By Laura Hairston
My family and I live in a north suburb of Dallas, Texas – Frisco. A 2007 Forbes study named Frisco as the seventh-fastest growing suburb in the United States. In 2011, CNN listed Frisco as one of the “Best Places to Live” in the nation, and Forbes ranked it 7th in its list of “America’s 25 Best Places To Move”. Seems like a dream, huh?
I just read a great article by David Kinnaman talking about evangelism and if it is going out of style. Here is a great excerpt from the post
The Most Evangelistic Generation
They’ve been called “the social justice generation,” and for good reason—Millennials are actively taking up the cause of the poor, the oppressed, the orphan and the widow. Yet the most common critique leveled at this surge in social compassion is that it comes at a great expense. Sure, skeptics argue, they might feed the hungry and free the captives in this life, but what about the next? According to this view, Millennials are elevating physical needs over spiritual needs and forgoing evangelism altogether.Yet the latest Barna research reveals this is not the case.
You can read the whole post here...it is great!
This is a guest post by Bex Barton. Her day job is a rockin’ stay-at-home-mum (three crazy kiddos!) She is passionate about writing, tattoos, upcycling (Google it!) and all things artsy! She believes everyone has a role to play in this beautiful, messy life (yes, even *you*!) and seeks to help them find their way back to God.
“Apostle. Prophet. Evangelist. Shepherd. Teacher. Such power in those five simple words. Such passion. Such controversy, as well.
It never ceases to amaze me how the very thing Christ was using to create harmony among us, has been such a tool for dissension.
[This post is part of a series called Rooted. Find the other posts here]
By Steve Stuckey
You will not find his name on the APE mailing list. He would not have stormed out the door last week to be the first one on Beau’s party bus` to El Camino College. He founded no organizations or churches; never wrote a book or gave a speech (though those are excellent things). The mechanics of leadership, a topic that preoccupies many of us, did not exist as a subject in his mind. He was not good with words, a prerequisite for all of us who write and read this blog. In fact, no words are ever attributed to him in the Scriptures. He was probably a humble, quiet man who worked with his hands and lived much of his life in the shadows of his world. When his mission in life was complete, he silently faded into the mist of history without fanfare or applause. He must have been a fellow easy to overlook, even by God. When his young fiancée was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit, a highly unusual and suspicious story, he was left to find out her situation through second hand sources.
By James Choung
A few weekends ago, I spoke at a conference titled “Renewing Gender Relations.” It was an honor to be speaking alongside other plenary speakers such as Dr. Mimi Haddad, the president of Christians for Biblical Equality, and Rev. Dr. Grace May, president of Women of Wonder.
I spoke on the synergy of men and women in partnership, and was led to offer a history lesson.
My main question came from the subtitle of Rodney Stark’s The Rise of Christianity: how does the obscure, marginal Jesus movement become the dominant religious force in the Western world?
Jon Wong, an intern at USC working with fraternity students, is sharing on the bus ride about why he chose to start something new for God.
Last night as a response to my talk on Acts 8 and the story of Philip and the Ethiopian, I a gave a surprising and spontaneous response to the students. I asked them if God was to invite them to “Go South” now, who would be down?
I then told them that I had a bus parked outside and I had 20 tickets for the most eager people that wanted to go to an unreached campus right now and pray.
It was 10pm and we would be back at 1am.
20 students quickly ran down and we were off.
The goals of the night were these:
Check out the video and see how the driver responded! Incredible
[tentblogger-youtube pgJiX0D92Pc]
By Luke Cawley
Over the next few months, I’m travelling to a range of countries as part of my work with Chrysolis. Each month I’ll share with you a story from one of those places, and share some of the questions it raises.
This month, we start with the USA:
The words stopped my friend in her tracks: “I’m not a Christian, I hate Christians”.
By Chris Nichols
Life in ministry can be frantically full, especially in a ministry setting where apostolic and evangelistic gifts are being effectively demonstrated. Pushing forward into new territory, calling skeptics and seekers to belief, and gathering them into Jesus centered community are foundational elements of ministry culture and is invigorating for everyone involved. Whether you are planting or building, these are essential qualities that need to be valued and encouraged.
But the leaders of apostolic movements must do more than churn up evangelistic and expansion activity. They need always be aware when ministry activity is edging into chaotic, gospel activity rather than strategic kingdom advancement.
In order to avoid developing that kind of frenetic ministry culture, effective leaders of apostolic movements must be ready and willing to do three things in order to lead effectively.
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 one in the series “Are Apostles For Today?”
In Organization at the Limit, a book dedicated to looking at organizational dynamics that contributed to the Columbia space shuttle disaster, William Ocasio discusses the unique connection between language and our ability to “see” what is going on around us. Language has the subtle, yet powerful ability to focus our attention. It can point us toward existing problems and solutions, or it can blind us from those very things. In other words, the language we commonly use can greatly influence what gets noticed and what gets ignored. He says it like this, “It’s not that language determines what can be thought, but that language influences what routinely does get thought.”[1]