Restoring Eden’s ANKLE DEEP IN REALITY Tour Features Christian Leaders from Uganda, South Pacific
LA CENTER, WASH., Oct. 30, 2009 — Christian leaders from Uganda and the South Pacific will talk about impacts of climate change being experienced in their nations, as part of the Ankle Deep in Reality tour in six Midwest and Southeastern states, October 30-November 18, 2009.
The tour, sponsored by the Christian education and advocacy group Restoring Eden (www.restoringeden.org), features Rev. Tafue Molu Lausam, a Christian pastor and activist from the South Pacific island of Tuvalu, and Sara Kaweesa, who works with the Christian conversation group A-Rocha in Kampala, Uganda,
The tour will begin in Chicago on October30 and will include events at Christian colleges, seminaries and churches in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
“The climate change policies of the industrialized nations are destroying innocent people elsewhere in the world, especially in the small low lying island countries in the Pacific,” said Rev. Lusama. “I must carry on this advocacy work to the global church until the world hears and decides on a positive, coherent and meaningful deal for stopping climate change and the tragic impacts that are threatening our very survival.”
Tentative Tour Schedule
Southeastern Tour
Nov. 3 Charleston, SC Church Event
Nov. 4 University of South Carolina
Nov. 5 Charleston Church Event
Nov. 6 Columbia, SC
Nov. 9 Eastern Mennonite Univ., Harrisonburg VA
Nov. 10 Duke Seminary, Durham, NC
Nov. 12 Vineyard church, Raleigh, NC
Nov. 17 Washington, D.C.
Midwestern Tour
Oct. 30t Wheaton College Wheaton, IL
Oct. 31 Goshen College, Goshen, IN
Nov. 1 Christ United Methodist Church, Dayton/Kettering, OH
Nov. 2 Columbus Vineyard, Columbus, OH
Nov. 3 Taylor University, Upland, IN
Nov. 4 Valparaiso College, Valparaiso, IN
Nov. 5 Huntington College, Huntington, IN
Nov. 6 Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI
Nov. 8 Ann Arbor Vineyard,Ann Arbor ,MI
Nov. 9 Notre Dame University, South Bend, IN
Nov. 10 Anderson College, Anderson, IN
Nov. 11 Ashland College, Ashland, OH
Nov. 12 Wilmington College, Wilmington, OH
Rev. Tafue Molu Lusama
Rev. Tafue Molu Lusama is from the island of Tuvalu in the South Pacific, was raised as a Christian, and earned his theology degree in Samoa. He pastored congregations throughout the South Pacific before becoming the program officer for Peace and Justice in 2002. As part of his position, Rev. Lusama studied in Taiwan for a Master of Arts in Religion, where he wrote a thesis on the theological perspectives of climate change. As part of his current advocacy work, Rev. Lusama established the Tuvalu Climate Action Network in 2006. As chairman, he represented Tuvalu in important negotiations in Kenya and Poland. In addition, Rev. Lusama has been appealing to the industrialized countries to consider Tuvalu’s very survival from their daily individual decisions to their political decisions.
Sara Kaweesa
Sara Kaweesa is based in Kampala Uganda, where she leads A-Rocha Uganda Initiative (ARUI), a Christian conservation organization. Sara earned a Masters of Science in Forestry in Vienna, Austria and holds certificates in climate change from outstanding agencies such as Tearfund, UNEP, Oxfam GB, IIED, IPC Denmark and a host of others. Sara travels throughout Uganda and Africa taking the message of creation stewardship to Bible colleges, pastors, elders, church congregations and to local communities in both rural and urban settings. She also works to help local people work as best they can to prepare for and mitigate the damage the changing climate is having upon their survival. Sara is also a lay pastor at the Makerere Full Gospel Church where she serves in the ladies ministry.
Peter Illyn/Restoring Eden
Rev. Peter Illyn is the executive director of Restoring Eden (www.restoringeden.org), a network of people working to become a grassroots movement within the church dedicated to encouraging faithful stewardship of the natural world as a biblical, moral, and wise value.
Raised in South Carolina as a Russian Orthodox, Peter Illyn graduated from Rhema Bible College where he earned credentials as an evangelical minister. He spent nine years serving as a pastor in Foursquare churches in Portland, Oregon and Yakima, Washington. Peter returned to school for an undergraduate degree in marketing. Upon graduation, as a sabbatical, Peter took two llamas on a four-month, 1,000 mile trek through the Cascades, which set the long-distance record for llama packing. According to Peter, “I went into the mountains an evangelical minister, but I came out an environmental activist. I believe God made a good earth and I am called to be a good steward; to protect the fruitfulness and connectedness of creation.” Peter worked as the Northwest representative for the Evangelical Environmental Network and for Target Earth before starting Restoring Eden in 2001. Restoring Eden, Illyn says, makes hearts bigger, hands dirtier, and voices stronger by encouraging Christians to learn to love, serve, and protect God's creation. The organization’s people are involved in nature appreciation, environmental stewardship, and public advocacy.
