Follow Up FACTS
WOW! Some really great news.
The full story about what is really happening in the community is a bit long. So, I’ve posted a link here so that if you want all the details – which are extremely interesting – you may go to the longer post and read all of it.
Here’s the short version.
1. Many, many readers responded with positive comments and encouragement. In general, they like Today’s Word. Many now read it directly from the web so they don’t open the emails. Most people agreed that the subject matter is illumining, sometimes confrontational, challenging and NECESSARY. Most people see it as educational and devotional and find this combination no where else. Bottom line – keep going. In particular, some readers reminded me that I write for the audience on One and whoever decides to join isn’t up to me. That was a good bit of advice.
2. A good number of responders were not donors. There are a variety of reasons. But all agreed they SHOULD be donors. That’s good news if it turns into action. If it doesn’t, it is just convicting. I was reminded that this effort is driven forward by Him, not me. He has been good to me. I am doing what I was born to do. Raba emunatecha
3. The really BIG news actually isn’t about the email donor list at all. It is about the web site. This year to date the web site has had 222,000 visitors, up 50% from last year. 492,000 page visits have happened this year. 122,000 unique visitors have viewed the web site. There were visitors from 183 countries. THIS IS REALLY BIG NEWS. Because of faithful supporters, more than 122,000 people have looked at material on skipmoen.com and almost half a million pages have been viewed. YOU MADE THIS HAPPEN!! Thank you.
4. All of this demonstrates that much more needs to be done to help those 122,000 visitors become involved in the community. John Thorman has offered some strategic suggestions (see the link).
But here’s what each of us can do.
1. Forward Today’s Word or the web site link to EVERYONE YOU KNOW OVERSEAS (outside the USA). The web site numbers show that we are affecting change around the globe so get them involved.
2. The absolute impetus of real supporter growth is FACE-TO-FACE encounter. Everywhere I speak, people become supporters. So GET ME BOOKED WHERE YOU LIVE. If one guy in Phoenix and 2 people in Virginia Beach and 5 people in Dayton and 2 people in New Orleans can make this happen, so can you. I will go wherever people ask, plan and provide and it will make a huge difference to all who come and listen.
Want to know all the rest? All the good stuff? Go to the link. But first decide to get involved. And let’s reach 150,000 people with the truth of YHWH’s word.
“It is clear to me that the website needs to be redesigned and repurposed to do a better job of converting all these visitors into more product purchases, subscribers and regular financial supporters, and more active community members so that everyone can benefit more.” JT
Hi Skip,
With all due respect, I’m not particularly interested in “being converted” into anything
But I am especially not interested in being converted into “more product purchases”
That is what the consumer society, this world, does to all of us every day
The service you provide me that I find invaluable is teaching me the Hebrew worldview
Lessons regarding the academic and spiritual world
If I need to pay for the less fortunate around the world to enjoy this service
I would prefer a fixed cost up front
Thanks,
Mike
I appreciate your honest reply. Nothing will happen until I think about all the impact. But you have to admit that if 76,000 people have viewed the website, there is interest and we are missing something since less than 300 people actually a regular contributors. Of course, it’s not about getting more money. It’s about spreading the impact. How can we get those 76,000 to pick up the HEbraic worldview and begin to live it?
Skip, just a point of clarification. There were 76,000 visitors in 2011 between Jan. 1 and Oct. 23. But in 2012, during the same time period there have already been over 120,000 visitors!
WOW, sorry I missed that! I will correct it.
“How can we get those 76,000 to pick up the HEbraic worldview and begin to live it?”
Hi Skip,
Well if they each contributed a dollar a month
$76,000 a month is not exactly chump change 🙂
Yup. Absolutely true. And no one would miss $1.00, would they? But 75,630 people did not contribute even $1.00. Sort of sad, isn’t it? I’m afraid that most people have been “religious-ed” to death and are now pretty much immune to compassion. I wrote about this once. A statute of limitations on compassion, I think.
I appreciate your stats. And you are so right, biblical faith is doing – not talking.
