*be a forerunner*

I was reading Dan Kimball’s blog today and was pleasantly surprised shocked to read that he is in a discussion to form (or not form) a network of like-minded thinkers/theologians (read Dan’s thoughts here; it’s the third item)! He mentioned that the Lusanne Covenant may be a starting point for a ‘doctrinal statement.’

I’m really excited to see how this will develop! In fact, I think I’d be very interested in trying to connect and form relationships with men and women within this type of framework within the emerging church movement!

What do you think about denominations, networks, movements, fellowships, clubs, or anything else that connects like-minded people?

The following was sent to me from the Voice of the Martyrs:
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Let’s take a walk through what I’ve been reading this week…

1. Well, it would seem appropriate that I point you in the direction of what I contributed over at emergingrural.com - Don’t Overlook the Power of the Campfire. I basically shared my thoughts on the emerging church life through my recent youth group activity of camping. I wish more kids would have come. Oh well! We had fun and lives were changed!

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Editor’s note: Yesterday I began our expository journey through Peter’s first epistle. I’m referring to this series as, “The Glory of Suffering,” and plan on slowly working my way through Peter’s first letter over the rest of this year. I am going to attempt to blog this series for those of you who are either unable to join us as well as to provide people a venue to ask questions or make comments. We’re going to discuss some controversial issues as well as challenge some of our perceptions of living the life in Christ while suffering, so hopefully this will give us an opportunity to bounce ideas off of each other.

Introduction
Our goal for this introductory study is to answer: (1) Who was Peter, (2) Who was he writing to, and (3) Why was he writing. Our study will be based upon the initial salutation writtey by Peter:

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.” – 1 Pet. 1:1-2

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Tags: 1 Peter, nt studies, The Glory of Suffering

If you remember, please keep me in prayer tomorrow night as I’ll be speaking on the Emerging Church to some folks at the Northwoods YWAM base. The “stuff” gets going around 7pm and I’m driving people from TCF; we’re leaving at 5:30pm. If you want to come, give me a call or shoot me an email.

Thanks!

“The desire of the righteous ends only in good” - Prov. 11:23a

Last night I had the opportunity to join other Jesus followers at the Northwoods YWAM base in order to listen to Jeff Gilbertson (and his family) share a bit about House Churches and the journey that he and his wife have taken in the past twenty years. You may recognize Jeff’s blog - Until All Have Heard, one that I visit regularly. The YWAM base is hosting Friday evening gatherings and bringing in different speakers to address various aspects of spiritual formation, theology, etc. In fact, I’m speaking on the “emerging church” next Friday night. Did I mention that you should come?!?!?!
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I’m really glad that I can have “God and me” time. I just spent a few minutes just hanging out with God and I feel very refreshed. Isn’t it great knowing that God is always there for you?

I also got a hair cut… which I’ll write more about later.

“Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.” - Luke 8:18

This coming Sunday I’ll be preaching from Luke 8:4-18, which covers the parable of the sower. For several reason this text has really been challenging me personally and it has been challenging my understanding of how the Church is to respond to the Word of God (i.e. “hear” it). I suppose it is also causing me to evaluate how well we are “hearing” the Word of God - remember, James told us that “faith without works is dead,” so I question whether our “hearing” has any “evidence” to the Word being received!
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Dr. George O. Wood, General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, has written a statement regarding how Pentecostals can assess revivals (PDF here). It seems to offer some strong guidelines that could very well help us determine and discern what is true revival and what is not.
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