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In a New York Times magazine article (“Facebook in a Crowd,” 10-26-08), Hal Niedzviecki reflected on social media sites—specifically, Facebook. Soon after starting a Facebook account, Niedzviecki had accumulated about 700 on-line “friends.” In his own words, he was “absurdly proud of how many cyberpals, connections, acquaintances, and even strangers I’d managed to sign up.” But he went on to point out that due to a 2-year-old at home, his “workaholic irritability,” even his love of being left alone, he had fewer in-the-flesh friends to hang out with than he’d ever had before. So he decided to have a Facebook party to push his virtual friends into actual friends.

Niedzviecki invited all 700 of his “friends” to a local bar for a party. People could respond to one of three options: “Attending,” “Maybe Attending” and “Not Attending.” Fifteen said they would be there, and sixty said they might be there. He guessed somewhere around 20 would show up.

He writes about what happened next: “On the evening in question I took a shower. I shaved. I splashed on my tingly man perfume. I put on new pants and a favorite shirt. Brimming with optimism, I headed over to the neighborhood watering hole and waited. And waited. And waited. Eventually, one person showed up.”

And the one woman who showed up to meet Niedzviecki? He didn’t know her. She was a friend of a friend. They ended up making small talk and then she left.

Hal waited till midnight but no one else showed up. So, he ordered a beer and sulked. He concludes his article with these words: “Seven hundred friends, and I was drinking alone.”  (via hal@brokenpencil.com)

Here’s my take on this story: Niedzviecki NEEDS A CHURCH FAMILY!  The people I see who are connected and church and on Facebook are truly connected.  Sure, not all your “friends” on Facebook are truly “friends.”  And sure, not everyone you know at church is truly “family.”  But those who choose to really participate in a healthy local church develop a true family that shows up!

“Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood” (Acts 20:28).

This verse, a part of Paul’s parting exhortation to the pastors in Ephesus, contains valuable words for every pastor. Notice four points:

First, we must keep watch over ourselves before we can keep watch over the flock. John Stott writes of pastors: “For they cannot care adequately for others if they neglect the care and culture of their own souls” (The Message of Acts, 326).  Are you keeping watch over yourself?

Second, we must keep watch over the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made us overseers.  The words “elders” (v.17), “overseers” (v. 28), and “shepherds” (v. 28) are all used interchangeably as different words to describe the pastors (as in 1 Peter 5:1-2).  Shepherds are to lead, feed, guard, and care for the sheep.  How are we doing on each of these?

Third, we are shepherds of “the church of God.”  It is not our church.  It is not the member’s church.  It is God’s church.  Jesus is the head/senior/lead pastor.  It is to him that we will give an account for how we shepherd under him.  “And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away” 1 Peter 5:4.

Fourth, the flock we shepherd was “bought by his own blood.”  That’s how God looks at his flock.  We are not to view our sheep like literal sheep: dumb, smelly, and wayward.  We are to view them as God views them: precious, valuable, blood-bought!

Richard Baxter, writing in the language of 1656, drives this point home:

“Oh then, let us hear these arguments of Christ, whenever we feel ourselves grow dull and careless: ‘Did I die for them, and wilt not thou look after them?  Were they worth my blood and are they not worth thy labour? Did I come down from heaven to earth, to seek and to save that which was lost; and wilt thou not go to the next door or street or village to seek them? How small is thy labour and condescension as to mine?  I debased myself to this, but it is thy honour to be so employed.  Have I to make thee co-worker with me, and wilt thou refuse that little that lieth upon thy hands?’” (The Reformed Pastor, 121-122 quoted by Stott).

Some thoughts to encourage and challenge fellow pastors.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbjEUEnwpx4

“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” (2 Corinthians 13:14, NIV)

Here is a challenging and thought-provoking excerpt from The Way to Pentecost by Samuel Chadwick:

Fellowship or “communion” [KJV] means partnership. The word passes through various phases in the New Testament, and is variously translated, but the idea of sharing runs through them all. In Luke 5:10, it is said that James and John, sons of Zebedee, were partners with Simon. Paul says of Titus (II Cor. 8:23) that he was his partner and fellow laborer; that is, they were colleagues in the ministry of the Church. Of Philemon and Onesimus it is used in the still more intimate sense of comradeship. The communion of the Holy Ghost, therefore, means that we are partners, colleagues, comrades with the Spirit of God. We are partners in vocation and resources, sharers in work and power….

