Young Adults Walking Away from Church

Protestant churches are losing young adults in "sobering" numbers, a survey finds. Seven in 10 Protestants ages 18 to 30 — both evangelical and mainline — who went to church regularly in high school said they quit attending by age 23, according to the survey by LifeWay Research. And 34% of those said they had not returned, even sporadically, by age 30. That means about one in four Protestant young people have left the church.

This August 6, 2007 USA Today article goes on to say:

Just over half (51%) of Protestant young people surveyed (both the church dropouts and those who stayed on in church after age 22) saw church members as "caring" or had other positive descriptions, such as "welcoming" (48%) or "authentic" (42%).

Among dropouts, nearly all (97%) cited life changes, such as a move. Most (58%) were unhappy with the people or pastor at church. More than half (52%) had religious, ethical or political reasons for quitting. Dropouts were more than twice as likely than those who continued attending church to describe church members as judgmental (51% for dropouts, 24% for those who stayed), hypocritical (44% vs. 20%) or insincere (41% vs. 19%).

Check out the rest of the article HERE.

What If Your Superhero Had A Change Of Heart

What makes Superman so super? What makes Wolverine a hero? What about Batman or Spiderman? Think for a moment about a superhero your familar with and ask yourself what makes that hero interesting and worth knowing. Think about their personality, how they treat others, and what things they juggle in their life. What is it about Superman that makes him Superman or any other superhero?

Now let me ask you this question. . .what would happen to your superhero if they encountered Jesus, heard His message, and that hero's life was permanently changed into a Jesus-follower? Would Wolverine continue to smoke those cigars and call everyone "bub"? Would Batman continue to see himself as the judge and jury of criminals? Would Spiderman have a different perspect on his relationships with women? Would Superman ever use his x-ray vision again to tell Louise Lane what color her panties were? What would these heroes have to give up? When we read about them in the comics what differences would we see in our favorite heroes?

I think this is the question so many who hunger for the truth ask them self, "what must I give up and change about myself in order to go to church?" The seeker looks at himself and sees what he must first give up in order to move towards the very thing something deep inside of him is saying "there is the truth". But then he walks away. . .

Some are like Superman. They're already very moral and good people. They treat everyone with love and respect. They can't see the "benefit" of Christ.

Some are like Wolverine. They have a nasty past, and while something inside of them wants to be better they know how aweful they are.

Maybe I'll keep posting about this and maybe not, but with all of the hero movies over the past few years and Vintage, at Nags Head Church, having the theme of heroes, this has been on my mind.

I Have Spoken Too Harshly

“Martin Luther, are you the author of these writings?”

“I am.”

“Do you recant what you have written here?”

“I cannot renounce all of my works because they are not all the same. First are those books in which I have described Christian faith and life so simply that even my opponents have admitted that these works are useful. To renounce these writings would be unthinkable, for that would be to renounce accepted Christian truths.”

“He is not here to make speeches, only to answer.”

“The second group of my work is directed against the foul doctrine and evil living of the Popes, past and present. Through the laws of the Pope and the doctrines of men, the consciences of the faithful have been miserably vexed and flayed. If I recant these books I will do nothing but add strength to tyranny and open not just the windows but also the doors to this great ungodliness.”

“He has condemned himself.”

“In the third group, I have written against private persons and individuals who uphold Roman tyranny and have attacked my own efforts to encourage piety to Christ. I confess…that I have written too harshly. I am but a man and I can err. Only let my errors be proven by Scripture and I will revoke my work and throw my books into the fire.”

These are a few lines from the movie Luther (2003) when he was under trial in Germany. In his passion for what he saw was wrong Luther frequently spoke harshly. In fact, we know from letters we still have today that Erasmus, who also saw the need for change in the church, often wrote to Luther about how abrasive and harsh Luther was. Erasmus was a great man who sought to have the church change with as little damage as possible being done while Luther demanded the truth be taught at any risk for the sake of those who were being greatly harmed by the current state of the church.

The real Luther had some doctrine that wasn’t quite right, but this quote from the movie really grabbed my attention. Particularly when he said, “I confess…that I have written too harshly. I am but a man and I can err. Only let my errors be proven by Scripture and I will revoke my work and throw my books into the fire.” That’s powerful.

Getting Married In A Few Days

Sarah and I have been busy at work and we’re not alone. So many have been hard at work. Family and friends have been coming down and visiting. Tonight Sarah and I hosted 6 of the Hendersons at my place, what is soon to be our place for Sarah and I. More and more the signs are becoming clear that this will be “our” place. Everything is reorganized, a few changes to what hangs on the walls (mostly additions), and it’s a lot cleaner (something I’m sure her parents would be rather shocked at). I’m can’t believe how much moving her stuff to my place and organizing everything would drain me.

In less than 3 days Sarah and I will be married. I’m learning more and more of how much I have left to learn. I look ahead and see all that Sarah and I hope for in our life together. More than anything I see our life of ministry together and I’m filled with excitement. I see the challenges that are ahead of us; places in our character that need to be reshaped, our finances by which we must discipline ourselves to retiring (and hopefully will have the income to retire sooner than later), learning to balance ministry and family. I see areas in which I alone need to grow and be more giving, like understanding Sarah’s love language better. All of this is exciting and I can’t wait to begin this life with Sarah.

Over the past week I have entered into so many conversations with friends, family, and acquaintances. Many of these conversations have left me thinking about how much God has reshaped and changed me over the past year. So much has happened to me, including sending me a woman that has been such a blessing. God has reshaped how I think about ministry. He’s reshaped my understanding of communication that really reaches your audience (even though the results have already been more than what I could ever hope for I strongly feel God is still teaching me in this area). God has been reshaping my understanding of family (thank you Sarah and other Lawrensons).

