Great to see three real friends of the gospel topping this list.  Thanks to Kent Shaffer for compiling this list and some other ways to define influential churches in the USA.

These are the top churches to learn from about planting multiple churches:

1. Redeemer Presbyterian Church (New York, NY) :: Tim Keller
   
   
2. Mars Hill Church (Seattle, WA) :: Mark Driscoll

3. Northwood Church (Keller, TX) :: Bob Roberts

4. Perimeter Church (Duluth, GA) :: Randy Pope

5. Spanish River Church (Boca Raton, FL) :: David Nicholas

6. East 91st Street Christian Center (Indianapolis, IN) :: Derek Duncan

7. Community Christian Church (Naperville, IL) :: Dave Ferguson

8. Fellowship Bible Church (Little Rock, AR) :: Bill Wellons

9. Kensington Community Church (Troy, MI) :: Steve Andrews

10. Church at the Springs (Ocala, FL) :: Ron Sylvia

This is the first in a multi-part series of interview clips that I filmed with Terry Virgo when he was in London with us. You will enjoy, and for those without broadband, a transcript of the video will also be shared.

Edited Transcript:

Adrian: Hi I’m Adrian Warnock and I’m here with Terry Virgo and Tope Koleoso. It’s a pleasure to have you both here. Terry, I came under your ministry back in 1978 or something ridiculous like that, and I’ve known Tope since 1995. So I’ve known you both a long time and it’s wonderful to have you both in the same room.

Terry, you’ve been with us for ‘300’ and also today at Jubilee so I thought I would just ask both of you how that came about? How do you decide what to do? You must have a lot of calls on your time, how do you prioritize things and what you felt coming amongst us, really?

Terry: Thanks Adrian, it’s great to be here. I’ve enjoyed my weekend enormously. We work relationally. Most of the time we work with people we know. I know Tope well, I know what he’s doing and I’m delighted that he’s gathering leaders. I count it always a huge privilege to speak to leaders. I’m grateful that they are willing to spend time on a busy Saturday and take out time. So it was good, thrilling to be with them. I know you’ve already been having these meetings with some excellent speakers – John Piper, Jack Hayford, so it’s a privilege to be invited. I was glad to be here. I’ve enjoyed and I felt I was able to serve. I was happy to speak about the Spirit-filled church, which I have just written a book on. So it was great to be on that theme, which I know has stirred me and I feel strongly about that.

Then it was great to be with the church today. I’ve especially enjoyed the church – terrific family, multinational, very friendly and warm. It’s hard to move away because people are so responsive. So it’s been a wonderful weekend.

Adrian: When Jack Hayford was with us he said “You look out on Jubilee, you see the world.”

Terry: Yes.

Adrian: Tope, how’s it been for you as a Pastor of this church, having Terry here?

Tope: Terry is a father to me its been good to have him amongst us. The church by God’s grace has been growing pretty well, so it is always good that new people can come and get caught up in this. Having Terry here is just wonderful, it’s a joy. It really is a joy and we get lots of time together. As people travel around so much everybody’s in their world and when you have those moments together, it’s just great. Yesterday to just have him speak…and the talk, a lot of it was hung on this question – it was like God asking “What house will you build for me?” And just the way when he started, the way it came at me, it was like actually… it was like God asking this! And our tendency as leaders is to ask “what kind of church do I want?” Wrong question! What house does HE want? And then we begin to find out what are the components that He says these things must be there. And to have that spelt out – it was just a challenge actually.

Adrian: I’ve been around a long time and I’ve heard you talk a lot. But I think I’ve never heard a vision for the Church portrayed as clearly as it was in that first session yesterday. I obviously was going “Yes, yes, yes!” and in a sense it was stuff that I’ve heard before but that is encouraging – when someone comes in you think “Well, that is kind of what we are trying to build.” At the same time it was fresh, it was compelling. And I think since we relate obviously with others from elsewhere, and that’s a good thing, sometimes you can almost begin to back-peddle about your own values and think ‘well, this is perhaps not a gospel issue’ I mean ‘These guys are doing it differently but they’re going to Heaven’ and so we almost back away. But I felt for me personally, yesterday, just a renewed sense of ‘Hey! Actually, what we do, we don’t do just because it’s the way we’ve always done it or because it’s New Frontiers – it’s Bible stuff!’ And that was where I was coming from. How did that vision come about for you?

Terry: I guess over a period of time, to be perfectly honest. I think when I was introduced to an experience of the Holy Spirit, which revolutionized my Christianity it was like knocking over the first domino. In view of that, well, then that must be reviewed, and that must be reviewed. So it took me back to the Scriptures again to investigate. I thought ‘Why do we do that then, because the Scripture says this?’ So yesterday we looked at Acts 13, at the Antioch church, which surely must be some kind of a model. And Stephen as he is preaching, comes up with that statement in his long apology and says “Solomon says, ‘What kind of house will you build for me?’” And then you find that the people associated with Stephen flee through persecution, they come to Antioch and they build a house and you get a revelation there in Acts 13 what that house was like. And so we’re asked what were the ingredients? And so we looked at those various ingredients of the prophetic, the teaching role, the involvement of Barnabas, the multinational, and the mission. There’s so many aspects just in a few verses, really.

So over the years, these values have been more and more impressed on us and we’ve started, what I would call really, a new wine skin to embrace the fresh touch of God’s presence with us, but loving the truths that we’ve always believed.

Adrian: Yes, it’s a funny thing isn’t it? Sometimes people say ‘hang on a minute, you talk about Biblical truth!’ You’ve been reformed since the 70’s, 60’s and beyond, it isn’t a new thing being a reformed Charismatic, of course it isn’t. And there’s a lot of people that would share that sort of love of the Scriptures, and yet my perception has always been that some people don’t really want to look at what the Bible says the church should be like. They just say ‘We believe the Bible, we love the Gospel, we love the doctrines’ and yet they kind of leave the church as it was, the way they inherited it. Do you think that’s a fair assessment? You’re friends with some of these guys aren’t you?

