A few days ago, a friend from an Assemblies of God-oriented discussion group raised an interesting topic. Since I haven't posted much here for a while, I thought I'd share my thoughts and joyfully invite your comments.

The Good Pagan

Carissa wrote:

« I think, and this is a lay person's humble opinion, that a person can live a good moral life without knowing Christ as Savior. »

Amen, Carissa!

It's a sad myth among us Christians that people can only act "good" by knowing Jesus when, in fact, Christianity is proof of the fact that good behavior is possible while not helpful at gaining eternal salvation. When the rich young ruler came to Jesus, he was not condemned by Jesus for bad behavior. The young man, in fact, kept all the commands since childhood. He said as much and Jesus, knowing

Wherein I opine on the culture war between Christianity and those of homosexual persuasion, and their supporters.

So, breaking news, San Fransisco is a gay-friendly town. Oh, more breaking news: Chrisitanity is anathema to a sinful lifestyle. And it's an easy target for sinners.

So the 24th annual hedonistic fetish event, San Fransisco's Folsom Street Fair (wiki definition), created a poster playing off da Vinci's "Last Supper." Instead of tableware, there are sex toys. Instead of Jesus and his disciples, there was "Sister Roma" and " "half-naked homosexual sadomasochists" (WND). And, of course, there were sponsor logos.

The fair is scheduled for September 30, three days from now.

Predictably, the Christian community at-large has recoiled in disgust and lashed back with angry diatribes and calls for apologies. The poster, itself, has been labeled an "unprovoked attack against Christ and His

Sometimes business meetings can be funny in their own little way. Especially when politicking gets heated.

Oh, the hi-jinx of business meetings. I actually laughed out loud at one minor General Council tempest that could have had massive implications for the vote for the general superintendent on Thursday.

During the nomination process, pastor Tommy Barnett from Phoenix, Arizona (pastor of one of our fellowship's largest churches) announced he wasn't interested in being nominated as he didn't want to surrender his pastorate, there came a resolution to clarify language regarding the role of the General Superintendent. (The resolution stated that the GS would be responsible to "cast the primary vision" for the fellowship along with other executive officers, to "provide spiritual oversight and leadership" to headquarters personnel, to "strategically

Tomorrow, the 52nd biennial business-meeting for the General Council of the Assemblies of God begins. On Thursday, our next General Superintendent will be selected. Here are my thoughts on matters over which I have no input or influence, and which are probably inappropriate for me to publicly opine over. Unfortunately, that doesn't stop me from writing! If you read this and think I'm an idiot for writing it, just remember: you read it!

[Skip all the blather and just see my pick for the vote, if that's what you're after!]

The Generational Exchange … Happens Now

Stop now. Before you go any further, before you cast your nominating vote, before you accept your nomination (as if anybody reads this), go listen to

Recently, I posted my Spider-Man Bible Study / Discussion Guide. Simultaneously, I dropped a few comments on some blogs that referenced a different Spider-Man Bible Study produced by Fuller Theological Seminary's professor Craig Detweiler.

Some GodBloggers have been critical of the whole "movie-based Bible study" enterprise. Not surprising, really: using Hollywood movies to teach Biblical truth is a little like using dance to teach worship, or wine to serve Communion. There may be a place for it, but it's going to generate controversy somewhere.

I've been asked before to justify how I could write a Bible study with a movie as its context. After all, if I'm writing a

In some cultures and eras, apostates face certain death. In America, it's the church that's dying from apostasy.

Apostate — it's not exactly a common word. But for those doomed to hear its rare pronouncement, it can mean imminent death or serious eternal consequences.

Like repentance, apostasy implies a rejection or abandonment of a practice, ideal, or belief. And one religion's penitent is another one's apostate.

This irony became apparent in the first formal court case involving charges of apostasy in Kuwait. The court found Hussein Qambar Ali guilty for converting from Islam to Christianity in December 1995. Since Shari'ah law in Kuwait (and many other Islamic societies) prescribes the death sentence for apostasy, the court called for Ali's execution, along with the termination of his marriage and the distribution of his possessions to heirs.

"Apostasy in the Islamic world is serious," said Ali. "Anyone, even an ordinary person, has the right

I want to say a few words about the power of blogging on a personal level. And I want to challenge my fellow quiet Pentecostals and Charismatics to pick up the keyboard and begin writing.

Words have Consequences
A friend on an email message group recently asked me about the effectiveness of ministering through a blog. So I'd been thinking about that when a couple things landed in my inbox that encouraged me and seem to illustrate the answer to his question. Writing in a public forum — whether blogging, managing a web page, or crafting freelance articles for a newspaper or magazine — can have an effect.

First up, from Amber, who sent me a nice note via my online contact form:

« I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy your blog.  … Your blog is always honest and open, you don't shy away from even the hard stuff in your comments. After joining the Assemblies at 16, I soon discovered that opinions and controversy and doubt are all too often a flag for that person needing to "get saved" again.

I have just recently left the Assemblies … but a part of it is still in me, hopefully the good parts. And honestly, I think all of those good parts are what you portray here at your blog.

Thanks for being there and restoring a little of my fragile hope for humanity. »

These are a few of the things I've recently found of interest, but don't have the time to properly blog on. I don't necessarily like or agree with the links here, I just think they're interesting. And just in case you do, too, enjoy.

(You can view past Del.icio.us links here or subscribe to my Del.icio.us feed here. )

Back at the first of the year, on January 3, I wrote a post wherein I teased out some trends from the most recent official A/G statistical report published in 2004. I concluded that:

Not only are the new believers outstripping the net change in adherents, they seem to have no impact on the growth trend at all. If the data are accurate, we may be bringing folks to Christ in the A/G, but we’re not keeping them.

