.:: exagorazo ::.

Justice Friday

2009-05-05T23:03:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago I started Justice Friday on Twitter. What is it? It is a day that different people "tweet" about, blog about, facebook about, and generally raise awareness for all sorts of justice issues. From human trafficking to malaria, all sorts of justice issues are raised, with the end goal of generating awareness and action. The point is not just to share statistics, the point is to help other people understand the great justice issues of our day, and how they can respond and act to bring justice.

You can get involved in a couple of ways:

Follow the action by searching the hashtag #justicefriday on Twitter - read the tweets. (Here's how hashtags work...) Follow me on Twitter here
Tweet and retweet stats, info, and facts about your favorite justice issues. Do you have a favorite organization like the IJM or Not For Sale or Compassion? Follow them on Twitter and retweet their info for the rest of us! There are lots of ways to get involved. Remember to use the #justicefriday hashtag.

He has showed you, O man, what is good.

And what does the LORD require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God.

- Micah 6:8

Is Twitter narcissitic? A response...

2009-04-23T09:03:00.003-05:00

Recently, Justin Taylor posted these excerpts from a blog about the inherent narcissism of Twitter. I did not feel that this article really gave a gospel-centered approach to the phenomenon that is Twitter (and other forms of social media), so here is my best attempt at a gospel-centered response:

I find it ironic that he blogged about his Twitter angst. You know it wasn’t long ago that blogging was considered the “telegraph of Narcissus,” etc, etc. Blogging also wraps itself and its users in an infantile language… bloggers blogging on blogs. In fact, any communication medium worth being called a communication medium creates its own language – that’s the whole point of having a communication medium – newspapers, television, preaching, cell phones, email, papyrus scrolls – all inherently create and profligate a new language. Not surprising is the fact that he is, by his very admission, using the wood from his own rickety bridge that he’s standing on…to build a fire. (But that is what post-moderns are good at - castigating and eviscerating the very language their rants are written with…)

And I disagree that the community is merely symbolic. For him it may be, but for me, at least, it is not. Case in point… I run into a guy at one of our gatherings… he’s a group leader… we’ve never met before in person before that day, but we’d exchanged “tweets” and I’d been following his Twitter stream. Interesting thing happened… I asked him about his family (the family he “tweeted” about) and his family outing the week before (that he had “tweeted” about)… In a matter of a few moments we were able to go from “small talk” to “big talk” because of a history of relationship (however thin and surfacy – but, then again, isn’t that what all “small talk” really is…). (A wise mentor told me a long time ago that you have to go from “small talk” to “big talk”…)

I can’t tell you how many times that scenario has happened in ministry with me… these are real people that I’m able to connect with and love and pray for and listen to and keep up with because of, yes, Twitter. My friend had to take his newborn to the doctor… how did I find out and why did I pray? You got it – Twitter. And not to mention the countless births, hospital visits, chemistry tests, birthday parties, etc., etc.

I would not say that the “great paradox of ‘social networking’ is that it uses narcissism as the glue for "community." I would say that the great paradox of human communication and existence is that it uses narcissism as the glue for community… The problem is not Twitter, the problem is the human heart. The problem is not money. The problem is the human heart. The problem is not sex. The problem is the human heart.

So I won’t spend any more time or energy exegeting Nicholas Carr’s myopic view of Web 2.0… Is it narcissistic? Yes… But isn’t all communication inherently narcissistic, unless redeemed by the gospel? Aren’t there 4 things we as Christians know about everything in the world? 1. It was created by God, 2. because of the Fall it’s been broken/ganked/abused/narcissistic because of sin, 3. it can be redeemed, and 4. it will ultimately be renewed. (Creation – Fall – Redemption – Renewal… the plot-line of the Bible, and the bedrock of a gospel worldview...)

I think that our gospel worldview is big enough to handle Twitter… but I don’t expect his to be.

Q&A (via Twitter) about Church Planting

2009-01-19T19:58:00.005-06:00

So I was on my way to lunch with John Herrington, the church planting director for HCBC. John's a great guy and full of wisdom, insight and practical how-to's on church planting. He's the kind of guy you just wanted to glean from over and over again. So on the way to the lunch I Twittered about going to lunch with John and asked anyone to chime in with their own questions for him.

