If you know anyone in the storm path or serving evacuees, feel free to link them below so we can follow them and pray together.

As the Compelled by Love Blog Tour continues Phillip Nation and I had a chance to be interviewed by Ashley Wolpert at Neue Resources concerning the ideas we present in the book. Neue Resources is a ministry aimed at equipping ministry leaders of the 21st century church. Neue is the from the team behind RELEVANT magazine. "What RELEVANT is for consumers, Neue is for the leaders, innovators and frontliners that are shaping the future of the church." What follows appears in Neue's newsletter (and is printed with their permission).

Missional Living
By Ashley Wolpert

In a culture that feeds off a vast array of social justice causes, it seems that the term missional living is being bandied about increasingly in our churches. But what does this really look like? Recently Dr. Ed Stetzer, co-author of Compelled by Love: The Most Excellent Way to Missional Living, spoke with Neue about what exactly "missional living" means, how church leaders can encourage their community live missionally and what some major barriers are. Philip Nation, Stetzer's co-author, follows with a list of practical tips to help communities engage in missional living.

How would you define "missional living"?

Missional living is essentially living with our primary perspective as that of an ambassador for the Kingdom of God. It means making our lives not about us, but about Jesus and His Kingdom.

In an alliterated sense, missional living is an incarnational (being the presence of Christ in community), indigenous (of the people and culture) and intentional (planning our lives around God's agenda) focus on the power of the Gospel to bring the reign of God into people's lives.

When did you first arrive at this idea of "missional living?"

I think I first read missional ideas in The Missional Church (1998), edited (primarily) by Darrell Guder. I believe the subtitle of the first chapter is a great summation for the entire work: "From Sending to Being Sent." After that, I was most impacted by Francis Dubose's God Who Sends, which I read during my Ph.D. in Missiology.

Through their writings, and those of many others, the late 21st-century Church was again reflecting a local missiology for churches that moved from "pay for others to go" to "pay the price for me to go."

Working through these ideas for nearly a decade as a church leader and missiologist, I arrived at the conclusion that the vast majority of missional literature and conferences were solely for the benefit of church leaders. So, I asked Philip to co-write with me to address that. Compelled by Love is a remedy for the average believer who is looking for a theological and practical bridge to move their lives in a missional direction.

What would you say is the greatest example of "missional living" in the Bible?

Without hesitation--it is Jesus Christ. He is sent by the Father. He is the incarnation of God. He sets aside His privileges (and rights) to live in our neighborhood. He communicates the Gospel in a way that is understandable to us. And, He is supremely sacrificial in the manner of His life and death.

Choosing one such example from mortal humanity is tough. However, for today, I'll choose Moses. Without his knowledge, God was preparing him to participate in God's work of deliverance. After he had failed miserably because of his sin, God still chose to use him--an imperfect vessel for God's great work. In his old age, Moses served as God's emissary to declare the glory of the one true God, awaken hope in the people of God and shake a society.

How can church leaders encourage their community to live missionally?

Missional living must be motivated with the truth and from the heart. Without the truth of Scripture and the Gospel, there is no reason to live any particular way. Since God has revealed the truth of His character and will, we should teach it to the Body of Christ as what we should do. Church leaders leading people boldly to understand God and His Kingdom should influence our manner of living.

We are blessed that God also desires for the truth to affect us. So through such heart motivations as love, hope, urgency and compassion, believers can be shown how missional living must be a compelled portion of life. Obviously, that was the point of Compelled by Love, as we used 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 as the central theme of the book. Because they are learning the greatness of God and His truth, believers must exhibit a deep desire to share such with the world.

What keeps people from missional living? Would you say there are any unique barriers for twenty- and thirtysomethings?

Believers do not live missionally for two primary reasons:

a) because they believe someone else is doing it; or worse,

b) they are selfish.

Too many Christians assume or deceive themselves into believing that someone else has explained the Gospel to our neighbors, co-workers and friends. Beyond that, believers choose their traditions over the mission. Entire congregations have decided that "the way we do things" is superior to the mission to go, be and tell the Gospel in understandable ways to the culture surrounding them.

The unique barriers for twenty- and thirtysomethings are also twofold. First, many are trying to await the renewal of the Church. Their hope is to show up one Sunday and it will suddenly be different--more missional, more externally focused, more compassionate. The problem: It won't, unless they are willing to lead the way by serving in the church to which they are committed.

The second barrier is that the culture they face is farther from the Gospel than any other in American history. The young adults and families today have grown up without a mooring to biblical truth, and young Christians now have to begin at the beginning. They were raised to present five-point Gospel outlines, and it is not working very often. Instead, they must describe God in Genesis 1 and then Colossians 1. They will need to share about the freedom God offers first from Ecclesiastes and then Galatians. What I am trying to say is that twenty- and thirtysomethings must recognize the distance their culture is away from the cross and be prepared to work in soil that is dry and parched.

Philip's ideas for missional living are also in the magazine:

1. Understand the Gospel. The mission of God is consumed with the person and work of Christ. As you understand Christ, you can accurately participate in God's work of redemption. So read the Gospels--a lot.

2. Take an eternal view of people. The friends, neighbors and co-workers around you have an eternity in front of them. We need to see them as God does and care for them accordingly.

3. Be friendly. A Christian should be the most trustworthy confidant another person has in the world. Believers should be the kind of people everyone else wants to be around.

4. Watch for a chance to serve. People use up all of their energy on family, work and menial chores. Look for ways you can care for your neighbors--even if it is just cooking a simple dinner for them.

5. Be truthful. Missional believers contend for the faith while speaking in a way understandable to the hearer. No matter what, be ready to talk about the truths in Scripture.

6. Love like Jesus. He lived a robust life of caring for the lost. In elevating sacrificial love far beyond any previous thinking, He gave an example for us.

7. Be on guard. As you work alongside the King to extend His Kingdom, our spiritual enemy will immediately attack. Guard your heart in holiness.

8. Live missionally at home. Family is the first place for the mission of God in your life. When people see the impact it has on your home, they will be more willing to trust its veracity for their own lives.

9. Show patience. People are farther away from understanding the Gospel than in previous generations. Do not hesitate to invite them to submit to Christ, but know that they have plenty of questions that might need answering first.

10. Do it for one reason--the glory of God. The only reason to be missional is to make Christ more widely known. God is worthy of being honored by all of creation, and it should be the main reason why we participate in His mission.

Come join me for a Webinar today:

11a.m. Pacific,
12n Mountain,
1p.m. Central, and
2p.m. Eastern.

Here is the 'register' link for the seminar.

Or, if want to just jump in at the time, click here.

Also, the schedule of all the NOC webinars is here. There are several and you will want to come back for more conversation.

This is part of the lead up to the National Outreach Convention.

They have a great line up of speakers. It should be a great conference.

The webinar is free. See you then.

I wrote an article for the September/October issue of Outreach Magazine called, "Learning from Each Other." In it, I point to those I call the "theologically preoccupied" and the "evangelistically fixated" and encourage us all to learn from one another. If you are not a subscriber, you can and should be: click here.

Here's the article as it ran in the magazine. I will follow it with a few additional comments.

I am a blogger. Just thought I should get it out there in the open. Mind you, I am not a member of the Pajamahadeen--you know, one of those Bible bloggers who lives in his mom's basement, sleeping till noon and writing theology in his pajamas. But I have met them--and they've partially inspired this column.

Moths drawn to the flame

Certain blog posts seem to attract the Pajamahadeen like moths to a flame--for instance, when the post contains key words like "Rick Warren," "missional," "emerging" and "loving people." They seem to hate these topics and post 3,800-word comments with 27 links proving they've exposed the evildoing of their latest heretic du jour.

Well, these bloggers provoked me--and you're reading the result. Whenever I blog about a growing church that is reaching people, I get comments like, "They're growing because they're not preaching the Gospel." Or if I pose some theological questions, I get it from the other side: "Why bother with theology, let's just do whatever it takes to reach people."

