September 10th and 11th, we’re going to get the opportunity to participate in a two day training event with leaders, including:
- Jack Welch
- TD Jakes
- Mark Rutland
- Patrick Lencioni
- Dave Ramsey
- Craig Groeschel
- Megyn Kelly
- Erwin McManus
- Bill George
- Tim Sanders
- Matthew Barnett
- Henry Cloud
This is a two day event with limited space. I’m registered, and welcoming anyone who wants to join me over to the apartment to participate. You also have time to register and participate by yourself.
This is just one of many ways Lifechurch.tv chooses to give their ministry away to others. God Bless them for that.
Continue reading about Leaders: Register for this Conference, Today!
It is not often that meet a person so wholey radical that they seem to disrespect all authority, but I do find them from time to time. I don’t wish to glorify someone like that, but in some cases I sincerely wish to send out a warning.
Warning: this man is dangerous!
This pastor is known for his You Tube videos on police “abuse”, Billy Graham’s lack of salvation, and his stark defense of the KJV version of the Bible as the only true Word of God. (Which makes me ponder, which edition of the KJV does he defend?..because there are a few!)
Below is a bit more information on the man, minus the proper hyperlinks (sorry, but I don’t want to promote his site to search engines)
His entire You Tube account is full of videos disrespecting authority, including other titles where he harasses officers at the airport, where he explains why he believes Billy Graham is going to hell, and one more ridiculing president Obama (hey, I’m not a fan of Obama, but don’t lump him into the group with Billy Graham!).
This is the kind of person that Scripture discusses as loving controversy. He’s not trying to make a point…he’s enjoying making people mad and argumentative. He might have a point in some of his videos, but delivery counts just as much as content. He’s a KJV only bible preacher who does not respect any authority except his own. It’s not even clear whether he’s been properly educated to hold a pastorate…
If you find this hard to believe, have a look at the church doctrinal statement: (faithfulwordbaptist.org/page6.html)
Or look into some of his other sermons: Example “1: Physicians of No Value
Example #2: Why the King James Bible is the Word of God without Error
Or look at his website at KJV Prophecy, where he denounces KJV prophecy, the Rapture, Tim Lahaye, the Schofield Reference Bible, Dispensationalism, etc. (kjvprophecy.com)
Or his blacklist of evangelists: (repentanceblacklist.com)
I certainly hope this is not the kind of leader, Christian or non-Christian, you wish to uphold, and that you’ll join me in praying that God will soften his heart toward everyone, good and bad. After all, “God’s kindness leads us to repentence”. (Romans 2:4)
As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions. (1 Tim 1:3-7)
Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father, to the younger men as brothers, the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters, in all purity. (1 Tim 5:1-2)
If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. (1 Tim 6:3-5)
Continue reading about Twisted: Men who love Controversy and Hate Authority
I’m not normally a fan of John Piper. I respect him, and value some of his contributions to the work of the kingdom, but I do not have the pleasure of feeling as if we are connected at the heart, and some do.
However, this video does speak my heart…far more eloquently than I could have said it. So if you are wondering what our response to the abortion issue should be, or how we should treat Obama on this issue, watch and listen:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O68MByaMVdM[/youtube]Continue reading about The Church’s response to our President (Video)
It seems a bit odd to be revisiting a blog topic from a year ago, but I still hear the same topic being used completely out of context by Christians after all this time. Worse yet, the people who are now misrepresenting the news are seminary professors and theology students.
It seems there is a deep-seated hatred of the “seeker-sensitive” church by many who would consider themselves “better” Christians. They portray the strategy of tailoring the Sunday morning worship events of the church toward non-Christians as being manipulative, unspiritual, and incorrectly representing the gospel message by not clearly portraying “fire and brimstone” to hell-bound sinners.