—"Examining Assemblies of God statistics on growth"

And I illustrated my conclusion with data, specifically, with this chart:

Note the numbers:

472,704: Conversions
49,533: Net Change in Adherents
10.5%: Percentage of Net Change in Adherents

These are a few of the things I've recently found interesting, but don't have the time to properly blog on. I don't necessarily like or agree with the links here, I just think they're interesting. And just in case you do, too, enjoy.

(You can view past Del.icio.us links here or subscribe to my Del.icio.us feed here. )

These are a few of the things I've recently found interesting, but don't have the time to properly blog on. I don't necessarily like or agree with the links here, I just think they're interesting. And just in case you do, too, enjoy.

(You can view past Del.icio.us links here or subscribe to my Del.icio.us feed here. )

The editors of Leadership journal have posted another incisive commentary on the state of the Church today in their Out of Ur weblog. It’s about how we (in the Western church) have turned the gospel into a pimping enterprise. There’s nothing really new here, it’s the same complaint Bonhoeffer had about “cheap grace.” But the language is, well, provocative. From church planter Jonathan Yarboro:

Update: See "The A/G: Desperately Seeking Disciplers" for the latest information on this issue, and to see what the A/G is doing about it.

Blogging from the heartland, Sean MacNair calls it like he sees it. In a brief post he concisely serves up highlights from 100 years of American church renewal (See: "The Pardoner's Tale: My best (stolen) idea so far this year"). He buzzes over Pentecostalism, the Charismatic renewal, healing revivals, Billy Graham, the Charismatic Catholic renewal, the Jesus Movement, the megachurch-cum-denomination trend, worship innovations, and the Emergent Conversation. His point: Renewal threatens the status quo but ultimately gets institutionalized, fades into oblivion, or is assimilated into the mainstream.

Buried in his post is a subtle criticism of the movement that spawned them all, and the institution that formed as a result: Pentecostalism and the Assemblies of God.

Travis Johnson, over at The Edge Church Think Tank, posted an article bemoaning the incredible shrinking church: “The Great Shrinking Church. What Gives?!?!” First, he cites some statistics from The American Church:

• 18.7%: Americans in church in 2000
• 18.0%: Americans in church in 2003
• 11.7%: Americans projected to be in church by 2050
• 4,600: New churches from 1990–2000
• 38,802: How many new churches there should have been in order to keep pace with American population.

That America is becoming an increasingly secular nation is no surprise. That traditional church style seems increasingly irrelevant in the “naughties” and that church numbers are in decline—again—no surprise.

So, taking an unflinching look at the numbers (there was more cited), Travis concludes:

“In my mind, those statistics absolutely prove that we MUST move every single priority to the side burner. Establishing new churches and transitioning declining churches needs to be

Friend and CTI coworker, Craig Brian Larson, has started his own blog: “The Ultimate Issue,” an evangelistic companion-piece to his witnessing efforts.

Now, Brian’s an interesting guy: He’s a quiet, unassuming pastor at an Assemblies of God storefront church in the heart of Chicago. To meet him you wouldn’t know he’s the editorial force behind one of the best preaching resources on the planet: PreachingToday.com.

Yes, I work for the company that hosts and profits from that site, but I don’t profit from mentioning it. I do, however, really believe that if you’re preaching, you need to pay attention to the stuff that Brian’s working on. (That includes the book I mentioned in a previous post). But, if you think of him as a leader of preachers you might not easily think of him standing near a crowded Chicago sidewalk engaging individuals in one-on-one conversation, and passing literature

An excerpt from from a Lincoln Journal Star article, “ Conservative churches grow while mainline churches struggle,” b y Bob Reeves, regarding recent explosive A/G growth:

Successful evangelism is also a major reason for the phenomenal growth of the Assemblies of God, especially outside the United States, said Bob Friesen, director of research for that denomination's headquarters in Springfield, Mo. Missionaries work with indigenous leaders in countries worldwide to build local churches that will grow and multiply, he said. The biggest growth is in Africa. "Revival is happening there and people are turning toward the Lord" in record numbers, he said.

As of 2004 there were approximately 30 million adherents of Assemblies of God worldwide, nearly double the number in 1990.

In the United States, the growth has leveled off in recent years, said Dave Argue, pastor of Lincoln's Christ Place Church, an Assembly of God congregation. The worldwide growth is "part

From Flickr.com. Uploaded on March 6, 2005 by D LeRoy

An item from the March 21 issue of Newsweek popped up on my radar: “The Battle For Latino Souls.” Subitled, “Pentecostal churches are using savvy marketing to attract traditionally Catholic Hispanics. A holy struggle in Chicago”.

I found this quote interesting:

Latinos remain the Catholic church's fastest-growing ethnic bloc, but they are also one of the fastest-growing segments among Mormons, Methodists and most other denominations. The result: all faiths are courting Hispanics with a marketing savvy more often associated with corporate America. These churches “have plans to grow, and they're aggressive,” says Edwin Hernandez of the University of Notre Dame. “The competition is rampant.”

The dark-side of evangelistic economics? Or language from a skewed perspective? The picture’s a little clearer as we begin the next

Seems the old meme that the Mormon faith (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) is the fastest growing faith in the world has become officially dated. KIDK TV news, out of Idaho Falls is reporting:

"...Since 1990, Seventh Day Adventists, Assemblies of God and Pentecostal groups have grown much faster and in more places around the globe. The number of new converts to the LDS church, as well as the number of missionaries have dropped in the last 2 years."

Now, you'd be right to think this spells trouble for the Mormon church. But buried in that graf is the hint of trouble for the rest of the Western church world as well. Well … if not exactly trouble, at least the winds of change.

The leadership roles long enjoyed by the European and North American church strongholds