Restore Austin

A church in Austin where anyone has a seat at Jesus’ table. Sundays | 9:30AM and 11:30AM CT | live on FB & YT

[Zach W. Lambert @ZachWLambert]

Since 2000, over 380 Southern Baptist leaders have been convicted of sex crimes involving more than 700 victims all while SBC leaders covered for abusers and silenced survivors.

But women preaching and pastoring is the real problem? What a joke.

[Zach W. Lambert @ZachWLambert]

“You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them.” — Exodus 20:4–5

[Zach W. Lambert @ZachWLambert]

It’s Holy Week and ICE is currently detaining a pastor with no criminal record who is legally in the United States seeking asylum.

They have also refused to give him a Bible.
https://t.co/EA9A9MqOTr

[Zach W. Lambert @ZachWLambert]

As a pastor sits in an ICE detention center during Holy Week, separated from his family and denied a Bible, we are faced with the same question that Good Friday has always asked: Where do we stand when the vulnerable are being crushed by unjust systems?

Good Friday is not just about what happened to Jesus. It's about what is still happening all around us. And it’s about how we choose to respond.

[Zach W. Lambert @ZachWLambert]

Regardless of your religious beliefs, LGBTQ+ folks deserve to be treated with dignity, equality, and respect.

Refusing to do so doesn’t diminish them.

It diminishes you.

[Zach W. Lambert @ZachWLambert]

You pray for the hungry.

Then you feed them.

This is how prayer works.

— Pope Francis

[Zach W. Lambert @ZachWLambert]

“There’s nothing Christian about Christian nationalism. It is the worship of power—social power, economic power, and political power—in the name of Christ.” James Talarico

[Zach W. Lambert @ZachWLambert]

If your theology justifies bombing nations in the Middle East but ignores Jesus’ command to love, protect, and care for the most vulnerable, something has gone terribly wrong.

[Rev. Benjamin Cremer @Brcremer]

Beware of any Christian movement that acts as though the world is full of enemies to be destroyed rather than full of neighbors to be loved.

[Zach W. Lambert @ZachWLambert]

If you want to know why so many of us have been sounding the alarm on Doug Wilson for years, and turning up the volume recently as he is given access to the highest levels of our government, watch this.

[Zach W. Lambert @ZachWLambert]

All these politicians tweeting MLK Jr. quotes after they voted to ban his books from public school classrooms is a masterclass in hypocrisy.

[Zach W. Lambert @ZachWLambert]

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d write a book that Barnes and Noble would feature in between C.S. Lewis and Jimmy Carter 🤯

Thanks to a very kind reader who sent this to me 💙

[Zach W. Lambert @ZachWLambert]

We were told that practicing radical inclusion would kill our church.

That talking about justice for the marginalized would empty the room.

That preaching the Way of Jesus every week would turn people away.

Restore is living proof those are lies.

Merry Christmas, y’all 🎄

[Zach W. Lambert @ZachWLambert]

I’m getting some “but Jesus came for everyone, not just the marginalized” responses to this post, so let me be clear: claiming that Jesus came on behalf of the marginalized is not equivalent to saying Jesus came ONLY on behalf of the marginalized.

I think this is why so many people struggled with the concept of Black Lives Matter. It never claimed that ONLY Black lives mattered. It claimed that Black lives were under attack (via police brutality and unjust legal proceedings) and that we should do something about it.

Jesus came to earth for all people, but he chose to do so in a marginalized body and appeared first to marginalized people. Those are just facts according to the Gospel accounts. Why would Jesus choose this? Because marginalized people, by definition, were experiencing the acute pain and persecution which Jesus came to confront directly. Jesus came for everyone, but he started with those hurting the most. And that is very good news!

[Zach W. Lambert @ZachWLambert]

Christmas is our annual reminder that God chose enter this world as a marginalized person on behalf of marginalized people everywhere.

Jesus was born poor--to a scandalized teenage mom and a blue collar stepdad. His people were living under oppressive occupation and he was from a town no one liked (“Can anything good come from Nazareth?”). First recognized as Messiah by social outcasts and pagan magicians, Jesus spent his early years as a refugee on the run from a violent government.

In one of his earliest public speeches, Jesus claimed he’d been sent by God “to proclaim good news to the poor,” “freedom for the prisoners,” “recovery of sight for the blind,” “to set the oppressed free,” and “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Jesus spent the rest of his life doing just that, all while challenging oppressive systems, breaking religious rules, and defying social norms to support those on the margins. Eventually, he was executed as a political dissident by the occupying Roman government.

But it didn’t end there. Jesus overcame death with life by rising from the grave, demonstrating once and for all that there is nothing more powerful than the love of God. He now offers forgiveness, freedom, and flourishing to anyone and everyone who wants it.

If you really want to “keep Christ in Christmas,” worry less about people saying Xmas or Happy Holidays and more about sharing this story—the story of Jesus.

(🖼️ Tent City Nativity by Kelly Latimore)

[Zach W. Lambert @ZachWLambert]

Them: “Keep Christ in Christmas!”

Me: "Ok! Let's spend the holidays feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, welcoming immigrants, supporting the poor, caring for the sick, and visiting those in prison."

Them: “Wait... No. Not like that.”

[Zach W. Lambert @ZachWLambert]

I spent the morning at an ICE Detention Center and I don’t think I will ever be the same.

Part of processing it has been spending the afternoon writing about my experience it. I’m sharing it now with permission from everyone involved.

My Day at an ICE Detention Center: https://t.co/dv7TpgcM0Q

[Laura Robinson @LauraRbnsn]

This is the danger of sink-to-their-level Christianity.
I guarantee you right now there are pastors who didn't want to get political in 2016 now trying to figure out how to be polite when their parishioners are eagerly discussing which ones of their neighbors they'd like to

[Zach W. Lambert @ZachWLambert]

With so much heartbreak in the headlines lately, it’s easy to miss the small acts of love that are changing lives. Here’s one our community got to be part of this week:

Our church came together to purchase 260 Christmas presents—more than $12,500 worth—for single moms and kids finding safety and healing after fleeing abusive situations.

SAFE (Stop Abuse For Everyone) is an amazing non-profit we’ve been partnered with for a decade. They provide shelter and wrap-around services for survivors of child abuse, s*xual assault, trafficking, and domestic violence. Many of these survivors flee horrific situations with little more than the clothes on their back. So for the last few Christmases, we’ve worked with SAFE to get wish lists from their residents and then purchase exactly what these kiddos and single moms want.

Even in the midst of so much pain in our world, there are bright lights shining through. We just need to know where to look 💙

[Zach W. Lambert @ZachWLambert]

I posted this and got literally *hundreds* of comments/DMs from self-professed Christians claiming that we should absolutely be dehumanizing people we don’t like.

I was called every horrible name in the book and repeatedly chastised for my “weak” version of Christianity. This is part of a larger trend in our country which claims the name of Christ, but has completely abandoned his teachings.

It reminds me of a story I heard Russell Moore tell about how one of the pastors he knew mentioned that Christians should “turn the other cheek” in a sermon. A parishioner came up to him afterward and said, “where did you get those liberal talking points?” When the pastor pointed out that he was quoting Jesus, the man said, “That doesn’t work anymore. That’s weak.”

The idea that ALL people are made in God’s image and deserving of love is a core commitment in Christianity. Regardless of our theological or ideological beliefs, all Jesus-followers should be united in this commitment.

No one is an animal. No one is garbage. No one is worthless. Every single person is worthy of dignity, respect, and care.