(By the way - John is doing 2 workshops at our upcoming Leadership Conference.)

Here are the questions I got and the responses from John:

From Jonathan McIntosh: (Alec asked a similar question over Facebook...)

Question: "What are the Top 5 qualities of a church planter - assuming elder qualifications?"

John's answer:

1. Love lost people: I mean, LOVE lost people. If you're gonna start a church and you don't like lost people - you've missed the point.

2. Ability to gather people: you've got to have the ability to gather a missional core who will do this WITH you and do that in a way that's "sticky" too, where people stay with you.

3. Teambuilder: church planters think they need to do it all, but they need to be able to build a team that can help them.

4. Spousal participation: your wife is your partner - you don't work for IBM - WE are church planters doing this together. Great and growing marriage is a must. If I see your marriage is struggling with deep issues - you're out - no matter what your talent.

5. Capacity to meaningfully exegete your community: despite our best efforts, most planters are worlds apart from the worldview and way of thinking of the lost... different language... you might as well be speaking Chinese to a Russian. It's that drastic. Go to Kazakstan - can you read the signs? No! Neither can you understand the lost until you learn their language and worldview - it's the same principle.

From Jacob Vanhorn:

Question: "How have the challenges of a full blown residency changed your vision or strategy from its inception?

John's Answer:

Having 5 guys in a church planting Residency means that I have to think 5 different ways. The tendency has been to franchise and systematize everything and that just won't work. Everything in me wants to tell them what to do, but they are all different guys with different models. HCBC was originally very model-specific for a suburban strategy. However, it took 18 years to plant 5 churches. They made the paradigm shift to missional church planting and have planted 15 church in 3 years.

You can keep up with my Twitter updates here.

image: Anthropomorphic Roots by: delgaudm

Top 6 Reasons I haven't blogged in 6 months

2008-12-21T16:14:00.004-06:00

1. Karis. My last blog post was June 18th. Our 2nd daughter (and 3rd child in less than 4 years), Karis, was born on June 23rd. You do the math. Although Kimberly, my wonderful wife, had made the transition to 2 kids, now that she was consumed with Karis, it was now my turn to learn what it's like to have to take care of 2 children under the age of 4.

2. For the City - our Fall Vision Series at The Austin Stone Community Church. On top of launching over 300 missional communities, we raised close to $11 million to build, among other things, a non-profit center in the poorest neighborhood in Austin.

3. Designed, launched, facilitated and taught, with the help of Allen and Joey, Project 297, a pilot training platform for urban missionaries, global missionaries, and church planters. We currently have 27 guinea pigs... ahhh, I mean, participants.

4. Hired 4 new staff - 2 church planting residents, a church planting intern and a ministry assistant.

5. Discovered Twitter. You can follow me at http://twitter.com/_Stew_

6. Got an iPhone. Whatever you think is next level, the iPhone is 5 levels above that. Trust me.

image: writer's block by: thorinside

Missional Blog-fest

2008-06-18T15:11:00.003-05:00

Let's face it - the word "missional" has become a junk-drawer word. You know what a junk-drawer is - that drawer in your bedroom or desk that just gets all sorts of crap thrown in it. G.K. Chesterton once said something to the effect that if you don't believe in anything, then you'll believe everything. The reverse is true for the word "missional." If it comes to mean everything and anything, then soon (if not already) it will mean nothing.

On June 23rd, more than 50 bloggers will blog in response to this one question - "What is missional?" Rick Meigs, who founded the Friend of Missional site, has called for something akin to a Missional Blog-fest in order to reclaim the term "missional" - primarily because of it has become a junk-drawer word - overly and wrongly used.

