Today's Prayer

Lord, I commit my works unto you, and ask you to establish my thoughts and direct my steps. Let my heart beat with your desires. Deliver me from all wrongdoing and fleshly desires. Keep me under your faithful, loving, and warm wings of love. I praise you, Father, Savior, Deliverer. In Jesus' name.

McCain's VP Choice Reassures Evangelicals

John McCain's running mate was raised in a Pentecostal church (Assemblies of God), has called herself "as pro-life as any candidate can be" and already has energized conservative religious leaders who worried the Arizona senator would choose an abortion rights supporter.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is "straight out of veep central casting," said Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religion Liberties Commission. Land said he urged the McCain camp to consider the political unknown.

Gary Bauer, one of McCain's most enthusiastic evangelical supporters, called it a "grand slam home run" that is "guaranteed to energize values voters."

The 44-year-old mother of five, who led her high school chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, was baptized as a teenager at the Wasilla Assembly of God Church, where she and her family were very active, according to her then-pastor, Paul Riley.

Now, she sometimes worships at the Juneau Christian Center, which is also part of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God, said Brad Kesler, business administrator of the denomination's Alaska District. But her home church is The Church on the Rock, an independent congregation, Riley said.

"The church was kind of a foundation for her," said Riley, who said he gave the invocation at Palin's inauguration and had her address students at the church last month.

Palin and her family have gone the way of so many Christians in North America, moving from the denominational church to the independent Pentecostal congregation.

However, Maria Comella, a spokeswoman for the McCain-Palin campaign, said "Palin attends different churches and does not consider herself Pentecostal."

Is the campaign trying to avoid liberal anti-pentecostal attacks?

As a politician, Palin has sided with the majority evangelical view in opposing gay marriage and expressing a desire to see creationism discussed alongside evolution in schools.

"It's an absolutely brilliant choice," said Mathew Staver, dean of Liberty University School of Law. "This will absolutely energize McCain's campaign and energize conservatives."

[AP Religion Writer Rachel Zoll contributed to this report.]

On the problem of cutting: The secret under the sleeve

Writer Amy Sondova, a former student and now friend of mine, has expertise in many areas including the problem of cutting. Playing on my friendship with her I asked if she would write here just a little on the topic. Here’s what she wrote (following her bio):

Who is Amy? Amy Sondova is a writer specializing in media writing, including interviews and reviews, as well as blogging. Having interviewed over 30 of the top musicians, writers, and speakers in the Christian media, Amy has also written countless columns, reviews, and articles on various topics including mental illness, self-injury, working with teenagers, and Christianity. As well as holding a B.A. in communications, Amy holds a M.A. in biblical counseling, and has worked as a professional therapist. You can visit Amy’s blog at amysondova.com or check out her online e-zine, BackseatWriter.com, a faith-based site focusing on God, culture, music, mental health, and photography.

She’s a cutter — one of the many in a growing community of self-mutilators who wear their pain, anger, and frustration by cutting various parts of their bodies with sharp objects. You would not know she’s a cutter to look at her; she smiles broadly, perhaps a little too broadly at times. She seems normal if not a little melancholy. But look in her eyes and then you will see her torment. You can always tell a cutter by the lack of luster in her eyes.

Cutting is a form of self-injury – the act of purposely injuring oneself using a sharp object such as a razor, scissors, knife, etc. In addition to cutting, self-injury also includes carving, scratching, branding, marking, picking and pulling skin and hair, burns or abrasions, biting, and head banging. Most self-mutilators are between the ages of 11 to 30 and 97% are female.

Not only is cutting a stress relieving coping mechanism, but the physical pain creates a sense of livelihood, and most times physical pain is dull compared to the piercing pain in her soul. No one can see her inner turmoil, so she has transformed her emotions onto her flesh to make you and everyone else understand that she is hurting.

Cutting is not usually an act of suicide. One cutter wrote on her website, “I don’t want to die. I self-injure to stay alive, to deal with the unbearable. If I wanted to die, then I wouldn’t be here now” (Secret Shame, 2004.)

