Immanuel's Philosophy-Theology of Worship

Immanuel Baptist Church
Our Philosophy-Theology of Music and Worship

At Immanuel Baptist Church, we believe that God, because of His glorious attributes, is worthy of our worship. The English word "worship" is a modernized term of the antiquated word "worth-ship." Worship, therefore, was originally understood by English speakers as ascribing unto God the praise and adoration of which He is uniquely worthy. While His actions toward man are gracious and wonderful, it is His ontological nature (who He is in and of Himself) that prompts us to respond to Him in worship. Thus, even if God never acted beneficently toward man at all, He would be no less worthy of worship. His divine actions, however, are directly related to His nature and His attributes. We come to know His attributes through His actions. So, in our worship, we respond to God with praise for both who He is and what He has done, namely and chiefly, the redemption He has secured for us in Jesus Christ.

We worship God because He is worthy of worship, but also we worship because we have a biblical mandate to worship. Some of the relevant Scriptures include (but are not limited to) Exodus 20:1-11; Deuteronomy 6:13-15; 1 Chronicles 16:8-36; Psalm 2:11-12; Psalm 29; Psalm 95; Matthew 4:8-10; John 4:19-24; Romans 12:1; Philippians 3:3; Revelation 4:9-11; Revelation 14:6-7; Revelation 15:4. These passages make clear that the right and biblical responsibility of humanity toward God is to worship Him. In addition to God's worthiness and the biblical mandate, we believe that worship gives us the opportunity to confess our common faith together. In worship we set forth and reinforce what we believe to be true about God. This becomes a strong point of unity for the church locally and universally. As we worship God, we join our voices with the saints of times and places, adding our confession of faith to theirs (Hebrews 12:1-2). Finally, in worship we not only express our faith to God, but we proclaim that faith to others. Future generations of believers from our families, our community and the nations observe the content, the manner, and the Object of our worship, and are made audience to a proclamation of divinely revealed truth about the Triune God as we engage together in worship (Acts 16:25; 1 Corinthians 14:23-33).

We do not believe that worship is synonymous with the Sunday morning gathering of the church, though worship should be a central reason and activity of the church's gathering (Acts 2:42-47). Worship can and should be both individual and corporate. The entire life of the Christian person should be characterized by continual worship. When the church gathers for worship, we have come to do together what we have been doing individually while apart (1 Corinthians 10:31; Colossians 3:17, 23). Nor do we believe that worship is synonymous with music, though it is fitting to worship God through music (Psalm 33; Psalm 96; Psalm 150; Colossians 3:16; Ephesians 5:18-21). If God is worthy of worship because of who He is, then music cannot add value to the worship we bring before Him, though it may bring enjoyment and an aesthetically pleasing element to our worship. Central to worship is not the amount or style of music that accompanies it, but rather the Object who receives our worship, namely God alone. Worship is not about what we receive, but what we offer as we come before the Lord. For this reason, worship should never be primarily directed at our own likes and preferences, but rather to His.

Immanuel Baptist Church worships the Triune God on a foundation of several core convictions. First is that our worship should be biblically informed. The Bible is God's inspired and authoritative revelation to man, and in it we find an accurate description of who God is (and therefore why we should worship Him) as well as instructions and examples of proper worship that God receives and honors. In addition to being biblically informed, we believe that worship should be God-ward in its focus. Our songs, our prayers, our offerings, and our speech in worship should reflect the fact that we believe God is listening and that these things are being brought to Him rather than to one another. Thirdly, we believe that true worship should be Christ-centered, for it is only through Christ that we have access to the Father. The redemption that Jesus Christ has purchased for us in His substitutionary death and resurrection has provided a way into His presence, and worship should reflect this truth. We also believe that worship should be Spirit-led. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would glorify Him (John 16:14), therefore if we would glorify the risen Lord in worship, we must sensitively yield ourselves to the Spirit's leading. Finally, we believe that worship must be substantive, addressing the absolute truths of God's attributes and actions, rather than merely focusing on earth-bound matters such as human emotion and sentimentality.

