Out of the Box!

Advantage of Facebook?

Q: What is FB fulfilling that your website is not?

A: FB is the community aspect. Not just information. — @lynseleanne

 

I was looking at some notes about a recent conference that took place (BUG ’09) and thought I would take some time to harp on the point above. People spend tons of money on a website, yet for most people, that’s not the most effective way to spread information. Why? Because a website ONLY spreads information for the most part. No interaction. No community. 

People are all about community. People will not spend time on a site that only tells them about an upcoming event. Now, they WILL spend time talking about the event on a discussion board on Facebook. I think that churches need to start utilizing Facebook to create community amongst the Church AND to get the information out! With a ridiculous amount of people on Facebook, I think that if a Church is NOT on there, then they could be missing out on a very big oppurtunity to connect to their members. Facebook is absolutely free, what are you waiting for? LEVERAGE IT!

What do you think?

Heart of Worship

What is the heart of worship?

What is worship when we strip away the music?

When we strip away the songs?

When we strip away the instruments?

When we strip away the lighting?

Worship is not for us, it’s for God. I think it’s sometimes easy to forget that worship is not just something we do, before your Pastor preaches a message. Worship is not just music, it’s a lifestyle! The way we live our lives, is continually how we continue to worship God. Worship is in the way we give, in the way we love, in the way we serve.

In fact, worship literally translates into, “worth-ship.” The word worship means to ascribe or give worth to something. Are we DAILY living our lives as though we’re ascribing worth to Him… or are we living life as though to only ascribe worth to ourselves?
What does worship mean to you?

E.A. Hit the Nail on the Head

On June 11, 2009, Electronic Arts (EA) held a mock Christian protest for the launching of their new game, Dante’s Inferno. They hired a bunch of actors to stand on the street and hand out cheesy flyers for church websites while wearing cardboard signs telling people they were going to Hell. Some of the signs took shots at Christian culture by saying, “Turn your Playstation into a Praystation” or “My High Score is in Heaven.”

Now, am I upset? No, I’m saddened. But definitely not for the reason you’re probably thinking of. E.A. hit the nail right on the head…they got the Christian stereotype down pat! The sad part is NOT the fact that they did this. The sad part is that THIS is how the world perceives Christians. When people think of Christians, they imagine people protesting outside, yelling at them, telling them they are going to Hell.

This is what Christianity is coming to. This is why 3 different magazines in the past months have called Christianity a dying religion. Now, the stereotype is not always the way that true Christians are. In fact, more and more Christians are starting to realize that they need to change the way the approach people and presenting the Gospel, if they ever want to bring people to Christ. However, until that minority of the Christian faith stop acting like hate-mongering, judgemental, “Christians”, I don’t see too much of the world’s perspective of Christians changing.

Christians need to start loving as Christ did, and need to stop judging. Let’s leave the judging to God since He’s perfect, and worry about loving on the broken, hurting, society we live in. Sometimes we forget that we are to hate the sin…. NOT the sinner.

Man (or Woman) in the Mirror…

So, earlier this week Michael Jackson passed away. I honestly didn’t really listen to much of his music, although I could do a pretty mean “Thriller” dance. The song that I would have to say is my favorite though, is “Man in the Mirror.” The line that gets me every time is, “If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, then make a change!”

So often, we want to change the world, or the way things are around us. BUT, we often place the blame when it doesn’t work out on the circumstances. We make excuses, rather than taking a good, hard look at ourselves. Many times, it’s not the circumstances, it’s us! Sometimes, we are the reason that things don’t work out, but are we willing to admit it? Are we willing to put our pride/ego aside, and admit that sometimes we get in the way of things or even our own success?

I don’t know, but I do agree that if you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, then make a change!

Drowning.

If someone is drowning, don’t ban them from bodies of water, rather… teach them how to swim.

Whether in ministry or in life, sometimes people we know and love, get themselves in a pickle. Lets say someone volunteers for media (not that I’m biased or anything) in your church. They’ve got their heart in the right place, and they really want to volunteer in media, but the pressure gets to them, and they press the wrong slide during the service. The media team gasps, and more often that not, that person tends to be taken off that duty not for the week… but usually for good. Now, I work with volunteers all the time in student ministry who help me out with the media, whether it be lights or the soundboard. These things are tough to learn, and shoot, it took me months! If someone screws up once, I’m not going to shun them from the media booth! Now, while I might be cringing inside when feedback happens, or if Brian’s mic is not on… don’t be hasty and let your anger get the best of you.

Take every mistake, and turn it into a learning opportunity. Teach them to “swim.”

Beach Baptism Musical?!

Check out how we do our Beach Baptism at Flamingo Road Church!

Who Is He… NOT? (Blog Series)

Jesus.

Almost everyone has heard about Him. Everyone has their thoughts about Him. Everyone has their opinion of Him. But TRULY, who is He? Is the He the Son of Man? Is He a figment of some crazy people’s imaginations? Is He just a mere historical figure?

Well, rather than have a series of who He is first, I’m going to do it backwards. Who is He… NOT? By tackling who He is NOT first, it might just answer your questions about who He indeed… is.

Be sure to stay tuned for this blog series!

“I’ll Pray For You…”

Person 1: “I’m going through this tough time. ”

Person 2: “I’ll pray for you…”

I’m gonna go ahead and call out the big elephant in the room. At one point or another every Christian has said, “I’ll pray for you.” Chances are, you’ve said it multiple times this week! BUT, how often do we say those very words… and never mean it. How often do we say those words and the truth is, we just want an easy way out of the conversation. We really don’t want to hear anymore about the subject, and out of habit say, “I’ll pray for you”… and never actually pray?

I’m guilty of it. Shoot, I still struggle with it on a day to day basis. However, that’s not right! Don’t tell someone you’re gonna pray for them, unless you actually mean it. Don’t take prayer lightly. Don’t take it so light, that it’s your escape button out of a conversation. “I’ll pray for you” should NOT be the easy button out of a conversation!

If you tell someone you’re going to pray for them… actually do it.

“Principle of the Path” by Andy Stanley REVIEW

A few weeks ago, I joined the Thomas Nelson Book Review Blogger’s Club. I love to read books, and I love Thomas Nelson books, so what could have been a better combination?

I got so excited when I saw one of the books up for review, was “The Principle of the Path” by Andy Stanley. Andy Stanley has to be one of my favorite pastors/authors to learn from, and this book was definitely not a let down.

The main premise of the book is basically that  direction, NOT intentions, is the key to where we end up in life. A lot of times people seem to appear to be on the right path, but then something happens along the path of their life, and they end up in a place very different from where they expected to be. Like Andy Stanley promised in the book, this is NOT just some self-help type of book. Instead, he simply shows you the “principle of the path” and the fact that you can avoid an undesirable destination if you pay attention to the path that you are taking not only in one area of your life, but in ALL area’s of your life.

How did I feel about the book? I thoroughly enjoyed it. Is it his best work? I wouldn’t say it is, but it is certainly far from his worst (if he even has one that could classify one as bad). I would give the book 4 out of 5 stars. The book was great because it was extremly practical and logical. The book even served up quite a few great reminders which made you take a good hard look at yourself, and examine the way you live out your life every day. One of the reminders that resonated with me was indeed the fact that every decision you make, does have a consequence no matter how little you think it may be. The one that resonated with me the MOST was the fact that at the end of the book, he asks exactly what story is it, that you want to tell with your life. That last point was the one that for me, made the book a must-read.

Buy it, share it, learn from it.