The Equip Network

My absence from blogging has a good reason (at least as far as I'm concerned). This blog post is to give you a big reason why. Time is hard to come by in my life these days and blogging gets lowered on the priority list. Hopefully as everything kicks into gear I'll be able to spend some of my morning meditation time to blog about what I'm thinking on that day. We shall see :). Until then here is a brief explanation of my latest adventure.

Things have been a bit crazy around so I have not really been able to tell you much about an exciting project with which I have been involved. The project is a quality Christian podcast network called The Equip Network. Let me tell you a little bit about how it all came to be.

On December 11^th of last year I was invited to be on a podcast called iPreach and talk about using Facebook to advertise to your community. Shortly after that I was invited to be a co-host on iPreach for one episode. All of this got me thinking about starting my own podcast so I contacted Joe Wells and Wesley Walker and around March of this year we launched a podcast called Engage! – Where Christ & Culture Meet. Our listenership quickly shot up. It wasn’t long and I got together with Dale Jenkins of iPreach to talk to Michael Hite about starting a podcast about using technology better in ministry. That was the birth of MinistryGeek This Week which has been a huge success. Our minds kept moving and we said, “Wouldn’t it be great to have a whole network of podcasts to help Christians in every aspect of their Christian walk.” That idea gave birth to The Equip Network which we launched on August 30^th at Polishing the Pulpit.

The Equip Network is a family podcasts that is rapidly expanding. We launched with six active podcasts: iPreach, Engage, MinistryGeek This Week, Equipped Today, LiveNOW.teen, and The Hey Joe Show. On October 1^st our newest podcast, Behind the Pulpit, will launch with Wayne Roberts and Bob Turner hosting. And that is just the beginning. We have about five more shows starting production in the near future. It’s an exciting adventure because instead of being on the backside of the wave we are getting in on the front. We are able to use technology to get the ancient gospel into the hands of the multitudes.

So make your way over to TheEquipNetwork.com and take a listen to all our podcasts. You can even subscribe to Equipped Today which is a daily 2-5 minute spiritual thought podcast that will help you get your day started out in the right direction! Next week Glenn Colley is going to be hosting Equipped Today. You won’t want to miss it!

Sow The Seed,

Caleb O’Hara

Don't Go Anywhere!

It ought to be no surprise that I haven't blogged for about a month. The only reason being this time is that I've "engaged" in some new adventures. With the launch of Engage! - Where Christ and Culture Meet last month we have been busy as bees dealing with all that starting a new show entails.

It only took a month and I "engaged" a new adventure of being a side-kick on another new podcast MinistryGeek This Week with Michael Hite. On MinistryGeek This Week Michael and I talk about issues that relate to ministry and technology along with our fellow geek Dale Jenkins. I'm not just saying this because I am part of the show, but I truly believe that this show will be a major help to anyone involved in the Lord's work at any level. The world around us is changing faster than ever before. What are we going to do to take the never-changing Gospel to an ever-changing world? That's exactly the question we are seeking to answer on MinistryGeek This Week.

Another reason my blog has been bare is because I'm working on a total make-over of the blog. It's in the works and almost finish. Once the change goes into affect I will (hopefully) be able to keep up with the blog more often.

There is also one more piece of information, but I can't share it with you right now! There is one more big project that I'm in the process of "engaging" and it's going to really, really, really exciting. It's too early to break the news though! Hold on tight though because it's going to be BIG! REALLY BIG!

Sow the Seed,

Caleb O'Hara

Study...

Today I sent in my article for Kaio magazine - The Christian magazine for teens. The entire issue is on Bible Study for teens, young adults, and everybody really. I have a regular column aptly named "Bible Study" that I write for in just about every issue. Sometimes I enthusiastically send my article off. Other times I hesitantly send them off, and even then only because the editor threatens my life if I don't send it NOW! When I sent my article off today I was more excited than I have ever been. It wouldn't be right for me to publish the whole thing here (why would anyone buy the magazine if they could get all the articles online for free), but I'm going to give you a little sneak peak... shhhhhhh! Don't tell the editor!