We have observed the church of Jesus Christ in twenty-first century America selling its birthright of biblical worship for a mess of pottage not unlike the exchange between Jacob and Esau. For this reason, we believe that the church in our day could be greatly helped by returning to what was known in bygone days as "the regulative principle." Many churches seem to conduct worship according to what is known as "the normative principle," meaning that unless something is expressly forbidden in Scripture, it is permissible to include in worship. The regulative principle, on the other hand, looks to Scripture for direction in what elements to include in worship. As stated in the Philadelphia Baptist Confession of Faith (1742), Chapter 22, "... the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by Himself, and so limited by His own revealed will, that He may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way, not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures." Worship, then, on this principle would include prayer, the reading of Scripture, preaching and hearing the Word of God, the singing of Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, the collection of offerings, as well as the ordinances of the Lord's Supper and Baptism. All of these find clear statements of biblical support in the New Testament.

For much of the history of the Christian church, music has been a prominent feature of services of worship. It is prescribed in both the Old and New Testaments as an acceptable mode of worship. While we affirm the appropriateness of music in worship, we are cautious to avoid equating music with worship or emphasizing music to such an extent that the style or performance of music in worship detracts from the God whom we worship. Music, like all other aspects of worship, should be biblical in its lyrical content and would ideally be directed toward God and not men. While exercising care to not use music in an emotionally manipulative way, we also acknowledge that music in worship should have an emotional tone. The book of Psalms demonstrates how wide a range of human emotions can be engaged in singing praise to God. Chiefly, music should reflect the human emotions of joy, gratitude, and reverence for God, though at times it may be appropriate to sing songs that mourn the deadliness of sin, that honestly confess the human condition, and that express attitudes of human need and dependence upon God. In each case, the tune of a song should be reflective of its emotional tone. Music in worship should also be intelligible. When music is offered in worship in such a way that the lyrics cannot be heard or understood, the worshipper is not able to engage his or her mind and affirm the truthfulness of they lyrics. We also believe that music in worship should be authentic and genuinely offered. This means that we prefer (as much as possible) that music be played live and on acoustic instruments rather than through recorded media or electronic augmentation. We recognize that this preference can be overly-restrictive and difficult to enforce, therefore we do allow for exceptions, so long as they are indeed exceptions rather than the rule. Related to this concern is our belief that the bulk of music in worship should be congregationally sung, in order that the worshiper may be actively engaged in the offering praise of God. While one may regularly hear a choral anthem or a piece of solo music in worship at Immanuel, too much of this would reduce the congregation from being active participants in worship to being merely spectators of a performance. Finally, we believe that music in worship should be offered with excellence in view of the fact that God deserves our very best offerings.

At Immanuel, our primary musical instrument employed in worship is the pipe organ. While many churches today are moving away from the use of what was known in former days as "the king of instruments," we believe that the pipe organ is particularly suited for congregational hymn singing. The pipe organ has been the primary instrument in Christian worship since the Middle Ages for good reason. It is uniquely capable of capturing the range of emotional content, from loud and triumphant rejoicing to soft and hushed tones of quiet meditation. The primary selection of hymns sung in worship at Immanuel consists of the classic and time-tested hymns of the Christian faith. While we do not oppose modern music that meets the criteria described above, we rejoice in being able to join our voices with the saints of church history in offering to God timeless songs of theological truth. Our driving vision at Immanuel is to be "A Church for All People." Therefore we do not isolate one particular musical preference or taste that may be time- or culture-bound, but choose instead to praise God with the songs that have crossed the boundaries of time and place and language. On any given Sunday, our congregation may sing a song written by an eighth century North African monk, a sixteenth century European reformer, and a twentieth century American pastor. We believe that this represents a truer picture of the Church of Jesus Christ than what is depicted in the singing of a monolithic slate of songs from a particular era or locale.

The great classical composer Johann Sebastian Bach regularly marked his compositions with three letters at the end: SDG. This stands for the Latin expression, "Soli Deo Gloria," which is translated, "To God Alone Be Glory." It is our desire that all that is done in worship, whether singing or preaching or any other single element, would be done for the glory of God. We welcome you to join us for what we hope will be a rich experience of worship at Immanuel, and pray that you will encounter God powerfully through the expository proclamation of His word and the biblical acts of corporate worship. Soli Deo Gloria.

