The more time you spend with God, the more God will dispel any fear that tries to take hold of your heart. Remember, the Lord is your light and your salvation, so you never need to be afraid!

Paul Maurer was on the plane back from the Fourth Lausanne Congress in South Korea when he began getting texts from work and home: a category 4 hurricane named Helene was plowing across the eastern United States, heading right for his home and the college he leads in the Asheville area. By the time Maurer landed Friday evening in Charlotte, North Carolina, Helene’s 140 mph winds and heavy rain had killed hundreds of people, destroyed towns, and caused landslides in multiple states. At Montreat College, where Maurer is president, one of the small mountain streams that runs through campus had become a raging river. McAlister Gymnasium at Montreat College on Friday during the storm / Courtesy of Montreat College “The lower level of our gym became part of the river,” he said. “Over five feet of water was running through the fitness center, the offices, and the classrooms.” The students were safe in the dorms, but didn’t have electricity or running water. Faculty and staff were at home, but Maurer didn’t know if they were okay and he couldn’t ask—there was no cell service. “I grew up and lived in tornado areas, and I lived in California in earthquake areas, but I’ve never seen anything of this magnitude,” he said. “It is surreal.” TGC asked Maurer if his faculty and staff made it, what he did with the hundreds of students still on campus, and how he saw God at work through it all. Was anyone who worked at Montreat killed or injured? As far as we know, no one died, and I’m not aware of any serious injuries. We have employees who lost their homes and all their earthly possessions. That is devastation, and that is real. But God protected our people. I tried to drive home Friday evening, but was stopped 20 miles from home by an interstate closure and state troopers who said there were no open roads into western North Carolina. I drove two hours back to Charlotte, where there were only a few hotel rooms left. I spent Saturday morning on the phone, triaging with my cabinet and reaching out for help. I was in Charlotte, and my VP for administration/CFO happened to be in Michigan. My head of communications was in Greenville, South Carolina. It was helpful that we weren’t on campus, because we could at least communicate with each other. It was harder to communicate with those on campus, because the phone service was badly compromised. Did you have to evacuate the students? We never issued an evacuation order. Instead, because floodwaters on Friday were so dangerous, we issued a shelter-in-place order. The power lines were down, the bridges were collapsed, and the trees were down everywhere, so it wasn’t safe for students to leave. The roads leading onto Montreat’s campus / Courtesy of Montreat College On Saturday, I called Edward Graham, the COO at Samaritan’s Purse and one of our board members. I told him we had students on campus and were about to run out of drinking water. Ten minutes later, he called me back and said we’d have a truckload of bottled water in the morning. Sure enough, Sunday morning the Coca Cola bottler in Charlotte delivered a truck full of bottled water. Their CEO made the call. What a blessing from God. By then, students were beginning to leave on their own. By Sunday lunch, there were only about 40 students left. By noon on Monday, we’d worked to find everyone a place to stay. How badly are your buildings damaged? Only one is completely unusable—that’s the gym. Some of the equipment was washed into Lake Susan, and the offices and classrooms are filled with mud and debris. But it’s still structurally sound, and we can restore it. About 9 other buildings were also damaged. Most of that is minor—wet carpets, leaking roofs and windows. One of the residence halls had standing water on the first floor for several days. That one has a little more damage. Will you be able to replace all of that? We have really good insurance, by God’s grace. The insurance adjuster was on site last week, and he immediately called in a dozen people to start remediation. We’ll be able to resume classes online on October 14 and hope to be back in person by October 21. Montreat’s campus / Courtesy of Montreat College The town was also quick to respond. The administration called contractors even before the storm hit. They were working by Monday morning, and by Wednesday the two washed-out bridges were passable and a washed-out road was reclaimed. The electricity is back on and they’re working on the water systems. All these good things are God’s blessings. How else have you seen God at work? The reality of the magnitude of devastation is shocking. It is utter devastation. You can see all the pictures and videos online, but it is completely different to drive through it, to live in it. Words cannot describe how bad it is. But the response of the Christian community, of the church, has been a beacon of light. A very large portion, from what I can tell, of the relief work has come from private, mostly faith-based organizations. Day after day, I see helicopters coming in and out from places like Samaritan’s Purse. A lot of churches are now distribution centers, where you can go for food, water, and clothing. Yesterday I got a call from Steve Thomas in Charlotte. He started a men’s Bible study in 2002. He said to me, “I need a staging area because I’m bringing 40 to 50 guys and a semitruck loaded with supplies.” I estimate that conversation has been multiplied hundreds of times. It’s organic, spontaneous, and community oriented. We’ve got people coming in from all over the country with pickup trucks full of supplies. Who are these people? It’s the church.

