I honestly don’t know why sheep are the most common animal mentioned in scripture, but I have a hunch that it’s no accident. Though sheep are not specifically mentioned in the account of Creation, God made these animals as a valuable source of food and clothing. Because of their usefulness, disagreements soon followed. From Abel to Abraham and Rachel to King David, we see many men and women caring for flocks. They are a normal part of life in the ancient agrarian society and often became crucial to a family’s—and even an entire village’s—survival.

Many of the prophets, including Hosea, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Micah, Nahum, and Zechariah use shepherd imagery. Even Amos, one of the most offbeat guys in the Bible, was a shepherd turned prophet. Waiting for the Messiah, the people eagerly anticipated the one who would “shepherd” Israel. This promised one was Jesus, the Son of God, the Good Shepherd.

With more than 600 references to sheep and shepherds and flocks throughout scripture, it raises the question: Shouldn’t we get to know more about these wooly creatures? That’s one of the reasons I travelled to Oregon to spend time with the shepherdess, Lynne, and wrote Scouting the Divine: My Search for God in Wine, Wool, & Wild Honey. The scripture is just so much more alive when you see these wooly creatures in their context. 

Surprised By the Relationship
Throughout my time with the shepherdess, I was amazed by just how much sheep know their shepherd. The sheep responded to Lynne’s presence, her movements, her voice. Sheep are simply wired to know their shepherd.

Gary Burge, a Wheaton professor, tells one of the most remarkable stories that I’ve ever heard relating to this principle. He describes how Israeli soldiers visited a poor village outside of Bethlehem after a Palestinian uprising and demanded that the people pay the taxes they owed. They refused.

The officer in charge gathered up all the animals of the village—primarily sheep and goats—and placed them into a huge pen. A poor woman approached the officer in charge begging him to release her animals. Because the poor woman’s husband had been imprisoned, her sheep were all she had.

The officer laughed at her request. How could she possibly find her dozen sheep in a pen of more than one thousand animals?

The woman challenged the officer. If she could find her animals, could she keep them?

Intrigued, the soldier agreed.

The woman invited her ten-year-old son to stand before the pen. He pulled out a flute and began to play a simple tune. As he walked through the fenced in area, a dozen sheep gathered behind him following him all the way home.

The officer and soldiers were impressed. They broke into applause, shut the gate and then announced that no one else could use the trick to get their sheep back. 

Why did the sheep follow the boy? Because they knew he was their shepherd. And they knew he was a good shepherd. The sheep were not only familiar with his voice, they knew the very tunes he played on his flute—songs he had played in the fields many times before.

That portrait of a sheep knowing its shepherd so well gives me hope that I, too, can know God intimately and live in response not only to God’s voice but the melodies He places on my heart.

I will praise You, O Lord, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.  Psalm 108:3

An American church planting pastor in Japan told me this story.  Two Japanese, who had never had any previous contact with Christianity, came into a tiny Christian gathering.  The worship that day, he said, was especially good.  After the meeting, the two visitors eagerly approached the pastor with this question: "When you were singing those songs, we felt something.  Was that God?"  The pastor was able to explain how God dwells in the praises of His people and how they could know Him personally.

The Universal Itch
People are looking for spiritual reality.  In previous decades, a secular rationalism created antagonism toward spiritual expression.  Currently however there is a broad reaction to that worldview and an unabashed hunger for spiritual experience.  For the most part, however, the Church is surprisingly uncomfortable with its transcendent nature. 

In his book entitled The Contemporary Christian, John Stott makes this observation:

This quest for transcendence is a challenge to the quality of the church's public worship.  Does it offer what people are craving — the element of mystery... in biblical language 'the fear of God'... in modern language 'transcendence'?  My answer to my own question is 'Not often'. The church is not always conspicuous for the profound reality of its worship... No wonder those seeking Reality often pass us by!

We shouldn't assume that the visitor is incapable of apprehending spiritual phenomenon.  After all, each one is made in the image of God, and, as Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, He has "set eternity in the hearts of men."  The worship experience corresponds to that universal "itch."  That explains the finding of the largest study of American congregational life ever undertaken — the FACT report conducted by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research: "vibrant worship is at the heart of church growth."

Let's look at two principles of how genuine, hearty worship can help our fellowships and congregations communicate the Christian life to visitors.

