January, 2014 | Release the A.P.E.

You Can’t Reduce The Gospel To A Tweet!

2 responses
January 30, 2014

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By Tyler Allred

“You can’t reduce the gospel to a tweet!”

I heard that this weekend. Is that correct? Is the gospel “un-tweetable?” Or maybe I could put it this way: If you only had one sentence, would it really be impossible to express the good news of Jesus? In reaction to a truncated, individualistic gospel, have we stuffed that word with so much, well, ‘stuff’ that it has lost some of its linguistic worth?

Specifically when it comes to this word, “gospel,” the great, good, glorious news of the Christian faith, I believe we absolutely need more clarity, not less.

3 Resolutions From John The Baptist

one response
January 28, 2014

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By Sarah Carter

[This is part of a series on John The Baptist as Prophet. You can read the other posts here!]

Dear American Church, here are some Resolutions. Love, John the Baptist.

Ok, I’m a little late for the New Year’s resolutions, but since it’s still relatively early in 2014, I think we can still throw a few out there. Instead of new gym routines and eating better, maybe we can collectively agree on some resolutions for the church in the US as a whole. In line with our John the Baptist series, I’m gonna go out on a hermeneutical limb and try to imagine what John’s suggestions for improvement to the American church might sound like. What he would say to us if we, like the crowd, invited him to tell us what to do? (These are my reflections on Luke 3:1-18).

Are Apostles For Today? What’s Their Role?

2 responses
January 26, 2014

Often times today in our churches the "road" is closed to apostolic leadership. Our hope with this blog is to open this "road" back up to the mission.

Often times today in our churches the “road” is closed to apostolic leadership & discussion.

The term apostle can provoke all kinds of reactions. What exactly does this word mean? Are there really present day apostles? If so, what do they do? And why does it matter? These are all really important questions. This blog post series is an attempt to look at these questions and point to biblical answers. I have asked Tim Catchim, a great thinker and writer on the apostolic, to write a blog series for us. Here is post two in the series “Are Apostles For Today?” (read the rest of the posts here)

As we continue this series of posts on apostles, we should probably give a brief description as to the kind of ministry that is associated with an apostle. As the word itself suggests, it is the quintessentially missional ministry as “sentness” is written into it (apo= separate stello = sent.)

We see this definition being played out for us in the book of Acts when Paul and Barnabas join up to go on their first missionary journey (Acts 13:1-8). A quick snap shot of this story will help illustrate what apostolic ministry is about.

As Paul and Barnabas are worshiping with other disciples at Antioch, the Holy Spirit says to them “Now separate to me Barnabas and Paul for the work to which I have called them.”

For Paul and Barnabas, the separation (apo) took place when they left the Antioch church. The sending (stello) aspect of their calling took place when they planted new churches in various places and people groups.

Sheep Herding- School for Prophets

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January 7, 2014

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[This post is part of a series called Rooted. Find the other posts here]

By Steve Stuckey

In this season of reflecting upon the incarnation, it strikes me that the response of the shepherds to the coming of the messiah might be helpful to apostle, prophet, and evangelist types. Some of Scriptures greatest pioneers of the faith–Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, and Amos–all got their start as shepherds.

The Harvest is Waiting

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January 2, 2014

empty field

By Eric Rafferty

The harvest is waiting where no one else is laboring…

The key work of planting ministry is finding the places where it’s harvest time. Often the places of plentiful harvest are the places where no one else is going. This is what Jesus found in a Samaritan town in John 4:

35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.

Sometimes the fields are just ripe for harvest time! Things grow easy. People are eager and ready to respond to Jesus. In the above passage Jesus spends a few minutes chatting with a promiscuous and poorly treated woman at a town well and within a couple days the entire city comes to faith in Jesus. That is harvest time! And Jesus had to point it out to his disciples because they couldn’t believe the spiritual landscape of Samaria would be one of harvest.

As we look back on eight years of campus ministry we recognize that the times we really experienced the reality of harvest was when we were reaching out to people that no one else was going for. Plentiful harvest is waiting in the fields where no one else is laboring.