Happy New Year and Let’s Start Off Right!

Remember the Friday is for Freebies! giveaway each week in 2009.   Good free church stuff all for the taking.  Click here for this week’s freebie and rules.

Outreach2Go.com is now live and has some good stuff on it.  I’ll be blogging there about the “mobile effect” — how mobile technology is changing the way we work and live, and the implications for church.  Outreach2Go.com works on mobile phones, too.  Let me know what you think.  I think 2009 will be a huge year for mobile tech.

SmallchurchPROF.com is also up now.  My good friend, Jim Stovall, professor of journalism at the University of Tennessee, is building a series of PROF.com sites.  He put up SmallchurchPROF.com, and I’m the editor.  SCPROF aggregates the best of small church related stuff on the internet.  I hope you’ll consider it the go-to site for all things about small church.  Categories include News, Features, Outreach, Worship, Leadership, Service, Discipleship, and Technology.  Let me know what you think. 

That’s our line-up for 2009 so far.  The flagship blog is still right here at Confessions of a Small-Church Pastor.  I hope you’ll stick around in 2009, invite some more friends, and let’s help each other figure this out.  Happy New Year!

The Dangers of Recorded Music at a Funeral

The Wizard of Oz is on tonight for the gazillionth time, and it reminded me of a funny story I heard a couple of years ago.  We were in Nashville for a sad occasion — the funeral of a family member.   Debbie was responsible for the arrangements, and we got to know the funeral director pretty well.  He told us this story one afternoon:

A family had made arrangements for the funeral service of the matriarch of the family.  When asked about music for the service, the family commented that their mother’s favorite song was Somewhere Over The Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz.  

Of course, no one could sing it like Judy Garland, so they decided to use the CD soundtrack from the movie.  Somewhere Over The Rainbow was to be played as the casket was rolled into the chapel.  

Everything was ready for the service to begin, and the funeral home started the CD.  But, for some reason the family lingered, delaying their entry and the entry of the casket into the chapel.  Somewhere Over The Rainbow played over the chapel speakers, as the captivating voice of Judy Garland sang a mother’s favorite song.

Just as Somewhere Over The Rainbow was ending, the family was ready, the chapel doors opened, and the casket was rolled in.  Unfortunately, no one stopped the CD.  As Judy Garland’s voice faded away, the next track on the CD kicked in.  Ding Dong The Witch is Dead blared out in the serenity of the chapel to the chagrin of family, friends, and funeral home.  Fortunately, the technician stopped the CD before the munchkins all began to sing in unison, but the damage was already done.  

And that, my friends, is why I do not like to use recorded music at funerals.

Buried with their Blackberries

A funeral home in Hollywood, California reports that under-40s are taking their Blackberries with them when they go.  I mean really go, as in dead.  Sort of gives new meaning to the word mobile.

One guy even had his GameBoy put in his casket.   This trend apparently started in the UK, Australia, and South Africa and is spreading to the US.  Mobile technology is not only changing the way we live, it’s changing the way we die, too.  I’ve started a new mobile technology links site, mobilejprof.com, where Jim Stovall and I are exploring the impact of mobile technology on church, journalism, and culture.  Drop in sometime and tell me how you think mobile technology is and will change us.  Should be an interesting conversation.

Becoming a fan of Jesus

I’m starting to get into Facebook.   Debbie and I have connected with old friends, our own family, former church members, and lots of new “friends” that we would not have met anywhere else.  

As experienced Facebookers know, not only can you find friends online, but you can join causes, too.  I’ve joined a few causes, let a few other opportunities slide, and read them all with interest.   Some causes are being touted by professionals.  I won’t name names, but they’re probably your “friend,” too.  That’s the downside of social media — insincere friends trying to get you to do something that benefits them.  Actually, that happens in real life to, so maybe this is not so virtual after all.  

Another way to identify with your new online Facebook friends is to become a fan of someone or something they’re a fan of, too.  Which got me to thinking about the whole missional vs. attractional church debate.  Dan Kimball stirred the pot a little with his shot at missional churches that don’t grow.  Julie Clawson fired back with her take on the missional scene.  

But, what’s wrong with attracting people?  Jesus did it.  Granted the thousands abandoned him in the end, but they still got fed, healed, encouraged, taught, and loved.  Maybe some of them got it later.  We don’t know.  But, Jesus is the most missional guy I know, and he wasn’t offended when big crowds flocked to him.  Of course, he recognized that most of them didn’t get it, but he still did what he could with them.

While there is a big difference in becoming a “fan” of Jesus Facebook-style, and becoming a disciple of Jesus New Testament-style, it’s not a bad thing for people to be drawn to Jesus and his church, even out of curiosity, even for entertainment.  

The challenge is leading fans to become friends of Jesus, real friends.  After all, Jesus said to those following him, “You are my friends if you do what I command.”  Maybe starting as a fan can lead to something more.  What do you think?