A Brief History of Immanuel

In 1945, when the Bailey Memorial Baptist Church which met on West Court Street (three blocks from the present location of Immanuel Baptist Church) dissolved, a small group of dedicated Christians saw the need for a new work in this area of Greensboro. On February 1, 1946, 34 charter members, including some former Bailey members, constituted Immanuel Baptist Church. Later that year, a building fund was started, and the property on which Immanuel now sits was purchased in August, 1947. Since the days of its founding, Immanuel has sought the enabling of the Holy Spirit to make a significant impact on Greensboro and the world for the glory of God.

The meeting place of Immanuel Baptist Church has evolved from the house on West Court Street to a small chapel on the present property, to the current sanctuary building which was completed in 1957. In 1950, a pastorium was built on the present property which was demolished in 1989 to accommodate the need for more parking. The three-story educational building was completed in 1963, featuring spacious classrooms, a small chapel, the church offices, kitchen and fellowship hall. The beautiful and majestic present sanctuary is the result of a major renovation project in 1988. The sanctuary exemplifies the treasured elements of church architecture through the centuries: light and height. With twelve towering arches of stained glass windows depicting full-color scenes from the life of Christ and icons of Old Testament teachings and a prominent arch surrounding the cross of the baptistery, the attention of the worshiper is drawn upward, in a symbolic gesture of reverence toward God. The sanctuary pipe organ was originally installed by E. C. White (the church's first organist), Jr. and has been expanded and reworked at various times through the years. In 2009, construction began to enhance the accessibility of the sanctuary building by adding a vertical lift.

Since its beginning, Immanuel has been committed to reaching out to people of all walks of life with the Good News of Jesus Christ. The early church grew rapidly as young families from neighboring communities (Ardmore Park, Hillsdale Park, Rolling Roads, Piedmont Hills, Glenwood, Highland Park, Hunter Hills and Lindley Park) began to attend and unite with the fellowship. During the height of the civil rights struggle that was prominent in Greensboro during the 1960s, the church began to reach out to people of all ethnicities. The first effort to do so was in 1964 with the establishment of the Frazier Baptist Chapel, a congregation focused on reaching the Lumbee Native Americans. In 1976, Frazier Chapel united with Immanuel as one congregation. Immanuel was also instrumental in establishing the Good News Baptist Church, the first African-American congregation in the Piedmont Baptist Association.

The defining event in Immanuel's history came in 1967. It was then that Immanuel's pastor, Dr. Paul Early, challenged the church to open its doors to all people regardless of ethnicity. This was received well by the church and community and Immanuel became a diverse body of Caucasian, Native American, African American, and International Christians. In 1970, Immanuel began the International Fellowship, a ministry reaching out to International students and others by offering them "Friend-Families", English language training, and opportunities to hear the Gospel message. An International Bible Study came into being through this ministry which still meets every Sunday morning at Immanuel. Today the International Fellowship has become a separate non-profit ministry, The Piedmont International Fellowship, which is supported by Immanuel and sister churches in the Piedmont Baptist Association.

The ministries of Immanuel Baptist Church have reflected the vision of being "A Church for All People" to the present day. The love of God for all people has been a core value of Immanuel that has given birth to local and international mission efforts. In 1994, demographic shifts in the community surrounding the church caused many to wonder if the congregation may be more prosperous and viable by relocating to suburban areas beyond the city's center. The congregation held firm to their commitment of being salt and light to all people in the urban context where Immanuel finds itself today. Though such a move may have proven successful in human wisdom regarding the retention of some members and the rapid growth of others, Immanuel has remained committed to "blooming where God planted us." Today, though the membership has declined numerically, the passion to reach all peoples with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and still drives all that is done.

