After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves… And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has seizures and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” Matthew 17:1, 14-16

Life at the Foot of the Mountain

Have you ever wondered what it was like back down the mountain with all the other disciples who did NOT get to make the trip up to the transfiguration?  I have:

So what do you guys think this is all about?  I mean, surely I’m not the only one of us whose ego is bruised by this.  Why would the Master choose those three over any of us?  Maybe James and John, sure, but Peter?  Really?  Over any of us?  He sticks his foot in his mouth every time he opens it…so very impulsive and childish…remember just last week how Jesus rebuked him?  So, why Peter?  Why on earth would Jesus pick him?  Are any of you worried about what this means about our place in the new order of things?  Jesus keeps talking about the kingdom of God being at hand and how everything is about to change.  Do we even know what that means?  What do you think our roles will be in his new kingdom?  Do we really have to put up with Peter outranking us?  I just don’t know if I can live with that.

And now, as if God is just trying to show us what huge LOSERS we are, we try to help this man with his lunatic son and fail…miserably.  No telling what Jesus will have to say to us about that when He comes back down the mountain.  It seems we just can’t get anything right.  And then, of course, we’ll have to listen to Peter go on and on about all the secret “stuff” we missed at the top of the mountain.  AAAAUUGGGHHH!!!  I just don’t know if I can stand it! I‘ve got some questions for Jesus when He gets back down.  What does this mean about our “standing” in the kingdom?  Who among us will be over whom?  How will we rank?  I’m just saying…

The Self-centered Heart of the Disciples

Obviously, we don’t really know much about the scene down there.  Just bits and pieces of information.  The larger context is important. Jesus had already sent them out to heal and to cast out demons. They had experienced the success of those miracles. They knew some things about casting out demons, so there was cause for some ego. And we know they failed this time. We know Jesus rebukes them for their “little faith” and for their lack of prayer, implying they may have tried this exorcism in their own power rather than in God’s power. And we get a great deal more clarity in light of the discussion that ensued as soon as they were all together again (Matthew 18): “Who among us is the greatest…?” These are all evidence of self centeredness and ego.

The Self-centered Heart of Church Fights

That kind of pride and ego is at the heart of most church fights I have seen.  Not always…but most of the time.  It seems that our desire to be on the top of the mountain, to be one of the ones in the inner circle, is directly responsible for so very much of the unhealthy conflict we face in churches today.  Remember Pastor James’ words (James 4:1-2): “What causes fights and quarrels among you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.”  Life in the church is filled with disappointments.

I recognize those feelings because I have felt them.  Like the disciples, I am capable of having an ego and I am not proud of that.  In fact, looking back on those times, it is pretty humiliating.  God, save me from that ugliness.  Help me bloom where You plant me, whether it is up high or down low.  I will care for the people around me, wherever that may be, and I will be happy to do it.  I will rejoice at the foot of the mountain!  The church’s health depends on it.

© Blake Coffee

Permissions: Blake Coffee permits and encourages you to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, I prefer a link to this document on this website. Blake Coffee must approve any exceptions to the above.  Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: © Blake Coffee. Website: churchwhisperer.com

And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” Matthew 8:26-27

Have we ever been more starved for peacemakers among us…for those who maintain a non-anxious presence in the midst of these current storms? These are anxious times. You may have noticed. The list of words and phrases that immediately invoke anxiety in our culture is growing: debt, cancer, abortion, immigration, guns, impeachment, republican, democrat, etc. In a world of fear run amok, anxieties are off the charts. At the same time, our common ability to engage in civil discourse seems to grow smaller by the minute. So here is an interesting question: what role is the church to play in such a storm? And by “church”, I mean you and me, individually and corporately, in our respective communities.

In the gospels, we read that the disciples were overcome with their own anxieties in the face of a storm. Jesus was a non-anxious presence in that situation. Jesus’ disappointment with them for their tiny faith is convicting. They seemed to know at least enough to turn to him with their fear, but then they show genuine surprise when he actually resolves the problem for them. In other words, their fear of the storm far outweighed their faith in Jesus. And their words and actions showed their hearts. Do ours? As Christ followers stewarding the gospel message in this broken world, are we the non-anxious presence we should be?

Adding to the Noise

In an outrage culture where we hear only the most extreme voices, does the church really further God’s kingdom by adding to the screaming? Is there anything genuinely transformative about making our voices extreme enough to match our opposition? We scoff at the nonbelievers. We scowl at the sinners. And we scream into the idealogical chasm that divides them from us (or even us from each other). We do all of this in the name of “speaking truth”. We get so caught up in being advocates for God’s truth (as if God’s truth needs advocates), we lose sight of actually connecting with people. Is there no place and time for us to stop and assess whether our stewardship of the gospel is even productive? And is that place and time not here and now?

