"Hate Wont Heal" - A response to protests of faith based medical ministry

"Hate Won't Heal!"

This is the mantra of a special interest group peacefully protesting a clinic in Manhattan that is run by the faith based organization, Samaritans Purse. According to the AMNY article posted recently, the organization has turned away volunteers who are unwilling to sign a statement of faith in order to work for them. The key issue being that Samaritan’s Purse believes that marriage is between a male and a female. So is Samaritan’s Purse expressing hate towards a people group by not hiring them, even though they are not turning away anyone from receiving services in the clinic? Let’s explore:

All organizations have a collection of ideals, beliefs, and culture that makes up their identity. If you want to work for an organization, then you are choosing to represent them, including their ideals, beliefs, and culture, to the public at large and all who you encounter. If you do not share this identity then you should not try and work for this organization, and this organization does not want you working for them. Microsoft does not want an employee who believes that Google Drive is the best collaboration software, and Starbucks does not want an employee who hopes to convince everyone that coffee tastes bad. Mount Siani Hospital told Samaritan’s Purse that they could not operate inside their facility because they didn’t share the same ideals. In the same sense, a group that is a registered faith based organization has the legal ability to require people who work for them (employee or volunteer) to adhere to a statement of faith to ensure that there is a shared belief. So is this hate?

Hate is an intense or passionate dislike for something or someone. So if you hated someone you would act to exclude them from your life. So is Samaritan’s Purse acting hateful buy using their legal ability to exclude people who wont sign a statement of faith from representing them? Are companies hateful for not hiring some one who doesn’t represent their ideals? Was the hospital hateful by not allowing Samaritan’s Purse to work in their facility?

No. A hateful organization would exclude people they dislike from their products, from their clinics, and from the benefits of their skill and services being offered. They would make efforts to limit their benefits to only those who believe, or look, or talk the way that they like. This is not what Samaritan’s Purse, and many other faith based groups like it, are doing. This is not what the hospital was doing either. Mount Siani worked out a way to oversee the clinics that were established in Manahatan so that the service and product could still be provided to all of the public without compromising the ideals they held. Samaritan’s Purse has made it clear, and demonstrated it over decades of service, that ALL are welcome to come and be served and cared for. That ALL, regardless of background, belief, and ideal, will be loved and blessed through their programs. No one has been turned away from the clinics. No exclusion, no limits, no hate.

Sadly, we do have to acknowledge that there are groups who claim to follow the teachings found in the Bible and willfully express hate, exclusions, and rejection to many people groups. To them I challenge to read Matthew 10 where Jesus sent his disciples to go and minister to the people in the towns ahead. He challenged them “(8) Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.”. We received the free gift of salvation and many other blessings and we should be freely demonstrating that unconditional love to all around us.

Now before you accuse us of skipping over the part where Jesus told them to bypass towns of Samaritans and gentiles, remember that God challenged Peter in the vision of animals in a sheet that he should “… not call anything impure that God has made clean.” (Acts 10:15) and sending him and many others to go to the gentiles specifically. Jesus’s instructions at the time were specific to a larger plan God had in place to invite the whole world into a redeemed relationship with him. “(3) This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, (4) who desires all men [mankind] to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (I Timothy 2:3-4). Jesus met with and taught gentiles and even Samaritan women (considered culturally undesirable and social outcasts at the time) throughout his ministry.

So because of what we see in scripture, we can actually consider the actions of Samaritan’s Purse the exact opposite of Hate. Not only are they not excluding people from the benefits of their skills and service, but they are inviting all who come to them for help (with no stipulations, catches, or quid-pro-quo) to be healed physically, and have the opportunity to be healed spiritually as well (though not required). A review of their operational history shows a long line of effective efforts to serve the most vulnerable in the world as a mercy mission.

So to those peaceful protesters working hard to root out hate, we agree… Hate Won’t Heal … but the Love of God demonstrated through the hands of those who have made Him their Lord, can heal.

You Are the Church - not just the ministry staff

“You know what is a good idea? Our church should have a grocery delivery service for the elderly! … “

Around the country right now, pastors, ministers, and other leaders are hearing a lot of ‘great ideas’ on how to serve the community during the pandemic. Yet, when it comes time to implement these ideas… they stand alone, with maybe one or two volunteers, for a couple hours, every month or so.

