Long gone are the days when the average American considered divorce scandalous. Between 40% and 50% of marriages end in divorce, according to the American Psychological Association. And sadly, even though the divorce rate is somewhat lower among committed Christians, the church can’t immunize a marriage to an ugly separation.

Dr. Doug Weiss—a Christian psychologist in Colorado—says he has ministered to countless couples who have told him, “We’re just not in love anymore.”

Even couples that have been together for up to 30 years can go through seasons of feeling distant from each other. In an interview with Weiss for my “Strang Report” podcast, he told me that the key to fixing a passionless marriage is for spouses to change their perspective. (Click here or scroll up to listen.)

“What’s interesting is when you’re dating, you think like a lover,” he says. “But what happens is that as soon as the pastor says, ‘I pronounce you husband and wife,’ you go from thinking like a lover to now defining what your role in the relationship, your role as a husband.”

Weiss says that this transition from thinking like a lover to thinking like a spouse drastically changes the way couples relate to each other. It also changes husbands’ and wives’ expectations for themselves.

“It’s easy to say, ‘OK, I fix things. I work hard. I’m a good husband,'” Weiss says. “Well, that doesn’t meet the emotional-connection need of a woman, so she feels unloved. She feels alone. And she says, ‘Well, I’m a good wife if I cook, if I can make a decent apple pie.’ And what happens is you’re defining your own role, which may not actually have anything to do with your spouse feeling close or connected or wanted or desired or pursued.”

Weiss has so much insight to share about this topic that he wrote a book called Lover Spouse, which you can purchase at his website, . One of the exercises in the book requires spouses to write down how they would act if their spouse was their lover.

“I’ve done this in my clinical sessions many times,” Weiss says. “And 100% of the time, the other person knows what that means—whether it’s ‘Getting you coffee,’ ‘Show you by taking you out more’ because they haven’t had a date in three years, or whatever it is. They intuitively know how to be the other person’s lover 100% of the time.”

But the problem is that they no longer think being their spouse’s lover is their responsibility. Thankfully, Weiss says, the couples who do this exercise often have an “aha” moment when they realize what is truly required of them to love their spouse.

Even Weiss’ pastor has benefited from reading the book. Weiss tells me that while he was in church one day, his pastor’s wife began praising her husband. She said he had been serving her and being there for her in sweet ways as of late.

“He had been reading Lover Spouse,” Weiss tells me. “He’s told me on four different occasions, within a week, that this book is the best one. [He says,] ‘It’s changing the way I think. It’s helping me to get into a different mindset about my role as her lover. She says I’m a good husband, but I haven’t been a great lover. And this is putting me in a whole different path, and it’s been great.'”

If you feel as though your marriage has lost the spark it once had, don’t give up hope. I encourage you to read Weiss’ book Lover Spouse, and when you’re done, share it with another married friend!

Listen to my full interview with Weiss for more insights and tips to having a healthy marriage by clicking here or scrolling to the top of this article.

Since I have been serving God in leadership since 1980, I have observed serious gaps in the church in at least seven major areas. If not corrected, these seven areas will greatly limit the ability of the church to fulfill the great commission which is preparing us for the bodily return of Jesus.

To deal with this issue, the national organization I lead, the United States Coalition of Apostolic Leaders () has an annual Bridge Summit conference that brings significant leaders together from every facet of society to help bridge these gaps.

The following are these gaps and what must be done to correct them:

1. The gap between church place and workplace leaders.

Since only about 2% of the typical members of a church will ever go into full-time church ministry, discipleship should be focused more on bringing the gospel to the work place than preparing people for the church place. Unfortunately, we have trained the typical Christian to bring their friends to church to be saved instead of equipping them to make disciples outside of the four walls of the church.

Christ-followers have to stop depending on a Sunday service in a building, so they can take the whole gospel to the whole world. Furthermore, workplace believers need to view themselves as ministers of the gospel in the same way that church place leaders are viewed as ministers. The primary purpose for the church place should be to equip the saints for the workplace—unless this shifts, the church will have more influence on Sunday than on Monday. and our society will continue to decline.

The issues raised in this point is the primary reason our organization () has a large percentage of workplace leaders serving on our national council with many of them serving as presenters in our annual Bridge Summit (which takes place this coming June 10-12, 2019; go to for more info).

2. The gap between younger and older leaders.

Without getting into all the details of this point, there is a huge gap between Baby Boomers and Millennials and Generation Z. They speak the same language but have different connotations attached to the words they utilize to communicate.

