Seeds of Hope

Chris Elrod, pastor at Compass Point, Lakeland Florida, has been writing honestly about his experiences of church planting over three years with the Southern Baptist Convention. Chris has a background as a comedian and toured the United States during the 1990s. In January he wrote a four part series on his blog talking about the reframing of his leadership of the congregation that began as a Bible study in his lounge in 2004.

After three years Chris realised that he’d become sucked in to the pressure to recreate the coolness of well known ‘hip’ churches, trying to become the next Mark Driscoll or Rob Bell. Attempts to ramp up numbers through guilt messages and high profile community stunts just didn’t work, and in fact backfired. Read his posts to pick up on what he learned about integrity and compassion.

Part 1: I was heading around turn three when all of a sudden it spun out of control

Part 2: The Sound Of Screeching Tires And Crunching Metal

Part 3: Life On Pit Row

Part 4: The Conclusions.

The four part article has also been reproduced at Next-Wave Ezine.

Forge Missional Training Network is offering two weekends on pioneering leadership for mission in October, each with different content.

Friday/Saturday 12/13 October Goodlife Community Church, Buderim
Friday/Saturday 26/27 October Bracken Ridge Baptist Church, Bracken Ridge

Speakers are Stephen Hinks (ACOM), Randy Edwards (ACOM), Lloyd Martin (Praxis New Zealand), Duncan Brown (Capacity Builders), Beatriz Skippen (UC Prison Ministries), Dave Chatelier, Brent Sweeney and Brett Swan.

Steve Turner will be running Saturday afternoon workshops for the Uniting Church’s U-Turn initiative, encouraging the development of small groups that engage people outside the church environment.

Cost is $45 per day. Download the registration form here.

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