Get Souled Out
The God Rush

Far from the future being religion-free, the future is more filled with religion than ever before.

The United States is one of the most religious nations in the developed world. It is also one of the most secular.

In her recent book, Faith Popcorn argues that "We’re at the start of a Great Awakening. A time of spiritual upheaval and religious revival.... What’s different about this awakening is that there’s very little agreement on who or what God is, what constitutes worship, and what this ritualistic outpouring means for the future direction of our civilization."

We are in the midst of a spiritual awakening and the Christian church is not leading it.

God is hot with Hollywood.
God is hot with the rich and famous
God is hot with musicians
God is hot with publishers
God is hot with pollsters
God is hot with atheists
God is hot with politicians
God is hot on the Internet
God is hot o the lecture circuit
God is hot on Madison Avenue
God is hot with corporate America and management consultants
God is hot with broadcasters
God is hot with scientists

A spiritual tsunami has hit postmodern culture. People want to know God. They less want to know about God, or know about religion than know God. People want to experience "The Beyond in the Within."

This huge spiritual hunger does not automatically translate into an interest in the church. In fact, quite the opposite. There is often a rebellion against the church’s past handling of spiritual experiences. In the words of Jeff Woods: "Society is not disinterested in God; society is disinterested in the institutional church." Name me a newspaper that doesn’t have a daily astrology column. Name me a newspaper that has a daily religion column.

We may know how to live well materially, but we do not know how to live well.

This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine.
Let it shine!
Let it shine!
Let it shine!

Now What? Net Notes

1. Experience the romp through the subconscious and archetypal art in the CD-ROM Scrutiny in the Great Round.

2. More and more employers are hiring chaplains for workplace counseling. Visit Marketplace Ministries at http://www.marketplaceministries.com. What companies do you know that have corporate chaplains?

3. Paul G. Donelson umc@gatecom.com is the WebMinister for both Bill Easum and me. These are his personal picks for the "Top Ten Church Web Sites." Some of these he selected because they demonstrate that you don’t need a huge budget to put up a dynamic Web site. Others he picked because they went all the way, spent some significant change, and are pioneering new forms of ministry online, His first pick is also my favorite church Web site, one that I visit each week because Mike Slaughter is my cyberpastor. I sit at his feet each week as he opens the Word. I also love this site because everything on it is done by unpaid workers.

(1) Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church, Tipp City OH http://www.ginghamsburg.org/
(2) First Christian Church of Canton, OH http://www.fcccanton.org/website/index.htm
(3) New Hope Christian Fellowship, Oahu, HA http://www.newhope-hawaii.org/
(4) Free Methodist Community Church, New Middletown, OH http://www.cboss.com/fmcc/
(5) McLean Bible Church, McLean, VA http://www.mbcva.org/
(6) Saddleback Valley Community Church, Mission Viejo, CA http://www.saddleback.com/
(7) Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Burnsville, MN http://www.changingchurch.org/
(8) The American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts http://www.tabcom.org
(9) Calvary United Methodist Church, Flint, MI http://www.flintcalvary.org
(10) First and St. James United Methodist Churches, Pontiac, MI http://www.umcs.org

4. Consult the George Barna Website at http://www.barna.org.

Barna argues that the much-vaunted "spiritual awakening" is imperceptible using traditional measures of spirituality.

5. Check out these Web sites for their spiritual content:

New Media Communications:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepage/dlature

Fish!Your Slipway:
http://users.aol.com/YLHQ/fish/fish-pci.htm

Other Christian Sites:

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/Members/s.livingston/otherchristiansites.html

Christians on the Internet:
http://www.coin.org.uk/

ChurchNet UK:
http://www.ucsm.ac.uk/church.net.uk

Gospel Communication Network:
http://www.gospelcom.net/

Guidance:
http://www.gospelcom.net/guidance/

Lighthouse Magazine:
http://tlem.netcentral.net/

eXtreme Christianity:
http://php.iupi.edu/~blgroce/eXtreme/eXtreme.htm

Christianity Net:
http://www.Christianity.net

Rhythms of Redemption:
http://members.aol.com/RhythmRed/index.htm

Greenbelt Festivals:
http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/

Phantom Tollbooth:
http://www.tollbooth.org/main.html

Christian Resource Index:
http://www.nlnet.com/nlnet/xianres.html

Village Chapel:
http://www.worldvillage.com/wv/square/chapel/chapel.htm

Web Chapel:
http://web2.airmail.net/webchap/

Christian Interactive Network:
http://www.gocin.com/

Cforc:
http://www.cforc.com/index.cgi?middle

Christian Surf Shop:
http://members.aol.com/stantlinge/test.htm

6. The Israeli company Virtual Jerusalem lets you e-mail a prayer to their Web site. Without charge they will then print it out and stuff it in one of the cracks in Jerusalem’s Western Wall.

7. For how many years, months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds left until 1 January 2000, go to http://www.wfs.org/futurist.htm.

8. Have someone download the short essay by Fil Yeskel, "Invisible Worlds" in Idées Fortes," Wired (Jan. 1996): 117, and encourage others to download it: http://www.wired.com/wired/4.01/departments/yeskel.if.html.

9. Do some Christian Net surfing on the Institute for Christian Leadership Web site at http://www.iclnet.org.

Then try one of their 50 Internet discussion groups.

10. The Lighthouse Electronic Magazine is one of my favorite online shots of spiritual spizzerinctum (that’s Appalachian for adrenalin). Visit them at http://tlem.netcentral.net/toc.html.

Go to "Reviews" and listen to some sound clips of some new gospel recordings.

11. Design a spirituality card for someone using AOL’s "design a card" spirituality and religion theme card.