global:fiveone - was...pt.3

Well, knowing the mission and the values of the global:fiveone is one thing but who was global:fiveone going to be, why did I feel a need to do this and how did we plan on putting that into action??

The who: global:51 is a passionate group of Christ followers dedicated to the change of a generation. not content with the current state of college ministry, global:51 has an uncontainable drive to take the message of Jesus to the local campus and then out to the campuses around the world. global:51 plans to use creative, honest, simple and relevant tools to seek the face of God, asking Him to ignite in our souls a passionate pursuit of Jesus Christ and a desire to spread His fame to everyone on earth.

The why: global:51 feels that there is a generation gap within the Christian church. while there is much emphasis on the children and youth within the body of Christ, many times it is the college student that suffers to fit in and to become a fully devoted follower of Jesus. this has caused an entire group of young adults to grow in a society disillusioned, not knowing who to turn to or how to live the life that would be fulfilled in Christ. these 16million+ students around the globe are our passion.

The how: e3:. Engage, Encounter, Equip

global:fiveone planed on using a style of ministry self labeled, guerrilla ministry. this method of unconventional ministry is used by which a small groups attempts to use mobile and impactful opportunities to attract college students to the glory of God. the mobilization of global:fiveone is done through the following:

.engage. the culture…global:fiveone wants to be a movement tuned into the culture around on which it serves. events that are set up will be relevant and appealing to those that do not know Jesus and refreshing to the others that already know Jesus. not to take away from the message of the Gospels, our engagement of culture will only serve as a tool to spread the Gospel and to show the glory of God.

.encounter. the searcher…the primary focus of global:51 is the college student. we do not expect the college student to come to us. global:51 will encounter the college student by going to them. we will find comfortable, inspiring environments that will attract the curious and those who are looking for something more. we will utilize outdoor venues as well as indoor venues to do this. for mobility purposes, the use of acoustic worship will be the vehicle for music and relevant teaching through live and video feed will be the teaching tools to bring the Word of God to the masses.

.equip. the worshipper…global:fiveone is an ever expanding ministry ready to lead others into leadership roles within its ministry. The fluidity of global:fiveone’s ministry is a perfect ground for young leaders to step up and gain tangible experiences in music and/or teaching. Leadershape, global:fiveone’s training programs, help in the needs of those feeling a call to lead. global:fiveone wants to give the college student the tools to take God’s glory to their local college campus and to their local church. empowering the student is the most important step of this ministry. a global:fiveone goal is to build up self-sustaining subgroups across local school campuses, taking new leaders and placing them in charge of these subgroup so others can spread to other parts of the state to make the idea of going global a reality.


Now this is much easier said than done but, when i wrote this out...I had high expectations that I could get a core group of people together to succeed in every aspect of this ministry idea. Live is ever changing as is this idea of global:fiveone...next time, you'll see what ever happened to the ministry idea and what global:fiveone is all about at the present moment. Until next time...

Make some waves!
KdM

Where's the Line?

I was perusing the blogs that I frequent and I came across something that made me stop and think:

Where is the line between innovative and too much?

You can read the article here.

The idea behind LifeChurch.tv's marketing strategy is to parody the "God billboard" that can be seen on numerous highways around the country. They look like this:


So what if satan had his own billboard, what would be said....here are a few examples of what LifeChurch.tv thinks:



When I first saw these billboards, I thought they were BRILLIANT! I love that they would imidately get a reaction from the viewer, positive or negative. For me, anything that gets the general public talking about faith is a plus. Religion shouldn't be this taboo subject that people are scared and uncomfortable to discuss and these billboards are a great proponent of starting those conversations.

The SatanHatesLife billboards has caused some controversy for LifeChurch.tv.

Read this:

“your attempts to get people to come to church with your expensive billboards are pathetic you know you could be helping so many people out in this world with that money. Do you know how many people are sick and need help like families that make just a tiny bit over the state limit to get on welfare for those that really need it. Your billboards have made a lot of people mad not all of them are god fearers most of them i talked to are Christians but some of them even go to church and you are on tv”

“I am a youth director in the local area and I think that your billboard advertisements are not a christian message. They trick some people to coming to your web site. They dont present truth and that is the cornerstone of the christian faith. trickery is a tool of the devil and christians should be held to a higher standard. You may have ment well but the advertisements might actually put up walls between people and God rather than break them down.”

