Daniel Dessinger

Month: August 2010

  • A Vision of the 1st Corinthians 14 Church

    First Corinthians  chapter 14 has been a burden on my heart for some time. It’s worth reading chapters 12-14 in one sitting, so that we have more context for chapter 14. When people ask: What is the church meeting supposed to look like? We see the answer very plainly beginning in 1 Corinthians 14:26

    26What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. 27If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. 28If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.

    29Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. 31For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. 32The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. 33For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.

    When we come together, EVERYONE has something to bring to the body: hym, teaching, revelation, tongue, interpretation, etc. ALL OF THESE must be done for the strengthening of the church.

    Taking the Word and Making it REAL

    So take a moment and imagine how this looks. Ready? We’ll start off small. Imagine yourself driving up to the building on Sunday. Everyone is wearing their day to day clothes. Nothing special. The chairs of the auditorium are arranged in a giant circle, maybe six or seven rows deep. There is no stage. There is no “front” of the room. There is only the circle. In the middle of the circle is a microphone. Maybe two. One pastor sits in a chair beside each.

    You greet your friends and maybe a few strangers warmly, then find a seat for you and your family. A pastor opens up the meeting with a prayer, thanking God for bringing everyone back together, providing for our needs, and guiding us by His Spirit. He invites the Holy Spirit to speak through us all. Then he sits down. And waits.

    A woman everyone recognizes walks up to the microphone. She shares a testimony of how her sister’s son was healed of leukemia. And she has a song of thanksgiving to sing. As she sings, the rest of us pick up on the pattern and hum or sing along. We connect with her joy and thank God for being so marvelous.

    As the woman winds down, a young man walks to the microphone and says the Holy Spirit just showed him that someone in the room is suffering from diabetes and has needed the faith to believe God for healing, and that God says now is the time. A man in his late 40s stands up hesitantly. He’s been wanting to ask for prayer, but he really just thinks he’ll have to live with the insulin shots and the recommended diet. People gather around and pray over him. One or two people prophesy things they hear over him.

    Facilitating the Movements of the Holy Spirit

    The pastor has been watching, listening, and asking the Holy Spirit if there’s a theme He’s wanting to camp on for a while. Maybe it’s healing. Maybe it’s exposing and dealing with doubt based on lies believed. Maybe not. He walks to the microphone and says, “It seems like the Holy Spirit wants to increase our faith for miracles today. Let’s wait on the Lord and see what He says in regard to that.”

    Everyone joins hands and prays together, both for themselves and for the person beside them. They ask for revelation and faith.

    An older lady walks to the center of the circle with a prophecy of healings God has promised to those who earnestly pursue them; who will step out in faith and make themselves available to pray for the sick and injured.

    Another woman stands and sings a song of the Lord from God’s perspective to His children. The song is about how He weeps for their pain and their sorrow, and longs to pick each one up and comfort them. A few people begin to weep under the anointing. Hearts begin to open to the revelation of the loving Father.

    Spontaneous responses erupt from the people, thanking God for loving them, inviting Father God in as a Daddy, burdened and sorrowful for the unbelief that’s remained for so long in their hearts.

    The pastor returns to the mic with a word of instruction. He says that while it’s wonderful to experience godly sorrow and repentance, he sense the Holy Spirit wanting to teach and reform the way people perceive and understand God’s desires toward His people. As he speaks for a few minutes, spiritual eyes are opened and hearts are healed as people make conscious choices to lay aside their erroneous beliefs and agree with truth.

    One after another, people come to the mic to sing spontaneous songs overflowing with gratitude and praise to God for showing Himself faithful and loving and kind.

    On and on it goes. One person prophecies. They take time to discuss the prophecy and judge it accurately. One sings. Another teaches. One person speaks in another language. Another person interprets.

    Transitioning to the Meal

    The pastors have a sense of closure and people begin to head toward the fellowship hall, where everyone has brought a dish to share in the weekly meal. As people drift from one room to the other, testimonies, greetings, and laughter can be heard up and down the halls. People are sharing their lives. Catching up. A few stay behind to pray over those who still haven’t received a breakthrough. The rest gather around to bless the meal.