Along with sexual and other types of abuse, there are several mental disorders associated with self-injurious behavior, which include borderline personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, clinical depression, bipolar disorder, and multiple personality disorder. Remember, even if an individual suffers from a mental illness along with her cutting, she is more than her diagnosis. She is human being created in the image of God.

The only hope for a cutter lies in God because no one can ever understand the pain except for Him. He sees the inner torments and can provide relief. There is no hope attached to the end of the razor blade … only the manifestation of a tortured soul. Self-mutilation is still taboo in many churches today, but as their forms fill our pristine halls, the church cannot cover its eyes any longer. We must be prepared to minister to what many are calling “the new anorexia” before a generation mutilates itself beyond recognition.

[Dr. Phil Monroe]

What are we to do with our stories of pain and mistreatment by other Christians?

Its no revelation that Christians hurt each other in some very serious ways. While I believe that more people have been loved by Christians than hurt, the painful reality is that we can do so much damage. Hence we have books such as Dwight Carlson’s, Why do Christians shoot their wounded. Here’s what often happens. We tell the stories to others. There is something good and something bad about our telling of our stories.

What do telling our stories of being hurt, wronged, misunderstood, misrepresented, oppressed, rejected, etc. do for us? What does it do to our listeners? These are important questions. Here are some bullet responses by me:

1. Telling the truth to another and being heard and understood on top of that provides healing. When the body of Christ attends to the wounds of its members, there are wonderful opportunities for healing, forgiveness, repentance, justice, reconciliation.

2. But why am I telling THIS person. Am I looking for a healing response or for someone to validate my bitterness, to encourage my sinful anger and my unwillingness to confront the wounder? Is it gossip? What do I want/desire/expect from this person who has just heard my story?

3. Do I tell the story in a way that colors all those who might think similarly to the person who has wounded me. Example, not all of those who value postmodern challenges to modernity are on a slippery slope to relativism. Not all of those who believe that women should not be in pastoral ministry are wife beaters. But do we tell stories that castigate all?

4. How do I respond to these stories from others? Do I undermine by minimizing the pain? Do I counter it with my own story that shows that my own wounds are worse? Do I say nothing? Do I see overgeneralizations and ignore the parts that are true about me or at least gives the impression of truth? Can I own what I need to own without being overly concerned about being misunderstood myself? Or do I get defensive?

Stories of being victimized help others to understand our experiences and to enter our world. But stories also can function like agent orange and burn everything in sight. How do we know what to do for our own best health and the consideration of those around us?

What about the offender? What’s the difference between a prophet and a slanderer? In the mind of the offender, he/she is a prophet, God's representative espousing God's words.

A prophet names things and people (especially opponents) in a way that they would agree or approve. A slanderer uses names to disparage and to smear opponents, even those who might barely be related to the issues at hand. (Scot McKnight, in a recent presentation at Westminster Seminary, offers some good advice in this area when talking about emerging/missional church authors and their critics. When you describe your opponents, you ought to do so in a way that the opponents says, “that’s me.”). A prophet does not stoop to build straw men.

A prophet highlights viewpoints in order to point out their possible logical conclusions while a slanderer takes another’s position to an extreme and paints the person as intending the outcome or so foolish not to see the result.

While pointing out possible outcomes, a prophet is still able to describe these outcomes with complexity and shading while the slanderer merely paints everything in black and white.

A prophet points to a better way, creative solutions, risky but realistic options while a slanderer wastes no effort trying to provide solutions, but is satisfied with producing only criticisms and tired stereotypes.

[Phil Monroe]

Unusual Time Saving Tips

Most pastors could easily fill dozens of extra hours a week with productive ministry — if they simply had more time. I’ll share a few of my slightly weird time saving tips.

1. I’ll Meet You in Your Office

When you need to do a quick face to face meeting with another staff member, tell them you’ll swing by their office. When you’ve covered everything important, you can politely leave — the meeting is over.

