Specific Answers to Prayer: An Amazing Story of God Hearing a Prayer for a Refrigerator for a Family in Need

by Jed Coppenger21 Days to Childlike Prayer, Bible, Christian living, Church, Ministry, Practical Ministry, PrayerPosted on No Comments

The married couple was in a long season of one crisis after another. The wife had undiagnosed Lyme Disease while pregnant and was extremely sick. After she gave birth, she continued to have a lot of health issues. The child was born with life-altering health issues. Since both the husband and the wife were teachers, they struggled financially to pay the doctor bills. It was a challenging time. Shortly after the school year started this year, their stove and fridge broke. It was a challenging time.

Although they were able to replace their stove, they weren’t able to replace their fridge. They went round and round with the company over the warranty, but were unsuccessful.

So an extended family member that was reading 21 Days to Childlike Prayer started praying, along with the other prayers she had been praying for the wife and the child, that God would provide them with a new fridge. Week after week, there was no fridge. Then, the extended family member put a date on the fridge prayer request.

After a couple of weeks, the extended family member went to Friday morning women’s bible study. She decided to ask her group to pray that God would provide a fridge for the couple in need (they were already praying for the health situation).

After the group ended, a mom pulled the extended family member aside and told her to meet her at her car. As they made their way to the car, the lady began to tell her that she just received a bunch of inheritance money and felt like the Lord wanted her to bring it to the Friday morning group. When the prayer for a fridge was talked about, the lady said she knew that was why she was supposed to bring the money.

So there, in the parking lot, the lady gave a couple thousand dollars for a fridge. The extended family member began crying tears of gratitude and awe. She said that she “wanted to shout from the rooftops, how good our God is!!!!” The fridge was bought and delivered right at the date that the extended family member had been praying for.

I hope this story stirs in you the childlike faith that it takes to ask God for things like fridges by specific dates. Does he always give us what we ask for? Of course not. But he always does what’s best for us. Let’s keep going to God in specific, childlike prayer. You never know the difference your prayers might make in the life of someone else.

5 Steps To Take When You Experience Loss: Insights from Jerry Sittser’s “A Grace Disguised”

by Jed CoppengerBook Summary, Christian living, Church, Practical Ministry, QuotesPosted on No Comments

Jerry Sittser and his family were headed back home from an event when a drunk driver drove head-on into their minivan. Although he and three of his kids survived, tragically, his wife, mother, and one of his daughters all died at the scene of the accident.

While most people don’t, thankfully, have to go through what he went through, every single one of us experience loss. Sittser writes, “Sooner or later all people suffer loss, in little doses or big ones, suddenly or over time, privately or in public settings. Loss is as much a part of normal life as birth, for as surely as we are born into this world we suffer loss before we leave it” (17). He continues, “”All people suffer loss. Being alive means suffering loss. Sometimes the loss is natural, predictable, and even reversible. . . . But there is a different kind of loss that inevitably occurs in all of our lives, though less frequently and certainly less predictably. This kind of loss has more devastating results, and it is irreversible. Such loss includes terminal illness, disability, divorce, rape, emotional abuse, physical and sexual abuse, chronic unemployment, crushing disappointment, mental illness, and ultimately death. If normal, natural, reversible loss is like a broken limb, then catastrophic loss is like an amputation. The results are permanent, the impact incalculable, the consequences cumulative. Each new day forces one to face some new and devastating dimension of the loss. It creates a whole new context for one’s life” (31-32).

We all experience loss, but, unfortunately, we don’t all understand how to GROW through loss. Instead of growing through our losses, many, sadly, lose their way, their heart, and their hope. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Sittser writes, “It is not, therefore, the experience of loss that becomes the defining moment of our lives, for that is as inevitable as death, which is the last loss awaiting us all. It is how we respond to loss that matters. That response will largely determine the quality, the direction, and the impact of our lives” (17). He continues, “There is little we can do to protect ourselves from these losses. . . . There is much we can do, however, to determine how to respond to them. We do not always have the freedom to choose the roles we must play in life, but we can choose how we are going to play the roles we have been given. Choice is therefore key. We can run from the darkness, or we can enter into the darkness and face the pain of loss. We can indulge ourselves in self-pity, or we can empathize with others and embrace their pain as our own. We can run away from sorrow and drown it in addictions, or we can learn to live with sorrow. . . .” (46).

Sittser’s book is a healing balm to anyone hurting. I first picked it up when I lost one of my best friends who gave his life saving some people from a burning car and oncoming traffic. Since then, I’ve returned to a few parts of this book more than once, as I’ve experienced more loss over the years.

But I know many people might not have or make the time to read this book. So I thought I’d offer a few lessons I’ve taken away from the book that I apply when I experience loss.

  1. Watch Out for Attempts to Deal With the Pain of Loss in a Way That Causes More Pain

As many besides Sittser have noted, when we experience loss, we are prone to do one of the following things:

Denial – On denial, Sittser writes, “Denial puts off what should be faced. People in denial refuse to see loss for what it is, something terrible that cannot be reversed. They dodge pain rather than confront it. But their unwillingness to face pain comes at a price. Ultimately, it diminishes the capacity of their souls to grow bigger in response to pain” (56). Denial happens when we give the “it’s not that big of a deal” statement, when it actually is. We can deny dealing with the pain by working harder than before. Denial says “it’s fine” when it really isn’t.

Bargaining – When we experience pain, sometimes we try to fight it by bargaining. On his experience, he wrote, “I thought about replacement relationships that could help me make the transition quickly and conveniently, but then I faced disappointment when two relationships fizzled during the first year as quickly as they had begun. I considered finding a new life for myself by moving and starting a different job so that I could escape the hellish life I was forced to live after the accident” (57). Some might try to bargain with God by doing the classic, “Lord if you give me this relationship, then…” or “If you do _____, then I’ll…” Sittser was prone to bargain, maybe you will too in a tough time.

