The HEATHblog

The King Jesus Gospel – Scott McKnight on White Horse Inn

noreply@blogger.com (Heath Watson) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:30:00 +0000

What is the gospel? Throughout the history of American Evangelicalism, many have tried to reduce it to a simple slogan, or something like “four spiritual laws.” But in reducing the gospel of Christ to a sales pitch, have Evangelicals altered the message? Does the good news that we proclaim have more to do with getting people to make a decision, more than it focuses on Christ’s person and work?

On a recent White Horse Inn episode, Michael Horton discusses these issues with Scot McKnight, author of The King Jesus Gospel.

Scott McKnight is one of my favorite dudes. He has encouraged me and has helped to clarify the definition and application of the Gospel of Jesus Christ again and again. Please read The King Jesus Gospel; it will help bring immense clarity!

Listen to the interview between Scott and Mike HERE.

Here’s a video intro. to Scott McKnight's new book:

Also, be sure to check out the following lecture giving by McKnight at a recent QIdeas – Did Jesus Preach the Gospel?

More Reasons Why Tampa Bay Area Needs More Healthy Churches…

noreply@blogger.com (Heath Watson) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:39:00 +0000

A recent survey considered the 50 largest metropolitan areas (which includes suburbs) in pursuit of discovering the nations most stressful cities/areas. The team considered the following factors: divorce rate, commute times, unemployment, violent crime, property crime, suicides, alcohol consumption, mental health, sleep troubles, and the annual amount of cloudy days.

Read Bottom Line’s America's Most Stressful Cities in 2012 HERE.

Here’s the top five. The Sunshine State doesn’t appear to be too happy! Guess where Tampa wound up?

5. Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Michigan
Population: 1,918,288
Divorced: 11.4%
Commute time – minutes: 27
Unemployment: 15.7%
Violent crime per 100,000 population: 1111.2
Property crime per 100,000 population: 4,152.4
Suicides per 100,000 population: 9.6
Cloudy days annually: 180

Standout factors: The Detroit metropolitan area is in the 100th percentile for violent crime and property crime. It also ranks in the 97th percentile for poor mental health days per month, though it is in the second percentile for alcohol consumption per month.

4. Jacksonville, Florida
Population: 1,374,303
Divorced: 12.3%
Commute time – minutes: 28.0
Unemployment: 10.4%
Violent crime per 100,000 population: 557
Property crime per 100,000 population: 3,772.4
Suicides per 100,000 population: 13.9
Cloudy days annually: 139

Standout factor: Jacksonville is in the 95th percentile for divorces.

3. Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Florida
Population: 2,472,015
Divorced: 11.5%
Commute time – minutes: 33.2
Unemployment: 12.5%
Violent crime per 100,000 population: 733.3
Property crime per 100,000 population: 4,678.3
Suicides per 100,000 population: 9.3
Cloudy days annually: 117

Standout factors: Metropolitan Miami is in the 97th percentile for property crime, and 95th percentile for violent crime, but is in the fourth percentile for alcohol consumption.

2. Las Vegas-Paradise, Nevada
Population: 1,908,008
Divorced: 13.2%
Commute time – minutes: 27
Unemployment: 14%
Violent crime per 100,000 population: 763.4
Property crime per 100,000 population: 2,921.9
Suicides per 100,000 population: 18
Cloudy days annually: 65

Standout factors: Las Vegas-Paradise is in the 100th percentile for divorces, but it had the least cloudy days of the 50 cities analyzed.

1. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida
Population: 2,780,818
Divorced: 12.3%
Commute time – minutes: 28.3
Unemployment: 11.2%
Violent crime per 100,000 population: 500
Property crime per 100,000 population: 3,387.2
Suicides per 100,000 population: 15.5
Cloudy days annually: 127

Standout factor: Tampa is in the 97th percentile for suicides.

“Bloodlines” from Piper–free PDF download

noreply@blogger.com (Heath Watson) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 03:12:00 +0000

For MLK Day, Desiring God is now offering Pastor John Piper's book, Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian, free to download.

Also…

Crossway traveled with John Piper to his hometown of Greenville, SC to revisit the world in which he grew up. This 18-minute documentary takes us through his experience of racism in the 1960's American South:

Bloodlines Documentary with John Piper from Crossway on Vimeo.

Community Groups and Grace Church

noreply@blogger.com (Heath Watson) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 14:25:00 +0000

Grace Church just had their first Community Group meeting last night. We’re kicking off our Community Group Ministry this month with 4 wonderful groups!

What are Grace Church Community Groups?
Getting connected at Grace Church involves participation in both the Sunday morning Gatherings and a Community Group. Sunday Gatherings are a time for worshipful celebration together, hearing the preaching of the Word, imparting the vision of Grace Church, and sharing in Communion. Whereas, Community Groups are the primary way we, disciple one another, connect with one another, and live out the mission of Grace Church. Community Groups are an essential expression of our church’s mission.