I'm in. If you'd like to join in on the Missional Blog-fest, just let Rick know. By the way, here are the other bloggers who are joining the party:

Alan Hirsch
Alan Knox
Andrew Jones
Barb Peters
Bill Kinnon
Brad Brisco
Brad Grinnen
Brad Sargent
Brother Maynard
Bryan Riley
Chad Brooks
Chris Wignall
Cobus Van Wyngaard
Dave DeVries
David Best
David Fitch
David Wierzbicki
DoSi
Doug Jones
Duncan McFadzean
Erika Haub
Grace
Jamie Arpin-Ricci
Jeff McQuilkin
John Smulo
Jonathan Brink
JR Rozko
Kathy Escobar
Len Hjalmarson
Makeesha Fisher
Malcolm Lanham
Mark Berry
Mark Petersen
Mark Priddy
Michael Crane
Michael Stewart
Nick Loyd
Patrick Oden
Peggy Brown
Phil Wyman
Richard Pool
Rick Meigs
Rob Robinson
Ron Cole
Scott Marshall
Sonja Andrews
Stephen Shields
Steve Hayes
Tim Thompson
Thom Turner

image: junk drawer by: kosmonautica

insights from redeemer's church planting center

2008-06-07T13:45:00.008-05:00

This past Wednesday Kevin and I went to NY to visit with the some of the staff of the Church Planting Center at Redeemer Presbyterian Church. As I mentioned before, they are #1 on the list of Top 25 Multiplying Churches in the United States. Terry Gyger and Mark Reynolds graciously gave up their morning to give us the opportunity to sit down with them, ask questions, and learn from their experiences and expertise in being a global church planting church. As we're in the process of building a church planting center as well, we wanted to learn from the best - and very few are as effective as Redeemer.

Dr. Gyger and Dr. Reynolds were unbelievable in their grasp of church planting, gospel movements, city culture, effective systems, and the many, many facets of becoming an effective church planting church. Being around Terry Gyger you get the sense that he's forgotten more about church planting than you'll ever know. He was incredibly gracious, and you would have never known that he was the one who actually recruited Tim Keller to come to New York, unless you had read Keller's history of the church. Dr. Gyger's influence is pervasive in the PCA church planting world - his fingerprints on Redeemer and Perimeter Church, two of the top 5 multiplying churches in the U.S. (#1 and #4 respectively), may not be outwardly visible, but pervasive nonetheless.

Here are a few insights from our time there:

Church planting has to be who you are - it has to be in your DNA - and it can't just be a side thing; make it a part of all your vision statements.
Key question the Redeemer CPC asked themselves early on, "Are we going to be a CPC that serves Redeemer or serves the city?" Their answer - the city.
They partner with a ton of people in the city - their Church Planting Alliance has over 17 different denominations.
Bring in people who are experts in the specific are of church planting (assessment, coaching, training, etc.).
To reach the world, reach the world's global cities.
3 things to look for in a "global city":

local influence
regional influence
global connectivity

The KIND of church they start is VERY important - a gospel-centered, balanced ministry, holistic, church planting church
Plant fewer churches and train longer.
Plant resource churches (hubs in a city).
Their goal - to create city-renewing movements.
Quote of the day: "We will know we're finished when we've become a forgotten entity."
Movements attract and prepare leaders.

These are just a FEW of the insights we gained from Redeemer. Keep in mind that they also sent us about 50 pages of documents on their distinctive vision, strategy and theology. That, along with their "Church Planter Manual" and "Coaching Urban Church Planters" Manual were invaluable to getting us prepared to understand and learn from their unique success in planting.

More to come later...

headed to Redeemer's Church Planting Center this week

2008-06-02T17:28:00.002-05:00

This Wednesday Kevin and I leave for NY to visit with the staff of the Church Planting Center at Redeemer Presbyterian Church. They are #1 on the list of Top 25 Multiplying Churches in the United States. We really want to learn from what they are doing to multiply churches, specifically as we look to build a church planting center ourselves, as well as pilot a church planting residency this Fall. Terry Gyger and Mark Reynolds have graciously offered to give us the opportunity to sit down with them and mine the gold of their experiences and expertise in church planting. I'm sure that I'll be blogging about all that we soak up from them this week.

And I got my copies of the Redeemer Church Planting Manuals - the Church Planter Manual and Coaching Urban Church Planters (right). Just in time!

austin city-wide church planter assessment

2008-05-30T19:30:00.003-05:00

Wednesday I had the privilege of being a part of a meeting to discuss the idea of doing a city-wide church planters assessment for Austin. It was hosted by Tim Hawks and John Herrington of Hill Country Bible Church, Glenn Smith of New Church Initiatives and David Smith of the Austin Baptist Association. Also participating were Jonathan Dodson representing Austin City Life and the Austin Area Church Planters Network, several baptist pastors, and myself and Joey Shaw representing Austin Stone Community Church.