Indulging – Sittser writes, “I tried to drown the pain by indulging my appetites. . . . There was one period, about two months long, in which I . . . watched television almost every night from 10:00 pm to 2:00 am. . . . I was tempted to indulge other appetites as well” (57). He continues, “Many people form addictions after they experience loss. Loss disrupts and destroys the orderliness and familiarity of their world. They feel such desperation and disorientation in the face of this obliteration of order that they go berserk on binges. They saturate their senses with anything that will satisfy them in the moment because they cannot bear to think about the long-term consequences of loss. So they watch television every moment they can, work sixty hours a week, drink too much alcohol, go on a sexual rampage, eat constantly, or spend their money carelessly. In so doing, they hold suffering at a distance” (58). I tend to go to sweets like ice cream in tough times. Nothing wrong with ice cream or many of these things, but none of them can help bring the healing you’re looking for.

Venting – Sittser also points out that when we experience loss, we might deal with it by getting angry and venting. On his experience, he writes, “I resisted the pain, finally, by venting anger. I thought that revenge would somehow help me mitigate my suffering. I wanted someone to pay the price for the loss” (58). When someone does something wrong to you or someone you love, you will probably feel this acutely at times. Beware of it. He writes, “Anger, like denial, or bargaining or binges, is simply another way of deflecting the pain, holding it off, fighting back at it. We refuse to let the pain in and experience it for the hell it is” (59).

These four responses to loss are important to be aware of and avoid. He writes, “These responses can deceive us, appearing to provide a way of escape from the problem rather than the points of entry into the problem. We must therefore pay attention to them but not fool ourselves into thinking that they are merely stages on our way out of the predicament” (59).

If we don’t respond in these ways, how should we respond? Very simply, I’ve found, after reading his book and Scripture, that we should:

2. Acknowledge the Pain – Whether it is just an acknowledgment to yourself, to God, or to others, acknowledge the pain. When one of my kids didn’t get in the game and I said I was “sorry because I know it stinks,” on the way home, he said, “It’s no big deal.” I corrected him, gently saying, “let’s not pretend like it doesn’t stink. I know you wanted to get in, that you wondered why you weren’t getting any time, etc.” Anybody that has played, knows what it is like not to get in, and really think you should. I tried to help him acknowledge the pain he felt. Anybody that wants to grow through their grieving and loss has to do the same.

3. Trust God’s Ability to Integrate Your Difficulty into Your Story for Your Good – Usually when you experience loss, you won’t know most of the reasons why God allowed it to happen. Often times, it won’t make sense from your perspective. The only way to grow through the pain and loss is to trust God enough to believe he can integrate the pain into your story for your good, making you “more” not “less.” If you don’t trust God’s good, but mysterious purposes, then you won’t be able to move forward more like Jesus than you were before the disaster.

4. Focus On What God Wants You To Do and Ask Him To Help You Do It – If you truly trust God with your pain, it frees you up to focus on what he wants you to do. Usually you won’t “feel like it.” That’s why you ask him to help you do what he’s called you to do. The Apostle Paul was “sorrowful, yet rejoicing.” He ministered with a broken heart. Your loss, by God’s good design and with his help, will actually make you better at doing what he’s called you to do, when you respond by faith. Trust him and follow him in the midst of your loss. For my son, that meant he needed to be a great teammate from the bench. Cheer his teammates on. Encourage them. Even as he prayed that God would give him a chance to play.

5. Remember This Process and Expect to Have to Work Through it Unexpectedly and Consistently – Sittser argues that we never “move on” from loss, in the sense that we can return to how things were before. But we can be “enlarged by loss, even as we continue to experience it” (18). In order for this to happen, we need to understand that we will need to return to these steps consistently. We’ll hear a song that reminds us of a lost loved one, smell something that takes us to a painful place, or something else that reminds us of some old pain that is still able to have a fresh impact. That’s why it is important to remember these steps. They can help you, with God’s help, walk out of the darkness that so easily overcomes us in this broken world.

Praying Against the Respect for Marriage Act Because I’m for the LGBTQ+ Community

by Jed CoppengerBible, Christian living, Church, Culture, justice, Ministry, Politics, Practical Ministry, PrayerPosted on No Comments

It’s not loving to create laws that promote falsehoods, confusion, discrimination, and harm, while reducing the institutions that help people flourish the most. That’s why, out of love for all people, including the LGBTQ+ community, I’m praying against the Respect for Marriage Act.

I know this isn’t a popular position in our culture or, most likely, a winning position in the Senate today. But, as a Christian pastor, I think it’s important to voice what Scripture clearly teaches to the church and the world around us, if for nothing else, to help people that think we are hateful or wrong, understand better why we believe what we believe. If you know many Christian pastors, you know that we don’t usually speak passionately about legislation related to minimum wage, the debt ceiling, and many other important things. And the reason for this lack of expressed opinion is that there isn’t as much biblical clarity on these issues. They are important, but not as clear as the issue of marriage.

So, if you will, consider briefly this unpopular opinion. To begin with, RFMA promotes falsehoods and confusion because it asserts, following the Obergefell decision, that marriage is something other than a union between a man and a woman—that it can be a “same sex marriage.” Before asking whether or not this definition of marriage has any negative consequences, it should be noted that this definition is out of step with the way marriage has been defined biblically, historically by every culture regardless of beliefs, legally, and philosophically. While “same sex marriage” seems to be a dominant notion today, it is one of the least held views in all of human history.

But, many argue, why does it matter whom people choose to love? Well, first of all, the question of “whom you can love” is different from the question, “What is marriage and who can be married?” You can love all kinds of people in a way that doesn’t redefine marriage. Also, in regards to romantic love, our culture, like other cultures, has laws telling us whom we can and can’t “love” in a romantic way. For instance, even though some in our culture are starting to push back on this idea, most still believe it is wrong for a grown man to have a romantic relationship with a young girl.

But, to put the question more accurately, why should people, whether Christians or not, be concerned about the redefinition of marriage? Because if you redefine marriage like this, then you are promoting a concept that isn’t sound in any historic or philosophical sense. And that’s not a good thing. Words matter. Ideas matter. Institutions like this matter.

Furthermore, you strip a vital social institution of its integrity, which causes greater confusion about what will really lead to human flourishing. It misdirects people away from unions grounded in the creation order that produce human flourishing and toward different unions that do not have the same grounding or track record. It’s confusing.

