I have greatly enjoyed writing and sending out my weblogs to you most every week since I began doing so in May 2007. Hard to believe 4 1/2 years have gone by so quickly. In just a few days I will be leaving my pastorate of more than 6 years to assume a new position as pastor in New London, MO. Consequently there are a couple of things I wish to share with you. First of all there will be a gap of time before you receive another weblog. Through the process of moving and settling in I just will not have the time to write and send them. Second of all, when you do receive another, they will be from another address. Currently they come from a weblog email tied to my current pastorate. This will change, but it is unclear what it will change to exactly. I have so greatly appreciated your feedback and encouragement over these years in this endeavor. Even dissent and disagreement has often led down the path to possitive dialogue. Again, you have my heartfelt thanks for your support, and I hope to be back in the saddle sooner, rather than later, with my weblog.

Thanks in Christ,

Pastor Allen Raynor

When I was growing up I remember my grandmother proudly displayed items around the house that some family members had brought her back from vacations they had taken. My grandmother, like many of her generation, was a homebody and had almost never been out of her tiny little area. So to have something given to her which came from another state, or even another country was pretty special, even exotic. But look at us now. You walk into Wal-Mart and you purchase any number of common household items for a couple of bucks and it is stamped “made in China” on the bottom. The magic, mystique, and nostalgia is gone!

China has become our master and we its slave. While we set at 14.5 trillion dollars in debt, guess who is carrying our debt. You are right – it is China. They make our products, they hold our debt, and are well on their way to owning us. In fact, I am not so sure that they don’t already own us! Here is an interesting tidbit of information. In 2010, an American icon, Pontiac rolled its last car off the assembly line. After many decades of amazing cars General Motors discontinued the brand. For a long time me and many others were mystified because it seemed that every third car on the road was a Pontiac! GM sold off brands such as Saab, Hummer, and Saturn which had seen declining sales for years. Myself and others felt Buick to be the best choice if further cuts were needed by GM in order to survive. The ultimate reason, come to find out, Pontiac was axed over Buick was this: Although Pontiac outsold Buick 6 – 1 in the United States, Buick was the number one selling U.S. made car in China. Once again America bows to the wishes and demands of another nation.

ABC news has been doing an ongoing segment on World News Tonight for the past several months called “Made in America.” They challenge people to go through their homes and take out everything not made in America, then with cameras rolling, they tour the house. In most cases they are staring at empty or nearly empty rooms!

Many people, myself included, were shocked to find out that there is only one U.S. company that makes American Flags. Most American Flags are made oversees! Can you believe it!

A recent walk-through of the gift shop at The Smithsonian revealed that a large portion of the souvenirs were made in China. How embarrassing it is to pick up a model of the U.S. Capitol or White House and see a stamp “made in China.” (although there is a sort of eerie appropriateness to it) There used to be pride in the “American made” brand, but hardly anymore.

A few months ago I purchased another vehicle and as I was taking a test drive with the salesman I made a comment that it seemed like people had lost their sense of brand loyalty. I told him proudly that I had never owned any vehicle not made by GM. He said I was extremely rare these days and that most people would be nearly equally as prone to buy a Chevy, a Ford , or a Nissan. Whatever they like the most, that is what they buy.

I was amazed to find out recently that 50 years ago (early 1960s) that 85 – 90 percent of automobiles sold in the U.S. were American made, but today less than half are made here. Some will argue that some foreign brands are assembled here and create American jobs, and that parts for many American cars are made oversees. That is true, but the fact remains that we are helping to line the pocketbooks of foreign companies, and bolster other national economies to a far greater degree than our own when we do this. People may disagree, and certainly are welcome to do so, nevertheless the fact remains that there has been a major shift in thinking on this issue over the past few decades. That part cannot be disputed.

Personally I believe in buying American when and where I can. It is not always possible, but I do my best. If people were as careful as they could be, many of the markets would dry up. What scares me the most is not only the size of China but the subtle way in which they have, in essence, taken control of our country on the sly, is more than a little scary!

As Americans have grown more and more accustomed to entitlements and the subsequent escalation of debt, we are headed down the path of Greece. While America has sat and condemned human rights issues/violations in China, China has snuck up on us from behind. We may proclaim our pride in our country, but piece by piece what has made us great is being dismantled. We rightly condemn terrorists who seek to destroy us, but there are other dangers lurking all around and it is perhaps those particular dangers we need to most fear!

In Christ,

Pastor Allen Raynor

Republican candidates running for office are being grilled by the liberal media. Texas Governor Rick Perry is facing incessant questions about his faith, along with Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann. The Tea Party, a group of mainly Independents and Republicans who are deeply concerned about fiscal issues such as out-of-control spending, are being maligned and ridiculed as extremist. The views of the Tea Party and most of the Republican candidates running for President have always been considered mainstream. In reality, they probably still are, but you would not know it from listening to the media. These candidates who oppose “gay” marriage are somehow being painted as extremist! Even Jay Leno grilled Michelle Bachman last week on The Tonight Show pushing her on the issue of opposing “gay” marriage. What have things come to when this viewpoint is somehow seen as “the new normal?”

