Digital Gilbert

Tornado Hits Near ELCA Assembly Hall During Vote

// August 20th, 2009 // 379No Comments »http://digitalgilbert.com/2009/08/tornado-hits-near-elca-assembly-hall-during-vote/Tornado+Hits+Near+ELCA+Assembly+Hall+During+Vote2009-08-20+22%3A10%3A26Kevin+Gilbert // Family, Father, Friend, Husband, Son // by Kevin Gilbert

I ain’t sayin‘, I’m just sayin‘.

I appreciate his take and agree with Justin on this. I’m not saying it means anything, but I also can’t dismiss it as pure coincidence. Was God trying to get our attention? If so, what was he trying to say? What should we be hearing? Take a look at this story, it’s only a few short paragraphs, and comment on the discussion going on at Justin’s site, or comment here. Either way, join in the discussion and share your thoughts. And above all, seek God and His Truth in all things.

At approximately 2 pm yesterday, a tornado touched down in downtown Minneapolis. It was the first tornado to hit this area in nearly 90 years. Even more profound is that the agenda for the churchwide assembly stated that discussion surrounding the proposed human sexuality statement would begin at, you guessed it, 2 pm.

via Tornado Hits Near ELCA Assembly Hall During Vote | BeDeviant.com.

Church’s radical act: Sell building, use money for outreach | ajc.com

// July 27th, 2009 // 329No Comments »http://digitalgilbert.com/2009/07/churchs-radical-act-sell-building-use-money-for-outreach%c2%a0-ajc-com/Church%27s+radical+act%3A+Sell+building%2C+use+money+for+outreach%C2%A0%7C+ajc.com2009-07-27+20%3A12%3A32Kevin+Gilbert // Family, Friend // by Kevin Gilbert

This may be the best example of putting your money where your mouth is. Saw this on 11Alive news last night and have seen many blog posts and tweets about this today as well.

Church’s radical act: Sell building, use money for outreach

“I’m afraid if we become a church of bricks and mortar, we’ll cease to be a church of flesh and blood.” – Pastor Frank Mercer

via Church’s radical act: Sell building, use money for outreach | ajc.com.

Orange County Church Dumps Building for Houses

// May 22nd, 2009 // 2321 Comment »http://digitalgilbert.com/2009/05/orange-county-church-dumps-building-for-houses/Orange+County+Church+Dumps+Building+for+Houses2009-05-22+21%3A34%3A49Kevin+Gilbert // Family, Friend // by Kevin Gilbert

The Christian Post fielded an article recently about a church whose membership dwindled to the point where they had to give-up their building and meet in homes.

Heres what they found interesting about meeting in homes:

via Orange County Church Dumps Building for Houses | Catalyst.

Interesting. And kind of poetic and right. Take a read and let me know what you think.

The New Traditional Church: Community

// May 11th, 2009 // 213No Comments »http://digitalgilbert.com/2009/05/the-new-traditional-church-community/The+New+Traditional+Church%3A+Community2009-05-11+19%3A16%3A42Kevin+Gilbert // Business Owner / Partner, Father, Friend, Husband, Son // by Kevin Gilbert

What would happen if we put less attention on organizing relationships and more attention on giving people something to organize around? For example, what if we focused on serving opportunities? Would people naturally gather around those initiatives to serve others? What if we focused on the content we were generating to help people better understand the Bible and its application to our daily lives? Would people naturally organize around that content for conversations together? And what if we embraced social networking to encourage people to find their own friends…like they’re already doing? Would people initiate their own relational connections? 

via The New Traditional Church: Community | TonyMorganLive.com.

Excellent questions by Tony Morgan over at his blog. Questions that hopefully get folks thinking about church and how we do it. And hopefully thinking about how we can do it better.

I like the direction he’s headed with these questions and I like challenging the status quo. I think there are quite a few churches that are leading the way in this regard, but I truly believe we are just scratching the surface of a radical change that is taking place in how church and organized religion is practice in this country. What do you think?