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By David Mercer for Church Leaders

When Nick Vujicic was born in Australia without arms or legs, his parents could not have known what his life would eventually become.

Doctors could not explain his condition or predict his future.

As a child, Nick endured bullying, isolation, and depression so severe that at age 10 he attempted suicide.

Today, he is a US-based husband, father, evangelist, and internationally recognised speaker whose incredible story of faith has been heard by millions around the world.

Documenting The Nick Vujicic Story

This week that story is being told in cinemas across the US in the 96-minute documentary No Limbs, No Limits: The NickV Story.

Church Leaders writes It goes far beyond the familiar images of Nick smiling on a stage and telling audiences that anything is possible.

It explores the darker parts of his story and the faith journey that changed the way he understood his circumstances.

For church leaders, that may be the most important reason to see it.

Key Message: You Can Still Be A Miracle

Writer David Mercer explains this is not simply a movie about overcoming adversity.

It’s about what happens when God doesn’t give us the miracle we’re asking for.

Nick has described the central message this way: “When you don’t get a miracle, you can still be one.”

That idea runs against one of the assumptions Christians often carry into suffering:

That if we pray hard enough, believe strongly enough or wait long enough, God will eventually change the circumstance.

Using Brokenness For Good

Sometimes He does. Sometimes He doesn’t.

And Nick Vujicic’s story asks a more difficult question: What if God wants to do something through the brokenness we have spent our lives asking Him to remove?

The official film website describes the question at the heart of the documentary this way: “What if the thing you spent your life trying to fix is the very thing God wants to use?”

Nick has repeatedly talked about his own “broken pieces.”

God Used NIck’s “Broken Pieces”

In a recent interview about the film, he said, “There are no limits as to what God can do with your broken pieces and your yes.”

He explained that before he gave his life to God, all he could see were his broken pieces.

He could not see what God might do with them.

That is a message church leaders may want their people to wrestle with together.

Post-Movie Discipleship Guide

Churches are already accustomed to using movies as sermon illustrations or special events.

No Limbs, No Limits offers another possibility: Make it a small-group experience.

Nick himself has encouraged churches, schools and small groups to come together around the film.

The film’s producers have created a six-lesson discipleship discussion guide specifically for churches and groups.

Questions To Ask About Nick’s Story

That makes the movie especially relevant to the way many churches are already trying to build community.

Small groups create a natural setting for conversations that are difficult to have from a platform on Sunday morning.

After the movie, a pastor or small-group leader could ask simple but weighty questions:

• What part of Nick’s story surprised you?
• Have you ever prayed for God to remove something that He hasn’t removed?
• What does faith look like when circumstances don’t change?
• Where might God be asking you to say yes?
• Who around you needs to experience the hope God has given you?

The goal isn’t simply to leave the cinema saying, “Nick is amazing.”

It is to leave asking, “What does God want to do with my life?”

Challenging The Definition Of A Miracle

Nick Vujicic’s message also challenges the church’s definition of a miracle.

The world often defines a miracle as a dramatic change in circumstances: the disease disappears, the relationship is restored, the financial crisis ends, the disability is healed.

Christians certainly believe God can intervene in extraordinary ways.

Nick has said he still prays for physical healing and has even kept pairs of shoes in his closet in case God answers that prayer.

But he also recognises that his life cannot be reduced to whether or not that particular prayer is answered.

The Transformation Message

Instead, he points towards a different kind of miracle:

The transformation of a person who once believed his life had no purpose into someone whose life now helps other people discover their purpose.

That is why the film’s message is particularly relevant for people sitting in church who are waiting for their own miracle.

“Your Value Comes From Who You Are”

Nick’s story doesn’t promise that every circumstance will change.

It offers something deeper:

God can still bring purpose out of circumstances we would never have chosen.

As Nick has put it: “Your value doesn’t come from what you can do. Your value comes from who you are.”

“Take A Group To The Film”

That may be the best reason for a pastor to organise a trip to No Limbs, No Limits.

Don’t just send people to the documentary. Go with them.

Take a men’s group, women’s group, youth group, or even a group of local pastors.

The movie’s message is applicable to people from all walks of life — those in recovery, people walking through grief, or anyone questioning God because of something that happened in their life.

The Most Powerful Message

David Mercer writes that perhaps the most powerful message of Nick Vujicic’s story isn’t that he overcame an extraordinary physical disability.

It is that his story began to change when he stopped asking only: “Why did God allow this?” and began trusting God with the question: “What can You do with this?”

As he said recently,:“God can do anything with our yes, and our broken pieces.”

More Than Inspiration

And if a person walks out of the cinema after hearing his story and understanding that they don’t have to wait for God to make their life perfect before He can use them, the movie may have accomplished something far more significant than simply inspiring them.

They may begin to see themselves not merely as someone waiting for a miracle — but as someone God can use to become a miracle for somebody else.

The post Nick Vujicic Story On The Big Screen appeared first on Vision Christian Media.

A multisite megachurch in North Carolina recently baptised 458 people in a single day, setting a record in the congregation’s 137-year history.

Biltmore Church’s mass baptism took place at a private property with a lake near the town of Fletcher as part of its annual Outdoor Baptism event.

An estimated 4,000 church members and supporters turned out to see last year’s 389 baptisms exceeded.

Lead pastor Bruce Frank posted: “What a privilege & joy to see 458 people professing faith in Jesus today through baptism.”

“Grateful for a God who saves & a church who shares.”

“Very Humbling For Our Church”

Biltmore serves a community beside the Blue Ridge Mountains which are a part of the Appalachian spine of the eastern United States in an area which was devastated by the remnants of Hurricane Helene two years ago.