Terry: Yes, I do. I have great friends right across the body of Christ. I think that great men, in all kinds of worlds, will preach for personal obedience. And preach stunning sermons about ‘Let’s obey God’ but the application is so often just to the individual. You know… ‘are you obeying God in the workplace, in your home?’ etc. I think we also need to obey God corporately about how we do church. And I think often that application is left aside. So I feel that no, we need corporate obedience about how you do church. And so I feel that results in reformation of church. So it’s not just charismatic life – it’s what does the New Testament church look like? And I think it is very relevant to our generation that has come out of, kind of, Christendom background. We’re more like living in a day like Pauls day where people have all kinds of gods. They don’t have Christian background. So we need to be relevant, we need to be vibrant to touch our generation with the gospel and a church life that is impacting. It’s not good endorsing simply ‘Oh we’ve always done it this way.’ Because this generation is not interested in ‘how you always did it’. They need to hear a gospel that is relevant to them today in a setting that they can identify with and the presence of God is fundamental to that.

This is the second part of a set of notes on Terry Virgo’s first session at 300 Leaders.  I have previously shared the video and downloads for the whole talk.

3. There was Barnabus. He had been sent. The Apostles were staying in Jerusalem. People have written about whether that was right or wrong. But they heard about another church coming to birth. Barnabas was sent as an apostolic delegate. He was known by the Apostles, and he represented them. It was rather like Timothy later on. Receive him, like you would receive me.

So this church is touched by apostolic ministry. It is in touch with apostolic revelation and gifting. There is a big debate about whether apostles continue today. Some say there were 12. There were several catagories: Hebrews 3 speaks of Jesus the Apostle. He was the one and only. He was sent with authority which is the root of the meaning. In John’s gospel Jesus keeps saying he was sent. Then there are the 12 who Jesus chose. They are unique. A band of apostles that the church is built on. But there are other apostles. Paul, James, Barnabus, (Acts 14:14 doesnt distinguish between Barnabus and Saul). In Acts 13 they were prophets and teachers, now they are apostles. They were sent by God. Some have argued that Paul should have been one of the 12 but Paul doesn’t say that.

Ephesians 4 says Jesus ascended and gave. From heaven. Barnabus gets called. We don’t know for sure that Barnabus ever saw Jesus after the resurrection. Apostles don’t just write epistles so we don’t need them any more. Only a handful of them wrote Scriptures. Some who weren’t apostles wrote Scripture eg Luke. Apostles were not Bible writers only.

There is a job that apostles do. It is to do with foundations. Paul is a wise master builder (architect). He laid a foundation in a local church. It is not just that philosophically we are all built on a foundation. Rather, each local church has a time when that foundation was laid. The universal church was built on the foundation of the initial apostles. The local church is also built on the foundation laid by the apostles. Sometimes a church came to birth like this one in Antioch, getting before the apostles. The apostles then quickly send either an apostle or a delegate of an apostle to make sure the church is being built correctly.

We are looking for a rainbow of ministries as seen in Ephesians 4. Lloyd-Jones believed that only Pastors and Teachers continued and that evangelists had ceased. Some people will allow for evangelists to continue, or perhaps prophets. Some will refer to people who have died as an apostle or a prophet. I believe God has given a blueprint for the church, why should we reinvent another one. We have tried democracy, we have tried ecclesiastical heirachy, why not use the Bible model we see in Ephesians 4?

4. The list of names continues. Barnabaus was a Cypriot, Simeon was a black African, Lucius is also black, Manian was brought up with Herod. He was raised with the kings son. Like he went to school with Harry or William! He mingled with some pretty high people. And Saul who is a Hebrew of Hebrews. A pretty mixed leadership team. What a strange group. What is this? It is the Antioch church getting away from Jerusalem into a gentile world and saying “What kind of house will you build?”

It is a house that is so different than what had come before. There is continuity: we are Abraham’s children. We feel a sense of unity. But we are something fresh and new. God is creating one new man out of Jew and gentile. It is energised by the Holy Sprit. Very different in education, social background. What gives them unity? It is because they are first called Christians there. What do they have in common? It is Jesus. Not just a definition of doctrine, or an agreement of creeds.

When Peter goes to Cornelius and the pagan Roman starts to speak in tongues, the fire had lept across the chasm. It is only that experience of the Spirit that joined them together. The unity of the Spirit is not just a catchphrase. He has got the same as us. The Spirit-filled church is a phenomenon. It is different to what was before. In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek. We are allowed to eat Pork and still get to heaven! The restrictions are lifted. There is liberty. We are in Israel’s messiah. We are one. Jesus let women listen to his teaching which was outrageous. Neither male nor female, neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free. The early church would have had many slaves in it. Paul tells his friend to receive his runaway slave back as his brother. The twelve were all Jews, but he had a zealot who’s goal was to kill Romans, and a tax collector who collaborated with them to raise money. They sold their souls and were hated. What did they have in common? Only that they loved Jesus. He is the cornerstone where we find one another. The church is a phenomenal manifestation to the world of the way to break through racial hatred, sexual discrimination, social class war.

5. They were worshipping the Lord. Leaders together. Elders come together with a long agenda. Here is a leadership that said “lets worship.” God does stuff. They are ministering to the Lord. Bathed in worship. Not a business meeting. We are besotted with God. Lets raise churches that are besotted with God. We must model prayer and worship as leadership teams to our churches.

6. The Spirit said set apart. A house which is pre-occupied with world mission. A house that doesn’t think it strange that two of its key leaders go off to do something else. It is a global commission. Jesus said go and make disciples. The disciples went and planted churches. That is how people are discipled. A church is a group of disciples. We are called to world mission. Sometimes leaders will go and start again. Church is not a static thing. We are joined in mission. It is not that someone in our ranks goes to a mission society. The Bible doesn’t say they went and set up mission centres. They went to plant churches. Roland Allen urged us to found churches. His book was a radical call that came out more than a hundred years ago. We need churches that are in partnership with each other. Churches that extend God’s mission together. Fellowship is not a religious word, it is partnership in a shared purpose and action.

What kind of house will you build for him? The church at Antioch is a wonderful model. Came away from the Jerusalem base to start over again. Prophets were there, but tested by the Word, Apostolic involvement, great diversity. God’s church is a breathtaking phenomenon. They were worshippers, they fasted and prayed. They were involved in world mission. They saw the church as God’s agent in making Jesus famous throughout the world.

We do not want to just talk about the Spirit-filled church, we cry to God to multiply many of them.

“Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Philippians 2:3

Stop. Whatever you are doing right now, just stop. I know you are probably busy but you can spare five minutes can’t you?  Ask God the following question “am I doing anything out of rivalry or concept? Please show me.”

What about that promotion you applied for at work?  Are you thinking of the good of the company? Do you honestly feel you can contribute at that level? Or are you seeking to advance your career selfishly, oblivious to the fact you may be being promoted to your level of incompetency? Have you considered the effects on your family if, by taking on a role not made for you, you are fired in a few months? How would you feel if someone better than you got the job instead?

