final days forum

Wanted: 'godly apps' for a troubled economy

Wall Street subway station, originally uploaded by epicharmus.

If ever there was a time for adherents of marketplace ministry to flex their strength, it is now. We need business leaders who have absorbed the wisdom of Proverbs, who have watched God's discernment purify their business practices and elevate their level of productivity. Change agents clothed with humility, they are not bound by money or politics.

All help can't come from the corridors of Washington, whether that help is a bipartisan bailout or not. We need leaders on the ground who know that they must look to God for answers. These leaders are the carriers of "godly apps" that can problem-solve and inspire the nation through the current financial turbulence. Just as a "killer app" refers to computer software that provides a core value, as Wikipedia explains, this country needs a multitude of godly apps that will steer our country into a more stable and productive direction.

What I am describing is a grass-roots effort, a neighborhood-by-neighborhood, city-by-city, board room-by-board room, sales call-by-sales call movement led by business leaders who don't think the way to lead the world to God is by pointing a finger and yelling, "JESUS LOVES YOU!"  They understand evangelism, but they operate in heavenly subtlety. These leaders are gifted to rethink our energy resources, restructure our financial systems, create reasoned plans that can rebuild an aging infrastructure, and pump resources into our cities and schools. Without broadcasting it, they know that their practical contributions display eternal power.

I've written about this before in "Where is Joseph?" and "A recession? Maybe it's a holy opportunity," but it needs to be said again. God wants to innovate our world for his purposes and he wants to do it through his people. Please step up, man or woman of God who interpret the reports of the Wall Street Journal and CNBC through the ancient, yet still relevant wisdom of Scripture.

Please don't restrain your skills because you fear inadvertently underwriting sin or perpetuating a system that loves mammon. Ask God for understanding and he will guide you through love. Paul wrote this to the church at Philippi and it still applies today: "And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best..."

Judy Howard Ellis

Links courtesy of www.nytimes.com, www.wikipedia.com, www.blackaby.org, www.online.wsj.com, www.cnbc.com , www.studylight.org

 

Good news!

One of my recent posts said that the 2008 Church in the Marketplace Conference: Reclaiming the 7 Mountains of Cultural Influence would not be available by webcast.  That's what I was told at the time, but I discovered this week that the sessions will be available on the Web. Visit here to get details.

Yipee! I was so bummed that I couldn't go. The conference started today in Atlanta.

The power of a viral church

UPDATE: 1/10/07 -- The YouTube link that was on this site is now missing. I have deleted a reference to it.

If you want to get jazzed about ministry beyond the church pew, check out the 2008 Church in the Workplace Conference: Reclaiming the 7 Mountains of Culture in Atlanta Jan. 24-26. The conference is being hosted by Os Hillman, well-known spokesman for marketplace ministries.

The “mountains” refer to the institutions that influence culture – Family, Business, Religion, Media, Education, Entertainment and Government. According to the site, Reclaiming the 7 Mountains of Culture, God first revealed the strategy to Loren Cunningham with Youth With A Mission, the late Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ and the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer of L’Abri Fellowship.

Unfortunately, the Atlanta conference will not be streamed on the Web, but there will be audio and video materials available sometime in February, a conference contact told me today. Featured speakers include Linda Rios Brook, veteran broadcaster and author of Frontline Christians in a Bottom Line World, and May-Lynn Chang, strategic marketing director for Walden Media, the company behind The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, to be released in May. These speakers intrigue me because they have experience conquering my beloved mountains – journalism and entertainment.

Dr. Lance Wallnau  is another conference speaker. I first heard him in the 1990s at my old congregation, Covenant Church in Carrollton, Texas, and I was enthralled by his researched, culturally relevant teaching. 

Last night and early into this morning I watched video clips from Wallnau several times on Prophetic.TV and Christian.TV.  His teaching underscored my experience in the marketplace and it felt good to be understood… I still remember some people questioning me earlier in my career about whether I could really serve God in a secular newsroom. It was, and still is, a ridiculous notion.

 After about 20 years in daily journalism, I’ve watched God move in the most unlikely places, without a Bible tract or a Sunday sermon. I’ve seen Him use all kinds of media to transmit messages of truth and hope. I’ve seen Him plant seeds in rock-hard hearts, enlighten dulled minds and comfort bruised spirits.

The world is hungry, as Wallnau said, for solution-oriented leaders. Solve a problem and gain credibility and a platform to display Christ. It can be just as holy to outline a plan of action to your boss for a knotty issue as it is to host a Bible study in your home. It can be just as devout to be known as a compassionate colleague as it is to be known as a prayer warrior at the local church.

Christian influence is not a sanctuary thing, it’s a viral thing. Consider this explanation of the viral phenomenon from Wikipedia:

“The concept of something, other than a biological virus, being viral came into vogue just after the Internet became widely popular in the mid to late 1990s. An object, even a non-material object, is considered to be viral when it has the ability to spread copies of itself or change other similar objects to become more like itself when those objects are simply exposed to the viral object. This has become a common way to describe how thoughts, information and trends move into and through a human population.”

The first-century church was a viral force. And we possess the Spirit-generated power to do the same in the 21st century.