I was driving near my neighbourhood recently when I chanced upon something up on the overhead pedestrian bridge. Two traffic policemen were filming a sequel to the blockbuster movie, "I Got 'Cha, Babe!" They were very intensed shooting every scene of the impending vehicle that broke the speed limit for that particular road, especially vans, lorries, and slow speed-retarded creepy crawlers doing a formulae 1 impersonation.
You may say, "Hey! There's no such movies?" Well, that's what they are thinking right now. It will be a block-buster when you want to contest that summons you've received for speeding. Where in the world did they catch me speeding? Look up, guys when you're driving. It happens too often for you to ignore it. Somehow I feel that this is really like a punch below the belt. Ouch! Catching you unaware and having clueless idea of how it happened.
Overhead bridge, pedestrian pavements, I wonder what's the next innovative idea of catching us doing a third sequel to the block-buster?
Look up, or be sorry!
22.10.17
27.8.08
Whoosh!
The Swiss Roll
The Swiss have an interesting army. Five hundred years without a war. Pretty impressive. Also pretty lucky for them. Ever see that little Swiss Army knife they have to fight with? Not much of a weapon there - corkscrews, bottle opener. "Come on, buddy, let's go. You get past me, the guy in back of me, he's got a spoon. Back off. I've got the toe clippers right here."
Internet
A study shows that internet use can be addictive. So now there's a 12-step program for Net Junkies. The first step is to acknowledge that there is a higher power, and his name is Bill Gates.
More Internet
Little girl to her friend: I'm never going to have kids, I hear they take nine months to download.
Kids
When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice, safe playpen. When they're finished, I climb out.
Before I had kids, I went home after work to rest. Now I go to work to rest.
Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell, the name will carry.
Toddlers are more likely to eat healthy food if they find it on the floor.
The Swiss have an interesting army. Five hundred years without a war. Pretty impressive. Also pretty lucky for them. Ever see that little Swiss Army knife they have to fight with? Not much of a weapon there - corkscrews, bottle opener. "Come on, buddy, let's go. You get past me, the guy in back of me, he's got a spoon. Back off. I've got the toe clippers right here."
Internet
A study shows that internet use can be addictive. So now there's a 12-step program for Net Junkies. The first step is to acknowledge that there is a higher power, and his name is Bill Gates.
More Internet
Little girl to her friend: I'm never going to have kids, I hear they take nine months to download.
Kids
When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice, safe playpen. When they're finished, I climb out.
Before I had kids, I went home after work to rest. Now I go to work to rest.
Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell, the name will carry.
Toddlers are more likely to eat healthy food if they find it on the floor.
18.4.08
Choose To Obey, Not Simply Choose
I have been reading Walt Mueller's book on "Engaging The Soul Of Youth Culture." It is simply a book that speaks of what kind of young people we have in our midst and how we can win them over. Many of us have found it difficult to engage our youths for a simple reason that we are not hearing them enough, or that we choose not to entertain their "nonsense."
Many a times, I hear this statement saying that young people choose to believe in "what I like" or what "feels good to me." I'm not sure if you agree with me on this, but as what Ravi Zacharias said about our postmodern young generation is that they "hears with its eyes and thinks with its feelings." Yes, the world has rejected modernism's rationality and reason. Today, the intellect is replaced by the will. Reason is replaced by emotions. The way that we now know what we know is not through observation and scientific inquiry. In a postmodern world, emotions are the final judge of what makes something good, true and right. Left and right, people would label such and such as "Emo" makes me think that it is a cliche rather than a deep conviction of who that person is.
But I know that God has made us as people who are capable of choosing to obey Him rather than simply choosing what I feel is right or wrong with our emotions being stirred up.
Remember, men may have the facts of the matter, but God has the last say in whatever we do. Yes, choose God for He knows who you are deeply and is intimately acquainted with you(Psalm 139).
Many a times, I hear this statement saying that young people choose to believe in "what I like" or what "feels good to me." I'm not sure if you agree with me on this, but as what Ravi Zacharias said about our postmodern young generation is that they "hears with its eyes and thinks with its feelings." Yes, the world has rejected modernism's rationality and reason. Today, the intellect is replaced by the will. Reason is replaced by emotions. The way that we now know what we know is not through observation and scientific inquiry. In a postmodern world, emotions are the final judge of what makes something good, true and right. Left and right, people would label such and such as "Emo" makes me think that it is a cliche rather than a deep conviction of who that person is.
