core symbol of the Jews which was the temple at Jerusalem. It also meant that he no longer yearned for a military messiah who would overthrow the Romans and establish a political kingdom in Israel. Now once he did this Justus wasn’t simply regarded by his people as some quirky religious cat but their sworn enemy.
Likewise for Epaphras to embrace the gospel of Christ meant to reject Greek philosophy, the Greek pantheon and in many was the Greco/Roman way of life which was centered in idolatry. It meant that he rejected the cultural core symbols of his people which were the statues of their gods. He too became an enemy of his people since they tied so much of their identity to their idolatry and believed that the strength of the Roman state was tied to fidelity to the gods.

How can their examples instruct us who are now some twenty centuries removed from them as we attempt to establish a biblical based, Christ-centered, kingdom focused, multi-ethnic gospel witness?

Stay Tuned
To Him Who Loves Us...
Pastor Lance

Between Three Worlds - Vision Pt. 2

2008-07-21T10:11:00.003-04:00

What kind of church could we leave to our children as they take up the cross and lead the witness of the gospel into the middle of this century? Is it possible that maintaining the status quo may leave us in the awkward position of being the last American institution that’s largely separated along ethnic lines? With all the emphasis we place on cultural relevance could the very nature of how we do church render our cutting edge, technologically savvy, artistically aware churches absolutely irrelevant within the next 20 years? Imagine how we might be viewed if towards the middle of this century we have large churches in urban centers that mainly cater to one or at most two ethnicities? Are we really looking forward to continuing to attend conferences, convocations and conventions that draw multiple thousands of mainly one ethnicity?

Can we imagine a future in which the distinction within the church in America falls along truth lines instead of ethnic ones? Why am I going here? I thought as long as I’m pushing for reform of the black church I might as well include everybody. Let’s face it folks. The American church got off on the wrong foot from day one. Despite how God has used us we’ve never presented a strong, unified, multi-ethnic witness of the gospel that would cause people to look beyond our ethnicity to the Lord of the gospel. Now’s our chance however. Many in our society want to live in an authentically unified multi-ethnic community but have no idea how. Our churches both black and white are in serious trouble. Immigrants are flocking to America in record numbers. Who knows if God has called us to this place and this era for such a time as this?

How then can the next generation of God’s church in America boldly go where we’ve never gone before? As I said in the previous post we may have to leave our current reformed and bible believing black churches behind at least for now. I say that because it’s unlikely that they would be willing to make the necessary changes to truly transform into authentic multi-ethnic churches. So do we start by examining the dominant features of our existing church cultures and seeking ways to blend them together? Nope. We lead with truth. Instead of majoring on the important but transient facets of God given human culture we focus on producing a people who emphasize and embody a distinct, biblically informed, Christ-centered culture.

I’m using the term ‘culture’ to describe the beliefs, customs, practices, and social behavior of a particular nation or people along with their shared history, attitudes, world view and view of their place within the world. And here’s where we have an advantage. For our culture enables us to inject ourselves into multiple cultures and deliver a witness that speaks to authentic issues and needs of humanity. Since scripture doesn’t demand that we package the message of the gospel in any specific human culture we’re free to use or not use culture as prudence dictates. More importantly, we can be confident that our witness to our own people doesn’t depend on our willingness to hold fast to and perpetuate our culture. Cow chips you say. Let me give an example. Suppose someone came to you and insisted that the traditional African-American style of preaching that ended with an emotional hoop was absolutely necessary to identify with and reach black folks, even those who weren’t churched. You dutifully employ this tactic until you discover that the majority of black people regularly listen to men who do no such thing. You do some inquiring and find that for the most part the hoop has gone the way of the dodo bird. You then wonder ‘where do I go from here’? Cultural affectations, even cherished ones go out of style. Genuine biblical culture however is always relevant and always useful because it always answers the deepest questions of people from every culture.

Where do we find such culture? Open the scriptures and you’ll find it all over the place. The scriptures provide the key to who we are, why we’re here, what’s ultimately important, to whom we’re accountable to, what makes us significant, where we’re going, where to take our pain, who cares for us, and what in life is worth celebrating. The scriptures also provide the people of God at all times and in all places a choice. We can decide to identify mainly with the temporal interest, issues, and idols of the people of our first birth, or take our place and identify with the eternal interest, issues and God of our second birth. To break it down into our time we can either be Americans whose main interest lie in perpetuating the way of life and overall supremacy of the United States and are willing to claim that God’s on our side for that purpose or we can believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who prize the lifestyle of the cross and reorient our existence around the expansion of His eternal kingdom. We can either be African-Americans who live to equal the playing field for ourselves and grab our slice of the American dream all in Jesus’ name of course or we can be the people of God showing our people and others what real abundant life is as we press toward the goal of extending His kingdom.

How we answer that question may well depend on what kind of church we want to see in the 21st century. So I ask you brothers and sisters: Got Vision?

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor lance

Between Three Worlds - Vision Pt. 1

2008-07-18T12:44:00.003-04:00

In just about four months the United States of America may elect its first African-American president. Already many see Senator Barack Obama’s historic run for the presidency as a significant step forward in America’s ongoing struggle with the issue of race and ethnicity. A recent Gallup pole revealed that for the first time in a very long time black Americans have a more positive outlook on future race relations. There are a few other important sociological trends coinciding with his run. Among these are the desire of some evangelical denominations to become more diverse and growing theological decline within the historic black church.

Consequently, as we look to see biblical reform among the American church in general and the black in particular should we focus on both theological and sociological reform. Here’s what I’m getting at. I’ve proceeded with this short series with the assumption that we will continue to have an aspect of God’s church organized mainly around the characteristic of ethnicity. The challenge I’ve addressed isn’t the black church’s ethnicity, but its theology. Yet should we call for a reform that would not only overhaul the black church’s theology but her sociology as well? Why am I even entertaining such thoughts?

Most of us agree that America is still a country divided largely along the lines of ethnicity. Though we may have achieved a greater degree of diversity in the past two to three decades that hasn’t necessarily translated into a greater sense of unity across ethnic lines. And despite all of our rhetoric about how the gospel breaks down ethnic barriers the truth is that most evangelical churches and bible believing black churches feature one ethnicity. Furthermore this pattern of mono-ethnic churches has been replicated by other ethnicities. Could the desire for theological reform within the black church be the catalyst for an overall sociological reform among the general evangelical church? Might this be the time when for once the church sees what’s happening in our culture and takes the lead by proactively addressing ethnicity instead of ignoring it? Wouldn’t it be a shame if President Barack Obama succeeds in having the country achieve a greater degree of ethnic unity for the glory of America while we sat on the sidelines stuck in our religious ethnic ghettos? Isn’t giving up certain aspects of our culture which are very important to all of us a small price to pay for the possibility to demonstrate gospel driven ethnic unity?

Another reason I’m considering a sociological as well as theological reform concerns the nature of the new black church. This dear ones is certainly not your grandmother’s church. The way many black churches view scripture, God, humanity, sin, salvation, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and other key biblical foundations is categorically different from the way the historic black church viewed and defined them. Consequently, any reform of the black church will result in a distinct and substantial break with the kind of worship, teaching and ethos that’s featured in much of today’s black church. Let me put it to you this way. Imagine for a moment your version of an ideal black reformed church. Finished? Good, now plop that church down in a typical black community. Finally, think about how the residents of that community will view that church’s worship, teaching and general philosophy of life and ministry. Ah here’s where I got you pastor Lance. You see our reformed church is going to focus on the unchurched who religiously speaking are a blank slate. Really now. What you may not understand friend is that unlike other cultural groups the black community doesn’t neatly divide the sacred from the secular. The views of men such as T.D. Jakes, Creflo Dollar and Eddie Long aren’t just confined to their pews but are heard and accepted in black secular media as well. Therefore, it’s neither uncommon nor surprising to hear your average non-church going black person declare with confidence a basic tenet of belief espoused by one of these men and their many followers. For them church is what they’ve seen or heard from the new pied pipers of prosperity. Thus, for them to walk into our ideal black reformed church is to enter into a different culture whether we realize it or not. That being the case why not go all the way?

