A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… I started my MA at Biblical Theological Seminary. That was nine years, 3.5 kids and four apartments ago. I’m happy to say that I am finally scheduled to graduate with an MA in Missional Theology from Biblical Theological Seminary. It’s been a pleasure studying here (yes, I’m writing this in class… whoops) and I’ve really been blessed by John Franke’s teaching over the years. Now that I am finishing up, I’m thinking about what’s next. I have been looking into the possibilities of pursuing a DMin as I’d like to do some adjunct teaching in the future and, more importantly, I’d love the focused learning that a degree like that brings. That being said I...Read More →
Category: Leadership
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September 30, 2010
DMin at Northern Seminary
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September 16, 2010
10 Suggestions/Thoughts on Bi-Vocational Ministry
I’ve been bi-vocational in some way or another for about 9 years. Here is some random advice/thoughts to those who are beginning or in the midst of the bi-vocational approach to ministry: Try and find a second job that feeds your gifting and passions in some way. I actually really enjoy web design. It taps into my creative side and gives me an outlet for that kind of thing. So, while it has its frustrations, I really can enjoy the work. This has been very important as it doesn’t necessarily drain me as I engage the these responsibilities. Try and have your second job be a career type job and not just a part-time placement where the only positive is that you make money. While...Read More →
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September 15, 2010
Bi-Vocational Update
It’s funny, over the past few months people who have not seen me for a while tend to ask me, “hows that bi-vocational thing going for you?” most likely referring to my posts from a few months ago (here and here) on having three jobs and three kids and all that goes with that. Well, over the past few months things have changed a bit. I’m no longer employed by Starbucks (though, I still spend a lot of time there doing work in the cafe!). The Well was gracious and picked up the health insurance for our family again and increased my hours to 3/4 time so I’ve been able to devote more time to leading our community and advancing our mission. I’m still running...Read More →
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August 4, 2010
And: The Gathered and Scattered Church
A few weeks ago the book And: The Gathered and Scattered Church showed up on my front step (that’s because I bought it of course). This book was written by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay of Adullam Church in Denver, CO. I was interested in this book for a few reasons. First of all, we use the phrase “shaping and sending” in our congregation as a short description of what we are doing. I respect (from afar) what these guys are doing so I was hoping this book would be a bit of the struggles and successes they’ve had in trying to work this out in the context of their community. I wasn’t disappointed. I really, really appreciated hearing their story. They didn’t approach the...Read More →
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July 31, 2010
Money and Discipleship.
I’ve been reading Alan and Deb Hirsch’s (Twitter | Website) newest book, Untamed and I’ve really been enjoying it. In their chapter called “kultcha-schmultcha” they have a series of things in the culture that need to be addressed when it comes to discipleship. This is a great section because they touch on a bunch of things that are deeply embedded in our culture that are in need of some critical thinking about how they influence and shape our faith, our lives and our discipleship. Their little section on money is spot on. My only complaint is that it isn’t longer, but I know that’s not what they were trying to do – that is, write a long treatise on money. In this section they talk...Read More →
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May 28, 2010
In the Name of Jesus: From Relevance to Prayer
Last week I spend a few days here on the blog working out the leadership culture we are trying to create at The Well. Now, admittedly I am a big leadership book junkie. I love exploring the sociology of leadership and community. But, as much as I love that stuff I realize there is a danger in it. One can become so dependent on good leadership technique that we forget that it is the Spirit that works in and through us. While technique is important, and firmly believe we can’t avoid it, we must not depend on it. With that being said, I want to highly recommend the little book by Henri Nouwen called, In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership. This book...Read More →
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May 17, 2010
Cultivating a Missional Leadership Culture
Download a PDF of this blog post here: Leadership Culture This post summarizes a series on some of the key aspects of the leadership culture we are seeking to create at The Well. These are the concepts that we have found help guide us and lead us towards being an adaptive and creative community that is able to push the bounds of what it means to be the church while still having a sense of organization and structure. This is a list that we’ve discovered along the way and is still a work in progress. Over the years we have learned that it is important to set expectations up front on how we will walk forward together in leadership. It is also important that we intentionally...Read More →
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May 15, 2010
Missional Leadership Culture – Leading in and With the Congregation for the Sake of Others
This post is part of a series on some of the key aspects of the leadership culture we are seeking to create at The Well. These are the concepts and ideas that we have found help guide us and lead us towards being an adaptive and creative community that is able to push the bounds of what it means to be the church while still having a sense of organization and structure. This series of statements is some of what we’ve learned along the way and is still a work in progress. But, I share them here in the hopes that our experience will help others and also with the hopes of learning from what you have learned along the way as well. Introduction (5/11/2010)...Read More →
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May 14, 2010
Missional Leadership Culture – Risk and Failure
This post is part of a series on some of the key aspects of the leadership culture we are seeking to create at The Well. These are the concepts and ideas that we have found help guide us and lead us towards being an adaptive and creative community that is able to push the bounds of what it means to be the church while still having a sense of organization and structure. This series of statements is some of what we’ve learned along the way and is still a work in progress. But, I share them here in the hopes that our experience will help others and also with the hopes of learning from what you have learned along the way as well. Introduction (5/11/2010)...Read More →
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May 13, 2010
Missional Leadership Culture – Decision Making and Change
This post is part of a series on some of the key aspects of the leadership culture we are seeking to create at The Well. These are the concepts and ideas that we have found help guide us and lead us towards being an adaptive and creative community that is able to push the bounds of what it means to be the church while still having a sense of organization and structure. This series of statements is some of what we’ve learned along the way and is still a work in progress. But, I share them here in the hopes that our experience will help others and also with the hopes of learning from what you have learned along the way as well. Introduction (5/11/2010)...Read More →
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May 12, 2010
Missional Leadership Culture – Working as Team
This post is part of a series on some of the key aspects of the leadership culture we are seeking to create at The Well. These are the concepts and ideas that we have found help guide us and lead us towards being an adaptive and creative community that is able to push the bounds of what it means to be the church while still having a sense of organization and structure. This series of statements is some of what we’ve learned along the way and is still a work in progress. But, I share them here in the hopes that our experience will help others and also with the hopes of learning from what you have learned along the way as well. Introduction (5/11/2010)...Read More →
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May 11, 2010
Missional Leadership Culture: Introduction
This post starts a series on some of the key aspects of the leadership culture we are seeking to create at The Well. These are the concepts that we have found help guide us and lead us towards being an adaptive and creative community that is able to push the bounds of what it means to be the church while still having a sense of organization and structure. This is a list that we’ve discovered along the way and is still a work in progress. Over the years we have learned that it is important to set expectations up front on how we will walk forward together in leadership. It is also important that we intentionally define the type of leadership culture that we are...Read More →
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March 7, 2010
Reflections on Romans 8:31-39
This morning at The Well we came upon Romans 8:31-39 in our study of the book of Romans. Paul begins this section by saying, “What shall we say about all these things…” Of course, the obvious question here is “what are all of these things?” Now, it could be all of what Paul has talked about in Romans or just the last few chapters, 5-8. But, I’m happy to say its all of Romans up to this point. Here’s a quick snapshot of some of “all of these things…” Salvation has been revealed and God has remained faithful to his covenant! God’s wrath was revealed to man by giving him over to their desire to worship the creation rather than God himself, who made the...Read More →
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February 25, 2010
The Well: What Are We Doing?
