The epidemic of moral failure among men in the church today is directly tied to our lack of healthy relationships.

Despite the proliferation of iPhones, Blackberries, e-mail and social networking Web sites—not to mention Starbucks locations—many Christian men, if they are honest, will tell you they are lonely. They may Twitter several times a day to co-workers; they may have occasional golf buddies; they may even grab coffee with colleagues from time to time. But so many men who attend church regularly are friendless.

This was made real to me last weekend when I spoke to a group of men at a large charismatic church in Rochester, N.Y. I was talking about three different types of relationships we need: (1) “Pauls,” who serve as spiritual fathers; (2) “Barnabases,” peer-level encouragers who support and challenge us; and (3) “Timothys,” younger men we inspire and mentor.

I asked the guys in Rochester to write down the names of the men in their lives who fall into each category. When the session was over, one man went home to his wife and announced that he couldn’t write down one name in any of the categories. He had no meaningful relationships. Other men I spoke to that night admitted that they don’t have mentors and have never been transparent with a male friend about personal problems.

Men are disconnected. And we wonder why the American church is dysfunctional?

Secular psychologists can tell you why men struggle to build close relationships with each other. But we rarely address this issue in the church—and as a result many men who love God live in painful isolation. I’ve identified the three biggest barriers to healthy male bonding:

#1. Macho stereotypes. The macho myth says a real man is a rugged individualist: strongly independent, emotionally detached, covered in body armor without visible weaknesses. The macho myth tells boys they must never cry—even when they are in pain—and that when they become adults they cannot be intimate with their wives or tender with their children. The macho myth says they must maintain dictatorial power and control in relationships, even if abuse is necessary.

Yet when we look at Scripture we see that Jesus Christ radically challenged the macho culture promoted by the religious leaders of His day. The Pharisees looked down on women, stayed aloof from children, and celebrated their own importance while refusing to touch the needy. Jesus, on the flip side, empowered marginalized women, held babies in His arms, touched lepers and told a parable about a father who embraced and kissed his wayward son. Jesus destroyed the macho myth by demonstrating that the strongest masculinity is gentle and approachable.

#2. Fear of homosexuality. In my travels I’ve noticed that men in other countries feel perfectly free to be affectionate. Men in Africa hold hands; in Latin countries they kiss each other on the neck. Sociologists say male affection was once more common in this country—but it waned around the same time awareness of homosexuality increased. Nowadays, many straight men are afraid to offer a consoling embrace to a friend lest it be viewed as a sexual advance.

That’s tragic for many reasons, mostly because all human beings need affection to thrive. There are men today in their 60s and 70s who still crave the affection their emotionally-repressed fathers never gave them. So they live in shells and suffer in silence.

Many guys turn to homosexuality as a substitute for the healthy, non-sexual male affection they should have received. (Then the devil is all too eager to convince them they were “born that way.”) The church could offer genuine healing to guys who struggle with sexual identity issues, but it will require us to offer fatherly or brotherly affection without fear.

#3. The competition trap. Let’s face it: Guys are so insecure and so work-oriented that we rate each other and ourselves solely on performance. Whether on the fourth-grade playground or in the corporate boardroom, we are so obsessed with the game that we can’t let any other guy get ahead. We have to win, so every other male becomes an obstacle to our goal.

Male pride is the single biggest reason we can’t get close to our brothers. It’s the reason a Christian guy with a porn addiction can’t be honest enough to call a friend and share his ugly secret. It’s the reason some pastors can’t admit their marriages are suffering. It’s the reason successful businessmen end up drinking on weekends instead of finding a support group. A big, fat ego stands in the way.

Jesus showed us how to deal with male pride. Right before He went to the cross He gathered His male followers together for the Passover, stripped off His clothes and put on a slave’s towel. Then He proceeded to wash His disciples’ smelly, dusty feet. When He finished the job He told His men they should treat each other the same way.

The current epidemic of moral failure among men in the church today is directly tied to our lack of healthy, honest relationships. The only way to reverse the trend is to reintroduce men to the servant Savior—who was so humble that he took off His macho armor and became vulnerable.

J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma. You can follow him on Twitter at LeeGrady. He is the author of 10 Lies the Church Tells Women, which is available here.

At my second daughter’s college graduation this weekend I saw the future of our movement.

Some people twitch or roll their eyes when you say the word Pentecostal. The term conjures up outdated images of either (1) slick-haired, Bible-thumping preachers who spew saliva on the unfortunate souls seated in the first three pews, or (2) scowling women with their hair in buns who know how to scare you with glossolalia.

Say goodbye to the worn-out stereotypes. Last weekend I saw the future of the Pentecostal movement when my wife and I attended a graduation ceremony at Emmanuel College, the liberal arts school in northeast Georgia that was founded 90 years ago by the International Pentecostal Holiness Church. What we witnessed on Saturday was a refreshing reminder that God has raised up a new generation of young people who are empowered by the Holy Spirit.

There wasn’t a slick-haired preacher on the stage that day, and you would be hard-pressed to find a lady with her hair in a bun anywhere in the auditorium. The most unique hairstyle in the audience was probably the one sported by my future son-in-law, Sven, who graduated on Saturday with my second daughter, Meredith. Sven wears dreadlocks—a style he adopted three years ago as a prophetic act of consecration to God.

