An Untidy Faith: New from Kate Boyd

Kate Boyd is one of my travel buddies. We've been to Kenya, the UK (photo of us at Dover Castle below), Italy, and Mexico together. And she's the author of An Untidy Faith (Herald Press, April 2023)—which launches today! The host of the Happy & Holy podcast and a seminary student, Kate helps weary and wounded Christians rebuild their relationship with Scripture and community and to love God and their neighbors with their whole selves.

In the wake of scandal, culture wars, and abuse, many Christians wonder whether the North American church is redeemable—and if not, whether they should even stay. While many are answering "no" to those questions, An Untidy Faith is for those who long to disentangle their faith from all the cultural baggage and recapture the joy of following Jesus.

Through personal anecdotes, encounters with the global church (some of which we experienced together), deep dives into Scripture, and helpful historical context about Christianity, An Untidy Faith takes readers on two journeys. The first journey lays out the grand vision of Christianity and the legacy passed on to us by the early believers in hopes of renewing readers' belief in the church writ large. The second journey helps believers understand why they feel distant from their church settings and provides a reorientation drawn from Scripture of God's vision for community.

A gentle companion, Kate Boyd walks alongside those who have questions but can't ask them for fear of being labeled by or cast out of their communities. An Untidy Faith is a guidebook for those who want to be equipped with practices to rebuild their faith and shape their communities to look more like Jesus. Here's Kate in her own words:

Q: What gave you the idea to write An Untidy Faith?

Over the last few years, I have noticed an uptick in the Christian community of conversations around “deconstruction.” In listening to those conversations, I realized that there was a segment of the population who are working through their beliefs that did not seem to be represented. Most were talking about their deconversions or how people shouldn’t be deconstructing at all, but there were people like me who had walked through a season of renovating belief and practice while still remaining committed to Jesus. As more and more people were beginning to ask questions because of the many scandals and idols within white American evangelicalism that have been revealed over the last few years, I realized that because I had walked through this journey before that I may be able to create a space to meet those like me there and provide guidance to the way of Jesus and a bigger faith full of joy.

Q: Who will benefit from reading An Untidy Faith?

My initial audience tends to be people like me—millennials raised as evangelicals. However, as I have been gathering a community and writing the book, I have found that as often as someone in their 30s or 40s resonate with these topics, I also find those from older generations who are walking through the same journey now or trying to understand their children’s current journeys. While I also am generally focused on lay people, I think it will also be a helpful tool for church leaders to understand the mind and desires of those who are deconstructing or disentangling their faith.

Q: Why do you think this book is important for right now?

An Untidy Faith is important for this moment because deconstruction is not going away, and we have reached a point where many who were tearing down parts of their faith are looking for a way to rebuild a faith that is holistic, authentic, and joyful. Many lack the vocabulary or resources to go about creating a new theology and practice that connects to global and historic Christianity while existing in their current context. An Untidy Faith connects the readers to stories from the global church and examines some of today’s most relevant topics to provide a way for rebuilding and reshaping ideas about them in order to live out a faith that looks more like Jesus and that works for every time, place, and people.

Q: What are some of the topics An Untidy Faith covers?

An Untidy Faith covers a wide range of topics with intention. I wanted to help people process by example and provide information related to the topics that are being widely discussed today. The book then covers how to adjust one’s relationship with the Bible, the relationship between righteousness and justice and what that means for how we love our neighbors, the ways we have misused and misunderstood the Kingdom of God, how the end of the world is discussed in the Bible and how it changes how we relate to all of creation, what to look for in leaders and discipleship that lead to healthy and whole disciples, and reframing the work of evangelism and missions in today’s world.

Q: Which chapter did you most enjoy writing and why? 

My favorite chapter in the book is chapter 11, “In Spirit and In Truth.” I think this may be my favorite because it draws on themes very close to my heart as to how we view the purpose of church and how we frame worship. In some ways, I think it is at the heart of all the other topics—how our entire lives fit together in worshipping God every moment of every day. Situating worship within the context of all we do rather than in a few hours we spend per week has changed how I approach all of my life as a follower of Jesus. I think it is one of the most impactful ideas to grasp for the church writ large today.

Q: What do you want readers to take away from An Untidy Faith? 

At the end of An Untidy Faith, I hope that readers find the permission they seek to ask questions, rework big ideas, and find joy again in their walk with Jesus. I also hope they find new processes and perspectives for engaging with those questions and finding their feet in their faith again. Most of all, I hope they walk away seeing that Jesus is better, and walking in his way is how we give hope to the world.

As Kate and I have traveled, we have often joked in litotes—or massive understatement. If we eat an awesome bowl of sticky toffee pudding or see a view of the English Channel on a gorgeous day, we'll say, "This does not suck." So here is an endorsement of her book: This does not suck! (Also, what Kaitlyn Schiess said in the banner ad above. It’s a much needed work.)

Want more from Kate? Find her here:

Website: kateboyd.co

Instagram: @kateboyd.co

Twitter: @thekateboyd

Untidy Faith Newsletter: kateboyd.co/newsletter

Podcast: kateboyd.co/podcast

Why Churches Should NOT Drop Online Services

So, Tish Harrison Warren has a regular column now in the New York Times. And I subscribed, because I generally like her work. Plus, I love that the Times has a regular columnist who shamelessly adheres to the Apostle’s Creed. But this week, I had serious issues with her words. The title says it all: Why Churches Should Drop Their Online Services. 

That felt super ableist to me. And the article itself didn't get any better.

Before I go further, let me back up and remind my readers that an entire section of my web site is devoted to life in the body. I'm all about embodied living. The five senses. In-person gatherings and long conversations over food. True face time over FaceBook FaceTime. So given the choice, I usually opt for real embodied presence vs. Zoom. And yet, I still had serious issues with the piece—so much so that after reading, I wondered, “Am I over-reacting?”

I shot a link to the article with a message to my friend Lacie, who describes herself in this post as an amputee. And I asked her, “Does this feel ableist to you?” 

Here’s her reply: 

"Of the most egregious kind. It hurt my stomach to read. It’s wrapped in language that exalts the importance of embodiment…but only the needs of the healthy body matter. 

"I can see where she’s coming from. Getting people back into pews after they’ve felt the comfort of learning/connecting from home must feel daunting for pastors. But disconnecting disabled people to motivate the able-bodied is not the way to do it. 

"She outright says it’s fine to cut us out, then adds that someone should be visiting us. Come on. Looking back to how things were done before the internet and not seeing the beauty of how the internet has connected those of us who were previously disenfranchised feels like a stone-age thought process. 

"The church has adapted and changed how we connect with one another in a myriad of ways throughout historical events and varying cultures. COVID has given us the impetus to broaden the way we do church. It’s given us the gift of worshipping across cities and states and global lines. My kids attended their grandparents' Sunday school lessons for the past year. What a gift! 

