Today marks the beginning of National Collections Week for Operation Christmas Child (OCC)—the annual evangelistic project of Samaritan's Purse. Each year an estimated 75,000 churches participate in this program, which sends millions of shoeboxes worldwide to needy children in underdeveloped countries. Last year, more than 8 million children in more than 100 countries received a shoebox full of school supplies, toys, candy, and an evangelistic booklet, "The Greatest Gift of All."

If you are not familiar with OCC, here is how it works. Participants pack a shoebox full of goodies. Some families choose to include a photo and a short note. These shoeboxes are then shipped all over the world, where they are distributed at one of the 65,000 sites along with an hour-long gospel presentation. This massive undertaking involves an incredible amount of volunteers and coordination, making it perhaps one of the largest annual evangelistic efforts coming out of the developed world. About 5.5 million of the gifts come out of the United States, while 2.7 million gifts come from other sending countries, including Germany, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Since its beginning, OCC has stayed true to its mission: "To demonstrate God's love in a tangible way to needy children around the world, and together with the local church worldwide, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ."

Children in Veracruz, Mexico, learn about 'The Greatest Journey.'

I've always thought the shoebox thing was a great idea. My kids have a blast being a part of it, and I am blown away by how many people get involved each year. But I have always wondered just how effective it actually is as an evangelist tool. Does it really result in children understanding the gospel and becoming followers of Christ? Or is it more about Santa and getting a Christmas present? Before you call me a Scrooge, I realize this gift serves as an introduction to Christianity for most of the recipients, and you often need to plant a seed. But I have always hoped that more could be done. I was particularly encouraged today to learn that OCC is doing more. In addition to the shoeboxes, they now focus on continuing discipleship for these children through local churches. They have introduced The Greatest Journey as a teacher-led discipleship program aimed at helping kids better understand the gospel and mature into faithful followers of Christ. This is more than just a short pamphlet. It is includes a New Testament and a full-color, 12-lesson study guide (preview) focusing on who Jesus Christ is, what it means to follow him, and how the gospel changes a person's life. This material has already been printed in 28 languages, and right now more than 30,000 teachers in 50 countries are being trained to walk children through the program (gallery) as a part of their local church.

While the shoebox is a great introduction or touching point for many kids—even serving as a remarkable barrier-breaker for bringing Christianity into some difficult-to-reach areas of the world—I believe this discipleship program will be an amazing addition to this evangelistic effort.

If you would like to find out where to drop off your shoebox or how your church can become involved with The Greatest Journey, please visit the drop-off map locator.

Introduction

Rick Warren at a Desiring God conference.  Is this some kind of intramural neo-reformed jest?  If we can be so bold as to update Tertullian, what hath Saddleback to do with Bethlehem?

This question and others danced in the minds of many attendees of the 2010 Desiring God national conference, entitled “Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God” and held from October 1-3, 2010 at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis, MN.  The conference drew national attention several months ago when DG first announced that Rick Warren would speak, due to differences—perceived or real—between the theology and ecclesiology between Piper and Warren.

Warren’s talk fell on a Friday night, the first night of the conference, from 7:30pm-8:30pm.  The night air was brisk (though my waitress informed our group that we should sit outside to “enjoy the warm weather,” showing her true Minnesotan colors), the Convention Center was packed, and the crowd was curious as Warren’s talk began.

Actually, some of the air in the balloon escaped when word got out that Warren would deliver his address by video.  When John Piper took the stage to introduce Warren’s video address, he noted that it was recorded at 10pm the previous night.  He also noted that Warren’s Purpose-Driven Life begins with: “It’s not about you.”  He went on to read from the text: “We will praise Him for His plan and live for His purposes forever.” Piper suggested that “It was this God-centeredness that drew me to Rick Warren.”  The Minnesota pastor then noted that he would likely do a video session in the fall “So you can see me go after Rick Warren.”  The audience laughed.