In this column three issues ago, I defended Bill Hybels and his view of rel­evance, mentioning John MacArthur in the process. To some, it was as if I decapitated a goat and threw it on an altar--"How dare you defend Hybels and not fully support MacArthur?"

When I had questions for multi-site churches two issues ago, one person expressed concern that I would "denigrate what others have given their lives to." Raising questions is denigrating someone's ministry? Oh, really? (Come by my blog and check out the discerning and charitable conversation multi-site author and pastor Geoff Surrat and I had about multi-site: EdStetzer.com--click on the multi-site info on the right.)

"Theologically Preoccupied" vs. "Evangelistically Fixated"

Blogs seem to magnify an existing problem in the body of Christ: We don't do a very good job listening to and learning from one another.

It seems large numbers of the Theologi­cally Preoccupied scowl across the pages of their study Bibles at the Evangelistically Fixated and accuse them of being culturally adrift--in some cases rightfully so. Many of the Evangelistically Fixated chuckle when they see books on evangelism written by many of the Theologically Preoccupied who sometimes consider the smallness of their churches a sign of their faithfulness.

Let me propose a different way: Learn from one another and take the best from one another's approaches. Theologically deep believers with a passion for those far from Christ--I want both.

Back to balance

The first chapter of Acts closes with the disciples sequestered for days praying and waiting. Jesus kept talking about the Holy Spirit coming next. They weren't sure what that meant exactly, but there was no mistaking the power when He arrived. The rest of the book is replete with rock-solid, wrath-propitiating, substitutionary-atoning, life-giving, grace-filled, Kingdom-centered, culturally relevant, Gospel preaching. You read it from Peter, John, Philip, Stephen and Paul. They began with a deep, fun­damental teaching of the Gospel and went out from there in love for people, preaching and serving in the name of Jesus Christ.

I don't see enough of this type of balance across Evangelicalism. As I move in and out of groups across the spectrum, I see a growing polarization between those who embrace and teach doctrinal orthodoxy and those who are aggressively reaching a lost world.

We desperately need each other and we need to strike the biblical balance of doctri­nal soundness with missional engagement and creative action.

In the next issue of Outreach, I will share some insights from the largest and fastest-growing churches in America. Some will say, "But are they faithful?" Others will say, "But are they missional?" Those are fair questions, but can we also ask, "What can we learn from them?"

Originally published in Outreach Magazine Sept/Oct 2008

I hope we can all agree that theology should always give birth to word and deed, and evangelism make no sense apart from doctrine. To share the gospel is to articulate unchanging truths about God and man. Nevertheless, it is easy to drift into imbalance. For some theology is treated lightly and all serious efforts are poured into methodology. For others evangelism is put on the back burner in order to clearly develop a robust "body of divinity." This all amounts to serious illogical and unbiblical deficiencies in our churches. While God continues to use us in spite of our errors we are not excused from the pressing need to change where necessary.

Passages of Scripture like 1 Peter 2:9 speaks well to both camps. "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."

Those who are distracted from the mission because of theology are missing the point entirely. God has created us in Christ to be a people who proclaim his excellencies. This is essentially the dissemination of doctrine; the beautiful, life changing truths about God that, when received by faith, unite sinners to a holy God. It is unfortunately easy to see that some of us are better at knowing doctrine than sowing doctrine. Let me be blunt, amassing a knowledge of God and shelving it instead of sharing it is sin. We are made to distributors of his glory.

On the other side, the same passage of scripture challenges the evangelistically fixated. Eagerness to tell others about God is undermined if our theology is weak. Let me say it this way, you cannot proclaim God's excellencies if you do not know what they are.

I have been saying it for years, and I don't mind saying it again; we need to be both biblically faithful in doctrine and practice, and missiologically sound in our approach to people and cultures.

I believe many of us are in need of repenting of our willful weaknesses in one of those areas. Along the way, we would do well to listen to one another in those areas where we do excel.

When I started using Twitter I wasn't sure that I would like it, or continue to do it. But I have really taken to this social networking service. It is an easy way to share parts of my life, thoughts, or links that do not warrant a blog post. Since I tend to write LONG blog posts, this is a refreshing change.

Others have shared their thoughts on why Twitter is worth it. Michael Hyatt gave 12 reasons to jump on the bandwagon, and also wrote a helpful beginner's guide. Now that I'm comfortable with Twitter I thought I'd share a few pieces of advice for those getting started.

1. "Tweet" the angles (Twitter is the service, "tweet" refers to the update/post).
It's not worth tweeting that you had lunch. But the fact that your boss stole fries off your plate while he thought you weren't looking is. Avoid the obvious and find the angle of an experience. People want you to share your life, so give them the good stuff.

2. Use your cell phone.
Part of what makes Twitter so great is the easy of updating via your phone. If you have a Blackberry be sure and get TwitterBerry. It is easier than texting all the time. You can also send email if you use Twittermail.

3. Use your cameraphone.
If your cell phone doesn't have a camera, it's time to throw out that Nokia 6110 and upgrade to a phone released in the 21st century. The ability to share an image of where you are, or what you're doing can let people in on fun, exciting, or even deeply meaningful moments.

4. Do not respond to all comments.
People won't expect you to. Most are rhetorical. And, if you respond to most, people will expect you to respond to all. Just respond to those you want think others might find interesting. Remember, that when someone asks you a question like, "Why are you reading The Shack?," only people who read their Twitter see it... so people who read your response won't know to what you refer. However, if you respond, everyone who follows you sees your response. So, try to restate the question in your response if you choose to respond. All of your responses are public unless you use direct messaging.

5. Pace yourself.
Don't tweet multiple times in a row. If you have that much to say write a blog post.

6. Think before you tweet.
Keep in mind that anyone can see your Twitter, not just your subscribers, so don't say anything you wouldn't say on a blog.

One word of caution. If you want to get people upset on Twitter, just point out that you don't use a Mac, and that a Mac is for people who are not technologically savvy (like when I mentioned that my mother recently bought a Mac).

You can follow me on Twitter here.

Here are a few updates from friends along the way:

Politics with Land and McLaren
I could be wrong, but I am guessing that I might be the only person who has the cell phone of both Brian McLaren and Richard Land (for the right price, I will share).

I have also talked a little politics with both of them. So, when I see them together, it is must see TV. Click here to watch two guys you just don't see together much! (It may be the only time I have ever seen Richard not wearing a suit.) They are both among Time magazine's 25 most influential evangelicals. And, most remarkably, they have a pretty good conversation. Why? Because they care for many of the same things. They just come to some different conclusions on how best to address the challenges of our world today. Kudos to both for having the conversation.

Old People and Church Health
My New Jersey friend, Randy Smith, Lead pastor of Discovery Church, says too many believe the elderly have "cooties", and that this belief is damaging our churches. He is a church planting and in many plants, we don't see a good diversity of age. Randy explains,

We are missing out on something when we ignore the older generation. There I've said it. I like old people! When it comes to church, I don't like their music, I don't like their formality, and I don't like a lot of their traditions but I like the people.

...I think we hurt ourselves when we exclude the oldsters. They have wisdom, they have time, they have energy (for short periods of time!) and for all you pastors, they usually are good stewards! I'm not advocating that you haphazardly appoint five or six AARP members to your Executive Leadership Team. Actually, I'd warn you not to do such a thing with any age group. But I am saying that we need to find ways to marry the wisdom and years of spiritual growth of the old with the energy and adventuresome spirit of the new. How that's done is your job to figure out - you're the leader...lead!

Ticking Twitter Bombs
As I continue my (lame) quest to get people to Twitter, I mocked Jonathan Falwell until he started. I'd like to think I influenced Thom Rainer to twitter as well. However, in hindsight, is that really a good idea? Thom is, after all, my direct supervisor. He is now following me on Twitter. Why did I not think of that beforehand?

