Where have I been??? To be perfectly honest I can't say I've had plenty of stuff that I could write about. The act of sitting down and typing it out has been a foreign concept to me. School and work keep pretty well occupied.
First things of many things to talk about. How about them Tennessee Vols puttin' a hurtin' on those poodles...I mean.. Bulldogs of Georgia. Just goes to show ya when you come to the house of 109,000 you better put your hat on and come to play.
Secondly, I think now being 3 weeks removed from the Convergent Conference I can give a synopsis of what went down and what was discussed. Believe me there was a ton of stuff said and let just put forward that my synopsis will not do it justice.
however you can go to Southeastern's website and link up with the resources; or go to iTunes and search for the Southeastern Podcast.
In the first session J.D. Greear spoke from Acts 16 and spoke about the example of the types of people you might and will have in your churches and the ways to best minister to each category. He emphasized that We can no longer look at evangelizing America different from the the way we look at evangelizing the Nations
He stressed on 3 key points on what Ministry should look like:
I. Ministry of Mercy is Necessary for Every Church
A. To be a follower of Jesus is not something that you should have to tell people it should be evident in your life.
II. The Gospel must remain Central
A. People must hear the gospel to be saved.
B. All change that last comes from the gospel
III. To follow Jesus is to go Cross-Culture
The second of these sessions had us sitting in under one of greatest minds Ed Stetzer. He preached and gave his talk from the text of Luke 24:46-49. In his talk he mentioned that 89% of churches are not growing through healthy evangelistic methods. Stetzer says that there is an emergent church because of the church of North America has become ineffective for the most part. Stetzer said that there are many things that can solve this problem of ineffectiveness. He said the solution is ultimately found in scripture and metioned the following 3 solutions:
I. The Centrality of the Cross
A. The gospel does not mean preach "Get Saved" every week.
B. A motivation for innovation cannot be birthed from a loss of confidence in the Gospel.
II. Focus on the Message
A. Your message must be repentance and forgiveness of sin.
B. This is not a one time thing but a lifestyle that must be lived out.
III. The Importance of Witness
A. John 20:21, Acts 1:6-7
The third session we beheld Mark Driscoll for points on his talk I will have to point you to the podcast cause I was so concentrated on listening that I didn't take very good notes.
This also applies to the 4th session given to us by Dr. Akin.
The Fifth and final session was given to us by Dr. Alvin Reid. He student favorite here at Southeastern. Dr. Reid just jumped right in with a breakdown and analysis of the Convential Church versus the Emergent Church.
I. Convential Christianity
A. Strengths
1. A strong biblical conviction
2. A passion evangelism
3. A passion missions
4. Remained firm on major moral issues
5. A large economic base.
B. Weakness
1. Somethings need and must be renewed
a. Evangelism effectiveness among the unchurched
b. A healthy balance between what must never change
and what needs to change.
c. View of the arts
d. Programmatic ministry
e. Christian subculture
f. Entitlementalism - Dr. Reid coined word
g. Institutionalism
II. The Emergent Church
A. Strengths
1. sees there is problem
2. engages the culture
B. Weakness
1. Antinomian tendencies
a. lack of emphasis on doctrine(some deny doctrine)
b. Missional without being intentional
c. disrespect toward the modern church
III. The Convergent/Emerging Church
1. Missional Worship
a. I live to worship God.
2. Missional Theology
3. Missional Ethics
a. based on "Missio Dei"
4. Missional Evangelism
5. Missional Lifestyle.
There you have it; once again I say this is not a comprehensive synopsis for treasure trove of all that was said again iTunes: search Southeastern Podcast or go to Southeastern's website
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