So more important than your 150,000 target might be this one: How many of your current subscribers are taking your exhortations seriously and reaching out into their local communities in some form? Or are they all doing it by proxy? And whatever the number is, how can it be raised.
Something to think about.
–How can we get those 76,000 to pick up the Hebraic worldview and begin to live it?–
Maybe a better question might be.. How can we get those 76,000 people to pick up a “Biblical worldview” and begin to live it? Our roots are (most assuredly) Hebrew, but the invitation of YHWH is to “whosoever will,” and this includes the Gentiles (Greeks). God SO LOVED the world. “Whosoever will” may come and drink of the water of life freely.
(At the end- and today!)- there are two “types” of people who live on this green planet- “saved” and “lost.” Not Jew or Greek, not male or female- either “in Christ”- or not. Those who have said “yes” to Yeshua, and those who (willingly, knowingly, amazingly) say “no.” Does ADONAI have our “Yes?”- our “Amein?” Will we have this Man, the Second Adam, the resurrected, Living Word of God, The Chosen ONE, The Messiah, The Savior of the Nations, The Redeemer, The Sovereign King, The LORD of lords-to reign and to rule over us? Do we recognize and realize (today), He is our Master and Commander, and are we (today) His servants? Do we “delight” to do His will- (what pleases Him) ?
~For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical ~ The days are coming,” declares the LORD, when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh ~ (Jeremiah 9:25). Israel has the Torah, this much is true, but what they need is the tslav, the cross of the Chosen ONE, the cross of the Christ- the Redeemer of all men.
No one, (not one) comes to God the Father, but by Yeshua (Jesus) the Son. He (according to His own words) comes to the Father, but by Me. It is the blood of the perfect Passover Lamb (and the blood only) that cleanses from all sin. Jewish sin, Gentile sin,- all sin. The Light of the world is Jesus and Jesus paid it all. God said He would provide (that is His Name) and He did. He gave us the Son, the LORD Jesus (who is the) Christ.
No man ever spoke like this Man. Why? Because this Man, this “Second Adam”- was virgin born. This Man, was unlike any other- ever, for this Man is (not was) God in flesh, God incarnate, God became a man and lived for thirty-three years among us and for thirty of those years worked in a Jewish carpenter’ shop and lived among us, sleeping, eating, drinking, listening, speaking- living. A man, just as we are with one exception, – this Man was (and is!)- the (only) Perfect Man, but more than a man- this is the Christ, the Anointed ONE- the (now) resurrected Savior, Sovereign King, Mediator, Intercessor and LORD of all. Need I say more? – Oh yes..- there is more…- always more.
More about Jesus would I know,
More of His grace to others show;
More of His saving fullness see,
More of His love Who died for me.
More, more about Jesus,
More, more about Jesus;
More of His saving fullness see,
More of His love Who died for me.
More about Jesus let me learn,
More of His holy will discern;
Spirit of God, my Teacher be,
Showing the things of Christ to me.
More, more about Jesus,
More, more about Jesus;
More of His saving fullness see,
More of His love Who died for me.
More about Jesus; in His Word,
Holding communion with my LORD;
Hearing His voice in every line,
Making each faithful saying mine.
More, more about Jesus,
More, more about Jesus;
More of His saving fullness see,
More of His love Who died for me.
More about Jesus; on His throne,
Riches in glory all His own;
More of His kingdom’s sure increase;
More of His coming, Prince of Peace.
More, more about Jesus,
More, more about Jesus;
More of His saving fullness see,
More of His love Who died for me.
Eliza E. Hewitt, in Glad Hallelujahs, 1887.
Was she a “saved” Jew or a “saved” Gentile? Mr./M’am, she (Hallelujah!) was saved.
Wow!! I am so excited:) It sounds so good what is being proposed and discussed. From Glory to Glory, skip moen is being transformed into a new place with new friends and family. It will explode now, like a fresh new wineskin.
