When did the art of pleasant conversation and open dialogue end? Every national news item — it seems — sparks vitriol that demands an alignment in one political camp or the other, one race or the other, or one sexual orientation or the other. I am afraid we have lost the ability to exchange ideas, to communicate freely, to learn from one another. To celebrate our differences rather than condemn them. Passionate speech and polite speech are not incompatible.

But I am afraid to speak, for fear my words are misinterpreted. I am afraid to write, lest my writing not encourage the thoughtful conversation I intended, but provoke a hateful backlash. Is it no longer possible to have civil discourse?

I am afraid to laugh, for fear my laughter is misconstrued. Can’t I both laugh at Tina Fey’s ‘‘Saturday Night Live’’ sheet-caking stunt, for example, as well as at Chad Prather’s “Unapologetically Southern” YouTube videos? At political cartoons of both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times? Or is humor no longer funny, only hateful? Can’t we laugh at ourselves anymore, at our own hypocrisies? We all have them. I’m afraid we no longer recognize that; we are blinded by our self-interest.

I am afraid of social media. Facebook has unfortunately turned into a forum where, other than the annual birthday wish or mundane vacation photo, posts are filled with inflammatory opinions and commentary-as-fact with the self-righteous, ignorant replies that follow. Mob mentality sets in and people post things they would never say to your face. Hurtful — hateful — things.

Free speech is not the same thing as kind speech, uplifting speech, or frankly, intelligent speech. Nor should honest disagreement be labeled hate speech. Unfortunately, much speech today is designed to shut down the conversation by labeling one’s opponent — are they really an opponent? — a bigot, or by declaring they have no moral standing even to join the conversation. That is coercion, intimidation and bullying no matter which side is doing it. That makes me very afraid.

I am afraid when I see fellow Christians deciding that following politics is more important than following the Ten Commandments. When they opt for strict party affiliation over and above “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Mark 12:31, KJV). And when they decide it is expedient to legislate hate, discrimination and economic disparity while ignoring inconvenient moral issues like poverty and health care. What happened to being Jesus to those around us?

Rod Dreher, in his timely book “The Benedict Option,” notes that political victory does not vitiate the vice of hypocrisy. The socially liberal churches are just as guilty of blindly aligning with the Democratic Party as the fundamentalists are with the Republican Party. Could it be that Jesus understood this when he said, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21, KJV)?

I am afraid our clumsy, partisan involvement has resulted in a political environment increasingly hostile to the very real — and very Christian — charitable work of the church. We must redirect our gaze outside our church walls and into our increasingly diverse and desperate communities. Putting our faith to work on the ground speaks volumes and accomplishes so much more than legislating selective moral conformity.

It often takes a crisis — a disaster? — to bring the country together to work for the common good. Perhaps Hurricane Harvey will accomplish that. It appears to be doing so; I just hope it lasts.

Dreher wrote, “The state will not be able to care for all human needs in the future, especially if the current projections of growing economic inequality prove accurate.” Christians need to rediscover an ethic that marries personal responsibility with intentional charity and corporate love and respect. I fear we may have drifted too far to do so.

But I am afraid not to try.

Reprinted with permission of The Lufkin Daily News.

Sid Roberts is a radiation oncologist at the Arthur Temple Sr. Regional Cancer Center in Lufkin. Previous columns may be found at srob61.blogspot.com.

For 17 years, Danny Pickens has served as the director of missions for the Smith Baptist Association in Tyler, Texas. From deep in the heart of one Texan, he shares his background and thoughts on church and ministry. To suggest a Baptist General Convention of Texas-affiliated leader to be featured in this column, or to apply to be featured yourself, click here. 

Background

Where else have you worked, and what were your positions?

• Director of Church Services, Smith Baptist Association
• Associate Pastor, FBC Canton, Texas
• Associate Pastor, FBC Hallsville, Texas
• Minister of Youth, FBC Kilgore, Texas
• Minister of Youth, Southern Oaks Baptist, Tyler, Texas
• Minister of Youth, FBC Hallsville, Texas
• Minister of Youth, FBC Winona, Texas

Where did you grow up?

I was raised in El Paso but moved to Tyler in 1969. I have lived in and around Tyler since 1969.

How did you come to faith in Christ?

I attended a youth rally at First Christian Church in Tyler where I heard a Christian comedian. Although I was a church member, I realized that night that I had not asked for forgiveness and had not repented. I knelt that night and, with the help of a counselor, asked Christ to come into my life and heart.

Where were you educated, and what degrees did you receive?

