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The Gospel According to Chopin

Last Updated June 29, 2011 by Matt 2 Comments

Earlier this month I was taking a seminary class at Luther Seminary with John Roberto of Lifelong Faith Associates. During one of the classes, he showed us what may be the best TED video I’ve ever seen. It could be titled, “The Gospel According to Chopin” (by the way, I am in no way a […]

Filed Under: Ecclesiology, Youth Ministry Tagged With: church, discipleship, gospel

Are You a Coach or a Player?

Last Updated February 11, 2010 by Matt 6 Comments

If you follow sports, you know that there is a difference between a great player and a great coach. The best players often do not make good coaches, and many great coaches weren’t exactly stand-out players. Phil Jackson, the great Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Laker is considered by many to be a coaching genius. […]

Filed Under: Ecclesiology Tagged With: leadership

Is “Grow” a Four Letter Word?

Last Updated February 4, 2010 by Matt 5 Comments

Over the past few weeks I have been listening to a lot of podcasts from William Willimon, who is currently the Bishop of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church. I didn’t know much about Willimon much before this recent spate of listening, except that he was dean of the Chapel and professor […]

Filed Under: Ecclesiology Tagged With: church growth, growth, willimon

Luther Seminary: Free, Legit Resources

Last Updated October 9, 2009 by Matt 1 Comment

One thing I am convinced of is that the church needs to be working towards more truly open source styles of resourcing for ministry. Some will disagree, saying that is unsustainable, and that you have to pay people in order to get the best work. That might be true if the church was bound to […]

Filed Under: Ecclesiology, Youth Ministry Tagged With: free resources

The Best Church Assessment or Survey?

Last Updated September 25, 2009 by Matt 1 Comment

Our pastor wants to do some sort of church wide assessment or survey to get a snapshot of our congregation’s spiritual health. What are some of the best options out there? We are willing to pay some for it, but not an exorbitant amount. Here would be the perfect solution for us: Individuals fill out […]

Filed Under: Ecclesiology

Church as Incarnational Pneumatology

Last Updated September 8, 2009 by Matt Leave a Comment

The following is a section from a paper I wrote this summer for a youth ministry course. Craig Van Gelder offers a robustly theological explanation for the nature of the church that gives a glimpse of how exactly God is present through this group of human beings: In this view, the Spirit-created church lives as […]

Filed Under: Ecclesiology Tagged With: Craig Van Gelder, incarnational pneumatology, missional, Ray Anderson

The Church and the Rich Young Ruler

Last Updated August 31, 2009 by Matt Leave a Comment

I’m going to be preaching later this fall, and the gospel text for that Sunday includes Mark 10:17-23. In an initial reading of the passage, I couldn’t help but wonder if today we need to be reading the passage something like this: As Jesus started on his way, a pastor ran up to him and […]

Filed Under: Ecclesiology Tagged With: church, elca, rich young ruler

Transforming Churches into Mission Centers: Rethinking Ordination

Last Updated August 19, 2009 by Matt 3 Comments

I’m at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly as a voting member, and there has been some very encouraging discussion on the requirement for the church to become a missional church. Those of us in emergent/missional conversations know this to already be true, but making this a strong emphasis across a mainline national church body is a […]

Filed Under: Ecclesiology Tagged With: #CWA09, Churchwide Assembly, elca

Adventures in Ecclesiology: ELCA Churchwide Assembly

Last Updated August 12, 2009 by Matt 3 Comments

Some of you may or may not know this, but I am a voting member in next week’s ELCA Churchwide Assembly. Because of that, I received about 500 pages worth of the Pre-Assembly Report in the mail a few weeks ago. It’s filled with reports from churchwide officers and offices, recommendations for action, information about […]

Filed Under: Ecclesiology Tagged With: #CWA09, Churchwide Assembly, elca

From Eternity to Here Blog Tour

Last Updated June 9, 2009 by Matt Leave a Comment

Frank Viola is promoting his latest book, From Eternity to Here: Rediscovering the Ageless Purpose of God, on a multitude of blogs today. I have chosen to review the book, but others are featuring guest posts or posting an interview with Frank. To see a full list, scroll to the bottom of this post. Frank […]

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Ecclesiology Tagged With: frank viola

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Best Youth Ministry Books

These are the books that will completely change the way you think about youth ministry, for the better. Links are to my reviews of each book.

Teen 2.0 by Robert Epstein

A psychologist makes you question every assumption you have about adolescence.

Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry by Andrew Root

Why build relationships? Root’s answer will surprise you.

Best Youth Ministry Books: Youth Ministry 3.0 by Mark Ostreicher

Yesterday I finally read Youth Ministry 3.0 by Mark Ostreicher, and since I’m one of the latecomers to the conversation I won’t summarize the book too much. Marko has linked to tons of reviews on his blog if you are interested in more in-depth summaries. If you are fairly in-tune with a lot of the […]

Best Youth Ministry Books: Postmodern Youth Ministry

Postmodern Youth Ministry by Tony Jones is the book I would recommend to youth ministers if they could just read one youth ministry book. I first read the book in my Foundations and Practices of Youth Ministry class at John Brown University. After the preface to the book there is a page titled, “The Day […]

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