Sermon Up, Plus a Couple of Other Things

This morning's sermon is up. "Honor Your Father and Mother", from John 19:23-25. It's about maintaining the balance between achieving our major goals and meeting our more mundane responsibilities.

I counted 58 at church this morning. That's two weeks in a row where we've broken 55, after a long run of struggling to hit 50. I'd like to see us keep the consumer base this high, but what I'd like more is to see the growth in our investor base we'll need to support the consumers long-term.

To that end, I'm putting together a program I'm calling "E-Vangelism." (The name's not original with me, but the domain name isn't registered, so maybe I can claim it.) The idea is for Pleasant Grove to use the fact that our preacher is a dork to our advantage. The premise is that everybody is open to an invitation to church at some point in their lives. But knowing when that point is can be tricky. So instead of trying to be at the right place at the right time, through the Internet we can be in the right place ALL the time.

The idea is to get permission to enter into a conversation with somebody. Then every so often, we'll send them a message. Maybe a Twitter post about an event, a Facebook ad, or even an e-mail a couple of times a month. We can also provide information on topics of interest and/or significance on a website. Then, when their lives change in a way that makes them aware of a deeper need for God, we're there to help.

This way, even if a person isn't open to the gospel now, they'll know who to turn to when they are. And we'll be ready, because we'll have been in conversation with them over time.

I'll be working on this over the next two months, with a formal launch planned for January. In the mean time, if you even the least bit dorky, I'd welcome any input on the development process.