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Random Link Love...

 

Wow...I've been out of town way too much over the last few weeks, but I'm back!  Just to catch you up on what's been going through my mind lately, I thought I'd share with you some links to things that have inspired, intrigued, or just simply made me laugh over the last few weeks.  

• These Leadership Quotes have really rocked my world.  What's sad is most churches and organizations don't really have the...ehem...um...guts to do anything about it.  
• This Video is one of the funniest videos I've seen this year.  
• I think Steven Furtick hit the nail on the head with this post. It sucks to be my fault, but often it is.
• Jesus is not only a friend of Sonseed (if you don't know who that is, watch this video , he apparently is also a friend of the David Crowder Band!
• Check out how to make a homemade butt crack detector.  I know some people that need to make one of these.  
• Absolutely loved this post about what people REALLY mean.  If you don't follow Perry Noble's blog, you're really missing out. 

  What has been on your radar lately?  Any interesting links?

Social Media

I have had a lot of discussion recently about social media and it's impact and use in the church. For those of you that don't have a clue what I'm talking about, I've basically spent a lot of time thinking about how technology and media can assist in connecting people. Specifically, how can the church grab hold and use these technologies to reach and disciple others.

So with that in mind... here's 5 quick nuggets about social media and how I am considering using it (or already using it) in the church.

1) Facebook- Honestly, this is our primary method of communicating with youth in the church. I feel that social networking sites like Facebook have to be used by our churches to connect with others. Heck...I have connected with friends online that I would have never connected with any other way, so it's not just the teens.

2) Text Messaging- We have been doing text messaging during our youth service for about a year now, with a lot of success. We have also started doing text alerts and using Jott to send them out.

3) Internet Campuses- I'm so intrigued by internet campuses. With the shift in our culture to a media culture, I think that churches should strongly consider using internet campuses. The biggest complaint I hear is typically, "but how do you connect people with others if you do an internet campus?" I heard someone else say, and I can't agree more.... how is it any different from broadcasting services on television? Hmmm.... more to come on this concept.

4) Mobile Media- I already mentioned text messaging, but the way we use cell phones is about to explode. I'm sure churches need to think about things like "can our website be accessed from a cell phone?" Also, how can churches make media and such so that people can receive it on their cell phone?

5)Roov- I'm interested in seeing how Roov pans out. I love the idea of an online community that connects people to others in their community. Would this be an option for creating new small groups? Serving groups? Simply connecting with and making new friends?

It was hard to narrow it down to five, but the others may be too geeky for most.
I'd love to hear people's thoughts. Where do you see social media going in the church? Comment below.

Ed Stetzer at WiBo

NOTES FROM STETZER:
* For many of us in ministry, somewhere along the way we’ve gotten the idea that it is sinful to say “Why God?
* Main Idea- Doubt
* You can’t get to faith without doubt
* For most at the conference , ministry is not going to look like what you see on stage.
* Ministry pornography – Unrealistic picture of a ministry that you are never gonna have.
* John 14: Thomas tells Jesus that he doesn’t get it. Jesus lets him know that He is the way, truth, life and the only way.
* The misapplication is to say that Thomas is bad for doubting. We need to be able to ask “Why?” in the midst of hurt.
* Do you know what they call people who are happy all the time? Mentally Ill.
* The Bible never promises we will always be happy.
* The Gospel never lasts through the first tragedy if we teach people that we’re to always be happy.
* God is not afraid of your questions.
* God is not in heaven hoping you’ll have your best life. God is in heaven longing for people to be forgiven of their sin and delivered from the curse of sin.
* Saying “I don’t know” to a lost person is not a sign of immaturity
* God doesn’t promise answers, He promises us Himself.
* God doesn’t always speak happiness…He always speaks peace.
* Jesus = Lord = He calls the shots in my life (this leads us to repentance)
* God’s enough for me in the midst of hurting.
* My Lord & my God will help us through our unbelief.

Perry Noble at WiBo

NOTES FROM NOBLE:
* Ministry is the toughest job on the planet
* How many times have you gone home and said “I love Jesus, I don’t love the people that love Jesus”
* We are called by God- Jesus wanted you
* Are you doing what you’re doing because you’re called?
* Too many church planters start churches not because they’re called, but because they’re pissed off at the pastor and want to do it theirself.
* John 3:13
* "We don't volunteer for this stuff. We are called. If we're volunteering, we're stupid."
* We have to understand our priorities. We have a tendency to forget them.
* John 3:14 - He called them to be with Him,
* The first calling on our life is that we would be WITH Jesus.
* If ministry ever takes away from our time with God, we have been conforming to the ideas of others and not what’s most important.
* If we would spend more time with Jesus and less time on what others are doing, we would see significant growth take place.
* Way too much imitation and not enough revelation in the church
* We are called to go out to preach (John 3:14)
* God is not green, Kermit is. We can save the planet and people on it could go to hell.
* “It will be a cold day in hell when I preach a message on recycling and neglect to preach about Jesus Christ.”
* He called them to have authority (John 3:15)
* The time has come for us to stop walking in fear but to walk in the authority that God has given us.
* “Do you really wanna be a prostitute for the rest of your life, or do you want to serve Jesus the way that He called you to?”
* Do what God tells you to do and let Him handle the results
* You have to understand the temptation.
* If you’re a pastor, there is no bigger target in your church than on your back.
* John 3:19 – Judas walked closer to Jesus than most of us will ever know, but he didn’t finish because he fell into temptation.
* Satan desires to have you. How are you gonna protect yourself?