Principle #1 - Worship gives a picture of kingdom life
A man I met at a conference told me this story.  At a time in his life when he was far from God, he was hurrying through a hotel lobby when he happened to catch, in the corner of his eye, a television broadcast of a large gathering of people worshiping.  Less than a minute later, he stopped in his tracks, went back to the TV and watched intently through his tears, knowing that God was drawing him back.  God apprehended this man through a picture of worship.

Jesus said in Mark 12 that loving God totally and wholeheartedly is the greatest commandment.  Christian worship should be living pictures of the society of those who have exchanged self-centered living for God-centered living.  The act of corporate worship beautifully demonstrates this new life style where God is the center.  The visitor needs such  pictures.

Principle #2 - The visitor is not just listening to your words
The biggest hindrance to visitors is not that they encounter something they don't immediately understand; it's encountering something that is not genuine.  Mahatma Gandhi, after several years of studying in London, said he would have become a Christian if he had ever met one.  Whatever version of Christianity he saw, he apparently didn't see the real thing.

One study concluded that 55% of all communication is nonverbal.  The visitor is not just listening to what you say.  He is intuitively observing how connected you and your group really are with what you espouse.  He's looking for emotional and intellectual honesty, depth of conviction, and heartfelt compassion.  How we worship reflects these things — or their absence — more than we know.

The discipline for worship teams to learn is to mean what we sing and sing what we mean.  This will affect not only what we sing, but how we sing it.  Worship leaders, choose songs that are appropriate to your group's experience — there's no place for meaningless expression.  And learn the songs so well that they are literally part of you. 
Encourage and train the worshipers you lead to be sure to connect the outer acts of worship with the inner realities of the heart.  Anything less is unfair to the visitor.

Do unto others...
Why is it so important to me that we not try to hide our worship from the visitor?  It's because I was once the visitor, as you probably were too.  I can still remember that meeting in Tallahassee, Florida when I, for the first time, saw people abandoned to God in worship.  It awakened in me a deep sense of hope and destiny.  Like the Queen of Sheba in II Chronicles 9, when she was the visitor observing Israel's worship, I was "breathless."  I'll really never be the same.

Don't you think that those who visit us should be given the same privilege?

It appears the self-esteem movement is finally dead.  It all began back in 1969, when psychologist Nathaniel Brandon published a highly acclaimed paper called The Psychology of Self-Esteem.  He argued that “feelings of self-esteem were the key to success in life,” and his idea soon became the hot new thing in education.  At the apex of the craze, the California Legislature even established a “Self Esteem Task Force” for the state’s schools.

But the only problem with teaching self-esteem?  It doesn’t work. 

Writing recently in the Wall Street Journal about the 15,000 studies the movement generated, reviewer Kay Hymowitz concludes:

“And what do they show? That high self-esteem doesn't improve grades, reduce anti-social behavior, deter alcohol drinking or do much of anything good for kids.  In fact, telling kids how smart they are can be  counterproductive.  Many children who are convinced that they are little geniuses tend not to put much effort into their work.  Others are troubled by the latent anxiety of adults who feel it necessary to praise them constantly.”

The new book NurtureShock by Po Bronsom and Ashley Merryman may put the final nail in the coffin for the self-esteem movement.  For instance, as Hymowitz points out, the book reveals that:

“Drop-out programs [based on self-esteem] don't work. Neither do anti-drug programs. The most popular of them, D.A.R.E (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), developed in 1983 by the Los Angeles Police Department, has become a more familiar sight in American schools than algebra class. By 2000, 80% of American school districts were using D.A.R.E. materials in some form. Now, after extensive study, comes the news: the program has no long-term, and only mild short-term, effects.  Oh, and those tests that school districts use to determine giftedness in young children?  They're just about useless.”

My beef with self-esteem is how it’s invaded America’s churches.  In a well-intentioned effort to encourage and motivate people, we’ve created a “theology-lite” where we rarely refer to scripture, never discuss the hard truths of the Bible, and avoid words like “sin” because they might turn-off visitors. 

The famous REVEAL study from Willow Creek is a powerful confirmation that programs don’t create disciples.  In fact, The Center for Bible Engagement in Lincoln, Nebraska has just completed a landmark research study that reveals regular church attendance has little to no effect at all on behaviors like marital infidelity, drug dependency, financial crisis, emotional sickness, or other undesirable behaviors.  They discovered the real “tipping point” of spiritual maturity happens when we encounter the Bible at least four times a week. 

