Most popular posts in 'Leadership' category.
Archive for the 'Leadership' Category
The 28 Day Evangelism Tract
Published by Jeff, on July 27th, 2006 in Church Planting, Evangelism, Front Page, Leadership.While reading The Purpose Driven Life tonight, I had the thoughts run through my mind that went something like this:
- If I really want this book to affect me, I need to ponder it through my day.
- If I want to ponder it, I need to have it condensed into ponderable form.
- I really appreciate the small ponderable devotions in books like that of Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest.
- Why should that way of life change be limited to devotionals?
- Why not create an evangelism tract that is designed like 28 days of Utmost?
I’m thinking it might be a really worthwhile project. Just give people a verse or passage of the Bible and a little thought to ponder for a day, spend some time with them personally to work through any questions, and let God speak to them on His own schedule. Honestly, why would we think that major life transformation would really come about in 5-15 minutes with a gospel tract? Isn’t that why statistically, it takes a person 7 times hearing a gospel presentation before it really sinks in. What if we had an evangelistic tract that was simple, ponderable, and created to sink in over time?
I think I’m going to do it!
Popularity: 10% [?]
How to be a wise blogging pastor?
Published by Jeff, on July 13th, 2006 in Church Planting, Front Page, Geekery, Leadership, Tough Questions, VIP.Colossians 4:5 says this:
Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.
As a pastor who’s got a blog, I’ve been thinking about how this verse relates to blogging. I’ve been blogging for over a year, and I don’t yet have a “manifesto” like this guy on what my blogging policy should be. However, I’ve been prompted this week by some friends to consider it, so I’m thinking through the issues.
As I see it, there are three ways for a pastor (or anyone for that matter) to do a blog.
- Use the blog as a personal journal where you “get naked” (according to a book on blogging by Robert Scoble the guy I linked to above.) in front of your virtual audience and basically share anything and everything. Of course, there is some room for discretion, but in general, it’s your personal journal viewable by the world.
- Use the blog as a “content management system” which basically means you maintain your own online magazine with articles essays and whatnot and use a blog mechanism to manage your content and people’s comments on your content. One example of that is The Resurgence.
- Use the blog as a hodge-podge mix of the two—blogging about whatever seems to come to mind. (I’m not sure it fits, but I’ll link to it anyway.) See Tim Challies’ blog for an example of a blog that attempts to be personal & academic though it weighs more toward the academic side.
As I’ve been around the net a while, it seems to me that the majority of “Gen X” church planters who blog opt for version 3 with a heavy leaning on option 1.
I’ve been using this site as mostly #3 so far. As you can see from my categories on the sidebar, I’ve got sermons, Bible studies, personal journal entries, exposing my own spiritual life, computer issues, and even some posts on internet fraud. You can see it is all over the map like a Christmas tree with every kind of ornament ever invented showing up on it.
In fact, it seems that my posts on self examination and internet fraud are my most popular. Are people even reading my blog to grow spiritually?
So the question I’m asking myself now is this: What kind of web presence should I have? If you have any comments on this, I’d like to read them. Or you can give me a call on my cell at 765-404-0807 to tell me what you think personally. If you want to think this through with me, check out the links I placed above or my links in the sidebar of my .
| What kind of blog helps people grow spiritually? | |
|---|---|
| X | |
| transparent | academic |
Where would the X fall for you?
Popularity: 19% [?]
The Southern Baptist convention does a study each year of church staff compensation based on a number of demographic factors. This year’s study is now online:
They provide many different ways to view the study data. Choose customized report, enter your church information, and see how nice you treat your pastor compared to what other churches like you are doing.
Popularity: 6% [?]
ZOHO — 12 incredible, free, web applications
Published by Jeff, on July 11th, 2006 in Church Planting, Geekery, Leadership.How do you collaborate with teams through the Internet? Web-based applications are the answer. I’ve found some killer web applications. Read on to find out more!
» Click here to read the rest. «
Popularity: 6% [?]
Palm Pilots and Web-based Calendars / Contact Database
Published by Jeff, on July 8th, 2006 in Church Planting, Geekery, Leadership.Prompted by an article on pastorhacks.net
I’ve been a Palm Pilot PDA user since my mom bought me one when I graduated from seminary. (Palm Vx, and awesome tool!)