Tim is the Senior Pastor at HCBC and it is obvious that he bleeds for the expansion of the Kingdom. You can tell what keeps him up at night - expanding the reign of Jesus through church planting. John is the Church Planting Director at HCBC, is sharp as a tack, extremely wise, and has a passion for seeing the city of Austin saturated with churches. Glenn is the guru of assessing and training church planters. David is one of the most kingdom-minded people you'll meet, who is able to effectively utilize his platform within the ABA to extend the influence of new and existing baptist churches. Don't let the title fool you - he's more Kingdom-focused than anyone you'll meet. Jonathan is one of the smartest and theologcially astute church planters you'll ever meet, but also has a huge heart to shepherd other church planters. And Joey, besides being fluent in Arabic, is an incredible catalyst, church planter, mobilizer and would-be statesman in his own right - not bad for a 24-year-old.

There are several reasons why stuff like this is cool:

It smells like the Kingdom: anytime gospel-centered churches pursue a vision to work together to plant churches Jesus seems to show up.
It's a good start: many of the folks at that table are very experienced in successful church planting. This isn't their first rodeo, so they know what works and what doesn't
It's raises the right kinds of questions: soon after the meeting began it became evident that assessment was only going to be one slice of the church planting pie, although that is what brought us together - the opportunity for a city-wide church planter assessment. It became clear that there would need to be other "engines" and facets of church planting we would need to work together on, including coaching, supervision, funding, research, and training.

As we pilot this city-wide church planter assessment (probably August 25-27) we'll no doubt have to tweak and change things. We'll need to bring more than just white guys to the table for this to truly be a "city-wide" endeavor. We'll need to bring house churches and house church networks to the table for this to truly be a "city-wide" endeavor. And we'll need to give different folks from different backgrounds the same voice in the process.

Hooray for good starts.

image: Austin, Texas-no place like it! by: texas to mexico

a conversation on barriers to a movement in the U.S. - part 1

2008-05-02T13:45:00.005-05:00

I recently had an email conversation with Tim Ahlen on the barriers to a church planting movement (CPM) here in the U.S. Tim was quick to point out that has yet to be a verifiable church planting movement here. And here are his initial observations as to why:

"It seems that there are a number of realities impeding CPM’s in North America.

There is so much “deviant DNA” in North America that rapid discipleship is very difficult. What I mean by that is: in remote areas of Africa, China or India, the only voices competing with Christianity are those of the dominant culture: Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, animism. When Christian teaching is introduced to these cultures, it stands by itself against the dominant cultural religion. In North America, if you teach Calvinism, you will be contradicted by other Christian voices who are Arminian. If you are a dispensational premillenialist, you will be contradicted by a host of other millennial views. If you are a Trinitarian, you will be contradicted by JW’s, Mormons and other cults. IN addition, the long history of Christianity in North America has established certain institutional and educational expectations in people’s minds that are very difficult to overcome. Bottom line, it takes a lot longer to communicate the simple and essential message of Christ in North America.

Related to the above issue, many , if not most, North Americans have been inoculated with a Christianity that is weak, anemic, institutional and cultural. However, it is strong enough to hinder people from getting “infected with the real thing.”

What do you think? Agree? Disagree? What do you think are barriers to seeing a movement of the gospel here in the U.S.?

image: the wall by: macieklew

Praying for the shalom of our neighborhood

2008-04-04T11:47:00.004-05:00

Here's what we are praying for these days for our neighborhood, and also how you can pray for the shalom of this neighborhood:

1. For racial unity. The community has changed from almost 100% African-American to 75% Hispanic in less than 20 years. Getting people to understand and work together is challenging, but there has been progress.

2. For the upcoming Unity Walk on April 26 as an expression of working together by churches, ethnic groups, new and old residents, generations, friends.

3. For the many young people who are growing up in single-parent families. Pray for dads to take responsibility for children and be good examples.

