What I Love About the Church

This post was originally written for Preacher's Pen. Be sure to check out this awesome website by Chris Gallagher!

To me there is really only one answer to the question, "what do you love about the church?" It's the people. One of my earliest memories of church is being in bible class and learning the poem complete with hand signals, "Here is the church and here is the steeple, open it up and see all the people!"


Without people the church loses its purpose and reason for existence. In Romans 12:4-5 (NIV) Paul explains the church in this way, "Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." The Contemporary English Version (CEV) says it this way, "A body is made up of many parts, and each of them has its own use. That's how it is with us. There are many of us, but we each are part of the body of Christ, as well as part of one another." I love the thought expressed here, that while there are many of us we each individually make up the church.


I think sometimes we miss out on all that church has to offer because we have failed to understand this all important element of relationship in the church. Consumerism has turned the church into a business relationship where people search for the perfect organization with the most to offer. This was never what Christ envisioned when he established his body of believers on earth. It was only when I finally understood this aspect of the church that I was able to begin to fall in love with the church's people. I was never able to love a business model no matter how shiny it was but falling in love with people was something that just came naturally.


Granted, some people are easier to love than others but it is also true that some people need more love than others. I love the church because no matter how bad things get in my life here on earth I know that people's prayers are streaming heavenward on my behalf, no business model can replace that! I love the church because no matter how difficult things may become I know that there are real live actual people who care and who act because we share a common love for Jesus Christ.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:16-18)

Is the Church of Christ a cult? Part 2

My last post, Is the Church of Christ a cult?, garnered a lot of attention.  That may be putting it lightly, actually the post was HUGE!  I was taken aback by the response it received.  From a numbers point of view it was far and away my most read post ever.  During the month of September I set a personal best for hits on my blog, due to the response to this post I broke that record on October 18th.  Even more amazing, the traffic count for the first first three days the post was up (October 17 – 19) exceeded the traffic count of the months of April, May, and June.  When the end of this month arrives Saturday I will have experienced a 50% increase in visitors over the previous record setting month!

I’m glad that so many people read this post. However, I’m humbled by the response people have had to it’s content.  Starting on the Saturday I posted the article up until today I have received well over 100 responses from my readers.  A few of you posted directly on the blog, others did so publicly on facebook, however, the majority of the response came in the form of emails, phone calls, and personal conversations.  If you read the post, and I encourage you to do so if you have not, you know that I was shocked as well as discouraged by the accusations being levied against the congregation I call home.

As soon as I had expressed my discouragement in words, God moved in to replace my discouragement with encouragement!  I was truly a recipient of the promise of Paul in Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  You see, what I saw as a horrible setback in the Christian community, what I viewed as an opportunity for Satan to gain a foothold, God took and used it for his great purpose.  What could have been an occasion for more division, God used as a call toward unity.

My purpose in speaking out against this outrageous claim was not to “get back” at the source, if that was the case I would have named names and pointed fingers.  No, I purposefully refrained from naming the source because to do so would only foster divisiveness.  We all make mistakes and do things that, in hindsight, we wish we could take back.  My prayer is that by shining a light on the issue more people will be inspired to do as a dear friend remarked concerning this whole ordeal; “Let’s make the main thing the main thing!”

As I said earlier, I am humbled by the response I received to the article.  Your kind words were uplifting, your advice was invaluable, yet your show of friendship was priceless.

“Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.”  Romans 14:19

Mitchell

Is the Church of Christ a cult?

It wasn't like this was the first time I had heard of or read someone attempting to make the claim that the Church of Christ is a cult, however this time was very different, this time it was personal. I, like most of you probably, have ran across some websites making this claim using erroneous, second and third hand knowledge about the Church of Christ and our beliefs or more times than not confusing us with the International Church of Christ. This time, however, a young person from my congregation was asking me why her friends would be saying that we are a cult. As I dug deeper into the situation, I learned that this young member of our congregation was told directly by one of her friends who attends one of the more charismatic denominations in our town that her Pastor was "teaching and warning" them about the Church of Christ "because they are nothing more than a cult."

