Some Ministry Tools

and a bit about the church plant.

Paul (the pastor not the apostle) has been in a series called "In" launched from

Mark 16:15 And He said to them, "Go in to all the world and preach the gospel to all creation."

There have been four messages [as I post this the audio of yesterdays isn't up yet] in the series on the subject of Christians at Westport getting in to God's agenda in the world: in short it has been a series on evangelism and being involved in the Body of Christ. The recurring theme has been:

Somewhere
Sometime
Somehow
Someone [influenced you, invited you, got involved with you and for you]

In the case of this series, this has been about following Christ - but it is true in all walks of life. Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing, you were brought there by someone else influencing you, inviting you, and getting involved in your life. Go and do likewise. That said, it isn't why I started the post . . .I started it because the church played a great video as part of the ministry fair we had this week - showcasing the work that must happen for church to occur each Sunday; and the places people are needed to get in-volved. Go watch this and come back.

That is a bit over the top; but anyone involved in a church, or a group of any kind, knows the folks who come each week expecting it all to happen for their benefit - and then complain if you get it wrong. Politically, folks expect their neighborhood association, city, county, state, nation, etc. to run for their benefit as well - and complain if they get it wrong - without even the minimal involvement of voting. It is not about me.

Igniter Media Group has a number of great videos that can be made a part of your services. The next one that was played when I was at Cedar Mill. Only go look at this if you do not mind a straight up Gospel message about Jesus Christ. The last video was cute/funny, this is awesome with the incredible voice and passion of Shadrach Meshach "S.M." Lockridge: "That's My King"

For those involved in Christian ministry, I hope this is a source of video tools for you.

The next tool I discovered when I attempted to link the text of the seminal book series The Fundamentals

usually regarded as a signal of the beginning of the organized fundamentalist movement, was one of the sources for the movement’s name...The authors of the essays were mostly respected Bible teachers. A few were widely recognized conservative Protestant scholars, such as Benjamin B. Warfield and James Orr of Scotland. Not all the authors were dispensationalist. Rather, they were chosen to present a united conservative “testimony to the truth” (as the subtitle to the volumes put it).

Of the ninety articles bound in twelve volumes (bearing no systematic organization), about one-third defend the Bible, usually against higher criticism. Another third are either presentations of basic doctrines or general apologetic works. The rest include personal testimonies, practical applications of Christian teaching, appeals for missions and evangelism, as well as attacks on various “-isms.” Some of the articles had been published previously.

The essays were generally moderate in tone and a mix of both scholarly and popular interests and styles...The central themes of the volumes...were that conservative evangelical Protestantism could be defended on two major counts. First, its affirmations of miraculous divine interventions — as expressed in fundamental doctrines such as the inspiration of Scripture, the incarnation, the miracles and the resurrection — were fully compatible with modern science and rationality. Second, the testimony of personal experience was also important in confirming Christian belief.

The Fundamentals represented an early stage in emerging fundamentalism, an alliance of a variety of conservatives alarmed particularly over the spread of false doctrines. After the 1920s fundamentalism generally became more militant. Eventually, when in the 1940s and 1950s the main part of interdenominational fundamentalism broke between “neo-evangelicals” and stricter separatist dispensationalists, that split reflected a tension that had been present in the alliance that The Fundamentals helped forge.

at Street Prophets - and blew the guys bandwidth out. In looking for another linkable copy, instead I found Logos Bible Software with their Logos Digital Library System (LDLS).

There is so much cool stuff in here I feel like a kid in a candy store (regretfully I only have lint in my pockets)