I have decided to be brave and do something new.

Over the past few months I got a job working for an Indirect cell phone company. Over these few months I have had to get back in tune with my Geeky Gadget side. The side I used to be back in the days of working at Radio Shack through High School and my first years of College.

I have been reading all the hippest and coolest tech blogs as I needed to stay up to date on the products I am selling at work and the products of the competitors.

I began to realize that there are zero Christian blogs devoted to Glorifying God with technology. All that is out there, all the Bible apps, all the new technology that is coming out that can be used to bring Glory to Christ…and there was no one talking about it.

So I thought about making a new blog that would cover those things. But thought it would be wise to not make it because I tend to be the kind of person to do things and then not care after a while. So I wanted to make sure it was really something I wanted to do and not something that just popped in my head.

Well after a few weeks I couldn’t take it anymore. I gathered many ideas to blog about. What are the best iPod apps for Evangelism outings. What are the best blog readers on the Android phones for reading your daily dose of Challies and TeamPyro? What are the worst “Christian” apps on the iPhone…and on and on and on.

So I broke down and I made SolaGadgeta.

Over the past few days people have been really excited about it. I have gotten a lot of encouragement and it’s something I want to put more time in. I am not stopping Transplant Ministries. This is simply another facet of it. But I am going to be blogging less on here (which is really no big deal because my blogs on here were not that frequent anyway) and I am going to be blogging a whole lot more on SolaGadgeta.  Don’t worry there are ton’s of great discernment and evangelism blogs out there. I don’t feel like a lack of Transplant Ministries blogs will make a whole in the ozone of the Blogosphere. But I do think we as Christians need to think more about how we can use modern technology as a printing press…for the Glory of God Alone.

So welcome to SolaGadgeta. A Blog about Gadgets alone for the Glory of God.

Please update your feed readers. Tell your friends.

The new website to is:

http://solaGadgeta.blogspot.com

In Christ Alone for his Glory.

Marcus Pittman

So the past few weeks I was bombarded with facebook IM’s and phone calls asking me if I had heard the latest Matt Chandler sermon. The sermon which can be found here aired on the seventeenth of January and contained some pretty harsh words for us Way of the Master fanatics.

In the sermon he divided evangelism up in two camps. The relational evangelist and the Way of the Master Evangelist or as he called it “The Shotgun Approach”

I believe that Matt Chandler was very honest and what he said (for the most part) was correct.

Now please, breathe out all the air you just inhaled and lets continue.

The relational camp never gets around to sharing the Gospel using words and the Way of the Master camp does tend to generate a lot of pride-filled die hard “It’s Ray’s way or the high way followers.”

I want to be very clear from the front. Both statements are correct. However there is a very important reason that the title of this post contains an asterisk.

The Gospel can be presented to people you work with over time, in small chunks. It can be presented during times of crises, at Starbucks, in music, in poetry and many other ways contextually speaking. I think us Way of the Master folks can very easily become filled with pride and discouragement when 99% of the Church refuses to come out with you on your weekly outings but we have to remember that sharing the Gospel surrounded by drunks at 2am on a Saturday night is not everyone’s cup of tea. With that being said the relational evangelist cannot say that street evangelism is “not their thing” until they have tried it first and more times then not the relational camp uses their method of evangelism as an excuse to do nothing at all.

There are different places, times and ways people share the Gospel but the message of the Gospel cannot be contextualized.

And this is where I think the heart of the issue is.

In the sermon Matt Chandler mentions “The Law” when describing Way of the Master and then goes on to describe his shot gun approach to sharing the Gospel on an airplane by telling the person beside them that he teaches Hedonism and explains to them Joy in Christ.

I think this was unclear and has left people confused.

You see when sharing the Gospel it is vital that the one being witnessed to knows that they have personally violated God’s Law. They personally have rebelled against the creator because of their own personal sins. They personally stand before God without the blood of Jesus Christ at enmity, as His enemy deserving of Hell.

If this is something that Matt Chandler believes is “The Way of the Master” he is wrong. This is Biblical. This is a vital and irreplaceable part of the Gospel. Paul says in Galatians that “The law is the schoolmaster that brings us to Christ” and without it’s proper use, the one being witnessed to is not receiving the full council of God.

You see the Way of the Master “Have you ever told a lie” script is a great way to get people started sharing the Gospel. It is a biblical method as seen with the rich young ruler but “the script” is not the Gospel. It is merely a way to summarize the Gospel. There are many ways to expose someone to their wickedness before the creator and the grace shown through Jesus Christ without using a cue card.

In 1 Corinthians where Paul discusses the “divisions” and which Matt Chandler uses to address The Way of the Master idolatry; Apollos was not ‘only’ giving Grace and Paul was not ‘only’ giving Law. If this were the case they were both wrong, because none were sharing the entire Gospel which addresses both law and grace together.

So I would ask Matt Chandler to clarify his statement. What is a Gospel presentation? You surely wouldn’t say that a Gospel presentation is good if it fails to mention the death of Christ or his resurrection? So what must it contain? We can talk about contextualization of the Gospel all day long, but if we don’t know what the Gospel is then were completely wasting our time and the time of those we come in contact with.

