Andy Rowell

Church Leadership Conversations

  • Ben Witherington on Rob Bell

    If you are a Rob Bell fan, this is must reading.

    Update February 26, 2007

    Witherington has now reviewed all of Bell’s videos.  He thoroughly appreciates all of them.  He questions a couple of his Jewish rabbi comments but still thinks they are outstanding. 

    Rob Bell’s Nooma Videos 11-15

    Rob Bell’s Nooma Videos 6-10

    Rob Bell’s Nooma Videos 1-5

     

    Update February 18, 2007

    Ben Witherington has written a more comprehensive and gracious appreciation and critique of Rob Bell at "Velvet Elvis and the King"– Has he Left the Building?   Read it.  He encourages Bell to consult the standard commentaries and to ignore some fringe scholars who would liken Jesus to a third century AD Jewish Rabbi.   

    Original Post:Witherington

    Ben Witherington has posted his assessment of Rob Bell’s presentation last night in Lexington: Rob Bell hits Lexington and a Packed-Out House.  Ben is a professor of New Testament at Asbury Seminary and a prolific commentary writer.  Rob is the most downloaded preacher on the internet (perhaps behind Joel Osteen) and pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, MI.Rob_bell   (See ITunes "Religion and Spirituality" category – Bell’s ITunes podcast link is here).

    Witherington praises Bell’s style but critiques his substance saying that Bell doesn’t know the difference between 3rd century AD Rabbinic judaism and Jesus’ context and he critiques Bell for waffling on homosexuality.  I guarantee that this post will be the hottest one in the Christian blogosphere today and this week. 

    I commented saying that I don’t know how Bell puts together his creative, brilliant presentations each week.  With his influence, he should speak a little less and research a bit more.  (By the way I love listening to Bell).  I also say that perhaps Bell was addressing pastoral responses rather than actually stating his doctrinal position.  Brian McLaren took some heat for this a while back on the Out of Ur Leadership journal blog.          

    I also mentioned that Bell was the most downloaded preacher on the internet.  Those statistics change regularly though.  See the iTunes Religion & Spirituality podcast page for the latest rankings.  Like other iTunes store links, that link will only work if you have iTunes (which is free to download and install on your computer) installed on your computer.

  • The Best Blogs for Church Leaders to Read

    Update March 2008:

    See my new List of 81 Church Leadership Blogs I am watching.

    Original Post:

    These are the very best 70 blogs for Church Leaders. 

    Ok, ok, who can really say what the best ones are considering the vast internet and the huge spectrum of churches?  But this is a good place for start if you are interested in innovative, emerging, megachurch, American churches like I am.  (See also Kevin Hendrick’s list of The Top 20 Web Sites for Church Communicators)

    The blogs that made my list have met at least 5 of the 6 criteria below.   

    1. They help me improve my church leadership. 

    2. They write thoughtfully.  Emotion and rants are great but they should take into account the different sides of an issue.  You shouldn’t be mean-angry unless serious injustice is taking place.    

    3. They keep their writing about personal things to 20% or less.  I don’t want to read about what they had for breakfast or see their vacation photos.  But personal reflection on the material is great!

    4. Often they are proven writers with published books. 

    5. These blogs have not been eliminated from my blogroll for some other reason.  Admittedly, I often just skim post titles of these blogs and don’t read all that they write.

    6. The design of the blog is sufficiently attractive. 

    This is my "blogroll" i.e. the blogs I skim.  See my post about Newsgator entitled "How I Keep Up Reading Blogs." 

    Feel free to suggest your own blog in the comments or others you would recommend. 

    Two other similar posts by me are: The Best Podcasts for Church Leaders (and how to use ITunes) and The Best Free Audio on the Web for Church Leaders.   

    The very best blogs for church leaders:

    Alan Hirsch – The Forgotten Ways – Hirsch has written the important books The Shaping of Things to Come and the new The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church

    Alan Nelson, Stan Toler, et al. – Rev! Unplugged – Rev. is the magazine by Group Publishing for pastors

    Alex McManus – into the mystic – brother of Erwin and was active at Mosaic until recently

    Andrew Jones – TallSkinnyKiwi – well known emerging church blogger from outside the USA.

