11/8/2023 0 Comments G3 conference jd greear![]() ![]() ![]() The decision to have them speak at ShepCon, I feel was unwise (at best) if Dr. I believe that the positions on Social Justice of Mohler, Duncan, Dever, and Charles – all 2019 ShepCon speakers who are fully ‘woke’ board members at the progressive Gospel Coalition – are already fully known. “We’ve done a tremendous job of educating.Admittedly, I’m torn. “This pandemic has hit our community like a plague - and that’s made our job easier,” said Bishop Timothy Clarke of First Church of God, a black evangelical church in Columbus, Ohio. But recent surveys show black Protestants are more open to vaccinations than white evangelicals. “We know the important role faith plays in the lives of millions of people throughout the country,” Ad Council president Lisa Sherman said, expressing hope that the campaign could boost their confidence in the vaccines.Īs the vaccines first became available, there was widespread concern that many black Americans would be hesitant to take them due to historic, racism-related mistrust of government health initiatives. Partnering in the initiative is the Ad Council, known for iconic public service ad campaigns such as Smokey Bear and “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk.” They range from the extent of the vaccines’ link to abortion to whether they represent “the mark of the beast,” an ominous harbinger of the end times prophesized in the New Testament’s Book of Revelation. His initiative includes a toolkit for pastors offering suggestions for how to address-within a Christian framework-the various concerns of skeptical evangelicals. “There’s going to be some courage required,” he said. “If it helps more people be able to serve at their church again, so more children can learn about Jesus, that’s a good thing.”Ĭhang said that as a former pastor, he understands why some whose congregations are mistrustful of the government and the vaccines muzzle themselves rather than risk backlash if they urge their flock to get vaccinated. “Even people who might be skeptical from a medical standpoint can understand it from a missional standpoint,” he said. The church hosted a vaccine drive for staff and volunteers at other churches 217 people got their first doses March 22. Phillip Bethancourt, another Southern Baptist pastor in Texas, has encouraged his congregation at Central Church in College Station to get the vaccine and believes most will. “People are concerned it was rushed out too quickly.” “It’s skepticism about effectiveness,” he said. There’s a lot of hesitancy to anything that feels like it’s coming from the federal government,” said Elkins, who is also forgoing the vaccine, at least for now, along with his wife.Įlkins, whose father was a professor of gynecology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said his congregants’ doubts are not theologically based. John Elkins, pastor at Sovereign Grace Fellowship in Brazoria, Texas, about 50 miles south of Houston, said only one person in his SBC congregation of about 50 has been vaccinated. “And heaven is so much better than here on earth. “We are going to go through times of trials and all kinds of awful things, but we still know where we are going at the end,” said Ron Holloway, 75, of Forsyth, Missouri. Some Christians say they prefer to leave their fate in God’s hands, rather than be vaccinated. Forty percent said they likely won’t get vaccinated, compared with 25 percent of all Americans, 28 percent of white mainline Protestants, and 27 percent of nonwhite Protestants. The poll found that many white evangelical Protestants aren’t planning on ever getting the shot. In a March poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, just 18 percent of Americans who consider themselves born-again or evangelical have gotten the vaccine, compared to 29 percent of the rest of the population. The divided reaction highlighted a phenomenon that has become increasingly apparent in recent polls and surveys: Vaccine skepticism is more widespread among white evangelicals than almost any other major bloc of Americans. ![]() Others depicted the vaccines as satanic or unsafe, or suggested Greear was complicit in government propaganda. Some of the critics wondered if worshippers would now need “vaccine passports” to enter The Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina, where Greear is pastor. It drew more than 1,100 comments-many of them voicing admiration for J. The president of the Southern Baptist Convention posted a photo on Facebook last week of him getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
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