Baptists, Liberty, and Mandates

Religious liberty is gift from God.  Our civil government didn't grant us this right.  Our civil government cannot deny us this right.  God created us with what we have called "soul freedom."  Baptists were birthed amid battles to secure this freedom to follow Christ according to our own conscience.

Our country's founders recognized the foundational importance of religious liberty as they formulated the Constitution.  The Constitution does not grant religious liberty but secures it.  The first amendment states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."  This is the first and most fundamental of the rights stated in our "Bill of Rights."

Also, our Southern Baptist identity reflects the importance of protecting God-given religious liberty.  Our own guiding document speaks powerfully and clearly:

"God alone is Lord of the conscience, and He has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are contrary to His Word or not contained in it. Church and state should be separate. The state owes to every church protection and full freedom in the pursuit of its spiritual ends. . . .  A free church in a free state is the Christian ideal, and this implies the right of free and unhindered access to God on the part of all men, and the right to form and propagate opinions in the sphere of religion without interference by the civil power."  (Baptist Faith and Message, 2000)

While our Great Commission mission remains the top priority for us, we still must pay attention to protecting our liberty.  There are times when the government so intrudes on our religious freedoms that followers of Christ must take a stand.  This is one of those times.  The US Department of Health and Human Services issued an enforceable legal mandate directing almost all employers to offer their employees health coverage that includes sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs, and contraception.  Baptist institutions will also be forced to provide these "services."

Our Catholic friends have taken the lead in voicing opposition to this HHS Mandate.  We should not let them stand alone.   Here's a couple of things we can do:

• Get informed on how this HHS Mandate affects you.
• Join with other defenders of religious liberty and publicly voice your view.  Attend a public event.  In Fresno area you can join others on Friday June 8 at Noon at St James Anglican Church on the corner of Cedar and Dakota. 

Richard Land frames the issue well, "This is not a Catholic issue -- it's not a Baptist issue.  It's an issue of freedom.  This is about religious freedom, not reproductive freedom.  This is about conscience, not contraception."

The voice of John Leland, Baptist pastor in Massachusetts in the 1800's, echoes, "Be always jealous of your liberty, your rights.  Nip the first bud of intrusion on your Constitution."

Some ideas are worth fighting for.  Religious freedom is one of them. 

For Christ,

Rich Johnstone

Self-Talk Should be Truth-Talk

China Graveyard Hill

"You can dominate this hill . . . you've run it dozens of times," I told myself.  This kind of self-talk was especially important when I was running up China Graveyard Hill.  By car, or even bicycle, the hill is not that intimidating; a 250ft elevation rise over a half mile.  However, running the hill at 100% capacity as part of a 5K workout, China Graveyard Hill is Mt. Everest.  The hill is just large enough for local runners to give this section of China Graveyard Road a name.  

I ran regularly with a great group of local guys over our lunch hour.  These runs were a perfect combination of friendly and competitive.  Group runs helped me beat my two main competitors, myself and China Graveyard Hill.

The laws of physics and biology are mercilessly constant.  On this hill, gravity is an anchor on every step.  Every breath is a searing fire. 

The laws of psychology are equally constant.  "Ease up.  Back off and the pain will go away."  Sometimes I did.  And it did.  Most times, though, I pressed through the pain and the fire. 

With experience comes understanding of capacity.  When my body screamed, "Stop," wisdom and experience answered back, saying:

• Keep running.  You know this hill, every curve, every grade.
• You've run this hill dozens of times.
• You've conquered this hill and have been conquered by it. 
• You know your capacity, and you can improve.
• You can beat your main competitor.

Even now, when I face daunting challenges in ministry, I often think of China Graveyard Hill.  It helps me press through the challenge.  Spirit-led self talk is really truth talk:  

• Keep serving!  You know Jesus Christ.
• The "battle" belongs to the Lord.
• He's given you victory over significant challenges.
• God is invested in the successful fulfillment of your calling to follow Christ.
• With God's strength, you can press through for the glory of Jesus.

Let your past wins inform and inspire your future successes.  Self-talk should be truth-talk.  Speak biblical truth, especially to yourself.  The truth of his Word will propel you.  God's truth is even more constant than the laws of physics. 

