I had the opportunity to preach on Wednesday, Oct. 21st. It’s been a while since I last had an opportunity to speak. Since my last opportunity I had moved to being the Pastor of Communications/Innovations from the Pastor of Education. Many were wondering what exactly I was doing in my new position so I thought I’d share with them what I was doing and more importantly why I was doing it.

“Would Jesus Twitter” was what I initially wanted to call my message, but I thought I might loose some of them with that title. So I changed it to “Being Opportunistic.” Below is an outline of my message:

Being Opportunistic

Definition of Opportunistic - Taking advantage of opportunities as they arise

I. New Testament Opportunities

• Social events:
  • Wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11)
• In homes
  • Simon and Andrew’s mom (Mark 1:29-31)
  • Peters home (Mark 2:1-2)
  • Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-41)
  • Home of the Pharisee (Luke 7:36-50)
• Walking
  • Calling first disciples (Mark 1:16-20)
  • Healing the blind man (John 9:1-12)
  • Two blind men (Matthew 9:27-31)
  • Woman who was bleeding (Matthew 9:20-22)
  • Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-9)
• Daily activities
  • Getting water – Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:1-30)
• Sickness/Death
  • Officials son (John 4:46-54)
  • Healing of the invalid man (John 5:2-9)
  • Lazarus (John 11:1-44)
  • Rulers daughter (Matthew 9:18-19, 23-26)
• Synagogue
  • Teaching (Mark 1:21-28)
  • Cleansing the temple (John 1:13-21)
  • Teaching during the Feast of the Booths (John 7:14-24)

(Statistics show that out of 132 public appearances made by Jesus, 122 of them were in the marketplace. Out of the 52 parables He had told, 45 had a marketplace context. Out of the 33-plus years He lived, most of His adult life was a carpenter.)

II. Opportunities Today

A. In the church

• Larger reach than ever before
  • We have many who attend Henderson Hills 20-30 miles away
  • We have multiple campuses
  • Online (stats were from Sept. 1-Oct. 20)
    • Website – 13,000 visits/52 countries
    • Sermons online – 2,000 plays/16 countries
    • Podcasting – 3,800 downloads/ 12+ countries
    • Text messaging – 1000 subscribers
    • eNewsletter – 2,800 subscribers
    • Facebook – 2,000 views/740 fans
    • Twitter – 180 friends/61 posts
    • You Tube
    • Live Streaming – broadcast both HS and Kid’s Kamp live

B. Individually

• I shared some personal ways I have and continue to use opportunities that God has given to me.

III. Ways To Be Opportunistic

• Pray for sensitivity
• Look for ways to be the salt and light to those in your daily life
• Be sensitive to the “outsiders” around you
• Be sensitive to the needs of others around you and take action
• Slow down
• Ask the Lord who you should spend time with that is an “outsider”
• Identify one step you can take in sharing your faith
  • Go to lunch
  • Send and email
  • Ask to go out socially
  • Give them a phone call
  • Send them a FB message
  • Text message them
  • Share with others what is happening in your life on Facebook or Twitter
    • Post the verse of scripture that mosts impacts you from your daily time with God.
    • Inform and invite others to our engage events
    • Post that you’re attending an event at Henderson Hills on FB or Twitter

Would Jesus Twitter? Let me ask you the same question another way…Why Wouldn’t Jesus Twitter? Is it immoral? Unbiblical? Illegal? Would it have helped Him communicate with His followers? His disciples? Would Facebook have helped him minister to the masses? Spread the Gospel? Encourage the downhearted? Speak the truth in love?

Using Twitter, Facebook and text messaging today is very similar to using the radio in the 20′s and TV in the 50′s. I don’t hear too many speaking against the use of TV to share the Gospel. But, I’ll bet there were certainly critics back in the early years of radio and televangelism.

So…what are your thoughts?

I’ll share stories of how I have, and how others have, used social media for ministry in my next post.