The web’s been buzzing with the story of the combat rifles, used in Iraq and Afghanistan, having Bible verses! The company–Trijicon–a Michigan defense contractor says the practice began nearly 30 years ago with the company’s founder.  “We don’t publicize this,” Tom Munson, Trijicon’s director of sales and marketing, said in an interview. “It’s not something we make a big deal out of. But when asked, we say, ‘Yes, it’s there.”‘

The Scriptures have been there since 1995 and, according to the company, they have received no complaints about it…until now. The controversy has gotten so bad that the Marine Corps, which signed a contract for $66 million in 2009, is reconsidering its contract.

The two Scriptures used are:

John 8:12–“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.’”

2 Corinthians 4:6–“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ.”

Now I must admit…I’m kinda stumped. I believe in God and business…strongly! But through weapons of mass destruction…I don’t know.

What do you think? Are they right in doing it? Should they not do? Why and why not?

The floor is open…

There’s an extremely popular article on Time.com: Why Ireland is Running Out of Priests.

The Archbishop of Dublin, made a grim prediction about the future of the church in Ireland: If more young priests aren’t found quickly, the country’s parishes may soon not have enough clergy to survive. The author blames the scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church, Ireland’s growth, criticism over the handling of a sex-abuse case, and etc.

And though these are valid points, one 29 year old priest (the youngest in Ireland), hit the nail on the head: the church needs to carry out structural reforms.

In other words, there’s a need for a fundamental shift. A need for change!

According to one Father: “Good men are being driven out by foolish [rules].”

Why did he say that? Mainly because a priest announced to his congregation he was leaving; he broke a law: he was seeing a woman. Needless, to say he got a standing ovation! He left because he felt  he would do something stupid: like get married!

Change is a necessity but many don’t see it as such. Whether it be Rupert Murdoch and his quest to remove his news sites from Google search, or book agents opposed to self publishing there are those who oppose change rather than adapt to it; unfortunately, even those in ministry.

Everyday I become more of a believer in social media. I respect how much faster word of mouth can echo because of  it. 

It is a double-edged sword: One one hand, if favorable to you, it can take you to the heights of notierity. On the other hand, it has the ability to cut to shreds. David Tonen reminded me of that in his new blog post. Due to United Airlines total disregard for one customer they are feeling the latter part of that sword.

For those of you who are followers of social media…this post will truly make you respect it even more.

What are your thoughts?

Wanted to share this great post by Jacob Morgan (he’s a social media consultant /strategist and the Co-Founder and Principal at Mighty Mouth Media, a strategic social media consultancy). He shares tip on how to keep the relationship between social media and client amiable. Here a few of his suggestions:

1.  Don’t say yes to everything that comes your way
2. The client is just as responsible as the consultant in making sure that things get done
3. Be careful with how much information you put into a proposal
4. Set AND MANAGE expectations

And so on…

Click here to read the post in its entirety.

Since we learned that the Bible endorses consultants I thought this would be a perfect follow up post.

Questions, comments, or concerns please let me know.

I have a challenge for you: next Sunday I want you to visit another church…any church. But don’t go with your Bible, don’t wear any “church” clothes, put on regular clothes, and give no indication that you’re a Christian. Why? Well…that’s what I did on Sunday… and what happened I’ll never forget. I went to a church service pretending to be an unsaved man. What I learned that day has changed my life. Walk with me and I’ll tell you what happened.

On Sunday I got myself ready to visit this church. I had the option of putting on a suit or some jeans, boots, and a winter coat—I chose the latter. Now I have a Bible on my phone (with more than a dozen translations) so I opted to not carry my regular Bible. I took the bus and train there. After reading my Bible on the bus and praying a bit on the train—I thought to myself, “what if I acted like I was a visitor who’d never been to church? What kind of response would I get?” So right then and there my experiment began. I wanted to see: 1) How the un-churched view church 2) How the un-churched are treated when visiting a church.

MY EXPERIMENT WAS UNDERWAY

I got off the train, walked to the church, opened the door, and put my experiment to the test. The greeters at the door greeted those they seemed to know—some were even holding conversations with other greeters! Out of six greeters only one greeted me. “Okay,” I said to myself. “Let’s move to the sanctuary.” As I stepped through the doors an usher greeted me and immediately asked if I wanted to go to the front. I politely declined. I found a seat somewhere in the middle and sat down. The building itself was beautiful—the lighting was perfect, soft music was playing, and the choir was in front practicing—it was really nice.

Everyone around me was engaged in conversation…unfortunately no one said anything to me. Not a “Hello”… “How are you doing”…”God bless”…nothing at all. I sat there for five minutes and decided to use the bathroom. So I got up, went back to the first usher I saw, and asked her where the bathroom was. She mumbled some words, waved her hands past me, and turned back to her door. I guess I was interrupting her.

“No problem,” I said to myself. “I’m pretty sure I can find it.” I walked to the door where she waved me to and saw another usher with programs in her hand. She greeted everyone in front of me with a “God bless you” and handed them a program. When she got to me she kind of hesitated and said “hello.” I said “hello” back and extended my hand indicating I wanted a program. She hesitated slightly…but did give me one. I walked past her into the beautiful corridor looking for the bathroom (it wasn’t that easy…I actually got lost and nearly ended up in the kitchen). I found out later I had to go downstairs (the first usher failed to mention that). Downstairs was as stunning as upstairs. A gentleman by the stairs (I’m guessing another usher) greeted me warmly and directed me to the bathroom.

BACK TO THE SANCTUARY

After my bathroom break I headed back to my seat. Again, everyone around me appeared to having great conversations. The lady on my left put her pocketbook and Bible down on the seat next to me and her coat on the seat next to her (it seemed she was holding them for people). She said “hi” and I said “hi” back—that was the end of our conversation. The lady on my right hand said nothing at all…so I sat in my seat waiting for service to begin.

Time for praise and worship—the music was wonderful! The praise and worship leader was doing a masterful job of getting the crown involved—he said, “Touch someone next to you and tell them ‘I’m glad you’re here.’” Everyone touched each other… but no one touched me for some reason. No matter…back to the music. To reiterate, I pretended to be un-churched—so, on my part, there was no hand lifting, no hallelujahs, nothing that would indicate I knew God. But there’s one thing that happened that you need to know…and that… that I’ll tell you that in Part II. Till next time!