Charlie Kirk was an image bearer of God.

Like many of you, I’ve spent the afternoon and evening following the details of this unspeakable tragedy and praying for Charlie’s family.

Charlie was a fellow image bearer—a man created in the likeness of our God. His death is tragic, heinous, and wicked. It has left his wife widowed and his children without their father.

What has dismayed me just as much is the response of some Christians online. Hot takes like “the chickens came home to roost” or calling him a “martyr” and other comments like these are out of line. Christian, don’t let your politics blind you to evil. No one deserves violence— not children in schools, not politicians, not worshipers in churches, not people in public spaces, not even those you deeply disagree with.

Violence and hate are literally the opposite of the Fruit of the Spirit.

For years, I’ve said it: conservatives and liberals, Republicans and Democrats—every political party is fighting for its own kingdom, but none of them are the Kingdom of God.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only answer to the curse of sin in this world. Don’t lose sight of that truth in the darkness around us.

Get out and vote 2024!!

As a pastor and a preacher, I want to urge all Christians this election season: Get out and vote. I believe it is our duty as citizens of our state and country, but I also believe it’s especially important given the issues represented in this election. Many of these are not strictly “political.” They are moral and spiritual.

According to some studies, there are 90 million Christians who are eligible to vote in this country yet around 40 million of us do not vote and 15 million are not even registered. Over the last few weeks we have made clear that both candidates and political parties do not reflect the Kingdom of God, that is not a reason to neglect voting.

To that in we have decided to provide a voting guide that you can print off and take to the polls with you. This guide has the full ballot for our area including all the issues that we will be voting on. One mistake that I see over and over is that we think we are just voting on president when there is so much more that we will be deciding. Please download this resource and use it for the glory of God.

Be reminded, on Wednesday morning when we all wake up Christ will still be king regardless of who is elected to the White House. Though it’s important that every Christian votes, I believe America’s only hope is not found in whom we elect as president but in a spiritual awakening.

Before culture can experience an awakening, our church needs to experience revival. The future of our country will not be decided by the ballot box, but in the prayer closet. When God sees a problem in a nation, He doesn’t point His finger at the White House, He points it at His house.

Download your 2024 Election guide here!

A Letter to Soma on recent Political Violence

Saturday evening (7/13) we witnessed an assassination attempt on a former President of the United States. Those words are written with significant weight and sadness but I am thankful to say the attempt was unsuccessful.

Over the coming days there will be lingering questions that will need to be answered but we can each agree that this was an act of pure evil that is not and cannot be justified. Violence is not the answer to political disagreements and murder, even attempted, and is called a sin unequivocally in Scripture.

We live in a deeply divided time where people from different political parties have true hatred in their hearts for others. I pray this incident will be a wakeup call that lowers the temperature of our political climate rather than raising it further-that their might be actual dialogue and decency and some starting place of mutual respect for each other’s humanity. The Lord Jesus came into this world and by His life, death, and resurrection, has overcome sin, death, and hell. His resurrection from the dead assures us that, in Him, we also will be raised and never die again.

Our hope and confidence can remain strong because the foundation on which they rest remains unmoved by the wickedness of this world. Now, more than ever, our world needs the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are that light (Matthew 5:14-16) and must stand firm in this evil day by putting on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18), which means that we must “put on Christ” (Romans 13:14)-we must let our faith in Him and all that He is for us be strengthened.

My prayer is that we will see this as an opportunity for the Church, as Christ’s Body in the world to lead by example in our faith and our speech and our conduct. Here are some ways we can lead as Christ-followers in this broken world

Faith

We continually hear language coming from both sides that “if the other guys wins, all is lost.” As believers, we know better than to put our faith in an election or any human leader. Jesus Christ is still on the throne and has never left, He is Lord, and He is grieved for the lostness in this world and as believers we have a job to do to reach out with the only hope we have, the Gospel.

Speech:

We must be careful in what we say, in what we post and in what we share. We must be aware of our voices on Social media and in real life. Also, parents this is a good time to talk to your children about the events they likely witnessed us watching in the last few days. Our post, voices, and focus will be seen by the watching world and in many respects are true reflects of our hearts (Luke 6:45, Matt.12-34 – 35)

Conduct:

Are we people whose lives reflect the transformational work of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as we seek to become more like Him every day? Conduct “worthy of the gospel” includes standing firm together in one spirit, striving for the faith of the gospel with one mind (1:27). Such conduct entails mutual love and concord, humility, and unselfishness (2:2–4). Rivalry, conceit, and self-interest are to be avoided, as well as grumbling and complaining (2:3–4, 14).

