As a Christian, I am encouraged, discouraged, and encouraged again by watching the movie below. This is "Penn" from Penn & Teller, sharing from his video blog.
Penn, thanks for the challenge. May we all find people in our lives to pray for and invest in, and may God change lives through us.
Thanks to Ed Stetzer for the find.
Eric blogged on a new CF website launching this week, CFWired.
CFWired.com, is Christ Fellowship's Church Resource website, which allows ANYONE the opportunity to get hooked up on Christ Fellowship stuff... Whether it's chord sheets from our Live @ Christ Fellowship CD, or our newest Small Group Material, or a Children's Skit book...
Most things are free. Some do have a nominal fee. Ultimately, we'd love to share with you how we do what we do in hopes that you can use it at your church... or even be inspired to do things bigger and better than we do!
Enjoy the Resources!
The doorbell rang this AM, and I was greeted by a friendly young girl with a a pamphlet inviting me to her church. Awesome. Love the grassroots approach! And I'm not offended by them stealing our "potential members". Miami-Dade county has 2.5 million people living in it. As successful as CF is, we're still only tapping .002 of those in the area. It's going to take a lot more than just CF to reach the entirety of Miami-Dade county.
What struck me was the bi-line of the pamphlet... "Church the Way it Used to Be!" I'm confused. My (limited) study of the early church had small groups of people huddled in homes, living in fear of being found out, socially ridiculed, tortured or killed for their beliefs. Yeah, that's called Persecution. Something I personally know very little about.
This church in the pamphlet isn't going quite THAT literal with the whole "Church the Way it Used to Be!" marketing. But they are definitely traditional. KJV Bibles and all. Personally, I'm glad there are churches out there that still operate with a traditional mindset. People in the traditional mindset need to find God, as do people in the modern mindset.
Just because they prefer something stylistically different from what I do doesn't mean that I should be critical of their choice. I just hope it goes both ways.
I met two interesting people today through web2.0 means...
1) I got a comment on a post earlier today from Senzo, who was asking me some questions on stage lighting for worship. We started an email conversation. I thought he was a local guy and I was going to bring in a couple of my volunteers over and do another Reach Beyond at his church. Uh, Senzo lives in South Africa. Sounds like it'll have to be an email conversation...
2) Got Facebook'd by Veniese, who is moving into the South Miami area and looking for a church? She wants to know if I can recommend one? After directing her to CFMiami.org, Veniese tells me she's moving into a place a couple blocks away from CFWK. She's coming this wknd.
There is a large portion of society that is immersed into the 2.0 culture, and having a conversation with a stranger via email is almost easier than face to face. It's exciting to see how these simple tools can be used through my own life to reach out to others.
With that being said, how else can we minister through 2.0?
Who can you reach out to in Facebook?
What's your MySpace promoting?
What does your representation represent?
Not sure what exactly is going on in Eastern Europe these days, but at the "Luxury Show 2008" held in Bucharest, Romania these glamorous, expensive Gas Masks debuted. Evidently a company called Diddo Velema released these gas masks allowing you to face the apocalypse in style. Or buy milk at the corner store in your war-torn province...
Moving away from political commentaries...
Does anyone else think it's weird that a cross would be found on a Gucci-esque gas mask? Nevermind the fact it's a diamond-studded cross on the gas mask...
In our spiritually saturated society, is it possible that the definition, the symbolism, the meaning behind the cross is lost? Is it bad that we have become comfortable with the symbol, therefore not giving it the dignity and respect due it?
Better yet, how do we go back?
Thanks to DVICE for the link.
Forbes.com just released a listing of America's Most Sinful Cities... guess who made the list.
WOOHOO! I have never been so proud!
Forbes took one of the "Seven Deadly Sins" (Aravice, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Sloth, Pride, Wrath) and then analyzed it from a practical standpoint... for instance...
Vanity/Pride... How does one define vanity? Plastic Surgery, according to Forbes. And Miami's general population has 5.2 plastic surgeons for every 100,000 people. That right there is good enough to get us a #3 Ranking Nationwide. We're ranked third! Awesome. Maybe I should get all this fat sucked out?!?
Miami also ranked 10th for Sloth and 10th for Avarice (aka Greed).
Honestly, we fared better than I thought we would. Being from the second-most unchurched counties in America, I was preparing myself for the onslaught of sin.
While some of their "practical analysis" is skewed ("wealthy people must be 'greedy'"), it still makes for good conversation. Check out the lists, with a ton of analysis, at Forbes.com
Mentor and friend James Srodulski, President of Church Health and Growth, has gotten some articles published recently online. I linked to an article a couple months ago, and I'm happy to see Part 2 and 3 published.
