Someone once said profanity is the last refuge of small minds. It seems to me it is the domain of the vocabulary challenged and the linguistically lazy. When I visit FaceBook I see friends expressing themselves with words that merited application of Ivory Soap to the palate not too long ago.
Even more disheartening is people’s penchant for taking the Lord’s name in vain. I recently came across a blog addressing that very issue I find worth sharing, so I am…
By Ken Horn | November 18, 2009
The phrase “Oh, my God” has been turned on its head. The phrase is uttered in reverent prayer by many believers. But God’s name is just a curse word in popular culture.
A rookie movie censor was told to edit out all profanities from an in-flight version of the movie The Queen for use by airline carriers. He bleeped out every use of the word “God.”
In one scene, viewers heard an actor address the queen with, “[Bleep] bless you, ma’am.” “God” was bleeped seven times. The use of “God” has descended to this — there are actually people who think of it only in terms of profanity, not of reverence.
The phrase OMG has been stolen, like many other good words, and made into a patent violation of the third of the Ten Commandments, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” (Exodus 20:7, NKJV). The NIV clarifies: “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.”
That’s clearly what OMG does; it misuses God’s name, takes it in vain, which means treating it as empty or meaningless. God’s name meaningless?
Yes, even among Christians.
Any believer who uses OMG in a slang sense should be embarrassed every time he or she speaks God’s name in a spiritual context. How can you sing a song that honors His name … if you think so little of Him that you use His name in vain?
It used to be shocking to hear this from unbelievers; today many Christians have been so poisoned by the media and culture that they don’t even realize they’re saying it. If OMG is part of your casual slang vocabulary, you need to hit your knees and plead God’s forgiveness. Then pledge to Him that, with His help, you will never again so dishonor Him.
There’s also a second part to the third commandment: “For the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”
Christians, we have a God who loved us so much He gave His only Son. How can we use His name in vain?
Pasted from <http://khorn.agblogger.org/2009/11/18/omg/>
Filed under: Christianity
As Pastor was walking by the Boys and Girls Club, he saw two brothers, Theodore, called Ted, and his brother Andrew. They were surfing the net and texting their friends, for they were teenage boys. “Come, follow me,” Pastor said, “and I will make you tweeters of the Word.” At once they left their PCs and followed him to Crystal Ave and Broadway and all through Derry inviting their friends to take a break from virtual reality and learn about the ultimate reality, Jesus.
Filed under: Christianity
I avoided it as long as I could. It seemed like a lot of work…but now I have a slight addiction. I hope it’s just the newness of the adventure.
It all began one sunny and clear day (as opposed to a dark and stormy night) in Kentucky. I had received a couple of invitations from an old friend (formerly of Bow) but I was hesitant to give it a go. Bethany, my baby girl who is expecting her own baby boy, encouraged me to join facebook, my other two kids had pages. So I jumped in and found myself caught in a tsunami of posting stuff. I particularly enjoy poking around the map and highlighting cities and countries I visited. So far I’ve visited 13% of the world and 200 cities (and counting).
I connected with my friends Lisa & Peter and plan to get together later this month. I then learned that Jimmy Carroll was on line and became friends…Jimmy is a pal of Joel’s from Bow. His classic Jimmyism was when he, Brian & Joel were heading to our cottage in Northwood for the week-end to celebrate HS Graduation. Jimmy said, in his inimitable and innocent way, “Mr Smith do you mind if we each smoke a cigar to celebrate our freedom this week-end” All the wile displaying three large stogies. Good ol’ Jimmy. So I told him “No, you goofball, of course I wont give my blessing. Why on earth would you ask?” I’m sure they smoked them anyway and the world didn’t end. I hope Jim is still without guile, I imagine he is a good doctor and a good father (as long as he doesn’t give his new son a stogy to celebrate his birth. Who’d have guesses that Joel & Jimmy would become MDs and Brian would become a finance guy (probably CFO by now) at a Yogurt company.
