Podcasts about north american church

In this episode of The Leader's Journey Podcast, Jim sits down with Houston-area pastor Melissa Emerson to explore what it means to live faithfully in the midst of deep church change. After stepping into leadership of Mosaic Community Covenant Church following her father's sudden passing, Melissa and her husband have led their community through a nomadic, experimental journey—redefining what church can be in the most diverse suburb in the U.S. With honesty, wisdom, and a heart for justice, Melissa shares what it's been like to shed institutional expectations, rediscover community, and follow the Spirit's leading in uncharted territory. If you've ever felt disillusioned with “church as usual,” or if you're discerning a new way forward, this conversation offers courage and clarity for the road ahead. Melissa Lee Emerson is a third generation Chinese American woman co-pastoring Mosaic Community Covenant Church with her husband. Mosaic meets at a YMCA in the most diverse suburban county in the United States. Passionate about the intersection of faith and justice, Melissa dedicates her energy to the church, to Mosaic Learning Center, and raising her two daughters. She has a masters of divinity from North Park Theological Seminary with an emphasis on intercultural ministry and a bachelors in psychology with an emphasis on sociology and human development. She enjoys multicultural learning spaces and trips, especially if food is involved.  Conversation Overview: The shift from institutional church to a nomadic, mission-focused church Creative approaches to discernment  Developing missional partnerships Embracing Unlearning Rebuilding culture: resisting performance-driven worship and prioritizing outreach The role of emotional maturity, spiritual formation, and slowing down in adaptive leadership   Resources:  Mosaic Covenant Community Church Unlikely Nomads: In Search of the New Church by Terry Walling A prophetic and pastoral look at the shifting landscape of the North American Church and how leaders are navigating toward new expressions of faith. Shattered Dreams – a sermon by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A profound reflection on disappointment, surrender, and trusting God's larger purpose through unfulfilled expectations. Acts 1:8 Model A biblical framework used to guide outreach and mission—beginning in one's immediate community (“Jerusalem”) and expanding outward to the world. Dwelling in the Word (Lectio Divina) A contemplative practice of reading Scripture in community with an emphasis on spiritual listening and discernment. Nomads in the Changing Church - The Leader's Journey Podcast  Find The Leader's Journey on YouTube!

The History of the Pentecostal church in Canada & the U.S.A is largely unknown. Mike Blume & Mike Filip dive into what really happened, that modern denominations hide.

It's a time of great transition and social upheaval in North America and the church is far from immune. In this episode, we interview Stuart McAllister about this shifting dynamic and what it might mean for those of us who follow Christ today.

From the Jesus People movement of the 70s and the “seeker-sensitive” outreach of the 80s, Boomers have shaped the development of the North American Church. Yet, as they approach and enter retirement, for some their church participation is dwindling. Join Jim Divine, who pastors a church in The Villages, Florida, to discuss how churches can help guide the  “Me” Generation to discover their Kingdom Purpose in the final third of life.Fresh Expressions is a worldwide movement of everyday missionaries who want to see churches thrive in the places we live, eat, work and play by leveraging the creativity and endurance of the inherited church. To learn a simple five-phase process for starting a new expression of church go to freshexpressions.com/howtostart.If you love this free resource, you can access our entire library of practical and inspiring training materials and connect with other church leaders on FX Connect. Sign up for your free account at fxconnectus.org. Help us spread the word about the Fresh Expressions podcast by subscribing and leaving us reviews on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you enjoy your podcasts.

Shodankeh, Curtis, and Josh have a conversation led by Paul giving us hope for seeing a disciple making movement here in North  America and challenge us all do the simple but hard work of praying and fasting. 1. Betterman offers a free resource for men to become all God created them to be. If you or your church is looking for men's ministry resources, we invite you to check out BetterMan at the link below!   https://betterman.com/   2. Sustainable Discipleship is focused on helping everyday Christians become Disciple making superheroes! If you would like to learn more about Sustainable Discipleships unique methods, click the link below for more information.   https://www.sustainable-discipleship.com/   3. TCM International Institute is a Christian institute of higher education focused on academic excellence with a focus on equipping leaders for eternal kingdom impact. If you are interested in graduate level education to help equip you for ministry, we encourage you to click the link below and check out TCM. https://www.tcmi.org/

Josh Howard (Disciple Making Movement leader in India) and Paul Huyghebaert engage in an honest conversation about the North American Church and the barrier created by centralized thinking.

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This is Renew.org's third track session at this year's National Disciple Making Forum and a continuation of the conversation between Paul Huyghebaert (lead minister at Grace Chapel Church of Christ) and Shodankeh Johnson (part of the Core Team of New Generations) about disciple making movement principles. Shodankeh shares amazing stories of church planting and disciple making movements in Africa while Paul describes the practical things his church has implemented to get the ball rolling here in North America.

This is Renew.org's second track session at this year's National Disciple Making Forum. In this episode, Paul Huyghebaert (lead minister at Grace Chapel Church of Christ) interviews Shodankeh Johnson (part of the Core Team of New Generations) on how the North American church can adopt disciple making movement principles to see a movement break out in the States. Shodankeh shares key insights that we can use today.

One of the great oversights that exists in the North American Church is regular teaching on the presence and inevitability of persecution against those who are followers of Jesus. Persecution is a reality for the majority of Christians worldwide, but because of our relative peace and well-being here we've come to expect that persecution won't be something we ever face. Paul Estabrooks, who works with the persecuted church around the world, writes this: “With our hunger and thirst for righteousness comes the promise of persecution for those who take a stand for God. We have not been called to safety and comfort but to serve in the midst of conflict. Persecution is not to be strenuously avoided, for it is the result of righteous living. To avoid it, one would have to avoid living righteously.” Parents, we must prepare our kids with a proper perspective on persecution. Jesus said, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.”

For years, experts have warned about the decline of the Church in North America, and that was before the pandemic! This episode will help you have a greater understanding of what it means for the North American church to be in decline, and why there's still hope.You can register for the 2022 Fresh Expressions Gathering at http://freshexpressionsus.org/remission.Our guest is Dr. Christopher Backert. Dr. Backert is the National Director of Fresh Expressions US. Working with church and denominational leaders to develop new expressions of Christian community is the passion of Chris's life. Chris holds a D.Min. in Missional Church Leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary. He lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with wife Rachel, daughter Elliana and son Jase.

Welcome our new Pastor of Global Ministries, David Harrop! David joined our staff in December 2021, and he and his wife, Mary, come to us with years of missions and ministry experience both overseas and stateside. Today we have the opportunity to get to know David and hear a snippet of how prayer has impacted his life! Tune in on Sunday morning, February 13, at 9:30 or 11 am at calvarychurch.org to hear David preach on the topic of prayer as a part of our current sermon series, Come to Me. Books Referenced: Western Christians in Global Mission: What's the Role of the North American Church? by Paul Borthwick World Christianity and the Unfinished Task: A Very Short Introduction Task by F. Lionel Young III

This is our last podcast for 2021 so we thought it would be good to look back over this past year. Not necessarily as a highlight or recap - really more of grabbing a theme that seemed to be prevalent over the last year. And we want to look at it from the perspective of, “Will this be a theme that will remain relevant for the new year and beyond?” And if so, “How will the church, as a missional movement respond?”  We talked about a lot of relevant topics and practical missional living concepts, but one thing that seemed to be … either a main topic … or one that came up in our discussion a lot …. was the trends of church membership and the health of the local church.

The discussion continues around strengths and weaknesses of the North American Church, and concludes with an attempt to identify national anthems from around the globe.

On this weeks episode of the podcast we are joined by Paul Borthwick. Paul serves as senior consultant for Development Associates International and previously taught global Christianity at Gordon College for thirty years. Through his speaking, writing, and resource ministry, Borthwick works to mobilize others to participate in world missions. Borthwick is an active speaker and teacher, having taught courses at Gordon College, Africa International University (Nairobi), Alliance Theological Seminary (Manila), and Lanka Bible College (Sri Lanka), plus a guest faculty position at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Previously he served for more than twenty years on the staff of Grace Chapel in Lexington, Massachusetts, first as youth pastor and then as minister of missions. Rick Warren (in Purpose-Driven Life) cites Paul’s books A Mind For Missions and How To Be a World-Class Christian as resources that “should be read by every Christian.” His 2012 book, Western Christians in Global Mission: What’s the Role of the North American Church, was book of the day at Urbana 2012 and received the 2014 Christianity Today Award of Merit in the Missions/Global Affairs category. His book, Great Commission, Great Compassion: Following Jesus and Loving the World (IVP) was released in November 2015 and was featured as a book of the day at Urbana 2015. Paul’s most recent book, Mission 3:16 - God’s One-Verse Invitation to Love the World, was released in June 2020. Mission Minded Podcast: In Matthew 28:18-20, we are commissioned by Christ to make disciples of all the nations. Living in light of this scriptural call can be challenging. Join the Mission Minded podcast and participate in discussions with mission-minded individuals that come from diverse backgrounds, working all over the world, to bring some of the challenges into the light. The ITEC team hosts special guests who tell stories, ask questions, and inspire us to use our God-given gifts to take the Gospel to our neighbors and the nations. Mission Minded Podcast is produced by ITEC. The goal of this podcast is to inspire conversations about Great Commission participation. The views, organizations, and individuals represented, interviewed, and discussed on the podcast do not necessarily represent an official position or formal partnerships with ITEC.

Join us for our July 11 service as we continue our series about the future of the North American Church. The mission that Jesus gave the church was not to keep the world out of the church, but to get the church into the world! They forgot the church was founded on the impossible: a dead man coming back to life. I think boldness about the right things could catch the attention of our culture too. When you're LOUD about the things that don't matter people won't listen when you talk about the things that do.