John Burke at WiBo

NOTES FROM BURKE:
* The main problem of man is that we want to be God.
* How many years have we spent telling people about a spirital product that we haven’t been taking in ourselves
* Christianity is scandalously simply, yet difficult for adults to live.
* The goal is relationships.
* All human problems are relational.
* “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” This tells us that what he was saying must be important.
* Stay connected, fruit happens.
* We have to think hard and strategize about how to make community happen
* Galatians 5 – Walk in the Spirit, moment by moment, and everything else will follow
* All of us already know these things. We just don’t do them that well.
* The reason that Christianity has such a negative connotation in society is because we’re not doing what Jesus did. Jesus Himself said that He had to do what the Father did.
* It is freeing when you realize that God causes the growth and we that our goal is simply creating the environment.
* We have to learn to have “ears to ear” and teach others to respond in faith when those God thoughts enter our minds.
* BIG IDEA- Stay Connected

Mark Dever at Wibo

NOTES FROM DEVER:
* He opened by saying “I bring you greetings from the tucked in generation”
* The Church WILL win. It’s not in doubt.
* The Big Idea: God has put himself on display for the world to see through the Church
* In creation, he made more than one human. The trinity reflects community.
* Faith comes from hearing the Word. God speaks through the church and teaching people God’s word.
* A sermon as a monologue even reflects how salvation is from God alone.
* As we preach God’s word, he will draw people to Himself and to God’s church.
* Reading the culture and understanding the culture means that you have you realize the culture typically stands against God.
* The Church needs to be shaped by God’s Word. It needs to be a bowl that captures the fruit of God and displays it to the world.
* It is important to have a concept of church membership.
* Make your life congregationally centered.
* Members are running around wearing their Jesus jersey and displaying it through our franchise.
* If members aren’t living as they should and resist to change, they should be excommunicated from church.
* God set up the Church deliberately to make it distinct from the world.
* Perhaps God cares more about the corporate whole than the individual?
* Don’t think of your main gathering as an event. Think of it as a community that is being cultivated.
* God probably wants to laugh at us when we discover something that “works.”

Darrin Patrick at WiBo

NOTES FROM PATRICK:
* Romans 1:18-25
* How people change and how to turn from idols in our life.
* Sin is when we exchange the object of our worship. We stop worshiping God and start worshiping creation instead of creator.
* You were made to be captivated by something greater than yourself.
* 1 John 5:21 (summation of 1 John)- Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
* The way to serve other people, to love God? Stop serving idols.
* What is an idol? Anything other than God that I put in the place of God.
* An idol is something you look to for meaning. It can even be your ministry.
* Sin happens because we treasure our idols more than we treasure God.
* If we break commandments 3-10, it is because we have broken commandments 1 and 2.
* “An idol is anything in my life that occupies the place that should be occupied by God alone.” “Lord I trust you, but I have to have _____.” “When I get this…then I’ll be happy.”
* Most of the time, we’re clueless about our idols, but we can see others.
* You usually only see your idols when they’re threatened or disturbed.
* Who am I if I’m not a pastor? It doesn’t matter!
* Invite the Holy Spirit to expose the things you’re trusting in other than God.
* How to discern idols in our heart: What do you worry about the most? What if I failed or lost it, it would cause me to fell like I didn’t want to live? What do I rely on when things get difficult? What do I do to feel better? What do I think most easily about? Where does my mind go when it’s free? What preoccupies me? What do I daydream about? What makes me feel the most self worth? What do I want to be known for? What prayer unanswered would make me seriously think about turning away from God? What do I really want or expect out of life? What is my hope for the future? What truths from the Bible do I continually resist? What are the clear patterns of disobedience in my life?
* Idols tend to hide deep in our hearts. It is root sin. It is our motivations.
* Our motivations are the root sin. People can have different motivations for doing what they do.
* Four motivations in people (Alfred Adler): power, comfort, approval, or control
*Repentance is seeing your sin, owning your sin, turning from sin. It shows us the Root of our sin. You find that I am a bigger sinner than I thought.
* Faith is that Jesus lived for me, died for me, God sees me in Jesus, and Jesus lives in me. You find that He is a bigger Savior than I thought.
* God forgive us for inviting people to a gospel that we are not really living.

