Missional
This book is for you--the normal, unimpressive, everyday person, young or old, male or female--because Jesus means to carry out his mission of filling the world with his presence through you. You are meant to do this.
The mission of Jesus is yours to participate in. It has always been God's intention to choose normal, everyday people, and to show his amazing power and glory through them. He's not looking for the most impressive person because he already is that person.
Saturate by Jeff Vanderstelt -- I've been able to spend some time with Jeff the last few years at conferences and Soma School. Remarkable guy with a remarkable (and simple) vision for the church being the church. And the vision, as I have experienced it first hand, is being realized. A book I wish I could gift to every one of my pastor friends.
Blind Spots by Collin Hansen -- "It's easier to associate only with our own. But anyone in the world can have that kind of community....True community results only from a miracle." Hansen explains and why the Church is are divided into three groups and how all three are important and should unite us.
The Reformation Study Bible (ESV) ed. R.C. Sproul -- Gorgeous and very useful. I use the ESV Study Bible every week, almost daily, and the RSB will now be used weekly as well.
Mea Culpa by Kyle McClellan -- I served in a volunteer capacity with Kyle as he pastored a church in Lexington, Kentucky over a decade ago. This is a book about his service as a young pastor who made some mistakes.
Bonhoeffer's Seminary Vision by Paul House -- As a guy who juuust missed having Paul House as a seminary professor (he left SBTS just as I arrived), I always look for chances to learn from him. Here's another opportunity specifically concerning theological education.
17 Bucket List Fried Chicken Restaurants -- Steve is getting HUUUNGRY!
5 Solutions for Churches that are Stalled -- "It's one thing to spout off statistics about stagnant churches, but it's a whole different sack of potatoes to acknowledge that your church has stalled. So I won't tell anyone that you're reading this. Our little secret. Here are five things you do when your church stalls."
At Soma School a few years back I got to know Chris Thomas. I resonated with Chris' personal story, his family's situation, his dedication to ministry, and his willingness to sacrifice to be a missionary where he lived. Soma and TGC have put out a video and article called "Dope Church." It's well worth your time. Here's a blurb. Go to TGC to read the rest.
Cherie sits on a bed and speaks life into Bill and his girlfriend, Katie, while they eat turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce. A motel room is a really weird place for a Thanksgiving dinner. It’s an even stranger setting for a memorial service.
We reminisce and thank God for Tom’s life, read the 23rd Psalm together, and sing “Amazing Grace.” That night, a room where people shoot dope and women are exploited became a fitting place for a holy God to do some healing.
One of the best experiences of my Christian life was Soma School. I've talked about it before. Jeff Vanderstelt has become someone I trust at a high level as a teacher. After spending time with him at Soma School he also became someone I deeply trust as a disciple of Jesus, a man, a pastor, a husband, and a father. If he had 50 books on Amazon, those would be the next 50 I'd buy. If I was forced to pack up today and choose another church to belong to for the rest of my life, Soma (Tacoma, WA) is in my top two. They aren't perfect. Far from it. But I've rarely been around a group of people that made me want to follow Jesus in everyday life, to know His Word, and to follow His Holy Spirit.
I say all that to say that Soma has now put Soma School teaching videos online. 1. Go to Soma School. Seriously. Highly recommend it. 2. In the mean time, watch these videos. The videos can't replace actually going and being immersed in the life of Soma. But they are a great start. I've put them all in this post for you to watch. If you need a short introduction to Soma, check out the last video extra. It's not a part of this video series, but it a helpful starting place to understand Soma.
1. What Is The Church -- Gospel Foundation
2. What Is The Church? -- Gospel Identity Pt 1
3. What Is The Church? -- Gospel Identity Pt 2
4. What Is The Church? -- Gospel Rhythms Pt 1
5. What Is The Church? -- Gospel Rhythms Pt 2
6. Building A Missional Community Pt 1
7. Building A Missional Community Pt 2
Extra: What Does A Missional Community Look Like?
If the church leaders say to people, "Living on mission in our city is vital," yet they rarely if ever offer opportunities for people to serve the city, then a chasm exists between how the leaders see the church and how others see her.
