I’ve talked about the following conference from the stage at Frontline over the past few weeks but I wanted to give you some more detailed info about it. The name of the conference is Lead Now. It starts on Thursday May 3rd and ends on Saturday May 5th. I’m asking all Frontliners who are in any leadership role to attend the entire conference. Lead Now is the only leadership training that we will offer for Frontline at large because we believe it’s the best training available in 2007 for Frontline leaders. Your time at this conference will be very fruitful. The details are below. Please be sure to go to the Lead Now Conferences web site to get all the info: (BUT DON’T REGISTER ON THE LEAD NOW SITE! WE HAVE VERY DISCOUNTED TICKETS ON OUR FRONTLINE SITE…INFO ON REGISTRATION IS BELOW.)
What: Lead Now Leaders Conference
When: May 3-5, 2007
Where: McLean Bible Church
Why: Leadership Training for young adult church leaders
How: Keynote and breakout sessions on a myriad of relevant topics
Cost: $99 for Fronliners ONLY (regular price is $299); register at www.frontlinedc.com (in “Features” section)
Web site: www.leadnowconferences.org
IMPORTANT: If you register for Lead Now, you are also automatically registered for the Fusion Experience described below.
I know many of you are not currently in leadership. For you, there is a special Fusion Experience starting Friday Evening May 4 and ending Saturday May 5. I’d love to see all Frontliners at this part of the event. The Fusion Experience details are below. Please be sure to go to the Fusion Conferences site to gat all the info: (BUT DON’T REGISTER ON THE LEAD NOW SITE! WE HAVE VERY DISCOUNTED TICKETS ON OUR FRONTLINE SITE…INFO ON REGISTRATION IS BELOW.)
What: Fusion Experience
When: May 4-5, 2007
Where: McLean Bible Church
Why: Learn how to ignite your faith into action for God
How: Keynote, breakout session and worship times
Cost: $20 for Frontliners ONLY (regular price is $49); register at www.frontlinedc.com (in “Features” section)
Website: www.fusionconferences.com
As a leader at Frontline, if you are unable to get time off from work to attend the entire Lead Now conference please pray about attending the Fusion experience! If you have any questions about the conferences please respond to this blog or email me directly at todd.phillips@mcleanbible.org. Let’s learn together how God wants each of us to change the world for one last time!
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Lead Now/Fusion Conference
I’ve talked about the following conference from the stage at Frontline over the past few weeks but I wanted to give you some more detailed info about it. The name of the conference is Lead Now. It starts on Thursday May 3rd and ends on Saturday May 5th. I’m asking all Frontliners who are in any leadership role to attend the entire conference. Lead Now is the only leadership training that we will offer for Frontline at large because we believe it’s the best training available in 2007 for Frontline leaders. Your time at this conference will be very fruitful. The details are below. Please be sure to go to the Lead Now Conferences web site to get all the info: (BUT DON’T REGISTER ON THE LEAD NOW SITE! WE HAVE VERY DISCOUNTED TICKETS ON OUR FRONTLINE SITE…INFO ON REGISTRATION IS BELOW.)
What: Lead Now Leaders Conference
When: May 3-5, 2007
Where: McLean Bible Church
Why: Leadership Training for young adult church leaders
How: Keynote and breakout sessions on a myriad of relevant topics
Cost: $99 for Fronliners ONLY (regular price is $299); register at www.frontlinedc.com (in “Features” section)
Web site: www.leadnowconferences.org
IMPORTANT: If you register for Lead Now, you are also automatically registered for the Fusion Experience described below.
I know many of you are not currently in leadership. For you, there is a special Fusion Experience starting Friday Evening May 4 and ending Saturday May 5. I’d love to see all Frontliners at this part of the event. The Fusion Experience details are below. Please be sure to go to the Fusion Conferences site to gat all the info: (BUT DON’T REGISTER ON THE LEAD NOW SITE! WE HAVE VERY DISCOUNTED TICKETS ON OUR FRONTLINE SITE…INFO ON REGISTRATION IS BELOW.)
What: Fusion Experience
When: May 4-5, 2007
Where: McLean Bible Church
Why: Learn how to ignite your faith into action for God
How: Keynote, breakout session and worship times
Cost: $20 for Frontliners ONLY (regular price is $49); register at www.frontlinedc.com (in “Features” section)
Website: www.fusionconferences.com
As a leader at Frontline, if you are unable to get time off from work to attend the entire Lead Now conference please pray about attending the Fusion experience! If you have any questions about the conferences please respond to this blog or email me directly at todd.phillips@mcleanbible.org. Let’s learn together how God wants each of us to change the world for one last time!