How Big is Our Faith?

When we spread fear and anxiety in order to send our message, how are we different from the disciples and their “little faith” on the stormy sea? Doesn’t our own defensiveness and weeping and gnashing of teeth over the current moral revolution at least signal a possible lack of faith on our part? Our responses to our culture should reveal an assurance that God really is in control. Our posture should demonstrate that truth needs no defense from us, and that creation itself bears witness to a sovereign God, whether anyone “believes in Him” or not. In short, the most compelling authority of any peacemaker is his/her confidence that God’s will always prevails. After all, the gospel of Jesus Christ transforms lives not by its unassailable arguments, but by its quiet strength and unconditional love. We should be carriers of that quiet strength and love.

The Outrage Culture Detests a Non-Anxious Presence

Unfortunately, our current culture demands anxiety and outrage. It stands in accusation of those who refuse to engage in its extremes. Much of today’s outrage is aimed specifically at the lack of outrage in some camps. If I pull back from the outrage or demean it in any way, it must be because I just don’t care. If I don’t join the extreme voices, then I am obviously against them. This current culture feeds off our anxiety. A non-anxious influence, then, is not welcome (or is at least ignored) in our public discourse. How, then, do we exercise that peacemaker’s influence? How do we get our truth across?

Wouldn’t it be great if the Truth we speak did not need our vocal inflection and our communication gimmicks? If only our Truth could stand powerfully and profoundly all by itself, with no help from our raised voices, flashing eyes and furrowed brows. And if only our truth were a “…true light, which gives light to everyone and was coming into the world.” If only it was “…life, and the life was the light of men.”

If only.

© Blake Coffee

Permissions: Blake Coffee permits and encourages you to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, I prefer a link to this document on this website. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Blake Coffee.  Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: © Blake Coffee. Website: churchwhisperer.com

The church in America is in the wilderness. That’s not such a bad place to be. It’s a difficult place, often a painful place, but it’s a place God often leads his people when He has some difficult lessons to teach them or preparations to be made. And the American church certainly has some difficult lessons to learn. Moses learned in the wilderness, as did Elijah. The people of Israel learned in the wilderness. And Jesus went there as well, where he experienced some critical “perspective builders” in the form of temptations. The American church, while in the wilderness, is experiencing temptations as well. That story would go something like this…

Tempted to Manipulate Numbers

The devil said to them, “If you are the Church of God, tell these people to become members.” As bread represents a basic necessity for our body, believers (i.e., members) represent a basic necessity for the Church. It is, in fact, one of the first descriptors most church leaders use in describing their own church. It is one way we measure our effectiveness in mission. We measure every evangelistic outreach this way. In our rush to “success”, the temptation here is to move as many bodies as possible from the “prospect” category to the “member” category as quickly as possible.

The temptation is to use emotional pleas, scare tactics, or other forms of manipulation toward an all-important “decision”. And what the church is left with, especially over the long term, is a membership full of non-committed non-believers. At that point, none of the promises God gives us about His church are any good anymore. This temptation of getting people to check the correct box on our little in-take cards in order to build numbers is definitely one to resist.

Tempted to Build Political Power

The devil led them up to a high place and showed them in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to them, “I will give you all their authority and splendor…”. Gaining political power seems to have become an obsession of the American church, especially in light of recent events. The problem with this is that, though Jesus had plenty to say about how we should live our lives individually (and how the church should live) he had nothing at all to say about the “Christianization” of government. Even in the face of an oppressive Roman empire, with plenty of opportunity to organize His church against it, Jesus did no such thing.

Don’t hear me wrong…I believe strongly that each of us as Christians should take seriously our civic responsibilities. But I also believe the organized church should resist the temptation to build political power in order to create a more comfortable place for Christians to live and to work and to go to school. Think about it…as Christ followers, we did not sign on for comfort. Just think what we might accomplish if we took all of the energy and resources we spend on political gain and cultural comfort and devoted it to missions and ministry.

Tempted to Forsake Relationships

The devil led them to a dangerous place of broken relationships and had them stand on the highest point of the slippery slope of conflict. “If you are the Church of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here.” Relationships are messy business…and hard work. Some of them take extra work (you might call them “high maintenance” relationships). What we would like to do, I’m afraid, is just focus on the mission and leave the health of the relationships up to God to salvage. The temptation is to devote only a limited amount of time to relationships, so that we can focus our energies on more important things, like evangelism and worship. Then, when conflict comes, we wonder why our relationships are so out of sorts. We cry out to God then, saying “save us…bring us unity!”

