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If you are a pastor, this is a must see.

Darrin Patrick, lead pastor of The Journey (my home church and where I intern) interviews my friend Ed Stetzer, President of Lifeway Research and Lifeway’s Missiologist in Residence, on what he sees as the pressing issues within evangelicalism today.

I believe this is Ed at his best, bringing prophetic insight to a wide variety of topics that should be of interest to those who love the church and the Gospel. Enjoy:


I recently had the privilege to be interviewed for an article by Jennifer Harris, news writer for Word & Way, on church and culture. The article was forwarded to me today from a friend. Apparently it popped up on the Associated Baptist Press website.

I encourage you to check it out: “Some churches help Christians view culture through spiritual lenses”



Ed Stetzer & David Fitch – a missional conversation from Missional Tribe on Vimeo


From Missional Tribe:

Shot in Chicago in November of ‘08, Part One of this 45 minute conversation features Ed Stetzer and Dave Fitch discussing what they each mean by the term “missional”. They also spend some time discussing attractional vs missional – and whether missional church, as it seems to be presently framed is “interested in converts.”

A very good conversation between two PhD’s, who are also church planters, teachers, authors and missional instigators in their own right.

This video was produced by Toronto’s mkpl.tv – Producer, Imbi Medri. Director/Editor, Bill Kinnon. It is made available under a Creative Commons License – Attribution – No Derivative Works. Copyright Holders: Medri Kinnon Productions Limited, Ed Stetzer, David Fitch.


2. David Fitch – Reclaiming the Mission

David Fitch, Betty R. Lindner Chair of Evangelical Theology at Northern Seminary; founding pastor of Life on the Vine Community, an emerging church in the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago; co-founder of Up/Rooted, an emergent cohort that gathers leaders and thinkers to engage issues of the emerging church and the post-modern context; and author of The Great Giveaway comes in at #2.

David has been one of the most influencing voices in the development of my ministry/church planting philosophy. It started with The Great Giveaway, but continuing on with the stream of consciousness on his blog, let’s just say, it’s a gold mine. I believe it will be shown that David was one of the most important shaping influences on the grounding of missional orthopraxy in the twenty-first century.

I’m looking forward to becoming a regular part of the missional leader learning community in the future. I was personally invited to the one in January but can’t make. I hope to down the road..

Check these:
Please Lord, Don’t Let Me Get Pragmatic: Spiritual Formation for Missional Leaders
“The Numbers Are Going Up But Something Doesn’t Feel Right”
Conversion a casualty of Missional Theology?
When They Will Not Come – Community: The anti-attractional process of beginning a church with community
The Middle In: The Unique Missional Opportunity

Top 8 Recap
8. J.R. Woodward | 7. Jonathan Dodson | 6. Neil Cole | 5. Drew Goodmanson | 4. Bob Hyatt | 3. Alan Hirsch


It is terrible how much has been forgotten, which is why, I suppose, remembering seems a holy thing.

Anita Diamant, from The Red Tent

It’s the last day of 2008, time to look back at the year that was:

January

I had the privilege to lead my oldest son of 6, Cooper, in a prayer of belief in God’s grace for his salvation. I thank God for the awesome opportunity.

Sally Lloyd-Jones stopped by the blog and thanked me for my kind words about The Jesus Storybook Bible, which I believed God used in a providential way to help make the gospel clear to Cooper.

My Sloan turned two.

February

I remembered three tragedies that hit close to “home”: one in my hometown, one in the town I live in now, and one that affected a sister Christian university.

March

Cooper was baptized. Praise God!

I wrapped up my series: The Emerging Church: A Postmodern Reformation.

I posted my review of Todd Agnew’s new album, Better Questions. (I review music for Ardent Records)

I had the privilege to be a part of a unique event that ended up being one of the most transformational times in my spiritual life. I was part of a recording for the Shapevine’s Active Learning Podules series with Reggie McNeal. You can watch it on the home page of their web site. I would embed it here but it doesn’t have that capability.

