The Life-Shaping Power of Story: God’s and Ours – Dan Taylor

The single best way of conceiving of faith and the life of faith is by seeing it as a story in which you are a character.

Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting – Robert McKee

Robert McKee’s Story Seminar

Donald Miller – “Story” (mp3)

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years – Donald Miller

STORY Conference – Chicago – October 2009

STORY is a first-of-its-kind experience for communicators of the Gospel – the greatest story ever told. It will be held on Wednesday, October 28 at the Paramount Theater in Aurora, Illinois. Speakers include Donald Miller, Nancy Beach, Dave Gibbons, Ed Young, Stacy Spencer, Chris Seay and Mike Foster. A day of workshops will follow on October 29 at nearby Orchard Valley Community Church, featuring illustrators, designers, scholars, authors and communications experts.

The Story of God – Soma Communities

The Story of God – Northshore Baptish Church
– Shout out to my boy Jonathan Alexander at NSB, who walked me through his Story of God theology when I was a brand new Christian.

The Gospel Coatition – A Conversation with Carson, Piper, and Keller

Here’s a 17-part series of blog posts by CJ Mahaney that have been put together into a single document for download.

For more on this topic (especially for those in ministry), here’s a great resource:

Death by Ministry – Mark Driscoll

vs.

Paul Tripp: Does God Care About Every Word We Speak?

Paul Tripp: What Makes Bad Language Bad?

We need to build a community of Christ that deals openly and honestly with the issues that are causing spiritual paralysis and death in our people. Sexual sin is by far the biggest issue for men. Sex is the biggest idol in our world, and yet, most Christian communities play lip service to the problem of sexual sin in their ministry, while placing greater importance and emphasis on outward, peripheral issues such as hospitality and missional engagement. We need to bring the Gospel to bear on specific sins and addictions that people are dealing with so that they can learn to war against and mortify their sin through the power of the Holy Spirit in accountable community. Missional outreach, social justice, fellowship…none of that stuff is going to be effective if the people that you have serving in those ministries are paralyzed by sexual sin, pornography, and lust, and if you don’t have redemption ministries that can help them. Without outlets for healing, we’re spreading superficial Christianity, hypocrisy, and the people serving in those ministries will not endure, because the weight of their sin will eventually break them.

I don’t think you can build healthy community without a robust and effective redemption groups ministry. How can a person who is constantly checking the knots in their suit of fig leaves, hiding their sin, and walking in darkness share the freedom and love of Christ with the world? They can’t. You can not evangelize the Gospel if you are not living in it yourself. We need a ministry focused on people struggling with addictions and depression, so that people will know that the community of Christ is “an okay place to not be okay” (as Matt Chandler says).  Qualification: It’s okay to not be okay, but it’s not okay to stay there. Moreover, we need to stop sending the message that church is a country club. It’s not a place where people come to network and feel better about themselves, get their favorite latte made for them, where the pastor is a life coach. Church is a HOSPITAL, where people own up to their brokenness, their sin, their idolatry, and the pastor is a MEDIC who carries people to the surgery table of the Cross, so Jesus the Great Physician can heal them and set them free for kingdom service. If you are a pastor, you’re not a motivational speaker, you’re a medic. Medics don’t need to look cool, dress in the latest fashions, or be an amazing musician. They need to understand how the redemptive and restorative work of the Gospel heals wounds and transforms hearts. God help us to be that kind of community.

[I understand that the church is not JUST a hospital, and the pastor is not JUST a medic. But in regard to the devastating effects of sin in our lives, and our desperate need to help men and women deal openly with sexual sin and other addictions, I think it's a perspective that needs to be fostered.]

