I had a nice talk with Darrell Bock about the Evangelical Manifesto that has been so prominent in the news.
Darrell Bock is Research Professor of New Testament Studies and Professor of Spiritual Development and Culture at Dallas Theological Seminary.
Darrell shared the following with me that he will soon release to other blogs:
Continue reading "Darrell Bock and the Evangelical Manifesto" »
The Multiplying Church
Bob Roberts is blogging his new book, The Multiplying Church, at glocal.net. Check it out.
Mark Reynolds and the Redeemer Fellows Program
Mark Reynolds from Redeemer Presbyterian Church sent along his presentation from the Best Practices Forum at the Exponential Conference (you can download the other presentations here). He tells about the Redeemer Fellows Program, one of the leading church planting internship programs in the country. Download a pdf of the presentation here.
Richard Land on Responsible Religious Freedom
I was on the phone with Richard Land earlier this week and we talked at length about his recent editorial in the Wall Street Journal. Be sure to check out the full article here.
Some excerpts:
The new issue of Outreach Magazine gives their reader-submitted "Resources of the Year" in several categories. What came in at the number one spot for Leadership Training Resource of the Year may surprise some of you (and it greatly disappointed three authors who co-wrote a certain book that was a runner-up).
Continue reading "Outreach Magazine's Resources of the Year" »
Danny Akin sent out an email yesterday to the faculty and students at Southeastern indicating I was joining their faculty. So, I thought I better make that official (or as official as a blog can make anything)!
I am joining the faculty of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary as Visiting Research Professor of Missiology.
Continue reading "Joining the Faculty of Southeastern Seminary" »
Should Christians be involved in politics? Yes.
Are Evangelicals too identified as a partisan political bloc? Yes.
Can Christians still be involved in politics and social action and yet more clearly articulate a gospel message? I hope and believe we can.
As a matter of fact, the growing evangelical understanding of the Kingdom reminds us that we must be involved. (See Russell Moore's helpful, The Kingdom of Christ: The New Evangelical Perspective, for a helpful analysis. Or, Carl Henry's Uneasy Conscience, for an earlier perspective.)
Today, USA Today weighs in on the subject. This story was tied to the publication of an Evangelical Manifesto, a document I am assuming I will like (based on who is endorsing and the theme). The website is here.
We had just completed some research (to be released on the LifeWay Research website today) on the involvement of Christians in politics, so we ended up in the story. I don't speak much of politics, but the research connected well, so here are a few of the comments I made to USA Today (they cited some of them):
The data tells us that a minority of Americans, and a smaller minority of Christians, are concerned that Christians are “too involved” in politics. The more liberal and secular one is, the more concerned you are—which is not surprising. But, the majority of Americans (and a large majority of Christians) do not share the concern that Christians are too involved in politics.I am one who agrees that evangelicals need to be known for what we are for—showing and sharing the good news of Christ, not only just what we are against. But, in regards to public policy, it is a both/and, not either/or.
You cannot stand for justice and be told you cannot speak of Jesus, nor can you love God and His word and not care for unborn children, the abused, and social justice.
Christians need to speak prophetically to all parties, not be beholden to one. If evangelicals are seen as a voting bloc of the Republican Party, I am concerned. If Christians are told to leave their faith outside the public square, I am more concerned.
Religion will always be an issue in politics. However, as evangelicals we need to not try to moralize the unconverted-- our primary mission is to convert the immoral-- other sinners like us.
Simply put, you cannot have a proper view of the Kingdom of God and not care about society. And, part of caring about society involves advocating for social policy that protects those needing protection and promotes the public good. Maybe part of the problem is that we have been known for advocating polices rather than serving the hurting in the name of Jesus.
We need both.
Update: I have read the document (and talked to some of the Charter Signatories), and I am impressed.
A few posts back Chris Norman posted a question in the comments that I thought I would explore a bit as a blog post. His question was for Alan Hirsch, Neil Cole and me and resulted in a brief email dialog. The issue revolves around the full-time pay of pastoral leadership. Is a church healthier with, or wthout paid staff? Is such a concept even biblical? My response in the comments was:
Candidates include (in order they were announced):
1. Bill Waggner.
2. Frank Cox.
3. and Avery Willis makes three (posted with his permission).
