Leadership | The Overflow

Sep 17 2009

Church Revitalization, Leadership, Resources

Scott Thomas on Replanting a Church

As I mentioned before, I’d like to use westcoastwitness.com to archive resources dealing with the topic of church revitalization.

I ran across a good series of blog posts over at TheResurgence.com from Scott Thomas, director of Acts 29 Church Planting Network.

Here’s a tidbit from Scott’s second post, Replanting: The Story:

I dreamed of a body that loved the Lord, loved his word, loved the church, and loved the calling from God to be instruments of righteousness in their community. I dreamed of a people who practiced spiritual holiness, rather than judging others for their lack of adherence to man-made rules. I dreamed of marriages that visibly demonstrated the relationship of Christ and the church. I dreamed of homes that were led by the Holy Spirit, by godly heads of households and by the Scriptures.

I dreamed of a church that had influence in its community: spiritually, morally, evangelistically, and socially. I dreamed of a church that served willingly and enthusiastically according to their spiritual gifts, passions, and God-given abilities.

I dreamed of a church body that had a burning passion to share the gospel in their city, their state, their nation, and their world and to be a vital link for the establishment of churches all across the world. I dreamed of a body that had an insatiable thirst to encounter God in a real, personal, and intimate way.

But was it just a dream? Could it be realized?

No, it wasn’t, and yes, it could (and can)!

Here are the links to all of the posts in this series:

Here are a couple of other posts Scott made that are related, but not formally included in the five part series:

Replanting a Missional Church <– tells of Scott’s ministerial experience with replants.
What is Replanting? <– very practical article (i.e. steps are listed) for any leader involved in anything resembling a replant.

For more westcoastwitness.com content on the topic of church revitalization, go here and here.

Tagged acts 29, acts 29 network, church replanting, church restart, Church Revitalization, church starting over, replanting, restart, revitalization, scott thomas, the resurgence, theresurgence.com, turn around church, turn around churches, turnaround church, turnaround churches

Aug 03 2009

3 Comments

Church Revitalization, Leadership, Resources

Turn It Around, or Put One Between Its Eyes – Tim Spivey on Turnaround Churches

As I mentioned here, I’ll be archiving resources to help with church revitalization efforts on westcoastwitness.com.

Tim Spivey has been writing a series on Turnaround Churches, and so far he’s made five entries.

I’m not sure if more are coming or not (since he hasn’t answered my question about that :p), but here are those that have been posted so far:

I could only locate parts 1-4 of this series, but they’re numbered through five. It appears that either #3 is missing, or Tim made a mistake in the numbering.

Anyway, I encourage you to read these entries – good stuff.

Tagged church renewal, church restart, Church Revitalization, church revival, church revive, renewal, restart, revitalization, revival, revive, tim spivey

Jul 19 2009

You’re Moving to San Francisco to Do Ministry Work? Why Bother?

[ CLICK HERE TO LISTEN – WES WOODELL: “CHRIST IN THE CITY” ]

I’ve been asked questions like those that make up the title of this blog post more than a couple of times in the past few years.

This morning, I had the privilege of walking the Downtown Church of Christ in Searcy, AR, through a lesson in which I tell a couple of stories about experiences I’ve had since moving to San Francisco. I also share the thought process and convictions behind mine and Airiel’s decision to live and minister on the west coast.

There are two goals I had for this lesson:

I wanted people to grasp the deep level of love God has for all mankind, and His desire to use the church to reach all mankind (I posted several Scriptures that highlight this about God here).
I wanted the members of the Downtown Church to think of missions, not just as work overseas or work in far-off corners of the globe, but also as work right here in the United States. We desperately need to see more evangelistic activity taking place in our major cities. I did my best to highlight the importance and practical benefits of evangelistic ministry therein, and also built a case as to why domestic missions in major U.S. cities should be a leading priority for our churches.

I’ve posted for you the lesson from the second service. I was more relaxed in my delivery, and left quite a bit more pleased with how it went than the sermon delivered in the first service.

Anyway, if you have a few minutes and want to listen to a couple of stories about my work in San Francisco, or if you’re interested in domestic missions in the United States, please check this lesson out.

Have a great day!

Tagged arkansas, christ in the city, christians in the city, church of christ, church of christ searcy ar, church or christ arkansas, city evangelism, city ministry, domestic missions, downtown church of christ, downtown church of christ searcy, evangelism city, evangelism in the city, god in the city, harding university, jesus, jesus in the city, joe brumfield, Lake Merced Church of Christ, ministry in the city, missionaries, missionaries in the city, missionary, missionary in the city, missions, online preaching, Online Sermons, Paul Fletcher, Preaching, San Francisco, san francisco christianity, san francisco domestic missions, san francisco missions, searcy ar, Urban Ministry, Wes Woodell, world missions

The Overflow

"For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." -Jesus

Category Archives: Leadership

Scott Thomas on Replanting a Church

Turn It Around, or Put One Between Its Eyes – Tim Spivey on Turnaround Churches

You’re Moving to San Francisco to Do Ministry Work? Why Bother?