The Virtual Pew News #9 Still Moving Forward

The Virtual Pew News #9 Still Moving Forward
Introducing Pastor Dave, and Billy Bob Thornton Interview among other things.

Greetings! Things have been hectic as of the last month with The Virtual Pew. From raising eyebrows, to challenging Christians to grow in their faith we continue to move forward. The last month hasn't been without some controversy. It is one of the things that keep this ministry unique and effective. We don’t approach our faith in the same mold as "
"traditional" or "typical" Christianity. While our belief in the fundamentals is strong, our desire to be effective is just as strong. As a result we do things somewhat different than most ministries. We seek to reach those who are burned out with the church, for whatever reason, and reach those who are not followers of Jesus in unique and different ways. The last month is an illustration of the effectiveness we can have.

We hit December hard with almost daily blogs and research, finding unique ways to get people to think about their faith or lack of faith. Those efforts were very effective as the traffic to the various web sites grew to some good numbers and have maintained. The Virtual Pew has a presence on several web sites including, http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/, http://www.thevirtualpew.com/, http://www.youtube.com/, and of course http://www.myspace.com/. Between all four of those web sites, with direct hits to The Virtual Pew related items, we averaged 137,000 hits a week. Since December 1 to today's date, February 5, 2007, we have had approximately 1,365,000 hits. The Virtual Pew is continuing to make a difference.

The Virtual Pew has also gone through some major adjustments over the last month. The most noticeable is the addition of Pastor David Jenkins. Dave is known on MySpace as well as his other ministry as Pastor Dave. While he will be making an adjustment to the style of The Virtual Pew, he is a mild mannered, very loving individual who will make the effort to get to know the posters at The Virtual Pew message boards. It will allow me more time to spend on other things, as well as continue my ministry at the message boards. In fact the work is growing so much that I really needed someone to help out. I ask your prayers for him, as well as his adjustments to the stylistic approaches of The Virtual Pew. For now Dave is offering up prayer for individual members of the board and assisting in the sermon topics. He and I are also interacting regarding the needs individuals bring us. This way two of us praying over various aspects of ministry needs and we can better serve those seeking help from The Virtual Pew. Just today, we have interacted regarding some issues at a church, and another individual needing prayer. The Virtual Pew has daily needs of this type coming in.

The Virtual Pew has also seen some controversy since the last newsletter. I wrote a piece in the form of figurative speech regarding sin. It was done as a press release and approached the issues of sin from an allegorical perspective. Some thought the press release was legit, but it wasn't. Hopefully not too many were too upset by that approach. I will say, we received many, many responses from people who felt touched by the post. Comments like it being a reminder of how we are all people who do wrong. Thankfully, there were many who were challenged by that message.

The Virtual Pew also saw some controversy with the posting of An Inconvenient Truth About 24. click here. This posting looked at the political system and how the populace is often dooped into believing untruths. Both political parties are guilty of this, and examples were given in the article. At least two Christians took offense at the posting, thankfully, many hundreds of others via email and posting replies let us know how much they appreciated the comments. I am thankful that individuals like Becky Garrison, author and editor of The Wittenberg Door chimed in. The truth is our faith must be in Christ, not political systems. How unfortunate that many have misplaced their faith and made their political parties the voice of God.

We have also continued in what I call pre-evangelistic roles in ministry since the last issue. The most recent venture into this area was an interview with Billy Bob Thornton the actor. That interview is currently posted at The Virtual Pew MySpace account, and will be at the Hollywood Jesus account once some server issues are corrected. If you would like to see the interview you may click at this link, or if the link is not available, you may access it by visiting the message boards at The Virtual Pew.

On a side note, giving for the month of December was the best it has been in some time. We received gifts in excess of $1,000. Of that $400 was designated for The Virtual Pew’s wrestling related ministry. This was a nice contribution that will help in the lives of some underprivileged wrestlers. Since that time, giving has been substantially down, only receiving in the neighborhood of $300 for January, and so far in February, we have received approximately $300. Of course some of this comes from involvement with wrestling, via officiating, and other funds come in via contributions. We appreciate all of the gifts, and they help sustain the ministry needs.

I want to remind folks, they can become a part of the message boards at The Virtual Pew, or visit the ongoing blogs and articles. We do more than that though. There is the continued help and counseling to individuals as they need it. That continues as much as ever. We still need some help on various things. Including, message board moderators, individuals who can help with ministry like worship, computer assistance, help with cleaning up our message boards, we have been getting hit hard by porno spam bots at our web site. I take approximately 30 minutes every day deleting accounts, and deleting posts. I know we need help here, and believe me, I have done all I can to prevent this spamming from these types of accounts. There are other things people can do though. If interested in helping out, let me know. Our ministry is continuing to grow, and I just can't do it on my own.

The Virtual Pew is also exploring the possibility of starting a small Bible Study Group, or Home Church group in the Wichita area. We have several people in the Wichita area who have expressed an interest in this ministry, some from the old United at the Cross, and others who have become aware of The Virtual Pew through various means. I already have several people who have committed to be a part of this ministry if and when it starts. Be in prayer about this. The Virtual Pew desires to provide opportunities to build a community of faith, not just on the web, but also locally. We have made many referrals to churches across the globe; it is nice to know we are finally at the place in the Wichita area that we may be able to move forward.

A lot is happening, a lot is going on. We can't do it without you, and the truth is, we are all a part of the fruit and lives that God is changing. Don't sit back and wait for God to do something, come on board and be a part of what God is already doing for the drug addicts, prostitutes, gang members, wrestling fans, movie buffs and virtually every other sector of life.

Now for those that do not know, make sure you check out the numerous articles and blogs by checking out the archives. If visiting The Virtual Pew or MySpace they are archived on the left hand side of the page. Scroll down to where you see newer or older listed under archives and then click there. There are numerous postings, and you will have to go into the archives to see the 100 plus postings over the last months.

Now I also want to remind you that you can visit http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ and on the front page scroll down to the left hand side of the page where you sill see our store. Your purchases through our Amazon store provides needed funds to The Virtual Pew. If you do not see something on the page to buy, you can click on the search engine for the store, (do not put anything in the search box at this time) and you will then be taken to Amazon where you can search for anything you desire. Hopefully you will consider a gift to The Virtual Pew and/or at the very least shop our store. The items on the store page are highly recommended.

Oh Yea, here is that contact information again.

The Virtual Pew

P.O. Box 17731

Wichita, KS 67217

Or you van give on line via Pay Pal at: http://www.furches.org/donations/index.html

To become a part of The Virtual Pew, visit, http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ To learn more about me visit http://www.furches.org/ I am also active on MySpace at: http://www.myspace.com/mikefurches I have another blog at http://blog.myspace.com/mikefurches To visit the Hollywood Jesus group at MySpace with membership by numerous Hollywood Jesus reviewers visit: http://groups.myspace.com/hollywoodjesus For a more in depth weekly study and conversation you an visit: http://virtualpewsermon.blogspot.com/ where you can access deeper teaching and ultimately videos for viewing and teaching. You can also subscribe to the newsletter at http://www.thevirtualpew.com/ or see the newsletter on line at http://thevirtualpewnews.blogspot.com/ You can also sign up for the free newsletter from The Virtual Pew by visiting the main page for The Virtual Pew, or you can see the newsletters online by visiting this web site: http://thevirtualpewnews.blogspot.com/ You can contact me via email at mike@furches.org or mike@thevirtualpew.com For those interested in knowing more about my own story, contact me for a free e-copy of my book The Keystone Kid in pre-edit form.