Reformissionary

The Church I Pastor: ILT

Because our church has adopted a new direction including some pretty dramatic changes, I have led them toward adopting an Interim Leadership Team (ILT). 

Today our church changed our constitution to add the ILT, and upon my future recommendation will vote in a few men to be on the ILT.  This essentially is a transition team of leaders who will lead us through our changes, primarily toward a new constitution and the appointment of elders.  While the ILT won't be elders, they will be a much more like elders than what we have now.  Once the church adopts a new constitution and appoints elders, the ILT will dissolve.

Announcement for SWBTS Students

Some of you remember when I posted about a part-time research position several weeks ago.  I received MANY responses, and passed them on to my buddy, Glenn Lucke, who is helping pastors get some research help.  Glenn emailed about more opportunities, and I told him I would put it out there for you.  Yeah, I'll feed you baby birds.  Glenn writes...

I will be at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary on Thursday, March 27, from 10:30am-3pm.

Several Baptist pastors have recently signed on as clients and I’m looking for researchers who can assist them.

Broadly I’m looking for two different categories of researchers to fit these new clients.

Category 1: Acts 29 Network church
 The best candidates for these jobs are current SWBTS PhD and MDiv students who:

- love Jesus
- know the Bible
- consider yourself "missional"
- are Baptist & reformed in theology
- love the lost & enjoy thinking how culture intersects with Scripture
- excellent academic ability and transcript + professor references to prove it
- seminary education a must, first year must be already completed
- swims in popular culture, loves it, knows it, yet resists and critiques aspects of it

Category 2: Ed Young Jr. style church (Fellowship Church of Grapevine)
 The best candidates for these jobs are current SWBTS MDiv students who are gifted storytellers and illustrators, dialed-in to young pop culture, creative, gifted at relating Scriptural concepts to the lives of seekers and new Christians.

- responsible and hardworking, and you can furnish proof of this. No slackers.

Contact Glenn at glenn@docentgroup.com. Mention that you are contacting me because you saw this at Steve McCoy’s blog.

Plans, Strategies & Fasting

A real quick post tonight to update on some blogging plans and church plans. 

I'm pastoring a church that is nearly 50 years old.  Some original members are still here.  And I just spent two months preaching about some really big changes that are going to start happening very soon.  I'm going to share those changes with you in a future post.  They are very significant and exciting.

One of the new things I'm working on is an evangelism strategy to reach out to our whole county.  It's something that I'm looking forward to explaining here when I get the chance. 

Because of those changes I have called our church to fast and pray on Wednesdays for the next 6 weeks.  We are fasting from dinner Tuesday to dinner Wednesday.  We are having a prayer meeting on Wednesday nights at 6:30pm and then breaking our fast together with a quick meal.  We are pumped to see what God does as we seek Him together.  Because I've been so sick I'm not going to fast from food tomorrow.  I'm fasting from my laptop/internet instead, starting after this post goes up. 

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)

7 Characteristics of an Ingrown Church

Good stuff from Joe Thorn on the 7 Characteristics of an Ingrown Church out of the very helpful book Outgrowing the Ingrown Church (Amazon new and used) by C. John Miller.  Go read for the whole thing, but here's the 7...

1. Tunnel Vision.
2. Group Superiority.
3. Extreme Sensitivity to Criticism.
4. Niceness in Tone.
5. Christian Soap Opera.
6. Confused Leadership Roles.
7. Misdirected Purpose.

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.

Tim Keller in Newsweek

Update: Anyone concerned about Keller the evolutionist (see last paragraph of the article below), please check out Ed Stetzer's blog where he makes public Tim Keller's response to the article with a few minor corrections.  Ahh, everyone can breathe again.

Tim Keller is in Newsweek and the article is online for your enjoyment: "The Smart Shepherd: A New York pastor who says he thinks too much wants to bring his Christian message to the world.  (via Stet)

Stetzer adds some response at his blog...