April

I posted my review of Derek Webb and Sandra McCracken’s new EP, Ampersand. (I review music for Speakeasy)

Cooper enjoyed his first Cardinals game with my Dad and I and played organized baseball for the first time.

I talked about how the will of God is that we would pray ceaselessly.

I “celebrated” two years blogging.

May

Our family grew in missional compassion through Compassion International…

I saw Radiohead in concert at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in St. Louis. Wow…

I wrapped up my book review series on the Zondervan Counterpoints book, Four Views of Hell.

I posted my review of Delirious’ new album, Kingdom of Comfort. (I review music for Sparrow Records)

The Lost finale. Unbelievable…

June

I celebrated nine years with my amazing wife…

My family enjoyed a local vacation…

I recapped my series on the missional church: The “Sent” Church: A Missional People.

I talked about one my vices: morels.

For the second year in a row, I judged Joy FM’s iSing competition at Six Flags – St. Louis .

July

My family and I visited Tulsa for the first time to confirm the call to plant missional communities there in the future. God answered our prayers…

I posted the first (and only at this point), vodcast on Acts.

August

We celebrated Margo (5) and Everett’s (1) birthdays.

I posted on my weight loss. Total loss = 20 lbs. I have to say, wow…

I spoke on emerging worship at Bible Preaching Week at Windermere at the Lake of the Ozarks.

I spoke at the first annual Missouri Baptist University Ministry Group retreat at Cornerstone Farms in St. Jacob, Illinois.

Fall classes began at MBU; teaching “Worship History and Leadership” and “Worship Performance Workshop”

September

I announced the cool opportunity to do two directed studies in missiology under the tutelage of Ed Stetzer.

I posted on my first trip with Ed to a conference in Jackson, Mississippi. This pretty much sums up the trip..

I had the privilege to host Dan Kimball, Matt Maher, and The Afters for MBU’s second annual Abandoned: Worship as Life seminar. Here are some pics…

October

We celebrated Cooper, Holly, and I’s birthdays.

I posted on my second trip with Ed to Johnson City, Tennessee. Here is a pic…

I traveled with my good friend, Clint Carter, to Tulsa to continue to exegete Tulsa…

I attended the Lead Conference, put on by The Journey, a conference on the theological and practical implications of ministry in an urban context with Clint.

I posted on my missional practicum in University City.

November

Relevintage becomes transformission.

Holly and I saw Coldplay at the Sprint Center in Kansas City. Not bad, not bad…

December

We celebrated Christmas with all of our families. Blessed…


Via mobap.edu:

MBU presents second annual free Worship Arts conference

August 1, 2008

Nationally known emerging church leader Dan Kimball is set to headline Missouri Baptist University’s second annual Worship Arts conference Sept. 27.

The conference, called “Abandoned: Worship as Life,” is a free event aimed at providing worship leaders quality workshops and the opportunity to network with colleagues in the worship industry. The event is specifically designed for students and worship leaders seeking to learn how to better engage congregations in an authentic, highly contextual style of worship.

“I believe that Dan Kimball is a modern-day ‘prophet,’ acutely examining how the church, corporate worship, and culture intersect at the point of theory and practice,” said Brad Andrews, MBU worship arts coordinator and planner of the event. “For many, he is charting an imaginative path, sending ripples of renewal to all within the worship spectrum. But perhaps his most important contribution to the worship landscape is the sense of missional urgency he is creating for those in evangelicalism.”

In addition to Kimball, the seminar will feature other local worship arts professionals; reveal practical ways to better lead or transition congregations in an authentic worship that engages cultural mediums; include an inspirational time of worship; and will offer an invaluable time of networking among fellow worship leaders.

