Happy Valentine's Day!

In the spirit of valentine I'd like to share this post about Google's doodles for Valentine's Day. Click this link to enjoy them. Happy Val's Day!

http://mashable.com/2012/02/14/valentines-google-doodles/

MidNight Crew's New Album

One of the purposes of this blog is to promote content, individuals and organizations  that preaches the Good News and advances the kingdom of God, with particular focus on Nigeria, which happens to be my locality. In furtherance of this purpose, I'd like to recommend you go buy the latest effort by our very own MidNight Crew titled King Of Nations.

The album is characterized by their disctinct sound and is a fusion of both contemporary African and Western sounds. You'd like to listen to the songs? Go grab your copy now!!!

Change Your Tactics!

I'd like to further expand on the theme I've been examing in the past few days i.e. evangelizing today's youth. I was speaking (actually chatting) with a friend of mine recently and he was lamenting the state of the world-the moral decay, the changing landscapes and generally how things have just gone from bad to worse, with nothing like hope in sight. As we discussed, we both spoke about the chances of survival for our children (he's got 3 beautiful kids and lives in the UK) in this new clime. At that point, I realized one of the greatest issues the church has had with evangelizing each generation-we dont understand the terrain.

How many individuals have looked at Facebook and condemned its use by today's youth? What about the BlackBerry phone usage? And even the use of media playing devices (ipods, mp3 players and the likes). Most ol'schoolers look at the younger folk and damn them to hell for  ignoring the more importsnt issues and being so caught up in social media and technology. They call them no-good and don't see any bright future for them. Yet they expect these "Nu-schoolers" to "repent or go to hell!" What response do we get? "Du-uh!"

One of the most important things to do, for us not to end up with children, nephews, neices and siblings who don't understand God or even want to have anything to do with Him, is to understand the "market" we are dealing with. If social media platforms are where they are, then we must create communities that can engage them. If online media is what they read, then let's create content that can excite and EDUCATE them.

It's our responsibility to reach them. We must learn the terrain and understand the market. Traditional methods may have served us well but then those we used those methods on didn't have FAcebook. They didn't have access to loads of mp3 music files or were they able to video-chat with friends many miles away from home. If the world has changed, why haven't our strategies/methods?

Lessons From the NLNG Prize winner for literature

Have you ever heard of Nigeria LNG? I hadn't too, at least not at close range, until recently when my dearest friend, Mai Nasara (aka Adeyemi Adeleke) won the Nigeria LNG prize for literature with his book, The Missing Clock.

The book was selected from amongst over 25 other entries and yesterday, 6th February 2012, I attended the award ceremony, where he was honoured for this timely contribution. Our own Wole Soyinka, honoured the event and endoresed the book. I'm proud to say that Mai Nasara is a brother and also a member of my church The Strong Nation.

In the over 5 years that I've known Leke (which is what I call him), I've known about a few ideas for books he's had (I remember trying to work on the illustrations for one of his books) and the passion with which he's pursued developing materials, particulalry books, for children. That passion drove him to write in spite of the ridicule he faced for pursuing his dreams. You see Leke, so convinced of what he has been called to do (i.e. write children's books), didn't take a regular job and things were so tight that many people looked at him with pity.

But then he stuck to his life call and today...the rest is in the newspapers.

I'd like to say that there's nothing extra special about his book. The same way that there was nothing special about David's sling and stone as he confronted Goliath. The only special thing was that God needed a tool and David (and Leke) provided Him one. David didn't think he would become a celebrity. His heart only burned to see this uncircumsized Philistine not dishonour his God and God's chosen people. That same passion burned in Leke's heart and then he won $100,000 and got a platform of influence.

God is looking for more Davids and Lekes. What have you got in your hands?

Evangelizing Today's Youth

In continuance with the thoughts I started out with yesterday, I would like to focus on how to effectively evangelize this generation (and probably the next).

It is obvious that the views of each generation on God and what it means to be employed in His service differ, most times with very conflicting views. Each generation has its own revelation of God, different from that of the preceding generation. God is a trans-generational God-the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I believe there is a unique manifestation of God that is tied to every generation for the benefit of the world (Romans 8:19-22).

My point is that God would not reach each generation in the same way, so why should we think we can get results using the same methods that were used for us?

Have you observed that sharing tracts does not have the effect it had in the early 80s? Young people are not keen to listen to 2 hour messages. If a movie is not interesting, they'll dump it in seconds, even if you're teaching them important values. I would like to submit that anyone who doesn't change his style of "ministry" in this 21st Century would find that his impact is greatly diminished. Pastor Poju Oyemade recently said  that any pastor using Bishop Oyedepo's style of leadership in ministry today will not make much progress. Incidentally, Bishop Oyedepo's is pastor Poju's mentor. I would like to submit to you that for any person to effectively evangelize this generation, your style MUST change!

The devil understands this truth so well and he tailors his evangelical efforts to ensure that he catches the youth. For him (the devil), it doesn't matter if you fully understand what you are getting into. Just get in first. He uses what someone (my pastor and friend, Pastor Niyi) calls the mass market approach. Effectiveness in any dispensation is directly proportional to your understanding of the dynamics of that dispensation with emphasis on the technology and the people in that era. 

