Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, D. Min Teaching Chicago, IL (March 9-12)

I'm back in "Chicagoland" teaching a D. Min seminar on church planting at Trinity. It's a great school with sharp students, and I always enjoy my time teaching there.

I will being two events this week as well.

First, on Tuesday night I will be meeting with a group of regional Evangelical Free Church pastors about church planting.

Second, as part of my class, we are incorporating a seminar for local pastors and church leaders. It is called the "Subtext Forum."

Subtext Forum at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (March 12)
The Subtext Forum is a one day conference organized by Steve McCoy and Joe Thorn and focuses on the preaching and practice of the gospel in the suburban context. The conference runs from 10am - 3pm, includes lunch, and only costs $25. I'm speaking in three sessions on:

The Missional Church in Principle and Practice
Breaking the Missional Code in Suburbia
Challenges to Missional Thinking and How to Overcome Them

And at the end we're making time for Q&A. There's still time to register - get all the details at Subtext.

What's Coming Up This Week?

I am in Atlanta already and have Donna with me. She is coming along on this trip, but I bet she won't come to my sessions. Grin.

Here is where I am heading this week.

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL (outside of Chicago) is a great school. There are a number of reasons why Trinity is a great choice for graduate and post-graduate work, but I'm short on time so let me give you one reason you should enroll: I would love to see you in my D. Min. class this Spring.

Chicago is on my mind.

I am heading there in a couple of weeks to shoot a day of video on Comeback Churches for the Assemblies of God. Should be good...

I am staying over a few days with Donna to get a feel for the city.

If I don't end up preaching somewhere, Dave Ferguson has invited me to lunch so I will probably visit the big yellow box called Community Christian Church. Dave and Jon are contributing to our new book, Multisite Churches: Guidance for the Movement's Next Generation So, I owe Dave (and Jon) and will probably have to buy the lunch!

I am trying to get to Chicago more often because of my new relationship with Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. As I recently blogged, I just joined their faculty.

This Fall (November 17-21) I will be teaching a course titled "Becoming a Missional Church" at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School just outside of Chicago, IL. The course description reads,

Transformational ministries in today's rapidly changing culture require churches that are "missional" from a biblical, theological, and cultural perspective. This course will help you better understand the cultural context in which you serve and teach you how to apply biblically faithful and culturally relevant missiological strategies to your ministry. Special attention will be given to North American cultural shifts, the missional/sending nature of the church, effective communication in various cultural contexts, and emerging ministry patterns in North America.

You can download the syllabus here. Auditors are welcome!

TEDS is a fantastic school and I am looking forward to teaching and interacting with the students. I will be making a point of being on the Trinity campus while in town, so if you are a student there, I hope we can visit.

I will also teach a one day conference on November 20, in Hinkson Hall, (located in the Rodine Global Ministries Building on campus). The conference, also called "Building a Missional Church," runs from 3:15-6:45 and is open to all, but registration is limited. This should be a great gathering of students and pastors. Stay tuned for coming website and how to register.

I will come back in December to be part of a Cornerstone Knowledge Network meeting. We did some architecture research for them (see here.) They are meeting the 9th and 10th, and I will be with them on the 9th and will get some time at Trinity while I am there.

In the Spring I will be back in Chicagoland teaching another class at Trinity. This course will be on "Planting Missional Churches." While there I will lead a forum for sub•text on March 12th, 2009 (more details coming soon). sub•text is a new initiative begun by local pastors by Joe Thorn and Steve McCoy and emphasizes the preaching and practice of the gospel in the suburban context.

So, now I just need tickets to the White Sox game.

Recently, I shared some of the places I will be teaching. I am honored to teach at these different schools and enjoy the time to do so. However, I need to focus my teaching so that I can have more interaction with faculty colleagues, ongoing contact with students, and a more focused teaching schedule.

The folks at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School approached me a while back to talk about joining their faculty. The timing was not right as I was heading to LifeWay. However, since I have moved to LifeWay, we have talked again about how we might work together.

So, after recent faculty interviews and discussion with our LifeWay leadership, it was announced yesterday that I will be joining the faculty as Affiliate Professor of Research and Missional Ministry at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (and I have to learn to call it "TEDS" now that I am part of the team there).

I will not be leaving LifeWay, but this will help us at LifeWay Research by having access to students who are engaging in research and also help us connect to evangelicals in need of our research services. .

There are few schools who have assembled the scholars that the have at Trinity. I am currently in the process of co-editing a book with David Hesselgrave, Professor Emeritus of Missions that includes a chapter from Paul Hiebert, the recently deceased missions professor at Trinity. These men are some of the leading scholars in the world... and Trinity has a whole new generation of scholars as well.

Trinity has asked me specifically to help bring a "missional�? emphasis and I look forward to doing so.

I look forward to working with my new friends at Trinity-- world class scholars with a passion for global evangelization.

Thanks for Craig Ott and Tite Tienou for the invitation and their partnership.

I fly to Chicago in the morning. The weather does not look good, but we shall see if I make it.

I will be spending the day with some of the missions and pastoral ministries faculty at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Trinity has a great slogan about "studying with the ones who WROTE the books," so I am looking forward to spending time with these great leaders and thinkers.

While I am off to one meeting, let me point you to a story from an earlier meeting.