What is a healthy church and how do you know? What about a healthy disciple?

Before developing strategies for growing mature disciples, we must first decide what we are looking for so we will recognize it when we see it.

In my position at LifeWay Research, I have the vantage point that permits me to see how churches all over the world are answering the question, "What is a healthy missional church?" On this episode of The Exchange, we will discuss church vibrancy, heath, and missional engagement, as well as some practical ways to measure it.

In case you haven't had a chance to catch an episode of The Exchange, you can catch up on the show by watching the archives here at the blog. We've had a great season of shows this spring since moving to a weekly format. Case in point, the week I featured my latest book Subversive Kingdom, the show's hashtag, #TheExchange, was the #2 trending topic on Twitter in the U.S. for a while. We were quite excited considering that we broadcast from a basement in Aurora, Illinois.

The approach is simpler than we would like to think. But sometimes the simplest solutions are the most difficult. Remember the first post in this series? Everyday Christians, filled with the power of Holy Spirit, living out His story is our future-- a thread of hope for every tongue, tribe, and nation.

Obstacles to the mission of God can be overwhelming. What stops us from giving up? If it were up to us to change the world, the world would be in trouble. If our own creativity and ability to motivate people were crucial to getting results for God, we would be in trouble. Our hope is in God's story, and our hope for results come from Him. So what can we learn about God's story seen through the linguistic thread?

We See God in Action.

He has been pursuing men and women since He asked Adam the question: "Where are you?" (Genesis 3:9). He is a sending God. He was called the "Hound of Heaven" by poet Francis Thompson in the late 1800's. God desires me much more than I desire Him. The Bible describes me (undesirable) as one of the "none righteous." Yet He pursues us. Amazing! He pursues, and is pursuing, the nations.

God is revealed in Genesis as the God who seeks. He is seen as the God who knocks and speaks in Revelation. I know God better when I see Him scatter the tongues and peoples in Genesis 11. He is holy and hates to see people destroy themselves. Because He loved them, He scattered them: "'Come, let Us go down there and confuse their language so that they will not understand one another's speech' So the LORD scattered them from there over the face of the whole earth, and they stopped building the city" (Genesis 11:7-8).

Then in Genesis 12, He immediately began a nation through Abraham to chase down and bless those He had just scattered in Genesis 11. "I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you (Genesis 12:3). Out of that nation the Messiah would come.

This Messiah would, again, re-commission His followers to go the nations in Matthew 28. The language translated for "nations," ponta ta ethne, is better translated "to all peoples." The idea of countries with borders, passports, and customs did not exist when Jesus uttered these words. And so when Jesus said to go to all nations, He didn't mean nations as we define nations (like "countries"). He meant the gentiles-- and he meant people from all kinds of nations/peoples. The linguistic thread reflected the heart of in the Old Testament and the mission Jesus gave in the New Testament.

This week, I saw a little taste of that when facilitation a meeting with hundreds of Pentecostal leaders of the Foursquare Church. We had dozens of countries represented-- and had to translate into six languages simultaneously. Listening to a Sri Lankin, Namibian, Peruvian, Filipino, Indian, and so many others was remarkable as we worked toward creating and affirming a global eldering community. But, it was the times in worship that deeply moved me-- truly men and women from many tongues, tribes, and nations-- worshipping in their own languages at time, but as one. It was a reflection of the Kingdom and reminder of the mission.

Yet, most Christians see the Great Commission as only evangelism. In a sense, it always involves that-- but when you see the Great Commission as part of the full picture, you understand it more fully. The Great Commission was given in the context of an ongoing mission and focus on nations-- everyone hearing the Great Commission would have seen it as part of a bigger story (the Old Testament) and would have been challenged to see it unfold for eternity.

The Great Commission fits in a larger plan for the tongues of the nations:

• nations scattered at Babel (Genesis 11:9)
• Israel sent out to bring the nations UP TO Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:2)
• Jesus gives a Great Commission with a focus on the nations (Matthew 28:18)
• Jesus sends them OUT FROM Jerusalem to the nations (Acts 1:8),
• the Spirit comes to demonstrate the future fulfillment (Acts 2:5-11)
• church begins its mission to the nations (Acts and following)
• the mission is complete to every tongue, tribe, nation (Rev. 7:9)

Next time, I will conclude this series with more lessons from the thread. Be sure to read parts 1, 2, and 3 as well.

Spirit-Empowered Discipleship -- Jonathan Dodson

B&H has a deal worth your time-- and be sure to check out MyStudyBible.com and WordSearch, two LifeWay products that support this sale.

Build Your Digital Library at $2.00 per Commentary -- B&H Publishers

For the next two weeks, MyStudyBible.com is discounting the WORDsearch "Preaching Library" by $300. Normally $499, the Preaching Library includes nearly 400 titles (see complete list of titles below, including the HCSB and the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary),  so MyStudyBible.com's promotional price brings the average price down to $2.00 per commentary. In print, the Preaching Library values over $9,000.

This Library includes works from AMG Publishers, B&H Publishing Group, Baker Publishing Group, CrossWay, David C. Cook, IVP, Zondervan, and many others. Purchasing this library is the only way to access the NIV and many other volumes not sold separately on MyStudyBible.com. For iPad users, the library is easily accesible through WORDsearch's app. This promotion is open to anyone with the promotion code: WVCN8RXDZV.

For more information about building your digital library, or MyStudyBible.com, click here.

People in the West treat death like Victorians treated sex-- hiding it and avoiding its mention. People often can bring themselves to say, "He died," so they say "passed away," "moved on," "went to his reward." (Victorians would not use the word "sex" either and came up with euphamisms). Well, death is real and worth considering.

