For those of you who attend or are interested in attending McLean Bible Church, here are video clips of head pastor Lon Solomon’s appearance on FOX News during Christmas 2005.
I went to Frontline for the first time in about six months (and prior to that, it was probably another six months since I had been there). I’ve finally committed myself to attending the 5:30 PM service every Sunday evening. I want to keep my Sundays completely open (with the exception of tennis class in the morning and Frontline at night). Sundays are going to truly be my Sabbath.
It must have been providence, because before leaving for church, I planned to create my financial budget when I returned home (now that I have all the exact numbers of income and expenses). The sermon was on finances and hit home in almost every category. Todd even mentioned the iPhone—which was burning a hole in my pocket as he spoke. He talked about how few of us are satisfied with how much money we’re making and always want more.
I wouldn’t say that I’m a hoarder of money. I do give a lot to ministry. And I’ve sold off a great deal of my possessions. I don’t own a lot of stuff, but what I do own is of the highest caliber. In that way, I’m quite materialistic.
Todd said possessions will never satisfy. Everyone thinks that if only they had this or that, that they would finally be satisfied. Two things immediately popped into my mind—HDTV and Apple MacBook. Once I buy those, I’ll be totally set and can start saving my money. Maybe.
And only a day prior I spent my entire month’s tithe on the Apple iPhone. Now, how telling is that?
Your heart is where your treasure is.
I need to make damn certain my heart is accurately represented by my new budget. I may postpone my budget creation until after Todd’s follow-up message on finances next Sunday.
Last night, I was awe-struck by how providential my return to Frontline was. The timing couldn’t be more perfect.
Note: You can listen to Todd’s message online here.
[This originally appeared as my comment on a Pulse blog post regarding marketing for Frontline.]
I agree with Ryan. Measuring the reaction of the community to our marketing efforts is going to be really difficult (and not really worthwhile). It’s not our creative marketing that changes people’s souls, but God’s good pleasure. If we’re going to measure anything, it should be stuff that we can actually control. Like participation.
It’s not our job to make society think highly of the church. Or for us to be popular with any demographic. If anything, I gather from the Bible that, if the world loves the church, then something’s wrong with the church.
If we concentrate on simply doing what God tells us to do: sharing the Gospel, helping others in the community, and individually living holy lives, then we’re doing what we’re supposed to do, regardless of what effect it has on our society.
We can’t control effect. Only God can influence the hearts of fallen men.
As a marketing group for Frontline, I think we should use media to 1) communicate the Gospel, 2) cover Frontline-related acts of service in the community, and 3) provide an “insider’s” look at what it means to live a holy life (e.g., from a personal perspective, like a blog)—struggles and all.
Some ideas that just popped into my head are…
Make sure we recruit at least one person on each Global Impact trip to write a daily blog on what they’re doing over there. As a natural skeptic, I myself wonder whether my money is going to send a bunch of folks on vacation.
Get other insiders to provide their thoughts on their respective ministry. Like a Frontline Athletics blog, an Evangelism team blog, etc. And unite all of these bloggers into one community—Pulse.
I’m personally interested in writing a “how to” blog on Evangelism. It would provide actual training on how to talk to complete strangers, as well as an insider’s look at actual evangelism outreaches (Christ on the Mall, etc.).
Basically, I think we should feature the work of the Frontline community. And the only measurement that would actually be useful is how much involvement we have from our own community. Then we can know if Frontline is doing a good job of training and equipping Frontliners to be doers of the Word and not hearers only.
The reaction of the community is beyond our control, and we really shouldn’t be worried about making us or God seem more attractive to them. We can’t convince people to turn to God. We can only show them the way.
I went to Reston Bible Church this evening, because one of my co-workers invited E and I to go. I simply went to encourage E. I also hadn’t been to Reston Bible Church before, and I wanted to check it out. E ended up calling additional backup—M, her ex—to come with us.
I was impressed with the church. The sanctuary is about a fifth of the size of McLean Bible Church’s. It provided an intimate, yet modern, worship environment.
The event was called “Conversations,” and it was a mix of drama skits, testimonies, and live music. In all honesty, I thought it was the best bit of evangelism I’ve ever witnessed. Each of the five acts targeted different segments of people—a few of which really pinpointed where my friend E is right now. At parts, it sounded as if they were talking specifically about mine & E’s relationship and year-long dialog on Christianity.