Last time I was in Manhattan I attended the church and spent some time with Tim on Monday. 

I was most impressed with how, well, non-"hip" the service was. (The giveaway was the note in the program reminding you to not applaud.)

The "band" was four men in suits who played wind instruments accompanied by an organ.

Yet, most of the crowd was young and engaged... a reminder that contemporary is not always contextual.

Lots-o-Links 1.9.08

Sorry for the lack of suburbia links.  I have many to file through and some will be on the way soon.  I'm halfway through The End of Suburbia, which is disturbia-ing.  Ok, not really, but I wanted to try a new word.  It's interesting, to say the least.  Worth watching, no question.

This is why my best friend is better than your honor student.

You need some good business books, via Fast Company.

Brian Hedgeson elder training.

David Fitch: Confessions of a Missional Pastor (Wannabe?)

Carl Trueman: What Can Miserable Christians Sing?

Is Al Mohler the best choice for SBC President this year?  Many think so.  Some don't.  My question is: Should we have the most recognized face and voice of cultural criticism among SBC'rs be the most recognized face and voice of the Convention as a whole?  As much as I love and respect Mohler, I think the answer is clearly no.  What do you think?

2008 is the year of evangelism for me.  It's the year of discipleship for others. 

"The Tyrannus Effect" is a good example of how to get me thinking on issues of evangelism, discipleship and ecclesiology. 

Speaking of evangelism...
Roger Carswell's site, author of And Some Evangelists
BeThinking.org - Engage with Culture
Tim Chester PDF: "The Kingdom of God is at Hand: Eschatology and Mission"
(Chester's blog is one of my favorites.)

Evangelism 2008 books I've picked up...
Questioning Evangelism and Corner Conversations

Life and Death of the Missional Leader

I know I posted on this a long time ago, but when my wife and I were at the first Reform & Resurge Conference in Seattle (2006) we heard Darrin Patrick's talk on "The Life and Death of the Missional Leader."  I listened to it again this morning and was struck by how helpful of a message it is right now in my life.  I encourage you to listen to it.

Lots-o-Links 10.24.07

Trying to catch up a little after a week with no cell phone or internet. I think I'll have a music post up later today. 

Tim Keller Stuff:

The Evangelists Conference: Smashing False Idols
      Gospel Realisation Tim Keller
      Gospel Communication Tim Keller
      Gospel Incarnation Tim Keller

Tim Keller on Tim Keller's new book: The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism
Keller is interviewed by Preaching Today

Gary Shavey of Resurgence interviews Mark Dever (mp3).
Acts 29 has a Chicago Boot Camp coming in January
Joe Thorn gives us Mark Dever's advice for leaving a church.  Every pastor wishes more Christians would do this.
Joe and Jen Thorn are pregnant! (yes, I said it that way on purpose)
"Six Rules to Work Less and Get More Accomplished" by Lifehack
Boundless on Becoming a Writer
Mark Driscoll recommends these books for missional church planters
Interview with Vanhoozer on reading culture (via JT)
North America People Groups Project

My kids are in soccer, and love this kind of thing...

How I Study the Bible for a Sermon

As I'm training guys in my church to preach, I quickly wrote out a very brief outline of how I prepare a sermon.  It's incomplete and will seem vague to some of you.  There are many things I don't mention, like finding/using illustrations, choosing commentaries, prayer, practicing the sermon and revising it, etc.  But this was written for those I'm discipling who I'm interacting with a few times a week, so I can fill in the blanks verbally when they are missing.  Nonetheless, I still thought it might be good for discussion here and to get feedback.

FYI and for context.  I generally preach through Bible books (not topically).  I treat different genres of Scripture very differently, and this outline is meant to be more general, not genre specific.  I currently do all my sermon prep in a Moleskine.  I write out any sermon study notes within, then organize the sermon in it, and take it into the "pulpit" with me. 

