I am a white male.  For centuries most of America was viewed, imagined, and projected through eyes like mine.  But that is changing and changing fast.  Population demographics are in transition and America is looking different.  Because of this the church must view race and culture differently if we are going to bring the gospel to the culture in relevant ways.

Diverse in Culture, Unified in Christ

Statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that the U.S. is quickly changing into a plurality population.

Consider this…

The census projects that by 2043 “Americans who identify themselves as Hispanic, Black, Asian, American Indian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander will together outnumber non-Hispanic whites.”[1]

In just ten years, in 2024, the non-Hispanic white population will hit its peak at 199.6 million.  After that the population of that demographic will begin to gradually decline.[2]

Minorities currently make up 37% of the population, but by 2060 that category will reach 57%.[3]

The fact is that the complexion of our world has been noticeably changing for some time and those changes will continue.  So what does this mean for the church, particularly the white church?

It means we need to stop seeing churches as white, or black, or Asian, or Arab.  We are going to need to see the church through the eyes of the gospel and not the eyes of race and culture.  Jesus died for man.  Not just our slice of the demographic.

He died for the sins of all men who descended from Adam.  Why else would Christ say that we were to preach this gospel to “all nations.” (Matthew 28:19)

And this is important.  For a long time white church goers have been very warm to the idea of taking the gospel to people of different races and different nations.  This has been a high value in the evangelical church.  Reaching people from the other side of town or the other side of the pond has been our accepted mission.  But that often is where the mission ended.

Most white church goers never imagined that those people reached with the gospel would actually go to church with them.  Oh sure they figured some would, but not in large proportion.  But this perspective must change in many places if we are going to relevantly reach our communities for Christ in the future.

It used to be that we would try to reach a community by reflecting the nature of that community in our church.  That more often than not cut along racial and cultural lines.  It made sense and was based on a principle called the homogeneous unit principle.

But now, in many places this is changing, for the community itself is becoming significantly more diverse.  The principle is still somewhat sound, but now to reflect that principle the church itself must become more racially and culturally diverse.

The local church I lead has been in such a transition for years.  About 20-25% of our congregational attendance consists of Hispanics, Burmese, and Karen peoples.  We are beginning to reflect the future direction of our culture.

Of course, right now these minority cultures hold their own services in our church.  We have five worship services in 4 different languages each Sunday.  Language and cultural differences still divide us in many ways.  But this will change in just a generation or two.

When the younger generations of these immigrants are educated in English and begin to assimilate into Western culture those ties to their cultural distinctives will weaken.  When that happens we will need to become more integrated in our church experience.

In the mean time it will be important that we begin crossing those cultural barriers as a congregation as fast as we can.  We need to view each other as brothers and sisters who are one in Christ.  We need to love each other in word and deed, not just in principle.

In the future, God will reach diverse communities through churches where the members have embraced one another’s cultural diversity while at the same time finding unparalleled unity in the gospel.

There are amazing days ahead for the church.  They won’t be easy, but they promise amazing opportunities for the relationally adventurous.  We will have to stretch ourselves and step out of our comfort zones.  But the opportunity to see our church and community through God’s eyes rather than the eyes of our provincial culture is so worth the risk.

Questions for Discussion:  What is it about this future that excites you?  What about it frightens you?  Do you have ideas for how churches can embrace the diversity of cultures in their communities?  Do you have ideas on how brothers and sisters in Christ from differing cultures can bridge relational gaps and find greater unity in their mutual love for Jesus?  Enter the dialogue and You can leave a comment by clicking here.

Fast Forward is a marvelous function on your DVD or DVR remote.  Push it and you can skip to the future of a story to see what happens before you have to live through the story.

Push Fast Forward

If you want to see how the movie ends without going through all the drama, just Fast Forward.  Did you record the game, but you don’t want to spend the time watching the whole thing?  Just push Fast Forward and skip to the score.

Wise people use a kind of Fast Forward function in their minds to make wise decisions.  What do I mean?

Wise people use their logic and forethought to judge the wisdom of a decision by pushing Fast Forward and determining the logical outcome their decision will have in the future.  After all, we should all know that we are continually living out the consequences of our past decisions.

Robert Louis Stevenson said, “Everybody, sooner or later, sits down to a banquet of consequences.”

Some of those consequences are the product of wise decisions and are blessings.  Others are painful and the product of decisions you wish you hadn’t made.

Mark Twain wrote, “The man that sets out to carry a cat by its’ tail learns something that will always be useful and which will never grow dim or doubtful.”

Wisdom is thinking through the decisions of today with a forward view to that decision’s probable outcome.

Norman Cousins said, “Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences.”

It really is that simple.

Here is the point of this post…

When you are faced with a choice, be wise, push Fast Forward and consider the eventual outcomes of such a choice.  Then heed the warnings and make the wise decision.