Why does any of that really matter? Well if you care about the destiny of your soul it matters. Peter speaking of Paul’s writings says that in them there “are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16). Did you catch that? Destruction! Failure on your part to properly study and apply Scripture can lead to your own destruction. That is exactly what happened to the people of Israel. God says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you…” (Hosea 4:6). Are you still sure you want to leave study up to your parents, your preacher, and your Bible class teacher? Now stop reading this and start studying the Scriptures!

If you want to read the rest of it you have to get a subscription. Better yet, get a subscription for you and some teens and young adults too!

Engage! - Where Christ & Culture Meet Podcast Feed

Last night was our first live broadcast of Engage! - Where Christ & Culture Meet. If you missed the live recording you can still listen by subscribing to our podcast feed. Just click the link below and it will guide you through the process. Please send us your feedback to EngagePodcast@Gmail.com. We would love to hear what you think.

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Engage! - Where Christ & Culture Meet

This evening at 5:00 pm Pacific Time is the pilot live podcast of Engage! - Where Christ & Culture Meet. The show is co-hosted by Joe Wells, Wesley Walker, and your's truly. We will be engaging real issues that culture presents to Christians today. So get engaged!

You can participate in a number of ways. First, you can join us live through Talkshoe http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/76639. If you log in with a microphone, or call in with your landline or mobile phone, we just might take your call and talk with you live. You can also just listen live and type in our chat room. If you are unable to join us live you can listen to the show through the Talkshoe page. You can also subscribe to our RSS feed and start downloading the episodes through a podcatcher like iTunes.

We hope you get engaged!

The Church

A lesson I gave a month or so ago on the church. Thought I'd share with everyone.

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Random Thought on Deconstruction

Last night I caught a documentary on Jacques Derrida. I was already familiar with his pervasive influence on the world through his philosophy of deconstruction. Deconstruction is the result of trying to make a case against the philosophy of structuralism. Structuralism taught that there was a system of knowledge and understanding that brought about clear cut, definable, basic concepts. Poststructuralism, to which deconstruction belongs, is a rebellion against the idea that we really know anything. The task of the deconstructionist is to simply take something and deconstruct it to show that there is a contradiction in there somewhere. And if contradiction exists you cannot claim it to be true. The methods the deconstructionist gets to use are at his whim and do not even have to be rational. He claims rationalism is not true and therefore he does not have to be rational (convenient eh?). Well how does he know rationalism is not true? Because he deconstructed it of course!

Poststructuralism would eventually give birth to postmodernism. Many of the ideas and concepts of the two cannot be separated. Understanding this helps one to understand what we are facing with the prolific indoctrination of postmodernism in our society and in theology. Our postmodern “theologians” that run in the church of Christ circles have one basic objective; to deconstruct our established belief system. How do they do this? By trying to create contradictions in the system of thinking (remember their arguments do not have to be rational or logical because ration and logic are flawed). They believe that if they can deconstruct and show a flaw or contradiction that they have proved their case that our entire belief system is no good (more accurately the system we use to arrive at our beliefs). This old system, therefore, must be tossed out and replaced with a new one.

Now back to Derrida. After watching the irrational Derrida for an hour and a half (Derrida would not be insulted by calling him irrational; He would probably wear it as a badge of honor) I’ve arrived at a few conclusions. One of them I will share here. Derrida claims he now knows that we cannot know anything about anything unless we know everything about it. The irony is that he is certain he knows this. That leads me to one of three conclusions: Deridda knows everything, Deridda doesn't really believe what he says, or Deridda is unconsciously showing that reality and his philosophy are in two totally different realms.

Excel Still More: The Visitor

Our worship assembly is a special time. It is a time when we gather together as the church at one time and in one place, all with the same purpose. The worship assembly is first and foremost about God’s children coming together to worship Him and to build one another up (i.e. Ephesians 5:19ff, etc…).