Rich Johnstone

Right Things Right

by Rich Johnstone

Are your actions linked with God's Kingdom mission?  Is what you are doing accomplishing what God intends?  We all want to do right, and do well.  We all want to advance God's mission to make disciples.  And we want to do it effectively.  Alan Hirsch defines church as “a community of God’s people that defines itself and organizes its life around its real purpose of being an agent of God’s mission around the world.”  This describes a church that is doing the right things right.  Its actions focus on its mission.  However, this isn't always the case.  Here are four scenarios describing how actions relate to mission: 

Right things Wrong -- This scenario describes a well-intentioned, but ineffective effort to advance God's mission.  My golf game describes this scenario.  If I hit twenty approach shots from 120 yards, the balls scatter wildly, almost randomly, in the region of the green.  I had a clear look at the flag and my intentions were good.  However, I demonstrated a distinct inability to execute.  Mission focus paired with skill-building can move toward doing the right things right.

Wrong things Right -- In this scenario, churches use effective strategies in pursuit of non-critical goals.  Continuing the golf analogy, this is like hitting twenty beautiful chip shots in a row . . . to the left of the pin.  The beauty of the shots shields a hard reality:  each shot missed the target completely.  The focus here is on the competent execution of insignificant goals.  Only prophetic leadership will re-focus actions back on God's mission. 

Wrong things Wrong -- This is the worst of all cases.  Here, a church ineffectively works to accomplish insignificant goals.  Shots miss the target because the target is unknown or unclear.  Focus and vision are both mission.  This situation demands leadership to bring fresh focus on the mission of God.

Right things Right -- This scenario describes a disciplined focus on accomplishing God's mission effectively.  The target is clear and the strategies are effective.  This doesn't happen by accident.  Leaders relentlessly focus on God's mission.  Continuous feedback, reflection, and correction keep actions linked to God's mission.

Two questions to consider:

1. Which scenario best describes my own life?  My church?
2. What actions can I take to move toward doing the right things right?

For Christ,

Rich Johnstone

Jesus and CD20

Suppose Jesus toured CA Congressional District 20 today.  He stopped at local churches long enough to preach and to heal sick people.  He traveled to the west side to Firebaugh, Mendota, and Coalinga.  He swung through S. Fresno, Sanger, Selma, and Fowler, on his way to Lemoore and Hanford.  His trip took him through Kings County on into parts of Kern.  

 Jesus was "moved with compassion."  What moved him?  As he surveyed the harvest field, he observed people.  He witnessed their brokenness firsthand.  People were physically broken . . . and spiritually broken, needing a Savior.

Every community in the USA has human need.  CA Congressional District 20 is one of four districts that intertwine through the Mid-Valley and beyond.  However, CD20 has the distinction of ranking 435th out of 435 districts in the country on the Human Development Index.  Dead last.  The HDI is a nation-wide study that combines indicators in three areas:  life expectancy, access to education, and standard of living.  Another unusual feature of CD20 is that 5.7% of its population is incarcerated in a state prison. 

The good news is that Jesus is indeed present in CD20 through his people and his churches.  He is present through the pastors of the 20 Mid-Valley congregations throughout CD20.  These pastors bring the heart of Jesus as they fulfill the God's mission in these communities. 

Jesus developed an action plan as he surveyed the brokenness of the people.  His plan is to "ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."  I challenge each person in the Mid-Valley to:

• Thank God for the workers already sent and deployed in CD20.
• Pray that God will raise up more mission-focused workers to engage lost and broken communities in CD20 with the gospel. 
• Finally, engage the imprisoned 5.7% of the population through Weekend of Champions on May 3-5.  Contact Ron Climer to engage your church.

 -------------------------------------------
Here are the Pastors of CD20:

• Terry Glover
• Jesus Guerrero
• Mike Duke
• James Page
• Richard Daniels
• Tra Xiong
• Moises Cabrera
• Javier Carrillo
• Mark Jackson 
• Ed Coleman
• Lawrence Chisom
• Mark Curts
• Reuben Scott
• Rod Rodriguez
• Osvaldo Reyes
• Ernie Sanchez
• Chuck Antaramian
• Isaac Chavez
• Franco Atkinson

 

God, Google, and Missions

You just scored a job interview with Google.  You are a software engineer, and you need work.  After introductions, the interviewer begins asking as series of unusual questions:

• How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?
• Name a piece of technology you’ve read about recently.  Now tell me your own creative execution for an ad for that product.
• You are shrunk to the height of a nickel and your mass is proportionally reduced so that you maintain your original density.  You are then thrown into an empty glass blender.  The blades will start moving in 60 seconds.  What do you do?
• Design an evacuation plan for San Francisco.

These are among actual questions that Google job seekers were asked.  How did you do in your interview?  Do you have a shot at the job?

These interview questions have little to do with technical knowledge.  They have everything to do with the capacity to approach problems creatively.  They force job seekers outside the normal thinking ruts. 

