Race, Religion and Longevity

In a nation obsessed with racial and cultural diversity the facts about minorities and religious faith have been strangely absent from the dialogue. There is one astounding statistic about African American longevity and church attendance that is rarely if ever mentioned in the debates about faith based organizations and health care.

An article by Hummer et al in Demography Journal, 36:273-285 in 1999, Blacks who attend church live much longer than those who do not.

Church Attendance

• 
  White life expectancy Black life expectancy
  Never Attend......77 Years== 67 A 10 year difference
  Less than weekly 80 Years== 75 A 5 year difference
  Weekly or more...83 Years== 80 A 3 year difference

• Whites who attend services more than weekly gain an average of six years in longevity. This is terrific advertisement for religious practice.
• African Americans who attend services weekly or more gain a whopping 13 years in life expectancy. The difference in longevity between Whites and Blacks is almost totally eclipsed by church attendance.
• Attending church more often than weekly raises Blacks life expectancy to that of whites who attend weekly or less. Despite all the criticism leveled at Christians and churches the data are clear. Even as bad as we are, Jesus still heals, delivers and gives peace.
  
  Is it not racist to fail to encourage religious commitment by Blacks? It is not wrong to discourage both Blacks and Whites to attend religious services? Is the left wing of American politics promoting sickness by attacking religion?

Can We Take Criticism?

Dr. Bill Cosby is on a tear. He is challenging the African American's to do something to support educational and moral behavior among young people. Over the past few months Mr. Cosby has given much heat and taken it back as he spoke out against the problems among African American families and many Christian leaders have cautiously applauded him.

Recently he included the Christians of America in his criticisms. According to Cosby, Muslims are much better at protecting their children that we are. Wow! What an attack on our image at a time when Christians want to show we are superior to Islam. Can we take it? Is that true?

In a recent Christianity Today article, Stan Guthrie wrote about Cosby's remarks and added his own insights. They can be accessed at:

http://christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/130/54.0.html

The CT blog is a great way to stay connected to religious news.

Cosby's most recent speech at Hilton Head, South Carolina can be read at:

http://www.beaufortgazette.com/local_news/story/3712634p-3319284c.html


Cosby has an Ed. D. from Temple University and is a famous television producer, philanthropist, humorist and educator.

Why so Much Fear of Confession?

I spend a lot of time meeting with Christian leaders who are in pain, confusion and sadness. There is no task on earth greater than leading, shepherding and caring for God's people. By God's Providence I stumbled upon Organizational Development and Change Agentry as a great minor while getting a doctorate. Because of my studies I learned a great deal about how organizations function or fail to function.

Consultants, writers and management training gurus all tend to agree that leading and  managing a non-profit organizations is ten times harder than the same task in a profit organization. And, leading a church is the hardest of all non-profits to manage.

One reason may be that Christians seem to labor under the misaprehension that their leaders should be perfect. Not long ago a pastor was convicted about his lack of strong leadership and poor management style. After consulting a brother in Christ, the pastor decided to admit his sins, weaknesses and failures and ask the congregation for forgiveness.

While most of the congregation agreed with the process and gratefully forgave him, a few were horrified that he was so transparent in admitting his weaknesses. Despite St. James' admonition to "Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so you can be healed," several pillars of the church attacked the pastor for his honesty.

One man said, "People will be encouraged to sin of they think their pastor is a sinner." Another complained that no one would respect such a weak and vulnerable man in the future.

St. John made it clear that we all sin and need to confess it to the church. St. Paul sang from the same page adding that we all fall short of God's glory. However, many Bible believing men and women resist the notion that we are all Christian sinners who need the healing balm of confession, repentance and forgiveness. It requires Genuine inner knowledge and an Authentic desire to have a clear conscience but it is worth the cost.

It is impossible to be healthy mentally, emotionally, spiritually or physically without admitting our sin and guilt. Maybe this is why there are so many unhealthy Christians and ill churches.

 

Authentic to the Core

I received a helpful comment from a friend about the post on Genuineness. He sent me another blog about being Authentic and I fully agree with it. During church not long ago I had an insight about coveting. Scriptural admonitions are not God's way of being a kill joy but His attempt to warn us about dangerous practices.

When Moses led the children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt God told him to pay attention and follow the rules so they would not get any of the diseases that victimized their slave masters. God's desire then and now was to help His people find an abundant life.

