Todd Engstrom

Author: Todd Engstrom

  • 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…

  • Storyframes | Unconventional Baptism

    This is why I love what I do.  Please watch it!

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • The Austin Stone Family Reunion

    Join the Austin Stone on Saturday, May 16, for our church-wide Family Reunion + Baptism at First EV Free Church.  Family Reunion + Baptism is a chance for us to gather as an entire church family and celebrate what God’s been doing in individuals and communities in our city. It’s also a great time to…

  • Google Searching

    Apparently, Google performs 400 million queries per day.  My question is: “who answered all these questions before Google came around?” For me, I think I just spent most of my time wondering what the answer would be… What did you do with your curiosity before Google came around?

  • The Reason for God | Chapter 4

    I just finished chapter 4 last night, which wrestles with the challenge of the church perpetrating so much injustice in the world.  Keller approaches the question in a couple different ways: He addresses the common argument that Christian nations have been responsible for war, genocide, slavery, destruction of culture, and a host of other evils. …

  • Retreat!

    I’ll be spending the next few days at a retreat with our staff team from The Austin Stone.  It should be a great time of refreshment and encouragement as we seek God together for the future of our ministry.  Please pray for our time there, that God would reveal Himself in power, and that He…