I’d
rather invest in a few emerging leaders than preach to crowds of thousands.
Here’s why.

Once
when I was traveling in India a pastor made a tempting proposal. “If you come
to our city, we will stage a big evangelistic campaign and invite thousands,”
he said. “You can preach to all of them.” This man assumed I would be
intrigued. After all, I could take photos of the big crowds and use them to
brag later about how many people made decisions for Christ.

I
didn’t accept the offer. Instead I gave the man a second option. “Let me spend
three days with a small group of pastors,” I said. “Let me encourage them, and
then they can go out and preach at the big meetings. They will do a much better
job than I could.”

“Jesus did
not mass-produce legions of followers. He hand-carved a few—and they became the
pillars of the early church.”

I’m
not against mass evangelism. I’m not criticizing people who organize big
meetings. But I’m learning that the best way to impact a large number of people
is to focus on a few.

This
was Jesus’ method of ministry. Most of his conversations in the Gospels were
with His small group of handpicked disciples. Even when He did mass meetings,
He used them to instruct the people He was mentoring. For 3.5 years He invested in His closest followers in a deeply personal way—not as an
instructor but as a friend. Jesus did not mass-produce legions of followers. He
hand-carved a few—and they became the pillars of the early church.

Jesus
calls us to do ministry His way—by making disciples. Yet in today’s
performance-based culture, we think bigger is better. We put all our money and
time into splashy events while ignoring relationships. We want the sensational,
not the simple. We crave big meetings, bigger platforms, noisy sermons,
hyped-up altar calls and instant results. It may look spectacular on opening
night, but the show fades fast.

This
shallowness is killing us. Christianity in so many parts of the world is a mile
wide and an inch deep because we think faith is best transmitted to people by
preachers standing behind pulpits. Preaching is certainly important, but
without personal discipleship leaders aren’t formed and Christians don’t develop
true character. If this vital relational aspect is overlooked, our faith
becomes programmed, superficial and horribly fake.

I’ve
changed my priorities as I have grasped this truth. I’m not as interested in
flashy conferences or huge crowds as I am in making an indelible mark on people
who can then disciple others. And as the Lord has shifted my paradigm, I have
become more intentional about making discipleship a part of my daily life. I’ve
done this by following what I call the Five “I’s” of Discipleship:

1. Identify. Jesus prayed carefully before selecting those who would
travel with Him. Paul selected people like Timothy, Silas, Aquilla and
Priscilla to be his ministry companions. Who are you called to disciple? God
connects people in discipleship relationships.

2. Invest.
Don’t look at discipleship as a program. It must flow out of love and genuine
friendship. It is a precious investment of your time into a younger Christian.
Paul told the Thessalonians: “We were well-pleased to impart to you not only
the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to
us” (1 Thess. 2:8, NASB).

3. Include. One of the ways I disciple young men is by taking them with me on
ministry trips. I would have fewer hassles if I traveled alone, but my privacy
is not that precious. In the last couple of years I’ve invited emerging leaders
such as Jason, Steven, Vitaly, Khuram, Donnie, Felipe, Lyndle and Ryan to
accompany me to various events. Investing in a disciple, to me, has become more
exciting than preaching to a multitude!

4. Instruct. Jesus didn’t lecture his disciples; He artfully wove His
teaching into the events of daily life—a storm, the death of a friend or an
encounter with a needy beggar. His teaching flowed out of His relationship with
His companions. Discipleship does not have to happen in a classroom setting. It
can happen at a doughnut shop, during a bike ride or in a car. Expect “teaching
moments” to flow naturally when you are spending time with those you are
mentoring.

5. Intercede. Paul told Timothy that he constantly remembered him in his
prayers “night and day” (2 Tim. 1:3). The most effective discipleship occurs
when the discipler invests time in prayer for those he or she is mentoring.
After some of my young disciples gave me an iPad last year, I decided to return
the favor by using it to help me pray for them. I now have a “visual prayer
list” with photos of the people I intercede for regularly.

Floyd
McClung, a former leader of Youth With a Mission who now lives in South Africa,
says he wishes he had spent more of his time making disciples when he was
younger. He recently wrote: “I’ve been blessed to do many things: books, conferences,
television, etc. But that’s nothing compared to pouring into others and seeing
them go for it.”

Leaders all around the world are coming to this same
conclusion. They recognize that today’s fatherless generation is looking for
more than the hottest music, the coolest stage lighting or the hippest
techno-pastor. They just want authentic role models who will spend time with
them.

J. Lee
Grady is the former editor of Charisma
and the director of The Mordecai Project. He is
ministering in San Juan, Puerto Rico, this week. You can follow him on Twitter
at leegrady.

Pentecost’s
power is more than wind, fire and supernatural hoopla. Without love it is just
noise.

What’s
the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word “Pentecostal”?

A. · · A woman with a beehive hairdo, support hose, Granny
shoes and no makeup?
B. · · Someone rolling on the floor while speaking in tongues
uncontrollably?
C. · · A slick-haired televangelist in a white suit who begs
for donations?
D. · · A sour-faced Christian who looks like he just sucked
all the juice out of a lemon?
E.···· A sincere Christian who passionately loves God and
people and believes in the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit?

