Andy Rowell | Church Leadership Conversations

Update: Brian McLaren's Everything Must Change tour and book

Update March 25, 2008:

I thought I would update the post below from January 15th.  I went to Brian McLaren's Everything Must Change event in Charlotte and was interested to see Brian's structuring of the sessions as worship services.  He had written most of the songs that were sung.  I think he misses being a pastor! 

I also read the whole book.  I put off writing a review because it would need to be nuanced and fair as well as quite critical.  I am glad though to be able to refer you to Tall Skinny Kiwi Andrew Jones's blog post from today "Brian McLaren Responds to Everything Must Change Concerns" in which Brian responds to a number of strongly-worded questions by Andrew, a friend of Brian's.  I also had many of these same questions about the book.  See also Scot McKnight's multi-part review linked to below for critique of the book. 

Original post January 15, 2008: I'll be at Brian McLaren's Everything Must Change Tour in Charlotte Feb 1-2

Brian McLaren's new book Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope came out October 2nd, 2007 and already has twenty-five reviews on Amazon.com, has been reviewed by Scot McKnight, and is reviewed by the editor of Books & Culture John Wilson in the January 2008 issue of Christianity Today.  (Now available online: see link).

In the book, McLaren draws on his extensive global travel over the last few years and (as always) seeks above all to stimulate fresh lively conversations.  This time he wades into the issues of capitalism, poverty, politics, terrorism, Islam, and the environment.  Though some reviewers wish McLaren had more economic and scientific expertise to add more weight and nuance to his conclusions, none question the importance of the questions this book explores. McLaren frequently admits that his MA in English and years of pastoring a church do not make him an expert about anything he has written about (postmodernism - A New Kind of Christian, Jesus scholarship - The Secret Message of Jesus, theology - A Generous Orthodoxy, and now global crises).   But, he is a master at speaking in language that grabs the attention of ordinary people.  And, though there are some who would disagree with me here, for not being an expert, I would say he gets a lot right. 

McLaren and a few friends are doing an eleven-city tour in the next few months.  The very first event is in Charlotte February 1-2 - just two and a half weeks from today.  I'm leading a "Late Night Discussion Group" on Friday night entitled "Thinking Seminary."  I'll be presenting 15 minutes and then we'll have 45 minutes of discussion.  Here is the description of what I'm presenting:

Are you thinking about going to seminary? Andy will discuss “Ten Things You Should Know If You Are Considering Seminary,” as well as how to pick a seminary, why you should go, why you shouldn’t go, the largest ones, theological differences, going part-time or full-time, financial issues, and other questions you may have about theological education. Are you from a seminary (either on staff or currently a student)? Andy will also be discussing how emerging and missional church movements are challenging theological education and how seminaries must change in light of Everything Must Change.

The event in Charlotte is going to be a fairly intimate setting - just two hundred people or so, so you'll have the opportunity to ask some questions, meet some people, and hear the latest things on McLaren's mind.  Again, this is the opening weekend of the tour.  With all of the added events connected with it, it will go from 6:00 pm Friday Feb 1 until late, and all day Saturday Feb 2 until late so you'll get your money's worth if you are interested.   The main sessions will end at around 9:00 pm Friday and 5:00 pm Saturday.   It is $109.  ($79 with a student ID).  Email me if you want to meet there and get coffee at a break.

Here are a few people who I think would enjoy the tour. 
1. Those who have enjoyed McLaren's very stimulating, easy-to-read books will enjoy McLaren in person. 
2. Those interested in politics, economics, environmental, and law who want to hear someone in plain terms give a stimulating explanation on how those realms should intersect with the Christian faith will not be disappointed.   
3. Those curious about the emerging church conversation will get a chance to see that movement of mostly younger Christians do what it does best: sit around and try to sort through the chaos of this world and craft creative faithful Christian responses. 

Though McLaren is probably the most influential emerging church leader in the United States, this doesn't mean many emerging church leaders swallow McLaren's conclusions or even share his views.  However, McLaren has often had a big influence on the subject of the conversation.  In the past, he has encouraged the movement to discuss: social justice, evangelism to postmoderns, appreciating ancient Christian tradition, church planting, eschatology, theology, spiritual formation, and Jesus scholarship.  He is now encouraging the movement to look at global crises. 

I predict that MacLaren's new book Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope will raise the expectation throughout young American Christianity that having a basic familiarity with the global crises of our world is a prerequisite to future church leadership.  The feeling is already growing among laypeople that if a pastor never mentions any of the problems non-Americans face, he or she is probably unfit to suggest ethical implications of the biblical text.   McLaren's book attempts to give church leaders just that type of introduction to the world's problems. 

Additional resources:

Everything Must Change Tour Website

Blog for Charlotte site of the Everything Must Change Tour

Registration page for Charlotte site

In his Christianity Today review of MacLaren's book, John Wilson mentions Nobel Prize-winning Robert Fogel's 2004 book

• 

   

Robert William Fogel: The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700-2100: Europe, America, and the Third World (Cambridge Studies in Population, Economy and Society in Past Time)

My "Seminaries" blog post category

Tony Jones interviews Brian McLaren about Everything Must Change at the Emergent Village Podcast

Scot McKnight's 18 posts on Everything Must Change can be found at his Emerging Movement category.

