A Black Missional Critique of the Missional Movement

one response

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.

Read the full article here

Recent Grad Leads Friend to Faith At Work

2 responses

CarolynThis is a guest post from Carolyn Chow. She is a recent grad from San Diego State InterVarsity and now officially a professional working woman in the marketing industry. She is a great friend of mine and I have had the privilege of watching her develop the last four years in college. I asked her to share her remarkable story of the first month on the job in LA. She is truly becoming a world changer!

Just last week I had the opportunity to lead someone to faith at work. That is right, in my first month on the job, in a completely new city, God used me right out of college to lead a sister to Christ. I couldn’t be more excited for her and the mission God has me on in the working world.

Continue Reading

The Power of Habits

no responses
From "The Power of Habits"

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]

Our Daily Routine

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.

Continue Reading

If Jesus Came For The Sick, Why Does Everyone Look So Healthy?

no responses

sick

By Laura Hairston

Last month, my middle school girls neighborhood group wrapped up a series of 6 weeks watching The Bible. Over 13 million people viewed the first of the miniseries on The History Channel.  Of course, it’s a bit ‘Hollywood’, but that’s probably one reason for the number of viewers.  One of the beautiful things for me was watching my girls, many for the first time, hearing the stories of the Bible. After an episode, I asked the girls what they noticed about the people Jesus was surrounded by, and their response was

“the sick, the sinners, the prostitutes & tax collectors – not the ‘church people’ like you would think”.

This was interesting insight from these teenage girls.

Continue Reading

Jesus is Gone!?

3 responses

memoBy 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.

Continue Reading

3 Things Church Planters Must Do

one response

Screen shot 2011-05-10 at 4.12.44 PMEric 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.

Continue Reading

Exponential is Multiplying West

no responses
With Exponential in Orlando selling out and drawing 5,300 leaders on site and 40,000 to the live Exponential ’13 Webcast, Exponential’s plans to multiply to the West Coast are well underway. Exponential Los Angeles will be hosted by Rick Warren and Saddleback Church Oct. 7-10, and will feature 75+ speakers (Rick Warren, Choco de Jesus, Michael Frost, Larry Osborne, Chris Hodges, Alan Hirsch, Derwin Gray and more); 2,000+ church planting leaders; 100+ workshop breakout sessions; 20 tracks and five pre-conference intensives.

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.

Prop 8, DOMA, and the Christian Response:

2 responses

Found this great post by Ed Stetzer that I thought you all might want to read in light of todays events.

Last week, the largest Christian ministry devoted to helping homosexuals struggle against their attractions apologized to the gay community and announced it was shutting down.

Today the Supreme Court of the United States struck down parts of the Defense of Marriage Act, passed in 1996. The Supreme Court also declined to rule on Proposition 8 from California (Christianity Today has the full story here).

In doing so, same-sex marriage recognition remains a state issue and (although this is not completely clear that this time) it appears to remain legal in California, as it is in 12 other states and the District of Columbia. Also, the United States government will recognize the legality of those marriages with respect to federal benefits. (I’ll update this paragraph as the ruling is analyzed, but this is the first look.)

Needless to say, our culture is changing– quickly and dramatically on this issue. But how should Christians respond?

Read the whole post here