How can this happen? I’m not entirely sure. (remember this is a blog folks so I need your input) We may have to seriously consider leaving the existing reformed and black church where they are and move forward without them. I say that because by and large they may be too entrenched in their current cultures to make the changes necessary to launch this particular kind of movement. What I’m proposing will take vision, courage and humility. And what it might look like is the subject of my next post.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor lance

A Young Black Reformer

2008-07-18T12:38:00.003-04:00

Hey all,

allow me to introduce to Benito Stallings to you. He's a good young brother seeking to bring reform the the black church. Like many brother Stallings is an example of what God is doing within His church to bring glory to Himself through Jesus Christ. His story is familiar to many of us. Benito is currently on staff with DiscipleMakers at the main campus of Penn State U. Please take the time to read his testimony and consider supporting his work of ministry.

Fellow Reformed Brothers & Sisters,

My name is Benito Stallings. I’m 21 years old, a recent Penn State grad, now on full-time staff with a college ministry called DiscipleMakers. I praise God for what He has done in my life. During my college years, God has helped me to know Him better by opening my eyes to the doctrines of grace and giving me a real heart to transform African-American culture. Today, I count myself as a fellow brother in the movement to bring Reformation to the predominantly African-American church. However, this wasn’t always the case…

My Story

I came from a culturally Christian family upbringing. I grew up in the black church, and like many in the black church today, found myself very frustrated and confused when it came to spiritual growth. I didn’t know what being a Christian really looked like. In high school, when I decided to accept Christ and live for Him, I desperately wanted instruction in the Word, so I began to seek out various television ministries. However, despite all of those things, I was still very unhappy. I did not feel fulfilled. I wanted a happy and prosperous life. After all isn’t that what true Christianity is all about—health, wealth, and making the rapture? That’s what all of the teachers that I listened to told me.

My life radically changed when I started college and got involved with the campus ministry, DiscipleMakers. In fact, my entire outlook on life changed. I learned what being a disciple of Christ truly meant. It meant seeking to become more like Christ in every area of my life. It meant being more pleased with my spiritual status of a co-heir with Christ, than my earthly status. Suddenly life became less about me and more about the Lord. I finally learned what was like to live the Christian life. I gained a real passion for evangelism and sought to counter the post-modern lies often engrained into students’ minds by professors.

During this time, I also learned another lesson. I realized that the predominantly black church never taught what I was learning in DiscipleMakers—discipleship and evangelism. I realized that Word of Faith theology, and liberation were major foci in the black church, and that the gospel and other historic doctrines of the faith were largely ignored.

In time God opened my eyes to the doctrines of grace and gave me a desire to share these biblical truths with others, especially those of my own culture. I realized that only the gospel will change black culture, and that we really need to shift the focus in black churches back towards the scriptures and the historic doctrines of the faith. Around the same time that I realized this, I met Pastor Lance Lewis of Christ Liberation Fellowship, and found out about the Council of Reforming Churches. I also began to read books like, On Being Black and Reformed by Anthony J. Carter and Reconciliation Blues by Edward Gilbreath. I developed a deeper passion of bringing Reformed doctrine to the black community and decided to give my life to advancing the Reformation of the Black Church. God has also given me a great passion for race relations, especially within the church. Another major vision of mine is to see black and white churches begin to work together and unify. My conviction is that without the help of white evangelicals, we will continue to see the perpetuation of racial division both in the church and in society.

My Vision

I am excited about my ministry with DiscipleMakers because it will give me opportunities to reach people from all over the world, including African-Americans. On Penn State’s campus, there is a tightly knit African-American community and there are many opportunities to reach this segment of the campus population. I have the unique opportunity to invest in students like myself—ones that may be from the inner city but have “beat the odds” and are in college. If God touched even a few of these students to affect their families and neighborhoods with the Gospel, as He has touched me, there is no telling what could happen! There is no doubt that Reformation is happening, and I will work to advance it in my ministry with DiscipleMakers.
How you can partner with me

If you have heart for missions and for seeing the Gospel transform culture, I want to talk to you. God has provided a wonderful opportunity through DiscipleMakers to see the Gospel influence the influencers—college graduates. I would like to speak with you to further explain my role with DiscipleMakers and how you can help support the advancements of God’s kingdom through the college campus. I’m excited about the opportunity God has given me to impact our culture and the world for Christ and I hope that you are too!

If you wish to contact me, my information is:

Benito Stallings
stallingsb@dm.org
215-870-6137

For more information about DiscipleMakers, visit www.dm.org. For more information about me, visit http://www.dm.org/about-us/find-us/by_staff/stallingsb.

Between Three Worlds - Prayer

2008-07-16T10:46:00.003-04:00

Previously in this series I outlined a brief case concerning reforming the black church. I did so not because I have all the answers, but because in my view the social/historical factors that helped shaped the black church has brought us to the point where it is badly in need of reform. I realize that this view is not shared by all but for those who do I now want to chart a course toward that reform. Of course I welcome your input so please feel free to comment on the blog or drop me a line.

Where do we begin? With prayer. While that would seem to be a no brainer I still think it’s important to emphasize the need to have prayer at the forefront of our movement. To begin, prayer acknowledges that God chooses to work His sovereign will in response to the prayers of His people. (see Matt. 6:9-10; Acts 4:23-31) Prayer also reminds us that despite all our effort it is God’s power, goodness and grace alone that changes hearts and expands His kingdom. The apostle Paul consistently asked the saints to pray for him and the mission God had called him to (Eph. 6:19; Col. 4:3 and 1 Thes. 5:25).

And in light of the continued degeneration of God’s church among black Americans (see T. Carter’s latest blog) it should be clear that prayer is crucial if were are to change the current mind and heartset of the black church. What should we pray for? There are a number of places to begin, but in light of our current crises I’ll start with the shepherds of God’s people. Taking Acts 20 as a guide let’s pray that the shepherds of God’s people will wake up and pay much closer attention to our lives and the those whom God has charged us with shepherding. What does it mean to pay attention to ourselves and ministry? Looking at Paul’s model of ministry in Acts 20 let’s pray that we will serve our Lord with complete humility. Pray that we will major on the core gospel issue of repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ. Pray that we will determine to teach through the scriptures in a biblical, systematic, comprehensive and Christ-focused manner. Pray that we will live upright lives of genuine holiness before all. And by all means pray that we will not use our calling and abuse God’s people by seeking to get rich.

Pray that we would realize the gravity of our calling by understanding that this is God’s own people purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. Pray that we will shepherd in the light of having to answer to Him for how we conducted our lives, taught His word and oversaw the spiritual needs of His people. Pray that we would care for and not abuse His people. Pray that we would stand against the savage wolves who only wish to abuse the flock for their own pride and pocketbook. Finally, pray that our Lord will raise up hundreds perhaps even thousands of shepherds who truly desire to lead His people, cultivate lives of holiness, teach the word and honor Him.

A second category of prayer concerns the black church’s and greater black community’s deliverance from the idols of materialism (see Col. 3:5), ease and comfort. There really is no other way to say it. Far too much of the black church and black community is actively worshiping (that is deriving our identity, dignity, destiny, meaning, worth and security) money and things. We’ve not only joined the American obsession with wealth and materialism but have actually brought it into the church and lifted it up as God to the extent that even the unsaved among our community believe that it is God’s express will and intent to make us wealthy. Pray that God would awaken our people to the foolishness of this idolatry and help us to realize that we really can’t serve two masters.

The third category of prayer is related to that. Pray that God would give us a strong desire to know, love and delight in Him as an end in and of itself. Pray that the goodness, love, beauty and glory of Jesus Christ would capture our hearts, minds, attention and affection.

Fourthly, pray that our churches and people would be concerned for the true truth of God for truth’s sake. Pray that our people would hear and pay attention to God’s truth about Himself, ourselves, sin, salvation, scripture, the Spirit, Jesus Christ, His church, suffering and other issues important in our walk with Him. According to Eph. 4 pray that we wouldn’t be blown back and forth by every so-called new move of God and that we would simply grow up.

Lastly, (but certainly not exhaustively since there is so much to pray for) pray for reform. Pray that the seeds of the reformation that have begun to sprout here and there among the black church would mushroom into a movement that will eventually see God’s truth which is centered in the gospel of Jesus Christ become the dominant theology in our churches and community for our good and His glory.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor lance

Why Obama?

2008-07-11T10:10:00.003-04:00

The Big E has posted an excellent and timely article on why many bible-believing black folks plan to vote for Senator Obama. You should read the article and then the comment by one of his elders that follows it. The article explains the thinking of most African-Americans regarding their vote while the comment expresses the feeling behind the vote.