Vacation Surprise

          Vacation is a great time of relaxation and renewal.  It is always good to get away from the normal routine, spend time with your family, and recharge the batteries.  My family along with Mom and Dad just returned from vacation Saturday.  We expected to return relaxed and renewed, however, what we found upon return left us humbled.  You see we missed the big storms that rolled through Waynesboro this week.  We had talked to several people back here at home and knew the extent of the damage left in the storms wake.  Fortunately, our homes were spared any damage from the winds, however, we expected to come home and have plenty of work to do cleaning up from all the scattered debris.

            We were absolutely taken aback when we pulled in to our driveway and saw that all the branches blown from the trees had been removed!  As we began to question our neighbors about what had taken place we soon discovered that members of our GREAT church family had taken it upon themselves to clean up for us while we were away.  You guys are awesome and an example of what church actually means.

            Thank You to the Sam Haines and Ronnie Mathis Families!  (For those of you who don’t know, these great people are Sam, Angel, Samantha and Cooper Haines, Ronnie, Shelia, Zack, Cassie, and Dawson Mathis.)

You make me proud to be a part of the family of God in Waynesboro.

Pure Religion

One fault of mine is the tendency to want to complicate things. I see a problem and immediately seek to solve it with some grandiose plan of action when often the solution is simple and not so glamorous. We see this in government a lot, some issue comes before our consciousness, and our leaders immediately want to add new cabinet position or appoint a czar to oversee the issue. We have this tendency in the church as well, each problem demands a committee with deacon involvement and elder oversight with the preacher extolling its virtues from the pulpit. James’ view of the work of the church was much different. “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”(James 1:27) According to James, if we are serious about our commitment to God then when we see a need we take measures to fill that need. A widow who is in need of food doesn’t have time to wait for the committee to be formed, she needs food now! A homeless child shouldn’t have to spend one more night on the street if a Christian man or woman becomes aware of their plight.

Religion that God accepts is faith in action. Paul puts it this way, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” (Galatians 5:6b) Our love for God and our faith in Christ is shown by how we care for those around us. It matters how we treat one another and it matters how we treat those in our community. “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such a faith save him?” (James 2:14)

Programs and committees are necessary for the church to function and carry out the mission of God.However, we must never be lulled into a state of personal inaction because of their presence. Christians are called to act! “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.” (James 2:18)

Mitchell

GraceConversation.com

A new blog that should interest everyone, especially those of you who are members of the Churches of Christ, is GraceConversation.com.  This blog is self-described as "A conversation regarding the disagreements that separate the conservative and progressive branches of the churches of Christ." 



It's participants are Jay Guin, an elder at the University Church of Christ in Tuscaloosa, AL and author of the blog One in Jesus; Todd Deaver, (son of Mac Deaver and grandson of Roy Deaver) minister for the Oliver Springs Church of Christ, author of the blog Bridging the Grace Divide and the book Facing our Failure: The Fellowship Dilemma in Conservative Churches of Christ; Phil Sanders, author of the blog Phil Answers and evangelist with In Search of the Lord's Way; and Gregory Tidwell a columnist for the Gospel Advocate and the minister for the Fishinger and Kenny Church of Christ in Columbus, Ohio.



The conversation has already started so check it out.  You can even get in on the conversation yourself by commenting on each of the posts.

Technorati Tags: blog,debate,unity,fellowship

CSI: Easter

Easter is huge! Next to Christmas, Easter is the most celebrated holiday in the world. There is a good reason why so many people celebrate Easter. Historians and theologians have never come to a satisfactory conclusion for the reason the early church began celebrating Easter. Some evidence seems to suggest that Christians held the first Easter celebrations to differentiate their celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Jewish celebration of Passover. Other evidence suggests that Emperor Constantine, desiring to promote Christianity and marginalize pagan activity, Christianized a pagan festival celebrating the earth's transition into spring.

