Social Media Strategy…
When I saw this “cartoon”, I laughed like crazy… I actually put people, businesses, churches, celebrities, etc. names in each one of those 5 categories, and you are probably doing the same thing RIGHT NOW!! I didn’t think about it until after I moved onto another article, what about Us? What about our Church? Where do we fit in? We are taking a serious look at our OVERALL communications…
My Point: Do you have a strategy for social media? What message(s) are you sending? I used to tell my kids something, “Say what you mean & mean what you say” …maybe I should take my own advice…
MORE HIM, less me
brent
Facebook Friends?!?!?!?!
I have 1,311 friends on Facebook. I don’t say this to brag, but to point out that there is no way I actually have a relationship with all of those people.
In reality, I have a couple good friends.
On facebook I have connections with acquaintances, people from my past, friends of friends, people who care about the same things I care about, people I used to know well, etc.
The key point, though, is that I often catch myself thinking that I really do know most of those people.
I see their status updates.
I see their interactions with others.
I remember what they were like when I knew them more closely.
And I regard our relationship as continuing, current, and vibrant…
when really, it isn’t.
Some of them have new jobs, a spouse, children.
They’re the same people, of course, that I knew in jr. high (for example), but I shouldn’t assume that they haven’t changed at all since then.
No matter how much I’ve seen on their Timeline we’d still have a lot to catch up on if we sat down in person to chat.
Sometimes I think, maybe, my relationship with God is like my relationship with my Facebook “friends”.
I sometimes catch myself thinking I’m in a vibrant, current, continuing relationship with God just because we’re connected in some esoteric way.
I see what he’s up to in the world.
I see what and who he’s interacting with.
I know some people who know him pretty well.
I remember what he was like the last time I talked to Him.
But maybe it’s been a while since then.
If I truly believe that God is alive and active, if I believe that my heavenly father is real, is a divine person, then knowing him relationally has to be an ongoing continuous process.
And maybe I need to catch up with him in person if I’m going to keep thinking of myself as a “friend” of his.
My Point:
What about you?
He’s the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob… but what is he to you?
A friend of some friends of yours? Or your God?
Do you walk and talk with Him in the garden? Or are you content to hear stories about some other people that did that once?
Is that time you felt really close to Him getting further and further in the past?
Have sat at his feet lately? Or are you busying yourself around the house?
Do you need to catch up with him in person?
MORE HIM, less me
brent
Extreme Makeover, Stage edition…
This past year, we at Capital City Church have decided that we will no longer be satisfied with the way things are, we made a commitment to “Do things Different.” Over the last month, a team of people from our church decided that we were going to do something small, but with a BIG impact… We were going to change the way our stage & lobby looked.
January 1st, 2013 at 1:00pm, we began the transformation, the team decided that we were going to “Get in Done” by the next Sunday… WHAT? We had 1 week to complete the job?!?!? 5 days and 12-14hrs. a day, we worked, sweated, painted, stapled, and on, and on… The next Sunday, we unveiled a 95% complete transformation…
My Point: you can accomplish more as a team, than you can alone… If you’re not part of a team, join one… If you can’t find a team, let me know, I’ll connect you with a team… Jesus didn’t design us to do this life alone…
MORE HIM, less me
brent
Cutting Vegetables…
My wife and I were busy all day long, she was at the “Beautiful” Conference, watching 400 young ladies praising God and learning… I’ve been busy with “Stuff” all day… When she came home, we had to go run some errands & pick up some groceries for a baby shower for some great friends…
Now, you have to understand, we have a VERY small kitchen, but I REALLY wanted to spend time with my wife, so I decided I was going to help her cut the vegi’s for the Vegetable Tray…
So, we did what we had to do, we tripped over each other, got in each others way, had to wait on each other to finish what they were doing before the other one could do stuff, we pushed each other out of the way (in fun)…
My Point: Sometimes you have to do what you have to do to spend time with those whom you want to be with… I LOVE spending time with my family, I’ll give up whatever comfort I need to, to spend time with them!! How about you?
MORE HIM, less me
brent
I LOVE trash…
I woke up this morning to the smell of my wife making a delicious breakfast… We sat at the dining room table together and enjoyed our food and time together.. After breakfast, I grabbed my iPad to catch up on the latest news and sift through emails… As I began deleting all the junk emails, I came across an email from the guy that does our church website, here is the actual email:
All of 2012 sermons are archived!
If you look in the backend of WordPress – where you add the sermons, there are now 46 sermons in the “trash” – DO NOT DELETE THESE! I am utilizing the “trash” as an archive, that way it removes these sermons from the main page, but we can still link to all the images, notes, and more detailed pages that you have made – less work for all! So don’t delete those, just add more to the Published side and they will show up on the sermons page as normal – and these will remain on our archived pages.
The more I read, the more I understood what he was doing, He was taking something meant for junk, you know stuff you no longer need, the stuff that doesn’t mean anything to you, the trash, and he was using it as a storage device for our archived sermons!!! HOW COOL IS THAT!!
My Point:God takes the container of trash (our lives, the way we used to only care about ourselves, the way we were before Jesus, and uses THAT trash can to affect the lives of family members, friends, co-workers, neighbors and so many more, FOR ETERNITY!! That’s pretty amazing!! Don’t empty the trash, use it for something great!!
MORE HIM, less me
brent
Does He EVER hear me?…
Over the last week, we have been participating in a “scheduled” time of prayer at our church… Monday – Friday 6-7am & 6-7pm… We’ve had the doors open for anyone who would like to come and just have a time of prayer… It’s been an amazing, setting aside time to praying for whatever you want to pray for… We’ve given people specifics to pray for like, “God’s will for your life”, “God’s will for your family”, “God’s will for CaCity”, “Impossible situations”, “The church Mortgage” (we want to pay it off in three years), “Salvations”, & “Ministries of CapCity”…
God says: Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. (Colossians 4:2 NIV)
Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me! (Psalm 66:20 NIV)
“Now, my God, may your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. (2 Chronicles 6:40 NIV)
But it ALSO says; but God has surely listened and has heard my prayer. (Psalm 66:19 NIV)
My Point:
YES, He hears your prayers!!! He’s waiting to give you answers!!!
MORE HIM, less me
Brent
A blog about my random thoughts... 