HEARTLAND | “I just was like any other normal person with a nice secular job,” said Marvin Del Rios. “God kept on pushing me and impressing on me that this is what you need to do.”
Del Rios’ “this” was pastoring and church planting in Chicago. Watch the video below for more of his story, and how others are sharing the Gospel in the Windy City.
SEND North America: Chicago from IL Baptist State Association on Vimeo.
HEARTLAND | Jim Rahtjen
As a pastor, it was one of those moments I lived for. This particular Saturday was a work day at the church. Members were busy cleaning, fixing, and generally spiffing up the building. Laura, an older woman who had attended our church for a while, had never come to understand fully and embrace the Good News of Jesus. She asked if I would explain to her again the message of salvation. We went to my office and I gave her a pamphlet I had written for the purpose of communicating the Gospel. We began to talk through the pamphlet together.
Laura was engaged in the conversation, and very intent on understanding who God is and what Jesus had done for her at the cross. I explained the necessity of Jesus’ death for her on the cross, that He paid the penalty for Laura’s sins, and that three days later He rose from the dead, proving that He is who He said He was. As I explained each point, she pored over the pamphlet, asking questions to make sure she understood.
As I began to explain the importance of believing what Jesus had done for her, I read a phrase that I had read many times over the years. “It is important to believe that Jesus died, was buried, rose again, and is alive today.”
Laura grabbed my arm and said, “Say that again.”
I repeated, “It’s important to believe that Jesus died for you and was buried—“
“No,” Laura said, still grasping my arm, “the other thing you just said, say it again.”
Confident I knew what she wanted to hear again, I said, with emphasis, “Jesus rose again!”
Squeezing my arm tighter, she said, “no, the other thing!”
Surprised, I thought, “What other thing?” I looked again at the phrase I had just read to her. I slowly read the whole thing, “It is important to believe that Jesus died… was buried… rose again… and is alive today.”
“That’s it!” She shouted. “He’s alive today? Are you serious? Is He really alive today?”
Amazed at her revelation, I said, “That’s what you wanted to hear again? That He’s alive today?”
Suddenly, like flipping a switch, I saw the lights of understanding illuminate her mind, “He’s alive today?”
“Yes!” I said, “He’s alive today!”
“I had no idea,” she said. “That changes everything! That affects my whole life. My husband needs to hear this! I’m certain he doesn’t know it.”
Then, hearing someone in the hallway, she rushed to the door. “Kristel!” she said, pulling the door open. “Did you know that Jesus is alive today?”
“Well, of course,” the teenager replied.
Seeing another girl down the hall, Laura called out, “Loree, did you know that Jesus is alive?”
“Uh, yeah.”
She ran up to the girls’ mother. “Sue,” Laura said breathlessly, “Did you know that Jesus is alive?”
Sue, sensing that Laura finally understood, said, “Yes! Oh, Laura, He is alive! Isn’t that wonderful?”
The two of them grabbed hands and jumped up and down with excitement. Laura kept saying, “He’s alive! He’s alive today! And everything is different!”
I stood there in wonder, thanking God for the miracle that just transpired. And I realized again how important it is to communicate the resurrection and its impact on our daily lives. I almost missed the moment, but Laura persisted, insisting that I “say it again.”
When she realized that Jesus is still alive, the resurrection became real to her. A truth that is at once simple and profound, the resurrection makes our faith real and alive – like Jesus. And yet, we run the risk of missing that life-altering truth, and its joy, when it becomes so familiar.
Ever since my encounter with Laura, I seek to make clear the truth of the resurrection when I share the good news of Jesus with others. The resurrection sets Christianity apart from all other religions. With Laura I say, “Because Jesus is alive today, everything is different!”
Jim Rahtjen is a pastor living in Glen Ellyn.
Editor’s note: This full version of this post by Erich Bridges first appeared on worldviewconversation.blogspot.com.
HEARTLAND | Regret is a painful thing. We look back on the foolish things we have done and the good things we have left undone. We lament wasted years, wrong attitudes, hurts inflicted on others, missed opportunities.
Bronnie Ware, an Australian nurse, spent years caring for patients in their last days. She identified the most common regrets they expressed about their lives in an article, and later a book, titled “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.” They are:
1. “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”
2. “I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.”
3. “I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.”
4. “I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.”
5. “I wish that I had let myself be happier.”
I’ll add a few more regrets that I have experienced. Perhaps you have some, too:
— I wish I had spent more time glorifying God and less time cursing the darkness.
The world stinks. People are evil. Terrible things happen all the time. This is not exactly news. Constantly bemoaning it is a waste of time. Praising the Lord, His greatness, His grace and mercy and His salvation is time better spent — both now and in preparation for eternity in His presence. It’s also a better way to eliminate darkness. Jesus said, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself” (John 12:32, NASB).
