Mike Jones, whose allegations last year led to Ted Haggard’s fall from grace, recently visited Haggard’s former church—and received a rather startling reception. See GetReligion for some good commentary on the story.
Haggard’s church welcomes his accuser
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January 31, 2007 at 16:16
Its interesting to read:
“But Jones – who came forward out of anger toward Haggard’s political stances against homosexuality – said he wasn’t impressed on the whole. If the Gospel message is enough, he said, why the loud music and MTV-quality production?”
It funny that a non-christian (or an “estranged member of the methodist church” as they put it in the article)would think along these lines. The gospel message should be enough for any christian. I think some churches feel he need to focus on our MTV generation with the entertainment they are used to. Paul didnt have loud music or Powerpoint. And he saved alot of souls! Its not about approaching the world on the world’s terms, but doing it on God’s terms. Our focus should not be on the entertainment of the gospel, but the saving power of Jesus.
January 31, 2007 at 18:03
I agree. The world can see through hype. The most powerful presentation of the gospel is one in which the Holy Spirit is free to work through average redeemed people.
However, if you are going to talk about what Paul actually did to “save a lot of souls”, it wasn’t through eloquent preaching and theological exposition as a lot of evangelicals think:
“This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.”
Acts 19:12
“I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. Romans 15:19
“and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:5
February 1, 2007 at 10:45
It is very important that we follow the examples like great apostles like Paul in preaching the gospel. But lets ponder on ths question. If all these technologies were available to Paul, wouldn’t he have used it to even enhance his ministry? So why shouldn’t we? The word of God is pure and does not change but there is no one method in spreading the gospel.
February 1, 2007 at 13:39
There is nothing wrong with a nice facility, a good sound system, or great musicians (after all King David had shifts of musicians performing around the clock in his temple). But when the service starts to feel “produced”, when the oversized video screens, slickly produced videos and electronic equipment overwhelm the message, something is wrong.
We don’t have to be Luddites, but Paul refused to let polished eloquence and dramatic oration dominate his message. “my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” What could be more exciting than watching the supernatural power of God at work? We sometimes forget that Jesus assembled the crowd for the Sermon on the Mount with a lengthy healing and deliverance session. Peter’s first evangelistic sermon was preceded by 120 joyous people speaking in tongues. His second evangelistic sermon was preceded by healing a lame man. The people of Jerusalem took to lining the streets with sick people on cots so Peter’s shadow would touch and heal them. Stephen, the evangelizing deacon, drew attention to the gospel with great signs “Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.” Acts 6:7-9 Philip the evangelist depended on the Holy Spirit, “The crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing.” Acts 8:5-7
Who needs theatrical performances when God shows up? Jesus said signs and wonders would be a characteristic of Great Commission evangelism (Mark 16:17). Unfortunately today the statistics are 80% of all people who make a profession of faith fall away. Is it because their faith rests “on the wisdom of men” instead of “the power of God.”? 1 Corinthians 2:5
February 3, 2007 at 03:35
I didn’t mean to get into a discussion about how Paul done his saving
I was merely using this one apostle as an example.
I personally think that what most people respond to is human interaction, not being told to sit in an audience and watch a video. I’m pretty sure alot of entertainments where available to Paul – we know for fact that the Romans had theater and music and the arts. they also had charismatic speakers of probably hundreds of religions in that time. But the apostles took the Word and the Word alone. The apostles didn’t create an entertainment factor of the Gospel in any respect.
I know that David had music in his temple, and of course we Christians like to listen to our music (of varying styles of course :). Im not of the opinion that we shouldn’t use ANY music or ANY technology in our worship or services. I was only meaning that to focus on these things instead of the bible can lead down a rocky road. Worship is not about expecting emotional highs and fun first, its about praising God first and if doing that makes us emotional and feel great as an effect then thats all good :)) The Holy Spirit is an amazing thing and of course we are to enjoy worship. But when it comes to being all about our enjoyment and not about God then thats another thing entirely.