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Here is a cool rendition of a word cloud — brought to you by Wordle.  Quite addictive.  Bet you can’t guess what this blog is about?

Click on the image to expand.

Gary Rohyrmayer writes in Developing a Sowing Mentality-Part 2:

4. Those with a “sowing mentality” are not particular about methods, “…whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well…”

In my experience too many church leaders get stuck or inebriated with a particular style of evangelism. Yet leaders with a sowing mentality understand it is never an “either/or” proposition but more of a “both/and” conviction. Equipping your people through a highly relational and incarnational style of evangelism is the first place to start but it does not rule out doing a systematic visitation or follow up process that is built on the connections with your public worship service. Equipping your people to be includers and inviters does not nullify the use of social networking, various types of marketing and branding your vision and image throughout your city. The old revivalist Leonard Ravenhill said, “Any method of evangelism will work if God is in it.”

Are you stuck with one form of evangelism?  Can you use the many different forms that are available?

What’s in a sign’s name?

A few days ago, the Washington Post published a report about churches renaming themselves in order to avoid a perceived stigma that the name “Baptist” carries in the mind of some people.

Claude Mariottini (link broken) speaks about the article but moves into four reasons why churches are unable to bring people into membership.

1. Lack of Spiritual Power
2. Lost Missionary Fervor
3. Lack of costly discipleship
4. Universalism.

Rapture site

I can’t tell if this article is serious or not. Website let Christians email their friends after Rapture.

YouveBeenLeftBehind.com lets subscribers send an e-mail message to up to 62 people exactly six days after they’ve disappeared from the face of the Earth, Wired Magazine’s Threat Level reports.

The website, run by Mark Heard along with four other Christians, dispatches the e-mails when at least three staff members fail to log in for six consecutive days. Its main purpose is to give Christians one final shot at evangelism.

In addition to the e-mail function, users of YouveBeenLeftBehind.com can also store personal and financial documents on the site. Up to 150 megabytes of information would be sent to up to 12 people after the presumed rapture.

“In the encrypted portion of your account you can give them access to your banking, brokerage, hidden valuables, and powers of attorneys,” explains the site.

“There won’t be any bodies, so probate court will take seven years to clear your assets to your next of kin. Seven years, of course, is all the time that will be left. So, basically the Government of the Antichrist gets your stuff, unless you make it available in another way.”

For a monthly subscription fee, you to can pay to have your witnessing automated after the rapture via auto responder.  Wow,  I don’t know if I’m to laugh or be embarrassed.

Can you imagine what it would be like if churches were marketed as breakfast cereals?

• Post Modern Flakes, I tried these, there were too Sweet and I needed to take Alka-Stetzer
• Frosted Liturgicals, best served chilled with extra trappings
• Reform Church Crunch, now 25% more fortified against change
• Holy Ghost Toasties, a scoop of nuts in every box!
• Cell Church Congra-bits, homemade flavor, less committees
• Cheeful-ios, Popped with psychology and a pat of answers
• Praisin’ Bran, All Hymns for Older Believers
• Multisite-O-Meal, merging with a church near you!
• Sweet-N-Seeker, Flavored with tasty sound bites
• Contempo-Pops, new from HillSong Farms

Okay, just having a little fun there.

Source: Ministry Marketing Coach.