Here's another clip from the interview I did in preparation for the National Resurgence Conference 2008. In it, I talk a little bit about why it's important to understand the people around us as we tell them about Jesus. To hear more, you'll have to come to the conference.
I would like to take this opportunity to explain some of the elements in the pre-conference of the National Resurgence Conference: Text & Context / Acts 29 Church Planting Bootcamp. On Sunday February 24, 2008 we are having a slotted time to meet with Mars Hill Church pastors and staff from 2:00pm to 3:30pm PST. Space is limited so sign up ASAP to reserve a spot in the various pre-conference tracks listed below. As well, if you attend this Sunday pre-conference track you will be able to see the evening services at Mars Hill Church. Remember when you sign up to check the appropriate track you want to attend so we can accommodate accordingly.
One of the least talked about devastations in masculine formation is the boy who was not rescued from the bosom of women and initiated into the world of men. Many fathers fail to initiate their sons into the masculine journey which has very damaging, long-term effects. Preachers and teachers must figure out a way to initiate these men into kingdom mission.
Finding a starting point for a Christ-sharing conversation is not easy. Maybe you've heard before:
"So, do you consider yourself a good person? Yes, well I've got some bad news…"
"Nice to meet you, Stephen. Did you know that there was a guy in the Bible who was stoned to death for his beliefs about Jesus? What do you believe about Jesus?"
Wow! 5 months out of the shoot and we are having a blast (planted Epiphany Fellowship in September ’06). We feel like we are in a support group with Bobby Brown. We have High, highs and Low, lows. Planting in our particular context has made us bi-polar. Our emotions are sometimes like rubber bands. So one of the things we have been developing as a congregation are buzz/slang words that reflect a more comprehensive picture of redemption of our community from the inside.
In Proverbs 3:5-6 and Ezekiel 36:25-27, generally the word heart is used to describe euphemistically, where the redemptive process begins. Heart, in these passages, defined further represents the mind, the emotions, and the will (BDB, HALOT). In the Ezekiel 36:25-27 passage, we find that under the New Covenant redemption begins with the mind (which can be equivalent to our values), emotion (which could also be said “passions”) and the will (or another way for us to say it is volitional application).
I have a confession to make and I hope it doesn't make you think less of me. Ned Flanders and I have become friends. It hasn't always been this way. For years before I began to pastor a church I knew just what the problem was in American evangelical culture, and it wasn't sin, it was church people, it was Ned and his friends. The "frozen chosen" I think I have heard them called. They were old, tired, non missional, unmoved by the gospel, and thought the Left Behind movies were a great idea. They had driven our precious Lord's bride into the ground and deserved at least to be mocked in our young, hip, missional conversations and sermons and maybe even killed in some sort of Old Testament fashion. I used to think that when my time came to Pastor I didn't want or need any of them. I just wanted to see people saved. I didn't want to "swap sheep" in fact maybe we wouldn't let anyone join the church that was trying to come to us from another church in town. I could see us now, raw, gritty, authentic, and somewhat angry but not enough to be called sin, tattooed and rough around the edges. Ned would hate it, but we would reclaim the gospel he and his cronies had taken and perverted into this withdrawn, judgmental joke. We would see the lost saved and develop them ourselves.
