I also have very fond memories of New Zealand camps when I was younger.

Camps are where you can hang out late at night, dress badly, discover yourself, fight the giggles at 2 in the morning, watch the uninhibited speaker embarrass himself publicly, eat poorly cooked food, get up surprisingly early to pray, create and perform silly skits, pee in a freezing cold cement toilet block, and share your life-changing decision with your new friends as bonfire flames lick your eyelashes.

Why can't church be like more like camp?

Well, actually, it can be! As you know we arrived at Ngatiawa Camp a month ago and are still here. This is an old Presbyterian camp that was purchased 8 years ago by a network of Christian communities called Urban Vision and turned into a contemporary monastery that has been embraced by the Anglican church.

Founders Justin and Jenny Duckworth tell the story in their book Against the Tide. Justin is working on his Ph.D on contemporary monasticism and I expect he will have some great contributions to make once he is finished.

In a way, its like a camp that goes on forever, a perennial camp, a camp where no body has to go home because this is their home. They have fixed up the buildings, added gardens, a milking shed for the cows, art spaces for creativity, extra accommodation, a chapel for their 3 daily services, and a wifi signal. But its still a camp. Except the food is better.

We cooked pizza for 50 people last Friday. Every day new people seem to turn up. Lots of young people. Lots of Anglicans, especially since last month's big profile [read article]. Anglican Youth Network Facilitator John Hebenton has been here all week, hiding himself away in the prayer hut. Yesterday, Bishop Richard Ellena dropped in for a cuppa.

Last week a young guy named Tim flew up from Christchurch and hitched his way to Ngatiawa Camp, just to stay one day before flying back south. People are looking for a better way to do church and models like this are giving hope to a new generation.

A lot of young people around the world are starting intentional communities that begin with the template of a monastery and then reduce the weird elements to make it fit the context. But another option is to START WITH A CAMP and add what needs to be added. Seems to be working for Urban Vision.

Want to check it out? Come for PassionFest in Feb right here at Ngatiawa and bring your tent.

Related: Prophets of a New Order, PassionFest in 2012

In San Francisco many years ago, my wife and I were relieved of our wedding rings at a Pentecostal meeting. The mega-church preacher had flown in "unexpectantly" from Argentina to host this spontaneous meeting for us pastors and leaders. I don't remember if I handed over my ring before or after he put his hand on my head and knocked me backwards since it was all a little cloudy that night, and still is, actually, but I do remember wondering how the pastor was going to get all that jewelry through customs. And what he would do with the money once all that gold was melted down.

"A church isn't a family business you know; it is a family, but it's not a business." Mark Vrankovich, How Pastors Get Rich.

I may have been ripped off but at least I was done over by a PRO. Lets face it . . . the guy was GOOD. The $10 wedding ring I have now is silver and, due to some knuckle swelling, has permanently mounted itself to my finger so I can safely enter a prosperity church and return without having to explain a ringless finger to my wife. If I wanted to, that is.

There is a great article at cult watch called "How Pastors Get Rich" in which Mark Vrankovich outlines some nasty practices you should watch out for. Its a little scary, and if you see some uncomfortable parallels with your own church then it might be time for a second opinion from someone outside the church.

Top 15 Ways Pastors Get Rich.

1. The Multilevel Marketing Pattern

2. Books

3. DVDs

4. Hyped Conferences

5. The Christian Speaking Circuit

6. Pastor Owned Businesses that Feed Off the Flock

7. The Honor the Pastor Scam

8. High Pressure Offerings

9. Cathedral Building Wars

10. Siphoning Cash into Property

11. Excessive Wages

12. Perks

13. Nepotism

14. Their Fabricated Tithing Doctrine

15. The Carrot and the Stick

Related on TSK: Ka-ching in the Ka-church

Image source.

My question is: are these assumptions part of the larger Neo-Reformed movement as a whole and does this mean that the Neo-Reformed will always be inhibited somewhat from true missional engagement? (Can I say “just asking?”). It will always be a movement prone to attracting Christianized people who are already habituated to submit to a pre-established hierarchical (male) authority.

- Lydia issues a challenge: "Neo-Calvinists, your integrity is on the line here. The world is watching."

- Pastor Jonathan Martin from Why Mark Driscoll is wrong about women in church leadership:

I find it hard to believe that he has not noticed that most women in ministry on the ground are not, in fact, mainline Protestant liberals who are embracing some leftist agenda, but fire-breathing Pentecostal females who are preaching the whole gospel with other-worldly boldness.  Or is the neo-Reformed movement so elitist and self-congratulatory at this point, that this escapes their attention?