Sven is not a Rastafarian—he is a radical Christian who earned his Bachelor of Science degree in worship and music ministry. Along with his unique hair, other things about Emmanuel’s graduation ceremony made it obvious that Pentecostalism is experiencing an extreme makeover:

* It is racially diverse. Although Pentecostalism in this country began in the racially mixed Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles, the walls of religious segregation have been pretty thick until recently. I was so glad to see African-American, Asian and Hispanic students getting their diplomas at Emmanuel on Saturday. Students graduating from college today have the greatest opportunity ever to dismantle racist structures.

* It offers authenticity and relevance. I’ve had several opportunities to address the students at Emmanuel during the five years that my two oldest daughters attended there. I’ve eaten meals with them, played Frisbee with them and just hung out in their dorms. And what I’ve seen is that young Christians today aren’t interested in the three-step formulas or the money-focused messages they got from their parent’s Pentecostalism.

Today’s Christian college students are nauseated by any kind of religious hype: blow-dried evangelists, insincere appeals for offerings, faked healings, goofy buzzwords or schmaltzy Christian pop music. What they crave is reality—honest relationships, healthy mentoring, passionate worship and daring faith that is reflected through brave actions, not just words.

* It aims to impact the culture. The speaker at Emmanuel’s graduation ceremony was way outside the traditional Pentecostal box. Bonnie Wurzbacher, a senior vice president at The Coca-Cola Company, used examples from her own life as a female executive in corporate America to challenge the students to blaze a new trail. She reminded them that whatever their chosen careers—in education, business, government, law, the arts or full-time ministry—all are sanctified ways to serve and glorify God when He is at the center of their lives.

* It inspires selfless sacrifice. Just a few days before Emmanuel’s graduation, a 22-year-old senior named Brittani Panozzo died in a car crash. She was supposed to have graduated with Meredith and Sven, but Brittani’s life ended abruptly when she accidently swerved into the path of a pickup truck on Highway 29 near the school. Her death shook the campus—but her brief life also inspired her peers.

At a memorial service for Brittani held four days before graduation, students were reminded that she spent her last semester as an intern on the mission field in South Africa. She had planned to move to Bangladesh after graduation so she could work with orphans and serve churches there. Her dream, according to campus pastor Chris Maxwell, was that Emmanuel would one day sponsor a 24-hour prayer house that would also meet the needs of the poor in the local community.

I see Brittani’s fervor in so many young people today. They have a reckless passion to rid the world of injustice. They know that Christian ministry is not just limited to preaching sermons or having prayer meetings; they also want to rescue exploited girls, dig wells to provide clean water and help kids learn English. And they’re willing to forfeit the suburban house with the three-car garage for a chance to change the world.

I smiled as I watched Meredith, Sven and their classmates march out of that auditorium on Saturday. They reminded me that while the gospel is timeless, our movements and institutions need regular updating so we can stay relevant and genuine. Amid the huge challenges we face in this crucial hour, God has prepared and anointed a new generation to carry His message to a love-starved world.

J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma. You can follow him on Twitter: @LeeGrady. Below is a photo of his daughter, Meredith, and her fiance, Sven, at their graduation last Saturday in Franklin Springs, Ga. For more information about Emmanuel College, click here.

You probably groaned, as I did, after hearing that Todd Bentley, leader of the Lakeland Revival, had divorced his wife, Shonnah, and married his former ministry intern, Jessa Hasbrook. The news surfaced after nine months of silence and speculation, during which time the board of Bentley’s Fresh Fire Ministries in Canada publicly scolded him for adultery.

Rick Joyner, the popular author who is overseeing Bentley’s restoration, released a statement in March saying that (1) Bentley married his new wife and moved to Joyner’s base in Fort Mill, S.C.; (2) Todd and Jessa agree that their relationship was “wrong and premature”; (3) Bentley will remain out of public ministry while he seeks healing; and (4) Joyner will oversee the healing process with input from pastors Jack Deere and Bill Johnson.

It was also announced that Bentley will relaunch his ministry, called Fresh Fire USA, in Fort Mill, and that Joyner is collecting donations from supporters to build it. (Leaders of the Canadian ministry Bentley started have severed ties with the evangelist.)

In a few places in his statement Joyner expressed tough love, especially when he said: “We know that trust has to be earned and that Todd will have to earn the trust of the body of Christ for future ministry, which will not be easy, nor should it be.” But there were glaring omissions in the statements released during March and April that indicate a weakness in our freestyle approach to restoring fallen leaders.

First of all, it is outrageous that Shonnah Bentley, Todd’s first wife, is rarely mentioned in the current discussion. Her name wasn’t in Joyner’s statement—while Todd was mentioned 18 times. Why are wives often ignored when male church leaders mess up? How will Shonnah manage to care for the three children she and Todd share? Their healing must be addressed too.

Second, we have a bad habit of elevating gifting above character. The prevailing attitude says, “So what if a preacher ruins one marriage and makes a hasty decision to marry a younger woman—the important thing is that we get him back in the pulpit!” That is a perversion of biblical integrity.

