Join Us For A Life Changing Event ... Renewal From The Roots!

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

New Diaconal Opportunity Via NationalSOS.com

Part of the "attractional" ministries of our Lord were his healings and public feedings.

In response to our Lord's example, the missional church has always been the diaconally active church starting in the Book of Acts and continuing throughout history. Public education, hospitals, the rule of "law", and the advance of science are all attributable to the abiding impact of Jesus Christ.

The concept of Disaster Relief is no different...it owes it's inspiration to the diakonal ministry of the Church.

Communications failures in the wake of 9-11, Hurricane Katrina and the threat of terror attacks or the possibility of other local disasters that might, for instance, disable cell towers or telephone lines inspire a voluntary nationwide effort called NationalSOS.com .

By planning ahead and using inexpensive Family Radio Service hand held devices costing $10 to $30 (or more expensive Ground Mobile Radio Service radios that require licensure) and coordinating with local ham radio operators, it's entirely possible to create a decentralized alternative communications system for use in emergencies that take advantage of the 100 million FRS radios already sold to the public, 70,000 GMRS operators, and 700,000 Ham Radio operators.

A working model of the NationalSOS concept is being formed in Washington, DC no less, the DC Emergency Radio Network.

Guidelines to make the networks operate in a uniform manner already exist.

What's lacking is organization on a local basis so people who already have these units are trained to access the system during an emergency.

Undoubtedly many churches already have men in the diaconate who are Volunteer Fire Firghters who'd be ideal to help communities put this program into action, help people be trained, and drilled on its use.

In the postmodern world, the church can either inflitrate a "beehive of people" to share the gospel or - in this case - create a beehive of people. In this case that would be people concerned about emergency communications.

Churches that are centrally located are ideal settings to host the training meetings and the participants are either people who need to hear the Gospel or people are already part of the church and who need your encouragement to labor in God's Vineyard.

Let's be honest about another reality... the estrangement of many men from church. They feel alienated if they can't teach, sing, or speak in public, especially if they consider themselves "working class".

Does Christ's kingdom have no place for them? Of course not! Look at Peter, the fisherman!

Harness men's propensity to "protect" their loved ones by involving them in an outreach like this. While they might feel awkward inviting other men to a Promise Keeper style emotional share-a-thon, they would probably feel different about inviting other men to church to learn how them to help their community.

This is an amazing opportunity to reach out to people in every community of the US. Will we use that opportunity?



From NationalSOS.com:

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a major contributing factor to the tragic loss of life was the near total breakdown of communication systems. When electricity, telephone, and cell phone services failed, people were unable to let neighbors, family, and rescuers know of their dire situation -- and some died as a result.