Church

I'm in a Wednesday morning Bible study with a group of leaders at our church.  We've been working our way through the book of Acts.  This morning we landed in Acts 19.  Tucked in verses 13-16 is a little story about a group of Jews who are trying to cast our demons in the name of Jesus.  It's not working. Finally, the evil spirit speaks up: "Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?"  That happens to be a great question to everyone trying to pass themselves off as something they are not. Then the demon-possessed man gives the seven sons of Sceva such a beating that they run off naked and bleeding (never a good combination).  Here's the result: "When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held…

Why do people in churches seem like cheerful brainless tourists on a packaged tour of the Absolute?. . . On the whole I do not find Christians, outside the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping God may wake someday and take offense, or the waking God may draw us out to where we can never return. -- Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk

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I get a kick when I hear someone refer to blogging as "old school."  Canvas Converse are old school. But it is true that of the three major forms of social media -- Facebook, Twitter, and blogging -- blogging is the oldest form.  Even more so when you realize that blogging is just the electronic version of keeping a journal (I would say diary but that turns off most guys). I have had some form of a blog at kenhensley.com since 2001.  There are several reasons why I have chosen to continue blogging.  These include: 1.  Platform.  A blog provides a platform to express yourself without the limits of 140 characters, 30 minutes, etc.  This is not about ego but influence.  I try to write blog posts that have benefits beyond myself.  I try to pass along helpful information from other writers and sites.  Having a blog is a great…

Twitter can be a scary place for pastors: it limits your posts to only 140 characters. Aside from Facebook, I believe Twitter is perhaps the second-most-important place for a pastor to be.  A few of the same reasons from yesterday's post apply to Twitter -- so I won't go into those.  I will offer a few other reasons I believe you as a pastor should be on Twitter. 1.  You have instant access to thought leaders and trend setters.   The list of people I follow on Twitter ranges from Guy Kawasaki to Rick Warren and Mark Driscoll to John Maxwell.  In real-time I am provided a snapshot into what they are thinking or reading.  It's like shadowing them around but being able to do so from your smart phone. I have tried to select leading thinkers from multiple disciplines: church, theology, business, science, leadership, etc.  With Twitter and Twitter-related apps…