I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it again. Despite what one might think of Senator Obama as a man, senator and presidential candidate I have to stress that within much of the black community this is ‘Incredible Hulk’ like big. And I don’t think I’m overstating the case in saying that many if not most black people 45 and under would consider this to be the single most important collective event in our lifetime.

That said I once again appeal for all believers to exercise care and wisdom concerning how we speak and the conclusions we draw. Take the time to read our brother’s article and the comment that follows. And then by God’s grace find a real (not virtual) person with which to discuss it.

Oh alright a chocolate chip cookie for the first one who can name the original ’Big E’.

To Him Who Loves Us..
Pastor lance

Rise of the Charismatics

2008-07-08T12:22:00.003-04:00

A few years ago my cousin commented that I sounded a lot like his pastor. I didn’t pay that much attention to that comment since from his youth my cousin has been and continues to be a die hard, straight up, no holds bard, shoutin Pentecostal with a capital ‘P’. When he told me that he recently moved his membership from one Pentecostal church to another, I have to admit that I didn’t take his pastoral comparison too seriously. Every so often he’d visit our church and say pretty much the same thing and after while I concluded that he was comparing the style not the content of our preaching.

But apparently my cousin was onto something else and insisted I meet with his pastor for lunch. I called, spoke with him and arranged to meet just so I could explain to my cuz, that though we sounded alike our content was quite dissimilar.
Well, once again I was wrong. Rev. Earl Wright is a straight up confessional 5 point Calvinist who also happens to be a reformed Pentecostal. Since meeting we’ve enjoyed great fellowship and even had a few worship services together. You can visit his churche's website here.

This coming weekend Pastor Earl is hosting the first annual Northeast Regional Conference of the Association of Reformed Charismatic Churches. I attended their national conference last year and can testify to the love these brothers and sisters have for God’s truth and our Pentecostal brothers. If you’re in the Philly area please consider attending the conference. The conference theme is ‘The Sovereign Grace of God’. I’m scheduled to speak on Sat. July 12th from Eze. 37. Even if you can’t attend please pray for the conference and for ACRC as they attempt to proclaim the doctrines of God’s grace to the growing number of Pentecostal and Charismatic evangelicals.

To Him Who Loves Us...
pastor lance

Back To Life... Back To Reality

2008-07-08T09:18:00.002-04:00

Hey all,

We're back. This time for good. I think. June was a busy month which included my cpu going down, our home internet going down, going to the PCA GA and finally returning from vacation last week. Speaking of vacation me and Sharon had a wonderful time at the Harvey Cedars Bible Conference and Retreat Center. We spent a week there with the saints and among the highlights were fitness walking with my wife, afternoon naps, playing Phase 10 with the saints and hearing from our brother Carl Trueman who did a spectacular job of relating the writings of some of the saints of old to the times in which they lived and then explaining their relevance for our lives and times. Carl also preached a timely message on what the gospel says about the character and nature of God for our Sunday morning worship. For families looking for an inexpensive yet fun-filled and spiritually enriching vacation Harvey Cedars is worth checking out.

From here on I'll be doing some catch up work. This weekend I'm speaking at a friends conference (more on that next post) and then hopefully will get back in stride.

Rested (somewhat)
pastor lance

Summer Reading Pt. II

2008-06-24T10:21:00.002-04:00

Tis the season for summer reading lists. And while I’m sure you’ve already filled out your list and may have even gotten underway allow me to whet your appetite for something just slightly off the beaten path.

These books are for those who want to explore the issues of ethnicity in this historic election year. Reading them could give all of us some insight into how and why bible believing African-Americans and white evangelicals view life and politics so differently. Should you take the time to read one or more of them please try to discuss it with a friend of a different ethnicity whose views on politics and ethnic relations differ from yours. Though these kinds of discussions can occur over the internet and within the blogosphere I don’t believe that virtual reality is the most effective way to work through these important issues. And in my view it’s these kinds of discussions that bible believing blacks and evangelical whites must have if we are to present an authentic counter-cultural movement in what is sure to be a most interesting election year summer.

With that said here’s to fruitful reading:

Our first choice is ‘God’s Long Summer’ by Charles Marsh. This book details the thought process and worldview of five individuals involved in the Civil Rights Struggle during the summer of 1964 in Mississippi. . You should pay special attention to the stories of Fannie Lou Hamer (a great woman of God) and Rev. Douglas Hudgins of First Baptist Church of Jackson MS.

The next work is ‘Divided By Faith’: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America by Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith. The authors who conducted 2000 phone interviews and 200 face to face interviews argue that evangelicals have a theological world view that makes it difficult for them to perceive systematic injustices in society. The book also contrasts the views of bible believing African-Americans and white evangelicals regarding the issue of ‘racialization’ which is an excellent term the authors use to describe the current socio/ethnic landscape in America.
What’s interesting about this book is the contrast of attitudes between blacks and whites toward ethnic issues that’s eerily similar to that of those held a generation ago.

Two fictional books by a non-evangelical add color (forgive the pun) to our list. I’m adding them because I believe they accurately capture the thinking of many black people regarding the current state of ethnic relations. In ‘And We Are Not Saved: The Elusive Quest For Racial Justice Derek Bell argues that whites have benefited far more than blacks from civil rights reform. Bell makes this charge in a series of metaphorical stories featuring mythical attorney Geneva Crenshaw. Faces At The Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism is a follow up to And We Are Not Saved. Once more through a series of fictional stories featuring Geneva Crenshaw Bell argues that racism is a permanent feature of American life.

The last two stories add a personal touch to the issues of ethnicity. ’Waking From The Dream’ chronicles Sam Fulwood's growing disillusionment with integration. Fulwood was born into a middle class black family at the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement and along with others of his generation truly believed that they would be the first to be judged on the content of their character. According to Fulwood however that was not the case. I suggest this because most black I know strongly resonate with Sam’s experience.

A companion of Sam’s book (though I’m sure it wasn’t intentional) Clarence Shuler’s ‘Winning The Race to Unity: Is Racial Reconciliation Really Working’ is his account of ethnicity while serving among various evangelical organizations. What’s interesting about Clarence’s book is how he and Sam Fulwood faced similar challenges and came to similar conclusions, one within the secular realm the other within evangelicalism.

Of course there are many others that are worth reading. I suggest these because of the insight I’ve gained from them and for the realistic way in which they tackle the issue of ethnic division.
Even if you don’t have the opportunity to read all of them please take the time to work through at least one or two and then set aside some time to talk with a friend about it.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor Lance

Summer Reading

2008-06-17T11:04:00.002-04:00

Well I’m back… sort of. I’m not returning to full post strength due to a week long speaking engagement coming up soon.
But have no fear because Crossway is here and they’ve brought the noise with three new books for your summer reading pleasure.

The first is 'Experiencing Truth' by our brother Anthony ’ATL’ Carter with contributions by ‘Iron’ Mike Leach and ‘Papa Bear’ Ken Jones.
ET presents the biblical basis for choosing and attending a church and even offers helpful wisdom on sermon preparation, a sermon outline and sample orders of worship. You can check it out as well as order by going here.

The next is ‘What Is A Healthy Church Member’ by our fellow elder Thabiti ‘Mix-Master’ Anyabwile. This is a sequel or companion to Mark Dever’s What Is a Healthy Church. Like its title this book will outline what a healthy church member is. Drop by here for more info.

Last, but most def not least our brother Eric ‘the veep’ Redmond asks and answers ‘Where Are All The Brothers' - Straight Answers to Men’s Questions about the Church. This work dives right into the reasons for why many African-American men don’t bother to darken the doors of our churches. More info is available here.

As you can see all of these crucial works touch on the God’s will and work through His church. And all will be of great help to those who love our Lord, His gospel and the church for whom He died. Praise the Lord that Crossway has partnered with these good and faithful men to address the needs and issues so important in today’s church and cultural context.

Please take the time to purchase, read and discuss these with your pastor, church members and especially with those you know of who’ve check out of church.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor lance

Out of Touch

2008-06-09T21:36:00.002-04:00

Hey all,

Recently I've been saddled with with a sick computer (I've been told it's the dreaded motherboard) and now with a trip to the PCA's annual general assembly I'll be out of touch for the next week or so. Lord willing I'll finish up the 'Between Three Worlds' series by the end of June. Until then stay cool... (I mean that... literally. . . drink lots of water, keep movement to a minimum, use the a/c and make sure you check on the older saints.

