In my first three posts concerning internet ministry (“What is it?,” “Evangelism and Discipleship,” and “Global Interaction“), I defined internet ministry as “the use of online services, apps, functions, and technologies in order to serve people with the intention of helping those people grow in maturity towards Christ” and concluded that even if we pursue evangelism online, our ultimate goal should be discipleship – that is, not simply making converts, but helping people maturing in their walk with Jesus Christ. Finally, I encouraged those involved in “internet ministry” to recognize the importance of personal, face-to-fact contact and example in discipleship.

In this final installment in my series on “internet ministry,” I would like to continue discussing the importance of “face-to-face contact and example” by talking about using online interaction to further facility discipleship.

When I use the term “interaction,” I’m talking about communication that takes place in both directions. Now, certainly, it is possible to help someone without this kind of two-way communication. For example, someone could post a teaching based on a particular passage of Scripture, and someone else reading that teaching could benefit, without further interaction.

In reality, this is similar to the teaching/preaching found in many churches today. A person hears a teaching/sermon, but has no further interaction and no deeper relationship with the teacher/preacher. The person hearing can be helped with this type of teaching/preaching, but the amount and type of help is limited.

The way the Jesus and others in Scripture practiced and taught it, discipleship was interactive, in the midst of sharing life together, with questions and answers and follow-up and discussion and argument and another example, etc. It is possible to include this type of interaction using online resources.

The problem is that many who post material on the internet consider the “posted material” to be the most important part of their work. In fact, that posted material is simply the beginning. Whether through comments or emails or phone calls or whatever, the further interaction with other people is often much more important than the posted material that began the further interaction.

Again, do not misunderstand me. Still, personal, face-to-face interaction with both important and necessary. But, using various means, internet ministry can be more interactive and, therefore, more effective at helping people mature in Christ and walk in a manner worthy of the gospel.

Of course, this also means that the way that we interact with people is as important (if not more important) than what we say (or write) in our posted material. If we react with hostility to someone who disagrees with us, it will completely nullify our post about the love of Christ. If we reject someone else, it hinders our message about the grace we have through Christ.

Finally, through interaction, we can demonstrate that we are also teachable – that we also need to be discipled – that we do not have all the answers – that God can and does speak to us and changes us through other people.

So, as we use online tools and resources to disciple others – that is, to help others grow in maturity in Christ – we should seek as much interaction as possible, always attempting to demonstrate the love of Christ in that interaction. In humility, we should admit that we do not have all the answers, that we are sometimes wrong, and that our relationships with others is more important than proving ourselves to be right.

In my two previous posts concerning internet ministry (“What is it?” and “Evangelism and Discipleship“), I defined internet ministry as “the use of online services, apps, functions, and technologies in order to serve people with the intention of helping those people grow in maturity towards Christ” and concluded that even if we pursue evangelism online, our ultimate goal should be discipleship – that is, not simply making converts, but helping people maturing in their walk with Jesus Christ.

In this post, I am will discuss one of the major benefits of serving people using online resources, and I will show how this benefit can also be a disadvantage.

Of course, the benefit that I’m talking about (as indicated in the title of this post) is the global connection, meaning that by using online resources we are able to connect to people all around the world. Until very recently (less than 100 years), if I wanted to communicate with someone in another country, it would take days, weeks, even months or more. Today, I can talk with people from every country on the planet in seconds.

In previous generations, the only people who could carry on conversations with people of different religions were those who traveled to different countries, or those with neighbors who were part of different religions. Today, anyone with a computer or cell phone with an internet connection can communicate and interact with people from any number of belief systems.

So, the ability to communicate with other people has been drastically improved through the use of online resources. Because of the advancements in communication, many have compared the invention of the internet to the invention of the printing press. And, in many ways, the two inventions are similar. Both inventions dramatically increased the ability to communicate ideas.