How to Study the Bible for a Sermon

1. Choose the text.
2. Read and reread the text in its context (including the whole book of the Bible, if possible). Start with just reading and as you continue in the rereads, make notes where important words and ideas are found. Write down any wordy you need to study. Write down any other passages you might need to reference (read all cross-references listed in your Bible).
3. Write (or type) the “flow” of the passage (write out the passage word for word according to its logic and structure). Use the natural idea breaks and transitions to form the “flow” of the passage.
4. From the textual “flow” from #3, write out a brief hermeneutical outline that you get from the passage. This should be rigid and cold, merely describing the main thoughts of the passage as they are derived. There will probably be 3-5 ideas here directly from the passage that will describe the argument or direction of the narrative.
5. From the hermeneutical outline from #4, write out a corresponding homiletical outline that will be used as a backbone to your sermon. This can and often does change as the passage is studied further, but it’s good to get it now. The points can be, but sometimes are not, broken up the same as the hermeneutical outline.
6. Write out one sentence that describes the main idea of the passage in terms of what you believe the sermon should say and what you believe the result should be in the lives of people. The sermon should really only make one point. (example: The Lord’s Prayer has been given by Jesus to show us a solid backbone for faithful intercession.)
7. Now take a few good commentaries and read through their ideas. How do they compare with your outlines and thoughts? How do they disagree with you? Should you change how you view the passage, the general argument, the main point? Do they give any thoughts about application in the lives of the Church? Is there something you need to study a little more?  Also, pull from other books, theologies and reference materials that are pertainent to the topic/passage/point.  Use the indexes in the books to find their thoughts on the passage.
8. Read and study other passages that will inform your study of the passage or be helpful in explaining your passage. Look at commentaries on the other passages as needed. Don’t be afraid to throw out passages that just don’t fit your passage or purpose. 
9. Tweak your above outlines (#4 & #5) and main idea sentence so that you have a finalized sermon outline in which you are confident.
10. Start writing the sermon body starting with the first point of your sermon outline through the final point. Focus on the flow of thought from the point, to the explanation of the point from the passage, to illustrating the point, to building a transitional sentence to the next point.
11. Once the sermon body is complete, write the conclusion, making sure that the main point of the sermon is clear.
12. Finally, write the introduction. The introduction should make the church ask questions in their heads that the sermon will then answer. You can use questions, a story, a reflection on the world or culture or your life, or any number of things to draw in the listeners.

Wellum on Baptism

Justin Taylor interviews one of my favorite people in the world, Steve Wellum on baptism and the covenants.  Wellum's chapter in Believer's Baptism is "Baptism and the Relationship Between the Covenants."  Wellum was one of my best profs at SBTS.  We were at the same church, spent time in his home, and still occasionally have lunch when I get to Louisville.  Great guy.

Where Do Pastors Find Solace?

Many of my 'minister' friends speak of church as something from which they must seek solace.  They 'protect' their day off and guard the privacy of their home.  They feel the loneliness of ministry, looking outside the local church for people who will pastor them and events that will refresh them.  For me church is where I find solace.  The Christian community pastors and refreshes me through the Word of God.  Someone put it to us like this: 'If I were to say I needed a weekly day off from my wife and children, people would say I had a dysfunctional marriage.  So why, if I say I need a day off from church, do people not ask whether I have a dysfunctional church family?'

Total Church, page 121

Rohrmayer: 3 x 5 Rule Ideas

I've been sharing links to Gary Rohrmayer's helpful posts on Engaging in More Spiritual Conversations.  His newest addition provides "Ideas for Practicing the 3 x 5 Rule."  From the post...

The 3 by 5 rule is simple:  A leader seeks to find 5 contacts a day or 35 a week until they get 3 meetings or sit downs to either share the gospel or the vision of the church.  A contact is securing a person's name and contact information (a business card, phone number or email.) A sit down is a follow up appointment with one of the contacts you have generated.

