Seeker Friendly Preaching

I have been doing a lot of reading on preaching, evangelism, and church organization of late. Seeker friendly is a term that is popular today and I guess it is a loaded word that has lots of emotion because many people love it and many hate it. As I have been reading and talking with others I thought about what I think seeker friendly preaching should look like and what I wish all preaching was like. I think that if more preaching was like this then more people would drag their friends to hear the gospel message.

1. Message need to be firmly rooted in the bible. I hate people who misuse the bible or piece scriptures together to make some point. Preaching needs to be centered in God’s word and to help people learn to read and understand it in its original context. I recently listened to a lesson that had 10 passages and it was so fluffy and disjointed I didn’t learn anything about God.

2. Message that is clear. Have you ever listened to a lesson and walked away wondering what the point of the lesson was? The preacher may have used powerpoint and listed his points but you may still wonder what the point was. Andy Stanley in his book on preaching suggest we ask ourselves, “why do they need to hear this?” This helps us know the point of the lesson and helps the audience understand the point. Who wants to come and listen to someone speak when you don’t understand why he is sharing this information with you.

3. Don’t assume your audience knows. Remember the story when King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria attacked Israel? Why do some preachers assume people have been in church their whole lives? I had a friend of mine in college who asked for a children’s bible because he didn’t know any of the stories the preachers often said, “you all know the story of..”

4. Message that bridges then with now or has lots of life application. OK this is my biggest pet peve. I hate sermons that only tell me how the lesson applies to my life during the wrap up. If you want me to get fired up for God and his word then explain the text and explain how it looks in my life. Don’t spend 30 minutes telling me how it applied to them and only 5 on how it applies to me. How about spending 20 telling me what it meant then and 15 telling me what it means to me. Think about this if you only spend 5 minutes on me and 30 on them what was more important? How I live today or how they lived then? If we spent more time helping us know how to live out the bible then maybe more people would.

5. Message that everyone can understand. I have taken 4 semesters of Greek and understand its value in bible study. I don’t tell it to my students because they could care less and wouldn’t understand. Somethings they may not understand so I try to break it down so they can. Preachers would do well to remember that they are not only preaching to adults but students. Not just to the educated but the un-educated. Make sure we can all follow you.

http://runpee.com

A few weeks ago I was watching Fox and Friends when I heard them talk about http://runpee.com. This is a website that tells you the best time during a movie to go to the bathroom. I think this may be the most helpful website I have come across in a year. Here is an example of when they suggest you go to the bathroom in the new Johnny Depp movie Public Enemies:

“RunPee at approximately 54 minutes into the movie when John says to the cop, ‘I have absolutely nothing I want to do in Indiana.’

You have approximately 4 minutes to RunPee while

We see John being taken to Indiana on a plane. There are lots of photographers and reporters there when he lands but he doesn’t talk to them. Then there is a car ride to the jail. Once at the jail he is questioned by reporters. Part of this scene is in the previews. The interaction between John and the reporters is very cordial. He talks about the first store that he robbed. He mentions that he shouldn’t have robbed the store because the owner was a good man. But he did and got caught. He then spent 10 years in prison for robbing a store for only $50. He said that while in prison he met some fellows and learned a lot from them. That’s how he became a bank robber.After this scene he meets with his attorney. You should be back by this time.”

Digital Camera Scavenger Hunt

Every year we do a digital camera scavenger hunt with our youth. I am always trying to find new ideas but often have a hard time finding a good list. So I thought I would post some of our list over the years and tell you some twist we insert to make it more challenging. Any of your ideas would be appreciated.

The List

Take flowers to one of our senior members. (Daylight hours please)

Two of your team members in the back of a police car

Find a male with a mullet and have your picture taken with them

Milk a cow.

Eating a doughnut with a police officer in uniform.

Your entire team inside the red phone booth in downtown Columbia

Picture of a dad in green facial cream sipping with a small coffee cup with his pinkie extended

Your entire team on a firetruck (bonus points for holding or wearing props from the department)

Have a memorial service for roadkill

At least one team member throwing a (raw) pizza dough in the air at a pizza place

Get a guy member of your team to get a makeover by a department store makeup person.