What is most deplorable about this latest installment in the Bentley scandal is the lack of true remorse. In his own statement, Bentley apologized for his actions and said he “takes full responsibility” for his part in the ending of the marriage. But how can he be taking “full” responsibility if he willingly chose to have a girlfriend on the side—and then married her immediately after his divorce was final?

Many Christians today have rejected biblical discipline and adopted a sweet, spineless love that cannot correct. Our grace is greasy. No matter what an offending brother does, we coddle him and nurse his wounds while we ignore the people he wounded. No matter how heinous his sin, we offer comforting platitudes because, after all, who are we to judge?

When the apostle Paul learned that a member of the Corinthian church was in an immoral relationship with his father’s wife, he did not rush to comfort the man. He told the Corinthians: “You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst” (1 Cor. 5:2, NASB). Sometimes genuine healing requires a ruthless, exacting love.

Many today would call Paul’s position harsh and legalistic. But that is because we have lost a true sense of the fear of the Lord—and we don’t realize that our laxness about God’s standards is a perversion of His mercy. When the sin is severe, the public rebuke must be severe.

I’ve never claimed to be perfect, and I know the Lord extends His mercy to us all. But when it comes to biblical standards of leadership we need solid confrontation, not squishy compromise. We must restore not only the brother who sinned but also the church that has lost its bearings in the process.

If we truly care about Todd Bentley we will not clamor for his quick return to the platform. We must demand that those involved in Bentley’s restoration not only affirm him but also love the church by avoiding a repeat of this scandal.

J. Lee Grady is the editor of Charisma. You can read his previous online columns, as well as comments from readers, at .

Put on your seat belt. What we are experiencing is so much more than an economic recession.

Unless you are Rip Van Winkle and have been asleep for years, I’m sure you feel the daily convulsions that are rocking our world. Change is hitting America right between the eyes. Everything that can be shaken is being shaken—from banks and insurance companies to car manufacturers and media empires.

Trusted brands, including Chrysler and United Airlines, may go out of business within months. Newspapers are laying off employees in droves as readers go digital; bookstores like Borders can’t compete with . Pontiac is officially dead, and the city of Detroit—once the proud global headquarters of the auto industry—is rusting and jobless.

What we are experiencing today is more than an economic recession. The upheaval is affecting us politically, socially, technologically and spiritually. It feels as if God has pushed a giant red reset button in heaven. Change is being forced on us.

Meanwhile there is a big problem in the church: We Christians don’t have a great track record when it comes to embracing change. We are slow adapters. Often we insist on doing church exactly like Grandpa did, and then when we realize we are outdated it’s too late.

For a few months I’ve been pondering the changes happening in charismatic churches and praying about our future as a movement. I’ve been asking hard questions and wrestling with my own fears of change. And I’ve reached some uncomfortable conclusions:

1. The charismatic movement as we know it has ended. I celebrate what God did in recent years to bring the Holy Spirit’s renewal to the church. My life was totally changed by it. But the cloud is moving, and we cannot pitch our tents around the revivals of the past. While we embrace the eternal things He gave us in those days, we must discard the styles and methods that are no longer fruitful so we can advance.

That doesn’t mean we throw the baby out with the bathwater. We cling to what is good. But we must leave behind the excesses, extremes and flaky doctrines that give us a bad name. The one-man show is over. The prosperity circus was a failure. We must abandon the deceptive hype of the past. People today are craving authenticity—not shallow words and empty promises.

2. A “new generation” church is emerging. I visit two or three churches every month in this country. Those that are healthy and growing have developed new paradigms. Though they embrace the power of the Holy Spirit, they also place high value on evangelism, small-group discipleship, social justice and world missions. They are extravagant in giving to outreach. They are relational, not event-driven. And they demand character from leaders rather than simply celebrating a man or woman’s spiritual anointing.

No one has coined a term for this movement yet, but it is growing—and it represents the future of Christianity in our country. These new generation churches embrace healthy leadership and don’t tolerate the kind of ministry monkey business that has embarrassed us in recent years. These churches love sinners and preach grace, but they draw the lines necessary to enforce biblical standards.

New generation churches are also connected in a healthy, relational way to other churches, yet they are not denominational in a restrictive sense. They refuse labels. Rather than wearing the cumbersome armor of a religious structure, they are free to pray, dream and be creative about how they should reach the children, high school students, business leaders, drug addicts, immigrants, homeless people, twenty-somethings and church dropouts in their communities.

3. God is tearing down the walls that divide us. For too long we’ve been content to congregate in our comfortable tribal groups. But the essence of Pentecost involves the Holy Spirit’s outpouring “on all mankind” (Acts 2:17, NASB). This means true Pentecostals cannot harbor racism.

God’s agenda in this next season of revival will involve tearing down racist structures—and this will occur not only in white churches but in black and Hispanic ones as well. It also means that church leaders from China, India, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America will have a greater platform to speak into our lives here in the United States. Western Christians must accept the fact that we don’t have all the answers!