But I know that God has made us as people who are capable of choosing to obey Him rather than simply choosing what I feel is right or wrong with our emotions being stirred up.
Remember, men may have the facts of the matter, but God has the last say in whatever we do. Yes, choose God for He knows who you are deeply and is intimately acquainted with you(Psalm 139).
2.4.08
Ministry versus Job
Some people have a JOB in the church; others involve themselves in a MINISTRY.
What's the difference?
If you are doing it just because no one else will, it's a JOB.
If you are doing it to serve the Lord, it's a MINISTRY.
If you quit because somebody criticized you, it was a JOB.
If you keep on serving, it's a MINISTRY.
If you'll do it only as long as it does not interfere with your other activities, it's a JOB.
If you are committed to staying with it even when it means letting go of other things, it's a MINISTRY.
If you quit because no one praised you or thanked you, it was a JOB.
If you stay with it even though nobody recognizes your efforts, it is a MINISTRY.
It's hard to get excited about a JOB.
It's almost impossible not to be excited about a MINISTRY.
If our concern is success, it's a JOB.
If our concern is faithfulness, it's a MINISTRY.
An average church is filled with people doing JOBs.
A great and growing church is filled with people involved in MINISTRY.
Where do we fit in? What about us?
If God calls you to a MINISTRY, don't treat it like a JOB.
If you have a JOB, give it up and find a MINISTRY.
God does not want us feeling stuck with a JOB, but excited and faithful to Him in a MINISTRY.
What's the difference?
If you are doing it just because no one else will, it's a JOB.
If you are doing it to serve the Lord, it's a MINISTRY.
If you quit because somebody criticized you, it was a JOB.
If you keep on serving, it's a MINISTRY.
If you'll do it only as long as it does not interfere with your other activities, it's a JOB.
If you are committed to staying with it even when it means letting go of other things, it's a MINISTRY.
If you quit because no one praised you or thanked you, it was a JOB.
If you stay with it even though nobody recognizes your efforts, it is a MINISTRY.
It's hard to get excited about a JOB.
It's almost impossible not to be excited about a MINISTRY.
If our concern is success, it's a JOB.
If our concern is faithfulness, it's a MINISTRY.
An average church is filled with people doing JOBs.
A great and growing church is filled with people involved in MINISTRY.
Where do we fit in? What about us?
If God calls you to a MINISTRY, don't treat it like a JOB.
If you have a JOB, give it up and find a MINISTRY.
God does not want us feeling stuck with a JOB, but excited and faithful to Him in a MINISTRY.
19.3.08
Judgement
You are invited by the Queen to a great feast at Buckingham Palace. On your arrival, you are courteously ushered into the great banqueting hall. You are stunned by the colour of the occasion and the care that has been put into it. You rather regret that you are standing there in an old T-shirt and wearing paint covered trousers, having come straight from redecorating your living room. It's not that anyone says anything, but there is a loud voice inside you, screaming, 'Aaaaargh, I wish I was somewhere else......'
7.11.07
How Do We "Do Church?"
If you are older than 40 the name Benjamin Spock is more than familiar. It was Spock that told an entire generation of parents to take it easy, don’t discipline your children and allow them to express themselves. Discipline, he told us, would warp a child’s fragile ego. Millions followed this guru of child development and he remained unchallenged among child rearing professionals. However, before his death Dr. Spock made an amazing discovery: he was wrong. In fact, he said:
We have reared a generation of brats. Parents aren't firm enough with their children for fear of losing their love or incurring their resentment. This is a cruel deprivation that we professionals have imposed on mothers and fathers. Of course, we did it with the best of intentions. We didn't realize until it was too late how our know-it-all attitude was undermining the self assurance of parents.
Oops!
Something just as momentous, in my opinion, just happened in the evangelical community. For most of a generation evangelicals have been romanced by the “seeker sensitive” movement spawned by Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago. The guru of this movement is Bill Hybels. He and others have been telling us for decades to throw out everything we have previously thought and been taught about church growth and replace it with a new paradigm, a new way to do ministry.
Perhaps inadvertently, with this “new wave” of ministry came a de-emphasis on taking personal responsibility for Bible study combined with an emphasis on felt-needs based “programs” and slick marketing.
The size of the crowd rather than the depth of the heart determined success. If the crowd was large then surely God was blessing the ministry. Churches were built by demographic studies, professional strategists, marketing research, meeting “felt needs” and sermons consistent with these techniques. We were told that preaching was out, relevance was in. Doctrine didn’t matter nearly as much as innovation. If it wasn’t “cutting edge” and consumer friendly it was doomed. The mention of sin, salvation and sanctification were taboo and replaced by Starbucks, strategy and sensitivity.
