I had a great day in Dallas. I am sitting in the airport right now hoping to make it out before the storm roles in.

I had the chance to hear Alan Roxburgh in person for the first time. If you are building a missional church bibliography, you will want his resources, including:

The Roxburg Journal

Allelon: A Movement for Missional Leaders

Alan's books at Amazon.com

I was blessed to spend some time with Eric Swanson from Leadership Network after the conference. He co-wrote The Externally Focused Church. Eric is one of the more Christ-like leaders I know in Christian ministry and his book should be required reading for people interested in the missional church.

I also got some one-on-one time with Jeremy Self (who blogs here). Jeremy is planting a church in Austin, a city whose motto is "Keep Austin Weird." Should be interesting.

Finallly, it was good to catch up with Chris Conrad, director of church planting for the Wesleyan Church. I am coaching just a handful of movement leaders and Chris is one of them. They are doing great work in "Wesley world" and have a heart for more missional church planting.

More soon about DTS and their leadership center.

I was off to here (leaving at 6:40p.m.):

Well... not tonight... American Airlines has cancelled the flight and there is no other flight to get there tonight. So, tomorrow, at 6a.m. we try again. Sigh.

I look forward to being with the people at Dallas Theological Seminary. They have invited Alan Roxburgh and me to come and me to come and lead a missional church conference (along with my friends Bob Roberts and Eric Swanson).

You can find more conference info here. And, if all goes well, the scheudle will remain the same. Here is the program description:

Beyond the Church Doors: Developing a Missional Culture in Your Congregation

This conference is about more than programs and strategies. It's about igniting passion in your congregation to see God transform their community.

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Day 1: You will hear from two of the leading missional strategists interacting together for the first time. Drs. Ed Stetzer and Alan Roxburgh will discuss the theology and practices of a missional church and prepare you to lead your church toward a more missional focus.

Day 2: Your ministry team will be given tools to assess your church's readiness and implement missional strategies. Through group process time, your team will formulate practical steps to develop a missional culture within your congregation.

Today I drove back and forth to Atlanta and visted with the leadership of the North American Mission Board in Georgia. It was good to see some old friends, but it was really not necessary for them to "throw" a fire alarm in my honor. I'd wager $50 that the person who burned the popcorn had a bad rest of the day.

When I take long car drives, I like catch up with appointments and phone calls. Here are a few updates from "Friday is for Friends."

Junias Venugopal, Dean of Columbia International University

Junias Venugopal, Dean at Columbia Biblical Seminary, called today. Columbia is one of my favorite seminaries. They model discipleship, sacrifice, and missions. I have had the privilege to teach there twice and am always amazed at their students and faculty.

Today, Junias told me about some exciting new training. I will share more in the coming days, but there are exciting things coming up from CIU in church planting. Particularly exciting is their new extension in Atlanta.

Ron Krandall, Dean of Asbury Seminary

Ron called today and we talked about church revitalization. Ron is about to add a new resource to the church revitalization field. He wrote a book over a decade ago called Turnaround Strategies for the Small Church. Well, by the end of the year they will republish the book having revisited the same churches 10 years later. Such longitudinal research is incredibly helpful and I look forward to seeing this new research. Well done.

David Platt

Had a great talk with David Platt today, one of the youngest megachurch pastors in the country. (He is 29, though I am guessing he is tired of people point that out.) Christianity Today has a write up on David here.

The church has an amazing and growing global vision. Take a look at their global ministry page here. I believe 1600 of their people were engaged in a global mission project this year.

SBC Voices

The guys who ripped and posted a portion of my SBC sermon on YouTube, making it the 14th most downloaded video on YouTube for one day, have now added me a a "March Madness" contest. I must confess that I am incredibly ignorant to how these kind of contests work (knowing nothing of basketball), but I was told today that I am winning. (I'd like to thank the academy.)

You can correct that lead by voting here. I voted.

The Infinity Alliance is off and running.

Todd Milby, Mission Leader and Teaching Pastor at the Summit Church, shared some exciting news about the launching of the Infinity Alliance.

He wrote:

What does God want for America? Imagine what God could do in your neighborhood, town, city or state if every man, woman, and child who lived there was given the repeated opportunity to see and hear the transformational Gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe God wants His church to come together for this mission to reduce lostness in given geographies across America and transform communities with His Gospel. The Infinity Alliance exists to unveil God's Kingdom by reaching every man, woman and child throughout the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ by starting and partnering with missional churches. We believe that God not only wants to start new missional churches in our communities but also see the existing expressions of His church mobilized for this mission.

In 2008 Infinity Alliance desires to:
-Establish 5 city movements in US cities where church leaders come together around the mission to reach every man, woman, and child with the Gospel in their geography. (i.e. Mission Columbia, Mission SWFL, Mission Buffalo, etc.)
-Start and/or partner with 300 missional churches in America.
-Establish Renovation Centers in 10 cities in the US with 10-20 projects each (Existing churches or church plants)
-Embrace 5 international joint venture projects around the world where God is initiating national movements to reach every man, woman, and child.

The Strategy

Envisioning

Through relationships and envisioning events, recruit catalytic leaders that will identify a city or region and have the capacity to take responsibility for delivering the gospel to every man, woman, and child as well as participate in international joint venture projects to invest people and resources in saturating another region with the transforming message of Jesus Christ.

