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biblestorebrowser
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Gender: Female
Interests: I love Bibles, Bible study, and browsing Christian products. My greatest interest, though, is in encouraging others to live a life that glorifies God, especially in the area of serving with their passion(s). I also like to crochet and knit as time permits.
Expertise: I do a little of this and a little of that, but I think my forte lies in proofreading.
Occupation: Homeschool Mom
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
1/11/2006
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| How Time FliesI have little time to update here, but I want to assure everyone I have not fallen off the face of the planet! In the last several months I have prayerfully been working on an article about a ministry placement assessment, which contributed significantly to the ministry placement discovery tool our team is preparing to roll out over the summer. I hope to publish the article here after things slow down, and I will also make a version of the discovery tool available with some sort of creative commons type license--location to be determined. I have also been blessed to work on a discipleship team for our strategic planning group at church, which has allowed me to look at some great resources. I know I must be doing effective work because Satan has been trying to render me ineffective! But it is all to God's glory and my growth in faith; for God allowed only what He knows I am ready to handle so He can take me to the next level! In the mean time, I appreciate prayers as God leads you in your quiet time. God bless you!
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| No more Mickey D's for us!I'm not normally one to put the word out about such things, but this one I feel is worth spreading the word about. If you like going to McDonald's and disagree with the homosexual agenda, you need to know about this if you haven't already heard.
http://www.afa.net/Petitions/Issuedetail.asp?id=31
You'll learn more about McDonald's' recent poor decision and be able to email the Chairman using either the brief form letter or your own message.
Edit:
Since this post, there has been an additional article posted on the AFA website that includes the AFA's response to an email McDonald's is sending to people who email about the situation.
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| There must be more to the spiritual lifeI honestly can't stand watching talk shows, but I know a lot of people like Oprah. I had no idea she had started some sort of new age following, but I can't say I'm surprised by what I saw here.
Since the period I watched her show semi-regularly well over a decade or so ago, one of the things that has always stuck out to me about her brand of spirituality is that she thinks God is jealous of her. She said on that episode that she could not understand how a God could be jealous of the things she has or who she is. She explains in the above video that hearing that God was jealous was what got her seeking a deeper spirituality. TO HER, as she says in the online class highlighted on YouTube, God is not jealous; the god she defines is loving.
The problem? Her understanding is all wrong! God's not jealous of what we have. He owns it. He's not jealous of who we are. He made us. He IS jealous FOR us. He wants us to give freely to Him everything He has given us--including our time. He wants our praise; for who else is worthy? He wants us to be His friend, and He even sent His Son to die so that could happen.
How much more loving can you get? No man has greater love than to give up his life for his friends. Yet this is what Jesus--the One that Oprah has publicly denied as the One Way--did for us. In denying the One True God because He does not love enough, Oprah and millions of followers deny themselves the opportunity to have a deep relationship with the giver of the Greatest Love.
A Call to Churches
From this we can see the need for churches to direct people in how to experience a deeper relationship with God. You see, Oprah is not alone in her longing. Many people have grown up in church only to walk away seeking something deeper. Yet that "something deeper" seems enigmatic until God Himself invites a person to experience Him in a greater way.
We as disciple-makers need to be teaching people that God is always at work. We need to be casting visions of where we see God at work in order to help develop the Spiritual eyes of those who cannot yet see. We need to be explaining to the people that God's invitation to join Him in His work will come. We need to be preparing people to say "yes" to God when He reveals His work and to expect opposition that will challenge their convictions to do that work.
When disciples are experiencing God in such a way, they will no longer yearn for anything deeper elsewhere because they know that the well of the True God runs deeper than anything they can imagine.
For Starters
There are a lot of books out there aimed at helping people get closer to God. My top recommendation for teaching God's Church the principles that will lead them to a deeper relationship with God are taught in the study Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God. No one can go through this book and not be changed.
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| See God.I love Kentucky. The countryside. The people. The unique accents. The basketball. Much of my extended family lives there, and it's where I spent the better part of five years of my life. I have many good memories of Kentucky, and I won't mind at all if I get to live there again some day.
One of my best memories was in 1998 when I was living in Lexington, only a couple miles away from the UK campus. The NCAA Tournament had come down to the Kentucky Wildcats and the Utah Utes, and there was no way my housemate and I were going to miss it. Neither were we going to miss the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go downtown for the statewide celebration after "the Comeback Cats" won the game. What a sense of common spirit prevailed there. All kinds of interesting people coming together for one reason. How surreal for someone who had grown up a fan from afar, occasionally watching the games from season ticket seating in the rafters, finally partaking in celebration of the biggest win of the season.
I don't watch the games very often nowadays. By choice we don't have satellite service, and our CBS reception is spotty at best the few times a year their games are covered where we live. I'm usually too busy with other things I like doing more anyway. When I found out I might be able to watch today's game online, though, I thought I'd try to tune in for a second look at the (not-so-hot) team this season. Before I found the Yahoo! video feed, I found the live audio from a Lexington station, and, oh, did that take me back to that feeling I get every time I cross the state line. Those down-to-earth commercials for familiar organizations make me long to be back there.
