I survived the end of the world

But I'm pretty tired

Alright, so even though I try to space out delivery times for these Memos, I typically schedule them for sometime in the morning. That didn’t happen today (obviously), and I’d like to tell you why. I’m currently in Dallas for the first-of-its-kind (we think) pro-life men’s conference, hosted by the wonderful people at Care Net.

I’ve been speaking at the annual conferences of Care Net (the large umbrella organization for pregnancy resource centers around the country) for years now. So when they put together this one, simply to motivate men to become increasingly involved in the fight for life in America, they asked me to be the emcee. I’m super excited about it, first and foremost because I believe in the cause, but second because I’m going to get to meet one of my favorite preachers, Dr. Tony Evans.

Yes, yes, I’m sure there are theological differences between us on some things, but I’ve listened to many of his sermons and they’ve motivated and encouraged me – as well as provided a different and important perspective to ministry than what I’m used to. Anyway, I’m very excited about it and will come back to this whole conference in a minute.

But anyway, I flew out of Indy Thursday night and had every intention of writing this Memo on the plane. It didn’t happen for a whole host of reasons, not the least of which was I struggled to concentrate surrounded on either side by a couple of *interesting* seatmates. We’ll just leave it at that. Once I got to the hotel last night, I was exhausted and my mind wasn’t clicking, so I decided to go to bed, get up early, and write and send this first thing.

As it turns out, the ol’ Hampton Inn where I’m staying sits right along the interstate – a road that is a bit more heavily traveled here in Dallas than County Road 200 South there in central Indiana. I COULD NOT SLEEP. I decided to try my airpods, and started playing my Bible app’s narrator, and started in First John. Soon it was Second John. Then Third. I blew through Jude and before I knew it there were dragons and beasts and the antichrist and Armageddon. When I finally woke up this morning (moments ago, in fact), I was thankful to have survived the Second Coming and final judgment that occurred sometime during the night. Next time I’ll start in Habakkuk.

Anyway, back to this conference. The theme we are pushing is “called and missioned,” with the stated goal of helping men to see that throughout the pages of Scripture, God the Father and God in Christ first call those they wish to use, and then “mission” them with a purpose. Moses was first called by God, then he was given a mission. Each of the disciples was first called by God, then they were given a mission. So on and so forth.

The enemy of mankind has shrewdly worked in our popular culture to neutralize men from engaging the topic of life. It’s a widely accepted narrative embraced even in many pro-life circles (what percentage of the staff of pregnancy centers and pro-life organizations are men?) that without a womb, men have no role in this cause. And beyond that, consider the all-too-typical exchange in our society:

Abortion advocate: “You pro-lifers only care for the baby, you don’t care what happens to the woman.”

Life advocate: “That’s not true. Look at the massive number of pregnancy centers and ministries all working to love them both.”

Do you notice something that’s been left out? Abortion intimately involves three individuals. The baby and the two parents. But so often one of those parents is left out of the conversation entirely. They also are often left out of grief counseling and trauma outreach despite the fact that they too have lost something precious in abortion.

When a young unwed mother became pregnant in Nazareth 2,000 years ago, notice what God did. He sent an angel to comfort, counsel, and call the mother to her divine role in His plan to redeem mankind. But that’s not all. He also sent an angel to comfort, counsel, and call a man to his divine role in the same.

Statistics tell us exactly what we expect – when a woman finds out she is having an unplanned pregnancy, who is the first person she contacts about it? The man who got her pregnant. And when women who have had abortions are asked what one individual was most influential in her decision to get an abortion, guess who she identifies by a wide, wide margin? The man who got her pregnant.

That’s what this conference is about and why I’m so excited about the next couple days. I know it will be a whirlwind event, starting tonight and going through tomorrow evening before I hop back on a plane, get home, sleep, and then preach on Sunday morning. But if you are a praying person, would you consider praying for this event, and the hundreds of men who will be here?

Would you please pray for the speakers, the coordinators, the musicians, and most of all for the Holy Spirit to move in a powerful way to speak to those whom God is calling and giving an important mission to defend the defenseless, and protect the powerless in our very midst?

I’ll let you know how it went soon.

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ICYMI…

Last week we welcomed the two auditioned choirs from the local high school to our worship services. It was such a blessing to hear that many teenagers praising God with their talents. I pray that they believe those words they sang. I preached that morning on the very culturally-relevant topic of “identity” and how those who think like Jesus will understand the topic:

Also, this week was President Biden’s first State of the Union Address. I gave him my best ideas for what he could talk about on Monday, and then wrote up my real-time reactions to what he actually said Tuesday. You can find them both here:

• Some ideas for President Biden’s State of the Union Address

• If you missed the State of the Union, here’s my live stream of consciousness while watching