It is starting again. My travel is getting out of hand. Over the next 2 months I will be on a rotating schedule of being home for a week and traveling for a week.
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning I attended the Acts 29 church Planters Bootcamp in my hometown of St Louis. Then after the bootcamp I hopped on an airplane and flew to Philadelphia and drove across the river to New Jersey. I got to New Jersey on Wednesday evening and have been spending time at McGuire Air Force Base and Lakehurst Naval Air Engineering Site. I have been observing and offering technical solutions as a consultant to an Air Force exercise called EAGLE FLAG and analyzing how they use geospatial informaton to help them plan where to locate operations. It has been an eye opening experience.
I come home on Sunday and then a week later I'll be off to Panama City, Florida to observe and do more consulting at another similar Air Force exercise called SILVER FLAG.
Then home for another week and finally off to Norfolk, Virginia for the Air Force's Installation Mapping and Visualization Council Meeting the first week in June. I am a council member and help steer the Air Force's Expeditionary GeoBase program. The program uses Geographic Information Systems and highly trained personnel to get a bigger bang for the buck for Air Force deployments.
Friday, May 13, 2005
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Napoleon Dynamite Sound Clips
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Acts 29 Church Planter Bootcamp Thoughts
Wow! What an experience!
I am completely exhausted. The Acts 29 Church Planters Bootcamp was that good! Plus right after the morning session I hopped on a plane and I am in the middle of a business trip to New Jersey. It is only Wednesday, but already it feels like a long week.
I'm so tired that all I have right now are random thoughts:
Darrin Patrick from The Journey in St Louis, Paul Westbrook of Metro C0mmunity Church in Edwardsville, Illinois, and Larry Richmond of the Gateway Baptist Association (St Louis Metro East Area), Illinois sponsored the conference. Darrin and Paul both spoke and were excellent. they are both very gifted men that have a deep passion for reaching the unchurched through new church plants. Larry (my personal mentor) didn't speak at the conference, but did hold a pastors luncheon for the 51 pastors in his association and raised over $60,000 for church planting from his pastors.
The keynote speaker was Ed Stetzer, the author of Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age, and director of the Southern Baptist Convention North American Mission Board's Nehemiah Project. Wow, was he good. Ed has to be one of the most gifted speakers I have heard in a long time. Ed has a great website full of resources and doesn't mind sharing what he has found. It is located here. Link.
Acts 29 helps church planters in the following ways:
1) Acts 29 has a strenuous screening process to ensure the church planters they support are gifted leaders that can cast their vision for the church.
2) The network links aspiring church planters with current church planting pastors as mentors. The current pastor knows what the aspiring planter is thinking and is there to help and advise.
3) Acts 29 churches pledge to donate 10% of their income to church planting efforts. This money is controlled by the local church, not Acts 29.
4) Acts 29 is not a denomination, but supports both denominational and nondenominational church planters. Their concern is that the unchurched are led to Christ and develop into fully functioning disciples of the Lord.
Amazing Statistic: New church plants have a failure rate of about 80% over the first 3 years. Acts 29 has come along to help support 60 church plants and after 5 years 59 of them are still alive!
I am completely exhausted. The Acts 29 Church Planters Bootcamp was that good! Plus right after the morning session I hopped on a plane and I am in the middle of a business trip to New Jersey. It is only Wednesday, but already it feels like a long week.
I'm so tired that all I have right now are random thoughts:
Darrin Patrick from The Journey in St Louis, Paul Westbrook of Metro C0mmunity Church in Edwardsville, Illinois, and Larry Richmond of the Gateway Baptist Association (St Louis Metro East Area), Illinois sponsored the conference. Darrin and Paul both spoke and were excellent. they are both very gifted men that have a deep passion for reaching the unchurched through new church plants. Larry (my personal mentor) didn't speak at the conference, but did hold a pastors luncheon for the 51 pastors in his association and raised over $60,000 for church planting from his pastors.
The keynote speaker was Ed Stetzer, the author of Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age, and director of the Southern Baptist Convention North American Mission Board's Nehemiah Project. Wow, was he good. Ed has to be one of the most gifted speakers I have heard in a long time. Ed has a great website full of resources and doesn't mind sharing what he has found. It is located here. Link.