Now, controversy is expected when dealing with the world and Christianity but reading these comments (among others) it got me thinking: Is Christianity ever going to be like any other consumer product? Are churches going to start to "sell" Christianity to get attendance up? For a church like LifeChurch.tv, that is nationally recognized and one of the biggest churches in America, could the money for these billboards be used elsewhere?

I think it all has to do with perspective and balance. Now I don't attend LifeChurch.tv, though I do take part of their online services time to time, but I can't imagine that their focus is mainly on marketing and making the Christian "brand" more appealing.

I still think that the SatanHatesLife.com billboards are really amusing but I think it would be even cooler if a church would take its extra money and (through word of mouth) be known as a giving to the poor, missional church. No one would be able to complain about that kind of marketing.

What do you think? Is Christianity heading towards a consumer product view? Has marketing strategies like this pushed past the line of tact?

Laminin

What is it? Well, I’ll tell you but let's backtrack a bit...

Last Saturday the Chris Tomlin/Matt Redman/Louie Giglio "How Great is Our God?" tour came through Orlando and I went. Obviously it was amazing. But I personally wasn't there for the music (I can hear that stuff in just about any church in America these days) I was there to hear Louie Giglio speak. Let me just say Louie has a way with words that not many have. He makes the simplest message into a highly profound life change and this time was no different.

He considered this talk part 2 and a continuation of his "Indescribable" message. Here is a brief synopsis of "Indescribable":

The heavens are telling the glory of God, and their expanse declares the work of His hands. Night after night they remind us of just how small we are, and how huge God is. Looking out into the far reaches of the universe, we find a seemingly infinite expanse of mystery and wonder, intricately fashioned by a God of unfathomable size and power. Just a glimpse of one of the billions of visible galaxies He has formed resizes us, shrinking us, and the world we call home, to seeming insignificance in an instant. But as tiny as we may seem, the God who knows every star by name also knows yours, and mine. And in the most stunning rescue imaginable, God sent His Son to this spinning planet we call home--the Creator reconnecting us to Him with life that never ends.

"How Great is Our God?" begins where "Indescribable" left off...


M51 or the whirlpool galaxy astronomers call it the "darling of astronomy." last year, Louie Giglio show us two things about this galaxy in the deep reaches of space.



1.) Every second there are new stars being bored. Millions of star incubators are found within the whirlpool galaxy.
2.) Not only that, but at the center of this galaxy is a black hole which the Hubble Telescope took a picture of...and wow, check this out






The entire universe displays God's fingerprint and this is just one example...the cross of Jesus was on the mind of God even as he was creating the universe.

Putting that picture back in our heads, Louie continued in the universe focusing on the stars with the purpose of showing us just how small we are and how BIG God is.

We serve a BIG God!!

Louie took us to a few stars and put it into perspective:

If the earth was a golf ball...

The sun would be 15 feet in diameter
Another star would be the equivalent of 6 empire state buildings
Or 2 golden gate bridges



We are so very very small...

Our significance is in our insignificance.

God cares for us so much that his same fingerprint can be found within us.

Louie then looked within the human body and showed us just how great our God is.

When we are developing in our mothers womb...just for the eye to function a million nerve endings start to travel to the eye and another million from the eye to the brain, these nerve ending meet up and have to find their EXACT match in order for the eye to work...that is AMAZING to me

Though he went into more details (I’ll let you find the message yourself when it becomes available online) the "finale" of the talk was this...

LAMININ

Every living creature has laminin inside of them...the purpose of laminin is that it basically keeps our bodies from falling apart. It holds us together as one united whole.

wanna see what laminin looks like???

I know you do....

check this out!






the cross is EVERYWHERE...it casts a shadow over the entire universe...constantly reminding us of what Jesus did for the world.

words escaped my mouth the moment Louie put this on the screen so I will leave you with that...Laminin

wow

The Deaf Church

So, the other day I was checking the news headlines from my Nintendo Wii (how cool is that??) and I came across this article that was talking about this innovative church that is reaching out to one of the most ignored people groups in the United States...The Deaf/Hearing Impaired Community.

Here's a staggering statistic...it's said that only 10% of deaf people are Christian. Many blame churches for this because, in most cases, the deaf ministry in churches are the first to go if there are financial problems.

This is where Breantwood Baptist Deaf Church comes into play. Their idea and mission is "Deaf reaching Deaf." Their church is equipped with EVERYTHING for the hearing impaired. They actually have 30 speaker built INTO the floor so that the beats and rhythms can be felt in the feet and through the body of the deaf worshipper. how cool is that??

