Jesus is More Important Than Books

It’s 2014, and I’ve recently taken over as the leader of Momentum, a young adults ministry in Highland Township, Mi. In order to lead this community well, I’ve been reading and studying a lot. The books I’ve read in the last two months include the following:

• Start with Why
• Deep and Wide
• Made to Stick
• Communicating for a Change
• Tribes
• Good to Great

These books are all very inspiring, informative and helpful for building strategy. However, I watched a documentary last night called, “Compelled by love” and it stirred me more than all of them. This movie is about Heidi Baker’s missionary journey in Mozambique. I’m not going to summarize any of these writings, but want to leave you with what stirred me.

These last few months, I’ve been trying to consume as much information of ministry possibilities as possible. Why? Because I want to know about all the available options for directions God can take Momentum. For example, if a person is trying to select a flavor of ice cream at Baskin Robbins but does not know that Pistachio, as a flavor, even exists, he or she will not select that flavor. I am simply want to know about every effective flavor of ministry possible.

Books and research allow me to know what people have done before me so I can choose to go that route or not. I can learn from their mistakes, instead of my own.

This movie, though, highlighted the adventures of a few missionaries who simply went to countries with the goal of loving people like Jesus would. They didn’t have plans or strategies. They weren’t trying to operate as “Level 5 Leaders” or craft the perfect vision statement. Simply attempting to love God and people in a country not their own with a language they did not know. Somehow, despite having the perfect strategy, God moved in radical ways.

Radical obedience and compassion always trumps knowledge insight and strategy, it seems.

Whereas I believe in learning and growing, I am reminded that the Gospel is simple. Difficult, but simple. Strategies, philosophies and disciplines are everywhere, but as ministers, as lovers and followers of Jesus, we must not depend on secret knowledge that opens the door to better ministry. We must abide in the true vine Jesus and let life giving ministry flow from Him. We must depend on love.

Is Jesus still your primary ministry strategy?

Is Jesus still your first love? For me, sometimes I forget that “Unless the LORD builds a house, the work of the builders is waste.” I will continue to study to show myself approved, but my first focus is Jesus. Simply Jesus. 

Nothing I do without Him matters.

 

Tongue Scrapers Eliminate Bad Breath [Practical Stuff #1]

To my wife’s joy, the tongue scraper I bought two months ago helped my breath smell better. I’m a preacher, so I try to impact people with my words. Unfortunately,  my jokes, and content did not deliver the strongest impression—my breath did.

I knew my breath was bad, but nothing I tried really worked to prevent it:

·      Brushing

·      Flossing

·      Not having an empty stomach

·      Mouthwash

The Wife Test

So I tried a tongue scraper, and my wife, who has no problem telling me when my breath is bad, said it worked wonders. I asked her to give me a quote concerning this difference.

“I can’t even smell your breath anymore!”

That’s all the proof you need, folks. Nobody is more aware of my breath than my wife (we kiss).

What is a Tongue Scraper?

This is the tongue scraper I use,

Basically, a dirty tongue contributes to 90% of bad breath. That’s why my traditional attempts (brushing, flossing, etc.) did not work. This tool scrapes the bad breath content off of your tongue.

All you do is scrape the white stuff off your tongue. Simple.

Smell it, and you’ll most likely agree your bad odors come from the white gunk.

If you’re a preacher, or someone regularly holding a conversation, get a tongue scraper. It’s less than $5 and makes a huge difference! You’ll see that people will talk to you a lot more than they used to. 

40 Evangelists Working Together

My friend Matt Brown asked me to regularly write for Emerging Evangelists, a collection of 40 evangelists from different denominations all over the world last year!

It's been great to partner with him in this, and join with ministers of many styles. I love that God is helping the Church unify for greater power. I love being part of this group.

Here is a list of the blogs I've written for the site. They are all specifically about Evangelism. 

1. 7 Reasons Why You shouldn't Tell People about Jesus
2. People Don't Know Jesus Because You are Stingy
3. Your Witnessing Isn't Good Enough
4. This Could Explain Your Lack of Miracles
5. 6 Reasons Why People Don't Like Christians
6. My #1 Way to See People Give Their lives to Jesus 
7. I Won a Lifted-Truck and More!

Read these and let them encourage you to share what you know!

6 PEOPLE YOU ENCOUNTER WHILE WITNESSING [VIDEOS 5 & 6 OF 6]

Ever Pray for Someone while doing to the Cha Cha Slide?

The Gospel Challenge Video series comes to an end with these two videos. See parts of the Cha Cha slide, and a live human cloning--all to teach Evangelism. 

This is the third installment of a 6 part video series that tests people's abilities to witness.

Basically, I put on a disguise, find Christians and see how good they preach under pressure. In this blog post, you'll see how people respond to "The Interrupter" and "The Final Challenge," and other people you've probably encountered while witnessing.

Video 5: The Interrupter

This person gets in the way of good conversations. Let's say you're in a great moment with some people and they are praying with you. This person will bring up irrelevant conversations, and ruin everything that is happening. Featuring Rick Lundskow and Gabby.

Video 6: The Final Challenge

This is the last video! This final video includes every character from the last five videos. This is the ultimate challenge for anyone trying to witness. This features Robin Sullivan from WMUZ radio. On Thursday, December 20, 2012, I'll be on her radio show to discuss Evangelism.

6 PEOPLE YOU ENCOUNTER WHILE WITNESSING [VIDEOS 3&4 OF 6]

I slapped a man's butt in order to teach Evangelism

Ever tried preaching the Gospel while someone slapped your butt and screamed, "turn the other cheek?" This guy hadn't either. 

This is the second installment of a 6 part video series that tests people's abilities to witness.

Basically, I put on a disguise, find Christians and see how good they preach under pressure. In this blog post, you'll see how people respond to "The Theologian" and "The Button Pusher," and other people you've probably encountered while witnessing.

Video 1: The Theologian

This person probably knows more Bible verses than you do . They want to make you feel stupid, but you're just trying to share the love. What do you do? Look out for crazy doctrines and obscure facts.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ukbp0bGtL0M?rel=0]

Video 2: The Button Pusher

This is where I slapped a man's butt. Button pushers want to see you fail at Christianity. If the Bible says, "don't murder," they want you to--just to see you fail.  

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXd_Jh_ZJRo?rel=0]

Next Week, I'll post the last two videos.

What kind of people have you encountered while witnessing? Leave a Comment.

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6 PEOPLE YOU ENCOUNTER WHILE WITNESSING [Part 1 & 2 of 6]

I wondered what it would be like to provoke people into telling me the Gospel, and then testing their ability to do so. This is the first (and least funny) installment of a 6 part series meant for training people on Evangelism and Outreach.

Video 1: The Challenger

This person "challenges" your integrity and intentions on sharing the Gospel. People like this yell and are easily angered.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsC1Dgg9yJg?rel=0]

Video 2: The SideTracker

This person wants to talk about everything but the Gospel. People like this chase every tangent and try to redirect productive conversations into pointless ones. 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFJl9BL19I0?rel=0]

Next Week, I'll post the next two videos.

What kind of people have you encountered while witnessing? Leave a Comment.

If you think this article is helpful, share it with a friend and sign up for more articles like this below: 

Like this Post? Subscribe to receive more weekly.