God's Marketing Campaign

"God also testified to (the Good News) by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will" (Heb. 2:4).

For a few years, I worked part-time for a small advertising company while I continued to pastor my church in Walnut, CA. I learned how to place advertising in newspapers, magazines and other publications. But I also placed billboards, radio spots and even television ads. At one point, I wrote a paper for our clients on beginning to use the internet to place ads on their sites and on other search engines. We began to develop online components to just about every ad campaign. This area has continued to grow significantly in recent years.

Did you know that God has a marketing strategy for the Gospel? It is described in the text quoted above from Hebrews. God advertised the incredibly Good News about Jesus through "signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit." And I think His strategy has been phenomenally successful. The 500 or so people who would have called themselves disciples when Jesus ascended into heaven has become 2.5 billion (out of about 7.5 billion total world population) in 2020.

Instead of internet ads, TV commercials, radio spots or newspaper ads, God has used incredibly powerful tools that are all empowered by the Holy Spirit:

•  Signs: which are supernatural interventions of God that point to the reality of His presence.

•  Wonders: which is another way of looking at miracles from the human perspective. That is, when God intervenes and His presence is made known, it causes the sense of "wonder or awe" in the observer. You could say that the miracle has a stunning effect and creates an "Aha!" moment in the recipient.

•  Miracles: is just a way of saying that God's intervention breaks our understanding of how nature is supposed to act. Wayne Gruden says, "A miracle is a less common kind of God's activity in which he arouses people's awe and wonder and bears witness to himself" (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, ch. 52). 

•  Gifts of the Holy Spirit: from our perspective, the nine "manifestation gifts" of the Spirit mentioned in 1 Cor. 12:7-11. The unique thing about these charismata is that they are purely works done through the believer by the Holy Spirit, not by human cleverness or skill.

This last Sunday, I was standing in the back of the sanctuary as Pastor Alan was leading us into a time of ministry. I felt God speaking to me about a woman who was with two others, here for the first time. I went over to them and asked if I could pray for the middle women because I had a word for her. I can't describe it here because it is too close to the event. Suffice it to say that it was specific enough that she began to cry and her two friends were agreeing to the accuracy of what God had given me. What they didn't know is that, because I'm a chicken sometimes, I was holding another more specific part of my word to her. 

After the Service was over, they came to talk to me and I gave the rest of my Word of Knowledge. One of the women exclaimed, "How did you know that?!" I told her it was not me, it was God. He wanted her to know that He not only saw what she was dealing with, but that He cared and that, indeed, He loved her.

You see, God used the revelation gift as a way making His presence real. This got her attention like no billboard could. The Gospel got through.

In 1 Cor. 14, Paul says, "If an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he/she will be convinced by all that he/she is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his/her heart will be laid bare. So he/she will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, 'God is really among you!'" (1 Cor. 14:24-25).

The Church has largely lost it's zeal to see the Holy Spirit move. Instead, we have sought out the "experts" to tell us how to market our church, how to grow through advertising or better "outreach" campaigns. What would happen if we got back to the basics of letting the Holy Spirit distribute His gifts according to His will? What would happen if we started to risk moving out in faith and letting His presence be known through us? What would happen if He took over our marketing campaign through signs, wonders, miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit?

Living Sent

 This past week, I was able to preach at our online and live weekend services centered on the command of Jesus in Matthew 28: 18-20, "The Great Commission." I focused on the command to "Go" and the implications of that in the current climate of Covid Lockdowns. Rather than write a long blog, I am embedding the Facebook link. You can skip to minute 10 to begin the worship part of the service. You can skip to minute 33 to begin the message. I hope you both enjoy and are challenged by the message.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=721584698458933

Blessings,

Mark

Doin' the Stuff

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says" (Jas. 1:22).

I believe the North American Evangelical church has been afflicted with a particular malaise. We seem to be obsessed with knowing the Word, but deficient in doing it. 

One of the most common questions I hear from people new to a church is "Do you have a Bible Study I can join?"

