Steve Jobs --- gained the temporary and lost the eternal

Mark 8:36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?

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Steve Jobs, in one of his taped interviews before his death said the following:

“You're born alone, you're gonna die alone.”

Further on in the interview, on the subject of why Steve Jobs wasn't operated on immediately when he discovered he had pancreatic cancer, Steve Kroft asked Isaacson, “How could such a smart man do such a stupid thing? ”

As I thought about this news item on 60 minutes and about Steve Jobs life, I couldn't help but apply this question to Jobs statement, “You're born alone, you're gonna die alone”. How did he miss the entire point of life? Did he ignore the evidence all around him? Was he presented the gospel by a born-again Christian? Was he unusual in his thoughts or is this what most Americans -- most people think? Am I the only one who is asking these questions?

Now I know he is only one soul but still it was a soul so precious that Jesus died on the cross to provide forgiveness and eternal life to even Steve Jobs. So many scriptures race to the forefront of my mind contradicting his statement “You're born alone, you're gonna die alone.”

Psalms 139:7-10: “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.”

Later on in that same chapter vv 13-16:

“For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.”

During all of our life (and beyond) He has promised those who are born again that: "I will never leave you nor forsake you." (Heb 13:5b)

That scripture alone covers the rest of eternity, but to be a bit more specific the Bible also says: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17: But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”

Did you note that Christians who had already left this life COME BACK WITH HIM!!

Later in the interview, Isaacson said Steve Jobs started talking about God in this manner.

"Sometimes I believe in God, sometimes I don't. I think it's 50-50 maybe. But ever since I've had cancer, I've been thinking about it more. And I find myself believing a bit more. I kind of-- maybe it's 'cause I want to believe in an afterlife. That when you die, it doesn't just all disappear. The wisdom you've accumulated. Somehow it lives on." Then he paused for a second and he said, "Yeah, but sometimes I think it's just like an on-off switch. Click and you're gone."

How can so many people, Steve Jobs included come to such a wrong conclusion? Again scripture supplies answers, even when we might not want to hear them.

Romans 1:18-25: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man--and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”

Steve Jobs was a billionaire; a man many almost worshiped. If you don't believe that, you don't follow the tech world closely as I do.....Believe it! Yet his life had what purpose? Maybe you heard one during the interview.....I didn't. Did his products have an effect on the world? Certainly! Will his name show up in history books....probably, for a while. Yet is that it?? Is that what life is about? To make some products that people really like and use AND to be put in a history book? Maybe that was enough for Steve Jobs but not for me. My father, who has long ago 'graduated to glory' used to say something like this.....”After you have died (as the world calls it), after 6 weeks the people at your job will have replaced you and will hardly think of you. After 6 months only very few people will think of you on a regular basis. In 60 years no one alive on the earth will ever know you existed”. That is so true BUT......if you are a born again Christian, God doesn't forget your name....doesn't forget you because you'll be with Him!

So what is the point of life? Certainly many more eloquent could say it better but here's my shot at it. The point of life is to be born again, to live a God inspired life so that you can affect (maybe infect is a word that would work as well) others for Jesus. To prepare in this short, short life for the next life which is eternal. I choose God and heaven for the next life. What about you?

God bless all who bless HIS name!

Brother Dave

9/11/01 from inside the FAA at Detroit Metro Airport

I know this post may seem a few days late for some, but in all honesty with all the remembrances on the TV and the web over the weekend, I was too overwhelmed with emotion to write this. You may think that makes me corny or old-fashioned but my patriotism runs deep and I believe how I've spent my life will, to an extent, back that up. What I want to write about is my remembrances of what transpired on 9/11/2001 in the Federal Aviation Administration's Operations Office / Maintenance Control Center at Detroit Metro Airport.

As many jobs in many fields of endeavor, the work in that office was not defined by one job only but by many. In this office we shared a common wall with the Radar Room where controllers directed aircraft in the immediate 50 mile vicinity of the airport. We were 'Operations Officers' to the Air Traffic controllers in that room as well as the Control Tower adjacent and above us. To other FAA facilities in Michigan and Wisconsin we were used as a Maintenance Control Center. That is enough of a description for this purpose.

On that day which will forever be a snapshot those of us who lived through it will take out and 'look at' from time to time, these are the sequence of events as I remember it. Ten years of time as well as advancing age may 'cloud' certain of these memories but this is my best recollection.

