“We have failed to address our own souls and our own sense of self. We have pointed the finger – analysed and critiqued church patterns, missional models and Christian culture, but have remained naive to the way in which we ourselves as individuals have co-opted by contemporary culture. For we carry within us viruses. Parasitical organisms which are capable of ruining all of our plans, of wounding, weakening and even destroying our movements, churches, communities, ministries”

Sayers

Exactly.
How many of those who seek reform within the church, do so from the frings, occaisionally throwing stones, occaisionally asking the church to support them financially, all the while…what we really need are those who commit themselves to the Body of Christ…fight for Her, protect Her….restore Her….seek for Her best and Her growth….
It may only take one of those within a local church to stick around and commit themselves..and earn the respect of those within it…to see Her rise up and take hold of what God lays before us. The fields are white for harvest…..

Prayer…………..God….that I would see this happen. Those far from God would find joy in Jesus, bring gifts and work to protect his name.

Its an interesting phenomen that I am a part of.

Like any electronic medium, it has its communication issues. Nothing beats a face to face conversation for understanding. Everything else falls short. God has designed us with the innate ability to read body language, tonal inflections, eye contact….or lack of…the ability to discern a whole raft of emotions….from sarcasm to spite.

However I do like the network aspect of it. To be able to be a part of peoples lives on a level you are comfortable with.

Someone commented that the only people on Facebook are pastors and women…I dont know what that said….but stacks of my mates are on Facebook…but a heck of a lot of them are pastors. I reckon Pastors are big on communication, connnection and networking.

“Hollywood does an incredible job of making fake things look real & Christians do an incredible job of making real things look fake.”
Phil Cooke’s Branding Faith H/T Kem Meyer

Matthew 1
18This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[c] because he will save his people from their sins.”
22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23″The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”[d]—which means, “God with us.”

What a beautiful piece of scripture….God with us. Reassuring, glorious, Creator, powerful, with us. Something to be thankful and contemplate….outside of the ‘silly season’.

What on earth did we do before the internet?
As the steep learning curve for Vegas continues, I found myself wanting to add some video effects to a loop I was making up for our new series.
What to do…google it of course. (Does anyone else use any other browser?)

There….found about 10 different You Tube and other videos which I could watch, showing me exactly what I needed to do…which is just as well because the help files are no good. They assume a lot of knowledge….Will show you the results just as soon as the file is rendered. Sony takes a lot longer to render videos that I have been used to, something to do with the greatly increased quality I suppose!

Here are the top five websites decided by me…with no real credibility….just my opinion.

5. Soul Purpose
Nice use of graphics, updated regularly. Good mix of info and graphics.

4. Crossroads Church
Love the graphics and subtle use of flash

3. Community Christian
Check out the ‘about us’ page for something really creative

2.Mars Hill
Whoever does the graphics for Driscoll…is one of the best. Mix of old school ideas with funky images.

1. Inglewood Community Church
Yes its mine, thats why its number one! Apart from that, it has great contemporary colours, creative design, updated regularly and gives the right impression of the church. Some websites you may get the idea the church is huuuuge, when in fact its not. This site accurately portrays us as we are.

Website tips
Dont use animated gifs.
Dont use music
Use a standard font through out Same colour, same font, two or three sizes only.
Use Colour sparingly.