Tag Archives: Christ and Culture seminar

Seminar on Long Island

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Herald of Truth logoI just had a wonderful weekend on Long Island. No, it’s not really the time of year to visit the Hamptons. I was there for Herald of Truth, holding a “Christ and Culture” seminar at the Roosevelt-Freeport Church of Christ, then teaching Bible class and preaching for the East End church of Christ in East Hampton, NY.

The seminar at the Roosevelt church was actually a gathering of Hispanic church leaders from the area. There were representatives from seven different congregations, about 60 people in all. It was the first time I had done the “Christ and Culture” seminar in Spanish. Everyone seemed pleased with the material, and I felt good about how it went.

On Sunday, they were having a joint meeting between the East End congregation and a Hispanic congregation from Riverhead, NY. Everything was done bilingually. After doing that regularly for over 10 years, it’s surprising to see how many people are amazed at how smoothly it can go. Done right, bilingual worship does not interrupt the flow of the service.

As it has been the last few weeks, travel was a bit interesting. Going up there, it was mechanical problems. We left Dallas 90 minutes late, causing me to miss the 3:30 flight to Long Island. The next flight they could get me on was at 10:00 p.m.

Coming home, it was the weather. Actually, I expected things to be worse. I was only about an hour late getting home. The rides were bumpy, but nothing too bad.

It’s always great to be with brothers and sisters in different areas. Then it’s always good to return home again.

Seminar at Brooks Avenue

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859499_10151318165338191_1846126711_oI was privileged to be with the Brooks Avenue Church of Christ in Raleigh, North Carolina, this past weekend. They invited me to come and present the “Christ and Culture” seminar that I do as part of my work with Herald of Truth. I’ve talked about doing such seminars in the past… but this time I’ve got pictures to prove it. Here’s a few:

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Ok, so I talk with my hands.

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Technology was extremely helpful this time. I used an iPad to control the presentation that was running on my laptop. Allowed me to see the slides as well as some notes.

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Some of the material that I present during the seminar is from Ray Vander Laan’s www.followtherabbi.com.

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I presented the final session during morning worship on Sunday. That meant that I had to take a 45 minute session and present it in 25 minutes. Talking fast is good for the soul!

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I told some friends on Facebook that every preacher secretly dreams of having Michael J. Fox playing guitar behind them as they preach. I used some still photos from “Back To The Future” to make a point about contextualization.

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I hope that everyone took away that main point. As Christians, we are foreigners and aliens in this world, but we’re not mere refugees… we’re on a diplomatic mission!

Men’s retreat in South Carolina

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This past weekend I got to travel to Spartanburg, South Carolina, on behalf of Herald of Truth. I presented my seminar on “Christ and Culture” to a men’s retreat from the Central Church of Christ in Spartanburg, then taught Bible class and preached on Sunday morning for the whole congregation. Great weekend, with a group of guys that were interested and engaged. Made for some great discussions. And, as I told them, not only did I get to do my seminar in jeans for the first time, I even wore shorts on Saturday. (That’s significant not just from the point of view of doing the seminar in shorts, but also because my legs hadn’t seen the sun in years! :-)

The retreat was held at the Palmetto Bible Camp. It’s an amazingly beautiful camp run by the churches of Christ in South Carolina. Great setting for a retreat.

I’ve added to the seminar some excellent material by Matt Dabbs on ministering to adults in their 20s and 30s. It’s material that he presented this year at the Tulsa Workshop, and I’ve found it to be very helpful. I placed it at the end of the seminar, watching the time to see whether I could present that extra material or not. Had to rush through it a bit, but I think it was worth it.

Had an interesting trip home. After a significant layover at the Greenville-Spartanburg airport, I was anxious to get to Dallas, hoping to catch stand-by on the 8 p.m. flight to Abilene rather than waiting for the 10:05 flight that I was ticketed for. I set up a notification on American’s website so that they would send me text messages with the gate information for that earlier flight. Unfortunately, we took off late and landed even later; it was 7:40 when we got to Dallas. I sent Carolina a text telling her that I probably couldn’t make that flight. Then I saw the texts from American and realized the flight was delayed and was leaving from a gate just seven gates down from where I was arriving.

I hurried to that gate and spoke with the gate agent about getting on stand-by. He said, “We’ve given away the stand-by seats we had, but you can wait and see if someone fails to show up.” I found a place to stand in view of the counter and returned to reading on my iPhone. (The Betrayal (Precinct 11), a mystery by a Christian author. Not bad, especially since I got the Kindle version for free)

The gate agent came up to me with a boarding pass, saying, “Good news, Mr. Archer… we had a no show.” I texted Carolina and let her know the good news.

After the plane came in, though, the agent approached me again with a chagrined look and apologized. “I’m so sorry… one of the seats is broken on this craft, and I’ve got to take back your boarding pass.” Ouch! That had never happened to me before. However, he did say that I could stay around to see if anyone else failed to present themselves.

Again, I communicated with Carolina, telling her the good news turned sour. They kept paging one passenger who was #3 on the standby list. Since I was #1, I wasn’t real appreciative. However, at the last minute the agent said, “OK, I’ve got a seat for you. Go ahead.”

With the delay, I only got in an hour earlier than I would have, but 10 p.m. is better than 11 p.m.

All in all, a great weekend.