What happened to all the enthusiasm in the discussion of the ‘great idea’? Where did everyone go?

Sadly, there is a prevalent mentality that only full time staff of ministries and organizations are supposed to lead and work in service of these ministries. To rely on the spiritual leaders to do all the acts of service and ministry would be to attempt to operate the Body of Christ while paralyzed from the neck down. This is not an effective approach for the Church to demonstrate God’s love to our neighbors.

Matthew 9:37-38 “Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Each of us is called to invest our time, talent, and resources towards Kingdom based service for those around us, and in our spheres of influence. The parable of the servants with 1, 2, and 5 ‘talents’ (money) and how they invested those gifts from their master is a direct example of how God has invested in us, and wants us to invest in others. Don’t be like the servant who buried his investment.

I Peter 4:10 “ As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace.”

You don’t have to have a theology studies degree, or a spiritual sounding title, to mow lawns, pick up groceries, or set up daily Skype calls for elderly and vulnerable who are facing the greatest risk and challenges. You don’t have to be a ordained minister to donate funds to a single parent who can’t afford to keep the utilities on while out of work. You, just the way you are, can serve others when they need it the most, right now.

Focus on your strengths and apply them as acts of love towards others weaknesses. There is a church in Colorado that has called on the young and healthy to set aside time to work in their food rescue program that feeds hundreds of families a week. Some ministers are calling for those whole are financially secure to pray about setting aside significant portions of the stimulus money to build a fund to directly help those who are financially struggling during this season. One organization has set up a phone line for elderly to order groceries, as a simpler and more familiar method than trying to order online or on phone apps. Several groups are creating a list of people to check-in with everyday to help with their mental health. There are many ways to help, to invest, to love your neighbors. The question really is, how will you choose to serve?

John 12:26 “If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.”

So the next time you have a great idea on how to love your neighbor, take the initiative, find like minded people, commit some of your time, your skill, and your resources to making it happen. I think you will be surprised at how rewarding and life giving it can be, especially during this crisis.

COVID-19: Demonstrating God's Love while Social Distancing (Or Sheltering-in-Place)

“God love’s you, but don’t come near me…”

In a season where getting too close to someone could be view as an insensitive and dangerous act, how should the Church, the Body of Christ, the hands of Jesus, act?

Bottom line up front: Love your neighbor, especially now.

Let us start by clarifying that you should definitely listen to, and follow the guidance and directives of, your authorities in regards to social distancing and public health orders. (Romans 13:1 All of you must obey those who rule over you. There are no authorities except the ones God has chosen. Those who now rule have been chosen by God [NASB]). Also, if you have underlying health issues or are in the higher risk categories for COVID-19, please, please, please focus on taking care of yourself and your family and listen carefully to your doctor.

Then we would like to quickly follow that up for the rest of you by stating that unless you are under a shelter in place, quarantine, or isolation public health order you should not be locking yourself into the bathroom hiding from the germs with a Lysol spray can and a bottle of sanitizer in each hand. Neither should you be running around the neighborhood hugging everyone and sharing an iced tea as they come out to check their mail.

This is a season that will require tremendous amounts of wisdom and mountains of faith, hand-in-hand. So how do we continue to demonstrate God’s love to our neighbors, while practicing social distancing?

For churches and organizations that host services and events that are still able to meet under the local guidelines:

• Modify your practices to spread out seating arrangements and leave more space for movement in the room.

• Add some service times and encourage people to register for a time slot to avoid crowding.

• Step up the cleaning game, and wipe everything down with the appropriate cleaners more frequently.

• Instead of a coffee and bagel station free for all, have a volunteer make everyone’s drinks and snacks.

If your organization is unable to host services and events due to guidelines that limit the number of people gathered together:

• Get serious about empowering small group leaders. Jesus taught 12, who taught 70, who taught the masses. Start investing heavily in their spiritual discipleship and release them to minister as pastors in their spheres of influence.

What about those of under Shelter-in-Place or Quarantine Public Health Orders… How do we keep "Gathering together in fellowship”?

• Welcome to 2020! Time to go digital with Sunday services.

• Learn about live streaming, vlogging, and digital mediums.

• Shorten your sermons and break them up for release throughout the week.

• Encourage the worship team to record acoustic songs and post them for the congregation to worship too.

