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New Post has been published on https://levaire.com/nextsteps/

How to Become a Christian (Next Steps)

Welcome! We pray you are reading this because you have taken an important step in accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. This means you are born again! (John 3:3)

If you have not yet taken this step, no worries. If you’re reading this, you’re seeking answers. This is way healthier than believing you already have all the answers!

Maybe you’re here because you were handed a Gospel tract from a street evangelist. Maybe you read one of our articles and followed a link to this page. Maybe you simply did a Google search.

Whatever channel brought you here, you’re obviously here for a reason.

What Must I Do to Be Saved?

If you recited a prayer you found at the end of a tract, it probably looked something like this:

“Jesus, I turn from my sin. I believe you died on the cross to set me free from sin. I believe you rose from the dead after three days. I claim you as my Savior and Lord. I now follow you and give you the rest of my days. In your mighty name, amen.”

While this confession is important, please understand it cannot save your soul any more than rubbing a rabbit’s foot can give you good luck.

Your heart-felt prayer must be directed to God or Jesus. You must be at the place where you are done with the brokenness in your life. You must recognize your best efforts have yielded poor results. You must recognize you are unable to save yourself.

When you direct your heart-cry to God and trust in what Jesus has done for you, you will be born anew. This is a supernatural, spiritual conversion. Millions of men and women around the world and over the centuries have taken the same step in trusting God and calling out to Him. Welcome to God’s family.

What to Expect Now

Some people have tender conversion experiences. They may not feel anything has changed at first, but swiftly, they’ll notice the desires of their heart are changing—for the better. Things that used to burden them won’t weigh as much. Joy and peace will begin to replace sorrow and worry.

Others may have dramatic conversion experiences. They may experience overwhelming waves of love or emotion, find themselves overflowing with praise for God or experience a sharp increase in their desire to read the Bible.

Either path is normal. Trust that God knows what He’s doing in you and what you need in the moment.

Regardless of your salvation experience, there will be an eternal change. You will have a desire to do what is right and a hunger for the truth.

Jesus is spiritually living inside of you now! Get ready for an amazing journey!

While you’re wondering, “Okay, so how do I become a Christian?” here are some important next steps on your Christian walk:

Step 1. Get Baptized

In the Bible, the first thing a new believer did was to get baptized. What does that mean?

Baptism is a public demonstration of your belief in Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. It is the outward symbol of what happened in your spirit when you accepted God into your life.

Your old life has died and gone down to the grave. You are placed under water as a symbol of that death and burial.

When you are lifted out of the water, you are raising up to new life as a follower of Jesus!

Baptism can be done by a pastor or someone who has led you into these truths. You are baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Your new identity is in God! As Paul said, “My life is hidden in Christ and God.” (Colossians 3:3)

Scriptures on Baptism:

Romans 6:1-18 | 1 Corinthians 12:13 | Mark 16:16 | Luke 3:21-22 | Mark 1:4-5 | John 1:29-33 | Matthew 3:11-17 | Acts 8:36-38 | Matthew 28:19-20 | Colossians 2:12 | 1 Peter 3:21 | Acts 22:16 | Galatians 3:27 | Luke 3:16 | Ephesians 4:4-6 | Acts 16:31-33 | Acts 2:38-41

Step 2. Read God’s Word, the Bible

As a New Testament believer, start your Christian journey by reading the books of the New Testament. The books of Matthew, John or Ephesians are great places to begin. Read and meditate on the words. You can pray the promises in the Bible back to God. God is faithful to His Word, so praying Scripture to Him is a powerful way to grow in prayer and intimacy with God.

Read your Bible and use it as the standard

“Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” (Acts 17:11-12)

This clearly goes to show that we should be like the Berean Christians who would not just receive the teachings blindly. They went home regularly, searching the Scriptures to be sure the Apostles were teaching them things in alignment with God. They checked regularly to know if God had given such instructions as Paul and Silas gave them.

This is the most important tip. Whatever you are taught, ensure it reconciles with the Word of God. If what you are taught in any church (no matter the size or reputation) does not tally with the Bible, then leave that church and find a Bible-believing church.

“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” (Ps 119:11)

The passage above shows us the importance of the Word of God. God is His Word. John 3:16 shows us just how important God’s Word is to Him. Psalm 119 shows us how important it should be to us.

Don’t have a Bible yet?

Start at https://biblegateway.com or https://biblehub.com. Need a Bible app for your smartphone or tablet? We recommend ‘Blue Letter Bible’.

Step 3. Attend a Bible-Believing Church

“When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.” (Acts 13:43)

It is always joyous when children of God make their way to Him. It is always a wonderful thing when people confess their sins, acknowledge Jesus as their Savior and dedicate their lives to God!

The Bible tells us there is much joy in heaven whenever a sinner repents; much more than over ninety-nine people who do not need repentance (Luke 15:7). The blessings of God are numerous and are without repentance. You have taken a wonderful step towards eternal life.

Now—to find a Bible-believing church to be your place of worship!

Why a Bible-believing church?

When a you enter a new, unfamiliar land, you may not know much the culture. You may not know directions to available resources or utilities. In this new land, you may want a guide who knows the culture, the geography and the people. This is where a Bible-believing church comes in.

A Holy Spirit-filled, Bible-believing church will be valuable for guiding you down the right path. The Bible tells us that, in the last days, there will be many false teachers and prophets misleading God’s people. Therefore, healthy Biblical teaching and fellowship is a must for all believers.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.

“Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath’.” (Matthew 23:15-16)

These are harsh words from Jesus to the religious leaders of His day. Instead of going to a church that does not believe in the Bible (and there are many), your goal is to be like the new converts in Act 13:43.

“If you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to walk far, walk together.” (African proverb)

There is power in association. It is important to be gathering with people who share the same faith. When you spend time with others who share your goals and beliefs, you grow stronger together. The Bible teaches us, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17)

How to pick a Bible-believing church

As a new convert who knows little or nothing about churches and the Christian faith, this may prove to be a challenging task! No matter what you see or hear, the most important criterion is that the church you select must believe in Jesus Christ and worship the Lord God Almighty.

In Hebrews 11:25, we are commanded to fellowship with other believers. You will look for a church that preaches from God’s Word (free of additions or man-made traditions.)

Here are some tips to help you pick a Bible-believing church:

Interview and Internet

Conduct Internet research to find local Christian churches. Some searches you may want to do might be “churches near me”, “nondenominational churches near me” or “evangelical churches [your city]” (without the brackets.) Many churches will have a page called “Beliefs” or “What We Believe”. Upon finding a handful of churches that seem to fit, it’s time to begin calling them. Interview church leaders and pastors. Here are some basic questions you might ask any church you are considering:

Is the Bible the 100% true, accurate Word of God inspired by the Holy Spirit?

Is Jesus the Son of God and the only way to eternal life with God? Is there any way to God or eternal life other than through Jesus?

What does the Bible say the world will look like when Jesus returns? Do we need to gain dominion of the earth before that happens?

Through our effort, can we alter biblical prophecy?

Does a person have any responsibilities to God upon accepting salvation?

How important is popular culture in structuring your services?

How do you train and equip your people to carry out the Great Commission?

What opportunities are there for me to join Bible-study groups or volunteer?

Do you preach sermons that talk about exposing false teachers and false doctrines? Should Christians ever question anointed teachers?

What curriculum do your youth ministries use?

To whom are church leaders accountable? Has your leadership ever been questioned by members? How was it addressed?

What growth is more important to your church? Growth in numbers or growth in spiritual commitment of members? (They may only select one!)

What is the most crucial issue your church has faced? How was it resolved?

How do you determine the spiritual growth of your members?

What is meant by the word “Church,” and what is its purpose?

What is the role of your church in social issues and politics?

When do you believe life begins?

What are your church’s views on marriage and sexuality? Please share scriptures that confirm your beliefs.

How does your church handle divorce among your members?

Do you believe Christians and Muslims pray to the same God; are Yahweh and Allah the same?

(Questions originally from https://standupforthetruth.com/2011/12/church-shopping-35-key-questions-to-ask-the-church/ )

Eventually, it will be time to visit your finalists. Before and after services, go out of your way to meet people. Meet the pastor. Meet the leaders. Ask more questions. Tour the church. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you (He will). Eventually, you will find a church home.

Pray for God’s Guidance

God is your Father. When you accept him as your Lord, the Holy Spirit comes into your life. The Holy Spirit is our guide, our counselor, our friend and our comforter. Whenever you are not sure what to do, call upon God. Pray to Him and ask Him to guide you. He hears you and will order your steps.

Studying the Word of God and comparing it with the preaching at your local church is the ultimate way to discern whether your church is Bible-believing.

As you start upon your Christian journey, keep these tips close to heart. God will bless you and keep you on the right path! Praise God!

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New Post has been published on https://levaire.com/cultivate-wonder/

Cultivate Wonder

The “Seven Wonders” of the world are God’s handiwork; the intrigue and complexity stretches our imagination. The potential of each moment can be realized through Wonder. In this spirit of amazement, there is such beauty; simple pleasures, fragrances and a “unique recognition” can trigger a fresh illumination.

One thing I appreciate about children is their capacity and expression of wonder. Total enjoyment by fascination, captivating them by a unique recognition of something they have never seen before.

I remember my son in the garden looking at flowers with me. We were looking at the different colors and he was wanting to touch everything. Then we saw a colorful butterfly land on one of the flowers. He watched it intently, it was as if he held his breath so he could concentrate on every detail not wanting to miss a second. His eyes were the size of saucers. The butterfly flew away, and the moment of amazement ended, and he was off to the next thing. We had captured a moment together and something inside me said, “Don’t lose your amazement! Life can get very busy and we can lose sight of the simple beauties of everyday life.”

Inner Fascination

This “inner fascination” can be cultivated by appreciating everything as a gift. Handling and looking at things as though we have never seen it before. We can glance at something familiar and think we have seen it all, but as we gaze and give attention to detail the beauty is unlocked. The gaze, instead of a glance, opens our mind and heart to a “unique recognition”. Be ready to be amazed!

God’s grace is designed to amaze us. Our earthly bodies would be consumed if we saw the Lord in all His glory. It is so far beyond what we can comprehend. It is a mystery. We see it only in a glimpse. Even in this age of grace, we see through a glass darkly.

In Heaven, we will be awe-struck with a full revelation of God’s goodness; we will be speechless with wonder. We will no longer need faith, for all will be visible.  As we seek His face, we are in humble amazement, eternal gratefulness revealed in a heart attitude of worship. His magnificence subdues our imaginations within, and all is in a holy silence before Him, no flesh can glory in His presence. We bow in adoration and we pray in His name, the name above all others. Our prayer is this: “Lord, may all see the display of your magnificence!”

