An Astounding Problem
July 28, 2008
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Marin Institute reported “Alcohol problems cost California $38 billion a year in deaths, injury, health care expenditures, lost productivity in the workplace, crime, and pain and suffering.” That’s $38 billion with a B. In addition, the same report indicated 90% of alcohol-related crime costs come from violent crimes and 26% of all traffic collisions involved alcohol, resulting in 1,144 deaths.
It is astounding this billion dollar impact is not met with public outcry. Politicians and special interest groups rail against lesser problems with amazing intensity. For example, don’t leave your pet locked up in a hot car or you will be arrested in California. Don’t drive to the supermarket to buy a twelve-pack of beer with a child who is not in a proper car seat or you will be ticketed. Since July 1, don’t use your cell phone while driving (unless it is hands free) or you will also be ticketed. And, whatever you do, don’t drive an SUV. My son has a small one and recently got a “ticket” on his windshield from a local group that is protesting the environmental impact of such vehicles.
Where is the outcry about alcohol abuse in our culture? Drowned out by beer, wine, and liquor advertising that promotes the good life associated with having a cold one! Drowned out by cultural endorsement that includes alcohol in every definition of supposed sophistication! Northern California is wine country. The San Francisco Chronicle has a weekly special section entitled “Wine.” That’s right – an entire special section in the paper devoted to wine. Despite the destruction, there is no let up in sight of the promotion of alcohol as a requirement for a fulfilled life.
Those of us who choose not to drink any alcohol are pariahs – archaic, dinosaur-like, legalists who just don’t know how to have a good time centered on the consumption of “adult beverages.” The county where we live, Marin County, has the highest rate of teenage alcohol consumption in California and the highest teen suicide rate. City governments in our county have formed a coalition to enforce laws against adults providing alcohol to teenagers. Local surveys show the primary source for alcohol consumed by teenagers in our county is
their parents.
Even suggesting, however, the solution to this cultural catastrophe is to simply stop consuming alcohol is laughed at as ridiculous and naïve. Count me among the naïve, then, but also among those who simply won’t participate in perpetuating the most costly and damaging addiction in our culture.
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An IMB Fan
July 21, 2008
I am an unabashed supporter of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. I support their leadership, their strategies, their passion, and their personnel. I give through my church to the Cooperative Program and a special gift every Christmas to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. When asked, I go around the world to speak to missionaries to encourage them in their work. On our campuses, we host IMB personnel and send our graduates to work with them. I do all I can, and our seminary does what it can, to support the IMB.
The IMB has many shortcomings others like to point out. I see some of those problems, but I am still on their team. Why? Here are several reasons:
Their strategy is sound. They operate with a sound missiology and with a profound sense of global awareness. In short, they have learned many things over the years and simply know what they are doing. So many people with a passion for missions have no clue what it really takes to effectively work cross-culturally. The IMB has the expertise.
Their personnel are competent. They have high standards for appointment. Yes, a person can go to the mission field faster if they go independently. But can they stay as long? Will they be as effective? To whom will they be accountable? The IMB requires a thorough process before appointment. This insures a high quality missionary force more likely to make a long-term impact. And, they have a way to involve almost every Southern Baptist – from short-term volunteer church groups to full-time career appointed personnel.
Their personnel serve sacrificially. Missionaries work in challenging, even dangerous places, for meager compensation with limited resources. Some of the most heart-rending moments for me are visiting missionary families – a father, mother, and multiple children living overseas and serving together. If they are urban missionaries, they are cramped in a small apartment. If they are in remote areas, they may live in a modest home. Schooling is a major issue. Health care is another problem. Personal safety is a growing concern. Missionaries sacrifice to serve.
Their organization is comprehensive. Just one example is their commitment to Member Care. Each region of the world has a missionary couple who are assigned to serve the interpersonal and family needs of missionaries, confidentially without administrative intrusion. These include marital counseling, crises with children, medical issues, problems with extended family back home, and other challenges. This is a wise investment in keeping missionaries emotionally and spiritually healthy and able to serve. And yes, with more than 5,000 people serving, these kind of problems should be expected and addressed!
Their organization is accountable. The SBC elects trustees to manage each of its entities. The IMB has trustees work with the administrative team to insure a well-run organization. Sure, like every large, international conglomerate, the IMB has occasional lapses and problems with employees, procedures, and fiscal management. But, on the whole, it is a model of Christian fiscal responsibility.
These are a few of my reasons for supporting the IMB. No organization, certainly no Christian organization is perfect, but this one deserves our support as the largest mission sending agency in the world. Pray for them and join me in doing all you can to support their work!