Tim Stevens at Wibo

NOTES FROM STEVENS:
* Used Desperate Housewives clip from last month. (Great clips)
* Reality #1- Churches are not making an impact. In a lot of cases, churches are the problem.
* Reasons people are turned off by churches (from UnChristian and Barna): hypocritical, too focused on getting converts, homophobic, sheltered, too political, and judgmental. Perceive church life as irrelevant, have bad memories of bad personal experiences with churches, feel unwelcome.
* We’re doing great with the churched, but we are not getting the job done with unchurched and dechurched.
* Reality #2 Spiritual interest is growing in culture.
* People recognize need to develop inner life, but they don’t see the church as able to help it.
* As a church, a lot of times we are asking questions that no one is asking.
* John 1:14 “Christ became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.” (MSG)
* Christ used the signs and symbols of day to reach people.
* Christ would watch our movies, surf internet, use pop culture, use music lyrics, to reach people today
* How can we leverage the culture in church to reach people?
* What’s an example of a biblical basis for using culture to impact people? Acts 17:10-33
* Paul used the culture around him to teach them about Christ!
* He quoted two different poets, an idol in the town,
* BIG IDEA: Leverage the culture or risk losing your impact.
* Celebrate what God is doing in the community in the here and now, rather than constantly talking about the past.
* Too often we don’t like asking questions. Typically, our churches aren’t a place to answer questions most of the time. We focus too much on just providing answers.

Vince Antonucci at Wibo

NOTES FROM ANTONUCCI:
* When he started reading the Bible, he saw that there was a time and place mentioned when Jesus was talked about, so there was a lot of evidence of Christ.
* Vince’s father was on America’s Most Wanted!
* MAIN QUESTION: How’s it possible that he lived 20 years in America and never hear about Jesus?
* There are churches all across America exploding with growth, but they’re growing by adding people that are already Christians.
* If we’re honest, we are reaching people…we’re not reaching lost people!
* Challenge: You would seek and save God’s lost children. You will do whatever it takes and do anything outside of sin to accomplish this. That is where God’s heart is.
* Told story of his son being
Jeremiah 4- God shows his heart for the lost. Verse 19- Oh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the agony of my heart! My heart pounds within me, I cannot keep silent. Verse 22: My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children.
* Matthew 11- Come to me all who are weary and burdened.
* Jesus’ heart beats for the same
* Matthew 9- Jesus saw the crowds and had compassion on them. “Compassion” basically means his heart was ripped out. He was compassionate because they were like children without a father. He wanted to send workers.
* We have the honor of being the answer to Jesus’ prayer that
* We are often content with seeking and “saving” the saved.
* Romans 15:20-21
* Does it make your heart beat fast to seek the lost?
* What breaks your heart?
* Are you going to the places lost people go?
* Are you using the kind of bait attracts them?
* Are you making sure you have the right hook to keep them?
* Do the most messed up people in your town want to hang out with you?
* If we’re not close to people, we’re far from God.

Mark Batterson at WiBo

NOTES FROM BATTERSON:
* The farther away from home you are, the more of an expert you are.
* The longer I do ministry and lead, the more I covet the favor of God.
* Isaiah 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
* Passage comparing distance between God’s thoughts to the expanse of universe
* If you were to drive to sun at 65 mph, 24 hours a day, it would take 163 years to get here. The sun warms us in 8 minutes.
* Your best thought on your best day is about 13.2 billion light years short of God’s thoughts for you.
* Systematic theology an oxymoron?
* The moment we think we have God figured out, we lose the spiritual curiosity to seek Him for eternity.
* Our best theories will probably
* 1 Corinthians 8:2 The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.
* Your dreams are too small
* We confess our sin all the time, but when was the last time you confessed that your dreams are too small?
* The office is where I go to get nothing done anymore (Amen)
* You need to leave cell phone somewhere, no meetings, no appointments and get with God. He will begin to reveal dreams that were deep inside.
* One of great dangers we face: We stop doing ministry out of imagination and we start doing it my memory. We mimic those around us. Memory will overtake imagination, but God’s dream for us is that imagination would begin to overtake memory.
* Great ideas always come from a dream that starts from God.
* If you don’t have any holy discontent in your life, go on a mission trip.
* Rather have one God idea than thousands of good ideas.
* Their team will take an “imagination day” and go out to dream.
* We need to believe that God wants to tell His story through us.
* In first century, people didn’t travel more than a 35 mile radius in their lifetime. Jesus said to take Gospel to the ENTIRE world.
* Jesus is Lord and Savior, but He is a dreamer!