Related on TSK: Why I am not a New Calvinist, by one guy who should be.

Because this gathering is by invitation only, we are seeking recommendations. Participants must:

• be in their 20s or 30s
• have a broad influence in their country for the task of world evangelization
• reflect the diversity of the Body of Christ, including ethnicity, gender, and denomination.

Although it has been difficult to see how exactly the young people are "carrying the baton", and although this will not help the balance of North American influence on the wider movement, it should be a good meeting. Nominate the right people and it should make a difference. Here's an image I made from the last Lausanne gathering I went to in Cape Town. Hopefully you will dance better than we did.

Can anyone guess who that white megachurch pastor is???? Clue: (Minneapolis)

Previous: Lausanne Young Leaders 2006, Lausanne Fringe 2011.

I went to visit Peoples Coffee at the recommendation of pretty much everyone. We visited Matt Lamason, who started the business in 2004 with his wife. He made me us a wicked expresso with extra shot. Strongest coffee I have ever had. But not bitter at all.

Peoples Coffee deliver their beans to coffee shops all over Wellington and even up in Auckland. They have a strong philosophy of providing a better world for their customers and suppliers. We saw green coffee beans from all over the world but not Indonesia. Apparently they were not convinced that the Indonesians were being fairly treated so they have suspended the coffee supply. Having just been in Indonesia with Wolfgang, we were both able to tell some stories about coffee growers we knew and maybe we can get that supply happening again.

Anyway, great to see a business with such a high standard of ethics and a strong philosophy of mission. They have a special relationship with Urban Vision which describes the coffee initiative this way on their website:

"The Peoples Coffee . . .  is the first justice-oriented business initiative so far in Urban Vision and will hopefully spawn other Fairtrade/Organic business ideas."

Visit the Peoples Coffee Blog

I am looking for a sponsor to get my flight there. I am also receiving donations for the earthquake and making sure they go to the right place. You can see how we spent the previous money here and our philosophy behind the how we spent it.

I might be open to some volunteers coming with me. There is also a need for some young people to spend a year in Van to help with the rebuilding. I would love to see some Kiwis and Aussies go because there is a special connection with Turkey. Email me and tell me what you're thinking.

Related: Emerging Philanthropy: Now Funding and not Soon Funding

Great news for training for Anglican ministry and ordination, especially young people working in pioneer urban situations. I have blogged about this a few times along the way because we have been supporting this process in a number of ways. Heres the news:

CMS has been given the BIG THUMBS UP to train ordinands in pioneer ministry. Press release here.

Well done, everyone. Especially Jonny Baker who is very very excited about it and also Mark Berry who is berry berry excited.

OpenChurch.com from USA (January) courtesy of Kent Shaffer.

Christian.co.uk from UK (February). Everyone say hello to Ian Matthews.

Both are open for Christian content, articles, blog posts, etc. Go check them out, join them and submit something before the crowds come. What other similar Christian websites are launching this month????

Also, I am getting traffic from Goodsearch.com, especially on my Prayer of Jael post. Does anyone know who is doing this website?

And more:

Julia Mitchell has an iPhone app to help women pray called GodFirst.

40 Baptist Voices from the UK.

Somebody say CULTURE-CLASH!

"The problem for us is not that the church is full of "cowards", but the problem affecting the way Driscoll sees it is that he doesn't know any "big names", which he feels we need to have.. . . As a nation, we are extremely uncomfortable with personality cults surrounding leaders and "celebrity pastors . . " We Mixed our Drinks

"To write off a whole nations worth of preachers based on the criteria that they need to be “well known” is unhelpful anyway. It plays to the celebrity culture that Driscoll has become enmeshed in." Krish Kandiah

Some differences I have noticed that affect the way we do church in USA and UK:

While Americans memorize their presidents during school and expect other countries to name the most famous of them, the British do not see politics as a celebrity sport but more in terms of policies and parties.

While many [although probably not you, if you are currently writing a nasty comment on my blog] Americans are attracted to spectacle and superlative, the British feel more comfortable with balance and understatement. They would rather call the mountain "a hill" and be corrected, than being accused of making something bigger than it really is.

While Americans stress innovation, the British stress continuity.

While Americans audiences were getting rocked by loud bands on a stage, the British developed club culture in which the stage disappeared and was replaced by a DJ in a booth, putting the lights not on the artist, nor the music, but on the participants themselves. The alternative worship movement in British churches developed along similar lines.