Acts 29 helps church planters in the following ways:
1) Acts 29 has a strenuous screening process to ensure the church planters they support are gifted leaders that can cast their vision for the church.
2) The network links aspiring church planters with current church planting pastors as mentors. The current pastor knows what the aspiring planter is thinking and is there to help and advise.
3) Acts 29 churches pledge to donate 10% of their income to church planting efforts. This money is controlled by the local church, not Acts 29.
4) Acts 29 is not a denomination, but supports both denominational and nondenominational church planters. Their concern is that the unchurched are led to Christ and develop into fully functioning disciples of the Lord.
Amazing Statistic: New church plants have a failure rate of about 80% over the first 3 years. Acts 29 has come along to help support 60 church plants and after 5 years 59 of them are still alive!
Sunday, May 08, 2005
New SBC Emerging Leader Blog
Charles Campbell from the Illinois Baptist State Association (IBSA) showed us a new blog that gives emerging church leaders a voice. The blog is called emerging and is located here. Link. It is written by Steve McCoy, a SBC emerging church pastor in northern Illinois, and at first glance it looks like a great place to start building community among emerging church pastors and others that minister to the emerging community. I plan to keep my eyes on Steve's blog and will let you all know what is going on.
I am excited that the SBC is beginning to take notice of the emerging church. In many ways it is hard to get a monster as large as the Southern Baptist Conference to begin thinking in new ways; there is a lot of inertia to overcome. But the SBC is slowly starting to come around and there are a lot of wonderful, hard working, and dedicated people in the SBC and the resources they have to help bring God's kingdom to the unchurched are incredible.
I am excited that the SBC is beginning to take notice of the emerging church. In many ways it is hard to get a monster as large as the Southern Baptist Conference to begin thinking in new ways; there is a lot of inertia to overcome. But the SBC is slowly starting to come around and there are a lot of wonderful, hard working, and dedicated people in the SBC and the resources they have to help bring God's kingdom to the unchurched are incredible.
The Acts 29 Church Planters Boot Camp is Here!
Tomorrow the Acts 29 Church Planting Bootcamp starts at Metro Community Church in Edwardsville. I am so looking forward to it. Ed Stetzer of Planting New Churches in a Postmodern World fame, and a SBC North American Mission Board leader, will be one of the speakers. The schedule looks very interesting and informative. It looks like this:
May 9, 2005
9-10:15am Session 1 Theology: Knowing God's Mission (Darrin Patrick)
10:30-12 Session 2 Planting: Resources and Timeline (Steve Tompkins)
12-1:30pm Lunch
Option 1: Informal
Option 2: Legal Issues in a Church Plant (Jim Beckemeier)
1:30-2:45 Session 3 Values: Sharing God's Values (Paul Westbrook)
3-4:30pm Session 4 The Leader: Living God's Commands (Darrin Patrick)
4:30-6:30 Dinner break
6:30-8:30 Workshop: Building Systems and Structures (Steve Miller)
6:30-8:30 Workshop: Evangelism and Discipleship (John Ryan)
6:30-8:30 Workshop: Starting a Church from Scratch (Trey Smith)
May 10, 2005
9-10:15am Session 5: Vision: Seeing the Mission Complete (Ed Stetzer)
10:30-12pm Session 6: Core Development (Ed Stetzer)
12-1:30 Lunch
Option 1: Informal
Option 2: Becoming a Church Planting Church (Ed Stetzer)
1:30-3:00 Session 7 Planning: The Strategy of the Missionary (Darrin Patrick)
3-6:30pm Dinner break
6:30-8:30pm Workshop: Building an Internship Program (Rich Budwell)
6:30-8:30 Workshop: Children's Ministry (?)
6:30-8:30 Workshop: Leadership Development (Lynn and Jaime Beckemeier)
May 11, 2005
9-10:30am Session 8 Missional Ministry in a Postmodern Age (Ed Stetzer)
10:45-12 Session 9 Perseverance: Growing the Mission (Darrin Patrick)
Special Wives Track
Monday: Noon - 3pm
Tuesday: Noon - 3pm
The people I have met that are associated with the Acts 29 Network are all top notch. Darin Patrick, John Ryan, Jonathan McIntosh, Paul Westbrook, Steve Tompkins, and Larry Richmond all have their collective acts together when it comes to a heart ripe for serving the Lord coupled with a love for church planting. This will be Acts 29's largest church planters bootcamp ever, with over 50 new church planters attending. I am very excited! I'll keep you updated.
