Rap music isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think about programmers, but we like to keep things interesting here at Church Plant Media. We are very excited to share with you Lyrical Catechism, the debut album from our very own Senior Developer, Ben Otero aka Benjamin the Esquire. While hip hop and programming don’t often mix, they have been an integral part of Ben’s work and ministry.
Today is a special day for me. 20 years ago I was a freshman in art school and the Lord was drawing me to Himself. Although I had grown up in a "Christian home" and had known Jesus since childhood, part of my private life did not match my public profession of faith. After a dating relationship came crashing down, it was finally clear to me that my girlfriend had become an idol who was receiving my worship. Humbled and in need of help, I went for a walk in the middle of the night with my Bible and turned to the book of James. The following words leapt off of the page and into my soul.
The world was supposed to end today: December 21, 2012. When the day dawned on Chichen-Itza Mexico, it was the anticlimactic end to the 5,125-year cycle of the ancient Mayan calendar. But the world did not end, the North and South poles did not shift, and there was no geomagnetic reversal on planet Earth. But even though this day has passed with no earthquakes or floods or cosmic collisions, it does remind us of a day in history that ended the world as we knew it. A day that altered the eternal poles of our existence and restarted our modern day calendar. A day that was foretold in ancient prophecies and transcribed by trusted first century eye witnesses.
'Tis the season for conferences! I recently attended the biennial T4G Conference (Together for the Gospel) in Louisville, KY with my wife and oldest son. If you have never been to the T4G website, please do your soul a favor and visit T4G.org to watch all the messages. And speaking of conferences... the annual Exponential Conference is happening THIS WEEK in Orlando, FL. Exponential is the largest gathering of church planters on the planet. If you are there, please stop by the Church Plant Media booth and say hello to Dustin and Matt.
I love Christmas. It is an annual reminder of the gospel. The good news that God became a man. He took on flesh and dwelt among us. They call Him, "Immanuel, which means, God with us" (Matthew 1:23). Our Creator humbled Himself to be born as one of His creation. He went on to live a sinless life, die a sinner's death, and rise from the dead so that sinful men could become children of God. But just like Charlie Brown, we forget what Christmas is all about. Our default setting is to drop the ball and lose our way.
Today is a new day. We are now offering all gospel-centered ministries one low fee to set up a Church Plant Media website. This includes churches of any size or age, missionaries, Christian schools, Bible colleges or seminaries, as well as any gospel-loving, para-church ministry. We welcome anyone that has a gospel-centered mission who will uphold our Gospel Agreement. One price point for one purpose: to expand the reach of the gospel via the Internet.
Kevin Giddings loves the gospel. Anyone who knows him has experienced his deep love for Jesus, his family and his local church. Although Kevin has been serving as our Partnership Director for more than a year now, his relationship with our team dates back much further than that. Along with his full-time sales duties with Church Plant Media, Kevin has also been on staff part-time with Harvest Community Church. Harvest is a multi-site church in the Southwestern region of PA.
One of the primary differences between Church Plant Media and other web development companies is that our team has made a commitment only to serve gospel-centered churches and church-based organizations. After years of serving churches from different denominational backgrounds and heritages, we felt that a litmus test was needed to define our partnerships. So in early 2009, we decided to draw a line in the sand and we created a Statement of Belief.
We hope all is well with you and your church during this Christmas season. In the midst of all the Christmas parties and family gatherings, we wanted to draw your gaze to the Savior. He left the glories of Heaven to take on the form of a servant, wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. This baby who was miraculously born from a virgin is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. With joy, we gladly announce with the angels…
Our good friend, Justin Taylor, blogger at The Gospel Coalition and Editorial Director at Crossway, recently asked us the following questions for an interview on his blog. Justin is facilitating a free website giveaway for us to celebrate our partnership in the Gospel and to promote our new low price. A word to the wise: If you don't regularly read Justin's blog, we strongly suggest that you make it a regular part of your day.
What is so good about Good Friday? And should the perpetual goodness of this day effect any other day? To help you answer these important questions, we offer the following counsel from our good friend, Tullian Tchividjian, pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Earlier this year, our team was hand picked to serve John MacArthur and the staff of Grace Community Church, to create a new web site design for the 2010 Resolved Conference. Early registration is now open for the conference, which will be held from June 25-28 at the Palm Springs Convention Center.
We often get asked the question: How is Church Plant Media any different than other web design companies? As we advertise on our home page banner: Simply put, we build (awesome) web sites for churches. However, the difference is not in what that says, but in what that means to our team. To plumb this even deeper, we are actually building web sites for Jesus and His Church. We posture our hearts as the magi did 2,000 years ago...