The Preacher’s Voice Series: Click | View Series

The last article discussed strain, stress and tension as factors inhibiting the effectiveness of preacher’s voice. This segment is going to discuss digestion and immunity.

Poor Digestion Is A Bummer

Bad digestion leads to bad breath, excessive mucus and post nasal drip, acid reflux, gas and bloating, and continual burning irritation. Food and environmental allergies, consumption of bad foods, excess alcohol, tobacco, and just plain old digestion inefficiency can contribute to bad digestion and cause bad breath.

For some people, continual exposure to gluten, dairy, or other food groups will cause bad reactions until they are identified as a problem and eliminated. Testing for these reactions and for digestion efficiency is prudent, as this can eliminate these undesirable reactions.

Get Tested

Some very approachable blood and digestive efficiency tests can assist in identifying these unpleasantries. I had a friend who suffered from extreme discomfort because he had reactions to nuts, wheat, and dairy, but as soon as he eliminated these things, he got better.

I have also treated many patients with enzyme deficiency, which causes indigestion, malabsorption, and a decrease in good bacteria. When appropriately treated the symptoms get better. Anti-acid medications just temporarily resolve the issues and do not lead to permanent changes. Finding the cause is most essential in taking care of the problem!

Can’t Live On Fumes

Much can be said for good immune health. Preachers and doctors get sick. They may have a higher resistance to certain bugs because of being around crowds of people, but dependence upon the old phrase “I never get sick” is asking for trouble.

Preacher, you will get sick. You are not indispensible and immune to everything. You will be blindsided if you continue to live on the fumes of your strong body constitution. There is no way that the battery can continue without being maintained and recharged.

The negative results I mentioned above will contribute to stressing the immune system if unchecked. You must take precautions to strengthen your immune system. Just depending on Tylenol, cough and cold medicine, and occasional vitamin C is not enough.

Get Some Help!

You need a plan that will keep you strong, and there are many tools available online such as Health Fact Sheets and the Reference Room of the Health & Wellness Institute for such strengthening.

In my practice, I have been using these tools with success. The common response from patients that have followed immune strengthening programs is that they don’t get sick as often and have a higher amount of energy for daily needs.

Preacher, if you are strong, that is a blessing. Don’t abuse this. However, if you have chronic colds and immune stress, do not ignore these serious signs. A preacher needs a physician who can act as health coach and mentor, so get some help!

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Be not envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them, for their hearts devise violence, and their lips talk of trouble.
- Proverbs 24:1

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Invitation from God: Click | View Series

Isaiah 1:18—"Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool."

The sinful condition of men is terrible in the extreme... God himself interposes to produce a change. The proposal of peace is always from his side. He urges that a conference be held at once, "Come, and let us reason together."

GOD ANTICIPATES ALL THE OBSTACLES

1. The singular greatness of your sins, "red like crimson." This is met by a great atonement, which cleanses from all sin.
2. The long continuance of your sins. Cloth dyed scarlet has lain long in the dye vat. The blood of Jesus cleanses at once.
3. The light against which your sins were committed. This puts a glaring color upon them. But "every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people."
4. The grieving of the Holy Spirit. Even this is removed by Jesus.
5. The failure of your attempts to whiten your soul. Crimson and scarlet cannot be removed by the art of man; but the Lord says, "I have blotted out your sins."
6. The despair which your sins create: they are so glaring that they are ever before you, yet they shall be washed out by the blood of the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.
   • Come now. Your minister pleads with you on God's behalf.
   • Can it be right to slight God's invitation?
   • What harm can come of a conference with him?
   • Must it not be right to be reconciled with your Maker?
   • What if this day should see you made "white as snow"?

Adapted from Charles Spurgeon's sermon notes.

Pastor Dad

Every dad is a pastor. The important thing is that he cares for his flock well. Pastor Mark Driscoll's new eBook offers spiritual insights on fatherhood. Get it here.

Click through to the Resurgence if you can't see the video.

At the recent Acts 29 AMBITION conference at Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, KY, I had the opportunity to sit down with Matt Chandler and talk about a number of topics.

In part two of our conversation, we discuss celebrity, diversity, burnout and the “one thing” he would tell church planters. As you would expect, Chandler does not disappoint.

Listen, learn, and link, tweet, facebook, blog…whatever. Help us get this great content out there to as many folks as we can. Don’t forget, there are 15+ more great interviews with church planters and movement leaders coming soon, including Dave Harvey, Ed Stetzer, and Darrin Patrick. I am humbled to have been entrusted with this amazing content.

Click here to watch Part 1 of this interview.

For more from Dustin Neeley, check out his ministry Church Planting for the Rest of Us.

Re:Train

We are launching The Resurgence Training Center (Re:Train) to prepare leaders for ministry locally and around the world. Additional details and downloadable application form here.

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In case you missed it, here's the video from John Piper's first talk at Advance 09: "Let the Nations Be Glad, Part 1."

You can find the rest of the Advance 09 content, including video, audio, and photos, here.

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The musical arm of the Resurgence offers music that is theologically unified, stylistically diverse, and musically excellent. Find out more.

How NOT To Be a Missional Church series: Click | View Series

The missional church movement has been good and bad. On a positive note, let’s focus on the bad. I want to suggest three ways to not be a missional church. In continuation of the series, this post examines some of the defects of social action-driven mission.

Social Action-Driven Mission

This approach probably creates the best community of the three mentioned in this series. A socially-minded and active church attracts socially-minded non-Christians. When my City Group recently cleaned five apartments from top to bottom for some homeless women and children, we all got a little closer. There’s something about being on a common mission—the sweat, the jokes, the empathy, and the memory–that unites folks. Creating a missional memory strengthens community and mission. It also raises questions with non-Christians you serve. But is social action enough?

1. Social action-driven mission isn’t unique to the church.

There are plenty of non-Christians engaged in social mission—serving the poor, the needy, the abused, and the homeless. They don’t need a church to engage in social mission. There are thousands of non-profits that can do this. What sets the church apart? If we are banking on social mission to be the unique contribution of the church, we’ll lose the game, and more importantly, the souls.

2. Social action doesn’t create new community.

Although social action mission creates community, it doesn’t create new community. Regenerated, new creation is the unique work of God the Spirit (Tit. 2.11; Gal. 6:15) through faith in the Son (Tit. 3:6-7; 2 Cor. 5:17). If we convert people to community and social mission alone, and not to Christ, we offer a very incomplete gospel. Regeneration is both social (Matt. 19:28) and spiritual (Tit. 3:5). The Spirit, not social mission, makes men new.

3. Social mission can lead to liberal church.

When we reduce mission to social action, we run the danger of becoming a socially-minded liberal church that neglects large stretches of the Bible requiring repentance and faith in Jesus. When missional communities focus on social mission alone, they disregard their evangelistic identity, gifting, and responsibility as the church of Jesus Christ, the Jesus who died and rose to make all things new—people and products, souls and society.

This series has attempted to identify some of the shortcomings in expressions of missional church. When mission is driven by events or evangelism, or social action, we engage in incomplete mission. When we engage in incomplete mission, we offer an incomplete gospel to our neighbors, towns, cities, and world. In a future series, I will take a more positive tack by exploring three areas that promote being a missional church.

This series is based on Jonathan Dodson’s talks at the LEAD ’09 conference.

Re:Train

We are launching The Resurgence Training Center (Re:Train) to prepare leaders for ministry locally and around the world. Additional details and downloadable application form here.