Imagine that it’s your first day in prison.  You’re a first time offender, having committed a non-violent crime, and you’ve been sent to a minimum security prison.  Having had no previous experience with being locked up, you’re not entirely sure what to expect, but from all the movies you’ve seen and books you’ve read, you’re pretty sure you’ll have to be tough, trust no one, and probably make powerful allies.  At some point during your first day, some guy you’ve never met comes up to you and gives you a little package of food and stuff you might need while you’re locked up.  How would you respond?  Surely you’d be suspicious, wondering what the catch might be.  Most likely, you figure, this guy wants you to be in debt to him, so that some day when he needs a favor he’ll come calling.  “No,” he says.  “There’s no catch.  This is just something a few of the Christians in here do to make sure you’ve got some things you might need, and to know there are people in here who will be praying for you and there if you need anything.”  And with that he leaves.

All of a sudden prison just got a lot less frightening, a lot less lonely.

Incredibly, the above story is basically true.  Read more »

It’s only twelve days until the Second Annual Fido and Whiskers’ Big Day Out, an event in which our church will be partnering with Glastonbury pet businesses in order to put on a fun, free event for our community.  For those of you who weren’t around for last year’s event, I had been praying and thinking about ways to get our church out in the community, in order to meet and bless people and connect them to our church, and I thought I might do a Blessing of the Animals.  I had been to a couple of those with my beagle Otis that had been done by churches, and I always loved the simple and fun way those churches made connections with people in their community.  But as I began planning the event, I thought “why not involve some pet businesses and make it a larger scale event for families and their pets?”  And once we added in the agility course, our celebrity judge Rachel Lutzker, promotional help from The River 105.9, and lots of help from the people at NewLife, we had ourselves a great event that drew about 400 people and 200 dogs! 

   
            Eric and Sharman doing the Blessing of the Animals

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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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C.S. Lewis once said that “the church is the only organization that exists for the benefit of non-members.”  God’s people are called to be very outwardly-focused, seeking to bring others into a relationship with Jesus and to display God’s kingdom on earth through works of love, peace, and justice.  I’ve been thinking about that truth recently as we’ve been contemplating the risks and rewards involved in moving our church to a new location that would increase just about everything – exposure to the town, financial bills, and ministry demands on our members.  I see this opportunity as a serious challenge to everyone from the leadership to the most recent attendees as to whether or not we agree with the above quote.  Do we exist primarily to serve ourselves and to care for each other, or to see this community and world transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ?

I am sure that most people want to say the latter, of course.  The hard part is, however, that the answer to what we truly believe will come not by our words but by our actions.  Consider the following:

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Why do you believe?  If you consider yourself a follower of Jesus, why are you following Him today?  What is it about Jesus, or what has happened in your life, that has brought you to this point?  And if you have had reasons to reject faith in Jesus because of difficult life experiences, intellectual doubts, or the hurts you’ve experienced at the hands of other believers, why have you pushed those reasons aside and continued to believe? 

Why don’t you believe?  If you do not consider yourself a follower of Jesus, why do you not believe?  What is it that holds you back from believing all that Jesus said about God and what it means to know Him?  What doubts do you have, what experiences have damaged your faith, or what else has led you to declare that you do not believe? 
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(The following is an account of Free Inside prison ministry by guest blogger Gordon Lawrence of NewLife.  If you are interested in becoming involved with Free Inside, contact NewLife or visit the Free Inside website at www.free-inside.com.)

Free Inside was started about five years ago by the current director (and former NewLife pastor) Peter Dewberry, who is the only paid staff member.  All other workers, who number about 50, are volunteers.  Our instructional material is the ALPHA program, and we alternate the 15 week ALPHA 1 introduction to Christianity with ALPHA 2, an introduction to the Christian life.  A normal program lasts two hours.  After a brief introduction, a 35 minute video is shown, followed by the inmates and volunteers breaking up into small groups for about an hour-long discussion.  The program closes with the sharing of prayer needs.  We run programs in the spring and the fall in order to allow breaks for volunteers. 
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This Sunday, our church will be hosting an exciting, totally free event on Hubbard Green in Glastonbury called “Fido & Whiskers’ Big Day Out.”  You really have to check out the amazing website put together by Matt LaCroix at www.newlife-glastonbury.org/bigdayout – it took a lot of work, but really helps communicate how awesome the event will be.  The Big Day Out idea began as a way to engage the community through a ceremony known as the Blessing of the Animals that is often done by Catholic churches in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi.  My wife and I have attended a couple of these events with our dog Otis and have had a great time, so I thought it might be a fun way to engage our community and share about our God with whoever comes.  But then I thought, why stop there?  Why not invite all the pet businesses in town to come and set up booths, set up agility courses and do demonstrations, and give out free stuff?  And then I thought again, why stop there???  Why not offer some more free things from our church, like free food and drinks, free photos with your pet, with a free 4×6 printed on-site, and a Draw Your Pet booth with fun prizes?  And why not have competitions, with a celebrity judge (thank you, Rachel Lutzker) and prizes for the top three finishers in each category?

And then I thought… I’ll stop there.

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Why are teenagers so scary?

Why do I feel like I shrunk back in cowardice every time a pack of teens slouched by our AppleFest booth this past Saturday??? Was it their unkempt hair? Their “cooler-than-thou” attitudes? Their complete lack of interest in stopping by a church’s booth (or was it slight interest completely annihilated by the crushing peer pressure not to be seen stopping by a church booth?)?

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