Author and former CBS reporter, Bernard Goldberg recently made and interesting observation concerning the media, speaking on Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor. He was responding to research that had just come to light which showed that the media identified a person as a “conservative” 20 times more often than they identified someone or a group as “liberal.” In the worldview of the media, the liberal viewpoint is the “normal” viewpoint, whereas the “conservative” is the strange, questionable, or even dangerous one. Goldberg recounted how back several decades ago, prior to the 1960s, the way crime was reported on both broadcast and in print media was that there may be, for instance, a robbery and if it were a white man as a suspect for the crime, there would be no identification given other than a name and gender. But, if the suspect were black, then they would point out that a “black” man was being held in connection with the crime. In doing so, the media fed bias and prejudice. They are doing the exact same thing now where liberals and conservatives are concerned. They are warning their readers, listeners, and viewers, that this person is “conservative,” watch out!

In her latest book, Demonic: How the Liberal Mob is Endangering America, author and commentator, Ann Coulter writes about how liberals have succumb to a “mob” mentality. The mob does not think for itself, because there is not time to think in a mob. There is only “reaction.” A speaker with a bull horn or microphone, fires up the crowd. No one searches through archives, transcripts, library records, or researches on the internet to verify the claims. There is not time. They quickly believe it, accept it, and let it affect their attitude and subsequent behavior almost instantly. It is “right,” in effect, because someone just told them it was “right.” The real irony is that in the age of technology and information in which we live, there are less facts than ever! Sadly, the “facts” are being made up as we go along. A perfect example of this came in the fall of 2008 when ABC World News Tonight Anchor Charlie Gibson was interviewing Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin. He asked her if she ascribed to “The Bush Doctrine.” This so-called “Bush” doctrine was very loosely defined and had many different potential aspects of information associated with it, depending on with whom you talked. She came across as not really knowing what Gibson was asking. Gibson then went on to define it in a way that was partially factual and partially non-factual. Immediately after the interview, Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia which can be edited by basically anyone, had its definition of “The Bush Doctrine” changed to fit almost word for word Charlie Gibson’s stated definition in the interview.

After the 2008 win of Barak Obama and sweeping victories for Democrats in both Houses of Congress, one commentator with a decidedly angry tone was speaking on a news program lecturing more conservative Americans that “we do not live in the world of ‘Howdy Doody’ and ‘Leave it to Beaver’ any longer.” Honestly, the reason we do not is because guys like him have fought so hard to make that kind of world go away! Then when it is gone, they act as though it has gone away of its own accord without even so much as a thread of help from them. It is almost like the Saturday Night Live parody of O.J. Simpson in the mid-90s looking into the camera and stating how he would not rest until he found the real killer of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, pausing several times as he broke up with laughter, and finally after several failed attempts held his hands up, walked away from the microphone laughing, saying, “I’m sorry I just can’t do this!

Liberals at least need to admit their contributions to these problems. The truth is not afraid to be examined. Only those “afraid” of the truth don’t want to look at the issues closely. I like honest debate. But honest debate is rarely seen anymore. It has become much more about one-liners, personal attacks, innuendo, playing the race card, the religion card, and the list goes on.

In times past, it was not so much this way. There was honest debate. I love facts. I don’t like people droning on with opinions that are not fact driven. I want statistics, I want eye-witness testimony, and I do not want “spin.” Everything is interpreted through the grid of political affiliation, religious affiliation, or for prospective betterment of the “organization.” We need more Joe Friday’s to just keep us focused on “The Facts, Ma’am!” Back when people watched Walter Cronkite every night, he only had enough time to deliver the facts in his short broadcast. There was no time for endless commentary and analysis such as what we see inside most contemporary news organizations. So, in that light, it was not surprising that Cronkite was often called, “The most trusted man in America.” We have seen an interesting cycle. We went from the drive being from the standpoint of factual news (true news) to news with commentary and analysis (albeit driven by the news) to now the commentary and analysis actually being in the driver’s seat and spinning, tweaking, adjusting, and ultimately controlling the actual news itself! In this market driven atmosphere, “news” organizations have to consider how certain reports are going to “play” with their audience. Further, news organizations compete with one another for audience share but not so much on the basis of who is most factual, but more on the basis of viewpoint with the goal of finding one which aligns with the viewership demographic they covet.

Although this culture clearly needs to change course and move in a different direction, we probably should not hold our breath that it is going to do so. Recently John MacArthur took a question from a caller asking how concerned Christians should be about the outcome of something such as the upcoming Presidential election. His response was simple, yet revealing. He said, let me be clear first of all about one thing, the outcome of any election big or small has absolutely no impact on the Kingdom of God. It cannot be touched. Things may get better they may get worse, but the eventual end of this world will be because of its overarching sin problem which never goes away, and will never go away until the Lord’s return. That is when things will actually change. Until then we make our way the best we can in this world, trying to be salt and light and standing up for God’s eternal principles. It sounds simple enough, yet it is increasingly difficult to do in the face of a culture growing more and more hostile to the things of God. But, that is certainly no excuse not to stand for Him!

