Heavy and Light
HEAVY AND LIGHT 2010 Encore. from To Write Love on Her Arms. on Vimeo.
This is an awesome video, so much talent on one stage and for a good cause: TWLOHA’s Heavy and Light 2010
Church Philosophy
I just finished reading Confessions of a Reformission Rev., by Mark Driscoll and I feel like it had some amazing insight in it about church planting and philosophy. Mark in this book gives his raw story of mistakes as well as successes that are well worth the read. He will make you laugh out loud, angry to the point of frustration and on the verge of tears all in the same book.
What really got my attention for the place that Redemptions Hill is at is his ministry philosophy/types and they were as follows:
CHURCH MODELS
- GOSPEL + CULTURE – CHURCH = PARACHURCH
- CULTURE + CHURCH – GOSPEL = LIBERALISM
- CHURCH + GOSPEL – CULTURE = FUNDAMENTALISM
- GOSPEL + CULTURE + CHURCH = REFORMISSION
CHURCH PHILOSOPHY: ATTRACTIONAL, MISSIONAL OR BOTH
- ATTRACTIONAL: this type of church’s primary task is to bring people from the culture into the church to partake of programming that targets their felt needs.
- MISSIONAL: this type of church’s primary task is sending Christians out of the church and into the culture to serve as missionaries through relationships.
With the church philosophies above I’d like for you to answer the questions:
- What type of philosophy does your church have?
- What type of philosophy do you have in your own ministry as an ambassador to the faith?
Sticky Church
I just finished reading Sticky Church by Larry Osborne, great insight on small group ministry. Good thoughts on what Sermon Based Small Groups can do for the church as far as intentionality and getting members to press further into Chist. We plan on implementing some of these practices into our RH small groups down the road.
Wondering if anyone has had experience with implementing these small groups in their ministry?
THEOLOGY MESSAGE
Theology – Do you know him from TJ Dreyer on Vimeo.
A couple people asked about my last message, and it happened to be recorded… so here it is.
Recent Books
I have been in a book reading craze as of late and here are two of my most recent books. Both by dead guys… both absolutely amazing reads.
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis is a book that would be considered in the category of apologetics, basically it is defending the ideas of Christianity. The way that Lewis goes about his defense are extremely easy and to understand and practical in nature, then he masterfully adds scripture to defend with substance his ideas. Great read I’d recommend to anyone… we should be able to defend our faith with intelligent thoughts.
The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer is easily in my top 10 books ever, it is only 100 pages in length but they are filled with deep and meaningful substance. Tozer builds this book around the idea that though God initially starts the relationship within us by calling us and giving us the faith to believe, it is our responsibility to after that initial drawing to pursue God. At the end of each chapter you will find a prayer by Tozer, and my favorite line out of the book comes from such a prayer:
“Father, I want to know you, but my coward heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from you the terror of parting. I come trembling, but I do come.”
Both are great reads, check them out…
AND WE WILL WORSHIP YOU
SONG CHORUS BY CARLOS:I found an absolutely amazing video and blog post @ ragamuffinsoul.com that I had to share here. Carlos a worship pastor and musician in ATL was recording EPK and while doing some live footage for it ran into this homeless man Danny…. check out what happened.
Quote from site and incident:
If you listen carefully at the end you hear me saying this to Danny.
“Keep trying to make it man.”
He looked me square in the eye…cocked his head sideways with a confused look on his face…and said,
“Trying to make it? No man. I ain’t trying to make it…I’m making it. Jah puts His soldiers everywhere. Jah says, Yea though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death… So He places some of us, in that valley.”
Save us from these comforts.
Break us of our need for the familiar
Spare us any joy that’s not of You
And we will worship You
Break us of our need for the familiar
Spare us any joy that’s not of You
And we will worship You
iHeart Revolution – Justice & Fairness
I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions.“I can’t stand your religious meetings.
I want nothing to do with your religion projects,
your pretentious slogans and goals.
I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes,
your public relations and image making.
I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.
When was the last time you sang to me?
Do you know what I want?
I want justice—oceans of it.
I want fairness—rivers of it.
That’s what I want. That’s all I want.
AMOS 5.21-24
Redemptions Hill Update
We have been going strong with our Missional Communities for over 7 months now, and the process has been great. The core group has gone down a little in number as some have stepped away, I guess the idea of reading the Bible isn’t appealing to some… go figure. Despite the dip in numbers I am blessed with a group that has dug in deeply to the word with me and given me the privilege of learning along with them.
Together we are becoming disciples like the word calls for and that is progress that I am happy to be a part of. I have made the statement starting this venture that I’d rather be a narrow and deep, rather then a mile wide and an inch deep… and I believe that is the road we are on an intentional one that desires God above all.
If you anyone would has questions about Redemptions Hill feel free to email me @ tj@redemptionshillchurch.com
T.J. Dreyer
Reading Lately
I am a phase driven person and have come to grips with that fact, and recently I have entered another one of my reading like crazy phases. I once again acknowledged the time tested truth that to lead you must read… So with that here are the two books that I have gone through as of late: Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell & Scouting the Divine by Margaret Feinberg.
Outliers deals with the fact that greatness is not as easy as one person being great and their determination pushing them into success. Yet it discusses and breaks down the realities of greatness come many times from being in the right place at the right time mixed with a crazy amount of practice or application (the 10,000 hour rule). The book begs the question why do some people succeed and others seem to fall short, his results are pretty amazing. I have to say Malcolm’s insight kept me captivated and the book is well worth checking out.
Scouting the Divine was probably the most pleasant surprise wrapped up in a book that I have ever came across. The book was actually given to me for free after attending the Catalyst Conference and I must say expectations weren’t high, but no more then 15 pages in and the book and it’s outlook had me sucked in. Margaret looks at how the bible was written with references to culture in mind such as shepherding. Her goal was to look deeper into those cultures or practices and then look back at scriptures with references to them, and the new found meaning is fresh and incredibly deep. This manner has really unlocked what was meant in several of the scriptures that has been lost in the “advanced” culture we live in today. By far the shepherding section of the book was my favorite as it most directly dealt with how God deals with us as people. Check it out you won’t be disappointed.
Fishers of Men Kenya T-Shirts and Jewelry
BE THE CHANGE…
We are making Fishers of Men shirts currently to support missions in Kenya. All the expense for the making of the shirts is being donated so the money raised goes 100% towards missions. Get involved and show you care, they matter, and make wearing your shirt the way you donate to the cause. Together we can make a difference in Kenya.
Hit me up with the size you need and the shirts will be $20.00, toorder respond here or email tj@redemptionshillchurch.com.
We are also making necklaces and keychains that can be customized, check some of them out below. They will $10.00 and also go towards the missions in Kenya.