"Disabled people know the feeling of being cut off from society. We face it with the phone calls we make to venues before going out to eat to see if the Google recommendation that says it’s ADA friendly is actually true or if there is a four-inch ledge at the front door. We face it when we’re unseen entirely in a store needing assistance or told by someone with a big cart to simply get out of the way. We face it when the sign outside our church says “Have children? Park in the west lot. Need handicapped entrance?  Park in the east lot.” [Lacie has two kids.] My car was broken into two weeks ago, and the only thing stolen was my “handicapped” placard. All these things have happened to me. 

"Warren’s proposal to remedy poor church attendance by cutting off virtual attendance says we don’t matter. Again. And to use embodiment as the reason is so tone deaf. The number of people already disabled or traumatized or homebound added to the increasing number of people dealing with the effects of long-COVID should tell us that now is definitely not the time to disconnect them from the body of Christ."

COVID-19: A sign of the last days?

Image: 

“State Public Health Laboratory in Exton Tests for COVID-19”

 by Governor Tom Wolfe (CC BY)

The entire world is shut down in various forms. Never since Noah’s flood has the whole globe at one time endured the same catastrophe. So, publishers are seeing a spike in sales of books about the end times. And people are asking: Does COVID-19 signal the end is near?  

As it turns out, before all eyes turned to Wuhan, LifeWay Research already had questions in mind about the last days. So, they surveyed 1,000 people from two groups: evangelical pastors and historically Black denominational pastors. Between January 24 and February 11, 2020, Lifeway asked some questions about these pastors’ perceptions. And the results revealed that even before everyone’s least favorite pandemic, a lot of pastors in the USA felt that current events indicate Jesus’s return is imminent.

• 88 percent saw at least some current events matching those Jesus said would occur shortly before He returns

• 70 percent saw the modern rebirth of the state of Israel and the regathering of millions of Jewish people as fulfilling biblical prophecies

•  39 percent saw the establishment of the United States embassy in Jerusalem as a sign of the End Times 

My colleague, theologian Darrell Bock, said this in response: “When we look at pestilences and plagues and how they function in Scripture, what we see is that God doesn’t always use them with a specific signature to explain why He is doing it. Rather, He uses them as a reminder to us of our need for Him, our dependence upon Him, the fact that we are mortal and don’t control what is going on around us, that we need to pursue a relationship with Him and be aware of what He asks of us as human beings made in His image.” Bock added that he thinks if Lifeway were to redo the survey today, the numbers would be even higher. And a Youtube search supports his hunch. A video of pastor David Jeremiah talking about Covid-19 and the end times has garnered 1.8 million views. 

The Bible does not say specifically that in the last days we will have a global pandemic. It does, however, in 2 Timothy 3, list the following as being among the signs:

People will …

• Love their own selves. 

  • Might that include fighting for the right to keep our faces unmasked vs. showing deference in love?

  • Might that include fighting for the right to gather with more than “two or more” in His name when such actions are at the very least perceived to put others at risk? 

  • Be covetous.

    • Might that include hoarding rather than sharing toilet paper, meat, and cleaning supplies? 

    • Boast and be proud, be false accusers.

      • Might that include asserting we know more than all the experts? And/or posting and forwarding conspiracy theories, thereby adding to the slander of people at the center of them when we have no way to verify their guilt or innocence—and even if doing so makes people wonder if our belief in the resurrection is equally lacking in investigative rigor?  

      • Might that include slandering “the media,” as if all journalist are liars? 

      • Be unthankful.

        • Might that include “I know I have a full pantry and a job, but…” 

        • Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. 

          • Might that include worship of a god in our own image whom we believe is always on America’s side? 

Events in our world are prompting people to reflect on their mortality. Surveys show it. Book sales show it. Youtube shows it. The trauma of COVID-19 is making many consider their lives in light of eternity. Yet many who name the name of Christ, rather than seeing in this pandemic the need to stay laser-focused on the gospel—reaching out across the world in word and deed—are sacrificing our credibility on less-important conversations, some of which call into question our commitment to love and/or sound thinking. If our insistence on our rights is louder than our commitment to self-sacrifice for the sake of love, maybe our beliefs are more rooted in the U.S. Constitution than in scripture.

Perhaps, based on what we find in 2 Timothy, we are indeed seeing indications that the end is near. But those indications don’t actually include the virus.  

Women with a Past?

Recently, I was a featured guest on the Journeywoman podcast. The topic was women in the Bible with a past. But in this case, they had a clean past but got labeled otherwise. Have a listen.

Abuse: Rise Up, Church!

Today I have a guest writer whose story you need to hear: 

<<I'm not even sure if the Hebrew is correct.But it doesn't matter.It means something to me.This is where girls would have scars from cutting themselves in attempts to escape the pain of abuse. But by the grace of God, and by His grace alone, my wrist doesn't have cuts. It says “Daughter of the King.”There have been a few accounts and testimonies of abuse circling around social media lately, including the Larry Nassar case and sexual assault on campus in my hometown. And I want to help raise awareness for the sake of many victims and survivors of abuse who are being driven out of our churches.My mom worked in the sex industry. I have seen, heard, and experienced just about every type of abuse. That kind of life was my norm. People who know me wouldn't be able to imagine my connection to abuse if I didn't talk about it, because my scars are invisible. It is a cycle that I was brought into and a cycle that my children are now fighting to escape from.Why am I talking about abuse? Because 1 in every 3 women have experienced it. Just a few years ago, that number was 1 in every 4. In the church, if 60% are women, that means the statistic applies to 20% of the congregation. Standing on the pulpit, scan the room, section off 1/5 of the audience. There. That's how many. Yet, we don't talk about abuse.(If it is difficult to grasp the concept, replace the word “abuse” with “bullying.”)This sin is one of those that fester in darkness because nobody talks about it. Nobody wants to talk about it. Certainly not the perpetrators. And not the victims, because it feels shameful. And the bystanders? Their tendency is to sweep the issue under the rug, because it is simply too uncomfortable of a conversation. Some days, it is easier to put a Band-Aid on a gaping hole and call it a day, while the wounds turn into infections; and before long, you'd have to sever the entire limb. The victims are the ones walking around limbless. And sometimes, the church is the one holding the saw.You may think for those in the church the incidence is a lot lower. Perhaps. However, abuse sees no socio-economic class, no race, no education level, no position or profession. It happens everywhere. Even at the seminary I attend. Even to the neighbors living next door or the people sitting next to us at church. The truth is, the more affluent a church is, the more likely it is to present a façade, and the easier it is to cover up abuse—or simply, minimize it.I have been conditioned to always assess situations and environments by how safe I feel before I step into them. And I thought church was supposed to be safe.You didn't get bloodied or bruised up, they'd say.Sometimes, I wish that the wounds were more visible. At least in that way, something can be done. But the pain gnaws at my bones. Cutting marks are just minor surface scratches compared with what agonizes inside abused victims, so that they feel and see that pain. No medicine can heal the invisible wounds.You must have done something to cause it, they'd say.They put me on trial as the instigator for my own abuse. I learned to blame myself. I learned to suppress my pain. I leaned to avoid and distrust people. It affects every. single. relationship I have, and every. single. relationship that I will ever have, even my relationship with my Heavenly Father.Forgive, turn the other cheek, and carry the cross, like Jesus did, they'd say.The “peacemakers” who said such things also became my oppressors. They kept me from speaking up and getting help. I shrunk until I was no more. They silenced my voice. Perhaps God wants me dead as well. Does He?Now I serve at a safe house for women who have gone through all sorts of abuse. As I spent time with them, I was reminded of the verses in Ecclesiastes 4:1-3:

So I again considered all the oppression that continually occurs on earth.