There is another element to our assembly that the Bible speaks of, and that is the element of the visitor to the assembly. James mentions the visitor to the assembly:

“My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? ”(James 2:1–5, NASB95)

James is showing that the attention you give (or do not give) to individuals in your assembly is an expression of your “religion” (James 1:27). If you fail to greet and treat your visitor with the love that you have for yourself you are failing to keep the Law of the King (James 2:8). This makes you a hearer and not a doer (James 1:22). This places us in a position of judging our neighbor (James 2:4) and James asks, “but who are you judge your neighbor?” (James 4:12).

Failure to greet and treat the visitor in our assembly is a serious matter. How we treat them is an honest reflection of our true nature and condition. If we fail to show the visitor in our assembly the love that we would want shown to us, we find ourselves in a place of judgment.
Based upon this truth here are several suggestions of ways that will aid us in carrying out the royal law towards our visitors in our assemblies. First have visitor eyes. Visitor eyes are the basis upon which the rest of the suggestions are built. As an individual, and as a whole church, it is necessary to develop and commit to an attitude of always thinking about the visitor in your midst. It’s easy to watch the visitor walk in and out. It’s even easy to say a word or two to them. But visitor eyes are a heart and attitude that wants to see that the visitor is treated the way you would want to be treated if you were visiting.

Second you can ask a visitor to sit with you. A big group of people they have never met before can be very intimidating. When a friendly smile asks a visitor to sit with them it can go a very long ways. This allows the visitor to feel at ease as you are helping them through the motions so they aren’t asking themselves constantly, “Am I doing what I’m supposed to do? I don’t want to stand out!”

Third you can have assigned greeters at the doors of your assembly location. This is a good way to make sure that visitors are quickly greeted upon arrival. The greeters make sure that the visitors’ information is taken so you can follow up with the visitor. The greeter also will explain to the visitor what classes are going on and where their children’s classes are. The greeters can also hand out any material you have specifically designed for the visitor. It’s a good idea to have a visitor’s packet with information for the visitor to take home. There is one word of caution on assembly greeters. It’s very easy for the entire assembly to thing that since we have greeters I don’t need to do anything personally with the visitors. This could not be further from the truth. The greeter does not replace the individual responsibility of each and every member to show his true religion towards each and every visitor.

Fourth you need to follow up with your visitors. A follow up contact expresses to the visitor that you thought about them. Try to make your follow up contact as personal as you can. In other words, don’t just send say generic things in generic ways. If you send them an email, or a letter, try to include something personal about their visit. Maybe mention something they said to you when they visited. Maybe mention something from the assembly that day. You can also get a group together that takes turns delivering cookies and a thank you for visiting card to all your visitors a day or two after their visit. The best way to be sure your visitor will only be a one-time visitor is to not follow up.

Fifth you can ask your visitor out to eat. It just so happens that our assemblies usually end right before meal time. What a great opportunity to ask your visitors out to lunch. You can spend that time getting to know them better as well as talking to them about the church. By doing this you are already connecting the visitor to the church and beginning the process of relationship building.

Sixth, and finally, is to be devoted to F-3-4-V. F-3-4-V stands for first three for visitors, and means that every single member should spend the first three minutes IMMEDIATELY after the assembly to SEEK out ALL the visitors that day. Once you find them you personally introduce yourself and tell them how much you appreciated their presence, and how you are looking forward to them coming back. Just imagine an entire room full of people lining up to greet the visitors. Imagine how you would feel if that’s how you were treated. You would feel special! So will our visitors if we do the same. This is easy to implement. All it takes is educating the members on what F34V stands for. Then whoever dismisses the assembly simply has to say “Members, always remember, F34V.” This way the visitors don’t know that you are reminding the members to greet them, and at the same time it’s reminding your members to greet them.

You may think, “We do a good job at greeting our visitors.” That very well may be true. But the question should be, “can we do better?” Can we excel still more? Sure we can! What will you do to excel still more in showing the visitor to the assembly that you love them as yourself?

