Volume 6, Issue 6
July 2016
Take a Risk!
...moving believers from the
sidelines to the front lines
A monthly publication from Risk Takers for Christ
In this issue...
Graduate Level
Christianity
A devotional
message from
Os Hillman.
- Page 2
Concrete is Hard
and Hell is Hot
Why would a
56-year-old play
basketball?
- Page 3
Missions Fair
Photos
- Page 3
Upcoming Events
See how RTC will
be ministering this
Summer.
- Page 4
The Red Line in the Sand
by Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
Let me be up front by saying that I have been
a harsh critic of President Obama throughout
his administration. I don’t like the Affordable
Care Act (Obamacare), I support traditional
marriage and oppose same-sex nuptials, I am
passionately pro-life, and I disagree with
most of Mr. Obama’s foreign
policy.
That being said, I think the
Church of Jesus Christ should
look in the mirror before criticizing the president about the infamous “red line” that he drew in
Syria. Here is some context...
On August 20, 2012 and again
on April 25, 2016, President
Obama said that he was drawing
a “red line” over the possible use of chemical
weapons by the Asaad regime. If it could be
proven that Syrian President Bashar Asaad
had indeed employed chemical weapons
against his own people, Obama implied that
U.S. military force would be used.
Well, as we all know, proof positive was
received, but the United States opted not to
engage Assad militarily. And so, Obama’s red
line was crossed - and crossed again - without incident or repercussion.
Now back to the Body of Christ...
On June 25, 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court
ruled in Engel v. Vitale that prayer in public
schools violated the First Amendment and
was therefore, unconstitutional. A year later,
in Abington School District v. Schempp, the
High Court struck down Bible reading in
public schools for similar reasons.
The outcry from the religious community was
immediate and vociferous, but surprisingly
not uniform. Evangelical leader Dr. Billy
Graham, Catholic Cardinal Francis Spellman,
and Episcopal Bishop James
Pike all decried the twin rulings.
However, the National
Association of Evangelicals
(NAE) and Christianity Today,
a leading evangelical publication, both supported the
decisions.
And so, God was effectively
removed from our nation’s classrooms. The result? Does the
name “Columbine” mean anything to you?
And what about the sharp increases in teen
pregnancies, drug use, juvenile delinquency
and criminal behavior?
A decade later, the Supreme Court ruled in
Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton that the due
process clause in the 14th Amendment
extended to a woman’s decision to have an
abortion. Since that fateful day, an estimated
63 million babies have been “legally” aborted
in the United States.
And yet, the collective Church - with some
very notable exceptions - has remained for
the most part silent.
www.risktakersforchrist.org
continued on page 2
The Red Line in the Sand
continued from page 1
On June 26, 2015, SCOTUS ruled in Obergefell v.
Hodges that state bans on same-sex marriage were
unconstitutional, opening the door for gays and lesbians
to marry “spouses” of the same sex. “Enough is enough,”
said many Christian leaders and their congregations in
unison. And yet, here we are just a year later, and much
of the controversy has subsided.
It seems to me that the modern-day Church has drawn
and redrawn multiple “red lines” in the sand over the
past 55 years. And because we have repeatedly moved
those lines - sometimes by an inch and more frequently
by a mile - the secular world no longer takes us seriously.
Poll after poll and survey after survey show that the
Graduate Level Christianity
by Os Hillman, TGIF Today God Is First Volume 2
"Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute
you" (Matt. 5:44).
There was a man who had become a friend and mentor to
me, but a conflict arose between us that we were unable
to resolve. I never imagined that this man would go from
being one of my best friends to an enemy. I asked God to
show me how I should treat this man, and the words of
Jesus came to mind, "Love your enemies and pray for
those who persecute you."
"Lord," I said, "surely you don't mean I'm to love this
man! Not after the way he's hurt me and refused to reconcile!"
As I argued with God, I remembered that Jesus, before
He was betrayed, got down on his knees and washed the
feet of Judas Iscariot, His enemy. The moment that scene
came to my mind, I knew what God was calling me to
do. I had to wash the feet of my Judas.
This man who had been my friend and mentor had also
been a client of my advertising agency. He was a
Christian author and speaker, and I decided to bless this
man by continuing to promote his ministry and his
books.
majority of Americans are still God-fearing and that
more than 80 million of us claim to be “born-again”
and/or evangelical. Forgive my sarcasm, but I find those
numbers increasingly hard to believe, because if they
were true, things would be much different in America
today.
Church attendance would be up and abortions would be
not just down, but virtually non-existent. And politicians
who opposed the Judeo-Christian principles on which
our great country was founded would lose at the ballot
box and be booted from office.
Sadly, we are no different than President Obama. His
feckless foreign policy mirrors our own timid response to
abortion, same-sex marriage, and now transgendered
bathrooms.
May God grant us a collective backbone before it is too
late and America, as we once knew it, is lost forever.
Did he ever come back to me and reconcile? Yes, seven
years later. But even if he had never reconciled with me,
I knew that I did what God called me to do. I washed the
feet of my Judas. I passed the test.
God doesn't promise that if we forgive there will be a
happy ending. He doesn't promise that the man who
refuses to pay a bill will suddenly write a check. He
doesn't promise that the one who rejects reconciliation
will instantly soften his heart. Jesus forgave his executioners, but that didn't keep them from nailing Him to the
cross.
The Graduate Level Test is not about getting the results
we want. It's about proving that we trust God enough to
forgive our Judases. It's a graduate-level course in
Christian obedience. But I believe that every leader
whom God uses in a significant way must pass the Judas
Test.