    B.J. Woodworth – what’s your wood worth? – missional pastor in Pittsburgh

    Ben Witherington – Great New Testament scholar at Asbury Seminary

    Bob Roberts, Jr. – the Glocal Trekker Blog – wrote new book Glocalization and pastors in Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas area

    Brian Bailey – Leave It Behind & Blogging Church – has the new book Blogging Church

    Brian McLaren – well known emerging church leader and writer

    Byron K. Borger – Hearts & Minds BookNotes – great book reviews from great bookstore owner between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh

    C. Wes Daniels – gathering in light – Fuller Ph.D. student under emerging church author Ryan Bolger

    CatalystSpace – Catalyst conference blog

    Chris Scharen – faithasawayoflife – works with Miroslav Volf at Yale Center for Faith and Culture; Emory Ph.D.

    Christianity Today Magazine – great resources here.  I love Weblog highlights. 

    Craig Groeschel and Bobby Gruenewald – LifeChurch.tv : swerve – "the most innovative church in the nation" (Later note: August 1, 2007: These rankings about "most innovative" by Church Report are probably not from a reputable source.  See article about founder). 

    Dan Kimball – Vintage Faith – author of Emerging Church and a new book on getting out of the office as a pastor They Like Jesus But Not the Church

    Dave Ferguson – Velocity – pastor in Naperville, IL pioneering the multi-site thing with pastors preparing sermons together.  Has a new book The Big Idea.

    David Fitch – the great giveaway – Has critical look at American church book  The Great Giveaway – teaches at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL and pastors

    Doug Pagitt – the pagittBlog – pastor of Solomon’s Porch in Minneapolis area and wrote Preaching Reimagined and other books

    Douglas LeBlanc, et al. – GetReligion – variety of Christian journalists put stuff here

    Dwight Friesen

    Earl Creps – just wrote Off-Road Disciplines which I reviewed in the previous post.

    Ed Young resources – CreativePastors – pastor of huge church(es) in Texas – Fellowship Church

    Emergent Village – they have a blog – the main organization for the emerging church movement in the US

    emergingchurch.info

    Eric Swanson – author of The Externally Focused Church

    Gavin Richardson – Hit the Back Button to Move Fwd

    Gifted for Leadership – great new women’s blog from Christianity Today – highly recommended

    Gordon Atkinson – Real Live Preacher – rlp’s blog – famous blog – has a book Reallivepreacher.com

    Greg Surratt – Personal – wrote The Multi-Site Church Revolution

    Greg Surratt – Seacoast Church Blog – wrote The Multi-Site Church Revolution

    Holly Rankin Zaher – happydaydeadfish – emerging church leader – personal blog mostly

    Jamie Arpin-Ricci – (e)mergent Voyageurs – canadian avid blogger and emerging church leader

    Jason Powell – Church IT and other musings – runs technology at one of the most innovative churches in the nation at Granger Community Church and is Taylor University grad

    Jim Plueddemann – The Missionary Iconoclast – teaches missions at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

    John Mark Rutter – Theological Ruminator – blogger pastor friend from Texas

    John Stackhouse – Professor of Theology at Regent College and wrote Humble Apologetics and other books

    J.R. Briggs – brokenstainedglass – graduated in 2001 from Taylor University and is a pastor in Souderton, PA at Calvary Church and has written a couple of books including When God Says Jump

    Kem Meyer on Less Clutter & Noise – marketing expert at Granger Community Church.  One of my favorite bloggers.

    Kent Shaffer – churchrelevance.com – some interesting stuff here on marketing and the church.

    Kevin D. Hendricks, et al. – Church Marketing Sucks – great blog about how to improve marketing in churches

    Leadership journal and resources for church leaders – great journal from Christianity Today folks. 

    Leadership Network Leanings – Leadership Network is a great organization interested in megachurches and leadership.

    Leonard Sweet – Napkin Scribbles – prolific author – most recently 2007 The Gospel According to Starbucks

    LeRon Shults, James K.A. Smith, John Franke, Klyne Snodgrass, Roger Olson, et al. – Generous Orthodoxy ThinkTank – variety of people write academic stuff here

    Marc Heinrich – purgatorio – great humor and satire here

    Mark Batterson – Thoughts on Life and Leadership – energetic pastor from Washington, D.C. – has a new book In a Pit with Lion on a Snowy Day

    Mark Driscoll, Ed Stetzer, Anthony Bradley, et al. – TheResurgence – these are Conservative Reformed, Southern Baptist and PCA.  So if you are in that camp, good voices.

