The Church of Facebook,

How is our rapidly-changing hyperconnected culture impacting the church?

A recent Associated Press article that ran in USA Today discussed how the internet has become the hottest place to build a church. A number of congregations are creating “internet campuses” where visitors can do much more than just watch an internet stream of the local worship service.

These sites are fully interactive and come with their own pastor, live chats, 1-on-1 prayer through IM, communion, and in some cases have conducted long-distance baptisms. As the article says, “The move online is forcing Christians to re-examine their idea of church. It’s a complex discussion involving theology, tradition and cultural expectations of how Christian should worship and relate. Even developers of Internet church sites disagree over how far they should go.”

In response to the article, Jesse Rice, the author of The Church of Facebook, states, “The way we think about and experience church is shifting quickly and radically. Membership in Internet churches is exploding while mainline denominations continue to see their pews emptying fast. What’s going on here and what should be our response?” In The Church of Facebook, Rice takes a hard look at the Internet-driven trends effecting the church worldwide and invites readers to consider, through humor and well-researched information, how we can truly be “the hands and feet of Jesus” in the disembodied worlds of Facebook, Twitter, and online faith communities.

Online social networks like Facebook and MySpace are connecting people like never before. With hundreds of millions of users, they’re creating almost limitless potential to redefine our personal worlds. It’s a movement that’s changing how we form relationships, perceive others, and shape our identity. In his book, Rice takes a deeper look at the movement which, at its core, reflects our need for community. “Our longing for intimacy, connection, and a place to belong has never been a secret, but social networking offers us a new perspective on the way we engage our community,” Rice explains.
This new perspective raises new questions:

1. How do these networks impact our relationships?

2. In what ways are they shaping the way we think of ourselves?

3. And how might this phenomenon subtly reflect a God who longs to connect with each one of us?

Social networking is no fad; it has become a fact of life, especially for teens and twenty-somethings. The Church of Facebook is essential reading for parents and pastors who want to understand this trend and its impact on their children and congregations. Rice’s discussions will engage social networkers of all ages and stages who are wrestling with the very real issues of identity, meaning, purpose, and friendship within the context of virtual communities.

In the end, The Church of Facebook moves readers toward understanding God’s work in the body of Christ, the church. Rice challenges readers to consider new perspectives regarding their social networking habits and how those habits may point to deeper heart issues and, ultimately, our hunger for Jesus.

“What are we to make of the future church?” Rice asks. “How do we go about cultivating authentic community and transformative discipleship within disembodied online environments? It’s more important than ever that we understand the cultural forces pushing and pulling at the church, and how we can best engage them.”

Watch Jesse Rice’s interview with TheOoze.tv!

The Church of Facebook by Jesse Rice David C Cook/October 2009 ISBN: 978-1-4347-6534-5/192 pages/softcover/$12.99

www.davidccook.com

www.churchoffacebook.com

Accomplishing God's Will

The Truths we proclaim in accomplishing God's will must line up with God's ways not the wisdom of the day or hour. This applies in the following four strategic; Fulfillment of our calling, Leadership principles must guide, Covenant with many people, Moving with the opportunity:

1. Fulfillment of our calling: If we have a calling, gifts and anointing and if we seek God about something that is within the realm of our calling the idea that we have as a result will be His perfect plan, in scope, timing, place or relationship.

Truth: If we have not sought (inquired of) the Lord diligently and truly heard from Him we will march into battle with a plan that may have worked elsewhere or seem good to us but is not God's plan for the hour or the circumstance we face. Israel at AI. Joshua 7 and 8.

2. Leadership principles must guide: We say we should use leadership principles to accomplish the call He has given but without inquiring of the Lord we will be trapped into ungodly results. Look at King Hezekiah's father Ahaz who did what seemed right according to the leadership principles of the day. 2 Chronicles.

Truth: Leadership principles must be based on the foundational truth of the Word made Rhema for the hour and tested by prayer and humbling ourselves before God until we hear the sure Word of the Lord. All that Ahaz did had to be undone by his Godly son.

