By Staff, World News Magazine
Most churchgoers realize this truth after several years of church involvement: Our churches are imperfect.
The church is a complex, living organism made up of flawed leaders and members of the congregation, struggling to survive through limited resources, complicated relationships, and controversial dramas. Gee, if only we had a hotline to dial and fix these issues.
That’s the premise behind Church Rescue, a new National Geographic Channel reality show produced by T Group Productions premiered Nov. 11.
If you’ve ever watched the popular show Extreme Makeover, you’ll know how the sequence goes: A team of experts swoop in to change somebody’s life with their advice and their network’s deep pockets—all under a time crunch.
You see some tears, a little “tough love,” and a nail-biting obstacle or two. They all lead up to the climactic unveiling, in which participants reveal their “after” phase and bask in the shock and praise of family and friends.
Church Rescue provides all those elements – except instead of a beauty makeover, it travels across the country trying to resuscitate failing churches.
The team of experts is the Church Hoppers, a consulting company based in North Carolina. A trio of best friends – Kevin “Rev Kev” Annas, Anthony “Gladamere” Lockhart, and Jerry “Doc” Bentley – formed a friendship through a shared frustration with the state of today’s churches.
The three friends saw churches going through foreclosures, passionate leaders delivering lackluster sermons, and inexperienced squandering of resources – and they decided to do something about it.
“Ultimately, we believe that God put us together, because those frustrations ended up motivating us to do something about those frustrations,” Bentley said.
Pooling their decades of experience as ordained ministers and businessmen, the three men developed a business model for churches. Their philosophy is that every church needs to balance these three critical areas: systems, business, and marketing.
“We try to understand the culture of the particular church and community before we actually step into it,” Lockhart said. “So we do a lot of research before starting the seven-day process.”
The way they look at it, each church has an individuality that meets a certain community’s unique needs. They try to figure out what that need is, and then help the church direct its purpose to meet that need, no matter what its denomination.
Bentley said communities are “screaming for so much variety,” and that’s what a local church should do: Provide a variety of worship options for people of various beliefs, personalities, and perspectives. “We’re not going to go in and try to change their theology,” he said.
Supreme Court Takes Up Public Prayer Question
The U.S. Supreme Court justices took what appeared to be a relatively simple case on legislative prayer, and turned it into a wide-ranging discussion on the Establishment Clause, with justices wondering aloud about how government could treat religion in any context.
The case itself is not hugely complicated. The town of Greece, N.Y., has opened its town council meetings with prayers for years. Anyone could lead the prayers but most of the religious leaders in the town were Christian, so most of the prayers were Christian.
Two residents objected and filed suit. A district court sided with the town, but the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Greece, saying that “the town’s prayer practice had the effect of affiliating the town with Christianity.”
The Obama administration sided with the town on the case, citing the long history of allowing sectarian legislative prayer.
Fight Over Reparative Therapy Not Over Yet in New Jersey
In August New Jersey passed a law preventing licensed therapists from helping men and women with unwanted homosexual attraction overcome these destructive desires.
The law generated a national controversy because it could have the effect of criminalizing Christian counselors in the state.
The law is in the news again after two New Jersey parents sued because they believe homosexuality is immoral and want help for their 15-year-old son. Under current law, they can’t get that help.
According to Yahoo News: “[The unnamed teen] has a sincerely held religious belief and conviction that homosexuality is wrong and immoral, and he wanted to address that value conflict because his unwanted same-sex attractions and gender confusion are contrary to the fundamental religious values that he holds, the lawsuit claims.”
Atheist Megachurches are On The Rise
According to the Associated Press, atheist “megachurches” are springing up around the country that look a lot like Protestant megachurches and include, “rousing music, an inspirational talk and some quiet reflection.” But, the article goes on to say, “The only thing missing was God.”
About “three dozen” of these congregations have sprung up in the U.S. and Australia, and a British couple that founded the movement, Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans, are planning many more.
Jones and Evans are touring cities across the U.S., hoping to raise $800,000 that will fund this non-church planting movement.
Jones said the idea came to him when he attended an inspiring Christian church service. “There was so much about it that I loved, but it’s a shame because at the heart of it, it’s something I don’t believe in,” Jones said.
Jones added, “If you think about church, there’s very little that’s bad. It’s singing awesome songs, hearing interesting talks, thinking about improving yourself and helping other people — and doing that in a community with wonderful relationships. What part of that is not to like?”
Hawaii Falls To Homosexual Marriage Movement
Hawaii recently became the 15th state to allow same sex marriage (SSM).
Hawaii started this current battle over same sex marriage in 1990 when a lesbian couple tried to get married there and could not. That case went to the Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the lesbians.
Since then (1993) states one by one have been passing SSM laws. The vast majority of the country still prohibits homosexual marraige, and those states that do allow are mostly bunched on the east and west coasts.
Marijuana Hits Mainstream in Polls
Support for marijuana legalization is on the rise, even among Independents, the elderly, and Christians, according to recent surveys.
For the first time since Gallup started polling Americans about marijuana in 1969, a clear majority of Americans – 58 percent – supports the legalization of marijuana, according to a new poll released in October.
The poll showed that support decreases with age and increases toward political left. But the percent of young adults and Democrats supporting the legalization of pot did not jump significantly over the last year, staying steady at 67 and 65 percent respectively.
Instead, new groups are showing support. According to Gallup, 62 percent of political Independents support legalization, up 12 percentage points in the last year.
Support for legalization among those 65 and older jumped 14 percentage points since 2011, from 31 to 45 percent.