4. For the older African-American Churches (College Heights, Black's Memorial, Page Memorial and St. John Church of God in Christ) and the newer Hispanic/Anglo churches who minister here (Iglesia Ebenezer, Iglesia El Shaddai, Victory Christian, Austin Stone). Most of the neighborhood, though nominally catholic, is unchurched.

5. For affordable housing for seniors, young families and new immigrants. Rents, house prices and taxes continue to go up and stress poor families (along with gas prices). Pray for the affordable housing summit on April 12, as neighbors get together with experts to discuss what we can do to help people keep their homes.

6. For emergency shelters and transitional housing. There are around 100 children at Pickle Elementary School who are technically homeless (living combined with another family, in hotels, in shelters).

7. For the teachers, social workers, ministers, librarians, rec. center workers, after school workers, health professionals, etc. who work hard for children every day. That they not wear out and that they have wisdom in dealing with the many difficult situations they face with kids.

8. For marriage to become normal in our community, and that kids would have stable families with a mom and dad.

9. For a reduction in teen pregnancy (there are 10 pregnant girls at Webb Middle School and many more at Reagan).

10. For the police (especially Officer Jimmie Diaz and Officer Roman Lopez) as they build bridges with residents who are often suspicious and afraid of police. For a continued reduction in drugs and prostitution.

11. For the salvation of many, many families and for people to communicate and disciple in culturally appropriate ways.

12. For Ricardo Avila, a long time teacher at Webb Middle School and pastor in St. John. His wife, Sharon, is in the last stages of cancer. They are much beloved in the community.

Praise for:

All of the many volunteers who mentor kids and work in afterschool programs.

The improvement of schools in our community.

The continued reduction in crime and drugs in St. Johns.

The many people who are getting involved in supporting their own community.

image: st johns camp by: caryn werner

Building a Movement of Missional Communities - part 5

2008-03-30T23:18:00.002-05:00

To build anything you must start with the end in mind. This is called endvisioning. Endvisioning starts with looking at the final result you want to achieve and then finding the critical path that gets you there from here. This assumes that you understand your target group. You ask the questions:

"What will it take for all my people to be reached?"
"What is needed?"
"What will it look like when they are reached?"

For example, there is a true story of a people group in China where the strategists realized there were 4800 unreached villages among 1.4 million people. So they asked the question, "What is needed?"

They needed 4800 churches (missional communities) in 4800 villages.

Can you see any way to get there in an oppressive country where evangelists are illegal, the people are remote, illiterate and poor, and as foreigners you speak no Chinese language or local dialect and have no Chinese partners? YET, the end-vision is STILL 4800 churches (missional communities).

After looking at the end, you ask what the stages of a movement would look like just prior to reaching your end-vision. These strategists in China started with the end in mind and worked their way back:

5. 4800 village churches
4. 90+ district churches
3. 35 key area churches
2. 11 county churches (Prioritize most populous counties)
1. Nothing but a vision

The KEY to the whole movement was starting churches (missional communities) with the “seeds” of a kingdom movement within them – "movement" churches. They realized that yes, they could plead, prod, encourage and train local Christians to start 11 “seed” churches. And they helped them start horse churches not mule churches - horses reproduce... mules do not.

So, start with the end in mind.

[ Review: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4]

image: Movement/Movimiento by: victor_nuno

Building a Movement of Missional Communities - part 4

2008-03-22T16:22:00.002-05:00

In Part 1 and 2 of this series we looked at the first six elements of a movement of missional communities (MMC), or multiplying house churches. Let's look at elements 7 through 10:

7. Small Groups / House Churches / Missional Communities
MMCs are not sparked by people whose idea of “church” is just a large group of unengaged people sitting and soaking in a sanctuary. MMCs are sparked by people whose idea of “church” is an interdependent network of communities of people gathering wherever they can to minister to one another to be on mission. These groups may or may not come together on a regular basis to celebrate, worship, and receive advanced training. (Our network of missional communities do come together weekly on Sundays.)

Reproducing communities have 10 to 30 members. They have an effective witness in their locality. They meet in an intimate setting where they can easily hold one another accountable. Each group is a spiritual family with a high sense of mutual concern. Leadership tasks are more easily done.

