GlocalNet

CONVERSATIONS ABOUT THE “NEW” EVANGELICAL

FCC and IGE explore who the “New” Evangelicals are, and what they mean for the November election.

The Fairfax Community Church (FCC) and the Institute for Global Engagement (IGE) team up again this year for the Global Leadership Forum 2008 in a two day discussion entitled, “The New Evangelical: Policy, Practice and Profile.” The event will take place on September 26th and 27th at the Fairfax Community Church in Fairfax, Virginia. Dr. Chris Seiple, President of IGE, will moderate the three 90 minute panels.

Confirmed speakers include:

Jay Hein, Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
Dr. D. Michael Lindsay, Author of Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite
Mark Galli, Senior Managing Editor, Christianity Today
Dr. Mary Habeck, Special Advisor for Strategic Planning and Institutional Reform, National Security Council, White House
Colleen Carroll Campbell, Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center
Suhail A. Khan, Counselor, U.S. Department of Transportation
Paul-Gordon Chandler, Author of Pilgrims of Christ on the Muslim Road
Nicole Bibbins-Sedaca, Former Senior Advisor for Global Affairs, U.S. State Department
Bethany Hoang, Director of the IJM Institute for International Justice Mission
Check-in/registration begins at 5:30 PM on Friday September 26th. The conference will begin promptly at 6:30 pm, ending at 8:00 pm in order to watch the presidential debate live in the FCC sanctuary. (Participants are encouraged to stay for the debate and follow-on conversation in FCC’s “Great Room.”) Saturday’s discussions begin at 8:30 am, with check-in/registration at 8:00 am. 

Registration for this event is $25 and free for students with a valid student id or .edu email address. Register at http://www.globalengage.org/glf/.

The Institute for Global Engagement (IGE) promotes sustainable environments for religious freedom worldwide. As a faith-based organization, IGE believes firmly in universal human dignity and is committed to the protection of all faiths through the rule of law. See http://www.globalengage.org for more information.

The Fairfax Community Church and The Great Room Lecture Series work on “equipping followers of Christ for greater Kingdom impact in the ‘marketplace.’” See http://www.Fairfax.cc for more information.

If you’d like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Dr. …

// Continue Reading //

It ain’t over - the fat lady hadn’t sung - but she’s loosing her voice and that’s a good thing.  It’s been a 24 hour roller-coaster.  My little brother sent his family north to Conroe, he stayed in his high rise watching over all his legal stuff - he’s a lawyer.  I was worried a lot about him, called him every 2 hours - he did fine.  When he got out to see his house - it was fine.  His neighbors weren’t so lucky.  I have had a hard time talking to him today - the phones keep dropping the call. 

My relatives from Beaumont are with my family in Tyler - they got out of one storm only to be in another.  They’re all at my sisters house and have lost power but are ok and will be ok. 

A close friend of my dad’s- a preacher friend of his - couldn’t get out of High Island.  You may have heard about the story on CNN or the Chicago Tribune or other papers.  Black Hawk helicopters got 60 of them out but the other 11 - Bucky was one and his wife - could not be rescued.  They were told to write their names and social security numbers on their bodies so they could at least be identified.  They made it.  When they called this morning they said a gazebo had been destroyed outside their house but two 2x4’s had come together to make a cross.  They made it and were very grateful. 

I’ve got some members down there now with the government doing rescue and overseeing the restoration process.  Right now there are a few conflicting reports - as is always the case - as to how serious it all is, but one thing is for sure - everyone needs prayer.  Keep them in mind. 

It’s raining outside here in DFW - just a little remnant left.  Last night they were calling this the biggest storm ever to hit Texas and one of the biggest of all time - I don’t think so - but it was serious.  No doubt there will be the need for volunteers - you can follow the northwoodchurch.org site or my blog glocal.net to be kept up to speed. 

So to all my friends in Vietnam, China, Indonesia, the Middle-East, Africa, Central & …

// Continue Reading //

Jill, this is the little girl that cracks me up - she’s so sweet - sunglasses helps her worship!

This is “Zoom” - he’s one of the new exchange students from Hanoi - he turned 17 Sunday and we ate at a Mexican restaurant - he’s an awesome young man.  This year there are 9 from Hanoi - they’re all smart, sharp, promising, and we are glad they are with us!!!  He reminds Nikki and I a lot of Ti - he’s absolutely wonderfully crazy and funny!

