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Churches Struggle to Meld Cultures in an Era of Diversity

Ethnic Blends

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In Monday's edition of The Washington Post, the journey of one church moving away from homogeneity in pursuit of the multi-ethnic vision was featured in an article entitled Churches Struggle to Meld Cultures in an Era of Diversity. With quotes from Zondervan author Mark DeYmaz, as well as sociologists Korie Edwards and Michael Emerson, the article is yet another confirming current and future trends in this direction.

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Hide-and-Seek in Small Group Catalog: Get Free eBook

Our friend Gertie Groundhog has hidden somewhere in our digital Small Group Catalog.

If you find Gertie and click on her, she’ll give you a free eBook download!

(From which book? It’s a surprise, and we think you’ll like it.)

We like Gertie. She’s not anything like her cousin Phil, who just yesterday declared six more weeks of winter.

We’re coming to find you, Gertie – thanks for the download!

Go find Gertie now

(Oh, one more thing—Gertie likes to make new friends, so share the url http://bit.ly/cuPBsl so your friends can get a free download, too.)

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Rob Bell on How Media is Changing Ministry

Read the Spirit has an interview up right now with Rob Bell. In the interview they discuss how media is changing the power of preaching. How it can effect instantly a vast number of people that in the past has taken huge coordinated efforts to accomplish:

Now, we're able to hook up with them in such a way that people can give money directly from their telephones. If people in the audience text particular words to a particular number, then they’re giving $10 each to Charity: Water through their phone bill.

In public talks, people usually say: Turn off your phones. But, in this case, I say: Right now, I want you to get your phones out.

A whole roomful of people texting this way can instantly transfer the funds to drill a well—on the spot! That moment we're together here, making that decision and taking that simple action, can change the lives of people living in a village halfway around the world from the power of something you’ve decided to do in the palm of your hand—while seated in a room with me way over here.

Just like that—lives are transformed. That’s a whole new territory!

-Rob Bell

Rob is currently on his Drops Like Stars Tour with stops this February along the west coast.

How else can the Christian community use New Media to connect, reach out, and change lives?

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Local Church “Cans” Traditional Decorations to Give Back

Often this time of year in movies, tv shows, and music we hear about “Saving Christmas.” This phrase is surrounded by stories of presents and good cheer, reindeer, and replacing Santa. Does this year stand out as a year that Christmas really does need to be saved?

The congregation at Redeemer Covenant Church in Dutton, Michigan is trying to do just that. Save Christmas for 50+ families in their community. Pastor Jack Brown says that the idea came from a suggestion from a member and immediately took off as a way to truly represent the message of Christmas.

Redeemer has begun to receive some real attention for their efforts in “canning” their normal Christmas decorations. By benefiting their already flourishing food pantry Redeemer really is bringing joy to families that might not have reason to celebrate this year.

So we want to know, are you, or your Church, doing something extraordinary this year?

***
Redeemer Covenant Church is located at 6320 Hanna Lake Ave in Dutton, Mi. With a focus on reaching out to their community, Redeemer has a community garden, houses the community food pantry, and serves monthly with local organizations.

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CNN Reports on the Virtual Church

In the last week CNN has given some attention to the "Virtual Church." In an article about the "Virtual Church," and an interview with Craig Groeschel, the pastor of LifeChurch.tv, CNN brings to light some of issues surrounding one of the newer, and more controversial trends in Christianity. Interviewing a member of LifeChurch.tv, Hjalti á Lava, says:

"It allows me to connect with others and have conversations about the message. Technology allows us today to have fellowship across borders and cultures."

Recently Christianity Today had a blog post discussing this issue by Bob Hyatt, who is pastor of the Evergreen Community in Portland, Oregon, and a regular contributor to Out of Ur, (Part 1 | Part 2).

"The problem, in my mind, with virtual community and internet campuses isn’t that it’s not church… it’s that it is just church enough to be dangerous. Because it has all the easiest and most instantly gratifying parts of community without the harder parts, it ends up misshaping us."

Douglas Estes, author of SimChurch is also mentioned in the CNN article. For people that are passionate about the church and evangelism, and feel both excitement and concern over the new virtual world the internet is creating, SimChurch explores much of this debate and covers some of the vital issues that postmillennial followers of Jesus must grapple with.

***

About the Author
Douglas Estes is Adjunct Professor of New Testament at Western Seminary-San José and Lead Pastor at Berryessa Valley Church, San José, California. He received his PhD in Theology from the University of Nottingham, UK.

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Your Guide to Multi-Site Churches En Route to a Store Near You; Special Offer for Ministry Leaders

More about A Multi-Site Church RoadtripWe are thrilled to announce the release of our latest book on the multi-site church movement, A Multi-site Church Road Trip. According to the great team at Zondervan, copies began shipping from their warehouse on Friday, September 4. So pick up yours at a local Christian bookstore or place an order today.

The book is packed with the stories of leaders and churches who are taking the multi-site model to innovative new places – from lower income neighborhoods to the internet and literally around the world through locations in India and many countries across the continent of Africa. Warren, Geoff and I take you behind the scenes to our road trip conversations with 15 plus senior pastors who are leading the new models.

In addition to new locations, you will discover what is new in terms of technology, structure, mergers and leadership development. And be sure to check out what is certain to be a hot topic chapter, “Are You Sure This Isn’t A Sin?”

