PAMPANGA, PHILIPPINES. Last weekend Deborah and I drove to San Fernando, Pampanga for our Central Luzon Discipleship 2013 conference. We now have 11 Victory churches in the region. About 1000 Victory Group leaders attended the conference. I wish you could have been there. Amazing stories of  the gospel changing lives!

As great as the conference was, I had a troubling conversation with a pastor and his wife. I have had similar conversations with pastors on other continents. Here’s the all-too-familiar story.

Some church members recently attended a “prophetic signs and wonders” conference led by foreigners. After the conference, they returned to their local church passionate, excited, arrogant, judgmental, and weird. Since they now believe that their home church is not sufficiently led by the Spirit, they are determined to change their local church culture to reflect the “moving of the Spirit” they experienced at the conference.

First of all, I am not suggesting that the Spirit was not moving at the conference. I am sure there was a real sense of His presence and power. But, there is a huge difference in how a local church is led and how a revival conference is led.

Second, I should point out that the pastoral couple who brought up this concern are both deeply spiritual prophetic leaders. They are not spiritually dull leaders with no appreciation for spiritual gifts. Yet, they were bothered by the obsession with strange religious experiences that these people are trying to import into their church.

One of the primary reasons these conference attendees felt that Victory pastors are not led by the Spirit is because we schedule and post an ending time for our worship services. Guilty. They also mentioned the absence of gold dust and angel feathers. Guilty again. But does that mean we are not led by the Spirit?

Is it possible that the Spirit could have led us to schedule ending times at all our weekend worship services? What if the Holy Spirit actually gave us the wisdom to know that when you do six worship services every Sunday, and two on Saturday, and you want your volunteers to return next week to minister in kids church, that you must stick with a schedule? Wisdom is not incompatible with being led by the Spirit. And weirdness is not necessarily spiritual.

I’m all about the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in our meetings, and especially in our homes and neighborhoods. But I have little tolerance for arrogant and judgmental attitudes that well-meaning spiritual novices bring back from these conferences.

I pray that our churches and our church members will experience a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit that will empower us to be His witnesses “in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.”

In other words, I pray we will respond to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit by becoming more missional, not more mystical.

NOTE: This article was originally written for the May 2004 edition of Evangelicals Today magazine. It has been edited and re-posted because this topic seems to never go away.

First of all I want to make it clear that I will not vote for any of the candidates running in the upcoming Philippine election.  It is not because none of the candidates are qualified.  It is because I am not qualified.  Being a US citizen with a Philippine permanent resident visa, I am not allowed to vote in the Philippines.

Now to the point.  Since my friend, Bro. Eddie announced his candidacy (remember, this was originally written in 2004) I have heard many opinions about whether or not he should run.  The most passionate negative opinions have usually been built on the shifting sand of the “separation of church and state” doctrine.  I do not presume to know God’s will for Bro. Eddie, but I do know something about the separation of church and state.

Here’s a sample conversation I have had too many times recently:  “Pastor, what do you think about Bro. Eddie running for president?”

My response is usually something like: “Since I can’t vote, why don’t you tell me what you think.”

“Well, I just don’t think it’s right.”

“Why?”

“Because preachers belong behind the pulpit, not in the palace.”

“And why is that?”  I ask.

“You know, separation of church and state, and stuff.”

I have found that if the conversation goes on long enough “separation of church and state” always comes up.  I have heard many church members, even pastors, quote the separation doctrine like it was a Bible verse.  Separation of church and state sounds so spiritual it must be in the Bible.  Right?  Wrong.

If it is not in the Bible, then it must be in the US Constitution since American media mentions it so much.  Right?  Wrong again.

Separation of church and state was actually first mentioned by the author of the “Jefferson Bible,” an edition of the New Testament that removed all references to the supernatural including the virgin birth, the resurrection, and all miracles. Who was this blasphemer who created the separation of church and state doctrine that is so popular in Evangelical circles today?

The separation idea first appeared in 1802 in a letter US President Thomas Jefferson wrote to a group of concerned Baptist pastors in Danbury, Connecticut.  In the letter Jefferson assured the pastors he would not allow his non-Christian beliefs to influence public policy because he held the opinion that there should be a “wall of separation between the church and the state.”  Note that this was Jefferson’s personal opinion, not US Constitution and certainly not the Bible.