All was going well on that day. No real problems had cropped up, when early in the shift one of the Air Traffic supervisors opened up the sliding door that separated us from the radar room and told us that a plane had hit one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. We immediately turned on our “Current Events Monitor”. This bit of electronic equipment, were it to have been in a home would have been called a 'Television' but in our office it was a “Current Events Monitor”. That may seem funny or out of place in a workcenter but, due to experience with a fatal accident between 2 aircraft in the fog at Detroit Metro not that many years before this incident, we found out that we could learn far more in the early hours of an accident by watching the local news stations than we could learn through official channels. Offices like ours rarely have any windows and when life threatening events occur all of us become so busy we have no time to send someone anywhere else to learn anything locally. So we had a “Current Events Monitor”.

Anyway, shortly after we turned on the “Current Events Monitor” we saw, as did millions of other people, the 2nd airliner crash into the other World Trade Center tower. We all knew immediately that it was terrorism. We reported to our superiors at both Detroit Metro as well as Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, MI of what had happened. As one was doing this another was transmitting on our own transceivers a code to all of our technicians to return to their workcenter as quickly as possible. We never used open language as our frequencies were monitored by local news outlets. And I got to flip a switch that had only been used in testing it's function. This switch disabled all electronic access card readers on all our exterior doors so that even those with keycards could not open our doors. As our technicians came to the doors they would call up to us and, with our video cameras we could tell if they were alone or someone was trying to gain access illegally with them. Remember, Detroit Metro Airport is one of the busiest airports in the United States and all at the time that we knew was that multiple facilities were being attacked and we were a prime target. I won't say that we didn't think of our families because I know I did. But I knew that, whatever happened, they were almost certainly safer where they were than where I was.

In the next 45 minutes to 1 hour and a half, we watched on one of our equipment monitors that tracked all air traffic in the United States (now just about anyone can watch this on the internet but then only those with expensive equipment and dedicated access to this information could see it) as The FAA and it's controllers got all air traffic in the US on the ground. This may seem little to most but, I assure you that it was a task I don't believe many of us inside the FAA would have seemed possible in the short time span that it took: simply amazing guys!

It is also well to note that, at that time there was a division of the FAA called FAA Security but they were very small and not even on the airport directly. Beyond the airports own police, there were no security personnel of any kind in the FAA facility at our FAA tower and base bldg. It was a hectic time so my time passage may be off but it was somewhere between 45 minutes and 1 hour and 15 minutes that the FBI showed up with automatic weapons and started patrolling our facility's hallways and doors. The FBI offices were in downtown Detroit and Detroit Metro Airport is actually in Romulus, MI some distance from Detroit. They must have really 'pushed' to get there so quickly. The sight of those FBI agents with automatic weapons; patrolling the hallways was surreal. I'm not unacquainted with those type of weapons as I, along with a very large portion of the FAA personnel were former military and have seen and handled those type of weapons in our lives. But to see them in our facility was akin to seeing spark plugs in a baby bed; it didn't 'fit'. In fact it was many months later before the FBI left. It took some time for the FAA to let the contract for private (armed) security to take over. (By the way, they are still armed!).

Way before noon, nothing showed on our radar displays. The entire US airspace had been turned over to NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense) in Colorado. That continued for many, many days and there was simply very little for our friends in the Air Traffic Division to do as as well as our technical personnel in the Airways Facilities Division there at Detroit.

Were we scared? To this day I don't know how to answer that. I mentioned before that the great majority of FAA personnel (at that time) were former military and I think maybe that entered into it. We knew (I knew) that we could be 'hit' in a multitude of ways as that day progressed but maybe, like the rest of the country, we were in shock as well. Again, I'm sounding corny I suppose but for me, at least part of it was devotion to duty. I have told many people that, if possible, I would like my tombstone to read (way far in the future if the Lord permit) that the two highest callings for man are: service for God and service for country. I believed that then; I believe that now; and I'll always believe that. Actually service for God and country are blessings bestowed........ not burdens borne.

As I was talking to LaDonna a few days ago that I was going to write this post about my remembrances she asked me if I could remember what time I got home that night. I really couldn't....still can't. Nothing exists in my memory of arriving home. She told me I didn't get home until 7:30 or later that night. I'm sure I hugged her but I guess......shock then.....maybe still?