I remember studying anthropology in my Ph.D. program and learning how other cultures treat death. Some cultures, with a more healthy view of death, don't hide the body or run from the reality. And I think that is more healthy... which may be why this blog post caught my attention.

Why Facebook Removed Photos of a Baby -- her•meneutics

Last week, three months after Grayson's birth and death, his mother, Heather, posted some photos on Facebook. On her blog she explains, "I was tired of trying to hide my son, the way he was, just to make others feel comfortable. I felt like people would be scared or offended because his head didn't look like other babies'. A sudden impulse, in my grieving process, told me to be proud and not worried about the thoughts of others."

But Facebook removed the pictures. Heather posted them again. Again, Facebook deleted them. So Heather posted them again. And again. Then Facebook temporarily disabled her account from posting more pictures. Yet, the photos didn't fit into any of Facebook's categories that violate the site's "community standards." But, as Facebook later explained, the photos were removed after being reported by other site users.

While disheartening, it is not surprising that some would object to photos of a child whose physical features lift the veil from the mortality we all share. For most of history, those with deformities or disabilities have been repulsed and ridiculed, treated alternately as objects of fascination and derision. It's a natural reaction, of course, but like many of the ways of nature, needs correction by the ways of grace.

I grew up on, at time, government benefits-- food stamps, free lunch, etc. Yet, I knew we were the minority and was ashamed because of it. It appears that minority status may be going away.

Half of U.S. Lives in Household Getting Benefits -- Wall Street Journal

Cutting government spending is no easy task, and it's made more complicated by recent Census Bureau data showing that nearly half of the people in the U.S. live in a household that receives at least one government benefit, and many likely received more than one.

The 49.1% of the population in a household that gets benefits is up from 30% in the early 1980s and 44.4% as recently as the third quarter of 2008.

The increase in recent years is likely due in large part to the lingering effects of the recession. As of early 2011, 15% of people lived in a household that received food stamps, 26% had someone enrolled in Medicaid and 2% had a member receiving unemployment benefits. Families doubling up to save money or pool expenses also is likely leading to more multigenerational households. But even without the effects of the recession, there would be a larger reliance on government.]]> http://www.edstetzer.com/2012/06/morning-roundup---june-4-2012.html http://www.edstetzer.com/2012/06/morning-roundup---june-4-2012.html Morning Roundup Mon, 04 Jun 2012 06:00:00 -0600 On this week's episode of The Exchange, Dr. Tal Davis and I engaged in a discussion about Mormonism. With the emergence of Governor Mitt Romney as the presumptive Republican nominee for President, a cultural discussion about Mormonism has emerged. Dr. Davis and I sought to bring an evangelical perspective to the table through our conversation.

Because of the growing conversation, I have both read and written about Mormonsim more in the past six months than I have in the past sixteen years. The following blog posts are just a small example:

• Our Leading Presidential Candidates: Self-Professed Christians Whom Many Christians Don't Believe Actually Are Christians
• More on Mormonism: USAToday, LifeWay Research, Richard Mouw, Etc.
• Mormonism, Cults, and Christianity
• Mitt Romney's Commencement Address at Liberty University

Reporting on our program, the Christian Post ran an article entitled "'Mormon Moment' Forcing Christians to Learn About Mormonism." Here are a few excepts:

America has reached what many are calling the "Mormon Moment." That reality is forcing Christian leaders to get a better grasp of a religion that few understand.

Hoping to help pastors and church leaders, Stetzer led a live webcast on Tuesday to address how Mormon doctrines are vastly different from that of historic Christianity and why labeling the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a "cult" is unhelpful.

"When compared side by side - what they (Mormons) believe about God and Christ - we have very drastic differences," said Dr. Tal Davis of Market Faith Ministries, who joined the live webcast.

Both Davis and Stetzer pointed out that the LDS Church has recently been trying to downplay differences between itself and Christian churches. The LDS Church is also no longer trumpeting its belief that it is the "one true church" while the rest are apostate...

Though Mormons may use similar terms as evangelicals and Protestants when it comes to God, Jesus Christ and salvation, the LDS understanding of each of those terms differs greatly from historic Christian teaching, Davis noted...

With such differences on basic points of theology, most Christians do not consider Mormons Christian.

A LifeWay Research study shows that 75 percent of Protestant pastors do not consider Mormons to be Christians.

"It's not a denomination but it's a different religion," Stetzer stated.

Still, throwing around the "cult" word is not helpful, Stetzer noted.

A cult is often understood as a religious group with strange beliefs outside of the cultural mainstream, the researcher explained. "What you call Mormons today is what the world is going to call evangelical Christianity tomorrow," he commented, noting that evangelicals are increasingly being viewed as a group with strange beliefs.

Tal and I talk about the cult issue in this short clip:

Instead, we talk about Mormonism as another religion-- not Christianity, but a different faith that uses similar terms in different ways:

Finally, we discuss the recent move to seem more like a Christian denomination and to downplay the historic differences (that all other churches were apostate):

In the show, we also mention a pair of resources Dr. Davis has contributed to: Mormonism Unmasked and The Mormon Puzzle.

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

You can also watch the full show here:

• The Foursquare Church Convention and Global Partnership
• The Metanarrative of God's Mission: "A Closer Look" from the Mission of God Study Bible
• Subversive Kingdom: Start Small
• Engaging Mormonism
• Remembering the Sacrifice: A Lutheran Reflects on Memorial Day
• New Research: Nearly Half of Online Users Use Internet for Religion

Church Signs of the Week

Holidays are always a hot topic for church signs. As these signs prove, Mother's Day is no exception. Since I attended a U2 concert last year, I have to turn all of these signs into U2 references.