If it’s true that promoting “same sex marriage” promotes falsehoods and confusion, then it shouldn’t be surprising that there are other negative consequences—like increased discrimination. If RFMA passes, without a doubt, people and institutions that hold the historic position on marriage will be abused for their convictions. If you don’t believe this, you haven’t been paying attention. Over the past decade, more and more people have been defamed, sued, otherwise attacked for their traditional views on marriage. These cake makers, video makers, t-shirt makers, and many more, serve all people, including the LGBTQ+ community, but they simply don’t serve all events—like same sex weddings. This is an important distinction. They serve all people, they just don’t do all events. Yet, tragically, these folks have spent countless hours and money, just trying to live their lives.

Ah, but what about the men and women who need services? There are, of course, plenty of businesses that are happy to serve them. In fact, most businesses aren’t just happy to serve them; they declare their willingness with signs on their doors and slogans on their websites. The issue for many isn’t about creating access to the same kinds of things everyone else has access to, it’s about crushing those who disagree—those who hold to a historic view of marriage. The passing of the RFMA will only put more people and institutions under attack.

Unfortunately, all of this will lead to more harm everywhere. Why? I’ll just mention two of the ways. First, apart from the harm of creating a culture that is controlled by these falsehoods and confusion, with increasing discrimination, it will reduce the help that the most vulnerable in our society get from the people and institutions that hold to the historic view of marriage. It’s very simple. The people who do the most work with the homeless, the hungry, the poor, etc., in our country are the people that mostly hold to the historic view of marriage. If RFMA passes, these people will be under attack more and more. And when you are under attack, whether it’s through a lawsuit or whatever, you have to take the time, money, and energy you were going to use to help struggling people and redirect it to push back on the attack. And while the LGBTQ+ community is effective at many things, with all their power, they have yet to use it to create anything that comes close to what Christians have created to care for the most vulnerable of society. Without question, the RFMA will make life worse for people who need help most.

Secondly, very simply, RFMA will make life worse for children. It’s a sociological fact that children do best when they grow up in a home with a dad and a mom. RFMA will lead to more kids growing up in homes where there isn’t a dad and a mom. While this an unpopular opinion, for the sake of wanting what’s best for kids, it should be said. Think about it. Even if we didn’t use the Bible, the fact that “same sex marriages” don’t produce kids, should be evidence that these “marriages” aren’t the ideal setting for kids. I know, I know, there are many Christians who think these kinds of things shouldn’t be said because they don’t want their friends identifying as LGBTQ+ to be offended. But we have to remember that it’s never loving to lie about these things. Of course, we should treat these folks with dignity and respect. But we must be clear that part of treating them with dignity is speaking the truth in love.

I’m praying that RFMA doesn’t pass, that the LGBTQ+ will take a new, life-giving path toward the truth of their Maker and experience his blood-bought grace—and that all of us, wherever we fall on these issues, can speak the truth in love. We might not disagree less in the days ahead, but perhaps we can disagree better.

Douglas McKelvey on What to Pray When a Dream Dies

by Jed CoppengerBible, Book Summary, Christian living, Church, Ministry, Practical Ministry, Prayer, QuotesPosted on No Comments

Douglas McKelvey’s Every Moment Holy vol. 1 provides liturgies, or prayers, for all kinds of different situations. I thought I’d share the one he wrote for “The Death of a Dream.” In it, he skillfully and beautifully puts into words what so many feel when this happens and how they should process it in the presence of a good God. This prayer could be something you pray for almost any disappointment. I hope it encourages you like it encouraged me.

O Christ, in whom the final fulfillment of all hope is held and secure,

I bring to you now the weathered

fragments of my former dreams,

the rent patches of hopes worn thin,

the shards of some shattered image of

life as I once thought it would be.

What I so wanted

has not come to pass,

I invested my hopes in desires

that returned only sorrow

and frustration. Those dreams,

like glimmering faerie feasts,

could not sustain me,

and in my head I know that you

are sovereign even over this–

over my tears, my confusion,

and my disappointment.

But I still feel,

in this moment,

as if I have been abandoned,

as if you do not care that these hopes

have collapsed to rubble.

And yet I know this is not so.

You are the sovereign of my sorrow.

You apprehended a wider sweep with wiser eyes

than mine. My history hears the fingerprints of grace.

You were always faithful, though I could not always trace quick evidence of your presence in my pain, yet did you remain at work,

lurking in the wings, sifting all my

splinterings for bright embers that might

be breathed into more eternal dreams.

I have seen so oft in retrospect, how

you had not neglected me, but had, with a

master’s care, flared my desire like silver in

a crucible to burn away some lesser longing,

and bring about your better vision.

So let me remain tender now, to how

you would teach me. My disappointments

reveal so much about my own agenda

for my life, and the ways I quietly demand

that it should play out: free of conflict,

free of pain, free of want.

My dreams are all so small.

Your bigger purpose has always been

for my greatest good, that I would

day-to-day be fashioned into a more fit vessel

for the indwelling of your Spirit,

and molded into a more compassionate

emissary of your coming Kingdom.

And you, in love, will use all means to shape

my heart into those perfect forms.

So let this disappointment do its work.

My truest hopes have never failed,

they have merely been buried

beneath the shoveled muck of disillusion,

or encased in a carapace of self-serving

desire. It is only false hopes that are brittle,

shattering like shells of thin glass, to reveal the

diamond hardness of the unshakeable eternal

hopes within. So shake and shatter

all that hinder my growth, O God.

Unmask all false hopes,

that my one true hope might shine out

unclouded and undimmed.

So let me be tutored by this new

disappointment.

Let me listen to its holy whisper,

that I may release at last these lesser dreams.

That I might embrace the better dreams you

dream for me, and for your people,

and for your kingdom, and for your creation.

Let me join myself to these, investing all hope

in the one hope that will never come undone

or betray those who place their trust in it.

Teach me to hope, O Lord,

always and only in you.

You are the King of my collapse.

You answer not what I demand,

but what I do not even know what to ask.

Now take this dream, this husk,

this chaff of my desire, and give it back

reformed and remade according to

your better vision,

or do not give it back at all.

Here in the ruins of my wrecked

expectation, let me make this confession:

Not my dreams, O Lord,

not my dreams,

but yours, be done.