Jill, here are some potential men who love God, are real Chineese but grew up in Malaysia - keep them on your potential possibilty list - don’t forget what I’ve always told you - marry Chineese - they are about to rule the world - and finish the Great Commission!

I LOVED Pepperdine University.  It’s not a university - it’s a resort!  It is on the cliffs of Malibu, California - wow - I’d never have made it there.  I’d be too busy hiking in the mountains or on the beach.  There was great response to my “talk” and afterwards I had a lot of college students come up talking to me about what they were looking at doing globally and how integrate their faith with it.  I also met some of the college kids who were involved in different global projects.  I really was blown away by the school and the student body.  Dr. Charles Hall is Dean of the international programs and he gets it.  He’s assembled a great team of people to drive his department.  We ate on the beach at some place called Dukes - we watched the dophins in the ocean and ate Mahi Mahi on our plate!  Thanks for a great time Charles. 

OK, I’ll write more serious blogs later - just catching up for now. 

This year I’ve spoken at several Universities.  I’ll be speaking at chapel at Hardin-Simmons University today and tomorrow Pepperdine in LA.  It’s all on the subject of globalization and engagement.  One of the things I’m absolutely convinced of - is that this is the most incredible time to be in your 20’s.  Here’s why:

1.  The world has globalized and travel lets people get around like never before.  This generation is going to see the world like we saw individual states in the U.S. when I was a kid.  This will further make thing “global” in their thinking. 

2.  You can commmunicate like never before.  Chat rooms, blogs, social networking sites are going global which makes long distance international relationships more possible than ever before.

3.  You can make a difference in the world.  People in this age group are selecting their jobs based on their passions like no time in history.  Being able to use your job to not just make a buck - but serve humanity is no longer a dream but a reality for so so many.

4.  Learning about God from different cultural perspectives, and even the differences in other religions helps us understand our own so much better.  I think this could have an incredibly positive impact on discipleship and how we grow in our faith. 

5. ???????? you fill it in . . . . .

This past week I’ve read three books by friends who sent them in advance for me to read and interact with.  They are going to be incredible books.  Mark Galli, a traveling buddy, has one coming “A Great and Terrible Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Attributes of God” - it’s fantastic.  One is by my good friend Alan Hirsch called ReJesus.  The other is on Organic Leadership by long time friend Neil Cole.  I gave them all 10’s. 

But here’s what I’m excited about - enough talk and writing about church - Jesus is the answer not just for the world - but for the Church - Today!!!!!!  The greatest ministries and stories in the world today are not about “church growth” or “ministry” or even “church planting” (Heresy!) for that matter - but are about Jesus.  We are talking about everything but Him.  We are talking about him, around him, doing work in his name - but I’m convinced know him or recognize him personally very little. 

I hear about lots of research projects, and information gathering - but little of personal worship, prayer meetings, and revelation that God is giving people beyond nuts and bolts of “church.”

We’ve got to get back to Jesus.  Not long ago a pastor came to see me wanting to know about T-Life and how we make disciples.  He had been to a conference of a large church that admitted though they’d grown by thousands they didn’t make disciples and their church wasn’t spiritually healthy.  So, they came up with a new program to make disciples after their research project and were already marketing it - while they were trying to implement it in their own church. 

He asked me what I thought - he was going to use their new process.  I asked him, “They admitted what they had done didn’t work?” “Absolutely!” he responded.  “So based on that have they made disciples?” I asked.  “Not to this point,” he said.  “And, you are going to use their stuff when it hasn’t been proven yet?”

I am convinced if we prayed and worshipped daily encountering the living Jesus - just half as much as we read books, attend conferences, and study other churches - we would see a movement of God such as we have never seen and the church would …

// Continue Reading //

The Church Planter’s Wives Blog will be going live sometime today.  We had a small technical glitch that made it not go live this morning, but it will be up this evening!  You will be able to find by scrolling over the “Blog” menu above, then click “CPW Blog”.  We are very excited about this new tool and look forward to seeing many new readers coming on board!