The event will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

About the headliner:

Kimball is a pastor, author and leading voice in the Emerging Church movement. He is the author of several books including They Like Jesus But Not The Church, The Emerging Church and Emerging Worship. He is on staff at Vintage Faith Church, a missional church planted in 2004 in Santa Cruz, CA. He speaks extensively around the country on emerging church, worship and culture issues. He is adjunct faculty at George Fox Evangelical Seminary and is married to Becky, has two daughters and drives a rusty 1966 Ford Mustang. His blog is www.dankimball.com

The Third Coast University Tour – featuring The Afters, Matt Maher, and Matthew Paul Turner – will close out the seminar. The concert is set to begin at 7 p.m. The cost for the concert for attendees of the seminar is $15.

For more information or to register for the seminar, go to www.mobap.edu/events or call Brad Andrews at (314) 744-5365. To buy tickets to the Third Coast University Tour concert, go to mobaptickets.com or call the MBU Box Office at (314) 392-2345.


Steve McCoy has been running a great concept on his blog over the last month. He asks us the reader for their “Top 5 Books” on a particular topic, i.e. their top 5 books on parenting, marriage, suffering, etc. I’m a big book guy so I love seeing what has informed others on issues related to their Christian worldview.

Yesterday’s subject: the top 5 books that changed your mind about ministry/doctrine. I thought I’d share with you my five:

1. The Emerging Church – Dan Kimball

Back in 2003, this book set me on my deconstruction/reconstruction of what the church should be about in the 21st century…

2. SoulTsunami – Leonard Sweet

Providentially led to soon after The Emerging Church. Turned me into a futurist. Never been the same…

3. Tie: The Shaping of Things To Come – Alan Hirsch/Michael Frost & Total Church – Steve Timmis/Tim Chester

Set me on my current spiritual formation and ministry philosophy continuum regarding “missional”…

4. Cheating here, but the entire Ancient-Future series by Robert Webber: Ancient-Future Faith; Ancient Future Evangelism; Ancient-Future Time; and Ancient-Future Worship.

Webber has been deeply influential. Gave me ancient roots and modern wings to my much of ministry philosophy…

5. Desiring God – John Piper

Clarified/still clarifying my life’s calling…

And, one more that I would add…

6. Chosen By God – R.C. Sproul

Not so much changed my mind, but further cemented my thoughts regarding the doctrines of grace


Over the last decade, as the church has awakened to its diminished role in culture and its need to step out of its subculture back into wider culture in an attempt to redeem it, Richard Neibuhr’s watershed work, Christ and Culture has been bandied about by many, particularly in such works as Church in Emerging Culture, edited by Sweet and D.A. Carson’s recent opus, Christ and Culture Revisited.

Perhaps the most helpful taxonomy that has surfaced from this discussion has come from within the Acts 29 Network and it is this: the Gospel of Jesus Christ restores a Christian’s worldview, enabling someone who lives for Jesus to engage culture and reject, receive, or redeem it for God’s glory.

Enter Mars Hill Church in Seattle and – as they call it – their “text life.” Here is the history and purpose of live texting within corporate worship from their website:

The whole “text your question” idea started during the Religion Saves series—itself a result of the “Ask Anything” campaign. It’s been a huge success on a number of fronts:

* The anonymity allows people to broach certain subjects that are commonly discussed in daily life, but rarely within a church context.
* In addition to using the technology during sermons, we’ve integrated it into many of our conferences—allowing people in multiple locations (including at home, for those watching streamed video online) to participate.
* Q&A via SMS avoids those awkward open mic moments, keeping the questions on topic and focused.
* It’s quick, concise, and cheap.

On a typical Sunday, the text messaging occurs during the 7pm Ballard service—the last of the day. The team that handles the messages receives about fifty questions during the allotted time.

In the future, we’re hoping to include Q&A at more of our services so that anyone watching in the same time zone can pull out their phone and send in a question. For now, you can watch recordings from the SMS Q&A on our YouTube channel, or on our sermon series pages.