• 1984 East Texas Baptist College: Bachelor of Arts
• 1995 Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary: Master of Arts in Religious Education
• 2003 Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary: Doctor of Educational Ministries

Ministry/Profession

Why do you feel called to your particular vocation?

I love people and I love missions. The Director of Missions position allows me to do both! My ministry to and with pastors and staff in effect multiplies my gifts and talents by the number of ministers I assist. The opportunity to expose people to missions around the world is a true joy. Traveling and sharing the gospel with those less fortunate than us is a priority in my ministry.

Please tell us about your association—where it’s located, the key focus of its work and ministry, etc.

Smith Baptist Association is located in Tyler, Texas. We dropped the word “County” from our name years ago because we extend to neighboring counties as well. Currently, we have churches in Smith, Cherokee, Wood and Van Zandt counties. We serve 90 churches and missions. One of the key focuses of our ministry is that of the Baptist Student Ministry. We have two campuses in Tyler and feel called to provide for both. We also have a strong Hispanic and African American ministry within our Association. We help churches participate in local missions, home missions and foreign missions when possible.

What do you like best about leading your association? Why?

SBA is one of the best Associations in the state (in my opinion). Our pastors work together in harmony to carry out missions and ministry.

What aspect(s) of associational ministry and/or its mission do you wish more people understood?

I wish people understood the role of the Association as one of equipping for the churches. We exist to “equip and serve our member churches.” That does not mean we lord over them or tell them what to do but rather help them in all things. We stand ready to do whatever we can to help them “fulfill the Great Commission” and be the best church possible.

How has your association and its mission changed since you began your career?

In the beginning, the Association was primarily focused on programs. Today, we are more focused on missions and ministry. We seldom come up with or promote a program of our own but rather help churches to carry out their own ministry through their own programing. We have “church first” philosophy, meaning that we want what is best for the church and we will do all we can to help them.

How do you expect your association and/or its mission to change in the next 10 to 20 years?

I wish I knew! I do know that the Association will have to continue to morph and adapt. It must remain relevant to the ministry of the churches and staff. It must be a resource and help. It must not think that just because it exists that it will be supported financially by churches.

Name the three most significant challenges and/or influences facing your association.

1. Involvement of younger people.
2. Peace among the churches in spite of Baptist politics.
3. Continued ministry that is relevant and useful to our churches.

What one aspect of your job gives you the greatest joy or fulfillment?

That one is easy. Exposing staff and laypeople to foreign missions. There is something about participating in a mission trip for the first time that changes people. They come back with a renewed sense of purpose, with a love for missions, with a desire to educate others about the need for missions and with a desire to fund missions.

About Baptists

What are the key issues—opportunities and/or challenges—facing Baptist churches?

Revitalization of dying churches is and will be a challenge for years to come.

About Danny

Who were/are your mentors, and how did/do they influence you?

I was influenced early on by my pastor, Dr. R. S. Crawford (Southern Oaks, Tyler), by my youth minister, Pete Parnell (Southern Oaks, Tyler), by Kirby McGuire (former DOM, Smith Baptist Association), and by a pastor I served with on two occasions, Bro. John Taylor (FBC Hallsville). Each of these men provided a godly example for me and mentored me in various ways. Each has left an indelible mark on my life. I will forever be grateful to them for how they influenced my ministry.

What is your favorite Bible verse or passage? Why?

Galatians 2:20 is one of my favorites! I am not the person I used to be, I have been “crucified with Christ!” Micah 6:8 is another favorite.

Who is your favorite Bible character, other than Jesus? Why?

The Apostle Paul: such a missionary, such a mentor, such an example of a Christ-like life!

Name something about you that would surprise people who know you well.

I am mildly OCD. That leads to an obsession with whatever hobby I am currently pursuing. Whether it is falconry, photography, stamp collecting, coin collecting, hiking, woodworking, etc. I do it to the fullest extent possible. This often turns a hobby into an obsession.

If you could get one “do over” in your career, what would it be, and why?

I would be a missionary much earlier in life. I feel I missed a great opportunity as a young man to enter the mission field. I did not surrender to the ministry until I was 27, I was married and with two small children. By the time I finished my education, I felt it was too late to go to the mission field in a foreign land. However, God saw to it that I was able to do missions by bringing me to my current position, for which I am eternally grateful.

Bonus

Write and answer a question you wish we had asked.

What is your favorite hobby?

I love falconry and photography. I have done both for over 30 years.

Somewhere in the mists of time, it got a label that stuck: “Sneak-a-Preach.” That’s when a church leader — usually a pastor — uses any element of worship that’s not supposed to be a sermon to insert a mini-sermon anyway. Most often, this happens in a prayer.