It's All Greek To Me

On Thursdays I speak in chapel at the Hughson Christian School. It’s my old education institution of the fourth grade. It was just me and Joanne Dee in the fourth grade. Mrs. Gillaspie was our teacher. She also had second and third graders. Mr. Gillaspie, her husband, taught us Bible about one day a week. It was almost twenty years ago that I was in fourth grade there, and Mrs. Gillaspie is still teaching! Mr Gillaspie, however, was taken from this world after being hit by a drunk driver while on his postal route.

Mr. Gillaspie was a very special person. When I think about him today I think of a person that cared about me. It wasn’t a job… it was him being who he was. One memory I have that I will never forget is when he took me and a couple other guys backpacking for a few days.

Now I fill Mr. Gillaspie’s shoes once a week, to the best of my ability, by teaching thirteen third through eight graders Bible. I feel like I owe it to him. What better way to honor the life of someone than to try to pick up where he left off and keep his work moving forward. So Mr. Gillaspie, if you have internet up there, I hope you’re proud of me.

That was just the introduction! This segment is something I’d like to call, “It’s All Greek To Me.” I’ve only had these kids for about four sessions including today. The first fifteen minutes of class we’ve been learning the Greek alphabet. Yes, the Greek alphabet. We have a club called the “It’s All Greek To Me” club. Entrance into the club is simple. You must be able to recite the entire Greek alphabet from memory. Today almost half the class entered the club after only four weeks!

What about you? Can you join the club? You better get started now or these kids are going to be giving you a run for your money. They are quickly putting the tools in their belt to be able to do excellent Bible study by looking up words in original language sources. If third through eighth graders can do it don’t you think you can? Come on and join the club!

Excel Still More

            Jesus is perfect, man is not. There is no room for improvement with Jesus, there is for man. No matter how good we are right now, we can be better.  In a passage that is often neglected, or quickly read past, for fear of addressing false ideas on individual predestination, there is a great lesson we must learn, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren ” (Romans 8:29, NASB95). God predetermined before he created anything in this world that it was going to be those who were becoming “conformed to the image of His son” that would be His saved people. What that means is we are in a constant process of pressing the clay of our lives into the perfect mold of Jesus. We are constantly pushing the clay into the mold and never completely getting there. It’s when we keep pushing though that Jesus fills in the gaps with regard to our justification before God. This is a process that is unending until the day we die!

            No matter where you are at spiritually in your relationship and work for the Lord - You can do better! You can excel still more! Paul writes to the church in Thessalonica praising them every chance he gets about the great things they are doing. Even in all of that he says, “Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more ” (1 Thessalonians 4:1). He also says, “Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more ” (1 Thessalonians 4:9–10). Did you catch that? He says you are doing a fantastic job at walking in the instruction of the Lord, but excel still more! You are doing a fantastic job in love towards the brethren, but excel still more! You can do better!

            You might be the best song leader that this church has ever seen, but you can excel still more! You might be the best encourager this church has ever seen, but you can excel still more! You might be the biggest giver this church has ever seen, but you can excel still more! You may attend assemblies more that 25% of the congregation, but you can excel still more. You may be the best person at studying in the congregation, but you can excel still more. You may be the best Bible class teacher the church has ever had, but you can excel still more. Are you getting the picture here? No matter what work you are doing, no matter where you are spiritually, you are not perfect (because God alone is perfect) and you have room to excel still more! 

            T.F. Hanson, a creative engineer, says “progress infers change, since things cannot get better if they remain the same” (Engineering Creativity, pg. 13). Excelling still the more infers that even if what you are doing now “works” you have to take risks to do better. We don’t like taking risks most of the time, we just like staying with the old tradition. We know it works, we’ve been doing it that way for X number of years. Yes it may “work” but it may not be the best! We can excel still more if we are willing to change! Einstein said after the first atomic explosion, “Everything has changed, except the way we think."

