I recently spoke to a pastor who made his case for not supporting women as senior pastors. “I’ve asked many men this question,” he said. “As a man, when you see a woman up front preaching or teaching, what’s the first thing you think about? The first thing that comes into your mind is if she is attractive or not. This distraction is one of the main reasons women should not be senior pastors or preach to men”, he said.

I was somewhat shocked by this argument. Not because he believed this, but because he said it out loud and so boldly. He stated it as if it were a biblical truth. To me, his statement was more about the sexism within evangelicalism connected to the sexism within the broader society, than some well thought out theological position on women in ministry leadership.

At least he was honest and pointed to the real issue at the foundation of why many men in evangelicalism struggle with women in ministry and pastoral leadership. Some try to cover up this truth by using the words of Paul in the New Testament. I’m not going to go into all the Scriptures which support women in ministry and pastoral leadership because this has already been done. I invite you to go to the website of the Evangelical Covenant Church (www.covchurch.org) to get information on some insightful resources.

What I will say is this-

Should the words of Paul, which could very well be situational and contextual, not universal and unconditional be used to argue the case for women in ministry? Shouldn’t the actions of Jesus with women and the equipping of women by God speak louder than the words of Paul? To the second question, I say yes.

I believe the bible is authoritative and central for living. Within this belief, I believe the works of God, which includes the works of Jesus, should speak louder than the words of Paul. I don’t in anyway negate the words of Paul or them being from God, but these word of Paul are put in its proper context when put up against and compared to the works and words of Jesus. Why is this important? Because Jesus is God and Paul is not. God speaks higher than God’s servants and God speaks thru God’s servants simultaneously. This understanding is important in dealing with the issue of women in ministry.

What does the actions of Jesus with women in the Gospels tell us about God’s empowerment of women and should this speak louder than Paul’s words, which I present were situational, not universal? Jesus transforms and empowers the life of the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus has a woman anoint and prepare him for the cross. Jesus answers the prayers of the Canaanite woman. Jesus heals the woman with the issue of blood. Jesus stands with the woman caught in adultery. Jesus gives life to a teenage girl left for dead. A woman is at the tomb first to acknowledge the resurrection of Jesus. All of this is not about women in pastoral leadership, but it’s about the bigger issue of God being mindful of the second-class citizenship of women and dealing with it as a kingdom agenda. Jesus challenges the place and role of women to the point that his own male disciples, were annoyed every time they witnessed His empowerment of women.

When it comes to women in ministry and pastoral leadership we should join the position of Jesus and also acknowledge our sexism.

I watched the Glen Beck show on Fox News this afternoon. His topic was how churches that are using the term, “social justice” are misinterpreting Scripture in order to spread Marxism. Now I don’t want to say that in some cases this might not be true, but to provide a wide-spread brush stroke of all uses of the term social justice to be Marxist and in no way biblical is a major blow to true evangelical theology.

One of the hallmarks of evangelical theology is the authority and centrality of Scripture. The Scripture is full of Kingdom mandates from God that calls for a justice that goes beyond individualism. For those that don’t believe this is the case, they have to wrestle with the Exodus story as well as the book of Esther and the words of Jesus in Matthew 25, beginning with verse 31. This mission of God in the world includes salvation, which is individualistic in nature, but also includes what the corporate church should do concerning the widow, the poor, the orphan, the stranger, and the sick in society. The society makes up the social structures. This isn’t a political ideology, nor marxist philosophy, this is the Word of God.

Glen Beck’s show on social justice and the church included guests from Liberty University and Westminster Theological Seminary who stated that the gospel is individualistic in nature. The guest from Liberty University even said that the parable of the talents, (which just happens to come before a parable about feeding the hungry and visiting the sick and those in prison), is about free market enterprise. So the gospel of Jesus Christ according to the opinions of the guests are rooted in individualism and capitalism.It is about a person, as an individual, accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and then investing their resources into the marketplace.

This is a very limited and unbiblical view of salvation. Salvation itself is communal because it includes the community of the Trinity and in many cases the community of the person that God used to bring the person to Christ. This is why the evangelical church has a strong history of global missions. If the gospel is rooted in individualism, we should shut down every department of world missions in every evangelical denomination. Read the Old Testament and the Gospel letters and it won’t take you long to realize that justice in society is a biblical theme presented as an act out of the overflow of an intimate relationship with God thru Jesus Christ, as well as a significant part of the mission of the church. The church is called by God, through Scripture to be about the whole mission of God, which includes evangelism, discipleship, mission, compassion, mercy, and justice. The church is called to make disciples and to do justice and love mercy.

