Todd Engstrom home

Category: christianity

  • What motivates you to mission? | shawblog

    My friend and colleague has written some fantastic thoughts on ministry to Muslims, which have broad applications for motivations for ministry.  Below is the concluding quip from a great post: Passion for obedience to the basic commands of Jesus in response to His love for you. The 2 greatest commands of Jesus are very clear…

  • Forgiveness in Marriage

    I’ve been reading through This Momentary Marriage by John Piper in preparation for our Nearly/Newly Wed class at The Austin Stone.  Although the content hasn’t been earth shattering, I’ve been reflecting on Ephesians 5:22-32, and specifically some applications for marriage from Christ’s covenant keeping love for His church. First, Piper has often made the point…

  • adaptive challenges and the church | The Forgotten Ways

    Really liked this quote from Alan Hirsch, and it speaks toward the movement we desire to see in Austin: When I am teaching TFW material, one of the constant questions that is raised is “do we need persecution to become a fully fledged Jesus movement?” And my answer is “No, I don’t believe that it…

  • unChristian 7, 8, 9

    I stalled in my review of unChristian because I lost some interest in the book as a whole.  I occasionally do that… You can find my thoughts here: Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 Alan Hirsch pulled a number of quotes from the book here, so if you’re curious how it finishes up,…

  • Mission First, Community Later?

    I found this quote on our Missional Community blog from the Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch: “In a remark ascribed to Gordon Cosby, the pioneering leader of that remarkable community Church of the Savior in Washington, D.C., he noted that in over sixty years of significant ministry, he had observed that no groups that came…

  • The Austin Stone on Campus Audio

    I had the awesome opportunity to preach to the college students of The Austin Stone a week and a half ago at The Austin Stone on Campus.  God presence was palpable through the evening, and it was truly a blessing to be a part of. If you’d like to listen to/download my message from The…

  • Digital REAP

    Our church uses a simple method of Bible study called REAP, coupled with a reading plan.  I’ve recently discovered how useful it can be to RSS this reading plan, as well as bookmark it, then use Google Notebook to take notes as I read. I still use the old fashioned bound Bible and a journal,…

  • Summary of Matt’s Innovation Talk

    The Christian Post has a summary of Matt’s talk here.  It is a good capture of some of the things our church and leadership has learned over the past few years.

  • Gentrified

    Logan has a good list of blogs he follows here, which he seems to think is extensive.  If only he knew how many I follow… One day I’ll share my whole blogroll, but for now you can peruse some things I find insightful from my Google Reader here.

  • Another Wells Excerpt

    Another great selection from Above All Earthly Pow’rs by David Wells here. This is probably the best book I have read in the past two years…

  • Missional Authors | The Forgotten Ways

    This image from The Forgotten Ways has a great breakdown of some authors who have influenced my thinking. From: the missional family tree according to leadership journal : The Forgotten Ways.

  • unChristian 6

    The thesis of Chapter 6 is that Christians must move from being perceived as naive and disengaged (“Sheltered” is the title of the chapter) to informed and involved with sophisticated nuance.  The creation of Christian subculture has done great damage to the overall integration within the culture at large, and therefore diminished influence and the…