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Creation/Evolution ministry


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I'm putting in more new content than I think I ever have lately.

So, I am thinking about trying to being a new Creation/Evolution ministry in my community-It isn't something I am trying to compete with, say, Kent Hovind on, not trying to go global or really anywhere, just something for our little area here. And I don't intend it to be something quite as vast and expansive as Hovind's or others like him, just a 2-3 hour program going over some of the more pertinent issues of creation vs evolution. Using powerpoint, videos, etc, and talking. Okay, LIKE Hovind, but not like in competition, just something smaller and local.

That being said, I haven't tried something like this before. As most here know, I am a pastor, but here's the thing: I don't want this to be presented as just an extension of my church, (even though really it is)-I don't plan to have greeters and a bulletin and sing hymns-I guess what I am trying to avoid is an attitude of "Oh that's Pastor Reed...if I wanted to hear him preach I'd go to his church!"

So I guess I am looking for some advice/ideas of how I might present this, both initially in advertising, but also in the presentation itself. Anyone done anything like this? I have done tent meetings here with virtually no response, even people not even noticing the huge yellow and white tent across the street from the post office, in the usually-empty lot. People can be very tunnel-visioned.  

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I don't have any advice to offer but if you get this worked out in a way that ends up being satisfactory to you in the next year or two, let me know (how's that for a run-on sentence). I might try to make arrangements to get you to come out here with it sometime. (Does two run-on sentences constitute a run-on paragraph?)

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Why thanks! My intention is to pool things I have gotten from Hovind, as well as a good apologetics course by David Cloud, and other things that I have picked up, as well, on my own, to put together a program that is informative, but try to keep it fairly concise. I don't want to do a seven or eight part series. There is actually another series on the subject done by a fellow named Walter Veith, who is SDA, but his info on the subject is excellent and in line with others I have heard, as long as he doesn't drift into SDA issues. But I won't be using him as a reference because of that.  When I get going I will tape it and get it critiqued from people I respect to do so, as well as myself. I will let you know. Again my intention isn't really to go 'on the road' with it-but I'm not above a visit or two if asked. But let's get it running first.

 

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Mike, I was involved in Creation Club when we lived in Indiana. It's similar to what you are proposing. Let me explain:

A good friend of mine visited the Creation Museum a few times and a burden for the children in our town began to grow. Due to circumstances beyond her control, her youngest girls were in a public school, so she knew many of the kids (and did an amazing job of outreach to them, as well as teaching her daughters how to be a strong witness for Christ). Anyway, long story short...

She spoke with the pastor about it and they determined that it should be held somewhere other than the church and not as a specific ministry of the church.  So then she told me about her burden. It's amazing to me, sometimes, how God works. My job at the library involved PR and graphics. And so...I was able to point her to the library director, who gave her permission to use the library's largest meeting room every other week. I designed the signs and sent out the press releases and Chesterton Creation Club was born. She got permission to have fliers handed out in the schools, as well. But we weren't allowed to put the verse on it (remember now thy creator in the days of they youth) since it was a public school system.

Since we were involved in a nursing home ministry in the mornings, I was unable to attend, but after a year, she changed the time and I was able to be there. So I know firsthand how things went.

First off, kids of all ages attend(ed), as did a few adults. We chose a club verse, a creed (which was a verse, but without a reference), a song, etc, and began each meeting with those. It might seem almost childish, but even the adults who came enjoyed it. 

We also designed a notebook (my husband's idea), with sections for each topic, like Scientists, Animals, Puzzles, etc. Each week we had handouts, and those who did the "work" each week got stickers or stamps. We were keeping track because my friend is going to take all of those who kept up on their notebooks to the Creation Museum this summer.  Again, even the adults who came enjoyed doing the "work."

Anyway, after the opening of the club, my friend would present the theme  for the day (she had begun at Gen 1 when Club first started), and always pulled Bible into it. After her lesson, we watched a video of animals who defy evolution, and then I would do an observation or have the kids (and adults) help me with an experiment. I tried to match the experiment with the theme. 

Then there was a craft that usually went with the theme, followed by a snack of some kind.

Now, granted, the Club is actually aimed at kids, but you could adapt this for adults.