Let the Word of God drive the evangelical church and its theology, not a political talk show host.

It has been way too long since I posted a blog and I will try very hard not to make this mistake again. My life has taken quite a turn in the last few months. In mid January I was nominated to serve as the next Superintendent of the Pacific Southwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church. The election takes place at the Annual Meeting of the PSWC in about two weeks in Northern California. If elected, I will provide servant leadership to about 160 churches in California, Hawaii, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah.

Accepting this nomination was a very tough decision for me. I have enjoyed so much the opportunity to serve as Senior Pastor of the Sanctuary Covenant Church the last seven years. Seven years ago, God gave me a vision to plant a church with a diverse group of God’s beloved children, that would be intentionally evangelical, multi-ethnic,  and urban; including a community development component. The Sanctuary Covenant Church and Community Development Corporation are now a transforming reality because of God’s grace and Spirit. The church has a membership of over 400, a weekly attendance of about 1,000, and a diverse and gifted staff. This is why this decision to look to a new season of potential ministry leadership out West was very tough for me. Minneapolis is the city of my upbringing, the place where I met Christ, and the place where I entered into ministry.

Minneapolis is also the place where I developed a passion for the multi-ethnic church and came to the understanding that theologically I was an evangelical. I also came to the realization that evangelicalism has been kidnapped by political ideology and rugged individualism. Evangelical has moved from meaning the good news to abusive news and news of judgement. I’m so glad that Minneapolis is also the place where I came to know the Evangelical Covenant Church. This movement is committed to presenting evangelicalism as the good news that biblically connects both the good news of eternal salvation and life transformation thru compassion, mercy, and justice.

When I came into the Evangelical Covenant Church, I finally found a theological home. I have also found a Christ-centered, multi-ethnic community of women and men who believe in the authority and centrality of the Word of God. There is a high value on relationship and growing in Christ in community. This is why as tough a decision as it was, I prayerfully made the decision to be considered as the next Superintendent of the PSWC of the ECC. I’m humbled and honored by the potential opportunity, pending election. I hope to multiply the kingdom work begun at the Sanctuary Covenant Church. I’m in time of excitement, grieving, nervousness, and hope. My prayer and focus is on finishing strong, beginning well, and trusting God.

When George W. Bush was the President of the United States there were some liberals who labeled him as the anti-christ and some others even went as far as comparing him to Hitler. Now some conservatives and even some evangelicals are launching the same attacks at President Obama. It wouldn’t be so bad if these were just a few fringe voices relegated to media outlets that most people don’t take time to read or listen to. The problem is that mainstream and popular media outlets are giving these extreme, “get paid for speaking anger and hate” voices a tremendous platform.

Don’t believe the hype or the hate. Neither Bush nor Obama are the anti-christ. The cases to make them such are based on a limited understanding and blatant misinterpretation of the Bible. These cases are also based on a limited view of the judgement and justice of God.

Let’s begin with this biblical truth. Idolatry and injustice are both sins, which led to judgement from God in the Old Testament and thru Christ plays a role in the entrance into the Kingdom of God described in the New Testament. The Old Testament foundations I’m speaking of can be found in the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah. The New Testament foundation I’m talking about can be found specifically in Matthew chapter 25.

There are some conservatives and evangelicals that want to call Obama the anti-christ, simply because he’s pro-choice. For those with this perspective you need to do your research. President Bill Clinton was pro-choice too, but guess what? There were more abortions that took place during the eight years of George W. Bush than the eight years of Bill Clinton because there is a direct connection between poverty and abortion. If conservatives and evangelicals want to reduce abortions (which didn’t happen under President George W. Bush), deal head-on with poverty. So, the abortion issue alone doesn’t make Obama any more anti-christ than Bush, which is why I say neither are. Now I get the argument that being pro-choice is a biblical problem in and of itself. I agree. I’m pro-life myself; I’m a, “womb to tomb pro-lifer.” This means I not only have issue with abortion, but the death penalty as well. But you’re not going to see pro-life evangelicals outside prisons protesting the death penalty. You also don’t see evangelicals marching down inner-city streets with the same passion to protect babies outside the womb from gang violence the same way they do for the babies in the womb. Remember, I myself am a evangelical, Womb to Tomb Pro-lifer.