The primary question generated by this rule is "How do you find 35 contacts a week?" There are three sources of contacts we will look at today. 1) Follow-up Contacts 2) Networking Contacts and 3) Cold Calling Contacts.

Read more...

"Engaging in More Spiritual Conversations" (Part 1, 2, 3, & 3x5 Ideas)

Baptism, the Lord's Supper, and Some Dudes

Sam Storms' response to the whole baptism and the Lord's Supper thing that has been buzzing around online: "Piper, Grudem, Dever, et al, on Baptism, the Lord's Table, and Church Membership (just how "Together for the Gospel" are we?)"

I read the article this morning but with no direct link available (and some grocery shopping to do) I left it alone.  In the mean time Glenn Lucke wrote a great post and Abraham Piper quoted some Storms.

You need to read the whole Storm's article for context, but I agree with him and loved this paragraph...

My question...is this: How can we claim to be "together" or "united" for the sake of the gospel and turn away a brother or sister from the very expression and proclamation of that gospel that is so central to the life and testimony of the church? What does this prohibition say to the world around us? What must they think of our professed "togetherness" or "unity" when the elements of the Eucharist would be withheld from a brother such as Ligon Duncan?

John Piper Seminars

From Tyler at the Desiring God blog...

Every two years John Piper completes a rotation of weekend seminars on different aspects of Christian doctrine and practice. These seminars include:

• Biblical Eldership
• Desiring God
• Future Grace
• Gravity and Gladness on Sunday Morning: The Pursuit of God in Corporate Worship
• Prayer, Meditation, and Fasting
• Sexual Complementarity: The Pursuit of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
• Suffering for the Sake of the Body: The Pursuit of People Through Pain
• TULIP
• Why We Believe the Bible

The  audio for each of these seminars is now online. Complete course notes are also available so that you can follow along.

Gospel Coalition: Tim Keller Interviews

The Gospel Coalition website (which has gone from a little helpful toward really helpful in a short period of time) has a number of short video interviews (linkable) with key players: Don Carson, John Piper, Mark Driscoll, and yes, Tim Keller.  As you could have guessed, I'm linking the Keller (and Carson/Keller) ones here for you.  To see them more quickly, just go to the interviews page and scroll to them.  And don't forget to visit my Tim Keller Resources page.

Tim Keller - What do you see yourself doing in The Gospel Coalition? | m4v

Tim Keller - What is the state of the pulpit in America today?| m4v

Tim Keller - How does preaching affect how christians see culture?| m4v

Tim Keller - What do you tell pastors about their family life? | m4v

Tim Keller - What ways can people learn from your teachings | m4v

Don Carson & Tim Keller - What started The Gospel Coalition? | m4v

Don Carson & Tim Keller - What makes The Gospel Coalition different? | m4v

Don Carson & Tim Keller - Assessing The Gospel Coalition | m4v

Don Carson & Tim Keller - How were the leaders of The Gospel Coalition gathered?| m4v

Don Carson & Tim Keller - What is the future of The Gospel Coalition? | m4v

Don Carson & Tim Keller - What threats and challenges face The Gospel Coalition? | m4v

Don Carson & Tim Keller - What causes fragmentation in evangelicalism today? | m4v

9 Marks Blog: Church Matters

9 Marks, the very helpful ministry of Mark Dever and Matt Schmucker from Capitol Hill Baptist in DC, now has a blog. Check out Mark Dever’s introductory post.  From a 9 Marks email...

Our intended audience, as with most of 9Marks material, is pastors, church leaders, and seminarians. At the same time, we hope that all Christians become more interested in church matters, because we believe the local church is the focal point of God’s plan for displaying his glory to the nations. That includes all of us who profess faith in Christ.

