Jesus loves you. We say this phrase to one another so often, we easily forget the power of this declaration. The truth of this good news, of this gospel, must never be so familiar to us we lose our sense of awe and gratitude at the amazing grace of such love.

Zac Harrel

We must return again and again to the well of God’s love, for it is what our desperately thirsty hearts need.

In Mark’s account of the baptism of Jesus—and in the other Gospel accounts as well—we see the Father proclaim from heaven over Jesus, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased.” One of the amazing things about the gospel is when we place our faith in Jesus, our sins not only are forgiven; we are declared to be in Christ so that when the Father looks to us, he sees the obedience, holiness and righteousness of his Son. By our faith in Jesus, by giving our lives to Christ, we are adopted into the family of God. We are made sons and daughters of the King.

What this means for us is that in Jesus when the Father looks at us, he makes this same proclamation over our lives. “You are my son. You are my daughter. With you I am well-pleased.”

This love …

This love, this pleasure the Father takes in his children should sustain us through the peaks and valleys of our lives. No matter what we walk through, we can continue to come back to this declaration of love and acceptance over and over again.

Sometimes our lives don’t seem to match up with what we know of who God is and the promises he makes to his people, and in our moments of doubt and anxiety, we continually can point our hearts back to this truth. Jesus loves us, and in him our heavenly Father is pleased with us. In moments of despair, we look to Jesus. The Cross and the Resurrection remind us of his love, and our identity in him reminds us of the Father’s pleasure with his children.

God’s love for us is proclaimed over us in Christ in this declaration from heaven at the baptismal waters of Jordan. This love is ours in Jesus, because of the love of Jesus for us who are lost and hurting.

Love made clear

Jesus’ love is made clear in his sacrifice on our behalf at Calvary. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:13-14). The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 8:39 that nothing in this world can separate us from this love.

Jesus loves us. This must never become dull to us, because it is a world-changing, life-transforming truth.

I am convinced one of the hardest things for us to do is just let God love us. We can’t limit or qualify this love. He loves us, period, full stop. Rest in this love, rejoice in this love and walk in this love through every season this life throws at you.

The other part of the baptismal declaration also is ours in Christ. The Father is pleased with us. In some ways, it is easier for us to proclaim God’s love than it is for us to proclaim God’s pleasure with us. But in Jesus, God is pleased with us. He accepts us. The gospel declares us holy and righteous in Christ.

God’s pleasure

Now, the process of making us completely holy won’t be complete this side of glory, but we already are walking and living in God’s pleasure.

Shame, guilt and our past try to break us. The truth of God’s pleasure in his children reminds us shame, guilt and our past have no ultimate power over us. Our Father is pleased with us, and there is nothing shame, guilt or our past can do to change this.

Sometimes, doubt and despair overwhelm our hearts. Sometimes, life puts us through seasons when we wonder about the love and goodness of God. In those moments, our hearts must return to the love of Jesus for us, revealed most clearly in his cross and in his resurrection. They must return to the truth that our identity is in him; we are sons and daughters of the King, who are loved and with whom our Father is well-pleased.

Zac Harrel is pastor of First Baptist Church in Gustine, Texas

An article titled “The Future of Secularism” in Evolutionary Psychological Science turned a few heads recently. The article dealt with the “secularization hypothesis,” which theorizes as society develops and scientific knowledge becomes more widespread, interest in religion declines and secularity increases.

Jake Raabe

The article claims the “secularization hypothesis” fails because it does not take into account birthrates. Religious people tend to have more children than nonreligious people, so secularity actually will decline in the next century.

This conclusion was not terribly surprising or interesting, despite a few hyperbolic claims made by scattered Christian bloggers about “the death of secularity.” Nevertheless, it got me thinking more about the idea of secularization.

There is a worldview, a narrative behind the “secularization hypothesis” that I daresay most Americans, religious and nonreligious alike, agree on. Back in the olden days, there was only religion. Then, sometime in the 18th or 19th century, science displaced religion as the primary way to understand the world. Now that society is enlightened, religion is on its inevitable way out. Look at the decline of religion in America and Europe. With a rational alternative to religion, people are leaving houses of worship in droves. Both religious and secular people alike seem to agree on this narrative, disagreeing only on if it is good or bad.

Unconscious acceptance

Despite its almost unconscious acceptance by most here in America, this way of thinking is deeply problematic for several reasons.

First, it is not clear religion actually is in decline in America, as exemplified by the work of a Baylor research group. Much was made about the rise of the “Nones” when the Pew Research Center came out with its most recent survey of American religious affiliations, but this likely was misleading, as the Baylor group found. Many who claimed to have “no religion” on the survey also gave the name of a congregation they attended regularly. It seems a significant number of “Nones” in this survey may have been evangelicals who took the maxim “Christianity is a relationship, not a religion” to heart.

Darker issue

More problematic than not reflecting reality, the “secularization hypothesis” has a darker issue at its core. Although debates continue on the state of religion in the United States and Western Europe, religion is flourishing worldwide, and secularism is declining.