If someone is in your office, the person may not know when the meeting is over. A quick, few-minute meeting can linger and bleed over into longer and less important conversations. When you’re in someone else’s office, you can politely exit much easier than you can ask someone to leave your office.

2. Let’s Have Lunch in My Office

Eating out can be a huge time waster. (I’m not saying that having a nice, long lunch isn’t occasionally important, necessary, or enjoyable.) Travel time to many restaurants takes 15 to 30 minutes (or more). Many restaurant meals can take 45 minutes to an hour. A simple lunch can easily eat an hour and a half of your day.

I suggest some other options:

- If you don’t have a lunch appointment, consider bringing lunch from home. Not only can you save money but also time. You can eat in a few minutes in your office and continue working.
- If you don’t have a lunch appointment and didn’t bring your lunch, you might ask another team member to bring you a sandwich if he or she is going out.
- If someone invites you to lunch, you might suggest they join you in your office. If you have an assistant, he or she can grab lunch for you; or you can order-in for delivery. You can spend 45 minutes or an hour of quality time with someone without leaving your office. (If you invite someone to lunch, you’ll probably prefer to honor them and travel to a place that is convenient for them.)

3. Plan for Shorter Appointments

For some reason, when someone schedules an appointment with a pastor, they generally assume it will be a one hour appointment.

Most one hour appointments could be handled in much less time.

Years ago, I shortened my appointments to 45 minutes. We’d explain ahead of time that I have 45 minutes allotted for the meeting. No one complained. We got to the important stuff a lot faster.

After some time, I shortened most meetings to 30 minutes and some to 10 or 15. It is amazing how much important ground you can cover when both parties understand how much time you have to work with and you get right to the important issues.

It also helps to back appointments up to each other. If you have a 1:00 p.m. appointment, you might schedule your next one at 1:45 instead of 2:00. When some people want to go past their time, someone else can politely interrupt and explain that your next appointment is waiting.

4. Do Fewer Meetings

Most people in ministry do way too many meetings.

Instead of scheduling a typical 1 or 2 hour meeting, you might try a 15 minute touch-base meeting. You may cover even more in that brief time.

Or better yet, cut the frequency of your meetings in half. Instead of meeting weekly, try meeting every other week. If that is not possible, you might cancel 1 of 4 meetings a month.

Doing fewer meeting forces you to think further ahead and encourages better planning and intentional communication.

5. Don’t Take Incoming Calls

On very busy days, you might choose not to immediately receive incoming calls.

When I’m crunched for time, I’ll give my cell phone to my assistant. She’ll screen calls for me all day. Generally she can find out what a person needs. When I come out of the office, she might ask me a few quick questions and she can respond to my calls for me.

Instead of handling calls as they come in, you can return them all at once. I like to return calls when I’m traveling in the car making that time more productive.

What suggestions do you have on this subject? (Click "comments" below.)

[by Craig Groeschel - http://swerve.lifechurch.tv/]

Seven Qualities a Leader Must Have

As I have been thinking through my personal leadership journey lately and trying to figure out who God has called me to be and what He’s called me to do … I have narrowed my focus down to seven areas that I believe are essential for effective leadership in the church.

#1 - Passion

I’m not talking about false excitement over an event that you would not attend if you were not on the payroll at the church!

But rather raw, unfiltered, emotional and unapologetic passion … a white hot fire inside that consumes, controls and configures us into who Jesus has called us to be and what He’s called us to do!

Be warned–passionate people make for easy targets because no one has to guess what they stand for! However, passion, if handled correctly, can be one of the best friends a leader can have.

#2 - A Desire To Please God

One of the first verses I ever memorized was Galatians 1:10. I remember reading it and feeling like it literally jumped off the page … and something inside of me kept screaming, “You are going to need this verse for yourself if you are going to be truly successful in ministry.”

A true leader in church understands that God is our Leader … and in a passionate pursuit to please Him you and I will often disappoint people.

We can’t please committee’s and Christ – a choice must be made.