Next I went mining through my Outlook address book to see who else I could find and Ta Da.. Up popped Kathy and David, college friends of Sharon’s who live in Canada. They don’t have family pictures on their page, what’s up with that? Sharon says people have better things to do than wile away time fooling around on the internet. I say “Pashaw” one must have appropriate priorities on Thanksgiving break, besides the aren’t broadcasting the Celtics games here in Kentucky.
Onward to Laurie, our favoritest baby sitter ever who now has an 18 year old son and two daughters. She has lots of pictures (many thanks to her son) like a good facebooker should. So all you Gen X Y Z Mosaics or whatever the latest moniker is when you get to be a geezer like me you can sit in your rocking chair with your lap-top and reminisce.
What about MyChurch? Glad you asked. About 10 months ago, Sheri, my MBA daughter, asked if I was using social networking in my church and told me about MyChurch so I created a page and waited for people to find it. Needless to say no one did, at least no one joined. I think that is like building a church, or a new parking lot and expecting a soul searching, grace seeking, God hungry mob to throng to your Sunday morning services.
I discovered MyChurch & facebook are related and linked together so I went back to the FBC MyChurch site and invited everyone (from our church) who’ email address I had with me in KY. Ten people signed on in a day or two. That was a 25% return on my investment. When was the last time you invited 40 people to join you at church or a Christ centered event? I wonder what would happen if we called, emailed or visited 40 friends and invited them to church next Sunday.
MyChurch is not so much an outreach or evangelistic tool as it is a networking, communication, team building tool. My hope is to see people connect and communicate in a variety of ways. Groups may form for men, choir, worship team, women and youth. Some will be private, invitation only, others will be public. There is also a page for calendaring, photos and audio clips of services and events. I know the argument that everyone doesn’t have a computer, but most do and for those who do this is one way to drag the church in to the 21st cebtury.
Texting to Keep Members
Target Marketing Magazine recently published a case study called Retaining the Flock. They take a look at the way one church is making their church more sticky–text messaging. Their pastor had this to say:
We had a series that we called TEXT. It was a study of the Bible, a play on the word, obviously. What we wanted to do was to help our people get to interact more with scripture on a daily basis. So we tried to find an apparatus to communicate with them that was relevant, already ingrained in their daily life. So we said, ‘Well, what if we text message them Bible verses for the day?’
Church marketing isn’t good for too much if you can’t keep people involved after they arrive, and this is just one way churches are using technology to focus on closing the back door.
Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:09 AM Nov 28
(Filed under: Technology)
GraffitiI received an e-mail the other day from someone—I’ll call him Dave—who is struggling with the idea of using social media sites like Facebook for their church community. He was conflicted because on one hand he sees Facebook as a great way to communicate and dialogue with people who are a part of the church. On the other hand, he sees some organizations on Facebook with profanity on their “walls” and other user-generated clutter that seems to distort the intent of the group.
Dave’s assumption is that the church is accountable for what ends up on their “walls.” He even thought about limiting “friends” to members. “But when you have 2,000 members, this really doesn’t help so much. Get 2,000 people involved and you’ve got your share of chowderheads and gadflies who will post anything.”
Dave feels he’s between a rock and a hard place. “If you limit the social interactivity, then you are left with one dimensional communication and the question ‘What’s the point?’”
I understand Dave’s dilemma. I like to think of Facebook as the mall where you go meet people, not the church building where they come meet you. You don’t control what stores are in the mall or what music is playing or how people are dressed. But you can guide the conversation. You just might need to talk a little louder over all the noise, or move the conversation to another environment altogether.
People are messy. And because of this, we should be discipling people to better belief and behavior, not creating or controlling environments. How this translates online might look like digital discipleship, not digital construction. Let’s build people, not places. Just like we can’t control everything offline (graffiti, filth, vandalism, etc.), we can’t control it online either.
But we shouldn’t ignore malls or Facebook just because they’re messy.