Christianity isn’t declining; its population centers are shifting, with significant growth in Africa and Asia. In fact, by the year 2050, Pew estimates, an incredible 40 percent of the world’s Christians will live in Sub-Saharan Africa, with Christianity remaining the world’s largest religion. This is far from the decline so often talked about by Christians and non-Christians alike in America.

The secularization hypothesis assumes as societies develop, they become less religious, but secularism is all but unknown in places like Sub-Saharan Africa. Are we to assume these places are “less developed” because their populations are highly religious? That seems to be the implication of this idea. Sub-Saharan Africa has major cities, computers, the Internet, electricity, running water and so forth. Far from the way most Americans picture the continent of Africa, it is one of the rapidly growing economic regions on Earth. Assuming the continent is somehow “not developed” is rooted in a deep misunderstanding of what the continent actually looks like. This leads to the dangerous assumption that all countries should look like the United States.

Myth, not hypothesis

The secularization myth is every bit as prevalent in the American church as it is in general society.

I think of the popularity of the God’s Not Dead films, which present Christianity as a small, persecuted group fighting against the overwhelming powers of secularity. This simply is not the case—probably not in the United States, and certainly not worldwide. We’ve assumed this faulty worldview and consequently have become bitter and defensive when we need not be. Assuming things are dire when they really are going well sabotages our witness to the world and insults the work of the God who continues to add to our numbers daily.

The “secularization hypothesis” is being recognized continuously as the “secularization myth.” It simply doesn’t reflect reality, especially on a global scale.

It’s a great time to be the church. Let’s start acting like it.

Jake Raabe is a student at Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary in Waco, Texas.

Many Baptists observe Substance Abuse Prevention Sunday every spring. I can get behind Substance Abuse Prevention Sunday. because I am addicted to alcohol and tobacco.

Eric Black

I know I am, not because I use either one. I know I am, because I used to use and abuse both. I used to tell those who told me I had a problem that I didn’t. I used to get tired of their concern, and I used to hide and drink by myself. I know addiction well, and I know the agony of trying to get free.

Thankfully, I know the joy of being free. It’s like being new again.

Waste of addiction

The waste of addiction is like an unending desert, rough ground, every watering hole a mirage, every promise a heartache, every thought an inward turn away from love and friendship and life and a turn down into a bottomless pit of more, more, more, when can I get more, how can I get more, where can I get more, who will I have to hide this from?

The waste of addiction is like living death.

And it never seems to go away.

And we despair, and despair turns us inward one more time. If only we could change. If only we could see things differently. If only we could … .

God desires more

God hurts to see us live this way. To all of us, addicted or not, God desires more for us:

Seek the Lord while he may be found;

    call on him while he is near.

Let the wicked forsake their ways

    and the unrighteous their thoughts.

Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,

    and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

    neither are your ways my ways,”

declares the Lord.

“As the heavens are higher than the earth,

    so are my ways higher than your ways

    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

As the rain and the snow

    come down from heaven,

and do not return to it

    without watering the earth

and making it bud and flourish,

    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

    It will not return to me empty,

but will accomplish what I desire

    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

You will go out in joy

    and be led forth in peace;

the mountains and hills

    will burst into song before you,

and all the trees of the field

    will clap their hands.

Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,

    and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.

This will be for the Lord’s renown,

    for an everlasting sign,

    that will endure forever.” (Isaiah 55:6-13)

Words in context

Maybe you’ve heard God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and God’s ways are not our ways. Maybe you’ve heard God’s ways are higher than our ways, and God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Maybe you’ve heard God’s word will not return void but will accomplish what God intends. But have you seen those words in their context?

Now you have, and the context is clear. Our thoughts and ways are a spiral down into darkness and death, and God’s thoughts and ways are toward vibrant and eternal life. How we long for vibrant life! If only we could get there.

Thankfully, God makes a way through Jesus Christ, who opens the way and shows us the way. Jesus taught us if we will give up our thoughts and ways and will follow God’s way, we will know new and vibrant and eternal life.

If we will give up our thoughts and our ways and turn to God, we will find mercy and pardon.

If we will give up our thoughts and our ways and will turn to God, we will receive God’s words of life that will be to us like:

rain and the snow

    com(ing) down from heaven,

… watering the earth

and making it bud and flourish,

    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater.

Wouldn’t you like the parched soil of your addicted soul to soak in life-giving rain?

If we will give up our thoughts and our ways and will dive into God’s way of life, we will begin to leave addiction behind and

will go out in joy

    and be led forth in peace,

(and) the mountains and hills

    will burst into song before you,

and all the trees of the field

    will clap their hands.

Renewing exchange

Wouldn’t you like to exchange the moans of addiction for the celebration of life?

If we will give up our thoughts and our ways and will wash in God’s life-giving love, the thorn bush and brier patch of addiction will be replaced with evergreen.

Wouldn’t you like to be free of the tearing thorns of addiction and surrounded by flourishing life?

If we will give up our thoughts and our ways that take us away from life as God intended it, and if we will accept God’s thoughts and ways, God will make us new again.

If you will, you won’t be alone. Jesus will be with you, and Jesus is faithful to send other encouragers, also.

