Keller: Global Cities Initiative

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Gci-letters_for_web  From the Redeemer Church Planting Center (via OnMovements.com)...

The Global Cities Initiative Conference took place in New York City on September 9 - 11, 2009.  Over 80 cities were represented by ministry leaders and church planters, and the experience culminated in the signing of a covenant (found in a link to the right under "Related Media.") 

Tim Keller gave three plenary addresses at GCI, which you can stream by clicking on the titles to the right (or download by right-click).  Also to the right are downloadable pdfs of the outlines of these talks, which were distributed at the conference.  The talks were:

September 9th - "Gospel Renewal"
September 10th - "City Focus"
September 11th - "Movements & Ecosystems"

The conference was hosted by Redeemer Church Planting Center in partnership with Transform World Connections, which was founded and is currently led by Luis Bush.

Links to the audio and PDF's...

Do The Work Of An Evangelist

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Bullhorn-evangelism1 I've been wrestling with the role God has for me as a pastor-evangelist here through Doxa Fellowship in Woodstock and McHenry County. I'm reworking my approach and the amount of time I'm spending. I'm rereading and evaluating my efforts in the past, looking at what has been working and where I've been falling short.

I'd love to hear how you all are doing evangelism. If you are a pastor/planter, how much time each week do you spend on evangelism (outside talking with visitors)? What is your approach, or strategy? What do you think you need to change? What are you planning to try in 2010?

Music Monday 1.4.10

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Before it's too late, grab these $5 albums...

As I've said before, the end of the year is not only a chance to point to great music. It's a great chance to find music you missed. Here are some great things I've just found from 2009. I've found them through blogs as well as on the top 10 lists found at Metacritic.

Allen Toussaint's jazz album, The Bright Mississippi, is so good. An intro... (via)

I've somehow missed The Horrors. On many top 10 lists, this psychedelic shoegaze is a worth a listen. Buy The Horrors: Primary Colours.

Lots-o-Links 12.30.09

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Commentaries for 1 Peter

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Jobes_1 PeterI'm starting a sermon series through 1 Peter this Sunday at Doxa Fellowship. These are the commentaries I'm using. Some will be read in full, others referenced or skimmed. I starred the ones I expect to use most. Feel free to suggest other resources you think would be helpful.

Music Monday 12.28.09

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Clap-hands  If you are considering downloading any albums right now, I encourage you to go to Amazon and grab them. If you buy one $7.99 or more, you get a free download of a $5 album (there are 800 right now). And it works for multiple purchases (so, buy 3 $7.99 or more and get 3 $5 albums). Here's a selection of some great $5 albums...

Vic Chesnutt died on Christmas day after 2 days in a coma following an apparent drug overdose. He was paralyzed since he was 18. Still he has made some great music. This outstanding song was recorded in November. Be aware: there's a little language at the beginning before the song starts. (buy it)

Lissie's music is great. Her glasses are stupid. Remember the dude who ripped his face off in Poltergeist? Yeah, that's Lissie in those glasses. But, you know, her music is great. (buy it)

Sister Christmas

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Willie Xmas Card 2009

My sister was haunted by this doll from my grandma's apartment when we were kids. Rediscovered a couple of years ago...we are now continuing to haunt her with it. She got this in the mail just before Christmas. Love you Julie!

Best Albums of 2009

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It's always difficult to choose my favorite albums at the end of the year. My favorite part is getting to revisit some albums that get dusty from early in the year. My least favorite part is trying to say one album is better than another. They are better at different times for different reasons. I just want to spread my enjoyment of music onto you and so I'll give ranking art my best shot. Hope you discover some new music here.

I also hope you will comment on your favorites, offer links to your lists or tell me what you think of mine. Discovery of and discussion about art is a worthy exercise. If you are interested you can check out my previous lists: Best Albums of 2007, Best Albums of 2008. By the way, none of my album comments should be taken in a negative way. "Sad" means awesomely depressing, etc. Be aware: some albums contain colorful language. 

Honorable Mentions: 

  • Them Crooked Vultures: Them Crooked Vultures - Fun, loud rock. Way better than expected. 
  • Swell Season: Strict Joy - Just haven't heard it enough to list.

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25. Megafaun: Gather, Form & Fly - Folksier, Funner Fleet Foxes.

24. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart: The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - Chew-gum shoegaze. Would be used for a remake of The Breakfast Club.

23. Sufjan Stevens: The BQE - Unquestionably Suf. Suf you can work to. Music that moves. Fluttering.

22. Grizzly Bear: Veckatimest - Grand yet feels restrained. Sad at times. Beautiful.

21. Volcano Choir: Unmap - Inventive, from the talents of Bon Iver's Justin Vernon and Collections of Colonies of Bees. It may take some work to enjoy, but enjoyable it is.