Free YouVersion now for iPhones, Blackberries

I mentioned this yesterday on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and some other places, but if you don’t get those feeds, here’s an early Christmas present for you:  

YouVersion, an online multi-edition Bible, is now available for Blackberries.  The iPhone version has been out for a while, but now Crack Blackberry users can have it, too.

YouVersion is a very simple, but complete Bible in multiple translations — The Message, NIV, TNIV, ASB, KJV, NKJV, and a bunch of others.  No NRSV for some reason, but they are adding other translations, like the NLT which was up yesterday.  

But wait!  There’s more!  A read-thru-the-Bible plan brings up 3 passages a day for you to read, helping you read thru the Bible in one year.  I read yesterday and today, and it’s a real help.  You can change Bible translations, search keywords or phrases, search for specific passages, go to books and chapters, and more.  A really cool feature allows users to add comments, videos, and mp3 files at any chapter.  Other users can access those comment files while reading.  

YouVersion is brought to you by the good folks at LifeChurch.tv, who are not paying me anything — although I can be bought 🙂 — to say this.  I just think it’s a very cool Bible and it’s FREE!  Did I say that already?  And, when you join the YouVersion community, you can invite all of your other friends to join, too.  So, Merry Christmas from the kind, innovative folks at LifeChurch. tv.  Thanks!

Looking at the future

Seth Godin has a great post today about his greatest business failure — not recognizing the impact the internet would have on everything. He who has ears to hear….

Networking news you can use

Most of you who follow this blog do it by feed reader.  If you get me on a feed reader, you may not know about some of the new tools I’m using.   I’m finding them useful:

1. Twitter.  Ed Stetzer evangelized me to Twitter at NOC2008.  Twitter is micro-blogging with a max of 140 characters per post.  That’s characters, not words.  Short and sweet.  Or silly.  Or stupid.  But, short.  But, you ask, how can I “follow” all those “tweets?” The answer is, You can’t.  But, you can search terms from “chuck warnock to “small church” to “happy pastors.” Subscribe to the feed for those and other terms, then anytime someone tweets those phrases you get it.  Helps you sort out the noise from the helpful info.  Plus, the people who follow you are doing the same thing.  Anyway, check it out.  Oh, and follow me here.
2. Brightkit.  This is a brand-new app that lets you schedule your Twitter posts (I have a real hard time typing ‘tweets’).  Just opened this past weekend, and you can get in on it free!  I just discovered Brightkit, and it will make Twittering much more useful.
3. Ping.fm.  Ping.fm allows you to post to your Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Plaxo, blog, and other social networking sites from one entry.  Amazing, but true.  Saves lots of time.
4. Facebook.  Okay, this is not new, but I am just now getting the hang of this.  If you’re not on Facebook, you need to be.  It’s fun and useful.  My wife, Debbie, started a Facebook group called Goodthoughts to do good deeds each day — 49 people signed up the first day!  I had some real problems with the fake ‘friend’ thing at first, but the jargon is what it is.  I order a grande soy latte wherever I go now, and I learned it from Starbucks.  I’m learning ‘friend’ on Facebook doesn’t mean best-buds, but on-line connection.  So, ‘friend’ me here at my Facebook page.
5. Blackberry.  Okay, I already mentioned this, but I had no idea!  The internet (sort of) in your pocket.  Mobile is coming on strong.  Nokia just premiered their new N97, touting it as a mobile internet device.  Asia is light-years ahead of the US, and mobile everything is there now.  Get ready and get into it now because mobile is how all this social networking stuff will be done — on the fly, not at a desk or with a lappy.
6. Mobilesitegalore.com provides a template-based mobile site design service for free!  They’ll even provide the domain name, and host it for you.  I’ll announce the mobile version of this blog for the New Year, so watch for it coming to a mobile device near you.

Does all this take a lot of time.  Yes and no.  I consider it networking time, not wasted time, but it does take some time.  You may not want to take on all the social networking tools, but experiment with at least one of them.  I’m convinced that this is the wave of the future, even for church networks.

If you’re using social networking, tell us how you’re doing it, and what benefit you get.  I’m putting together an article on how social networking can be used with small churches and I’d like to hear from you.  Thanks.

Recession, the domino effect, and churches

One of the things I learned while I attended seminary in Texas was that dominoes are for more than lining up and knocking down.  Be that as it may, we’re headed for an ecclesiastical domino effect brought to us by an economy in recession — a recession, we were told today, that started a year ago.  Like those cascading dominoes, the economic effects radiated out from the subprime mortgage crisis, to investment banks, to real banks, to automobile manufacturers, to homeowners, and now to the religious community as well.  

In an informal poll conducted October 15, 2008, I asked the question, What impact is the economic crisis having on your church?  

• 17% said it was having no effect.
• 42% said their church offerings were down.
• 22% said their church was cutting spending.
• 17% said their church was cutting their budget for 2009.
• 2% answered “other” which I take to mean the economy is having an effect I did not list.

