SEEKER FRIENDLY     BY STEVE FINNELL

If  growing a mega-church is high on your dream list, then here is the template. Think "seeker friendly."

THE DO'S: Preach a health and wealth gospel. Keep sermons light and cheerful, and promote self esteem. If the message would be well received in the secular world, you are on the right track. Try to be inclusive. After all, we are all striving to get to the same place. Smile a lot. Canvas the area of your choice. Then preach what they want to hear. Watch the numbers grow. When preaching about salvation, quote John 3:16 and ask them to recite some version of the "sinner's prayer." Faith only salvation, usually will poll very well in any community. Stay with the popular man-made traditions.

THE DON'TS:  Forget sermons about the need for repentance or the existence of hell. Do not, I repeat, not not mention the word "sin," that can thin a crowd in a hurry. Scriptures you might want to avoid, Acts 2:38, Mark16:16, John 3:5, Romans 6:1, Ephesians 5:3-5, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 and Galatians 5:19-21, to name a few. Requirements for forgiveness should be something the congregation would feel comfortable with. Do not teach repentance as being mandatory, make it an option. Explain how we are all sinner's saved by grace. That makes unrepentant Christians more likely to place their membership in your church. Then sit back and watch the church grow.

Let us examine a couple of preachers to see if they fit the "seeker friendly" template.

JOHN THE BAPTIST: Matthew 14:3-4 For when Herod had John arrested, he bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. 4 For John had been saying to him,"It is not lawful for you to have her."

Not seeker friendly, too legalistic. Never preach against sin that a prominent member of the community is committing.

STEPHEN: Acts 7:51-53 "You men who are stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.......

Stephen was not seeker friendly. Never point out bad attitudes, that would expose the congregation's Spiritual condition, and certainly not if it relates to church family members.

WOULD JESUS FIT THE SEEKER FRIENDLY TEMPLATE? Seeker friendly preachers do not get put to death, on a cross.