Tag Archives: Spreading the Gospel

Baptists Spent Too Much Time “Talking To The Wrong People”

Members in attendance at the Southern Baptist Convention’s Annual Meeting were taken to task by a Texas pastor who said they have been spending too much time talking to the wrong community of people.

Pastor John Meador said Christians need to stop talking about the gospel with others who are soaked in the gospel and start spending our time taking the gospel to the people who are starved for its good news.

“We’re not getting the gospel into the fields of America, we’re abandoning them and the reason for that is because our army has fled. We have no heart for the captives,” Meador said.

Meador said Americans need to stop thinking that evangelization and witnessing are for missionaries in far away parts of the world.

“The soul next door is as equal as the soul on the other side of the world,” he said.

Meador said that Christians need to realize a passion for everyone.

“What’s it going to take for the concept of your unreached neighbor to become totally intolerable for you?” Meador asked.  “I don’t even know sometimes if we’re capable of that kind of anger or if we’re so tempered by the complacent apathy of our culture that we don’t feel this anymore. You and I have to come to the point where we spread the Gospel because we can’t take it anymore.”

Outgoing SBC President Challenges Churches To Go Outside The Walls

The outgoing president of the Southern Baptist Convention told those in attendance at the 2014 Southern Baptist Convention’s Annual Meeting that it’s time for members to get out of the pews and go outside the church walls.

Fred Luter, Jr., the first African-American pastor to be elected SBC president, said that the days of so-called “open door evangelism” have ended.

“There was a time when you just open the church door and people would come from the neighborhood,” Luter said. “There was a time you just open the church door and people would come from different families. There was a time you could just open the church door and people were expected to go to church.”

He said today fewer parents and grandparents are attending church with their children and grandchildren because the younger generation sees no place for the Gospel in their lives.  Thus, Luter says, we must go to them.

“If they are not coming to us, we must, we must, we must go to them. That’s what Jesus meant when He gave us the Great Commission. Jesus said go, don’t stay. Go, don’t think about it. Go, don’t debate it. Go, don’t study it. Go, don’t blog about it. Go, go, go and make disciples,” Luter shouted.

Luter finished his comments by saying that like Israel in Psalm 80, America has sinned against God and that American is rapidly turning into a pagan nation.  He said the church needs to spend time fervently in prayer to try and turn around the trend of the nation away from God.

Apologetics Leader Says Christians Need To Engage Through Arts

The executive director of Athanatos Christian Ministries, an apologetics ministry, says that Christians need to realize they need to engage the culture through the arts.

Anthony Horvath pointed to recent advances of anti-Christian beliefs being approved by government bodies and judges, saying those actions didn’t come quickly by any method other than intentional manipulation of culture through television, movies and books.

“The Church needs to get financially involved in supporting apologists and artists, because they will be the last remaining frontline representatives of the Gospel when the church buildings in America empty – as they have done in post-Christian Europe. And frankly, time is of the essence,” he said.

Horvath said that Christians have taken for granted too long that Christianity is a respected voice in the marketplace of ideas because it has been that way for a long time.  He says that now more vocal anti-Christianists are trying to remove that voice and work to make even culture engagement unwelcome.

“We are called to preach the Gospel, Horvath told The Christian Post. “To do that today means thinking carefully about our audience, adjusting where necessary, and remembering that the Bible says, ‘The worker is worth his wages.’ Christians who believe we should be more involved in the culture through art should support those Christians who are engaged in that work. Not just moral support, but financially, institutionally, and other tangible forms of support.”

Bethany Hamilton Calls Jesus Her Stronghold

Bethany Hamilton says that when she lost her arm to a shark attack that her first instinct was to turn to the focus of her life.

“I remember after I lost my arm, I just had this sense of peace that God was in control and that’s kind of weird for a 13-year-old to be like, ‘Hey, God, you’re in control,’ like I just lost my arm,” Hamilton told Fox News.

Hamilton wrote a new book called “Body and Soul” where she strives to talk to younger girls to be comfortable in their daily life and with how God made them.  She also wants to encourage them to seek healthier options in their life.

“On top of that, I wanted to encourage them in their faith,” said Hamilton. “And I think God calls us to take care of our bodies and to love and respect our bodies and I think that can be done through the way that we eat and the way that we move but also in the way we think towards ourselves and how we think towards God.”

Hamilton said one of the biggest ways that young Christian girls can show respect to themselves and God is by saving themselves for marriage.  Hamilton said waiting has helped build a big foundation in her marriage to a youth pastor.

“It’s such a beautiful thing now being in a relationship with someone as amazing as he is and being able to share life together and share our same faith and encourage and uplift each other and just be an awesome loving team.”

NBA MVP Credits God With Transformation Of His Life

Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder said that he was only able to reach the levels he’s obtained in his career because of God.

“First off I’d like to thank God for changing my life [and] letting me really realize what life is all about. Basketball is just a platform in order for me to inspire people, and I realize that,” Durant said.

Durant spoke of his childhood growing up in suburbs of Washington, D.C. and that how it felt like they couldn’t get out because of the poverty and struggles faced by a single mother who gave birth to her first child at 18.

He spoke fondly if his mother who instilled a strong belief in God in her children.

“You made us believe, you kept us off the street, you put clothes on our backs, food on the table,” he said. “You went to sleep hungry. You sacrificed for us. You’re the real MVP.”

