for Paul the gospel bound believers to one another as well as to God. Acceptance by Christ necessitated acceptance of those whom he had already welcomed (Rom 15:7); reconciliation with God entailed reconciliation with others who exhibited the character of gospel preaching (Phil 4:2-3); union in the Spirit involved union with one another, for the Spirit was primarily a shared, not individual, experience. The gospel is not a purely personal matter. It has a social dimension. It is a communal affair. ~ Robert Banks, Paul’s Idea of Community
Off to Chicago
I am heading out to TEDS for Acts 29 Coaches Training today. I will try to blog a bit while I am there but no guarantees. I will be trained how to coach others in this incredibly challenging task of planting churches. A noteworthy resource made available to coaching candidates is Coachnet. Check it out. We also have read Coaching 101 by Bob Logan.And for an potential church planters reading this, there is a A29 bootcamp this week featuring Mark Driscoll, Ed Stetzer, Mark Dever and Darrin Patrick, and potentially D.A. Carson.
Dwell – Urban Planting Conference
You wont want to miss it: DWELL
God & Politics
Tonight the PBS NOW program focused on God and Politics in 2008. Surprisingly, this piece was even-handed, demonstrating both the socially progressive and politically charged expressions of faith in Evangelicalism. Pastors from across Kansas were interviewed, revealing disturbing to encouraging stances on the role of faith and politics. An interesting quote (as best as I can recall):
“More often than not, when you mix religion and politics, you get politics. As a preacher I am called to preach the gospel, that’s good news. Its about deliverance. Politics can’t deliver; it never will.”
See also the Pew Foundation’s Young White Evangelicals: Less Republican, More Conservative
Web stream will be available.