Another guy I called out for not Twittering started on Thursday... he is Matt Fry, pastor of C3 Church. Nice job, Matt... good to see you at Liberty.

Taylor Field Knows Squat
A couple of weeks ago I had lunch with Taylor Field, pastor of Graffiti Church in NYC. I am always humbled to be around guys that are engaged in ministry to the urban poor. That is where I started, but I don't serve in an urban setting anymore... and guys like Taylor make me want to.

He wrote a book that I really enjoyed. I asked him to tell me why he wrote it. He sent me this:

When I started out to write the novel Squat, I thought I was writing about the people I saw around me in my work--a guy begging on the streets wearing a blanket and reading copiously, a disturbed runaway living in an abandoned building, a do-gooder short-term volunteer who comes for a few months to help out and then returns to his normal life with some good stories, and an idiot with a baby squirrel in his pocket. Of course, in the end, each of them were really a part of me, and their feelings were my feelings. I think this realization has helped me as I continue to work in the Lower East Side with people in deep trouble, sharing nothing too theoretical-- a sandwich, a pair of socks, a word of encouragement wrapped in Christ's great news.

You can order the book here. Pick it up.

The Power of the Gospel - Translated
My friend Steve Childers sent me an email this week about his new book. The new book entitled Living in the Power of the Gospel by John Piper, Jerry Bridges, Steven Childers & Tim Keller (edited by Jerry Cross) was recently published in Spanish (as Vivir en el poder del Evangelio) by Lighthouse Publications' Harmony Books division in Mexico City .

Book Description: Learn how God's grace found in the power of the gospel brings transformation of individuals, churches and society.

To learn more about the book and purchase a copy: Click Here

While I was in Chicago this past weekend I had the opportunity to worship with Community Christian Church where Dave Ferguson serves as Lead Pastor. CCC is a multi-site church with nine locations in and around Chicago. Dave invited me to lunch so we attended the Naperville "Yellow Box" site and went out after services.

I am not usually a church "attendee" as I preach most Sundays at my church. But, I was already in Chicago celebrating my anniversary and doing a TV shoot for the Assemblies of God and TLN. And, Dave and Jon are friends...

So, Donna and I rented a car and headed out to Naperville from downtown. About a long HOUR later, we arrived.

Community Christian and the Fergusons are having a growing imact. Their church is continuing to reach new people, launch new campuses, and start new congregations (though their New Thing Network). I thought I would share with you some thoughts as to why (I think) they are growing like they are-- this is not a "review" in the sense that I am listing what I like and don't like. Instead, I am just pointing out what I observed that I think contributes to their growth.

Here are four observations I made while in attendance.

1. People are excited to be there.

As we drive up the big "yellow box" (the nickname for this site) can't be missed.

When you walk in someone greets you at the door. You immediately see the coffee shop and see people mingling. (Pat Masek told me they were going to give me a free drink, but I did not stop by as we were too late!) But, clearly, there is a sense of welcome when you walk in.

Here is a pic from the lobby right before the service:

From when you walk in the door, there is a sense of excitement in all that is happening - and it is contagious.

2. Everyone is on the same page.

One of the things I noticed was that everyone "gets" their vision and purpose.

For example, this site has two venues in one building. One is a theater, the other is a gym. Dave was "live" in the gym, so we went there (even though Jon is my favorite of the two... a joke that Dave and Jon will get).

However, I went over to the theater venue to learn more about their approach. While I was walking in I met Amy, a very alert and attentive greater. She tells me everything - including the fact that though they have two venues they have the same mission, "to help people find their way to God."

When I ask the differences between the two services, Amy explains that one service is louder than the other and the other sings more hymns. You can see this in the contemporary band and feel of the service.

She tells me that the Icon theater service is more traditional, and has no drums or guitar.

Yet, she goes on to share that both venues are helping people "find their way back to God." Actually, I heard that phrase 13 times before I left - this is a shared vision in the church. And Dave later explains that "we believe Jesus makes it possible to find our way back to God."

3. CCC is very focused on reaching the unchurched.

After telling a story about Scott, an unchurched friend, Dave shares, "we are going to teach straight from the Bible... but we will explain it... I am going to start a church for my friend Scott..."

When I went to lunch with Dave, Sue, and Jon, Dave said they are not a "seeker church." However, they are certainly focused on reaching seekers regardless of what term you use.

They do that through clear and frequent reminders of the basics-- the need to follow Christ, clear repetition of their purpose, and an invitation to follow Christ.

I noted three additional things that stand out:

a) Clear communication to guests.Their signs are clear about where the main things are.

Children's registration is clear, well staffed, and secure:

b) The use of secular music and illustrations.

The church works hard to connect and they consider using secular examples and music as a part of that plan. In today's service they talk about leadership and show a video that features the Wright brothers as an example. They sing the Learning to Fly from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Most people know these examples well. They also showed a moving video testimony that you can see here.

c) The message is basic without being simplistic.

Deep Bible knowledge is not the agenda, but "one big idea" is. Today, the message (big idea) is "We are all meant to lead in helping people find their way back to God." Dave called people to find the place and/or issue (poverty, evangelism, family, addictions, etc.) that God has called you to so that you might live out that vision.

4. They focus on excellence.

In everything they do, they do their best. This doesn't mean that everything in the building and service is expensive, but that they work hard at doing their best for God, his people and their visitors.

Surprises and Random Observations

Now, on to a few things that I found surprising or just needed a random place to mention. Some of you would expect much of what I observed in a church like Community Christian, but here are a few other thoughts:

The building is, well, not fancy. The place where we met had plastic chairs, an exposed frame ceiling, and hanging basketball hoops. They are not putting their money in their facility.

They are teaching through the book of Nehemiah. The series is called "The Leader Within."

They passed out note sheets, but it was too dark for me to see, so I don't take many notes.

This is not a church of young adults. It has many, but it is really a multi-generational church. I saw many people older and younger than me.

They serve communion at the end of every service. This is unusual for a contemporary church, particularly one as focused on reaching the unchurched as CCC. However they are a part of the Restoration Movement, where weekly communion is an essential practice. Right before communion, Dave briefly explained what it meant and who should partake.

In the theatre, the bread and cups were passed down the rows. In the theatre, it had a little more of an ancient future feel as you can see:

We headed out afterward for lunch and called it a day. From left to right is Donna, Sue, Dave, and Jon.

A fascinating day with many takeaways including the importance of excellence, communication, and execution.

I have always appreciated the Fergusons because they love their church, and are growing it through multisite. Yet, they are also heavily invovled in church planting. They do "both/and" rather than "either/or."

And, Dave, thanks for buying lunch!

The Compelled by Love blog tour took a stop at the Dallas Morning News. Philip Nation wrote a few thoughts on our book, Compelled by Love: The Most Excellent Way to Missional Living (New Hope, 2008), in the Dallas Morning News religion blog.

He wrote ten things... I excerpted a few here:

1. Understand the Gospel. The mission of God is consumed with the person & work of Christ. As you understand Christ, you can accurately participate in God's work of redemption. So read the Gospels - a lot...

4. Watch for a chance to serve. People give away all of their energy on family, work, and menial chores. Look for ways that you can care for your neighbors - even if it is just cooking a simple dinner for them...

6. Love like Jesus. He lived a robust life of caring for the lost. In elevating sacrificial love far beyond any previous thinking, he gave an example for us...

10. Do it for one reason - the glory of God. The only reason for be missional is to make Christ more widely known. God is worthy of being honored by all of creation and it should be the main reason why we participate in his mission.

You can read all ten here.

The blog tour so far:

PhoenixPreacher.com,
Rick Warren's Ministry Toolbox,
Alan Hirsch's blog,
Andrew Jones's Tall Skinny Kiwi,
Darryl Dash,
Micah Fries,
Marty Duren's Iemissional, and
David Fitch at Reclaiming the Mission.

