It was really neat to see. I was in a small city north of Moscow working with a local bishop and some of his leaders from a number of churches and saw this young man banging on his iPhone throughout the worship time. It turns out his iPhone was plugged into the sound system and he was playing drums along with the worship team consisting of a number of guitars and a key board. I was amazed.

Fast forward a year and now I have an iPad and, in 6 weeks when I renew my cell phone contract, I will be trading up to an iPhone 4 as well. And, now I am learning to play music on my iPad. Wow! Technology is really neat. Now, there is really no excuse for not developing a decent worship team and without a great deal of cost because most have an iPhone or an iPad already in their arsenal of electronic devices. And, it is much easier to carry around and set up than the old fashion physical instruments.

Just the other day I read a brief article in a magazine I subscribe to (a paper version none-the-less) and so went looking on the internet for this group that the article was writing about. An iBand. Found it. And, just for fun, I downloaded a segment where they are playing Christmas music for everyone to worship to. Click on the link and enjoy …. and think, as well, of the potential for your involvement in worship and your church’s ability to have a full worship team and involve the young people at the same time.

Enjoy… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9XNfWNooz4

I remember many years ago as a non-believer but a church-goer seeing a sign on the main street of the city I was living in at the time. The sign flashed on and off and simply said, “Jesus Saves.” I was in my first year of a three year seminary degree (Master’s degree) and had no idea what that meant. In fact, I considered it a rather odd sign. I mean, where did Jesus save? At which bank? What did Jesus save? It really made absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. By the end of my third year in seminary – even upon graduation day – I was still clueless and had no idea what it was all about.

Of course, a number of years after being ordained a priest I was born again and came to understand what it meant that “Jesus Saves.” However, it really does make one wonder if the message is getting through. I mean, fast forward 40 years and ask yourself if the message “Jesus Saves” is getting through today, where you live, in your life and ministry? In a culture of noise and competing ideologies and religions is the Christian message getting through to the people we are trying to communicate with? If it was difficult 40 years ago to understand – it is much more difficult today in our post-Christian culture.

Think about it, we live at a point in human history where the act of communicating has never been easier. We can talk to friends in Kabul, Afghanistan, via Skype, as easily as a colleague in the next office to us. Twitter uncovers breaking news faster than nearly every news agency. Text messaging is transforming the way an entire generation communicates with one another and those around them. And yet, it is still not easy to explain the Gospel and many of the ways we attempt to this this make no more sense that a sign flashing in red letters “jesus Saves” did 40+ years ago.

In several churches that I work with here in North America we have begun to wrestle with this problem. We have begun to have everyone’s cell phone number (yes, even the teens) so we can text daily the prayer requests and the events of the day at the local church. Youth leaders are touching base with those they minister to through texting. We are beginning to have people text us their questions as they are actually listening to a teaching or Sunday sermon. Then, at the end of the teaching, we will put the top three questions on the overhead and answer them in discussion format right in the service.

Even here at Ralph Howe Ministries we are highly technological – I am typing this on an iPad in a restaurant waiting for someone to arrive. We use texts worldwide to communicate the Gospel and to train and equip those we are discipling and mentoring. We have two identical web sites – mirror images of each other – one in English the other in Russian. We do daily blogs in English and three a week in Russian increasing to one a day shortly. We have added video clips to our teachings, use MP3s, DVDs and other media to communicate with people around the world. Facebook and Twitter round our our current stable of communication tools. But, not for long as we are growing and adapting, adopting and adding new ways to communicate almost weekly.

Yes, we believe it is possible to explain the Gospel in a way that today’s world will understand that Jesus Saves. However, there is much that needs to change if we are to do it effectively, efficiently and now! What can you adopt and learn about technology you have available to use that would help you to better explain the Gospel and impact lives for Jesus.

Do you really believe what Jesus said when He said it is more blessed to give than to receive? If you do believe it – then act like it!

One of the best ways to overcome your own feelings of doubt, lack of self-worth, or your inability to love yourself as you are is to stop dwelling on you and the pain within and reach out to ease someone else’s pain. Put your focus on someone else – which will mean consciously taking your attention off of yourself. After all, it is more blessed to give than to receive…

Last night on the news I heard of a grandfather in his late fifties who broke the record for traveling across Canada by bicycle and raised almost a million dollars for orphans in Africa. He was doing well just biking across the nation with an estimate of so much money being raised and then someone offered to almost double it if he broke the speed record for biking across the nation. In spite of his own pain and tiredness – and fear of not actually doing it – he took his focus off of himself and succeeded.

My advice to complaining believers and disciples who wine a lot – rise up and reach out. When you do that, you will discover that your own issues will begin to resolve themselves. In other words, if you can’t turn on the light of love within yourself – if you can’t resolve your own issues, be the solution for someone else. After all, it is better to give than to receive, right? If you don’t love yourself, then give yourself away. If you do that, you will be amazed at how valuable you feel and how insignificant the personal concerns you were struggling with become.

The key to a successful life is to keep striving, keep growing, keep giving all you have to give so that, in the end, you can look back and say, “I gave it my best shot.”

You already have all that it takes to be loving and valuable to others. If you will take your focus off of yourself and give – because it is more blessed to give than to receive – you will find that you will, in return, be loved and valued. Funny how it just works out that way!

Jesus said that we are to love our neighbors as we love our self. Problem here is that we don’t love our self and so seldom reach out to love our neighbor. Thus people go to hell not knowing about the love of God in spite of knowing Christians who are suppose to flow in and minister the love of God to all those they know and meet.

You should never live according to what you lack. Instead, live as though you can do anything you dream of doing. Even when you suffer a setback or a tragedy, there is often an unexpected, totally improbable, and absolutely impossible benefit to be realized. It may not happen right away. You may at times wonder what good could possibly come of it. But, as a disciple of the Lord, trust that it all happens for good – even tragedies can turn into triumphs. The Bible states, “All things work together for good …” ALL things – the good, the bad and the ugly.