6 Potential Ministry Benefits of the Vine App

As a leader my first impression of the Vine App was that seemed to be a good way to waste 6 seconds of my life.
Most likely, it will predominately be pics of cuteness – babies, puppies, kittens, etc.

Additionally, amidst all of the cuteness it seems that the darkest aspects of culture capitalized quickly on this new technology.  Apparently, someone at Vine headquarters inadvertently placed a pornographic clip in the editor’s choice selection. Thankfully, apple and Facebook responded quickly to the snafu, pulling Vine out of their spotlight. Hopefully, the Vine developers responded quickly and sufficiently enough in developing a filtering system to keep the technology from being forever hijacked. Time will tell.

If the technology survives, continues to ward off offensive content and continues to gain interest, we must answer the question, “Can this technology be redeemed for ministry purposes”. Here are a few potential positive aspects of the Vine App that can help us answer that question.

1. It is effective for showing works in progress - Imagine the projects we tackle in the context of the church on a particular week: It could be a food drive, building a set, shooting a video, rehearsing a band, anything. Catch 6 seconds of the task at hand and show it to your audience. This may be enough to spark some interest and both energize and grow your volunteer base.
2. You can capture a move of God. Can you imagine what it would be like to have 6 seconds of Jesus feeding the 5,000? A sack-lunch becomes a buffet in time-lapse videography. I can imagine using vine to capture 6 seconds of worship, a time of prayer, a sermon.
3. We can remind people of truth - We have all benefited from truth in 140 characters or less. What if  we used vine to preach 6 second sermons? Ok, forget that one – 6 seconds is ridiculous.
4. It’s helpful for ladies ministry. Like Pinterest (a social network I refuse to surrender my man-card for.), this may help us target and minister to ladies more effectively.
5. Simple reality can be very helpful. Most reality shows are anything but real, however might it be helpful to see a mother play with her kids, a husband picking up groceries for his wife, a child doing chores around the house? Are these simple acts not also the most practical expressions of our relationship with Christ?
6. The Gospel can be shared in 6 seconds or less – The full, expansive, detailed Gospel presentation takes some time. We must ground one in the context of scripture and bring the scripture into the context of their life. There must be a basic understand of the nature of God, man, sin, holiness, redemption, substitution, repentance, faith, etc. However, the actual birthing of a new soul is sudden. In 6 seconds, what aspect of the Gospel can be communicated, reinforced, planted?

Time will tell if this new app is going to spread throughout the culture. Chances are, coming from twitter, it will. Let’s try to redeem the technology, for the days are few.

Family Devotions that Work

I’ve been a dad for 11 years. During that time we have struggled to find the best way to do consistent family devotions. This has been a difficult journey for us for a few reasons:

1. I was determined to create a time my kids didn’t hate. It is a sin to make the bible and prayer boring.
2. As a recovering legalist I wanted this time to be very beneficial, something we yearned for, rather than one more hoop to add to our pride.
3. When I commit to something I tend to commit fully, and typically “overdo” it. So I’m prone to make spiritual disciplines too ornate, with too many steps, and too many moving parts. I felt like when we got it right, it would be very simple.

If you have a discipline you intend to follow throughout your life, KEEP IT SIMPLE.

Here is what we do:

1. About 8:30PM everyone gathers in the living room of our home.
2. I break out my IPAD and open my ESV study bible app.
3. We read one chapter (Currently reading Revelation)
4. I give some insight from the text. Typically, these are things that a mature Christian can gather from a cold reading of the text, no commentary or study work needed.
5. Others contribute what they see in the text and we may discuss a bit.
6. We quickly take prayer requests and pray.
7. Kids sent to bed, tucked in, complete with both mom and dad praying over each kid.

It’s simple, it works, it’s actually fun. It’s a nice conclusion to our day. What do you do to spur your tribe on to love and good deeds? Let us know in the comment section below!

 

Coffee with the King

This Sunday we are launching a new series at Capshaw called, “Coffee with the King – a Study of Proverbs”. Suppose you had the opportunity to spend time with History’s wisest human leader and pick his brain about every aspect of your life. Do you suppose you might be able to live on a whole new level? That’s our desire as we dive in to a study of Proverbs. Start your new year off right by digging into this life changing book with us next week. Then, refer back to this blog for follow up information, questions for discussion and resources for further study.

I am challenging the members of Capshaw to read a complete chapter of Proverbs every day. On the first read Chapter 1, on the second read Chapter 2, and so on. You may also want to listen through the Proverbs via – The Daily Audio Proverb Podcast