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A few months back, Bob spoke at the LCEF conference about his new book “Real Time Connections” - Now available!

A great interview of one of NorthWood’s members about the Multifaith Weekend.  What a great explanation she gave!

This has been a wild 24 hours for me - I’m busy working on my sermon - for 2 Sundays away.  Last night I was working and listening to the Verge Conference online in Austin - so proud of Matt Carter and his crew and where I see them headed.  There are several conferences going on right now with lots of people from Verge, to Radicalis, to an ACTS 29 event, and several more on the way this month.  I was asked to speak at 2 of them but couldn’t - I’m going to West Africa on a fast trip to speak at a little church of 200,000 and then speaking to their 1500 new church planters for this year.  Now that’s a church!  February must be conference month!  We just had a group of our planters with us. 

As I was listening last night and the camera panned the crowd I thought of all those young pastors - aspiring to be the next Francis Chan or Mark Driscoll or whoever they admire speaking at whatever conference they go to. 

When I started in ministry - I assumed you worked hard, prayed hard, and God moved powerfully and a church or ministry grew.  When that happened everyone got along and was happy.  NOT. 
You can’t aggressively serve God and not face attack and testing.  The two are regular companions but come from 2 different sources, but when handled properly have the same effect.  Yesterday I prayed for my friend Matt Chandler and later I heard of another friend in the ministry accused of things that are unsubstantiated.  Jesus faced both of those.  Then I got an email from a friend who crashed in ministry but is doing something else now.  I went to bed with a heavy heart thinking of those 3 incidents.  I couldn’t help but think of all you young church planters from NorthWood and I wanted to challenge you.  How do you handle stuff like this?

1.  Keep your heart pure.  This is why I passionately teach our church and you young men and women going into the ministry to start your day off on your knees in the word of God.  I’m not talking about sermon prep - I’m talking about heart prep.  Pray until your heart is broken, soft, and open.

2.  Don’t let offenses pile up.  People are going to …

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A few months ago, I was studying the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament.  I think sometimes we don’t have a clear picture of how the Holy Spirit worked in the Old Testament and it leads us to some conclusions that were not necessarily true.  There is no doubt about it, after the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came upon the believers in the upper room, and today fills every believer at conversion - which must continue on a daily and moment by moment basis.  Because of that, we can get the idea the Spirit wasn’t that active in the Old Testament - but the Spirit was.  The Spirit was present in creation, The Spirit was put upon people for special tasks, and the Spirit was present in their worship as well.  I always wanted to be careful we don’t undermine who the Triune God is in the Bible in any and all roles.  It might be a fun study for you to study the Spirit in the Old Testament using your concordance - you’ll be amazed, encouraged, and enlightened at all you see - I was. 

One of the most fascinating passages for me Is Exodus 31:1-12.  It’s where Moses is on Mt. Sinai with God and he is being given the directions for building the tabernacle and he says, “See, I have called Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge, and all craftmanship to devise artistic designs. . . ” That is an interesting passage to me - God’s Spirit comes upon someone for the purpose of creating art. 

In my new book Real-Time Connections - I write about a painter Minh Song - who I know and has sold his art in the US.  You can’t go to Hanoi to any art gallery and not see his paintings all over the place - he’s simply incredible.  Our church has many of his paintings and many of our members - me included - have his art in our homes.  I asked him once what it’s like to paint, he told me “When I paint I feel God all through me and in my hands.” 

Have you ever thought how you are moved when you see art, hear a beautiful piece of …

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I’m excited my new book!  It has now been released and there are many things that really excite me about it.  This is very different from any book I’ve ever written:

First, it’s written for everyday ordinary disciples - not preachers or just church leaders.  It’s a “missional” book for everyone and what a missional disciple looks like. 

Second, it’s real live stories of our people and what they are doing in the inner-city all the way to Vietnam and beyond.  So it isn’t theory, ideas, or challenges of what could be - it is what is and what people are actually doing.

Third, it tells the whole story both from my angle and the angle of our people at NorthWood how we all became involved and how our church became highly missional. 

Fourth,  it ties the Great Commission to the Great Disciple - Abraham!  It also explains how local congregations internationally are connecting to see it’s fulfillment. 

