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Welcome to ThinkChristian.net, where we talk about Christ, culture and the ways that faith plays out in everyday life. We want to exercise our faith in every aspect of our lives: heart, soul and mind.
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- When Should We Give?Yesterday
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When should we give? Is giving more important than taking care of our own debts?
That was the topic of Jeff Klein’s Walk the Way video blog a few weeks back, and while it didn’t specifically address the current economic situation, it definitely got me thinking. Right now, my wife and I are living comfortably. Sure, we have college loans and a mortgage payment, but we don’t have any kids or other large expenses. In our current situation, we give quite cheerfully.
But what if one of us got sick and we were stuck with a huge hospital bill to pay? What if one of us lost our job? Would we still be able to give cheerfully?
With stock prices jumping all over the place (but mostly falling), retirement savings being lost, a frightening job market, foreclosures and bankruptcy on the rise and dozens of banks failing, we’re living through one of the most volatile economies that we’ve seen in decades. Are we still expected to give cheerfully and generously?
How do you decide when and how much you give? How do you prioritize paying your debt and your giving? Has the economy affected your generosity?
- Christian Bumper StickersNovember 18
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This is a bit of a follow up to the “What if Starbucks Used Church Marketing” post from last week. Richard Reising, the church marketing author behind the video, had a post on his blog about a scene from the short where the two visitors were driving into the “Starbucks” and noticed all of the bizarre coffee bumper stickers on cars in the parking lot.
The couple were a little uncomfortable when they saw slogans like “Real Mean Love Java” and “Think This Coffee’s Hot?” Another sticker had an image of the Starbucks logo eating the Juan Valdez logo. While the video is a parody of how churches market themselves, Reising says this scene is not meant to be a “cheap shot” at Christian bumper stickers. Instead, he’s trying to show how the stickers some Christians intentionally pick have combative overtones.
He writes:
While I fully believe that Christ portrayed the ultimate man, I’m wondering how many non-believers on the highway today fell to their knees seeking manhood after reading “Real Men Love Jesus” on the car in front of them. Jesus is awesome. He doesn’t need us telling non-believers they aren’t “real men.” Knowing scripturally that only God knows our heart and that “man looks on the outside” (1 Sam 16:7), I just wonder what we are show
- Disjunct MelodiesNovember 17
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Worship matters asks How do you teach an Inconsistent Melody? The post is particularly relevant to worship leaders, but the last paragraph is worth considering no matter who you are:
This discussion does highlight one of the differences between a song that is congregational and one that isn’t. Even though people can learn difficult songs through repeated listenings (most rock concert prove that), writers can serve more people by writing melodies and singing them in such a way that it makes it easier for people to learn them, not harder.
There are two forces at work here: the composer’s desire to write complex and meaningful songs, and the congregation’s skill and flexibility. On the composer’s end they face a tricky battle: how to write a compelling song that’s easy to learn without dumbing it down to the technical level of Mary Had a Little Lamb. On the congregation’s end: they all need to be able to sing it. If the song is supposed to be a congregational song everyone has to be able to sing it, no matter what each individual’s musical background is.This dicotomy generally leads to a lot of middle-of-the-road quality worship music, which in turns leads people to dismiss worship music as simplistic drivel.
A friend of mine once had worship music explained to him thusly, “There’s a reason most wo
- Glossy BibleNovember 13
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About every couple of months it seems like some hip new way of presenting God’s Word hits the streets. It’s often billed as the most relevant translation ever created and it often makes a lot of Christians groan. So, why then do we always need more versions? Because everyone is different, and despite the Bible’s ubiquity people still have not heard about it. And frankly, people read them, which is always a good thing.
Church Times talks about a new glossy magazine version of the Bible replete with high-quality photographs, slick design and great marketing that took Sweden by storm:
‘The Book’ is a glossy magazine-style version of the Bible that has been very popular in Sweden – over 10 percent of Stockholm came to see the outdoor show of the book and there have been large increases in Bible sales. An English language version is shortly to be launched…
Yep, 10 percent of the city came out to see the launch of a book and that book was a rendition of the Bible. The Book’s English site.Here’s the CEO talking about the project:
Personally, I think that we need more and better ways of communicating God’s word to every generation and people. Not by changing the
- Cell Phone ChallengeNovember 12
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Throughout my life, I’ve been somewhat of a late adapter to technology. I waited awhile to get a cell phone. I resisted when people told me I had to be on Facebook by saying, “Grown ups don’t use Facebook.” But now, I’m a little bit of a social media and tech junkie. I love Facebook, I text a lot more and I’m connected to friends in a much better way.
I came across a post on the Swerve blog that takes a look at how we’re using some of the technology we have in terms of who are our friends and contacts.
Bobby Gruenewald wrote:
When we visited Hillsong in Australia several months ago, my good friend Darren Kitto was telling me a personal story and in that conversation mentioned that his mobile phone address book is full of people who don’t know Christ. He wasn’t saying this as a challenge to me, but it was. You see, I’ve been engaged long enough in my role as a pastor and have developed so many relationships with our staff and other pastors/church leaders that my address book is mostly full of people who are believers. I know lots of people who don’t know Christ, but sadly I’m not engaged deeply enough to have many of them on speed dial or even in my phone at all. My mobile phone address book is at least one gauge of the importance I place on a relationship.
Practically, having someones contact info in