Ministry has changed...

Ministry has undergone lots of change in recent years. Some things are never going to change. Like helping people learn to love and live for God. That is at the heart and core of ministry.

But how that gets accomplished has changed. It used to be that a minister would simply be able to go to someone's home, knock on the door, be invited in and be able to talk to that person (or people) about the Lord. Nowadays, if you tried that, you are most likely a Jehovah's Witness or Mormon and you aren't received too kindly.

We live in the era of Facebook, Twitter and emails. Life seems more techno-centric than it was 30 years ago. People have come to rely on computers and mobile devices.

I have found that ministering in this era can be a challenge but you can still accomplish the same goal of helping people learn to love and live for God but you have to embrace new methods.

Using my account on Facebook I have been able to keep up with those that I minister to as well as encourage them in their walk with the Lord. On Facebook, I created a group on Facebook for our church members who are on Facebook to have another place of connection. Click HERE to see our church's Facebook Group Page.

From that group page, I have created special "events" that help promote and advertise various activities and sermon series we have at The Fort. I have also incorporated Twitter into this at another level of fostering more communication and connection with our church body online. We have a Twitter feed on the home page of our web site that we update to broadcast special announcements or updates.

All of these are tools. Some might argue that it contributes to the increasing isolationist direction of our culture, but I would say that we are building community on many levels. Not everyone is online. But many are.

We want to be a church that embraces all the methods we can to help people become a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ. We want to help people get into the Word of God.

Recently a woman was publicly executed in North Korea. Her crime? Distributing Bibles. It is noteworthy that a book most Americans take for granted and rarely read was worthy of death in a far corner of the world.

Anything I can do to get people more invested in reading the Word of God I will do!

Smallville and the coolest video ever...

A friend gave me the first two seasons of Smallville on DVD. I really haven't seen the show, to be honest, but we watched the first episode. The first of the first season ends with the song "Everything" by Lifehouse. That triggered my remembering this video. I don't think I have ever seen a more powerful skit than this one, honestly. Enjoy!

First Baptist Church

I performed a wedding the other day. It was a nice ceremony for a neat young couple. But I didn't perform the wedding ceremony in our church building. It was held at the First Baptist Church in Johnston, IA.

The church is pastored by Tim Bonney, a very nice man who has served in ministry in Illinois, Indiana and Iowa. He has been at First Baptist in Johnston for approximately five years.

The reason I am blogging about First Baptist is because they are a very interesting church. They used to be located downtown in Des Moines, but they moved in 2002 to their current location. Their facility is breathtaking.

It has a strain-your-neck-high vaulted wood ceiling which is amazing. The stone walls are gorgeous. The open airy feel of the facility leaves you feeling like you are in a house of worship.

But here was the odd thing for me...they are overtly traditional. In every way they pride themselves in not being a contemporary congregation. There is a grand piano and a pipe organ on the stage and behind their baptistry there is a beautiful wooden cross and above that a fabulous round stained-glass window.

But there is no projection system. The audio set up is only average. There is nothing in the facility that says "2002!" Other than it looks new.

They do currently have a contemporary service that meets at the church. I was told by their sound man that it is a smaller gathering and they do not meet in their sanctuary, the contemporary service meets out off of the foyer area.

This church of approximately 200 people like the way they do church. They are proud of their style and that is who they are. And hear me clearly, there is nothing wrong with that.

In fact, too many churches spend their time with a psychological disorder always trying to be the mega-church that they aren't. So it is okay, in my book, to embrace who it is that you really are as a church.

But, having said all of that, I do know that I dream about who The Fort is all the time! I want us to be different than we are. I believe that we are capable of being so much more. I have begged God, I have shed tears before the Lord over showing me what it is to do so that we can grow as a church. I desire for us to reach as many people on the South Side of Des Moines as we can for Jesus Christ.

I do not desire to uphold traditions. I do not desire to build beautiful buildings. I do not desire to have any of that. What I desire is for one more opportunity to preach about Jesus Christ to another lost man or woman. That is my heart.

I know God's Word is true. I know it can change lives forever. I desire to see that life change happen at The Fort! One of the only ways it can happen is when our people begin to invite their family, friends, neighbors and co-workers with them to church.

A great opportunity to do that will be our upcoming Warrior series that starts on September 20th. This will be a sermon series directed at the men. Far too long men have settled for less than God's best in their life because they believe that deep spirituality is too feminine. It isn't. It is actually brutal and bloody. And we want to show the men in our church that being a man of God is a call to the heart of a Warrior!

So do your part, invite someone to join you. Beg someone to come. Barter with them. Bribe them. I don't care but do something. Because people's eternities are at stake!

When you lose your best friend...

Yesterday, August 7th, 2009 was a very crappy day in the Demastus home. Our family's best friend, Bessie Anabelle Demastus, went to heaven. Even though I honestly have struggled with feeling like a murderer for having her put down, I know the decision was the best one for my girl, Bessie. Her problems were chronic and in the end she was very bad, and even though we didn't want to deal with it, we had to. The Bible says that it is important to care for the needs of your animal, in fact it is a righteous act (Proverbs 12:10). And sometimes the best decision is to grant a painless and peaceful passing.

We buried Bessie in our backyard, her backyard. That's where she played with her two favorite boys. She was buried in her favorite blanket with one of her favorite "bunnies" and she wore her pretty pink bandana. We all are going to miss her very much. But, if my wife's theology is correct, then I'll get to see her again one day!

