I was taking a look at my RSS reader a few minutes ago and I was intrigued by a video post by Tony Steward about the Importance of Listening In A Social Networking Environment.

While I did not attend the Twebinar - I was very intrigued by Tony’s summary of the main points he came away with.

1. When you listen, listen with action in mind. Don’t just gather information but as you receive the information decide right away what action you will take and act on it within 30 minutes but no longer than 3 days.

2. When trying to meet needs, think beyond your brand and look for where their needs are. Tony used the example of Nike. Don’t just look around for references to Nike but look for things like “my feet hurt” or “my laces broke.” This meets a person where their need is and gives you the opportunity to offer solutions within your brand.

These are both really good points. But how do you apply this to a ministry setting? What does it look like doing this online as well as offline?

Just thought I would post this quote from Pastor Mark Batterson’s new book coming out in a couple weeks. It’s called Wild Goose Chase and I have a feeling it will be a good one!

I love how Mark does not pull any punches and just says it like it is!

In the beginning, God made man in His Image.

Man has been making God in his image ever since.

Call it naturalism. Call it anthropomorphism. Call it idolatry. Call it what you will. The end result of this spiritual inversion is a god that is about our size and looks an awful lot like us. And most of our spiritual shortcomings stem from this fundamental mistake: thinking about God in human terms. We make God in our image and what we’re left with is a God who can never surprise us, never astonish us, never overwhelm us, never transcend us.

Thomas Jefferson loved the teachings of Jesus. In fact, the author of the Declaration of Independence once called them the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man. But Jefferson was also a child of the Enlightenment. He didn’t have a cognitive category for miracles so Jefferson literally took a pair of scissors and cut them out of his King James Bible. It took him two or three nights. And by the time he was done, he had cut out the virgin birth; cut out the angels; and cut out the resurrection. Jefferson extracted every miracle and the end result was a book titled the Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth or what is commonly referred to as the Jefferson Bible.

Hard to imagine isn’t it? And something rises up within those of us that believe the Bible is divinely inspired by God. Part of us scoffs or scolds Jefferson. You can’t pick-and-choose. You can’t cut-and-paste. You can’t do that to the Bible. But here’s the honest truth: while most of us can’t imagine taking a pair of scissors to the Bible and physically cutting verses out, we do exactly what Jefferson did. We ignore verses we cannot comprehend. We avoid verses we do not like. And we rationalize verses that are too radical. And we may not cut them out with a pair of scissors, but the end result is the same. We are trapped by our own logic. Our lives are limited to those things we can comprehend with our cerebral cortex. And we end up in the cage of our own assumptions. And the more assumptions we make, the smaller our cage becomes.

God is so much bigger than what we can think or imagine. For crying out loud, just look at the universe. God created it. And, logically speaking, no created thing can be larger than it’s creator, right?

Take Mark’s advice and don’t bring God down to your size but seek to know who he really is.

You are definitely going to want to read Wild Goose Chase when it hits the street on August 23!

Amazing how God gives us the right word at the right time.

Today, Pastor Jeff talked about Practicing hospitality. It wasn’t the topic that hit me square between the eyes (although I did get a lot out of it) It was a side point he made as a result of sharing part of the life of Abraham with us. He got sidetracked on a verse that I’m sure I’ve read a million times but never really understood it.

A combination of life circumstances and wise illustrations shared by Pastor Jeff brought home the point found in Genesis 18:14…

Is anything too hard for the LORD ?

At this point in the story of Abraham, 3 travelers had come by and Abraham was showing hospitality to them by doing a variety of things. Right before leaving one of the men (God in human form) said that he would be back in a year and they would have a son. Sarah laughed at this point which prompted the above question from the heavenly visitor.

So, Is anything to hard for the Lord? The quick answer “No.” Ah, but doubt creeps in when you in the middle of a life mess. You might begin to think, “well… maybe God can’t help me through my current troubles?”

This is so not the case. “The Lord is my Shepard…Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me (Psalm 23)” - “The Lord is my refuge” when the storms of life strike and you don’t know which way is up. God is at work all the time - even when I don’t see it.

I had the opportunity to talk with Pastor Jeff after the sermon. I shared the uncertainty that is going on in my current life mess. I will never forget what he said, “Don’t let the fear of what could happen take away your ability to enjoy life now.” Yeah, things might get tough, but I can rest in the fact that…

1. God is in control

2. God will always be my refuge

3. God is watching out for me and my family

Thank you, Pastor Jeff for your prayers and wise words! You’ve been blessed and you are definitely being a blessing, especially to me and my family.

As much as possible, I have been listening to different Pastors that have been participating in the One Prayer series that over 1600 churches from all over the world have been participating in.

Today, I want to share some of the incredible things that came from Perry Noble, pastor at New Spring Church in Anderson, SC. This message hit me so hard that I listen to it twice just to make sure I heard everything.

(in case your new to the blog - I often blog about sermons/podcasts that I listen to. Sermon notes is my way of making sure people know this is not from my mind but the mind of someone else.)

Perry’s prayer for the church is to make us effective. He looked at three questions that we need to be asking in regard to prayer in order to have an effective prayer life which ultimately leads to an effective life.

(asking God)
1. What are You wanting to do in me?

Many times we are too busy to even slow down enough to ask this question and listen for the answer. How many people go through life doing what they think God designed them for but have never taken the time to ask? God has designed us for a purpose and if we don’t ask, how will I know if I am meeting that purpose?

This hit me right between the eyes because this is me. I am doing so many things and all of them good, but I truly believe that God designed me to do a few things the best. But I’ve never taken time to actually ask Him what that is or if I’m even close to where He wants me.

2. What are You doing around me?

Perry states that this comes down to asking God to teach me to see as He sees. It’s at that point that we will see with compassion and love. We will see people as fellow Jesus Followers or those who need to find Jesus.

If we could truly see as God sees, how much less hurt would we cause? How much more love would the people around us experience? God help me to see as you see and notice how you are moving around me.

3. What do you want to do through me?

What is the next thing that you want me to do? If I am going to follow God’s purpose for my steps then I need him to guide my steps as I move forward.

God can do might things through us when we ask what He wants to do in us, around us, and through us.

Thanks to my friends over at Think Christian for pointing this out…

A recent blog has been discovered from ancient Internet times. Our friends over at The Door have found Noah’s blog from his trip on the Arc. I must admit Noah had quite the adventure, stop on by and read his blog (be prepared to laugh!).

Noah’s Blog

What do you think? Did you laugh or were you offended?