You may also be acquainted with a related phenomenon I’ll label “Sneak-An-Announcement.” That’s when the pastor has forgotten to make an important announcement and thus slips it in the benediction or some other prayer during worship. Like this: “And Lord, please bless the youth who will gather here at the church at 9:30 Saturday morning for their trip to Six Flags with $15 each for lunch money and a ride home around 9 p.m.”

We can laugh about announcements not-so-subtly stuffed into a prayer because the act is so obvious. But theologically, I have a greater problem with the sermon inserted into corporate prayer because it demonstrates a lack of thoughtfulness about the role of prayer in worship and denies the congregation a voice in prayer. This appears to be an increasing phenomenon in the Christian church today.

Read the rest of this article at Baptist News Global.

The church needs to be more digital. For small churches especially, the digital world can level the playing field, giving us a broader reach and wider ministry impact.

As I wrote in The Gatekeepers are Gone: What’s Holding Your Ministry Back?, we need more churches taking advantage of online services, podcasts, livestreaming, social media, blogging, you name it.

Online church is not just necessary, it’s important, even essential. The speed, convenience and world-wide reach of the internet is a wonderful tool. The digital world is a great place to network about faith.

But church will never be entirely digital.

Read the rest of this article at Christianity Today.

WACO (RNS)—Among sociologists of religion, few names are as revered—and controversial—as Rodney Stark, co-director of Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion.

Stark has written 150 scholarly articles and 32 books in 17 languages, and he never shies away from controversy. In 2010, for example, he wrote a book defending the Crusades as a “justifiable response to a strong and determined foe.”

Most recently, Stark penned Why God: Explaining Religious Phenomena. He explains why faith is a universal feature of human societies, and he argues against emerging theories that any system of belief about the meaning of life can be considered “religion.” That term must necessarily include a belief in a God or gods, Stark says.

Because of his immense influence, I decided to chat with this venerable thinker. While he didn’t technically ask me to get off his lawn, his answers possess the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Here, I ask Stark about the definition of religion, the nature of atheism and the benefit of heresy. His answers are illuminating, hilarious and exactly as blunt as you’d expect them to be.

What’s your definition of religion and how is it unique?

My definition isn’t unique—it is the definition every sensible person applies to religion. It differs only from the very odd and biased definitions applied by the dominant, anti-religious social scientists who exclude any mention of god or the gods from their definitions. That is, I define religion as systems of thought offering a general explanation of being or existence, predicated on the assumption that there is a God (or gods).

You insist that God is required for a system of thought to be a religion. What do you say to people who claim that atheism is its own form of religion? Or people who talk about “the religion of science”?

To say these are forms of religion may be apt as recognitions of the “true believer” outlook that some people invest in atheism or science, but it blurs vital differences among them. The village atheist is not merely in a different “denomination” than is the village priest.

Why is religion a universal feature of human societies?

Because people, even in very early societies, always wonder how did this all come to be?

You say that none of the three great “monotheistic religions”—Judaism, Christianity and Islam—are purely monotheistic. Can you explain what you mean?

While each of these faiths posits the existence of a supreme God of unlimited scope, they also assert the existence of lesser supernatural beings, including Satan.

Many nonreligious people say that religion is, overall, a social ill. What say you?

That they are wrong.

Does religion serve to sustain the moral order?

Yes. There is a huge body of research showing that religious people are less likely to commit crime and that the more religious a community, the lower its crime rate.

Contrary to popular belief, you show that it’s people of privilege, rather than suffering masses, that launch new religious movements. Talk about that.

Throughout history, most, and probably all, new religions have been initiated by people of privilege because they have the leisure to focus on existential concerns and often find the conventional answers to these matters insufficient. They thereby suffer from “spiritual deprivation.” Somehow, social scientists remain convinced that religion is the “opium of the people,” and ignore the obvious — such as that Methodism was not founded in the slums of London, but by young men at Oxford.

Why do most new religious movements fail?

Because they grow so slowly that the founders lose heart.

Religion is often seen as a force to promote one system of thought over all others. But you think religion can actually promote pluralism. How so?

Of course, most religious groups would set themselves up as a monopoly if they could. But this is impossible unless the power of the state can be enlisted to force all competing faiths to submit. Why? Because there always is a considerable variation in the religious preferences of members of a population. Hence, the “natural” (if not the usual) religious situation is pluralism.

You say that an insufficient image of God contributes to the failure of religious institutions, using mainline Protestantism as an example. But I’ve heard many sociologists say that mainline’s decline has been similar to evangelicalism when you account for differing birthrates. How do you respond?

