Todd Engstrom

Author: Todd Engstrom

  • Discipleship | The Austin Stone Summer Conference

    I’m on a panel called “Making Disciples in the Church” for The Austin Stone’s Summer Conference. Below are the questions I’m being asked (phrased from the point of a facilitator). Section 1 How did you start making disciples? How did you find the person you are discipling? What prompted you to be intentional with that…

  • Today is Baby Day!

    Today, by God’s grace we will be welcoming Hudson Noah Engstrom (AKA The Deuce) into the world! You can find our updates here. Please pray for our family today!

  • Today Was a Great Day

    Every once in awhile, you have an absolutely outstanding day, and God’s faithfulness is overwhelming.  Today was one of them.  Here’s the rundown: Donuts with my wife and son Sermon prep Meeting discussing future vision of some specific ministry and my role in it Developing a staff training for social media engagement with a few…

  • Pastoring a Wedding

    I’ve really grown to enjoy the role of officiating weddings as a pastor.  I’ve had the opportunity to perform a half-dozen weddings over the last year–some for old friends, some for new friends–and I am consistently reminded of God’s grace in my life to bring me such an amazing woman.   Additionally, the symbolism of the…

  • Spontaneous Emergence and Connectivity | Alan Hirsch meets Seth Godin

    I came across this quote today from Alan Hirsch, and thought it dove-tailed nicely into my thoughts on assimilation as connectivity. Most change in complex systems is emergent; that is to say it comes about as a result of the free (and often informal) interactions between the various ‘agents’ in the system. In an organization…

  • Tribes Thoughts | Leadership is Influence

    One good insight from Tribes has been thinking through how leadership is influence, which is practically exercised through commonality of an idea and communication. Godin’s most basic argument is that marketing has changed the rules for markets, and more concretely, the internet has changed the face of marketing to provide greater influence to individuals disconnected…

  • Refreshing Perspective | The Blueprint

    I’ve really enjoyed reading Jaeson Ma’s book The Blueprint: A Revolutionary Plan to Plant Missional Communities on Campus. Jaeson is certainly cut from a different theological tree than I am, but I have been challenged and refreshed by his perspective.  The book is essentially broken down into three sections: Prayer, Evangelism, and Missional Community.  The…

  • Passivity | Between Two Worlds

    The following is a quip from Kevin DeYoung’s Just Do Something (via Between Two Worlds). Passivity is a plague among Christians. It’s not just that we don’t do anything; it’s that we feel spiritual for not doing anything. We imagine that our inactivity is patience and sensitivity to God’s leading. At times it may be;…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…