A Series of Blog Posts on Biblical Stewardship:

1. Faith or Fear: Make a Choice

2. A Truckload of Talents

3. Nine Ways to Dig a Ditch

4. Ten Ideas for Everyday Saving

5. How to Get a Job

6. Real Estate: To Buy or Not To Buy?

7. The Three-Step Spending Plan

8. 10 Steps to Get Your Finances in Order

9. Financial Series Summary

At Mars Hill Church in Seattle, they use a lot of war rhetoric and metaphor to describe the mission of the church and the way they organize community. Some Christians cringe at the use of war rhetoric because of the way that God’s word has been used to justify great evil throughout history. But the Bible uses all kinds of war metaphor and imagery to describe the spiritual battle that we find ourselves in as believers on a mission (e.g Ephesians 6), and so we must redeem these words by using them rightly, as we battle against our sin and against the enemy, for the hearts of people that God is calling to himself.

Mars Hill sees the preaching and teaching functions of the church as “Air War”, where the message and mission of Christ is communicated and people are called to repentance and faith. The community, discipleship, and missional functions of the church are seen as “Ground War”, were people are nurtured and encouraged, and believers are placed in relationships of fellowship and accountability so that their lives can be transformed by Jesus. Ground War is also where people get to participate in the mission of Christ, scattering to serve their city and share the love of Christ with the lost. Over the past few years, Mars Hill has been focused on connecting the Air War and Ground War aspects of the church, linking every expression of the church community to the pulpit, so that the different fronts of the battle can advance together.

Their latest sermon series, Trial: 8 Witnesses from 1&2 Peter, is a great example of that effort to connect the Air War and Ground War of the church. Besides the weekly preaching and worship, Mars Hill is handing out a 200+page study guide in book form free-of-charge to every attendee of the church. I have obtained a copy and it is impressive. Here is the link to download:

Trial: Study Guide – This study guide outlines all details for this series of sermons, including Group Resources, Group Discussion Questions, Family Resources, Pastoral Parenting, Family Dinner Bible Study and more.

In the wake of this new series, many pastoral teams from other churches have been asking how to plan and strategize such an endeavor. Thankfully, Mars Hill is continuing to give away helpful information on how it structures its leadership, manages its programs, and generally leads the people God has called to participate in the church. To see how Mars Hill works from Bible book selection to fully themed sermon series, check out the 1&2 Peter Battle Plan.

“How does Mars Hill’s Preaching & Theology department get from Pastor Mark deciding on a book of the Bible to preach through all the way to the stage design, visuals, and theme that we see in TRIAL: 8 Witnesses from 1&2 Peter?”

“In this 200+ page document you will see the advance work done by Pastor Mark Driscoll, Pastor Brad House over Community Groups, and the Preaching & Theology Branch. This plan was sent to every major organizational area of Mars Hill for review and feedback. This collaborative effort resulted in a smooth launch on January 11th, with support from all campus pastors and departments and a unified Gospel message from pulpit to counseling office to home community groups.”

- AJ Hamilton, Driscoll’s former pastoral assistant and current overseer of the Preaching & Theology Branch. This branch is made up of a talented group of:

- web designers

- graphic designers

- administrators

- video directors and producers

- animators

- editors

- content managers

- manuscript copy-editors

- support staff for Pastor Mark Driscoll

At the 2009 Desiring God pastor’s conference, Mark Dever left the group with this quote by Charles Spurgeon to illustrate how he viewed his role as a shepherd of God’s people. It’s a beautiful picture of what it means to be a pastor, and a sobering yet emboldening reminder to those courageous few who are called to this form of kingdom service.

I am occupied in my small way, as Mr. Great-heart was employed in Bunyan’s day. I do not compare myself with that champion, but I am in the same line of business. I am engaged in personally-conducted tours to Heaven; and I have with me, at the present time, dear Old Father Honest: I am glad he is still alive and active. And there is Christiana, and there are her children. It is my business, as best I can, to kill dragons, and cut off giants’ heads, and lead on the timid and trembling. I am often afraid of losing some of the weaklings. I have the heart-ache for them; but, by God’s grace, and your kind and generous help in looking after one another, I hope we shall all travel safely to the river’s edge. Oh, how many have I had to part with there! I have stood on the brink, and I have heard them singing in the midst of the stream, and I have almost seen the shining ones lead them up the hill, and through the gates, into the Celestial City.