I
wish we all could answer E., but we Pentecostals have an image problem. I’m not
ashamed of the word itself, but I don’t use it as a label because the bad
stereotypes (A., B., C. and D.) have just about ruined it for the rest of us.
Many people associate Pentecostals with dry legalism, fanaticism, charlatanism
and downright hatefulness.

“Unselfish
love, generosity, brotherly affection and sincere kindness is just as much a
manifestation of the Spirit as healing or miracles. In fact, powerful signs and
wonders are more likely to happen in an atmosphere that is bathed in Holy Ghost
love.”

One
friend of mine says it this way: “Some of the meanest people I know speak in
tongues.”

That’s
tragic, because the majority of Pentecostals in the world today are not mean,
legalistic or stuck in a time warp. Most are from the developing world, a
majority are young and many will be leading the global church in the next
decade. Part of their job will be to redefine the word Pentecostal for a new
generation.

So
how do we move beyond the stereotypes and reclaim the heart of Pentecost? It
would help to remember that the leaders of the New Testament church never
separated spiritual gifts from spiritual fruit, and they never placed the
manifestations of the Spirit above the priority of Christian love. They
believed:

… Character is just as important as
anointing. In our performance-driven
culture, we are pressured to get results. We don’t believe the Holy Spirit
shows up in a meeting unless someone falls on the floor or claims a healing. We
want action—and if we don’t get any, we will make stuff up! Paul the apostle,
on the other hand, preached that the Holy Spirit not only manifests Himself
through the nine “power gifts” (listed in 1 Cor. 12:8-10) but also through His
fruit (in Gal. 5:22-23). It’s not just about what the Spirit does; it is about who He is. We invite problems when we showcase
the spectacular and ignore the essential.

… Truth is more vital than tongues. The gift of speaking in tongues has been a priceless
blessing in my own life. But the apostle Paul, who prayed in tongues more than
anyone in Corinth, said he’d rather hear a five-word sermon in a language he
could understand than hear someone else babble in tongues for hours (see 1 Cor.
14:18-19). Paul knew that spiritual gifts can be abused and misused. And he
admitted that someone who speaks in tongues but doesn’t show the love of God is
like a “noisy gong” (13:1). That is a nice way to say “ANNOYING!”

While
we should still pray for people to speak in tongues, perhaps we should spend
twice as much time discipling them in how to represent Christ in their daily
conversation. (Note: That would include teaching Christians to stop mocking
other religions, telling racist jokes or using hate speech directed at the gay
community.)

… Love is more crucial than charismatic
manifestations. Many of us will
preach from Acts 2 this Pentecost Sunday, and we will emphasize the wind and
fire that came from heaven on that powerful day. But let’s remember that the
Spirit manifested himself in another way in the same chapter. The first Christians
were united by a bond of love. The Spirit brought about a holy
connection—something called koinonia
(“fellowship”) in Acts 2:42—and this holy love held them together.

When
the early disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit a second time (during a prayer
meeting that ended with an earthquake!), this love was immediately manifested
again. Immediately after the Spirit’s infilling, the Bible says: “And the
congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of
them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were
common property to them” (Acts 4:32, NASB).

Unselfish
love, generosity, brotherly affection and sincere kindness is just as much a
manifestation of the Spirit as healing or miracles. In fact, powerful signs and
wonders are more likely to happen in an atmosphere that is bathed in Holy Ghost
love.

William Seymour, the father of modern Pentecostalism and
founder of the Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles, said it this way:
“Pentecostal power, when you sum it all up, is just more of God’s love. If it
does not bring more love, it is simply a counterfeit.”

Could
this be the reason we don’t see as many supernatural manifestations today? When
we are smug, hypocritical, bitter, harsh, judgmental and hateful, we totally
short-circuit God’s power. This Pentecost, I pray we will embrace not just the
sound and the fury of God’s power but also the genuine love that flows from His
heart.

J. Lee Grady is the former editor
of Charisma and the director of The Mordecai Project. He is the author of several
books including The Holy Spirit Is Not for Sale. You can follow him on Twitter at leegrady.

We shouldn’t let misguided people ruin the meeting for everyone else.

I love it when the Holy Spirit moves in a church service. But I also know there’s a fine line between charismatic and charismaniac. Too often, those of us who love spiritual gifts get carried away—and things can get weird. The supernatural turns peculiar, and what is prophetic becomes pathetic.

This is not a new problem. Two chapters of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians are devoted to this dilemma. Even in the first century, people misused charismatic gifts to get attention. The abuse of speaking in tongues created pandemonium, and the lack of order invited an apostolic rebuke.

I’ve never been a fan of the “seeker-friendly” philosophy. I don’t want to limit God or tell Him what He can’t do in church. But there’s nothing wrong with creating healthy barriers so certain “characters” in your congregation don’t ruin the meeting. In my years of ministry I’ve identified these All-Time Worst Meeting Spoilers.

1. Bertha the Banner Queen. Colorful pageantry can enhance a worship experience if it’s done tastefully. It can also be horribly distracting if the banners look like cheap props from a high school version of Camelot. They also can trigger lawsuits, especially if someone from the arts ministry whacks a visitor in the head with a wooden pole or jabs them in the eye. If you are using flags or banners, insist that carriers stay far enough away from people to avoid accidents.