— I wish I had spent more time serving God and people and less time serving myself.
God created you and me to love Him, not to squander our brief time on earth loving ourselves only. The Westminster Shorter Catechism of 1647 is a far better guide in this regard than all the pop psychologists and phony priests of self-worship: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”
— I wish I had told a lot more people about Jesus — and helped other believers to do so.
If Jesus meant the words He uttered in Matthew 28:19-20, when He told His followers to make disciples among all nations (peoples), this is our agenda. Nothing else comes higher on the priority list. And we have more resources to do it on a truly global scale than any previous generation of believers.
What are your regrets? If you’re still alive and alert enough to read this, you can change the habits and patterns that caused them.
“People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality,” Ware says of her experiences with the dying. “I learned never to underestimate someone’s capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal.”
We are all dying. Some of us have a few days left; some of us have many years. Make every day count.
Erich Bridges is a global correspondent for Southern Baptist International Mission Board, IMB.org.
HEARTLAND | Meredith Flynn
Richard Blackaby is the author of numerous books and a former pastor and seminary president. He also has spent his entire life in a ministry family; his father, Henry Blackaby, co-wrote Experiencing God and has a long-time ministry to pastors and leaders, which Richard now leads as president of Blackaby Ministries International.
On a recent visit to Springfield, Ill., he spoke with the Illinois Baptist about the discipline of prayer.
Illinois Baptist: During your teaching sessions here in Springfield, you talked about how easy it is to fall into shallow praying. Is prayer hard work?
Richard Blackaby: Yeah, I think it is. It must be, because so many Christians struggle with it. I mean, it’s not really hard to do, but it is a discipline because you’re talking to someone that’s invisible. You don’t hear His voice, and you’re busy, and you start thinking of all the other stuff you should be doing.
IB: Sure.
RB: It’s not hard, anybody can pray, yet rarely have I every talked to a Christian who said they felt like their prayer life was what it should be. Rarely have I talked to a pastor who felt that; I don’t know if I’ve ever talked to a pastor who said, “Yeah, I wouldn’t change a thing in my prayer life.” And I wouldn’t say that about mine.
But I think the problem in part with prayer is that it’s something we keep trying to teach, instead of model. I could teach you until I’m blue in the face about why you should pray. I could give you all kinds of acronyms and books to read. But at the end of the day, if I just every day met with you and just prayed, and just had a glorious time talking to God, you’d probably want to pray that way too eventually, whether I was there or not.
IB: In your own life, what has helped you go deeper in that discipline?
RB: My dad always talked about unhurried time with God, and he said you have to carve out enough time that it’s unhurried. That when you start to pray, you don’t even have to look at your watch to be worried that your next appointment is coming up. You know you’ve got enough time to just relax with God. So for [my dad] for years, that meant he got up at 4:00 in the morning.
IB: What else?
RB: The other thing that was kind of interesting for me – I kind of go in and out where I try this – I would write my prayers down. Not my prayer requests, like write Bill’s name down [and] pray he gets a job, but actually writing out in sentence form what I was asking God to do….It was amazing what that did, because when you pray, you can pray out loud, but a lot of times you’re just praying silently. Your mind is thinking these thoughts and you’re saying these things, but it just seemed to be more… I’d get my hands on it better when it was written out.
For more from Blackaby, go to ibonline.ibsa.org to read the February 11 issue of the Illinois Baptist.
HEARTLAND | Nate Adams
Recently our neighbors invited us to a Super Bowl Party at their home. This isn’t the first year they have invited us, but it is the first time we said yes. I have to admit, though, that there were several reasons I wanted to say no.
First, of course it was on a Sunday. The afternoon game time meant I could easily get home from the church where I was speaking. But Sunday afternoon is usually a time when I can relax a little, have some personal time, and maybe even take a nap. I kind of wanted the option of falling asleep in front of the game, rather than socializing through it.
Second, the people that were inviting us aren’t very much like us, and we both knew that. Before offering the invitation, our neighbor asked, “Do you mind being around people who are drinking?” The invitation itself then came with assurances that there would be soft drinks available as well. I guess we’re known as “the Baptists on the block,” and most of our neighbors know I’m in full-time ministry.
Third, I wasn’t sure exactly what kind of position we might find ourselves in at this party. Who else would be there? Would we even find we had much in common to talk about? Would others wonder why we were there, especially after not coming in previous years, and would they be watching us for ways we might not fit in?
Finally, I wondered what kinds of other commitments might be asked of us as a result of this party. Did they need new workers for the neighborhood workday or workday? Would we now be asked to buy more wrapping paper or Girl Scout cookies from their kids?
