He Still Speaks; A Tribute to Jay

Some of my best memories as a small child growing up in Atwood, Tennessee involve the Rogers family.
I remember Wendy baby-sitting my sister and me at their little house in Atwood. I remember Tim going off to the army to learn how to jump out of planes. I remember him coming back. I remember when they moved to Trezevant, and playing outside with Daniel, and with all of his Power Rangers (I think he had every one) and NERF guns (of which he also had every one). I think there was even a "Stretch Armstrong" that got mangled in their somewhere. There were a lot of good times.

And then there was Jay.

LOW Tech Bible Tools - [T3]

I love technology; But not as much as you, you see. But I still love technology; Always and forever.-Kip, from Napoleon Dynamite

While at times I can echo the sentiments of Kip singing to "La Fawnda" (sorry for the Napoleon Dynamite reference), I know that everyone doesn't "love" technology. This is especially true when it comes to Bible study.

Some folks just don't like using a "digital Bible." They want to use a "real" Bible [Q: Does that mean a digital Bible is an imaginary one?]

The Temptation Myth

There are some things that are really best learned by doing.
You can read as many books about golf as you want (if you want), but there's no substitute for actually hitting balls on a course. You can watch people swim, but you won't learn for yourself unless you jump in the water. There's no way I could have truly understood fatherhood until I became a father myself.

Surely there's no substitute for experience. But that is only true part of the time. You see, temptation doesn't fall under that "experiential" umbrella.

Social Media for Evangelism: CLEAN UP YOUR TIMELINE FIRST!

Click here for the first part of this series - "The Power of Share."

Keeping Your Timeline Clean

With the announcement coming last week that Facebook now has at least one BILLION users, the possibilities for evangelizing using social media are thrilling!

But I want to remind you that social media isn't a "magic bullet." It's not going to do the work of evangelism for you. At some point, face-to-face interaction is going to have to take place for a conversion to happen. But new media techniques can help get you to that point with people who you might otherwise have never met.

Pop Quiz; Subject: "What You Believe" - Ready?

I hate moving. Really. I do.
It's not just the packing, the loading, and the unpacking. It's the forwarding of mail, the changing of addresses, setting up billing for utilities, and updating things like insurance and my driver's license.

This week I finally got around to changing my Kentucky driver's license to an Illinois driver's license. I took the required materials to the clerk. They checked over everything. I signed some papers. I thought I was finished.

"Now you'll have to take the written test."

Say what?

Ten Things to Remember about Sin (Part 2)

Click Here for Part 1

6. Sin enslaves.

When we lose God as our Master, we will of course become the slave of another master; Sin. In John 8.34, Jesus says:

(34) Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. (John 8:34, NKJV)

Sin is all consuming. With nothing to stop it, sin leads to sin, which leads to more and greater sin, until a person is absolutely and completely controlled by their impulses and desires. They can’t stop, even when it hurts. Even when it kills.

Ten Things You Need to Remember about Sin (Part 1)

There are some things that we know are dangerous, yet, we need constant reminders of their danger. Take “texting and driving” as an example.
You may have noticed the television ad and billboard campaigns in the last few years designed to encourage people not to “text and drive.” Of course the danger is that in the two or three seconds a person takes their eyes off the road to send a text message they miss some danger on the road ahead and have an accident.

It’s tempting to text and drive. When someone sends me a text, I want to read it. I want to communicate back to them. I haven’t met anyone yet who argues that “texting and driving” is safe. Yet, knowing this, people still do it.

Sin is a lot like that; Tempting and dangerous, yet

Social Media for Evangelism: The Power of "Share"

Yesterday I had the opportunity to participate my first "Skypture" (my term for a lecture given over Skype). The topic was one that is near and dear to me - Using Social Media for Evangelism.
Think about this: Nearly a third of the world's population has internet access. Of those 2.3 Billion people, nearly a billion of them are Facebook users. That's nearly 1/7th of the entire world's population who is available just through Facebook. Consider as well the statistic that 500 YEARS of YouTube videos are watched on Facebook every day. If you follow the logic and simple math, why wouldn't we use things like Facebook and YouTube as tools to "go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature" (cf. Mark 16.15)?