From The Joshua Tree - "With or Without You"

From Rattle and Hum - "All I Want Is You"

And finally, a sign which could turn into War and "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" 

Thanks to Michael Wilbanks, Rodney Sloan, Dustin Connor, and Zak McIntyre for these. You can send in your signs via Twitter to @EdStetzer.

Wikipedia explains:

The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, commonly referred to as the Foursquare Church, is an evangelical Pentecostal Christian denomination. As of 2000 it had a worldwide membership of over 8,000,000, with almost 60,000 churches in 144 countries. In 2006, membership in the United States was 353,995 in 1,875 churches.While congregations are concentrated along the West Coast, the denomination is well distributed across the United States, The states with the highest membership rates are Oregon, Hawaii, Montana, Washington, and California. The church maintains its headquarters in Los Angeles, California.

Like most denominations, this is a movement of all sized churches, but some of the movements better-known pastors my readers might know include Jack Hayford, Wayne Cordeiro, and Ralph Moore.

Jack Hayford and Glenn Burris asked me to be a consultant for the movement about five years ago, and I've been privileged to continue with the Foursquare as both their roles have now change (Glenn is now in the role Jack was in). This is my third year at their annual meeting, and I just preached a message on the Kingdom of God from my new book, Subversive Kingdom, in the final main session.

The meeting today was amazing-- powerful worship and testimony with several thousand Pentecostal brothers and sisters (there is no discussion about the volume of the music in denominations like the Foursquare).

I was encouraged by the number of young attendees. I've written about their move to engage young leaders and this annual meeting had 50% more leaders between 19-39 than any other convention to date. That's amazing progress and indicative of their focus in this area.

I will be with them for the next few days as we meet with about what a "global eldering community" looks like. The meeting includes leaders from around the world and will be simultaneously translated in multiple languages. The end result: helping to determine how national churches (Foursquare U.S. and, say, Foursquare Philippines) relate to one another and the rest of the world.

They have 70,000 churches globally. Like many denominations, churches in different countries are in separate (and self-governed) national organizations.

Fourquare has a helpful model for the development of national church leadership and strategy, but we will discuss cross-national relationships like other groups have in different forms-- from the Anglican Lambeth Conferences, to the World Methodist Council, to the Baptist World Alliance.

I'd ask your prayers as I seek to facilitate this multicultural and multilingual conversation over the next few days. Such conversations are fraught with challenges, and my hope and prayer is that the end result will honor God and advance his mission.

For example, I agree with Muslims there is one God. That's an agreement (which, by the way, would be quite an admission if Muslims would agree that Christians worship one God). However, we disagree about the character and the attributes of God.

My friend Adrian Warnock has been working on some contrasts to advance that conversation.

When I was in high school, there was a group of us who wanted to be radical for Jesus (particularly after a "Jesus festival," something of a Woodstock for Jesus. Then, some of us had the same idea in college-- radical. Then, I've heard that several times along the journey. All of it was good and right in the season we were in-- but long term fidelity made the longer term impact. I like what Dan Darling has to say on the subject.

3 Reasons Why Faithful Is the New Radical -- Daniel Darling

By and large millennial Christians want offer lives in service to God and others by offering new and creative solutions. This is good. But if I could speak a word of caution, from one rabble-rouser to another, I would say that sometimes the most radical thing you can do with your life is to simply be faithful.

Yes, you heard that right. By consistently doing the same thing every single day you might be more radical than you think. I know that doesn't sound very sexy, but it's the stuff that gives weight to significant social movements. 1 Corinthians 4:2 says that God holds his people accountable, not for the big splashy things they've done, but for simple faithfulness:

In this regard, it is expected of managers that each one [of them] be found faithful. (1 Corinthians 4:2, HCSB)

So to my fellow young leader, here are three ways your faithfulness just might impact your world:

1. Your Personal Peace.
2. Your Personal Presence.
3. Your Pleasant Personality.

So you see how you can change the world? Starting your radical mission by being faithful where you are, to the people in your sphere of influence. It's a myth that change agents are above the rules. No, if you look closely, they just more consistently apply the simple graces that form a life of deep impact.

Again, the trajectory is toward greater acceptance of gay marriage-- church attendees being an exception. I believe this will be a defining issue over the next ten years.

Black Americans on Gay Marriage: Is Obama Changing Opinion? -- Tobin Grant

President Obama's announcement supporting same-sex marriage could have an impact on opinion among black Americans. A new poll finds that 59 percent of black Americans support same-sex marriage, a jump from just 41 percent before Obama's announcement. In previous surveys, support among black Americans for same-sex marriage has been consistently lower than among whites. A majority of black Americans polled over the past two years have opposed same-sex marriage (38 percent support vs. 52 percent opposition), according the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Black Americans who attend church are more likely to oppose same-sex marriage than are others. According recent Pew polls, 70 percent of black Americans who attend church regularly oppose gay marriage, compared to 47 percent among those that do not. With the relatively small number of black Americans in the Washington Post-ABC poll, it would be difficult to tell if the change in opinion occurred among more religious black Americans.

Among whites polled, opinion leaned toward supporting same-sex marriage (48 percent support vs. 43 percent opposition). The new Washington Post-ABC News poll suggests that black Americans are now more supportive of same-sex marriage than white Americans are (59 percent vs. 50 percent).

For many black Americans, opposition to gay marriage is rooted in conservative religious beliefs. While more left-leaning on many economic and civil rights issues, black Americans poll similar to many white Christians on social issues including same-sex marriage.