Training

Provide resources and personnel to establish Renovation Centers to equip church leaders with missional thinking and practices that reflect a biblical understanding on church and leadership.

Resources

Resource these leaders with the connections, accountability, and strategies needed to fully evangelize their designated geography. (10 Session Manual & DVD Series Releasing March 2008)

For More Info: www.theinfinityalliance.com

Have a great Lord's Day on Sunday!

From the Foster Letter (see www.garydfoster.com)

The 2008 Harris Poll of American leadership confidence has measured the confidence finds 15 of the 16 items listed show a fall in confidence from '07. They are leadership in medicine down from 35% to 28%, the White House down 22% to 15% and small business leaders from 54% to 47%,. Wall Street, major educational institutions, the courts and the justice systems also saw significant declines.

The 6 institutions enjoying the highest confidence of Americans are:

The military (51%); Small business (47%); Major educational institutions (32%); Medicine (28%); Organized religion (25%): The Supreme Court (25%).

The lowest levels of confidence are in:

The Congress (8%);
The press (10%);
Organized labor (11%);
Wall Street (11%);
Major companies (14%).

(Pastors Weekly Briefing 3/7/08, cited in the Foster Letter).

I just landed in San Antonio and am getting ready to talk about missional church issues all day tomorrow with a couple hundred younger pastors in San Antonio. I will blog more on that tomorrow, but I just received Rick Warren's Ministry Toolbox for the week.

Some interesting things this week:

Scott McKnight, professor and leading emerging church blogger, has an insightful article on evangelism and the importance of connecting the Great Commission to the Great Commandment. You can read it here.

Tim Keller is also quoted in the Toolbox:

"The theory that there is a God who made all of the world accounts for the evidence we see better than the theory that there is no God. Those who argue against the existence of God go right on using induction, language, and their cognitive faculties, all of which makes far more sense in a universe in which a God has created and supports them all by his power.�? - Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism (Dutton Adult, 2008)

Prediction: tomorrow, this newsletter will be cited on certain blogs as proof that Purpose Driven (Warren), Emerging (McKnight), and Missional (Keller) are really all the same heresy. Grin.
-------------------------------------

Anyway, there is also an article there (in the fine print) by Mike Dodson and me (primarily Mike, truth be told). You can read it here or I have included it below.

The article comes from a conversation Rick and I had a few months ago. Mike and I found it remarkable that 50% of the 324 pastors we surveyed mentioned a Warren resource in their survey response. The graph tells the story-- click here to open in a new window.

So, we wrote this article which you might find helpful. We wrote:

Today I am in Bowling Green, KY teaching at First Baptist Church, Bowling Green for the Kentucky Baptist Convention.

Here is a photo of the conference from inside the sanctuary of First Baptist. There were about 350 people at the conference and the KBC announced that they are creating a process around our book, Comeback Churches. You can download the PowerPoint here.

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Now, you keen students of history know that First Baptist is an important part of the history of the Southern Baptist Convention.

And, since I like to give a "little extra" on the blog...

First Baptist was a key part of what is knows as the Landmark Baptist movement.

Wikipedia explains Landmarkism:

Most theologians and historians who have dealt with Landmarkism have agreed that the following ecclesiological convictions were inherent to the system:

The exclusive validity of Baptist churches

Although different champions of the Landmark Baptist cause have identified different required characteristics, or "marks," that validate a legitimate Baptist church, all varieties of Landmarkism stipulate that legitimate Baptist churches are the only legitimate churches. According to Landmarkism, congregations of other denominational varieties are merely religious gatherings, or "societies," with no claim to the title "church."

The invalidity of non-Baptist churchly acts

Landmark Baptists have refused to recognize as valid any baptisms or ordinations performed in circumstances other than under the auspices of a Baptist church. Thus, Landmark Baptists have declined to allow non-Baptists to preach in Landmark Baptist churches and have required prospective members who have received "pedobaptism" or "alien immersion" to be baptized by a Baptist church before receiving them into membership. Expressed as a syllogism, the Landmark Baptist argument is:

Major premise: To be valid, Christian ordinations and baptisms must be performed by a valid New Testament church.

Minor premise: Only valid Baptist churches are valid New Testament churches.

Conclusion: Therefore, only ordinations and baptisms performed by valid Baptist churches are valid Christian ordinations and baptisms.

The leaders of the Landmark movement were at times called "The Great Triumvirate," made up of J.R. Graves, James Madison Pendleton, and Amos Cooper Dayton.

James Pendleton was the pastor of First Baptist in Bowling Green. His work, Old Landmark Reset, is a foundational document for Southern Baptist Landmarkism. You can download the entire book here, and be sure to note the subtitle: "Ought Baptists to Invite Pedobaptists to Preach in Their Pulpits?"

However, Pendleton did not hold the same views as some other Landmarkers, particularly on "Baptist successionism."

Baptist Successionism

Some Landmark Baptists (not all) believed that the true church could be traced back all the way to John the Baptist. They wanted a view of "succession" that focused on baptism (hence Baptist Successionism). Some saw this as a response to the view of Apostolic Succession, or the belief that Peter ordained (Pope) Linus ordained (Pope) Anacletus... eventually ordained the current pope. I tend to think it had more to do with the Stone Campbell movement's "restoration" views-- Baptists wanted to show they had nothing to "restore." They were always here.

