Christ Church San Francisco
Several months ago my good friend, Toby Kurth, planted Christ Church in San Francisco. I’m looking forward to preaching at Christ Church this Sunday. God, through Toby and the people of Christ Church, is doing great things in the city of San Francisco.
200 million non-churched
There are about 200 million non-churched people in America, making America one of the four largest ‘unchurched’ nations in the world.
-John Piper, in a January 31 sermon, “I will build My Church”
The 5 Big Issues Facing the Western Church
Tim Keller on the five big issues facing the Western Church:
1. The opportunity for extensive culture-making in the U.S.
2. The rise of Islam.
3. The new non-western Global Christianity.
4. The growing cultural remoteness of the gospel.
5. The end of prosperity?
Christian Community amid Suffering
I have a great team of leaders who lead community groups and disciple disciple-making disciples in our 20s ministry. The past two weeks I’ve loved watching our Christian community at work as suffering hit.
My friends/fellow leaders Ryan and Lailah got news that Ryan’s sister Jamie was in a car accident in Kazakhstan, leaving her in a coma and the other two passengers dead. Immediately Ryan and Lailah got on a plane and flew east. As Ryan and Lailah walked through this suffering and asked for prayer and help, I watched two other members of our team, a married couple who have suffered greatly the past 4 months, pass on care and counsel from the Word of God. Here is one of the emails that this couple sent to Ryan and Lailah and our whole team:
These are the verses we have been hanging onto through our season of trial:
Romans 8:15 “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the spirit of sonship, and by him we cry “Abba”, “Father”.
Romans 5: 2b – 5 “And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, for God has poured out his love into our hearts”
John 16:33 “in this world you WILL have trouble (tribulation – severe suffering). But take heart! I have overcome the world!”
Psalm 86: 5 – 7 “You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you. Hear my prayer, O Lord; Listen to my cry for mercy. In the day of my trouble I will call to you, for you will answer me.”
Lamentations 3: 21 – 23 “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Becasue of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every mornings; great is your faithfulness” (this is a GREAT chapter in general)
Psalm 34: 17 – 18 ” The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles. the Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit”
Romans 8:28 ” And we know that in ALL THINGS God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son…”
1 Peter 1: 6b – 7 ” For a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
Keep going! Keep trusting in God’s GOODNESS, His SOVEREIGNTY and His WISDOM… know that God is able to use ALL THINGS for our good and for His glory! Remember that we only have small brains, capable of only understanding what God allows us to understand. We do not have His perspective and so we cannot grasp His infinite wisdom… but also, remember that “Jesus wept” – even though God’s ways and thoughts are SO much beyond ours, He STILL CRIES WITH US!!!
We are weeping with you and praying for you through this trial…
Heaps of love…
Gospel Growth Conference
I’ve been slowing listening to audio from The Gospel Growth Conference. So far I’ve found David Helm’s two messages quite helpful.
Mark Driscoll on Learning from the Past
Mark Driscoll reflects on 14 years of leading Mars Hill Church, and what he would’ve done differently.
Training the Next Generation of Church Leaders
I’m thankful to serve at a church that cares about training the next generation of church leaders and calls church members to exercise their gifts in fresh initiatives. In a November newsletter, Tim Keller writes about how this dynamic is receiving fresh bloom at Redeemer. Below is an excerpt. Read the whole thing.
Redeemer has been blessed. Every week I see or hear reports of things happening at Redeemer I never thought I’d live to see. I’m especially referring to the numbers of new believers and the creative ways they are engaging the city. Yet, perhaps unavoidably, Redeemer has become more staff and program-driven as our church has grown and the ministries have become complex and large. As a result, the church has grown into an institution dependent on small cadre of highly-skilled leaders, and especially me. In a ‘movement,’ everyone is united by a clear vision, and therefore everyone sacrifices, feels responsible for the church’s goals, and initiates ministry.
But in a traditional institution only a minority of people sacrifice and serve, while a large percentage of people come mainly to receive the spiritual goods and services provided. This then increases the church’s dependence on the smaller number of leaders. Is there anything to be done? Yes there is.
