Moving from Culturally Relevant to Shaping Culture

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Dec 12, 2005 in Church, Culture | 3 comments

I hear enough discussion about churches who want to be ‘culturally relevant’. As a church, we want to go past this to being an active participate in the shaping of the culture around us. I just had a great discussion with my friend Eric Brown (Pastor @ Imago Dei in Portland) and I’m going to think about this for a bit.

What are ways churches can shape the culture around them rather than just being culturally relevant?

Using the Internet to Spread the Gospel and Gather People to your Church

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Dec 12, 2005 in Church, Church Technology, Ekklesia | 1 comment

This fall, six couples joined Kaleo Church‘s eight week pre-marriage class. The remarkable thing is, only one of these couples had attended Kaleo for more than three-months prior to the class. The other couples sought out a church because they decided to get married. Marriage is one of those events that cause people to reflect on their life, and frequently, people want to find a church to help them in this season. These people often bring (drag?) their non-Christian fianc?© to church with them. It is in this moment, that the church has a great opportunity to communicate the gospel. In our case, two of those who attended became Christians while in the class.

Pre-marriage classes are just one of the many opportunities your church has to gather people into Kingdom mission. There are numerous windows in people’s lives such as pregnancy, moving, job loss, children growing up, marriage, death, counseling, etc. But let me explain how 10 people joined our church using pre-marriage as the example. Several months ago, Kaleo created a page on our website about San Diego pre-marriage counseling. When couples in our area search for san diego pre-marriage counseling, Kaleo ranks #1 on Google [and who doesn't use Google?]. It is through this that all five of the couples found us on the internet. (More couples contacted us but opted against our 8-week Pre-Marriage course once they learned about our adherence to Scripture).

This is just one technique to use the internet for the spread of the gospel.

Case Study: How you can gather people to your church through search engine optimization for premarriage or any other ideas.

Trading bibles for porn in San Antonio

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Dec 12, 2005 in Church, Culture | 0 comments

Crazy article I saw while researching an article I am writing for the San Diego Reader….
A group of atheists at the University of Texas in San Antonio is trying to tempt college kids into trading their Bibles for pornography. It’s part of a program called Smut for Smut sponsored by the student organization called Atheist Agenda. On Monday, MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson welcomed the group’s president, Thomas Jackson, to ‘The Situation.”

Full article @ MSNBC: Trading bibles for porn

Church Planters Blog

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Dec 11, 2005 in Church, Church Planting | 0 comments

Goodmanson.com was added to PlanterBlogs.com… PlanterBlogs.com is an aggregator of the personal blogs of a diverse group of church planters. It is an opportunity for current and potential church planters to learn from the experiences of their peers. This collection of blogs is meant to offer a range of views in planting style, personality, and theological background.

Calvin's Influence on my life

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Dec 11, 2005 in Church | 0 comments

Calvin has always had a profound impact on my life. I recall when I was in 5th grade, one of my first book reports centered on Calvin. While I was young, I felt like I could live vicariously through his life and trevails. With my birthday coming up, my family got together and purchased the complete works of Calvin, much to my surprise. My encouragement to people working in the ministry is to get to know and appreciate some time reading Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson, it’s a necessary break in the labors of the ministry.

Blender Magazine: Church & Culture

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Dec 10, 2005 in Church, Culture | 2 comments

Mars Hill received a 5-page spread in the new Blender Magazine

The Emo-Driven Life
Churches like Mars Hill in Seattle are quietly upending conventional notions of Christian rock by featuring devotional bands with an indie-rock sensibility—and the tattooed hipsters are turning up by the thousands.

Article only in the print magazine, you’ll have to pick up the December issue to read it.