To video or not to video...that is the question!

My mother-in-law has talked with me about her disapproval of her new minister's frequent usage of video clips in his preaching (and by frequent I mean every single Sunday). Even though the frequency is an issue, it isn't the main issue with her. Her main problem is the content. Apparently he uses clips from TV shows such as "The Office" or "Family Guy" a lot.

Now I have seen snippets of both shows and know just enough to know that they aren't exactly family friendly entertainment. Although the clips he chooses to show do not have questionable content per se, the issue is the directing someone to a show that isn't necessarily helpful to one's spiritual maturation process.

I am as techy as the next guy (I maintain a blog for crying out loud!) but I don't see a need to have video medium in every single sermon. I feel to do that would be first of all, lazy on my part because I can just find a nice 6 or 7 minute clip and then fill in the rest with Bible stuff and, "Viola!" I have a sermon!

No. I think video is a compliment. Using it so frequently can be dangerous. The church (little "c") is already biblically stupid enough. We don't challenge the mind anymore, it seems. We rely on technology and media to continue the media-induced stupor. Our job it seems has become wiping drool off the chins of our crowds we have gathered so that they are coherent long enough to continue to help us build monumental Super-Churches.

But that is not what God has called us to do. It was through the non-powerpoint, non-video-projected medium of preaching that God chose to save men's souls (1 Corinthians 1:21).

Our over-reliance on video has added to our dumbing down.

Now, that said, I don't necessarily swing the pendulum all the way over and see no value in it whatsoever. In a recent interview John Piper stated that, "the use of video and drama largely is a token of unbelief in the power of preaching." You can read the whole interview HERE.

I do see the value of video...just not every Sunday. One can have incredible impact with the right complimenting video to drive home a point that has been preached! Using tact and decorum, videos are awesome and add an amazing dynamic to worship and preaching.

But let's choose the right video and let's show it at the right time.

The Church in decline

We have so many "Pottery Barn" churches (as I have heard them described) that in an effort to "evangelize" have given credence to the critic of the mega-church movement who would say that all mega-churches water down the truth in an effort to attract a crowd.

While I disagree with such broad strokes of a brush (HERE is one prime example of a mega church doing it right...even though I don't agree with all the theology, it is definitely not watered down!) But there are plenty of examples where the critics are given plenty of ammo to shoot at the mega church movement.

Personally, I was blown away by a local pastor's suggestion (via Twitter) that we the church shouldn't teach "No Sex Before Marriage." He points out in his blog post that if we teach such a hard line that we run the risk of "alienating people from the church for the rest of their lives."

I have looked, but to no avail, to find where Jesus decided to back off of a teaching topic for fear of "alienating" one of his hearers. In fact, after teaching some very hard truths, we see in John 6:66 that many of his followers turned and left him.

What you don't see is Jesus concerned about their leaving. Jesus doesn't run after them hoping to win them back. Maybe if he invited them over for a cookout on the deck, or maybe if he could change up his teaching style and wear the latest GQ fashions, maybe he could win them back. No. Jesus taught the truth. Some didn't like it and they left. But some stayed!

The church is in decline, not because of our inherently offensive message. And, you need to know that the truth is inherently offensive to those outside of the truth. The church is in decline because of pastors who won't teach God's truth. The church is in decline because we have left the truth in order to grow the church.

What is it that we want? A crowd? Or a committed core of fully devoted (and equipped) Christ followers? I choose the latter.

Where is the bachelor's wife?

We have a young boy that has been coming over to our home recently wanting to hang out with my youngest son, Jacob. This young boy comes from a troubled background and is several years younger than Jacob. So it is kind of a chore for Jacob to hang out with him. But he does, honestly, because he feels pity for him.

One of the days he was over at our home, he asked me a question as we were outside shooting some hoops in the driveway. He asked me this (knowing that I am a pastor), "Who made God?"

That isn't a new question. So many young children have asked it. And honestly, it is one we need to be prepared to answer (1 Peter 3:15).

So who did make God?

The answer is no one did. He was not made. He has always existed. Only things that had a beginning - like the world need a maker. God had no beginning, so God did not need to be made.

For those of us a little older, a little more can be said. Traditionally, most atheists who deny the existence of God believe that the universe was not made; it was just "there" forever. They appeal to the first law of thermodynamics for support: "Energy can neither be created nor destroyed," they insist.

Well, if that is so, then that is not science...that's philosophy. Science is based on observation, and there is no observational evidence that can support the dogmatic "can" and "cannot" implicit in this statement. It should read, "{As far as we have observed,} the amount of actual energy in the universe remains constant."

That is, no one has observed any actual new energy either coming into existence or going out of existence. Once the first law is understood properly, it says nothing about the universe being eternal or having no beginning. As far as the first law is concerned, energy may or may not have been created. It simply asserts that if energy was created, then as far as we can tell, the actual amount of energy that was created has remained constant since.

If the universe is not eternal, it needs a cause. On the other hand, if it has no beginning, it does not need a cause of its beginning. Likewise, if a god exists who has no beginning, it is absurd to ask, "Who made God?" It is a category mistake to ask, "Who made the unmade?" or "Who created the Uncreated?"

It is the same as asking, "Where is the bachelor's wife?"

(For support on this, I consulted the works of Norman Geisler and Josh McDowell.)