The Seabourns

Archives for November 2009

Does social media work?

by 1 Comment

Does social media work? How can social media be harnessed for the Great Commission?

I just read an amazing story from two weeks ago.

November 9th: Jon Acuff, a copy writer in an IT department in Atlanta, explains how it began here in this original blogpost. God led him to start a project to raise $30,000 by 31 December for a kindergarten in Vietnam.

November 9th: Abraham Piper interviewed Jon as the project started here in this blog post.

November 9th (15 hours later): Jon Acuff blogs how the project has reached $24,000 on the first day.

November 10th: Jon Acuff explains how $30,000 for a kindergarten school in Vietnam was fully funded in 18 hours.

I choose uncommonness

by 9 Comments

i-do-not-choose-to-be-a-common-christianWhy do so many settle for commonness?

I was reading in 1 Samuel 8 this morning and came across this thought:

“We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”

We want to be like everyone else. We want someone else to fight our battles. We want to be led.

I dug out an old poster given to me by Larry Poland in 1976. It has marked my life for many years.

I Do Not Choose to be a “Common” Christian

I cannot separate my faith in Jesus of Nazareth from my everyday life, conduct and speech.

I cannot justify loving only those who love me, aiding only my friends, and praying only for fellow Christians.

I have no desire to carry the name of the Son of God to the level of my own base intentions.

I aspire to be like Him, to live on unseen resources by faith, to tap the unlimited supply of His love through the life of His indwelling Holy Spirit, to emerge from my moral conflicts “more than a conqueror” through His power, and to rise above all earthly standards to the completeness of His perfection.

I acknowledge that this is an impossible quest but accept the challenge of its impossibility in the knowledge that its pursuit will force me to rest on Him.

I desire no little challenges, expect no unrippled seas, and abandon all personal “rights.”

My present failure to fulfill these intentions merely proves that God isn’t finished reshaping my raw materials.

What about you? Will you join me today in choosing to be uncommon?

Wilson Web 15 years

by Leave a Comment

marketing-delivery-responseRalph Wilson is a pioneer. We learned together, separated by 1500 miles. I was getting started in this thing we now call eMinistry or online ministry. I was launching Leadership University, Origins, stonewallrevisited.com (since discontinued), World Religions Index, Leadership University in Spanish and other sites. I was helping other organizations like Probe Ministries, Reasons to Believe, First Things Journal launch their internet presence which we hosted in exchange for sharing articles.

Ralph launched Web Marketing Today. And his ideas gave tremendous lift to my leadership growth.

My first contact was an email newsletter. I understood the technology of the internet, which my engineering background. I understood the ministry skills of online ministry, having spent 15 years in field and media ministry. Ralph helped me understand the marketing of the internet. His practical marketing insights drip with integrity and purpose. I have helped many others build strategic plans for their internet ministry presence through the Marketing + Delivery + Response = Effective Internet Presence paradigm. (Thanks to friend Rob Williams who developed the diagram above.)

I wrote Ralph earlier today:

Congratulations, Ralph, on 15 years of excellent service. You and I started together in our internet foray. We both started in the 1994/1995 timeframe. Your marketing ideas shaped my application of internet media to our gospel-based mission expressed through our websites. I’ve recommended Web Marketing Today to hundreds of others. You’ve been a good and faithful servant to so many. Well done.