Please remember, the impact of this ministry has been increasing with THIS website, and with THIS current approach. We all want to be better stewards of our opportunities, but don’t forget what God has already done here without these changes in place. Too many spiritual problems are addressed programatically in today’s world. If you are a faithful steward of the message, God will direct seekers to a plain black-n-white-no-frills website (personally, I like the green).
Yeshua didn’t have to send out fliers for his events, he had to seek rest from the crowds who thronged after him. Why? Because the heart ‘burns within’ when the truth is presented, and it is addicting. I’m not arguing against changes, however, it is the content that will bring and keep true seekers. The more quirks a product has, the more you have to ‘dress it up’.
P.S. I do like several of the ideas for increasing opportunities to communicate online and in person. I just have some baggage because EVERY church I know right now – is trying to restructure, rebrand, and reach out. Along those lines, … please hold off on any new strategies to “reach more young people”. I suppose there is a right and wrong way to go about these things, but something just seems a little … I don’t know.
but something just seems a little … I don’t know.
Hi Gabe,
I would tend to agree; like the GodFather, Michael Corleone, once said: “it is strictly business”
What is our mission statement, our goals and objectives?
Once we define our mission statement, goals, and objectives, we can develop an “action plan”
And then we execute
There’s a good quote that I’m about to butcher – It goes something like:
“The Greeks took the gospel and made it a philosophy, the Romans took the gospel and made it a political movement, and the Americans took the gospel and made it a business.”
When lives are legitimately changed, the gospel can’t be kept secret. Our church has just gone through a leadership summit, vision review, and has started modeling it’s finances around the organization’s priorities. I’m just not convinced that this was what our church was missing. I hope God blesses and works through our church in a powerful way — I was just thinking it might come after some corporate repentence, fasting, serious prayer, and rededication…. not after a leadership summit where we look at how efficiently we are serving our customers.
Boy, do I concur. I remember going to a church deacons meeting once. The topic was the need for a life center facility. The Baptists had one down the street and this church felt it needed one to be competitive. So after much discussion, the head deacon rose to speak. “There’s only one critical thing we have forgotten,” he said. I was expecting him to say something like “Prayer” or “God’s will.” But he continued, “Debt service.” Right then I knew this was about being a business, not a community serving the Lord of hosts.
Happy to be understood. I’m not anti-organization, nor am I anti-business – in fact, I think you make a compelling case that part of ‘restoring the image’ – occurs when we work to bring order to this world of chaos. But there is something… ‘trendy’ going on in today’s churches, and while I know it is well-intentioned – it still feels like a mechanical revival, like putting a band-aid on a chainsaw wound, like re-branding a prescription medicine that doesn’t work, like putting sugar on a pile of vomit to make it tastier. This probably isn’t the right place to vent, but,… oh well…
My local church is currently in a transition to a more contemporary worship/sermon style. The older generation is told, “The music style has always changed over the centuries, and as selfless Christians we should employ a style that makes the seeker/stranger more comfortable.”, or something like that. But it breaks my heart because foundational (older) members are really being told, “Worship style doesn’t matter, it’s shallow to have a strong opinion about worship preferences,…. so, we’re going to do it THIS way whether you like it or not.” I wonder if that argument technique would fly with my wife, “Honey, it’s so petty and stupid to disagree or argue over this,…. so, we’re doing it my way.” I’m turning 35 in December, so why do I feel like a 90 year old curmudgeon trapped in a younger man’s body?
If the church is biblically represented by a woman, then how do we make that woman more attractive? Shiny earrings, attractive make-up (prettier building)? Contemporary clothing and perfume (trendy forms of community service and worship music)? The promise of intimacy without commitment? Hmmmm. If a promiscuous woman simply wants to fulfill physical needs, and hence her own – then what is the church parallel?
Sorry, I’m rambling.
TRADITION! Tradition is part of the way God communicates who He is to the culture. Once you abandon tradition, you rewrite the message in your contemporary culture. Just think of the current version of Christian music. Other than the lyrics, is it any different than what you hear everywhere else? But what if you were part of a tradition that has been signing to the Lord for 5000 years. What do you lose when you no longer embrace that tradition?