Reading the Bible four or more times a week.  Who would have thought?

And yet I visited one nationally known church in Southern California recently where they actually discouraged members from bringing a Bible to the worship service.  When I asked about it, their response was, “We don’t want a non-believer to feel intimidated sitting next to someone with a Bible.”

Huh?

I’m all for motivation and inspiration.  But truth is truth.  Maybe it’s time we stopped candy coating it and give it to them straight.

There.  I feel much better about myself.

Hillsong United is one of the most innovative and influential worship crews out there. Moved by the Spirit of God, they're doing something next week that we've never seen anywhere else: The I Heart Revolution film.

The I Heart Revolution has been an ongoing project birthed in the heart of Joel Houston nearly four years ago. It is essentially about love, the notion that worship and justice are inextricably linked. Whilst driving to an event in Columbia passing so much injustice He felt the burden for something more: “If what’s happening within those 4 walls is having no effect on those streets we travelled down to get there... Then maybe we’re missing the point” - Joel

This project has two parts. Part 1 is the worship - Hillsong United released a CD and DVD recorded around the world. With Hearts as One was people united in worship all over the globe. Part 2, We’re All In This Together, is a feature length documentary following United’s journey, as they are confronted and ultimately overwhelmed by the stories of remarkable individuals facing injustice and the uncomfortable paradox of being united in worship yet divided in circumstance. If their entire focus is directed only to what happens on stage, then maybe they have missed the point altogether.

Filmed over a period of 3 years, We’re all in this together takes you across 6 continents 42 nations and 93 cities in a cross-cultural journey of music, animation, interviews and live action documentary as the realisation that every story of hope, love, loss and sacrifice ultimately points to the one story.

The I Heart film ‘WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER’ will officially be launched on the 4th of November in cinemas all across the USA and Canada in a 1-night event hosted live from Australia – featuring brand new songs by Hillsong United. Tickets are limited and you can get them here.

www.theiheartfilm.com

Hillsong United :: We're All In This Together [Nov.4th] from Catalyst on Vimeo.

I just finished my 10th Catalyst! I have gotten to create and give away Catalytic Converters. I've ridden motorcycles through churches, brought Truett Cathy a cow with a sign on it that said “buy my books" by John C. Maxwell.  I presented John a camel, cuz Andy gave him a cheap little trophy.

I brought Jim Collins a bus loaded down with mariachi singers, dodgeball players, and a hedge hog ... at least I thought it was. We invited Guinness Book of World Records to record us setting the record for the most people to sit on whoopee cushions. We broke the world record in pillow fights, throwing Frisbees, blowing bubbles, and in breaking records. This year we broke the world record with Professor Splash jumping 35' 9" into 12” of water in a kiddy pool.

Jeff Foxworthy and I changed just two letters on the church marquis and totally changed the theology of that church. Ya have to see that one. It’s coming up on lannydonoho.com soon.

I TP’d Andy Stanley’s yard.  Made fun of books written by Maxwell, Godin, Buckingham, Gladwell, and a few more NY Times Best-selling authors.  I’ve ridden a Segway, a donkey, an elephant, a mail truck, a Brinks truck, a sports car, and a crotch rocket. I’ve been beaten up by 8,000 dodgeballs and 12,000 footballs.  I broke my foot trying to dunk a basketball off a spring board.

I got kicked out of a zoo, kicked out of Arby’s, kicked out of a restaurant where I was cooking for Catalyst; I got kicked out of Starbucks and arrested twice, once with Foxworthy for doing something stupid ... I helped the cops at one point stop Andy Stanley for speeding. And I insulted the whole state of Iowa.

We have shared the stage with the best Christian musicians, authors and speakers in the world. We’ve challenged thousands of leaders to give money to help people in Rwanda get water. We’ve challenged thousands to think about adopting to end this ridiculous 143million number.

We have built homes for the homeless and sent relief to the needy. And ...

I have watched the creator of the universe use His awesome gift of wonder and creativity to instill into the hearts of over 100,000 people the gift of laughter and awe while all those things were going on. My greatest moment was standing on the stage with Jeff while we watched 23 little kids from Kenya lead 10,000 leaders from all over the world in a time of worship that was beyond what my emotions were able to comprehend. If I get to share ten more years with you that are even close to the last ten, I will have lived a life like no one can imagine.