After the performance, the pastor spoke for a bit, explaining the role that Jesus plays in the big picture of salvation. He communicated it very well—making it clear and simple. I think E was impressed with the evening’s message, and M seemed to gradually become less and less hostile (judging from her body language throughout the performance).
Once the lights came on & we started to exit the sanctuary, I got caught up in some conversations with other audience members. I recognized one girl from Campus Crusade at GMU (ten years ago). I’ve also seen her at Frontline before. She told me she was just talking about me earlier today with P (the former leader of GMU’s Campus Crusade for Christ), with whom she works. Apparently, he popped in my “Heroine” CD and asked her if she knew what ever became of me. I told her to tell him I’m now the captain of a church kickball team. 
I also tried to recruit her for my team (even though I don’t have any spots left). She said her friends had wanted to join, but she wasn’t into it. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective), she has just gotten married, and she and her husband are “shopping” for a church to go to on Sunday mornings. I told her—in all seriousness—that I was going to start going to Reston Bible Church on Sunday mornings (or Saturday nights), in addition to going to Frontline. I want to attend a church that’s more intimate and traditional than MBC. Then keep Frontline as something additional and separate—a place where I can do more serving than being served.
Anyway, I was really impressed with Reston Bible Church. They have a great facility, the pastor is terrific, the worship music is really good, and there seemed to be a lot of cool, young adults in attendance. Plus, I already know a few people there. I’m going to try and make it back there this weekend.
I HIGHLY recommend their “Conversations” performance. It’s playing for two more nights (Thursday, Friday). If you get a chance to go, you really should. It’s a really great presentation. They really know what they’re doing over there. Bring your friends.
I’m hoping E will have a lot of questions for me tomorrow.
Frontline Athletics asked its leaders to answer the following question…
How do you want God to use you this year in the Athletics Ministry?
Here is my answer…
God is already using me in the Athletics Ministry to tell my already-established friends and contacts in the Vienna kickball division about Frontline, its ministry, and my personal faith.
I played kickball last fall and became friends with many of my teammates, including the president of the division and one of the founding members of WAKA (World Adult Kickball Association). We hung out and had a good time before and after games, as well as socially on the weekends, etc. I built a rapport with these folks, establishing myself as a decent and fun friend of the group.
Now that I’m captaining the new Frontline team in the Vienna division, my friends/former teammates ask me why I left their team, what Frontline is, etc. Since I’m on the Vienna division Board, everyone in leadership positions is aware that I am a Christian and that Frontline is a team made up of Christians from McLean Bible Church. So, the Frontline kickball team has taken on a mantle of being “the Christians” in the division. It’s a heavy mantle to carry, because our actions & words will be viewed by the other teams as an example of Christianity. It is my goal this year to honor God by playing kickball, and by leading a team of Christians by example and exhortation to play hard, while always honoring God with our actions on and off the field.
Not only is it my goal to represent Christ well to those around us, but to also minister to the team. Many Frontliners joined the team in hopes of meeting other Christians. That is not an unworthy goal, and it is my duty as the captain to foster an environment suitable for meeting these needs. Someone new to Frontline, who has joined the kickball team, will instantly have 25 new Christian friends. The team provides an instant social circle for Christians, in which we can hang out and have fun, as well as bare each other’s burdens.
The spring season is just the first step. My goal is to equip 3 or 4 members of my team with the skills & desire to become captains of new kickball teams in other divisions in the fall (Reston, Arlington, D.C., etc.). There are many Frontliners interested in kickball, but none who have prior experience playing or leading a team. If we could raise up leaders, it will allow more Frontliners to participate in this ministry—and hence more people will be exposed to Christianity. I anticipate the spring season being so successful (in terms of enjoyment), that word will spread and interest in kickball at Frontline will grow rapidly. Kickball offers the perfect opportunity for athletic ministry. It’s a low-skill sport with a high-social/fun factor.
I believe God will use me to jumpstart the Frontline kickball league this year. I will lead it, promote it, and eventually hand it off to a team of captains, who will take it to every division in the metro-D.C. area.