To Him Who Loves Us...
pastor lance

This Changes Everything

2008-06-04T11:27:00.003-04:00

A few years ago Dodge ran a series of commercials touting their new huge Ram truck with the tagline ‘This changes everything’. That may be how many Americans felt last night as Senator Barack Obama became the presumed presidential nominee of the Democratic party. There are a whole host of issues raised by his historic candidacy that I’m sure others will muse on until the cows come home. For starters I like what our fellow elder has done in tracing a brief historical timeline of Africans in America from the 1600’s until now.

For most this is an unprecedented historical occasion. A little more than forty years ago a man who looked exactly like Senator Obama wouldn’t have even been allowed to vote in many parts of this country let alone run for public office. Now as one who benefited from those who fought that injustice he stands on the brink of gaining the nation’s highest office.

Here are just a few thoughts on some of the potentially lasting changes that spring from Senator’s Obama’s historic run.

They begin with the country’s socio/ethnic landscape. There’s no doubt that Senator Obama’s run uncovered the lingering racism still present in America. However, the locus of that racism wasn’t found among those who identify themselves as politically conservative. Towards the end of the primary season white, working class democrats weren’t afraid to openly say that they would not vote for a black man simply on the basis that he is a black man. Yet, they might now be in the minority within the democratic party. Senator Obama has drawn many younger, well educated whites into the process and these whites are just as enthusiastic (if not more so) for Barack than his African-American supporters. And if you got a chance to watch his speech in Minneapolis last night I’m sure you noticed the authentic diversity of the crowd. Should he win in November and then subsequently in 2012 Senator Obama presidency could the most significant event in American ethnic history. I say this because Obama’s presidency could begin a process of bringing together a stronger and more lasting coalition of African-Americans and whites.

Another potential long-term change that could be effected by Senator Obama is his affect on young, white evangelicals. Unlike their parents or even older siblings it appears that young, white evangelicals could see themselves voting for this liberal democrat. The reasons for that are many, but just last night as I spoke with my son about these events he mentioned one of his school friends who comes from a solid evangelical home (his father is a pastor in a conservative evangelical denomination) is straight up for Obama.

A third change is related to the first. Most of you know that when Senator Obama began his campaign he received a less than eager response from many African-Americans. The black Civil rights establishment was solidly behind Senator Clinton and many black folks wondered out loud if Barack was black enough. It was only after his strong win in Iowa that his stock went up within the black community. And its in Obama that many African-Americans see the possibility that they, their sons and their daughters might finally feel welcome in America. For most black people this is a big deal and a subject that warrants a full discussion of its own. Suffice it to say that since the Civil Rights movement African-Americans for the most part have felt that though we were admitted we still weren’t welcome in America. Now, true integration which only recently seemed only to be a pipe dream to most black folks might appear to be a reality worth pursuing.

Finally (for now) Senator Obama’s candidacy could present some unique challenges for white evangelicals and black bible believing Christians. And trust me, if you thought (though didn’t understand) that African-American believers loved the Clintons (true, not anymore) you have no idea of the deep emotional connection they feel towards Barack Obama. My guess is that the overwhelming majority of black believers will vote for and support him with relish. However, their support will be contrasted with the disdain that many evangelicals have for him. And thus while an Obama administration might actually work toward bringing white and black non-believers into a closer more integrated relationship it might actually do the opposite for white and black believers. How can we prevent this from happening?

We can do so by remembering that ultimately our citizenship is in heaven and we serve and submit to a glorious, eternal king and not a temporary president. We can remember that despite our differences we are still one Father’s children bound to love, worship with, pray for and serve each other. We can keep in mind that many of our white evangelical brothers and sisters have grave concerns over the direction of the country and while they may not have anything personal against Senator Obama they do fear what his administration might mean for America. That said we must also keep in view that many black bible believing Christians look at Senator Obama, then look at their children and communities and see the possibility of a world different than the one they came of age in.

Dearly loved ones in Christ, before we get into the heat of a campaign in which things are said about candidates and those who support them that are unkind, unwise and ungodly let’s take a deep breath, and remember that God, not the republicans or democrats control history, this country and our destiny. His will, will be done, His kingdom will roll on and His King our living Lord Jesus Christ will reign to the very ends of the universe for the praise of His glory and His glory alone.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor Lance

Between Three Worlds - Battlestations!

2008-05-30T19:03:00.003-04:00

"Now when it comes down to religion and I'm finished with this. When it comes down to religion it's all about God. But God is not of any one religion. HE CANNOT BE. Religion is really like glasses that we wear on our eyes. This pair of glasses that I have on I wear them because I see best out of them… I see best out of them. If you put my glasses on you cannot see out of my glasses. I am a Christian because it is the Christian faith that allows me to see God best out of my eyes. My brother is a Muslim because he sees God best out of his eyes. It's how we see God. . . and its one common thread that runs through all faiths and all religions and that is the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of all mankind. We are here today because we are of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of all men".

This is just one of the challenges facing the black church and black community today. It is a dual threat that involves a denial of the central message of scripture which is God’s saving work of His people through the person and work of Jesus Christ along with the exaltation of a religious system that pushes Christ to the margins and enthrones ethnicity into the center. Like other threats to the black church and black community this one does not have a specific correlation within the predominant culture. It’s therefore an issue that is not usually addressed by evangelicals. This is why many black reformed brothers and sisters see a definite need and call to bring reform to the black church and black community. Most of us have no desire to further ethnic division and we most certainly don’t wish to begin a new black reformed church. We do acknowledge that God’s providential activity among our people calls for us to pointedly address the issues that have sprung from that activity.

I’ve already mentioned what I believe is the main threat to biblical Christianity within the black community, namely the wild popularity of prosperity theology. As I wrote previously prosperity theology is akin to a neo-liberalism with the black church and community. It is a theology in that it defines (or redefines) the church’s historic convictions regarding revelation, scripture, God, mankind, sin, salvation, Jesus Christ, the atonement, the Holy Spirit, the church etc. In doing so 21st century prosperity theology has trod the same path of 20th century liberalism. It seeks to be viewed as authentic biblical Christianity while in fact being a completely different religion.

A third threat to the historic black church and by extension to authentic biblical faith continuing within the African-American community is related to the quote that began this post. Its seeds are in the nature of the historical black church’s development in general and in its role in leading the struggle for civil rights in particular. The intensity of the Civil Rights struggle led many black congregations and pastors to view the gospel through the lens of human civil rights. For these churches the central message of scripture and therefore God’s main agenda was to secure civil rights for the poor, oppressed and marginalized. It would be a mistake to confuse this view with Black Liberation Theology. That’s because these churches and their pastors did not feel that God was on the side of black people just because they were black. Rather they held to the conviction that it was the black church’s mission to side with any group that suffered injustice and furthermore that the main mission of the black church was to press for civil rights for all.

The continuing and in some areas growing presence of the Nation of Islam though not spoken of much is in my view another serious threat to the continued presence and influence of biblical faith in the greater African-American community. NOI has gained a foothold in many of our cities just as the hypocrisy produced by theology prosperity has taken off in black America. Think of how it must look to young black men who see and hear of how members of ‘the nation’ look out for the local community while the local church just looks to move out. What can we say when Muslim’s appear to emphasize modesty, discipline and community while we wrap our lives around material excess all in Jesus‘ name?

A fifth factor which impresses many black reformed brothers and sisters to impact our people and culture is the gross tribalization of the living God. By this I mean that many (perhaps far too many) in the black community view the Covenant Lord of scripture as no more than a local tribal deity whose main priority is to grant us a life of overall happiness and well being. This view of God was acted out (literally) on a popular television show that featured four African-American friends. In one episode the character apparently believes she’s found the man of her dreams and then following some sex in the suburbs with him got up from the bed, got down on her knees and thanked the Lord for being so good to her and sending her such happiness. Remember this is happening at the exact time when the prosperity gospel is the dominant theology of many if not most regular church going African-Americans.

But there is at least one more thing that must be mentioned. Whether it’s the politicized social gospel of the historic black church, the Black Liberation Theology of a small (yet at times vocal) segment of the black church or the over the top health and wealth theology of some of today’s black mega-churches and their mini-wannabes the tie that binds them together is the centrality of the needs, wishes and idols of black people. Though they may have taken different paths to get there each is intent on leading the black church and by extension black people down the road to idolatry.

