2 Tim. 2:22
“Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”
You might think this challenge means not tweeting about your life anymore. You’re wrong. By all means, tweet about the random, mundane stuff that makes up your life. Tweet about the movies you watch, the music you listen to, and the people you see. Just do it a little differently.
You want to say that the movie you just saw was really good. But was it? Or was it littered with sexual innuendo and swearing in every scene?
You want to say that an album you just listened to was amazing, but is it really? When you really listen to the lyrics, what is the band singing about?
You want to say that a friend of yours is being a real jerk, but should you? How does that help anyone?
Speak life, instead of death. Your words, even if you only have 10 followers, make a difference.
I’ve made 2 Timothy 2:22 the theme verse for leadwithtweets.
(That is quite possibly the easiest verse reference to remember. Four 2’s? Perfect.)
Pursue righteousness. Try your best to be like Christ in every aspect of your life.
Pursue faith. Believe in God & His glory to see you through anything.
Pursue love. Make every effort to show true love to others, and to God.
Pursue peace. Don’t worry, and leave things that don’t need your attention alone.
And do it with other people who are pursuing all of the same things. Show all four of those aspects of your life on Twitter. Run hard after them, and don’t let go.
Listen, you don’t have to mention God or Jesus in every tweet. You don’t have to try to get people saved. Just set an example of a Godly teenager who wants to love & strengthen others. Show that you're someone wants to make a difference. Then, it WILL make a difference.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Sunday, September 19, 2010
leadwithtweets
This is something that God’s showing me, & maybe it’s nothing huge. But it’s a start. One of the things that God has told me I'm called to do is ignite a fire in leaders. Train them, equip them, and lead them the same way that they’ll lead others.
I haven’t always seen myself as much of a leader. I’ll take charge of a situation if no one else will, but I also like to be in the shadows, the background. I wasn’t really sure how to lead, much less where I’d find a place TO lead.
But I guess I’m starting with this idea. Everyone’s called to lead somehow. Most people just don’t know how, or where.
Think about this for a second. Do you have a Twitter account?
Okay, those people who see everything you tweet are called your…what? Followers. Exactly. So, if they’re following you, that means that you’re…leading them. Right. See? You’re already leading people. Whether or not you care, you are.
To state the obvious, the internet is a huge platform. Things that start on the internet-on a social network-can take off. To Write Love On her Arms started on MySpace. Alex and Brett Harris started the Rebelution on Blogspot. Much as I hate to use the example, Justin Bieber was discovered on Youtube. Crazy stuff can happen if someone has enough guts to do it.
So what if a group of youth used Twitter to lead each other? What if we used Twitter to surpass the low expectations that people have for us?
Some of the most common complaints about our generation are that we’re self-centered, lazy, fake, ignorant, semi-illiterate, technology-obsessed, unable to think for ourselves, and rebellious. And that’s just a few of them. But what if we could start undoing all that? What if we proved everyone wrong, starting with one of the things that they blame for our ‘downfall?’
We could form our own opinions about world events, because we do care about them.
We could defend our own opinions and beliefs, because we can form a coherent thought on our own.
We could be honest about what we’re really feeling, but without whining, because we can be grown up.
Instead of whining, we could ask for prayer, because we believe that God can make a difference.
We could actually pray for others who ask for prayer on a day-to-day basis, because we aren’t all youth services and religious hype.
We could use proper spelling and grammar instead of typing a dialect of English made up of abbreviated words to save a few seconds and some effort, because we do remember what we learn in school.
We could actually call people and ask how they’re really doing instead of texting or Facebooking or even using the ancient communication form known as e-mail, because we do have a life outside of our computers and cell phones.
We could say that we love our parents, because we aren't just rebellious teenagers who would rather fight with thier authority figures than talk with them.
We could back up what we say by actually doing it, because Christians aren’t hypocrites.
We could pour into each other’s lives, because we care about more than what we’re going to eat for dinner or wear tomorrow.
We could encourage each other to do all of this, because we don’t have to be back-stabbing gossipers who are more willing to see someone else look bad than build them up.
We could start on Twitter, because we can lead, 140 characters at a time.
Why not? People blame the internet and cellphones (The two mediums that you can use to update Twitter) for the depravity of our generation. So why not use those very things to turn that all around?
High expectations? Definitely. Too high? Definitely not.
Let’s raise up a new generation of leaders who are all following each other. They all listen to each other. They all strengthen each other. And they don’t care if they’re the only ones doing it for now.
This is my challenge, both to myself and to my generation. We can do this. We can lead. We can lead our friends, family, and those random people who you barely know but who follow you on Twitter anyway.
If you want to do this, by all means, share this post with people. Join in. Don’t settle just to follow anymore.
I made a Twitter account for this challenge. Every day starting tomorrow, I’ll post a small challenge to do on Twitter. Just little stuff, really. But it’ll all add up. More people will join in. It’ll change how we do things, not just on Twitter, but on other social networks and in real life. You’re called to lead. Step up. Even if you don’t know where, or how, start here. I am.
http://twitter.com/leadwithtweets
I haven’t always seen myself as much of a leader. I’ll take charge of a situation if no one else will, but I also like to be in the shadows, the background. I wasn’t really sure how to lead, much less where I’d find a place TO lead.