To interview Tafue Lusama, Sara Kaweesa, or Peter Illyn, contact Debbie Payton at dpayton3@msn.com; (770) 831-7572.
SPEAKERS FROM DEVELOPING WORLD BRING INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE TO CLIMATE CHANGE CONCERN
50 Million Christians--In India
Key Christian leaders in India are reaching their nation, according to the Billion Soul network. In the last 30 years, the Christian population has swelled from less than 24 million to almost 50 million people, at a rate of almost 400,000 new converts per month.
Billion Soul writes:
The Indian Church has some of the most faith-filled people in the world. They have taken ownership of the Great Commission and believe it is possible to finish it in this generation. These leaders have set a goal to plant more than 500,000 churches with more than 100 million people coming to Christ. We are watching before our eyes the emergence of the largest Christian community in the world—in India.
Global Conference for Unreached People Groups to Feature J. Hudson Taylor IV, Philip Jenkins
The Finish Line Conference at Church of God HQ, Oct. 27-28
ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 15, 2009--J. Hudson Taylor IV, great grandson and namesake of the pioneering missionary to China, will head an impressive list of speakers at The Finish Line, a strategic conference on evangelism and church planting to be conducted at the Church of God World Headquarters in Cleveland, Tennessee, October 27-28, 2009. The conference will focus on the networking of church leaders in order to reach the "unreached people groups" throughout the world.
Philip Jenkins, Distinguished Professor of History and Religious Studies at Penn State University and author of The Rise of Global Christianity and The Next Christendom, is a featured speaker. Jenkins has received a great deal of attention for his recent work on the changing face of the church and the explosion of Christianity in the global south.
The conference is the second in The Finish Line series of summits. The first conference, in January 2006, brought together nearly 100 leaders to hear presentations by Elmer Towns, Jack Hayford, James Merritt, and David Mohan. The Finish Line series is guided by a five-point structure for building a strong network worldwide developed by Dr. Paul Walker, former Overseer of the Church of God: relationships, resources, research, recommendations, and reports.
Other presenter at the summit will include:
• Douglas LeRoy, the World Missions Director for Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee
• Suliasi Kurulo, founder of World Harvest Centre in Suva, Fiji
• Raymond Culpepper, General Overseer of Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee
• Alex Abraham, foremost expert on unreached peoples of India
• Alex Mitala, Chairman, New Birth Fellowship (20,000 churches), Kampala, Uganda.
• James O. Davis, Cofounder of Billion Soul Network
• Gustavo Crocker, Eurasia Director of the Church of the Nazarene, Switzerland
• Alexey Ledyaev, founder of New Generation Churches, Riga, Latvia
• David Sobrepeña, founding pastor Word of Hope, Manila, Philippines
This international summit is by invitation only. Candidates should contact the Billion Soul Network at events@Billion.tv
Media Note: To arrange an interview with conference organizers or speakers, contact Debbie Payton of Rooftop MediaWorks at dpayton3@msn.com or (404) 245-8500.
How Can I Say There is No God When All Around Creation Calls
"How can I say there is no God when all around creation calls," sings Brian Doersksen as you view amazing BBC Planet Earth footage in a video produced by The Branch Church in Texas.
Take a break; watch this video on the Flourish Blog. It's a worship experience; a visual and audio illustration of Romans 1:20.
Leading Evangelical Climate Change Critic Apologizes
Global warming denier and the lead evangelical debater on the topic apologized for extreme and distasteful promotional copy printed about his workshop at the Family Research Council Values Voter Summit this weekend.
Rusty Pritchard and I attended the workshop; Rusty writes about Cal Beisner's mea culpa (and his gracious words).
--Jim Jewell
ChildVoice Helps Heal Two Former "Wives" of LRA's Jospehy Kony
Among the previously abducted child mothers at the ChildVoice center in Uganda are two former wives--kidnapped at ages 8 and 10--of LRA leader Josephy Kony. Article on the girls in The Guardian in the UK, and soon on BBC.
Likely the Most Diverse Christian Pastors’ Conference in History
More than 40 Christian leaders and pastors from every continent will teach evangelistic and networking strategies at what certainly must be the most denominationally and internationally diverse pastors’ conference in history: Synergize 2, January 19-21, 2010 in Orlando, Florida.
The speakers represent some 115 million congregation members in their local churches and organizations. The Synergize 2 Pastor Conference presenters will teach on mobilizing leaders, multiplying disciples, and maximizing ministries.
The diversity starts with the co-sponsors: Leon Fontaine of Winnipeg, Canada; James O. Davis of Orlando, Florida; Suliasi Kurulo of Suva, Fiji; and Jonathan Falwell of Lynchburg, Virginia.