What: Lead Now Leaders Conference
When: May 3-5, 2007
Where: McLean Bible Church
Why: Leadership Training for young adult church leaders
How: Keynote and breakout sessions on a myriad of relevant topics
Cost: $99 for Fronliners ONLY (regular price is $299); register at www.frontlinedc.com (in “Features” section)
Web site: www.leadnowconferences.org
IMPORTANT: If you register for Lead Now, you are also automatically registered for the Fusion Experience described below.
I know many of you are not currently in leadership. For you, there is a special Fusion Experience starting Friday Evening May 4 and ending Saturday May 5. I’d love to see all Frontliners at this part of the event. The Fusion Experience details are below. Please be sure to go to the Fusion Conferences site to gat all the info: (BUT DON’T REGISTER ON THE LEAD NOW SITE! WE HAVE VERY DISCOUNTED TICKETS ON OUR FRONTLINE SITE…INFO ON REGISTRATION IS BELOW.)
What: Fusion Experience
When: May 4-5, 2007
Where: McLean Bible Church
Why: Learn how to ignite your faith into action for God
How: Keynote, breakout session and worship times
Cost: $20 for Frontliners ONLY (regular price is $49); register at www.frontlinedc.com (in “Features” section)
Website: www.fusionconferences.com
As a leader at Frontline, if you are unable to get time off from work to attend the entire Lead Now conference please pray about attending the Fusion experience! If you have any questions about the conferences please respond to this blog or email me directly at todd.phillips@mcleanbible.org. Let’s learn together how God wants each of us to change the world for one last time!
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
New Book Release!
Blog family,
I just published a new book called “GET UNCOMFORTABLE: Serve the Poor. Stop Injustice. Change the World…In Jesus’ name.” I received my first copy in the mail yesterday and I’m thrilled with it!
Of the books and articles I’ve written, this is by far the most significant work God has allowed me to do. You can look at the front and back cover of the book, the entire table of contents, and read the complete first chapter online at the:
THREADS MEDIA STORE.
This is a great study to be used with your small group or Sunday School class at your church.
In addition to the study itself, the publisher put a lot of time and effort in creating a Leader’s Kit to go with the study guide. The Leader’s Kit includes a DVD of video content that goes along with the study. There is also a CD with Christian songs having to do with the topics of poverty and injustice from popular Christian artists. The study is fully interactive: questions in each chapter, video and audio and discussion questions for your group.
You can see the content of the Leader’s Kit at:
GET UNCOMFORTABLE LEADER’S KIT
I hope you’ll take the time to read the book and consider it for any Bible Study, small group, or Sunday School Class that you attend. And, please leave me comments with your thoughts about the book. I pray that this book will mobilize thousands of young adults to take action in Jesus’ name and help to change the world for maybe one last time!
Carpe Deum! (Seize God!)
Todd Phillips
www.frontline.to
www.toddphillips.net
www.threadsmedia.com
I just published a new book called “GET UNCOMFORTABLE: Serve the Poor. Stop Injustice. Change the World…In Jesus’ name.” I received my first copy in the mail yesterday and I’m thrilled with it!
Of the books and articles I’ve written, this is by far the most significant work God has allowed me to do. You can look at the front and back cover of the book, the entire table of contents, and read the complete first chapter online at the:
THREADS MEDIA STORE.
This is a great study to be used with your small group or Sunday School class at your church.
In addition to the study itself, the publisher put a lot of time and effort in creating a Leader’s Kit to go with the study guide. The Leader’s Kit includes a DVD of video content that goes along with the study. There is also a CD with Christian songs having to do with the topics of poverty and injustice from popular Christian artists. The study is fully interactive: questions in each chapter, video and audio and discussion questions for your group.
You can see the content of the Leader’s Kit at:
GET UNCOMFORTABLE LEADER’S KIT
I hope you’ll take the time to read the book and consider it for any Bible Study, small group, or Sunday School Class that you attend. And, please leave me comments with your thoughts about the book. I pray that this book will mobilize thousands of young adults to take action in Jesus’ name and help to change the world for maybe one last time!
Carpe Deum! (Seize God!)
Todd Phillips
www.frontline.to
www.toddphillips.net
www.threadsmedia.com
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Abortion Part 6
These following questions go hand-in-hand and they also bring us to where the emotional rubber meets the road for most people and I completely understand why. However, the Bible actually has much to say about the value of all life, even unborn life, as we have seen throughout the past blogs.
Question #5: Should we allow abortion in the case of rape or incest?
First, I think we should look at the statistics of why women have abortions (These statistics are given by the research arm of Planned Parenthood and are several years old, but all research indicates that these statistics stay relatively consistent from year to year):
- 76% concerned by how the baby would change their life.
- 68% said they could not afford a baby right now.
- 51% problems with relationships or desire to avoid single parenthood.
- 31% I am not ready for the responsibility
- 31% I don’t want people to know that I have had sex or that I’m pregnant.