May 9, 2005
9-10:15am Session 1 Theology: Knowing God's Mission (Darrin Patrick)
10:30-12 Session 2 Planting: Resources and Timeline (Steve Tompkins)
12-1:30pm Lunch
Option 1: Informal
Option 2: Legal Issues in a Church Plant (Jim Beckemeier)
1:30-2:45 Session 3 Values: Sharing God's Values (Paul Westbrook)
3-4:30pm Session 4 The Leader: Living God's Commands (Darrin Patrick)
4:30-6:30 Dinner break
6:30-8:30 Workshop: Building Systems and Structures (Steve Miller)
6:30-8:30 Workshop: Evangelism and Discipleship (John Ryan)
6:30-8:30 Workshop: Starting a Church from Scratch (Trey Smith)
May 10, 2005
9-10:15am Session 5: Vision: Seeing the Mission Complete (Ed Stetzer)
10:30-12pm Session 6: Core Development (Ed Stetzer)
12-1:30 Lunch
Option 1: Informal
Option 2: Becoming a Church Planting Church (Ed Stetzer)
1:30-3:00 Session 7 Planning: The Strategy of the Missionary (Darrin Patrick)
3-6:30pm Dinner break
6:30-8:30pm Workshop: Building an Internship Program (Rich Budwell)
6:30-8:30 Workshop: Children's Ministry (?)
6:30-8:30 Workshop: Leadership Development (Lynn and Jaime Beckemeier)
May 11, 2005
9-10:30am Session 8 Missional Ministry in a Postmodern Age (Ed Stetzer)
10:45-12 Session 9 Perseverance: Growing the Mission (Darrin Patrick)
Special Wives Track
Monday: Noon - 3pm
Tuesday: Noon - 3pm
The people I have met that are associated with the Acts 29 Network are all top notch. Darin Patrick, John Ryan, Jonathan McIntosh, Paul Westbrook, Steve Tompkins, and Larry Richmond all have their collective acts together when it comes to a heart ripe for serving the Lord coupled with a love for church planting. This will be Acts 29's largest church planters bootcamp ever, with over 50 new church planters attending. I am very excited! I'll keep you updated.
Friday, April 29, 2005
School Mistakes Huge Burrito for a Weapon
I have heard people tell me that Mexican Food could be lethal under the right circumstances...but I haven't heard of this before. The headline for a story reported on Yahoo says, School Mistakes Huge Burrito for a Weapon!
Read the story here. Link.
Read the story here. Link.
Signs of the End Times
I have heard several times over the last two weeks that Pope Benedict XVI will be the next to the last Pope. Based upon several people's interpretation of the fulfillment of prophecy Christ will be returning after the next Pope.
Yahoo has an interesting news clip on the current Pope and prophecy. It is located here. Link.
Yahoo has an interesting news clip on the current Pope and prophecy. It is located here. Link.
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Tentative Schedule for Christ on the Quad- 6 May
Here's the tentative Schedule for Christ on the Quad at McKendree College on May 6. Standby for changes. Please be in prayer for all the students participating and those who will hear the gospel presented.
11:30 Noah Oldham
12:00 PINE
12:40 Phil Nelson
1:00 Mike Cheeseman with worship sketching by Cat Hamrick
1:30 Randy Rains
1:45 Andy Rains with worship painting by Laura Cochrane
2:30 Lyndsy Lafenhagen
2:45 Chapel Band
3:15 Gwen Stokes Testimony
3:30 Nick and Jonesy
4:30 Andy Rains
11:30 Noah Oldham
12:00 PINE
12:40 Phil Nelson
1:00 Mike Cheeseman with worship sketching by Cat Hamrick
1:30 Randy Rains
1:45 Andy Rains with worship painting by Laura Cochrane
2:30 Lyndsy Lafenhagen
2:45 Chapel Band
3:15 Gwen Stokes Testimony
3:30 Nick and Jonesy
4:30 Andy Rains
Most Freshmen Say Religion Guides Them
The Chronicle of Higher Education published a new study this week that says most college freshmen say religion guided them. You can find the article here. Link.