Is God Boring? Not so, says James O. Davis in Gutenberg to Google
“The power of the presentation is derived by the person who gives it. If the preacher is boring to the congregation, people will think God is boring.”
From Gutenberg to Google by Dr. James O. Davis
Sinful Preaching? From Gutenberg to Google by James O. Davis
“I have become convinced of what I learned in my first year of seminary, that it is a sin to bore people with the Gospel.” From Gutenberg to Google, by James O. Davis
LifeQwest Still Saving Street Kids in Mongolia
When my wife and I visited Mongolia in 2004 with LifeQwest founders Jerry and Susan Smith, we were shocked by the unimaginable conditions for the homeless and indigent, primarily because of the dangerous cold. We were also greatly impressed by the holistic care that LifeQwest was providing to orphaned, abandoned, and unwanted children in Darhan, in the northern reaches of the country.
I wrote about LifeQwest and Mongolia in Christianity Today:
"It's been a dark time in Mongolia following the change of government and the collapse of the economy," a local Christian pastor told me. "People have had little consideration for each other, so when we demonstrate the love of Christ for others, it is noticeable, and it makes a difference."
In Darhan, 15 youngsters swarm visitors at an apartment as a newly rescued child joins their family of orphans and abandoned children. The bounding children are animated and healthy, and they practice their English on anyone who will listen. They are the residents of one of five children's homes run by LifeQwest. Although the homes are officially full, missionaries never turn away a child whom police have swept from the streets.
Their new sister is a 4-year-old girl with closely cropped hair and an earnest, hopeful look. She didn't know her name, so she received the name Shanea, which means "new." Shanea was with a group of children in the market, an open-air series of fruit and sundry stands in a greasy and cluttered area that looks like the back lot of a factory. Shanea's mother abandoned her.
Fortunately, this group of Mongolian Christians brought her to a place where she will be cared for, nurtured, and loved. There are huge societal ills to cure, but in the lives of rescued children and the efforts of a young national church, the journey to a Mongolian morning has begun.”
The ministry is still going strong. Jerry and Susan report that LifeQwest is still involved in work with orphaned and abandoned children, as well as ministry initiatives that touch the lives of Mongolia's sick and elderly. They tell us that they are now feeding 344 babies and mothers twice daily in six different centers.
--Jim Jewell
reinventing. regularity.
The most important thing you need to know about communicating publicly is that everything has changed while the important matters are entirely the same.
Let me explain.
The ways people receive news and information and the ways they interact have changed substantially, with blinding speed. Fewer and fewer people are reading newspapers and magazines, and not as many are tuning into television and radio. Internet based media are an increasingly popular source, although even those offerings had better be quick. Mail campaigns are emailed. Followers are twitterers and it’s hard to distinguish the leaders. We’re connecting with far more people than we ever have through social networks, and there has never been less community or socialbility.
This impacts many aspects of the work of public relations and communications—what we say and how we say it. Certainly we need to feel the heartbeat of rising generations and learn and use the communications vehicles of the digital age, whether we personally like them or not.
Yet at the same time, timeless communication principles are still at work, and we have to master them and practice them with regularity. The core of a mission is its identity-- who you are, your brand. When it comes to branding, we have to hit mark and communicate it with such clarity that we cannot possibly be misunderstood. We still need to write and speak and project in concise and compelling ways. Content still counts. It’s not as important that you say something everyday—through posts, tweets, status updates, links, and texts—as it is that what you say is important.
For a cause to be widely praised and supported over a long period, you must be known for regularity of your core principles, including:
--Integrity of your program and the veracity of your assertions
--Passion of your people toward the work at hand and the resulting deep, even sacrificial, commitment
--Authentic human drama that captures hearts and minds
At Rooftop, we are prepared to help you with these challenges. We are reinventing all we do to maximize the tools of the day, and we believe this will complement skills and lessons we’ve learned through more than 30 years of public relations service in the Christian community.
Jim Jewell
Organization President Leads ChildVoice with Bicycle Ride to Benefit Rescued Child Soldiers
One of the great horrors of the modern era is the exploitation of children as pawns of war, and specifically the abduction of children to serve as soldiers and to participate in unspeakable savagery. Child Voice International is a great outreach to former child soldiers in Uganda; kids who have been rescued from or escaped the horror, only to face uncertain lives in the shadow of childhood brutality.
Check out ChildVoice. But first consider supporting the founder of the organization, who is leading with his legs! For the second year, ChildVoice president Conrad Mandsager will be riding in the Kancamagus Bicycle Challenge to benefit war affected children on September 12th. The ride is organized and produced by ChildVoice
Although the White Mountains are gorgeous in September with dramatic views, waterfalls and wildlife, this ride is certainly not a one for the faint of heart. Climbing 4300 feet in 64 miles, riders summit the infamous Kancamagus Pass twice on the ride. The difficulty of the ride symbolizes the struggle of children in war-torn Africa and the courage of the former child-soldiers to escape that horror.
