Curious George

I continue to be amazed by the work being done by LifeChurch.tv that is building the kingdom of God!  They already supply wonderful resources to churches for free at Open, provide a free and easy to use online Bible, and now they’ve come up with an incredible communication tool for churches.  YouVersion Live lets churches publish an interactive page for mobile devices that you can use for worship services, bible studies, or any other event where you’d like to share information.  Here’s the description from the website:

YouVersion Live gives you a way to interact with church services and other live events using your mobile device. You can follow along with message outlines and take notes, read related Bible verses and click through to the expanded passage, vote on a poll and see the results live, ask questions anonymously, give, request prayer, and take it all home with you on your phone. It works with any web-enabled phone, as well as any computer with an internet connection.

With the widespread use of cell phones that can access the internet, I can easily see this as a viable tool for communication and interactivity.  I generated an event for our worship service this Sunday:

I can’t wait to find ways to use this incredible tool in our ministry!!

We patched the roof of a woman in our community a few months ago with the help of Westwood Baptist (our parent church).  She is on dialysis and has her daughter and 2 month old grandson living with her. We were able to fix a part of the roof, but the rest of the roof has started to leak. She called today to tell me that the heavy rain caused the roof to leak heavily and the ceiling fell in and nearly hit her grand baby.

The roof needs to be replaced.  We are still too small to tackle a project of this size on our own, but I’m confident that we can work together to make this happen.  Here are the things we need:

• Prayer.  Ask God to work in this situation to draw this family toward Christ.  Pray that God’s people will be moved to compassion for the hurting and take action.
• Money for building materials.  You can donate directly to the church’s Compassion Fund for this project here.
• Roofing materials for a mobile home
• Volunteers with carpentry and/or roofing skills that can help us repair the roof

Here’s an opportunity to fulfill the Great Commission right here in Montevallo.  Please let me know if you’re in the area and can help.  Pass this on to someone else you know who might be able to help.  Let’s make this happen as soon as possible so this woman can get her home dry and comfortable for herself and her family.  Contact me at pastor@mountainvalleychurch.net or (205) 304-5445.

We’re raising money to help a widow who is a member in our church. She has a very old car that is on it’s last leg. The air conditioning is broken and the windows don’t work. She desperately needs a reliable used car for transportation.

This woman has been a faithful member of our church and other churches during her life and has served God in many ways over the years.

I hope you’ll prayerfully consider how you might contribue to her cause. Even the smallest donation will be helpful. Thanks!

Many thanks to John Saddington at ChurchCrunch and Moo for the business cards I won last month.  I just placed my order and I can’t wait to get the cards!  I chose a ready made design pack for the cards that features some truly awesome photos from Paul Cooklin Photography.  I really think these cards will stand out from the rest.  I’m going to use them as I meet people in the community.  I included information about myself and the church (location, meeting time, website, etc.).  Check out these unique cards if you’re interested in making a great first impression!

MiniCards $19.99
Buy this on MOO.com

Just read this summary from Church Leaders Intelligence Report:

Dave Carder, a California pastor and psychologist who has studied adultery prevention and recovery for more than 30 years, spoke last week at a Smart Marriage conference in Orlando, FL. In his latest book, Close Calls: What Adulterers Want You to Know About Protecting Your Marriage, he details a new adultery risk created by social networking, such as Classmates.com and Facebook. “There’s a new phenomenon—the idea that you can locate and recapture old romances, old flames, old boyfriends and girlfriends from adolescence…in (this) case, the infatuation is already stored in your brain. So if you get back in touch with a person like that—a person you dated, that you kissed, maybe a first-love experience—some 10, 15 years later … Well, the saying in my field is, ‘Thirty days of regular contact with an old girlfriend/old boyfriend and you create an infatuation explosion. And in 30 more days, you will find a way to be with each other.’ So it’s 60 days from the start, because infatuation is a mood-altering experience. It’s a huge drug of choice and will sweep you off your feet.” Carder warns that, especially in times of unusual or sustained stress, a “surprise adultery” can occur where the affair is really an attempt to heal, distract or support yourself from the stressful situations. He encourages couples to watch for the danger signs and “risk factors—certain seasons of life, certain ages, certain life experiences, certain marital stages, personal histories you bring to the marriage—that can set you up for an affair. That doesn’t mean you are going to do it, but like in the disease model, there are risk factors.”

The Washington Times 7/8/09

Social networking sites are a wonderful way to connect with friends and even share the Gospel.  However, we shouldn’t be naive.  Satan can use these connections to tempt us to be unfaithful to our spouse.  We have easy access to relationships that can be unhealthy to our marriage.

April and I made a commitment when joining Facebook that we would never “friend” someone with whom we had been in a relationship before.  It’s been awkward having to explain to high school classmates why I won’t accept their friend requests, but I believe that my marriage is just to important to risk the temptation of rekindling any kind of feelings that were in the past.  What do you think?  Please leave your comments!