If you will give up your ways and your thoughts and will live in God’s way, following Jesus, you will leave the living death of addiction behind and will come to know joy and fullness of life.

If you will, God will make you a new creation, and God’s new creation is good and endures forever.

Eric Black is pastor of First Baptist Church in Covington, Texas, and a member of the Baptist Standard board of directors.

“Wine Into Water” is a song by T. Graham Brown, recorded in 1998 on Intersound Records.

“You have heard it said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28)

Patrick Adair

I read some good news recently. I was looking up statistics and found out that one in six women have been victims of sexual assault. The only way such a horrific number can be considered good news is this: Ten years ago, when I began working in full-time ministry, the number was one in four.

One in four women were victims of some kind of sexual assault, and the statistic is down now to one in six. The number may, of course, actually be higher than that, because sexual assault is one of the most under-reported crimes, but the reported number of assaults, at least, has declined. To one in six women.

Guilty get away with it

I want to tell you something, and I want to be perfectly clear. If one in six women are victims of sexual assault, it is not because one in six men are sexual assaulters. It is because we let the men who are guilty of sexual assault get away with it. I repeat: If one in six women are victims of sexual assault, it is not because one out of every six men are potential sexual assaulters. It is because we look the other way about sexual assault.

We choose to look the other way because it is not the strangers who commit sexual assault that we have to deal with. It is the men we know. We look the other way because it would cost us personally, professionally or politically to acknowledge the guilt of the men who do commit sexual assault. Instead, we excuse the men and blame the women, or we simply ignore them and re-victimize the victims by our apathy.  

Let me be clear about two things.

First, I am not discounting false reports of sexual assault. The women who claim such things for whatever reason certainly do no favors for genuine victims, but the number of false accusations is insignificant compared to the number of actual assaults. One in six. The overwhelming weight of evidence is in favor of women telling the truth.

Second, I also am not denying men also are victims of sexual assault. I is very likely sexual assault of men is a much higher than what is reported because there is even more stigma for men to report it. It is also true, however, that men are much more likely to be sexually assaulted by other men than by women.

Those are the first two objections I can anticipate to the statement that we look the other way on sexual assault of women: False claims do exist, and men also can be victims. Perhaps other caveats might be thrown out.

However, consider this: There is not one single man reading this who has mace on his keychain, is there? Men, our fathers didn’t teach us to walk through a dark parking lot with our keys stuck between our knuckles in case somebody attacked us on the way to our car, did they?

Jesus expects …

There is a reason Jesus gives his command against lust to men. He expected the male disciples of his day to obey his command, and he expects the same from us. But the truth is we simply do not insist on his standard for our society. Instead, we excuse and hem and haw. We easily give way to “lesser” sins that compound together to create an environment in which a woman can expect to be leered at, spoken about and treated and as object, and attacked.

I don’t want any part of that. I don’t want any part of a society that condones and looks the other way and approves of those kinds of behaviors. This means, for me, I obviously won’t commit sexual assault, but it also means I need to expel from my life any of the “harmless” things that contribute to the environment in which women can expect all variety of inhumane treatment, from inappropriate jokes to cat-calls to rape. So, there must no place in my life to be part of a group of men talking, “rating” the women around us, excusing sexual harassment as “joking” or bragging about sexual exploits. Some might call such behavior “harmless,” but our Lord does not.

We are part of a society in which watching pornography is considered “harmless,” but our Lord does not. Pornography, by the way, is addictive. Addiction works by rewiring your brain to continue to seek more and more and more of whatever creates the high. You never will be satisfied, and you always will escalate. Pornography is no exception.

Someone else’s body

Have you ever considered, men, the similarities between watching pornography and sexual assault? In both cases, someone else’s body is used for one’s pleasure without the other’s consent. One could object that someone who appears in a pornographic film is consenting. Is that true, though? Consenting to each and every use of the image of their body for someone else’s pleasure, for anonymous strangers’ pleasure? No one who is part of the body of Christ should want any part of using someone else’s body in that way.

If you have found yourself struggling with the addiction of pornography, there is hope. Seek accountability for this addiction. You need to treat it like an addiction, and you need to seek sobriety from it. Seek out Christian counsel and fellow believers who will pray for you and support your quest for purity of thought and action. Celebrate your milestones! “I have gone this long without indulging in this behavior.”

Also, seek radical empathy. Empathize with those you have been accustomed to treating as objects. Say to yourself when you see a woman or a man who has signed on to be part of a pornographic film: “What sort of things have to happen in a person’s life for them to think this is OK? Or that this is good?” Pray for them, and be guided by God’s love instead of your libido. Seek radical empathy with those you are used to looking at as objects.

Heroes on bicycles

Last summer, the victim of sexual assault that garnered national headlines published a letter. The young woman who wrote it was sexually assaulted at Stanford University. Her assaulter received a very light sentence, which was the main reason for such widespread coverage of the case. The anonymous young woman wrote a letter she read in court to her assaulter after his very light sentence had been passed, and in which she detailed the trauma of the assault and of the ensuing trial.