Part 1: The Single Greatest Threat to Any XP
Part 2: All You Need is Love
Part 3: Reseeding a life - Maybe your own
Here's a snippet from Reseeding A Life...
There really are three kinds of hurt that we can experience that might cause a person’s soul to need reseeding.
There is the kind that others inflict on us. Let’s face it—people are people. We learned before that not everyone’s motivations are always altruistic. Sometimes, thankfully not always, people just intend to do us harm. Other times people don’t mean to hurt us but it happens anyway. That Deacon really wasn’t questioning your ability to lead in a certain area. It just came out that way. Still other times things are innocently said or done that when viewed through our perception lens become skewed. Then there is just plain old misunderstanding. It doesn’t matter that nobody intended harm—it still hurts.
Secondly, there is the hurt we inflict on others and ourselves. Anger over some perceived misdeed or statement, guilting people into doing what we want, treating them with disrespect or without any concern for their well-being as individuals. Emotional disconnection as punishment, not granting forgiveness even when asked and the right thing to do, beating ourselves up over some failure of some kind, even possibly holding onto this guilt and shame for years after the fact and long after the aggrieved party has forgiven and moved on.
Finally there is the hurt that others experience. This kind of hurt has nothing to do with you personally other than you can sympathize or empathize with them and offer encouragement.
However, our responses to these different kinds of hurt can be very telling with regards to our position in Christ.
When we’re hurt, the natural tendency is to lash out somehow. It could be in the form of anger, harsh words, bitterness, degrading speech, silence, emotional and/or physical withdrawal, hate, and deceitful behavior among other things. Scripture warns against responding like this. In Leviticus 19:18 we find the commandment most often quoted in the New Testament “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself …”
Thanks, James, for being open, honest, and vulnerable. Looking forward to hearing more from you soon...
So often we as Christians look at the world, wondering what they think of us...
Needless to say... we still have a long way to go.
BusinessWeek recently published article, Deliver a Presentation like Steve Jobs, gave a ton of insight into why Jobs' keynote speeches are, well, legendary. Simple. Elegant. Clear. Precise. Hyped. If you've never watched one of Job's keynotes, you really should take a look at his most recent keynote where he announced Apple's Macbook Air, Time Capsule, and other devices.
Phenomenal.
Moving on... At CFPBay every week, four times a week, we try to achieve the same results. Every week we have lessons, items, goals, scriptures that need to be communicated... and for kicks, I read this article from CF's perspective... wondering where we are strong, and what we can work on...
Great article.
Thanks to Engadget for the link.
It has long been a mystery to me why churches in Miami don't work together more often... Call it the missional mindset that I've gained from my experiences owning "The Living Word", but I've realized that if we are going to see the MAJORITY of Miami get saved -- we're going to need more churches!
That's one of the reasons CF went multisite. Get more locations. Get more bases of operation. Put boots on the ground. Attack the enemy! But if we throw in the Law of Exponentials... if two churches can grow, can go multisite... that's a lot more locations, more bases of operation. That's a lot more people excited about reaching the lost. And the mission field is so huge, it's stupid to live in fear that "oh no, our members are going to that other church now..."
That's why I love Miami. You're not seeing people join the church by "moving membership". You're seeing lives changed. One person at a time.
All that to say...
I hung out with some guys from "The Miami Pursuit" today. (No, it's not going to become the next CF Campus location...) TMP is a Church Plant whose Pastor, Matt Mehaffey, I hooked up through my blog I guess about a year ago. Never met him until today. (See, Trav, there's still a chance for us). TMP is a portable church that will soon be meeting in a ballroom in Pembroke Pines. He has a great heart for Miami. They haven't even launched their first service yet (Jan 2008) and they're already talking about starting a second campus... man, I thought CF moved fast...
I got to hang out with their Lead Worshipper (Alex Diaz), Tech guy (Mike) and several of their key leadership... play with some gear... layout their worship center... fun stuff like that.
I asked Matt if other churches had been much help.
Not surprisingly, the answer was "not many".
It makes me sad. We're on the same team. We're striving for the same goals. Why would I not be a resource to them? Why would I not want to help?
The funny thing is that other churches have contacted us lately, asking for the same type help. I and my staff and volunteers will happily provide it. How are we going to reach Miami (all 2.40 million of us) if we're not leaning on each other for support.
God, thank you for the vision of The Miami Pursuit. Thank you for giving them an opportunity to minister. May You bless their ministry, and they see the fruit of their labor. And God, allow us the opportunity to help other churches. May we always lend a hand and come alongside a church that needs a helping hand... not for any selfish agenda but for the cause of Christ in Miami.
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