Warren’s video address initially misfired.  The video started but without sound.  Some minds likely wondered whether this was a sign.  If it was, it was not one for long.  Warren shortly came on the screen, sitting at a desk in a warmly lit room.  He had a cup of water, an open Bible, and a few sheets of paper before him.  “It is a deep disappointment to not be with you tonight,” he began.  The California pastor noted that he had had three different ER trips in the last week.  One of his family members had gotten very sick.  Warren prayed briefly and then intoned forcefully “There is a violent battle for your mind; it is vicious and intense and unfair because Satan doesn’t play fair.”  The question before Christians: “How do I make my mind, mind?”

The Talk

Warren’s talk consisted of several main points.  Keeping pace with the pastor was no small feat.  He is a dynamic communicator with a quick-firing mind who kept the audience rapt for the entirety of his roughly hour-long talk.

The first point was 1) Don’t believe everything you think. Just because you think something, Warren said, doesn’t make it true.  1 John 1:8 says we deceive ourselves all the time.  The optic nerve has more impulses going forward than backward, Warren argued, means your brain is telling you what to see.  The second point was 2) Teach your members to guard your mind from garbage. Garbage in, garbage out.  The pastor quoted Proverbs 15:14 to that effect that a wise person is hungry for truth, while the fool feeds on trash.  Some people know more about NFL than they do about Paul’s traveling seminary.  Change the channel.  Resist and refocus—the “expulsive power of a new affection” (Thomas Chalmers).

The third point was 3) Teach your members never to let up on learning. This was Warren’s longest theme, and the heading under which he made the talk personal.  You must become a lifelong learner, he contended.  Never give up learning.  Warren quoted Jesus: “Come to me, all you who labor” (Mt: 11:28) and noted that this was a felt need, showing here as elsewhere that he was not backing down from some of his most controversial ideas.   If you’re going to learn, the pastor said, you have to be humble:

God gives grace to the humble.  I learn from churches larger than Saddleback and smaller than Saddleback.  I learn from my critics.  I know more than them, because I learn from them and then I know what they know and what I know (this drew a good deal of laughter).  Jesus: don’t store up money or treasure, but knowledge.  Knowledge you take with you.

Warren then advised Christians to stagger their reading in different eras of church history, relating that in the last year he read through all 26 volumes of Edwards and that in the current year he is reading through all of Karl Barth’s Dogmatics.  He suggested that the audience find a balance between doing and thinking.  You don’t judge a church by “seating capacity but sending capacity,” he argued:

We’ve baptized over 22,000 new believers in the last ten years.  I don’t believe there’s another church in America that’s done that.  14,882 have gone overseas to literally every nation in the world.  We’ve decided to be the first church in the history of the world to go ta ethne, to every nation.  We’re four nations away, and then we’ll be the first church in history to do that.

Warren then suggested that there are five levels of learning and that Saddleback’s recognition and employment of these levels accounted for “why we’ve brought so many in the front door and sent them out the back door for service.”  The five levels: knowledge, perspective, conviction, character, and skills.

• First, you have to teach your people to love knowledge.
• Second, you need perspective.  Ps 103:7—the Israelites saw the acts of God, but Moses knew why He did them.  The goal is to have the mind of God.
• Third, you need conviction.  Jesus stretched out His hands and every drop that fell to the ground said “I love you, I love you, I love you.”
• Fourth, you need to develop habits.  The sum total of your habits is character.  Unless you are habitually kind, you aren’t kind.  If I was faithful to my wife 29 days of the month, I would be faithless.
• Fifth and finally, you get skill—you get good at it because you do it over and over and over.  Skill will bring success.  I have been misquoted more times than you can imagine when I said we need another Reformation that revolved around “deeds, not creeds.”  I believe in the creeds.  The issue is that creeds must be turned into deeds.  The problem today is that we’re teaching too much, so much that they can’t apply it.  When I was growing up in an SBC church, I was supposed to have four life-changing applications on Sunday alone.  I had 14 applications a week.  Friend: your life can’t change that much.  The problem with many churches is that they can’t apply the teaching from one service by the time the next begins.  We’re making people with big heads, little hands, and little feet.

