The Holy Spirit visits the Mall

In the 1990's as I was walking through my city's large mall, God impressed upon me that soon the Holy Spirit would be visiting the mall too. Check these out. The Spirit of God and His awe is evident in even the faces of the most "cool, hip and secular" folks.


Random act of culture in Philadelphia at Macy's:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp_RHnQ-jgU&feature=player_embedded


Flash Mob Food Court "Hallelujah" in Ontario, Canada:

http://www.youtube.com/user/AlphabetPhotography

Confusion?

This is sad and I wonder if it's a reflection of the confused state our country, and especially the church, is in.

A government research report survey was taken in which it was found that 1 in 5 people in the United States suffers from mental illness.

23.8 percent of women had some form of mental illness, compared with 15.6 percent of men.

Good Five-Part Series on Postmodern Double Speak in the Church

There is a very good five-part series by Marsha West on how Postmodernism has come into the evangelical church and one of postmodern philosophy's hallmarks--Double Speak.

Here is Part 1:
http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/mwest/100209

Part 2:
http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/mwest/100218

Part 3:
http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/mwest/100225

Part 4:
http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/mwest/100310

Part 5:
http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/mwest/100315

The Age Segregation Dilemma

As I've said here before, God has been dealing with me about the severe age segregation in our churches. One of the main reasons many younger evangelicals aren't solid in their foundational doctrine is, I believe, the lack of relationship with older Christians. By "older" Christians I don't necessarily mean those over 65. But I do want to include that age group more than we are. I suppose that is because I am in that age group, albeit, among the younger ones. All of us over 40 need to "on purpose" find activities in our churches that will allow us to hobnob with younger adults and/or teens in addition to those groups of our own age. I would like to see the oldest class join the youngest adult class on a regular basis, perhaps for lunch once every two months or so. Something like that.

In my new church, which is centered around small groups, I "on purpose" picked the youngest group. Of course, by younger group I mean late 30's to middle 50's. Since 18-35 year olds are seldom found in our churches today, the 35-55 crowd is now often the youngest in the church. In some churches the 50-65 are the youngest. It's beginning to look like the old Soviet Union. Remember how we lamented that the only people who went to church there seemed to be old women? Well, welcome to the New Soviet Union--American-style. I am about 10-11 years older than the oldest in my group, so I am the "senior." I fit in very well which is a relief, because I wasn't sure how I would be received. I did ask the leader if I could join at my age or if they would rather keep it younger. Can you believe we have to ask that type of question today? The leader seemed to be surprised that I would ask such a question and said to me, "Of course you can come. We would love to have you." The reason I was so nervous about this was because the head of the group ministry told me I probably shouldn't join that group because it was "younger." Yes, folks, this attitude still persists in evangelical-land.

So, tell me if you are reaching out to older ones or younger ones in your church--depending on your age group.

Surprising Results in Barna Poll

Here is something amazing. According to a Barna poll, 31% of Pentecostal/Charismatic pastors are Reformed/Calvinist. Only 27% are Wesleyan/Arminian. Barna rightly points out that this is surprising because these moements are usually associated historically with the earlier Holiness/Wesleyan movement. And while I am not a dyed-in-the-wool hyper-Calvinist, but having one foot over on that side, I am happy to hear this. I guess your grandma's Pentecostal church is a-changin'.

Quote of the Week

"...every time I see the TSA thoroughly patting down a six year-old kid I figure that already the terrorists are starting to win."

_____Tim Challies

Election Fallout

Two things today.

First, there is an absolutely fantastic dialog between the following people about Christians and government in America:

Michael Horton, William Bennett, Os Guinness, Jim Wallis, and Cal Thomas. That's sure an assortment. A heads up for Michael Horton and Os Guiness, two of the participants who are saying the same things I've been saying for the past 32 years. The link to this dialogue is here.

Second, In the current issue of Charisma magazine, Mike Bickle, who I am not always on board with because of his involvement with the Third Wave Charismatic movement, does have something good to say in the Charisma interview with him. Here is the part of what he said that I feel is very right on,

God governs His universe in partnership with His people through intercession. He opens the doors of blessing and closes the doors of oppression in response to our prayers. The Lord gives His people a dynamic role in determining a measure of the quality of life we experience, as we respond to Him in prayer, obedience, faith and meekness. God has chosen to pour out His blessings, but often only as His people rise up in the partnership of prayer. He requires that we ask because it causes us to interact with His heart (see James 4:2). Agaian, this is an expression of His desire for intimate partnership with us.