In addition to Immanuel's own ministries, the facilities are also shared with the Greensboro Chinese Christian Church, the Ethiopian Christian Fellowship, and the New Arrival Refugee School conducted by Lutheran Family Services. In 2009, Pastor Russ Reaves led the church to establish a Mission Strategy Team. This team will develop and promote ministries and mission efforts that aim for making a strategic imact for the Gospel in our community and to the ends of the earth. Presently, the church cooperates with a number of local ministries and the sister churches of the Piedmont Baptist Association, North Carolina Baptist State Convention, and the Southern Baptist Convention to meet the needs around us. Our prayer is that in the days to come, we will have a sharper focus on the mission task to which God has called us in order that the members of Immanuel might effectively pursue the glory of God in making Christ known at home and abroad.

Past Pastors
Rev. Forrest Fraser (1946-1949)
Rev. Troy Robbins (1950-1958)
Dr. Paul Early (1959-1974, Pastor Emeritus)
Rev. Neil Yonce (1975-1978)
Rev. Melvin Green (1979-1980)
Rev. Jack Hinton (1981-1982)
Dr. Jim Jarrard (1983-1989)
Dr. Henry Newton (1989-1997)
Rev. Larry Thompson (1998-2002, Interim Pastor 2002-2005)
Rev. Russ Reaves (2005-Present)

My Letter to IBC on the 60th Anniversary

Following is a letter I wrote to IBC for inclusion in the 60th Anniversary book back in 2006. As I ran across it today, I was reminded of how the challenges I set forth then are still valid today! So, I post here for the benefit our church members:

Dear Church Family and Friends of Immanuel,

This, like every other day we live, is the “day that the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24). Today I rejoice and am glad that God has opened the door of opportunity for me to serve this wonderful church as pastor. I rejoice with you on sixty great years of history.
A church has a responsibility to cherish the memories of bygone days. These past sixty years are full of spiritual markers that have been erected to mark significant moments when God worked among us in powerful ways. We rejoice as we remember, as Paul says in Philippians 1:3-5: “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.” Yet, please notice that his statement does not end there. This reminiscence of the past is a preface to his assertion of rock-solid confidence in the power of God to accomplish His purposes in the future: “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6). Sixty years ago, God began a great work in Immanuel, but He has not finished yet. This is why the writer of Ecclesiastes said, “Do not say, ‘Why is it that the former days were better than these?’ For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this” (Ecclesiastes 7:10). I do not believe that God called me here to be a curator of a museum where the focus is on the past, but rather to be a part of all that He intends to do through us in the future.
What will it take for Immanuel Baptist Church to thrive in the future? It will not depend on the charisma of the pastor, the impressiveness of the facilities, the trendiness of the music, the complexity of the programs, or the busyness of the schedule. It will depend on the wholehearted devotion of every member of this church, relying solely on the power of God, seeking only the glory of God, and serving faithfully in the giftedness God has bestowed by His grace on every one of us. There must be no spectators; we must all be participants. There is a community around us in which God deserves to hear His name praised in the mouth of every individual and under the roof of every home. He has chosen only one method to accomplish that: you and I must, by the lives we live and the words we speak, demonstrate the glory of God to them, and invite them to the Cross of Jesus Christ.

So, on this day of celebration we are faced with a tremendous challenge as well. We must appreciate the past without dwelling in it, and reach into the future without abandoning the foundation stones that were set in place by our predecessors here. May our prayer together be, “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21). May we find all our satisfaction in Him, and may His glory be displayed through us.

Until He Comes,


Pastor Russ Reaves

I didn't say it, but I could have ...

"The megachurch story is not really about growth. It's about shifting allegiances. People want to feel good about who they already are. If church is too challenging or not entertaining, they'll move on." -- Philip Goff, Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at Indiana University

HT: Ligon Duncan @ ref21

Hope, Dream, and Pray With Me

Over the last few Sundays, I have not spent much time in the pulpit. On April 27, I was at the PCRT in Philadelphia. Brad Gaines, who was my associate pastor at Hillcrest Baptist Church filled the pulpit. The evening service consisted of our children's program, "The Bible Tells Me So Show." On May 4, we were blessed to have a combined service with Greensboro Chinese Christian Church with Dr. David Alan Black preaching. There was a picnic that afternoon, and no evening service. On May 11, I preached on Pentecost. Since it was Mother's Day, we had no evening service. On May 18, we had two precious IMB missionaries deliver the message and a brief report from the Gideons. All this time away from the rigors of sermon preparation gave me time to put some words to my hopes, dreams and prayers for Immanuel Baptist Church, which I shared during the May 18 evening service.

