|
E-Newsletter Archive
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Church of
Liberty Newsletter - What is God doing? April 28, 2006
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
in this issue
-- Is it OK for
"ministries" to sell stuff?
-- What has God
given you?
-- Citi-web is
almost ready to launch
-- New Articles
on the Website
Dear Doug,
God is on the
move!! Some amazing things are coming our way and we'd like to tell
you about it. We're seeing increased movement in Liberty toward unity
and repentance. More and more people are seeing that something is
wrong and needs changing. More and more are realizing that nothing
will work OTHER THAN God in complete control.
People continue to
arrive from all over to help. I wish you could all be here to learn
and share and help and grow with us! It's amazing to see God work
daily in great big ways. We continue to have meetings in the
furniture store that are led by His Spirit. We publicize two or three
meetings a week, but He calls at least two meetings a day on average!
People just show up! Sometimes five or more people will just arrive
at nearly the same time, then the phones stop ringing, so we pray!
Below is some
information about how you can participate more actively with us, even
though you might be on the other side of the world. God is up to
something here and many of you know it. I get emails of encouragement
and words from the Lord from you regularly affirming that God is
doing something here.
Please take a few
minutes and consider how you might be able to help. We love you all
so much. Whatever you're going through, just hang in a little longer
- He's coming soon!
Thanks so much.
Doug
Is it OK for
"ministries" to sell stuff?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I know some of you
may be hyper-sensitive to the commercialization of the church, but
please follow my logic here:
Money is not evil,
it's the LOVE of money that is the root of evil. Money is just a
tool. And we need money to do some of the things God wants done. If
you get money and use it to buy a million dollar house and a new
Mercedes for the pastor, you're probably in big trouble. If you get
money and use it to further the Kingdom in the most efficient
possible way and convert it to maximum heavenly treasure, then you've
been a good steward.
In America the
Christians give 2% to church and charity and spend 50% on
discretionary products. Once I asked the Lord why I was selling $3500
massage chairs and $5,000 dining room sets and He said, "That's
where their heart is, just sell them stuff! Then use the money for
the Kingdom." So I've found Christian companies making
high-quality, high-value products and generated as much money for the
kingdom as we can. People got great furniture, God made good money.
More dollars were generated for missions and service than most of the
churches in this town spend.
So, consider this;
if you can, you should generate maximum possible revenue by working
hard and/or by selling the best possible products at a fair price and
then using the profits as the Lord directs to push back the darkness
in the biggest possible way. Sound about right?
So I'm not afraid
to sell T-shirts or books or whatever for a reasonable market price.
People are buying them from Walmart or the local Christian bookstore
and not even asking where the profit is going. At least with us,
you'll know it's being spent with people who have a VERY clear
understanding of the need for efficiency and stewardship and obeying
God in EVERYTHING.
In addition, we
are not a 501(c)(3) non-profit. In fact, God has specifically
instructed us NOT to be. As the owner of a for-profit "New
Testament Business" where people can come and get clothes and
food and help and prayer - I don't see ANY incompatibility between a
revenue generating business and a ministry. Where does it say in the
Bible that Christians should get tax-exemptions? If the churches were
run with an eye on ROI-HT per dollar (Return on Investment in
Heavenly Treasure), many would be spending their money VERY
differently. New chandelier or feed an orphan, which gets more
treasure in heaven?
Oops! Now I'm preaching...
Anyway, in light
of all that, consider the section below and see what you think. I'm
willing to hear any feedback you have. If I'm seeing it wrong, please
tell me.
Email
Doug directly
What has God
given you?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We have people
from all over the world telling us that the Lord has given them
music, poems, books, art or other things that we're to publish and
distribute. We already have some of these things online - including
my first book - and more on the way. We can produce these
one-at-a-time with no upfront costs or overhead charges!
We want to have a
place where people can come to find the MOST annointed products
anywhere. Radical T-shirts, comforting poems, convicting writing,
beautiful art, annointed music and more. These aren't products from
"big name" ministries, these are things God gave to
"regular" folks - people interested in freely sharing what
God gave them more than making a name for themselves.
You can click on
the link below and see some of the products already there. Please
especially note the artwork of Clare Kaegi that is online (and more
coming!). God gave her an amazing talent and then told her to use it
to document the beauty and complexity of His creation. I think it's
very hard to see nature this close-up and NOT give God the glory for it!
Please pray and
ask the Lord if He has given you something that you would share with
us - so that we can share it with the world. If you have a book or
poetry or music or even a radical idea for a T-shirt or mug, please
let us know. We want things that challenge the system, things you
can't find in the local Christian bookstore, things that are so
clearly from God that people will instantly see a difference from
what currently passes for Christianity in the world.
If there is
something there you'd like to buy, please do so. Lots of great gifts
and writings and radical stuff already on there. If you are restoring
your city church and want us to produce T-shirts for you, this a good
place to do it and the combined volume reduces the costs for
everyone. Let's team up and all promote ONE site so that the messages
can get out more widely.
Church
of Liberty store - (www.cafepress.com/churchofliberty)
Citi-web is
almost ready to launch
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've talked before
about the Citi-web. It's a massive internet network that connects
every city church inside your town and connects every one to each
other. There are 30,000 cities ready to go and MANY are still in need
of Christian administrators to manage the city portal.
These are paying
jobs, not volunteer. These will generate revenue from ad sales,
affiliate click-thrus and other means - plus one click away is the
message of One Body per town. The admin will be responsible to
customize it per town and get content on, plus sell ads and promote
it around town.
If you are
interested, please check out the site at the link below. Orlando,
Florida and Liberty, Missouri are the most fleshed out. Contact Gary
through the contact page on the main site if you are interested in
participating in this. I really STRONGLY urge everyone to take a look
at this and what it can do. It will play a really important role in
connecting the Body of Christ together as never before!
Citi-web main
page (DEAD LINK)
New Articles on
the Website
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There are some new
articles posted on the website - particularly the "The
Problem" section and "The Solution" page. Check back
often as we upload things pretty regularly.
My book "The
Apology to the World - and some other sad stuff" is really an
accumulation of the things already available on the website. If you
want it in book form, it's available at the storefront linked above.
We did it in an 8.5" x 11" spiral bound format so it would
be easy to make copies if you want to hand something out.
Please keep us in
your prayers.
Church of Liberty
home page
TheChurchOfLiberty.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: help@thechurchofliberty.com
phone:
web: http://www.TheChurchOfLiberty.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