In Christ,

Pastor Allen Raynor

It is amazing how little thought we give to the things we have until we no longer have them. Who would rise each morning and give God thanks for the use of their left arm? Only those who were in danger of losing their arm would be prone to give God recognition for something as mundane. However, if you were to lose yours, suddenly you would realize how important it truly was.

In every realm of life we take precious gifts for granted. Only parents of grown children realize the joy and wonder of having small children at home. Only those who are paralyzed realize the gift of full use of their bodies, only those who have lost loved ones know the value of those who have been lost.

Life holds many mysteries for the living. Only the dead realize the value of life. This was illustrated more than once by Jesus, notably when he taught concerning the beggar Lazarus and the rich man who both died and went to very different places. Scripture teaches that it is better to die and be in the presence of the Lord for a saint but still, yet most people still fear death. An accident such as Bethany Hamilton experienced is enough to rattle a great many people’s faith. There was a process she had to work through, but coming out on the other side she was much stronger.

Many have made the statement, “what doesn’t kill you will make your stronger.” Sometimes this statement is made with a far less than serious tone, but the essence of the statement is certainly true. Just as a plant or tree benefits from the process of pruning, people also benefit from God’s pruning in their lives. To a casual observer, it may seem like cutting limbs from a tree is harming the tree, however others know very well the true benefit.

God does much in our lives that we cannot explain when these things happen, but in time they begin to make sense to us. God is much wiser than us and has plans which go well beyond our comprehension. Just because we cannot see all things, does not mean that God cannot see all things. He is watching over us and He does care deeply for us. When times are good that is easy to believe, but when they take that inevitable downward turn, try to remember it then as well.

In Christ,

Pastor Allen Raynor

My initial reaction that day was that of hope and belief that they could get the fires put out. In those early moments I could not process the thought of those buildings being destroyed. But destroyed they were as a little while later both towers came crashing down to the ground. Americans were feeling something at that point, but they did not yet know that what they were experiencing were the horrors of war. Until then, we had largely been isolated and insulated from what other people knew all too well.

The long-term consequences of the 9/11 attacks on our country are too numerous to even recount, much less explore but it has affected us all. Even this past summer as my family visited the Hoover Dam in Nevada, I had to make a 10 minute walk back to the van to take back my pocket knife because it was not allowed, as I went through the security screening which was highly similar to what one faces at the airport. Other times I have watched as good old, God-fearing Americans have to take off their cowboy boots and belts while going through airport security, including full-body scanners, while those of Middle Eastern decent breeze through with little or no hassle. One can see quickly how even the horrors of war in the age of terrorism quickly become politicized. Now the biggest worries are over issues such as whether or not it is allowable and/or advisable to build a Muslim Mosque at Ground Zero! It seems like utter madness!

In other conflicts/wars in which America has been involved there has been a clear point in time where accords or treaties were signed, signifying an end to the conflict. Few discuss this, but I am here to tell you today, this war will never end until the Lord returns. The Battle of Armageddon discussed in scripture may not be the conventional warfare always envisioned. It may well be that the final war (war on terror) will culminate in something described in scripture. The terrorists will never surrender. They will never give up. They will fight to the last man. As long as there are countries which provide safe-havens for terrorists and their training camps, we cannot rest. We do not have the resources to fight the war on all these fronts. We have now been in Afghanistan for 10 years and if we were to leave right now, terrorists would re-build and we would be right back where we started. Multiple countries around the world are sympathetic to the terrorists. There are more Muslims in the world than Christians, and very rarely have I heard any Muslim denounce terrorism. If they do denounce it, it is very mild. Only a very progressive and non-fundamentalist Muslim is going to give the appearance of siding with America and Christianity, over and against fellow Muslims, even if those Muslims are extremist!

The Bible is clear about many things. One of those being that this world is not going to get better and better. God created a perfect world and placed man in it, but through sin mankind wrecked it, and has been paying the consequences ever since. Sin has both short-term and long-term consequences. Every atrocity and injustice and form of evil we see in the present world is linked back directly to the influx of sin into this world. Will there ever be another 9/11? I do not know. The Lord may return before something similar occurs, but I will say there will be other 9/11’s and far worse if He lingers in His return. Mankind is bent on sin. What is most scary of all is that these evil terrorist believe they are doing God a service in killing infidels. They desire a world ruled by man-made religion and their version of a works-based salvation by adherence to legalistic standards. They have no understanding of the concept of grace in their religion, and little understanding of love. The precepts which comprise the very underpinning of Christianity escapes their understanding. Just as we struggle to understand their rage, hate, and legalism, they fail to understand the Biblical teachings of Christ as revealed in His Word.

Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Our best policy as Christians, as churches, as people is to hunger for God and all that is right according to His Word. May we first of all believe it, then second of all, live it!

In Christ,

Pastor Allen Raynor

Interestingly, Sperry was very direct in his approach to teaching the boys about Jesus. He was very warm hearted and loving but made no apologies for what the Bible had to say. Further, he lived it out in the eyes of the neighborhood. One plotline of the movie depicted Sperry paying a young man to mow the lawn of an elderly neighbor who could barely get around (Mr. Barnes). At the end it was revealed that Mr. Sperry’s wife had been killed in a car accident, in which the other car was being driven by Mr. Barnes whom had been drinking. Mr. Barnes had little interest in God and His word at first but after Mr. Sperry’s death, near the end of the movie, shared he had started reading his Bible and commented that “if there ever was a Christian man, it was Jonathan Sperry.”

We have heard and continue to hear a lot about what we need to do to grow our churches. We have heard a lot about how we can make the Bible more palatable to this generation and how we can do more things to lure people in. Interestingly, people were coming to Christ at a much higher rate before all the latest trends. In fact many young people of yesteryear had Christianity modeled for them by other people. In many cases it was a family member(s). In other cases it was a teacher, friend, or even a neighbor such as what Jonathan Sperry was in this movie.

Not only did he model “Christ-likeness” but he also proclaimed Christ. Doing both things well is a powerful tool as we evangelize. Too many people proclaim Christ but they do not model Christ-likeness. Still yet others are models of Christ-likeness but don’t really proclaim Him. When a person validates what they say they believe by their behavior and overall changed life, it is hard to argue with what they say! James emphasized that “faith without works is dead” or not existent.

We should ask ourselves, “Who am I making an impact on for the kingdom.” People will not necessarily be won to Christ overnight, but as we demonstrate the love of Christ to them and model Christ-likeness, it will be hard for them to discount the truth of the Gospel. Ernie Reisinger wrote, “To follow Jesus’ example is to love what Jesus loved, and to hate what Jesus hated, conforming our conduct to the same standard that He perfectly obeyed.” Billy Graham has said, “Our greatest need today is not more Christianity but more true Christians. The world can argue against Christianity as an institution, but there is no convincing argument against a person who, through the Spirit of God, has been made Christ-like.” A German philosopher once stated, “Show me your redeemed life and I’ll believe in your redeemer.”

It is sad but true that, in many cases, our programs, promotions, gimmicks, and initiatives have been human attempts to attract people apart from the most effective strategy we have – that is to live holy lives. The Bible clearly gives us the formula for evangelism and discipleship but as that began to produce too few numbers to satisfy those who kept and cared about statistics it was decided “new measures” much be employed. It was easier to measure tangible things like baptisms average attendance, and enrollments, than it was to keep track of how faithfully or how often people were sharing their faith and engaging in the overall work of ministry. I recall a crusade event which took place at a church which saw more than 100 persons “walk the aisle” during the lengthy, manipulative invitations. Less than 10% of those who “walked the aisle” were ever baptized and the growth of the church coming out of this effort was non-measurable. Yet the number of 100+ decisions was really the only thing offered in summation of the meeting/event. How have we found this way to gain the numbers without gaining converts? It is what I would call an “end around.” To use some football terminology, God has, basically told us to “run it hard up the middle,” but too often we are scheming about what trick plays might be effective. I don’t think God is into trick plays. He made it quite simple and straight-forward for us. Just do what He says and we will be fine. After all, is it about glorifying Him or us?

I hope there has been a Jonathan Sperry somewhere, sometime in your life. I hope someone has reached out to you and modeled the love of Christ for you. Further, we need to find someone we can disciple and point to Christ through sharing very simply, yet unapologetically, the truth of scripture, in simple obedience to our Lord. If you have not yet seen this movie, I highly recommend it to you.

In Christ,

Pastor Allen Raynor

There has been an escalation of debate and concern growing for some time concerning our nation’s debt, which has grown enormously over the past few decades. The reasons for the debt are multiple. Everything from entitlement programs, wars, government bailouts, and even a lower tax rate than what some argue is fair. Analysts and politicians can argue until the cows come home as to what has caused it but the big issue now is what to do about it? Do we raise the debt ceiling averting a potential crises? Do we raise it just to get temporary relief and then really get serious about attacking the problem? Do we ignore it? Do we fire up the orchestra to play soothing music while the country drowns in a sea of debt just as the orchestra played while the Titanic sank in the icy waters of the North Atlantic a hundred years ago? Do we all go shopping, purchasing things we cannot afford, adding to our personal credit card debt for the sake of helping out the economy? We are in perilous times no matter what “spin” you may hear from either side of the political aisle.

