I really enjoyed hanging out with Tom yesterday at Waterloo Ice House. It’s great to get a different perspective. Tom is trying to bring a missional DNA to a traditional Baptist church in a transitioning neighborhood. I tell you what, ministry can be difficult. Lot’s of hard work, sweat and tears.
Ministry is not for the faint of heart. I pray God blesses Tom and Hillcrest Baptist Church.
Sometimes I wonder how much information is to much information. And the key to any “kingdom” information is “kingdom” transformation. But, if you are like me and you love to learn, then you will be happy to know that all the video’s to the latest DRIVE Conference (Andy Stanly & Northpoint Church) are available here for your viewing pleasure. Free of course. Which is really awesome.
HT:Ragamuffin Soul.
This morning I hooked up with Jeff and and we did a 3 hour brainstorming/dreaming/vision-casting meeting. I think we have enough “solo” vision but man when we get together we can spend hours dreaming about the church and God’s Kingdom.
I also hung out with David Mclain, who is the Lead Pastor of Austin Central Church. David has some great future plans for Austin Central. We spent some time discussing culture and the Church and how we Christ-followers are “sent” into the world. He even asked me to speak at his church soon. Yes, he is a risk taker for sure.
Yesterday I was able to hang out with Trey. I respect Trey so much, he has been pastoring one church in the Austin area (Northwest Fellowship) for close to 15 years. That rocks.
Anyhow, I love connecting with folks and encouraging and being encouraged by their stories. God is up to something good.
Tomorrow we head out to Dallas. I’m performing my brother-in-law’s wedding Saturday night and we also have family in from California.
Get back Monday then head to Houston (Ashdown we gotta hook-up) Tuesday to hang out with our church planting coach. First time I will get to meet Glen, but I’ve heard this guys knows how to get the job done. Looking forward to learning.
Shalom
Drew Goodmanson discusses the The Future of Spirituality and what is after Postmodernism.
20-christian-blogs-you-should-be-reading by Derek Brown.
Jasen Ashdown blogs his thoughts on ISN’T SHE BEAUTIFUL conference with Rob Bell and Mars Hill Team here, here & here.
Tadd has some wise words about church planting here.
JR Woodward complies a list of his previous blog posts that deal with Jesus, Poverty and Economics. Very thorough post: My Journey in Understanding Jesus, Poverty and Economics
Bruce Chant who blogs at hismethod discusses the issue of change: Part 1 & Part II.
Very cool Web 2.0 (ish) Bible Map that utilizes google maps. Effective study tool that may be beneficial.
Bob Hyatt is frustrated over his preaching rut. If you’ve ever had to preach EVERY Sunday, you know the feeling. Thanks for being real Bob. We’ve all been there.
Guy Kawasaki points folks to some great pulpit communicators: Evangelism: Eternal Life, Forgiveness, and Operating Systems.
I love his last paragraph:
“Even if you’re not a Christian, you should watch these sessions out as examples of great speaking and evangelism although this isn’t a fair comparison because eternal life and forgiveness are far better products than most operating systems.”
I was saddened when I read Perry Noble’s: I Am A Little Fired Up!!! post. Perry uses an over-generalization (see below) of the “Emergent Church.” I respect Perry, and I love that he is protecting the vision that God has given him…but I see no honor in putting down the vision of others to protect ones own vision. IMHO, we pastors have to really seek wisdom in the words we choose to use while blogging. The very thing we love, “the church” is often the very thing we tear down by being “bold” and “honest.” Thin fine line for sure. I’ve had plenty of bonehead blog posts…Here is my philosophy: “If I’m not willing to say it on Sunday morning, maybe I should not blog it on Monday morning?
“One of the chief critics of churches like NewSpring is the whole “emergent” church movement. I just love that–here you have 15-20 people…usually guys, who sit in rooms smoking cigars and drinking beer, debating theology while the world around them goes to hell…and somehow they think they’ve “got it!” In my opinion the only thing that needs to “emerge” from the emerging church is their head out of their rear ends so that they can better listen to God and fulfill the Great Commission.” Perry Noble
But I did gleam wisdom from Craig Groeschel’s post: I Don’t Want to Be Popular.
Fact is leaders have to deal with criticism, and how we respond to our critics truly shows our character. Plus, we must realize that there are different ways and methods to reach different people. Why can’t we embrace “diversity in ministry?”
So it seems that Jay Baker’s new documentary “One Punk Under God” is making a media splash. Anyhow, I just saw the podcast today. It gives a little snapshot into Jay’s philosophy and “why” behind the documentary. Enjoy!
UPDATE: Saddleback responds to critics.
So Rick Warren invited Barack Obama to speak at Saddleback about issues of social justice and poverty. You can read about it here.
Of course, the Evangelical response has not been to friendly as you can see from the snippet below:
Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, states, “Having Senator Barack Obama speak on issues of social justice is like having a segregationist speak on civil rights. Mr. Obama supports partial-birth abortion and has voted against bills prohibiting taxpayers paying for abortion. It is hypocritical at best for him to speak out against the horror of AIDS on children and then support abortion which has killed 50,000,000 children in America alone.”
Do you think Rick Warren was wrong? Is this a good thing for the church or a negative thing?
Great Rob Bell interview. Listen closely to his thoughts on American Evangelism, definitely bold and refreshing. Good stuff.
HT: Jonathon Herron
Nelson Searcy is hosting a FREE church planting conference this January in New York City. How cool is that! I love the current generation of church planters, we have so much passion to help others succeed, we love to give, open-source ministry is a natural part of our DNA.
HT: DJ Chuang
PlanterPlanet.com is an aggregator of other church planters. I’ve followed planter planter for the past 6 or 7 months. It has been great to hear stories of what God is doing across the globe, via these planters and their teams.
So I thought I would jump in the fray and I emailed the PP admin, only to find that my buddy John is the dude backing this site, funny, who knew! Thanks John for taking time to do this and allow other planters to connect. I can’t help but think this website has been a blessing to so many.
Anyhow, I just moved to Austin and I’m looking to plant a church in the near future. I have a few doors open and it’s going to be a fun ride for sure.
I’ve just moved from Blogger to WordPress and I’ve added some recent posts below. I’m looking forward to future conversations.
BTW-If you want to subscribe to my blog here is the feed:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/MusingsByMarlow
Peace & Love from Austin!
I’m doing a mini blog series on The Church.
Book Review: In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day.
Book Review: Simply Christian.
Simply Missional 