Some say the SBC isn't woke & there's nothing to be alarmed about. Don't be so sure.

Paul said "a little leaven leavens the lump."

The broader SBC may not be full-blown woke, but some places are.

A friend recently shared notes from a SEND Philly training.

See for yourself🧵 My friend attended a training who's purpose was "to assist planters, pastors, ministry leaders and lay persons with a heart to serve those within the urban context."

In light of the recent news that NT scholar/ethicist Richard Hays is now gay affirming, I pulled my old copy of his ethics book from seminary and revisited the chapter on homosexuality.

In 1996, he said homosexuality is sinful. In 2024, he reportedly believes the opposite. After a casual perusal of this chapter, it was there all along. We should not be surprised by Hays' announcement. Further, current evangelical leaders exhibit similar warning signs.

I'll mention three here.

The church planting craze of the 2000s and 2010s was a mess. We're feeling the downstream effects of it now.
🧵 Here's a dirty little secret of the church planting world. It's a haven for guys that don't want to take the traditional route of waiting their turn in an established church so they could move up when the senior pastor retires.

Guilt and shame are powerful, negative emotions that are like warning lights in our souls that something is wrong. They are gifts of God for our good, but can also be manipulated for our harm.

In our day, progressives use shame as a manipulation tactic. Here's how it works. 🧵 Guilt is the feeling that something you did was wrong. It's the sense that you violated some external standard.

Shame is the feeling that who you are is wrong. The standard is vague and internal. Your very existence is wrong.

What are we to make of all this data on singleness and marriage?

Here's some of my thoughts.

https://twitter.com/dmichaelclary/status/1734253826390012018

God made the world one way. When God’s design is followed, it will generally produce good results as a gift of common grace. When God’s design is rejected, it will produce bad results.

Some fascinating stats about singleness, loneliness, dating, and marriage, with some concluding counsel for singles at the end. 🧵 1. First off, the US marriage rate is at an all time low. [1]

Consequently, US birthrates are at historic lows, well below replacement rate.

Some stats about divorce 🧵

(This is just a sampling of data and there’s plenty of nuance that could be added)

* The average marriage length is 8.2 years.
* An estimated 41% of first marriages end in divorce.
* The average age of people going through a first-time divorce is 30 Big Divorce is Big Business

* The divorce industry is worth $50 billion/yr
* The average total cost is $12,900 per divorce
* The average attorney’s fee is $11,300 per divorce
* The avg divorce attorney’s hourly rate is $270

IOW, divorce is financially incentivized in the USA

“Tone” is the idol of evangelical discourse, and it’s suffocating the sharp, unpleasant truth our world desperately needs to hear. Its hardly a secret that maintaining proper, respectable tone is how evangelical leaders keep their status within the guild. You keep your seat by showing utmost courtesy and respect to everyone, even those who undermine the truth.

Meet Stephen.

Here he is in 2020, volunteering for Bernie Sanders at the U of Cincinnati campus.

At the time, he was an atheist, secular humanist, Democratic socialist, depressed, alcoholic, porn addicted drug abuser.

His life was a disaster. He got into Marxism in college. He spent the next 15 years seeking meaning and redemption through political action.

When he and his girlfriend broke up in 2020, she committed suicide.

That was a very dark time, but also a turning point.

Why do churches (and institutions) always seem to go liberal?

Simple. They end up conserving the wrong mission.

Here's how it happens. 🧵

All churches have a purpose they were created to achieve. Naturally, they are conservative about that purpose. 1/8 But every church also has an unwritten, unstated, and hidden purpose: *preserve the church*

Church leaders draw direct benefit from the church, such as jobs, relationships, power, & clout. Protecting these benefits eventually start replacing the church's original purpose.

2/8

I'm convinced that flattery is one of the most common and harmful sins of the modern church. It's a wide open door for being manipulated because it preys on our desire for attention and approval.

We can avoid it if we learn to define it and detect it. 1. Flattery is lying. It's a form of dishonest praise. People try to curry favor with others with compliments or saying nice things. But watch out, because they want something. They are not your friend.

Prov 29:5: A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.

Some people claim Jesus must have been tempted by homosexuality, since he was tempted in every respect (Heb 4:15).

Not so fast. 1/9 Heb 4:15 says: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

Thus, if Jesus was tempted in every respect, then Js must have been by homosexual lust. This is wrong. 2/9

This past Tuesday, while on family vacation, I got to witness something beautiful that’s been 15 years in the making.

Around 2008, my sister’s first husband abandoned her with a six year old daughter and twin infant sons. I remember thinking, “what’s she gonna do? How will she make it with 3 little kids on her own?”

A while later, she ran into an old friend from HS (who took her to the prom!) & they started dating. The next year, I performed their wedding ceremony. He danced w his new daughter.

I learned an important ministry lesson years ago from an unbeliever I was trying to evangelize.

I was on staff with CRU & he was a brilliant & thoughtful student. Over the next few years, I shared the gospel with him many times, answering objections & using all the tools. 1/10 To answer his more complicated moral, philosophical, and theological objections, I took him to meet one of my theology profs at SBTS. Despite all this, he could never commit to Christ. He was a classic "always learning but never arriving at the church" kind of guy. 2/10

The pastor of our sister church told me this story. Some leaders were meeting at church a few weeks ago and they ordered pizza. One man invited the delivery guy to come to church the next day. The sermon that day was all about God’s forgiveness. The man gave his life to Christ right there on the spot.

He and his girlfriend have two children with a third on the way. He went home and told her they weren’t sleeping together anymore until they were properly married. He moved into a guest room.

If Xns do not oppose LGBTQ activism, they will continue to take over every facet of public life.

Yet Xns who speak out are often criticized them for their tone or not being Christlike.

*This is how we lose.*

The key is to distinguishing btw diff types of ppl.

A 🧵 Every tweet has multiple audiences that converge in one space. Twitter doesn’t distinguish audiences. We have to do that ourselves.

And there are different tactics to speak clearly to each one.

Here are the top six audiences I'm aware of and how I engage them.

The world is going nuts. A reformation is needed. But the next great reformation will not be like Luther's reformation 500 years ago. It will be a return to normalcy. It will be a retrieval of the ordinary.

Here are 23 ways to be Ordinary Reformers in 2023: 1. Fear God and keep his commandments (Ecc 12:13). Romans 3:18, which vividly describes the sinfulness of mankind, concludes with this: there is no fear of God before their eyes."
2. Read scripture every day
3. Pray every day

1. Fear God and keep his commandments (Ecc 12:13). Romans 3:18, which vividly describes the sinfulness of mankind, concludes with this: there is no fear of God before their eyes."
2. Read scripture every day
3. Pray every day
4. Take one day a week for sabbath rest 5. Go to church every week. Resolve to never miss a week unless hindered by unusual circumstances beyond your control
6. Strive to fight sin and obey Christ in everything
7. Confess your sins whenever you fail (1 Jn 1:9)

There once was a certain kind of evangelical Christian I felt free to make fun of. I was pastoring a fast growing church in an urban environment, and a spirit of elitism had infected us. No one would correct me on it because they made fun of them too. The people we felt free to mock were conservative, uneducated, backwoods fundies who still read the KJV. They lacked the theological sophistication and cultural insight I had acquired while doing campus ministry and studying at seminary.

“All our teaching must be as plain and simple as possible.” Richard Baxter “Truth loves the light, and it is most beautiful when most plainly revealed. It is the sign of an envious enemy to hide the truth, and it is the work of a hypocrite to do this under pretense of revealing it.“