I’m getting married and my life is changing. God is moving and working in me and it is exciting! In a short time I’ll be marrying a woman unlike any I’ve met before and I know she was sent to me to help change my life, some of which I’m resistant and quite possibly will need to resist (I can hear Gail saying, “stand your ground Terry”), but I know Sarah and I will sharpen each other greatly and she is the most wonderful part of this amazing thing God is doing in my life.

Praise God for the marvelous ways He tells us how much He loves us, through His hand reshaping us and sending us blessed gifts!

Christianity, Denominations, and Cults

I’ve had thoughts swarming over and over in my head concerning the various denominations of Christianity. Bare with me as I roam through my logic to get you to the point.

My degree was on religions and I studied denominations of Christianity, yet I once again find myself puzzling over an issue that makes me examine some denominations. Take, for example, the LDS, the church of Latter Day Saints (also known as Mormons). They call themselves Christian yet conservative Christians call them a cult. Why? Because there is something foundationally cracked in who they believe God is, who they believe Jesus is, who they believe the Holy Spirit is, who they believe we are, and how salvation is obtained. Who they say God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are does not match up with mainstream Christianity so they’re a cult.

Now I would agree with this. While at East Carolina University I spend a good portion of my time targeting Mormons (especially Mormon missionaries who were easily spotted) to share my faith with. It was a challenge because they believe they were Christians and that all other Christians were the ones following a flawed belief system. Nonetheless, I was able to leave those conversations helping them see that who we say God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are is vastly different from what they say they are. The personalities, goals, functions, etc. are all different.

Now, getting to my point, what I’ve been having a hard time with is Charismatic groups. Those who believe in the use of Tongues. Just to be clear, it’s not the use of Tongues that bothers me, but rather what always seems to accompany the usage of Tongues: teaching people how to pray in Tongues, believing a person must be Baptized by the Holy Spirit a second time, and a whole lot more that is very questionable. How did such a group ever get labeled as a denomination and not a cult? Sure they use similar “church” language that we use, but so do Mormons. Don’t these Tongue groups have a tendecy to also misrepresent the Holy Spirit and his function. What’s makes them so different from the Mormons in that regard?

Now I’m not saying lets go to war and make it clear Charismatics are not Christian. I’m just laying my personal thoughts out there for all to see.

Evan Almighty

Sarah and I check it out last night. Initially I was a bit cautious. The first film, “Bruce Almighty”, was humorous, but sacrilegious content has a tendency to ruin a movie for me turning what most find to be funny into not-funny-at-all for me. After my future father-in-law told me he had heard a few good things about the content and message of the movie my interest was peaked and so Sarah and I checked it out.

First off, this movie is more like a spin-off than a sequel. It still has Morgan Freeman playing “God” but other than that the movie doesn’t really match up with “Bruce Almighty”. And second, I had a hard time finding sacrilegious content at all. Sure there was off or inaccurate comments being made about God but looking at it from the angle of people who know little-to-nothing about church their comments were probably what most un-churched Americans would say. In fact, that was an awesome point in the movie. The movie had a good bit of dialogue where “God” (Morgan Freeman) would correct misconceptions about himself and they were actually Biblical (Hollywood actually got something right about God!). There are also some awesome parallels drawn between Noah and faith, truly trusting God, through asking the question, “what if Noah was here today and was asked to build the ark?”.

I don’t want to provide any spoilers here for the movie, but this movie would be awesome to take un-churched friends and you should be prepared to explore some of the misconceptions about who God really is. This movie would also be ideal for the person who claims they’re a believer but doesn’t really trust God. The movie won’t answer any of these questions for you and it will only explore these things to a small degree but it certainly opens the door pretty widely for you to have the kind of conversations people need to hear and people need to be having.

Rolling Stone

So my car is being worked on, nothing special, just an oil change and inspection, and I decided to pick up a magazine to pass the time. I saw Johnny Depp on the cover on an issue of Rolling Stone, expecting to read something interesting about Pirates of the Caribbean 3.

Now, I haven’t picked up a copy of Rolling Stone in over 10 years and even then I really don’t remember what the content was about, I’ve never had much interest in reading magazines, but I was rather shocked by its content. I saw women scandalously dressed, pro-legalizing marijuana content, vulgar language, etc. As I flipped the pages two things came to mind: this was like an R-rated movie where graphic content rarely skipped a page and the writers of Rolling Stone have a nasty hatred of George W. Bush.

I picked up a second copy of Rolling Stone and discovered the exact same content.

This was a bit distressing. It was distressing because someone had the freedom and say and show these things, but rather it had become acceptable to use the freedom we have in our country to see these things as acceptable content. It is good that we have the freedom to state what we’re against and what we’re for, but something about the content in Rolling Stone struck a nerve with me. I had a hard time believing that the writers were striving for what is right and good, but rather they seem to be striving for whatever gratifies them.

How could a believer examine such content and not feel remorse for the human condition and acknowledge the great need for so many to come to know Christ? That so many people groups within our own country who are not being reached. The entertainment/media industry is definitely seems to be lacking in ministry from the church. So many people read and delight in Rolling-stone, and similar content.

I hear the message of the world saying “do whatever feels right to you” and “do whatever makes you feel better about yourself”. I see this voice getting stronger and stronger in the short time I’ve been alive. . .or have I just began to really listen?

The other day Sarah and I were discussing the old Cosby Show, which we both get a kick out of, but such shows are dead today. People won’t sit down and watch them. There’s no violence, no sexual content, no vulgarity and people are not attracted to sitting down and watching something clean and wholesome.

I don’t know where I’m going with this so I’ll step down from my soapbox and leave my thoughts there. . .