Evangelicals' Influence on America Declining?

According to a new poll released last Wednesday by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, evangelical leaders perceive that evangelicals are losing their influence on America. The poll was the result of researchers having surveyed more than 2000 leaders who had been invited to attend the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in Cape Town, South Africa, last year. In fact, 82 percent of the leaders said they believed that their impact on society was declining.

Those leaders named the following as some contributing reasons: An increasingly pluralistic and secular nation, and the church’s desire for political power and influence.

I too believe that the societal impact of evangelicals is declining in America. I also agree that the reasons cited above by the leaders surveyed are challenges to our impact on society. But to me, the overarching problem for evangelicals and for the Christian church at large is that we are losing our God-given identity. For instance, Jesus said, “Ye are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). This tells me that we should not be looking to this world for direction, but that it should be the other way around.

However, the only way we can have the influence on America that we should be having is that we become the church that the Lord has called us to be. For instance, as I watch some of the current presidential candidates courting evangelicals, I am getting a little uncomfortable. It appears to me that a growing number of evangelicals are getting too cozy with politicians.

I submit to you that the church can never make the impact on society through political means that she can through being about the Father’s business. I understand that politics are important, and that we want godly leaders in politics, but we must never become more passionate about our political agenda than we are about the Father’s business. For the church, the former should pale in comparison to the latter.

The line between the church and the world is becoming so blurred that it’s getting hard for me to tell the difference. I believe that in order for us to realize the societal impact on America that we should be making, we must do an about-face and get serious about the Father’s business.

We have not been called to take our cue from the secular community; we have not been called to bog ourselves in the political process to the extent that we lose our prophetic voice in the earth. Rather, we have been called to be the light of this dark world, showing men the Way.

Copyright © 2011 by Frank King. All rights reserved.

Southern Baptists Make History by Electing Black Pastor to No. 2 Post

(Article First Published as Southern Baptists Make History by Electing Black Pastor to No. 2 Post on Technorati)

Last week, members of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) elected African American pastor Fred Luter as its vice president. Luter is the pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans. Ironically, the split among Baptists that lead to the SBC’s formation in 1845 was rooted in race and slavery. It was not until 1989 that the convention declared racism as a sin. In 1995, the denomination issued an apology to blacks for slavery.

Luter’s recent election to vice president comes at a time when the SBC seeks to diversify its leadership and congregations against the backdrop of declines in overall membership and church attendance. According to statistics released last month from Lifeway Christian Resources, the SBC’s publishing arm, baptisms in the denomination declined nearly 5 percent in 2010 over 2009. Membership also declined.

So was Pastor Luter’s election to vice president more driven by attempts on the part of SBC’s leaders to stem the current decline in the denomination’s membership than by their desire to place the best person in the position? I don’t think so. Pastor Luter was prominent in the denomination prior to any declines in growth occurred. In the same year that the denomination apologized to blacks for slavery, for example, Luter was elected as second vice president of the SBC, and that was in 1995. Under his leadership, his congregation has grown from 65 worshippers to a membership of over 7000 worshippers.

The truth is that diversity is not an option in Christian churches; rather, it is the mandate. Jesus died for all mankind, and He commands us to reach out to all whom He has died for. Though in the past, many SBC congregations excluded blacks, there is now an increasing openness to the same. Kudos to the SBC, in this regard.

The SBC is not the only mainstream denomination that is seeing a drop in membership. But its leaders do see their conscientious efforts to be more inclusive of blacks and other ethnicities as necessary if the denomination is to remain vibrant in the future. I wholeheartedly agree. That was God’s plan from the very beginning.

Copyright © 2011 by Frank King. All rights reserved.

Keys to Understanding the Bible

During the early part of my ministry as a pastor, at times I would ask my children if they understood what I had preached for the day. All of them immediately answered “no.” At first, I thought they were kidding. I just knew I made it plain enough for them to understand. But they were serious; they understood very little of what I was saying. I realized I needed to work harder at making my message clearer.

Of course, my children are not alone. Many churchgoers today struggle with understanding the Bible. My observation is that many believers know a lot about what the Bible says but much less about what it means. This is a problem because no one will be passionate about reading and studying something she can’t understand. What I want to do in this post is to give some biblically based pointers that will make the time you study the Bible more rewarding.

After Jesus had finished teaching His famous parable of the seed and the sower, He further expanded on the subject of the ministry of the Word. Based on His exposition, I present the following:

• We can understand the Bible. “For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open,” Jesus said (Mark 4:22, NIV). In other words, it is the will of God for all of the mysteries of the Bible to be made known. Think about it. Why would God give us the Bible as light for our life, but make it so hard to understand that we can’t draw the light from it? If we believe that our understanding the Bible is impossible, then there is no need for us to study the Bible.