J. Lee Grady, editor of Charisma magazine, is often a voice of reasoned critique when his movement needs some correction. (You have seen me cite him before, click here.). This is true of him once again, and this recent article is a must read. But before I share a bit from Grady's article, let me give you a little background just in case you haven't heard of the Lakeland revival and the surrounding controversy.

On April 3, 2008 Canadian evangelist Todd Bentley was invited to speak to the Ignited Church of Lakeland, FL. Though he was only scheduled to be there for 5 days, he remained for 3 months during what he considered to be the biggest pentecostal revival since the Azusa Street revival. To put it mildly, the "Lakeland revival" has been controversial. Claims of people being raised from the dead? Violent healing? Now it appears Bentley is stepping down after filing for separation from his wife and admitting to an inappropriate relationship with another woman. Grady asks some hard questions in his article.

Why did so many people flock to Lakeland from around the world to rally behind an evangelist who had serious credibility issues from the beginning?

To put it bluntly, we're just plain gullible...

A prominent Pentecostal evangelist called me this week after Bentley's news hit the fan. He said to me: "I'm now convinced that a large segment of the charismatic church will follow the anti-Christ when he shows up because they have no discernment."

Why did a group of respected ministers lay hands on Bentley on June 23 and publicly ordain him? Did they know of his personal problems?

...No one in ministry today should be out on their own, living in isolation without checks, balances and wise counsel. It was commendable that [C. Peter] Wagner reached out to Bentley and that Bentley acknowledged his need for spiritual fathers by agreeing to submit to the process. The question remains, however, whether it was wise to commend Bentley during a televised commissioning service that at times seemed more like a king's coronation.

In hindsight, we can all see that it would have been better to take Bentley into a back room and talk about his personal issues.

...I trust that Wagner, Ahn, Johnson and Arnott didn't know of Bentley's problems before they ordained him. ... But I believe that they, along with Bentley and the owners of God TV, owe the body of Christ a forthright, public apology for thrusting Bentley's ministry into the spotlight prematurely. (Perhaps such an apology should be aired on God TV.)

Grady cites C. Peter Wagner. If you have been reading the blog, you will remember two recent posts on apostles, here and here that mention Wagner. In both cases, I shared a bit about Wagner so the timing of my post and the timing of this incident prompted this blog entry.

Well, Wagner recently brought what they call "apostolic covering" to Bentley. During a publicized gathering on June 23rd Wagner explained what this covering ceremony was all about (youtube). He said, "This is a ceremony celebrating the formal apostolic alignment of Todd Bentley." He explains that alignment is a kind of adjustment, or putting things in order. Bentley was asked if he recognized the apostolic authority of the apostles who were present, and when he did Wagner says that this will be a formal "commissioning" equivalent to offering the the right hand of fellowship as the apostles did to Paul in Jerusalem.

Wagner continued by proclaiming,

This commissioning represents a powerful spiritual transaction taking place in the invisible world. With this in mind, I take the apostolic authority that God has given me and I decree to Todd Bentley:

• Your power will increase.
• Your authority will increase.
• Your favor will increase.
• Your influence will increase.
• Your revelation will increase.

I also decree that:

• A new supernatural strength will flow through this ministry.
• A new life force will penetrate this move of God.
• A government will be established to set things in their proper order.
• God will pour out a higher level of discernment to distinguish truth from error.
• New relationships will surface to open gates for the future.

In his article, Grady also points out that Bentley's theology should have been seriously investigated when Bentley connected with the "healing angel" of William Branham. (See the picture below for the "healing angel.") Yet, Bentley was never called on this bizarre connection.

While teaching at Southern, I served a church in the same town where Branham founded a church. Branham was once a well known (perhaps the best known) Pentecostal healing evangelist... at least until he went astray.

A little history may be helpful:

Branham rejected the doctrine of the Trinity and in fact claimed the doctrine was of the devil. Consequently he believed that anyone baptized into the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit needed to be re-baptized. He predicted that 1977 would usher in the new millennium, and he believed denominationalism is the mark of the beast. Branham also believed the sin in the Garden of Eden that brought about the curse of God was not the eating of literal fruit, but the sexual union between Eve and the chimpanzee-serpent-beast. I kid you not.

Yet, the movement and the meetings with Todd Benley went on... until last week when reality caught up.

Now let me say, I work very hard to be charitable to Christians of different stripes-- much to the chagrin of those in my denomination who think we are the one true New Testament faith. And, this is not intended to be a post against one group (note, again, the title and you can visit my earlier posts on Pentecostal movements here and here.) Finally, I tend to think that movements should work out their theological discussions and I stay out of them-- rarely writing a post like this.

Yet, when I see things like this, it is just hard not to ask: does anyone still have a Bible and some common sense?

Let me add: I do not think this is a Pentecostal issue. That is why the title is, "Evangelical Gullibility."

In other words, all kinds of Christians are forwarding emails about the FCC's phony plan to ban religious braoadcasting, signing up to have emails sent to the loved ones after the rapture, and watching Christian television for its theological depth. For that matter, I have just as many odd people come up to me with "something they discovered in the Bible that no one has ever noticed" after I speak at a Baptist, Wesleyan, of non-denominational meeting as I do when I speak at a Pentecostal one. Furthermore, many Pentecostals and Charismatics HAVE expressed concern about this movement-- including some when I visit the Assemblies of God office a couple of weeks ago.

I just have to wonder with Grady if Christians really are just gullible.

True revival is generally a messy affair. On the one hand abuses often accompany genuine works of God, and on the other hand much of what is called revival is nothing more than fanaticism. Courage is required to ask tough questions and do so with with grace and kindness, patience is necessary to wait and see if what is called revival bears lasting fruit, and theological discernment is critical for the church when it comes to awakenings and revival.

I am still here in Chicago relaxing with my beautiful bride, but the world of politics goes on without me.

Ryan Burns sent me a picture of the building so prominently featured in the recent film, The Dark Knight. But, instead of Batman, he put my ugly mug up there... so, I will take this is a symbol that I am watching over the city of Chicago today. Or, at least watching it... as watching "over" is work and Donna and I are on day 3 of our anniversary trip. No work today!

In case you are interested, I have been uploading a ridiculous amount of pictures to the Twitter feed as my Chicago Architectural Boat show turned into a Blue Angels air show yesterday.

But, a couple of things came to mind this week about politics and I had to add them this Saturday morning. You can't be in Chicago and not think about politcis-- the city slogan might be, "Vote early and vote often."

So, since my brief foray into political analysis was so well received last week, I will do it again.

Speaking of the post last week, people are still in the conversation there at the earlier post, so feel free to drop by.

On to the post at hand...

First, be sure to watch the Rick Warren interviews of the McCain and Obama tonight. If the questions he asks are anything like what he shared in the Green Room at the Innovate Church conference this week, it should be interesting and clarifying for many evangelicals.

Second, Jonathan Merritt called me Thursday night about a story coming out the next day on the Washington Post. Well, it really did come out-- big. It was above the fold, front page, cover story. Read the story here.

I think this section is a good summary of the whole story:

For Merritt, the decision comes down to combining the values his father taught him and those he has discovered along the way. The more he talks about McCain and Obama, the clearer it becomes that he is dissatisfied with both. In a freelance column published recently, he wrote: "If Democrats begin championing the sanctity of human life and traditional marriage, they may capture some of the powerful Christian voting bloc; if Republicans can develop an aggressive platform on issues like poverty and the environment, they can reverse the erosion of their evangelical base."

Now, the usual suspects are already calling Jonathan a bad person for daring to think for himself... but I am glad his voice is out there. And, I am glad to hear of his concern for life and morality, in addition to his concern for other important issues.