We have all seen the bumper sticker on the back of a nice car, driven by a senior citizen stating, “I am spending my kids inheritance.” I don’t fault anyone for enjoying the fruits of their life-long labor. No one’s kids should feel any sense of entitlement when it comes to getting money and stuff handed down to them by their parents. But imagine this: what if somehow parents were running up massive credit card bills and going deep into debt for houses, cars, and a variety of luxury items and somehow the next of kin would be held liable to pay that debt? That would certainly not be fair! But that is just exactly what is happening on a massive scale today. A baby being born today in a hospital somewhere in our nation, who is right now oblivious to anything in the world except that it’s tummy hurts because it is hungry, will one day have to worry about paying for resources that have long-since been used up. In his Farwell address to the nation on January 17, 1961, President Eisenhower said,

As we peer into society’s future, we – you and I, and our government – must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for our own ease and convenience the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.

The reason there is so much anger about this rapidly rising deficit in our country is that it is completely unnecessary. Further it is utterly the result of recklessness. It is on par with walking into a jewelry store and saying, “I’ll take one of everything, just put it on my credit card.” Crazy, irresponsible, unfathomable are words which come to mind!

It is certainly fun, to most people, to spend money. Generally it is more fun to spend than to save, unless you are a tightwad! We have become accustomed to spending a lot of money on things we really do not need – only want. Further we have become accustomed to making payments on what we really cannot afford in the first place, so the idea of debt itself is not that scary, but when we have gotten in as deep as what we have gotten in now, there is cause for alarm. Obama may be viewed by many as a smooth political operator, and in many ways he is, but nationalizing health care at the exact moment in history where the average Joe has finally become concerned about the deficit is the definition of “irresponsible.” “Obama-care” is for the deficit, what Anthony Weiner is for wise judgment! It is ironic, I suppose, that a” health care” bill, is essentially “suicide” for any hope of fiscal responsibility.

Granted, the wars of the last decade have added greatly to the deficit. You can argue about whether they were necessary or whether they were not. Was the blood and treasure cost too high for what we received in return? Perhaps, but only time will ultimately reveal that information.

Social Security was never meant to be permanent. It was only to get us out of The Great Depression and offer a little hope to the hopeless. Medicare came about as a further development of our entitlement mentality. Not that it is necessarily bad, but with each of these additions, Americans become more and more dependent upon their government. Now, each time there is any sort of disaster anywhere in the country, people are waiting on checks from the government, i.e. 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, The Gulf Oil Spill, The Tornadoes in Joplin, MO and in Alabama, flooding along the Mississippi River, and the list goes on. The debt keeps climbing because it is less desirable to give up what we would have to give up to seriously deal with it. It has been said that, “People will remain in their current behavior patterns until the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.” For many we have not reached that point.

In his first State of the Union Address in 1797 John Adams said,

The consequences arising from the continual accumulation of public debts in other countries ought to admonish us to be careful to prevent their growth in our own. The national defense must be provided for as well as the support of Government; but both should be accomplished as much as possible by immediate taxes, and as little as possible by loans.

Debt has re-invented itself in this generation. It is no longer a bad thing at all. If the average person could actually see how much money they paid in interest in just one year they would be appalled. But the fault rests not with those charging interest as much as with those trying to feed their hungry eyes. In a number of ways, the national debt is a reflection of who the average American is today – someone who no longer really knows how to live within their means. God has called all persons to be good stewards of their lives and resources. Being responsible begins with ordering our lives around the things of God and giving to Him the first-fruits of our money and possessions. This is true for our nation and this is true for all individuals.

In Christ,

Pastor Allen Raynor

Bush was elected president in 2000. In September of that year I moved to a new pastorate in Missouri. During the latter stages of the campaign that fall and then into the early months of the Bush presidency (at the time I was experiencing my first year as the pastor of a new church) I began to see how leadership on any level is shaped overwhelmingly by public perceptions. I began to develop a much clearer picture in my mind of what leadership on any level entails. It takes a specially trained eye to see into a person’s heart and really try and gain a grasp of their motives. After reading Bush’s 480 page account of his 8 years in office and what he tried to do and how he tried to do it, one really gets the sense of what an admirable man that he is now, and was as President. Also, one begins to see how he was a leader first and a politician second.

Unfortunately, pastors rarely have an opportunity to write their memoirs as does an ex-President! If they did write them, there would hardly be ten people interested in reading them! But these men sacrifice a lot for the sake of the call God places upon their lives, but when the people they have been given charge to lead truly follow, and you can really see God at work in their lives, it is worth it! When this happens the pain of living apart from extended family, in different and often unpleasant cultural contexts, living on far less financial means than others with comparable or even far less education, and being criticized for any number of things beyond his control may not seem quite as bad.