4. We face an unprecedented global opportunity for evangelism. I’ve never been the first to try new gadgets. I still like to hold my newspaper and read it on the back porch—and I don’t watch TV shows on an iPhone. But regardless of my creature habits, I can’t stand in the way of today’s technological revolution.

Jesus commanded us to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth—and that requires us to use every means possible. God is in a hurry to reach places like Uzbekistan, Niger and Yemen—and He will likely use podcasts, Blackberries and Facebook to do it. We should claim all new media so that every person on this planet can hear that Jesus died to save us.

Please don’t fight the changes God wants to bring in your life. As you hold on to His unchangeable love, allow Him to push the reset button. Then buckle your seat belt and hold on. We are in for the ride of our lives!

J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma. You can follow him on Twitter at LeeGrady.

Before Slumdog Millionaire made the world’s largest garbage dump famous, Biju Thampy was feeding the children who live there.

The Deonar garbage dump in Mumbai, India, is certainly not a glamorous location for a movie. The first thing that hit me was the smell—an awful combination of urine, rotting food and toxic fumes. But what made me nauseous was watching dozens of skinny Indian children forage through the mountainous heaps of trash looking for their next meal.

Welcome to Mumbai, a city of 24 million made famous last year by Danny Boyle’s Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire. The lead character in the movie, a boy named Jamal, grows up near the vast garbage dump (reportedly the world’s largest), watches his mother die and then is coerced by a mafia boss into begging for rupees with other love-starved orphans.

If you are wondering whether the film was an accurate portrayal of the poorest kids in India, ask Biju Thampy, 37, an evangelist from south India who moved to Mumbai in 2006 with his wife, Secunda. They came to the city after hearing about a child in the slums who was drinking milk from a dog. Today Biju and his Vision Rescue team drive two school buses into the Deonar dump to feed 800 kids six days a week.

“I used to ask God why people suffer like this,” Biju told me as we drove through the narrow dirt roads next to rickety, one-room houses made of tin and scrap wood. “Finally I came to the place where I stopped asking questions and started being the answer.”

With his education and excellent English, Biju could be making lots of money in India or anywhere in the West. But after seeing the needs in the slum his heart broke. Today Proverbs 24:11 is one of his life verses: “Deliver those who are being taken away to death, and those who are staggering to slaughter, oh hold them back” (NASB).

As Slumdog Millionaire proved, images of poverty can be powerful. I asked Biju what he had seen in the slums of Mumbai that moved him to action. He quickly rattled off a list:

** He often sees children walking in open drains full of sewage. The kids have no access to health care.

** He once saw a sick woman lying on a sidewalk. She had been thrown out of her small slum house because of her illness. He also saw a boy lying dead in a road after he was run over by a bulldozer. “Life here feels very undignified,” he says.

** He recently led an abused, AIDS-infected prostitute to Christ. The girl owed money to her pimp, so Biju asked him how much it would cost to free her. The answer was $18. Biju paid the money and the girl enjoyed serving Jesus before she died.

** Biju sometimes sees children without hands or eyes—and he knows some have been maimed on purpose, just like the boy in Slumdog who was blinded with acid by his owners. “Some parents also send these disabled children out in the streets to beg,” he told me.

** In 2008 Biju began taking teams into Kamathipura, Mumbai’s famous red light district, to pray for the young women there. He learned that the prostitutes sometimes give their kids alcohol to drink so they will sleep while they service their customers. Today the Vision Rescue team has opened a day care center for those children.

Last Thursday I boarded the Vision Rescue bus and watched as about 40 children learned to write simple Hindi phrases on chalk boards. These kids get some simple education and Bible lessons before they are fed a hot lunch of rice and vegetables. Once a week they also get eggs, bread and milk. I prayed with the children and then looked outside the bus to see dozens more waiting their turn.

Biju feeds 800 kids a week, but there are millions of children in this slum. I wondered if that was discouraging, but Biju lit up as he told me about a six-year-old boy named Raj who was rescued two years ago.

“He was skin and bones, and he had run away from home because his father killed his mother and was beating him,” Biju said. “He had a wound on his head. He came up and asked me, ‘Can I go with you?'”

Biju was able to take Raj to the city of Goa, where his sister Beena runs a children’s home. When he visited there recently, Raj told Biju that he wants to be a pastor when he grows up. “That makes it all worth it,” Biju says. “What keeps me going is knowing that one child at a time is being saved.”

Biju is now teaching all the young people on his team to care—not for the crowds, but for the one. “God is leading us these days to focus on the one sheep that is lost, and on the one lost coin. Jesus cares about the one.”

In Slumdog Millionaire, an orphan who grew up in Mumbai ended up winning millions of dollars in a game show—plus he found fairytale romance with the girl of his dreams. That was a movie, and not a likely scenario for the kids at the Deonar dump. But because one man felt the heart of God for this harsh place, it is much more likely that many of these kids will discover the life-transforming love of the Savior.

J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma. Below are some photos of Vision Rescue’s work in Mumbai. Go to in for more information about Vision Rescue. Click here if you’d like to help contribute to their work.

Last December some children in the north Indian state of Orissa watched Hindu militants burn their fathers to death. Today these kids have found a refuge.

