I’ve recently been made aware of an adoption ministry in the area: Carolina Hope Christian Adoption Agency, “a licensed, full-service adoption agency with experience in both domestic and international adoptions.”
They have just hired Dan Cruver to be their Ministry Outreach Coordinator.
In that capacity, Dan networks with pastors and churches, mission agencies, children’s homes, and other organizations to inform them of Carolina Hope’s full-service adoption ministry. He also writes articles for publication, helps develop Carolina Hope’s website, and speaks in churches, Bible study groups, and other venues to present adoption within the context of the larger story of redemption.
Ministries that target men by appealing to their supposed manliness are popping up all over the place these days (e.g., Church for Men, GodMen, etc.). More and more people think that the way to reach men is by catering to their love for “manly” stuff like sports and outdoor activities.
Fifty-one-year-old Ed Trainer, who runs International Fishing Ministries, thinks church is boring and better suited for women.
According to the Christian Post, the American Baptists are seeking to jumpstart their struggling association with a call to a “‘radical new form’ of ministry.”
The American BaptistAssociation has been through hard times lately, wrestling with doctrinal, practical, and spiritual issues. The whole southwestern constituency split from the Association a year ago.
A. Roy Medley, the general secretary of the Association, declared the need for a “righteous reboot” within the Association, beginning with the launch of New Life 2010. New Life 2010 is a missions project, seeking to produce 1,000,010 new Christians and 1,010 new churches by 2010.
We must re-imagine the church as ever-multiplying clusters of believers, each one shaped by its mission context, coming together with an intense sense of call to mission in worship style, in elements of ministry, and in the call to ministry in the community.
It seems that behind all the dramatic speech lies not a call to “reimagining” or “radical new forms of ministry,” but a call to renewed dedication to the pursuit of Christ and the furthering of His gospel.
Truthfully, Christianity does not need an exterior makeover. It needs internal, spiritual revival.
The Miami Herald has a story about the increasing number sites (some Christian, some not) that allow people to confess their sins online. Here are some examples:
Finally ready to confess, she turned not to a minister, but to her computer.
”I am sorry God for not keeping that baby,” her anonymous confession reads. “I had an abortion and had kept that secret for over 18 years. I feel so ashamed. Please forgive me!”
The confession appears at ivescrewedup.com, a website launched by the Flamingo Road Church in Cooper City. It’s one of a growing number of such sites across the country—some secular and others church-sponsored—that offer a place to spill out ugly secrets or just make peccadilloes public.
From briefly looking at a sampling of the “confessions” on the secular sites, notproud.com, dailyconfession.com, and grouphug.us, it’s apparent that most are using them not to confess with sorrow but to brag with pride or just be downright rude and offensive. I’m not sure if this is representative, but this was true of the handful of “confessions” I read.
The two sites run by churches, mysecret.tv and ivescrewedup.com, seem to contain more legitimate confessions and are probably moderated for offensive content. Yet I don’t know that I really see much value in anonymous confessions, except for the occasional prayer that may be offered on behalf of the unidentified.
All sins should be confessed to God (1 John 1:9), and some probably to God alone. Other sins should be confessed to those against whom the sin was committed (or others related to the situation under certain circumstances [cf. 1 Tim 5:20]). Ongoing struggles should be confessed to other believers for the purpose of prayer, help, encouragement, and support (Jam 5:16).
When biblical confession is taking place, there really is no need for sites like these. The real solution, then, is probably not to create online confession websites, but to teach and practice biblical confession in our churches.
GodMen targets men who are disinterested in traditional church services, where only four out of ten attenders are men. The problem is that most churches do not allow men to be men. They are too feminine, too sissy. The Christian Post has the story.
A new men’s movement is burgeoning into the Christian scene, picking up men bored in the pews and toughening them up with the other side of Jesus’ image—the table-tipping side.
“Men are a punchline in America,” said comedian Brad Stine, founder of GodMen, on ABC News. “Anything that’s masculine is considered misogynistic, suspect, trying to be oppressive. We’re none of those things.”
GodMen brings hundreds of Christian men together to do “guy stuff,” things they normally would not do in the churches. They watch professional sports screw-ups and witness a man bend a metal wrench with his bare hands. But the integral part of the movement is the raw talks, including discussions on pornography addiction.
“The biggest thing we’re trying to give them is absolute authenticity and honesty,” said Stine, who has hosted two conferences so far in Franklin, Tenn. “You get to be real and raw. We’re flawed, we’re messed up, we’re not perfect . . . we are on a journey but we screw up every single day.”
Don’t arrive unless you plan to stay. Pastors of past generations, like Calvin and Edwards, considered a call to a church similar to a marriage. . . .
Learn to be patient. Humble patience with people may be the most important virtue you’ll ever exercise. . . .
Don’t be afraid to change. Not only will your people change as you instruct them spiritually, but you will also be changed. . . .
Study to know God, not just to make sermons. The key to avoiding debilitating weariness in ministry is personal spiritual renewal. . . .
Be thankful and be humble. As a servant of the Chief Shepherd, you need to be grateful for the flock that Christ has entrusted to you, and regularly tell both them and the Lord of your deep gratitude. . . .
Don’t lose sight of the priority. As a pastor, your duty is to shepherd your flock—this means nourishing them on the Word of God, leading them toward Christ-likeness in tender affection, while protecting them from error. . . .
Expect to work hard. If you’re faithful to your calling, you will find it to be a difficult and relentless task. . . .
Trust the Word to do its work. People in churches today are starving for theological, expository preaching, but don’t even know it. . . .
Always depend on the Lord. Obviously, a ministry that rests solely on human strength, cleverness, or survey strategies, even if successful numerically, is doomed to be short-term and superficial. . . .
Don’t leave just to leave. When you approach your pastoral ministry as a life commitment and serve your flock as I have described, you will find it hard to leave. . . .
Many who have grown up in Christian fundamentalism want something different. Some reject fundamentalism altogether. Yet others desire to see the movement change. Such is the case with Bob Bixby, Mike Durning, Tom Pryde, Bob Snyder, Joel Tetreau, and Roger Willis, who are heading up an effort to work toward positive change.
A one-day conference is scheduled for March 6, 2007, at Lighthouse Bible Church in Simi Valley, CA 93063. Find out more at www.achristlikefundamentalism.org.
Desiring God Ministries, the ministry of well-known pastor, teacher, and author John Piper, just recently started a blog. I’d recommend subscribing to it or bookmarking it.
I’ve recently been made aware of an adoption ministry in the area: Carolina Hope Christian Adoption Agency, “a licensed, full-service adoption agency with experience in both domestic and international adoptions.”
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Ministries that target men by appealing to their supposed manliness are popping up all over the place these days (e.g., 
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