Don't get me wrong. I believe in learning more and more about the Bible. It is our only infallible guide for faith and practice. It is the authority upon which the church must build. Neither tradition, nor church hierarchy nor charismatic leadership can substitute for the Word of God. I personally have a regular reading and study routine and I participate in Bible Studies. When I preach, I try to expound God's Word so that people can grasp it and conform their lives to it.

However, with that said, I recall a story of John Wimber's (founder of the Vineyard Movement). When he started attending church, he asked one of the elders, "Where do we go to do the stuff?"

"What stuff?"

"You know, the stuff in the Bible. Healing the sick, raising the dead, preaching the Gospel to the poor."

"Oh, we don't actually do that stuff. We study about it, we hear sermons about it, but we don't actually do it."

"You mean I gave up drugs for this?" (Of course this was said tongue-in-cheek.)

This led to one of John Wimber's most famous pithy Wimberisms, "Doin' the stuff." That is, God wants us to actually go out, just like Jesus and His disciples did, and demonstrate the presence of the Kingdom of God by doing the same stuff that they did.

Are you satisfied with a Christian life that merely listens to the Word but does not actually do it? I must admit that this has been a constant struggle for me. It takes a major effort for me to take what I have received within the safe confines of the church and go into the streets where I might encounter resistance, rejection and failure. But when I do, God meets me there, and I think He is smiling.

It would be nice to hear someone at church ask, "Where do we go to do the stuff?" And it would be even better for us to be able to answer, "Come with me."

Jesus Goes Viral

"Jesus went throughout Galilee teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him" (Matthew 4:23-25).

One of the phenomena of modern social networking is called "going viral," that is, when some kind of online post, video or photo becomes re-posted so quickly that it obtains the holy grail of social networking: a million-plus views. However, it does not seem to matter whether something that goes viral is positive or negative. The goal seems simply to gain the most notoriety, no matter what the issue. Whether it is a recipe using Oreo cookies, a funny cat video, or an ad campaign to rename IHOP to IHOB--you have succeeded if people begin to share your post around the globe.

In Jesus' time, technology had not advanced very far in the area of communications. Word of mouth and the occasional public announcement were the way that news could travel throughout the Roman world. However, in Matthews Gospel, he tells us about the excitement that stirred throughout Palestine, from Syria, Galilee and the Decapolis in the North; all the way to Jerusalem, Judea and even Trans-Jordan in the South. News about Jesus spread quickly. In other words, Jesus went viral.

What made people get so excited about Jesus? What was it that they wanted to share with everyone around them? The answer is: His healing ministry.

Matthew tells us that Jesus was involved in doing three things: teaching, preaching and healing. But if Jesus had only done the first two things, teaching and preaching, and not the third thing, healing, it is very unlikely that news about Him would have spread so fast. Why do I say that? Because in verse 24, it does not tell us that "the curious, the theology students, and the intellectuals" were flocking to hear Jesus. Instead it says that "the people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed..."

In general, people do not flock to great teaching and preaching, they are drawn to great power. And they are drawn, not because they are merely curious, but because they are needy. People who are hurting and have the opportunity to receive a powerful touch from God are usually the ones who will push through barriers and difficulties to get it. Remember the shame and cultural obstacles that the woman with the issue of blood needed to overcome to simply touch the hem of Jesus garment? And what was in her mind? "She said to herself, 'If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed'" (Matt. 9:21).

Even a casual reading of the Gospels reveals that Jesus did not just speak the message of the kingdom of God, but He demonstrated the reality of the presence of the kingdom as well. When the kingdom of God comes, it comes with power.

What happened when people began to bring their sick relatives and friends to see Jesus? "...and he healed them" (Matt. 4:24b).

Even Paul confirms that: "My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power" (1 Cor. 2:4-5). And the writer of Hebrews tells us: "This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will" (Heb. 2:3-4).

So why does the church seem to settle for great teaching and preaching, but forget about power ministry? Because they can control the first two. Because they can learn to do the first two using human wisdom and clever marketing techniques. But power ministry is totally dependent on God. If God does not show up, we can feel pretty foolish. So we cling to what we know we can do and avoid what is out of our ability to control.

