Archive for September, 2009
A Gospel-Centered Reader | Timmy Brister
Posted by Todd Engstrom in church, gospel, links on September 20, 2009
I stumbled across this resource a couple of weeks ago, but neglected to post it…the link below is an excellent compilation of Gospel-centered resources from Timmy Brister. Give it a look!
Timmy also just posted a links to Soma Community’s resources of “Living Inside the Gospel Story” here. I’m planning on doing some survey of the material this week, but let me know your thoughts!
Called | JD Greear
Posted by Todd Engstrom in christianity, leadership on September 18, 2009
I loved JD Greear‘s thoughts on calling as they are seeking to plant 1000 churches in 40 years. Below is the excerpt:
First, calling is not:
* Necessarily a Burning Bush/Damascus Road/Warm Fuzzy experience. We all want the Mark Driscoll, “God told me to marry Grace, plant churches, and train men” kind of experience, and that happens sometimes. But the “burning bush” experience is not how most of God’s servants are called–either in the Bible or in church history. Charles Spurgeon was clear he never got anything like that. I didn’t either. The only bushes that have ever spoke to me were the ones at Southpoint that have the music coming out of them.
* A special instruction to live missionally. Radical commitment to the Great Commission and radical sacrifice on its behalf are not the special assignment of a chosen few, but a mandate for all. Sometimes I think we have invented this whole language of calling to mask the fact that 90% of church-going Christians aren’t living missionally.
* An excuse to passively wait for God rather than actively pursue ministry. Most of God’s miracles in the Bible happened not because someone did what He told them to do, but because they saw an opportunity to advance the Kingdom of God and they asked God to help them.
Rather, calling is:
* A church-recognized combination of your God-given abilities, giftings and experiences with opportunities God gives you. Ability + Affinity + Need = Calling (usually speaking).
I really like that he emphasizes the communal, church-centric view of calling, as it highlights the difference of our tendency today toward an individualized “calling gnosticism” – an individual hears directly from God, without any confirmation from Scripture or community, and chases a calling to seminary or some institution outside their primary fellowship. My story of “calling” to vocational ministry happened because my church leaders recognized my giftings, and because I found a passion in ministry and there was an opportunity for it in our local body.
This definition of calling highlights two very important things: the church AND the individual. First the church must have a passion for helping people identify their abilities and gifts, and provide opportunities to exercise them in ministry. Secondly, the individual needs to have some requisite skill and a passion for the ministry, not simply a general inkling that they may want to do it.
That’s not to say God doesn’t operate in the directed calling of an individual, I just don’t think it is normative for believers. We know God’s calling through His Word, the community of believers, and the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Thoughts?
Avoiding the Bureaucratic Death Spiral | What’s Best Next
Posted by Todd Engstrom in austin stone, pastoring on September 16, 2009
Matt Perman pulled a great quote from a book that I love, Good to Great by Jim Collins, over at What’s Best Next. The basic gist (for those who won’t read below), is that bureaucracy kills entrepreneurial spirit, while discipline sustains it.
Entrepreneurial success is fueled by creativity, imagination, bold moves into uncharted waters, and visionary zeal. [Then] as a company grows and becomes more complex, it begins to trip over its own success — too many new people, too many new customers, too many new orders, too many new products.
What was once great fun becomes an unwieldy ball of disorganized stuff. Lack of planning, lack of accounting, lack of systems, and lack of hiring creates constant friction. Problems surface — with customers, with cash flow, with schedules.
The professional managers finally rein in the mess. They create order out of chaos, but they also kill the entrepreneurial spirit [emphasis added]…
The creative magic begins to wane as some of the most innovative people leave, disgusted by the burgeoning bureaucracy and hierarchy. The exciting start-up transforms into just another company, with nothing special to recommend it. The cancer of mediocrity begins to grow in earnest.