I want to share in brief what those hopes, dreams, and prayers are with the readership here and ask you to join us in bathing these in prayer and asking our Father to lead us in paths of righteousness for His name


1. Foundational to all that we are and all that we do is this guiding vision: To see every member of Immanuel Baptist Church growing in a love relationship with God through Jesus Christ by the regular intake of God's Word. This will lead us to increased dependence on the Holy Spirit as He manifests Himself through us in loving service to one another and the community around us in Christ's name. As we live God-centered lives, others will be attracted to the Christ we love and serve and proclaim. (Eph 4; 1 Peter 3:15; 2 Peter 3:18; Acts 2:42-47)

2. To develop a strategic missions initiative of taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to one of the world's 6,508 unreached people groups. This will be done through the adoption of a particular people group and concentrated efforts to get the gospel to them. (Acts 1:8; Matt 28:18-20; Lk 24:46-48)

3. To seek the transformation of our community through the establishment of a Christian Community Development Corporation that will carry out practical, need-meeting ministry in the name of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. This ministry will feed the hungry, clothe the needy, shelter the homeless, offer education and job training skills, and other important services, all with an intentional and bold evangelistic focus. (Isa 58:6; Matt 23:23)

4. To develop a vibrant and vital college ministry to the students on area campuses, with particular focus on UNC-Greensboro, that would offer meals, Bible Study, and opportunities for Christian fellowship, evangelism, worship, and service, including the possibility of an ongoing internship program. (Titus 2:2-8)

5. To offer affordable, classical, Christ-centered education to urban youth through the establishment of a college-preparatory day-school/academy and potentially an accredited college degree program (independently or in conjunction with Seminary Extension and/or other Christian Colleges). (Prov 22:6; 2 Tim 2:15)

6. To maximize the usage, accessibility, and stewardship of our facilities, including immediate accessibility solutions, cosmetic improvements, and the eventual construction of a "Connector Wing" between the two existing buildings that would house an elevator providing access to every part of the facility, accessible restrooms on every floor, and additional meeting/classroom space.

Please join me in praying over these hopes and dreams and ask God if He would have you to be involved in any of these areas of ministry. If you would like more information, please contact the church office.

Some Words I Hope Will Challenge and Comfort

I can't remember where I heard this spoken, but it has helped keep me in check as a pastor to Christ's church: "The church you want is the enemy of the church you have." I think there are a number of pastors who would do well to heed this word. We all have in mind what we WANT in the churches we pastor. However, God has seen fit to not give us those churches to pastor, but rather we have charge over the churches where He has placed us. And we are to love those churches, and shepherd them by feeding them on the Word of God, not by beating them with our staffs.


There are several churches which hold special places in my heart, in addition to the one I currently serve as pastor. From time to time, I hear good reports from those churches, and at other times I hear bad ones. I feel that it is my duty to keep my nose out of things and let the pastors and leaders of those churches handle the matters without my input. But sometimes the news is heartbreaking. Many churches are affected by crisis. In some, the pastor is afflicted by the congregation. I hate to hear of this. I love pastors, and I wish every church knew the weight of responsibility their pastors carry for them (see Hebrews 13:17). But it seems that more and more I am hearing of churches who are being afflicted by unscrupulous pastors. Whether it is moral failure, laziness, or ministering in the flesh, I wish so much that these brothers would turn to the Lord for a renewal of their spiritual passion and stop abusing God's flock. I fear that they do not realize the harm that they are doing to that local church where they serve, the cause of Christ in general, and the work of pastors in other places. Churches, love your pastors. Pastors, love your churches.

The following passage will be of relevance to some regular readers of this blog. If you are one of those for whom this is relevant, you will know. If you don't know what I'm talking about, that's probably good for you, but I would appreciate your prayers for those who are affected by a current crisis in their church. My words are insufficient to speak to the problem. God's Word is sufficient. This is the Word of the Lord from Jeremiah 23:


1 "Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!" declares the LORD. 2 Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are tending My people: "You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds," declares the LORD. 3 "Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. 4 "I will also raise up shepherds over them and they will tend them; and they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing," declares the LORD.

