Today’s Buzz: Whan You Think You’re Right; Rethinking Rethink; and Political Pastors…

Orginally published on Thursday, November 15, 2007 at 8:05 AM
by Todd Rhoades

How do you respond to someone (or church) who does ministry differently than you do? And what do you think of Rethink? This an more in today's buzz...

When You Think You’re Right...
Tony Morgan has a most excellent piece over at TonyMorganLive.com on ‘being right’.  Tony writes:  I have a growing frustration. It’s something that’s been on my mind for the last several months. Maybe you can help me out. I’m always fascinated by people that have their perspective of the right way to do church. And, rather than just doing church the way they believe is the right way, they feel like they have to tell other churches why they’re doing it the wrong way. Why is that?  In fact, if someone figured out the right way to do church and wanted to try to encourage other churches to consider that right way, even that would make sense. I’d likely listen and learn from what they have to say. But, instead of doing that, I’ve seen many instances when people feel like they need to attack churches that do it differently.  Read the rest here... I love Tony’s conclusion.  What a better place the church world would be if everyone could do as Tony suggests!

Rethink Conference Should Rethink Press Release
As some of you may know, the Crystal Cathedral is hosting a conference called Rethink in January.  It has gotten some bad blog coverage from the typical ‘watchdog’ websites because 1) It’s at Robert Schuller’s church and 2) it’s a leadership conference that features some non-Christians as speakers.  Some feel that the fact that it’s hosted at the CC voids it of any value.  Those same people somehow think that Christian leaders have nothing to learn from non-Christian leaders.  I think both points are wrong.

Today, I received a press release from Rethink titled ‘Conference Rethinks Methods, Not Gospel Methods’.  It starts out like this:  “Rethink, a groundbreaking conference scheduled for January 17-19 at The Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, is being attacked from some corners of the country. Some media outlets are using inflammatory words like “heretic” and “apostasy” to describe Rethink host Dr. Robert H. Schuller and his ministry, while other bloggers and talk-show hosts are decrying Rethink’s convergence of some of the most influential Christian and global thinkers, innovators, and leaders.”

In reality, I think they give the watchdog bloggers more credit than they deserve.  Let’s face it… they weren’t going to attend Rethink anyway.  And neither were any of their readers.

Co-founder of the conference, Bill Dallas writes: “Despite the criticism and detractors, we are not dissuaded from our goal: to harvest the very best perspectives, discoveries, strategies and action plans to empower people to reach their greatest level of service… even if those elements come from some unexpected sources.” I would agree with that statement, Bill.  I have much to learn from any leader, regardless if they give me three points and a poem at the end.

Conferences like this, to me, are valuable.  You just have to go in knowing what you’re experiencing; and understanding that you need to discern what is valuable for God to use in your life and ministry.  For this reason alone, I may attend Rethink myself.

Huckabee Gives Sermon at Prestonwood
The Huckabee campaign is expected to announce the endorsement of several social conservative leaders, including Christian radio host Janet Folger and Matthew Staver, dean of the law school at Liberty University founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell.  On Thursday, conservative activist Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association joined East Texas evangelical leader Rick Scarborough in publicly supporting Mr. Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor.  The campaign has also attracted the backing of several influential members of the Southern Baptist Convention. Among them are former convention president James Draper of Colleyville and Prestonwood Baptist Church pastor Jack Graham.  Last Sunday, Mr. Huckabee delivered a sermon at the 28,000-member Prestonwood Baptist in Plano.  The Republican presidential hopefuls are all seeking the support of social conservatives, a key voting bloc in the GOP primary. Religious conservatives backed President Bush in his two campaigns but have not united behind anyone in the current GOP presidential field.  SOURCE

Another Pastor Appeals to Iowa Pastors to Support Ron Paul...
Pastor Chuck Baldwin, a Florida pastor, writes “Ron Paul lives his Christian faith and takes his oath to the Constitution seriously. What more could we ask for in a Presidential candidate? Every Christian pastor should seriously consider Congressman Ron Paul.” SOURCE

That’s it for today… make it a great one!

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Hi... I'm Todd Rhoades. I'm a Christ-follower, husband, father and I love to connect leaders with other leaders. Hopefully you'll find something here at MMI you like and will return often. If you want, you can find out more about me or follow my every step on Twitter.

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