Conrad has set a personal goal to raise $10,000 for ChildVoice on this ride. The proceeds from this charity event will go to support the Lukodi Center in northern Uganda, where ChildVoice is operating a residential program for formerly abducted girls and their children.
Conrad recently returned from a trip to the Center. He writes: “I was absolutely amazed by the transformation in the girls during their stay. Their smiles and laughter, their confidence, and the skills they are learning are remarkable evidence of how far they have come in healing from the horrors of their past. While I am excited about our early results, there is so much more to do. There are thousands of girls who desperately need the services that we are providing. Our staff was overwhelmed with the number of girls who applied for the 15 slots that were available in June. Your financial support will help us to reach many more girls and their children who have been traumatized by this long, protracted war.”
If you can help Conrad reach his ride goal of $10,000, go to this web page to make a donation.
By the way, if you are interested in riding on September 12th, it is not too late to sign up for the ride. Register here.
emerge. thrive. create. impact.
Rooftop Linkage
A New Campaign
As we complete summer 2009, we are launching a new campaign to present the spirit and vision of Rooftop, based on the values and passions of many terrific clients we've been privileged to serve over three decades. The central themes:
Emerge
These are tough times for many people. This presents opportunities for the followers of Christ to demonstrate the timeless values and world-changing impact of the Gospel. Rooftop provides communications counsel and service to Christians who are serving where there is great need and defining the nature of comprehensive evangelical witness. Over the years, it has been our pleasure to provide communications services to hundreds of Christian organizations, leaders, events, and causes that are on the front lines of Christian ministry and advocacy. It is our goal to help today’s ministries to emerge from difficulties and obscurity to lead with confidence in the years ahead. 
Thrive
Nobody wants to just get by. We make plans and lay foundations not to survive, but to thrive. That’s why we base our counsel not on getting attention today at the expense of fundamental values but on building brands and program integrity that you can sustain in the long term. We’ve been working in the Christian community for more than 30 years and we understand the need to put first things first and to honor the One through whom all things will indeed thrive. 
Create
We are committed to a partnership with leaders, causes, and organizations who seek not to change culture, but to create new culture. We have never been known for accepting the status quo or seeking the easy solution. As public relations professionals who have created powerful campaigns for some of the most successful ministries of our time, we are equipped to help you create the next initiative that will project Christian truth and authentic faithfulness in the midst of cultural morass. 
Impact
Our clients don’t live to get on television or to multiply Facebook friends. They don’t strive for invitations to the next VIP conference or a nice review in Christianity Today. For them, any of those achievements would be means to an end. Their goal is to transform lives and to impact the world around them. And if media want to talk with them they are most likely to find them nurturing orphans in the huts of northern Mongolia, teaching life skills to the former child soldiers of Uganda, or planting trees to protect Haitian watershed. It gives us pleasure to serve these partners who care more about impact than impression, and more about life-change than lights and action.
MINISTRY VETERANS PROVIDE A GREEN OUTREACH
Environmental Expert and Evangelical Communications Veteran
Team-Up to Launch FLOURISH, A New Creation Care Ministry
ATLANTA, July 24, 2009 — Two veterans of environmental work who also know their way around the church are making progress in the challenge to provide projects and products that are both authentically green and theologically accessible to most evangelical churches and families.
Dr. Rusty Pritchard, former faculty member and co-founder of the Environmental Studies Department at Emory University, and former editor of Creation Care magazine; and Jim Jewell, 30-year management and communications veteran and former chief of staff for Charles Colson, have begun a new organization called FLOURISH to bridge the gap between green concerns and the Christian faith they believe both informs and undergirds these matters.
“We want to provide services, products, and projects that will focus the attention of our churches and Christians in the pews on creation care-- primarily in the context of local ministry and outreach, in the midst of teaching ourselves to love God and love our neighbors,” Pritchard said.
“Many Christians aren’t ready to jump into the arguments about cap-and-trade climate legislation but are reasonably convinced about the need to be involved in the celebration and preservation of God’s creation and the people that depend on it,” Jewell added. “We want to help them.”
Barrett Duke, vice president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, said Pritchard and Jewell “are to be congratulated for their vision of a way to bring all of God's people together in an effort that really does matter, and that finds common ground for us that unites us rather than divides us." [Associated Baptist Press, May 18, 2009]
Already, FLOURISH has conducted a trend-setting symposium on creation care in May. Flourish 2009 surprised many because of its tone, the speaker list, and the connections drawn between environmental stewardship and existing ministries of compassion, outreach, and advocacy. (http://flourishonline.org/flourish-2009-conference/).
