The Continued Rise of the Me Generation

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Feb 27, 2007 in Church, Culture | 7 comments

Great article from CNN Study: Vanity on the rise among college students

Today's college students are more narcissistic and self-centered than their predecessors, according to a comprehensive new study by five psychologists who worry that the trend could be harmful to personal relationships and American society.

"We need to stop endlessly repeating 'You're special' and having children repeat that back," said the study's lead author, Professor Jean Twenge of San Diego State University. "Kids are self-centered enough already."

The standardized inventory, known as the NPI, asks for responses to such statements as "If I ruled the world, it would be a better place," "I think I am a special person" and "I can live my life any way I want to."

The self-esteem project continues to proves itself to be a failure.  The more you think of yourself and how happy you should be, the worse you tend to feel.   As believers we must recognize that much of what is called issues such as self-esteem, looks, codependency, mid-life crisis – these infirmities are not much more than the pains of selfishness and ultimately sin.  Rather than self-focus, Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter 16, that “if anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.  Our mission as a church is to promote humble, honest, redemptive community in Jesus Christ among the people who attend. Only the gospel addresses our core problems and frees us from the bondage of looking to ourself as the answer.

(HT: David Fairchild's post Study: Vanity on the rise among college students)

Ideas for Church Websites and using Technology on Mission

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Feb 27, 2007 in Church, Culture, General Technology | 3 comments

ChurchBIT (a group of people who are involved in and passionate about how to use technology for the church)  Here are some suggestions from discussions about ways to enhance a church website.

(1) Use stories in your community.  Eg. Watermark Testimonies

(2) Allow people to participate in 'journal- like' responsive writing.  Eg. a church 'reading through the Bible' plan (http://www.jointhejourney.com/).

The Journey" is a church-wide bible reading plan. Each day everyone who has joined the journey gets an email with a devotional that has been written by a member of the church. This has been going for about 3 years and I have seen a lot of fruit from this approach. This approach has fostered great discussion within our Body.  With everyone reading the same passage everyday, there have been several opportunities for questions/difference perspectives. I like the continuity that this approach provides.I also think that the daily  emails serve us a eAccountabilityPartner reminding you to get in the Word that day. Our church has a bi-monthly meeting that allows people to ask questions/process what they are reading in the "Journey."

(3) Find the right social networking sites to participate in. Eg. The Rock ISU

Our ministry (rockisu.com ) is focused primarily on college students at Iowa State University.  We have a reputation for "out advertising Coca-cola" as far as flyers, etc, but we rarely see visitors show up simply because they saw a flyer.  Flyers tend to act as a name-recognition driver (ask most people around our campus of 28,000, and they have heard of the Rock, even though our average attendance is only "130-give-or-take-20"), and event reminder for most people.

However, advertising events using Facebook, there have been several times we've seen folks with no other connection come to check The Rock out.

In the next couple of weeks, I am going to lead an advertising charge using Facebook, and attempt to track results by measuring average attendance over a couple of weeks and comparing it with pre-advertising numbers.  I'm also going to try to randomly sample new folks to get an idea of how they heard about the event.

Join ChurchBit to participate in these discussions.   Members include the founders of Church Marketing Sucks , Godbit, MyChurch Blog Ministry, Beta Church, Strategic Digital Outreach, Ekklesia 360, and the list goes on…

The Problem of Evil & the Fullness of God’s Attributes

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Feb 24, 2007 in Culture, Teaching | 6 comments

The Problem of Evil & Suffering was the topic of this months Men's Group at Kaleo Church.  I encourage you to visit David's site, as he put the study up and it an excellent work on the subject (philosophically, theologically & pastorally). 

One observation: David quotes a professor at Oxford by the name of John Mackie. Mackie states, "If God exists, there couldn’t be evil unless he would have a reason for justifying his permitting it."  And Mackie assumes God couldn't have a reason to justify this.  This reminded me how evil is necessary for us to understand God. Since we are created in God's image and are not like the angels, we have been created for a different purpose.  It is only through evil we are able to see God's mercy, grace, righteousness, justness, love, compassion, etc.  In light of eternity, we would not truly comprehend the fullness of God if we didn't go through this season.  (Now I say this knowing this is not the comment I'd give to someone experiencing suffering.  And the article clearly states it is wrong to deal with the problem of evil and suffering purely academically.  It must always be done with the heart of a pastor.)

Read the article, it begins:

Q-How can an all-powerful and all-good God allow evil and suffering in His world?

INTRODUCTION

This question has a long history. It is a question that is not asked in academia alone, but increasingly the man on the street is aware of this problem and is either seeking an answer out of genuine curiosity, or is using this problem as a way to bolster their reasoning for disbelief in the Christian God.

As we come to this problem and attempt to consider whether or not a solution is possible, let’s do so from a couple of different perspectives. Since this is as much a personal problem as it is a professional academic one, we should strive to understand how to handle this question from both angles.

We need to think of this problem at the level of the philosopher as well as a Christian or counselor. For me to give you tips and hints to disarm someone from a philosophical perspective without addressing this issue as a pastor or counselor who is seeking to reach the person is not only damaging, but has no warrant Scripturally.

Continue reading: Problem of Evil & Suffering

Are you in sales? Sales Book Recommendations & Notes

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Feb 23, 2007 in Church, Church Technology, Ekklesia, Monk Dev | 2 comments

Over the years I've done a lot of sales (staffing/recruiting, consulting, application development, websites, etc.).  Of course, most 'traditionally trained' sales people would now say, "Everything is sales" or "Everyone is in sales" but I digress. 

There are a few books I've thought are the best.  The first two by Heiman/Miller are 

The New Conceptual Selling: The Most Effective and Proven Method for Sales Planning

The New Strategic Selling: The Unique Sales System Proven Successful by the World's Best Companies

I have a document you can download (Conceptual & Strategic Selling notes WORD document ) that provides an overview with notes on these two books.  The document includes things like:

6 Keys Elements to Sales (Analytical Tools)

1. Buying Influences

2. Red Flags/Strengths 

3. The Buyers Perception of Reality 

4. Win/Results 

5. Ideal Customer Profile 

6. Sales Funnel 

3 Phases of a Sales Call

The Essential Sales Tasks 

5 Types of Questions during the Sales Call  

Another book I stumbled on recently is CustomerCentric Selling which I'm reading now.

How Big is Yours? (Blogging for Righteousness)

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Feb 23, 2007 in Church, Culture | 3 comments

One of the inevitable conversation moments that occurs when pastors (particularly church planters) gather is the question of size.  How big is your church?  Certainly there are times when size helps determine context, but often it seems to establish a pecking order among who hopes to learn from whom. The same can be said for blogging.  I was talking to one recovering addict recently who started blogging and became addicted to it.  Unfortunately, he wasn't addicted to the writing portion, but to the stats.  How many people have commented?  How many unique visitors today?  What can I do to get more?  His sense of worth (and right-standing) was determined by these numbers.   

It made me realize how quick I am to be proud and want to talk about the areas I'm having 'success' (as I define it of course.)  If the attendance from Sunday was low, maybe I had a big week at work, or I'll have a good blogging week, a post gets a lot  of attention or I get mentioned by a few other bloggers who link to me.  These things help me feel better.  It is sad how quickly we turn to functional Messiah's other than Jesus, the only one who truly can give us a righteousness that is perfect.  It is only through this gospel living that we can be truly humble and yet more courageous.  Daily I need to go read Preaching the Gospel to Myself.