As I said at the beginning, there is a good reason why so many people celebrate Easter the answer is Jesus Christ. While the origin of Easter may be in doubt, the reason for Easter is apparent, Christians desired to proclaim from highest height and in the loudest possible way the good news that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead! Scripture does not command us to celebrate Easter as a religious obligation however; scripture does allow us to celebrate such holidays. Paul writes to the Roman Christians,

"Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 5 One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone." (Romans 14:4-7)

From now until Easter Sunday, we have a unique evangelistic opportunity that will not be available again until Christmas. Your friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, anyone with a background in Christianity will be thinking about Christ and most likely desire to go to church somewhere. I encourage you to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to help bring someone you love closer to and possibly into a relationship with Jesus Christ.

This Sunday we will begin a new sermon series at Waynesboro that will culminate on Easter, April 12^th. This series, CSI: Easter will take us on a Crime Scene Investigation of the cross. Did Jesus really die on the cross? Did he really rise from the dead or was his body simply stolen to create the illusion? We will look at these question plus many more with a critical eye. We will weigh the evidence from history, from critics, and from the bible; we will place them side by side and see which ones stand and which ones fall. If you invite your friends and family, they will be engaged by this honest look into Jesus Christ and they will be moved by the conclusion. Pick up the phone right now and invite someone this Sunday!

Mitchell

"New" Ministers at Waynesboro

During the past few months we have had several men interview for the position of minister at Waynesboro. I have no doubt that most of these men will go on to other congregations and make great ministers in God's kingdom. However, God seemed to have different plans for the Waynesboro church of Christ. Our community has already been hit hard by the current recession and the members of our congregation are no exception. The elders are acutely aware of the current situation and desired to come to a solution that would continue the forward progress we have experienced in our congregation as well as address the realities of current economic conditions. The overriding theme in all the elders discussions was how do we fill our needs for a new minister while continuing to minister to our community at our present commitment level in the face of ever increasing need. Sunday the elders at Waynesboro officially made a decision concerning the future of the church and who will lead its ministry. Instead of hiring one person the elders hired two men who will each serve in their own niche of ministry.

Three weeks ago the elders hired Bobby Pinckley to serve as our Visitation Minister while we searched for a new minister, this ministry was made a permanent position on Sunday. As many of you know, Bobby served as the Pulpit Minister at Waynesboro for many years before retiring; after a period of retirement Bobby became restless and began preaching again at the Beacon congregation. A few months ago Bobby retired again and returned to Waynesboro only to be offered his present position. We are blessed to have Bobby Pinckley serving in Waynesboro again and I look forward to working with him into the future.

Also on Sunday, the elders made the announcement that I would become the Pulpit Minister. The elders desire that I continue the Family Life Ministry that originally brought me back to Waynesboro while assuming the responsibilities of the pulpit. I grew up in Waynesboro and this congregation is my home. I am so excited about this new opportunity as well as for the future of the Waynesboro Church of Christ.

Bobby and I are excited about the future of the Waynesboro Church of Christ. Working together for the past three weeks, we have seen the possibilities that this type of ministry arrangement can produce. Together we ask for your help and your prayers.

Mitchell

Technorati Tags: evangelism,Family Life Ministry,Waynesboro,visitation,church of Christ

Podcast Now on iTunes

My podcast is now officially a part of iTunes!

Until today you could use your iTunes software only to subscribe to my podcast through the RSS feed but as of today I have been officially approved by iTunes! 

This means that you can go directly to the iTunes site and search "Mitchell Skelton" or "Waynesboro church of Christ" and you will be taken to a page on the iTunes site that contains my podcast and from this page you can subscribe for automatic downloads each time a new podcast is added.  For a direct connection you can click the iTunes link here.

