Signs & Wonders Blog

Just over a year ago, I started attending Vertical Life Church in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. One thing I respect about Pastor Mark Dorn is his commitment to the Great Commission. During services, you will always hear him exhort the congregation to be soul winners. His church usually goes out evangelizing on Saturday afternoons. Pastor Mark also knows how to have fun. Occasionally, the church has kickball games between the adults and the youth. We had such a game this past Wednesday night. Before it began, Pastor Mark announced that ice cream would be served by the team that didn’t win. The adults were ahead during most of the game but the youth came from behind and were declared the winners. The announced final score was 20-19. However, I have some doubts about the outcome of that game. People repeatedly asked what the score was and how many outs there were. A few older congregants didn’t play but sat off on the side and watched. Perhaps one of them could have been the official score...

Social media is a powerful tool I use for ministry. It has also been a distraction. Many of us will admit to spending hours scrolling through our news feeds. I enjoy the occasional humor and cute pet photos. Still, a lot of frivolous things appear I don’t care to see and read. A few are insulting, such as saying I’m “old” if I recognize a particular item. I don’t mean to be critical of what people post on their social media pages. That’s their business. Fortunately, there’s a way to stay connected with select individuals without unfriending them and having their posts appear in my news feed. I’ve been unfollowing Facebook friends who repeatedly do the following: Make too many posts. I’ve seen as much as forty a day by some folks (rarely do I exceed two or three). I don’t need the same individuals overwhelming my news feed. There are other friends I want to hear from. Post chain letters , hoaxes, and memes that contain profanity . Make requests for money. Some ministers send me fr...

Remember playing “follow the leader” when you were a child? While working at a roller rink during my late teens, I occasionally played that game with the younger skaters. They followed me around the rink copying exactly what I was doing. On social media sites, entertainers usually have the greatest number of followers. Let’s look at the top five on Instagram: Taylor Swift: 49.6 million followers Kim Kardashian: 48.1 million followers  Beyonce: 47.2 million followers  Selena Gomez: 45.9 million followers  Ariana Grande: 44.6 million followers  Now look at the five most followed people on Twitter: K aty Perry: 101,038,793 follower Justin Bieber: 92,035,447 followers Barack Obama: 91,940,321 followers Taylor Swift: 85,432,857 followers Rihanna: 75,338,688 followers Everybody follows somebody. A person with a huge amount of followers doesn’t mean he or she is worth following. Adolf Hitler amassed millions of devotees before triggering World War I...