In the Grand Weaver, Ravi Zacharias writes about wonder:

“Wonder is that possession of the mind that enchants the emotions while never surrendering reason. It is a grasp on reality that does not need constant high points in order to be maintained, nor is it made vulnerable by the low points of life’s struggle. It sees in the ordinary the extraordinary, and it finds in the extraordinary the reaffirmation for what it already knows. Wonder clasps the soul (the spiritual) and is felt in the body (the material). Wonder interprets life through the eyes of eternity while enjoying the moment, but never lets the momentary vision exhaust the eternal. Wonder makes life’s enchantment real and knows when and where enchantment must lie. Wonder knows how to read the shadows because it knows the nature of light. Wonder knows that while you cannot look at the light you cannot look at anything else without it. It is not exhausted by childhood but finds its key there. It is a journey like a walk through the woods, over the usual obstacles, and around the common distractions while the voice of direction leads, saying, ‘This is the way, walk ye in it’ (Isaiah 30:21).

Live life in the innocence of a child, leave all complications of trying to figure it all out or trying to control each component. Take the time and enjoy with an “inner fascination” and reverential worship the beauty of God. In the moment, let things penetrate you rather than skip over you. Discover your life through wonder.

His Presence

Being in awe over the right things is paramount. It is easy to give authority to the wrong things in our lives and get overwhelmed. Human reason seems so rational and pragmatic at times, but when we use it as a lens to understand God, we miss everything. Since when is God explainable for us to totally understand Him? Often, we are left to trust Him for the unexplained. Human reason shrinks God into our own image, our unbelief and fear dwarf him in our experience. But the true reality is that His fullness and power is realized by His presence, and not by evidence alone.

God is infinite yet knowable, our God is so personal because he has walked where we have walked, and he himself is our provision. In our crises we see Christ, and often in our messes, we discover a message from our Savior. He fully knows us and completely loves us.

The prophet Isaiah says “Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us,” in Isaiah 26:12. His perfect Peace that passes all understanding is promised to guard our hearts and minds in Philippians 4:6. Be aware and dwell on God’s greatness, and you will discover that He is mighty in your midst!

When Moses saw the burning bush in Exodus, he recognized this was not a normal sight. When fire consumes something it usually burns away to nothing; this bush didn’t.

Rather than walking by and dismissing it as an anomaly Moses stopped and “turned aside” to get a closer look. What Moses saw changed his direction and caught his attention. When God spoke from inside the bush it changed Moses life forever. The presence of God has unimaginable power. We enter His awesome presence and we are changed into His likeness. His presence can be manifested in a word, a place, a song, He can overtake you when you alone thinking on Him. As we are inclining our ears, we become more spiritually sensitive to what the Spirit is saying and doing. Brother Lawrence writes in his book “Practicing His Presence” about developing awareness and expectation of God and live as though He is real and present every moment of your days. In this divine discipline, we live a life of worship.

I love to walk on the beach. My feet hit the sand and the slimy plant life, and I can feel all kinds of sensations. The heat from the sun radiates to my feet and at first it is painful. The sensation is more than I can bear, because my feet have been safely protected and covered for a long time; they are not use to the sensation. As time goes on and callouses grow, we lose the acute awareness of the elements.

Does this describe your Christian life?

In time, we can have numbness and lose the sense of feeling and enjoyment. Insensitivity can creep in because we have forgotten the value of it. The beauty and the newness become familiar and predictable and the innocent connection is seemly lost.

God can bring back the newness to our tired souls. He can refresh us by showing how He thinks and feels about the things we are struggling with or thinking about.

Some ways to this newness are:

What does the bible say about what you are thinking about?

Will I submit to what the bible is saying?

Purpose to examine things in your life as though you have never seen them before.

Listen, as though you have never heard before.

Purpose to be thankful and appreciate people and things as though it was your last day with them.

Enjoy what you have in your life, rather than trying to change it.

Cultivating wonder is a spiritual secret. Prayerfully, God will bring us back to the way that He thinks about things.

When we are second, and God is first, we become as a child. Christ makes all things new and cultivates wonder and innocence, which brings back our sensitivity. Be ready to be amazed!

Passionate about reaching people from all walks of life, Jason Moore has been involved in worldwide mission work and discipleship since the age of sixteen. While living in Ukraine, he completed his internship in church planting, resulting in three new churches that continue to thrive today. As a graduate of Maryland Bible College and Seminary with a Bachelor’s in Biblical Studies, he leads the Pastoral Care team of Greater Grace Church in Baltimore, MD. He serves as a guest speaker in churches throughout the United States and overseas. With his wife, Leah, and son, Carson, he is dedicated to guiding people in discovering the riches of God’s grace. He may be reached through www.jasonfmoore.com.

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New Post has been published on https://levaire.com/prayers-for-the-unbelieving-and-lost/

Prayers for the Unbelieving and Lost

These prayer points were originally offered by a woman dealing with her unbelieving spouse, however you can obviously pray God’s Word over any loved one, friend, coworker, etc., struggling with (against) their Kingdom identity. We are all called to intercede on behalf of others. Pray these Scriptures in love over the unbelievers in your life. Remember, these prayers are not techniques for manipulating God into correcting the struggling or lost, but an outpouring of faith in His goodness and promises of deliverance and freedom through Christ.

P.S. – You’ll be pleased to know the woman with the unbelieving husband saw her husband eventually turn to Jesus. God is faithful to respond to His Word. Hallelujah!

  “Lord, may Your wise and knowing Spirit rest on ________. Be his/her counselor, Father. May ________ delight in You and obey Your commands. Convict ________ of sin, the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and of the coming judgment.”

And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord;

And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: (Isaiah 11:2-3)

“God, You will fulfill the purpose in each of our lives. Your love endures forever—do not abandon the works of Your hands. Do not abandon ________. Draw him/her to You.”

The Lord will perfect that which concerns me: thy mercy, O Lord, endures forever: forsake not the works of thine own hands. (Psalm 138:8)

“Bring ________ to the end of himself/herself and into a living, vital, intimate, overpowering relationship with Jesus Christ. Open his/her eyes that he/she may see wonderful things in Your law.”

Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. (Psalm 119:18)

“Your hands made ________ and formed him/her; give ________ understanding that he/she may learn Your commandments and will.”

Your hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn your commandments. (Psalm 119:73)

“Bless ________. Your Word says that Your kindness leads to repentance. Don’t allow ________ to continue to store up wrath for himself/herself.”

Or despises thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

But after your hardness and impenitent heart treasures up unto yourself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds: (Romans 2:4-6)

“________’s heart is in Your hand; You direct it like a watercourse where You please. I can trust You.”

The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turns it wherever he will. (Proverbs 21:1)

“Give ________ singleness of heart and action so that he/she will always fear You for his/her own good and the good of our children.”

And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: (Jeremiah 32:39)

“Instruct ________ and teach him/her in the way he/she should go. Counsel ________ and watch over him/her. Your unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in You.”

I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go: I will guide you with my eye. […] Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusts in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. (Psalm 32:8, 10)

“Help ________ to humble himself/herself under Your mighty hand, that You may lift him/her up in due time.”

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: (1 Peter 5:6)

“I pray a hedge of thorns around ________, that those with wrong influence will lose interest and leave him/her alone. I pray this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the power of His blood.”

Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. (Hosea 2:6)

  Are we missing some Scriptures you’ve used to pray over those struggling with their spiritual identity? Let us know and we’ll add them to this list!

References

10 Ideas: Prayers for an Unbelieving Spouse. FamilyLife. Retrieved from https://www.familylife.com/articles/topics/marriage/marriage-challenges/spiritually-mismatched/10-ideas-prayers-for-an-unbelieving-spouse

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New Post has been published on https://levaire.com/9-ways-to-raise-money-for-your-nonprofit/

9 Ways to Raise Money for Your Nonprofit

Are you a nonprofit that needs to hire that next staff person? (Growth.) Need to raise awareness for your cause? (Promotion.) Or do you simply need to keep the lights on? (Sustainability.)

Here are nine ways for your nonprofit to profit:

Hold a fundraising event (or two.) Add them to your annual calendar so you can plan and promote them well in advance every year. (See almost 100 fundraising event ideas here…)

Send a fundraising letter to your list of donors. This may be asking for a one-time gift (is it ever only just “one” time though) or a request to commit to a gift that renews monthly or annually (if they’re not already set up for this.) More, expand this to a fundraising email sent to your whole mailing list.

Apply for grants. You know who the players are. If necessary, hire a grant-writer to navigate this process, but make sure your hat is thrown into the ring. Someone is going to get that money; may as well be you. Put in the work to develop a strong grant application and submit in advance of the due date.

Get added to the United Way. While the organization may keep over 20% of the donations to cover operational and promotional efforts, you’re tapping into a broader audience. Research the local United Way offerings to ensure this aligns with your core values before signing on the dotted line.

Launch a board giving campaign. Often, board members are selected not only for vision-casting and decision-making, but also for their ability to fund the effort. If board members don’t have pockets deep enough to lend to your cause, they may be able to leverage other resources (staff hours, volunteer base, contact lists, etc.) toward advancing your mutual mission.

Recruit volunteers to raise money on your behalf. This may look like a telethon or crowdfunding campaign, but make sure your volunteers are equipped with your story, a solid understanding of your cause, and a solid script complete with answers to frequently asked questions (phone script, email script, social media script, etc.) Some telethons lean on leveraging their volunteers’ contact lists, bringing in way warmer leads than simply making cold calls to local businesses. Smart.

Ask a donor to run a hosted event. Here you’re able to come alongside one of your larger donors or partners to tap into their audience, on their turf. This is especially helpful if you have a new or under-established brand in contrast to your donor. One example of this might be a client-appreciation party/fundraiser thrown by your donor to their clientele where the proceeds go to your cause.

Seek out a major donor to fund a project. Instead of the more nebulous and airy “support our great cause” approach, have an actual project the donor can apply funds to. Be sure to round back with the donor and share the success of the event so they can see what kind of impact their dollars made.

Seek out in-kind donations to meet your needs, instead of asking for money. Maybe a donor doesn’t have a lot of cash but they are able to print and mail your next event save-the-date postcards at low or no cost to you. Need office supplies? Need items to donate to your clients? Ask your community to fulfill these non-cash needs.

Did I miss a fundraising idea in this list? Feel free to suggest one in the comments below!

References

Garecht, J. 17 Ways to Raise $25,000 for Your Organization. The Fundraising Authority. Retrieved from http://www.thefundraisingauthority.com/fundraising-ideas/17-ways-to-raise-25000/ .

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New Post has been published on https://levaire.com/conference-sponsorship-package-examples/

Conference Sponsorship Package Examples

Unfortunately, a common weakness in many events is the underwriting. Seeking sponsorships for events is often placed upon the shoulders of some over-worked staffer (or executive director) who already has a full-time job. As such, seeking event sponsorships often gets placed on the back-burner.

Want a successful event? Treat it seriously. Ensure your event manager seeks funding to help offset the costs. If you expect the whole event to be covered by registrations, you’re leaving money on the table.