Now, let’s look at poverty beyond it’s connection to abortion. Some liberals and mainline Christians want to make the case that George W. Bush is the anti-christ because of his ignoring of the poor and marginalized in our nation during his tenure. Well, this group needs to do its research as well. The No Child Left Behind Act, though not perfect, is the strongest plan to date in holding public education accountable. Education is still one of the best empowerment tools for dealing with poverty. If not for 9/11, which led to the Vice-President and Secretary of Defense taking the leading of the nation from President George W. Bush, we might have seen the plan for “compassionate conservatism.” Urban public education systems are mostly run by liberals who put teachers’ unions ahead of African-American and Latino children and youth. Too many of these children and youth are on the wrong side of the achievement gap. President Obama cannot afford to treat the urban public school systems with kid gloves, George W. Bush didn’t.

You may not like the ideology of the immediate past or present President of the United States, but to make them deputy to Satan is going a little too far. The bottom line is, there is sin in both major political parties and a lot of anger and hate in the extreme conservative and liberal celebrities. Christians must rise above this and become ambassadors of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:20).

A few years ago, I attended the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Dallas, Texas to promote my second book, The Hip Hop Church. After doing a book signing and some other promotion, I had a chance to speak with a staff member of the NRB.

She told me that in their research, they found out that the largest viewing audience of Christian television are women in the 60’s. I’ve been reflecting on this as I’ve watched Christian television more intently over the last few weeks. In these challenging economic times with consumerism probably being the number one addiction of those living in the United States of America, the majority of television preachers haven’t let up in their call for viewers to sow a financial seed into their ministries. A financial seed that they claim will provide escape from the claws of the economic recession. Remember the majority of those watching are women in their 60’s. Some of these women may have already been duped by shady financial advisors just to now be duped by another one in the name of Jesus. It is a shame that the economic times as well as spiritual signs of our day haven’t called for a serious critique of the Word of Faith Movement and the prosperity theology in particular. To provide a real critique one must truly understand the practical science of biblical interpretation, as well as the foundational theories surrounding economics.

Through the philosopher Aristotle, economics begins simply as the ability to attain the products and resources needed to maintain one’s household. The rise of the economic system known as capitalism leads eventually to going beyond meeting our household needs to consumerism. This is about taking what I want and making it a need. An addiction or enslavement to consumerism is about losing the ability to prioritize or tell the difference between the things I want and the things I need or even the things I crave in my flesh. This addiction to the fullest, driven by the flesh is what leads a parent to choose crack cocaine over feeding their children. It’s what leads one to buy alcohol over paying the rent. Well, what does this have to do with prosperity theology and Christian television?

Prosperity theology (the most preached theology on Christian television) makes it difficult to see the difference between a Kingdom of God economic system and what is simply the capitalism and consumerism of the United States of America that at least right now is failing. Please know though that I’m in no way calling for socialism. I’m calling for a true biblically rooted Kingdom of God economic system which includes addressing the issues of the sick, the imprisoned, and the poor. I’m calling for an economic system that calls the church to start health clinics and schools in the poorest inner-city communities in the United States of America. To be honest, I don’t think the United States needs much more third-ring suburban mega-churches, but it needs more faith-based community development corporations dealing with healthcare, housing, education, and employment.

Christian television through many of its prosperity preachers are preying on women in their 60’s to sow seed into ministries based on the abuse of agricultural-rooted parables spoken by Jesus (i.e. sowing and reaping) that have more to do with the Kingdom of God showing up to the poor in spirit and body thru compassion, mercy, justice, and life transformation. These parables are being misinterpreted and mixed with capitalism and consumerism by too many television preachers so that they can fly in private jets, ride in luxury cars, and build their own ministry empires. Don’t be duped by a pimp dressed up as a preacher. Until this unfortunate use of God’s Word is lessened by the addition of more expository preaching on Christian television, I say we don’t watch it. At the end of the day the Christian revolution won’t be televised anyway.

“…I was sick, and you visited Me…” (Read Matthew 25:31-46)

Lately, you can’t watch the news without seeing angry people at a town hall meeting on health care reform. There are angry people (mostly European-American conservatives and in some cases evangeical) who are mad at President Obama and they want to know how this health care plan is going to be paid for. I get why they’re asking how this proposed plan is going to be paid for. To be honest, I have the same question myself. 

What I don’t get is the anger about big government spending big money on a monthly basis. If that’s what the anger is about, you’re a few town hall meetings too late. The proposed health care bill could cost 100 billion dollars a year over the next 10 years. Wow! But, before you get angry, what about the 8-10 billion dollars a month being spent on the war in Iraq right now? This monthly cost is probably less than when the war was at its height under President George W. Bush. Where was the anger then? Isn’t spending billions of dollars a month on a war, that brought forth no weapons of mass destruction and may have contributed to our economic collapse big government as well? It funny to me, (but I’m not angry yet) that when it’s about war, for some people the checkbook of the government can be unlimited, but when it comes to providing healthcare for the poor and marginalized, to consider writing any checks at all from the government is socialism.