Two group member dancing with a stranger over 30

A group member posing with a stranger who you’ve convinced to try on and model an outfit, several sizes too big or too small

Find a tombstone with a deceased date in the 1800’s

The whole team in a hammock

Have milk coming out of your nose.

A group member carrying a stranger’s packages/bags to their car

Get a team member to wear skis and ski clothing outside in the yard.

Team doing something creative at kids kingdom playground

Get your foot autographed by (an elder)

Sit in between two strangers on a park bench and get them to pose with you like your best friends.

Your group buying 10 cents worth of gas, receipt and pump must show correct amount

Team member on an exercise machine eating lots of junk food

Find a sign or billboard that has your name in it and stand next to it

Entire team making goofy faces

Help a stranger fold their laundry at a Laundromat

Entire team doing the chicken dance in front of KFC sign (sign must be seen)

All team members in a tree

Team members being pushed in a shopping cart

Make a human pyramid

A member leading another member on a leash through a store

Entire team sharing one soda (everyone needs their own straw)

Ride the pony in front of Big Lots

Get goofy pictures made with members of our youth group not attending (bonus points if you get them to join you for the remainder of the night)

Find an interesting sign

Make a Christian symbol in the grass using your bodies

A group member kissing a fish

Hug a mannequin

A cop with his billy club/night stick and one of your teammates.

Picture with the principle rolling his own yard.

Entire Team wearing masks.

Entire team inside an ambulance- bonus points if on the gurney (bed).

Picture with an animal (the more unusual the better).

Baptize someone or something. Most unique / cool one wins.

Entire Team jumping (Everyone must be in midair for picture to count).

Create a work of art with sidewalk chalk in a public parking lot.

“I can’t believe we all fit in here!”

Make yourselves appear really large.

Can you find us? Your own find Waldo like picture.

Best photo shoot shot, most professional looking wins- include two members.

Capture your reflection in an unexpected place.

An unusual perspective — could be everyone’s shoes, or the just top of their heads.

Picture on a train.

Entire team in a high heel foot race- best picture wins.

Best sunset.

Your group posing a scene from a Disney movie in the middle of the mall.

Your entire team in the dark with each person shining a flashlight on their face.

Mimic a statue — fountains also work well.

Ambush a stranger without them knowing you are about to take a picture, and then run.

Ride something. The larger the better.

Entire team playing air guitar.

Twist (Location)

Give them a list of locations they have to go to and do one of the things on the list. Make sure they can do one of the things at the locations you pick.

Vehicle Lot (Car, Motorcycle, Tractor)

Laundromat

Barn

Cemetery

Non church of Christ church building

Maury County Park

Downtown Square

Train Depot in Columbia

People’s House

Twist (People)

Give them a list of people who will not be at the event they need to get pictures with doing one of the item on the list. We like to include our volunteer youth leaders, elders, teachers, a few senior members, etc.

Twist (Props)

Give them a list of props they have to get and include in a picture of them doing one of the items on the list.

Disposable Toilet Seat Cover

Hair Net

Pink Flamingo

Trash Can

Noodle

Gallon of milk

Beach Ball

Tiki Torch

Points

You have to have a way to determine a winner. We give a free ice cream at Baskin Robbins as a prize. The way we determine point values is (1) what would be a hard picture to get, (2) what would be a great picture. The harder and the better the more points. The easier and the less spectacular the picture the less points. Don’t be stingy with points. Don’t do 10 points as a high go crazy and make it 5,000 points. They don’t cost anything so give freely. Add bonus points for the twist.

Add a comment to tell us what you have done or think would be cool.

Programs 2

It is easy to hate on something that has so many flaws. It is just too easy to pick on and destroy. I hate programs but in reality they are often a neccessary evil. So how do we keep programs from becoming like all other programs and is there an alternative?

Personal Lead Ministries – This is scary because it requires us to let people discover their talents, gifts, abilities, and heart. Sometimes the idea they have is rather weird or so different we have no idea if it sounds like a ministry or something left over from woodstock. But when we help people discover their own ministry and passion they don’t need a program to do what God has called them to do. It can be someone teaching a computer class, designing graphics, gardening, reading stories to children, art, photography. I was watching TV the other day and saw a woman who took pictures of babies in the hospital that were not expected to live. She took these amazing pictures and gave them to the families to help them remember their child. The great thing about this is it used her gifts, blessed people she never knew, and helped them as they grieved. No program was needed just someone who loved blessing others in her unique way. I have seen people raise large gardens to help provide food for people. The list goes on and you know people like this. They have a gift, a passion, and they use it.

