“Your liberal use of the word “choice” is disgusting.”

I do not know about you, but I am pretty sure our God of love has made it clear that homosexuality is a sin.  This does not mean we should run from those who have embraced this lifestyle… we need to do what Jesus would do and seek to save those who are lost in this lifestyle.

The Word of God says this about homosexuality…

Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor abusers, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor. 6:9, 10)

Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. For they changed the truth of God into a lie, and they worshiped and served the created thing more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause, God gave them up to dishonorable affections. For even their women changed the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust toward one another; males with males working out shamefulness, and receiving in themselves the recompense which was fitting for their error. (Romans 1:24-27)

God so loved the world that He sent His Son to seek and to save the lost from themselves.

The Bible defines homosexuality as a “choice” that causes a person to be lost and unable to enter into eternal life with God (see above).  Look at the list in 1 Cor. 6… fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, abusers, thieves, covetous, drunkards, and homosexuals.  These are all sins that people choose to activate in their lives.  God does not force us to sin… in love He sent Jesus to die our forever death on the cross so to give us the power we need - here and now – to have victory over all sin.

Homosexuality is not natural.  Through the wonderful power of Jesus, a person can surrender his or her lust of the flesh to the Creator.  Just like any sinful addiction, being free of homosexual desires can be accomplished immediately or over the course of years.  The main thing is that we surrender all to Jesus.  Like it or not, we must choose to walk the straight and narrow no matter how difficult it may be.

Just because most of the members at a church are friendly to each other does not mean that the church is visitor and lonely person friendly.  The time has come for us to stop catering to self only and develop strategic plans to become friend-making churches.  Becoming a friend-making church does not happen all by itself.

1. Church leaders must prayerfully determine why their church exists… Is your church all about seeking and saving the lost?  Our churches need to be visitor-friendly, family-focused, spiritually-balanced, and mission-driven.
2. Church leaders need to look at their church through the eyes of a visitor.  They need to physically walk out to the street in front of their church and ask themselves, “If I was a visitor, what would I need to see to know I am welcome here?”  Some healthy, growing churches have parking lot “ministers” in place every weekend to welcome church members and visitors to church.  The main goal is to identify the visitors, give them a warm welcome, and give them directions (this is great for men and young men to do).
3. When the visitors enter the church they should receive more than a verbal welcome, handshake, and bulletin.  Greeters need to intentionally connect to the visitors… knowing that they are like ducks out of water.  The visitors do not know anyone and need to experience a real connection ASAP.  Greeters should show the visitors where the restrooms are and escort them to the church’s welcome booth. NOTE: The classrooms and restrooms should be labeled and easy to find.
4. A welcome booth is a great place to get visitors contact info (name, phone, address, and e-mail).  The welcome booth “ministers” can then give the visitors a welcome gift (small folder with church info, welcome DVD/CD, small gift).  From there a welcome booth minister can escort the visitor(s) to a Sabbath School class and introduce them to the class teacher.  If the visitors arrive at church service time, the welcome booth minister can escort them into the sanctuary and introduce them to a section leader.
5. Having sanctuary section leaders in place is a great way to make the visitors feel welcome.  The section leader can clue the visitors in on what takes place during the service and make sure they are invited to the afternoon fellowship meal.
6. All of the church members should be trained for “visitor ministry.”  Everyone should be greeting each other before and after the service… but it should not stop there.  Young men should be approaching visitors who are young men, trying to connect at a friendship level (swap phone numbers and e-mail addresses and extend invitations to Bible study groups and other friendship building events).  This goes for every age group and gender… young women should approach visitors who are young women… older men and women should approach visitors who are older men and women… and kids should be approaching visitors who are kids.

Go has commanded us to go into the entire world as heavenly ambassadors.  If we are going to achieve victory in this mission, we must first begin in our home churches.

Something to think about:

And walking along beside the sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.  And Jesus said to them, Come after Me and I will make you fishers of men.  And immediately they left their nets and followed Him.  (Mark 1:16-18)

God calls ALL OF US to become fishers of men.  If we are going to invest time fishing for men and women in the workplace and community, we need to make sure we have a healthy aquarium to bring them into.  If the aquarium (the local church) is toxic and sick, the new fish will jump out as quickly as they arrived.

All of our churches need to be Visitor-friendly, Family-focused, Spiritually-balanced, and Mission-driven.

Let’s stop playing church and start being the church God has called us to be!

Here is a great story of a pastor who visited a bunch of churches as a visitor [READ HERE]

While many Christians today are closely monitoring the growth and activity of Islam, especially after 9/11, another religious movement has been steadily growing “under the radar” and could become among the largest religions in the United States in less than five years.

“Wicca is the fastest-growing religion in America, set to be the third largest religion by 2012,” claims Marla Alupoaicei, who co-wrote the recently released book “Generation Hex” with fellow Christian author Dillon Burroughs.

“The numbers of adherents are doubling every 30 months,” she says.

While “Harry Potter” and other media like “Charmed,” “Buffy,” “Sabrina,” and “The Craft” have skyrocketed witchcraft into the public eye, the authors both agreed that among the biggest draws to the Wiccan culture is how community-oriented it is. [SOURCE]

FYI – Wicca is a form of witchcraft. [ABOUT WICCA]

Fastest growing religion or not, I am interested in why Wicca is growing so quickly.  The article stated that people are interested in the Wiccan culture because it is community-oriented.  Members of the Wiccan faith feel accepted for who they are and can be themselves without being judged and criticized.  