But God has already done His part…He gave us the Spirit. Tempted by more urgent things, we have forsaken our part in preserving unity in the first place. A church who doesn’t want to “waste time” on relationships has little hope to move through conflict successfully. Resist the temptation to let relationships do whatever they want. Pay attention to them and learn to do them well. Do not put God to the test in this.

If the Church can resist these temptations and keep its focus on Christ, it can come out of this wilderness experience better. And as with Jesus, maybe the devil will leave us until a more opportune time…

© Blake Coffee

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on this website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Blake Coffee.  Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: © Blake Coffee. Website: churchwhisperer.com

Another week and lots of new opportunities to see social media lit up with examples of Christians behaving badly, saying hateful things…about other Christians. You know what’s sad? This blog post can stay up for years and that opening sentence will still be perfectly timely and relevant. Oh, how we make embarrassing choices over and over again. And social media seems perfectly designed to help us shine the brightest of lights on those embarrassing choices. Is it just me, or has social media become the newest highway for our road rage? The temptation to make embarrassing choices is just too great for many of us.

Embarrassing Fashion Choices

I’ve lost track of how many reality TV shows there are about fashion makeovers. Well, that’s not true. I’m certain I never did have any handle on that count. But you know the formula for them: some unsuspecting soul is suddenly put into what amounts to a fashion intervention by well-meaning friends or family. The fashion “experts” come in and go through the person’s closet and ridicule them for all the horrible fashions represented there. A miraculous transformation ensues, and that person is a new person as a result. May it never happen to you or to me.

But the truth is, we all have worn things in the past which we would be thoroughly embarrassed to wear today (e.g., take a look at the wedding pictures of anyone married in the 70s or 80s). To put those things on today and be seen in them would be, well, pretty horrible. I’m not going to admit anything here, but let’s just say that, in matters of fashion choices, I’m familiar with sentiments like: “Dad! No! We’ve talked about this!”

This, I believe, is a near-perfect illustration for the discipline of living “in the Spirit”.

Life in the Spirit

In his writing, the Apostle Paul talks often about the discipline of living in the Spirit. He sometimes compares it to what we might call making embarrassing fashion choices. In his letter to the Colossians, he takes a stroll through our spiritual closets filled with “old stuff” and says, “throw this away”, “get rid of that”, and “never wear that again”. He is talking about Christians behaving badly. Paul recognizes that there are some old ways about us, some things that fit our old nature just fine but that look completely ridiculous on us now, and we need to just get rid of them. In their place, we need to don the clothes that fit our new nature. We need to “wear” things that allow the Spirit Who lives in us to shine through. It is not changing our behavior in order to be a Christ follower, it is changing our behavior because we are a Christ follower. It is simply putting away our old ways and taking on the look that the Spirit of God portrays through us.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:12-14

A Better Look, a Better Way of Being

In typical Paul fashion, he moves from the big theological picture down to the blatantly practical pretty quickly. He hits Christians behaving badly right between the eyes. Paul, in a few words, writes the Christian’s social media policy for us. Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love. In a typically grueling way, God’s Word peeks into our closets and calls us out. As embarrassing as the process can be sometimes, you have to admit, the new look is worth pursuing. It suits you. It is a great look for you and for me…and for Christians everywhere.

© Blake Coffee

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on this website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Blake Coffee.  Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: © Blake Coffee. Website: churchwhisperer.com

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.  Romans 12:14-21

The Joys of the Political Season

We are on the front end of a season of presidential election politics here in the U.S. Our social media feeds are already dripping with political discourse. The deep division in our country between two ideologies has a way of bringing out the worst in us. We stop thinking, for the most part, for an entire season, and we start arguing over issues about which we are either completely ignorant or, in any other time of year, completely complacent.

Every issue, it seems, becomes colored by our political persuasion. Politics has hijacked some of the most important moral and ethical issues of our lifetime and has a way of disposing of them with much callous and little regard for truth or for fairness. The standard for public discourse connected to politics has reached an all-time low. The media outlets will be busy full time spewing out opinions that will somehow pass for journalism (at least in their minds).