PS
On a side note, stop endorsing movies that blaspheme the name of God from the pulpit. I think the Biblical overtones in my Bible are enough for me, I don’t need to see them in a movie. Especially one that only gets 44% on the Rotten Tomato meter.

Sola Scriptura

Just so happens, that I was that street preacher. When asked to do the interview we were originally planning on meeting in person and discussing the finer points of street evangelism. However our work schedules conflicted so I agreed to answer the questions by e-mail. I am really glad I did because I went into a lot of detail with the questions and now I have my answers to give a much greater context to the article.

So before you read my answers to the reporters questions, make sure you read the article here.

Sermon on the Stump By: Steve Vaughan.

Here is the complete unedited (even lacking spell check) questions and answers to Steve Vaughan’s questions.

——-

Steve,

I grew up in Church I was under this delusion as many people are that because one time in my life I said a prayer, walked down an aisle at a Christian Concert that I was truly saved. However it was not until I started listening to a program called Way of the Master Radio (now known as Wretched Radio) that I realized that I have never truly trusted in Christ for repentance. I understood the Gospel…sure, but I always applied it to other people. For example I took much comfort in knowing that everyone was a sinner that I ignored the devastating fact that I myself was one. Me personally. My lies, my stealing, my blasphemy, lust and anger had given God every reason to send me to hell for all eternity, but even though I knew that, I did not personally understand it as I never allowed the truth of it to change my Heart. Once I realized that Jesus Christ took the wrath of God that I deserved by his death on the Cross it made me incrediby aware of my sins before him and I repented and trusted in him. It wasn’t an emotional experience or even a once and a lifetime prayer. It was a continual understanding of my wretchedness and his kindness despite it. It was Jesus alone not Way of the Master, not Kirk Cameron or Ray Comfort. It was Christ that caused me to see my wickedness, but he used these programs to do it.
 
It’s important to start there. With an understanding of the Gospel. Man is sinful and God is holy. We deserve nothing from God but death, followed by an eternity in Hell. The Bible says that “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” Isaiah 64:6 and nothing we can do will ever please him apart from the works of Christ. In a nation that believes strongly that the works of men is what saves people (Flashy Church services, correct methodology, and expensive programs) the idea that Christ Alone saves is not something everyone takes kindly to.
 
However I think as I answer your questions you will see how this viewpoint is critical to what we do and in bringing people to the Cross of Christ.
 
1. I want to make sure I get the terminology right. I’ve been calling it “street preaching.” Do practioners have another term that  they prefer>

Thats pretty much what we call it. Could also go by Street Evangelism.

 2. Does TransplantMinistries have a traditional “brick and mortar” church or is the ministry only street preaching and a web presence?

Transplant Ministries is nothing more than a blog. Our street evangelism consists of a team of friends, who go to different churches and denominations. Currently I attend a Reformed Presbytrian Church called ByGrace located in Newport News, VA. However some people on our team attend southern Baptist churches as well as non-denominational churches. The Gospel we preach is the same. The Christ we preach is the same. We may have a different intrest in worship styles or church government but our pastors preach the same Gospel.

 3. What is the scriptural justification for street preaching?

I am really glad you asked this question, because a lot of people assume it’s absent in the Bible. Where as it is the predominate form of evangelism. This is from a book called “Evangelism in the New Testament” by Jon Speed

“By our reckoning, there are at least 89 instances of Christ and His associates doing evangelism in the four Gospels. Of these 89 instances, 77 happened in the context of confrontational evangelism.”

Examples of these would be Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount which was public open air preaching also Jesus going into the temple and turning over the tables. But also in Matthew 10 we see Jesus giving instructions to his Disciples to “Shout from the rooftops”

“Matthew 10:27 – What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight. What is whispered in your ear, shout from the rooftops.”

This is a clear order from Christ to proclaim what He says in public, loudly. Look at what happened as a result.

10 out of 12 Disciples were publicly murdered. (Except for who Judas killed himself and John was imprisoned on an Island) Peter was crucified upside down, James was thrown off of a roof and stoned. It is very clear that the Disciples approach to evangelism was very, very public and hostile.

We see this in Acts where Stephen was stoned while preaching in the public square. People know that, but they don’t think about it. Imagine the scene that is. A public stoning. Those that make a claim that Street Preaching is not Biblical because its to aggressive would have to also say that Stephen brought martyrdom on himself and that he was wrong. Which the Bible in no way presents Stephen as a fool but one who was “filled with the Holy Spirit”

 4. Why Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area?
See #5 The most simple answer is, there are people there.

 5. Where else do you preach?
Jesus tells people to Go into all the World and preach the Gospel, making disciples of all Nations. We go wherever there are people. In the summer we preach on the Boardwalk, in the Winter we preach at Parades, in the spring and fall we preach at local universities such as VCU and William and Mary. Our goal is to have as many people as possible hear and respond to the Gospel. So we go wherever we can. We love people, and we desire to have them hear the Gospel.

