we interrupt this program…

• Author: Brad
• Filed under: education, emerging culture, history, incarnational, kingdom of God, missiology, missional church, postmodern, research, theology
• Date: Sep 1,2008

As many of you know, I am pursuing a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Liberty Theological Seminary. I’m a little over halfway done and since I’ve gotten most of my required courses done, I am now entering the elective zone.

With the MA in TS @ LTS [whoa, acronym overload], you have mucho freedom to ‘create’ your particular emphasis, i.e. preaching, Biblical languages, youth, etc. I had planned on pursuing an emphasis on Christian Leadership beginning this fall, but God interrupted that plan last week with a providential opportunity.

If you’ve been following relevintage.com the last couple of years, you may have probably noticed a shift in the content. Although my passion remains for reconstructing what highly engaging and contextual worship looks like in the 21st century, I have been writing – as well as reposting others thoughts – on the larger Christological issue that worship fits within:

1) the ‘all of life’ ‘in the world, not of the world’ ‘missionary’ posture of the people of God towards an unbelieving world

and

2) how to refocus the energies of the local church to truly grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ and extend the Kingdom of God.

See an overview of my thoughts on the missional church in my blog series here: The Sent Church: A Missional People

In short, I’m talking about 21st-century missiology here. And when you talk about missiology in North America, you can’t have the conversation without talking about one of the most respected missiologists in the field, Dr. Ed Stetzer. Ed is the President of Lifeway Research and Missiologist-in-Residence @ Lifeway.

I’ve been following Ed since 2006 when I first heard him speak at a Resurgence conference @ Mars Hill in Seattle. I’ve read most of his books. And was deeply moved by the speech he gave at the 2007 SBC annual meeting [watch clip here.]

Of course, his primary job is only the tip of the iceberg. Ed is a prolific author [Compelled By Love, Breaking the Missional Code, Planting Missional Churches], visiting Professor of Research and Missiology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Visiting Research Professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, serves on the Church Services Team at the International Mission Board, is interim teaching pastor of First Baptist Church of Hendersonville, TN, is a columnist for Outreach Magazine and Catalyst Monthly, serves on the advisory council of Sermon Central and Christianity Today’s Building Church Leadership, and has planted and revitalized many churches.

Last Wednesday, I had the privilege to connect with Ed re: my master’s work and share with him my passion for missiology in the 21st century.

After much conversation with Ed, I couldn’t be more excited to share that he has graciously agreed to do two directed studies in missiology with me this fall!

One directed study will be focused on modern missions history, particularly the conciliar missions movement and the development of Missio Dei. The second directed study will be focused on modern missional theology, particularly missional church influences on contemporary missional thinkers. Both classes will comprise of reading, research, writing, and mentoring.

Also, as a part of my directed studies with Ed, he has invited me to travel with him this week to take part in a conference he is doing for the Mississippi Baptist Convention on the missional church. I’ll step away from my duties at MBU this week and hang with Ed for a few days. We will be using this as an ‘intensive’ to launch the directed studies.

Needless to say, I am humbled by this opportunity. When I think about my path to LTS, I would have never thought something like this would come out of my time there. When I think about my call to plant a missional community in the future, I am honored to be mentored under such a respected missiologist and experienced church planter and trainer. I thank the Lord for his providential ‘interruption’!

This will be one of the greatest challenges I’ve undertaken. Ed is going to work me hard. Believe me, I’ve seen the bibliography :) In fact, Ed joked that by the end of this process, I’ll probably be one of the smartest Masters level students ever in the area of missiology.

I would appreciate your prayers. The work begins today. My first paper is due in three weeks.

We interrupt this program…