20. Passion Pit: Manners - Party time! Let's dance! Crazy falsettos on this one. Super-duper. Snazzy.

19. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros: Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Grab a tamborine and sing along as we drive to the coast in our VW van. Not always that simple, but close.

18. Antony & The Johnsons: The Crying Light - Sad. Hopeful. Yeah, basically the title. Antony's trembling voice sounds and resonates with the broken.

17. Atlas Sound: Logos - Etherial. Layered. Wonder at the collections of sounds.

16. Regina Spektor: Far - Sing-songy pop music that makes you think. 

15. Other Lives: Other Lives - Epic. Soaring. Room-filling sounds. Sad. Haunting.

14. D.M. Stith: Heavy Ghost - Beautifully creepy. Haunting. Creative. Textured. 

13. Metric: Fantasies - Fun. Foot tapping. Heart pumping. Head bobbing. Uh...fun!

12. Karen O and The Kids: Where the Wild Things Are - Great soundtrack from a great movie. Truly makes the movie better. Stays with you.

11. Phoenix: Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - Red Bull music. Cross-country road-trip music. Take-video-going-down-slides-and-replay-it-at-twice-the-speed music. 

10. The Dirty Projectors: Bitte Orca - Quirky. Complex/complicated. Everywhere, and then together again. Harmonious. Rewarding to those who dare to try.

9. Neko Case: Middle Cyclone - Storyteller. Strong. Siren. Warm and inviting amid the crashing waves and rocks.

8. A.A. Bondy: When The Devil's Loose - Simple, acoustic, folksy music with a voice that longs for something. The voice makes the music. 

7. Brandi Carlile: Give Up The Ghost - Powerful voice and powerful music. Some of the best indie songwriting on my list with a wide appeal. If some of my musical tastes don't work for you, try Brandi. 

6. The XX: XX - Dream pop. Calm vocals with twisty tunes. Understated. Coolest of the cool. Has a beat, but you can chill out to it.

Oh-My-God--Charlie-Darwin-by-The-Low-Anthem_GBf0UlEJ7kYx_full 5. The Low Anthem: Oh My God, Charlie Darwin - From delicate epics to strummy Americana to rollicking Avett-like folk/rock. This is a great album full of life and rooted sounds. Homespun goodness and full emotions.

Manchester-orchestra-mean-everything-to-nothing-2009 4. Manchester Orchestra: Mean Everything to Nothing - Rock music with something to say. Some of my favorite "crank it up" moments in my music library are on this album. Surprisingly some of the quiet are here too.

6a00d8341c974f53ef011572250dac970b.jpg 3. The Avett Brothers: I and Love and You - It wasn't until I was listening through to see some of my favorite songs of the year that I realized how much I do love this album. Just beats out Manchester Orchestra at the end.

Animalcollective 2. Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion - It's hard to discount this album. It's creative and hip and thoroughly enjoyable. Mesmerizing. Spinny. Trippy. Full of sounds and melodies and colors and unicorns. Ok, that's too far.

Antlers 1. The Antlers: Hospice - Living up to its name, this is solemn and heartbreaking. And brilliant. A running narrative often moves through this literary work. Stop, listen, experience.

Keller on Criticism

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Tim Keller writes a very helpful post on criticism, interacting with John Newton. A blurb...

So whatever you do, do anything you can to avoid feeling smug and superior to the critic. Even if you say to yourself that you are just 'shrugging it off' and that you are not going to respond to the criticism, you can nonetheless conduct a full defense and refutation in the courtroom of your mind, in which you triumphantly prove how awful and despicable your opponents are. But that is a spiritual trap.

Keller's whole post. John Newton: On Controversy.

The Tangible Kingdom Primer

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Tkprimer cover New resource in the mail. As an official member of the Verge social media team I got The Tangible Kingdom Primer, a study based on The Tangible Kingdom book. It is a "stand-alone resource," so if you haven't read the book that's just fine.

I read through the introduction last night and liked the 7 day format, including a day where a small group would work through it together. It's 8 weeks long and looks to be quite helpful for folks looking for missional resources for their church. Check out their website. And come join me at the Verge conference in February!

Lots-o-Links 12.14.09

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Teuxdeux

TeuxDeux is one of the simplest online todo lists I've seen. Like it so far. (via)

Esquire: What if Jesus meant all that stuff? - Shane Claiborne addresses the "unbelieving"

The more I have read the Bible and studied the life of Jesus, the more I have become convinced that Christianity spreads best not through force but through fascination. But over the past few decades our Christianity, at least here in the United States, has become less and less fascinating.

