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By now, many of you have taken your summer vacation, and you've learned to translate all the promises in the travel brochures. For those of you who have yet to make your journey, here's a helpful glossary of travel terms (and what they really mean): Old world charm (Room and a bath) Tropical (Rainy) Majestic setting (A long way from town, at end of dirt road) Options galore (Nothing is included in the itinerary) Secluded hideaway (Directions to the location are unclear) Some budget rooms (Sorry, already occupied) Explore on your own (At your own expense) Knowledgeable trip hosts (They've flown in an airplane before) No extra fees (No extras) Nominal fee (Outrageous charge) Standard (Sub-standard) Deluxe (Barely Standard) Superior accommodations (One complimentary chocolate, free shower cap) All the amenities (Two chocolates, two shower caps) Plush (Both top and bottom sheets) Gentle breezes (In hurricane alley) Light and airy (No air conditioning) Picturesque (Theme park nearby) 24-hour service (Ice cubes at additional cost -- when available) Michael
Duduit, Editor Click here to visit "I Was Just Thinking" for insights and observations about faith and culture issues. Recent topics: The value of a family dinner. The mainline in decline. If you missed this year's National Conference on Preaching, you can still obtain audio tapes and CDs. Click here to learn more. And be sure to mark your calendar for April 24-26, 2006, for the next NCP in Dallas, with the theme "Preaching Creatively." (Click here for more information on NCP 2006)
Number of satellite campuses growing The number of churches beaming pastors from one location to another is unknown, but 22 percent of 153 mega-churches surveyed in 1999 said they had satellite campuses, according to Scott Thumma, a researcher of mega-church trends at Hartford Institute of Religion Research in Connecticut. His comments were included in a recent RNS news article. (Click here to read.) That trend concerns traditionalists such as Ole Anthony, the president of the Trinity Foundation, a religious watchdog group in Dallas. He asks, "Do you lay your hands on the screen for fellowship?" Anthony criticizes mega-churches as "bastions of amusement and anonymity." Nevertheless, as Thumma notes, satellite services merely reflect what already occurs in most large worship settings. "Even if you're in the main sanctuary, chances are you're not going to be watching the pastor at the pulpit anyway," he said. "Your attention is going to be focused on the large screens because you can't really see the pastor if you're in a gathering of 4,000." Leadership Network offers a map and list of churches currently involved in multi-site ministry; click here to visit. What do you think about the trend toward satellite campuses? Has your church considered this as an option for the future? Click here to participate in a brief PreachingNow survey on the issue; we'll share the responses in an upcoming issue. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=288181247235
Be Wise in Use of Technology In a recent issue of his Leadership Uncensored newsletter, Ed Young, Jr., offers counsel to churches that are considering expanding their use of technology for worship. Among his suggestions: Put people in place first. "When you set out on the technology path, don't start with equipment needs. First go out and find people you can trust to help you make the right decisions. Whether they are staff, volunteers, partners or consultants, make sure they have the right training and experience to give you quality information and advice on wise technology purchases. Make the investment to get it right. "Technical mistakes can turn a worship experience into nothing more than a performance evaluation. When you use media and technology to fuel your weekend services, make sure your church can commit the resources to make it a seamless experience. Spend the money to get equipment that will make it look professional. And then, set aside time for your staff to practice and rehearse. . . . "It's all about balance. Technology and media have been indispensable in helping us reach people in our area. When visitors come to church for the first time and hear the message of Christ presented in a style similar to the TV or movies they're used to seeing, they are much more receptive. So, we are vigilant in making sure that technology never becomes an end in and of itself." (For more information and resources visit www.creativepastors.com)
The problem with borrowing sermons D.A. Carson of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School talks about the danger of taking the sermons of others and using them as your own: "Preaching is far more than a merely intellectual exercise, for it is 'truth mediated through human personality,' and aims to communicate the very presence of God. By the same token, preaching is far more than a mere reading (usually unacknowledged) of someone else's sermon -- a practice far too common in this day of circulating compact discs with their 'best sermons.' This practice is of course morally despicable, since it is theft (and for that matter illegal, since such material is copyrighted and yet is being circulated on the tapes of the local church). "I am not referring to the almost inevitable borrowings of a person who reads a great deal, still less