I'm closing now.....I think my 'heart' still hurts.....too many memories.

God Bless all who read this,

Dave

Why I Changed The Blog's Title

The title of "My World Today" seemed as good as any other when I had a job (or 2) to go to on a regular basis. But it seemed not to fit what, it seems to have become, retirement. I'm still trying to come to terms with my life as it is, but with God's help, I'll make it through. But that is not what I want to explain right now.  Why did I change the title of my blog AND why "Life Without a Briefcase"?  Let me explain.

I graduated high school in 1967 and was going to business college for computer programming. Because of the Vietnam War, however, all teenage males knew that sooner or later a decision had to be made. Without going into the decision itself, or the options, MY only option was what branch of the service I was going to go into. The draft was going strong and the "Lottery" approach to the draft had not yet been enacted. The draft happened on a county by county quota. If your county had a lot of draft age males, perhaps your draft notice might not come until you were 20. But in my county, Madison County, Ohio, there was a shortage of draft eligible males so I knew my draft notice would come shortly after my 19th birthday. So I enlisted in the Air Force instead. After basic training, basic and advanced electronics schools, I was given orders to go to the island of Guam in the Pacific. What I found out was, at that time, each airman carried his own pay records in a dark blue circular tube. This tube was an incredibly odd size and shape to carry. And there didn't seem to be a good way to carry it. I was determined to find some way to carry this thing that wouldn't be so awkward yet would be securely stowed away and I wouldn't forget it. As I looked in stores, nothing seemed to fit. After a lot of searching, I found out that Samsonite had a very thick briefcase made of some type of hardened metal and plastic that was just large enough to fit the large blue tube into the front of the briefcase if I didn't put  anything into the back of it. After carrying it halfway around the world, I found it to be handy to carry to work everyday. As the years went by, both in the Air Force and later in the Federal Aviation Administration, I found it to be an everyday necessity. When I started pastoring a church in Michigan and later in Kansas, I found it even more vital to carry. When I retired from the FAA I was still carrying one to my office at the church.  But after I retired I brought it home and forgot about it. The other day I happened to look over in the corner of my office, here at home and saw it. I realized that I hadn't touched it since I brought it home the last day I pastored up in Parkville,MO and that was the longest I had gone since I was 19 years old without carrying one. In fact, I carried the same briefcase since I became a supervisor with the FAA in 1986 (a gift from my wife LaDonna). The only reason I had retired the earlier briefcase (I've only had 2 in my lifetime) was that it took an unfortunate stab in it's top by a forklift (another story). I realized that my life had taken a sharp turn when I looked at my briefcase over in the corner all alone. My work life, both the good and the bad were now a thing of the past. Even though I didn't specifically retire from preaching and pastoring (the Lord had just told me to resign the pastorate I was at) it seems clear now, that part is over as well. Not because I wish it to be, but because the need, for me to be either, seems absent.

So, "Life Without a Briefcase" it is!

God bless all who read this,

Dave Mingus

Faith - misunderstood. And a truly Bad Scifi movie

A couple of items have been banging around in my head (plenty of empty space to bounce around I suppose) the past couple of days. One is of a religious nature and the other decidedly  not.

     I was watching a television program called "Combat Hospital", I believe this past Monday. One of the story lines centered on a chaplain serving with this particular combat hospital. While not giving away too much of the story, the drama surrounding the chaplain was on her faith. The central theme of her part in that episode was that she was struggling with her faith because she could see no reason for one soldier's loss of the use of his legs in particular, and in general any reason from God for the chaos of the war around her and the concurrent loss of life and limb thus she could see no purpose for her being there. She felt useless!  That makes for a good story I suppose; I don't write TV screenplays.  What it does bring up is that it is true-to-life for many in our society today. The strength of their 'faith' is directly proportional to how much they THINK they understand koo about what is going on around them. This is understandable since this ranks up high on mankind's shortcomings/sins. It is hard when your day-to-day life is a swirl of confusion and chaos; to remember exactly what faith is and isn't; what God is, and what we are.