    Visitors and guests are given preferential treatment. They go first and choose whatever they want to eat. Members intentionally sit with them and begin to chat. They find out more about them as people, and ask if they have any questions about the meeting. Phone numbers, email addresses, or business cards are exchanged. And at some point during the meal, someone stands to lead the group in remembering the body and blood of Christ with the bread and the wine.

    It is a festive occasion, with much laughter, playful teasing, stories, and bragging on children and grandchildren.

    This is but one meeting. And yet, when everyone leaves, they leave satisfied and grateful. They leave touched by their neighbors and friends. They’ve used their giftings, received ministry, shared a meal with wonderful people, and experienced the very rewarding experience of the fully functioning Body of Christ.

  • Media Decoder: Transforming Media Blah Blah Blah

    My first impression of Media Decoder was, “What the heck? This must be one of those quasi-reporter blogs.” Because everyone knows that REAL blogs aren’t sub domains of traditional newspapers (who are typically pretty web stupid).

    But, it’s a clean enough design and recognizable as the NY Times, which is probably among the three most reputable newspapers. So I’ll give them a pass on the first impression. It’s a business blog that, obviously, focuses more on news than opinion.

    No Headers or Geographic Markers

    The first post I read about Pizza Hut was ____, but the first thing I noticed was the lack of headers throughout the lengthy post. That’s 23, yep, count ‘em, twenty three paragraphs without a single image, header, bulleted list, or call-out quote. And you know what? The content could be KILLER and I would still have eye strain. That’s too much of the same looking landscape for my eyes to have to navigate. With every glance around the page, I’ve now lost where I was on the article. No discernible markings left me feeling a little claustrophobic.

    Reader Interaction?

    This part is somewhat surprising. Even though Media Decoder is popular enough to break the Technorati Top 100 list, I found only one out of fifteen posts on the home page had 50+ comments. Most posts had 2, 4, maybe 15 comments. Seriously? How does a site with thousands of daily visitors only get 1, 2, or 15 comments on a post?

    Then it hits me. Commentors have to sign in to comment. Ugh. Lame! So much for harnessing the power of the people.

    You know what’s funny? The ONE post that got more than 50 comments recently was a one sentence news blurb about Rupert Murdoch giving $1 million to the Republican Governors Association. Duh. A liberal paper with liberal readers is going to generate some response from a media mogul supporting Right Wingers.

    Erratic Schedule

    While the site is definitely a daily publisher, some days you get one post, other days you get four. A bit odd, don’t you think? Still, they pass the daily test, which means readers who enjoy the content know they can come back tomorrow for another installment.

    One thing I HAVE noticed about the most popular blogs in the world, however, is publishing frequency. Every one of them I can think of publishes 5-15 posts per day. Granted, they’re not one-blogger shops, so that’s feasible. A one-person shop could probably pump out five posts per day, if they spent two hours per post and never ran out of data. I counted five different bloggers contributing to the content on the Media Decoder home page alone.

    Would I Return?

    Probably not. There wasn’t a single compelling story or title on the first page. It was boring media business news as far as the eye could see. I’ll pass.

    What IS It Exactly?

    Want to know more about Media Decoder? Good luck. There are no About pages or lists of contributors that I could see. All you get is one paragraph blurb in a sidebar that’s chalked full of links to other parts of the Ny Times website.

    Media Decoder is an insider’s guide to the media industry that tracks the transformation of the movie business, television, print, advertising, marketing and new media. It’s a showcase for the extensive media coverage throughout The New York Times and a window on how the business of connecting with consumers is changing in the digital age.

    Huh? That’s a lot of topics. Media? That’s the subject. The transformation of media. And after glancing through the blog posts on page one, I saw maybe one-fifth that actually seem to reflect that mission statement. Sounds like Mediaocrity to me.

    CRUSH or BE CRUSHED?