Each Community Group will find their own rhythm - meeting regularly (either weekly or bi-weekly) to eat together, learn together, pray together, encourage one another, and be on mission together, living out the Gospel in real and tangible expressions. Being a community-driven people means walking through life together, helping one another become fully-devoted followers of Jesus.

Why Community Groups?
At the heart of the Community Groups ministry is the desire to see a community of believers who worship Jesus, love one another, and embody the mission & vision of Grace Church to make disciples. Community Groups will be the place where the seeds of the preached Word (from the Sunday Gathering sermon) take root and become real as we consider how we may "spur one another on toward love and good deeds" (Heb. 10:24). In other words, our Community Groups will be a place where we encourage and challenge one another to live missional lives and to know Jesus deeper and in more personal ways.

The Practice of Living Missionally:
Our Community Groups will aim at connected our members to call of God to “live sent” – commissioned by Christ to follow his Great Commission for the church (Matt. 28:16-20).

The church is a community of God’s people gathered for his mission; and community, centered and driven by the Gospel, is the vehicle through which God’s mission is carried out. As Gordon Fee points out in Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God, “God is not just saving individuals and preparing them for heaven; rather, He is creating a people among whom He can live and who in their life together will (tangibly) reproduce God’s life and character.” We are to be on mission (i.e., missional) together! It is the mission of the Gospel that is to shape our Christian community and activities.

So our Community Groups will be encouraged to come up with outreach ideas for their group. Here’s a list of some examples - 100 Ways for Community Groups and Individuals to Engage your Neighborhoods.

For more – Grace Church Community Groups

Christmas Cookie Drop

noreply@blogger.com (Heath Watson) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 04:00:00 +0000

Merry Christmas!

I wanted to pass on a simple, yet powerful, way to reach out and show the love of Jesus the Christ this Christmas Eve. (In the future, we hope to do this in a more strategic and organized way after Grace Church’s Christmas Eve service; but this year's endeavor will still bless the socks off many!)

Here's the deal...
Bake some cookies, brownies, cup cakes, etc., package them up, attach the Christmas greeting card (click here), and deliver the bake goods to someone working on Christmas Eve. It could be the clerk at a convenient store, the firemen at a fire station, paramedics, hospital or emergency care facility employees, a gas station attendant, a bar tender, and, yes, even police officers!

We will call it "The Christmas Cookie Drop" and it's a great opportunity for you and your family to love and serve others by representing our gift-giving God! Perhaps this can become a new Christmas tradition for you and your family.

"...keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus, for He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’" ~ Acts 20:35

May peace of God be within you, upon you, and flow through you this Christmas season.

www.gracechurchofdunedin.com

Give the Gift of Church Planting – Ministry Update from Grace Church

noreply@blogger.com (Heath Watson) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 20:34:00 +0000

December 2011 – Grace Church Ministry Update

“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
~ Jesus, Acts 20:35

Merry Christmas to all the friends, supporters, and encouragers of Grace Church of Dunedin!

Christmas is always a fun (and busy!) time of the year - family, friends, Christmas songs, claymation, Rudolph, stockings, eggnog, shopping, Adam Sandler's Hanukkah songs, mistletoe, Christmas lights, sparkling grape juice, etc. In addition to all those jolly activities, the times of corporate worship during Advent Season are always some of my most favorite.

A lot of Christians talk about keeping Christ in Christmas and come up with great ways to remember the advent of our Lord; but have you ever considered how Christmas and church planting go together? Yes, as Christians, Christmas is a special/sacred time to remember the gift of Christ; but it should also be a time of remembering why he came!

What is “the reason for the season?”

According to Isaiah 9:6-7, Christ came in order to bring the Kingdom of God to earth; and with that Kingdom comes peace, redemption, and life as it should be. Verse 7 concludes with stamp of God's zealous promise to do it. In the New Testament we learn that God's plan to "do it" is the through the expansion of the church, i.e., church planting (Matthew 28:16-20; Acts 1:7-8; 15:41; 16:5; Matthew 16:18)!

So, this Christmas season, may I encourage you to consider giving the gift of church planting. There is still much Kingdom work to do; and the Gospel transforms lives and communities primarily through local churches. As one leading missiologist, C. Peter Wagner writes, “Planting new churches is the most effective evangelistic methodology known under heaven."

Of course, you can give to Grace Church! We have a lot of preparations still to complete that can only get done through additional income. Every dollar helps, no gift is too small to make a difference in building the Kingdom! You can mail your donation to:

Grace Church
PO Box # 421
1350 County Road 1
Dunedin, FL 34698

You can also donate online here.