It was a graphic letter, because what happened to her was graphic. She mentioned she was unconscious during her assault, and so only discovered the facts of the case from the police reports. While she was being assaulted behind an outdoor dumpster, two Stanford graduate students on bicycles rode by, saw what was happening and intervened. Her attacker ran away when they approached, and the men tackled him and stopped him. They called 911.

Near the end of her letter, she thanked several people, including the two men on bicycles. She did not even know their names. All she knew was they acted. In her letter, she wrote, “I sleep with two bicycles that I drew taped above my bed to remind myself that there are heroes in this story.”

I don’t want any part of one in six. I do not want to contribute in any way, no matter how “small,” how “harmless” or how “excusable.” I do not want any part.

I want to be one of the men on the bicycles. I want every woman, from my daughters, the women in our church, my female colleagues in ministry, every woman to be able to say the men of their churches are the men on bicycles. I challenge every man among us, young and old, to be and to hold one another accountable to be that kind of man.

Patrick Adair is pastor of Central Baptist Church in Marshall.

I have a personal, professional and academic interest in revitalization in established Baptist churches. Personally, I’ve pastored three congregations in Texas—First Baptist Church in Castroville, First Baptist Church in Woodville and, currently, First Baptist Church in Brenham. Each of them, for various reasons, went through an intentional interim process before I came because they had been through some combination of struggle, conflict and/or stagnation.

Ross SheltonI also know what it is like to pastor year-after-year praying and working for revitalization and being frustrated it was not happening in the way I hoped. This interest led me to seek out pastors who are leading effectively, to read widely about church revitalization, and, ultimately, to focus my dissertation research at Dallas Baptist University on church revitalization.

I examined seven established Baptist General Convention of Texas-related churches that had undergone a time of decline followed by a time of revitalization. My first three articles with the Baptist Standard will focus on the findings I discovered during my dissertation.

Feelings of decline/revitalization

The most dominant and prevalent finding I discovered in my research related to the way people felt about their church during decline versus how they felt about their church during revitalization.

When people described their church during the decline, they would talk about church as a negative experience. One respondent explained the negative experience in the following way: “It was, so it was pretty low, low morale. On the Sunday I came, I think it was, I can’t remember what it was, but I remember I didn’t want to be here, and neither did anybody else, really. It’s kind of how it felt.”

During the revitalization, though, the church felt the opposite. When I asked respondents about revitalization, the word I heard over and over again was “excitement.” People wanted to be together, and they were thrilled about the future. One respondent put it this way, “It was just a sense of excitement, and you know, a spirit of expectation of what God was going to do.”

The culture in these churches went from depressive and stagnate to exciting and expectant.

Two causes

The natural question is, “What caused the church to feel negative during the decline and exciting during the revitalization?” Two sources for the feelings stood out.

The first source was the experience of people observing their church either decline or grow. During the decline, the respondents spoke of how hard it was to watch people leave the church, especially if the people leaving were their friends. During the revitalization, though, they observed people joining their church, which fueled their excitement.

The second, and most important, source was the relationship between the pastor and church. During the decline, the pastor often—although not always—led in a unilateral, dictatorial way and did not connect relationally with the church. Along with people leaving, the unhealthy relationship with the pastor further enhanced the church as feeling negative. During the revitalization, though, the pastor, who often was new, led with vision and an open, inclusive and relational style.

That is, these pastors had the combination of being men with vision/direction and were people who connected relationally with the church. They loved being with people, and as decisions were made about the future, they worked hard to bring as many people and generations along. As many other researchers have noted, the pastor’s leadership often is the crucial factor in church revitalization/growth. This was found true in my research as well.

Research shows …

To summarize and apply the most dominant finding in my dissertation research, here is what I discovered:

• The culture of a church—“how a church feels”—is crucial in churches transitioning from declining to revitalized. It is important for pastors and church leaders to take seriously how their church feels, especially as it relates to a church’s relational energy.

• The pastor sets the tone of the church’s culture by how he leads, provides vision and relates to people.

I was encouraged by the pastors who led revitalization, because they were not hard-charging, my-way-or-the-highway, aloof types. They had vision, were passionate, led through some very difficult changes and they did so in a way that sought to be inclusive. They wanted as many people to be part of the revitalization as possible. They were very much people who thought of themselves, first-and-foremost, as pastors and were not interested in some other leadership metaphor to describe or define their leadership.

Ross Shelton is senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas

Hebrews 11 often is called the hall of faith. It is filled with the stories of Old Testament men and women and their faith in God in the midst of trials and hardship. These stories are meant to encourage us to run our own race with endurance by their examples as our “cloud of witnesses,” as chapter 12 says. Follow these examples of faith, be encouraged by these examples of faith as you keep your eyes on Jesus and run the race set before you.

Zac Harrel

As I was reading through Hebrews 11 recently, I was encouraged by the faith of those examples, because they are not neat and tidy. Living with faith in this world is not easy. The story of faith is not wrapped up nicely with a bow. Just a cursory look at the examples given in Hebrews 11 proves this point.