 6. How long have you been doing this?
I have been doing this for about three years, since I got saved. Most people on our team have been doing it no longer then 5 years. I was working at a Radio Shack when a couple came in and gave me a Gospel Tract that I instantly recognized as Way of the Master Tract. After speaking to them for a while and after several months of fear, I finally decided to start going out and preaching with them.

 7. Why did you choose street preaching over some other form of spreading the gospel?
This method of evangelism is consistent with Church History. As I stated earlier this method was all throughout the Bible. Even the Old Testament prophets. But this method was also done throughout Church History. We see great men of God and incredible evangelist such as Martin Luther, William Tyndale and John Calvin during the reformation. We see great men like John Wesley and George Whitfield (Whitfield preached at Brutons Parish in Colonial Williamsburg) during early America and we also see men like Charles Haden Spuregon and Jonathan Edwards in england all who preached the Gospel with authority in public places.
 
I want to be clear I don’t believe for a second that Street Preaching is more valid or biblical form of preaching then having a one on one conversation with someone at Starbucks. Neither is there a problem with sharing the gospel with homeless people or people that come to Church.  As long as you share the Gospel with them. Many places disquise themselves as a “Christian” ministries and do a great job feeding the homeless, however they never tell them about their Sin, and their violations against Gods law. They never tell them about Jesus and what he did to save them. So it’s not really sharing the Gospel. It’s ecumenical humanitarian aid with a Christian title. 
 
Before I was saved, I did use other methods of sharing the Gospel. I was a camp counselor and a youth pastor at my Church. I led many people in a sinners prayer. However I think it’s very, very important to understand that creating an atmosphere that gets people excited or emotional can do many things to get people in the mood to say a prayer or walk down an aisle. However just because someone is emotional and teary eyed does not mean that someone is saved. So it might be easy to look at the mega church around the block and say “See, look at all those people that came to the altar and prayed a prayer” but we know from scripture that “Many will say to me Lord, Lord look at all the things I have done in your name” and Jesus will say “Depart from me you worker of iniquity, I never knew you” Matthew 7. So the question is if someone says a prayer out of emotion does it count? The answer is not if God was not making them emotional. God has to be the one that transforms someones heart, giving them a hatred of their sin, a desire to repent and trust in him. 
 
 8. In the clip we saw on  YouTube you were speaking about abortion and questioning “why should God bless America?” Are hot button “social issues”–e.g. abortion, opposition to homosexuality, etc. — a large portion of your message?
 
Could you please send me the clip you saw on YouTube. I want to answer with that clip in mind.
 
The quick answer is not at all. The Gospel should be the predominate message. Christ should be the center of everything we preach. Although I am not perfect and I do get on tangents that are relevant to The Gospel, we try not to make them the central focus of our preaching. Christ is Central. Christ is All.
 
The question “Why Should God Bless America” is very important. In a nation that murders 4000 Children a day under the disquise of Choice why would God bless america? Why do we deserve anything from him? Its a completely valid question that goes to demonstrate the kindness of God. Remember God flooded the entire world during the Flood, we destroyed Soddom and Gommorah, but then we go and want the Biblical God to bless us while we cling to other false Gods (such as money, pornography, abortion and lust). Why should he?
 
If God is good he must punish those who are bad. A judge does not reward murderers or else he would be unjust. He must sentence those who break the law. Our God is Good and he is also a Perfect Judge. His love is shown that he took the punishment that we deserve on himself.
 
Everything this nation has is because of the kindness of God. he has been incredibly kind, but why should he continue? Do we deserve this sort of blessing any longer? The Bible makes it very clear that God demands entire nations to repent and trust in Christ. We should do as God commands or expect what we deserve.  The Bible makes it clear that God still removes his hand of protection from those who do not obey him. 
 
 9. What sort of reaction do you get from you aurdience?  Having seen some street preachers in action before, i seems like more people go out of their way to avoid them than approach and listen to the message?
 
The reaction varies almost every time we preach. One time we were in colonial williamsburg and had a lady come to us in tears of joy. She was in her seventies and never saw a street preacher. She said she praises God for people who preach in the public square and it brought her much joy to see such an event.
 
Other times we run into large crowds. We can get crowds of 100 people just standing around listening, asking questions and engaging us with very deep and intellectual conversations.
 
Sometimes, as you stated people ignore us, they walk fast away.
 
Other times people are incredibly aggressive and violent, bringing the real life events of Acts to life. The public stonings, beatings and anger from the mobs.
 
Here is the issue. While people are walking away, they hear the Gospel being preached. We believe as the Bible states that “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11
 
There are many stories of people who have heard just a word or two while walking past an open air preacher and God used those few words to keep them awake at night, forcing them to call out to repentance.
 
Charles Spurgeon has a story of one of his friends who felt led to preach to a dog in the middle of an empty street. he did it for weeks, every day on that empty street he would preach to a dog who made his home in an ally.
 
