David Miller

The following are actual emails from members of local churches to their pastors.

We have been members with you all for some time and have always enjoyed Sunday morning service, however just wanted to drop a few comments about church yesterday. Will the regular band be back or this new band replacing what we are accustomed to? The band yesterday seemed like a great concert performance, but his singing and pitch seem too high for praise and worship, which makes it difficult for us to sing to. I do understand if this is a new band there are kinks, but it would be great if we brought the pitch lower.

Probably the most disappointing aspect of yesterday was the recorded video for the main service. We maybe considered “old school” in terms of having a live speaker, but I feel that in order to maintain and grow, we cannot simply have a video to take the place of an interactive church service from our Pastors. Is there a way to notify us somewhere on the website to let us know if you all are running a video for the teaching portion, because in that case, we can watch it online?

Please do not misunderstand the tone of this email, but do realize that the Sunday morning service and production we certainly look forward to, but when we come to listen to a concert performance and watch a screen, it makes the overall experience disappointing.

The Worship band was anointed by God today, evoking such emotion for  Jesus as I haven’t felt in too long, very refreshing from the norm, I wonder has itonly become a “job” to the regulars vs. genuine worship?

You may not have any control over this, but vocals and instruments are hard to hear over the drums. Also, I feel like the worship leader is about to cry when he speaks, very emotional, perhaps some joy would be good.

We’re starting to treat our churches like a movie.  We pick apart our worship services like they’re intended for our enjoyment rather than our edification.

Your Pastor gets this sort of email everyday!

Lets break the trend.  What are some things you love about your church?

Don’t just leave it in the comment section.  Email your pastors and make their day.

Growing up my mom would tell me to “be careful about the company you keep because you’ll become known by their actions”.  Like most adolescents I rolled my eyes and hung out with whomever I wanted. I found out the hard way that she was right.

We truly do become known by those we associate with.

What do we do when the people giving us a bad name are The Church?  Many have disassociated with The Church and I’ve got to be honest, I don’t blame them at all.  I’ve thought about walking away many times.  Not from God but from organization of The Church.  I wanted to make up a new name for Christ followers so no one would know that I was associated with the same people who started the crusades or judged them when they were growing up.  I struggled with this for years.

Truly disliking the organization of The Church and  understanding it as the Bride (John 3:29) I found difficult to reconcile.  I decided that rather than shake my fist outside the doors of The Church, I would work to become a part of the solution and reintroduce The Church to culture.

Here are some people who’ve taken the lead and that I’ve learned from:

Donald Miller recalled in Blue Like Jazz how he and some friends set up a confessional for a local college, not for the students to confess their sins to a priest, but to confess to the students the sins of The Church throughout history.

Derek Webb uses his music to inspire The Church to become The Bride we were intended to be.  He challenges us to look past our comfort and recognize the purpose of The Church.
Read past posts about Derek Webb HERE.

Shane Claiborne recently took a huge step in this reintroduction process in an article he wrote for Esquire Magazine.  I could tell you all about it but I really think you need to read it for yourself. Click HERE to give it a look.

We will be known by those we associate with.

What are you doing to reintroduce The Church to your culture?

These videos say it all.

You can’t wonder why people see Christians as crazy!

Zach, guitarist for Bellarive, pulled me aside to talk about Westboro Baptist Church a few weeks ago.  They’re the ones who protest funerals of fallen soldiers and are outspoken about their view of homosexuals. I view them as the shock jocks of Christianity.

Zack said,  “David, Christians are suppose to be known for their love but these guys make that almost impossible.  I want to tell people about this.”

That night I called the crew at Irreverent Podcast and asked them about addressing Westboro Baptist on the show and they jumped at it.

Check out the podcast HERE.

(WARNING: this podcast contains sensitive topics and some explicit language)

Irreverent gives a rundown of this episode:

On this episode we address the website www.godhatesfags.com and let out our feelings about this website, and reasons why we think what they’re doing is wrong.

We bring in our old friend David Miller, and a long time listener and friend Zach Glotfelty to let them share their feelings and to give us another perspective on this issue.

Here’s the link to their website incase for some odd reason you forgot the address:

God Hates Fags

By Irreverent

I’ve heard of pastors who have a side job but give me a break!

Two weeks ago thElement was invited to “The Brown Bag Challenge”

The general idea is to use a brown lunch bag to meet a need of someone else.
Check out the video for more datails about the challenge HERE

On Monday I walked into my office to find a brown bag with my name on it.  I opened it to find notes of encouragement written by thElement middle school students and leaders to me and my wife Ashley.

We felt incredible blessed!   Thanks to everyone who contributed to our brown bag.

Below are pictures of just a few of the notes we received.

Whose need will you meet today?

Do you know that you’ve been CALLED?

Mark 1:16-19 (message)

Sometimes we forget that students have a life outside of youth group.  Between midweek services, small groups, and house churches, we only get to spend a few hours a week with them.

The following is a conversation Croy Bosch, thElement High School Pastor, had with a student on Facebook.  It’s a reminder to our team of the reality many students are living.  That there is more below the surface than meets the eye.  This is a real conversation and is NOT edited and contains some foul language.

Message 1- Croy Bosch, bro you dont know me. But I definately remember you going to foundation and speaking about god nd all that and just thought you should know I definately really connected wit a lot of the shit you said nd has definately been a big part of my journey to finding god at all which has helped me through a loottt of tough shit. im definately thankful that you do what u do bro. just thought you should know. peace.

Message 2- bro, thanks so much for sharing that. i’m super stoked that it connected with ya. seems like there is some rough stuff going down in your life. please let me know if ya ever need anyone to talk to. im always up for grabbing dinner, coffee or just chillin. my cell number is 407-***-**** if ya ever need it. much love
-Croy

Message3- yeah well if i see u round one day i definately say wats up. but like my dad died when i was 14 and my mom kicked me out when i was 16 nd i inherited $100,000 when i was 18 and it was gone 2 months later cuz ive been on drugs since i was 14 and i got kicked outta school 4 months before graduation cuz apparently i was too much of a liability. but i dunno shits been better. thanks bro. keep preachin what ur preachin. peace.

Sometimes we need a reminder about the reality facing the students we’re trying to reach.

Welcome to the Brown Bag Challenge!

Check out the video below to learn how you can be apart of the challenge.

Tell your story at Being Human Project