• The more attention we give to understanding the Bible, the more understanding God gives us. “Carefully consider what you hear,” Jesus continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (verse 24). All other things being equal, God grants us understanding proportionate to the attention we give to what we hear. When we attend church and when we study the Bible at home, we should give God our undivided attention. The more committed we are to hearing, the greater measure of understanding God will give us.

• Our heart is the vital key. Jesus talks about how a farmer plants seeds, “Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how” (verse 27). You see, when we hear the Word of God, and we study the Bible, we may feel that we are not making progress in our understanding the Bible, but just like the farmer, as we sleep and rise each day, something is happening below the surface. This is a mystery but it’s true.

In the parable of the seed and the sower, the earth represents our heart. When we strive to keep our heart right with God, this makes our heart good ground for the Word of God. And the bottom line is that whenever you plant a good seed (the Word of God) into good ground (a righteous heart), a good yield (understanding, Christlikeness) will be the result—always.

 Copyright © 2011 by Frank King. All rights reserved.

(Note: One of my readers wrote an article which provide 30 links to some helpful Bible study aids, and asked if I would make mention of it. Click here to visit the article.)

Challenges to Modern Day Fatherhood

(Article first published as Challenges to Modern Day Fatherhood on Technorati.)

Parenting is no easy task. And since we celebrate Father’s Day in a few days, relative to the date of this post, I will limit my parenting discussion to the male parent. Also, being a father myself, I feel more qualified to speak on fatherhood. My wife and I had the opportunity (and the challenge) to raise six children of our own. In this post, I want to share what I see as some challenges to modern day fatherhood:

The economy. Of course, we are all affected by the current state of our economy. This subject will certainly be front and center among debates during the 2012 presidential election campaign. According to a report this month from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate remained essentially the same at 9.1 percent for the month of May 2011. For fathers, it’s not just about a job. But they feel less than whole when they can’t properly provide for their families because that’s what every responsible father understands he is supposed to do—take good care of his family. I know; it’s a man-thing. Unfortunately, the current economic forecast is not very good for the foreseeable future.

Afghanistan and Iraq. As we celebrate Father’s Day this weekend, tens of thousands of our fathers will be a long ways from home, fighting the wars. Many of these brave men (and women, but again, I am addressing fatherhood) have had prolonged deployments or multiple tours on enemy territory. Some estimate our spending to be at $2 billion a week to fund the wars, which is insane, since we don’t have the money. But there are other intangible costs as well, such as the ones associated with modern day fatherhood. Imagine the vacuum being created in the area of mentoring for the thousands of teenage sons back home. To me, that spells trouble down the road. I submit to you that the ultimate costs of these wars are yet to be determined.

The social tide. I stand in awe of the strength of the current social tide, powered by social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, etc., and the craze associated with smart phones, iphones, and everything else out there that consumes an excessive amount of our time. I am convinced that there is no way for us to stem this tide. What we need is to make sure that our families are spiritually anchored so they won’t be swept away in the process. God gives that responsibility to mom and dad. But since we are talking about Father’s Day, here is a verse that speaks specifically to dads: “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). Given the current fabric of our society, responding to this call to spiritual leadership in the home is becoming increasingly more difficult.

All right, Dads, take a deep breath and relax. The above challenges may make successful modern day fatherhood seem impossible, but with the help of our Father in heaven we can be effective fathers on earth.

Copyright ©2011 by Frank King. All rights reserved.

Poll: Over Ninety Percent of Americans Still Believe in God

(Article first published as: Poll: Over Ninety Percent of Americans Still Believe in God on Technorati)

According to the results of a Gallup poll published last Friday, 9 in 10 Americans say “yes” when asked the basic question “Do you believe in God?” These findings were based on a survey conducted 5-8 May 2011. Though significant changes have occurred in the fabric of our society over the past 6-1/2 decades, our belief in God, based on responses to the aforementioned basic question, has remained relatively stable.

Of course, in polls such as these, the results can be significantly influenced by the way the question is asked. For instance, in the same survey, a slightly different question was also asked: “Do you believe in God or a universal spirit?” This question introduces an alternative idea of deity. This question was made a part of the survey beginning in 1976. The percentage of those answering “yes” to this question remained fairly constant at 94% through 1994, and was at 91% in the May 2011 version of the survey.

But the percentage of Americans who believe in God drops as other options are introduced. For instance, here is one of the questions in the recent survey: “Which of the following statements comes closest to your belief about God—you believe in God, you don’t believe in God, but you do believe in a universal spirit or higher power, or you don’t believe in either?” This question is a far cry from the basic question “Do you believe in God?” The result is that when Americans are given the option to express doubts about their belief in God, the percentage of them who still say they believe in God drops to the 70% to 80% range, according to the survey.

