Author: James Butler

Ultramodern Church: Space for Worship

Contemporary services gravitate to 1990’s Jesus light rock, decibel metered sound and Walmart clad clergy. Worship leaders interpret “improve the service” as sing a tenth chorus while adding a dozen more projection slides.

So holds true Jesus teaching, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)

Inked words still wet scribed on the worship papyrus are: ultramodern, virtual and space. Ultramodern worship forms a seamless union between the church building and the members’ remote experience. The days of “My pastor never calls on me” translate digitally into “My pastor is but a click away.” Video-conferenced home and small group teaching, healing and communion bring the invisible universal church to the digital. This church’s local building could hold 50 while serving a congregation of 50,000 free of the shackles of brick-and-mortar.

Beyond a church mission plant in locations like Antigua, the ultramodern church tasks its denomination to slate a mission to Mars in order to charter a church open to person of all nations … and galaxies. Churches pass out Space-X piggy-banks to remind the children that your faith can take you places.

Live long and prosper. Amen.

SpaceX

God’s Continuity Plan – Ephesians Session 2

Today on Christians Need to Know. Session 2 on Ephesians: Let’s walk together in unity so we can work together as the body of Christ. Does God really call us to build monstrous public venues destined to become the next “Lost City of Z”? Through the Apostle Paul, God shows us the continuity plan for the church, which does not embrace “big business church plant” Atlas model found in the US.

“One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism”

The mind of a US senior pastor before Sunday Services …

Atlas

Teaching for Testing

If we follow "teaching for testing" to its outcome, we discover in China what all those loss of privacy warnings meant ... Engagement monitoring by AI. Real time student brainwave engagement. Cashless society through facial recognition. AI is one jump away from linking human minds into a single consciousness... Coming to a cubicle near you.

See WSJ’s story at – https://www.wsj.com/video/under-ais-watchful-eye-china-wants-to-raise-smarter-students/C4294BAB-A76B-4569-8D09-32E9F2B62D19.html

Under AI’s watchful eye from WSJ

Whatever happened to recess and chocolate milk?

Church in Place: A response to the coronavirus

The church in the US is built on a “come and pray” model. With the outbreak of the coronavirus and the aging of the US church population, Pastor Jim discusses the need to build a “Church in Place: Stay and Pray” model that allows church members to stay active in the local church ministry during times of isolation or illness.

Church in Place

Next week, we will discuss how the spread of the Christianity through Asia Minor and on to Europe, gave a “continuity plan” to the Christian church as Titus destroyed Jerusalem in AD 70 accompanied by decades of Roman persecution of Christians and Jewish believers alike.

Today while visiting the Spirit of Joy Lutheran Church, the pastor morphed the traditional Passing the Peace handshakes with "elbow bumps" and "knuckle crunches."  Sanctified, along with wafers and the cup, the stations of the hand sanitizers. "May the Lord bless you and sanitize you."

Christians Need to Know – VBlog setup

The Malaise of PTO Days

Those who think the US workplace is safe from coronavirus have never sat across the cubicle from a flu stricken coworker out of PTO days.

During my years of cubicle exile, my desk has been a magnet to attract loud talkers, big sneezers and “Boy am I sick, but I used all my PTO going to Cabo! (Hack, coooough, blow)” Apparently the virus has not clicked “read and agreed” to the HR manual.

For Flock’s Sake, Shorten Sermons!

Pope Francis, on the subject of preaching, said, “How many times have we seen people sleeping during a homily, or chatting among themselves, or outside smoking a cigarette?”

When people laughed at the image, Francis said, “It’s true, you all know it … it’s true!”

Concluding that line of reflection, Francis said, “Please be brief … no more than 10 minutes, please!”

Pope Francis said this to the fifth General Audience of 2018, attended by 8,000.

Baptist deacons responded in shock about parishioners smoking during the sermon, declaring that “the Christian thing to do is to humbly slip out, have brunch at the local diner then sneak back in before the benediction.”

A priest shows Pope Francis a mobile phone before the start of the weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017