Social Media Redefining Words

O.K., I admit I am not connected in all the social media forums that abound these days. I have a Facebook account and I use it only to view items my granddaughters and grandsons put up, such as pictures, etc. I spend almost no time updating my own pages, because I just do not believe the world is concerned about what I had for breakfast or where I am spending my time. I know some have gotten in trouble, even some pastors, for being too frank about what they said on Facebook or in a Twitter tweet.

What really concerns me is the fact that all this social media is redefining some of our words. For instance, what Facebook calls a "friend" is not what I consider a friend. Most of my Facebook friends are acquaintances, people I like, but hardly someone I would call at 3:00 A.M. to ask for help if I needed it, which is what I consider a friend. I don't even know how many Facebook friends I have, probably around a hundred, but there are probably not more than a few whom I feel like would respond to me if I needed their help in an emergency. The rest are nice folks, people I like, people I have a working knowledge of, some of whom I have worked with, but not what I would consider a real friend in the truest sense of the word. Facebook has taught us that we should measure one another by the number of individuals who have agreed to be our "friend".

Another word Facebook has redefined is "like". If you "like" something on Facebook, it has nothing to do with affection, but everything to do with whether or not you agree with what is being said on that particular page, or if you generally approve of it.

On Twitter the word that has been redefined is "followers". Some people like to keep up with the activity of famous people and have signed on as a "follower". Celebrities, T.V. anchors, etc. have worked to line up as many "followers" as possible, so they can brag about how many they have. Here's a question—Do you think Jesus would have a Twitter Account so that he could brag about how many followers He has? The word Jesus used for "followers" is disciple. Jesus tried to let His disciples ("followers") know that they would have to pay a price to follow Him. He said, "Foxes have holes and birds have nests but the Son of Man (Himself) has no place to lay His head." In other words, if you plan to follow Jesus you have to share His suffering. How many people would sign up to be a follower with that in mind?

So, today's social media has redefined what it means to be a friend and a follower, or what it means to "like" something. It has also given us "tweet", which is what we used think birds did. But, it has also caused us to have to look hard at a couple of other words, such as "communication" and "civility". Communication nowadays is a 140 character tweet that barely gets an idea across, rather than a conversation where two people discuss an issue face to face or at least ear to ear. Communication now is done with instruments other than the eyes and the ears. And "civility"? Forget about it. Think about how many people have learned to say things in a tweet or a Facebook post that they would never say in a face to face encounter? Ugly, spiteful things can be said, or rumors started by a social media contact. Some of the things that social media has caused are not healthy. While social media has been used for a lot of good things, like the uprisings in the Middle East, it has also been used in some destructive things like the Occupy Movement this past fall.

Also, it has been reported that social media has been responsible for an inordinate number of teen suicides because of its ability to spread false, destructive rumors, lies, and hateful statements throughout a whole school campus in mere minutes. With power like that, this media could and should be used for good. Like, why not use it to proclaim your faith and loyalty to Jesus to all your friends and followers? Sure, probably most of these folks who know you already know about your faith, but with the propensity to allow unlimited friends and followers, surely some of those people could benefit from your testimony.

Or, how about using it to have a Prayer Mob, meeting somewhere for an impromptu prayer meeting—to pray for your lost friends or your city, or your school? Since we have this media, let's get busy in the Christian community using it for the glory of the Lord. Perhaps you have already done something like that. How about sharing it with the rest of us by leaving a comment?

God Uses The Willing

For ten years I have had the privilege of serving on the board of Christian Unity Ministries, a ministry begun by my lawyer son. God has given him a passion for the health of the church, not just Baptist churches, but all churches. To communicate that passion the Lord has him to write three wonderful books. The primary text of the ministry is the Word of God, and Blake Coffee has taken from God's Word what he sees as five principles that help the church function well in its relationships. Relating to other people is what church is all about. We recognize that one cannot be in harmony with God and out of harmony with others. The question is, "How do we maintain that harmony with other people so as to stay in harmony with the Lord God?"