What is most disturbing about this season is that

virtually all other worldviews will fall by the wayside in exchange for either a conservative or a liberal worldview. Conservatives will all be big on guns, hard on immigrants, anti-gay, anti-Muslim and duly horrified by anything Planned Parenthood does or says. Liberals will be hard on guns, playing to the immigrants, open-minded toward Muslims, pro-gay and will defend Planned Parenthood as doing more for “women’s health” than Race for the Cure and the polio vaccine combined.

What Would Paul Say?

Interestingly, people who claim a Biblical worldview will argue from both sides of the political divide. Christians (in both political camps) will claim to see the world through God’s eyes, but their Facebook walls will be “straight ticket” advertisements for their political party’s entire platform. We will all claim Christ as what is most important to us, but our social media posts will betray us and will show what is really most important to us.

As Christians, we do not ultimately place our hope in politics nor in the shallow political solutions to any of our societal problems. We place our hope in God. Right? But our social media pages and posts tell a different story…one filled with anguish and anxiety and fear.

I Need Some Rules. Maybe You Do Too.

In preparation for this season, I’m reposting something from 4 years ago. These are my personal rules for political posts and shares on my social media pages. I do not impose these rules on anyone else…just on myself. I would never presume to tell you what you should post (or not post). Paul, on the other hand, might just impose them on all of us as Christ-followers. Here are my personal social media rules:

1. I will bless those who persecute me; I will bless them and will not curse them. Maybe I should even broaden this category to apply to those who disagree strongly with me and who say mean things about my candidate. Every word of every post will be “helpful for building others up.”

2. I will not be wise in my own sight. The truth is, none of knows quite as much as we act like we know, just because we’ve been reading all the articles on Facebook for the past two weeks. As a culture, we really have lost any understanding of what genuine “expertise” even means. It’s a simple rule, really: on divisive issues, when I have written something that makes me feel wise for having written it, I will then just delete it. Because I am not.

3. I will not repay anyone evil for evil, and I will strive to post what is honorable in the sight of ALL. In other words, I will not engage in any comment war of name-calling, I will NOT strive to have the last sassy word, and I will not post anything that I am reasonably sure 50% of Christians will not think is honorable.

4. As far as it depends on me, I will live at peace with everyone. This “everyone” doesn’t mean everyone who votes like me. It means EVERYONE.

5. I will not be overcome by evil, but will overcome evil with good. I will not fight the evil in this world by stooping to the same tactics it uses to gain a foothold. This revolution Jesus started has always and has only advanced through uncommon love. May my social media posts be likewise!

Scripture as the Lens through Which we Understand our Experiences

Here is my approach to scripture such as Paul’s counsel to us in Romans 12. I don’t use my culture and my experiences to interpret it. Rather, I use scripture to interpret my culture and my experiences. And when the right application of scripture is difficult to figure out, I don’t feel OK to just ignore it or quit trying or write it off as irrelevant. I make adjustments in my perspective and in my behavior that will make the application make sense. And that is exactly what I will be doing with my social media over the next few months. Who is with me?

© Blake Coffee

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on this website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Blake Coffee.  Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: © Blake Coffee. Website: churchwhisperer.com

And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.  They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.  The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.  Matthew 14:19-21

A lot of churches and church leaders are doing strategic planning right now. We all enter into a new year (and a new decade) with great hope and excitement for all the new and innovative ministry approaches we will endeavor to take. And we will talk a lot about mission and vision and goals and measurement. In that process, let’s keep some perspective.

Jesus and Strategic Planning

Jesus did not take an institutional approach to ministry.  He did not survey the neighborhood to determine what the physical needs were then implement a task force to study those needs. Jesus did not plan the infrastructure of an organization that might be able to meet those needs and then go looking for funding for that organization and for the right people to fill the various positions in that organization.  Jesus did not do strategic planning to set specific goals and objectives for his ministry over a one-year, five-year and ten-year plan. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do any of those things. It just means we should keep all those things in perspective.

I believe Jesus operated according to God-inspired vision.  In the case referenced in Matthew 14 above, I believe Jesus recognized the hunger of the crowd and immediately developed a God-sized vision of what could be…of what should be…and of what would be.  And I believe he had one goal in mind: changing lives.  I do not think that merely feeding the people was his goal.  I also do not believe he had any goals regarding the number of people he wished to reach with this miracle.  Let me say that again for all the numbers-crunchers among us.  I do not believe he had any goals regarding the number of people he wished to reach with this miracle. Rather, I believe he wanted to change their lives AND change the lives of the disciples who helped Him.  His “vision” for that ministry was far greater than just getting a little food into several thousand hungry stomachs. It was about life change.

What are We Measuring?