2. Norm the Ninja Warrior. This is the guy who insists on waving a sword (and not a plastic one!) near the stage during worship. Someone needs to remind this man that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood” (see Eph. 6:12). When my kids were small I took them to a charismatic church where people waved swords and shields during worship. One of my daughters was horrified and begged me never to take her again to what she called “the sword church.”

3. Darla the Dancing Diva. Dancing is a legitimate form of worship, and it’s entirely biblical (see 2 Sam. 6:14) when done in holiness. But we are inviting disaster if we allow someone with unresolved sexual issues to get on the stage and writhe like a stripper while the congregation cringes. Church is no place for the daughter of Herodias to perform in gym shorts.

4. Herschel the Shofar Blower. I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard someone ruin a worship service by snorting into a ram’s horn. This ancient biblical instrument can rouse God’s people to action if blown correctly. But if it is blown by an amateur, it sounds more like a tortured animal. If you open your worship with a pitiful “MMMMWWWWAAAUUNNNCCCKKK!” sound, your visitors will remember the pain you caused their ears—and they will never return.

5. Manny the Manifester. If you want visitors to head for the door before the sermon begins, make sure this guy gets overly excited during worship. He might fall on the floor, vibrate or act like he is having convulsions. (And he will tell you he can’t control himself when the “anointing” hits.) Meanwhile, visitors seated behind him will assume he needs medical attention. When they realize this is acceptable behavior for your congregation, they will run out!

6. Agnes the King James Prophetess. Nothing dampens the mood of a church more than a raspy-voiced church member who feels it is his or her duty to scold everyone with a pointed finger. After the angry rebuke, they always tack on the obligatory “THUS SAITH GAWD!” 

Don’t let angry people practice their prophetic gift on an audience. And remember: Mature prophets will speak in a normal voice rather than channeling the Elizabethan version of James Earl Jones.

The apostle Paul was “seeker-friendly” in the best way. He urged the Corinthians to leave room for spiritual gifts, but he also warned them to avoid charismatic excesses. If you are sensitive to seekers, they will be more likely to listen to your message and come back next week to hear the gospel again. Please don’t scare them away.

J. Lee Grady was editor of Charisma for 11 years. He now serves as contributing editor while devoting more time to ministry. You can find him on the Web at themordecaiproject.org. His newest book is 10 Lies Men Believe (Charisma House).

In the
days leading up to the Global Day of Prayer, let’s bombard heaven on behalf of
the United States.

Twelve years ago a South
African businessman, Graham Power, felt God nudge him to organize a prayer
gathering in the city of Cape Town. About 45,000 Christians responded to the
call by jamming into a rugby stadium in March 2001 to intercede for their
nation.

That was the beginning of the
Global Day of Prayer, an event that will likely involve millions of Christians
in 220 nations on Pentecost Sunday, May 27. This year organizers are encouraging
people to extend their prayers for 10 days prior to the event, beginning on May
17. They are also urging pastors to fuel the prayer with sermons about the
necessity of the Holy Spirit’s power.

“One breath of the Holy Spirit can bring life to dry
bones! Lord, send the refreshing wind of Your presence into lifeless
congregations.”

It’s obvious the Holy
Spirit is orchestrating this grass roots movement, and I hope you will join it,
either by attending local gatherings during the next 10 days or by focusing
your personal prayers on the need for a fresh Pentecost. I believe we are on
the verge of a new season of spiritual awakening, and the concentration of
prayer this month is a key to unlock it.

During these next 10 days
I will be meditating on the first chapters of the book of Acts and praying for
an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the United States. If you’d like to join
me, you can use the following prayer points as a guide:

1. Lord, send the wind of sincere repentance. The original outpouring at
Pentecost triggered a wave of repentance that resulted in 3,000 conversions. This level of raw conviction is never the result of eloquent
sermons, staged events or man’s programs.
Only the Holy Spirit can do this. The greatest miracle on earth occurs when a
sinner’s heart breaks before God and he or she is born again. Lord, unleash a
flood of conversions in America! And as sinners repent, let backslidden
Christians, disillusioned believers and weary saints return to You.

2. Lord, send
the wind of spiritual renewal. Many churches in the United States are feeble and
powerless, and some are dying. Many denominations are paralyzed by the spirit of
religion. Many pastors are battle-scarred and discouraged. But one breath of the
Holy Spirit can bring life to dry bones! Lord, send the refreshing wind of Your
presence into lifeless congregations. And with Your wind, send a flame on every
Christian’s head—especially those reluctant Gideons and timid Timothys who know
they are called but need Spirit-inspired confidence.

3. Lord, send
the wind of a youth awakening. When the winds of Pentecost blew the first time,
Peter preached from the prophet Joel, saying, “ ‘In the last days,’ God says,
‘your sons and your daughters will prophesy, and your young men will see
visions’ ” (Acts 2:17, NIV). This promise is still ours to claim. A huge
percentage of America’s youth are fatherless, addicted, abused, sexually confused
or somehow at risk. Lord, raise up and strengthen ministries to reach our
schools and college campuses. Give students the courage to stand for Christ and
speak for Him. Send another Jesus Movement to this generation.