While many American church leaders see thousands of church attenders as the sign of success, some British say 40 is the highest number of church attenders that will still allow an acceptable working dynamic of interaction and intimacy with each other. Any more than 40, and people slip through the cracks or become mere spectators.

While Americans saw the emerging church embodied by a few celebrity pastors and top-selling authors, the British point to the small alt. worship churches and the Fresh Expression movement. Interestingly, out of those 3000 Fresh Expressions that have emerged in the past few years, most Americans could probably not name a single leader. Tell me if you disagree.

Interestingly, while American church attendance has decreased, the British church has noticed "significant increases".

The church in USA is different than the church in UK. While both countries can learn from each other, exporting value systems across the Atlantic does not always help.

There is such a thing as dead, empty, powerless religion which God rejects.

And there is also religion done right.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

In my youth, I tended to reject the word 'religion" outright as always negative and something to contrast the way of Jesus against. But now in my fourties, I tend to embrace the word more and try to redeem it by showing and attempting to live religion done according to the way of Jesus.

I probably agree with Kevin DeYoung who had some email exchange with Jefferson and  . . . well . . . its all good, bro!

Interesting sidenote. Back in the day, the word "religious" was only used to describe monks. Later on the meaning widened to include non-monastic believers in Christ. These days, we argue whether the word is helpful at all.

He calls it "this wonderful and lonely path."

Since then, he has been gaining physical coordination very slowly. He has also become quite the photographer. I got an email today from him and it points to a YouTube video in which he shows some of his work as part of his own struggle and narrative. It's called Stroke of Silence. Thanks Dieter, you are an amazing individual.

[Sounds like "Buy our book or we will do something you will regret!"]

And on the blogosphere, Mark Driscoll is promoting the "sex manual" that he and his wife wrote by slamming the British, apparently calling their Bible teachers "a bunch of cowards who aren't telling the truth" and suggesting that young men wont go to church so long as there are  "guys in dresses preaching to grandmas!" [Link]

It's called PR Driscoll style, but it is quickly turing into the Battle of Superlatives.

Word to the wise: Never insult the British because they are quick-witted, more clever in their use of the Queens English than you are [they invented it], and boast the sharpest critics in the world. And even though they are a small country, they are a great one, too. Or so said Hugh Grant.

In my opinion, its better NOT to stir them up at all. But Driscoll has indeed stirred them up and they are responding.

At the center of the discussion is an interview with Justin Brierley in which Driscoll shares his perspective on the British scene and is either quoted as saying some really dumb things OR has his words taken out of context. We dont yet really know.

Driscoll calls the interview "“in my opinion, the most disrespectful, adversarial, and subjective."

Both Christian Today and Christianity Mag will run articles on Driscoll. Christianity Mag was known as Christianity and Renewal Mag when it interviewed me back in 2004 on the emerging church and Premier Radio chatted with me the same year. That was back when the emerging church was an interesting subject. Nice people. I will watch for the interview with Justin Brierley.

[update: interview is posted here]

In the meantime, Driscoll has A Blog-Post for the Brits and it would be unfair not to read it first if you were thinking of blogging this conversation.

I, for one, do not have time for the discussion. Neither do I want to focus on the sex issue. I actually agree with Al Mohler [surprised?] that there are some things we as leaders DO NOT have to talk about. There is a place for discernment, for mystery, for some intimate secrets, things left unsaid. The bedroom is one of those places.

If you want the skinny on the controversy, and have already read Rachel Held Evans [who hasn't?] and you dont want to stick your head in the Twitterverse, and you are waiting for Adrian Warnock to say something, then I suggest starting with Bill Kinnon who is getting a lot of blog-action. And Bill points us all to WenatcheeTheHatchet Blog and also to one of England's finest Bible teachers, Chris Wright, who does not, repeat NOT, wear a dress! At least he didn't when we were teaching together in Cape Town.

Some related old posts: Is the blogosphere ready for Mark Driscoll? and Mark Driscoll: The Skinny

The books: Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, and Life Together [by Mark and Grace Driscoll] and Sexperiment: 7 Days to Lasting Intimacy with Your Spouse [by Ed Young]

I am committed to be there in Brazil and am speaking on something profound and vital [which means I am not sure exactly what] but I don't have the funds just yet for the plane trip which makes me feel a little unsettled. But I am hoping to find some sponsors by June. Keep ya posted . . .

The "Wordless Book" being used in open air preaching. From the book "China's Millions". Found by Matt Stone. Nice find, Matt!!!!