But, if not Grace Church, consider giving the gift of church planting elsewhere. Here are some worthy church planting recipients, laboring intently to see lives redeemed and communities renewed:

The Experience Church - a brand new church in downtown Clearwater. (FYI, all the churches left downtown Clearwater a few years back. To our enemy's dismay, these guys are headed back! This is very exciting and worthy of our support!)
SOS Ministries - an international church planting mission organization. (Where our very own, Paul Wonderly, serves!)
Vision360 - an organization working hard and across denominational lines to see cities changed by more and more churches being planted! (Hmm...sounds a lot like Grace Church!)

On behalf of the other Grace Church elders, James Gleichowski and Steve Lee, we wish you and your family a most blessed Christmas! We also hope and pray that your partnership in building the Kingdom through church planting will mirror the redemptive love of our Savior who went to where the people were, cared for them with compassion, and spoke to them the good news of the kingdom.

Please Pray:
We are dreaming big and praying big, believing God can use Grace Church in mighty ways. Prayer is the number one means to any movement of God's Spirit. PLEASE be praying for Grace Church, our leaders, and our mission.

Thank you for praying for Grace Church!

If you have any questions about Grace Church or how you can help us with this church plant project, please do not hesitate to contact me.

grace and peace,
heath

www.gracechurchofdunedin.com
Grace Church is a community of changed people who are committed to serving
and renewing the greater Dunedin area through a movement of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Robust Gospel, Robust Church

noreply@blogger.com (Heath Watson) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:05:00 +0000

Scot McKnight addresses whether or not our Gospel is too small and how our message effects this next generation:

“My physician tells me that the way I live during this decade will shape the way I live in the next decade. Likewise, the way we preach the gospel in this decade will shape the church of the next. A more robust gospel now will mean a more robust church for the next generation.”

Taken from “The 8 Marks of a Robust Gospel”

Christmas Misconceptions

noreply@blogger.com (Heath Watson) — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 04:52:00 +0000

Christmas. It’s all about family, candlelight church services, stockings, eggnog, shopping, mistletoe, Christmas lights…and widespread misinformation.

Huh?

Yeah, Christmas definitely takes the lead in “the holiday with the most folktales and urban legends” category. In fact much of our Christmas nativity story is filled with outright unbiblical ideas!

The typical story we hear repeated is:

“On the evening of December 25th, about 2000 years ago, Mary, who is urgently needing to deliver her baby, rides into Bethlehem on a donkey. Although it’s an emergency, all the innkeepers turn them away. So she delivers baby Jesus in an outside stable. Then angels sing to the shepherds. Afterwards, the shepherds join up with three kings on camels, find the baby Jesus and worship the quiet newborn.”

What’s the problem? Well, this story might be almost entirely wrong. The events surrounding the birth have been retold so many times and in songs, in plays, books, and movies that most people have a distorted view of the true Nativity events. The only accurate record is found in the Bible, so we’ll be comparing the rampant Christmas misconceptions with the Scriptures.

Christmas Misconception #1 Jesus was Born in a Stable
Was Jesus born in a stable or in a born? The Bible does not mention either of these places in connection with Christ’s birth, only a manger. Scripture simply reports that they laid Jesus in a manger because there was no room for him in the guest room (Luke 2:7). The Greek word used in Scripture is kataluma, and can mean guest chamber, lodging place or inn. The only other time this word was used in the New Testament, it means a furnished, large, upper story room within a private house. It’s translated guest chamber, not inn (Mark 14:14-15). There was a word for an inn (i.e. hotel) used in that day – pandocheion. Luke uses that word in Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:34, so he definitely didn’t mean that there was no room in the local Holiday Inn!

According to Bible archaeology experts, Jesus was probably born in the house of relatives on the bottom floor, underneath the normal living and guest quarters. This is because all of Joseph's family, perhaps with their wives and children, would have been in the same house due the census Caesar had issued (Luke 2:1-3). Your typical home during the time of Jesus’ birth was two-stories. The first level was kind of like a garage, and yes, it would be normal to have a few of your prized animals kept in there. The second floor would have been the living quarters - “the inn.” In order to give Joseph and his very pregnant wife some privacy, everyone probably decided to let Joseph and Mary stay in the first level. It was definitely a bit rough, but not a stable.

Does this mean we have to throw out our cheesy little Nativity scenes? Maybe, maybe not. But I do make an effort to explain to my children how it really went down. For more about this Christmas misconception see Bible Study Magazine’s Away in a Manger, But Not a Barn.

Other Christmas Misconceptions:
Christmas Misconception #2 The Innkeeper Turned Mary & Joseph Away
Christmas Misconception #3 No Crying He Makes
Christmas Misconception #4 Mary, Urgently Needing to Deliver Her Baby, Rides into Bethlehem on a Donkey
Christmas Misconception #5 Three Kings, Riding on Donkeys, Come to See the Baby Jesus
Christmas Misconception #6 Jesus was Born on December 25^th

Other Resources about the Biblical Christmas Story:
Where do all those silly Christmas traditions come from? Do they represent anything? Check out “Stealing Christmas” by Jason Boyett page 83 in Relevant’s Nov/Dec ‘09 edition, you may be surprised how pagan (in origin) our activities actually are.