Evaluate – I am not talking about a 30 minute session but a hard core lets look at every angle and see what is working and not and if it could work better. Any program or ministry will eventually become stale or in a rut unless you work to keep it relevant to its original purpose. Unless you really look at a program and see how it is doing and tweak it you can guarentee it will become stagnent, outdated, or not function like it could.

New Leaders – You need to bring in new leaders and train new ones as well. Some leaders are very aware of what is going on and try to keep up with change but most do not. Most people in leadership will get complacent especailly when they are volunterring and have a full time job and family.

Remember Your Purpose – Programs are created to serve a purpose. When we constantly have the goal of accomplishing our purpose we see flaws and needs more easily.

I Hate Programs

I hate programs. I don’t know why but I can’t think of too many church programs that I like. When I share this with people they often give me a weird look so I was thinking about this today and thought I would try to share with you my disdain towards these awful things.

1. The program becomes more important than the purpose.

Programs are usually started to meet a felt need. They are contemplated and refined and the developed and do a great job meeting the need. But at some point they often become dated and no longer serve their purpose, or they get off track, or the program may become a substitution for personal responsibility, or people refuse to tweak them to help them work.

Some years back I was talking with a group of leaders who all agreed a program was broke. It wasn’t meeting the purpose and what was great 30 years earlier wasn’t helping people accomplish it’s goal. Many suggestions were offered to help but all shot down. Some of the leaders were married to this program and refused to tweak it. They felt the program was untouchable and the real problem was people.

This is all to common. We fall in love with these beast and when it is time to change, revive, or kill it no one is willing to go through with it.

2. Programs encourage managers not leaders.

Leaders want to lead, personalize, tweak, and dream. They want to cast a vision of what can be done. Most churches want people to come in and manage the program. Leaders don’t want to manage they want to be bold and fresh not maintaining the status quo.

3. Programs stifle creativity.

Programs limit our ability to dream and think out of the box. Think about any program. Lets take the Bible Class program. 200 years ago innovators came up with this concept and over the years it was redesigned to meet needs. Then one day the innovation stopped and most bible classes look the same today as they did 60 years ago. Many things have changed but not the program. New ideas are shot down. Out of box thinking is denied over and over.

Imagine you started a new church and you could do anything. Would you do bible class differently? Most of us would. But this program is here to stay and new ideas are never asked for much less encouraged.

4. Programs Multiply

Many of us attend churches that have 20 programs and many of them try to accomplish the same goals. I believe the reason for this is because when leaders realize they can only manage a program they decide to launch a new one and it may be do accomplish what the old program is no longer accomplishing.

So you may wonder what I think we need instead of programs. Well I don’t know. Programs are necessary evils to accomplish goals many times. I have suggestions on how to make programs work and I will talk about that next week. Any thoughts on programs or on how to accomplish things without them or in spite of them?

Fasting

Fasting by Scot McKnight is the latest in the Ancient Practices Series. McKnight is a mega blogger and great theologian. This is the best work I have read on fasting. If you have an interest in the subject this is a must read. Most who write about fasting focus on the benefits one can gain from it. McKnight sees fasting as “the natural inevitable response of a person to a grievous sacred moment in life.” He walks you through the Bible and shows how when people fasted they did so not in order to gain something but because something happened that to eat would be sacrilegious or not appropriate.

When we read of people fasting in the Bible it was usually because someone died, they were anxious about an upcoming threat, they realized the severity of their sins, or they stood in awe of God. Fasting is a natural response to all of these. When we loose someone we often do not feel like eating. When we are anxious over something our appetite disappears. The fast is natural not forced.

There were those who fasted in order to get something. They appear on the pages of the New Testament and we know them as the Pharisees. Jesus reveals their motives in Luke 18 when one tells God how great of a person he is because he fast twice a week. He believed that fasting meant that he was more godly than others and that God owed him something because of his piety. In Matthew 6, Jesus condemned them for fasting so that everyone could see their piety and said the respect of people would be their only reward.

