Hello Gentle Readers,
Well, the never ending quest to share the wonderful events and people in the Orthodox Church marches on!
Here's the premise: There are so many good things happening and so many wonderful and dedicated people working in the Orthodox Church in this present day that it is a shame that more people don't know about this! The result is that while all these wonderful things are happening, many of our Orthodox faithful are under the false impression that our Church is doing very little and they fall into such self criticism that they despair for the future. They are misinformed!
I have never been more positive and more excited about the Church and Her future here in America than I am today!
That doesn't me an that I have my head in the sand about the real and difficult challenges our Church faces here. There is entirely too much wasted effort in duplicating ministries across different jurisdiction and not enough cooperation and collaboration. There are still far too many strong pockets of Orthodox people who confuse particular nationalistic practices for the heart of Orthodox faith. There is a need for strong servant leadership in our Church that is far more committed to the Lordship of Jesus than the protection of religious "turf."
In spite of all that, I am convinced the Holy Spirit is both active and moving in our Orthodox Church. In spite of scandals, leadership weakness, uninformed and (sometimes) uninspired laity, there are a lot of good things happening. Unfortunately the old saying holds true: Bad news travels around the world before good news can even get its coat on.
One such ray of light and hope is Icon New Media. Jacob Lee, a former Calvary Chapel pastor and now Orthodox Christian, has started what I believe is just one more example of what we can do as Orthodox Christians to make our faith available to more folks. Icon is a wonderful place to hear interesting podcasts and see the new media use of the Internet that reaches out to a generation of young people who are more Internet savvy than most of their parents. This is the wave of the future of communications.
Not only that, but Icon New Media has just partnered with the SCOBA agency OCN to cooperate in creating and sharing in this media outreach to both Orthodox and non-Orthodox.
By way of full disclosure, your intrepid seminarian was recently interviewed by Jacob for a future podcast. We talked primarily about my conversion story and the unique journey of Pentecostals to Orthodoxy. If you get the chance, listen in.
Regardless, go to Icon New Media and check out their blogs and podcasts. I am especially excited about the daily reports of an Orthodox ministry team and their work at the huge Christian Music festival called Cornerstone Music festival.
Brethren, good things are happening! Let's do our part to share this news far and wide. Get on your blogs, facebook and myspace pages, email your friends, but don't be silent! SPREAD THE WORD!
