Can THIS GUY minister on your platform .... - Page 22

SDG · #**211** 05-24-2007, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rico

I know, I know. Pick on the good looking fat guy that doesn't do Christmas. It's the cross I must bear on these forums.

Its too bad you don't ... cuz we have a hoe down w/ pasteles ... pernil .. arroz con gandules .... tostones ... you name it .

MissBrattified · #**212** 05-24-2007, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rico

This isn't about choosing a pastor. This is about allowing someone into the pulpit to preach and whether or not they should be allowed to because of being tatooed all over their face. Stick to the topic at hand. If you care to discuss my choice of pastors and how I feel about Christmas then you will have to wait until our yearly Christmas argument.

Well, you know how it is...Christmas starts earlier and earlier every year...commercialism and all that. Can't hurt to try....

So here's my take on the tattoos:

Its important for a minister to be able to influence his audience, to hear him. Its simply a matter of practicality. If folks are offended by his very appearance, chances are, they won't hear what he has to say anyway, unless he can find some way to bridge that gap, which would take wisdom on his part, and no small measure of self-deprecation, to set people at ease.

As I said earlier on the thread, as a parent I would feel uncomfortable with such a person speaking to my kids, unless he clarified his position, and made mention that this is where he came from and not what he IS or that his tattoos don't represent what he believes now. I think that's important. I don't think he should be excluded from ministry because of a pre-conversion choice. I do think how he addresses it, and how he approaches people who may be immediately put off by his appearance will either open doors or slam them shut.

People are people, and if you don't take the time to deal with their humanity, then you've tripped over the first step of the ministry ladder.

Rico · #**213** 05-24-2007, 10:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daniel Alicea

Its too bad you don't ... cuz we have a hoe down w/ pasteles ... pernil .. arroz con gandules .... tostones ... you name it .

I said absolutely nothing about not eating.

MissBrattified · #**214** 05-24-2007, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rico

I said absolutely nothing about not eating.

Hmmmm...well, if we aren't supposed to eat food offered to idols...what about food cooked in honor of an idolatrous holiday?

(P.S. If you're ever around here at Christmas, our Christmas dinner tradition is BBQ'd ribs...but you'd have to endure garland and mistletoe to get to the table!)

Digging4Truth · #**215** 05-24-2007, 10:29 AM

Bumping this to get back on subject as I was instructed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coonskinner

Then let him be the greatest soulwinner in the country.

But he isn't going to be on my platform.

I have not read this thread until today and WOW... some amazing stuff is being said here.

On the post I quoted I say this.... wait until he gets popular and then a few in the circles you run in have him come and preach at their church and you will be calling him to book a revival.

Let the denying commence.

Several general thoughts...

I keep seeing...

He would be a distraction... I think we could use a distraction. A distraction from our constant need to compare ourselves among ourselves. A distraction from our navel gazing while a world is plunging headlong into an eternity without God.

He would be a bad example... I think he would be an excellent example. An example of what God has brought him out of. An example of Gods ability to save and even an example to think before you do something because some things never go away no matter how much you wish they would.

If this man received the Holy Ghost. If this man was able to reach out to this world. If this man had a message that reached souls. If this man was able to stir the hearts of mankind. If this man was able to do all those things (which is what the kingdom is about btw) and I denied him operation in my church because of the way he looked then I wonder exactly what kind of answer I would be able to give to God for that?

If you invite him BECAUSE of how he looked then that isn't any better than refusing to invite him because of how he looked. But if a man, of his own merits, was a soul winner then not only would I have him but I would sit down with him hoping to learn what it is I have been missing that I cannot reach these souls that he reaches.

Not would I invite him to come I would hope to learn from him because reaching souls is what it is all about.

Rico · #**216** 05-24-2007, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MissBrattified

Well, you know how it is...Christmas starts earlier and earlier every year...commercialism and all that. Can't hurt to try....

So here's my take on the tattoos:

Its important for a minister to be able to influence his audience, to hear him. Its simply a matter of practicality. If folks are offended by his very appearance, chances are, they won't hear what he has to say anyway, unless he can find some way to bridge that gap, which would take wisdom on his part, and no small measure of self-deprecation, to set people at ease.

As I said earlier on the thread, as a parent I would feel uncomfortable with such a person speaking to my kids, unless he clarified his position, and made mention that this is where he came from and not what he IS or that his tattoos don't represent what he believes now. I think that's important. I don't think he should be excluded from ministry because of a pre-conversion choice. I do think how he addresses it, and how he approaches people who may be immediately put off by his appearance will either open doors or slam them shut.

People are people, and if you don't take the time to deal with their humanity, then you've tripped over the first step of the ministry ladder.

And you know what I know? I know that people have an attention span of about 5 minutes and something or someone that can keep that attention longer would have a greater chance of not only being heard but also being remembered.

I remember several years back, at the UC church I was a member of, the pastor decided he was going to get some different sorts of people to come by and preach. There was the guy with the writing all over his white shirts, there was the twins with the bowties that played the trumpets, and the guy with the nervous twitch that made him snap his neck to the left. You know why he did it? Because he realized that we had gotten entirely too used to him and his preaching and we needed something different to capture our attention. It worked.

Digging4Truth · #**217** 05-24-2007, 10:34 AM

Inward theology is maintenance theology and has lost its outward focus.

#**218** 05-24-2007, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daniel Alicea

so you real opinion is ....????

I have no opinion on the tatoos.

SDG · #**219** 05-24-2007, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chan

I have no opinion on the tatoos.

any opinions on him being used???

Coonskinner · #**220** 05-24-2007, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Digging4Truth

Bumping this to get back on subject as I was instructed.

I have not read this thread until today and WOW... some amazing stuff is being said here.

On the post I quoted I say this.... wait until he gets popular and then a few in the circles you run in have him come and preach at their church and you will be calling him to book a revival.

Let the denying commence.

Several general thoughts...

I keep seeing...

He would be a distraction... I think we could use a distraction. A distraction from our constant need to compare ourselves among ourselves. A distraction from our navel gazing while a world is plunging headlong into an eternity without God.

He would be a bad example... I think he would be an excellent example. An example of what God has brought him out of. An example of Gods ability to save and even an example to think before you do something because some things never go away no matter how much you wish they would.

If this man received the Holy Ghost. If this man was able to reach out to this world. If this man had a message that reached souls. If this man was able to stir the hearts of mankind. If this man was able to do all those things (which is what the kingdom is about btw) and I denied him operation in my church because of the way he looked then I wonder exactly what kind of answer I would be able to give to God for that?

If you invite him BECAUSE of how he looked then that isn't any better than refusing to invite him because of how he looked. But if a man, of his own merits, was a soul winner then not only would I have him but I would sit down with him hoping to learn what it is I have been missing that I cannot reach these souls that he reaches.

Not would I invite him to come I would hope to learn from him because reaching souls is what it is all about.

Digger,

I am not a mindless drone who has the flavor of the month come preach just because it's popular.

Who I bring to the pulpit is one of the things I take most seriously as a pastor.

Dear friends of mine use guys I won't use.

I keep my own cousel on that subject.

This guy would never minister for me with that stuff on his face.

If you disagree, sorry.

No wiggling on this one.