LayGuy

If you are looking for a cost effective way to build a website for your church  or ministry, then you need to look no further then Clover.

This is especially true if you have no skills whatsoever in designing and building websites as Clover has been designed from the ground up for ease of use.

In fact, they used the model of a 60 year old grand mother with no computer skills to create this tool.  My apologies to the grand ma’s out there as I’m sure there are a tonne of grand pa’s in the same boat as well as a tonne of younger people also.

But the fact is, Clover allows anyone to build and run a website with minimum fuss and dollars.  When I was looking for solutions to build the website for my church, I settled with Joomla as most packages cost at least $4,000+ for even the most basic design.  Half decent designs would cost a lot more!

Joomla is a great tool, but the problem is that in my little church plant, I am the only one who knows how to use it.  Something happens to me and the site is finished.

I wish Clover was around back then as this is an awesome tool and would only set you back $1,000 plus $20 per month for hosting.  And anybody can pick it up in no time – including 60 year olds!

Check out the following promo video…

Don’t take my word for it, head off to Clover and have a play with it yourself.  Test drive the different themes and, even better, play around with the backend – and actually edit and add whatever you like.  You will quickly see how awesome and easy this tool is.

Often times I assess where Jesus is in the big picture of my life.  I have been a Christian now for 13 years and during the years I have seen definite seasons of the extent to which I treasure my King.

I often hear how people like to look back over the years to see how their faith has grown and how they have changed for the better.  And it’s a sobering thought to realise that this hasn’t exactly been my reality.

If I were honest with my self, I would admit that over the years, due to various issues in my life, the honest position I have is a hardened heart.  Intellectually I know Jesus.  I quote Scriptures.  I debate and defend attacks on the Christian faith all the time.  Intellectually I get Jesus.

But my heart is another story.

Tonight I came across another classic John Piper snippet in a sermon.  What staggers me is that this guy seems to get his greatest joy and pleasure in life in abandoning all in the pursuit of desiring God.

His heart embodies all that my intellect lacks and cries out for when it comes to intimately craving for Jesus.  And his words sometimes leave me wondering, “what on earth am I missing when it comes to knowing Jesus?”

To get where I am coming from, check out the following clip…

It’s a sobering thought when you realise that you have slipped so far away from where you need to be.  And so I need to pray that my heart is changed.  I need to know exactly how I have replaced the treasure of knowing and pursuing Jesus with the junk I am wasting my life with.

Jesus said..

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Mat 6:21

I love how he nailed human understanding every time He spoke.  And right now He knows where my treasure is because He senses the absence of my heart.  And so I will pray and I will mediate on two of His parables regarding true treasure – Him & His Kingdom.

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” Mat 13:44-45

Check out all occurrences of “treasure” in the ESV Study Bible by clicking here.

I look after the multimedia ministry at our little church plant.  By no stretch of the imagination am I even close to being talented talented in what I do as I am completely lay in the area.

How on earth I learnt to do the things I do even blows me away as I have a business degree and work full time in the corporate world.

And it’s from this perspective that I browse the web and get blown away by the things people can do with motion graphics.

I was especially stoked tonight as I came across a group on video sharing site Vimeo called Church Media Hub.  Think of Vimeo as a premium video sharing site – nothing like YouTube.  And to find a group with a tonne of video’s which can be used by the church was a great blessing.

At the time of this post, the group has 585 video’s ranging in quality and content.  The good, the bad and the ugly – but, being on Vimeo, “ugly” is still quite good!

At Church Media Hub, you will find big guns like Lifechurch.tv’s Senior Graphic Designer Brian Clark and his video’s and a host of others.  For your viewing pleasure, check Brian’s latest work for Lifechurch.tv and their upcoming “At the movies” series opener.  “At The Movies” is a smashing annual event at Lifechurch.tv where they screen mainstream movies and glean great from out of it.  A huge crowd magnet for their churches.

The following clip is a very nicely done video on Phil Wickam’s song, “True Love”.  Phil Wickam is an artist I’m enjoying lately and this clip was a great visual delight on the nature of what Jesus has done for us.