And yet, God's way of "going viral" is not through "wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power." That is how God penetrates to human hearts and brings conviction. That is how Jesus went from being an obscure Galilean carpenter to the greatest figure in human history with over 2.2 billion followers.

So, are you willing to believe in the power of God? Are you willing to look foolish in the eyes of the wise of this world in order to allow God's power to be manifest? This is God's divine marketing campaign and He has never revoked it. As John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard, used to say: "I'm a fool for Christ: who's fool are you?"

Gardening in the Kingdom

When I was a kid growing up in Santa Clara, California, I would plant a vegetable garden every year. It was a habit I probably picked up from my Italian immigrant extended family. I still have memories of my grandmother picking squash in her own backyard garden in San Jose.

The first step was to turn the soil and break up the clods, maybe adding in some old grass clippings as mulch. Then I would make rows and mounds with furrows and moats for planting and watering. Then I would plant the seeds (no seedlings from the nursery back then). Zucchini squash, Italian cucumbers, Indian corn, string beans, tomatoes, carrots and maybe a watermelon. I would always plant radishes because they were the fastest growing and gave me a sense of hope early on.

All through the summer, I would water, weed, thin and pick off the amazingly plump tomato worms.

And of course, the most amazing of all experiences came at harvest--the reward for all the hard work.

"This is what the kingdom of God is like. A person scatters seed on the ground..." (Mark 4: 26).

Jesus ministered in an agrarian culture. So it is not odd at all that he so often uses farming to illustrate kingdom principles. The Sower and the Seed, The Wheat and the Tares, and here, the Patient Farmer.

This parable, however, makes it seem like the farmer hardly works at all. "Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, although he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain--first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head" (Mark 4: 27-28).

The kingdom principle is this: the life of the kingdom is in the seed itself. The farmer's job is merely to sow the seed. God's job is to then cause the life inherent in the seed to do its thing. In Jesus' time, there was no irrigation or fertilization. The farmer could not make the seed grow any faster by brooding over it, or holding his breath, or gritting his teeth.

Then, when the proper time came, and the life of the kingdom inherent in the seed produced what it was designed to produce--harvest time had come. And now the farmer goes to work again.

"As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come" (Mark 4: 29).

Kinda makes me want to become a farmer. Except that we all know that farming is not that easy.

The kingdom principle that Jesus is teaching is this: the Gospel that we are sowing has the life of the kingdom within itself and will produce fruit if we will trust it. As Paul says in Romans, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes" (Rom. 1: 16a).

God has called us all to become farmers in His field. Our job is to sow, water, weed, fertilize and tend in that garden. His job is to cause the life of the kingdom to work as a result.

And when that life begins to produce fruit, we get the joyous chance to put in the sickle and feel the joy of the harvest.

How's your crop doing?

Beyond Fear

For many years, I thought that I was not a very fearful person.

But as I got in touch with my codependency, I realized that I was really afraid of what people thought of me. Did they think I was a good person? I was afraid of being judged inadequate, irresponsible and insensitive. A lot of my emotional energy was spent trying to please people. In fact, I came to realize that fear was probably the biggest debilitating issue in my life.

One of my early spiritual fathers, Dr. Albert Grimes, once said to me, "You must get healed from 'fear of people' because it will ruin your ministry."

Even now, after years of working on the underlying issues, I find that my own fears and anxieties, when left unchecked, are often at the root of some of my worst decisions.

That's one of the reasons I love Timothy so much. Evidently he struggled with fear in his ministry.


Timothy was Paul's young protege, the lead elder over the church in Ephesus. No minor assignment. And Paul wrote two of his most personally moving letters at the end of his ministry to his "son in the faith." Timothy had traveled with Paul and experienced his bold preaching and power ministry first-hand. But evidently, Timothy exhibited a kind of timidity when it came to preaching the gospel.


"For God did not give us the spirit of timidity (fear, cowardice), but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline. So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God..." (2 Tim. 1: 7-8).

One of the key issues underlying fear is shame. Shame is the painful feeling that is evoked when my vulnerable and imperfect self is exposed for others to see. Shame can be one of the most intense and riveting emotions. Shyness and fear of public speaking are both
primarily about shame.

