Tuesday, July 19, 2005

New Blogger In The Big Apple

There's a new blogger in town and he's a City Pastor With Attitude. He's also my brother Daniel Jordan, an actor-turned-pastor and a pretty cool dude. Terrific family too...

We've been having "blog talks" for a while and I think I was an influence on him to start his own blog. Since he'd already been doing various series of teachings for his church, Living Hope NY (based in Manhattan), his blog launches with quite a backlog of material.

Daniel is a dynamic preacher whose excitement is infectious. During his preaching he's been known to jump up and down and even sweat, but his sermons don't appeal only to the emotions-- they're well-thought out, simply spoken and very applicational. His desire is to make an impact on NYC, and one of the means he uses to this end, in addtion to planting churches, is a "Prayer Table" ministry. That is, he sets up a table in some busy section of the city, puts up a sign saying "Free Prayer", and prays for people who stop by, sharing the gospel with them as well. Others often work with him in this venture (I've done it a few times myself); thus the prayer table ministry has become a training ground for Christians who want to get a taste of street ministry in an urban environment.

People are grateful to have someone who cares enough to pray with them about their concerns, so very often they are open to hearing about Jesus as well. Some folks that Daniel has prayed for have ended up at his church. Daniel knows the value of street ministry that opens the door for God to change people's lives-- he himself came to the Lord after a woman witnessed to him once day on the street...

Some of the best Christian blogs are being written by blogging pastors--so I urge you to visit his site as he develops his blog! Today for example he's posted an excellent article on secular music which stresses that liberty must co-exist with discernment in a believer's life, enabling us to make wise, God-honoring choices about music and other arts yet without imposing our judgments about these things upon others. It's a post I certainly relate to, being a songwriter who has been inspired more by secular artists than Christian.

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