Comments on: Keeping the Community Attentive to God http://preachermike.com/2004/09/27/109629243535734382 Sniffing out the work of God in the world... Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:08:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Bill Bardott http://preachermike.com/2004/09/27/109629243535734382#comment-41074 Bill Bardott Tue, 16 Jan 2007 10:57:02 +0000 http://www.preachermike.com/?p=338#comment-41074 Google is the best search engine Google is the best search engine

]]> By: Anonymous http://preachermike.com/2004/09/27/109629243535734382#comment-1419 Anonymous Tue, 28 Sep 2004 12:48:00 +0000 http://www.preachermike.com/?p=338#comment-1419 I know this is completely aside from the point of your post... but I can't help but try and peg those characters. (Which is quite funny considering I live on the other side of the world and would never have met any of them ;)... but... Tennessee logician convinced of his incontrivertible inerrancy.... Without naming names, sounds a little like a T. B. Warren to me. No, that's to obvious... Thomas B. W. ô¿ô Damien I know this is completely aside from the point of your post… but I can’t help but try and peg those characters. (Which is quite funny considering I live on the other side of the world and would never have met any of them ;)… but… Tennessee logician convinced of his incontrivertible inerrancy….

Without naming names, sounds a little like a T. B. Warren to me. No, that’s to obvious… Thomas B. W.

ô¿ô
Damien

]]> By: JD http://preachermike.com/2004/09/27/109629243535734382#comment-1418 JD Tue, 28 Sep 2004 02:07:00 +0000 http://www.preachermike.com/?p=338#comment-1418 Thanks for the encouragement. That is a great book. I need to get it out and re-read it. A good friend and fellow preacher gave it to me. Thanks for the encouragement. That is a great book. I need to get it out and re-read it. A good friend and fellow preacher gave it to me.

]]> By: Anonymous http://preachermike.com/2004/09/27/109629243535734382#comment-1417 Anonymous Tue, 28 Sep 2004 01:16:00 +0000 http://www.preachermike.com/?p=338#comment-1417 I wish my minister read your blog. I wish my minister read your blog.

]]> By: Steve Jr. http://preachermike.com/2004/09/27/109629243535734382#comment-1416 Steve Jr. Mon, 27 Sep 2004 23:33:00 +0000 http://www.preachermike.com/?p=338#comment-1416 I was actually just discussing a similar subject with a fellow student today. We were chatting about our common interest in church planting in New England, and I made the comment about how even today, ministers are often trained separately from missionaries. In fact, ministers are not even taught how to live the missional life -- they are still, in many cases, taught the ins and outs of pastoring a congregation but not how to relate to and communicate the Gospel to the lost in their communities. And the result is sad: We have lots of preachers who preach twice on Sunday and once on Wednesday, attend staff meeting on Monday, fill up their schedule with lots of really great stuff, and prepare the sermon at times during the rest of the week. Sadly, they are content to "live out their faith" by being a good example to people in which they come in contact, but never intend to develop meaningful relationships with the lost. In post-Christian America, preachers are missionaries. They have to be. They always should have been, but today, they are needed all the more. If the minister is not active in the community with non-Christians (just being their friend, in many cases), the rest of the congregation will not have a missional outlook. And if the congregation doesn't have a missional outlook, it will certainly be in good company in Western Christianity. I was actually just discussing a similar subject with a fellow student today. We were chatting about our common interest in church planting in New England, and I made the comment about how even today, ministers are often trained separately from missionaries. In fact, ministers are not even taught how to live the missional life — they are still, in many cases, taught the ins and outs of pastoring a congregation but not how to relate to and communicate the Gospel to the lost in their communities. And the result is sad: We have lots of preachers who preach twice on Sunday and once on Wednesday, attend staff meeting on Monday, fill up their schedule with lots of really great stuff, and prepare the sermon at times during the rest of the week. Sadly, they are content to “live out their faith” by being a good example to people in which they come in contact, but never intend to develop meaningful relationships with the lost.

In post-Christian America, preachers are missionaries. They have to be. They always should have been, but today, they are needed all the more. If the minister is not active in the community with non-Christians (just being their friend, in many cases), the rest of the congregation will not have a missional outlook. And if the congregation doesn’t have a missional outlook, it will certainly be in good company in Western Christianity.

