12 “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
Paul makes this perennially true statement in II Timothy 3 which accurately describes the disintegration of morals and the cultural hostility believers have witnessed in recent years. The huge difference between the first century believer and the 21st century believer in America is that the first century believer expected hostility and persecution for their faith. 21st century believers, on the other hand, having enjoyed hundreds of years of constitutional protection and governmental favor, see the recent systemic and frequent attacks upon our faith and religious liberty as unsettling and unusual. Friends, let me simply remind you of Peter’s admonition in I Peter: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you;” (I Peter 4:12) Harassment and persecution are the common experience of believers among nearly every generation of believers somewhere in the world.
In recent years, believers have seen more higher court cases which have eroded religious liberties than those which have protected them. We have witnessed the tide of public opinion become more antagonistic toward traditional Christian values. All of these factors have pastors and churches wondering what the future holds for us. And, although we have not “resisted to the shedding of blood” yet, (Hebrews 12:4) the main weapon employed by the state against churches, companies and individuals who refuse to bow to government legislation that violates our conscience is punitive fines.
We want to help our churches know their rights and legal recourse. We want you to be prepared to avoid any uninvited litigation against your church or individual members. With this in mind we have scheduled a Religious Liberty and Church Liability Workshop on Thursday, August 24th at First Baptist Raytown from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with lunch provided. BR-KC has teamed up with several experts in the field of liability and religious liberty to bring you a practical day of training. B.J. and Becky Moyer of Moyer & Moyer Insurance and GuideOne will cover church liability issues. Local Attorney’s Michael and Jonathan Whitehead, and Brad Dacus of the Pacific Justice Institute will address the multitude of issues that believers face regarding the erosion of religious liberty and the legal steps you can take to protect your ministry and your church. Make plans now to be with us for this crucial event.
Also, we recently hosted our annual Williams-Farmer Preaching Fellowship at Harvest Baptist Church in Blue Springs. Every year we are blessed to have some of the great preachers and pastors from around the country lead our conference. This year was phenomenal and incredibly fruitful for those who attended as pastor Hosea Bilyeu shared with us a biblical template he had developed over 30 years of preaching which helps preachers consistently prepare biblical, engaging, life transforming sermons on a week in and week out basis. Hosea provided at his own cost a recent preaching workshop book he had authored and extra copies are available for you at the Association office.
Special thanks to Pastor Alan Shelby and his staff at Harvest Baptist for hosting the event and for their wonderful hospitality.
~Gregg Boll, Associate Director
