Yesterday I promised to blog about the two other speakers at the next 300 Leaders conference. Dave Devenish should be no stranger to regular readers of this blog, as I have serialised a chapter of his outstanding book Fathering Leaders, Motivating Mission, and interviewed him. His is a remarkable man who gave up a successful career in international banking to serve Jesus. Content to minister alongside Terry Virgo, he has been a massive part of what God has been doing through Newfrontiers for decades. He has seen churches planted in many nations. His recent book, based on teaching he has been developing for years, has helped bring definition to church oversight. If you have ever heard people speak about apostles today and wondered what they mean by that, coming to 300 leaders to hear Dave preach will massively benefit you. If you are already part of an apostolic movement (which Stetzer has observed are growing in influence globally) you will learn how this gift can help you connect with the global mission God has called his church to. Whatever your church background, this next 300 leaders will be a great benefit to you.

Those who have wondered what the future holds for Newfrontiers now that Terry Virgo has laid down his day-to-day leadership of our movement will do well to hear from Mike Betts. Mike is one of a significant number of apostolic figures that were recognised at our final conference in Brighton. Over the last few years Mike has established a group of churches that relate together, and reach out on mission. It is this gathering together of churches to serve the mission of God that is a key gift that we need to see released more and more. The future of Newfrontiers is secure because God is raising up many like Mike who will care for the established churches, and drive missional expansion. Mike has also developed a real strength in working closely with prophetic ministry and will be sharing about how this partnership can propel us into mission.

The need of our nation is urgent. The call for churches to grow and plant other churches is strong. I am convinced that this day conference will help us. I hope to see you there!

The Reformed, Charismatic & Missional conference, put on by Acts29 and Newfrontiers was a great success this year.  The speakers for the weekend included Terry Virgo, Jeff Vanderstelt and Eliot Grudem.  Confluence author Bryan Mowrey got a chance to sit down with each of these leaders and ask some questions a lot of people have been asking.

In this video, Bryan speaks with Terry Virgo about roadblocks he has hit in helping people fully embrace charismatic gifts in life and leadership .

Thanks to http://www.confluenceblog.com/

During Adrian’s month away from the blog, he has hand-picked a selection of the most popular posts of the year so far to re-run.  Today we feature, John Piper’s interview with Rick Warren on doctrine and The Purpose Driven Life.

John Piper and Rick Warren are friends who come from slightly different wings of the modern church.  It was great to see them discuss what unites them.  As I keep saying, we have enough true enemies of the gospel at work today that all who love the age-old truths of the good news should learn to appreciate each other!

Click to watch John Piper’s interview with Rick Warren on doctrine and The Purpose Driven Life.

A pioneering woman, pt 2

By Claire Musters

Here is the second part of my interview with Wendy Virgo.

How did you juggle supporting your husband and being involved in ministry while you raised such a large family? What were the biggest challenges?

Very early in our marriage, Terry and I redefined what we meant by “ministry”. Everything in our lives was to be seen as under the umbrella of serving God; there was no distinction between “sacred” and “secular”. So my ministry to God included loving and supporting my husband, loving and training my children and creating a godly and peaceful home and all the domestic activities involved in that. It also included praying, worshipping, seeking God for gifts of the Spirit and teaching and encouraging others. So as it was all ministry, I didn’t feel I was having to juggle home and ministry! But I did have to fight for time to study and pray, and I learned to pray while I was doing other things.

I found there were seasons in life, so that consistent times of prayer and Bible study were difficult after the birth of a new baby in the period of night feeds. I had to learn to talk to God while I was ironing or driving to the supermarket. There wasn’t much time for reading so I would learn to “feed” on a few verses of scripture. I also drew strength from being with others in prayer times etc. A young mum can feel very alone, so it is important to make time to meet with others.

As you said above that you had to fight for time to study and pray, could you share what you have found most useful for your own personal devotional times?

I have used different methods of personal study over the years. Sometimes I have followed a year plan; sometimes used daily notes. (I actually write for CWR’s excellent “Inspiring Women Every Day” series). I particularly like using the Bible Speaks Today series of commentaries edited by John Stott. I prefer to work through a book of the Bible rather than to jump about. That way you get a much more in depth understanding of the development of Biblical truth than if you just hop from one topic to another…although topical study can also have its place.

As the children grew up of course, the rhythm of life kept changing and now Terry and I are in the happy season of being able to pray together every day, which we really love!

-

You can visit Claire Muster’s blog here: www.clairemusters.com

and Wendy Virgo’s blog here:  http://wendyvirgo.wordpress.com/

A pioneering woman, pt 1

By Claire Musters

I believe you met Terry at Bible college, and both had a strong desire to follow after God with all your hearts – did you ever imagine to what extent He would use your giftings?