On this episode of "UnFiltered: The Podcast", enjoy a timely and essential conversation between Pastor Spencer Graham and Pastor Erick Abreu as they discuss church culture in 2021 and the feeling of apathy that has crept its way in to the North American Church. Pastor Erick Abreu is the pastor of Ignite Church in Hialeah, FL, alongside his beautiful wife Annay and their two children. He strongly believes that now, more than ever, is the time to take to heart the words of the biblical writer in Hebrews 10:25; "not forsaking our meeting together [as believers for worship and instruction], as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more [faithfully] as you see the day [of Christ's return] approaching." 

Pastor John interviews Dan Boal, Director of Alliance Youth for the Christian & Missionary Alliance. Dan is preparing to transition back to local church ministry and the conversation covers many great topics on both youth ministry and Pastor John's passion: Disciple Making. In this week's episode, Dan describes two reasons why the North American Church is no longer effectively reaching today's youth. What he says applies to reaching adults as well. Resources During this series, Pastor John and Dan talk about three books that may be helpful. Follow the links below for more information. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church, by Kara Powell, Jake Mulder, and Brad Griffin (Baker Books, 2016) Growing With: Every Parent's Guide to Helping Teenagers and Young Adults Thrive in Their Faith, Family and Future, by Kara Powell and Steven Argue (Baker Books, 2019) DiscipleMAKING: Helping Local Churches Know What Disciples Are and How To Make Them, by John Kimball with Gayle Buford (NextStep Resources, 2019) If we can help you or your church grow in the area of disciple making, please to not hesitate to contact us. You can reach us at podcast@johnrkimball.com.

Richard gives us a broad view of the American church through the lens of his editorial experiences at both Christianity Today and Christian Century, and who has been a lifelong Mennonite. Richard does so by telling stories that illustrate the ebbs and flows of the church over the last forty years. He identifies concerns about the North American church and where he suspects renewal, if it occurs, just might come from. Richard is understated and modest in delivering what is a uniquely upfront and personal view of the church! Another gem well worth your time and also available as a podcast at A Church Dismantled--A Kingdom Restored.

Program Director Adam Borneman speaks with the Rev. Tim Soerens (The Parish Collective) about his new book, the requirement of paying attention, and the beautiful mess of the North American Church.

In his lecture “Shaping the Journey: Reforming the Church in North America” delivered at the 2002 Missiology Lectures, Alan Roxburgh, founder of The Missional Network, spoke about the North American church’s need to reform its discourse and practices in order to become the missional church it ought to be.

In his lecture “Mapping our Location: The Crisis of the Church in North America” delivered at the 2002 Missiology Lectures, Alan Roxburgh, founder of The Missional Network, explained the ways the North American church has become warped by social imaginaries that are incompatible with the narrative of God’s kingdom.