The Apostolic Benediction prays: “The communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all.” (1 Cor. 13:14, KJV) All the blessings of communion are for each believer. There is nothing promised to the Church that does not belong to its humblest member. The Spirit of God is not the monopoly of any particular class. There is nothing done by a minister that may not be done by anyone to whom the Holy Spirit is given. Let that be quite clear. Everyone can say: The Holy Ghost comes into partnership with me. He is my Helper, my Witness, my Teacher, my Guide, my Strength. For all the will of God we each have the Spirit with all His resources of wisdom and power. All things are possible to the soul strengthened with His might and led in His wisdom. If these things be true, wherein lies the explanation of our weakness and reproach? Where is the note of certainty in our testimony? Where is the prevailing power of prayer? Where is the power that overturns strongholds and casts out devils?

The communion of the Spirit is with us. He seeks partnership with us. His resources are inexhaustible, and His power invincible, but! but! but! There are reserves, conditions, interests; barriers that hinder, grieve, and quench the Spirit. He is held up by the barriers of unbelief, and prayerless living, worldly ambition, stupid vanity, and inflated pride. He longs for our fellowship. For the sake of Christ and the Kingdom of Grace, He longs to be admitted to confidence and co-operation. He wants a central place in our hearts, and to be admitted to the life of the soul. He comes to co-operate, and co-operation waits for confidence and consent. Where there is “agreement” there is power. Service becomes mighty in this fellowship. All the conditions of power are met in “the supply of the Spirit.” Personality is quickened and sanctified. Sympathy is deepened and enlightened, and in sympathy are the discernment that understands and the appeal that woos and wins. Weakness becomes strength when the Spirit of Might comes upon us. Ordinary men become wonderful when clothed with the Spirit of Power.

Weakness is a reproach when such might is at our service. Defeat is dishonor when the partnership of God is rejected. With the communion of the Holy Ghost at our command, what manner of men we ought to be! With such a partnership what mighty works we ought to do! There are no limits to His power. There are no reserves in His communion. There is no respect of persons with Him. Why do we set boundaries to His work, limit His activities, and refuse His appeal? He brings all, let us give all. “The Spirit which He has planted within us jealously longs for our love.” He seeks to enter into communion with us in all our life, and in return He will lead us into the communion of all that He has and is. Sign the deed today, and there will come the joy and power of the Holy Spirit of God who is the Spirit of Christ. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all.” (2 Cor. 13:14, KJV)

I’m standing in front of the Parthenon on the Acropolis in the center of Athens.  When Paul arrived in Athens (Acts 17) the Parthenon had already been standing for around 500 years!  Paul did three things when he came to Athens: he saw, he felt, and he acted.

First he saw.  He walked around and checked out all the many temples and statues and altars and idols.  It was said in Athens that there were “more gods than men.” But he didn’t just see art, he saw idolatry.  He saw confusion.  He saw people who were very religious, but misguided. He looked; he studied the culture.

After he saw what he saw, he felt. “While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.” (Acts 17:16) The word Greek word for “greatly distressed” was used in medical journals for a violent seizure. The word represents strong emotion.  Paul was not nonchalant about what he saw.  He was extremely moved in his spirit.  As a result he couldn’t just do nothing.

So he acted.  He spoke up and got engaged in trying to share the gospel in two different locations: 1) in the synagogue; and 2) in the market-place (Acts 17:17).  The market place (Greek: agora) in Greek and Roman cities was not just a food market.  It was a major gathering place in the center of the city, not only for trade, but for social and philosophical interchange as well as a place where the legal courts were held.  The synagogue was like the church—a place where mostly the already convinced gathered, along with occasional seekers.  Paul didn’t just stay there.

If we are going to reach people with the gospel, we are going to have to take the good news beyond the church to the agora, to the market place!

John Stott writes:

The equivalent of the agora will vary in different parts of the world.  It may be a park, city square or street corner, a shopping mall or market-place, a “pub”, neighborhood bar, café, [coffee shop] or student cafeteria, wherever people meet when they are at leisure… there is a need for [people]… to gossip the gospel in such informal settings as these. (The Message of Acts, 281)

If we are going to make a difference for Christ in the world, we need to ask His Spirit into our lives so that we can see as He sees, feel has He feels, and than act as He would have us act, find ways to get the good news beyond the church and out into the agora, to “gossip the gospel” in the market-place!