This past Monday at the Home of Hope Center in Coimbatore, India, more than 150 boys in matching uniforms stood in neat rows on the tile floor of their prayer chapel and began singing praise songs in Telugu, Hindi and Tamil. The smallest ones fidgeted as they clapped in unison. The older teens raised their hands in the air as they worshiped Jesus.

I sat on the stage and watched their smiling faces with amazement, knowing that some of these children had watched their own parents burn to death a few months ago.

Some of these boys were rescued off the streets in the cities of Andhra Pradesh. Others fell through the cracks in India’s fragile social system because their parents were too poor to feed them. But 57 of these boys came to the Home of Hope a few months ago after their Christian fathers were killed during a wave of violence that struck the state of Orissa in 2008.

“They are traumatized,” says Dellis Gomes, who cares for these children with her husband, Indian evangelist Harry Gomes. “They are easily frightened. Some of them wet the bed at night because they are afraid to get up in the dark. It was so horrible what they watched.”

The wave of persecution hit Orissa when crazed Hindu militants began bombing villages, raping nuns, destroying Christian businesses and using death threats to force people to reconvert to Hinduism. The attacks were aimed at Baptists, Catholics and Pentecostals alike—really anyone who wears a Christian label.

Some Christians who ran into the forests to hide starved to death. Elderly men who could not escape fast enough were hacked to death with axes or shot and then cut to pieces. Those who survived but lost their homes now live in crude, government-run refugee camps.

The Orissa massacre was one of the worst outbreaks of religious persecution in this decade, yet the mainstream media largely ignored it. India’s government did not respond quick enough to the crisis. In fact, there are allegations that local police supported the militants or looked the other way when houses were being torched.

Gomes, a Pentecostal who has conducted massive evangelistic crusades all over India since 1996, went to the worst-hit areas of Orissa in January to assess the damage and to encourage pastors who were thinking of quitting the ministry. He is now building a rehabilitation center in the Ryjba area of Orissa, where he plans to offer counseling and prayer as well as food and relief supplies to 135 churches that were affected by the violence.

Gomes knew he had to help the children who had lost their parents in the crisis. He brought the boys to his orphanage in Coimbatore and had to pack some of them into a corner of the dining hall because of space limitations. Since the boys only speak the Oriya language, they are now learning Hindi and English in the Home for Hope school. Gomes plans to open a facility soon for girls who were orphaned or displaced in Orissa.

Dellis said some of the boys from Orissa had behavioral problems the first few weeks after they were settled in the center. Their little minds could not process the horrors they had seen. One child admitted that he watched his mother being raped. He did not really understand what happened to her; today he finds it difficult to be near a woman.

“We just have to sit with them and offer counsel,” Dellis told me. “The first week they could not listen to us. We had to introduce discipline gradually.”

By the time I saw these boys lined up in their prayer chapel on Monday their faces were glowing with joy. A few months of intense love and prayer had soothed their fears and dispelled their trauma. Although they had been in a furnace of unimaginable terror, they not only survived but have been healed from the effects of the ordeal. Like the three Hebrew boys who were thrown into a fiery furnace by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, these boys from Orissa came out of the fire without smelling like smoke.

I am returning from India this week knowing that “the fourth Man” who stood in the flames with Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego still makes appearances today. And I am encouraged that brave Christians like Harry and Dellis Gomes are modeling Christian compassion for the global church.

J. Lee Grady is ministering in India this week. To read his recent cover story about church growth in India click here. If you would like to make a contribution to help the Home of Hope boys’ center in Coimbatore, India, through Charisma‘s non-profit partner, Christian Life Missions, click here.

Many Christians misjudged the California pastor after his recent interview with CNN’s Larry King.

My switchboard almost short-circuited last week after California pastor Rick Warren appeared on Larry King Live to discuss the hot potato issue of the decade—same-sex marriage. Some concerned Christians called or e-mailed immediately to tell me that Warren had, just in time for Easter, denied his faith in true Judas style.  They even lifted a quote from Warren’s April 6 interview with King to prove that the pastor of the largest church in our country no longer believes in evangelical morality.

People who had not even seen the broadcast were hyperventilating. “How can Rick Warren do this to us?” they asked me. I decided to stay calm, breathe deeply and actually watch the broadcast instead of believing some slanted conservative blogs. (Note to readers: In this amazing age of TiVo andYouTube, you can actually check the facts easily before jumping to conclusions.)

After watching the interview, I realized that somebody pulled a false alarm. Warren has not changed his views on the Bible or Christian sexuality. He may have fumbled a few sound bites in the interview, but he does not deserve the flogging he got from some churchgoers who haven’t trusted Warren since he said the invocation at Obama’s inauguration in January. Let’s look at the facts:

First, Warren stood firmly on the side of biblical morality during the last election season. He told Larry King that he sent a note to all members of Saddleback Church asking them to support Proposition 8, the ballot issue that stopped same-sex marriage in California. He told his church: “We should not let two percent of the population change the definition of marriage that has been supported by every single culture and religion for 5,000 years. … I urge you to support Proposition 8 and pass the word on.”