Obama's announcement, however, could shift opinion on this issue among black Americans. On Monday, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) approved a resolution supporting same-sex marriage. The resolution supported both "marriage equality" and "the religious freedoms of all people."

Leaving a church is a touchy thing-- Kevin DeYoung gives great advice on how to do so.

How to Leave Your Old Church -- Kevin DeYoung

Sometimes it's hard to leave your old church. I don't want to give advice on when to leave a church. Let's assume the reasons make sense and now the question is how to leave. What should you do?

1. Try to leave graciously.
2. Tell the pastor you are leaving.
3. Leave off a ledge.
4. Learn how to kindly and honestly answer the question "Why did you leave?"
5. Develop a plan right away for how you will look for a new church.
6. Don't burn bridges.
7. Keep praying and ask others to pray for you.

Yesterday, I shared some statistics that Americans were becoming more pro-life. I think Ashley McGuire gets it right as to why this is happening.

Why Americans Are Becoming More Pro-Life -- Ashley McGuire

Wednesday's news that Gallup is now recording the lowest level of self-described pro-choicers in its history of tracking the abortion issue is no doubt an unwelcome hiccup in their vision for America.

The survey found:

The 41 percent of Americans who now identify themselves as "pro-choice" is down from 47 percent last July and is one percentage point below the previous record low in Gallup trends, recorded in May 2009. Fifty percent now call themselves "pro-life," one point shy of the record high. The polling shows that rather than embracing abortion with increasing gusto, Americans--especially young Americans--are rejecting it with increasing disgust, and not just for religious reasons.

Why?

First, the fetus has been humanized. Modern science has helped us to understand with intricate detail the amazing phenomenon that occurs at the moment of fertilization. From then on, a pregnant woman can track the extraordinary chain of events that is triggered in the new life within her with a slew of Web sites and iPhone apps. She learns her baby's heart starts beating at a mere 21 days after conception (before many women learn they are pregnant). She meets her baby on the ultrasound screen at eight weeks as opposed to at the end of nine months.]]> http://www.edstetzer.com/2012/05/morning-roundup---may-31-2012.html http://www.edstetzer.com/2012/05/morning-roundup---may-31-2012.html Morning Roundup Thu, 31 May 2012 06:00:00 -0600 Today marks an exciting shift in our Scripture series here at the blog. For the past few months, I have been excerpting essays and articles from the HCSB Study Bible. Today, we transition to a new resource releasing this week: The Mission of God Study Bible.

What makes this resource unique is that it includes more than 150 additional writings from today's top thinkers, theologians, and leading voices in the church about what it means to live in the mission of God.

It's a great resource, and one I was honored to edit with Philip Nation. You can read more thorough review of the Mission of God Study Bible at the HCSB site. It's available for purchase here.

We begin our journey through the Mission of God Study Bible with an essay by Christopher Wright explaining the continual thread of the missio Dei we find in Scripture. He is one of the most prominent writers on the mission of God and was the primary drafter of the Cape Town Commitment, adoped by the Lausanne Movement as their guiding document.

I'll be giving away a copy of the Mission of God Study Bible via Twitter and Facebook for tweeting or liking/sharing this post. Use this to enter:

Introducing the Mission of God Study Bible: http://ow.ly/bfc8D

by Christopher Wright

Too often, the church has separated theology (as a discipline about God--what God is like, what God has said, and what God has done), from missions (being about us and what we do). However, our mission is derived from God's own mission--the missio Dei--which in turn is a reflection of what God is like, what God has said, and what God has done (and is doing and has yet to do). This unity between theology and missions is one key way of looking at the grand story of Scripture. Our theology of God must include the mission of God as a unifying metanarrative for the whole Bible.

Some people use the term missio Dei as referring only to the sending action of God. The reason they do this is that the "root" of the Latin verb mitto means "to send." However, if we reduce our focus only to the sending acts of God, we may ignore a number of important missional themes and teachings in the Bible, which are crucial for our understanding of the fullness of God's mission and our own practice of missions.

Missio Dei can have a broader sense drawn from the way the Bible paints a picture of the purposefulness of God. The mission of God is the commitment of God to make Himself known to His creation ultimately for the purpose of redeeming and restoring all creation to its right relationship with God. The story of God making Himself known is the grand narrative of the Bible. God's mighty acts make Him known to the peoples of the world and are predicted, proclaimed, explained, and celebrated throughout the biblical storyline.

In His election of Abraham, God makes Himself known, and launches His great agenda of bringing blessing to all nations on earth (Gn 12:1-3), repeating this promise five times in Genesis. Paul defined this great missional purpose of God as 'the good news ahead of time' (Gl 3:6-8), and understood his own mission, and the church's mission, in light of it.

Through the experience of God's grace, God makes Himself known. God declares His desire to be known through salvation (Ex 5:22-6:8, Is 46:9-10). He declares Himself to be the king over the whole earth through His redemptive acts (Ex 2:23-24, 15:18, Ezk 36:21-23). Based on His redemptive deeds, the Bible proclaims that there is "no other" god than the God of Israel (Dt 4:32-39, Is 41:22- 23). Unlike the fictional gods of the other peoples, who were thought of as having limited power that allowed them to rule only over specific locations, the God of the Bible has unlimited power and extends His reign over all of creation (Jr 10:10-12; Ts 45:11-13). He is the only and only God, and the whole universe is His to rule as He pleases.

