The NewLife blog will be taking a break for at least this week and the next as I adjust to the birth of baby boy Stillman #3 (boy #4 if you count last year’s miscarriage).  The baby is scheduled to land on this planet tomorrow, 08.08.08, probably at 8:08 AM, weighing in at 8 lbs, 8 oz.  Please pray for my wife Michele & I as we attempt to survive a 3 year-old, 1 year-old, and newborn (and church ministry, of course) over the next months!

I will leave you with an interesting link to check out today… apparently the TV reality craze has hit Christianity:  a new show called “Make Me a Christian” is debuting this month over in England (read about it here).  Read more »

“Five weeks to a stress-free you.”  “How to raise great kids.”  “How to prosper financially.”

Not sure if that represents three months worth of sermons at your local evangelical church or adult education courses offered at the local high school?  I’m not sure either these days.

I’ve been posting some thoughts on the seeker-sensitive approach to church ministry over the past few weeks.  One of the hallmarks of this approach is topical preaching designed to speak to “felt needs.”  For example, in a seeker-sensitive church, you’re likely to hear a series on parenting, or managing your money, or dealing with anxiety, with sermons that draw on Biblical wisdom in order to teach you God’s way to raising teens, balancing your budget, or living stress-free.  The goal is to attract people to church by speaking on relevant topics, and then to help people see how the gospel and the way of God is the answer to what they’ve been looking for, better than all the other wisdom out there. 

As a preacher, I’ve struggled with whether or not to adopt this method of preaching.  Read more »

Church.  Marketing.

Two words that should never be in the same sentence, some would say (unless that sentence reads: “the church should never be involved in marketing”).  Marketing the gospel, the argument goes, treating it like another product to be sold, is an affront to God and the ways He builds His kingdom.  Others, however, would disagree, claiming that marketing is an essential part of evangelism, communicating the gospel in a clear and attractive way that brings people into the church and into a relationship with God. 

What do you think?  More importantly, what does God think about the concept of church marketing?
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In the spring of 2006, a church in Indiana named Granger Community Church, in an effort to reach out to their community and promote a sermon series they were calling “PureSex,” had four billboards put up around its community with the image of entwined male and female feet dangling off of a bed with the words mylamesexlife.com below it.  Upon visiting the website, one would watch a brief flash video asking questions surrounding the topic of sex (e.g. “You know that ‘seemed like a good idea at the time’ thing?  Well, was it?”).  At the end of the video, visitors were re-directed to the church website, where they learned more about the upcoming 5-week series, with sermons entitled: “The Greatest Sex You’ll Ever Have” , “The Language of Lust” , “Straight Talk for Men and Women” , “What Happens in Vegas WON’T Stay in Vegas” and “Porn: What’s the Big Deal?”  Along with the billboards, postcards were mailed out to the community and people in the church were encouraged to invite people as well.

The results were stunning:  Read more »

As I sit here typing, I find myself listening closely for the mailman, because he should be delivering a just-released book that I have been eagerly awaiting since I first heard of it a few months ago.  The book is by a pastor who has shaped my preaching style more than anyone else and has deepened my understanding of how central the gospel of Jesus is to everything in the Bible and in life.  His name is Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, and the book is The Reason for God:  Belief in an Age of Skepticism.

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What would you say to a crowd of teenagers if you were given five minutes to explain what Christianity is all about?  If you were one of nine panelists representing different world religions, how would you make the Christian story stand out in its beauty and truth?

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There are some churches that are still arguing over whether or not drums and guitars should be allowed in the church.  There are other churches that still think it’s a sin to wear jeans to Sunday service.  And then there are churches that are ready to send someone to the moon or hire Bible-quoting androids if it means bringing more people to Jesus.

You might want to sit down for this one…

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(The following passage is taken out of the MERV – Modern Evangelism Revised Version:)

Matthew 5:1-3 – Now when he saw the crowds, Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down.  His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them, saying:

“If you died tonight, do you know where you’d go?”

What’s that?  You mean Jesus never used the threat of hell to pigeonhole people into making a decision to follow Him?  That’s not what my MERV says! (FYI – before you go running out to your nearest Christian bookstore looking for you very own MERV, relax - it’s not real)

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