#3 - Wisdom

James 1:5 has been a verse that I have also had to cling onto as a leader! What a promise!
God has called us to wisdom … so … as leaders I feel that we need to be doing as much as possible to learn … that means going to conferences, reading books … and not being afraid to meet with and learn from people who “aren’t like us!”

What are you personally doing right now to grow and develop yourself as a leader? To add to your wisdom?

I am in the process of connecting with other church leaders … in the past several weeks I’ve been involved in numerous learning environments with people who know SO MUCH MORE than me … and God has used each experience to shape me in an awesome way.

If all we tell our people is what we know, and we lead out of our limited knowledge, never seeking wisdom from others or God, then we will raise up some very shallow people.

#4 - Courage

I don’t think the tag “leader” should be put on anyone who hasn’t had to make tough decisions on a consistent basis.

I once heard Andy Stanley say that a leader isn’t necessarily the first person to see an opportunity, but rather the first person to act on what they see.

So true! There are lots and lots of people who see what is wrong with the world, church, etc … however, very few are actually willing to do anything about it.

Leaders step up and make the hard calls … even when it’s unpopular.

On a side note – courage is NOT the absence of fear!

However, courage is KNOWING what God has called you to … and then DOING it … not knowing the outcome … but KNOWING who is in control of the outcome!

#5 - Humility

This is a tough one because … well … one cannot actually brag that they are humble!

Too many times in the past I know that this was a quality that was NOT in me! I wanted the credit for all of “my ideas!” If something went right and I was involved – I wanted people to know about it. If an element of service programming went well and it was my idea … I took the credit.

And then one day I had a conversation with John Maxwell that ROCKED MY WORLD … he said to me, “You are where you are for two reasons. The first is the favor of God. The second is the giftedness of God. And, please understand that God didn’t owe you either of these. You are where you are because of Him!”

When it comes right down to it … I don’t have good ideas – God gives them to me. I don’t have the ability to think or act … OR LEAD … unless HE leads me!

John 15:5 is SO true … and I have no right to boast in anything that I feel like I accomplish!

If a leader doesn’t care who gets the credit … but is obsessed with God getting the glory – awesome things can happen!

#6 - Honesty

One of the things the corporate world has seen lately is a lack of integrity … and the lie that “this is my life and how I live it doesn’t really impact anyone else” has been exposed over and over and over again!

As leaders – we’ve got to be honest with …

- OURSELVES - how are you doing? Really? Can you keep up the pace you have right now? What changes need to be made?
- OTHERS - is everyone around you doing a good job? Is there a tough conversation that needs to be had–but you won’t because you are afraid of the outcome?
- GOD - Is life and ministry REALLY “all about Him?”

#7 - Simplicity

I once heard Ed Young say, “If you want to impress me as a leader – don’t tell me what you’re doing, tell me what you’re NOT doing!”

I think a leader who is worth his (or her) salt will admit that they are not good at everything … and as a result they will stop trying to be.

Reality is that everyone of us only do a few things well … and our leadership will be maximized when we focus on what God has gifted us and called us to be rather than what everyone else in the church expects us to be!I can’t do everything … but I can do something … and the something that I can do … I will do!

What is on your plate that you KNOW you aren’t good at? You hate it? Go ahead and admit it because everyone around you already knows it and are probably praying that you will stop it anyway!

That’s about it … oh yeah ... if you haven’t read this book by Andy Stanley on point #7–PLEASE–DO IT! Seriously! It will set you free!

[http://www.perrynoble.com/]

September 11 - Cry Out America

Mark Your Calendar NOW!

Noon at your County Courthouse.

September 11, 2008

FAST YOUR LUNCH -- Unite with other Christians at your county courthouse -- Pray publicly for a new Christ Awakening in our generation -- Be a part of Cry Out America!

