Keep your eyes open for God at work

I have been reading The Unexpected Journey by Thom Rainer. The book is about people from 12 different faith backgrounds came to find and know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

The testimonies and stories of faith are revealed via interviews conducted by Thom, his wife and occasionally other staff members.

The book is a fun read because the narratives. There are details about each faith and each persons story on how they found Jesus Christ.

My heart has really been humbled and yet excited by reading these stories. One key I have been reminded of by these stories is that God is always working! Even when we think that are neighbors or friends are lost causes, we should not give up on them.

Be on the look out for where God is at work. God placed Christians in each of these respective lives on purpose to share Christ's love and the Good News.

Simply showing Christ's love to a neighbor you know is in need by serving them with a gift, food, merely talking to them or even prayer if God is pushing you to serve. The simple love of service can really open the doors to the lost person's heart and prepare them for the Gospel.

Scary statistics

Some upsetting statistics from my Seminary Evangelism class. I do not recall the exact source but I believe these numbers are from Barna Research Group and the Southern Baptist Convention :

USA total population increased 11% in last ten years; church membership declined 9.5%

Church attendance is declining 10% over the past 7 years

Evangelical Church failed to gain additional 2% of population in the past 50 years.

No county in America has a greater percentage of churched people since a decade ago.

Half of all churches in America last year did not add one new member via conversion.

Churches are closing their doors....

1900 -27 churches for every 10,000

1950- 17 to 10,000

2004- 11 for every 10,000

We lose 72 churches per week or 10.27 per day

Gain 24 churches a week, 3.4 a day

Net loss of 48 week and 6.85/ day

USA is the Largest post-Christian nation.

It is the 3^rd largest unchurched nation.

USA Lead world in all crime categories

North America is only continent where Christianity is not growing, in fact other Countries have sent Christian missionaries to us, when we once sent Christian missionaries to them!

13^th (some ranked us even as high as 4^th) highest receptor of missions nation

Fastest growing affiliation is “not religious”

(Canada + US) is only 3 t o5% truly evangelical

Bill Easum-estimates that in American churches 60% median age of 60 or higher

personality or character

I made the mistake of assuming what some one's character is liked based on thier personality. On my behalf I did not really know him (character or personality) at all, but first impressions lead me astray. It was wrong for me to assume anything about his character based on the first encounter (point of contact.) First impressions swayed me wrong, but the same was probably true of my first impressions upon him.

I was having a bad day at work and then I went to his area on the dock and he was hastling me and giving me a hard time and made one paticular comment that really hurt me so I assumed that this guy was a very negative man.

Turns out he is a nice man and even a Christian. I ran into him agian recently. He remembered our entour a few weeks ago and started giving me a hard time agian. I told him about that week and that I was having a bad day and I admitted that I made a few mistakes a few weeks back then he asked me if I was a college student...

The conversation turned quickly once he found out I was taking online classes with a Christian University. He told me he was a Christian too. We made both made new impressions upon each other.

He did admit that he enjoys giving people a hard time, especailly if they make a mistake. And I had errored that first time I met him. Still I was wrong for mistaking his rough personality with his character. These two are not the same.

This man mentioned above has developed a great relationship with me. We pray for each other and have fellowship at work!

sin is not a disease

We cannot "cure" sin with the Gospel or with any words we say.

To say that Jesus is the cure for sin is also limited and devaluing the actual thing that Christ did do.

Christ died for sin. Sin requires a rebirth not just a cure. Sin is the entire essence of who we are as 

we come into this world, spiritually dead. Sin required death of Chrsit. And His death gives us new 

life.

The Question

I recently listened to podcast by Apologetics.com featuring apologist and author Greg Koukl who recently authored the book called Tactics. In this book Greg offers several great approaches to talking to people in a way that will lead to spiritual conversations and possibly sharing yor faith with them.

The podcast did not offer everything that is in the book but briefly went over some of the important topics in the book.

One thing that really stands out from the podcast is the simple use of the question.

A lot of Christians are not sure what to say or what to talk about in order to bring a spiritual conversation, some Christians are just afraid...

but the use of questions is an amazing thing.

First it puts the burden of proof on the other person. Second it makes you look like a good guy, you care and are asking great questions and are letting them share thier prespective. Thirdly it is safe. They are relational. They encourage your relationship with others. 

Questions can be leading. can be investigative, or can be curious. If your friend says they do not believe in God for instances...instead of being afraid and feeling like you have to prove God, simply ask "What do you mean by God?" or "How did you come to that conclusion?"

Let them do the explaining...then after they have shared you can be ready to offer your own expirience or opinions in a kind but evangelistic manner.

I plan on getting this book and posting more about this book on my blog eventually. But check out the book Tactics. And the podcasts at Apologetics.com 

REFUEL your relationship with God

I'm reading the book Refuel by Doug Fields...
And I am enjoying this help and practical book.

