Reformissionary

Cheap Kindle Books 4.5.13

Some fantastic books are cheap on Kindle right now...

• The Church Planting Wife | Christine Hoove ($4.99) - please go buy this!
• The Good News We Almost Forgot | Why We Love The Church | Just Do Something | Kevin DeYoung ($4.99 each)
• Glorious Ruin | Tullian Tchivijian ($4.49)
• Brothers, We Are Not Professionals | John Piper ($4.39)
• The Gospel & Personal Evangelism | Mark Dever ($3.99)
• The Deep Things Of God | Fred Sanders ($3.82)
• Creature of the Word | Matt Chandler, Eric Geiger, Josh Patterson ($3.99)
• Counterfeit Gospels | Trevin Wax ($4.99) 
• Gopsel | JD Greear ($3.99)

The Church Planting Wife

There has been no other book that I've been this thankful for, concerning my wife. She has been deeply affected by reading and meditating on The Church Planting Wife by Christine Hoover. I'm writing with her permission

Our marriage hasn't been the same since she started reading it. That's no overstatement. She's understood her role better, my role better, God's perspective and love and grace better, etc. I can't even describe the full impact this book has already had on her, and me. What I can describe is that I (as the husband) feel more encouraged by her, understood, helped, cared for, and loved. Sorry to be so vague as there are specific things I can point to, but I want to allow her to continue to process this book.

I asked Molly to provide me with a quote in the book or something to post, and she left me somewhere around 20 quotes...as the ones she would single out for a post. I'll give you one. :) Here's a blurb from the book website about the book and a quote that has been meaningful for Molly. First, about the book...

Behind every church planter is a church planting wife, who plays an integral role in the formation of the church, who is often the sole encourager for her husband, and who juggles such an intense ministry while nurturing a family.

Because she is so crucial to the church planter and the church, church planting wives need support, encouragement, and help in their roles. They need an apt word from someone who has been there and applicable biblical wisdom that will sustain them.

Here's one of Molly's favorite quotes that has helped her refresh her calling as a church planting (or in our case, replanting) wife...

My husband has many people who care about him, respect him, and help him lead the church. But he only has one helpmate. I am the only one who listens to his deep discouragement, who satisfies his physical needs, who mothers his children, who is a constant and true companion, who protects his periods of rest, and who values his fruitfulness as much as he does.

Church planting is a "together" calling. 

Molly's response to the dozens and dozens of "aha" moments in this book has been that she wishes she had this book 10 years ago before I entered a full-time pastoral work. There are not only great chapters by Hoover, but helpful interviews with church planting wives like Lauren Chandler (Matt), Ginger Vassar (JR), and Jennifer Carter (Matt).

I've already ordered a copy for a church planter friend's wife and one to have ready to give out when the opportunity presents itself. I want you to pick up a copy for your wife, your pastor's wife (even if not a planter, trust me!), or whoever could benefit from this book. I had no idea when I got this book how much it would impact my marriage in such a short period of time. I'm praying it will have a lasting impact on hundreds of other church planting wives. Molly says to read it slowly and don't rush through it. Take it in, deal with your heart.

Buy The Church Planting Wife. Also pastor/planter/replanter wives should visit and read Christine Hoover's blog, GraceCoversMe.com.

Tim Keller: Center Church | $8.99 on Kindle

Wow! Center Church is $8.99 on Kindle. No idea how long. So hurry up and get it! I have a physical copy and I'm buying the Kindle version too.

Tim Keller Speaking LIVE on Center Church

Livestreaming now! 2pm on Friday, October 19th...

Watch live streaming video from zondervan at livestream.com

Tim Keller | Center Church Livestream

This should be good. Two hour livestream with Tim Keller focusing on Center Church during a @TGC regional event. A week from today. Mark your calendar. Here's the schedule...

3:00-3:15 p.m.
Introduction to Tim Keller and The Gospel Coalition New England Regional Conference
Stephen Um

3:15-4:00 p.m.
Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City
Tim Keller

4:00-4:45 p.m.
Contextualization and Theological Vision
Tim Keller, Richard Lints, David Wells, and Stephen Um

4:45-5:00 p.m.
Live Q&A from Boston audience and from online
Use #TGCNE12 and #CenterChurch

Tim Keller | Center Church Releases Tomorrow!

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...

• Introduction & Table of Contents
• Chapter 10: Active Contextualization

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 Church

This is not simply curriculum content; it is exactly the kind of life-giving, generative gospel theology our churches need.
- Stephen Um, CityLife Presbyterian Church, Boston

This 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 Network

In 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).

Michael Frost | Romancing Your City

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...

• Move in to the neighborhood God has sent you to
• Listen to your neighborhood

• 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."

• Partner with your neighborhood
• Stay for a long time in your neighborhood (sickness or health, rich or poor, till death do we part)

• 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.

While I Was Away...

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...

• Tim Keller: 4 Wrong Answers To The Question "Why Me?" | In Defense of Apologetics
• David Murray: Spiritual Strength Training Pt 1 | Pt 2: 7 R's of Soul Care & Maintenance
• Seth McBee wouldn't quit talking about this book (kindle edition) & wrote The Neighborhood Mission Start Up
• Joe Thorn: Plant Midwest
• Matt Smethurst: Unbelievable Gospel: A Conversation With Jonathan Dodson
• Christianity Today gives Wayfarer: The River 4/5 stars
• Joe Gorra: Evangelism & God's Presence (a review of The Sacrament of Evangelism)
• Chris Lagerlof: Rethinking Evangelism

PLNTD Conference: Cultivating Gospel Communities

At the end of March (March 30-31), the PLNTD Network is hosting a great training event in South Florida focused on cultivating gospel communities. Steve Timmis and Jared Wilson are scheduled to speak, and there will be breakout sessions as well as Q&A to discuss and consider contextual application to your local church.