Nonsense! Solid data show that the rapid decline of the liberal mainline in America was not a matter of differential birthrates. People left those denominations and joined more conservative bodies. Eventually, the liberal denominations have had low fertility rates because younger people had left.

“Heresy” has become a dirty word for many conservatives today. Why do you say that “the truly interesting and important revelations are heretical, or at least very innovative”?

From the point of view of history, revelations that merely confirm the existing faith are not very significant because nothing much happens as a result. It is when someone gets revelations that are different, and thereby “heretical,” that there can be social consequences such as the founding of a new religion.

What are the religious movements in America today that are the greatest forces for social good, in your opinion?

That is a slippery slope onto which I shall not venture.

Which religious movements in America are the most socially destructive, in your opinion?

Same as above.

Jonathan Merritt is senior columnist for Religion News Service and a contributing writer for The Atlantic. He has published more than 2500 articles in outlets like USA Today, The Week, Buzzfeed and National Journal. Jonathan is author of “Jesus is Better Than You Imagined” and “A Faith of Our Own: Following Jesus Beyond the Culture Wars.” He resides in Brooklyn, NY.  Religion News Service published his column. RNS columns are direct-published opinion pieces. They are not always edited and reflect the views only of the author.

Last week, Texas experienced the worst disaster in its history. Nineteen trillion gallons of water fell over the southeastern portion of Texas. Houston and its surrounding areas were inundated with over 50 inches of rainfall, and 30,000 people were displaced.

Recovery costs will be in the hundreds of billions of dollars, and the process of rebuilding will take years, if not decades. The situation is grim, but Texans everywhere, and Texas Baptists in particular, have shown readiness to take on this task of nearly unimaginable proportions.

Relief problems

Unfortunately, a “second disaster” comes after most major events like Hurricane Harvey.

Relief workers use this phrase to describe the rush of unhelpful donations that stream into disaster-affected areas, creating more problems than they solve. Items one thinks would be helpful after a disaster become a disaster in their own right.

Literal tons of used clothing, toys, household goods and other items are given to agencies that don’t have the time or manpower to sort, organize and clean these things. All of these unusable donations subsequently either clog already limited storage spaces or are destroyed.

After Hurricane Mitch ripped through Honduras in 1998, supply planes couldn’t land because runways had become piled with boxes of used clothing donated by well-meaning Americans. I’m sure not a few of those boxes preventing supply planes from landing were donated by well-meaning churches.

‘More harm than good’

According to disaster relief experts, donating any physical goods that haven’t been specifically called for by a local relief organization almost always does more harm than good, with used clothing being the worst offender. At best, these items overwhelm relief workers who need to spend time and resources elsewhere. At worst, it actively impedes ongoing relief efforts, as was the case in Honduras.

As my fellow columnist Zac Harrel reminded us last week, we have a responsibility to help our brothers and sisters in disaster-affected areas. We must, however, do this well. When we send goods and donations that haven’t been specifically asked for, we do harm, not good.

What does Houston need from us, then?

The best gift

Our money.

In times of disaster and recovery, money is desperately needed more than almost any physical good. Money given to the right organization can become food for the hungry, clothing for the needy, shelter for the homeless, medicine for the sick and so on, and all without requiring hours of volunteer work sorting through boxes.

Money is essential to recovery efforts, especially for a disaster the size of Hurricane Harvey. Used clothing, teddy bears, and random goods may correspond to things victims have lost, but a post-hurricane city simply doesn’t have the means of matching goods to people in need.  

Myles Werntz gave some great guidelines last week for responsible and effective giving, especially in the context of your local church. Responsible and effective giving is what Houston needs right now.

We Texas Baptists have a huge task in front of us as thousands of our brothers and sisters are in dire need. Giving used clothes or spare items we don’t need any more isn’t real giving — it’s making ourselves feel that we’ve helped without actually sacrificing anything. Giving that helps others is giving that disadvantages ourselves.

Houston needs our dollars. Houston needs the time of those of us with particular skills and training (if this is you, or you would like it to be, join the Texas Baptist Men). Even if the intentions are good, Houston doesn’t need our used clothing. Our giving must match the need.

Let’s avoid the second disaster. Let’s not burden relief workers in Houston with goods they didn’t ask for or need. Let’s really help Houston rebuild. This will take the sacrificial giving of our money, time and abilities, but Texas Baptists aren’t known for backing down from a challenge.

Jake Raabe is a student at Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary in Waco, Texas and a writer. Follow him on his Facebook page.

In his 1988 essay, “God and Country,” the Kentucky farmer, writer and prophet Wendell Berry takes aim at the institutional church for a variety of offenses. It’s a proper jeremiad, a polemic against his perennial enemy, “the economy,” and in service of his larger point, Berry states a truth so profound and convicting that it’s hung firmly in my mind since I first read it several years ago.

