I'm back to blogging. Facebook doesn't give me enough therapy or enough space. Either I'm too crazy or too verbose or both.
Check out my church's website. It is great, the church and the website. http://www.glendalechurchofchrist.org
You can still find me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/glittle1
I am working on a few projects at the during the hazy days of summer
1. Website designed to help people learn how to preach the message of Jesus
2. A small book on the God of All Comfort.
3. Eating right!
Can only do it with His strenght
No More Blog
I have decided to stop blogging. It has been good therapy for me but I find Facebook more helpful to my mental health and so I will be using it from now on.
What Brand of Jesus Do You Prefer?
Every product we buy has so many brands. You get a lot of choice. Walk down the store aisle and choose your favorite brand. Order a salad at a restaurant or a sandwich and what do you get? At least 5 choices of dressing and bread.
We make a serious mistake when we deal with Christianity that way. Being a Christian is simply about following Jesus. It starts with his love for us, his sacrifice for us and our faith in Him (Ephesians 2:8). The rest of our lives then should be a walk with Him and with others who share faith in Him.
Yet, it seems that most generations before this one have turned this life with Jesus into a brand. And not just one brand called Jesus. But a multiplicity of brands centered around ideas, people and preferences. And even though this generations show a strong rejection of Christians brands it would not surprise me if they fell into the same trap previous generations have.
Even the term, Christian, has been turned into a brand that has come to have a fairly specific political, doctrinal and social meaning that appears to be at odds with Jesus, Himself. We used to think of America as a Christian nation. This week’s Newsweek magazine questions whether that branding of America is still valid. My question is, “Was it ever a Christian nation?”. Only people can be Christians. I wish whole nations could become Christian but none ever have. You can’t baptize a nation. Jesus never asked us to. He told us to preach the gospel to people and baptize people. God’s vision is for all nations to flow into His kingdom (Isaiah 2:2).
You don’t have to pick a brand of Christianity. Jesus wants you to pick Him, not a brand (Matthew 11:28-30). He wants you to be a follower of Him not a supporter of a religious tradition. Christ’s church is simply a bunch of followers of Jesus who God has linked by the cross. It isn’t a brand. It does not supersede our relationship with God through Christ. It does not intercede for us with God. The followers of Jesus are the church.
Christianity isn’t a political, nationalistic, evolutionary movement. It is a movement in people’s hearts. Our choice of Jesus only transcends all political ideology (no matter how “Christian” it sounds, all national boundaries and all cultural evolutions. Being a follower of Jesus involves connecting with the heart and will of God.
You don’t have to choose which brand of Jesus you want. There is only one Jesus (John 3:16) and He is the one who does the choosing. And He chooses you and waits for you to accept that choice.
George
We make a serious mistake when we deal with Christianity that way. Being a Christian is simply about following Jesus. It starts with his love for us, his sacrifice for us and our faith in Him (Ephesians 2:8). The rest of our lives then should be a walk with Him and with others who share faith in Him.
Yet, it seems that most generations before this one have turned this life with Jesus into a brand. And not just one brand called Jesus. But a multiplicity of brands centered around ideas, people and preferences. And even though this generations show a strong rejection of Christians brands it would not surprise me if they fell into the same trap previous generations have.
Even the term, Christian, has been turned into a brand that has come to have a fairly specific political, doctrinal and social meaning that appears to be at odds with Jesus, Himself. We used to think of America as a Christian nation. This week’s Newsweek magazine questions whether that branding of America is still valid. My question is, “Was it ever a Christian nation?”. Only people can be Christians. I wish whole nations could become Christian but none ever have. You can’t baptize a nation. Jesus never asked us to. He told us to preach the gospel to people and baptize people. God’s vision is for all nations to flow into His kingdom (Isaiah 2:2).
You don’t have to pick a brand of Christianity. Jesus wants you to pick Him, not a brand (Matthew 11:28-30). He wants you to be a follower of Him not a supporter of a religious tradition. Christ’s church is simply a bunch of followers of Jesus who God has linked by the cross. It isn’t a brand. It does not supersede our relationship with God through Christ. It does not intercede for us with God. The followers of Jesus are the church.
Christianity isn’t a political, nationalistic, evolutionary movement. It is a movement in people’s hearts. Our choice of Jesus only transcends all political ideology (no matter how “Christian” it sounds, all national boundaries and all cultural evolutions. Being a follower of Jesus involves connecting with the heart and will of God.
You don’t have to choose which brand of Jesus you want. There is only one Jesus (John 3:16) and He is the one who does the choosing. And He chooses you and waits for you to accept that choice.
George
Internet Evangelism Resources
This is a great article on thinking through how to use the internet in evangelism
Internet Evangelism Resources
Guns in Church
In Arkansas it is now legal to carry hand guns in church. Glad I don't preach in Arkansas. Too much pressure on me to perform. What if he doesn't like my jokes? What if he decides he just doesn't like me. Too much pressure for me. Next we will hear that my brothers in ministry in Arkansas will start packing just in case. It's all a little too much for me.
Using the Internet Effectively in the Kingdom
I'm not talking about the future. I have found in my present ministry that the internet has been helpful in some areas and pretty useless in others. Here are my personal observations.
1. We get more visitors at church from our website than anything else. That probably has more to do with the fact that most people moving into our area are young adults looking to get into the movie and TV industry. They use the internet almost exclusively to find their way in the world. So, when they look for a church, they do a web search and our website comes up pretty close to the top of any list. We can manipulate that a bit with Google but not much. Google "Glendale Church" and see what comes up. The results from our website, at such a nominal cost, more than justify it as an effective tool.
2. Private email list of all members. I maintain an email list that people voluntarily get on to. No one else has this list. Not the elders or the office. I use it to communicate with the church at least twice a week. I get more positive feedback from this one ministry that all the sermons I preach. If anything of significance occurs within our church, most of our members know about it within a hour or so. We do have some in the church who do not have email and so we mail out a summary in the middle of the week for them.
I have tried to use the internet for other things but have found it not very effective in these areas.
1. Teaching. I post all our messages on our website but I know that they are rarely listened to. I'm not going to stop because only takes me 15 minutes to do this and I live in hope that maybe one day this archive may actually be helpful.
2. Persuading. You can argue on a blog or Facebook page until Jesus comes and you will always get the same result. Your point of view will not advance and in the end all you have done is given the crazies (and there are a lot) out there a platform to spew their tragic beliefs.
3. Connecting with the lost who are not seeking. You have some chance with seekers but the ones that are not will not end up on your web page and if they do they bounce out of there as quick as they can.
OK, I have raved on enough. Ranted, more like it. But it's my blog and I will cry if I want to.
Newsweek Christianity
I was reading the Feb 16 edition of Newsweek and couple of things made me think.
There was an article saying that more people were going into full time ministry with churches as a result of the economic downturn. Not sure what to do with that. But, here goes. Full time ministry is not a career choice. It is not a profession that you choose. It chooses you or rather God chooses. Face it. It has no appeal. Low income. Maximum responsibility. Little professional support. Often scapegoat for all the ills of the church. What is there about this job that a rational person would look at think that this is the way to succeed in life? Nothing. However, when God chooses you for it, there is nothing else you even want to do. And if there is, you better go do, because you can't do this job with anything less than a foundational belief that you are obeying your Father.
The other article was about the fact that blogs are losing their popularity. Didn't matter much to me because mine was never popular except to me. It is my therapy, and occasional at best. However it did reinforce my belief that the patterns of communication in the 21st century continue to change and if Christians are going to keep the message of Jesus in the communication channels of this present world we need to stay up to date. More on this in my next post.
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