My analysis is not that younger evangelicals are abandoning the core evangelical principles I mentioned earlier, but they are broadening their concerns to include other issues. It appears to be a both/and rather than an either/or.

Of course, this line is key, "If Democrats begin championing the sanctity of human life and traditional marriage." I believe that will be key for most evangelicals. These are, and will remain, essential concerns for those who hold evangelical beliefs.

Third and finally, the Dallas Morning News has some interesting analysis here:

A Pew poll published last month shows that Obama is doing worse among white Evangelicals than John Kerry was at this point in 2004, or Al Gore was in 2000. (Obama's got 25 percent, versus Kerry's 26 percent, and Gore's 28 percent). This is extraordinary considering how much better a candidate Obama is, and how Obama has made his faith a big part of his campaign.

and here:

It's certainly true that McCain is not doing as well as Bush was at this point in 2004 or 2000. McCain's got 61 percent of the white Evangelical vote, versus 69 percent for Bush in '04, and 65 percent in 2000. The difference? Three times as many Evangelicals (12 percent) are undecided this year as in June 2004.

It will be interesting to see how the evangelical vote goes... and I will share other data and analysis along the way. LifeWay Research is even considering doing our own poll if we can add to the conversation.

And, while I am on politics, I thought this picture (taken at the Innovate Church Conference last week) would express my feelings well.

Off to have fun in Chicago... once the wife is back from shopping.

Today, we MUST eat deep dish pizza and one Chicago style dog.

It is our 21st anniversary and we are celebrating like it was our 20th.

Last year, we were unpacking boxes on August 15th, have just moved to Nashville to work at LifeWay. So, instead of celebrating, we were organizing. Needless to say, I promised my wife a better time this anniversary.

So, I am in Chicago. We are staying in a nice hotel on the Magnificent Mile. We are sleeping late, going to movies, seeing shows, and just enjoying each other. On Sunday, we will be at Community Christian Church and grab lunch with my friend Dave Ferguson. I will stay over till Tuesday to shoot a television program with the Assemblies of God (which gave me the excuse to come to Chicago this weekend).

Donna and I started dating in High School. Donna was the first (and only) girl I dated seriously. We went to the prom, then off to college together. When we were 20 years old, she was crazy enough to marry me. So, between our Junior and Senior years of college, we got married.

She is a wonderful friend and an amazing wife.

She loves Jesus. We first met when she came to a Bible Study I was leading in high school. She had led about 6 of her friends to Christ that year.

She is not afraid of difficult things. She supported us as I planted our first church while going to seminary on the weekends... and earned a Masters degree while I was earning mine. We have planted multiple churches, worked to revitalize a few, and not chosen the easy paths in life.

I have dragged this woman to the inner city of Buffalo, NY to plant a church among the urban poor. Then, off to a blue collar community of Erie to plant again. Four months after Kristen was born, she came with me to Louisville where I taught at seminary (which was much more challenging than Buffalo!).

Once she was pregnant again, of course I dragged her to Georgia to work at NAMB and then to evantually plant a church in our free time . And, now we live in Nashville where I travel too much.

She has never complained and she had every right to. We have literally grown up together and now we are raising kids together. I look forward to growing old together.

Now, I watch her continue to grow and I see her life poured into our 3 daughters. And I am grateful every day.

So, today is her day. And, I am honored that she would call me her husband!

The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) is a helpful resource for, well... data and research on religion. For those interested in such research the ARDA website is a place to spend a few hours.

Last night, I was on their site preparing for an upcoming meeting. Roger Finke, ARDA director, and I will be leading a panel this September at the Religion Newswriters Association on "Surveying Surveys." The description:

Reporters are bombarded with purported poll and survey results on religious belief and practice. But how do we know which studies are trustworthy and how to interpret what they say? We look at sound and faulty data and help you find ways to tell which is which. Moderated by Jacqui Salmon, The Washington Post.

The ARDA is one of the best sites for people who are interested in religious research (which, if you read this blog, should include you!)

You might want to take a look at the "Generation Next" survey which features,

...an oversample of members of "Generation Next" (young adults ages 18-25), this Pew survey examines this generation's outlook, lifestyle, and politics. Respondents were asked to compare their own generation to others in several areas including opportunities, challenges, and lifestyle choices. Other topics covered include technology usage, news consumption, political attitudes and behavior, and personal aspirations. Religion variables include religious affiliation, church attendance, and the importance of spirituality.

The survey includes answers to questions like:

What ONE WORD OR PHRASE best describes your generation?

Now thinking about your generation compared with young adults 20 years ago, for each of the things I mention please tell me if you think your generation does more of it, less of it, OR about the same amount as young adults 20 years ago did: Binge drinking.

From what you have seen, would you say it is easy, hard, or probably impossible to have a good marriage today?

This is a very interesting survey from 2006. You can look over the Generation Next data here.

You can also check out the The Faith Communities Today (FACT) survey. This was coordinated by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research at the Hartford Seminary and included forty-one faith groups and denominations (including NAMB, my former employer).

Get the breakdown of responses to questions like:

How well does each of the following statements describe your congregation? Our congregation is spiritually vital and alive.

How well does each of the following statements describe your congregation? Our congregation is working for social justice.

How well does each of the following statements describe your congregation? Our congregation is trying to increase its racial/ethnic diversity.

Check it out here.

All that to say... it is worth a visit.

Today, the Compelled by Love blog tour goes to Phoenix--and they asked a LOT of questions... grin. This is the longest blog tour visit to date.

So, take a look here at PhoenixPreacher.com. (The Lutheran guy asks my favorite question... but you already know that I am partial to Lutherans because of their missio dei emphasis.)

Also, the blog tour took a brief stop in this week in Rick Warren World (see his comments here). Thanks Rick.

The blog tour so far:

• Alan Hirsch's blog,


• Andrew Jones's Tall Skinny Kiwi,


• Darryl Dash,


• Micah Fries,


• Marty Duren's Iemissional,


• David Fitch at Reclaiming the Mission.

Senator Obama and I were at the same hotel a couple of weeks back (you saw pictures if you followed the Twitter, including this one here). A mutual friend tried to set up a meeting between us. Obama is targeting younger evangelicals and I tend to move in that space. The conversation went back and forth between "his people" and my friend.

The end result was that they were open to a meeting if I would make an endorsement.

Well...

I would have listened to Senator Obama respectfully, agreed with him on some issues, and then shared that as an evangelical Christian I hold certain values that are at odds with what he has stated. There are some areas we agree, but there are some major views that are simply impossible for me, as an evangelical, to stomach. And, I could not make such an endorsement.

For example, I think it matters deeply that children in the womb are protected and valued--and that is not a political issue, it is a life-or-death issue.

In addition to being a sin (and I recognize that is a harder case to make in the naked public square), I think that affirmation of homosexuality as a valid alternative lifestyle is unhelpful to society and hurtful to the individuals involved.

And, since Senator Obama has spent much time talking about his faith, I would share that Christianity is not something that is "true for me," it is true for all-- whether they know it or not.

It would seem that other evangelicals share some of my concerns about Obama. Barna gives some helpful insights and, I believe, gets it right in his analysis here.

Understanding Evangelicals

One of the most frequently reported on groups of voters is evangelicals. Most media polls use a simplistic approach to defining evangelicals, asking survey respondents if they consider themselves to be evangelical. Barna Group surveys, on the other hand, ask a series of nine questions about a person's religious beliefs in order to determine if they are an evangelical. The differences between the two approaches are staggering.

Using the common approach of allowing people to self-identify as evangelicals, 40% of adults classify themselves as such. Among them, 83% are likely to vote in November. Among the self-reported evangelicals who are likely to vote, John McCain holds a narrow 39% to 37% lead over Sen. Obama. Nearly one-quarter of this segment (23%) is still undecided about who they will vote for.

