Month: January 2020

Hit pause on the name calling

I’ve said elsewhere that the overuse of superlatives (best, worst, greatest, most, etc.) leaves us no room for when something breathtaking comes along. It’s sloppy and it numbs us against experiences worthy of the description. I recognize that these are relative terms that usually refer to a person’s experience up to now, but if a traffic jam or messed up coffee order caused the “worst” day of the week for you, you’ve had a pretty good week. 

A similar thought came to mind this week as I noticed rising rhetoric among SBC influencers regarding who’s a racist and who is a liberal. Some would say I’m unqualified to determine if a thing or person is racist, so I will abstain from doing that. The term can still be overused or unfairly used. Just the frequency of the use might indicate that this is happening. 

Perhaps I’m on safer ground with the term “liberal.” It’s also a relative term and has occasionally had a useful definition. Within the SBC it mostly means someone who cannot honestly affirm the inerrancy of Scripture. I don’t care about the “multiple” definitions of inerrancy or the fact that we don’t possess the autographs; is the Bible true in everything that it affirms, whether science, history or theology? It’s a “yes” or “no” question. You are likely an inerrantist if you can honestly affirm the Baptist Faith & Message 2000. In my modestly informed judgment, you are not a liberal if you can answer “yes” to that question. 

I grew up hearing non-SBC Baptists criticize our denomination for its connections to “liberals.” Granted, our denomination did for years employ some (I can name names) who were not inerrantists, but the criticism of our more independent brothers went beyond this embarrassing truth to connect my pretty conservative church to a less conservative church, or even a liberal member of a conservative church in another state. I, and my church enable liberalism because I, and my church, do not disassociate ourselves with the SBC—because they will not disassociate themselves with a conservative church that has a liberal member—according to this view. 

The election of inerrantists to the president’s office at every SBC entity (completed in 1995) did away with any sense in which this sort of criticism was fair. Some independent Baptists have recognized this and affiliated with the SBC since that time. Once the theological issue was settled in our denomination, the virtues of cooperative missions became clear and appealing to fair-minded critics. 

Some of the current cries of “racism!” and “liberal!” seem indirect in this way to me. Not everyone who disagrees with you or me is a heretic, guys. A few of them are probably correct when they disagree with me. 

Another way that this kind of overblown use of terms appears in the connection between one thing generally accepted to be very bad or very good and another thing that the speaker thinks could turn out that way. Many have suggested that Christians who do not embrace the orthodoxy of the LGBT movement are doing exactly the same thing to Scripture that pro-slavery preachers did to justify that institution. Too many have suggested that anyone who does something they find disappointing is perhaps a Nazi. Positively, a politician invokes Ronald Reagan or Franklin Roosevelt or Abraham Lincoln; a new invention might be prematurely predicted to change your life (even the world). These extremes—like inappropriate name-calling—don’t stand up to scrutiny but they do evoke emotions, very often divisive emotions. 

Yes, some differences within the bounds of polite company and Baptist Faith & Message 2000 are important. But within those parameters, not many things are worth dividing over. Neither are many worth ejecting someone from our fellowship. 

I apologize to you who are only puzzled by what I’m saying (and I congratulate you on avoiding social media). Here’s something for you that applies to this as well: don’t be eager to believe the worst about someone. There are several negative rumors and accusations bouncing around that can be consistently traced back to a handful of sources—self-appointed gadflies and ministers of discernment. You may not know where a rumor started, but it began on the internet with someone you’ve never met. If it fits the negative narrative you favor about another person, think twice before believing it. If it seems too good or bad to be true, pause a moment before passing it along. The people most annoying  to me within our fellowship of Bible-believing people are not necessarily heretics or liberals. 

We may have some disagreements to work out, especially in a culture that throws new challenges at us every day. But we have a better chance of understanding the way forward if we don’t turn the volume up to 11 at the slightest provocation. 

Spiritual and physical fitness go together for 78-year-old Lewis

With her 78th birthday just around the corner, Carole Lewis is completely healed from the double knee replacement surgery she had just one year ago. She’s free from pain, free from medication and free to live each day to the fullest.

“I’ve done strength training, I eat right, exercise and, most importantly, I have learned how to balance my life physically, emotionally and spiritually,” said Lewis, director emeritus of First Place 4 Health, a national Christian weight-loss program that grew out of a ministry that began at Houston’s First Baptist Church.

“I’ve had my share of losses over the years,” she said. “My daughter was killed by a drunk driver on Thanksgiving 17 years ago, my husband passed away from stage four prostate cancer, and we lost everything in a hurricane in 2008. If it had not been for the total health and wellness ministry of First Place, I could be a wreck.”

She believes the church plays a vital role in the overall health and wellness of its church body because, ultimately, they know the truth about what the world should seek first for life fulfillment and peace.

“Matthew 6:33, which is also the First Place founding verse, says: ‘But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.’” That’s the premise of our program and of what living from Christ means; we give Christ first place and we don’t have to worry about all the other stuff.”

Lewis, who was a member of the original First Place group that started back in 1981, speaks at conferences and ministry events on the importance of personal and spiritual balance, fitness, encouragement, and personality and temperament. She has also written 15 books throughout her ministry.

She said churches should be intentional in their health and wellness ministry because anything less than a comprehensive biblical approach to health won’t last.

“If a person is just focused on weight loss and doesn’t deal with the real underlying reasons behind their poor health, it’s like putting a Band-Aid on an open wound,” Lewis said. “The Band-Aid doesn’t do you a lot of good because you didn’t clean it or dress it or do what’s necessary for true healing and restoration.”