This then, leads to one of the disadvantages of this new global connection. But, let’s take a step back and consider the practices of the apostles and other Christians as demonstrated in Scripture. Often, Peter, Paul, James and others would desire to communicate with other believers in distant lands. They would then write letters – often dictating the letters to others who could write – and then send those letters by couriers, a process that could take weeks or months to complete.

However, neither Peter nor Paul nor James nor any others mentioned in the Scriptures relied completely on long distance communication methods. The letters were generally sent with other people who were to live among the recipients and help them with any problems they may have. Thus, the long distance communication was combined with personal interaction.

In fact, in many of Paul’s letters, instead of simply telling his readers what to do, he would remind them of how he himself had lived while he was among them. Thus, the letters were only part of an ongoing process of discipleship that included past interaction and present interaction. In other words, these people knew one another face-to-face, not just through letters.

With the advantages of today’s global connectivity, it is easy to lose sight of the importance of face-to-face interaction. As we help people walk with Christ, no written words – no matter how eloquent – can replace a living example.

It’s easy to hide behind a computer screen and never interact with others face-to-face. We must never allow our “online” ministry to replace the process of building mutually discipling relationships with other people that God brings into our lives. In fact, internet ministry should work to supplement – not replace – our service to other people in our neighborhoods, schools, workplaces, etc.

So, as we attempt to disciple people using online resources, we must remember that internet ministry – as with other types of long distance communication – works best when it is accompanied by face-to-face, personal interaction, either with us or with other Christians who can demonstrate a maturing faith by example.

(This post is also published on the author’s blog at “The Assembling of the Church.”)

In my previous post, “Internet Ministry: What is it?,” I defined “internet ministry” as follows:

“Internet ministry” is the use of online services, apps, functions, and technologies in order to serve people with the intention of helping those people grow in maturity towards Christ.

What what kind of service can be included in “internet ministry”? Is this evangelism or discipleship?

The short answer is, “Yes.”

First, in Scripture, evangelism is part of discipleship. “Discipleship” is simply the process of helping someone live in a manner that honors Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. “Discipleship” is helping someone else mature in Christ.

Evangelism is the process of proclaiming the gospel with someone or some group. This is the first step of discipling that person or group.

Note that evangelism is different from apologetics. Apologetics is presenting arguments in support of one’s beliefs in order to show that those beliefs are reasonable, cohesive, coherent, and consistent. So, apologetics may or may not include a presentation of the good news.

Evangelism, on the other hand, focuses on the good news of Jesus Christ and the fundamentals of trusting Christ for salvation and life. As such, evangelism is part of the process of helping someone live as a disciple of Jesus Christ – that is, discipleship.

Thus, internet ministry – if it is truly ministry (“service”) – is a part of the process of discipling others. This process begins with evangelism, but must not end there. Remembering that “ministry” includes interaction with others, “internet ministry” must continue beyond evangelism to helping the new believer follow Jesus more closely – that is, to mature in Christ.

(Note: I believe this is true of all evangelism, not just online evangelism: Evangelism must include the intention of continuing the discipling process.)

So, an “internet ministry” (or any type of service) that focuses on proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ to unbelievers must include the further service of helping new believers grow and mature. Why? Because our goal as disciples of Jesus Christ is not to evangelize (only), but also to make disciples. Our goal is not converts, but disciples.

When we proclaim the gospel to someone, we are (whether we realize it or not) beginning the first step of discipleship. So, when we proclaim the good news, we should understand that we’re asking the person or people to begin to share our lives with us so that we can help one another grow in maturity in Christ.

Yes, there will be occasions when these types of ongoing discipling relationships are not possible. But they should be the exception, not the rule. We should not plan to use the internet only to serve people through evangelism. Instead, we should understand that evangelism should include further discipleship, and so include discipleship in our plans to serve people.

Jesus told his apostles, “As you go, disciple all nations…” (Matthew 28:19-20). If this command applies to us (and I think it does), then we should seek to disciple other people wherever we go. If we go across the oceans, we should seek to make disciples, even if that includes evangelism. If we go across the street, we should seek to make disciples, even if that includes evangelism.