Why are adults in their 20's not connecting into local churches?

Today, I wanted to refer you to two new posts about why young adults are not enjoying and sticking with their parents' churches.  Below I have also talked about how I connected as a college student to a local church and my advice to passionate (and disillusioned) people in their 20's. 

The first post I want to draw your attention to is on Chris Monroe's Paradoxology "Desert Pastor" blog.  Here Chris interviews Sarah Cunningham, author of the brand new book, Dear Church: Letters from a Disillusioned Generation, (Zondervan, August 2006).  (In the comment I asked Sarah about what unique challenges Christian college students face when choosing a church.  Look there and see what she says in response.  She says she went to Taylor's leadership conference as a college student!)  See also the website for the book at http://www.dearchurch.com/ and her myspace page. 

The second post is at Leadership Journal's Out of Ur blog.  Brian McLaren has a post entitled:

Family Faith Feud: Why are young adults not finding their places in their parents’ church?

At Taylor University, our desire is to better and better instill in students a love for the local church.

When I was at Taylor, I was inspired to get involved in a small local church when one of my professors told me: "Be part of a small church.  Just showing up and singing loud will be a blessing to them."  So I did.  I was involved in a little country church of about 30 people.  I had the opportunity to give the pastoral prayer weekly, sing loudly, eat lots of good home-cooking, preach a couple of horrible sermons and give lots of hugs to elderly ladies.  We had a group of 5-10 of us who would go together: wake each other up, pile in the car, turn up the worship music to "prepare," drive home, and eat meals in the Dining Commons together afterward.

But this isn't the only way.  A large church can be great as well.  I think it is fine for students to church hop and shop for 4-5 weeks.  (Sleeping in does not count).  But then pick one (they all have flaws) and go to it every week and get involved.  And it is much more fun if you can get some friends to go with you. 

If a young adult is very passionate about their way of "doing church" (and disillusioned with the local churches they find), perhaps they can channel that passion into helping with a youth group, a campus ministry, or a small church.  In this way, they can experiment with things they are passionate about like: "excellence," "emerging church movement" ideas, or ancient-future spiritual formation practices.  What I am saying is that it is hard as a college student to have a huge impact on the overall functioning of a large church.   But you can channel your passions into different venues where you can give them a trial run and make a huge impact for the kingdom. 

Let's empower daredevil creative (and informed and trained) church planters

Thanks Steve Addison for this delightful and challenging piece entitled:

Fallow Fields: 20 ways to waste time while not planting churches at Leadership Journal's Out of Ur blog.

Ouch!  He shames us by pointing out a whole bunch of ways we slow down and kill church planting.   

May we all not sleep well tonight because we are appropriately disturbed about the excuses we make for not planting churches! Some people point out that one of the most common ways to pray in the Psalms is "Help!" That is how I'm praying tonight: "Lord, help us to do better!"

Addison rightly urges risk and prudence in his comments about church planting. He has obviously seen thoughtless investment and lots of talk with no action.

I was inspired on the risk side by Brian McLaren saying in his Princeton Theological Seminary address entitled "The Church Emerging & Mainline Theological Education." He told a predominantly mainline audience that they should throw their money at creative, pioneering efforts. He said that instead of selling old urban church buildings to raise the endowment to pay for denominational officials, we should be giving that church property to the most creative out of the box folks we can find. They may "fail" but they probably won't truly "fail." (For some people not lasting five years is a "failure." But it is not when we consider the outreach that has taken place. It is only a failure when someone loses their marriage in the process!  So let's take care of the person). 

Let's invest in these creative pioneers who will cultivate fresh ministry models. And if there are wise people like Steve Addison who can help us select the right people and guide them away from common pitfalls, that is all the better!

What is the Emerging Church Movement?

I have been asked to brief a fellow professor on the Emerging Church Movement.  Here is how I responded. 

In my opinion, "The Emerging Church Movement" is a description for the new styles of evangelical churches that are being led by younger pastors who are between the ages of 25 and 40 today (who we used to call "Generation Xers").  (There are people younger and older but I’m trying to give you a ballpark sociological description).  Most used to be youth pastors and are now senior pastors.  They are using their youth ministry experience to help create churches that better reach younger people.  Of course any changes in church structure or practice could become heretical and deserve reflection.  But, it seems to me that all of the main "emerging church" writings would easily fall within the boundaries of the National Association of Evangelicals statement of faith.  The most controversial things some emerging church writers have questioned include how to best reach out to homosexuals (see an example from Brian McLaren at Leadership Journals’ Out of Ur blog 1, 2, 3) and whether hell has been biblically taught correctly within evangelicalism (See again McLaren at Out of Ur 1, 2, 3).  In my opinion, these are standard conversations within evangelicalism.  (As you can see, they are happening on Christianity Today’s website). 