Executive Pastor Devin Goins told The Christian Post that the event is “very humbling for us” given that “baptism represents lives being changed and God being at work.

“We see and celebrate all of this while being continually reminded that we do not invite God to be part of our story and that instead He invites us to be part of His story,” Pastor Goins continued.

“While we baptise believers nearly every week as part of our Sunday morning worship services, once a year, we bring all of our locations together to celebrate those who are taking their next step as a disciple after coming to know Christ through salvation,” he explained.

“In the days before Outdoor Baptism, anyone interested was personally contacted by our staff to confirm that they knew Christ personally as their Saviour and were ready to take this next step of obedience as a Christ-follower.”

“Countless Amazing Stories”

For Pastor Frank, the significance of the day wasn’t in the numbers alone.

“Behind every one of those baptised, there’s a person.”

“And behind every one of those people, there’s a story.”

His team told of “countless amazing stories” among those present.

One of those stories involved Nick Friederich, a local tattoo artist and lay leader at Biltmore’s Hendersonville campus.

Pastor Frank said Nick regularly shares the Gospel with people while he’s giving them a tattoo.

During one of those conversations, Nick led a friend to faith in Christ.

That friend later moved to New York, but he continued watching Biltmore’s services online.

When he learned about the Outdoor Baptism, he decided to return to North Carolina to take part.

So he rode his motorcycle more than 1,000 kilometres from New York on a Saturday and was baptised on the Sunday.

Other Baptism Stories

Others baptised included a man with a terminal illness, people in wheelchairs and families in which a child influenced a parent or other adult.

“There were individuals who use wheelchairs who knew this was an important step of obedience,” recalled Pastor Goins.

“They were carried into the lake and baptised with additional assistance.” 

“We also saw several families where a child’s step of obedience encouraged a parent or another family member to take the same step.”

“We Are In The Disciple-Making Business”

“We are not in the crowd business. We are in the disciple-making business,” Pastor Frank declared.

“Our people have really taken that seriously.”

“Our job as disciples and disciple makers is to journey alongside people in their relationship with Jesus and help them continue taking their next steps,” said Pastor Goins.

“While some are newer to our church, most of those who were baptised are already part of our church.”

“Some came to Christ through a member or family in our church.”

“An Opportunity To Praise God”

Biltmore contacted each person baptised at the event about follow-up discipleship opportunities.

Those who don’t live nearby were encouraged to join a local congregation in their area.

Overall, Pastor Goins said, seeing so many people get baptised creates “an opportunity to celebrate and praise God for being at work in our midst and Jesus dying in our place.”

“For those who don’t know Jesus personally yet, but saw others get baptised, our hope would be that it sparks a desire to ask questions about Jesus and stir a genuine curiosity about what it means to be a Christ-follower.”

From 25 Members to 10,000

Biltmore traces its origins to the 1889 founding of Fern Hill Baptist Church, which was located on the Biltmore Estate a 3,200-hectare property which includes what was the largest private home in America.

The Châteauesque-style mansion which is now a museum was built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895.

The church began with 25 members and only started opening satellite campuses in the 2010s.

Now 10,000 members attend those campuses every week.

The post Nearly 500 Baptised In North Carolina appeared first on Vision Christian Media.

From The Human Rights Law Alliance (HRLA)

Three years of weekly Sunday protests outside St Mary’s Cathedral have left Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Dr. Anthony Fisher with an unanswered question: Why has the freedom to protest been treated as a right that overrides every other?

The Archbishop recently addressed the Samuel Griffith Society with legal precision.

He does not oppose protest.

He does not oppose the implied constitutional freedom of political communication.

What he challenges is the assumption – reproduced in recent NSW court decisions – that political communication carries “presumptive priority” over other significant freedoms, including the freedom of his own congregation to gather and worship without intimidation and disruption.

Same Principle Used For And Against Protests

The legal record supports that challenge.

NSW courts struck down the Minns government’s anti-protest laws in April and rejected an earlier police move-on power outside places of worship.

The same constitutional framework has been used to uphold limits on protests outside abortion facilities.

The same principle, applied differently.

The asymmetry demands explanation.

“We Need A Balance Between Different Freedoms”

“The recent rhetoric of some activists and even some judges suggests that political communication has a presumptive priority or trumping power over many or all other rights, no matter how it is exercised,” Archbishop Fisher said.

“After almost three years of this experience, I think it is high time to ask whether we have the balance right between freedom of political communication, now recognised as implied in our Constitution, and other fundamental freedoms, including the freedom to gather and worship in peace.”

“Anti-Semitism The Motivating Factor”

Archbishop Fisher’s second observation is also difficult to dismiss.

These protests target Israel and Jews specifically – not Russia’s conduct in Ukraine, not other conflicts that might trouble a conscience genuinely moved by peace.

Where genuine peace advocacy would be indiscriminate, this is not.

“Old-fashioned antisemitism,” Archbishop Fisher said, may be the motivating factor behind the protests.

A Legally Significant Claim

That is a serious claim. It is also a legally significant one.

The implied freedom of political communication is used to place the freedom to protest “above all other rights”, according to Dr. Fisher.

Federal Court Justice Ian Jackman recently suggested the High Court must address this directly. He is right.

The right to worship in peace and the right not to be subject to targeted intimidation each Sunday morning are not lesser freedoms.

Archbishop Fisher’s question – whether Australia has the balance right – is one the courts cannot avoid indefinitely.

The post Archbishop Fisher On Protests And Freedom appeared first on Vision Christian Media.