According to Christian news outlet Charisma News, “there is no lack of statistics about pastors and depression, burnout, health, low pay, spirituality, relationships and longevity — and none of them are good.” The Schaeffer Institute reports 70 percent of pastors are dealing with depression. Another 71 percent feel burned out by the ministry. In some countries, pastors are even persecuted and killed for sharing the gospel.
Without Walls International Church has been known to be a lighthouse to the city of Tampa, FL. The church feeds hundreds on a weekly basis, has annual outreach events such as Back to School Bash and Thanksgiving’s Table in the Wilderness.
The church is living in an age of tremendous evangelistic opportunity.
European and American missionaries have traveled to Africa to spread the gospel, but a Nigerian pastor plans to do the opposite: build churches as numerous as Starbucks.
As a Jewish person, I can tell you that the word baptism conjures up horrible images for my people. From the early years of Catholicism, Jews were forced to be baptized as Christians. Sometimes it was under the threat of death. Other times the consequences of not being baptized was “merely” being thrown out of your home and country.
Martin Luther King Jr. called Sunday morning the most segregated time of the week, and in many places that’s still the case.