As theological educators, I think we should view it this way:

the emerging church proponents = innovative evangelical youth pastors

They will make some mistakes in their enthusiasm for changes and relevance but they are trying their best to reach young adults and teens.  These are not enemies to argue with but rather people to cheer on, put your arm around, and offer guidance.  They will also challenge us in good ways and keep our churches fresh. 

Below I have provided some resources.  Let me know if you have questions or concerns.   

andy

Resouces:

The proper term is "The Emerging Church Movement" not "emergence" or "emergent."  And it does fit the sociological definition of a "movement."  The "Emergent Village" is the most organized group within the movement.  You can read their "statement of faith" which they call an "order" here.

You can read a decent description at Wikipedia on "Emerging Church."  (Wikipedia is a user generated encyclopedia that anyone can edit and both critics and supporters of the emerging church have basically agreed upon this description). 

The best scholarly book on the subject is:

Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures
by Eddie Gibbs, Ryan K. Bolger

Baker Academic (November 1, 2005)

You will be interested to know as well that the highly respected Trinity Evangelical Divinity School New Testament professor D.A. Carson has written a book that is mostly critical of the movement. 

Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church : Understanding a Movement and Its Implications
by D. A. Carson

Zondervan (May 1, 2005)

Carson tries to analyze the movement by analyzing Brian McLaren's epistemology.  It is a theological and philosophical analysis of what is really a practical phenomenon.   

See especially North Park New Testament professor Scot McKnight’s review of D.A. Carson’s Becoming Emergent with the Emerging Church

Parts: 1 2  3  4 5  6  7  8  Final issues: 1 1a 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Or if those links don't work, the first eight parts are here. 

Here is Scot McKnight’s description of the emerging church: 

What is the Emerging Church?

What is the Emerging Church? Protest

What is the Emerging Church? Postmodernity

What is the Emerging Church? Pro-Aplenty

I have my students read a book about the emerging church in Program and Curriculum Development.  They compare it to the megachurch movement.  We look at them as both influential church models within evangelicalism.

 

John MacArthur Attacks the Emergent Church For Questioning the Clarity of the Scriptures

I listened to John MacArthur on the Emergent Church today. Masters Seminary (whose motto is "We Train Men as if Lives Depended on It!") is doing a 5 week series of critique on the Emergent Church. You can find the series of lectures to listen to here.

The first talk was given by MacArthur who explained that the problem with the Emergent Church is that they question the perpescuity (or clarity or intelligibility) of Scripture. I think that is actually a good insight which I hadn't considered. And yet I would put a positive spin on it: that many emergent church folks are taking a fresh look at the Scriptures to make sure the texts actually mean what we think they mean before we construct doctrines with them.

The perpescuity of Scripture is a good solid reformed doctrine. The doctrine of the perpescuity of the Scriptures means "that the basic message of Scripture has been clearly revealed so that everyone can understand it" (Don Stewart of the Blue Letter Bible - italics mine). It does not mean that every issue is clear. The ideas is that the major tenets can be discerned by common people from the Scriptures without some other authority to interpret them. As far as I understand it was articulated by the Reformers in reaction to those who argued only priests or popes could understand Scripture.

It is possible to use this doctrine to squelch conversation about Scripture - "It is clear and there is nothing more to say!" The Bereans were praised for checking the Scriptures to see if what their leaders were saying was actually true.

Acts 17:11 (English Standard Version)
11Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

It seems to me that this is basically what the emergent conversation is all about or at least what I hope it is about. The emergent writers I'm enjoying listening to are asking these type of questions. What have we missed? What did our parents' generation misread? How are we to behave toward our government as Christians? How are we to treat the poor? How do we structure our worship services? How do we use technology? What is preaching? How can we look at all these issues freshly from a biblical perspective?

I agree with MacArthur that the Scriptures need to be the source and fuel and foundation for the church. I can see how the fact the talk by some of embracing those who do homosexual acts into leadership, the non-existence of hell, and ecumenical discussions with Jews could make him concerned about the movement's biblical foundations. However, I'm hopeful that the Emergent church conversation is essentially a "back to the Bible" discussion. For example, I have been inspired by Rob Bell to look at the Bible with a deep hunger to understand its cultural context so to understand it better - (though Bell does not necessarily consider himself part of the Emergent movement).

I agree with Brian McLaren that the Emergent Church movement is basically a "conversation." I'm simplifying here but most participating are youngish pastors in their 20's, 30's, and 40's. who have been leading youth groups for 10 years and are now filling positions of local church leadership and are asking - "what will we do differently? What will we emphasize?"

In contrast to MacArthur's declaration that the meaning of Scripture is obvious, I appreciate the point by Richard Hays and Ellen Davis that understanding Scripture may not be so easy. Often we are greatly helped by thorough study of the cultural background of a text and its literary cues to understand its meaning. Hays and Davis write this:

The bad news is that, like every other true art, reading scripture is a difficult thing to do well. Strangely, we do not often mention this difficulty in church, in sermons or in teaching. Our attitude seems to be that interpreting scripture is a cut-and-dried kind of thing. In most liberal churches, the issue hardly seems worth discussing. Even in more Bible-oriented churches, there is little acknowledgment of the fact that making good sense of the Bible and applying that sense wisely to our lives is hard to do. The disciplines of attentiveness to the word do not come easily to us, accustomed as we are to user-friendly interfaces and instant gratification. (It is worth noting that recognition of the difficulty of interpretation is one of the huge differences between Jews and modern Christians; Jews have always revered the reading of scripture as the greatest and most difficult of all art forms. (From Learning to Read the Bible Again - article available online).

