A Mile From the Beach

Third Person Christian – from Evotional.com

Andy — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:13:16 +0000

Third-Person Christian

I think some people are what I would call third-person christians. I’m not a grammarian, and I don’t know if this metaphor holds up literally, but third-person christians read the Bible in the third-person. They think in terms of “they” instead of “me.” They don’t personalize it by reading it in first-person terms. And so Scripture is de-personalized.
Here’s another example. Third-person christians attend church in the third-person thinking about the people in their life that “need to hear this message” rather than processing it personally! They talk about church in “they” terms instead of “we” terms.

Here’s a thought. Simply insert the first-person “I” or “me” or “we” when reading the Bible. It helps you own Scripture. And more importantly, it helps Scripture own you.

posted by Mark Batterson at 9:47 AM 0 comments

via evotional.com

This is, sad to say, very true of many of us. It’s a very easy trap to fall into. Batterson’s dead on here.

Own it. It’s a good reminder for me today.

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Faith in Action

Andy — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:16:12 +0000

A great story of giving and faith…

Ninety Days, Days Sixty Eight & Sixty Nine.

Andy — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:46:54 +0000

⁸ “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’
“In tithes and offerings. ⁹ You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. ¹⁰ Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

Malachi 3:8-10 (NIV)

It’s a simple equation: God can do more with 90 percent than I can do with 100 percent. So I have to trust that when I give back to God the 10 percent He asks of me, He will do immeasurably more with it than I could on my own, and still know that He will provide me with everything I need. After all, everything I have is just a loan to me anyway. I won’t be taking any of my material goods with me. So why worry whether I have enough or not, when I know that I have more than enough?

¹“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

²“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. ³But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Matthew 6:1-4 (NIV)

I share this story not to receive praise, but to bring attention to the fact that we should teach our children, from a young age, to be generous with finances and with time. Today Hank and I volunteered at the Pacifica Resource Center food distribution for needy families in our town. As I have the week off, I thought that it would be worthy endeavor for me and my son to assist. While I transported food received from a Boy Scout/Cub Scout food drive back to the Resource Center’s pantry with a couple other men, Hank and his friend Vince stayed behind with Vince’s mom and his sister to distribute crackers, baby food, and also bag fresh onions, fresh potatoes, fresh sweet potatoes and hand them out to the needy as well. These are regular families in our town who are the working poor, folks clearly impacted by job loss or significant life change that has impacted their personal finances.

Tonight as we read our Scripture together, Hank said to me, “Dad, today I think God didn’t just win a battle, He won a war.”

“Why?”

“Because we served people in our community.”

I like that. We served because we wanted to, not for glory, but because it was the right thing to do today, and it was a way to touch hearts and make someone’s life a little better today. That’s always a big win.

It was a good life lesson learned for my son today. No one was honored – we all received a simple thanks from all who came – and that was more than enough. All I knew is that Hank and I needed to be there today.

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Ninety Days, Day Sixty Seven

Andy — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:17:37 +0000

Over the few years since my own spiritual renewal in the Christian faith, I have come to realize that there are times when God speaks to me louder than at other times. I'm not saying that I hear this loud James Earl Jones' type voice booming from the clouds above…far from it. It's just that when I slow down and listen closely, a certain conviction hits and I know that the Voice I "hear" is not my own, that the Voice I "hear" is a revelation that must be written down (Habakkuk 2:2).

About a week ago, in the stillness of the early morning, broken only by the soft rumbling of the coffee maker, I was quietly finishing my reading when I knew that I needed to step forward and offer to do more in the church. Not that I didn't already have enough on my plate as one who is the church's treasurer and one of the men's small group leaders, but the impression I had suggested that I needed to discuss this with my pastor. Later that day I offered the additional help to my pastor – help that was appreciated.

Little did I know how quickly that help was going to be needed.

A couple of days later my pastor came to me and said, "Can you preach on December 6? You'll need to pick a passage from later in the New Testament." The question made sense, as our church will be in the final days of its sojourn to read The Bible in 90 Days.