Too often, I believe they fail to realize the most people come to faith because God is shown in light of the love and kindness He has extended to sinful men. They fail to realized that the “seeker-sensitive” model is not about watering down the gospel, but about communicating the gospel in language that is familiar to non-Christians, and avoiding words that do not hold meaning for them, like: “sin, perpituation, redemption, etc.”
In my classes, Willow Creek church is characterized as having apologizing publically for pushing an incorrect strategy in their emphasis on seeker-sensitivity and small groups. This is entirely incorrect.
The Reveal study (www.revealnow.com) is another example of how Willow Creek is using the best of culture and academics to refine it’s mission to reach lost people. It does not in any way apologize for the major thrusts of Willow Creek’s past strategy toward being Seeker Sensitive, or promoting small groups. It instead shows that these strategies have been extremely successful in reaching the non-Christians and growing Christians of their church and the churches of the Willow Creek Association. What it apologizes for is its failure to lead people successfully through the stages of maturing Christian growth. It shows that they have failed to teach spiritual disciplines, or to show maturing Christians that they should stop looking to the church programming as the next step in their spiritual journey. Their failure is not a culture adoption problem at all…in fact, cultural adoption is still the key to much of their success in reaching new generations moving into the Chicago area. Their failure is keeping “older” believers motivated to grow in Christ, but not providing the most effective means for them to pursue that growth.
See my original post, here: http://www.journeymanproject.org/church/the-willow-creek-rumor-of-repentence/
Continue reading about Willow Creek’s REVEAL study: Revisited
Tomorrow I will once again approach the pulpit, in an attempt to communicate the Word of God effectively. It is a task that requires a TON of diligence, and one to which I feel totally inadequate. Give me a classroom, and I feel right at home, but put me behind a pulpit, and all is lost. Here are a few reasons why:
The sermon requires a monologue, not a conversation:
During my first sermon I approached the message with a concrete knowledge of my outline, thinking the inflections of my words and motions of my body would simply fit themselves to the message. I was wrong. I spent 12 minutes pacing back and forth with my hands bouncing together as if they were connected with a giant rubber band. My motions failed to follow my words and distracted the audience from God’s Word.
I’ve realized since then that a monologue is best fit into the category of acting, rather than speaking. It requires diligent rehearsal…both of words and physical actions. This time I wrote out my outline with inserted body movements, and I have practiced on the stage and in front of the mirror, rather than across a blank table. Next, I should allow my wife to critique my practice…but I just don’t have the guts for that yet.
Outline or Full Manuscript, I still cannot decide!
It really is quite difficult for me to decide whether I would prefer to preach from an outline or a manuscript. The manuscript allows me to be more eloquent with my words…but the process of revising it over and over along with my constant habit of changing the wording in the midst of the sermon makes all that hard work seem useless.
Using Scripture to Explain Scripture: Bad.
There is rarely a sermon that I hear today that does not seem to need to validate the words of a passage of Scripture with the example of David, Abraham, Joseph or Jesus. It carries with it to negative connotations.
Firstly, it seems to imply that if Jesus didn’t say it, it’s not as important to us as what He said–or that it doesn’t apply to us today. My professor jokingly said it this way: why do we need red-letter Bibles? The church believes that the entire Bible is the written product of the Holy Spirit. He’s just as much God as Jesus. The entire thing should be red-letter!
In addition to this, it is REALLY common to use Scripture to validate Scripture. We preach from Proverbs, only to pull in an example from the book of Job. The problem again is this: Scripture does not need to be repeated to be true. One lone command should be just as powerful in our lives as a command repeated 10 times. I cannot think enough to elaborate on this more right now, except to say this: beware filling the need to make Joseph or David the example for everything you teach. We should feel the need to enhance the commands of Scripture with stories of Scripture. Examples from real life are often more applicable, especially since many of the story examples I hear used to validate lessons on character or leadership tend to take the intention for the stories of these Biblical figures out of context.
Send up a prayer for me…this may be a class assignment, but it still involves proclaiming the Word of God, and I never want to take that lightly.
