Dave Travis Now

Worship, Witness and Getting with it until the LORD returns

While others were planning on getting caught up this weekend, I spent the weekend catching up on the news after a long week in Dallas.

A few stories to share:

First from Chicago where Pastor Charles Jenkins of Fellowship Missionary Baptist led the prayer of dedication at the inaugural of the new mayor of Chicago. You know how most folk make this a boring occasion? Charles does not. See it here:

 

Charles Jenkins bringin down the house!

Charles and Fellowship are in our Rapid Growth Group and Generosity Lab.

And down in Louisville I saw that Sojourn Church had released this video about a new CD.

A special new worship CD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv4BBvVZROk&feature=player_embedded

I love how they tie the music back to a new hymnody that was centuries ago. (Hat tip: Resurgence blog)

Daniel Montgomery, lead pastor, is an alumni of our Next Gen program and the church has also been in a few labs.

A story that caught my eye and has the flavor of our Missional Renaissance program comes from Memphis. This news story describes the program of Christians being trained to teach in the hardest schools of Memphis. It is somewhat a “Teach for America” just for Memphis.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/may/21/shared-mission/

Not sure how long that link will last but love the idea.

And to answer the question from last week. #staffinfection online conference had about 6000 participants. From all over the world.

We trended on twitter in the US….Bogota…..and Mumbai. Go figure. It was fun.

Biggest question from some? How do I get asked to speak at one of these things? Answer: we tend to work with our alumni of our programs.

And finally, I leave today to spend about 18 hours with Cedarcreek Church’s staff up near Toledo. They are alumni of several of our Leadership Communities.

I love this story from the local news station up there about their new campus in South Toledo:

“A Big Boost for the neighborhood”

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvg/video?id=8136492

I love how the neighboring businesses are welcoming and excited to have Cedarcreek in their shopping complex.

Elsewhere I have seen businesses complain (usually to try and keep a church out) but Cedarcreek has really proven to be a good neighbor and you would think the businesses in some strip centers that are suffering would welcome the influx of people.

Watch the story and comment and feel free to comment on any of the above. I would love to hear your stories and impressions

And find out more about our primo programs for church leaders here on this page: http://leadnet.org/programs/

Some Shout Outs to Friends

I was down at Exponential the other week and ran onto lots of friends. They were telling me about some of their current programs and training for leaders. Additionally they shared some books and other resources they wanted me to share or that I had found good reading.

I can’t mention all of them but here are a few.

• A lot of you will know the names Hugh Halter and Matt Smay from our Leadership Network book “A Tangible Kingdom” (affiliate link to buy here). They also do some great training around the country and have some really neat workbooks as companions to their materials. Check it out here: http://missio.us/
• I ran onto Mike Breen (and his wife Sally and daughter Libby) and Steve Cockram amongst the crowd. They do some great work in Missional Communities. While at their booth they showed me their new “Launching Missional Communities” field guide and introduced me to Alex Absalom, a compatriot that helped write that materials. Their ministry 3dm has a special event coming next month that is FREE in sunny South Carolina. You can find more details here: http://www.weare3dm.com/
• Speaking of all things missional, I got a copy of the Missional Manifesto (you can too if you go to http://www.missionalmanifesto.net ) I know the authors and they are good friends. I don’t sign on to manifestos and statements but I think it is a fine document worthy of consideration. And I do appreciate some serious thought put into short definitions of key buzz words, which I think this tries to do.
• Speaking of resources I see Lifeway has created an updated Church Planting Assessment tool here - http://churchplanter.lifeway.com/. As someone trained in the dark ages of these tools I value the updates and refinements brought on by research.
• I read two books from the UK which I think you can get the Amazon UK. Diamond Geezers is from my friend Anthony Delaney. Anthony is a pastor in Manchester, England and the book is primarily for men to build a well built life legacy. I also was able to read Breakout: One Church’s Amazing Story of Growth Through Mission Shaped Communities by Mark Stibbe and Andrew Williams. Their book describes their journey and its fits and starts of remaking an older church into a new model. For those in older churches, I think it is well worth your time.
• Finally, I did get to sit into a brief meeting with the Future Travelers team of Alan Hirsch, Ed Bahler and Bill Cochenour. I think their statistics are way off but I love all three men. I think their program is appropriate for some churches wanting to move towards a missional program model.

I know I saw many others of you down in Orlando and forgive my frail memory if I promised you a mention. Feel free to accost me in the comments and mention your own deal there!