Second, Warren restated this position during the Larry King broadcast. The pastor told the CNN audience that he asked his church to support Proposition 8 because it was the right thing to do. “I don’t think the definition of marriage should be changed,” Warren said, even though he tried to be diplomatic by adding that he is neither an anti-gay activist nor an anti-gay marriage activist.

When a caller complained that Warren’s position was offensive, he responded firmly: “Well it’s not my opinion. As a pastor I just have to do what the Bible tells me to do. The way I interpret it, I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. And that’s good for society. That doesn’t mean people don’t love each other. It just means that marriage is for a man and a woman.”

Third, Warren’s mention of an “apology” to gay activists was not a retraction of his previous support of Proposition 8 or a reversal of his views on homosexuality. According to Kristin Cole, Saddleback’s media representative, Warren’s apology was delivered to some gay activists who were offended when he “unintentionally” compared gay sex relationships to incest or child molestation in an interview with BeliefNet, an Internet journal. Cole added: “Throughout his pastoral ministry spanning nearly 30 years, Dr. Warren has remained committed to the biblical definition of marriage as between one man and one woman, for life—a position held by most fellow evangelical pastors.”

Many people who heard the vague comment about an apology may assume Warren has flip-flopped on this issue when that is not the case. I’m sure Warren wishes he could go back and edit his words, but that’s never possible on live television. The fact that those few bumbling sentences were so misunderstood by Christians should challenge him to be absolutely clear the next time he takes the national microphone.

Was Warren waffling? Was he caving in to pressure? I don’t know what’s in his heart, but I think we should pray for the man, not attack him. Let’s remember that he is arguably the most high-profile pastor in our country, and he was vilified by activists and politicians after the 2008 election because he stood for biblical morality. After Obama picked him to pray on the steps of the Capitol for his swearing-in ceremony, Massachusetts senator Barney Frank and a chorus of gay-rights leaders demanded that Obama pick someone who represents their religious views.

Then journalist Leah McElrath Renna told Newsweek that the selection of Warren to pray at the inauguration “amounts to an act of spiritual violence against gay and lesbian Americans” because he believes the Bible. It’s obvious that powerful forces are at work in Washington and in the mainstream media to redefine our vocabulary, manipulate people’s words and push godly people into compromise. We cannot bow our knee to Baal in an hour when our nation needs fearless voices that will stand for truth.

This whole fiasco should put every one of us on alert. Are you ready to articulate your views publicly on this subject? Would you do a better job than Warren did if Larry King pitched this hot potato in your direction? Would you take hold of it, remain gracious and reflect the attitude of Jesus while giving a firm, biblical response? It’s time for American Christians to develop steel backbones, unwavering commitment to Scripture and tough skin to handle the brutal battle ahead.

J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma.

After visits from three evangelists in four days, I figured it out. We’ve neglected the heart of our mission.

Something amazing happened to me last week during a ministry trip to Texas and Oklahoma. God sent three unexpected visitors over the course of four days to confirm something He is doing in the church today.

Last Thursday when I was speaking at Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas, my friend Sujo John called to say he wanted to drop by the campus and attend the conference with me. Sujo is a full-time evangelist who is originally from India. He surrendered to the ministry on Sept. 11, 2001, when he was buried under the rubble of the World Trade Center.

On that horrific day as Sujo lay under the concrete and twisted metal, he wondered if he would live until nightfall. But that did not stop him from praying with about 20 people who were trapped with him. They all died before Sujo was rescued, but they stepped into eternity with faith in Christ as their Savior because Sujo led them in a sinner’s prayer.

After Sujo learned that his wife, Mary, was safe (she also worked in the World Trade Center but was late for work that day), they both left their lucrative careers in the financial industry and gave their lives to full-time evangelism. Since then Sujo has traveled all over the world sharing his testimony and warning people of the urgency of this hour.

On Friday, the second day of my meetings at Christ for the Nations, I got a text message from Scott Hinkle, a full-time evangelist from Phoenix who happened to be in Dallas. He came to the campus to attend the meeting in the main student auditorium.

Scott grew up in a rough-and-tumble New Jersey neighborhood outside New York City and became a Christian during the Jesus Movement in the 1970s. He has spent most of his adult life taking the gospel to places most Christians avoid. Every year he takes an evangelistic swat team to Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans and wins prostitutes and partygoers to Christ. He is one of the few charismatic ministers in the United States devoted to equipping believers in soul-winning.

After I left Dallas I flew to Oklahoma City to speak at a church in nearby Norman. On Sunday afternoon I got a text message from Kevin Turner, a full-time evangelist who is based near Tulsa. He wanted to come to my meeting at Riverside Church. I was thrilled because I had never met Kevin, even though we’ve talked on the phone many times and Charisma published an article about his unique ministry in 2007.

Kevin directs Strategic World Impact, a ministry that has taken him to some of the most dangerous places on the planet. He was mentored by the late Leonard Ravenhill, the radical revivalist whose writings still inspire many of us today. Kevin carries Ravenhill’s sobering passion for lost souls and has shared the gospel in refugee camps, war zones and killing fields. He can’t talk publicly about most of his work because it would put his colleagues in jeopardy.