Using the Barna approach of studying people's core religious beliefs produces a very different outcome. Just 8% of the adult population qualifies as evangelical based on their answers to the nine belief questions. Among that segment, a significantly higher proportion (90%) is likely to vote in November, and Sen. McCain holds a huge lead (61%-17%) over the Democratic nominee. Overall, just 14% of this group remains undecided regarding their candidate of choice.

I just cannot imagine that many evangelicals (as defined by belief) will vote for Obama. Perhaps I will be proven wrong, but he is so at odds with key evangelical beliefs on issues evangelicals hold dear. Simply put, I do not believe that many active evangelicals will vote for a candidate this far to the left.

I do know that many self-identified Christians will (and Barna gives a helpful breakdown by type). I have heard their rationale and do not find it convincing.

I wanted to add a couple of more things to "Friday is for Friends" from yesterday (click here to review what you might have missed). But, this is the "Baptist" version, so you Lutherans, Pentecostals, and Wesleyans might not enjoy it as much!

Johnny Hunt's Article in SBCLife

First, Johnny Hunt brings it, and brings it straight, when he writes:

Jesus prayed that His followers would be unified so that the world may know You sent Me (John 17:23). That prayer is desperately needed for our Convention today...

I, for one, am ready for a change -- a positive change that calls us to build on our Conservative Resurgence and focus on building great churches, evangelizing the unsaved, reclaiming the wayward, taking the Gospel to the lost and the least, starting new churches, and sending several thousand new missionaries to the unengaged, unreached people groups of the world. And, if I can read the Convention messengers, they felt the same way in Indianapolis...

I want us to bring the next generation of young leaders into an active participation in our Convention. We have lost much of a generation of pastors, and if we lose the younger generation, we have no future.

We have tried to "tell" them to come back, but to no avail. However, we need a new plan. Simply put, it is not working to "welcome" them and not "affirm" them. We have to acknowledge that many people are doing church differently in many contexts right here -- we must acknowledge that you do not have to travel to Africa to find a different culture. North America is full of people who think differently, worship differently, and lead differently than my own generation. Paul would value this as diversity. We, as a Convention, are blessed with a wonderful group of godly, young pastors coming along behind us. And, if they share our confession and want to be in this partnership, it is high time we affirmed them and welcomed the diversity of scripturally sound ways that they do church in their context...

This is a big task, and trends are not good -- the Convention annual meeting is getting older and smaller every year...

Do you really believe that we can turn the tide? No! And neither do I. But God can!...

I believe we stand at a crossroads. We can continue to fuss over minor issues or, as Dr. Rogers gave us the charge, we can unite with a common mission. The expectation of the Conservative Resurgence was that we would agree on enough doctrinally that we could focus on the nations -- let's begin now, and let's do it together.

Read the whole article here.

Baptist21.com

And speaking of young leaders, some young pastors recently created a new site called "Baptist21.com." A few observations:

1. I know some of these guys and am very impressed with their desire to learn from the past and press to the future. From their web page:

Baptist 21 is grateful for a Southern Baptist heritage where the Gospel has been faithfully passed down and effective Great Commission ministry has been undertaken. Many believe there is a crisis ahead for Baptists, particularly Southern Baptists, in the 21st century. Our commitment is to work diligently in the present by honoring the Gospel faithfulness of the past, contending for the Gospel, engaging current cultures with the Gospel, and cooperating toward future Kingdom effectiveness among Southern Baptists in the 21st century and beyond.

2. The blog has thus far been pretty insightful, dealing with preaching the gospel, young leaders, and universalism.

3. I think it is the first blog (other than the my own) where I am in the header. However, two problems with that. First, it has my old picture with the big Baptist bouffant hairdo (rather than the new version here). Second, is Paige Patterson pointing at me or James Merritt?

Go check out the blog.

Emir Caner to Truett McConnell

Finally, Ergun Caner sent me an email that his brother, Emir, is going to be president of Truett-McConnell College in Georgia.

Congrats to Emir and to the school.

Here are some updates on friends, life, ministry, and conversations:

Avery Willis

Avery Willis and I have been friends for a few years. I believe we first met in a small "called meeting" in Orlando at the start of the Global Pastors Network. There were about 50 of us planning together to plant 5 million churches worldwide. Bill Bright had recently gone on to be with the Lord, but as this idea was his passion, Vonette Bright (and John Maxwell) gave each of us a baton to symbolically "pass the baton" on this plan.

It was there that I heard of Avery's passion for orality. From his web page:

I had thought for so long that the Guttenberg revolution was a worldwide phenomenon. I grew up thinking that literacy was the one thing the world needed to level the playing field for everyone. Then one day I made an alarming discovery: five hundred years after the invention of the printing press only thirty-three percent of the world are truly literate. This stopped me dead in my tracks. Imagine the banner headline: "Approximately sixty-seven percent of the people of the world are non-literate oral learners! Read all about it!"

If you printed that headline in every newspaper in every country of the world, in every language known to humanity and you threw it on the coffee table of every home on earth, close to four billion people could not read it!

You should visit his page and learn more. Avery Willis is one of my heroes. He has served as a missionary in Indonesia, written a discipleship program that greatly changed me (MasterLife), served at LifeWay (where I work), then retired from the International Mission Board so he could spend his life, well, doing the same thing he did before he retired-- telling people about Jesus.

Now, all that may make him sound old. And, that would be accurate (grin). He calls himself such-- but I just call him "wise."

But, guess who was my 1000th friend on Facebook? None other than Avery Willis. And, for that (very dubious) honor, he gets a mention here and a copy of my newest book, Compelled by Love.

Set Free Church

Some of you know of my friendship with the folks at Set Free Church in Yuciapa. We wrote about them in Breaking the Missional Code.

They have an important statement at their website that they are a church, and not a motorcycle club. And they are in no way connected with the organization with a similar name whose leaders were recently arrested. (Phil Aguilar and his Set Free Soldiers, known as a Christian motorcycle group, were arrested.)

The two groups have had some history that I will not rehash here, but you should continue to be excited about Set Free Church in Yuciapa and in dozens of daughter churches around the United States. I've been in the office with Pastor Willie in Yuciapa and they are reaching and serving those far from God with an unparallel passion. I love their ministry and do not want people to be confused.

Alltop: Church

Alltop now has a church site, and edstetzer.com and several great blogs are featured there. Not familiar with alltop? It's a series of websites that seek to "help you explore your passions by collecting stories from "all the top" sites on the web." They pick a series of "top sites" in each catagory. Related sites are grouped together into collections, called "aggregations," and can be found in individual Alltop sites. Like church.alltop.com. You can find more helpful details here.

Jim Poit at the Crystal Cathedral

I had a fascinating call with the Executive Pastor of the Crystal Cathedral, Jim Poit. For more about Jim, he was recently interviewed in Church Executive Magazine.

I was surprised because I don't move much in that world. But, it was good to hear from Jim on Thursday and learn what is happening there. This summer, Jim is preaching on Sunday mornings and going verse-by-verse through the Book of Acts.

I was surprised (and blessed) that he held up a copy of Comeback Churches to the congregation this Sunday and recommended they all get a copy to work through it as a church. Thanks, Jim!

For those of you who read the blog, you would know that my approach would be pretty different than the Crystal Cathedral. But, it was great to hear from Jim and look forward to hearing more.

Bobby Vaughn at Glocalnet

Had a great talk with Bobby Vaughn this week. Bobby is the new Director of Glocalnet at Northwood Church. Bob Roberts is the Sr. Pastor.

We talked a bit about young leaders, church planting, and the future. I have had the privilege of training for them before and look forward to another time. He explained,

We have our normal 9-month internship which is for those who have an interest in church planting, have the right skill sets and a definite calling, but may lack the ministry experience necessary to jump right into Church Planting. It is a class one night a week where they are taught by Bob and the rest of the NorthWood staff, along with other key leaders. We can accept as many into this program as we want. This program runs from September through May of every year.

