My Apologies
4/22/2010 | Author: RCW
So, apparently if you subscribe to this blog, you might have noticed that it had quite a "spasm" and filled some of your in-boxes with emails.  I'm so sorry, guys.  Apparently my blog suffered from a brief case of turrets.  The problem is cleared now. 

Maybe it is acceptable to turn this into a lesson....

Here you go: Don't put all your faith is technology because it WILL let you down.  Technology can be a great friend and a little time later your worst enemy.  Just ask everyone who was thrilled that they bought an HD DVD player at a great price around Christmas and January of 2007...
Loving God With All Our Mind
4/21/2010 | Author: RCW
Alright, so if I haven't thrown enough resources at people at my workplace and through this blog, I must beg your forgiveness and continue the trend.

At the church I work for, I have recently recruited a professor from a nearby university to come teach a class for our lay equipping ministry.  The class is essentially about what it means to take seriously the command we've been given in Scripture to love the Lord our God with all our mind.
Constant Reason to Celebrate
4/18/2010 | Author: RCW
Easter is (like Christmas) never really truly “over.”  The reality that Christ has risen is just as real today as it was two weeks ago as we celebrated Easter Sunday. 
Cool Idea
4/15/2010 | Author: RCW
Recently I was checking out some different websites of people who are in my same profession...people who are responsible for trying to help Christians (particularly Christian adults) grow in their faith in order that they might mature as believers in Jesus Christ and follow after Christ with all that they are.

To be certain, if you know me, you'd know that this is by no means meant to be a "plug" or endorsement of any church or ministry.*  However, a great SIMPLE idea is this 10 for 10 challenge:     
       http://10for10challenge.org  (Just click on the video in the center that reads "What is 10 for 10?)

If you can't watch the video, don't fret.  The 5 ideas in the video are listed below:
  • Memorize 10 scriptures this year
  • Serve as a volunteer in 10 ministry projects
  • Give 10 percent of your income to your local church
  • Spend 10 minutes a day with God via Bible Study and prayer
  • Share Christ with 10 people

So, what do you think?  Could you manage to do one or all of these 5 spiritual disciplines in a year's time?  To some people, it might seem elementary, but for others, it is just the small starting point that they need to begin practicing and doing God's word.

"But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.  For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it."  ~ James 1:22-25 NLT ~

-RCW

P.S.  *This could never be an endorsement because I, like the rest of my generation, am so anti-establishment, anti-propaganda, cynical, anti-schmooze, anti-infomercial, anti-artificial, anti-inauthentic.  (Although incidentally the church that this came from is a good church - my wife and I even did some of our premarital counseling there).
P.S. About Easter...
4/10/2010 | Author: RCW
Some of you may be wondering why I let Easter come and go without having posted anything. Here is a goodie for you.

Click the link below to view a lecture given from Dr. Gary Habermas (Ph.D in History from Michigan State University). It is an excellent presentation in 11 parts. Watch them all in order and you won't be sorry!

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=0ED405DB5D84F7D5 

-RCW
I have already received some feedback from my post yesterday.

First, the person brought to my attention how ridiculously long the entry was. (A realization that I already had observed for myself).  My sincere apologies for being so verbose.  :)

Next, the person said that as they read, they could see where my agenda was headed.

This has prompted me to clarify that I did not aim to poke fun, be rude, or mock Christians (much).  I can do this because I am one.  Rather, my posting was a way of bringing into focus for both myself and others that which is truly essential for the new believer.  We try all too often to make certain things important that are not.  We expect a new Christian to suddenly follow a long list of dos and don'ts that (to us) are basic or inherent for someone who wants to follow Christ.  It was my purpose to challenge all of us to think about what is essential for the early stages of someone's discipleship.


One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, "What commandment is the foremost of all?"  Jesus answered, "The foremost is, 'HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.' "The second is this, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these."  ~Mark 12:28-31~
 
-RCW
Okay, does anyone truly know what some of the most important first steps are for a new follower of Christ?  Imagine that you've just led someone to Christ...perhaps they even live in another country and come from a different culture.  What are the first things that you think they should do, know, or learn to embrace?

Why don't I let you sort through some options below.  Go through the list and mark (or for you lazies, just make a mental note of):
         A) Items that seem to be of foremost importance,
         B) Things that are important but not urgent,
         C) What seems to be less important, and finally
         D) What seems not to be important at all!