Christianity Today editor David Neff wrote that at the 2009 conference “creation care entered a new phase with key pastors, scientists, and thought leaders . . . talking to pastors about how to promote environmental concern in their congregations without creating factions.” [Christianity Today Liveblog, May 17, 2009] This may be a turning point in the shape of evangelical engagement with environmental action,” Neff said.
Among projects planned for FLOURISH are materials that will provide inspiration and ideas for Christians looking to dig deeper on Christian environmental stewardship. The first FLOURISH church curriculum will be published online on August 25 and will be available at www.flourishonline.org at no cost for a limited time.
In addition, the inaugural Flourish magazine is now available at the FLOURISH website, and features articles on “greening the hood” (urban ministry, international missions, evangelism, church-sponsored farms, movie and book reviews, and tips for graceful green living. The Fall issue (out Sept 1) will feature a rare reprint of the article “The Gift of Good Land” by Wendell Berry.
Next month, the organization will announce the location and line-up for its 2010 creation care conference.
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Senior Leadership Bios
Dr. Lowell Pritchard, Jr., president & co-founder, is a resource economist, and since 2006 he has been the National Director of Outreach for the Evangelical Environmental Network. Prior to his role at EEN, he was a full-time faculty member at Emory University in Environmental Studies, a program he helped create in 1999, where he maintains an adjunct affiliation. He has taught courses in natural resource economics, environmental institutions, public health, resource use and management, environmental justice, ecological economics, and environmental decision-making under uncertainty. Dr. Pritchard holds degrees from Duke University (B.S., zoology) and University of Florida (Ph.D., resource economics; M.S., environmental engineering sciences). He serves FLOURISH as the senior policy and program officer and editor of Flourish magazine, overseeing product content and program quality, and speaking and writing on behalf of the organization. rusty@flourishonline.org
James W. Jewell, chief executive officer & co-founder, served as campaign director of the Evangelical Climate Initiative and chief operating officer of the Evangelical Environmental Network. He has been involved in the communications and management of Christian organizations and causes for more than 30 years and he remains the managing partner of Rooftop MediaWorks, a public relations firm serving the Christian community. Jewell was a senior executive with three respected nonprofit organizations – World Vision, Prison Fellowship, and The Trinity Forum – and also has provided public relations direction for dozens of client organizations. He was the chief-of-staff for Charles Colson for more than a decade, and the director of communications for Promise Keepers’ Stand in the Gap in 1997 and Billy Graham’s Amsterdam 2000. He has a B.A. in communications from Biola University and a M.A. in Mass Communications from California State University, Fullerton. He is an adjunct professor of communications at Kennesaw State University (Georgia). He serves Flourish as the senior executive, overseeing fund development, strategic planning, associations and memberships, communications and brand protection. jim@flourishonline.org.
To interview Rusty Pritchard or Jim Jewell, contact Debbie Payton at (404) 245-8500 or dpayton@rooftopmediaworks.com. For more information see www.flourishonline.org.
A Great Resource for Those Preaching about the One Who is Before Gutenberg and After Google.
I just finished a new book on communications by longtime preacher and uber-organizer of Christian meetings, James O. Davis, now president of Second Billion Ministries. Gutenberg to Google, 20 Indispensible Laws of Communication is a lively and interesting discussion of preaching--the calling and craft. From the first page it is clear that Davis is intent on equipping his fellow preachers to avoid a truly dreadful sin: boring the audience.
If you are a preacher or a teacher; or if you just speak publicly (or know or love someone who does), here’s a book you need to pick up. It is a valuable guide with the information of a comprehensive text book, the international sweep of a travelogue, and the personal touch of a biography.
James Davis has titled his new book Gutenberg to Google to illustrate the changes in communication technologies from the mass use of the printing press to the dominance of the computer search engine. He could have call it from Peter to Present or Jerusalem to Jakes or Galatians to Graham or any alliterative reference to the span of time that required good preaching.
This is a book of principles that can be applied to any speech-making , and there are principles here for many disciplines in which people rely on communicating well to be successful.
Davis tells great stories to make his points, and he uses humor where it is helpful. For instance, in bringing to life a particularly bad speaking performance, he writes:
“By the time the presentation ended, I surveyed the crowd and estimated that [of an original crowd of 12,000] perhaps one thousand of us remained. We were scattered so sparsely throughout that great auditorium that a shotgun blast may not have hit two people.”
The pages are full of examples of excellence and the author tastefully decries great speaking blunders. Those of us who have been in the church a long time have heard and seen plenty of both.
For several years I traveled with a great speaker, Chuck Colson, and Chuck applied many of these good principles. He brought them from the political realm, where the consequences of poor speech making are seen at the ballot box. He put them to good effect in bringing many otherwise-resistant people to faith in Christ, and to stab the conscience of many otherwise-comfortable pew sitters.