Thanks for letting me into your lives. Thanks for laughing and understanding, even when some of you did not understand. Thanks for twittering and for trying to get me on Leno. Thanks for sponsoring children and adopting and giving for water and to Daraja Children’s Choir.  Thanks for letting our team and Catalyst make a difference in your lives.

One quick favor.  Leaders, this summer in Daytona Beach, I am producing the BigStuf Student Conference. I will be there with Reggie Joiner, Andy Stanley, Francis Chan, and Steve Fee.  We have asked a few more people you absolutely love to be with us ... so ... hey ... get your youth group to sign up too. Help us make this the catalyst your kids will talk about forever.

(if you can’t make it to Daytona, join us in Panama City, we will be there all summer doing the same thing. Check us out - visit www.bigstuf.com and register soon!

Andy Stanley of North Point Community Church (Alpharetta, GA) began Catalyst Conference’s first official session by discussing leaving a mark on the world. Here is what he said:

What man is a man that does not make the world better?

Leadership is a gift. Every leader leaves a mark. But the challenge is… what type of mark will you leave?

If you are discontent with the status quo and you want to see change, it is because God has put that desire to lead inside of you.

You will never recognize your biggest opportunity until after you’ve taken advantage of it or missed it. You won’t know your mistakes until long after you’ve made them.

The challenge for those of us who are leaders that want to see change is you don’t know the thing that you will do that will make the biggest difference (for good or for evil).

When you study the stories of leaders, they did not know the significance of what they had done until long after they had done it.

The story of Joshua is a great example. God’s greatest concern for Israel was that they would become so wealthy that overtime they would grow less and less dependent on God. But when Joshua was 110 years old, he addressed the nation and said that he never lost sight of the fact that he was dependent on God (Joshua 23:8 & Joshua 23:11). Joshua decided that he would focus on who he is for rather than getting caught up wondering who is for him or against him.

There is no greater joy than to lead your leadership gift into the perfect will of God. Am I willing to submit my leadership gift to a bigger picture and a larger story? Do I recognize that I am invited to be a part of God’s story?

When you finally settle why you do what you do, then you can live your life with a freedom that is unexplainable unless you experience it. God will take full responsibility for your life and leadership once you fully surrender your life to Him.

It is not about your mark. It is about His mark.
It is not about who is for or against you. It is about who you are for.
When God does His greatest work through you, you will have no idea what happened.

Our mark isn’t worth our life. Living to make my mark is too small a thing to give my life to, but to somehow be positioned in a place where God can work through me is something worth giving my life to.

Leaders are going to leave a mark. But the daily question for you is, “Whose mark are you going to leave?”

(This summary created by Kent Shaffer at ChurchRelevance.com)

If you missed the Catalyst Conference you can still get all the great content and many more resources with the Catalyst Experience Kit.

Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers, discussed the danger of overconfidence during Catalyst's second session. Here is what he said:

People who are experts still make mistakes, which led to the current financial crises.

If you have more information, do you get better at making a prediction? A recent research study shows that more information doesn’t really make a difference. However, with more information people’s confidence in their prediction improves.

Too much confidence in a guess is called miscalculation.

Incompetence irritates me, but overconfidence scares me. Incompetent people rarely have the opportunity to make mistakes that greatly affect things. But overconfident leaders and experts have the dangerous ability to create disaster.

In 1863 during the Civil War in Virginia, the Union army was in incredibly poor shape. And President Lincoln was becoming increasingly worried. Fighting Joe Hooker came and happened to know more about Confederate General Lee than anyone. Hooker devised a brilliant battle plan to distribute his army in thirds and surround the Confederates. Lee was significantly outnumbered 2 to 1. Hooker said that even God Almighty couldn’t prevent them from victory. What happened next was the Battle of Chancellorsville. Hooker expected Lee to retreat, became entrenched in his confidence, and did not plan for anything else. The Union army lowered their guard; Lee attacked, and Hooker’s army retreated — suffering one of the worst defeats of the war.

Overconfidence is “the disease of experts.” They think they know more than they actually do. In fact, they make mistakes precisely because they have knowledge. This is what happened on Wall Street and General Hooker at Chancellorsville.

