Church Pirates continued
Branthansen.typepad.com writes:
I Hate Pirates, Too!
There's this one Pastor who doesn't like Pirate Pastors! Pirate Pastors are pastors who start competition where there are already churches!
This pastor started his church in the unreached area of Grapevine, Texas! He's expanded into other frontiers, like Dallas! And he's also now franchised in South Florida, where we didn't have any churches! I'm glad we've got one, now!
It's BAD when pastors take business away from other pastors! Like this Pastor says, if people did that in the corporate world -- stole business -- they'd be in JAIL!
Piracy is bad, because pirates take money that really doesn't belong to them -- and they use it for themselves! They pretend they're kings, but it's not their money! I hate pirates for doing that, and I'll bet you do, too!
I'm glad, at least, that his church hasn't been completely plundered! They still have enough of God's money to build an arcade and climbing wall and $16 million ultra-awesome Communications Building and they're building a Church Lake so that more dads will bass-fish with their kids on church grounds and they're asking people to give sacrificially for the new "Town and Country" program to build an awesome new retreat center and they also have a bookstore full of the Pastor's own books and videos and a cafe that has coffee cups printed with the Pastor's favorite recipes!
Stupid pirates haven't gotten everything, yet!
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In unrelated news, I've recently visited some Christian brothers and sisters who don't have enough of God's money to afford a single working toilet, and who don't get enough food, and another church trying to buy ARV drugs to keep its kids from being orphaned and another that's struggling to buy nets to cover their children and protect them from malaria. I hope God helps them sometime with His money!
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posted by Bob Carder @ 1:59 PM
14 comments
14 Comments:
We may have gotten off to a rocky start on the other post, but I agree with you on this and my heart grieves for what is being done.
FYI, in the video, Ed laments how church planters steal people from him only to plant in the big cities. He basically says this is evidendce that these guys are only in it for the money.
I asked a question on his site a long time ago,... "Ed, how many satellite campuses have you started that were not in big cities or in inner cities or impoverished cities?"
Guess what, I never got an answer.
You are on to something here J.R. The more I hear your heart the more I appreciate you.
When I read articles like this I am grieved and sorry that I also fell into that trap. Now this stuff makes me ill and I wish I could have lived my life differently. I would have done more to feed the hungry, clothe the sick, provide mosquito nets.
In our Disciple Driven Church we have a dedicated one who has home parties to sell handmade goods from Africa so that they will have a funding stream to make more disciples. I love this. Helping one to help another is really a great thing. Doing things to build ourselves isn't always what Jesus had in mind.
I understand the feeling, but in truth nothing is wasted when done in service to Jesus. Ultimately, we are giving to Jesus and not Man.
I'm not sure I agree here. Look at the offerings of Cain and Abel. God doesn't accept all of our service just because it is done in His name. God deserves more than profane offerings.
j.r "in truth nothing is wasted when done in service to Jesus"
Im not quite sure what to do with that. I distinctly remember Jesus saying that people would say on judgement day "Didint we cast demons out IN YOUR NAME?" and He will say "I never knew you. depart from Me you who practice lawlessness". So not everyone who does work in His name is doing His work. But then again, God has that wonderful ability to turn any and all things towards His glory, adn Paul did say that he would rather people procalim the gospel out of selfish desire than not procalim it at all. at least that way the glory of God is being proclaimed. so i guess ultimately we have to ask "are we going to serve how He tells us to serve, or are we going to hope that He will use what we bring Him?" that is the difference between Cain and Abel, as Bob referenced
Bob and Zach, neither of your comments seem germane to the post I referenced. Did either you read the blog post linked to that statement in question or are you just filling in the meaning of those words with your own ideas?
maybe I should add that the reason I ask is that I do not disagree with either of your posts, so I don't understand how you are reading that much into my statement.
what I am saying is that there is more than a strong probability that the offerings we bring to Jesus on Sunday are profane and not even near what they should be for Jesus.
We need a good discussion on the Holy versus the Profane.
What is Holy to God and what is Profane, keep Cain and Abel in this context.
I don't think I would go that far. It is just too broad of a statement. Although the discussion might be worth some time.
I will say the context for my post was quote different and I don't think it has any real connection with the Cain and Able story.
jr- i do want to apologize. i did not read the post you referenced. not out of apathy, but my computer has been silly recently and when i clicked, nothing happened and i assumed that it was blue for emphasis. my bad.
But on the subject of profane versus holy, i think a common misconception is that the words "profane" or "unholy" have all been altered by pop culture to mean the polar opposite of holy. as if holiness was a state of radiating goodness, and profane-ness was a state of radiating some thick evil aura. In truth, unholy and profane simply mean "not holy", i.e. anything that falls short of His holiness. also, the word profane in Biblical texts can also be translated as "common". Although, i think it might be worthwhile to start a new post on this topic. It would be fun!
understandable Zach... in case you still want to read it, here is the link. http://www.morethancake.org/2008/07/rediscovering-church-giving-to-jesus.html
I did read it as you may already know.
I do Bob, thanks. I just meant that for Zach.
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