Clearly James Davis loves good preaching and his enthusiasm for the calling is infectious. He closes with a charge to come to preaching in tune with the Lord and to be clear about your purpose: He writes:
“The best preachers are not “thunder from an empty cloud” but are part of the noblest calling on earth, to draw others into communion with Jesus, the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
You can read a free chapter at www.JamesODavis.org. The book is available for purchase online.
--Jim Jewell
Evangelicals are Alive and Well
Don’t believe what you hear about the decline of the evangelicals.
There isn’t a more potent force in American life and society than active, believing evangelical Christians, marked by their vibrant faith, clear expression of their beliefs, biblically informed habits, and selfless and life-altering ministries. Where can you find these believers? They’re everywhere–in every town; nearly on every block. Their numbers are increasing and their involvement in all aspects of national life and policy is growing and morphing and infiltrating like a viral storm.
Are evangelicals in decline, as posited by Rodney Clapp in Christian Century? He writes:
[Evangelicalism is in] deep trouble because it faces a significant cultural and generational shift. Identifying itself with the wedge tactics of the political right, which is now falling (at least for a time) out of power, the movement cannot easily shake the image of being primarily negative and destructive. Indicators show that it is losing attractiveness not only among unconverted fellow Americans, but among its own young.
More significantly, evangelicalism is in deep trouble because the gospel really is good news, and reactionaries are animated by bad news, by that which they stand against. Undoubtedly Jesus Christ faced and even provoked conflict. But he embraced conflict as a path or means to the health and liberation—the salvation—of the world. And he hoped for salvation even, perhaps especially, for his enemies. If evangelicalism is innately reactionary, then it can follow Christ only by being born again.
Clapp pretends that the evangelical church is the same as the vocal evangelical politic whose public voice has been dominated by its most conservative leaders. As a former senior writer at Christianity Today, he knows better; but the feigned confusion serves his purposes here.
The faithful and vibrant American Christian church that is evangelical in its beliefs, either as defined by Barna or by Gallup is very different from the evangelical politic. While the two configurations align theologically and indeed in some key areas of public concern [Clapp calls them wedge issues], they are very different and the thriving church at worship, at life, and in service transcends and routinely ignores the residents in the White House and on Capitol Hill.
I have learned in 31 years consulting with Christian ministries and causes that while many activists wish that local evangelical churches and their members would be politically active, the vast majority of them are not. Although they vote in high numbers, evangelical Christians are not particularly political and their churches rarely use facilities and services to advance any political positions.
I know this is extremely difficult to believe for people whose understanding of evangelicals comes only from mainstream media, which portray evangelicals as heavily involved in partisan and issue politics.
There are evangelicals who are very active in politics. My wife, Debbie, and I have been quite active in partisan and cause-related political action. But we are the exception, and friends and family often turn to us for readings on the political environment. Our level of political involvement is extremely rare among our church friends and our strongly evangelical families.
The levers of institutional power and notably the microphones and gateways of communication of the evangelical politic have been controlled by politically oriented conservative evangelicals for some time (often to good effect, in my opinion, but certainly not always).
The power of these leaders is waning as they age—many are in the 70s and 80s–and as the next two generations begin to be heard. These new generations are open to many new areas of public concern, and yes they are generally more open to at least a new tone on issues such as gay rights. I agree that if the NAE board was dominated by one generation removed from the present leadership, Rich Cizik would still be working the halls of power for the association.
But to suggest that young evangelicals are politically and socially to the left of their forebears on most issues is wishful thinking by those who would benefit from that shift. It’s much more complex than that, and on abortion, polls show that young evangelicals are more pro-life than their parents.
While young evangelicals are more concerned about the environment than the previous generation, this is hardly a swing to the left. As I have said previously, a green evangelical does not a liberal make.
For a number of years the public relations firm I was with represented Jerry Falwell as public relations counsel. We saw over and over how Falwell was featured and interviewed by mainstream media about topics on which he clearly was not the most qualified evangelical spokesman. Jerry never met a microphone he didn’t love, and media loved to portray him as the face and voice of American evangelicals.
Of course he wasn’t, nor are many of the current common voices of the evangelical politic. But they are presented as such, even as writers such as Clapp portray their declining influence as evangelical decline.
In the recent national survey that found a decline in the number of people who call themselves Christian, the reach of evangelical belief spread. One in three people in the country now consider themselves to be evangelical Christians. But note the following from the study itself (I couldn’t find this in any media reports)–
[The study] “reveals the dimensions of a significant trend in “belief” among the 76 percent of contemporary Americans who identify as Christians. These respondents were specifically asked “Do you identify as a Born Again or Evangelical Christian?” No definition was offered of the terms, which are usually associated with a “personal relationship” with Jesus Christ together with a certain view of salvation, scripture, and missionary work. As the table shows, 45 percent of all American Christians now self-identify in this manner and they account for 34 percent of the total national adult population. What is significant is the recent spread of Evangelicalism well beyond Christians affiliated with those groups that are members of the National Evangelical Association so that millions of Mainliners and Catholics now identify with this trend.”