What is truly unbearable for a leader on any level is when the most genuine of motives are questioned. President Bush cites as the low point for him, as the leader of the free world, being one point after Hurricane Katrina, at a benefit telethon to raise money for victims, pop singer Conye West stated angrily in front of millions of people on live television, “George Bush hates black people.” Truly even the experts who have carefully studied the response after this disaster attest that the problem of the flooding of New Orleans, and other subsequent problems, can be laid at the feet of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana’s Governor Kathleen Blanco. The federal government could not even legally go in without being asked by the governor or without the government declaring an insurrection. Bush tells how he and others in the administration fought to federalize the response but Governor Blanco simply would not give in causing delay after delay, magnifying the problem. Many deaths and loss of property can be laid to her charge but, guess who got all the blame – the ones trying the hardest to actually help!

Here also is where pastors find themselves A close pastor friend in another state told me several years ago that a new family had come to their church (a grandmother and teenage girl). The grandmother confided to my pastor friend privately how utterly messed up and disturbed her granddaughter really was. She told him of the horrific things she had been through. She had actually come out of New York state and had been illegally (of course) being forced to perform in some pornographic movies and pose for pictures, some even involving bestiality! At this point they came to my friend’s rural Missouri church, as part of an attempt to get her as far away from all these previous problems and make a new start. This girl, according to what this grandmother told my pastor friend, was obviously psychologically disturbed! The grandmother told him the girls should not be around children. But guess what, my pastor friend was attacked right and left from some in the church who were adamant this young lady should be providing much needed nursery help. In fact, some were so insistent that he somehow get the girl to work in the nursery that they said he would ultimately be running this family off if he did not get her more involved. Plus, several of the other women repeatedly stated how they needed a break from keeping the nursery and working with the kids. The whole thing turned nasty with my pastor friend unable to even hint at the real reason he could not allow her to serve. He just had to hump up and take all the abuse leveled against him by many, far less than understanding people, who essentially did not trust their pastor’s leadership. How could this have been avoided? Well, if the people would have trusted their pastor and assumed that he knew what he was doing, that God had empowered him to lead with wisdom and that He was seeking God’s leadership daily they might not have been so quick to roast him for Sunday dinner! But instead they chose to assume that he was either secretly or not-so-secretly working to harm the church for some unknown or unclear reason! Remember, nothing hurts more than to have persons question your motives!

After 16 years in pastoral ministry, and after having become acquainted with becoming friends with dozens and dozens of pastors, I can tell you today, with the utmost in confidence, that there is not a single person in any church that wishes for the church they serve to succeed and thrive to the degree that the pastor does. In fact, no one in any given ministry context has likely sacrificed as much of himself in order to see that happen. I have often said that for every 1 thing you see a pastor do, there are at least 10 others you do not see. Much of what he deals with cannot even be ethically discussed or mentioned to the congregation! The pastor needs your help most of all on two fronts – prayer, asking God to guide him and help him lead in accordance with God’s will. Also, prayer to keep him strong in the face of daily attacks from the outside, and also from inevitable friendly fire. The second front is that you would encourage him. The vast majority of what a pastor deals with is discouraging. It would take a book to discuss the many ways discouragement comes but it does come and comes daily. He needs every form of encouragement you can give him. Thirdly work as individuals and as a church to help, protect, and encourage the pastor’s family. Please know that Satan gets particular pleasure in destroying pastor’s marriages, his children, and his overall family.

The latest statistics are mind-blowing as the intensity of the pressure faced by pastors has grown stronger and stronger. In the United States today 1500 pastors are leaving ministry altogether each month for reasons other than death or retirement. Do you get that? Men are leaving ministry in droves today and going back to secular employment. There is now a growing shortage of pastors in America and it figures to get much worse before it gets better. Also, another alarming statistic that utterly scares me to death is that, pastor’s kids, upon graduation from high school and leaving home, are leaving the church at the rate of 80 percent! Some return by the time they are in their 30s but nearly half never return! The most common reason cited in interviews conducted with these “Pastor’s Kids” is the way they watched church members treat their parents and they simply wanted no more part of church once it was within their control not to go. That simply breaks my heart! I shudder at the thought of that happening to any of my kids and my wife and I work incredibly hard to shelter them from the things that would hurt them if they knew.

Leadership on any level is daunting, because no matter how pure your motives, how hard you work, your level of knowledge or wisdom, there are always going to be many people that absolutely are convinced beyond a shadow of doubt, that they know more than you! I had to almost laugh when people would criticize President Bush’s intelligence, of all things. The man read more books in one year than many of his critics read in 20 years, the man graduated from Yale, was a highly successful businessman, was a two-term Governor of Texas, and two term U.S. President. He, from all accounts, was a model husband and model father. He repeatedly expresses thanks, appreciation, and love for his parents and other family members, he repeatedly expresses his reliance on the Lord and talks of his daily walk with Him. Also, he is a model of strength and courage to many by the fact that he was a self-admitted alcoholic until he simply stopped drinking completely. By his own account he has not had one single drop of alcohol since 1986. Truly Bush was a man of true character that so many chose to let be misunderstood.