And, if we go online, we should seek to make disciples, even if that includes evangelism.

(This post is also published on the author’s blog at “The Assembling of the Church.”)

Expositional series tend to be longer than 4-6 weeks, so how do you work with the calendar? There’s no easy answer, but here are 3 things I do every time I’m planning a longer expositional teaching series:

1. Pick my start date - Pick a good start that date that will naturally draw people to come out. February, Easter, Mother’s Day, 2 weeks after Labor Day are all good Sundays to kick off an expositional series with momentum.

2. Know how long the series is going to be – Plan out your messages in advance. I spent 8 months teaching Revelation, but I know what was going to be taught each week of the series. This helps you know if you need to break from the series to do a holiday message and when you need to start prepping for your next series of messages.

3. End on a Sunday that makes sense - Don’t end a series on a day that you could be building momentum. Instead, have the series end on a day that makes sense. That might mean having a guest speaker so your series ends a week later. I wouldn’t stretch out the series needlessly, but you can lengthen a series by 1 or 2 weeks simply by having guest speakers not continue in your series when you’re not in the pulpit.

A couple of months ago, I was asked to wrote a post about internet ministry. Since I was preparing to leave for Ethiopia, I said that I would write the post after I returned. As I was studying and thinking about the topic, my post turned into a series of posts.

In this first post, I want to define what I mean by the term “internet ministry.” Now, to be completely honest, this is my definition. While my definition may be similar to others, I wanted to define the phrase in a way that express what I think about ministry itself. So, I’ll begin my definition with the term “ministry.”

As many, many scholars have pointed out, the English term “ministry” comes from the same Greek term as the English term “service.” “Ministry” is “service” and “service” is “ministry.” In the New Testament, there is not difference. So, in my definition there is no difference either. “Internet ministry” is “internet service.”

But, serving whom? In Scripture, service is also directed toward other people.While it may be beneficial to do something that benefits only yourself, this is not service. For example, if I write a book, but do not show it to anyone, it is not an act of service. It only because a possible act of service when I then share that book with others. So, “ministry” or “service” is directed toward others and interact with others in some way.

Thus, “internet ministry” is “internet service directed toward and interacting with other people.”

Now, what about the “internet” part of the phrase “internet ministry?” For this series, I will include any technology, app, or function that uses the internet as “internet.” That may seem obvious, but this means that both email and cell phone apps could be included in the phrase “internet ministry.”

On the other hand, simply having a computer program does not mean that I would include that program in the phrase “internet.” For example, I often use BibleWorks, but I would not include that software package in the term “internet.”

There is at least one more statement that needs to be made about “internet ministry.” I’m writing this from the perspective of a child of God – from someone who desires to live as a disciple of Jesus Christ. As such, my intentions in serving others is so that those other people will be drawn to the love of God and begin following him as well. In other words, I want to see people grow in maturity toward Jesus Christ as the ultimate goal.

So, I could a hungry person food as an act of service. But, as a child of God, I also give them that food to demonstrate the love of God and to attract them to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. This idea is not found in the terms “ministry” or “service” but should always be found in the life and actions of a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Thus, as a Christian, my idea of “internet ministry” must include the idea of helping someone grow in their understanding of God and in maturity in Christ.

So, “internet ministry” is the use of online services, apps, functions, and technologies in order to serve people with the intention of helping those people grow in maturity towards Christ.

1. Positiveness: The ability to work with and see people and situations in a positive way.
    
2. Servanthood: The willingness to submit, play team ball and follow the leader.
    
3. Growth Potential: A hunger for personal growth and development; the ability to keep growing as the job expands.
    
4. Follow-Through: The determination to get the job done completely and with consistency.
    
5. Loyalty: The willingness to always put the leader and the organization above personal desires.
    
6. Resiliency: The ability to bounce back when problems arise.
    
7. Integrity: Trustworthiness and solid character; consistent words and walk.
    
8. "Big Picture" Mind Set: The ability to see the whole organization and all of its needs.
    