     What is faith?  I'm not going to give you a dictionary explanation. Neither am I going to give you a "Strongs" or "Youngs" definition. No interlinear Bible is needed. I want to give you a definition that may help more in your day's struggles.  First of all, true faith is NOT understanding why God does what He does! Faith is a relationship with God! If your faith is based on understanding either God or why things happen in your life and the lives around you; that faith will ultimately fail. In every life there are simply things that we cannot understand! We do not have the capability to understand. Our fallen carnal nature prevents us. We wish for God to explain what we do NOT have the capabiliity to understand. In the book of Job, from chapter 38:4 and continuing through chapter 40:2, God asks Job a series of questions because Job had decided God was required to answer him (Job). This is a scripture we all need to remember, especially in the times of confusion and doubt we have. Job 38:4a is a bellwether for this speech from God. "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?"  I have heard some men preach this in the manner of God scolding Job for even asking; as if God said 'HOW DARE YOU ASK ME THESE QUESTIONS?' I would like to propose a different reading. I believe God is asking these questions of Job to lead Job to an understanding that all these questions God is asking of Job are elementary questions that Job must understand; have an answer to (beyond 'I don't know') for God to even begin explain to Job why He (God) does what He does.

I spent my working years studying/working on all things electronic & digital for the federal government (FAA). If you were to come to me and ask me for an explanation of the specifics of how radar works, including how the radar waves are formed; how they travel down the waveguides; why ports can be in the waveguide and not disrupt the signal, then I would, at first ask if you've had (and understood) advanced courses of algebra, geometry, trigonometry, differential and integral calculus. Have you had basic and advanced electronic theory? Do you understand the role of magnetics in electronic and waveform theory? Are you current in all computer operation theory, both basic and advanced? If all those things are true then we can start a conversation about the specifics of radar. I believe God is saying something similar (although the answers to His questions are above our ability to understand at all).  We as fallen man cannot even answer the first question!! "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?" God asks and we must remain silent because we cannot answer this most basic of questions He asks of us!

If this is true (and I believe it is) why do we struggle with this so much?  I believe one reason, perhaps the greatest reason is a 'two sides of the same coin' reason. We don't have a HIGH enough view of God or a LOW enough view of ourselves. We have slipped into the sin mentioned in Romans chapter 1. Verse 25 says in talking of mankind 'l exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator......" Put simply instead of the Genesis 1:26 truth  'Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image"' every time we demand of God, or suggest in our minds that God must give us an answer for us to worship Him, we are, in effect, attempting to "make God in our image". To demand of God an answer in order for us to have faith in Him is not faith at all!

   We have all done this at one time or another. How can we, with God's help, correct this. First of all, retain God's word in your heart and mind! This involves reading and studying God's Word.  Secondly understand that prayer is not some shopping list we give to God. Prayer is about 2 way communication with Him who has established a relationship with us. Prayer is putting that relationship into action. Any valued relationship requires that we invest our time.

Words fail me!  This is a poor example to be sure but perhaps this will help. LaDonna is my wife! She is my wife when I understand her and she is my wife when I don't understand her at all. She is my wife when she does what pleases me and she is my wife when she does that which doesn't please me. In all cases she is still my wife! When I talk with her it is a two way communication like none other on this earth that puts that relationship (husband-wife) into gear. That communcation is the grease which enables that relationship to work as it should.

Again, Faith is being in a relationship with God, not about understanding God. We simply do not have the capability to do so. He is HIGH, we are LOW!

So how do we prepare for those 'earthquakes' of our lives that do not make sense to us; that we can't see how this works into God's plan?

The way I've tried to prepare is to grasp the realization that I do not understand the details of God's plan, I never have understood the details of God's plan, and I never will understand the details of God's plan, at least as long as I am on this side of that doorway we call physical death.

Item 2: Definitely not of a religious nature.

