Off the Agenda: Social Media Is Not Optional!

By: Min. Angela Lee Price

Here is an article that says what I have been saying for six years now, social media is not optional if the church intends to reach youth and young adults. We must be willing to meet them where they hang out, and that is on the internet. While they go to the internet for one reason, the church must go for another and that is to share the Gospel. After all, the church is called to go into all the world, teach, baptize, and teach (Matthew 28:19 &20). Well, now that world has to include cyberspace.

While social media evangelism is not optional, I believe though that "face time" with real human beings is not optional either. I have said so in the Saving S.O.U.L.S. group in the post entitled, "Where Is A Good Streetwalker When You Need One?" The church is not on her j-o-b. Non-believers are out there outreaching believers with activities, walks, and runs that don't have anything to do with God.

To be critical of social media, it is too isolating. It is easy to sit behind a computer screen and talk a good game. It is much harder to look someone on the eye ball and mean it. The lost and backslidden, or the "unchurched" and "dechurched" as we call them these days, come with baggage, varying personalities and real issues, addictions, mental and physical illnesses, and the like. Many of us don't have time to deal with that. Blogging, tweeting, and facebooking leaves too many more of us with sore backs and stiff joints from hours and hours of immobility and little exercise.

But with all of its drawbacks, social media is still not optional if the church really intends to reach today's youth with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In far too many churches there is no crying, no giggling, no laughter, and no pitter patter of little feet. There is no nursery, nor children's and youth Sunday school for that matter. The church needs to get "linked in" or she's going to get left out.

Off the Agenda: Social Media Is Not Optional!

Celebrating Black History: Don't Miss Your Crowning Moment!

By: Min. Angela Lee Price

"Now, if we are children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may share in his glory” Romans 8:17.

All I have is this black and white photo now, and the memories the accompany it, of a time long since past when my name once appeared in lights on the marquee of this Holiday Inn. It was in 1974, 37 years ago to be exact, when I was crowned "Miss Teen Queen," Junior Division, in a beauty pageant held in this very hotel in downtown Louisville. Joetta Thomas was crowned "Miss Teen Queen,” Senior Division, and Gayle Kelcy, her runner-up in a tightly contested competition of African American young women, mostly older than me, who were, as I saw it, poised, sophisticated, and glamorous.

"What in the world am I doing here?," I kept asking myself as the older women tried to teach me to walk, and talk, and turn on the runway. I was not nearly as poised as Joetta and the rest of the contestants. “How could I possibly win?,” I said.

But somehow, something kept edging me forward, a "Yes, you can!" spirit. It took me to that crowning moment, a moment that is forever cemented in my mind. It was the spirit of my middle school counselor, a pretty black woman, and my elementary school teachers, especially Ms. Sexton, my math teacher, who taught me and mentored me and told me I was somebody. It was the spirit of my mother, and my mother's mother before her, queens in their own right, who seriously insisted that you just didn’t leave the house dressed any kind of way.

I think about that picture when I see young girls degrading themselves and living beneath what God has for them. I think about this picture, too, when I see African American girls looking at girls of other hues thinking they don’t measure up. I tell them, “Honey, you measure up. You are a queen fit for a king. You are a royal priesthood.”

And now that I am older, I am able to look back across the pages of time and see that it was the Holy Spirit at work in my life all along, as it was in this same year, 1974, when He saved me, called me into His glorious kingdom, and truly made me a queen, a co-heir with Jesus Christ. Now, that was my crowning moment indeed!

Do not miss your crowning moment!  It is a moment that will go down in history, and be written in the Lambs Book of Life.  If you are not saved, repent of your sins,  accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and be baptized.  He promises to forgive your sins and give you eternal life (John 3:16, Acts 4:12, Romans 10:9, Acts 2:38). He will make you, a queen or a king, a royal priesthood, a co-heir in His marvelous Kingdom. 

If you are saved, we invite you to share your crowning moments with us, and help us lift up Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords during Black History Month. Post your comments here, or on the Jesus Saves Social Network. We are giving away books in weekly drawings all month by and about African Americans who have help make this country great. Also, we are showcasing Louisville-area authors who want to honor God, and so they have graciously donated their recently release works to our Celebrating Black History Book Give-Away. If you are not saved, but desire a relationship with Jesus Christ, we invite you to join our network and learn more about Him.

At Annual Holy Convocation, COGIC Plans to Do Some Door-to-Door Evangelism - BCNN1

By: Min. Angela Lee Price

Well, lookie here! I have found a few street walkers and it is marvelous in my eyes! The Church of God In Christ demonination will be taking it to the streets in full force to do the dog-on thang! They are going door-to-door to evangalize the streets of St. Louis during their annual convention November 8-16.

This fantastic turn of events is happening just when I was beginning to believe that old fashion "cold calling" was dead. The latest research suggests that most people join church through the influence of family members. We should do all possible to reach those for Christ who are closest to us. After all, friends don't let friends miss heaven. The thing that gets me though is so many organizations out on the streets in full force for their cause, raising lots of money in fact, and the church is no where to been seen. Many of those do-gooding people don't know Jesus from a whole in the ground, but by their shear numbers, creativity, and outward show of unity, they make a mockery of the Christian faith. This article on the COGICs is a "good look!"

At Annual Holy Convocation, COGIC Plans to Do Some Door-to-Door Evangelism - BCNN1

It is not Mohammad, Buddha, Confucius, nor New Age that saves.  Jesus saves!

Who Is In Your Fave Five?

NBA great and hall of famer Charles Barkley is a spokesman for a mobile phone company that offers a "Fave Five," five people you can talk to for as often and as long as you like each month for free. Who are you talking to and witnessing to continually about Jesus Christ? Who is in your "fave five?"

Ralph Neighbor says in Survival Kit for New Christians: A Practical Guide to Spiritual Growth, "Witnessing is not preaching. Witnessing is not teaching the Bible. Witnessing is giving proof or evidence. You have accepted Christ as your Savior and Lord. He has come to live in your life. You have repented of your sins. You have prayed for His Spirit to control you. Your personality has changed because of Christ in your life. People who are around you can see the differences. You are a witness." You are living proof to people who are around you that Jesus saves!

Some Christians say, "I don't need to talk about Christ. All they have to do is see my actions." They are being selfish when we say that. We can talk all day to our 'fave five" about everything and everybody, except Jesus Christ. I don't think so. The Bible says the enemy is overcome by the Lamb and the word of our testimony (Rev 12:11). Friends don't let friends miss heaven. You need to say your witness! Tell somebody what the Lord has done for you.

The apostle Paul knew how to say his witness. Paul wrote, " I am not ashamed of the Good News. It is the power of God. It is the way He saves men...if they put their trust in Him." With relatives, friends, and guests in for the Kentucky Derby, who is in your "fave five," the five people you plan to share Christ with? If you don't have a "fave five," create one and tell them Jesus saves!

This devotional inspired by Survival Kit for New Christians Basic English: A Practical Guide to Spiritual Growth, by Ralph W. Neighbour, Jr.

Be sure to read the related post in Prayers of the Righteous, "Prayer Warriors, Give Yourselves A High Five!"

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