Blake's book Five Principles Of Unity has outlined the way churches can maintain harmony, or unity, in her fellowship. Christian Unity Ministries has dedicated itself to teaching those principles wherever God leads. By His mighty power he has seen the book translated into Japanese, Spanish, Russian, and the language of the South Africans. God has used these principles in hundreds of churches across America and in other nations such as Ukraine, Romania, and South Africa, as well as with a Japanese speaking church in Los Angeles who translated the book and uses it profusely.

For these first ten years the ministry has done well and has brought alongside Blake a marvelous corps of volunteers who not only have seen these principles at work in their own churches, but now have committed themselves to teach them elsewhere. That eclectic group includes a college professor, a city attorney, an Associate District Judge, an architect, a retired district judge, and a fund raiser, as well as one retired denominational executive. This group makes up the Executive Board of Christian Unity Ministries. Two weeks ago this group met and decided it was time to take the ministry to a whole new level. Step number one is to enlarge the board and seek to be inclusive of all denominations of the Christian faith. Already the new chairman of the board is not a Baptist, for the first time. The challenge is to find people who want to sign on to help spread the word that God has an answer for all the churches who need to understand it is all about how we relate to one another.

Step number two was to bring on board another executive who will oversee the operation of the ministry. Blake Coffee will continue to serve as Executive Director for programming. However, the Lord has brought to us Tom Cuthbert, a man who has started and grown businesses, to serve as Executive Director of Operations. Tom has set himself apart as a business growth consultant. He was the founder/CEO of Click Forensics (now Adometry). Currently, he chairs a group of CEO’s in San Antonio for Vistage International, one of the world’s leading CEO organizations. He loves God’s Word and has been teaching it in the local church for many years. He also has been in church leadership positions in times of severe conflict and his heart breaks for the devastation it can cause among God’s people

The ministry has made use of all media in the free world (and we mean free). Christian Unity Ministries is on Facebook, Twitter, and in the blog world. The ministry's blog at http://fiveprinciples.net this week has started a new feature called Principley Speaking which will feature one of these extremely confident board members sharing how they teach these principles in the churches to which they go. This week Dr. Ann Farris, a professor at Tarleton State University introduces the 5 principles and illustrates how she teaches people so they will not forget.

It has been an extreme joy for me to be part of this ministry for the past ten years, and to walk alongside my son as he developed the ministry concept in the manner God led him. It has also been a joy to welcome aboard those called by God to become part of this work, with no pay, and with an extreme commitment to the Word of God as taught through this ministry. The quality of this group of people is hard to imagine. How God brought them all together is a mystery to me, except that each of them had a personal experience where these principles were used to help their churches or to help them personally. Two district judges, a city attorney, a profoundly successful architect from Phoenix, etc.—all coming together because they believe in what this ministry seeks to accomplish in the churches.

I don't know where this ministry is headed under the new leadership Team of Directors Blake Coffee and Tom Cuthbert and board Chairman Kelley Kimble, but I know it will be a great ride and I can hardly wait to see where it goes. Who knows, it might even be to your church.

Clear Choice In 2012

Now that things have pretty well shaken out in the Republican race for who is going to run against the current president, one thing we know for sure. The candidate will be a conservative. There is one social conservative (Santorum), one classic conservative (Gingrich), and one moderate-conservative (Romney). Of course there is also a fourth man in the race, but he is really not a Republican and only uses the name of the party to get his Libertarian ideas out there. Ron Paul ran several times in Texas as a Libertarian Party candidate and could not get elected, so he became a Republican just to be able to get elected to something. I do not believe he can ever be a Republican nominee for president. However, with the amount of support he has garnered this time around, he might be tempted to run as a third party candidate, which will virtually assure President Obama's re-election.

In the three races so far Paul has come in second, third and fourth. Many of his libertarian ideas are registering with folks, but his foreign policy ideas are downright scary. In what promises to be a close race, Paul's running as a third party candidate with somewhere near 10% of the vote will be enough to elect Obama to a second term.

While it appears the Obama people think they are going to be running against Romney, already taking out ads against him, they may have counted their chickens a bit early. However, if Romney wins in Florida, that may just about sow it up for him. But Gingrich is surging right now and may pull off an upset in Florida. One wonders if there are really enough Gingrich-type conservatives in Florida to give him a victory such as the one he got in South Carolina. Newt has already confounded the pundits, most of whom have counted him dead in the water at least three times so far. In my view, Gingrich, with all his warts, may be the best one to debate Obama, but Romney probably has the best chance of winning the election.

