Hot and Ready

Our original plans yesterday were to go door-to-door handing out flyers for the Community Harvest Party and Trunk or Treat.  We had to run into town and figured we’d put up a few flyers there until we got back to Bear Lake to do the door-to-door outreach. I know the idea of going door-to-door for just about anything scares the living daylights out of people (especially city people) but it is the cheapest and most effective method of “advertising” here in the hinter lands.

As sometimes happens, since we had the whole family in the van, once we got to town our plans changed.  We decided to head into Erie (an hour drive) because we needed to buy some tissue paper for Amy’s home built pinatas, and that we’d hand out flyers when we got back. It ended up taking us going to three different stores to find tissue paper (orange and black were needed) and then we were a bit later in the day getting back.  On the way home, I saw a billboard for “Hot and Ready” pizza in the small town that is nearest us and we decided to pick some up for later, in spite of the fact that we were all stuffed, from having stopped at Sam’s club that had an extraordinary amount of samples, including fish, steak, sausage, chicken brats, and a host of other things.

We had decided to go work at the church and to continue cleaning up there and knew that the kids would get hungry later despite their protestations to the contrary earlier. We needed something that was quick, easy, and could be eaten without having to worry about cooking it.  We opted for that pizza joint that has the “Hot and Ready” pizza for $5.55 each.  It was on the way home, it was cheap to buy two pizza’s and even if the pizza got cold it was still easy to eat.  I also knew, from our former forays into cleaning that the local neighbor kids would probably stop down as soon as they saw that we were cleaning the church.

MUST READ: Why I Don’t Understand Church Planting.

A great post by Cerulean Sanctum.

But here, it seems to me what some church planters do is more akin to fostering envy. Their new church is hotter. Their new church is cooler. Their new church meets a felt need not addressed by the church across the street. So people in that community shuffle from church to church. Or the new church plant sucks completely dry some older church that wasn’t quite as hip. And the church planter gets a pat on the back for doing a fine job moving people from Them to Us.

Meanwhile, the percentage of people who are genuine born-again Christians in this country continues to drop. Meanwhile, the number of people attending church on the weekends falls off a cliff. More new churches than ever, and yet worse results.

What really troubles me is that you don’t need the Holy Spirit at all to start what passes for the average church plant here in the U.S. You just need a clever marketing campaign. In fact, if one of the challenges on the TV show The Apprentice were to start a church that had a hundred regular attendees within six months , I suspect the contestants would have no problem doing so, even if not a single one of those contestants was born again.

How sad is that?

You want a real test of God’s power? John the Baptist, by the Holy Spirit empowering his ministry, helped restore a dead nation to life. This is one reason why Jesus said there was no prophet greater than John.

Go read the whole post.  Tell me what you think.

Wonderful Rural Church Blog.

Go check out Pastor Mike W.’s blog The Rural Route Church immediately.  He has a passion for the rural church and great sense of humor.  Make sure to check out both his uplifting post about a volunteer in the local abortion counseling clinic and his desire to form a union for Pastors.

Here’s a little taste of the proposed union for pastors:

An Interesting “Letter” to the Rural Churches.

In the spirit of Revelations:

I know where you live: in a nation ruled by the god of Business, where those who do not have the power to buy are shunted aside. The old and the very young are ignored. The few (who do not make up a critical mass, a niche market, a group worthy of attention) are dismissed.

Instead of a business, you rural churches have been a faithful family. You have refused to be professionalized; you have rejected the model of corporate effectiveness. Like me, you have chosen to be inefficient. You have lavished love and energy on the old and sick, on the isolated, on the very young. You have patiently waited decades for fruit. You ministers who spend your lives in the service of a congregation of 30, you teachers who pour out your souls for a Bible class of 5: you have understood what it means to be children of the Father and brothers and sisters of the Son.

You have also rejected those who claim to act in my name: those church-planting experts who advise that my people “target” only densely populated areas so that the largest number of people can be efficiently herded into the kingdom; the denominational leaders who have seen you as a useful training ground for inexperienced pastors who will soon move on to “better pulpits” in more worthy (and populated) places. You have endured this, and remained strong, and understood the truth: that size and efficiency are important only in the economy of hell.

Read the rest here.

I just say… YES!

Favorite Quotes.

This was sent to me from a Pastor’s email list I am on.  In general I despise “pass it on” type emails.  I hate when people pass on stuff that is blatantly false and a .037 second internet (22.3 seconds here in the sticks) would have revealed it.  I guess that tendency is prevalent to pass on information… usually called gossip.  Anyway here it is:

Brethren,

Here are some quotes that I have heard over the past few years.  I am not sure who said some of them, and others I will just ascribe to who I heard say them,(they may not be original with them).  They have been a help and a blessing to me, so I thought I would share them.

1. “If you is what you was, you ain’t.”  – John Jasper (an old black preacher)

2.”Preach the Gospel.  If necessary, use words.” – unknown

3.”Feelings won’t get you saved, but it sure feels good to be saved.” – Tommy Steele

4.”Any fool can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the apples in a seed.” – J.C. House

5.”The tithe is the debt we owe.  The giving is the seed we sow.” – J.C. House

6.”When your Lawyer and your Judge are the same Person, you’ll always win the case.” -unknown

7.”If you were on trial, accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” -unknown

8.”Were Peter, James, and John Jesus’ favorites?  No, He was their favorite.” -Johnny Dyer

9.”Prayer should be your day, not part of your day.” – Gary Gwinn

10.”God knows how deep the water is.  He also knows how tall you are.” – Johnny Dyer

11.”Those He bruises, He uses.” – Johnny Dyer

12.”The greatest sin in the desert is to know where water is, and not tell it.” – Johnny Dyer

13.”The power is not in the TUB, but the power is in the BLOOD.” – Tommy Steele

14.”If we do what we CAN do, soon, we will find ourselves doing what we CAN’T do.” – Johnny Dyer

15.”We will never pray as we should, until we see it as a necessity.” – Benny Beckum

16.”If you are not PRAYING, you are PLAYING.” – Duane King

17.”Saying your prayers, is not praying.” – unknown

18.When asked if he believed that God spoke audibly, he replied, “LOUDER!” – Johnny Pope

19.”You can’t help others without helping yourself.  You can’t hurt others without hurting yourself.’ – unknown

20.”I AM BARABBAS.” – Johnny Dyer (This is my pastor. He said this while he was praying, one day, and it ripped my heart out.)