Later on Spurgeon was called in to visit the death bed of a church attendees friend and she asked Charles Spuregon how he knew to send someone to preach out her window. As it turns out that man who was preaching to a Dog, was really preaching to someone who was dieing in her bedroom and she called out and repented and trusted in Christ.
 
The point is it doesn’t matter if people listen or not. God is still going to use the preaching of the Word. He is powerful and he does with it what he wants. We have no control over what God does with his Gospel. He may use it to bring someone to Christ or he may use his Gospel to give reason to send someone to hell because they rejected it. The truth is God is glorified in the acceptance and the rejection of his Gospel. Take Noah, Noah was not very effective at all.  He preached for 120 years while he built that ark. For 120 years people rejected him, mocked him, laughed at him and finally when the ark was done he didn’t have one person get on the Ark. Was Noah a failure? Of course not because he was continually faithful and God was just in punishing the world because of them ignoring the clear warning. Noah was successful.
 
Lot in the Book of Genesis pleaded with God to let him find just a few good people in Soddom who would repent so the town might be saved. He preached for people to repent, no one did so Lot was forced to flee with his family so God might do as he set out to do.
 
So to answer question 10. Is this effective? Yes. Completely. It might not be effective in that hundreds of people come before a church and say a prayer, but it is effective as it glorifies God because he is being spoke about in the Public square, the name of Christ is being lifted where perhaps beforehand it was not. 
 
 10. In light of that, why is this an effective way to spread your message?
 See question 9 and 13
 
11. As I’m sure you might expect, the comments we’ve had from readers are mostly negative, that what you’re doing is inappropriate for the Historic Area. Your comments?

If anyone has studied American history, they know that two of the main reasons our ‘founders’ left Europe to come to the Colonies was for religious freedom and freedom of speech. Williamsburg was one of the areas that was settled earliest, it has deep history, and as we all know the Revolutionary war was fought in and around the area. The war that birthed a new nation with rights that up until the founding of the US were only a dream. It seems to have been forgotten in modern America that people back in Colonial time were put in jail for ‘preaching without a license’. It was actually against the law to preach unless you were licensed by the state. I feel it is very appropriate to preach in CW, as it was one of the places that instrumental in ‘birthing’ these rights, that (unfortunately) many take for granted. It seems that anyone who knows American history would/should be welcoming to someone exercising the rights that so many have died to defend, even if they don’t agree with the message.

12. It seems that street preaching is a somewhat ….aggresive ….way to spread the message and seems to alienate many people. Why do you think this is?
 
 Again, I would redirect you to Acts. Look at the historic reaction to preaching in the streets. Violence and Death. Beheadings, Stoning and Cruxifictions. In the Reformation people were burned alive at the stake and the reaction to modern preachers are no different at all. there has never been a time in church history where people were fond of preaching in public. Never.
 
I can’t stress this enough, that people do not have a problem with standing up on box proclaiming what they believe in. (Look at all the people demonstrating in the streets for Conan O’Brien this week, no complaints that they are not being effective.) People have a problem with the Gospel. The Gospel is exclusive and narrow minded. Completely opposed to the comfortable, sinful lives of men.
 
Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the Life, no one comes to the father but by me” John 14:6
 
Matthew 10:22 All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
 
Luke 6:22
Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.
 
Jesus never gives the impression that the reaction to the Gospel will be anything less then aggressive. He warns over and over again about the result of preaching the Gospel.  Death, persecution.

I want to be very clear, we are not out there to be aggressive. We are not out there with this cynical mindset that were going to cause a scene. (Although there are heretical, hostile and ignorant street preachers who do think this way…and we do not associate or befriend these men.) We honestly, genuinly and passionatly care for everyone that we minister to.
 
Let me ask you a question, if you knew that a building was on fire and people were walking into that building how loud and passionate would you be in your efforts to warn them of destruction? You plead with them. Beg them, yell and scream that they come to a stop and turn around from their current direction and this would be seen as incredibly loving.
 
The same is true, we genuinly believe that every moment people all around the world are stepping off into eternity. Because we love people we want to tell them the truth, they are in danger of Hell because they have rebelled against God.
 
People think they are naturally good, but the bible says in Romans that “All have Sinned” Jesus said “None is good but God”  Telling someone that their sins have made them wicked and enemies of God is not going to get you pat on the back. Just like a Dr, who loves his patients must tell the truth when a patient has Cancer even though that news is not what one wants to hear, but because he is a good doctor and cares and knows a cure, he must tell them the full truth. No one will take chemotherapy for the fun of it.
 
13. There seems to have been an increase in street preaching over the last 10 to 15 years. Is it an organized movement? Are there conferences or books or codes of conduct that guide various street preachers? Or is it a more individualistic thing?
 
Before I answer this question I want to have you think about question 10. Clearly if there has been an increase, then the method in some way is working and effective.
 
I can credit the expanse of preaching to nothing more then the Work of the Holy Spirit. What an amazing thing it is to see Godly, Christ Centered preaching all over the country.
 