So, how did Paul encourage Timothy to get beyond his shame-based fear. Essentially, he encouraged him to turn from focusing on himself and what he might suffer--to God, his Spirit, and how He can empower us. From God's Spirit, we receive power, love and self-discipline.

Paul, himself, had found the freedom to serve God without giving in to fear.

"I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes..." (Rom. 1: 16).

"I am convinced that [nothing in all creation]...will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8: 38-39).

What are your fears? In what ways have you been timid about sharing the gospel?

How about asking God to fill you with his power, his love and his self-discipline?

Seeing Zacchaeus

I have been "vertically challenged" for my whole life. I was 4-foot-10 when I started High School and never really had that hoped-for growth spurt. I was 5-foot-5-and-a-half when I graduated and I've been there ever since.

And I've heard a lot of "short people" jokes in my life. "Just how short is he?" "He's so short, he can do chin-ups on the chalk tray." "He's so short, he can play hand ball against the curb."

Perhaps that's why I love the story of Zacchaeus so much. "He wanted to get a look at Jesus, but he couldn't see over the crowds because he was a pip-squeak, so he ran up ahead, anticipating the route, and climbed a sycamore-fig tree so he could get a look at Jesus when he passed by" (Luke 19: 3-4: my paraphrase). (If someone is casting another Jesus movie, how about Danny DeVito in this role?)

And of course, we know that Zacchaeus was a "chief tax collector." That is, he was not just a lowly tax collector, but someone at the top of the tax collector pyramid scheme. He bought tax lots from the Romans and then brokered them to other tax collectors. Kind of like a mob boss controlling territories. The tax lots imparted the right to collect taxes on a commercial route or a region. The position was rife with corruption. It was common practice to extort more money from tax payers to make even more money. Kind of like paying a gang "protection money." And Zaccaeus was at the top of the pyramid.

The Jewish tax collectors were completely ostracized from Jewish society since they were collaborating with the enemy, the hated Romans who were occupying their homeland. Since they had to interact with these unclean Gentiles, the tax collectors were labeled as "unclean sinners." Perhaps more hated than the Romans themselves.

So, Zaccaeus, although wealthy through his profession, was cut off from any access to salvation because of the Pharisees and scribes. The Pharisees had a fixation on holiness, due in part to the reforms instituted by Ezra after the exile, and then formalized after the Maccabean revolt. In their world, salvation was obtained through rigid adherence to the holiness codes taught by the Torah and interpreted in the Oral Torah and later resulting in Mishnah and Talmudic writings.

And the common person agreed with their leaders. The tax collectors were unredeemable sinners.

But Jesus had a "kingdom" focus. And everyone was a potential citizen of the Kingdom of God if they had faith. So, while the Pharisees were erecting more and more barriers to people, represented to the extreme by Zacchaeus, Jesus refused to treat anyone as exempt from the Good News that the Kingdom of God was now available.

And that is why Jesus "saw" something when he looked at Zacchaeus: faith. Maybe just a mustard seed, but faith nonetheless. He saw that the Father was at work and that this man was close to the Kingdom of God.

No one else in that very religious society had the eyes to see Zacchaeus in the same way. If Jesus had not arrived on the scene, Zacchaeus would remain lost.

But Zacchaeus' transformation can be seen as the fruit of the faith that Jesus called forth. And he compares that faith to the Father of faith, Abraham.

This brings us to us. A religious spirit, maybe also described as pharisaism or legalism, tends to think of people as in or out of our holy club. But Jesus calls us to let go of the glasses of religious sectarianism and see the world through Kingdom lenses.

"My Father is always at his work to this very day; and I, too, am working" (John 5: 17).

Is the Father working in the heart of the pot-smoker, the atheist, the porn-star, the militant gay activist, the [you fill in the blank] that sits in the cubicle next to you at work, or occupies the desk next to you in class, or is on the treadmill machine next to you at the gym? Are you willing to open your eyes to what the Father is doing in their lives? Are you willing to eat dinner at their house or invite them over to yours? This is where the rubber of the Gospel meets the road.

