Writing
Essays and working ideas from more than fifteen years of writing about faith, leadership, discipleship, the church, family, and life in Austin.
Start here
A few essays that introduce the questions and convictions behind this site.
- The Organizing Principle of the Church
- Leadership and Administration
- What Is a Missional Community? — Definition
- Transitioning Your Church to Missional Communities
For sustained explorations of a topic, browse the Selected Series.
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Missional community · Leadership · Christianity · Church · Personal · Austin Stone · Discipleship · Theology
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A Future and a Hope Conference
I attended and helped greet at an adoption conference this weekend with Olivia. There were three main sessions and a panel: Kristin Wong spoke on God’s heart for adoption from Ephesians 1 Julie Kouri presented myths…
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Reflections on the Ministry : Rick McKinley
This was a convicting message for me to hear from Rick McKinley of Imago Dei in Portland. The art of unbusyness and unneccesariness is essential to the being available to God. There is disaster awaiting the…
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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…
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What Makes a Great Leadership Team? | Gallup Management Journal
Came across this at What’s Best Next from What Makes a Great Leadership Team? at Gallup Management Journal, and thought it was another helpful understanding of balanced leadership teams. As we worked with these leadership teams,…
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CGI | Austin Stone Student in the Statesman
This is why I love doing what I do…I get to watch amazing students do amazing things. Jackie Markovich is an intern in the College Ministry at The Austin Stone, and The Austin American Statesman printed…
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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…
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Random Thoughts/Anecdotes on a Slow Day
Here are some random thoughts and anecdotes for Friday: GTB decided to go on sleep strike last night. He literally cried for five straight hours, and we have no idea why. He finally fell asleep at…
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Why do I do stupid things?
A lot of times I feel like the kid in this picture. I do things people tell me not to, ignoring wise counsel, just to see what will happen. Bottom line, sometimes you have to be…
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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,…
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TASCC Missional Communities Blog
Stew and the Community team have been working on putting together a Missional Community Blog for The Austin Stone. Here’s an excerpt: How to stay focused on the vision and mission As leaders we must clearly…
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Fivefold Leadership | Dream Awakener
I’ve found this post and the whole series from JR Woodward particularly insightful in applying the APEPT/APEST model of leadership to a western, contemporary church context. JR has a unique way of articulating these ideas into…
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Practice is the Embodiment of Value
I listened to Alan Hirsch at our leadership conference (via Shapevine), and he busted out the title of this blog. He was talking about the idea that intellect moves us to action being a complete reversal…