Great, we figured out how to modernize the traditional Sunday service… but how do we love neighbors while social distancing and the coffee shop is closed?

• Keep the doors unlocked (not literally) – the most desperate who have lost all else and have no where else to go will knock on your door. These are the least of these that we MUST serve and demonstrate God’s love for them.

• Create a web-page on your church website for people to ask for help for finances, groceries, and other needs (not just asking people to give donations). 

• Identify the the elderly and those with underlying health conditions, then speak to them, in consultation with their doctors, about providing groceries, transportation to doctor visits, and other assistance. (Or start a game of tic-tac-toe on their front window with erasable markers, with permission of course.)

• Find those who have lost their income, and might need assistance with food and basic needs. Their world has just been turned up-side down and they need a shoulder to cry on (from 6 feet away) and a listening ear to hear their struggle… then take action on their behalf.

Ok, that’s great, but what if our community is under a quarantine or shelter-in-place? Now it gets challenging. Many people will not be able to work from home and some will lose their income, which can lead to homelessness, and food insecurity. Identify the most vulnerable to these problems in your community and talk to them about the best ways to help them:

• If someone is about to lose their home, find them a family to take them in.

• If someone is without food, bring them groceries.

• If someone is limited by health concerns, take care of the rest of the family for them. 

• Find those single parents who are still working in essential jobs and provide them support, childcare, encouragement.

• Set up a system to check on the elderly and high risk individuals.

• Use digital apps that focus on your community (like nextdoor) and encourage your neighbors.

There are dozens of ways we can be compassionate, loving ambasidors for God during this crisis. We can use modern technology to overcome the limitations. If you have ideas on how to demonstrate God’s love in your community, put them in the comments below. We would love to share them.

In general the church needs to reach out to each other and form a unified effort to serve their community, help their neighbors, and demonstrate God’s love.

COVID-19: Terms, Authorities, Links and more...

Words matter…

In recent weeks, and in the coming months you will hear a lot of words that you may not have heard as a common part of your day. This article is a storehouse of links, references, and definitions related to the COVID-19 incident. We hope it helps to clear up our conversations and provide a foundation for us to speak with hope, love, and peace as we strive to demonstrate God’s love to our neighbors.

Definitions:

Epidemic: A rapid spread of an infectious disease to a large number of people in a given population within a short period of time.

Pandemic: An infectious disease epidemic that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents, or worldwide.

Containment: A set of actions that persons and communities can take to help to contain the spread of infectious diseases. 

Isolation:  Used to separate ill persons who have a communicable disease from those who are healthy. Isolation restricts the movement of ill persons to help stop the spread of certain diseases.

Quarantine: Used to separate and restrict the movement of well persons who may have been exposed to a communicable disease to see if they become ill. These people may have been exposed to a disease and do not know it, or they may have the disease but do not show symptoms. Quarantine can also help limit the spread of communicable disease.

Mitigation: A set of actions that persons and communities can take to help slow the spread of respiratory virus infections. Community mitigation is especially important before a vaccine or drug becomes widely available. Some of mitigation strategies include movement restrictions, social distancing, event closures, etc.

Lock-down/Shut-down: A vague misleading statement used by media with little to no correlation to actual technical terms. (Link is of a clarification press release after a public health order).

Important authorities that enable the government to respond to the pandemic:

Stafford Act: designed to bring an orderly and systematic means of federal natural disaster assistance for state and local governments in carrying out their responsibilities to aid citizens. A presidential disaster declaration or an emergency declaration triggers financial and physical assistance to States, and in some instances, individuals.

Defense Production Act: A broad set of authorities to influence domestic industry in the interest of national emergencies. The authorities can be used across the federal government to shape the domestic industrial base so that, when called upon, it is capable of providing essential materials and goods needed for the national emergencies.

Public Health Service Act: Authorizes the HHS Secretary to take measures to prevent the entry and spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries into the United States and between states. The CDC can detain, medically examine, and release persons arriving into the United States and traveling between states who are suspected of carrying these communicable diseases. List of Diseases.

Public Health Orders: Legally enforceable orders (fines and imprisonment) from the medical director of a jurisdiction (federal/state/tribe/county/city) for the public to take actions that address a significant health issue. Examples include shutting down public events, public spaces, ordering businesses to operate with unique conditions, etc. This can also include isolation and quarantine.