You can also see “Debunking Christmas” where Boyett shares some Christmas misconceptions and traditional. And here’s a good article by christiananswers.net entitled “What are some of the most common misconceptions about Jesus Christ’s birth?”

Oh come on now, don’t get your undies in a bundle! Just because we may have taken some of our Christmas traditions from pagans and get our facts wrong about the nativity doesn’t mean Christmas is ruined. Just know your Christmas facts!

Merry Christmas!

Inspiration for Grace Church…and Other Church Plants

noreply@blogger.com (Heath Watson) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 16:01:00 +0000

I’ve been watching/listening to Mars Hill’s documentary, God’s Story, Our Witness. It’s an encouraging account of the humble beginnings of Mars Hill Church, lead by Pastor Mark Driscoll. As we begin to launch Grace Church of Dunedin, and as others consider planting churches, it is imperative that while we sacrifice much and labor at raising money, gathering all our supplies, constructing all our material, organizing our worship ministry, children’s ministry, Community Groups, etc., and as we make seemingly endless plans, we remember the church is God’s plan and, ultimately, his work!

He will be faithful to “build his church” (Matt. 16:18).

Thank Mars Hill for being a witness of God’s Story. Here's a few segments:

Watch or listen to the full documentary here.

God is Creating a People Among Whom He Can Live

noreply@blogger.com (Heath Watson) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:13:00 +0000

“God is not just saving individuals and preparing them for heaven; rather, He is creating a people among whom He can live and who in their life together will reproduce God’s life and character.”

– Gordon Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God

Christianity as Community, not Individual Piety

noreply@blogger.com (Heath Watson) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:05:00 +0000

“Christian ethics is not primarily an individualistic, one-on-one-with-God brand of personal holiness; rather it has to do with living the life of the Spirit in Christian community and in the world.”

– Gordon Fee, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God

The Importance of Authentic Community

noreply@blogger.com (Heath Watson) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 05:40:00 +0000

Pick up Brad House’s book – Community: Taking Your Small Group off Life Support.

Disciples Following Jesus Making Disciples Who Follow Jesus

noreply@blogger.com (Heath Watson) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 01:59:00 +0000

D.A. Carson claimed all believers were sent to participate in God’s mission, “Jesus specifies the mission of God though his final instructions before His ascension.” Matthew recorded the words of Jesus, “Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Carson concluded the following:

"The injunction is given at least to the Eleven, but to the Eleven in their roles as disciples. Therefore they are paradigms for all disciples… It is binding on all Jesus’ disciples to make others what they themselves are–disciples of Jesus Christ." ~ D.A. Carson, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Matthew

Therefore, following the disciple-making example and commissioning of Jesus, all believers are on mission to make disciples.

The Mission is God's

noreply@blogger.com (Heath Watson) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 01:53:00 +0000

Mission…in biblical terms, while it inescapably involves us in planning and action, is not primarily a matter of our activity or our initiative. Mission, from the point of view of our human endeavor, means the committed participation of God’s people in the purposes of God for the redemption of the whole creation. The mission is God’s. The marvel is that God invites us to join in. ~ Christopher Wright, The Mission of God

The Meaning of Marriage Webcast with Tim & Kathy Keller

noreply@blogger.com (Heath Watson) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:36:00 +0000

On November 1, 2011, Penguin Books hosted Tim and Kathy Keller for a discussion of their book The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God. Gabe Lyons and Bethany Jenkins conducted the interview at the New York Society for Ethical Culture.

Unsettled Questions with David Bazan

noreply@blogger.com (Heath Watson) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 16:24:00 +0000

One of my favorite singer/songwriters, David Bazan, recently particpated in an interview with Q-Ideas for the Common Good.

In a wide-ranging conversation interspersed with song, author of The Sacredness of Questioning Everything David Dark and musician Dave Bazan (formerly, of Pedro the Lion) will discuss the struggles of a questioning faith. They’ll wrestle with the joys and tensions of attempting to sustain a creative and neighborly livelihood without lying or going crazy. Their back-and-forth will include their appreciation of the witnessing work on offer by contemporary truth tellers, David Simon, Cormac McCarthy, Leonard Cohen, and the Brothers Coen.

Click here for the interview: Bazan Interview with Q-Ideas for the Common Good

16 Things to Look for in a Preacher

noreply@blogger.com (Heath Watson) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:52:00 +0000

16 things Mark Driscoll looks for in a preacher:

1.    Tell me about Jesus. Connect it all to Jesus. If you don’t mention Jesus a lot, you need to do something other than preach. And tell me that Jesus is a person, not just an idea. Help me to not only know him but to also like him.