Now, if I had to pinpoint a start to this, some ministry or individual who God has used to start this I would have to point to Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron from Way of the Master. Their TV show has done wonders in spreading the Gospel to the masses and training people in open air preaching and just as you state the ministry started about 10 years ago here in America when Ray Comfort came from New Zealand. Pretty much everyone I preach with was saved as a result of their ministry at LivingWaters.com 
 

Thanks for taking the time to discuss this with me. I would like to put out a challenge to the readers. I would gladly be willing to have a more formal, reasoned and academic debate on the issue of the Biblical Nature of street preaching. Maybe at W&M, sponsored by the Gazzette. If you could find someone willing to take the other side a pastor or some church leader I believe it could be very benficial for the residents of Williamsburg.

Marcus Pittman

As some of you may know recently me and a friend went to a local seeker sensitive “church” called The Wave Church located in Virginia Beach, VA. While there we shared the Gospel with a lady there and to make a long story short we were met with amazing amounts of hostility from Steve Kelly the churches pastor and were escorted by security off the campus.

You can listen to the entire story located in the second hour from start to finish on Pirate Christian Radio by clicking here.

That was almost a month ago? So why bring it up now?

Because  recently there were some incredibly serious allegations against Perry Nobles church NewSpring Church.

So what happens when someone so much as blogs about these pop-culture untouchable self appointed men of God in way that they do not approve of?

Harassment.

Stalking.

Verbal assault.

Gay Porn sent in mail.

Family harassed.

Mocking.

and yes even having a long awaited adoption ruined.

Shocking? Yes…Incredibly.

However the question needs to be asked. Should this sort of behavior be expected?

These boys who pretend to be pastors of human beings are quick to come up with new ideas but never are they willing to defend them. They would rather be a bully. It’s easier. This is why you have never seen an academic debate of their methodologies because they are unable to defend any accusation honestly. It’s much easy to set-up fake twitter accounts and try to destroy ones family.

Ken Silva had an issue like this before. For writing blogs against Richard Abanes and Rick Warren where instead of Abanes being a man, he played the bully and tried to take down Ken Silva’s entire website by contacting the web host.

I do believe as the proclamation of the Gospel grows in the United States these ‘churches’ will be exposed for who they truly are and more and more persecution will come to anyone who tries to stand up for the Gospel.

This is nothing more then a start of a new version of catholic tyranny.

Just remember what the Bible says about reproof in Proverbs:

“Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.” – Proverbs 9:8

NewSping is a classic example of a scoffer, just as so many seeker driven best life now pastors are.

Here is the entire account of the incident according to James Duncan  - Read Here

Here is the statement sent out at NewSpring – Read Here

In my last post I discussed why I believe that the GCR would fail. However I do not believe that the GCR is a failed hopeless attempt at bringing life into a dead convention. I think there is hope. So here are some ideas that I believe will be vital for the success of the Great Commission Resurgence.

Remember, the core problem of the Southern Baptist Convention is not a lack of Church planting or national mission  boards. These are simply symptoms and causes of a greater problem, a complete lack of desire  to do any evangelism at all.

So how can the SBC address the root cause?

American Missionaries
I want to suggest that one of the functions of the Southern Baptist Convention  should be to hire and equip full time “American  Missionaries.” These would be men  of God who are actively involved in  evangelism in  the United States. Their primary goal would be to travel and proclaim the Gospel all over the United States while their secondary goal would be to visit local Southern Baptist Churches, hold evangelism training seminars and encouraging the congregation by example to go share their the glorious truths of God’s word.

I got a twitter about this yesterday from @Witnesses

@Witnesses – Not that I am out there [doing evangelism] all that much myself, I’d like someone local to encourage me and join me to ease my nervousness.

How many people within the Southern Baptist Convention desire to share the Gospel but have no idea how to do it? They just need someone to come along side of them and support them. A traveling evangelist could come to a local area spend a few weeks with several churches and encourage people to share the Gospel.

This would be a great way to “just be there” and support those who desire to do evangelism but never had the support.

The great thing about this is that there are many Southern Baptist across the nation who are already actively involved in street ministry/public evangelism. They may not be the most scholarly but their heart is there and they are experienced in the work of evangelism. Some of them I know personally, they have quit their jobs and are supporting their family based on donations from friends and family members. Why not have the SBC come and financially support these guys who are already actively involved in the work of the Great Commission and allow them to be more productive then they could be on donation based ministry?

Shouldn’t the SBC desire to support active evangelism in the community anyway?

The people within  the congregation need to see first hand that mission work does not take place overseas but right in their backyard. They need to see normal, average people being bold for the Gospel while being encouraged to do the same thing.

I am not saying that we should exclude seminary graduates from this position but I do not think we should exclude non-seminarians from this either. The Southern Baptist Convention has done such a fine job of creating a caste system with it’s elaborate seminaries and education requirements for missionaries that the people who just “go to church” believe that the work of the church is to much for them. They feel that they don’t know enough. The average people in the Southern Baptist Convention need to see average Southern Baptist giving their lives for the Gospel.

This is all part of nurturing the ground for the work of Church planting. It’s all part of the goal of getting the average joes involved in the dirty yet rewarding work of the Gospel. Without it the Great Commission Resurgence will be lost among the other great convention meetings and heated debates, becoming nothing more then a Southern Baptist battle over carpet color.