It wasn’t until I saw Kevin seated in front of me at Riverside that I realized this might be more than a coincidence. Three full-time evangelists in four days. Was God saying something here? Maybe it was just a fluke. But it caused me to realize how desperate we are in this hour for the ministry of the evangelist—a ministry that we have sidelined and neglected in recent years.

In the 1980s and ‘90s we charismatics emphasized the need for apostles and prophets. I cheered this movement because I believe we should reclaim every spiritual gift in the New Testament that has been avoided or neglected.

We need true apostles and prophets because they keep the church moving forward in our global assignment and provide heavenly direction and strategy. Yet apostles and prophets have been controversial, not only because some people reject them on theological grounds but because some self-proclaimed apostles and hyper-mystical prophets have abused and misused their gifts and authority. Today some of these people have slipped over the edge of orthodoxy—and have taken segments of the church off the cliff with them.

Some have promoted the concept that apostles are spiritual supermen who wield rigid, hierarchical control over churches and leaders, resulting in authoritarianism and abuse. Others have perverted the apostolic model to create a financial “downline” that brings loads of money to a few at the top of the food chain—ignoring the fact that the Bible says apostles should be models of humility who serve from the bottom. And some prophets have traded in their originally pure message to promote bizarre doctrines and cryptic predictions that often prove to be hokum.

Is it possible that while we were celebrating the super apostles and building fan clubs for the prophets we were ignoring the primacy of our evangelistic calling?

I know one gift is not more valuable than another. But when I read about the five-fold ministry gifts listed in Ephesians 4:11, I can’t help but notice the placement of the evangelist. Paul wrote: “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers” (NASB, emphasis added). The evangelist is not more important, and God’s kingdom is not a hierarchy. But evangelism is in the center because it is the very heart of God’s mission.

In this turbulent season when our movement is being shaken, refined and redefined, we must return to the simplicity of our mission to reach the lost all around us. God wants to visit us with fresh evangelistic fire that will burn up our selfishness, refocus our priorities, rid us of quirky doctrinal distractions and ignite our hearts with a holy love for people who don’t know Jesus.

J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma.

When millions of curious seekers crowd into America’s churches on Easter Sunday, what will they find?

Millions of “Easter Christians” and other curious spiritual seekers will crowd into America’s churches on the next two Sundays. Some will visit simply to “put in their time”—either in an attempt to ease their consciences or to please relatives. A few will see it as an excuse to buy and show off new outfits. And many will come out of genuine spiritual hunger.

A recent survey conducted by Lifeway Research revealed that 56 percent of Americans would attend a church service if invited by a friend. And while polls show that many older denominations are losing members, non-denominational churches are growing in many regions of this country at a brisk pace (along with non-Christian religions). Despite all the grim economic news we’ve heard this year, some trends indicate that we could actually be on the cusp of a spiritual awakening.

We all know that lots of people went to church a few months after 9/11—and nothing lasting changed. After a few weeks a humbled America went back to being cynical, spoiled and defiant. Today, because our wallets are being squeezed by layoffs and corporate meltdowns, many people are looking for spiritual answers out of desperation. My biggest concern is whether or not they will find that help when they show up at church this weekend.

What Jesus will we show them? Will they hear the true gospel? Or will they just hear a few songs, get some chocolate eggs for the kids and go home unchanged?

We can learn a lot about our presentation of the gospel from Jesus’ own triumphal entry to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

When it was time for Jesus to be unveiled to the city—in preparation for His death on the cross—He gave very specific instructions to His followers. He did not want to enter the city just any old way. He had an exact time, an exact place and an exact method for His presentation. No detail was negotiable. Jesus followed the Father’s amazing plan—and His disciples cooperated.

First, He was to appear to the Jewish crowds on the 10th day of Nissan, the Passover month. This was the day when Jewish families took an innocent lamb and inspected it to make sure it had no defect. Then, on the 14th of that month, the Passover lamb was to be placed on the altar in the morning and slaughtered by the priest in the afternoon. The same would happen to Jesus; at the same time lambs were being killed all over the city, He was placed on the cross in the morning and He died in the afternoon.

Second, Jesus was to enter Jerusalem on the back of a borrowed donkey colt. He did this to show the people that He had not come as a political revolutionary or a royal dignitary. His ways were not man’s ways, and He did not come to prop up man’s worldly system. Wealthy politicians rode on expensive horses, but Jesus came to us in humility—laying aside all His royalty so that He could stoop low enough to touch lepers, beggars, abused women, lunatics, criminals, social outcasts and sinners like you and me.

Third, He was to enter Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, a high pinnacle that overlooks the ancient city from the east. This is where Jesus sat down a few days later, just before His crucifixion, and taught about His Second Coming. It is also the spot where His feet last touched the ground before His ascension. Jesus wanted the people to know that just as He entered the city from the east during His earthly ministry, He will enter it again from that direction when He returns in His heavenly glory (see ).

