Archives For Mission

Often, unmarried feel unwanted in the local church. The incessant marriage analogies. The awkward moment when you meet someone and have to say “actually, I don’t have any kids.” The constant guilt related to sexuality.

This BONUS VALENTINES episode is based on my blog post 7 Things Singles Need from the Church (A Valentines Post). We discuss the post as well as a TON of great responses on Facebook.

Take a listen, and, if you like it, HELP GET THE WORD OUT :)

The best way is to subscribe, and leave us a (5 Star…) review in iTunes. Telling your friends and shouting it from the mountaintops is good, too.

How Not to Mess Up Christmas

Chris —  December 22, 2014

Here’s an excerpt from today’s post I wrote over at Fresh Expressions:

Christmas remains one of the few times when people show an openness to hearing the story of Jesus, even if they aren’t open to church. If handled correctly, this can be one of the best opportunities of the year for directing conversation toward Jesus. However, a lack of forethought could make things worse.

A fresh expression is a church community that grows organically out of an established people group. Every people group and the individuals within it bring their own “baggage.” The baggage becomes almost tangible during the holidays.

Christmas could be one of your best opportunities to share about Jesus all year long. Handled poorly, it can reinforce negative stereotypes about “church.”

Read the whole post, and let me know what you’re up to for Christmas.

There’s a scare tactic used in a lot of training materials for church planting. You open up a keynote speech at a conference by saying something along the lines of:

“Beware! Church Planting is the Hardest Thing You Will Ever Do!”

From there, you go on to list a bunch of scary statistics about how wives hate their husband’s decision to plant a church and how all planters have back problems.

Don’t get me wrong, Church Planting is hard.

My fear is that this scare tactic doesn’t work. Worse, it can create some very unhelpful (or even sinful) thought patterns in the mind of the planter.

Also, if something is “the hardest thing you’ve ever done,” you should consider asking “is it possible I’m doing it wrong?”

145H

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For some, the announcement that Seattle-based multisite megachurch Mars Hill would officially dissolve earlier this week, was received with a sigh of relief.

It’s a tragic day for those who have given their lives for the past few years to create this multi-million dollar religious organization. There was much good accomplished and lives changed.

Praise God!

Also, many people were hurt. Plenty of blame has been dished out on Mark Driscoll for his arrogant and bullying approach to leadership.

But was Driscoll the real problem?

Or is this inevitable?

W H I C H  M U L T I S I T E

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On October 15 of 2013, we held our first official Sunday Liturgy for Austin Mustard Seed. It was pouring rain, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. That morning a few dozen people showed up, most of whom were a complete surprise.

A year later, we’re still at it. It has messed me up in three ways. Continue Reading…