In the Coracle

Things They Tell Church Planters That Are Simply Wrong

May 5th, 2008, 16 Comments

Next weekend, Mother’s Day, marks the fifth anniversary of the launch of the church that my family planted and that a year ago closed its doors (for the second but final time).

I’ve been thinking lately about the process of starting new churches. A lot of that thinking comes from me knowing that I still have [...]

Church Factions in the East and West

March 1st, 2008, No Comments

I’m reading Orthodox Alaska by Michael Oleska for an upcoming class.  It’s the story of the Russian Orthodox church’s mission and evangelization into Alaska.
The book makes an interesting comparison between the types of schisms that happen in the East and the West.  Food for thought:
In the West, divisions often occur when a faction wants to [...]

Colleen talks about Service Sundays

January 24th, 2008, No Comments

Colleen writes in her first big blog entry about why our church sees community service as an act of worship.  Here’s  part of her intro:
We now meet on Sunday mornings for a worship service but my battle cry has been that these acts of love (our projects in the community) are also beautiful expressions of [...]

I cringe, but perhaps you’ll appreciate it

January 22nd, 2008, 1 Comment

I mentioned that I was asked to speak at the Everett Vineyard two Sundays ago.  It looks like the crew there posted a recording of my ramblings on their podcast page.  Wayne’s a good teacher and it’s worth you subscribing to their podcast series, or if you want, you can just click through here to [...]

The Everett Vineyard

January 15th, 2008, No Comments

Wayne at the Everett Vineyard invited me to come up this past Sunday and speak to the church as he would be out of town for part of the week before. EV planted as a church not too long ago, and Wayne is a great guy that I love to hang out with, so [...]

When it’s my time to plant a community of faith again…

December 7th, 2007, No Comments

Remind me to re-read this article by Bob Hyatt, titled Ten Keys to Sane Church Planting.
And if you’re planting, or thinking about it.. do yourself a favor and consider it too. The sanity you save just may be your own.

What makes a church healthy?

May 19th, 2007, 9 Comments

I’m not sure that there’s that many people reading here these days ;-), but I have a question to ask.  I’d actually love to hear answers from church-attenders and from not-attenders.
When you think of a healthy church, what makes that church healthy?
Discuss.

Vineyard national leaders conference resources

May 15th, 2007, No Comments

There are now audio and newsletter files for last week’s national leaders conference posted to the Vineyard’s website. Word from my friend Wayne at the Everett (WA) Vineyard church plant was very positive, and another friend Eric (Buck Naked Eric to you and me) was on one of panel discussions.

Improve Your Small Groups

May 8th, 2007, No Comments

I love small groups. Until I planted a church, I learned more in leading small groups than I had anywhere else in faith or business leadership.
I just ran into a new blog – Andy Rowel’s Church Leadership Conversations. On browsing the first page, I saw several interesting entries, but none that caught my [...]

Quote: Why I Journal

May 4th, 2007, 1 Comment

This sweet quote comes from Dave Jacobs, a church planter and coach who has recently started a really nice web resource and brief email at smallchurchpastor.com
“I practice journaling because I believe in meditation. I practice meditation because I believe in prayer. I practice prayer because I believe in God. Spiritual journaling is not the same [...]