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August 1, 2007

 

 

 



In this Edition:
Resources: BibleGateway.com
Coming Soon!
Practitioners: Mike Elias, Vallejo Drive
Resources & Ideas
Events
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Click here to request placement on our mailing list. Best Practices is offered to pastors at no cost, by Vervent, the North American Division Church Resource Center.
Loren Seibold, Editor
Dave Gemmell, Advisor

To the Point:

If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; but if you really make them think, they'll hate you.
Don Marquis

The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear.
Herbert Agar

It is by universal misunderstanding that all agree. For if, by ill luck, people understood each other, they would never agree.
Charles Baudelaire

In the Koran, Allah asks, "The heaven and the earth and all in between, thinkest thou I made them in jest?"  It's a good question. What do we think of the created universe, spanning an unthinkable void with an unthinkable profusion of forms? ...If the giant water bug was not made in jest, was it then made in earnest?
Annie Dillard

Bureaucrats write memoranda both because they appear to be busy when they are writing and because the memos, once written, immediately become proof that they were busy.
Charles Peters

You cannot make a man by standing a sheep on its hind legs. But by standing a flock of sheep in that position you can make a crowd of men.
Max Beerbohm

Humility is the embarrassment you feel when you tell people how wonderful you are.
Laurence J. Peter

Got a favorite quote? Send it to [email protected]
Dave Gemmell
Resources:
BibleGateway.com
by Loren Seibold
Fifteen years ago or so, a pastor friend bragged that he'd purchased one of the new Bible-lookup programs for his PC.  We were all envious--until he admitted that a complete Bible search with several variables took about 2 hours!

Things have changed, and aren't we glad? Now I don't even have a Bible program on my computer. I use a web-based program called BibleGateway.com.

There's rarely a day that I don't use BibleGateway.com. The site offers three search options: text look-up (Romans 14:17, for example) in up to five versions (Romans 14:17, for example,) keyword search (like a concordance), or topical search (searching a category like "food"). It indexes over 50 bible versions, 20 in English--including the New International Version and the New King James (though, unfortunately, no Revised Standard). If, like me, you remember texts in the KJV, but want to cite them in a modern version, you can search in KJV and change the found passage to NIV or NKJ.

A while back I prepared a sermon for my Spanish congregation. Though I'd be translated, I wanted my texts on the screen in Spanish. I looked up my texts in English, and switched to the Reina-Valera version. Then I cut and pasted to PowerPoint. If you need Greek, you can see your passage in Wescott-Hort.

I use the topical search least. It relies on the good old Nave's Topical Bible. Perhaps it is an inherent weakness of topical Bibles that they never topicalize quite like I would. I generally end up with lots of texts, and none I want.

BibleGateway.com is free, but it has a donations page. And I do donate. (I don't like the reputation we pastors sometimes get of expecting a free ride.) If you like BibleGateway.com as much as I do, give them something; it's a great tool, and they deserve it.

Comments or questions about BibleGateway.com? Write [email protected].

Events for Pastors and Church Leaders
NAD events coming soon:

The National Conference on Innovationwill be in Columbus, OH, September 30 to October 2. Conference organizer Raj Attiken says the conference will help pastors "understand the rapidly changing religious environment, how different groups are responding to it, and the opportunities that the Adventist church has in this context." Presenters include
  • Philip Jenkins, about historic religious demographic shifts
  • Jon Paulien on what these shifts mean to the Adventist church
  • Doug Padgett, a leader in the emerging church movement on other churches' responses to changing culture
  • Rabbi Marcia Prager, a leader in the Jewish Renewal Movement, on how the Jewish faith has responded to the need for renewal.
Guided group work will enlist your help in making application to our churches and schools. There will be an Innovation Expo (highlighting successful ministry innovations) on Sunday evening.

Register by mail, through the NCI website, or write [email protected]

The Vervent Worship Conferencehappens in Baltimore, MD September 27-29. Organizer Paula Sanders Morris says the target audience is praise and worship leaders, and ministers of music. Writes Paula, "This year we ask the questions, 'What sounds are being produced by our music ministries? Is it of true worship or music performance?  God-directedness or talent showcasing? A diversity of musical offerings or a singular musical style?  Humble servitude or a "large-and-in-charge" prima donna attitude?'" Guests will include:
Register through the website, or write [email protected].
PMike Elias, Vallejo Driveractitioners:
Mike Elias, Glendale, California

Mike is the Community Services pastor for the Vallejo Drive church in Southern California. Here he tells how his church started a thrift store, and how it has become the driving force in a larger community services vision. LGS 

I've always thought that a church like ours could have a real outreach to the community. We have Glendale Adventist Medical Center across the street, of course; but what is our congregation doing? While our people are generous, the problem is that we haven't had a focus for community outreach.

Then the Share Ourselves Thrift Store came into our lives.

The hospital had had a thrift store; it wasn't succeeding though, so after it closed, I asked if we could take it over. They not only let us run the store, but gave us space, along with utilities, security, phone and internet, for $1 a year!
 
Our idea was that the thrift store could raise money for more targeted community services--and it has.  We're just getting started, but we are expecting to make about $120,000 this year, after expenses. (We realize our free space gives us an advantage; our expenses are limited to two paid staff members and the expenses of our truck. Most of our work is volunteer.)

Some things that the thrift shop has encouraged:
  • Job club: We help people looking for work. As they search, we let them earn up to $600 at the thrift store.
  • Share Ourselves Community Service: We help people get food, rent, transportation, furniture and clothing.
  • Addictions recovery program: We're in the process of organizing a program to address addiction, and eventually establish a sober living center.
  • Community volunteer organizing: When judges sentence an offender to so many hours of community service, our thrift store is one of the places they can work. We've already racked up about 10,000 hours of community service.
  • Grants: We have a volunteer grant writer working for us. Already we've won grants to employ senior citizens, and at-risk youth.
As we've reported these successes to the congregation, they've become excited about the possibilities. The store has created a growing awareness of community needs, and a desire to touch people--not just with doctrinal teachings, but with practical service. We want to extend hearts and hands into this city, and the thrift store has become a focus for our efforts. Eventually we'd like to see even more aggressive, ongoing community programs, for which we could merit larger grants, and do bigger things.

Even though the program is still young, I'm delighted to say that we have three people attending church because of it, and another volunteer who I hope will soon be baptized. Just as important, it has opened the eyes of our church members to the opportunities to do the work of Jesus right here at home.


To learn more about the Share Ourselves Thrift Store, write Mike at [email protected]

Are you or a colleague doing something especially interesting and innovative in ministry? Tell us about it at [email protected].
Resources & Ideas
  • Nominations are being accepted for the 2007 NAD Innovative Church of the Year. Vervent is looking for a church that has successfully taken advantage of opportunities in a changing society with new ways of doing ministry.  A cash prize of $2000 and an all expense paid trip for three individuals to the National Conference on Innovation will be awarded to the winning congregation. Conference administrators, pastors, and lay leaders are invited to fill out an application that can be obtained by writing Dave Gemmell. The deadline for nominations is August 15.
  • This deserves a repeat reminder: i'm still enjoying Bob Mason's Open i-Science e-mail newsletter. Bob (pastor in Ceres, CA) scours the web for creative nature stuff that gently builds a case for intelligent design. Get on Bob's list by writing him at [email protected].
  • Once more: Bible modules for a mobile phone. http://www.biblephone.net/
  • The North Pacific Union has a good e-mail for pastors. Request it here.

Got a tool or resource that you like a lot? Share it with us at [email protected].

Events
Do you have an SDA-sponsored event that you'd like to invite NAD pastors to? Tell us about it at [email protected].
NAD Church RESOURCE Center
Best Practices is an e-publication of Vervent
NAD CHURCH RESOURCE CENTER
Editor: Loren Seibold
Senior Pastor, Worthington Ohio Seventh-day Adventist Church