What does it mean to be missional?
Ed Stetzer briefly explains the concept of missional…it’s pretty simple really.
What Does It Mean to Be Missional? from The Resurgence on Vimeo.
How Can a Loving God Allow Suffering?
With the recent events in Haiti and with the intense suffering that takes place in so many of our lives it leads one to ask…why?
Scott Thomas, director of the Acts 29 church planting network, answers this question in an article found here.
How Can a Loving God Allow Devastation in Haiti (and in my life)?
Pat Robertson doesn’t get it: (more…)
Ambition Conference Audio
Last week I attended an Acts 29 Conference (church planting bootcamp) at Sojourn Church in Louisville, KY. As I said in my summary of the conference the messages were amazing and well worth listening to.
The audio of the sessions is now available
If you only listen to one message then make it Matt Chandler’s wrap up session on Ministry for the Long Haul.
Chandler Interview – Part 1
Dustin Neeley, Pastor of Crossing Church in Louisville, KY interviews Matt Chandler about church planting , preaching, and leadership.
How ‘Not’ to be a Missional Church
Jonathan Dodson (Acts 29 Pastor in Austin, TX) has written a series of articles called “How Not to be a Missional Church”.
I think they are well worth the read if you have a desire to understand the missional church and it’s heart to reach the culture for the gospel.
The Scoop
Just wanted to give you a heads up regarding what is going on with The Bridge church plant.
In June I was contacted by Aaron Santini, a church planter planting “The Crossing” with CrossWay Chapel (a local church planting network associated with Mountain View Com. Church in Fort Collins), he wanted to meet like minded church planters and he had heard about me through Acts 29. After meeting a few times and discussing our vision, goals, and plans we began to discuss the idea of joining our efforts for the sake of the Kingdom. It is almost uncanny how similar Aaron and I are in theology, philosophy, and vision. So after a few months of praying and getting to know each other Aaron and I have decided to join The Bridge and The Crossing…in fairness to one another we have decided to change the name of the new church (which was really difficult for me because I absolutely love the name The Bridge =)
That is however a small sacrifice for what this joining of efforts is going to bring to the Kingdom. The new name will be “Missio Dei” which means mission of God in Latin. Both Aaron and I felt that this name encapsulates our theology and the vision of our church plant very well and will also create some great opportunities to share the gospel when people ask what in the world “Missio Dei” means. =)
The Crossing has been meeting in Aaron and Rita Santini’s home for about 6 months and they have about 40 adults and 20 children attending. Starting this Sunday evening we will begin meeting together at the Evangelical Covenant Church at 6pm. We will continue with our plan of holding a series of preview services (third Sundays of Oct, Nov, and Dec) and launching on Sunday January 17th at 10am at the TR Paul Academy of Arts and Knowledge. The joining of The Crossing and The Bridge will instantly give both groups critical mass and great momentum as we will now have approx. 60 adults and 30 children to launch the church with, not to mention the multiplication of servants, gifts and leadership abilities that both groups will bring each other.
Aaron and I are a lot alike but we are also very different in our gift sets. Aaron is passionate about small groups (we will call them Life Groups), discipleship, and pouring into men (the ground war). I am gifted as the big picture guy and overseeing things like administration, media (website, audio video stuff), marketing, and our mission will be my responsibilities (the air war).
Aaron and I will share the preaching duties and work together to formulate a preaching schedule ahead of time. We will teach through books or passages of Scripture so it will be very easy to keep continuity while also creating some variety in preaching style and perspective.
Aaron and I are both passionate about church planting and our vision is to plant churches up and down the 1-25 corridor and beyond. There are approx. 4.5 million people in the front range region and we believe that church planting is the most effective method in reaching these people with the gospel. In order to make this vision happen we must train young men to be pastors and leaders and therefore Missio Dei will have a Pastor’s School where men can be equipped to lead as elders both at Missio Dei and elsewhere as church planters.
Please keep Missio Dei and all that is involved here in prayer. We have some other big decisions to make in the near future and we are excited about all that God is doing and is going to do!
Great Trip
My family and I just returned from a quick trip to Fort Collins. Well our time actually spent in Fort Collins was short but the 18 hour drive each way made it seem like a journey.
We had a great time meeting with people, looking at homes to rent, and exploring the area. The kids absolutely love it there and Andrea and I are becoming more familiar with the city with each visit. On Tuesday we traveled up to Estes Park in the beautiful Rocky Mountains. All I can say about that is wow!
I had an extremely busy week meeting with contacts and people that are interested in the church plant. Each visit we’ve had there has been full of divine encounters that continue to serve as confirmation for God’s call upon us to pull up stakes and begin a new work in Northern Colorado.
One of the most amazing things about Fort Collins is the unity amongst the pastors in the city. I have met with a few of the pastors, and have received several emails from others, and one thing is consistent among each of them; they are Kingdom minded. Not one of them has said, “Fort Collins has plenty of churches.” or “What do you think you’re going to do that we aren’t already doing?” I applaud these men for putting Jesus and His Kingdom first…it’s sad that it’s so rare but in a church climate where pastors fight over church hoppers like two dogs with a bone, these men stand out as unique examples of what the Church should really look like. One such man is Reza Zadah. Reza is the young adults pastor at Timberline Church in Fort Collins. He has gone out of his way to welcome me to the city and offer his help in whatever way he can. Thank you Reza!
