Ode to Arlen Specter

Though I may not be physically present in the city of Philadelphia and the wonderful state of Pennsylvania, I am an avid news watcher for the state and city. I keep up with everything going on just as though I was still there. I miss my home.

Today the news broke that Arlen Specter, total clown senator, switched parties. I am reminded of the last time this joker ran for office. He is what Rush Limbaugh calls, “a RINO…Republican In Name Only.” The only ramification for the switch is the filibuster proof senate. Other than that, the boy is doing nothing he didn’t do before. He’s been laughable as a Republican.

The polls are showing that Pat Toomey (who almost took the position from him in the last primary) was destroying Specter in the polls. His only way of surviving was to switch parties. His act is old. It also makes me happy I voted for Toomey last time.

What this does tell us is the continued slow spread of liberalism and post-Christianity coming down from its home in New England. The last few elections have shown PA slowly becoming more and more liberal. They are becoming more like NY, MA and NJ. The moral decline of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh carry the rest of the state.

Another thought is more proof for the reason why pastors and church-planters must strategically target the heart of the beast- New England. If the church wants to shut off the fountain, they need to go where this is breeding. No longer can we run from Boston, NYC and Connecticut. If we refuse because “it’s too hard” then we are only holding back the liberal tsunami that is going to overtake the Northern USA. The church can run to rural areas and the Bible belt and it only postpones the inevitable. Get with the program pastors and church planters.

The church has been holding on to our political power for years. It’s become painfully obvious that we are slowly losing power as religious right. Politics can’t change an immoral people. The gospel can and must. We can do our best with politics, but our hope is not in DC but JC. Politics control the outward behavior of men, but it does not transform the heart.

Essay for Church Planting Class

This is my initial essay on my reading. The author has hitting some key factors that I think aren't being taken seriously in the modern church:

In his book Planting Churches Cross Culturally: North America and Beyond, David Hesselgrave presents what he calls the Pauline Cycle of church planting. This cycle is as follows: Missionaries Commissioned, Audience Contacted, Gospel Communicated, Hearers Converted, Believers Congregated, Faith Confirmed, Leadership Consecrated, Believers Commended, Relationships Continued, and Sending Churches Convened. According to the author, this cycle is repeated numerous times in the book of Acts when Paul would go to a town and establish a church. His purpose in writing the book is not only to present these steps, but also to develop them in our modern context and build on them. It presents a method to church planting and growth.

The author describes the broader debate on Pauline church planting being between the view that Paul had no plan and relied entirely on the Lord doing the work wherever he went, and the position that Paul had a method and strategy with his church planting. The reality is that as you view Scripture, it appears Paul kept these in balance. Paul did have a set plan whenever he would go to a new town. Repeatedly you see him go through most or all of the steps previously mentioned. However, this was all under the understanding that God was the one who makes the seed grow (1 Corinthians 3:7). We all would be foolish to aim at nothing. At the same time, many modern churches (business model churches) have made the method just as important as the Spirit. As Hesselgrave states, they have “organized Christ out of the picture.” As with everything, there must be a balance.

This tendency to simplify everything to a method or science is something Hesselgrave focuses on a good bit in the section of reading. He says, “If our dependence is on the overall strategy and method of its implementation rather than on the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit, we cannot claim to be true to the New Testament church.” There are many who have simplified church to a plan that has become more holy than the Word of God itself. A plan is important, but if we hold more tightly to that method and leave no room for adjustment, it has become more important than the Spirit’s working in our church. Some plans, such as the Purpose Driven Model, were developed to give a Biblically based structure to doing church. Unfortunately, some can take this model and turn it into an “evangelical production line (that) will inevitably produce results.”

Other important observations by Hesselgrave were pointed out later in the chapter. One key thought is that the Pauline method should be done both synchronically and diachronically. In other words, while the cycle is in the process of the latter steps (Believers commended and sending churches convened), it should at the same time be introducing the first steps of audience contact and missionary commissioning. The cycle must not stop because the cycle never truly ends. The beginning is more visible through mission work and church plants, yet once that cycle begins, there is never a time when in our era when we can stop reaching out (until the Lord comes that is!). In a sense, the book promises a level of sustaining a healthy, vibrant and contagious church body if we abide and adjust to the Pauline cycle.

Satellite Church - the new denominations?

I know I've said my thoughts on churches setting up satellite churches via video rather than training a new pastor to start a new church. I've been thinking and happened to see their are others online thinking the way I am. Aren't satellite churches the new denominations? Think of it. What are denominations? Groups of churches who agree to a doctrinal statement, order and methodology. They are run by a board of leadership.

Satellite churches are groups of churches based on the same doctine as the mother church, the same order as the mother church and same model as the mother church. It even emphasizes the pastor as a figurehead of teaching. In ten years, will we see franchised/satellite denominations? Instead of Presbyterian and Baptist, we'll have LifeChurch and Fellowship Church.