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.

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:

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).

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).

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.

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:

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.

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.

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).

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:

I recently wrote about the Evangelical Manifesto.

On the morning it released, I received a call from one of the key people behind the manifesto, Darrell Bock. Darrell is Research Professor of New Testament Studies and Professor of Spiritual Development and Culture at Dallas Theological Seminary. He was quoted in my local paper this morning.

This morning, I had a nice talk with Darrell about his intent (and the intent of the document).

I have read the document and find it compelling in many ways. Would I change some things? Of course. Does it say some important things? Definitely.

As I mentioned in the USAToday story, I was concerned it would be "spun" to say Christians should not be involved in politics. That was not the intent of the signers, but some have tried to spin it that way.

Darrell mentioned his radio dialogue with Denny Burk. Denny has just posted links to the interviews here. Their focus is on what some call "single issue" politics.

Darrell shared the following with me that addresses some of the intent of the document. He will soon release to other blogs but gave me permission to share it with you:

This week, I will be speaking at two global mission boards.

The IMB

The International Mission Board is my own denominational international mission agency. On Monday, I join with Jerry Rankin to end the evening session talking about how pastors can be involved in global missions.

One of the favorite parts of my job is working with the International Mission Board. When I was praying about coming to LifeWay, it was my dinner with Jerry Rankin that finalized the decision. Odd, I know, but it went like this.

Thom Rainer had approached me about coming to LifeWay and leading LifeWay Research. I was very interested, but feel a call to missiology and mission research. Dr. Rankin had asked me to dinner in Atlanta to talk about working with the IMB in a full or part-time role.

We talked a bit about working at the IMB, but when I told him about Thom Rainer's LifeWay Research role, he leaned over the table and said, "Oh, Ed, you need to go to LifeWay and we will just partner with LifeWay to share you!" The rest is history. Part of my job is to serve the IMB-- when I speak, I represent the IMB. And, twice a year I try to involve innovative church pastors in global missions. (My next trip is to Krakow this fall.)

After I speak there, I jump on a plane (a really small plane) from Richmond, VA to Harrisburg, VA to lead a seminar at the Association of Baptists for Worldwide Evangelism (ABWE).

The ABWE

The ABWE is a large mission board for independent Baptist churches. Their website explains:

The Association of Baptists for World Evangelism is an independent mission agency that exists to serve local churches in the task of sending missionaries around the world. ABWE, with ministries in over 80 countries, services over 5,000 churches and 1,400 missionaries.

Many people first heard about the ABWE when the Bowers family was shot down by Peruvian air force planes assist by U.S. advisors in a tragic accident over Peru. (Read their memorial service here.)

You can read more about the remarkable ministry of the ABEW here.

You can read about the ABWE event here.

I have a great heart for the nations-- and hope you do, too. There is so much to distract us from the Great Commission, but it is worth all our effort and our focus.

Last night, Ted Traylor called to see if I had heard from our mutual friend, Forrest Pollock, pastor of Bell Shoals Baptist Church.

Soon after, the church posted this:

Please be in earnest prayer for Pastor Forrest. On Sunday afternoon, Pastor Forrest left (flying his own plane) for North Carolina, a quick stop before going to a conference in Texas. He reached his destination in North Carolina; however, after leaving from there early Monday morning for Texas, we have learned that Pastor has not yet reached his destination at the time of this writing.

Everything humanly possibly is being done to locate Pastor’s whereabouts. We are, however, appealing to all of our church family to pray earnestly for God’s supernatural intervention. The new Worship Center is open for prayer and will remain so until further notice.

The church is posting regular updates. See updates here. Please pray for God's miraculous intervention.

Update:

Local television is reporting that Forrest and his son have died in the plane crash. Please pray for the family and the church in this time.

Last week, I had the opportunity to spend some time with Assemblies of God pastors in the Michigan District. We had a great time.

One of my favorite moments was when they prayed for new church planters (there were several others out of the picture). My friend Steve Bradshaw, director of church planting for the district, is introducing them here:

We had a great time of prayer for the planters:

I had the privilege of preaching once and then leading a few hours of seminar to the whole group.