3. Covenant with many people: We say we should be in relationship with all who will be helpful to our mission or calling.

Truth: If we have not sought (inquired of) the Lord diligently and truly heard from Him we will make covenant with people we should not be in covenant with. Gibeon in Joshua 9.

4. Moving with the opportunity: We think we must be willing to move or stand still as the opportunity seems right.

Truth: When Israel was in the wilderness they had the pillar of cloud by day and the fire by night. They stayed still (encamped) when it was still but were always to be dressed and ready to move as the Lord commanded at the trumpets sound. We must move or wait based on the Lord's leadership not opportunity. Paul seeking to go one way where there seemed to be opportunity and God directing Him in a vision and by His Spirit to go to Macedonia. Acts 16:6-12.

The Longview Q+A

Q&A with Dr. Roger Parrott,
Author of The Longview
Part 1

"Many of today’s ministries suffer from a near-sighted vision. Too often leaders choose easy solutions over principled, long-term strategies. The results can be devastating, as ignored issues become full-blown crises, and small problems become big challenges.

The Longview (David C Cook, October 2009) is a fresh approach to leadership that will transform how readers make decisions and address problems. Author Dr. Roger Parrott offers proven, practical principles drawn from scripture and his renowned career in educational leadership. Parrott issues readers a timely challenge: Defy the trends of short-sighted goal-making for quick returns by learning to lead for long-term significance.

Do we have a leadership void today?

The problem is not that we don’t have great leaders, in fact, we’ve probably never had more educationally well prepared leaders than we have today. The problem is that leaders are caught in an ever tightening vice grip of unrealistic expectations that pressure them into valuing turn-around over transformation. Today’s leaders are expected to find simple solutions to complex problems, and because these quick-fixes only hold for a short time, leaders from presidents to pastors disappoint those they are leading.

I believe this pattern started in American culture in the 1980s with the quest to get rich quick from junk bonds and buy outs, through the dot.coms in the 1990s, and the explosion of “want it now” credit card debt and built into the real-estate frenzy created by leveraged speculators in the past decide. So leaders have been reared, tutored, and equipped to operate in a world that prizes immediate results over lasting significance.

For three decades skyrocketing incentives have been the norm for all manner of short-term producers—from stockbrokers to college coaches—as leaders at every level have indoctrinated us to believe immediate gains trump long-term consequences. This nearsightedness is eroding the foundational underpinnings of organizational quality and severely handicapping the effectiveness of leaders who are robbing the future to pay for today.

How did the Church become caught up on a short view approach and what are the consequences?

As we often do in the Church, we’ve followed the pattern of the world – in this case, the best of business and organizational teaching – but in mimicking the leadership patters of business and politics, we’ve strayed from the Longview leadership model given to us by Jesus. Because this short view corporate culture has so permeated the church today, we in ministry have loosened our grip on the biblical model for leadership. We have grown to expect and even demand an ever-increasing cycle of measureable and immediate results from our leaders.

Our theology and our ministry passion draw us to talk about Longview outcomes as our heart’s desire, but we have been duped into fostering a generation of leaders, board members, employees, and constituencies who value short-term gain over Longview significance. Ministry leaders believe it and act accordingly—hiring and rewarding people who can promote Band-Aid fixes as monumental solutions, creating plans that promise the moon and always come up short, raising funds from unrealistically compressed donor relationships, and touting those results that can most easily be measured and applauded.

Why do you believe rising leaders are the generation who will value a Longview approach to leadership?

For three reasons I’m convinced this new generation of leaders are ready to embrace Longview leadership:

1. They know the short view doesn’t work. This is likely to be the first generation that has not had a quality of life better than their parents. And they know the reason is we are not dealing with Longview solutions in the macro problems of health care, terrorism, energy, and the economy. And they will be the ones to pay the price for patchwork fixes.

2. They are connected to huge networks of real people through social networking, and listen to them rather than public relations messages – and they know from their peers that sugarcoating a problem doesn’t make it go away.