Technorati Tags: blog,church of Christ,evangelism,iPod,iTunes,podcast,technology

Forward Progress

In ministry the constant struggle is to maintain forward progress. As an old friend of mine was fond of saying, "You are either green and growin' or you are ripe and rotten." This is especially true in the life of a congregation of God's people, once you stop moving forward the downward spiral soon follows. The elders at Waynesboro are especially aware of this and as a result they have always been vigilant about maintaining the forward progress of the congregation.

This past Sunday the elders made a decision which will help keep the congregation moving forward during this interim period while we search for a new minister. As most everyone knows, when Matthew moved the elders appointed me as the interim Pulpit Minister asking me to continue in my role as Family Life Minister and taking on the responsibility of filling the pulpit each week. This was a role that I gladly accepted however, it still left a large portion of our regular ministry concerns unmet. It was out of concern for this unmet need that the elders have hired Bobby Pinckley as our new Visitation Minister. Bobby will serve in this position until a final solution is arrived at concerning our ministry situation.

I am so excited about the prospect of working with Bobby! Bobby has been a great influence in my life as well as countless others in this congregation. Bobby's focus as Visitation Minister will be to visit all those in our congregation and community of friends who need encouragement. He will be visiting in the hospitals, the nursing homes, and in the homes of our sick and discouraged members on a regular basis as well as following up with others through telephone calls. The addition of Bobby to our staff will enable the congregation to continue its forward progress.

In order for Bobby to do his job effectively he will need your help. If you know of anyone in the congregation (or connected to our congregation) who needs a visit of encouragement then let him know. Too often people fall through the cracks because no one took the time to let someone know a member or loved one was sick or hurting. If you know someone who is in need of a visit, please don't assume that we already know because we probably do not. You can easily keep us informed by calling or emailing Bobby, Sheryl, or myself. Let's keep moving forward!

Contact Info:

Sheryl - Church office	Bobby Pinckley	Mitchell Skelton
931.722.5520	931.722.3563	931.722.8227
waynesborococ@tds.net	pinckley@netease.net	mskelton@live.com

Podcast Now Online!

Thanks to you my first podcast has been wildly successful! Thanks to everyone who has subscribed, downloaded, and iTuned my sermon. Keep checking each week for the latest update and periodically I might even throw in a bonus.

You can now listen to my sermons here on the blog, at a separate web address, or on your cell phone or PDA. You can even subscribe to the podcast through RSS or through iTunes! I hope you enjoy.

Where Are Your Priorities?

The inspired writer of Hebrews spends a great deal of time in chapter ten explaining the blessings of the new covenant of Christ. "He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Hebrews 10:9b-10). Because of the forgiveness of sins found in the blood of Christ, Christians can approach God with all boldness and confidence./1 It is in response to this new status that the Christian has certain obligations.
Christians are encouraged to "hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful" ( Hebrews 10:23). We can trust in, know, and anticipate eternal life based simply on the fact of God's promise. "Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast" ( Hebrews 3:6). This confidence does not come from our own merit or achievement; it rests in the faithfulness of God. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith -- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" ( Ephesians 2:8-10).
Christians are also commanded to "consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds" ( Hebrews 10:24). The Hebrew writer's emphasis is not on what a believer gets from the church, but rather on what he contributes to the church. He emphasizes this with an appeal toward faithful attendance at all functions of the congregation. "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another" ( Hebrews 10:25). When we miss an assembly of the church, we are willingly ignoring God's commands. We are giving up meeting together. We are discouraging our brothers and sisters rather than encouraging and spurring one another on to love and good deeds. The proper attitude toward worship is found in the words of the psalmist, "I rejoiced with those who said to me, Let us go to the house of the LORD" ( Psalm 122:1).
Besides the fact that faithful attendance is commanded and encouraged by God, there are also some practical reasons why we should be committed to the assemblies of the saints. One study shows that if both Mom and Dad attend church regularly, 72% of their children remain faithful in attendance. If only Dad attends regularly, 55% remain faithful. If only Mom attends regularly, 15% remain faithful. If neither attends regularly, only 6% remain faithful./2 Most parents would never do anything detrimental to the life of their children, yet many parents do take chances with their children's spiritual lives.
It is time that God's family takes a serious look at their commitment to Christ and his church. Ask yourself this question and answer yourself honestly, "Would the same excuses you use to justify missing church services Sunday work on your boss Monday?" We spend too much time trying to figure out whether or not Bible Class, Sunday Night Worship or Wednesday Bible Study are mandatory or optional. It all boils down to priorities!
Where are your priorities?