God wants to know if we are willing to be imitators of
Jesus. How can we say we are followers of Christ if we
won't wash the feet of our Judases?
Reprinted by permission from the author. Os Hillman is an international speaker and author of 15 books on workplace calling. To
learn more, visit http://www.MarketplaceLeaders.org"
www.risktakersforchrist.org
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Concrete is Hard and Hell is Hot
by Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
Concrete is hard.
O.K., so that’s not the most profound statement you’ve
read today. But I can tell you for a fact that a concrete
basketball court is not very forgiving on 56-year old
knees almost devoid of cartilage.
On a recent Saturday, I was one of six Risk Takers for
Christ basketball players to take the court at the Martin
Correctional Institution in Indiantown, Florida. Martin CI
is the closest state prison to Vero Beach, so the 45minute drive was definitely the easiest part of our day.
Since we had six players, my original plan was to let the
other five play the majority of the first game. After all,
one is only 19, and two are still in their 20’s. A fourth
player, my nephew Tyler Dempsey, is just 31 and his
grandfather once played in the NBA, so there was no
way I wasn’t going to put him into the starting lineup.
And our fifth player, Joe Payton, is 6’6” and a great
rebounder, so he got a starting nod, too.
Everything worked according to plan until the 19-year
old, Justin Vandal, got into early foul trouble. I quickly
subbed in for him and played about 10 minutes in the
first half. However, no sooner had I reinserted Justin but
he picked up his third foul. And so, back into the game I
went, bad knees and all.
I also played a majority of the second half and yes, at
least 2/3 of the second game when the sun was high in
the sky and the heat index soared into the mid 90’s.
gospel presentation. Others choose not to. However, all
of them receive an evangelistic tract, usually one that is
sports-themed, handed to them by Tom Palladino or one
of our other faithful non-playing volunteers.
I wish I could tell you that we won both games, but I
can’t. The first game was very competitive and we even
had the lead several times, but our short-handed team ran
out of gas at the end. And the second game was a real
rout, with a different (and well-rested) inmate squad winning by about 30 points.
Were we discouraged? Not a bit, because we had accomplished our purpose for the day. More than 300 men
heard the gospel or received Christian literature and eight
of them made professions of faith in Jesus Christ.
On the way home, we stopped at a convenience store and
I guzzled down two large cans of iced tea. After showering, I went to bed early so I would have enough energy
for the following morning when I was scheduled to
preach at a local church.
Why? Because hell is hot...and I don’t want anyone to go
there.
Missons Fair
Pictures from the Missions Fair at First Church of
God of Vero Beach
Why punish my aching (and aging) body like that?
Because hell is hot.
Not the most profound statement either, right? But you
know what? It’s true. It is also the only motivation I need
to dig deep and draw on whatever athletic reserves I have
left in order to share the gospel with men behind bars.
Surveys show that 80% of prisoners will not attend a
chapel service or a Bible study. But they will turn out by
the hundreds to watch a sporting event featuring an outside team versus the best prison players. And when they
do, we have the opportunity to share God’s plan of salvation with each and every one of them.
Some of the inmates stick around for our half-time
www.risktakersforchrist.org
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Praying for Prisoners
by Judy Morgan, RTC Prayer Partner
Does God really want us to pray for the lost, i.e prisoners, your loved ones, neighbors, the homeless, etc.? Do
you know that God has given the believer authority to
turn unbelievers "from darkness to light and from the
power of Satan to God" (Acts 26:18). In that same verse,
God tells us "that they may receive forgiveness of sins
and an inheritance among them (believers) who are
sanctified by faith that is in me." We are called to
enforce and make known the freedom Christ has procured. How do we do that? By standing on God's promises in His Word. We have every right to claim the lost
souls for Christ. He has given us this authority.
Scenes from our
Living H2O Initiative
Now that we know Christ has given the believer this
authority, how do we use it in prayer? An article I once
read gave me these specific guidelines to pray for the
lost and I believe they are effective: 1. Pray that God
would lift the veil off of the unbeliever and give him/her
a revelation of who God is. 2. For the Holy Spirit to
hover over him and protect him. 3. For Godly people to
be in his path every day. 4. That God would cast down
anything in him that would exalt itself against the
knowledge of God, specifically their pride and rebellion.
5. That God would take down any stronghold such as
thought patterns and opinions on religion, materialism
and fear. 6. To bind Satan from taking the person captive
as well as all evil thoughts and lies Satan wants to place
in his mind. 7. That the armor of God would be placed
on him.
Not wavering in our faith, we can claim the lost souls
for Christ. Will you pray for the lost?
Our Staff & Board Members
Rev. Dale M. Glading, President
Rev. Larry “Chap” Lilly, Vice President
Christopher Glading, Program Director
Rebekah Bailey, Director of Communications
Trustees: Chuck Bateman, Keith Cutting, Thomas
Griffin, Tom Kennedy, Rev. Paul Mace, Chaplain
Louie Tropf
Advisory Council: Robert Bartosz, Steve Schoch
Upcoming Risk Takers Events:
w July 9: Basketball at Sumter CI
w August 13: Softball at Marion CI
w September 10: Basketball at Martin CI
w September 24: Dare 2B Daring men's conference at
Southside Baptist Church, Dover DE
w September 29: 4th Annual Racial Reconciliation
Conference, Vero Beach FL
Take a Risk! is a publication of Risk Takers for Christ, PO Box 651421, Vero Beach FL 32965-1421.
Excerpts may be published or reproduced providing proper attribution is given.
www.risktakersforchrist.org
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