3. This new generation of leaders is much more focused on mission significance and problem solving than on organizational stature and position climbing. They want to make a difference in the world, and they are willing to dig into problems to find lasting solutions.

The challenge for younger leaders is that they have never been given the tools to lead in a Longview pattern. So the book is not just a call to Longview leadership, but mostly is deals with the everyday nitty-gritty issues of leadership from a Longview perspective."

About the author: At age thirty-four Roger Parrott became one of America’s youngest college presidents. Parrott is currently the president of Belhaven University, an innovative liberal arts institution recognized as the leading evangelical college in the Arts. He earned a PhD in higher education administration from the University of Maryland. Parrott serves in leadership of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, Mission America Coalition, and Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He has advised a wide variety of ministries in the US and internationally.

The Longview by Roger Parrott, Ph.D.
David C Cook/October 2009/ISBN: 978-1-4347-6749-3/hardcover/255 pages/$16.99
www.davidccook.com – www.thelongview.info

The Longview: Lasting Strategies for Rising Leaders

What follows is a series of materials on:
The Longview: Lasting Strategies for Rising Leaders

Below is a PR plug from the publisher with other materials to follow.
"Author Roger Parrott explains why leaders need measure lasting outcomes as well as immediate results

We live in a quick-fix, immediate-impact, short-view world. But we serve a longview God.

We need to return to a biblical model of leadership that values transformation over turnaround and measures eternal outcomes as well as immediate effectiveness. In his book, The Longview, Dr. Roger Parrott offers a guide to a leadership lifestyle of lasting significance that will revolutionize the way you lead, and provide you practical tools to lead for the longview.

Chapters of the book present hard hitting revolutionary leadership thinking, such as:

· Planning Will Drain the Life from Your Ministry
· Deflate Your Ego to Expand Your Influence
· Preempting the Stickiest Challenge of Long-Term Leadership
· Shepherding a Vision Without Scaring Away the Flock
· Lead As If You’ll Be There Forever

For three decades our culture has increasingly valued short-term producers-from stockbrokers to college coaches-as leaders at every level have indoctrinated us to believe immediate gains trump long-term consequences. And the Church has been swept up into this same leadership pattern, hiring and rewarding people who promote Band-Aid fixes as monumental solutions, creating plans that promise the moon and always come up short, raising funds from unrealistically compressed donor relationships, and touting to boards and constituencies those results that can most easily be measured and applauded.

From health care and the global financial crisis, to the needs of a businesses, local churches, or community based ministries, Dr. Parrott calls leaders to tackle the foundational eroding of leadership. Christian leaders in the marketplace and in ministry need to courageously break the short-view pattern leadership that has kept us on a course of disappointing results and blocks us from capturing God’s best."

The Longview by Roger Parrott, Ph.D.
David C Cook/October 2009/ISBN: 978-1-4347-6749-3/hardcover/255 pages/$16.99
www.davidccook.com
Visit www.thelongview.info to listen to an interview with the author.

My Concluding Comments on Anatomy of Miracle

My Concluding Comments on Anatomy of Miracle

This series on interactions had been and continues to be about the book Anatomy of a Miracle, by James B. Richards

In my last response I said the following: “It is oblivious to me that you are a very intelligent and gifted person, I cannot argue you into altering your teaching nor should I as you and I both must answer to God alone. I would however recommend that you research the concepts you teach from the point of view of the new age teachers I have mentioned and listed resources quoted on my equippers tool box blog http://equippersnetwork.blogspot.com review of your material on this subject.

I believe this will protect you and enlighten you as to how these concepts are used by those who do not hold Jesus to be the Messiah use and teach these concepts. The end result is that you would be able to avoid communicating in a way that would hinder your stated goals to me and others. One of the great risk you take when you teach these ideas to those who know nothing about the new age or Gnostic teaching is that they become open to the ideas and may fall prey to New Age teaching that uses the same terminology. Not everyone is as well educated and intelligent as you are or able to discern between what you say your intent is and your content is and a new age writer/teacher who's intent is different and points away from Christ not toward him.”