Posted by Brad Abare at 7:47 AM
Filed under: Uncategorized
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I stumbled onto this recently at “The Blind Beggar” and found it quite interesting…
Maintenance or Missional
What is more important than getting the right answer is asking the right question. These questions can help us understand missional, show how important a shift in thinking is when understanding and being missional, and can help train us to actually think missionally.
1. In measuring its effectiveness, the maintenance congregation asks, “How many visitors have we attracted?” The missional congregation asks, “How many members have we sent?”
2. When contemplating some form of change, the maintenance congregation says, “If this proves upsetting to any of our members, we won’t do it.” The missional congregation says, “If this will help us bless and touch someone outside of our faith community, we will take the risk and do it.”
3. When thinking about change, the majority of members in a maintenance congregation ask, “How will this affect me?” The majority of members in the missional congregation ask, “Will this help align our activities around the missio dei — the mission of God?”
4. When thinking of its vision for ministry, the maintenance congregation says, “We have to be faithful to our past.” The missional congregation says, “We have to be faithful to our future.”
5. The pastor in the maintenance congregation says to the newcomer, “I’d like to introduce you to some of our members.” In the missional congregation the members say, “We’d like to introduce you to our pastor.”
6. When confronted with a legitimate pastoral concern, the pastor in the maintenance congregation asks, “How can I meet this need?” The pastor in the missional congregation asks, “How can we meet this need?”
7. The maintenance congregation seeks to avoid conflict at any cost (but rarely succeeds). The missional congregation understands that conflict is the price of progress, and is willing to pay the price. It understands that it cannot take everyone with it. This causes some grief, but it does not keep it from doing what needs to be done.
8. The leadership style in the maintenance congregation is primarily managerial, where leaders try to keep everything in order and running smoothly. The leadership style in a missional congregation is primarily transformational, casting a vision of what can be, and marching off the map in order to bring the vision into reality.
9. The maintenance congregation is concerned with their congregation, its organizations and structure, its constitutions and committees. The missional congregation is concerned with the culture, with understanding how secular people think and what makes them tick. It tries to determine their needs and their points of accessibility to the Gospel.
10. When thinking about growth, the maintenance congregations asks, “How many Christians, who aren’t currently members, live within a twenty-minute drive of this church?” The missional congregation asks, “How many unreached people groups live within a twenty-minute drive of this church?”
11. The maintenance congregation looks at the community and asks, “How can we get these people to come to our church?” The missional congregation asks, “How can we go and be engaged with these people?”
12. The maintenance congregation thinks about how to save their congregation. The missional congregation thinks about how to plant new missional communities to extend the Kingdom of God.
Filed under: Christianity, First Baptist Church | Tags: Bible, Christian, Lent
The First Baptist Church of Derry
fbcderry.com
Lenten Bible Study & Breakfast 2008
Each Monday during Lent, February 11 through March 17, we will meet at 6:30 am at Mary Ann’s Diner for breakfast and discussion of the previous day’s Lenten Text. Below are suggested readings and discussion topics.