But I guess I’m starting with this idea. Everyone’s called to lead somehow. Most people just don’t know how, or where.
Think about this for a second. Do you have a Twitter account?
Okay, those people who see everything you tweet are called your…what? Followers. Exactly. So, if they’re following you, that means that you’re…leading them. Right. See? You’re already leading people. Whether or not you care, you are.
To state the obvious, the internet is a huge platform. Things that start on the internet-on a social network-can take off. To Write Love On her Arms started on MySpace. Alex and Brett Harris started the Rebelution on Blogspot. Much as I hate to use the example, Justin Bieber was discovered on Youtube. Crazy stuff can happen if someone has enough guts to do it.
So what if a group of youth used Twitter to lead each other? What if we used Twitter to surpass the low expectations that people have for us?
Some of the most common complaints about our generation are that we’re self-centered, lazy, fake, ignorant, semi-illiterate, technology-obsessed, unable to think for ourselves, and rebellious. And that’s just a few of them. But what if we could start undoing all that? What if we proved everyone wrong, starting with one of the things that they blame for our ‘downfall?’
We could form our own opinions about world events, because we do care about them.
We could defend our own opinions and beliefs, because we can form a coherent thought on our own.
We could be honest about what we’re really feeling, but without whining, because we can be grown up.
Instead of whining, we could ask for prayer, because we believe that God can make a difference.
We could actually pray for others who ask for prayer on a day-to-day basis, because we aren’t all youth services and religious hype.
We could use proper spelling and grammar instead of typing a dialect of English made up of abbreviated words to save a few seconds and some effort, because we do remember what we learn in school.
We could actually call people and ask how they’re really doing instead of texting or Facebooking or even using the ancient communication form known as e-mail, because we do have a life outside of our computers and cell phones.
We could say that we love our parents, because we aren't just rebellious teenagers who would rather fight with thier authority figures than talk with them.
We could back up what we say by actually doing it, because Christians aren’t hypocrites.
We could pour into each other’s lives, because we care about more than what we’re going to eat for dinner or wear tomorrow.
We could encourage each other to do all of this, because we don’t have to be back-stabbing gossipers who are more willing to see someone else look bad than build them up.
We could start on Twitter, because we can lead, 140 characters at a time.
Why not? People blame the internet and cellphones (The two mediums that you can use to update Twitter) for the depravity of our generation. So why not use those very things to turn that all around?
High expectations? Definitely. Too high? Definitely not.
Let’s raise up a new generation of leaders who are all following each other. They all listen to each other. They all strengthen each other. And they don’t care if they’re the only ones doing it for now.
This is my challenge, both to myself and to my generation. We can do this. We can lead. We can lead our friends, family, and those random people who you barely know but who follow you on Twitter anyway.
If you want to do this, by all means, share this post with people. Join in. Don’t settle just to follow anymore.
I made a Twitter account for this challenge. Every day starting tomorrow, I’ll post a small challenge to do on Twitter. Just little stuff, really. But it’ll all add up. More people will join in. It’ll change how we do things, not just on Twitter, but on other social networks and in real life. You’re called to lead. Step up. Even if you don’t know where, or how, start here. I am.
http://twitter.com/leadwithtweets
Friday, September 17, 2010
I fail at blogging.
So I’m going to take another try at this whole blogging thing.
Ha.
I’m really good at starting things. I’m good with ideas. Not so good with following them through, as evidenced by my previous blogging attempt, my 3…no, 4 journals that have 2 pages written in, the notebooks and computer files that contain countless half-finished songs, and 20 or so unfinished novels and short stories that are collecting dust on my hard drive.
Pathetic. I know. (The fact that I’m so bad at finishing things probably says something very interesting about me psychologically. Moving on.)
So I’m going to try to start at least keeping this thing up. I still have no idea what I’ll write, but I’ll find something.
Onto the nerdy blog stuff that no one really cares about: I changed the web address from morethanmanysparrowsmm.blogspot.com to sparrowsarentafraid.blogspot.com, and changed the layout (the one I’m using is actually one of the Blogger defaults.)
That’s about it. To anyone who was expecting a deep post, I’m sorry, but there’ll probably be one up soon. And hopefully a few after that. Maybe.
Ha.
I’m really good at starting things. I’m good with ideas. Not so good with following them through, as evidenced by my previous blogging attempt, my 3…no, 4 journals that have 2 pages written in, the notebooks and computer files that contain countless half-finished songs, and 20 or so unfinished novels and short stories that are collecting dust on my hard drive.
Pathetic. I know. (The fact that I’m so bad at finishing things probably says something very interesting about me psychologically. Moving on.)
So I’m going to try to start at least keeping this thing up. I still have no idea what I’ll write, but I’ll find something.
Onto the nerdy blog stuff that no one really cares about: I changed the web address from morethanmanysparrowsmm.blogspot.com to sparrowsarentafraid.blogspot.com, and changed the layout (the one I’m using is actually one of the Blogger defaults.)
That’s about it. To anyone who was expecting a deep post, I’m sorry, but there’ll probably be one up soon. And hopefully a few after that. Maybe.
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