Having just returned from live-blogging the Global Church Advancement Conference, I was curious to learn of an upcoming conference focusing exclusively on urban church planting: … [Read more...] about Urban Church Planting Conference: April 29-30
Archives for February 2008
Wilberforce Documentary Coming to PBS
Christianity Today commends the forthcoming PBS documentary THE BETTER HOUR: The Legacy of William Wilberforce: The Better Hour: The Legacy of William Wilberforce does well what television documentaries do. It presents the basic facts of Wilberforce's dramatic life in a calm and orderly fashion, illustrates them with historical images, fleshes out the story with interviews with experts, and grounds it with a basso profundo narration (provided by Avery Brooks, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Captain Benjamin Sisko). The interviews feature the authors of popular Wilberforce biographies—Kevin … [Read more...] about Wilberforce Documentary Coming to PBS
Shari Thomas – The Main Thing – GCA Conf
Mrs. Shari Thomas is the Director of Parakaleo, A Church Planting Wives Ministry. TOP SIX STRESS AGENTS FOR CHURCH PLANTERS’ WIVES (INVERSE ORDER): 6. The average wife oversees ~2.5 ministries, raises children, and many have part-time jobs. About 80% experience depression. 5. Boundary ambiguity -- Emotional, physical, and role ambiguity. For example, the house is often used for ministry purposes. Do we have personal space? When can I say no? Do my children always have to share their toys with many kids simultaneously? 4. Lack of reliance on Christ. 3. Insuffucient re-creation. She … [Read more...] about Shari Thomas – The Main Thing – GCA Conf
Steve Childers – The Main Thing – GCA Conf
BACKGROUND The banner over the entire conference was that the advancement of the church is the hope of the world. The leadership held out a beautiful, robust vision of church planting in America with a view to the nations both in our midst and beyond our borders--all undergirded and motivated by the supremacy of God's glory in Christ, the One who is building His church. The importance of church planting today is clear: Even the USA, once assumed Christianized by many, has now become one of the largest, most fertile mission fields in the world. Since 1990, when there were 27 churches for … [Read more...] about Steve Childers – The Main Thing – GCA Conf
Mike Tilley – Strategic Planning – GCA Conf
INTRODUCTION This is an Essentials Track workshop. Tilley spoke yesterday about leadership, describing that leadership had four roles: Coach/Motivator, Change Agent, Spokesperson and Direction-Setter. Leadership comes with four responsibilities: Vision-Casting, Strategy Formulation, Aligning and Motivating. Today, he will talk about setting direction. Strategic planning in church planting can feel like "building a plane while trying to fly it." OBJECTIONS TO PLANNING 1. It is not spiritual to plan. False dichotomy. 2. Plans tie people down. We become enslaved to a plan. [What Tilley is … [Read more...] about Mike Tilley – Strategic Planning – GCA Conf
Church Planting & Match Making: A GCA Testimony
This is a guest post from freelance writer Cindy Sawyer, who is also covering the GCA National Church Planting Conference: There are a lot of reasons for couples to change the date of their wedding. I know of a woman who married early in order to allow her dying aunt to attend the wedding, and during World War II many couples got married sooner rather than later because in that intense atmosphere it seemed imperative that their love be declared publicly while they still had the chance. Let it never be said that the GCA Church Planting Conference is akin to World War II, but one couple did … [Read more...] about Church Planting & Match Making: A GCA Testimony