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POST SEEKER AGE

In the book, Lost in America, Tom Clegg, tells the story of an encounter with a group of young people in a Barnes and Noble store. He had just settled into an armchair to read when he overheard the conversation at a nearby table.

Six university students were hotly debating a trivia question. "What was the name of the skipper on Gilligan's Island?" As the debated raged, Tom leaned over and said, "I know."

Everyone stared at him, waiting for the answer. Tom knew this was his moment to find value in all the time he wasted watching television in junior high school. He explained that the full name of the character played by Alan Hale Junior was Jonas Grumby. The Skipper's name had only appeared in the pilot and two other episodes. The students were amazed. "You must be old," they said.

Tom used the opportunity to pull up to the table and talk to the group. He chatted with them about his life, and asked them about theirs. Tom says, "By midnight I'd discovered that not one of these kids could identify the historical significance of Easter. Two could do Christmas, but the others didn't understand why anyone would celebrate the birth of a 'mythical' Jewish carpenter."

After the store closed at 2 AM, everyone exchanged e-mail addresses and said, good night. As he walked home Tom kept asking himself, "Who's going to reach these people? What voice would they listen to?"

We live in a post-seeker age. People may not be seeking for faith, but that doesn't mean we can't be that voice that they will listen to, to one who will reach them for Christ.

2 Peter 1:5-8. "Make every effort to add to your faith, goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus."

—Lost in America, How You and Your Church can Impact the World Next Door, Tom Clegg and Warren Bird, Group Publications, 2001. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

For more information on Lost in America, go to: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/076442257X/fm082-20

POST-SEEKER AGE

In an editorial for On Mission, Blackaby wrote, “However, this is our greatest hour as Christians. The world’s values have failed, and many know this well—with great brokenness and pain! People are searching for what is true, stable real and safe.” He continued, “People sense a spiritual vacuum in their lives, and they know the world does not have real and certain answers for them.”

—On Mission, Jan-Feb, 2002, p. 14-15 Illustration by Jim L. Wilson

This is not a time for the church to be fearful, but for us to be faithful and fill the vacuum for truth left in an age when people no longer believe in absolute truth.

Genesis 46:3 NIV "I am God, the God of your father," he said. "Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there.

POST-SEEKER

In the Seeker Age, churches responded to the perception of the unchurched that church was boring and irrelevant, so they designed worship experiences that were exciting and practical. Today, the unchurched aren’t negative about church per se, their beef isn’t with the church, it is with Christians.

The Barna Research Group wanted to know, what non-Christians thought about Christians, so they asked a sampling of non Christians to give their impressions of 11 different groups “the image of ‘evangelicals’ rated tenth out of eleven groups evaluated.” The only group they beat out was prostitutes.

—http://www.barna.org/cgi-bin/PagePressRelease.asp?PressReleaseID=127&Reference=F Illustration by Jim L. Wilson

Our response? Build holy lives in the pulpits and the pews of our churches. When our light penetrates the darkness, people will turn to God. Not for something interesting or exciting, but for a life changing encounter with their Creator.

Matthew 5:16 NASB "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

For more information on the Post-Seeker age, go to http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0805431349/fm082-20