Thanks to a comment by Brad on yesterday’s post, I found the Missional Church Network blog. (See? Posting comments on someone else’s blog does work! If you make comments on the blogs of others, it helps people find your blog.) I love everything written by Alan Hirsch, and so when I saw a post containing a YouTube Video by Alan from the Exponential Conference, I had to watch it. I have embedded it below, but here is what Brad wrote about the video: When asked about church planting in America... Read Full Story

Over the past year, I have experienced a huge paradigm shift in my thinking about life and ministry. As a result, I have watched with interest how this shift has affected my theology and my ministry practice. Below is a brief explanation of the shift that has occurred, and a few of the resultant ramifications. The SHIFT:  I no longer view myself as pastor, or church planter, but as a missionary…and not just any missionary, but a missionary to a cross-cultural, unreached people group. In... Read Full Story

I was able to get my hands on a free copy of The Tangible Kingdom last week, which thrilled me because I was going to buy it anyway. It’s the newest book from The Leadership Network, and so far, I haven’t read a book from them that I don’t like. The Tangible Kingdom was no exception, and it is going on my “Missional Must-Read” Book list. This book really hit me hard, partly because the story of Hugh Walter (one of the authors) mirrors so closely my own story. He was well situated in the... Read Full Story

What is the gospel? The gospel is good news. Do you want to know what good news is? Well here’s some: I just got word five hours ago that I passed my Thesis! (I got a B). Which means…I passed all my classes!  In othe words, I just finished 20th grade! (Slow at math? 6 for grade school + 2 for Jr.High + 4 for high school + 4 for Bachelors + 4 for Masters = 20 years of school; i.e., 20th grade. … 21 if you count Kindergarten … 22 if you count pre-K. Yikes. No wonder I’m not up for a Doctorate... Read Full Story

With Prince Caspian soon to be in the theaters, I have been reflecting somewhat on the writings and theology of CS Lewis. Have you ever wondered why he wrote The Chronicles of Narnia? I am convinced it is partly because he knew that stories often teach theology better than simply teaching theology. Look at these quotes from Lewis: You must translate every bit of your Theology into the vernacular. This is very troublesome and it means you can say very little in half an hour, but it is... Read Full Story

I have found that when I criticize others, it always comes back to bite me, generally with me doing the same thing I criticized others about. I guess this is just one way God keeps us humble, and teaches us not to judge a fellow servant. After all, to our own master we stand or fall (Rom 14:4). I have so many examples of my criticism coming back to bite me, but let me just share one. Last year at this time, I remember talking with a fellow student at Dallas Theological Seminary who was... Read Full Story

Ok, I need to rant, but I’ll try to do so in love… I listened to a message a while back by a famous pastor in Seattle who gave a message called “Building a City Within the City” in which he basically argued that God’s heart was for the city, because that is where culture and education and art and music all happen. Rural people, he implied, are trying to escape culture and remove themselves from what God is doing in the world. I remember getting quite upset at hearing this since some of the... Read Full Story

I was just listening to a message given by Michael Frost, and in it he read the following poem by Adrian Plass. It is exactly what I am thinking and feeling. For me, following Jesus has become a life full of deep faith and great fear. The poem portrays both wonderfully. When I Became a Christian By Adrian Plass When I became a Christian I said, Lord, now fill me in, Tell me what I’ll suffer in this world of shame and sin. He said, your body may be killed, and left to rot and stink, Do you... Read Full Story

I just got back from the Exposed Church Planting conference put on by Square1 Church Planting. It was incredible! I cannot say enough good about it. It was unlike any conference I have ever been to before. I met a group of the most incredible church planters ever, and really got to know several of them. I hope we can maintain contact with them. There will probably be another Square1 conference next October, so begin to think about attending now. I wish I could say more, but I’m soooo tired... Read Full Story

Yesterday I mentioned that for the final round of the blogging tournament at PlantingSpace.com, I wrote two articles and then submitted the one that I thought was best. That’s not actually true. I only wrote one, which is the one you find below. I showed it to my wife for her input. She liked it, made some suggestions, and then said that it didn’t sound quite right. It seemed too…aggressive. Too bloody. So she and I talked about a few other ideas. She came up with an idea I thought was so... Read Full Story