I read this letter at Winnie Sawchuk’s memorial service. She served as the Grace Place Loveland office manager. One day a couple young adults stopped in the office. They were down and out. Winnie reached out to them and made an impression. Months later, May 4, 2009, a handwritten note was left in the door at the office. It read:

Hello,
I imagine you don’t remember me. My friend, Montana and I came into your office not long after you opened. That is sort of my “area” so we stopped by to see what you were and why you guys had such a weird name.
Anyway, I heard that you were sick with cancer…I am so sorry. I can’t imagine how much that must suck. Just wanted to let you know that Montana (who is sleeping in a tent in Alaska currently – crazy boys) and I are thinking about you.
You have been sort of the piece of the puzzle that keeps standing out as not fitting in the church picture. I have met a lot of church people – a heck of a lot more than I would like to have. And I am” way too heathen” for them to do anything but pray at a distance… I don’t blame them for truly they are “freaking” more holy than me. But, you work for a church and you talked to us and answered our questions… and even offered us food – since there have been times the pain in the stomach combined with the “dizzy” in the head have made life miserable. This meant a lot.
Guess I just want to say “thank-you”. When I heard that place was a church I was biased against you, but you were nothing like a Christian. If ever I were to be a Christian at a church I would want to be on like you. One that even a “screw-up” like me could talk to.
These church people of yours better to taking good care of you.

(The letter is signed “Jess”)

Currently at Grace Place we are in a series called Changed People Changing the World.  We are reviewing the last half of the book of Acts, including the first missionary journeys of the earlier Christ followers.  They went out with boldness in the power of the Holy Spirit, with the clear message of Jesus, against much opposition, but “filled with joy” (Acts 13:52) even when they were persecuted.  Everywhere they went something happened—either a riot or a revival!  During the first missionary trip (Acts 13-14) they traveled to the island of Cyprus and then in a loop across what is now modern day Turkey.  They traveled by ship and by foot primarily.  On the way out they planted churches and on the way back they revisited many of the congregations “strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith” (Acts 14:22).  This first trip took them about a year.

It is so inspiring to see the impact of those early missionaries.  But here is what’s blowing me away to think about: The apostle Paul hiked for days, rode ships for weeks, and spent years traveling around the middle east and Europe to speak the gospel in person to the numbers of people we can communicate with instantly with one click of a mouse button!  We are living in a radically changing world where we have the opportunity to touch people with the gospel like never before dreamed.  Consider the following facts:

• Number of people living in U.S.=307 million; Number of people on Facebook=just over 300 million. Over 800,000 new users daily. Amazing.
• Social Media has overtaken porn as #1 activity on the Web!
• Years to reach 50 million users: Radio, 38; TV, 13; Internet, 4; IPOD, 3; Facebook added 100 million in less than 9 months!
• If Facebook were a country it would be the 4th largest (after China, India, U.S.). But will pass U.S. in a few months.
• Ashton Kutcher and Ellen DeGeneres have more Twitter followers than the entire population of Ireland, Norway and Panama.
• Social Media isn’t a fad, it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate. 1.5 million pieces of content shared on FB–DAILY!
• Social media: A fad or biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution? Data shared from www.socialnomics.com

Each of those bullet points is 140 characters or less because I sent them all out this morning as Twitters.  My Twitter account is set up to automatically send to Facebook, so they went there as well.  Within moments I had several bite size conversations with friends from all over the U.S. regarding these facts.  Of course, I found them by following a link from Facebook to a blog, to a video on YouTube, to the socialnomics website… all within just a few minutes.

The first missionaries were seeking to 1) reach the lost with the message of grace in Christ Jesus; 2) establish, strengthen, buildup, and equip the saved.  We have the opportunity to do both of those things, reaching a wider and wider local and international audience through the digital technology—specifically through Social Media.

I resisted signing up for Facebook for awhile thinking that it would dominate my time (and it could if I let it).  But then I discovered that you can control the notifications you want to receive (via email or phone) and what you want to see on your private home page.  I also discovered Seesmic Desktop (and there are others such applications) that enables me to quickly scan my “friends” on both Facebook and Twitter (at the same time) without seeing all the games, quizzes, etc. (mostly nonsense in my humble opinion), but just see the personal notes.