Warren’s fourth point was that 4) Pastors must teach Christians how to let God stretch their imagination. Here, he argued, everything that happens in life begins with a dream:

Every building you see an architect imagined.  Every gold medal was imagined beforehand by an athlete.  Proverbs 29:18—where there is no vision, the people perish.  We need great imaginers today, our Lewises, Tolstoys, Dostoyevskys, these great imagineering people.  We need the Boyles, the Pascals, Keplers and Kelvins, scientists who worked for the glory of God.  We need entrepreneurs who make a lot of money for kingdom uses.  What you don’t see is far more important than what you do see.  Einstein said that imagination more important than knowledge.  Imagination is the evidence of intelligence.  Napoleon said that imagination rules the world.  I’m not a small-dreamer.

Warren closed his talk by speaking to pastors, as he had throughout the message: “Are your sermons more powerful, deep, strong, practical, touching lives?  If it doesn’t touch you, it won’t touch them.  The Christian life is not just knowing, it’s being—and doing.”  Following a prayer that Christians would be known for outthinking, outsmarting, outloving the world, the message ended.

Reflections

Warren’s talk was splashed by pastoral wisdom, passion, and humor.  As noted above, it was difficult not to pay attention to him.  This reality is made more impressive considering that the pastor was going through familial difficulty and had little time to prepare for his talk.  Warren is, as moderns say, a great communicator.  The talk was a compelling call to Christians to take the spiritual dimension of thinking seriously, and I particularly appreciated Warren’s call for Christians to develop strong character and habits of sound thinking.

There were several points that stood out to me.  Most significantly, the talk would have been benefited from a stronger organizing principle, namely, the gospel.  The word was rarely mentioned.  Jesus Christ was quoted and noted, but His centrality in all things had less place in the talk.  This is not to say by any stretch that Warren does not love Jesus Christ and preach His death and resurrection.  It is to say, however, that greater connection to the gospel as the foundation of Christian thinking and spiritual effort might have been made in this particular talk.

In addition, Warren’s talk at times seemed to work against itself.  To give one example, he argued for simplicity in teaching, suggesting that pastors make just “one application,” but made too many points for this poor scribe to keep up with.  I also wondered about a comment (not mentioned above) on how “fruitfulness” factors into ministry evaluation.  Are healthy churches those that grow numerically as a rule?

The talk also failed to settle questions, some of them weighty, about Warren’s ministry.  Clearly, the pastor felt no need to pull his punches on such controversial matters as his church’s massive baptismal numbers, preaching to “felt needs,” and the Saddleback approach to ministry and the church more broadly.  It would be fair to say that many attendees would want to hear Piper and Warren cover some of the motivations of Warren’s ministry and the more noteworthy concerns of the neo-reformed community related to it.  For example, why, if Warren reads rich, largely gospel-driven theology does it seem, at least in some places and times, that his ministry eschews this kind of theology?

With all these things said, I am sure that Warren’s talk will have an effect on evangelicalism, and specifically, the modern reformed movement.  Perhaps the Lord will continue to surprise by using this talk for purposes of unity, brotherhood, and above all, increased awareness of and love for the biblical gospel.

In the end, we are left to ponder the initial question: “What hath Saddleback to do with Bethlehem?”  There is obviously basic agreement in the biblical gospel.  Beyond this, on matters of ecclesiology and even theology, the answer is not yet apparent.  It is clear, however, that this question will be asked, and debated, and addressed in days to come.  May the answer given redound to the glory of God.

“Bye-bye church. We’re busy.” That’s how a recent USA Today article on teen involvement in church and youth group begins by describing the general attitude of teenagers today. Faced with increasingly busy schedules—packed full of sports, music, drama, and college-prep classes—many teenagers are finding little time (or need) for the church. While youth group and youth retreat attendance skyrocketed in the late 1990s, many youth pastors are now finding that students are “not even coming for the pizza anymore.” Maybe the pizza was part of the problem to begin with.

Somewhere along the line—as entertainment, social networking, and media technology took off in our culture—we youth pastors began to feel threatened. Could our gross-out food games and acoustic guitars compete with special effects, wild parties . . . and YouTube? Deep down, we knew they couldn’t, but we tried hard. We wooed them with louder music. We promised wild fun. We built youth “warehouses” filled with pool tables and Wii's. And perhaps we gave them the exact opposite of what they really needed. Continue

The last two months have provided bloody reminders that following Christ can be deadly. In July, brothers Rashid and Sajid Emmanuel were murdered outside a courtroom in Faisalabad, Pakistan, where they had been charged with blasphemy. Rashid was a gospel preacher affiliated with an Acts 29 Network partner. Then last week, Taliban militants in neighboring Afghanistan killed 10 aid workers on a Christian medical mission. The Taliban claimed the victims had been evangelizing Muslims.