Even through the experience of judgment, God makes Himself known. Through the plagues and Red Sea, Pharaoh learns why he should obey the God of Israel (Ex 5:2). Israel and the nations learned of God's uniqueness and sovereignty over the whole earth through the exile of Israel (2Kg 18:32-35, Jr 27:4-6). Even kings who do not know the one true God are used by Him to accomplish His purposes, much as an axe is used to chop wood (Is 10:5-19). And yet God remains faithful and committed to His people even in the midst of sovereign judgment upon them (Jr 27:1-14). Their punishment is to have a redeeming and purifying purpose.

In the New Testament, Jesus fulfills God's mission to be known--identifying Himself with the God of Israel, fulfilling the promise made to Abraham by opening up the way to blessing for Jews and Gentiles alike. The biblical story reveals that God wills to be known through Jesus, His Son (Jn 1:18, 17:1-3, 2Co 4:4-6).

Making Himself known is God's purpose in creation and His purpose in redemption. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands. Day after day they pour out speech; night after night they communicate knowledge" (Ps 19:1-2). God's "invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made" (Rm 1:20). The whole Bible presents a God of missional activity, from His purposeful, goal-oriented act of Creation to the completion of His mission through the redemption of all Creation in the new heavens and new earth, and the creation of a new humanity in Christ, redeemed from every nation on earth though the blood of the cross.

We also find in the Bible that humanity has a mission (to rule and care for the earth); Old Testament Israel had a mission (to be the agent of God's blessing to all nations); Jesus had a mission (to embody and fulfill the mission of Israel, bringing blessing to the nations through bearing our sin on the Cross and anticipating the new Creation in His Resurrection); and the church has a mission (to participate with God in the ingathering of the nations in fulfillment of Old Testament Scriptures).

The mission of God, then, governs the story of the Bible from the brokenness of the nations in Genesis 11 to the healing of the nations in Revelation 21-22. If the grand story of the Bible and our world is God making Himself known, then this is the motivation and purpose of the church's mission. The church's missional activities, to which they are called and sent on, flows directly from God's mission. The church's missional activities are acts of humble participation in God's great work for His grand purpose.

God is on mission, and we, in that wonderful phrase of Paul's, are "coworkers with God."

Gallup: 'Pro-Choice' Americans at Record Low -- The Christian Post

One-half of all Americans identify as "pro-life" on abortion, according to a new Gallup poll. Forty-one percent consider themselves "pro-choice," a record low since Gallup has asked the question.

The previous record low for pro-choice identifiers was 42 percent in May 2009. Fifty-one percent called themselves pro-life in that poll, matching this month's nine percentage point gap between pro-life and pro-choice identifiers. The May 2009 spike in pro-life identification proved temporary. A 2011 poll showed more pro-choicers, 49 percent, than pro-lifers, 45 percent.

"It remains to be seen," Gallup notes, "whether the pro-life spike found this month proves temporary, as it did in 2009, or is sustained for some period."

When Gallup first asked the question in 1995, 56 percent of Americans identified themselves as pro-choice while only 33 percent claimed the pro-life label.

Like many observers, I've been disappointed by the coverage of the mainstream media of certain stories (and the very biased coverage of others). GetReligion takes a look at how the news covers (or ignores) major stories without the shrill approach of some anti-media websites (as they are well-respected religion reporters).

Massive Religious Liberty Lawsuit, Minor Broadcast Coverage -- GetReligion

Earlier this week, one of the largest religious lawsuits in American history was launched. For all I know, it may be the largest religious lawsuit ever launched in history. It involves, as savvy readers probably know by now, 43 Catholic dioceses, schools, hospitals, social service agencies and other institutions. They all filed suit in federal court to stop various government agencies from implementing a mandate that would require them to cover contraceptives, sterilization and some abortion drugs in their health plans.

How many minutes did ABC World News give this story when it opened the broadcast with this news? Well, it turns out that they didn't open their nightly news with this lawsuit. That's understandable, I guess. I mean there were other major stories they featured, judging from their Twitter feed, such as "Meet the First Lady of Facebook: Priscilla Chan," and "Yemen Suicide Bombing Death Toll Nears 100" and "Dharun Ravi Sentenced to 30 Days in Jail." I don't know which story they led with, if any of those. Maybe someone who watches that program can tell us. But it wasn't the religious liberty lawsuit.

So where did the religious liberty lawsuit get placed in ABC's nightly news and how long did it run?

I'll let you guess on placement before we find out the answer. Did you guess?

You are 100% correct: They didn't get around to mentioning it.

Americans are increasingly comfortable with gay marriage. However, the recent announcement of "majority support" should also be informed by the fact that asking the question differently produces a different result. Regardless, the trajectory of support for gay marriage is clear.

Poll: Gay Marriage Opposition Drops -- Politico

Opposition to gay marriage has hit a new low among Americans, weeks after President Barack Obama announced his support for it, according to a new poll Wednesday. Less than 4 in 10 Americans, 39 percent, said they are opposed to the legalization of gay marriage, in a new low found in a Washington Post-ABC News survey. Meanwhile, a majority of Americans, 53 percent, said same-sex marriage should be legal -- compared to just 36 percent who said the same six years ago.

Half of Americans, 51 percent, said they approve of the president's recent decision to publicly support gay marriage, while 41 percent said they disapprove. According to the survey, 71 percent of Americans said they have a friend, family member or acquaintance who is either gay or lesbian.

Finally, a graph that tells what Americans consider sinful and when they do not.

Birth Control Most Widely Seen as Acceptable; Having an Affair, Least -- Gallup Research

Also, you can check out this post for more about the book including video, the smartphone app, audio versions, and opportunites to get the book for free.

