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College football is just around the corner, and all's right with the world. As a devoted Florida State Seminole fan, you'll understand that I'm a big Bobby Bowden fan. In fact, there are only a few pictures on my wall, but one of them is an autographed photo of Coach Bowden. (It's just around the corner from the Bowden-autographed football.) In the spirit of that first kickoff, here are some of Bowden's "Things I've Learned" (shared in the Sept. 2001 issue of Esquire magazine): The good old days weren't so good when you were sitting in a dentist's chair. A meal is not complete until you've had some chocolate. Happiness is not money and it's not fame and it's not power. Those are nice, but they only last a finger snap. Happiness is a good wife, a good family, and good health. Courage is doing something you need to do that might get you hurt. If you don't discipline your children, the sheriff's gonna. I don't play practical jokes on my grandchildren. I've got 21 of them. If I did, there'd be a long line waiting to get back at me. If somebody mistreats you, treat 'em good. That kills 'em. Michael
Duduit, Editor Click here to visit "I Was Just Thinking" for insights and observations about faith and culture issues. Recent topics: Tradition and the death of culture; Was the atomic bomb necesary to end WWII? 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)
Does your church website discourage visitors? In a recent entry on his blog (click here to visit), Tony Morgan of Granger Community Church offers this: 10 Easy Ways to Keep Me from Visiting Your Church Because I Visited Your Website 1. Avoid telling me what's going to happen at your church this weekend. I found churches that had weather reports but nothing about their upcoming weekend service. I found two churches that had prominent information about upcoming golf scrambles (which I appreciated as a golfer), but nothing about this weekend's service. Why would I come if I don't know what I'm going to experience? 2. Put a picture of your building on the main page. After all, ministry is all about the buildings. 3. Use lots of purple and pink and add pictures of flowers. Really. Are you expecting any men to show up? And, for my benefit, please don't put any doves on your website. Doves scare me. 4. Make me click a "skip intro" or "enter site" link. I don't have time for that and it's very annoying. If I have to wait for something to load or have to click around intro pages to get to the real information, I'm probably going to skip your church service. 5. Add as many pictures and graphics as you can to the main page. My life is already complicated. I don't have time to figure out what's important at your church. If you dump everything on the main page, I'm assuming you don't know what's important either. 6. Use amateur photography. And, for the record, it would be helpful to have at least one normal looking person on your site. Do us all a favor and hire a graphic designer, a professional photographer or purchase some stock photography. 7. List every single ministry you have at your church. Frankly, I don't care what ministries you have. I just want to know whether or not I should visit your church this weekend. My first step isn't the men's Bible study or joining your church's prayer partner's ministry. 8. Make it as difficult as possible for me to get directions, service times, or find information about what will happen with my kids. It's important that my kids have a great experience. If you can't convince me that that will happen, I'm probably not going to risk visiting your service. 9. Put a picture of your pastor with his wife on the main page. That tells me it's all about a personality, and I see enough of those people on television. I actually found one church that had not one but two pictures of the senior pastor on the main page. He was looking mighty dapper, though, in his fancy suit. 10. Try to sell your church rather than telling me how I will benefit from the experience. I don't care how great your church is. I just want to know if visiting your church will help me and my unchurched friends take our next steps toward Christ. http://tonymorgan.typepad.com/tony_morgan_one_of_the_si/2005/05/10_easy_ways_to.html
Can you believe in God and evolution? This week's issue of Time magazine contains a series of articles on the debates concerning evolution and intelligent design. One item features a brief forum on the topic with four participants -- three scientists and a theologian. You can read the article by clicking here. One of the forum participants is Michael Behe, a biochemist at Lehigh University and author of Darwin's Black Box, a powerful scientific argument for Intelligent Design. I interviewed Behe several years ago, and he makes a compelling scientific case that many organisms could not physically have evolved, but had to have come into existence intact or they could not have functioned. (This is his "mousetrap" analogy -- what part of a mousetrap could be eliminated and the device still function?) Those who argue that intelligent design is a religious issue and not a scientific one need to read Behe's book. (Click here to learn more about Darwin's Black Box.) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1090921,00.html
When it's OK to use other people's sermons In recent years, we've published several items (in Preaching magazine and in this newsletter) on the issue of plagiarism in preaching. It's a serious issue and has repercussions in the lives of churches and pastors. Sometimes I am asked, "Is it ever OK to preach someone else's sermon?" I typically answer: if you do it only on rare occasions and if you clearly give them credit, making sure you are not claiming to have written or developed the material yourself. (Some folks even preach other people's personal illustrations as if they happened to them. Where I come from, that's called lying.) One pastor I know did a summer series where he preached classic sermons from the past, and shared a bit about the preachers who crafted the sermons; I thought it was a great idea. I think I now have another example of where it's OK to preach someone else's sermon. Recently I was reading a transcript of a discussion Rick Warren had with a group of reporters and media people (see the Link of the Week below), and he shared this story: "I was in Johannesburg, South Africa, where I was teaching this Purpose-Driven church seminar, and we simulcast it to 400 sites across the continent . . . After it was over I said, 'Take me out to a village.' So we went out to the township of Tembisa. I said, 'I want to see some churches.' We got to this one little church where there were 75 people in a tent -- it's a tent church -- 25 orphaned by AIDS and 50 adults taking care of them. "And this guy walked up to me, this young pastor, and he looked at me and he said . . . He said, 'You're Pastor Rick.' I said, 'How do you know who I am?' He said, 'I get your sermons every week.' As I told you earlier, I put all my sermons on the Internet, and we charge Americans for them and then we translate it into other languages with that money and give them away for free to the rest of the world. So we basically let the Americans fund our international ministry. "And I said, 'How do you get my sermons? . . . You don't even have water or electricity in this village.' He said, 'No, but they're putting the Internet in every post office in South Africa.' He said, 'Every weekend I walk an hour and a half to the nearest post office and I download your free sermon and then I preach it.' He said, 'You know, you are the only training I've ever had.' And I thought, I will give the rest of my life for guys like that."