Landmark Baptists believed that the early Christians baptized each other properly. But, they believed, error soon crept in on issues such as baptism. But, some believed there was always a remnant, a "trail of blood." So, the Montanists baptized the Donatists, who baptized the Paulicians... eventually baptizing Southern Baptists.

You can click here to download the chart with all the details. (As a young pastor, I once preached at a rural North Carolina church with this very chart painted on the wall.)

James Milton Carroll, decades later, wrote The Trail of Blood, telling the full story from the Landmark Baptist successionism perspective. You can download the whole book/pamphlet here. Over 2 million copies were published and its influence on the denomination was profound.

Some people mistakenly equate successionism with Landmark ecclesiology although, as with Pendleton, one can be the latter without being the former.

So What is Landmark Baptist Ecclesiology?

Theopedia explains in more detail:

The impetus for the movement was the publication of Pendleton's An Old Landmark Reset in 1854, and the Cotton Grove meeting of Baptists in 1851. The meeting at the Cotton Grove Baptist Church near Jackson, Tennessee sought to answer five questions:

"(1.) Can Baptists with their principles on the Scriptures, consistently recognize those societies not organized according to the Jerusalem church, but possessing different government, different officers, a different class of members, different ordinances, doctrines and practices as churches of Christ?

(2.) Ought they to be called gospel churches or churches in a religious sense?

(3.) Can we consistently recognize the ministers of such irregular and unscriptural bodies as gospel ministers?

(4.) Is it not virtually recognizing them as official ministers to invite them into our pulpits or by any other act that would or could be construed as such recognition?

(5.) Can we consistently address as brethren those professing Christianity who not only have not the doctrine of Christ and walk not according to his commandments but are arrayed in direct and bitter opposition to them?"

The emphasis of Landmarkism is:

-that the church is local and visible only;

-that the church has had a continuous existence since its organization by Jesus before Pentecost until the present day (sometimes called Baptist successionism or church perpetuity);

-that the Great Commission was given to the church (local churches) only; and

-that baptism and the Lord's supper are church ordinances and are only valid when performed by authority of a New Testament (Baptist) church.

So, today I spent that day at a church that was part of a movement... interesting indeed.

Although I am not teaching history today, I thought you might find it interesting!

Here is a picture of the baptistry. It is big-- very big. I am guessing 8 people could fit in there. There is a dome over it and it is the most distinct feature in the sanctuary (which, makes sense, considering the info above).

Although I have recently shared that I have joined the faculty at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, I am still pleased to be teaching a few places in the next year or so, including Reformed, Biblical, and Southeastern seminaries.

It was recently announced that I will be co-teaching my class at Reformed with Joel Hunter.

Joel is quite a legend and has riled up much of the evangelical world. He was offered the leadership of the Christian Coalition, announced his plan to broaden the agenda of the organization, and then the Coalition and he parted ways while he was still "president elect." The New York Times version is here.

CNN explained:

"I wanted to expand the issues from only moral ones -- such as opposing abortion and redefining marriage -- to include compassion issues such as poverty, justice, and creation care," Hunter said in a statement. "We need to care as much for the vulnerable outside the womb as inside the womb."

He has a book out that gets at some of his political views, A New Kind of Conservative.

However, conservative politics (of the new or old kinds) will not be the focus of our class. We will focus on the gospel, the mission, and the church. Since Joel has been all over the news, many people might not know that he is a pastor in Central Florida with a thriving church called Northland.

And, the book he is requiring for the class is Church Distributed, his manifesto of sorts. You can read the book online here. In it, he explains:

So what is the distributed church, anyway?...

In the present model of the church, the local church tends to be isolated and preoccupied with its own world. It appears to be, and often is, self-centered. Our triune God, by His very nature, models relationship-centeredness. God in Christ came out of His self-sufficiency to identify with those radically different from Himself, and His church is called to be like Him. The church that is distributed values ministry beyond its walls more than ministry inside them because it focuses on those not yet included. It reaches through relationships it has within its congregation to identify with others. Intentional distribution of the church with a goal of ultimate connection through relationship reflects God's image.

Christian, wake up: YOU ARE A MINISTER OF THE CHURCH. You don't need to know more; you don't need to have a church program commission you--although both can be useful. But you need to understand that in this definition of the church that you are a minister of the church and you can further ministry by connecting with other believers who are different from yourself.

It should be a great class. You can download the syllabus here.

He is Risen Indeed.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, uncorrupted, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by God's power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 Peter 1:3-5 (HCSB)

This morning, I spent the day with the staff of three local churches, Living Hope, New Vision, and First Baptist churches. Our focus was on "the missional church" and how our churches might embrace such a vision.

There are many who think that large churches simply cannot be missional. To be fair, I think it is more difficult at a mega church. Large churches can and do struggle with the tendency to turn inward. Having "much" makes it harder to focus on the mission because it requires so much energy to maintain the system. In other words, the more you have, the more you must focus on keeping "it" going.

But, ultimately, I think the mission of God must not just be "owned" by the new or small church. It must also be owned by mega churches, contemporary churches, traditional churches, etc. It's a big mission and we need all hands on deck to join God in that mission.