1 Hebrews 10:19-22
2 Home Life Magazine August 2004

Unity in Diversity

Conflict and controversy are two sure-fire ways of exciting people into Bible study. Sadly, this kind of fire seldom resolves anything, rarely incites people to go into the world to save the lost, and most often causes division and even congregational splits. Words like "liberal" and "legalist" are discussed in church meetings and brotherhood papers so much that they seem to outnumber words that should be considered like "missions," "saving the lost," and "fellowship." Brethren become "experts" on the topic of discussion, and very often they become "one issue" Christians. If you do not believe as they believe then you are a liberal and therefore must not be fellowshipped. Soon, these brethren try to force their issue into every situation possible and onto every person possible.

Brothers and sisters, it is time for this to end! It is time for the Lord's church to stop majoring in minors. It is time for the Lord's church to complete the mission Jesus set for us and "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15).

Will there be a time when doctrine is assaulted and needs defending? Sadly the answer is, "Yes." When these cases arise we must unite and defend the faith, but not every issue discussed is a matter of faith or fellowship. Jude wrote to the early Christians concerning this issue saying, "Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints" (Jude 3). Jude wanted to write a letter of encouragement to Christians to inspire them in their evangelistic efforts, however, because of certain people and problems he was forced to write a letter urging them to be unified.

Unity is not giving up the fight, as some perceive. Unity in diversity is often a phrase that gets tossed around like a hot potato. We should never compromise on the doctrine of Christ, yet who would claim that the Lord's church is not made up of a group of people with diverse beliefs? Paul urged the Christians at Rome to have unity in diversity. "Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters" (Romans 14:1). In other words, Paul says, accept your brother without giving thought to his differing opinion.

If Christians would strive to do as Jude commands and "contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints," then we could do away with much conflict and controversy. Later in Jude, those who cause division are said to have gone the way of Balaam's error. It is interesting that even Balaam, when he listened to God, got things right. "How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the LORD has not denounced?" (Numbers 23:8).

When one is seeking to please God and is not violating God's commands, then how can God's people denounce him? Paul says the same thing, "Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand" (Romans 14:4).

Do you agree or can we agree to disagree?

Men's Meeting or Congregational Meeting?

Sunday night the church had a men’s meeting following services. I always get a little nervous before a meeting like this because you never know what might happen. When you meet with the elders, you pretty much have an idea how each one will feel on a given subject but with a group of people this large, you just never know. We have all heard the horror stories of men’s meetings going bad, I once read a newspaper article chronicling the story of one church’s men’s meeting that ended up in a fistfight and people going to jail! Although I have never seen a meeting go wrong like that, and pray that I never will, I have seen people get pretty upset and men leave with hurt feelings that took months to repair. The men’s meeting Sunday night was an example of how Christians should act when we meet together. One of our elders, Terry Bryant, led the meeting and did a fantastic job of relaying information from the elders. Terry also made sure everyone in attendance had a chance to speak. During the course of the meeting there were many great suggestion made and even some thoughts on how to improve some existing ministries. The best part of the meeting which was constant through the entire hour was all the praise and “pats on the back” given to various people for their efforts in working for the Lord. In my opinion, we do not encourage each other as we should. Some people are better at this than others are but we all have the ability and we should not be shy about doing it. All in all this was a very beneficial meeting. The men left with a clearer vision of where the church is heading and people left the meeting feeling appreciated for their efforts.