to the acknowledged borrowings of an honest worker, but to the wholesale reproducing of another's work as if it were your own. My concern here, however, is not so much with the immorality of such conduct as with the desperately tragic way in which it reduces preaching and the preacher, and finally robs the congregation. "The substance of a stolen sermon is doubtless as true (and as false) as when the originating preacher first said it. But here there is no honest wrestling with the text, no unambiguous play of biblical truth on human personality, no burden from the Lord beyond mere play-acting, no honest interaction with and reflection on the words of God such that the preacher himself is increasingly conformed to the likeness of Christ. Any decent public reader could do as much: it would be necessary only to supply the manuscript." (Click here to read the full article in Acrobat PDF format; free Adobe Acrobat reader required, available at www.adobe.com.) http://www.sbts.edu/resources/publications/sbjt/1999/1999Summer8.pdf
ILLUSTRATION: Conformity, Individuality In a speech to the Religious Communication Association, Quentin Schultze quoted Soren Kierkegaard, who once suggested that, "the majority of people are not so afraid of holding a wrong opinion, as they are of holding an opinion alone." Schultze observes, "In other words, we human beings are social creatures who tend to go along with what other people believe rather than venture courageously in an unpopular direction. We are more fearful of being thought crazy than wrong, as long as we have the comfort of being mistaken with others. Ignorance loves company. We are creatures of fashionable, even if sometimes foolish, ideas." (The Journal of Communication and Religion, March 2005)
ILLUSTRATION: Resurrection It was nearing Easter, and during the children's sermon the pastor was trying to get the kids thinking about Easter and the resurrection of Jesus. He asked, "Does anyone know what happens after we die?" There was a little silence, and then he noticed one young man rolling his eyes and looking at the pastor as if he was the dumbest person on the planet. "Yeah," the boy said, with that "duh!" tone. "We rot!" (Mikey's Funnies) The good news for those in Christ is that that's not the end of the story!
Preaching Truth Conferences Set for Ten Cities A new round of our one-day preaching conferences -- using the theme "Preaching Truth in a Whatever World" -- will be held in cities across the U.S. this fall. Each event will feature presentations by Dr. Michael Duduit, editor of Preaching magazine and PreachingNow, and an array of outstanding guest speakers. Here are dates and areas for fall conferences (exact church location/address is at our website, www.preaching.com/truth):
These conferences will offer insights into the unique preaching challenges of today, and will offer a toolbox of strategies and ideas for effective biblical preaching in today's "whatever" culture. Here are some of the comments from pastors who participated in this conference last fall: "The "Preaching in a Whatever World" conference was refreshing and informative to me as a pastor-teacher. The information concerning postmodernism and its impact in preaching was both practical and balanced." (Chris Regas, Glenwood Baptist Church, Kansas City, MO) "The preaching conference gave me a fresh perspective concerning the task and joy of preaching the good news." (Ronnie Jones, Gethsemane Church of Christ, Mechanicsville, VA) "Michael Duduit is an exceptional communicator in assisting pastors who take preaching seriously. It was a refreshing and life changing experience for me as a preacher of God's Word." (Mark Street, Milligan Free Will Baptist Church, Johnson City, TN) Visit our information page (www.preaching.com/truth) for more information or to register.
ILLUSTRATION: Organization, Church Dr. Joe Harding tells a humorous story about a man who injured his thumb on the job. His foreman sent him to a clinic. He stepped into a room with only a desk and two chairs. In the back of the room were two doors, one marked "Illness" and the other "Injury." He went through the door marked "Injury" and found himself in a second room with only a desk and two chairs. At the back were two doors-one marked "Internal" and the other marked "External." Walking through the "External" door, he found himself in yet another room with one desk and two chairs. Again, he had a choice of two doors. These were marked "Therapy" and "Treatment." Through this fourth door, he discovered the same situation, except with two doors marked "Major" and "Minor." He walked through the door marked "Minor" and found himself on the street. He returned to his job, and his foreman asked him if they were able to help. He responded that he wasn't sure, but it was the best-organized outfit he had ever seen. The church is organized, but do we help people? (Charles Lowery, SBC Life, June/July 2005)
ILLUSTRATION: Humility, Pride "You've only got to take the throne of your own personality and sit yourself on it, and you see at once that you are conspicuously too small for it." (African evangelist Festo Kivengere)
ILLUSTRATION: Sin -- Awareness of Before we are open to the gospel, we must become aware of our own need and our own sinfulness. As Becky Pippert observed, "We can't know how good the good news is until we know how bad the bad news is."
