A recent Facebook post read, “Good morning, and what are we offended by today?” We are living in a highly-charged political atmosphere. It is amazing to see the amount of mud-slinging found on social media. This does not stop with comments made about candidates for office or current events, but the personal attacks on people who are posting, or responding, because of a candidate they support, or a disagreement on philosophy, policy, or personal belief are at an unprecedented high. Horrible things have been written among professed Christians. Does this kind of behavior build up the church? How do those outside of Christ view us as Christians when we are vicious and back-biting on a public forum?

The meaning of tolerance is changing. The traditional view of tolerance is the ability to disagree with others and yet be able to respect them, giving them the freedom to form their own beliefs and opinions, yet to live peacefully with them, as long as all actions are legal and not dangerous to themselves or others. In today’s culture, tolerance is morphing into another animal. Many people today believe that tolerance means that you will agree with the way others live, think, or believe and support them regardless of personal beliefs, moral values, or biblical views. Some well-known church leaders have started soft-soaping, some even changing, their stated beliefs in order to appear “tolerant”. Can we be tolerant without accepting ideas and beliefs that are contrary to God’s word? Can we disagree with other Christians without resorting to name-calling and mud-slinging?

Our words can be very powerful. The Bible teaches us that we must be careful in what we say and how we say it. We should not say things that cause others to become discouraged or to stir up anger. In Psalm 34:13 we are told to “keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit” and in Proverbs 10:11 that “the mouth of the [uncompromisingly] righteous man is a well of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.” We are further told in Proverbs 13:3 that “He who guards his mouth keeps his life, but he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin” and in Proverbs 15:1 we are instructed to give a “soft answer” because this will turn “away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger.”

God’s word teaches us to “…stand firm and hold fast to the traditions andinstruction which you were taught…” (II Thessalonians 2:15). We must understand that while we are expected to “stand firm” in what the Bible teaches us about acceptable ideas and behaviors, at the same time we must carefully consider our words. We should “guard our mouths” and seek the “soft answer,” not allowing ourselves to use “grievous words”.

When posting or responding on social media, our prayer should be the words of Psalm 19:14. “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my [firm, impenetrable] Rock and my Redeemer.”

•     •     •

All Scripture quoted from the Amplified Bible (AMP)

I’m a roller coaster junkie. Put me in an amusement park, and I’m not thinking of the food or the shows. I’m thinking of one thing – roller coasters. And the scarier the better.

For those of you who share my love for adrenaline, you know the feeling when your roller coaster cart nears the top of the first climb. It’s a feeling in your stomach that’s a little hard to explain. It’s certainly a feeling of excitement, but it’s also mixed with a tinge of… what is it? It’s not exactly fear, but it’s something akin to it.

And that’s the same kind of feeling that I have right now. Knowing that in a few hours, I’ll be meeting up with a small group of volunteers and driving out to Bledsoe County Correctional Complex as Faith Promise Church launches its first prison campus.

Partnering with God Behind Bars, our Bledsoe County Campus will be unique to prison ministry -we will bring our entire worship service to the prison via video and large video screens. Not only will it give inmates the opportunity to experience Faith Promise, it also gives them a church home where they can stay connected once they leave prison.

All of our volunteers met together for the first time on a Saturday morning a few weeks ago for several hours of training. In addition to learning more about God Behind Bars and what to expect, they talked about what to do in a hostage situation, what to do if a riot takes place, and other fun stuff like that.

As a part of our training, we were told that we can only bring a single key and a driver’s license with us into the prison – no cell phones, no polo shirts, t-shirts, or jeans.

I didn’t think that I was going to be able to bring a camera along with me, so I figured that a blog post was in order and that I’d write about the campus launch instead. But half way through writing this article, I got a text from Micah. We got approval for a camera! If everything goes well, part two should include photography.

Please pray for our volunteers and our first service of our God Behind Bars Campus that launches tonight. Pray that God draws many to attend this service and that He touches many hearts.

And now I’m going to go rummage through my closet to see if I can find a pair of dress pants that still fits.

•   •   •

Kyle Gilbert serves on staff as Pastor of Communications – overseeing social media, graphics, web, and Internet Campus for Faith Promise.

One small group at Faith Promise is serving this Easter, but they’re not teaching children, directing traffic or greeting people as they come to hear the message.

Instead, they’ve gathered towels.

As Senior Pastor Chris Stephens shares the message, He took my Place this weekend, attendees who have never been saved or baptized will have the chance to take that next step and become part of the family of God.

In 2014, nearly 300 people were baptized across all of our campuses during Easter services. As the church has prayed for 18,000 in attendance this year, we also pray that many will come to know Jesus and be baptized. This is where Amy Meyers’ small group stepped in.

Meyers belongs to Wade and Renee Adams’ small group, which is made up of a mixture of single men and women and married couples.

“My small group is all about hugs.  So I thought a towel would be the newly Baptized first hug from their other Christian brothers and sisters,” Meyers said.

In all, their group has gathered 80 towels to add to the baptism supplies.

“It seems like every time I look in the supply closet there’s not that many towels…certainly not enough for all that might come this Easter,” she said.

Meyers, who has been attending Faith Promise for about four years, began serving as a baptism assistant in November 2014. Baptism assistants help participants sign in and ensure they have shorts and t-shirts if needed. Assistants also pray with participants and help guide them through the process. After baptisms, assistants take the towels home to wash, dry, fold and bring the towels back to church.

“When someone comes for baptism, sometimes they’re scared.  There’s lots of emotions going on.  I’ve found that usually the children are excited and ready to go, where the adults are more restrained.  I think it’s due to the emotions and thoughts in their minds,” Meyers said.

Pastor Chris is hopeful about attendance and baptisms for Easter weekend.

“I’m excited as everyone else is. Easter is the easiest time to get people to church. If you’ve watched any television the last two weeks…everything is Killing Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, and AD that starts on Easter,” he said.

The Easter message at Faith Promise will compare Jesus to Barabbas, the prisoner released from the Roman jail the day Jesus was crucified.

In Luke Chapter 23, the Bible says Jesus was taken to Pilate, who found him innocent. Still, the people demanded that Barabbas be released and Jesus be put to death. Barabbas had been jailed for rebellion and murder.

“The crowd called for Barabbas not Jesus,” Pastor Chris explained. “But Jesus is what they needed.”

Faith Promise Easter services begin at the Pellissippi Campus Wednesday night at 7:00 pm. A complete list of Easter service times and campus locations can be found here.

Faith Promise is a contemporary church with six campuses in the Knoxville region. Since its establishment in 1995, weekly attendance across all campuses has grown to more than 6,000 each weekend. Faith Promise has been recognized by Outreach Magazine as the 22nd fastest growing church in America. For more information, visit faithpromise.org.