Next week, we will be bringing the online evening prayer services known as Compline back up. We ran for a number of weeks during the spring and it was well recieved, but technical failures on my end, and an increasing time commitment over at CF made it near impossible to do it all.

That being said, I am working on some tech solutions, and hope to roll those out in the next day or so for beta testing. In addition, I resigned my position at CF in order to devote more time bringing this live and focusing more on small group ministry. As far as I know, no one else does an online version of Compline which is interactive, nor one that runs 5 days a week. It is a challenging schedule for sure,  but having seen the results from our earlier run, I very much saw God at work. It is a good way to end the day in corporate worship and prayer, even if it is online instead of 3D.

Be that as it may… what we designed is ecumenical in scope, and it brings liturgy to many who may never have experienced such. We did take some liberties, its not an EO, Catholic, or Lutheran service, but carries bits and pieces of each. Its not always contemporary music, some nights we use hymns, some nights we use rock and roll. It can get crazy at times, when one combines liturgical prayer, with the spontaneity of a Baptist or Assembly of God service, where folks jump in with praise Jesus or Amen, but it really is a cool type of crazy.

One of the other things, apart from the tech side, is the timing and scheduling issues… we found that if we say 9, folks show up between 9 and 10. Thus, the start time will be 9:00PM CDT for fellowship, and the service starts at 9:45PM CDT sharp… too many times we blew the start time, and folks had to bug out. I think I got a tech fix for that one too

More later as I get the bugs out…. no sense letting the cat out of the bag until I know things are going to work… but video will be attempted this week.

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Wow, so I am a bit fried….

Today was a bit of a zoo. Everything from a php coding issue, to metallurgy, to people management issues, to assisting with a suicide prevention. Go figure, the life of a tech dude.

And this, is why your church needs a website. It might well have saved a life this evening.

In the online world, it is rare that one ever crosses the line into 3D activities. Terroristic threads, and suicides are 2 subjects that do result in crossing that line. And this is why your church needs a website. Time is of the essence in such matters as one might expect, and 3D, not virtual intervention is key. The problem of course is connecting the two to make it possible. This is where your church enters in.

People, even the most careful individuals do leave cyber trails, and often times under pressure give other clues. They may not want to involve others in their situation, yet suicide is often times a call for help. It doesn’t matter if its for real or not. All such threats need to be followed up on if indeed possible. And no, its not always possible as sometimes, there just isn’t enough info to work with, and generally, unless its a terroristic threat and a call from the FBI, most ISP’s won’t assist.

Thus, in this case we did have information to work off of, and we found a church website, and found a pastors contact info. We no doubt ended up waking him up, but the end result, is a young person is now in a hospital rather than dieing in their bedroom, all the while his parents were asleep. (for all you parents out there, this can happen… and I can only imagine the heartache involved, had this youngster succeeded).

As a result, please do make sure your church has a website, make sure it has a contact number, as well as your pastors name. (I don’t know that posting the emergency number online is wise to avoid prank calls and such), but the main number, and an answering machine which directs folks to an after hours emergency number is certainly a viable option.

Now, some readers might think such a situation is a rarity. Sadly, online suicide threats occur somewhere in the world 24/7/365. Most webmasters and administrators are not well equipped to deal with such issues, but more and more are finding it is a critical need, as virtual communities become more and more life like.

This of course doesn’t mean that every situation will have a successful outcome. In many cases, the person is too hard to track, the net tools, dont work, or we end up chasing evidence that goes no where. And of course, there are always the situations where its someone just out for a thrill to see what a fuss can be made by crying wolf. And in other cases, the person succeeds, or in others, they never travel over the same cyber path for months if ever. Thus, there is no way to really know that such plans are effective in many cases. Yet, if one life is spared, it makes it all worthwhile.

Praise God, the youngster got to the ER, praise God, we reached the pastor, praise God, the church had a website, praise God, all the right people were at the right place at the right time.

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Some nifty news releases from the ELCA Churchwide Assembly.

Book of Faith, Bible Study Initiative

Full Communion with the Moravian Church

Concern for Genocide in Darfur

Opposition of escalation of Iraq War

Support for World Hunger Appeal

Pondering Pastor blogged many of the events, his blog is a must read.

Also voting results are located at the assembly website.

I also debated whether to discuss the relatively controversial Landahl substitution concerning pastors in same gender relationships. On the one hand, its pretty newsworthy, on the other, it has the potential to be pretty polarizing. Even more so, that the news media seems to be confusing this as a change in standards, rather than interim guidance for Bishops.

Sadly though, depending upon how it comes across, it has the potential to cause significant division. This morning is going to be a tough one in some pulpits, thus prayer for our leaders and pastors is critical. No doubt much midnight oil is being burned rewritting sermons and in prayer as to what to say tomorrow.

Be encouraged and trust God

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When a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one wanders off, he lets it go to the world, such that he can focus on the care and feeding of the remaining 99, lest they feel any discomfort or uneasyness with their shephard being gone for a bit.

Contrast this with what Jesus said:

1 Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent

And then, lets think about contemporary Christianity and its excuses

1. We can’t go there… last time we were there, the offering only covered half our expenses.

2. We need to watch our resources, we are spread too thin, homeless ministry is too expensive, we need to cut back.

3. We are to be separate from the world, we are to be safe, we are to be pure, we are to strive for righteousness. Can dark and light co-exist. We need to take care of our own and protect them.

4. They don’t repent, they won’t ever be like us, we can’t waste anymore time on them. They only say they will change, but we know its just a game with them.

Many years ago, I heard of a young preacher with a heart for the homeless, the drug users, and the downtrodden. He was making a difference, yet folks were critical. He ministered and gave shelter, food, and money to those in need. No one was left out. Folks were critical, he’s wasting his time they said, he’s waisting our money they said, those folks will never change.

The thing was, is that for the most part, those critical of the young preacher were correct. Folks didn’t change, despite his preaching, and his showing the love of Christ. Yet, a few did, and there was much rejoicing by the preacher, but not from the rest of the flock.

Over time, the young preacher changed, he still head a heart for the lost, but he saw the worlds wisdom in being careful with his limited resources. He started restricting to whom he would minister too, and who he would give shelter too. If folks resisted change, well, they were out of luck. People applauded the change. Donations increased, his success grew. By the worlds standards, he had done great things, and people applauded. Folks were getting saved, folks were getting ministered too, and getting food and shelter. Yet, the 1 lost sheep was left out in the cold, no food, no shelter, and an admonition: change, and I will let you in the door. This is the worlds way, the ministry grew and grew, many people liked the pop psychology of anti-enabling……

What about the 1 lost sheep?

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