I know, all those suspicions and phobias don’t sound very trusting, or even mature, do they? And yet as I reflected on all the reasons I wanted to tell our neighbors no once again, I realized that many of those same thoughts probably run through the mind of anyone who is invited to church by his or her neighbor.
When we invite our neighbors to church, we may feel like we are inviting them to a wonderful place where we have the richest worship experiences and deepest friendships of our lives. But in their minds we may be asking them to take a big slice of their most personal time and spend it with people they suspect are not very much like them, and who may press them for changes they’re not ready to make.
So instead of saying no to the Super Bowl party this year, we said yes. It wasn’t just because we empathized with how hard it is to invite someone to something. It was because our neighbor taught us something about the art of a sincere invitation.
First, she has gradually but consistently built a closer and more trusting relationship with us. I now believe she wouldn’t intentionally put us in an awkward or compromising position. She obviously knows we’re different than many of those who will be at the party, but she respects our values and looks for ways to accommodate them. She seems interested in us personally, and not with whether we will conform to others. And she has persistently and warmly invited us, even when we’ve always said no. Her invitation came from her heart.
There was one more thing. In saying yes this time, we also knew there would be at least three couples present for whom we’ve been praying, and looking for opportunities to share Christ. In fact one of those couples is our host. And in an ironic way, God has used the very neighbors for whom we’ve been praying to show us the art, and the heart, of a good invitation.
HEARTLAND (From Baptist Press) | Murders had become too frequent in the south St. Louis neighborhood where August Gate church meets.
Neighbors were fed up – including a few August Gate members who were leading a small group in the church’s Tower Grove East neighborhood. When they called to ask the three-year-old Southern Baptist church plant for help, August Gate community pastor Todd Genteman urged the young adults to get involved.
“You’re the Gospel Community in the neighborhood,” Genteman said, referencing the name by which the small group is known. “You should do something.”
So they did. The Gospel Community group organized a pancake breakfast at the church, bringing in community leaders, business leaders and residents to start a conversation about change. Organizers thought 10 to 20 people might show up, but more than 100 did.
The outreach echoed what the church plant’s lead pastor, Noah Oldham, has been teaching to the church which draws its name, figuratively meaning “harvest the city,” from the 10th chapter of the Gospel of Luke. For August Gate members, Gospel Community groups play a critical role in living out the teaching that every member is a missionary. These neighborhood-based small groups commit to learning the Bible, being a family and living on mission together.
“We want the vast majority of our congregation to be living on mission,” said Oldham, who also serves as the North American Mission Board city coordinator for Send North America: St. Louis. “God calls us to be missionaries in particular places.”
Click on the video below for more about August Gate, or go to BPNews.net for the full story.
<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/57384208″>Noah Oldham: Empty on the Inside</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/namb”>North American Mission Board</a> on <a href=”http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>
HEARTLAND | International Mission Board photographers share their pictures of the year for 2012, images that showcase God’s grace and mercy, and the great needs of people around the globe. View the full gallery.
A South Asian teenager has seen her home burned four times because she and her family are Christians. Attackers even took hammers and machetes to shatter the bricks. Despite this persecution, the family remains in their village — the sole followers of Jesus Christ. The young girl lives a lonely life because of her faith. Photo by Susie Rain
Edison Romero, 72, kneels in prayer while attending a missions training session at the School of Cross-cultural Missions near Iquitos, Peru, in the Amazon jungle. As he prays, the child of a fellow student sleeps on a nearby bench. Romero’s wife of 44 years died just three days before the training began, but he still traveled 12 hours by boat from his village to attend. Romero said he “just couldn’t miss it.” Photo by Rebecca Springer
Boys play in their dorm room at a Christian children’s home in Choibalsan, Mongolia. The home was set up to provide a stable life for Mongolia’s street children. Its founder, a Mongolian follower of Christ, has had a long friendship and ministry partnership with IMB workers in Mongolia. Photo by Hugh Johnson
HEARTLAND | Meredith Flynn
Haley Willis has defied the odds all her life. Diagnosed with a neural tube defect 21 weeks before she was born, doctors told her parents, Jeff and Lynel, Haley wouldn’t survive the pregnancy. When she was born on her due date, the Willises were told to take her home and enjoy her for as long as she survived – two weeks, at most.
She’ll turn 10 this summer. And Jeff and Lynel Willis, who serve at Harvest Church in Anna, say their oldest daughter is a miracle with a special gift for making people smile and drawing shy kids out of their shells. And defying the odds.
“Even to this day, people don’t know what to make of her.”