So, I talked with about 60 staff members from three megachurches about how we might do that in churches such as ours. (And, a couple of church planters crashed the meeting too, so I guess that was 4 churches.)

The questions and discussion were very insightful and spoke well, I think, of the desire that these staffs have to not play church, but to truly join God in His mission.

You can listen to Jason Pettus, pastor of Living Hope, as he recently preached a series on the missional church. Click on graphic to see and listen to the series:

Last year, I wrote an article intended to encourage megas to be more missional. It was published in Outreach Magazine.

The article has an interesting history. After it was published in the magazine, the Presbyterian Global Fellowship, a reform group within the mainline PCUSA, sent the article out to their 8000 subscribers. I received some interesting feedback from mainline pastors-- probably the most feedback I have ever received from mainline pastors from a published article.

Anyway, you can read the article below:

Cathy Grossman writes:

[Keller on sin:] "Around here it means self-centeredness, the acorn from which it all grows. Individually, that means 'I live for myself, for my own glory and happiness, and I'll work for your happiness if it helps me.' Communally, self-centeredness is destroying peace and justice in the world, tearing the net of interwovenness, the fabric of humanity."

...[Driscoll] defines sin as "anything contrary to God's will. People assume the way they are is normal, not that something has gone terribly wrong, and this world is abnormal." Although his primary audience is newbie Christians, Driscoll is sharply clear: "Without an idea of sin, Easter is meaningless."

My three hours at Criswell College turned into quite an ordeal in Dallas... but also a blessing as I had the chance to spend some time with college President Jerry Johnson and to learn more about a hero of mine, W.A. Criswell.

The Visit

I preached at the Criswell College chapel for their Great Commission Week. They had a great group of students and a passion for the gospel.

After that, the president and I went to the Petroleum Club. Now, this is a pretty fancy place for a working class New Yorker like me. The club explains, "Founded in 1934, The Dallas Petroleum Club has evolved from a fraternity of prominent oil men into one of the finest private city clubs in the country." Well, let's just say that I wished I had worn a shirt that "tucks�? before we went.

Spending some time with Jerry Johnson was great. We actually were at Southern Seminary together but this was the first time we had the chance to visit and talk-- and talk we did. About the denomination, the school, and mutual friends.

Jerry has a radio program and he gets some great people to join him for interviews. Yesterday, he spoke with Lee Strobel. You can download and listen to podcasts of his insightful interviews here.

Criswell has some ambitious and exciting plans for the future.

The Storm and Its Damage

When we got back from the club, things were not good at the school (or in Dallas in general). American Airlines canceled all Dallas flights and, I found out later, thousands of people spent the night in cots. (They were still there this morning.) At one point they actaully evacuated the air traffic control tower due to 100 mph winds.

When Jerry and I returned from lunch, there was at least two feet of standing water against the wall on the outside of the school, and the lower floor of the library was flooding. Not good.

Pray for the school, and consider donating, to help them with the damage.

The School and Its Founder

Well, since I was not going home, I had some time to tour... and what a tour it was. Jerry showed me around a few not-yet-public things.

Now, if the name "Criswell" means nothing to you, stop reading now. Or, better yet, read on and learn.

First, as any Baptist worth his/her friend chicken knows, Criswell is ground zero for the Southern Baptist Conservative Resurgence. The pictures are on the wall and the names are mentioned regularly. (They call them "Criswell Men,�? always uttered with hushed and respectful tones.) So, I am honored they would invite me to a place with such history.

Second, W.A. Criswell is a legend. Wikipedia's article on Wally Amos Criswell explains:

Wallie Amos Criswell, Ph.D. (December 19, 1909 - January 10, 2002), was an American pastor, author, and a two-term elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1968 to 1969. Supporters have described him as the patriarch of the "Conservative Resurgence" within the SBC.

Criswell was born in Eldorado, Oklahoma, and felt a divine call to enter the Christian ministry as a teenager. Criswell was licensed to preach at the age of seventeen and soon thereafter held student pastorates at Devil's Bend and Pulltight, Texas. He would also serve as pastor of First Baptist Church Mt. Washington (near Louisville, KY), First Baptist Church of Chickasha, Oklahoma, and First Baptist Church of Muskogee.

In 1944, he became the senior pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, where he remained until semiretirement in 1995. During this period, the church's membership grew from 7,800 to 25,000. The church expanded to multiple buildings in downtown Dallas, and becoming a well-known Southern Baptist megachurch. The popular evangelist Billy Graham has been a member of the Dallas congregation.

Criswell was instrumental in the rightward shift of the Southern Baptist convention that began in the late 1970s. He published fifty-four books, including an annotated Criswell Study Bible. He received eight honorary doctorates. He founded Criswell College, First Baptist Academy, and KCBI Radio.

Sermons and Videos

Upon his death, a site was endowed to preserve his sermons, well, until Jesus comes back. You can download his sermons in multiple forms here. Don't let the front page fool you; it is a technological wonder from over 5 decades of expository preaching to one congregation.

The www.wacriswell.com site has a full bio with two video documentaries at the end of the bio page.

