WHAT!?  No TV? Are you CRAZY?

No, we’re doing a media fast.  Like any kind of fast, this kind of cleansing is tough but the benefits are worth it.  David Lewis, who coined the phrase information fatigue syndrome, writes: “Information is supposed to speed the flow of commerce, but it often just clogs the pipes.”

The daily onslaught of news, entertainment, e-mail, advertisements, and other media often prevents us from being able to process any of it at all.  And the time we spend absorbing this information cuts heavily into the time we could be spending on activities that nourish us rather than drain us . . .

Research has shown that both news and television programming can have an intense effect on mood, even causing sadness and anxiety.  Without the “noise” of the media running through your head, you are freer to focus your attention inward.  Ideas will present themselves to you more readily, and you will find yourself available to revel in the small joys of your own life.  You also will be freer to live in the present moment, rather than focusing on what’s going on in the news or your favorite soap opera.

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Devastated.  Shocked.  Confused.  Numb.

These are a few words that come to mind regarding the earthquake that rocked Haiti.  Our leaders will meet tonight to discuss our church’s response to this great tragedy.  I will share our plan of action tomorrow.

Labeling any natural disaster as God’s judgment is nonsense.  True “judgment begins with God’s family” (1Peter4:17), not others.

Peter warned that God judges all people according to their deeds.  He also disciplines and judges his own children in order to refine them, as Peter has explained in 1 Peter 1:6-7.  This judgment purifies and strengthens believers, readying them for God’s Kingdom.  Natural disasters are the result of living in a broken world!  Please pray for nation of Haiti.

“Lord, let your glory reign in the midst of this devastation.”

The longer I serve as pastor of a thriving church, the more I realize how VITAL prayer is!  Prayer is the link to a vibrant and fruitful ministry.

What if God granted you an opportunity to go back in time and speak to the wisest people who ever lived (people such as Moses, Apostle Paul, Solomon, Sojourner Truth, Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Fredrick Douglass)?  However, once you reached your destination, you sat at their feet and proceeded to do all the talking?  Would it be a worthwhile endeavor?  Did the aforementioned people need to know all you had to say?  Upon leaving would you wish you had talked less and listened more?  Incredibly, many people enter God’s holy presence in prayer and then do all the talking!

What God has to say to us is infinitely more important that what we have to say to Him, yet we generally monopolize the conversation. God already knows everything we plan to tell Him, yet we continue talking rather than allowing Him to tell us things we don’t know.  Why?  Our American individualist mindset tricks us to believe that we can dominate our conversation with God. Prayer is two-way communication, but it is not communication between two equal parties.

Tonight (7PM) we’ll gather @ the Mars Hill Baptist Church for our 1st Wednesday Worship.  This worship experience allows us to spend more time worshipping God and listening to the Word.  During tonight’s service, I will pose 5 Questions that will revolutionize the prayer lives of those in attendance.  The questions are as follows:

1. What is Prayer (the definition may surprise you)?
2. Why Pray (it’s not what you think)?
3. To Whom Do We Pray (is it God, Jesus, or The Holy Spirit)?
4. What Do God’s Answers Look Like (it’s more than, “God give me a sign”)?
5. What If There Is Silence?

Please come and join us!