May 31 2007
Today at the Faith In Public Life Training Institute we are talking about the media and how to effective get a clear concise message out in the media.
We have been asked to practice how we communicate our message and will be recording a mock interview.
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May 30 2007
Right now we are in a workshop at the faith in life training institute on blogging in the faith sector of the blogosphere. There are a couple folks talking about progressive faith blogs or the lack thereof and the wide open space in the blogosphere for more blogs in this sector.
Here is a list of the blogs they showed us not all are faith blogs just examples of wel read blogs
Popularity: 26% [?]
May 30 2007
I funny thing happened on the way to Chicago for the Faith In Public Life Training Institute. At 5:25 a.m. I boarded a plane with the intention to fly to Cleavland and then Chicago. But a 5 a.m. my unconscious brain had other plans and the airline staff cooperated so half an hour later I was on my way to Houston. Yes this is the stuff of nightmares. I boarded the wrong plane and because they were in a hurry and I was only semi conscious no one realized this fact until I noticed that the great lakes were nowhere to be seen outside the window as they should be if I were truly heading to the home of the rock and roll hall of fame.
The flight attendant tried to put a good spin on it suggesting that I was meant to spend this early our flying with her on her flight. I did not care for that prophetic word. So after I spent 2 /12 hours in flight I arrived at the George Bush airport in Houston with the promise that an airline rep would meet me and get me to re-booked on a flight to Chicago. Well wouldn’t you know it there was no one there to meet me and there was fog in Houston so all kinds of flights were delayed and you can’t get to Chicago Midway from Houston on this airline, but maybe I was told I could get on a flight leaving that evening at 6 p.m. because all the flights to O’Hare were full.
I was beginning to feel like a character in in the movie the Terminal. Well 5 hours later, a confirmed seat one a flight returning to GR two attempts at standby I finally got on a plane to Chicago.
What I thought was gong to be a simple trip turned in an adventure I won’t soon forget
blogging from the faith in public life training institute at Chicago theological seminary
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May 28 2007
Wayne Squires congregation coach over at Volunteers in Service had been blogging about his work ECN with helping some church in my neck of the woods to tart thinking and working together missionally. Her are a couple clips from his blog
What might change if we designed worship for the sake of others?
What might change if we taught the Bible for the sake of others?
What might change if we thought of discipleship as for the sake of others?
What might change if we created fellowship for the sake of others?
What might change if we used our gifts and resources for the sake of others?
What might change if we established budgets for the sake of others?
What might change if we considered vocation as a call for the sake of others?
Yes what if we look at all our practices and ministry from a missional perspective how would they change?
The church is not so much a rescue station for the lost as it is a demonstration of God’s saving purposes in Christ. She is a servant of the Gospel, chosen to bless the whole world and be a sign of God’s past, present, and future activity. This implies followers of Jesus are not called to go on a mission for God, they are called to join God in his ongoing mission.
This is exactly what I tried to communicate to the seminary students in the class I taught
On learning to be incarnational and do ministry with the community instead of to or for
It is not good for the church to be alone. Like Adam, who needed a partner to fully appreciate his identity and calling, the church has been designed for relational engagement with its immediate cultural context. Its sense of purpose (i.e. mission) is directly tied to this engagement.
God really is at work in the world bringing restoration and hope and invites his friends (his people) in particular neighborhoods and communities to join him. This means that partnership with God leads to appropriate partnership with others, and when local congregations try to conduct ministries on their own, in relative isolation from their communities, they are operating outside of their God-given design.
Check out Wayne’s blog and the VIS website
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May 28 2007
Yesterday my wife Lissa and I did a tag team message in worship on following through. She has preached/talked during worship before at other churches I pastored by this was the first time we did it together, It followed three weeks of messages about eh connecting between money and spirituality and focused on how we follow through with our commitments to join God in mission in the world.
I have to say she did a fantastic job. Which is not surprising after all she is a college professor but she was nervous about it since she had never done it before. She talked about remembering who we are so we can remember to follow through with God vision for our lives and the church. She played of the scene in Lion King when Rafiki told Simba “you don’t even know who you are.”
It was an awesome privilege to have her participate in the ministry of our church plant in this way. I loved sharing this with her and I’d like to do this again real soon but she is going to busy with her doctoral work so it may need to wait for a while.
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May 28 2007
As the some says “Its been a long while” since I’ve been blogging anyway. Besides leading my young church plant I had the privilege to teach a class on the missional church at a local seminary Missional Church GRTS MIN567. Still humbling asking why me? Teaching students at a seminary in intimidating enough but teaching about the missional church which I’m still developing and growing in my understanding was truly a great responsibility.
As I reflect on the experience there are some things I discovered along the way that I want to share here.
Well that’s a start on my observations I’ll probably have more in the future
BTW required reading for the class was
Popularity: 25% [?]
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Disciplines of the Spirit by Howard Thurman
God of the Oppressed by James H. Cone
To Live in Peace: Biblical Faith and the Changing Inner City by Mark R. Gornik
Why We’re Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be by Kevin DeYoung
unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity… and Why It Matters by David Kinnaman