W.A. Criswell

No, at the risk of going over the top, I am a big fan of W.A. Criswell. So, I was excited when Jerry took me into a new memorabilia room in honor of Dr. Criswell. It is an EXACT replica of his home study reproduced exactly as it was on the day he died on January 10, 2002. For example, the items on his desk are still on his desk from that day, it is just now in a locked room). The details are, well, a little freaky. For example, they took pictures of all the books and stacked them right where they were that day. (When I die, please clean up the place and straighten my books before taking any pictures.)

But, since it was exactly placed, I had an opportunity that few have:

His famous goggle glasses... I touched them (a free book to anyone who can find a photo of him preaching in those glasses).

His chair... sat in it.

His kneeler... prayed a quick prayer in it.

And, I even took home a piece of his stationary (real stuff from his desk).

Amazing.

I thought day was redeemed and could not have been made any better... but wait, there is more! I found out later that they picked me up from the airport in Mrs. Criswell's car, donated to the school upon her death. So, that was a little extra bonus.

A Prayer

So, thank you God for the rain. Sorry you had to strand 10,000 people in the Dallas airport so I could see W.A. Criswell's study, but I am grateful.

There are great preachers today. There are great leaders today. But, there are few W.A. Criswells to be found. May his tribe increase and may the college that bears his name produce leaders committed to his cause!

Weather aside, all and all a good time... and, I owe Luke Britt for taking me to the airport at 5a.m. this morning...

It's 5.30 in the morning and I am off to Criswell College to preach in their chapel for Great Commission Week.

I will share more about Criswell College later, but it has, in its short history, made a lasting impact on my whole denomination.

Luke Britt, recent winner of the "Rick Warren / Ed Stetzer caption contest" will be picking me up.

Updated:

Well, this tells the story:

The thing that impressed me most about Highlands Fellowship was their global vision. I have already written about my visit to Highlands and their multisite strategy. But, the most impressive thing about their church has to be their global vision.

I asked Jimmie to share with me about that global vision and he explained:

One of the most defining moments of my life happened on Monday night, May 12th 2003. It continues to shape my life and millions of others to this day.

Our friends at Ellison Research have recently done some research on sin. (I am skipping the obvious joke that we all have done a lot of personal research on the subject.)

You can read their public studies here. The sin study (with charts indicating percents who agree something is a sin), is particularly interesting and can be found here.

When I grew up (Catholic), I often wondered how the priest would decide the severity of sin and thus the amount of penance. This chart may help... the more people who agree it is sin, the more Hail Marys you should recite for penance. (I always imagined there was a chart on the other side of the confessional wall, so this may actually be the evidence I was seeking.)

And, in case you are wondering who agrees with what sin, below are the sins. Enjoy!

A few of you have emailed me about Highlands Fellowship, which I mentioned in an earlier post. Jimmy shared some more details which you might find interesting:

Jimmie explained their multisite and multi-venue approach as follows:

Mike from my church shared with me an online quote from Rob Zinn's SBC sermon. (I mentioned Rob yesterday.)

The story explains:

Recently, I inadvertently said good things about Pentecostals and Presbyterians, so let me atone by sharing a few SBC updates:

Junior Hill

One of the things I love about my job is the chance to meet with and learn from great men and women of God. One such person is Junior Hill.

I had dinner with Dr. Hill in Orlando last week. We talked about the gospel, evangelism, Calvinism, the emerging church, and the diet that helped him lose an amazing 125 pounds.

My favorite moments came when he told the stories of men and women he had led to Christ. My guess is that tens of thousands have trusted Christ at a meeting preached by Junior Hill. I was honored to spend time with a man of his character and passion.

Rob Zinn Speaks to Southern Baptists

Rob Zinn, well known leader in SBC life and former head of the SBC Executive Committee, joins a chorus of voices calling for cooperation around God's mission. We both spoke to the Oklahoma Missional Ministry Summit in Moore, OK.

While there, Rob said to the attendees:

We got into this big battle in 1979 over the Bible. But I'm here to tell you, we won that battle! What we need to do is get on with the rest of life. We need to quit fighting a battle that's been won and get back to doing the main thing; which is the main thing, and that's winning people to Jesus, evangelizing the world, and starting missions and going out and doing what God told us to do. That's what we NEED to be doing! When there's a battle to be won, then we ought to get together. But folks, when the battle is over, then we need to quit beating people over the head with it and get down to the basics of ministry. And the basics of ministry is not politics, it's JESUS!

Comeback Churches

The Kentucky Baptist Convention is turning our book, Comeback Churches, into a process. Should be interesting...

Johnny Hunt
I had some time with Johnny Hunt this morning who is increasingly concerned with our denomination's lack of focus. He shared with me: "We can get 45,000 people to a convention to declare the Bible is true but we can't get 10,000 to a convention to live it out--we have lost our focus on the main thing.�?

If you have not yet signed up, let me encourage you to come with Johnny, me, and a host of other people at his Bonfire Conference. We talked a bit about the conference and its focus. We are going to talk much about church transformation and revitalization. It will definitely be worth your time.

John 3:16 Conference

Speaking of Johnny Hunt, his church (First Baptist Church of Woodstock) is hosting a conference with some of the great preachers of our day.

My friend Steve Lemke sent me this note today. As Steve has indicated, there has been some buzz about this in the blogs. Steve gave me permission to post his note that gives some more details about the meeting.

Steve explains:

Ed,

I'm sure you're aware of my involvement in the upcoming John 3:16 conference scheduled November 6-7 at FBC Woodstock.