Creature of the Word (Kindle, WTS Bookstore), by Chandler, Patterson, & Geiger, pg 97.
Check out the new website of Beau Crosseto that includes other authors like JR Woodward (he posted on it today), James Choung, and others. What is Release the APE? I'm glad you asked...
Release the APE is all about activating the Apostolic, Prophetic, and Evangelistic vocations into the world. We are committed to telling real time APE stories, sharing thoughts that shape the APE, and encouraging believers to live into APE vocations so that all the potential for God movements can be unleashed everywhere.
You may know A.P.E.S.T. from Alan Hirsch's books & teaching. That's where the APE comes from. Who should read the blog? Here's their list
I align with several camps: I'm baptist. I'm reformed. I'm missional. Etc. This looks like a good site for the missional camp to engage, so I'll be reading. Would love to know what you think about their site as the first couple of posts have gone up: "Release the Apostolic, Prophetic, Evangelistic" Part 1 & Part 2. Also check them out on Twitter, Facebook.
I'm very excited to have Center Church by Dr. Timothy Keller in my library. It's nearly 400 pages and is packed full of good stuff. It's hard to describe how "packed full" it is until you see it. You can see pieces of it here...
Check out some of the praise it's receiving...
I'm not exaggerating when I say that Center Church is my favorite book Tim Keller has written thus far.
- Scotty Smith, Christ Community ChurchThis is not simply curriculum content; it is exactly the kind of life-giving, generative gospel theology our churches need.
- Stephen Um, CityLife Presbyterian Church, BostonThis book will help you if you are serious about seeing your city transformed by the gospel of grace.
- Darrin Patrick, Vice President of the Acts 29 NetworkIn Center Church, one of the great missionary statesmen of our times lays out a vision of the church vigorous enough to transform entire cities through its agency of the gospel.
- Alan Hirsch, Founding Director of Forge Mission Training Network
Watch this video. Note that Keller says, "Things that work in cities often we find work outside of cities as well." This is more than a book for city-center church planting, and as I have said several times, the best books on the church (regardless of where you are located) are urban church books.
Buy Center Church at 35% off (or 34% off at Amazon, if you prefer).
It sounded like a cheesy title, but Michael Frost (Exiles, The Shaping of Things to Come, ReJesus, The Road to Missional) delivered a simple, thought-provoking breakout at Exponential 2012 that I listened to by podcast last night. He compares a good marriage to how we say "I do" and "To death do us part" and the ongoing romance with our spouse with how a church loves her neighborhood (or city). I'd have some minor quibbles, but it was quite helpful for me.
Here are some of his thoughts and points from my sketchy notes, which you can see are comparable to marriage. Should we commit to our neighborhoods (cities) to a lifelong romance, till death do we part? Good thoughts here...
- Talk to your mayor, police chief, fire chief, school principals
- Eat in local restaurants, get in local cafes, walk the neighborhood
- Ask people what they want, long for, desire
- NOTE: Interesting section on midnight-5am "street pastors" 16:45 mark
- "Listen to your neighborhood, it is telling you--if you listen hard enough--how to evangelize them, how to serve them, how to unleash an awareness of the reign of God in that place."
- You will move culture to a tipping point by transforming hundreds of thousands of villages across the nation.
- If this place goes down, we will go down with you.
From Ray Ortlund's sermon on mission from August 12th at Immanuel Church (emphasis his).
...we live in a city and in a world that ignores [Jesus]. Sometimes we ignore him. ... We are not happy that the real Jesus is still ignorable in our city and far beyond. We don’t accept that. We’re making it our church mission, and I am asking you today to make it your life mission, to make the real Jesus non-ignorable in our city and far beyond.
[...]
Every one of us can be involved, because this is not for spiritual high-achievers; this is for broken sinners. God’s power comes down on weak people. So, you’re the one he wants to use. What are you going to do for Jesus that just can’t be ignored? What are we going to do together that can’t be ignored? That purpose is going to take us beyond routine church life. Routine church can be ignored. And it is our mission to change that, which we means we need to change first. The more repentance the world sees in us, the more repentance we’ll see in the world.