What about that ministry at church? Notice I didnt call it YOUR ministry. It’s not. Are you serving in the way you are because your gifting meets like a glove the need of the people? Or are you serving because you somehow managed to squeeze yourself like a square peg into a round hole?  How would you feel if someone else was found who could better do your role? Would you feel insecure and angry or would you be confident that there must be a more suitable role that you can serve in?

Are you on sone kind of “Christian leadership ladder” in your imagination? Do you hope for a steady rise to the so called top.  Or are you perhaps longing for a meteoric climb? Are you simply serving  time at the moment hoping to build your credentials for a future launch to run your own church? Do you secretly despise the leader you currently pretend to follow? Are you using him so one day you can strike out on your own?

Are you sure that your desire to church plant has been put there by God? Do you think you have all the answers or are you humbly seeking Gods help? Were you surprised when someone suggested it was time you lead? That could be good if it is a sign of humility. But it could be bad if it means that God has never stirred your heart with a godly ambition. Are you actually following the call of man or the call of God?

And Pastor, what of the growth of the church God has entrusted to your care? Are you constantly comparing yourself to others? Do you feel envious of a church growing faster or bigger? Or do you feel superior to one growing slower? Why do you want the church to grow? Is it so that you will look good or is it so God will be glorified by souls coming to know him and worship him as Lord?

It is only as we spend time on our knees being examined by God that we can know the true answers to these questions. Truth be told, all of us have mixed motives at best. Many of us start out as young guns, full of a cocksure confidence that often goes with youth. Those challenging circumstances you face may be Gods way of taking the wind out of your sails. God knows I needed him to do that for me. Has he broken you in as a man might a wild horse?

The irony is, when God truly humbles a man, taking away that sense he can conquer the world with no one helping him, it is then that the man is fit for service. Do you feel weak? Then God can make you strong! Do you exclaim like Paul “who I worthy for such a task?” Then God can qualify you! Do you lack wisdom? God will give it to you. Do you feel alone? God will give you those to serve alongside or under who he has specifically designed to cover your inadequacy. Not everyone is built to plant a church as the top of some pyramid. Far more are called to serve a leader in an existing church. Or, if indeed called and equipped by God to start a new work, to do so under the direction and support of another wiser leader.

If these words have hit a raw nerve in you, they are not intended to make you give up. Though, if you are doing something God never designed you for, a change of direction may indeed be the best thing, as quickly as possible. But perhaps, as God convicts you of independence, you may be able to still do the role you have, but with a different attitude. Perhaps you can find a godly leader who can shepherd your soul. Perhaps you can find a vision bigger than your own to gladly support. Perhaps God will take a humbled, almost broken, you and use you as a tool in his hands for the advance of his kingdom and his glory.

Will you join me in praying “God, test my heart. Weigh my motives. Purge me of any wrong desires for my glory. You know my heart. You know that even tho my ugly pride rears it’s head from time to time, I have determined to follow you and seek your glory. Make me a tool in your hands. May I bring honour to your name. May I serve you with true humility. And as you advance others may I rejoice that the cause is strengthened. Thank you for dying even for this most ugly of my sins. Thank you for your resurrection power that is given to me that I might be free! Help me to find my identity in you and to cease striving. “

Do you live in the USA? Are you reformed, and theologically persuaded that the charismatic gifts continue? Perhaps like many you have not seen a positive model of how they can be expressed in a Bible-loving environment. Are you longing for a more dynamic experience of the Spirit’s power?

If the above describes you, please come to St Louis January 14-16 2011 for the Mobilise student and twenties conference. I will be there live blogging this exciting conference, and my pastor Tope Koleoso will be one of the main speakers. Tope is an engaging preacher who is sure to inspire and inform in equal measure. It has been a real delight for me to be in the same church as him since 1995. After a church planting phase of ten years, Jubilee moved to a cinema with 100 people. Since then God has granted remarkable growth, and almost 1000 people gathered on Easter Sunday 2010. It is thrilling to see what God is doing, and it is such a privilege to me to follow Tope’s leadership.

Take a look at this description of Tope’s seminar track to whet your appetite, and the video that follows. This conference could alter the direction of the rest of your life. Can you afford not to come?

The Holy Spirit – Living a Spirit-Filled Life (Tope Koleoso)
The Christian life was never intended to be solely characterized by an academic approach to theology, but by the Word of God made alive by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit-filled life should never be perceived as an optional extra for the Christian, but become the daily pursuit of the disciple. In this seminar we will look at the components of a Spirit-filled life, church and walk.

BOOK IN BEFORE NOVEMBER 23 FOR EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT

Terry Virgo has posted the first of a series of videos looking at the seventeen values that have helped to shape his ministry over the years. They are expressed as what kind of churches he has been trying to plant and establish. The goal is therefore that a Newfrontiers church will reflect each of these values.

The first value is: ‘A gospel-preaching church that is loving, righteous in its lifestyle, involved in world mission and reaching the unsaved in its community by both public and personal evangelistic activity.’

This first video expresses the personal and evangelical necessity in the modern world of having a church that is truly relational. If we don’t love and know each other how can we love and reach the world? Terry says during this video that in his early days church was “a pretty lonely place” He went on “The world personal was very popular…when I first became a Christian I found God personally…it was great to know God personally . . . but the emphasis on personal wasn’t enough for me…I don’t think its possible to really grow into maturity alone.”

Today is a big day. An exciting brand new blog has been born. Confluence aims to be a meeting place where the reformed, charismatic, and missional streams coalesce. If like me you, “want it all” then this blog should immediately be added to your reading list. You can subscribe to it today by RSS or by email on the blog itself. It’s posts also appear on Twitter and I have added the feed to my list of Newfrontiers Twitterers.

I have had a sneak preview of some of what is coming, and like it very much! That is why today I make the unprecedented step of awarding this site a “Warnie” on the first day of its launch. The Warnie award is a recognition of blogging excellence which also means the headlines from the winning sites appear in my sidebar (or you can subscribe to the warnie feed, or follow it on twitter. This means that instead of managing your own reading list, if you want to stay in touch with the Christian blogosphere you can simply keep an eye on the links that are appearing on adrianwarnock.com. Only the very best in Christian blogs are afforded such an award, and this new site will not be a disappointment, of that I am sure.Here are some samples from the first two posts on the site.