The conference will begin and end with sermons on John 3:16 by Dr. Jerry Vines and by Dr. Charles Stanley. In between, Southern Baptist scholars will be presenting a Biblical response to the well-known tenets of the Presbyterian Synod of Dort:
• Total Depravity - Dr. Paige Patterson (SWBTS)
• Unconditional Election - Dr. Richard Land (ERLC)
• Limited Atonement - Dr. David Allen (SWBTS)
• Irresistible Grace - Dr. Steve Lemke (NOBTS)
• Perseverance of the Saints - Dr. Ken Keathley (SEBTS)

This conference is intended as a majoritarian Southern Baptist response to the "Building Bridges�? and "Together for the Gospel�? conferences. The announcement of this conference has already provoked considerable buzz and speculation in the blogosphere.

Hope you'll join us!

Steve Lemke

I can't go, but there are some good men sharing and I trust it will bring honor to God and a focus on the Great Commission.

That is something upon which we can all agree.

Heading Home

I just finished preaching at the Southern Baptists Conservatives of Virginia Evangelism Conference (tonight) and the State Convention of Baptists Evangelism Conference (yesterday), so now I am on my way home.

I must confess. I do love encouraging SBC pastors to engage their communities for the gospel. It is good to be around the family with common values, passions, and an abiding love for fried chicken.

Are we perfect? No. But, I believe that the SBC is increasingly more focused on God's global mission and cooperating more effectively. That is good news.

I am trusting that I made much of the cross and Jesus in my message tonight. That's my passion and, I hope, our purpose.

The prolific Southern Seminary Dean, Russ Moore, makes me think about a surprising issue-- church graveyards.

You can read the article here. Until today, I thought I was the only one who occasionally strolled through a church cemetery.

Some excerpts:

This morning, I preached at Highlands Fellowship in Abingdon, VA. I plan to write more about the church and its pastor, Jimmie Davidson, in the coming days. That post will deal with their remarkable global strategy.

First, in this post, a little about the church.

Highlands Fellowship was part of a study that LifeWay Research did last year called "Standout Churches."

In order to be in the "Standout Church" survey, a church had to have:

A minimum of 26 baptisms for 10 consecutive years (1996-2005)
A membership to baptism ratio of no more than 20 to 1 each of these ten years
A minimum of 5% growth in worship attendance overall (2005 compared to 1996)

Highlands Fellowship is one 22 (of 43,000 churches examined) that met the Standout Church criteria. Nineteen (of the 22 churches invited) participated in the study. You can read more about it here. The PowerPoint from the study is here.

You can listen to Jimmy in an interview about that study here.

The church is multisite so, late last night, I spoke to a camera in an empty room with 1000 seats. The "High Def" recording was then delivered to three locations (in Johnson City, Bristol, and Abingdon) early this morning. (And, no, I do not look any better in High Def.)

Then, this morning, I preached live at Abingdon and that message was "beamed" to several other venues with different worship styles.

Their web page listed their Abingdon venues as follows:

The church has about 3000 attendees on a weekend in all these different venues and locations.

Jimmy is a great guy with a remarkable gift for encouragement.

But, that is most remarkable is how they are mobilizing their church in a small town to be involved globally... more on that soon.

At my church, we recently completed a 4 week message series called "The Road to Financial Freedom." Our platform was covered with road signs that related to different parts of the message (see below).

You can learn more here. Ashley Clayton is the brains beyond the operation.

Ashley asked me to write and deliver a series of four messages that they would videotape and outline to use in future iterations of the message series. So, since they are using the outlines, I won't put them here... but I will tell you a little about the emphasis.

The web site explains:

"It's A New Day�? is about stewardship! It's about the lordship of Christ over everything in our lives! It's about getting out of debt! It's about being ready to fulfill God's call upon our lives!

And there is a good reason for helping your church to encourage people toward financial freedom:

Imagine what churches could do for the kingdom if their members were not burdened with debt. Imagine what could be accomplished if church members were free to fulfill God's call of ministry. There has never been a better time than NOW to experience true joy and liberty that comes through financial freedom!

I built some of the series around a symbolic metaphor related to an earlier argument with my middle daughter. One day she complained that I had eaten all the Cheese-Its and she became obsessed with getting her own Cheese-Its.

I showed this photo in church to introduce the issue of fear and greed.

She did not know that her father could provide more... and would meet all her needs. When you really want something, your greed becomes idolatry and then it becomes an idol in your life. Then, you get trapped by your stuff.

On the week we talked about greed becoming an idol, and your stuff taking over your life, we illustrated with a big box:

For many (most?), money is an idol:

"Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to... greed, which amounts to idolatry" (Colossians 3:5, HCSB)

In other words:
• Fear leads to greed
• Greed creates idolatry
• Idolatry leads to bondage

(The final message had a prison of the Cheese-Its.)

Admittedly, it was a bit "cheesy," but it seemed that everyone "got" the metaphor.

The message series can be found at the church website. They were:

1. God's Ownership
2. Debt's Dangers
3. Greed's Antidote
4. Money and Work's Purpose

Since the message series was for Crown Financial Ministries, we did not use much from other organizations in the presentations. However, Michael Edwards, occasional blog commenter and regular church attendee, put up a Dave Ramsey video on-line that relates well. It was played at the Catalyst Conference and it is worth taking a look.