Rabbi Jonathan Cahn Speaks Bold Truth To Power

Rabbi Jonathan Cahn spoke prophetic words loud and clear in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall Wednesday night.

“The propitious smile of heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which heaven itself hath ordained,” Cahn said, quoting George Washington from his 1789 inaugural speech.

“We stand tonight on Capitol Hill,” Cahn then added, “in the city named after the one who gave that prophetic warning, to ask can a nation that drive out the name of God from its public square, the Word of God from its schools and the ways of God from its culture and still expect the smiles of God to shine upon it?”

The talk by Rabbi Cahn was part of an event hosted by Minnesota Representative Michelle Bachmann and emceed by former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.  Many government officials, members of Congress and members of the judiciary were in attendance.

Rabbi Cahn spared no member of the government in his comments regarding removal of the truth of Christ from the country.

“Can the blood of 50 million unborn children cry out to heaven from this land and the smiles of heaven still remain?

“Members of Congress, can a government call evil good and good evil and forge laws that war against the laws of the Almighty and the smiles of heaven still remain?

“Supreme Court justices, can you strike down the statutes of the Almighty and overturn the judgments of the Most High and still expect the smiles of heaven to remain?

“Mr. President, can you place your left hand on the Word of God to assume your office and with your right hand sign laws which break the very Word upon which you swore and still expect the smiles of heaven to remain?

“The voice of our first president cries out to us tonight and answers, no you cannot do so and still expect the smiles of heaven to remain on this land.”

The event was broadcast online via World News Daily.

New Jersey Church’s Stations of the Cross Visit Violent Crime Sites

New Jersey churches are gaining attention from the local community for a different spin the Stations of the Cross.

The churches held their annual Stations of the Cross processional around the city stopping at locations of violent crimes.  The churches said the violent crimes reminded them of the suffering that Christ experienced on the cross.

“We see the connection between brutality in the streets of Jersey City and the brutality that Jesus witnessed against in his own death on the cross,” said Grace Church Rector Rev. Laurie Wurm.  “In His crucifixion He exposed our violence to one another, which includes our silence and therefore complicity with violence. The church is called to witness to another way. We hope this is a first step.”

The pastors involved say it was an opportunity to work together to bring the Gospel into the community in a way that is socially relevant and connects to those who do not know Jesus but live having to deal with the violence every day.

Eight different churches banded together for the outreach.  The local police department provided security and the route they said reached the most violent crimes in the city.

Controversial Islamic Center Boosts Neighboring Church

The controversy surrounding a mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee is having a surprise impact on the church next door.

Pastor Dan Watts of Grace Baptist Church says that attendance has tripled and weekly giving has doubled since the construction of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro began in 2011.

Watts says that his church has been active in trying to reach out to the Arab Christians in the community who have been feeling pressured because of the controversy surrounding the mosque.  He said that the Arabic Evangelical Church, which Grace Baptist allows to meet on their campus, has been a safe place for Arab Christians and even some of the neighboring Muslims who are curious about Christ.

The church has also been very vocal about their faith and has built over a dozen large crosses on their property as a statement of how they feel about their faith in Christ.

Murfreesboro, a town of 100,000 residents, has a population that is roughly 25% Muslim.  Many of the residents are Somalian or Kurdish refugees who fled Saddam Hussein before the first Gulf War.

Roma Downey: “Son of God” Will Be “Epic” Reminder of God’s Love

Actress Roma Downey is calling her new movie Son of God an “epic, sweeping” reminder to the world of God’s love.

Downey and her husband, revolutionary Hollywood producer Mark Burnett, have produced the Bible epic scheduled to be released in theaters on February 28th.

“We hope the audiences leave theatres feeling they know Jesus more and also they are reminded of how deeply he loved us,” Downey said.  “This is a big, epic sweeping film.  An exciting movie and sometimes a tense movie with intense drama and real danger.”

Downey and Burnett shocked Hollywood observers with their miniseries “The Bible” which had 13.1 million viewers for its premiere.  The sequel to “The Bible,” titled “A.D.” and will follow the events immediately after Jesus’ ascension, has been given the green light by NBC.

Downey and Burnett credit their Hollywood success for opening doors to produce movies about their faith.

“It all comes back to people in the industry realizing that we know what we’re doing and allowing us to make this show and now our movie about our faith,” Burnett said.

Sequel to “The Bible” Miniseries To Be Major Motion Picture

The producers of the acclaimed “The Bible” miniseries have announced the sequel to that production will be a feature film called “Son of God” and will release in theaters on February 28, 2014.

The film will show a detailed account the life of Jesus from his birth through his teachings and to his resurrection.

“We are very excited to be working with Twentieth Century Fox to release ‘Son of God’ as a major motion picture,” said Roma Downey and Mark Burnett, producers of “The Bible,” in a statement. “We responded to an overwhelming demand for the greatest story ever told to be seen as a shared experience on the big screen. The result is a beautiful stand-alone movie. It’s the story of Jesus for a whole new generation.”

The film has been screened for many influential pastors across the world and has received almost universal acclaim for showing not only the passion of the cross but also Jesus’ resurrection and the meaning of the empty tomb.

“It is a powerful and poignant movie, the best Jesus movie I have ever seen…I know it will be a blessing to millions when it opens all across America,” Pastor Rick Warren told the Christian Post in a statement.