In recent years, evangelical missions has seen a renewed emphasis on international churches. These churches are typically located in major urban centers and operate in a shared language, such as English. With the rise of globalization and migration, such churches have become strategic beachheads for faithful Christian ministry. When these international congregations embody biblical practices, they become healthy models for indigenous leaders and their churches. And as like-minded churches in America witness that happening in challenging places like the Arabian Gulf or Southeast Asia, they’re excited to join the work—or see it replicated elsewhere. As elders of international churches in global cities, we’ve experienced the good these ministries can do. However, we believe the spread of the gospel to all peoples in all places requires more than healthy English-speaking international churches. We still need missionaries who go deep in language and culture and who plant indigenous churches among unreached peoples. Local Language Matters A key factor in the explosive fruitfulness of international churches in the Middle East and beyond has been the widespread use of English as a trade language. This has enabled these churches to invest in members, interns, and staff from some of the hardest-to-reach parts of the world. We think of a brother from the North Caucasus, a volatile, Muslim-dominated region of Southern Russia. It’s an area virtually inaccessible to foreign workers. But this young man, an English speaker, went through an internship at a healthy international church and is now serving among an extremely unreached people group. We praise God for the training this brother received. But what about local church leaders who don’t speak English or who can’t access such training? Some English-language churches are situated in places where English isn’t widely used, so they engage and serve a narrow sector of the population. And if their pastors only speak English (or another trade language), their influence among local leaders will be limited. The members won’t be able to evangelize or disciple everyone they want to reach. Strong partnerships with missionaries who speak the local language will mitigate some of these limitations, but the issue remains. We still need missionaries who go deep in language and culture and who plant indigenous churches among unreached peoples. When we consider the challenges of reaching minority-language groups, the need for such missionaries becomes clearer. These groups are often two languages removed from English-speaking contexts. To reach them, missionaries likely need to learn two languages—the national language and the language of the minority group. This requires a depth of integration that international churches by definition find difficult to attain. While we rejoice in the immediate opportunities to invest in meaningful ministry that come via English-language churches in hard places, we must recognize most missionaries still need to do the grinding work of language learning and cultural acquisition if many of the peoples of the world are to be reached with the gospel. Contextualization Matters A vital role that good international churches often play is to model the elements of a healthy church, such as meaningful membership and expository preaching. In pioneering areas, indigenous churches tend to have no model to emulate, no pattern to follow. The believers in these churches are often all first-generation Christians. Seeing the biblical elements of church practiced by their English-speaking sister congregations can be revolutionary. We must acknowledge, however, that even the most intentional and faithful English-speaking churches will have large cultural and linguistic gaps with surrounding churches, especially minority-language churches. Missionaries, in partnership with their national brothers and sisters, are needed to help translate faithful practices into contextualized forms. We’ve often had the chance to help national pastors discern the difference between “foreign” forms and the biblical principles behind those forms. On one occasion, I (Eric) spoke with a pastor who rejected the “rigid and formal” practice of church membership at our English-speaking church. After I clarified how we were aiming for biblical accountability and fellowship and not “Western rigidity,” he rejoiced. In the work of modest contextualization, international churches and cross-cultural missionaries can complement one another even as they labor side by side with their national brothers and sisters. Roles Matter A growing trend among some supporters of international church work is the tendency to equate the roles of missionary and elder. We believe these are different, though related, roles. At the risk of oversimplifying, elders have two main tasks: shepherding the flock and preaching the Word. Missionaries, on the other hand, can advance the gospel cross-culturally in a myriad of ways. Both should be recognized, affirmed, and held accountable by local churches (Acts 13:1–3; Eph. 4:12; Col. 1:7; 4:12; 1 Tim. 3; 3 John 5–8). Both proclaim the gospel. Both burn to see God’s name honored in local churches. Both will give an account for their labors (1 Cor. 3:10–15; Heb. 13:17). But they aren’t the same. Missionaries typically possess a burden to preach the gospel where Christ isn’t known (Rom. 15:20). William Carey was “obligated” to take the gospel to the unreached. Andrew Fuller and others helped send him. Adoniram Judson was always a missionary and sometimes an elder. Faithful missionaries who serve among growing Christian populations of the Global South aim to eventually hand off that work, as they dialogue with national brothers and sisters about the best time. Pastors, regardless of the ethnic or linguistic makeup of their churches, aim to serve established works, usually for the long haul. They desire to see the gospel flourish among God’s (already) gathered people, then send them out. International churches and cross-cultural missionaries can complement one another even as they labor side by side with their national brothers and sisters. Missions requires more than just local church elders. This doesn’t mean missionaries shouldn’t be church-centered in their work or biblically qualified. They should be. But they play vital roles in starting and strengthening churches globally in ways other than pastoring. Not to mention that women make up a majority of the missionary force and serve in eternally significant ways outside pastoral ministry. Women and men help build “gospel infrastructures” to make sure that work keeps progressing. This includes Bible translation, church planting, publishing, theological education, equipping pastors, evangelism training, student ministry, hymn-writing, and mentoring new missionaries—and, yes, some men may even serve as elders. Conflating these roles can simultaneously blunt the instincts of pioneers and undervalue the faithful, steady shepherding of God’s people. We Need Each Other As we’ve served overseas in various capacities, we’ve experienced the benefits of both being members of international churches and going deep in local language and culture. International churches can give new missionaries a place to land as they begin to acquire language and culture. They can model for less established indigenous churches how faithful churches function. They can train more elders and evangelists. They can come alongside missionaries in the discipleship of English-speaking local believers and leaders. Likewise, traditional missionaries have much to offer international churches. They may be members and serve as elders in those churches. They can help translate the culture. They can be a bridge to indigenous churches in the same city. They can continually direct the international churches’ eyes to the least engaged parts of the harvest field. They can be sent out to plant indigenous churches. There’s no silver bullet in the work to get the gospel to the peoples and places where it’s not yet firmly established. We believe more work needs to be done both through international churches and among indigenous language groups. May God weave that work into a beautiful tapestry of his grace and glory. And may he give us all the wisdom to carry out our roles with humility.

