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. I’ll outline both messages here:
Reflections on Movements
“What if” questions on Leading a Movement
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 and has a unique gift of communication.
His message at Exponential was taken from his Wide Awake series at Mosaic and is based on Acts 17:16-34. I had heard the podcast of that message and this seemed to be a slight variation of it. It is still very powerful.
Some notable points:
Erwin shared a lot of his personal story about the criticism he receives for engaging culture and he remarked that in order to enter that 3rd space we must be willing to suffer the disdain of the “Mary’s and Martha’s in order to reach Dionysius and Damaris.”
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 year was no exception. Almost three thousand attended this year’s event and it is the premier conference for church planters around. It is wonderful to see all of these kingdom builders gather under one roof with no agenda other than to equip and build the church.
This year’s theme was The Art of Movements. I believe as ministers we are called to work “on” the church as much as we are called to work “in” the church. We should should structure our churches for reproduction and movement. Our founder Jesus, founded a movement, not an institution. Churches that forget that resemble a museum more than they do the vibrant, dynamic and subversive church that Jesus initiated. I’ll post the outlines of my favorite communicators in my subsequent posts.
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 of the ministry, Hookers for Jesus shared about her encounter of coming to Christ after being tormented by demonic forces, an incredible story of redemption.
Chopra spouted out his normal dribble of enlightenment and self deification. Pearson demonstrated yet again why he should be branded as someone teaching heresy and nowhere on the radar of teaching sound, Biblical orthodoxy. Watch the show and share with me your thoughts.
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.
1) The love affair that evangelicals have had with a one party affiliation is over. Jesus resisted the politicization of the good news of the Kingdom why do we think that we know better than him. This previous election proved that the shrill message of the Religious Right did not resonate well with the rank and file. The limited issues that have been part of the platform of the Right ignore the tsunami of compassionate social and justice issues that younger evangelicals are swept up in to.
2) Barna’s current research shows that 1/2 of 1% of born-again Christians between the ages of 18-23 have a Biblical worldview. That means 99% of our churched young adults DO NOT possess a Biblical worldview. Our young people have not embraced the faith no matter how much money we throw at youth ministry. We need a massive wake up call in this area to make sure that we are really making Christ followers of our young people, not just giving them hype!
3) There is a reformation coming to the Western church. Reggie McNeal makes a brilliant case for this in his current work, Missional Renaissance. There are some megachurches that will thrive in the future but they must be missionally and incarnationally focused.
4) Christian education has not done its job in producing people that are growing in Christ-likeness. Christian education must move from a Hellenistic model of merely transmitting information to a Hebraic understanding of focusing on obedience to the teachings of Christ, not just mere knowledge. Willow Creek’s Reveal study proved that – ’nuff said!
5) People are not going to continue giving to massive building programs that are monuments to man and fat paychecks for the professional clergy. People will give to initiatives that are community focused and transformative. Here the church must morph from an inward focus to an outward missional impulse.
6) Yep, the southeast won’t be the Bible belt for much longer. Post modernism and secularism is here to stay and we must learn to contextualize and incarnate the Message in this environment.
7) Again, the shift in finances will move away from the consumeristic demands of the Baby Boomers to the altruistic vibe of the emerging generations. I don’t see a problem with that.
This collapse to me is not terrible news. Tomorrow I’ll share why I don’t think this is all bad news. Share your comments.
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 a post-Christian western world. He declares that the party’s almost over for evangelicals. The collapse will be heralded by the ending of thousands of ministries, the decline and influence of Christian media, and the unemployment of ministers, missionaries and Christian workers.
Michael does not consider himself a prophet or futurist but here is his grim outlook from the InternetMonk post:
I believe this evangelical collapse will happen with astonishing statistical speed; that within two generations of where we are now evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its current occupants, leaving in its wake nothing that can revitalize evangelicals to their former “glory.”
It’s important to point out that there is a monumental difference between Western evangelicalism and true Biblical Christianity, a point I will outline in my next post along with my commentary on InternetMonk’s predictions and assumptions. Stay tuned!