    Waste of Eye Strain

    2.5 out of 10

  • Happy Mother’s Day: Take 2

    Confession: I royally botched Mother’s Day this year. I mean ruined the entire day. It was a major milestone in our relationship, and I missed the opportunity to honor my wife the way she should be honored. And so here I am, celebrating you one more time, my beautiful Wifeypotamus, in this Mother’s Day Part Deux. So let’s begin.

    To the Love of my life and the Mother of my children:

    One of the hardest things I do is explain my feelings for you. Most things in life for me are very cerebral. Maybe even detached. But not you. No, there’s very little about my knowing you that remains objective. Our marriage often gets into the nitty gritty of our lives, both the highs and the lows.

    I am here to honor you, sweet wife, and, with some luck or divine inspiration, find some words to express who you are to me and what that means.

    When I met you in college,

    You were fiercely focused on excelling at school. You held yourself to higher scholastic standards than of your friends did. I knew early on that I could trust you because you were reliable and faithful to yourself. You showed great strength in some areas I was bankrupt. How does that saying go? “Faithful in little, blogger over much?” Something like that.

    When we married, you kept us in the black. Okay, let’s be honest. You FOUGHT (me mostly) to keep us in the black. Thank you for succeeding.

    Even before you were pregnant,

    You desperately studied to learn how to improve your health so that you could carry a baby to term. Once you realized you were pregnant, You took it upon yourself to become the most healthy eater / supplementer / exerciser that I’ve ever met. You loved our baby girl without knowing her name. And you gave her the very best chance at a lifetime of strong health from the moment of conception.

    It’s been hotly debated around here whether your standards have been TOO high at times for your own good. I have more than a year’s worth of memories of sleepless nights – sacrifices you made because letting Katie cry it out wasn’t an option for you. I know that was one of the most trying times of your life, and though I’ve never told you before, I respect you immensely for believing and loving so strongly that you did so at great personal sacrifice. In a culture where most parents are fixated on how to keep their kids from interfering with their lives, you chose a MUCH lonelier, but more respectable path.

    Through all the pain and effort of this year, I learned one very important thing about me, which taught me one very important thing about you. I learned that there was only one thing in my life that could motivate me to fast and pray: you. This taught me what I hold most dear in the world. If there was any doubt before that you are my beloved, the fact I EVER missed a meal is proof enough to me.

    This brief photo gallery proves you’ve been far more actively engaged in our daughter’s life than it sometimes seemed. I love that we have so many action shots of you and Katie doing things together. Posing for the camera is nice, but remember what you shared is even more touching.

    Happy Mother’s Day: Take 2, Heather. You deserve far greater praise than you receive.

  • Calling Forth the Spirit-Filled EMTs

    It’s time for the Church, both individually and corporately, to step up to the plate. A couple years ago, I saw a picture in my imagination of Christians all across the Metroplex working shifts like EMTs, responding to car wrecks and other calamities, to lay hands on the injured and see them recover.

    One of the ways we will win our cities for Jesus is to be on call where we are. Like citizens deputized to stand in their neighborhood and refuse the spread of death and harm and instead usher in an atmosphere of health, wellness, prosperity, and connectivity.

    Imagine if Christians were more concerned about the emergencies happening in the world they drive by than in the position they have within a single building somewhere down the way…

    Why don’t we have believers responding to every accident along with police and firemen? As first responders, how many victims might be healed? As last responders, how many demonstrations of power might we be able to bring into our communities?

     