My additional concern is that when you use quotes from Chinese Philosophers and non-biblical sources without pointing out that the Biblical material is on a different level of truth your non-Christian reader may assume that they are equal and that they have no need of Christ or the that the Bible does require them to come to Christ alone for real Spiritual truth.

The above are Just a few suggestions for you as a writer and teacher to make clear the differences between what you and the New Age teach proclaim.

These are my concluding remarks. I still strongly believe what I have said about these teachings based on personal experience and study, I would prefer to agree to disagree and leave the matter at that for now as I do not see us coming to any type of theological agreement concerning your Anatomy of a Miracle teachings.

I might also add that success in ministry at one point or over a period of time does not mean that everything we believe to be Biblical enlightenment is. This includes methodology as well as content. We must guard our hearts and those we teach from those things that take others away from the truth of God’s Word, even in an attempt to bring them in in a unique way...

Sincerely Equipper

3rd Reply From James Richards

The third reply from Jim Richards author of Anatomy of a Miracle

Wayne,

I am thankful for your response. I understand your deep concerns and respect your desire to hold to the truth.

I led hundreds of hippies to Jesus, because I spoke their language. I have gone into many cultures and gained audience because I learned what they valued and expressed truth in language that made sense to them. I once led a Jehovah’s Witness to Jesus using his bible. I have led many Chinese to Jesus using the words of Lao Tzu to gain their respect and communicate on their level. In fact, I have had the door opened to me by some of the most respected Chinese leaders in the community to share Jesus with Buddhist priests. In our health clinic, I introduced numbers of new Agers to Jesus, because I could talk their language and showed respect for their beliefs even when they knew I disagreed strongly with those beliefs. The list could go on and the point could be lost.

As a student of the word, hopefully you are a student of history and current trends. The church is losing ground daily. You are correct when you have concerns about believes defecting to New Age and other cults, it is happening at an alarming rate. Approximately 5000 evangelical churches are closing their doors every year. Among the many issues facing the church today is our lack of relevance, the failure to live (model) what the Bible teaches, and an unwillingness to communicate in a way that connects with the very people we attempt to reach. It like fishing without bait. It seems that much of the church is more comfortable letting millions slip into eternity without Jesus than we are stepping beyond our comfort zones. We can’t keep doing what isn’t working, what hasn’t worked for a long time and abandon the world Jesus died for.

I have no intention of ever departing from Biblical truth, or Jesus as my Lord. Truth is absolute, but the application and expression of truth is dynamic. I have and will spend my life reaching beyond the walls of the church to a world without Jesus. In The Anatomy of a Miracle I have used the language, the terminology and even the scientific data that is being used to denounce the miraculous and turn people away from God. I have taken the very language that others have used to disprove and have pointed people back to God the Creator of all things. And if the statistics hold true 86% of the people who buy one of my books buys another within 30 days. They will hear a very clear and very bold message of the cross, faith righteousness, the Lordship of Jesus and the Kingdom of God. In so doing the door is opened to me to millions of people that otherwise would not listen. And for millions of believers, the miraculous, will be conceptualized in language that makes sense to them, and facilitates faith coming alive in their heart. They will turn to God and true faith in the Lord Jesus. Their intellect will no longer lead them from the miraculous, but to it.

Will I be misunderstood and vilified for this? Yes, by some! Is there a risk of people misunderstanding the goal? Yes! Did I calculate this risk? Most certainly! Will the risk I run and the price be worth it? Only time will tell. So far, it looks as if I will do what I have set out to do. Both of the previously mentioned things are happening! And reaching the lost and strengthening the body has what I have been effectively doing for a very long time.

When I am back in Denver, or should our paths cross, if you desire to visit face to face I will more than gladly do so, with no predetermined animosity or agenda, other than open communication. Sometimes words on a page, fail to communicate as effectively as the words being spoken for our own ears to hear and eyes to see.

Thank you for your time and willingness to communicate.

Sincerely,
Jim Richards