Below are some options: 

  • Be baptized
  • Start a daily quiet time
  • Read the Bible daily
  • Memorize scripture
  • Find a church that teaches the Bible 
  • Tell someone else about Jesus
  • Invite a Friend to Church
  • Write out their personal testimony
  • Find a small group
  • Attend a Bible study
  • Keep a journal
  • Spend time in prayer daily
  • Learn core doctrines and essential beliefs of Christianity
  • Read a good Christian book
  • Start volunteering and serving in a church
  • Attend a weekly worship service with other believers
  • Begin taking communion
  • Read a Christian self-help book about their most pressing issues or questions
  • Go on a mission trip
  • Share Christ with all their family members
  • Have all their children baptized or sprinkled
  • Give money to their church
  • Start caring about other people
  • Sing in a church choir or join a praise band
  • Learn to play a harp
  • Greet their brothers and sisters (fellow church members) with a holy kiss
  • Handle snakes
  • Speak in tongues
  • Teach a "Sunday School" class for little children
  • Learn to play praise songs on a guitar
  • Purchase a Bible commentary or Bible dictionary
  • Avoid controversy or scandal at all cost
  • Make sure to be liked by all.  Don't be too opinionated.
  • Find a good translation of the Bible that they can understand
  • Act holy
  • Never tell someone that their interpretation of the Bible is wrong
  • Use "thee," "thou," "thy," and "thine" in everyday language
  • Wear a WWJD bracelet
  • Buy and wear Christian t-shirts
  • Burn any secular music that they own
  • Get rid of all rated R movies
  • Give up drinking
  • Give up smoking
  • Give up use of illegal drugs
  • Start making disciples
  • Read the entire Bible from cover to cover
  • Go to confession
  • Walk down an aisle to pray with a pastor
  • Visit the sick in the hospital
  • Sponsor a small child from a poverty-stricken land
  • Throw a party inviting all their Christian friends
  • Start making Christian friends
  • Discern their spiritual gifts
  • Learn how to study their Bible
  • Lead other Christians
  • Try to convert their entire workplace to Christianity
  • Visit people in a nursing home
  • Invite a widow from church over for dinner
  • Go to the homes of any new visitors to the church to chat and pray
  • Become a deacon or elder
  • Serve on a church committee
  • Become a pastor
  • Give up their job to become a preacher
  • Sell their possessions and give the money to the poor
  • Camp out on a hill and wait for Jesus to return
  • Feed the homeless
  • Buy Christian music
  • Watch Christian movies
  • Stop using foul language
  • Try to be perfect
  • Try to be a good person or a good Christian
  • Always smile
  • Shake people's hands at church
  • Become an extrovert rather than an introvert
  • Be nice to everyone and never raise their voice
  • Stop being friends with anyone who is not a Christian
  • Take a class at a seminary or theological school
  • Rearrange their priorities to honor God
  • Love their neighbor as themselves
  • Love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength
  • Sing a lot (both out loud and to themselves)
  • Become a reader
  • Give money to missionaries
  • Take a concern for their family (Love and provide for their spouse and children)
  • Get and keep a job
  • Judge others
  • Be a really serious person all the time
  • Don't laugh at dirty jokes or approve of anyone that does
  • Don't dance
  • Don't get any tattoos and try to have any current tattoos removed
  • Give up television
  • Don't eat meat during lent
  • Always attend a church on Christmas and Easter
  • Join the PTA
  • Add the prefix "Christian" to their job title (if they were an artist, they should try to be a Christian artist; if they were a lawyer, they should try to be a Christian lawyer, etc.)
  • Ask someone to help them grow in their faith
  • Try to be healthier
  • Rely entirely on the Holy Spirit to lead 
  • Vote Republican
  • Send out Christian forwards and chain letters to the entire email address book
  • Study intensely what the Bible teaches about the end times
  • Shop at Christian bookstores
  • Give up eating pork
  • Give your business to Christian businesses (Eat at Chick-Fil-A and shop at Hobby Lobby)
  • Quit buying gifts for Christmas or hunting eggs at Easter
  • Scorn the affairs of this world and set the mind on eternal things above
  • Raise their kids to be Christians
  • Drag their unbelieving spouse to church and pressure them to convert
  • Fast for forty days (or at least a few days here and there)
  • Eat only vegetables
  • Learn Greek and/or Hebrew and/or Latin
  • Quit dating their unbelieving boyfriend/girlfriend
  • Quit cheating on their spouse
  • Post scriptures around the house...especially on decorative pieces like doormats, pictures, picture frames, etc.
  • Advise them never to let anyone know anything is wrong
  • Leaving their past behind, have them discern their new calling from God and their new vocation
  • Change their name
  • Have them adopt American culture, habits, and customs if they are from a different land or culture
  • Learn to savor and enjoy life
  • Be or become very prude in the bedroom
  • Flee sexual immorality
  • Disassociate from certain previous negative influences
  • Find a Christian friend to be an accountability partner
  • Become a motivational speaker
  • Start a Christian non-profit organnization
  • Read books by C.S. Lewis
  • Listen to as many sermons as possible