This is what I saw:

The oppressed were in tears, but no one was comforting them;

no one delivers them from the power of their oppressors.

So I considered those who are dead and gone

more fortunate than those who are still alive.

But better than both is the one who has not been born

and has not seen the evil things that are done on earth.

Then the passage ends with this (v. 12):

Although an assailant may overpower one person,

two can withstand him.

Moreover, a three-stranded cord is not quickly broken.

Yet, we stand alone, facing our silent nightmares, with nowhere to turn, nobody to run to. Where are the “three-stranded cords?”Coming to seminary had been the highlight of my life. Sitting there in chapel on preview day, as I scanned the room, I saw the future of ministry, of God's kingdom. I saw my comrades with whom I will be fighting, pushing back the perpetrating, oppressing evil. I saw leaders who can bring change into churches for people on the fringes of society.Brothers and sisters, rise up and defend the body. When one part of the body is hurt, let’s rise to protect and nurture it. The church depends on you to stand as a wall of defense against the onslaught.  The church depends on you to speak life, wisdom, and compassion into the broken. The church depends on you to raise up a generation of men and women, boys and girls, who won't tolerate abuse and being abused, a generation that will take actions to prevent it.What can you do?

• Educate yourself on the issue.

• Bring in trained organizations to educate the congregation.

• Learn the red flags.

What do you avoid?

• Secrecy and cover-ups for the perpetrator

• Being advisers and counselors without training on this issue

• Trying to restore relationships using standard practices

Let's face it. Untrained church leaders trying to handle these situations are like those would would try to repair an engine without understanding how it works.Genesis and The Family Place are Dallas agencies with trained staff and resources. They'd even send out advocates upon request to educate the public on the issue. Most cities have such organizations.The legal system fails to protect the abused. Many cases are unreported or dismissed. Victims are trapped in this never-ending cycle.Can we find true sanctuary with the church?* * *I was born in Taiwan, grew up in a boarding school in Singapore, and moved to Texas in middle school. My home life had always been very unstable. I was surrounded by all sorts of abuse imaginable. With no parental figures growing up, I started adulting before I was a teenager.In high school, I lost my identity. I did not want to be associated with the abusive family that I was born into. I did not want that blood to run in my body. I wanted to scrub myself clean. That was when a wise woman guided me to realize that I can have a new life in Christ.But my home life did not improve. In fact, I went from my abusive home into an abusive marriage; thus, the cycle continued. After two children, things got worse, and I found myself alone, hospitalized, facing a divorce and a shattered home. In my utter brokenness, God showed Himself to me, healed me, and began to put the broken pieces together. He began to shape my identity in Him.Journeying with Him brought many abused women into my sphere of influence. From speaking engagements to magazine articles to Bible studies at the safe houses, I was led to become an advocate for women and children who are victims of abuse.Currently, I am a student at Dallas Theological Seminary studying theology. I burn with a passion to use the story of God’s redemption through my life and experiences to inspire and empower other women through their situations, knowing that God gave us an identity, not as abused victims, but as Daughters of the King. —Michelle

How the Tamar Narrative Functions in the Judah and Joseph Narratives

I'm happy to have Carolyn Custis James as my guest today. In Vindicating the Vixens, she contributed the chapter on Tamar. In November she served on a panel of contributors who talked about narrative analysis at the national meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in Providence, Rhode Island. Here are some quotes from her remarks: [In the Genesis narrative] just as the Joseph story reaches a fever pitch and readers are on the edge of their seats, instead of following Joseph into Egypt, the narrator follows Judah away from his family into Canaanite territory and into a salacious R-rated story involving prostitution with his daughter-in-law Tamar. From a literary perspective, the narrator’s choice seems counterproductive. From a pastoral perspective, this sordid story is problematic, unsuitable for a G audience, and devoid of any spiritual value. Pastors often skip it....Far from being a literary gaffe, the narrator’s decision to include this “enigmatic” episode is strategic;  Genesis 38 is actually the hinge that holds the Joseph story together. It bridges Jacob’s destructive favoritism and the searing father wound Judah suffers with the climactic meeting between Judah and Joseph in Egypt where warring brothers finally make peace.Here are a few suggestions for pastors to connect this ancient story with twenty-first century congregants:

• God’s love for the unloved and his power to rescue, redeem, and radically transform prodigals

  1. The power of wounds to destroy or make us.

  2. God calls his daughters to be bold agents for his purposes

  3. The self-sacrificing brand of masculinity the gospel produces and Judah ultimately embodies.

  4. In the current #MeToo epidemic, Tamar’s story gives pastors a call to courageously engage domestic abuse, human trafficking, sexual assault, and violence against women. This is a #MeToo chapter.

Listen to Carolyn talk about this story on KCBI radio.

Interview with a Charlotte Pastor/Author

I'm happy to have as my guest today pastor/author Winn Collier, whose writing I love. His latest project is an epistolary novel—that is, a story told through the medium of letters written by one or more of the characters. It’s titled Love Big, Be Well: Letters to a Small-Town Church.

SG: Did you have in mind any specific congregations as you wrote?

Winn: I carried all the people and churches I’ve been part of my entire life. And of course, All Souls Charlottesville, the people I serve now, is so interwoven with my life that they are always with me.

SG: Charlottesville has been at the epicenter of America’s culture wars in recent months. How has your church continued to be a voice of hope in the midst of such toxic events?

Winn: The Klan rally in July, then the Alt-right rally in August, were horrific. I've never encountered such evil so in my face. And the aftermath is far from over. Although many of the agitators were from outside Charlottesville, the evil messages tore into racial wounds and sins in our town that we've never dealt with properly. My prayer is for genuine repentance and restitution. Through all this, though, my conviction about the unique and subversive way of Jesus and the Kingdom has been radically renewed. The way of Jesus is in some way contrary to (or a corrective of) every other power structure, politic and ideal. To stand with the oppressed while loving the enemy—that's a strange thing. Justice really does need Jesus, and our church is trying to learn how to be people faithful to the strange way of Jesus.

SG: In the letter called “Whiskey and Biscuits,” your Pastor Jonas character speaks a word to anyone who has ever grown weary of the church's liturgy. Jonas views liturgy as a gift: “What a relief it is to know we don't carry this faith alone. Liturgy allows us to affirm truths we might not even believe just yet, or truths we're simply too exhausted to hold up with our own weary prayers.” What did you have in mind when you wrote that?