Thomas Edison said, “Human inertia is the problem, not the invention. Something in man makes him resist change.” This quality is good when we are talking about people trying to change the things of which God has given to us, because if He gave them they are perfect; the design of the church, worship, salvation, etc…! But when it comes to matters of expedience this mindset is one of the biggest enemies of the church. A lack of desire to excel still the more, an unwillingness to change, an unwillingness to push beyond our comfort zones in the way we think about something “working.” God expects better of us. He demands us to “excel still more!”

What are you going to do to excel still more in your walk and work with the Lord? Take an inventory of where you are. Write down these questions and then answer them (be specific i.e. “I worship whenever I can” is not specific):

1.      How often do I worship with the brethren?

2.      How many people do I talk to at worship? Are they the same people every time?

3.      Do I participate in the worship?

4.      Do I participate in the teaching program?

5.      Do I participate in the church work through programs like Monday Night for the Mast?

6.      How many people have I tried to have a spiritual discussion with in the world?

7.      How many people have I invited to worship?

8.      What do I do to grow my relationship with my spouse?

9.      What do I do to build up my family?

10.  What do I do to be an influence for Christ on my job?

11.  What do I do to see that the churches work is done?

Now look over the list and your answers. Set a goal that is an excelling of where you are now. For instance, “How often do I worship with the brethren?” You may answer once a week. Set a goal to worship two or three times. Go through the entire list this way. Now when you are finished you need to make a commitment that you are going to excel still more so you can meet those goals. As you analyze the list you may find that you don’t know how to excel. You need information, you need instruction, and you need to be equipped to meet those goals. That is where your church leadership steps in! The function of the leadership is to equip you for service (Ephesians 4:11ff). Simply go to one of the elders, deacons, or minister and tell them you need help. If they can’t provide the help individually they will all be sure that you get what you need; that you are equipped to excel still more. Now GO do it!

Excel Still More,

Caleb O’Hara

The Changing Culture

            Times are different from what they once were. It used to be that everyone pretty much assumed everyone had good intentions. It used to be the case that you could leave you home and not lock the door, expecting fully that everything would be just the way you left it when you returned. It used to be assumed that when you got married you stayed married. It also used to be the case that everyone believe the Bible was from God, even if they didn't follow it and accept it. These days are passed, and it's time for us to realize it.

            The largest group inside of Christendom that has realized this is a movement called the Emerging Church Movement. This movement has some major flaws and as a whole is entirely heretical (many more details forthcoming). The problem is that when they are the only people addressing this situation (the change in culture) they get to dictate the response to it. It is time for the Lord's people to step up, acknowledge the change in culture, and figure out how to keep on sounding the unchanging message to the changing culture. If we fail to do this the others who teach a Gospel of full embrace of the culture, which is not really another Gospel, will continue to set the pace for those looking towards Christianity.

            What are some ways we can better understand our culture and address it? First of all, our culture is media saturated. Don't believe me? Internet, Sattalite HDTVs, IPhones, IPods, Laptops, Desktops, TV's in the car, TV's on airplanes, everywhere you turn you are hit hard with media. Our culture suffers from media overload. There is so much information thrown out that people cannot possibly take it all in. That being the case, they surely aren't going to give material a second glance if it is not presented in such a way as to catch their attention. We must find ways to utilize media and communicate God's message through it, instead of having an attitude that media is just bad. When you get down to it, words are media. The printed page of the Bible is media. If media is inherently bad then the Bible is inherently bad – none of us are going to say that are we?

            Second, we have to start addressing the questions people are asking. People today question whether or not truth exists. They question whether Jesus was a real person. They question whether or not the Bible is really God's word, or just a bunch of man's stories. They question the very concept of exclusion. All of these fundamental questions must be addressed. We have to start putting more effort into confronting these questions so that we can lead people to the One person they desperately need – Christ.

            Your challenge is to start thinking about the culture you live in. Instead of merely being upset about it, start thinking about how to reach it. What can you do to better communicate God's message to the culture where you live? How can you cut through the media fog with the crystal clear message of Christ?

Sow the Seed,

Caleb O'Hara