Sometimes we think we can reach the crowds with our pageants, our music and our trendy programs. But we must remember that after the crowds saw the waving palm branches and heard the noisy hosannas, they still asked, “Who is this?” (Matt. 21:10, NASB). A wonderful church service isn’t enough, no matter how loud the praise. There is only one thing that will answer that question, and it is the preaching of the pure and simple gospel. We must show them Jesus!

• We must present Him as the spotless Lamb of God who did not deserve to die, but who willingly gave His life to pay for our sins.

• We must present Him as the humble, loving Savior who came to this world not to be served but to serve—and to demonstrate to us the unfathomable love of the Father

• We must present Him as the King of Glory who will one day return to earth to judge both the living and the dead and determine who will and who will not receive eternal life.

Many in our nation today are confused about Jesus. Some think He is a great prophet who deserves respect alongside Buddha, Muhammad and the Dalai Lama. Others think He is a spineless blob of “love energy” that accepts everyone regardless of their sin and doesn’t require repentance. Still others imagine Him to be an American politician riding on a Democratic donkey or a Republican elephant. He is none of these things.

It is the church’s responsibility to showcase the glorious Christ to a spiritually desperate multitude. He must be introduced properly. I pray we will be faithful in the way we present Him to our generation.

J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma. This week he is speaking at Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas, Texas.

We must use the right building materials if we want our ministries to stand in the day of His visitation.

Every state in this country has strict building codes. You can’t just buy a piece of land and throw up a structure any way you choose. Local governments have standards for foundations, floors, drywall, roofs, exhaust systems, water heaters, wiring, lighting and sanitary drainage. In my neighborhood you can’t even erect a shed in your backyard without a permit, and an inspector will always drop by unannounced to make sure you followed the rules.

These codes are important in Florida where I live. You don’t want to discover during a hurricane that your contractor used shoddy plywood or defective concrete when he built your house or condo. Bad construction just might send your roof into a neighbor’s yard!

It’s ironic that our society does not tolerate sloppy building, yet in the charismatic church we place little emphasis on code enforcement. In fact, in our freewheeling movement we celebrate the independent spiritual contractor who uses questionable materials and answers to no one. Much of our movement during the past 30 years has been built like this—and today we are discovering that what we thought was sturdy was actually stuck together with cheap nails, substandard wood, thin glue and duct tape.

That creaking sound you hear is the sagging of rafters. The Lord has entered our crooked house with His holy plumb line and a clipboard—and He is not pleased.

Did you know that God has a building code? I prefer the way The Message Bible translates the apostle Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15: “Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine; if it doesn’t, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won’t be torn out; you’ll survive—but just barely.”

Paul says Jesus will inspect our buildings using the ultimate test—the fire of His holiness. The New American Standard Bible translation says: “Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident … for the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work” ().

I am challenging Christians today to prepare for a building inspection. If we ignore God’s codes our churches and ministries will not stand in the day of visitation. We must especially return to four basic building materials that have been ignored in this current season:

1. Sexual purity. It should go without saying that church leaders must live in moral and marital faithfulness. Yet when we look around today we find that ministries are tolerant of flippant divorce, hidden adultery and even unspeakable perversion. Some ministers admit to serious moral failures yet they never step out of ministry even for a week to get counseling. God has issued His clear warning. Ministries that tolerate sexual sin are already crumbling. It does not matter how big your auditorium is, how massive your television outreach, how many people shout during Sunday sermons or how enduring your spiritual legacy may seem. You can preach about God’s grace all you want, but you are trampling on that grace if you continue to practice immorality.

2. Financial integrity. Jesus drove the greedy moneychangers out of His temple with a whip. He requires faithfulness of His stewards. Ministries that have committed spiritual extortion will have a day of reckoning—not necessarily with the IRS but certainly with the heavenly Auditor. Those who sell prophecies or charge $1,000 to gullible people to make them “spiritual sons” will soon lose their platforms. Those who misuse God’s money to buy Bentleys, vacation homes and expensive clothes and shoes will soon experience the Great Repo.

3. Christlike humility. We cannot build God’s house with pride and carnality. In the early days of our movement God winked at our immaturity—but we have no excuse today. Mature leaders should act like servants, not rock stars or mafia bosses. We must trade in our entourages and high-minded demands and return to the way of the Master—which includes the manger (humble beginnings), the donkey (a humble ministry style) and the towel (serving those we are called to lead). God resists the proud, and any church that embraces the bless-me gospel of egotistical charlatans will not enjoy His manifest presence.

4. Theological soundness. We can walk in humility, integrity and purity and still fail if we mix error with truth. We must preach Christ and Him crucified. We must contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints. We must guard the flock from deception and avoid the subtle lies and compromises that creep in from our culture and from occult influences. In segments of our movement today, charismatic theology has been diluted with New Age spirituality, universalism, pop psychology, Gnosticism, false prophecy and just plain weirdness. We need to reactivate the neglected gift of discernment and get rid of the theological hay and stubble that has caused our movement to lose its credibility.

Are you ready for your inspection? May God give us the grace to renovate the areas of our lives, our churches and our ministries that have not been built according to His standards.

J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma. He preached this message last weekend at Joshua’s Place, a charismatic church in Jackson, Ga. You can access his speaking schedule at