by Robby McAlpine | Aug 5, 2019 | Cultural Engagement, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Evangelicalism, Missional, Practical Theology
We all know what George Orwell said in his famous dystopian novel 1984: “In times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” The glistening irony of this quote is that Orwell neither said it nor wrote it. People tend to balk at hearing this. The...
by Kenny Burchard | Oct 5, 2018 | Disciple Making, Discipleship, Practical Theology
Some years ago, while listening to a Bible teacher named Malcolm Smith in a recorded teaching about Jesus, he said something that has stuck with me, and I myself have adopted it as something that I regularly say to others. He said, “It takes a long time to think...
by Robby McAlpine | Dec 29, 2017 | Disciple Making, Discipleship, Ethics, Evangelicalism, Leadership, Missional, Practical Theology, Small Groups
Our church recently completed a sermon series on the book of Ephesians, and one of the repeated bylines for this series was the phrase: “Bringing our behaviour in line with our beliefs”. And in a nutshell, that is precisely what Roger Helland’s newest book, The Devout...
by Kenny Burchard | Sep 13, 2017 | Church Life, Cultural Engagement, Disciple Making, Evangelism, Missional, Practical Theology, World Misions
Protestants don’t typically like the biblical word “liturgy” (yep, it’s a biblical word. Keep reading!) because it is so often used as a synonym for dead religious rituals. That’s a mistake. In reality, it is a wonderful word that...
by Luke Geraty | Mar 14, 2017 | Church Life, Cross-Cultural Ministry, Cultural Engagement, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Evangelism, Leadership, Messy Church, Missional, Practical Theology, Preaching
Over the years I’ve been approached by a few people who wanted to either use the gifts they believed they had or be trained and equipped to minister through speaking (e.g., preaching, teaching, training, etc.). In simple terms, they wanted opportunities to speak...
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 can be sure that we can have a non-hysterical conversation about it.” A “non-hysterical conversation”… The moment my friend casually uttered that phrase, I was immediately...
by Brad Blocksom | Sep 27, 2016 | Church Life, Church Planting, Cross-Cultural Ministry, Cultural Engagement, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Evangelicalism, Evangelism, Family, Leadership, Messy Church, Missional, Money, Practical Theology, Prayer, Preaching, Small Groups
I came across these podcasts and, quite frankly, they were pretty eye opening for me (they’re kind of all related). So I wanted to share them here and see if we could get some good discussion going in the comments below. And, here they are: This one talks about...
by Brad Blocksom | Sep 11, 2016 | Church Life, Devotionals, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Evangelicalism, Leadership, Messy Church, Missional, Practical Theology, Small Groups
2 John 12 Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete. (ESV) John is such a person of the heart. He prefers to be there face to face, so that he can...
by Brad Blocksom | Feb 9, 2016 | Cross-Cultural Ministry, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Evangelicalism, Evangelism, Leadership, Missional, Practical Theology
So you may recall that I have written in the past here on the Missional Model vs. the Attractional model for Church. I’ve also written here that the commonly used metrics of Butts in Seats & “Decisions” for Christ are poor measures of an...
by Brad Blocksom | Jan 5, 2016 | Church Planting, Devotionals, Disciple Making, Leadership, Missional, Practical Theology, World Misions
2 Cor. 3:5-6 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives...
by Kenny Burchard | Dec 31, 2015 | Disciple Making, Missional, Practical Theology
A few days ago I had lunch with a new friend who is a pastor here in Virginia Beach. We talked about what he was experiencing in his own journey with Jesus and the Church, and because of the direction of our conversation, I felt that I should tell him the story...
by Brad Blocksom | Dec 30, 2015 | Church Life, Devotionals, Disciple Making, Evangelicalism, Leadership, Messy Church, Missional, Practical Theology, Prayer, World Misions
So I’ve been reading through the early chapters of 2 Corinthians, where Paul does a defense of his apostolic ministry. And it got me thinking what if we used this instead of (or at least in addition to) the traditional “Pastoral” Epistles (of Timothy...
by Robby McAlpine | Dec 30, 2015 | Disciple Making, Discipleship, Leadership, Messy Church, Practical Theology
And now for something completely different. Many times over the years, I’ve been amazed at how people belittle theology and theologians. At times, they are treated with the kind of contempt usually reserved for Dastardly Pastors. Theology occurs when ANYONE...
by Brad Blocksom | Sep 15, 2015 | Church Life, Church Planting, Devotionals, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Leadership, Messy Church, Missional, Practical Theology, Prayer, Small Groups, World Misions
Acts 20:11 And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. (ESV) It was Sunday. Paul had already preached past midnight. They continued to talk and share a meal together (perhaps two...
by Brad Blocksom | Aug 20, 2015 | Church Life, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Evangelicalism, Missional, Practical Theology
I probably shouldn’t write this blog post… woops, my finger slipped and I just clicked “send.” Seriously though, I’d like to start off this post with a quote from my good friend Kenny Burchard: “If we’re talking about how to “do”...
by Robby McAlpine | Aug 14, 2015 | Church Life, Church Planting, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Leadership, Missional, Practical Theology, Small Groups
No look back at Bob Girard’s Brethren, Hang Loose would be complete without revisiting the topic of house groups. “The ‘great revivals’ of American history were nearly always preceded and followed by small groups meeting for prayer and...
by Robby McAlpine | Aug 7, 2015 | Church Life, Church Planting, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Leadership, Missional, Practical Theology, Small Groups
(Image source: Parable of the Hidden Treasure, Wikicommons) As I continue to re-read Bob Girard’s Brethren, Hang Loose, I find gems chock full o’ wisdom like this one: “The spiritual ministry of each individual member must be a spiritual ministry...
by Robby McAlpine | Aug 5, 2015 | Church Life, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Leadership, Practical Theology, Revival, Small Groups
Re-visiting your roots from time to time is a healthy practice, I’ve found. And as a typical book-learnin’ nerd, there have been some significant authors whose influence in my life came through their writings. (I blogged my way through one of them,...
by Luke Geraty | Apr 17, 2015 | Church Life, Church Planting, Cultural Engagement, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Evangelism, Leadership, Messy Church, Missional, Practical Theology, Small Town Church
At this year’s Society of Vineyard Scholars annual meeting, focused on “Thinking with the Church, Thinking with the Vineyard,” features a panel featuring three of our ThinkTheology.org contributors: Brad Blocksom, Kenny Burchard, and Luke Geraty....
by Luke Geraty | Apr 8, 2015 | Church Planting, Disciple Making, Discipleship, Evangelism, Missional, Practical Theology
God cares about multiplication: “The first essential principle [of church growth] is to realize that God wants his lost children found and enfolded. Church growth explodes from the life-giving nature of the eternal God. Jesus Christ gave his disciples the Great...