Sermon for the Third Sunday in Advent 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 & St. Matthew 11:2-10 by William Klock I am not a baker and I was never particularly good at chemistry.  I know that somehow when you add water to wheat, the gluten does something and that when you feed sugar to yeast under the right circumstances it makes bubbles and the gluten traps the bubbles so you end up with fluffy bread instead of bricks, but I don’t really understand the specifics: why one kind of flour works differently than another, why some recipes use water and others use milk.  Why do some use eggs and others don’t?  I’m not a baker.  But I don’t need to be, because we have a bread machine in our house.  The recipe book that came with the bread machine could be titled “Bread for Dummies”.  It’s foolproof.  But like they say, never underestimate dummies and fools.  The first time I used the bread machine I was in a rush.  I was under the impression that you just dump in the ingredients and the machine does the work.  Well, it does.  But you have to do exactly what it says.  The recipes are very specific.  They even tell you what order to put in the ingredients.  And so I was miffed when the recipe was very specific in saying to add room temperature milk and a room temperature egg.  I didn’t think I’d have to plan thirty minutes ahead with a bread machine.  What difference could it make?  So I poured in cold milk and plopped in a cold egg.  And the bread barely rose, because the dough was cold and the yeast didn’t activate until the very end of the kneading and rising cycle.  Instead of bread, the machine made a brick. It’s funny, too, how obstinate we can sometimes be when we make mistakes like this.  I asked Veronica what went wrong.  “I did just what the book said,” I said.  I was very insistent.  But as she pressed me for details, I admitted that the milk and egg were cold.  “That’s it,” she told me.  But I doubled-down.  I mean, shouldn’t the flour—the biggest ingredient—have brought the temperature up?  I was in denial.  My pride was hurt.  It makes you feel pretty dumb when you can’t even make bread with a bread machine.  But it also highlights why following the instructions is important. This is where our lessons today point us.  If the over-arching theme of advent is to be prepared, we’re reminded today, we’re exhorted today to be faithful in doing what the Lord has called us to do.  God’s people have always had a very specific calling, whether we’re talking about his people in the Old Testament or his people in the New.  Jesus has established his church to carry on what has always been Israel’s mission, ever since Abraham, but now to carry it out in light of Jesus the Messiah.  Now, there’s a lot of room for creativity in how we fulfil our mission, but Jesus also gave us very, very clear instructions and if we throw out the core of our mission in the name of creativity or flexibility or pragmatism, we’re going to fail. Last week I read Rod Dreher’s new book, Live not by Lies, and it had me thinking about this.  The last few years, Dreher has been writing about what the Church, particularly in North America, needs to be doing as we enter a new dark age.  I think that to anyone with eyes to see, he’s right that the North American Church is woefully unprepared to live as a minority community, let alone to live in an environment that is becoming increasingly hostile to us.  For the last couple of generations we’ve been failing to instil lasting faith in our children and have lost them to the culture.  In the last decade, our people, our leaders, and our churches have been falling like dominos to Postmodern apostasy.  And there’s a reason for this.  We’ve left the recipe aside and we’re trying to bake bread with too many shortcuts and with the wrong ingredients.  We’ve sidelined what Jesus told us to do and have put other things at the centre of what we are.  We’ve changed and watered down the message.  We’ve muddled the truth to the point that many Christians can no longer distinguish between God’s truth and the world’s lies.  And, all too often, we’ve stopped trusting in the Holy Spirit to do the work of converting hearts and minds and have been trying to do it ourselves. Our lessons today focus our attention on the faithfulness of God’s ministers.  The Epistle focuses on St. Paul and the Gospel on John the Baptist.  The choice of lessons is linked to the Ember Days that fall later this week.  The Embers Days come around four times a year and, at least historically, were the traditional times for ordinations.  With that in mind, our advent lessons today call the clergy to faithfulness to our mission and remind the Church of the importance of faithful ministers.  But even though today’s focus is on what we might call “professionals”, there’s a broader principle that applies to all of us, to all Christians, as ministers of the Gospel. Let’s begin with our Epistle, 1 Corinthians 11:1-5.  And we’ll want a little background to understand it.  The Church at Corinth had a lot of problems and a big part of it was that many were having trouble setting aside their old, pagan ways.  They had compromised much.  There were some serious sins in the church that needed to be dealt with, but weren’t.  People were justifying them by appealing to Christian liberty.  There were also divisions within the congregation.  Paul had founded this church, but the people didn’t want to listen to him anymore.  They’d become enamoured of other preachers.  There’s nothing to indicate these other preachers were preaching anything apart from the gospel.  The problem in Corinth wasn’t their fault.  The problem was that Paul was about the last flashy person you could imagine and when other preachers came along who were more attractive and who were better speakers than Paul—that was something the Greeks valued very highly—they kicked Paul to the curb.  Not only would they not listen to him, he wasn’t even welcome anymore.  They judged him a loser.  That’s what’s behind our Epistle today.  Let’s read: This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.  Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.  But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court.  In fact, I do not even judge myself.  For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.  Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart.  Then each one will receive his commendation from God.   I’ve always wondered how hard it was for Paul to write this, especially the bit about “This is how you need to regard me: I’m a servant of Christ and a steward of God’s mysteries.”  Good clergymen tend to err on the side of humility, even to a fault.  The only guys I’ve ever known to say things like this have been egotists who never should have been in ministry in the first place.  Paul had one advantage that only the apostles had and that was that they had known Jesus in the flesh and had been commissioned by him personally.  I can’t say that and neither can anyone else alive today.  That said, there is a place for God’s stewards to assert their calling in the face of unjust judgement.  Most of us, when faced with unjust criticism nod humbly, say nothing, and take it to God, but Paul reminds us that there is a time to speak up against these kinds of judgements.  I think that goes for every Christian, too.  We’re all minister of the gospel.  Increasingly the world hurls unjust criticisms at us.  I was reading an article on The Record’s Facebook page last week.  It was about some churches on the Mainland defying the shutdown order.  The comments were painful.  It was interesting that none of the dozens of nasty comments was really aimed at the defiance of the orders these churches were making.  The nasty comments were all more generally about how Christians are haters or bigots or racists or knuckle-dragging mouth-breathers and that the clergy are just in it for the money.  I’m sure plenty of Christians saw these comments, but there were no responses.  Yes, to respond is probably pointless.  People who have bought into Postmodern thinking don’t care about reasoning or facts; it’s all about their feelings and you can’t argue with feelings.  And yet, here we are, ministers of the gospel and stewards of the mysteries of God and increasingly we’re just letting the false judgements and accusations of pagans back us out of the public square.  We go silently and sit facing the corner like disciplined children—and I think a lot of the time we actually feel guilty when we hear these accusations, even though we know better. Brothers and Sisters, Paul stresses that ministers are to be found faithful.  That goes for apostles and for pastors and for all of us.  Yes, we need to weigh criticism.  We need to ask if there’s anything to it.  Sometimes there may be.  Maybe we’re not being faithful to Jesus’ instructions and we need to hear it.  But Jesus’ instructions aren’t hard to understand or discern.  As a minister, I’m called to preach the word, especially the gospel about Jesus, and to administer the sacraments.  It’s not quite that simple, but that is the core.  And for all of us, we’re called to proclaim the gospel about Jesus to the world around us and to live in a way that accords with being the people of God.  We proclaim Jesus and we live the life of the Spirit. We do need to reflect on our lives in light of that and ask if we’re being faithful.  This is one of the reasons we need to steep ourselves in God’s word.  If we don’t know what God expects, how will be faithful?  Think again of the bread recipe.  Are we following it?  Often time we’re not.  It’s not that we’re not well-intentioned.  We want to see things happen, but sometime we get impatient.  We take shortcuts.  Or we think we can make better bread by changing the recipe.  People out there don’t like to hear about sin, so we’ll tone that part of our preaching down.  People out there don’t like commitment, so we’ll make church commitment-free.  People out there don’t like liturgy and sermons, so we’ll have a rock concert and preach pop-psychology instead.  People don’t feel like getting up on Sunday mornings and driving to church, so we’ll broadcast it to their TVs and computers instead.  People want activities and they want to hear about themselves and how good they can be, so we’ll build our churches around programmes and self-help preaching.  These things can bring short-term gains, but in the long-term they’ve been a disaster.  We wonder why people won’t commit, why they’re still worldly, why we’re losing our children, and why we’re seen as increasingly irrelevant.  It’s like we’ve tried to bake bread by replacing the flour with glitter.  The end product might look exciting, but in the end it’s not only unable to nourish, it’s slowly poisoning us.  In contrast, the real work of the gospel is rarely flashy.  Sometimes it brings persecution and even martyrdom.  It means relying on God, not ourselves.  And it means being in it for the long-haul.  Consider Israel.  God called Abraham and it was two thousand years before Israel’s story culminated with Jesus.  And the in-between was as full of hardship, slavery, judgement, and exile as it was prosperity and growth.  And that was God working with a single, small people.  Brothers and Sisters, our mission is the world. So be faithful to the gospel, build churches around word and sacrament, pray and fellowship together, raise covenant children who know Jesus.  And as we do that, remember that the judgement that matters is not the judgement of other people or the world, but of God.  That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have an ear to the ground.  That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t listen to the world’s judgements.  Sometimes we need to know how the world sees us—even if it’s false—so that we can better know what we’re up against.  So that we can better respond with the gospel.  And, sometimes, the world’s rebukes may have some truth to them.  Jesus promised that his people would be persecuted for his sake, but we need to make sure that we’re actually being persecuted for his sake and for our faithfulness to his word.  I know plenty of Christians who claim they’re being persecuted, but when you get down to it, it’s just that people don’t like them because they’re jerks, not because they’re preaching Jesus.  People will still hate us for preaching Jesus, but Friends, we do need to be sure that as we preach Jesus and as we stand firmly on the Scriptures that the world rejects, we are squeaky clean.  There’s a balance.  We need to live the gospel as much as we preach the gospel.  We’re to announce God’s judgement on sin, yes, but we’re also to announce God’s mercy to repentant sinners. This was John the Baptist’s struggle.  Let’s turn over to today’s Gospel.  John has gone from announcing the coming kingdom and baptising people in the Jordan to being locked up in prison.  He got there by way of criticizing Herod.  It wasn’t just some off-the-wall criticism.  Tied up with his announcement of the kingdom was John’s denouncement of Herod for marrying his former sister-in-law.  Herod couldn’t help but draw a connection between John’s fiery preaching and himself.  If John was saying that the King was soon to come, it meant John was saying that Herod wasn’t really the king.  So poor John is now in Herod’s dungeon and he’s frustrated and confused.  He’d been faithful in his divine calling to herald the coming Messiah—his cousin, Jesus—and he’s landed in prison.  No big surprise there.  He wasn’t the first prophet to offend a king and end up in prison.  But Jesus—the Messiah—was on the outside, preaching, teaching, healing, forgiving, having dinner with tax collectors and sinners, and leaving John to rot.  Something was wrong with Jesus’ priorities, or so John was beginning to think.  We’ll pick up from there: Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”  (St. Matthew 11:2-10) I don’t think John was really doubting whether Jesus was the Messiah.  I think this was his way of saying, “Um…Jesus.  Shouldn’t the Messiah be getting his faithful herald out prison?”  Of course, that also meant all the other things to go along with it.  A simple jailbreak wouldn’t do.  The jailbreak would have to be part of a wholesale overthrow of Herod and the Romans—which, of course, is what most people expected the Messiah to do.  Here’s what Jesus says to John’s men in return:  “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.  And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”  (Matthew 11:5-6) You see, John expected the Messiah to be like Elijah, confronting the prophets of Baal and calling down fire from heaven.  John wanted to see fire and brimstone.  There’s a place for that.  In a sense John wasn’t wrong.  Jesus is the Judge and, you can be sure, he will judge the world and everyone in it.  I suspect that being a fire-and-brimstone sort of prophet—and that is what John was called to be so there’s nothing wrong with that—I suspect that being that kind of guy means that you get fixated on judgement.  When your tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.  Anyway, Jesus’ sort of responds by saying something like, “You expected Elijah…and you’ve got Elijah…but before I come in judgement, there are a lot of people…people like the widow of Zeraphath…people who need to know God’s mercy.”  As Jesus says in John’s Gospel: I came not to condemn, but to redeem.  Sinners already stand condemned.  Judgement is coming.  Announcing that judgement was John’s mission.  But before the judgement comes, what the Israel needed most was to know God’s mercy, to know his salvation.  This is why Jesus’ road to the throne had to be by way of the cross. So Jesus corrects John.  He sets him straight about the Messiah.  But he then turns to the crowd and praises John: As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?  What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing?  Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses.  What then did you go out to see?  A prophet?  Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.  This is he of whom it is written, “‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,          who will prepare your way before you.’ (Matthew 11:7-10) Even though Jesus’ mission was one of humility and of mercy, Jesus praises the faithfulness of John to his ministry as the fiery herald of judgement.  Again, John was expecting the Messiah to come like Elijah, bringing confrontation and fire from heaven, but what Jesus says—albeit a little obliquely for reasons that get beyond our lesson today—what Jesus says here is that John is the prophet like Elijah.  John is the fire-and-brimstone preacher.  John is the herald announcing judgement and calling the people to repentance.  Jesus quotes from Malachi 3 and confirms two things: John is truly the one sent to herald the Messiah and, two, that means that Jesus truly is the Messiah—the one whom Malachi said would come both to refine Israel and to make her offerings pleasing to the Lord and to judge the unrepentant. Now, in the short-term this was bad news for John.  It was bad news for Jesus, too.  Both the Messiah and his herald would be put to death.  But death was not the end.  As it turns out, it was by the death of Jesus that deliverance was bought and in his resurrection, he was vindicated and the unjust verdict on him overturned.  In his resurrection and his ascension, Jesus was confirmed as the Messiah, as Lord.  In that we see the faithfulness of God to his promises and knowing God’s faithfulness, we have hope.  As St. Paul wrote to the Romans: If we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall surely be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:5).  This is one of those parts of the gospel that we often prefer to ignore or to leave out of our preaching, because it offends.  We’ve sort of got the opposite problem John had.  John was fixated on judgement and on fire from heaven.  Like so many Jews, he wanted to see God vanquish Israel’s enemies and he nearly forgot about God’s mercy.  Our problem is the opposite.  We’ve become so afraid of preaching about sin and about judgement, that we can’t even preach mercy and grace anymore—because mercy isn’t mercy and grace isn’t grace if we’re not guilty of anything.  And if we gut our preaching of mercy and grace, we can talk all day about the love of God, but there will be no depth to it.  We will make the cross of Jesus pointless.  Why?  Because we can only begin to plumb the great depths of God’s love when we see that he gave his Son to die for our sake—for the sake of sinners who would otherwise stand condemned to destruction. That brings us back to the recipe for bread.  Brothers and Sisters, bread is often kind of boring.  But made properly, it nourishes.  It keeps us alive.  There’s a reason why Jesus used it as a metaphor for himself: I am the bread of life.  There’s a reason why it’s a symbol over and over in story of God’s people for his faithful care and sustenance.  And it points to the way God works and the way his gospel and his word work in the world.  It’s rarely flashy.  And you have to patient, because it takes time to rise.  But like the Messiah, who humble himself to take on lowly human flesh, who humbled himself to be born of a lowly virgin, and who humbly went to death on a cross, the simple bread of the gospel, the good news that Jesus died, that he rose, and that he is Lord, brings life to the world.  To preach it faithfully means to preach it whole and to preach it pure.  Friends, be faithful stewards.  Stick to the recipe.  Preach the Lord Jesus, crucified and risen to give forgiveness and life to sinners.  Build churches centred on the faithful preaching of God’s word and the administration of the sacraments, where, knowing God’s faithfulness, God’s people sing and pray together, where they raise covenant, gospel children, where we live as people who know the hope of God’s life in the age to come. Let’s pray: O Lord Jesus Christ, who at your first coming sent your messenger to prepare your way before you: grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready your way by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that at your second coming to judge the world we may be found an acceptable people in your sight; who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

In the recent wake of Grace Community Church's statement (and other churches), what should our response be to rejecting restrictions placed on the church by authorities? Should we fight against them or go along with what they are asking? When is it appropriate to resist authorities? Crawford and Hanniel Ghezzi discuss this relevant topic which is making waves in the North American Church.

Inalienable Rights Speaker: Eric Ludy Study: Inalienable Rights America is in a molten state. From riots and rights violations to pandemics and forthcoming elections. It is imperative that as Christians we have solid footing in the Word of God as we navigate these unsteady times. As the North American Church we have been entrusted much in terms of truth, liberty, opportunity and wealth, but are we proving faithful with the trust we have been given?

Inalienable Rights Speaker: Eric Ludy Study: Inalienable Rights America is in a molten state. From riots and rights violations to pandemics and forthcoming elections. It is imperative that as Christians we have solid footing in the Word of God as we navigate these unsteady times. As the North American Church we have been entrusted much in terms of truth, liberty, opportunity and wealth, but are we proving faithful with the trust we have been given?

Inalienable Rights Speaker: Eric Ludy Study: Inalienable Rights America is in a molten state. From riots and rights violations to pandemics and forthcoming elections. It is imperative that as Christians we have solid footing in the Word of God as we navigate these unsteady times. As the North American Church we have been entrusted much in terms of truth, liberty, opportunity and wealth, but are we proving faithful with the trust we have been given?