Berry writes of “the practice, again common in the churches of my experience, of using the rural ministry as a training ground for young ministers and as a means of subsidizing their education. No church official, apparently, sees any logical, much less any spiritual, problem in sending young people to minister to country churches before they have, according to their institutional superiors, become eligible to be ministers.”

Most churches within a hundred miles of an academic institution of their particular denominational stripe will be instantly familiar with Berry’s gripe. When I interviewed at one such church shortly after completing my seminary degree and commented on the legacy of that congregation in training up fresh pastors over the years, I was met with a similar degree of enthusiasm as Berry expresses in his essay.

They wanted to have good pastors, not just make them.

None called to stay

Berry goes on to describe the conventional wisdom of denominational leaders in less than kind terms: “The country people will be used to educate ministers for the benefit of city people (in wealthier churches) who, obviously, are thought more deserving of educated ministers.”

And though he doesn’t blame the individual young ministers for their participation in this system, he does note that “in the more than fifty years that I have known my own rural community, many student ministers have been ‘called’ to serve in its churches, but not one has ever been ‘called’ to stay.”

These words struck me like a sledgehammer, and I’ve often reflected on them in the course of my few years serving the people of rural Crowell, Texas, in my first pastorate.

Stepping stone?

The traditional trajectory for a young pastor like myself is to treat a community and church like Crowell as a stepping stone to ever bigger, wealthier urban or suburban churches. But I don’t believe that bigger is necessarily better, or that urban is superior to rural.

I want to be “called to stay” in my small church in my rural community. Churches like mine deserve good pastors too, and I hope to be one for them.

But conventional wisdom considers that a lack of ambition, even a waste of good talent. Conventional wisdom considers my time in Crowell a resume builder and learning period at best, and though neither of those things in themselves is bad, the simple fact that they are given foremost attention in the big picture strikes me as antithetical to the gospel of Jesus Christ and insulting to the fine people of Foard County and other similar communities.

Now, by challenging the notion that small communities and their churches are undervalued as places of service and worship, I don’t mean to suggest that ministry to cities through big churches is correspondingly bereft of value. Neither Wendell Berry nor I approve of that sentiment.

In the middle of his argument, he pauses to state that “not all ministers should be country ministers, just as not all people should be country people.” And yet there is a need to promote smaller communities and churches as a good in themselves, and not only as a training ground for the bigger and urban.

Consider small churches

Jesus spent his ministry traveling in and out of small communities and was himself reviled on different occasions for his rural roots. Now, certainly, he also taught at the Temple in Jerusalem, but that was not his primary place of ministry. The Sermon on the Mount was delivered in the wilderness. The ten lepers were cleansed in the borderlands of Samaria. He commissioned his disciples to go from the urban center of Jerusalem to the “ends of the earth.”

It’s in that spirit that I call on pastors to consider small and rural churches when the Lord leads you toward your next transition.

It’s in that spirit that I call my sisters and brothers in the faith to visit the small church on the corner before starting membership classes at the big McChurch downtown when they move to a new community.

It’s in that spirit that I implore denominational leadership, Bible colleges and seminaries to champion the small and rural churches in their outlying areas as places where God is especially at work.

Teach our young ministers that these are places to love and serve for more than two years at a time and that the fullness of life can be experienced and enjoyed in these communities. Continue to encourage them to serve the local church in all kinds of paid and unpaid roles while they’re training for ministry careers, but remind them that those local churches are not just ministry labs for experimentation or short-term places to work until they get a real call.

They are themselves the full manifestation of the church of Jesus Christ, and service in those places is eternal in scope.

Chris McLain is the pastor of First Baptist Church in Crowell, Texas.

Travis Bundrick is the director of Strategic Church Solutions for the Williamson Baptist Association located in Georgetown, Texas. Formerly the associate director, he has served as director for five years. From deep in the heart of one Texan, he shares his background and thoughts on church and ministry. To suggest a Baptist General Convention of Texas-affiliated leader to be featured in this column, or to apply to be featured yourself, click here. 

Background

Where else have you worked, and what were your positions?

I served for thirty years on various church staff teams as associate pastor, minister of education/administration and executive pastor. In addition, I served as dean of adult education at Dallas Baptist University

Where did you grow up?

Everywhere. My dad was career United States Air Force. Growing up, I lived in Colorado, New Jersey, Panama, Louisiana and Texas.

How did you come to faith in Christ?