We launched Club with a visit from the Snakes Alive guy - http://creationmuseum.org/events/workshops/snakes-alive/

If you were to go that route, make sure your publicity mentions that it is a biblically based event. The library director called me into his office after our event to let me know that many folks thought it was a library event and he had gotten a call complaining that it was a Bible thing and they didn't know it. I pointed out to him that the release very clearly showed that it was a Creation event, but admitted that I should have been a little more specific. 

The guy was a bit expensive, but there was a man who helped pay for it. If you were able to do something big as a kick-off, you could have folks sign in with their email address, so you could contact them.  We asked new people to give us their email addy, and tried to consistently send out a blast to remind folks of each meeting. We also developed a facebook page that I tried to keep up, and then someone had to take over for me when we moved.  https://www.facebook.com/chesterton.creationclub?fref=ts

We have used some power point (David Cloud has a creation power point, but it is a bit dry for the average person. Chock full of good information, though), etc. 

I'm sure I'm leaving something out, but if I think of it, I'll add it. BTW, we want to begin something like that here, too. 

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So, advertising...In this electronic world in which we find ourselves today, if one's message is going to get out, one needs to advertise electronically.

That means venues like Facebook. Twitter (I started a Twitter account for the Chesterton Club...it's a wonderful way just to tweet out a verse or a creation fact, to remind about upcoming meetings, etc), Instagram if you have an account (I did not, nor does the Club), Tumblr (although that one is sketchy, IMO), google + (some folks think that is outdated, but any way to get the word out is good, and I still get notifications from google + friends), etc. If you connect your Facebook and Twitter accounts, then anything you post on one will post to the other. That's a time saver.

Newspapers are important not to ignore. Printed papers usually will print press releases free, which is a good price. :lol: However, many papers also have online editions which don't receive the printed press release. If you did an online search of media that will take your information, you could get the word out in a big way like that. I used a LOT of online news sources for the library publicity, and had I stayed in IN, I would have used them for the Club, too.  This link: http://www.americantowns.com/ is free to non-profits. It is a calendar of events for areas, and posting your meetings there would be great (you could even post your church times/info...it's a good thing to have on there for folks who are traveling and looking for a church to attend)

Posters, fliers, brochures.  Create a logo for your program. If I knew how to post a photo, I would post one of our logo. Come up with a tag line (ours became "Mysteries of the Universe") and create your posters and other materials around it, but include your logo on any publication. You'd have to check with area businesses, but some (or many) of them might allow you to put a poster up. Also - check your library (if there is one near you) to see if you could use their meeting room. If your library has a calendar available to the public (whether it's online or paper), usually they list everything that happens at the library (differentiating between library sponsored and non-library programs), which gives another audience bracket.

Referring back to the Snakes Alive program - if you were to decide to do something like that, there is a related tract that a man in our church designed for us to give out at the program. It is sharp, and gives a clear presentation of the gospel.

Anyway, just some more thoughts.

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Thank you, LuAnne! Those are some great ideas, more to put to the notes. Still deciding if I will be able to do a weekly program, or something more one-in-a-while, since it will pretty much be me, at least at first.

I have the David Cloud program, though I seem to have misplaced the power point, which is fine since, as you said, it's pretty dry. But I am used to doing power points, as I do one for most of my sermons, having found people at least at our church, seem to learn better with some visuals to help bolster the points in the lesson. BUt the lessons themselves do have a lot of good info. So between that, and the Hovind series, and some excellent books I have, like Bones of Contention, a favorite of mine, there's plenty of info to be had.

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One of the discussions my friend and I had was about how often to have the Club. We decided on every other week because it allows attendees a Saturday in between so that if families are planning something (or if kids have a school activity, etc), there are days that are available. We talked about once a month, but felt that wouldn't be enough to have people invested in attending. Even with every other week, issues come up and everyone doesn't come all the time. Having it every other week instead of weekly means missing less information, too. Just a thought on the number of times to meet.  

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Sounds like a good idea from me. I do not have any advice.

On ‎2016‎年‎4‎月‎11‎日 at 6:39 AM, HappyChristian said:

She spoke with the pastor about it and they determined that it should be held somewhere other than the church and not as a specific ministry of the church.  So then she told me about her burden. It's amazing to me, sometimes, how God works. My job at the library involved PR and graphics. And so...I was able to point her to the library director, who gave her permission to use the library's largest meeting room every other week. I designed the signs and sent out the press releases and Chesterton Creation Club was born. She got permission to have fliers handed out in the schools, as well. But we weren't allowed to put the verse on it (remember now thy creator in the days of they youth) since it was a public school system.

