Labor Day Links
Posted by Todd Engstrom in links on September 7, 2009
I’ve been slacking on this blog lately for two reasons:
- I’m struggling with my next set of posts, and can’t seem to nail them down.
- We’re right in the heart of Fall insanity, and I’ve been working some long hours.
Excuses, exschmuses.
For Labor Day, I figured I’d provide you with a few links to whet your appetite and hopefully kick myself into blogging gear, so without further adieu, here’s some good stuff I’ve been reading lately:
- My friend Halim Suh, Pastor of Equipping at The Austin Stone, wrote an good reflection on confession at our new “God, Gospel, Mission” blog. For the sermon series, go here.
- I’ve thoroughly been enjoying Emails from Crazy People…helps me understand that I’m not the only one who gets crazy email sometimes.
- Timmy Brister posted a great list of Gospel-centered resources, which I’d recommend browsing through.
- I really enjoyed Bob Thune’s thoughts on cultivating a Gospel-centered church from the Acts 29 Quarterly.
Hope you enjoy these, and I’ll be back in action later this week!
People Work and Task Work
Posted by Todd Engstrom in pastoring on September 2, 2009
I’m learning a lot this week about the similarities and differences of people work and task work. My role has been shifting into a managerial and oversight role over a significant number of people, and this has required much more personal interaction and meeting than I have had in the past.
Here’s a few things I’ve learned in no particular order:
- I can say without a shadow of a doubt that people work is equally as exhausting, if not more so, than task work
- People work requires as much planning, and more care, than task work
- It’s much easier to feel a sense of accomplishment in task work
- Great ideas come from dialogue, but action requires tasks
- Delegating tasks works better when you’ve done effective people work
- It’s much easier to manage tasks than people
- Task work gives me time to process people
Sorry for the stream of consciousness post, but I’m fairly brain-dead…forgot to mention that people work is incredibly mentally taxing.
Anything I missed?
Multisite Church | Christian Standard Interview
Posted by Todd Engstrom in assimilation, church, megachurch, missional on August 31, 2009
If you have been interested in the multisite discussion as a missional church, then I’d recommend reading the article below. Todd Wilson does a great job of highlighting the upside of multisite planting, and a holistic perspective on how it fits with church planting strategy.
Christian Standard Interview – Todd Wilson on Multisite
I think the theory of the article is spot on, but there is one key phrase in the article that a church must wrestle with:
If you take anything less than a very healthy process, whether it’s your children’s process, newcomer assimilation process, worship process—any process you have—when you copy it, if it’s unhealthy, it may become even more unhealthy than the original. On the one hand, your church might be growing rapidly beyond the current capacity of your leadership and systems. On top of that, you may be copying less than vibrant and healthy processes and systems. The result can be sideways energy that further slows you down.
The key to a successful multisite launch will be the health of your existing organization, which is a good motivation to do some deep assessment prior to launching.
Great thoughts to consider!
Ethereal Thought Train Summer Review
Posted by Todd Engstrom in links, review on August 28, 2009
As summer winds down, I figured I’d do some highlighting of the blog over the past few months. In no particular order, here are some of my favorites and yours:
- The 5 Big Issues in Campus Ministry | Innovation – This post contains most of my responses to Steve Lutz’s post on the 5 Big Issues in Campus Ministry.
- Discipleship and Ministry – This post was my thoughts on maintaining faithful discipleship while you feel pressure for ministry.
- College Ministers and Adoption – This post is my dream that College Ministers/Pastors would create a culture of adoption in the coming generation.
- Book Review | Total Church, Book Review | Adopted for Life, Book Review | Vintage Church – Book Reviews from my summer reading.
Let me know in the comments if there was another post that you liked!
Benefit for Missionaries to Sudan
Posted by Todd Engstrom in missions, personal on August 27, 2009
Local Austinites – please consider supporting my friends Jonathan and Lauren Ramirez as they pursue God’s call to work with the Didinga people in Sudan!
Ramirez Sudan Benefit Night @ Dominican Joe
Friday, September 11th, 2009, 7:00 – 11:00PM
Music Performances by: Aaron Ivey and Aaron Peace
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Armed with wide eyes and a desire to learn more about worldwide injustice, Jonathan Ramirez made his first trip to Sudan in the Spring of 2006. He had found an American missionary who knew about a Sudanese pastor and his wife that were church planting in the remote hills of Southern Sudan among the Didinga tribe. Told to bring a tent and a head lamp, Jonathan trekked to Sudan to meet pastor William Laku and his pioneering wife, Eunice. The purity of the land and the people captured Jonathan’s heart as he witnessed God’s Spirit moving among a people group that had been ravaged by 50 years of civil war. He knew the only reason he wanted to come home was to get married before returning to the Didinga long term. So, he boldly wrote an email home to Lauren declaring his intentions to marry her and serve in Sudan as missionaries. The two were married in November 2006 and took a belated honeymoon to East Africa in the Spring of 2007 so that Lauren could see the land she would one day call home.
The past three years have been an important time for the Ramirez’s as they have established their marriage, found a sending church community in Austin, joined the Africa Inland Mission long term team, attended missionary training and raised support. They had the privilege of leading a team to Sudan last summer in order to reproduce themselves as advocates for Sudan back in the States and cast a vision to friends and family for the future. A new home and new family await them among the Didinga tribe as they look forward to serving alongside of William and Eunice Laku as church planters in South Sudan.
Please join the Ramirez’s Friday, September 11th as they raise awareness about the country of Sudan and seek support for their call to the Didinga people. The night will highlight the call on Jonathan and Lauren, the town of Nagishot, the country of Sudan, missions opportunities, photography, music by Aaron Ivey and Aaron Peace, and more… all to benefit Jonathan and Lauren as they prepare to depart on September 22nd as long term missionaries in Nagishot, South Sudan.
For more on the event, click here.
For more information on Jonathan and Lauren, check out their blog.
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