OUR NATION is at a defining moment. Once in a generation a people arrives at a crossroads of decision, a fork demanding a choice. Sometimes the nature of that choice determines the future for their children; but at other times nothing less than the very life of that people is at stake. We are at just such a crossroads of the second kind. For the last 40 plus years our nation has increasingly drifted lazily toward the falls of godless postmodern values, rejecting God's standards in favor of a reinterpreted subjective morality. Soon we will reach the precipice of no return unless we act quickly. On one level the events of 9/11/01 awakened us to the threat of radical Islamic fundamentalism, but the greater threat confronting us is our departure from God. Therefore on 9/11/08 the American church is issuing a new spiritual wake up call to our nation. Cry Out America is a response to Joel’s 2600 year old prescription for revival. On Thursday, September 11, 2008 we will return to the Lord as we: "Consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly ... and cry out to the Lord." Joel 1:14.

Get involved now and join us in your county!

PARTICIPATION IN ALL 50 STATES NOW CONFIRMED!

Awakening America Alliance brings Christians Together in United Prayer Across
All 50 States on Historic Day in America.

The Alliance is mobilizing Christians to participate in CRY OUT AMERICA in all 3,141 counties in the nation and endeavors to have a COA county coordinator in place at each courthouse to facilitate this time of prayer for their community, friends and family, and for the spiritual condition of our nation.

Read More from our latest press release.

Go Online to find out information on your County's Coordinator and join in the prayer gathering.

ON SEPTEMBER 10th, GOD TV WILL AIR SACRED ASSEMBLY AT 9 PM EASTERN
It will re-air on September 11th! Look for times soon!

CRY OUT AMERICA will host a special evening service in New York City on the eve of September 11th. This evening program will include a line-up of extraordinary Christian leaders and 9/11 first responders and will be aired on God TV to over 400 million people internationally. It will also have elements of worship from top Christian artists and concentrated prayer for the heart condition of the nation, repentance and revival.

http://awakeningamerica.us/cryoutamerica/

5 Types of Pastor

All pastors could perhaps be placed in one of the following categories:

The Catalytic Pastor: The catalytic pastor is wired to stir things up. They’re gifted in the prophetic and tend to be charismatic leaders. These pastors have lots of energy and are focused on the mission of the church … that is, reaching the community for Jesus Christ. In the “right” church, they’ll grow it without a doubt. In the “wrong” church, they’ll create conflict, they’ll be frustrated, and they’ll either burn out or they’ll move on … assuming they’re not fired first. Catalytic pastors are ideal church planters but often lack the finesse and patience for church transformations (except in those VERY rare churches that are truly willing to do anything to reach the community for Jesus).

The Cultivating Pastor: The cultivating pastor is wired to break up hard ground, plant seeds, nurture the fields, and are both willing and able to bring in a harvest. They’re gifted in big-picture understanding, systems analysis, and systems manipulation (in a good way). Because of their systems understanding and their patience, they are able to cultivate change and transformation over time. However, they’re tenacious and are used to getting their way in the long run … because they know how to deal with obstacles that get in their way. Cultivating pastors are well suited for church transformations in churches that can afford to effect gentle change that takes significant time … as many as seven to ten years.

The Conflict-Quelling Pastor: The Conflict-Quelling pastor is exactly the type that the name implies … they’re the guys and gals who are natural or skilled peacemakers, mediators, and/or conflict managers. These pastors are wired differently than any of the other pastoral types. They’re not catalytic and they’re distinctive from chaplains. Instead, these folks can walk into a congregation and in short order assess the situation and instinctively seem to know who the major players are. They are affable and able to build bridges. They tend to be quiet and reflective … when they speak, they do so with conviction, wisdom, and certainty. Conflict-Quelling pastors make excellent interim pastors and/or troubled-church pastors.

