One last reminder prior to tomorrow for you to join us on Shapevine June 24 at 4 PM EST (1pm PST) for an interview on Missional Communities, Total Church, Triperspectivalism & the Renovo Network. 

There will be a time to ask questions and interact with David & I regarding what we've learned, where we've failed and what we see God doing at Kaleo as we've transitioned to missional communities.

I've been able to enjoy a few days with Caesar Kalinowski from Soma Communities a movement that is led through people living missionally together to reach their cities (South Puget Sound).  Of all the churches we (Kaleo Church) have come across, we are finding we share the most in common with Soma.  Caesar has spent years studying communication as it applies to mission.  In these years of training, they have created a story-based dialogical approach to developing disciples, which has led to far better results than just telling people information.

Did you know that in the USA…

• Researchers believe that 70% or more of the people in North America prefer non-literate means of communication.
• Over 50% of people over age 16 are functionally illiterate*.
• 58% of the U.S. adult population never reads another book after high school.
• 42% of college graduates never read another book.
• 80% of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
• 57% of new books are not read to completion. Most readers do not get past page 18 in a book they have purchased.
• Each day, people in the US spend four hours watching TV, three hours listening to the radio and 14 minutes reading magazines.
• It is estimated that people spend as much as 80% of their non-working, non-sleeping time in front of a screen - TV or computer.

You can learn more about story & these statistics at Echo the Story.

Jesus’ disciples came and asked him, "Why do you always tell stories when you talk to people?”

Matthew 13:10

To see some of the stories & the questions that implicate people (meaning it's more than trying to throw application in the mix) into God's story and disciple them (I've done a couple with my kids and it's been GREAT.  Gideon is 4 and his answers have been excellent in thinking this stuff through) download these Gospel Story Narratives. 

UPDATE: Caesar sent the following, "in Soma we are also using narrative and dialogical forms of preaching that hold to a very high view of Scripture and the Gospel."  This is important because many who attack story/dialogical often dismiss this because they believe it diminishes the Bible as the authority.

QUESTIONS?  Ask away, Caesar has promised to answer any questions as to why current forms of preaching are not as effective and betray our missional endeavors and why he believes story/dialogical is critical to the future of the church. 

Each week I (or an elder @ Kaleo) end our worship service with a benediction.  I used to do these benedictions based on verses in the bible.  In the last 6-months I have transitioned to Triperspectival Benedictions that follow the sermon.  The three elements of the benediction are:

Normative/Information: What was the passage, topic or emphasis we examined from the Bible.

Existential/Transformation: How, as Christians, are we changed by God in this area?  What is God's grace doing in our lives?

Situational/Sending: What is our call to now live in response to this new reality.  How are we a sent people to be on mission and proclaim/live this reality?

This was today's benediction based on a sermon in Acts chapter 9 that dealt with Paul's conversion and his radical life of faith through the gospel.

Kaleo, may you grow in faith in the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

May you see yourself as the children of God.  That you are forgiven, that you are more loved, accepted and approved than you dare imagine.

May you go and live as the children of God, rejoicing and telling everyone the good news of what God has done.

Go in peace. 

Just another crazy triperspectival idea from the Kaleo guys. 

David Fairchild and I spoke yesterday about a triperspectival hermeneutics.  He has posted some great insight into how to use a triperspectival hermeneutic .  Here is a snapshot, but I encourage you to read the whole post.

Our Triune God is omniperspectival and sees all perspectives simultaneously. This should humble us and cause us to seek other perspectives to gain a richer understanding of His truth since it shows us that we have a very limited view of things.

Prophet Perspective:

If we tend towards a prophet perspective, meaning that we are normatively and theologically inclined, we will often look at the text with a grid of systematic theology. This means that we read a passage of Scripture and almost instinctively think of the passage under its neatly categorized theological heading. We see the text as support for the bigger theological topics in an almost apologetic way.

Priest Perspective:

If we tend towards a priestly perspective, meaning that we are more often emotionally in touch and engaged, we may come to the text to see how this affects my heart, my emotions. We look at the text to “sense” what is happening within it. We may say things like “this is how it makes me feel,” or “I know it’s right intuitively, I just can’t explain it.”