Crawford shares 3 points regarding the need for the church to return to God in this troubling time.

On this episode of the Catalyst Podcast, Brad Lomenick sits down with Hal Donaldson for a conversation about how to interrupt the status quo and live compassion in these unprecedented times. Listen in as Hal shares an invitation to move beyond pity, helplessness, and outrage and provides a playbook for being an agent of compassion right where you are.   Keep up with Hal & Convoy of Hope: Twitter: @haldonaldson Website: convoyofhope.org   Additional resources from this episode:  CARES Act Resources from Vanderblomen The Future of the North American Church  ChurchPulse Weekly  One Minute Pause App Message from Francis Chan

Welcome to the LiveSent Podcast! This month we are privileged to hear from Scott and Leslie, former missionaries to Taiwan now serving with the International Neighborhood Network in Lancaster. For many years the North American Church has sent missionaries to the un-reached people of the world. Today, the world is coming to North America. We hope you enjoy listening to and considering ways that God can use you to minister to those around the world who have never heard the gospel, because today they could be living right next door!Discussion Guide

Burnout, lack of motivation, and spiritual dryness are commonplace in the North American Church. It seems like we take seasons such as these for granted, as natural parts of our spiritual lives. Yet, do these beliefs line up with what we find in the early Church and Jesus' teachings? Steve Orsillo rejoins the show to bring perspective from his forty-four plus years of following Jesus. He challenges the idea that spiritual zeal is simply for new believers, or that burnout is inevitable.   Share the podcast with a friend! Just copy+paste this link https://link.chtbl.com/UCT_listen_now into an email, text or Facebook post. Connect with Max: Send me an email at maxehrman@changeoroville.org with topics you would like to see covered or feedback about an episode. For the School of Transformation: www.transformationschool.org - www.instagram.com/sotoroville For more about The Father's House: www.changeoroville.org - www.facebook.com/fathers.house.oroville - TFHC Media on YouTube - www.instagram.com/the.fathers.house.oroville  Steve Orsillo's books are available here on Amazon! For Life Recovery Ministries: www.liferecoveryministry.com - www.instagram.com/lrmdiscipleship

In the North American Church, music and worship styles play a big role in our church experience. It is one of the first things we notice when attending a new church, and a big factor in whether or not we continue to attend. Many of the West's largest congregation are more recognizable from their syndicated music than what they preach.  The question is, how does what we sing in our churches impact what we believe about God? Is there a connection? Worship pastors Ryan and Lisa Kelly join the show to discuss. Share the podcast with a friend! Just copy+paste this link https://link.chtbl.com/UCT_listen_now into an email, text or Facebook post. Connect with Max: Send me an email at maxehrman@changeoroville.org with topics you would like to see covered or feedback about an episode. For the School of Transformation: www.transformationschool.org - www.instagram.com/sotoroville For more about The Father's House: www.changeoroville.org - www.facebook.com/fathers.house.oroville - TFHC Media on YouTube - www.instagram.com/the.fathers.house.oroville  Steve Orsillo's books are available here on Amazon! For Life Recovery Ministries: www.liferecoveryministry.com - www.instagram.com/lrmdiscipleship