Much dialogue and new partnerships are necessary between these three groups if the baton is going to be successfully passed to the emerging leaders of the church. It would be a shame if the younger generation goes without gleaning from the wisdom and life experience of older leaders and an equal shame if older leaders refuse to learn from younger leaders and adapt to a multi-generational approach to ministry. This is why our coalition () formed the Futures Alliance () and highlight amazing Millennial leaders as presenters in our Bridge Summit (this coming June 10-12, 2019).

3. The gap between different ethnic leaders.

Sunday morning is still perhaps the most segregated two hours of the week due to the fact that there are still huge ethnic gaps separating His body. This gap may have even worsened during the past two administrations of the U.S., as ethic relations started declining even further starting with the election of President Obama down to the present administration of President Trump. One of the goals the leaders of the United States Coalition of Apostolic Leaders have is to bridge the gap between ethnic leaders, which is why our events are ethnically diverse and replete with robust fellowship to engender relationship building.

4. The gap between the Word and the Spirit.

I have often been in gatherings that have either been hypercharismatic with virtually no theological substance or theologically centered events with no room for the Holy Spirit to move.

Jesus told us to worship the Father in Spirit and in truth (John 4:23,24) and told the Pharisees that they were in error because they knew not the Scriptures nor the power of God (Matt. 22:29). If the church is going to be effective in reaching the world, we have to mimic the church of Acts, which had a great handle on the Scriptures (as we can see from examining all the sermons of this book) as well as moving in the demonstration of the power of Jesus to convince unbelievers of the reality of Jesus’s resurrection.

In our annual Bridge Summit () we have rich theological content in our teaching along with giving the Holy Spirit the opportunity to move through prayer and prophetic ministry. This is another reason why this gathering is so unique!

5. The gap between male and female leadership.

The conservative evangelical church has often overlooked the important role women have in extending the influence of the kingdom of God. As we can see in both testaments of the Bible, women have played a significant role in leadership and in influencing not only their families but the nation of Israel and the church. (The biblical examples are too numerous to cite in this brief article.)

Unless the broader body of Christ recognizes the role of women in leadership, we will continue to underutilize the majority of Christ-followers in our churches—thus greatly limiting our capacity to spread the gospel and extend His kingdom influence. In our Bridge Summit, we highlight several extraordinary women as presenters so we can contribute to closing this huge gap in the church.

6. The gap between revival and reformation.

I have observed that often those who are proponents of prayer and fasting for revival don’t associate with Christian activist and reformers who deal with politics, policy and cultural issues, and vice versa. However, looking through both testaments of the Bible illustrates the fact that we need people involved in both prayer and policy. (See the book of Esther, Nehemiah, Ezra, Daniel, as well as the book of Acts when we see high-level leaders like Cornelius, Sergius Paulus, Manaen and others coming to Christ and helping to spread the gospel.)

Our national organization is comprised of leaders focused on prayer and revival along with those focused on reformation and policy. Both these components of the church will be represented as presenters in our Bridge Summit this coming June 10-12, 2019.

7. The gap between serving God with the heart and mind.

The Lord Jesus told His followers to love God with all their heart, mind, and soul (Matt. 22:37-40) which is the first and foremost commandment of the law. In the charismatic and evangelical church of America the past few generations, we often bypass the mind and merely connect with the emotions of Christians. Consequently, there has been a dualism regarding the application of the Bible to human life in that the church has only focused on spiritual things and disregarded the other aspects of the created order regarding politics, economics, education and all the sciences.

When Jesus said that He is the truth (John 14:6), He was saying that in Him is all truth—not just Bible truth or spiritual truth. Truly, in Him all things of the universe hold together (Col. 1:17; Hebrews 1:3)—all things and not just spiritual things. Until Christ-followers embrace the fact that the word of God contains a biblical world and life view applicable to all of life on the earth, our effectiveness in attracting and equipping the next generation of world changers will not be realized. As a consequence, instead of being on the leading edge that helps formulate cultural values, the church will merely respond to culture and try to attract people by being relevant, often resulting in acquiescing and accommodating to culture instead of transforming it with the truth of the gospel.

In closing, at the Bridge Summit, significant leaders from various sectors of society grapple with all of the seven issues articulated by the seven points above. The result is a symphonic experience in which there are more than 50 voices with one conversation throughout the three-day experience. Truly, it is more of an experience than a mere event!

To register for the Bridge Summit (June 10-12, 2019), go to

My congressman, Steve Scalise, faced death last year. He is a walking miracle.

Here is what he said about the National Day of Prayer, “On this ‘National Day Of Prayer’, I’m reflecting on the powerful role prayer has played in my life—both in good times and bad. Prayers inspired me and got my family through some incredibly tough days as I recovered from my injuries. Whatever you’re going through: lean on prayer.”