A great day with some good friends. I am going to blog more about my lunch meeting hosted by Steve and Mary Beth Bradshaw.

I have written before about the Assemblies of God and their plans here.

Ergun Caner, of Liberty University, called last Friday and we talked about the Evangelical Manifesto. It seemed a bit odd to see his name on the document considering he taught at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. We talked again today.

Whatever you think of the manifesto, Ergun's name sticks out like Joel Osteen at a John MacArthur's Shepherd Conference.

Tomorrow the official press release goes out, but Ergun has removed his name from the manifesto. I will link to the release when it is out, but Ergun sent his thoughts here and I have posted them below.

I have already shared my thoughts in USAToday, and elaborated here on the blog. My main concern was that this would be "spun" to say that Christians should not be involved in politics. In other words, we would see titles like this from the Los Angeles Times: Group of evangelical Christians writes manifesto urging separation of religious beliefs and politics.

Darrell Bock has graciously shared his thoughts here at the blog. At the same time he sent the blog info, he sent, but asked me not to publish, a forthcoming editorial in the Dallas Morning News. You can read that here.

Denny Burk and Bock undertake an insightful debate on the document here.

Updated Friday morning: The press release is out and adds more details, indicating the removal of Jerry Falwell's name from the manifesto. From the release:

The EM’s web site also erroneously lists Dr. Jerry Falwell as a signatory. Jerry Falwell, Jr., the Chancellor of Liberty University, responded to the error: "As the founder of the Moral Majority, dad would not endorse a document that appears to undercut political activism. My dad was a man of courage who paved the way for a generation of socially conservative activists. He never backed away from his resolve to please God. He was a tireless defender of the sanctity of human life and family values."

Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: "The Evangelical Manifesto does not represent the views of Dr. Jerry Falwell, Dr. Ergun Caner, Liberty University, or, for that matter, the majority of evangelicals. While some might shy away from the public square, most evangelicals do not. Life and marriage are nonnegotiable. While our discourse must be civil and our compassion must be genuine, our resolve must never waiver."

FYI: According to Ergun, they did not release the press release until today to avoid the anniversary of Jerry Falwell's death. Jerry died one year ago yesterday.

Here is Ergun's statement (from Thursday):

Alvin Reid Wins an Award

Congratulations to my friend Alvin Reid whose new book was recently honored. Kregel announced:

Outreach Magazine announced the finalists for their Outreach Resource Awards in February of this year... and this year’s finalists included... Join the Movement: God Is Calling You to Change the World by Alvin L. Reid (Kregel 2007) in the Youth Outreach category.

Congrats to Alvin.

Joe Thorn Needs to Learn Boundaries

Joe Thorn, giving way too many of the details of his life, is twittering the birth of his child today. This would appear to be in the tradition of Steve McCoy's odd decision to blog his wife's brain surgery (back in the dark ages, pre-twitter). My guess is that the baby will look remarkable like Joe, at least in the hair department.

A Picture That Makes Even Me Look Relevant

Nathan Troester was the videographer at the Dwell Conference and was kind enough to send along a photo he took while I was teaching. When I speak at events like these, I am always the least cool guy speaking... but with this photo and backdrop, even I can look emerging:

Larry and Susan McCrary Start a Church Planting Network

My long time friends, Larry and Susan, are seeking to connect churches with church planting opportunities in postmodern Europe. (Larry has shared on the blog before, click here.)

A lot of the planters and pastors I talk to think that involvement in global missions is something that has to wait until the church is more established, but shouldn't international missions be part of a church's DNA from day one? That's the vision of the UpStream Collective... and I think it is a good one.

Having served or currently serving as missionaries in Europe, The Upstream Collective's founders have a common heart and vision for the post-Christian societies of the continent. They also realize that North American churches have a unique opportunity to make an impact on both sides of the ocean as they explore more incarnational approaches to ministry.

I would encourage you to get connected with the guys at Upstream Collective and see what innovative things God might have you do among the nations in Europe and in your own community.