Jasmin is the Ozzie-born daughter of a Kiwi dad and Portuguese mum and is in NZ for a month. She has a new album called Lost in Rainbows that is less hard-core than her earlier Triplet stuff and more chilled indie-folk-surfer music. I think so, anyway. Watch her on Youtube.

I visited a number of Asian countries in 2011 and was amazed at the dynamism and commitment of the young Jesus followers.

One network, in a country that I will not mention, stuck out to me as an outstanding example. They have started almost a thousand new communities, many of them multiplying into the second and third generation. And like many new movements in the non-Western world, a Sunday worship service as an evangelistic entry point for potential members, has not been part of their ministry portfolio. Which was the subject of my somewhat provocative post a few days ago, 9 Reasons NOT to plant a church in 2012.

So if they didn't start worship services, how did they start a replicating movement of Christian communities and how do they maintain such a high level of spiritual growth?

Of course it's hard and a little presumptuous to claim which elements of their ministry are the most important but . . . here are 11 practices that I think have contributed to their success:

1. Bible study.

The Bible studies were simple and regular. And there was a lengthy program of discoving Jesus in the gospels which took months to complete. Most who completed the study decided to follow Jesus by the end. Discipleship was based on an "obedience-based approach" to the Scriptures that happened around their 3 simple Bible study questions [see 4. Simple habits]. When the group meets again, everyone is held accountable to do what they said they were going to do and this way the Word becomes an integral part of life.

2. Open houses.

The people were hospitable to visitors who seemed to come at any time of the day or night. Their houses were full of young people living there while their lives were being transformed. I did not see any buildings used for worship or church functions. Bible studies and events took place in the houses, with young people sitting on carpets and mattresses, but I would not classify it as a house church movement, since there was no regular worship service to invite neighbours into.

3. Fringe focus.

The primary influx was young people from the margins, the underbelly of society and those discarded by it, drug addicts, and postmodern sub-cultures rather than mainstream folk. I have seen this trend all over Asia including Japan. Most of the leaders I met had come from these backgrounds also.

4. Simple habits.

Nothing took a lot of skill. Teaching Bible, sharing jesus, leading AA-type meetings, no need for a charismatic superstar to attract an audience and in fact, there wasn't one. Anyone could lead after a short time of instruction. The Bible studies, for example, were based on the same pattern:

After reading a passage together, they all answered 3 questions:

1. What does it say?

2. What does it say to me?

3. What I'm going to do about it?

5. Good business products.

Financial sustainability came partly from their micro-businesses. The organic products from these businesses were among the best and healthiest in the country, even if they had not yet found a way to promote or distribute them widely. They had also innovated in the production process and believed God gave revelation that is helping them produce more and better goods and in a way that blesses the environment rather than taking from it.

6. System for rehabilitation.

They had a dedicated building for rehabilitation of drug addicts and also used it for multi-faith gatherings where people from every background could meet each other and build friendships. It was also a space for urban ministry folk to retreat to for refreshment.

7. Native flavor.

The ministries did not smell foreign. Certain areas of their ministry were more raw and vulnerable than others and they did not want foreigners, especially white Americans, turning up and stirring up unnecessary attention among the neighbours. Although they had not heard of it, the description "insider movement" would probably fit. I recognized one or two Western songs in the singing and the music they created was in part influenced by the global scene, but the ministries were quite Hillsong-free. Not all the Jesus followers used the "Christian" term. The size of the ministry was played down rather than promoted.

8. Daily rhythms.

Weekly services are sometimes not enough for those struggling to walk a new path, especially coming from addictions and deeply ingrained destructive lifestyles. Meeting daily, even if for a short time, was the norm. Some did this around meals, some around Bible studies.

9. Not outreach TO but outreach WITH others.

The Christians organized the outreach events to the urban poor and young people from many other religious backgrounds participated. I saw Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and atheists all join in and work together. These same people would later return during the week to hang out and talk.

10. Something for the whole family.

Outreach to the discarded of society involved visiting the families of those youth and attempting some reconciliation or at best, informing the parents that their kids were OK. Baptisms were generally postponed until the whole family joined in.

11. Prayer

I didn't see legendary all night prayer meetings like the Koreans but prayer was a casual part of everything they did. There were many physical healings in answer to prayer and the supernatural was accepted as normal.

Anything else?

