Preachers and their Esoteric Language

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Jan 27, 2005 in Church, Sermon | 6 comments

Thousands of people who do not know Jesus Christ attend church each week. Most of these people never received the christianese Sunday school training that began with large felt boards. As preachers deliver their messages and the members back-slap each other with approval, many of these visitors walk away without any clearer understanding of Jesus Christ. Further, many preachers deliver sermons where once Christians concepts have morphed into meaninglessness.

Some Blogs I’ve visted recently…

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Jan 27, 2005 in Culture | 2 comments

I went on a blog journey the other day…just random clicks and reading, here are some of the places I visited…

http://odyssey.blogs.com/odyssey/
http://www.challies.com/
http://internetmonk.com/
http://todddennison.blogspot.com/
http://www.themasterspen.com/
http://www.evangelicaloutpost.com/
http://calvarywoodstock.blogspot.com/
http://blogs.kennyandkarin.com/patrick/
http://fracturedreflections.blogspot.com
http://sodsbrood.com
http://missionthink.typepad.com
http://www.dashhouse.com/
http://bloggingteen.blogspot.com/

Many voices in the conversation. Some louder and more often but none-the-less I find it interesting to listen to what people are speaking about. It was also encouraging to hear such a swarm of Christians talking about how to be missional in our culture. (This was the unifying factor in most of these blogs) By the way, check out http://bloggingteen.blogspot.com/ this kid is 15 years old and writes about issues more important than most 30-year-old people wrestle with. (Titles of posts include, I Crucified Jesus, Calloused Hearts and Jesus.) Also there is a link to his 9-year-old sister who is journaling her Bible reading, check out a post…

Bible Reading
I got a bible for my birthday this year and now I read it every day. Right now I am on Exodous 39.
I just read about the commands fo God, telling Moses how to make the Priestly Garments and how to set up the Tabernacle. I only have one more chapter before I reach the next book, Leviticus.

How about them apples?

Rolling Stone denies the Bible

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Jan 26, 2005 in Culture | 2 comments

Rolling Stone magazine declined to run an advertisement for a new translation of the Bible aimed at young people, the nation’s largest Bible publisher said Wednesday.

On Tuesday, USA Today quoted Kent Brownridge, general manager of Wenner Media, as saying his staff first saw the ad copy last week, and “we are not in the business of publishing advertising for religious messages.” CNN article >

Reflection: Jesus in the Margins

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Jan 26, 2005 in Church, Culture | 1 comment

This book has me thinking about how Jesus ministered to the margins. Somehow, somewhere the evangelical North American church veered left of the road Christ called us to. We need to return to a place where sinners (read all of us, not the ‘unchurched’) can walk into a church and instead of saying, “I can’t relate to anybody here. There are so perfect, proper and sin-free”, they would say, “wow. I am so glad I came. These people have shown me such love. They are real people, warts and all. They aren’t in denial of all of these problems but show me hope that Jesus brought to people like us.” Just some thoughts.

Christ Lutheran Church

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Jan 26, 2005 in Church Technology, Sheep&Goats | 0 comments

The column for this week is Christ Lutheran Church…