Winn: Our church sings a song that our worship leader wrote called “Our Salvation is Bound Up Together.” I think our communal existence, the fact that we require one another to live well and whole and that we are all bound up in the life of the Trinity means that as we come together with our bodies and our voices and embody the love of God in our liturgy, grace happens. Sometimes we think that it’s disingenuous to enact things we don’t “feel” at the moment, things that aren’t existentially potent for us. But I think that showing up (in our marriages and our friendships, as with our church) is exactly the sort of thing that makes up what we call faith. It’s doing what we can’t see (or feel) just yet. This is our work. And over the long story, the slow work of the gospel will create and remake and heal.

SG: I’ve appreciated your non-fiction. What made you decide to write a work of fiction this time around?

Winn: A dear friend of ours in Colorado asked if I had any advice for her church that was searching for a pastor. She was on the search team, and she sounded exhausted. I've been on both sides of that search, and it exhausted me just thinking about it. I remembered all the shenanigans that are so often tied up in this song and dance. So after sending her an email that I'm sure was mostly unhelpful, my mind and my pen went to writing a story. And Love Big, Be Well emerged. When I’ve told some folks about the book, they’ve assumed that I was using the medium of fiction as a tangential vehicle to only deliver a message (and I can understand the confusion). I think that would be a disastrous way to have written this book, any fiction really. I don’t know that my story succeeded, but I do know that I’ve tried my best to give it a chance to stand up on its own.

SG: Why did you decide to tell the story through letters?

Winn: Maybe it was partly because the whole thing started with a letter to me, but also because there’s something deeply human about a personal letter, the time it takes to write it, the care that’s given in thinking about the person(s) you’re writing to. I wrote another book called Let God that was reworking some of François Fénelon’s (a 17th century French Bishop) letters to spiritual friends in King Louis’ court. I think I’ve always been fascinated with letters.

SG: What authors have shaped you as a writer or as a pastor?

Winn: Certainly, Wendell Berry, with his fictional town of Port William has given me a wide sense of place and the beauty of ordinariness and the sacramental nature of our common lives. Eugene Peterson has influenced my understanding of ‘pastor’ and ‘church’ more than any other person. Barbara Brown Taylor and Fleming Rutledge are wonderful pastor-theologians who take words seriously. And Will Willimon – he makes my spine straighter whenever I hear him preach.

SG: What is your biggest hope for your book?

Winn: I'd find real satisfaction if people put down Love Big, Be Welland felt a renewed hopefulness. There's a lot of despair and sorrow overwhelming us these days—and for good cause. Yet I believe that hope and goodness are the truer story. I think friendship is truer than our sense of isolation and estrangement. I believe that God’s love is more powerful than all our hatred piled up together. I believe the church, for all our ills, really does—when we're true to who God has made us to be—exist as a community of love, hospitality and healing.

#MeToo: Just Another Trend?

My post for October 24 on the Engage blog at bible.org:

A lot of people think it all started on October 5, 2017, when the New York Times first broke the story accusing Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment. Actually, as far as I know, the real first “Me Too” movement started a decade ago by the African-American activist Tarana Burke. And ten years from now, we’ll probably still need one.But about the recent one… Ten days after the NYT story hit, actress Alyssa Milano tweeted, “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet.”Soon, the #MeToo hashtag took over social media. Twitter alone had more than 500,00 uses. But Facebook had 12 million. Twelve. Million.I almost didn’t put the following post on Facebook. But I mustered the courage to hit “return”:  "So many have been groped, objectified, threatened, stalked, or violated at some point. Me too. And by the time I was 17, five of my friends had been raped—that I knew about. I believe you. #metoo"I went on to explain: In middle school two boys would stand together and daily comment on their assessment of my private body parts; in high school one of my dates drove us (against my will) to a remote place and kissed and groped me repeatedly, tho I told him in no uncertain terms to stop it; a male nurse lifted my blankets to peek at my body after surgery—till a doc in the recovery room who saw it called him out; a wrangler tried to grope me (after groping the two other women with me) while helping us off our horses; a student would not stop sending me inappropriate emails and letters. Etc.I almost didn’t post this to my FB wall, because my experience is way tamer than that of most women. But ultimately I told myself that this is not the Suffering Olympics. Nobody is competing for the worst abuse.I also almost didn’t post it, because women should not have to. But we live in an unideal world.And I had another reason for hesitating. People would think I was looking for sympathy.In the end, I decided to post anyway, for one reason: to normalize speaking up. And to de-normalize the abuse.Some wrote to remind me that God is in control. Amen. I never doubted that. But that was not a reason to remain silent.Some wondered if my post was rooted in bitterness. It wasn’t. But even if it was, that’s not the point.My speaking out, knowing my motives would be misunderstood, like that of many participants, was done to normalize speaking up in a context in which sexual harassment and abuse has been the “normal” it-happens-all-the-time-so-why-fight-it thing.One person told me there was nothing to be ashamed of. And of course that’s true. But I was and am absolutely not ashamed. I did nothing wrong. But even if I was or I did, that’s not the point.Many do feel shame. And that is part of the point of #MeToo. These women often think they are the only ones. Or if they did speak up at the time, people asked what they were wearing when they were violated. Or “were you walking alone”? As if such details forced the hand of their perpetrators, making the women complicit.The more people realize how widespread the problem is, hopefully the more they will believe those who come forward. And hopefully, the more people who have kept secret the wrong done to them can read others calling it wrong, they will recognize that what happened to them is not supposed to be normal.    Some have sought to make #MeToo a liberal vs. conservative thing, pointing to the hypocrisy of Hollywood and liberals. And sure, there’s plenty of that. But Hollywood and liberal politicians have no corner on the market when it comes to hypocrisy. You know who I’m talking about, right?Plus, Bill O’Reilly and Roger Ailes and Woody Allen and Bill Cosby still walk freely. So we have a lot of work left to do.One commenter said girls have to be taught to say no and tell. And that’s true. But boys also have to be taught that they must take responsibility for their actions. And that they can.The Weinstein travesty and #MeToo raises all sorts of issues about legitimate fears of speaking up and the reasons for it. One big reason violated women remain silent is that they risk character defamation, even though what happened wasn’t their fault.Our theology tells us we are all sinners. But we are also responsible for our choices… If we objectify others, if we fund the porn market, if we “banter,” if touch people's private parts without their consent, if we abuse power for sex, if we rape, if we blame others for our sin.... Guys are not helpless. And to suggest they are unable to control themselves on elevators and in alleys is an insult to men.I once walked through a village where a handsome, young man had to bathe in public in a barrel outside his home (he was poor). What did I do? I looked away. And walked away. If I had touched that guy, it would have been fully my fault. Even though he was naked in public. Which is why we must stop asking females who were raped what they were wearing or where they were when it happened. As if that had one whit to do with responsibility for the crime.Those of us who can speak up (and not all can for myriad reasons) have as our goal the normalizing of speaking up vs. allowing people to think that the evil behavior—anything from catcalls to groping to rape to holding women as sex slaves—is normal.Naming what happened for many has been the first acknowledgment of what was done to them, and helped them realize they have no reason for shame. A lot of women did that for the first time because of #MeToo.Many, many women who have spoken up in the past have been ignored. (Of course abuse happens to men; but, fortunately, they are usually believed.) Women are still being slandered. If someone accuses a famous man (and men with fame have more power, so are more difficult to hold accountable), people assume the accusation is fabricated. Rarely it might be. But #MeToo helps us demonstrate how often such abuse happens, so people realize the odds that a woman is telling the truth when she speaks up.Some say the whole #MeToo thing is just another fad, another trend that will change nothing.What if it is? “All sin and are falling short of the glory of God.” That won’t change. We will always have evil with us. But while we live in a devils-filled world that threatens to undo us, we are called to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. We are called to tell the truth in love. So we press on, often repeating and repeating what we’ve done and said before.The one thing we are not responsible for is the result.

