How Would Jesus Reach Out To Porn Stars? (Video)
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?
The Ten Most Popular Modern Ekklesia Posts of 2011 and a Review of How We’re Doing
Before I share the top posts with you, I’d like to take a moment to share how we’re doing as a site. I always like to take a few moments at the end of every year to do some comparison and inventory. So here’s some stats I pulled from Google Analytics.
The first one here is showing the stats comparing 2010 and 2011.
What a Missiologist Taught Me About How To Get Postmoderns Involved In Discipleship
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?
Announcement: Officially Starting a New Blog
I was having a conversation with a friend a few days ago who is in the process of starting a new blog. As we dialogued we discussed the important of focus in a blog: instead of writing about a million different things, it’s important to focus on just a few major themes and stick to those.
Well, a few months ago I started getting in to running. I was doing it just for exercise–taking the medicine in a sense, but as I kept it up I noticed that I started to make some progress and thought it’d be good to catalog the lessons I’m learning. That’s when the idea of starting a running blog came to my mind. I didn’t want to clutter Modern Ekklesia up with that stuff (it would lose the focus) so I knew I’d have to spin one off. I was quite hesitant to start one, by the way, because I’m no expert in running. In fact, I’m as far away from an expert as one could expect. I have quite a few friends (some of you reading this right now!) who are hardcore (in my opinion) and have done marathons and triathlons.
But there’s just something inside of me that loves to analyze, think through things, learn, and ultimately share and teach things that I’m learning. So, I decided to start a blog called Running Apprentice.
What A Missiologist Taught Me About Discovering the Needs In A Community
I recently had a conversation with Dr. Bruce Bauer, a missiologist here at the Andrews University Theological Seminary . I wanted to speak with him because I’ve been wrestling with questions about evangelism, outreach, and discipleship, and wanted to get his perspective. During our conversation he shared that he’d been a missionary in various parts of Asia including Guam, Japan, and Cambodia. So I asked him, “You’ve obviously had experience connecting with different people groups in different parts of the world, but what would be one of the first things you’d do if you were asked to be a missionary to the people here in Berrien Springs, MI?” I think you can substitute whatever town or city you live in by the way, because I think his answer can apply to just about anywhere.
He said, “You need to find out what the needs are in the community, and then figure out a way that you can meet those needs.”
Why I Like To Read Short Book Chapters
There’s something quite satisfying about reading a short book chapter. It’s not because I don’t like to read. If I had the money I would probably buy one every few days. There’s so much to read about! Here’s the reason why I like short chapters, though: they’re usually clear in their focus and aim.
If there’s something that frustrates me above anything else in the realm of communication, it’s lack of clarity.
-What are you writing about?
-What are you speaking about?
What are you teaching about?
The Quickest Way To Connect In A Large Church
If you’ve ever been to a large church, then you know the drill. It’s easy to go in and leave without being noticed (for the most part). For some, that’s the reason they attend large churches–they can be completely anonymous and without accountability to anyone. But for many, they would like to get plugged in, but they don’t just know where to begin.
This is something I worried about for myself, actually, as I started pastoring at Pioneer Memorial Church–would it ever get to a point where I actually became familiar with people?The church is not on the massive scale of things, but we do average about 2,700 between two services, so it would normally make familiarity with people relatively difficult. Here’s some lessons I’ve learned in the last few months about feeling connected.