Blog contributors will consist of Mark Dever, Matt Schmucker, Jonathan Leeman, and the 9Marks lead writers, as well as several like-minded pastors and occasional guests. For the time being, we thought we’d try opening the blog to public comments. Hopefully it can be used as a place of honest inquiry and discussion regarding pastoring and leading local church life.

Lots-O-Links-n-Shtuff

Allelon - "a movement of missional leaders" -- They have a website which has a number of resources, but I'm really loving Alan Roxburgh's netcast (especially the audio podcast) the most.  There are things said that I don't like or agree with, but in general this is a great podcast for seeing the emerging missional church for what it is and what it claims to be in different locations.  The interview with Steve Taylor is really great.

Theology Unplugged (TUP) is a podcast by some Dallas Seminary profs.  They say, "The uniqueness of TUP is that we speak on theological issues of the day with clarity, honesty, and openness. TUP allows the listener to make informed judgments on the most important theological issues today."  Their seven part series on the emerging church is a great example of that.  I'm through the first three episodes and I'm pretty shocked at how well they do in trying to understand the emerging church.  Well worth hearing. (HT: Internet Monk Radio)

Peter Leithart finds ways of saying things that just make sense to me...

One of my recurring frustrations with recent debates in the Reformed world is a widespread failure of theological imagination. Too many seem to operate on the assumption that we have everything already figured out; we have all possible categories and positions ready to hand. All we need do is deploy these categories on whatever happens our way. It'll fit, Procrustes says.

Thus, it is seriously proposed that someone is either on the road to Rome or the Road to Geneva - with no possibility of a third (or fourth, or fifth) destination, with no possibility that there might be something in between (though in between is where much of the Christian world lives). And if I suggest that we Reformed might still have something to learn from the Bible about justification, then I must be Rabbinic or Roman Catholic - there simply is no other alternative.

The Evangelical Outpost (Joe Carter) wonders why Southern Baptists would create boundaries with alcohol that would exclude Jesus from leadership in the convention.  He asks, "Can we be more ethical than Jesus?"

Darryl Dash hears Tim Keller and blogs: Tim Keller on Spiritual Fruit and Ministry.

Desiring God Blog: 25 Ways to Help Kids Love to Read

Drew Goodmanson on Missional Eldership.

Miniature Earth -- "If the world's population were reduced to 100, it would look something like this..."

English 101 (we all make mistakes, but some of us make too many!)

Some Videos...

Children See, Children Do...

Doll Face...

Stop Motion Beatbox...

Wannabe A Pastor?

Joe Thorn gives a great post today called "So, You're Thinking of Being a Pastor?"  Great, simple advice for guys considering the pastorate.

Reformed Pastor Audiobook

I just wrote myself a note yesterday to remember to reread The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter.  Now you can get the audiobook for free.  I just got it, so should you. Via Justin Taylor...

ChristianAudio's "Free Audiobook of the Month" is Richard Baxter's classic, The Reformed Pastor.

In his introduction, Baxter writes: "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." This charge from Acts 20:28 only is the beginning of a solemn and overarching task to be personally involved and disciple all of your congregants. Richard Baxter's plea for shepherding his flock continues with a charge to pastors to verify their own spiritual walk and then walks them through various disciplines, strategies, and goals to guide and instruct their congregation.

Use the coupon code MAY2007 during checkout to get the download format of   The Reformed Pastor for free!

     Your Price: $0.00
     List Price: $22.98

Bill Hybels Loves Mark Driscoll

It just kills me how hard some folks (can anyone say Missouri Baptist Convention?) are trying to distance themselves from the "emerging" Acts 29 organization and Mark Driscoll.  Driscoll is all pomo and truth has no meaning for him.

Then in Bizarro world Bill Hybels (a pastor of a moderately influential, smallish church in suburban Chicago) has poked him publicly for his fundamentalism after viewing Driscoll on video at the National New Church Conference.  He basically didn't like Driscoll's male-centered approach to church planting and let that be known from the platform.  That resulted in Acts 29 eating thousands of Driscoll's videos because the conference decided not to hand them out as originally planned. 