You can visit Wendy Virgo’s blog here:  http://wendyvirgo.wordpress.com/

In this rare interview footage you will get up close and personal with possibly the greatest expositional preacher the English speaking world has ever known.  This footage is newly released to mark the 30 year anniversary this week of his death.  Allow God to stir you as you watch. May God raise up many more preachers who driven along by the Holy Spirit faithfully expound God’s word:



Terry Virgos Blog has posted » Building churches that are evangelistically relevant part two. In this video Terry says the above line and explains his motivation for thinking that Churches had to change

1a. Building churches that are evangelistically relevant: Relational from Terry Virgo on Vimeo.

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.”

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!

I really enjoy watching Brian Mowrey’s video interviews. This one with “Bones” is no exception. Watch and enjoy! This reminded me of when I interviewed Mbonisi myself.

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.

A friend of mine recently turned the tables on me and interviewed me in a post entitled Ed Stetzer – My Interview with Adrian Warnock: Why We Need Non-Paid Christian Leaders. If I am quite honest, until recently I never really thought of myself as a Christian leader at all. Ed seems to be talking here about leadership as influence. And so, understanding that I really do not have any of the responsibility and accountability of leadership (except to a limited extent in my local congregation), by virtue of the fact a number of people read this I have come to appreciate that there is some influence that God has entrusted to me. The main effect this realisation has on me is making me concerned to wield that influence for broadly good aims. One of the best ways I can do this is to point you to helpful leaders and material. Go read Ed Stetzer’s blog right now if you havent already, and get ahold of one of his books right away!  Here is the brief video we filmed together:

Watch on Vimeo.

Terry’s teaching on grace has radically changed thousands of Christian’s lives. In this video he argues that many who claim to love the doctrines of grace have never truly heard it in their heart. When you have watched this, go and visit his website and listen to him preach on grace. It could change everything for you.

from 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.

It seems these days that being Reformed and Charismatic is all the rage these days. I have recently posted video from Matt Chandler on this theme, as well as Sam Storms, and Wayne Grudem. Here is a great short interview with Terry Virgo on this subject.

Watch on Vimeo.

During my holiday this week, these videos will be published on autopilot. The interviewer is my friend Brian Mowrey, make sure you go subscribe to his blog, as well as Terry Virgo‘s right away! These videos were mentioned at the recent TOAM event and complement much of what was said there very well. This segment is on prayer, a subject which Terry is well known for after John Piper mentioned one of his sermons in a Tweet.

Watch on Vimeo.

During my holiday this week, these videos will be published on autopilot. The interviewer is my friend Brian Mowrey, make sure you go subscribe to his blog, as well as Terry Virgo‘s right away! These videos were mentioned at the recent TOAM event and complement much of what was said there very well.

Watch on Vimeo.

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.

This weekend I thought I would share a list of my top Twenty Five videos ordered by total number of views. As you can see, one of my Chandler videos has already jumped in above Mark Driscoll in second place. Terry’s fantastic sermon on prayer is way ahead of that one even, however. I enjoyed filming or watching all of these videos. Why not watch one or two you have missed?

1		Elijah Prays For Rain Tue Jun 23, 2009
2		Matt Chandler on being a reformed charismatic without much of a seatbelt Thu May 13, 2010
3		Mark Driscoll and Adrian Warnock talk about the resurrection Mon Mar 29, 2010
4		Mark Driscoll and Adrian Warnock talk about Doctrine Tue Mar 30, 2010
5		1st Canon EOS 5D Mark II Video Wed Mar 25, 2009
6		Raised With Christ: How The Resurrection Changes Everything Thu Oct 22, 2009
7		A Call To Prayer For Matt Chandler Thu Dec 03, 2009
8		Keith Getty – Co-Writer of In Christ Alone Thu Apr 09, 2009
9		Stuart Townend Interview Tue Apr 07, 2009
10		Dare To Believe God For Miracles – Tope Koleoso Thu May 14, 2009
11		Nathan and Lou Fellingham of Phatfish Sun Apr 05, 2009
12		Elijah Prays Part Two Wed Jun 24, 2009
13		EOS 5D Mark II Testing Rode Videomic and iMovie Fri Mar 27, 2009
14		Interview With Liam Goligher Thu Apr 09, 2009
15		Wayne Grudem on Politics and the Christian Sat Apr 24, 2010
16		Richard Cunningham at New Word Alive Tue May 12, 2009
17		Matt Chandler Interview on London, Newfrontiers, and “Prayer and Fasting” Thu May 13, 2010
18		Interview with Vaughan Roberts Sat Apr 11, 2009
19		Sam Storms Interviews Adrian Warnock Wed Feb 03, 2010
20		Wayne Grudem on Atonement, Unity, Rick Warren and John Piper Thu May 06, 2010
21		Matt Chandler on the call to ministry Thu May 13, 2010
22		Sam Storms On Pastoring As A Reformed Charismatic Wed Feb 03, 2010
23		Sunrise Over Welsh Mountains Mon Apr 13, 2009
24		Wayne Grudem on whether God’s revelation has really stopped or not Sat May 08, 2010
25		Matt Chandler on why he IS friends with people on his staff Thu May 13, 2010