Attending the House2House mini-conference today with Tony and Felicity Dale. I firmly believe that Sent Church will be a network of house churches scattered across our region. I’m excited about learning from these pioneers of the house church movement. This afternoon will begin the Greenhouse training with Neil Cole.

Excited about our new message series that starts on Easter. IDOL Factory will be an eye-opening journey exploring the First Commandment. John Calvin wrote, “The human heart is a factory of idols… Everyone of us is, from his mother’s womb, expert in inventing idols.” You might be shocked at some of the subtle things that might be replacing our devotion to Christ. Idolatry is not about statues or religious trinkets, it’s a matter of the heart.

This coming year we have committed as a church family to grow together as disciples of Christ. We are embarking on a year long endeavor to read through the Bible. We are using the ESV Daily Bible Reading plan and I am encouraging every one to journal their daily devotionals using the R.E.A.P. (Read, Examine, Apply, Pray) Bible study method. [...]

I’ve been thinking a lot about influence as of late and one thing is becoming increasingly apparent, you either have influence or you don’t. John Maxwell popularized the notion that leadership is influence and that is quite true. I’ve witnessed that those that we respect in leadership don’t need to incessantly demand things, yell at their subordinates, berate, manipulate and [...]

Heading out this afternoon for Story conference in Chicago. Great lineup of communicators and very excited about getting to meet some of the folks I love to follow.

Tony Morgan posted Phil Cooke and Brad Abare’s “5 Warning Signs of a Personality-Driven Church” in his blog today. The full article they wrote is in the current issue of Outreach Magazine.

Here is a summary of the 5 warning signs they identify:

Lord Save Us From Your Followers, Dan Merchant’s much anticipated documentary about Christianity’s PR problem, opens today in select theaters. It will no doubt spark tremendous controversy and hopefully, much conversation. Go to the website and watch some of the clips and follow the story. Here’s the movie trailer:

Did that get your attention? ChurchCrunch had a post yesterday on how we oversell things in ministry by the big words we use and how that has spilled over into the technological front. He showed a mashup of Apple’s keynote and their excessive use of these words. I have grown tired by the over promotion, hyped up marketing, that many [...]

I just started to read Bill Hybel’s book Axiom — Powerful Leadership Proverbs. It’s a compendium of leadership nuggets from one of the most well known pastors in America and lead pastor of Willow Creek. It will take me a while to go through this book as I am finding each proverb extremely applicable to my current experience. I’ll be [...]

Yesterday was one of those bittersweet moments in life as it concluded a chapter for my family and I. It was my last Sunday on staff at The Gathering Place. A place I have worked at and served for the past ten years. A place where my family and I received healing, new life, new relationships, new direction and vision. [...]

J.J. Abrams, mastermind behind the hit TV series Lost, Alias and Fringe and the reboot of the Star Trek empire, wrote a fabulous essay in the May issue of Wired magazine on the Magic of Mystery. You can read the article in its entirety here. J.J. writes that we are in the middle of the “age of immediacy” where wonder [...]

Yesterday marked a very important milestone in my life. Pastor Sam announced to our congregation that at the end of the summer, I would be transitioning out from my role as executive pastor at The Gathering Place, to launch out on a business endeavor and to pursue the call of God on my life. I am overwhelmed by the support [...]

It’s hard to put in to words the closing session of Exponential. I felt like I was part of UCF smackdown. Francis Chan brought the sledgehammer to this session. He pastors Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, California. He is the author of Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God I first heard Francis at Catalyst ’07 and his message there [...]

What can I say, Craig Groeschel, lead pastor of LifeChurch.tv, has got to be one of my favorite speakers. LifeChurch.tv has been on my radar for about 6 years now and I have been following their multi-site strategy for some time now. We had two back to back sessions with Craig and it was like drinking from a fire hydrant. [...]

Erwin McManus has been a big influence in my life. His writings and teachings have expanded my understanding of God, life, culture and what it means to be a Christ follower. His church, Mosaic, is largely considered one of the most innovative churches in America. Erwin is a futurist, I would dare say, a modern day prophet. He is articulate [...]

This was my fourth year attending the Exponential Conference here in Orlando. I spent the last two weeks reflecting on what was unpacked during those three days so I thought I would get some of the main highlights down. Each year I get a renewed reconfirmation on my calling as a minister and further clarity as to my future. This [...]

Watch Nightline’s Face off “Does Satan Exist?” here. Mark Driscoll, of Mars Hill Church, takes on the self proclaimed enlightened one, Deepak Chopra and Mr. Twisted Scripture, Bishop Carlton Pearson. I thought Mark did a great job in presenting the Biblical view and account of Satan. He was very articulate, concise and authoritative sounding. Annie Lobert, an ex-prostitute and founder [...]

Continuing with the previous conversation on Michael Spencer’s article on The Coming Evangelical Collapse, I will share some of my observations. Refer to the previous post for links to the article. Michael makes 7 points as to why he believes the collapse is inevitable – read those here and come back for my take – go ahead – I’ll wait. [...]

The blogosphere was set ablaze over the past week with the publishing of InternetMonk’s article on “The Coming Evangelical Collapse” in the Christian Science Monitor. You can read the CSM article here. The original post from Michael Spencer, a.k.a. Internet Monk, can be found here, here, and here. Michael postulates about the demise of evangelicalism and the rapid onset of [...]