And here is Dave Ramsey speaking on finances (if you listen be sure to go to the end):

This is an important issue and one we frequently overlook... and it requires sensitivity and honesty to address the topic.

One of the standard tools for those of us who work in church and culture research is the Association of Religion Data Archives.

They recently announced some upgraded functionalities:

THE ARDA INTRODUCES NEW LOOK AND NEW FEATURES

The Association of Religion Data Archives is excited to announce a new look and many new features. Two of the most significant new features are GIS U.S. Maps and the Learning Center.

Partnering with Social Explorer (www.socialexplorer.com), the ARDA now provides a U.S. Maps tool that allows for interactive mapping of demographic data by census tracts and religious adherence data by counties. All of the GIS maps allow for zooming, moving, and searching across locations and let you create customized demographic and religious reports.

You will also find an expanded Learning Center. The Learning Center contains many new Learning Modules for classroom use and now includes a Dictionary of Religious and Statistical Terms. The new Center also offers multiple interactive tools, including the Compare Yourself Survey that allows students and others to compare themselves to the U.S. population on a variety of religious indicators. A more complete overview of the many new features and upgrades is provided below.

Learning Center...includes downloadable Learning Modules, a Glossary of Religious and Statistical Terms, and multiple interactive tools.

GIS Mapping...using tools developed by Social Explorer, GIS maps allow you to visually see the social, economic, demographic, and religious landscape of neighborhoods, cities, states, regions, and the entire United States.

Multi-Country Comparisons...easily select up to seven nations to receive a comparison of their social, demographic, economic, and religious characteristics.

Compare Yourself Survey ... allows individuals' to see how their answers compare to other Americans taking a national survey.

Denominational QuickStats...centralized location for information on U.S. denominations. Includes information on mergers and schisms, membership data, changes over time, and distribution across the country.

New Data ... data and other information were updated in our National Profiles and our U.S. Denominations feature.

New Design ...The homepage now provides easy access to some of the most popular resources on the ARDA site. Using drop-down menus, the new homepage now allows for faster access to the ARDA's various content and tools.

The Association of Religion Data Archives
Authoritative Information Made Accessible
www.theARDA.com

According to the L.A. Times:

Parents who lack teaching credentials cannot educate their children at home, according to a state appellate court ruling that is sending waves of fear through California's home schooling families.

CT explains in its story:

A California appellate court ruled last week that a family's religious convictions do not guarantee a right to homeschool their children.

"California courts have held that under provisions in the Education Code, parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children," wrote Justice H. Walter Croskey for California's Second District Court of Appeal.

Regardless of your thoughts about homeschooling, this is a religious liberty issue that should concern us all.

Go ahead... what caption would you suggest for this picture from the ComeBack Challenge conference? (picture: Tim Gentry)

Rick Warren & Ed Stetzer

Updated:

Thanks for the great submissions. There are many great ones, some good ones, and a few, well, weird ones.

Of course, there must be a winner and a prize for such a contest. Below are six winners and each will recieve a free copy of my new book (Compelled by Love) in a few weeks. The winners were based on an intense judgng process-- they made me laugh.

And the winners are........................................

Lance Ford:
"Geeze Lord, why do you tell Rick all the good stuff?"

Luke Britt:
goatees + wavy hair = missional

Michael:
Rick: ----
Ed: Boy, this cardboard cutout of Rick Warren sure is life-like. I'd better take it home with me.

James Cross:
Ed thinks to himself, "How many times do I have to tell Ricky, that is not how you spell TULIP?"

Todd Rhoades:
Ed's thinking, "There's got to be a good book idea on that paper somewhere!"

SJ (Steve) Camp:
WARREN
CONFIDENTIAL FROM STAFFER:

RICK: NEW DATA - EARTH HAS COOLED .67 DEGREES IN THE PAST 100 YEARS. DON'T MENTION THE GLOBAL WARMING THING... IT WAS A HOAX.

ED
OH NO... THAT'S GOTTA HURT! HOW CAN I TURN THIS INTO A POSITIVE MISSIONAL MOMENT? HMMM.

Here I sit in the airport in Nashville missing my lunch conference in Florida.

So, don't go to my conference here. Go to Thomas Hammond's instead.

I planned for a three hour time cushion, but, alas, Freedom Airlines (Delta's "problem child" partner) is slower than that. Check it out:

Update: The 6:50a.m. flight eventually departed at 1:30p.m., or almost 7 hours late

Sigh.

So, the bad news is that I won't make it for the pre-conference session. The good news is that I will make it to bring a main message tonight and I can post a very late "Friday is for Friends" here at the blog.

Here are some updates on some friends, old and new:

Tim Keller

Tim Keller's new book, The Reason for God, made number 18 on the New York Times Bestseller list.

You can read an interview with Tim in First Things and his profile in Newsweek (be sure to see his clarification of the Newsweek article here on the blog).

Journeys with Todd and Marty

Although it is not selling as well as Keller's book NYT bestseller (grin), Todd Wright and Marty Duren's new book is off to a good start.

I had lunch with Todd and Marty last week and then spoke at the evengelism conference hosted at Todd's church. Good guys.