As someone who was pretty much born and raised Southern Baptist and is passionate about evangelism I was really excited about the Southern Baptist Conventions “Great Commission Resurgence.” Upon first hearing about this I became a huge cheerleader for it. I watched the streams of the convention, followed #sbc2009 tag and was extremely proud of my denomination to see it pass. However recently as I have been researching it and following what the GCR plans to do in terms of church planting and missions, I have become incredibly disappointed. You see it’s not that the plans to reshuffle the IMB and NAMB are a bad idea, it’s not. In fact I am a huge fan of placing missions back into the hands of the local church and disassembling the mission boards are part of that.

However if you think reshuffling and rearranging the current structure is going to make the Southern Baptist Convention transform the world for the Gospel…your out of your mind.

The primary problem is not the mission boards. The primary problem in the Southern Baptist Convention are people who believe that they can come to church once a week, place their money in offering plate and  perform their weekly act of evangelism by telling the waitress at Shoneys that they “just got back from church.”

The root of the problem is not the structure of the current system.The root of the problem is people who don’t care about the Gospel.

The problem is we are trying to get Church planting into the hand of people who could care less about other churches besides their own. We are trying to place missions into the hands of people who really believe as long as their local church meets their Lottie Moon goal every year…they can mark “Great Commission” off of their list of Christian things to do.

The problem with the Great Commission Resurgence is that for to long the Southern Baptist Convention has done little to nothing to raise up soldiers for the Gospel. Our altar calls and fast food evangelism at the end of a sermon has made entire generations have no clue how to share the Gospel with their own families or neighbors.

You can prove this quite easily.

Stand up in front of your Church next Sunday and announce that the entire Church will be going to the local mall to share the Gospel after service. Tell them were going to swarm the halls of holiday shoppers with the true meaning of Christmas. Let them know all they have to do is pass out tracts to strangers, they don’t have to say a word to anyone…

Then simply count how many people show up and that number will be the reason the GCR will fail.

Its quite simple, if you go into a SBC church and ask the people to step outside and share the Gospel they will stare at you as if you are a pregnant teenager.

Unless the Southern Baptist Convention addresses the root issue the Convention will never be a Church planting convention.

And let me be clear. This is not about seeing every church member on a soapbox on the corner. This is not about street preaching. The problem is far more serious then that, this is about getting people to talk about the Gospel with people they know and getting the boldness to talk to people they don’t know.

So please Albert Mohler, Danny Akin, Johnny Hunt and the rest of the GCR committee include some ways to get the back row baptist on the front lines or else you are seriously wasting your time.

In the next blog, I’ll give you some ideas on how to accomplish this.

If anyone follows my twitter account it has been  no secret about my struggles to find a job. While I have been searching for a Job, I have kept myself busy doing evangelism and ministry work. However, a major concern recently was not having medical care. Recently it became serious when I began to have severe headaches every other day, leaving me useless to even fill out applications or sit up straight. Without a job I was unable to even go to a urgent care clinic.

Then my Mom discovered the Lackey Free Clinic.

The Lackey Free Clinic is unbelievable. It is a Hospital that is dominated by a Christian worldview. It is run off of donations from local churches, individuals and doctors.

Upon walking into the Lackey Free Clinic one is bombarded with Bible verses painted on the walls. Good Bible verses, not prosperity driven verses but verses such as John 11:25-26.

They do not hide the fact they Christ centered. It’s not a behind the scenes thing. It’s the foundation of the clinic that extends to every level, not just paint on walls.

After I got approved to be seen I was told to come on  a walk-in day. Twice a week they serve the first fifteen visitors. I was number fourteen. I came expecting a long wait with a fully charged blackberry and iPod touch. I prepared for a long wait and that’s what I got. A really long wait.

I got there at 8:30 and was not seen until 12:30.

I know what your thinking. See, long waits, universal health care. Bad Idea.

Well long waits are not a good thing,  that is unless there is a good reason for your long wait.

There was a good reason. At 11:45 when my name was called I was seen by the nurse who took my blood pressure, took my weight, and temperature. Afterwords I was sent out  to go sit and wait in  the waiting room again. This time for only a few minutes until they had a room available for me and then I waited some more.

Finally around 12:30, the doctor came in. She greeted me and apologized for the wait. For the past several minutes while I was waiting she was reviewing in detail, all of my medical history. She went through everything, past heart surgeries, recent medical complications, everything.

Then she talked about my headaches and for one hour she asked me every fathomable question about them including giving me a simple neurological exam.

The reason my wait was so long was not because of the multitude of people swarming the clinic because there was not a lot of staff in an attempt to keep the budget down. The reason I had to wait so long was because the doctors actually cared about the patients enough to spend time with them, to look into their history and question their lifestyle. They are there to practice medicine, not just write prescriptions as soon  as possible so they can move on to the next patient. That’s where Christ comes into play.

