I find your blog interesting and thought you might want to know about a Scottsdale-based national prayer ministry called The Presidential Prayer Team. Check out our Pray the Vote initiative at www.praythevote.org.
Have you not read the transcripts of the interview Joel had with Larry King? I find it interesting that someone, American Christians consider to be the hallmark of what a great Pastor should be, failed to give a biblical answere to five important unchanging Biblical doctrines. Heaven and Hell, Salvation (new birth), homosexuality, Jesus verses what muslims believe, and abortion. He missed all five of them and still is the darling of Christianity here in the USA!?!?!? Now you are going to take us behind the scenes of the Church where the word "sin" is replaced with the word "mistakes". Where Hell is only mentioned in a joke at the beginning of a message. Where the Bible is held up and the responsive verbage teaches us that it (the Bible) is all about them and very little about God and what He demands relative to how we live. I personally think Joel Osteen is a great salesman, a great motivational speaker, and definately an overpaid Hireling...but not a man of God!
But I am not amazed at how american christianity has embraced such a cloud that holds no water...it's just the signs of the latter days when we hire teachers to make us feel good about ourselves as we walk down the road of life to hell.
Why don't you find a young family that is in the trenches of a local church, serving the Lord with a greatful spirit (inspite of poor earnings), making a difference in peoples lives in their community but staying true to the Word of God...now that would be an encouraging story. Oh, I mean, that would be an encouraging story in heaven but not a good read hear on earth.
In light of the above comment by Mr. Roddy... I personally have been in both what he describes as " in the trenches of a local church... serving the Lord with a grateful (sp) spirit (in my case living far below the poverty line for over a decade) and making a difference in people's lives..." I've been in that exact place in ministry for many many years and I have led several of the mega churches he infers are so horrible. If large churches are horrible, apparently the Ephesian Church Timothy led as really horrible. Many Christian historians have gone on record as postulating that that church was in Timothy's lifetime as large as 35,000 or 40,000. That's nearly twice the size of Joel's Houston weekend gathering. But then that makes Timothy a poor leader because he was, by definition, according to you, not one who was "in the trenches." Sir, you haven't the foggiest idea of what is involved in terms of the commitment involved in leading a mega church. Great churches come in all sizes. Your attitude about "church size = quality" is distinctly American. In the three-quarter's world where God is doing amazing things (and the Church is growing!) no such nonsensical statement are ever made.
First, a helpful suggestion - learn to write the English language - the one you supposedly speak.
Second, why it is that so many juxtapose the idea of "faithfulness" with "success" as though the two thoughts are in competition with one another? Here's a novel idea: One can be faithful and see a lot of people come to Jesus in a profound way at - hello - a LARGE church. There is a reason small churches stay small. Ready for this. Get out your pencil. Write this down: For the most part THEY DON'T LIKE NEW PEOPLE. That sounds harsh, but for the most part (when it is true in over 90% of the cases it is fair to say 'for the most part') it is true.
Guaranteed - no diss intended - Mr. Roddy - you have not traveled the Church world much. If you had you would know with great certainty that what so often is termed "faithful" is nothing more than sheer laziness, sloth, and slacking off. Of course not always, but very often. Jesus is VERY interested in increasing the size of his family - the Great Commission makes that point super clear if you take the time to read it (Matt. 28:18-20).
This nonsense about faithfulness is for the most part just that - invented language non-fruitful language people have invented in order to live with themselves in order to justify an near completge lack of fruitfulness in evangelism, outreach, progress in touching the non-Christian world.
Re the Larry King Show, if you were to have followed the complete story as it worked out in the context of Joel's church and the aftermath of his return the following weekend after the airing of that "live" show (have you ever done a live TV or radio show? It is unnerving to speak, respond to live media - try it sometime in your spare time...
I believe God has many servants that may concentrate on different aspects of Christianity. Joel's is a positive message, one that reminds me of Norman Vincent Peale. Joel's message may appeal to people because we live in a world that's conditioned to hearing about violence on the news around the world, and can focus on the negative. Other pastors may focus more on topics like healing etc.,but we are all a part of His body, and are all used in God's kingdom and for His Glory.
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