So why tell us not to covet? What is the harm? Here is my newest idea about that. When I covet my neighbor's house, car, job or wife I cease to give thanks to God for what I have. I cease to enjoy the life in the moment and exchange real, genuine, authentic life for a fantasy that lies in never-land.

Several years ago Dr. Wm Wilson, a well-known psychiatrist at Duke, studied depressed Christians and discovered that they prayed differently than those who were not depressed. The difference? Few if any prayers of forgiveness, gratitude and thanksgiving. The attitude of gratitude will result in joy while coveting ends in disappointment, bitterness, anxiety and depression for covetousness is never satisfied with today.

 

                               I AM                         

 

I was regretting the past and fearing the future.

Suddenly my Lord was speaking:"My name is I am

"He paused waited. He continued,

"When you live in the pasted its mistakes and regrets, it is hard.

I am not there.

My name is not I WAS. 

When you live in the future,with its problems and fears,it is hard.

I am not there.

My name is not I WILL BE.  

When you live in this nominated is not hard. I am here,My name I AM." 

Helen Mallicoat
 

Being Real, Authentic and Genuine means that we are aware of our inner life and allow God's Spirit to bring self-control. One way to grow in the fruit of the Spirit is to ask ourselves if we are really aware of what we are thinking, feeling and envisioning. How is it possible to be authentic if we have no understanding about the desires of the soul? Study the word of God and discover the desires of His heart as well as the content of your own soul. 

 

Hebrews 4:12For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-­edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

 

 

 

 

What Is Real?

One of the main things I teach in the Lifeskills' training is how to become more genuine. According to most researchers on management, counseling, marriage, family health, parenting, health care, agree that there are only a few relational skills that are key to success. Being real or genuine is one of them.

My friend Larry Chrouch says, "Once we can fake genuineness we have it made in life." I read a Cincinnati Enquirer article this morning about the enrollments in 2004. To my surprise, Marketing has more students than any other program. Why so many marketers?

One of the goals of marketing is to "sell the sizzle not the steak". Marketing is all about trying to influence people. I must admit that it is tempting to put on an act in order to influence others. This, however, can lead to self delusion if I begin to think that sizzle is my substance. Finding the real me, Being Genuine, is difficult when sizzle is dominant.

Being Genuine is also difficult for those who grew up in dysfunctional homes that had unwritten rules about ways to act. In my home a favorite phrase was, "What will people think" implying that the perceptions of others was more important than Genuineness. This can lead to behavior based on the Commandments:

Don't talk;
Don't feel;
Don't be honest;
Don't ask questions;
Don't reveal reality to anyone else.

This leads to a false and uncertain self analysis.

Genuineness is:

Knowing my own thoughts and feelings;
Naming my own thoughts and feelings;
Stating my own thoughts and feelings;
Managing my own thoughts and feelings.

Many of us are unaware of what we really think, feel or want in life and live according to the perceived desires of others. This leads us to attempt to "read minds" and try to behave in accord to the unspoken desires of those around us. This is death by perception rather than life by reality.

 
Comments?

 

What Is Real?

This is a question asked of the old horse in the book, The Velveteen Rabbit and often asked by me when I read so much hype and gory in the press. The following story illustrates just how difficult it is to know real from unreal.

At the fish counter, farm-raised salmon looks just like wild salmon. But as the COLOR ADDED labels cropping up in supermarkets suggest, the aquacultured fillet's pinkish hue is a testament to engineering, not nature. The labels refer to the food additives canthaxanthin and astaxanthin. Without them, the flesh of farmed salmon - which don't eat the krill that colors the wild ones - would be gray.

Complicating matters further, different retail buyers prefer different pinks. So clever fish farmers use the SalmoFan - a reference that, like paint chips, lets them pick a color. Add the right amount of chemical and get anything from bubble-gum bright to dusty rose. Hoffmann-LaRoche, which manufactured the supplements (now made by DSM Nutritionals), gave the fan away with 2003 shipments.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.02/start.html?pg=3

Almost every day I read stuff that I know is untrue yet it is promoted as factual. One of the strengths of my training is an ability to smell hype. For example, Michael More's film is mostly hype and gore but few facts. That will not matter to those who prefer "Urban Legends" to true facts. (Truth in scripture means, "Unveiled Reality".)