After this show was broadcast, Julie posted a blog that addresses very serious issues about the study in Let Us Prey and its authors. Read Post Guest Bios Show Transcript Have wolves in Shepherd's clothing infiltrated the North American Church? And are sheep being systematically devoured as a result? Joining me this week on The Roys Report is Darrell Puls. Darrel is a researcher and author of the book, Let Us Prey! How can you detect if your pastor is a narcissist? And what do you do if he is? Don't miss The Roys Report, this Saturday morning at 11 on AM 1160 Hope For Your Life, and at 7 p.m. Sunday evening on AM 560 The Answer. This Weeks Guests Darrell Puls Darrell Puls is a professional conflict interventionist with forty years of experience, and founder of Peacebridge Ministries, a Christian nonprofit that works directly with faith communities experiencing internal conflict. He is the author of The Road Home: A Guided Journey to Church Forgiveness and Reconciliation (2013). R. Glenn Ball is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in Canada, where he has served for more than thirty years in parish ministry and as a specialist working with distressed churches. Show Transcript Note: This transcript has been edited slightly for continuity. Segment 1: JULIE ROYS: Welcome to The Roys Report, brought to you in part by Judson University. I am Julie Roys. And I'm so glad that you've joined me for today's discussion. We're going to be talking about an issue that's extremely important. But frankly, I wish it weren't an issue, and I wish that we didn't have to talk about it. But we do. That's because this issue is ravaging churches and unsuspecting staff and laypeople. It's the issue of wolves in shepherd's clothing—pastors who are supposed to be protecting their sheep, but instead, they're preying on them.  And if you've been a part of a church where this is happening, you know how painful and confusing and disorienting this can be. And here in the Chicago area, there's been a lot of talk about this issue. That's because over the past 18 months, we've had two megachurches—Willow Creek Community Church and Harvest Bible Chapel—where the pastors have been accused of abusing the flock and the staff. But this doesn't just happen in big churches; it happens in churches of all sizes. And it's not necessarily because pastors are just human or they're sinful. According to my guest today, sometimes, there's something else—something very sinister, to blame. Now before I go any further, I want to speak to you pastors who are the majority of you out there, who are honest and kind and sacrificial. And, you know, again, I recognize this isn't about you. And I hope that nothing that we discuss today casts aspersion on you. Again, the majority of you pastors I just so appreciate. We love you. And we recognize how thankless your job often is. So just want to make that very-very clear. But my guest today is Darrell Puls, and he's worked with many churches as a mediator. And he says that over the years he's seen a “different quality” to some of the church conflicts. At first, he said he didn't know what to make of it. He writes in his book Let Us Prey, “In many cases, there was something deeper going on (in these conflicts), but I couldn't tell you what it was. Though I expected the pastor to be involved, and even be part of the problem, my training—and my biases—said that he or she was caught in the middle. So, like most interventionists, I looked for the issues and then probed the deeper meanings behind them so that we could fashion a workable settlement. But what I didn't expect was that the pastor . . . was at the very center in almost every fight that had this ‘different' quality to it.  I also didn't expect that the pastor would intentionally sabotage a settlement—or the entire process—to get what he, and he alone, wanted.” Well friends, that's what happens when the pastor has something called Narcissistic Personality Disorder or NPD. So how do you detect if your pastor has this condition? And what do you do if he does?  Well joining me right now is Darrell Puls, author of Let Us Prey: The Plague of Narcissistic Pastors. Darrell also is a professional conflict interventionist with 40 years of experience. He's also the founder of Peacebridge Ministries—a nonprofit that works with churches experiencing internal conflict. So, Darrell, welcome! It's a pleasure to have you join me!  DARRELL PULS: Good morning Julie. It's a pleasure to be here. JULIE ROYS: So, Darrell, why don't we just start with a definition and explanation of what narcissism is. DARRELL PULS: Well narcissism is something we all have to a certain degree. It's that we enjoy being complemented. We enjoy sometimes being the center of attraction. There's nothing unhealthy about that. What we're looking at and what concerns us is where that is an insatiable drive to be at the center of attention, to be adored, to be admired, to have power over other people. And there's a crossing point from healthy to unhealthy. And it's been defined for probably 3 decades now. It's narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), which is a pathological need to be in charge, to be right, to control, and it's hallmarked by manipulation, by lies, and pretty much by anything you could think of. Mostly, it's about manipulating people, getting what they want from them and then throwing them away. JULIE ROYS: And I understand there's 2 classifications of narcissists. There's overt and covert.  DARRELL PULS: That's correct.  JULIE ROYS: So, explain the difference between those two. DARRELL PULS: Well the “overts” are fairly easy to spot. They're in your face. They're the extraverts. They're the ones who tend to be up front. They're the center of attention in a room. They want to be the center of attention. And they're actually often described as being charismatic. They can be incredibly charming when they want to be. Those are the extraverted ones. They tend to be pretty much in your face. And when you cross them, you're likely to experience what's called narcissistic rage, which is something you really do not want to experience. It is amazing in its destructiveness, because they have picked out every weakness that you have, and they use them against you. The “coverts” are their twins, but opposites. They are shy. They are introverted. Their motivation is they know that they want to be recognized, they have this grandiosity, but they're ashamed of it. And so they try to hide it. They're every bit as good at manipulating people. But the way they approach it is they don't expect direct praise. They expect indirect praise, such as in a conversation they will put themselves down, for example, one says, “Well, you know, I have dyslexia but I still manage to read 40 books every year.” And you're expected response is, “Wow, that's great!” But either way, they have to be in full and complete control, and if they decide you're an enemy, they are going to get rid of you one way or another. JULIE ROYS: So, this is something that you've very passionate about, about weeding out these narcissist pastors. What fuels that passion for you? DARRELL PULS: (laughter) That's a good question. I was an associate pastor under one for 3 years. It was good for 2 years and then he turned against me. I made the mistake of saying he was actually going to have to retire someday. And it turns out he had no intentions of it. But the next thing that I knew, all of my enjoyable duties were gone. And I was pretty much shunned by everybody. Then he came into my office and spent half an hour tearing me to pieces. And then finally stood up and said, “you know, I love you, this is all for your benefit,” and wanted a hug. It was one of the most devastating experiences of my life. And coming out of corporate conflict management, I have a pretty thick skin. So, he really knew what he was doing. And he did it well.  JULIE ROYS: And I'm imagining, and I've investigated a church recently where that happened, where there was someone, and I don't know if he had NPD, whether that would be clinical—there certainly are a lot of hallmarks that you're describing right now that I heard.  A lot of people that I interviewed described incidences where that sort of happened to them. But I'm guessing, you're in a church, you're expecting your pastor, I mean, in fact, you do kind of, I mean, you shouldn't put them up on too high of a pedestal. But you look up to them. They're spiritual leaders. They're someone who supposedly knows God. And they can speak this incredible strong talk, you know, right? But they're not necessarily walking it. How does this impact the person who's in the pews, or the person who's on staff?  I mean, how disorienting is this? What's the process, the person who's in the presence of this narcissist can have? DARRELL PULS: Well, you're right. We have expectations of our pastors. And we automatically give them a bye on many things. And often times we'll say, “Well, it's just an eccentricity of the way they're acting.” But over time, this builds up. And if you become one of their, they identify as useless or an enemy, their attacks create incredible what's called ‘cognitive dissonance,” which is the difference between what you believe to be true and what is flowing in that totally contradicts it. I've gotten 100's of emails since publication of the book from all over the world from people who have been attacked by their pastors. And every one of them describes this feeling of total isolation, total confusion, of, “What did I do to deserve this?” And the first thing I tell them is, “you did nothing to deserve this. Nobody deserves this.” But it's one of those things where, when they turn on you, it's definitely life changing, and not necessarily for the better. JULIE ROYS: And it can be so brutal and so wounding. And I know there's people listening right now, because I know they were, even in social media, they were saying they were going to tune in. But they've experienced this. They're reeling this morning. DARRELL PULS: Yeah. JULIE ROYS:  You're feeling, like right now . . . DARRELL PULS: Absolutely. JULIE ROYS: I know, you're sitting there saying, “Man, that's me. I've experienced that. And even right now, I'm still hurting. I'm not healed from this.” DARRELL PULS: Right. JULIE ROYS: Friends, I want you to stay on the line. Also, I'd love to have you call in. The number 312-660-2594. That's 312-660-2594.  Again, I'm Julie Roys. You're listening to The Roys Report. Joining me today Darrell Puls author of Let Us Prey. We'll be right back after a short break. Segment 2 JULIE ROYS: Well have wolves in shepherd's clothing infiltrated the North American church? Welcome back to The Roys Report. I'm Julie Roys. And today we're talking about these wolves parading as shepherds. They're supposed to protect the sheep, but instead, they're preying on them. How do we spot these destructive pastors? And how do we deal with them once we do? Love to hear from you today. The number to call is 312-660-2594. That's 312-660-2594. Also, I want to let you know that I'm giving away five copies of a book by my guest today, Darrel Puls, it's called, Let Us Prey: The Plague of Narcissist Pastors. And if you'd like to enter to win that giveaway, just go to JulieRoys.com/giveaway. Also if you'd like to join the live conversation on Facebook, just go to Facebook.com/ReachJulieRoys. The same on twitter. My handle is @ReachJulieRoys. Again, joining me today is author and founder of Peacebridge Ministries, Darrell Puls. So, Darrell, in your book, I want to go to the study that Glenn Ball, who's you co-author, did with you. And you make a claim because of the study, that the prevalence of pastors with this extreme, very destructive form of narcissism called Narcissistic Personality Disorder or NPD, you're saying that 30% of pastors in North America have this. At the same time, I know there's been some issues with [this] study—some criticism that's been sparked about this study—even this week. We've had some discussion about that. And I've had some discussion with some listeners as well. As I understand it, the major issue deals with the questionnaire that you used when you polled all of these pastors. It was developed by a very well respected, world class researcher Hessel Zondag. But there is an issue. So, can you describe what that issue is? DARRELL PULS: Well, when we first decided to use what's called the Netherlands Narcissism Scale (NNS), it was because it offers a greater sense of nuance within the entire pattern of narcissism. And so, Glenn contacted professor Zondag and asked for permission to use it. Zondag sent us a copy and asked us specifically to use what he had sent us. On that copy, and I think you've seen it Julie, . . . JULIE ROYS: Yes, I have. DARRELL PULS:  . . . is a very clear notation for diagnosing Narcissistic Personality Disorder in both its overt and covert forms. We followed that to the letter. And once we had everything put together, we had a statistician go through all of everything to make sure that our numbers were correct. Very recently, I was made aware though an email from another researcher who suggested that the NNS was not designed to identify clinical narcissism, which essentially is a personality disorder. So I went through and found the original validation documentation that Zondag and his partner Hans Ettema, in the Netherlands, had done. And sure enough, it says that it identifies narcissism, and it uses a 100% of the entire group as part of this. But it says it does not identify clinical narcissism. So now I'm confused. Very confused. And I'm literally sick to the stomach . . .  JULIE ROYS: I'm sure. DARRELL PULS:  . . . because I'm thinking, “Am I watching 3 years of work go down the drain? This is not good.” JULIE ROYS: Yeah. DARRELL PULS: I finally managed to contact professor Zondag, who is retired in the Netherlands, and asked him specifically, “If it's not designed for this, why was this on this document that you personally sent us?” He did not answer. He simply said, “It's not designed for that.”  And so, I am still confused as to why he sent us that document, and so on. However, in going back through our numbers, in going back through our data in panic mode, as you can imagine, we started looking at the numbers, and we started looking at it. And we started correlating it to what the NNS does test for. And quite frankly, we do have to make some changes in the book. We are going to make those changes. I notified the publisher. But they're not severe. We still have identified a group of about 30% of the pastors who have extreme narcissism. Of that group, 5.2% were in the covert, the under-the-radar type. And the rest, 26%, were in the overt. And they don't fit into what Zondag identifies as healthy narcissism, which in our study was 57% of the pastors. They had narcissism. They're narcissistic, let's put it that way. But it's healthy. It's what helps them do what they do. It helps them stand up in front of people. And they channel it in very positive ways. But what we are still looking at is that smaller group that is channeling it into ways that aggrandize them but tend to destroy the church. JULIE ROYS: OK. So let me just summarize what I think you're saying is with this study, you recognize, and honestly Darrell, I just really-really appreciate that you're just owning there's a mistake here. DARRELL PULS: Yeah. JULIE ROYS:  And owning what the problem is and being up front about it. I think that shows integrity. And I appreciate that. And we all make mistakes. And although this one, it kinda seems like somebody else made a mistake and you're saddled with it.  DARRELL PULS: That is true. JULIE ROYS: But that being said, what you're saying is, 30% of the pastors, whether you're saying it's narcissistic personality disorder, this NPD, it's clinical form, or, as you're saying, just an extreme narcissism that's not healthy, you're saying 30% of pastors fall into this range. And I want you to describe the difference between healthy and unhealthy in a second. But 30%. That seems like a pretty high number. How does that relate to, say, the general population? DARRELL PULS: General population, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual put out by the American Psychological Association, or Psychiatric Association, says that it has a range of between 2% and 6% of the general population will have narcissistic personality disorder. So, what we're looking at is up to 5 times higher in terms of that. JULIE ROYS: Although not completely apples and oranges necessarily, because you're saying . . . DARRELL PULS: No. JULIE ROYS: . . .  NPD in the general population. And this is just . . . DARRELL PULS: Correct. JULIE ROYS: . . . all we can say right now, you know, with more certainty is that this is extreme narcissism. DARRELL PULS: Right. JULIE ROYS: But still, what we're seeing is that these pastors, we're seeing a much higher prevalence than the general public, which seems to indicate that 1, the role itself seems to attract narcissists, but 2, as congregations, do we like narcissists to lead us?  DARRELL PULS: (laughter)  JULIE ROYS: Right? DARRELL PULS: That is a beautiful question, because the answer, I believe, is “yes.”  JULIE ROYS: Hmm. DARRELL PULS: I don't know of a single church that does not want to be more than they are. I don't know of a single church that does not want to grow, that does not want to impact the community in which it is, that does not want to be known for this, that or the other thing. And then during the selection process for a new pastor, they're looking for somebody that says, “I have a vision for how to grow this place. I have a vision of how great this place can be.” And that's what they're looking for. It confirms what it is that what they're looking for is legitimate. And they don't do the background checks. They don't do a deep background check. They do a cursory background check if they do any at all. And next thing they know, they're saddled with one of these people. One of the questions that I ask a church that's looking for a new pastor is, “Why are you looking for a pastor who is looking for a job? There's a reason this pastor does not have a job. You need to know what it is.” And you can't rely on what it is they tell you. In one church I know there were 400 applicants for the position. And about 12 of them claimed, “I have been, I know that I have been anointed by God to be your next pastor.” JULIE ROYS: Oh boy.  You know what? Anytime anyone says it, ‘cause I've been in ministry, and I remember our pastor used to instruct us, “If somebody tells you, comes to you and says, ‘God told me this,' automatically a red flag should go up.” Because how do you respond to that?  “No, God didn't tell you?” I mean it's one of those very, I find, manipulative ways that people get their way in the church. And so, yeah, you know what, we've got about 30 seconds before we have to go to break. So, I'm going to have to put a pause on this. But I want to continue this discussion. Why is it that we end up with these narcissist pastors in the pulpit?  