Rape Culture Series

Did you catch the series I ran on rape culture? If not, here are links to all the posts.

Part 1: Rape Culture 101

Part 2: Victim-Blaming and “Slut-Shaming”

Part 3: Saying “Yes” Isn’t Enough

Part 4: Consent vs. Non-Consent

Part 5: Rape Doesn’t Just Happen in Dark Alleys

Part 6: Popular Culture and Rape Culture

Part 7: Films and Rape Culture

Part 8: Books and Rape Culture

Part 9: Rape Culture and Language

Part 10: Rape Culture and Government

Part 11: Rape Culture and Our Schools

Part 12: Rape Culture and the Media

Part 13: Rape Culture: It’s Bigger Than We Think

Part 14: Rape: It’s a Weapon

Part 15: Rape Culture: A Sense of Entitlement

Part 16: Rape Culture: Almost Every Woman Has a Story

Part 17: Rape Culture: What Can We Do?

Part 18 of 18: Resources on Rape Culture

“All Saints” Film Spotlights Church of 12 That Aided 65 Refugees

By Michael Foust

When sixty-five refugees from Southeast Asia started attending Michael Spurlock’s tiny church in Smyrna, Tenn., about a decade ago, he welcomed them, even though the struggling congregation was on the verge of closing its doors.Still, a question lingered in his mind: If the church of only twelve members couldn’t pay its own bills, how could it meet the needs of others? The answer, he says, came from heaven.Spurlock was walking through a large field owned by the church one day when he sensed God telling him, “I’ve given you land, and I have sent you farmers from the other side of the world. Get to work.”The solution seemed simple enough. The Karen refugees who fled Myanmar (Burma) had extensive experience in agriculture, and Spurlock’s congregation—All Saints Episcopal Church—had plenty of property. It even was adjacent to a creek. Church members and the Karen people could partner to grow vegetables, which could then feed hungry mouths or be sold to raise revenue.The plan exceeded everyone’s expectations; by the end of the first summer the group harvested twenty thousand pounds of produce.An inspirational movie based on Spurlock’s story releases in theaters today. Called All Saints (PG), the Affirm Films/Provident Films movie also follows the struggle to oppose an order to sell the building and a battle to save the 2010 crop from a once-in-a-century flood.The film stars Emmy and Golden Globe nominee John Corbett (My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Northern Exposure) as Spurlock, and Screen Actors Guild winner Cara Buono (Stranger Things, Mad Men) as Spurlock’s wife, Aimee. Comedian Chonda Pierce also has a role.“What drew me to welcome them was my understanding of Scripture, which commends hospitality to strangers, and helping people in need,” Spurlock said. “I did hesitate, for a moment, because I feared my already vulnerable church didn’t have the resources to really help the Karen, but I couldn’t reconcile myself to turning them away, either. So, I told them that I didn’t know how anything would work out, but for them to come to church and we’d try to figure things out together.”Even though the Karen had extensive experience in agriculture, Spurlock did not. “I didn’t need it,” he said. Yet he quickly learned about planting and harvesting, not only from the refugees but also from the county’s agriculture department.He also faced less resistance from those around him than he expected. “When I began sharing the news that God intended for us to start a farm, I kept thinking someone would bring me back down to earth and tell me I was crazy,” he said. “But everyone, from my congregation’s leadership to my bishop to experts in agriculture kept telling me how exciting this was, and kept asking how they could help.The “only real resistance,” he said, came from “two or three members of the congregation.” They eventually left the church.Spurlock wants moviegoers who watch All Saints to see God’s power at work. “God directed us, provided for us, encouraged us, and in the end salvaged a situation that we were, at one time, prepared to write off as a loss, but God saved us,” he said. “I want people to leave the theater with a renewed sense that God is alive and well, and still working in His world today,” he said."All Saints" is rated PG for thematic elements. Learn more at www.allsaintsmovie.com.

Michael Foust is an award-winning freelance writer and father of four small children. He blogs about parenting at michaelfoust.com.

On Feminism and Evangelicalism

As part of my PhD research, I read Betty Friedan, heard Gloria Steinem in person, and spent a bunch of semesters exploring the history and teachings of feminism. And after I did so, I reached the conclusion that evangelicals in general need to pull back and regroup both in our representations of feminists and in our approach to reaching them.Just as there is not one "Christianity" but many Christianities (e.g., Orthodox, Catholic, Anglo-Catholic, Protestant, Lutheran, Armenian, Calvinist), there are many feminisms (liberal, radical, Marxist, socialist, lesbian, biblical, difference feminists [we are women—viva le difference! from men] and sameness feminists [we’re the same except for biology]), and more.Liberal feminists came out of the Equal Rights Movement. Betty Friedan was one of them. They are interested in equality, not to be confused with sameness. That is, they want the law to quit “seeing gender,” i.e., being biased against one sex or the other in terms of job opportunities, pay, child custody, and property ownership, for example. These feminists were never for unisex bathrooms, though I myself claimed they were in a scathing article I wrote against the ERA in college. I was wrong.Liberal feminism is concerned with attaining economic and political equality within the context of a capitalist society through reforming, improving, and changing existing systems. In Betty Friedan’s book, The Feminine Mystique, she gave voice to women wanting more for themselves than domestic tasks that had been stripped of much of their interesting work (which had long since been shipped off to factories) in such a society. Many Christians describe her as demeaning the vocation of homemaking, but that is not a fair representation. Friedan challenged the misogynistic presuppositions of Freudean psychoanalysis, arguing that women did not envy men’s penises, but rather their opportunities.[i]  A woman should not have to be a homemaker, she felt, if said woman doesn’t want to be one. And if she is one, she should not be told that her children are her entire identity.The number of books sold—three million in its first three years in print[ii]—demonstrated that Friedan had given voice to what many felt.The radical feminists, on the other hand, came out of the Peace Movement. They saw and see so much wrong with materialism/capitalism that they think we will never have equality under the law. Solution? Overhaul society. Radical feminism focuses on patriarchy as the main cause of women’s oppression and operates on the belief that the system is too deeply ingrained and corrupt to modify, so must be radically overthrown. So forget the liberals’ efforts to modify existing laws and work within the system. Radicals want to make noise, shake it up.That's why so many in this group are also big into environmentalism, sometimes Marxism, sometimes socialism, peace, and no nukes. A radical feminist professor of mine said to me, “There is much in Christianity that would oppose materialism too, right?”As the waters of second-wave feminism have receded, numerous puddles have remained, but every resulting feminism challenges some aspect of social, political, or economic structure.The different strains break down as follows:

• Liberal – Individual rather than collective. Seek reform, not revolution. Liberal feminists work within a capitalistic system, laboring to change laws to provide equal opportunities for males and females. A liberal feminist measures progress in the numbers of women and men occupying positions previously considered male-only or female-only. Liberal feminism is the most “mainstream” form of the many feminisms. While socialist feminists focus on collective change and empowerment, liberal feminists focus on individual change and empowerment. Liberal feminists tend to minimize gender differences, not necessarily from a belief that they don’t exist but from a belief that they shouldn’t matter legally.