The other program we have is called the Residency, where we choose 4 or 5 very well qualified Church Planters who raise their own funds to come be "on staff" at NorthWood for 12 months. They are a part of the daily life here at NorthWood and get to go on trips and be involved in our daily ministries around the world. This program can start at any time, just depending on the Residents timeframe, it's just 12 consecutive months.

To be a part of either program, a planter must first take our online pre-assessment at churchplanterprofiles.com (and used "Glocalnet" as the agency). Once they have completed that, we do a formal interview with the planter and wife either by phone or in person. We do not pay our Interns or our Residents, just putting that out there, because that is always the first question!

Another opportunity that we have for Church Planters are our Turbo Trainings. We typically hold two per year. Our next one is coming up next week (August 14 & 15), but the first one of 2009 is March 5 & 6. We cap our registrations for these events at 100 people in order to keep a more intimate and informal atmosphere where people feel free to ask questions and get to spend one-on-one time with NorthWood leadership and other key leaders. Registration for the March Turbo will be open Monday, September 1st. People can register at www.glocal.net and click on "Turbo".

Threads Video

My friends at Threads have posted a video for our new "Sent" study that will be first available at Catalyst. Watch the video here.

My Current Message Series (Zag)

A few people (well, really, two people) have asked if they could download my Sunday messages. Yes, you can. If you are interested, you can listen to them here.

The series I am in right now is called "Zag." The focus is the Kingdom of God in the teachings of Jesus in Matthew. The idea is that when the world Zigs, in the Kingdom we Zag.

This Weekend

I will be gone most of the weekend, finishing a very late book, preaching on Sunday, and making sure I spend some time with the family. Have a great weekend, worship on Sunday, and get some rest.

Once I am done with this book, I will be doing the same!

Earlier in the week, we had a fascinating conversation about apostles here at the blog. It has led to a few contacts this week. I thought I would tell you about three of them: one in person, one via email, and one via blog comment.

First, in person:

Last night, I spent some time with someone that C. Peter Wagner considers an apostle-- none other than my friend and boss, Thom Rainer. (If you are not up on Wagner, he is probably the best known person promoting the new view of "apostles" that I cited in my last post-- see his recent books.)

Turns out that Peter told Thom (and others) that Thom was an apostle when he visited Southern Seminary as a lecturer. (Peter came by and visited my class for a bit while he was there and there was no mention of my gifts or office... sigh.)

According to Peter, Thom is a "horizontal apostle." I looked that up (having never heard the term before last night). You can find the different descriptions here.

Thom Rainer-- an apostle.

Who knew?

Second, via email:

Lewis McMullen, an old friend who I tried to hire a couple times, has sent me some of his research on the subject. And, since you are a faithful reader, I pass it on to you... no extra charge. I am just that kind of guy.

You can download his paper here (it is 50 pages).

Here is part of the intro from his study (published as his D.Min. dissertation):

In the New Testament there are two types of apostles. First, there is the small band of those chosen and instructed personally by Jesus called in many cases "The Twelve." These men hold the office of apostle to which there is no succession. The criteria for these men are that they must have a personal encounter with Christ and be directly commissioned by Him to carry out His work.

The second group is those men who Paul describes as apostles who were not among the twelve. In this group were included such people as Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, Epaphroditus, Andronicus and Junias.

It is at this point of discussion concerning "apostleship" that a debate is raised among scholars. There are scholars today who believe that the term apostle or apostleship as stated earlier in this paper, is synonymous with the term missionary. There are other scholars that believe that the term apostle was limited to the New Testament era and the disciples who were selected personally by Jesus. (John Mark Terry, Ebbie Smith, and Justin Anderson. ed., Missiology: An Introduction to the Foundations, History and Strategies of World Missions (Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1998), 336). These scholars such as Everett Harrison believe that apostleship is not relevant to today and that to relate it to missionary is erroneous teaching. Harrison writes: "Warrant is lacking for making 'apostle' the equivalent of 'missionary.' In the practice of the modern church, prominent pioneer missionaries are often called apostles, but this is only an accommodation of language." (Everett F. Harrison. ed., Baker's Dictionary of Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1960), 58).

Third, via comment here on the blog:

While some debate meaning of the term and whether it is a function or an office, Don Dent invites you to quit talking and start doing. If this is the Don Dent I know and love, he is Regional Leader for the International Mission Board's Pacific Rim region. Don probably oversees more missionaries in that part of the world than anyone else.

He wrote:

Apostles are given for the unique purpose of laying a foundation, which seems to be the primary misunderstanding in recent usage. Apostles take the gospel of Christ to places where Christ is not known and lay the foundation of the church. This is why they are listed first in Eph. 4 and 1 Cor. 12. It is not that they are more important, their priority is one of sequence rather than status.

There is a need for renewal of established churches and for entrepreneurial leaders, but those are not apostles. Perhaps prophets and evangelists are needed. Perhaps entrepreneurial pastors are needed, but apostles focus on the first stage of the church in pioneer areas. If there are apostles who are frustrated by church structures, they are in the wrong place. There are plenty of unreached people groups where they can build on no one else's foundation.

So, before you get "Apostle" printed on your business card, go and live out an apostolic mandate among one of the unreached people groups in the PacRim area (see www.go2pacrim.org).

Don will find you a place along with 700 other missionaries already at work there with the IMB (and many more with other fine agencies).

In conclusion, I do not think of Thom as an apostle (nor does he consider himself one). However, I do want to see that apostolic impulse more evident in our churches and our ministries. I am struck by the lack of apostolic impulse in the church today. And, I think it is a mistake so simply equate missional and apostolic. Missional is more than apostolic. But, I think apostolic is required at that foundational, entrepreneurial, starting point... and I think we have missed it.

Take a look at Lewis paper (above) and go back to the first post here for more info.

I like Lutherans.

In one of my first blog posts (about one year ago now), I wrote about my time speaking with their leadership at Concordia University. I talked about what I learned from one of their bishops and how they rebuked me.

I am excited about speaking to the Missouri Synod Lutherans North American Mission Executives in St. Louis in April 2009.

Also, I will be with another tribe of Lutherans in 2009. In this case, I will be with some Wisconsin Synod leaders at a meeting hosted in Milwaukee by a group called WELS Church and Change in November 2009.

(I am sure that someone will tell me the differences along the way, and it may include a famous episode of the T.V. show Cheers, where Woody and his fiancé discover they are from different Lutheran denomination.)

My favorite Cheers / Lutheran exchange:

Woody - "Ask her why she thinks the Book of Concord is not in line with the Scriptures!"

Kelly - "Because it's not."

Woody - "HERETIC !!!"

Good people, those Lutherans.

And, they (the Missouri Synod) have a plan for planting 2000 churches by 2017, the anniversary of something in Europe.

So, I received the email below and answered with some ideas from Planting Missional Churches. However, I think it would be helpful to hear from you on some of the job descriptions you would want for a core team. I will probably use them for an article as well, so be sure to put your name a church if you have any insights.

Here is the email. Please take a look and let's give a little blog help to some Lutherans who love Jesus and want to plant churches.

My name is Dick Evers, and I am part of The 72-Partners on the Road (formerly Harvesters for Christ) a ministry of LCMS World Mission.

It is our understanding that you have considerable expertise in church planting.
The 72 teams provide training to existing congregations to begin, enhance or revitalize their outreach activities. You can check out our website: www.lcms.org/The72. There are about 70 of us, located in various areas of the country.

Our ministry was recently asked by the LCMS to get involved with our congregations who want to sponsor a church plant. We are trying to establish a training program for The 72 teams who will work with the congregation and the church planters. As you will note from the attached "Areas of Training" information which discusses what we do, we believe we can be of real help to the church planting teams and the church planter.