- 30% Not mature enough
- 26% Have all the children I want or my kids are grown
- 23% my husband or partner wants me to have the abortion
- 13% The fetus could have health problems
- 7% I have a health problem
- 7% My parents want me to have the abortion
- 1% victim of rape or incest
You might rightly ask at this point, “So, what about the one percent who are victims of rape or incest?” I answer with a passage from Deuteronomy 24:16: Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children be put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin. Sin in the life of a father (i.e. a man raping a woman causing her to become pregnant) has no bearing on the child according to Scripture. As heinous as acts of rape or incest are, these sins do not in any way devalue the life that results! Which one of you after finding out that your father forced himself on your mother in conceiving you would conclude that your life is unworthy of being lived?
Question #6: Should we allow abortion when the pregnancy or birth may cause harm to the mother?
The issue of harm to the mother follows the same logic that I offered in question #5 above. The law currently states that a woman can have an abortion in the first three months of pregnancy for any reason when there is agreement between the woman and the doctor. Then, in the second three months the state usually controls where the abortion will happen. A woman can still have an abortion for any reason but it must happen at a hospital. In the final three months are usually only allowed in order to protect the life or health of the mother. This seems to limit the mother’s ability to have an abortion in the third trimester until we look at what the legal definition is of “protecting the health of the mother:” any factor which might damage the woman physically, socially, or psychologically.” The word “might” is enough to make any perceived limitations practically non-existent, but then the law adds the possibility of injury to a woman’s “social or psychological health” as a factor in determining the viability and legality of late-term abortions. So, in practice, the law allows for abortions for any reason and for no reason even in the third trimester.
Dr. C. Everet Coop, the former surgeon general of the United States, said in thirty six years of pediatric practice he did not he did not encounter one single case where the mother’s life was in danger. This helps us understand the miniscule percentage of abortion cases that result from true physical harm to the mother, but again, the question is rightly asked, “So, what about those few mothers who are in danger of serious physical harm or death?” To this question, I answer with a question, “What mother or father of a child would not give their life for their son or daughter?”
Question #7: Should we allow abortion in cases where the child may have severe disabilities?
Women go to their physicians every day in this country, test their unborn baby for Down syndrome, get a positive result back and choose to abort the child. Some would be quick to say, “What if the tests are wrong! What if the baby’s perfectly healthy!” Although this sound to some like a good argument, it is truly beside the point. I ask, “What if the baby is born healthy and three months later he or she is diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy?” Do we euthanize our sick and diseased? No!
In Exodus 4:11, the Lord Himself asks, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord?” We look at disabilities from our human perspective and say “oops.” God, though, never says “oops.” God always has a redemptive purpose in everything that he allows on this earth. Do we trust him?
We label these children with diseases “dis-abled.” How many “abilities” must a human being lack before their life has no value? Deciding which lives have value or are worthy to be lived is a very slippery slope. A person who concludes that any life that inconveniences their life is dispensable is morally bankrupt.
Your turn…
Carpe Deum! (Seize God!)
Todd Phillips
www.frontline.to
www.toddphillips.net
Question #5: Should we allow abortion in the case of rape or incest?
First, I think we should look at the statistics of why women have abortions (These statistics are given by the research arm of Planned Parenthood and are several years old, but all research indicates that these statistics stay relatively consistent from year to year):
- 76% concerned by how the baby would change their life.
- 68% said they could not afford a baby right now.
- 51% problems with relationships or desire to avoid single parenthood.
- 31% I am not ready for the responsibility
- 31% I don’t want people to know that I have had sex or that I’m pregnant.
- 30% Not mature enough
- 26% Have all the children I want or my kids are grown
- 23% my husband or partner wants me to have the abortion
- 13% The fetus could have health problems
- 7% I have a health problem
- 7% My parents want me to have the abortion
- 1% victim of rape or incest
You might rightly ask at this point, “So, what about the one percent who are victims of rape or incest?” I answer with a passage from Deuteronomy 24:16: Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children be put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin. Sin in the life of a father (i.e. a man raping a woman causing her to become pregnant) has no bearing on the child according to Scripture. As heinous as acts of rape or incest are, these sins do not in any way devalue the life that results! Which one of you after finding out that your father forced himself on your mother in conceiving you would conclude that your life is unworthy of being lived?
Question #6: Should we allow abortion when the pregnancy or birth may cause harm to the mother?
The issue of harm to the mother follows the same logic that I offered in question #5 above. The law currently states that a woman can have an abortion in the first three months of pregnancy for any reason when there is agreement between the woman and the doctor. Then, in the second three months the state usually controls where the abortion will happen. A woman can still have an abortion for any reason but it must happen at a hospital. In the final three months are usually only allowed in order to protect the life or health of the mother. This seems to limit the mother’s ability to have an abortion in the third trimester until we look at what the legal definition is of “protecting the health of the mother:” any factor which might damage the woman physically, socially, or psychologically.” The word “might” is enough to make any perceived limitations practically non-existent, but then the law adds the possibility of injury to a woman’s “social or psychological health” as a factor in determining the viability and legality of late-term abortions. So, in practice, the law allows for abortions for any reason and for no reason even in the third trimester.