Get the details (schedule, location, hotel, reservations) by going to the conference website. Current registration for the conference is $49, but PLNTD has a special promotional code for Reformissionary readers. Get $10 off that price when you put "mccoy" in the promotional code slot as you register.

Here's a description of the conference from their website:

God has given the church a mission. At the very heart of that mission is the call to make disciples. And at the very heart of making disciples is gospel communities on mission.

The PLNTD conference : Cultivating Gospel Communities

is a training event focused on equipping God's people to engage in the mission of the church in ordinary life with gospel intentionality. The gospel is extraordinary good news, and communities formed and fueled by the gospel are persuasive displays of how life-transforming and kingdom-advancing it really is. During these two days, we will pursue ways to communicate in word and commend in deed the gospel to our neighbors as we pray for a move of God that impacts our cities for Christ.

Who should attend this training event?

Anyone who wants to make, mature, and multiply gospel-centered disciples. Pastors, church planters, small group leaders, and ministry apprentices/interns are strongly encouraged to attend. For those in South Florida, you will also hear about new developments to collaborate for kingdom advance through the formation of a regional network. There is no better time to get in the trenches and scatter the gospel seed than now! We hope you'll join us!

Sounds great! Hope many will get to go. When you get there, give Timmy Brister a big kiss from me. Actually, a hug will do. :)

PLNTD Conference: Cultivating Gospel Communities

At the end of March (March 30-31), the PLNTD Network is hosting a great training event in South Florida focused on cultivating gospel communities. Steve Timmis and Jared Wilson are scheduled to speak, and there will be breakout sessions as well as Q&A to discuss and consider contextual application to your local church.

Get the details (schedule, location, hotel, reservations) by going to the conference website. Current registration for the conference is $49, but PLNTD has a special promotional code for Reformissionary readers. Get $10 off that price when you put "mccoy" in the promotional code slot as you register.

Here's a description of the conference from their website:

God has given the church a mission. At the very heart of that mission is the call to make disciples. And at the very heart of making disciples is gospel communities on mission.

The PLNTD conference : Cultivating Gospel Communities

is a training event focused on equipping God's people to engage in the mission of the church in ordinary life with gospel intentionality. The gospel is extraordinary good news, and communities formed and fueled by the gospel are persuasive displays of how life-transforming and kingdom-advancing it really is. During these two days, we will pursue ways to communicate in word and commend in deed the gospel to our neighbors as we pray for a move of God that impacts our cities for Christ.

Who should attend this training event?

Anyone who wants to make, mature, and multiply gospel-centered disciples. Pastors, church planters, small group leaders, and ministry apprentices/interns are strongly encouraged to attend. For those in South Florida, you will also hear about new developments to collaborate for kingdom advance through the formation of a regional network. There is no better time to get in the trenches and scatter the gospel seed than now! We hope you'll join us!

Sounds great! Hope many will get to go. When you get there, give Timmy Brister a big kiss from me. Actually, a hug will do. :)

Tim Keller | "Changing the World Through Cities"

Tim Keller recently spoke at Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tennessee on "Changing the World Through Cities." Go listen and/or download.

UPDATE: There were three talks given, all available online. (Also note the 2007 talk.)

• "Should I Not Love That Great City"
• "Gospel Movements In Cities"
• "Changing the World Through Cities"
• Plus, a little birdie told me there is a Q&A session not posted

Soma School: What We Did

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.

-----

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.

Tim Keller | The Berlin Conference

Tim Keller gave three talks at the 2011 Berlin Conference, two of which were followed by questions & answers. You have to register on the City to City Europe website to download, but it's worth it. His talks...

• The Gospel-Centered Church (also Q&A)
• The Urban Church (also Q&A)
• The Holistic Church

Go to City to City Europe to download them.

Tullian Tchividjian - War & Peace

Christianity Today (Drew Dyck) interviews Tullian Tchividjian on his move to Coral Ridge, the dark days of church transition, and the realities of the Gospel that got him through. A snippit...

I was realizing in a fresh way the now-power of the gospel—that the gospel doesn't simply rescue us from the past and rescue us for the future; it also rescues us in the present from being enslaved to things like fear, insecurity, anger, self-reliance, bitterness, entitlement, and insignificance. Through my pain, I was being convinced all over again that the power of the gospel is just as necessary and relevant after you become a Christian as it is before.

When that biblical reality gripped my heart, I was free like I had never felt before in my life. It gives you the backbone to walk into a room full of church leaders and say "this is what we're going to do and this is why we're going to do it, even if it gets me thrown into the street."

There is a fresh I-don't-care-ness that accompanies belief in the gospel. Whether you like me or not doesn't matter, because my worth and my dignity and my identity are anchored in God's approval. Christ won all of the approval and acceptance I need.

Go read the whole interview. 

Darrin Patrick: Church Planter | $2.99 on Kindle

Darrin Patrick's excellent, beloved book, Church Planter, is $2.99 on Kindle.

Redeemer City to City

Redeemer City to City, a network founded by Redeemer NYC and Dr. Tim Keller, has a new site up and it looks great. Here's a video intro to their ministry.

Bryan Chapell Discussion with Tim Keller

Tim Keller was at Covenant Seminary and had a discussion with his friend and Covenant President Bryan Chapell (podcasted in December of 2010). Bryan Chapell led a two part discussion with him followed by a two part question & answer time.