In a few day or so, I will write about the Hebrew idea of sin, an idea that is very different than our concept. Look for it.
Or America
Ah, then helping Irene is the perfect solution, isn’t it? You do know her name and something about her life. But if you would prefer to help someone in America, I can arrange that as well. A real person with real problems right in our country.
Anyway, Michael, I so much appreciate your willingness to stay connected, to blog consistently and to remain faithful to the community. I just had to push you a bit on this issue about compassion. But I know that every person’s circumstances are different and that God calls us each to different roles. So, no more push from me. I love you, my friend, and look forward to reading your insights every day.
Verbal: Are you trying to get a rise out of me, Agent Kujan?
Quotes for
Roger ‘Verbal’ Kint (Character)
from The Usual Suspects (1995)
Verbal: What the cops never figured out, and what I know now, was that these men would never break, never lie down, never bend over for anybody. Anybody.
Dave Kujan: You know a dealer named Ruby Deamer, Verbal?
Verbal: You know a religious guy named John Paul?
Dave Kujan: You know Ruby’s in Attica?
Verbal: He didn’t have my lawyer.
Verbal: Back when I was picking beans in Guatemala, we used to make fresh coffee, right off the trees I mean. That was good. This is crap but, hey, I’m in a police station.
Verbal: Where’s your head, Agent Kujan? Where do you think the pressure’s coming from? Keyser Soze – or whatever you want to call him – he knows where I am right now. He’s got the front burner under your ass to let me go so he can scoop me up ten minutes later. Immunity was just a deal with you assholes. I got a whole new problem when I post bail.
Dave Kujan: So why play into his hands? We can protect you.
Verbal: Oh, gee, thanks, Dave. Bang-up job so far. Extortion, coercion. You’ll pardon me if I ask you to kiss my pucker. You think you can catch Keyser Soze? You think a guy like that comes this close to getting caught and sticks his head out? If he comes up for anything, it will be to get rid of me. After that… my guess is you’ll never hear from him again.
Verbal: Who is Keyser Soze?
Verbal: Who is Keyser Soze? He is supposed to be Turkish. Some say his father was German. Nobody believed he was real. Nobody ever saw him or knew anybody that ever worked directly for him, but to hear Kobayashi tell it, anybody could have worked for Soze. You never knew. That was his power.
The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist. And like that, poof. He’s gone.
[about Keyser Soze]
Verbal: Then he showed those men of will what will really was.
Dave Kujan: Do you believe in him, Verbal?
Verbal: Keaton always said, “I don’t believe in God, but I’m afraid of him.” Well I believe in God, and the only thing that scares me is Keyser Soze.
Verbal: [to Kujan] If I told you the Loch Ness monster hired me to hit the harbor, what would you say?
Verbal: McManus came to us with the job, Fenster got the vans, Hockney supplied the hardware, I came through with how to do it so no one got killed, but Keaton… Keaton put on the finishing touch. A little ‘f you’ from the five of us to the NYPD.
Verbal: How do you shoot the devil in the back? What if you miss?
Verbal: [referring to Rabin] That guy is tense. Tension is a killer. I used to be in a barbershop quartet in Skokie, Illinois. The baritone was this guy named Kip Diskin, big fat guy, I mean, like, orca fat. He was so stressed in the morning…
Dave Kujan: Verbal, you know we’re trying to help you.
Verbal: Sure, and I appreciate that. And I wanna help you, Agent Kujan. I like cops. I would’ve liked to have been a fed myself, but my CP…
Dave Kujan: Verbal, you’re not telling us everything. I know you know something.
Verbal: I told the DA everything I know.
Dave Kujan: Verbal, I know you like Keaton. I know you think he’s a good man.
Verbal: I know he was good.
Dave Kujan: He was a corrupt cop.
Verbal: Sure, 15 years ago, but he was a good thief. Anyway, the cops wouldn’t let him go legit.
Dave Kujan: Dean Keaton was a piece of shit.
