[ag-news] AG NEWS #1783: February 26, 2010

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AG-NEWS: Friday, February 26, 2010 
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**Homeless congregation in Georgia blesses others

Rescue Atlanta, founded by AG co-pastors Mel and Teresa Rolls,
serves 2,000 meals to 500 members of congregation before
worship service each week. Although 85 percent of members are
homeless, many tithe regularly and have adopted children in
Haiti and supported 17 missionaries and orphanage in Kenya. For
more information about Rescue Atlanta, visit their Web site at
http://www.rescueatlanta.com.


**iPhone Churches: Congregations cautiously embrace new
technological tools

Churches have found using iPhone apps have advantages for
organizing church staff (especially in larger churches) as
well as in outreach. Seen as strong, portable social networking
tool that helps church engage people. However, leaders also
emphasize this type of "shallow" contact must be
reinforced/followed-up with face-to-face interaction in order
to build true relationships.


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AG Marriage Encounter opens brand new locale

Greg and D'awn (Elder) Ledgerwood, Sidney, Montana, are hosting
an AG Marriage Encounter weekend in Dickinson, North Dakota,
March 19-21. Mark and Becky Rhoades, national admin couple for
AGME, confirm that space is limited. "Initial plans for the new
locale were made when Greg and D'awn drove the 1,187 miles from
Sidney to Springfield, Missouri, to experience a fall weekend.
The final details were just now worked out," says Mark Rhoades.

To register go to http://www.agme.org or call 800.366.2104
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**HOMELESS CONGREGATION IN GEORGIA BLESSES OTHERS

Despite difficult economic times, Rescue Atlanta has not cut back
meeting needs in Georgia's capital and beyond. Founded in 1989 by
Assemblies of God co-pastors Mel and Teresa Rolls, Rescue Atlanta is
unique. About 85 percent of the 500-member congregation is homeless.

"We live by faith and trust God every day for everything," says Mel
Rolls.

On a typical Sunday, the church, located in a former warehouse,
serves the equivalent of 2,000 hot nutritious meals to 500 people
before the worship service.

"We allow them to eat until they are full," Rolls says. "Some will
eat two or three plates."

Teams of volunteers from among the homeless, local AG congregations
and other churches arrive at 5:30 a.m. to prepare meals. They crack
around 150 dozen eggs, cook 30 pounds of grits, oatmeal and
biscuits, and brew gallons of coffee. In addition, the church
provides showers, laundry facilities and clothing.

The homeless and inner-city poor walk to services from a 2.5-mile
radius or are picked up on six bus routes. Atlanta has only 2,000
shelter beds for its estimated 11,000 homeless, according to Rolls.
Many sleep in vacant buildings, on sidewalk vents, in alleys, or
under bridges.

Dan Allen, a staff member once homeless who committed his life to
Christ through the ministry, understands their pain.

"Darkness surrounds us on the street, but Jesus is the Light," he
says.

The weekly Broken Pieces street feeding program reaches hundreds in
three inner-city locations. Meals also are served after the midweek
worship service. Typically 25 to 30 people respond to altar calls
for salvation at every service. Many in the homeless congregation
tithe regularly from their meager paychecks or Social Security
payments. Through the church they have adopted poor children in
Haiti and support 17 missionaries and an orphanage in Kenya.

Rolls and Allen led crews of homeless men who helped families
devastated by the September flooding in Austell, Georgia.
Volunteering without pay, the crews gutted homes inundated by 12
feet of water and removed debris. Many families at the receiving end
of losing everything couldn't believe those who had nothing had
helped them.

Coping with reduced finances, Rescue Atlanta operates on the edge.
But through prayer and faith the funds always seem to arrive at the
last minute.

"God is our source," Rolls says. "It's miracle offering by miracle
offering."

For more information about Rescue Atlanta, visit their Web site at
http://www.rescueatlanta.com.

--Peter K. Johnson, Pentecostal Evangel


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**iPHONE CHURCHES: CONGREGATIONS CAUTIOUSLY EMBRACE NEW
TECHNOLOGY TOOLS

Want to commit to abstinence before marriage? There's an app for
that. Want to see your church more organized and run more
efficiently? There's an app for that. Want to check out a church
before you step foot in it? There's an app for that, too.

In fact, there are 85,000 apps and counting in Apple's iTunes store
that are changing the way people communicate, do business, worship,
evangelize and are entertained.

Some say the iPhone and all the applications it offers make life
more convenient, fun and productive. But can the features make
people and churches more effective in the way they communicate,
worship, do business and evangelize?

