Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Ambassador's Academy
I wish I could attend this academy. But even though I am not able to attend, I pray that someone out there is able to go to this. If you want more information, you can either go to www.wayofthemaster.com or to www.livingwaters.com and they can give you the details.
I have been sick this past week so I am keeping this short today. I pray you are all doing well. God bless!
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9 comments:
I hope you are feeling much better today!
I am going to do my best to go next year if we get back any sort of money from our tax return. $600 is too much for me to come up with right now (and that does not include airfare to get there).
I want to be able to take my witnessing to a new level and even street preach one day.
it would be nice if your church could see this and help pay for some of the expenses. Unfortunately, unless it is a "showy" kind of thing, they would not be interested. Have them charge it under the "entertainment" budget!!
Speaking of a 'showy' kind of thing, I have something to ask you.
Our church is bringing in a 'strong' man bunch of guy's to break things and lift things and show people how strong they are. After they are done, they present the Gospel.
I was asked (by the Pastor) to help head this thing up by taking part in the alter counseling after the 'sinners prayer' is given. We are told that perhaps hundreds of folks may attend church that never attend and dozens and dozens of decisions will be made.
Here's my problem -
Our church is bringing in worldly entertainment to bring in the un-churched. Once the un-churched are in, then we give them a show and then share the Gospel.
I don't read in Scripture where Jesus said go out into all the world, bring them back to church and entertain them awhile so they can be happy and then give them the Gospel.
Jesus told us to go out into the world and give the Gospel.
The flip side (if there is one) that hopefully many people who have never heard the Gospel will hear it.
Part of me wants to be there to make sure any one responding hears the truth and part of me wants no part of it.
Any advice?
it sounds like they are going through with this regardless. Since the pastor has asked you to help with the altar call counseling, that would be a perfect time to make sure that the people you are talking to really understand what the gospel is all about. It is not about saying the sinners prayer, it is about realizing they are wretched in God's eyes and are in desperate need of a Savior. They need to repent of their sins and put their faith and trust solely in Jesus to save them. I don't like the entertainment value either. Sounds like a lazy way out for the pastor. It would be nice if he (the pastor) were out evangelizing and training his congregation how to evangelize, then they wouldn't have to resort to gimmicks!
*It would be nice if he (the pastor) were out evangelizing and training his congregation how to evangelize, then they wouldn't have to resort to gimmicks!*
This is almost verbatim what I told my wife I was going to tell the pastor.......
She told me If I was going to say it to say it very lovingly (She says I get snarky about things like this)......I do get snarky! We have the words of life and we want to entertain folks instead of going out and witnessing. Argh.
Oh....sorry...thank you very much!
the problem that I can see arising from this is that the people who get "saved" will be expecting to be entertained the next time they come to church. Which is why so many churches have fallen away from biblical preaching because their "audience" does not want to hear it. They want to be entertained. The pastors have no one to blame but themselves!
As Brian mentioned, when you do the "win" them with something, you need to "keep" them with something and that is a very 'vicious cycle'.
I would think that you would want to "jump" on the opportunity so you can truly share with people your heart.
I would also press the Pastor on "what is next".
If you get them in the door, you have to have a next step for them. How are they going to connect to God ? How are they going to connect to the church members and q's could go on for a long time.
that's true! If the pastor has no "vision" other than just getting people into the doors, then this will be a failure. Does he want to have a church known for doing "things" as opposed to being a church that preaches God's Holy Word? I would not be afraid to challenge your pastor on this one. Is he prepared to bring entertainment in on a weekly basis to satisfy the very people he is trying to reach?
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