John Lanferman tells us:

Newfrontiers is a family of churches together on mission comprised of many apostolic spheres joined by shared values, mission and relationship. We are essentially reformed in doctrine, charismatic in practice and take very seriously the Great Commission. We believe and are committed to the integrity of scripture while embracing the full expression of the Holy Spirit’s activity. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of mission, empowering the church community to be effective witnesses to the ends of the earth. We are committed to training leaders and planting churches in every nation and people group in the world. We have a passion for local churches that celebrate the triumph of grace, are secure in the finished work of Christ, full of the Holy Spirit and committed together to our world mission to glorify Jesus among the nations.

The terms “reformed” and “charismatic” can seem to be incongruent since Reformed teachers have tended to be Cessationists and Charismatics are often Arminians. However, it is worthy to note that the Word and the Spirit are not in conflict. In fact, Word and Spirit are quite intimately connected throughout scripture and press us into apostolic mission.

The ideas presented in this blog are designed to both inform and challenge. We want “Confluence” to be a welcome place for those who stand firm on the integrity of scripture and embrace the full activity of the Spirit’s present empowering work, along with a commitment of taking the gospel and planting churches throughout the earth. . . READ MORE

I was honored to be asked to contribute to the blog, here is how my post began:

When I was asked to write for this site it was an easy decision to make. Why, when I have a blog of my own? Quite simply because I believe passionately in this vision of bringing together three often quite separate strands in the modern church. I am eager to pursue being reformed, charismatic and missional.

How then do these three influences come together? The simple answer, would be to say that I believe they are biblical and leave it at that. But the things that I grew up with and took for granted do need explaining. More than 30 years ago, I began attending a church that valued the Bible, believed God was sovereign, worshipped him passionately, experienced and eagerly sought the gifts, and, judging by the constant stream of baptisms, was engaged in mission. To understand why these strands not only can but must come together, let’s look at what happens when we emphasize only one of them. . . READ MORE

This autumn we are running another 300 conference here in Enfield, London. If you have been reading this blog for a while, you will have seen me speak of my love for my home church. I joined Jubilee back in 1995, and for the first 10 years we experienced the challenges of being a slow growing church plant. They were good years, and years when deep friendships were formed within an emerging leadership team. We learnt a lot together, but although we did hold onto promises from God, we would not have dared to believe that what we were dreaming of was just around the corner. It was interesting to go back and listen again to Tope’s first sermon in the cinema. The faith that we were all feeling at the time is very apparent in this talk, what is less apparent is that there were only around 80 listening at the time.

It has now been a truly amazing five years since we moved into the cinema and immediately experienced a period of remarkable gracious blessing from God which has led to significant growth both spiritually and in number. Now, for the first time, our pastors intend to share with a select audience of up to 300 people what we have learnt from the experience. Tope Koleoso will be the main speaker at this autumn’s 300 and the following two videos are an interview of him, and a trailer which will both give you a good idea of what to expect. This will be an event not to be missed, and you are welcome to come wherever you are in the world, whatever kind of church you are in, and whether you are a church pastor, part of a leadership team, or considering a possible future leadership role or church plant. Men and women are warmly invited. There will be great times of fellowship and I am sure you will not regret making time in your diary to attend. Tickets are now available at only £15 per person. Do come and join us!

If, like me, you are fascinated by the work that has gone into Ed Stetzer and Thom Rainer’s latest book Transformational Church then the following video will give you a relaxed, longish presentation on just what they have been getting up to:

Today’s post comes from a church planting buddy of mine, James Devenish, the pastor of International Chapel of Vienna.

Vienna is a great city – steeped in history of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and famous for wonderful classical music. A night out in Vienna is to don a collar and tie and take in a concert – a lot different from eating a Kebab from “Greasy Sid’s” on the way home from the flicks. The Viennese love their coffee houses, reading a newspaper for hours over a “Melange”, they like their Schnitzel – battered (in every way) pork – and they love their chocolate cake.

Vienna is truly a multi-cultural city. The tenth biggest city in the EU, and makes up approximately 25% of the whole population of Austria. The United Nations is big in Vienna – it is the home of the International Atomic Energy Agency – famous for their weapons inspectors!

But it is different. Things change when you move to Vienna, as they do whenever you move abroad.

The shops are not open on Sundays and Bank Holidays – great, say all of us who campaigned for ‘keep Sunday special’ in the UK, but red-faced rush through Sainsbury’s for a Bacon Sarnie after Sunday Worship, and skid to a halt when you see the lady who poked you in the eye with a flag at Church in the next aisle.

You are not allowed to use mechanical equipment between 12 and 2 and after 12 on Saturdays. For those who are used to spending the Bank Holidays mowing the lawn – that’s different.

Customer Service is different. In the UK and especially in the USA – customer is king. In Austria, the retail operator is king. Shopping for groceries becomes like completing an obstacle course fit for the Marines.

The grim faced cashier hurtles the shopping at you, whether or not it is on the floor, your head, or in your trolley. It is not unheard of; you play a rigorous game of dodge the cucumber while trying desperately to get your Bank Card out of your pocket.

This is different. I don’t criticise it, but it’s different. I mentioned this to a fellow Brit living in Austria – who thought I was being critical – I wasn’t – and he complemented them on being “brutally honest!” Rather more brutal than honest I tend to think.

Our church is different too. It is made up of those who are here for ever, for 3-5 years, for 2 years, for 1 visit. That’s different and hard. It is hard to build a base, discipleship groups, with a transitional congregation. But I love it.

It is hard to make budget – many are connected to their churches of origin and it seems like they are being asked to support two churches. This needs pastoral care in teaching commitment to the local Church as well as their own church, which includes being generous with our money. Transient, international churches like ours need support as well as indigenous churches.

Some things don’t change. The fact we are all sinners doesn’t change. Austrians, the Internationals, the Brits need the Gospel – equally – we all mess up – we are born in sin.

And God’s grace that goes further than our sin is unchanging. It is the same Gospel whether in London or Vienna.

We have been really blessed this summer with having a more consistent number than previous years – thank you Jesus.

I love the Church. If you love Jesus, you will love His Bride. I love the fact that the Church is an urban – moving and shaking community of young people, I love the fact that the Church is a rural farming community – and I love the fact that the Church is an international discipleship community from 35 nations.

I want our church to be infectious and dangerous – with the Gospel. The Gospel is the only thing that could ever have changed me, and because of Jesus I am a new Creation. But I am not an individual light bulb running around like a headless-chicken – by God’s grace I am part of His beautiful Church.