Dearly loved ones in Christ it is my view (and I recognize that I’m just one man) that for the first time in our four hundred year history on these shores the black church may be in serious danger of losing our witness to the black community. We may actually be the generation that looks back and wonders what happened when the black community in which we were born and nurtured has little if any resemblance of genuine biblical faith, worship and practice. We have pastors who openly deny the exclusive person and work of the Lord who bought us with His own blood, charlatans who without conscience take from the poor to enrich themselves and the pied pipers of a false religion given time and space to spout their rebellion from our pulpits!

But we also have Jesus Christ the Lord of glory, Lord of the gospel and Lord of His church. We have the word of God which is still sharper than any double-edged sword. We have the real power of the Holy Spirit who can and is still giving new life to those dead in sin. And we have God the Father who has caused us to look over this new valley of dry bones so that by His grace and power He might use us to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ so that His church can once more stand on scripture alone and declare that men and women are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone for God’s glory alone.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor Lance

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Go Mike Go!

2008-05-28T13:28:00.005-04:00

By most measures and certainly in my humble opinion Philadelphia’s new mayor Michael Nutter has done an outstanding job of leading our city in his first few months in office. Does that mean that things have taken a dramatic turn for the better and our problems are now behind us? No, of course not. But in my view it does mean that that the man charged with leading our city is doing a good job of doing just that leading. By leading I mean that Mayor Nutter is setting a pace for what we can do and what our city can become as we glide into the second decade of this century.

Haven’t we recently made the news for the cowardly murder of a police officer and then subsequent video of a gross act of police brutality? Yes we have and in both instances our mayor and his chosen police commissioner showed the kind of leadership that keeps a city together and moving forward instead of once more breaking down into our own ghettoized camps.

Mike’s latest move is to grant a tax credit for those businesses willing to hire ex-convicts. Like most large cities Philadelphia has high crime problem coupled with overcrowded prisons. Most ex-offenders have a great deal of trouble finding gainful employment once they’re released and thus far too many end up right back in prison. Mayor Nutter recognized that there were some businesses who had stepped out on the limb to hire these men and decided to encourage them and others to do so. And the way the math is looking it may cost half as much to grant this tax credit as it does to house a returning inmate for one year. Now that’s what I call good, just and wise government. Does that mean that the mayor in particular and government in general ‘can solve all our problems’. Nope, not by a long shot. However I do believe it shows that government can do a good job in working with society’s other institutions to improve the quality of life for all.

Now if only hizzoner can land us a major sports championship. Patience grasshoppers…. patience.

Peace
Pastor lance

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Between Three Worlds - Looking Back To Leap Forward Pt. 2

2008-05-28T10:12:00.002-04:00

Well… I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on Jesus… I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on the Lord… I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on Jesus, halleluj, halleluj, hallelujah!

Well… I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on freedom… I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on freedom… I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on freedom, halleluj, halluluj, hallulujah!

The songs from the souls of black folk testified to the influence the black church had on our agenda from the time of slavery.

The black church had forged its leadership role among our people and culture through the fires of slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow and Red Summer. It was during those times that our bishops, pastors, preachers, deacons, deaconess and church mothers exhorted us to keep our minds and hearts stayed on Jesus. And we did so knowing that in a world where we had little and could expect less Jesus was all we had and having Him was enough indeed. But soon after WWII the winds of providence started to change and the church that had nurtured the souls of black folks began to organize us into an army to take on the most powerful nation in the world for the simple right to live as free people in the land of our birth. And so for a short time we switched a few of the words to some of our old songs not as way of pushing Jesus to the side but to alert the world that whether we won basic civil rights or not we would do so as the people of the living God.

Influence can be a double edged sword however. In my view the church led struggle for civil rights was the God ordained, right and just thing to do. It was a proper and wise use of the influence the black church had with the African-American community in particular and the general society at large. It also allowed the black church to speak to some profound theological issues that the evangelical church had chosen to ignore. And despite the black church’s flaws at that time it is my view that they led our people and this nation well at a time when things could have gone extremely worse. Yet with that in mind we must remember that the church that can lead its people and culture into a fuller grasp of God's kingdom can also lead it astray into the waiting arms of ever present cultural idols.

The end of the Civil Rights Movements found the black church somewhat at a loss. For one, there no longer was a single overriding enemy that had set itself against the progress of African-Americans. Beyond that the decade of the 70’s was the first time in American history where African-Americans could actually dream of making some real gains within American society. The possibility of genuine integration made reliance on the church less of a priority for many African-Americans. It’s possible that many believed a new era had dawned in which black people would achieve significant integration within the next decade or two thus permanently changing the way we related to our church. Consequently, as the greater black community wandered through the socio/cultural wilderness of the 70’s and 80’s the black church seems to have lost its prime place in setting the agenda for the black community.

The Million Man March called by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan in Oct. of 1995 appeared to be the climatic event that spelled the final eclipse of the black church as the de facto leader of the (greater) African-American community. Here was a man who not only came from an entirely different religion, but was able to garner the widespread support of the greater black community including many of its church leaders! But if the black church was down it was most definitely by no means out. Farrakhan and his potential widespread and lasting influence dissipated like the morning dew of a hot Mississippi summer morning. In its wake a new group of church leaders began generating a new movement that caught the attention of and once more set the tone and agenda of the greater black community. And now what are we singing you ask?

Well I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on blessing… I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on success… I woke up this morning with my mind stayed on blessing, halleluj, halleluj, hallelujah!

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor Lance

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Pulling Teeth

2008-05-23T13:29:00.003-04:00

Hey fam,

Now I remember why I hated visiting the dentist as a child. Anyway having had a few teeth removed this past week I’ve been laying low while on the mend. Lord willing I’ll pick up next week and finish up the series before going to the PCA’s general assembly in June.

Meanwhile here are a few pieces worth checking out for our mutual edification.

Brother Duncan has been reading and then writing about A.W. Tozer.

Lionel Woods had some timely and insightful posts concerning a young black reformed man’s dilemma.

Anthony Carter is taking us on a trip to Glory Road and listing some of the significant books and preachers who influenced some of the contributors to this upcoming book.

Finally, brother Scotty Williams tells us why it’s time to put Black Liberation Theology on the scrap heap.

Between Three Worlds - Looking Back to Leap Forward Pt. 1

2008-05-20T09:26:00.002-04:00

Before moving forward it may be helpful to give a brief review. Following this I hope to lay out the case for a purposeful, active and sustained effort to impact the black church and black community with biblically reformed theology. I do this however with the desire to maintain our press toward gospel based and fueled unity across ethnic lines.

As I said in a previous post I’m neither a historian nor the son of a historian. To that let me add that I’m neither a sociologist nor the son of one. And as much as I’d like to examine any number of trends related to our subject I simply don’t have the time to delve into all of it. Lord willing this can be part of an ongoing dialogue among those who are eager to deliver the faith once delivered to the saints wherever and to whomever our Lord will take us.

WWII ended with America a superpower leading a new technologically driven world. The nature of the war and its aftermath solidified America as a country which now had to take a leading role in foreign affairs. Thus for the first time in its history the USA added a distinct global foreign component to its sense of mission. No longer would the USA confine itself to the Monroe Doctrine and Teddy Roosevelt’s dictum to walk softly and carry a big stick both of which mainly focused America’s activity in the Western hemisphere. Now the US had to check and counter the Soviet Union, help rebuild Europe, keep an eye on far east Asia, and become engaged with lands, peoples and cultures that few Americans ever heard of let alone knew much about. Consequently, the governments top priority on the foreign front was checking Soviet Communism and spreading free market capitalism.

Domestically American policy concentrated on expanding the nation’s wealth to a growing middle class so that they could enjoy the blessings of liberty. American prosperity, progress and the middle-income lifestyle was an important tool in the fight against communism. Consequently, cultivating and promoting free market capitalism on the domestic front was seen as government’s top priority. Of course the political and economic segregation and oppression of its substantial black population presented a huge challenge to America’s overall leadership. However while that must be mentioned it’s not the focus of these musings. The focus is on the black church, how it developed following WWII and why its development has generated an urgent need for reform.

