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A few weeks ago, Bob mentioned that on May 3rd, we would be having several pastors from around the world coming to NorthWood.  After that blog post, we received email after email from all of you asking about this event.  Well, we have a few details ironed out and we are glad to say this is a free and public event to anyone who would like to attend!  All we ask is that you take a minute to register HERE to let us know you are coming.

Here are a few of the speakers who will be here:

Eddy Leo

Dion Robert

Jossy Chacko

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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It just could be.  This was the first time I’ve ever been asked to speak to a group of church planters that were ALL MEMBERS OF THE SAME CHURCH - about 50 of them.  Grace Fellowship, where David Nelms is the pastor and Greg Kappas is the missions pastor, hosted us with their networks - Timothy Initiative and Grace Global Network.  We’ve had many “non-pastors” go through our training, but to see so many laymen from a single church was really exciting to me. 

Sunday, David gave an invitation challenging members to start churches - many of these will be cells or house churches - this 78 year old lady came forward and said God had called her!  She was at all the training, alert and awake.  Before you discount her, don’t forget God called Abraham at 75 and gave him a son at 100.  It was also reflective of the world in that the majority were immigrants and from all over the world - not so many “white” people.  These first generation immigrants are going to be our salvation in terms of multiplying churches and I’m excited about it.  The world is coming to us - to bring hope - we welcome you - we desperately need your help!

Guest Blogger: Bobby Vaughn, Church Planting Administrator - NorthWood Church

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8
Do Justice (how can you, today, bring justice to an unjust situation?)
Love Kindness (mercy) (Where and to whom do you need to show mercy?)
Walk Humbly with your God (Walking by faith - hearing AND obeying)

This holiday season, remember this verse in the midst of the holiday crowds and madness.  People are watching your behavior whether you know it or not.

This is a young church planter with a T-shirt I LOVED.  It says, “It’s always a good day when Jesus shows up” and shows him tickling a person.  I loved it.  Why is it we fail to realize not just the divinity of Jesus but his humanity! 

Yesterday I was at Fellowship Church with Gary Brandenburg, Brian Hook, and other Vision360 guys in DFW for a church planters round table.  There were about 35 of us and it was a blast.  I’m so incredibly excited about what I see with young planters emerging that are in their 20’s.  There are so many different models emerging and conversations that I’ve not heard taking place.  I’m optimistic about their focus on discipleship and global issues - something that is gaining some ground, but still way behind most church planters and churches in the West.  Something else that stood out in my mind was all the different ethnicities of the guys at the table.  It wasn’t a young white guys club - which was good.  There were lots of young white guys, but Indians, Hispanics, Africans, Chinese, and other Asians.  I felt like I was sitting with a global group of guys.  When I start speaking on stuff like that and the international guys are there, the others know there is something to it, just not what to do with it.  I got to hang out with someone I believe will be an incredible young planter - a white dude.  I told him there are 3 things I won’t compromise on that I expect of him if he wants to partner with us:  regularly start churches out of his church, work with the poorest of the poor around him, and pick a hard place in the world and work.  He told me the last one would be the hardest - he wants to do it, he just doesn’t know how, or who to connect with.  That is something that most of the networks and denominations haven’t really talked a lot about it.  Sadly, most of their ways of connecting are very, very old School.  I recently spoke at Micah Fries Forum One21 at Frederick Blvd. Baptist Church in St. Joseph, Missouri, and it was just incredible.  One is 1st century missions in a 21st century context.  I shared that for the most part the US church is One19 - we are doing first century missions in a 19th century context.  Basically, what that means is funding a few “vocational” people while ignoring the global church and the people in the pew.  It’s a new day and I see it dawning.

This was a great post by my son - he’s incredible! (pdf document)

NYU_Taught_me_to_sell_cars_and_selling_cars_taught_me_to_work.pdf

If you’ve been reading Bob’s blog posts for the past several months, you know that what we do around the world affects what we do here at home.  Our next Turbo Training - our one-day training for Church Planters and leaders - is on October 1st.  Seating is limited, so register quick!  In the past, our Turbo’s have been two days and cost $199.  This time, we are doing it in one day (8am to 5pm) and the cost is only $79!  It’s fast, deep, and engaging!  Hope to see you there!

Register HERE

When I was 15 I began to preach - this is the first church I preached at, Harris Chapel Methodist Church.  There’s a lot of talk about “simple” church and “house” church - but as I was home over the weekend and reflecting I was stunned at how many of the things some people want the church to be today, in many ways, it was yesterday.  No one would have called them house churches - but look at all four of these buildings - they were all the size of a small, very small house.  Each will hold only about 75, if that many, packed out.  This church is on the trail that opened up Louisiana to New Mexico - running right through Lindale, Texas.

This church is around the corner from where my wife grew up, Sabine Methodist Church.  Her step-sister is buried here.  The church was in the neighborhood - you walked to it - you didn’t drive half-way across town.  The people were your friends in worship - not people you didn’t know or weren’t tied to during the week.  They really did “do life” together!  They had to - or they’d die.  Whatever people needed - they provided it.  In a sense all churches were community churches and missional.

This is St. Mary’s Baptist Church - the African American church in Lindale.  I remember when having finished preaching at Harris Chapel Methodist one Sunday me and 2 football buddies drove over to the church and sat in the back and worshipped.  The preacher began to preach loud and say, “We knew one day white folk would come and sit together in worship.”  I didn’t have a clue about civil rights and minorities - I was white, and in East Texas - life couldn’t be better - for me.  That one experience would one day have a profound impact on how I thought about race and justice, not just in the world, but in the place I grew up in.

This is Bethesda Presbyterian Church, where my wife’s mother and baby sister are buried.  Last weekend we had a family gathering around the corner.  JB Hicks still goes there - 87 …

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