  • Happy Birthday to Me: 33 Confessions I’ve Never Shared

    Confession #1: I like to look at and admire my blogs more than I like to write for them.
    Confession #2: sometimes i hold my cellphone up to my ear when i pray in public so people won’t think i’m crazy.
    Confession #3: I can’t look people in the eye when they’re lying to themselves or to me because I’m so embarrassed for them.
    Confession #4: I have to feel every shirt on the rack with my fingertips before i consider trying it on. it has to “feel right”.
    Confession #5: I like to support my personal preferences by telling everyone that it’s what Jesus would do.
    Confession #6: I’m so sensitive to chemicals that I have to be careful how much caffeine I consume. feels like speed.
    Confession #7: I focus so intently on my own thoughts that I choose to not remember many things that would take up bandwidth.
    Confession #8: On my 16th birthday, my family took me to see The Net, and I developed an instant crush on Sandra Bullock.
    Confession #9: I’ve seen more romantic comedies than any three of my friends combined.
    Confession #10: I have absolutely no idea which fashion style actually matches my personality. and it shows.
    Confession #11: After watching a home video of my 14th birthday, my best friend told me he would have hated me if he had known me then.
    Confession #12: I went from college student to home mortgage clerk to copywriter to SEO to whatever I am now.
    Confession #13: I once IM’d my boss on accident when I was complaining about them.
    Confession #14: I’m a pen snob, and I usually carry two pens on me at all times so I never have to use someone else’s.
    Confession #15: I used to walk by @kiddkraddick’s studio on the canal every day at lunch because I wanted to work there.
    Confession #16: I’ve never used an open men’s locker room shower, and I have no intention of ever doing so.
    Confession #17: As a teenager, I shoplifted shirts and belts from clothing stores in the mall.
    Confession #18: When I accepted Jesus as my savior, I went back to every store and paid for what I had stolen.
    Confession #19: I sometimes wear the same pair of jeans all week. Without washing. hubba hubba!
    Confession #20: I don’t like the day to day grunt work of SEO, but I love teaching.
    Confession #21: I wasted a decade of my life daydreaming about being a writer, but having nothing to say.
    Confession #22: I had such a difficult time in junior high that by high school I chose to sit at a lunch table by myself. Every day.
    Confession #23: In college, I was super sneaky and used my guitar voice to get my future wife’s attention (and it worked!)
    Confession #24: I was a chain smoker for 10 years and was rail thin. Working to get back to the latter.
    Confession #25: I own WAY more blogs than I can keep up with. And not a single dominant interest that captivates me daily.
    Confession #26: If I could have it exactly the way i want, our next house would be LEED Platinum certified on 2+ gorgeous acres.
    Confession #27: I had a crush on my wife back in junior high, but chose to argue with her instead of flirt.
    Confession #28: At my second SEO position, the owner nicknamed me “Mister Confrontational”… #shocker
    Confession #29: I frequently dream a situation/conversation that hasn’t happened yet… and then it does.
    Confession #30: I avoid eye contact unless it’s business or very personal. the eyes just say too much.
    Confession #31: I can identify smells i haven’t smelled in 20 years, and recall exactly how i felt when i first smelled them.
    Confession #32: If I have the option, I refuse to get my hands dirty, or worse, get them wet with anything less than pure water.

    Confession #33: I compulsively repeat things I’ve said out loud after I’ve left the room to doublecheck how they sounded.

  • Does Social Networking Keep Prophets From Honor?

    Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.”

    Does social networking have the same effect on ministers? Will we begin to see fewer miracles everywhere we go because they know we watched LOST and enjoyed that brownie sundae at Applebees? I think we tend to believe that visitors may have a stronger connection to God or stronger gift of faith than we do. But if we were to follow them on Facebook and Twitter, would we lose that ability to esteem them as highly?

    Bill Johnson would argue that every family and church needs to intentionally cultivate a culture of honor, wherein we choose to not take our loved ones and lifelong acquaintances for granted. Bill says that by doing so, we often shut off a God-ordained source of life, healing, and comfort for ourselves. They’re around us for a reason, but we tend to take for granted those whom we know best.

    And I’m not really asking whose fault it is. Should ANY of us share as much information as we sometimes do? And should we REALLY assume a person isn’t anointed because they watched the Cowboys game on the big screen at Buffalo Wild Wings while scarfing down a ten pack of garlic parmesan?

    This really isn’t just about prophets. Imagine anyone with a revelatory, healing, or miraculous gift. Familiarity breeds contempt. How difficult a road will a guy like Todd Bentley have? Do you feel less likely to be healed by someone who tells you when they’re watching professional wrestling? Does that kind of information work in his favor?