When we run an organization or business with Christ as the focus it permeates every layer of that business. It seems as if so often we Christians cry out to the Government for help. I think this was a fatal error of the Religious right, all though they tried to make the Government moral they still saw the Government as the source of hope for the nation and not Christ.

Maybe instead of looking to the Government to save us, we should just go ahead and do the work ourselves. Remember, the Gospel doesn’t just change lives as the postmodern worldview would like you to think. The Gospel changes every single fiber of society.

Below is a promotional video from the Lackey Free Clinic. Please watch it and let it challenge you no matter what business your in to devote every area of it to the Gospel.

Exactly two weeks ago a dear friend rebuked me about my tweeting. He said that it seemed as if Twitter and Facebook has been the primary source for my evangelism as opposed to a desire to see souls saved and God glorified.

He was dead on and it scared me.

So for the past two weeks I have abstained from any sort of unnecessary social media communication. It’s been really freeing and has caused me to question my desire to tweet.

In fact for the first few days I noticed that I wanted to tweet about everything.

Every event, every funny thought, every spiritual thought, Where am I going? What am I doing? What am I eating?. It made me ask myself why? Why do I want to tweet this? Will it bring Glory to me? Do I desire to see what people will say, how they respond or even if they think I am witty or bright? Will it Bring Glory to God?

I quickly realized within the first few days the the vast majority of my tweets were about me and for me.

and quite simply…thats sin.

The one thing I did not abstain from during these two weeks is reading other peoples tweets and facebook statuses. I got to observe. For some tweets I wish I could have responded. For others I wondered why they posted it at all.

I learned that Twitter is a very valid form of communication. I think as time goes by we will see its importance rise. Being able to keep up with the news without sifting through hours of commentator diatribes on cable networks. Staying up to date on my favorite blogs and glancing at the current trends allow me to be culturally relevant and aware without being a part of the world or wasting to much time.

Needless to say like all forms of social communication Twitter can be dangerous.

Just as communication on a cell phone can lead to others sharing Gossip, the cell phone, like Twitter, is not sinful. Just as the cell phone can be used for the Glory of God…So can Twitter.

So please examine your motives. Why do you Tweet? Is it really for the Glory of God or is it really for the Glory of You?

With that I end my Twitter fast. I will be tweeting less about things I am doing and instead use my twitter account to discuss topics, engage in discussion, promote blog posts and be an encouragement to other believers.

I pray that you use my recent failure to examine yourself before the throne of God so the King of Glory might increase.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Hey guys. If you don’t know I will be heading up The Five Hundred at The Deeper Conference in Atlanta, GA this weekend. So the blogs this week are few…but the tweets will be many. Follow all the hash tweets of #Deeper09 and #the500 below. Be sure to follow me if you have not done so @LawGrace

I know we have been scrimping on the blogs. Don;t worry your feed reader is not broken.

The truth is we have been very busy preparing for The Five Hundred. This is an event we host every year at the Living Waters Deeper Conference. The plan is to gather 500 evangelist to go out and share the Gospel all over one city, for one night. Last year was a huge success and we had tons of people well over 500 come out with us and share the Gospel.  Gospel tracts were everywhere. They lined everywhere we went in the city. They were on every subway car and on ever block. It was truly grand to see so many people proclaiming the Gospel in such a widespread massive way.

So this year were doing it again. This Saturday night in Atlanta, GA. Please be praying for us.

Is you want more information please visit The Five Hundred at http://www.thefivehundred.org

Maybe it is because I am young, but I still like Mark Driscoll.

Even after the not so much a single mention of Hell in his sermon Sunday at the Crystal Cathedral and even though it will shock many people, I still believe that Pastor Mark is still a Christian. That sermon however was really bad.

But after reading some of the blogs I felt as if the tone in which they treated Mark Driscoll was inappropriate. Please understand I in no way defend Mark Driscoll for his less then stellar performance of his first sermonette at the Crystal Cathedral. I say first because according to Mark Driscoll he spoke twice.

“On Sunday, June 14, I preached two sermons at the Crystal Cathedral in Southern California. The trip went well. I paid my own travel expenses and preached without an honorarium as a way to ensure I was just serving Jesus. Everyone was super kind and allowed me to preach Jesus without edits. The sermons will be broadcast to 12 million people nationwide on the “Hour of Power” TV show, so please pray that people meet Jesus. They don’t have a firm date yet for when the show will be broadcast, but we’ll let you know on the Resurgence and on my Facebook and Twitter , so keep checking back. My first sermon was on Jesus’ claims to be God, and the second was a brutal tour of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in our place for our sins.”  - Mark Driscoll

Now we on this side of TV land have no way, without actually being there, to determine what the content of the second sermon was or if the sermons were even preached to the same crowd. We should really hold back until we get more information and a response from Mark Driscoll about that..if we get one at all.