The Chaplain Pastor: The Chaplain pastor is wired for peace, harmony, and pastoral care. This is the type of pastor that has been produced by seminaries for several decades, though a few … a very few … seminaries are retooling. Chaplain pastors eschew change and value status quo. They don’t want to stir the waters; rather, they want to bring healing to hurting souls.
They are excellent listeners and tend to be good networkers within the community, primarily so they can extend their ministry, but also so they can refer those in need to oasis’ of help. Chaplain pastors don’t grow churches. In fact, a Chaplain pastor will hasten a congregation’s demise because they tend to focus on those within the congregation rather than in bringing new converts to Jesus Christ. Churches that have very little hope of transformation and church growth do well with Chaplain pastors who serve as hospice care.

The Catatonic Pastor: This type of pastor is, frankly, either lazy or sick. There are far too many of these pastors. They take refuge in their offices ostensibly to do sermon preparation, create brochures, sum up numbers, and so on, but ultimately they’re spinning their wheels and accomplishing very little.

They may or may not do the hospital visitation, but they seldom miss an opportunity to have a meal with one of the inside buddies. Catatonic pastors tend to be well liked by the power holders in the church, because the Catatonic pastor is easily manipulated and seldom, if ever, makes waves … except when they need to accomplish something and fail to meet even the lowest of expectations. Indeed, Catatonic pastors may remain as the senior pastor of a church for many years because they know how to schmooze their way into grace.

Churches that hate change often end up with excellent examples of Catatonic pastors. Catatonic pastors may spend a lot of time “at work” but any congregation that sets performance goals for their Catatonic pastor will quickly discover that time in the office does not guarantee results. Of course, Catatonic pastors do not grow churches, are poor chaplains - even poor hospice chaplains, and they pretty much destroy wherever they root … and they’re more like crabgrass or bamboo that, once established, is almost impossible to eradicate.

[Bill Reichart]

Church Gets $3 Million in Lotto Winnings

PORT JEFFERSON, N.Y. (Aug. 28) - A New York pastor says one of his congregants donated a winning lottery ticket worth $3 million to his church.

Pastor Bertrand Crabbe of the True North Community Church in Port Jefferson says the donor, who asked to remain anonymous, donated the "Ba Da Bling" scratch-off ticket immediately after realizing he won.

Pastor Crabbe says the donor said "This was why God put the ticket in his hands."

A state Lottery official said Wednesday that the independent Christian church will get a little over $100,000 a year through 2028. The amount could be higher if withheld taxes are refunded because of the church's nonprofit status.

Pastor Crabbe says the 650-member church will give the first year's proceeds to other charities.

[The Associated Press]

Would you accept lottery proceeds at your church?

[Click "comments" below.]

Free Background Loops

Courtesy of Church 2.0 - check out these Free Background Loops for your Sunday morning worship.

[Bill Reichart]

Today's Prayer

Dear God, I'm reminded today of that frailty of life. When we see tragedies beyond human control (like the Tsunami), horrors (like humans under the wrong control, killing their own children), and people dying from cancer and car wrecks, that reality is really brought home.

I pray that in the days I have on this earth, you would give me the strength to stand firm. Let nothing move me from the tasks and purpose you have for me. Give me the desire to always give myself fully to your work, and remind me that my labor is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).

And I pray for peace, comfort, and direction for those whose lives are changed by the frailty of life. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.

America's Fastest Growing Cable Network

FrontGate Media, the largest Internet and event entertainment media group reaching the faith and family audience, today announces an exclusive agreement to create and coordinate digital promotions, sponsorships and online advertising for the Gospel Music Channel web site in the faith-based market. Called "VH1 for the Christian market" by The Wall Street Journal, Gospel Music Channel, now in 40 million US homes, is television's fastest-growing network; the first and only 24/7 all Christian/Gospel music channel. The GMC site at http://www.gospelmusicchannel.com/ is the leading fan site for Christian/Gospel music lovers.

For the last two consecutive years, Jack Myers' Emotional Connections Study ranks Gospel Music Channel as the #1 Network in overall Emotional Connection ahead of key competitive networks including Lifetime Movie Network. Building on the strength of GMC's emotional connection, FrontGate Media has debuted exclusive TV & Web "E-motion" promotions limited to a maximum of one or two artists, authors or organizations per month. These promotions combine the reach of TV & the Internet into a powerful multi-platform connection for any brand, product or service, building results through GMC.

