I'm forwarding you a link to one of my cherished blog-sites--that of Tom Bandy and Bill Easum.
You might recognize these names if you read Tom Bandy's Kicking Habits: Welcome Relief for the Addicted Church, or if you've heard me reference Bill Easum's Unfreezing Moves: Following Jesus Into the Mission Field. These guys have "thrilled and stirred" me in a very good way over the past six years. And they were hugely helpful in the way I decided to go about my ministry in what turned out to be the last years at a previous congregation (though I didn't think I was headed for my last years there, and I totally underestimated the resistance and aggressiveness of a hand full of controlling institution-keepers. I forgive them. Thank God for the day of exodus.)
Now, because I think of some of you at Grace as fellow leaders/pastors/colleagues with me, I wish your eyes would "light up" with excitement with what we’re doing and that you might be just as "thrilled and stirred" by the challenges these two see—the hope they have for the church in north America—for a truly Christ-centered, Spirit-led, credible-though-imperfect, stubbornly missional, outwardly focused, and credibly evangelizing church. Really, you know, this vision is embedded in the Grace Church "DNA"--statement of mission, vision, core beliefs and values. All leaders at Grace Church will joyfully and willfully want to know, live, and breathe our vision. Otherwise we will find ourselves rebuilding what we left behind. I will not rebuild the kind of church we came from.
So, please go to this blog and read it with me from time to time: http://ebablog.easumbandy.com/
Finally, leaders in American churches (Grace Church) can also do more praying, thinking, reading Scripture (e.g. Luke-Acts), and reading of the most discerning contemporary reflections on the missional situation we're in and the opportunity we have. There's a lot of junk marketed by the popular Christian press and bookstore outlets. You have to wade through a lot of shallow murky water before you get into the clearer, lively, and thrilling deep. In a forthcoming installment I’ll share with you my recommendations of the “most discerning contemporary” readings of our missional situation. Grace to you Grace!
--Larry
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