But this is not an article about basketball. My experience with UConn basketball over the last 24 hours was a reminder of something fundamental about our faith that I would like to share with you. Upon watching UConn win the national championship, these were my natural reactions:

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 Last week, I was watching an interview by MSNBC’s Martin Bashir with Rob Bell on his new book, Love Wins, and Bashir began the interview by asking Bell point blank, “The tsunami in Japan – which of these is true – either God is all-powerful but he doesn’t care about the people of Japan, or he does care about the people of Japan, but he’s not all-powerful. Which one is it?” Bell danced around the question with his answer, but I am sure that I would have done far worse if I had been asked that question on national television and had only two minutes with which to answer. Not only is the “problem of evil” a question that has challenged philosophers for centuries, but for the majority of people, it is not a philosophical question but a profoundly personal question, a question often filled with despair or rage towards God. Why, God? Why would you allow this devastation in my life? Why did you allow me to be abused? Why did you allow my son to be killed? Why have you allowed this crippling illness in my life? Is it that you just don’t care? Or you’re not powerful enough to stop it? Why, God?
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In my last sermon before I went on vacation, I told the story from Luke 7 about the sinful woman who crashed the Pharisees’ dinner with Jesus and honored Jesus by anointing his feet with her tears when she saw how Simon the Pharisee was publicly shaming Jesus (read Luke 7:36-50 if you have no idea what I’m talking about).  Near the end of that passage, Jesus says “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven– for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”  This incident is just one of many where, in the end, the proud religious man is challenged and the “sinner” is shown love and compassion instead of judgment and condemnation.

 Wouldn’t you know it, on that very day I was preaching came a modern day example that was really intriguing.  It comes out of North Columbus, Ohio, where a church called New Beginnings Ministries exists in the same town as a strip club called the Fox Hole.  According to the local news, the pastor and many from his church have for the past four years been rallying outside the strip club to try to shut it down, preaching at patrons with bullhorns and even taking pictures of license plates in the parking lot and posting them on the church website (you can read about it here). 

On August 8th, however, the strip club turned the tables.  Read more »

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and that you are trusting in the hope of the gospel and the new life we have in Christ as you begin a new year!  I wanted to pass along to you an interesting article I found in the London Times written by Matthew Parris, with the intriguing title, “As an Atheist, I truly believe that Africa needs God,” subtitled “Missionaries, not aid money, are the solution to Africa’s biggest problem – the crushing passivity of the people’s mindset”.  Read more »

 Over the past two months, I preached through a series on the Christian view of Death and the Life after That.  One of the central aspects of that realm according to the Bible is the reality of judgment, that on that last day, Jesus will judge the world, and all that was not for His glory will be destroyed by fire, while all that was for His glory will be refined and survive into the new heavens and new earth.  And part of this judgment is the reality of Hell for those individuals who did not know the judge (see Matthew 7:23, among others).  With that in mind, I want to share two brief videos I came across recently.

 The first is by Penn Jillette of the Las Vegas illusionist duo Penn & Teller.  Read more »

If you read The Hartford Courant on Sunday, you may have seen the front page article about the great struggle it is to feed all the hungry in New Britain.  The article included a great little write-up on Isaiah 58, including a picture of our very own Lori Cordero.  Isaiah 58 is a ministry led by Ray and Linda Labbe of Glastonbury that has been serving hot food and giving out free groceries from their truck (Big Blue) in New Brite Plaza almost every Saturday for over 15 years.  Our church has been privileged to be a part of the Isaiah 58 ministry for many years, supporting them both financially, by giving Christmas gifts to the children, and with volunteers.  Along the way have been some great people who have volunteered regularly, like Terri Baldwin, who was fluent in Polish and able to minister to the large Polish population that would come to eat; Kim Ferrero, who for a time coordinated a clothing ministry to the people who came to Isaiah 58; and Danny & Lori Cordero, who have been helping out for the last sixteen months.

I spoke with Ray today to hear more about the article and to let him know that some churches have contacted us about getting involved with the ministry.  I was shocked to hear him tell me that not all of the response to their ministry has been good.  Apparently, the health department read the article and wasn’t pleased about this little soup kitchen on wheels that has been operating under their noses for over 15 years Read more »

The NewLife blog will be taking a break for at least this week and the next as I adjust to the birth of baby boy Stillman #3 (boy #4 if you count last year’s miscarriage).  The baby is scheduled to land on this planet tomorrow, 08.08.08, probably at 8:08 AM, weighing in at 8 lbs, 8 oz.  Please pray for my wife Michele & I as we attempt to survive a 3 year-old, 1 year-old, and newborn (and church ministry, of course) over the next months!

I will leave you with an interesting link to check out today… apparently the TV reality craze has hit Christianity:  a new show called “Make Me a Christian” is debuting this month over in England (read about it here).  Read more »

“Five weeks to a stress-free you.”  “How to raise great kids.”  “How to prosper financially.”

Not sure if that represents three months worth of sermons at your local evangelical church or adult education courses offered at the local high school?  I’m not sure either these days.

I’ve been posting some thoughts on the seeker-sensitive approach to church ministry over the past few weeks.  One of the hallmarks of this approach is topical preaching designed to speak to “felt needs.”  For example, in a seeker-sensitive church, you’re likely to hear a series on parenting, or managing your money, or dealing with anxiety, with sermons that draw on Biblical wisdom in order to teach you God’s way to raising teens, balancing your budget, or living stress-free.  The goal is to attract people to church by speaking on relevant topics, and then to help people see how the gospel and the way of God is the answer to what they’ve been looking for, better than all the other wisdom out there. 

As a preacher, I’ve struggled with whether or not to adopt this method of preaching.  Read more »

Church.  Marketing.

Two words that should never be in the same sentence, some would say (unless that sentence reads: “the church should never be involved in marketing”).  Marketing the gospel, the argument goes, treating it like another product to be sold, is an affront to God and the ways He builds His kingdom.  Others, however, would disagree, claiming that marketing is an essential part of evangelism, communicating the gospel in a clear and attractive way that brings people into the church and into a relationship with God. 

What do you think?  More importantly, what does God think about the concept of church marketing?
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In the spring of 2006, a church in Indiana named Granger Community Church, in an effort to reach out to their community and promote a sermon series they were calling “PureSex,” had four billboards put up around its community with the image of entwined male and female feet dangling off of a bed with the words mylamesexlife.com below it.  Upon visiting the website, one would watch a brief flash video asking questions surrounding the topic of sex (e.g. “You know that ‘seemed like a good idea at the time’ thing?  Well, was it?”).  At the end of the video, visitors were re-directed to the church website, where they learned more about the upcoming 5-week series, with sermons entitled: “The Greatest Sex You’ll Ever Have” , “The Language of Lust” , “Straight Talk for Men and Women” , “What Happens in Vegas WON’T Stay in Vegas” and “Porn: What’s the Big Deal?”  Along with the billboards, postcards were mailed out to the community and people in the church were encouraged to invite people as well.

The results were stunning:  Read more »

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