Many of you know Marty as the former proprietary of the blog SBCOutpost. A few years ago, Marty's blog became a focal point for much of the SBC debate. He now blogs here.

Last summer, Marty made a conscience decision to focus less on issues of the SBC and more on missional issues relating to his local church. One result is the newly released book, Journeys: Transitioning Churches To Relevance, co-authored with Todd.

I read the book a while back and you will see my endoresment on the cover.

It is not a book for you if you are content with the same old thing. It is not for you if you think culture is an enemy to your church. It is not for you if you think change is unbiblical. A narrative written from the lab of pastoral practice, not from theoretical wishfulness, Journeys chronicles how God changed the hearts of two pastors who then were burdened to lead their churches to transition to be more effective in engaging their host cultures with the gospel. I encourage you to read it, digest it and allow God to prepare you for the journey that He has for you, and possibly for your church, as you strive to bring the gospel to those around you.

You can buy the book here.

Philip Nation

My former co-pastor and soon-to-be co-author, Philip Nation (see the book here) got some nice press from the Atlanta Jounral Consitution.

The new message theme: What would you do if you only had 31 days to live? (See http://www.31daystolive.com.)

Philip says that the original inspiration came from a similar campaign done by Life Church led by Craig Groeschel. And, there are a number of books being written about this subject and churches pursuing similar campaigns, including Kerry Shook's book, One Month to Live.

Lake Ridge is being planted in the 13th wealthiest county in the nation according to Forbe's magazine. It is a place where the houses are large but the souls seem empty. So Philip decided to offer a question that simply could not be escaped - what would you do if you only had 31 days to live? And he has asked it everywhere. Postcards, email blast, business cards, yard signs, local magazine ad, and even a digital billboard in the area's busiest shopping center - all driving people to the website and posing the question: 31 Days to Live.com - what would you do?

One of the unique facets to Lake Ridge's outreach campaign is that he invited a friend planting a church in San Diego to join in the fun. So, together with Jeff Langley's plant Cloudbreak Church, they are preaching the same topics during March, driving metro Atlantians and Southern Californians to the same viral website, sharing stories about people's answers, and talking about the lives that are being changed.

During March, they will roll out new stories, messages, and articles each week. Already, some great stories are out there. But the ultimate goal is to get the unchurched into environments where honest questions can be asked and hope can be given. So, they are pointing all of this to discussion groups to be formed out of the Sunday messages and website topics.
It seems like a great catalyst to get far-from-God people to think about the brevity of life and the need for something greater than themselves -- namely the Gospel.

Philip & Jeff - We are praying for you guys.

Larry Norman died last week


Larry Norman

I had the privilege of getting to know Larry while working on Perimeters of Light. We quoted him:

1970s A.D.: Larry Norman sang, "I want the people to know, That He saved my soul, But I still like to listen to the radio...They say that rock and roll is wrong...I know what's right, I know what's wrong and I don't confuse it: Why should the devil have all the good music...'Cause Jesus is the Rock and He rolled my blues away.�? He founded what became known as Contemporary Christian Music... and it is still controversial today.

The day before he died he wrote, "I feel like a prize in a box of cracker jacks with God's hand reaching down to pick me up... I have been under medical care for months. My wounds are getting bigger. I have trouble breathing. I am ready to fly home..."

Larry was a pioneer for much of what became contemporary Christian music and greatly influenced what would become the contemporary church movement.

He stood for change and relevance, and like many who questioned what was alread settled, he was attacked by many who called themselves Christians.

He sang:

"I've been knocked down,
kick around,
some people scandalized my name...
But here I am... talking 'bout Jesus just the same.�?

Now he get's to meet the Jesus he loved.

He will be missed.

Update: The New York Times has an excellent obit on Larry posted this morning.

Shapevine

On Wednesday, I will be interviewed on ShapeVine by my friend Lance Ford.

Shapevine is billed as a "place for church planters, pastors, and leaders to bring their ideas, struggles, and experiences into a virtual online café for conversation and sharing."

It was started by former Globalnet Director, Lance Ford and Alan Hirsch, author of The Shaping of Things to Come and The Forgotten Ways.

They do on line training with a wide range of people like Leonard Sweet, Sally Morgenthaler, Michael Frost, Steve Sjogren, Neil Cole, Dan Kimball, Ron Martoia, etc.

The broadcasts are free (and they are live via video).

So come by for, "Lance Ford interviews Ed Stetzer, Wednesday, March 5, 2pm EST"

Church of God International Executive Committee

I have already written about my speaking engagement last week in Cleveland, TN. I was there to be a part of "Empowering 21st Century Pentecostal Leaders."

I was particularly blessed when the General Overseer of the Church of God, Dennis McGuire, and the International Executive Committee took me to dinner. These men are the elected leaders of an international body of seven million believers.

We talked about the challenges of connecting with young and innovative leaders, their church planting plans, and the future of the denomination. I was encouraged by their passion for the lost.

You can read some thoughts about the conference (from the attendees perspective) here.

Perry Noble

Perry and his glasses dropped by the blog to comment here. It appears I was not the only guy in the 1980s to own parachute pants.

Yep, there is a reason I am behind in my emails and my work. (Friday is for Friends will probably be Monday, for example). But, I am still catching up. You see, I had some meetings with VERY important people last week... and things got a little crazy.