From Driscoll on the Resurgence website...

Last year I spoke at a large church planting event along with a number of other church planters and church planting movement leaders. The event was held in Florida, went well, and did a very encouraging job of bringing together a number of denominations, networks, and organizations that otherwise would not have benefited from such a partnership.

This year I was invited back but declined because the few-day round trip from Seattle to Florida to give a very short message (last year it was less than twenty minutes) seemed like too much in light of other responsibilities. So, the sponsors of the event asked me to instead put together an eight-minute video on church planting that could be shown at the event and then handed out to each of the 1,500 attendees. So, in an effort to be helpful, the video crew from Mars Hill Church and I spent half a day in freezing weather at a military cemetery shooting scenes that were then edited for the video. Apparently the video was shown at the event, was well received by the attendees, and then criticized by Bill Hybels from the stage because it did not speak of women church planters. And, not wanting a bigger fuss, the organization hosting the event then made a decision not to hand out the video as they had promised, leaving the guys from our Acts 29 Church Planting Network who had hauled suitcases of the videos to Florida with thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of wasted effort. The leaders of the event are good guys whom I still consider friends, and I've never met Bill Hybels so I won't speak about him personally. But, I thought we should at least post the banned video online, so here it is:

Podcasts I Enjoy

Here are podcasts I enjoy, listed by category.  I hope you might find some of them helpful for you.  I'm leaving off my poetry podcasts for another post.

Ministry/Theology

Audition (Mars Hill Audio): Ken Myers in an NPR style commentary on culture and Christianity through Myers' commentary and interviews.  This is a free spin-off of the Mars Hill Audio commentaries. 

Catalyst: Covers both church leadership issues and cultural issues through interviewing Christian leaders, authors, pastors, etc.  I really enjoy the Catalyst podcast, though I find myself skipping the first several minutes of pre-interview conversation about Catalyst Conference stuff and other random bits.  The interview is the meat, and it's consistently thoughtful and engaging. 

Church Leader Insights: Pastors Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas of The Journey Church in NYC talking together about church leadership, church growth, church planting, systems, evangelism, etc.  A lot of info of what has and hasn't worked for them.  I always come away with insights for pastoring and ministry, even if you don't approach ministry in quite the same way as these guys.

Covenant Worldwide: At least 15 free seminary classes are available on the topics of biblical theology, OT and NT, apologetics and outreach, the Reformation, life and letters of Paul, and more.  What the heck are you waiting for?

Fermi Project: Discussions with leaders on culture, the future, the Church and the Gospel.  It's hosted by Catalyst guys Gabe Lyons and Andy Crouch.  It's only on episode three, but I've enjoyed it tremendously so far.  A great, concise podcast.

Internet Monk Radio: Michael Spencer's thoughts on theology, ministry, his critics, yadda.  The worst aspect of this podcast is his love affair for the Cincinnati Reds.  Yuck.  But if you can get past that, Spencer can often deliver thoughtful insights on a variety of issues.  Warning: If you don't know Spencer and his online writings, some of this won't make much sense.  It's for the devoted.

National New Church Conference:  Interviews with conference speakers dealing with church and church planting.  Have learned a lot from this podcast and highly recommend it for church leaders.

Practically Speaking: North Point boys (Andy Stanley, et al) on the Seven Practices of Effective Ministry.  It's a "dead" podcast in that there are no new episodes, but their seven podcasts I have found very helpful as a pastor.  I've listened to them more than once, and will listen again.

Resurgence: Mark Driscoll's missional resource that includes talks from various conferences and lectures pertaining to ministry and theology.  Lots of good stuff here.

Movies

Filmspotting: A weekly podcast from Chicago featuring new movie reviews, top 5 lists, interviews and insightful film talk with Adam Kempenaar and Sam Van Hallgren. It's also found on Chicago Public Radio.  Ugh, this is a great podcast.  The best movie podcast I know of.  Even when I disagree with a particular take on a movie, which isn't often, these guys are still compelling in their arguments.  Worth every second.

