Read Me. I have received a bunch of amazon gift certificates so I’ve bought about 6 new books in the last two weeks. Soon I’ll list a bunch of them here. But I just wanted to take a quick post to recommend a book that I just started reading called “Linking Arms, Linking LIves: How Urban-Suburban Partnerships Can Transform Communities.” My friend JR Rozko recommended it and when he recommends a book, I usually do what he says. Most of you also know that I love talking about the suburban church and the challenges that we face in this context to live out a whole Gospel. This book is right up my alley. I have spoke with a number of urban pastors who look skeptically on partnerships...Read More →
Category: Suburbia
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October 30, 2008
Book Recommendation: Linking Arms, Linking Lives
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October 27, 2008
Super Christians? Nope, Just Normally Obedient.
We’ve spent the last couple days hanging out with Tim and Jenn Fidanzo who are from Portland, OR. We met them on Sunday morning when they showed up at our church. About four months ago, Tim and Jenn felt that God was calling them to give up to very well paying jobs, sell their belongings, buy a mobile home that runs on recycled Veggie oil (their last fill up came from Burger King) and travel around the country doing their best to love and care for the poor and homeless. They showed up at The Well because they saw that we have a weekly homeless ministry on our website. So, tonight, after plugging into our building since last night and today, they are heading down to...Read More →
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October 18, 2008
Wasteful Spending?
Dorie Morgan, who I am proud to call a member of our church community has written a wonderful little reflection on spending in suburbia and reminds me of how we need to continually think carefully about our way of life. Oh, and I personally think her blog looks awesome too. (Yes, that was a shameless plug for my super-duper design skills).
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October 10, 2008
Resources on Suburbia
Today I spoke at Biblical Seminary for the installation of John R. Franke as the Lester and Kay Clemens Professor of Missional Theology. Gary and I will be discussing the challenges and opportunities the church faces in the Suburbs. In my talk I promised that I would post some resources for further reading here on my blog. So, here it is. This is a link to the paper that I wrote that started this whole thing for me. Books: Al Hsu has put together a fantastic reading list here. Tom Sine’s new book “The New Conspirators” is a great companion to this conversation. Some posts from my blog: Are You Rioting with the Suburban Mob? Four Movements of the Suburban Missional Church Personal...Read More →
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October 7, 2008
Bowling for Mediocrity
I have never really liked bowling. Well, I guess I have only kind of liked it. It’s always been one of those things that constantly makes me want quit. I can’t tell you how many times I leave one or two pins standing – no matter how hard I hit them, no matter how crazy they fly around down there after my ball violently strikes them. I just can’t figure the secret of this game out. I guess in some way that is okay because I figure, like most guys, that if you can’t hit them all down, you may as well hit them really hard. (I am sure it’s some kind of macho-man, dude thing). If you ever turn on ESPN while there is...Read More →
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September 29, 2008
Embrace the Burbs. Or Get Out.