I love how Doug writes the same way that he speaks. His personality is the same even in his writing, not a lot of authors can (or even try) to express the same sense of humor in writing that they use in their real verbal life.

So far the book has been very helpful. It has confirmed a lot of thinks I have been thinking about, doing, and teaching about myself personally. I hope Doug does not mind me spilling the beans, but the approach to connecting with God is really simple. First we must STOP, then BE QUIET, and MAKE A CONNECTION WITH GOD.

There are a lot of things in our lives that we live that keep us busy, a lot of times we use this busyness as an excuse for not finding time for God. The issue is not our busyness but it is easy to use that as the excuse really our priorities are flawed or we are not managing our time properly to truly live out our priorities.

So Doug tells us to STOP...even for just a few minuets or seconds through-out the day and recognizing God as Lord. Put Him first, seek Him, pray, and read the Word of God....

but the first step of STOPPING can be difficult because of the lives that we live. Stopping does not mean giving God the left overs, we must STOP because if we really want to make a connection with God we must surrender all of our attention to Him. He uses an illustration of getting gas. We cannot fill our car up with gas while it is still moving or even running....we have to STOP the car before we can connect to the pump.

Servanthood Evangelism

“People are more than twice as likely to allow a person to share their faith when evangelism is combined with simple acts of servanthood.”

Servanthood Evangelism is intentionally sharing Christ by modeling Biblical servanthood.

The great ideas for servant evangelism are numerous!

Check out this website for some ideas!

Here are some thoughts:

Walk the streets of the community offering to change burnt out light bulbs for free and share the light of Christ

Change the batteries of fire alarms because of the love of Christ

pass out free water at a sporting event

Do a gas buy down...for a few hours at a gas station offer to pay the station .25 for every gallon pumped in 2 hours. The gas station sells the gas 25 cents cheaper, the customers are happy and you get a chance to talk to the customers about why you are doing this!

Bake cookies for visitors and visit them. The principle is do not just invite the community to come to your church, instead bring the church and love of Christ to them!

Community-driven: cook food for or mow grass for a particular community or a particular set of families, no strings attached.

Do not participate in a "church sports league," do participate in a community/open/secular league.

People will ask "why are you doing this?"

This is the essence of servant evangelism and this is the opportunity to share the Gospel and God's love!

An area lacking

A part of my life that I miss is music.
During most of my life I have played in a band. Not always the same band but continually in a group nonetheless.
I recorded an album of myself for fun last year.
Now I occasionally write songs but this area of my life is lacking and not as active as it has been in the past and I miss that.

It is not only my own music playing and ability but music in general...
I have 30GBs of music on my computer but much of it is forgotten.
It is great music (old and new) but I just haven't got the time to just listen to music like I used to.

It is strange how all this occurring, I love music and it has always been a part of my life but right not it is not as big of my life as usual. I miss that...

so here is to a random day off of me playing guitar and forgetting about the rest of my life...it was fun

Superman: The Blanks

The Scrubs Theme Song by The Blanks (Aka "Ted's Band")
Played at the end of the last Scrubs episode this week :(

The body of Christ: We are a team!

God has given us each talents and abilities and spiritual gifts! We each have a role to play within the church. Modernism has brought on an extreme amount of individualism in American culture. One thing the church has got to get back to is being a community of believers. The church of Acts 2, that Bill preached on this morning is the example. Every person played a role in the church. When one of us is not correctly functioning in the role that God has for us, then the rest of the body is handicapped and suffers.

Another problem in American church today is “Ministry misplacement” which is the problem of 20% of the members doing 80% of the work in ministry. I pray our church does not fall into this trend.

Other reasons for meeting once a week for a worship service are:

1. Bible Commands it: “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful… Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:23, 25)

2. Learn and grow together Proverbs 27;17, “Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another.”

3. A place for regular Confession. God cannot have anything to do with sin. Sin blocks our spiritual eyes and ears from understanding God.

4. Opportunities to serve/ use gifts that God has given us

5. Serves purposes of God/Bible: Worship, Fellowship, Evangelism, Discipleship, Ministry!

6. Helps us follow God’s Will together as we share together

7. Leads to discipleship

The Importance of discipleship and mentoring:

A disciple is a learner and follower. The first disciples followed Jesus Christ. Discipleship is the intentional training of disciples, with accountability, on the basis of loving relationships. All Christians are disciples of Christ. We are to become complete and competent followers of Him.

I am super excited about the vision for our church! Soon we will be launching a church 0wide discipleship program. The idea is to get everyone in a one-on-one intentional relationship for the glory of God with a mentor. The relationship is about multiplication: both to increase and deepen your own faiths respectively but also for the purposes of prayer, evangelism, and service together. By focusing our time on building into each other and serving the community, not only will your faith grow but also the church will expand.