the encounter

From WILLOW Magazine, Issue 3, 2007

1 Chronicles 12 contains a listing of the 12 tribes that helped David establish his rule as King of Israel. All the tribes are described as warriors except for the tribe of Isaachar. They are referred to as leaders. And it says they understood the temper of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take.

Innovators are part of the tribe of Isaachar. They are trend spotters and trendsetters. They refuse to do ministry the way it has always been done. They don’t repeat the past. Innovators create the future. They don’t do ministry out of memory. They do ministry out of Imagination. We asked several “Isaachar” leaders to give us their views on what innovations the Church should be immersed in. Here are their responses.

Podcasting - circuit riding at the speed of light

In addition to your weekly messages, how about spicing it up with special editions? Try doing interviews with church neighbors, the mayor, volunteers, staff intros., etc. If it’s worth preaching it’s worth podcasting. Any church of any size can exponentially increase its impact via MP3 technology.

Blogging - digital discipleship

Don’t blog for an audience, blog for you. The more you write about what’s on your head and heart, the more people will respond. Blogging increases your bandwidth and allows you to digitally disciple just about anybody, anywhere, anytime.

Video Technologies - postmodern stained glass

The medieval church used stained glass to tell the gospel story in pictures. We’re using screens to tell the gospel story in moving pictures. Jesus isn’t just the Word of God. He is also the Image of God. The Church needs to communicate in images!

Viral Video - get contagious quickly

Use YouTube to spread the love. There’s even a first-time visitor orientation.

Use it creatively for things like behind-the-scenes sermon prep, church staff meetings, or videos created by the congregation. There’s a reason why this is one of the top visual communication sites on the Web.

Multi-Purpose Church Buildings - doing ministry in the marketplace

Jesus didn’t hang out at synagogues. He hung out at wells. Wells were natural gathering places in ancient culture. Coffeehouses are postmodern wells. That’s why National Community Church, in Washington, D.C., built a coffeehouse on Capitol Hill instead of a church building — to create a marketplace environment where the church and community could cross paths. Less than a year after it opened, “Ebenezers” was rated the #2 coffeehouse in the metro DC area by AOL CityGuide 2007. They serve 600+ customers seven days a week. Instead of asking people to come to them, the church is going to the people.

Multi-Site Churches - one church, multiple locations

Once thought to be a mere fad, satellite campuses are here to stay. This is one of the most effective ways to plant strategic, intentional churches … and bring economies of scale to boot!

Web Site - your church portal

Guests can watch a Webcast, read your history, and get as much information on your church as they want. And they can do it from the comfortable confines of their computer. Most people will visit your Web site long before they visit a service. Your Web site is your first impression.

FREE BONUS TIP: Ruthlessly eliminate lame Web sites (you know who you are!)

E-Mail - word of mouse

Churches should avoid spam at all costs, but an e-letter is an easy and affordable way to keep the church connected. An e-mail is a simple way to keep a ministry team on the same page or evite a friend to church. Think of it as word of mouse. Many pastors preach to more people via e-mail than they do via voice. It’s a form of e-vangelism.

Branding - the greatest message deserves the greatest marketing

In the last decade, branding has become the marketing rage. And there is a reason. The opposite of brand is bland. The most important truths ought to be communicated in the most unforgettable ways. Churches need to be intentional about branding themselves and branding their messages. Branding isn’t dumbing-down or watering-down the message. It’s putting the creative energy into marketing the message that it deserves.

Social Networking - church as a tag-team sport

Create a MySpace page and build an online congregation. The way we network has radically changed with the advent of myspace.com, facebook.com, and even eHarmony.com. The Church needs to piggy-back off of the networking trend for Kingdom purposes.

Get a [Second] Life! – “Go into all the [virtual] nations…”

Check out LifeChurch.tv’s campus at SecondLife.com (an Internet-based virtual world). It may be more real world than this world.

Get Joost - the magic of television meets the power of the internet

The guys behind Kazaa and Skype are shaking it up again with Joost (Joost.com). Imagine watching your service (or other content) online and chatting with viewers at the same time on the same screen.

Text Message - get instant feedback

Instant audience polls. Text to vote during the service for immediate results posted live on the sidescreens. Or text to donate to a cause, building campaign, etc.

RSS - the feeds that matter most

Use RSS feeds to get your info fed fast (weekly bulletin, small group announcements, daily devotionals, blog entries, etc.)

Live! Missionaries - bridging the geographic distance

Link up around the world with missionaries your church sends and/or supports. Put them on the big screen and have Q&A with the pastor as everyone sees in real time.

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I know sometimes it’s easy to get bogged down with a schedule and while you’re really wanting to do something good in your community or for those around you, you just can’t seem to fit much time into your schedule for volunteering (granted I know this isn’t the case for most of the folks at encounter).
But if you’re interested in doing more for those around you, here’s a few interesting ideas that you can do at work or at home while you’re surfing the web:

• Breast Cancer Site – you click and advertisers give to help sponsor women who need mamograms
• GoodSearch – a search engine like any other, except 50% of the revenue from this site goes to charity
• FirstGiving – offers organizations an easy online way to raise funds through a variety of means

Maybe you’d like to help financially…

• Kiva – puts you in contact with small businesses in third world countries that need a loan to help their business grow
• One Laptop Per Child – lets you buy a specially designed laptop for children around the world (and for your own children if you’re so inclined)
• Nabuur – connects you directly to people online in Asia, Africa, and Latin America; they tell you about their challenges and you work together (with a facilitator) to help solve problems

After all this “hard work” you may feel really inclined to get out in person and do some good in the community. If so, there are many ministries in Ellis County we can put you contact with (just talk to Richard Nash) or you can do your own search in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area with these sites:

• Volunteer Match
• MyCommitment
• DoSomething

Visit Lifehacker for more information on these sites or other comparable sites.
And if you’ve got any other sites that you’ve found helpful? Let us know.