This does not mean we don't read Scripture but rather we attack it with hunger to understand it. (See especially the writings by Craig Keener who is deeply passionate about the backgrounds of the New Testament). It also means listening for God's voice as we read. Eugene Peterson's question has been on my heart for the last few years as I read Scripture: "Am I looking for something or listening for a voice?" (See especially his book Working the Angles). What might God be saying to me through this passage? 

MacArthur's Concern Regarding Tom Wright and Why Emergent Folks Actually Like Tom Wright
MacArthur is concerned that many Emergent people are reading Tom Wright and praising him. He is concerned that N.T. Wright's view of the atonement is not orthodox. First of all, since about 1999, Michael Bird says that Wright has been much more careful about making sure to make clear that he believes the justification is about taking care of sin. Second, I don't know of anyone who likes Wright because of his unorthodox view of the atonement! They (we) like him because he is an incredible apologist for the Resurrection. They like him because he makes the Bible come alive because of his deep immersion in the Scriptures. I first became aware of Wright in a 1999 Christianity Today article available here (sorry not free) that talked about how he had personally taped himself reading the OT in English and the NT in Greek and that he listened to these audio tapes all the time. (See my post that includes Greek audio resources here). They like him because he is passionate about ministry - seeing the poor cared for, preaching, worship, and church planting. They like him because he stood up in the Jesus Seminar and said "no" and yet is still a widely respected scholar by his peers. They like him for his insight about the 5 act play in The New Testament and the People of God - that we know the end of the story (eschatology) and the previous acts (witness of the New Testament) but we must live in such a way that our actions are fitting between the times. Hopefully, none of us are swallowing everything Wright has to say whole. For example, many scholars believe he is seeing the New Exodus in too much of the New Testament. (Listen to James Dunn and Wright discuss the issue here). But they also agree that it is the New Exodus is an underlying theme at least.

MacArthur's Tone vs. McLaren's Tone
A couple other comments about MacArthur's lecture. I suppose if you are sure you are right and concerned that others are being led astray, you have the tone that he had. He is matter of fact and self-assured. Part of the reason for this is that he was preaching to the choir - speaking at Masters Seminary to people who have come there because they want to learn from him. But I can't help but appreciate Brian McLaren's tone in his lecture at Princeton Seminary. He was self-effacing about his own heritage (Brethren), delicate in his criticisms, inspiring, humble and gracious. No doubt MacArthur would say McLaren is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

MacArthur's Understanding of Emerging Churches
I agree with the comments here by Andrew Jones that the books McLaren referenced did not seem to be foundational emergent church works. MacArthur says he has read Praise Habit: Finding God in Sunsets and Sushi by David Crowder (a worship leader) and Faith of My Fathers by Chris Seay (Crowder's pastor). He also mentions a review by John Franke of McLaren's book A Generous Orthodoxy. MacArthur makes Franke sound like a huge critic when in fact he wrote the foreword to the book and is a supporter of McLaren I believe! I think if he would have read Eddie Gibbs's Emerging Churches, or Robert Webber's The Younger Evangelicals, or even McLaren's The Church on the Other Side, I think I would feel like he understood the movement a bit better.

Who MacArthur Tears Down and Who MacArthur Loves
Finally, what I was also interested in was MacArthur's explicit criticisms of Rick Warren and Bill Hybels. He said we shouldn't call seeker churches "churches" because they neglect Scripture. He also explained how he had received a distubing email from David Wells informing him that Walt Kaiser had stepped down as president of Gordon-Conwell and that they had hired a "seeker" proponent as his replacement. See Gordon Conwell's announcement from 1/23/2006 here and more announcements about significant promotions in the evangelical world at Christianity Today's website here. MacArthur also mentioned his opposition to Jack Rogers at Fuller Seminary in the 70's over inerrancy and his opposition to the charismatic movement in the 80's.

MacArthur also talked about having a monthly conference call with some other like-minded theologians and pastors: Don Carson, Phil Ryken, John Piper, David Wells, Ligon Duncan, Albert Mohler, and Mark Dever. He also talked about being with Kent Hughes and Wayne Grudem the week before and that they had said everything that could be said about the subject at hand. It is just interesting to learn MacArthur's circles.

Sermon Audio Reports: Wangerin, McLaren, Buechner, Capon, Foster, Groome

I have been listening to more sermon audio. See a list of lectures and sermons available at my earlier posting here.

Probably the biggest delight was a sermon by Walter Wangerin on The Manger is Empty. It is interspersed with music by Ken Medema. I will give away the final line since you will probably not listen to it. Like the babydoll Jesus in the manger in a Christmas play represents the exalted Christ, so the body in the coffin at a funeral represents a deeper reality. Great story - worth listening to - even though it isn't Christmas-time. (Wangerin has written my favorite book on marriage As For Me and My House).