4. Lord, send
the wind of supernatural demonstration. The most pitiful heresy ever hatched was the idea
that God stopped doing miracles after the Bible was written. Forgive us, Lord,
for limiting You! We need the power of Pentecost today more than ever. When the
first Pentecost occurred, normal people were “clothed with power from on high”
(Luke 24:49), and they began to heal the sick, raise the dead and cast out
demons. Forgive us, Lord, for being so smug and sophisticated that we pulled
the plug on Your power. (And forgive us, too, for misusing, merchandising and
exploiting the Holy Spirit’s gifts for personal gain.) Unleash the miraculous
in the American church. Let the same miracles that are occurring in Asia,
Africa and Latin America become common in our nation.

5. Lord, send
the wind of bold evangelism. When the first disciples were touched by the Holy
Spirit at Pentecost, they declared “the mighty deeds of God” (Acts 2:11, NASB)
to every racial and ethnic group that had gathered in Jerusalem. We need this
boldness in the United States because we have become the largest
English-speaking mission field in the world. Many of our communities have no
gospel witness—and many Christians never share their faith with anyone. The
true anointing of the Holy Spirit always results in evangelism. Lord, turn up
our volume! Raise up laborers to touch every sector of American society, including
our forgotten and ignored Native American reservations. Send immigrants to this
nation who can reach their own ethnic groups. Let the gospel be preached in
every language spoken within our borders.

6. Lord, send
the wind of divine intervention. Our nation is in desperate crisis. Families are
disintegrating, morality has eroded, perversion is celebrated, and our culture
is becoming hostile to biblical faith. Unless the Lord answers with His holy
fire from heaven, we are sunk. Lord, deliver us from evil! Extend Your mercy and
send a Third Great Awakening. Amen.

J. LEE GRADY is the former
editor of Charisma and the director
of The Mordecai Project. You can follow him on
Twitter at leegrady. You can find more details about the Global Day of Prayer
at globaldayofprayer.com.

Reclaiming the process of
discipleship will require a total overhaul of how we do church.

I get funny looks from some charismatic Christians
when I tell them I believe God is calling us back to radical discipleship.
Those in the over-50 crowd—people who lived through the charismatic movement of
the 1970s—are likely to have a bad taste in their mouths when it comes to the
dreaded “D word.”

That’s because the so-called Discipleship Movement (also
known as the Shepherding Movement) turned a vital biblical principle into a
weapon and abused people with it. Churches that embraced the warped doctrines
of shepherding required believers to get permission from their pastors before they
bought cars, got pregnant or moved to a new city. Immature leaders became
dictators, church members became their loyal minions, and the Holy Spirit’s
fire was snuffed out because of a pervasive spirit of control.

“Reclaiming this process of discipleship is going to require a total overhaul of how we do church. Do we really want to produce mature disciples who have the character of Jesus and are able to do His works? Or are we content with shallow believers and shallow faith?”

I don’t ever want to live through that again. I know
countless people who are still licking their wounds from the spiritual abuse
they suffered while attending hyper-controlling churches in the 1970s and ‘80s.
Some of them still cannot trust a pastor today; others walked away from God
because leaders misused their authority—all in the name of “discipleship.”

Yet I’m still convinced that relational
discipleship—a strategy Jesus and the apostle Paul modeled for us—is as vital
as ever. If anything the pendulum has now swung dangerously in the opposite
direction. In today’s free-wheeling, come-as-you-are, pick-what-you-want,
whatever-floats-your-boat Christianity, we make no demands and enforce no
standards. We’re just happy to get warm rumps in seats. As long as people file
in and out of the pews and we do the Sunday drill, we think we’ve accomplished
something.

But Jesus did not command us to go therefore and
attract crowds. He called us to make
disciples (see Matt. 28:19), and that cannot be done exclusively in
once-a-week meetings, no matter how many times the preacher can get the people
to shout or wave handkerchiefs. If we don’t take immature Christians through a
discipleship process (which is best done in small groups or one-on-one gatherings),
people will end up in a perpetual state of immaturity.

David
Kinnaman, author of the excellent book unChristian,
articulated the problem this way: “Most people in America, when they are exposed to the Christian
faith, are not being transformed. They take one step into the door, and the
journey ends. They are not being allowed, encouraged, or equipped to love or to
think like Christ. Yet in many ways a focus on spiritual formation fits what a
new generation is really seeking. Transformation is a process, a journey, not a
one-time decision.”

Reclaiming this process of discipleship is going to
require a total overhaul of how we do church. Do we really want to produce
mature disciples who have the character of Jesus and are able to do His works?
Or are we content with shallow believers and shallow faith?

A friend of mine had to face this question while he was
pastoring in Florida. As a young father, he had a habit of putting his infant
son in a car seat and driving him around his neighborhood at night in order to
lull him to sleep. Once during this ritual the Holy Spirit spoke to this pastor
rather bluntly. He said: “This is what you are doing in your church. You are
just driving babies around.”

My friend came under conviction. He realized he had
fallen into the trap of entertaining his congregation with events and programs,
even though the people were not growing spiritually. He was actually content to
keep them in infancy. As long as they filled their seats each Sunday, and paid
their tithes, he was happy. Yet no one was growing, and they certainly were not
producing fruit by reaching others for Christ.

How can we make this paradigm shift in to
discipleship? How can we add “the D word” back into our vocabulary?

