What I’d Like to Tell The Pastor About Living with Illness

tell-pastor-about-illness

If you had the opportunity to sit down and really share about your pain, what would you tell the pastor of your church about your chronic illness and daily pain? Lisa Copen Living with chronic illness is lonely. Everyone around us seems to be enjoying health, happiness, and the ability to at least pursue their dreams. But many of us feel lonely, scared, and disappointed. We are faced with so many insecurities and we are living with an illness that we have not been able to pray away, cry away, or confess away. So we turn to our church for guidance, for acceptance, for unconditional support during the most difficult time in our life. But churches are made up of people—all of us imperfect. And our church does not always give us … [Read more...]

If You Are On Facebook & Grandma is Not

If you and many family members have started to share information about your daily happenings as well as photos, you may see how fun it is to connect with loved ones and hear from them more than just one time a year at Christmas. One of the reasons I personally like Facebook is that I receive "real life" updates - about the dog that had to go to the vet after eating a rubber ball, the kid's school play, and even the whole family being sick. I know what to pray for for people today! And the information they share is not all sugar-coated like in the annual Christmas newsletter. But what about Grandma? Or is there someone in your family who refuses to jump on the FB bandwagon even though you have told them all about the fun photos and … [Read more...]

Can You Use Twitter to Comfort People?

There are millions of people using Twitter & it's hype has not slowed down yet. In fact, there was recent news about the President of the United States "tweeting" to inform people about something. But can you really offer encouragement & comfort with Twitter? The Internet Evangelism Day web site has an article called Using Twitter for Evangelism. The attraction of Twitter (to those who have space in their lives for yet more electronic messages) is its brief immediacy & apparent intimacy. People share their moment by moment emotions in a raw way that they would probably not do in the more thoughtful environment of a normal blog. ‘Tweets’ are more like talking than writing. And of course, every tweet is available online for the … [Read more...]

How to Update Your Sunroom Profile Photo

We are spiffy-ing up our Sunroom & have noticed that many members still are using the default sunflower image you see on the right on your profile page. This is just a reminder about how to change it to your own photo selection. Remember, it doesn't have to be a photo of you or your face, but any photo of a flower, sunset, household item, whatever, that helps members better able to recognize you! Plus, we have some members that create accounts & never come back. We will be "cleaning" accounts up & a personal photo you choose will save me some time in being able to identify that your account is current. So here are some simple instructions: Sign in to the community at restministriessunroom.com Go to your "My Page". Click … [Read more...]

View The Whole Shebang! 64-Page HopeKeepers Magazine

Merry Christmas! If you haven't yet had a chance to check out our current issue of HopeKeepers magazine, now is the time.  Our December issue is completely free & available to read online in its digital format, or you can out up to 15 pages at one sitting. Please help us spread the word by posting this to your Twitter, Facebook, etc. We would love for others to know about HopeKeepers magazine! … [Read more...]

Christians Posting About Bible This Week

Christians are promoting the Bible this week on major internet websites including Twitter, FaceBook, & MySpace. They are deliberately posting messages about the Bible & repeating other people's messages about the Bible. The Bible As Poetry website has even prepared 200 Twitter- length messages about the Bible for people to use. Each of the Bible messages is less than 140 characters long because that is the maximum length allowed for messages on Twitter.com. Christians can copy these short messages & make them their own messages on social networking websites. The plan to increase the number of times the Bible is mentioned is called 'Make the Bible go Viral.' It runs until next Sunday night (November 29). Reprinted … [Read more...]

Does the Internet Help or Hinder a Church?

A report done in 2000, Congregations Say the Internet Helps their Spiritual & Community Life by Pew Internet & American Life Project says: At a time when some worry that the Internet is isolating users & replacing traditional communities with virtual ones, a new survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project suggests that many churches & synagogues have found new energy & purpose through use of the Internet. Most of the 1,309 responding congregations say their Web sites & email use have helped the spiritual life of their faith communities & bound members closer together. 83% of those respondents say that their church's use of the Internet has helped congregational life 25% say it has helped a great deal 81% say the use … [Read more...]

Facebook for Pastors – Free Ebook

Is your pastor on Facebook? Or are you not yet on Facebook & wondering what it could offer you? Here is a great way to be introduced to Facebook from a ministry outreach perspective. Chris Forbes, founder of Ministry Marketing Coach, speaks & writes on the subjects of ministry marketing, faith-based nonprofit marketing, social marketing, & Guerrilla Marketing for nonprofits. He has written a 31 page e-book called Facebook for Pastors to help pastors & other ministry leaders make the most of Facebook as a great networking tool. And shows how to build relationships & connect with people. Tips included in this book are: How to make the most of your profile information Tips for Networking with People in Facebook All about … [Read more...]

30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know

We've all seen the list "20 things about me" "50 thing about me you didn't know..." They can actually be interesting if you want to get to know the person better! We'll we've got one I haven't seen anywhere yet, "30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know." Just copy & paste it below & put it up on your blog, send it to your friends, paste in on Facebook (if it's too long put it in your "notes" section.) THEN... post a COMMENT BELOW with the link to where you posted it & we are going to choose 2 people to receive a prize Sept 5th, 2009. Let's spread the word about II Week this way & it's a wonderful way to share a little bit about your life. And don't forget to add the last paragraph for people know where to find … [Read more...]

Make a Birthday Wish for Rest Ministries

Do you have a birthday coming up? You can make a “birthday wish” by asking people to donate to our cause on your behalf. If you are not yet a member of the Invisible Illness Week Cause, go to InvisibleIllnessOnFacebook.com & join & add it to your Facebook page. Visit the “birthday cause” page & follow the 3 simple steps. Visit the birthday cause page & follow the three simple steps. http://apps.facebook.com/causes/birthdays/new By asking friends to donate to your "birthday age" (i.e. $30 if you are turning 30) in lieu of gifts, you can easily raise money for Rest Ministries! Rest Ministries is the sponsor of Invisible Illness Week so all the donations go into the same "pot." … [Read more...]