My prayer is that although different it is, that our church would continue to love the Bible, love Reformed theology, grow in the personal and corporate expression of the filling of the Holy Spirit, and would be a place where God’s grace flows through us and touches the city – internationals and nationals.

My vision is for a sending- place to the nations around. Vienna is a great cog in international travel to the Old Eastern bloc – pray Jesus that it would be an oily cog for the spreading of New Testament churches.

I love what Boaz does for Ruth – he invites Ruth, “Have lunch. Sit down with us.”

She was a Moabite, an outsider. He’s making her an insider, dignity, and worth, and respect, and treating her with equality, and chivalry, and loving kindness – the “hesed” of God that God had shown to him.

As Charles Spurgeon wonderfully put it – Jesus is our glorious Boaz. He went all the way to grace for His Church – for us – and we have this God given command to make disciples of all nations.

Pete Brooks leads the Pacific Rim team of Newfrontiers and Grace City Church in Sydney. He speaks in this video about the challenges and rewards of planting on the opposite side of the world, even though Australia was where he was born and raised. Pete was a great person to interview and I am sure that this story will thrill you, inspire you, and make you ask the important question before you rush into a church plant: am I SURE that this is what God wants me to do? Pete also talks about an exciting change of venue they have coming up, and a long visit by Terry and Wendy Virgo to Australia later this year.

Watch on Vimeo.

Today’s video may challenge some of your preconceptions. In it Terry Virgo is asked if there is a difference between being apostolic and missional. In it he argues that the main task of apostles was not to write Scripture, and says that most Evangelicals today have only been taught to obey the Bible as individuals and not to obey what it says about the church.

from Jubilee Church on Vimeo.

One of the minor little things that stuck with me at TOAM was a phrase that appeared at the end of each of the video clips they showed on our values. “Who is Newfrontiers? You are.” The truth is that Newfrontiers has always been more decentralized than many movements, and at the same time it is well-known for central strong anointed leadership. There is something of a paradox there, and it means that in some ways no one person can speak for the whole of the movement. We used to joke in the movement that Newfrontiers probably does not exist, and if it does it lives somewhere under Nigel Ring’s desk!

Few if any people in Newfrontiers feel comfortable if someone asks them “What does Newfrontiers think about this?” Newfrontiers doesn’t have a mind, or if it does it is the product of many minds. Certainly, for example, I don’t like it when a few people occasionally think of me as some kind of spokesman for this group of churches. I speak here on my blog our about my own opinions and values. Of course, having grown up in this family of churches for more than 30 years (in other words from before it was even called New Frontiers International) very often what I say does reflect a wider body of thought, but no reader should ever assume that is always the case.

One of my enduring memories of this years Together On A Mission event was Dave Devenish talking about the scattering that is to come in our future. Inevitably such a scattering means that there will be slightly different emphases and expressions of our values in different places. I strongly believe that technology will play a major role in the next phase of our movement as we transition. Through technology we can retain something of a family feel while we are working in every continent of the world. We can learn from each other, and just catch the “feel” of what is happening. We can quickly learn of tragic news and we can celebrate with others.

As a way of staying loosely in touch with your Newfrontiers brothers and sisters (or indeed of getting more of an idea of what we are like if you are not part of this family of churches) may I recommend an unofficial Newfrontiers Twitter list. Twitter is like a telegram system for the web. Most people do not share details that are of no use to others. Amusing or insightful events, links to blog posts (which can be automatically generated by twitterfeed.com), and pithy quotes are the normal fare. You can post as infrequently or frequently as you want. In general if something interests you, it may well be of interest to others. If you just want to be a tweet consumer you don’t even have to join. You can follow the “mind” of Newfrontiers, but even better why not get an account and contribute to the shared thinking? If you are on Twitter and want to get onto this list then public message me on Twitter saying something like “@adrianwarnock I would like to join the Newfrontiers List.” In addition, to join the unofficial Newfrontiers Bloggers list, the easiest thing is to to is email Dave Bish.

Another thing that Dave Devenish said was that some initiatives will continue to come from the center, as anointed leaders take strategic decisions to advance God’s kingdom by planting churches. He also said that other growth, and especially growth in influence rather than organizational growth, will occur as individuals take bold steps for God. I think of John KpiKpi who caught Newfrontiers values whilst studying in Brighton and went back to Africa to plant churches without at first other Newfrontiers leaders knowing about it. Obviously one cannot simply start a church and call it Newfrontiers or the label would be meaningless. But if a group or individual are inspired to begin to dream about what God may do, that in itself is extending God’s kingdom even if it doesn’t in the end lead to extending the Newfrontiers organization.

In that vein, it blessed me to see that one young lady was sufficiently inspired by this years conference to start a Facebook group in the hope that one day there might be a church in Brussels that reflects the values she had seen in Brighton. Perhaps another group of churches will step in (or already has!) to plant just such a church there. God is using many other groups to extend his kingdom. But whatever the eventual outcome, seeing such a dream expressed in such a way thrilled me, somehow. Who knows what that will lead to, if anything. She is not putting herself forward as a leader, and I am not sure if she has ever been a member of a Newfrontiers church. I don’t actually know the girl who started the group, except through a brief “hello” at TOAM and her tweets (From this I learned that she especially appreciated Terry’s comments about grammar in his sermons and likes Aaron Sorkin’s writing including the superlative West Wing, so she can’t be all bad!) But while her name may never appear in some roll call of the great and good, she just might have taken the first step towards a Newfrontiers church starting in the capital of Europe! It would be just like God to use an individual like that to prompt someone else to join a great work of exploit. After all, before God what do any of us have to offer, really? If a young girl can nail her colors to the mast and say, “I would love to see a new Church in this city I live in!” what can you do for God? Somehow the actions of this Facebook group founder sum up this years Together On A Mission. God will raise up an army of people, most of whom you and I will never hear the name of, in order to accomplish his purposes.

But be under no illusion, anointed leaders, singled out and appointed by God to lead will also continue to lead the charge. I have this funny image in my mind of almost a competition between these two groups, of leaders and followers, to see who can extend quickest. Instead of visionary leaders having to propel their people out into the mission field, imagine them instead fielding calls that go something like this “As you know I moved to this new city for work, remember when you said that there might be purpose in God for such a move? Well I have a small group of people meeting in my home now, would you come and help us to form them into a church?” Ironically, Newfrontiers itself in many ways really began with just such a phone call, when Nigel Ring rang a certain young pastor called Terry Virgo and asked him to come and help him work out what to do with a small group of Christians who had begun meeting in his home when thrown out of a local evangelical church for speaking in tongues.” I pray we will always be as much about such small groups as the gathering of thousands to hear God’s word. I thank God that my parents joined that young church more than thirty years ago introducing me to this family of churches that has been my spiritual home ever since. The rest as they say, is history, or in the case of phone calls yet to happen, future!