Dr. C. Everet Coop, the former surgeon general of the United States, said in thirty six years of pediatric practice he did not he did not encounter one single case where the mother’s life was in danger. This helps us understand the miniscule percentage of abortion cases that result from true physical harm to the mother, but again, the question is rightly asked, “So, what about those few mothers who are in danger of serious physical harm or death?” To this question, I answer with a question, “What mother or father of a child would not give their life for their son or daughter?”
Question #7: Should we allow abortion in cases where the child may have severe disabilities?
Women go to their physicians every day in this country, test their unborn baby for Down syndrome, get a positive result back and choose to abort the child. Some would be quick to say, “What if the tests are wrong! What if the baby’s perfectly healthy!” Although this sound to some like a good argument, it is truly beside the point. I ask, “What if the baby is born healthy and three months later he or she is diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy?” Do we euthanize our sick and diseased? No!
In Exodus 4:11, the Lord Himself asks, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord?” We look at disabilities from our human perspective and say “oops.” God, though, never says “oops.” God always has a redemptive purpose in everything that he allows on this earth. Do we trust him?
We label these children with diseases “dis-abled.” How many “abilities” must a human being lack before their life has no value? Deciding which lives have value or are worthy to be lived is a very slippery slope. A person who concludes that any life that inconveniences their life is dispensable is morally bankrupt.
Your turn…
Carpe Deum! (Seize God!)
Todd Phillips
www.frontline.to
www.toddphillips.net
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Abortion Part 5
Question #4 in our abortion series: Is man permitted by God to end life before birth? First let me say that I’m thrilled with those of you who have commented on this blog series and I’m further impressed with those of you who have engaged in dialogue with other readers! This has been my prayer since the inception of this blog – to facilitate healthy dialogue and discussion among the readers! So, let’s continue:
In Exodus 21, we find a very interesting and important passage for our discussion. God is defining penalties for severe crimes among the Israelites:
If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury you are to take life for life, (Exodus 21:22-23)
Here we find that an individual is punished in exactly the same manner for killing an unborn child as if they are killing an adult! This is a strong indicator of how God feels toward unborn children.
I want to make the case that we are not permitted to end life before birth by also using a common-sense example to hopefully force the question: What’s the difference? You’ll see what I mean as you read on:
Scenario: Mother A and Mother B become pregnant at exactly the same time. Mother A has her child prematurely but was planning to have an abortion a in only a few days. Three weeks later both mothers decide to end the life of their respective babies. Yet, mother A cannot legally end her child’s life because the child is now outside the womb. Mother B however can end her baby’s life legally for one reason only – the child happens to still be in the womb! Here we have the exact same circumstances, the exact same developmental stage of the child, yet one can be killed and the other cannot. One mother will walk out of the abortion clinic a free woman; the other will be tried for murder.
I want to get you thinking about the next blog as well. I’ll address the issues of rape and incest as well as look at the question of severely disabled babies in the womb. These three issues are often broached in a discussion on abortion and I’ll address them in my next post.
Until then…
Carpe Deum! (Seize God!)
Todd Phillips
www.frontline.to
www.toddphillips.net
In Exodus 21, we find a very interesting and important passage for our discussion. God is defining penalties for severe crimes among the Israelites:
If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury you are to take life for life, (Exodus 21:22-23)
Here we find that an individual is punished in exactly the same manner for killing an unborn child as if they are killing an adult! This is a strong indicator of how God feels toward unborn children.
I want to make the case that we are not permitted to end life before birth by also using a common-sense example to hopefully force the question: What’s the difference? You’ll see what I mean as you read on:
Scenario: Mother A and Mother B become pregnant at exactly the same time. Mother A has her child prematurely but was planning to have an abortion a in only a few days. Three weeks later both mothers decide to end the life of their respective babies. Yet, mother A cannot legally end her child’s life because the child is now outside the womb. Mother B however can end her baby’s life legally for one reason only – the child happens to still be in the womb! Here we have the exact same circumstances, the exact same developmental stage of the child, yet one can be killed and the other cannot. One mother will walk out of the abortion clinic a free woman; the other will be tried for murder.
I want to get you thinking about the next blog as well. I’ll address the issues of rape and incest as well as look at the question of severely disabled babies in the womb. These three issues are often broached in a discussion on abortion and I’ll address them in my next post.
Until then…
Carpe Deum! (Seize God!)
Todd Phillips
www.frontline.to
www.toddphillips.net
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