Christ and Pop Culture. | Rhett Smith:. Transitioning Life's Journey – 2011 Focus:. Pastors, Marriages, Young Adult Transition | Pastor's toolBox. As a church growth and funding consultant, I receive phone calls and emails weekly from desperate and dying churches, and the question that I refrain from asking each of them is, “Why did you wait so long to do something?” Are you watching your church membership wither away? Just watching… a very long and drawn out death… slowly draining away the last bit of energy and resources.
You may know the main problems causing decline… you may even know the solutions. But by delaying action, solutions now sometimes seem like big problems and problems like simple solutions. So instead of digging out… you avoid conflict, dig in on the causes, and hasten the death toll. The youngest are the first to fall off… babies, children, teens… and then the heartbroken and devastated families perish with them. Buildings begin to empty, banks move in and start to foreclose in record numbers, but still nothing changes. Pastors. Learning my lines. . . Bob.blog. TheOOZE beta | evolving spirituality. Ed Young Blog. Ron Edmondson | The Blog of Leader, Pastor, and Church Planter Ron Edmondson. Acts 29 Network: Seattle, WA > Homepage. Building Healthy Churches. Editor’s note: We asked Harold Best and Ken Myers the same three questions: Can God employ any musical form for redemptive purposes?
Even if God can employ any musical form redemptively, are some musical forms spiritually or morally “better” than others? Are some musical forms “better” for the sake of the gathered church? We'll publish Myers' answer tomorrow. My answers to these questions derive from principle, not the music I love, like, tolerate, or loathe. Can God employ any musical form for redemptive purposes? First, there are possible implications in the question that need clarification. (1) The question seems to imply that some forms might be more useful to God than others based on assumed aesthetic or moral qualities. . (2) The question seems to imply that God might have to work harder with music x than music y because x is unfamiliar, overly complex, or overly simplistic, while y meets all “relevance” criteria. There are important principles at work here. “Better” is the wrong word.
Stuff Christians Like ? Jon Acuff | Musings by Jon Acuff. Dan Kimball: Vintage Faith. John Maxwell on Leadership. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the United States, and I know I’m looking forward to a wonderful day of food and family. I hope your plans for the holiday will be meaningful and fun. I don’t know about you, but the Thanksgiving holiday always gets me thinking about gratitude.... Read more Every fall, I have the distinct privilege of participating in two world-class events. EQUIP’s Leadership Open, which I talked about last week, and the John Maxwell Company’s Exchange. This year, both were in California. What do you do after training leaders in every nation? What drives you when you get up in the morning? Last week I talked to you about rewriting your story into one of significance. What’s your story? No matter what your goals are, communicating with others in a meaningful way can help you.
There's a secret to filling the pages of your life. Most teams don’t naturally get better on their own. Leadership Blind Spots Do you have any blind spots? Brian McLaren. Eugene cho. TonyMorganLive.com | Trying to be strategic. Worship Matters | worship leader, worship blog, advice for worship leaders and pastors. Pomomusings – Technology, Theology & Ministry.
Adrianwarnock.com — Home. Websites. ChurchCrunch | Exploring the Intersection of Web Technology and the Church. Home. Church Marketing Sucks. Reformed Theology from R.C. Sproul: Ligonier Ministries. AlbertMohler.com. Michael Hyatt | Intentional Leadership. Home. Fall to Grace - TGC Reviews. Jay Bakker with Martin Edlund, Fall to Grace: A Revolution of God, Self, and Society (New York: Faith Words, 2011), 194 pages. In our American culture that revels in the public humiliation of others, we often miss the stories of how children are affected by these scandals. Que Fall to Grace. Jay Bakker uses humor to expose the hurt of his family’s public disgrace, and his style is disarming, hilarious, and enjoyable. Classic self-deprecating wit and images like chubby white kids auditioning to play him in made-for-TV-movies or Michael Jackson dangling babies makes this book a hilarious read.
As you dig into Bakker’s book, however, the jokes become less funny and more heartbreaking. Bakker distorts the gospel through the error of overreaction. Bakker warns that we play “fast and loose with God’s reputation” when we “make up rules that have no basis in Christ’s teaching” (68). Heart of the Book Daniel Montgomery is the founding and lead pastor of Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, KY. The Gospel Coalition. Kingdom People.
Rick Morton is Vice President for Engagement for Lifeline Children’s Services in Birmingham, Alabama. He is an international advocate for adoptions and orphans. He is the co-author of Orphanology: Awakening to Gospel-Centered Adoption and Orphan Care, which I reviewed here, and he has recently written a new book entitled KnowOrphans: Mobilizing the Church for Global Orphanology. Rick was kind enough to answer some questions about his book and the way Christians and churches can engage in orphan care.
Trevin: The adoption and orphan care movement in the U.S. has flourished in recent years. You take a look at where we’ve been and where we are today. Rick: There are several key mistakes we can point to that the evangelical orphan care and adoption movement is rapidly moving past. 1. Certainly, there are parallels between God’s adoption of us and our adoption of children, but there are some major differences as well. 2. 3. Trevin: About the church you write: Churchrelevance.