If someone isn’t angry at you then pray for God to set you on fire and lead you to preach a message that will hit the majority of your church between the eyes…and then HANG ON!

(Read the whole post in context here.)

What do you think? Is this wise advice to church planters?
Do you want to be ‘hit between the eyes’ by your pastor more often?

Is a mature church full of senior citizens?

Is a mature church full of mature Christians?

My first thought was, just that–a mature church was full of all mature Christians, but then I thought about that, and if the local church is all mature Christians, they’ve turned into self-seeking Christians (“It’s all about ME“), which hardly qualifies as a mature Christian, right?

So the question remains, what does a mature local church look like?

Mark Beeson offered this answer to the question:

The ‘mature church’ is the church filled with immaturity.
…
Maturity desires reproduction.
Maturity tolerates juvenile behavior (from juveniles) while training its progeny for success in life.
Maturity means “little poults running all over the place.”
If you attend a mature church, be prepared for immaturity.

What do you think about Beeson’s answer?
How would you define what a mature local church looks like? Kinda a tough question, isn’t it? What are your thoughts?

It is a telling story, and as you read it, think about what you would do in this woman’s shoes. Would you have done anything different?
If I am honest, I don’t think I would have done anything differently. And that is sad. I should have. My hope is that when an opportunity like this presents itself to me, I will be wise enough and willing to hear God speaking to me to do something differently.
Here is the link to the blog entry from Kathy Guy.

Even a cursory reading of the book of Ecclesiastes shows that culture is a stationary bike that each generation climbs on in hopes of getting somewhere only to die and fall off so that the new young stud can take his turn peddling and, like a fool, make pronouncements about his progress. We would be wise to see postmodernity as simply the new guy on the old bike and not mistake cultural change for kingdom progress. – Mark Driscoll, Radical Reformission, 161

Postmodern culture is not something we should ignore, oppose, or embrace; rather, it is simply another culture that we should seek to redeem and transform by the power of the gospel. Indeed, culture is an old whore, and modernity and postmodernity are simply her old and new dresses. – Mark Driscoll, Radical Reformission, 161

Your thoughts? Do you agree with Driscoll, or disagree? Why or why not? Does he have a point?

Watch Mark Driscoll’s take on The Chick-i-fied Church:

I think Driscoll is quite balanced, and although I don’t agree with him completely doctrinally, he is very much a Biblical man, and think he’s really on the ball.

Note Driscoll is closely tied with John Piper, who is certainly not Gen-Xer.

Kennedy was a pioneer in electronic media, and will be missed.

See his tribute: http://www.djameskennedy.org/ (heavy traffic, site is quite slow currently)

It ticks me off–BUT–the fact is that there are thousands of churches that are not teaching about sin, about how sin separates us from God, about how Jesus made payment for that sin on the cross and about how, by receiving Christ, He comes to live inside of us to give us an abundant and eternal life.

Who do you think said this quote?
I’ll give you a hint: It is a pastor.

Do you give up? Think about what type of church you think he is from. Do you think he’s a traditionalist? A fundamentalist? A Pentecostal? What kind of church would a pastor who says things like this (doctrinally sound) want to be a part of?

Interestingly enough, this quote is from Perry Noble, pastor of a so-called seeker church of some 7,000. Would you have guessed seeker churches talk about sin, or have you been influenced by non-seeker attenders who have not a clue what they’re talking about and spreading rumors?

Rumors are vicious things, you know.

I encourage you to read the full post, in context here.

500 Bonus Points to the first person who correctly identifies (and posts a comment) as to why I am posting this again!

Vision leaks.
- Andy Stanley

Just because someone bought into a vision at one time, it does not mean they will always remain in tune with that vision, because vision leaks. The excitement slows down, and eventually become frustration.

It is impossible to present the vision too frequently. Vision large and visions for smaller segments of the whole as well.

You can’t share the vision enough. Try it.