"Yes I can," came my reply. I wondered why I had offered that help a couple of days prior, and a wave of nervous energy hit me as I drove to work that morning. As I arrived at my office a couple of hours later however, the genesis of that sermon message began to form, and within minutes of sitting at my desk, 3 pages of notes filled up my Moleskine. It reminded me of the words of Habakkuk in chapter 2:

¹ I will stand at my watch
       and station myself on the ramparts;
       I will look to see what he will say to me,
       and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

² Then the LORD replied:
       "Write down the revelation
       and make it plain on tablets
       so that a herald may run with it.

³ For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
       it speaks of the end
       and will not prove false.
       Though it linger, wait for it;
       it will certainly come and will not delay.

In the context of my life, I realized that as I looked to see what He was going to say, I heard Him clearly, and He gave me the basic outline of the sermon message for the "appointed time." I wrote down (and continue to write down) that which He has revealed to me for this sermon, and I will be the herald that runs with it as well.

So mark down Sunday, December 6, 11 am.

I'm speaking.

Crazy, eh?

Want to check it out?

I'll be at New Life Christian Fellowship, 1125 Terra Nova Blvd. Pacifica, California.

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Mass: We Pray…The Video Game

Andy — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:01:47 +0000

via thejakers.com

Hilarious. You should check out their site, too…www.masswepray.com. It’s GOT to be a joke, right?

Please be a joke.

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Online churches draw believers, critics

Andy — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:39:29 +0000

Some critics say virtual worship separates followers from the spiritual essentials found in brick-and-mortar Christian churches.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

A growing number of Christians worldwide are migrating from the chapel to the computer

Online religious services offer convenience to those who can’t attend a real-world church

Critics believe virtual worship lacks spiritual essentials, such as community

Critics also are upset by the online offering of sacraments such as Communion

(CNN) — Hjalti á Lava was searching his iPhone for a Bible app when he stumbled across Church Online, a service of Web site LifeChurch.tv. Soon he was regularly logging into the Oklahoma-based cyber-church — some 4,100 miles away from á Lava’s home in the Faroe Islands, west of Norway.

“It allows me to connect with others and have conversations about the message,” says á Lava, who shares his faith with other believers in the site’s live chat room. “Technology allows us today to have fellowship across borders and cultures.”

In doing so, á Lava joined growing numbers of Christians worldwide who are migrating from the chapel to the computer. A map on the Church Online site showed users from 22 countries logged into a recent service.

Online religious services offer convenience to those who are too isolated or infirm to attend a real-world church. But can worshipping via a computer offer true spiritual fulfillment?

Internet pastors and parishioners cite their 24-hour access to interactive tools and social-networking platforms to show their online experiences are as meaningful as those that take place with face-to-face congregations.

“We were blown away at how people could actually worship along [online],” says Craig Groeschel, senior pastor at LifeChurch.tv. “The whole family will gather around the computer, and they’ll sing and they’ll worship together. Instead of trying to get people to come to a church, we feel like we can take a church to them.”

Video: Is virtual worship fulfilling?

RELATED TOPICS

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But critics believe virtual worship separates followers from a trinity of spiritual essentials found in brick-and-mortar Christian churches: community, Communion and connection with Christ.

“Online church is close enough to the real thing to be dangerous,” says Bob Hyatt, a pastor who leads the brick-and-mortar Evergreen Community Church in Portland, Oregon. In a blog post for ChristianityToday.com, he writes that calling it virtual church “gives people the idea that everything they need is available here.”

The debate is an extension of a wider argument over social interaction in virtual environments versus the physical world. But because practices of faith are involved, both sides are deeply invested in the outcome, seeing it as a statement on the nature of the Christian person’s relationship with God.

Supporters of online churches have a common response to their skeptics: Try before you criticize. The virtual experience goes far beyond using live chat rooms to exchange emoticons instead of hugs and handshakes, they say.

