By James Choung
I prayed a stupid prayer a year ago.
As I was looking for a new role in campus ministry, I asked for something that would require me to exercise my faith muscles. And when we were starting our church, I asked God to build something that wouldn’t be credited to the talents of the people in the room. I wanted God to do something that could only be explained by his presence with us, that would be impossible to do without God.
Watch this video testimony of a guy sold into slavery as a boy and then rescued, trained up, and now is planting churches all over India.
This is a thought provoking post from an African American leader that has many great things to say about the missional movement but has one big critique. I share his feelings and so do many of my friends in InterVarsity and beyond. We need more leaders in the missional church conversation that are not white men.
Let God speak to you through this please.
There’s a complex question that gnaws at my heart as I observe evangelical culture; “Does the broader evangelical church in America recognize that there is something that they can learn from the African American church?” I follow conferences and as of late, I’ve kept up with the missional movement. I love listening to those who have mined the themes associated with everything missional and topics around justice and mercy for the marginalized. I frequent blogs, YouTube videos and the major declarations put out by the evangelical machine. During the past couple of years I’ve recognized the homogeneity of these circles—most of the speakers are white.
From “The Power of Habits”
By Steve Stuckey
Steve is a spiritual director with InterVarsity in Southern California. He writes here on this blog to foster spiritual formation for us catalytic leaders. Our hope is to create some space online to not only stir you up to be an APE leader but also help you connect with God well in your soul. He has developed many APE leaders and knows what our strengths as well as struggles are.
[This post is part of a series called Rooted. Find the other posts here]
Looking back, the two of them could see that the tensions in their marriage began six months ago. Heather landed an internship at a graphic design studio. She left their apartment at 7:30am each morning. Four days a week she stopped off at the gym on her way home from work so it was 6:30pm before she got back to their apartment. Jeff worked afternoons at Starbucks to supplement his income as a church planter. He got off at five and grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading out to lead a Bible study or meet with neighborhood friends. By the time he arrived home at 10:00pm, Heather was usually in bed asleep. Jeff checked his email, caught the sports highlights and then went to sleep around midnight. Minor irritations that never got talked about grew to become sharp tensions between the two of them. Finally after one heated argument, the two of them realized that something needed to change. Their daily routine was not giving them enough relaxed time to listen and talk together. As a result they were slowly drifting apart.
By Eric Rafferty
Last week my three year old son, Memo, had the experience of going through Vacation Bible School for the first time. As a three year old all I really wanted for him was to get through the week without hitting anyone (he did great on that front by the way). Learning deep truths about Jesus wasn’t really an expectation I had for him, and I definitely didn’t expect him to teach me a foundational truth about mission with Jesus. But that’s exactly what happened.
Eric Metcalf is the Lead Planter of Community Lincoln Park | Old Town – a new church being launching in downtown Chicago on Oct 20, 2013. Eric also provides leadership to NewThing’s Leadership Residency Program – a program designed to apprentice church planters to start new churches. Previously, Eric led NewThing (www.newthing.org), a growing church planting network focused on catalyzing a movement of reproducing churches. Under Eric’s leadership, NewThing was able to double in size every year for 3 years straight; reaching a goal of planting 1 new church every 11 days. Eric has been married for 14 years to his beautiful wife Erin and has three incredible children: Joey (9), Lydia (8), and Max (5).
Because of his leadership with New Thing, I asked him to write a post on the top 3 things church planters must do. He has seen tons of churches plant over his years, so he has a thing or two to teach us!
I led NewThing for almost 4 years and I found 3 things to be true. I’m now planting a church, a Campus of Community Christian Church, in downtown Chicago (Lincoln Park) and I’m still finding those 3 things to be true. Want to know what they are, keep reading you will find out what I believe are the top 3 things churches must do.
By Brad Brisco
Christendom is the term given to describe the religious culture that has dominated Western society since the fourth century when the Roman Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. Post-Christendom refers to the time after Christendom, when the church lost its place of power and influence.
Exponential Los Angeles will offer the DiscipleShift theme based on five shifts churches can make to plant and lead churches that make disciples who make disciples (outlined in the recently released book DiscipleShift by Jim Putman and Bobby Harrington, with Robert Coleman).
Exponential is praying the conference will be a gathering that spotlights the work of church planting already happening in the West; equips leaders; and catalyzes new conversations, relationships and ultimately church planting movements.
If you weren’t able to make it to Orlando or want to give your spouse or team the opportunity to experience DiscipleShift live, make plans to attend Exponential LA. At less than $65 per person (when joined by a spouse), Exponential has made it as affordable as possible to attend. Register today at http://
exponential.org/LA to get the Super Early rate of $99/$29 spouse registration! The price goes up on June 30. So reserve your spot this week.
As some of you have asked for more details on the post detailing the New York/New Jersey InterVarsity pathway, I thought it would be a great idea to share with you the pathway that InterVarsity is working on nationally through the Chapter Building Initiative.
[tentblogger-vimeo 68309975]
Being scared is part of the human condition and no one can avoid it. But being scared cannot be what dictates how we lead and press out. If we are going to be on the edge of faith and lead initiatives to start new things, then two things are guaranteed: