Glorious Mud

A quick update - the blog I wrote a while back detailing my history with Acts 29 was published today on the Acts 29 website.  Pretty cool! You can check it out here: http://www.acts29network.org/acts-29-blog/called-led-blessed/ Feel free to leave comments on it over there!

I was asked to write a blog for the Acts 29 website to help promote the upcoming boot camp in Chicago.  By the way, it's on September 15 and 16, 2011, and you should consider going!  You can get info here .  Lauren and I will be there helping with leading, facilitating, and assessing and we would love to see you there.  I guarantee you will be challenged with a lot to think about. So, I wrote the blog - and I know the way these things go.  It may or may not actually get published over at Acts 29, but I thought I would share it here.  It was fun to take a little time and remind myself of God's blessings over the last 6 years! So, here it is: ........ God’s plan has a way of making perfect sense in hindsight – even if it is completely unpredictable on the front side of things. In 2005, I attended my first Acts 29 boot camp in Edwardsville, IL.   I had never been to Edwardsville.   I had only recently heard of Acts 29 .   I def...

I wrote here a while back on the importance of protecting the church from wolves.  My thinking was stirred on this subject again a couple weeks ago when I attended Scott Thomas' Gospel Coach training. Scott compared the process of gospel coaching to the biblical mandate to shepherd the flock.  To coach, then, is to know, lead, feed, and protect individual sheep in the flock.  Since wolves are an ever-present danger to the sheep, we, as Christ's under-shepherds, must be always ready to use the staff to fight off these predators. Scott led us to consider again Paul's warning to the Ephesian elders in his farewell address: Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw awa...

The book of Acts has 28 chapters - and it is the history of the birth and spread of the early church.  The book of Acts ends the only way it could - open-ended.  Acts starts telling us a story that is still going on today - it is the story of God calling lost and broken people to himself to heal them and restore them to hope.  It is the story of God building his church. Acts 29 exists to equip and advance the cause of church planting.  In order for Trailhead to become a member, I had to go through a series of steps (writing position papers, multiple conversations, and a formal interview of both Lauren and myself) in which my character, my calling, and my skill set were examined.  In addition, our church's theology (what we believe about God) and our core missiology (how we live out our faith with those outside the church) were tested to see if they were sound and in line with the Bible. This week, Trailhead formally became a member of the Acts 29 network...

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I have been answering a lot of the same questions in different conversations about our transition from The Journey Metro East to Trailhead Church.  So, in an attempt to continue to shed light on what is seen (understandably) as an unusual situation, I am going to post this FAQ. I hope it is helpful. So, here we go: Why do this? The first and best answer to "why" is this: God is leading us to this. This shouldn't be surprising since The Journey has made it clear that it is a church-planting church.  We believe in church planting for a number of good reasons.  Local, autonomous churches contextualize the gospel to and lead best in their communities.  People in a church plant feel more pressure to take ownership of the church's life - which is a good pressure that encourages the development and use of the gifts of the Spirit in the church.  In addition, teaching content - not just illustrations - can be focus...