More megachurches than we thought According to an item in the July 29 Pastors' Weekly Briefing (from Focus on the Family), new research reveals that the number of megachurches in America may have been underreported by as much as 50 percent. A cooperative project being undertaken by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research and the Leadership Network -- two organizations that have been studying megachurches for years -- discovered that the actual number of churches with at least 2,000 in weekly worship is over 1,200. In the past, it was commonly assumed that the number was 850. The discrepancy was found when the two groups, each of which keeps a separate list of megachurches, compared their records and realized that there were about 350 churches that were not on both lists. As part of an ongoing study, questionnaires are being sent to over 1,700 very large churches in order to verify the actual number of megachurches in the country. Warren Bird of Leadership Network believes that the number could be as high as 1,600. Preliminary analysis of the data shows that:
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© 2005, Focus on the Family. All rights reserved. You can
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ILLUSTRATION: Character, Conviction President George W. Bush recently spoke to 30,000 young men at the 2005 National Boy Scout Jamboree. He told them, "At times, you may come across people who say that moral truth is relative, or call a religious faith a comforting illusion. They may question the values you learn in scouting. But remember, lives of purpose are constructed on the conviction there is right and there is wrong, and we can know the difference. "In the years ahead you will find that indifferent or cynical people accomplish little that makes them proud. You'll find that confronting injustice and evil requires a vision of goodness and truth. You'll find that many in your community, especially those younger than you, look to you as an example of conduct and leadership. For your sake, and for the sake of our country, I hope you'll always strive to be men of conviction and character. (Click here to read the President's full text.) http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/07/20050731.html
ILLUSTRATION: Power of God I remember an old story about a little boy who was out helping dad with the yard work. Dad asked him to pick up the rocks in a certain area of the yard. Dad looked over and saw him struggling to pull up a huge rock buried in the dirt. The little boy struggled and struggled while Dad watched. Finally, the boy gave up and said, "I can't do it." Dad asked, "Did you use all of your strength?" The little boy looked hurt and said, "Yes, sir. I used every ounce of strength I have." The father smiled and said, "No you didn't. You didn't ask me to help." The father walked over and then the two of them pulled that big rock out of the dirt. One of the great Biblical truths seems impossible. Liberty comes through being yoked with Christ. (Billy D. Strayhorn, "Freedom Through The Yoke")
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: Misunderstandings, Timing A young executive was leaving the office at 6pm when he found the CEO standing in front of a shredder with a piece of paper in hand. "Listen," said the CEO, "this is important, and my secretary has left. Can you make this thing work?" "Certainly," said the young executive. He turned the machine on, inserted the paper, and pressed the start button. "Excellent, excellent!" said the CEO as his paper disappeared inside the machine. "I just need one copy."
ILLUSTRATION: Age Johnny asked his grandmother how old she was, and she said, "I'm 39 and holding." Johnny thought about that for a minute, then asked, "How old will you be if you let go?"
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ILLUSTRATION: Fear, Danger A monastery was perched high on a cliff several hundred feet in the air. The only way to reach the monastery was to be suspended in a basket that was pulled to the top by several monks who pulled and tugged with all their strength. Obviously the ride up the steep cliff in that basket was terrifying. One tourist got exceedingly nervous about half-way up as he noticed that the rope by which he was suspended was old and frayed. With trembling voice, he asked the monk who was riding with him in the basket how often they changed the rope. The monk thought for a moment and answered, "Whenever it breaks."
