A Christianity/Culture Website Actually Worth Visiting - Ministry & Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

Rarely do I recommend Christian websites. It's not that there aren't any good ones out there. It's that they're usually drowned out by the mediocre webs filled with animated gifs, obnoxious fonts, terrible pics blown up beyond all reason, and a good dose of horribly unbiblical theology.

Conversantlife.com is not one of those. In fact, it looks sweet and it's fun to troll around on. You can even submit your own news, pics, and podcasts, which I've done repeatedly to shamelessly promote this blog.

Check it out. Blog it. Subscribe to it. Spread the word. And be sure to vote up any and all posts & comments by your dear Lucky Rock. :)

Later today I'll introduce Friday Free Think^TM, a weekly anti-box thinking exercise to help your ministry or binistry (business that's your ministry).

Ministry and Business Widgets, Again - Ministry & Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

Last week I blogged about the brilliant viral marketing behind the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. They've used simple "widgets" to spread the previews of the film across the web and reach millions of potential movie goers. I also told you how you can use Sprout to build such widgets to make your ministry or binistry (business that's your ministry) go viral.

Amazon.com deploys widgets in an equally wise, but different way. Kindly notice the Amazon widget on this page, through which you can buy great evangelistic and business books and thereby support this blog ministry. The genius of Amazon's widgets is that they're completely customizable. Slideshows big and small, audio, video and countless combinations thereof are available to Amazon re-sellers. Follow their example with your own viral media.

Create a free SproutBuilder account and build three different widgets. Vary them in size and content and then make them available through your website. As I've said before, the big advantage of Sprout is that changes to your main widget are automatically posted to all versions of the widget deployed across the internet.

Do you own a construction company? Create a few slideshow widgets featuring your various standard home models and building projects, with links for more info. These could then be placed on the websites of your regular lending partners.

Do you operate an audio ministry, a la the tremendous Faith Comes by Hearing? Create a widget like the one on the left side of this blog, complete with mp3 links, basic "about us" info, and more. This media could easily be added to the websites and blogs of supporting churches and other ministry friends.

The Amazon.com widget lesson is simple: allow folks to decide which widget they want to use to promote and partner with your ministry or binistry. The old days of providing a simple static link to your website are going bye, bye fast. Making a handful of widgets available, will allow you to offer true value-added content to your ministry or binistry network.

Happy widgeting...

Taking Credit For Versus Taking Pride In - Ministry & Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

First, greetings to the many folks from mainland China, Korea, and throughout Asia who are stopping by our blog. Thanks to you and our other visitors from around the world. I'm truly excited to see the Lord expand our audience across the globe.

Think back to your school days. Mine were filled with crushes on girls who weren't interested, spending what little money I had on baseball cards, and feigning sickness so I could stay home to watch The Price is Right and The Family Feud.

Thankfully, my mom usually saw through my charade and sent me to school. There my teachers taught me not to plagiarize or otherwise steal and take credit for someone else's work.
As I pondered this while cleaning the kitchen yesterday, the Lord hit me with this: if we teach our kids not to take credit where credit isn't due, why don't we practice the same in ministry and in business?

Think of your latest ministry or corporate success? Then consider the Spirit-inspired words of the Apostle James: "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." Next, ponder that God sends harvest-producing rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Even if you're not a Christian, God is graciously providing for you.

(By the way, if you're not a Christ-follower, time is not on your side to confess you're a rebel from God and turn to Him through His Son Jesus Christ. I digress...)

Perhaps no other experience teaches you to recognize the clear work of God on your behalf like being a ministry fundraiser or owning a business.

I hate to admit it, but I'm a closet fundraiser. That's right, a fundraiser. I cringe even as I pen those words. Not that I don't like helping people tell their ministry story. I just don't appreciate the tendency in fundraising work to take credit for the clear provision of Jehovah Jireh.

Once upon a time, my job was to travel the States raising funds for Christian ministry. When cash came in, I was "clearly gifted." When times were lean, my bosses questioned what I was doing with my time. I found it to be a most-vexing situation.

God used that time to teach me to trust Him more--a lesson I'm definitely still learning. He also used my fundraising days to instill in me a real conviction to give God credit for the things He's done. This doesn't mean that I can't take pride in my work and all the successes God brings in my walk with Him. (see Galatians 6:4) It simply entails not plagiarizing God's work by passing it off as my own.

Reflect on your business or your vocational ministry. Are you actively seeking to glorify God through your efforts and to give Him the glory for your success? Or are you content simply to thank Him for your talents and the money & people He brings your way, with a secret nod to your own greatness. Confidence in the Spirit's calling and gifting is biblical. (see Ephesians 3:1-12) Trusting in yourself and proffering God's work as your own is foolish and destructive. (see Proverbs 28:26)

As co-laborers with Christ in church, parachurch, and workplace ministry, we should take pride in God and in His work in our lives. But we must not plagiarize the clear work of God by celebrating ourselves as the source of the success He brings.

Gotta go. The Price is Right is coming on down...

Business as Mission - Ministry & Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

Isn't this time of year grand? Countless hours spent filing personal and corporate taxes, knowing that the documents you request from your bank should arrive about the time we see a free Tibet.

Yesterday I blogged about business as ministry. Today I want to introduce you to the world of business as mission. But before we go there, let me encourage you pastors and ministry leaders.