King Perspective:

If we tend more towards kingly perspective, meaning that we are situationally oriented, we may come to the text with a concern for how this text applies to real life. How it is worked out practically. We look at the text to “see” what it looks like. The strength of the king is found in the ability to apply a truth to real life situations. A king will often come to the text and instinctively understand how it should look. A king may prefer discussion oriented learning rather that book learning. A king needs to get his hands on the idea and grapple with it in conversation. Kings are great at organizing structures and systems to work out the vision of the text. Kings are very creative when thinking through how to build bridges missionally to others as a church/corporation.

These are quick summaries, read the whole post at David's site including DIAGRAMS!  Our brother is getting creative over there.  Article: Triperspectival Hermeneutics

We speak in stories.  Stories are the way people share what they really think and express who they are. Stories are the web that holds together a person's true beliefs. It is through these stories that we interact and communicate.   They are the currency to exchange ideas and as such are more important than 'facts'.  In an age of informational overload, Daniel Pink writes in A Whole New Mind:

"When facts become so widely available and instantly accessible, each one becomes less valuable. What begins to matter more is the ability to place these facts in context…"

It is through these stories that we interact and beliefs are challenged. God reveals Himself primarily in story and Jesus often teaches through story.  Christians need to understand the importance of this, including a greater understanding of their own story.

Here are three aspects of story that every Christian ought to know:

The Worldview story (Normative) : The worldview story is the driving story of a person's life. It is the story that shapes their interpretation of all things. This may be the humanist story or a postmodern story but none-the-less it interprets all other stories and life experiences. A Christian can recall when they became a Christian. Their whole life changed. This is because their worldview story changed. Christians not only have the greatest story ever told, but also each of our individual stories only make sense connected to the grand story as revealed in scripture. (Read: STORY AND BIBLICAL THEOLOGY PDF by Craig G. Bartholomew and Michael W. Goheen)

Our Person Story (Existential) : Often Christians assume their 'testimony' is simply a resume like collection of facts about their 'conversion'. This is because many Christians have a wrong view of the gospel. If we see the gospel simply as the entry into the Christian faith, our testimony is reduced to this. As we grow as Christians, our personal story includes the continual grace renewal that the gospel brings. It is the idols that, by grace, lose their grip on our lives. It is the suffering that softens our hearts to love others. It is God using circumstances to sanctify us. It is our identity being changed and conformed to the image of Christ. This is the story we speak to others daily in both word & deed.  (Read: To Be Told…Know Your Story. - Dr. Dan B. Allender)

Mission & Story (Situational) : When your worldview changes and your very values and identity change, how you live will change.  Loving others and sharing your story will be a natural result of your understanding of the gospel story.  Anything less than this is a rejection of the Biblical story.  This is because in your worldview, you will see God as a missionary god and you as a missionary too.  Christians ought become great listeners as well as story tellers. We must re-think evangelism to be the sharing of our story, God's story and listening to others stories.

Listen to the Sermon: Telling Gospel Stories (MP3 & PowerPoint)

Here is a series some of you preachers may be interested in, Colin Adams (Unashamed Workman) started a series, "Ten Questions for Expositors"  with his first interview with Tim Keller.  [HT: Reformissionary]

There is nothing more beautiful than to see a city transformed by the Gospel. As a fellow laborer for seeing Gospel going forth, you are invited to the next Acts 29 regional event in San Diego, The Gospel Gone Public: Worldview·Mission·Preaching on Saturday, March 31, 2007 (this Saturday). Covered at this one-day conference will be topics that affect every pastor passionate about transforming San Diego with the Gospel, including the Church’s biblical mission (how to build your church for mission), how to prepare and preach Gospel-centered messages, Gospel transformation, and much more.

Sessions:

The 12 Musts of a Missional Church 

Gospel, Story, Worldview, and the Church’s Mission

Preparing & Preaching a Gospel Centered Message

Q/A with Dr. Michael W. Goheen Geneva Professor of Worldview and Religious Studies at Trinity Western University , co-author of The Drama Of Scripture: Finding Our Place In The Biblical Story and author of “As the Father Has Sent Me, I Am Sending You”: J.E. Lesslie Newbigin’s Missionary Ecclesiology. 