Ed Stetzer, who is a pretty good all around guy and solid thinker about the church and mission recently did an interview for the website called “The Subtext.” I met Ed at an event in Philly and I was quickly impressed with not only his understanding of the gospel, culture and mission but also his need to constantly make jokes. It’s clear that he was the class clown in grade school! Needless to say he’s my kind of guy. Anyways, go ahead and read this interview here. It’s good. Here is an excellent excerpt: “Some pastors hate the suburbs. If you hate the suburbs, stop whining about it and move into the city. I have done both and find them both in deep need of...Read More →
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September 18, 2008
The Challenge of Community in Suburbia
Melanie and I were on a walk last night and we were talking for a bit about the challenge of being in community in our suburban environment. With all of our good intentions, its been hard to find a way gather with those who live around us to read scripture, pray together and just plain old be together. There are a lot of factors that go into this. Children are a big key. We have two young children and we try and have them in bed by 8:00 each night so they don’t kill each other the next day. To do some kind of small group / bible study during the week is tough. Not impossible, but really, really hard to pull off. Another issue...Read More →
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August 15, 2008
Update on the Poverty Forum, Missions Trip, Anniversaries, The Well
So, I’ve had a few crazy weeks and blogging has been on the way back burner as far as priorities go. I need a short break from working on my sermon so here we go… This will serve as a summary and update of my last two weeks. Mission Trip To Suburbia I posted recently about our week long missions trip to suburbia. We basically spent the week serving in Lower Bucks County. We worked with different housing groups and social service agencies. A highlight for me was the evening we spent with the “Chapel and Chow” folks at Philadelphia Park Racetrack. There is apparently a chaplain there (Jack) who has been quietly serving the workers of the racetrack. Most of the workers are immigrants...Read More →
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August 4, 2008
Interview with Al Hsu
Blogging time is hard to come by these days. Life has been crazy with the Zambia trip, our local missions trip, our poverty forum a weekend away camping and the upcoming Seminar with Al Hsu. With all of this, I have plenty to say but no time to say it. So, hopefully before too long I’ll find some time to sit down and do some writing… But, I am getting really excited about our upcoming conference with Al Hsu this Friday and Saturday. We’ll be talking about being missional in suburbia and for those who haven’t yet had a chance to read his book, you can at least get introduced to him by way of his interview on SubText, a blog focused on the idea...Read More →
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July 25, 2008
Bucks County Forum on Suburban Poverty
Last night we put on the Bucks County Forum on Suburban Poverty here at The Well. It was awesome. About 65 people showed up, only 23 of which were from The Well. It was not only a great turnout, it was an awesome event. The panelists did a great job and the conversation was excellent. I don’t have time to write my thoughts about it right now because we’re getting ready for a massive fundraiser garage sale tomorrow but I’ll be sure to post some reactions this weekend.
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July 21, 2008
A Suburban Missions Trip
A few years ago I wrote a post asking what it might look like to have a suburban missions trip. Well, in about two hours we will be begin our first missions trip to suburbia. I’ve gotta be up front here. I’ve done very little to make this happen other than maybe share in the creation of the idea and what kinds of things we might do (I forget who thought of it and that’s really irrelevant). Gary (my now blogging co-pastor) has done an enormous amount of preparation for us to spend the next 6 days working with 9 different non-profits in suburban Philadelphia. We have about 25 people from The Well who will be participating in serving others in our own neighborhoods. Thursday...Read More →
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July 21, 2008
Suburban Blog Worth Reading – Gary Alloway
I would be remiss (and a jerk) if I didn’t mention that my co-pastor, side-kick, friend and all around good guy Gary Alloway is now blogging. For those of you know Gary, you know that this is a big deal. A few thoughts about Gary and why you should not only visit his blog often, but subscribe to his blog in your RSS reader: Gary is awesome. Gary is funny. Gary kicks butt as a pastor. You can learn a lot from Gary. Gary thinks you would be cool if you read his blog. Gary is a city guy at heart intentionally living in the suburbs. This brings an amazing dynamic to his leadership in our setting. Ok. Go read his blog. Now. I’m certain...Read More →
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July 17, 2008
Suburbia Seminar with Al Hsu Registration
Just a reminder that the seminar for the ages is coming up soon (August 9th to be exact). There has been a lot of discussion about what it means to be missional in the suburbs. Wait, forget about being missional in suburbia, let’s ask a bigger question, what’s it mean to be Christian in suburbia? Many of us are realizing it’s not as easy as we’ve thought. So, Al Hsu had graciously agreed to come all the way from Suburban Chicago and spend a day with us at The Well in suburban Philadelphia. His book, The Suburban Christian was fantastic and the day promises to have a great combination between theory, information and concrete examples of how we can think and live differently in our...Read More →
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July 10, 2008
Why Community is so Important to Mission
So, I’m almost on two weeks since I got back from Zambia. I feel like I was pretty prepared for the “missions trip high” (for lack of better way to describe it). I’ve done this before and like most people I usually crash spritually and revert to my old self within two weeks. I’m coming down off my cloud a bit but I’m happy to say that we have not moved away from the direction we sense our lives moving. What direction is that? The basic story is this: we need to live more sustainably so that we can be free to respond to God’s daily calling to spend ourselves on behalf of others. This has to do with big things like debt reduction and...Read More →
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July 6, 2008
The Great Sin of the Western Church?