    Mark D. Roberts Blog – Theology Ph.D. trained pastor

    Mark Galli – GalliBlog – editor of Christianity Today

    Mark Waltz | …because People Matter – pastor of welcome at Granger Community Church and author of First Impressions

    Michael Bird & Joel Willitts – Euangelion – two young New Testament scholars keep us up to date on the latest in NT scholarship

    nextwave News

    Out of Ur – the central hub for church leadership info is Leadership journal and this blog

    Perry Noble dot com

    Pete Rollins – author of book sensation How (Not) To Speak of God

    Richard Mouw – Mouw’s Musings – The President’s Blog – president of Fuller Seminary and prolific author including He Shines in All That’s Fair

    Ron Martoia – velocityculture – wrote books including Morph: The Texture of Leadership for Tomorrow’s Church

    Ryan Bolger – TheBolgBlog – author of Emerging Churches and Fuller Seminary professor

    Scot McKnight – Jesus Creed North Park New Testament professor and best blogger ever.  Wrote Jesus Creed and many more books. 

    Scott Collins-Jones – SCJToday – Philadelphia presbyterian pastor and Princeton Ph.D. student in theology

    Steve Taylor – e~mergent kiwi – wrote Out of Bounds Church

    Susan – The Philosophical Pastor

    The CBE Scroll – pro-women in ministry blog

    Think Christian – variety of people post here

    Tim Conder – Wonderings & Wanderings – author of Church in Transition; doesn’t look like he has blogged since September

    Tim Stevens – LeadingSmart – pastor of administration at Granger Community Church and author of Simply Strategic Stuff et al.

    Todd Rhoades – Monday Morning Insight – lots of Christian news

    Tony Jones – Theoblogy – emergent village coordinator and author of many books including The Sacred Way

    Tony Morgan | one of the simply strategic guys – former pastor at Granger Community Church now a pastor in South Carolina

    Business people worth reading if you are a church leader:

    John Moore – Brand Autopsy

    Chip & Dan Heath – author of Made to Stick

    Fast Company Now – business magazine

    Harvard Business School Working Knowledge – some good stuff here from secular leadership headquarters of the US

    Kevin Carroll – Katalyst Blog – interviewed on Catalyst Conference podcast; used to work for Nike; inspirational speaker and author of Rules of Red Rubber Ball

    Seth Godin – Blog – has written many books including All Marketers are Liars

    Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner – Freakonomics Blog – thoughtful economic insight from book authors

    Tim Sanders – Sanders Says – leadership expert and author of books including The Likeability Factor.  Was interviewed on Catalyst Conference podcast. 

    Tom Peters Weblog – business leadership expert and author of many books including Reimagine!: Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age

    Taylor University Friends:

    Andrew Ulasich – digging for mummies – senior

    David Landt – The Way of Jesus – graduated in 1997 and is pastor in Minnesota

    Jim Garringer Photography – Taylor’s photographer

    Ken Castor – jesusfollower – graduated in 1994? and is pastor in Calgary

    Gary Friesen – Becoming a Millennial: 53-yr-old takes the dive – oversees technology at Taylor

    Gary Thomas – art professor at Taylor

    Other friends of mine:

    Kirk Bartha – from theocity to lovelocity – went to Regent College with him and he is pray-er, prophet, preacher in Canada.

    Steve Gisel – Asi Es La Vida… – Cousin working for the Peace Corps in Columbia

  • Book Review: Off-Road Disciplines by Earl Creps

    Offroad_disciplines_2 Today I received my copy of the Winter 2007 issue of Leadership Journal entitled "Going Missional."  My abbreviated book review of Earl Creps‘s book Off-Road Disciplines appears on page 76.  I have posted the full 1000 word review below.  Earl has a website.

    Earl Creps. Off-Road Disciplines: Spiritual Adventures of Missional Leaders. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2006. 240 pp. $23.95 (cloth), ISBN: 0787985201. 

    Reviewed by Andy Rowell, Christian Educational Ministries and Biblical Studies, Taylor University

    Over the last few years, Earl Creps, director of doctoral studies at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, has interviewed hundreds of young innovative church leaders.  In his first book, Off-Road Disciplines, Creps takes the very best of their insights, adds his own wise reflection, and describes twelve ways pastors can keep their ministries relevant and healthy.  Pastors will greatly benefit from this book for three reasons. 

    First, Creps tackles relevant and important issues.  For example, he brings up how to cope with feelings of failure when your church doesn’t grow as fast as you had hoped (ch. 1), how to assess how your church is doing (ch. 7), and how to resolve issues of young vs. old in the church (ch. 8, 11-12).   