It was interesting to hear more about how Brian McLaren started Cedar Ridge Community Church. He reminisces about this and other things in his "Road Ahead" swan song series from January 2006. He is stepping down as Senior Pastor at the end of the month. They have a new pastor, Matthew Dyer, coming from the UK (I believe). McLaren talks about how he attended an Episcopal church in the early 1980's and had a booming small group (60 people) studying the Bible - some Christians and some not. He had hoped to start a church in cooperation with the church he was attending but because it was across the river, it was in a different diocese. For this and other reasons, it didn't work out to do with them so he branched off independently.

He remembers most fondly meeting with the one other elder in the church in the early days for breakfast at Denny's and then going and praying in one of their cars afteward. McLaren uses Paul's farewell speech to the Ephesian elders as the basis for his comments. What I like about McLaren is his pastoral ability to say things in everyday language with the right sensitivity. (He does not do this in his fiction because he is trying to be thought-provoking.) His ten commandments on how to treat the next pastor are brilliant.

I also found a site with lots more sermon audio. There I listened to two short reflections by esteemed author Frederick Buechner. In "A Moment of Grace" Buechner reflects on an experience he had with Maya Angelou. Angelou commented that despite the obvious fact that she is an African-American woman and he is a Caucasian male, her story and Buechner's "are the same story." Angelou then relates an incident of racism where a man calls some white soldiers "our boys." Buechner asks if the reconciliation that later occurs might be paradigmatic for churches today. Why not admit our sin and then be reconciled to one another? In the second reflection, Buechner tells a story about his alchololic father (who later committed suicide) and then reflects how someone told him: "you were a good steward of your pain." Buechner talks about other ways of dealing with pain such as ignoring it but explains that our pain can be the source of our greatest passion and gifts to the world. I thought Buechner's voice and style sounded a bit like Larry Crabb - who I like to listen to.

I read a short article from a Oct 8, 1990 Christianity Today about Buechner which I thought was an excellent introduction to his thought and life. Earlier today, I was reaffirming to myself the need to tell stories when we communicate. I loved this section from the CT article on Buechner's understanding of preaching and will remember especially his words in red below.

Buechner's concern to communicate theological truth with careful nuance and "eye-catching" style represents more than an artisan's pride in his work. He bemoans much contemporary Christian preaching and writing as anemic in style, lacking passion and color. Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale (1977), the published version of his Lyman Beecher Lectures at Yale on preaching, stresses again and again, "The news of the Gospel is that extraordinary things happen."
"If you're a theologian writing a sytematic theology," Buechner says, "perhaps you don't need to worry so much about being creative and imaginative with the words; you're mainly interested in clarity. But if you are preaching or doing apologetics, it's crucial to do it as vividly and passionately as you can manage. If you want what you're writing about to come alive, you've got to know what it looks like and smells like and feels like. The magic of words is that they have power to do more than convey meaning; not only do they have the power to make things clear, they make things happen."

I so appreciate Buechner's perspective here. I think so much preaching is indeed "anemic in style, lacking passion and color" and in general I like Buechner's solution. The only thing I would add is the need to be deeply rooted in the Scriptures.

I was glad to see that he had a positive experience at Wheaton College. I have a friend, John Noble, doing his Ph.D. in Old Testament at Harvard University so I was considering applying to Harvard Divinity School for my Th.D. Plus, I have so enjoyed publications from Harvard Business School. But I decided against it for various reasons. It is interesting to see that even the non-evangelical Buechner was caught off guard by the atheist(s) in his classes when he taught there.

Today I also heard Maya Angelou giving her reflections on the death of Coretta Scott King on the One Hour Special on NPR. She wanted to clarify that Martin was never intent on divorcing Coretta as at least one biography has insinuated. She reminisced about late night chats with her friend Coretta. This article says that she attends three churches: one in San Francisco, one in DC and one in her hometown. Her poem "Christian" is excellent - explaining that saying she is a Christian is not because she is perfect but because she is needy.

I also listened to a quick sermon on the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 by Robert Farrar Capon. Andy Crouch, (Christianity Today writer who my students and I just met with in January) and Loren Wilkinson (one of my professors at Regent College) have highly recommended Capon. Andy and Loren's lives reflect the importance of meals, simplicity, rejection of extraneous technology and fellowship. The unique insight from Capon's exegesis is that he suggests that the older brother already owned the farm and the fatted calf. I think that could be the case but I'm not convinced. It seems in the story that the father is still quite in charge even if he has given away 1/2 of his inheritance to the younger brother. I doubt he has given the other 1/2 to the older brother yet. That though is a cultural issue that perhaps a good New Testament scholar could uncover for us. I would need to look it up in the Luke commentaries (Bock, Bovon, Evans, Fitzmyer, Green, Marshall) for a start or Craig Keener's IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament.

I also listened to a short sermon by Richard Foster of Celebration of Discipline fame. He suggested from 1 John 3:20 that there may be things that we condemn ourselves for that God does not condemn us for. We may feel bad because we are fat or made a bad business decision but God does not condemn us.