Thousands of pastors hung on every word that emanated from the lips of the church growth experts. Satellite seminars were packed with hungry church leaders learning the latest way to “do church.” The promise was clear: thousands of people and millions of dollars couldn’t be wrong. Forget what people need, give them what they want. How can you argue with the numbers? If you dared to challenge the “experts” you were immediately labeled as a “traditionalist,” a throwback to the 50s, a stubborn dinosaur unwilling to change with the times.
All that changed recently.
Willow Creek has released the results of a multi-year study on the effectiveness of their programs and philosophy of ministry. The study’s findings are in a new book titled Reveal: Where Are You?, co-authored by Cally Parkinson and Greg Hawkins, executive pastor of Willow Creek Community Church. Hybels himself called the findings “earth shaking,” “ground breaking” and “mind blowing.” And no wonder: it seems that the “experts” were wrong.
The report reveals that most of what they have been doing for these many years and what they have taught millions of others to do is not producing solid disciples of Jesus Christ. Numbers yes, but not disciples. It gets worse.
Hybels laments:
Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for.
If you simply want a crowd, the “seeker sensitive” model produces results. If you want solid, sincere, mature followers of Christ, it’s a bust. In a shocking confession, Hybels states:
We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between services, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.
Incredibly, the guru of church growth now tells us that people need to be reading their bibles and taking responsibility for their spiritual growth.
Just as Spock’s “mistake” was no minor error, so the error of the seeker sensitive movement is monumental in its scope. The foundation of thousands of American churches is now discovered to be mere sand. The one individual who has had perhaps the greatest influence on the American church in our generation has now admitted his philosophy of ministry, in large part, was a “mistake.” The extent of this error defies measurement.
Perhaps the most shocking thing of all in this revelation coming out of Willow Creek is in a summary statement by Greg Hawkins:
Our dream is that we fundamentally change the way we do church. That we take out a clean sheet of paper and we rethink all of our old assumptions. Replace it with new insights. Insights that are informed by research and rooted in Scripture. Our dream is really to discover what God is doing and how he’s asking us to transform this planet.
Isn’t that what we were told when this whole seeker-sensitive thing started? The church growth gurus again want to throw away their old assumptions and “take out a clean sheet of paper” and, presumably, come up with a new paradigm for ministry.
Should this be encouraging?
Please note that “rooted in Scripture” still follows “rethink,” “new insights” and “informed research.” Someone, it appears, still might not get it. Unless there is a return to simple biblical (and relevant) principles, a new faulty scheme will replace the existing one and another generation will follow along as the latest piper plays.
What we should find encouraging, at least, in this “confession” coming from the highest ranks of the Willow Creek Association is that they are coming to realize that their existing “model” does not help people grow into mature followers of Jesus Christ. Given the massive influence this organization has on the American church today, let us pray that God would be pleased to put structures in place at Willow Creek that foster not mere numeric growth, but growth in grace.
We have reared a generation of brats. Parents aren't firm enough with their children for fear of losing their love or incurring their resentment. This is a cruel deprivation that we professionals have imposed on mothers and fathers. Of course, we did it with the best of intentions. We didn't realize until it was too late how our know-it-all attitude was undermining the self assurance of parents.
Oops!
Something just as momentous, in my opinion, just happened in the evangelical community. For most of a generation evangelicals have been romanced by the “seeker sensitive” movement spawned by Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago. The guru of this movement is Bill Hybels. He and others have been telling us for decades to throw out everything we have previously thought and been taught about church growth and replace it with a new paradigm, a new way to do ministry.
Perhaps inadvertently, with this “new wave” of ministry came a de-emphasis on taking personal responsibility for Bible study combined with an emphasis on felt-needs based “programs” and slick marketing.
The size of the crowd rather than the depth of the heart determined success. If the crowd was large then surely God was blessing the ministry. Churches were built by demographic studies, professional strategists, marketing research, meeting “felt needs” and sermons consistent with these techniques. We were told that preaching was out, relevance was in. Doctrine didn’t matter nearly as much as innovation. If it wasn’t “cutting edge” and consumer friendly it was doomed. The mention of sin, salvation and sanctification were taboo and replaced by Starbucks, strategy and sensitivity.