Amen.

My Conversation about “21 Days to Childlike Prayer” on the “100+ Significant Moments in Christian History” Podcast

by Jed Coppenger21 Days to Childlike Prayer, Bible, Book Review, Book Summary, Christian living, Church, fast, fasting, Ministry, PrayerPosted on No Comments

Last August, I had the privilege of sitting down with Mike Woodson, the pastor of Christ Church, to talk about 21 Days to Childlike Prayer for his fantastic “100+ Significant Moments in Christian History” podcast.

I’ve enjoyed Pastor Mike’s podcast for quite some time. He does an unusually excellent job of summarizing history in substantive, succinct, and engaging ways. He’s brilliant and a gifted interviewer. It was an honor to get to talk with him about one of my favorite subjects, prayer, while I was in Chicago to preach the first sermon in their “21 Days to Childlike Prayer” sermon series. You can give the conversation a listen here.

6 Questions Every Leadership Team Should Be Able to Answer: Insights from Patrick Lencioni

by Jed CoppengerBook Summary, Christian living, Church, Ministry, Practical MinistryPosted on No Comments

One of the major tasks of any leader is creating clarity. Patrick Lencioni, in his classic The Advantage, argues that in order for leaders to create clarity, leaders need need to make sure everyone they are leading is clear on six questions. These questions, he argues, aren’t unusually insightful. Rather, the insight is that “none of them can be addressed in isolation; they must be answered together.” He continues, “Failing to achieve alignment around any one of them can prevent an organization from attaining the level of clarity necessary to become healthy.”

What are the six questions?

  1. Why do we exist?
  2. How do we behave?
  3. What do we do?
  4. How will we succeed?
  5. What is most important, right now?
  6. Who must do what?

Answering these questions, he asserts, “may well be the most important step of all in achieving the advantage of organizational health.” Whether you lead in the local church or outside of the local church, I think these questions are absolutely worth wrestling with.

C.S. Lewis on the Importance of Accessible Communication

by Jed CoppengerBible, Christian living, Church, Culture, Evangelism, Ministry, Missions, Practical Ministry, QuotesPosted on No Comments

Our business is to present that which is timeless (that which is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow) in the particular language of our own age. . . .

We must learn the language of our audience. And let me say at the outset that it is no use at all laying down a priori what the “plain man” does or does not understand. You have to find out by experience. . .

You must translate every bit of your Theology into the vernacular. This is very troublesome and it means you can say very little in half an hour, but it is essential.

It is also the greatest service to your own thought. I have come to the conviction that if you cannot translate your thoughts into uneducated language, then your thoughts were confused. Power to translate is the test of having really understood one’s own meaning. A passage from some theological work for translation into the vernacular ought to be a compulsory paper in every Ordination examination.

—C. S. Lewis, “Christian Apologetics” [1945], in God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970), 96.

Hope For The Hungry: The What, Why, and How of Our Churches Efforts to Grow Food to Feed The Hungry

by Jed CoppengerBible, Christian living, Church, Culture, Disaster Relief, Redemption City Church, UncategorizedPosted on No Comments

In March of 2020, as the world was shutting down for COVID, our church, Redemption City Church, started growing food on our church property to give away to meet food shortages in our area. Nearing the end of the third growing season, with a lot of ups and downs along the way, we have grown and given away over 90,000 lbs of food to reduce spiritual and physical hunger amongst every kind of population you can imagine here in Mid-TN. That’s a little over 70,000 people that Redemption City Church, a nine year old church that typically has a little over 400 people on a Sunday, has been able to feed in Jesus’ name.  

No, we didn’t start this ministry because we want to become farmers, we simply wanted to be faithful—faithful to the calling of God on our church to advance his mission in our context with all that He’s entrusted to us. As strange as it sounds, we wanted to follow in the footsteps of heroes of ours like George Mueller, to name one of many, who used mercy ministries, like his orphanage, as a strategy for “showing God” to a world in desperate need of Him.

Of course, our church, wasn’t the first to think of doing something like feeding the hungry. Jesus set the pattern for reducing spiritual and physical hunger in his ministry, most famously as he miraculously fed the multitudes (Matt 14-15). In those narratives, we learn that Jesus spoke to the spiritual hunger of their hearts so powerfully that the crowds were willing to follow him and listen to him for long periods of time without regard to food. Their hearts and minds were starved. Jesus’ message was a feast. Indeed, he is the bread of heaven (Jn 6).

But, more famously, in those narratives Jesus also fed their hungry bellies. What is so often missed in our reading of these miraculous narratives is the fact that Jesus fed the multitudes through his disciples. “You feed them,” Jesus said to his disciples. They knew that Jesus’ command was impossible. After all, the size of the crowd was most likely around 15,000 people! Jesus called his disciples, and all of us since then, to join him in an impossible work that brings him great glory and does great good. And that’s what happened. After commanding the disciples to do the impossible, Jesus used them to do the impossible, since they delivered and collected the food.

While many parts of that moment aren’t repeatable, some, Jesus said, should be. Later, Jesus commands his disciples to feed the hungry and clothe the poor (Matt 25:35-40). His Spirit inspired NT authors like James to command churches to do the same in places like James 2:14-17. Any of the myriad of passages in the NT that talk about “caring for the poor” are passages that assumes that those caring for the poor are thinking about feeding the poor. The fact that food work is such an important part of kingdom work shouldn’t come as too big of a surprise to us, since the kingdom was originally lost because of Adam and Eve’s mishandling of food (Gen 3:1-6). Without question, Jesus and the Apostles led the NT church to reduce spiritual AND physical hunger.

That’s why, when you examine the way Christians throughout church history followed Jesus’ example and teaching, you see that, amongst many practical acts of love and generosity, they fed the hungry spiritually and physically. Jesus didn’t just feed hungry bellies that one day in Galilee, he’s continued to use his disciples to reduce the spiritual and physical hunger around them. Redemption City Church is simply using our land to do the same.

Why Should Your Local Church Consider Launching A Ministry That Feeds The Hungry

While it’s true that not every church needs to grow food and give it away, I believe many more can and should. Here are three quick reasons why your church should consider a “Hope for the Hungry” ministry that grows and gives away food.

