This is a hilarious video, and it reminded me to share the news that a great online Scripture resource called YouVersion has recently been redesigned and is now out of beta. If you haven’t seen it already, you really need to check it out. (If you’ve been under a rock, they also have great free applications for the iPhone and BlackBerry.)
I’ve had a pretty bad attitude most of the day, and I think it had something to do with my shoes. You see, I tried to wear flip flops today, and as I’ve noted before, I’ve got some issues with my feet. I love the openness, but the strap between my toes drove me nuts all day (not to mention all the flopping, and almost having them fall off on the stairs). I’m not sure I’m going to make it.
Josh tells me that I’ve got to give them a week. We’ll see.
Josh Whitehead asked me to write a post for his blog today. If you’re interested in specific details of the iCampus, you can can check that out here.
If you’ve never read any articles or books by Andy Stanley, you’re really missing out. When it comes to communicating leadership principles, the guy is a genius. To see what I’m talking about, just read this short quote from an article in Leadership Magazine. It’s brilliant.
It took me several years to figure this out. As a young leader I was tormented by the assumption that I should know what to do in every situation. If I were a good leader, I would reason, I would know exactly what to do. After all, I am the leader! Leaders are supposed to be able to stand up at any given moment and give direction with absolute certainty. Or so I thought.
Time and experience have taught me differently. There will be very few occasions when you are absolutely certain about anything. You will consistently be called upon to make decisions with limited information. That being the case, your goal should not be to eliminate uncertainty. Instead, you must develop the art of being clear in the face of uncertainty. The art of clarity involves giving explicit and precise direction in spite of limited information and unpredictable outcomes.
My three-year-old daughter has an amazing imagination. She demonstrates it in different ways, but for several months now, she’s been telling us about her imaginary friends. The best part is that the stories are incredibly detailed – what they’re doing, their likes and dislikes, and what they want to be when they grow up.
A few days ago, she and Keri were talking about Yuki (that’s one of her imaginary friends – most of the time, the stories are about Ollie and Yuki, but there are others too). My daughter told Keri that Yuki “worships other gods.” Keri used it as an opportunity to talk to her about God’s commandment that we not worship false Gods.
Today, my daughter told Keri that she talked to Yuki about it:
“I told Yuki about the real God… that he shouldn’t worship gods that can’t see or hear. So now he knows.
So Jesus changed his heart, and now he worships the real God. Isn’t that great?!”
So when Keri called me on the phone, she said, “I think Yuki got saved today.”
As funny as this is, it’s interesting to see the way that our daughter is thinking through and applying the stories we tell her. This seems to be a combination of her Bible story book about Elijah and the priests of Baal, the story of Zacchaeus and his heart transformation, and the stories I’ve told her about people at church whose hearts have been changed by God.
I just read a great article about church innovation. It was a Q & A with Bobby Gruenewald at LifeChurch.tv. I found two comments in particular to be very interesting, and I wanted to share them here:
Some are saying that online social networking and virtual sites… may actually be harming genuine community. What do you think?
A lot of people are predicting what consequences online community is going to have. But that happens with every new technology. When the telephone was new in the early 20th century, there were bold predictions that it would negatively impact how people interact. But very few of those predictions came true.
With technology and culture changing so rapidly, how can a church keep pace?Some organizations take three to five years to change, so to keep pace they would have to predict what things will look like years from now and begin making adjustments now. That’s really inefficient. The alternative is to be an adaptive organization and nimble enough to adjust within a few months to what’s actually happening.
If you’re a parent or ever plan to be a parent, what is your biggest dream for your kids? What aspiration is at the top when you consider their futures? Does it involve their ability in sports or academics? Is it related to their talents or social skills? Do you hope they will make a lot of money? Is it something based on your own failings?
As I’ve thought about this, I’ve come to a very strong personal conclusion. I’ve made plenty of mistakes as a parent, but there are two things about which I want my kids to be perfectly certain:
You see, when it comes to these two things, I don’t want my kids to have to guess.
So to make that happen, here are a few items that I’m implementing:
Well, the Internet Campus has gone great these past two weekends. Here’s a bit of recap:
If all of that wasn’t cool enough, I heard a great story tonight from a couple that’s been attending our Knoxville campus for about a month now. As we were talking, I mentioned the iCampus, and the wife said, “Oh, I was on there this morning.” I was surprised to hear that, but I was even more surprised about what she said next. She said, “When I realized what the Pastor was preaching about, I decided that my family needed to be there, so I logged off, told everybody to get ready, and we came to the 11:45 service.”
I can’t wait to hear more stories over the next months! We are doing ministry in very exciting times!
Just in case I haven’t said it recently – I love my job. I get to work with amazing people and work on fun projects.
One huge project that’s been slowly coming together over the past few months is Faith Promise’s Internet Campus. Basically, it’s video of the worship service, a virtual lobby area where people can interact through chat, and a place where people can be ministered to through one-on-one prayer. I know there will be skeptics, but I believe God will use it to spread His fame and bring people to faith in Him.
Well, after a lot of work and effort (Brad Roberts has again played a huge role in this endeavor), we’re launching the iCampus this weekend, 4/12/09, with rebroadcasts of Sacred Storm at 3 & 8 pm Eastern Time. Beginning 4/19/09, we’ll begin broadcasting each Sunday morning at 10 am Eastern Time.
What’s really cool is that like our physical campus, this ministry is going to require the help of volunteers. We need greeters in the chat area to welcome people and build relationships, and we need prayer operators who are ready to share the gospel, encourage people, and lift people in prayer.
Please join me in praying for people all over the world who will be exposed to God’s Truth and love through our Internet Campus.
I came across this amazing drawing the other day. It’s a poster designed to promote a kid’s brain development program. Not so sure about the program, but I love the creativity of the illustration (I’ve never considered what the skeletal system of a Lego man must be like before).
Kyle Gilbert is the Pastor of Communications & Internet Campus Pastor of Faith Promise Church [more]