Verbal: Are you trying to get a rise out of me, Agent Kujan?
Dave Kujan: I just wanna hear your story.
Verbal: It’s all there. May I have a cigarette?
Verbal: You think you can catch Keyser Soze? You think a guy like that comes this close to getting caught, and sticks his head out? If he comes up for anything it’ll be to get rid of me. After that… my guess is you’ll never hear from him again.
Hockney: What about it, pretzel man? What’s your story?
Keaton: His name’s Verbal. Verbal Kint.
McManus: Verbal?
Keaton: Yeah.
Verbal: ‘Roger’, really. People say I talk too much.
Hockney: Yeah, I was just gonna tell you to shut up.
[last lines]
Verbal: After that my guess is that you will never hear from him again. The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist. And like that… he is gone.
Verbal: I just can’t believe we’re going to walk into certain death.
Verbal: To a cop the explanation is never that complicated. It’s always simple. There’s no mystery to the street, no arch criminal behind it all. If you got a dead body and you think his brother did it, you’re gonna find out you’re right.
Verbal: Keaton always said, “I don’t believe in God, but I’m afraid of him.” Well I believe in God, and the only thing that scares me is Keyser Soze.
Verbal: Big fat guy, I mean like orca fat.
Verbal: It didn’t make sense that I’d be there. I mean, these guys were hard-core hijackers, but there I was. At that point I wasn’t scared, I knew I hadn’t done anything they could do me for. Besides, it was fun. I got to make like I was notorious.
Verbal: He lets the last Hungarian go. He waits until his wife and kids are in the ground and then he goes after the rest of the mob.
He kills their kids, he kills their wives, he kills their parents and their parents’ friends. He burns down the houses they live in and the stores they work in, he kills people that owe them money.
And like that he was gone. Underground. Nobody has ever seen him since. He becomes a myth, a spook story that criminals tell their kids at night. “Rat on your pop, and Keyser Soze will get you.” And no-one ever really believes.
Verbal: A man can convince anyone he’s somebody else, but never himself.
[after being punched in the stomach by Keaton]
Verbal: I’ll probably shit blood tonight.
Verbal: Can I get some coffee?
Dave Kujan: In a while. Let’s talk about the lineup.
Verbal: I’m really thirsty. I used to dehydrate as a kid. One time it got so bad my piss came out like snot. I’m not kidding, it was all thick and gooey.
Verbal: The DA gave me immunity.
Dave Kujan: Not from me. You get no immunity from me, you piece of shit. Every criminal I have put in prison, every cop that owes me a favor, every creep and scumbag that walks the streets for a living will know the name of Verbal Kint. Now you talk to me, or that precious immunity they seem so fit to grant you won’t be worth the paper the contract put out on your life is printed on.
Verbal: I came clean; I told it like it happened on the boat. So what if I left out how I got there. It was so full of holes the DA would have told me to blow amnesty up my ass. So you got what you wanted out of me, so big deal.
Dave Kujan: So that’s why you never told the DA.
Verbal: You tell me, Agent Kujan, if I told you the Loch Ness Monster hired me to hit the harbor, what would you say?
Dave Kujan: Turn state’s evidence; we’ll put you on the stand. We’ll hear it out.
Verbal: I’ve got immunity now, what could you possibly offer me?
Jack Baer, FBI: They tell me you got the cripple from New York in there. He mention Keyser Soze?
Dave Kujan: Who?
Jack Baer, FBI: Bear with me here…
Dave Kujan: [Kujan bursts into Rabin’s office] Who’s Keyser Soze?
Verbal: Ohhh,
Verbal: I did see Keaton get shot, I swear to you.
Verbal: It was Keyser Soze, Agent Kujan. I mean the Devil himself. How do you shoot the Devil in the back? What if you miss?
Verbal: [last line of the film] And like that… he’s gone.
Dave Kujan: Keaton was Keyser Söze!
Verbal: Noo!
Dave Kujan: The kind of man who can wrangle the wills of men like Hawkney and McManus. The kind of man who could engineer a police line-up, for all these years of contacts in NYPD. The kind of man who could kill Edie Finneran.