P.O.U.C.H. Communities:
• Participative Bible Teaching: Every member contributes. Every member reproduces.
• Obedience to Scripture: The Bible, not a leader, is the ultimate authority. Study emphasizes application.
• Unpaid Leaders: Self-supporting men and women. The get on-the-job training as they need it – little by little, over time.
• Cell Groups (already discussed their traits).
• Houses, coffee shops, and other “third places” are typical meeting places: Encourages witness to family and neighbors. Can use existing facilities. No need for large funds and projects.

8. Missional Communities Starting New Missional Communities
MMCs are not sparked by people who want to plant missional communities one at a time. MMCs are sparked by people who want to see groups planting groups. They teach new believers that reproduction is natural. They teach new believers that no external aids are needed to start a new missional community.

9. Rapid Reproduction and Multiplication
MMCs are not sparked by people who plan for slow growth. MMCs are sparked by people who plan for rapid growth. A MMC continues to spread if believers, groups, and leaders are reproducing regularly.

Intentional multiplication launches new missional groups in a strategy for reaching unreached networks of people adding fuel to the fire of a movement. The resources are in the Harvest. We’ve estimated that there are approx. 600,000 lost people in Austin! That means that 99.7% of our future leaders, hosts, apprentices, and laborers are not yet believers. That means that we must focus on prayer, evangelism and simple training to find the majority of our future leaders and laborers.

10. Healthy, Missional Communities
MMCs are not sparked by people who have a low view of church. MMCs are sparked by people who long to see healthy communities and churches. Healthy Traits: worshipping Christ, living in community, getting trained for ministry, and making disciples.

[ Review: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3]

image: Movement/Movimiento by: victor_nuno

Building a Movement of Missional Communities - part 3

2008-03-20T17:08:00.002-05:00

George Patterson wrote a book called Church Multiplication Guide based on his experience with church multiplication movements in Latin America. Four things he says that have been helpful for my understanding of leadership and movements of the gospel:

1. Loving obedience to God's Word should be the mark of success for leadership.

2. Keep the bar for leadership high, but the entry point low.

3. On-the-job training is the best way to develop leaders.

4. Leadership development should be little-by-little and topic-by-topic.

We will never see a movement of missional communities as long as we wait for the "perfect" leader. Peter was years into leading the largest church in the history of Christianity (at the time) when Paul rebuked him for being a racist and having bad theology. Why do we look for the perfect leader when the New Testament model was full of leaders who were imperfect, yet learned and grew over time?

[ Review Part 1 , Part 2 ]

image: Movement/Movimiento by: victor_nuno

Building a Movement of Missional Communities - part 2

2008-03-18T15:08:00.004-05:00

In Part 1 of this series we looked at the first two elements of a movement of missional communities (MMC) or house churches. Let's look at a few more universal elements:

3. Intentional Planting of new Missional Communities
MMCs are not sparked by people who are aiming only to do needed community projects, start Bible studies, evangelize and/or disciple. MMCs happen when groups plant new groups. To spark an MMC, someone must design a strategy that will get missional communities to plant new missional communities. To spark a MMC, someone must implement that strategy.

4. Scriptural Authority
MMCs are not sparked by people who have several sources of authority. MMCs are sparked by people who consider the Bible the one and only authority regarding what to believe and how to live. The Bible must become the guiding source for belief, church polity, and life itself. Bible teaching is usually based on questions which arise from the text itself. New believers hold each other accountable to live under the Bible’s authority. In MMCs, two measures of success are used:

1) obedience of new believers, missional communities, and leaders to the Bible; and
2) degree of reproduction.

5. Local Leadership
MMCs are not sparked by people who believe that only mature outsiders can start and lead new missional communities. MMCs are sparked by people who raise up local people to start and lead new missional communities. Rather than doing all the work themselves, they coach people in doing the ministry as soon as possible.

6. Lay Leadership
MMCs are not sparked by people who believe that only professionally trained people can start and lead new missional communities. MMCs are sparked by people who raise up groups of unpaid lay people to lead and start new missional communities. These leaders are bi-vocational.