• Radical – Collective rather than individual. Seeks revolution, not reform. Radical feminists believe the only way to achieve gender equality is to overhaul society. They see male domination of women as the most fundamental form of oppression, and they focus on understanding how men obtain and use power. Because radical feminism shares with socialist feminism the commitment to dramatic social change, radical feminism is often grouped with socialist feminism. Radical feminists view society as patriarchal and believe patriarchy must be transformed on all levels.

• Cultural – A subset of radical feminism is cultural feminism. Cultural feminists maximize gender differences. They tend to stress attributes associated with women's culture (e.g., caring, relationships, interdependence, community), insisting these attributes must be more valued. They reject what they consider unisex thinking in favor of affirming women’s essential femaleness. They tend to de-value virtues typically attributed to men such as domination, autonomy, authority, and independence.

• Socialist feminism – Collective rather than individual. Seek revolution, not reform. Whereas liberal feminists focus on empowering the individual, socialist feminists seek collective change and empowerment. Socialist feminists believe that capitalist societies have fundamental, built-in hierarchies, which result in inequalities. Thus, it's not enough for women individually to rise to powerful positions; instead power must be redistributed. True equality, they believe, will not be achieved without overhauls—especially economic overhauls.

• Marxist or materialist feminism – Collective rather than individual. Seek revolution, not reform. While generally opposed to Socialism, Marxist feminists have much in common with socialist feminists. Marxist feminism is based on Marxist views of labor reform. Like socialist feminists, they believe capitalism is the root of the problem, and power must be redistributed.

• Womanists – The mid-seventies saw the rise of womanism. Womanists emphasize women’s natural contribution to society (used by some in distinction to the term “feminism” and its association with white women). Womanists see race, class, and gender oppression as so interconnected that those who seek to overturn sex and class discrimination without addressing racism are themselves operating out of racism. And they tend to view arguments about whether moms can work as white, middle-class concerns.

Whatever the form, the vast majority of those seeking women’s equality are not man-haters. I heard Gloria Steinem say that one of her greatest frustrations is that she has been accused of being a man-hater, and she is most adamantly not, nor has she ever been. In fact, she said the saddest letters she receives are from male prison inmates empathizing with women who have been raped/oppressed, because they these men are finding themselves victimized behind bars, and they now identify with the suffering.See why I bristle when I hear evangelicals talk about “the feminists”?[i][i] Betty Friedan. The Feminine Mystique. (New York, NY: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1963.  See especially the chapter titled, “The Sexual Solipsism of Sigmund Freud.”[ii] Source: Ben Wattenberg, “The First Measured Century,” PBS.

Responding to Religious Freedom Executive Order

The NEA sent this press release yesterday – The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) commends President Trump for announcing today a policy of protecting and vigorously promoting religious freedom. Religious freedom is a gift from God to people of all faiths and none, and is an indispensable foundation for human flourishing. We are grateful for the extent to which our constitution and laws protect the freedom of all Americans.We welcome the promise, repeated today, that religious organizations will not be required to provide drugs that may act as abortifacients and services that violate their commitment to protect all human life. Now we call on the administration to promptly issue revised regulations and resolve lingering legal disputes over this issue.Most evangelical leaders do not think pastors should endorse political candidates from the pulpit, according to the February Evangelical Leaders Survey. As Leith Anderson, NAE president, said, “Evangelicals emphasize evangelism, and pastors often avoid controversies that might take priority over the gospel message. Most pastors I know don’t want to endorse politicians. They want to focus on teaching the Bible.”While the executive order is a first step, it does not permanently resolve even the issues it addresses. Anything done by executive order can be undone by a future president. Threats to religious freedom in America need to be addressed through legislative action that protects religious liberty for all Americans. We call on President Trump to work with members of Congress to pass legislation that strengthens the rights of all Americans and allows the organizations they form to operate in ways that are consistent with their beliefs.

My Thoughts on Gender

We Talk Different is a podcast on culture, race, ethnicity, gender, politics, and theology. Recently my friend Jurrita and I were featured on the podcast talking about gender and faith and race. You can get the scoop at iTunes.

The "Chrisitanity and Gender" Edition - 3.14.17 - Part II The WTD team wraps up their conversation with Jur… 3/13/2017 Free View in iTunes 7

The "Christianity and Gender" Edition - 3.7.16 - Part I This week the WTD Team brings in the real intelle… 3/6/2017 Free View in iTunes

An interview with a birth-mom who made an adoption plan: Christine Lindsay

November is Adoption Awareness Month. So I'm featuring here an author who has a book that considers all sides of the adoption triad. 

SG:You are a reunited birth-mom—a woman who made an adoption plan for her baby who has met her biological child as an adult. Was the the day you met your birth-daughter a happy one?

Christine: Sadly, no. It was as painful as the day I said goodbye to Sarah as a three-day-old baby in 1979. In fact, more painful. At least on the former day, I was filled with faith that she and I would be reunited one day when she became an adult. For the next twenty years as she grew up as another couple’s child, I prayed for the time when I would see her again. But on that day, Sarah’s mom and dad were extremely upset by my desire to meet the now-adult Sarah. They couldn’t bear the thought of meeting me nor understand why I would want to meet them. In fact her dad was very much against the whole idea of our meeting.This put a lot of pressure on Sarah, and the day we met again, she came across as very distant to me. This broke my heart, taking away all the faith that I had that she and I could develop a close birth-mother/birth-daughter relationship—one different from what she had with her adoptive parents, but special none the less.

SG:So how did you feel about adoption after you met your birth-daughter?

