Live in or near OHIO?

Or want to travel to OHIO next Wednesday?

If you do you’ll get some Soul Food and some Real Food too.

Ashland Theological Seminary is sponsoring a free event for the public on January 20th from 10 am – 2 pm. I’ll be teaching the seminar.

Check out the nice color flyer here or read below for more info:

Session 1 – The Fine Line: Re-envisioning the Gap Between Christ and Culture
Session 2 – On Earth as it is in Heaven: Embodying the Kingdom
 
For Session 1 Participants will:

1. Discover the Church’s 3 possible responses to culture
2. Identify which response they and their church gravitate toward and why
3. Uncover the biblical paradigm for cultural relevance and how to implement it

For Session 2 Participants will:

1. Discover a practical, reproducible model that will help embody personal and corporate kingdom living
2. Identify why the world doesn’t believe Christianity is compelling and strategies to shift that mindset
3. Uncover the biblical rationale for the kingdom ethic Jesus’ bestowed upon his church

Both talks are based off material from my Zondervan publication: The Fine Line.

During lunch we’ll also hear about the Human Trafficking Awareness event coming to Columbus in April.

RSVP today.

In a previous season of discouragement, I received this encouraging email. Thanks Jenny.

Kary-

I just finished your book “The Fine Line,” and I have to say I honestly expected it to be another rant/ hate speech against culture. I was skeptical about exactly how you would come to a conclusion, or define the line between Christ and Culture- because before I read this I believed there was no compromise between the two. But I ate my words after the first chapter, and I was amazed by how you put definitions to the “camps” of people I had been noticing for years. This is by far the most insightful Christian text I have read- besides the Bible of course :]
That is what is so good about it though-I feel you came as close to conveying the heart and message of Christ as is humanly possible. You really shoot it straight. I respect that.
I can’t wait to read your other material.

Sincerely,
Jenny

Praise God and thanks to the wonderful team at Zondervan for making these types of emails possible.

Don’t have time to read anymore?

No problem.

Now you can listen to THE FINE LINE.

The people at iTunes and Audible.com made it possible to get the full length version via your mp3 player.

Suddenly, your summer vacation travel plans just got a little more… intelligent?

Download your copy today and learn how to be in the world, but not of the world.

A blog famous for writing about other people? In our narcissistic culture could a blog like that even cut it?

Todd Rhoades is the genius behind Monday Morning Insight - a blog  which is a compilation of Internet stories and resources that would be of interest to pastors and church leaders across the United States and the world.

Cool concept hey?

I had the rare opportunity to talk to the humble guy who’s always talking to other people. Here’s the story behind the story of Todd and MMI.

1. How did you get from there to here? I started in college on kind of a two track career.  I worked full-time at a radio station selling commercials (my first experience with marketing) and part-time for a church as a ‘minister of music’ (my first music gig).  Over the years, I would start my own advertising agency, and eventually get into web publishing.  My first site was called Minister-of-Music.com; and one thing led to another.  Before I knew it, I was running a growing church employment site (ChurchStaffing.com) and a new blog (MondayMorningInsight.com).  In late 2005, I sold the staffing website.  The next year I began working with Leadership Network.  Believe me, it’s been much more exciting than it sounds in print. 
2. Give us the Big Idea (3-4 sentences) behind Monday Morning Insight. MMI is really a simple concept for me.  I try to find things that I’m interested in, and hope that other people will also be interested enough to read it!  So far, it’s working!  A friend recently described MMI as ‘half Bible, half National Enquirer”.  I have to admit, I kinda like that.  I think it’s important for all of us involved in church work to not only have a good grasp on theological truth, but also keep up on what is happening in the current church world.  At MMI, I try to look at the good, the bad, and the ugly in the church world.  And I never have a shortage of stuff I find everyday that absolutely fascinates me!
3. Don’t worry about sounding arrogant or bold, but what are some God-sized dreams He’s placed in your heart? I don’t know that I have any God-sized dream for me personally; but what I’m seeing that I’m really, really liking these days is that churches and pastors are really starting to use the internet to extend their connection with their people.  Whether its communicating through a blog, Facebook, or Twitter, I see some really sharp leaders ‘exposing themselves’ to their churches in some very good ways.  It allows them to extend their leadership on a very personal level without it having to be one-on-one.  On a personal note… I get a lot of satisfaction out of meeting many of the people who read MMI at many of the conferences and events that I have the privelege of attending.  I love to connect leaders and ideas.
4. Other than Buckeye football, what is your favorite thing about Ohio?  You know, I take a lot of flack for living in Bryan, OH… yes the dum dum capital of the world!  (You know the little dum dum suckers?  They are made in my home town).  Other than OSU football (of course), I like the small town atmosphere to raise my family in.  For the most part, it’s a great place to live!
5. In the circles you run in, what does it mean to be in the world and not of it…to integrate Christ AND culture? Wow… in the circles that I run in, most of the churches are highly innovative.  That means that many of them are pushing the limit sometimes when it comes to merging culture and the church.  I grew up in a very conservative, legalistic brand of Christianity.  I saw many people who literally ran from the church because of the long list of ‘worldly things’ that the church wouldn’t allow.  Many of those people will have nothing to do with the church to this day.  I think in order to reach people, you do have to speak their language to some extent, while keeping the gospel message Biblical.  That means that there are some churches who reach cowboys with cowboy music; some inner city churches who ministry to the hip hop culture in a very different way that the traditional church on the corner.  Sure, there are times when some churches go too far; but I really don’t see that very much at all.  I like what Craig Groeschel says:  “We will do anything short of sin to introduce people to God”.  Unfortunately, there are many people on the internet that think EVERYTHING is a sin. 

I think Todd has an interesting point concerning his view about Christ and Culture.