On this day in the Rose Garden, something special happened.

After worship music set the tone, the vice president said, “In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln, from these very grounds, urged Americans to pray so that, in his words, ‘the united cry of the nation [would] be heard on high and answered with blessing.’ The Bible tells us to be faithful in prayer, and that the ‘effective and fervent prayers of a righteous [people] avails much.'”

Then the First Lady, a lady born in another country, read the Numbers blessing, “The Lord bless you; the Lord keep you .. .and may He grant you His peace.” While watching her, I thought to myself, “I bet she’s proud of America.” But I won’t go there.

The president said, “Our nation’s honored tradition of prayer has sustained us and strengthened our trust that God will continue to watch over and accompany us through the best of times and the darkest of hours. May we, as Americans, never forget the power of prayer and the greatness of our Creator.”

One of the president’s guests was the courageous Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein of the Poway Synagogue. Missing fingers, with his hand still wrapped in bandages, he spoke his heart, “My life has changed forever, but it changed so I could make change … we need to go back to basics and introduce a moment of silence in all public schools.”

The chuckle of the day came when the rabbi, referring to his burgeoning relationship with the president, said, “I’d like to thank our dear honorable Mr. President for being, as they say in Yiddish, a mensch par excellence.”

Then, the president, after giving a report on the fight against opioid addictions, acknowledged Ashley Evans and her miraculous deliverance. She beamed and said, “Finding God saved my life. It’s been incredible.”

To which the president replied, “Prayer works miracles, and prayer saves lives!”

During the prayer time, periodic “Amens” and joyful praise sounds could easily be heard on the White House video feed. It was a camp meeting at 1600!

It was a grand experience. One of my friends called me and said, “Wow! I feel like I’ve been to church!”

Truth is, we had.

I moved on, thinking, “This was great! Who can have a problem with this?”

But before an hour had passed, I was soon met with a few “not so fast” moments. But not from the usual suspects in the MSM and elsewhere.

We live in a hostile time, and the predictable response from detractors to discredit and intimidate anything “religious” is just a part of life in an America swathed in carnality and political correctness.

Specifically, the name that really lights up the pagan peanut gallery? The Lord Jesus Christ.

We’ve learned to expect such hysterics while reminding ourselves about our “wise as serpents, harmless as doves” marching orders. You expect it from them. But from inside the tent of believers?

Soon after the Rose Garden gathering, political news outlet, The Politico, tweeted, “The White House is celebrating National Day of Prayer with a Christian band playing worship songs in the Rose Garden.”

Attached to this simple sentence was a brief video clip of Jonathan Cain (the writer of Journey’s classic, “Don’t Stop Believing,” and an unashamed Man of God), who was joined by a group of worshippers from Dallas’ Prestonwood Baptist Church. They were singing,

You give life, You are love/ You bring light to the darkness.
You give hope, You restore/ Every heart that is broken/ Great are You, Lord!

It’s Your breath in our lungs!/ So we pour out our praise to You only!

That’s a far cry from the filthy lyrics of Beyonce and Jay Z that have pulsated through the White House air on more than one occasion.

I soon saw a retweet of this with a question pinned to it, “Curious if American taxpayers are footing the bill for this. Does anyone know?”

This wasn’t from one of the expected cynics.

It came from a professed believer; a talented man who has written some insightful things, but many times with the intentional “stick in the eye” shock value against that which might be deemed too conventional or too traditional, and almost always to an underlying drumbeat of inclusion.

Sure, it might sound cute sometimes, but after a special moment for the other believers in America, why such a silly comment?

Oh, the band of followers considered it such a brave question!

My question, why?

The brave question should perhaps target another grand Rose Garden gathering, such as one that honored an admitted traitorous combatant against America. The brave question could be, was money was paid? Were criminals released? Just asking.

Today’s Rose Garden participants are safe targets of bluster. Write what you want, and I’m pretty sure they won’t strap a bomb full of nails to one of their kids with the orders to blow up the place. No, that wouldn’t cross the minds of those who were busy “Pouring out praises.”

Sadly, we have a growing group of those who are quick to embrace their new ministry of self-anointed hall monitors to “keep the church in line.” But don’t dare confront the other beliefs. “We can’t do politics. It’s not inclusive.”

The Family Research Council statement regarding today was perfect, “On this National Day of Prayer, Americans have an opportunity to set aside partisan bickering and the politics of division to unite in prayer for their nation, leaders and local communities.” And based on the swill of mischief and anarchy of the last few years, we all need to stop and pray.