Keep those questions coming. All you texters are participating in our worship service in a truly meaningful way. For example, the question about abortion after a rape has generated a lot of attention and some amazing stories have emerged of God’s grace, goodness, and transforming power.

On behalf of Mars Hill Church and the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, thanks for the text.

“Thanks for the text.” I love that…

Here is an example on the issue of sanctification:

Redeeming texting in the context of corporate worship reminds me of Leonard Sweet’s EPIC acronym: Experiential // Participatory // Image-Driven // Communal. It’s experiential in that it is raw, in-the-moment, tactile. It’s participatory in that questions can come from anyone, abolishing the lines of “priest” and “laity.” It’s image-driven in that we see the questions on a screen. We forget that most people learn by what they see than what they hear. Finally, it’s communal in that the questions come from within the fellowship of faith.

Will this work everywhere? No. But in an age where most 20-somethings use ‘texting’ as a primary form of communication, we would do well to ask ourselves, “What can we redeem in our context to reach those who are far from Christ?”


1. Ryan Wiskell ruminates on the ‘consequences’ of authenticity. Good stuff…

2. Here is a very practical [albeit a little corny] video on missional neighboring. How many of us see our neighborhoods as mission fields?

3. Here are three interesting entries on the rising gas prices: 1) “Will Blog for Gas”, 2) Kent Shaffer on “10 Theories on High Gas Prices and Church”, and 3) I-Monk on “Pray at the Pump: A Meditation on Jesus and Economic Discipleship.”

4. In keeping with I-Monk, he dropped another great post this week. He waxes on the pros and cons of “principle” preaching.

5. David Fairchild on the missionary movement of the church: gathering. It’s not what you think…

6. Yet another helpful taxonomy to understand the different ‘streams’ of nu-evangelicalism. Tom Sine, co-author of The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time with Shane Claiborne, sees a distinctly Anabaptist accent in these new movements…

7. And finally, two stellar posts by Mark Riddle on not going to church but being the church here and here. An essential distinction in the missional church conversation…


1. Brian of Semper Reformanda Records has begun a series I’m really looking forward: the various elements that comprise the majority of Sunday liturgies. His first entry in the series: The Prelude.

2. Harold Best was recently the keynote for Sojourn Community’s Cultivate Beauty Festival and if this post was any indication, he brought a breadth of insight on how art and the church intersect. Check out these snippets via Bobby Gilles for an idea of Best’s genius from his talk entitled, “Art For The Church; Art From The Church, Art Facing The Church.”

3. How do we define the local church in light of the missional conversation headed up by the likes of Hirsch, Timmis, Chester, Fitch, etc.? Jason Allen provides some insight here and here, although I think it bears some fleshing out. Jason is a friend, so I feel like I can play devil’s advocate with him. What can the local church do that a smaller missional community – that may have a larger gathering – can’t? Where is the true biblical mandate? If life is meant to be lived in community, why is that community necessarily the local church and not smaller communities? Isn’t the majority of life lived outside of the one hour we are “at” church? I have some ideas on how to answer these questions. What are yours?

4. Via Ed Stetzer a very creative post title – Questions for McChurch – and an even better push-back on some of the negatives on the multi-site concept. A must-read for anyone considering the option…

5. Shaun’s recent series on living simplify was such an encouragement [see here: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3] .I don’t feel like my family is so weird after all. We are doing many of things and hope to do more as we grow in simplification…

6. Don’t put together a church planting prospectus? Strong words from Jonathan Dodson of Austin City Life in Austin. He highlights the futility that is sometimes involved in man planning a work of God rather than God working His plan through man by quoting Augustine. Very convicting…

7. And finally, maybe my favorite post of 2008 from Soma Communities’ and Acts 29 Board member, Jeff Vanderstelt. Do me a favor and just read it: The Beginnings of a Missional Church Plant.


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Husband and father of four, university instructor, seminarian, church planter, and conference architect.

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