Cavern of the Bells: A Parable

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“The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface…” — Genesis 1:2 

At first, it seemed there was no sound or light of any kind. But as my senses adjusted, I heard a faint tinkling of bells. Straining my eyes, I saw tiny patches of light scattered around the walls of the cavern, flickering in and out.

I walked closer. I saw a rainbow of light erupt accompanied by a marvelous chorus of music. I watched breathlessly as the singing lights — perhaps fireflies or pixies — became caught up in some sort of eternal dance. I was speechless, wondering if the dance would become strong enough to finally push back the darkness…

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D-Church Panel: Redesigning Church in the Digital Era

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Live Event hosted by Analog.

  • Thu, April 27, 2017
    6:30 PM – 9:30 PM PDT
  • Google Mountain View Campus: LMK-2 Diller
  • 1883 Landings Drive Mountain View CA 94043 US

Update: Podcast audio now available.

Abstract

The modern church was born in the era of broadcasting: mass-market publishing, sound systems, radio, and television. These technologies enabled it solve certain tasks (e.g., teaching, worship music, announcing and producing events) incredibly well.  However, by making some problems much easier to solve than others, those same technologies can subtly influence what we focus on and what we ignore.

We are now entering a new era of digital communication, with greater interactivity, richness, and immediacy than could have been imagined thirty years ago.  What are the implications for learning, evangelism, discipleship, and outreach? What new problems does that enable us to solve?  Which traditional problems and solutions can be profitably revisited? Can all these changes lead us to a deeper understanding of what God truly wants the church to be?

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Honor Thy Flawed Fathers and Mothers

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Solving the “Asian Parent Problem”

http://biblehub.com/matthew/23-9.htm “And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.”

Over the last few years God has been putting me through a graduate course in dealing with my father issues. I still haven’t graduated, but at least I know what my thesis is. 🙂

Backstory

I never really wanted to be a leader. I just wanted to find a leader I could trust, who cared about the things I cared about, so I could define my mission as a sub-mission of theirs. Unfortunately, things never quite worked out that way.
This is not to denigrate the honorable men (no women, but that’s another story) I have served under in the context of work, ministry and family. I have been extraordinary privileged to have been by led and mentored by a succession of extraordinary men of deep integrity, from my own earthly father to Steve Jobs. People who were sincerely committed to the mission, practiced what they preached, and never abused their authority.

And yet…

For all their strengths, those leaders all their blind spots. Areas where their behavior didn’t align with the values they genuinely believed in and communicated. Attitudes they were oblivious to that clearly hurt both individuals and the organization’s ability to fulfill its mission. Continue reading →

Jim Yost on the DNA of Making Disciples

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[Jim Yost, a missionary from the Philippines associated with Cityteam International, spoke in San Jose last Saturday (January 21st) at an event hosted by The Gathering by The Bay. The following are notes from Greg Hosclaw as posted on the d-church mailing list.]

Jim freely states, that this is his model, not THE model. But it is working well with them. He wanted to step back and speak of the DNA, not so much the methods. Methods may be more culturally specific, but DNA of a believers community may be more transferrable. He also said that his church is known for studying the Word and Obeying it (newspaper people asked the members and that is what they declared).
My take away is that many times we measure the wrong things.  If someone says how do you make a cake, and you open an oven and say ‘1 cake’ that doesn’t help. That is counting the output, but we need the recipe, to count the inputs (cup of sugar, 3 cups flour, a bar of chocolate, …).
Jim’s challenge to really measure against the right things. Not the number of disciples, but the things or actions that lead to disciples!
What is the DNA you hope to have in your church or fellowship? What do you want to be known for?
And then, what actions are you checking that lead to the DNA happening?
Blessings,
Greg

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RohAnjali Fall 2016 Prayer

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Dear God,

Teach us how to leave each other the way you love us.

Make us more like Jesus as we let go of what we want.

Help us hear your voice and obey you

so we can enjoy your abundant life.

We ask this in Jesus name.

Amen.