I found the video, but stayed tuned into the audio just for sentimentality. One of the commercials they played caught my ear. UK's promotion to attract students and cast their vision of excellence toward being a Top 20 public institution is called "See Blue." When you think about the University of Kentucky, they "want you to 'See Blue' and imagine the potential and the possibilities." It's a way to view the world that allows students to "harness the power of their dreams."
What if Christians would do that? What if we experienced the world through the eyes of God, seeing how He wants us to harness HIS power to bring about His will? What if, like the school spirit that unites those from many walks of life in anticipation and celebration of a big win, we all had "God Spirit" that reaches beyond the Church and into the lives of those who need a touch from God? What if we all had such a desire to see God glorified that we were determined to work together to let God work through us?
Can you imagine life in such a body of believers? It's a powerful thought, for sure. One that allows us to dream what, for us, is impossible. But the Bible tells us that nothing is impossible with God. The Bible also says that when we abide in Christ and He abides in us, we will bear much fruit. We just have to stay connected to the Vine, as elusive as that task may be from moment to moment.
Where do we start on our journey to doing the impossible? We must look for where God is at work.
Where are people being drawn to Him, asking questions? Only God can do that. Where are people praying for Bible studies and churches to be established? God has sparked their hearts to seek after more of Him and to bring a greater influence from Him into their neighborhood. What Spiritual truths are being revealed? The Spirit searches and reveals to man the things of God. What is God showing His people that He is doing or wants to do? God always reveals what He is about to do so that His people can join Him in His work.
He probably won't show you the whole picture. He likes to reveal steps one at a time. (Just look at when He told Abram to leave his family and go to the land God would show him.) Sometimes the steps won't make sense to you, but that's because His ways are higher, His thoughts are not like ours. We have to adjust our way of thinking to realize that whatever God sets out to do, He also completes. It will not be in your own power that you will do these things. It will be when you believe and obey God for things much greater than you could accomplish on your own that His work will be done in such God-sized ways there will be no way to deny that He is the One who has done it.
See God. And the world will see God too.
Resource:
For more on knowing and doing the will of God, I highly recommend Experiencing God, many of the principles of which I have shared here.
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| Your Church Website: Make It Simple!The Bureau
I recently had to renew my driver's license. The license bureau--the only one in our county--is usually pretty quiet, especially since the advent of online plate renewal. There was only one person in front of me, so I took my number and set my coat on a chair.
I was called up shortly thereafter, and as I waited for the lady to get my paperwork done, I looked around at the signs. The walls are filled with signs, and there are several items on the counter. The signs tell me I can get all kinds of special plates for a donation to an organization. That keeps my attention for a little while. There's now a flat panel television on the center of the wall behind the counter. That's new.
When it was time to make out my check, I asked the trainee whom to make it out to. She was writing something and I didn't think she had heard me, so I asked again. She slowly pointed out the little 2 1/2" X 4" note on the counter that told me it gets made out to the state treasurer (not the BMV like it used to be). I felt ignorant that I hadn't seen it. But I felt even more ignorant when I looked at the 2' X 3' sign on the wall to the left that gave the same message.
Why had I missed such a big sign? Because all the clutter on the walls prevented me from seeing the information I was looking for. I had so much competing for my attention that I didn't know what was most important.
A Bad Website
Websites can be the same way. I was looking at the site of a well-known magazine of Christian interest just last week. I didn't realize it at the time, but only the top third of the page shows on my laptop screen. In it I see a banner ad, headlines with changing graphics, a link to a blog, and a survey. There's usually nothing interesting below what is shown on my screen, so I don't think I even bothered scrolling down.
Of my visible choices, I chose the blog, where I saw some commenters stating that the site was too busy-looking. I made my way back to the home page to see what they meant. This time I scrolled down and found lots of blurbs in several categories, delineated by color, inviting me to view more.
As I looked at it, all I could think was, Don't Make Me Think! (That's a book on web usability by Steve Krug I have come to greatly appreciate and apply to more than websites--like signage at license bureaus.) I started asking myself, How could this site be more usable? Well, I don't know what Mr. Krug would recommend, but it definitely needs to be simplified! Instead of all those blurbs, maybe it could be cut down to just the categories. If they must have pictures inviting me to an article or feature, pick just one!
After some time I finally noticed they do have categories in what is commonly called in web design their "persistent navigation". Why had it taken so long for me to notice them? Because I was drawn away by all the other content--just like I had been at the license bureau!
Then when I clicked on some of the links, many were not what I thought they would be. Again I thought, Don't Make Me Think! If the average user has to think about it, it may not be good form. If I, a seasoned surfer, have to think about it, it's definitely not good form!
Improve Your Site
So how can you improve the usability of your church website?
One thing you can do is make sure your front page is clean, not filled with so many links and "featured" features that the eye doesn't know where to look. Keep links self-explanatory by using descriptive, non-cryptic words. If there is a process you want the reader to follow, make it clear with numbers or something that looks like a progression. If there are different types of users you want to reach, make those the titles of prominent links. Categorize when you can.
Something else you can do is bring in the fresh eyes of those who represent your typical users, preferably those who have not spent much time there. Ask them to perform some tasks using the website. Ask specific questions about what they think should happen when they click something. Ask if they see any improvements that can be made to make the site easier to use.
But above all, I recommend reading and putting into practice Don't Make Me Think. It goes into way more detail than I could here, and it will help you truly appreciate what it means to not make your users think.
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