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A La Carte (10/8)
- 10/08/10
- 17
It is Thanksgiving weekend up here in the great white north. As you can see, we get Thanksgiving out of the way more than a month before our neighbors to the south. Though we celebrate in pretty much the same ways, we tend to do so with a little less enthusiasm. The official day we all get off is Monday and on that day I will have a guest blogger posting something I think you’ll enjoy. But first, the weekend.
Twitter, Facebook and Social Activism - Malcolm Gladwell has an interesting column here dealing with the false notion that online activism bears a real resemblance to real-world activism. It’s quite long, but worth the read.
Sexualizing Tragedy - And while we’re on the subject of social media, this column explains why a lot of women had odd Facebook status updates a few days ago and why it is a bad idea. “Many unsuspecting Facebook users have logged in this month to the harrowing news that their sister ‘likes it on the floor,’ their coworker ‘likes it on the kitchen table,’ and their mother, perhaps most disturbingly, ‘likes it anywhere, as long as its out of my hands.’ No, it's not Facebook-hosted sexual liberation revival, but a campaign to promote breast cancer awareness.”
Sound of Doctrine - I stumbled across this blog yesterday and thought some of you would find it interesting. Austin C. Brown is “A Man With An MP3 Player And A Love For Theology.” He listens to tons of audio messages and then reviews them a little bit to help you find the best ones.
Yahoo, Yoga and Yours’ Truly - Al Mohler: “Well, you never know what a day holds. This morning, Yahoo put the Associated Press story about my article on yoga on its front page. The rest, as they say, is history. My mail servers are exhausted. Messages have been coming in at a rate of about a hundred an hour. The first lesson -- count the cost when you talk about yoga. These people get bent out of shape fast.”
Thinking about Multi-site - This is an excellent article which points out one big gap in the multi-site approach to church. “Preaching is not just information delivery, nor even contextually-shaped information delivery based on the preacher’s knowledge of his people. It is an ongoing relationship, in which the pastor demonstrates the truth of his message by his own changed life, and in which the people not only listen to the pastor’s words but follow his example.”
Speak for Those Who Have No Voice - Ligonier is looking to enlist your help in a new campaign. On the anniversary of some important abortion-related dates, “Ligonier will send R.C. Sproul's Twentieth Anniversary special edition of Abortion: A Rational Look at an Emotional Issue (Reformation Trust Publishing, November 2010) to every Congressional representative. Will you help?”
MacArthur on Larry King - Every now and again I love to watch MacArthur on Larry King. I love how he stands for truth compared to all the other wishy-washy people who end up on panels with him.
Who delivered up Jesus to die? Not Judas, for money; not Pilate, for fear; not the Jews, for envy; but the Father, for love! —Octavius Winslow
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
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Comments (17)
Yup, that Facebook “campaign” is absolutely ridiculous.
Some of the commenters of the article raise a great point (which I asked my wife last night when we were trying to figure out what these stupid Facebook statuses meant): What is being done about prostate cancer awareness?
On Sexualizing Tragedy: This latest facebook fad is yet another example of poor taste in the name of doing good.
There is a deadening effect on the minds of the masses when people buy into these types of facebook campaigns. I have to seriously doubt whether those who partake are truly concerned for the cancer sufferer (show me one person who has ever enjoyed having cancer).
It’s a rabbit trail of the worst kind, making sport of cancer awareness by landing in a trash bin of base humor. Sadly, it’s indicative of how far our society has plummeted, promulgating its own intellectual demise.
As a Christian, I’m held to a higher standard. The facebook “cancer awareness” fad is opportunistic, worldly, of the devil. In a word, unwise.
Dr. Mohler (and his friends) have been saying a LOT of good things for a LONG time…much of which goes unnoticed outside the significant, but still limited, circle of people who follow him. His article on yoga broke outside that circle, and broadly.
Hate mail means two things…(1) you got noticed, and (2) you said something of substance. Dr. Mohler got noticed on this one, so he’s going to get a broader audience for what he’s saying (that’s good). He is saying important things about biblical truths (that’s also good). He’s been read by a lot of people who’ve never heard of him before (that’s really good).
So what’s the downside? Maybe the worn-out email server, but that’s about it, as far as I can tell.
I remember getting e-mails from FB friends last year to join them in posting the color of my bra as my status update. It was another one of those “breast cancer awareness” things. I just shook my head. How does adult women being stupid and base promote anything good? Why not just post an article on breast-cancer prevention instead?
count the cost when you talk about yoga. These people get bent out of shape fast.
Bent out of shape…. isn’t that the point of yoga….whaka whaka.
Funny revisit of the FB issue. I was absolutely ravaged by women in my church for objecting to the campaign last year as ignorant, insensitive and not caring if women die. Interesting to see how the campaign progressed. Seems some of us were right.
Read the Gladwell article earlier this week. Great read! Reminds us that social media can make us think we are doing something without actually doing anything of substance.
Social media has its place, but I think he gives a great warning that there is a difference between “liking” a cause and participating in the “cause.”
www.studyyourbibleonline.com
Regarding the multi-site model, I fail to see how this differs at all from a large church; there are many single-site churches where the congregation is large enough that a personal relationship between each congregant and the lead pastor simply does not exist.
In this way a multi-site church is no different than a church of over 200 or so (I don’t know if this is really the point where personal relationships with each congregant become unlikely, but it seems like a decent ballpark guess).
That said, if this argument is correct, shouldn’t the real issue be determining how large a congregation ought to get as opposed to where they all sit?
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, Tim. (We happen to be very enthusiastic about Canadian Thanksgiving ourselves!)
Nobody rocks an interview like John MacArthur. I love watching that man at work.
Happy Thanksgiving Tim!
“These people get bent out of shape fast.” is so funny I will be grinning all day.
exactly. In fact it’s humorous that you would talk about Pastor MacArthur in the same blog post, as a pastor of a large church (more than 3k, I believe), it is exceptionally unlikely that more than a handful of his congregation actually have “an ongoing relationship, in which the pastor demonstrates the truth of his message by his own changed life, and in which the people not only listen to the pastor’s words but follow his example”.
On Thinking About Multi-site: Very well-said, and I couldn’t agree more. Our pastor has won a hearing from many in our congregation based on their observation of his godly character over time, his love and care for the people and how he has endured suffering.
A few quick thoughts.
Though not prescriptive, in Acts 2 we see that the Jerusalem church was no small church. It’s not hard to imagine Peter preaching to his congregation of more than 3k, I believe. Even though having a large church introduces a new set of problems (e.g. Acts 6), we can’t say that it is wrong in itself. Sure, the church elders have a responsibility towards it’s members, but there may be other ways to address those issues without having to divide a church.
I don’t attend Grace Community Church, but I know that they have many full time pastors within the church serving its many members. God has blessed MacArthur’s church and ministry, for that we should rejoice.
I appreciated Mohler’s follow-up. He clarified his position regarding using “yoga” for physical fitness, and I find that I agree with him after all. It’s remarkable, though, how many people think Christianity is compatible with seeking spiritual enlightenment through yoga. Syncretism at its finest.
John Macarthur is one of the most courageous leaders in Christianity. He speaks in truth.
the “sound of doctine” site is a goldmine. thanks for digging it up!