A year ago at Together On A Mission I interviewed Samir and Jackie who at the time were preparing to move to New Delhi to lead a church plant there for Newfrontiers. I always intended to share the video here, but a whole year goes past so quickly! Now that the plant is up and running (and next week they are running a week of prayer and fasting for this baby church), I thought this would be a great time to finally show you the video. This couple are heroes of mine, and I missed sitting next to them this year at TOAM as they could not be here. There plant was mentioned, however, and thousands of us prayed it would become a significant and influential large church in India’s capital. If you want to know more about what they are doing, join the Newfrontiers Delhi Church plant Facebook group.

Watch on Vimeo.

Mark Driscoll is at his very best in the following clip. Ever wondered how family and mission entwine, especially in a growing church where you don’t know anyone? Ever wished for more intimacy and a greater relational feel in your church? Ever felt neglected and rejected in your church? Ever felt like your church was not your home? Watch this clip and be prepared to be blown away. I love the way he begins: Family is a category of relationship that the world knows nothing about. What’s better than friends? Family. It’s a huge painful annoying mess, family is awkward, trying and hard, but you love the family, and you serve the family, and you don’t give up on family. This sermon speaks about our need to find a way to contribute to our church. commit to it, and connect to a small group. Christians must change from being consumers to being active participants in the mission of God. When you are contributing to something, you will feel connected to it.

The full sermon this clip comes from is available from the Mars Hill Website.

As I have mentioned before, on June 26th John Piper will be the speaker at our second “300 Leaders” event here in London. This is an opportunity to you to hear Piper in a smaller, more intimate setting, and network with other leader from a variety of different backgrounds.  You need to book in now tickets are almost sold out.

Piper will also be preaching at Jubilee Church in North London at 10 AM the next day. This will be following his speaking engagement at the EMA which I understand has now sold out.

This UK trip represents one of I understand only two further sets of speaking engagements Piper will be conducting throughout the rest of this year. Here is a great video trailer which includes footage of our Matt Chandler event:

These notes reflect my own impressions of what Ed Stetzer had to say at the recent Dwell London event. He was doing a seminar for cross-cultural workers to help them understand the current evangelical movement.  There are many of my own comments entwined with what Ed actually had to say. So blame me, rather than him for anything you disagree with, and credit him and not me for anything useful! Anytime I use the word “I” in these notes, this definitely reflects my opinion, not Ed’s necessarily. And, since this was an hour long seminar, you can tell I only grabbed parts of what he said.

Stetzer showed a remarkable grasp of the modern evangelical movement, among which he moves remarkably freely as a friend of many from remarkably different streams. Ed speaks to a broader Christian constituency than anyone else I can think of. I should also mention also that in private conversation this past weekend, Ed stressed to me the importance of each of these groups continuing to feel passionately about their distinctives. Ed argued that if we all try and minimize the things that mark us out as different to other groups we will loose traction as movements. Ultimately the lowest common denominator approach to unity is a road to compromise and liberalism in my view. So I agree with Ed that our best approach to the many and varied movements in evangelicalism is to be united where we can, learn what we can, but still hold strongly onto our own values, always being clear that as Bible people, we are open to being persuaded away from our perspectives.

Ed began by explaining that there has been a collapse of the methodological consensus. Over the last few decades it is no longer the case that an Anglican church looks like an Anglican or Baptist like a Baptist. Now you have moderators. Eg “Pupurse driven,” “moderately reformed,” or “missional.” It is now the case that a Lutheran church that is Purpose Driven will be more similar to a Pentecostal Purpose Driven church than another Lutheran. Thus, a lot of affinity is atheological, rather it is about what ministry you receive.

Ed then spoke briefly about a number of movements that affect the Church today. The pentecostal movement began in early 1900s. Fastest growing movement in the history of Church if you include the charismatic movement also which is not as distinct from it as some imagine. Some of that growth is the movement within Christianity ie non Pentecostals becoming pentecostal. The charismatic is in some ways distinguished from the broader pentecostal group in that they believe in a separate experience of Spirit baptism but emphasizes all the gifts, and tongues is not quite as essential. The charismatic movement was born late 60s early 70s. Then 80s there was the “third wave“. This tends to be continuationist but most do not believe in a second experience of grace. The whole of global Christianity is now influenced by this broader continuationist charismatic/pentecostal movement. Pentecostals and charismatics won the worship war but lost the organizational one. So raising hands and clapping would be mainstream now but rejected before, whilst many would see the movement itself as past its sell by date, at least in America.  The milder expressions of charismatic worship would be mainstream in what would become contemporary churches.

Just to be absolutely clear, this next whole paragraph is an addition to what Stetzer said: As a charismatic, I myself would argue that we have much more to contribute than body language and music style.  I do not recognize worship as charismatic simply on that basis. So it is a shame if some people now think “we are all charismatics now.” The truth is, Spirit-filled worship can occur while hymns are sung and people are in a state of subdued awe, whilst loud modern music can be accompanied by an un-engaged congregation.  I would argue that the far more important emphasis we can help to restore to the wider church is the personal relationship with the risen Jesus, which is something I speak a lot about in my book.  I personally also strongly suggest that the charismatic movement is far from over, even in America.  The USA itself is ready primed for a fresh wave of church planting, especially by those who would are reformed and yet aggressively pursue spiritual encounter with God and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Grudem appears to have almost won the theological war with many now at least accepting the theoretical availability of the gifts.  But many of those theological converts to a continuationist position have not themselves seen true gifts operating within a biblical framework. It is time for many more models of a sane charismatic church to be founded.  On that note, it might be interesting to watch Chandler and Grudem on the gifts if you haven’t already.

Now there are different wings of the church currently. Traditional, non traditional or pragmatic, 3rd wave and Pentecostal/charismatic.  Of course one reality which no talk like this can really be expected to fully address is that many churches will try and take good aspects from each of these movements. In my own view this is why books that speak about models for the church are so popular. We are each eager to learn what we can from each other, convinced none of us have all the answers for how to do church in a modern world.