1 John 3:20 TNIV
20 If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

I think Foster is right in that surely God does not condemn us for those things he mentioned but I'm not sure if that is what this text is about. Foster acknowledges that the more obvious explanation is that John is here reassuring his readers that "there is nothing you have done that God isn't big enough to forgive" (my paraphrase). I think this is most likely interpretation but again I would be interested in seeing what the commentaries (Brown, Marshall, Smalley, Akin, Burge, Kruse, Meye Thompson, Stott) say.

I also listened to a retelling of the story of Jairus by Thomas Groome. I use Groome's Christian Religious Education and Sharing Faith as textbooks in my teaching and curriculum classes. Groome, a Catholic professor at Boston College, retells the story in first person which is actually quite engaging. Groome is known for his very dense prose.

I also listened to a sermon by Will Willimon (the pastor to pastors, former Duke chaplain, and now a bishop) but my baby was crying so I didn't get as much out of it. I plan on listening again to a meaty lecture by Yale theologian and acclaimed author Miroslav Volf on "Kingdom and Calling."

Favorite Audio Sermons and Lectures

This post was updated on August 30, 2006.

Below I have placed links to lots of free audio of good teachers and speakers on the internet.

See also my list of favorite podcasts for church leaders here. 

30GoodMinutes.org including Frederick Buechner, Richard Foster, Thomas Groome, Calvin Miller, Lewis Smedes, Jim Wallis, Walter Wangerin, Will Willimon, Philip Yancey

Allelon - NT Wright, Brian McLaren, Eugene Peterson, Dallas Willard

American Rhetoric including Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Bono

Andy Stanley - North Point Community Church

Andy Stanley - Practically Speaking - Seven Practices of Effective Ministry Series

BibleGateway.com Audio Bibles

Billy Graham and Franklin Graham - The Hour of Decision Past Broadcasts

Bob Russell - OnePlace.com - Broadcast Archives

Brenda Salter McNeil - Urban Youth Workers Institute - "Elevate" -  2004

Brenda Salter McNeil - New Community (Chicago) - "Racial Reconciliation" - 11/20/2005

Brian McLaren - Cedar Ridge Community Church including series on Emerging Church in Sept-Oct 2005.

Brian McLaren Q&A with Canadian Church Leaders "Resonate" in April 2006.

Brian McLaren - Grand Rapids Theological Seminary - What is Emerging?

Catalyst Conference Podcast Interviews with Andy Stanley, Erwin McManus, Donald Miller, Tim Sanders, Eugene Peterson. Rob Bell, Mike Foster and Louie Giglio.

Cornel West at Whitman College

Covenant Theological Seminary's "Covenant Worldwide" - free seminary courses.

Craig Barnes and John Perkins - Shadyside Presbyterian Church Recent Sermons

Da Vinci Code - New Testament scholars Richard Hays and Bart Ehrman Debate - April 2006

Dallas Willard Audio

Darrell Johnson, Ken Shigematsu, Larry Crabb, John Stackhouse - Tenth Avenue Church

David Dark - The Message in the Matrix - 25 minute interview

Durham NT Seminar Audio Archives including NT Wright, James Dunn, Walter Moberly, Francis Watson, John Barclay

Eddie Gibbs and Ryan Bolger Lecture on Emerging Churches at Fuller Seminary

Emergent Village Podcasts including LeRon Shults, Miroslav Volf, Stanley Hauerwas, and Scot McKnight.

Erwin McManus - Mosaic Podcast

European Leadership Forum - Resources for European evangelical leaders - Amy Orr-Ewing, Don Carson, Ravi Zacharias, Bruce Winter, Darrell Bock, Henri Blocher, and William Lane Craig.

Following Christ 2002-2003 - InterVarsity Plenary Session Speakers - Marva Dawn, Miroslav Volf, Dallas Willard

For Sale - Regent Bookstore Online MP3 CDs

For Sale - Willow Creek Conference Resources

For Sale - Youth Specialties 2005 National Youth Workers Convention - San Diego, California

For Sale Youth Specialties 2004 National Youth Workers Convention - San Diego, California

For Sale Youth Specialties Pastor's Conference 2003

Grand Rapids Theological Seminary Chapel: Rodney Clapp, Robert Webber, Brian McLaren, Scot McKnight, DA Carson

Gordon-Conwell's Dimensions of the Faith free online theological education program. Listen to full Church History, Systematic Theology, and Biblical Studies courses.

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship Audio

J.I. Packer - St. John's Shaughnessy Anglican Church

John Ortberg - Menlo Park Presbyterian Church - Menlo Park, CA - Sermons Online

John Piper - Audio Sermons

John Stott, Alister McGrath, Philip Yancey - All Souls Church, Langham Place

John Stott "A Call to Christian Maturity" Mariner's Church, Calif. Nov 2005

Larry Crabb - New Way Ministries

Leadership Network resources - mission statement: to identify, connect and help high-capacity Christian leaders multiply their impact.