Acts 29 Vision & Values 

Learn more: San Diego Regional Acts 29 Conference  

This Sunday, Steve Trout from the Kaleo Counseling Center preached a message entitled, Gospel-Centered Counseling.  One idea he unpacked stuck with me:

How you see yourself tends to determine what you do & what/who you end up loving.

The Bible would agree.  Think about how much time is spent on identity, new names or even (as Steve pointed out) in the 6-chapter book of Ephesians there are 20 different mentions of a Christians new identity.  

Saints, the beloved, adopted, co-inheritors, Jesus workmanship, fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, a dwelling place for God…

It seems much of the work of a pastor is helping Christians believe this new reality so thoroughly it shapes how they live.  Sadly, in a world where many Sunday's messages are dedicated to how to live in response to Biblical principles, the identity created is a religious people.  These people must put on the outward works-based righteousness because it is the identity being told to them each Sunday.

Identity work is critical. The powerful nature of the gospel is that instead of pressing against someones will, which may lead to outward change, you can help people see they are a new man now alive in Christ.  They are ambassadors, fellow heirs, saints, a dwelling place for God almighty, beloved and accepted in Jesus Christ.  If more Christians believed this, how different would we live out this inward reality in how we live and love others?

Of course, many of us have to first believe this too… 

At our monthly pastors meeting a story was shared that I thought helpful.  This occurred prior to the pastor going up to preach in their head.

Satan - You know you were sick this week.  You shouldn't set yourself up by expecting too much this week.  Lower your expectations.

Pastor - That is true, I was sick and didn't quite have the time and energy I wanted.

Satan - Also, you weren't quite faithful with your devotions this week.  Do you really think God will bless you?

Pastor - That is true too.  My devotions seemed to lack connection with God.  How can He bless me EXCEPT while all that you say is true, you are leaving out one part of this, the GOSPEL.  Through Jesus, God is strong in my weakness, I will trust in that rather than focus on my illness.   Secondly, I don't earn approval through working for a righteousness on my own.   Through Christ I am already approved, loved and accepted by God. 

Preachers, don't believe the partial truths of the great deceiver.  

I have new weddings scheduled this year.  I moved to a diff't wedding message I received from Stephen Trout (who is starting the Kaleo Christian Counseling Center) that is a redemptive historical/gospel presentation.  Feel free to download it.  Gospel Wedding Message (Word Doc)

The Gospel Gone Public: Worldview·Mission·Preaching
Regional Event | San Diego
March 31, 2007

There is nothing more beautiful than to see a city transformed by the Gospel. As a fellow laborer for seeing Gospel going forth in San Diego, you are invited to the next Acts 29 regional event in San Diego, The Gospel Gone Public: Worldview·Mission·Preaching on Saturday, March 31, 2007.

Covered at this one-day conference will be topics that affect every pastor passionate about transforming San Diego with the Gospel, including the Church’s biblical mission, how to prepare and preach Gospel-centered messages, Gospel transformation, and much more.

Learn about the speakers, sessions, schedule, registration and the conference partners.

The cost for this conference is $45, and will include the conference materials, lunch, and a copy of Michael Goheen’s The Drama of Scripture.

The Internet is changing the landscape of preaching.  Congregants now have access to thousands of preachers and many preachers feel the pressure of comparison against the best and brightest.  How are some of these pastors responding?  By using the same material from the most popular of preachers.  There was an article (originally in the Wall Street Journal, but reprinted in the San Diego Union-Tribune) about the use of sermon resources, sermon manuscripts and other resources in the preparation of your sermon.  Here is the start:

The Rev. Brian Moon says he has come up with ideas for his sermons after water-skiing, while watching “My Name Is Earl” on TV and while working on his 1969 Buick muscle car. He also finds inspiration on the Internet, as he did in August when he preached about “God's math.”

“People are drowning, drowning in their marriages, drowning in their careers, drowning in hurtful habits,” Moon told his congregation at Church of the Suncoast, in Land o' Lakes, Fla. “They need someone to rescue them and bring them on the raft. They need people driven by God's addition.”

Those words, it turns out, were first uttered three years ago by the Rev. Ed Young, pastor of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas. His Web site, creativepastors.com, sells transcripts of this and others sermons for $10 each.