If you don't already have one, I strongly encourage you to start a prayer chain devoted to the Christian business owners and other marketplace-shaping believers in your midst. If they're walking rightly with Christ, these business leaders are seeking the Spirit's provision and guidance to take care of their employees and grow their businesses, to the glory of God. They're also likely looking to use their businesses and the proceeds from them, to advance God's kingdom. What an incredible responsibility!

No, I'm not asking you tap dance around company leaders and coddle them. (See James 2 for more on that.) But you might want to stop and consider the unique opportunities the Lord is providing business people and prayerfully consider how the Spirit might lead you to intercede for and equip Christian professionals "for the work of service."

Now to business as mission...

In a nutshell, business as mission is the notion that your business is your mission, that your mission is your business. Business as mission practitioners seek to use their God-given talents to start and/or operate successful companies which meet real-world needs and provide a platform to advance Christ's kingdom. Of course, as with all evangelistic/discipleship endeavors, the fruit comes not from the plan, but from God "who makes it grow."

Quite frankly, the whole business as missions movement is a big departure from past dichotomizing between business and ministry. You're either in business or ministry, right? Business people are there to make money, support pastors and fund ministry, right? God hasn't bestowed talents upon marketplace Christians and provided them with unique opportunities to expand His kingdom, has He? He has!

Certainly Christ certainly gave the first-century apostles and prophets, and now evangelists and pastor-teachers to equip believers "until we all attain...to the measure of the fullness of Christ." God has also sovereignly and uniquely empowered Christian business people to shine as children of light in the midst of our crooked and perverse generation. As I mentioned yesterday, Priscilla and Aquila were two such folks.

Notice the eternal work of the Spirit through this biblical power couple. First, the Lord used Priscilla and Aquila to provide shelter for Paul. (Acts 18:3) Later, in part surely because they had acquired skills through which they could care for themselves just about anywhere, Priscilla and Aquila journeyed with Paul to Ephesus. (Acts 18:18-19) Finally, Priscilla and Aquila discipled Apollos in the whole truth about our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. (Acts 18:24-28) How the Spirit moved through lowly Christian professionals!

Praise the Lord, He still works through Spirit-led marketplace believers in much the same way. If our Father has called you to business as mission, be strongly encouraged and seek Him wholeheartedly.

Consider the example of Priscilla and Aquila, ground yourself in God's holy word as they did, and seek Him for how He might work through your business acumen to edify and evangelize! This could take the form of ministering and mentoring right where you are, or putting your skills to good ministry use overseas. Go for it, even as you remember our Savior's exhortation, "Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom." (Luke 11:32)

For more info on business as mission, visit Business as Mission Network--the unquestioned hub of the Business as Mission movement.

Psst...Your Business is Your Ministry! - Ministry & Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

I have to confess that I might have misled you. I've been offering recommendations for ministry and business separately. But the reality is that whether or not you have a Pastor So-and-So nameplate on your door, if you're a true disciple of Jesus Christ, you're in full-time ministry. I know you've heard it before, but don't bail on this column yet. Let it sink in...

Think about the percentage of Christians that Jesus Christ actually gives as apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers. Now read Ephesians 4. Yes, pull out your Bible or visit www.biblegateway.com and read Ephesians 4 in the NASB, NIV, or ESV.

Not that God requires large numbers to accomplish anything--think Gideon's 300--but the ratio of spiritual leaders to other parts of the body of Christ is quite small, isn't it? This reality, rooted in clear biblical teaching, tells us something about the nature of the calling of spiritual leaders and all other members of the body of Christ.

Contrary to popular understanding, the job of pastors and other Christian leaders is not to be the professional Christian. In fact, according to Paul's Spirit-inspired letter to the church at Ephesus, apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers are given by Christ for "the equipping of the saints for the work of service, for the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ." (Eph. 4:12-14)

The first-century apostles & prophets, and now evangelists and pastor-teachers, have been given by Christ to equip all other believers to accomplish many of the good works of the Spirit in this world, tasks which "God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." (Eph. 2:10) If you're a true Christ-follower, the equipped saints include you, Ms. Company President, Mr. Marketing Exec, Mrs. Assistant, Mr. Store Manager, Ms. Postal Worker and Mr. Janitor.

Don't believe that God works through laypeople? Read the story of Priscilla, Aquilla, and Apollos in Acts 18:24-28. Terror of terrors, there the Spirit used lowly tentmakers to instruct Apollos, who God quickly made a great champion of the faith.

Are you a tentmaker? And I don't simply mean somebody who is both working a separate vocation and pastoring. Then you need to understand and accomplish your task, just as Priscilla and Aquilla grasped and fulfilled their God-given ministry.

Ask the Holy Spirit to utterly revolutionize the way you look at the ministry God has given you. Stop passing the buck to your pastor & Billy Graham. Instead pray like mad that God will work through His Word & prayer and biblically-sound spiritual leaders to equip you, "until we all attain to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ."

One more thing...I mentioned above that the entire body of Christ has been created in Christ Jesus to accomplish many of the good works of the Holy Spirit. Not included in these works is the actual bringing of someone to saving faith. That's the exclusive domain of the Holy Spirit, as Paul declared, "So then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything. but God who causes the growth." (1 Corinthians 3:7) Leave the eternal results to God, even as you endeavor to build as a "wise master builder" according to the grace of God.

Welcome to the ministry...