:A Christian Blog

“Vintage Catalyst” was one of the best conferences that I’ve been to. All the speakers were right on target, as far as I’m concerned, on how to move forward with today’s church. There was even a special appearance by Rick Warren to proclaim that we need a second reformation in the church to move in a new direction which I would sum up as “Others, not self”. I ended up buying a book by almost every speaker at the conference after hearing their views on the role of the church and it’s leaders in today’s world. A lot of it was inline with some of the things I’ve been talking about. Outward, not inward, is the way that Jesus taught and that if you walked in any church today, your more likely to hear a sermon on “stress” than the needs of the poor in your community. I’m still taking in all the information that I’ve heard and have drastically stepped up my reading time this week to formulate some ideas in my own head about how to get this accomplished in my community. I would recommend that everyone that has a position or plans to take a position in Christian leadership attend Catalyst 2006 next year. I’m sure a lot of the blogs over the next couple of weeks will deal with the same subjects that Catalyst talked about.

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The blog will be void of posts this week. I’m attending a leadership conference called Catalyst. I have never attended this event, but those who have highly recommend it. Here’s a little more about it from the web site.

Catalyst’s Purpose:

To provide relevant solutions through training and resources which connect and develop next generation leaders.

I hope to return with new ways to motivate myself, as well as, other Christians to spread the gospel of Christ. I’m going to try to keep up with all the great Christian blogs that I read everyday through the hotel wireless internet, so keep posting away!

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Just a quick note, there’s a good discussion about intelligent design going on over at kuro5hin.org. It’s worth a read and even though the intelligent design theory is not as clear as Christians would want it to be, it at least gets our foot back in the door in an official sense in public schools. Does anyone have links to Christian authors talking about the same subject?

Warning: The site linked doesn’t filter profanity.

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There’s an interesting discussion going on at the Rapture Ready message boards that started out with an educated atheist asking “Why should I love God?” It’s interesting to me because it’s not from a scientific standpoint. He acknowledges God, but just doesn’t see what God is doing for him. There are many different replies along the lines of “He loves you”, “He sent his son to die for you”, etc. This doesn’t mean anything to someone who doesn’t want to believe and love God though.

I think the answer is that God is doing a lot for him already. God reaches out to all the world by teaching you and me to represent him physically. Casting Crowns has it right, “we are the body”. Chances are, God has helped him all along in his life, he may have even hired him for his current job. Where would we be as the human race without God’s teaching of love and charity? It’s definitely not in our nature. As children, we are completely selfish. I would hate to see a world without God. Anyone that couldn’t make it on their own would die. Anyone that had more than someone else would be robbed or killed. God is doing a lot for him and everyone else through us. It’s a great responsibility to represent God on this Earth. Do you make God glad that he is being represented by you?

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One day after I posted about marketing for Jesus being mostly bad in my opinion, I find a good example (again, in my opinion) of marketing for Jesus. The Steelroots campaign is a skateboarding team that goes around the nation combining the sport of skateboarding and the gospel of the Bible.

From the site:
“Steelroots’ mission is revealing the truth about Jesus Christ to today’s generation through the action sports scene. We would like to portray the positive sides to these sports by letting people know that you can still have fun and follow Jesus. We are trying to unite all the Christians in these sports and let our voice be heard. We have created a few different avenues to help us with our mission.”

I like this approach for two reasons. It gives Christians other peers to be around that has the same ambitions and lifestyles that they do. Two, it gives non-Christians an easy way in, since they already love skateboarding and probably would love some other people to skate with. This seems more transparent to me in terms of marketing though. Basically, it seems more real. They offer friendship, not features. Friendship marketing seems like the best way to me to spread the word to non-believers.

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As I drove home tonight, I heard a commercial about how movie night is sweeping the nation’s churches. It offers a chance for families to get together to watch a movie (which it seems they could do at home), as well as, giving non-church goers a form of “free entertainment”. I, for one, am torn about this type of church marketing to try to get non-members to join. Should we really have to rely on movies, basketball courts, workout centers, and other perks to get people to join the church? I thought it was all about our life and the light that was shown through us. At what point did that lose it’s luster and become just a small part of bringing new people to Jesus? Shouldn’t we teach Christians that they, not the church, are the right reason people should come there in the first place?