Let’s pull together. We need all the help we can get.

Jesus clearly warned, “If the world hates you, remember that they hated me first” (John 15:18, NCV). I understand that. I can live with that. But the shooting from inside the tent?

It seems more pharisaical than prophetic. {eoa}

Michael Green is pastor with his wife, Linda, at The LifeGate () in Metairie and Mandeville, Louisiana. He is also a speaker, singer, producer and writer. Find him on Twitter (@MichaelGreen77).

My invitation to the National Day of Prayer event in the Rose Garden at the White House came from Mr. Todd Lamphere, who works with Rev. Paula White and the faith and opportunity initiatives at the White House.

After I arrived in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday afternoon, I had dinner with directors for faith and opportunity initiatives in different government departments such as HUD, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Commerce. One of their roles is to create faith-based liaisons between their departments and the communities they serve.

Upon entering the White House, I met many evangelical leaders representing different denominations and faith-based ministries, among them Dr. James Dobson and Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A large constituency of Jewish, Muslim and Hindu leaders was also present.

The prayer event included worship led by Mr. Jonathan Cain, former band member of Journey, along with a small choir from Prestonwood Baptist Church from Plano, Texas. Vice President Pence spoke of the role of prayer and faith in U.S. politics from the country’s foundation, stating the different times in American history that U.S. presidents have called for national days of prayer.

He mentioned that Mr. Trump has called for more days of prayer than any prior president. His focus was primarily spiritual, talking about how faith and prayer play a role in the Trump administration in every department of government.

President Trump and his wife, Melania, came through the west wing doors. The First Lady opened the event with the prayer of Moses from Numbers 6:24-26, speaking God’s blessing over the people. After that, President Trump thanked the department heads and the spiritual leadership who were present for being the true heroes and the voices of moral conscience for our nation.

President Trump also noted that because of his administration’s actions, people of faith can now boldly state what they believe.

The president also talked about the situation in Venezuela and how the United States was ready to step in and help with the aid for the people there. He also mentioned the opioid and drug crisis in America and how his administration’s efforts to eradicate this have resulted in a decline in opioid use.

President Trump introduced a young woman who shared her story of faith, healing and sobriety, and asked her to come up and speak. In fact, he characteristically went off script several times and invited people to come up and share right on the spot.

Several of these speakers noted their gratefulness for being able to talk about their faith, thanking Mr. Trump for his willingness to encourage and celebrate people of faith in our nation.

Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein from the Chabad of Poway Synagogue in California spoke movingly on his experience during the shooting that took place last week on the final day of Passover. He quoted a famous rabbi who said that the way to overcome evil is with kindness. Goldstein told of his choice to either run from the shooter or to stand up and face evil.

He decided to stand up and fight for victory, and in the process, his finger was blown off, and Mrs. Lori Kaye died protecting him. His bandaged hand was clearly visible as he was talking.

President Trump then had many different faith leaders lead out in prayer, including Mr. Ralph Reed, who repented on behalf the church and the nation. Prayers of blessing and protection over our president and his family and our spiritual leaders were also made.

Rev. Paula White closed the prayer meeting with a powerful and bold prayer of faith, declaring victory and blessing over our president and our nation. It was well received by most in attendance.

Although the National Day of Prayer was inclusive of many different faiths, it was evident that the evangelical community had the majority representation. One of the striking things about this prayer event was how boldly and publicly many people prayed and thanked Jesus. I was struck by the common thread of thankfulness for a president who is so open to the spiritual and faith community.

I was told that every Cabinet meeting in the White House is opened in prayer, and that prayer is common all over Washington in different government offices and departments. One man acknowledged that God’s hand was clearly responsible for how many active people of faith are involved in our government’s leadership.

These people recognize that they have a short window of time to see the faith community and the evangelical cause become firmly rooted in the political arena. They are keenly aware that strong spiritual and political forces are working against people of faith and moral causes.

They have a strong sense that a large contingent of people is strongly opposed to what they are doing as they push back against the agenda of socialism and the extreme leftist agenda in the area of human sexuality.

I left with a heightened sense of my responsibility as a leader in the faith community to pray for our leaders and to teach and communicate a biblical worldview from a Christ-centered perspective. According to one well-known Christian leader I spoke with, the role of faith has never been more prominent in Washington’s history than it is today.

People of faith have a voice in the government in Washington now. Although it is easy to bemoan the darkness, I believe that the bright light of the gospel is shining in our nation’s capital today.

Eugene R. Smith is a graduate of Northwest University and is the founding and lead pastor of City Church in Sanford, Florida.