The spirit of God drew me to Christ through the example and words of a great family, a Sunday school teacher and VBS. I can still remember as an 11-year-old boy, after talking with my parents about a lesson in Sunday school, going into my room alone and kneeling to ask Jesus to become “boss” of my life!

Where were you educated, and what degrees did you receive?

I received an associate degree from Angelina College in Lufkin, Texas, a B.S. in education/history from Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches and my M.A. in religious education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.

Ministry/Profession

Why do you feel called to your particular vocation?

I am passionate about assisting churches to become healthy, vibrant forces to share the grace of Jesus Christ and develop believers holistically to be his servants.

Please tell us about your association—where it’s located, the key focus of its work and ministry, etc.

My association is a collaborative network of individuals, churches and organizations serving together as partners in ministry to reveal Christ, primarily in the Central Texas region.

We are seeking to become catalysts cultivating change for vibrant life in all domains of life. We accomplish this through a very streamlined and strategic structure focusing on planting churches, developing people and discovering solutions. We are proud of our Baptist roots and affirm our distinctive/historical Baptist freedoms, but we are open to any Christian entity becoming a partner in any geographic area.

We are proud of our Baptist roots and affirm our distinctive/historical Baptist freedoms, but we are open to any Christian entity becoming a partner in any geographic area.

What do you like best about leading your association? Why?

I enjoy working with such wonderful people and encouraging each to become who God created them to be and then to help develop them with skills to do what he has called them to do. I like guiding them in soul care, spiritual formation, leading self and serving in their church or organization effectively. I love our diversity and willingness to work with other kingdom groups.

What aspect(s) of associational ministry and/or its mission do you wish more people understood?

I hope more and more people from various denominations and backgrounds will be open to joining with us in our work

How has your association and its mission changed since you began your career?

Oh my — it has changed in many ways. We believe that for “associations” to retain their value, they must constantly be in a “change” mode. We have changed our name, geographic boundary, financial structure, sources of income, operational structure, titles and core ministries. We have streamlined hoping to do three things very well instead of several things so-so.

We have moved from primarily being one aspect of the “denominational structure” that worked so well in the ’50s through ’80s to an independent nonprofit affiliated and connected to several groups, denominations and networks. We are currently praying through the idea of selling our facility to increase funds for church starting. Change will happen, and we try and manage it strategically.

How do you expect your association and/or its mission to change in the next 10 to 20 years?

I think we must become more and more of a collaborative network brought together by a common purpose more so than belief statements, as important as those will continue to be.

Name the three most significant challenges and/or influences facing your association.

Continuing to change in the right way at the right time in order to remain healthy in most relationships with our existing partners. In addition, building multiple sources of income will be pivotal and leveraging our own strengths to forge ahead.

What one aspect of your job gives you the greatest joy or fulfillment?

Guiding ministers to become healthy and holistic in their approach to all of life. Spending time with them as a guide who helps them discover on their own what God is doing to create in them a Christ-like character.

About Baptists

What are the key issues—opportunities and/or challenges—facing Baptist churches?

Learning how to navigate the complexities of our changing world in grace and truth. Finding ways to help people hear and understand our distinctive of freedoms without going through the lens of our methodology.

What are the key issues facing Baptists as a people or denomination?

It is tough being one of our denominational leaders. I pray often for them to be able to lead us into “new realities in new wineskins.” We must streamline, simplify and learn to operate strategically as opposed to tactically or reactively — easier said than done.

What would you change about the Baptist denomination—state, nation or local?

I would emphasize our freedoms — soul freedom, church freedom, Bible freedom and religious freedom — more and build ministries at every level around them as opposed to programs, even though I love programs!

About Travis

Who were/are your mentors, and how did/do they influence you?

My mentors have been many, but people like Harry Piland, Bernie Spooner and Lawrence Klempnauer mentored me in the past, for which I am forever grateful. More recently, people like Clint Anderson, Drayton McLane and David Crosby have mentored me.

These people took the time to “be” with me and invest in me. They were never too busy. They cared about me first, the ministry second. Each in their own way provided me with “learning opportunities” in ministry that I will never forget. All gave me honest feedback full of grace, even when I didn’t want to hear it, that helped me grow personally and professionally.

Other than the Bible, name some of your favorite books or authors, and explain why.

Dallas Willard, John Ortberg, David Crosby, Warren Wiersbe, A.W. Tozer and Dr. Seuss. Each of these have the gift of speaking truth through their writing that speaks to my soul, helps me think and moves me closer to what is important in life.

What is your favorite Bible verse or passage? Why?

I love the “abiding” chapter in John 15 and the “equipping” chapter found in Ephesians 4. My favorite verses would be Colossians 1:9–14. We must learn the discipline of abiding in Christ in order to live out the equipping ministry in order to produce the results described in Colossians 1.