Think Hybrid
Check out this great post by Dustin Neeley on the Resurgence site about the value of thinking hybrid. Read the whole thing, but here’s an excerpt:
At any given gathering, it is not unusual to hear guys ask one another, “So are you a Piper guy or an Andy Stanley guy?” or “Are you a house church guy or a big church guy?” Once these types of questions are answered, we immediately form an opinion of our brother and the “legitimacy” of his ministry in light of our own presuppositions, and consequently cast doubt on anything else he might have to say.
I believe the Scriptures set appropriate boundaries for what is and isn’t acceptable in the name of gospel ministry. And we could all debate the legitimacy of pulling a tank out on stage to illustrate one’s point. But my fear is that we spend so much time figuring out which “tribe” we belong to that we fail to listen and learn from tribes other than our own. Sure, you may be against certain elements of another pastor’s ministry, but does that mean that anything that comes from his ministry is automatically discounted because of its point of origin?
14 Reasons Why I Love My Church
Yesterday I spent some time thanking God for my church. I decided to turn my thanks into a blog post, 14 reasons why I love my church:
1. In arguably the most unchurched region in America, CPC has maintained a faithful gospel witness for over 40 years. If you’ve ever lived on the San Francisco Peninsula, you know what a challenging (and exciting) place this is for living as a Christian and doing ministry. This place is filled with unique pressures. I may write a series of blog posts on this in the future.
2. CPC has created a culture where the preaching of God’s Word is central to all of church life, community, and mission. Sunday’s sermon on Revelation 6 by our lead pastor, Mark Mitchell, moved me to tears as the sovereignty of God was winsomely and boldly proclaimed. It’s a joy to be part of a community that’s being built on such a rich vision of God.
3. Our church is led by elders who are godly, wise, humble, grace-saturated men.
4. CPC is advancing the gospel globally, supporting many ministries across the globe that are reaching people with the good news of Christ crucified.
5. Our church is full of amazing people who are quick to serve and love others. You should see what happens around this place when a sudden need arises—it’s like crazed fans storming the football field after their team has won.
6. Since coming on staff as a young 28 year-old 3+ years ago, I’ve been given tremendous opportunity, encouragement, guidance, and freedom to be myself and use and develop my gifts to preach and lead. I wish every young pastor could have the kind of opportunity and support I’m given here. I can’t believe the church pays me money to study the Bible, preach the gospel, shepherd people, and disciple men.
7. Many CPC members are strategically placed to make an exponential impact in their workplace with the gospel. Our church is very diverse economically and socially, yet we have a high number of people working in companies where their Christian witness there can have an impact well beyond the Silicon Valley, companies like: Google, Apple, Facebook, Oracle, Visa, Yahoo, Electronic Arts, etc.
8. I’m good friends with the fellow pastors I serve alongside. “Going to work” also means hanging out with some of my closest friends: Jerome, Rob, Mark (guys, I ordered your names from worst-dressed to best-dressed).
9. CPC is building marriages and families on the gospel and a biblical view of manhood and womanhood. This is not a popular thing to do in the Bay Area.
10. CPC cares about the generation most estranged from the church: twenytsomethings. CPC hired me to go after this generation with the gospel.
11. CPC doesn’t ask my wife to be a traditional “pastor’s wife.” Because of the nature of the calling, a pastor’s wife has a unique burden to bear, one that I think only another pastor’s wife can understand. CPC minimizes this load by putting no responsibilities on my wife, recognizing that her main ministry is to be my wife and to be a mom—therein lies her greatest ministry to our church. She’s not expected to play the piano, run the children’s ministry, or bake meatloaf for the all-church potluck.
12. Our administrative staff is incredible. Especially incredible is my administrative assistant, Celia, and our 20s ministry intern, Francis—their service to me and to our church frees me up to do so much more than I could ever do without them.
13. CPC leadership gives me feedback and critique about my character, family life, leadership, and preaching. Young men like me desperately need such feedback in order to be refined and grow.
14. Peet’s Coffee is conveniently located just a mile down the street from our church building and functions as a second office for many of us on staff.
Commit Magazine
A few weeks ago we launched the first issue of Commit magazine, a gospel-centered magazine engaging vital issues of our time, written (mostly) by young, ordinary Christians living in the San Francisco Bay Area. This first issue is devoted to the Gospel. A bunch of friends from my church and D.A. Carson contributed to this inaugural issue of Commit.
We’ve almost sold out of the first printing. To order copies of Commit and to read 2 sample articles online, go here.