In response, International Assistance Mission, which sponsored the trip to provide eyecare in a remote area denied any evangelistic intent.

IAM is a Christian organization—we have never hidden this. Indeed, we are registered as such with the Afghan government. Our faith motivates and inspires us—but we do not proselytize. We abide by the laws of Afghanistan. We are signatures of the Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs Disaster Response Programmes, in other words, that, “aid will not be used to further a particular political or religious standpoint.” But more than that, our record speaks for itself. IAM would not be invited back to villages if we were using aid as a cover for preaching. Continue

A headline in The Guardian (London) this morning reads, "Human Foetus Feels No Pain Before 24 Weeks, Study Says." Then this subtitle, "Finding in major review of scientific evidence strikes blow to those seeking to reduce upper time limit for abortion."

There is a deeply tragic triumphalism to this headline/subtitle. A scientific study is being invoked to beat back any efforts to reduce the upper time limit in England for an abortion--one currently set at 24 weeks. It's clear evidence of the fall of mankind into sin when there is celebration for the continued destruction of life in the womb without further limitations.

But this article also perpetuates the commonplace argument that the ethics of abortion are determined by the presence or absence of pain, as if to say, "It's okay to destroy life in the womb within 24 weeks of conception because the child feels no pain." (Of course, this argument is used in the physician-assisted suicide debate as well.) But why is degree of pain determinative of right or wrong? Something may be more or less immoral based on certain criteria (e.g., pain). But at the end of the day, it's still immoral.

What do you think? How does a gospel-centered worldview respond to an article like this one in The Guardian?

The Cove won an Oscar last night for best documentary. The film, no doubt worthy of the award, documents the calculated massacre of dolphins in a small seaside town in Japan. Here's the trailer:

It seems good and right that the filmmakers and activists behind The Cove are bringing awareness of this senseless tragedy to the world. But I'm concerned about an even more alarming massacre reported over the weekend in The New York Times. According to the story, hundreds of Christians in Nigeria -- most of which were women and children -- were brutally slaughtered with machetes by militant Muslims. From the story:

Many appeared to have been cut down with machetes after being driven from homes set ablaze by attackers in the predawn darkness, said Shamaki Gad Peter of the League for Human Rights, a Nigerian group.

Mr. Yenlong said the attackers were “hoodlums, Fulani herdsmen” — Muslims from a neighboring state, Bauchi, who were going after Christian members of Plateau’s leading ethnic group, the Berom, in the villages of Ratt and Dogona Hauwa.

“They attacked those villages and killed well over 300 people, mostly women, children and the aged,” Mr. Yenlong said. “They killed them unprovoked. Innocent people were massacred.”

Witnesses, including Mr. Peter, spoke of bodies littering the streets of Ratt. One victim was less than 3 months old, he said.

“I’m seeing more than 20 corpses right now, women and children who have been killed,” said Mr. Peter. “Virtually every house has been burned down. Corpses of people are littered about. They were slaughtered with machetes. I can see the cuts on their head and neck.”

Let's continue to raise awareness about the senseless slaughter of Christians in "coves" throughout the world. Christian filmmakers: there's plenty of stories to be told.

As most of you probably know, Haiti was hit with a devastating earthquake yesterday. Here's some resources to reference as you pray:

• Thanks to @kpbritton for pointing to the @nytimes Haiti Twitter list.
• Thanks to @MattChandler74 for highlighting this blog from Haiti.
• Helpful front page story in NYT with gripping photos.
• CNN outlines important facts about Haiti.

Praying that in the midst of the rubble, pain, and confusion massive practical relief efforts will succeed -- and quickly. In addition, praying that the gospel will take hold in Haiti in unprecedented, powerful ways through the many faithful missionaries stationed there.

