WOW!
It has been 35 days since I reached my 1000th page view and today we reached another one! 2000 page views in just over 100 days!
YOU are a big reason for this! Thanks for coming and visitng and reading and sharing and liking and commenting!
Here’s to next 1000!
In Christ,
Rev. Evan
(“WOW” available under the Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0 at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fire_brace/34779703/)
Starting tomorrow I will be in Gonzales, Texas for the Coastal Plains Area High School Conference (read- church camp). I have been asked to co-direct the camp this year as well as keynote the entire event.
The theme this year is “Rooted” and it is based on the text Ephesians 3:16-19 which speaks to the notion of being “rooted and established” in God’s love.
I will be there all week and each day will have a specific theme that goes along with the overarching theme.
Day 1- Dig
Day 2- Seeds
Day 3- Weeds
Day 4- Filled
Day 5- Fruit
I have been working on hard on my keynotes as well as putting some of them into Prezi form. (Check out prezi.com).
Be sure to keep up with me during this time on Twitter.
Take care and God Bless
Rev. Evan
(“on the Sky Road” available under the Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0 at http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephmouss/5258327019/)
My first post was published to the web on February 28, 2012- it was entitled “Welcome.”
After 98 days (FYI today is my 100th day on the web) on the web and 50 published posts, I decided to take a step into the 21st Century.
I have made this blog a .com… if you look up in the address bar above you will not see evandolive.wordpress.com but evandolive.com. 😀
You can still access this site from the .wordpress address; it will redirect you.
Thanks for supporting me!
Please continue to repost, like, comment, share and discuss!
In Christ,
Rev. Evan
(“First Mass Produced Apple Computer” available under the Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0 at http://www.flickr.com/photos/dottiemae/5311528896/)
This is the third installment of my “What Does Your Church Believe?” series. So far I have looked at the importance of open communion to DOC theology (post link) as well as freedom of belief (post link).
Today we will examine the belief in the oneness of the church.
According to the Disciples of Christ, the oneness of the church means that “all Christians are called to one in Christ and seek opportunities for common witness and service.”
One of the foundational tenets of the Disciples of Christ is the notion of ecumenical dialogue. This is vitally important in an ever changing theological and religious landscape. It seems like now that churches operate independent of themselves and in a sense, “compete” against one another. One church is trying to have the best youth program; this church is trying to have the best educational programs; this church is trying to have the best music and preaching. Churches are trying to grow the number of people in their church building on Sunday morning; whoever has the biggest congregation wins right?
Is this the church that Christ envisioned and died for? Did Christ really want differences in hymnals and Bible translations to separate others from doing the will of God together? In the end the fact of the matter remains, we are all serving, worshiping, honoring and loving the same God. No one denomination has a monopoly on God. As Disciples of Christ we are called to try to bridge gaps that have been place by years of separation and animosity. The people of this world who are suffering and need a healing touch of grace don’t have time for us to sit around and complain about “those people” over there.
From the beginning of the movement, the Disciples of Christ have been about the restoration of the church, to restore the church back to one body where Christ is served and God is worshiped in a way that is meaningful. But alas, humanity has messed it up. We want church our way and any other way is wrong. One of my favorite seminary professors said that the church itself has not really grown much, we have just found ways to divide ourselves. This is a sad but true fact.
It is because of this notion of ecumenical dialogue that I started ShareFest Orange which was held in March of this year. It was great to see 70+ people from around the city of Orange coming together to serve God in the public arena together for the benefit of others not a church role sheet.
God can be worshiped and served even when doctrinal beliefs are different.
Let is cling to the notion that God is bigger than our differences.
“We are one in the spirit we are one in the Lord…”
In Christ,
Rev. Evan
I have been completely overwhelmed by the out pouring of support and readership this past month. Thank you so much!
Here are the TOP FIVE most viewed posts in the Month of May.
Thank you again for supporting me! Please continue to share, comment and read!
In Christ,
Rev. Evan
People and corporations are in the business to sell you something. Commercials and advertisements flood our radios, TVs and until you install a good pop-up blocker, the internet as well. These items could be anything from sales at Lowe’s to the new tacos at Taco Bell to IRS Tax advice to newest diet craze on the market today. Since the advent of the telephone, marketers have tried to entice people over the phone with special deals and people calling at inopportune times. It even got so bad that the government had to make a National Do Not Call list with punishments for violators.
With the rise in the modern computer, calling thousands of people at one time with the same message has become the norm. While this is helpful for evacuate purposes and such, it has however been used by politicians in recent years. Politicians have set up recordings for people to get ‘robo called’ to inform people of voting day and that their opponent voted to give five-year old guns and make the Cornish game hen the new national bird.
Until recently, I had never heard of ministers using this technology to promote their ministries. My friend in Nacogdoches (yes it is spelled correctly) posted on Facebook that he had received a robo call from Prophet Manasseh Jordan.
Here is a transcript of the robo-call.
” *CALM FEMALE VOICE* Hello, this is Manasseh Jordan Ministries. I’m one of the Prayer Closet Guards, and we are about to place your name in the Prophet’s Prayer Closet, but we noticed some of your information is incomplete. Please call 800 234-9071 within the next 24 hours, or press 0 to be transferred so we can complete your information and Prophet Manasseh can start praying for you *SUDDEN VOICE CHANGE, MALE* To be removed from this list, please call 1 800 318-7853, that again is 1 800 318-7853.”
Some general questions/observations:
At best, he represents enthusiastic but uneducated preaching, mixed with the danger to arrogance. At worst, pure scam.
Is this what Christianity has come to? Is this image that TBN ministers and tele-evangelist have today? Has Tammy Fay Baker and Robert Tilton (Just to name a few) ruined the cause of reaching people in their homes with the gospel message (even though at times I disagree with what they have to say)?
Is the most effective way to propagate the gospel message, by robo calling random people?
Is that what Christ advocated when he gave his Great Commission?
I get it… he wants to spread the message of Christ to all people in all places and I commend him for his faith but why does he need to solicit people randomly?
This type of in your face Christianity especially with the back story of needing money is what turns people off to the Gospel message.
A general rule of thumb for ministry is if politicians use it to get people to vote for them, it may not be an effective tool.
People are looking for community, they are looking for connections. Sure people do connect with ministers on TBN even to the point where they support them financially but that was their choice and no one hounded them on their personal phone under the guise of personal ministry care.
For me, I do not like it when on a minister’s site or a church’s site the “special message from the pastor/prophet” takes me to a video where the said pastor/prophet is asking for money. Where’s the message there? The video below makes it seem like a Ronco infomercial. I was expecting him to tell me about low easy monthly payments and 100% money back guarantees… no such luck. (Also if you watch the video about every 30 seconds there is a beep… the fire alarm needs a new battery :D)
Ministry is too important to leave to our new robot overlords.
So the next time you receive a phone call from an unknown number… it might be Prophet calling.
It’s your choice whether or not to answer.
In Christ,
Rev. Evan
Rev. Dr. Evan M. Dolive 