Among Christians we also have persons who prefer "Urban Legends" or "Spiritual Legends" that emphasize fear not faith; despair not hope and anger not love. Whomever is elected President we shall be safe in America and we shall not lose our freedoms. No matter what people say, God is in control of our future not the Republicans or Democrats.

"Lo, I will be with you until the end of the age." Jesus

Disaster, Chaos, FEAR, Anxiety and Pain (Are on the Decrease)

From Time Magazine, July 26, 2004)
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101040726-665068,00.html

According to a sweeping U.S. government study conducted by 20 federal departments and agencies and released last week, the kids are actually doing just fine. By almost any important measure, the report was bursting with good news:

teen birthrates are at record lows;
teen crime rates are plummeting;
kids are swearing off cigarettes
(the smoking rate for high school seniors is the lowest it has been in 29 years),

staying in school (87% of young Americans now earn high school diplomas)

getting much of the basic health care they need (immunization rates are high, for example, with 90% of kids getting vaccinated against hepatitis B and a record 81% against chicken pox).

"There are a lot of favorable developments," says Duane Alexander, director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, which contributed to the report. The survey used 25 health and social indicators to evaluate the approximately 73 million under-18 Americans, and on the whole, the investigators declared themselves exceedingly pleased.

For all the heat generated by the number of Americans without health insurance, fully 88% of kids do have coverage. What's more, 83% of children are considered in good or excellent health, and 81% of kids under 7 live in homes in which no one regularly smokes anymore.

Domestic life is becoming more stable too. Currently, 68% of children live with two married parents. While that's down from 77% a generation ago, it's a figure that has at least stayed steady for nearly a decade, suggesting that the long demographic decline of the two-parent household may have been arrested.

in 89% of those two-parent households at least one parent is working full time.

In addition, kids have been doing a better job of staying out of trouble. The number of violent crimes committed by teenagers plummeted 78% from 1993 to 2002--and the number of teen victims fell commensurately. "Over the last decade, 4.2 million serious crimes against youth did not occur that would have [otherwise] occurred," says Lawrence Greenfeld of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Gloom, doom, despair and fear are giving way to faith, hope and love.

FEAR =
False
Evidence
Appearing
Real

Take heart. God is at work among us.

Write your response to me at gsweeten@lifewaycenters.com

 

Lay Ministry
 
I have always had a strong passion to see ordinary men and women develop all their talents and gifts for the Lord whether or not they are paid as a minister. For the past 40 years I have done many things to develop and equip strong lay pastoral care and lay counseling programs in the USA, Russia, Norway, Singapore, etc. Over 200,000 men and women have bought our books, taken our seminars and moved boldly into special ministries of care, counsel and healing.
 
After all these experiences I have some insights. 

• Any pastoral leader who attempts to provide personal counseling and personal pastoral care to his/her congregation will fail to develop a growing, healthy church.
• Pastoral leaders have very little ability to change, influence and stimulate members to grow. Our influence has an effect only when we are in tune with the Holy Spirit. Most of what preachers, teachers, counselors and pastors say in our attempts to influence others is wasted, lost and useless.
• If leaders would learn some simple tools of the trade that all professionals counselors know they could prevent burn out, family conflicts, overwork, anxiety, fear of the board members, etc.
  There are simple biblical principles we can learn to help us improve our influence. Most Christian leaders fear one of the most important signs of impending change though the  influence of the Holy Spirit and our efforts. The key to effective influence is: 

Looking for and Welcoming Complaints! 
 
Complaints do not mean the member is upset; nor is it a request for us to act on the Complaint. It is simply a sign that there is
 
Conviction by the Holy Spirit. Conviction always makes us uncomfortable and so we complain.
 
Beg the Lord for Complaints!
Look for Complaints.
Rejoice in Complaints! 
They mean He is at work.
  
Out of our beliefs are born deeds;
out of our deeds we form habits;
out of our habits grows our character;
and on our character we build our destiny.
Henry Hancock

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This Fall I will be teaching a series of lessons on leadership, influence and lay ministry. There are hundreds of seminaries in the United States, all of which are designed to train professional clergy. For every full time, ordained clergy person there are hundreds of Christians. Yet, there are few if any places lay men and women can go to get trained in the practical skills of ministry.

This is my attempt to "Equip equippers to equip the saints to DO the work of the ministry". It will be for----

Sunday school teachers
Small group leaders
Community workers with the poor
Lay pastors
Lay counselors
Evangelists
Adult teachers
Administrators

We will help you define your call, gifts, talents, passion and ministry. We will teach you how to deal with Complainers and help them stop complaining about the same things all the time.

