Recently I heard a local pastor say something along the lines of, “We need to focus more on building on-ramps to the kingdom and less on parking lots for the church.” Many would agree that the church universal spends way too much time focusing on its own needs – building campaigns,...

I recently heard a pastor say that the most important question a church can ask itself is, “What would it look like if God’s kingdom were to become fully manifest in our neighborhood, our city, our nation and our world?” I would add that the second most important question a church can...

It’s “Hatmaker” week.  When I realized that Jen Hatmaker, author of ” “7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess” is the wife of Brandon Hatmaker, founder of Austin New Church and author of “Barefoot Church”, I downloaded Barefoot Church and found I love his thoughts as...

In 2009 I wrote a post titled, “Empowering a Movement – A Search for Missional Structures”, about the oldest and in my opinion best expression of a truly misisonal church.  In the original post I shared insights from the writings of Elizabeth O’Connor, who was a long-time leader at...

Alan Roxburgh in his blog titled “Join the Wild Goose Chase” gives some wonderful insights into missional leadership formation.  He critiques several methods but the one I think most speaks to our current approach is this one “Throw them in the Deep End and see who survives: ...

Do you believe that you can take a radically diverse group of people and in all that diversity find unity while still respecting differences? When I wrote the vision of Embrace Richmond in 2005, I never dreamed it would be so difficult to live out.  Our vision is “a city united to...

In my experience ministry is messy.  Can it really be simple, straight-forward and focused?  Our leadership team has been going through a strategic planning process and one of our leaders suggested we read the book “Simple Church” by Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger.  The just of the book...

What is the future of the church?  Denominations?  Christian leadership?  How is technology and cultural shifts impacting the church and shaping its future?  These and many other questions are being asked and answered through the Emerging Church conversation. The Emergent conversation is...

This past week we concluded a three week training session at a local church.  This particular church is very active in urban missions.  They provide shelter through CARITAS, participate in feeding programs, the members sit on a number of non-profit boards, they assist with housing rehab for...

Every chance I get, I retreat to our small cabin in the woods perched atop a steep ridge overlooking Fish Pond Creek near Prospect, Virginia.  Last week the snow and ice on top the ridge was nearly gone but the snow along the creek bed remained.  As I walked along the creek, I saw clear...

The headlines in the Richmond Times Dispatch today reads: Two males were found shot today near the Hillside Court public-housing complex in South Richmond. Authorities were investigating to see if the shootings were related. Richmond police said one male was found shot in the abdomen about...

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