The Lord Jesus saw a vast harvest waiting to be gathered in but hardly any workers to do the job. So he issued an instruction to his followers: 'Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field' (Matthew 9:38).That command still applies today. Although 2000 years of Christian witness have past, there are still millions in our world who have never even heard the name of Christ. Even in countries where many profess to be Christians there is great ignorance, and a spiritual great hunger - which only the Gospel of Christ can answer.
This book is an attempt to describe the nature of gospel ministry and to answer the questions that those who are considering it may have. The aim is not to persuade everyone that they should give up their present jobs and offer themselves as workers to churches and missionary organizations. We all have different gifts. But we should all be asking ourselves this question: 'What is it that I could do that would most bring glory to God through the spread of the gospel?' For some that will mean staying where they are, for others it will mean a significant change of direction.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Introduction (Vaughan Roberts)
- Section 1: What is gospel ministry?
- 1. What is Gospel Ministry? (Vaughan Roberts)
- 2. The Character of Gospel Ministry (David Jackman)
- 3. The Priority of Gospel Ministry (Richard Coekin)
- Section 2: Varieties of gospel ministry
- 4. The pastor-teacher (Andy Gemmill)
- 5. The realities of being an evangelist (Roger Carswell)
- 6. Church planters for the harvest field (Tim Chester)
- 7. Gospel ministry overseas (Andy Lines)
- 8. Cross-cultural ministry in the UK (Andrew Raynes)
Go pick up Workers For The Harvest Field or another $2 Tuesdays deal.
Some new, some I'm just getting to, but here are some links to check out...
Good Book Company Giveaway: Tim Challies is giving away a bunch of The Good Book Company Bible study guides. Great chance to get theologically solid studies by guys like Tim Chester, Justin Buzzard, and Mark Dever. Also, keep an eye out for $2 Tuesdays from The Good Book Company starting next week!
GCM Conference: Highly recommend the GCM Conference coming up in September in Huntsville. My Soma School experience has me in love with GCM and what it is working to do. Sign up!
Paul Tripp: 6 Traits of a Pastor In Awe of God (get your awe back) | "I counsel you to run now, run quickly, to your Father of awesome glory. Confess the offense of your boredom. Plead for eyes opened to the 360-degree, 24/7 display of glory to which you have been blind. Determine to spend a certain portion of every day in meditating on his glory. Cry out for the help of others. And remind yourself to be thankful for Jesus, who offers you his grace even at those moments when grace isn't nearly as gloriously valuable to you as it should be."
J.I. Packer: Advice to Aspiring Writers - 1. Go deep in personal worship. 2. Write to hit hearts. 3. Write from a sense of calling.
The Gospel Project is worth checking out, if you haven't already. Curriculum for kids, students, and adults. Exciting new resource from Ed Stetzer, Trevin Wax, & LifeWay.
I was very isolated from my laptop on vacation (which lasted 2 weeks), but I did find stuff that looked interesting on my feed reader and my Twitter feed and then saved them for later. Here are a few things that caught my eye...
A few new books worth checking out have found there way into my possession. I hope my readers will check them out...
From Founders Press, Whomever He Wills edited by Matthew Barrett & Tom Nettles. It has some outstanding authors who have written different essays, including a forward by Timothy George.
Here are just a few of the essays I'm looking forward to reading...
2. Total Depravity: A Biblical and Theological Examination by Mark DeVine
8. God’s Sovereignty Over Evil by Stephen J. Wellum
10. John Calvin’s Understanding of the Death of Christ by Thomas J. Nettles
13. The Glorious Impact of Calvinism upon Local Baptist Churches by Tom Hicks
Founders Press has more info. Check it out.
Another book worth checking out is the Mission of God Study Bible (HCSB) edited by Ed Stetzer & Philip Nation. Been looking forward to this for some time, and it looks great. Contributors include good pastors and thinkers like Trevin Wax, Matt Chandler, Joe Thorn, Eric Mason, and Tullian Tchividjian.