In this lecture, Don Carson explores the multiple meanings of “logic” and its application to biblical interpretation, emphasizing the importance of avoiding exegetical fallacies. He highlights the tension between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility, acknowledging the limits of human understanding while still commending a biblical framework for understanding these concepts rather than relying solely on systematic theology. He explores the following: Logic, its various meanings, and its application in biblical study Biblical interpretation and God’s sovereignty God’s sovereignty and human responsibility The limitations of understanding God’s nature and sovereignty How to understand biblical theology and its application in evangelism The structure and interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount

We all saw it coming, and now it's official

Now that former President Donald Trump has made a series of statements regarding the federal response to Hurricane Helene, elements of the Regime Media have found their angle with which to cover the recovery. The real scandal is not the slowness of response or hurricane emergency funding shortfall, but Trump’s statements. The story of Hurricane Helene recovery is in the process of being Trumpwashed. This should come as a surprise to no one. I predicted as much last week, when Trump issued his first statement on the response: Money in the bank prediction: Now that there’s a Trump statement, the Regime Media will cover the FEMA shortfall crisis. HOWEVER: the angle will be some combo of “Trump politicizes Helene recovery” and/or “Trump attacks migrants”. The Trump statement will be the reported scandal,… pic.twitter.com/S2Qv5MO5he — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) October 3, 2024 It took about a week, but the Regime Media have stepped up and made Trump’s statements the real scandal. Consider how ABC World News Tonight covered a single sentence where Trump quotes someone else, and makes that into the scandal: DAVID MUIR: Tonight, with Hurricane Milton now fast approaching just days after Hurricane Helene slammed into the U.S., former President Trump targeting FEMA again today, just as millions try to recover from this. Vice President Kamala Harris blasting Trump for spreading dangerous misinformation. And what she said about this today. Here's Rachel Scott. RACHEL SCOTT: Tonight, with Florida bracing for a monster storm, as Georgia and North Carolina reel from the effects of the last one, Vice President Kamala Harris blasting Donald Trump for spreading falsehoods about FEMA, which has been on the ground for days. Harris appearing today on ABC's The View. ANA NAVARRO: What do you think the effect of these lies are, and why is he doing this? KAMALA HARRIS: It's profound, and it is the height of irresponsibility, and, frankly, callousness. I fear that he really lacks empathy. On a very basic level. To care about the suffering of other people, and then understand the role of a leader is- is not to beat people down, it's to lift people up. Especially in a time of crisis. SCOTT: But today, Trump again talking about FEMA. DONALD TRUMP: They said that there was just no FEMA. You virtually don't see anybody from FEMA. That single sentence from Trump took over a minute to frame as “dangerous misinformation.” But the fact is that there were and remain many individuals with grave concerns over the early response to Helene. There is still an indeterminate number of bodies to be recovered from the muck and water. And there is zero doubt that, were a Republican president today, the Regime Media would be covering these response deficiencies onsite.  NBC firefought a different statement: DONALD TRUMP: For one thing, a billion dollars was stolen from FEMA to use it for illegal migrants. GABE GUTIERREZ: That's not true. FEMA has distributed more than a billion dollars to shelter migrants, but the agency says that's from a separate government program, not disaster relief. Trump also falsely claims residents are only being offered $750, even though they can qualify for more.  Gabe Gutierrez’s firefighting notwithstanding, any reasonable individual can look both at the hurricane fund shortfall and the money spent on the Shelter Services Program, and come to the same conclusion that many of us did, including Trump.  