Eric Carpenter from A Pilgrim’s Progress thinks something is missing from Scripture and I agree.

When we read the bible, it’s fascinating to find that something is missing that we probably would not expect. What’s missing? The answer is that when the church gathers together, preaching is missing.

His writing is probably much better, much softer, much more humble than I could write about the same topic. You can tell he has put a lot of thought into this idea. The idea that there is no model for “preaching” when the Church gathers together.

As I do, Eric, rejects the belief that Acts 2-4, 20:7, Timothy 4:2 or even the Old Testament can be used to support our modern tradition.

So, what does this mean? How should we respond to this idea?

Yes, I know I post like once a month on this blog. Actually I’ve been pretty busy with work and more work, plus I’ve been doing a little technical blogging over at my companies website – http://fullthrottledevelopment.com/. But recently I was listening to a sermon on the radio and heard something that started to make me think.

The preacher said, “In your walk as a Christian, if the world doesn’t hate you, then you should think about your walk.” (or something to that affect)

I’ve heard these sentiments before, in fact, I once agreed with them. There are some scriptures that might even support this idea. But the reason I disagree with this is because I do not think it is a hard-and-fast rule – in either direction.

When I was listening to this preacher, I thought back to everything I’ve read about Jesus, everything in Scripture. I remembered Jesus hanging out with the people who we think should hate us – but they didn’t seem to hate him. Oh, there were people who hated Jesus… the religious people hated him. Especially the religious leaders. You might argue that the governmental leaders hated him too, but I think it’s safer to say they were just trying to keep the peace.

Now, later on, the government persecuted the Christians. Even today some governments persecute Christians. With these persecutions you will see common folk who hate Christians. Not because of the Gospel, but because of their dedication to their government’s ideals.

So, after listening to this preacher, I’ve further developed my opinion about our interaction with the world. We’re not called to be hated, we’re called to follow Jesus’ example.

I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler–not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES.

- 1 Corinthians 5:9-13

I use a system called Google Analytics to keep an eye on my blog stats. It tells me things like how many people visited my blog day-to-day, where people came from, and even what search terms were used to find different posts on my blog. I have found an interesting trend among the Church in these tought times. Because I screwed up my analytics, my stats don’t start until October 6th, but I have noticed an amazing trend.

From October 6th 2008 until December 5th 2008 my top ten searches were:

1. gulshan esther – 21 visits
2. the pursuit – 5
3. jesus talks about money – 3
4. lew ayotte – 3
5. the act of preaching – 3
6. the pursuit blog – 3
7. bible talks about money – 2
8. church covenants – 2
9. compartmentalize thoughts – 2
10. historic church buildings – 2

That represents 5 unique visitors who came to my blog by searching for something to do with money. If you look at all my keywords, there are 16 total visitors who used the keyword “money” to get to this blog.

From January 1st 2009 until February 11th 2009 my top ten searches were:

1. gulshan esther – 42 visits
2. jesus talks about money – 9
3. “gulshan esther” – 4
4. bible talks about money – 4
5. the pursuit – 3
6. the pursuit blog – 3
7. 2350 bible verses on money – 2
8. biblical ecclesiology – 2
9. biography of gulshan esther – 2
10. esther gulshan – 2

That represents 15 unique vistors who searched for (“jesus talks about money”, “bible talks about money”, or “2350 bible verses on money”). For all my keywords that include the word “money”, I have had 54 total visitors more than three times the amount from October-December. For some reason Gulshan Esther is much more popular too!

From October 6th 2008 to December 5th 2009 my top 10 content was:

1. http://lewayotte.com/ – 385 pageviews
2. http://lewayotte.com/2008/03/18/wine-strong-drink-part-3/ – 61
3. http://lewayotte.com/2008/12/03/contract-pastoring/ – 61
4. http://lewayotte.com/2007/06/26/testimony-of-gulshan-esther/ – 47
5. http://lewayotte.com/?p=353&preview=true – 34
6. http://lewayotte.com/about/ – 28
7. http://lewayotte.com/2008/10/10/a-modern-example/ – 27
8. http://lewayotte.com/2006/12/21/the-bible-talks-more-about-money-than-hell/ – 22
9. http://lewayotte.com/2008/10/08/the-pursuit-strip-26/ – 21
10. http://lewayotte.com/2008/02/ – 18

From January 1st 2009 to February 11th 2009 my top 5 content was:

1. http://lewayotte.com/ – 556 pageviews
2. http://lewayotte.com/2006/12/21/the-bible-talks-more-about-money-than-hell/ – 103
   
3. http://lewayotte.com/2007/06/26/testimony-of-gulshan-esther/  – 80
4. http://lewayotte.com/2009/01/26/gods-revelation/ – 78
5. http://lewayotte.com/2009/02/09/sermon-outlines-a-better-idea/ – 51

Five times as many people visited http://lewayotte.com/2006/12/21/the-bible-talks-more-about-money-than-hell/ than they did only a few months ago.

It seems like the church, is starting to ask questions about money. No wonder, given the current recession/depression. We know that church tithing/giving is down. I can only assume preachers are preaching more about tithing/giving. There are probably a number of people who are questioning some of this content, and even questioning whether or not the tithe is biblical for today.

