Not Westboro

The great thing about creating plans, is that often times they aren't God's plans for us. It is something that I have had to struggle with learn a lot about this year, and it has been frustrating and at times, not fun. But I am always so thankful that His plans are greater than mine. Which leads me into the topic that I was supposed to write about a few days ago, Westboro. And this post, sadly, is going to be pushed aside to later this week. The reason for this is because I just stumbled upon an interesting site, churchrelevance.com.

*Disclaimer* This post is completely unfair to most churches because I have only been to a handful of churches in America. It is a rant that is fueled out of seeing countless churches not doing anything about the lost in this world. Churches that are more consumed with having large congregations and are not equipping people to spread the Gospel.

I saw a post on Twitter about the top 200 church blogs for the spring 2011 season. So I wandered over there, looked at the list, recognizing three of them, but then I found something more interesting. "Churches to Watch" and "Top Churches to Watch." Finding this oh so intriguing, I start browsing through the "top" churches in America, recognizing more churches I knew and listened to than blogs I had read. But what caught me off guard was how they were organized. Here are the categories for the "best" churches:
Church Growth
Church Innovation
Church Planting
Church Size
Influencing Other Churches
All Areas

Now obviously these churches are doing something "right" to end up on these "top" listings. And churchrelevance.com's mission is to help "create relevant effective ministries;" however, is all of that really important? Yes I understand that having a big church that is planting and growing other churches is awesome in some facets. Having a church within walking distance of everyone in the world is something that we should be striving towards. But I feel they are missing out on a couple key aspects.

Missions. Community. Where is the list that shows what churches are giving generously towards missions and sending out people to spread the love of Christ and the Gospel Message? Where is the list that shows what churches have an intense community that is showing nothing but love towards one another and is strengthening the Body, The Real Church and is adding to that community within their cities? Where are those kinds of lists?

Why have become a nation that is becoming more and more interested in who has the best stuff/staff/buildings/how big the congregations are/a billion other reasons that aren't really as important? How about those who are focused on equipping disciples to go and serve and feel missions in America and worldwide are important and don't care about what their building looks like? (I didn't see The Village Church on that list, por que?)

Do you agree? Disagree? Indifferent? How does your church stack up? Are they putting emphasis on areas like community and missions, or in areas like building and congregation size?

Remember when I made the comment that there should be a church within walking distance of every person on the planet? Do you know who that church is? You. We are the Church. The Body of Christ is the Church and we should be taking the Church to those who do not know Christ, not the other way around. Is your church training you to take the Church to the World? Is your church sending people sending out people to share the Gospel/staff going out personally and doing so/aiding in doing so? Is your church urging you to stay in, or go out?

Christians and Jesus

When you hear the word, Christians, what thoughts do you think?

When you hear the name, Jesus, what thoughts do you think?

Are the thoughts similar? Do they correlate with one another? What are your thoughts?

Please do not hold back whatsoever

Books

I love to read books. But the way I chose the books I've read/will read have come from a variety of sources. Suggestions from friends. Personal information about the book. But the biggest reason I have for choosing the books I've read are based off of the title. A catchy title categorizes most of the books on my shelf and stack. So, I'm going to explain to you why each book is on my shelf/stack. If for any reason you are looking for books to read, or have questions about said book, ask, and I will gladly tell you more.

My plan was to write out each book that I've read/have to read and how they came along. But as I started writing that out I realized that I was coming off as arrogant about what books I've read. And yes they are mostly great books and I recommend some, but those books aren't important. Jesus is. I could read every book in the world about Him, but if I don't act out my faith because of how Jesus has changed my life and make every effort to spread the Gospel message, then what good are those books? This all spans from the fact that I have just finished two books in three days, mainly because I didn't like them. Those two books speaking about the Holy Spirit and the Gospel message, but once again, if I am not sharing God's love in every second of my life and telling of how He died on the Cross for the world, then what was the point? I read books in order to learn something, to gain knowledge, and to wrestle through what I've learned.

One mistake I've made in the past is spending more time reading random books about Jesus than reading THE book about Jesus. That is something I strongly urge you to not let happen in your life because the Bible is the ONE book that truly matters. It is the ONE book that we should read over and over again and study deeply each time we open it. It is the ONE book that we should be completely in love with. Sadly, I definitely do not show that on a day-to-day basis. I tell you this because something I have been working on recently is being real and authentic with people (which I'll explain more later on here, hopefully). And I will still end up finishing these books and moving on toward the next 10-20 for the next stack (which is a great segue into being a good steward with my money post), but studying the Bible and then sharing Jesus' story and love will be the #1 priority (again) in my life. Because I'm tired of being passive, It's time to be a doer.

The entire Bible points towards Jesus. Together, let's fall back in love with story of Jesus and spread His love to this world.

Love God. Love People.