If you’re following along with the ministry of Jesus, He spoke of seeking — searching for with all your might and with urgency — only two things. He tells His followers to seek first the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33) which feels like a given since people are wanting to participate in the good and powerful rule and reign of …
Parking Spaces and The Kingdom
At 57 years old, a lot has changed in my perspective of things. Life looks different, the future takes on the priority of legacy-leaving, and my idealism has taken on more grace. The other thing that has exited my priority list is the need of a title. I often have people ask me what I do and so I have …
Missional Metrics
A couple weeks ago I woke up, ate breakfast with the family, and walked my son to elementary school. From there, my 3-year old daughter and I walked to the local cafe, as we usually do. After properly caffeinating, I responded to a few emails, texted a new friend to hang out, and got to know the person sitting next …
Brave Church
The year was 250 CE and Rome found itself facing, invaded even, by a different kind of enemy. It was not an army it could simply defeat on the battlefield, but a plague that swept through parts of the empire. Most historians think the invader was akin to Smallpox or Bubonic Plague, based on the early descriptions of symptoms. Whole …
Ten Favorite Books for Church Planting 2019
The V3 Movement has been raising up and releasing men and women church planters, from across the theological spectrum, all over the country, that are focused on locally-rooted presence, tight-knit community, life-forming discipleship, and boundary-crossing mission. We are a training movement. So, we wanted to share with you our favorite books in 2019 (and a couple gems from 2018) that …
Unlocking Neighborhood Presence
In a previous post I discussed why new plants (or any church for that matter) should have neighborhood presence as a central identity piece. Easier said than done. There are challenges to make this reality including: leaders who are figuring it out themselves, no active connection to the neighborhood, superficial relationships, or unrecognized activity. Sometimes we need help to turn …
Invitation to Transparency: Part 2
For part one of this series click here So, what is transparency? Perhaps it’s easier to start with what it is not. Transparency is not brutal honesty or the lack of a filter. It is not living like you’re in a real-time confessional. It doesn’t mean sharing every single thought that comes to mind or disclosing every emotion as you …
Mutual Movemental Leadership
Re-imagining New Scaffolding In planting a missional-incarnational church you will collide with the big question “How do we do leadership in this new but old way of being the church?” Re-imagining and reconstructing leadership scaffolding are essential for being a movemental church in Post-Christianity, but it can be hard to find templates. I confess that my own history in leadership …
Why Might is Important in Work
When we as church planters are thinking about how to engage with God’s people to come alongside us to live in missional community, there’s a lot of hard work that we are often asking them to participate in. If we don’t know how to address proper work and the art of “doing”, then we run the risk of one of …
No Mission Without Incarnation
John 1:14 from the Message reads:“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.” There’s something significant, inspiring, and mysterious that the Creator of all things dwelt in a neighborhood. Accessible God That God would care to be known in a simple and tangible way to humanity is a powerful reflection of the incarnation. It makes God from “way out there” …