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I know this is a commercial from one of those dreaded big box stores, but it is catchy, and has a great spiritual message. We have to stock up and share the Joy, and the reason we have it.
Enjoy:
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Lady Antebellum
How about this for a “Sunday song”?
I run from hate, I run from prejudice, I run from pessimists, But I run too late
I run my life, Or is it running me? Run from my past, I run too fast, Or too slow it seems
When lies become the truth, That’s when I run to you
This world keeps spinning faster, To a new disaster, so I run to you, I run to you, Baby
When it all starts coming undone, Baby, you’re the only one I run to, I run to you
We run on fumes, Your life and mine, Like the sands of time, Slippin’ right on through
Our love’s the only truth, That’s why I run to you
This world keeps spinning faster, To a new disaster, so I run to you, I run to you, Baby
When it all starts coming undone, Baby, you’re the only one I run to, I run to you
Oh oh, oh I run to you
This world keeps spinning faster, To a new disaster, so I run to you, I run to you, Baby
When it all starts coming undone, Baby, you’re the only one I run to, I run to you, I run to you, Yeah
Oh oh, oh I run to you, I’ll run to you girl, Oh Oh
I always run to you, Run to you, Run to you
Unique visitors to post: 1This is the opening tune from church today:
We’re doing Warren’s 40 Days of Love.
Unique visitors to post: 1“The only way you can reach someone that no one is reaching is to do something that no one is doing.” Craig Groeschel. Why would Andy Stanley think this is a huge statement? Because it is.
Craig Groeschel
We have to be ready to present an unchanging message in new ways to connect with new people groups. What are some new people groups that you have been trying to reach this year? Have you tried to reach the homeless? Have you tried to reach unwed Moms? Have you tried to reach webheads? Have you tried to reach the families on your kid’s soccer team? How about the barrister at Starbucks that knows exactly what you want to drink? Successful? How are you trying to share the gospel? It has been said that doing the same thing over and over and expecting to get different results is the definition of insanity. Are you going crazy, or are you willing to have people call you crazy because you want people to get IT?
Unique visitors to post: 0I’ve started a new read, Crazy Love, by Frances Chan. Frances is a gifted speaker and in Crazy Love I am learning to appreciate his gift of writing. Take a listen to Frances as he introduces Crazy Love:
Frances speaks early in the book about how Crazy Love is a journey that needs to be made with others not alone, so I’m traveling through Crazy Love in the context of a double small group (a group within a group). I’ll let you know how crazy it gets.
Unique visitors to post: 0I’m reading a book that is tough for many Christians to accept. The book is The Shaping of Things to Come, by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch.
Frost and Hirsch have taken a lot of heat on the “professional church” front because they challenge many of the things we do when we play church. They say believers need to be in the world.
Many churches claim to be missional. They say they are because they are open to lost people, maybe give an invitation, have an outreach program, or MOPS, or a daycare, or community picnics, or Trunk-or-treat.
Early in this book Frost and Hirsch give their definition of what a missional church needs to be.
One of its characteristics is:
“The missional church is incarnational, not attractional, in its ecclesiology. By incarnational we mean it does not create sanctified spaces into which unbelievers must come to encounter the gospel. Rather, the missional church disassembles itself and seeps into the cracks and crevices of a society in order to be Christ to those who don’t yet know him.”
Are you a part of a missional church?
Does your church do “attracting events” or does your church disassemble itself everyday and seep into the cracks and crevices of our society?
Unique visitors to post: 0I’ve started noticing the background music playing in stores that I shop. Being a guy, I’m usually with the primary shopper of my home, so I have idol time wandering around while the shopping gets done. I catch myself humming or singing along, and many times I love the tunes. Obviously in my case, the market researchers have done a great job, and are playing music to my demographic. The music helps make my “shopping experience” enjoyable.
How about you? Do you find yourself singing to background music in stores? Does it make you nervous that market research can figure out who their primary customers are to such a level, that they can customize their background music to make the time you spend in their store a better experience?
What if you hate the background music. Does it make you shop fast and get out, or not shop and leave? Do you exclude shopping from a business because of their music? What if you don’t know the words to the songs. Does this make you uncomfortable? Does the music trump the other aspects of your shopping experience?
Now. Answer these same questions as it relates to your Sunday morning experience at church.
Things that make you go humm.
Unique visitors to post: 0Twice in the past month I’ve blogged about Tweeter in churches. 
Is there a use for churches on May 3rd, then on May 25th some info about a few churches that are using Tweeter around the country. Here is a link to an article in the Florida Times Union that talks about Tweeter in some Jacksonville churches.
There’s still a major division of opinions, from ““God has something to say to you today … but he won’t be calling your cell phone. Please silence your cell phones and other devices.” to “It’s just a different way of distributing the gospel, basically.”
Close your eyes, bow your heads, start tweeting?
Unique visitors to post: 0Back on May 3rd I posted about Twitter and wondered if anyone had ideas regarding church applications for Twitter. Here is a link to an article in Time that discusses how some churches are using Twitter.
One of the churches in the Time’s article is Westwinds Community Church. I’ve been to Westwinds Community Church in Jackson, MI and it has a history of being on the edge of innovation. Church and Twitter is subject of discussion without a common conclusion. Check out this article and this one. You can even read about an “evangelistic strategy” utilizing Twitter:
I personally don’t think most pastors are ready for attenders of their services to have their heads down (except during prayers) while they teach. What do you think?
Unique visitors to post: 0Harvard University recently completed a study of potty training in America. They discoverd this: Fifty-four years ago nearly ninty percent of our children had been successfully trained before they reached their second birthdays.
Today courtesy of decades of toliet-speak from some pediatricians and authors, many parents think training a child yonger than two is psychologically harmful, if not impossible. So now, parents wait, and wait, and then often have a difficult-extended time potty training their children.
My children participated in several sports as children and adlosences. Twenty-five years ago we were on the front side of being “soccer Moms and Dads”. At end of a sport’s season, we went to the award ceremony and I was surprised to see how every child received a trophy for “participation”! Come on, participation. We were reminded that we had to be careful and not bruise any fragile egos, by awarding a trophy to the best player and nothing to the others.
Today, we are living with what we helped create. “Houston, we have a problem”. We waited way to long to move from the toddler potty to adult world.
Church leaders today look around and wonder where have all the leaders gone? The bulk of leadership in many churches are more mature, 45 and older. The younger adults are around but not involved to a high level with a weekly commitment to teaching and leading. Why? Potty training.
They are so busy. They are trying to spend quality family time together. Their children are so consumed with activities these adults can’t find time for a spiritual investment in the lives of their children?! So we give them a pass. We settle for half-hearted or no commitment from them. We allow them to come when they want, take what they want, and give us their left overs, rather than tell them, “You’re not coming out of the bathroom until you get on that potty, and grow up”.
It’s time to stop the insainity and look grown adults in the face and say, “no more training pants, no more time out” it’s time to assume the responsibility that God has given you as parents and invest in the spiritual raising of your children by becoming part of a teaching ministry.
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