Yesterday, I wrote about participation and suggested that some churches don’t seem to be tapping into today’s participation culture. Here’s an example: World Magazine recently shared a report from Lifeway:

A recent report from Lifeway Research found the Southern Baptist Convention’s membership declined for the 18th consecutive year in 2024. The SBC lost 259,824 members, a 2% drop. Its total membership was 12,722,266 at the end of the year, the report said.

The denomination also lost 30 churches in 2024…

Any good news for the SBC? The denomination reported that 250,643 individuals were baptized in 2024—the highest annual total since 2017. The ratio of baptisms to members also improved, rising to 1:51 last year from 1:57 in 2023. In-person church attendance also rose by 6.3%, up to 4,304,625 each week.

I’m trying to make sense of these numbers: if the SBC has 12.7M members, how is it good news that weekly church attendance is up to 4.3M, about a third? What are some lessons?

• Membership doesn’t seem to come with a lot of expectations.
• One author, I think Thom Ranier, said that the solution was to make membership requirements clear. I think the solution is to make the services so compelling that more people would want to come.
• Another solution might be training so that people better understand the service/sermon. It would be interesting to do a study on what people carry away from a sermon. Clearly, if they are discipled Jesus followers, they will get more from a sermon, especially if they’re given the text in advance.
• Of course, how many people attend church is not nearly as important as what they do as a result of that attendance. More on that tomorrow.

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. (James 1.22, ESV)

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. (Matthew 7.24 – 27, ESV)

I’m haunted by something Seth Godin wrote a few weeks ago:

The skeptics said that people wanted to watch videos, not make them. Nearly everyone with a phone is now a self-published media creator. The combination of production tools and free distribution has completely upended the media, which in turn has upended the culture.

65,000,000 people have uploaded a video to YouTube. In 1980, there were 8 movie studios actively producing mass market movies. – Seth Godin, May 6, 2025

In other words, it’s becoming a participation culture. I’m wondering how to tap into that kind of participation and creativity in the church, which has evolved so far to be a passive activity, “people who watch videos, not make them.” People who “go to church” – a finite number of churches, a place where one goes to see something put on for them, a worship experience, perhaps. But the real energy of the Kingdom is ALL the people participating.

Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord. (Acts 11.19 – 21, NKJV)

The Church at Antioch, the church that sent out Paul and Silas in Acts 13, was founded by laymen who didn’t wait for permission! More to follow tomorrow…stay tuned.

We start this week with Psalm 57, which repeats this sentiment twice:

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; Let Your glory be above all the earth. (Psalm 57.5, 11, NKJV)

Under what conditions did David write this? Yep. He was under attack…again:

To the Chief Musician. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” A Michtam of David When He Fled from Saul into the Cave. (Psalm 57, Introduction, NKJV)

And the rest is a prayer…

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, Until these calamities have passed by. I will cry out to God Most High, To God who performs all things for me. He shall send from heaven and save me; He reproaches the one who would swallow me up.

Selah [Just means “Think about it,” remember?]

God shall send forth His mercy and His truth. (Psalm 57.1 – 4, NKJV)

…and praise:

My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise. Awake, my glory! Awake, lute and harp! I will awaken the dawn. I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing to You among the nations. For Your mercy reaches unto the heavens, And Your truth unto the clouds. (Psalm 57.7 – 10, NKJV)

“God will send forth his mercy and his truth…For your mercy reaches unto the heavens, and your truth unto the clouds.” Mercy AND truth. Both. Some of us need to learn to temper truth with mercy. Others need to make sure that they don’t sacrifice truth on the altar of mercy.

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1.17, ESV)

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ… (Ephesians 4.15, ESV)

Sunday’s blog, Gifted and Talented?, pointed out that it’s not talent, it’s hard work – TRAINING – that leads to extraordinary performance.

My son, Mark, the competitive stair racer, sent me a quote from Once a Runner by John L. Parker. I posted it as a comment, but most readers won’t see it there. It’s worth a separate blog:

What was the secret, they wanted to know; in a thousand different ways they wanted to know The Secret. And not one of them was prepared, truly prepared, to believe that it had not so much to do with chemicals and zippy mental tricks as with that most unprofound and sometimes heart-rending process of removing, molecule by molecule, the very tough rubber that comprised the bottoms of his training shoes. The Trial of Miles; Miles of Trials. How could they be expected to understand that? – From Once a Runner by John L. Parker

The Apostle Paul understood it, as we shared in the original blog:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9.24 – 27, ESV)

We had a special day back on February 20, 2020, palindromic in every culture in the world, no matter how they write their dates.