...and watch for Johnny Hunt's forthcoming nomination from Ted Traylor (also posted here with permission). (Updated: Here is the official announcement for Johnny Hunt.)
It should be a good year with so many godly men interested in leading this convention through challenging times. Pray for God's direction and guidance. I believe that God can bring us together and focus us on His mission.
Yesterday, I finished up my series through James. I promised to include some accountability question list examples here. These lists are from Cultivating a Life for God (Church Smart Resources 1999 pp.125-131).
I had an awkward situation yesterday. My doctor prescribed a sleep study (part of some health tests I am doing in preparation for my forthcoming new health regimen).
The tech called me to arrange the details. She did not seem to have many details about the clinic, so I asked some questions. One of which was the setting-- in this case it was an office building with several faux bedrooms where they would wire me up and measure me sleeping.
I asked about the staff, and she was "it."
Then came that awkward moment. I knew she would not understand it, but I expalined, "I can't come if it is just you and me in the building." It was awkward and I am guessing few ever said such a thing. So, I skipped out on my study (and will probably have to pay the no-show charge).
With Friends at Dwell
I had a great time at the Dwell Conference in New York City. I also had the chance to meet uber blogger Darryl Dash, who snapped these photos. Darryl is an always thoughtful blogger and all around good guy, except that he left early to go to the David Letterman show.
Darryl's pictures show a bit of the venue. It was an interesting space, to say the least.
Here is Abe asking me another hard question:
Joel Rainey, whom I've known for a few years now, has written a book called Planting Churches in the Real World. I wrote an endorsement for it, which appears on the front cover.
I think the angle of this book will be very helpful. Most of the books on church planting are written by guys who have planted mega-churches, which often leaves would-be planters thinking that theirs will be the next mega-church. But most new churches don't break 100 in average worship attendance until after the fourth year, and Joel writes his book with this majority group in mind.
Monday:
Had a great day with a group of pastors from the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches of Canada. Tonight was dinner on the lower East Side with a group of folks, but closest to me was my wife, Donna, Tim and Cathy Keller, Tullian Tchividjian, Matt Chandler, Ed Marcelle. I will have much more to blog later, but I still have not blogged about last week, so check back soon!
--------------------------------------------
Updated Tuesday afternoon:'
Had a great morning listening to C.J. Mahaney talk about "Watching Your Life and Doctrine. I have listened to C.J. for decades. A a teenager, I remember hearing him speak at "Jesus" Festivals," a mix of Christian rock and teaching. He had a great impact on my life 25 years ago and it is good to see him still at it now.
I spoke on "Dwelling in the Kingdom Mission" and gave away our new book, Compelled by Love: The Most Excellent Way to Missional Living (more book info here). I think they are planning to post the audio and I will link it here when they do.
A couple of people asked me to link to the the book I mentioned in my presentation. It was The Kingdom of Christ: The New Evangelical Perspective, by Russell Moore. I believe it is a significant book describing the emerging evangelical consensus on the Kingdom of God.
Eric Mason talked last, but certainly not least. He spoke on "Dwelling Incarnationally" with passion and a life that back it up.
The afternoon is a NYC experience with a series of options. (I chose the option of hanging out with Donna.) Tonight, we hear Mark Driscoll.
Tomorrow, it is Tim Keller.
One of the big questions is this: is the 2007 SBC membership decline a “blip” or a trend. The news story does not say. However, in my commentary, I imply it is.
Here is why.
As the graph below illustrates, the SBC has had a growing membership count for decades, but only marginal growth since 2000. From 2000 through 2006, the growth has been close to a plateau, registering .68, .58, .53, .42, .39, .02 and .22 percent respectively. You can graph those years pretty easily and see the trend. Not surprisingly, this year we declined.
Some have said this is the first membership decline ever. That is not true. There was one in 1998 and there have been others decades before. However, I believe this time is different. I believe that, unless we have a significant intervention, we have peaked, at least in regards to membership.
