His Friends: God Goes First

When I first started using Facebook, I was amazed that I could be friends with anyone. I made over a thousand friends, spent hours reading their profiles, and felt like I was more socially connected than ever before. It took me longer than most, but I eventually realized the time I spent on Facebook was disconnecting me from my actual friends. It was hard to admit that a social network made me lonelier. In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General found that about half of all Americans sometimes feel lonely. We're increasingly living alone, spending more time alone, and it doesn't feel good. Vivek Murthy's report found that "The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day."

A group at church asked me to speak to them about how to stay connected to their kids who had walked away from Jesus. As we talked, I felt heartsick for the pain these parents carried. They had done everything they'd been told to do, but their adult children didn't want to come to church and the fights had left scars.

In discussing his politics, Terry Drew told the reporter Stephanie McCrummen, "I hate it," he said. "My wife and I talk about it all the time. We rationalize the immoral things away. We don't like it, but we look at the alternative, and think it could be worse than this."

In the autumn of 1784, a twenty-five-year-old Member of Parliament jolted across the stone-paved roads of Europe, bouncing in a carriage pulled by the uneven gait of horses. William Wilberforce had inherited a fortune, won his seat at twenty-one, and was close friends with the Prime Minister. He was charming, successful, and independent. To be heard over the rattling of the wheels, he and his friend Isaac Milner loudly read Philip Doddridge's *The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul* to each other. As they swayed from side to side, something started to shake loose in his soul.

In a training video for pastors, the megachurch leader Josh Howerton advises them to set aside time to answer the questions of their largest donors. This gives the "financial leaders" of the church a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sit down with their pastor and ask any question they want." The goal is for pastors to "unlock a new level of giving for people."