We would love to have us help spread the word. We have developed a free online resource, "Multi-site Church Toolkit: Launch Analysis", that we will send to anyone who completes one of the following.

  • Buys a copy of the book
  • Posts this tweet – “Get a copy of Multi-site Church Road Trip Now at http://bit.ly/2KZlzO”
  • Posts a comment on this blog or creates a post on your own blog.
  • Posts a review on a retailer website, such as Amazon.com

Once you have completed one of the items above, send an email to multisiteroadtrip@zondervan.com indicating where you purchased the book or made your post and we will send you the free resource.

You can also get 50% off of A Multi-Site Church Roadtrip, The Multi-Site Church Revolution and the other books in the Leadership Network Innovation Series for 50% off through the end of September by using this code (810053) when you shop on Zondervan.com/ministry. Visit http://www.zondervan.com/lnis for more info.

Hope that you have as much fun “exploring the new normal” on this road trip as we have!

Greg Ligon
Twitter: @gregligon
email: greg.ligon@leadnet.org

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Does Your Church Have Multiple Sites? Tell Us Your Story. You Could Get a Free Book.

More about A Multi-Site Church RoadtripIn the opening session of the Leadership Summit at Willow Creek on Thursday of last week, Bill Hybels spoke about Leading in the New Reality. He was talking about how the rogue waves of the economic downturn have changed the game for leading the church. In a similar vein, multi-site ministry has become a new reality, or as the authors of the upcoming book, A Multi-site Church Roadtrip, say multi-site churches are becoming the new normal.

In an effort to adapt to the changing reality of economics, space, and atmosphere, multi-site ministry is becoming more and more prevalent. The authors share inside the book that

  • On a typical Sunday in 2009, some 5 million people attend a multi-site church in the US and Canada.
  • Leaders at some 45,000 churches are “seriously considering adding a worship service at one or more new locations or campuses in the next 2 years.”
  • 37% of megachurches reported being multi-site in 2008, up dramatically from 27% in 2005.

So multi-site is truly becoming the new normal. Authors Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon, and Warren Bird takes readers on a guided tour of issues that arrive when doing multisite ministry and to 14 different multi-site churches and their lessons learned in A Multi-site Church Roadtrip. They also have a good deal of fun as they visit these churches. In keeping with that sense of fun, Zondervan is sponsoring a roadtrip contest. Here's how it works:

  1. Write how your church creatively uses multiple venues in 100 words or less AND/OR send a photograph of a humorous road sign. Feel free to also include an iTunes imix with your favorite 10 roadtrip songs.
  2. Email your definition/photo to Zondervan at: LNIS@zondervan.com. 
  3. Include your name and mailing address.
  4. The best entries will be posted on the Zondervan blog and the Multi-site Church Revolution blog and 50 select winners will receive a free advance copy of A Multi-site Church Roadtrip. Entries must be submitted by September 10th to qualify.

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Kary Oberbrunner to Team Up with Gabe Lyons for Church Seminar

More information about Kary OberbrunnerZondervan author Kary Oberbrunner (The Fine Line) will be teaming up with bestselling author Gabe Lyons (UnChristian) this July in order to teach a three day seminar called The Changing Face of the Church.

The seminar will be part of the Equip 09 conference in Columbus, Ohio. Other Zondervan authors speaking at Equip 09 includes Gary McIntosh (Evaluating the Church Growth Movement) and Neil Anderson (Christ-Centered Therapy).

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New Web-Based Training Site for Ministry Leaders

Zondervan has partnered with a new web-based video teaching/training site called Innovative Ministry Leader. Innovative Ministry Leader provides churches and leaders convenient access to information and insights that will enable you to effectively communicate the message of Christ in today’s culture.

Innovative Ministry Leader is the world’s first complete web-based training center for today’s leaders. It allows EVERYONE from your team (one person or one million) teaching and insight from innovative leaders from around the world.


Register today!


IML has video teaching in the areas of leadership, worship, marketing, culture, and technology.

Every month IML features new web-based videos that range in length from 20 to 60 minutes. There are areas for people to engage in chat rooms as they watch the teaching and even has a “buddy list” of sorts so you can connect with leaders with similar interests.

All videos are archived as well, so you can access them at anytime!

Anne Jackson, author of Mad Church Disease will launch things on June 9th and others will follow including Jeff Deyo, Troy Gramling, Sheri Gould, Greg Stielstra, Dino Rizzo (Servolution), Paul Jackson, Tommy Kyllonen (Un.orthodox), Mark Batterson, Ross Parsley, Skye Jethani (The Divine Commodity), Jud Wilhite, and many others to come. In addition, the first 150 people who register will receive ALL 8 of the Leadership Network Innovation Series books FREE!


So check out the new site and register today!




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Vatican: Knights Templar Hid the Shroud of Turin

According to the Vatican, the Knights Templar hid the Shroud of Turin, which disappeared during the sacking of Constantinople in 1204 during the fourth crusade only to reappear in the middle of the fourteenth century. This appears to solve the mystery of what happened to the Shroud during this period. Read the entire article from The London Times here.

For other articles that discuss archeological evidence surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus, including an article about the Shroud of Turin, visit the special Archaeological Study Bible Easter page.

Enjoy!

Keith

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