We tend to think big is good, and bigger is better. When something is big--a church, a business, a movie, a movement--good things must be going on. Size is a sure sign of success.

I've spoken at dozens of the largest churches in America-- several with more than ten thousand in attendance. These churches have all the marks that make people think they are successful. Yet ironically, the best of those megachurches are not fooled by their own size. They know that the small interaction of disciples, lives, and groups is what makes their life together matter.

But that's what makes the kingdom of God so baffling and backward-sounding to most people. Successful kingdom activity doesn't have to come with brisk retail sales, a snazzy logo, celebrity endorsements, and a marketing campaign. It doesn't have to generate ten million user hits or get written up in Newsweek. In fact, it's often just the opposite. Kingdom work is typically most recognizable by how small it is.

The kingdom is like a mustard seed, Jesus said (Matt. 13:31-32). You seen one? You may keep a little jar of them in your spice rack at home. They're tiny. They're nondescript.

In our Subversive Kingdom small-group curriculum that accompanies this book, we shot video about this (and the other parables). We brought along some mustard seeds to illustrate the point of the small seed. My job was to hold them so all could see. The only problem? The seeds were too small. So in the video I held a handful to make the point--that's small.

The kingdom is also like yeast (v. 33)--another household item that hides behind the much larger items on your pantry shelf. A person who didn't know any better would think it was just some sort of dust or powder. Nothing special. Probably unnecessary.

But something significant is happening here with mustard seeds and yeast. And whatever it is, it's not going to stay small for long.

As agents of transformation in God's subversive kingdom, we don't have to apologize for being few in number, focusing on one little area or need around us, making what seems to be a small impact. Our King's own teaching tells us not to be thrown off or discouraged by worldly perspectives that minimize what we're doing or try to stop us from getting started altogether, making us perceive our kingdom work as being too insignificant to matter.

Small strides are actually God's deliberate design for effective growth. It's how his kingdom happens. Jesus was born in a manger in a little town on the backside of nowhere, and today more than a billion people on the planet consider themselves His followers. That's kingdom economy. A mustard seed "becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches" (v. 32). Little by little it produces shocking, unexpected growth until "birds of every kind will nest under it"-- representing all the nations of the world--"taking shelter in the shade of its branches" (Ezek. 17:23).

Eric Geiger, until recently at Christ Fellowship Church in Miami (and now my colleague at LifeWay), explained this verse in the context of their church. God has blessed their growth to more than seven thousand people each week. They have resources and reach beyond most churches. They've become a "tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches" (Matt. 13:32). They seek to serve the community so that others might "take shelter" in the ministries of the church. Each small group, for example, is challenged to participate in mission projects designed to serve the community. They believe the communities surrounding each campus should benefit from the church's presence in that particular context.

That's subversive. That's a turn back against the flow of culture in both the religious and irreligious sectors. Christ Fellowship is not focused merely on getting the city of Miami to attend their church (although no one would argue if they did). Christ Fellowship is obsessed with getting the people of their church into the city. That's counterintuitive to even we church people who have reduced the mission of God to Sunday morning attendance.

Again, this doesn't mean the kingdom is going to overtake the enemy completely during this age. The time when Christ will visibly rule "from sea to sea and from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth" (Ps. 72:8) is awaiting the chosen moment of his return when all will look around and know that "the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah, and He will reign forever and ever!" (Rev. 11:15).

But for now we plant seeds. We watch them grow. We subversively permeate a culture that only seems able to judge big things by how big they currently appear. They would never guess that at this moment the lives and activities of kingdom agents like you and me are working "like yeast that a woman took and mixed into 50 pounds of flour until it spread through all of it" (Matt. 13:33). The word for "mixed" here could also be translated "hidden." Yeast is hidden in bread dough. Once it's in there, you can't sort it back out. It's already made its subversive impact. It's already started turning a lump into a loaf. How's that for transformation?

That's what we and our churches are intended to do--not to stay in our Christian closets but to get out and mix with the confused society around us, sowing seeds through our gospel message and our acts of Christian mercy. Just as yeast can do no good for the flour if it's never pulled out of the jar, isolated believers do little of kingdom benefit if they keep themselves removed from a culture held captive to the evil one.

Your church (and mine) does not exist to keep us away from the world. Parables like this remind us of that. Yet we each experience a lot of energy pulling us the other way--to stay away from "those people" and only be with people like us. But that misses the point and ignores the parable. We are to "mix in" not so we might be like the world but that the world might know King Jesus and see his kingdom impact.

This is a kingdom secret of Jesus--one that will either land and take effect in your receptive heart or will blow by you into thin air if you're not honestly wanting to be changed, challenged, and obedient to his truth. Spiritual growth and maturity shouldn't lead us away from contact with unbelievers but rather right into the midst of them (see Christ Fellowship). We cannot subvert the kingdom of darkness by lighting nothing other than our own homes and churches. We only succeed as agents of transformation when Jesus "spreads the aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place" (2 Cor. 2:14).

Small things, subversively placed, lead to big things in God's kingdom.

Mormonism is a topic many evangelicals know little about and are often intimidated to engage. The goal of having Dr. Davis on this afternoon is to shed some light on mormonism, its background, its place in our culture, and the best way to engage in evangelism with its followers. I encourage you to join us today, and every Tuesday, at 2:00 p.m. CDT, for The Exchange.

Two helpful resources we will discuss on the show are: Mormonism Unmasked and The Mormon Puzzle.

