Posts tagged as:

church

Are Websites Becoming Less Important?

October 14, 2009

A friend named Jake Bland mentioned this blog site and post in a report he recently wrote, that I had an opportunity to scan. The post is called “Nobody Cares About Your Website” and was written by Eric Murrell. Media Salt’s tagline is: God isn’t bland. The Church shouldn’t be, either. Looks like a really [...]

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Spiritual Eroticism?

May 5, 2009

Scot McKnight has gone and done it again… he’s poking around with one of the evangelical church’s sacred cow’s – worship.
Here’s what he says about what we typically do on Sunday morning:
“Let’s call this was it is: spiritual eroticism. And those who are good at it can be called spiritual erotics.”
That’s kind of audacious!
Check it [...]

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Reimagining Church

November 12, 2008

I reviewed a book by Frank Viola and George Barna called “Pagan Christianity” some months ago. There is a companion book to it that is out now called “Reimagining Church,” by Frank Viola.
Some great reviews of the book can be found at http://www.ReimaginingChurch.org – including Relevant, The Ooze, Kingdom Grace, Len Sweet, Internet Monk, and [...]

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A New “Senior Pastor”

August 24, 2008

Today was quite an exciting day in the life of the church I attend and am a member of. We have been without a “Senior Pastor” for almost three years. Today, we “elected” a new one who will be starting officially in September.
The vote today was the conclusion to a much longer process, starting about [...]

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Chapter 5 – The Senior Pastor: Is He Biblical?

June 20, 2008

I am going to jump ahead in my review of the book Pagan Christianity? by Frank Viola and George Barna, to Chapter 5 which is entitled: The Pastor: Obstacle to Every-Member Functioning. The reasons for doing this are many. The church that I attend is in the midst of a search for a “senior pastor.” [...]

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A Chance Conversation?

June 13, 2008

Yesterday I attended a wedding and reception of a family from our church. At the reception I met and talked with a guy who has been attending for a number of years, along with his family. I recognized his face and name, but had never actually met him and talked to him. This happens in [...]

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Chapter 3 – Major Influences on Worship

April 26, 2008

Continuing in Chapter 3 of Pagan Christianity?, writers Viola and Barna next tackle how the changes in early church buildings affected worship. Because Emperor Constantine was the #1 “lay person” in the church, a simple style worship service would simply not do. To honor him, much of the pomp and ritual of the imperial Roman [...]

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Chapter 2: Exploring the First “Church” Buildings

April 19, 2008

Exploring the First Church Buildings
In the book Pagan Christianity?, authors Frank Viola and George Barna continue Chapter 2 by exploring the evidence we have about the first “church buildings,” a trend started by the “Christian” Emperor, Constantine in the 3rd Century AD.
We have already learned why early church buildings were considered “sacred” places. This lead [...]

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Chapter 2: The Creation of Sacred Spaces and Objects

April 13, 2008

The Creation of Sacred Spaces and Objects
Authors Frank Viola and George Barna record that a shift occurred in the late second and third centuries when Christians began reverencing their dead. Christians began to meet in two places… their homes and the cemetery. They picked up the pagan practice of having meals to honor the dead. [...]

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Chapter 2: Temples, Priests, and Sacrifices

April 13, 2008

Temples, Priests, and Sacrifices
Continuing in Chapter 2 of Pagan Christianity? authors Frank Viola and George Barna point out that the Old Testament Hebrews had a faith experience centered around the Temple, the priesthood and the sacrifice. But Jesus fulfilled all three of these by becoming the “Temple” made without hands, the final high priest who [...]

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