I have written a few posts that touch on the idea of giving and tithing and a few posts that are indirectly related to money among the Church. Here is the list with a brief description:

• The Tithing Pastor – A True Conundrum
  I’ll admit it up front, I don’t think we are called to “tithe”… but many vocational pastors do. And can you blame them, that’s how they make a living, off your tithe. But you have to wonder, is the pastor truly tithing a tenth? This slightly humorous posts looks at the math it would take to make sure your pastor is practicing what he preaches!
• The Bible Talks More About Money Than Hell
  You’ve probably heard this saying, or somethign similar to it. But if you’ve read the bible then you’re probably wondering why you didn’t notice so much financial talk. That’s because it’s not there! The Bible may mention money, but it’s almost always in passing. These statistics about how often the Bible talks about money are tricks and the people who usually use them are just as tricked. Don’t worry, God isn’t going to audit your taxes this year.
• Resources, Conversions, and Priorities…
  Ever wonder where all your money goes, you know, the money you give to the church. Well this survey by LifeWay shows you exactly where it goes. About 5%-23% goes towards ministering to the lost… the rest of it goes to support your building, staff, and vocational pastor(s). I wonder what would happen if we rethought this structure and actually used our resources for reaching the lost.
• Money and the Church: A Fulltime Story
  This post was part of a synchroblog that I took part in. It is intended to question whether or not we should be paying a pastor a salary for the services they render. Since most of their services that we pay for are not biblical, maybe we can cut out the “vocational” part of the vocational pastor and save some money. If we do that, we could use our money, time, and energy towards more noble goals… like actually making disciples.

I know these times are tough for everyone. So if you find that your preacher is telling you that you need to give 10%… just look in the bible, you may be surprised what you find — or — what you don’t find.

God might be calling me to become a contract-pastor. It is similar to a vocational-pastor, except I won’t receive an annual salary. I’ll be paid on a contract basis – one hour minimum – billed in fifteen minute increments after first hour. I charge .495$ for traveling more than 20 miles. Some services are offered at a flat rate (such as funerals and weddings).

Since I want to offer the same services a vocational-pastor offers, I had a vocational-pastor send me his job description. These are some of the services that I plan on offering.

Bible Study, Prayer, and Meditation – 75$/hr
Counseling – 75$/hr
Visit the sick – 125$/hr
Train and equip lay-leaders – 100$/hr
Advise Boards and Committees – 100$/hr
Funeral Services – 300$/Event
Wedding Service – 500$/Event
Proclaim the Gospel – 80$/hr
Plan, Coordinate, and Evaluate Sunday morning services – 135$/Event
Preaching – 150$/Event
Moderate Church Meetings – 50$/hr
Plan and Lead Church Ordinances – 100$/Event

These were all things listed in the pastor’s job description. Any additional services can be negotiated on a case-by-case basis. I trust you will find my rates very reasonable and hope to hear from you very soon.

I recently had a wonderful conversation with one of my co-workers. She came into my office to give me something and noticed my digital picture frame displaying on my desk. Then I showed her a picture of my wife and we spent a few minutes looking on Facebook and MySpace to see if my wife had any pictures up of the kittens. While browsing through the pictures she saw one that Kati had of me at my graduation. My co-worker asked where I graduated from and I told her, “Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.”

She said, “WOW! I’ve gotta stop cussing in front of you…”

I explained to her that I didn’t want her to censor herself in front of me. Then we started talking about “church” life. She and her husband aren’t really church people. They both went to Methodist churches from time-to-time growing up though. Recently her husband expressed interest in going to a local Methodist church. He wants to go somewhere that he can hear the word preached without feeling pressured into anything weird. She said that she wasn’t really into the idea, but wanted to go with her husband anyway.

Up to this point in our conversation, I had already explained that I am a heretic and defined the word for her, as “a professed believer who maintains religious opinions contrary to those accepted by his or her church or rejects doctrines prescribed by that church.” I explained a little bit about my history, what I believe, what I don’t believe, etc. Basically just enough to let her know what I am all about.

Knowing this, and having her recent church experience, she had some questions/concerns for me. This is what they were (in her words).

1) During one songs, they sang about Immanuel… who is Immanuel? I thought they were suppose to worship God?

2) When it was time for prayer, everyone bowed really low with their heads down. Why did they do that?

3) After the community prayer, instead of everyone saying “Amen” they all started to say their own little personal prayers – is that normal?

4) After the service a couple cornered us and asked if we were saved, it was really ackward.

5) The husband of the other couple convinced her husband to fill out a vistor’s card. Then they received a call that afternoon asking if they were going to visit that night.

6) They had “children’s church” during which they took up an offering/tithe. Our little girl felt bad because they were trying to build a new church building and gave 10.00$ to the offering. I feel like that’s wrong, that should be up to the parents, not pressured little kids.

Hearing some of these questions and concerns, I had the feeling that I knew exactly what Paul was saying in 1 Corinthins 14, “Therefore if the whole church assembles together and all speak in tongues, and ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are mad?” Granted, this is about “tongues” not about Christian Music, Childrens Church, Prayer Stance, etc. I think it still relates though.