...if you aren't reading Eugene Cho's Blog!
He is an exciting, honest, passionate and authentic pastor from Seattle, Washington that is a HUGE encouragement to me!
His posts are real and almost always force me towards change.
Read his blog HERE
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
How do they do it?
So, when I started this blog I had very good intentions of keeping it updated on a regular basis. And then I started working at a church. And then the Fall ministry season started. And then it was Christmas Eve.
Wow.
I now have a million times more respect for church communications people who are able to keep regularly updated blogs. How do they do it? Is there some sort of "Church Communicator Time Warp" that I am un-aware of that gives you an extra hour a day to blog?
I would love to post a blog now. But I have to go start preparing for Easter. And then Christmas Eve again.
Kidding.
I am going to try and post here more often, OR Perhaps I can just steal some of Jon Acuff, Tim Schraeder and Kem Meyer's old blog posts.
Wow.
I now have a million times more respect for church communications people who are able to keep regularly updated blogs. How do they do it? Is there some sort of "Church Communicator Time Warp" that I am un-aware of that gives you an extra hour a day to blog?
I would love to post a blog now. But I have to go start preparing for Easter. And then Christmas Eve again.
Kidding.
I am going to try and post here more often, OR Perhaps I can just steal some of Jon Acuff, Tim Schraeder and Kem Meyer's old blog posts.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Organic Ministry
I have been wrestling with the topic of "ministry" for a while. I understand the need for church classes, training, courses, conferences and that sort of thing, but I feel like I am getting to the point where I am tired of being "equipped" and I just want to go be Jesus to people and "do" ministry.
Too often we take something simple and make it confusing and difficult. I have concern that if the church doesn't begin providing more opportunities for hands-on ministry where people can get into the world and give their lives away, then people will look elsewhere to serve. In fact, I think this is already happening. If I want to give money that I believe will impact people, I give to Kiva, not to the church. If I want to get involved in an organization that is really helping people, I work with To Write Love on Her Arms, not the church. What a shame. The church should be the greatest force of good in the world, but has instead become a club or a training center that equips but never sends.
I am greatly encouraged by a recent example of someone who decided to "do" ministry.
Jon Acuff started the popular blog, Stuff Christians Like and he now has one of the largest followings of any Christian website. A few months ago he decided to use his large readership to try and raise enough money to build a kindergarten in Vietnam and he ended up raising enough to build 2. After the success of that he decided to try and raise 10K in 24 hours that would go toward malaria nets in Uganda. He ended up raising $32,250. Because he wasn't satisfied with ordinary there are thousands of lives in Vietnam and Uganda that are being impacted. It's that simple. There was no training, no meetings, no ministry plan. Just someone who decided to use what he had to impact the world.
I am being greatly challenged with this in my own life. How can I do more? Who can I help? How can ministry become more organic and natural and less planned and processed?
Too often we take something simple and make it confusing and difficult. I have concern that if the church doesn't begin providing more opportunities for hands-on ministry where people can get into the world and give their lives away, then people will look elsewhere to serve. In fact, I think this is already happening. If I want to give money that I believe will impact people, I give to Kiva, not to the church. If I want to get involved in an organization that is really helping people, I work with To Write Love on Her Arms, not the church. What a shame. The church should be the greatest force of good in the world, but has instead become a club or a training center that equips but never sends.
I am greatly encouraged by a recent example of someone who decided to "do" ministry.
Jon Acuff started the popular blog, Stuff Christians Like and he now has one of the largest followings of any Christian website. A few months ago he decided to use his large readership to try and raise enough money to build a kindergarten in Vietnam and he ended up raising enough to build 2. After the success of that he decided to try and raise 10K in 24 hours that would go toward malaria nets in Uganda. He ended up raising $32,250. Because he wasn't satisfied with ordinary there are thousands of lives in Vietnam and Uganda that are being impacted. It's that simple. There was no training, no meetings, no ministry plan. Just someone who decided to use what he had to impact the world.
I am being greatly challenged with this in my own life. How can I do more? Who can I help? How can ministry become more organic and natural and less planned and processed?
Friday, October 1, 2010
Can You Relate?
This is a song from the "secular" band Never Shout Never. Can you relate to the lyrics? I know that I can.
I love the honesty and truthfulness in this song and I think that many people outside the church would agree with this.
Watch a video with the song lyrics: HERE
I love the honesty and truthfulness in this song and I think that many people outside the church would agree with this.
Watch a video with the song lyrics: HERE
Friday, September 17, 2010
"Must Read" post of the month...maybe the year
Tim Schraeder is the Director of Communications at Park Community Church in Chicago. In my opinion, he is probably the best voice in the modern church communications world. I enjoy his posts, but none as much as what he released today.
Have you ever read something, and as you read it something inside of you just cries out knowing that it is true? This was one of those moments for me. Every thought and feeling that I have had but was unable to put into words or blog posts, he said.
I have a passion for the local church and believe that no movement has the potential to impact our world like the church does. That being said, I see that changes need to be made in order for that to happen. We have an opportunity with today's generation to change "church as usual" and get back to what it's all about.
Read Tim's Post here: No One Cares About Your Church
Have you ever read something, and as you read it something inside of you just cries out knowing that it is true? This was one of those moments for me. Every thought and feeling that I have had but was unable to put into words or blog posts, he said.
I have a passion for the local church and believe that no movement has the potential to impact our world like the church does. That being said, I see that changes need to be made in order for that to happen. We have an opportunity with today's generation to change "church as usual" and get back to what it's all about.
Read Tim's Post here: No One Cares About Your Church
Friday, August 27, 2010
An Unexpected Bonus
I am over 2 weeks into the new job as Communications Director at ChangePoint and I am working on a longer post about my experiences so far, however I wanted to put this thought up now.
__________
One thing that I didn't expect about working at a church is the awesomeness of the "Staff Kitchen."
It seems like most days there is some type of food that is brought in for the staff. So far we have had brownies, cookies (several times), soup, chips & dip and lots of other stuff. As a church member I never thought about making delicious treats for the staff, however I am SO happy that there are people out there who are wired that way.
If you are a church staff goodie bringer, Thank You! Your delicious snacks are greatly appreciated.
__________
One thing that I didn't expect about working at a church is the awesomeness of the "Staff Kitchen."
It seems like most days there is some type of food that is brought in for the staff. So far we have had brownies, cookies (several times), soup, chips & dip and lots of other stuff. As a church member I never thought about making delicious treats for the staff, however I am SO happy that there are people out there who are wired that way.
If you are a church staff goodie bringer, Thank You! Your delicious snacks are greatly appreciated.
Friday, August 13, 2010
These people "get it"
Here is another great article about a group of people in Kentucky that are representing Jesus well.
My favorite quote from this article is
What a good reminder to all of us!
Read the article: HERE
.
My favorite quote from this article is
"The reason that so many people who are deep in sin don’t believe that God loves them is because God’s people (Christians) don’t love them.”
What a good reminder to all of us!
Read the article: HERE
.
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