Some questions I have and would appreciate your thoughts on is, why do we have men only meetings? Do some of you have congregational meetings? Are there any reasons (biblically) why we do not invite women into the meeting? If there are not biblical reasons why, then are we acting properly toward women when we do not invite them? I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Is that a Hook in your Mouth?

Have you ever noticed how easy being mad at someone is when they are not in your presence and how hard it is to stay mad at them once you come face to face? How many of us have spent countless minutes even hours rehearsing the perfect line that expresses our anger, only to toss is into the “scrap pile” when we finally get the opportunity to deliver?

Perhaps this is why the Hebrew writer encourages us not to “give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another” (Heb. 10:25). Even more, he gives us the charge to “consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (Heb. 10:24). Staying mad at someone is hard as you are simultaneously trying to encourage them. When we practice true fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ, we also begin to learn more about them. During this learning process we gain valuable knowledge about their conduct and moods. In essence, “We know where they’re coming from.” We are not often too critical of people for irrational or abnormal behavior when they have good reason to act in such a manner.

Imagine a group of fish swimming together in a school. All of them are moving in the same direction with comparable style when suddenly one of them starts destroying the unity. He begins to twist and swerve from side to side with precarious moves. The older fish are annoyed with the nonconformity of this immature adolescent. They show their disapproval while voicing disgust, “We don’t swim like that around here.” Turning to their offspring, they declare, “That type of behavior is totally unacceptable.” Before they can take action against the renegade fish, his thrashing tail disappears at the surface of the lake. A hook in his mouth rather than rebellion in his heart was the cause of all his distasteful activity.1

Sometimes it is hard to accept the actions of another person especially when what they are doing “just isn’t done.” If we follow the advice of the Hebrew writer then we will not have to question the persons’ motives, we will already know about the hook in their mouth.

1 Illustration from “And God Wants People,” Mary Lou Lacy, 1962, p. 35

Waynesboro church of Christ: Full of Faith

This past weekend was quite busy for the Waynesboro church of Christ. Four huge events converged into the “Perfect Storm” of church activities. Kicking off the weekend was a surprise birthday party for Obie Duncan. Obie’s family had a great party to celebrate his 95th birthday. Obie is one of a kind and he deserved that party. Occurring simultaneously with the birthday party was the Mobile Pantry. The Mobile Pantry has become a regular occurrence for the church through our Benevolence Ministry and our partnership with the Second Harvest Food Bank. The result of this partnership and the work of our volunteers was that about 150 people from our community were given over 10,000 lbs. of food! Our Benevolence Ministry is the most active ministry in the church as they are constantly helping people in the church and the community who have fallen on hard times. Richard McNabb, Jeff Duren, Charles Hunt, and Jerry Hollis are the deacons who work in this ministry, when you see them give them a pat on the back because they deserve it. As soon as the last boxes of food pulled away from the Fellowship Center, we shifted gears and started working on the next event. Our annual Veterans Day Remembrance was Saturday night and it was a huge success! Over 180 people attended the event highlighted by the fish fry. After eating, we honored the Veterans in attendance with a program put on by our children and each Veteran received a Flag lapel pin as a token of our appreciation. After only two years, this event has become a favorite among our members and the community. One woman told me that her husband (a Veteran) had been looking forward to this event for two months! Sheryl did a phenomenal job in putting this event together, it would have been a good event no matter who did it but because of her, it was great.
After the flurry of activity on Saturday, you would think that everyone would have been excited about going to worship Sunday, not so. Saturday’s excitement turned to Sunday’s gloom in a hurry. No one wanted to see the Morine’s leave Waynesboro and this day evidenced that feeling. Matthew’s sermon on Sunday morning walked us down memory lane bringing laughter and tears. It all ended on Sunday night with a good-bye meal for the Morines. Matthew and Charity loved the scrapbook (thank you Kim Bell and Kristen Duren!); it will bring back great memories for years to come.
I am so proud to be a member of and minister for the Waynesboro church of Christ! This congregation is full of faith as evidenced by the love that we show. This past weekend was a great example of our love for our neighbors as well as our love for each other.