Christine: For the first twenty years after I said goodbye to Sarah, I considered her and her adoptive parents a package deal—something God had put together. I loved them as much as I loved her, and I wanted a relationship with them as much as I wanted a relationship with Sarah. Discovering that they did not feel the same way about me brought back all the emotional pain of the initial decision.As a birth-mom, I was already struggling with the losses of that, and the delicate but subversive ways my psyche had been affected by making an adoption plan for my child—even though I’d made that sacrifice in her best interests. Seeing my grown birth-daughter and all that I had lost, I believe I realized for the first time the full extent of my choice.The emotional pain brought on a clinical depression that lasted two or three years. I began to look at Sarah’s adoption through fractured lenses. All the joy I’d felt about giving my child a better home life than I could have offered her back then dissolved into bitterness. I suddenly felt hood-winked by God, feeling that He had tricked me into giving Sarah up. I thought He obviously gave Sarah to her adoptive parents because He didn’t consider me good enough to raise Sarah. And if I wasn’t good enough to be Sarah’s mother, I must not be good enough for the children I had with my husband.Naturally this wasn’t the truth, but when we are depressed we don’t see things clearly. At that time, I wished I could turn back the clock and keep my baby.Jealousy grew inside me at a frightening rate. There always had been a tiny bit of jealousy that someone else was raising my child, but it grew into a monster. As a Christian I was turned inside out, hating myself for this jealousy, and yet unable to pull myself out of my emotional tailspin.

SG: Do you still feel that way?

Christine: No, thank God. Depression and emotional trauma do not heal overnight, and we often need professional help. I had a great counselor who helped me move on from those destructive emotions and began to search for the real me. So often traumatic experiences stop people from reaching emotional maturity. My husband was also an amazing help, and one day he brought me a new journal and pen, and said, “Here honey, write your story.”Also, through the verse in Isaiah 49:15, 16 I realized that my crazy love for my children (including Sarah) was nothing compared to the immense love God the Father had and has for me. That was the beginning of healing.It took time, but gradually I began to lighten up on Sarah’s adoptive parents and recognize their right to their private life with Sarah. As I filled up on God’s love for me, I was able to love them again the way I first had when Sarah was a baby.

SG:How do you feel about adoption today?

Christine: I beg pregnant women today to consider adoption as an alternative to abortion. It’s a wonderful choice. But if the pregnant woman is able to keep her baby, I wholeheartedly encourage her to do so. I’ll be honest, making an adoption plan for your baby is one of the hardest sacrifices a woman can make. But I have also found that we can turn to God in our greatest need, and He is there with leagues and leagues of comfort and love, and new joys to replace our sorrows. It wasn’t easy for me, but now I can say, that because I truly love Sarah, I cannot imagine her life without her adoptive parents and brothers.

SG:Will your memoir hurt my feelings as a woman who struggled with infertility?

Christine: Since my book braids the stories of not only birth-moms and birth-families, but also that of adoptive moms and dads, I do not believe anyone will be hurt by this book. All the authors in this memoir tell their own stories in their own words, holding nothing back. So, Sarah’s adoptive mom, Anne, tells it like it was as a woman who could not bear children. She also shares openly that having me in Sarah’s life as her birth-mom is still difficult for her. She adds that if she could, she’d rather that I wasn’t in Sarah’s life at all these day, even admitting that this is selfish.I too, share honestly that I was jealous, angry with her, and selfishly thinking only of my own emotions during the years just after I met Sarah as an adult.Sarah, too, shares her journey both as an adoptee and also as a woman hurting over the loss of eight miscarriages. The pain of infertility is well shared in Finding Sarah, Finding Me.Yet while our honesty is brutal at times, it weaves a bright ribbon of hope throughout for those who might be hurting with the issues of infertility and adoption.

SG:How can your book help the various sides in adoption triads?

Christine: Finding Sarah, Finding Me can help:

• Women who are pregnant, unmarried and afraid, if they want to know the emotional truth about making an adoption plan for their baby—that while it hurts immensely, there can be joy. It is my prayer, that this will encourage more women to consider adoption instead of abortion.

• Infertile people will be encouraged to have their voice recognized.

• Adoptive parents will feel affirmed in their mixed emotions regarding the frightening prospect of adoption reunion. This memoir shows various types of reunions—some that went beautifully well and created unique blended families, and others that did not. People are made up of such different emotional stuff. Not all should go down that road.

SG:You're a fiction writer; why write this memoir now?

Christine: My desire to tell my birth-mother story got me started writing in the first place. But the timing wasn’t right after I met Sarah as an adult in 1999. It took seventeen years for the Lord to work on everyone’s heart, to heal old emotional pain, so that the memoir could be published and no one be hurt by it. During those years of healing however, the Lord encourage me to tell my story in Christian fiction, which has won numerous awards.All the spiritual depth of my heartache and depression are in my novels, in the hope of encouraging others. Life is not easy. 

Book info: Sometimes it is only through giving up our hearts that we learn to trust the Lord.Adoption. It’s something that touches one in three people today, a word that will conjure different emotions in those people touched by it. A word that might represent the greatest hope…the greatest question…the greatest sacrifice. But most of all, it’s a word that represents God’s immense love for his people.Join birth mother Christine Lindsay as she shares the heartaches, hopes, and epiphanies of her journey to reunion with the daughter she gave up—and to understanding her true identity in Christ along the way.Through her story and glimpses into the lives of other families in the adoption triad, readers see the beauty of our broken families, broken hearts, and broken dreams when we entrust them to our loving God.Read Chapter One of Finding, Sarah Finding Me: Click HERE

Author info:Christine Lindsay is the author of multi-award-winning Christian fiction with complex emotional and psychological truth. Tales of her Irish ancestors who served in the British Cavalry in Colonial India inspired her multi-award-winning series Twilight of the British Raj, Book 1 Shadowed in Silk, Book 2 Captured by Moonlight, and explosive finale Veiled at Midnight.Christine’s Irish wit and use of setting as a character is evident in her contemporary and historical romances Londonderry Dreaming and Sofi’s Bridge.A writer and speaker, Christine, along her husband, lives on the west coast of Canada, and she has just released her non-fiction book Finding Sarah, Finding Me: A Birthmother’s Story.Drop by Christine’s website www.ChristineLindsay.org or follow her on Amazon on Twitter. Subscribe to her quarterly newsletter, and be her friend on Pinterest , Facebook, and  Goodreads Purchase links:Amazon (Paperback and Kindle)Barnes and Noble

"The Student Body": Do Students’ BMI Tests Do More Harm Than Good?