Here, again, the purpose of this story is to forward a narrative of competence, which would be untruthful. And, as I foretold, Trump’s statements are the story of Helene recovery, instead of the people. Helene recovery got Trumpwashed. Click “expand” to view the full transcripts of the aforementioned reports as aired on their respective network evening newscasts on Tuesday, October 8th, 2024: ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT 10/8/24 6:40 PM DAVID MUIR: Tonight, with Hurricane Milton now fast approaching just days after Hurricane Helene slammed into the U.S., former President Trump targeting FEMA again today, just as millions try to recover from this. Vice President Kamala Harris blasting Trump for spreading dangerous misinformation. And what she said about this today. Here's Rachel Scott. RACHEL SCOTT: Tonight, with Florida bracing for a monster storm, as Georgia and North Carolina reel from the effects of the last one, Vice President Kamala Harris blasting Donald Trump for spreading falsehoods about FEMA, which has been on the ground for days. Harris appearing today on ABC's The View. ANA NAVARRO: What do you think the effect of these lies are, and why is he doing this? KAMALA HARRIS: It's profound, and it is the height of irresponsibility, and, frankly, callousness. I fear that he really lacks empathy. On a very basic level. To care about the suffering of other people, and then understand the role of a leader is- is not to beat people down, it's to lift people up. Especially in a time of crisis. SCOTT: But today, Trump again talking about FEMA. DONALD TRUMP: They said that there was just no FEMA. You virtually don't see anybody from FEMA. SCOTT: But our team has been on the ground in the storm zone for days, personally witnessing the efforts of FEMA and the National Guard. Homeowners who have told us FEMA has been there to help them. Today, President Biden accusing Trump of misleading people and creating panic. JOE BIDEN: This is going to sound, and to use an old phrase: un-American. It really is. People are scared to death. People know their lives are at stake. All that they work for, all they own, all that they value. SCOTT: David, four weeks to go and this race is still locked in a dead heat, but a New York Times-Siena poll out tonight is showing some movement. Vice President Kamala Harris holding a slight lead over Donald Trump at 49%. The former president at 46%. Also notable tonight, it's the first time this poll has shown more voters view Harris as the candidate representing change, 46% to 44% for Donald Trump, David. MUIR: Rachel Scott. Always good to have you in person here at the desk. Thanks, Rachel. NBC NIGHTLY NEWS 10/8/24 6:51 PM LESTER HOLT: Back now with a growing political storm over the federal hurricane response with The White House trying to fight what it calls rampant misinformation. Gabe Gutierrez reports, and asks the head of FEMA about their response. GABE GUTIERREZ: Tonight, in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and with Hurricane Milton barreling towards Florida, President Biden is calling misinformation about the federal response un-American. JOE BIDEN:  It puts people in circumstances where they panic, where they really, really, really worry and think they're not being taken care of. GUTIERREZ: Former President Trump and some of his allies keep spreading false claims. DONALD TRUMP: For one thing, a billion dollars was stolen from FEMA to use it for illegal migrants. GUTIERREZ: That's not true. FEMA has distributed more than a billion dollars to shelter migrants, but the agency says that's from a separate government program, not disaster relief. Trump also falsely claims residents are only being offered $750, even though they can qualify for more. KAMALA HARRIS: He really lacks empathy on a very basic level to care about the suffering of other people. GUTIERREZ: On social media, even more outlandish conspiracy theories are exploding, from false claims of FEMA stealing money from donations to the government controlling the weather from Antarctica. DEANNE CRISWELL: The amount of misinformation just continues to grow unnecessarily, and it's just really creating an interference for us to be able to do the job that we need to do. It prevents them from actually coming in and asking for help. GUTIERREZ: But we also pressed the FEMA administrator about criticism of the federal response. THOM TILLIS: The administration was slow to get started. We're only beginning to see that mobilize about a week too late. GUTIERREZ: Including from Helene survivors. HELENE SURVIVOR: I hear them say on the radio that FEMA is here, but I haven't seen them. GUTIERREZ: What do you say to people like her? CRISWELL: I think the best thing I would say to this is, just because you don't see a person wearing a FEMA shirt does not mean that we're not here. GUTIERREZ: In Florida, there’s another political storm brewing between Governor Ron Desantis and Vice President Kamala Harris. A source familiar with the situation tells NBC News he’s refused to take her calls. HARRIS: It is utterly irresponsible and it is selfish. GUTIERREZ: Overnight, Desantis fired back saying he did not know she called, adding he’s spoken with President Biden and Harris has no role in the process. RON DESANTIS: She’s the first one who is trying to politicize the storm, and she’s doing that just because of her campaign. GUTIERREZ: Meanwhile, a White House official tells us they're preparing to fight misinformation ahead of this latest storm, calling the false rumors the worst they’ve seen. Lester. HOLT: All right. Gabe Gutierrez, thank you.  

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