Marshal Law: Not applicable unless the local government either collapses or loses the ability to enforce its authority within its jurisdiction. A very extreme measure and not advisable in most cases.

Links to verifiable accurate information to help you stay informed:

CDC World Map: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/world-map.html 

CDC Situation Reports: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports/ 

CDC Updates: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fcases-in-us.html 

DHS Updates: https://www.dhs.gov/coronavirus 

FEMA Emergency Declaration: https://www.fema.gov/news-release/2020/03/13/covid-19-emergency-declaration

As needed, we will update this article to reflect more terms and sources in order to keep you well informed.

Now go, and be prepared to demonstrate God’s love at all times, especially now, during this crisis.

COVID-19 - Live Discussion!

At 8:00 pm Eastern, on March 18th, we will be hosting a live conversation with our president, and experienced emergency management professional, Benj Korson.

There is a lot of confusion, scary rumors, and misinformation out there. We want to help you understand some of what is going on and provide practical steps toward being better prepared to love your neighbor.

We will upload the video after the live chat to this page for future reference.

#OoR #OutOfRubble

We Launched Early! ... Now What?

If you are reading this, you are here because we launched early in response to a world wide pandemic and you want to know what you as a follower of Jesus should be doing.

Breathe …

Seriously, take a deep breath, and relax. All the stress, worry, and fear is not helping your immune system. You all know the stock scriptures concerning worry (Matt 6:25-27, John 14:27) and fear (2 Tim 1:7, 1 John 4:18), but it can be difficult to live those verses out when experiencing a crisis in your own life. The best thing you can do is root yourself deep into God’s words and spend time praying and worshiping (even if it is all by yourself as you practice social distancing and washing your hands).

Over the next few weeks, Out of Rubble will walk with you through this journey and encourage you. We will host live events where you can ask questions and one of our experienced professionals will do their best to answer them. We will post articles providing practical steps and guides for you. We will build and provide tools for you to take into your community and begin putting into practice the idea of demonstrating God’s love at all times, but especially during a crisis.

We did not plan on launching for a few more months, and as such we are still putting together some aspects of our organization. Also, we are a very small team. So be patient with us and the limitations that come with a small team. This means that as we scale and grow with the organization, we will be able to do more. I ask that you join us in this journey. Sign up for the newsletter (it will be started over the summer), follow all of our social media (especially facebook, youtube and twitter), and encourage your friends and family to join in as well.

Stay tuned, more will be coming as we ramp up quickly.

#OoR #OutOfRubble #RestorationCoalition

#FriendlyNeighborhoodEmergencyManager

What does Out of Rubble mean?

The name Out of Rubble comes from when I was reading the book of Nehemiah while deployed in support of the 2010 Earthquake that struck Haiti. During my time there and throughout my career I have repeatedly seen the christian community caught completely unprepared to continue the great commission during crisis in their community. 

In Nehemiah 4:2 the world was mocking the people that were doing the work God had set before them in rebuilding the destroyed walls of Jerusalem. The mockers said, “...Can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble even the burned ones?”. The response of God’s people in verse 4:6 is paramount to why Out of Rubble was started, “So we built the wall … for the people had a mind to work.” This story reflects a group of independent families who previously had not worked well together and lived exposed to the elements. It tells of their unifying desire to act as one body with many parts to do a great work of God and rebuild a destroyed wall around a city in a miraculous 52 days. 

Throughout my career I've seen failures and successes hinge on the simple factor of whether or not an organization or community is willing to partner with those around them and build back stronger. Out of Rubble is intended to foster and be a unifying force to help prepare, equip, and organize the many fellowships of believers collaboratively, but independently, toward the great work of being able to demonstrate God’s love to a broken and hurting community during times of crisis and disaster. 

The Body of Christ’s role in a disaster is clear in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.’’

The model upon which Restoration Coalitions was formed is based on Proverbs 27: 10 “Do not forsake your own friend or father’s friend, And do not go to your brother’s house in the day of calamity; Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother far away.“ Our hope is that the local churches, ministries, and businesses who follow Jesus would choose to coordinate together, support each other, and provide a unified front to demonstrate God’s love to the surrounding community during those vital times in the midst of disaster and crisis.

So Out of Rubble is a picture of Jesus’ church being firmly planted on a solid rock foundation, and actively working together to rebuild the houses and lives of the community from the rubble.