Tag Archives: church

Seth’s Blog: The lesson from two lemonade stands

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Some time ago I read this article by Seth Godin,  ” The lesson from two lemonade stands“.  Go read it, then come back here.

For the church – what lemonade stand are we?

  • Are we passing out tracts and telling people the “bridge” story or are we loving people and walking with them to the bridge.?
  • Is it more important to us that people attend or that people encounter?
  • Are people an audience or are they participators?
  • Does tradition trump God’s leading?
  • Does playing it safe to protect what we have trump taking a risk in faith to go where God is?
  • Are we known more for what we take than what we give?
  • Or put another, way – for what we are against than what we are for?

I’ve purposely left the “in between” unfilled in this post.  Hopefully these questions get you thinking as much as they have me and I’d love to hear what you have to say in the comments!  So, what lemonade stand is the church?

How is Mobile Technology Changing the church and the Non-Profit Sector?

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The title of this post is taken from a question posed over at ChurchDrop a while ago (along with an iPhone giveaway – great way of generating comments on the subject!) and I left a comment there so good I thought I’d repost it here [tongue in cheek] and add to it.  Actually, there’s a lot of great comments over at the original post, feel free to add to the conversation there, or here!  So here’s what I wrote:

Mobile technology is changing the church and non-profit sector in the following ways:

1. Real-time communication

People react quicker to what they are experiencing. (especially applicable to multi-site discussions -> see tony morgan’s observations) This also applies to the reporting of people on the field (i.e. missionaries, short term missions trips etc). It can be easier to communicate via mobile than any other technology from a user standpoint and this means that the message gets out and is widely distributed in a matter of seconds rather than minutes or days.  Sometimes whether we want it to or not.  

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#PAOCGENCONF2010 – Ed Stetzer

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Sorry for the delay in making these posts folks.  Here’s my notes from the final session at the 2010 PAOC General Conference.  Ed Stetzer was the speaker and I was really looking forward to hearing him speak because I’ve been a reader of his blog for quite a while.  Sometime this week I’ll write the final post in this series where I’ll sum up my thoughts and observations from my experience at this years General Conference.  Remember the notes below may or may not be verbatim.

The title of Ed’s message was, “Mobilizing all God’s people on Mission” (1 Peter 4:10-11)  

1. All have gifts…

  • Everyone should use it to serve others
  • we need to teach people that the gospel involves knowledge AND ACTION
  • church is more than a theatrical show it is a team sport
  • 1 Cor. 12:7 “7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”
  • God gives gifts for the common good
  • we need to lead more differently so people can engage God’s mission more faithfully
  • what do we need to do to lead them on mission?
...This is a preview of #PAOCGENCONF2010 – Ed Stetzer.
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do we really get REVIVAL?

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A few weeks ago I read a really thought provoking post by my friend Geoff Heeg called -> Revival Please* So thought provoking that while I read it I could feel a blog post coming on.  And here it is.

Revival. That word is kind of loaded. In it’s neutral form it simply means someone who has been revived. Were dead. Now alive.

In it’s controversial form it’s the pursuit of the religious fanatic – “give me some of that ol’ time revival” which is too often – sadly – really saying, “I want to be scintillated emotionally and spiritually by displays of wonder and power that will shock others into the particular brand of faith that I follow.”

In other words…

…Something started by someone really cool!

Something started by a person who’s particularly good at getting me hyped up about what God wants to do for me. If this person is really good with the spiritual vocabulary and does some cool things then I can feel a revival coming on.  

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The New Marketing

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StreamingFaith.com conducted this interesting interview with Seth Godin discussing how the church isn’t doing a very good job of reaching people with their message in today’s new “marketing era”.  I really like his observations on the usefulness of blogging – something that I think the church is way behind on…check out the interview at, Is Today’s Modern Church Busy Making Meatball Sundaes?

Article Review – The Blessing of Pain

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I must admit I never quite looked at pain the way that Paul Brand and Philip Yancey record in the article Putting Pain to Work which is posted on BuildingChurchLeaders.com. Illustrating from his experience working with people suffering from leprosy, Paul highlights the importance of pain in healthy bodies. This correlates directly with the healthiness of the body of Christ as well. He says,

 

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Help Wanted: Apostles

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Apostles and The Emerging Apostolic Movement

Rating: 4 out of 5

 

 

 

 

 

Author: David Cannistraci

Year: 1998

Category: Apostles, Leadership

Publisher: Regal Books

ISBN: 0830723382

David has written a book that is an attempt to elucidate and give shape to an understanding of the biblical office of apostle and make an argument for the validity of restoring this office today. I think he has done a good job pointing out the important need for apostles and their ministry as well as clearly outlining the characteristics, work, and authority of the apostles as written about in the New Testament. There wasn’t too much in this book I disagreed with and I would recommend it as a read for any leader in the church.

As I was reading it however I began thinking of my own fellowship (PAOC) and how to some degree while it may not be directly recognized as such (with the term “apostles”) there are men functioning in that role already. We have sectional presbyters (who “oversee” groupings of churches in a district) and regional directors (who oversee groupings of sections in a district) and district superintendents (who oversee a district) and then the General Superintendent (who oversees the districts). I think it might benefit our fellowship more to understand (and perhaps recognize) the role these leaders have as “apostles”.

 

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