So it makes me wonder about our ministries…whether our vision for them is truly God-sized or not.  It makes me wonder if “changed lives” is what we are aiming for (and structuring for) in our ministry endeavors.  It seems to me that, if lives are not being changed by how we as a church (or as a ministry) are spending our efforts and our resources, then we are not really being the church at all.  I believe this because, everywhere we see Jesus doing ministry in the New Testament, we see lives being changed.  That was always the case then and it seems to me it should always be the case now.

Please understand, I am all for church growth.  In fact, you could probably convince me that growth is a vital sign of health.  So I am not saying numbers don’t matter at all.  I do not think a church can be truly healthy if it is not growing.  But I do think that a church or ministry can be growing in terms of number without being truly healthy.  If counting noses is our best measure of the effectiveness of our ministry, then we may be setting ourselves up for failure. Ultimately, numbers are not the goal. Life change is the goal. And the mere fact that life change is difficult to measure is no reason to abandon it as our primary objective.

Life Change as Our Goal

People’s encounters with Jesus changed them.  Moreover, the disciples who participated in His ministry likewise experienced huge life change, by participating in others’ encounter with Him as well.  Indeed, this particular miracle of feeding the 5,000 was so very life-changing for the disciples that it became one of the very few moments included in all four of the gospels. And yet, there is not a single mention of how many of those 5,000 actually “joined” Jesus’ band of followers.  This ministry moment was not about adding numbers to Christ’s followers.  It was about changing lives.

The question, then, for me and for you…for my ministry and for your church…is this: irrespective of your numbers, are there lives being changed?  Is your life being changed?  Isn’t that the clearest evidence of an encounter with Him?

© Blake Coffee

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on this website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Blake Coffee.  Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: © Blake Coffee. Website: churchwhisperer.com

The Supreme Court of the United Sates has just begun what promises to be a politically packed new term. At that same time, talks of impeachment proceedings swirl through Congress. These become the on-ramp to what will be a full year of political outrage leading up to the 2020 Presidential election. Oh, the joy that fills our hearts. For “the church”, this is perhaps the perfect time to stop and remind ourselves of Whose we are. As the bride of Christ, we need this reminder about our focus.

We Are the Colossians

In his letter to the Colossians, Paul challenged that church to keep from being swayed by any of the competing ideologies of the culture. Specifically, he was concerned about the secular philosophies of that Greco-Roman culture. He was also concerned about the legalistic approach of the Judaizers. This tiny Colossian church surely felt the pull from each of these competing worldviews. It found itself trying to navigate truth from the middle of two extreme ideologies. If there is something about that “difficult middle” that feels at all familiar to you, it should.

When the World Frames the Issues for Us

The Apostle Paul warned the church on numerous occasions against being influenced by the world more than being an influence in the world. One of the ways this happens in a political culture is that we (the church) allow politics to frame some very important issues for us. Our government leaders are often dealing with issues that “belonged” to the church long before they became political. And I think we can all agree about what happens to issues once they get hijacked by political processes. Political agendas have a way of corrupting otherwise meaningful, problem-solving conversations. If we allow political processes to frame our issues and to give us the vocabulary to talk about the issues, then we find it impossible to avoid all those same political dynamics. In short, we forsake a Christ-centered worldview for a political worldview. Our focus on Christ begins to fade.

The Problem with Platforms

Don’t get me wrong. Good, well-reasoned theology will always influence our political engagement. And it should. But when the tables turn and our politics begin to shape and influence our theology, we have a problem. If I claim to follow Christ and it just so happens that my theology lines up 100% with one or the other political party platform, then I just might have an idol in my life. Paul’s challenge to us is to be so filled with Christ, so focused on Christ, that even the formidable narratives of CNN or of Fox News cannot dictate how we see and talk about the problems in our world.

When the Bride Looks Confused

As Christ followers (i.e., as the church), we are the Bride of Christ. He is coming back for us. That is a powerful metaphor in terms of our commitment and our focus. It calls us to a certain attention to Him. It asks us how much of our time we spend focusing on Him as opposed to being outraged on Facebook or Twitter. And, as His bride, we never appear more confused and conflicted than when we fill our lives with worldly outrage and agendas forged by politics. And so, as SCOTUS navigates these political waters, and as Congress muddles through impeachment inquiries, and as the 2020 election campaigns heat up, let’s encourage each other to keep our focus on Christ. Let’s leave the outrage to the rest of the world.

“Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.” Hebrews 3:1

© Blake Coffee

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on this website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Blake Coffee.  Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: © Blake Coffee. Website: churchwhisperer.com