But the major kick I got out of watching these video’s was discovering an awesome talent called “Mothlight Creative.” Their take on their video’s is, “..powerful, articulate visual communication. We don’t just make things pretty, we communicate.”  They achieve this stunningly in the video’s they produce.  Keep in mind that these video’s are not the result of large Hollywood studios, but rather freelance artists who choose to use their talent to glorify our King.  Hope you enjoy the following video’s and be sure to check out hundreds more at Church Media Hub.

Consider the following facts taken from a snapshot of the US in 2002…

• 1,082 children died from violent assault
• 2,347 children died from car accidents
• 32,867 children died from disease

As a parent of two, these are heart wrenching facts.  Every single one of these kids were a living soul with a personality – all snuffed out all too prematurely.  But compared to another statistic, these children were the “lucky” ones.

You see, these 36,296 children actually got a chance to live.  Despite how horrible and heart wrenching their deaths may have been, they at least got to live.

Here’s another statistic.  In the US during 2002…

• 1,310,000 children died in the supposed safest place on earth – their mothers womb.

You see these kids didn’t have a say of whether or not they had the choice to live.  Their mother and/or father made the decision on their behalf – and decided to abort their life.

www.abort73.com is a pro-life website setup to destroy ignorance surrounding the topic of abortion.  If you are pregnant and want some solid reasoning as to why you should go ahead with your pregnancy, you need to visit this site.

If you are passionate about spreading the pro-life view (and may I dare say…the truth) about one of the most hotly debated topics around, then you need to check out www.abort73.com.

The title “abort73” is largely due to the Roe V’s Wade case – a landmark 1973 verdict which legalized abortion in the US actually built on the claim that there’s no way to say for certain whether or not abortion kills because no one can say for certain when life begins.  Boy have times changed since then.  We now know for certain when life begins and we know for certain that abortion is legalised murder.

Watch this:

Since then 45 million American kids have been murdered.  They would have been my age as my mother conceived me in April, 1973.  I can’t think of any human tragedy that surpasses a death of 45 million – and that’s in the US alone.

Since 1973, medical science has taken great leaps and there is a genuine consensus among those without an agenda to spread as to when life begins – at conception.  Watch this:

Even the strongest advocates of abortion have made the following startling comments:

“I think we have deluded ourselves into believing that people don’t know that abortion is killing. So any pretense that abortion is not killing is a signal of our ambivalence, a signal that we cannot say yes, it kills a fetus.” Faye Wattleton – Former President of Planned Parenthood – the largest provider of abortions in the world

“Clinging to a rhetoric about abortion in which there is no life and no death, we entangle our beliefs in a series of self-delusions, fibs and evasions. And we risk becoming precisely what our critics charge us with being: callous, selfish and casually destructive men and women who share a cheapened view of human life…we need to contextualize the fight to defend abortion rights within a moral framework that admits that the death of a fetus is a real death.” Naomi Wolf – Feminist and prominent abortion supporter

Killing a fetus needs to be known for what it is – murder. Natural human instinct along with advancements in scientific understanding and knowledge all point to the fact that life begins at conception.

Even the Bible makes it clear that God is at work on the development of the fetus and also has plans for the life of the child…(emphasis mine)

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” Psalm 13913-16

And then comes man and, just like they did with Jesus, murders the child.  To drive this point home, I have one last video to show.  Viewer discretion is advised as this contains footage of what a murdered fetus looks like.

I show this to shock.  Shock you to the truth.  Sometimes truth hurts and those who are indifferent to the nature of abortion really need to get this.  We are dealing with the lives of the most innocent human beings on the planet.

What’s my view on abortion?  I abhor abortion when sexual promiscuity takes place and women fall pregnant and conveniently kill off the child.  I abhor abortion when couples fall pregnant unexpectedly and a child will get in the way of their plans.

At the same time, my views are softened when people consider abortion on the grounds of medical reasons.  Threats to the child’s or mother’s life, development defects etc.  Another grey area for me is pregnancies brought on by sexual assault.

I thank God I have never been in that situation as it would be truly heart wrenching.  However, based on the above Scripture, I know that I personally would heavily lean towards non aborting any pregnancy.  I have simply come across way too many stories of people who struggled with the thought of abortion – only to choose life for the child.  And what wondrous lives these people now live.