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Talking about your faith
Ed Stetzer just posted some great info on “Beginning a Conversation about Christ.” He looks at ways to start those conversations that can go beyond “If you died today…” Many seem to have lost confidence in that gospel. It is easier to tell people to come to church and live a good life, but that…
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Using money for a global impact
Check out this video from Francis Chan’s church in Simi Valley. According to his site, it explains the reason why Cornerstone decided to build an outdoor amphitheatre instead of a new sanctuary. It’s a powerful video, done in the style of an earlier Sarah McLachlan piece. It’s amazing how a global perspective can change how…
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The environment’s place in church
There’s a shift happening in culture. And churches that care about relevance and connection should watch, understand, and participate with the same gusto with which they seek out new music trends or useful sermon topics. Every day, more people are becoming concerned about the environment and how our consumption affects it. On one end, many…
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Thursday linkage: taking off, purple cows, and feeling alone
So Thursday linkage was going to be a regular thing. But I’m late. And today is Saturday, which means it’s time for some belated Thursday links! + We live in a weird media world when this pastor can become a top search on Technorati. But I like learning from people who are running hard, and…
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Why I … blog
I’m a practical person. Sometimes too practical. Things have to live up to the “so what?” measure. What’s the point? Why are we doing it? What are we saying? Why? So, why blog? Here are a few of my reasons. I’m honestly still learning. to put thoughts into words – clarity to connect with others…
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Two-way teaching
We held the first of two sessions of our newly revamped new leader training for small groups today, and I had a great time getting to know some people who I know will launch some amazing groups. We’re trying something a little different than the church has done in the past. Our small group training…
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How do you handle time?
I was listening to one of the Catalyst podcasts while working out this morning and heard a brief interview with relationship guru Les Parrott, who writes books with his wife Leslie (I love it when marriages give people “cute” name combos). He mentioned a quick assessment that will tell how you handle time. It basically…
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Thursday linkage: house churches, justice, and wufoo
A few things around the web that caught my attention … + TIME Magazine writes about the spread of the house church movement. + churchrelevance.com summarizes a podcast with Gary Haugen of International Justice Mission. This guy’s involved in some powerful stuff. From the summary: “We can point [hurting people] to God through the way…
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For the record …
In my last post, I said about 30 days. It’s been 36, so I’m not that far off. 🙂 But, I’m back! It’s amazing how time away from something can help you refocus. So here’s the deal. I was actually planning to come back with an announcement of changes to this blog. They haven’t happened…
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It’s time for a break …
… or if you want to get really spiritual, we’ll call it a Sabbath. Starting today, I’m going to take about 30 days off from blogging (and probably reading blogs). There’s no one reason. It’s just a healthy thing to do every once in a while. So, just when things were starting to pick up…
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Two great links
David Wilson tells a great story about knowledge of verses real allegiance to, passion for, and love of God. I’m glad Craig at lifechurch.tv said this. It’s something I was thinking, but he’s actually on these lists, so he has the credibility to say it. 🙂
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NorthWood and that "missional" word
Christianity Today recently posted an interview with Bob Roberts, pastor of NorthWood Church. It’s worth reading. NorthWood is the church Grete and I were a part of before moving out to California. I worked with their global impact team. In a “church world” where there’s a lot of talk about different worship styles and what…
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Review: The Blogging Church
“If everyone in your community is talking about something and the church isn’t, then the church is showing itself to be 100 percent relevant on Sundays but 0 percent relevant the rest of the week.” That’s probably my favorite quote from The Blogging Church, a book I just finished reading (see previous post) about how…
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20-somethings and church
One of my passions right now is 20-something ministry. The church I work at has some great things happening for a lot of age groups, but those people who are post-college but pre-kid seem to disappear. I don’t think they need another program to be a part of, but they (we) do need a place…
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Jon Sampson 