The heart of the conversation was Counterfeit Gods, but tons of other rich, helpful stuff. We get stuff from Keller's prayer life, to the three year revival at Redeemer (according to Jonathan Edwards' standards), to the difficulties and blessings of 9/11 at Redeemer, to his thoughts on how getting "fame" as a pastor late in life has impacted Redeemer and their future and the push for leadership development, to how he prepares sermons, and bunches more. So good.

MP3's are below (original source). Or do as I did: go subscribe to Living Christ Today podcast and find the episodes from December. Tons of other great stuff there from Chapell and others. 

Click to listen, right click to download...

Discussion 1 | Discussion 2 || Q&A 1 | Q&A 2

Lots-o-Links 1.21.2011

I'm reading Joe Thorn's new book, Note To Self, right now. Go pre-order it. I'm really liking it. Helpful for my soul.

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals: III/IV is $3.99 today. (21 tracks)

My family is headed tonight to the Crossway Books premier book reception and art exhibition for the publication of the FOUR HOLY GOSPELS (leather or cloth), featuring paintings by the renowned artist Makoto Fujimura. Check out some of it. More in a mini-documentary...

Makoto Fujimura - The Art of "The Four Holy Gospels" from Crossway on Vimeo

Before visiting the exhibition we are eating at the new Wheaton Chick fil-A and perusing books at Richard Owen Roberts Booksellers. We are leaving early as I'm going to try to meet with Mr. Roberts for a bit. He is a well-known speaker, writer, and editor specifically on the issue of revival, which is what I'm preaching on. He was also interim pastor of the church I currently pastor and I have received good advice during sit-downs with him before. So I'm going to look for books on revival and speak to an expert on the subject. It's going to be a great night!

Oh, and if you haven't seen my post on John MacArthur's uncharitable response to Darrin Patrick's excellent book, Church Planter, you should go check it out.

John MacArthur on Darrin Patrick's Book

UPDATE 1.25.2011 | Darrin Patrick responds to John MacArthur -- Not Radical Individualism: A Reply to John MacArthur - They are good words, gracious words.

----------

I've learned a lot from John MacArthur since becoming a Christian. He was a "go to" preacher early on for me. I met him at SBTS somewhere in the early 2000's it was a great pleasure for me.

He was interviewed on Sunday night by Phil Johnson - Theology & Ministry: An Interview with John MacArthur. Go forward until there's about 27 minutes remaining and start listening (for context). With a little more than 25 minutes to go you get John MacArthur saying this...

You know, there's a new book on church planting written by a guy named Darrin Patrick and it says if you want to be an effective church planter, develop your own theology.

You know when I read that I just almost fell off the chair. What? I mean, can you think of anything worse than to have some guy develop his own theology? This is ultimate niche marketing. Develop your own style, your own wardrobe, and then your own theology.

Anyone care to rip this apart? MacArthur should be embarrassed.

UPDATE: And you should buy and read Darrin Patrick's Church Planter, endorsed by Al Mohler, Ed Stetzer, Matt Chandler, Tim Keller, Mark Dever, and others who see things a little different than John MacArthur.

PLANT! Conference | March 24-26, 2011

PLANT! Conference is looking pretty awesome. Love stuff like this, where like-minded guys from various backgrounds and networks come together. Here's some info. It's not expensive. You should go.

PLANT! | March 24-26, 2011

Location | Covenant Fellowship Church, Glen Mills, PA

Cost | $99 bucks

Who Should Go | Church planters, pastors, pastors who desire to see their church plant churches, members of churches who desire to be a part of planting a church some day

Why Go To PLANT! | Sovereign Grace is gathering church planting thinkers and doers from different denominations and church planting movements for three days of teaching and dialogue about planting and building churches on the gospel.

Learn from a group of men from Acts 29, Sovereign Grace, the PCA, and 9 Marks who have planted, replanted and are in the midst of leading planting movements. Men like Darrin Patrick and Daniel Montgomery from Acts 29, Mark Dever and Mike McKinley from 9 Marks and the SBC, Tim Witmer from the PCA, CJ Mahaney, Dave Harvey, Pete Greasley, Craig Cabaniss from Sovereign Grace Ministries.

Get more info & register at PLANT! Conference website. Connect on Facebook.

Tim Keller: Urban Plant Life PDFs

Here are PDF's of talks Tim Keller gave at the Urban Plant Life conference in London a couple of years ago. You can also check out the audio/video or grab the podcast. But having documents you can print and search is very helpful. Thanks to @BradAndrews for the heads-up.

1. Gospel Renewal
2. Church & Culture
3. Contextual & Missional
4. Gospel Theology
5. Integrative Ministry
6. Gospel Preaching
7. Gospel Theology
8. Movement Dynamics
9. Church Planting

(original location)

Tim Keller: God's Global Urban Mission

From Lausanne Cape Town 2010 Tim Keller's message "What is God's global urban mission?" is now up on video.

What is God’s Global Urban Mission? from Redeemer City to City on Vimeo.

Tim Keller at Lausanne

Here's a 17+ minute video of Tim Keller talking at Lausanne about how you reach cities by 1. Planting & renewing churches that are contextual to the city, 2. Establishing citywide gospel movements.

Driscoll on Humility & Notoriety

There was a ton of comment here at Reformissionary and around the internet on the Mark Dever, Mark Driscoll & James MacDonald video discussing multi-site & video venues in church planting. You really need to watch that video and check the comments on my earlier post.

A video was posted by Driscoll talking about humility and notoriety, specifically mentioning the previous video and the response of people to it. Here you go...

