I cleaned out the cupboard....
Bits and pieces this week...I want to thank everyone who helped out in Turkey-bowl by praying and/or working on it. We strove to be as concise and direct with the Gospel as the opportunities allowed. We also strove to model Christ-like love for the participants. Please pray that God's planted word will work in the lives of these individuals, pulling them to Him. The work isn't over yet.There is a lot of discussion going on over here as to how our outreach should look next year. Of course we do so with the understanding that any church-directed outreach should be an example rather then a replacement for personal evangelism. We try something, look to see what we have l

Is it supposed to fizz like that?
What we should fear when we do ministry?We should fear that the ministry is inconsistent with the character of God.We should fear that the ministry is not an application of some aspect of the Gospel.We should fear that the ministry is not an outpouring of our love for God and for those around us.We should fear that the ministry may obscure the truth of the Gospel.We should fear that the ministry may cause a stumbling block for other believers.We should fear that our ministry may cause negative long term consequences that we are not currently aware of.

A toy surprise...
I have a longer post on risk and ministry coming up, but I just read this, and thought it would be grist for the mill..."So the doctrine of decrees implies that God has authoritatively preinterpreted everything and every event. As Van Till emphasized, the interpretation of the facts precedes the facts. Our world is a world that is exhaustively meaningful, because it is the expression of God's wisdom. Among human beings, interpretation is not the work of trying to assess for the first time the significance of uninterpreted facts. Rather, ours is a work of secondary interpretation, interpreting God's interpretation."---John FrameI see this as essentially a summary of w

Its like working with Legos, but not really...
This is the flip side of last week's post. While we see in Scripture what God clearly desires in ministry, these are things we do NOT see in Scripture regarding ministry.He does not promise that He will numerically grow our church.He does not promise that the objects of our ministry will be receptive and/or pleased with us.He does not promise that our concept of results will match His concept of results.He does not promise that ministry will continually be lively, fresh and engaging.He does not promise that re-occuring ministries will have better and better results.He does not promise that qualitative results are an accurate gauge as to how He views

It is only risky if you aren't wearing a chute...
Consider this an exercise in decision-making.Two elements contribute to this post(s), first a thread over on Facebook where several of us are discussing how one discerns God's will. Some would say that God communicates His desire through a subjective emotional experience. I personally believe that God expects us to use His word to build a Biblical criteria by which we are to make decisions. If I truly believe in a sufficient Word, then I believe that God has given me all the tools I need to make decisions that glorify Him. I have no need to use a tool He never told me that I had.