McKnight acknowledges that their are benefits to fasting and one can draw closer to God through the discipline but warns that must not be our motive. I have fasted in the past and rarely had an encounter with God. This always frustrated me because many have written and taught that if we fast God will respond to us in a way that he wouldn’t otherwise. I would often feel defeated after fasting. McKnight admits that this is normal because the purpose of fasting was never to compel God to listen to our prayers more than he would another. But the purpose is to respond to something that compels us to stop and morn the situation. It could be death, sin, hurt, pain, anxiety, injustice, or any number of things. Fasting helps us internalize the moment, grieve the consequences, and seek comfort from God.

This is the best read in a year for me. I would recommend it to everyone!

Free Wings for a Year

I woke up this morning at 5:50am, took a shower, checked the weather, watched a little Mike and Mike in the Morning, then headed to the opening of Buffalo Wild Wings in Spring Hill. Barry Throneberry and I arrived at 7am and became #95 and #98 of the first 100.  So as a result we have 52 coupons for 6 free wings. 6 wings cost 4.75 so I figured that for my 3 hours of standing in line I made $247 dollars of free food or $83 dollars and hour.

Now for some spiritual application. The first people in line arrived at 3pm on Sunday. Others arrived at 6pm, 9pm, midnight, etc. I arrived basically during the 11th hour but got the same payment as the people who were first. Couldn’t help but to think of Jesus’ story in Matthew 20:1-16. Now I will go and taste and see that the Lord is good. Today he tasted like Asian Zing.

Weight Loss

I am overweight and have been for years. In 2005 I weighed 240 and lost 30lbs. It was a great start but not where I needed to be. Then I went on vacation and thought why not splurge I’m on holiday and so I did and have. Well after more pints of Ben and Jerry’s and Dove ice cream that you could ever imagine I am back to 230. I hate this and feel terrible. I know that I am a prime candidate for diabetes. All my fat rest around my stomach. So I am determined to loose the weight. I have no number goal but to loose the stomach. So I am dedicated to eating better and doing some exercise each day. My real goal is to get off the deserts and the fast food. Exercise can be anything from walking, riding my bike, or basically something I enjoy doing. Dana and I have started walking the two mile loop around our neighborhood. We are able to talk about our day and see our neighbors. So I hope to make a bi-weekly post to let you know how the weight loss is coming.

Alabama Basketball

I am a big Alabama fan and went to the UA to watch ball games. I made an A+ in sports and .. well I try not to think about my other grades. But you know to watch every football, basketball (men and women), baseball, and to catch an occasional tennis, track meet, gymnastics meet, and yes even one lacross game it was hard to fit studying for classes into my schedule.

Alabama basketball has always been close to my heart because football tickets were hard to come by so we went to basketball games. When I was in high school Alabama basketball was at its heights. Wimp Sanderson was the coach and yes I even had my own plaid jacket. Wimp was there for 12 seasons and we won 20+ games for 9 seasons. Made the sweet 16 six times. But after Wimp basketball has fallen on hard times outside one season where they made the elite eight (2004).

Anthony Grant is the new coach as of Friday. Grant was an assistant under Billy Donovan when Florida won a national championship. He lead VCU to three straight Colonial Athletic Association regular-season titles and two tournament appearances in three years.

I hope he will help rebuild Alabama basketball. I am nervous because Gotfried was the boy wonder who won 3 OVC titles in 3 seasons and made two tournament appearances at Maury State. He was 68-24 at MS. He lead Bama to five tournament apperances but just seemed to quit the last two seasons.

Blue Like Jazz

Blue Like Jazz has been out for a while and it seemed like everyone was reading it a few years ago. I think that this is why I have avoided it for so long. But while on vacation Dana and I listened to it on our drive. This has become a tradition of trips. On another subject any thing narrated by Jim Dale is a good listen.

Oh well Don Miller read his own book and it was great. His monotone style is quiet enjoyable.

The book was very enjoyable. It is basically a journey of his spiritual life and I could relate to it so much outside of the fact that I have never lived with hippies out in the woods for a month.

The basic theme is that we need to love God and his people. The more we love the less we sin. The more we love the more we live out the mission of God. Jesus loved people no matter who they were. His love really was unconditional. He didn’t care how they treated him, if they loved him backed, if they could do anything for him, or any even if they would mistreat him.  I want to love like that but wonder if I can. How do you love people that don’t love you back or are just indifferent to you?