Guest Post: R.U. Reedy is Back!

Pastor RU Reedy at the New-Year Episcopal

Preach Off Competition--2nd place 

I've invited my old friend Pastor Reedy back to Almost Not Catholic. For those who don't remember, Pastor R.U. Reedy leads a flock at Volt Church, a ministry of Engage Outreach International, a subsidiary of PowerHouse, Inc: wholly owned and operated by OnFire.usa. He has a knack for story-telling and the homiletical spin. For us lay people that means he can get his "preach on".

What's up! I'm shocked that Brent let me back on here. Despite his best efforts, I heard (from my assistant pastor of online Catholic outreach) at least three people made a commitment to Je-hey-sus from my last guest post. Some of them repented from Mary worship, having statues of virgins in their houses, religiously eating Wendy's fish sandwiches on Fridays and a few other man-made traditions. That'll show the devil. 

Can I get an "Amen" up in here? 

[my hands are "raisin' the roof"]

This is the Greatest Obstacle
to God Working in Your Life

I got to testify. So put on your Holy Ghost seat belt, I'm going to take your spirit on a ride you may never forget. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Forget about your flesh, just sit back, unplug your totally depraved mind, and let the spirit take control. 

You see, the other day over a fish sandwich at Wendy's, I was talking to our Associate Pastor of Online, 5 and under, Children's Ministry. We were discussing how to really reach out to children--5 and under--on the world-wide-web. In my prayer closet, I felt that God told me that kids were into surfing the net. Lucky for me, this associate pastor runs the online worship service for this business unit segment of my ministry. In our time together, we both felt that God told us that "children's church" was the "old manna". God had moved past the "old wine" of pulling children out of service with their parents and putting them into a playpen service of their own. Children no longer "played together". My children's ministry staff told me that they simply could not medicate keep the children still enough to teach them basic Bible stories. We had even purchased a carousel to keep them "spinning for Jesus". At first, it was a big hit. However, it became a real safety liability. Kids were falling off because they were staring down at their iPods Bibles, and weren't focusing on keeping saddled on their "holy horses"--as we called them. 

Anyways, so our first move was to move the 5 and under worship service to Facebook. It was a simple integration for our Senior Pastor of Facebook evangelization, and we knew the kids had the devices to "be there". Then we found out that 5 year olds are not suppose to be on Facebook. So we pulled the plug and developed a website where children can customize their worship experience. They get to pick their favorite three songs, skit, printable coloring page, and 2 minute sermonette. It is in Spanish and English so we can reach out to Catholics everyone in the community.

Sola Deo Gloria!

The results? We our now reaching children, 5 and under, on 8 continents, in 37 languages, and some of their parents have signed up for our e-news letter. Oh yeah, they don't even know the good things that God has in store for them.

[you can now buy the R.U. Reedy Study Bible, online! Only three easy payments of $19.99. Every R.U. Reedy study Bible comes personally signed by R.U. Reedy himself! No Stamps. No Stickers. Just Pastor R.U. Reedy's authentic, anointed handwriting, whereby you can join your faith with his to expect God to give you everything you ever dreamed. Also, every Bible comes with one blank page between every page in the Bible where you can add your personal tradition of men make copious notes as R.U. Reedy teaches you the word of God]

I hear you Catholics debate a lot about your worship? Maybe you should take a lesson out of my playbook. Just sayin. Proofs in the pudding.

Nice job!
picture from "Chemin Neuf"

This guest post was inspired by various experiences in Protestant churches and, embarrassingly, some discussions I've seen about "worship" in the Catholic Church.