Aggressively seeking sponsorships and exhibitors will go a long way toward making your event profitable. Just be sure your sponsors and exhibitors know exactly what they’re getting and deliver exactly that—at a minimum!

Use the conference sponsorship template below for ideas to help you design sponsorship packages for your next event.

Conference Sponsorship Package Examples

Special Event Sponsor $25,000 (qty 1)

Sponsor of the highest-profile project in the exhibit hall

Opportunity to introduce the project from the conference podium

12 complimentary conference registrations

One single exhibit booth (10’ x 10’) in exhibit hall or near special project

Full-page back cover, 4-color ad in conference program

Full-page, 4-color ad in anniversary banquet and awards ceremony program

Logo on conference giveaway

Promoted on conference mobile application

Company profile, logo, and contact information in conference program

Logo on conference signage, event promotions, event wear and event website

Attendee email list

Option to participate in ongoing event-day promotions

Organization profile included in pre-event social media promotions

Platinum Sponsor $20,000 (qty 2)

Podium recognition at 20th anniversary banquet and awards ceremony

12 complimentary conference registrations

One double exhibit booth (10’ x 20’) with prime location in exhibit hall

VIP seating at front of conference hall

Full-page back cover of 20th anniversary banquet and awards ceremony program

Full-page, 4-color ad in conference program

Company/organization branding on all event lanyards

Logo gets top billing on conference giveaway

Company profile, logo, and contact information in conference program

Logo on conference signage, event promotions, event wear and event website

Attendee email list

Option to participate in ongoing event-day promotions

Organization profile included in pre-event social media promotions

Media Sponsor $15,000 (qty 1)

Recognition as media sponsor for event

Branding and sponsorship recognition on all post-event video productions

Branding on event backdrop for press conferences and speaker interviews

10 complimentary conference registrations

One single exhibit booth (10’ x 10’) in exhibit hall

Full-page, 4-color ad in conference program

Full-page, 4-color ad in anniversary banquet and awards ceremony program

Logo on conference giveaway

Company profile, logo, and contact information in conference program

Logo on conference signage, event promotions, event wear and event website

Attendee email list

Option to participate in ongoing event-day promotions

Organization profile included in pre-event social media promotions

Gold Sponsor $15,000 (qty 4)

Podium recognition at 20th Anniversary banquet and awards ceremony

Podium recognition during conference proceedings

Podium speaker introduction as sponsor of ONE of the following speakers: Monday opening keynote, Tuesday luncheon keynote, Wednesday luncheon keynote

10 complimentary conference registrations

One double exhibit booth (10’ x 20’) in the exhibit hall

VIP seating at front of conference hall

Full-page, 4-color ad in 20th anniversary banquet and awards ceremony program

Full-page, 4-color ad in conference program

Log on conference giveaway

Company profile, logo, and contact information in conference program

Logo on conference signage, event promotions, event wear and event website

Attendee email list

Option to participate in ongoing event-day promotions

Organization profile included in pre-event social media promotions

Silver Sponsor $10,000 (qty 6)

Podium recognition as sponsor of ONE of the following event meals: Monday breakfast, Monday luncheon, Tuesday breakfast, Tuesday luncheon, Wednesday breakfast, Wednesday luncheon

Six complimentary conference registrations

One single exhibit booth (10’ x 10’) in exhibit hall

VIP seating near mainstage

¾-page, 4-color ad in conference program

Recognition (with logo) in rotating signage from conference main stage

50-word profile of company/organization in conference program

Logo on conference signage, event promotions, and event website

Attendee email list

Option to participate in ongoing event-day promotions

Organization profile included in pre-event social media promotions

Hot Spot Sponsor $10,000 (qty 1)

Podium recognition as wi-fi hot spot sponsor

Conference wi-fi hot spot named after company/organization

Six complimentary conference registrations

VIP seating near mainstage

Recognition (with logo) in rotating signage from conference main stage

50-word profile of company/organization in conference program

Logo on conference signage, event promotions, and event website

Attendee email list

Option to participate in ongoing event-day promotions

Organization profile included in pre-event social media promotions

Pre-Event Kickoff Dinner Sponsor $7,500 (qty 1)

Dinner with keynotes prior to the first day of the event

Six complimentary conference registrations

One single booth (10’ x 10’) in exhibit hall

½-page, 4-color ad in conference program

Recognition (with logo) in rotating signage from main stage

50-word profile of company/organization in conference program

Logo on conference signage, event promotions, and event website

Attendee email list

Option to participate in ongoing event-day promotions

Organization profile included in pre-event social media promotions

Bronze Sponsor $5,000 (qty 8-10)

Four complimentary conference registrations

One single booth (10’ x 10’) in exhibit hall

½-page, 4-color ad in conference program

Recognition (with logo) in rotating signage from main stage

50-word profile of company/organization in conference program

Logo on conference signage, event promotions, and event website

Attendee email list

Option to participate in ongoing event-day promotions

Organization profile included in pre-event social media promotions

Exhibitor Plus $2,500 (shares exhibit hall capacity with Exhibitor level)

Listing as co-sponsor of exhibit hall

Two complimentary conference registration passes

One single booth (10’ x 10’) in the exhibit hall

¼-page, 4-color ad in conference program

Logo on conference signage, event promotions, and event website

Organization name, website, and contact info in conference brochure

Attendee email list

Option to participate in ongoing event-day promotions

Organization profile included in pre-event social media promotions

Exhibitor $950 (shares exhibit hall capacity with Exhibitor Plus level)

One single booth (10’ x 10’) in the exhibit hall

One complimentary registration to conference

Logo on conference signage and event website

Attendee email list

Organization listed in conference program and event website

Patron $500 (unlimited)

Logo on conference signage and event website

Organization listed in conference program and event website

A note about kick-off dinners, evening awards banquets, off-hour city tours, and other events-within-events: the cost impact and resulting registration fee should be calculated separately. You will want to track the total operating budget for these mini-events and the total number of paying attendees to determine if the function helps or hinders the success of your event.

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3 Ways We Are Improving Web Hosting

On the morning of Wednesday, May 30, we received an email from one of our long-time customers stating her site was down.

After confirming that, yes, it was down for us too (sometimes people just get locked out due to misbehaving browsers or too many failed login attempts), we tested a couple other sites. Two out of three sites we tested showed an “internal server error 500” which is tech jargon for “we don’t know what’s wrong but something is really wrong.”

We immediately called the datacenter where it was revealed a virtual memory shortage had taken down a majority of our customers’ websites. We believe the issue was corrected within 15-30 minutes for most customers.

While we’ve been hosting websites a long time, we’ve never run across this one.

The immediate fix was to simply raise the virtual memory allocations over the default 1GB for the affected sites whereby they were able to load. Still, how to keep this from happening in the future? More on what the long-term fix looks like in a moment.

First, a brief-yet-morbid snapshot of three other oh-man moments we’ve seen in past years:

We once had a server administrator attempt to adjust user permissions on a single website, however he accidently blew out user permissions across an entire server. All sites went down. I can still remember the last keystroke before the moment of silence punctuated with a quiet, “Oh no.” Permissions had to be reconstructed by hand, taking the entire night and halfway into the next day to restore. To make timing worse, the client who had the unfortunate honor of being “patient zero” had a paid ad campaign funneling traffic to their extinct site, making the temperature in the server room a few degrees hotter. No pressure.

Our datacenter once had an internal router go down within their network. Fortunately, they had a backup router waiting in the wings for just such a moment. Unfortunately, the routing table on the replacement router was out-of-date, which wreaked havoc on that segment of the network. Fortunately, the issue was corrected within a few hours and procedures have been put into place to ensure routing tables are kept current.

A client called once about slow web performance. When we tested our sites, we found indeed, sites were slow to respond; really slow. Turns out one of the datacenter’s major telco carriers was under a massive DDoS attack (I believe it was AT&T under fire at the time.) The only reason sites were able to load at all was because the datacenter also had two other fiber optic connections to two other carriers leading into their facility. (More carriers have been added since.)

This is all to say we know the unforeseen happens. It’s kind of an occupational hazard in the web hosting industry.

Now, about those long-term fixes..

Site Monitoring

It’s never a good feeling to find out a client’s site is down, but it’s even worse when the client is the first to notice. In fact, it’s an awful feeling.

Servers can send out email notifications to raise the alarm when services stop working, however there are no server-side monitors to report whether webpages are actually being served.

Seems like a big gap, right? It is.

To counter this, we are partnering with site monitoring company, SiteUptime, to monitor all Platinum (now marketed as Revelation) web hosting plans. Customers on smaller hosting accounts benefit by proxy since server-wide problems experienced by their larger neighbors will alert us on their behalf.

Of course, a problem experienced by one site doesn’t mean a problem will be experienced by all sites, but this goes a long way toward ensuring a fire in town is noticed quickly.

Smaller accounts have the option of having site monitoring added for an extra $2.00/month.

Offsite Backups

As our web hosting customer, you’ve always had a pretty robust backup routine supporting you, whether you knew it or not. We have nightly, weekly and monthly backup routines for every hosting account we carry. The next level in maintaining your data integrity is to ensure a higher degree of safety for those backups.

95% of the time, your current backups are enough, but if the whole server died in some dramatic, fiery way, you (and we) would be sorely out of luck. Such destruction is rare, but the potential exists.

By next week, we will have an additional layer of redundancy in place. That extra protection is called Guardian Backup & Recovery. Essentially, additional snapshots of the server are made and securely stored at a completely different datacenter facility.

We figure this should close the risk gap another 4%, leaving the last 1% up to catastrophic acts of God and nuclear strikes. If these events happen, we have other things to worry about besides our websites.

Server Upgrade

This is probably the most attractive, most meaningful adjustment we’re making. While the server affected by this outage was only four years old, that’s something like 28 years old in tech years.

Sparing you the techno-babble specifics, suffice it to say we’re moving to solid-state drives (really fast) and quadrupling the memory (really, really fast) while upgrading the entire server to something more current and cutting-edge.

With this server upgrade, we should also be able to safely double the virtual memory limits for all sites.

Sorry

So, this has been a long way of saying, “Sorry about that.” Again, it never feels good to get those “site down” calls and I hope you can accept my personal apology.

It is my hope and plan that this extra investment in infrastructure will ensure solid, steady performance for your digital marketing storefront for many years moving forward.

P.S. There will be no increase in your regular hosting bill as a result of these advancements—in case you were wondering. (We’ll just need to adopt a few additional hosting customers, that’s all.)

Please contact us if you have any questions.