I'm a geek. I have been a geek since before the term was used to mean what it has come to mean. As any proper geek, I love sci-fi (not fantasy....flying dragons don't do a thing for me) and I watch sci-fi when I can. So this past weekend I set the DVR to record a movie that had been advertised for weeks on the SyFy channel called "The Watchmen". The way they advertised it, I assumed a good to great plot with a SciFi backdrop. Last night I got around to watching it. What the movie turned out to be was something far, far short of what I was expecting. What was received was a 3 hour movie that should have been a 20-30 minute episode on the Twilight Zone with a plot that can be summarized as this old chestnut: "The ends justifies the means". I shouldn't have watched all of it but I assumed that somewhere in the 3 hours allotted for this movie, it would get better....it didn't! And to make matters worse, the backdrop they chose to stretch this one-liner plot into 3 hours was a bad combination of the old Buck Rogers episodes in the 40's and 50's combined with badly lit poor imitation of the original 'Dune' movie (the one starring Kyle MacLachlan and Patrick Stewart, not the abysmal miniseries done in 2000 which missed the whole 'messiah' idea). Imitation may be the most sincere form of flattery but it makes a lousy backdrop for a movie.
I was trying to think of any movies I've ever seen that would come close to being as bad as this movie. I'm sure there are more but there are only two that come to mind. Number 1 was "Inside Daisy Clover". This movie was shown at the "Gloria Theater" (I believe that was what it was called) in Urbana, Ohio at about 3am on the night/morning of one of the Proms I attended while in high school. The 2nd was probably one of the "Valley of the Dolls" movies. Instead of watching these movies perhaps staring at a picture of your least favorite family relation for 2 hours would be a better use of your time. 'nuff said.

That's it for this week. I realize you may disagree with me on one or both of items I've written, so I'll relay something told about me from a Bible College professor who was confronted by a student from the church I pastored in Michigan. This professor told the student that "Your pastor (that's me folks) had the right to be wrong."
I guess we all have that right. Just don't be wrong about your faith in Christ, however you define it!

Stay close to your family and closer to God.
Dave Mingus

In My Mind, What a View!

Since I left the pastorate last month, I've been using a devotional written by Free Will Baptist pastor Randy Sawyer called "Regaining Balance: 91 Days of prayer and praise". Each day Pastor Randy calls to attention a portion of scripture and guides the reader through thoughts, reflections and praise to God. I don't normally share my devotions with anyone but I seem prompted to do so today.

Today is day 18 of the study and Psalm 8:1-9 was the scripture. It begins: " O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens."


Pastor Randy asked the reader to take some time to look at a beautiful landscape or think about one. Think about how it all came into being and asked what does it tell the reader about the Creator?


This was my own poor but heartfelt response: " I've seen many places over the earth.....Of all the sights, the one I remember thinking of God and His majesty was not the most beautiful sight I've seen but one I remember well. I was flying back from Chicago to Toledo, Ohio one early evening, some years ago, on Air Wisconsin a small commuter airline. I was flying in a plane I believe was called a Metroliner; a small, perhaps 12 passenger turboprop plane. The plane never did get very high so I was able to see the coast of Lake Michigan and then the farms, towns and villages of northern Indiana and Ohio. As it was evening, the lights of the towns below started coming on but yet I could still clearly see as it wasn't totally dark yet. Even at that low altitude how small these towns and people seemed. I remember vividly these many years down the road of my life, thinking of how small and insignificant I am to the earth and society; how much the world would not even miss me should I pass from this earth.....and yet God, the Creator of all that there is, everywhere, cares for me; loves me; is concerned with my day-to-day life here on this small 'blue marble' we call earth. That this God, the only God loves me....ME!!! That He wants me to be with HIM forever eternally!!! That He provided all that is necessary for that to happen!!!. How could I not praise Him!  The psalmist was right: Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!"

Do you want people to come to your church?

The past Sunday is the first Sunday I've not pastored in the last 8 years. In looking to see where we'll attend, not only 1 Sunday but where to go after that, I've encountered some stumbling blocks

I need to let those who follow me to pass along to their respective churches.

As a past pastor of 2 churches in 2 different states, I've always looked at it from the pastor's point of view; now I've come at it from the 'seeker' side of the information. In putting those two views together, let me tell you what I've found AND not found.

First of all, in looking for information about local (to me in Spring Hill, Kansas)churches, I found two Baptist churches within 8 miles of me that have NO website. Maybe that doesn't ring for some of you out there but let me remind you that it is the 21st century. To have nothing directing people to your church on the web is a mistake of the first order! A great number of people don't even keep a telephone directory in their house; many don't even have an old style telephone line & number. In my household I dropped a POTS (plain old telephone system) line over a year ago and I was a holdout. When I receive a telephone book (and believe me, since I live in a town that stradles 2 counties, I get numerous phone books) they don't even come in my house, they go straight to the recycle bin. I get all my information like that from the internet. And in case you're not familar with me and decide to relegate my opinion to some 'young whippersnapper' I'm almost 62 years old. When you have NO website information, some will never know you even exist! I am painfully aware that some churches are NOT on the main streets of towns and cities. Secondly IF they know you exist they will not come if they don't know who you are! Websites can be put up for free! It doesn't have to be fancy. In fact some more of the fancy church websites should take heed to the fact that at least a portion of the people will be searching on a cellphone that may not work well with image laden or flash laden sites. Churches need to consider either putting a parallel mobile site or making sure that there is a place on your site that is not 'image heavy' or 'glitz laden'. People are coming to your website to get information about your church, not to be 'dazzled' by your website design!