One thing has been interesting. That group of religious conservatives, including the Southern Baptist spokesman Richard Land, that met in Houston the other day to try to derail Romney failed. This was a clear loss for this group of social conservatives. One wonders how much influence they will have going forward.

Personally, I do not believe we will know who the nominee is until Super Tuesday in March. That is the time when the importance of winning delegates will crop up. Until now it has just been preliminary activity. After Florida things will start to straighten out. The bottom line is that whoever of this group gets the nomination, he will be a better candidate than John McCain was—and more conservative. This will give us a clear choiuce between a Chicago liberal and a conservati8ve. One thinks government is the answer to everything. The other thinks that which governs least governs best.

69 TO 1

The Executive Board voted 69-1 to elect David Hardage as Executive Director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. There are several ways to look at that vote. One way is to think that if I were the one that voted against Hardage, I would resign from the board because I am obviously out of step with the mainstream thinking of other board members. Another way is to look at this fellow as a brave soul who was not afraid to voice the convictions of his heart. Still another way to look at it is that the 69 who voted "yes" must have been wrong if there was not a unanimous vote. That, of course, is absurd.

Some will praise the one who voted "no" as a man of courage and conviction. Some of us will just believe that this guy might not have prayed about his vote enough to discern God's will, as expressed by an overwhelming majority. I personally do not think it is necessarily courageous to be the only one to vote "no". If 69 people voted "yes" because they believed it to be God's will, then the one "no" vote was obviously someone not in the will of God. Instead of saying, "God bless him", we should be looking for a way to encourage the guy to resign from the board. He is obviously not thinking like his brothers and sisters on the executive board.

Does this mean that I do not appreciate the democratic process? Absolutely not. It does mean that I am a fierce proponent of praying to seek God's will to find consensus in all matters and if 69 people all heard God say, vote "Yes", then obviously the one who voted "No" did not hear God. Of course, it is always possible that the one who voted "No" was the only one who heard God's voice and the others just went along to get along. I guess you readers will have to decide that for yourself. It is also possible that God led this fellow to vote "No" just so no one would get the impression that things are all going to be going smoothly. It is also possible that this person had a personal vendetta against Hardage, stemming from some long ago encounter with him. We don't know the real reasons for anyone's vote, but we just know it is what it is.

In any event, starting February 1, David Hardage will sit in the Executive Director's chair. I for one am very happy about that. According to Marv Knox's Baptist Standard article, his interview with David got a lot of "I don't know" responses from the new E.D. In other words, it appears he is not coming into the job with a preconceived vision and an agenda. That is a good thing, in my opinion. Formulating a vision will require some time, a lot of prayer, and a lot of discussions with staff and committee leadership. Hardage should not be expected to have a complete vision for where he wants to see the convention go in the years ahead. Of course, he could always contact some bloggers who seem to think they know what is best for the convention, me included. My belief is that David is a man of God who is led by the Holy Spirit and will form whatever vision for the BGCT that God leads him to formulate. That's what godly men do.

In spite of the fact there are some who think the BGCT is on its last legs, there are a lot of us who do not feel that way. Those who cannot see anything good in this old convention are nowhere near being in the majority and will have little to do with the future of it. Naysayers have always existed in the Christian religion and Baptists have always had more than their share. 69-1 seems to indicate that there are not many, at least, on the Executive Board. The board members positively affirmed the hard work of the Search Committee with their overwhelming vote. We should not focus on the 1, but on the 69.

Be On Mission Is More Than Just A Slogan

For most Texas Baptists, the phrase "Be on mission" has a real meaning. For literally thousands it has meant actually going to a mission field, either internationally or home missions, or even across the city in their own location. For the Baptist General Convention of Texas "Be On Mission" has become a web-based clearing house for anyone who desires to go, to take a group, or to support one of hundreds of mission projects all over the globe.

The web site is http://texasbaptists.org/beonmission/, and I highly recommend that pastors or youth leaders or anyone else contemplating taking a group on a mission trip take a look at the most complete catalog of opportunity to do missions I have ever seen.