Fifth, it gives steps at the end of each chapter - so that by the time you finish reading the book, if you follow all the steps at the end of the chapter each person can have their own action plan of how to use their jobs and/or interest to impact the world.

Sixth, it explains how your job is your primary ministry tool - and how to use it. 

Seventh, it goes to the core of what it means to be a disciple - which is to hear and obey and what that looks like.

Eighth, it deals with the difference between living in society in covenant versus contract. 

Ninth, it helps to explain the concept of religious freedom beyond religion to freedom of thought and why that matters as the first of human rights.

Tenth, it deals with Islam and other religions and how to engage in a radically different way than the church has the past 200 years. 

The book basically looks at the 21st century and projects forward from practical action that’s being done right now in a local church and what it will look like to see the Great Commission fulfilled.

Some people are telling me this is my best book yet - simple, clear, with practical steps and stories that anyone can …

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This is Joon, he’s a kickin church planter.  This is his first cell group and he called it his “mustard seed” - this guy is going to see some stuff happen.  I walked into my study when all the planters were at my home the other night, and he was looking around.  I wanted to give him my study - but it can’t be shipped to San Francisco.  Some people thought my desk actually belonged to Jonathan Edwards - it was made in that area and in the style of that furniture but it’s a reproduction!  I didn’t understand at first, but all of these young planters would walk in my office and be kind of quiet!  I didn’t understand why until I was told they all thought my office furniture had been Jonathan Edwards.  I think that’s good - Father give us lots of modern Jonathan Edwards’, who love you and will see this nation awakened - and let it begin in this cell in San Francisco.

We’ve changed the way we are training interns and planting churches.  You don’t have to move here to be trained, mentored and sponsored.  You can still move here - and some do, but that’s not possible for everyone.  So if you want, come on and join us.  You can click on “Turbo” above and find out more information.  We are doing two cohorts a year, and this is the first.  Now is the time to begin to sign up for the second cohort. 
As I was observing the church planters, I was so proud of Kevin Cox - he has planted his church, planted other churches, is working in the inner-city and overseas as well.  There are some other guys following suit.  I saw several guys that will be doing the same thing - they remind me of myself, in many ways, a few years ago.  I decided to give an impromptu lecture on Apostolic leadership because they are all going to do some great things and church planters are more prone in this leadership mode than most. I believe this is crucial to young church planters because it is in the DNA of multiplication.  Here are some things I shared with them:
  Apostolic is not: 
        The original 12
        A Spiritual gift
        A position in the church
        Not necessarily a large church pastor
        Not necessarily a high profile pastor or church leader
  Apostolic is:   
        Big Picture Perspective
        Future Oriented
        Entrepreneurial leadership
        Pioneering
        Multiplying
        Connecting
        Releasing
        Leadership that calls to action and inspires
        Modeling
        A Leadership model & role in the church, recognized or not
  Apostolic Challenges: 
          Communicating what you sense and …

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Ed Stetzer interviews Bob.  Click here.

Real-Time Connections is out today and can be ordered.  Click here.

Video Sermon from Sunday.

After each service at each stop during the weekend, there was a time of Q&A.  Here is the Q&A time from NorthWood.

Leave your comments and questions you may have for Bob about this weekend below.

Taken from the www.whydoyoufearme.com website:

What are your first thoughts when you hear words like ‘The Middle East’, ‘Arab’, or ‘Muslim’?

If you are like many Americans, the word that first comes to mind is “terrorism.” FEAR is the natural and assumed emotional reaction. So then….what ARE the political, religious, and societal realities of the Middle East? What impact do these have on America? And most importantly, what should our response be to these challenges?

On January 28th, Governor David Beasley, Ted Dekker, and Carl Medearis will host an honest, unscripted conversation about America and the Middle East. They will not only discuss the vital issues, but provide real-life answers.

The event will be held in conjunction with the release of Ted and Carl’s new book, Tea with Hezbollah — Sitting at the Enemy’s Table, a powerful narrative which draws the West into a completely fresh understanding of those we call our enemies and the teaching that dares us to love them — a must-read for all who see the looming threat rising in the Middle East. David, Carl, and Ted each have a wealth of experience in the Middle East and will provide captivating insights into this confusing part of the world.

Your imagination will be stirred, your heart moved, and your mind filled with new ways to positively interact with the Middle East.

To register for the event, you may click HERE.

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