Role of Paid Clergy: As an MMC unfolds, the need for paid clergy often emerges. However, the people on the growing edge of the MMC continue to be bi-vocational believers. This ensures the largest possible pool of potential leaders and church planters.

[ Review Part 1 ]

image: Movement/Movimiento by: victor_nuno

Redemption and Restoration - Block Party style!

2008-03-17T23:49:00.004-05:00

My wife has a great post on our first block party here in the neighborhood. Here's an excerpt:

We truly had the poor, homeless, 2 prostitutes, one widow, one drug dealer and many children eating together with the believers of Christ. I'm telling you, there is no life better than that!

I love that we live in a neighborhood where a professor and a prostitute can come together at the same party. I love that we can engage in redemption and restoration, and join God in His mission here in this community. Trust me, He's been here far longer than any of us, and we are standing on the shoulders of so many other spiritual giants who have gone before, but how great it is to be a part of seeing Jesus renew all things.

The words of N.T. Wright are still ringing in my ears:

“The whole world is God’s holy land. At the moment the world appears as a place of suffering and sorrow as well as of power and beauty. But God is reclaiming it. That’s what Jesus death and resurrection were all about. And we are called to be part of that reclaiming. One day all creation will be rescued from slavery, from the corruption, decay, and death which deface its beauty, destroy its relationships, remove the sense of God’s presence from it, and make it a place of injustice, violence, and brutality. That is the message of rescue, of “salvation,” at the heart of” the gospel." - Simply Christian

simple & organic

2008-03-14T18:45:00.003-05:00

I've decided, after a year or so of using another blog design, to go with a simpler, more organic look and feel. In my old blog, the links, book review, blogrolls, and buttons were all crowded on the left and right side of the blog, making it the blog equivalent of a Golden Corral buffet. (Which type of mashed potato should I choose? There's so many...)

The links, book reviews, and blogrolls are all above, granted that you take advantage of the little tag labeled "Pull". Once you do, you will notice that all of the old links have been compressed and categorized into far fewer links to navigate. My hope is that this will be easier on the eyes, and simpler to navigate. Plus I like the organic feel.

Enjoy~

Building a Movement of Missional Communities - part 1

2008-02-23T08:54:00.015-06:00

A few years ago I read a formative book, which, with the Book of Acts, has both informed and colored most of what I have been attempting to explore, experiement and figure out in ministry these days. That book, Church Planting Movements by David Garrison, is an exploration of some of the movements of the gospel that are happening around the world today. From north India to China to Latin America, God is moving in unprecedented ways, birthing and multiplying tens of thousands of house churches using ordinary people and simple, reproducible and scalable discipleship. Our vision for our missional communities at the Austin Stone was birthed out of learning what God is doing around the world through church planting movements. Our vision is this: to build a movement of missional communities who worship Christ, live in community, get trained for ministry and make disciples together.

That has meant totally retooling much of what ministry I've learned and done in the past - leadership development and training, de-educating people from traditional church ways of doing things and retraining them, methods of discipleship, understanding incarnational ministry, being the church instead of doing church, etc.

This starts with understanding, internalizing and living out what it means to build a movement of missional communities.

DEFINITION OF A MOVEMENT OF MISSIONAL COMMUNITIES

A Movement of Missional Communities is a rapid multiplication of lay-led missional communities (or house churches) starting other missional communities that sweeps through a people group or population segment. There are both Universal Elements to a movements, elements that absolutely must be there, and Common elements, elements that should be there but sometimes aren't. Here are the first two universal elements:

1. Prayer
MMCs are not sparked by people who read and talk about prayer. MMCs are sparked by people who pray. MMCs are sparked by people who get many others to pray. From the beginning, those involved must wholly rely on God's power. That way, the new believers, groups, and leaders will also learn to pray.

2. Abundant Gospel Sowing
MMCs are not sparked by people who are shy about sharing the Good News. MMCs are sparked by people who see that hundreds and even thousands of people are hearing the Good News. They know that those who sow abundantly usually reap abundantly.