]]> By: Mike http://preachermike.com/2004/09/27/109629243535734382#comment-1415 Mike Mon, 27 Sep 2004 20:50:00 +0000 http://www.preachermike.com/?p=338#comment-1415 Skip - Larry Sharp is EXACTLY the kind of minister I was talking about today. His ministry has been steady, relational, and gospel-formed all these years. Skip - Larry Sharp is EXACTLY the kind of minister I was talking about today. His ministry has been steady, relational, and gospel-formed all these years.

]]> By: randy http://preachermike.com/2004/09/27/109629243535734382#comment-1414 randy Mon, 27 Sep 2004 18:16:00 +0000 http://www.preachermike.com/?p=338#comment-1414 Mike - Wow! You sure brought back some old memories from my Harding days! All my life I had heard about the church; but never about Jesus! I can still remember Jim Woodruff, when I was a freshman in 1976, teaching on the gospel of John. I can still hear him talking about the relationship of sheep to shepherd; shepherd to sheep; sheep to sheep, etc. Life changing stuff to be sure. I, too, yearned to go to preaching 101, i.e., "Jones' Good Time Hour". Man, those were good days! Thanks for bring back those memories and for the reminder of who need to be. Mike - Wow! You sure brought back some old memories from my Harding days! All my life I had heard about the church; but never about Jesus! I can still remember Jim Woodruff, when I was a freshman in 1976, teaching on the gospel of John. I can still hear him talking about the relationship of sheep to shepherd; shepherd to sheep; sheep to sheep, etc. Life changing stuff to be sure. I, too, yearned to go to preaching 101, i.e., “Jones’ Good Time Hour”. Man, those were good days! Thanks for bring back those memories and for the reminder of who need to be.

]]> By: SkipD http://preachermike.com/2004/09/27/109629243535734382#comment-1413 SkipD Mon, 27 Sep 2004 18:15:00 +0000 http://www.preachermike.com/?p=338#comment-1413 Mike, great thoughts today. My dad was one of those quiet ministers in small churches-- everywhere from Iowa to Ohio to Florida. Your old high school buddy, Larry Sharp is one of the best in the world!! Looking forward to hearing you this weekend in Nashville! Blessings!! SkipD Mike, great thoughts today. My dad was one of those quiet ministers in small churches– everywhere from Iowa to Ohio to Florida. Your old high school buddy, Larry Sharp is one of the best in the world!! Looking forward to hearing you this weekend in Nashville! Blessings!! SkipD

]]> By: Micheal http://preachermike.com/2004/09/27/109629243535734382#comment-1412 Micheal Mon, 27 Sep 2004 16:13:00 +0000 http://www.preachermike.com/?p=338#comment-1412 I remember that my preaching proffessor at Harding told us that a preacher "should shower and shave everyday" because "people don't trust men with beards." The next day, I began growing a goatee. Thanks for the challenges today Mike. I remember that my preaching proffessor at Harding told us that a preacher “should shower and shave everyday” because “people don’t trust men with beards.” The next day, I began growing a goatee.
Thanks for the challenges today Mike.

]]> By: Mike http://preachermike.com/2004/09/27/109629243535734382#comment-1411 Mike Mon, 27 Sep 2004 15:39:00 +0000 http://www.preachermike.com/?p=338#comment-1411 Thanks, everyone, for the comments. Steve, the Peterson book is "Working the Angles"--one of the five or so most influential books in my ministry. It begins with this nuclear (or, as the President would say, nucular) bomb: "American pastors are abandoning their posts, left and right, and at an alarming rate. They are not leaving their churches and getting other jobs. Congregations still pay their salaries. Their names remain on the church stationery and they continue to appear in pulpits on Sundays. But they are abandoning their posts, their calling. They have gone whoring after other gods. What they do with their time under the guise of pastoral ministry hasn't the remotest connection with what the church's pastors have done for most of twenty centuries." And now, having typed out those words, I think I'll have to pick myself up off the floor--again. Thanks, everyone, for the comments. Steve, the Peterson book is “Working the Angles”–one of the five or so most influential books in my ministry. It begins with this nuclear (or, as the President would say, nucular) bomb: “American pastors are abandoning their posts, left and right, and at an alarming rate. They are not leaving their churches and getting other jobs. Congregations still pay their salaries. Their names remain on the church stationery and they continue to appear in pulpits on Sundays. But they are abandoning their posts, their calling. They have gone whoring after other gods. What they do with their time under the guise of pastoral ministry hasn’t the remotest connection with what the church’s pastors have done for most of twenty centuries.” And now, having typed out those words, I think I’ll have to pick myself up off the floor–again.