Google seeks entrepreneurial thinkers who have the capacity to solve problems not yet imagined.  Google obviously expects technical mastery of its employees.  Technical mastery is not enough, though.  Entrepreneurial creativity is what brings life and innovation to the technical knowledge, keeping Google on the leading edge.

 

God gave Bazalel the ability to integrate all areas of his personhood in order to build the tabernacle.  “See, I have chosen Bezalel . . . and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts.”  (Exodus 31:2-3)  

God's gospel mission is the one constant in a time of dramatic change.  Living in a time of upheaval provides great opportunities.  Fortunately, God created us with the capacity to exercise Spirit-led creativity with a focus on God's mission.  The result is the ability to see kingdom possibilities that others may miss.  What gospel opportunities are you currently missing that require a Spirit-led entrepreneurial approach in order to solve?  How will Mid-Valley churches best reach second and third generation immigrants?  What's the best way to train and deploy pastors to help reach the exploding Hispanic population?  What does international mission look like right here in the Mid-Valley?  What's the best way to connect among our churches to advance the gospel locally?  These and other questions require a dependence on the Holy Spirit to dislodge us from our "spiritual ruts."

(By the way, somebody actually did the math. Just under five hundred thirty thousand golf balls fit inside a school bus!)

How Not to Lead

Kim Jong-il was the repressive leader of communist North Korea for seventeen years.  He died in December 2011.  At his death, his son Kim Jong-un took over as the new leader.  The country observed days of official national mourning.  National sorrow took the form of open expressions of weeping and mass hysteria.  Newscasters openly sobbed on camera.  The Korean Central News Agency noted that even a bear and her two cubs were observed standing by a roadside weeping at the death of "Dear Leader."  In a repressive county where trust levels are already low, the new regime did little to elevate trust levels with their people.  North Korea provides a stark example of how not to build trust among those you lead:

• ·       Compel people to feel emotions they don't actually have.
• ·       Command them to express these faux emotions publicly.
• ·       Punish them when they fail to adequately feel or express these emotions.
• ·       Tolerate no alternate points of view. 

This was the actual strategy of the North Korea's new leadership:

North Korea's hardline regime is punishing those who did not cry at the death of dictator Kim Jong-il, according to reports.  Sentences of at least six months in labor camps are also apparently being given to those who didn't go to the organized mourning events, while anyone who criticized the new leader Kim Jong-un is also being punished.

An informant from North Hamkyung Province reported, "The authorities are handing down at least six months in a labor training camp to anybody who didn’t participate in the organized gatherings during the mourning period, or who did participate but didn’t cry and didn't seem genuine."

While Kim Jong-un was an extreme example of repressive leadership, he serves as a reminder to mission leaders to release those we lead rather than restrain them.  This style of leadership must never inflict the people of God.  Saul was afflicted with some of this same leadership malady, "And when Saul saw that [David] had great success, he stood in fearful awe of him" (1 Samuel 18:15). 

On the other hand, trust is developed by leading yourself and others with integrity over time.  Paul modeled the type of leadership that build trusting relationships, "And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others" (2 Timothy 2:2).  Paul was able to say with confidence to those he lead, "Follow me as I follow Christ." 

One more suggestion:  if you truly want to engender trust among those you lead, never refer to yourself as "Dear Leader."

Rich Johnstone, DOM

(Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2085636/North-Koreans-face-labour-camps-upset-death-Kim-Jong-il.html)

Think All the Time

Not long ago I was in a meeting that included the President of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. Jeff Iorg. He had just received copies of his newly-published book, The Case for Antioch: A Biblical Model for a Transformational Church. While he was signing my copy, I asked him how he found time to think, reflect, and write. He responded without hesitation, "I write while I travel, and I think all the time."

Clearly, Dr. Iorg has much to think about. He leads a high-impact Southern Baptist institution through transitional times. He also serves as lead chaplain for the (world champion!) San Francisco Giants major league baseball team. This involves supervising the all the chaplains for the Giants' minor league affiliates. 

Yet with all of his responsibilities, Jeff has disciplined himself to continuously think about and act upon that which is mission critical. The result is that he leads effectively and finds time to write a new book every year.

One way to grow as an "impact player" is to practice Spirit-led, mission-focused, entrepreneurial thinking.  Our mission is too critical to play small ball.  

Do your thinking patterns simultaneously draw you close to Christ while prompting mission-focused action?