Mr. Great-Heart

I also love this quote from the second part of The Pilgrim’s Progress, when Christiana’s party leaves Gaius’s Inn and Mr. Feeblemind lingers in order to be left behind, and he is encouraged to accompany the party by Great-heart:

But brother … I have it in commission, to comfort the feeble-minded, and to support the weak. You must needs go along with us; we will wait for you, we will lend you our help, we will deny ourselves of some things, both opinionative and practical, for your sake; we will not enter into doubtful disputations before you, we will be made all things to you, rather than you shall be left behind.

HT: DGB

Author: Kevin DeYoung

• Link

What is New Reformed Theology? 12/14/08

Speakers: Mark Driscoll & Ed Stetzer

• Download

An Introduction to the Reformed Faith

Author: John Frame

• Download

• When asked in an interview, “Are young people becoming more sympathetic to Reformed theology?” Driscoll responded,

“The two hot theologies today are Reformed and Emerging. Reformed theology offers certainty, with a masculine God who names our sin, crushes Jesus on the Cross for it, and sends us to hell if we fail to repent. Emerging theology offers obscurity, with a neutered God who would not say an unkind word to us, did not crush Jesus for our sins, and would not send anyone to hell. I came to Reformed theology by preaching through books of the Bible such as Exodus, Romans, John, and Revelation, along with continually repenting of my sin. I am, however, a boxers, not briefs, Reformed guy. I am pretty laid back about it and not uptight and tidy like many Reformed guys.”

• In response to Outreach Magazine’s Top Multiplying Churches list, David Fairchild, lead pastor at Kaleo Church in San Diego, comments about Reformed churches topping the list, noting, “their theology is a particular kind of reformed theology, it is reformational not just reformed. This distinction is important. To use reformed theology as a cul-de-sac in our churches is to move against the entire point of God’s work in this world. Good reformed theology is going to be church planting, kingdom driven, multiplying, culture engaging, and grace centered or it is not good reformed theology.”
• The Acts 29 Network describes its doctrinal position in four points: first Christian, second Evangelical, third Missional, and fourth Reformed. On this last point, they define essentially what it means to be a part of the new Reformed resurgence:
  1. We believe that God created the heavens, the earth.
  2. We believe that God created man and woman in a state of sinless perfection with particular dignity as His image bearers on the earth.
  3. We believe that our first parents sinned against God and that everyone since is a sinner by nature and choice. Sin has totally affected all of creation including marring human image and likeness so that all of our being is stained by sin (e.g. reasoning, desires, and emotions).
  4. We believe that because all people have sinned and separated themselves from the Holy God that he is obligated to save no one from the just deserved punishments of hell. We also believe that God in His unparalleled love and mercy has chosen to elect some people for salvation.
  5. We believe that the salvation of the elect was predestined by God in eternity past.
  6. We believe that the salvation of the elect was accomplished by the sinless life, substitutionary atoning death, and literal physical resurrection of Jesus Christ in place of His people for their sins.
  7. We believe that the salvation of the elect, by God’s grace alone, shows forth in the ongoing repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ that leads to good works.
  8. We believe that God’s saving grace is ultimately irresistible and that God does soften even the hardest heart and save the worst of sinners according to His will.
  9. We believe that the gospel should be passionately and urgently proclaimed to all people so that all who believe may be saved through the preaching of God’s Word by the power of God’s Spirit.
  10. We believe that true Christians born again of God’s Spirit will be kept by God throughout their life, as evidenced by personal transformation that includes an ever-growing love of God the Father through God the Son by God the Spirit, love of brothers and sisters in the church, and love of lost neighbors in the culture.
  11. We believe that God is Lord over all of life and that there is nothing in life that is to be separated from God.
  12. We believe that the worship of God is the end for which people were created and that abiding joy is only to be found by delighting in God through all of life, including hardship and death which is gain.
• In this short video, Mark Driscoll presents the main differences between Calvinist (Reformed) theology and Arminian (Wesleyan) theology: