Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Mongolian Grill and Tracts






1st off, I love Mongolian Grill. Years ago when I was on a crazy diet Mongolian Grill was one of the few places that I could eat at. No noodles for me. Lots of vegetables. And Mongolian sauce. Mmmmmmmm.

Tonight when Dawn and I went to eat there. She was paying for the food and waiting for it while I was sitting at a table. (I still can't walk. I normally would wait for the food and carry it, but I couldn't.) As I was sitting there with my crutch (only used one today, which was a big mistake) up against the wall and my leg all bandaged up and stretched into the isle, a lady came up to me looking really nervous and said, "I noticed your leg, could I pray for you? The bible says that God is the great physician and I believe that He wants to heal you now." I replied, "Yeah, go for it." She then prayed that my leg would heal very quickly and handed me a tract. If you don't know what a tract is, it's those one of those pamphlets that Christians hand out on the street or somewhere that tell a little about Jesus and how accept Him into your heart...yada yada yada.





This is my favorite tract...cuz He would have.

Has this happened to you before? It was a little awkward but I was really nice cuz I could see that it took a lot of her faith to do it and I wanted to encourage her. But I have a few critiques on the presentation. 1. She never introduced herself or asked my name. 2. Very nervous and unnatural. 3. Prayed that I would accept Jesus and handed me a tract. 4. She said she felt "led to pray for me."

I'm glad for her attempt though. And maybe I'll get saved from it. But, if she had taken a few more seconds to introduce herself and ask who I was, she wouldn't have had to be so nervous and make a few wrong assumptions. What I do give her is that she was genuine and bold. It takes a lot to ask to pray for a complete stranger.

Cold turkey evangelism has always been weird to me. How about you? Turn on or turn off? The wave of the future or a lost cause? I know 2 people who came to the Lord through those little "turn or burn" pamphlets. What do you think?

posted by Tim Oas @ 9:14 PM 3 comments

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Jim & Casper Go To Church


Is judging a church by its weekend service like judging a book by its cover? Hard to say. You can learn a lot from the cover.

In this book Jim Henderson (former pastor now author and director of Off-The-Map) and Matt Casper (atheist friend) visit sever well known churches around the country and rate each church according to their experience. Most churches did not fare well under their scrutiny. The idea though is not to bash those churches (Saddleback, Willow Creek, Potter’s House, Mars Hill, Mosaic, Lakewood Church, Dream Center, etc) but to give a perspective of what is the purpose of the Church in America.

Is bigger better? Lights, cameras, big screens, huge auditoriums, professional musicians, professional videos, motivational sermons, parking lots full of SUVs, and enormous budgets. “Is this what Jesus told you to do?” asks Casper. What does church look like to those who don’t believe? Is that what God intended for the church to look like?

An obvious critique is the production of services in these mega-churches. Does hype help? Is it needed? Does it manipulate people’s emotions and impose a shallow response? These are good questions that churches, especially large ones where it is a weekly production, need to ask themselves. Big productions need big budgets. Is this where money is best spent? What about giving to the poor? What about community service?

Most large churches do those things too, but is that what they are known for? Is that what celebrity pastors are known for? Their work as community servants or their good looks and eloquent 3 point sermons. Maybe it’s their charisma or their humor or their “down to earth” preaching.

You can look at the ratings they gave churches at www.churchrater.com. You could also rate a church that you visit. What do you think about the idea of rating churches? What do you think about some of the questions they bring up through their conversations?
Sidenote: I don't use the phrase "go to church." Be the Church! How does the churchrater fit into that paradigm?

posted by Tim Oas @ 4:32 PM 3 comments

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

A Few Loose Skrews

So I haven't walked for 18 days now. From complications on a surgery I had 8 years ago, I'm immobile again. I just had surgery yesterday and the Doc cleaned up some scar tissue that was getting in the way and found out that my skrew was loose...which confirmed a lot of your suspicions. Anyway, I'm catching up on some reading which has really got me thinking a lot more. Sunday night Dawn and I also started a long awaited and much talked about small group which we are very excited for.

Just wanted to give a little update.

posted by Tim Oas @ 12:33 PM 2 comments

Friday, May 18, 2007

Soup, Steak, Catalyst, and Kite

"A bowl of soup with someone you love is better than steak with someone you hate." Proverbs 15:17 NLT

Mmmmmmm...steak. But it true. Hanging out with friends doing nothing is way better than doing something cool with someone you hate. Doing something cool with friends is even better though, but that verse makes a great point. Who is more important than what. Who you do things with trumps what you are doing.

In times where I have to choose between the two I haven't always chosen the best. At times I have thought that there is nothing more important that what I was doing. Or what I would do with my life. My job. My gigs. Even "my ministry."

I remember playing in our worship band in college, Catalyst, and being so concerned with how we played a song and what we did for a worship night that I pushed my thought, plans, and feelings over everyone elses. Dipes would cry when Tom and I fought over how to "do" a song. I was driven. And I knew that my ways to do things was best...yup. Even though I was with my best friends, I treated what we did more importantly that them. I'm suprised the rest of the band didn't for a resistance and overthrow me.

One thing I look forward to every year is vacation with Kite. We always try to do something cool. Go somewhere cool. You know...cuz we're cool. But in the end I'm pretty happy sitting around doing nothing as long as we get to hang out once a year.

Also, I believe that who you are is more important than what you do but that's for another day.

posted by Tim Oas @ 10:25 AM 1 comments