Blogs & Sites
Some places worth going and things worth reading...
Michael Spencer on Francis Chan's Gospel Presentation
Drew Goodmanson on Conducting a Church Missional Survey
NT Wright at CT: Mere Mission
Free Hugs
Fast Company on Creative Class Struggle
Pan's Labyrinth
Interview with Bob Roberts
I should have been linking this blog for some time now, but just realized I don't have him on my blog list. Please keep up with Steve Addison's blog, World Changers. It's consistently fantastic.
Time for a roundup of random stuff.
1. I've started a Bible study series at our church based on Kris Lundgaard's book, The Enemy Within (@ Monergism). Lundgaard's book is based on two of John Owen's works on sin. I read it a few years ago and rereading it for this series. Very helpful book. Justin Taylor points to some of Lundgaard's audio messages on The Enemy Within.
2. Watched the movie Click with my wife yesterday. It was moderately funny. Best part of the movie is what Adam Sandler does to David Hasselhoff (there's a bad word here, so don't watch if you can't handle it).
3. Speaking of video, the Smiling Addiction video is great. It's an original piece (including original music) by Crossroads Community Church in GA. I think Joe Thorn first pointed me to this.
4. It looks like Paradox, a music venue at Mars Hill Seattle but not run by Mars Hill, is no more. This article doesn't really give Mars Hill's perspective in a good light, but the news was worth mentioning.
5. Have you taken a trip on Line Rider yet? Throw on a scarf and go!
7. Tim Keller wants to help you know how to "Work." Great sermon. Keller provides Dorothy Sayers' definition of the biblical doctrine of work: "Work is the gracious expression of creative energy in the service of others." Other TK Resources.
Cory Miller asked me 5 Blogging Questions. I answered them. Cory has them up now at ChurchCommunicationsPro. See how other bloggers responded.
I want to update you on a few things concerning the blog and life.
One of my main goals with the blog over the last few months has been to only blog when I want to, and to keep from encouraging comment threads that end up wasting my time. For the most part I've stuck with that idea and it's made the blog an extension of my life rather than a power over my life. I haven't been writing much of my own thought lately, not much in terms of original content. But I'm okay with that right now. I hope that will change soon, but it has to mesh with what I'm doing in my local church.
We went to visit my parents after church on Sunday. I've mentioned before that my Mom has cancer. Last week they found out the chemo is working and shrinking the cancer. It's hard to say what that will mean for the next few weeks or months, but it's the first piece of good news we've had since she was diagnosed. Thanks to all who are praying. The picture is of my mom and sister. My sister colored her hair, my mom (who is losing her hair) is wearing a Halloween wig.
I'm halfway through preaching Colossians and loving it. It's just what I need, and I'm thankful to God for what I'm learning. I hope our church is getting the same thing. The one thing I haven't done much of lately is listen to sermons. My wife and I used to listen to a sermon together on Monday mornings. I would be in my office and she would be working on the house. But I moved my home office to our basement so we are disconnected. I miss those mornings listening together to guys like Matt Chandler, Mark Driscoll or Tim Keller.
My sons and I are really enjoying the football season so far. The Bears are exceeding all expectations and look like they are equipped to go the distance. The Monsters of the Midway are monsters again. Beware!
Have you enjoyed a good cigar lately? Why not? I've been learning a lot about cigars lately and have enjoyed one or two. Delightful. Pick up this one, or maybe this one.
Last let me mention some things I've been enjoying lately. Richard Lovelace's book, Renewal as a Way of Life, has been a great encouragement so far. A very thought provoking book. Ray LaMontagne's new CD, Till the Sun Turns Black, is good. iMonk's podcast has been a nice diversion. So has Writers on Writing.
By the way, the iTunes 7 upgrade sucks for Windows users. Then they put up a fix (7.0.1) which merely sucks less. Distortion. If you haven't upgraded, stay where you are for now.