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New Post has been published on https://levaire.com/35-names-for-god/

35 Names for God

Spirit

Jehovah Bashayim, God in Heaven (Deuteronomy 4:39)

YHWH

Yahweh Shalom, The Lord Our Peace (Judges 6:23,24)

Fortress

Immanuel, God with Us (Isaiah 7:14)

Alpha & Omega

El-Shaddai, Our All-Sufficient/Almighty God (Genesis 17:1)

Jehovah El-Kanna

Exodus 34:14 (The Jealous God)

El-Olam, The Everlasting God (Genesis 23:33)

Jehovah El-Emunah, The Faithful God (Deuteronomy 7:9)

Adonai, Our Sovereign Lord (Isaiah 6:1)

Elohim Yisraeli, The God of Israel (Leviticus 18:2)

Sabaoth, The Lord of Hosts (1 Samuel 1:3)

Abba, Father (Matthew 6:9)

Jehovah Rohi, The Lord Our Shepherd (Psalm 23:1)

Jehovah Shaphat, The Lord Is Our Judge (Isaiah 33:22)

Jehovah Elohim, The Lord God (Genesis 2:4)

Jehovah Yeshu’athai, God of Salvation (Psalm 18:2)

Love

Jehovah Roi, The God Who Sees (Genesis 16:13)

Jehovah Elohim, The Lord God (Genesis 2:4)

Creator

Jehovah Ma’ozi, The Lord Our Strength (Exodus 15:2)

Elohim, The Eternal God (Genesis 1:1)

Present

Majesty

Jehovah El-Chai, The Living God (Psalm 42:2)

Holy

Yahweh Rapha, The Lord Our Healer (Exodus 15:26)

Jehovah El-Rachum, The Merciful God (Deuteronomy 4:31)

Jehovah El-Hanun, The Gracious God (Exodus 34:6)

Jehovah Selai, The Lord My Rock (2 Samuel 22:2)

Redeemer

Download free “Names of God” PDF

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New Post has been published on https://levaire.com/digital-evangelism-tips-for-extending-your-churchs-digital-outreach/

Digital Evangelism: Tips for Extending Your Church's Digital Outreach

If you’re a church pastor, chances are you use a computer on a daily basis. There’s also a 39% chance you access the Internet with that computer. (After all, how else would you be reading this?)

But you’re not the only one that needs a digital presence; your church needs a solid digital presence in this modern world too. Your church needs to do more than reach people by announcing church events, listing prayer requests and providing an online worship experience.

These days you must also consider appealing to the younger generation within your congregation. But you need to balance any shifts in culture against the older generation who may be comfortable with the way things are.

And then there’s the youth ministry.

Juggling all this sounds simple, right?

Well, maybe not.

It’s not as easy as opening a bunch of social media accounts. Fruit from this effort takes both prayer and meticulous planning; kinda like your last road trip!

The strategies you use in your digital outreach program are as important as plugging in proper coordinates before you begin any road trip. It may feel daunting at first (and maybe a little technical too) but I assure you; it’s much easier than it looks. Mostly.

Am I prophesin’ or prophe-lyin’? You be the judge. A few tips to get you on your way:

Decide What You Want Out of Your Digital Evangelism

Everything has a purpose (in theory). A church that decides to dive into the Internet and establish a digital presence is trying to solve a problem. Are you trying to broaden communication with your existing congregation? Are you trying to extend your church’s reach to the wider community, e.g. millennials?

A well-defined purpose will help anchor you when you run into hurdles later on, reminding you about why you started. It also helps to actually write those goals down. Your digital strategy bears as much importance as other kinds of business at your church and writing your purpose down helps to cement the commitment you are making.

In other words, before you engage in any church web design, stand up a single social media channel or contact a Christian web hosting service, make sure you have a solid reason to start.

Remember, not every church requires a digital presence. If your church is a small church in a small community, it might not be a priority to have strong digital presence just yet. Maybe using a Facebook Page would be enough?

On the other hand, a larger church (or one that is rapidly growing) will benefit immensely from having an online presence. For the moment, let’s assume this means you..

Pick Your Web Channels Carefully

There’s a lot more to your church’s Internet marketing than just setting up a Facebook channel and letting the office manager give it a go. You need to have a clear idea what kind of audience you’re dealing with and what kind of engagement they would prefer from their church.

For most of us, social media has become a major part of our lives (a blessing and a curse!) So, at first blush, it might seem like a good idea to have an account for your church on all the major social media platforms. (Yes, even Instagram.)

However, this can be counter-productive in the long run. For starters, you might not have the bandwidth or manpower to manage all of those accounts effectively.

Second, your congregation might not even want to engage with their church on social media. They might simply prefer regular emails through the church email service, or even a blog they can read from time to time.

Survey Your Flock

There’s no magic bullet here; you’ll have to conduct a survey of your congregation to figure out what usage demographic makes up the majority. Are they a Facebook crowd or a Pinterest crowd? Are they willing to share their email addresses with their church? What age demographic are you targeting? If you’re targeting millennials in the wider community, you’ll need to understand what kind of digital outreach they engage with most.

Your Spiritual Cornerstone is Jesus. Your Digital Cornerstone is Your Website.

When laying your digital evangelism foundation, the best place to start is a simple website. Unlike using a Facebook Page or some other social media channel, this is actually Internet real estate you control. The best church websites are not an intrusion but an extension of what’s already on the ground.

From your church website, you can post sermon transcripts, a church calendar and run a regular blog where you post spiritually-edifying Christian material. For the camera-brave, you may also test the YouTube waters by posting videos of your sermons and impromptu lessons on hot topics in today’s culture.

If the response is good, you can advance your marketing blitz from there and create accounts on social media channels relevant to your audience (and—now that you’ve surveyed them—you know what those channels will be.)

Have Growth Goals

How do you know if your church’s digital outreach efforts are successful? Is the number of visitors to your website growing? Are you gaining followers and seeing more engagement on your social media accounts? You need to set clear goals to know where your strategy is working and where it needs improvement.

Don’t worry about getting great results at first. There’s no need to set lofty goals in the beginning. If you’re new to cyberspace, I recommend you just start small by looking at the engagement you get on social media and the visits you get to your website, and then set greater goals as you develop your voice and content.

Oh.. about that content..

Content Jesus is King

It doesn’t matter whether you are a church or a corporation, content is still king (lowercase “k”). This is as true for a church’s digital evangelism as it is for anyone else.

As you begin developing and posting your content, you’ll notice some content will do far better than other content. You’ll see some social media posts get more engagement; more likes, comments, and attention. Maybe you’ll notice you have certain blog articles accounting for a majority of your traffic.

This is the content you should study closely. You may want to regularly rinse and repeat this type of content to strike a chord with your audience.

Remember, different people are looking for different things in their church, especially when they’re considering the prospect of joining a new church.

Promoting Your Content

When it comes to SEO for churches, it helps to categorize your content. (SEO stands for search engine optimization, which is a practice of positioning content to show up in search results.)

Categorizing your content will give you a better idea about your audience’s interests: church matters, Scripture teaching, youth ministry, general announcements, spiritual advice, etc. Clear categories will give you insight into what is working and what isn’t.

Tip: Once you’ve developed a reliable cheat sheet of content topics, you’ll find it much easier to generate well-performing content on a regular basis.

Deliberately Delegate Digital Evangelism Duties

While it may be tempting to give away the keys to the Kingdom and have everyone on your staff submit articles, you may want to reconsider. What you’ll likely end up with is a mess: Lots of different writing styles, conflicting answers to audience questions, and a badly coordinated digital marketing campaign.

Recommendation: Have a single point person (or a small team of people) managing your digital outreach. Meet with them and tell them and document your expectations (remember those goals you settled at the beginning of this article?)

Since you have your digital outreach strategy documented already (ehem), provide it to your team for their feedback.

With planning and prayer, your entire online presence will be consistent and your work in advancing the Gospel beyond the digital divide will bear Kingdom fruit.

Go forth and conquer.

In support of your efforts,

Matthew

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New Post has been published on https://levaire.com/22-ways-to-make-your-annual-report-remarkable/

22 Ways to Make Your Annual Report Remarkable

Ah, annual reports.

Awful things.

Full of stale, self-aggrandizing copy, dry pie charts, confusing bar graphs and committee-selected stock photos. This is 4-color, full-page bleed shredder-fodder at its finest.

Your annual report probably even has an opening letter from your Supreme Poobah, doesn’t it? And there they are, smiling away with that plastic, you-can-take-the-picture-anytime-now grin, their stiff image stuffed onto an entire page no one is ever going to read. Maybe even a chicken-scratch signature added for flair.

In fact—due to all the sub-par letters-from-the-chief we’ve seen over the years—you and I have actually been conditioned to skip that page entirely.

Tsk.

Oh, wait. Did I just describe your last year’s annual report?

I’m not asking you to feel condemned. I want you convicted. I’m trying to convert you.

What’s your plan to get people to actually read this typo-riddled train-wreck?

That is your intention, isn’t it? It should be.

Or are you just checking a box to please your board and trying to spend down this year’s print budget? (Now that’s stewardship. I see why they’re paying you the big bucks.)

What do you plan on doing about this year’s annual report, Sparky? I want you to consider turning over a new leaf. Or maybe not even printing any leaves at all. (Going completely digital is an option, you know.)

Here’s a not-so-novel concept: Your annual report is not a report; it’s a marketing piece.

I think it’s the word “report” that trips us up. When we hear the word “report”, we often think of things like driver’s license applications, tax forms and rows of numbers on spreadsheets with one-meeting lifespans.

If your annual report is a little slice of annual drudgery to produce, it’s time for a revolution.

In fact, your annual report can actually be leveraged as a springboard for your entire year’s marketing and outreach efforts. Sit with that for a moment.

The Annual Report 2-Step: Produce. Promote.

In this article, I’ve listed several ideas for improving your typical-fare annual report. My goal is to get you thinking out of the box.

Beyond that, you’ll find several fun ways you might deliver key information from your annual report to your anxiously awaiting audience.

Remember: You don’t have to stuff the whole report down their throats; just the important, most striking reveals.

Note: For these annual report ideas, I am targeting an industry we serve: homeless and humanitarian aid organizations. Obviously, if you are working in a different space, brainstorm on ways to adopt these ideas to your own niche.

Ways to Improve Your Annual Report

If you must print (and some do, appeasing federal, state or board requirements), here are 10 ideas for getting creative with your annual report format, design and content.

Produce the annual report as a newspaper. One of the smaller “articles” will be titled “Newspaper is Not a Blanket”.

Produce the annual report as a fold-out state map. Begin with a template provided by your state’s Department of Transportation.

Use the familiar. If the conventional booklet format is used, design one of the pages after the PIT count sheets provided by HUD (https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/Model-Service-Based-Count-PIT-Survey.pdf). As a subtle nod, this will be recognized by industry professionals but will pass unnoticed by most in the public square.

Show maps of declining/inclining numbers across the state or country. Compare against 10-year averages.

Illustrate the numbers. For key statistics, give real-world examples to give concepts of population sizes and impact as illustrative equivalents.

Use comparisons. While providing state-based statistics, contrast against national numbers for larger context.

Provide testimonials, case studies and success stories. Point to your website for additional stories.