To None of the Above

On December 28, 2012, there was an interesting op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times that caught my attention, "Spiritual but not Religious" by Corinna Nicolaou. It was a nice companion piece to the lead story that ran on CBS Sunday Morning on December 16th, "None of the Above,' a reaction to a recent Pew Study. Both of these stories share one thing in common, they are describing a growing segment of society who choose "none of the above" when asked their religious affiliation.

This does not mean that Nones do not believe in God or some kind of higher power. In fact, the percentage of Nones who are Atheists is very low. Majorities of Nones pray, may attend church and claim to have deeply spiritual experiences. What they have in common is a disconnection from traditional organized religion.

One very interesting and important phenomenon happened in the 1990's. In the 70's and 80's, the Nones were around 7-8%. Then in the 90's, they jumped up to 14-15%. Although the Pew Study is a different one, it says the number has risen to 19.6%.

Bradley R. E. Wright, in Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites...and Other Lies You've Been Told, points out that the 90's saw the rise of conservative political activism among Evangelicals, led by groups like "Moral Majority." The conjecture is that some Christians who were not as conservative as these organizations moved away from their church affiliation during this time and have left formal association.

Nicolaou, in her article, refers to American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, by Robert Putnam and David Campbell. "Putnam and Campbell say the rise in Nones appears to be tied to the perception, particularly among young people, that religion and conservative politics go hand in hand. I can't wrap my head around a God who is more concerned with our private parts than with the content of our hearts."

As someone who believes in the Gospel, my heart is saddened to think that there is a significant group who may not hear the good news because the church cannot push through cultural barriers to reach them. In 1 Cor. 9: 20-22, Paul discusses how he "incarnated" the Gospel to whatever cultural group he was trying to reach for a higher goal. "To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews...To those not under [Torah] I became like one under [Torah]... so as to win those not under [Torah]...to the weak I became weak, to win the weak..." (1 Cor. 9: 20-22).

"I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings" (1 Cor. 9: 23).

It seems that, if we are going to reach this growing segment of our population with the Gospel, we are going to have to be careful not to mix our religious identity with our political identity. It is not wrong as members of the church to be good citizens and participate in the political process. But when our politics become part of the church "brand", then we begin shutting the door to a potential soul whose politics may differ from us. (See my blog, The Church and Politics, 6/14/12).

If I am sent to preach the Gospel to the Nones, how can I "become a None, so as to reach the Nones?"

Peace Child

The famous missionary book by Don Richardson, Peace Child, was popular among evangelicals during my college days and it continues to be a powerful illustration of what Richardson calls, "redemptive analogies."

The cannibalistic and head-hunting tribal cultures in what was then Dutch West New Guinea were a challenging mission field. The Richardsons lived among the Sawi. It was an effort just to learn the complex language.

But when he was able to tell them the story of Christ, they laughed at the betrayal of Judas. Because of their cultural values, Judas appeared to be the hero and Jesus the dupe.

But how to communicate the message of Christ in such a different culture? Richardson says that all cultures have some kind of practice or custom that will provide the redemptive analogy if the missionary will prayerfully look for it. The analogy for the Sawi culture was the practice of the "peace child."

In order to negotiate peace between warring tribes, the leaders hand over one of their own children to the other tribe for safe-keeping. This ensures the negotiated peace between the tribes is maintained.

Of course, Richardson could then use this custom to talk about how God sent His Peace Child to us. This resulted in many conversions and the ultimate success of the mission work.

As a church-planting pastor in North America, this example may seem exotic and irrelevant. But it is highly relevant to our evangelistic work in the West.

The culture around us is changing. And the message of the church has often become marginalized and labeled as irrelevant. The Evangelical church in particular is often seen as full of hypocrites (see unChristian, by Kinnaman and Lyons for example).

The apostle Paul tells us that he changed his approach to his mission depending on the cultural context.

"To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some" (1 Cor. 9: 20-22).

The job of the church remains the same. To incarnate ourselves in the culture to which we are called. And once there, to look for those redemptive analogies that will help us to bring the unchanging message of salvation to the shifting world-views around us. How are you doing with that task?