Yes, the ministries were characterized by GRACE. Some of the leaders had fallen back but had bounced out and launched forward again by the grace of God and were embraced back into the community. And they were wonderfully generous. Being poor, they made many rich. Including our family who were treated like royalty. We left with our backpacks filled with gifts and our hearts filled with a sense of overwhelming debt of gratitude.

Also, the intentionality of the movement was focused on impacting people's lives with the gospel and NOT on creating community or starting churches which they saw as a natural outgrowth.

I am SURE there were other factors that contributed to the success of this particular movement but alas, I am too young and too dumb to know what they were. So I humbly leave these 11 practices with you to contemplate and discuss.

It was in Cairo, Egypt, last November, when I found myself pushing and shoving inside a thousands-strong mob of Christians trying to enter the Cave church for all night prayer meeting. I didnt even feel them open my bag and take out my camera. But they did. The Christians. They stole my camera.

What do you do with that?

Nice thinking. Read the article. It's also another good example of next generation ministry that prefers NOT to plant new churches [see my last post] but still maintain a contemplative life and active ministry among the urban poor through Kingdom-minded intentional communities.

Best time to visit the monastery is at PassionFest, Feb 24-26. We will probably return in time for the festival.

"Church planting is the most effective form of evangelism under heaven" said C.Peter Wagner. I know he said that. I was there. I was a young [and good looking] Seminary student sitting in his classroom when he said it.

It was a welcomed idea, proven scientifically more effective than trying to expand older church structures. Back then, there was little argument against it and the idea was embraced by mission societies and church denominations who played it out in their strategies all through the 90's and also during the noughties when the thinking became mainstream rather than rebellious. I was part of that movement the whole time.

But now it's 2012 and while some young, enthusiastic people are out there planting churches like its 1997, others are focusing on launching more sustainable, more holistic, more measurably transformational Kingdom solutions.

One of the biggest trends in church planting that I observed in my recent 30+ country trek is the SHIFT AWAY FROM planting churches towards NOT planting a church at all but focusing on a wider range of transforming Kingdom activities. Some church planters are delaying the worship service piece of the pioneer missional ministry for as long as possible and sometimes indefinitely.

- At our gathering in Prague, some of the key leaders of the Europe church planting movement a decade ago told us they had already moved into launching monastic type communities and less ecclesiocentric models of ministry than church planting.

- In USA, some of the most innovative new Christian communities I came across did not launch or host Sunday worship services as part of their ministry portfolio.

- In China, I met a young "church planting" couple who have started ministries in over a dozen cities but refuse to start church worship services. They told me that starting a church starts a long and arduous battle with the Chinese government that they have avoided by starting missional enterprises, Kingdom businesses and concert-like events . . . but NOT churches.

- Same in Indonesia. One group had started hundreds of communities but avoided Sunday worship services and refused to construct church buildings, which have a habit of being burned to the ground in that country. Real church happens when the conditions are right, they told me. They would rather seed a potential garden than plant a church.

C.Peter Wagner Image lifted from Ichabod, a website with strong fundamentalist [but poor aesthetic] sensitivities.

WHY THE SHIFT?

There has been some disillusionment with the church planting movement, even after it has purged itself of its 80's church growth pragmatism. I have talked with many of these leaders and have added some observations myself. Here are some of the issues:

---------------------------

1. The typical church planting model, in which the solo-church planter starts a gathering that he/she invites potential members to join and commit to lacks satisfying precedent in the Scriptures where Jesus sent out people in teams (2, 12, 70) to find people of peace (them, not us) to allow Kingdom ministry in their venue (not the planter's venue). Add to that the lack of biblical support for a paid professional pastor and the awkward extension of the Temple tithing system into the present day and the whole package seems a little suspect or at least in need of some recalibrating with the New Testament.

2. The measurement criteria of the church planting project, focusing on numbers of attenders and momentum of new church launch, is too narrow, too shallow, unholistic and ignores more vital measurable signs of a transformed society in its various spheres (economic, environmental, social, impact outside the church environment, etc).

3. The people most likely to join a new church plant are usually those with some kind of church background - the de-churched, pre-churched, ex-churched -  which means ignoring really lost people and duplicating the ministries of existing churches.

4. The focus on people pre-disposed or pre-favored towards church culture can lead to competition among churches to gather people from a diminishing pool of potentials and, worse, to "sheep stealing" which, although a shortcut to acheiving the goal of planting a church in the short term, fails to extend the reach of the gospel into a new culture as well as creating disunity and distrust within the existing church.

