Last week I had the chance to sit down with Jason Dukes in Birmingham, Alabama. Jason lives in Florida but came there to this gathering. We were part
of a mission conversation with a group of church planters from Birmingham. I always enjoy time with Jason. I have enjoyed getting to know him over the last year and finding ways that The Upstream Collective and ReproducingChurches.com can work together.
I had a couple of good “take-aways” from our time together. As you know I see more and more the need for Christ followers to live and work in cross cultural situations with normal jobs. We are seeing this happen in quite a few cities in Europe with the Skybridge Community. I liked the term that he used: “missionally employed”.
The other thing that I observed in this meeting of planters is a model if you will of how a group of churches can come together with each others best interest in mind. The formula is quite simple: They pray together, encourage one another and find ways to give themselves away. Imagine a group of churches in a city that relate to each other in that way. Very cool stuff. Check out their city groups on their site.
If you can you should try to go to the conversation that they are putting on later this month. You can find more information about Reproducing Churches.com here.
Normally I use park benches to stop and tie my shoes while on a run or something. This morning I realized that you can actually stop and sit down on them. What a novel idea for someone to put a park bench in a strategic place. I love living here in Germany. We have a [...]
I have the opportunity to talk with quite a few of our Skybridge Community members. We are indeed a community in various stages of our journey here in Europe. • We are pastors looking at this as a viable way to send workers to the field. • We are marketplace workers looking for a job [...]
I must admit one of my favorite videos from our trip is this one. Why? This is one of the BIG reasons why I do what I do at Upstream Collective. If I had one “DO OVER” in my church planting time in the states during the 90s it would be that I did not [...]
Last week I had the chance to sit down with Jason Dukes in Birmingham, Alabama. Jason lives in Florida but came there to this gathering. We were part of a mission conversation with a group of church planters from Birmingham. I always enjoy time with Jason. I have enjoyed getting to know him over the [...]
I am adopted. Some of you may know this about me. I was adopted when I was almost 2 years old though my adoptive parents took care of me much earlier. I am a huge advocate for adoption. I am thankful that my parents chose me and gave me a home. When I was a [...]
This weekend I have been in Norfolk, Virginia. I had some great conversations with three pastors in this city. I am very much a novice at what I am about to write but want to learn more about this subject. I am intrigued. This area is sometimes called Hampton Roads and then at other times [...]
I have the opportunity to talk with quite a few of our Skybridge Community members. We are indeed a community in various stages of our journey here in Europe. • We are pastors looking at this as a viable way to send workers to the field. • We are marketplace workers looking for a job [...]