Moon says he delivered about 75 percent of Young's sermon, “just because it was really good.” That included a white-water rafting anecdote similar to Young's in the original. Moon, who has now been a pastor for seven months, didn't give credit to Young, and he makes no apologies for using a recycled sermon.

“Truth is truth, there's no sense reinventing the wheel,” Moon says. “If you got something that's a good product, why go out and beat your head against the wall and try to come up with it yourself?”

These days, a lot of preachers would agree. The sermon – an oration traditionally expressing the thoughts of the cleric doing the talking – has entered the age of reruns. Topics and transcripts are available on sites like sermoncentral.com, pastors.com, sermonspice.com, and desperatepreacher.com. In the old days, when a preacher wanted to pinch a sermon, he had to consult a book, a magazine or a sermon anthology.

Read entire article: Pulpit polemic: Recycled sermons are on the mount (Suzanne SatalineTHE WALL STREET JOURNAL)

Should pastors use other people's sermon manuscripts?  What resources should a pastor be able to use for preaching?  Are other sermons similar to commentaries?  This is pretty convicting for me as an occasional preacher (and this also applies to blog posts).  How often do I say something that is 'truly original'?  When I prepare a sermon, I study the Bible, read books, listen to sermons and often there is much I've gathered from others that influences what I preach.  When should I 'quote/give credit' to someone?  If someone gave you an idea for the 'direction' of the sermon but you write it on your own?  Lately, I try to credit those who influenced the sermon at the bottom of my text regardless of directly (word-for-word) or indirectly (influence).  But I'm sure there are times when I read something and use it later, forgetting who the idea came from.  

Some thougths:

A pastor who plagiarizes sermons is clearly not fulfilling his primary responsibility. He is not investing time and effort in studying the Word, in understanding the Word, and in helping others understand what God has taught him. Furthermore, he is being unethical in allowing his congregation to believe that the sermons he delivers are his own work. 

Plagiarism In The Pulpit Challies 

The essence of plagiarism is to give the impression that the ideas or words of another person are actually your own. This can be done intentionally (in which case it is outright theft) or unintentionally-but either way it is wrong.

What is plagiarism? Desiring God Ministries 

Other Resources:

How to Use Other Preachers' Material Without Compromising Your Integrity 

Integrity in the Pulpit 

One of the cool things about Sermon Cloud is it gives you a sort of sermon zeitgeist.  Because Sermon Cloud is fairly new, it has taken a bit to find out what people are preaching on and who are the popular preachers.  Here are some tidbits:

1) Donald Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz, has the most popular sermon (in terms of downloads) at Sermon Cloud.  He preached Incarnational Gospel at his home church Imago Dei.  It has been downloaded over 1,000 times. 

2) Rick McKinley's pastor of Imago Dei preached Inconvenient Christianity, the most 'amened' sermon just edging Noel Heikkinen by one 'amen'.

2) The most popular preacher in terms of people 'searching' is Tim Keller from Redeemer NY. 

3) You can view where all the churches are and find out who is preaching in your home town using our Church/Preacher Map page.

4) In light of the Ted Haggard scandal, only one sermon (Check Your Posture: A Message Regarding Ted Haggard)had his name in the title or meta tags.  But during that week this was the most popular sermon.

Do you own zeitgeist.  Go to the Sermon 'Search' page and filter by downloads or go to view the sermons with the most amens .

Rick McKinley's new book is out, This Beautiful Mess: Practicing the Presence of the Kingdom of God. Description: The kingdom of God has already broken into this world, but it is not yet fully here. Therefore, as kingdom dwellers, Christians live in tension: groaning from the brokenness of this world, but rejoicing with hope in the promise of God. This Beautiful Mess calls believers to live in the reality of His kingdom now! Not your family, not your culture, not even your church should define your view of existence — only your belonging to God's kingdom. Loving, touching, weeping, and rejoicing — it's all a part of making God's blessing of redemption known to a hurting world. Only when you practice His reign without inhibition will you begin to revel in the true gospel of grace and freedom.