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Troublesome Survey Results
July 14, 2008
While on our recent trip to Brazil, we learned a major problem with Christian evangelism in that country is syncretism. Syncretism is combining religious beliefs to create a new, personally sculpted understanding of God and the means of a relationship with him. Among Brazilians, when Jesus is presented as Savior and Lord, he is readily accepted…as long as he can be added to the collection of other gods and saints the person is already worshipping.
One missionary told me about the expansion of the gospel in his area. He starts his Bible study program with a consideration of creation and then moves to idol worship. He establishes a foundation about God’s requirement to worship him alone before he ever introduces the idea of Jesus. Then, when Jesus is presented, he can be presented as the only means of salvation, requiring true repentance and faith. Many of the converts in his ministry have dozens of figurines, statues, icons, and pictures of various saints, religious figures (like the pope), or other spiritual influences (like spiritism). As evidence of true conversion, this missionary does not consider a person a true convert until they have committed themselves to Jesus and also abandoned all idol worship.
Reading this, an American audience might think, “That’s just the way it is on the mission field.” But is it really just this way in international settings? Two weeks ago, a major research study of American religious practices revealed 57% of Evangelicals believe Jesus is one of many ways to salvation. In other words, American Evangelicals are very similar to syncretists around the world. They like Jesus. They are willing to add him to their lives, to adjust their belief system to assimilate him, but no longer believe he is the only, unique means for a relationship with God.
While we might quibble with some of the research methodology, and by doing so reduce this percentage, my experience confirms it would still be a high percentage. People today, including many people in Baptist churches, simply do not really believe Jesus is the only way of salvation. They affirm him as a way, as their way, and as a good way – but not THE way.
Perhaps this, more than any other factor, explains the declining conversion and baptism rates in the Southern Baptist Convention. A person’s actions reveal what he or she really believes, not what they claim to believe. Our collective efforts, or lack of them, reveal our true convictions. For this reason, it seems to me our failure in reaching people may be rooted in universalism. More than we realize or want to admit, Southern Baptists (like other Evangelicals) may have quietly experienced a seismic theological shift away from the exclusivity of Jesus as Savior and Lord.
May God help us, for if we have made this shift and can’t recover, our denomination will be gone within a generation.
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The Finest People
July 7, 2008
It was my privilege this summer (for the second time) to be the guest speaker at the annual general meeting for missionaries from the International Mission Board in South America. The meeting is a combination family reunion, training seminar, spiritual revival, and eating contest! These missionaries are prolific reproducers, so there are about as many children and teenagers as there are adults. At this particular meeting, a church in Florida sent a mission team to lead Vacation Bible School for children and a separate youth camp for teenagers, while the adults had separate sessions. All in all, the week was one of the highlights of my recent ministry.
Missionaries are some of the finest people to be met anywhere. They are passionate, selfless, committed, and sold out for getting the gospel to as many people as possible. They are not, however, perfect people. They need structure, training, spiritual motivation, and inspiration just like the rest of us. Thus, they need this meeting and it is a priority of the IMB.
One of the common problems of missionary life is loneliness. While more and more missionaries work in urban areas around millions of people, some still work in very remote places. Either way, loneliness can be more a state of mind than the result of the proximity of people. On my prior trip, my insensitivity on this issue was painful to confront and confess. After flying all night, we had to wait at the airport for missionaries to arrive on other planes before we could be bused together to the retreat hotel. Needless to say, after flying all night, waiting for a few hours, and then riding a bus for another hour – I was tired and cranky!
When we got on the bus, a woman missionary across the aisle turned around, kneeled in her seat, and started conversing with the missionary in the seat behind her (directly across the aisle from me). She talked non-stop for an hour! My patience was thin and more than once I thought, “Why doesn’t she just shut up for a while?”
The next night, over dinner, I learned about this missionary. She was serving with her husband and young children in a remote jungle location. Basically, to arrive at her village, a person would take a boat up the Amazon as far as possible and then hike into the jungle. The annual general meeting was her once-a-year opportunity to speak English and see other missionary women. When she arrived, she planned to spend every waking moment enjoying her friends and talking their ears off!
Hearing her story humbled and humiliated me. How soft my life is! As if her willingness to raise a family, to educate her children, and support her husband weren’t enough – she was also willing to do it alone in the Amazon jungle. My anger the previous day at being inconvenienced by her chatter revealed my arrogance and shallowness. Needless to say, confession and repentance were in order.
This incident reminded me how difficult life is for international missionaries and how much they deserve our support. So, pray and give to make it possible for them to have the resources (spiritual and financial) to do their work. Whatever you have done in the past, do more! A woman who will give her life for a jungle tribe to know Jesus deserves our best.
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