Mark Driscoll has a nice, long post on what's happening in his life & at Mars Hill. It's an interesting post with a look at a few people who are throwing stones at him, the growth issues they face at Mars Hill as well as the number of people they have in various recovery groups, and stuff he is writing.
Whatever you think of Driscoll, it's good to keep up.
Albert Hsu, author of The Suburban Christian (which I liked), has a blog. I'll be reading.
(HT:JT)
My buddy Drew Goodmanson has some good news about Sermon Cloud. This is a cool idea you need to check out. Here's some info...
Sermon Cloud is a website for a community to interact with sermons. What are the powerful sermons people are listening to? Who are the up-and-coming preachers of the day? Where are the messages about themes that you need to hear? How can you find a great preacher in your home town? Sermon Cloud was designed to help you with all of these questions. Sermon Cloud users help let each other know which sermons they amen. An 'amen' is a recommendation of the sermon. Users can post comments about their interaction with these sermons (even the comments can be designated as helpful or unhelpful). Sign-up for free to begin interacting, commenting and recommending sermons
today!For Churches and Preachers: Sermon Cloud offers churches FREE Advanced Sermon Syndication & mp3 services. Are you interested in podcasting, syndicating and using all the other 'Web 2.0' buzzwords for your church? Sermon Cloud Features include Resampling mp3's to be optimized for the internet, Syndicating content (Integrating directly into iTunes store, syndicating through RSS feeds.), Displaying recent sermons on your church website, Podcasting mp3, Sermon Streaming capability in our Jukebox player, Tagging System, Commenting on sermons, Community recommending sermons, Searching for sermons and more...
I found (via FastCompany) a video on Web 2.0 that is super-helpful. It's a 24 minute video from TechCrunch. I love the end where all these guys are asked what browser they use. Care to guess?
In the video Arrington conducts conversations with 13 Web 2.0 CEOs about what Web 2.0 is, whether we're in a bubble, what business models work, what is the role of publishers, and how important and how large is the early adopter crowd, along with other issues related to user adoption trends and technology. For certain, Web 2.0 is about technologies such as Ajax, Mash-Ups, Flash, Tagging, and open source applications. But mostly Web 2.0's central focus is user participation.
Participants included Joe Kraus (Jotspot), Scott Milener (Browster), David Sifry (Technorati), Auren Hoffman (Rapleaf), Chris Alden (Rojo), Jonathan Abrams (Socializr), Aaron Cohen (Bolt), Jeremy Verba (Piczo), Steven Marder (Eurekster), Matt Sanchez (Video Egg), Godhwani (Simply Hired), Keith Teare (edgeio), and Michael Tanne (Wink).
Speaking of Web 2.0, last week Joe Carter (Evangelical Outpost) and I met with Justin Taylor (I hear J.I. Packer calls him Justin the Squire!) and a couple of other Crossway Publisher folks about blogging & reviewing books. Very good conversation, and some great people.
I am trying out Browster because of the 2.0 video. Wow, it's very interesting. Anyone else trying it? You need to check it out.
I'm pumped about GTDGmail. If you haven't read Getting Things Done by David Allen, and/or if you aren't implimenting GTD in your life, please give it a look. And then you can get GTDGmail and really geek out.
Watch the "Lecture Musical" from Prangstgrup. Hilarious.
Michael Foster leads us to David Slagle's 100 Things I've Learned the Hard Way as a Senior Pastor.
Some Music You Should Check Out:
Husky Rescue (myspace)
Serena- Maneesh (myspace)
Black Angels (myspace)
TV on the Radio (myspace)
**If you are a Southern Baptist, please skip this next part.** Imbibe? Review and share your thoughts on your latest bottle of vino at Cork'd. Gotta light? CigarCyclopedia.
Speaking of "the good life," if you are a Southern Baptist you need to read this critical article from former SBC President Bobby Welch. We need more wisdom like this!
I understand one pastor's blog site indicates he believes his drinking assists him in soul-winning!...
We have many outstanding young pastors and others on their way to leading this Convention to...do it as "sipping saints,"...as...soul winners! God help us to...elect a user or promoter of the use of alcoholic beverages to...leadership...!
