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Acts 29 Blog
Jan 30, 2007 Authored by Scott Thomas
We live in a me-centered world. Many churches are rapidly becoming me-centered. The consumer (church attendee) arrives at church expecting the supplier (church) to provide a flawless product (ministry, style, program) that meets all of their needs. The gospel is merely an added afterthought. If a church is centered on success (rather than the pursuit of Jesus) it forfeits its original calling by Christ and seeks merely to attract or keep its (paying) “customers.” Read More
Jan 26, 2007 Authored by Acts 29 Network
JR Vassar is the founding pastor of Apostles Church in the Midtown/Upper East area of Manhattan. JR launched the church in September 2005. Before moving to NYC in January 2005, he served for four years as the Teaching Pastor of Lake Pointe Church in the Dallas area. Apostles Church has been growing steadily and reaching emerging professionals, young married couples and several families. He is married to Ginger and they have two children. Apostles Church is a member of the Acts 29 Network. Read More
Jan 24, 2007 Authored by Allen Thompson
Twenty Questions You Should Ask Yourself before Considering Starting a Church by Dr. J. Allen Thompson, President of the International Church Planting Center in Atlanta, and coordinator of multicultural church planting for Mission to North America for the PCA. As an executive with Worldteam, Allen helped the organization to focus on a strategy for training and deploying national workers in church planting in 14 countries.
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Jan 22, 2007 Authored by Scott Thomas
Relational Rage is a disturbing characteristic within the body of Christ. Professing Christians are simultaneously dependant on Christ’s forgiveness while displaying a colossal reconciliatory deficiency. In other words, church people are intentionally hurting one another with no real attempt to seek forgiveness—the gospel message of reconciliation.
As a young Christian in my teens, I noticed this serious gap of inconsistency. It turned me off at first and then as a pastor it engulfed me to try to correct this obvious flaw in the body of Christ. I found it to be deeper than I expected. While trying to mediate between two feuding church members (as a pastor in the church), I became the retaliatory victim of their animosity and rebellion. They weren’t interested in the gospel being applied to their fury. I finally stopped throwing my pearls before the swine and concentrated instead on ministering to those whose heart was on the gospel. But pigs still stink even if we try to ignore them. And they roam freely throughout the church snorting and rooting and defecating around pre-believers and new believers. We wonder why the church stinks.
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Jan 19, 2007 Authored by Acts 29 Network
Paul Dean, an Acts 29 church plant in Issaquah (a suburb of Seattle) is celebrating his one year anniversary this Sunday (January 21) as the founding pastor of Alathia (meaning “Truth”). He has served as an assistant pastor in Ohio, youth pastor in Richland, WA and Tacoma, WA and was a children’s pastor in Pullman, WA. He was also employed as a history instructor at Washington State University. He lives with his wife Kathryn and three young children, Nathan 9, Carolyn 7, and Alaina 5 in Issaquah, WA.
Every year, over 1 million people in this country start a business. Forty percent of them will close by the end of the first year. Within 5 years, more than 80 percent of them will fail. According to author James Emery White, “The statistics are about the same for new churches.” So what made the difference for this church plant in Issaquah celebrating this milestone day? Pastor Dean sat down with us and answered some questions that most church planters have to face at some time to avoid being a statistical casualty.
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Jan 17, 2007 Authored by Mark Driscoll
If Christianity is going to make a difference in the world, its leaders cannot just sit around waiting for the phone to ring and answering every e-mail complaint that hits the inbox. Leadership is not keeping everyone happy (that will never happen—especially for me). Leadership is not just gathering a bunch of mostly stubborn people together on Sunday. Rather, leadership is moving people in a passionate drive toward the mission of God.
Nobody exemplified this better than Nehemiah. The Book of Nehemiah is not just about building a wall. It is about missional leadership—building a city within the city. It is a story about how God’s people worked to live as a countercultural kingdom amidst an opposing culture. It is an inspiring story of how church leaders today can lead with humble confidence to build a safe place to gather as a city within the city for the good of all.
Nehemiah raises many missional leadership questions every Christian leader must seriously answer if they hope to build a city within the city. The following twenty questions are general principles. They will be most beneficial if used along with the reading of Nehemiah so that they can be specifically applied to actual ministry issues.
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Jan 14, 2007 Authored by Scott Thomas
This time of year prompts many people to make New Year's resolutions-even if they know they made the same ones last year with no real evident change. The most common resolutions are dieting and exercise, finances and something to do with relationships (marriage, family).
Most resolutions are broken within the first week of proclaiming them. Some questions that come to mind: What is the benefit of making a resolution? Are they even a biblical practice and how can they be redeemed? Do they have any lasting effect on changing a person? Are these changes superficial and carnally-controlled or are they Spirit-changed?
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