It depends on whom you ask.

Phil Baker, a production support manager at Nike in Beaverton,
Oregon, attends Portland Christian Center (AG). He has to be on call
after business hours on most days. Before Baker got an iPhone, he
says he lugged his laptop everywhere. But not now.

"I used to have to find a place to boot up my laptop and log into
work when I was on call," Baker, 37, says. "Now I don't even need my
laptop because my iPhone has everything I need."

That can be good, and bad, news. Good because there are thousands of
apps that allow workers such as Baker to track expenses as they are
incurred, log sales, access charts and graphs, and even accept
credit card payments.

Such conveniences have costs.

"I'm working now more than ever," admits Baker. "But it's more
efficient work."

Efficiency and better organization turned out to be the bonuses for
Elevation Church in Layton, Utah, after leaders and congregants
began using an iPhone app that revolutionized the way they
interacted.

"We run our entire Sunday programs and services using an app," says
Trinity Jordan, the 29-year-old lead pastor, "that helps us know how
many volunteers we'll have, which band members will be there and who
will be helping out with children's ministries."

Embracing technology has been a hallmark of Elevation Church since
it began four years ago. After Jordan started the church, a media
director became his first hire. Since then, the church has won
awards for its Web site and has utilized social networking.

In November, Elevation released an ambitious project on Twitter
(which has 55 million users) to inspire followers of Christ to read
their Bibles more and to reach out to unchurched people.

"We're trying to contextualize the gospel for the culture we're
trying to reach," Jordan says. "To do that, we created a program for
Twitter that posts a Scripture verse every hour on the hour and will
do so for the next three and a half years."

Steve Pike, national director of the Assemblies of God's Church
Multiplication Network, says the primary missional activity of the
church is to make disciples, and that the foundational activity that
precedes making disciples is building relationships.

"Social media has quickly emerged as a powerful tool for building
relationships," he says. "The church has demonstrated amazing
creativity and flexibility over the last century in its use of
modern technological tools to advance the gospel."

Just as church leaders learned how to use television and DVDs to
make disciples, so they will need to embrace social media tools such
as iPhone apps, Web casts, blogging, Twittering and Facebook to
effectively make 21st-century disciples, according to Pike.

Mark Batterson, lead pastor at tech-savvy National Community Church
in Washington, D.C., agrees.

"We need to redeem technology and use it for God's purposes," he
says. "When Jesus said, 'Go into all the world,' He didn't define
how."

Jason Inman, media coordinator at Convoy of Hope in Springfield,
Missouri, says churches and other nonprofit organizations are
embracing the iPhone lifestyle because they realize ? much the way
Fortune 500 companies have ? that going mobile is indeed the future.

"The iPhone has made the Internet mobile," he says. "Now
organizations are going mobile in order to remain a part of the
conversation."

Others say the ease and relatively low cost of creating and hosting
an iPhone app is too good to pass up.

Plus, the benefits of having an app can be numerous. Being one of
the first churches to have one shows a measure of innovation and is
good for public relations. A good app also can provide constituents
with a connection tool that alerts them to upcoming events and
services, keeps them informed of prayer requests, and offers
podcasts and videos.

Jordan is sold on the idea of creating an app for the congregation
he leads. He says Elevation Church will launch one this spring.

"Our app will include an online campus where we will have a pastor
on hand at a certain time each week for those who have missed our
Sunday gathering," he says. "Users will be able to watch the Sunday
service and take part in a live discussion with the pastor and other
worshippers."

Critics say embracing the iPhone lifestyle can be risky for churches
because people who cannot afford an iPhone or do not own one may
feel excluded. Naysayers also worry that a pursuit of technological
advancements can spread resources too thin and put too much focus on
technology rather than people.

"Virtual community is infinitely more virtual than it is communal,"
says Shane Hipps in his book "Flickering Pixels: How Technology
Shapes Your Faith." "It's a bit like cotton candy: It goes down easy
and satiates our immediate hunger, but it doesn't provide much in
the way of sustainable nutrition."

Even so, Jordan is convinced that using technologies such as the
iPhone is effective in reaching people with the gospel, but admits
he too has reservations.

"The relational connections the average person has now are probably
more numerous than in years past, but they're probably shallower
too," he says. "I don't want our church to ever become so connected
through technology that we lose that personal touch."

To that end, Elevation Church utilizes some time-tested techniques.

"We greet and engage every person who walks through our doors," says
Jordan. "It's all about relationships here ? even though we use a
lot of technology."

--Kirk Noonan, Pentecostal Evangel






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