Multi-Site: Dever, MacDonald & Driscoll

I'm somewhere in the middle on the multi-site debate. I'm much more sympathetic to a local/regional multi-site like Tim Keller. I find video venues problematic. James MacDonald & Mark Driscoll both have multi-sites with some video venues. Mark Dever is the guy who says even multiple services is a problem resulting in multiple congregations. So though he could have many more people and services and locations, he still only has one service. I'm not exactly in any of their camps, though I like each of these guys and most of what they do.

But when these three come together for a conversation I expected it to be very interesting and full of thought-provoking argument. It's not. It's a lot of misunderstanding and misdirection and sometimes almost insulting comments, though no one acts offended and I'm sure they assume the best of each other. 

So many good questions and points need to be discussed and answered, and I'm not sure a single one was in this video. A few thoughts...

There is an assumption that multi-sites become their own congregations after the leader dies and that multi-sites with video are better because they aren't tied to the leader being there and everyone interacting with him. But why can't they be tied to the leader still?

If that leader's face and name wasn't a part of the venue and movement, people wouldn't come in the same numbers. Their "celebrity" brings in the people, which is a part of why it's used. That's why it works. To assume people will stay after that name and face are gone doesn't work to me. I don't know of any church that has been that far in their history to know if that will work or not. But shouldn't we be concerned for these venues since the name and face is so important?

Let me add, celebrities don't stop becoming celebrities when they aren't in the personal presence of someone. Driscoll seems to imply that. In video venues we make our preaching celebrities more like cultural ones...by putting them on TV. I know there's more to it than that, but I'm really surprised that the conversation doesn't go in that direction. I wish Dever would have pushed more there.

One last thing. Where was the theological basis of the discussion. There was a little on church meaning "assembly" at the beginning, but it turned to plans and numbers and stats and a bunch of stuff other than theology and Bible. In that I wonder if Dever is more open to these things than he has been in the past or if a 2 on 1 conversation is just a bad idea unless the 2 are going to be fair in how they argue with the 1. I'd rather not see your ribbing and "fist bumping" approach and see you really engage deeply on issues that are important. I need to hear these men generously argue with each other. I think we all do. I think that's why the conversation and video exist. But I think it failed to produce something worthwhile.

What say you?

Know Your City - Remember the Poor

When I moved to Woodstock I made an effort to get to know the city that I've come to love and serve. I still do. My basic approach is to keep up on local news through our papers and such, to spend time enjoying my city (eat the food, sit in the café, go to a concert or a high school football game), talk to businessmen and women, shop locally, read on city and county and region demographics, ask people questions about what good in the city and where the needs are, and so on.

I've come to see this isn't enough.

A couple of weeks ago a new video game store opened in town. My boys wanted to check it out. As we were there my daughter and I popped in to the Dollar General store. As I opened the door to enter I felt uncomfortable. I was uncomfortable because I realized most of my friends probably wouldn't be caught dead in there. And neither would I. That's where "poor people" shop. 

I have a real fear that missional pastors and churches aren't doing much better than the institutional, traditional church. That approaches to knowing our city like mine are missing a key element, remembering the poor. 

• Luke 4 - Jesus quotes Isaiah and fulfills these words, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor."
• Galatians 2:10 - Paul is told to "remember the poor," likely a reference to poor Christians in Jerusalem.
• James 2:2 - James warns against giving the better seats to the rich and letting the poor sit on the floor.

One of the most convicting to me...

• Luke 14:12-14 - When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.

If we're being honest I think we have to admit that when we go to take the gospel to a city we too often take it among the rich (or richer). 

I mentioned the local farmers market and Paul in the marketplace in a recent post. They aren't the same. I love our local farmers market, but it's not where those with less money can shop. It's for those with more. The marketplace of Paul's day was for everyone. In our day we are, more or less, financially segregated. Let's remedy the fact that we usually live along the lines of our financial status and really get to know our city.

So it's important to know your city in terms of the flow of commerce and places to eat and politics and news, etc. But I think we need to do better to know our city by also hanging with and living among those with less. A few ideas...

<>You probably shop at stores that are nice and clean and big and has a big selection and has fashion you like. Find out where people with less money shop for groceries, clothes, etc. Where do single moms shop? Where do most people with food stamps shop? Now, shop there for the next couple of months.

<>You hang at the café in order to meet your neighbors. Good. Now realize how many people in your city can't afford it. Or realize how many won't get their coffee there because they don't "fit in." Where do they hang? What do they do instead? Can you hang there? If not, why not? Is it pride? Fear?

<>A lot of people don't have or can't afford a washer/dryer. Spend the next month doing laundry for your family at a laundromat. Don't just go to the cleanest & newest one. Go to the one nearest to public housing. Go when traffic is high and get to know those neighbors.

What do you think?

Destination: New Church in Chicago

One thing I get excited about is seeing new churches planted in Chicago. I'd like to introduce you my friend, Matt Sweetman, and the work he is doing in our city. Matt, his wife Heather and their two boys moved to Chicago in 2009. His vision that he shared with me a couple of years ago almost exactly matched some heart desires I've had for the north side of Chicago for the last 5 years or so. 

I talked to Matt a couple of weeks ago about what's currently happening. Here is what he told me about this new Chicago church, Destination, and what they are experiencing...