Abraham believed God and the promise of God to give him a son of inheritance, but not without attempting to fulfill this promise himself first. Sarah believed God only after laughing off the promise of God.

Moses made excuse after excuse when God called him to set his people free, and he lashed out in anger, excluding himself from the Promised Land. Gideon makes God prove his faithfulness and calling. Samson is prideful. Samuel ignores the sins of his sons. David commits adultery and murder. But here in this chapter, they are held up as examples of faith we should follow.

Faith is messy

These examples remind us faith is messy most of the time. Following Jesus is hard. We will not be perfect. There will be moments when we mess up, when we struggle to believe, when we try to take action instead of wait on God. Pride will get the best of us. Sinful desires sometimes will win the day. And we will hear the voice of God and make excuses.

Hebrews 11 and 12 encourages us to keep the faith, to persevere. We are not called to be perfect. We are called to trust in the sufficiency of Jesus to make us holy and righteous by our faith in him. All we need is faith the size of a mustard seed, and we can know, because of the cross and resurrection of Jesus, nothing—not our lapse of belief, not our questions and doubts, not our struggle with sin—can separate us from his love.

These examples remind us we don’t have to be perfect to have faith.

Commendations for faith

Sometimes, we look at the circumstances of our lives, of this world, and we struggle to have “assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11 also shows us examples of men and women who are not named or known and who faced unspeakable tragedy and persecution in this life and yet are commended for their faith.

After the author of Hebrews gives us the big names of the Old Testament and how they put foreign armies to flight, stopped the mouths of lions, escaped the edge of the sword and conquered kingdoms, he turns to others whose faith didn’t seem so victorious.

Verse 35 says, “some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.”

Faith & suffering

Faith in Jesus sometimes leads us right into suffering, where we have to live with the hope of a better reward, a better resurrection life. Faith does not always lead us to victorious living or our best life now. In fact, our faith finds true strength when we walk through the fires of suffering and loss. Our better life is not always promised here. What is promised here is joy, hope and love in the midst of our wandering about in deserts and mountains.

Hebrews 11 gives us examples of men and women who were not perfect and who suffered and struggled day after day and yet continued to walk by faith desiring a better country, a city whose designer and builder is God.

So, brothers and sisters, endure. Choose today to walk by faith, even though it is messy and hard.

Zac Harrel is pastor of First Baptist Church in Gustine, Texas

Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” (Psalm 16:1-2)

Jason DuntonPresence is a really big deal at the Dunton house. In fact, it would be extremely rare for you to come over to our house and for us all not to be in the same room. For some people, love finds its most valuable expression in gifts or words of affirmation, but in our house, to love is to be present.

When my wife, Joanna, and I first got married, it seemed like whenever I would want to unwind after a long day of work, Joanna always would want to snuggle up to me on the couch or sit really close and just talk. Some days, I would protest with what I’m sure was a truck load of snark. But on those days, she would very sweetly and simply respond with, “I missed you today, and I just want to be near you.”

“Stare time”

She even instituted a nightly ritual called “stare time” that we now do every single night before we go to bed. What cracks me up about “stare time” is that some nights we will sit next to each other reading or watching TV for several hours and not say one word to each other, but as soon as our heads hit the pillow, she looks at me and suddenly wants to wade into the waters of deep and intimate conversation. This used to bug the mess out of me, but it’s now the best part of my day.

One of my daughter’s favorite phrases right now is “Daddy, I go with you.” It doesn’t matter what the activity is. It can be having a tea party, sitting with me in my office as I work, or simply walking with me to the mailbox. For her, it’s not about the activity. It’s about the proximity. It’s about presence.

David & God

King David understood presence. I don’t think you receive the title “Man after God’s Own Heart” without some understanding of the benefit of being in the presence of the Lord.

David faced some of the most troubling times, some of the darkest nights and some of the most painful circumstances, yet his consistent profession was that the nearness of God was all he needed to navigate this life. He was convinced the time with his God was the “meaning of life” and in it was the “fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11). Of this we can be sure, in spite of the many missteps taken by this blemished king, David was convinced there was nothing more precious in heaven and on earth than the presence of God.

I recently was reading in Psalm 16—one of David’s many—and was absolutely overwhelmed by the presence of the Lord. I lifted up my voice in praise. I wept tears of joy before him. I marveled at his faithfulness in my life and also in the life of his church. I also found myself completely blown away by his profession in verse 2: “I have no good apart from you.”

This is no small statement. David was a king, for crying out loud! He literally had every treasure, every pleasure, every relationship imaginable at the snap of his fingers. Yet in the face of all this world had to offer, his response was “compared to God, everything else is worthless!”

“Count everything as loss”

The Apostle Paul put it another way in Philippians 3:8: “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ ….”

David and Paul both came to the same conclusion. If they had the Lord, they had everything they would ever need.

My prayer for today is that the church would cease to be known as anything other than people of his presence. That our leaders would be infinitely more concerned with their proximity to the Lord than with the success of their programs. That just as they said of Peter and John in Acts 4, when people encounter us, they would be utterly astonished and recognize we have been with Jesus.