“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him. “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” James 2:14-17

Everything New is Old in Ten Minutes

I graduated from Lipscomb University with a degree in Marketing. One bit of information I learned from my major studies was, according to federal regulations, a product could only be advertised or promoted as new for a period of six months. I can remember thinking that six months seemed quite a long time for something to still be considered new but who was I to question federal regulators. My how things have changed! In todays age of instant information and constant reformation six months seems like ages.

Today information flows as fast as one's fingers can tap the keyboard. People don't need to wait until the nightly news at five or six to get information, you simply log on to the internet and google it, twitter it, facebook it. . . well you get the idea. I love technology and I love being able to get the information I want any time day or night. However, there is a downside to this fast and furious flow of information. Anyone can set up a blog in about ten minutes and begin to "report" the news. In a perfect world this is great but in our world it has created a group of people desperate to stand out from the crowd. As a result, information is reported with no regard to the facts. Some blogs in cyberspace make the National Enquirer seem as reputable as the Washington Post. This doesn't mean that you should discount all blogs it just means that the old adage we learned as children rings even more true today, "You can't believe everything you read."

This mindset of constant updates and continually evolving products is good for the consumer in the marketplace but what is it doing for the mindset of the individual who is seeking information regarding Jesus Christ? How receptive will a person be to the gospel of Christ, which does not change, if they have grown up in a world where they expect the latest and the best at their fingertips? This is the challenge we face in proclaiming the gospel in a post-modern world. How do we spread the gospel message laid down over 2,000 years ago to the person who believes that everything new is old in ten minutes?

One thing we cannot do is change the message. The gospel is set in stone, unchangeable, with dire consequences for anyone who tampers with what God has done. While we cannot change the message, we absolutely must change the way we communicate the message. The message is timeless but the conveyance of the message is not bound by time. On of the apostle Paul's more famous statements is "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some." (1 Corinthians 9:22) I think we at the Waynesboro church of Christ are using technology in a pretty advanced way. Not that there aren't others that do a better job but, all in all, we are above the curve. The use of PowerPoint in worship is an absolute must in today's culture and if you aren't using it yet you should be. This, in my opinion, is the one thing no congregation should be without if you want to be able to communicate the gospel to our new culture. Blogs are another form of communication that multitudes of people are taking advantage of today. Matthew and I both use blogs and they have been a huge success (Matthew is much better with his than I am, you should check his out). Facebook is huge! Again, Matthew and I both have facebook pages and it is amazing how today's generation likes to communicate through this medium. We have also set up a facebook page for the church, while this is new for us I believe it will become one of the major forms of communication for the church. (Waynesboro church Facebook Page, Mitchell's Facebook, Matthew's Facebook)

Our times are changing fast and we must change with them. If we don't change the way we communicate the message of the gospel will be lost.

Worship Technology

The technological advances of our time absolutely amaze me. The one bit of technology that has taken the church by storm is PowerPoint (or other presentation software). During my previous ministry, as the pulpit minister for a congregation of about 70 members, we adopted this technology with the intent of enhancing the worship experience for our younger members. Much to my surprise, it wasn't the younger members who benefited the most from this aid to our worship.

The older members of our congregation, who we feared would be resistant to this addition, were thrilled! They could now follow along with the scriptures used in the sermon without having to look up the passages and the size of the font was much easier to read than even their large print bibles. The same result was seen with our announcements and bible study.

The congregation at Waynesboro is in the process of adding this technology and it got me to thinking about all the ways this one bit of technology can be used. Please take a minute and participate in the poll located in the menu bar to your right. While it's not possible to list every use churches make of PowerPoint, I have tried to list the major categories. If your congregation is using PowerPoint in a different way please leave a comment (or email me) with this information and tell me a little bit about how it is working and the level of success you are experiencing.