• Have you ever seen a church cross that Fine Line for the sake of the Gospel?
• Do you agree with Craig’s quote or did he cross the line?

My wife Kelly got me hooked on shark week. Fascinating creatures, hey?

Well here’s a week that’s bound to bring just as big of bite…PODCAST WEEK.

For your listening pleasure I’ve uploaded four different messages over the next four days. Most of all I hope the episodes stretch and equip you. Here’s a sneak peak of some of these featured episodes.

Feel free to spread the word about PODCAST WEEK…or else Mr. Teeth here might have to schedule a swimming date with you in the near future.

Wednesday =Freedom from Insanity- Insanity is doing life the same way (without the Spirit) and expecting different results.

Thursday = Three Questions - Is God Sovereign? Do I have Free Will? Is God Good?

Friday = Alternative to Emergent – Navigating the conversation: A brief history of the who, what, when, where, and why of the Emerging Church.

Saturday =  Denver Interview – Commentary on the finer points of The Fine Line.

By the way…are you a fan of shark week too?

I’ve been invited back to my place of origin (where beer and cheese flow freely – {that would be Wisconsin} and I’m not a fan of either {beer and cheese that is}).

I’ll be presenting a free one day seminar called ALTERNATIVE TO EMERGENT. New Tribe Bible Institute is sponsoring this event for their student body and they’re making the event available to anyone who wants to come.

I sat down with my host Adam Demark, (the rep who invited me), in order to learn more about New Tribes and their rationale behind the event.

1. What is your role NTBI? I am involved in student discipleship, teach Bible classes, and function as the school registrar.   My wife Jena and I and our three kids have ministered with New Tribes Mission since 1997.
2. NTBI trains students to minister in other cultures. Why did you want your students to be educated about the pros and cons of the emergent church? New Tribes Mission specializes in communicating the gospel in a way that is relevant to the people group that we are targeting.  Being relevant in that context and within that culture is the key to effectively communicating God’s Word.   We want to communicate in the “heart language” of the people.   As I have observed our students in their own culture, I feel that many are possibly missing the balance of relevance and truth.   One of the cries of the emergent movement is the cry for relevance.  People are searching for what is relevant in their lives.  The answer is Jesus Christ, and I want our students to understand that there are positive aspects to this movement as well as some aspects to be cautious about.
3. Why is it the “right time” for this one-day event – alternative to emergent? The rejection of absolute truth in a postmodern worldview has overflowed into the church.  Jude exhorts us to “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”  It is important that we understand the times that we live in.  It is the believer’s responsibility to “walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”   The time is now before we lose an entire generation to irrelevance. 

More about this special FREE one day event =

April 23, 2009 – Alternative to Emergent:

Navigating the Strengths and Weaknesses of the Movement

9:00 – 9:15 am:  Worship

9:15 – 10:30 am:   Session 1

Navigating the Conversation: A Brief History Concerning What & Why
This session introduces vocabulary, origins, and motivations for the movement.

11:00 – 12:15 pm:  Session 2

Unintentional Atheists: 4 Reasons why you’re Probably an Atheist without even Knowing it & what to do About it
This session demonstrates the strengths of the movement which return us to a biblical, methodological, embodiment of the Gospel.

6:00 – 6:30 pm:   NTBI Campus Tour

6:30 – 6:45 pm:  NTBI DVD

6:45 – 7:15 pm:   Session 3

The Fine Line: Alternative to Emergent
This session presents the Third Way – a balanced and bold approach of integrating Christ with Culture.  

7:30 – 8:00 pm:   Session 4

A Faith of Substance: Clarification and Commitment to Orthodoxy
This session presents a confident affirmation of Truth and the doctrines not up for negotiation.

* Please join us for dessert and coffee in the NTBI Dining Hall following last session

For more information about this special event, please contact me at adam_demark@ntm.org.  More details to follow.   Visit us online at www.ntbi.org 

The event is free to the public. Seating is limited. Relevant resources will be available for purchase onsite.

New Tribes Bible Institute

915 N. Harwell Ave.

Waukesha, WI 53186

Who hasn’t endorsed this new book by Billy Graham’s grandson? Here’s just one of them:

Tullian Tchividjian, one of today’s brightest young Christian leaders, makes a refreshing call for orthodoxy. He does not apologize for the Gospel; he wears it like a red badge of courage. Read this book to recover the faith once for all delivered to the saints in fresh, courageous terms.
– Chuck Colson, Founder of Prison Fellowship and author of The Faith

I feel blessed to have received an advance copy  of Unfashionable.In the early chapters, I’ve been impressed with the blend of scholarship, vulnerability, and cultural  savvyness  in which this book is written. I believe Tullian’s message harmonizes well with where The Fine Line ends. No wonder Amazon pairs our books together. I encourage you to pick up this new work which gives ample rationale as to why Christ followers need to be different in the world in which they live.

Official Release date: April 21, 2009
Unfashionable—Making a Difference in the World by Being Different
By Tullian Tchividjian
Publisher: Multnomah Books, a division of Random House Inc.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60142-085-5
SIZE: 5 x 8
PAGES: 224, Hardcover
PRICE: $17.99 US/ $19.99 CAN

My prayer for you today.

An excerpt from my article in Charisma last week:

Although twice as many Americans say they have no faith compared to 1990 there’s a new hope on the horizon.

Are Americans becoming disillusioned by religion?

According to a new study, detailed in the new American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), released last week, traditional religion is playing less of a role in American life. More people are opting for non-religious weddings and funerals (30 and 27 percent respectively).

In just 18 years, the swing is significant, revealing that despite nearly 50 million adults added to the U.S. population by growth and immigration, almost all religious denominations have lost ground since the first ARIS survey in 1990.

Read more.