2.    Have one big idea. Hang all your other ideas on the one big idea. Otherwise, you will lose me or bore me.

3.    Get my attention in the first 30 seconds without being gimmicky. Get to work. Don’t “blah blah blah” around, chitchat, or do announcements. That will make me start checking my phone. Get my attention, and let’s get to work.

4.    Bring me along theologically and emotionally. Preaching is not a commentary. Commentaries are boring for even nerds to read. Your job is to do the nerd work and bring it to life. Raise your voice, grab my affections, and bring the living Word.

5.    Make me like you, trust you, and respect you so that I can't dismiss you. If you want me to follow you, you have to get me to that point.

6.    Avoid Christian jargon and explain your terms. The average person has no idea what fellowship means, or even God for that matter. So, tell us what you’re talking about and don’t assume we have your vocabulary.

7.    Don't have points as much as a direction and destination. Take me somewhere. Take me to a place of conviction, compassion, conversion, etc.

8.    Don't show me how smart you are, because it makes me feel dumb. I assume you’re smart since you’re standing up talking and we’re all sitting down listening. If you quote words in some language I don’t know, or quote dead guys to show you’re a genius, that makes me feel dumb, which doesn’t serve me well. Don’t come off like that kid in school that the rest of us wanted to give a wedgie to every time they raised their hand.

9.    Invite lost people to salvation. Some people in the seats aren’t Christians. So, tell them how to become one. Talk about sin, Jesus, and repentance. At some point in every sermon just do that. If you do, people will bring lost friends. Don’t be a coward.

10. Whether it feels like a wedding or a funeral, be emotionally engaging and compelling. Some sermons are a funeral—convicting, deep, hard hitting, and life shattering. Other sermons are a wedding—exciting, compelling, encouraging, and motivating. Pick an emotional path. Have an emotional trajectory to the sermon, not just a theological point. If you pass the audition and get to preach publicly, have the entire service flow emotionally. If we do wedding songs after a funeral sermon, I’m emotionally confused. Likewise, if we’re singing melancholy hymns after a big motivational sermon, I’m also emotionally confused. So, you and the guy in skinny jeans with the guitar have got to get this figured out together.

11.   Look like someone who has it together from clothes to haircut to overall presentation. You don’t need to be a model, but you should look presentable. If you have bed-head, your fly open, keep losing your place in your notes, your shoe is untied, your mic battery dies, and you say, “Um,” a lot because you’re unprepared, I may feel sorry for you but I’m not following you because you don’t seem to have a clue where you are going.

12. Tell the truth and don't be a coward. Look me in the eye and don't flinch. Don’t apologize for what God’s Word says—just say it. Say it like you mean it. Say it like it’s true. Sure, I may despise you, but at least I’ll know what God said. Get over your fear of man and assume that I may just hate you.

13. If you get lost or mess up, make a joke about yourself and keep me interested. I know at some point you’re going to mess up. The Bible is perfect, you aren’t. If I can laugh at you while laughing with you, I’ll trust you.

14. Don’t just preach repentance but also practice it. Don’t talk about everyone else’s sin and never your own. Don’t tell me all the victories you’ve had or that your sin was a long time ago. Jesus is the hero, not you. I don’t trust smug, religious folks who preach how great they are and how I can become like them. It’s smarmy.

15.   Answer some objections. You know how most of us are going to push back, question, disagree, or wiggle off the conviction hook. So, anticipate those objections and answer some. Brawl with me a bit, show me you can go a few rounds, get me in a corner, and work me over until I give in and obey God. But, you have to work at it.

16. "It" is the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in you and through you. I’m looking to see if you have it. I can’t explain it, but I know it when I see it.

Thank you Pastor Mark.

Jesus as a Pale Influence or Memory

noreply@blogger.com (Heath Watson) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 18:18:00 +0000

"Where no attention is given to teaching, and to constant, lifelong Christian learning, people quickly revert to the worldview or mindset of the surrounding culture, and end up with their minds shaped by whichever social pressures are most persuasive, with Jesus somewhere around as a pale influence or memory." ~ N. T. Wright, Acts for Everyone, Part One

The Meaning of Marriage

noreply@blogger.com (Heath Watson) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 16:18:00 +0000

Based on the most popular sermon series at Redeemer in NYC…

Publisher's Description:
Based on the sermon series by Timothy Keller, this book shows everyone—Christians, skeptics, singles, long-time married couples, and those about to be engaged—the vision of what marriage should be according to the Bible.

Modern culture would make you believe that everyone has a soul-mate; that romance is the most important part of a successful marriage; that your spouse is there to help you realize your potential; that marriage does not mean forever, but merely for now; that starting over after a divorce is the best solution to seemingly intractable marriage issues. All those modern-day assumptions are, in a word, wrong.