They create a lively atmosphere that is dramatically lit and there is always a straight line of sight to the alter for effective communication. There is also transportation provided for those who are unable to drive.

I would really like to see what the sermons are like but my internet is going really slowly...all past sermons are available on their website.

This forward thinking church is doing what a lot of churches fail to do...reaching people in new and unique ways, GOING to the people in need instead of waiting for people to come to them. AWESOME.

This should be inspiration for everyone...we need to be ready to do ANYTHING to reach the world.

Check them out here Brentwood Baptist Deaf Church

Has anyone checked out the sermons? How are they done?? Why do you think deaf ministries are cut from churches when 90% of the community doesn't know Jesus??

"you can't censor us!"

Armed with his water backpack and a Bible...he is ready to change the world!

Today after class I was on my way to the student union to check my mail...just another typical Monday @ fsu. Birds chirping, sun shining, students rushing to class, preachers condemning people, you know...the usual.

As I was walking I noticed a group of people surrounding this guy standing on a table which is always a sign of something important happening so I moseyed over to check it out. Now, I’ve only heard stories of these preachers that come on campus to yell at students passing by...but now I actually got to see one in their natural environment. And what a sight it was.

Apparently today is Charles Darwin’s birthday and yes I’m sure you can tell that this is not going to be a pretty confrontation. A sanctioned SGA event was going on where a few students were reading from Charles Darwin's book "The Origin of the Species." kind of weird but hey it's a freedom of speech thing. From what I gather, this preacher (a Pentecostal one at that...what a way to perpetuate the stereotype of the "crazy Pentecostal") set up shop right next to this group and started to condemn them and anyone else that walked by, telling them that they were sinners and what not.

By the time I got there, 75 people had already gathered around him to yell back, question, debate, whatever you want to call it and bless his heart this man was not moving an inch. It only fueled him to beat-a his bible-a and tell them that they were sinners...a (now re-read that sentence with a stereotypical preacher voice and the "a" will make you laugh).

Now imagine at the same time this preacher was doing his thing...the students were standing on a ledge reading from the Darwin book just as loud...it was a cacophony of ignorance.

Here, watch this to see what I’m talking about...



Now, I apologize that it is so pixilated and the audio isn't the best. The video is from my phone and this event let's me know that I must take my camera everywhere!

The first clip is around the time that I got there to see what was going on. You can here a student questioning the scientific nature of God and how scientifically it is impossible for a god to exist. You can also hear the students reading from Darwin's book. Fun stuff...

Next is a clip a little later on when another Christian gets into the mix and is calmly arguing about the preachers tactics...this causes the preacher to go on a tirade while the student calmly keeps asking "why are you doing that?" it was pretty entertaining...

The last clip is when everything blew up...I thought a fight was going to break out. Now, I can only assume that the other guy yelling in the clip was a professor helping with the Darwin event. He comes up to the preacher yelling:
"You can't censor us!"
"It is your people that are ruining everything"
...You get the picture...
To that, the preacher says that their event and Darwin was "booooooooooooooooooooring"

By this time a campus police office (who was there the entire time) walks up to the two men and tries to calm them down. He says that the preacher can say whatever he likes because it was a freedom of speech issue. That encourages the professor to drop his coat and bag and get on the table with the preacher to talk to everyone....the officer calls the preacher to get off the table and that leaves the professor talking to us. Which after this angry yelling match with the preacher seemed to be the most rational one.

He went on to say that all they wanted to do today is give an opportunity for people to actually see what is this theory was all about (that being Evolution). He said that many people are scared about a book and a theory that they have no idea what exactly it is. They wanted to stimulate people to wrestle with the information...and come up with their own conclusion. At that point a resounding applause broke out and that was the end...

Afterwards, I felt compelled to go and shake the hand of the professor...I let him know that I was a Christian and we talked for a little bit but there was a mutual respect...and I apologized for the people like the preacher that make Christians as a whole look like horrible people.

One thing I really liked about what the professor said was that he wanted people to wrestle with what they had to say not just accept it. This should always have been applied to accepting what the Bible says. God is not going to be understood in an afternoon’s time (if ever). We must continually wrestle with His word and the implications it has in our lives.

Don’t get me wrong, I definitely think that we should evangelize to those who don’t know Jesus but I personally don’t think preachers like that will win the world over to God.

By the way…there was no mail for me after all ;0)

Peace and Love