The lesson is this: In times of crisis, we think we need leaders who are bold and confident. This is completely wrong-headed. What we really need are leaders who are humble and willing to listen.

As leaders ourselves, how can we avoid becoming overly confident? Three ways:

1.    Listen to those around us. We cannot afford to create a culture that is not safe for dissent. Our people need to feel the freedom to disagree with us and tell us the truth.

2.    Plan for contingencies. We might be right. We might be wrong. We need to accept this and create a plan A and a plan B. We can’t afford to assume that our plans are infallible.

3.    Enlist the help of our team. When organizations are small, they can be run by a single, entrepreneurial leader. But when the organization gets bigger than about 150 people (according to Gladwell) our leadership has to change. It must become a more collective, collaborative effort.

The good news is that, as leaders, we can learn. We can grow. But above all, we must remain humble. If we don’t, we risk large-scale, public failures that will have a catastrophic, negative impact on the people we are trying to lead.

(This article compiled by summaries created Michael Hyatt and Kent Shaffer)

If you missed the Catalyst Conference you can still get all the great content and many more resources with the Catalyst Experience Kit.

Rob Bell of Mars Hill Bible Church (Grandville, MI) discussed how to enjoy being where you are at during Catalyst Conference’s third session. Here is what he said:

I was recently talking to a pastor who said he wanted to quit. So I asked him to draw a pie chart of what he does every week. He had been a pastor for a year and wanted to quite every day. So I asked if he practiced Sabbath. [silence]

There are lots of concepts and truths that we would intellectually agree with, but we are made anxious by deep subterranean forces in our bones that drive us. We “believe” one thing but then do something else.

John 6 tells the story of Jesus giving expectations but the crowd thinning because they think they can’t do it. Sometimes the crowd thins. What would Jesus say to modern church growth experts that say if you do A then B then C, then there will be growth and numbers? Sometimes the crowd thins, and people leave, even ones who are close to you.

Luke 21 tells the story of the poor widow that gave “more” out of her poverty than what the rich gave. What we naturally think is an important measurement may not be how God measures things.

You are a living Eucharist. How can we break ourselves open and pour ourselves out, so that the people around us might experience God? The Eucharist is a sacred and holy thing. You surrender your agenda when you serve. But when you exploit the Eucharist and break it down and rank it, you destroy it.

In John 5:19, Jesus says, “the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing.” His work comes from a grounded, centered, calm place where He only has a few things to do, and He sets out to do it. He is not distracted. He is not stressed. There is a difference between something that is hard and difficult and something that is a burden. God will not give you a burden you can’t carry.

In Exodus 20, the first 9 commandments are external and measurable, but the last commandment about coveting is not externally observable. The “tenth” is considered a reward. Meaning if you follow the first 9 rules then you won’t have a problem with the 10th rule because you won’t want anyone else’s life.

If you have a burden of feeling like you have not accomplished enough, God wants to set you free from that. Jesus wants you to simply enjoy the place that you are at and the work that is in front of you.

Is there any way in your ministry that you have neglected to take care of yourself? You need to love your neighbor as yourself. You need to take care of yourself so that you can be energized. Which day do you take care of yourself, so that you can give during the other six days of the week?

Does your spouse get your very best, or does your spouse get what is left over from the church? Do your kids get your very best, or do they get the scraps? Our children pick up on what really matters to us without us saying a word.

If it is not going well at home, it will not go well at church. Jesus invites us into a peaceful, calm place in the center of his love.

(This summary created by Kent Shaffer at ChurchRelevance.com)

If you missed the Catalyst Conference you can still get all the great content and many more resources with the Catalyst Experience Kit.

Tony Dungy, the recently retired Head Coach of the Indianapolis Colts, was interviewed at Catalyst. Here's a brief summary...

Give us a snapshot of your life growing up.

My grandfather was a minister and my parents were educators. I got involved in sports early in life, like most kids.

How did sports play a role in your early years?

My mom was a Canadian basketball player; she was the athlete in the family. I couldn’t beat her in anything until I was 14-15 years old.

My dad always tried to make me think. He was always asking me how or why things happened.

I learned early on that you don’t win every game. You have to take the good times with the bad times.