Mark4:1 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. 2He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3″Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times.”

Why would I use this parable here? Because I think anyone that you bring into the church because of basketball courts or movies are seeds being planted on shallow ground. They will start to grow, but as soon as things get tough, they will wither and die. I’m sorry if this post sounded a little like a rant, but it just amazes me how much a church has to do to grow it’s membership these days. When the tried and true method of spreading the gospel is within every single Christian.

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I used to work out 3-4 times per week with a partner. At first, it’s fun and something new. Then you hit those days where you don’t really feel like going. My partner would always be there to say “Get up, it’s just a small bit of sacrifice and you’ll feel great”. He was always right and he got me to the gym. When he stopped going with me, I gradually stopped going myself, because there was no one there to tell me to get up on those days when I didn’t really feel like doing it or had a lot to do. After a while, my excuse was that I was just too out of shape to go to the gym!

This brings me to another important topic that I hinted on in a comment of the last post. Accountability. Should Christians have a partner that makes them accountable for things they have or haven’t done? As some of you may know, it’s been a few days since my last post and it really got me thinking about this. What if I had someone calling me or meeting me on a daily or weekly basis, asking me if I had met the goals we set last time we met? I think I’d be more apt to do the things I set out to do if I knew that someone was going to be asking me about them later. This person would have to be someone that you could bare your soul to, but at the same time, not let you off the hook when your getting lazy. This person would support you through mistakes, and work with you to get back on the right track. I like the idea, and will try my best to put it into practice this week. I always have big aspirations of what I’m going to do for God on Sunday, then Monday comes. Period. I think this will help me stay on track through the week to grow spiritually.

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I don’t know if any of you watched this movie last night on TNT, but it was probably my third time to see it. When you’ve watched a movie multiple times, you begin to notice things you never noticed before and thinking about things that you didn’t think of the first time you watched it. For me, it was the concept. I remember hearing the concept before I ever watched the movie for the first time. But why did it work? Why did a concept that is basically giving to others work so well when there are plenty of avenues to satisfy this Christian commandment? Pay it forward worked because it gave a person a goal. When you generalize charity, and ask people to give, and ask people to help, they don’t really have a goal. Pay it forward gave them that. Find three people and help them. A simple concept, but successful because it was definitive. I’m going to strive to not only be charitable, but to set goals each day, week, and month. Setting goals and meeting them gives an extra boost of satisfaction that already accompanies giving to someone.

Luke10:25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

26″What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

27He answered: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”

28″You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

36″Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

37The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

If you have trouble giving, then I encourage you to set goals for yourself each day or each week. At the end of the week, review and see if you met your goals. As I try to meet mine, I’m going to blog about things that helped me reach my goals each week. Don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any advice for my struggle to go and do like the Samaritan.

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I’ve just found out that this storm has been upgraded to a category 5. I and others will be praying for all those in the path of this storm. Having been through Katrina, I know it is an experience I will never forget. A lot of the evacuees from New Orleans fled to Houston to try to make a new home, which is now directly in the path of Rita. Please pray for our nation as we adjust to homeland disasters such as the ones we’ve experienced since 9/11. It’s something that a lot of American’s aren’t used to, but will survive.

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Several people I know went into the ministry soon after getting saved, but often wonder if they just assumed that was where they needed to be. Some people fear full commitment to God because they think that means full-time commitment to the Church. It seems to me that God needs more “normal people” spreading the gospel. No, I don’t mean to say ministers aren’t normal, but a friend can often put things into perspective better than anyone. Sometimes a person that doesn’t know God filters anything a minister says just because they look at it as a sales pitch. For example, who would you trust to tell you that a Nissan Altima is a great car, a car salesperson, or your friend? I think this is often the same way with the ministery. God needs good reviews from people like you and me. Mini-ministers that tell people what God is doing for them, and that choosing to follow Jesus is the best thing that ever happened to them. You don’t have to preach, just include God in your everyday conversation. When they become more inquisitive (what your waiting for), then be ready to tell them about things he’s done and does for you. I think this may be one of the best ways available to spread the gospel of Jesus.

Matthew 28:16But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated.

17When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.

18And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

19″Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

20teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

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