For the Christian the bigger question becomes, should the church be in the business of healthcare? I believe the biblical answer is yes. Jesus was in the business of healthcare and so should evangelical christians. Now if we were talking about Africa, I wouldn’t have to make this point. But if I’m talking about Chicago, Detroit, or Minneapolis, I’ve probably got a debate on my hands. If you happen to be one of those Christians that are against the  proposed healthcare reform of President Obama then you need to be apart of crafting a church run proposal. It can’t be the Obama plan or no plan, this is not a biblical option. When I served as an Associate Pastor at Park Avenue United Methodist Church in South Minneapolis, Minnesota, one of my responsibilities was to serve as Executive Director of the Park Avenue Foundation. This outreach ministry of the church has a computer learning center, a free legal clinic, and a free health clinic still going today. If, as a Christian, you don’t agree with government driven health care reform, then redistribute some of your church budget dollars to starting a free health care clinic in partnership with healthcare professionals in your local area. This is something we seek to do at The Sanctuary Covenant Church, where I pastor now through a larger initiative called, The Exchange Center for Compassion, Mercy, and Justice.

If you’re not willing to take this biblical step, then you should get out of the way of some type of reasonable health care reform. Maybe the problem is that government is working at trying to move something forward that the church should actually be addressing in a creative and innovative way. If I had my way, I’d rather see the church leading the way on this issue, not government. Because the church in the United States of America has lost sense of biblical insight on issues such as housing, healthcare, education, and incarceration, the current government proposal must be at least considered. To be honest I wish there was a town hall meeting where I could vent my anger with the church.

“If you will return O Israel, declares the LORD, Then you should return to Me. And if you will put away your detested things from My presence, And not waver, And you will swear, As the LORD lives, In truth, in justice, and in righteousness; The the nations will bless themselves in Him, And in Him they will glory.” (Jeremiah 4:1-2)

If the church is to be a force of both Kingdom Building and Kingdom Advancement, it must be willing to connect truth, justice, and righteousness. Let me first give a deeper understanding of these three important concepts. Truth in the Hebrew points to stability, certainty, and trustworthiness. God’s truth as revealed thru the Word of God brings stability to our lives when connected to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Truth ought to bring certainty by faith. It is thru faith that we believe in the certainty of Jesus as the Son of Man and the Son of God. We must allow faith to produce certainty  about what is truth over strictly searching for truth in some academic ivory tower which cannot admit its own faith formula for truth. This is not to down education. I highly value the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom, I’m just stating that this pursuit without faith is meaningless for the Christian.

Justice in the Hebrew is connected to judgement, a formal decree, and determination. God is determined to bring about justice. You cannot talk God out of being a God of justice. The question becomes will you join God in Kingdom justice becoming manifest in the world? Will you join in the Kingdom cause of addressing the issues facing the poor, the immigrant, and at-risk, high-risk youth? The Scripture describes them as the poor, the alien, the orphan, and the widow. The church must be a force of truth and justice or we risk being a church in crisis functioning outside of His glory.

Righteousness in the Hebrew is about justice and virtue. Righteousness is about the character and integrity of God showing up in our lives. We cannot produce this character in our own power. This kind of Character comes thru the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and our willingness to give ourselves over to it.

We must understand and connect truth, justice, and righteousness in our lives and in the church. Historically in our nation we have separated truth, justice, and righteousness. Some churches preach truth by focusing on an individual approach to repentance and salvation. Or they only focus on sin issues such as fornication, murder, and adultery and leave racism, sexism, and oppression alone. On the other hand some churches focus on issues like racism and sexism and give no attention to the biblical truth of the authority of Scripture or the necessity of the new birth.

The church must connect truth, justice, and righteousness in order to advance the Kingdom of God in these days and live out ancient biblical mandates. The church must focus on evangelism and christian formation, as well as compassion, mercy, and justice. Here’s an example of what this looks like-

1.) Provide regular opportunities for people to accept Christ as Lord and Savior.

2.) Create and sustain initiatives which put a priority on Prayer and Scripture.

3.) Develop a racial righteousness and reconciliation ministry.

4.) Get involved locally and globally around issues of Biblical Economic Justice and Christian Community Development.