• Churches
  must stop exclusively focusing on big events and get people involved in small
  groups, where personal ministry can take place.

• We
  must stop treating people like numbers and get back to valuing relationships.

• Leaders
  must reject the celebrity preacher model and start investing their lives in
  individuals.

When
we stand before Christ and He evaluates our ministries, He will not be asking
us how many people sat in our pews, watched our TV programs, gave in our
telethons or filled out response cards. He is not going to evaluate us based on
how many people fell under the power of God or how many healings we counted in
each service. He will ask how many
faithful disciples we made. I pray we will make this our priority.

J. Lee Grady is the former
editor of Charisma and the director
of The Mordecai Project. You can follow him on
Twitter at leegrady. His latest book
is 10 Lies Men Believe (Charisma House).

The Lord wants to unleash a gushing
river of new wine into the church today, but we must leave some
things behind.

A
woman from Orlando, Fla., was in the news last month because she
decided to retire from driving her 1964 Mercury Comet. Rachel Veitch,
who is 93, bought the car new for $3,300 when gasoline cost 29 cents
a gallon. Today the light yellow car, which Veitch calls “Chariot,”
has 567,000 miles on it.

That’s
great news for Veitch—who will probably get $44,000 for the antique
car because she took such good care of it. But whoever buys it will
either store it in a fancy garage or display it at an auto show.
There are not too many miles left on this relic of the past.

 “We cannot rely on church
growth gurus, popular books or rock-star preachers to lead us into
genuine innovation. Copying spiritual trends is just a form of
carnality.”

Cars
have a life expectancy. Most 1964 Mercury Comets have long been
doomed to the junkyard. Engines die, carburetors rust and models go
out of style, so we trade them in for newer vehicles. In our
fast-paced world, Apple debuts a new iPhone every few years and the
most popular apps have almost monthly updates. We’ve come to expect
frequent upgrades.

Yet
for those of us involved in ministry, we tend to think the church
needs no remodeling or renovation. We expect congregations to hum
along perpetually for years and years, thinking the world will want
to pile into our 1964 yellow Mercury Comet and enjoy the retro ride.
But that is a faulty assumption.

While
the message of the gospel itself is both timeless and flawless, the
packaging we wrap it in must adapt with the times or we will quickly
lose relevance. Pipe organs, steeples and choir robes were never
wrong, but they won’t help us reach today’s generation. Nor do
stale religious systems, tired terminology or worn-out denominational
programs that should have been mothballed long ago. (The same can be
said for telethons on Christian TV that have the look and feel of a
1978 game show.)

Jesus
told John the Baptist’s disciples that people don’t put new wine
in old wineskins because the skins will burst and the wine will be
wasted. “Put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are
preserved,” Jesus said (Matt. 9:17, NASB). But many churches and
ministries today insist on pouring their new wine in the old models,
again and again. We resist innovation and we fight progress.

I’m
willing to guess that 90 percent of what we are doing in church today
needs a total makeover. We are facing the most daunting renovation
project in the history of the church. But the task is not impossible.
It will require us to take these painful steps:

1.
We must break free from the fear of change. God
is always on the move. He might lead us to camp in one spot for a
while, but we can never get too comfortable in one place. His trumpet
will eventually blow and the cloud of His presence will shift. Don’t
park when God is calling you forward. Stay open to His fresh
directives, and expect Him to stretch your faith. He is adventurous!

2.
We must be willing to defy tradition. People
who are married to the past cannot embrace the future. Sacred cows do
not belong in the pulpit; they must be sacrificed on the altar. “The
way we’ve always done it” will not work in God’s new season.
The crowd chooses the comfortable pews of nostalgia, but God is with
the courageous few who are willing to blaze a new path into unreached
territory.

3.
We must ask the Spirit to reveal His new strategies. We
cannot rely on church growth gurus, popular books or rock-star
preachers to lead us into genuine change. Copying spiritual trends is
just a form of carnality—and it is a sad substitute for real
innovation. If the work of transforming the church is not totally led
by the Holy Ghost, then our changes will be shallow and our impact
will be pitiful. The last thing we need is a superficial upgrade.

I
believe the Lord wants to unleash a gushing river of new wine into
the church today, but He is directing us to prepare our wineskins.
What is old must be renewed by the Spirit, what is outdated must be
remodeled, and what is ineffective must be replaced. God wants to do
a new thing. Don’t resist it.

J. LEE GRADY is the former editor
of Charisma and the director of The
Mordecai Project. You can follow him on Twitter
at leegrady. He is the author of several books including 10 Lies the Church
Tells Women, 10 Lies Men Believe and The Holy Spirit Is Not for Sale.

If you or someone you love is struggling with a porn addiction, take these steps to freedom.

At a men’s conference I sponsored last weekend in Philadelphia, some of my friends took the stage and got gut-level honest about their temptations. I was so proud of their courage. Shay, a young father from Ohio, admitted that he was exposed to hard-core pornography when he was only five years old. He began modeling what he saw in X-rated videos when he was just six.

Another guy from Pennsylvania told the men in the audience that he began watching porn when he was a preteen—and this led him to sex with dozens of girls in high school. Until recently this man still battled the shame of his porn habit even though he was a lay leader in his church.