America’s new agenda was embraced by all of its major institutions. Obviously the political institutions were united in fighting communism and ensuring prosperity even if the major political parties disagreed on how to do so. In fact it’s fairly safe to say that it was America’s political institutions that set the tone and agenda for the American people. The country’s other institutions followed the political lead. Commercially, American businesses raced full speed ahead to make and sell goods at home and abroad. Academically, American education stressed the value of education to propel the economy and outdo the Soviets. And last but by no means least the evangelical church provided the necessary moral approval to America’s fight against communism and economic progress at home. While the evangelical church’s contribution was important they could not lay claim to setting the pace for American society nor for that matter were they the main voice within the dominant culture’s religious conversation.

That was not so for America’s parallel church that served its parallel culture. Except for the church African-Americans had no strong institutional structures to set its agenda nor give voice to our cause. Though other institutions existed and did some remarkable work the history and nature of American society prevented their full growth within the greater black community. Thus it was left to the historic black church to take a role within the black community and culture that evangelicals could perhaps only dream of.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor Lance

Between Three Worlds - A New Thing

2008-05-12T12:38:00.004-04:00

It’s 2008 and you awaken from the your coma to a flurry of fleeting media attention and visits by dozens of family and friends thanking God that your back. After doing a bit of catch up (you believe it when told the Birds still haven’t won a Superbowl but are convinced the fam is just playing with this talk about a black man on the precipice of the presidency) you ask about church. ‘How’s Holy Mt. Zion and pastor Jones?‘ The saints exchange glances with one another before one of them is designated to tell you ‘new thing’ God is doing. She begins by breaking the news that pastor Jones went home to be with the Lord in 1989. You listen patiently as she explains how the church had a ‘wilderness’ experience until God sent a young man to pastor the church. No matter, once cleared by your doctors you prepare for your first service of worship in almost 30 years.

Riding to church with friends and family you notice that Holy Mt. Zion has moved. The grand stone building that served the working class community for years was vacated when the church moved into new digs located in an industrial park across town. That’s not all that’s changed though. Pulling up to the new edifice you notice something. The church formerly known as Holy Mt. Zion Pentecostal Church is now Empowering Destiny Christian Center pastored by Apostle Johnson. You sit through the service and while some things are the same there’s also much that’s different. Although you have a lot of questions you keep them to yourself and continue to attend for several weeks.

Finally, after ‘special’ evening service that left you particularly perplexed the questions just start pouring out to those riding home with you. First you want to know why the church changed it’s name and why the new name has nothing to do with holiness. And though you like some of the new music, how did the service come to resemble one long loud gospel concert. You also want to know why the offering is such a big deal in the service now. Why is it you ask that we must recite a mantra to ‘speak our blessing into existence’ before sowing our seed.

And then there is ‘apostle’ Johnson. While you certainly want to support the man of God you wonder out loud why the ‘apostle’ needs three luxury cars and lives so far away from the church. And his messages have you completely confused and it’s not just his style. From your point of view though apostle Johnson uses the same terms employed by pastor Jones the meanings of the terms have changed drastically. It seems that before salvation was a journey from this world to the next in which victory was seen as moving to higher levels of holiness. Now salvation is preached as experiencing a sensational successful life here and now and victory is the absence of any pain, trial or tribulation. You look at your friends waiting for an answer and the only reply is ‘God is doing a new thing’. You then sink back in your seat wishing that God had stuck with the old things.

How did prosperity theology move from the fringe to occupy a central place within the black church? The reasons are many but they go back to the place the black church has played among the greater black community for centuries. First and foremost these churches captured the hearts of black folks by retaining a worship focus that spoke to black folks common desire to reaffirm our humanity. The black expression of worship has always a balm to the wounded souls of African-Americans. It helped reaffirm that we were people, created in God’s image and loved and accepted by Him. The black church by and large didn’t teach that we were accepted by the Lord because we were black, but it did confirm that unlike our experience in America we weren’t rejected just because we were black. It was as if in the black expression of worship God was saying ‘I created you black, I want you to be black and I accept the blackness of your humanity by being tangibly present in your worship.’ The new health and wealth churches latched onto old style Pentecostal worship and while making some crucial changes retained its open, emotional expressiveness that spoke so deeply to so many African-Americans.

The other reason prosperity appealed to black people was that it provided the theological basis and justification for the growing black middle class to maintain their focus and drive for material wealth and success. The historic black church had long assured African-Americans that God would never leave them or forsake them. That He was a very present help in the time of trouble. The church exhorted black people to wait on the Lord for though He may not come when we want Him to He’s always on time. These kinds of phrases and sermons sprung from a theology that believed that though life was hard and at times harsh, trials weren’t abnormal for God’s people. In fact many a time we heard that if there is no cross there can be no crown.

Prosperity theology changed that however by declaring that all believers including black folks were kings kids who need not live beneath their privilege by experiencing life’s ordinary difficulties and challenges. Moving beyond that prosperity theology taught that black people along with other believers were commanded by God to live in abundance in everyway. Not only were believers like other people the crown of God’s creation, they were destined to lead lives of incredible blessing if they would just walk in faith. But it goes deeper than that, much deeper. Prosperity theology (and don’t get it twisted this is a theology with distinct views on scripture, the nature of God, mankind, sin, salvation, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, salvation and the atonement) appeals to our innate pride by declaring that we are like God in that we too can create our own reality. Moreover it’s a theology that tells us that our desires, dreams, ambitions, prosperity, comfort and achievement are central to God’s agenda and kingdom. Whereas survival and progress in the face of racism was the emphasis the traditional black church, success and prosperity is the message of much of the black church today.

And for that reason brothers and sisters it is badly in need of reform.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor Lance

Between Three Worlds - It's Friday But Sunday's Comin'

2008-05-09T10:22:00.005-04:00

Imagine being an old school Pentecostal who lapsed into a coma in 1980. Up till that time you remember attending Holy Zion Pentecostal church faithfully at least twice and perhaps three times a week. You recall how the choir sang the souls of the saints happy as you broke out in shouting and dancing to praise the goodness of your Lord. You remember the times of testimony where the saints gave honor to God, our beloved bishop, the pastor, first lady, ministers, mothers of the church, deacons, trustees and of course saints and friends. They then thanked the Lord for the little things, praising him for a reasonable portion of health, strength, the activity of their limbs, being in their right mind and always ending by asking the saints to pray their strength in the Lord.

And then there was the preaching. The pastor read a passage, gave his title and began the message in a paced, deliberate manner. Along with everyone else you listened attentively as shepherd and saints began their weekly journey into the call and response of God’s word. At first there was a stray ’well’ here and brief ’amen’ there. As the message progressed these grew slightly louder and more frequent until finally the minister said something that struck a chord leading someone to exclaim ’talk about it sah’! The preacher then moved through the message speaking of the glories of God’s power, character and wondrous miracles taking the time to tell us of how He created the world in six days, saved Israel through Gideon and his three hundred, delivered Goliath into the hands of a shepherd boy armed with just fives smooth stones and walked in the fiery furnace with three brave Hebrew boys.

By this time the message is reaching a fever pitch with much of the church shouting amen continuously. And then it happens. The preacher says ‘oh I feel my help coming on now’. The organist takes the cue, mans his station and provides the necessary back up. He then begins to talk about you and your situation. Your stress, problems, pain and confusion. He assures you that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is your God too. He preaches in such a way that you know that the God walked with Moses through the wilderness, led Joshua to conquer the city of Jericho, whispered to Elijah in the cleft of the rock, went before Esther into the king and healed proud Namaan of leprosy is with you too.

The preacher tells you that God sits high and looks low. And to prove it he wound down (or should I say up) by speaking of Mary’s little baby Jesus who came down forty and two generations. Jesus who walked up and down the shores of Galilee, turned water into wine, fed the five thousand, walked on water and healed blind Bartimaeus. He says that you too can know of Jesus’ power to heal and deliver just like the woman who had the issue of blood. The sermon now is at a frenzy as the preacher said that if we would but touch the hem of his garment we can be healed and freed. Now the place is a wreck. Everybody’s on their feet shouting, praising and some crying. The message ends with the pastor telling the saints that your times may be dark and seemingly hopeless but that’s alright. Because the crucifixion was also a dark and apparently hopeless time as the sinless Son of God died for our sins. But the grave couldn’t hold him he tells us. For early one Sunday morning He got up from the grave with all power in His hands. Don't worry he says, it may be Friday but Sunday's coming. The message ends with a crescendo of praise as the Hammond B-3 rages like a carnival, the choir belts out one last song and the saints fill the air and the church aisles with their praises.