Witness is Word + Deed. Reaching our spheres of influence and relationships is the primary way that the Gospel races through a population group. Loving acts of compassion, mercy and social justice demonstrate and validate the message we preach.

image: Movement/Movimiento by: victor_nuno

Book Review: A Theology As Big As The City by Ray Bakke

2008-02-05T10:33:00.000-06:00

Ray Bakke is Chancellor, distinguished professor of global urban ministry and Chairman of the Board of Regents at Bakke Graduate University of Ministry. He has also served as Global Urban Studies Professor at Northwest Graduate School and Executive Director of International Urban Associates. In 1989, he founded International Urban Associates (IUA), which has catalyzed a network of more than 100 urban-based church and mission leaders to serve some of the largest cities of the world. He spent much of his early ministry years in Chicago, where much of his theology of the city was formed. He holds a diploma from Moody Bible Institute, BA from Seattle Pacific College, an MDiv from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, an STM and a DMin from McCormick Theological Seminary. He has authored numerous books on urban theology and ministry, highlighting the need for Christians to address the plight of the urban poor and marginalized.

After laying out the unique challenges in and need for urban ministry, Bakke notes that the thesis of this book is that “the primary challenge” of urban ministry “is theological” (Bakke: 14). His goal is to show from the Bible that God is deeply concerned about the structures and the individuals in cities. From Moses to Jeremiah, Bakke sets forth a biblical theology of ministry in and to cities. He lays out not only the need for an urban theology for our quickly urbanizing world (Introduction), but he also makes the case that many of the leaders and stories of the Bible are completely urban-centric. From Moses to Ruth, and Jeremiah to Isaiah, Bakke is quick to point out that many of our well-known biblical narratives are firmly rooted in God’s concern for cities. While looking at education, community, leadership development, migration, and the family, Bakke not only deals with many different subjects, but also how they interrelate with urban theology.

Bakke’s book was not only a paradigm-shifter for me when I first read it, but also a ministry-saver. I first read this book several years ago right after moving into the inner-city of Memphis. I had a heart for the city, but very little theology of the city. Bakke’s book was not just refreshing and insightful, it was engaging and practical. I owe much of my understanding, language, and strategy to this book. Even today, it informs my ministry in and for the city. I currently live in an at-risk neighborhood in Austin. It’s no Memphis, but it has its challenges. And Bakke’s book has refreshed my once again, giving me a renewed vision for God’s heart for not just this community and city, but for the many global cities that still pine underneath the weight of injustice. I have to admit, the strength of Bakke’s book is that he reads almost everything in the Bible through the lens of this theology of the city. Unfortunately, this is also its only weakness. There are slight stretches at times to make the jump to urban ministry (i.e. reading the Song of Songs through the lens of urban kids with sexual temptation). I appreciate the application, but it can still be made without the leap to urban-specific theology. Again, Bakke’s book has been and still is one of the most formative books in my theology of the city and of ministry in an urban (and therefore, global) context. It is a must-read for anyone wanting to do ministry locally and/or globally.

You can download helpful study notes here.

blog un-fast

2008-02-01T13:52:00.000-06:00

I'm breaking my fast from blogging. I'm taking a break from my seminary program, and definitely need to blog about some of the things I've been processing. We recently packed up and moved to a community we have a heart for and feel called to serve in during this season. Call it an at-risk community or what, but it's about as close to the type of neighborhood we lived in during our time in Memphis as we could find.

No, we didn't choose this neighborhood because it was the safest in Austin (just the opposite). No, we didn't choose this neighborhood because it has the best schools in Austin (just the opposite). No, we didn't choose this neighborhood because everyone is white, young and middle-class (just the opposite). And oh yeah, we do have John Perkins, Bob Lupton and the CCDA to partially blame for our choice of neighborhoods.

So, one of the things I'm going to be doing over the next year or so is highlighting issues of justice, poverty and community development.

I'm also excited about an experiment I'm doing with missional communities right now. I've gathered a group of like-minded missional-ists. We are going through Perspectives together, learning about and engaging in our at-risk neighborhood, as well as learning about and engaging with an unreached people group in the Sudan. It's guaranteed to not be a flop, mainly because it's just an experiment and I'm not sure what's going to come of it. But what happens when you gather passionate people to learn about and engage in God's mission to the poor, oppressed and unreached together? Only time will tell...

image: cup of water by: matt_so