Again, joining me Darrell Puls, author of Let Us Prey and the number to call, (312) 660-2594. I'll be right back after a short break. Segment 3: JULIE ROYS: Welcome back to The Roys Report, brought to you in part by Judson University. I am Julie Roys. And today, we're discussing an issue that's devastating some churches. In fact, according to my guest this morning, at any given time, approximately 20% of churches in the United States are experiencing active internal conflict. And sometimes, this conflict is due to power struggles, like who controls the money, the people, or the belief. But increasingly, he said he's seen that the cause of these conflicts can be far more stealth and far more sinister. The cause in some of these conflicts is the pastor himself—someone we expect to be protecting the sheep, right? Not preying on them. That's because in these cases, the pastor is a narcissist. He has this twisted form of self-love and self-hatred that dominates all relationships. Instead of following Christ's command to love others as we love ourselves, narcissists care about themselves—and only about themselves. If you have a question or a comment, the studio lines are open. And the number to call is 312-660-2594.  Also, today I'm giving away three copies of Darrell Puls' book on narcissist pastors called, Let Us Prey. If you'd like to enter to win that book, just go to JulieRoys.com/giveaway.  Darrell, we have someone on the line. I think this is someone who's become a friend of mine through . . . DARRELL PULS: OK. JULIE ROYS: . . . reporting on Harvest Bible Chapel, Dan George, right? Dan, are you on there? DAN GEORGE: Yeah, I'm here Julie. JULIE ROYS: Hey, good to have you on the show. Thanks for calling in. And you have a question I think a lot of people are asking in the aftermath of these scandals, or of being a part of a church where there's been a narcissist pastor. So, yeah, Dan, what are you wondering about? DAN GEORGE: Yeah, Darrell, thanks. So, as Julie says, my wife and I were part of a church where this for sure this was going on. We're out of Harvest Bible Chapel. And we're looking for a new home church. How would you tell someone to both respect the senior pastor office and, I don't know what else to say, but to vet a new church to be on the lookout for this before we walk in the door, or before we make it our home? JULIE ROYS: Good question. DARRELL PULS: Well we recently went through that. We'd left the church where we had been. And we found that we kept coming back to this one church. And what you need to listen for is, particularly in the sermons, how does the pastor interject himself or herself into that sermon? Is it ultimately about the pastor or about scripture? Is the pastor using scripture as a weapon to control people by warning them that this is what they have to do? Or is the pastor full of himself?  Here's an interesting one. Their sense of humor tends to be really off center. And so, the pastor is telling a joke in the middle of the sermon and it falls flat. That's actually a red flag. Because they don't understand normal humor. But over time, there are, you can pick up on verbal giveaways, the verbal flags that they give up, because they can't help but put themselves into their sermons. JULIE ROYS: That's interesting. So, I guess they can't understand normal humor. I'm guessing maybe that's because there's not an ability to empathize with how people would feel? DARRELL PULS: Absolutely. They can't empathize. The only time they will laugh, you will a belly laugh, is if they're laughing at what has just happened to someone else. And you had better not ever laugh at them. You will pay a price. JULIE ROYS: Oh boy. Dan, do you have any follow-up to that? Or did that pretty much answer your question? DAN GEORGE: It does answer the question. But it makes me think of our experience where the pastor was, often used himself in the sermon, but made a point of talking about how he was never the good guy. Do you see that in these pastors that have the narcissistic, whether it's NPD or . . . ? DARRELL PULS: Generally . . . JULIE ROYS: So pretty much self-deprecating. Is that what you're saying? DAN GEORGE: Yes, yeah. DARRELL PULS: That's primarily a sign of a covert narcissist. They tend to be self-deprecating, put themselves down. And what they're expecting from you then is to contradict them, whether it's in the receiving line after church, or it's somewhere else, you know, they say, “I'm just not very good at this.” They know that several people are going to come up to them and say, “Oh pastor, you are so good at this. I don't understand how you can say such things.” It's just another way of gaining the spotlight. JULIE ROYS: Well Dan, thank you. I appreciate that question. You know, one thing I want to get to is how these narcissists are formed. Is there some sort of pathology in the home? Is it, you know, or is it something that we even know? DARRELL PULS: The primary theory is that sometime in childhood or early adolescence, the child desperately needs unconditional love from the parents. And it is denied. And it is not only denied, it is viciously denied. And if this happens a few times, it tends to crush the soul. It makes the child feel that they are totally worthless. And once that happens, there is an internal mechanism that causes them to say, “I'm not going to feel anymore. If love is this painful, I'm not going to feel love. I'm not going to empathize with anybody. I'm just going to shut it all down.” So what they have is self-hatred. But they have to project this image, and it is a projected image, of success, of intelligence, of charm, or whatever. And they're incredible actors, by the way. They can be amazingly charming. And so what you see is a projected image. It is a mask. And it's not who they are or what they are. And deep down inside they are absolutely terrified of not being in control, and of being found out as being a fake. JULIE ROYS: And I guess the million-dollar question is then, and as Christians, I mean, Christians are compassionate people, I think that's why we're so . . . DARRELL PULS: Yes. JULIE ROYS:  . . . that's why we're so easily played by these people because, I mean, even as you say that, I feel sorry for the little kid. I'm thinking, “Oh my goodness. How awful.”  You know, the kid was crushed. I feel bad. And so there's a part of me that says, well let's help the narcissist, you know, let's do something to help him. And often churches, it seems like, they marshal, and you know, this is the situation I'm most familiar with because I've just finished reporting on it, is at Harvest Bible Chapel where there were multiple attempts to get help, to get counseling, to do all these things, and marshaling all these efforts to try and control this condition and what we see as a problem in the pastor. I'm hearing from an awful lot of people this can't be cured. How do you feel about that, Darrell?  And we only have just about like a minute. DARRELL PULS: OK. The NPD, extreme narcissism has one of the lowest recovery rates of any mental disorder. I think it's only beaten out by sociopath. And it's because they cannot conceive that there is anything wrong with them. They just cannot entertain that thought. And so they project that “everybody else has something wrong with them. I'm smarter than they are.” Again, it's a defense mechanism. But if you can't admit there's a problem, you cannot . . . JULIE ROYS: Well, and how can you be right before God because you can never repent of it? I mean, you know, that's the condition of their souls. I worry for these pastors where this has happened. We need to go to break. But when we come back, we'll continue our discussion about narcissistic pastors. Again, Darrell Puls, author of Let Us Prey. We'll be right back. 4th Segment:  JULIE ROYS: What do you do when a pastor is preying on the sheep, instead of protecting them? Welcome back to The Roys Report. I'm Julie Roys. And today, we're tackling a difficult subject—the subject of narcissist pastors. These are pastors with a twisted form of self-love and self-hatred that destroys relationships—and can destroy entire churches. And that's a big part of why we're doing this show. We want to equip both laypeople and church leaders to spot these wolves in sheep's clothing and get them out of the sheep pen.  Towards that end, we're giving away copies of a book by Darrell Puls and Glenn Ball today called, Let Us Prey. The book is about narcissist pastors—how to spot them and how to survive them. So if you'd like to enter to win a copy of that book, just go to my website—JulieRoys.com/giveaway.  Also, I want to let you know that if you missed any part of today's broadcast, or you just want to listen again or share it with friends, audio of that will be available at my website today by 1 o'clock today. You just go to the podcast button, and you'll see it. Also, I want to let you know that next week, we're going to be sort of continuing along these same lines. We're going to be talking about living in the aftermath of church scandals. After two megachurches have been rocked by scandal like has happened here in Chicago, how does the Christian community, how do we move forward in this? How do so-called wounded and hurt church refugees find healing and refuge? And how do pastors help these refugees when now, both pastors and churches are viewed with suspicion by so many of the people in the congregation? Joining me will be two area pastors and three so-called church refugees. It's going to be a great show, so I hope you can make it a point to join us next week here on The Roys Report.  Well, returning to our subject of narcissist pastors, again joining me is author and founder of Peacebridge Ministries, Darrell Puls and Darrell someone asked on Twitter, she said, Anne Lewis, about that 30% number that you had. How do you come up, what's the criteria that you use, what were the questions for finding these narcissist pastors? Again, these are ones that have the unhealthy form of narcissism; what are the questions that you used to determine that? DARRELL PULS: Well, like I said it was part of the Netherlands Narcissism Scale developed by Hessel Zondag. And he developed that off of what is called the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, which is a very popular inventory, then validated many times and is used a lot here in the United States. And it asked questions such as, it has statements that you either agree with or disagree with on a scale of 1 -7: “People admire my talents and abilities. I am a natural born leader and people follow me.” When you start getting out to the extreme end there, is where you start running into the problems. And generally, scores of 5 or higher, on a series of the questions, indicates very high levels of unhealthy narcissism. JULIE ROYS: And it seems to me like we kind-of foster that because, I mean I've heard like this whole, you know, that the pastor, the senior pastor especially at some of these mega churches they talk about being a point person and you need to have these qualities and the senior pastor needs to be in charge. So it seems that natural born leader, that almost seems like something we'd have on some sort of gift survey. And we kind or glory in this, right? DARRELL PULS: Yes, yes we do. We enable it. And do a very good job of it. JULIE ROYS: Yeah, we do. Well I think we need to rethink church a little bit in North America. And I should mention that the study that you did was actually with Canadian pastors, correct? DARRELL PULS: Yes, we studied an entire denomination from British Columbia to Nova Scotia.  JULIE ROYS: OK. No study yet on U.S. pastors in particular? DARRELL PULS: No. I was contacted by some universities, when I spoke at the American Association of Christian World Counselors conference about doing some follow up studies. But to my knowledge, nothing yet is underway.  JULIE ROYS: I think that needs to be done, just my two cents on that. DARRELL PULS: I agree. Ours is the only study out there. So it is preliminary.  JULIE ROYS: Well I think we need more study on this, I definitely do. I want to go to our phone lines. I have Brandon on the line. Brandon from what I understand, you've had an experience with a narcissistic pastor, is that correct? BRANDON:  Yeah, I have. It was about a year ago, finally, I actually was released from my job. And I found, I was just kind of in a state of bewilderment. Not sure, what I am going to do at this point? Do I want to continue with ministry? I was a worship leader on staff there. I happen to be on a job interview at one point and I was kind of in this state like depression almost saying, “is this going to be something I have to face no matter where I go?” And I just happened to look up on, I think I Googled something about, “is narcissism just so common in pastors?” Something like that. And it came up with this little article from the book, from Darrell's book, and I was blown away at how almost identical that story was to mine. Even down to the point of sitting down in an office meeting and getting berated for like 20 minutes, unsure how to even respond to anything. And then the meeting's done, he gets up and says,  “I love you” and wants a hug.  JULIE ROYS: (laughter) BRANDON: And I was like, “oh my gosh!”  And that happened to me like 3 or 4 times.  JULIE ROYS: Oh my goodness! And I want to ask this, because Brandon what you say, I mean, the way I read scripture any pastor that gets up, I don't care whether you have NPD or whatever you say you have or don't have, you don't berate people. And actually I remember listening to a certain pastor and I never liked him on the radio because he would belittle people. He would mock people. And I remember thinking that is not how you treat human beings, that's not what Christians do. And yet they get away with it in these churches. And that's where I want to turn it just a little bit. Because you talk about the narcissistic church that's often headed by this narcissistic pastor. You say the healthy leaders, like, you know, I'm assuming, hopefully Brandon, you know get chewed up and spit out. Or, they leave because they recognize that this is toxic. And so what you end up with are leaders that have narcissistic tendencies themselves because they want to bask in the glory of this narcissistic pastor who may be a celebrity or may be on radio or may, you know, write books. And so, you remove that pastor, what do you have left?  DARRELL PULS: It all falls apart. BRANDON: You have a bunch of empty sycophants who are just used to kinda riding on the coattails of somebody else, and enabling. Well they don't know what to do anymore. They just fall back into the same pattern. (Inaudible) So what I've discovered since leaving is that's kind of been the pattern at this church. They have people who, they've gone through senior pastors who have basically been antisocial to extremely social but no depth.  And the leadership has been lacking without it. It's been a frustrating thing. JULIE ROYS: So Darrell, you work with these churches in the aftermath. What do you do when you got one narcissist gone but you have some narcissists left? DARRELL PULS: Well, what I do is go in and analyze the damage that's been done. Not so much financial because that's pretty obvious. But I look for the psychological, spiritual, and emotional damage done to the people who are still there. And then what I try to help them through is a process that they adopt to make sure they don't hire another one. But the only actual healing is to learn to forgive and to let all of it go and to allow God's love to flow through you. And you come to a point where you no longer hate them, you no longer fear them. You do pity them. Because they can't help what they do. JULIE ROYS: Are you saying they're not responsible? Because aren't all of us culpable for our sin? DARRELL PULS: Yes, we are ultimately. But this is a condition where they are driven and obsessed to behave in the ways that they do. And efforts to change them just don't work. How that plays out in God's scheme, I am not qualified to say. I don't know.  JULIE ROYS: There is a book out there, I read just the first couple of chapters called The Pandora Problem.  DARRELL PULS: Oh yeah. JULIE ROYS: And this author is saying that actually he's had some success working with narcissists. But it seems like not in the traditional counseling model where you have someone isolated, one-on-one with a counselor. He's saying these people need to be in community. And the community needs to be part of the healing. Maybe our counseling methods aren't able to deal with this.  DARRELL PULS: They need to be held accountable and that's what they fight against all the time. They don't want to be held accountable. And I think a community approach that is based on love but also very strict accountability might have a chance of success. Steve Sandage, who wrote the forward to the book, is a therapist at Boston University, he says he has had some success.  But it takes a very, very long time to establish trust because they don't trust anybody.  JULIE ROYS: That's sad. DARRELL PULS: It's just part of their nature, part of their paranoia, that everybody is out to get them. It is possible but it is not something that is common.  JULIE ROYS: Yeah, you know somebody just texted me, R.T. Maldaner. He's a pastor in the area. And I know he was at Harvest for a time. But he texted me a question. He said, “what role does spiritual warfare play in this?”  DARRELL PULS: (laughter) JULIE ROYS: We don't have a lot of time. We have about . . . DARRELL PULS: I get it, I am going to give a very concise answer. My belief is that this is Satanic. Period. I have come to the belief that Jesus warned us we would wolves coming into the congregation to kill and destroy. And this is them.  JULIE ROYS: So, do we then need to add a component of spiritual warfare, praying and attacking Satan when it comes to these narcissists? DARRELL PULS: I think so. Prayer was the only thing that saved me. It literally was. It's the only time that I heard God speak and it was only two words. He said, “Trust me.” And quite frankly I had to shut up and say, “Okay. You got a deal.”  JULIE ROYS: And that's on the healing process. DARRELL PULS: This is the result. That's on the healing side. And this is the result of it.  JULIE ROYS: Boy what a great, great topic today. Darrell I have so appreciated this discussion and I know we have really just scratched the surface, right? There is so much more that we could talk about. You reference Matthew 7:15 says, Beware of false prophets that come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. And friends that's what we are experiencing with these narcissistic pastors, But it's nothing new. I take some comfort in that. There have always been wolves among the sheep, right? And Jesus warned us to avoid them. My hope is and Darrell I am guessing your hope too, that this isn't going to devastate people's faith because they've had a bad pastor, right?  DARRELL PULS: It happens but I wish it wouldn't because it has nothing to do with faith.  JULIE ROYS: Well again, if you missed any part of this program, just go to JulieRoys.com to hear the podcast. Thanks so much for joining me. I hope you have a great weekend and God Bless. Read more

