Todd Engstrom

Author: Todd Engstrom

  • Called | JD Greear

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    Todd Engstrom
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    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…

  • Avoiding the Bureaucratic Death Spiral | What’s Best Next

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    Todd Engstrom
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    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…

  • College Ministry Links

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    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…

  • Freshman Ministry at The Austin Stone | Gentrified

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    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: — 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…

  • The Spiritual Openness Continuum | the SENTinel

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    My new friend Steve Lutz has done some good work on articulating the relative breakdowns of students at Penn State on their “spiritual openness continuum”.  I’d suspect it looks fairly similar on most state university campuses (±5%): +2 Actively looking, open people (churched, professing Christian, or on the verge). 3% of the student population +1…

  • Obedience Is Key | Learning to Trade

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    I love doing College Ministry, but more importantly, I love it when men whom you have invested your life into apply what they have learned to their lives.  Below is a post from a student whom I discipled as he is entering into the world of day trading: I’m 100% sure that trusting God will…

  • Discipleship and Ministry | Part 2

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    Todd Engstrom
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    For my initial thoughts on the challenges of remaining faithful to discipleship in the midst of ministry, go here.  I’d like to expand a little more fully on my thoughts from the last post. In brief, I’ve found that it can be extremely difficult to continually cultivate the centrality of discipleship, or the process of…

  • Summary of College Ministry | Gentrified

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    Ever wondered what we’re up to with college this time of the year? Check out my friend Logan Gentry’s post on what’s happening, starting with Austin Stone on Campus. Below is the twitter chatter from ASOC…good stuff! — Realtime results for “austin stone” 0 more results since you started searching. Refresh to see them. toodus:…

  • Launching a Church Adoption Fund Webinar | ABBA Fund Blog

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    My friend Jason Kovacs from The Abba Fund is doing a webinar on setting up an adoption fund at your church (something we have done recently at The Austin Stone).  ThE webinar will provide an overview of how to establish a simple yet effective church adoption assistance fund. The webinar is happening September 15th, 2009,…

  • Labor Day Links

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    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…

  • People Work and Task Work

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    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…

  • Multisite Church | Christian Standard Interview

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    Todd Engstrom
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    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…