Maurilio Amorim

Month: January 2009

  • Should Pastors Use Social Media?

    “I think our pastor is spending too much time on his blog,” said the voice on the other side of the phone. I had to disagree with the caller and spend some time talking with him about why blogging was one of the best way for his pastor to spend his time, even if it meant that he had to cut some of his office time short or send someone in his place to make a hospital visit.
    When done well, social media will help a pastor connect with his congregation in a level that, previously, he could only do with a select few. My pastor, for example, Pete Wilson, is an avid blogger, Twitterer, and Facebook user. He has over 6,000 people who daily visit his blog and whose lives Pete speaks into, even though our church only runs 2,500 people in attendance. I keep up with him mostly through Twitter. I know that he had a date with Brandi, his wife, Saturday afternoon and that last week he and his boys played in the snow. In the rare moments that Pete and I have time to meet together outside a board meeting or some other church setting, I don’t have to ask him “What’s going on with you?” I know what’s going on. It’s much easier, then, to move beyond the ordinary and go into a deeper discussion. I find that our conversations these days have more substance and meaning than just those of a couple of years ago.

    Social media allows pastors to communicate real life issues with their congregants and potential congregants who find comfort in getting to know their spiritual leaders more intimately without being intrusive and needing to have “face time” with them. It also allows people to get to know their hearts outside the stage setting. Spiritual leaders are husbands, fathers, mothers, sons, bosses and face some of the same challenges everyone does. Social media allows for these real-life moments to be shared.

    If you are a Pastor I would encourage you to use these tools to engage your congregation and those you’re trying to reach for Christ. Years ago most pastors, and all committed Christians were expected to knock on thousands of doors in the name of evangelism. Our mandate for evangelism is still there, but instead of wood doors, we now have the opportunity to knock on much larger digital doors.

    Is your church and Pastor using social media effectively?

  • Rick Warren Inaugural Prayer

    Almighty God, our Father:Everything we see, and everything we can’t see, exists because of you alone.

    It all comes from you, it all belongs to you, it all exists for your glory.

    History is your story.

    The Scripture tells us, “Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is one.” And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.

    Now today we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time, we celebrate a hinge point of history with the inauguration of our first African American president of the United States.

    We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where a son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.

    Give to our new president, Barack Obama,

    the wisdom to lead us with humility,
    the courage to lead us with integrity,

    the compassion to lead us with generosity.

    Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the Cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans–united not by race or religion or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all.

    When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you–forgive us.

    When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone–forgive us.

    When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve–forgive us.

    And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes—even when we differ.

    Help us to share, to serve, and to seek the common good of all.

    May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy, and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet.

    And may we never forget that one day, all nations–and all people–will stand accountable before you.

    We now commit our new president and his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.

    I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life—Yeshua, ‘Isa, Jesus [Spanish pronunciation], Jesus—who taught us to pray:

    Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
    Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

    Give us this day our daily bread.

    And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

    And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,

    for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

    Amen.

  • Cross Point Launches Social Media Friendly Site

    We have just launched the latest redesign of Cross Point Church’s website. I love the way the site looks and the way it accounts for multiple campuses. But my favorite feature is how simple the site makes to share content anywhere online. As a part of our MediaMachine back end tool, all the code and images, including the Cross Point branded player, is generated through a simple interface that the church staff controls. We believe it should be very simple for Cross Point staff to create tools such as evites, banners, links and embeddable video or audio. We also believe that it should be simple for anyone visiting the site to share such content with their networks as well.

    However, since the player itself is branded and always links back to Cross Point’s site, the content is never out of context. “Who is this? Where does this come from?” are now questions of the past, since the church and series information will accompany the media anywhere it goes.

    Take a look at the latest promo for their new teaching series. To get it on this blog, I just went to the “Messages” part of the site, clicked on the series promo video, clicked the “share this video” option, copied the code and pasted into this blog. It’s taken me longer to describe the process than the 15 seconds it took me to get it done.

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    Try also mousing over the player and choose the full screen option. view Cross Point website here

  • I Say Yes: My 4 Promises for 2009

    It’s a new year and this time I decided not to make any new year’s resolutions. Instead, I’m going to make new year’s promises. While some might say this is simply a matter of semantics, it’s important to me to make the distinction. It’s easy for me to break a resolution, but a promise, well, that’s a big deal.


    In 2009:

    1. I promise to say yes to God’s prompting on my life. I’ll say yes to divine appointments even after a long day when I’m looking forward to flying home with hopes of no one sitting next to me.

    2. I promise to say yes to my family every time I can. It’s easy to shut down my wife and sons with the simple, “no.” But I promise to yes every time I can and only to say no when there’s a better yes waiting for them.

    3. I promise to say yes to my dreams. Life is fragile and we’re only guaranteed today, so I will say yes to the dreams God has planted in my heart and will give them the time and discipline in order for them to become realities.

    4. I promise to say yes to my friends. The longer I live, the more important relationships become to me. People are not distractions or a means to an end. They are precious treasures whose stories are intersecting with mine and whose lives enrich my own. I will say yes to them every chance I get.

    What about your promises? What’s the most significant one of the year?