Church

Spiritual Conversations

in ,

Gary Rohrmayer adds another post on spiritual conversations (I already linked to the 3 by 5 rule).  His four points so far have been...

1. Make it a priority (3x5 rule)

If leaders are going to be serious about connecting with people they need to uncover at least 5 new contacts a day, equaling about 35 a week, which will lead to 3 "sit-downs" for a meaningful conversation.

2. Pray for opportunities

I remember praying one morning, “Lord, it has been a while time since I led someone to you. Open the doors and show me who I need to speak to today.”

3. Get out and into your community

I encourage church planters to think about tithing their time to community service and interaction.

4. Establish routines and cultivate relationships

I encourage leaders to establish routines and patterns so that you build relational presence with business owners and servers.

Gary concludes...

I learned a simple lesson over twenty-five years ago from an old missionary who said these words to me, “Gary you can’t serve God where you are not!” That statement helped me move away from dreaming about future ministry to engaging myself in the daily personal ministry right in front of me every day.

Next week Gary will be writing about creating spiritual thirst in our conversations.

What do you think?

Gospel Coalition: Tim Keller Interviews

in , , , , ,

KellerThe Gospel Coalition website (which has gone from a little helpful toward really helpful in a short period of time) has a number of short video interviews (linkable) with key players: Don Carson, John Piper, Mark Driscoll, and yes, Tim Keller.  As you could have guessed, I'm linking the Keller (and Carson/Keller) ones here for you.  To see them more quickly, just go to the interviews page and scroll to them.  And don't forget to visit my Tim Keller Resources page.

  • Tim Keller - What do you see yourself doing in The Gospel Coalition? | m4v
  • Tim Keller - What is the state of the pulpit in America today?| m4v
  • Tim Keller - How does preaching affect how christians see culture?| m4v
  • Tim Keller - What do you tell pastors about their family life? | m4v
  • Tim Keller - What ways can people learn from your teachings | m4v
  • Don Carson & Tim Keller - What started The Gospel Coalition? | m4v
  • Don Carson & Tim Keller - What makes The Gospel Coalition different? | m4v
  • Don Carson & Tim Keller - Assessing The Gospel Coalition | m4v
  • Don Carson & Tim Keller - How were the leaders of The Gospel Coalition gathered?| m4v
  • Don Carson & Tim Keller - What is the future of The Gospel Coalition? | m4v
  • Don Carson & Tim Keller - What threats and challenges face The Gospel Coalition? | m4v
  • Don Carson & Tim Keller - What causes fragmentation in evangelicalism today? | m4v

    • Links and Stuff

    in , , , , ,

    A handful of things that you need to know, hear, see, or read...

    - Tonight I will probably put up a single post that I will update throughout Molly's surgery and hospital stay.  I will try to keep updates at the top of the page with time stamps on the page so you can read what has happened as they happened.  The hospital says it has wifi throughout, so being online and live-blogging the next few days shouldn't be much of a problem.

    - Please start immediately downloading Stereogum's tribute to Radiohead's OK Comupter.  It's free and includes some great bands like Dave Bazan's Black Cloud, Cold War Kids, and Twilight Sad.  It's not Radiohead, but it's still fun.  By the way, they aren't going to leave these free mp3's up forever so grab them asap.  Couldn't wait for Music Monday on this one.

    - JJ Abrams.  1-18-08.  Nuff said.

    - Drew Goodmanson on The Gospel Awakening (file through his posts on triperspectivalism too).

    - John Piper on Why We Should Have Courage to Speak About Christ.

    - Gary Rohrmayer on Sharpening Your Evangelistic Skills.

    - I don't know if I've mentioned it before, bu there is now a version of 2 Ways to Live for kids. 

    - Darrin Patrick's The Journey Church has done a service by providing this Keller-oriented Religion and the Gospel.

    9 Marks Blog: Church Matters

    in , , ,

    9 Marks, the very helpful ministry of Mark Dever and Matt Schmucker from Capitol Hill Baptist in DC, now has a blog. Check out Mark Dever’s introductory post.  From a 9 Marks email...

    Ourintended audience, as with most of 9Marks material, is pastors, church leaders, and seminarians. At the same time, we hope that all Christians become more interested in church matters, because we believe the local church is the focal point of God’s plan for displaying his glory to the nations. That includes all of us who profess faith in Christ.