Evangelism is a lot like marketing and for it to be successful we must understand the terrain and understand the market. We must understand that

• Definitions have changed (gay no longer means happy)
• Indices of wealth have changed (Physical wealth vs Intellectual property Apple quoted as 2nd most expensive company globally).
• Technology has changed
• Perspectives have changed (How business is done, Social interactions powered by Social media networks, fashion trends i.e. lower waist-lines, lower neck-lines, etc)

AS PEOPLE CAUGHT IN THE MIDST OF THESECHANGING LANDSCAPES, 

WE MUST UNDERSTAND AND BE ESTABLISHED IN THE TIMELESS 

FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS OF GOD AND LOCATE INNOVATIVE 

& CREATIVE WAYS TO PRESENT THEM TO THE WORLD.

Some of today's post is an excerpt from a presentation at a monthly programme focused on empowering Christians to actively participate in media. Download the file here.

Generation Shift

The whole of 2011 was riddled with the toppling of despots in Africa. From the fall of Lauren Gbagbo to the death of Gaddafi, Africa was rocked with a shockwave of change as the youth began to cry for relevance and the removal of the old crop that had robbed them of their potential for so long. I believe the events that have happened were a prophetic symbol to us of the shift that is happening. Have you observed that the same seems to be happening in spiritual circles too? Before you crucify me, I'm not talking about the usurping of church leaders but rather the sudden dissatisfaction with the way church is.

I was speaking with a pastor who had gone to Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife to speak with a group of about 200 students. He asked how many knew Benny Hinn and was shocked to see only 4 hands raised. It is obvious that this generation of youth is disconnected from the seeming spirituality of their forefathers. A few years ago, the line between gospel and secular music was very clear. You couldn't imagine church choir members singing at shows like Nigerian Idol or MTN Project Fame (not that it is sinful). Today the views of today's young believer about sex, spirituality, service to God, relationships, entertainment, etc are so diverse.

The reasons are not far-fetched.

Increase in knowledge, dwindling moral standards, the advancement in technology and the natural tendency of young people to hate the mundane and uninteresting have all contributed to what we see around us today. Another major factor is the dearth of good role models. Most parents and models are too busy running the rat race and thus have abandoned their wards to the vices, expertly weaved into our social fabric by the devil.

The devil understands that to take the future just influence the youth. He simply provides  them the influence that would serve his ends. So it would just be a matter of time before the seeds he has sown mature into the ripe harvest of godless, rebellious individuals. All the while, these youngsters are attending church and youth fellowships but rotting deep inside, simply looking for the right opportunities (and freedom) to express their fleshly lusts. However these guys were created by God to express His nature and bring His kingdom to the earth.

The reaction of the older generation, unfortunately, is usually one of the following

• Ignore Them: What difference can they make? Young people are only meant to be seen not heard.
• Overindulge them: Give them all the luxuries/freedom/resources they need and leave them to learn by themselves
• Manipulate them: Monitor, supervise and control their every move and action. This eventually backfires as it suppresses the individual and he rebels against it either openly or internally.

What we should be doing is getting involved in their lives and modeling to them the right lifestyle. The glory of young people is their strength! Youth are usually passionate about anything they are involved in and today's youth would make excellent God-chasers but then they need to see, from us, that following God is profitable and exciting and not boring and uninteresting.

N.B. Over the next few days I would be focusing on strategies to effectively evangelizing today's youth. Stay tuned and check the facebook page (http://facebook.com/RAMPAGEOutreach) for updates on special events and trainings.

Are Chrisitans Relevant to Society?

Happy New Year everyone! I'm sure a lot of my readers would have been wondering what happened to this blog. I just came back from a month-long sabbatical in the country side of Ibadan (you should try it sometime-you could add some flesh to those bony cheeks of yours). Not only did the Christmas abd New Year holidays take me away from the blog, the visitation of "Subsideen" to every home (on the invitation of our president Goodluck Jona) also affected my blogging calender. It's great to be back though. Once again welcome to 2012! Let me get on to today's post.

The crisis Nigeria experienced in the second week of this year got me thinking about the role and relevance of the Church (the body of Christ and salt of the earth) in a nation. While leaders like Pastor Tunde Bakare took to the streets to protest the insensitivity of the FG to the plight of Nigerians and others like Pastor Sam Adeyemi  voiced their displeasure at the FG's attitude to corruption, some simply pretended as if nothing was happening or publicly condemned the actions and speech of those who spoke publicly for the people. It seemed to me that Christians in general were as confused as every other Nigerian in understanding what to do at such a time. I started wondering how truly relevant Christians are in society considering the fact that the scriptures say that when things are happening in a city (town, life, nation, etc), God ALWAYS informs His prophets-Amos 3:7 (you and I). Can a nation be plunged into a crisis of such proportions and God would keep His own in the dark about it?

I strongly believe that there is a shift taking place in Africa and Nigeria is experiencing its own bit of this transition. At such a time as this, Nigeria is in need of individuals who, like Daniel can enter the courts of our God and bring solutions to the issues the leadership cannot resolve. Nigeria needs musicians, artists, actors, writers and such like who can make Isaiah 61 a reality. The anointing is not just for personal comfort. It starts there but eventually translates to societal impact and influence.