• We've always dreamed of a community of Christians who would take the mission seriously. In a recent prayer time we crammed people into our apartment and everyone prayed passionately for a friend who is outside the community. There is real ownership of sharing the gospel with outsiders through authentic relationships covered in prayer and a risk to invite them into the community. We are starting to see a breakthrough with this. It's not just leaders. It's everyone working together to bring people. It's very exciting.
• We had an excellent Easter Sunday service recently after distributing thousands of invitations both through personal invites and a public push at three major ‘L’ stations. Including kids we had 54 people. It was our one year birthday. Rather than connecting with people from other churches, we've found many disconnected and isolated Christians who are not being discipled. God seems to have joined them to us quickly. This was unexpected but very encouraging. 
• We had 5 new members join Destination in the past month. 7 married couples completed the Love & Respect course this past month including one new couple who are considering joining Destination. 
• We've settled in really well to our new venue at ComedySportz and we’ve continued to see first-time visitors every Sunday since we moved locations. The venue allows us to make church relaxing and remove many of the traps of religion. People are hearing the gospel more effectively because many of the things that our generation questions the church about are gone. They are left to ask deeper questions about the reality of Jesus.

Pray for Matt, his family and this new church. Learn more about Destination.

Lots-o-Links 3.3.10

Bill Streger: Uncool People Need Jesus Too...

I have yet to assess a church planter who wants to move to a declining, smaller city and reach out to blue collar factory workers, mechanics, or construction crews. Not one with an evangelsitic strategy to go after the 50-something administrative assistant who’s been working at the same low-paying insurance firm for three decades now....Why is that?

Brent Thomas: Would You Like To Be Part of a Movement...

Though, on paper, we offer much less than other churches (we “do” Sunday mornings and Community Groups), we are actually asking you to consider an entire reorientation of your life around the Mission of God (Missio Dei), to be part of a movement, to transform the culture of the NorthWest Phoenix Valley through the power of the Gospel.

New resource from TheGoodBook.com called Beginning with God...

Beginning With God helps parents start a Bible-reading routine with their preschool-age children. The beautifully-designed book from The Good Book Company is an easy-to-use companion to the Beginner’s Bible and other popular toddler’s Bibles.

Check out new music from These New Puritans and The Besnard Lakes.

Lots-o-Links 2.9.10

Brief Molly Update: Molly has been having some rough symptoms from her Chiari I Malformation the last 2 weeks. Day to day she doesn't know how she is going to feel. For the most part she keeps living and enjoying life and serving others as much as she usually does. In lots of ways she is looking to do more. What a lady! We are hoping the symptoms will just go away, and we believe they will in time. Thanks for praying for her.

I'm reviewing Gospel-Centred Life this week, Lord-willing. Already reviewed Gospel-Centred Family and Gospel-Centred Church.

Jonathan Dodson: 10 Tips for Missional Community Leaders

Jonathan McIntosh introduces us to the vision of Christ City Church in Memphis, his new plant. Maybe you or your church could help support this plant by my friend.

Christ City Church Vision Video from Rethink Mission on Vimeo.

Verge-alicious Stuff...

• I have a series of blog posts on Verge coming up.
• A couple of orgs mentioned: Grounds4Good, LifeTree Cafe, Help Haiti
• Alan Hirsch videos from Verge
• Post-Verge thoughts from Brent Thomas, Jonathan McIntosh, Brandon Hatmaker 

Francis Chan's animated video played at Verge: The Big Red Tractor...

The Big Red Tractor from Jacob Lewis on Vimeo.

Redeemer City to City

Some good Tim Keller news...Redeemer's Church Planting Center has become Redeemer City to City. Grab their RSS feed. Resources are being put there. Follow them on Twitter, befriend on Facebook, check out their Flickr and Vimeo accounts. Good stuff.

Lots-o-Links 1.15.10

Praying for the people of Haiti. Please comment with your recommendations on where to donate to help, and feel free to include a link. Redeemer lists three ministries.

If you aren't reading Trevin Wax (Twitter) he's doing good blogging. His book, Holy Subversion, comes out soon. Worth checking out.

JD Payne, my church planting professor at SBTS, author, missiologist, is now on Twitter and blogging. I just got his newest book in the mail, Discovering Church Planting and look forward to digging into some sections that might help during our church renewal process.

Memphis is starting to talk about Jonathan McIntosh.

Mark Dever interviews Matt Chandler, pre-cancer diagnosis.

Brent Thomas is no longer the Baptist he never was.

Brief Molly Update: She is doing well, with no major symptoms or issues. Very blessed. 

Lots-o-Links 12.30.09

Joe Thorn: Dangerous Theology interview & Ambition Conference audio

JR Vassar: Planning an Intentional Devotional Life in 2010

Mark Bergin and The Painted Door in the Chicago Tribune

Trevin Wax: The State of the Blogosphere

Ben Arment: 2nd Whiteboard coming in May

Avett Brothers: Emotionalism only $1.99 today

• Rereading Finding Common Ground by Tim Downs
• Reworking through Redeemer Church Planting Manual by Tim Keller

Lots-o-Links 11.12.09

Creation Project: Resources for Biblical Womanhood, Resources for Biblical Manhood -- also Thinking Well About Your City

Mark Driscoll: Organizing a Silence and Solitude Day, Part 1 (4 more coming)

1. Bad review of Deep Church from Greg Gilbert/9 Marks 
2. Good response by Deep Church author, Jim Belcher 
3. Helpful thoughts from Brent Thomas

Rethink Mission: Books Every Church Planter Needs to Read

I connected at the Acts 29 Boot Camp in Louisville with a guy I met a years ago at Capitol Hill BC in DC, Brad Byrd. I stayed at his house when visiting CHBC. He gave me a copy of The Gospel-Centred Church workbook by Steve Timmis and Tim Chester from the press he works for, The Good Book Company. Hope to review it soon. I should also be getting The Gospel-Centred Life soon for review. Find The Good Book Company on Facebook & Twitter. Glad to connect again Brad!

