Fun times in email

It has been a while since I received a few emails encouraging me to eternal damnation, long stays in limbo, or perdition. I have almost grown accustomed to the peace and quiet of a lonely mailbox filled with ways to increase my libido, enlarge my boobs, or some new fad in dating. But lately, thanks to some new advertising of my latest book out in e-book form, I have the joy of reading through a few questions and you have the honor of sitting through my rants as I find new and better ways to irritate the textile masses.

The latest asked the simple question "why?". Why would I want to start churches in nudist communities? The logic was mostly flawless. It sounded good. It even had a ring of truth to it. We could simply meet at an already established church and help increase their numbers as opposed to building a block and separation between the two groups of people.

I must admit he had me thinking. It did separate the two groups, that is, the textiles were certainly not coming to the new church. The nudists would likely choose the church where they would not have to dress and leave the park. It seems that I was encouraging separation in the church body.

But, then I realized that the separation was already there. The textile churches were not going into the resorts and parks to visit or to involve themselves in the communities. They had already separated themselves from the church members at the resorts.

There is a small but distinct line between cutting out the herd and rounding up strays. Anyone who has seen any cowboy movies have seen cowboys riding and working with cows on screen and sometimes it is difficult to tell if they are separating them or rounding them up.

The best way to tell the difference is which one brings the cattle home and which one sends them to be slaughtered. Herding them into the pasture is a sure sign of bringing them home. Culling out a few and loading them in the truck might mean a one way trip for the cow.

Argument two goes a long way to hit me in the... well lower than my belt. "Don't we already have enough division in our midst?"

I have to agree. Christians are divided three ways to Sunday. Adding a different splinter group is taking us further away from the "become one" we often hear when we speak of the Christian body, the bride of Christ. The difference is that we are not really dividing here at all. We are establishing a beach head so that the Christians can minister to the nudist community in their midst. I am certain if the textiles want to come to the church, they would be welcome. AND probably more so than if a nudist, dressed properly, showed up at a textile church.

Funny how things have a way of rolling around. What are your thoughts?

Till we meet again.

Dysfunctional Church

For a week, I have received questions from some of the readers of this blog as to why I presume to offer advice about forming a church when there is so much advice available. Well, here is my answer.

First, there are way too many people giving poor advice.

Second, there is a need to form nudist churches in nudist communities.

Third, I felt led by God.

Now, you understand? I didn't think so, but I gave it a shot.

Let's slow down and try it again.

First, there is way too much poor advice about running a church. Most working churches have no real clue why they work. Most dysfunctional churches aren't aware they are dysfunctional until the church collapses into a grand mess. Having worked in several start up churches, some done properly and some not, it is easier to build a church when you start the basic functions correctly than it is to go back and fix them later. Offering some of my own mistakes and how to avoid them might just save some of you a whole heap of trouble later.

Second, there is a need to start nudist churches in nudist communities. The Great Commission sends us out into the missions field. It does not ask us to draw the people into some foreign place to learn about God. we need to be in the middle of the community where we can interact and become a part of their lives. We are responsible for the nudist communities' very souls.

Lastly, God told me to. I don't have proof. I don't have a note or some voice message on my cell phone to play for you. I offer no excuses nor do I require anyone to vet my intentions. You can take the last one on faith or pray for my healing. You decide.

There are just too many dysfunctional churches in the textile world. I don't want a repeat on the nudist side.

For those who want to follow along and help me help God build a Christian world in the nudist community, I thank you and keep on reading. I would also ask that you send a link to others located around the world who might be in a position to start working with new churches in the nudist communities. The more people we have reading, commenting and posting, the better our core knowledge of how to spread the word will be.

If this is not where God has you, I am fine if you follow His lead and spend the time you would be spending reading my blog in pursuit of what God has for you.

Thank you and God bless.

Allen

Labor of Love or Love of Labor

Most of us know a person who is always out there helping people. They are the first ones to show up at the work party at church. On cleaning day, they are cleaning everything in sight. And if there is a need in the community that can be remedied by hard work, they show up first to make sure they get their fair share.

