Shapevine Interview: Missional Communities, Total Church, Triperspectivalism & Renovo
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.
Read MoreRenovo Network
Almost a year ago I posted an intro to the Renovo Network concept, entitled: Transforming Cities – The Church beyond the Spiritual Box. Since this post we've incorporated the Renovo Group, the Tentmaker Group and Imagine City Group. We continue to work on the the organization but first we realized it needed a funding mechanism up and running, which we launched as the Tentmaker Group. To date we've trained over 40 people on Tentmaker Group roles and I believe by the end of this year we will have established a sustainable mechanism to help missional leaders and churches seek city renewal. If this is the case, our prayer is that through external funding we can roll this into 25 cities by next year. Here is a little bit about Renovo:
The Renovo Network is a collection of local communities of believers (churches) that seek to bring gospel renewal to our cities in the 7 pillars of society Business, Education, Healthcare, Government, Media, Social Services [including other churches] & Marginalized. The Renovo Network seeks to re-capture a broader scope of being the church in our city. We believe the gospel informs all of life and this good news helps shape how we view the world and our involvement in it. We want to equip Christians to see how the gospel shapes life, science, politics, art, culture, business, economics, education, local concerns, mercy ministries, social justice, environmentalism, law, media, social concerns and spirituality. Let's be a foretaste of what's to come…
Read MoreDo you mean no more Rocky Balboa sermon series?
A couple years ago, after the success of The Passion of the Christ, several film makers tried to tap into the Christian word-of-mouth marketing. I cringed (see: Hollywood: Turning the Christian Faith into a Marketing Gimmick) when I saw Rocky's newest film use a faith-based marketing approach. Marketing for Rocky included sermon resources at RockyResources where you could show clips of Rocky respecting Adrian and tie it into a sermon on Esther. After my posts, I was subsequently interviewed on NPR and labeled the 'Pastor who takes issue with Rocky'.
….but it looks like the bubble has burst. As Hollywood looks at the struggle of the latest Narnia film (which I haven't seen yet, but clearly this is more appropriate to connect to Christians than Rocky.) The Hollywood Reporter writes
Indeed, Adamson's first "Narnia" came on the heels of 2004's "The Passion of the Christ," which grossed $370 million domestically and tipped studios to a potentially untapped audience of faithful moviegoers.
But in the years since, studios that have waged extensive faith-based campaigns have garnered mixed results, leading some in Hollywood to lose faith in the practice.
Read The Hollywood Reporter's How effective is marketing to faith-based audiences?
Read MoreTotal Church Conference Registration Open
I'd encourage all church planters to attend one of the most important church planting conferences to come. This one is a must attend for church planters who are thinking about planting missional churches to reach our culture. The Total Church North America Conference 2008
REGISTER EARLY BENEFITS!
- Registering prior to July 12th and receive a discounted rate.
- Immersion program. Lodging for out-of-town registrants will be provided by members of Kaleo Church on a first-come first-served basis as long as we have lodging available. Space is limited. This will save on hotel costs for the conference and give visitors an opportunity to see the life of the community at Kaleo.
Be the Church
Total church is a way of thinking about church and mission in the 21st century which sees the local Christian community as integral to Christian living and Christian mission. The Christian life is 'total church' – our identity is communal.
Why Attend?
- Create a community centered on the gospel, equipped to do the work of the ministry.
– Make your community a community of church planters.
– See what it means to be the church on mission through ordinary life with gospel intentionality.
– Dialog with missional church leaders from across the world.
– Learn from seasoned practitioners how to form missional communities and transition traditional churches toward mission.
– Did we mention its in San Diego?
Dates: August 12-14, 2008
Location: San Diego, CA
Main Sesssion Speakers: Steve Timmis and Tim Chester are the authors of Total Church: A Radical Reshaping Around Gospel and Community (Crossway). They lead The Crowded House, a family of church planting networks that started in Sheffield, England. They have also started The Porterbrook Network to train people for mission and church planting in the context of ministry.
Break-out Sessions will be led by church planters/practitioners from The Crowded House, Kaleo Church, Soma Community & Providence Community. Break-out sessions will be added but will include:
- Beyond Total Church – Sowing the Seeds of a Movement
- Moving from Traditional to Missional – “What do I do next?”
- Engaging the Domains of Society – From Business to Media and Beyond
- Communicating in a Post-Christian Culture
- Evangelising the Urban Poor
- New ways of funding a plant & planter in a missional movement.
Stay-tuned as more break-out sessions are added. There will be several tracks for people being introduced to a missional mindset all the way to those who have formed missional communities to learn from others around the world leading missional movements.
The first Total Church was held in Sheffield, UK, in 2007 at the end of October, hosted by the Crowded House. The conference is named for the book, Total Church -A Radical Reshaping Around Gospel and Community which will be released in the Fall in the US.
Learn more: Total Church North America Conference 2008
Read MoreDwell Conference | London
If you have a chance I'd encourage you to attend the Dwell Conference in London. Many of you already know Mark Driscoll & Scott Thomas, but maybe some of you haven't been exposed to Steve Timmis. I've had the opportunity to visit Steve in England and I strongly encourage you to learn from him. At the Total Church conference in England, his sessions were provocative, a bit edgy (in a good way) and caused many of us to go home re-thinking what we are doing. Keller fans- Redeemer is bringing Steve & Tim Chester to NY in '09 to train all their leaders on being the church formed around the gospel, on mission in community.
For those of you in the US, Steve and Tim will be joining Soma Community, Providence Community & Kaleo Church at the Total Church North American Conference. Space is limited!
Read MoreReturn from Seattle & Tacoma
I returned yesterday from the Seattle/Tacoma trip. Here are a few of the highlights:
Mars Hill Reunion
I spent Saturday night with Jamie Munson an elder and Lead Pastor (Mark Driscoll is preaching pastor) at Mars Hill in Seattle. Mars Hill has gone through a bit of transition and Jamie and I spoke about that. We also spoke about how to create systems that reflect an organizations vision/values. 
Through many seasons, Jamie has much to offer in this area of thought. Lastly, he showed me a demo of their site, "The City" which was exciting and good timing since we launched a similar set of features with Ekklesia for churches and their members.
Soma School
Finished a week at Soma School. Capped the week with lunch with Caesar Kalinowski and Jeff Vanderstelt. I continue to grow in my appreciation for the friendship and shared vision between Kaleo & Soma. On Sunday I was able to spend the day with a family from Soma Community, Mark Tilden who took us (Bryce & Chad from Sojourn in Louisville pictured below, their wives inside in the warmth) on his yacht to Vashon Island. Mark has built and sold internet companies, his latest venture is FlightStats.com so he and I spoke about entrepreneurial things together.
Heather & Family
My parents flew up from Sacramento and we all spent Friday/Saturday together at my brothers. My wife, Heather and I took a walk around around the last place we lived in Seattle, Greenlake. As you can see we weren't quite ready for the 'summer days' of Seattle, having been spoiled by San Diego's weather. In all of our years in returned visits (we moved in 2001) we always run into people we know here, and this trip was no exception.
All-in-all a very profitable trip connecting and learning from others. I look forward to my next conference in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Read MoreDrew 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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