Whatever was going on in your life before you came through the door now seems small and as light as a feather. The God who created the world and everything it in six days and then raised Jesus from the dead on the third day is with you. Whatever it is you know that He will work it out. While filing out with the rest of the saints you tell a friend ‘pastor sure did preach today.’

Now that was church, or at least how you remembered it.

Stay Tuned
Pastor Lance

A Prayer For the City

2008-05-09T09:05:00.004-04:00

The City of Brotherly Love has had a long history of tense relations between its police department and the African-American community. These relations however only mirror those which exist between our black and white communities. Tensions reached a boiling point recently when a police officer was attacked and murdered by a bank robber who wielded a weapon similar to an AK-47. Few if any words can adequately express the grief this public servant’s wife, three children, siblings, neighbors and fellow officers must endure now. This was followed a several police officers caught on tape punching and kicking three suspects following a short chase through North Philadelphia. Sadly in an all too often repeat of our city’s past these incidents ripped open the tense ethnic atmosphere we’ve endured for multiple decades.

For those who aren’t familiar with our past and present it’s pretty much true that Philadelphia is not one city but at least three and possibly more. One city consists of long time working class whites descended from ethnic immigrants who came to America in successive waves in the past two centuries. Added to this are a mixture of working class African-Americans who descend from those who in the early 1920’s and 30’s moved to northern cities in droves to escape the crushing weight of southern racism. The new kids on the block are the mostly young, white urban professionals who have resettled center city and its surrounding neighborhoods. We mainly live in our own sections and among our own kind. And even where there is surface diversity it can by no means be defined as integration.

For the most part we stay out of each others way and rarely live as one city except for major sports happenings like a World Series or Superbowl appearance. That one exception was the election of Mayor Michael Nutter who was chosen by an overwhelming majority of Philadelphians from all three groups. And our mayor, the police department and our city could use your prayers right now. There have been reports of increased police brutality against African-American men and some within the black community have voiced a concern that the police have declared open season on black males. Most everyone is sick and tired with the crime, guns and violence in the city and we want something done about it.

From where I sit there are no easy answers to the dilemma we face. The fears, suspicions, mistrust, misgivings and hostility that’s infected the soul of Philly hasn’t diminished in years and appears only to be growing worse. So please pray that the church of the living God becomes an actual light in this present darkness that inflicts our city. By God’s grace there are churches that represent all three groups. Pray that we’d come together and with humility and grace demonstrate the power of God’s glorious gospel to bring harmony out of hostility. And when you see or hear a news report about us please take just a few moments and say a prayer for the city.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor Lance

Two Cities - Two Conferences

2008-05-07T12:31:00.005-04:00

It’s that time again. The New Life Bible Conference is literally right around the corner. Can you believe it’s May already? This year’s theme is ‘What Difference does the Gospel Make’ from the book of Galatians. The speakers are Thabiti Anyabwile, Anthony Carter and Sherard Burns. The conference is from June 19th to the 21st. So if your still sulking over your team's playoff loss don’t worry. Jet out to Chitown, relieve the days of MJ and by all means get yo grace on with Galatians.

Looking a bit further down the road the Miami Pastor’s Conference is gearing up to be another blessed time. And considering how bad the Fins were last year it’s probably the only thing worth checking out in Jiggytown this Fall. This year’s speakers will include Rev. Mike Campbell and Rev. Voddie Baucham. The conference is from Nov. 6-8 so lock in that prime air fare now.

Finally, please pray for these conferences, the pastors and churches who hosts them (our good brothers Louis Love Jr. of New Life Church of Vernon Hills and Ricky Armstrong of Glendale Baptist Church) those who will speak and those who attend that all will be enriched by God’s word, the fellowship of the saints and the mission to impact our communities with the gospel of God’s grace in Jesus Christ.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor Lance

Between Three Worlds - Name It and Claim It

2008-05-06T09:45:00.002-04:00

So what’s all the fuss with Rev. Jeremiah Wright? Well it’s not the prevalence of his theology within the black church. And that’s somewhat odd. In a country that had just fought the war to end all wars to end totalitarianism black people were still literally the odd man out. Politically the government stood by several states that maintained a strict system of Jim Crow laws that affected nearly every aspect of black life. Commercially black people were systematically cut out and left behind as other Americans thrived with good jobs that afforded middle class lifestyles. Academically the country that opened the school day with prayer to the One who made all people from one man was quite comfortable with schools that were segregated and most definitely unequal. Socially housing and lending patterns assured that African-Americans would remain segregated in all black neighborhoods. And religiously evangelical churches all across the nation would read from Paul’s injunction regarding our common communion from 1 Cor. 11 and then proceed to violate the spirit and letter of the words by forbidding communion and membership to their brothers and sisters solely on the basis of the color of the their skin.

Against all this black people had one faithful and diligent ally namely the black church. It was this church that would lead the battle into the classrooms, lunch counters and courtrooms to seek equal rights under the law for people created in God’s image and blessed to be born in America. The 1960’s brought a number of changes to this struggle one of which was the black power movement. It was in the midst of the Civil Rights struggle and the black power movement that became an offshoot of that struggle that Dr. James Cone published his landmark books ‘Black Theology and Black Power’ and ‘A Black Theology of Liberation’. It could be that Dr. Cone though that the black church needed to adjust to the times much like liberal theologians earlier in the 20th century believed the white church needed to adjust to modernism. And in light of the presence of the Nation of Islam and the general treatment of most African-Americans by their native land one could have easily thought that Black Liberation Theology would initiate a new wave of black churches bound together by our common experience and new ethno-centric theology.

But that did not happen. Apart from anomalies like TUCC most black churches do not adhere to Black Liberation Theology. Why is that? There are many reasons that I don’t want to get into here. Suffice it to say that if you were to talk with the average African-American church member whether he or she is Methodist, Baptist or Pentecostal the theology espoused would be more in line with Dr. Frederick K. Price than Dr. Jeremiah Wright.

What we know as prosperity theology has been around since soon after the church of the risen Savior began. Paul warned Timothy of those who preached a message in which godliness was a means to material wealth. (see 1Tim. 6) In America this theology began to gain traction around the 1920’s. Many black folks were exposed to this kind of theology by Rev. Ike whose radio ministry reached its peak in the 1970’s. Perhaps because of his time Rev. Ike always stood on the outside of the mainstream black church. It wasn’t until African-Americans actually began to move into the middle class in larger numbers that prosperity theology really took off within the black church. And in many ways it is now the dominant theology among the black church and within the black community. Unlike Black Liberation theology the prosperity gospel didn’t arise and remain mainly among the academy. It captured the hearts and minds of a new generation of black pastors who began or revamped churches based on this theology of worldly success and wealth.

But just how did this brand of theology that was still on the fringe up to the mid to late eighties come to dominate the black church scene? More on that next time.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor Lance

Between Three Worlds - Our Story

2008-05-02T15:46:00.003-04:00

By the end of WWII several strands of American Protestantism were evident on the religious landscape. Among them were the classical evangelicals identified by David Wells in his latest book ‘The Courage To Be Protestant’. Another group of Protestants who exerted a significant influence in America (and in some ways a much more significant than classical evangelicals) was the black bible believing church. This group mainly consisted of black Baptist and Methodist though others participated as well.

Most of us are aware that the struggle for Civil Rights was the critical issue that occupied the greater Black church following WWII. There are a number of reasons for this that I can’t get into now though there are a few things that are worth a mention regarding some of the differences between classical evangelicals and the traditional black bible believing church. Unlike the mainline church from whom evangelicals formed the traditional black church did not have a great struggle against liberalism. When you live as an oppressed minority at the whims of a capricious and at times terrorist majority you learn to hold on to a God who sits high and looks low.

Your theology revolves around the God who created the world in six days, parted the Red Sea, broke down the walls of Jericho, empowered David to slay Goliath and rescued the three Hebrew boys from the fiery furnace. Moreover, you can only find comfort, healing and hope in a Savior who was born of the virgin, cast out demons, unstopped deaf ears, opened the eyes of blind Bartimaeus, fed the five thousand and though crucified got up early one Sunday morning. But even more than that you need to know that this God’s power and immanence has not changed one iota. You want to serve the One who is the same today, yesterday and forever. Though He may not come when you want Him to you’re convinced that He’s always on time. You want and need a God who is still a lawyer in the courtroom and a doctor in the sickroom. You look forward to a literal heaven, a real mansion, streets of gold and place where everyday will be Sunday.
The god of liberalism could never have worked in the early to mid century black church. For such a god could never have protected and preserved the souls of black folk against the onslaught of racism.

