by Bret Capranica | Mar 6, 2009 | Evangelism, Humor
While I should be sleeping, or at a minimum, posting something edifying from the Shepherds’ Conference, I am actually going to do neither at the moment. Well, it was last night after the conference that two of our interns proposed our church look into a new means of increasing the evangelistic effectiveness and passion of our people. Their suggested tool: The Evangelism Linebacker. We plan to begin this Sunday. I can’t quit...
by Bret Capranica | Mar 4, 2009 | Featured Articles, Pastoral Ministry, Personal, Preaching
This week I will attend my sixteenth Shepherds’ Conference. I have been attending since 1991, when I was pastoring a church in Texas, and have only missed 2 since then. For a number of reasons, I have found it to be one of the best and most encouraging conferences I have attended in my ministry. It highlights the effective ministry of one local church. Grace Community Church has been pastored by John MacArthur for forty years. His ministry of faithful exposition has permeated the church’s culture and has produced a healthy congregation. I am always encouraged to interact with the members of GCC during the conference. One of the highlights for me in the early years was actually staying in the homes of the members and seeing the fruit of the church’s ministry. It provides exposure to a seminary located on the campus of a local church. One of the key issues that attracted me to study at The Master’s Seminary was the close connection the seminary shares with the church. The seminary is actually located on the church’s campus. Students interact with the pastors of GCC, and a few actually have the opportunity to work at the church and get an inside look. The majority of the professors are involved in pastoring local churches in addition to their teaching responsibilities. Few seminaries can provide this sort of essential connection to the local church like TMS. It highlights the expositional preaching of God’s Word. We will interact deeply and regularly with the Scripture this week. We will hear from some of the best Bible expositors in the country. We...
by Bret Capranica | Mar 3, 2009 | Technology, Time/Life Management
I’ve been a Microsoft Office 2007 user since the day it came out. I really like it. It took me a few weeks to adjust to the new “ribbon” in MS Word, but I think I am more proficient and productive with it now than I was with previous versions of Word. I love the new Smart Art capabilities as well as the abilities to enhance pictures I use in documents and presentations. It is very easy to create better looking and functioning documents and presentation in Office 07. I also use Word 2007 to compose and publish blog posts to THE CAPRANICA, with its “Post” feature. Having said that, I’ve been miffed with the new default format for Word 2007 documents. I don’t mind the new font, Calibri. It is clean and readable. However, for my formal writing, I must use Times New Roman. For a host of other programs (i.e., Bible Software), everything is set to the default TNR font. Who wants to waste time changing all the fonts in every program? I don’t like the default 11 point font. Twelve is the normal and best size for most everything I do. Furthermore, I detest the default 10 points Word 07 puts after each new paragraph. I have to start every new document by changing the font, size, and paragraph formatting. I knew there must have been an easy way to change the default, but I could never seem to get my new settings to stick. Then I read Alfred Poor’s article “Customize Microsoft Word 2007 for Maximum Efficiency,” in PC World. Hallelujah! (I am easily pleased)....
by Bret Capranica | Mar 1, 2009 | Blogging
I’ve been plotting on THE CAPRANICA. I have a host of ideas and issues I would like to blog about, but have wanted to give the blog a bit of a lift before wading into them. So, last weekend and this I’ve been tweaking (prolly will keep the tweaking up for a few more weekends). The two new items are a new comment thread plugin and a plugin that optimizes THE CAP for the iPhone (or iPod Touch). Intense Debate is the commenting plugin that will allow you to respond to an individual’s comment in a thread rather than merely posting it at the end of the list. Now, the lists of comments are rarely ever very long at THE CAPRANICA, but, we hope to spark some discussion in the days to come, and Intense Debate will prove a good addition (I loved hearing and seeing it over at Michael Hyatt’s blog). Anyhoo, this will allow you the option to feed the comments through various services, and even Tweet (through Twitter) your comments. Looks fun. Also, I installed a plugin, WPtouch, that will optimize THE CAPRANICA for the iPhone. Yes, I have yet to blog about it, but I did switch to the iPhone from the Blackberry this past summer. No comparison (that’s another blog post). Anyhoo, if you do navigate to THE CAP through your iPhone but want to view it in its original format (which the iPhone does superbly), it allows that option also. All of this in anticipation of ramping up the activity around here. I’m looking forward to...
by Bret Capranica | Feb 28, 2009 | Ecclesiology
Dr. Walter Price used this video in a sermon he preached a number of weeks ago and referred to it during a message my wife and I heard while attending Fellowship in the Pass. I thought it made for a good question and reminder as we think about our involvement within the Church. What do you think? How practically can the church help its members be more battleship rather than cruise ship-minded? more about “Cruise Ship vs. Battleship“, posted with...
