Published on Thursday, August 7, 2008 .
…if churches shut their buildings’ doors, gave the members their contributions back and encouraged them to invest in their neighborhoods or community?
What ministries would suffer? Who would be left behind or neglected? What good could come of that?
Just a question floating around my head since Sunday.
Any thoughts?
Note: I believe this idea originated with LifeBridge Christian Church in Longmont, CO. They’re not shutting their doors, but they are exploring giving some contributions back to the members for community investment. That’s about all I know, but I thought it was pretty intriguing.
Published on Thursday, July 3, 2008 .
After a lot of love, attention and tweaking, phase one of GretemanGroup.com is officially live.
Featuring our updated brand, a new portfolio and our very own blog, the site is refreshed, easy to navigate and provides more opportunity for interaction. While we’re still ironing out some minor issues and planning to add more features in the future, the site is live and it is good. At least I think so.
So go check it out.
Let me know what you think!
Have a great holiday weekend.
Published on Wednesday, July 2, 2008 .
Let’s pretend that you worked for a company that was looking for a branding/marketing/advertising partner. Caveat: If you really are working for a company that is looking for a branding/marketing/advertising partner, please be yourself.
Imagine that you heard about an ad agency from one of your business friends or heard a representative from the agency speak at an association luncheon. You can imagine the chicken breast and steamed vegetables that were served at the luncheon if you want – it’s not necessary, but more power to you.
You type the agency name into the Google (a really good search engine) and you’re taken to the agency’s page. You’re initial impression is positive – the site is clean and the navigation seems to be logical. You click through their portfolio and then head to the About section to read more. Remember, we’re imagining here – in imagination-land it is not outside the realm of possibility that you actually read this kind of stuff.
Once you’ve landed on the About, what do you want to read there? What do you care about? What do you want to learn?
Thanks in advance for the thoughts.
Published on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 .
The majority of churches choose not to change. They would rather die. Tragically, in most churches, the pain of change is greater than the pain of ineffectiveness.” – Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger, authors of “Simple Church“
Overstatement or frightening, frustrating reality?
I know what I think. I assume most of you know what I think.
But what do you think?
Published on Wednesday, November 21, 2007 .
I’m a simple-minded chap. I like pretending like I’m a deep thinker when I’m in group discussion, but my day-to-day life hardly reflects that false reality. Most of the time I appreciate the simplest and quickest answer to questions that trouble me.
Unfortunately, a majority of the world isn’t like me. Most people are unsatisfied with the quick and easy answer—and rightly so. Knowing this, it amazes me how Christians can claim to have the truth to some of life’s biggest questions and then recite tired, old, shallow answers.
The big questions are quite legitimate. However, the answers I’ve received to some of those questions over the course of my life—while simple—don’t even satisfy me!
Here’s two examples and the problems I have with the rote answer:
Q: Why do bad things happen to good people?
A: Because it’s all a part of God’s plan.
Problem: What kind of god would allow his/her followers to suffer terrible calamities, particularly when you claim that your god is all-powerful? How could this “good” god have a plan that involves innocent children dying?
Q: How could a loving and all-powerful God create a place of eternal torment for those who choose not to commit their lives to him?
A: It’s not for us to know. Our job is to obey. There’s nothing we can do about it anyway, just follow God.
Problem: God created the system! He chose to create a place of fire and wailing and gnashing teeth. While he may not send people there (thanks to their free will), He didn’t have to make a place where people suffered for eternity.
So, what answer would you give to those (and other, if you’d like) big questions? How can we start equipping our churches to tackle these big questions in relevant and helpful ways?
Published on Monday, November 12, 2007 .
Continuing our seeker-sensitive discussion (kind of):
What does it mean to “get fed” by a church? Have you used this language before? What did you mean? From what does this idea stem? Is it time to leave a church if you’re no longer being fed? How do you know you’re not being fed?
Feed me your thoughts.
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