We understand that the congregation is to provide a "core" group (40 members or more) and a launch team to work with the church planter. However, we are not exactly sure of the responsibilities of the core group and the launch team. We want to gear our training to help both groups be better prepared, as well as the church planter. We will be only acting in a "helping equip" role, not doing any supervising.

Can you give me any direction as to how we might find the basic "job descriptions" of the "core" group and the launch team? By knowing more about what the core group and launch team are supposed to do (or what additional help they could be to the church plant with more training), we can modify our existing modules, or create new ones, to help equip them.

Any information or direction you can provide us on how to find the "job descriptions" or any other comments you have that might be helpful to us would be greatly appreciated.

May God continue to bless your ministry,

Dick Evers
The 72-Partners on the Road

I found this SBC blog ranking, from Les Puryear's blog, informative... particularly showing that some of the most vocal are not ranked as highly as I expected.

Blogging is an interesting thing... and denominational blogging adds a different twist. Your blog can often inflate your sense of self-importance. If you attack a person, and others come defending, soon you are "someone"-- at least for a day.

Thankfully, Technorati.com gives a realistic view of the influence a blogger really has, not just how many people he or she got to come by and defend their target of the day. This influence is expressed in a blog's "ranking." From the technorati website,

A Technorati Ranking relates to the number of sources that point to a particular weblog relative to other weblogs. The more sources referencing a weblog, the higher the Technorati ranking.

So, blogs are ranked based on how many other blogs and websites are linking back to them and their individual posts. The more links reflect wider readership and greater circulation of written material.

On several occasions I have received calls from SBC denominational agency PR people (and a couple of agency heads over the years) saying, "This blogger is saying so and so... does anyone listen to him or her?" I always encourage them to consider the truth (or lack thereof) of what they are saying, but then to look at Technorati to see if anyone except his mother is reading the blog.

Here is my analysis of the list by section (I took the liberty of numbering Les' list). The catagories are my creation and may not reflect the self-identification of the blog:

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The Reformed

It is interesting to note how many of the top bloggers are self-identified as Reformed. They tend not to be overwhelmingly concerned with SBC politics.

My guess is that most of the top SBC bloggers are read more by non-SBC (in addition to SBC) audiences. The Reformed movement is growing (particularly at Southern, but at other places as well). However, the numbers alone do not explain the Reformed domination of the SBC blogosphere. There are just not that many Reformed SBC pastors-- but perhaps, as a growing movement, they connect over the Internet.

Tim Brister (I have already told him that I refuse to call a grown man "Timmy") is, I am quite sure, the only person on Twitter wearing a tie (see and follow his feed here-- I do). He is a great writer and good thinker and probably the most influential blogger in SBC life and just behind Justin Taylor and Tim Challies in the Reformed world.

Steve McCoy is a well known in SBC, emerging, missional, and Reformed circles. And, I like his blog, but it could be because he first loved me. When I am on the road and people mention bloggers, Steve's name is mentioned to me more frequently than any other blogger.

When blogging was young, I remember when some seminary professors complained about Steve's influence, saying he did not warrant such readership. (He used to have a now defunct blog, "Missional Baptist Blog," which was the target of their complaints.) And, yes, blogging (like a theological education, among other things), can put you in a position of prominence and leadership before your experience warrants it. However, Steve has been an entertaining and insightful writer and, if influence is measured by followers, then Steve has influence.

Tom Ascol, of Founders fame, has been struck by lightning and yet still lives. 'Nuf said. Even Chuck Norris has not been struck by lightning. Tom is the director of Founders Ministries, a movement to promote Reformed principles in the SBC.

Joe Thorn is bald, plants churches, and loves Jesus. Great guy-- and a former student. Joe has cut back on blogging some and I wish he would blog more.

And, Said at Southern is run by uber-blogger Tony Kummer, who just lists and talks about things, well, said at (you guessed it) Southern (the seminary).

2. Provocations and Pantings - Rank: 14,246

3. Reformissionary - Rank: 17,893

4. Founders Ministries - Rank: 22,269

5. Joe Thorn - Rank: 26,508

6. Said at Southern - Rank: 50,468

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Personal Blogs with Occasional SBC Comments

Not sure how to define Micah. He reminds me of Joe and Steve, but still thinks the SBC might be worth saving. He is a good writer and an effective pastor.

Also, I am not sure how to describe Kevin Bussey, but he is working on a book that should be interesting. (All bloggers are working on a book... grin.) I love his header picture and he is a good writer.

Les Puryear's "Joining God," and Alan Cross' "Downshore Drift" are something of a reformist voice, but tend to have a softer tone than some of the others. Les' focus is on the small church.

7. Micah Fries- Rank: 65,915

10. Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee - Rank: 104,170

14. Joining God in His Work - Rank: 187,157

16. Downshore Drift - Rank: 211,008

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SBC Debate / Group Blogs

I would think that two years ago, SBCOutpost who have reigned supreme. Today, it is down the list a bit and is about tied with its nemesis blog, SBCToday. One final site in this catagory is SBCImpact. Impact is something of a reformist voice, but it seems to have a less strident tone than the others, and also is ranked much lower.

8. SBC Outpost - Rank: 72,782

9. SBC Today - Rank: 84,122

15. SBC Impact - Rank: 207,280

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Southeastern

The Southeastern boys have a blog that is climbing the rankings (it takes a while to build up a rank and this is going up fast). It has some great content and I have added it to my "Noteworthy Items" many times. If you want to see the contours of the coming Great Commission Resurgence, this is the place to read.

One bad thing-- no comments. My advice, open the comments-- you do not have to respond to them. Yes, one well-known faculty member from a certain seminary always asks 15-point questions (a joke, people), but you don't have to answer all questions that are asked-- I don't.

11. Between the Times - Rank: 105,966

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Aggregator

SBCVoices is a blog aggregator, and a pretty neat one at that, of all things SBC:

12. SBC Voices - Rank: 111,870

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Baptist Identity

These guys tend to be identified with the Baptist Identity movement (not to be confused with the Christian Identity movement). I vehemently disagree with about .7% of what they say which makes us enemies in the blogsphere (another joke people, but one that should make you think).

More on these blogs:

SBCToday is a team blog. They did a great series of interviews with the SBC presidential candidates. Their tag line explains their passion: "Restoring Unity through Biblical Discipleship and Baptist Identity." I mentioned them under debate blogs above.

Bart Barber is the only blogger to ever apologize to me (and on his blog) about something he wrote-- that is pretty impressive. And, his Fifth Century Initiative is a pretty neat idea. Also, I thought his participation and willingness to collaborate (and compromise!) on the SBC regenerate church resolution was a sign of character and a model for the future. (I commented on that resolution in church this morning, so thank you Bart).

I don't think I have ever met the guy who runs SBC Tomorrow, though he is a frequent commentator on many blogs and always signs, "with that I am, Peter," which seems a bit self-evident to me if that is your name. However, he is reviewing Tony Jones new book, The New Christians, and I have been following his review. He has some insightful comments.

And, Tim Rogers a Southern Baptist in NC once gave me a ride at a conference, so I like him. I took a picture of him at the SBC and it came out blurred-- I was hoping to put him on the Twitter. So, even though his ranking may be low, he loves Jesus and cares about missions, so I like him.

Great passion from these guy on distinctives-- and I think distinctives matter.

9. SBC Today - Rank: 84,122

13. Praisegod Barebones - Rank: 174,802

17. SBC Tomorrow - Rank: 306,067

18. Southern Baptist in NC - Rank: 472,152

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A blog can make anyone with a web connection feel empowered, but influence is shown by who is listening, not who reads and rolls their eyes.

The SBC blogsopshere has been quiet lately and I think I like that. When it cranks back up, I hope it will be about missions, evangelism, and cooperation... but we will see!

Now, feel free to comment below... did I describe them correctly? Any I missed? Etc.