A semi-concise, not perfect, overly-wordy description of what The Well is all about… I have said many times throughout the last couple years that I would rather work nowhere else than at The Well. You could make me an offer to work full-time with a $120,000 salary in a well established, very respected congregation and I would turn it down to work here part-time. I just love this community and I’d give my left arm to be part of it (I’d prefer not to have to test this commitment!) However, sometimes I have had a hard time putting words to what makes this community special and unique. When I find myself in conversations with people who do not know much about The Well, the conversation...Read More →
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January 18, 2010
Bi-Vocational Pastors
As a pastor who has spent the last nine years living a bi-vocational life (sometimes tri-vocational), I appreciated all the discussion on David Fitch’s blog post back in November. I posted the rhythm I have been living for the last nine months back in November also. Things have changed a tad for me since I am working a lot less hours at Sbux and we are in the midst of a transition at The Well that will probably bring some changes to my current rhythm of life. But, if you are interested in the topic, read David’s blog and be sure to read all the discussion below. There are some really good thoughts and questions addressed. Also, Jason Coker is going to be starting...Read More →
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November 30, 2009
The Weekly Rhythm of a Bi-Vocational Pastor with Three jobs and Three kids
My parents keep saying to me, “It’s a good thing you are young.” They are right and honestly I feel like I am getting older by the minute (wait, I am getting older by the minute…) But, the reality of life for us right now is that I have three jobs. My wife and I also have three kids. I guess you could say that I have a job for each kid. I’ll say this right up front: this is probably not a sustainable life-style for too much longer. But it is where God has us and we have chosen to place ourselves here for this moment in our lives. Right now I serve as the Lead Pastor at The Well. I am running my...Read More →
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November 18, 2009
Three Questions Worth Spending Significant Time Contemplating
In his excellent book The Monkey and the Fish, Dave Gibbons asks three questions as he talks about the massive shift that is going on in our world. How are we to figure out how to navigation this rapidly changing world as followers of Jesus and as faith communities? Alan Roxburgh has referred to the kind of change we are in as “discontinuous change.” This phrase is defined by Webster as, “Non-incremental, sudden change that threatens existing or traditional authority or power structure, because it drastically alters the way things are currently done or have been done for years.” In light of this, Dave Gibbons brings up three excellent questions that I think we would do well to spend a lot of time pondering the...Read More →
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November 5, 2009
Don’t Use Technology to Do What Should Be Done in Person
Now, I’m a big fan of technology. Frankly, I’m kind of a sucker for it. I always seem to find a way to get the latest toys in some way or another. I design websites for a living and do a lot of my pastoral work with a computer in front of me so needless to say, I believe technology is helpful when it comes to ministry. But I also think it can be a hinderance. I heard a quote from (I think) Patrick Lencioni recently where he said the following: “Don’t get in the habit of using technology do what you can/should do in person.” Think about this for a minute. Last time you had to deal with a hard situation, was your first...Read More →
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October 14, 2009
Faith for People Who Don’t Like Religion…
Trying to decide what I think of this interview, some provocative thoughts. For example, “The problem is that evangelical/fundamentalist faith revolves around two directives: Be successful and evangelize. That leads to bad choices.” Probably a lot of good stuff that is true to a point but might be an over-reaction on some level. But, this section really caught my eye: I can’t prove this, but I think that any person who remains a “professional Christian” in the evangelical/fundamentalist world for a lifetime, especially any pastor, risks becoming an atheist and/or a liar. Such individuals put on an act of certainty. Sooner or later they become flakes faking it, or quit. Worse yet, some just stop asking questions. The very fact that a preacher can fool...Read More →
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September 6, 2009
Broken Eikons, Being Made New
We are made in God’s image. As eikons of God our role in this world is to point others to what God is like. This is our role in this world individually. This is our role in this world communally. “That’s community, a fellowship of little people who together make God visible in the world.” ? – Henri Nouwen One thing I think is important to get in this is the individual and unique nature of you being an image. One of the truths that has changed my life more than anything in recent years is for me to understand that who I am and have been created to be is good. In fact, its very good. I can’t tell you how freeing it is...Read More →