Go read 7 reasons why I love the Mission of God Study Bible by Devin Maddox. Here are a couple...
This is a nice addition to the growing group of excellent study Bibles out there.
Jonathan Dodson's new eBook, Unbelievable Gospel, is another one worth checking out. From their website...
Very often we find it difficult to share our faith. In the workplace, neighborhood, or social settings, talking about the gospel doesn’t come up naturally. “Jesus” isn't a topic that hits the neighborhood Google groups, flows naturally on coffee breaks, or crosses our lips in local pubs. But when it does, all too often what we have to say is simply unbelievable. Even the way we share the gospel is often unbelievable. Are there actually good reasons for our hesitation in talking about Jesus? Despite what you might think, there are very good reasons for not talking about the gospel. In Unbelievable Gospel, Jonathan Dodson explores ways we shouldn't share the gospel as well as ways we could, to make the gospel more believable.
You can also see Desiring God's Helpful Quotes from The Unbelievable Gospel and reviews by Luma Simms, Tom Farr, and Greg Willson. Go buy Unbelievable Gospel.
Over the last couple of weeks I've been enjoying working out with Jerram Barrs audio from his two classes on Francis Schaeffer (Early Years & Later Years) at Covenant Seminary. Specifically, I've been listening by streaming through the Covenant Seminary Worldwide Classroom app on my Android phone.
I've thought for several years that one of the best things that could happen in American churches is that we would take a more L'Abri-like approach to our mission. You can read the Schaeffer's ministry at L'Abri in The Tapestry (out of print, but I just picked one up used but in perfect condition for $25) and L'Abri. I think churches like Soma Communities are doing this kind of thing better than most.
Whether or not you pick up the books, please go pick up these very helpful, free audio classes from Jerram Barrs are hard to beat as resources in thinking about mission, apologetics, living missionally, hospitality, etc. Download Francis Schaeffer: The Early Years and Francis Schaeffer: The Later Years now. You can get them through iTunes, or stream them over the Worldwide Classroom. While you are at it, find more great stuff from Jerram Barrs including his books The Heart of Evangelism and Learning Evangelism From Jesus.
I'm trying hard to figure out how to explain Soma School. For a couple of weeks now I've been in processing mode while unfolding the story of my week in Tacoma for my wife and kids, our church leaders and some of our members, our community group, and our church as a whole.
As a part of processing I'm working on a few posts to explain what I did at Soma School and what God is doing through what I learned there. First, what we did. The Soma School schedule for the week was well constructed to immerse us both in what they say and what they do by hearing it and actually doing it. You can view a general schedule online but it has been tweaked. Here's my brief overview with the tweaks included as well as some of my experience. I tried to be brief. Also, click on photos for larger version.
Tuesday: Fly in. Reception dinner & introductions at Shakabrah (Jeff Vanderstelt and Caesar Kalinowski's restaurant). GCM vision, Soma vision, & expectations for the week were also discussed, along with some exhortations about being teachable.
I enjoyed some time with a few other Soma attendees from Toronto between landing and the evening beginning. We met on the car ride from the airport and had an amazing story. More on that another time.
We each left with our host family as they came to pick us up.
Wednesday: Story of God. 10 hour story from creation to consummation, compressed to about 6 hours. and taught in two 3 hour sessions. In between we visited Network Tacoma for lunch and to see how they serve the homeless community.
Everyone was assigned a missional community (MC, more info) to attend either Wednesday evening or Thursday evening. I was assigned Jeff Vanderstelt's MC on Wednesday. Jeff brought us to their house and people started showing up. A few folks brought dinner and cooked it as most folks were hanging out and talking. Dinner was served and people were spread all around the house, still talking. Then we all gathered in one room as the MC was finalizing their MC covenant. They didn't talk much about it after the conversation got side-tracked to one woman's concern with how often Jeff, the leader of Soma and the MC, travels. It made for an interesting and eye-opening discussion on expectations, some good ones and some not as much. But it was an open, beautifully messy conversation about who they are and what they are trying to do together.
