Faith In America:

By Rev. Miles McPherson [bio for event]

Faith is a hot topic at the moment, being talked about in the media, the news and through outlets. Even though it is encouraging that the conversations are happening, that biblically-based movies are being made and that Jesus’ name and character are being portrayed; I also see the hand of the author of confusion in the process. The content of those conversations are not always biblical, and if taken from the Bible, not always truthful to the context and heart of scripture. At times it seems that faith is being repositioned as a thing to be achieved on its own, transcending any and all forms of religion. That faith, no matter what in, is enough to propel man towards true understanding. As I look into the future and consider faith in America and the world, I am very concerned.

The “old-school” truths of the gospel are being replaced or completely omitted for the sake of inclusiveness, with the idea that everyone should just “get along”. America, and at times the Church, is turning its back on the uncompromising sacrificial life of biblical discipleship. With this, the sense of right and wrong in this nation seems to be crumbling faster and faster right before our eyes. This sense of right and wrong, our moral compass, is what has made this nation great over the last few hundred years.

The more pluralistic our culture grows and the more the Church strives to be inclusive and politically correct, the more watered down our message becomes. Jesus is the very person of truth. If we de-elevate Christ in any way to make room for other socially accepted gods and prophets, He is no longer Christ our Savior; He’s just a man among men. If we do this, we will have traded the Truth for a handful of convenient lies. The devil is systematically removing Jesus from our society; Christ is being taken out of Christmas and prayer is being taken out of schools. We are going out of our way to promote beliefs that are completely contrary to the Bible. God told us not to have any other gods before Him, yet we are in the process of doing just that.

God has blessed us as a nation because we have honored Him with our beliefs and actions, and if we continue to move away from Him, we will experience less of His blessings and protection. Has America become like the nation of Israel in the book of Judges, doing what is right in our own eyes? Have we come to believe the lie of Genesis chapter three that we are like God and can decide right and wrong on our own? It seems this is already happening: child molesters get out on just probation and young kids filled with hatred and anger murder their parents and classmates.

Trusting in Him and honoring Him as the only true God is the foundation of life and once the foundation is destroyed the building will fall. If we do not live from this truth then we are in diabolical opposition to God. Our hearts are dead to the Spirit and we have given up the life of Christ. If we do not choose Christ, we have a very dangerous road ahead of us.

As pastor of the Rock Church, I am very aware of the danger before us, not only to the church community and our identity, but the effects on America as a nation. I feel a strong responsibility to leverage the immeasurable power of God to bring the highest benefit to the people of the Church and the world.

My fear is that young people, who are just learning about God and do not have the knowledge of how He was represented ten to twenty years ago, are being cheated out of the opportunity to make an intelligent and informed decision about their faith. They are being told, right out of the shoot, that this is a multiple-choice test when in fact it is not. In the long run this satanic strategy will destroy the faith of an entire generation if we do not do something biblically drastic.

Our mission at the Rock church is to Save Equip and Send out soul winners for Jesus Christ. There are no gimmicks. We simply believe in fulfilling the great commission and obeying God’s Word. We are compelled to promote “old school” evangelism in a new, updated package. The way we “do” church may be non-traditional, some may even consider it controversial, but who we are and what we preach is based on the very politically incorrect belief that faith must be placed in Jesus Christ alone. We use terms like soul winner and God’s ARMY which may seem out dated as they are seldom used in our modern terminology, but we believe them to be a staple of our belief system and activities. We teach all 7,500 members of our congregation that they are soul winners in God’s ARMY and that our singular goal is to make disciples who will in turn make other disciples. We accomplish this goal by employing three “old-school” strategies.

The first is enlistment. We believe people need to be given the opportunity to meet the God of the Bible and He will take care of the rest. We do this by conducting altar calls and asking people to take a simple step of faith toward God, challenging them to believe in and act on God’s promise that He will change their life. We do not believe that a message has to be eternally complicated to be eternally beneficial.

The second strategy is basic training. Once someone has chosen to believe the truth about Jesus Christ, it is essential that they learn how to live from that truth. We believe that being accountable to someone who knows the truth and can speak wisdom into their life is key. Through this training and discipleship period we, in a sense, dare people to challenge biblical truth and if it does not work to walk away. So far God’s truth has always worked and we believe it always will.

Finally, once their basic training and discipleship is completed it comes time for deployment. Each member of the ARMY must reach out to those who are still lost and unsaved. Everyone who comes to Christ walked out of some sort of destructive lifestyle. They need to go back like Matthew of Bible and invite their friends to meet Jesus. As part of this strategy it is our goal to create an opportunity to be saved in every segment of society where someone is lost.

This is how we, at the Rock Church are working to keep faith real. No matter what strategies churches may use or how they “do” church, we must stand firm in the truth. “Old school” faith believes uncompromisingly that God is who He says He is, that He has plan for our lives and that all we have to do is choose Him. My prayer is that more people will go “old school” with the gospel and watch what only God can do – change lives.

The Future of the Faith:

By Dennis Peacocke [bio for event]

Every believer has a “duty watch,” just like a soldier. That “duty watch” is determined by God, and encompasses what He wants the generation we have been born into to accomplish as God moves history towards Christ’s return. We are all therefore called, like King David, to “serve the purposes of God in our generation” as Acts 13:36 reminds us. We are also responsible to contribute to the fulfilling of the Great Commission of Matt 28:18-20, lending our lives in some meaningful way to the discipling of the nations. Our faith is to “cast light” and offer others the “salt” of Christ’s preserving love and possibility of living a significant life.

Every generation has a defining challenge and a set of problems that requires courage, faith, and self-sacrifice to resolve them. For my parents, it was living through the Great Depression, World War II, the rebuilding of the nations under the shadow of the “Cold War,” and the possibility of nuclear annihilation. For us, it is an equally compelling challenge; it is the challenge of answering the following question: Is the Church really a relevant social force, or should it be marginalized to the point of overt persecution? Should the Church’s role and influence be expunged as the historical core of Western Civilization? In short, does the Church love people enough to truly bring value to their lives and communities? The fate of the Church in our lifetime therefore hangs on our response to these questions. We retreat, and be further ghettoized, or we engage. It’s really that simple.

While we hear constantly about the “war on terror,” we really do not believe that it is the “root issue” assigned to our generation. The deeper issue is the response our generation takes to our own Judeo-Christian civilization’s roots which helped create both our historically unique freedoms and wealth. Will we care enough about the fruits of that civilization to make the hard choices to defend it? Do we believe enough in our own historic values to not simply defend them, but rather to extend them? This is the challenge which will require heroes and leaders, and “A-Level” players. The unprepared and the untrained cannot, and will not, survive on this battlefield. It is a clash of civilizations. It is a war in the heavenlies. It is a place for men and women who willingly risk their lives for Christ, and the influence of His name and power, in the streets of the nations.

What I am here to talk about is how and why Christians must get into the public conversation as “fishers of men” (Mt 4:19). If we continue to focus on the questions we want the world to be concerned with instead of what they are concerned with, we will continue to see our increasing marginalization under the guise of “the separation of church and state.” A relevant church, dealing with root-level issues, will be a sure sign that the Holy Spirit is awakening us in a generational sense.

So come on. What could we possibly be waiting for? This is the “real game,” the real place of growth, the spiritual incubator which will help make world changers of our children as they follow us. Welcome to our focus at Strategic Christian Services. We recruit and help equip A-Level players, for the A-Level challenge which God has dealt to our generation.