“It’s not enough to whisper a quiet prayer under your breath. To break free from a life-controlling habit as powerful as porn, you must talk to someone else. And you should do it sooner, not later.”

Jason, a youth pastor in northwestern Pennsylvania, preached to the men on Friday night about how to reclaim purity in our sex-saturated culture. Like so many of the guys in our conference, Jason had been exposed to porn at a young age. His lust could not be satisfied by masturbation or kinkier videos, so his addiction drove him to seek out multiple girls for instant gratification. That’s where porn leads.

Thankfully all these guys eventually found Christ and discovered the grace to escape the porn trap. They are happily married today, and they’ve been freed from the shame of past failures. But I meet many Christian men who are not so fortunate. A huge percentage of men in church have given up trying to resist temptation.

If you are one of those men (or women) who wears a fake smile when you go to church, pretending to be an “overcomer” when you really are a prisoner of lust, then please consider taking these radical steps. (And if you know someone who is battling this monster, please consider forwarding this message to him or her.)

1. Spill your guts. The first step toward repentance is honesty, and it must be brutal. To repent means to turn 180 degrees, so this decision cannot be half-hearted. It’s not enough to whisper a quiet prayer under your breath. To break free from a life-controlling habit as powerful as porn, you must talk to someone else. And you should do it sooner, not later.

James 5:16 says, “Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed” (NASB). I have prayed with many guys about their porn addictions, and they have testified that the power of their sin broke the moment they admitted it. Sit down with someone (preferably a more mature Christian you know and trust) and put all your cards on the table. If you humble yourself, God will give you grace to change.

2. Get ruthless. Sin is deceitful. It loves to make up excuses such as, “No one knows about your habit, so it’s not hurting anyone,” “I deserve this little treat” or “I can play with fire and not get burned.” Don’t believe the lies. Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of soup, and many men today forfeit their relationship with God by compromising with porn.

You can’t break free from sexual sin by slowly backing away from it or taming it like a pet. The Bible tells us to “flee” from immorality (2 Tim. 2:22). You must lay the axe to the root of your problem. Cut off all access to porn. Say goodbye and slam the door in its face. And if you can’t stop looking at it on your phone or computer, get rid of your phone and computer.

3. Keep no secrets. Guys addicted to porn struggle with constant shame. They can’t enjoy prayer or worship because they feel condemned. They can’t share their faith with others because they feel like hypocrites. And many Christian men are so full of guilt they turn to alcohol or drugs to numb their pain.

It’s not enough to confess your sin to a brother once. You must stay in relationship with people who love you enough to confront you. Find one or two accountability partners and make a covenant with them to live transparently. And don’t wait until you fall to call for counsel. Contact them whenever you feel tempted. Send up a flare and ask for help before it’s too late.

4. Refocus your life on others. Lust is ultimately about self-gratification. When a young man gets hooked on porn, he can’t grow up emotionally. This is why some adult men in their 50s and 60s act like 13-year-olds when it comes to sex. They are stuck in perpetual puberty.

You will never break free from the bondage of sexual sin simply by gritting your teeth and trying to forget the images you saw in magazines or videos. You must totally redirect your energies toward serving others: your spouse, your children, your church and the needy people around you. Throw yourself into selfless ministry and starve your illegal urges.

5. Stay filled with the Spirit. None of these previous steps are possible without the Holy Spirit, who is our promised Helper (see John 14:16). Self-help is not the answer. Ask the Spirit to fill your life with His refining fire. He will go to the root of your unholy desires, burn up your lust and give you supernatural ability to resist temptation.

J. LEE GRADY is contributing editor of Charisma. You can follow him on Twitter at·leegrady. His most recent book is·10 Lies Men Believe·(Charisma House), is a helpful resource for men’s small group Bible studies.

Shouldn’t “My house is your house” be the guiding principle in how we treat foreigners?

Earlier this year when I was preaching in  California, a woman came to the church altar and asked me for prayer. She spoke with a thick Spanish accent. Her tears had already streaked her mascara, and she was trembling. In between her sobs she told me that her husband, who is not a U.S. citizen, had been deported to Mexico—leaving her and their four children behind.

This woman is a U.S. citizen, but her husband had been standing in line for 10 years to get his papers. As is often the case with Mexicans, bureaucracy offered him no compassion. Now a family is split up. The land of the free and the home of the brave slammed its doors on a Christian brother.

This breaks my heart. I hope it breaks yours.

I have many immigrant friends who came to the United States seeking a better life. Some, like the Russian-speaking Pentecostals I know in Philadelphia, were granted religious asylum in the 1990s because they were persecuted for their faith in their native country of Belarus. I have many Indian-born friends who were granted easy access to America’s privileges.

But some of my friends from Central and South America have found it much harder to obtain legal status. They stand in long lines, fill out endless forms and pay hefty fees—only to be told to come back in six months and stand in another line. They face constant rejection. Some get discouraged and give up, assuming they aren’t good enough to experience the American dream.

My friends from Brazil, Ecuador and Guatemala are born-again Christians who came to the United States seeking more education and a higher standard of living. Their English is much better than my Spanish. They are law-abiding people who have a vibrant faith in Jesus. Some believe God told them to come to the United States, in the same way He instructed Abraham to leave the land of his birth. Fortunately, Abraham and Sarah didn’t have to produce passports or obtain driver’s licenses when they settled in Canaan.