So, hang on and we will let you know when and where we shall meet.


 

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

There were 39 combat related killings in Iraq during the month of January

In the city of Detroit there were 35 murders in the month of January.

LifeWay Counseling Program

For the past 15 years we have operated the LifeWay Counseling Centers. For 7 of those years we also had an in-patient unit that was unique in the world in several respects. It was Christ-centered and biblically based as well as having a strong emphasis on involving the entire community of residents in their own healing and growth. I designed the program to mimic that which I had done at College Hill Church when we intentionally designed events to develop a healing community.

The primary source of healing and change is not the therapist but the client and his/her support system-including the Lord. At the LifeWay Unit we carefully involved all the residents in the ministry. We taught them how to commit acts of care, prayer, share and mutually bear each others' burdens. With the power, love and truth of God flowing so mightily we saw awesome results in the lives of the residents.

You can learn how to carry out many of the healing community practices by reading Hope and Change for Humpty Dumpty and by listening to our radio program 9:30 AM on WAKW 93.3 FM in Cincinnati.

People need the Lord and they need the healing of the Lord's people.

 
Our Motto

Changing leaders, One heart at a time
Changing churches, One leader at a time.
Changing communities, One church at a time.
Changing nations, One community at a time
Changing eternity, One day at a time.

Gary Sweeten

 

 

HOW THINGS WERE DIFFERENT IN 1904
 
The average life expectancy in America was 47.
 
Only 14% of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.
 
18% of American households had at least one full-time servant or domestic.
 
Only 8% of the homes had a telephone.  A three-minute call from Denver to New York cost $11.
Sugar cost $0.04/pound. Eggs were $0.14/dozen. Coffee cost $0.15/pound.
 
There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S. and only 144 miles of paved roads. The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
 
Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California. With a mere 1.4 million residents, California was the 21st most populated state in the Union.
 
The average wage in the U.S. was $0.22/hour. The average American worker made between $200-$400/year. A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000/year, a dentist $2,500/year, a veterinarian between $1,500-$4,000/year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000/year.
 
95% of all births in the U.S. took place at home. 90% of all U.S. physicians had no college education but attended medical schools. The five leading causes of death in the US were:

Pneumonia and influenza
Tuberculosis
Diarrhea
Heart disease
Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.
 
The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was 30.
 
One in ten American adults couldn't read or write. Only 6% of all Americans had graduated from high school.
 
There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.
 
The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.
 
Most women only washed their hair once a month and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
 
Coca Cola contained cocaine. Marijuana, heroin and morphine were all available over the counter at corner drugstores. According to one pharmacist, Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and the bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health.
 
Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country for any reason.
 
Are we better off today than in 1904?
 
(Then why are so many more Americans depressed, anxious and downhearted today than then? Are our expectations too high?)
 

 
 
 
Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.
Do the right thing no matter what

Peter Cochrane

  Russian Recovery
 
It has been about fifteen years since the USSR collapsed from atheistic dogma and irrationality. Their atheist’s faith in goofy theories and their hatred for Christian supernaturalism led inevitably to oppression, genocide and persecution. Now the hard work of recovery has begun but it is far from over. It will take generations for Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, Etc to develop a healthy political and economic system.
 
I spoke with Galina for over an hour last night about conditions in Russia and she is clearly nervous about the future of religious freedom. We are doing everything we can to build capacity and strength among individual believers in case the central government clamps down on Evangelical Christians.
 
When I hear some current political candidates news reporters discuss Iraq I am struck by how foolish their expectations are.  They seem to think that a nation can be built in a few weeks even if it has not history of freedom and democracy. It will take at least as long for Iraq to recover as it took Saddam to destroy it and will take the Russians many decades to build a free nation. Both places are opportunities for Christians influence but we need to move quickly.
 
The forces for destruction have not given up in Russia. Assaults upon freedom of speech and freedom of religion are rampant. Just as in the USSR the assaults are led by a court system that hates supernatural Christianity. Liberal, secular religion has always been loved by the socialist left wing for it promotes government control rather than freedom of religious choice. Mr Putin is a true believer but it appears he will support on Orthodoxy and resist all independent church groups.
 
Galina and her friends at Russia Lifeways are proclaiming God's word and works despite the resistance of the central government. It is an honor to work with these pioneers of godly nation building. Galina and her team are setting up ministry centers in  regions where the Soviets formerly brought death and destruction.
 