Why is sports a powerful life metaphor for you?
   
Most sports involve teams; you have to work together to make things happen.

Sports also all have ups and downs; you have to learn to bounce back from defeats.

You also have to work hard and look to the future. You may play a game on Sunday but you’re preparing all week long. Preparation is so important.

How was adoption introduced to your family?

We have 3 kids of our own. When our youngest was seven, I thought we were wrapping things up and Lauren said we should look into adoption.

When we were meeting with someone who was explaining the process to us, I asked “If we decide to do this, how long will it take?” Her answer really struck me. She said “If you are willing to take an African-American or mixed child, you can have one immediately.” There were hundreds waiting. That really struck me, and we now have four adopted children.

What has adoption taught you about God?

You love your adopted kids the same as your natural kids; there is no difference.
   
God places people in your lives in different ways, and He knows exactly what he’s doing. Our first adopted child had medical problems and because we had the insurance and resource to care for him, we were able to do things that may not have happened otherwise.

It’s also a picture of how God adopts all of us into His family.

How did you get into coaching in the NFL?

In my second year of football, playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers at 23 years old, we won the Super Bowl. Over the next two years I was traded twice and finally cut. My coach at Pittsburgh told me I had a good mind and would do well in coaching. Coach Noll brought him on board at 25, younger than most of the players. He told me something I never forgot: ‘Your role as coach is to help your players play the best they can play. I’ve never forgotten that it’s my job to help my players play the best they can play and be the best men they can be off the field.

What is one of the most valuable leadership lessons you’ve learned in coaching?

People need you when things are not going well. It’s easy to lead when things are going well, but your people need you the most is after tough games.

How do you take 53 players with separate goals and agendas and mold them into one team?

You must get everyone to focus on what’s really important. It takes knowledge of your personnel; they need to know you support their personal goals, but you must make them focus on the shared goal of winning and being the best.

How did you handle getting fired from Tampa Bay?

When I got job in 1996, I really felt the Lord was taking us there. We were there six years and were headed to the top, but didn’t quite get to there.

My parents always told me that tough times can either drive you away from the Lord or drive you to Him. We wanted it to drive us to Him, so when I got fired we tried to pull close to the Lord during that experience.

Tampa Bay, ‘your’ team, ended up going to the Super Bowl. How did you handle that?

It was tough to handle. I had to reassess what I went to Tampa Bay to do. It was to glorify the Lord and bring a championship to Tampa. That’s what I did, I just wasn’t there for it. But God’s mission was accomplished there.

You got your Super Bowl with Indianapolis; you were the first African-American coach to win the Super Bowl. What was that like?

It was an unbelievable setting in my mind; We had been through the disappointments and were at a point where we were wondering if it was ever going to happen. In that moment, standing at that podium, watching everyone cheer around you, you realize you’re part of something special and are so thankful. Then you realize you’re going to have about 30 seconds to say something in front of millions of people. In that moment I fixed it in my mind that I was going to give the Lord credit.

Why did you walk away at the top?

When I left Tampa, I began to think maybe the Lord had other things for me. I have several programs I’m a part of; a prison ministry, a youth outreach and education program, and All-Pro Dads that promotes responsible fatherhood.

In 2009 I knew it was time to commit more time to those and other things.

Tell us about your relationship with Michael Vick. Why did you reach out to him?

I had met him a few years ago and we found out we had a common interest of fishing. We never got a chance to go fishing together before the dog-fighting incident, and I often wonder how things might have been if we had made time for a trip.

When I had a chance to go to Leavenworth Prison, I took it. One of the things that came up was that Michael did not get enough direction from his dad growing up and I told him I would be there for him to do that.

Tell us about All Pro Dads and the heart and mission of this.

My dad poured into me growing up and I thought that was normal; I realized it was not as I got to know men throughout the National Football League.

Statistics:
    4 out of 10 kids grow up without a father
    40 percent of children born out of wedlock
    1 out of 2 marriages end in divorces
    Neither race nor socio-economic factors truly contribute to why men are in prison; but 90% of men in prison grew up without a father.
    It’s not just a physical absence, but can be an emotional absence of a father as well.

Do you have a word of encouragement for these church leaders here?

We need you. People are looking for solutions and they’re not finding it in schools, not finding it in government. We have the answer in Jesus Christ and we need to share that.