Here’s why this quote scares me: my current role on our staff is to create some order out of chaos. We are in a season of transition as a church, and I am spearheading the effort to create some order. So the real question is, how do I honor those who have innovated and created and create systems which still allow entrepreneurial freedom?
Collins’ answer is below:
Most people build their bureaucratic rules to manage the small percentage of wrong people on the bus, which in turn drives away the right people on the bus, which then increases the percentage of wrong people on the bus, which increases the need for more bureaucracy to compensate for incompetence and lack of discipline, which then further drives the right people away, and so forth.… An alternative exists: Avoid bureaucracy and hierarchy and instead create a culture of discipline. When you put these two complementary forces together — a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship — you get the magical alchemy of superior performance and sustained results.
So the answer is to create a culture of discipline…excellent. Next question: how?
And this is what I’m spending most of my time thinking on. How do I create a culture of discipline, which stays true to our vision and builds a structure for endurance, while also leaving room for innovation? When do I say yes to great ideas? When do I say no?
I’d love your thoughts…drop me a comment!
College Ministry Links
Posted by Todd Engstrom in college ministry, links on September 15, 2009
There were two great posts about college ministry today that I wanted to point out to you:
- 6 Essentials of College Ministry from The Resurgence – this is some great practical wisdom for particular issues we face on college campuses.
- College Ministry Poles: Cooperation vs. Independence by Benson Hines – an excellent post on interaction with other campus ministries, and the variety of views between two ends of a spectrum.
For the record, I agree with all 6 elements posted at The Resurgence, and have personally faced each situation to which they speak. With respect to Benson’s post, I fall on the full collaboration of ministries (with a few caveats…primarily ministry methodology and gospel centrality).
I’d love to hear your thoughts on either post!
Freshman Ministry at The Austin Stone | Gentrified
Posted by Todd Engstrom in college ministry on September 14, 2009
Ever wondered what The Austin Stone is doing with Freshmen this fall? Check out what my friend Logan Gentry and the College Team have cooked up for Freshmen below:
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We’ll be dealing with 6 issues that focus on Gospel, Community, & Mission and answering the essential questions of what it means to believe in Christ and how we are supposed to live as Christians.
Week 1: The Gospel: What is the Gospel?
The very thing that make someone a Christian is often the most difficult for Christians to really understand. Often it is assumed that people know and understand the gospel, but this week will lay a foundation and establish a biblical understanding of the gospel as the power of God for salvation of all men.
Week 2: Gospel Repentance: What is sin & how do I deal with it?
The 1st of Martin Luther’s 95 thesis is “all of life is repentance” which comes from an understanding that the root of all sin is idolatry. This week will focus on identifying the roots of sin in our life and appropriately understanding the idea of repentance through the gospel.
Week 3: Gospel Living v. Religion: Parable of the Prodigal Son
The most famous parable, the parable of the prodigal son, actually reveals that you can be far from God both while living solely for the pleasures of this world and by living a religious life focused solely on morality.
Week 4: Gospel-Led Community: What is true Gospel-Centered Christian Community?
The gospel calls people individually, but calls them to be a part of a community of believers. This collection of individuals is then transformed to live sacrificially for each other and the context they have been placed. This week will examine what a true gospel-centered Christian community looks like.
Week 5: Gospel-Led Mission: What do you mean by mission?
Often the term mission can be accomplished out of a sense of duty or responsibility as opposed to it being a result of valuing the gospel above all else. This results in treating people at projects to be improved upon instead of simply caring for all people that they might know joy, peace, and truth. This week we’ll evaluate our motivations for social justice & evangelism & we will discuss how this is most effectively accomplished when do this together as a community.
Week 6: Gospel-Led Commissioning
Really it’s just a commissioning (Christianese for sending them out), but I wanted to see if I could put “Gospel-Led” in front of each week. It will be a night of prayer, worship, and sending them out as groups.
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I’m really excited for how they will train freshmen at the outset with our DNA of gospel-centered missional community, and can’t wait to see the impact it has on campus!
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