Sadly, Lewis said, the body of Christ is missing the mark in many ways.

“At an expo I encountered a man I knew pretty well from the Christian publishing world who weighed I’d guess probably around 350 to 400 pounds,” she said. “I tried to get him to come into our First Place booth. I was able to tell him a little about First Place and he said, ‘Oh well, if I die young, I’ll go live with Jesus.’ The man had basically given up. But the sad reality of his life is that if he doesn’t do something different, death is his best-case scenario. What if he had a stroke and his wife had to take care of him? It’s the quality of their life and their witness that gets lost when Christians don’t take care of themselves.”

Unlike the overweight man, Lewis said she doesn’t want to just survive—she wants to thrive. At nearly 78, she wants to walk upright and stay up on her feet for hours at a time. She wants to haul books to and from speaking engagements because she can—because she’s strong.

“This is the only body we’re going to get,” she said. “And, by the way, it’s not our own—it was bought with a price. Believers should honor God with their bodies.”

And while weight loss is one probable side effect of health and wellness restoration, it’s not the ultimate goal.

“Losing weight is not the problem,” Lewis said. “The problem is that only 5 percent of people keep it off. They’re not willing to change their lifestyles and instead, just see their efforts as a diet or as something temporary. It’s not a diet, it’s a ‘live it.’ We can live this spiritually, emotionally, mentally and physically strong the rest of our lives and glorify God every day.”  

A Healthy Start

She first visited North Richland Hills Baptist Church’s 26 Wellness Center a few months after her husband died, just about the time her loneliness was becoming unbearable.

“I hesitate to use [her] name without her permission … but she tried us out for a couple of weeks and eventually joined,” said Jody Hayes, minister of wellness and sports ministries at NRHBC. “As we got to know her, she mentioned that she had lost her husband and had been struggling with depression. She was on a very limited income and our center’s price point and schedule fit her situation. To make a long story short, she attributed the positive turnaround in her mindset and depression to being able to have a place she could afford to come to each day.”

NRHBC is one of many Southern Baptist churches in Texas that are meeting the health and wellness needs among their congregations and in their communities.

From pick-up basketball, pickle ball and Jazzercise to martial arts, healthy cooking and reflexology, churches are striving to provide enjoyable and affordable self-care ministries for a variety of ages and interests.

For example, Hayes said The 26 Wellness Center (named for its location on Boulevard 26) includes commercially-rated treadmills, elliptical machines, upright and recumbent bikes, resistance machines, a walking track and a full-size basketball court.

“We have thousands of unique entries into the wellness center annually,” Hayes said. “But don’t get the wrong impression. We certainly are not the ‘churchy’ version of some of the big box fitness centers. We are much more limited in space and building footprint than those types of facilities. We are more like a fitness boutique.”

James Clark, senior pastor at First Baptist Church Tomball, said the topic of casual conversation at his church is often health and wellness related—among both old and young church members alike. They don’t see that trend going away any time soon so, over the next couple of years the church is planning to expand its health and wellness offerings beyond just its church walls.

“We try not to let our facility drive what we do, but instead we are about responding to the needs of people when they have them,” Clark said. “Right now we host a large soccer instructional clinic that meets almost nightly on our three fields. In our master planning we want to add bike trails and hiking trails and a larger recreational component with the intent that our park would provide recreational venues that will become an added resource for our community.”

Clark said allowing others to use FBC’s recreational facilities and not remaining the driving force behind everything that goes on has been a great way to serve their church’s vision to “invite people to have a life-changing experience with Jesus one conversation at a time.”

“In everything we do it’s all about creating more and more opportunities for people to have conversations,” Clark said. “It feels simplistic, and yet it really works for us. It helps us jettison the baggage and excess stuff and focus in on the main thing: we want our people inviting people and having those conversations. That’s it.”

O.S. Hawkins, president and CEO of GuideStone Financial Resources, said church-wide health and wellness ministries and initiatives are not only great for congregations and the community overall, they are also beneficial for pastors and church ministry staff.

“Pastors and others in ministry roles are wired to serve others and are more prone to ignore their own needs,” Hawkins said. “When you create an environment that encourages them to care for their own well-being, too, you can’t help but have happier, healthier people. The Bible identifies our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit. When we take proper care of our temples, they are more useful in fulfilling the mission God has called us to complete.”

And while God’s mission is certainly more about meeting a person’s spiritual need for Jesus than meeting any physical or recreational needs, building relationships can take time and weekly sports, health and wellness ministries are a great way for God to use his church to help soften hearts toward him.

Terry Coffee, director of recreation for Parkside Baptist Church’s Recreational Outreach Center in Denison, typically works the evening shifts at the ROC and enjoys getting to know the young men who come in to play pick-up basketball. He remembers one particular night several years ago when one of the young men twisted his ankle and needed an ice pack.

“I gave him some ice and sat with him and he said, ‘Mr. Coffee, I’m worried about this election,’” he said. “It kind of came out of nowhere and I was like, ‘Oh, why’s that?’ He said, ‘There’s just a lot at stake, you know?’ I explained to him how I wasn’t worried at all and that the person God ordains is the person God ordains. I showed him Romans 8 and explained that nothing matters more than where we stand with God and how much we need Jesus. I shared the gospel with him on the sidelines that night and afterwards he said, ‘Why have I never heard this before?’ Those are the moments that make it all worth it.”