ILLUSTRATION: Heaven, Death, Urgency There were two old guys, Abe and Ken, sitting on a bench in a park feeding pigeons and talking about baseball, just like they did every day. Abe turns to Ken and says, "Do you think there's baseball in heaven?" Ken thinks about it for a minute and replies, "I dunno, Abe. But let's make a deal: If I die first, I will come back and tell you -- and if you die first, you come back and tell me -- if there is baseball in heaven." They shake on it and, sadly, a few months later poor Abe passes on. One day soon afterward, Ken is sitting there feeding the pigeons by himself when he hears a voice whisper, "Ken . . . Ken . . . ." Ken responds, "Abe! Is that you?" "Yes it is Ken," whispers the spirit of Abe. Ken, still amazed, asks, "So, is there baseball in heaven?" "Well," says Abe says, "I got good news and I got bad news." "Gimme the good news first," says Ken. Abe says, "Well . . . there is baseball in heaven." Ken says, "That's great! What news could be bad enough to ruin that!?" Abe sighs and whispers, "You're pitching on Friday."
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.
ILLUSTRATION: Funerals Walking by, a minister saw his 5-year-old son and playmates find a dead robin. Feeling that proper burial should be performed, the children had secured a small box and cotton batting, then dug a hole and made ready for the disposal of the deceased. The minister's son was chosen to say the appropriate prayers and with great dignity intoned his version of what he thought his father always said: "Glory be unto the Father, and unto the Son . . . and into the hole he goes."
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.
Report from the Pastor Search Committee We do not have a happy report to give. We've had trouble finding a suitable candidate for this church, though we have one promising prospect. We do appreciate all the suggestions from the church members, and we've followed up each one with interviews or calling at least three references. The following is our confidential report on the present candidates. Noah: Former pastorate of 120 years with no converts. Prone to unrealistic building projects. Abraham: References report he offered to share his own wife with another man. Joseph: A big thinker but a braggart; believes in dream interpreting and has a prison record. Moses: A modest and meek man, but poor communicator, even stuttering at times. Sometimes blows his stack and acts rashly. Some say he left an earlier church over a murder charge. Also had an inter-racial marriage. David: The most promising leader of all until we discovered the affair he had with his neighbor's wife. Also thought to have murdered her husband and used the power of his office to avoid charges. Solomon: Great preacher but our parsonage would never hold all those wives. Elijah: Prone to depression -- collapses under pressure. Hosea: A tender and loving pastor, but our people could never handle his wife's occupation. Jeremiah: Emotionally unstable, alarmist, negative, always lamenting things, and reported to have taken a long trip to bury his underwear on the bank of a foreign river. Isaiah: On the fringe? Claims to have seen angels in church. Has trouble with his language. Jonah: Refused God's call into ministry until he was forced to obey by getting swallowed up by a great fish. He told us the fish later spit him out on the shore near here. We hung up. Amos: Too backward and unpolished. With some seminary training he might have promise, but has a hang-up against wealthy people -- might fit in better with a poor congregation. John: Says he is a Baptist, but definitely doesn't dress like one. Has slept in the outdoors for months on end, has weird diet, and provokes denominational leaders. Peter: Too blue collar. Has a bad temper -- even has been known to curse. Had a big run-in with Paul in Antioch. Aggressive, but a loose cannon. Paul: Powerful CEO-type leader and fascinating preacher. However, short on tact, unforgiving with young ministers, harsh and has been known to preach all night. Timothy: Too young. Jesus: Has had popular times, but once when his church grew to 5,000 he managed to offend them all and his church dwindled down to 12 people. Seldom stays in one place very long. And of course, he's single. There is one strong possibility, however: Judas: His references are solid. A steady plodder. Conservative. Good connections. Knows how to handle money. We're inviting him to preach this Sunday. He just might fit in.
And finally . . . She may not weigh much, but she can out eat the big guys when it counts. Sonya Thomas weighs only 99 pounds, but that didn't stop her from gobbling her way to another speed-eating title this weekend, according to an August 7 Associated Press story. A fixture on the competitive-eating circuit, Thomas downed 35 bratwursts in 10 minutes to win the first Johnsonville Brat-Eating World Championship. Her nearest competitor was behind by half a brat. The previous brat-eating record was 19 1/2 brats in 10 minutes. Thomas is a Burger King manager from Alexandria, Va. She is ranked second by the International Federation of Competitive Eating. Her various eating records include ones for hard-boiled eggs (65 in 6 minutes 40 seconds) and chicken wings (167 in 32 minutes). The day before the bratwurst-eating contest, according to the AP story, she won a grilled-cheese-sandwich eating contest in San Diego, eating 22.
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