Well, here’s a series of palindromic dates in the US where we write our dates MM/DD/YY. I don’t know why – makes no logical sense. Anyway, because of that…

5/20/25 is palindromic, reading the same frontwards and backwards. As are all the dates 5/20 – 5/29. 10 days of palindromes. Hope we get through them!

This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118.24, ESV)

One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. (Romans 14.5, NKJV)

When I was very young, I dabbled in stage magic. I was never very good at it, but it was fun being around those who were. My oldest son, Mark, took it up when he was young as well, and we both enjoy a good magic show.

Hence, a few years ago, we were excited that Cosmo’s Magic Theater opened in Colorado Springs. Cosmo, raised in nearby Pueblo, CO, honed his craft in Los Angeles, and now specializes in “close-up” magic. The theater seats about 60 people in two rows. We went to a show and found him both a phenomenal artist and an all-around nice guy.

Hence, I was very disturbed to read this post from a local organization:

Magic! Last week, most of our staff attended a fun magic performance at Cosmo’s Magic Theater. Good food, great fellowship and a masterful display of illusion, misdirection and sleight of hand. Cosmo is a gifted and talented performer, and it was a great time.

Bob, what’s disturbing about that post? Easy. It’s this sentence: “Cosmo is a gifted and talented performer.” Gifted and talented?? NO! He works very hard. As I recall, he starts every day with 1 – 2 hours of practice with a deck of cards.

My son Mark said, “He clearly decided very early what he wanted to do and went after it hard.” Meaning, he practiced, practiced, practiced. For example, most top-drawer card magicians can hold a deck of cards in one hand, divide it in two, and do a perfect riffle shuffle…all with one hand. Gifted and talented? Nope. They worked their fingers to the bone learning to do that. I don’t even know how they cut the deck perfectly in half.

Tom Brady, the retired NFL quarterback, wrote something about the importance of fundamentals recently. Here’s the relevant excerpt:

Part of greatness in anything is mastering the fundamentals. It’s embracing the monotony of doing them well over and over again. During the season, Steph Curry [of NBA fame – the best 3-point shooter in history] takes 300 shots at the end of every practice, 500 during the off-season. Spot-up threes, dribble pull-up threes, floaters in the lane. He takes these shots from the same spots in the same sequence over and over again, every day, with perfect form.

My youngest son, David, is a fine pianist, and he used to tell me that people would come up to him from time to time and say something like, “I wish I could play the piano like you.” He sometimes responded, “No you don’t. You’re probably not willing to put in the hours that I have put in learning to play like I do.”

From magicians to athletes to musicians, the principle is the same. We get there not by wishing, nor by trying, but by training.

…train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come…For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God… (1 Timothy 4.7 – 10, ESV)

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9.24 – 27, ESV)

If you follow the Ewellogy, you know that 2025 hasn’t been the best health year for us from June’s fall in December followed by two months of prostate issues for me, mid-January – late March. We’re finally well from those challenges! Praise the Lord. However…

I had a right shoulder repair back in 2018. Here I am, right arm in a sling, ready to participate in a friend’s retirement ceremony, seven years ago today.

The left shoulder has been acting up for at least a couple of years – my last visit to the orthopedist was August 2023. But it’s been “OK” until May 2. I was walking the dog when we were accosted by two large neighborhood dogs who had escaped their usual enclosure. Fortunately, my neighbor ran them off, but in the process of fending off the dogs, I aggravated my shoulder. It was slowly improving until I did something Thursday.

When King David found himself in a tight spot, he wrote a Psalm. Me? I’ll just write a blog, quoting King David!

To the Chief Musician. On A Stringed Instrument. A Psalm of David.

Hear my cry, O God; Attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For You have been a shelter for me, A strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings. Selah (Psalm 61.Introduction, 1 – 4, NKJV)

To the Chief Musician. With Stringed Instruments. On An Eight-Stringed Harp. A Psalm of David.

O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger, Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure. Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am weak; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are troubled. (Psalm 6.Introduction, 1, 2, NKJV)

A Psalm. A Song At the Dedication of the House of David.