Pastoral Fellowship 2009

Great meeting and discussion today with a group of pastor/church planter friends here in suburban Chicago. Thanks to Joe we get some details.

Tim Keller: Urban Plant Life

Thanks to emailer Colin Millar of Belfast, Northern Ireland, you have three new talks by Timothy Keller.  Keller spoke at a church planting conference called Urban Plant Life in late November. 

1. Contextual Mission
2. Church and Culture
3. Gospel Renewal

The original links to the conference talks are at the London City Mission site.  You can stream the messages there rather than downloading if you like, but that's like going to P.F. Chang's once without ever returning.  It's just stupid.  Enjoy!

By the way, the beginning of the first talk Keller talks about what "missional" is, what a "missional church" looks like. The whole talk is in that direction, but the start was particularly interesting.

Lots-o-Links 12.2.08

Quick Molly Update: Molly has been doing a little better lately.  She is even starting to sleep on her own (without meds).  It's not every night, but it's getting better.  When she sleeps well her Chiari symptoms seem to be significantly better the next day.  When she sleeps poorly, her Chiari symtoms get all jacked up.  She still isn't sleeping deeply and consistently, but things are headed in a better direction.  We are going to her neurologist (not neurosurgeon) today to ask about the sleep issue.  Hopefully he will have some insights.  Thanks for your continued prayers for my wife and family.

Here's the Advent devotional my family is using (via). We are also using selections from the excellent Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas.

Karis Church's Theology Weekend audio featuring Bruce Ware is up

ESV SB for your mobile phone - $29

Dan Kimball has some missional misgivings

Mark Driscoll on The Mission and Vision of the Acts 29 Network. It's nice to follow Mark over the past few years and hear the the ways he's changed as well as how he hasn't changed.

Paste Magazine lists their top movies of 2008

Roger Ebert on the death of the film critic (via)

The New York Times: 100 Notable Books of 2008

Lots-o-Links 11.5.08

Quick Molly Update: Molly is about to lose it.  She is averaging somewhere around 3 hours of sleep a day or less for the last 6 weeks.  No joke.  She has maybe had two nights where she slept at least 6 hours.  She has had several nights where she didn't even doze off.  We thought it was the steroids taken in the first few weeks.  It's clear that it's so much more than that.  This morning was a breaking point.  She has gone from acting sluggish and tired to wanting to punch me in the face.  That's not all that uncommon, but it's much more than normal.  Let me explain how bad things are...

This morning we sat down to talk and she started to tear up.  I said what I always say when Molly cries, "You know, Jesus didn't cry" (my "Away in a Manger" reference).  Most of the time that makes her laugh and then we figure things out.  Not this time.  This time she barked back at me right away, "MAYBE JESUS DIDN'T CRY, BUT JESUS SLEPT!"  Touche. 

Links...

Lessons from a failed church plant (HT)

5 cool church tools

I know it's last minute, but if you are near Columbia, Missouri you need to check out Karis Church's Theology Weekend.  It's this weekend and the speaker is Bruce Ware.

Jonathan Dodson: Deacon Training I, Deacon Training II, Increase the community in missional communities, Wisdom for planters, especially bivocational

Speaking of missional communities, consider Alan Hirsch's four points: INCH

The art of thank you note writing

Election Night stuff...

I enjoyed Obama's speech last night. It gave me goosebumps. It was like a Disney moment. I watched a sea of people who had the Obama-shaped hole in their hearts filled and wondered what the next four years will look like.

I just hope that Obama doesn't continue in the direction of his voting record. It's remarkable to me and deeply ironic that our first African-American President will be our country's strongest defender of treating unborn babies as less than fully human.

And I'm sorry, but Michelle Obama's dress was awful. 

Did you see the CNN election night hologram? Pretty cool...

Anyone miss Dan Rather? Me too...

LEAD for the City Streaming

LEAD for the City conference is streaming video with chat.  Loving it, via the Planting Channel.

Tuesday, October 21
9:15 AM - 10:00 AM: Darrin Patrick on “Gospel Centered Repentance”
10:45 AM - 11:30 AM: Eric Mason on “Hybrid Leaders”
1:45 PM - 3:00 PM: Dr. Bryan Chapell on “Christ-Centered Preaching”

Wednesday, October 22
9:15 AM - 10:00 AM: Randy Nabors on “City Leaders”
1:45 PM - 2:30 PM: Matt Carter on “Broken Leaders”
4:45 PM - 5:30 PM: Jonathan McIntosh on “Missional Leaders”

Lots-o-Links 10.2.08

Molly Update: Molly has been really worn out, feeling sick to her stomach, and has been in bed most of the time after returning from surgery.  Because of that she has been very frustrated and wants to feel better.  I'm just trying to remind her to take it slow and realize this is a long term healing thing.

Mark Devine has mentioned me in his new book. The chapter is found here. 

Jonathan Dodson: Why Evangelism Methods Must Change, Tools for the Missional Church, & Church Planting Manuals Reviewed.

Ahh, the growing Covenant Theological Seminary Worldwide Classroom.  What a great resource.

Justin Taylor: From John Piper's new book, Spectacular Sins, What To Do, and What Not To Do, With Evil.

Mark Driscoll is releasing the book Porn-Again Christian online for free.  It will be released progressively over the next several months. 

Josh Harris' Preaching Notes series: Mark Driscoll.

Ahh, the baseball playoffs are here.  Love it.  Love baseball.  Inspiration...