The exclusive E-motion promotions feature extensive online and email exposure as well as affordable on- air opportunities for TV and VOD exposure over the course of two to four weeks. The promotions reach the full spectrum of the Gospel Music Channel audience: 40 million US homes, up to 1,000,000 web site views, and more than 100,000 email subscribers.

Philip Manwaring, GMC's VP digital media, commented, "FrontGate Media's creativity, connections, and credibility make them the ideal partner for us in this space. Together we've created promotional opportunities that combine extensive online coverage with affordable on-air exposure, creating a unique value proposition for those seeking to reach the faith-based entertainment audience."

GMC promotions have proven to positively impact album and tickets sales, online traffic and awareness. For the Music Builds Tour featuring Switchfoot, Third Day, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, and Jars of Clay, the promotional partnership resulted in ticket sales increases of between 20% and 50% following exposure through the Gospel Music Channel. Additionally several leading artists across all music styles have observed week-on-week sales increases according to SoundScan from 20% to 57% following coverage on GMC, including Natalie Grant, Karen Peck and New River, David Crowder Band, Marvin Sapp, Trin-i-tee 5:7, and Casting Crowns just to name a few.

"The Gospel Music Channel played an integral part in the tremendous success we've experienced on iTunes with Hillsong Live: This Is Our God," states Chris Estes, director of digital marketing for Integrity Music (Provident-Integrity Distribution). "In the first week of release, we've seen the album rise to No. 4 on iTunes' All Genre, Full Album download charts ahead of major mainstream acts like Lil Wayne and Rihanna. Without a doubt, we know that the digital support and marketing initiatives through the Gospel Music Channel helped us hit this mark."

Gospel Music Channel is the most recent faith-branded leader to join the exclusive FrontGate Media group, home to the largest and most loyal faith-based consumer entertainment brands available including http://www.hearitfirst.com/, http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/, http://www.itickets.com/, http://www.newreleasetuesday.com/, http://www.videorocket.com/, and the largest events in the country including the Biola Media Conference, the Boarders For Christ tour, Creation Festival, Creation Festival: The Tour, and Spirit West Coast just to mention a few. FrontGate Media also serves as the exclusive syndicator of Faith content across the Vidshadow Online Video Network, one of the Web's fastest growing online video networks.

"Gospel Music Channel delivers the most emotionally connected consumer audience available," says Scott A. Shuford, founder and CEO of FrontGate Media. "Their addition to our media group reinforces FrontGate Media as the must-have, first call for strategy and promotion for any entertainment marketer."

[Christian Newswire]

Lee University VP Chairs Commission

The Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) has appointed Lee University Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Carolyn Dirksen as chair for its Chief Academic Officers Commission. Dirksen has previously served as the vice chair of the commission.

The commission is made up of eight chief academic officers from the 101 schools in the CCCU. As the chair, Dirksen will help plan the upcoming conference and the Forum which takes place every four years involving teams from all the CCCU schools.

"I believe in the work of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, so I am very pleased to be involved in their work at this level. They are a strong support for Christ-centered higher education and have been an important reference group for Lee," said Dirksen.

Carolyn Dirksen is a veteran of the Lee University faculty. She has been teaching at Lee since 1968, and has long been a well-loved colleague and respected advisor and mentor.

She received the Lee Excellence in Teaching Award in 1972 and the Excellence in Scholarship Award in 1992. She also served for twelve years as chair of the Department of Language Arts and for three years as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Since 1999, she has served as vice president for Academic Affairs.

Dirksen's teaching career has included being a supervisor of Lee's Semester in Europe at Cambridge, a one-year visiting professorship at Henan University in China, and two summers at the Russian-American Christian University in Moscow.

Founded in 1976, the CCCU has spread out across the nation and reached affiliate schools in 24 other countries. Working as a non-profit organization out of Washington, D.C., they've made their goals to focus onn the advancement of Christ-centered higher education and relating scholarship and service to biblical truth. They provide over 100 programs to help serve the association's mission and support the needs of Christian colleges and universities.

