Sharing Stories to Make a Difference: S6E23

I’m so glad you’ve joined me at the intersection of faith and true crime here at The Unlovely Truth. Does your church or ministry struggle with physical, emotional, or spiritual safety issues? I’m your host, church safety advocate Lori Morrison and I’m so glad you’ve joined me today. Our churches need to be the safest places in our communities, so our mission on this podcast is to find actionable steps to improve every aspect of safety in our houses of worship and beyond. We will investigate The Unlovely Truth about real crime news stories happening in real churches. I’ve got new cases to talk about today, so let’s dive right in. 

 

Highlights from this episode include:

 

• A podcast sharing stories of survivors from inside a denomination gets shut down
• More news from troubled megachurch Gateway Houston
• Finally, a church that got it (mostly) right

 

Acts 14:1-7

The same thing happened in Iconium. Paul and Barnabas went to the Jewish synagogue and preached with such power that a great number of both Jews and Greeks became believers. Some of the Jews, however, spurned God’s message and poisoned the minds of the Gentiles against Paul and Barnabas. But the apostles stayed there a long time, preaching boldly about the grace of the Lord. And the Lord proved their message was true by giving them power to do miraculous signs and wonders. But the people of the town were divided in their opinion about them. Some sided with the Jews,

and some with the apostles.

 

Then a mob of Gentiles and Jews, along with their leaders, decided to attack and stone them. When the apostles learned of it, they fled to the region of Lycaonia—to the towns of Lystra and Derbe and the surrounding area. And there they preached the Good News.

 

Wow. There are so many parallels here to what we’ve been talking about for the last 6 months or so on the podcast. Let's break this down a little bit at a time and let me talk about where I'm seeing these parallels. So Paul and Barnabas are going in there spreading the good news they're doing what they're supposed to be doing. And they're being very effective. But some people didn't want to hear what they had to say. And that reminds me so much of, in so many churches when someone stands up. To tell the truth. People will try to shut them down.  And it even says, you know, some of the Jews, however, spurned God's message and poisoned the minds of the Gentiles against Paul and Barnabas. I know so many of you, if you haven't had this happen to you, you've seen it. Someone brings up an issue. And leadership turns around and makes them the issue. They're the problem. 

 

The whistleblower is the problem, not the problem being the problem. Scripture tells us though that the apostles stayed there a long time. They were bold. And that, because they did that. God proved that their message was true. Now, I don't know if He's going to give any of us miraculous signs and wonders the way he did here, but you never know.

 

Why wouldn't God give us that same boldness that they had? Why wouldn't he allow us to have the grace of being able to boldly state what we know to be true? And having that make a change. Now, of course, the passage goes on to say that the people in the town were divided.   Some sided with the apostles and some sided with the Jews. Then a mob of Gentiles and Jews along with their leaders, decided to attack and stone them. Not everybody in leadership is doing the right thing and we have to be able to call those people out. 

 

The apostles knew what was going to happen. They found out, and so they fled.  Sometimes we have to leave. When they fled, they still spoke what they knew to be true. And that's what we all have to do, too.

 

Let me know what you think of this episode! Send me an email a lori@theunlovelytruth.com or message me on social media. I love it when people are willing to have hard, but impactful conversations that strengthen physical, emotional, and spiritual safety

 

Visit my website to access more episodes. If you would like to contact me about booking me as a speaker, or ask about my consulting services, please email me at lori@theunlovelytruth.com. 

 

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"Wall of Silence" podcast almost silenced - listen to it here

 

Here we go again with Gateway Church

 

A church that didn't totally mess up