Here Matt Chandler sits down to talk about his cancer and leading his church in and through suffering. In this video:
Pastors - have a biblical theology of suffering before it happens to you and your people
If you haven’t studied it and taught it to others, you have no rock underneath you and no hope to offer in the waves of pain and emotion that will ensue
We live in a broken, fallen world so suffering will not be escapable
Remember suffering is not the only means to sanctification (asceticism)
Matt’s personal reflection on living with cancer
Video Quote:
“Lauren asked the doctor, ‘what’s best-case scenario and what’s worst-case scenario?’ He said: ‘Best-case scenario is that God heals you… worst-case ...
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Acts 29 Pastor Suffers Well with Cancer
by Scott Thomas
Matt and Lauren Chandler walk with their three kids in their Flower Mound Texas neighborhood. AP Photo
When I got an early morning phone call on Thanksgiving while I was still in bed and looking forward to a lazy morning, I was stunned but hopeful. My friend Yancey called me to say that Matt Chandler, an Acts 29 board member and my personal friend, passed out that morning and was rushed to the hospital. Matt was diagnosed with a tumor on the right side of his brain. My normal optimism and my affection for Matt as a person and my deep respect for him as an infectiously charismatic Christian leader dragged me into believing it was going to be okay. But something inside me kept telling me that this wasn't the story ...
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How Can a Loving God Allow Devastation in Haiti (and in my life)?
Pat Robertson doesn't get it:
Shortly after a devastating earthquake rocked Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010, potentially killing half a million people, Pat Robertson said Haitians had made a "pact with the devil" and have been "cursed" ever since. A statement almost apologizing was made by CNN for Robertson's current faux pas that seems to occur every time a disaster hits. Someone on his staff should figure this out.
Unfortunately, we have either Robertson or a worldview that excludes eternity and God to inform us how we can understand a tragedy or a pain point in our own life. We believe either that God is judging me and that is why I am suffering or there is no God or else he would not allow sufering. ...
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