Should a state-side church planter raise support?

Has the distinction between missionaries and church planters placed undue burden on U.S. church planters and put them under needless financial risk?

Sometimes when I tell a lost person, “I’m praying for you” it is almost viewed as a “holier than thou” thing to say. And that is of course not how I mean it.

I have unsaved friends and acquaintances all over the place. I work with them, do business with them, help them when they need it. They almost all still just know me as “Pastor Tom” no matter what my relation is to them.

The Country Club Christian is consumeristic about church, fickle, and non-committal, and always has “one foot out the door”. They also lack spiritual self-awareness. This means that they think they’re spiritual yet they do not grow and become more like Jesus at all.

There is in fact a possibly fitting example of this that happened 50 years ago this week. Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, the first men to walk on the moon conducted a number of activities that perhaps you’ve not heard of.

People don’t have the right to say where the needs are or are not. Only God does, because He knows things we don’t. As Lord of the harvest, He moves laborers as He sees fit. Don’t speak like the Foreman of the job-site if you’re only a laborer.

I’m not sure why some people get caught up in the game of trying to figure out whose job is more difficult. Do some men think that’s manly?

If people are turned off by how you treat them, they will not be turned on by what you teach them, no matter how compelling…

John’s tests give us a means by which we can follow the trail of evidence to a reasonable conclusion with the Obedience test and the Love test, and a perfect conclusion with the truth test. Still, I must be careful to not allow personal biases or personality dislikes to skew the test results. I must be vigilant, careful, and prayerful in how and why I use this Biblical information.

Virtue signaling is a public assertion of a moral or allegedly moral opinion in order to make one seem good and acceptable to a particular in-group they desire to identify with. But in what ways do we do this as Christians?

This is why we should stop romanticizing missions to young people who may not have good discernment. Ministry, no matter where it is, is hard work. When you get there, no one will recognize you for your efforts. No one will pat you on the back. No one will come beating down your door to sit at your feet like some kind of sage. More likely, you’ll spend much time feeling rejected, isolated, marginalized, uncertain of outcomes and all the while praying for the best, usually with tears.