Previous blogposts mentioned on the show:

• Our Leading Presidential Candidates: Self-Professed Christians Whom Many Christians Don't Believe Actually Are Christians
• More on Mormonism: USAToday, LifeWay Research, Richard Mouw, Etc.
• Mormonism, Cults, and Christianity
• Mitt Romney's Commencement Address at Liberty University

Replenish -- Tony Morgan

Lance Witt served 20 years as a senior pastor and five years as the executive pastor at Saddleback Church with Rick Warren. Last summer, Lance released his book Replenish: Leading from a Healthy Soul. It's a great book for church leaders. It's so good, in fact, that I had my recent coaching networks read it for the conversation we have about personal health.

Here are some of the highlights from my reading:

• "When leaders neglect their interior life, they run the risk of prostituting the sacred gift of leadership."
• "It's scary to realize that the path to external success and internal emptiness can be the same road."
• "The truth is you don't have to have a healthy soul to be seen as a success in ministry."
• "Be interested in others more and interested in yourself less. Ask people questions about their lives. Get someone to tell you their story."
• "A healthy staff culture does not happen by accident. You won't drift into it any more than you would drift into a healthy marriage."
• "More time spent with fewer people equals greater impact."
• "Trying not to upset people and make waves makes just the opposite happen. In our attempt to avoid conflict, we actually end up creating it."
• "Systems modify behavior, which in turn creates healthy habits that result in positive change."
• "Sometimes we are so accustomed to doing things one way that we can't see how broken the system really is."
• "When a culture is dominated by ineffective and dysfunctional systems, spiritual practices get marginalized."

I was deeply disturbed by the incredible foolishness of Harold Camping and his end of the world prediction. I took to Twitter on more than one occasion, first tweeting, "Harold Camping, pls update www.familyradio.com w/ your repentance statement & instructions to your now-broke followers." My tweet was picked up by USAToday and ended up all over because, it appears, lots of people were asking the same question.

Many of use were concerned for the people who were misled by Harold Camping, the false teacher behind all the drama. Well, now there is a helpful story on where they are now:

A Year After the Non-Apocalypse: Where Are They Now? -- Tom Barlett

It's been noted by scholars who study apocalyptic groups that believers tend to have analytical mindsets. They're often good at math. I met several engineers, along with a mathematics major and two financial planners. These are people adept at identifying patterns in sets of data, and the methods they used to identify patterns in the Bible were frequently impressive, even brilliant. Finding unexpected connections between verses, what believers call comparing scripture with scripture, was a way to become known in the group. The essays they wrote explaining these links could be stunningly intricate.

That intricacy was part of the appeal. The arguments were so complex that they were impossible to summarize and therefore very challenging to refute. As one longtime believer, an accountant, told me: "Based on everything we know, and when you look at the timelines, you look at the evidence--these aren't the kind of things that just happen. They correlate too strongly for it not to be important." The puzzle was too perfect. It couldn't be wrong.

Not that believers didn't have their doubts in the beginning. Everyone I talked to assured me that they, too, weren't sure at first. But after a certain point, maybe without consciously realizing it, they made a decision to abandon those doubts, to choose to believe. A young mother tried to help me understand the evidence before throwing up her hands. "It's about the believers and the unbelievers, you know?" she said.

"They've been around forever and as much as we're positive, there are going to be people who are going to question it because they don't believe, if you know what I mean? If you believed it you'd be as sure as I am."

Thom Rainer continues to provide helpful posts on leadership and ministry. Thom has talked a lot of Steve Jobs in our leadership meetings, so I was particuarly interested in this post about those who are not, well, Steve.

Six Considerations for Leaders Who Are Not Steve Jobs -- Thom Rainer

As I reflected on the life and contributions of this enigmatic man, I was struck by a sobering reality. We can write about Jobs' successes and genius. We can offer leadership lessons learned. But the fact is most of us will never attain the genius nor the notoriety of this man. Are there really lessons from his life and leadership that we can apply in our seemingly mundane lives? As I reflected and read through the posthumous literature, I indeed learned six lessons for the mostly ordinary rest of us.

1. We can lead by asking questions.
2. We can treat employees and others with respect.
3. We can make meetings strategic.
4. We can build passionate teams.
5. We can be family-focused leaders.
6. We can improve our presentation skills.

I've always been fascinated by Melchizedek. I've seen him as a Christophany in the Old Testament.

In this fascinating video, D.A. Carson gives some helpful teaching (even though he indicates my view is wrong!). It's worth watching.

Don Carson: Getting Excited About Melchizedek -- The Gospel Coalition

On Memorial Day of last year I found myself doing something which I had never done before; indeed, something which at one time I could not even have conceived of doing: conducting a service of worship.

Memorial Day has been largely abandoned to Veteran's groups conducting military services in a few larger cemeteries. The response of the Church has been either to ignore the day altogether, or to so drape it in red, white, and blue that the nation-- and not the Triune God-- becomes the object of devotion and worship. It was probably because of the excesses of the latter that I found myself among the former-- among those who ignored the day.

But years of passing by a cemetery on the way to worship time and again have had a profound effect upon me. "I believe in... the communion of saints," always (to use Luther's phrase) "most certainly true" has become more than just words in a Creed; but a constant, discernible presence of the faithful departed of every age.

So also have years of coming increasingly frequently to the Lord's table had a profound effect upon me. The communion of saints is not found in a cemetery, but in, with, and under the Presence of the Living Christ; who is Himself present in, with, and under the bread and wine of the Holy Communion. We meet and greet the saints at the table of their Lord.

Yet it was reading a children's book on the patriotic holidays that stirred me to action; for it was only then that I discovered that in the years just following the Civil War the day was observed by holding church services (which were filled) and not by going to stores (which were closed). Now-- as with so many customs of our culture-- Memorial Day's observance has been almost entirely reversed. And in that reversal the day's original and highest meaning has been lost.

