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“We do not need to tell people the whole gospel every time we get the chance. This is because evangelism is not an event, but a lifestyle. It takes place in the context of an on-going relationship in which other opportunities will arise. We believe God is the great orchestrator of mission. So we look for opportunities to talk about Jesus, but we need not be overbearing when those opportunities arise.”

-Tim Chester, “Answering People’s Questions” from his blog, Reformed Spirituality and Missional Church

Photo by russeljsmith (covered under Creative Commons/Attribution 2.0 Generic)


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Zach Eswine is one of my new favorite bloggers. The dude knows how to turn a phrase. He is lead pastor @ Riverside Church in my former hometown of St. Louis and was recently assistant professor of Homiletics and the director for Doctor of Ministry program @ Covenant Theological Seminary.

He has written a book I can’t wait to get my hands on entitled Preaching to a Post-Everything World: Crafting Biblical Sermons that Connect with our Culture which won Preaching Today’s Book of the Year Award in 2009.

Here is an example of his brilliant writing – in it, he is giving us a “window in” to his thoughts as he works through Ecclesiastes with his church:

God has given us a language for the dark. He has handed us a flashlight and gently walked us down into the creepy basement to show us what He knows is there. He has enabled us to look at death, injustice, misuse, mistreatment, doubt, skepticism, cynicism, greed, lust, emptiness, folly. God, it seems, wants us to grow up regarding our notions of what to expect in this life. He wants us wise toward the harming things we find in the world. If we are like children curled up in our beds as the sound of thunder knocks our trees about, vibrates the walls and rumbles through our yards. He is like a kind and knowing Father who takes our hand, invites us onto the porch and shows us that we can stand steady amid the barrage.

-Zach Eswine, “The Joy of an Ordinary Life, Pt. 1″ from his blog, Preaching Barefoot

(Photo by shizhao + used under Creative Commons)


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dietcokementos

We have a tendency to celebrate church leaders who have managed to draw a large crowd to their church. But this is hardly an accomplishment in a culture where a few bottles of Diet Coke and a pack of Mentos mints can draw a crowd. The fact that a few thousand people might show up on Sunday to hear you talk seems less impressive when you consider that we live in a society in which millions of people will tune in to watch Sanjaya sing on American Idol.

Aggregating an audience isn’t successful ministry. Fostering women, men, and children toward deep, internal, and unyielding communion with Christ that transforms their lives and produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—that is ministry worth celebrating.

-Skye Jethani, from his “The Divine Commodity” blog book tour interview with Bob Hyatt


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knot
“rope knot” by leo reynolds

Though the experiences of Christ and the Spirit may be ever satisfying, and the word be life giving, the blessings of family and the fruit of ministry be ever present, the longing for heaven and the violent reality of its absence will leave you with a broken heart that will express itself in and empty and sour stomach feeling.

Upon feeling this you will very much be tempted to think your doing ministry wrong and want to seek someone/something/some success or affirmation that will take away this feeling. For most pastors you will flee from this feeling through seeking a more successful position. Don’t do it though. It is in this emptiness created by the absence of heaven and this utter dissatisfaction with life apart from heaven, that will keep your lamp lit for Jesus, it will place the gospel ring of truth in your preaching that can’t come about any other way.

His true work within you is right here in this place, and it is your half broken heart that allows you to have the burning in your bones of Jeremiah, the passion to weep in the Garden with Jesus and the courage to stand with Paul before an opposing congregation and preach Christ crucified as the power and wisdom of God. It is this knot in our stomach that will keep you an honest preacher in a sea of compromised men.

-Rick McKinley, from “Reflections on the Minstry” via rickmckinley.net


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brokenheart

Until you experience significant failure in your personal life or ministry, you won’t even know that your heart is functionally operating in contradiction to what you’re saying with your mouth. And you certainly won’t be in a position where you get those two things in line.

-Tim Keller from “Risk and Failure” @ Innovation3


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showtell

I prefer showing over telling simply because it works – it’s an effective memorable way to communicate a message. Popular movies, books and music do influence, to varying degrees, the way we perceive ourselves, God and each other. And, like olympic figure skaters, they do this without looking like they’re trying – without preaching, using mostly story. And more than one camera, a multi-million dollar budget, and a household-name director. But is that any excuse for making yet another Christian flick that tells us to do the right thing?

-Shaun Groves, from his blog entry, “Show and Tell” via shaungroves.com/shlog


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disciples

…we need to think hard about our definition of success in church planting and in the life of the existing church. Too often, pastors and leaders are hearing an unspoken communique that success is leading a church of several hundred or growing 10% in attendance every year or building a new building…Maybe success is about obeying the voice of God and making disciple making disciples. Maybe the only numbers we should be counting in our churches is the number of missionaries that leave the parking lot on Sunday morning rather than the number of people who came to see the show.

-Darren Casper, from his article, “A challenging piece on,’what is church?’” from his 1.22.09 St. Louis Metro Baptist Association newsletter


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Will the real indie stand up?

At this point, most people acknowledge that there’s indie rock– music produced without corporate financial backing– and Indie Rock, a corporately funded mainstream genre that’s defined by normative musical aesthetics, not ideology or actual practice. The same idea carries over to indie film. There’s a festival and art-house circuit that’s essentially Hollywood’s shadow, governed not by artistic and financial freedom but by its own internal hierarchies and genre trappings. A number of tiresome trends have infected this circuit in recent years, including a cynical approach to ethnic and identity politics to garner perfunctory acclaim, condescending caricatures of rural types, and the accumulation of quirks and non-sequiturs in lieu of credible characterization.

-Brian Howe, music critic for Pitchfork Media, from his review of the soundtrack of the indie film Woodpecker

Photo by PUM Clothing by Mr. B. Covered by Creative Commons License.


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“…the lowest common denominator in all of the missional-incarnational practices is discipleship and the difficulty of discipling people in the midst of a consumerist culture. The story of the middle class in America is one of safety, security, comfort and convenience. In other words, American Christians have overwhelmingly chosen the story of the American way rather than the way of Jesus.”

-Brad Brisco from his “Alan Hirsch in New Orleans” entry from his blog, Missional Church Network


“Is it wrong or less spiritual to meet the needs of Christians who perhaps aren’t growing at other churches, who can move to the next level with Christ under the shepherding of a different church? Sure, this is important. If this is the goal of your church, fine. But be careful about calling this ‘growth.’ Churches can make a difference in some way with some Christians, but it’s unlikely they’re making a dent in culture by reaching the unreached or helping the truly disenfranchised.

…the death of so many churches is creating a feeder system for what some may call relevant or visionary or emergent churches. It is good that we are ‘rechurching’ America, but we also need to realize that when the feeder churches die off, everyone will feel the paucity of churchgoers. If we don’t focus on the ‘brand spanking new’ conversion of people, neighborhoods, and cities, in just a few short years, we’ll be going to refurbished church buildings…”

-from The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay


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

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