I am not, by any means, trying to down grade these people. It is a wonderful thing to have a heart for service, but what about the rest of us. Could we possibly be the unwashed masses who never want to labor over some poor guys toilet because he can't do it himself?

People who are gifted with a heart for service are special. They don't mind toting the barge line or lift the bales of hay into the loft. In fact, some get their greatest pleasure out of a life of service. They possess a love of labor. In their case, labor is its own reward.

The rest of us are people who labor to labor. It is a chore to force ourselves to spend hours scrubbing toilets at the local shelter. We despise the mornings at church cleaning up after a teen weekend lock-in. It is a labor of love.

For those in the labor of love category, we generally feel bad by the long hours the labor party spends. They show us up. They makes us look bad for our pittance of labor we expend on those projects.

Fear not, however. We can invoke the widow's mite rule. It is not something we were gifted with and therefore, we are only expected to expend what God gave us. This means we do what we can with a cheerful heart and get out of the way of the real laborers.

Sounds easy, doesn't it?

Well, no. How many of us would gladly accept a position of deacon in our church, knowing we are not going o do a good job at the labor involved with the task. These are the tasks of our deacons. As one might have noticed in our churches lately, the job of deacon has morphed into a cushy job where our deacons act more like ministerial staff than workers. But that was not the intention of the position of deacon.

Deacons need to be workers. They need to strive to keep the church on the path of physical health and wealth. (Note: not monetary wealth, but an abundance of riches, both in spirit and in life.) These are physical needs that must be resolved before a church can be healthy. When we, the unlabor people, fill those slots, we take away from the labor pool and leave the deacon board a mess.

Our churches today need to fill our deacon board with the people who love to do physical labor so that those of us who are the spiritual leaders can do the job we were built to do.

I have a special affection for those people who enjoy labor and are rewarded by their actions. I can sit and watch them work for hours on end, without even breaking a sweat. For those people, I have the utmost respect. Two salutes for the true deacons of our church.

Till next time.

No Title Today

In a sense, there is a need for Christians to enter politics. It is important that men of good faith and strong conviction be the leaders of our country. Their policies and the basis for those should be a matter of public record and our leaders should not be ashamed of placing their faith at the forefront of their responsibilities to our country. We should be able to know for a fact that a Christian sponsored a bill and the why just by reading the text of the legislation.

In another sense, there is a need for nudists to enter politics. We need men and women of courage to stand up for the rights of humans and to force our fingerprints onto legislation that would free us to enjoy our lifestyle just as others have found their freedom in the land of opportunity.

If this prospect is a little scary, welcome to my world.

I find the recent crop of politicos running our country to profess freedom and hope and peace. I don't see it. I see division and a whole bunch of yesterday's politics sitting on the desks of every Senator and Congressman in Washington. I find the ads for the Governor's job to be filled with the last great evil in hopes of convincing me each one is the lesser of two evils. I have had it. I want out.

Give me a King, again. At least he will fear the 3 million guns roaming the countryside. At least we would have an accountability system, tried and true for many centuries, that the King would listen to.

Each time I go to my local county seat to discuss business, I feel like I should wear old clothes, look poverty stricken, and hide my wallet. Even is this depressed economy, the county is looking to take every last dime of money to the people who are trying to keep their employees working. It may sound funny, but the governments of the USA are diametrically opposed to a sound work environment.

With all this around us, perhaps a nudist King is our answer. He would spend most of his time sunning on the back lawn and the world would care less if we work or play.

So, I volunteer to be king. Someone peel me a grape.

New blog recommendation

I have been meaning to talk to my co-pastor, John, about guest blogging here, but I failed to do so. Luckily for me, my shortcomings are usually stretched back in shape by John.

