In a recent article from The Gaurdian, Joel Osteen was proclaimed "The New Face of Christianity."

What makes Joel so popular? Isn't it his message of inspiration - that you can be better and good things are in your future.

I was running the tread mill at Gold's last weekend and Joel Osteen was on one of the TVs. I watched his sermon and it was filled with inspiring stories (the kind you get in those Christian chain letters) and encouragment that God wants better things for me and blessings are in my future. Actually, I watched him two weeks in a row (at the gym) & it was basically the same message, and I don't think he used any scripture.

Basically Joel is selling hope of God's blessing, he doesn't seem to talk about too much else. And this strategy reeeeeally works!

When I was in highschool, I started going to a high energy church on Sunday nights. After my small, boring church on sunday mornings, some friends and I would go to hear the inspirational guy. I went there for several years, even when I returned from college. Why did I go? He was inspiring. He often, often preached on the idea that God had a special mission & plan for me. And that I would be MOST FULFILLED and only truly happy if I just had faith and jumped into that big plan.

This kept me motivated for years. This inspiring message, this is exactly what I wanted to hear. I desperately wanted to find the fulfillment & happiness in doing great and special things for God. This kept me coming back every week. But eventually, I never discovered God's big plan. I'd try to have faith & do better & hopefully find the next big break, but it never came.

People want inspiration, people want purpose, people want blessing & hope for the future. This is the message that will fill your church with enthusiastic followers. But it's not always true. It is way too easy to inspire & give people hope & keep them coming, driven on by a hope of fulfillment, happiness, physical blessing, etc. It's like a drug, really. And it keeps you coming back, over and over, never quite finding your spiritual pot-o-gold, but hoping that this week you'll muster enough faith to find it.

Though God gives us great hope, I fear that His hope & promises can be used to keep people focused on themselves and receving blessing in this life, rather than living sacrificial lives for the Lord, loving God and loving their neighbors.

Inspiration will bring a large crowd, but it won't necessarily help your church members live deeper lives devoted to Christ.

Or perhaps I'm wrong. I know of several churches that love the Lord and use the inspirational strategy. Have you noticed the power of inspirational preaching? Does it have a dark side? What do you think?

Kem Meyer has a very interesting post recently about using twitter differently for your church.

She shares a letter from a friend who runs the twitter account for a church. He basically says:

- most people in our church don't even use/understand twitter. Why should I spend all my time on it?

- many Christians are huddled in their own Christian social circles, they know & care for few non-Christians.

- I've decided to use our church twitter to follow everyone within a 10 mile radius of the church.

This seems to be an innovative use of twitter - read his arguments & reasoning further here:

No value in social media; I’ll let you in on this private email…

Project 7 & Caribou Coffee have partnered to present 7 Day - a monthly volunteering extravaganza!

In 7 cities they're hosting a day of service and organizing hundreds of volunteers to serve their city, this week is Atlanta (our home town). And they're planning monthly projects. You can start this in your city. Sign-up to be a city coordinator & start a movement of service in your town! Be the Catalyst for change. Yeah that's cheesy, but do it anyway!

This is a guest blog post from Scott McClellan. He's the Editor in Chief (or something) of Collide Magazine. You should read Collide, because it's awesome.

Igniter Media, our sister company, recently developed Spanish version of two popular Easter videos — “ESTAMOS REUNIDOS (DÍA DE LA RESURRECCIÓN)” and “LA ÚLTIMA PINTURA.” As is standard practice when a new product is released, Igniter sent an email newsletter to its customers announcing two new resources “en Español.” It wasn’t long before Igniter received a curt reply:

“Do not – I repeat – do not send me emails advertising Spanish.”

We know a few things about this guy: 1) he’s an English speaker 2) he’s a Christian and 3) he has a strong objection to being told about church media resources in Spanish. Personally, I assume that his email response was a reaction to the rapidly changing demographics in the US, and that he views Igniter’s foray into Spanish resources as part of a larger trend, issue, or problem. Admittedly, that’s an assumption on my part, and this guy has the right to complain about emails if he wants to. But here’s the kicker …

Guess what comes before the guy’s name in his email signature?

“Until The Whole World Hears”

The incredibly ironic combination of his adamant reply and his missional signature is indicative of a significant challenge for the Church in the 21st century. We want the whole world to hear but we don’t want to be the ones to tell them. We believe we’re to fulfill the Great Commission but we prefer to engage with people who look, speak, act, live, and smell like us. We like the way the gospel sounds in English. We like the way it looks when it’s expressed in America.

I think Jesus wants to lead us past terse reactions to being confronted with other cultures. I think Jesus wants his Church to transcend even the slightest hint of ethnocentrism.

The future of the Church isn’t white or English-speaking. It’s a dazzling mosaic comprised of every tongue, tribe, and nation, and it’s characterized by deep fellowship (shalom, if you will) among its members and with God Almighty.

Do you want the whole world to hear? Great. Me too. Now comes the hard part — doing what it takes to translate, communicate, and connect. Spanish videos are just the beginning …