Curator: And the Mad Waters Rise (on Mad Men)

There is already evidence in Mad Men, from some of the plights of other characters, that the writers believe in some form of reconciliation, some redemption. Perhaps Draper too can recover from the fact that possessions and success are ultimately meaningless, and perhaps the hole this has left in him can be filled with something more meaningful, some rock to build on when the waters rise. We’ll have to wait till Season 4 to find out.

Dan Kimball: I Was Wrong About Church Buildings

I have recanted from my earlier belief that buildings drain resources and create consumer Christians. I was wrong. Now I see them as missionary centers to impact lives for the gospel.

Ray Ortlund: Brothers Together in Christ

Three ways to create a church where brothers demonstrate love for one another...

  1. “Outdo one another in showing honor” (Romans 12:10)
  2. “Bear with one another” (Colossians 3:13)
  3. “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths but only such as is good for building up” (Ephesians 4:29)

Music Monday 12.14.09

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Spin's 40 Best Albums of 2009

Curator: The Disintegration of the Music Industry and the Road to Distributism

Kevin Twit of Indelible Grace reviews Bifrost Arts: Salvation Is Created (Buy)...

This is a record that aches with longing and invites us to take off our shoes and lower our voices to a hush as we behold the wonder that is Christmas.

Swell Season's  "Low Rising" (via, buy it)...

Pomplamoose with "O Come All Ye Faithful"...

Remember Run DMC's "Christmas in Hollis?" Classic hack of Simon...

Review: Gospel-Centred Church by Timmis & Chester

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GccI'm pastoring a church striving for and working through renewal, so I'm always looking for good, Gospel-centered resources to help our people grasp the realities of what that renewal involves. When Brad Byrd (The Good Book Company, Brad on Twitter: @tweetiebyrd) gave me a copy of The Gospel-Centred Church (GCC) workbook by Steve Timmis and Tim Chester at the Acts 29 boot camp in Louisville, I hoped this would be one of those resources. It is. 

GCC is broken up into an introduction, three main sections and a conclusion...

  • Part One: The Priority of Mission
  • Part Two: The Priority of People
  • Part Three: The Priority of Community

There are a total it's 18 lessons of 4-5 pages each. Each is engaging and provocative. It worked well as an individual study, but I can see greatest value in a group setting. For the most part you can read it either systematically or topically. Despite having the limitations of being a workbook under 100 pages, the authors do well to encourage us to long for and become the community the Gospel should produce.

There are six parts to each lesson. The first is a principle--the core of the lesson. A scenario is introduced to raise a dilemma in gospel ministry. Then we consider Scripture (only a reference given so you can use your own Bible) with questions, a section discussing the theology and application of the principle, discussion questions, and actionable items are finally suggested.

I enjoyed GCC. Its challenges were many: how we think about church buildings, money, community life, leadership, courage, using gifts and more. I grew progressively more convicted by chapter after chapter over this different picture of what "church" can and should be. 

I most impressed by some thought-provoking statements and application. The authors were creative in making the principles practical. Specifically many of the "Ideas for action" were helpful. GCC will provoke you to be see your world in a different way because of the Gospel.

GCC will be helpful anywhere Christians are struggling with what it means to be community-focused and missional. If you are a pastor of an established church, I think GCC will be helpful for key leaders in your congregation. If you need a bit of a push out of safety and into the world, you will find encouragement here. If you need to remember the value and importance of local communities of faith, of locking arms for our mission, this is a good place to go. Small groups of various sorts will do well to check out GCC.

This is truly a workbook about a Gospel-shaped vision for the local church. If you are looking for a theological book, this isn't it. But for what it is, I found GCC useful for my own life and will be using it with some folks at Doxa. 

YouVersion = 1 Billion Minutes

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Youversion  In the email today...

Way to go, YouVersion users! Together, you've spent one billion minutes reading the Bible on your mobile device. It's pretty exciting to see so many of you reading God's word consistently because you always have your Bible with you. That’s an awesome way to make your minutes count!

While you're on the go you've been using YouVersion on iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android phones, reading the Bible in your choice of 41 translations and 21 languages.

We're polishing up some great new features we can't wait to share with you soon. (Like reading plans? You'll love what's coming!)

For now, how about taking a minute to celebrate with us http://www.onebillionminutes.com.

I've been on YouVersion for a while on my Palm phone, but haven't used it much. I just got a new Android phone and put YouVersion on there. I tried it out for a while yesterday and really liked it. Now I realize, because I was on YouVersion yesterday and I received this email today, that I may be responsible for taking YouVersion to the 1 billion minute threshold!

Ok, probably not. But it is a nice Bible app and I will use it regularly on my Droid. Check out YouVersion for your mobile phone & YouVersion.com.