Links allow congregants to “raise their hand” and publicly commit to Christ, while prayer requests and one-on-one guidance are a click way. Sermon notes can be shared and discussed. And many online churches are aided by volunteers, allowing them to hold services several times each day.

The Internet campus of the Flamingo Road Church in Cooper City, Florida, pulls in more than 2,000 congregants from around the world during its Sunday services. Pastor Doug Gramling said his three children are part of the Internet generation that will eventually decide the future of worship. They use Web tools to stay in constant connection with friends over vast distances, which Gramling says “gives me confidence that it can happen in online church.”

But the disconnect from physical closeness is what Hyatt said he’s “fighting hardest against.” His own church offers online extensions such as podcasts and forums. But he believes “the computer screen is a supplement, not a replacement.”

Hyatt and other critics are particularly distressed by the online offering of traditional sacraments, such as Communion and baptism. He believes it is “ridiculous” that someone can grab grape juice and a cracker from the fridge and watch a computer screen, thinking they are truly participating in a gathering of the faithful.

“Something about the physical presence, breaking the same bread, is what Communion is meant to be,” he says.

But Church Online participant Donna Cole disagrees.

“Knowing that others are also celebrating Communion, regardless of location, makes it an especially wonderful time,” says Cole, who believes real-world Communion can ring hollow. “When I’ve taken Communion in live surroundings, I often got the sense that it was ritualistic and without meaning.”

Matthew Bailey, a parishioner in the Franktown United Methodist Church in Virginia, believes that the meaning of the ritual is what matters.

“If people are willing to go to the trouble of giving their own Communion, then it is quite probably ‘real’ for them,” he says. While Bailey chooses to remain at his face-to-face church, he believes any person “faithfully attending an online church service, is being more proactive, and thus probably more attentive, than many longtime churchgoers.”

Douglas Estes, lead pastor of Berryessa Valley Church in San Jose, California, and author of “SimChurch,” a book about Internet church services, would like to see this debate go away.

“The Bible sees church not as a man-made building but as a people gathered to glorify God with their lives,” he says. Estes believes the quality of a community should be judged by the spiritual fellowship it offers.

“There is only one substantive difference between an online church and a brick-and-mortar church: The place where they meet.”

via cnn.com

Have you tried it out? I’ve attended Lifechurch’s Church Online various times over the past couple of years and have enjoyed it. The chat room can be a distraction, but you can easily enlarge the screen.

We’re in a period of time where the Christian faith should utilize the available tools to reach out to our communities – if online church is one of them, so be it. There was a brief period where my church streamed its service online, and the upside was that those at home could log in to view the service.

The definition of “community” in the online sphere is rapidly changing – look at the connections on Facebook, even on Twitter, and certainly on the pages of this blog, where I have met two of my blog brothers and exchanged emails with others. Is my blog circle any less of a community, when we’re all Christians supporting each other? If we can develop community among our various blog posts and comments, certainly community can be developed among regular attenders of a church service online, especially as they engage each other in the chat room or in discussion boards after the service.

Just some food for thought on a Sunday evening.

And more on the Bible in 90 Days tomorrow…

Posted via web from A Mile From The Beach

Social Media Leveraged to Build Kindergarten – LifeChurch.tv : swerve

Andy — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:30:43 +0000

Social Media Leveraged to Build Kindergarten

This week, a pretty cool thing happened over at the Stuff Christians Like blog. On Monday, Jon Acuff shared an idea with his readers: let’s raise $30,000 to build a kindergarten in Vietnam. He hoped to reach that goal by December 31. Instead, it happened in 18 hours. From 5:00am to 11:00pm, readers donated the full $30,000 so that 240 kids in Vietnam could go to school. Building on the momentum from the overwhelming response, they’ve set their sights on building a second kindergarten by his initial goal of December 31.