I'm also interested in who congregations are utilizing to "run" the technology. We are considering putting together a group of teens to work in this ministry as they seem to know more about computers and software than all of the rest of us combined. Let me know what you think.

User Friendly

I have set a lofty goal for myself, one that I intend to achieve.  I have decided to transform The Mind of Mitchell from a simple blog into the site to go to when looking for all things church related.  My primary focus will be on the churches of Christ but not limited to that alone.  My overall intention is to give people a "go to" site when looking for Christian blogs, church information, research, etc.  Don't despair loyal readers, I will still continue to post articles regularly as I made a renewed commitment to you this month to increase the number of articles that I write.

 

Right now I'll be using three ways to accomplish this and I may add others as needed.  The three mediums are:

1. A simple Web Log with an extensive list of blogs and sites.

2.  Technorati Favorites featuring new postings of listed blogs.

3.  del.icio.us tags.

 

I need your help in this process.  Please send me links you would like to see included on this site.  Of course, I'll need to evaluate the sites first, but as long as they fit the purpose and don't contain profanity, etc they'll be added.  Also, make sure that sites you submit are updated regularly, no dormant or out of date sites please.

 

Please email your links to mskelton@live.com

Technorati Tags: church of Christ,church,blog,theology,Technorati,del.icio.us

Unity is God's Will

I saw this link on Terry Laudette"s blog, A Disciple's Thoughts about a theological survey that selects which church you would fit into the best. (To take the survey for yourself go to SelectSmart.com it only takes about 5 minutes.) My results were somewhat unanticipated. While I expected for it to place Church of Christ near the top the surprising part to me was the percentage results. These represent the degree to which your thoughts agree with the general views of each particular church.



Here are my results:

(100%) 1: Church of Christ

(77%) 2: Methodist/Wesleyan/Nazarene

(75%) 3: Congregational/United Church of Christ

(64%) 4: Lutheran

(62%) 5: Anabaptist (Mennonite/Quaker etc.)

(62%) 6: Baptist (Reformed/Particular/Calvinistic)

(57%) 7: Eastern Orthodox

(57%) 8: Anglican/Episcopal/Church of England

(54%) 9: Presbyterian/Reformed

(53%) 10: Pentecostal/Charismatic/Assemblies of God

(48%) 11: Baptist (non-Calvinistic)/Plymouth Brethren/Fundamentalist

(46%) 12: Roman Catholic

(40%) 13: Seventh-Day Adventist

If you notice, with all except three, I agree over half the time and with two of those (48% and 46%) it's very close. The only church listed with which I have serious differences was Seventh-Day Adventist at 40%.



You could interpret these results in several ways I guess but my immediate reaction was surprise at the high degree of compatibility. Many people would say that the things we don't agree on with these other churches are non-negotiable items (i.e. baptism) and therefore the gulf of disagreement is wider than it would first appear. While I am fully aware of the major tenants of belief within these various groups I still stand amazed at the level of agreement.

Too often when making comparisons we stress differences instead of items of compatibility. This tactic is only useful for trying to "win" people over to your certain group, that is why we see this tactic used so often in politics. In matters of religion the discussion often goes down in similar manner to this, "We believe this about baptism and Church B believes something different, therefore there can be no unity between the two." We need to remember that we aren't called to win people to a church, we are called to win people to Christ.

When did we abandon the idea of unity? When did we decide that Jesus' prayer for unity in John 17:20-21 was unattainable? Jesus prays, "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us sot hat the world may believe that you have sent me."

Unity, according to Jesus, is attainable and until he tells us to abandon his desire in this, we should work toward this unity. No one claims that it can be done overnight but the more we work toward unity the better we are. True followers of Christ have nothing to fear from the process of unity because truth will be revealed. We merely need to open our bible and open our hearts in a genuine desire to know God's will. Will change in certain areas take place? Certainly, but only as directed by the will of God through the bible.

All Christians should be willing to abandon tradition, and openly work toward unity.

Technorati Tags: Unity,church of Christ

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