This may or may not come as a surprise to you, but so many people blame God for their out-of-control behavior. How many of you have seen the T-shirts “born to shop” or “born for chocolate?” I know we all laugh, but unfortunately for some, we actually believe in our hearts that somehow God himself has some responsibility for the out-of-control areas of our life.

Let’s look at a Scripture that clears this up for us. “Let no man say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil; neither does He tempt anyone. But each man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed” (James 1:13-14).

Clearly God doesn’t tempt us to eat, have sex or work inappropriately. He doesn’t cause us to get angry, envious, self-righteous, self-absorbed, prideful, reckless, unkind or any other out-of-control behavior.

God created us in His image. He created us to be loving, kind, patient, understanding, creative, fun, nurturing and all of His other wonderful characteristics. He originally created us without sin or even an appetite for sin. We were created to be absolutely pure and sinless. I mean Adam didn’t even know he was naked; that’s pretty pure.

God didn’t create us for whatever is controlling us. It is not His design at all that we continue to use our mind, will, emotions and body in a submissive manner to whatever is controlling us.

It often pains Him to see us being limited by behaviors that have control over us. He cries at our being limited. So many think God is often an angry God. But he is really more compassionate, similar to what a parent would be.

As a parent, you can see a behavior like slothfulness or procrastination in your child. You try everything you can to help your child move from being slothful to becoming motivated and industrious. Year after year, you ache about this slothful behavior. You may get upset at times, but at a deeper level, you hurt for this child because you know that slothfulness has control over him or her and will eventually limit their quality of life, friendships, marriage and future parenting, to mention only a few areas of life.

That’s how God feels about what is controlling your life. He may get upset at times, but His deeper feeling toward you is sadness because this will handicap you, your friendships, marriage and parenting.

Suppose your out-of-control behavior is envy. You envy those who are richer, more important, more beautiful, skinnier and happier. God is sad because you are not being able to celebrate the wonder of you he created. He is sad because your friendships will be limited, and your ability to trust and connect to these “more wonderful” people will be limited. Your mate will suffer the entire marriage because you can’t be happy with who you are and how good your life really is. Your children will have undue stress to measure up and then wonder why they can’t be like so and so.

God doesn’t like envy, but this isn’t His only feeling about the envy that has control of someone’s life. The souls and the people who can’t enjoy themselves sadden him. They see others as objects to compete with, not people who are flawed and need to be loved.

God is not a scapegoat. He can actually can be an ally in your ability to get control over what has been controlling you. He is your biggest cheerleader, if you can hear Him. He would be saying, “Get up and try again. Keep going. I am so proud of you.” {eoa}

Doug Weiss, Ph.D., is a nationally known author, speaker and licensed psychologist. He is the executive director of Heart to Heart Counseling Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and the author of several books including, Get A Grip. You may contact Dr. Weiss via his website, or on his Facebook, by phone at 719-278-3708 or through email at heart2heart@.

The need to address revival and the vital role of the Holy Spirit is as relevant today as it has been throughout church history. The key is to find the biblical balance. The Holy Spirit is not some weird, mystical force. He is part of the triune nature of God. The Bible says that the Spirit intercedes, leads, guides, teaches and so on (see Rom. 8:26, Acts 8:29, John 16:13).

He enables and empowers us to hunger and thirst for righteousness and to boldly live for Christ. God’s Word becomes living and active in the life of the believer who is continually filled with the Holy Spirit. Charles Spurgeon adds, “What can a hammer do without the hand that grasps it, and what can we do without the Spirit of God?”

I was disheartened a few years ago when I attend a conference about the Holy Spirit in Southern California. Men I look up to were trivializing and mocking deep spiritual experiences that authors such as E.M. Bounds often write about.

E.M. Bounds, who was born in 1835, began his three-hour prayer routine at 4 a.m. To him, prayer was not a short prelude, but an empowering priority. Edward Payson, who ministered during the Second Great Awakening, was said to have worn grooves into his hardwood floor as a result of prayer.

It was said of John Hyde who left for the mission field in 1892 that he would stay on his face before God until the answer came. It was not uncommon for the great Scottish preacher John Welch, who died in 1622, to spend four to six hours in prayer. John Fletcher, one of the leaders of the Methodist movement, stained the walls of his room with the breath of his prayers until his death in 1785.

Why mock these types of experiences? Is it because most have never experienced the overwhelming power and presence of the Spirit? Should we not pursue the deeper life? Listen to the message, “A Demonstration of Power,” for more on this. Would be to God that more men and women sought God with all their heart. America might actually experience revival.