]]> By: Jeff Slater http://preachermike.com/2004/09/27/109629243535734382#comment-1410 Jeff Slater Mon, 27 Sep 2004 15:16:00 +0000 http://www.preachermike.com/?p=338#comment-1410 Thanks for bringing back some memories, Mike. I can also say that I was not a 'typical' Bible major. Like Greg, I was in TNT (a club not known for Bible majors when I was at HU in the late eighties). I also listened to rock music and didn't really enjoy Timothy Club meetings (I seem to remember that we were required to attend a certain number of meetings) I dated a girl who once told me, "You don't act like a Bible major." She didn't mean it as a compliment. I am blessed with a father-in-law who has been preaching for over 30 years. He has been a powerful and extremely helpful model/mentor for me. Jeff Thanks for bringing back some memories, Mike. I can also say that I was not a ‘typical’ Bible major. Like Greg, I was in TNT (a club not known for Bible majors when I was at HU in the late eighties). I also listened to rock music and didn’t really enjoy Timothy Club meetings (I seem to remember that we were required to attend a certain number of meetings) I dated a girl who once told me, “You don’t act like a Bible major.” She didn’t mean it as a compliment.

I am blessed with a father-in-law who has been preaching for over 30 years. He has been a powerful and extremely helpful model/mentor for me.

Jeff

]]> By: Kathy http://preachermike.com/2004/09/27/109629243535734382#comment-1409 Kathy Mon, 27 Sep 2004 14:53:00 +0000 http://www.preachermike.com/?p=338#comment-1409 Mike, Could it be that we need to looka at a page from the Evangelical world's lexicon - bsed on Ephesians 4? Could it be we have allowed ourselves to be limited by terminology? Ephesians 4 10He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe. 11It was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. The Evanglicals believe "Pastors and Teachers" is a hyphenated 'title' "Pastor-teacher, that the Elders and Pastor-teachers are to build up the Body of Christ so the individual members are then prepared to be the ministers - that they are the ones that visit the sick, care for the poor, attend to the widows and orphans, reach out to the lost with the Good News, etc. Just a thought. :) Mike, Could it be that we need to looka at a page from the Evangelical world’s lexicon - bsed on Ephesians 4? Could it be we have allowed ourselves to be limited by terminology?

Ephesians 4
10He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe. 11It was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

The Evanglicals believe “Pastors and Teachers” is a hyphenated ‘title’ “Pastor-teacher, that the Elders and Pastor-teachers are to build up the Body of Christ so the individual members are then prepared to be the ministers - that they are the ones that visit the sick, care for the poor, attend to the widows and orphans, reach out to the lost with the Good News, etc.

Just a thought. :)

]]> By: Q http://preachermike.com/2004/09/27/109629243535734382#comment-1408 Q Mon, 27 Sep 2004 14:30:00 +0000 http://www.preachermike.com/?p=338#comment-1408 Greg, if Dr. Neller (or, hrm, come to think of it, <I>any</I> of the HU Bible faculty) reads this blog, we're both in trouble. ^_~ Greg, if Dr. Neller (or, hrm, come to think of it, any of the HU Bible faculty) reads this blog, we’re both in trouble. ^_~

]]> By: David http://preachermike.com/2004/09/27/109629243535734382#comment-1407 David Mon, 27 Sep 2004 14:19:00 +0000 http://www.preachermike.com/?p=338#comment-1407 Mike, You brought back some memories this morning. I was present at all three of those Timothy Club meetings. Two of the three speakers were at one time my preachers. Jim and Lynn were also my preachers. I don't think Timothy was a very good Bible Major. He had way to much power for a Church of Christ preacher. Mike,

You brought back some memories this morning. I was present at all three of those Timothy Club meetings. Two of the three speakers were at one time my preachers. Jim and Lynn were also my preachers. I don’t think Timothy was a very good Bible Major. He had way to much power for a Church of Christ preacher.

]]> By: David Michael http://preachermike.com/2004/09/27/109629243535734382#comment-8558 David Michael Mon, 27 Sep 2004 14:19:00 +0000 http://www.preachermike.com/?p=338#comment-8558 Mike, You brought back some memories this morning. I was present at all three of those Timothy Club meetings. Two of the three speakers were at one time my preachers. Jim and Lynn were also my preachers. I don't think Timothy was a very good Bible Major. He had way to much power for a Church of Christ preacher. Mike,

You brought back some memories this morning. I was present at all three of those Timothy Club meetings. Two of the three speakers were at one time my preachers. Jim and Lynn were also my preachers. I don’t think Timothy was a very good Bible Major. He had way to much power for a Church of Christ preacher.

]]>