9. Discipline: The willingness to do what is required regardless of personal mood.
    
10. Gratitude: An attitude of thankfulness that becomes a way of life. 

Follow these steps to create a fun and productive blog to promote your writing and your freelance writing business.

Step 1. Determine a concept for your blog. What are you blogging about?

Step 2. Decide if you are blogging for profit or for fun. If you’re blogging for profit, how? Affiliate income? AdSense? Are you marketing your own products? Determine this before you get started.

Step 3. Name your blog. Don’t forget to optimize your name for search engine success.

Step 4. Find a host. Blogger.com, wordpress.com, host it yourself, or your even your own website hosting company may have blog software.

Step 5. Establish a regular posting schedule, and set time aside to get it done. There’s nothing more disappointing for a regular visitor or fan than to have his favorite blog drop off the face of the earth. Be realistic about your schedule. If you can blog every day, great. If not, plan to blog at least once a week. Any less and your blog won’t be able to sustain long term interest.

Step 6. Post! Try to keep a regular posting schedule so that you can connect with your readers regularly and keep them coming back for more.

Step 7. Promote your blog ! .Promoting your blog is just like promoting any online business. Include links to your blog in every online communication. Tag your posts so the search engines can find them and trade blog posts with relevant businesses to generate interest.

Procrastination – probably the number one cause for people to be disorganized, for not achieving what they want, for not being the best they could be. What people don’t realize, however, is you only need the right tools to conquer it.

Let’s brush away the reasons why you might be procrastinating and we will basically leave you with no excuse to simply get on with it.

"I haven’t got the time right now."

This is the most popular excuse for procrastinators. The thing is you are probably right. You have not got the whole block of time it takes to tackle the spare room, or the whole of the ironing pile, or the complete reorganization of the kitchen. But you have got 10 minutes, or maybe even 20 or 30. And that is all it takes to make a start. Start by sorting through one box, ironing 10 or 20 items, tackling one single drawer. And if you do that every day, you will realize that you are making slow but steady progress.

If you find yourself still procrastinating, then there must be other, deeper rooted reasons behind that. These possible other reasons fall into two categories, ones concerning the project itself, the others your personality style.

First, let’s look at the project itself. The project might be perceived as:

1. Threatening
2. Too difficult
3. Boring
4. Impossible to finish
5. Waste of time

1. If a project or the outcome of the project is perceived as threatening, thoughts like "I’m in trouble if I get this wrong" might be going through your head. In this case a natural reaction is not to start the project at all or not to progress beyond a certain point so as to avoid failure. In cases like this make sure you have all the facts right.

Ask questions:

"What is the worst thing that could happen – realistically?" "How likely is this to happen?"

"What exactly do I need to do to get it right?"

"Have I got all the skills and abilities to do this project?" – If the answer is no, then you should probably consider to get someone to help.

2. If you think a project is too difficult, you might never start it. Sit down and think about what is difficult. Are you just unsure of how to start and how to break the project into smaller manageable chunks? Find an expert on the subject, someone who has done a similar project before and ask for help.

3. If you think a project is boring, try and make it more interesting, See how much you can achieve in a certain amount of time. And then for the next chunk, see if you can beat your previous record. Or put some of your favorite music on while you work.

4. If you think a project is impossible to finish, either it’s the type of project that literally never ends (like housework) or it is a very large project. Again, breaking it up into smaller portions will help. Set yourself a daily target.

5. Finally, if you consider the project a waste of time, re-evaluate it. Does it really need to be done? Is it simply one of those jobs that need to be redone on a regular basis like tidying up or ironing. Use one of the solutions from number 4 to get the job done. Some jobs do seem to be a waste of time but we would sink into crud and chaos if we didn’t do them at all.