Who is your favorite Bible character, other than Jesus? Why?

Zaccheus: despite his limitations, he found a way to see what he could not see!

Name something about you that would surprise people who know you well.

I love musicals.

If you could get one “do over” in your career, what would it be, and why?

I would have earned my doctor of education degree while serving at Dallas Baptist University.

Write and answer a question you wish we had asked.

What is another one of your passions? I am an advocate for the education, protection and conservation of the Box turtle.

Americans are abandoning religion in droves.

That’s the clear takeaway from two crucially important polls released earlier this week — one from the Public Religion Research Institute and another from the Pew Research Center.

The Pew poll shows that since 2012 the share of Americans who describe themselves as “spiritual but not religious” has surged from 19 percent to 27 percent, while the share of those who call themselves “religious and spiritual” has declined from 59 percent to 48 percent. That’s a dramatic change for a mere five years, and it builds on longer-term trends.

The PRRI poll, which is far more ambitious, places the Pew findings in a broader context, showing that white Christians now comprise less than half of the population; that the relative size of the white evangelical Protestant, white mainline Protestant, and white Catholic populations is declining rapidly; that 24 percent of the country is religiously unaffiliated; that the share of young people (aged 18-29) in that unchurched group is 38 percent; and that nearly all of the growth in the numbers of the religiously unaffiliated has taken place since the early 1990s, when their share of the population consistently averaged a comparatively paltry 8 percent.

Add up the findings and assume current trends continue and we’re left with a picture of the United States as a country in which established religious traditions and institutions are in sharp decline — and therefore in which culture and politics are rapidly secularizing.

Read the rest of this article at The Week.

Amazon was founded in 1994 as a better way to buy books. Now, as the world’s largest online retailer, Amazon is a leader in pioneering innovative technologies that continue to revolutionize how consumers purchase everything from laundry soap to expensive fine art.

So why did this innovative company that leverages the benefits of not maintaining a traditional retail footprint recently seek to acquire Whole Foods Market for $13.7 billion? Isn’t Amazon aware of the challenges that a brick-and-mortar existence poses to entities ranging from shopping malls to churches?

Perhaps Amazon knows something that churches don’t.

Read the rest of this article at Duke Divinity’s Faith & Leadership.

Kevin Kim Wright is minister of education at The Riverside Church in New York City.

WASHINGTON (RNS) — Small businesses — those with fewer than 50 workers — already pay, on average, more than $11,000 per employee per year because of federal regulations. Now, city officials in East Lansing, Mich., are adding a new burden: Anyone wishing to do business in their town must toe the (city) line on politically correct beliefs.

Specifically, they’ve made compliance with their views on gay marriage a new “cost of doing business.”

City officials saw a Facebook exchange in which Steve Tennes said that his family couldn’t host same-sex weddings on their farm, Country Mill, because such ceremonies are inconsistent with their deeply held beliefs about marriage. The officials promptly banned Country Mill from the city’s farmers market, where Tennes had been selling his fresh produce since 2010.

Steve and his wife, Bridget, have never discriminated on the basis of sexual orientation. They have sold their produce to — and hired — people who identify as LGBT. They didn’t treat anyone differently because of their sexual orientation, but they believe that marriage is between one man and one woman and don’t want to violate their consciences.

Nor should they have to. When the Supreme Court redefined marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that the traditional view of marriage was based on “decent and honorable premises.” He added that no one should be disparaged for holding those beliefs. But, the city of East Lansing has done exactly that, misusing Obergefell to justify punishment of the Tennes family for their beliefs.

The Supreme Court’s decision was about the obligations of state governments. It didn’t give governments carte blanche to force farmers, bakers, florists and photographers to host or celebrate same-sex weddings.

What we see in East Lansing is an overly aggressive local government targeting a small business because of a difference of opinion. The clear evidence of this is the lack of a complaint from any customer alleging any actual harm by Country Mill, because there was none.

Which is why the Tennes family is going to court this week over its lawsuit against East Lansing.

Steve and Bridget both served in the U.S. military. When they left to start running a farm, they never expected that the government they served would punish them for their religious beliefs.

By all accounts, Country Mill had been a model vendor at the East Lansing market, graciously serving all customers. But when officials saw the Facebook post, they discouraged Country Mill from coming to the market, hinting there might be protests.

Steve and Bridget weren’t deterred, so the city then drafted a policy to exclude Country Mill from the market. The policy treats sexual orientation as a protected class, something federal civil rights law does not do.

