“Beyond all we could ask or even imagine…” 29 years ago, Rebecca Atallah, a friend of ours, began ministering with an unknown Coptic priest, Father Simon, who was serving the neglected garbage collectors of Cairo. On November 11, the largest prayer meeting in the history of the Middle East took place at the Garbage Village’s Cave Church complex with more than 50,000 people from all denominations and all walks of life praying for Egypt. This 12-hour event was broadcast on satellite TV to millions. With all the sanctified imagination Rebecca could muster, there is no way that, when she first began ministering with Father Simon, she could ever have imagined such an event taking place.
(Source: youtube.com)
Rob Weingartner is President of The Outreach Foundation, and one of the most knowledgeable people I know about the global church “on the ground.” I would travel with Rob anywhere. Here he explores the relationship between “radical, prayerful dependence upon the provision of God in the context of great need” and the growth of the church.
Sugar Plum Fairy by P.Tchaikovsky - played on the glass harp. A different form of this instrument was invented by Benjamin Franklin, and even composers like Mozart wrote music especially for it. This is just a little Christmas treat!
(Source: youtube.com)
Ed Stetzer provides the summary—and the link for the full report, which can be downloaded for those really interested in the research.
This is a very interesting article from the Harvard Business Review. Bill Taylor is co-founder of Fast Company magazine, which I read with some regularity. It’s always full of the creative thinking of emerging businesses who don’t necessarily believe that the old ways of doing things are the only ways.
Perry Noble is about as down to earth as they come. He is the pastor of NewSpring Church, a multi-site megachurch in SC. There is a lot of truth in this blog about human nature, entitlement culture, and the church.
20 years ago, Loren Mead explored the challenges of the “post-Christendom” era church in several future looking books. In this Alban Institute blog post, there are several very relevant quotations from Mead’s work. These are worth a careful read.
There is a whole lot of anger, anxiety and confusion in the Presbyterian Church (USA) these days. Barry Ensign-George in this blog describes not only the pain, but he calls us to a longer view that strikes me as a wise perspective no matter where you land on the the current opinion spectrum.
BE HERE NOW (by blaine hogan). This is a great short drama piece on “Be still and know that I am God” performed at the 2010 Global Leadership Summit. You can see more of Blaine Hogan’s work on his Vimeo channel.
Re-Imagining Theological Education | 3DM (by Doug Paul). This 6-min video makes a case for what may be wrong with seminary education—and what we need to do about it. What do you think?
Perry Noble is pastor of NewSpring Church, a multi-site megachurch in South Carolina. The church has seen tremendous growth in each of its locations—mostly in smaller towns/cities. Over the last months, Perry has indicated that he is praying that 100,000 people would come to know Christ through the ministry of NewSpring by the year 2020. His fundamental strategy is to continue to focus on foundational discipleship truths. This blog briefly describes the philosophy of ministry which drives NewSpring.
About me
Mining missional material (and other interesting things) from the web.