So it was that on Memorial Day of 1998 a small congregation assembled to hear the Word and share the Supper and to enter the hallowed ground of the cemetery for concluding prayers by a Civil War veteran's grave.

Much to my surprise, it was one of the most moving services of the year. I was at first struck that the first folks to arrive were some of our oldest and very faithful women, some of whom began to attend to the Altar, even though, for some, it was not "their month."

The Altar, since the earliest days of Christianity, has most often been constructed to resemble a sarcophagus, that is, an above ground burial vault. In the first centuries, services were held on the vaults of martyrs. The attention given to the Altar seemed very much like the attention given to the Civil War casualties' graves in Columbus, Mississippi, that began the Memorial Day customs of "decorating" the monuments of the fallen; and, on a yet deeper level, the faithful love shown by the women of the disciples who "came to the tomb early..."

Touching, too, was to see our Bill Clark and his family seated in a front pew. Bill-- a Pennsylvania National Guardsman-- had come in uniform.

But most touching of all was to watch the Clark family-- even long after the service had concluded-- visit each monument in both the old and new cemeteries that had been decorated with a miniature flag by the York County Veteran's Council .

Willie and Jennie Clark will remember that this day is set aside for more than picnicking, fireworks, and shopping at Wal-Mart.

It is so blessed to obey God's command to teach our children diligently-- to instruct them in the meaning of each feast that we keep. For God spoke through Moses concerning the Passover: This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord, throughout your generations you shall observe it as an ordinance forever... And when your children say to you, 'What do you mean by this service?' you shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of Lord's passover"

And God later spoke through St. Paul concerning the greater Passover and the greater Deliverer:

Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast.

As we keep the memorial of our Passover-- our passing from Death to Life through the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ-- as we keep the feast, we are assured of the Presence of the Risen Christ. And we are doubly assured of His presence as we instruct our children on the feast; for then His final Beatitude is given to us:

Make disciples of all nations... teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of time.

So let us keep the feast-- hallow the day-- and share the blessing! This holy Easter day; this holy Eastertide; this Memorial Day.

From the release:

Among online Americans, Internet use for religious purposes is particularly common among the young. Fifty-seven percent of online adults under age 35 use the Internet for religion, compared to 48% who are 35 to 49 years old, 36% who are 50 to 64, and 31% who are 65 or older.

It is likely no surprise that people who are religiously active are particularly liable to use the Internet for religious purposes. For instance, 69% of those who attend worship services once a month or more use the Internet for spiritual purposes, compared to 27% of those who do not attend worship regularly. Similarly, religious use of the Internet is 70% among people who read the Bible or another sacred text at least once a month, versus 28% among those who do not.

LifeWay Research has done several studies on church usage of technology. We've looked at electronic giving, cloud computing, social networking, and general web usage and have found similar results with churches as this study did with individuals-- usage is nearly split half and half. For nearly every church excelling in web use, we see another shunning it. However, as both familiarity and access to technology increase, I expect both the number of people and churches using the Internet to reach the lost and make disciples to increase accordingly.

More from the research:

• 91% of evangelicals use the internet for religious purposes
• 19% have, in the past six months, visited the website of a church or other place of worship they are currently attending
• During that same time frame, another 17% have visited the website of a church or place of worship they were not attending
• 19% have visited a website designed to provide religious instruction or learning during the last six months
• 17% read religion-oriented blogs once a month or more
• 14% have a pastor or other religious leader as a friend on Facebook or a similar social network site
• 11% have visited the website of a group or organization from a religious faith that is different from their own during the last six months
• One out of ten have "Liked" a church or other place of worship on Facebook or a similar social network site
• 8% participate in religion-oriented discussions online (e.g. bulletin boards or forums) once a month or more
• 2% follow a church or other place of worship on Twitter
• Another 2% follow a pastor or other religious leader on Twitter

• Thursday is for Thinkers: Tylene Howarter of Skyline Wesleyan on Mobilizing a Church to Mission
• Subversive Kingdom: Our World Is Broken, But We Can Know the Healer
• Is Growth Always Good? Considering Church Growth Lovers and Haters
• Monday is for Missiology: A Thread of Hope for God's Mission - Part III: Tongues in Pentecost and Revelation
• Final Family Update: Kaitlyn Recuperating at Home, in a Tennessean Story
• Updates on Kaitlyn's Health #PrayForKaitlyn

The Exchange -- Transformational Discipleship

This past week, I hosted Eric Geiger and Philip Nation on The Exchange to discuss Transformational Discipleship. As part of the Transformational Initiative, this new phase seeks to define how people really grow in Christ. At its core, Transformational Discipleship describes the process that brings to life that kind of person described in the Bible. There's no magic formula here, but rather a substantive measure of research with churches and individuals who have wholeheartedly answered the call of Jesus to make disciples. Below is a short clip from the show, and you can watch the full episode here.

This coming week our focus shifts to Engaging Mormonism with special guest Dr. Tal Davis. Be sure to join us Tuesday at 2:00 PM central for The Exchange. 

Church Signs of the Week

Last Friday, Facebook went public. Facebook and I have had our issues, but Facebook does get some nice play on church signs. To celebrate, here are a few church signs related to Facebook and the dump trucks full of cash Mark Zuckerberg has both made and lost as the stock has bounced around this week.

Thanks to Andrew Wilson, Susann Pickard, and Chris Larmoveux for these. You can send in your signs via Twitter to @EdStetzer.