In other words, 83% noted a negative impact of the economic crisis on their church.  Spin that out to missions offerings, local ministries supported by churches, and parachurch groups whose support comes from churches and their members and you have the makings of a religious financial reordering.  Robert Parham of Ethics Daily noted today that denominations from Episcopalians to Presbyterians to Baptists are facing budget shortfalls, staff layoffs, and programs cuts all due to decreased revenue streams.  Not only are regular contributions down, but investment income has been cut as the stock market plummeted in recent weeks.  

What does all this mean?  I think there are several implications:

1. Churches, parachurch ministries, and individual church members are all affected by this economic tsunami.  Our church’s stock holdings have declined over $40,000 in a few weeks, losing almost 50% of their value.  
2. Fewer dollars will be available to support the local church, and fewer dollars will be sent on to denominational headquarters, and parachurch ministries.
3. Some faith-based organizations will go broke or be downsized, succumbing to economic forces that cut off credit and squeeze contributors.  
4. Hard ministry decisions will be made as budget shortfalls loom.  The local church will pass along this economic reordering to denominations and parachurch ministries which will also cut staff and programs to the bare essentials.  
5. Organizations that survive will not be the largest or the most well-known.  Organizations that weather this economic storm will be those that can adjust quickly and rally supporters while still maintaining their core mission.  But that may not include denominational headquarters which might be viewed as more bureaucratic than independent or church-based ministries.  
6. Theologies of ministry may get reimagined as choices are made between feeding people physically or feeding them spiritually.  Those are not always exclusive choices, but may be in this economy.  
7. New voices will emerge from the wreckage of old models.  With waning influence and declining budgets, the 80’s culture wars will seem oddly out of place in the face of real human need.  New champions of Christian compassion will be heard above the din of religious posturing.  The Millennial generation will lead this new non-dogmatic activism.  
8. More volunteers and new movements will start new ministries, jumping into the void left by budget cuts in government, secular helping organizations, and older Christian programs.  
9. Christians will reorganize themselves across denominational lines, cooperating and collaborating with other faith groups and secular agencies to achieve common goals at the local level. 
10. Decentralized, local grassroots efforts will spring up replacing top-down denominational campaigns.

The wreckage of the consumer age may yet usher in a new concern for doing good in God’s name.   As economic conditions worsen, we could also see a cascade of compassion in the name of Christ.  That’s a domino effect we could live with for a long time to come.

Working with words

Once Carl Sandburg remarked about a preacher: “I won’t take my religion from any man who never works except with his mouth.”  I wonder if Sandburg would give us preachers a break if we also worked with pens, and not just with our mouths.  Since Sandburg is dead, we’ll never know.  But if you like working with words in speaking and writing, you need the latest book from my friend, Jim Stovall, titled The Writing Wright.  

The Writing Wright offers “notes, essays, & advice on writing, & ponderings on writers & the writing life” according to the subtitle, and Jim Stovall is the one to talk about this writing stuff.  He’s a journalism teacher (Distinguished Professor at the University of Tennessee) and has written several books, including a classic in the field, Writing for the Mass Media, soon to be issued in its seventh edition.  

The Writing Wright brims with quotes, anecdotes, excerpts, and illustrations about writers and writing.  From Samuel Johnson to Ernest Hemingway to Mark Twain plus about fifty more writers, Stovall packs his compendium with the humorous and helpful for professional and aspiring writers.  It’s the kind of book you will pick up again and again just to read it and smile because a writer you like said something interesting.  Or funny.  Or clever.  Or outlandish.  But never boring.  

I’m partial to the book because Jim is my friend.  We went to high school together and both of us chose a life working with words.  He chose journalism, I entered the ministry, and we have a shared love of books, politics, and Tennessee that spans a lifetime.  Get a couple of copies — the book would make a fine gift for someone who loves writing.  If you do, tell Jim what you think.  You can friend him on Facebook.  He and I are collaborating on a couple of projects, too.  I’ll let you know how those come out.

Prayers for significant public gatherings

This week I was asked to pray at the swearing in of our new county treasurer, who is also a member of our church.  I wrote Prayer for A New County Treasurer for that occasion.  I also wrote  Prayer for the Opening of Court a couple of years ago.  Both were well-received and hopefully were appropriate to the occasion.

I prefer to write out these prayers for public gatherings for two reasons:

1. I don’t want to say the wrong thing;
2. I don’t want to sound like God is endorsing whatever it is we are doing.

So, writing public prayers helps me focus on presenting the situation to God; asking for God’s guidance, presence, or blessing depending upon the circumstances; and, reminding those of us gathered of our corporate need for Divine connection.  

Like many of you, because I’m a preacher I often get asked to pray — for the food, for the team, for the class, for whatever it is that I’m at that needs a prayer.  Those are not too difficult, but public gatherings of significance, especially those that have political overtones, require a wisely discerned expression.  

What’s your experience?  Do you write out any of your public prayers?  If so, why?  What are your favorite public prayer stories?  I’d love to hear them.  Amen.