Interview your partners. Conduct an interview and highlight best practices from service partners. Ask them to speak to the impact those efforts have made in their communities.

Include ways for the public to get involved at the local level (CTA). Ideas for getting more involved may include recurring volunteer opportunities like serving meals, fundraising, event support, board participation, lending creative services (photo, video, design, web), setting up recurring donations, etc.

Ask for commitment. Perforated tear-out sheet containing homeless veterans pledge card or some other “get involved” or “get connected” message, form or survey. (If the newspaper format was used, this could simply be an insert.)

Ways to Promote Your Annual Report

As you may have guessed (or experienced), though you have produced this glowing gem of a report, there is still work to do. This is where you can allow all the work that went into your annual report to inform your ongoing marketing. If you did your homework in producing a thoughtful report, you should now be well-positioned to broadcast those golden nuggets of wisdom uncovered by your research. Here are some promotional ideas to consider:

Public Service Announcements. Launch a PSA campaign, sharing vital stats with illustrative equivalents.

Signs, signs, everywhere there’s signs. Use paid graffiti, stencil or reverse graffiti, or stickers to raise awareness around key stats. (Secure permission from local authorities.) Deliver on the sides of buildings or across high-traffic sidewalks. Develop and deliver yard signs. Ask local shops and restaurants with foot-traffic to display sandwich boards. Buy billboards. Scale to budget.

Blogger/influencer outreach. Offer influencers advance copies of the annual report so they can scoop to their audiences on the day the report is released. Engage whatever positive or negative commentary comes your way.

Make it into a video. Create a short video telling select pieces of the annual report story. Promote the video across the website and social media channels. Link back to your website.

Use maps. Is there a way to illustrate the impact on a map? Would it make sense in a GIS application?

Undercover marketing. Pay actors to approach people, strike up conversation and eventually deliver key stats and invitations to get involved. Caution: When revealed, this one could be seen as deceptive. It may be better to conduct a…

Street survey. Less “undercover” than undercover marketing, street-level, face-to-face surveys across the state could be conducted to poll minds and hearts toward the homeless issue while educating participants at the same time.

Road rally. Construct a road rally treasure hunt where participants are led across participating cities with clues that educate on key homeless issues as they go. The finish line ends with a meal in a soup kitchen and a brief interview to collect experiences and revelations.

Youth poster contest. Conduct a poster or infographic contest across high schools and/or colleges zeroing in on key report takeaways. Posters are reproduced and posted across cities to raise awareness. Winning designs earn students a monetary award and bragging rights.

Gamify the experience of becoming homeless. Players select their characters who are becoming homeless (financial instability, drugs, mental health, domestic violence, etc.) The game moves players through several scenarios in choose-your-path manner, forcing decisions on what to do, where to go, how to take care of children (or losing children into the system), how to find meals, lack of safety on the streets, bureaucracy, etc. Players are exposed to real-life accounts, testimonies and/or key statistics along the way. At the end of the game, players are presented with a brief message/video along the lines of “Homelessness is not a game. Get involved.” and ideas for getting involved locally.

Shareable graphics. Develop and employ simple, shareable social media graphics and infographics containing key stats and a link back to your website. Use #(your state), #(your city), #(state-cause), #(country-cause), #homeless and other popular, relevant hashtags across social media channels.

Make it easy for the media. Establish a media kit for housing the report, shareable graphics, quotes, links to new releases and all other pertinent marketing assets. Send to media outlets.

Conclusion

Well there you have it: 22 ways to revive your annual report experience, with a dash of guerilla marketing to taste. I encourage you to press in on your next annual report. Why settle for the standard, blasé, check-the-box annual report when you can enjoy the whole process from start to finish and come away with a much better product and a much bigger impact.

In support of your efforts,

References

Marrs, Megan. December 18, 2017. 20+ Jaw-Dropping Guerilla Marketing Examples. WordStream. Retrieved from https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/09/22/guerrilla-marketing-examples .

McCauley, Jim. January 30, 2018. 10 beautiful paper portfolios to inspire you. Creative Bloq. Retrieved from https://www.creativebloq.com/portfolios/paper-portfolios-5132559 .

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New Post has been published on https://levaire.com/what-is-digital-evangelism/

What is Digital Evangelism?

If you’ve been in the Church for more than a week, you’ve likely run across the term “evangelism”. While the word evangelism has been around since the 1100’s, secular marketing and other industries have been busy expanding its definition over the past 50 years. These days, there are evangelists for pretty much everything. We have

Brand evangelists

Technology evangelists

Platform evangelists (has nothing to do with shoes)

Customer evangelists

Software evangelists

Product evangelists

Marketing evangelists

Behavioral evangelists

Internal evangelists

Food evangelists

There are even “chief evangelist officers”. No kidding.

Well today, Church, we’re stealing evangelism back.

Can I Get a Witness?

At its very basest definition, evangelism is sharing good news.

For we Christians, this means sharing thee Good News.

That’s it.

You thought you were going to get a Wikipedia definition, didn’t you?

Well, honestly, you almost did.

But truth doesn’t need to be as dusty as an encyclopedia entry. The Gospel is simple, so let’s keep ourselves simple. Jesus came to set us free. Though He continues to intercede on our behalf to the Father (and on the Father’s behalf to us,) the work of the Cross has been completed. That redemptive, restorative power has been made available to us if we yield to it.

It’s in that yielding to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives—in not loving our own lives (agendas, calendars, possessions, ambitions, relationships and yes, even our physical lives) over Him—that allows for the transformation. From this intimate place, evangelism is born. It’s not something we have to force. As we see in the Apostles and many others since, the Good News can become so large in us it becomes something we can’t contain.

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” (Revelation 12:11)

WWW Love (Web Witnessing With Love)

Now let’s talk about the digital part. There are three means by which evangelism flows, whether offline or on.

Identity Evangelism

The expression of our lives testifies to Holy Spirit indwelling—not just through our conscious effort—but through Kingdom identity and the spiritual buoyancy right identity brings, even in the face of crisis. Our right living (or supernatural conversion to right living) witnesses to family, friends and coworkers around us. Through identity evangelism, observers watch from a distance and are drawn (or repelled) by the Father’s growing light within us. While too passive to really be called a “method,” this form of evangelism is more about being the Father’s expression of love (2 Corinthians 3) than actively proclaiming the Word (though that may be present).

Eyes Wide Open

Especially in cases where the heart-shift of regeneration is quick and dramatic, those witnessing the transformation may feel uncomfortable, confused and repulsed. (Remember, Jesus did not come to bring harmony, but a sword, Matthew 10:34.) Still, we are being recast in His image and He is love. As conflict arises (and it certainly will), old ways may try to resurface (anger, pride, willfulness, etc.) If you don’t see it in Jesus, you’re not to see it in yourself. When an expression of the old flesh presents itself, don’t lose your identity to self-condemnation; press into Him more (prayer, fasting, worship) and grace will meet you there.

Digital Expression (Organic Sharing)

What does identity evangelism look like in the digital world? Well, what do your social media posts look like? What does your personal blog speak to? If people have no idea you’re a Christian, you may look too much like the world. I’ve actually seen church leaders promote violent action and horror movies on their social media channels. As in, they were excited to go and support some dark, demonic thriller with their time, money and attention and then disconnected enough from the concepts of holiness and righteousness to promote that fallen movie to their social network.

“If people have no idea you’re a Christian, you may look too much like the world.”

Are you sold enough on the Gospel to share encouraging Bible quotes with your social media followers? Do you share Bible lessons, praise music or spiritual insights currently feeding you? Do you share your church and volunteer activities online? Or are you a closeted, weekend warrior for God? We are called to be salt. We are called to be light to a darkened world. What good does it do if a person lights a candle and places the candle under a basket? (Luke 11:33)

Intentional Evangelism

If identity evangelism is passive evangelism, intentional evangelism is active outreach. Traditionally, intentional evangelism uses signs, tracts and personal testimonies through conversation. This form of evangelism tends to be more interruptive. Breaking into a person’s trance as they pass you on the sidewalk may or may not be welcomed.

Digital Expression (Paid Promotion)

If the digital expression for identity evangelism is simply sharing your reasons for the hope inside you (along with pictures of your children and the evening’s dinner), digitized intentional evangelism is actively promoting those posts. This means paying to promote the Gospel message (or content that leads to the Gospel message) across television, radio, email and Internet marketing channels (blogs, social media, email, forums). That messaging may take the form of shareable graphics, instructional videos, podcast interviews, blog articles and other brilliant, Life-giving content.

Simply sharing your love for God in comments or images on your channels is the first step, as seen in identity evangelism. However, on some social media channels, as little as 7-13% of your followers see your posts. (Open rates for email blasts can be even lower.) This means very few of your channel subscribers are seeing your content. Most channels allow you to boost your content (for a fee, of course). Just as you would buy tracts, print flyers or take your time to street evangelize, here you simply put dollars behind Kingdom messages you produce or discover.

Platform Evangelism

Platform evangelism is preaching the Gospel message from the platform you’re given, whether from the pulpit at church, the office boardroom, on the playing field or in the classroom; wherever your influence lies. Essentially, you are leveraging your authority or position in a given setting to influence thinking and culture. You have the observer’s captive attention. Now deliver the message with love, respect and wisdom.

Digital Expression (Influencer Marketing)

Yes, platform evangelism is similar to intentional evangelism in its digital expression, however there are a couple distinct differences.

First, platform evangelism leverages your social currency (your influence) or that of another, while in intentional evangelism, your audience may not even know you.

Second, platform evangelism may or may not be paid by you. An itinerant preacher who gives a powerful message while visiting a church may be recorded and promoted by that church years after their actual visit. (No pressure!)

Where and When to Evangelize

If you have concluded it’s possible to operate in different stages of evangelism at the same time, you are right. These forms of evangelism overlap considerably in places.

Well? Which form of evangelism do you think is the greatest? Is platform evangelism best, where you have the potential to reach millions? Or maybe it’s the more intimate path of intentional evangelism?

I feel the greatest of these is identity evangelism. Surprised? Without first becoming love, we’re taught we become “a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13). Even if you were the last person on earth, your identity in Him would still be the most important thing to press into.

The Christian walk is one of transformation. It is a walk of spiritual restoration, not by our hands or efforts, but of His. He is the Master Potter; we are the clay (Isaiah 64:8). When we charge ahead of Him and His plan for us, we risk doing damage to ourselves and others. I’m sure you’ve heard stories about evangelists who—being short on character—make very public mistakes, only to lose their position and their flock’s respect. We are refined by Him and made ready for more and more responsibility, in His time.

Final Thought: How Not to Evangelize

Is everyone going to be an evangelist? Well, no. And there is a danger in that, unfortunately. Not only is there that whole “spew you out of my mouth” message to the lukewarm church of Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22), but we are also counseled by Jesus that “whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32-33)

Is every Christian called to evangelism though? Yes. This is the Great Commission, after all. Jesus told us to go forth to all nations. (Matthew 28:19, Mark 16:15, Luke 9:2) Indeed, He modeled this His entire itinerant ministry.