In the book, McKinley contrasts the two 'gospels' as the Gospel of Jesus and the Gospel About Jesus and how not understanding this brings confusion.  You need to synthesis these two gospels to find the true sense of the gospel.  McKinley writes:

"If all we value is the salvation gospel, we tend to miss the rest of Christ's message.  Taken out of the context of the kingdom, the call to faith in Christ gets reduced to something less than the New Testament teaches.  The reverse is also true:  if we value a kingdom gospel at the expense of the liberating message of the Cross and the empty tomb and a call to repentance, we miss a central tenet of kingdom life.  Without faith in Jesus, there is no transforming of our lives into the new world of the kingdom."

This was very timely for me, I just preached Sunday on this very idea and I stated that there is 3 aspects to the gospel.  The Gospel of Jesus, the Gospel of Sonship and the Gospel of the Kingdom.  You can read/listen to the sermon Jesus and the Revolution – An Alternative Kingdom at Sermon Cloud.  (You can also listen to a lot of McKinley's sermons on the Kingdom there as well.)   The reality of this new Kingdom brings us to see three gospel perspectives:

1. Gospel of Christ: The announcement of this Kingdom is news, not advice. It is accomplished as an actual historical event. This is important because as news, we must accept it, we cannot earn it. It becomes 'grace' rather than what we can earn. Entering into the Kingdom is only by repentance and faith (Mark 1:15), forgiveness (Col 1:13-14) and a new birth (John 3:3, 5). When we are 'born again', we are born into the kingdom (John 3:1). Already/Not Yet - Today we accept this news by faith, but one day we will see. Today we have the Holy Spirit as a promise of the true Kingdom to come.

2. Gospel of Sonship: The reality of Jesus righteousness changes our identity. When we enter into the Kingdom, Jesus' kingly authority restructures every area of our life. We can have our identity eternally rooted in God, rather than the false 'messiah's' of our heart that will always disappoint and require us to earn our own identity. We become righteous because Jesus gives us His righteousness. Already/Not Yet - The very idea of Christians being simultaneously legally 'justified' and yet 'sinful' is based on the 'already but not yet' concept of the Kingdom of God. One day sin will no longer hold its power over us; we will be freed from its bondage.

3. Gospel of the Kingdom: As citizens of this new Kingdom, we live by Kingdom values. Inasmuch as we place our faith in Jesus the King, our identity changes because of what Jesus has done and this causes us to live life's motivated by Kingdom values. We become concerned with social justice, mercy and being a loving community reminder of God's redemptive plan to mankind. Already/Not Yet - We are called to be a 'city on a hill' a physical representation of God's redemptive work, seeking to restore the world from the consequences of the fall. Yet, sin remains, death, disease and the poor will always be with us until God comes and completes the restorative work in Act 6 of the drama.

It is through both these three aspects and understanding the Kingdom of God in the phases of human history (For example, unpacking the already/not yet of both earth/heaven today) that we start to understand the Kingdom of God.

Welcome to Goodmanson.com .  If you are new(er) here, I began this blog in July of 2004 and today I've posted for the 500th time.  I got out my calculator and discovered that over these 825 days, I've made a post every 1.65 days.  Over the years I've posted a lot on church planting, technology, churches, leadership and culture.  Here are some posts I'd recommend if you haven't been here the whole time.

CHURCH PLANTING 

Five Trends for the Future of Church Planting 26Aug06

The State of the American Church - Why Church Planting is Critical to the Future of American Christianity 16May06

CHURCH

A Partnership of Externally Focused Churches 11Aug06

Emerging From Church De-Construction to Church Kingdom Building 19Sep05

Fun with Angry, Yelling, Legalistic Christians who Know Everything 03Apr05

Is the Twelve Tribes a Cult? 02Nov05 (From my year-plus stint as a weekly Sheep & Goat column for the San Diego Reader)

LEADERSHIP

Preaching the Gospel to Yourself 26Oct06

Deacon Training & Development 02Jun06

Triperspectival Ministry Assessment 12Oct06

The Dangers of Confession while in the Pulpit 20Oct06

TECHNOLOGY

Why God is more glorified by Web 2.0 09Oct06

Technology and the Mission: Conference Session 25Sep06

List of Church Technology & Website Blogs & Resources 27Sep06

CULTURE

My own ‘Sin City’ 18Apr05

The role of the Christian artist in the secular world 20Aug04

FAMILY

New Son Roman! 30Jan06

Gideon Turns 2 Years Old 26Mar05