Using the Bible as his guide, coupled with insightful commentary from his wife of thirty-six years, Kathy, Timothy Keller shows that God created marriage to bring us closer to him and to bring us more joy in our lives. It is a glorious relationship that is also the most misunderstood and mysterious. With a clear-eyed understanding of the Bible, and meaningful instruction on how to have a successful marriage, The Meaning of Marriage is essential reading for anyone who wants to know God and love more deeply in this life.

“We are all beggars. This is True”

noreply@blogger.com (Heath Watson) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:25:00 +0000

"Wir sein pettler. Hoc est verum."

"We are all beggars. This is true."

Taken from "The Last Written Words of Luther," Table Talk No. 5468

This piece of art was done by my brother-in-law, Daryn Kinney.

Misc. Quotes From Martin Luther:

"Faith is a living, bold trust in God's grace, so certain of God's favor that it would risk death a thousand times trusting in it. Such confidence and knowledge of God's grace makes you happy, joyful and bold in your relationship to God and all creatures. The Holy Spirit makes this happen through faith. Because of it, you freely, willingly and joyfully do good to everyone, serve everyone, suffer all kinds of things, love and praise the God who has shown you such grace." Taken from Luther's An Introduction to St. Paul's Letter to the Romans

"We are all ministers of the Gospel. Some of us just happen to be the clergymen." Martin Luther, unsourced

“... Besides, the Word is the principal part of baptism. If in an emergency there’s no water at hand, it doesn’t matter whether water or beer is used.” Taken from "Prenatal Baptisms Are Ridiculed," Table Talk No. 394

Wikipedia on Martin Luther (great article!)

Martin Luther and Reformation Day

Martin Luther Page

"The Bondage of the Will" by Martin Luther

Luther's Larger Catechism

John Piper on Martin Luther's Life & Ministry (MP3)

A Great MP3 on Martin Luther's Life & The Bondage of the Will

Happy Reformation Day – 2011!

noreply@blogger.com (Heath Watson) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:21:00 +0000

It was October 31^st, 1517 in Wittenberg, Germany. Martin, a young Christian scholar, grasped a hammer and a long piece of paper covered with his writing. He walked out into the street and straight over to the church door. It was here that community messages were often posted. Martin nailed his 95 points of discussion on the door. He only wanted to lay out his newly discovered views of the Bible to other church leaders in the Medieval Catholic church. He thought he was free to do so, after all, he was an Augustinian monk and a professor of theology.

Martin called himself a “stinking bag of maggots” and “a beggar;” he certainly did not dream of being a leader in a revolution of theological thinking in Germany and across Europe that would ultimately shape the rest of history. But God had determined something far bigger than the monk Martin Luther expected when he penned those 95 Theses.

Without his knowledge someone printed his words on the newly invented Gutenberg Press, distributing it all over Germany. Within a very few days, Martin found that he was the subject of everyone’s thoughts. In cathedrals and castles, in pubs and cottages—virtually everyone in Germany was talking about the views of Luther. The Protestant Reformation had begun!

Just what was the Protestant Reformation all about? What did Luther and other Reformers protest?

The protesters were seeing something new (i.e., new to them) about how a person is accepted by God and included into the plan of redemption. They protested that the church had been teaching the wrong view about the most important issue of life. They discovered that the Bible says we are not accepted on the basis of our religious deeds, or even our good deeds along with our faith, but that we are accepted before a holy God only through faith in Christ.

“Through faith alone in Christ alone” began to be heard all over Europe. The people must transfer their confidence for salvation in the church’s religious traditions to Christ alone. The reformers wanted the people to return to the Bible’s plain teaching on how to be a true Christian. Many of the Reformers would be persecuted because of their views and some even killed. But through it all, tens of thousands of people were converted to Christ and were assured of their gracious inclusion into the family of God through faith alone, in Christ alone, and it was all by God’s grace alone.

We have been feeling the effects of the Protestant Reformation ever since. Many of our churches have their historical roots in the Reformation. Returning to the Bible as the source of understanding about how we are to relate to God has shaped nations. Perhaps no other religious period since the coming of Christ has been so influential as this one.

But many people, and even many churches, have forgotten the great lessons that were once again made so clear on October 31^st, 1517.

What difference can this mean to you and I nearly 500 years later? This passage from the Bible is a good place to start. It describes God’s way to understand salvation:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9) .

Through these 500 years since the Protestant Reformation, and throughout time, men and women, youth and children have come to Christ in this simple way—through faith alone in Christ alone. Placing our full confidence in Christ’s perfect life, sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection is the only way to a right relationship with God. It is not that good works (i.e., right living) aren’t important—they’re a result of true faith in every believer’s life. But those works cannot redeem us. Salvation is a gift of grace, not a reward for trying to be good. Luther probably said it best, "We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone."

