Author: Todd Engstrom
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Biblical/Theological Preaching
Halim Suh’s sermon from Sunday at The Austin Stone is an excellent example of applying biblical theology to understanding a difficult text of scripture. Halim did a fantastic job of grappling with 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 by articulating an overall biblical teaching of manhood and womanhood and through Genesis 1-3, and applied the overall perspective toward…
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Tribes Thoughts | Assimilation is Connectivity
In Tribes, Seth Godin talks about Senator Bill Bradley’s elements of movement: A narrative that tells the story of who the tribe is and the alternate future they are building Connection between the movement leader and the tribe Something to do, or actionable items In my context, number two is the hardest to accomplish, and…
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One Reason I Love the iPhone
Mobile note taking. I’ve never been one for writing thoughts down because I never wanted to carry a journal or notepad. Now I have an easy way to joy notes as I go, and sync them with my computer for developing and further thought with ease. Thank you, Apple, for helping me catalogue those important…
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Tribes
I just started reading this book (which is really more just a collection of thoughts), and it has been sparking some good thoughts in me. It naturally makes you re-examine your leadership and the people you are influencing, and it gives me a good lens to understand where I am strong and where I am…
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Ministry Idolatry from Tim Keller
The following is from 3 questions with Tim Keller at Towers Online. Q: What safeguards should 20-something pastors have in place to avoid the idolatry of ministry fame and the attitude of big numbers equals success? TK: If you know it is a danger, that is a very important start. Additionally, when you find yourself…
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Reading the Bible – A Simple Truth
I guess I’ve been in a reflective mood over the past few weeks, and have been dwelling on some of the things I have learned over the past few years. Since college, my view of the Bible has been drastically altered from a book filled with nuggets of wisdom to the narrative of the glory…
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The Calm Before the Storm
These last two weeks have been very restful. College ministry has been winding down for the year, and I had a full blown retreat with our staff and a mini-retreat with the Nearly/Newly Wed class Leadership team. I realized Monday, however, that I have ~5 weeks before The Deuce (baby #2) comes along, and it’s…
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Inconvenience
Small inconveniences are a good opportunity to slow down and think. I’m waiting for my tire to get fixed, and it’s been a good forty-five minutes of nothing to do. I’m reflecting on my last post and asking God to continue to tie threads of gospel truth from my head to my heart, and this…
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Redeeming Love
At The Austin Stone today, Aaron Ivey led us in worship to song called “Praise for a Fountain Opened” or more commonly, “There is a Fountain Filled with Blood”. The last line of the fourth verse, and the anthem we camp out on is: Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be til I…
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The Holy Spirit
I’ve been dwelling on the Holy Spirit as I read Jaeson Ma‘s book The Blueprint. Here is my simple, yet difficult, thought that arose: the degree to which the gospel is central in my life is directly correlated to the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit in me and through me. If I want to…
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Multisite Church
I just finished reading through the new 9 Marks Journal on Multisite church. I thought it was a fantastic and balanced presentation of arguments both for and against the concept. Ed Stetzer dialogued through the basic objection most have to multisite here, and I’m also asking a similar question. The article by Jonathan Leeman titled…