A Message From Pastor Todd, March 2017

 

As anyone who has heard me speak knows I am an avid surfer and enjoy sharing stories about my surfing adventures. I not only enjoy surfing but also enjoy watching others surf, reading about surfing, and looking at surf pictures. I have been a long time subscriber to Surfer Magazine. The Surfer Magazine has been in print since 1960 and is enjoyed by many, many surfers. That is why it was such a shock and surprise to receive my March 2017 with an extra cover over the actual cover. This extra cover had some writing on it and was actually a letter to their subscribers. The letter was informing all of us that the magazine in our hands would be the last printed edition of the magazine. From this point forward they will only be producing digital copies of their magazines.  

Surfer magazine realized that they were losing money and could not sustain their business in the midst of the changing times. They had to make the decision to change with the times or cease to exist. They were forced to change their methods of distribution so they could remain in business. They still produce the same wonderful content they just changed the way in which they get it to their readers.   

Richard Branson explains this thinking in his quote “Every success story is a tale of constant adaptation, revision and change. A company that stands still will soon be forgotten.”  

I was not expecting this change at all but it did get me thinking. If companies need to adapt and change with the times to stay effective what can we as the church do to adapt and stay effective as well? With keeping the same wonderful message, how can we deliver it in a way that will connect with our world?  

The statistics are absolutely staggering. Anacortes is 85% unchurched. That means 8.5 out of 10 people are headed to hell and separation from God forever. With around 15 different churches in this small town it is obvious that the lack of church participation is not from a lack of churches. So, the issue must have something to do with the culture that we live in and the churches’ inability to relate to and reach this culture.  

We as Christ’s ambassadors have been given the greatest call in the world in Matthew 28:19. We have been called to reach people for God and teach them about Him. If that is our calling then we desperately need to figure out a way to change and adapt to reach our culture. We need to think like Surfer Magazine about how we can stay in business. As much as I love surfing I believe that our calling in Christ is WAY more important and pressing of a message to get out to the world than Surfer Magazine. 



I AM THE WAY AND THE LIFE

 
 
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).
 
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).
 
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).
 
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).


WHEN FEAR STRIKES AGAIN

 
 
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).
 
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).
 
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).