LEAD Conference

On October 22-24 the LEAD Conference begins in St. Louis.  From the website...

We are gathering some of the best leaders to equip, encourage and employ up and coming urban leaders.  Our focus will be on the theological and practical implications of ministry in an urban context. There will be three breakout tracks for leaders to participate in: Church Planting, Mercy, and Arts. ...We will learn together, grow together and change the world together. 

The conference coincides with an Acts 29 Boot Camp, and the list of speakers is top notch: Bryan Chapell, Darrin Patrick, Daniel Montgomery, Eric Mason, Randy Nabors, and Matt Carter. Breakout tracks include church planting, arts, and mercy.  Should be great.  If things are ok at the time with my wife's "illness," I hope to go.

Dwell Conference Audio Online

Nice to see the NYC Dwell Conference audio, including Keller, Driscoll, Darrin Patrick, and more, is now up (Thanks Dash).

Lots-o-Links 4.28.08

I'm on Twitter now.  Put it off for many months but am enjoying it so far.  Some "essential tools," "twitter links," and "benefits."  Twitter in plain English.

I've opened an Amazon bookstore for my blog.  I'm building up all my recommended books there.  When you buy through it I get something back. 

Bob Franquiz: 10 things churches could learn from Disney.

Tim Chester: When Gideon gave a seminar on church planting.

Audio/Video of the Multi-Site Exposed conference in Seattle.

Bart Ehrman vs N.T. Wright on suffering.

Trevin Wax interviews N.T. Wright on Surprised by Hope.

The Church I Pastor: The Missional Triad

Here is what I call The Missional Triad (a tweaked version of this by Joe Thorn and this that Joe and I fleshed out together).  Forgive the handwritten sloppiness, but it's what I have for now.  It's essentially a missional paradigm for our church to think through what we do and where we do it.  The mission is a very central part of the paradigm.  (Click the diagram for a larger version.)

If you are familiar with Joe's paradigm the next few points will help you see the changes I've made for my version, as well as explain a few things I thought you might have questions about.

1. The order of the shapes is different.  I changed them to a left to right flow for unbelievers and right to left for believers.
2. I've changed the titles of each shape.  I have included something of each shape in the name (example: tri-formed discipleship).    I can still use "table, pulpit and square" as designations, and have done that, but I felt it helpful to give each a name that is slightly more descriptive.  That also allows my "table" to lose the Lord's Supper confusion.
3. The "Circles of Friendship" is fleshed out so that hospitality is seen in three different spheres:
        neutral >> semi-private >> to private
It also moves beyond the home into third places (why?).
4. Under Tri-Formed Discipleship I have used "Equipping Ministries" to explain all discipleship, from one-on-one to seminars, short-term classes, membership class, leadership training, etc.
5. Our small groups are transitioning toward being "Missional Communities."  These will be more than small groups but less than house churches.

If you want to know something more, let me know.  It's basically still the same three shapes, the same basic approach, the same goal of simplicity.

SBC Opportunities in Chicago

I recently received an email (edited for content below) from a Southern Baptist pastor in downtown Chicago about some very cool opportunities to be a strategic leader in SBC work in downtown Chicago...

Last year we basically wiped the slate clean with staff [at the Chicago Metro Baptist Association] and designed three new full-time roles that we think will help our churches BRING GOOD NEWS to Chicago.

Director of Missional Leadership and Mobilization:  This position will help to “develop ministers of the gospel” by equipping current and future pastors.

Director of Evangelism and Church Growth:  This position will help to “strengthen local churches” by assisting them in bringing the Good News.

Director of Church Planting:  This position will help to “expand the Kingdom of God” by planting new churches.

We advertised and tried to spread the word and got around 150 applications, but none of them have turned out.  We really believe that these positions are so strategic that we want to make sure we get the right people here and have no false starts.

Chicago is an alpha class, major global city.  Yet as far as a real movement of the gospel goes it’s pretty pathetic here.  I really think these positions could potentially play a huge role in reaching our strategic city.  Exciting stuff is happening in New York and Seattle and other major cities around the world.  Why not Chicago?

I was wondering if you knew anyone for any of these positions that would be good for Chicago and getting a movement started here.  They’re full time positions, partly funded by NAMB.  But we want to take more initiative in going out and finding the right people.  We’re praying like crazy and super excited about the potential.

I know I have some readers out there who would be well equipped for this sort of work.  Chicago is a great city with far too few good churches.  If you are interested and feel you fit as SBC/missional, email apply@chicagobaptist.com.  If you feel your blog readers might be interested, please point them to this post.  Thanks.

Lots-o-Links 3.2.08

Quick God Story: My family is still sick, sick, sick.  Unbelievable virus we are dealing with.  We were all feeling better and now most of us are getting symptoms back.  Our youngest now has 103+ temp again.  Ugh.  But all praise to God for this story.  Saturday afternoon my debilitating fever and aches stopped and I had tons of energy Saturday night and plenty for the task this morning.  I mean I went from the worst day so far on Saturday morning, and then full of energy and vigor Saturday evening.  Then soon after gathered worship today my fever came back as did my aches and terrible cough (I didn't cough once during the sermon).  There may be some medical explanation for why I had such a dramatic health hiccup, but I know WHO is getting the credit.  I was truly singing this morning, "How Great is Our God."

Speaking of how sick I am, it would really help me turn this frown upside-down if someone would present me something this awesome with Joe Thorn's likeness on it.  It would make my year! (HT)

When was the last time you wondered how Michael Foster would approach church planting differently?  Exactly.  And he promises to elaborate.  I'm demanding he gets on it asap.