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ILLUSTRATION: Sharing, WWJD A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin, 5, Ryan, 3. The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw the opportunity for a wonderful moral lesson. She said, "If Jesus were sitting here, He would say, 'Let my brother have the first pancake. I can wait.' Kevin turned to his younger brother and said, "Ryan, it's your turn to be Jesus!" (from bunch o'jokes club by way of Sermon Fodder and Joke A Day Ministries. To subscribe go to http://www.sermonfodder.com)
Get Christian College Link for your young people at no cost In an increasingly secular society, one of the vital tools for helping our young people develop a strong Christian worldview is through Christ-centered colleges and universities. To encourage Christian students to consider such schools, we sponsor an annual magazine-type publication called Christian College Link. It helps students and their parents consider the value of Christian higher education, as well as providing practical guidance for issues such as financing college costs and selecting the right school. We are now preparing the 2006 edition, and we want to make copies available at no cost to your church's high school students, for distribution in September. Just let us know how many copies you need and we'll send them for you to distribute through your Sunday School, youth ministry or other outlets. (Please order enough for all your 10th-12th graders.) There is no cost, and it will be a helpful resource for your students and their families. Just click here to let us know how many copies you'll need. (If your church requested copies of Christian College Link last year, you will automatically receive the same quantity again this year, unless you use the link above to increase or reduce the quantity requested.) To see a copy of last year's content, just visit www.christiancollegelink.com.
ILLUSTRATION: Prayer Soren Kierkegaard once said, "A person prayed, and at first he thought that prayer was talking. But he became more and more quiet until in the end he realized that prayer is listening."
When you find yourself in a heated debate, it's easy to get your ego involved. As Colin Powell recently observed, "Never let your ego get so close to your position on an issue that when you lose the argument, you have lost your ego and your manhood -- and ultimately who you are."
LeaderLinks is a web-based publication for Christian leaders. The July-August issue is now available at www.leaderlinks.com. Interested readers can also go to the site (or just click here) and subscribe to LeadingNow, a monthly e-mail newsletter featuring ideas and resources for Christian leaders. LeaderLinks is a publication of American Ministry Resources, which is the publisher of PreachingNow, Preaching magazine and preaching.com. Visit at www.leaderlinks.com.
ILLUSTRATION: Weddings Attending a wedding for the first time, a little girl whispered to her mommy, "Why is the bride dressed in white?" "Because white is the color of happiness, and today is the happiest day of her life," Mommy tried to explain, keeping it simple. The child thought about this for a moment, then said, "So why's the groom wearing black?"
Signs That This Summer is Still Way Too Hot ~ You ask your boss for extra work so you can be in the air conditioning as much as possible ~ The swans in the park come in "original recipe" and "extra crispy" ~ The strawberries are ripe, and the cab drivers are even riper ~ Your pool water starts to boil in the sun ~ The hot-dogs sold outside Yankee Stadium are actually hot ~ Pigs complain about sweating like you ~ A scalding hot shower still cools you down ~ People walking down the sidewalk spontaneously burst into flames ~ A $20 surcharge is added to your bill when you eat at air-conditioned restaurants ~ The politicians take their hands out of your pockets to fan themselves ~ You need a spatula to remove your clothing ~ You wish you had gotten the cloth seats instead of leather (from
Cybersalt Digest)
"Don't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated. You can't cross a chasm in two small jumps." (David Lloyd George)
And finally . . . He's been holding a torch for five years. And a bunch of goats. A city councilman from Nairobi, Kenya, says he offered Bill Clinton 40 goats and 20 cows for his daughter's hand in marriage five years ago. He's still awaiting an answer from the former President, according to a July 27 Associated Press story. In 2000 -- when Bill Clinton was visiting Kenya -- Godwin Kipkemoi Chepkurgor wrote Clinton asking for Chelsea's hand in marriage, he recently explained to the East African Standard newspaper. The 36-year-old vowed to remain single until he gets an answer to his proposal to marry Chelsea, who is now 25. In his letter, the would-be suitor told Clinton of plans for a grand wedding presided over by Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu. "The electrical engineering graduate said he promised to pay 40 goats and 20 cows in dowry for Clinton's only daughter in accordance with African tradition," according to the AP report. Unfortunately, the former President probably never even received the offer. A security official told the Standard the letter probably never made it out of the office because authorities thought Chepkurgor "just took the joke too far."
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