Very interesting. I never heard of meeting in a library meeting room. Sounds like a good option.

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On a related but side note, apparently Kent Hovind, who has been an inspiration in this idea, to a point, is having further trouble, this time with family. It seems that shortly after he went to prison, his son, who took over the ministry, started his own ministry and now, running both, sold his father's ministry to his new ministry, leaving Kent with nothing, and he is now apparently evicting Kent from their property, and Kent's wife is divorcing him. From all that can be seen from our point, he has been very busy with getting the ministry going again, being active again in speaking, both in churches and with a Youtube page, so it is difficult to say why this is occurring. Maybe the family figured after he got out that he would settle down and allow Eric to run the program and he could stay with family, and that not occurring, perhaps they consider him unfaithful. I don't know-**SPECULATION** Not seeking to spread rumor or gossip as to the whys and wherefores. If this is the case, however, the Lord Jesus DID say that we are to be willing to forsake EVERYTHING, even family, for His cause, be willing to lose all for Him. This may be a case of such. I wonder how many, if this is the case, will reject him for a divorce?

Anyways, please be in prayer for the entire family-again I don't know all the facts and I don't set Kent on a pedestal-he may have done some wrong, I don't know. But they Do need prayer, because his ministry, outside and behind bars, have borne much fruit.  And maybe, this being in the wings, so to speak, maybe this is why the Lord has put on my heart to begin a ministry of this sorts-I don't seek to emulate Kent, per se, but to see that the word continues to go forth, at least in my little piece of the world.

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Whatever is going on the devil is in the mix. The devil is in the business of wrecking and destroying families. Something is very amiss when a Christian divorces their spouse and when a son makes shady dealings which ill effect his own dad.

Very sad, but we see similar time and again where the devil will gain a foothold through a spouse or child and use that to cause havoc and sometimes the crumbling of a fruitful Christian.

At the beginning of this year our pastor did a twelve week series during our adult Sunday school class on the evolution/creation issue. It became evident the very first week that many in the class really needed to learn about this as they were clueless to most of what was presented.

Unfortunately, even after twelve weeks one couple still couldn't accept a literal six day creation. For no specific reason they could articulate, they insisted that sticking to a literal six day creation was "putting God in a box". Somehow their view that creation had to (why? they couldn't explain why) have taken at least 6,000 to 10,000 years (or maybe even much longer) made more sense and must be right.

That same couple also couldn't grasp how God could place the genetic information needed for every canine (or any other creature) within the DNA of two canines on the ark (Noah's ark), which would over the course of time produce the variety we see today. Our pastor even showed a very good, easy to understand video (I think from Answers In Genesis) which explained the biology of this. To no avail, they still think the ark must have had a pair of every breed and type of canine in order for what we have today to be around the world...or, the flood must have been local rather than worldwide (our pastor also presented an excellent video on the evidence for a worldwide flood).

Many Christians do indeed need to hear the truth regarding evolution/creation. It's sad that even with such information, many Christians won't accept the truth, or will only accept part of it.

Mike, I pray the Lord will lead you in this.

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On 2016/4/19 at 11:32 PM, Ukulelemike said:

And maybe, this being in the wings, so to speak, maybe this is why the Lord has put on my heart to begin a ministry of this sorts-I don't seek to emulate Kent, per se, but to see that the word continues to go forth, at least in my little piece of the world.

Ukulelemike,

May God bless you in your efforts. Keep us informed on how things are developing. As John81 aptly said, "Mike, I pray the Lord will lead you in this."

Alan

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51 minutes ago, Jordan Kurecki said:

Kent Hovind has recently stated that "The Shack" is his favorite book, and he has also abandoned the pre-trib rapture position. I think he is definately heading the wrong direction.

Now that is just pathetic...another one shows true colors that were simply hidden before. But on the bright side, he sure sold allot of books himself :)

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1 hour ago, Jordan Kurecki said:

Kent Hovind has recently stated that "The Shack" is his favorite book, and he has also abandoned the pre-trib rapture position. I think he is definately heading the wrong direction.

I have heard this about the shack, but not been able to find it. Can you give a link? Hearing everything else he teaches and believes I find it hard to believe.

As for the pre-trib position, well I happen to be a post-trib/pre-wrath person myself. I know before prison he was on the fence about it and was NOT a pre-tribber. I just believe in that issue, that he just finally found the truth.

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