The policy also applies not just to what happens at the farmers market, but to how business owners operate anywhere in the state. East Lansing is overreaching beyond its own jurisdiction — violating Michigan’s “Home Rule City Act” to punish Country Mill, which is 22 miles outside of East Lansing.

The new cost of doing business is high. “It’s a major financial burden to be shut out and excluded from the farmers market,” Steve Tennes says.

Kate Anderson, an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom who represents the family, said the city’s message is clear: “We can hurt your livelihood if you don’t ascribe to a belief that we agree with.”

East Lansing city officials never enforced their policy against any other vendor. The city’s use of the market as a weapon to force the Tennes family to disavow their beliefs violates their freedom of religion and expression.

When governments use economic weapons to silence individuals for their beliefs, all Americans should pay attention. If a government can punish one family-owned business for their beliefs, what power restrains it from punishing other businesses for other beliefs? If a government can ban a farm from selling at one market, what’s to stop it from banning other businesses from selling in other marketplaces?

East Lansing suggests it may allow Country Mill to return if the Tennes family denies their beliefs and conforms to the city’s ideas of marriage. But Steve and Bridget aren’t backing down.

And they shouldn’t have to choose between their faith and their livelihood. East Lansing’s policy violates the freedom of Americans to run their businesses according to their consciences.

No American should be coerced by their local, state or federal government into abandoning their religious or moral beliefs. Violation of individual conscience should never be the price of doing business.

Emilie Kao is director of the Heritage Foundation’s DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society. Laura Cermak is a member of the foundation’s Young Leaders Program.

In the aftermath of the devastation on the Gulf Coast, Houston and the surrounding areas will be under reconstruction for months and years to come. Events like this evoke questions such as “How can a 500-year flood happen three times in a decade?” and “How can a city of this magnitude be restored in such a way that is fair to citizens who do not have the money to rebuild?”

As we saw in the wake of Katrina, rebuilding after a natural disaster does not always happen in a way which is just. In a different time, we would have space to defer these questions, of what it means to build our infrastructure well and how to rebuild in ways which do not erase those without the money to rebuild. That time is now, and Christians of all persuasions should learn from the past that it not be repeated in south Texas.

After the rescue and cleanup, our collective hearts will be called to another longer and more arduous task: recovery. It will occur long after the news cycle has turned toward another disaster and will take place in mundane spaces—in board meetings and in midnight work details. But it is a work which Christians should commit themselves to, remembering those who will be eventually forgotten in the news cycle.

What your church can do

In this time, I’d like to specifically draw our congregational attention to the groups who make the local recovery possible: the myriad nonprofits and churches, who themselves have been devastated by hurricanes and floods. My friend, Elizabeth Grasham, has put together the following wonderful proposal, which I will simply quote here:

“This level of disaster can be an ‘extinction level event’ for small non-profits, including churches. If the constituents of a small non-profit have to divert all of their income towards rebuilding, or if they are forced to move altogether because of disaster, that hits the bottom line of the organization.

“Here’s my challenge to you:

“If possible, have your congregation choose one of the affected churches in the Houston area (or Corpus, or Port Aransas, or wherever) to become affiliated with. Maybe you send $500 a year to keep their food pantry going. Maybe you pay for their Sunday School curriculum for a year. Maybe you commit to a yearly mission trip to be of service to that church and its community. Whatever – become a long-distance supporter of their ministries to help them stay afloat during what is going to be a protracted recovery process.”

‘A wealth of generosity’

In the middle of 2 Corinthians, Paul asks the fractured, embattled Corinthian church for a huge favor, writing “We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia;  for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. … Now as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you—so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking. I do not say this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others” (2 Corinthians 8:1–2, 7-8).

What Paul is asking here is nothing less than asking a frail, fractured church to give to another congregation in need, one that they have never met, and one which they may never personally have contact with. And in that, they prove their generosity, exhibiting the unity of the body of Christ. What he is asking for goes beyond a one-time gift, but partnership, commitment to another unknown body that will bind them together long after the immediate rescue is over.

Long-term partnering

The Texas Baptist Men Disaster Relief is an amazing group which gives selflessly, but I am asking that churches not let this outstanding group be their only representative. Consider partnering with a church you have never met in a tangible, long-term way, that the witness of Christ in the world would not be extinguished by the storm.

Such an action is more than charity—it is fleshing out the very prayer of Jesus that we would be one, a unity which exists in Christ but which we are ever called to embody in the world in our worship, and now, in our finances.

Myles Werntz is assistant professor of Christian ethics and practical theology and the T.B. Maston Chair of Christian Ethics at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon Seminary in Abilene. Email him at Myles.Werntz@hsutx.edu.