    Blog contributors will consist of Mark Dever, Matt Schmucker, Jonathan Leeman, and the 9Marks lead writers, as well as several like-minded pastors and occasional guests. For the time being, we thought we’d try opening the blog to public comments. Hopefully it can be used as a place of honest inquiry and discussion regarding pastoring and leading local church life.

    Lots-O-Links-n-Shtuff

    in , , , , , , , ,

    Allelon - "a movement of missional leaders" -- They have a website which has a number of resources, but I'm really loving Alan Roxburgh's netcast (especially the audio podcast) the most.  There are things said that I don't like or agree with, but in general this is a great podcast for seeing the emerging missional church for what it is and what it claims to be in different locations.  The interview with Steve Taylor is really great.

    Theology Unplugged (TUP) is a podcast by some Dallas Seminary profs.  They say, "The uniqueness of TUP is that we speak on theological issues of the day with clarity, honesty, and openness. TUP allows the listener to make informed judgments on the most important theological issues today."  Their seven part series on the emerging church is a great example of that.  I'm through the first three episodes and I'm pretty shocked at how well they do in trying to understand the emerging church.  Well worth hearing. (HT: Internet Monk Radio)

    Peter Leithart finds ways of saying things that just make sense to me...

    One of my recurring frustrations with recent debates in the Reformed world is a widespread failure of theological imagination. Too many seem to operate on the assumption that we have everything already figured out; we have all possible categories and positions ready to hand. All we need do is deploy these categories on whatever happens our way. It'll fit, Procrustes says.

    Thus, it is seriously proposed that someone is either on the road to Rome or the Road to Geneva - with no possibility of a third (or fourth, or fifth) destination, with no possibility that there might be something in between (though in between is where much of the Christian world lives). And if I suggest that we Reformed might still have something to learn from the Bible about justification, then I must be Rabbinic or Roman Catholic - there simply is no other alternative.

    The Evangelical Outpost (Joe Carter) wonders why Southern Baptists would create boundaries with alcohol that would exclude Jesus from leadership in the convention.  He asks, "Can we be more ethical than Jesus?"

    Darryl Dash hears Tim Keller and blogs: Tim Keller on Spiritual Fruit and Ministry.

    Desiring God Blog: 25 Ways to Help Kids Love to Read

    Drew Goodmanson on Missional Eldership.

    Miniature Earth -- "If the world's population were reduced to 100, it would look something like this..."

    English 101 (we all make mistakes, but some of us make too many!)

    Some Videos...

    Children See, Children Do...

    Doll Face...

    Stop Motion Beatbox...

    Reformed Pastor Audiobook

    in , ,

    I just wrote myself a note yesterday to remember to reread The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter.  Now you can get the audiobook for free.  I just got it, so should you. Via Justin Taylor...

    ChristianAudio's "Free Audiobook of the Month" is Richard Baxter's classic, The Reformed Pastor.

    Inhis introduction, Baxter writes: "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." This charge from Acts 20:28 only is the beginning of a solemn and overarching task to be personally involved and disciple all of your congregants. Richard Baxter's plea for shepherding his flock continues with a charge to pastors to verify their own spiritual walk and then walks them through various disciplines, strategies, and goals to guide and instruct their congregation.

    Use the coupon code MAY2007 during checkout to get the download format of   The Reformed Pastor for free!

         Your Price: $0.00
         List Price: $22.98

    Bill Hybels Loves Mark Driscoll

    in , , , , ,

    Hybels_driscoll_banner_bubble_3It just kills me how hard some folks (can anyone say Missouri Baptist Convention?) are trying to distance themselves from the "emerging" Acts 29 organization and Mark Driscoll.  Driscoll is all pomo and truth has no meaning for him.

    Then in Bizarro world Bill Hybels (a pastor of a moderately influential, smallish church in suburban Chicago) has poked him publicly for his fundamentalism after viewing Driscoll on video at the National New Church Conference.  He basically didn't like Driscoll's male-centered approach to church planting and let that be known from the platform.  That resulted in Acts 29 eating thousands of Driscoll's videos because the conference decided not to hand them out as originally planned. 

    From Driscoll on the Resurgence website...

