The phrase “church shopping” is used derogatorily to describe the typical process of trying to find a church. People go from one church to another to find the one that “feels right,” “meets my needs,” or provides “solid Biblical teaching and good music.”
I was sitting in a class seven years ago when a professor told me that it’s not about a church meeting your needs but about being where God calls you, and I still firmly believe this.
However, I don’t think God always e-mails us a Google map with the address of the church we’re supposed to attend. So, how do we pick a church when we don’t know where God is calling us? I’m not even convinced that He always has a particular place in mind. He may not care if you go to First Baptist or First Methodist.
Perhaps we’re supposed to be in the place where we can best serve. Maybe instead of asking if a church meets our needs, we should ask if the church is a place where we can radically advance the Kingdom of God. That may be a church that is growing, dynamic, and has a lot of resources, a place where we can come alongside and support a great ministry. It may be a church that is struggling and needs a particular gift, talent, or resource that God has given us.
I’m reading Unstoppable Force by Erwin McManus, and a line from that book inspired this post. “Our motto degenerated from ‘We are the church, here to serve a lost and broken world’ to ‘What does the church have to offer me?’”
So, I’ve run a couple of contests before where you could win an iPod Shuffle, but now I’m stepping it up. I’m still offering a Shuffle as a potential prize, but there are two other potential prizes: a new Kindle and a cool grand. Yes, that’s $1,000 US.
Here’s the deal. The contest starts on Friday, April 24 and ends at 11:59 PM on Thursday, April 30. If, by the end of the contest, @ObamaNews gets 175k followers, one lucky follower will win a Shuffle. If @ObamaNews gets 250k followers, I’ll replace the Shuffle with one of a new Kindle. However, if @ObamaNews hits 300k followers, then I’ll replace the Kindle with $1,000.
How do you enter? Just follow @ObamaNews on Twitter. To help us cross the follower thresholds, be sure to tell your friends! Assuming the threshold is crossed, the winner will be randomly selected using TwitRand.
You do have to be a real person to win (i.e. not Starbucks or some other corporation), and you’ve got to reside in the U.S. Sorry, I don’t want to run afoul of any international laws! You’ll also be responsible for any taxes or fees or whatever.
By accepting the prize the winner agrees to let me use his or her name and likeness. This means you’ll probably get some free publicity and more Twitter followers.
Good Luck!
Altar calls aren’t something we’ve done very much in recent years here at NCC, but they’ve been happening a lot more recently. We’re in a place where we’ve been challenging people to make a decision to put Jesus in charge of their lives. Over the coming days I’ll be going through the Gospels looking for stories of those who decide to follow Jesus. I’m excited to read the stories of those early believers.
As Mark, our senior pastor, put it, we want to help people to start a journey, not just raise a hand during a service and go on with business as usual. We are commanded to make disciples, not “get converts.” Disciple implies relationship and committment. There is a conversion experience, but we are called to a journey of faith with Christ and fellow believers, not just a one time intellectual act.
This weekend we’re beginning our Influence series at NCC. We’ll be hearing stories of how Christ followers have used positions of influence to make a difference.
Our first speaker is 2005 NFL MVP Shaun Alexander. He’ll be speaking live at Ebenezers Coffeehouse at our 5 PM service on Saturday, at Union Station at our 9 AM service on Sunday, and at Georgetown at our 10 AM service on Sunday. He’ll be on video at our other services and locations.
Hope you can make it out. If you come to our Union Station location, be sure to say hello!
UPDATE: Know someone who might be interested in this? Send an evite to a friend!
Today was a busy day. We had to pack up all of the stuff for Easter Eggstravaganza tomorrow, as well as prepare for the Good Friday services tonight. I’m not sure exactly how they got the time off of work, but we had a few great guys helping us out. If it weren’t for them I’d probably still be at the office, and by “at the office” I mean “loading a truck.” We’re blessed to have such great people at National Community Church.
If you’re not a techie or intellectual property attorney, I suggest you stop reading now.
Yesterday, TechCrunch reported on Google’s loss in litigation dealing with sponsored search. In short, the question is whether or not it is illegal to use a search for a trademarked term to trigger the display of a competitor’s ad. For example, if I search for “McDonald’s store locations,” Google and Burger King know that I’m interested in fast food and could display a Burger King ad next to the search results. The courts are trying to decide if this violates McDonald’s trademark.
The decision yesterday doesn’t actually decide the case, but the appellate court did remand the case back to the lower court with orders to reconsider its initial verdict. While from a legal standpoint nothing has changed, it seems that the fallout from the decision has already begun. Early this morning I received the following e-mail from Amazon Associates:
Dear Amazon Associate:
We’re writing to let you know about a change to the Amazon Associates Program. After careful review of how we are investing our advertising resources, we have made the decision to no longer pay referral fees to Associates who send users to www.amazon.com, www.amazon.ca, or www.endless.com through keyword bidding and other paid search on Google, Yahoo, MSN, and other search engines, and their extended search networks. If you’re not sure if this change affects you, please visit this page for FAQs.
As of May 1, 2009, Associates will not be paid referral fees for paid search traffic. Also, in connection with this change, as of May 1, 2009, Amazon will no longer make data feeds available to Associates for the purpose of sending users to the Amazon websites in the US or Canada via paid search.
This change applies only to the Associates programs in North America. If you are conducting paid search activities in connection with one of Amazon’s Associates Programs outside of the US and Canada, please refer to the applicable country’s Associates Program Operating Agreement for relevant terms and conditions.
We appreciate your continued support and participation in this advertising Program. If you have questions or concerns, please write to us by using the Contact Us form available on Associates Central.
Sincerely,
The Amazon Associates Program
In other words, Amazon is no longer paying associates for purchases made when the affiliate sends the purchaser to Amazon via a search ad on Google (or another search engine). While I suppose it could just be coincidence that Amazon made this change today, it’s not much of a leap to attribute it to the court decision.
My take? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with placing a competitor’s ad next to a keyword search for a trademark. As long as the ad isn’t misleading (i.e. it doesn’t say “Check out McDonald’s” and then send the user to Burger King’s site), I don’t see any problem with it. I don’t think having a trademark should mean that no one can ever use the trademarked term without your express consent. It should mean that I can’t sell my goods under your name or use a term/logo similar to yours with the intent to trick consumers. Of course, that’s just my lay opinion of what should be, not any sort of legal analysis.
Alright, my last iPod Shuffle give away failed to actually lead to a give away. So here it goes again. If @ObamaNews gets 100,000 followers by midnight on Easter, I’ll give away a 2nd Gen Shuffle. All of the other fine print from the last contest still applies. Good luck, and don’t forget to tell your friends!
