Miracle in Franklin

What a beautiful story of how God works through His people for His Glory and the spread of His name and love.


Props: Z

Christianity Is Against Individualism

This quote is good prep for this coming Tuesday at The Well as we will look at the community that came from Acts 2.

From A Brick In The Valley

Cornelius Plantinga:

Christianity is against individualism. In the Old Testament God made his covenant with Abraham and his descendents, with a whole people. We now baptize persons not because they are individual believers or even because they belong to a family of believers, but because they belong to the extended family of believers – - the people of God. We are all baptized into this community, into a body that existed long before we did. We did not join this body. We are called into it.

When God’s people are called out of the world, they called into fellowship, into what the New Testament calls koinonia. Good words are associated with koinonia: “common,” “commune,” “commonwealth,” “community,” and “communion. We were called into koinonia, which means we have something in common with other believers.

Rather we have someone in common. . . . But, always it is Jesus Christ who is the fount of blessing, the broken bread, the life-giving vine, the head of the body. We belong to him – - and thus to each other. (Beyond Doubt, pages 116-117, emphasis his).

Piper Gives Advice for Back to School

Heading to college can be an overwhelming and challenging experience for a Christian. How do you answer the tough questions? How do you think through philosophies that seem to compete for attention with God's Word?

John Piper offers some great advice here:

False Dicotomies-Christopher J.H. Wright

Over at the Zondervan blog, Koinonia, Chris Wright shares an answer he had at a conference to this question:

In what way have we as evangelical Christians failed to grasp or live out the fullness of God’s missional intent? How (if at all) has our theology of evangelism been weak?

His multi-part answer shows that Christianity if full of false dichotomies.

Click here to Check It Out. Part 1 and Part 2.

Missional Small Groups

Matt Carter, pastor of Austin Stone Church in Austin, TX, has some great insights into what Missional small groups at his church are. Take the time to watch this, especially as you think through what the purpose of small groups, community groups or home groups in your church.

THE SHOW - for May 19, 2009 - Guest Matt Carter from Todd Rhoades on Vimeo.

Props: Vitamin Z

A Plea To An Older Generation

Working with young adults for almost 2 years the one thing I seem to hear from people is how lost this generation is. How “secular” they are becoming and how most are abandoning the faith. People give me statistics about how after high school a huge majority of kids fall away. I even had one prominent Christian speaker tell me that the biggest problem in the church today is the young men and the lack of depth in their lives.

While the statistics are indeed a bit discouraging and the truth is, many young people are not following the faith of their parents. The bigger implications and problems I believe in what I have seen is in the older generations lack of mentoring and teaching these young people. The reality is that every young Timothy or Titus needs a older, wiser Paul to walk through life with. Sadly in much of what I see this is not the case. And even worse there are many older men and women who simply are not equipped to teach and raise up these younger people. The lack of depth of younger generations is simply a reflection of the generation that went before it.

The problem I believe is not in the younger generation,although they have many problems for sure. The problem is, is that older men and women don’t feel a urge, need to train up those that are younger. We have become such a niche marketplace in the church that we think each generation needs to be an island to themselves. While I am not at all against having youth groups, college groups and whatever else, the danger can be that, we stop there. We can section off to the point of comfort and ease.

Let’s be honest, living life with a young 20 something who is struggling with relationships, porn, worry about life, is not easy. It takes commitment, it takes sacrifice, and it takes being willing to count others before yourself. It also means being willing to wrestle with tough questions about life and theology. It means being willing to be teachable as well as knowledgeable. Being an older mentor does not mean you have all the answers, instead it means you have the wisdom to lead in the pursuit of these answers.

I council many young men and it is not easy, it is frustrating, and it does drain me of energy sometimes, but it is not about me. If I believe that I have been saved, not just from wrath, but to a community, and a kingdom in which every part of life is affected, then I must be willing to live in that community in a way that is fitting for my age and role. So if I am a 50 year old I need to find a 20 year old to disciple, or if I am a 70 year old I need to find a 50 year old. Sometimes it may mean a 25 year old mature Christian will lead out and train up a 28 year old baby Christian as was the case for me when I became a believer. It is usually, but not always about age.

That is living life in community, and honestly that is what more and more of our young people need today than games, music and entertainment. I am 28 years old and know and feel the pull of culture telling me that community is only generational or socio-economic. I see however in scripture this is not true at all, and that my soul needs and yearns for men to pour into my life as much as I know I need to pour into others.

Scripture does not tell the older to wait till a younger person is in trouble to then step in. Nor does scripture tell an older person to wait till a younger person approaches them to meet. Scripture commands the older to seek out the younger (Titus 2: 1-5).

So let me plead with you older men and women, even if you think you are not that much older, to seek out a younger person to live life with. To weep with, to rejoice with, to invest in and to count better than yourself.

Bible Trumps Creativity

Craig Groeschel who is known for leading the way in many creative and innovative things within the church has some very wise words for those who may think creativity is priority.

From Craig's Blog:

Without question, we at LifeChurch.tv have worked hard to be creative and relevant. We’ve never shied away from having fun in church. But creativity, relevance, and fun should never be the top goals when planning the weekend worship experience.

• Jesus never said, “You will watch this funny video, and the funny video will set you free.”
• John the Baptist never said, “Creativity must increase and I must decrease.”
• Paul never proclaimed, “We should preach relevance and relevance crucified.”

Perhaps some pastors are unintentionally omitting the more important questions.

• Instead of asking, “What will bring glory to God?” some appear to be asking, “What will bring in a crowd?”
• Instead of asking, “How do we communicate Scripture accurately?” some are asking, “How can we be creative?”
• Instead of asking, “How can we truly disciple those in our church?” some are asking, “How can we get people back to church?”

While the second question in each bullet point is not wrong to ask, if we aren’t asking the first questions, we are drifting into dangerous territory.

Click Here To Check Out LifeChurch.tv

Ed Stetzer Interacts with 9Marks Journal on Multi-Site Churches

Ed is the man, uber-smart and very thoughtful with his interactions with the most recent 9Marks journal that deals with multi-site churches. Good stuff to think about for sure.

From EdStetzer.com:

Everyone's talking about multi-site churches these days. There are books, seminars, and today we have several thousand multi-site churches in North America. Some of you read my series of posts on the subject last year. Well, last week 9 Marks released it's May/June eJournal.

It's good to see 9 Marks putting out an eJournal that doesn't just criticize mulit-site churches, but also includes a defense of them from men like J.D. Grear, Matt Chandler and Gregg Allison. The whole journal can be downloaded here, and I encourage you to check it out. I won't break down everything said in every article, but I will point out a few of the things that caught my attention.

Click here for the rest of this insightful response.