Leith Anderson - Weekly Sermons

Marva Dawn interview. It is excellent.  From WBCL - a Christian radio station in Fort Wayne, IN.  March 24, 2006.  You can only listen to it online. 

Max Lucado - UpWords

N.T. Wright Page

New Perspective on Paul Opponents- Theopedia - DA Carson

Off-The-Map - Brian McLaren on Evangelism

Parker Palmer Lecture

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Audio including Ken Bailey

Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Audio including Emerging Church Discussions with John Franke

Preaching Today Audio - They ususally have one free under "Media"

Princeton Theological Seminary Emerging Church Theological Education Caucus with Brian McLaren, Tony Jones, Kenda Dean, and Doug Pagitt

Princeton Theological Seminary Institute for Youth Ministry - Cloud of Witnesses: An Audio Journal on Youth, Church and Culture including Eugene Peterson and Darrell Guder

Regent College Radio

Resurgence Podcasts including Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller, John Piper, Chris Seay

Rob Bell - Mars Hill

Stuart and Jill Briscoe - Elmbrook Church, Brookfield, Wisconsin

Taylor University Chapel Archives 2005-2006 - Jay Kesler, Dan Allender

Tony Jones talks with Alan Hartung - March 2006

The Veritas Forum - Donald Miller, Alvin Plantinga, William Lane Craig

Tim Keller - Redeemer Presbyterian Church

Tim Keller - free archive

Tony Campolo's Messages

Wheaton College Chapel - now free!

Willow Creek's most recent mid-week "New Community" sermons

Basics of listening to MP3’s:

In the olden days, I would listen to tapes. Now I usually listen to MP3’s. If you are technologically fearful and don’t want to deal with the hassle of MP3’s, you can always pay for CD's and tapes. Almost all the sites above have places where you can order CD's or tapes. But if you want to listen to free stuff, this is the ticket!

MP3’s are computer files. So you can listen to them on any computer and on most new CD players and DVD players and of course portable MP3 players. Your computer will likely play them in Windows Media Player, or on the basic Real Player (which is free to download here) or in ITunes (which you can download for free here). Basically, you just click on the sites above and you click on the sermon you want to listen to and it will pop up and begin playing. Make sure you have your volume up on your computer (Control Panel . . . Sounds and Audio Devices . . . )

Some of the audio are only available when you are connected to the internet. Usually they play in Real Player only or some other player. But most are MP3's that you can download and listen to later. If you want to save a copy to your computer to listen to later, you can often right click the link and click "Save Target as . . ." and save the MP3 to a folder of your choice on your computer. For example, you can do this with the Veritas files. (These are big files (20-50 MB) so you don't want to do this with Dial Up.)

Once you have it on your computer, you can burn it to a CD and play it in your CD player or DVD player or MP3 player. Or just listen to it from your computer like I do. I hook my laptop up to my stereo by having a cord that goes from my laptop headphone jack into my stereo.

See my description here of my listening habits.

Influential Books by Contemporary Mostly-American Pastors Describing How They Do Ministry.

I have given you denomination, website, and attendance if I could find the data.

Anderson, Leith. Dying for Change. Bethany House Publishers, 1998.

________________. Leadership That Works: Hope and Direction for Church and Parachurch Leaders in Today's Complex World. Bethany House Publishers, 2002.

http://www.wooddale.org/ Wooddale Church; non-denominational but is associated with Baptist General Conference; Minnesota; 4000 attendance; six daughter churches.

Bell, Rob. Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005.

http://www.mhbcmi.org/findex.html Mars Hill Bible Church. Non-denominational; Michigan. 10,000 attendance. Emergent.

Bisagno, John R. Letters to Timothy: A Handbook for Pastors. Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001.

http://www.houstonsfirst.org/ Houston’s First Baptist Church. Retired in 2000. 8,000 attendance.

Cladis, George. Leading the Team-Based Church: How Pastors and Church Staffs Can Grow Together into a Powerful Fellowship of Leaders. Jossey-Bass, 1999.

Former pastor at http://www.westminster-okc.org/index2.html and http://www.norotonchurch.org/ Medium sized PCUSA churches.

Cole, Neil. Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens. Jossey-Bass, 2005.

http://www.cmaresources.org/ Church Multiplication Associates. Founder of Awakening Chapels – house churches targeting younger people in urban settings.

Cymbala, Jim with Stephen Sorenson. The Church God Blesses. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002.

Brooklyn. Brooklyn Tabernacle. 10,000 attendance. http://www.brooklyntabernacle.org/ Non-denom.

Driscoll, Mark. The Radical Reformission : Reaching Out without Selling Out. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004.

________________. Confessions of a Reformission Rev: Hard Lessons From an Emerging Missional Church. Zondervan, 2006.

Mars Hill Church, Seattle. http://www.marshillchurch.org/ Acts 29 church planting network. http://www.acts29network.org/ Emergent. Non-denominational roots with PCA theology.

Frazee, Randy. The Connecting Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001.

Now a teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church. Was Senior Pastor at Pantego Bible Church in Fort Worth, Texas from 1990-2005. http://www.pantego.org/index.cfm Non-denom. Megachurch.