After this show was broadcast, Julie posted a blog that addresses very serious issues about the study in Let Us Prey and its authors. Read Post Guest Bios Show Transcript Have wolves in Shepherd’s clothing infiltrated the North American Church? And are sheep being systematically devoured as a result? Joining me this week on The Roys Report is Darrell Puls.

Special guests Duncan & Kate Smith from Catch the Fire World in Raleigh, NC join Max in studio this week. Duncan and Kate Smith are revivalists who carry the fire of God's love and power all over the world. Originally from the UK, they are also Presidents of Catch The Fire World, a global network of revival churches, missions and ministries, birthed out of the Toronto Revival. They planted CTF Raleigh with their three beautiful daughters. The Smiths share about their faith journey from the UK to Canada and eventually to North Carolina in the USA. As worldwide church leaders, they also share some perspective on the status of the Church as a whole: specifically what the North American Church can learn from believers in the rest of the world.  Finally, Duncan and Kate reflect on their visit to The Father's House Church in Oroville and offer their impressions.   To connect with Catch the Fire in Raleigh: ctfraleigh.com - Facebook - @catchthefireraleigh on Instagram - Twitter @ctfraleigh CTF School of Revival: schoolofrevival.us - Facebook - @schoolofrevival on Instagram - Twitter @SoRevival CTF Music's New Album Presence out now: catchthefiremusic.com - Facebook - YouTube - @catchthefiremusic on Instagram Stay tuned to CTFRaleigh.com for more info on the Encounter Conference, Nov 7-9, 2019 - For more about The Father's House: www.changeoroville.org - www.facebook.com/fathers.house.oroville - TFHC Media on YouTube - www.instagram.com/the.fathers.house.oroville  Steve Orsillo's books are available on Amazon! For the School of Transformation: www.transformationschool.org - www.instagram.com/sotoroville For Project 61 short term missions: www.project61.org - www.instagram.com/tfhcproject61 For Life Recovery Ministries: www.liferecoveryministry.com - www.instagram.com/lrmdiscipleship

Pastor Robby Gallaty is the Lead Pastor of Long Hollow Baptist Church. God radically saved him from drug addiction and used Dr. David Platt to disciple Pastor Robby for two years thereafter. This began a lifelong passion for discipleship. Pastor Robby is the President of Replicate Ministries a discipleship oriented ministry. Pastor Robby is a champion of helping Christians and local churches pursue discipleship. In today's episode we discuss the relationship between preaching and disciple making. We discuss how the Pastor can leverage the pulpit to help his people make disciples. I find that in today's world it's far easier and sexier to grow churches in numerical attendance than to actually create processes for disciple making. I believe this is the greatest challenge in the North American Church in light of the consumeristic cultures that Pastors and church attenders participate in and contribute to. This is certainly a challenging episode but you won't be disappointed!

Jer is a modern-day peacemaker, a church planter, a community organizer, a professor, and the co-founder of the peacemaking training organization called The Global Immersion Project. His engagement within national and international conflicts has equipped Jer to be a trainer and guide for the North American Church as he seeks to become an instrument of peace in our world.

Missional Monday  "Why the North American Church Is Unlikely to Experience Revival" Join us Monday, December 17th for a great conversation on what's happening in the world of Christianity and the local church as we discuss this great article.  "6 Main Traits of Preacher Eater Churches" https://churchleaders.com/outreach-missions/outreach-missions-articles/339380-why-the-north-american-church-is-unlikely-to-experience-revival.html The link for today's show is http://tobtr.com/11118663 The conversation starts at 7PM, don't miss it. Taking The Limits Off Radio", A non-traditional radio show with a vision to spread the Truth of God's Word; that inspires and encourages you to have a meaningful relationship with Christ, through biblical teaching and relevant information. A talk show that "breaks the chains off the norm" to promote a realistic conversation with God and his people. You can also watch the simulcast on Facebook Live on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TTLORADIO/ Twitter @TTLORadio INSTAGRAM, follow us TTLORadio  WE DO NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO MUSIC PLAYED ON OUR SHOW

In this episode Bob talks about the Gospel, what it is and what it is worth. He also looks at Matthew 13.44-46, the treasure in a field and the pearl of great value. He reflects on what he has seen around the globe and how the North American Church gets it wrong. Thanks for listening! ###PLEASE SUBSCRIBE & RATE THIS EPISODE! ###Social Media: Instagram - @bfabey Facebook - @bobfabey.page Twitter - @bob_Fabey ###Interested in buying NOTMYJESUS - CLICK HERE! ###New Here? Bob Fabey is an Anglican priest with over 20 years of ministry experience with a variety of organizations. He holds a Master’s Degree in Divinity and a B.A. in History from the University of Montana. You can find him speaking at retreats, conferences or in churches. He does workshops and keynotes. He has traveled extensively including Africa, Russia, and Central Asia. Bob has a deep passion to see Christians live according to their faith and speaks, mentors and writes to that end. He resides in the greater Phoenix area. He loves to travel and hang out with his wife and kids, practice Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and drink coffee. 3rd Space Podcast is an outreach of Music Serving the Word Ministries, a 501(c)(3) organization. http://musicservingtheword.org

A lot goes into naming a church, but what specifically should we be thinking through when it comes to church names? In this episode, we share some very important, but commonly overlooked, aspects that should influence your decision. When it comes to naming our churches, we need to be discoverable by people online. No one goes anywhere new these days without checking it out online first. This is especially true for a first-time guest visiting your church. Because of that, here are some questions to think through to make it as easier as possible for people to be able to find you online: Does a widely known North American Church have this name? Does a well-known church in your state have this name? Can you find social media handles and a website URL that all match? Is your church name in English (if you are an English speaking church)? Greek and Hebrew are great, but it is much harder to spell correctly and remember.