    Last year I spoke at a large church planting event along with a number of other church planters and church planting movement leaders. The event was held in Florida, went well, and did a very encouraging job of bringing together a number of denominations, networks, and organizations that otherwise would not have benefited from such a partnership.

    This year I was invited back but declined because the few-day round trip from Seattle to Florida to give a very short message (last year it was less than twenty minutes) seemed like too much in light of other responsibilities. So, the sponsors of the event asked me to instead put together an eight-minute video on church planting that could be shown at the event and then handed out to each of the 1,500 attendees. So, in an effort to be helpful, the video crew from Mars Hill Church and I spent half a day in freezing weather at a military cemetery shooting scenes that were then edited for the video. Apparently the video was shown at the event, was well received by the attendees, and then criticized by Bill Hybels from the stage because it did not speak of women church planters. And, not wanting a bigger fuss, the organization hosting the event then made a decision not to hand out the video as they had promised, leaving the guys from our Acts 29 Church Planting Network who had hauled suitcases of the videos to Florida with thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of wasted effort. The leaders of the event are good guys whom I still consider friends, and I've never met Bill Hybels so I won't speak about him personally. But, I thought we should at least post the banned video online, so here it is:

    The Forgotten Ways

    in , , , ,

    ForgottenwaysAlan Hirsch's book, The Forgotten Ways, is causing me to ask a lot of good questions of my theology, my ecclesiology & missiology.  It's good, challenging stuff and I recommend you pick it up.  I've been meaning to read/review this book for some time and it has been too long in coming.  Over the next few weeks or so I'm going to make the effort to post a few quotes, reflections, and/or questions about the book and the issues it raises.  Please feel free to interact with the ideas.

    Alan_hirsch_2 I wish I had time to do the book more justice, but Scot McKnight (for one) spent a good deal of time on the book (Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).  You might also want to check out Jordan Cooper's epic first half review here. I encourage you to go to these links for a good recap of the arguments of the book.

    If the heart of discipleship is to become like Jesus, then it seems to me that a missional reading of this text requires that we see Jesus's strategy is to get a while lot of little versions of him infiltrating every nook and cranny of society by reproducing himself in and through his people in every place throughout the world. (p 113)

    Podcasts I Enjoy

    in , , , , ,

    Ipod5Here are podcasts I enjoy, listed by category.  I hope you might find some of them helpful for you.  I'm leaving off my poetry podcasts for another post.

    Ministry/Theology

    Audition (Mars Hill Audio): Ken Myers in an NPR style commentary on culture and Christianity through Myers' commentary and interviews.  This is a free spin-off of the Mars Hill Audio commentaries. 

    Catalyst: Covers both church leadership issues and cultural issues through interviewing Christian leaders, authors, pastors, etc.  I really enjoy the Catalyst podcast, though I find myself skipping the first several minutes of pre-interview conversation about Catalyst Conference stuff and other random bits.  The interview is the meat, and it's consistently thoughtful and engaging. 

    Church Leader Insights: Pastors Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas of The Journey Church in NYC talking together about church leadership, church growth, church planting, systems, evangelism, etc.  A lot of info of what has and hasn't worked for them.  I always come away with insights for pastoring and ministry, even if you don't approach ministry in quite the same way as these guys.

    Covenant Worldwide: At least 15 free seminary classes are available on the topics of biblical theology, OT and NT, apologetics and outreach, the Reformation, life and letters of Paul, and more.  What the heck are you waiting for?

    Fermi Project: Discussions with leaders on culture, the future, the Church and the Gospel.  It's hosted by Catalyst guys Gabe Lyons and Andy Crouch.  It's only on episode three, but I've enjoyed it tremendously so far.  A great, concise podcast.

    Internet Monk Radio: Michael Spencer's thoughts on theology, ministry, his critics, yadda.  The worst aspect of this podcast is his love affair for the Cincinnati Reds.  Yuck.  But if you can get past that, Spencer can often deliver thoughtful insights on a variety of issues.  Warning: If you don't know Spencer and his online writings, some of this won't make much sense.  It's for the devoted.

    National New Church Conference:  Interviews with conference speakers dealing with church and church planting.  Have learned a lot from this podcast and highly recommend it for church leaders.

    Practically Speaking: North Point boys (Andy Stanley, et al) on the Seven Practices of Effective Ministry.  It's a "dead" podcast in that there are no new episodes, but their seven podcasts I have found very helpful as a pastor.  I've listened to them more than once, and will listen again.