I wish all of you could go with me next month to Moscow where I will lead an intense healing retreat for our key leaders. They do their best but we must face the fact that they are all survivors of severe abuse, maltreatment, persecution and addictions. They are heroes in the war against the world, the flesh and the devil but they need a MASH Unit to tend to them at this time. 
 
Most of you cannot spend the $3000.00 plus it takes to travel personally to Russia and see how destructive atheistic socialism in the USSR has been. After ten ministry trips and several visits here by Galina I can assure you that only a revival of salvation, healing and lay ministry will bring about the recovery and nation building. 
 
Please consider a significant gift to make it possible for me to go to Russia and do this healing retreat and support Galina and her team as they press forward. We are committed to continue with teaching, a significant financial commitment and the translation of all our materials.
 
Here is how you can assist Lifeways Russia:
 
1. Pray for Galina and her team
2. Pray for my health and stamina as I travel and minister August 18-30.
3. Make a significant contribution to Russian Recovery in care of LifeWay Ministries, 4015 Executive Park Dr, # 305, Cincinnati 45241
4. Pray for Lifeways Russia to be able to minister in freedom and peace
5. Pray that the Lifeways web page will reach millions of addicted Russians
6. Pray for a Russian revival

 

Why Asia?
 
Gary Sweeten
 
I just returned from another trip to Singapore and that makes bout 30 times I have traveled there for teaching, preaching, consulting, etc. Rick Kalal was my traveling partner this trip and he noted that 30 trips are equal to two whole months in jumbo jets. Wow! That is a lot of sitting in tight little seats in the cattle cars of Northwest Airlines.
 
Why would anyone do such a thing? Why would I keep traveling to Asia and face all the hassles and security examinations, sleepless nights and jet lag? Money? Fame? Power? Book sales? Well, none of those things have happened yet so it must be something else.
 
I once told a friend that I like to be where the Lord is moving and acting. If the Apostle Paul came to New York I would want to be there. Well, the Holy Spirit is regularly visiting Asia and Singapore is the jumping off place for much of the work He is doing.
 
God spoke to me many years ago and said I would be doing a lot of ministry with families in Asia and to go when the call came. I try to do what God tells me to do so I answered the call when it came in 1995. After my heart attack I decided that I could slow down but the Lord thought differently so I am still going strong.
 
Way back in 1975 God told me He would be my travel agent if I would listen to His direction and go where He sent with no questions asked. I said, "OK, I'll go where You send me." Since then, I have traveled all over the world on the Lord's business. He has proven to be a wonderful international travel agent taking me to Israel, Germany, Norway, Egypt, Russia, Denmark, Taiwan, Sweden, Hong Kong, Thailand, England, Singapore, Cambodia, etc.
 
So, I go to Singapore several times each year because God told me that He anted me to help Asian families. This trip I developed a curriculum for children for Girls' Brigade that teaches them how to be like Tigger and bounce back from adversity instead of Eyore who fall into depression and anxiety every time something goes wrong. GB is an international ministry that evangelizes girls and women  and then trains them to be leaders.
 
God is moving in Asia and bringing many people to Himself. The millions who are coming to faith need to be discipled and equipped for ministry and taught how to live as Christians. We are fulfilling a small part of that need.
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
The very best place to be is whereever God is.
  
  
  
 

Russian Needs
 
As you may have read, the editor of the Russian edition of Forbes Magazine was recently murdered. This is a tragic event for the future of Russia depends upon law, justice and an open society. His family has requested that all donations be sent to religious and church groups trying to build a free Russia.
 
I am struck with the wisdom and insight of this family. Only a nation built upon biblical beliefs can prosper and develop a capitalist democracy. Few national and international leaders seem to realize this fact. If we want long-term peace and prosperity we must not only preach and teach the Bible here in the USA but also in Russia and China.
 
I return to lead a Breaking free retreat with Galina August 23-25. Please pray for God?s wisdom, protection and the power of the Holy Spirit to heal.
 
Christians are doing great things in the former USSR. We are sharing the good news; building churches; providing Bible training; bringing the love and healing power of God to a devastated people who have lost all hope.
 
You can make a difference by supporting a Christian ministry in Russia by prayer and financial contributions. The future belongs to those who make a difference.
 
Call me at 513-769-4600 for ways to help.