The first paragraph highlights a dichotomy in the lives of today's college students. The Chronicle states,
Most college freshmen believe in God, but fewer than half follow religious teachings in their daily lives. A majority of first-year students (69 percent) say their beliefs provide guidance, but many (48 percent) describe themselves as "doubting," "seeking," or "conflicted."
Seems like college freshmen are caught in the same struggle that society in general is caught in today. There is a deep felt understanding within our souls that God exists, but no deep felt desire to commit to following God's commands and desires for our life. There is feeling without commitment. Sad.
Paul says in Romans 1:18-23,
18 For God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 From the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse. 21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.
We all feel the presence of God, but have to conscouisly make the decision to follow Him.
The first paragraph highlights a dichotomy in the lives of today's college students. The Chronicle states,
Most college freshmen believe in God, but fewer than half follow religious teachings in their daily lives. A majority of first-year students (69 percent) say their beliefs provide guidance, but many (48 percent) describe themselves as "doubting," "seeking," or "conflicted."
Seems like college freshmen are caught in the same struggle that society in general is caught in today. There is a deep felt understanding within our souls that God exists, but no deep felt desire to commit to following God's commands and desires for our life. There is feeling without commitment. Sad.
Paul says in Romans 1:18-23,
18 For God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 From the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse. 21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.
We all feel the presence of God, but have to conscouisly make the decision to follow Him.
Monday, April 25, 2005
Street Witnessing
My McKendree College students have been taking a weekly trip to St Louis to do street witnessing. A month or so ago four of them went to downtown St Louis for the NCAA Basketball Final Four celebration and witnessed to as many people as would listen to them.
Two weeks ago twelve of them went to the University City Loop (the most eclectic part of St Louis, right next to Washington University). They experienced spiritual warfare like they never had before. Although Satan was battling they made several contacts and presented the gospel to many people.
Last Friday eight of them went to the St Louis Zoo and did street witnessing there. The atmosphere was a little less hostile, but not too many people are interested. They have been a little discouraged, but are still motivated to keep on hitting the streets.
We estimate that they have presented the gospel to over 200 people in the last month. My students want to do more than just talk with people though. They want the people they talk to to walk away with something physical that they can look at a day or two later when the Holy Spirit is knocking on the hearts of those people the Gospel was presented to. So, we are looking at putting together small packages including New Testaments, tracts, and candy for the people to walk away with.
Our next project is called Christ on the McKendree Quad. My students are playing music and presenting the gospel for aobut 4 hours on May 5 at the McKendree College Quad. I am really looking forward to the Christ on the McKendree Quad. Although McKendree was founded as a Christian college it is pretty spiritually dead right now. Hopefully we will set the campus on its ear!
It is so incredible for God to give me the opportunity to work with these students. I have never met a group of college students so mature in their walk with the Lord and bold in the faith. The Lord has great plans for this group, both individually and collectively.
Two weeks ago twelve of them went to the University City Loop (the most eclectic part of St Louis, right next to Washington University). They experienced spiritual warfare like they never had before. Although Satan was battling they made several contacts and presented the gospel to many people.
Last Friday eight of them went to the St Louis Zoo and did street witnessing there. The atmosphere was a little less hostile, but not too many people are interested. They have been a little discouraged, but are still motivated to keep on hitting the streets.
We estimate that they have presented the gospel to over 200 people in the last month. My students want to do more than just talk with people though. They want the people they talk to to walk away with something physical that they can look at a day or two later when the Holy Spirit is knocking on the hearts of those people the Gospel was presented to. So, we are looking at putting together small packages including New Testaments, tracts, and candy for the people to walk away with.
Our next project is called Christ on the McKendree Quad. My students are playing music and presenting the gospel for aobut 4 hours on May 5 at the McKendree College Quad. I am really looking forward to the Christ on the McKendree Quad. Although McKendree was founded as a Christian college it is pretty spiritually dead right now. Hopefully we will set the campus on its ear!
It is so incredible for God to give me the opportunity to work with these students. I have never met a group of college students so mature in their walk with the Lord and bold in the faith. The Lord has great plans for this group, both individually and collectively.
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