UPDATE: Turns out not everyone wants to reap the rewards of a
financial windfall after all. Lighthouse Mission, a nonprofit ministry for the
poor in Long Island, has turned down a six-figure donation from True
North Community Church, the New York-area fellowship that was given a
winning lottery ticket worth $3 million a few weeks ago. Though the donation
would obviously be a financial help for Lighthouse’s ministry, executive
director James D. Ryan said it would send an incongruous message: “For me to be
on one side of the table and say, ‘Nothing good comes from gambling; it destroys
your family,’ and I convince them, and with God’s help they listen, and they are
right on the cusp of putting it all together … and then I am holding up a state
lottery check and saying, ‘We were blessed’—it would cause people to stumble.”
[newsday.com, 9/12/08]
Within hours of accepting the voluntary resignation of president and chief
executive officer Tom Fortson, men’s ministry Promise Keepers announced that
co-founder Bill McCartney will return to the helm as CEO and chairman of the
board. The former University of Colorado football coach promptly named Raleigh
Washington, another former Promise Keepers executive, as the organization’s
president. At its peak in the mid-1990s, Promise Keepers drew more than 1.1
million men to its 20-plus conferences a year. It now faces the challenge of
improving conference attendance in the midst of a difficult economy.
[rockymountainnews.com, 9/10/08]
Here’s a foreign thought for churches aiming for longevity: Pay young
families to move into your community and attend your church. That’s the approach
the Blumberg Family Relocation Fund is taking in offering Jewish families as
much as $50,000 to relocate to smaller, Christian-dominated towns in the
Southeast. In an effort to prevent the ongoing trend of small-town synagogues
from closing down, the Blumberg program has advertised in Boston, Miami,
Providence, Rhode Island, and Washington and will continue to expand its
marketing pitch. If Jewish families become involved in a local temple and stay
at least five years, they can keep the entire amount. “I think it’s important
that we try to find young people that we could use in our religious school, our
Sunday school and help in the way of trying to create more of a family-type
atmosphere in our temple,” chairman Larry Blumberg said. [AP, 9/9/08]
QUOTE: “The giant white tents are gone now, and so are the crowds of
thousands. The evangelist, disgraced, is in hiding. The revival carries on as a
bare remnant of its former glory. … Now followers and observers are left to
wonder what the legacy of the Florida Outpouring will be. Will it be remembered
for its rapid growth and for its claims of spectacular miracles? Will it be
regarded as a spiritual circus, filled with outrageous sights but little
substance and even dangerously misleading teachings? Or will it be an event in
which there was good despite the flaws of its leader?” —Cary McMullen,
religion editor at the Lakeland Ledger, the local newspaper that covered
the Outpouring since its outbreak in April [theledger.com, 9/13/08]
QUOTE: “Major Pentecostal figures have been alarmed because the
Florida Outpouring epitomized recent excesses in the charismatic world. The dark
side of the Florida Outpouring has been a wakeup call.” —Tyndale Seminary
(Toronto) professor Jim Beverley, who has studied the Pentecostal
movement for more than 20 years [theledger.com, 9/13/08]
Megachurches are “getting bigger without getting bigger,” according to the
latest research on America’s largest congregations. The eight-year study,
“Changes in American Megachurches” by Leadership Network’s Warren Bird and
Hartford Seminary professor Scott Thumma, found that despite megachurches
continuing to grow weekly attendance, most are not expanding their building
size. In 2008, an average of 4,142 people attended the typical megachurch, yet
in most of those churches the average sanctuary held only 1,794 people. In the
last five years, a third of all megachurches have adopted a multisite structure
to accommodate the increased crowds. [Hartford Institute for Religion Research,
9/12/08]
QUOTE: “Megachurches are creating around them structures and
especially functions that once were done by the denominations. They are creating
alternative ways for churches and for religious people to get resources to do
ministry, to do missions, to connect with other churches. All the things that
were typically done by a denominational form are being done at a local church
level—if you can call a megachurch a local church.” —Scott Thumma,
co-author of “Changes in American Megachurches” and Beyond Megachurch
Myths [christianpost.com, 9/13/08]
Longtime Christian singer Ray Boltz, best known for his award-winning song
“Thank You,” announced for the first time publicly this week that he is gay.
Although family and friends had kept his homosexuality a secret since Dec. 26,
2004, the singer, who retired from the Christian music industry in 2004, told
gay magazine The Washington Blade, “I’d denied it ever since I was a kid.
… I had won awards, performed in front of thousands of people and sold millions
of records. Still, I believed that if people knew who I really was, I would
never be accepted. During the last few years I’ve learned that there are many
people who feel the same way I did.” [washingtonblade.com, 9/12/08]
Just how much has Islam infiltrated British culture? Islamic law is now an
official part of the British legal system, with Sharia courts wielding power to
rule on Muslim civil cases. Whereas such courts previously could not enforce
rulings and depended upon the voluntary compliance of Muslim parties involved,
the English government recently authorized a network of five Sharia courts—which
are classified as arbitration tribunals—to have full power on cases involving
such matters as domestic violence, divorce or financial disputes. Both
politicians and church leaders, who have been criticized in recent months when
voicing concern over the rising Islamic influence, have raised questions whether
these now-empowered courts will create a “parallel legal system” within
Britain—and, in addition, one that openly discriminates women.
[timesonline.co.uk, 9/14/08]
MinistryTodayMag.com
This week online …
· MINISTRY REPORT BLOG
The Charismatic Megachurch—An Endangered
Species?
If you’re a charismatic leader and you haven’t seen the most recent study
on megachurches, be forewarned: It’s simultaneously intriguing, disheartening
and reaffirming, depending on how you view church methodology and kingdom
calling.
