Exponential 2012

                                 


Last week I was in sunny Orlando, Fl for the largest gathering of church planters in the nation. Exponential is a gathering of more than 4000 church planters from around the world. I had the opportunity to learn from many church planters and practitioners from around the globe, and see what they were doing in their communities to see the Kingdom of God expanded. The theme for Exponential this year was "sifted", taken from Luke 22. All of the speakers during the main session spoke on this subject. I would have to say my biggest challenge came from Wayne Cordeiro who said "We are not ready for ministry until we have been sifted. Knowledge is not enough".

I also went to the Mosaix Pre-Conference which is put on by the Mosaix multi-ethinic church network. This network exists to catalyze a movement of multi-ethnic churches for the sake of the Gospel. The founder of this organization is Mark DeyMaz. Their website is www.mosaix.info.

On Wednesday night I spent the evening at a New Thing event at the House of Blues. This was an opportunity for planters to get acquainted with the New Thing network. Our speaker for the night was Michael Frost, well known author and speaker. To learn more about New Thing visit www.newthing.org

This was a great week of learning and connecting with other like minded church planters from around the world. I look forward to next year.

2012 CCDA National Conference Promo 1

I'm normal, you're different.

Recently I had the opportunity to preach at my church on the subject of "unity" from Ephesians. This topic has been on my mind a lot lately, especially since I am reminded more and more about our divisions within the Church. We divide over race, economics, politics, etc, and never stop to consider the implications of our division. If we listen to our conversations and watch how we live it would seem that the Church is doing a poor job in believing that the Gospel transcends all of our division. We have convinced ourselves that it is OK to worship with people who look like us and who have the same political views. We have forgotten that as followers of Jesus we are a new humanity. God has made a new people who are identified by their love for one another. We say "I'm normal...those people are different, so how can I worship with them?"  We have no problem accepting Paul's teaching in Ephesians of people being reconciled to God through Jesus' work on the cross, but we have a hard time accepting the fact that we are also to be reconciled to each other. Jesus was clear about this in his prayer  for the believers in John 17, and Paul is also clear in Ephesians and other places in his letters. 

Is it possible for people from different backgrounds, different perspectives, and ethnic groups to be united for a common cause? Sadly, the church has not been setting the example. Since this is the case, I asked the girls basketball team from North Kansas City High to help me with this They are a diverse group of girls that consider themselves to be a family. They really love each other. Their love for each other is the main ingredient that makes their team successful. Yes, they have times when they argue and have conflict but they understand that if they don't take the time to work it out they will lose! I spent an afternoon with them and did a video interview. Check the link to see the video. You can also listen to my message on my church website.

I believe Christians should be leading this conversation beacauase we are the only ones that have the solution  to this problem. We are to be agents of reconciliation in our homes, in our communities and in our churches. If we don't then we will lose!