The best feature of the Palm is the ability to have my contacts and calendar on my computer at home and also on a device in my pocket. Being able to sync to the Palm Desktop has always been a valuable tool for me.
But my contacts are not my own anymore—neither is my calendar. As a church planter, I’m facing a need to have my personal contacts synchronized with our church contacts and having my personal calendar sync with my church calendar. But there is just nothing out there to do both of those and sync with my Palm. I need a centralized database that is…
- Contacts & Calendars
- Updatable by members of our congregation
- Shareable with permission-based access control.
- Web-accessible
- pilot-sync-able
I’ve been looking for this for a long time and have had no luck. Actually, the only viable option I can find is to have an Exchange server paired with Outlook. Of course, that’s a hefty Microsoft tax that I don’t want to pay, and I don’t think it can be updated by users.
Here are some options I’m considering.
- ical exchange — allows for publishing public and private calendars from any ical capable calendar for others to subscribe to or view them online through a browser.
Any ideas?
Popularity: 5% [?]
A New Evangelism Tract
Published by Jeff, on July 6th, 2006 in Evangelism, Front Page, Lafayette, Leadership, Spiritual Health.No one came to last night’s Bible 101 study that I had scheduled at our house.
In light of that, I’ve determined to not focus on programs that aim to “get people to come” and instead, focus on meeting people one-to-one to key in on evangelism and discipleship. In light of that, I’ve decided to put some time into producing a new evangelistic tract.
I’ll go ahead and post the content here, so you can comment if you wish.
Here is my initial design goal for the project:
GOD is real (and everything you have heard about him–well, almost everything–is true.)
- he is perfect
- he is good
- he is loving
YOU are important (but most of what you believe about yourself isn’t true.)
- you are loved
- you have a purpose
- you are wounded
- you are distant
JESUS died for you
- Jesus is real
- Jesus is perfect
- Jesus is alive — many convincing proofs (acts 1, 1 cor 11? 15?)
- Jesus is King
GOD restores
- to wholeness
- to relationship
- to your purpose
- to your future
God’s work in your life looks like this…
- Awareness of emptiness
- Pursuit of fulfillment
- Recognition of God
- Acceptance of His Will
- Surrender to Love
- Living in Love
If you want to follow this project, be sure to subscribe to my new evangelism category.
Popularity: 6% [?]
I’m an Enthusiast
Published by Jeff, on June 6th, 2006 in Front Page, Leadership, My Spiritual Life, Personal, Spiritual Health.
According to this personality test, I am an Enthusiast. Here are some quotes from the website:
- The Busy, Fun-Loving Type: Spontaneous, Versatile, Acquisitive, and Scattered
- Easily become accomplished achievers, generalists who do many different things well: multi-talented. Practical, productive, usually prolific, cross-fertilizing areas of interest.
- How to motivate me. Sevens want to maintain their freedom and happiness, to avoid missing out on worthwhile experiences, to keep themselves excited and occupied, to avoid and discharge pain.
- People like me: John F. Kennedy, Benjamin Franklin, Leonard Bernstein, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Elizabeth Taylor, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Steven Spielberg, Federico Fellini, Richard Feynman, Timothy Leary, Robin Williams, Jim Carey, Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Bette Midler, Chuck Berry, Elton John, Mick Jagger, Gianni Versace, Liza Minelli, Joan Collins, Malcolm Forbes, Noel Coward, Sarah Ferguson, Larry King, Joan Rivers, Regis Philbin, Howard Stern, John Belushi, and “Auntie Mame” (Mame).
- My Tendencies: When moving in their Direction of Disintegration (stress), scattered Sevens suddenly become perfectionistic and critical at One. However, when moving in their Direction of Integration (growth), gluttonous, scattered Sevens become more focused and fascinated by life, like healthy Fives.
So, take the test, and tell me who you are!
Popularity: 13% [?]
Do you have a spam problem on this website; I also am a blogger, and I was curious about your situation; many of us have created some nice procedures and we are looking to trade strategies with others, why not shoot me an email if interested.