5. The challenge for new members to commit to a church meeting rather than be involved in Kingdom mission activities in the world can often lead to a consumer mindset among new members. By not hosting an event for members but rather inviting participants into mission, a different calibre of people is attracted to the ministry.

6. The new church plant creates a higher institutional visibility in sensitive countries which places it in danger of either stifling regulations or physical threat to its members.

7. The lack of traditional funding sources that used to fund church planter's salary and the first year of operation (often US$100,000) has dried up in the midst of the global financial crisis and changing funding priorities, which has mademore sustainable mission practices like micro-businesses and social enterprises become more important as initial building blocks of new ministry environments than trying to start a regular worship service, in which the only sustainable piece is the generosity of the initiates.

8. Church planting normally thrives in wealthier areas or suburban areas but ignores the urban poor. Stuart Murray Williams addresses this weakness here. It also focuses on the functional people rather than the high-need people and so we end up with church that prioritizes the rich, something we are warned about in the Scriptures (see James).

9. In a country where the church already has a bruised reputation for greed, immorality and unethical practices, basing a strategy around starting another church and having people join it, and actually give money to support it, is a hard sell and a troubled solution.

So if these young people are not "planting churches" in 2012, what kind of Kingdom ministry environments ARE they establishing? And how are today's church planters avoiding the past mistakes?

That's the subject of another post. [UPDATE] And here it is. Go to "Practices of a new Jesus Movement."

Pushbacks, Responses and Spankings: Naznet, PastorBryan, ThinkingOutLoud, AlexAbsalom, Dining with Sinners, Assembling of the Church, 3 Perverted Church Planting Motives, BrimmingOver.

Related on TSK: Church planting posts and a popular post on how to estimate [and not estimate] church attendance.

Special Thanks to Lyn (Homeschool Mama) who retrieved my post when it got lost.

David - you rock! We are all really proud of you. And I am sooooo sorry for saying you look funny - you look awesome - except that weird gotee!! David, you have come so far since the 90's when you were the worship leader down the road. Hope your final performance as The David Crowder Band goes well at Passion2012 tonight. Sounds like it is. Come over to New Zealand one day and play PassionFest (the other, cooler, smaller, more southernly Passion Festival that we are big fans of.)

Thanks whoever took this photo a few minutes ago . . ..

Special thanks to the mighty Paul Roberts for the thinking behind it and Steve Collins for the webdesign and some of the research. Steve also created the smallfire.org site which he is still updating and offers a rich view into church on the other side. Check out Beyond.

More resources at Worship Tricks and EmergingChurch.info and there are two excellent books on the art of Curating Worship.

My Californian wife used to attend the CC youth events on Saturday nights in Costa Mesa. Great times!

Chuck Smith is well known for being one of the key leaders behind the Jesus Movement in the 60's. I continue to be motivated by the story of his clash with his traditional church that didn't want bare-foot hippies walking on their new carpet. Chuck insisted they come in and worship, barefoot and all. He also allowed a new form of music to influence the worship. He allowed long-haired evangelists like Lonnie Frisbee to speak out in their own language. That decision was a milestone in Calvary Chapel's history, enabling a huge movement of Jesus freaks to enter the wider church and launch a music revolution.

It's no secret that Chuck Smith and Calvary Chapel has been at odds with some of the emerging church's emphases, in particular its understanding of the last days (non-premillenial) and its usage of icons in alternative worship (too eastern). I have suggested there are some creative ways for emerging churches to stay inside the CC world and, despite a few tensions, there are many Calvary Chapels that relate with us in our global work.

Pray for Chuck. He is a great man and still has plenty to give. God give him more miles. And listen in on Thursday Jan 5th when Greg Laurie interviews Chuck Smith.

Related on TSK: The Chuck Smiths (Father and Son) on EC, Chuck Smith Snr discussing his anti-EC opinion- and  Chuck Smith Jnr clearing things up. And read my most popular post on the subject:

How Your Emerging Church Can Stay in Calvary Chapel, Inc

Journey 1: One Year Bible Blog.

Join 14,000 people in reading a selection of the Bible each day. I have done this before. Its spirit candy for the soul. Highly recommended.

Journey 2. Chronological Bible Blog.

A new adventure for 2012. Start at the earliest books and move forward in time. Pretty simple. 700 are signed up for this at the moment.

And if you have done these before, Youversion has many Bible reading plans. My family are doing The Bible in One Year on our ipods and computers. I have chosen the Good News Version because that was the Bible I owned and read when I last lived here in New Zealand as a teenager so I thought . ..  well . . why not jump back into that stage and connect with my youthful innocence?