The second set of reasons is to do with someone’s personality. These could be:

1. Perfectionism
2. Thriving on adrenaline
3. Lack of self confidence
4. Internalized negatives
5. Externalized positives

Let’s look at these hurdles to getting things done in detail, see what they are about and how they manifest and what you can do about them.

1. A lot of people have a perfectionist trait. This kind of mindset is fine if that perfect condition is feasible and you have a good track record of starting and finishing your projects. If you don’t, then your perfectionism is probably an excuse for not starting the project at all.

2. "I work better under pressure." We all know people like that and we might have used that phrase ourselves. Again, there are two ways of dealing with this.

Number one, it’s a good excuse not to start until the last possible moment, and it’s simply a way to put things off. Divide your project into segments and do one each day until it’s done.

Number two, if you literally work better under pressure, and some of us do, then make the project more challenging. Set mini-goals with a shorter deadline. This way you keep yourself on your toes but are still making timely progress towards your end goal.

Also, get a project buddy. Tell someone about your project, and the deadline. Make yourself accountable. And be sure that certain someone is a person who will check up on you.

3. If you suffer from a lack of self confidence and feel that you simply can’t tackle the project, find out what the first thing is you need to do to start the project. Do that, then find out the next step and so on. Also, divide the project into smaller chunks.

4. Internalizing negatives means that you always look for faults within yourself. If you do this, you will quite easily come up with negative emotions, such as "I’m lazy that’s why I don’t get things done" or "I’m stupid that’s why I don’t know where to start". I can assure you that none of this is true. You might lack motivation or not be an expert on a particular subject but you can easily do something about that.

Think of a treat that you reward yourself with once you have completed the first part of the task and then keep rewarding yourself for every bit that you achieve until the project is completed. Also, there is no shame in asking people for help and advice on how to tackle a particular project.

5. Externalized positives are usually the reverse side of the same coin as internalized negatives. It means that you attribute anything positive that you do to outside influences and not to your skills and abilities, such as "I was lucky last time and it was easy. I could never do that again." It is usually a sign of lack of self confidence.

Achieving something has most often nothing to do with luck. It is more likely to be the result of hard work and skill. And when you found something easy then you had the skills and talent to do it and nothing less.

Any more excuses? Or did we cover them all and showed you how to conquer them? So what’s stopping you now?

** To comment on this article or to read comments about this article,
go here.

About the Author:

Isi Dixon is a Professional Organizer and Motivational Speaker in the Nottingham area of Great Britain. She specializes in helping homes and small businesses make more of their time and space. If you would like to find out more, please visit her website http://www.wellorganised.org or her blog http://wellorganised.blogspot.com.

In Him,
JMb <><
Bishop James I Feel God Brown)

Charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity

New survey results from Barna Research show that a quarter of American Christians identify themselves as charismatic or Pentecostal. Those fitting Pentecostal/charismatic criteria stated that they considered themselves to “have been filled with the Holy Spirit,” and that God has given them at least one of the charismatic gifts, such as tongues, prophecy or healing. Overall, that group represents 21 percent of all American adults and 25 percent of those who describe themselves as Christian.

Baby Busters (ages 26 to 44) were the generation of self-identified Christians most likely to claim a charismatic or Pentecostal connection (29%), slightly higher than the 26 percent among the Mosaics (ages 18 to 25) and the 25 percent among the eldest of Americans (25% among those 64 and older). Surprisingly, the generation that introduced America to “Jesus freaks” and other marks of spiritual intensity — i.e., Baby Boomers (now 45 to 63) — is the generation currently least likely to identify as charismatic or Pentecostal (20%).

In terms of beliefs and attitudes, there are marked differences between the generations. The two youngest generations — the Mosaics (56%) and Busters (49%) — were more likely than were Boomers (44%) or Elders (30%) to believe that “the charismatic gifts, such as tongues and healing, are active and valid today.” However, age was a less consistent indicator of people’s awareness of spiritual gifts. Mosaic Christians were the most likely to be aware of such gifts, while Buster Christians were the least aware.