For those who would like to read a little about John, his insights, and some commentary ( I highly recommend this blog), zoom out to : http://altogetherjohn.blogspot.com/

The First Meeting

Advertise:

Make up some flyers to HANG on posts, sit on tables, or any place the owner of the resort or club will allow. It is important to speak with him about how and where you advertise. He must be willing to support your efforts. Never, ever, go door to door or placing flyers under the wipers on cars. This leads to hurt feelings, and resentment. Remember, your goal is to support and
engage the community.

Ask about placing an announcement in the newsletter. The task of letting the members know about the meeting will be easier if there is a newsletter going out to all the members, even if it is an online letter. If there isn't one, volunteer to do one for the part. Make you curch announcements small and in keeping with the other announcements so as to be fair to every group that participates.


IN THE DOOR

In a world where there are so many thoughts, beliefs, and understandings of Christ, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, you can not assume anything. Meeting for the first time, especially in the nudist setting, will bring all kinds of beliefs, thoughts, and well, crackpots, out of the woods.

Crackpots here is a term of endearment used to describe a person with a sorted and unbalanced view of Christianity, such as all roads lead to heaven, the path to enlightenment will give you the peace you need to find heaven, everyone is saved, and the ever popular god would never send anyone to hell if he is a kind and gentle god.

Learning to settle these points will make for a wonderful handful of sleepless nights and a goodly sized ulcer. what you have to do is focus on the task.

Once the owner allows you to set up a meeting, pick a traditional time to meet. Sundays, early enough to allow for other activities afterward, is a great time. Most people recognize Sunday as a day of remembering their god, whether it is God or some other entity. Going early, such as 9:30 or so, allows the people to enjoy the meeting and not necessarily feel like they are missing anything.

Setting the time is important. Going too late, as we have said, means some will wander off to other activities. Going too early will mean people will oversleep. Finding that specific balance between too early and too late can be tricky, but there is usually a point where the whole process fits. Coordinating with the owner of the park will cut down on activity conflicts, but has the added advantage of engaging the owner in the church process.

Brass Tacks

No one wants to sit through one of the old fashioned tent meetings of the 1600's where a robed guy stood up front and spoke in a language no one understood. We certainly don't want that today. The meetings need to be styled so that everyone is comfortable about what is going on and the atmosphere is light, fun, and enticing, while at the same time, offering the messages God has for this group.

Think this is easy? So did I and I was wrong, too.

The trick is to spend the first meetings learning about the people coming to the group. find out what background they have, where they got their beliefs and especially here they stand. In some cases, you can just ask. Most of the time, you will have to work a little to bring out these details. On the first meeting, try a game or two. This will give you an idea of where people are in their walk and will help break the ice among te members.

Remember, some, if not most, will already be familiar to you. This is just to find out where they are in their walk.

The internet is filled with ice breaker games. Pick one or two and tailor the games to finding out information about the members.


Now, have fun.

Till next time...

On the Grounds

Let's review. We have found a place where we think God is ready for us to start a work, a church that would serve the needs of the community. Next, we became a member of the club and started interacting with the people of the park. We became known around and people have come to depend on us. So far, so good.

Next, we began to find out about people in need. We started gathering people and material means to help these people. Lastly, and most important, we found a partner to help us build this group of fledgling followers into a coherent strong entity willing to support the community and to help the people and the business live life more abundantly.

So, now what?

It is time to approach the park owner for permission to start a bible study or chapel service. You have the following going in your favor:

1. He trusts you. He has to. He let you help build a community in his club.
2. He sees a need for what you are doing. Helping others is really hard to argue with.
3. God is on your side. Who can stand against God?
4. If you have gotten this far with the plan, God has already prepared the owner for this and he is ready to say yes.

Now, all you need is to approach him with the idea of forming a chapel and laying out what your plans are for the community and the chapel. Remember, it is your plan, but it is the one God is setting before you.

Prayer at this point is pivotal. Learning what God knows this park or resort needs is going to tell you how to go about building a church presence, a GOD presence in this club.

Till next time...

Oh, and thanks to all of you who are following along with this program.

Allen