Another major difference between classical evangelicalism and the bible believing black church concerned the timing of each bodies ‘worship wars’. By the time WWII ended the black church had long since made the transition from the use of mainly hymns and spirituals to what I’ll call classic gospel music. This not only meant that in general black church services were much more upbeat and expressive than our white counterparts, but also and even more importantly the black church was much more open to accepting and incorporating progressive changes in gospel music into the worship service. This meant among other things that the black church that worshiped to the sounds of the Caravan’s and James Cleveland in the 60’s had little or no problem switching to the Hawkins family in the 70’s, the Winans and Richard Smallwood in the 80’s, Fred Hammond and Kirk Franklin in the 90’s and Israel and New Breed in the 21st century all while keeping their Hammond B-3 as the centerpiece of their music.

What does all this have to do with the price of tea in China? Firstly, the black church worship style allowed it to be a Tran generational church. Thus the African-American teen who walked away from the church in 66 could return to that very same church in 86 and not lament the fact that the service and music was old fashioned and out of touch. Nor did they feel a need to establish their own kind of church for their own generation. Consequently, the traditional black church never saw a need to reinvent itself in order to capture a new constituency who thought it was out of touch and irrelevant.

Secondly, as long as black folks struggled with and against racism whether overt or covert the black church saw itself in one way or another as assisting in and/or leading that struggle. The church therefore still cultivated and promoted a theology of God in which He was powerful, sovereign and immanent in the cause of empowering African-Americans to fight against racism and its effects. These two factors then, worship and mission allowed the black church to remain fairly relevant to the black community without having to change its basic approach to scripture or structure.

But then something happened. Something that the pillars of the traditional black church did not see coming. More on that next time.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor Lance

Between Three Worlds - History

2008-05-01T11:21:00.002-04:00

In his book ‘The Courage To Be Protestant’ author David Wells describes three distinct groups of evangelicals who represent much evangelicalism from the middle of the last century to the dawn of the present one. The first group are the classical evangelicals led by good brothers like John Stott, Carl Henry, J.I. Packer and Billy Graham. These brothers and the movement they nurtured were mainly defined by the crucial biblical truths they held to as the world emerged from the second world war. The second group he calls the marketers. As you might have guessed this group represented by brothers such as Bill Hybels and Rick Warren viewed the church differently and focused more on church growth and the means thereof. The third group he calls the emergents. I’m sure many of us are familiar with these brothers who may define themselves as part of the postmodern youth culture in America.

As with his other books brother Wells does a fantastic job in describing the issues and impact these movements have had on the evangelical church and then charts a course for those who wish to promote historic biblical faith in a contemporary context. But this is not a review of the book which by the way I highly recommend and even quoted from last week during a sermon. I did want to use our brother’s categories to provide some historical background to my thought process regarding impacting the black church and community with reformed theology while at the same time striving to maintain the gospel based unity of God’s church across ethnic lines. I’ve entitled this short series of posts ‘Between Three Worlds’ and here’s why.

It seems as though I inhabit three distinct yet intersecting worlds. I am first and foremost a blood bought believer in Jesus Christ. My primary identity therefore is with Him who loved me and freed me from my sins by His blood. Consequently, my identify, mission, agenda and destiny are mainly and intimately tied to my Lord, Shepherd, King and Savior Jesus Christ. I am also a 21st century mono-cultural American. By that I mean that I’m for and promote a representative democratic form of government. I prefer to live in a free enterprise capitalistic economic system and value individual rights with corresponding responsibilities. I also enjoy sophisticated technology, real football and Dunkin Donuts (perhaps too much). And yet with all that I am a black man coming from a people who through God’s providence have developed into a distinct people group with our own history, church and issues that are different from many other Americans.

Ok back to the book. The three groups of evangelicals describe by Dr. Wells roughly correspond to the three groups of people they sought to serve with the gospel. The classical evangelical church mainly served the post WWII builder generation who through government intervention began to move from the central cities into the suburbs. This was the generation that began to build up a great deal of the nation’s wealth and started to grow into the large middle class we have today. They also initiated the American baby boom. And it was the first two generations of that boom who began to grow weary of and eventually checked out of their parents churches. In came brothers like Hybels and Warren who marketed a different kind of church to these boomers. Their techniques caught on and from about the mid seventies to late 90’s the market driven boomer church eclipsed the older evangelical church. The children of the second gen boomers have now emerged from the shadows of their parents churches wanting something different. These are the Seinfeld/Friends folks who like living in central cities and want a different kind of experience than their parents contemporary churches. Many of them now populate the new emergent church movement.

Before I end please let me beg your indulgence as I’m neither a historian nor the son of a historian. I’ve painted with a broad brush and certainly failed to fill in some necessary gaps. I only wanted to show how much of the present day effort of the reformed evangelical camp represented by good brothers like Wells, conferences like T4G and PCRT and church movements like the PCA, Sovereign Grace, Acts 29 and many among the SBC focus on the first two worlds. What about the last? Well that will have to wait until the next post.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor Lance

Between Three Worlds

2008-04-30T14:43:00.004-04:00

We live in a society in which identity in one way or the other touches everything. And that has been no more evident that in the current presidential campaign. A couple of weeks ago our brother Thabiti Anyabwile gave a powerful sermon on our identity in Christ at the T4G conference. Our fellow elder challenged God’s people to accept the biblical reality that we’re all descended from one man and in him all make up one race. He then went on to speak on how those in Christ are now one new people and therefore basically we should get on with the business of living like it.

I’m sure all of us who heard the message were encouraged and challenged to think or re-think our approach to people and mission. The message particularly challenged me in regards to what I believe was a central aspect of my calling. Ever since studying and embracing reformed theology nearly twenty years ago I’ve been convinced that God wanted me to take these truths to the black church and black community. And since I was sure that our Lord’s primary vehicle to introduce His gospel and disciple His people was through the local church I was certain that He wanted to me to plant a black reformed church. By black reformed church it was my intention start a fellowship which would draw from the cultural heritage of the historic black church and marry that culture with the reformed truths I’d embraced. However, it’s important to be up front and note that any church that sought to feature historic black church experience would appeal mainly to African-Americans and by default exclude most people from other ethnicities. I say by default because whether we admit it or not many of us factor in a given church’s culture when deciding on where to worship.

But here’s the question. Should I have sought to do that in the first place? No matter how benign my intentions were should I have planted a church that specifically targeted souls based on their ethnicity? In doing so did I contribute to the sin of using the church to highlight existing ethnic differences? My thoughts dwell on the way to pursue authentically biblical ministry, serve the subculture that I came out of while at the same time striving for the unity of the faith. For instance should I seek to write books, hold conferences and start or revitalize churches that focus on the issues prevalent in the African-American church and community? More than that, since the issues presented by the black church and community are so different than those faced by others should a whole movement be designed to impact the black church and community with authentic biblical theology and practice? If it did so and was ‘successful’ would the result be another ethnically based church and would that be right? Yet if we don’t go this route what are some alternatives to addressing things like prosperity theology, black liberation theology, the nation of Islam and the confused sacred/secular enmeshment of the black community? Mercy, it ain't easy living between three worlds!

Lastly, I need to end by thanking God for brother Thabiti, his message and his continuing ministry to God’s church. I also want to thank our Lord for the saints at First Baptist of GC and for brothers like Kevin Smith of Pinelands PCA, Reddit Andrew of Soaring Oaks PCA, Mike Campbell of Redeemer PCA of Jackson, Irwyn Ince of City of Hope in Columbia MD and the many other African-American pastors who intentionally sought to serve at mainly white congregations. These brothers are showing us that the body of Christ can stand unified in the face of our persistent ethnic tensions. And their congregations are demonstrating to our culture that white people can and have submitted to black leadership and are willing to invite a black man into one of the most intimate relationships of their lives, namely that of pastor and parishioner. No matter how these things shake out we would do well to pray for and highlight these examples of the gracious power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

To Him Who Loves Us…
Pastor Lance