Certain Sunday School Growth Formula

A Little Coffee Never Hurts...

A New Category

I've added a new category to this blog. The name is simply Nothing To Do With Church. Occasionally I run into something I want to share just for the fun of it. The following short video is a good example of this:

Coffee is Great for the Church

Quite simply, coffee is great for the church because it keeps things real.

When two or more people sit down with cups of coffee, conversation almost always springs up. Real life comes to the fore. People actually talk (instead of staring at their phones). Any stuffiness tends to depart quickly. Ceremony is not even considered. Coffee drinkers relax and act normal - if a little excited due to caffeine intake.

The key is that coffee and conversation go together. In our sound-bite-driven society, extended conversations are somewhat rare. Coffee helps combat this. Conversations around java can take place just about anywhere (not just in a house despite my personal preferences). Coffee and talking about real life issues fit together like hand and glove. Therefore, coffee drinking with others provides an excellent setting for either edification or evangelism, depending on who you are talking to.

We as the church should be drinking more coffee. If it helps bring about godly purposes, how and why would we avoid it?

Church Coffee

I have no idea what this sign is all about, but it's almost guaranteed to be good.  How can you go wrong with two great things like church and coffee?

For Us Coffee Lovers

UPDATE: I've been informed that this graphic has some significant errors in it. So enjoy it, but don't take it too seriously.

One great way to build relationships is to have conversations while enjoying cups of coffee. We must, therefore, understand what we're drinking. This chart, which I saw on Facebook a few days ago, sums things up pretty well.

A Woman Told Me, "Obama is the Antichrist."

This morning I was walking out of Kroger with a Starbucks latte in my hand. Nice. I was looking forward to simply getting in the car and enjoying the coffee on the road. That's when it all went wrong.

A woman who I had never seen before was suddenly approaching me. She seemed to have come out of nowhere, but I think she had just pulled into the parking space behind me. She must have seen the metal ichthys on the bumper. Before I knew what was happening (after all, I was distracted by the desire to drink my latte), she said to me, "Do you know that Barack Hussein Obama is the Antichrist?" That's not exactly what I was expecting.

How do you answer statements like that? I wish I had had time to prepare.

I think I stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds. I'm no Obama fan (I can't think of much at all that I agree with him about. I was hoping he would at least get our troops quickly out of Iraq and Afghanistan, but that doesn't look like it is happening soon). However, I also don't think he is the Antichrist.

To make things more interesting, this lady was of African-American descent. While I was pleased that she didn't support Obama just because of his race, I also think she is at least a little loony for being so sure that he is the Antichrist.

I began to say to her that he could be the Antichrist, but that to be so sure of it seemed strange. She wasn't someone who actually wanted to hear much of what I had to say. Listening was not exactly her strength. As she blathered on, I realized that she never even bothered to introduce herself. She seemed to have some sort of need to get these thoughts out of her head. She may need a social skills class.

She continued by telling me that we will all have to eventually worship Obama because he is trying to control the banks, etc. I responded by saying that I do think he is a socialist, but I doubted that he was going to force worship upon us. She wasn't thrilled with that. She took another deep breath, ready to tell me more things. That's when I decided to bail out. I said I had to go, jumped into my car, drove away, and enjoyed my latte.

This woman seemed almost brain-washed to me. She would not listen at all, seemed absolutely sure of herself, and didn't even appear to really want to have a conversation. When I told my wife Alice about this, she said she thought this lady may have been a Jehovah's Witness. That would make sense in light of her deep desire to get me to agree with her.

Additionally, and significantly, she never mentioned Jesus even once. Her agenda was completely Obama-focused.

This was a total turn-off to me. From the beginning of our interaction, I just wanted to run away. My hope is that she isn't talking to other people who think she is a Christian. Arrgh.

She displayed no love, only a desire to spread her political nonsense.

What can I learn from this? I need to befriend people and love them while I tell them about Jesus. Love is a great communicator. As I didn't want to hear from this lady, others probably aren't going to want to hear about Christ if they think I'm just trying to win an argument.

This Hits Too Close to Home

Ouch.

Good News on Coffee and Prostates

This is a sort of "double-bonus" for me. Since I like coffee a great deal and since prostate cancer runs wild amongst the males of my family, I was thrilled to read this.