Based on the results of the survey, not all Americans who say they believe in God are certain about their belief in God. Moreover, nothing in the survey is aimed at defining “God.” According to Gallup, 1 in 10 Americans say they have no formal religious identity. So who or what influences their concept of God? For some Americans, their idea of God may be in the form of an inanimate object. Hence, based on the Gallup poll, most Americans still believe in God, but for some or many of them, we might be surprised to find out who or what their god is.

Copyright © 2011 by Frank King. All rights reserved.

We Can Do All Things Through Christ

In Philippians 4:13, we find these words: “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” Of course, Paul the apostle was speaking specifically about himself, but the same applies to us as well. This verse reveals that when Christ is the means (“through Christ”) through which we operate, and when He is the source of our strength (“Christ which strengthens us”), we can do all things. But what exactly does that mean?

Some years ago, I was talking to a fellow Christian. At the time, he was working a full-time job, and three part-time jobs—simultaneously. His work hours were crazy. Every time I brought up the subject of his killer work schedule, he would quote Philippians 4:13 as the justification for working the way he was. That incident underscores the issue I have with how some Christians apply this verse. They use it to justify what it is they want to do. After all, the verse does refer to all things, which denotes that nothing is excluded. I believe this is a serious misapplication of the verse.

Let me take this a step further. Since I am a preacher also, I will pick on us. Sometimes we are guilty of expanding our ministry work simply to justify new building projects or to feed our ego or to compete with other ministries, etc. It may sound very spiritual to parrot the cliché that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” but God may have nothing to do with what is being done. I believe this scenario happens in ministry today quite often.

The point I am trying to make is that the premise of the aforementioned verse is that God must be the one who is driving the agenda for our life and not us. But how can we know that? God has given us the Bible and the Holy Spirit so we can assure ourselves that we are living according to His will for our life. This does not mean that when we live according to His will for us that life will be all good. Paul the apostle was an excellent example. His only desire in life was to please the Lord Jesus Christ, but he faced much adversity.

But, my friend, that’s exactly the point. Paul died to himself so he could live unto Christ. His life and the places he went to spread the gospel were driven by the will of God for his life. Accordingly, he could boast that whatever challenges he met along the way, he would prevail in all things through Christ who was the source of his strength. When our life is consistent with the will of God, we can have the same bold confession that Paul the apostle did. Outside of God’s will, we can make no such claim.

Copyright © 2011 by Frank King. All rights reserved.

The Bible Makes Us Wiser

Are you a student of the Bible? I sure am. Over 30 years ago, I began studying the Bible. Since that time, it has been a vital part of my life. The Bible is loaded with wisdom, which has benefitted me in at least two very powerful ways. One, the Bible is the source of content for my preaching ministry. After 30 years of pastoring and preaching, I feel as if I have only scratched the surface of preaching on what there is to share out of the Bible. Secondly, the Bible is loaded with wisdom for my and your personal life.

In Psalm 119, the writer expresses his love for the Word of God, and he gives several levels on which the Bible imparts wisdom to us. “Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me” (Psalm 119:98, NIV). The point here is that even when we try to love everybody, there will be those who make us their enemy. Unfortunately, that's a given. But God has blessed us with the Bible so we have wisdom to deal with those who would oppose and persecute us. If we allow it to, His Word will order our steps and actions so we can prevail in adversarial environments.

Secondly, “I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes,” the psalmist says (verse 99). Note that he attributes his superior insight to his meditation on the Scriptures. You see, as we spend time studying and meditating on the Scriptures, our views and our ways of thinking will be challenged and radically changed over time. The resulting insight will be far superior to the natural perspective we started out with.

Finally, the psalmist says, “I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts” (v. 100). Now the elders during the psalmist’s day were leaders among the people. They were men of good report and understanding. But the psalmist says he obtained understanding that exceeded that of the elders through his obedience to God’s Word. It should not seem strange to us that God imparts more understanding to those who walk in obedience to His Word.

So the psalmist reveals three awesome personal benefits we can get from the Bible: wisdom, insight, and understanding. What will these do for us? They enable us to make better decisions in our personal life. That’s important because sometimes a person can make one bad decision that he ends up paying for an entire lifetime. Hence, a commitment to regularly studying and meditating on the Word of God should interest us because it increases our quality of life through better decision-making.

During my days as a pastor, I did my share of counseling troubled teens and troubled marriages. Moreover, my wife and I were blessed to have six children. My trustworthy guide through those many years of counseling and parenting has been the wisdom and insights found in the Bible. What a priceless treasure God has given us! So let us dig in and be blessed.

Copyright ©2011 by Frank King. All rights reserved.