Random stuff you'll like
CELEBRATE: We're over 10,000 page-views, so thanks to each of you for tuning in on a regular basis. Keep telling your friends about this blog, because I think we're on to something here!
REVIEWS: I've posted reviews of two books on my missional church blog, Amicus Dei. Michael Frost's new book, Exiles; and, Rodney Stark's new book, Cities of God. Check them out if you're looking for two good books to read.
STORIES: My wife, Debbie, has lots of new stuff up on her blog, Goodthoughts. You'll find some great stories (think: sermon illustration), quotes, and photos. Plus, she just posted her children's book, Your Mind Has Wings, in the photo album section. You can also see our backyard labyrinth, and photos of our town, house, and gardens. Check it out!
FRIENDS POST: I'm working on the "all-my-friends" post, but there are about 50 of you who have commented, so this is taking longer than I thought. I'm doing links to everybody's blogs/sites, so it's tedious. But, I love you and you're worth the time, so I hope to have it up this weekend.
BLOG BUDDIES: Check out my pals at The Mayberry-Driven Church. Dennis and Randy are two wild and crazy small-church guys, who do podcasts. Moi is on their latest podcast, along with Andy McAdams, who consults with small-churches. You need to get to know these guys.
SMALL CHURCH CONFAB: Michael Jordan (don't even ask) and I had lunch in Lynchburg yesterday. Michael pastors a small Virginia Baptist church, too. We were talking about a small-church conference -- really more like a small-church confab where small-church pastors could get together and talk to each other about small-church stuff. We would want to keep the cost low-to-free, because small-church budgets tend to have small-to-no conference allowances.
What do you think and are you interested? The model for this confab could come from the techie barcamp (not about camping out in bars). This concept of a creative community was picked up in Toronto by a bunch of people who would like to improve the Toronto mass-transit system. They call theirs "transit camp." I'm calling the small church thing "church camp" and I've got a wiki up about it.
The design of this small-church confab would be different from the typical expert-driven conference. Rather than sitting-and-soaking, church camp has the following guidelines for attendees:
- Everyone participates.
- Leaders can emerge from anywhere.
- We are all equals in an open community.
Here are some things to think about:
- Would you participate?
- Would you gather some place for a discussion among equals about small-church?
- Would you invite others to join us?
- What could you afford to contribute to this type conference, or is travel a major expense?
I think the idea has tremendous potential. I believe there are a lot of great ideas out there among small-church pastors, and we need a forum to get those ideas to the surface and into the small-church culture.
Post up some comments about this idea and let's dream together!