The CNN story on the study said:
The survey also found that “born-again” or “evangelical” Christianity is on the rise, while the percentage who belong to “mainline” congregations such as the Episcopal or Lutheran churches has fallen. One in three Americans consider themselves evangelical, and the number of people associated with mega-churches has skyrocketed from less than 200,000 in 1990 to more than 8 million in the latest survey.
If there is national evangelical leadership, it has shifted to the megachurches, but it is largely pastoral, not political
Certainly, all is not well. There is work to do on the image of evangelical Christians, as explored by Gabe Lyons and Dave Kinnamen in UnChristian. Their introduction:
Christians are supposed to represent Christ to the world. But according to the latest report card, something has gone terribly wrong. Using descriptions like “hypocritical,” “insensitive,” and “judgmental,” young Americans share an impression of Christians that’s nothing short of . . . unChristian.
Groundbreaking research into the perceptions of sixteen- to twenty-nine-year-olds reveals that Christians have taken several giant steps backward in one of their most important assignments. The surprising details of the study, commissioned by Fermi Project and conducted by The Barna Group, are presented with uncompromising honesty in unChristian.
But those who follow Christianity closely know that the true heartbeat of evangelicalism isn’t behind microphones or plying the halls of Congress. If you pay attention, you hear the heartbeat of evangelicalism:
In the villages of Angola, where Christians involved with Living Waters International have provided clean water to thousands of people in recent years in a country where 56 percent of the people don’t have clear water.
In an abandoned building that now serves as a school and clinic for rescued child soldier girls just north of Gulu, northern Africa, where young woman and their babies born in captivity are given the basic building blocks of new lives they never thought they’d see by a group of Christians operating under the name ChildVoice International.
In a series of gers—round teepee-like structures—in northern Mongolia, where Christians in a group called LifeQwest houses hundreds of orphans that they swept off the brutally frigid streets of Mongolian cities to literally save their lives and give a future vision to children of an ancient people.
In the homes of staggering Atlanta neighborhoods, where Christians in the Charis Community Housing group help families purchase and care for homes in ways that will help them recover from the foreclosure crisis that has hit the inner cities far worse than the cushy suburbs.
In a large churchyard garden in Boise, Idaho, where a retired Christian farmer helps dozens of church volunteers grow fruits and vegetables, “producing and giving away over 20,000 lbs. of produce, feeding approximately 1281 families, representing around 4108 individuals.”
At an unimpressive building on New York Avenue in Washington, D.C., Christians at The Salvation Army’s Harbor Light Center take in down-and-out drug addicts and rather than just getting them off drugs, they get them into a new relationship with Jesus Christ—and the recidivism rates are dramatically better than run of the mill recovery centers.
The heart of American evangelicalism beats in places and ministries such as these, and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of other places in this country and around the world.
We see faithfulness in small group meetings in the homes of millions of Americans that are opening their Bibles and searching together for the way God wants them to live their lives. Yes, the heart beats in worship in churches blanketing the country—most small, 75-200 members, and in some very large. People eschewing an extra hours sleep on Sunday morning to point to their Creator and give praise and to listen to a minister trying to help them in their walk with God.
Don’t believe that evangelicalism is fading. It’s changing to be more relevant to the problems of a new time, just as it has for millennia. And its political power rises and falls and stagnates. But bellicose commentators and lobbyists are not the church, and they never have been. Prescient observers know that. Many just won’t tell you.
--Jim Jewell
News: Conference May be Evangelical Environmental Turning Point
News Release
SURPRISING CAST OF CHRISTIAN SPEAKERS AT FLOURISH
CONFERENCE ON THE CHURCH AND THE ENVIRONMENT
FLOURISH will emphasize biblical teaching, stewardship,
and ministry integration; transcending divisive political issues
ATLANTA, March 22, 2009 – A national gathering of church leaders will focus on the unique opportunities for Christian churches to embrace environmental stewardship.
The Flourish National Church Leaders Conference on Creation Care , will be held at CrossPointe church near Atlanta, May 13-15, 2009.