Both Wednesday and Thursday included pub nights, where Soma School attenders could go out with some Soma guys and talk about pretty much anything. I went both nights (Parkway Tavern), and it was lively conversation.
Thursday: 6 hours on Identities and Rhythms. Lunch in between with Seth McBee and other Soma School attenders to discuss various topics. A handful of Soma leaders were available so attenders could choose who to go to lunch with to discuss their areas of expertise. Really smart and helpful.
Without an MC to attend, Josh Cousineau and I grabbed dinner, late coffee, and headed to pub night. Banter with Jeff Vanderstelt and Sam DeSocio, stories of other conferences, and a packed table with tons of laughter filled the evening.
Friday: 6 hours on the 4 G's: God is Great, God is Glorious, God is Good, and God is Gracious. Followed by 90 minutes of time to repent together in triads. Wow. Powerful. I hate when I'm forced into something like that. It was a running joke that if we knew that was coming we might not have attended Soma School. But it was one of the best experiences of the trip for me, to have 30 minutes for me to tell two brothers how I'm struggling to believe in my heart that God really is these things. Lunch was with Seth McBee again. Also Caesar Kalinowski. Teriyaki. Mmm, good.
Friday night was the songwriters's showcase at Shakabrah featuring Aaron Spiro and others. Packed room enjoying good music.
Saturday: Sacred Space work. Nearly 6 hours of work at Wapato Park. We attacked a large section of the park and took out massive amounts of unwanted growth. Exhausting, but dozens from Soma and Soma School did some beautiful work. What a lesson in a community of faith serving her city.
Then I showered and tried to rest a bit before an expression dinner that my host family is connected with. Great conversation with Justin and Chris and their wives, as well as many others. It was one lady's birthday and they took significant time to surround her and let her know how they see God at work in her life and then pray for her. Eye-opening, beautiful, and something I'd never seen done except very superficially.
Sunday: Attended both morning Soma Tacoma Gatherings with Josh Cousineau. Loved how they did the Lord's Supper. MC's are encouraged to take it together. So they go to a table with a loaf of bread and both juice & wine (intinction), and then they walk away together to circle-up and pray. I took at the 9am gathering with my host family and at the 11:15am gathering with Josh and a couple other Soma School guys.
After, our Soma buddy Lairs took us to Seattle for some burgers and the 5pm Mars Hill service. This was optional, and most other Soma School attenders carpooled up for sightseeing in Seattle. But we did our own thing.
Monday: This is where it all came together. About 6 hours of teaching on building a missional community, which included significant time for questions and answers from two different panels of Soma folks and other discussion.
Lunch for me and a handful of others was with Sam Ticas where we discussed various Soma things, systems, etc.
Dinner was with my host family, John, Trisha and little Aaron before we went to Shakabrah one more time. This time it was host family (John & Trisha, for me) & Soma School attenders together to close out the week, with the opportunity for each attender to share one takeaway from the week. I'll share mine in a future post.
There was a great move of the Spirit in the room as attenders opened up and shared amazing things God was doing. Someone asked Jeff Vanderstelt how we (attenders) could pray for Soma. We then spent a significant amount of time praying for Soma, which was completely unplanned. Wonderful. Then they prayed for us and we left. I packed up and prepared for my flight home on Tuesday.
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That's a brief overview of the week not only according to the schedule, but as I experienced it. I probably forgot a few significant things. I purposefully left out some of what God was doing in me as I want to give that a more singular focus. All in all it was a week I'll never forget. John & Trisha were great hosts, loving me and serving me well. Teaching from Caesar Kalinowski, Abe Meysenburg, and Jeff Vanderstelt was excellent. But the whole week learning with head, heart, and hands was remarkable and is incomparable with anything else I've experienced. If you are considering attending Soma School, I highly recommend it. More posts to come.
Mark Beeson on community & mission...
Church is not an event; it's a community. Mission is not an event; it's a lifestyle.
Tim Chester on meals, discipleship, & mission...