Ed spoke about what he called the pragmatic evangelical movement (using the terminology of Robert Webber in The Younger Evangelicals. Ed nicknamed it the Willowback movement- Rick Warren and Bill Hybels. Big global influence. Saddleback is probably the most influential church in the world. They tend to look like a Calvary Chapel or a Vineyard, are continuationist, informal, but mostly leaving behind the ecstatic expressions in a worship service. There is a drive to de-emphasise anything people would find strange. Many think pragmatic is a bad word. But it just means determining what works. In this sense, I believe that there is much that we can learn from these churches, even if we do not want to fully adopt all their methods.

Traditional evangelicals (also from Webber) would have conferences about for example creationism vs evolution. Must prove these things to be true. For example how should we defend the verse that the rabbit chews the cud when science says it is not quite the same way of cud chewing. Rick Warren is a very conservative evangelical on almost all issues but he says “what people really want to know is how God can change their life or marriage”. Many traditional evangelicals rushed into pragmatic evangelicalism as they were so fed up of dry dead theology.

A decade ago, Purpose Driven was the most influential Christian movement in the world. Very broad reaching. In the the USA, these movements are still influential, but not like they were ten years ago. I have not had much to do with Bill, but I find Rick’s tweets very helpful indeed, and strongly supported John Piper’s decision to invite him to speak. Willow Creek originally spoke about being seeker driven. Stage driven. Take into account the local expressions of music and drama. Willow Creek was also influential but less globally. The seeker paradigm of ministry has declined in influence, and Willow itself has changed their own paradigm. When they realized they needed to change their way to disciple, and announced that they were changing, many people went after them in a nasty way, especially online.

Younger evangelicals (again, Webber’s term) are building on or charting new directions. Younger evangelicals can be found among a number of different groups: 1. Hyper-contemporary . Desire for “in your face,” eg series on sex with aggressive titles that get complaints. Gets media attention and they like it. Eg one church laid out a Seven day sex challenge to their congregation to have sex every day for a week. Newspring Church, a rapidly growing church in South Carolina, had an ACDC song “You’re on a highway to hell” at their Easter service. The idea is that in the modern world it is harder to get peoples attention. So the desire is to cut through the noise and get people to notice. In an all consuming passion to reach the unchurched they often offend the Christians. In a way they are a continuation of the seeker movement but “louder.”

2. Emerging Church.  These should be considered as several different groups: Relevants A lot of this is just about being relevant. Appropriate to the culture. Same understanding of the gospel but engage in a different way.  Reconstructionists want to change the way we do church. They believe in the gospel. Believe in conversion. But believe that much of what had been done in church harms the gospel. So we see, House Church, Missional,  incarnational models. The reality is indeed that many churches do need to change.  Revisionists like Maclaren want to rethink the gospel want a bigger gospel, more societal. Some want to ditch the idea of gospel as a transaction altogether.

3 New reformed. These respond to society by wanting to go deeper. Time magazine thinks that this idea is one of the most influential ideas (including secular ones)  in modern America. Different varieties eg charismatic reformed. John Macarthur and Driscoll are very different for example. A lot of younger reformed evangelicals became reformed in response to more vague churches they grew up in.  There is much to rejoice about, but much to be anxious about also. There is a level of anger in some that is so concerning that they are nick-named the “TR” =truly reformed. Fortunately there are also the “WR” =winsomely reformed. Many in more traditional forms criticize. Actually the new reformed have something in common with the emerging in that they want to correct the common gospel, in this case they want a bloodier one with more emphasis on cross and resurrection. There is a growing evidence of dissatisfaction with evangelicalism. People feel that they are not seeing the results that they thought they would. There is much experimentation that is going on, and coming up with new expressions of church. Stetzer calls this Evangelical angst. People are seeking a model. Unsure about who they are. There is a drive to reclaim the centre, because the edges are fuzzy. We live in a time of Tumult. Many are dissatisfied with the results so far, unsure what the future holds. I argue in my book that one of the reasons for all this agnst is our neglect of Jesus’ resurrection:

“Could our neglect of the resurrection be both cause and effect of the alarming state we are in? Certainly the success of liberal theology in taking hold of many churches after the First World War led to an increase in the number of those who denied the resurrection of Jesus and was also associated with the beginning of the decline in church attendance recorded since then. As a direct result of this, Christians have become marginalized by society and feel uncertain about how to share their beliefs with others in a hostile world. The vigor of our faith has waned, and church attendance is believed by many to be in a terminal decline. The general level of biblical knowledge among Christians is appalling. In a world where more study material is available in books, software, and online than previous generations could ever have dreamed, the Bible has never been less understood by members of the church, and even by our preachers.

Presumably as a direct result for many who attend church today, there seems to be little observable difference from the world in terms of personal lifestyles, values, and beliefs. The old accusation that the Western church is a mile wide and an inch deep has never been more true. . .

There is still a silent majority in the general population who claim to believe in God. At the same time, there is widespread ignorance about the Christian message. . . Many are proposing solutions for the challenges that the Western church faces today.  Some lack confidence in the message of the gospel, arguing that we should speak less about our beliefs in the hope that the world will be less offended. Others go further and quietly deny core Christian values. Some look to marketing techniques, changes in worship style, or modern management strategies. An industry has arisen offering solutions to struggling pastors in the form of leadership books and programs. We should learn everything we can without compromising the Bible, but no single solution will cure the multiple ailments of the church. In spite of this general decline, there are many encouraging signs. This book is written in the hope that if we will faithfully proclaim the death and resurrection of Jesus and work out the implications of that message in vibrant, grace-filled churches, the tide will turn.”

Read more in RAISED WITH CHRIST.

The second session of Saturday’s Dwell conference was based on similar material to the most popular video I have ever hosted here. Although I have heard that material before, this was adapted for church leaders, and it did me good to listen to it live and again. I think I will need to hear Terry often on prayer. For I need him to remind me of how essential it is for me to withdraw and wrestle with God.

Prayer is essential to church planting.

Elijah had seen his nation turn from God. 58 years after Solomon it is mow illegal to worship God.

The Queen of England made incredible vows before God. She spoke about ruling under Christ. Now we find in our nation you mustn’t wear a cross or pray for a patient because it is illegal. It’s amazing how a nation can turn so rapidly. If Elijah was here today he’d have prayed that the banking system would collapse. He prayed for no rain. As we are planting churches we plant praying communities. The 1859 revival happened in the background of financial collapse. We can pray that God would do the same again.

Now Elijah is praying that rain will come. 1 Kings 18.