But this blog is not about the content of Mark Driscolls sermon. There is enough blogs on that…

I agree. The first sermon was shallow, was not his best and appeared to be cowardice in comparison to us brave soldiers who know so much more about the pressures of being in the public spotlight and would have personally stoned Robert Schuller if only we had been invited….but we were not and chances are we will never be. We can sit behind our blogs and wine and complain all we want. If I would have been there I woulda, we coulda, he shoulda… If only John MacArthur was there… If only Paul Washer was there… Oh wait…

Paul Washer was placed in a position where he could have turned the tables on TBN…but he didn’t. A few years ago Paul Washer sat on the same stage that has been used by the Crouches, Benny Hinn and Creflow Dollar. The entire time Paul Washer was silent on the word of faith issue.

Likewise just as Dricoll was…I believe Paul Washer was  wrong. Yet no one would say that Paul Washer is a wolf in sheep’s clothing because of that would they?

However the tone across the blogosphere about Mark Driscoll was not the same as it was for other Christian leaders.

When Ray Comfort spoke at a WoF event he was hit hard by several bloggers about the issue in a humble manner. No one doubted his salvation, they were kind and Ray even wrote back responding to criticisms.

Yet look at the comments from the bloggers and commenter’s about Pastor Mark, these taken fromDefCon.

“Sadly, you were proved right: yes, Schuller is a heretic, and Driscoll has unambiguously proven himself to be a wolf is sheep’s clothing. So much for sound doctrine.”

“Perhaps now there will be a few, a precious few, that will see all of this for what it really is: apostates/heretics on parade.”

Correct me if I am wrong, but Mark Driscoll is no apostate. I may not agree on everything he does or everything he says, but he is no heretic nor is he a false teacher. He is a preacher of the Word. I have heard many of his sermons and in his own Church he preaches the Gospel. Which brings me to a question I think is vital that we answer, publicly…very soon.

There seems to be two trains of thought. On the one side you have people like me who if ever given the opportunity to preach at an apostate church will be like Ian Paisley in the midst of the Pope. Turning over the tables, rebuking the false teachings and demanding justice from God. I will preach anywhere as if I will never be invited back but I have the gift of Prophecy. I will boldly tell the truth wherever I go. It even gets me trouble sometimes with my own pride and jealousy. I to was watching Driscoll chewing on my Baja Blast straw hoping and praying that he broke the glass of that heretical glass cathedral and I was angry when it never came.

But I have to remember that there have been other great men of God, who are invited to a place and remain silent. Like I said earlier…Paul Washer on TBN, Ray Comfort at the WoF conference and John Piper when he was sitting right beside Rick Warren. However they all remained silent. These men who I believe are much smarter then me have decided on multiple occasions to stay on the side of wisdom. The wisdom goes like this “Preach the Gospel lightly without the fist pounding in hopes they look me up on the internet and are gently weaned into the Kingdom via solid preaching over time.”

I personally don’t know if that tactic is wise. It’s not what I would do but on the same scale I am still quite immature and react in ways that represent it. Yet, great Godly men are doing it. So the question that needs to be debated, wrestled with and fought over is “How do we handle this?”

How does one handle being invited to a place where they will be in the midst of wolves?

Is being silent and getting your name out there worthwhile pragmatism? Or should we ravage every single pulpit we go into that preaches something we don’t agree with, or just the rank heretical ones?

There may only be one correct answer, and I lean more towards option one for multiple reasons, but because one sides on the other does not make them an apostate. They need to be rebuked in love as Christian brothers. Not wolfs in sheeps clothing. Not at all like heretics.

We cannot use a brother in Christ as a demonstration, to show how we would have attacked a heretic.

So what will it be…since obviously reformed theology is becoming more and more mainstream, Praise God. We can expect our leaders to be invited places they should not go. So the question is if we go, how should we act?

A friend of mine tonight while talking on this subject said the following “If their not going to condemn the heresy, then they shouldn’t go at all.” That seems very wise to me, I can rest with that.  How about you?

Everyone has their own unique ways of resting and spending time with the Lord. Recently I have found something I love to do and it’s nature photography. I have always been a fan of photography I even run my own photography business on the rare occasion  I actually have a client. That website is available at http://www.focusphotographs.com

However recently I have decided to get out and spend time, along with the Lord observing his creation. I find a secluded place and ask God for permission to photograph some of his Glory… as it says in the bible “The heavens declare the Glory of God.”

Martin Luther said the following “God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.” Martin Luther

The proof of God is in his creation.

So Sunday evening after church, I grabbed my camera and ran back behind a school where there was a field of grass with some yellow flowers. Praying that God would allow me to get “that one photo” I waited until the bees and butterflies returned after I laid in the middle of their pollen harvest. While waiting I thought to myself. What a curse. I get so much joy out of being up close with the smallest of God’s creatures., yet because of Adam they are scared of me.

Have you ever thought about that. How much enjoyment you get from watching squirrels chase each other around the trees or seeing birds up close. With the sin of Adam and Eve…all of that was gone. We can’t even enjoy God’s creation the way God intended us to. We have to lay in the middle of the grass, get all dirty and wait in a silly attempt to fool bees that were not there or else they will fly away.

But thankfully God did allowed me to capture some of his Creation. So I post it here not to brag about my skills but to allow people to see the wonders of God as he allowed me to see up close and personal.