People often complain that they lack time for mission. But we all have to eat. Three meals a day, seven days a week. That’s twenty-one opportunities for mission and community without adding anything to your schedule. You could meet up with another Christian for breakfast on the way to work—read the Bible together, offer accountability, pray for one another. You could meet up with colleagues at lunchtime. ...chat to the person across the table from you in the cafeteria. You could invite your neighbors over for a meal. Better still, invite them over with another family from church. That way you get to do mission and community at the same time; plus your unbelieving neighbors will get to see the way the gospel impacts our relationships as Christians (John 13:34–35; 17:20–21). You could invite someone who lives alone to share your family meal and follow it with board games, giving your children an opportunity to serve others through their welcome.
Mike Wilkersen at Resurgence on Journal of Biblical Counseling's return...
Yesterday, CCEF announced the JBC's return in a new online format, with the new issue freely viewable now.
Tim Keller on NYC ban of churches renting schools for worship gatherings...
I am grieved that New York City is planning to take the unwise step of removing 68 churches from the spaces that they rent in public schools. It is my conviction that those churches housed in schools are invaluable assets to the neighborhoods that they serve.
Seth McBee on multiplying disciples...
You must regularly talk about multiplication and train the next group for its certainty. It must always be on your lips and prayers, and always on your people’s lips and prayers. If it’s not, then it will be very difficult when it happens–like kicking out your unsuspecting child and telling them it’s healthy.
Here's a list of the Soma School leaders & attenders (Jan 2012) on Twitter. If I'm missing anyone, please let me know and I'll update the list. Also, I pleaded with Abe Meysenburg to get on Twitter. Everyone put the pressure on him! :)
SOMA
SOMA SCHOOL ATTENDERS (Jan 2012)
Bob Logan with another helpful post on coaching the people who 'get it.'
Among people who indicate receptivity to missional living, some will be willing to go the extra mile in living it out. Look for those who “get” missional living and are willing to take risks, even if they’re not great at it.
These are the people you need to be investing in...
He then offers some simple questions to use in coaching them...
- Where are you now?
- Where do you sense God tugging on your heart lately?
- Where does God want you to go?
- What actions might God be leading you toward?
- What are the next steps you can take?
Go read Logan's entire post, and follow his blog. Solid stuff there regularly. For example, I recently posted on his post, "Creating a Coaching Culture."
Jeff Vanderstelt of Soma Communities talks about how missional communities (mc's) do mission. If you aren't familiar with missional communities, or the way they are done at Soma, this is fascinating. He talks about every member mission, how and why mc's write their own covenants after choosing a people group they intend to reach together, how the church commissions them for the mission, coaching mc's get, and more. The covenant answers: "What would it look like for us to radically reorient our lives on a daily, weekly, monthly basis to reach those people together?"
Here's my best shot at creating one post with links to everything from Together for Adoption featured bloggers. Not every blogger wrote on everything or was present for every main session. I expect more posts are still coming with reflections on T4A in the days to come. I know I have some unfinished posts on some talks and a handful of other reflections to share. If you see things I've missed, let me know. FYI: I know other bloggers/twitterers said a lot at T4A, but I'm focusing on the "featured bloggers." If you want to put a link to other helpful posts in the comments from non-featured bloggers, that would be a great addition to the list.
Check out tweets still coming out from #t4aCon attenders and others RTing good quotes. Also go back in the Twitter accounts (listed below) for a ton of great quotes. That may be the best way to get direct quotes, while the posts often contain interaction on the quotes and topics.
BLOGGERS - Name [link to Twitter account] (abbreviation)
MAIN SESSIONS
Darrin Patrick | Session 1 - The Church & Social Justice
Tullian Tchividjian | Session 2 - Surprised by Adoption
Dan Cruver | Session 3 - Adoption & The God Who Cares
Bryan Loritts | Session 4 - The Church as the Theater of Transracial Adoption
Jeff Vanderstelt | Session 5 - Gospel-Motivation for Missional Living
Tim Chester | Session 6 - Relaxing in Trinitarian Love
PRE-CONFERENCE & BREAKOUTS
MISC & POST-CONFERENCE