By age 28, my life was filled with what the world offered, but I was empty inside. I was at a turning point. I could choose to turn fully to God and stop “playing church” or continue to reject Him. By God’s grace, the prodigal came home. I repented and put my complete trust in Christ.

Although I am far from perfect, God radically transformed and redirected my life through the power of the Holy Spirit. He can do the same for you. Acts 1:8a identifies this experience: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you shall be My witnesses.” The power of the Holy Spirit is like dynamite that ignites a hunger for God so intense that every aspect of life is changed—we become bold, not passive; stable, not fanatical; and committed, not wavering.

Within the months that followed, I truly experienced the infilling of the Spirit that is seen throughout the Scriptures (e.g., a transformed life resulting in a love for God and His Word). From this experience, came books, articles, speaking engagements and ultimately, a church.

I, like many Christians, tend to be “safely” conservative when considering the power of the Holy Spirit; however, Scripture clearly supports the miraculous work of the Spirit today. I’m open but cautious. We need sound doctrine and the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s possible to be “Bible taught” but not “Spirit led”—straight as a gun barrel theologically, but just as empty. The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (see 2 Cor. 3:6).

Don’t get me wrong, theological and expositional teachings are essential to Christian living, but how often are theology students encouraged to fast and pray as well as study? How often are they taught brokenness and repentance in addition to translating the Greek language? How often are they taught the surrendered life? We can sometimes be more concerned about a Master’s degree than a degree from the Master.

The Holy Spirit inspired the Scriptures and empowered Jesus and the apostles. We are desperately remiss if we fail to recognize His vital role in our lives. I agree with Leonard Ravenhill: “We need to close every church in the land for one Sunday and cease listening to a man so we can hear the groan of the Spirit which we in our lush pews have forgotten.”

It’s no secret that our culture is on a steep spiritual decline. Perhaps this is because Christians have been slow to wake up and are only beginning to do so now as more of our freedoms are being taken away.

But how do we make a difference? Greg Swan, a marketing and brand strategist, discovered something interesting while working on his wife’s Congressional race and, later on, 17 other Republican campaigns. By targeting church-going Christians, all 17 Republican politicians won their races.

I interviewed Swan about his discovery on my “Strang Report” podcast. (Listen to it in this article or by clicking here.)

“My observation is that this market [of evangelical Christians], which I’ve known since 1993, is the most powerful, underserved market in the majority market out there,” he says.

Swan knows this because, as a marketer, he has spent years researching different demographics, especially the evangelical market. He says that in the U.S., there are 77 million evangelicals, 68 million Catholics and 50 million others who aren’t evangelical but who identify as Christian.

But in order to engage this giant Christian demographic, difference-makers have to know how to tap into it. Thankfully, that’s also something Swan learned in his experience with political campaigns.

“We’re looking for the ones who actually go to church,” he says. “And they’re all over the place. The numbers are staggering. In the United States, there are 331,117 churches. In my state of Michigan, there are 10,007. We focused on that for the congressional race.”

Swan focused on reaching this market directly through their cellphones. His political team bought Sprint and Verizon first-party data. Privacy requirements prevented Swan from knowing immediately who on the list went to church and who didn’t. But he was able to conclude who were churchgoers because their devices would register in physical church locations.

Although Swan’s wife ended up losing the Congressional race, the results for other Republican races were encouraging.

“We ran 17 campaigns for this—all primaries, all for Republicans, and all of them won,” he says. “So that’s all we know. We did a test on 17, and they all won. It was a much higher than average response because the contextual relevancy because of who we were focusing on. Christians who go to church give more, and they generally do better because of the principles of giving more and living a balanced life.”

But just because this nation has so many Christians doesn’t mean the culture follows biblical principles. During his wife’s political campaign, Swan saw just how corrupted the political world is.

“My experience with politics was really eye-opening,” he says. “We put a lot of our personal money into it and then found out that a guy I’ve since I was 9 betrayed me and stole my hard-earned petitions. … People sell their souls in this business. It’s bizarre. I never saw anything like it. People lie. People steal, and they’re not truthful. We came in, made a big splash through the media, and we were immediately a mark. We were sent someone from an enemy camp to take us out.”

In his political and marketing experience, Swan has also seen just how strong the leftist agenda is in our nation.

“[Democrats] have moved on us because they’ve had a long-term agenda, like China has had and like Russia has had,” he says. “And if you look at 1950 versus now, they’re winning. … It’s the slow, one-degree-at-a-time boiling that frogs go through and the agenda. We’ve been acted on for a long, long time. And we’re just waking up.”

But Swan sees something in the evangelical community that’s strong enough to reverse the tide. He believes this is why Trump’s agenda has withstood media scrutiny and leftist attacks.