First, and most obviously, launching a ministry like this would enable you to follow the biblical teaching and examples mentioned above—helping glorify God and do a lot of good in your area for the cause of Christ. Right now, as I write these words, over 700 million people go to bed hungry each night. That’s a group of people around two times the size of the U.S.A. Many believe that number will rise to over 840 million people by 2030. That’s a lot of hungry children, teenagers, young adults, and elderly. Because of COVID-19, it is estimated that 83 to 132 million more people will be chronically hungry than were projected to be. The war in Ukraine is making things worse. In the state I live, TN, we have around 1 million hungry people, over 250,000 are children.

I don’t know the last time you were hungry, but it usually doesn’t bring out the best in people. When we are hungry we are typically less joyful, patient, loving, focused, or any of the other characteristics that we were meant to be marked by. As a pastor, if my sermon’s go long, I know people won’t be happy with me. They’re hangry! When people fast from a meal, they typically struggle in ways they didn’t expect. Whatever your experience with hunger is, we all know that a lack of food leads to a lack of a lot of other great things in life. 700 million people experiencing these kinds of hunger related problems each day is a big deal.  

Second, launching a ministry like this will increase the number of Christ-centered conversations amongst your church and with the community. Since we began our “Hope for the Hungry” ministry, we have had a massive increase in evangelistic conversations. We have yet to come across a single person, no matter how lost, who hasn’t had a positive posture towards our efforts. It’s helped give our people more courage to talk about Jesus, I think, because of that. We have more unbelievers, also, who work on the farm. Just a couple of months ago, an unbelieving man who a year ago was a skeptic, gave his life to Christ and was baptized. Why was he around? His wife, who was already a Christian, loved the work on the farm and he thought that was cool too. Over the past year he met with several of us and God saved him. Amazing! Finally, the ministry has deepened the relationships amongst our church. Whether talking as beans are getting picked, weeds are getting pulled, or something else, people open up when their hands are getting dirty. One volunteer recently said, “we’re not just growing food out here, huh?” God grows our relationships on his mission.

Third, launching a ministry like this helps the cultural apologetic case for Christianity. On this point, I’m thinking primarily about the next generation. All of our kids will grow up and go into a world that says something along the lines of, “Christians don’t do anything.” A college prof, a politician, a boss, someone will say it, and it will be said over and over. Having a ministry like this, I believe, positions the next generation to “win the moment,” whatever that “moment” might be, by saying, winsomely and humbly I hope, “our church grew food every year and fed the hungry.” That kind of story changes the conversation. How powerful would it be if an army of churches came together and were providing over 1,000,000 lbs of food annually to the hungry in their area? What about 10 million lbs?

Perhaps, with a God empowered “Hope for the Hungry” effort, we might do a better job pushing back the darkness like the early church did. Describing one such instance, Ian Shaw, in his Christianity: The Biography, wrote, “When the fourth-century Roman emperor Julian tried to undermine Christianity, he found it difficult because of its strong system of social care and the high reputation Christians had gained for their generosity—something that paganism could not match. Social concern was an essential part of early Christian practice and closely accompanied the message of Jesus Christ as Savior.” As the culture darkens, practical examples of light like this will help many “find their way home.”

How Does A Local Church Launch A Ministry That Feeds The Hungry?  

Over the past three years we have put in a lot of work, made a lot of mistakes, and learned a lot. There are at least 5 basic things you need to launch a ministry like this.

First, as obvious as this sounds, you need some land to grow the food. How much land? Not that much. We have about 8 plots on 2 acres of the 31 acres we own. It takes a lot of work to keep that amount of land going like it should. In fact, we’ve talked about doing less. So if you have half an acre, go for it. But you have to make sure that your land can grow food. We have had our soil tested and you’ll need to as well.  

Second, you need to figure out your work capacity. How many volunteers do you have? How often can your volunteers work? Who has farming expertise? Do you have money to help pay for some help and for some needed tools? I recommend that you have a paid leader who knows farming and is good with people (important for volunteer retention), identify “champions” who can work part of several days a week (typically these are older folks or people with a significant amount of freedom), create 4-6 church wide work days (typically on days where a lot of work needs to be done, like a harvest day), and figure out what tools can be donated and what need to be purchased (we had to buy a tractor, etc.). The first two years we had a special offering at Christmas that paid for the year’s needs. We have just had teams come from local schools or from out of town so that their students could help on the farm. When done right, this added muscle really makes a difference.

Third, you need to figure out your county and state requirements. My guess is, you’ll need someone who knows agriculture to help walk you through this part. We did. If you don’t know anyone, perhaps a call to the state’s ag department can help. We learned, for instance, that it was important NOT to wash our produce in order to avoid liability. It would have been easy for us to skip this step, do something like washing the vegetables, and then get sued. Make sure you don’t skip this step.  

Fourth, identify the people to whom you will give the food. This step is trickier than most think it will be. In order to do it, I suggest you start by praying for God to show them to you. It’s amazing how many of our current relationships came “out of the blue.” Ask God to help you and be sensitive to his leading. Second, look for ministries like “OneGenAway” in your area who you can take larger amounts of food too. There aren’t a lot of places to whom you can take thousands of pounds of food in a day, but that’s what you’ll have to do a few days a year. Large capacity partners like that help you get food to the folks who need it without it rotting. But, thirdly, God will often provide smaller capacity partners too. We also brought bags of food to church some Sunday’s and encouraged people to take them if they needed them or if they knew someone who would need them. We’ve also had people work the farm “glean” from the farm, which we encourage. Partner with churches. You get the idea.

Fourth, with the help of an expert, figure out what you can plant and when it needs to be planted. This plan, of course, will be location dependent. For those new to farming, this is more important than you think it would be. These experts will also be able to give you tips on how best to take care of what you are growing as well. This framework will also help you plan the best days for church wide work days and events.

Fifth, set expectations. We often say, “farmers are flexible.” You know why? Because sometimes, on the church wide work day, it rains. This year we had a drought that hurt that amount of food we produced. So we let people know that our goal isn’t perfection, it’s faithfulness. Also, some people follow through and help like they say they will and others don’t. It happens. If kids happen to ruin a plant while families are out there working, that’s okay. We care about people more than plants. The Enemy is always looking for a way to discourage. Setting expectations helps limit his effectiveness.