Fire has fallen from heaven. Then we see him withdrawing from the crowd. He refused to allow others to set his agenda. He frequently withdrew to be with God as Jesus also would. Similarly the Apostles devoted themselves to the word of God and prayer. You are not to be shaped by the euphoria. Don’t allow people and things to do to rule you.

Go to the inner room. Familiar place. Shut yourself in. Be with your Father who is in secret. Shutting the door doesn’t shut the world out. Terry finds having a piece of paper with him to write something down helpful if the mind wanders.

Genesis 4 speaks of men calling on a name. Lots of names in the Old Testament, but there is none like Father. Huge privilege to withdraw even from even the breakthrough. Away from the applauding crowd and get close to God.

Prayer was based on God’s promises. He had said he would send rain. Easy to be passive and think if God is sovereign he will do things without our prayer. He’s in charge. But his sovereignty does not take away the responsibility of prayer. Our praying is based on what God has said.

Elijah prays in line with God says. Jeremiah 29. Prayer is stressed as a vital prerequisite for the release of Gods power. Lay ahold on him. We have a God we can cry out to. Daniel had a bible in one hand and a calendar in the other. When he saw that the seventy years were coming to an end, he prayed rather than simply waiting. God loves to engage with us when we take him seriously.

Prayer is about fellowship and communion with God, but it is always about asking and receiving. God chose you to be an asker. We can be very specific with what we ask for. Live relationally with God.

Elijah prayed fervently. Great power. Mighty punch. Pray yourself into prayer says Carson. Praying in the Spirit as another energy kicks in. Another energy. Freedom. Eloquence. I care about this more than I realized I cared. More urgency.

Jacob wrestled with God. He had a passion to get ahold of God. God disowns the people In Exodus 34. He calls the people Moses people. He says “no” they are YOUR people. God offers to start again. Moses won’t leave him alone to judge them. He prevails. He gets through effectively arguing for the honor of Gods name. Loose the idea of wrestling and the idea of a battle of wills you loose the reality of prayer. Prayer is actually about a conflict of two volitions: ours and God’s. We must not neglect that aspect of prayer and move too a passive form.

Elijah persisted. Seven times. The easiest thing about prayer is giving up. Carson says we area like the boy who rings a doorbell and runs away. One of Jesus parables was that someone would give bread because the person wouldn’t give up. He said keep on insisting.

Learn to pray. Cultivate. Don’t let go. Andrew Murray says God longs to give but holds the blessing back. If we are going to plant churches we must lay ahold of God. We provide an earthly base for the heavenly purposes of God.

All authority is given to Christ. He tells us to go. The Sanhedrin tells them to stop. They withdraw and cry out to the “despot”.

CCK Church in Brighton had a 100% refusal from a planning committee for the change of use of their new building. On a TV interview Terry Virgo found himself saying “we are going to appeal and get it.” Then he called everyone to pray! Don’t let go. Sure enough they did get it!

Elijah refused to let the pressures stop him from withdrawing.

Build prayer into the program of your church. There is growth happening in the UK. So for example there were 1000 new churches in seven years in the UK.

Terry Virgo founded Newfrontiers back in the mid 1970s. He was church planting before it was cool. He formed a missional network before the phrase was coined. There are now over 700 Newfrontiers churches spread out on every continent. Most of these began as house churches. But many of them have grown to become warehouse churches. Each of these churches and the movement as a whole is founded on prayer. It is a movement that has aimed to reconstruct a New Testament model of church, convinced from the outset that the old wineskins of formal church life simply will not do any more.

Newfrontiers embodied some of the values of the emerging church, such as being very relational, decades before Emergent began. It is charismatic, without a seatbelt, but with the brake of Biblical conviction. Yet it’s leaders were young restless and reformed in the last century, and an army of doctrine-loving, spirit-filled, missional pioneers have been arising in waves ever since. A godly pragmaticism has led to a discerning welcoming of influences from the alpha course, and the church growth movement among others.  Cell groups, missional communities, lively worship, seeker-aware meetings, and old-school mission crusades have all found their place. Newfrontiers embraces the input of many external ministries, but identifies exclusively with none of them. Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology is the doctrine textbook of choice for the movement, and Piper, Lloyd-Jones and Carson have also all been frequently read over the years.

Newfrontiers is not perfect. It has it’s weaknesses. But it is the group that I am so glad to call my home, and the family of churches that my church, Jubilee, is a part of. Terry’s sermon on prayer remains the most popular video on my blog by a country mile. It is no wonder that many American’s are keen to find our more about a movement which in the UK has shaped the meaning of the word “charismatic.”

Ed managed to crystallize this interest in a short pithy interview that is a fantastic introduction to Terry.  See also Ed’s post from which this video came for some more links:

Watch on Vimeo.

As I continue my time with the Newfrontiers Midwest churches , I am reminded of the old-time pioneers.  They would load up their family in a wagon and head out to where no-one they knew had gone before.  Eager to put down a stake as a marker and claim the ground, some of the old towns were barely built when the relentless march westwards would continue.  There is something of the same spirit here.

I spent the last twenty-four hours with Tommy Stanley, his family, and church in the Kansas City area.  Some of my UK readers will remember Tommy from his days leading worship at the last few Stoneleigh Bible Weeks that Newfrontiers used to run.  When I met him, despite being told of this history, I did not recognize him.  We enjoyed much laughter and a Kansas BBQ before heading out to a special meeting they had arranged for me to speak at.  When Tommy went to the front during the worship time and led us by bringing a contribution, I had a sudden sense of déjà vu. In a flash I was back at that event which was such an important influence on me.  Perhaps not surprisingly the worship time here was powerful and refreshing to my soul.

I really felt like I was welcomed into the family of Grace Church, Lee’s Summit.  They were a great congregation to speak to, and I also enjoyed a Q and A they put on for some of their men on Saturday morning over breakfast.

The visit felt too short, despite my growing desire to be home with my gorgeous wife and children.  Being able to connect with them over iChat has made this trip so much easier.  I was especially pleased to hear that they had worked out how to make donuts (that could save me a fortune at Krispy Kremes in the coming years!), that my son Joel has been getting certificates for good behavior at school, and that my son Henry was so pleased to have got a 5a for his literacy at school. This is apparently the highest grade his teacher had given for a few years for a year six child.  He now wants to be an author like his dad.  Such little things make you still feel connected to home.

I am now in St. Louis, staying with Mike and Teresa Lawson.  Having so many brothers and sisters all over the world willing to open their home to you is one of the many wonderful things about being a believer. I look forward to visiting The Journey later today and Jubilee tomorrow.