“The attitude, the power and the brains are all there,” he says of the Christian demographic. “Plus, most importantly, the majority. If the media for two years and [all its] negative stories can’t take a dent out of Trump, and then when the Mueller report comes out, it shoots up … He knows who’s in charge. It’s the evangelical Christians.”

With marketing help from strategists like Swan, Christians can tap into America’s giant evangelical demographic and actually make a difference. And Swan says it’s all about connecting on the popular level.

“In the old days, … you had one of three ways to get the message out,” Swan says. “Now, you have smart, sophisticated marketers like us who can get around anything to target the right person, the right demographic—and you’re not stunted by media.”

To listen to my full interview with Swan, click here or scroll to the top of this article. And if you enjoy my podcast, I encourage you to rate and review “The Strang Report” show on iTunes!

Pastor Michael Green led a thriving Spirit-filled church in New Orleans before what he calls the “evil woman” came through and changed the lives of Green and his family forever.

That evil woman was Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.

The storm destroyed their 170 square-foot church, as it did many others, and Green and his congregation had to start from scratch. With the help he received from many national ministries, he began to see God’s goodness and mercy in a different light. And now, the pastor of LifeGate Church in Metairie, Louisiana, says he embraces God’s call of “building Christ into every life.”

“With Hurricane Katrina, we and many believers that went through it understand that God would navigate them through that storm,” Green told Dr. Steve Greene on a recent episode of “Greenelines” on the Charisma Podcast Network. “When I started preaching again, I knew these people were suffering.

“I spent six weeks going through the story of Joseph and talking about undeserved tragedy, what the devil intended for evil and how God would turn it around for His good. I began to encourage people and speak blessing to them. And now, I try to speak encouragement in every avenue and everywhere I go.”

For the rest of Michael Green’s testimony, listen to the podcast at the top of this article.

Jenny Weaver is a Spirit-filled worship leader with a prophetic anointing. But she wasn’t always filled with the joy of the Lord. At a young age, she turned to witchcraft for a sense of power and control in her abuse-filled life.

“In the dark place of my life that I was in, I didn’t see [witchcraft] as a bad thing,” she says. “I saw it as a good thing. I thought, Wow, I’m going to make my parents pay for what they’ve done. I’m going to get the kids back at school. So I began to study the religion of Wicca, and I became a practicing witch at a very young age.”

But witchcraft didn’t solve Weaver’s problems. She struggled with depression, cut her wrists almost every day and fell into a dangerous drug addiction.

Weaver also found that indulging in witchcraft opened the door for scary supernatural encounters. She was able to see into the spirit realm—but not the way Christians do.

“Drugs began to take over and I would see things move in my room,” she says. “I would go to open a drawer, and my hand would be almost touching it, and the drawer would open on its own. I would point to something on the wall, and it would fall off the wall. We would be talking about, ‘Hey, do you feel that weird spirit?’ And all of a sudden, light bulbs would break over our heads.”

Fear and addiction became bigger strongholds in Weaver’s life until one day, she found herself pregnant and alone in jail. Listen to the interview to find out how God broke through and healed her heart. (Click here or scroll to the top of the article to listen.)

Since I have been serving God in leadership since 1980, I have observed serious gaps in the church in at least seven major areas. If not corrected, these seven areas will greatly limit the ability of the church to fulfill the great commission which is preparing us for the bodily return of Jesus.

To deal with this issue, the national organization I lead, the United States Coalition of Apostolic Leaders () has an annual Bridge Summit conference that brings significant leaders together from every facet of society to help bridge these gaps.

The following are these gaps and what must be done to correct them:

1. The gap between church place and workplace leaders.

Since only about 2% of the typical members of a church will ever go into full-time church ministry, discipleship should be focused more on bringing the gospel to the work place than preparing people for the church place. Unfortunately, we have trained the typical Christian to bring their friends to church to be saved instead of equipping them to make disciples outside of the four walls of the church.

Christ-followers have to stop depending on a Sunday service in a building, so they can take the whole gospel to the whole world. Furthermore, workplace believers need to view themselves as ministers of the gospel in the same way that church place leaders are viewed as ministers. The primary purpose for the church place should be to equip the saints for the workplace—unless this shifts, the church will have more influence on Sunday than on Monday. and our society will continue to decline.

The issues raised in this point is the primary reason our organization () has a large percentage of workplace leaders serving on our national council with many of them serving as presenters in our annual Bridge Summit (which takes place this coming June 10-12, 2019; go to for more info).