That our hearts would overflow with this anthem: “God if I have you, I have everything.”

Jason Dunton is the contemporary worship arts pastor at First Baptist Church in Bryan, Texas, where he lives and loves with his wife, Joanna, daughter, Penelope, and English bulldog, Grubby.

One of my favorite days of the year occurs in mid-February, when pitchers and catchers report for their first day of work at spring training.

James Hassell

This year, the first day of spring training not only served to clear away some of my winter doldrums, but also lined up nicely with the start of the college baseball season at Angelo State University. In fact, such an alignment of events even turned out to be like one of those supernatural-double-portion miracles I hear about from our televangelist brethren. I obtained my double-portion miracle for the grand total of $40, the cost of a baseball season pass—not a bad harvest for a few dollars of seed money.

Now, let me tell you about the miracle.

I took in an early season baseball game at ASU on a dreary day, complete with a 36-degree wind chill while simultaneously watching spring training news on my phone. I could not have been warmer, though, even if it took some skill to eat popcorn with gloves. Among the smattering of shivering people in a small but enthusiastic crowd, I noticed a man with booming voice who cheered for the visiting team. When the crowd argued a particularly bad call, this man even yelled an encouragement to the umpire.

Variety of response

The man with the booming voice certainly knew how to cheer for his team, and it soon became apparent that hometown fans noticed him. Some stared. Others performed the patented over-the-shoulder glare that unruly children can receive in church. Most others just ignored him.

I tried my best simply to tune him out, and my brain’s sarcastic voice internally declared, “There’s one in every crowd.” Interestingly, the Spirit’s voice also spoke to my heart in that moment. And thus the miraculous moment occurred.

The Spirit took me on a journey back through some interesting situations in church life when brothers and sisters in Christ resembled the man with the booming voice. These were folks who seemed to cheer for the other team.

The one in that crowd

In fact, I remember one man in particular who rather regularly could be counted upon to cast a “no” vote in about every church business meeting. This man was a little different than other folks who typically vote against everything. He usually told me—and others—his reasoning after much contemplation and prayer. I had no reason to think he was in the church to cause trouble, because he was a respected member and got on well with most folks, including me. He simply spoke up and voted his conscience.

Yet when he would speak his mind, some others stared at him, glared over the shoulder or just ignored him. It’s interesting and difficult when a church body simultaneously grumbles, “There’s one in every crowd.”

Conscience & conviction

Could it be, however, that these ones in every crowd may be used by God to convict the conscience of the majority? Even if the one is wrong in his/her views, does it not do the body good to hear from those who insist we look at issues through a different lens? Theological reflection keeps the soul in good shape.

Consider the Apostle Paul, who taught the Corinthians both to expel a sexually perverse member and to treat each other as the body of Christ. He understood the tension and paradox of our Christian experience. The Christian life is one of constant theologizing. It also is one in which dialogue vastly outdoes monologue. Incidentally, true dialogue occurs in a tension. Dialogue is not that which leads people to forced, tacit approval of the majority view.

So, when you come across that one in every crowd, forgo the immediate temptation of expulsion. Don’t have a stare down or ignore them. Rather, live in the tension. You usually will find a good solution there.

James Hassell is senior pastor of First Baptist Church in San Angelo.

While the Texas Senate is thinking about who is allowed to use which bathroom, you should give some thought to who is able to use your bathroom.

Eric Black

Some time ago, I polled my Facebook friends using a highly scientific process. I posted a question asking why they go or do not go to church. So many responses came in, I needed a whole three minutes to read them.

One response has stuck with me, because it came from my best friend.

My best friend is married with one surviving son. Their firstborn died a few years ago at age 17 after a lifelong battle with a rare seizure disorder that confined him to a specially designed chair. Their second son also has a seizure disorder and has a specially designed chair.

Need vs. facilities

My best friend told me there are times they are unable to attend church because their son needs particular care that morning. He also said there are places they simply cannot go because they need a bathroom where they can care for their son, and the vast majority of bathrooms do not accommodate their needs.

How many families with special needs are not involved in your church’s ministry because your physical space will not accommodate them? Are you even aware there are families who long for such a place?

My best friend also pointed out the difficulty senior adults sometimes have finding bathrooms where the spouse of the opposite sex can accompany the other. I immediately remembered a couple in our church. He needs assistance in the bathroom, but because our bathrooms are marked gender specific, his wife was not comfortable entering to give him the help she knew he needed.

How many senior adults no longer participate in your ministry because you do not have a bathroom their spouse can comfortably enter with them? Are you even aware this is a live concern?

Eyes opened

I was aware but was not concerned until my best friend opened my eyes.

Our church facility is less than 4 years old. Despite its recent construction, we did not include a family bathroom in the design. Space limitations, cost and lack of foresight explain why. We knew the cost of a bathroom, but we didn’t think about the cost of not having a bathroom.

A few weeks ago, I told some of our leaders about what I learned from my best friend, and we decided to designate two of our bathrooms as family bathrooms. We want to embody Christ by serving people well, and once we had a clear view of something practical to accomplish our goal, our decision was simple.