Please don't sent hate mail. It's a joke. ;) Bobbay is SOOOO funny.
A few links...
John Piper has written a manuscript responding to N.T. Wright's view of justification. Who knows if/when we will see it since he is seeking the thoughts of others on it, but the conversation at Justin Taylor's blog about it is already interesting. Piper wrote this on his summer sabbatical at Cambridge.
Brian Spears writes on the 10 things you'll learn by visiting other churches. Always helpful for those of us who too rarely get to visit other churches.
The Church Planting Resources site is looking good, and is now considered to be 83% sexier (according to Drew Goodmanson). It's a site for "free exchange of information to help build the Kingdom and ultimately spread the gospel."
Comback Churches has some good stuff from Ed Stetzer, including his "Stirring the Waters" articles.
And have I mentioned before the PeopleGroups website? Some good, basic demographic stuff for you.
If you haven't noticed, I've killed my other blog: Missional Baptist Blog. Just thought I would let everyone here know that.
A couple of nights ago I finally finished Breaking the Missional Code, a new book by Ed Stetzer and David Putman. I found it to be a worthy read and I wanted to offer a somewhat brief review of it.
I expected this to be a good intro to missional thinking. I'm not sure that's what I'd call it. I would call it a good intro to the outworking of some missional thinking. It's not about the "missional code" but about "breaking" it. That's why it's a book of stats, helpful stories, charts, and plenty of simple, practical ideas based on solid missional foundations.
I must admit that I'm a little concerned that some guys who don't get missional theology could apply much of this book as church growth advice. Joe Thorn seems to make similar observations. It's hard to break the missional code if you don't get "missional." So I wish the book had a little more space dedicated to something more foundational in explaining "missional."
One of my favorite aspects of the book is the pervasive help concerning thinking on culture and contextualization. The church should "spring forth out of the soil in which it is planted" (p 91). "We must look for those cultural bridges to every people group, population segment, and cultural environment" called "redemptive analogies" (p 97). All good stuff.
There's plenty on planting, on models and methods. Lots of good questions on vision, networking, and readiness.
I really liked Chapter 12 on emerging networks. It's mirrors much of what I've been personally desiring and encouraging among Southern Baptists. They have recognized the backwards work of denominations and parachurch ministries and recommended a helpful approach to getting denominations thinking about their role in a healthier way. My favorite advice is that denominational agencies need to "learn to 'dance' with other organizations." Can I get a witness?
For me the chapter on the practices of leaders who break the code was crucial to the book. Maybe it's just because of where I am and what I'm wrestling with in ministry, but it's very helpful nonetheless. They said we need to ask the right questions of the right people to understand the culture we are in. We must be willing to pay the price physically, emotionally and in so many other ways. Getting culture and making an impact will take real risk. According to the authors it will also take great teams, so leaders need to "inspire people to take overwhelming risk" (p 201). We need focused visionaries who work on their churches and not just in it. These are not just brief statements, but all thought out and explained. Very helpful.
The absolute best thing to me about this book is you don't get through it and think there is one way to "do church." It's a book about asking the right questions based on the right biblical principles and hopefully seeing an indigenous church raise up that reflects the culture in the right ways and is different than the culture in the right ways.
When we talk about missional churches we are not referring to a certain form, expression, model, type, or category of church. We are talking about a church that seeks to understand its context and come to express that understanding by contextualizing the gospel in its community. Over time the church becomes an indigenous expression of the gospel within that culture, eventually removing all extrabiblical barriers. The truest expression of this mission church is that is fully represents Christ in its context, maintaining biblical integrity so that gospel moves unhindered. (187-188)
I really enjoyed and recommend Breaking the Missional Code. For biblical/theological foundations many of us will need Bosch, Guder, Newbigin, Van Gelder and others. But for the how-to outworkings of missional theology, Breaking the Missional Code is very worthwhile and has already caused me to make some plans this summer to implement a few great ideas. I see this book as mainly helpful for practitioners and those in training, but it is also the most accessible book for local church leaders. May it find a wide readership.
