blog highlights
When people are new to a blog, they usually just pick up reading with new posts. But it is my hope that new readers will connect to some of the archived material. I am posting this as an end-of-2009 marker of what has gone before. This "highlight" page attempts to pull together and list some of my favorite posts and series of posts.
Favorite single posts, missional:God's Refrigerator Door - perspective over worship and worship styles
Don't Waste Your Time - on the primacy of worship as the foundation for mission
Website Outreach Philosophy - the missional vision behind our website design (note: since this post, we have moved to a new site, but the philosophy and major "sections" of the site are the same)
VBS on the Road - story of taking our Vacation Bible School outside the walls
Searchlight-in-Training - a missional look at parenting my young daughter
More than Cookies - narrative of two memorable days in ministry that highlight our growing missional mindset along with the mess and the "glory" of being a lighthouse and searchlight church
Significant single posts, denominational:God on the Move - description of how God used one small-church pastor commissioner to "move" the 2008 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
Ichabod or Scribbling on the Wall - one description of my calling to serve in the Presbyterian Church (USA); for those who are struggling...
Favorite series:Frost Defines Missional - part 1, part 2, part 3 - blogged through Michael Frost's presentation on missional church at the 2007 PGF conference
Missional Identity in the Small Church - this is a seven-part series chronicling the visioning, communication, implementation, etc... of a missional identity at Good Shepherd. This material was compiled for a workshop I taught, but comes from an officer retreat in 2006. This initial link has links to the successive posts.
The Talent Challenge - a real-life missional "parable of the Talents" exercise I gave the congregation while I was on Sabbatical. Links below are to two follow-up reports.
Sabbatical - I wrote a summary of what I learned each week of a twelve-week sabbatical; some wonderful lessons.Wednesdays Night Experiment - initial description and follow-up reports of our "Wednesday night experiment" of pushing the Wednesday night church meeting outside the walls into the neighborhood. Some exciting results!