Last week I wrote about the way that my Zambia has effected me and one of the things that came from it is that we’re hosting a new small group in our house on Sunday nights. We were talking in this new group about how easy it is to departmentalize our lives and so easily miss how the gospel actually calls us to live differently from how we are. Thoughts went to things such as the crusades, the church in Nazi Germany, the white church and segregation during the civil rights movement, etc. Here’s the question that came to us. In 200 years, what will be the great sin that our culture has been blind to? The more we talked, the more it seems likely...Read More →
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July 2, 2008
Are You Rioting with the Suburban Mob?
Okay, its been about a half a week since I’ve been back from Zambia. I’ve not done much deep writing around the trip because there is so much in my head that I am just trying to sort it all out. Sunday morning, I preached a mess of a sermon that I am hoping made sense. I really tried to share my heart and what God is doing with Melanie and I since I’ve returned. The sermon didn’t record for some reason so I’m going to try and lay it out in a shorter version here: Thought #1 – The culture in Zambia is beautiful and they get worship, prayer and community better than we ever have. Its part of their DNA. It’s beautiful really....Read More →
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July 1, 2008
Forum on Suburban Poverty
We’re doing our summer missions trip this year a little differently. We’re going to the far away land of Feasterville, PA! Yes, that’s right. Feasterville. The hotbed of today’s youth culture… or something like that. Two years ago we went to New Orleans. Last year we went to Philadelphia. Next summer looks like another trip to Zambia. But this summer we’re staying local. Gary has lined up a week full of serving the poor in our suburban area and its shaping up to be an awesome week. One of the highlights of the week will be the Thursday night when we are hosting the “Bucks County Forum on Suburban Poverty.” We’re basically bringing in four local leaders from different types of organizations and will have...Read More →
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June 28, 2008
Final Zambia Reflections
I am finally back from Zambia after two weeks of spending time with Pastor George Palo of Harvest City Church in Ndola, Zambia. I have a ton in my head and I have to say that these two weeks will likely turnout to be a watershed moment for the lives of the Hiestands. You’ll have to be in church tomorrow to get my more complete reflections (or listen online when i post it) but here are some major themes/thoughts: Community Sunday night was awesome as we sat around the fire sharing stories with the men from Harvest City Church after studying the scriptures together, taking communion and praying for one another. They told some awesome stories about the community and life in the bush. From...Read More →
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May 9, 2008
Missional in Suburbia Seminar in the Philly Suburbs – Time to Register
A few months ago I made an early announcement of a seminar we are hosting at The Well on the topic of the missional church in suburbia. We are honored to be able to bring in Al Hsu. Al is the author of the book, The Suburban Christian. I read this book last year and found it really, really helpful. Al not only gets the missional church stuff but also really gets the under the surface issues around the development of suburbia and the calleges that the church faces in this context. So, get off your over busy, suburban, individualized, consumer-driven butts and sign up for this seminar! The seminar is August 9, 2008 from 9am – 4pm. On Friday night the 8th we’ll be...Read More →
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May 7, 2008
Four Missional Movements for the Suburban Church
At The Well, we’ve been studying the book of Acts. Its been a very, very formative and challenging book for us to work through. For me, there have been four ways that my life, and I think our life, has been challenged so far. Here are four movements that I’ve seen: From Individual to Communal As individuals we are important, very, very important. But we need to continually celebrate the individual but we must do it within the context of community. Our world is so individualized that we’ve lost a sense that there is something greater than ourselves. In our culture, this is a challenge because we are so good at isolating ourselves and disconnecting ourselves from the rest of the world. Our priorities can...Read More →