Music

KEXP Live Performances: In-studio concerts at KEXP for all to hear.  I've found some great new stuff from this podcast.

KEXP Song of the Day: Live performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent musicians that KEXP thinks listeners should hear along with songs from more well-known artists.  Why not?

Introductions to newer bands and/or new albums through a free song.

NPR All Songs Considered: An eclectic mix of fresh music by emerging artists and breakout bands -- from NPR.org's Web-only music show.   Good stuff.

Paste Culture Club: A wonderful music magazine's podcast.  Always a treat.

Preaching

Capitol Hill Baptist: Pastor Mark Dever is one of the most important living Southern Baptist pastors/preachers, and a pastor who I have had a chance to talk with a bit.  He has seen a remarkable change over the years of his church in D.C.  Dever is obsessively expository in his approach.  If you want to know the Bible, this is a great way to digest it.  Dever is also well known for tackling very large sections of text, including single sermons on entire books of the Bible.

Cornerstone Simi: Pastor Francis Chan is fairly new on my radar, but I have enjoyed what I have heard so far.

The Journey - St. Louis: Pastor Darrin Patrick is a friend and has seen some great things happen after planting in St. Louis.  A good preacher, and a young leader worth watching.

Mars Hill Church, Grand Rapids: Pastor Rob Bell is a controversial writer and speaker in the emerging church movement.  I find him very engaging and biblical, though we would surely differ at points.  He challenges me with living the Gospel.

Mars Hill Church, Seattle: Pastor Mark Driscoll is a different sort of controversial writer and speaker in the emerging church movement.  He has been very influential in my ministry and life.

Village Church: Pastor Matt Chandler is SBC, Acts 29, and one of the best young preachers I've heard.  Probably my favorite younger preacher to listen to over the last few months.  Some people trip over a few of his stylistic traits at first, but please persist and you will find so much worth hearing. 

Miscellaneous

This American Life: Ira Glass hosts this show of first-person stories and short fiction pieces that are touching, funny and surprising.  An amazing show that takes a topic and surrounds it with pertinent stories.

Fresh Air (for Joe, "frosshhaar"): Terry Gross hosts this daily take on contemporary arts and issues.  Good stuff on politics, faith, entertainment, etc.  (Please no emails on her political POV, as if I don't know.)  A great show nearly every day.

Writers on Writing: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett hosts this weekly show on the art and business of writing.  She interviews authors, poets, literary agents, etc.  A staple in my life.  Great insights through great interviews.

Keller: Questions for Expositors

Colin Adams (Unashamed Workman) has started a series of posts called "Ten Questions for Expositors."  His first interview is with Tim Keller. 

Sabbatical Food

Here are a few resources I've enjoyed so far on my week-long planning/strategy sabbatical.  Some are new to me.  Some are for review or rereading or re-listening.  Some books I'm reading in full, some in part. 

Tim Keller: Should I Not Love That Great City?
Tim Keller: The Meaning of the City
Tim Keller: Love for the City
Tim Keller: Why to Plant Churches
Mark Driscoll: Leadership Lessons from Nehemiah Part 1, Part 2 (notes Part 1, Part 2)
Philip Yancey: Prayer
Bill Sullivan: Ten Steps to Breaking the 200 Barrier
Bil Cornelius: Go Big
Bill Hybels: Just Walk Across the Room
Church Leader Insights (Nelson Searcy): Momentum and Church Growth (post/article by Scott Whitaker)

I'm also doing some of my planning/strategy work at Bubbl.us, which is a simple way to do mind-mapping.

Some resources I hope to get to...
Henry Cloud: 9 Things a Leader Must Do
Jonathan Edwards: Personal Narrative
Don Whitney: Family Worship