EdStetzer.com

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Jul 24, 2007 in Church, Church Planting, Culture | 7 comments

Ed Stetzer promises to blog regularly.  He just launched EdStetzer.com.  Here's the goal of the blog:

This blog will be a mixture of several things. We will look at research and discuss it here. In just a couple of weeks we will release some groundbreaking research on the dropout rate for the transition years from high school to college. Several guest bloggers will both write and interact here. Whenever we release research, this will be the official forum for interacting with us. You can post questions, question our assumptions, or say we are the smartest people ever for doing the project (thanks, mom, for dropping by).

David Wayne and I had breakfast with Ed and asked him a couple questions.  Here is a quote:

Evangelicals have a weak ecclesiology.  Ecclesiology and missiology are the defining issues of our day.  We are going to see a great die-off in the American church of established churches, yet see a broader diversity of forms of church.

…more from GCA later. 

GCA Church Planting Conference – Day 1

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Jul 23, 2007 in Church, Church Planting, Ministry Design | 1 comment

We completed day 1 of the GCA Church Planting conference.  John Piper did a session encouraging the church planters and reminding them to be weary of church planting experts/formula's it is the Holy Spirit the preaching of the gospel.  The first sessions took place as well.  Afterwards, I had a chance to meet David Wayne (JollyBlogger) in person.  Bart Johnson, Larry Kirk, James Martin and I sat around a table at an ice-cream social talking about cessationists, creedo/paedobaptism and a sundry of other denominationalism topics SBC, PCA, EV Free.  All over a nice sundae. 

Ed Stetzer came over and gave me a hard time for my Missional – Missio Dei, Missionary or Mission post that got him in trouble over at Bill Kinnon's blog.  Stetzer's talk is now leading many in the emerging church to begin the overthrow of governments according to Kinnon (all in good fun people).   I realize my post didn't portray Stetzer's full intent, I apologize for the ease of the straw man argument with no substance.  Stetzer asked us not to post further, so we're left waiting for his article to come out…..  (no pressure Stetzer).  

Stetzer, David Wayne (JollyBlogger) and I plan on getting together tomorrow morning for an interview.   So if you have questions for Stetzer that you can post prior to 5am PST (when we meet!), post them. 

Communication in Our Post-Christian World

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Jul 20, 2007 in Church, Church Planting, Ministry Design | 4 comments

I'm putting the finishing touches on my GCA presentation, Communication in Our Post-Christian World:

The culture is changing and it requires new methods of communication.  This session will help you learn how to effectively minister in a post-Christian context.   Come learn the 1) five values of this Post-Christian generation, the 2) ten idols that enslave them and 3) effective ways to communicate the eternal and unchanging gospel message.

This is the first session for my Media & Message series.  Any of you planning on being there?  (Jollblogger is coming to the conference! btw- If you haven't, add his feed to your reader.)

Church Planting, the Church & Missional Links

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Jul 19, 2007 in Church, Church Planting, Culture | 3 comments

This week has been extremely crazy, as the Monk team is in town planning the future of Ekklesia 360 Church CMS.  We now have over 750 churches and ministries using our system and growing rapidly!  Secondly, I am wrapping up my two sessions for the GCA Conference on Message and Media: Communicating the Gospel in Our Post-Christian World.  It will be held at John Piper's church next week.  I haven't been able to finish a couple posts I'm working on, so here are a few links that have caused me to think:

Part-time pastors are making a comeback (another reason the Tentmaker Group is so necessary…) 

Top 25 Church Planting Churches in America : Reformed vs. Reformational (David Fairchild)

A new book is released, entitled: Signs of Emergence by Kester Brewin.  (HT: Jordon Cooper with a full review of the book.) In his discussion of how the cities have changed into complex, bottom up systems, Brewin says this (pg 63),

There are still those who cry for revolution, for a revival that will change things in a snap, make everything OK as thousands flock to church… But the days for revolution are over. The cry for revival is too often a cry for abdication: you do it all, God. Well God has done God's bit, it is the systems that now need to change. This is the faith we have signed up for: the Church as the body of Christ where we have real parts to play, real responsibilities. 

Lastly, if you haven't already done so, I'd encourage you to check out Tim Chester's blog : Reformed spirituality, radical ecclesiology.   Chester and Steve Timmis are releasing a new book (not yet in America) called Total Church.  I leave the summary to Mark Moore :

Total Church is one of those books that you hold in your hand and think two things after you've read it. First, Wow! This book says it all. Second, Wow! This book says it all. The first "wow" is the one you say while cheering and applauding that someone has said things that you have desperately wanted to hear. Each page drips with gospel understanding and real life love for the church. The second "wow" is the one you say while realizing that you pretty much have nothing new to offer the world at this point other than a copy of this book. The things you had been thinking about that seemed so "radical" and "refreshing" are now nothing more than restatement of what's been said.

Tentmaker Group – Church Planting Funding & Creating Sustainable Movements

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Jul 12, 2007 in Church, Church Planting, Church Technology | 8 comments

The Tentmaker Group is launching.  On August 13th & 14th a group from the Tentmakers will travel to Las Vegas to observe and meet with one of the companies to participate.  This company has a role that fits well with the need for church planters to fund a transition into ministry as described previously.  Training for this role will take place August 27th through 29th.  We expect a class size of 5-10 for this first round of training.  This role is a sales role, but allows for flexible work-schedules and the ability to work from home.  People who are interested in moving to San Diego to participate in a church planting movement will be able to shortly.  (We are looking at office space Friday.) We also have a second opportunity for pastors or ministry leaders who seek to supplement their existing income with part time work.

After we launch this out of San Diego, cities who would like to start their own Tentmaker Group will be able to.   

The Vision of the Tentmaker Group

1. Helping fund local church planting and ministry movements.

2. Allowing church planters, ministry leaders and others to augment their existing salary or setup a transition into ministry.

3. Providing a Kingdom expression through the value of work and a desire to demonstrate the cultural mandate to cultivate this earth to reflect God's glory.

4. Involving local organizations and businesses in these expressions.

5. Providing gospel consulting to people starting companies who want to give back to the city.

The Opportunity to join the Tentmaker Group

1. Church planters or ministry leaders who would like to raise support through one of the Tentmaker Group's positions.

2. Companies who would like to provide flexible part or full-time jobs to people transitioning into ministry.

2. Business leaders who want to impact their local city with a gospel-centered view of work and the city.

3. Entrepreneurs who desire to start business to impact their local city with a Kingdom mindset.

If you would like to learn more, feel free to contact me.  At this time we also will seek to raise some seed capital to fund the development of the Tentmaker Group. 

UPDATE: The Tentmaker Group has launched to help church planters raise funding.