O LORD my God, I cried out to You, And You healed me. (Psalm 30.Introduction, verse 2, NKJV)

In one of our community newspapers recently, someone published Paul Harvey’s essay from 1965: If I Were the Devil. Paul was remarkably prescient…

I present the essay in its entirety. Again, Paul Harvey, 1965:

If I were the Devil . . . I mean, if I were the Prince of Darkness, I would of course, want to engulf the whole earth in darkness. I would have a third of its real estate and four-fifths of its population, but I would not be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree, so I should set about however necessary to take over the United States. I would begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: “Do as you please.” “Do as you please.” To the young, I would whisper, “The Bible is a myth.” I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way around. I would confide that what is bad is good, and what is good is “square”. In the ears of the young marrieds, I would whisper that work is debasing, that cocktail parties are good for you. I would caution them not to be extreme in religion, in patriotism, in moral conduct. And the old, I would teach to pray. I would teach them to say after me: “Our Father, which art in Washington” . . .

If I were the devil, I’d educate authors in how to make lurid literature exciting so that anything else would appear dull an uninteresting. I’d threaten T.V. with dirtier movies and vice versa. And then, if I were the devil, I’d get organized. I’d infiltrate unions and urge more loafing and less work, because idle hands usually work for me. I’d peddle narcotics to whom I could. I’d sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction. And I’d tranquilize the rest with pills. If I were the devil, I would encourage schools to refine yound intellects but neglect to discipline emotions . . . let those run wild. I would designate an athiest to front for me before the highest courts in the land and I would get preachers to say “she’s right.” With flattery and promises of power, I could get the courts to rule what I construe as against God and in favor of pornography, and thus, I would evict God from the courthouse, and then from the school house, and then from the houses of Congress and then, in His own churches I would substitute psychology for religion, and I would deify science because that way men would become smart enough to create super weapons but not wise enough to control them.

If I were Satan, I’d make the symbol of Easter an egg, and the symbol of Christmas, a bottle. If I were the devil, I would take from those who have and I would give to those who wanted, until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious. And then, my police state would force everybody back to work. Then, I could separate families, putting children in uniform, women in coal mines, and objectors in slave camps. In other words, if I were Satan, I’d just keep on doing what he’s doing.

Paul Harvey. Good day!

(Speech was broadcast by ABC Radio commentator Paul Harvey on April 3, 1965)

PS The essay was updated in 1996, as reported in the Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph.

The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy… – Jesus, John 10.10

“Fear not” is a common command in the Bible although it does NOT occur 365 times as some allege. Sounds good: “One for each day in the year,” but someone made that up. (Isn’t that called lying?) Anyway, it’s a common theme that if we trust God, we need not be afraid.

It’s the theme of Psalm 56 where once again, David is in a tight spot:

To the Chief Musician. Set to “The Silent Dove in Distant Lands.” A Michtam of David When the Philistines Captured Him in Gath. (Psalm 56, Introduction, NKJV)

And, as always, David resorts to prayer:

Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up; Fighting all day he oppresses me. My enemies would hound me all day, For there are many who fight against me, O Most High. (Psalm 56.1, 2, NKJV)

And then the theme. What to do when we’re in a tight spot and afraid?

Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me? (Psalm 56.3 – 4, NKJV)

A good word. “I will not fear.” I wrote about that from Psalm 46 recently.

It repeats…don’t miss it!

…This I know, because God is for me. In God (I will praise His word), In the LORD (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? (Psalm 56.9 – 11, NKJV)

Can life be lived that way? YES! It’s worthwhile to review what I quoted from the Russian democracy advocate Alexei Navalny:

Are you a disciple of the religion whose founder sacrificed himself for others, paying the price for their sins? Do you believe in the immortality of the soul and the rest of that cool stuff? If you can honestly answer yes, what is there left for you to worry about? 

I’ve always loved Psalm 55 even though the subject is unpleasant: Persecution from one’s “friends.”

For it is not an enemy who reproaches me; Then I could bear it. Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me; Then I could hide from him. But it was you, a man my equal, My companion and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, And walked to the house of God in the throng. (Psalm 55.12 – 14, NKJV)

It’s the proposed solution that always grabs my attention. Have you ever felt like this?

So I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. Indeed, I would wander far off, And remain in the wilderness. Selah  (Psalm 55.6, 7, NKJV)

But the real solution is, as always, prayer:

As for me, I will call upon God, And the LORD shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, And He shall hear my voice. He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me, For there were many against me. God will hear, and afflict them, Even He who abides from of old.

Selah (Psalm 55.16 – 19, NKJV)

And there’s a solution, one I memorized decades ago along with verse 6:

Cast your burden on the LORD, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved. (Psalm 55.22, NKJV)