Please hear me. I am not suggesting we should carelessly fling open our borders to terrorists and criminals, or that we shouldn’t care about national security. But it disturbs me when honest, good-hearted immigrants hear mean-spirited comments (especially from Christians) such as, “English only!” or “Send them all home!” And it appalls me when people from certain countries (especially those who don’t have advanced degrees or big bank accounts) suffer blatant discrimination.

Compassion for immigrants, regardless of their skin color or accent, is at the heart of God’s moral law. Leviticus 19:34 says: “The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself” (NASB). Besides Abraham, the father of our faith, many of the Bible’s heroes were immigrants who left their homes to serve God in foreign lands:

• Ruth, a Moabite, found God’s compassion in Boaz’s fields in Israel
• Mordecai and Esther were Jews who found God’s favor in Persia
• Cornelius was an Italian who found the gospel while living in Israel.

The Bible is full of stories of the immigrant experience, and God’s Word beckons us to open our hearts and homes to foreigners. We cannot be truly “pro-life” if we don’t love immigrants. 

It is the height of hypocrisy to defend unborn babies and then mistreat foreigners; it’s also shamefully two-faced for us to defend traditional marriage on one hand and then split up families on the other.

What we desperately need, besides a spiritual awakening, is a return to compassionate immigration policy that not only protects our citizens from terrorism but also offers equal opportunity to peace-loving people who are seeking a better life.

I have learned so much about family and togetherness from my immigrant friends. Hispanics love to say Mi casa es tu casa (“My house is your house”) because community is valued in their culture. My dream is that, some day, all Americans will learn to say that phrase—and mean it.

J. Lee Grady was editor of Charisma for 11 years. He now serves as contributing editor while devoting more time to ministry. You can find him on the Web at themordecaiproject.org. His newest books are 10 Lies Men Believe and The Holy Spirit Is Not for Sale.

Trayvon Martin was not a
criminal because he was black and wearing a hoodie. And I’m not a racist
because I’m white.

We will have to wait months to find out how jurors
in Florida will rule in the Trayvon Martin case. Did his accused assailant,
George Zimmerman, act in self-defense when he shot the unarmed boy? Or did
Zimmerman kill Martin because he just assumed any young black man walking
through a gated neighborhood wearing a hoodie is a dangerous criminal?

Trayvon’s case should cause all of us to check our
hearts. We’ve all been guilty of making unfair judgments. Many of us stereotype
people unconsciously.

“Paul required church
leaders to be free from prejudice. If we required the same today, we would
raise a new standard. Leaders would confront racism from the pulpit instead of
tolerating or ignoring it.”

Some Americans think all Mexicans are illegal and
dangerous. Others think all blonde women are silly. Other people think all Arabs
are terrorists, all skinny girls are anorexic, all Nigerians are con-artists,
all Indians run convenience stores, all rural Americans are rednecks, all Jews
are pushy, all black women are angry, all men with dreadlocks are potheads and
all Italian-American teens act like the cast of Jersey Shore.

Yet none of these assumptions have any basis on fact.
Prejudice is cruel, abusive and wrong-headed. And it can be fatal.

Stand-up comedians make us laugh at ourselves for
making crazy generalizations. But the jokes are not funny when you’re on the
receiving end of prejudice. I’ve been judged unfairly before, in these ways:

• Because
  I am male, I am an insensitive jerk

• Because
  I have a Southern accent, I am ignorant

• Because
  I am a Christian, I am stupid and intolerant

• Because
  I am over 40, I have nothing relevant or valuable to share with the younger
  generation

• Because
  I am white, I am a racist.

I don’t appreciate being unfairly pegged in these
categories. I don’t want people judging my character because of my skin color,
my age, my gender—and certainly not because I refer to a group of my friends as
“y’all.” All of us would prefer that people get to know us before they form
opinions.

But prejudice is a monster that lives in human
hearts. It is part of our sinful nature. When the prophet Samuel was looking
for a replacement for Saul as king, God said of Jesse’s son Eliab: “Do not look
at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him;
for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance,
but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7, NASB, emphasis added).

Man looks on the outside. That’s how we are bent.
But when we come to know Christ, and when He fills us with His love, we should
surrender our tendency to stereotype.

Jesus was comfortable with all kinds of people who
had been profiled in His culture: prostitutes, tax collectors, thieves, Romans,
lepers, bleeding women, widows, centurions and blind beggars.

Yet we who call ourselves Christians sometimes still
pay attention to stupid things like hoodies, tattoos, piercings, accents, body
types, facial hair and veils instead of loving all people who are made in His
image.

It is way past time for all of
us to rid ourselves of prejudice. As long as we hold on to our stereotypes, we
will repel people instead of attract them to Jesus and His message.

When the apostle Paul listed the qualifications for
church leadership, he mentioned that bishops must be “hospitable” (1 Tim. 3:2).
The Greek word here is philoxenos, and it means a whole lot more than
just being willing to host a dinner. The word literally means “love of
strangers.” (Xenophobia, on the other hand, means “fear of strangers.”)