SCRIPTURE:

As I prayed about what Scripture to best use to begin our prayer time, I felt led to the words of Our Lord Jesus Himself in the Sermon on the Mount that we often call “The Beatitudes.”

“And He opened his mouth and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

– Matthew 5:2-12 (ESV)

GUIDED PRAYER

We should all stop to pray for President Trump and that those responsible will be swiftly apprehended and brought to justice. We should pray for anyone else injured by this despicable incident.
For Donald Trump and the families who were harmed and most personally affected by the shooting
For leaders, those who are willing to serve in public office
For the Church
Commit to praying for our leaders, those who are willing to serve in public office, and appeal to our Lord that His reconciling work would be poured out on this nation to overcome the hatred that is so prevalent in our culture.”
For the Lord’s reconciling work to be poured out on this nation to overcome the hatred that is so prevalent in our culture.

Statement on SBC Guidepost Solutions’ Independent Investigation

Dear Missouri Baptists,

During the March 7- 8 Excutive Board meeting the Board created the Sexual Abuse Response Team “to review and recommend MBC responses and action steps to take after receipt of the report of the SBC Sex Abuse Task Force (SATF)…”. We wanted to take a moment to respond to this report as well as offer you some encouragement, wisdom, and counsel.

Doubtlessly, many of you have seen in various news outlets that the SATF has released the report from the independent investigation by Guidepost Solutions. Last June, the messengers to the 2021 Annual Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention who gathered in Nashville, TN authorized a third-party investigation into the Executive Committee’s handling of sexual abuse allegations since 2000.

The findings of that investigation were released Sunday and have been in headline news since. Our team has individually reviewed, and will continue to review, the report. In light of its findings, we feel compelled to say the following:

We were sickened by the details we read in the report.
The third-party investigation was judiciously carried out and we have every reason to believe its findings are accurate.
We grieve the abuse perpetrated by men, churches, and convention entities who should have been trusted and lament the shame they brought on the cause of Christ in the world.

We want to be clear. This report reveals an ongoing pattern of sin, idolatrous use of power, and callousness toward the abused. The report made several recommendations for institutional change and cultural repentance. We are grateful for those leaders and staff members whom the report revealed were serving faithfully throughout different levels of our denomination.

In this time of shock and grief, we offer you two counsels that are prayerfully given and biblically sourced. First, this is a time for prayer, for the abused, for justice, for lamentation and repentance of the perpetrators and our denomination. Second, we urge you to consider careful and wise responses in this season and that we approach this with a spirit of humility and lamentation.

We want to engage our denomination as bringers of change. We pray that in Anaheim our advocacy and action as cooperating churches will foster a new spirit of justice, righteousness, and compassion for our fellow Southern Baptists as we continue our gospel mission.

One of the best ways for your church to make clear your desire for change is to join us at the annual convention in Anaheim, CA (June 12-15). We are encouraged by those concerned with our integrity on these issues and we hope that we can be a part of that change in church culture. We can do that by loving one another well, and walking with integrity and grace in our own circumstances. We are hopeful that the future of the SBC can and will be different.

Respectfully,

Missouri Baptist Convention Sexaul Abuse Response Team

Pastor Jon C. Nelson — Soma Community Church, Missouri Baptist Convention President
Heather Kuenzle — First Baptist Church New London
Pastor Mike Leake — Calvary of Neosho
Pastor George H. Fulgham Jr. — Spiritual Life Director, MBCH Children & Family Ministries
V. Lynn Bristol — First Baptist Church Warsaw

Precautions in Response to Coronavirus

Dear Soma Church Family,

With the rapidly changing COVID-19/Coronavirus situation, we wanted to make you aware of the precautionary measures we are implementing. At Soma, we are mindful of the current concerns and want to assure you that we are taking the health and well-being of our church family and our community seriously.

Through much prayer and talking with area pastors/officials, we are going to take it week by week. For this week **WE WILL BE MEETING** at a modified worship time of 10:00am. This is in response to Lincoln University’s decision to “extend” the students spring break given that they make up approximately 1/3 of our congregation. We will be learning what God’s Word says about the hope we have in the midst of crisis while continuing our Journey through the Life of Joseph.

We do NOT want to operate out of fear, but at the same time, we DO want to exercise wisdom. We’ll be taking the following steps to help keep everyone healthy. [Read more…]

Sanctity of life and MLK

Over the last few years of my life, around this time of year, I have been placed in a conundrum in my life. Every January the celebration of Martin Luther King’s (MLK) Birthday and the Sanctity of Life Sunday seem to fall on the same Sunday.

[Read more…]

Faith

Speech:

Conduct:

SCRIPTURE:

GUIDED PRAYER

Soma Community Church

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