Some Great Quotes from the Writings and Lectures of Martin Luther:

”All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired.”

“Be thou comforted, little dog, Thou too in Resurrection shall have a little golden tail.”

"Faith is a living, bold trust in God's grace, so certain of God's favor that it would risk death a thousand times trusting in it. Such confidence and knowledge of God's grace makes you happy, joyful and bold in your relationship to God and all creatures. The Holy Spirit makes this happen through faith. Because of it, you freely, willingly and joyfully do good to everyone, serve everyone, suffer all kinds of things, love and praise the God who has shown you such grace." ~ Luther's An Introduction to St. Paul's Letter to the Romans

"We are all ministers of the Gospel. Some of us just happen to be the clergymen."

“God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.”

“... Besides, the Word is the principal part of baptism. If in an emergency there’s no water at hand, it doesn’t matter whether water or beer is used.” ~ "Prenatal Baptisms Are Ridiculed," Table Talk No. 394

“You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say.”

"We are all beggars. This is true." ~ "The Last Written Words of Luther," Table Talk No. 5468

Some Martin Luther Resources:

Martin Luther resources from Monergism.com
"The Bondage of the Will" by Martin Luther
Luther's Larger Catechism
A Great Lecture on Martin Luther's Life & The Bondage of the Will

Like Martin Luther, you may come by faith alone to Christ even now, all these years later. Happy Reformation Day!

Benefits of Being a Church Planting Church

noreply@blogger.com (Heath Watson) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 00:54:00 +0000

The following is from J.D. Payne’s, Discovering Church Planting: An Introduction to the Whats, Whys, and Hows of Global Church Planting. (A great book on planting! Anyway, in it I found a list of “some benefits of being a mother church.” A very timely subject matter for me and my "sending" church - GCF.)

I found it to be very insightful on some of the important benefits of being a church planting/sending/birthing church. Great things happen within sponsoring churches when those churches become actively involved in planting new churches.

Here's the list:

Sponsoring keeps the church fresh and alive to its mission and vision and challenges the church’s faith.
Sponsoring reminds the church of the challenge to pray for the lost.
Sponsoring enables the church to welcome other people into the kingdom that it would not otherwise have assimilated.
Sponsoring creates a climate open to birthing a variety of need-meeting groups within the sending church.
Sponsoring provides evangelistic vitality and activity.
Sponsoring encourages the discovery and development of new and latent leaders.
Sponsoring encourages coaching, mentoring, and apprenticeship in ministry while providing a renewed understanding of how we are all part of a team effort.
Sponsoring provides an occasion for church members to get to know missionaries personally.
Sponsoring builds on the past and insures the future.
Sponsoring minimizes the tendency toward a self-centered ministry.
Sponsoring provides an education in missions and serves as a stimulus for young people’s dedication to Christian service.
Sponsoring provides a visible proof that God is still working through people and that some are responding to his commission to go out and evangelize.
Sponsoring provides a new opportunity for personal involvement in missions.

Great (Practical) Advice for Ministry Leaders from Mark Driscoll

noreply@blogger.com (Heath Watson) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:35:00 +0000

From Mark Driscoll and The Resurgence:

Dear ministry leader,

There are different seasons of growth throughout the year for a church, and most of us will eventually hit the wall sometime. You will feel in over your head, grumpy or despairing, tempted or tired. The long, cold, dark days to come don’t help at all for those of us in places like the great Darkwest where I live. Having done this job for fifteen years since our core group phase, I see it every year. Don’t be discouraged and don’t be dissuaded.

Get your sleep. If you don’t, you will get sick and it only gets worse.

Watch your diet. You will be tempted to self-medicate with junk food, caffeine, and energy drinks. Don’t.

Watch your alcohol, if you drink at all. Since it is a depressant, increasing your alcohol intake when you are slouching toward depression and exhaustion is a big mistake.

Watch your temptation. The more fatigued you get, the more easily tempted you become. Take more precautionary measures during this season of the year to safeguard your holiness.

Watch your anger. Whereas women internalize their depression and manifest it with emotion, men externalize their depression as anger and manifest it with explosion.

Get some exercise. It helps you work out your frustration, aids sleep, and is good for your health.

You really need your day off, especially during trying seasons. Guard it. If you don’t take a voluntary Sabbath you will take an involuntary one for counseling and/or hospitalization.

Keep going by the grace of God,
Pastor Mark

Learning to Live “on Mission” Together

noreply@blogger.com (Heath Watson) — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 06:06:00 +0000

Jeff Vanderstelt and his family are being the church together with SOMA Communities to Tacoma, WA. In this five minute video, he suggests what it actually means for a local church to be living out the mission of God together.

Jeff Vanderstelt // The Meaning of Missional from Newfrontiers USA on Vimeo.