    Resurgence: Mark Driscoll's missional resource that includes talks from various conferences and lectures pertaining to ministry and theology.  Lots of good stuff here.

    Movies

    Filmspotting: A weekly podcast from Chicago featuring new movie reviews, top 5 lists, interviews and insightful film talk with Adam Kempenaar and Sam Van Hallgren. It's also found on Chicago Public Radio.  Ugh, this is a great podcast.  The best movie podcast I know of.  Even when I disagree with a particular take on a movie, which isn't often, these guys are still compelling in their arguments.  Worth every second.

    Music

    KEXP Live Performances: In-studio concerts at KEXP for all to hear.  I've found some great new stuff from this podcast.

    KEXP Song of the Day: Live performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent musicians that KEXP thinks listeners should hear along with songs from more well-known artists.  Why not?

    Introductions to newer bands and/or new albums through a free song.

    NPR All Songs Considered: An eclectic mix of fresh music by emerging artists and breakout bands -- from NPR.org's Web-only music show.   Good stuff.

    Paste Culture Club: A wonderful music magazine's podcast.  Always a treat.

    Preaching

    Capitol Hill Baptist: Pastor Mark Dever is one of the most important living Southern Baptist pastors/preachers, and a pastor who I have had a chance to talk with a bit.  He has seen a remarkable change over the years of his church in D.C.  Dever is obsessively expository in his approach.  If you want to know the Bible, this is a great way to digest it.  Dever is also well known for tackling very large sections of text, including single sermons on entire books of the Bible.

    Cornerstone Simi: Pastor Francis Chan is fairly new on my radar, but I have enjoyed what I have heard so far.

    The Journey - St. Louis: Pastor Darrin Patrick is a friend and has seen some great things happen after planting in St. Louis.  A good preacher, and a young leader worth watching.

    Mars Hill Church, Grand Rapids: Pastor Rob Bell is a controversial writer and speaker in the emerging church movement.  I find him very engaging and biblical, though we would surely differ at points.  He challenges me with living the Gospel.

    Mars Hill Church, Seattle: Pastor Mark Driscoll is a different sort of controversial writer and speaker in the emerging church movement.  He has been very influential in my ministry and life.

    Village Church: Pastor Matt Chandler is SBC, Acts 29, and one of the best young preachers I've heard.  Probably my favorite younger preacher to listen to over the last few months.  Some people trip over a few of his stylistic traits at first, but please persist and you will find so much worth hearing. 

    Miscellaneous

    This American Life: Ira Glass hosts this show of first-person stories and short fiction pieces that are touching, funny and surprising.  An amazing show that takes a topic and surrounds it with pertinent stories.

    Fresh Air (for Joe, "frosshhaar"): Terry Gross hosts this daily take on contemporary arts and issues.  Good stuff on politics, faith, entertainment, etc.  (Please no emails on her political POV, as if I don't know.)  A great show nearly every day.

    Writers on Writing: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett hosts this weekly show on the art and business of writing.  She interviews authors, poets, literary agents, etc.  A staple in my life.  Great insights through great interviews.

    Piper & Dever & Ware, Oh My

    in , , ,

    I listened to the new 9 Marks interview last night: Particular Redemption, The New Perspective, and More with John Piper (and Bruce Ware!).  This is a wonderful, encouraging, challenging discussion. 

    It starts with Piper and Ware discussing differences in their soteriology.  It's basically Piper challenging Ware's soteriology.  Then you get a lot of Piper (with a little Dever seasoning) discussing all sorts of things: what he's writing and has written, what's wrong with missional, contextualization, ecclesiology, and much more.  Don't miss the place where Piper challenges Dever's resistance to multiple services.  Piper = "in yo face, speaking the truth in love, hard to argue with the Christ-like, erudite pastor" fun.

    As usual I don't agree with everything or everyone in the audio.  But overhearing this conversation was very enjoyable for me and shows why I love John Piper so much.  Listening to him makes me want to be a more devoted and passionate disciple, husband and pastor.

    I also want to reiterate how much I like the 9 Marks website.  Lots of articles, reviews, and a great list of other free audio interviews.  Again, I don't agree with everything at 9 Marks, but I consider Dever a mentor on several levels and I like much of what they have to say to churches and pastors.