FACT: Many Adventist churches are not safe places to be real and transparent. 

Don’t get me wrong, there are some healthy churches out there, but for the most part, most of them are clickish, gossip clubs, and mission-less.  While doctrines and teachings are very important, it is imperative that our churches are visitor-friendly, family-focused, and community-oriented.  If churches do not have a friendship-making ministry in place and people are not connecting at a real friendship level, then the doctrines and teachings are powerless when it comes to the mission to seek and save the lost.  

When Jesus walked the streets of Jerusalem and on the shore of Galilee He intentionally connected to those He was seeking and saving.  

Christ’s method alone will give true success in reaching the people. The Saviour mingled with men as one who desired their good. He showed His sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then He bade them, “Follow Me.”–The Ministry of Healing, p. 143.

If we are going to create safe churches for people to meet Jesus and truly impact the harvest (seeking and saving the lost), we need to be intentional when it comes to connecting with our fellow church members and being ready to embrace new people as they come into our lives. 

Inviting fellow church members and new people into our homes for food and fellow on a weekly to bi-weekly basis is not impossible.  God has blessed us with homes and food on our shelves, now we just need to use these blessings to ministry to those who are hungry for friendship and a place to belong. 

Let’s grow God’s kingdom by being Christ-like, friendly, and accepting of others.  When the time is right and we have the right connection to those seeking something better, we can then share what Jesus has done for us.  We must share the truth in love, but leave the convicting to the Holy Spirit. 

CHALLENGE:  Invite a couple/family into your home weekly/bi-weekly.  Open yourself to developing new friendships and being real. 

Jesus is not walking the earth… sharing and shining.  The Word of God clearly teaches that if we are filled with Jesus, we are the light of the world.  If your home, church, and community needs light… you are called to be the light of love and truth needed to chase away the darkness. 

“Then Jesus spoke again to them, saying, I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”  John 8:12   “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do men light a lamp and put it under the grain-measure, but on a lampstand. And it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven.”  Matthew 5:14-16

As I have continued to put forth information about Adventist segregation, people have communicated to me that they had no idea this was a problem. 

Regional Conferences (black conferences): We currently have nine regional conferences in the USA.  Each of these conferences have office buildings, insurance policies, benefits, utilities, supplies, officers, and staff… $$$

• Allegheny East,  Allegheny West,  Central States, Lake Region, Northeastern, South Atlantic, South Central, Southeastern, Soutwestern (((You can click on the office names to visit the websites)))

Not only are there nine individual black conferences, they also have a Office for Regional Conference Ministry that oversees the black conference work in the USA.  That is a total of ten office buildings, ten sets of officers, benefits, insurance policies, utilities, supplies, and staff… $$$ in this Adventist segregation problem.  On top of all that, they also have their own magazine printed for the Regional Conferences. 

This is thousands upon thousands of dollars being spent on conference office buildings and officers to oversee black churches and schools.  I am not counting the black pastors working in the churches, because that is something that should take place and is a service that can be justified for our tithes.

Then we have all the “white conferences” spread out across America.  From what I can count, it looks like we have 41 “white conferences” in the USA.  This is 41 office buildings, 41 sets of officers, insurance policies, benefits, utilities, supplies, and staff… $$$

We will not even begin to talk about the eight Union offices we have here in the USA… another eight buildings, eight sets of officers, etc. etc. etc…

It is no wonder our local churches and schools are suffering when we have a broken system like this.  

Below is an example of how broken our system is…

Here are two conferences located within 60 miles of each other in the same state.  Two office buildings, two sets of officers, two sets of office staff, two of everything we talked about above. 

Here are two more conferences located within 30 miles of each other in the same state.  Pennsylvania has two conference buildings, two sets of officers, etc. etc. etc.  On top of that, they also have two boarding academies within 45 miles of each other. 

The time has come for us to desegregate God’s end time church.  By doing so, we would be able to use God’s money for evangelism instead of playing politics. 

Technology gives us the ability to function more efficiently without having to put so much money into conference and union offices.  Think about… Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to have Adventist radio stations and TV stations broadcasting the good news all across America instead of paying for the playing of politics?  If we were to restructure our Church, here and now, we would be able to allow local churches to keep a percentage of the tithe for the local gospel work instead of sending all up the line to be gobbled up by the playing of politics.   

What is the answer to this problem?  God know!!!  I just know we need to close some office buildings, desegregate our officers (president, secretary, treasurer and other staff members), get more workers in the field, and restructure how tithes are used. 

Let’s prayerfully ask God how we can encourage our spiritual leaders to do what is right for His endtime Church.  Please feel free to write your thoughts and comments below. 

Here is the link to the North American Division “contact us” website –> CLICK HERE  Please take the time to send our leaders a little note asking them to desegregate and restructure God’s Church so we can truly be about our Father’s business.

This short video clip talks about Adventist segregation and provides a call to church members to let their voice be heard.  The time has come for us to get busy rebuilding our Church so to be ready for God’s great revival of true Godliness.  Let your voice be heard!

Send your church leaders at the North American Division a short note, asking them to desegregate God’s end time church.  –> CLICK HERE

Here is the first of many videoblogs. Please submit topic ideas you want to be covered by Ken Lytle… Marriage, Divorce, Creation, Sexuality, Parenting, Pastoral Ministry, Every Member Ministry, etc. I would be glad to research topics and create videoblogs to communicate the info I gathered. May the good Lord bless and keep you safe in His arms of love.

SUBMIT TOPIC IDEAS BELOW…