Glorious Mud

I have been reading Darrin's new book, Church Planter, and have really been enjoying it... like a well-timed kick in the butt.  But that is pretty much how Darrin rolls.  He says the hard word in a way that makes it less daunting and challenging in a good way... like a good coach. So - anyway - reading this morning and was hit with this quote from Allender (from Leading with a Limp).  It was what I needed to hear. "Leaders choose daily, but the real weight on their shoulders lies in the need to decide.  And there are no easy decisions.  To decide requires a death, a dying to a thousand options, the putting aside of a legion of possibilities in order to choose just one.  De-cide.  Homo-cide.  Sui-cide.  The root word for decide means "to cut off."  All decisions cut us off; separate us from early infinite options as we select just one single path.  And every decision we make earns us the favor of some and the disfavor of others....

I just finished reading Gene Edwards' The Three Kings . I was introduced to Edwards in the early 90's, right after I had become a follower of Christ, and his work The Early Church had a pretty significant impact on my view of what church was supposed to be like. I was attracted to the house church movement and was involved in the Plymouth Brethren movement - a group that emphasizes lay leadership and informal church structures. I haven't read anything by Edwards since, so I picked up The Three Kings a couple years because of the sub-title (a study in brokenness) ago and just got around to reading it. (Just for the record, I am no longer in the house church movement or the Plymouth Brethren. I do believe the house church movement is seeing a resurgence and will likely continue to grow in the coming years with more and more immigrant communities and even postmodern types being drawn to its simplicity and specificity of contextualization... and honestly don't remember...