PastorDan
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||February 10, 2007 at 1:05pm|email it|664 reads
 

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Pastor Chris
February 10, 2007 at 7:05pm
I wrestle with this sometimes. It's not always easy to speak the truth of Christ in love. Thanks for reminding me.
Mary Ann
February 10, 2007 at 8:03pm
Thanks Pastor Dan for the rules of engagement :-)
Patrick Hazard
February 12, 2007 at 12:29pm
A rebuke is always easier to receive from someone who has been and will be standing beside you. We fail to notice the rebuke is sandwiched betwenn convince and exhort...Well stated. Too many of us just like to rebuke.
PastorDan
February 12, 2007 at 8:05pm
It couldn't be because rebuking reinforces my all too tenuous sense of superiority, could it?
Nah, I didn't think so either... ;-]
Michael Hickman
February 12, 2007 at 8:44pm
Preview, preview, preview, delete, preview, delete more, cancel. No one will ever know the volumes of carefully crafted comments that have been resigned to the bit bucket.

When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.
PastorDan
February 12, 2007 at 8:58pm
The bit bucket's where I file all my best stuff...
In the Navy, I used to have to write performance evaluations. Working against the pressure of reporting deadlines, there'd always come this moment where you'd get carried away writing all this awesome descriptive stuff...and then you'd read over it and realize it was great because it was fiction. That person didn't exist. You'd have to go back through it saying, "Yes, that's great writing--but is it true?"
Before I hit send (or submit), I take a deep breath and ask myself:
- Is this true?
- Is this helpful?
- Is the tone right for the content?
- Is this delivered as kindly as it should be?
- How would I feel if this was directed at me?
- Will this make anyone other than me feel better? (I think this one alone kills more bits than all the others combined.)
And for forums I add one more:
- Would I want this message delivered to me publicly?
Carebear
February 12, 2007 at 9:12pm
Phenomenal post Pastor Dan. Thanks for writing this. We've been thinking about somehow helping to set some tones of encouragment and uplifting, whether it be with bulletins, blog comments, or private messages.

Let's remember to share our thoughts with *heart*!
Sue
February 17, 2007 at 1:31pm
Can I just add a few comments, has to do with blogging, but not the original blog. I would like to preface this comment with saying that these are just things I have observed. My opinion only, take it or leave it, I am just thinking out loud. Please note that none of this is directed at anyone in particular. Just in case you were thinking "she must have wrote that because of me." Not true :)

1). The shorter the blog, the better chance it will get fully read. (I know this from personal experience. I never seem to have time to read the long blogs :) I am not saying you shouldn't write a long blog, somethings do take longer to say, but I am saying to know that if it is long, the chances of it getting fully read are much slimmer.

2). You can delete what you wrote if necessary. (wouldn't it be nice if we could do this with face to face conversations :) I have seen a few (very few) outrageous comments (none from CCC), and I often wonder, "don't they know they can delete this!"

3). Tone is hard to determine, so use up those smiley faces bro/sis :) That's what they are there for.

4.) Maintain a humble and teachable spirit. We are all in the learning/growing process. Just because we have an opinion, it doesn't make us right and them wrong or visa versa.


Kathy
May 11, 2007 at 9:55am
A helpful blog, Pastor Dan!  I added a link to it from my How to Get Around MyChurch blog  http://www.mychurch.org/blog/18617/how-to-get-around-in-mychurch--a-guide-for-new-members.  Let me know if you prefer I delete it!
JAN
May 11, 2007 at 1:41pm

Helpful for newbies and a needed reminder for all,Thanks, PastorDan. 

Sue, I agree with you on the long one's sometimes I just don't have the time to read all and then, I am a bit pulled back to comment not knowing the full jist of what has been said.  Some I just cant follow( to be truthful)... a little more layman's language would help. 

Blogs for dummies ?  anyone???/                                                                                                                      Tons of hotlinkable free smileys available here at www.freesmileys.org

 

Grant
May 11, 2007 at 5:50pm
I preached for 20 years to largely teachable and wonderful congregations. Since then I have taken a long sabbatical, a result of burnout. So, judge me and say that I would not have burned out if I had prayed hard enough. Enough people do. Now that you've got that out of your system, we'll go on with my point.

In recent years, I have begun fellowshipping with the most stubborn and hard-hearted congregation that I have ever known. They are all opinionated, bull-headed and can't seem to agree on much at all, except for Jesus being the center of it all. For the longest time, I wondered why God had led me here. I have never had so many interruptions during my preaching and public disagreements about what I preached. It was quite a shock, so I stepped back from preaching until I could figure it all out. Maybe I was just not the guy for this group.

Then I managed to sit in on some training sessions from one of our country's top public speakers. He was amazing. Nothing like what he taught was in any preaching class. He simly said that we can't teach anyone anything. The public is not interested in being taught. He was talking about the overwhelming majority of adults. He said that all we can do is help them better synthesize what they already know.

Wow! That was a great revelation to me! I now understand that instead of trying to teach a group of people who are following a dozen different gurus and captivated by another dozen different Christian fads, I can only help them where they are at spiritually. Now that applies to any topic outside of the centrality of Christ doesn't it? You name it - alcohol, iconography, Marianism, tongues, prophecies, miracles, gambling - and other such things which cause so much division and so much judgmentalism today.

Yet, if we focus on the simple command of Jesus to teach what he taught, we define what is the most important right off. We put things into priority. All Christians, no matter what persuasion, no matter what modern fad or ancient tradition they are following, know instinctively that what Jesus taught in the Gospels, has priority #1.

My resolution is to focus on Christ, and to let the Holy Spirit bring people to clarification on other issues in God's time.
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