miletwo::network

My wife and I have been slaving away in the backyard of our new rented home for the last few weeks and now that sod and pavers are laid, it’s time for us to quickly get our raised bed garden planted before the springtime planting window escapes us.  With that in mind I’ve been ripe with anticipation to reap the benefits of my home garden and have begun planning the meals and dishes I plan to make with it.

In a recent post by Brian Jones titled “Should An Openly Homosexual Person Be Baptized? – Questions About Homosexuality (Part 3)
” he poses some difficult questions that the church has struggled with and continues to struggle with for some time.  It amazes me how we respond to various types of sin and implement our own punishment on people, and then return home to our own well cared for basket of filth, acting like we’re so much better.  He speaks of pastors who will refuse to baptize an openly gay person and compares that to refusing to baptize a smoker, drunk, obese, or otherwise enslaved person who although they feel their behavior is wrong, they still fall into regular patterns of misbehavior. Do we treat them the same way?

Barna group has release new statistics for 2007 tithing here.  According to Barna, not much has changed in the last few years.  Among the various sects that make up the term “Christian,” giving is down across the board.  Evangelicals still give the most, but giving is down across the board as a percentage of mean income.

For more information on managing church marketing and how the church reacts during recession, see our post titled Tough Times? Market Compassion.

I never post goofy stuff, or email cheeky feel good powerpoints around. I’m about to break that rule because today, while looking for information about various bible translations I came across the story below.

It’s interesting to me, how much of a secular author’s rants on marketing apply to our activities as saints.  Seth Godin is spot on again in a recent post titled “Would we miss you?“.  He of course asks the question with respect to business/client relationship to demonstrate the importance of being exceptional in what we do.  I can’t even believe how much more important the work that we’re doing is from an eternal perspective, and yet for most of us our efforts in ministry are so terribly “back burner.”

I just finished reading David Alan Black’s latest post titled Confessions of a Missional Greek Prof wherein he relates his thoughts about living as a Missional Christian.  One quote in particular made me think about this site, its purpose, and my mission on earth.

If we really believe in the Gospel, what should we be doing to advance it? What is the church, and how can we help it transform society?

I think the reason this spoke to me so much is that lately I’ve been wondering what I’m doing here… I mean right here, on this site.  Am I writing for myself or for others? I know people are coming to the site (thanks to Google Analytics) but I don’t know if anything I’m writing is having an impact on anybody? I carried these emotions all the way down the page as I read words that echoed a sentiment I’ve been feeling myself.  Paul labored to instruct churches, encourage missional thinking, and promote the spread of the gospel.  I believe I’m working toward a similar goal.

A recent missive by marketing guru Seth Godin reminded me of the importance of establishing a marketable brand in our communications and marketing outreach efforts. I think it’s the reason why churches with names like Mars Hill, Rock Harbor, and The Open Door are succeeding in reaching the community in ways that First Baptist of Lalaland never will. It speaks directly to how unmemorable names with common english words are, using words like: community, zone, church, first, whatever.

I sat in church on Sunday, the awesome day of His resurrection and all I could think about was Lost. Now before you start thinking to yourself how un-spiritual I am (even though you’re probably right, I am an idiot) allow me to explain. As I surveyed the crowd gathered together on this day when we as believers fully recognize and are overjoyed at the gift of our salvation made possible by Jesus death, I couldn’t help but notice the scattered pockets of those in our midst who were clearly not along for the ride. I wondered at where they were in their journey to find Truth and if what we were doing together in that room was helping them, or were we pushing them backward?

In keeping with my primary mission of studying and describing my findings on “Jesus marketing” as it applies to our activities today, I’ve been studying patterns of how Jesus followers have spread the Good News of Jesus (aka Gospel) throughout history. One awesome resource I’ve managed to get my hands on has been Eerdman’s Handbook to the History of Christianity in which is outlined a complete history of how the church and the bible have been developed and promoted throughout history.