As mentioned earlier, you may be relieved (or slightly convicted) to hear that evangelism is actually a natural by-product of Christ within you. That means you’re not biting your lip, trying to evangelize. You’re not putting a checkmark in your proclamation box.

In fact, it may be more elegant to say we don’t evangelize (verb) as much as we become evangelists (transformation). Your evangelism will be a result of your over-the-bar heart position for the Gospel to the extent it lives in you. If you’re yielding to the Holy Spirit, dying to the Cross daily, the ensuing love affair that takes you over simply bears good fruit (Matthew 7:15-20). In 2 Corinthians, Paul writes:

You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. (2 Corinthians 3:2-3 NKJV)

So there we have it. We become living epistles. It all begins with identity evangelism, the fruit of His artistry in us.

Now go spread the news about the joy you have found.

References

Wilson, Ross. November 26, 2012. How to Build Brand Evangelists with 3 Winning Examples. Ignite Social Media. Retrieved from https://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/social-media-strategy/how-to-build-brand-evangelists-with-3-winning-examples/.

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Fundraising Ideas

After working with non-profits for years, I have seen plenty of wins on the fundraising front… and plenty of fails. Many organizations struggle with fundraising unless they’ve placed a real focus on it. You have two goals in any fundraising activity:

Raise awareness and build community for a cause by drawing attention to the problem and presenting your organization as part of the solution.

Make money. (Yes, it’s an unfortunate fact: Even humanity’s most noble causes require time, effort and resources to support.)

The downside: It often feels disingenuous to be seeking out money when our mission is so big in our hearts.

Yet, without the time, energy and resources of others, we’re often quite limited in the impact we can have for our cause.

So, raise funds we must. Cultivating donors, sponsors and supporters takes time, just as with any audience. And now you’re not just looking for an audience; you’re looking for an activated audience. You’re looking for folks who will invest in you and your cause; folks who will join you in putting some skin in the game.

In “maximum information per square inch” style, here is a list of fundraising activities you can use to advance your efforts:

Online Fundraising

Register with larger retailers to receive a kickback for your audience’s purchases (e.g. Amazon Smile).

Use Facebook and Qgiv ‘Donate Now’ buttons. (Not in a position to take donations online? Ask us. It’s free to get set up.)

Text donations.

Online auctions.

Peer-to-peer fundraising.

Don’t forget to include in your messaging contact details for inquiries and links to your donation and volunteer web pages.

Most event and sponsorship activities can be promoted online, either sporadically or in a concentrated blitz (think “telethon” but across social media and your email list.) Treat the campaign as an event of its own. This means you’ll send out notices a few months in advance, you’ll be releasing images, infographics, videos and stories to pull on heart strings, etc., leading up to the big day. Can you involve the press? Are you reaching your fundraising goal? Be sure to regularly communicate your progress to your audience along the way.

Sponsorships

This fundraising category includes

growing beards,

shaving heads,

skydiving,

running races,

bidding to name a beer or dish,

wacky costumes and

generally making good on outrageous dares so nay-sayers can put their money where their mouths are. Physical challenges (check with a doctor first) may include

bzillion step challenges or

workout challenges,

cold water plunges or

hunger challenges (water-only fast for a day or weekend).

Company-matches-employee-donation campaigns.

Local restaurants may help underwrite events or your organization in return for sharing their logo.

Executive lock-ups (where people call everyone in their contact lists until they post their fundraising goal as “bail”.)

Ask businesses to assist in underwriting your next event and work with them to design their own sponsorship package.

Donations

Vehicle donations,

prime parking spot exchange,

employee jean days,

change drive (think ‘tip jars’ at numerous businesses across your city,) and

giving trees.

Skip-a-meal campaigns (lunch money saved goes to cause.)

Work with bottle-deposit locations to ask bottle/can collectors if they would like to give their bottle returns as a donation to your cause.

You can even donate babysitting money.

Events

Most events will make their money at admission, however there are other opportunities to advance sponsorships, raffles, product sales, etc., at the event. Are local clearances, additional insurance or personal waivers needed? Begin advertising your events with save-the-date messaging around four to five months in advance. Remember to schedule the venue, catering, staff and volunteers, videographer or photographer well in advance (sometimes a year or more in advance.) Is there an opportunity to get a public service announcement (PSA) to the local news outlets? More ideas for marketing your event..

On with the download..

Photo booths (rented or make-shift),

dunk tanks,

celebrity appearances,

karaoke,

face-painting,

ice cream socials,

soup dinners (where local artists donate bowls patrons purchase and receive their soup in),

talent shows,

craft fairs,

car washes,

movie nights,

silent auctions,

lunch ‘n’ learns and

pool parties.

Work out a deal with a local restaurant for a breakfast or dinner ‘mob’ where so many plates translates into x% donated by the restaurant.

50/50 raffles for packages donated by local businesses,

pancake breakfasts,

community restoration projects,

concerts and

open-mic story-hours.

Events: Informational and Classes

Music lessons,

art classes,

dance lessons,

cooking classes,

guided city or forest tours,

after-hours museum, zoo or aquarium dinner tours; all can be a wonderful time for networking and giving.

Events: Competitions and Tournaments

Adult spelling-bees,

“Are You Smarter than a 4th Grader” adult vs kid trivia face-offs,

oratory contests,

photo contests,

baking, chili or BBQ contests,

golf, croquet or softball matches,

fantasy football leagues,

5K runs (with or without obstacle courses),

marathons, bi- and triathlons (really anything with “thon” at the end),

ping pong, darts, bowling,

scavenger hunts (entry fee plus pay extra to unlock short-cuts),

corn hole, volleyball,

design competitions and

board games.

Events: Holiday Themes

Ornament swaps,

cookie swaps,

not-so-spooky haunted houses (better: house of blessings),

corn mazes,

egg hunts, or

a visit from Santa Claus.

Sell Something

Sales can happen anywhere. High school games, fairs and festivals, farmer’s markets—even through a food-truck in a parking lot.

Cookbooks,

household items,

clothing,

baked goods,

art,

candles,

candy,

popcorn,

book swaps,

tree saplings,

lapel pins, or

club memberships.

Talent auctions (accounting, housekeeping, photography, etc.)

Awareness bracelets.

Hot chocolate booth (borrow machine from local restaurant or catering company in exchange for advertising them at the event.)

Hold a community yard sale.

Sell Something: Holiday Themes

Sell singing telegrams/carols,

chocolates/candy,

flowers or

cards.

Work with a local retailer to provide holiday gift-wrapping.

Gaming

At risk of being told this was forgotten, I want to acknowledge, that yes, there are opportunities to go Las Vegas-style in order to advance your cause. However, a word of caution: Is gambling on basketball brackets, Bingo, or Poker how you want your organization to be associated with your cause? In some areas, gambling or betting on sports games is even illegal, so best check with local authorities if you think this is something you want to explore.

Wrap Up

Hopefully, if you made it to the end of the list, you have realized that you can layer several of these ideas together at any given time. Yes, you can have an absolute fundraising feast. Just be sure you don’t get so busy chasing sustainability that you lose sight of the cause you’re sustaining.

Go forth and conquer.

Have more fundraising ideas you would like to see added to this list? Leave a comment below!

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25 Ways to Treat Your Wife

Can you say “personal reminder”? I’ll leave this right here..

Take her for a walk/run/bike ride without the children

Set up a surprise date (dinner, shopping, show, whatever)

Gift certificates (spa, beauty, favorite store, etc.)

Get a slew of household chores done

Take the kids out and leave her at home

Send her an ecard

Send flowers to her office

Bring home dinner for you both (or for the whole family)

Compliment her hair or clothing

Put gas in her car

Plan a weekend getaway

Quietly occupy the children while she takes a nap

Have the house professionally cleaned

Lead the children through pulling together snacks/lunches for the next school day

Buy the groceries for her

Get up early and make her coffee and breakfast in the morning

Write a song, poem or love note

Spa night at home with a face mask, bath, beach sounds, candles

Take a class together (dance, cooking, language, music, etc.)

Buy her something she uses a lot (hand lotion, chapstick, etc.)

Buy her something she enjoys (wine, ice cream, etc.)

Pack a picnic and go

Tell her you love her

Send her a thoughtful text or email letting her know you’re thinking about her

Thank her for something specific

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Youth Ministry: Teaching Prayer to Teens

When we first tried bringing prayer to our church’s junior-high youth ministry, we constructed a prayer wall. Built by placing plastic letter clings on a wall in our classroom, the prayer wall was simple enough. Our wall was divided into two sections, with one section labeled “Prayer Requests” and one section labeled “Answered Prayers”.

The students were encouraged to write their prayer requests on sticky notes and place them under the “Prayer Requests” heading. Our intention was to eventually move requests to the “Answered Prayers” and build a visible testimony to God’s faithfulness. We adults modeled what it might look like to pray over the notes publicly and then turned for child volunteers, hoping they would jump at the chance.

Well, it seemed 7th-9th graders were a little shyer than we thought.

After several weeks of modeling or selecting our more confident kids to reluctantly try their hand at public prayer, we realized something had to change. Even with the repeated encouragement to take time to quietly pray over the list before or after class, the prayer wall was languishing.

What Worked in the Past?

We recalled the younger grades, where the Sunday school curriculum was set by a weekly subscription. There was always a rhythm established to keep the children’s attention:

Open play >

Quick introduction to the lesson >

Leave the classroom join other classes in “large group” to

worship,

receive a spoken message,

view a video lesson,

review the lesson,

rehearse the day’s complimentary memory verse >

Return to your classroom and break into small groups for an activity with group leaders >

Read the memory verse and close in prayer >

Open play.

See? Never a dull moment allowed for shorter attention spans. Since this early-teen class was a new level of youth ministry for our church and there was no template, we were drawing our own map. Here is the early rhythm we established for our kids:

Open play >

Attend worship in adult service for the first 20 minutes, until message began >

Return to classroom and grab snacks (a cheap bribe to encourage attendance?) >

Squeak out some prayers around the prayer wall >

Review prior week’s lesson >

Discuss the day’s lesson and supporting scriptures until adult service lets out.

A little dry, right?

Bring Back Video

We began experimenting with video and the kids said they appreciated it so we added short 5-7 minute video lessons to compound the learning. (Finally, a good use for YouTube. Thank you, Bible Project!)

Next, I sought advice from a colleague who regularly volunteers to work with early teens.

Youth Ministry Strategies for Teaching Prayer

Set the Tone

Before you do anything else, make sure you’re welcoming the children to the class. You’re aiming for laughter and light-heartedness. Be playful. Growing closer to God is a joyful experience. You’re there to grow in fun, faith and friendship.

