There’s nothing more powerful than hearing the testimony of what God has done in someone’s life. People can try to use reason to refute all kinds of things, but it’s tough to refute a personal experience. That’s why I was excited to discover Answered.tv. They’ve recently come on the scene with some great video testimonies. Each video is short (2-4 minutes) and beautifully shot. Better yet, each testimony is powerful.

They’ve given free permission for people to share and embed their videos, which means there’s many different ways they can be used.

Here’s two great videos, but make sure to check out the whole lot:

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Last week I had two people ask me, “So what are some specific goals you have for your new role?” One person that asked the question is a leader on campus and the other is a seminary student who is looking for mentorship. After dialoguing, I discovered the true question. What they really wanted to know was, “What are some strategies you have for reaching young adults here on campus?” After thinking about it for a moment, I proudly told both of them that I didn’t have any goals. I know that the seminary student was disappointed. I could tell on his face. After all, that’s part of the reason why I was brought in to this church–to help connect with “this generation.” He supposed that I’m a young adult expert and am familiar with all kinds of strategies to reach young adults and college students and I would share with him the golden truths about how he can do the same “in the field.”

Here’s the hard truth that I shared with him.

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I’m a big believer that every church should have a great website. Remember, before someone visits your church, they’re first going to visit your website. I think most people believe they should have a nice site, but they think it’s too difficult or too expensive to actually do it. You’d be wrong in believing that, though.

I recently discovered a new company called Church Themer that offers really nice WordPress themes that your church can use. The great thing about using one of these themes is that they already include features that churches would like.

Here are some samples:

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In the past, I always felt that people should be dressed very similarly to the people they’re trying to connect with and reach. So, if you’re a missionary in Papua New Guinea, you dress exactly like the locals do there. If you live in (fill in the blank) city, you should generally dress just like the people in that city. So that meant that as a pastor, I should generally be dressed down. I brought that same kind of thinking when I came here to Pioneer Memorial church. Part of my role was going to be to help with evangelism and discipleship and to connect with students. A part of me was thinking that I’d be dressing fairly casual–like the students–for the sake of the missionary imperative.

A few weeks after getting here, though, I found out that PMC has a dress code. Because it’s associated with the university, they generally want their pastors to look quite professionaly, which includes wearing a tie. When I first heard this news I was initially really disappointed. After all, how would I then be able to connect with the students? But…you do what you have to do, right? I went with it. And to be totally honest, I felt like I was compromising my missional integrity a little bit in the process.

Here’s two lessons that I’ve learned in the past six months, though:

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I know, a crazy title, huh?

Here’s the video below:

So what do you think about this form of outreach? Is this something Jesus would be involved with?

In this post, I wrote about what a missiologist taught me about discovering the needs in a community.

From that same conversation, I was able to glean another important lesson concerning discipleship. In the past, I always had the sense that people got involved in discipleship because they’re ready spiritually. They’ve made a decision for Christ, the Holy Spirit has been at work, and then they want to learn how to grow in Christ, study the Bible, and become more involved in prayer and outreach. I think it still happens that way for people who are ready. But how can we get people who aren’t even close to being on that trajectory connected to Christ and discipleship?

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Up until about 3 months ago, I pastored in a relatively small church. If you pastor in a small church, you know well that the pastor does a little bit of everything. You’re the web guy. The preacher. At times you’re the janitor. If someone gets sick, you’re the one that is expected to go for the visit. If someone needs a Bible study, the church members look to you. In one way or another you oversee lots of little things.

I used to think that being part of a larger church would require about the same amount of energy and time, and certainly not more. Now that I’m part of a larger church, I’m seeing that I was wrong. Before I share more, let me first delineate some things that I’m no longer doing:

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