    The second strength of this book is that Creps looks at the issues with a balanced perspective.  Often books on church ministry are written by practitioners who inform us what worked at their church.  We immediately think of twenty reasons why it couldn’t work in our church.  Creps makes conclusions after consulting a variety of perspectives.   

    Third, pastors will appreciate this book because the writing is so accessible.  Creps is a pastor’s pastor.  He graciously dispenses empathy, stories and appropriate challenge.

    Below I have given a short description of each chapter with a few lines that struck me as particularly insightful and convicting. 

    In the first chapter, “Death: The Discipline of Personal Transformation” Creps tells the story of bringing his “ministry paradigm of tidy principles” (8) to a small church in Maine and fully expecting attendance to boom.  He had been taught that the paradigm worked except in cases “of poor execution or weakness in leadership” (9).  “But our Mainers seemed to have missed a meeting somewhere” (9).  Creps calls this experience a “small crucifixion” (4). 

    Then Creps describes the different ways pastors are responding to the coming “post-Christian generation” in his chapter “Truth: The Discipline of Sacred Realism.”  In chapter 3 “Perspective: The Discipline of POV” (point of view), he helpfully outlines a ten-tier scale to depict the varying degrees of how people are affected by postmodernism (36).

    In chapter 4 “Learning: The Discipline of Reverse Mentoring” Creps describes the rich educational experience of humbly asking young people questions about things he “doesn’t get.”  He gives this advice: “don’t limit yourself to one person or format” and “check your attitude at the door. . . Remember, you are being crucified, not just educated” (49).

    Creps urges pastors to develop relationships with non-Christians, whom he calls “the sought,” in chapter 5 “Witness: The Discipline of Spiritual Friendship.”  He reflects on the positive changes in his preaching style after he began to compose his sermons in a coffee shop where he built friendships with the non-Christians owners.  “The length of my talks dropped by a third, concepts and vocabulary grew simpler, and text on PowerPoint slides gave way to images or nothing at all” (69).               

    Chapter 6 “Humility: The Discipline of Decreasing” invites pastors to wake up to our tendencies to: fake humility with a little self-deprecating humor (74), deliver infomercial monologues about ourselves (76), and bluff that we have read books we haven’t (78). 

    Next, Creps reflects on “Assessment: The Discipline of Missional Efficiency.”  He urges leaders to evaluate things that deserve it, “not just the things that are easiest to count” such as bodies, bucks and buildings.  He briefly describes today’s Traditional, Contemporary and Experimental churches in chapter 8 “Harmony: The Discipline of Blending Differences.”  He sets forth a basic model for theological reflection in chapter 9 “Reflection: The Discipline of Discernment.” 

    In chapter 10 “Opportunity: The Discipline of Making Room”, Creps describes how to create evangelism-friendly opportunities where the Spirit might move.  He critiques programs that imitate large successful churches but also criticizes those who would dismiss all forms of intentionality (143).  As a Pentecostal, Creps has done extensive thinking about the role of the Holy Spirit.  That pays dividends in his insightful description of the Spirit’s role in ministry.  The Spirit is not some “depersonalized vague form of divine background radiation” nor the “battery used to power big-personality leaders” (152).  Rather, the Spirit “fills individuals to make the mission of Christ a reality” and “reveals Christ to the sought” (153).

    Chapter 11 “Sacrifice: Surrendering Preferences” is the only chapter in the book that seems particularly directed to younger pastors.  Creps shares his pain of being discriminated against by younger people (158).  He explains that young pastors may need to sacrificially give up some of their preferences, as Timothy agreed to be circumcised, for the sake of broader mission.  Chapter 12 depicts the role of the older pastor in this process.  It is entitled, “Legacy: The Discipline of Passing the Baton.”  Here Creps casts the vision for loving younger leaders and having enough faith in them to share power with them. 

    You will enjoy reading this book more if I give you one piece of advice.  Don’t pay much attention to “disciplines” in the book’s title.  Though titled Off-Road Disciplines, the book has nothing to do with spiritual disciplines.  Don’t read this book if you are looking for insight into Christian practices, discipleship or spiritual formation.  The chapters make sense independently without that overarching structure. 

    If you are a pastor from the Baby Boom generation, this book is primarily written with you in mind.  If you read this book, you will better understand the convictions driving younger pastors and will come away a more gracious, thoughtful pastor.  All church leaders will benefit from the wise and gracious coaching of Earl Creps.