These are five things I think you need to think through in order to launch a “Hope for the Hungry” type of ministry without making some of the mistakes we made. I’m sure I’ll think of other things later (if you do, email me and I’ll add them).

I hope you’ll consider praying for our ministry and that God would launch more ministries like it. The last two years, the recipients of our food were pickier about what kinds of food they wanted. Some wanted more potatoes, some loved tomatoes, some jalapeños, and on and on. This year, as conditions in our world have gotten worse, our partners are just asking for “more.” I bet there will be more and more people like that around all of our churches in the days to come. Perhaps this is the time to launch your “Hope for the Hungry” ministry?

Christ and Culture: The Call to be Salt and Light in a Decaying and Darkening World

by Jed CoppengerBible, Christian living, Church, Culture, Evangelism, Ministry, Missions, Practical Ministry, PrayerPosted on No Comments

Alasdair MacIntyre, in his book, After Virtue, argues that Western culture is in a situation very similar to the cultural moment when the Roman Empire fell. Rather than being governed by reason, faith, or some combination of the two, our culture is governed by emotivism. Emotivism is the concept that moral choices are simply expressions of choosing what “feels right,” not because there is an objective right and wrong. Because of this, our culture is unraveling.

In a culture like ours, where realities as simple and obvious as identifying a person’s gender with their biological sex is rejected and seen as hateful, not just by the periphery of society, but the major institutions, it is difficult to avoid agreeing with MacIntyre’s point. If our culture can’t agree on the fact that boys should compete against boys, and girls should compete against girls, that only women can have babies, and that people and businesses should be able to make decisions and policies accordingly, how can we improve many of the much more complex areas of our culture? It’s a dark time.

That’s why I believe it’s important for all Christians to think more thoroughly and carefully about what it means to be a Christian in this culture. In the midst of the cultural chaos, Jesus provides a pathway forward. He’s brought the church through more difficult times, enabling them to be both faithful and fruitful. I believe he is doing the same today. But it won’t be easy. To help, I think Christians need to return to Matthew’s Gospel and reorient their lives accordingly.

Matthew’s Gospel as a Playbook for Cultural Engagement

When Jesus stood on the side of that Galilean hill delivering what we now call, the Sermon on the Mount, the people of God were not in a position of cultural power. They weren’t in a position of strength economically, politically, or any other meaningful cultural measure. They didn’t hold positions in the elite institutions of the times, as James Davidson Hunter and others have argued are important for cultural change. They weren’t winning the battle of ideas culturally, as Francis Shaeffer and so many others have tried to help so many world changers do. In fact, the first followers of Jesus were unmistakably vulnerable politically, economically, medically, professionally, and relationally as they carried out their lives under the harsh rule of Rome.

And yet, it was to those powerless people, that Jesus set out a vision, one that focused on creating a people that are salt and light in a decaying and darkening world, that has undeniably changed the world. In order to be salt and light, his followers had to be prayerful (Matt 6:9-13), principled (Matt 5-7), and practical (Matt 8-9). They were to be prayerful because prayer, more than anything else, shows whether we really believe that we need God’s help to advance God’s mission in our day-to-day lives They were to be principled because just as creation unraveled with the rejection of God’s powerful word (Gen 3:1-6), it will be restored by God’s powerful word. And, finally, Jesus’ followers are to be practical, they are to make a difference practically in the lives of those around them, because Jesus loves to use “good works” like feeding the hungry, caring for the poor, and more, to adorn the gospel and all its world changing realities (Titus 2:10). Christians don’t need cultural power to bring about cultural change because Christians follow a king whose kingdom, and all its power, is not of this world—that created this world (Jn 18:37).

But it’s important, as we seek to follow Jesus’ plan for being salt and light in a decaying and darkening world, being a prayerful, principled, and practical, that we don’t miss out on the rest of Jesus’ plan revealed in Matthew’s gospel. In a culture marked by “expressive individualism,” it’s easy to skip the following parts of Matthew’s gospel, which show that Jesus is advancing his mission through a people, a church, that he is building (Matt 16:18). Why is this so important to see? Because Jesus’ mission advances most impactfully when his followers commit to one another to carry out his mission in local churches. These local churches aren’t supposed to be just another group of people who share the same preferences. They are a people who share the same faith in the crucified and risen Lord. They believe that Jesus’ body and blood, and his indwelling Holy Spirit, is enough to change their relationship with God and others.

Matthew’s Gospel doesn’t end numerically better than it starts. When Jesus meets his disciples on a hill in Galilee there are less present than when he delivered his Sermon on the Mount. But a decline in numbers doesn’t always mean a decline in influence. The major difference, obviously, was that Jesus was now the crucified and risen Savior—one whose hands were marked by eternally healed scars. His promised presence provides the key to advancing his disciple-making, and, consequently, world changing, purposes (Matt 28:18-20).

Matthew’s Gospel, which some scholars argue is the most read book in all of the Bible, provides a playbook for cultural change—one that doesn’t depend on cultural credibility, but the power and presence of the risen Lord.

Following the Mission of Christ throughout the History of the Church

A surface level reading of the book of Acts and the rest of the New Testament reveals unmistakably, that the followers of Jesus were prayerful, principled, and practical, as they sought to be salt and light in a decaying and darkening world. Local churches were started and the results were stunning. No one, no matter how well positioned culturally, in those cultures had the intellectual and spiritual resources to get people, as divided as they were culturally, to love and serve one another sacrificially like brothers and sisters, to do unmistakable good to all types of people. Little by little, life by life, the gospel began to change the world. The light was pushing back the darkness.

Christians enjoyed with gratitude all of the good things in their lives and culture given by God (Jms 1:17). Because the Fall hasn’t erased all of the goodness of God’s creation, there is much to be enjoyed. They also rejected many of the ideas and lifestyle choices that were evidence of the Fall and the ongoing powerful presence of sin in our broken world. And, finally, they sought to enhance or improve their lives, the lives around them, and beyond, fighting to bring all things in submission to the Lordship of Christ (Eph. 6:10-20).