*3 Seconds of silence*
She was found yesterday in a hotel in Pennsylvania, shot twice in the head.
the Americans took the gospel and made it a business.”
Hi Gabe,
I couldn’t agree more
That is why I’m very uncomfortable sending money to Africa for one blond haired girl
When there are millions of black haired girls in Africa in the same boat
You’re right. There are lots of black haired girls in the USA who need your help. Name one and do something about it.
As you are well aware, I don’t know the names of the millions of black girls in Africa
Thanks. Good input!
Skip,
I am a little behindhand on my reply, which answers at least one of your questions, that I don’t necessarioy view the email on the day it comes, because I don’t always have time to get online…I try to view it daily on my phone, but it is harder to respond from my phone: typing with two hands is easier for me than with one finger….However, I do read them all, and I value them greatly; I have created Skip Moen folder on my computer where I store them all for easy access to reread and review.
I am relatively new to this community, having been told about you by a dear friend in Dayton, but I was interested enough after the 30 days to purchase a book. I was not aware that you needed a regular level of support; may I ask if this community is your sole support base monetarily? If so, I will pray about contributing more.
As to the big words, I ask “What big words?” Your writing is quite understandable to me and, I assume,
to those who reply to your posts. It is painful to me, as a teacher and a language-lover, how dumbed-down our church has become, not to mention our society as a whole. Do not aim for the mediocre; just as you seek to stretch us all spiritually, you should continue to stretch us intellectually.
As the Bereans did, I try to take everything you say and match it to Scripture and my experience in the Body of Christ. I have been convicted often, encouraged often, edified often, and that is a tremendous blessing to me. It is very important to me to be reminded daily of the life I have been called to live in Christ. I saw a church sign this morning that I thought was very telling. It said, “Pray to God for the harvest but continue to hoe your fields.” I found that one word in that sentence completely changed the meaning from what it said to what I felt it should say: “Pray to God for the harvest AND continue to hoe
your fields.” We pray and we work; the two go together – there should be no equivocating “but” in there. That is what I find so valuable about TW – the detailed examining of a word so that we can not only understand it but go forth to do it.
Thank you again for your ministry. Numbers 6:24-26
P.S. I admit to being a little slow in some areas: was that someone snoring or a lion roaring on that clip you sent?
IT was certainly NOT snoring. I will try to post a video of the lions.
Thanks for the other feedback. At God’s Table is not my only source of income. I am employed by Master’s International Divinity School. But, as with many non-profits, the school over the last 2 years has had to cut my salary by more than 60% and it is now about $2200 a month. Not nearly enough to pay the bills, I’m afraid. So, in a way, At God’s Table is the difference between going under or keep going. And God has been very good. Except for 2 months recently, I have been able to pay myself a small salary from the ministry. However, September and October didn’t quite make it, so I took no salary in order to do what the ministry needs required. Whatever you wish to contribute would be welcomed, but I did NOT mean for any of this to be a request for funds. Rather I simply wanted to communicate with people what impact At God’s Table is having and where it stands.
Blessings,
Skip
Skip I don’t have much but don’t see how anyone can survive of nothing! I do have a group I meet with twice a month but would welcome some internet connections. I must try to get by on one tank of gas a month so careening around for face to face meetings is not a viable option for me.
I would love to read some of your reading list but can in no way afford to buy materials. Please think about a lending library. I get all of my reading materials from the local library and it is a God send. Maybe this is something that could be done on a community basis.
I think the website info is very exciting, way to go! I need to spend more time on it reading stuff from before I found it.
Lending library. What a great idea! Thanks. And if you need help, let us help.
Skip I have another idea. This frustrates me a good bit. I would like to hear or read other Free online TW’s, and audio studies you have but don’t know what I am looking for. An easily accessible index of titles and/or topics would be blessing especially for the marginally computer literate like myself.
The best way to search all possible words, verses, etc. is in the archive files which are all WORD docs. These are available on the web site.