You can keep resisting if you want.  I suppose there were people who insisted on still copying manuscripts by hand for awhile after the printing press was invented.  But eventually they stopped and eventually you will enter the new communications era too!

Here is my appeal to you. Regardless of whether you choose to use these avenues for evangelism, if you are a member or friend of Grace Place, your pastors want to communicate with you, encourage you, pray for you, know your joys and sorrows, and be your shepherds.  All the GP pastors are on Facebook and they want to be your friend.  So if you are on there, look us up. If not, get with the program!  I have learned so much about our flock by scanning the posts several times a day.  I don’t have time to read it all, but many times when we connect at weekend worship gatherings I’ve already been praying for people and we have an instant connection when we see each other as a result.

If you would rather follow what I write on Twitter (it also goes to Facebook which is way more interactive and conversational), you can sign up for Twitter (everything is free) and look over some of my 322 Tweets @claypeck (they’re will probably be more by the time you look).  If you really want to stay connected you can not only “follow” my Tweets, but click on the phone icon and have them come as texts to your phone.  Of course, that might be way to intimate and invasive for you, but my wife likes it!  I put up pictures and videos on Facebook, but use Twitter to (eventually) reach a wider audience and for the discipline of trying to say something meaningful in 140 characters.  Sometimes it’s something personal about what I’m doing or thinking… but mostly it is devotional thoughts from scripture or profound quotes or RT (retweets) that inspire me or stuff I’m taking notes on (from books, messages, webcasts, or other avenues)… many times it’s one liners I heard or made up that are going to be in this week’s message at church!  So you might hear them again.

If you’re reading this message, than you have a computer and an internet connection, so make sure you befriend your pastors via Facebook! It will help us do our job better as your shepherds.

Twitter: www.twitter.com/claypeck
Facebook: www.facebook.com/clay.peck

Grace Place Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/graceplace

The following ap­peared in The New York Ob­ser­ver, Sep­tem­ber 13, 1845, writ­ten by Thom­as Sal­mon:

During my re­si­dence at Coles­hill, War­wick­shire, Eng­land, I be­came ac­quaint­ed with W. W. Wal­ford, the blind preach­er, a man of ob­scure birth and con­nect­ions and no ed­u­ca­tion, but of strong mind and most re­ten­tive mem­o­ry. In the pul­pit he ne­ver failed to se­lect a less­on well adapt­ed to his sub­ject, giv­ing chap­ter and verse with un­err­ing pre­ci­sion and scarce­ly ev­er mis­plac­ing a word in his re­pe­ti­tion of the Psalms, ev­ery part of the New Tes­ta­ment, the pro­phe­cies, and some of the his­to­ries, so as to have the rep­u­ta­tion of “know­ing the whole Bi­ble by heart.” He ac­tu­al­ly sat in the chim­ney cor­ner, em­ploy­ing his mind in com­pos­ing a ser­mon or two for Sab­bath de­liv­ery, and his hands in cut­ting, shap­ing and po­lish­ing bones for shoe horns and other lit­tle use­ful im­ple­ments. At in­ter­vals he at­tempt­ed po­e­try. On one oc­ca­sion, pay­ing him a vi­sit, he re­peat­ed two or three piec­es which he had co­mposed, and hav­ing no friend at home to commit them to paper, he had laid them up in the store­house within. “How will this do?” asked he, as he re­peat­ed the fol­low­ing lines, with a com­pla­cent smile touched with some light lines of fear lest he sub­ject him­self to cri­ti­cism. I ra­pid­ly co­pied the lines with my pen­cil, as he ut­tered them, and sent them for in­ser­tion in the Ob­serv­er, if you should think them worthy of pre­ser­va­tion.

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
That calls me from a world of care,
And bids me at my Father’s throne
Make all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief,
My soul has often found relief
And oft escaped the tempter’s snare
By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
The joys I feel, the bliss I share,
Of those whose anxious spirits burn
With strong desires for thy return!
With such I hasten to the place
Where God my Savior shows His face,
And gladly take my station there,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
Thy wings shall my petition bear
To Him whose truth and faithfulness
Engage the waiting soul to bless.
And since He bids me seek His face,
Believe His Word and trust His grace,
I’ll cast on Him my every care,
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!

Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
May I thy consolation share,
Till, from Mount Pisgah’s lofty height,
I view my home and take my flight:
This robe of flesh I’ll drop and rise
To seize the everlasting prize;
And shout, while passing through the air,
“Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer!”