A hole for imagination

A group of friends once took one of their own, who couldn’t take himself, to a neighbor’s house to see Jesus. The place was packed, and they couldn’t get in, but they were determined. They climbed up on the roof, cut a hole in it and lowered their friend to the floor in front of Jesus.

I really wanted to see Jesus, and I needed my best friend to cut a hole in my imagination so I could.

When people want to see Jesus, do they have to cut a hole in our roof, or are we determined enough to make the door wider?

Eric Black is pastor of First Baptist Church in Covington, Texas, and a member of the Baptist Standard Publishing board of directors.

As you’ve likely heard if you’re involved in Texas Baptist life, three churches recently were declared out of “harmonious cooperation” with the Baptist General Convention of Texas during a meeting of the BGCT’s Executive Board. This decision, of course, wasn’t made unilaterally by the Executive Board. It was the result of a motion passed in November by messengers to the BGCT annual meeting.

Jake RaabeIn other words, no big surprises here; no ambushes. This removal was the necessary result of the motion, and the Executive Board could not reasonably have acted in any other way without working against the wishes of those they represent.

Two camps

Watching the reactions to the removal, I’ve noticed the responses generally fall within one of two camps. One camp, probably the larger of the two, sees the decision a preservation of the BGCT’s commitment to the authority of Scripture. The other camp, a substantial minority, sees the exclusion of these churches as an attempt to silence or marginalize an oppressed group.

Robert Baird, a member of Lake Shore Baptist Church in Waco, demonstrated this kind of response when he told the Waco Tribune Herald: “Baptist minister and author Will Campbell … said a time would come when we Baptists would apologize for how we treated homosexuals as we now apologize for how we once treated blacks. … ’Til that day does come, churches such as Lake Shore in Waco … will bear the exclusion for what seems to us a matter of love and justice.”

Amidst these two responses—righteous indignation against those who would compromise a clear teaching of Scripture and righteous indignation at those trying to block the forward-march of social progress—I’d like to propose a third response I believe is more appropriate: Honest, genuine grief.

God’s desire

No matter what side of the same-sex marriage debate you’re on, the breaking of fellowship is a sad thing. Anyone celebrating this decision or gaining a sense of satisfaction from being “on the right side of history”—both of which are reactions I have observed recently—should reread the myriad of passages in the Bible that speak of God’s desire for a unified church.

For the many benefits of a free-church polity, this is a sad reality. Genuine disagreement by well-intended Christians reading Scripture and listening for the guidance of the Holy Spirit will disagree on important issues, and splitting will result. This is as inevitable as it is sad.

The best thing we can do with this unfortunate reality is to mourn it with humility and willingness to listen.

Those churches that affirm same-sex marriage have chosen to do so not because they’re flimsy, culture-conforming liberals who despise the word of God; they’ve done so after much consideration and deliberation. (You actually can see how that process unfolded in Lake Shore’s collection of weekly newsletters.). They discussed Scripture. They prayed. In the end, they made the decision they felt was most in line with the example of Christ.

Similarly, for those on the other side: I exhort you not to think those who believe Scripture teaches God reserves sexuality for the context of a heterosexual marriage as heartless or oppressive. These churches, too, have made their decisions based on Scripture and prayer, and they agonize at people’s pain and isolation in the same way.

Blessing & curse

We have the same goal, but different understandings of how our shared Master has exhorted us to get there. This is the blessing and curse of Baptist polity: We can disagree, but that disagreement sometimes will lead to painful parting-of-ways.

The BGCT also shouldn’t be vilified for this painful separation. The BGCT is not a board of people sitting in a conference room deciding who can and cannot be a Christian. It is a democratic conglomeration of more than 5,000 churches across Texas combining their resources to further God’s kingdom. It supports hospitals in third-world countries, advocates for improvements to the Texas foster-care system, and brings the gospel to thousands of people every year who might not hear it otherwise.

The three churches that have been excluded were faithful, participating members who loved the BGCT and are grieving at being excluded for what they feel the Spirit is leading them to do. The BGCT is sad to have to part with them, and they are sad to part with the BGCT.

The situation we’re facing is both sad and inevitable. Well-meaning, honest Christians exist on both sides of the debate. The witness of Baptists in Texas rises or falls with the way we treat one another during this debate. Let us pursue every opportunity for understanding and reconciliation and be quick to listen to those who believe differently than we do. Let us still show Christian love to those with whom we disagree.

Jake Raabe is a student at Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary in Waco, Texas.

Reflecting back on Black History Month, I find myself looking ahead to 2020 or 2026 in great anticipation of seeing another first in Black history, one that surely will become a lasting part of American history—the replacement of Andrew Jackson’s image on the $20 bill with an image of the illusive and courage-inspiring Harriet Tubman.

Dante Wright

Harriet Tubman earned her place in history, Black history, American history, American Black history and any other labeled history—Black, or otherwise—as the “conductor” of the Underground Railroad.

Escaping the oppression of slavery in 1849, Harriet Tubman made her way North, to freedom. And despite the risk to her own life, she made at least 19 trips into the Antebellum South over the course of 10 years, leading more than 300 slaves to freedom, earning her the nickname, Moses.