Jefferson’s separation idea actually did appear in a constitution 150 years after his letter.  The Soviets believed separation of church and state to be essential in building a godless government, so they wrote Jefferson’s separation clause into their constitution. In other words, if we want to build an atheist society, then the separation of church and state makes sense.

However, if we want to build a godly society, then it may be a good idea for Christians to get involved in every level of society, including civil government.

As an American, I cannot vote in Philippine elections, but as a Filipino you must.  As a foreigner I will not get involved in Philippine politics, but as a Christian citizen you must.  It is time for Filipino Christians to come out from behind the non-Christian idea of the wall of separation between church and state and get involved in all levels of the political process.

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Here’s the 2013 edition of Victory’s policy on church and politics:

1. We encourage everyone in Victory, including pastors and staff, to get as involved in the political process as their schedule permits. We cannot be salt and light from the sidelines. We must get in the game and get involved.

2. We will not allow any Victory leader or member to use the pulpit, small group, prayer meeting or Victory name to promote or endorse a specific candidate or a political party. We will use the pulpit, small group and prayer meeting to give a biblical perspective to specific issues without reference to personalities and parties, including educating our members on how to choose their candidates wisely. We will also use the pulpit, small group and prayer meeting to inspire, train and disciple future leaders who will one day run for office.

3. We recognize that because of the advent of social media, pastors now have a platform to influence people beyond the pulpit . As such, pastors are expected to exercise discretion with regards to supporting specific candidates, qualifying that it is a personal support and not representing the church. Social media posts from the pastor should include a qualifying statement that the political opinions presented are in no way reflective of the view and position of Victory.

4. In our desire to see more Christians involved in nation-building, we will take the initiative to pray for and inform our people about and long-time, active members of our church who are running for political office, regardless of their political party, and whose platform generally promotes a biblical worldview. Just as we pray for the success of our members who are in different spheres of society, such as business, media, education, arts and entertainment, military, and sport, we believe that God has called certain people to serve in government, and we will pray for their success as well.

5. At a local church leadership’s discretion, we will provide a forum separate from our regular church activities for candidates running for local or national office to present their respective individual platforms to any of our members who are interested to listen. Ultimately, every citizen will vote for who they want to be in office, and we respect that right. At the same time, however, we believe that providing this forum is consistent with our vision of encouraging our members to be involved in the political process as well as helping promote the Commission on Elections’ drive for voters’ education.

We hope that one day there will be many Victory members serving God and country in all levels of civil government.

Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people. -Proverbs 14:34

ISLAND COVE, PHILIPPINES. Earlier today (written 3 weeks ago in Philippines, posted today from Nash) I had the privilege of speaking to over 400 Filipino Kids Ministry pastors, coordinators, and volunteers at our annual Victory National Kids Ministry Summit. The delegates came to Island Cove from fifty Philippine cities, plus Singapore, Cambodia, and Dubai.

My topic was the “why” of kids ministry. I told some stories, read some Bible verses, and asked four questions. Here are the Bible verses and questions.

Question 1: Are we bringing kids to church or to Jesus? Getting kids to church is a good start, but it is only a start. The goal is to get them to Jesus. Let’s not be like the disciples in Mark 10:13 who completely missed the point: “People were BRINGING LITTLE CHILDREN TO JESUS to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them.”

Question 2: Jesus valued kids ministry, do we? Jesus thought it was pretty important that the kids were getting close to him. The disciples saw no value in ministering to kids, so they tried to stop it with a rebuke. “When Jesus saw this, he was indignant…” (Mark 10:14) “Indignant” is a Bible word for “really ticked off.”

Question 3: What are we doing that hinders children from coming to Jesus? After rebuking the disciples, Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and DO NOT HINDER THEM, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” (Mark 10:14) I’m afraid we inadvertently do much that hinders children from coming to Christ.

Question 4: What can we learn from children? Jesus not only allowed children to come to him, he honored them by making them the example for all to follow. “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” (Mark 10:15)

If we seriously ask and answer these four questions, the result will be verse 16. “And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.”

Jesus desires to take our children in his arms and bless them. Often the only thing preventing this is our sorry attitude towards kids ministry.