Pastor Darren challenges the notion that being alive spiritually translates into continuous joyful praise and thanksgiving.  Does our North American Church culture still allow for ‘Lamenting’ as a valid form of worship? Is there room in our Christian culture and in the church, for someone who is at a place where right now, they simply [...]

Sermon by Pastor Corky Calhoun We live in a world where the word "submission" has become a posture to be avoided at all costs. It's seen more as Mission Impossible. The truth is we all submit to things everyday despite our abhorrence of being considered submissive to anything. But the journey of a discipleship begins with the 2 words...follow me. Jesus said them, and because these 12 followed faithfully, well its allowed us to sit in our church each Sunday a living testimony of the legacy of submission. I think Christians who struggle with submitting to Christ reflect the fact that at least in the North American Church we are looking for a Savior and not so much a Lord. I don't meet anyone who doesn't want to be rescued from something, their sin, the consequences of bad choices, the overflow of brokenness in our world, but so few want to submit their lives permanently to the rescuer. They just want to be rescued and released. Some people treat their spiritual lives like buying Holy Life Insurance, the problem is that you never end up making an Impact on your way to heaven. There is nothing Biblical about this approach. The fact is one can not exist without the other, I'm not sure Jesus can be your savior, if Jesus is not also your Lord. Join us Sunday as we close out our "Impact" series

Episode 19 is Here! Four pastors discussing and debating faith, relationships, pop culture, politics, ministry, food, entertainment, theology and much more! Welcome to Post Christian Pastors! This episode was recorded just a day after the tragic shooting in Las Vegas that left 58 people dead and over 500 people injured, some of those barely clinging to life. The guys spend the first part of the podcast talking about the shooting and looking for answers to the senseless violence in Vegas. They then turn their attention to our divided culture which is filled with OUTRAGE and DIVISION. From political divisions, racial divisions, to battles over players kneeling during the national anthem and more, all mixed together has left many feeling hopeless about our future as a people. Unity and dialogue in our differences seems impossible. How can we build bridges to each other and hear each other? Those are just some of the questions pursued during our discussion. It is an impactful discussion and will be useful to you as you pursue PEACE in your context. Joining the guys for the discussion is guest Jon Huckins Jon is a pastor, author, and leadership coach. He is the Co-Founding Director of The Global Immersion Project, a peacemaking training organization that is activating the North American Church as an instrument of peace. He is also on staff with Thresholds as a missional church leadership coach and co-leads a neighborhood faith community. Jon spends his life coaching organizations and people on how to be peace makers here at home and internationally. Our focus with Jon is unpacking his latest book Mending The Divides: Creative Love in a Conflicted World with Jer Swigart. It is a great read which we highly recommend during these divisive days. He has a Master’s degree from Fuller Theological Seminary and writes for numerous publications including, TheOOZE, Red Letter Christians, Sojourners, RELEVANT and Burnside Writer’s Collective. He has written a few books Teaching Through the Art of Storytelling, Thin Places: Six Postures for Creating and Practicing Missional Community. He lives in San Diego with his wife Jan and four kids.  

Paul Borthwick helps us understand how the world is changing, and outlines some principles for how the North American church can partner with the Majority World church and continue to effectively participate in global mission. [et_social_share]

Sermon by Pastor Corky Have you ever had a time when you felt so overwhelmed you didn't know where to turn? Maybe these days the better question is have you ever had a time when you weren't feeling overwhelmed? I think one of the great joys of being in ministry or being in a church is that there is always the possibility of mutual support...no one ever has to go it alone, unless they choose to. This is the reason Jesus left us the Holy Spirit (our advocate) so that we would never be alone. So how are we at "Bearing" one another's burdens. I think we are good at "Hearing" one another's burdens, but maybe not so good at "bearing" them. Its amazing the difference one letter makes. I have taught for years that the North American Church is great at "Sympathy" but not so good with "Empathy". In other words the church can be good at feeling sorry for people, willing to pray for people, but not actually helping people. This is not the case here at Georgianna, but I think we have to be on guard against empathy apathy. Now clearly there needs to be some boundaries so that we don't create a co-dependency or fall in the trap of entitlement and for sure we should be healthy spiritually before we jump in to help. But the key is to not assume its always some one else's burden to be carried alone. Join us Sunday as we continue to challenge ourselves to maintain this beautiful Uncommon Fellowship.

Peter Shaukat gives us practical ideas and steps for how business people and churches in North America can engage in business-as-mission, through going, through short term trips and through coaching and encouraging. Listen to learn how you might mobilize the business owners in your church to further BAM initiatives around the world. [et_social_share]

Weekly sermons and study guides.

Weekly sermons and study guides.

Weekly sermons and study guides.

The North American Church is dying and dwindling. We are inclined toward comfort, ease, and self-satisfaction. We presume that someone else is accomplishing the very thing we are called to do—speaking truth and proclaiming the Gospel to the lost. In short we are passive; which is the exact opposite of what the early church was. In this powerful, hold-nothing-back sermon by Eric Ludy, you will hear the battle cry for the Church to return to relentless Christianity. A Christianity where Christians are in fact…Christians. Our mission is relentless love. Are you willing to say yes to the Great Commission and boldly go into all the world in pursuit of lost souls?

The North American Church is dying and dwindling. We are inclined toward comfort, ease, and self-satisfaction. We presume that someone else is accomplishing the very thing we are called to do—speaking truth and proclaiming the Gospel to the lost. In short we are passive; which is the exact opposite of what the early church was. In this powerful, hold-nothing-back sermon by Eric Ludy, you will hear the battle cry for the Church to return to relentless Christianity. A Christianity where Christians are in fact…Christians. Our mission is relentless love. Are you willing to say yes to the Great Commission and boldly go into all the world in pursuit of lost souls?

The North American Church is dying and dwindling. We are inclined toward comfort, ease, and self-satisfaction. We presume that someone else is accomplishing the very thing we are called to do—speaking truth and proclaiming the Gospel to the lost. In short we are passive; which is the exact opposite of what the early church was. In this powerful, hold-nothing-back sermon by Eric Ludy, you will hear the battle cry for the Church to return to relentless Christianity. A Christianity where Christians are in fact…Christians. Our mission is relentless love. Are you willing to say yes to the Great Commission and boldly go into all the world in pursuit of lost souls?

All Saints of North America - Second Sunday after Pentecost

This week we're talking Rich Frazer, the president of Spiritual Overseers Service, International. Over the years, SOS International has provided training to thousands of leaders in 87 countries through more than 800 training assignments. Their specific ministry style is to serve organizations who ask them to come and provide specific training for church leaders. They search for and send the most qualified people they can find to invest deeply in the local church, wherever they go. And while they are there, they serve the vision and agenda of the organization that invited them. Rich has been providing this kind of training for indigenous leaders around the world for over 20 years and has seen the exponential value of investing in the global church in this way. I'd also like to give our mutual friend, Mike Priebe of MemoryPeel (http://memorypeel.com/) a hat tip for connecting us. Key Scriptures1 Timothy 2:3-5 Matthew 9:36-38 Ephesians 4:11-12 2 Timothy 2:2 [bctt tweet=“Why not teach a man to TEACH a man to fish?”] (http://engagingmissions.com/em010-serving-gods-leaders-around-world/why-not-teach-a-man-to/) ChallengeRich points out that more than 100,000 people receive Christ every day and that more than 2,000 churches are planted every week. However, 90% of the pastors, whether volunteer, full-time, or bivocational, have little to no training. The challenge SOS International has is getting to those leaders to help them know how to study Scripture, show them what Christian leadership is all about, and to invite them to adopt a Christ-like model. RevelationRich shares the surprising story of one of his early prayers about whether he should go into missions. [bctt tweet="Don't ask God if you should go. Ask God if you should stay." via="no"] Current MinistryRich shares a little about the people SOS International is sending out over the course of this year to invest in the global church. Level UpRich encourages us to consider our investments in missions based on the long-term impact of financial and prayerful impact. Speed RoundHindsight[bctt tweet="The greatest among us is a servant. Not a partner or a patronizing visionary leader. A servant." via="no"] Best AdviceBe flexible Support and EncouragementMany people encourage Rich Personal Success Habit[bctt tweet="Ask the question, 'What can I do for you?'" username="engagingmission"] Internet ResourceSOS International Website (http://sosinternational.us/) Book RecommendationWestern Christians in Global Mission: What's the Role of the North American Church? (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009QZ18JW/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B009QZ18JW&linkCode=as2&tag=emrs-20&linkId=KII3JKNYZ7U52JVM) We also discussed: When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EDY1YU4/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00EDY1YU4&linkCode=as2&tag=emrs-20&linkId=UD3TBKXJOYIOD3V5) New PlaceRich shares who he would go find and what he would offer them to support them. Parting Advice[bctt tweet="The fruit of a leader is not followers. It's another leader or an 'orchard' of leaders." username="engagingmission"] Contact InfoSOS International (http://sosinternational.us/)   VideoWhen we were discussing Rich's book recommendation, he also mentioned this video of Steve Saint ministering at a church. It's definitely worth 5 minutes to see this. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Oja-rnOlIM?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&autohide=2&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent] ResourcesBook: Western Christians in Global Mission: What's the Role of the North American Church?...

CRM president Sam Metcalf and Gary Mayes, director of CRM's ChurchNEXT group, discuss the state of the Christian movement in the West and the unique opportunity the Church has to re-engage a lost and broken world.

2012 - Fall

2012 - Fall

All Saints of North America - Second Sunday after Pentecost

A look at a few of the teachings of Jesus that rarely get mentioned in the modern North American Church.

A look at a few of the teachings of Jesus that rarely get mentioned in the modern North American Church.