It’s great to see social media being used effectively to engage people in causes, particularly financially. There’s a lot we can learn from this.

via swerve.lifechurch.tv

How awesome is THAT? Very cool. Helps that Acuff’s blog (and Twitter feed) has a readership that’s a little bit larger than mine.

Posted via web from A Mile From The Beach

Social Media Revolution

Andy — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:59:23 +0000

via youtube.com

The way we communicate has fundamentally shifted. Look at the ways we communicate, via Facebook, Twitter, blogs.

I started blogging 4 years ago, and learned the ups and downs of sharing my thoughts and life online. It is even easier to do so through Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and other social media. The revolution in communications has occurred, and we should embrace it.

But as with any tool, we need to be careful how we utilize it, and that’s something I am continuing to learn. We need to be aware how we use it personally, professionally, socially, in schools, in the Church and elsewhere.

What does it mean to be as connected as we now are? We’re still learning how to behave in this new world.

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Ninety Days, Days Sixty Four, Sixty Five, and Sixty Six.

Andy — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:53:43 +0000

My reading has actually taken me into the end of Day 68, which puts me in the early chapters of the Gospel of Matthew, but I’ve been a bit lagging in writing about the previous days. There’s a great promise in Hosea 11:1:

“When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.

The Gospel of Matthew references this, as the infant Jesus is taken to Egypt to escape the infant slaughter by Herod. Matthew 2:13-15 states:

¹³When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” ¹⁴So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, ¹⁵where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

It is yet another sign foretelling Christ in the Old Testament.

I have had a couple of soccer practices lately wherein the girls have been a bit more difficult to manage. After all, they are 11 year olds, mostly 6th graders, and it’s an age where they start pushing the limits of authority, particularly when it comes to certain drills that they aren’t fond of. Some have flat out refused to participate, so as my anger builds, I give them the option of participating, or running laps until that drill is over (participating in the drill usually wins out…)

But I’ve realized that my anger, at times, displays itself in ways that probably isn’t most effective, even though I might consider it to be righteous anger within the context of coaching. So it was convicting to read, during Day 65, the following passage in the book of Joel 2:13:

Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.

Where I’ve certainly made the mistake is that my anger seems to increase more quickly with my own daughter, and she’s not in a place where she can easily segregate my dual roles as father to her and coach to her. I need to become slower to anger and be more abounding in love to her and her teammates.

There’s a great prayer that stuck with me in the book of Jonah. In verse 2 of chapter 2:

“In my distress I called to the LORD,
and he answered me.
From the depths of the grave I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.

God will always answer when we call him. Always.

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Ninety Days, Day Sixty Three.

Andy — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:20:18 +0000

If there's a theme that underlies the book of Daniel, it's that Daniel spends much time in prayer – either the narrator describes him entering into an act of prayer or the text shifts tone from description to Daniel's internal monologue as he enters a prayer. Notable in Daniel 6 is that Daniel immediately spends time in prayer, three times a day, once the king issues the decree that no one is to pray to or worship anyone other than the king for the next 30 days.

That faithfulness in prayer pays off for Daniel, because the act of prayer, the act of speaking to God on a regular basis, created a relationship between him and God, a relationship built on Daniel's trust in God. So when Daniel is placed in the lions' den, he has no fear, because he knows God will take care of him.

Which is exactly what happens – the lions don't touch Daniel at all, much to the relief of the king. The sight of an unscathed Daniel ("no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God" v 23) was sufficient evidence for King Darius to proclaim Daniel's God as "the living God, and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end" (v 26).

Earlier today I was following the Twitter feed of Shaun King, pastor of Courageous Church in Atlanta. One of his tweets said, "Easily my most popular blog post ever" – with a link to said blog post. I was curious. Click here to read his story, then come back here.

Back?

Like Daniel, this is a story of God answering prayers – nearly immediately.

This is a story of a people with the faith to believe that God will answer prayers, and seeing how He answered those prayers.

We need to pray like the family and friends of Pastor Shaun.

We need to pray like Daniel.

And we need to trust like both.

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