The Old and the New

One should always be open to suggestions.  For many years I traveled back and forth to Vancouver, Canada, and while there I loved Tim Horton’s coffee and Canadian Maple Donuts.   So much so, that I developed a theory that the “manna” (meaning, “what is it?”) of the Old Testament might have been donuts.  Now that I am traveling back and forth to the Rio Grande Valley on the Mexican border, it has been suggested to me that “manna” might have been Mexican Pan Dulce (Spanish for “sweet bread”). So, being open to suggestions, I have changed the picture on my Monday Morning Manna from a Canadian donut to Mexican sweet bread.  On a more serious note (not that I don’t take my donuts and sweet bread seriously), one should always be open, to suggested change, at least when it comes to methods.  The little poem I always quoted to the students in my Contemporary Evangelism classes was, “Methods are many, principles few. Methods often change.  Principles never do.” When one is locked into methods, and culture changes, they quickly become out-of-date.  For instance, in those classes we discussed the use of the telephone in church starting and church growth.  Then most people switched to cell phones where the area code did not necessarily indicate the location.  Others added Caller ID to their phones, and only accepted calls from those whom they recognized.  The principle of growth remained.  The methods had to change. “ Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? (HCSB)”