But the couple, who were told it would be easier to “interrupt” or terminate their pregnancy and start over, knew from the moment of Haley’s diagnosis what their responsibility was concerning their daughter.
“I was realizing really quickly that this wasn’t about Jeff and I,” Lynel said. “This was about God showing his glory through something as little as this baby. And we were just along for the ride.”
One month before her birth, the Willises named their daughter Haley Faith. Lynel said, “We wanted faith in the name, because we were having her out of faith.”
Read the rest of Haley’s story here. January 20 is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday in many Southern Baptist churches.
HEARTLAND | Nate Adams
This month marks seven years since the IBSA Board invited me to return to Illinois to serve our churches here. At the time, the most difficult thing about saying yes to that invitation was the ages of our sons. Two were in high school, and one was about to enter his senior year.
One of the teenage daughters of an IBSA staff member later told me, “I remember praying especially for Caleb as soon as I heard that you were moving here for his senior year of high school. I remember thinking how hard that would be for him, and I wondered how you could do it.”
Following the Lord’s leading often involves uncomfortable change, risk, and even sacrifice. It’s hard to face those things without faith. And when our own frail faith requires that those we love also change, risk and sacrifice, well, that seems to require even more faith.
In Exodus 33, Moses pleaded with God not to ask him and his people to leave where they were without the assurance that God was personally going with them. They were comfortable, and they felt safe and secure, even though they were really just camped in a desert that God never intended to be their permanent home.
Again and again that seems to be God’s pattern, in the Bible, and in our lives too. Don’t grow comfortable where you are; it was never meant to be permanent. God is leading you to follow His purposes somewhere else. It will seem risky, even dangerous. It may cost you something initially. In fact, the sacrifice may seem great. But don’t make the mistake of staying. Trust Him. He will go with you. If you stay, you may dry up.
Sometimes I see a pastor, or another visionary leader in a church, recognize that God wants to take them to a new place as a church. They see how God is moving or wants to move in their community, to reach people with the Gospel and make new disciples. And with some discomfort, they realize that staying as they are, while comfortable, is not following God by faith to the lost people of their community.
My encouragement to you today is to embrace the change, take the risk, and make the sacrifice. The God who is calling you to trust Him and risk doing something different is faithful. He will go with you, and He has something wonderful on the other side of your sacrifice. In fact Hebrews 11:6 tells us that not only is it impossible to please God without faith, but that He rewards those who earnestly trust Him.
Seven years later, that son whose dad moved him to a new school for his senior year says that was his favorite year of high school. That son who was far from God at the time, beyond his dad’s ability to persuade him, has surrendered his life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And that teenage girl who prayed for him without even knowing him is his fiancée.
Through a few years of discomfort, and occasional questioning, we trusted that God would eventually make the move to Illinois good for Caleb too. So when I pronounce him and Laura husband and wife in a few days, my smile will have behind it more than just joy at their union. Mine will be the smile of a dad seeing the faithfulness of God playing out before his very eyes. It will encourage me to trust Him again and again, whatever He asks. And it will encourage me to urge pastors and leaders and churches everywhere that they can trust Him too.
Nate Adams is executive director of the Illinois Baptist State Association.
HEARTLAND | Donald S. Whitney
Editor’s note: The following article is adapted from a bulletin insert available at biblicalspirituality.org. The author is former Illinois Baptist pastor Don Whitney,
Many of us struggle to make conversation at Christmas gatherings, whether church events, work-related parties, neighborhood drop-ins, or annual family occasions. Sometimes our difficulty lies in having to chat with people we rarely see or have never met. At other times we simply don’t know what to say to those with whom we feel little in common.
As Christians we want to take advantage of the special opportunities provided by the Christmas season to share our faith, but are often unsure how to begin. Here’s a list of questions designed not only to kindle a conversation in almost any Christmas situation, but also to take the dialogue gradually to a deeper level:
1. What’s the best thing that’s happened to you since last Christmas?2. What was your best Christmas ever? Why?
3. What’s the most meaningful Christmas gift you’ve ever received?
4. What was the most appreciated Christmas gift you’ve ever given?
5. What was your favorite Christmas tradition as a child?
6. What is your favorite Christmas tradition now?
7. What do you do to try to keep Christ in Christmas?
8. Why do you think people started celebrating the birth of Jesus?
9. Do you think the birth of Jesus deserves such a nearly worldwide celebration?
10. Why do you think Jesus came to earth?
Of course, remember to pray before your Christmas gatherings. Ask the Lord to grant you “divine appointments,” to guide your conversations, and to open doors for the gospel. May He use you to bring glory to Christ this Christmas.
Don Whitney is Associate Professor of Biblical Spirituality and Senior Associate Dean at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
iB2 News 