[T.J. Wright]

So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore

Jake Colsen is the author of So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore. Jake Colsen does not exist. Rather, he is a pseudonym for the combined work of Dave Coleman and Wayne Jacobsen. You may recognize Wayne Jacobsen as one of the founders of Windblown Media, the company that published a little book called The Shack — a little book that has gone on to sell well over a million copies.

At the moment, So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore is ranked #259 in Books at Amazon and #4 in Religious & Spirituality Fiction (placing behind three editions of The Shack).

So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore is a story about a man named Jake (the book is meant to be fictitiously autobiographical where the author, Jake Colsen, writes about his own experiences). Jake is an associate pastor at a fast-growing mega-church. In the book’s early pages he encounters a man named John whom he comes to believe may just be the Apostle John (though this question is never actually resolved). While he does not have much of an opportunity to interact with John at first, he hears words which set his heart and mind reeling. He realizes quickly that his Christian faith is almost hopelessly rote and anemic.

“Although I had been a Christian for more than two decades, I had no concept of who Jesus was as a person and no idea how I could change that.” This book covers a span of months or years which sees him grow from a pastor of immature faith to a man of wisdom and mature faith.

The predominant theme of the book is issues surrounding the local church. The overall teaching is that the church as most Christians understand it is a human institution and one designed primarily to gain and to protect power. The Bible, according to the authors, does not teach that Christians should be part of any kind of institutional church. This is not to say that we should leave mega-churches to join smaller house churches; rather, we should abandon this kind of church model altogether. While the authors do not clearly or precisely share what Christians should or can do in its place, it seems that it would look something like this: “Instead of trying to build a house church, learn to love one another and share one another’s journey. Who is he asking you to walk alongside right now and how can you encourage them? I love it when brothers and sisters choose to be intentional in sharing God’s life together in a particular season. So, yes, experiment with community together. You’ll learn a lot. Just avoid the desire to make it contrived, exclusive, or permanent. Relationships don’t work that way.”

The book’s appendix is a pamphlet written by Jacobsen which addresses his view of church life. Here he says, “Fellowship happens where people share the journey of knowing Jesus together. It consists of open, honest sharing, genuine concern about one another’s spiritual well being and encouragement for people to follow Jesus however he leads them.” By the book’s closing pages, Jake has left the church and now meets irregularly with an irregular group of people from his community. This is presented as being a form of authentic spirituality that is closer to the biblical model than that which is practiced by the vast majority of Christians today. It is the better alternative to church as most Christians know and experience it.

Beware that this book is fiction and you may not agree with all its conclusions if you belive that the organized church in America is not in trouble or in need of change.

[Dr. Albert Mohler]

The Spiritual Descendents of John Wesley May Number 75 Million

According to Mary Jacobs, "To gather all of the spiritual descendents of John Wesley for a family reunion, you’d need one very large tent — big enough to hold more than 75 million people."

“The entire Methodist family is much larger than the United Methodist Church, by a factor of seven or eight times,” said the Rev. William B. Lawrence, dean of Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University.

Among the millions who call themselves “Methodists” are members of the United Methodist Church, the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, the AME Zion Church, and independent Methodist churches in other nations, such as the Korean Methodist Church or the Methodist Church of Mexico.

The tent gets even bigger when you add denominations without “Methodist” in their names but with historical ties to Methodism and John Wesley, including the Wesleyan Church, Church of God, Churh of God of Prophecy and the Pentecostal Holiness Church.

“Most United Methodists may know about the AME or the AME Zion churches, but they don’t have any clue that denominations like the Church of the Nazarene or the Salvation Army are direct descendents of the Methodism movement,” said Dr. Doug Strong, a church historian and dean of the School of Theology at Seattle Pacific University. “The term ‘Wesleyan’ is much, much larger than the United Methodist Church.”

You can read more here...

[Todd Rhoades]