When Bailey Webber interviewed people for her new documentary, The Student Body, she took a set of bathroom scales with her. And every person with whom she spoke, she asked, “Would you be willing to step on the scales so we can get your BMI?” To a person, they balked. Most ultimately refused, though some reluctantly agreed.A lot of kids in our schools don’t get the choice to decline. And then a letter arrives notifying them that they are too skinny or too fat.In the ground-breaking and excellently produced film she made with her dad, Bailey, a young journalist, tackles the heated topic of childhood obesity and misguided efforts to solve our national childhood obesity epidemic.And just what are those misguided efforts? Lawmakers in dozens of states have passed mandates requiring schools to perform body mass index (BMI) tests on students and then send letters stating their results. Coined the “Fat Letters” by students, these notifications go to kids whose bodies fall outside a narrowly acceptable range, essentially notifying children, even as young as kindergarten age, that they are abnormal. Sometimes the results are devastating.When a determined sixth grader in Ohio voiced her protest against the mandatory weigh-ins and the embarrassing letters, Bailey took up the girl's fight. Bailey's investigation is chronicled in The Student Body, the story of how she and a friend took on law-makers for their fat-shaming. But in it she also explores the broader complexities of childhood obesity.Hosted by The National Eating Disorders Association, the award-winning father/daughter team who made this film have been honored by the National Association of University Women. Michael Webber is a motion-picture producer and renowned documentary filmmaker whose film, The Elephant in the Living Room, I reviewed here in 2011.Although makers of The Student Body acknowledge that obesity is a real national crisis, the Webbers’ stance is that requiring kids to reveal their weight at school in addition to receiving impersonal notifications is cruel and bully-like behavior. Good intentions, perhaps, but horrible execution.Webber does interview those who support the BMI screenings/notifications. But the film is definitely weighted toward those who believe the notifications cause damage.The film has excellent production values, a bit of humor, and it'll inspire your faith in the next generation of journalists. Watch it with a young person and have a great discussion. Look for screenings near you this fall (and in video next year) and check out The Student Body web site. 

A Great Film

Defying the Nazis: The Sharps' War tells the story of a US couple’s courageous private war against the Nazis in 1939.The Sharps, a Unitarian minister and his wife, are two of only five Americans honored as Righteous Among the Nations in Israel's Yad Vashem. You can watch their story online at PBS until October 5 by clicking on the above link.This film is the latest from Ken Burns, known for his style of using archival footage and photographs in documentaries. Defying the Nazis is an incredible story of great personal sacrifice.In this film you will see many similarities to the current social environment in America. How does an unlikely candidate rise quickly to power? How does racism thrive? Why don't people care for refugees? Is national security more important that children's lives? We've been here before.When you finish, read Auden's poem, September 1, 1939. We must love one another or die.

Hope: Amy's and Caleb's Stories

My husband, Gary, is the East Africa field leader for East-West Ministries. About a year ago, I went with him to Kenya, and we had a video/writing team with us. Two of the children in our sponsorship program, Amy and Caleb, shared their stories with the team. And now we can finally share their words with you. We love these kids! Thank you to those who have had a part in alleviating their suffering. You make such a difference! Follow the link above to find out more.

Refugees: An Infographic

Today is World Refugee Day. Will you take a moment to familiarize yourself with some facts? Kenya and Ethiopia, countries where we work, receive an enormous number of refugees.

From Visually.

Can Any Good Thing Come Out of Nazareth?

The depiction from the USA had no Jesus at all.

My column on refugees/immigration ran in DTS Magazine recently: 

Standing in Nazareth's Basilica of the Annunciation, I gazed up at mosaics from all over the world. These works depicted the Virgin Mary with Jesus, and in each case Jesus bore the ethnic identity of the predominate group in the gifting country. That is, the art from Ecuador showed Jesus as Ecuadorian; the work from China, as Chinese; and the one from Thailand, as Thai. The baby Jesus from Slovenia even had red hair.The mosaics’ creators made these localized images to remind viewers that Jesus is “one of us”—which he is. Yet so many artists have depicted Jesus as white for so long with such far-reaching influence that many think of Jesus as white, even if unconsciously.

Taking the Blinders Off

There’s nothing inherently wrong with localized depictions of our Savior. Yet they can blind us to the reality that Jesus was born of a Jewish mother in the Middle East. And in a world of Roman power, he was so deeply Galilean that in the same city where I saw the diverse mosaics, two millennia earlier, Jesus slipped away into the crowd without detection (Luke 4:30).The olive-skinned Jesus knew how it felt to live as an outsider, to be “other.” He spent his first years in Egypt as a refugee who fled infanticide. When he relocated to Nazareth, he doubtless felt the sting of being “one of the new kids in town.” Later, he experienced being homeless. And if that weren’t enough, consider how he probably spoke. At Jesus’s trial in Jerusalem, Peter, another Galilean, heard someone say, “Your accent gives you away” (see Mark 14:66–70).The one who is “one of us” in his humanity was also wholly “other.”

Build Strong Partnerships

Years ago, members of my church took a spring-break trip to a border town, Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. Every night after walking dusty roads with members of our sister church, our team crossed back into the United States, where we had a discount on lodging. But something about the experience made us feel unsettled, so we took Octavio Esqueda (MACE, 2000) with us the following year, and we asked him to help us build a better relationship.At the end of our week together, Octavio did have some suggestions, and our choice to follow them led to a stronger partnership that benefited us all for decades. First, incarnating Christ means “presence,” he said. “So stay on the Mexico side. Otherwise, it feels like you’re ‘fleeing to safety’ every night.” Second, instead of scheduling the trip for spring break—the most convenient time for us—he advised going over Christmas.True, that was a terrible time for Americans, but in Mexico, nobody would have to take time off work to cook beans or translate for us, and people would have extra relatives in town, meaning extra tamales, and extra nieces and nephews happy to attend Christmas programs. Next, quit calling the work a “mission” trip; call it a “ministry trip.” Finally, invite members of the Mexico church to help us in Dallas so we would recognize that we were equal beneficiaries of each other’s help.

Move Toward Unity

Jesus prayed that we all might be one (John 17:21). And a move toward unity across barriers—whether ethnic, geographical, social, physical, or spiritual—means we must acknowledge that we all have forms of blindness. So we must ask questions and listen; serve, instead of expecting others to accommodate us; and learn from each others’ perspectives.The kingdom of heaven is upside down. Our king was a Middle Eastern, persecuted, homeless, refugee outsider who tells us that to serve the naked and the poor is to serve him.We all have prejudice in our hearts; often we have biases we don’t even know about. But—good news—our Lord loves and changes bigots. Recall that when a man named Nathanael from Cana (John 21:2) insulted Jesus’s adopted hometown with, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (1:46, NASB), Jesus invited him to join the Twelve. Our Lord in his grace even gave this man a glimpse of his own identity as the Christ: “You will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” (v. 51, NASB).When we humble ourselves and celebrate unity in diversity, we ourselves benefit; and we can give others a glimpse of the reality that something truly fantastic came from Nazareth.

My latest novel: Lethal Harvest Remix

Sixteen years ago, a couple of wannabe novelists saw stem cell research on the horizon and launched our first narrative that explored the ethical side of such complex medical issues. Completely apart from our planning, the book launch happened the same week leaders at the Human Genome Project announced they had a rough draft of the human genome. And that announcement thrust our subject into the headlines, so books flew off the shelves.The characters in our story used landlines. And they could receive email only when using desktop computers. No smartphones, no texting. And acting according to what is now outdated medical procedure.So this month, Lethal Harvest re-released with a makeover. In the 15+ years since we wrote the story, I've grown as a writer and spinner of yarns. So when Kregel asked for an update, I jumped at the chance to improve on the dialogue, characterization, and general storyline—while, of course, updating the tech. My beloved coauthor passed suddenly three years ago, so the new book also includes a preface I wrote about him.So now...voila! The new and improved Lethal Harvest about a rogue doc at an IVF clinic.