Tuesday morning evangelistic smack-down, xi

Insight from Michael Green: “If you go for a vacation in Wales or Scotland, you cannot help being struck by the large number of castles, many of them now in ruins. In medieval days the castle was the place of control over the surrounding countryside, the place to run into and be safe when there was an enemy attack. It seems to me that the Christian church in the West is in danger of going back to the castle culture. It used to control public life, especially in matters of honesty, relationships, education, law, medicine, peace, and war. That control has long since gone. However, Christians are in the habit of retiring into the castle of the church – its customs, its dress, its attitudes. But there is a growing alienation between the people in the castle and the people outside: the gap between Christians and others is growing all the time.” Michael Green, Sharing your Faith with friends and family, Baker Books)

Pentecost hour! Three thousand people came to know the Lord when Peter stood up and preached on the day of Pentecost. But…”Did you know that before today is over 30,000 people will come to Christ in China? In sub-Sahara Africa, 20,000 people are won to Christ each day. Today every hour is a Pentecost hour!” (Planting Points, Home Missions Board of the Church of God in Mississippi)

Why the right wing are spiritual losers:

Paul (K.A. Paul) said he believes the Bush administration has delayed the second coming because U.S. foreign policy has blocked Christian missionaries from working in Iraq, Iran and Syria.

"Somebody needs to say enough is enough," he said as worshippers stood, waved and called out in support.

Paul, who claimed to support conservative political leaders in the past, is launching "a crusade to save America from the wrath of God and Republicans abusing their power," according to his press materials.

His focus Sunday was on national races. "God is mad at this country," Paul told the congregation. He described the war in Iraq as "unnecessary genocide."

Quotable! “People who don't believe in missions have not read the New Testament. Right from the beginning Jesus said the field is the world. The early church took Him at His word and went East, West, North and South.” (J. Howard Edington)

Planting study: A recent study was conducted of 160 Southern Baptist churches in a thirteen state area which had sponsored a new church. The goal was to discover what effect planting a church had on the mother/sponsor churches. Five years after sponsoring a church plant these congregations had experienced an average of 49% growth in Sunday morning worship attendance, a 14% increase in baptisms, and a 5% increase in Sunday School attendance. Each of these test congregations had experienced a plateau in growth or decline prior to sponsoring a new church. (Planting Points, www.newchurches.com)