You need to make your way to the Vintage Jesus Newsroom, where Steve Camp goes for his devotional time.

Poythress, The Shadow of Christ in the Law of Moses, online free.

PastorHacks is into Jott (and Pinger).  I've been using Jott for a while now with great success and productivity.  I think Joe Thorn told me about Jott (I had to say that because he will speak harshly to me this week if I don't mention it.  I don't like it when Hobbits get mean, especially when I'm sick.).

I may have mentioned this before, but Piper/Bethlehem's accountability stuff is worth checking out. 

You should check out Abraham Piper's crazy little experiment of a blog.  Alas, he is his father's son.  (Only four more words.)

Speaking of numbers, Baptist Reformed types will probably not like Scot McKnight's new article, "The 8 Marks of a Robust Gospel."  Why?  It's one short.  I actually haven't read it yet, but McKnight is always worth reading (even when tragically wrong!).  No heckling me please.  I'm sick.

Here's Eugene Peterson at the 2007 Writer's Symposium by the Sea (isn't that where George McFly first kissed that chick from Howard the Duck?).  The story he tells about Bono is worth the whole thing.  (HT)

Tim Keller: Call to Plant in NYC

From page 10 of Tim Keller's Redeemer Church Planters Manual, on Keller's call to plant in NYC...

A great darkness descended on me, because I knew I had no good reason not to [plant in NYC], but I felt totally inadequate for the job.  I know that everyone feels inadequate for any ministry, but this was different.  I knew that I was as humanly well-equipped as anyone to try this ministry, but I also knew this was well beyond the human abilities of anyone at all.  That meant only one thing: it would not be my talent, but my love for, and dependence on, God that would be the critical factor in the project.  I felt that my spirituality would be laid bare for all (worst of all, for me) to see.  But the opportunity was too ripe and I also knew it was a door that might not be open for even a few more weeks...

I prayed and was reading Gurnall's A Christian in Complete Armour one day and came upon a passage: "It requires more prowess and greatness of spirit to obey God faithfully than to command an army of men; more greatness to be a Christian than a captain."  I realized that if was an illusion to imagine that I would have to start being brave if I took this job; I should have been living bravely all along.  Even if I turned the NYC church down, I could not go back to being a coward.  So I might as well go to New York!  On July 1, [1988], I gave Westminster Seminary a year's notice.  Immediately, my prayer life broke open like never before.  I did not wonder why.

Evangelism 2008: Calm Before the Storm

I haven't posted much on evangelism lately, but that should change soon.  The main reason is that I'm doing a ton of work on some strategic planning for the next two years (and beyond) at our church.  I've had some extra meetings and lots of sketchy ideas and plans that are starting to gel.  Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I'll have some things nailed down and can share more about my evangelism plans for the rest of 2008.  Some of them are directly tied to our church's plans.

Here are a few books I'm currently reading, rereading, perusing, etc

Promoting the Gospel by John Dickson (info here): To be fair, I haven't gotten past the table of contents.  But that's because I just got it in the mail today from Lisa at Narwee Baptist Church in Australia.  Thanks Lisa!

unChristian by Kinnaman and Lyons: Used some stats in last Sunday's sermon.  Good resource.

Love Walked Among Us by Paul Miller: A book I reread or reskim at least yearly on the compassion of Jesus.  You can get it used for about $4 at Amazon.  Well worth it.

Redeemer Church Planting Manual by The Godfather (Tim Keller): How can you NOT own this?  It's simply outstanding.  Been using it a lot for church strategy and planning, but also pulling much on evangelism, ethnographic interviews, etc.  I'll be blogging on a few things from the book soon.

Also worthy to note is the short New Church Initiatives (NCI) paper on "The Work of an Evangelist."  Check out NCI and their other resources.

I'm curious about the Mulit-Site Exposed Conferences.  I'm not a video venue kind of guy, but I'm very open to thinking multi-site if we are growing and it makes sense for our area.  Keller's approach is my favorite, with live preaching at all locations.

Acts 29, Evangelism, Etc

Finished day 1 of the Acts 29 boot camp in Chicago.  Great stuff from Darrin Patrick, Mark Driscoll, and Ed Stetzer.  I particularly liked Driscoll's message on preaching.  Much of it wasn't new to me as someone who has preached nearly every week for 4 years, but a few of the things he said were really helpful.  If the audio gets released I will try to link it.

I noticed that Alex Chediak is now blogging the Global Church Advancement conference.  You can keep up at AlexChediak.com or the new GCA blog.  Of interest to me are Alex's notes on Daniel Montgomery's "Theology-Driven Churches" workshop and Tom Nebel's talk on "Evangelism Entropy."  There are several other GCA posts from Alex you should check out.

iMonk was on Steve Brown Etc.  I haven't heard it, but I will.  Two guys I always enjoy listening to.

Dwell: Urban Church Planting Conference

Mark Driscoll - Dwelling in the Text & Dwelling through the Text
Tim Keller - TBD (2 sessions)
Ed Stetzer - Dwelling in the Kingdom & Dwelling in the Mission
CJ Mahaney - Dwelling in the Cross
Darrin Patrick - Dwelling with non-Christians

Conference will also include panel discussion, worship and breakout sessions.  Register at www.dwellconference.com.

Acts 29 Boot Camp: Chicago

Next week I'll be attending the Acts 29 Boot Camp in Chicago.  It's been a few years since my wife and I first attended a boot camp in Dallas.  Now that they are coming to town I'm very excited to go and see some of my Acts 29 friends and continue to grow as a pastor.  Drop me an email if you are going to be at the boot camp and want to connect.