Thousands of pastors hung on every word that emanated from the lips of the church growth experts. Satellite seminars were packed with hungry church leaders learning the latest way to “do church.” The promise was clear: thousands of people and millions of dollars couldn’t be wrong. Forget what people need, give them what they want. How can you argue with the numbers? If you dared to challenge the “experts” you were immediately labeled as a “traditionalist,” a throwback to the 50s, a stubborn dinosaur unwilling to change with the times.
All that changed recently.
Willow Creek has released the results of a multi-year study on the effectiveness of their programs and philosophy of ministry. The study’s findings are in a new book titled Reveal: Where Are You?, co-authored by Cally Parkinson and Greg Hawkins, executive pastor of Willow Creek Community Church. Hybels himself called the findings “earth shaking,” “ground breaking” and “mind blowing.” And no wonder: it seems that the “experts” were wrong.
The report reveals that most of what they have been doing for these many years and what they have taught millions of others to do is not producing solid disciples of Jesus Christ. Numbers yes, but not disciples. It gets worse.
Hybels laments:
Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for.
If you simply want a crowd, the “seeker sensitive” model produces results. If you want solid, sincere, mature followers of Christ, it’s a bust. In a shocking confession, Hybels states:
We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between services, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.
Incredibly, the guru of church growth now tells us that people need to be reading their bibles and taking responsibility for their spiritual growth.
Just as Spock’s “mistake” was no minor error, so the error of the seeker sensitive movement is monumental in its scope. The foundation of thousands of American churches is now discovered to be mere sand. The one individual who has had perhaps the greatest influence on the American church in our generation has now admitted his philosophy of ministry, in large part, was a “mistake.” The extent of this error defies measurement.
Perhaps the most shocking thing of all in this revelation coming out of Willow Creek is in a summary statement by Greg Hawkins:
Our dream is that we fundamentally change the way we do church. That we take out a clean sheet of paper and we rethink all of our old assumptions. Replace it with new insights. Insights that are informed by research and rooted in Scripture. Our dream is really to discover what God is doing and how he’s asking us to transform this planet.
Isn’t that what we were told when this whole seeker-sensitive thing started? The church growth gurus again want to throw away their old assumptions and “take out a clean sheet of paper” and, presumably, come up with a new paradigm for ministry.
Should this be encouraging?
Please note that “rooted in Scripture” still follows “rethink,” “new insights” and “informed research.” Someone, it appears, still might not get it. Unless there is a return to simple biblical (and relevant) principles, a new faulty scheme will replace the existing one and another generation will follow along as the latest piper plays.
What we should find encouraging, at least, in this “confession” coming from the highest ranks of the Willow Creek Association is that they are coming to realize that their existing “model” does not help people grow into mature followers of Jesus Christ. Given the massive influence this organization has on the American church today, let us pray that God would be pleased to put structures in place at Willow Creek that foster not mere numeric growth, but growth in grace.
4.10.07
Out Of The Comfort Zone
Should you ask how you could be a threat to the devil and have a well-known reputation in hell for being a harm to the evil powers, I answer with a series of questions:
How much do you talk to the lost at a personal level and try win them to Jesus Christ?
How far are you prepared to go in your commitment to Him?
How willing are you to be led outside your comfort zone – or do you resent that this could be asked of you?
Are you rid of all bitterness and grudges – and do you totally forgive those who have hurt you (Satan cannot work through a person who is devoid of bitterness and God won’t widely use the person who is vindictive)?
Furthermore, do you dignify every trial God allows – or do you complain and grumble the whole time?
How much, how regularly and how sacrificially do you give financially to the Lord? And, oh yes, how much do you actually pray every day?
Our reward at the judgment seat of Christ will not be based on whether we were liked, admired by Christians, built up a good reputation among the saints, or being famous. Our reward should be given on a basis of whether we were known in hell and were a constant threat to Satan and is fallen angels.
How much do you talk to the lost at a personal level and try win them to Jesus Christ?
How far are you prepared to go in your commitment to Him?
How willing are you to be led outside your comfort zone – or do you resent that this could be asked of you?
Are you rid of all bitterness and grudges – and do you totally forgive those who have hurt you (Satan cannot work through a person who is devoid of bitterness and God won’t widely use the person who is vindictive)?
Furthermore, do you dignify every trial God allows – or do you complain and grumble the whole time?
How much, how regularly and how sacrificially do you give financially to the Lord? And, oh yes, how much do you actually pray every day?
Our reward at the judgment seat of Christ will not be based on whether we were liked, admired by Christians, built up a good reputation among the saints, or being famous. Our reward should be given on a basis of whether we were known in hell and were a constant threat to Satan and is fallen angels.
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