Modeling and Volunteering

Now, about that prayer wall. Some of the tactics my friend mentioned we were already using. Those were:

Modeling prayer

Volunteering them for a turn

Of course, public speaking ranks slightly above the fear of death in adults, so we recognized volunteering them too soon or too often could be scary enough to drive our children away for good. And modeling wasn’t really having the encouraging effect we were hoping for. What else could we do?

Break into Smaller Groups

My friend also suggested breaking them into groups of two or three to pray. Here, my wife added her own touch to suggest having them share one thing they’re thankful for and one area where they need help. (Variation: Share best and worst experiences from the week and pray over that.)

When we piloted this in class, it worked wonderfully. We had the children self-select into pairs and then we modeled for them and set them to it. They took turns sharing and then prayed over each other. After a few minutes we gave them a one-minute warning to wrap up. Once the exercise was over, we asked them if they liked that approach and found nodding heads. Success!

If this were a workshop, we might ask our participants to share their experiences with the larger group; what they liked about it, what they might change, etc. Still, the smiles around the table were evidence they appreciated the more intimate format.

Conclusion: Smaller prayer teams needs to stay a fixture for a while. Maybe permanently.

Prayer Stations

We almost had this one. After all, we already had a prayer wall (prayer station #1.) Still, we can push the concept further by developing prayer stations. These prayer stations might focus on:

A religious season, say Christmas or Easter (giving to others, prophesy fulfilled, God’s love for us, etc.)

A local situation or people group that needs divine assistance (election results, refugee families, emergency workers, teachers, etc.)

Their school (pray for safety, Holy Spirit to guide faculty, clear teaching, integrity in friendships, etc.)

Their families (unity, health and safety, love, relationship with God, etc.)

Prayer itself (declaration, adoration, confession, thankfulness, supplication, intercession, etc.) (see Praying ACTS)

Using prayer stations gets the kids praying on their own (or within a small team) and it gives them guided experience with prayer; something they may not be getting at home.

Form Your Own Prayer Team Online

This is kind of like moving your prayer wall to the Internet without having to stand up a website. You can accomplish this through a Facebook group or you can use the popular group messaging application, GroupMe. You may want to get parental permission before moving forward on this one. Still, if all your kids have phones, these channels may be a good way to solidify your youth group and continue the conversation outside the walls of your church.

Reminders for Your Students

As you establish prayer in your youth ministry, be sure to remind your students the most important thing they can do is to make time for daily fellowship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We must acknowledge God’s love for us. As God’s children, we have a right to approach Him, no matter what we’ve seen, done or experienced.

When praying, ensure your motivation is founded in faith (believing for what you want to see and the truth of the Gospel) as opposed to fear, loneliness, pain, discomfort (fruits of the Fall.) This is a focus on a covenant solution rather than a worldly problem.

We speak destiny and purpose over others; never doom or gloom. Prayer must flow out of love and compassion.

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Apologetics: Getting to the Gospel as Soon as Possible

The Definition of Apologetics

Hearing the word “apologetics,” many immediately think of our modern understanding of what it means to apologize for something as an expression of regret. This could be understandably confusing since we are talking about Christian apologetics, potentially implying that we regret being Christians. However, to do apologetics ironically means quite the opposite of “apologizing” for something.

The word comes from the Greek prefix “apo-”, which indicates a separation or a deflection of something, and the word “logos”, which is unsurprisingly where we get our term “logic.”  So, the Greek word apologia paints a picture of something that is being deflected by way of logic. The most common definition of the word apologetics is “a reasoned defense.” (Think Jude 3.)

Side note: Imagine how the conversation would go next time you needed to apologize to someone, and you offered “a reasoned defense” of your actions.

There are apologists everywhere. Every political position, sports fan base, and brand loyalty has its apologists. Every religion has apologists who defend their faith as the one true religion. Even the nonreligious have apologists who defend the secular mindset that all religions are ultimately wrong.

When it comes to us Christians, however, we take the role of the apologist to an entirely different level. Christianity is not simply supposed to have apologists; as we shall see, every Christian is supposed to be an apologist. For Christians, apologetics is not something we simply leave to “the experts.” It is something that is very much a part of what it means to be a Christian.

The most famous usage of the word in the New Testament comes from the Apostle Peter. In 1 Peter 3:15 he gives both a directive and a definition of apologetics. There Peter states:

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:”

The phrase translated into English as “give an answer” is actually one word in Greek. You guessed it: apologia. The command is clear. We are always to be ready with an answer, always ready to do apologetics.

Among a few qualities of what a good answer may look like, Peter zeros in on the main subject—“the hope that is in you.” Christian apologetics is a focused discipline with a singular goal, namely to bring people to the gospel. Jesus commissioned us to go into all the world and preach the gospel; Peter reminds us to be ready with an answer when they have questions about it.

The Need for Apologetics

As much as the world has changed since the first century, the Great Commission has not. All Christians have been tasked with preaching the gospel. The only alternative to evangelism, as they say, is disobedience.

Apologetics has always played a pivotal role in our evangelism. Christian apologist James Patrick Holding observed, “What we call ‘apologetics’ was, in fact, what the apostolic church would have called ‘evangelism.’” He goes on to explain, “Early missionary preaching testified to the historical realities upon which the Christian faith was grounded and called for repentance on those grounds.”

Indeed, if you were to review the evangelism of the apostles, personal and public, there is very little reliance on personal experience or emotional appeal. On the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:22-25), for example, Peter gave a textbook example of what he describes in his epistle. He appealed to Jesus’ miracles, culminating in his resurrection, and his fulfillment of Old Testament prophesies. On the basis of the historical reality of what Jesus had done, Peter calls his audience to repent and believe.

In our post-Christian secular age, the presence of apologetics in our evangelism is as important as it ever has been. Our culture is moving ever further away from a time when people had the same general understanding of God, the Bible, and religion. However, the popular consensus has changed in virtually every category. To talk to someone about the gospel today is a vastly different endeavor than it was years ago. Apologetics professor Travis Dickinson notes,

“More and more, apologetics does the work equivalent to what Bible translators do for an unreached people group. The Bible translator must get the content of the Gospel into the vernacular of the people for an individual to even grasp this content. Could the Holy Spirit miraculously allow the tribesman to understand the Gospel in a foreign language? Absolutely. However, it typically takes the hard work of translation. Likewise, God can bring conviction if He wants, but it often takes the hard work of engaging in apologetic discussion for someone to be able to grasp the content of the Gospel.”

In our evangelism, we declare what the gospel is, and what people ought to do about it. Yet, increasingly people ask why. Why should someone believe in any God, much less the one described in the Bible? Why should someone believe that Jesus of Nazareth was God in the flesh and that he rose from the dead? If God loves us so much, why do so many bad things happen to us? If God went to such great lengths to save us, why did he put us in a situation in which we need saving? These are precisely the questions Peter was talking about.

Pastor Timothy Keller explains further,

“I’ve heard plenty of Christians try to answer the why question by going back to the what. “You have to believe because Jesus is the Son of God.” But that’s answering the why with more what. Increasingly we live in a time when you can’t avoid the why question. Just giving the what (for example, a vivid gospel presentation) worked in the days when the cultural institutions created an environment in which Christianity just felt true or at least honorable. But in a post-Christendom society, in the marketplace of ideas, you have to explain why this is true, or people will just dismiss it.”

If the only alternative to evangelism is disobedience, which I believe it is, then the only alternative to apologetics is ineffectiveness.

The Point of Apologetics

While apologetics is vital to evangelism, it is also substantively different. There are two major objectives in apologetics that contrast from evangelism.

The first major objective is to provide reasons to believe. While evangelism declares what to believe, apologetics gives people a reason to do so. For example, many people are unaware of the abundance of manuscript evidence that demonstrates the reliability of the New Testament as a historical document. So, as astounding as much of the New Testament narrative is, we can give people reasons to believe what it says.

The second major objective is to remove reasons to doubt. While evangelism warns of the consequences of not believing, apologetics demonstrates that there are no good reasons not to believe. For example, many people have a problem with believing in the miraculous features of Christian belief because they supposedly conflict with modern scientific understanding. Yet, many Christian apologists have demonstrated that there is no real conflict between science and faith.

This is illustrated by one of my favorite metaphors for the relationship between apologetics and evangelism. Apologist Matt Slick gives the illustration of “what apologetics really is.” As he tells it, the gospel is like a garden in the middle of a field. That garden has one gate, which is Jesus. One path takes you right up to the gate. That path is evangelism, leading people to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, for many people the journey to the garden is difficult. There are many paths that appear to head toward the garden but eventually veer off into some other direction. There are massive rocks and heavy brush obstructing the way. Then, in steps the apologist, pointing people back to the right path and clearing any obstacles ahead. The apologist may not be the gardener, and he is definitely not the gate. In fact, he needs the path, the gate, and the garden every bit as much as the people he helps. Nevertheless, he helps as many as he can along the way.

It is important to note the differences between apologetics and evangelism, or else we run the risk of treating apologetics as an end in itself. Even still, noting the differences helps us focus on the primary purpose of apologetics. It is easy to get bogged down and sidetracked by neverending debates and peripheral issues. But, doing so renders our apologetics fruitless.

Here’s the thing…

Apologetics is the process of getting people to the gospel as soon as possible.

It may be more than that, but it should never be less.

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How God Protects His People

An Encounter with ISIS: How God Protected Us

The warning came exactly one week before we were scheduled to leave. It was a text message from Pastor Ronald, our representative in the Philippines. Puzzled by why he would text me since our correspondence was always via email, I opened my message box on my cell phone. What I read shocked me.

Rick, ISIS has kidnapped Pastor Danial of the church in the tribal area of Maasim, the church your team is scheduled to visit next week. We are trying to find him but until we do, we have to assume ISIS now knows about your team and your plans. You may want to postpone your trip.

Ronald

For almost six months my team of five had been planning to fly to the Philippines to minister in the poor areas of Davao and the jungles of Mindanao. It was a trip I had taken every summer for seven straight years without a single problem although the State Department routinely warns American citizens not to go to this area. But now the danger was real and directed at my team.

I texted Ronald telling him to keep me posted then contacted my team. I knew Bonnie and I would go anyway, not because we were foolhardy, but because we knew God wanted us there. But I had to give each member of my team the opportunity to make a choice.

By that evening, the other three members let me know they were going too. I was proud of my team and the willingness of all of us to put our faith on the line. We were not going to let ISIS stop us from serving the Lord. The rest of the week I followed Ronald’s texts as if they were reports from a war zone which–in many ways–they were.  The reports confirmed our decision and demonstrated the power of God. It was a tense week as we counted down the time to departure and monitored Ronald’s bulletins.

Six days before we were to leave, Ronald reported that Pastor Danial had been released but was still somewhere in the jungle. We were to learn later the miraculous means of his deliverance but for the moment we were concerned about his whereabouts.

Five days: Ronald reported that Pastor Danial was still missing but he and several pastors were planning to drive to the area at midnight to evacuate his family and look for him. My team prayed for the mission.