  • Learn to like old hymns
  • Develop serious opinions about church and share them frequently
  • Meet with a pastor
  • Ask questions to fellow Christians
  • Dislike homosexuals and prositutes
  • Condemn adultery and adulterers
  • Drop out of the secular college and enroll in a Christian one
  • Move children to private school rather than public
  • Homeschool the children
  • Take a marriage enrichment class
  • Donate old clothes to a shelter
  • Adopt an orphan
  • Renew the wedding vows
  • Flee from materialism and superficiality
  • Be eternally optimiistic
  • Discover the power of positive thinking
  • Be passive
  • Be anti-war and/or anti-guns
  • Don't argue with anyone on any occasion
  • Be submissive to everyone else
  • Respect God-given authorities including government leaders
  • Always vote in elections (and usually after careful research)
  • Develop an opinion about everything
  • Become quick to listen and slow to speak
  • Don't gossip
  • Don't lie
  • Don't steal 
  • Practice animal sacrifices
  • Take up yoga
  • De-clutter the home
  • Always keep a tidy house
  • Don't ever show sadness
  • Endure pain stoically, knowing that God is allowing it, so it must be good
  • Never question Christian beliefs or doubt God
  • Have perfect attendance at church
  • Jog daily
  • Give up all personal ambitions and goals
  • Join a convent
  • Divorce spouse because "they hinder, discourage, weaken, challenge or suppress spiritual growth"
  • Wear cross jewelry
  • Put a statue of a saint, an apostle, or Mary in the lawn
  • Make the doorbell and your telephone ring play Christian songs
  • Take notes during sermons
  • Jot notes here and there in the Bible
  • Hang out in Christian coffeehouses
  • Go to Christian concerts
  • Listen to Christian radio & Christian talk radio
  • Feel severe guilt for any wrongdoing
  • Expect moral excellence from others (especially Christians and most especially from pastors)
  • Practice the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, self-control)
  • Be everyone's friend and nobody's enemy
  • Don't be lazy
  • Do your job well (Be a good employee)
  • Treat any personal employees well (Be a good employer)
  • Show mercy to everyone
  • Forgive everyone of everything
  • Remove all memory of the past
  • Develop a regular seat or spot at which to sit during the church worship service.  Challenge anyone that might try to fill it.
  • Sing all of your sentences
  • Flee from pessimists
  • Give up sodas
  • Manage weight and physical appearance well
  • Shower at least once per day
  • Keep a day-timer and follow it to the tee
  • Be responsible
  • Be punctual
  • Be friendly
  • Always be considerate and hospitable toward newcomers, foreigners, visitors, the less fortunate, etc.
  • Go on Christian vacations
  • Feel guilty relaxing
  • Master the interpretation of scripture
  • Study theology and theologians
  • Scorn philosophy
  • Embrace the study of philosophy
  • Change college major from a secular field to a Christian one
  • Read Christian magazines
  • Watch Christian television
  • Give up caffeine
  • Only use Christian breath-mints
  • Buy children a precious moments Bible
  • Own at least 1 Thomas Kincaid painting 
  • Own at least 2 Willow Tree figures
  • Have the children watch Veggie Tales
  • Only read Christian authors and preferably only those that are in agreement with the reader
  • Go gluten free
  • Give up artificial sweeteners
  • Eat only organic foods
  • Boycott Disney, McDonalds, and/or Wal Mart
  • Dislike sports since they are a frivolous worldly concern
  • Don't wear expensive clothes
  • Feed the hungry and warm those who are cold
  • Care for others more than self
  • Surrender the self
  • Learn definitions and start using big theological words like "sanctification" and "propitiation"
  • Fill life with God and scripture by attending 7 Bible studies a week....one each night
  • Plan a will since either the rapture or second coming could happen at any moment
  • Read the Left Behind series
  • Watch TBN
  • Never own a home over a certain price range
  • Always be ready to give advice...people really need it
  • Give the pastor(s) and church workers advice...they really need it
  • Be an encourager of others
  • Only engage in sexual activity for the purpose of having children
  • Be a morning person
  • Don't live with a boyfriend or girlfriend until married
  • Preach "turn or burn" repentance to everyone at the family reunion
  • Always carry a Bible everywhere
  • Wear sandals and grow a beard if possible
  • If female, always remain silent at church and wear a head-covering.  Also never be caught dead teaching men.
  • Try to impress other Christians however possible...with knowledge of the Bible, popularity, friendliness, godliness, humility, etc.
Well, I hope that this activity has been both humorous as well as thought-provoking.  Now for some reflection questions:

How much of what you think is important is actually central to Christian belief and following Christ?

How much of what your church thinks is essential to following Christ is actually essential?

What items did you rank as most important and most urgent?  Why did you rank them there?


Sometimes it is difficult to determine that which is beneficial from that which is essential.  Sometimes it is difficult to determine that which is important from that which really isn't important at all.  I hope this was interesting and challenging!  Got thoughts?  Feel free to share!

-RCW