Thursday, February 2, 2012
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
David Fitch strikes again
... with another post to make you go, hmmmmm. This one is about not prematurely "launching" a church.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Renew Gathering
A bunch of us in our local community are adding a monthly gathering to our schedule. Details about the Renew Gathering (HT: J.R. Briggs for the name) can be found here.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Review of Fitch's "The End of Evangelicalism?"
A very good review, in fact. Why should you read it [the review and then the book]? Because it proposes a way forward in faithful mission for Christ's church. A huge emphasis of the book is posture (read: humility), for those who profess to follow Jesus in their approach to the Christian life and toward those who don't believe in the same way. Our faith community has been discussing this quite a bit from multiple texts - especially in the Gospels (i.e. the woman caught in adultery; wee-little-tax-collector-man Zaccheus; Mary annointing Jesus' feet ...). Fitch's book isn't about abandoning convictions, but rather embracing convictions with humility in order to be shaped by them [or something like that] ...
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
A Different Kind of Leadership
David Fitch (who I had the privilege of meeting for breakfast the other day in Chi-town-ish with Dawne Piotrowski) has a proposal for a different kind of leadership than we normally see in local church life. I like.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Pastors' Wives Problems
This post shows how the wives of pastors often feel and think regarding the way they are treated in churches.
The pastors' wives who have to say all this should often blame their husbands (and the rest of the leadership team at the church) as much as the congregation for creating a top-down, top-dog church culture in which pastors (and by extension their wives) are often placed on a strange pedestals. That's my opinion. I'm willing to dialogue about it even though I've just come off as dogmatic.
The pastors' wives who have to say all this should often blame their husbands (and the rest of the leadership team at the church) as much as the congregation for creating a top-down, top-dog church culture in which pastors (and by extension their wives) are often placed on a strange pedestals. That's my opinion. I'm willing to dialogue about it even though I've just come off as dogmatic.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Why isn't my life being transformed? I study the Bible!
Ever notice how just studying or listening Scripture doesn't always lead to life transformation?
A good friend of mine, Matt Tebbe (okay, so he's a great friend of a friend, but I've met him once) has a great post about this subject on his new blog. It will likely turn into a series. You can see the first post here. Here's a taste of it:
"How we study the Bible significantly impairs our theological and biblical literacy. Thus, getting MORE serious about “Bible study” may not be the solution…and it may be part of the problem."
A good friend of mine, Matt Tebbe (okay, so he's a great friend of a friend, but I've met him once) has a great post about this subject on his new blog. It will likely turn into a series. You can see the first post here. Here's a taste of it:
"How we study the Bible significantly impairs our theological and biblical literacy. Thus, getting MORE serious about “Bible study” may not be the solution…and it may be part of the problem."
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Church Planting vs. Seeding Missional Communities
Friday, December 17, 2010
Colbert
Wow. Um ... wow. I do not endorse all of what Colbert says in this video (hopefully clearly). But I think it could make for some interesting dialog ...
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Jesus Is a Liberal Democrat | ||||
| ||||
Whaddya Think?
"I don't get upset when salesclerks don't say 'Merry Christmas' because I'm a fan of the 3rd commandment." - @jaredcwilson via Twitter.
Here's commandment number three in an old school version (King James): Deuteronomy 5:11 "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold [him] guiltless that taketh his name in vain."
Here's commandment number three in an old school version (King James): Deuteronomy 5:11 "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold [him] guiltless that taketh his name in vain."
Friday, December 10, 2010
O Come to the Mall
Speaking of anticipating the coming of Emmanuel, here's my friend Ryan anticipating his coming at the mall in Indiana.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Friday, December 3, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
The Verge Network
The website has launched with videos from their February 2010 conference, including this one by Hugh Halter. I'd also watch the ones by Vandersteldt, Chan ... and perhaps I'll recommend more once I've watched them ...
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
The Tangible Kingdom Primer
Update: The video was messing with the appearance of the blog. So you can link to the video externally here.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
The Tangible Kingdom
I have found "The Tangible Kingdom" to be one of the best resources on living the Gospel life that I have ever read. Overstated? I dare you to decide for yourself. It's a book as much about our own tranformation together as believers and followers of Jesus Christ as it is a book about the mission of God to extend his kingdom through his people. And it's mostly through stories!
"So, Burly, if you were to suggest the best resources for helping communities of believers plant the Gospel, what would they be?"
Well, I'd probably recommend starting with "Total Church" as a foundational resource for that type of mission. Then I might work through "The Gospel-Centred Church" with a small group of people. Then if you (and the group) are "trackin'" with what you've read together, I'd move on to "The Tangible Kingdom." After having read it independently (and others in your group have read it independently), I'd go through "The Tangible Kingdom Primer" in smaller groups, as the homework is heavy-duty (in a good way). By the way, this suggestion (re: "The Tangible Kingdom" and the "... Primer" are not based on actually having done this).
Regarding "The Tangible Kingdom Primer," Hugh Halter (one of the authors) said the following over on Ed Stetzer's blog:
"The biggest thing you'll probably notice is that the 8 weeks feel like you're starting over with Jesus. Because we have so many stories of conversion, people often use it as evangelism training for small groups, but we actually wrote it as a spiritual formation exercise. We have found that what truly gets in the way of becoming a disciple is "individualism, consumerism, and materialism." Everyone says they would love to live missionally BUT, BUT, BUT and then we get a list of all the reasons we don't. In actuality, all the aforementioned 'isms' are rooted in sin and Galatians teaches that the ways of the flesh are in direct opposition to the ways of the spirit and you end up not doing what you want. We've learned therefore that you can preach missional living all you want and call people to be disciples, but it goes absolutely nowhere unless you create a spiritual formation pathway that actually challenges our self orientation. The Primer does this."
"Hey, Burly, who made you the expert on what I should read and do."
Why are you being so confrontational? You know that I know what's best for you and everyone else ;o) ...
"So, Burly, if you were to suggest the best resources for helping communities of believers plant the Gospel, what would they be?"
Well, I'd probably recommend starting with "Total Church" as a foundational resource for that type of mission. Then I might work through "The Gospel-Centred Church" with a small group of people. Then if you (and the group) are "trackin'" with what you've read together, I'd move on to "The Tangible Kingdom." After having read it independently (and others in your group have read it independently), I'd go through "The Tangible Kingdom Primer" in smaller groups, as the homework is heavy-duty (in a good way). By the way, this suggestion (re: "The Tangible Kingdom" and the "... Primer" are not based on actually having done this).
Regarding "The Tangible Kingdom Primer," Hugh Halter (one of the authors) said the following over on Ed Stetzer's blog:
"The biggest thing you'll probably notice is that the 8 weeks feel like you're starting over with Jesus. Because we have so many stories of conversion, people often use it as evangelism training for small groups, but we actually wrote it as a spiritual formation exercise. We have found that what truly gets in the way of becoming a disciple is "individualism, consumerism, and materialism." Everyone says they would love to live missionally BUT, BUT, BUT and then we get a list of all the reasons we don't. In actuality, all the aforementioned 'isms' are rooted in sin and Galatians teaches that the ways of the flesh are in direct opposition to the ways of the spirit and you end up not doing what you want. We've learned therefore that you can preach missional living all you want and call people to be disciples, but it goes absolutely nowhere unless you create a spiritual formation pathway that actually challenges our self orientation. The Primer does this."
"Hey, Burly, who made you the expert on what I should read and do."
Why are you being so confrontational? You know that I know what's best for you and everyone else ;o) ...
Friday, September 17, 2010
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