Four days: Ronald reported the mission was a success. They found Pastor Danial and drove him and his family back to his church to hide them.

Three days: Ronald reported that ISIS had Pastor Danial’s cell phone containing contact information for all of us and notes about our visit. He warned us that ISIS Commander Tokboy had called him several times demanding Pastor Danial be returned or he would hunt us down and in typical ISIS fashion, behead us all. My team talked it over and prayed. We decided to stick by our initial decision. We were going.

Over the next two days we packed, prayed and prepared ourselves. Ronald continued to report daily threats. Knowing that the family had left everything behind we raised funds to help them when we arrived.

After 22 hours in the air and sitting in airports, we arrived in Davao at 6:30 am. Ronald was at the airport to pick us up. It was hot and humid. We were tired. The jeep was small and cramped, but instead of going to our hotel we had Ronald take us to the church so we could meet Pastor Danial and his family.

When we arrived, Pastor Danial, his wife and eight children were sitting in a line on a bench under a canopy.  Pastor Danial stood and smiled. He was short and had a weathered look about him. I was surprised at how thin he was. He didn’t look like someone who had just bested ISIS alone. Of course, I knew he hadn’t been alone.

I walked up and hugged him. “I’m so glad you and your family are safe.”

He smiled. After introductions, my team sat down to hear Pastor Danial’s story.

+ + +

He was alone in his church when two men with rifles walked in.  They told him if he came with them they wouldn’t hurt him but Pastor Danial had heard enough stories to know that wasn’t true. Yet, he had no choice but to obey.

They drove him on a rut-filled dirt road deep into the jungle. He didn’t ask questions and neither of the men volunteered anything. He didn’t know if these were the New People’s Army or Islamic terrorists.

They stopped at a small clearing and then walked further into the jungle to a small camp. As soon as they arrived he saw the black ISIS flag on a pole. Islamic terrorist. They escorted him over to a hole about nine feet deep and a dozen feet across. Once on the edge they took his phone and pushed him in. He landed on his feet in the soft mud at the bottom. He knew his fate. He’d heard about these holes. No one came out of one alive.

He prayed and waited. He spent several days in the hole. Cold and coated with mud he got very little sleep. Occasionally, someone would drop down a little food and some water. Late on what seemed to be day three, four men, three with rifles and one with a handgun, circled the hole. The one with the pistol identified himself as ISIS Commander Tokboy. From Pastor Danial’s vantage point in the hole it was hard to make out his features but his voice was deep and laced with contempt.

“Are you the one that has been passing out bibles in this area?” Commander Tokboy asked.

Pastor Danial nodded.

“Then you are guilty of counter-Islamic activity. You must die.”

The Commander raised his pistol.

Pastor Danial closed his eyes and prayed for God to save him. At that moment a phone rang. He opened his eyes in time to see the Commander back away holding a cell phone. He couldn’t make out what was being said but it was clearly an argument and the Commander seemed upset.

After a short time, the argument stopped and Commander Tokboy appeared. He glared down at Pastor Danial. “You must have important friends. I’ve been told not to execute you. I’ll let you go but you will stop handing out Bibles. If you report this to the police or military I will kill you and your entire family.”

Pastor Danial only nodded as he looked down at the ground. He didn’t dare smile for fear the commander would change his mind and shoot. But he knew who the important friend was and he silently praised God.

+ + +

When he finished we all were quiet for a moment. It was so surreal, like something out of a movie. Eventually, Bonnie stood up and walked over to hug his wife. It seemed like the best time to give him the money we raised at the last minute to help his family. Both he and his wife began to cry.

Later that day, Ronald pulled me aside and said that Commander Tokboy continues to text him multiple times during the day demanding the return of Pastor Danial and threatening to find all of us and chop our heads off.  I told him that though I was concerned I felt safe as long as we stay in or near Davao.

That’s far from the end of this story. It turns out we had nothing to fear but Commander Tokboy did.

Our original plan had been to spend a couple of days with Pastor Danial at his church and host a pastor’s conference. That, of course, had to be scrapped. In it’s place, Ronald found a small hotel on the Philippine Sea with a meeting room not far from our base in Davao. We decided to bring the pastors up from Maasim and have the conference at the hotel.

The pastors agreed. In fact, they were excited to leave the area. Even though they hadn’t been passing out Bibles and had not been harassed by ISIS they were understandably nervous.

The conference ran smoothly and the way it ended was nothing short of a miracle. It was clear to me that the pastors were unsure about returning home. So, I asked them to gather in the middle of the room. My team surrounded them and started at just a few minutes after 5 pm to pray that God would keep them safe.

At the end of the prayer they went to their rooms to pack so they could return first thing in the morning. Ronald took my team back to the hotel.  We had settled in our rooms when the phone rang at a little past 9 pm. It was Ronald.

“Rick, I have great news. The pastors are in their rooms singing praises to God. They just got word that at 5 pm today the Philippine army raided Commander Tokboy’s camp. The commander was wounded in a shoot out and captured.”

And that is how God protects His people.

Richard Spillman is a retired Computer Scientist who typically writes Christian non-fiction (The Passion of Job and Do What Jesus Did, both available on Amazon) as well as a Christian blog (https://spillmanrichard.com). His latest passion, however, is Christian fiction. His first novel, The Awakened, is waiting for a publisher to pick it up. He is represented by Jim Hart of Hartline Literary Agency. The story asks the question: “What if Lazarus didn’t die a second time?” He was led to write it after avoiding being kidnapped by ISIS in the Philippines and then receiving death threats (to behead him in standard ISIS fashion) during the rest of his missionary service there. Besides the blog he is active on Twitter (https://twitter.com/awakenedtrilogy) and Instagram (http://ink361.com/app/users/ig-3176880720/spillmanrichard/photos) where you can see pictures from his missionary travels around the world.

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New Post has been published on https://levaire.com/8-fulfilled-prophesies-foretelling-birth-jesus-christ/

8 Fulfilled Prophesies Foretelling the Birth of Jesus Christ

PROPHESY: Descendant of Abraham

“And through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed.” (Genesis 22:18)

Prophesied: Around 1500-1300 BC Fulfilled: Matthew 1:1-17, Luke 3:23-38

The genealogy of Jesus laid out in the book of Matthew and Luke details Jesus lineage through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

PROPHESY: Descendant of Jacob

“A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.” (Numbers: 24:17)

Prophesied: Between 1446-1260 BC Fulfilled: Matthew 1:1-17, Luke 3:23-38

The genealogy of Jesus laid out in the book of Matthew and Luke details Jesus lineage through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

PROPHESY: Virgin Birth, Immanuel

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)

Prophesied: 740 BC Fulfilled: Matthew 1:20-25, Luke 1:26-35

“But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.”

PROPHESY: A Child Will Be Born

“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.” (Isaiah 9:6-7)

Prophesied: 740 BC Fulfilled: Luke 1:32-33; 3:23-38, Matthew 1:1, 6-7

“He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”

PROPHESY: The Time of Messiah’s Arrival

“Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.”

“And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.” (Daniel 9:25-26)

Prophesied: 605 BC Fulfilled: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John

“(1) This passage tells us when Messiah will appear on the scene. (2) It tells us that after His appearance, Messiah will be rejected by His people, and (3) that Messiah will be cut off temporarily, an obvious reference to the cross.”

“The seven weeks with the sixty-two weeks combine to make 69 weeks of years (483 years) until the coming of Messiah. The starting point for the 483 years was the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. This is a reference to the decree given in the time of Nehemiah in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes in 445 B.C. (Neh. 2:1-8). After this, Messiah would appear on the scene.”

“The words ‘until Messiah the Prince’ refer to a time when Messiah would be manifested as the prince of Israel. This would be around A.D. 30-33, so the time of His birth as the Immanuel of God would have to be around A.D. 0-4.” (Keathley.)

PROPHESY: Born in Bethlehem

“But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” (Micah 5:2)

Prophesied: 742 BC Fulfilled: Luke 2:1-7; Matthew 2:1-6, John 7:42

“And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) […] And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.”

PROPHESY: Destruction of the Children

“A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” (Jeremiah 31:15)

Prophesied: 597 BC Fulfilled: Mathew 2:16-18

“Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.”

PROPHESY: Return from Egypt

“Out of Egypt I called My Son.” (Hosea 11:1)

Prophesied: 755 BC Fulfilled: Matthew 2:13-15

“And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.”

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  References

Lorenz, J. November 2, 2014. Prophecies About Jesus: 6 Birth Prophecies Fulfilled by Christ. Newsmax. Retrieved from https://www.newsmax.com/FastFeatures/prophecies-about-jesus-birth/2014/11/02/id/604203/

Keathley, III, J. Prophecies of the Birth of Christ. Bible.org. Retrieved from https://bible.org/article/prophecies-birth-christ

Chaffey, T. December 24, 2012. Fulfilled Prophecies at the Birth of Christ. Answers in Genesis. Retrieved from https://answersingenesis.org/jesus-christ/birth/fulfilled-prophecies-at-the-birth-of-christ/

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How to Pray ACTS

When praying, remember ACTS! Here is how to pray the ACTS prayer method:

ADORATION

Regardless of what we’re going through, we can always remember our God is a BIG GOD. He is outside time, space and matter and yet He is also by our side at all times. He created all things great, including a very organized universe full of planets and stars hung in beautiful alignment. He created all things small, like every living plant, animal and human and the earth’s wondrous ecosystem to sustain them. All this and He has set his sight upon you. He loves you and wants to have a personal relationship with you!

CONFESSION

We’ve all made mistakes. We might lose our temper or say words out of contempt. We might struggle with pride and think about ourselves too much. We might be spiritually passive, never caring to grow in our relationship toward God, preferring instead to chase the temporary thrills of this world. Anger, unforgiveness, rejection, shame, fear, pride, and a rebellious, unteachable heart can all lead to a broken life. If we don’t see it in Jesus, we’re not to see it in us. Turning away from these missteps and confessing them to God is the first step toward freedom from them.

THANKSGIVING

What are you thankful for? How has God blessed you? Sometimes we fall into the trap of focusing on what we don’t have or how we’ve failed. We might even focus on past or present hurts so much we give our power over to them. That’s when we allow those wrongs to become a part of us; part of our identity. The Enemy would love for you to be weighed down by those injustices your entire life. Life in relationship with Jesus shatters these chains, leading to freedom and peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4). What has God given you that you can be thankful for? Let Him know.

SUPPLICATION

Supplication is a fancy word that means the act of asking for something with a humble heart. You’ll notice it comes last in this list. After adoration, confession and thanksgiving, your heart will be better positioned for supplication. Too often, people turn to God only when they want something, reducing Him to a cosmic Santa Claus. Yet Jesus clearly taught us to pray “thy will be done,” not “my will be done.” Psalm 37:4 says “Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.” Though many use this passage to pray that God gives them what they want, it truly means you will come to desire what God desires.

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