Challenge for this week: Think all the time, intentionally filtering your thoughts through:

· the Word of God

· your call to follow Christ
· your life mission
· your responsibility to lead others around you

Rich Johnstone

2012-01-15 Central Cristiano

2012-01-15 Central Cristiano, a set on Flickr.

Central Cristiano - Jesus es el Camino kicked off its inaugural service at Bethel Southern Baptist Church. Bethel is sponsoring and hosting Central. Central is seeking to reach the 17,000 Hispanic residents within a one mile radius of the church facility. Most of those residents speak Spanish in their homes. 90 people attended. Ernesto Uriostegui is the lead pastor of Central, and Steve Cutler, Sr. is the lead pastor of Bethel.

News from Mid-Valley Southern Baptist Association

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Mid-Valley Southern Baptist Association Newsletter                                 October 20, 2011 In This Issue Church News Night of City Prayer Church Leaders Network Turkey Bowl 2011 God Belongs in My City Pastors Fellowship Ministers' Wives Fellowship  The next meeting will be November 12th. Our desire  is to fellowship, pray, and suppport each other as we serve the Lord in our various ministries of Mid-Valley Association.  Ministers' Wives meet the second Saturday of each month at Joseph's Java Junction, 4141 N. First Street, Fresno. Contact Us mvsba@yahoo.com     www.midvalleybaptists.com Ph: 559-297-5550 Office Hours: Mon-Wed 9am-4:30 pm Thurs 9am-12:30 pm Friday - closed   Mid-Valley Mission Statement Mid-Valley Southern Baptist Association exists to assist partner churches to effectively fulfill the Great Commission and the Great Commandment.  We are a cooperative partnership of Southern Baptist Churches in Fresno and surrounding three counties. Church News Brian Busby is traveling with a multi-church team in Southern Mexico as part of a long term effort to identify and engage unreached people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Brian is the associate pastor of Copper Springs Church in Clovis.  Huber Diaz was installed as the new pastor of Iglesia Bautista de Clovis.  This congregation is sponsored by Copper Springs Church. St. Matthews Church in Fresno has been busy....take a look at their recent events/celebrations. Fall Harvest Festival Time! Oakview Church in Auberry, Sunday, October 23. FSBC Reedley, Wednesday, October 26. Cornelia Avenue Baptist Church, Monday, October 31. Trinity Southern Baptist Church, Monday, October 31. Night of City Prayer  Mayor Ashley Swearengin and Council member Baines invite all pastors, church leaders and members to participate in the next Night of City Prayer to be held Saturday, October 22, 6-8pm at Christian Temple, 535 No. Cedar Avenue, Fresno 93702. Church Leaders Network  Pastors and Ministry Leaders:  What's your church's measure of "success"?  Is it a biblical indicator?  Does it need to change?  Mid-Valley pastors and leaders will be exploring this question at the Church Leaders Network.  This is a series of four bi-weekly sessions that will focus on the topic of Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church, by Reggie McNeal.  Next session will be Monday, October 31, 9AM to 11AM at the Ministry Resource Center.  Pastors David Carothers and Steve Davidson will be facilitating these sessions.  Come learn from the Word, from Reggie McNeal, and from one another! Turkey Bowl 2011  Fall is here.... which means it is time for the Annual Mid-Valley Association Turkey Bowl Flag Football Tournament scheduled for Saturday, November 19, 8:30 am - 3:00 pm.  Each year Trinity Southern Baptist Church hosts this event at 4890 E. Holland Avenue, Fresno(corner of Holland & Winery).  Please contact Ken Hinman to RSVP for your group at 559-291-5521 or ken@trinityfresno.org.  Below you will find links to  rules and flyers. Turkey Bowl letter and rules Turkey Bowl flyer Blk/White Turkey Bowl flyer color God Belongs in My City  A city-wide prayer saturation event called God Belongs In My City is coming up on Saturday November 12, 2011 in Downtown Fresno.  This is a call for followers of Christ to unite in prayer as a declaration of faith.  Updates and details are on the event Facebook page.  Call event coordinator, Gilbert Salcedo, of El Encino Baptist Church at 394-2859.  See the video here. Pastors Fellowship Breakfast  Each Tuesday morning, 8:00 am, Country Waffles, Dakota/Blackstone.

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2011-10 WPBC Ministry at Pinedale

2011-10 WPBC Ministry at Pinedale, a set on Flickr.

Woodward Park deployed the CSBC Medical and Dental clinics in Pinedale to meet the health needs of the local residents. Christian doctors and dentists staffed the units for the entire Saturday, serving dozens of families in the name of Jesus Christ. David Carothers is the lead pastor.