Now as to the information needed by people considering coming to your church, first I want to address something totally non-internet related. PUT UP YOUR SERVICE TIMES!!!!! While you would think that I'm stupid for saying that, we have a local church here in Spring Hill, Kansas that, if you go to their church building; you drive to their church, they have NO information about when their service times are or what services they even have!! How can someone come to your church service if you don't even tell them on your church sign or building when your services are held? Do you have a Sunday School for their children? Do you have a Sunday evening or midweek service? Without service times posted at your church you are saying, "please don't come to our church. We are happy without you coming." Is that really the message you want to convey? I don't believe that was Jesus' message!

Now, back to your 'free if necessary' website, what information are people looking for? Here are a few of those things (not exhaustive):

Service Times --When do you worship?

What is offered during the service such as a nursery.

Style of dress (traditional, casual, etc) Be honest here. If you say casual but everyone is dressed in suits, ties and the women are all wearing heels, they may immediatley walk back out of your front door.

Type of service and worship style: Traditional, contemporary, high energy? Be specific, do you sing traditional hymns or is it more modern day contemporary songs? Perhaps it's high intensity? Just say whatever it is. If you say 'blended' or 'fusion' you may have just confused some people and they will reject your church because they don't understand what that means; again, be specific!

Does your church have group activities? Activities for children, teens, seniors; women, men, etc? Again be honest about whether you truly have them or not. People appreciate honesty, especially from a church!

Consider a short statement about belief. It doesn't have to be extensive but people would like to know whether or not there may be, for example, "speaking in tongues", in your church service. Again, be clear what they can expect.

Don't use your statement of beliefs to 'put down' others. I was reading a 'Beliefs" statement from a church in Olathe, KS last Saturday. At the top of the statement of beliefs they said they were nondenominational and stated they believed that denominations were used frequently to divide christians and not unite them. Fair enough. But then further down in their statement of beliefs they stated that they were pretribulational; premillennial in their beliefs. I admire their honesty and being specific but they just said denominations divide. What are denominations but churches who believe certain things about the Bible and band together to accomplish Christ's mission with like-minded christians? Being specific is imperative but take a second look at your statement of beliefs and see if it is contradictory.

Lastly (again not an exhaustive list), keep you site up to date. Many church sites I visited in the last week or so, have on their list of upcoming events, Thanksgiving or Christmas of last year.

You don't have to change the site everytime, just make sure it's up to date. Also, on your main web page, put the date of the latest update.

A church website can be complicated and in depth or very simple but informative. Let's use every means to reach those around us for Christ!

How to 'take' the Bible

I was reading various news items the other day and one article stirred my interest. It was a 3 part article about how to obtain peace in the Holy Land. One phrase really caught my eye. The phrase was "If we were to take the Bible literally". The article went on to explain how we should throw out all notions of any historical or Biblical claims to Jerusalem and the Holy Land in order to achieve peace.
I won't debate his biased opinion...others can do that. What bothers me is how easily it is to discard the Bible when it becomes inconvenient! The phrase "If we were to take the Bible literally" astounds me! How else could you possibly take it and have even a thread of honoring it. If the Bible is the Word of God, it must be taken literally. As such, it is perfect in all aspects including history. If a person does not believe it is the Word of God, why take it at all?
What the author of the article is really saying is that he doesn't believe the Bible is the Word of God and wants all others to disregard it as well, especially when it becomes inconvenient.
When the Bible becomes inconvenient or difficult to follow is exactly when we MUST follow it! We all like the part about Jesus loving us; about John 3:16 but we choose to ignore it when it says not to call Him Lord if we don't do what he says (from Luke 6:46).
Life is not a 'gray' area as so many teach us today. It is black and white as the Bible teaches us. Actually, it's black, white and RED (Jesus' words). That's what life is!