This is most often how wisdom is attained…Pushing Fast Forward.

Proverbs 2:4 says we should search for wisdom “as for hidden treasure.”  Pushing Fast Forward is important.

When you are considering sharing that constructive criticism about the dress your wife is wearing…push Fast Forward.   Consider the logical outcome of your critique.

When you are considering the job you will pursue or the person you wish to marry, push Fast Forward.

When you are considering the time your kids devote to sports in ways that interfere with their participation in church, push Fast Forward.  What ultimate impact will your decisions have on their faith, on their commitment to the things of God, on their own commitment to church and even on how they will likely rear your grandchildren?

When you consider a financial purchase, push Fast Forward.  You won’t regret doing so.

When you are tempted to sin, push Fast Forward.  Is it not going to bring more harm than good?

What decisions are before you today?  Spend some time pushing the Fast Forward button in your brain and think through the future implications of the choices you could make.  Then make the wise choice.

Question:  What are suggestions you have for thinking ahead when faced with a choice?  Share them with us.  You can leave a comment by clicking here.

Yesterday I dropped off my oldest daughter at the airport to catch a flight to South America for a month long mission.  She will be working at a couple of orphanages, a school, and will prepare for a team from our church to join her the last week of her mission.  She will share the gospel and care for people in need.  I am proud of her and have confidence that she will do well.

Sending My Daughter On Mission

When she was still in the womb my wife and I would pray for the daughter that would be born to us.  There is one prayer we prayed over and over again…

“Oh, Lord, give her a love for the things of God!”

There are many things for which I have prayed and not received the answer that I had hoped.  But this prayer has been answered many times in my daughter’s life and I am so thankful.

There is nothing I could want more than for my child to love the Lord.  Nothing!

That prayer shaped how we parented our girl and our other children as well.  We realized that we had to be a part of the answer to our petition.

We realized for our daughter to love the things of God we had to love the things of God as well.  Our affection for God had to lead us to love prayer, love the Scriptures, love the Church, love serving others, love giving, and love taking the gospel to all manner of people.

We certainly were not perfect in our example, but we were genuine.  Our kids saw us love God’s people, love and give to others, and saw us travel the world on occasion to share the gospel.

We prayed with and for our children, talked about God and prayed for people who did not yet know the love of Christ.  They caught the vision to do the same.

We realized that we could not afford to compartmentalize our faith at church.  We had observed many who lived out their relationship with God in the church house, but then said little about the Lord at their house.  We realized that God would have to be the central figure and most important Person of our home.

Don’t get me wrong!  We have made a boatload of mistakes.  We have failed miserably over and over.

But somehow through it all our kids caught the vision for themselves.  This was driven home for me once again as I gave my eldest child one last hug before sending her off to another country.

What is going to change the world?  A generation that loves the things of God.

Let’s pray for them this way, but most of all let’s live this out before them.

Question:  What are ways we can live out our faith before our children?  You can leave a comment by clicking here.

Yesterday in church I led my congregation in a minute of silence in memory of all those men and women who died in military service to our country.  Often I have thought that pausing in silence to remember a fallen individual was a rather lame way to show respect.  After all shouldn’t we do so much more?  But I have changed my mind.

Pause to Remember

As I led us to be silent for an entire minute, I felt the power of the moment.  I really thought about the hundreds of thousands of our Americans who died on the battlefield defending our country’s freedom.  I thought about the gravity of that sacrifice.  Of course there is the gravity of the sheer numbers of people, but even more than that it is the gravity of even just one of those lives lost for a country.

Those men and women actually fought for us and then they were shot or wounded in some way that caused them to breathe their last.  For some it all came in an instant…a blast and then eternity.  For others the wound was such that their death came slow.  They were able to think about what they were losing and why.

These men and women were giving up years of their lives on those battlefields.  They would never again hold spouses, play with their children, walk their daughters down the aisle, and so much more.  They did that for you and they did that for me.

I thought about all of that in that brief minute in church.  That is when I changed my mind.  Pausing for a minute of silence was powerful.  Very powerful.  I really did remember, gratefully remember.

So today, would you do just that?  Stop, even if for only a minute and think about what was done for you.  Really think about it.  Don’t just think about the hundreds of thousands of soldiers over the centuries.  Think about that one soldier and what he or she surrendered fighting for you and your way of life.  Think about how personal it was for them.

And then pause again, for another minute and remember what our Lord Jesus Christ did for us on the cross that day.  Soldiers died that we might have an American way of life.  Jesus died so that we might have life eternal, the Heavenly life.

Let’s remember.

Question:  Do you know someone who gave their life for our country?  Tell us their name and something about them.  Let us remember them together.  You can leave a comment by clicking here.

I have been blogging for about four months now.  I have published 46 posts so far.  I am grateful for hundreds of you who have become consistent readers.  You have been reading what I write, but now I want to hear from you.

