INCREASED RELIANCE ON GOD:
"Excellence" is our favorite thing right now. We strive to have the coolest coffee bar, the hippest ikea environment, the rocking-est worship band and the clever-est sermon illustrations. And it works, people come in.

It may be, in this poor economy, that we'll have less money for all that stuff and have to start relying more on God to supernaturally impress people. In this economy, we may be forced to pray more for His help and rely more on His power to draw and win people, and less on our cool environments and experiences.

Not that these cool things are bad. No. But it's easy to start relying on them and our cultured sense of style to win people to Christ.

In these difficult economic times, we have an awesome opportunity to cut back on the outward appearance of things and rely more on God's Spirit to build and grow His Church!

Plus, if we do, we'll have some pretty awesome stories to tell at the After Party.

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Outreach Opportunities:
"It is easier for a camel to go thru the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." Mark 10:5, Matt 19:24, Luke 18:25

Something about having money and being comfortable makes people un-interesetd in God. However, when they are in crisis or suffering, they become more open to the Lord. Also, with more people needing financial help, we have opportunity to help them physcially.

SO IT'S DOUBLE OPPORTUNITY TIME right now! 1- b/c people are suffering, they have more openness to God & 2- because they have more pressing needs for jobs, housing, food, clothing, etc, we can share Christ's love by meeting their physcial needs as well!

Normally our culture is self-reliant, independent with not much openness to the Church helping them. Now they're much more open, both for physical help and spiritual help. LET'S MEET THESE NEEDS and advance the Kingdom!!

woot!

For some ideas, see last weeks blog post: 9 Ideas for the Church in a Bad Economy

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"He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." - Matt 5:45

Everything that happens to us is from God. Just as he gives us good things, he also gives us challenges and hardship.

One major benefit to the economy is the hardship of it! Hardship is what matures us, grows us.

When times are good, we coast, but when times are rough, we have to reevaluate, endure, stretch, suffer, and rise above.

Romans 5:3-5 explains that we actually rejoice in our sufferings:
Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

REJOICE, brothers and sisters! The downturn in the economy is a FREE opportunity for us to develop and grow as a Christ follower, leader and human being!

A typhoon stranded a monkey on an island. In a protected place on the shore, while waiting for the raging waters to recede, he spotted a fish swimming against the current. It seemed to the monkey that the fish was struggling and needed assistance. Being of kind heart, the monkey resoved to help the fish.

At considerable risk to himself, the monkey moved far out on the precarious limb of a tree, reached down, and snatched the fish from the waters. Scurrying back to the safety of his shelter, he carefully laid the fish on dry ground. For a few moments, the fish showed excitement but soon settled into a peaceful rest.

- An eastern parable

This parable start's out Dave Gibbons' new book, The Monkey and the Fish. He's talking about how the Church, sometimes -- unknowingly -- tries to help, but ends up hurting.

What are some ways the Church may be acting like this monkey?

April 26th is International Internet Evangelism Day
 
Remarkably, 1.5 billion people now access the Web for a wide range of activities. Twitter recently enabled eyewitnesses to pass on to thousands of other people their firsthand accounts (with
pictures) of the jet that ditched in the Hudson River, well before TV and radio could tell the story. The digital world seems to change every time we blink!

Internet Evangelism Day - as the name suggests - is also an annual web-awareness focus day. Churches and other Christian groups can build a short focus spot into their meetings on 26 April, to explain to their members more about the potential for online evangelism. A customized presentation (anything from 5 minutes to 50) can be easily created using free downloads from IE Day's website: video clips, Powerpoint, handouts, music and drama.

IE Day is an initiative of the Internet Evangelism Coalition, an umbrella group of online ministries based at the Billy Graham Center, Wheaton.

For more information, free downloads, free articles, leaders supporting IE Day, check-out their website: www.InternetEvangelismDay.com