5 "Behold, the days are coming," declares the LORD,
"When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch ;
And He will reign as king and act wisely
And do justice and righteousness in the land.
6 "In His days Judah will be saved,
And Israel will dwell securely;
And this is His name by which He will be called,
'The LORD our righteousness.'

7 "Therefore behold, the days are coming," declares the LORD, "when they will no longer say, 'As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,' 8 but, 'As the LORD lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.' Then they will live on their own soil."



9 As for the prophets:
My heart is broken within me,
All my bones tremble;
I have become like a drunken man,
Even like a man overcome with wine,
Because of the LORD
And because of His holy words.
10 For the land is full of adulterers;
For the land mourns because of the curse.
The pastures of the wilderness have dried up.
Their course also is evil
And their might is not right.
11 "For both prophet and priest are polluted;
Even in My house I have found their wickedness," declares the LORD.
12 "Therefore their way will be like slippery paths to them,
They will be driven away into the gloom and fall down in it;
For I will bring calamity upon them,
The year of their punishment," declares the LORD.

13 "Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing:
They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.
14 "Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing:
The committing of adultery and walking in falsehood;
And they strengthen the hands of evildoers,
So that no one has turned back from his wickedness.
All of them have become to Me like Sodom,
And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.
15 "Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets,

'Behold, I am going to feed them wormwood
And make them drink poisonous water,
For from the prophets of Jerusalem
Pollution has gone forth into all the land.' "

16 Thus says the LORD of hosts,
"Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you.
They are leading you into futility;
They speak a vision of their own imagination ,
Not from the mouth of the LORD.
17 "They keep saying to those who despise Me,
'The LORD has said, "You will have peace"';
And as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart,
They say, 'Calamity will not come upon you.'
18 "But who has stood in the council of the LORD,
That he should see and hear His word?
Who has given heed to His word and listened?
19 "Behold, the storm of the LORD has gone forth in wrath,
Even a whirling tempest;
It will swirl down on the head of the wicked.
20 "The anger of the LORD will not turn back
Until He has performed and carried out the purposes of His heart;
In the last days you will clearly understand it.
21 "I did not send these prophets,
But they ran.
I did not speak to them,
But they prophesied.
22 "But if they had stood in My council,
Then they would have announced My words to My people,
And would have turned them back from their evil way
And from the evil of their deeds.

23 "Am I a God who is near," declares the LORD,
"And not a God far off?
24 "Can a man hide himself in hiding places
So I do not see him?" declares the LORD.
"Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?" declares the LORD.

25 "I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsely in My name, saying, 'I had a dream, I had a dream!' 26 "How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, 27 who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they relate to one another, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal? 28 "The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has My word speak My word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain?" declares the LORD. 29 "Is not My word like fire?" declares the LORD, "and like a hammer which shatters a rock? 30 "Therefore behold, I am against the prophets," declares the LORD, "who steal My words from each other. 31 "Behold, I am against the prophets," declares the LORD, "who use their tongues and declare, 'The Lord declares.' 32 "Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams," declares the LORD, "and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit," declares the LORD.

33 "Now when this people or the prophet or a priest asks you saying, 'What is the oracle of the LORD?' then you shall say to them, 'What oracle ?' The LORD declares, 'I will abandon you.' 34 "Then as for the prophet or the priest or the people who say, 'The oracle of the LORD,' I will bring punishment upon that man and his household. 35 "Thus will each of you say to his neighbor and to his brother, 'What has the LORD answered?' or, 'What has the LORD spoken?' 36 "For you will no longer remember the oracle of the LORD, because every man's own word will become the oracle, and you have perverted the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God. 37 "Thus you will say to that prophet, 'What has the LORD answered you?' and, 'What has the LORD spoken?' 38 "For if you say, 'The oracle of the LORD!' surely thus says the LORD, 'Because you said this word, "The oracle of the LORD!" I have also sent to you, saying, "You shall not say, 'The oracle of the LORD!' "' 39 "Therefore behold, I will surely forget you and cast you away from My presence, along with the city which I gave you and your fathers. 40 "I will put an everlasting reproach on you and an everlasting humiliation which will not be forgotten."
Jer 23:1-40 (NASB)