People sometimes make fun of Dallas-Fort Worth being the buckle on the Bible belt.  It isn’t anymore.  It’s unbuckled.  The stats are in and church attendance is around the 17% mark - in northeast Tarrant county where I live it’s probably more like 9%.  We think because we see churches and some of them big that we are churched.  We are not.  A lot of the shelves (pews) are empty in those stores!  The ones that are full are often filled with people looking for a different kind of church - not Jesus!  If we were “churched” anywhere near what we were just 35 years ago at a minimum we would have to double the number of churches out here. 

For some pastors that would freak them out - more competition!  We need to shift our mindset from one that says “I pastor a church to reach this community . . . “ to one that says “I pastor a church to create communities of faith in this community all over.” One thinks like a preacher/pastor the other a missionary/mobilizer. 

We were the most wicked place on the face of the earth just a little over a hundred years ago.  Downtown Fort Worth was called Hell’s half acre.  Gun fights, brothels, gambling, you name it - it was there and out of control.  Most people didn’t venture there.  It was the last jumping off point till you started out west to nowhere.  Godly?  Not hardly. 

Then, a group of Christians and pastors had enough.  They became convicted and started starting churches right in the heart of Hell’s half-acre - a revival began to come - Southwestern seminary came on the scene - and the rest is history.  We became the Bible belt not because of our holiness, but because of our sinfulness and a sense of desperation a few people had a century ago. 

It’s time for us to once again have a burden for our city.  There’s not a greater place to live than DFW.  There’s not a more strategic city to live than DFW in the US, and for some reason the world. 

When the passion for Jesus is gone and you have the relics of religion left over - buildings/structures/organizations - then it looses its power and becomes counter productive. 

Father I pray for my …

// Continue Reading //

A key piece to our Church Planter Training that we do here at NorthWood is making sure that the family is the most healthy component in the journey.  To do this, we include the families in the entire process.  Several months ago, a wife of one of our Church Planters from Superior, Colorado decided to make a Facebook group dedicated to Church Planters Wives.  It grew very quickly, just confirming something we already knew… there are thousands of Planters wives out there looking for some support.  Niki, Bob’s wife, has a wonderful ministry to wives and her ‘right hand gal’ is Amy Colon, this very same person who began the Facebook group.  So, beginning tomorrow, we are starting a blog just for you wives!  Amy Colon is the main author, with Niki being a contributing editor when her schedule allows. 

So tomorrow you can find the CPW blog by scrolling over the “Blog” button at the top of this page and then clicking “CPW Blog” in the sub-menu.  We are very excited about this new resource and can’t wait to see what God does with it!

Who would think labor day would be such an incredible weekend for a church but it was for us.  You have to go to the http://www.northwoodchurch.org web-site and listen to the message - he was given a standing ovation.  Later in the evening he talked about men and marriage and leadership and it was awesome.  We love you John Jenkins!

Nikki and I were at the Del Coronado for a meeting and we enjoyed ourselves.  It is an old hotel from 1888 and the largest wooden hotel in the U.S.  Two nights the fire alarm went off - kind of scary - but we survived! False alarms both times. 

One morning as I ran on the beach I ran with a group of navy recruits - I praised them the whole time and talked to them like I was their training sergeant!  I later saw a group of navy seal recruits doing training off the coast.  I could see warships and one day a submarine out in the ocean from the beach - obviously it was not submerged!  At the encouragement of Ed Allen I’m reading Lone Survivor - it’s about a Navy Seal and a mission where he was the only one to survive - he is a Texan. 

When I see and read stuff like that I get inspired.  Maybe I should have been a soldier.  When I look at the Great Commission I feel the same sense of passion, enthusiasm, and abandonment for people to know who Jesus is and to see that transforming power. 

I believe it’s entirely possible that the Great Commission could be fulfilled in the next 20 years - how?

1.  Using all human tools at our disposal - airplanes, internet, domains of society, and resources people have.

2.  Using all spiritual power at our disposal - the Holy Spirit, prayer, making disciples with this in their DNA (are they a disciple if this is not in their DNA?), each person using their gifts and calling.

3.  Merging #1 and #2 - if we do that - it’s a done deal!

Page 4 of 47 pages « FirstP  <  2 3 4 5 6 >  Last »