The web site was designed and is administered by Elizabeth Biedrzycki (Pronounced Bid-risky), someone I know very well. Elizabeth grew up being on mission with her family, her church, and sometimes with other groups. It is in her DNA to be on mission, which made her an ideal person to design and work with this web site for Texas Baptists. She was just a small child when her family started taking her to Cuidad Acuna in Mexico to work there. Recently, she went to South Africa with her dad to work in churches there. She doesn't just promote the work, she does it.

I am a big believer in church groups going on mission trips. I strongly believe it is what God wants us to do, and if we cannot go ourselves, I believe we should all help others go and pray for them as they do so.

As you visit http://texasbaptists.org/beonmission/ you will find hundreds of places where you can take a group, large or small. There are map pins for each location and when you click on each pin you will find project details and contact information for helping out. Almost every continent and every state in the USA is shown with a need.

You will see red, green and blue map pins. The red ones are the open opportunities, which the green are on-going projects, and the blue are completed projects. Red is the dominant color on the world map, with so many opportunities open and waiting.

Go ahead. Click on http://texasbaptists.org/beonmission/ and see for yourself.

Tebow Has An Effect

Tim Tebow, the quarterback of the Denver Broncos NFL Team, has had an effect on the propagation of the Christian message. While he was leading the Florida University team, Tebow usually blacked his eyes with tape on which was stenciled John 3:16.

Last week, while leading his team to a victory in a playoff game over the Steelers, Tebow amassed 316 passing yards, with an average of 31.6 yards on each completed pass. The resulting media flourish was to connect Tebow's John 3:16 eye black with his statistics in the game, a sort of numerology exercise. Google reports that literally thousands of people googled John 3:16 to find out what all the fuss was about. So, without ever saying a word, Tebow was responsible for thousands discovering the central message of the Christian faith, and hearing that God loves them.

Tebow is often criticized for his demonstrations of his Christian faith. Where other athletes pound their chests and celebrate dramatically, which is a complete turnoff to many football purists, such as myself, Tebow usually kneels and offers a pray of thanksgiving to God. His overtly praising God is a turnoff to many in the media. He has been the butt of skits on Saturday Night Live, jokes on Leno and Letterman and in many comedic routines. But, undaunted by all this, Tebow just goes on being Tebow and letting the world know he loves the Lord.

The son of missionary parents, Tebow grew up on a mission field in the Philippines. With his multi-million dollar football contract, Tebow is building a children's hospital in the Philippines. He is being emulated by hundreds, if not thousands, of high school players who are now emboldened to share their faith, as Tebow does.

In a world where so many athletes exhibit a selfishness beyond description, Tebow is a refreshing change. While many of us believe God does not care about football, we all believe God cares about football players. So, to the critics I say, "Chill out." There are a lot worse things a guy like Tim Tebow could be doing to influence our kids. What he is doing is God-honoring, which is more than can be said for the criticism being waged against him.

The Tall Poppy Syndrome

On one of my trips to Australia, ministering in a church there, the pastor introduced me to what is known down under as "The Tall Poppy Syndrome." The metaphor was to compare some people to a field of poppies, where all the Poppies were beautifully uniform, except for an occasional one that stuck its head above all the rest. My pastor friend told me that in his country they often had to deal with some ministers in their group or members of their congregations would occasionally start thinking they were a bit better than all the rest and would elevate themselves above their peers, at which time the others felt it necessary to cut them down a peg or two.

We have had a marvelous example of this metaphor in the Republican presidential field, where there have been several who found themselves "leading" in the polls, only to find themselves cut down by the remaining candidates. The most dangerous place to be is at the top of the polls. Achieving that immediately places a target on whosever back was te current leader.

Jesus, in Matthew 6, warned those who practiced their religion for the praise of men, rather than the praise of God. Jesus used the word "beware"—a clear warning to those who fell victim to the Tall Poppy Syndrome.

Whether one is a politician, a preacher, a Sunday school teacher, a deacon or just an ordinary lay person, he/she should be careful not to fall victim to the Tall Poppy Syndrome. Standing taller than others in the field makes one an easy target for the Great Cultivator of all growing things.