The Week In Review

February 22, 2025

One Good Thing This Week

Many years ago, Dallas Willard did a Q&A with Relevant Magazine. I came across the excerpt and thought it was really good. Simple. Practical. Really good:

[RM:] "Any advice for twenty-something Christians?"

[DW:] (long pause) "Well, my heart really goes out to twenty-somethings because of my own children and grandchildren and those I see in my classes every week. I dearly love them. And I guess what I would say [to them] is that there’s a great deal more to be learned about how to live now by how people have lived well in the past, than they can find from their educational institutions. So, they need to look independently, they need to act on their own to find out what are the resources for truly living well; particularly of the Christian church and its past."

It is amazing all the things I’ve learned from dead men. Seasons in my life when I could find no one to walk with me, no one to disciple me, I could turn to these men, men from long ago. My encouragement to anyone reading this and longing for guidance… Read biographies. Read church history. Learn what you have inherited from those who have gone before you.

"When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness." —Alexis de Tocqueville

Something Beautiful This Week

I came across an article this week that featured Pastor Jon Weece, someone I know from my days at Southeast Christian Church [Louisville, Kentucky]. Jon is the lead pastor at SECC’s sister church in Lexington Kentucky, Southland Christian Church. Or, he was.

A few weeks ago Jon announced that he was stepping down after serving Southland for 25+ years. Why is Jon stepping down? Because it was time. Time for new leadership. New vision. Jon’s words:

"I’m not stepping aside because I’m tired. I’m not stepping aside because I’m angry or sad. I’m not stepping aside because I feel neglected or discouraged. I’m not stepping aside because I’ve done something immoral or nefarious or foolish. I’m not stepping aside for another church. I’ve treated my ministry like my marriage; one bride for one life. So in the same way that I will never leave Alison Weece, I’m not going to leave Southland Christian Church. What you need to hear is simply this: 12 months from now, in January 2026, I will step off of the staff and I will step into the church family. Specifically, what I mean by that is I’m going to stop serving you as a preacher from this stage, but I will serve like thousands of you serve in this church as a member of this place."

Jon is stepping down, not out. He is stepping aside, not off. Jon has concluded that he and Southland will be better served with him in the crowd, not on the stage. Jon has a godly and capable successor, and it is time to pass the baton.

The humility and self awareness in Jon’s actions are absolutely beautiful. Too often I see leaders leading beyond their usefulness. Their organization [or church] is shackled to their lack of self awareness [or pride], and everything becomes stasis.

Acknowledging you have nothing left to give, or that you have something different to give, is admirable. There is beauty in knowing when it is time to let go.

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One Concerning Thing This Week

Our health is deteriorating in the West. "It's basically like all of us are a little bit dead while we're alive," said Dr. @CaseyMeansMD on the Joe Rogan show this week.

What she shared was eye-opening [and disturbing]:

• 74% of Americans are overweight or obese.

• Young adult cancers are going up 79% in the last 10 years.

• 25% of men, now, under 40 have erectile dysfunction.

• 50%, now, of American adults have type 2 diabetes or prediabetes. These were diseases where there was 1% of Americans in 1950 had type 2 diabetes. Now it's 50% of Americans have prediabetes or type 2 diabetes.

• Alzheimer's and dementia are going through the roof. Young adult dementias have increased, like, three times since 2012. So has early onset dementias.

• One in two Americans are expected to have cancer in their lifetime now.

• One in 36 children has autism now, in the United States. That was one in 150 in the year 2000. In California, where I live, [Autism rates are] one in 22. One in 22 with a lifetime neurodevelopmental disorder.

• Infertility going up 1% per year.

• 77% of young Americans can't serve in the military because of obesity or drug abuse.

• Heart disease, which is almost totally preventable, is the leading cause of death in the United States, killing around 800,000 people per year.

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My 3 Favorite Quotes of the Week

"The Sermon on the Mount: 2,500 words. Your typical self-help book: 50,000+. Profoundness need not be verbose." — Anonymous

"Instead of asking yourself whether you believe or not, ask yourself whether you have this day done one thing because He said, Do it, or once abstained because He said, Do not do it. It is simply absurd to say you believe, or even want to believe, in Him, if you do not do anything He tells you." — George McDonald

Psychiatrist Thomas Szasz on what is required to learn: "Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one's self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily; and why older persons, especially if vain or important, cannot learn at all."

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Stat(s) I Found Fascinating This Week

What racial group is most likely to self-identify as evangelical?

Black people, and it's not even close.

In 2022, 44% of African-Americans said that they were evangelical.

It was only 25% of Whites and Hispanics.

Just 15% of Asians.

There is a rich history of faithfulness and perseverance that my African-American brothers possess that I [too] often overlook.

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My Favorite Pic/Meme This Week

No meme this week, but love this video from John Lewis. The true "spirit" of fatherhood. Dad willing to do anything…

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Song I had on Repeat This Week

My brother, Josh Lackie, sent me a gem this week. My favorite hymn [written by William Cowper in1772] sung by one of the all-time greats, Willie Nelson. Best part? The track was included on his album, aptly titled The Troublemaker. Willie might be the definition of good trouble.

"There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;
And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains"

Book(s) I Read This Week

I am reading Os Guinness' The Call again… Every man should read this book. More to come, but I’ll leave you with this gem:

"The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less…"

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What God Showed Me This Week

Psalm 119:57, “You are my portion, O LORD.”

John Piper once asked, "if you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Jesus were not there?"

If your answer to the question is yes, it means your portion is in this life.

My fear is, for most people, God is nothing more than an accessory. Like a woman putting on a bracelet, or a man putting on a hat. We might even add an accessory to our car, a fuzzy dice hanging from the rearview mirror [if you’re into that sort of thing]. For most, God is an optional add-on. Not the Psalmist; the Psalmist cries out "you are my portion, O LORD.”

The term portion comes from the distribution of the land of Canaan to the Israelites—it serves to convey the reality that God alone is the Psalmist's inheritance. J.I. Packer drove this reality home when he asked “What is the best thing in life, bringing more joy, delight and contentment than anything else?” He answers, “Knowledge of God.”

Fam, the first and greatest lie ever told was that we can be happy without God. I easily believe this lie. May it never, ever be so again.

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If you’re in these areas over the next few weeks, I’d love to connect:

Pacific Northwest Men’s Conference, Feb 22, Portland, OR

Iron Sharpens Iron Conference, March 1, Orland Park [Chicago], IL

COMO Christian Men’s Conference, March 8, Columbia, MO

And don’t forget… On March 1, BetterMan is invading the great state of Mississippi!

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Brothers, my pledge to you…

"You will never suffer at my hands. I will never say nor do anything knowingly to hurt you. If you're down and I can lift you up, I'll do that. I will always, in every circumstance, seek to help and support you. If you need something and I have it, I'll give it to you. No matter what I find out about you, no matter what happens in the future, either good or bad, my commitment to you will never change."

For the King,

—Harp

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