Joe Thorn: "Worship Incarnate"
There is a blog tour (interesting idea) for Scot McKnight's new book Praying With The Church. I hope to have a review up on the book in the not too distant future (I've been sent a copy), but I'm too bogged down with stuff right now to take part in the tour which begins Monday.
Other books I'm reviewing soon...
Breaking the Missional Code by Stetzer and Putman (I hope by next week)
Pocket Guide to the Bible by Jason Boyett
Bonhoeffer Speaks Today by Mark Devine
I've started a new blog. Yeah I know, but it's not what you think. I've started this blog to bless and encourage the blessing of my city. It's called Living in Woodstock, IL and it's all about life in Woodstock (go figure). Actually, it's a non-political, non-advertisement, and completely pro-Woodstock, IL site that intends to spark conversation about and enjoyment of our city.
It's really just about my experiences (personal and family). I'm not really sure how it will work, IF it will work, or what exactly it will become in the days ahead. But I figured it was worth a try.
So check it out and let me know what you think. But please, don't comment there. That's for locals and Woodstock lovers only. Thanks.
Bob Hyatt has started a new site, PastorHacks. "Less time on tasks, more time with people. That's the goal..." Very cool idea. Grab the feed, read the blog, share your insights and questions.
A couple of weeks ago I was able to meet Jon, the Baptist. Jon (Whitehead) and his wife Aryn (sorry it's a camera phone image) were planning to come to Chicagoland for his sister's graduation from Wheaton College, so he sent me an email hoping we might be able to meet up. We knew it would be tight since we were leaving for Seattle that day, but it was well worth the time to grab a Caribou Coffee meeting on the way out.
Jon and Aryn are from Texas Kansas City, where Jon is a lawyer. He had some good thoughts on the future of the SBC (let's just say that he recommends a lot of Ex-lax and throne time, the porcelain one...okay, not really...but that would have been wise...and funny). And like me, Jon married way above his head.
Head over to Jon's blog and check out his thoughts. Good guy.
Joe Thorn starts a four parter on "What Does God Want?" (Someone needs to tell Joe that God probably wants more than Joe can write in four posts, but Joe is just a simple guy after all.) In part one he deals with some spiritual disciplines in light of the values Micah 6:8.
I am not pitting spiritual disciplines against these values, but I ampitting the narrow, hyper-personalized approach to spirituality against what God desires for us. When Bible study, prayer and fellowship for the purpose of personal, spiritual strength are our greatest emphases we are missing the point. What God requires of us is not closet spirituality, but public spirituality.
I'm quite certain that nearly no one will disagree with Thorn on this, but in practice most of us are guilty of "closet spirituality." Too often our pride will keep us from admitting it. I've been a member at churches where the first application point every week was, "So first of all we need to read our Bible's more." Aren't we are known by the fruit we produce? It's very easy to see that the American church looks more like Job's counselors than justice and mercy workers.
I very rarely pimp new blogs I find, but this one could be pretty cool. Check out MereMission. It's a group blog that is for "practical exploration of missional theology."
The elders at Mars Hill Church, which I founded in 1996, have always been a big-hearted, kingdom-minded team of godly men who have given over 10 percent of our general budget to help church planters since our inception. Now, they have also agreed to give even more money to serve the greater church by launching The Resurgence ministry. This includes paying for the development of a massive website that will include thousands of free articles, audio and video podcasts, film reviews, music reviews, book reviews, and more. It also includes freeing up one of our elders, Gary Shavey, to serve as director of The Resurgence, and recently hiring Jon Krombein as the full-time content manager for the forthcoming website.
To kick The Resurgence off with a bang, we will launch the new website this spring, Zondervan will release my next book Confessions of a Reformission Rev.: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church in early May, and we will be hosting the Reform & Resurge Conference 2006 at Mars Hill Church in Seattle. Below I’ll introduce each of the main speakers and give some reasons why you will not want to miss this event.