Pastors are only human beings, same as politicians, but they are men who have given up a lot to serve God in ministry. You may think they have an easy job, I know I once thought that way back when I sat in the pew and listened to the preacher preach. I had no earthly concept of what he went through week by week and how brutal attacks could be and how someone always has an ax to grind. It is a universal truth in leadership. President Bush’s stated goal after 9/11 was to protect Americans and save lives and he never wavered from that stance, but many came up with strange and exotic motives for why we went to war and why prisoners were detained in military prisons and why the vilest of the terrorists were even water-boarded to gain key information. Most pastors’ motive is to faithfully proclaim the Word of God in these last days so that people may multiply themselves and God would be glorified. All too often the criticism leveled against them has to do with side issues which squeeze the man to the point that he can no longer cope. Leadership means you live your life in a glass house with everyone closely watching you struggle between the proverbial rock and a hard place, with many people watching with criticism on their tongues just waiting to burst forth at the slightest sign you will not side with them or carry the banner of their pet issue. Or worse yet be pressured to choose sides in the latest tiff between Gladys and Gertrude!

Pray for your leaders. No matter whom they are. President Bush has so often talked about how the office of the presidency is much larger than the man who occupies the office at any given time. In his book, he writes about leaving a letter for President Obama on the Resolute Desk in the White House, as is tradition. He recounts that the outside of the envelope was simply labeled “44,” drawing attention to the fact that he was just merely the next number or next man. Pastors, largely are just the next number as well. They are the next man God raises up for any given church, for the given period of time that He so chooses. Then God, for reasons ultimately known only to Him, moves in the next man to work toward the purposes for which He has called him. Pray for your pastor, you have no idea what he really deals with day to day and week to week. Trust God. Let Him do the leading in His perfect timing.

In Christ,

Pastor Allen Raynor

As I have attended dozens and dozens of little league games over the past few years, I often find myself wanting to simply shout out, at points, “don’t you people know this is just a game?” Either they don’t really know that already, or they do know it but are so competitive that they personalize good or bad calls and attach them to their sense of self-worth! I know that sounds utterly crazy, however if you feel you have been given an unfair shake in this world, the last thing you are going to tolerate is to see your son called “out” when you think him to be “safe!” Perhaps not shouting at the official in defense of a perceived bad call is seen by some as “poor parenting,” and somehow compensates for the splitting up of the family 2 years earlier, all the overtime that is worked, all the times dad or mom just were not available. I really do not know, but observing the behavior of coaches and especially parents at these games has become a fascinating study for me.

One of my favorite verses in all the New Testament is found in Colossians 3:4. In this simple little verse Paul makes a huge point. He writes, “When Christ Who is your life appears, you also will appear with Him in glory.” First of all he is pointing out that Christ is our lives and our lives are Christ. In other words what you are as a believer in Christ cannot be understood apart from an understanding of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Your identity is now in Him. You are no longer your own. You are not an independent entity. You belong to Jesus Christ! Consequently you must reflect and reveal that identity to a watching world. Second, your home is not in this world. You may currently be “in” this world, but you are certainly not “of” this world. In Phil. 3:20 Paul wrote to the church at Philippi that “Our citizenship is in heaven . . .” We are “foreigner’s” here. This is not our home. We are here basically on a work visa until God says it’s time to come home! The whole purpose of our life and the whole projection of our demeanor should be to point other people to the fact that Jesus Christ will return again for His people and that if they are not His people, they need to become His people!

These things are a long way from where people are really at these days. People can engage in any vice or activity that pampers their flesh, furthermore they can even laugh and joke about doing so, but that does not change one word of scripture. A heart that is “in Christ,” won’t easily fall for over-emphasizing things which are of virtually no importance. Again, I love most all sports but they are far more about celebrating the abilities God has given us and far less about winning in the final outcome. People worship God-given ability all day long but give little thought to God! No one will remember in a few weeks who won or lost the game anyway, so why get so upset now? Unfortunately, when I go to one of my son’s games these days, I see a lot of un-Christ-like behavior and see many who are floundering in what does not matter.

I have worked hard to teach my sons that adversity on the athletic field is much like adversity and unfairness in life. These are opportunities to get better. Honestly, I am more of a stickler about my boys being at practice than at the games because it is through practice that you get better, most of all.

Many lives are out of balance these days. High priorities have become low priorities and low priorities have become high priorities. Such is the history of mankind. How I wish we could live simpler lives where everyone started with God and let His Word affect everything else. In the “New Earth” that Revelation speaks of, all these things will be made right. There will be no screaming and cursing at baseball game in the millennial kingdom to come. All things will be made new and right. All that sin has wrecked will be back like it should be. How we long for that day!

In Christ,

Pastor Allen Raynor

Perhaps more alarming than these states taking this particular step, is the radical shift in public opinion on this issue in such a short amount of time. Polls are now showing that around 56 percent of the U.S. population, now support homosexual marriage. This is up significantly from only about 27 percent favoring it in the late 1990s. Support for it has more than doubled in about a dozen years!