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A big congratulations and thanks to Richard Nash, Phil Humbert and the Impact Bible Study Group! They put together a great event for the kids of the Solon Place Apartments. The weather was perfect and the turn out of encounter help was awesome. With the help of the momentum youth group and the other Impact Group leaders there were games to play, puppets to entertain, songs to sing, crafts to make, and drama to watch! I was also impressed with the adults that showed up from encounter to not just watch but begin relationships with some of the parents who came with their kids. It looks to be the beginning of a growing relationship we can have with the people of the apartments.

Thanks to the Impact Group and their desire to step out, be creative, innovative, relational, and meet a real need. We look forward to see what else comes from the group!

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Imagine for a moment you were going about your life – kind of like you are today. You aren’t on top of your world, but you’re fairly confident that all that you doing is right. You’ve considered your options, weighed the possibilities, and chosen your path. Imagine that in the middle of that kind of life you were all of a sudden faced with the realization that something was not right; that the choices, the decisions, the direction you have taken is wrong. You are faced with the reality that what you are doing is hurting others, going to cause you greater pain, and is the opposite of what God wants for your life.

When that shocking moment stares you in the soul what do you do? Do you try and ignore it? Do you defend yourself with excuses and reasons for your actions? Do you attempt to shift the focus and blame others for what you are doing?

It’s a terribly horrific moment, because it means doing the hardest thing that we ever have to do as human beings – admit that we are wrong, that we need help, that we don’t have the answers. It’s desperate, helpless, and deeply humbling.

One of the most prominent men of the New Testament faced a similar situation. He boldly chose his actions, even claiming they were out of love for Christ. In a moment to envy even the greatest of cinematic history, he dramatically realized he was wrong. What he did next set the stage for his life.

This Sunday, we take a look at this man, his life, his choices, and his response when he all of a sudden realized he was wrong. It’s a moment we all face at multiple times in our life. How will you respond? What you do in that moment will determine the future of your life.

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from LeadershipJournal.net – an interview with Leith Anderson

Leith Anderson is both a pastor and a careful observer of culture. The pastor of Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, is also author of Leadership That Works. Lee Dean of Leadership’s sister site BuildingChurchLeaders.com asked Leith about how technology is affecting preaching.

What major developments you have observed in preaching in the last decade or so?
Clearly, the introduction of the experiential into evangelical preaching has been a significant factor. Preaching is not just someone talking, but it’s providing sight and sound and experience. This is done in different ways at different levels in different churches. But the introduction of PowerPoint added a visual aspect for a while, perhaps less so now. We see the use of video clips and other visuals, and increasingly in many churches that reach a younger generation, participation through various exercises and activities that are connected to preaching.

Power-Point is becoming A characteristic of an older generation. next slide please …

PowerPoint is declining?
PowerPoint has been largely a Baby Boomer phenomenon. Younger adults wonder about the validity and credibility of anything perceived to be canned. Authenticity is a critical aspect, especially with younger adults, in the preaching experience. It doesn’t seem authentic that a speech is all written out and words appear on the screen at exactly the same time. So PowerPoint is less used with younger adults and becoming more a characteristic of an older generation.

Yet younger adults are very high tech.
It’s a delicate balance here, because to be authentic, things can’t come across as too scripted. And yet, a certain amount of scripting is necessary in order to use technology. For example, one of the things we’re working with at Wooddale Church is encouraging young adults to use their cell phones to text message questions about the sermon and have those questions appear on the screen. That’s participation, that’s technology, but it’s not prepared questions in advance in a PowerPoint that shows up at exactly the right time. So it’s high tech, but it’s participatory, not scripted.

Can the medium overwhelm the message?
The challenge is to proclaim the themes and truths of the Bible and then to use illustrations or technology to support and reinforce that. The danger is when we are so enamored with a sermon illustration, whether verbal or video, that we use it, even though it does not effectively make the point the Bible is making. This isn’t new. This has been a temptation for every generation.

As preachers, we need to be driven by the truth of the Word of God and not by the technology or the cleverness of the story.

So it’s a problem when people remember your illustration but not the theological point …
But that happened with Jesus’ parables too. People could tell you about Jesus’ walking on the water or feeding the 5,000, but they had no idea what it meant theologically. So it’s not fair to blame current preachers and a modern generation with a reality that has been around since the first century.

Authenticity is sometimes defined as “preaching from the heart.” How do you balance head and heart, intellect and emotion, when you preach?
Aristotle’s classic teaching suggests the three components of effective communication are logos, which is “word” or “truth”; pathos, which is “passion”; and ethos, which is “character.”

The best communicating is done by a person of good character, well spoken, telling the truth. If someone tells the truth but is not passionate about it, or if someone passionately says something true but lacks character, the message is undermined.

All three ingredients are essential.

Can technology help in these areas?
Technology can certainly help when it comes to communicating the truth. I find, for example, that if the words of the Bible text are projected on a screen, people focus on them. They better engage with the actual words of the Bible. That’s helpful when it comes to grasping the truth.

Likewise with “pathos.” A video clip can be very effective in communicating passion, touching people’s hearts, engaging the emotions. That emotion may be love, it may be fear, it can be just about anything in the range of emotional possibilities. But technology can deliver it in a way that often the individual speaker cannot.

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