I want to hear from YOU!

So far I have written on subjects concerning the nature of God, how to follow and serve the Lord, as well as posts on family and leadership.

I have written on things that matter to me, but I would like to know what matters most to you.

Would you help me by giving me feedback?

What are the subjects that you most enjoy reading about and what are the kinds of posts you find most helpful…posts on the nature of God, personal discipleship, family, or leadership?

I want to know what helps you the most.

I would also like to know what questions you have about faith in Christ.  What are spiritual problems for which you would like scriptural answers?  Or maybe they are simply problems you face in everyday life and you would like to know how God’s Word can give you the guidance you need.

I want to hear from you so that I can focus my writing in ways that add greater value to your life.

I never set out to blog just to see my thoughts published.  I became a blogger so I could help you.

Help me help you.  How?  Simple, just let me know what subjects you most enjoy reading about and what questions you might like to see answered.  Maybe there is a subject that you have not seen me address that you would like to see me write on.  Let me know what that is.

So here is what I would like you to do.  Leave a comment to this post letting me know the kinds of things that you find most helpful on prevailinglife.com.  Then let me know what you would like to see me write about in the future.  Share questions or topics you would like to see me address.

I might not be able to address every suggested topic, but I hope to address many and I want to hear from you.

Seriously, I want to hear from you!  You can leave a comment by clicking here.

Today is Mother’s Day.  To all of you who are moms, thank you for all you do.  You might not always feel like what you do makes a difference.  But it does.  Your job is of uttermost importance.  You build up lives and launch futures.

Me and My Mom

When you pour out your life into your child, you are making an investment that will pay dividends generations from now.

I think of the things my Mom invested in me.  Those things shaped me and gave me the inner resource to build a life worth living, a life that makes a difference to others.

What did my Mom give me?  She gave me…

1. Her loving, caring presence in my most formative years.  Mom stayed at home and gave me a very nurtured childhood.  She was one who fought for women’s lib and for females to have the freedom to pursue careers in the 1960’s.  But when faced with the choice to work or stay home with her sons, she chose her sons.  We were her career and that made all the difference.  When I think back to my youngest years, my memories paint a picture of an ideal American childhood.  Those early years under the constant nurture of my mother gave me an inner security on which I could never place a price tag.  Not every mother has the opportunity to stay at home.  Many must work and should never feel guilty for doing so.  None-the-less, I am grateful to have had my mom with me throughout each day.
2. Faith to believe that what I wanted to do and was gifted to do I could do.  Mom believed in me.  She told me this continually.  She expressed great pride in me every time I did something that displayed some measure of ability.  I never wondered if my mom thought I could achieve something.  She was there at critical moments to express her confidence that I could to it.  I don’t think I realized how important this was until I grew up and started to achieve things that really mattered.  When I analyzed what made those achievements possible, my mind would journey back to things she had told me when I was younger.  Thanks Mom for believing in me!
3. A kick in the rear when I needed to be encouraged to try something new and engage in an adventure.  I am more adventuresome now, but when I was a child I was resistant to trying new things.  I remember when I was 8 or 9 years old my mom encouraging me to take a community drama class.  I refused.  I was scared of meeting new kids and being in front of others.  We went round and round.  In the end, she just said, “you are going to do it!”  That experience was amazing.  I got to act a little, and though I was not very good, I gained a new confidence about being in front of people.  Now look at me.  I get up and engage crowds each week.  Thanks Mom for seeing the potential when I was not very cooperative.
4. An inspiring example of how to rise above painful circumstances.  In my late teens, my mother and father got a divorce.  It was gut-wrenching for us all.  But especially for mom.  The pain for her was soul crushing.  I am not saying that she always handled it well.  But come on!  Who could expect anyone to handle such a thing perfectly?  Yet, I saw her forge a journey of self-reflection and healing that helped her rise above the pain and build a beautiful life.  That taught me.  I learned how life’s greatest crisis provides every person with an opportunity to choose to get bitter or to get better.  She chose to get better and that gave me strength.
5. Loads of encouragement throughout every phase of my life.  My mom has the gift of encouragement.  She has granted me her loving blessing at every phase of my life.  Since I became an adult, she has let me live my life without offering much of her own direction.  But she has been generous with her praise and encouragement.  That was vital to me when I was young.  It gave me courage and confidence.  But it is still such a soul strengthening blessing even now that I am in my later forties.  It just feels good when you know your mom is proud of you, even when you are all grown up.  Thanks Mom!

Now listen, my mom is far from perfect.  But so am I and so are you.  Yet, one thing is for certain.  I have been given so much from her love and presence in my life.

What about you?  Maybe your mom is not perfect either, but what are those things that she gave you that made you who you are?  Today, let’s thank God for those things and celebrate motherhood.

Question:  What things did your mom do for you that helped to launch your life in positive ways?  You can leave a comment by clicking here.