Regarding the best-known and most controversial of the charismatic gifts, the spiritual prayer language known as speaking in tongues, younger Christians were more likely to believe that tongues are “valid and active today.” In total, 43 percent of Mosaics and Busters believe either that God provides every Christian with the ability to speak in tongues or that God gives the gift to some, but not to others. This compares to 37 percent among Boomers and Elders combined. However, among young believers, just seven percent of Mosaic Christians and nine percent of Buster Christians had ever spoken in tongues, compared to 13 percent of Boomer believers and nine percent of Elder Christians.

The generations also demonstrated contrasting perspectives about the Holy Spirit. Even though they have skepticism about the charismatic and Pentecostal expressions of Christianity, older believers stood out from younger Christians for their likelihood of saying that they “consistently allow their lives to be guided by the Holy Spirit.” And, in spite of their openness to the charismatic and Pentecostal elements of the faith, 68 percent of Mosaic Christians said they believe that the third person of the trinity is just a “symbol of God’s power or presence, but is not a living entity.”

Click here to view the full report at Barna Research.

More than two-thirds (69 percent) of Americans believe the problem of hunger has increased in the United States during the past year, and women are more likely than men to have this sentiment (76 percent vs. 61 percent). In addition, nearly nine out of 10 (87 percent) are concerned about hunger in the United States, including nearly half (46 percent) who are very concerned about it.

“Despite the early indicators of an economic recovery, lingering unemployment and other lagging effects of the recession are causing more Americans than ever to go hungry,” said Jean Kinsey, a professor of applied economics at the University of Minnesota, and director of The Food Industry Center. “As the results of this survey indicate, hunger is a distressing and humiliating circumstance, but Americans agree it is not too hopeless to try to help.”

To help combat the problem of hunger in the United States, most people have donated both food (75 percent) and money (61 percent), and three in 10 have done volunteer work. The majority (80 percent) agree it is not hopeless to try to help eradicate hunger around the world and nearly two-thirds (65 percent) at least somewhat agree that Americans have a responsibility to help people in other countries who do not have enough food to eat.

“We are encouraged to learn that, despite troubling statistics about the number of hungry people around the globe, most Americans still believe that by working together, we can help end the problem of hunger,” said Craven.

Survey findings also outlined additional trends among Americans:

* A great majority of Americans (92 percent) at least somewhat agree that children should receive hunger relief first, no matter where they live.
* A great majority of Americans (92 percent) at least somewhat agree that, despite the recession in the United States, many people around the world are much worse off than Americans are.

As part of Hormel Foods’ commitment to hunger causes, the company made cash, in-kind and equipment donations totaling $3.9 million, and donated 81,000 pounds of protein, providing charitable meals for 430,000 people last year.

Methodology
The 2009 Hormel Hunger Survey was a telephone survey conducted Oct. 9-12, 2009 by Opinion Research Corp. The random sample included 1,003 American adults and the margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level. Hormel Foods acknowledges Jean Kinsey, a professor of applied economics at the University of Minnesota, and director of The Food Industry Center, for her input.
About Hormel Foods

Hormel Foods Corporation, based in Austin, Minn., is a multinational manufacturer and marketer of consumer-branded food and meat products, many of which are among the best known and trusted in the food industry. The company leverages its extensive expertise, innovation and high competencies in pork and turkey processing and marketing to bring quality, value-added brands to the global marketplace. The company is a member of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, and in each of the past 10 years, Hormel Foods was named one of “The 400 Best Big Companies in America” by Forbes magazine. The company enjoys a strong reputation among consumers, retail grocers, foodservice and industrial customers for products highly regarded for quality, taste, nutrition, convenience and value. For more information, visit http://www.hormelfoods.com