The conference features a collection of well-known evangelical speakers, most of whom are not associated with the creation care movement, with some speaking on the subject for the first time. Speakers include Southern Baptist leaders Ah Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Seminary, Lifeway’s Ed Stetzer, and former SBC president James Merritt, pastor of the host church. Other speakers: Leroy Barber, Andy Crouch, Margaret Feinberg, Joel Hunter, Jo Anne Lyon, Matthew Sleeth, Chris Seay, Rick McKinley, Gabe Lyons, Tri Robinson, and Ken Wilson (speaker information)
"A new kind of evangelical conversation about God's creation is beginning, and Flourish will be one of the milestones. Those who attend will be on the leading edge of a significant new movement that I believe will, and must, shape the church and our culture for generations to come," said Christianity Today International vice president Andy Crouch, author of Culture Making.
A recent Barna poll indicates that 90 percent of evangelicals in America would like to see Christians do more to care for God’s creation. At the same time, 74 percent are skeptical about the causes of global warming and suspect media exaggeration. The poll showed that most don’t know what to do next to advance responsible environmental stewardship. The FLOURISH conference will include workshops and resources that focus on helping churches with programs and materials for the teaching and demonstration of biblically balanced care for the environment, and help on saving energy costs.
The first national gathering of its kind, the Flourish conference will include three major areas of concentration that organizers believe are necessary for the church to have a robust Gospel-witness in the 21st century: 1. Creation care in theology, worship, and evangelism; 2. The greening of church operations, and 3. Personal discipleship.
Media Note: For more information, or to interview any of the conference speakers or Flourish leaders, contact Debbie Payton at (404) 245-8500; email: dpayton@rooftopmediaworks.com.
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Creative Wisdom for New and Enduring Challenges
Rooftop has completed work on a two year project and is now exploring new client opportunities. Let us tell you a little about our firm.
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We focus on people and organizations that are involved in making a difference in our world through programs and products—those who are dealing with things that really matter.
These are challenging times, with many opportunities for the followers of Christ to demonstrate the timeless values and world-changing impact of the Gospel. Rooftop MediaWorks provides communications counsel and service to Christians who are meeting the challenges of these times.
We can help. We help evangelicals who are serving where there is great need and who are defining the nature of comprehensive evangelical witness. Over the years, it has been our pleasure to provide communications services to hundreds of Christian organizations, leaders, events, and causes that are on the front lines of Christian ministry and advocacy. After providing communications counsel in the Christian community for more than 30 years, we have the expertise necessary to provide creative wisdom for new and enduring challenges.
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There is more information on the Rooftop MediaWorks website.
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Jim Jewell
Debbie Payton
Greening the Hood
Mission Year president Leroy Barber of in-town Atlanta has an interesting take on the importance of healthier environments in urban settings. See his blog post on “greening the hood.”
Letter from Heaven; Good-bye to Millard Fuller
Yesterday I received a letter from heaven, and while it certainly seemed odd, it was the news that an old friend had died that shocked and saddened me. I am grieving for the dear wife and family of a truly great man.
Millard Fuller, the founder of Habitat for Humanity and the Fuller Center for Housing, died Feb. 3 at the age of 74. It appears it was a heart attack, which was a surprise for a razor thin man of drive and energy. I didn’t see any news stories on his passing; perhaps you didn’t either.
I had sent Millard a letter about the new ministry we’re involved in called Flourish, an effort to energize Christian churches around the right priorities of creation care. He received my letter on January 27 and dictated a gracious response (remember when people routinely exchanged letters; how quaint). His secretary transcribed the letter and mailed it to me on February 5, with the notation: “dictated by Mr. Fuller and transcribed after his death.”
Our firm, Rooftop MediaWorks, worked with Millard and Linda Fuller soon after a late-in-life crisis, when Millard was forced out of his position as the leader of Habitat, the organization he and Linda had begun, by the board he had chosen. [When you spend much of your life in the public relations business, as I have, you often meet people at times of crisis.]
It was an ugly parting, and I first talked with Millard about it when I wrote a news piece for Christianity Today on the separation. My research left me troubled by the board’s rough treatment of Millard, so when I saw that he and Linda were continuing the ministry of providing low cost housing through a new organization, the Fuller Center for Housing, we offered to provide public relations services—which we did for the next several months, introducing the new group to the world.
When I learned yesterday of Millard’s passing in this odd and unexpected way, my first thought was that when he was pushed out of Habitat at the age of 70 he should have stepped back and enjoyed his accomplishments and bounced some grandkids on his knee. Maybe that would have prolonged his life. But instead he chose to continue serving people who suffered because of substandard housing. He believed in serving his God and his neighbors in this way, which he called the Theology of the Hammer.”
So Millard died, figuratively, with a hammer in his hand, and although his life could have been longer, I doubt that it could have been much richer.
People like Millard Fuller are great not because they are flawless or all-wise. Great people like Millard Fuller do great things by challenging themselves to do ever more, by motivating everyone in their path, and by trusting in a Greater God.
We owe Millard much and we do well to emulate him. At very least, in his honor we should pick up a hammer this year and help some folks who cannot help themselves.
--Jim Jewell