5 Ways Established Churches Should Think Like Plants

noreply@blogger.com (Heath Watson) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 18:50:00 +0000

From the Gospel Coalition and Brandon Levering…

There are several reasons I’m excited to attend the Plant New England conference in Boston next week. Partly because of the massive need for gospel ministry in this intensely post-Christian region. Partly because of the chance to connect with some old friends and make a few new ones. But the main reason I’m excited is because I want to learn how to think more like a church planter.

I have no significant church planting experience. I helped with the launch team of a recent plant in the Chicago area for just a couple months before being called to my present role last spring. Though quite young by New England standards, the church I serve is established. It began a little more than 35 years ago when several young adults from Park Street Church caught a vision for reaching the MetroWest suburbs of Boston. And we enjoy many of the benefits common to established churches: nice facility, stable financial base, variety of ministries, and breadth of generational wisdom and participation.

But there are several key values established churches can and should glean from those just getting started.

1. Church plants clearly define their mission and keep it before them in everything they do.
When you’re starting from scratch, almost everything is intentional. The feel of the webpage, the flow of the nursery system, the types of ministries, the shape of the worship service—everything is painstakingly considered and prayed over to retain focus and clarity for staying on mission.

But the longer churches have been doing something, the harder it is to remember why they do it. It’s easy to lose focus and become cluttered and fragmented in programs and ministries. This lack of clarity and focus can lead to passionate resistance to strategic changes. We can learn from church plants about recapturing the focus of your mission and holding it clearly and consistently before the congregation.

2. Church plants feel an acute sense of urgency to engage in evangelism.
This is the simple fact of planting a church: if it doesn’t grow, it will die. And most church planters are not interested in transfer growth; they want to see conversion growth. So urgency for congregation-wide evangelism is woven into the church’s DNA from the beginning.

But the longer a church does its thing and the larger it gets, the greater the pressure to divert attention to the needs of the church itself. We need more programs for families, programs for children, programs for teens, programs for singles. We might have a program for outreach, but the idea that every member is called to be a missionary in his or her own sphere of influence has long since dissipated. Established churches need to think like church plants in regaining the urgency of life on mission.

3. Church plants tend to better understand the culture they’re engaging.

Researching the target culture is an important part of every missionary endeavor; church plants are no exception. A lot of work goes into understanding the history and spiritual climate of the area, not least identifying the prevailing cultural idols. When ministries are shaped, hospitality is a key virtue. Everything is done with awareness and love for newcomers and nonbelievers, who are often unfamiliar with church lingo and culture.

Just as established churches tend to increasingly focus inward, they also tend to become isolated from the surrounding culture. Routines that were once strategic and meaningful become rote. Elements of church life and worship that were initially shaped for the sake of mission become part of a cherished heritage that must be guarded at all costs. To even speak of engaging culture can invite an eye of suspicion. And yet God has given us his timeless truths to be proclaimed and applied in ever-changing times and places. Revitalizing our awareness of the surrounding culture and engaging people who live and breathe that cultural air (inside and outside the church) is crucial to our faithfulness in gospel mission.

4. Church plants use a wider portion of the congregation in service.
An experienced friend once commented that planting a church is like trying to build a boat from scratch . . . when you’re already in the water. It’s not just all hands on deck—you don’t even have the deck yet to lay hands on. The context of urgency and camaraderie that comes from working so closely together at those early stages often creates a more pervasive culture of service in a church plant.

Established churches tend to embody the classic 80-20 rule: 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work. When the focus and clarity of the mission dissipate and urgency wanes, it’s a lot easier to participate in church as a spectator rather than as a partner in gospel ministry. As established churches work on recapturing focus in mission, that focus should translate into congregation-wide service.

5. Church plants are more likely to think strategically about planting more churches.
Church plants naturally understand the importance of continually planting newer congregations. As Tim Keller suggests, planting “is one of the best ways to renew the existing churches of a city, as well as the best single way to grow the whole body of Christ in a city.” Several leading church planting networks hold out this expectation of ongoing involvement from the start.

It’s a lot harder for established churches to think about sending away some of their resources, or even some of their best people, for this kind of ministry. Few established churches have a thoughtful plan to keep this strategic investment close to their mission and vision. Passion and commitment planting new churches is more crucial to the health and vitality of established churches than many of us realize.

The point in all of this is not to foster a “grass is greener” mentality for established churches. Neither is it to romanticize church planting—any planter will testify to the vast difficulties he faces, not least the potential drift toward the very challenges discussed here. Rather, the simple exhortation is for established churches to keep learning and thinking about why we do what we do, and to recognize that some of our best tutors will be those who come behind us.

Brandon Levering serves as lead pastor at Westgate Church (EFCA) in Weston, Massachusetts. He and his wife, Carissa, have three children. He blogs at In the Meantime: Reflections on Life Between the Cross and New Creation.