Paul required church leaders to be free from
prejudice. If we required the same today, we would raise a new standard.
Leaders would confront racism from the pulpit instead of tolerating or ignoring
it, and the church would become a much more welcoming place for people of all
backgrounds to find the love of the Savior.

I’ve never liked the phrase “God is colorblind”
because I know God created skin color, and He certainly has the ability to
distinguish between varying shades of melanin. But God knows skin color has
nothing to do with what is inside a person. His perception of our internal
character is more accurate than any X-ray machine at an airport. He can read
our motives, know our thoughts and see our hidden flaws. He doesn’t profile.
Neither should we.

J. LEE GRADY is the former editor
of Charisma and the director of The
Mordecai Project. You can follow him on Twitter
at leegrady. He is the author of several books including 10 Lies the Church
Tells Women, 10 Lies Men Believe and The Holy Spirit Is Not for Sale.

Technology has connected us
superficially. But the Holy Spirit can knit us together supernaturally.

Two weeks ago I attended a men’s
retreat in Georgia with some of my closest friends. Chris, Eddie, Rick,
Michael, Ray, Robert, Medad, Quentin and James were in the audience with 120 other
guys. We spent 2 1/2 days together—worshipping, attending teaching
sessions, praying in small groups and eating our meals together. Nobody wanted
to go home. It felt like heaven because we enjoyed being together so much.

“In this sophisticated age of social networking, when
everyone is supposedly ‘connected,’ we are as self-absorbed and isolated as
ever. Digital technology has trivialized relationships to the point that we
‘friend’ or ‘unfriend’ a person with a click. You can have 5,000 ‘friends’ and
yet be the loneliest person in cyberspace.”

When it was time to leave I asked
all the guys to come near the stage. We linked arms and sang a simple chorus I
haven’t heard in years. You may remember the words:

Bind us
together, Lord, bind us together / With cords
that cannot be broken / Bind us
together, Lord, bind us together / Bind us
together with love / There is
only one God, there is only one King / There is
only one body, that is why we can sing …

That song was popular during a
simpler time, at the tail end of the Jesus movement in the 1970s when church
wasn’t as trendy and professional as it is today. Back then we didn’t have
savvy marketing strategies, media-enhanced sermons and hipster preachers. But
what we lacked in coolness we made up for with deep relationships.

Call me old-fashioned, but I think
we need a return to that simpler style. Not only is the world crying out for
genuine love, but Christians are too. In this sophisticated age of social
networking, when everyone is supposedly “connected,” we are as self-absorbed
and isolated as ever. Digital technology has trivialized relationships to the
point that we “friend” or “unfriend” a person with a click. You can have 5,000
“friends” and yet be the loneliest person in cyberspace.

I meet many believers, especially
men, who are starved for real relationships but find it too painful to make
them. This is partly because we tend to emphasize the importance of a vertical
relationship with God but spend very little time teaching people how to make
their faith horizontal. And in charismatic churches, we often are too busy
chasing an electrifying personal experience with God to place any value on
community.

Those of us who pride ourselves on
being experts on the Holy Spirit have neglected one of His most important
roles. He is not just the One who heals us, anoints us and empowers us to work
miracles. The Spirit is also the One who unites Christians with a holy bond and
draws us into close fellowship with each other. He forms us into a tightly knit
family.

The Greek word koinonia, translated “fellowship,” first appears in Acts 2:42,
immediately after the Holy Spirit’s outpouring on the first disciples. This is
because genuine fellowship—the knitting of our hearts to each other—is a
supernatural work of the Spirit, a manifestation of His power that is no less
important than dreams, visions, speaking in tongues or prophecy. (Koinonia is
also attributed to the Holy Spirit in 2 Corinthians 13:14 and Philippians 2:1.)

Even a cursory reading of the New
Testament proves that koinonia, this
powerful bond of the Spirit, was what held the early church together and fueled
its growth. The first Christians had no marketing plans, no church growth
gurus, no Twitter or Facebook, no concert tours. But they had a gushing love
for each other, a holy affection that glued their hearts together to form a
cross-cultural, multi-racial family.

When the Holy Spirit came on the
early church, He changed everything about the way they related to each other.
“And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common …
and they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart,
praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to
their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:44, 46b-47, NASB).

It is the Spirit who enables true
community. He gives us the grace to humble ourselves, take off our armor of
pride and open our hearts to each other. He enables us to forgive and mend our
rifts with each other. He connects us, and then nourishes every connection with
His love.

If you find it hard to make close
friends, or to enjoy a deep level of fellowship with other believers, then ask
the Holy Spirit to help you. He will heal the hurts of your past. He will free
you from the fear of betrayal and rejection. And He will connect you with real
friends. Just as He knit the hearts of David and Jonathan, and just as He knit
the heart of the apostle Paul to the saints in Ephesus, Thessalonica and
Philippi, He will give you close relationships. This is part of your
inheritance as a child of God.

I see a spiritual awakening on the
horizon, but it is not what many of us imagined. Yes there are miracles and clouds of glory awaiting. But what will stand out the
most—and make the biggest impression on unbelievers—is not our fiery sermons or
our charismatic power but our passionate love for each other.

J. LEE GRADY is
contributing editor of Charisma. You
can follow him on Twitter at
leegrady. His most recent book is 10 Lies Men Believe (Charisma House).