Tentmaker Group graduates first class…
Church Planters, missionaries, ministry leaders and kingdom-minded business people flew in from across the country (and drove in from the SoCal area) to attend our three day Tentmaker Group training. The training went great and we all left encouraged as we begin to create a new funding mechanism to plant churches, send missionaries and invest in city change. Tentmakers is launching in cities like Seattle, Cincinnati, Detroit, Tacoma, Portland, San Diego, Carlsbad, Chula Vista, Bloomington, Las Vegas and we are in discussions with several other cities. We plan on scheduling an information session for those interested in learning more & an internet training session in September for those who were not able to attend.
Read MoreMy Cat Blog Post
It's been a while since I've posted some pictures. Here are a few shots from the last few months that are mainly family pictures. I typically don't do many 'personal' posts since I'm not wanting to have a 'cat blog'. 
Cat Blogs are blogs for and by and about the person blogging. All sorts of posts about you and your cat, what you did today, how you feel, what you ate. You get the picture.
Boss Blogs are blogs used to communicate to a defined circle of people. Some pastors write most of their post for their congregation as a communication tool. These would be boss blogs.
The third kind of blog is the kind most people imagine when they talk about blogs. These are the blogs that are changing the face of marketing, journalism and the spread of ideas. Godin calls these Viral Blogs.
You can read more about this from Seth Godin's book, Small Is the New Big
Transforming Cities – The Church beyond the Spiritual Box
When most people think of church, they envision a place where Christians gather on Sunday. A building dominates the mind of both Christians or non-believers. Today, the concept of church has been de-clawed of it's full of meaning. The gathered people of God (who once overthrew the most powerful empire that ever existed, without political, military or economic power) are now house broken.
Sadly, even most Christians have reduced the Church to a spiritual box. It's a place where our spiritual needs are met. We have compartmentalized our faith and removed it from the rest of our life. This is something more of us are thinking through, not how do we grow our church, but how are we going to change a city. At Kaleo Church we seek to re-capture a broader scope of being the church in our city. Here are some ways we want to express being the church and seek to change our city: (because of U.S. law some of these would be separate legal entities.)
Launched
Metro Church Alliance – [Church Partnering/Kingdom] The Metro Church Alliance was created to facilitate partnerships between churches in local cities. The San Diego Alliance is our relationship with several churches in San Diego to partner in the gospel to see the city changed. We meet with other churches (12-20 pastors) once a month and seek to continue to broaden this.
Tentmaker Group – [Employment, Education, Resources & City Investment] The Tentmaker Group allows us to fund church planter/planting but it also lets us re-invest in the city. Part of our goal is to provide jobs in a company that will bless the city. Many of the things we seek to do (stripper ministry, homeless work, etc) requires money. The Tentmaker Group will be a company that use it's profits for the good of the cities we are in.
Kaleo Counseling Center - [Counseling] This ministry seeks to provide gospel counseling to both people in but also outside of the church. Counseling is the modern hope and we would like to be able to provide free (or low cost) counseling to those in need.
Church Bootcamp – [Church Planter Training] conferences to train church planters. We believe church planting is the best way to change the city through effective transformation of individuals by the power of the gospel.
Church Planting Resources – [Church Planting Resources] A site to provide resources to assist church planters.
Developing
Think San Diego – [Social Concerns, Government/Politics, Society & Awareness] Think San Diego will be a vehicle to create awareness to the issues surrounding our city/county. The goal would be to influence thought on laws/voting, to help foster positive social activism and to present issues (eg. illegal immigration) through the lens of the gospel.
Imagine San Diego – [Mercy Ministries, Environment, Cause] Imagine San Diego is an gathering of people to mercy ministry. It will call businesses, leaders and churches to participate in city renewal. We have begun to gather groups in other cities for the Imagine City Group, an umbrella non-profit other churches and cities can participate in.
Gospel @ Work – [Vocation & Stewardship] Gospel AT Work is is a ministry that will offer programs, groups, and ministries focused on integrating the Christian faith with our work.
Geneva San Diego Academy – [Education] Classical Christian Education to train the next generation with a gospel worldview.
San Diego Artist Forum – [Culture & Art] Engaging culture and the arts through the lens of the gospel.
the Courtyard – [Performance & Art] Events/Performances and shows hosted as a 3rd place to engage the city.
The Cloud Network – [Technology] Using technology and search engine optimization to connect & gather Christians and be on mission to the world online.
Read MoreGospel Sales Cycles – Redemptive Historical Selling
Can there be a gospel sales cycle that follows the pattern of redemptive history? This idea came to me as we discuss the Tentmaker Group and seek to launch our Gospel@Work ministry. We believe that not one square inch of all things isn't claimed by Christ. Let me give you an example. I recently spoke to a person who worked at a 'custom closet installation' company. Her job was to sell, design and install custom closets.
Creation - God created the world and it was good. Mankind was called to cultivate the earth to reflect God's glory. Communication was good. Life was in order. There was no 'clutter' or chaos. From this creation, customers sense their 'ideal solution' and that there is a 'better way'.
Fall - Through sin all of our dominion has been marred. Chaos enters. The fall leads to waste, messy lives and cause us to toil against the constant degradation of our self and our surrounding. Customers now know that something 'is wrong' with the way things are. There is a constant struggle and problem with their life and needs. Their closets become a mess and the sense a 'lostness' to their things.
Redemption - We are still called to steward this earth. Custom closets seek to fight against the fall and chaos. The sales person seeks to point to 'a better way' that brings a solution to the 'fall'. It is points to God's redemptive plan. A good sale is a redemptive picture that points to the necessary and finished work of Jesus Christ. (The sale never is a 'perfect solution' though. We live in an already/not yet tension)
Glorification - Ultimately, we know the solution is only a sign. One day we will not have messy closets and lives. We will not hoard possessions and live in chaos. We must wait until Christ returns to set all things in order.
How does your sales motivation change when you see it as part of God's redemptive history? Is the gospel everywhere….even in sales? I think so…
Read MoreChurch Planting & Movement Training
We believe it is important to provide potential church planters a new kind of missional training through the Tentmaker Group and discussions with the Porterbrook Network (created by the authors of Total Church and the pastors of the Crowded House. They have put together a great 2-year program to equip a person to plant. Porterbrook Curriculum pdf). Our goals would be the following:
Planting a different kind of church
We want to create a different kind of church – one which is gospel-focused in every area of church life and at the same time emphasizes the centrality of the Christian community as the context for Christian life and mission. (source: Total Church Conference documents)
Equipping a different kind of leader
We want to equip missional leaders (eg see: Missional Movements, Plurality of Leadership) who are triperspectival. This means we are equipping them NORMATIVE with gospel applied theology (not just theory/systematics), EXISTENTIAL we are applying the gospel to their lives to bring gospel transformation and SITUATIONAL we are working along side them as they do this in a real church planting context.
Sending for a different type of model
Through the Tentmaker connection, we want planters to leave with 3-5 years of their salary covered and with money to plant. The model we want to send people with isn't to plant a church, but to start city movements that seek to address every area of life with the gospel.
We are excited that so far 7 cities are represented in our Tentmaker Group launch, which is a key component in the plan. The goal is the have this training in every city interested…
Drew Goodmanson
CEO of Monk Development creators of Ekklesia 360. Co-Founder of Kaleo Church where I served as Pastor for 8+ years and helped coach several church plants in San Diego. Co-Founder of the GCM Collective, President of the Board at the Center for Church Communication, Board Member of the Entrepreneurship Organization, Internet/Technology Advisory Chair at the Christian Leadership Alliance. Connect
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