In Thom Rainer’s book entitled, The Millennials, he reports the results of extensive research which his team has done on the generation born from 1980 – 2000. There is overwhelming support for homosexual unions among people of this age group. Somewhere around 85 percent of this generation support homosexual marriage. Keep in mind also the sheer size of this generation. The Millennials are actually more in number than the “Baby Boom” generation! Also, as we see this shift taking place, keep in mind the youngest members of this generation have not even reached voting age yet! Those from this generation are currently between 11 and 31 years of age. The landscape of America is going to be changing very radically over the next couple of decades. What do you think America will look like when this generation is about 30 to 50 years of age?

Keep in mind that the Millennial generation has been exposed to incessant propaganda from early childhood concerning homosexuality. Their favorite musicians, sports stars, actors and actresses have “come out of the closet” before their very eyes! They almost certainly have a cousin, a friend, a teacher, a neighbor, an uncle or aunt, or maybe even a sibling who is homosexual bringing the issue very close to home. Interestingly one of the deciding factors in the New York case was that Republican State Senator Carl Kruger changed his vote in favor of homosexual marriage citing that the nephew of the woman he lives with was so outraged with him for his previous lack of support that he had severed their ongoing relationship. Kruger is quoted as telling a colleague that “I don’t need this … it has gotten personal now.” And that is exactly what is happening. Even former Vice President Dick Cheney, a solid conservative, differed with President Bush when it came to homosexuality and marriage. The opinion of him and his wife Lynn had changed because they had a daughter who was lesbian. Rather than viewing their own daughter as living an immoral lifestyle, it was easier for them to accept her behavior as normal. Some version of this scenario is being played out in millions of households all across our land.

There is simply no doubt that the single biggest driving force in America behind the movement toward homosexual acceptance is the fact that the issue has become personal. Everyone knows someone who is homosexual, and often it is someone fairly close to them, not merely just someone who lives down the street. Rather than speaking the truth in love, even Christians are increasingly being drawn into this slow and winding course toward acceptance.

Homosexual rights advocates often try and compare their struggles for acceptance with the Civil Rights Movement. Whether it is widely admitted or not, the Civil Rights movement in this country was ultimately won because of Christianity and it’s influence on people, especially in the south where people were the most racist in their outlook and where church attendance was the highest. The Civil Rights movement was won because pulpits, by and large, slowly began to proclaim that this inequality was wrong and was not God-honoring. The bottom line is that the Civil Rights movement was won in the pulpits of the south as much as any other place. When it comes to the issue of homosexuality, I do not think that will be the case. I do not foresee a majority of evangelical pulpits proclaiming acceptance of something which is condemned by scripture as strongly or more strongly than any other immoral behavior. What is going to happen is that there is going to grow an increasing divide in America that will be more bitter than any issue since the Civil War and the battle over states’ rights, slavery, etc.

A few states, mainly in New England are falling to this issue one by one, but 29 states actually have statutes defining marriage as being between one man and one woman. Even though New York and Massachusetts and other states have legalized same-sex marriage, don’t expect states like Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Mississippi to do it any time soon. But what is going to happen is that the bitterness and hatred between both sides is going to escalate. There will ultimately come a point when the media, and others, will label anyone speaking out against homosexuality in terms which have been traditionally reserved for those on the fringes of society.

It would be easy to say, I am not worried – New York is a long way from where I live, but make no mistake about it, all of this is coming your direction and sooner than you may think. It is an issue you will have to deal with. It is a stand you will have to take. It is something your church will have to deal with. It is something your family with have to deal with. No one is immune. Christians MUST not vote for politicians who support immorality. We simply cannot afford to vote for anyone because of the color of their skin, their party affiliation, or because we think we would be better off financially with them in office. We have got to draw a line in the sand where morality is concerned. We cannot continue to be boiled to death like the proverbial frog in the kettle. We have got to decide now if we are going to stick with God’s Word or are we going to just play it cool and see what happens. It is time we take God’s Word to heart and make a stand. After Moses had received the law from God on the mountain he returned to the camp. Exodus 32:25-26‍a records, “Now when Moses saw that the people were unrestrained (for Aaron had not restrained them, to their shame among their enemies), then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, ‘Whoever is on the Lord’s side – come to me!’” Verses 26, and following, record that the tribe of Levi (the priestly tribe) were the first to step forward. I believe that our religious leaders must be “religious leaders.” The single worst thing I can imagine in the midst of this raging battle is for our religious leaders to succumb to societal pressure to compromise. I hope and pray that I have enough guts to get out of the pulpit if I get to the point that I no longer believe God’s Word. I further hope that if I do not, then that I will be forcibly removed. The biggest mystery of all is when I see ministers of the Gospel going soft on clear-cut biblical issues. More than any other single sign, that is the greatest sign that Christ’s return will be soon!

In Christ,

Pastor Allen Raynor