Big Is The New Small

Hi all, Bert here again. Today’s guest blogger is David Turner.  David is a husband, father, minister, writer and blogger from Plainfield, Illinois (just outside Chicago). I didn’t know of his blog before this week but I really dig the “Soul Vitamins.”  Ladies and Gentlemen (I use the terms loosely), may I present, David Turner:

It takes 2
I’ve been made aware of an underlying belief in the church about single mothers.

There are some that believe that single motherhood is something that the church should not condone.
They believe that these women should not be honored in any way by the church.
They believe that Mother’s Day is a time to give thanks to the women who did it the “right” way.

After I heard this, I had to take some time to get my mind together.
I couldn’t believe that the church could be such a cold place.
When did we become judge and jury for people that didn’t do it “right”?
Did God ask you for your opinion?

First of all, let me say that God’s intent is not for a woman to have a baby and not be married.
He intended for children to be born from the union of a husband and wife.

That doesn’t always happen.

When it doesn’t, why do people have to look down and criticize?
Sure, the man and woman involved have obviously sinned.
They had sex and a child was conceived.

The sin is the sex before marriage, not creating a child.
Getting pregnant is an outward sign of something that happened in private.

Not all of us were virgins when we got married (know any? I don’t).

I refuse to put myself in the judgment seat.
Instead, I say we should make ourselves available to help every single mother that we can find.
Too often the church is critical and not loving.

Instead of telling her that she is a sinner, I would tell her that inspite of the worst that she has done, God loves her and her child more than anything.
Instead of telling her that she is destined to live on government aid, I would tell her that god has placed inside of her, gifts and talents that she could use to benefit her family and her community.
Instead of telling her that she is useless, I would tell her that she has true value that only God can measure.

We need to stop with the madness!!

Single moms, I salute you!!

Do you realize that one of the single most important things that you can do for your church and “The Kingdom” is to invite someone to church. I think that we often times overlook and under-appreciate the strategy of invite-a-friend.

I know this sounds simple, but allow it to marinate… If every person would bring at least one new person to church with them this week, every church would double in size in one week. A certain percent of those individuals would return the next week and more and more people would get the opportunity to hear The Gospel.

One of the reasons the n-dub grew so much in year one (0 to over 3k) is because the people, the staff and I are so fired up to invite someone… and I will keep beating the invite-a-friend drum as long as I’m the Campus Pastor. I have asked the following question several times of our entire campus: “By a show of hands, how many of you ended up at LifeChurch.tv or our campus as a result of someone inviting you?” Everytime I ask this question almost every person in the room raises their hand including myself… Need I say more!

The last time I checked there are plenty of people who don’t know Christ: friends, neighbors, relatives, co-workers, the lady at Starbucks, the guy at the gym, the man at the gas station, that teacher, that person at the bus stop, the lady at the grocery store, that coach, that homeless man on the corner, those teammates, the mailman, the daughter who ran off…

Stop talking about and be about it!

When was the last time you invited or brought someone to church?

Thoughts on invite-a-friend?

Pardon the formatting, my Blackberry is not being friendly.

I know that this may or may not be the most popular post; however I really don’t care.  I was thinking about this “One Prayer” series and how it is going to be really great for “The Church” and the body of Christ.  This is a great opportunity for us to set aside our denominational differences, personal preferences, he doesn’t do this, he doesn’t do that, I like this style, I don’t like what they do, he’s too this and they are too that’s aside; and really live out what it means to be a Disciple of Christ.

Here is the deal about Pastor Joel Osteen in my opinion; he is happy, uplifting, encouraging… and many people think that he doesn’t do enough of __________, or he is too ___________.  The bottom line is that he is the Senior Pastor of largest church in America and 7 million people from around the world watch him each week on television.  The next time you or someone decides to start hatin’ on Joel; remember that no one is perfect and nothing gets Satan more excited than Christ followers hatin’ on each other; especially the Senior Pastor of the largest ministry in America. I honestly hear far to many Christians, including ministry leaders hatin’ on Joel.

I will agree that Joel has a “Happy” message and it might not necessarily be my cup of tea; at the same time I will only speak well of him and others.  Stop Hatin’ on Joel Osteen!

Go ahead and fill up the comment box!

I was having a conversation yesterday with another pastor and we somehow got on the topic of Church Attire and the current trend of dress, specifically for Pastors.  It seems a though the current look for  ”Contemporary Pastors,” for the lack of a better term is: expensive trendy jeans, trendy shirts un-tucked or half-tucked, the glasses, bald head… well you get the picture and the congregation generally tends to follow the trend of the pastor for the most part.

I recently noticed that Ed Young; who is one of the “Big Dawgs” of Creative Pastors in the country is now wearing suits.  Hmmm this got me to thinking that we may only be a few years from this current “Contemporary Look” moving towards the clean cool suits, french cuff shirts, tie or no tie, the glasses… again, you get the picture.   You are already seeing blazers/suit jackets as part of the repertoire, accompanied with the current casual jean look. 

Some of you may think that I’m kidding; however I am dead serious.  Just think about how your church and your pastor dressed about 7 years ago… I’m sure that it’s quite different than today.   Whether it’s intentional or not, I think Ed Young might just be on to something (They don’t call him Mr. Creative for nothing) and you better believe all of the “Creative Pastors” are taking note. 

Creative is defined as: Having the quality of something created rather than imitated; re-create.

Do you think the “Contemporary Church” dress/attire is going to re-create itself into suits?  Share your thoughts and opinions on this subject overall.

Don’t forget that “I Told You So!”  BigIsTheNewSmall

If you have not had the opportunity to visit www.oneprayer.com then you should definitely go and check it out.

Watch the video above; then go tell your friends, tell other pastors, tell your family, tell people around the world… basically tell everyone that you know and don’t know.

What are your thoughts about OnePrayer?

Is this the beginning to a more unified Church?

Any other Monday Morning Ramblings that you want to share?