2. The gap between younger and older leaders.

Without getting into all the details of this point, there is a huge gap between Baby Boomers and Millennials and Generation Z. They speak the same language but have different connotations attached to the words they utilize to communicate.

Much dialogue and new partnerships are necessary between these three groups if the baton is going to be successfully passed to the emerging leaders of the church. It would be a shame if the younger generation goes without gleaning from the wisdom and life experience of older leaders and an equal shame if older leaders refuse to learn from younger leaders and adapt to a multi-generational approach to ministry. This is why our coalition () formed the Futures Alliance () and highlight amazing Millennial leaders as presenters in our Bridge Summit (this coming June 10-12, 2019).

3. The gap between different ethnic leaders.

Sunday morning is still perhaps the most segregated two hours of the week due to the fact that there are still huge ethnic gaps separating His body. This gap may have even worsened during the past two administrations of the U.S., as ethic relations started declining even further starting with the election of President Obama down to the present administration of President Trump. One of the goals the leaders of the United States Coalition of Apostolic Leaders have is to bridge the gap between ethnic leaders, which is why our events are ethnically diverse and replete with robust fellowship to engender relationship building.

4. The gap between the Word and the Spirit.

I have often been in gatherings that have either been hypercharismatic with virtually no theological substance or theologically centered events with no room for the Holy Spirit to move.

Jesus told us to worship the Father in Spirit and in truth (John 4:23,24) and told the Pharisees that they were in error because they knew not the Scriptures nor the power of God (Matt. 22:29). If the church is going to be effective in reaching the world, we have to mimic the church of Acts, which had a great handle on the Scriptures (as we can see from examining all the sermons of this book) as well as moving in the demonstration of the power of Jesus to convince unbelievers of the reality of Jesus’s resurrection.

In our annual Bridge Summit () we have rich theological content in our teaching along with giving the Holy Spirit the opportunity to move through prayer and prophetic ministry. This is another reason why this gathering is so unique!

5. The gap between male and female leadership.

The conservative evangelical church has often overlooked the important role women have in extending the influence of the kingdom of God. As we can see in both testaments of the Bible, women have played a significant role in leadership and in influencing not only their families but the nation of Israel and the church. (The biblical examples are too numerous to cite in this brief article.)

Unless the broader body of Christ recognizes the role of women in leadership, we will continue to underutilize the majority of Christ-followers in our churches—thus greatly limiting our capacity to spread the gospel and extend His kingdom influence. In our Bridge Summit, we highlight several extraordinary women as presenters so we can contribute to closing this huge gap in the church.

6. The gap between revival and reformation.

I have observed that often those who are proponents of prayer and fasting for revival don’t associate with Christian activist and reformers who deal with politics, policy and cultural issues, and vice versa. However, looking through both testaments of the Bible illustrates the fact that we need people involved in both prayer and policy. (See the book of Esther, Nehemiah, Ezra, Daniel, as well as the book of Acts when we see high-level leaders like Cornelius, Sergius Paulus, Manaen and others coming to Christ and helping to spread the gospel.)

Our national organization is comprised of leaders focused on prayer and revival along with those focused on reformation and policy. Both these components of the church will be represented as presenters in our Bridge Summit this coming June 10-12, 2019.

7. The gap between serving God with the heart and mind.

The Lord Jesus told His followers to love God with all their heart, mind, and soul (Matt. 22:37-40) which is the first and foremost commandment of the law. In the charismatic and evangelical church of America the past few generations, we often bypass the mind and merely connect with the emotions of Christians. Consequently, there has been a dualism regarding the application of the Bible to human life in that the church has only focused on spiritual things and disregarded the other aspects of the created order regarding politics, economics, education and all the sciences.

When Jesus said that He is the truth (John 14:6), He was saying that in Him is all truth—not just Bible truth or spiritual truth. Truly, in Him all things of the universe hold together (Col. 1:17; Hebrews 1:3)—all things and not just spiritual things. Until Christ-followers embrace the fact that the word of God contains a biblical world and life view applicable to all of life on the earth, our effectiveness in attracting and equipping the next generation of world changers will not be realized. As a consequence, instead of being on the leading edge that helps formulate cultural values, the church will merely respond to culture and try to attract people by being relevant, often resulting in acquiescing and accommodating to culture instead of transforming it with the truth of the gospel.

In closing, at the Bridge Summit, significant leaders from various sectors of society grapple with all of the seven issues articulated by the seven points above. The result is a symphonic experience in which there are more than 50 voices with one conversation throughout the three-day experience. Truly, it is more of an experience than a mere event!

To register for the Bridge Summit (June 10-12, 2019), go to