This same trajectory was followed beyond biblical times through every phase of church history, starting with the Patristic period (30-590), then the early Medieval period (590-1054), the late Medieval period (1054-1517), the Reformation (1517-1689), and the Modern Period (1689-Present).

During the first part of the Patristic period, Christians combatted heresies, launched what would eventually become hospitals, cared for forsaken children, and more. During this period, Augustine, wrote the City of God, where he provided a devastating critique of pagan culture and one of the greatest writings in the history of the church.

During the early Medieval period, as Christians lived in a world where Rome had been conquered by the barbicans, they faced new cultural challenges with the beginning of Islam in 622, the rise of the Holy Roman Empire, and countless other challenges. Benedict’s “strategic withdrawal” from much of the surrounding culture, provided resources that Christians greatly needed in the centuries to come, as Rod Dreher has helpfully observed in The Benedict Option.

Christians launched educational institutions that have continued until today during the late Medieval period. The most prominent example, of course, is Oxford, which was started in 1096. Christians also dealt with major abuses in the church, advanced Bible translations at the cost of their lives, and the Crusades.

Christians entered the 1500’s as a major cultural force, for good and for ill. They had come a long way from that small hill in Galilee. Much good and much harm had been done in Jesus’ name. There was a need for major change. Starting with Martin Luther, the Reformation, created all kinds of amazing glimpses of “light in the darkness.” The five solas revolutionized how Christians approached being “salt and light” in a decaying and darkening world. The importance of “vocation” was elevated for all Christians. Abraham Kuyper helped followers in all seven spheres of culture see how to bring them under the Lordship of Jesus.

Finally, in the Modern period, with the rise of the Enlightenment challenge, Christians experienced religious toleration, advanced world missions, started major educational institutions (like Harvard was in the 1600’s to train ministers), and more. The first and second Great Awakening took place. George Mueller revolutionized orphan care in England. William Wilberforce fought the slave trade. Book publishers were started. Jesus advanced his cause through his church. Of course, Christians continued to make major, sinful errors. The role of many Christians in the slave trade remains, most likely, the greatest hypocritical sin of this period.

While this embarrassingly succinct overview of church history is admittedly simplistic, I include it to help provide historical perspective that shows every Christian at every time, has had challenges and opportunities to be salt and light—to be prayerful, principled, and practical. The Spirit of Christ has powerfully advanced the Father’s purposes through Christ’s blood-bought, imperfect church.  

The Church as Salt and Light in a Decaying and Darkening World

Over the last 75 years or so, as Christian thinkers have tried to help Christians understand how best to be salt and light in a decaying and darkening world, the most substantial efforts have started by wrestling with how best to define “culture.” H. Richard Niebuhr’s, Christ and Culture, arguably the most influential work on its subject since it was written, does. Francis Schaeffer, Charles Colson, Nancy Pearcy, Andy Crouch, James Davidson Hunter, just to name a few thinkers, all spend time reflecting on the best way to define “culture.”

Hunter, in To Change the World, argues that most definitions can be categorized either as idealists or materialists. Idealists define culture primarily in intellection, worldview terms. These thinkers do a fantastic job showing what Richard Weaver voiced, in 1948, “ideas have consequences.” We change culture, in this view, primarily, when we change how people think about the world.

Materialists, like Andy Crouch, aren’t materialists in the sense that they don’t believe in God and the supernatural. Rather, they identify culture primarily with what is made of the creation. Hence, the title of Crouch’s book is Culture Making. We change culture, according to this approach, when we create new cultural goods, whether that is a sweater, a song, or whatever.

Hunter highlights what he believes are strengths and weaknesses that are found in each approach. As expected, Hunter provides what he believes is a better way, one that focuses more on the importance of institutions and networks. Perhaps he could best be described as an institutionalist. How do we change the world? By being faithfully present in the institutions and networks around us.

For our purposes, following Abraham Kuyper’s lead, I think it’s most helpful to think about culture as what’s found in the seven spheres of culture: religion, family, education, government, media, arts and entertainment, business, and online. In all of these spheres, I think it’s helpful, although somewhat arbitrary, to recognize that there are different levels of participation in each sphere: thinkers, doers, and consumers.

With this idea of culture, the question, then, becomes, how do we relate to what exists in these various spheres, with these various levels? While Niebuhr’s 5-fold typology is incredibly influential, I think that T.M. Moore, in his Culture Matters, provides a helpful way to think about how Christians engage with their culture: cultural indifference, cultural aversion, cultural trivialization, cultural accommodation, cultural separation, culture triumphalism. As each category is thought about, he notes, “No one adheres to any of these six models as the exclusive or even self-conscious approach to culture matters.” In short, culture is so complex, that there are times when we need to employ each of these approaches as we try to be salt and light in a decaying and darkening world.

I think that the task before us is the same as the task before those first followers listening to the crucified and risen Lord Jesus deliver his Great Commission. We should be prayerful, principled, and practical as we seek to advance the cause of Christ in partnership with other believers in local churches.

As Christians think about the messages, institutions, people, and all the rest, around us in all seven spheres, at every level in those spheres of culture, we should enjoy the good gifts of God in our culture with gratitude, resist the evidences of the Fall in our culture around us and inside of us, and improve every aspect of the culture for the glory of Christ. Let’s not run from the battle, let’s engage with it. But let’s fight, not as the world fights, but as our Lord fights, with truth and grace—prayerful, principled, and practically.

Some of the issues before us are obvious and some are not. That’s why it’s important to remember, as the New Testament church had to be reminded of, that we see through a glass dimly (1 Cor 13:12; Rom 14). Let’s remember that it’s not just important that we are right, we must be loving (1 Cor 13:1-7). If the Apostle Paul and Barnabas didn’t agree on the best way to move the cause of Christ forward, we’ll have our struggles to get along too.

Christians are a part of their culture, even as they are called to represent Christ in their culture, enjoying the good, rejecting the bad, and bringing all things in alignment with Christ (Eph 1:10). When we do this prayerfully, principled, and practical, we can be salt and light in a decaying and darkening world.