As this graph from my earlier post demonstrates, we saw a decline of 1.02% in 1998, much larger than the 0.24% decline in 2007. (Look closely at the graph below.) As argument goes, if we recovered then, we can do so now as well.
(for a full size version click here.)
Probably not (and I use that word “probably” very intentionally).
Thom Rainer explained:
Although we pray God will bring revival and change, the trajectory is not positive. If current trends don't change, it seems we are about to enter a period of declining membership.
Why does Thom Rainer say such a thing?
Well, he has seen this:
Click here for a full sized version.
Cliff Tharp prepared it for us on Thursday. As the graph in percent change above demonstrates, our year-to-year growth has been in a constant trended decline, not for one year, but for decades—this is not a one year blip, this is a 50 year trend.
Continue reading "A Year is Not a Trend: Decline and the SBC" »
I am on my way to New York City as I write this (plane delayed as usual).
It will be a busy week, assuming Al Sharpton does not succeed in his promise to shut down the city.
From Drudge:
Monday, I meet all day with the leaders of a denomination called the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches of Canada.
Monday night, it is off to dinner with Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll, and our wives. It should be a good time. (And, I always enjoy it when Donna can join me on trips.)
Tuesday, I speak on the “Mission and the Kingdom of God” at dwell. I will also be staying around to hear some of the other speakers. The lineup is pretty impressive: Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll, CJ Mahaney, Darrin Patrick, and Eric Mason.
Wednesday, I will be speaking to the staff of The Journey. Nelson Searcy planted the church several years ago and has recently written a new church planting book, called Launch.
In between, I plan to have a great time with my wife and will be far from my computer. However, I will post another SBC related blog on Monday.
At each of my sessions at the Exponential Conference, I promised to share my PowerPoint and other resources with the attendees. Then, things got a bit backed up as we released some evangelism research, some SBC denominational commentary, and then an interview with Tim Keller.
Well, here are the promised PowerPoints and research. If anything is missing, please let me know below and I will respond as soon as I can. Tomorrow I will be in Springfield, MO with the North American mission and discipleship departments of the Assemblies of God and I will be unavailable.
First, the research I presented at the opening session on reproducing churches is here.
Continue reading "Church Planting Presentations and Research from the Exponential Conference" »
Tim Keller and I talked about his new book, The Reason for God, and some recently released research (see here).
You can listen to the podcast here and read the story here. Here are some excerpts from the story released today:
I made mistake of telling all 2600 of you that I would post some resources here yesterday. Well, in the meantime, our new evangelism research was released and then some very important news for my denomination was released. Please forgive the delay and I will have it posted before you leave the conference tomorrow night.
Click here for the news release.
Here is my commentary:
The End of the Beginning?
This chart has brought solace to many Southern Baptists for a long time:
(for a full size version click here.)
It shouldn't, really.
We just released some new evangelism research. You can find the full story here. Here are some excerpts from the article.
Unchurched adults interested in finding a congregation aren’t nearly as likely to visit one in person as a church member who is shopping for a new congregation. That means effective evangelism must begin outside the sanctuary in relationships between Christians and unbelievers, according to research from several recent studies from LifeWay Research...
"The location of our evangelism needs to shift if we want to reach the unchurched and not just move sheep around," said Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research. "At LifeWay Research we want to encourage churches to grow through conversion. To do that, they must not rely only of the unchurched visiting our churches. Church switchers are primarily the ones who visit churches. The unchurched stay home...
I have spent all day in Orlando with the leadership of over a dozen different denominations in Orlando.
Today, I announced new research we are planning on church planting assessment and other topics. We also heard from three speakers today.
Stephen Gray talked about planting fast growing churches based on his research. He has written Planting Fast Growing Churches.
Ron Sylvia of the NEXT Initiative talked about creating coaching networks. He has written a book called Starting Churches on Purpose.
Tom Clegg of CoachNet talked about coaching networks. He has written a book called Missing in America.
Tomorrow, we will hear from Mark Reynolds from the Redeemer Church Planting Center. I will also share some research from best practice analysis.
More soon...