Oh…on the home front we did find a house to rent that is available at the perfect time, and the owner is allowing us to live in the house for 2 weeks rent free! The home is located in West Fort Collins…about 5 minutes from Old Town and 5 minutes from Horsetooth Reservoir. Perfect!
I anticipate that the next 6 weeks in Prineville will go by extremely fast. Rory and I will work together in transition for about a month. It should be a great time working together and learning from one another. I hope that I can pass a few things along that I’ve learned in my time here and then before you know it we’ll be off to our next adventure.
It’s sad, exciting, and scary all at the same time.
What If?
For the last few months my preaching in the gospel of Luke has centered on the concept of mission. That is being on mission with God. As someone who has been involved in pastoral ministry for over a decade now, I think it is safe to say that many Christians are not on mission. They’re on a mission…career advancement, more money, bigger house, living vicariously through their child’s athletic achievements…but it’s not God’s mission.
What if every Christian, or even most Christians, were on mission? What if Christians were as passionate about Jesus and the gospel as we are the myriad of other activities that choke the life out of us (can anyone say farmtown?).
Please don’t get me wrong…I love sports (just ask my wife). I’m passionate about the things I enjoy but what if we could direct some of that passion toward the Kingdom?
My family and I are moving to Fort Collins to plant The Bridge Church in mid-August. Part of my focus is going to be reaching young men, getting them on mission, and then setting them free to use their God given masculinity, drive, and passion to further the Kingdom of God in Northern Colorado. I’m praying for 100 young men to make Jesus famous in Fort Collins and on the campus of CSU.
Will you pray with me? Will you join us in being on mission with God in your community? Will you begin investing your God given time, talents, and treasures in things that will advance His Kingdom instead of your own? (Luke 12:13-34)
What if…
Update
Wow…it’s been two weeks since I’ve written a post here. Life is pretty much a blur right now. I returned from the Calvary Chapel Senior Pastor’s Conference Saturday evening (the conference was a blast by the way), as soon I landed we met with some friends who moved away a few years ago and happened to be in town visiting family. As soon as we hugged them and said goodbye a family who is praying about joining the church plant in Fort Collins arrived from out of town to meet with us over the weekend. We had an awesome time getting to know them and praying for God’s will for their lives. Since their departure for home, on Monday after breakfast, I have been going non-stop trying to balance pastoring Calvary Chapel Crook County, the transition of the new pastor, and preparing to plant The Bridge in Fort Collins.
Speaking of the transition, the elders and I have selected Rory Rodgers, youth pastor from Calvary Chapel Corvallis, as my replacement here. He will begin Monday July 13th; he and I will work together for about a month. During which time he will teach the Wednesday night Bible study through the Old Testament and I will continue preaching on Sunday mornings. He will officially take over as Lead Pastor on Monday August 17th.
My last Sunday here at Calvary Crook County will be Sunday August 16th. After which time my family and I will be moving to Fort Collins to begin The Bridge Church plant. We are extremely excited for all that God has in store here in Prineville, as well as the great work He is going to establish in Northern Colorado.
Please pray for my family as we make this transition. Please pray for Rory, Lindsey, and little Russell as they move to Prineville. Pray for Calvary Chapel Crook County during this time of pastoral change. Finally pray for Fort Collins and The Bridge!
Here is a link to our plan for the next 6 months of The Bridge church plant.
What is good preaching?
Every pastor who spends any time in the pulpit or in small groups explaining and applying God’s Word should ask themselves this question constantly.
I found this article, written by Scott Thomas on the Acts 29 blog to be particularly helpful in answering this question. The article features the thoughts of men like John Piper, and Tim Keller as well as some feedback from people on Twitter, which I will also post below.
“I asked people on Twitter to share the characteristics of what they thought comprised a good sermon. I compiled their helpful thoughts and came up with 8 qualities.
1. Gospel-centered
- Leads to the cross and trust/surrender in Jesus.
- Uses the Scriptures to unearth the heart not behavior.
- Bringing people to repentance
- Did Christ need to die for this to be true?
- Having the main thrust of the passage explained & applied in a way that grips and changes me
- Missional/Evangelistic
2. Bible-based, exegetically-sound (Intelligent but not academically arrogant)
3. Empowered by the Holy Spirit
4. Preached through a passionately changed man
5. Relationally-connected
- Displaying honesty and authenticity
- Inspirational (not just informational)
- Challenging and encouraging
- Humbly and compassionately
- Engaging (not boring)
- Contextualized
- Winsome
6. Simple, memorable and concise with clarity of thought
7. Bible-generated points of application
- Answers the question, “So, now what?”
8. Leads to the worship of Jesus”
May we as preachers and teachers of the Scriptures never reach a point where we feel like we’ve arrived. The preacher who ceases to learn is an oxymoron. Let’s pursue our craft in a manner befitting the Subject matter. Keep growing, keep learning, keep pointing people to Jesus everytime you open the Bible.
“I standing vigilantly on the precipice of eternity speaking to people who this week could go over the edge whether they are ready to or not. I will be called to account for what I said there. That’s what I mean by preaching.” (John Piper)