Feb 10, 1st Sunday in Lent, Gen. 2:15-17; 3:1-7. Ps. 32. Rom 5:12-19. Matt. 4:1-11. Original Sin – What is the Adamic Nature and was it catalogued in the Human Genome Project?Gen 2:15-17; 3:1-715 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” Feb 17, 2nd Sunday in Lent, Gen. 12:1-4a. Ps. 121. Rom 4:1-5,13-17. John 3:1-17.The Teen Challenge Choir will be joining us for the morning Worship Service Born Again, has the term lost its meaning?“Born-again software firm”- “SEC registers ‘born-again wonder bank”-“Unique Printflo promotes ‘born again’ recycled paper”-“even those who considered the born-again congressman and his followers right-wing whackadoos were stunned”John 3:3-4 3 In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” 4 “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” Feb 24, 3rd Sunday in Lent, Exod. 17:1-7. Ps. 95. Rom. 5:1-11. John 4:5-42. Leaving your comfort zone; cf— Gen. 12:1-4a. Rom 4:1-5,13-17Exodus 17:1-7 1 The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?” 3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?” Mar 02, 4th Sunday in Lent, 1 Sam. 16:1-13. Ps. 23. Eph. 5:8-14. John 9:1-41.God has chosen you for his team even if you were not chosen first at recess.1 Sam 16:6-11 8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” 9 Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” 11 So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered, “but he is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.” Mar 09, 5th Sunday in Lent, Ezek. 37:1-14. Ps. 130. Rom. 8:6-11. John 11:1-45. Is your faith dead, dry and out of date? So what God can make your dry bones dance!Ezekiel 37:1-14 11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ John 11:1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mar 16, Palm Sunday, [Matt. 21:1-11. Ps. 118.] Is. 50:4-9a. Ps. 31:9-16. Phil. 2:5-11. Matt. 26:14~27:66.What would Jesus drive?Matt 21:5 “Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” Mar 23, Resurrection Day, Acts 10:34-43. Ps. 118:1-2,14-24. Col. 3:1-4. John 20:1-18. Gold/WhiteSunrise Service at Macgregor Park 6:30 am, followed by breakfast at the church Mar 24, Resurrection Day, Jer. 31:1-6. Ps. 118:1-2,14-24. Acts 10:34-43. Matt. 28:1-10. Gold/WhiteWorship at 10:45, no Sunday School this week.
Pastor’s Report for the year 2007
Isaiah 40:31
They that wait upon the Lord
Shall renew their strength
They shall mount up with wings as eagles
They shall run and not be weary
They shall walk and not faint
Teach us Lord teach us Lord to wait
CCLI Song #121287
CCLI License #1702655
2007 has, in some ways, been a year of waiting. In 1994 the congregation began to plan for utilization of available space at 4 Crystal Avenue for Church Office facilities. In 1996 we considered demolishing 2 Crystal for increased parking. The property at 11 Franklin St. was purchased in 1998 to allow for future growth and to help ease our parking situation. On Oct 21, 2006 we voted to move forward with the plan to create an accessible downtown campus and redesign our parking area.
After some minimal delays work was begun in earnest with the removal of asbestos from 2 Crystal on June 20 and demolition of the former parsonage and church office on August 15. Then more frustrating delays slowed construction of the new parking lot as we worked with the town DPW and Planning Board. Finally on November 30 the DPW signed our work permit and on December 2 the first snow of a record breaking month arrived delaying construction until spring.
Change is not always easy, but when God sees it is time for a change to be made, He implements it. It took us 11 years to demolish 2 Crystal for parking purposes & now we have a frozen washboard that periodically thaws to produce a quagmire. As we wait for spring we have an opportunity to “wait upon the Lord.”
God is calling us to change; our new parking lot will not fill itself, but will make it easier for those whom we invite to attend events. What will they find when they arrive? Are we prepared to share God with them? Are we doing all we can to grow spiritually and to reach out to those around us? How uncomfortable are we willing to be to accept change and growth?
2007 also saw change in our church government. We formed a Single Board with the anticipation of creating several committees within six departments, however we have yet to form these committees – we need your help – gifted and motivated people need to volunteer or agree to serve when approached to share the work of the Lord and to grow the ministry of the church.
We have been frustrated by delays in some areas, but God has encouraged us in many ways this year. The annual Community Good Friday Service was well attended and several people gathered together at 6:30 each Monday morning during Lent to discuss the previous day’s scripture text.
Two people followed the Lord in Baptism and four new members were added to our fellowship this year. Our float in the Holiday Parade won an award for the “Most Creative Use of Theme” and the Christmas cantata was a well attended highlight of the Advent season.
Sharon and I celebrated 40 years of marriage with a two week tour of Italy. We both serve on the Holy Spirit Renewal Ministries board of our ABC Region and I continue to serve on the board of the Loon Area Christian Fellowship.
Respectfully submitted,
James R Smith
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