I recently heard a sermon about how comfortable Christians have become. We don't want to take the effort to go out and share the Gospel. Why is that? We know that Jesus expressly commands us several times in the Gospels and the book of Acts. We know that if a person dies without Christ, they will spend eternity separated from God. And yet many of us are comfortable in our nice little Christian bubble. Why is that? What should we do about it? Leave your comments and share your insights and opinions on this very important topic.
If you live in the U.S.A., chances are you shop at Walmart...regularly. With the convenience of having literally everything under one roof and prices that beat most of the competition, it's tough not to spend substantial time there. Most Walmart stores generally allow groups to solicit outside the building, with proper permission, of course. We've all seen girl scouts or various other groups diligently raising funds for their cause. However, recently they have been ramping up their donation solicitations, and I am beginning to wonder if they have gone too far, and may be driving traffic away from their retail Meccas.
About two weeks ago at Walmart checkout, I was asked by the clerk if I wanted to make a donation to the Children's Miracle Network. Being a noble cause, I agreed to donate $5.00. The next day I returned looking for some items for work. Again, I was asked to donate; this time I was given an option of $1.00, $5.00, or $10.00. Not wanting to look like a jerk, I donated $1.00. Over the following two weeks I have been into Walmart and its' sister company Sam's Club about 5 or 6 times, each time being asked to donate, and each time donating $1.00. Yesterday as I briskly walked in looking for a last minute snack to take to work with me. A lady literally yelled at me as I was walking in the door. She said “Hello would you like to make a donation to ...” I could not hear what the cause was because I did not stop and at 6'6” at a brisk walk I have quite a gait and was out of earshot. There are two reasons why I did not stop; First, I had a very small margin of time in order to be to work on time, and second I knew I did not have any cash on me. Don't get me wrong; I have no problem being asked to support a cause, and I have no problem giving to a cause in which I believe. However, when you get out of your car in the Walmart parking lot knowing that you will be asked 3 times to donate money, it does get kind of old. I remember one time I was headed toward the store entrance and intentionally walked all the way to the other set of doors just to avoid some guy trying to give me a free sample of the local newspaper, trying to get me to subscribe. So what do you think? Are you uncomfortable with the bombardment of solicitation, or do you just block it out, continuing on your merry way? Generally speaking, technology moves very fast; the new cell phone you just got will be obsolete in three years, and a newer model will be out in three months. As soon as a company puts out a new video game system, it's rival is at it's heels putting out a newer and better version as can be seen in this funny commercial from a few years back. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS9sUm5Y0sg This holds true in the world of social networking as well. Long before MySpace we had sites like Xanga, friendster, and sixdegrees.com. Although Facebook currently rules the roost with around 800 million users, Twitter is closing in at around 500 million.
Personally, I had a hard time making the jump from Myspace to Facebook. I had re-established connections with many friends with whom I had not spoken in many years. I did not understand what the point was for facebook when MySpace was working perfectly fine. At the behest of many friends, I reluctantly opened a Facebook account, and left it lying dormant for many many months. Once I finally made the switch, I never looked back. Now I am standing at the same crossroads once again. I created a twitter account well over a year ago, and have amassed a huge following of 21 people. I have tried on more than one occasion to try to figure twitter out, but end up frustrated and confused each time. I have done countless Google search such as “what is the point of twitter” and “facebook vs. twitter” and I can never find a response that makes sense to me. I have asked my friends and viewers on Facebook and Youtube. Nobody seems to have a legitimate reason why anyone should use twitter. So I have resolved to start a journey in which I find out exactly what the point of Twitter is, and what makes it unique and superior to Facebook. I found a few articles online when I searched “Twitter for dummies” and “Idiot's guide to Twitter”. Yes, these books do exist. Apparently I am not the only one who is confused. So I will read these articles and report back on my findings. If you have any insight into my plight, please feel free to comment here on this blog, or on Facebook....or Twitter. BTW you can find me on Twitter @thepastormike. |
AuthorMy name is Mike Bowen. I am a Youth Pastor and have been in ministry in one form or another for about 17 years. Archives
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