Go Down

In my sanctified imagination, I can hear her drawing strength as she softly sang that old Negro folk song, “Go Down Moses.”

Go down, Moses

’Way down in Egypt land,

Tell ole Pharaoh,

To let my people go.

When Israel was in Egypt’s land;

Let my people go,

Oppressed so hard they could not stand,

Let my people go.

Harriet Tubman’s journey to this modern-day America in which she, a former—or escaped—slave, becomes one of a few American figures considered notable enough to grace the face of any American currency transcends the cultural oppression common to traditional American history.

Continuing the fight

Today, African-Americans have spent a lifetime continuing Harriet Tubman’s fight—the fight for, among other things, the inalienable rights guaranteed by the Constitution of United States, basic human rights and the recognition for their many academic, art and scientific contributions to this country. Contributions benefitted by a country that used an enslaved and dehumanized people to construct the very foundation of its economic prowess. A country that not only stripped a dignified people of their identity, but forced their assimilation into a new one.

By 2020, 155 years will have passed since the abolishment of slavery. Yet African-Americans still are “biting at the bits” to secure their place and receive acknowledgment for their inarguably sound contributions in America’s written and acclaimed history.

Even so, we have made our mark on America, and perhaps the wave of the tide turns. In 2016, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced the Obama administration’s approval for Harriet Tubman to appear on the front of the $20 bill, relocating the slaveholding former President Andrew Jackson to its rear.

If that plan continues, and the Trump administration does not default, Harriet Tubman will have achieved many “firsts”: the first woman, the first African-American and the first of any race other than European to appear on any American currency.

She shall rise

I can hear Harriet Tubman joining in with Maya Angelou as she boldly proclaims,

Out of the huts of history’s shame

I rise Up from a past that’s rooted in pain

I rise

I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

And rise she shall!

Dante Wright is pastor of Sweet Home Baptist Church—known as the Pinnacle of Praise—in Round Rock.

One look at the comments section of an online article or someone’s Facebook page will prove we have lost the ability to be civil. There is no civility in our anonymous, detached, virtual-reality world.

Zac Harrel

We need to be reminded the second-greatest command, to love our neighbor, extends to our virtual neighbors online.

What may have begun online has no doubt seeped into our wider culture. We not only are a divided nation; we also are an angry nation. This anger mostly is aimed at those we feel are the enemy because they think differently or, heaven forbid, actually vote differently than we do.

We have lost civility in our public square, and we need to recover it quickly. The church constantly talks about being counter-cultural, and there is no greater way to be counter-cultural in this day and age than to be civil, kind and generous.

Convictional kindness

Being civil and kind does not mean you are soft, and having convictions and standing for God’s truth does not mean you have to be unkind or harsh. We are called to give an account of the hope we have in Jesus and to do so with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15).

The church must be known by her convictional kindness. As Christians called to be “salt and light,” we must proclaim the truth of God, call men and women to repentance, and hold up the grace found in Jesus Christ alone with love and compassion for those we encounter. We are called to witness in the public square, to seek the common good and to do so with civility and kindness.

The church should lead the way in this return to decency. I am saddened when I cannot tell the difference between a Christian pastor and another commentator as they yell at each other on cable news.

The unity of the body of Christ does not mean we will agree on every issue, but it does mean we approach our disagreements with kindness and civility.

Public posture

Our posture outside of the body of Christ also should be kindness and civility, for at least two basic reasons.

First, all people are created in the image of God and therefore are valuable and are to be treated with dignity and respect.

We may not agree on any opinion another person holds, and they may not treat us with respect or civility. But we must honor the dignity of the image of God within them. We have no choice but to show kindness when we see others as created in God’s image and therefore worthy of respect. Civility can be recovered when we see others as first and foremost created in the image of God.

Second, all people are loved by God.

Jesus doesn’t love only people who look, think and vote like us. Jesus didn’t come to save only people of whom we approve.

We should ask God to give us his heart for others, especially those we have difficulty loving as Christ loves us. As believers, we are called to love our brothers and sisters in Christ, our neighbor and even our enemy. There is no escape clause in the command to love.

When we begin with the truth that this person is loved by God and therefore should be loved by us, we will show them respect and kindness.

Civility and respect

There will be people, even within the church, that we disagree with. There will be people and churches—as we have seen within the Baptist General Convention of Texas—we may not want to cooperate with because of the nature and depth of our disagreements, but we must treat them with civility, and we must respect them.

I’m not naive enough to think there won’t be divisions, and sometimes there is a point where we must go our separate ways. Paul and Barnabas come to mind. But we can do so with respect.

I’m also not calling for us to lose our convictions for the sake of being nice. There are times we must disagree and follow our conscience. I am saying we must do so with gentleness and love.

The church of Jesus Christ must lead the recovery of civility, kindness and respect in the midst of disagreement. God has given us the foundation, in seeing others as created in his image and loved by him, to recover basic decency in these disagreements and divisions.

Zac Harrel is pastor of First Baptist Church in Gustine, Texas.