The New Ad Campaign

All over town, I find churches that have invested in slick multicolor banners with big bold letters stating, "Casual Dress, Contemporary Worship," and other slogans which aim to catch the attention of a certain audience. One church I passed today had scrolling across their electronic marquee, "We Serve Starbucks Coffee." Recently another church I saw had a large banner advertising "Blended Worship." This caused me to wonder how many unchurched people were out there shopping for "blended worship," or how many even knew what that phrase means. It seemed to me that the target for that ad campaign was people who were unsatisfied with their present church's music. So all of this got me thinking, and the following was the brainchild of that thought process:




I am curious to see what kind of attention it draws. I will keep you posted ....

The Plight of Urban America is the Fault of the Church!

The plight of urban America (including urban Greensboro) is the fault of the Church! That may sound shocking to some of you, but I am fully convinced of it. In talking about urban revitalization in recent days with the City of Greensboro, The Greensboro News and Record, and others, we hear much about the plague of drug addiction, homelessness, prostitution, alcoholism, "predatory businesses," and panhandling. These are symptoms, not the root cause. The root cause is spiritual lostness. Spiritual lostness flourishes unchecked in urban centers primarily because God's people have fled to the suburbs and rural territories to escape the ugliness of the city, rather than infiltrating society with a purifying influence for Christ.

Remember Nehemiah. The Persian king Artaxerxes asked him why he was so downcast, and he said, "Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers' tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?" (Neh. 2:3). His resolution to remedy the problem was, "Send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, that I may rebuild it." The king granted his request, and Nehemiah went and began to survey the city. He said to the people of Judah, "You see the bad situation we are in ... Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jersualem so that we will no longer be a reproach." And they began to work to bring new life to the city. They faced many obstacles and much discouragement, both internally and externally. One of those obstacles was that "the city was large and spacious, but the people in it were few" (7:4). So Nehemiah proposed a solution: "The people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in Jerusalem ... and the people blessed all the men who volunteered to live in Jersualem" (11:1-2).

Brothers and sisters, the day has come when the Church of Jesus Christ must no longer be commuters. It is no longer sufficient for us to travel into the city for work, worship and commerce, and then flee back to safety of suburbia. The need of this day is for an incarnational witness. We must get back into the city and plant ourselves for the glory of God and the furtherance of His kingdom. It is time for us to take the same strategy we use for overseas missions and implement it in our own cities. When we send missionaries to foreign fields, we expect them to live among those whom they seek to reach, to learn their language, to understand their way of life, and to build authentic relationships through which the gospel can spread. This is far different from the posture of most Christians in America. And so is it too much to ask in our day what Nehemiah did in his day-- for one out of ten to move back into the cities for Christ's sake, and the other nine of ten combine their resources to help provide for the ones who are willing to do so? Let us pray for this.

Remember that when Christ travelled through the cities, "Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest'" (Matthew 9:36-38). And remember also that the very next thing Jesus did was to summon His twelve disciples and He gave them authority and He sent them out (Matthew 10). So let us not ask God to send others, when it may very well be one, twelve, or one of every ten, of us that He intends to use for His purposes in the city.

C. S. Lewis Gets It! Why can't the rest of us?

In the newly released third volume of C. S. Lewis's letters, he has this to say about the church.

“For the church is not a human society of people united by their natural affinities but the Body of Christ in which all members however different (and He rejoices in their differences & by no means wishes to iron them out) must share a common life, complementing and helping and receiving one another precisely in their differences. . . .If people like you and me find much that we don’t naturally like in the public & corporate side of Christianity all the better for us: it will teach us humility and charity.” 12 July 1950, p. 68-69.

This is what I have been trying to say for several years, with very few denominational leaders willing to listen. This is what Immanuel Baptist Church in Greensboro has been trying to do for forty years, going against the tide all the way. I know that homogeneity "works", but our calling is not to do what works but what is right. C. S. Lewis gets it. IBC gets it. I get it. Billy Belk gets it. Mark Dever gets it. Anyone else out there get it?