How to Pray for Help with Your Heart Idols

by Jed Coppenger21 Days to Childlike Prayer, Bible, Christian living, Practical Ministry, PrayerPosted on No Comments

The Apostle Paul says that we have “exchanged” what we should hallow, or worship, in our hearts with things we shouldn’t. He says, “because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen” (Rom. 1:25).

Notice that Paul doesn’t say that we “quit” or “stopped” worshiping (worshiping is simply another way of describing “hallowing”). He says that we “exchanged.” Your heart is designed by God to hallow the true God. But, because of sin, we “hallow” other things.

I saw the inescapable hallowing function of the human heart most clearly in my kids when they were going through the “Night-Night” stage. The “Night-Night” is what they called a specific blanket that they loved most. It’s the blanket that helped them to transform from terrified to tranquil, from unstable to stable, from loud to quiet and content.

We called it the “secret weapon.” When we dropped the kids off in the Children’s Ministry on Sunday mornings. We told the workers, “if they won’t stop crying, break this blanket out, and they’ll be fine in a minute or so.” The “Night-Night” was undefeated.

And there’s the thing about the “Night-Night.” There was nothing special about the blanket. We didn’t put anything on the blanket, like special oils or fragrances or anything illegal, to get them to like those blankets. All of the kids were given multiple blankets and all of the kids would choose just one of those blankets that would “work.”

It wasn’t about the blanket, it was about their hearts. Their hearts ascribed a certain value on those blankets that wasn’t true about those blankets. It was the kiddy version of what Paul was talking about.

As we get older, we leave our blankets behind, but our hearts are still making the same silly exchange—hallowing the creation over the Creator. We base our inner sense of well-being on people’s opinions, how much money we have in the bank, how “in control” we feel, and the like.

Do you know what your “Night-Night’s” are?

The Bible calls these “Night-Night’s” idols. And everyone struggles with them. Tim Keller, in his book Counterfeit Gods, describes these idols as “anything more important to you than God. Anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God.”

What might these be? Not usually bad things. They are typically good things.

Some people’s hearts and, therefore, days, are controlled by the idol of approval. If they are affirmed like they want, then they feel good about life, where it’s headed, and the journey they’re on. If they’re not affirmed, then they feel frustrated, angry, scared, embarrassed, worthless, or some other life-taking emotion.

The Bible affirms the goodness of approval in others eyes in passages like Proverbs 22:1, “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.” But sinful hearts have to be careful that this good thing, a “good name,” doesn’t get turned into a God thing that we have to have, that we base our heart’s contentment on. Jesus’ name was slandered by almost everyone, but his satisfaction was taken away by no one. If people’s opinions controlled his purpose, and not his heavenly Father’s opinion, he never would have did what was necessary on the cross to bring salvation to the world.

Do you tend to make an idol out of people’s opinions?

Other people don’t worry about what people think that much. Instead, their hearts and, therefore, their days, are controlled by the idol of productivity. If they are performing like they want to be performing, then they feel good about life, where it’s headed, and the journey they’re on. If they feel unproductive, behind, or anything like this, they feel frustrated, angry, scared, embarrassed, worthless, or some other life-taking emotion.

God is “pro-productivity.” He works, designed humanity to work, created the standards for productivity, and provided tons of instruction on how to work in the Bible. Jesus did the greatest work ever imaginable by purchasing salvation for sinners. But God didn’t create any work, or work process, that he wants you to replace him with. In fact, he commanded us to “rest” from our work so that we’d be reminded that it’s his work that makes the kingdom advance.

Do you tend to make an idol out of working?

But there are other people who don’t care if they are productive or if people have a high view of them, they struggle, instead, with the idol of comfort. If they are resting like they want to be resting, then they feel good about life, where it’s headed, and the journey they’re on. They’re more patient and loving towards people when they are in this place. But if they feel uncomfortable, overbooked, or anything like this, they feel frustrated, angry, scared, embarrassed, worthless, or some other life-taking emotion.

God is “pro-comfort.” He knows that rest is a good thing, which is why he commanded that we “rest” each week. But he wants us to know that our “rest” has limits. He wants us to be productive (Col. 3:23).

Do you tend to make an idol out of rest?

Another major way that people take good things in our lives and replace God with them is with possessions. People that struggle with the idol of stuff, feel good about life, where it’s headed, and the journey they’re on, if they have a certain level of “stuff.” There bank account needs to be at a certain level. Their car, apartment, house, or whatever, needs to look a certain way. If they aren’t at their “level” of stuff, then they feel frustrated, angry, scared, embarrassed, worthless, or some other life-taking emotion.

God loves “stuff.” After all, he created it! But he doesn’t want us to value “stuff” more than we value him.

Do you tend to make an idol out of stuff?

Everybody struggles at the heart level with some or all of these realities.

When you pray for God’s name to be hallowed, his kingdom to come, and his will to be done, you are praying for help in these areas of struggle in our hearts.

Do you ask God to help you overcome your heart idols?

For people who are prone to worship and hallow the god of people’s opinions, ask God to make your heart hallow his name so much that when others’ opinions change, your joy and hope and expectancy doesn’t; or if everyone is happy with you, that you don’t start caring about their opinions more than his.

For people who make an idol out of work, ask God to make your heart hallow his name so much that when you don’t feel productive, your joy and hope and expectancy doesn’t disappear, and your since of well-being isn’t gone; or if you feel super productive or refreshed that you don’t replace him by finding more joy in accomplishment than in him.

For people who make an idol out of comfort, ask God to make your heart hallow his name so much that when you feel overbooked or maxed out, your joy and hope and expectancy doesn’t disappear, and your since of well-being isn’t gone; or if you feel super refreshed that you don’t replace him by finding more joy in your circumstantial comfort than in him.

For people who make an idol out of possessions, ask God to make your heart hallow God’s name so much that when you have less than you want, your joy and hope and expectancy doesn’t disappear; or if you have more than you want, you’re your heart doesn’t replace God with the stuff he is providing you.

When you pray for God’s name to be hallowed, you are praying that our hearts would be free. You’re praying that you would be like Jonathan Edwards was when he was fired and it was said of him, “his happiness was out of reach from his enemies.” In that moment, his heart hallowed the right God.

This post includes content from my book, 21 Days to Childlike Prayer: Changing Your World One Specific Prayer at a Time.