on the walk

Grandview Christian Church in Johnson City, TN is a church that I love very much (and where I served for ten years).  They have just launched a very cool third service.  It meets in the fellowship hall around tables.  It is called The Table.  It is a highly communal Eucharist centered service.  It excites me in many ways.  It is a creative idea,; it is liturgically sound; it represents the reality that the church is making room for more people to find a spiritual home, etc.  I can’t wait till I get to visit TN again and worship at the table.

 I would love for many of my readers to visit the blog of Grandview’s Senior Minister Aaron Wymer.  Look at his pictures and offer a word of encouragement (ie. actually leave a comment).  This is a church that has a kingdom impact that is disproportionate to its size because of its association with Milligan College and Emmanuel School of Religion.  It is fitting for us to be in prayer and praise for this cool new ministry.

on the walk

-Ethan

Ps. If you want to see some of the hilarious promotion they did for this new service, you can check out these older posts.

Promotion 1

Promotion 2

Promotion 3

One of the consistent reminders of the summit was the outrageous truth that God has chosen to work through the church to accomplish God’s purposes in the world.  In fact one of the highlights for me was a great video piece that explored the the paradox we face when we realize that God’s response to the suffering and evil of the world it to call out a people who will be a conduit of grace and mercy.

Lot’s of people reminded us that we were God’s plan for the world.  At least one of them went on to use some variation on one of my favorite lines, “the church is is plan A and there is no plan B.”

But nobody had as cool a way to remind us of this truth than Efrem Smith.  Continue Reading »

Efrem Smith was fantastic. Nothing I will write will do anything to capture the power of his presentation. I won’t even try.

He spoke powerfully about the need to do two contrasting things all at the same time. He called us all to think multi-culturally, and he called us to recognize micro cultures. I was excited by his talk because it resonated with a lot of issues that have been floating around my conversations lately.

To think multi culturally, is to recognize Continue Reading »

The Internet Monk has been having a fascinating conversation about membership over on his fantastic blog. His latest interview is my favorite so far. I’m no Baptist, but this discussion address issues that are relevant for any tradition that values the local church, baptism, church membership and church discipline. If those issues interest you, then be sure to check out this post.

Dr. Nathan Finn on Church Membership

on the walk

-Ethan

If you are a Star Trek fan (or simply a culturally aware person) then you know all about tribbles and you know all about the Borg. I don’t think this post has much to do with either one but I plan to mention both at different points so pay attention. I will be starting with the Borg.

The Borg have a simple strategy for growth. Assimilate everything. Continue Reading »

I have spent a lot of my life setting and resetting my timetable. Plans were made with dates attached, “By 22 I will have done….” “By thirty I will be….” When a milestone passed and the goal wasn’t there I will toy with depression and then set a new date.

As I have analyzed this behavior I have know for some time that it was not serving me well. In the first place, Continue Reading »

Here is a thoughtful reflection on Rick Warren’s rising influence as a person of political influence.

I have some thoughts I will share here later, but I’ll give anyone who is listening a chance to reflect first.

-Ethan

On September 5th and 6th I am teaching on the book of Jeremiah.  I couldn’t be more excited.  This will be a real stretch for me.  These Conference style teaching formats involve 10-12 hours of teaching over two days.  That means that I have a lot to prep.  But the last weekend was such a huge success that I am glad to take on the next one.

If you can be there please come and bring several friends.

You can find lots of more information about the event here.

on the walk

-Ethan

This will be my last post inspired by Gary Haugen’s session. It deserves more but I also want to move on through the summit.

Gary connected his call to share the interests of Jesus with the admonition to lead in areas that are hopeless, dangerous, and hard by invoking the following great quote, “Jesus did not come to make you safe, he came to make you brave.” Continue Reading »

Gary Haugen (CEO of IJM) had so much good stuff to say that I have a couple more posts in response to his session.
After calling us to consider the values and interests of Jesus, he began to focus on leadership.

One of the quotes that made it into my notes was, “Leadership precisely matters when the task is hopeless, scary and hard.” I have continued to reflect on that text. I confess that too often I want to lead in situations that are hopeful, safe, and easy. But Gary is right, that my leadership doesn’t matter then. Continue Reading »