Mobilize your people, Lord, for the sake of your name among the Haitians!

Some of you may have already read the profile of Francis Chan in the current issue of Christianity Today magazine. For those that haven't, John Brandon's "Crazy Passion" is now online.

Here's one section I found particularly interesting (and, in some ways, refreshing):

Despite what is clearly a flourishing ministry, Chan remains an anomaly. He lives in a tract house in one of Simi Valley's down-and-out suburbs with his wife and four children. He rides a 1995 Honda Elite scooter to work. An avid surfer, he emits a laid-back Californian coolness.

According to one comment he made in a sermon, Chan gives away about 90 percent of his income (though his church administrator preferred the phrase "most of his income"). Chan doesn't take a salary from his church, and his book royalties, which total about $500,000, mostly go to organizations like International Justice Mission, which rescues sex slaves in foreign countries. The Chans often open their home to families who need a place to stay. One of Cornerstone's community pastors, Bill Lucas, lived with Chan for nine months, and says he "lives out what he says."

In an age that is cynical about religious leaders, the Chans' lifestyle no doubt helps to explain why the pastor has attracted so many listeners and readers. There is also his restlessness to bring others to a relationship with Christ, even if it means starting all over again.

Read the whole thing. And let us know what you think of Cornerstone's efforts to plant "gatherings." What are some of the potential strengths and weaknesses to this aspect of their ecclesiology?

Writing for USA Today, Tom Krattenmaker isn't so sure conservative evangelicalism is all-together good for college and professional sports. While he lauds the civic-mindedness of many high profile Christian athletes, Krattenmaker is concerned with the exclusive claims many outspoken Christian athletes make with respect to salvation. From the column:

But Jesus' representatives in sports aren't just practicing faith. They are also leveraging sports' popularity to promote a message and doctrine that are out of sync with the diverse communities that support franchises, and with the unifying civic role that we expect of our teams. Typifying the exclusive creed taught by many sports-world Christians is the belief statement published by Baseball Chapel, which provides chaplains for all major- and minor-league baseball teams. Non-believers in Jesus, the ministry declares, can look forward to "everlasting punishment separated from God."

Urban Meyer, Tebow's coach at Florida, has praised his quarterback's faith-promoting ways as "good for college football ... good for young people ... good for everything." Such is the rhetoric usually heard from those who defend sports-world Christianity as wholesome and harmless.

But should we be pleased that the civic resource known as "our team" — a resource supported by the diverse whole through our ticket-buying, game-watching and tax-paying — is being leveraged by a one-truth evangelical campaign that has little appreciation for the beliefs of the rest of us?

Having researched and thought about Christianity in sports for the better part of a decade, I am impressed by the good that's done by sports-world Christians. Jesus-professing athletes are among the best citizens in their sector, and they commit good deeds daily in communities across this country.

These sports stars, like all Americans, have a right to express their faith.

Evangelical players and ministry representatives in sports aren't out to harm anyone, of course. On the contrary, they see themselves as fulfilling the Bible's Great Commission ("Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," Matthew 28:19). In this sense, their mission is pure altruism: They seek to share the gift of eternal life.

But there's a shadow side to this. If their take on God and truth and life is the only right one — which their creed boldly states — everyone else is wrong.

Of course, there's the rub. Christian athletes like Tim Tebow actually believe in the exclusivity of the Gospel for salvation. And they want others to embrace Christ as their only hope for forgiveness of sins and life everlasting. For many outspoken Christian athletes life is about far more than sports. And out of love for neighbor and their Savior they risk ridicule and offense in saying so.

Here's how Krattenmaker closes:

Is sports-world evangelicalism really "good for everything"? Certainly a lot, but not everything. Not if you're Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, non-evangelical Protestant, agnostic or anything else outside the conservative evangelical camp.

What do you think? Should high-profile athletes use their platform for the proclamation of the Gospel? What guidelines, if any, should be kept in mind?

Just in case you missed it, here's the link to watch the ABC News "Nightline" feature of Mars Hill Church, Seattle and Pastor Mark Driscoll discussing idol worship in America.

What do you think? In what ways is it helpful or harmful for pastors to do shows like "Nightline"?