Hansen, David. The Art of Pastoring: Ministry Without All the Answers. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1994.

http://www.kenwoodbaptist.com/index.html Kenwood Baptist Church. American Baptist. Cincinnati, OH. Attendance 500.

Hull, Bill. The Disciple Making Pastor. Grand Rapids: Fleming H. Revell, 1988.

Was pastor in Evangelical Free Churches. Now works with http://www.tnetwork.com/index.htm 

Hybels, Bill. Courageous Leadership. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002.

http://www.willowcreek.org/ Founding Pastor; South Barrington, IL. 17,500 attendance.

Kimball, Dan. The Emerging Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003.

http://www.vintagefaith.com/ and blog: http://dankimball.typepad.com/ and Vintage Faith Church http://www.vintagechurch.org/ 400-500 attendance. Non-denom. Emergent.

Lewis, Robert with Rob Wilkins. The Church of Irresistible Influence. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001.

Lewis is former pastor of http://www.fbclr.org/ Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, AK. Non-denom. 2,000 attendance.

Lewis, Robert and Wayne Cordeiro with Warren Bird. Culture Shift: Transforming Your Church from the Inside Out. Jossey-Bass, 2005.

Cordeiro is Senior Pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship O'ahu, a Foursquare church in Honolulu, Hawaii. http://www.enewhope.org/index.php 9,000 attendance.

Mallory, Sue. The Equipping Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001.

Executive Director of Group Publishing’s Church Volunteer Central. http://shop.grouppublishing.com/cvc/index.asp Was director of lay ministries at Brentwood Presbyterian Church http://www.bpcusa.org/index.asp PCUSA, 1200 members. Los Angeles.

McLaren, Brian. The Church on the Other Side. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003.

Founding pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church http://www.crcc.org/ No longer Senior Pastor. Non-denom. Personal website: http://www.anewkindofchristian.com/ Maryland. Emergent.

McManus, Erwin Raphael. An Unstoppable Force: Daring to Become the Church God Had in Mind. Group, 2001.

Personal website: http://www.erwinmcmanus.com/ Mosaic church http://www.mosaic.org/ Southern Baptist. Megachurch. Los Angeles. Emergent.

Mittelberg, Mark and Bill Hybels. Building a Contagious Church: Revolutionizing the Way We View and Do Evangelism. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000.

See Hybels above. Mittelberg is Executive Director of Evangelism for the Willow Creek Association. http://www.willowcreek.com/

Pagitt, Doug. Church Re-Imagined: The Spiritual Formation of People in Communities of Faith. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005.

Personal blog: http://pagitt.typepad.com/ Solomon’s Porch: http://www.solomonsporch.com/index.html Minneapolis.

Peterson, Eugene H. Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987.

________________. The Contemplative Pastor: Returning to the Art of Spiritual Direction. Eerdmans, 1993.

Founding pastor of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church in Bel Air, Maryland. PCUSA; 300 attendance. Left in 1992 to be professor at Regent College.

Rusaw, Rick and Eric Swanson. The Externally Focused Church. Group, 2004.

Rusaw is Senior Minister at LifeBridge Christian Church in Longmont, Colorado. 3,000 attendance. Non-denom. http://www.lbcc.org/templates/cla23bl/default.asp?id=22545
Swanson worked with Campus Crusade for Christ for twenty-five years before moving to the Leadership Network. http://www.leadnet.org/ 

Scazzero, Peter with Warren Bird. The Emotionally Healthy Church: A Strategy for Discipleship That Actually Changes Lives. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003.

Senior pastor at New Life Fellowship. http://www.newlifefellowship.org/ Queens, NY. Four other churches planted.

Stanley, Andy, Lane Jones and Reggie Joiner. The Seven Practices of Effective Ministry. Multnomah, 2004.

Stanley is pastor of http://www.northpoint.org/ North Point Community Church. 14,000 attendance. Georgia. Nondenom.

Stanley, Andy and Ed Young. Can We Do That? 24 Innovative Practices That Will Change the Way You Do Church. Howard, 2002.

Young is http://www.fellowshipchurch.com/fcweb/home.aspx 16,000 attendance; Grapevine, TX. Southern Baptist.

Stevens, Tim and Tony Morgan. Simply Strategic Stuff: Help for Leaders Drowning in the Details of Running a Church. Group, 2003.

Granger Community Church, Indiana. 4,300 attendance. http://www.gccwired.com/ United Methodist Church.

Taylor, Steve. The Out of Bounds Church? Learning to Create a Community of Faith in a Culture of Change. Zondervan, 2005.

Personal blog: http://www.emergentkiwi.org.nz/ Pastor of Opawa Baptist Church http://www.opawa.org.nz/ New Zealand. Medium-size.

Waltz, Mark L. First Impressions: Creating Wow Experiences In Your Church. Group, 2004.

See Granger Community Church under Stevens.

Warren, Rick. The Purpose Driven Church: Growth Without Compromising Your Message & Mission. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995.

http://www.saddleback.com/flash/default.htm 15,000 attendance; California. Southern Baptist.