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Barack Obama and Rick Warren's Prayer at the Inauguration
President-elect Barack Obama, as many of you no doubt know by today, chose the popular evangelical minister Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his January 20 inauguration, strongly rejecting the criticism that it slights gays. Gay rights advocates were strong supporters of Obama during the election campaign, even though he did not endorse “gay marriage” in his promises or commitments. What angers these gay rights advocates about Rick Warren is his backing of Proposition 8, the California ballot initiative banning gay marriage. That measure was approved by the voters last month, millions of whom also voted for Barack Obama. This was especially the case among black and Hispanic voters who voted heavily against gay marriage and generally do elsewhere.
Anyone who has bothered to study the words and actions of Barack Obama should not be surprised at his choice of Rick Warren, as well as noted Civil Rights leader Rev. Joseph Lowery, to pray at his inauguration. Obama’s […]
A Life Well Lived: On the Death of Erwin Lutzer's Father
Since I was a young pastor in my early twenties Erwin Lutzer and I have shared a deep friendship. This has led to many wonderful times of conversation, ministry and prayer. Erwin's dad and mom are both over 100 years of age. This in itself is a remarkable fact but then his dad and mom are two rather amazing people. Erwin's dad finally passed away this week at the ripe old age of 106! Since I have heard so much about Erwin's dad for most of my adult life I thought it only right to share Erwin's account of his dad and his passing with all my readers. (If course, I have Erwin's permission to share this story with you. I also ask you to pray for him in light of this loss.)
Here is Erwin's brief account of his dad's amazing life and his death this week.
My father, age 106, laid his burdens down and entered the presence […]
The Visitor
Director Tom McCarthy’s new film, The Visitor, is what Peter Travers in Rolling Stone, calls “a heartfelt human drama that sneaks up and floors you.” I could not agree more. This is a sensational movie and a true sleeper that people who love a great film and a truly good story will likely miss.
The premise is rather simple—in a world of six billion people it only takes one to change your life. An “intriguing drama” The Visitor truly allows the viewer to see and feel the story of an illegal immigration scenario in a way that puts a human face on the issue. Starring Richard Jenkins (from the HBO series, Six Feet Under) the story line involves Dr. Walter Vale, a sixty-two year old Connecticut College economics professor who is still adjusting to the absence of his late wife.
Passion is gone from his life and […]
ACT 3 Needs You
One of the most famous ads in American history is one that features "Uncle Sam" saying, "I need you!" It is a piece of cultural iconography. During World War II, and after, it symbolized something of the spirit of the nation.
Well, in the spirit of "need" I must tell you that ACT 3 "needs you." Every similar ministry will tell you at this time of the year that they need gifts to finish the year well. ACT 3 is in the same place. But I have been thinking a great deal lately about how you could help ACT 3 and me do this ministry.
We all know, by now, that President-elect Barack Obama unleashed the largest Internet response to a political candidate in history. He did this by putting his message before people who then shared it with their friends who then they shared it with their friends and eventually both the man and his message connected millions of people into a large movement. One of the most important keys to his political […]
The "Forced" Resignation of Richard Cizik, Part Five
In my final look at Richard Cizek’s resignation as vice-president of NAE I want to make some specific observations and issue a personal plea for a different kind of Christian presence in the public sphere.
Many Christian writers believe that Cizik should have resigned, some as far back as two years ago. Mark Tooley, a writer for the Institute on Religion & Democracy (IRD), believes that “Cizik has been very outspoken and in some ways ‘off the reservation’ for the last five or six years in terms of his global warming-activism, which the board of NAE had initially somewhat disavowed—but that had not discouraged him.” The terms Cizik’s critics use are often quite revealing. Tooley believes he is “off the reservation.” What an ironic expression. I doubt that Tooley meant this metaphor in the way I actually hear it. I know him to be an honorable and good man. But in his terms I suppose that I also live “off the reservation.” Frankly, […]
The "Forced" Resignation of Richard Cizik, Part Four
One of the more perceptive voices addressing Christianity and public policy is that of Calvin College’s Joel Carpenter (photo at left). Joel was once the director of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals (ISAE) at Wheaton. He is someone that I listen to much the way the old E. F. Hutton commercials suggested people listened to Hutton's advice about the market. Carpenter is an astute observer of evangelicals and the NAE. He has also followed the Richard Cizik matter very closely.
Last week Carpenter observed: “I think the public affairs office (of NAE) has been the most vital and important thing that the NAE has been doing in recent years. Joel Carpenter actually contributed a chapter on the history of the NAE to the book Revive Us Again, a history of fundamentalism and evangelism in America. He suggests, as a historian of this 66-year old organization which was birthed in opposition to the World Council (WCC) and National Council of Churches […]
The "Forced" Resignation of Richard Cizik, Part Three
The “forced” resignation of Richard Cizik has brought a great deal of attention to evangelical Christianity in America and most of it is very negative. We live in a time when spiritual interest is actually rising but respect for the church is in sharp decline. Most non-Christians associate our response to leaders like Rich Cizik with the gospel message itself, like it or not. We can say this is not the case but they see this very simply as Christians attacking Christians. To them we are all fundamentalists, whether we like it or not. And our standing in the culture is at an all-time low based on everything I have seen.
Statistics reveal that an unsettling exodus is also taking place in the American church. This is not a passing fad but a real, observable and much-studied trend. What makes young people leave our churches? And why is the name “evangelical” so […]
Priests and Prophets
The Advent Sermon that I heard at the Lutheran Church of the Master (Carol Stream, IL), preached by the interim pastor Curt Gerald, was excellent. He preached from the two liturgical texts found in Isaiah 61:1-11 and John 1:6-9 and 1: 19-28. He explained quite well the frequent tensions that existed between the two ends of the Old Testament spectrum: the priests and the prophets. His point was that both were always needed but often they clashed and people tended to miss the importance of one or the other side of this emphasis.
I quite agree with Curt and this take on the Old Testament story. Our churches have both types of people in them. The "priests" want to make sure the church is run right and the worship remains sound. They are concerned about the operation of the ministry and in things like "decency and order," to use Paul's well-known phrase. The prophets, often less in number, want to make sure that […]
The "Forced" Resignation of Richard Cizik, Part Two
On Wednesday of this week Richard Cizik resigned as the vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). The preceding week had been filled with calls for his removal by constituent members of NAE who were deeply distressed that he was shifting his views on same-sex marriage. As I showed in Part One Richard Cizik has been under considerable fire for over two years. The statement that led to his resignation became, without any serious doubt, the proverbial “straw that broke the camel’s back.”
Leith Anderson, president of NAE, wrote to the board members of NAE the following: “Although he has subsequently expressed regret, apologized, and affirmed our values, there is a loss of trust in his credibility as a spokesman among leaders and constituencies.” I have no doubt that Leith Anderson spoke the truth here and nothing but the truth. The issue was not so much what Cizik said in the December 2 interview with Terry Gross on […]
