When the "threat alarm" goes off in an abusive church system, the response is orchestrated and brutal. But it's church: Appearances must be kept up. People loyal to the system confuse while pretending to clarify, cover-up while pretending to address, attack while seeming to answer, put-down while pretending to help.
Behind the scenes at Living Proof Live, I'd found a celebrity culture - not the "one anothering" of the church of the living God. So with all my heart, I cried out for change.
This is what happened when I served as onsite leader for a Beth Moore Living Proof Live event. It’s a peek into celebrity culture, the exploitation and manipulation of women and abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention.
All my life, I had been deceived by Good Christian appearances. Then, when pummeled and guilted to choose loyalty to a church system above all else, I saw.
In Moses’ day, the Lord went to great lengths to make a way to dwell in the midst of his people. Now, he’s made the way for his glory to dwell within us.
You may come more than once to the place where it looks as though everything has come to an end. But God means there shall be more life than ever. – T.A. Sparks
The Proverbs 31 woman shows us what other Scriptures teach us: When we fight fear of the future with the fear of the Lord, our God becomes to us a sanctuary.
Jesus died, rose and ascended so we can live in two worlds at the same time - the natural one we see physically, and the supernatural one we see by the Spirit.
The Proverbs 31 woman could look to the future and smile. Realizing that, I wondered: Might turbulent times be key times to learn the laughter born of faith?
A true story from the past it seems important to tell. Four questions about the present it seems important to ask.