Archive for March 19th, 2009

The Calling of a Church Planter – Mark Driscoll

The first one is mandatory. One other is needed as well (not every one).

  1. Have I responded to the gospel call & received the Spirit? 
  2. Is the Holy Spirit out ahead of me planting the church?
  3. Is my church planting call obvious to other godly leaders? (Acts 2:14)
  4. Has God confirmed my church plant by showing up in miraculous power? (Acts 3 & 4)
  5. Am I reaching lost people to start my plant? (Acts 8:5-9, 12)
  6. Has Jesus showed up & told me to plant? (Acts 9:15-16)
  7. Has God called me to plant through a vision? (Acts 10-11:18; 16:9-10)
  8. Has God providentially relocated me to plant? (Acts 11:19-21)
  9. Is God sending me to plant because my church does not much need me? (Acts 13:1-3)
  10. Is God calling me to plant because I am wasting my time in a toxic place? (14:1-7)
  11. Am I called to be a catalytic church planter or plant a church planting church center?(Acts 14:23-26)
  12. Has God called me to plant by giving me a deep burden for a city/people? (Acts 17:16)
  13. Has God called me to plant by giving me a core group? (Acts 18:7-8)

From Acts 29

Examining myself for these, #1 is a definite.

#4 and #8 – Mom getting healed of her tumor was definitely miraculous and that pulling us back to Ann Arbor  is the relocation part

#9 – I think our departure from New Life goes here. There wasn’t much need for me at a college student church when I feel called to reach people like my neighbors and co-workers

#11 – The latter “church planting church center”. One of my dreams is to be the pastor of a grandparent church.

#12 – Most definitely. I can’t imagine planting anywhere but Ann Arbor, MI

I can’t wait to see how God will move over the next months and years.

Triperspectival Leadership Diagram

This informative Triperspectival Leadership Diagram comes courtesy of Drew Goodmanson, church website guru and co-founder/pastor at Kaleo Church.

Triperspectival Leadership Chart

Dating Mistakes

From Jody Fox

We must teach our children and teenagers what Biblical love is. The Bible tells us that God is love (1 John 4:16). So therefore, “we love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19). The love that we show should be modeled upon the love that Christ showed us on the cross of Calvary. This love is a sacrificial, selfless and continual love that does not play with one’s emotions or seek to fulfill one’s self gratification.

The love of Christ is eternal and cannot be removed from those who call upon the name of the Lord for salvation. It’s a love that is never ending and eternal. It’s a love that cannot be divorced from us. For Romans 8:35-39 tells us that nothing can “…separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Our marriages and our relationships then should be based off of the love of Christ. That he underwent the wrath of God, died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and on the third day rose from the dead. Until we understand and receive this great love of God on our behalf, our dating and marriage relationships will fall short of the love they could and should possess. The love of God then is our guide to healthy relationships and a proclamation of the love of Christ, for marriage is a Biblical institution given by God to model and proclaim Christ and His love for the church (Ephesians 5:22-33).

So then we must first model the Gospel of Jesus Christ by allowing the love of Christ to overflow from us to our families. Second, we must teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is overflowing with love, to our families. Finally, we must help direct and guide our families to Jesus Christ, for He will save all who call upon Him and give them an eternal home with Christ where His love will be unceasing and abounding forever.