Sex, Lawsuits, & Videotapes
Three new videos help prevent legal and sexual entanglements.
Joan Brown loves children. When Pastor Jim asked her to pick up three children in Greenwood Meadows for Sunday school, she was honored.
On the way to church, however, Joan ran a stop sign and was hit by another driver. Joan and two of the children were injured. The church offered comfort and support to Joan, the children, and the families of the injured.
What did the church get in return?
Two lawsuits claiming negligent hiring and negligent supervision.
No one knew that Joan was nicknamed “Indy 500 Joan” by the Motor Vehicle Department. No one knew that asking her to pick up kids fell under the same rules as hiring an employee. To their chagrin, no one knew the church’s insurance didn’t cover these eventualities.
If they had viewed the video, How to Protect Your Children’s Ministry from Liability (Gospel Light, $49.99), they would have.
J. David Epstein, an attorney, hosts this video, stressing there are two situations the church can be held liable for: negligent hiring and negligent supervision. He stresses that the answers are not complicated. He gives many helpful pointers, but his two main concerns are: (1) that a church thoroughly know its volunteers, and (2) that all children’s activities have two adult supervisors.
The video also gives helpful advice on church liability insurance. This should be required viewing by all pastoral staff.
Michael E. Phillips, pastor Riverside Alliance Church Kalispell, Montana
“Pastor, I’m gay, and I don’t want to be!”
Some pastors, after hearing such a confession, may mutter to themselves, “Great! Another situation for which I was never trained.”
Two videos by Exodus International, the worldwide referral network of “ex-gay” ministries, can help. In Recognition and Intervention for Adolescent Homosexuality (Exodus International, $19.95), Donna Hopkins and Tim Rymel offer tips to identify teens potentially struggling with homosex-ual tendencies. Signs include: relational breakdown within the family; unhealthy cycles of rejection; shame, fear, or emotional dependency; and occasionally, indicators such as dress.
Hopkins and Rymel advise the liberal use of confrontation, or “care-frontation.” Quoting theologian John Stott, they remind us that “Truth without love grows hard; and love without truth grows soft.” They also encourage workers to invite students to maturity, stating that kids can and must be held responsible for their choices, regardless of the complexity of their childhood.
In Helping People Overcome Homosexuality (Exodus International, $19.95), Sy Rogers, director of a ministry to homosexuals in Singapore, states, “All pastoral workers who have been in the business for more than two months will recognize that most of the problems coming to them will be sexual/relational.”
Yet Rogers admits, “The modern church falls into the trap of being right, at the expense of loving our neighbor.” He suggests the contempt for the church by the powerful gay lobby is at times justified: We have judged with contempt and now are reaping contempt.
Rogers’s goal is to help the church become a place of healing, without pastors and volunteers burning out in the process. He gives several reasons why Christians struggle with sexual and relational problems, including our God-given desire for intimacy, and our freedom to make choices. For pastors working with those wanting to break out of the homosexual lifestyle, Rogers cautions them not to step out of their symbolic, authoritative role: “Client need cannot determine your response.”
To order either video, call (415) 454-1017.
Bill Donelson, director Abba’s Heart Ministries Denver, Colorado
Understanding the small church
And why small church pastors fail or succeed.
Most of us who started out to change the world wound up in a smaller church. I know speakers at pastors’ conferences don’t intend this, but they often leave me with the impression that most small churches should be left to bury the dead.
So what should the majority of us pastors do?
In Help for the Small-Church Pastor (Zondervan, $10.99), Steve Bierly tries to help us understand better the situations to which we’ve been called. He mixes plenty of anecdotes to demonstrate why small church pastors succeed and fail. He also offers the practical: Instead of bringing in an outside expert to tell the congregation how to minister, why not equip the congregation to develop its own plan for growth? After all, members know the history of the church and the community better than an outsider.
Since the book grows from the small church soil where Bierly has pastored for eleven years, the book doesn’t read like a public relations brochure telling us why small is better. Bierly knows the hard realities of small church dynamics, such as why seniority is valued above character when it’s time to vote for leadership positions.
—Clark Cothern, pastor Trinity Baptist Church Adrian, Michigan
High Tech for High Impact
New software makes preparing for Sunday mornings easier.
Ministry had ganged up on Marv.
The week started slowly, leaving plenty of preparation time for sermon and service. But a funeral, child in the hospital, and an elaborate wedding left little time for last-minute details. The sermon needed . . . something. Scurrying to his Pentium, Marv opened his Logos Library System.
“I still need a closing illustration,” he remembered. Popping open the Baker Illustration Library Volume 1 ($59.99), he searched under spiritual warfare: twenty-one choices. He chose the most appropriate selection. He then opened the Hymn and Scripture Selection Guide (written by Donald Spencer; $39.99). Choosing Ephesians 6:13, he located “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” Marv copied illustration and hymn to the clipboard, pasted the illustration in his sermon in WordPerfect, and the hymn into the Order of Service in Word for Windows.
Now he can enjoy dinner with the family.
Marv was using several products of Baker Bytes, a family of software add-ons to be used with the Logos Library System 2.0. Also available is the Evangelical Commentary on the Bible (edited by Walter A. Elwell; $59.99). A one-volume work, it is precise and theologically sound.
All three require Windows (3.1 or higher), at least a 386 processor, a CD-ROM, and 8 MB of RAM. If you are familiar with database applications, then you will be pleased with the Logos engine. All menus are customizable, and the screens cascade well. Searching is simple, as is the setup.
As for Marv, the congregation’s assessment, as always, was “Good job, Pastor!”
Michael E. Phillips, pastor Riverside Alliance Church Kalispell, Montana
Virtual Pastors’ Conference
The web sites of three churches provide info for your leadership.
Several churches have created web pages on the Internet. Your computer needs a modem (9600 baud or faster) and a way to access the Internet, such as through a commercial online provider like CompuServe or America Online (which you can order through Leadership: 1-800-413-9747, ext. 174021).
You can type in a web site address, or use a browser (searching tool) like Webcrawler or Yahoo. In surfing for these web pages, prepare to spend more time than you anticipate. Here are three churches I virtually visited:
Willow Creek Community Church (http://www.willowcreek.org/)
This web page introduces both the church and the Willow Creek Association. A sidebar allows you quick access to their church history, notes about upcoming conferences (you can even register online), newsletters, biographies, and most important, resources. Once you click on “resources,” you are transported to a page that allows you to search all of their resources, including drama, music, and sermons. You can filter your search by speaker and type of service. I immediately found two resources to accompany my current sermon series, which I ordered and paid for the old-fashioned way-by credit card.
Vineyard Community Church of Cincinnati (http://www.kindness.com/vineyard/index.html)
These are the Conspiracy of Kindness people. Their web page greets you with “Small things done with great love will change the world.” They offer pictures of kindness evangelism at work and provide an opportunity to order the Conspiracy of Kindness book. This web page also gives links to other Christian organizations.
Saddleback Valley Community Church (http://www.saddleback.com/)
Saddleback’s page has the most bells and whistles (not church bells, of course). You can play praise choruses online. (But you’ll have to download special software to do it, by clicking the button on your screen.) You can also find out their service times, an order of service, or register for their conferences. I downloaded Rick Warren’s weekly briefing, Fax of Life.
Want to create your church’s own home page? See the Church Locator at http://www.ChristianityToday.com.
Scott Reavely, pastor West Linn Baptist Church West Linn, Oregon
1996 by Christianity Today/LEADERSHIP, journal.
Last Updated: October 8, 1996
