by Robby McAlpine | Dec 31, 2016 | Church Life, Conflict Resolution, Cultural Engagement, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Ethics, Leadership, Missional, Practical Theology, Revival, Small Groups
“I’ve decided to stay out of those discussions, until I’m sure we can have a non-hysterical conversation.” A non-hysterical conversation … When a friend casually uttered that phrase, I was immediately struck by its simple and profound wisdom. It’s increasingly...
by Robby McAlpine | Nov 24, 2016 | Conflict Resolution, Cultural Engagement, Discipleship, Evangelicalism, Leadership, Practical Theology, Revival
If it hasn’t been obvious before, it’s obvious now — as in: ‘how could you possibly miss it?’ — that evangelicals need to do some serious soul-searching, humble themselves, and REPENT. And no, actually, this isn’t just a cheap...
by Able Baker | Oct 22, 2015 | Conflict Resolution
How can a congregation become out of balance? If you remember in my last post in this series I wanted to examine deliberately unhooking behavioral issues from the Gospel itself. This week I want to promote the discipline of balance as a mark of maturity that every...
by Michael Sterns | Jul 24, 2015 | Church Life, Conflict Resolution, Cultural Engagement, Ethics, Ethnic Reconciliation, Family, Forgiveness, Healing, Immigration, Leadership, Messy Church, Practical Theology, Preaching, Social Justice, The Vineyard Movement
Last week, I wrote on Rich Nathan’s discussion on biblical leadership which he gave at the International Vineyard Conference held in Columbus, Ohio. Now, I will try to highlight another speaker. During the morning session at the conference on Thursday July 9,...
by Luke Geraty | Dec 30, 2014 | Church Life, Conflict Resolution, Leadership, Practical Theology
A few years ago I attended a meeting being led by two people who served in a leadership role within our church. There were about ten of us sitting around a table and I thought our meeting was going to be focused on strategic planning and a chance for us all to kind of...
by Luke Geraty | Dec 23, 2014 | Church Life, Conflict Resolution, Leadership, Practical Theology, Social Media, Technology
The art of trolling has long been perfected by a select group of people who reside on the Internet. It happens in just about every circle of Internet interaction, but I’m especially keen to recognizing when trolling happens of the theological variety. In fact,...
by Able Baker | Dec 11, 2014 | Conflict Resolution
1 John 4:10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sin. As a practitioner of the Gospel in pastoral ministry there is an essential rule that I have learned. “What begins in love will...
by Luke Geraty | Dec 5, 2014 | Church Life, Conflict Resolution, Cultural Engagement, Ethnic Reconciliation, Forgiveness, Practical Theology, Social Justice, The Vineyard Movement
As a Vineyard pastor in a Vineyard church who spends time with people who self-identify with the Vineyard movement, I often think on subjects through a “kingdom” lens. This is because our identity, both theologically and practically, are rooted in a...
by Geno Olison | Nov 26, 2014 | Conflict Resolution, Cultural Engagement, Ethics, Ethnic Reconciliation, Forgiveness, Leadership, Messy Church, Missional, Politics, Practical Theology, Social Media
I don’t usually say much (at least publicly/on social media) at the epicenter of these events, although there is usually plenty to say. I’ve had a half dozen or so serious conversations recently, mostly with a few of my white brothers, regarding the latest...
by Aimee Tiernan | Nov 2, 2014 | Conflict Resolution, Counseling, Family, Healing, Mental Illness, Messy Church, Parenting, Practical Theology
I was at church one day when the Smith family (names are changed) approached me asking me to pray for them. Their daughter Vanessa had started cutting on herself. They were distraught, worried, and had no idea what to do. They could not understand how their daughter...
by Brad Blocksom | Aug 13, 2014 | Church Life, Church Planting, Conflict Resolution, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Evangelism, Healing, Marriage, Missional, Practical Theology, Prayer, Small Groups
So last time we talked about the idea that “Butts in Seats” and “Decisions for Christ” may not be the best way to measure the success of the local church. And I proposed that we should focus not on church growth, but rather on discipleship as a...
by Don Bromley | Jul 28, 2014 | Conflict Resolution, Cultural Engagement, Practical Theology, The Vineyard Movement
My favorite scene from Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy: Ron: “Mmm. San Diego. Drink it in. It always goes down smooth. Discovered by the Germans in 1904, they named it San Diago, which of course in German means a whale’s vagina.” Veronica:...
by Brad Blocksom | Jul 22, 2014 | Church Planting, Conflict Resolution, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Evangelicalism, Messy Church, Missional, Practical Theology, Small Groups, Theological Training
Yep, I’ve been reading up some on the organic church movement as well as perusing that ever dependable source of indisputable facts on the internet – the Blogsphere & Facebook! Truth be told, there is a lot that really attracts me about more organic...
by Robby McAlpine | Jul 11, 2014 | Conflict Resolution, Discipleship, Forgiveness, Leadership, Practical Theology
King Solomon repeatedly observed throughout the book of Ecclesiastes that “there is nothing new under the sun”. This has certainly been true whenever I run across (or into) “trolls” in greater blogdom. Any other old-timers remember the firey...
by Luke Geraty | Mar 17, 2014 | Conflict Resolution, Practical Theology
The church I serve is blessed to have a wonderful lady named Sara White in our community. She put together a great list of eleven characteristics of a good friend that I thought I’d share with you! Here is her list: Loyal – stick by me in any circumstance....
by Luke Geraty | Jan 16, 2014 | Conflict Resolution, Misrepresenting the Vineyard
The other day a formerly semi-local pastor posted a public statement that addressed me, the church I serve, and the movement I am a part of. Quite a few things happened since his post went public. First of all, many more people took a look at the article in question....
by Luke Geraty | Dec 3, 2013 | Conflict Resolution, Leadership, Practical Theology, Preaching
Systematic Theology. Exegesis. Church History. Contextualization. Liturgy. Pneumatology. Hebrew and Greek. Pastoral counseling. These are all subjects that most pastors are either familiar with or have taken seminary courses on. Transitioning from seminary to pastoral...
by Luke Geraty | Oct 17, 2013 | Across the Web, Apologetics, Charismatic Theology, Conflict Resolution, Why I am "Charismatic"
So the firestorm from the Strange Fire Conference has been steadily building throughout the past few weeks and is now in full swing. When word got out that the conference was going to take place and that John MacArthur was releasing a book of the same name, Dr....
by Luke Geraty | Sep 24, 2013 | Conflict Resolution, Messy Church
Pastoral leadership often equates to conflict resolution. While you may have spent all of your seminary days thinking you’d be sitting in your office writing sermons based on the ridiculously powerful exegetical insights you gained while parsing through...
by Luke Geraty | Aug 30, 2013 | Conflict Resolution, Leadership
I recently purchased a copy of Harold Westing’s Church Staff Handbook. I’m hoping to learn much from Westing in the area of being more effective as a church leadership and ministry team. Though the book is a little dated, it’s widely recognized as...
