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Church Planting is NOT the Mission

Rob — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:57:51 +0000

My fellow Mississippian, church planter, and pastor Terry Ivy has an excellent blog over at terryivy.com. I’ve had the pleasure to meet and talk with Terry, who is fired up about Jesus and His church.

He recently posted a blog article: “Church Planting is NOT the Mission,” part of his ReThinking Church group of posts. Here’s a line from the post:

… if we count the establishing or planting of a church as the final goal, we miss the heart of Jesus and the example of the Apostle Paul in the book of Acts.

He goes on to address some of the problems caused when planting a church is the final goal. He also generously supplies Scripture to point to the true final goal. Terry is very insightful. If you’re a church planter, or considering that direction, you should read Terry’s post. In fact, you should read everything Terry has, starting with this one.

Link: Church Planting is NOT the Mission – terryivy.com
Link: ReThinking Church Blog Series – terryivy.com

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Rescue Church Planting

Rob — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 21:00:04 +0000

A very good post about a topic that’s heavily on my heart and mind.

PlantingTheGospel.com: Rescue Church Planting

This post Rescue Church Planting originated at robwestbrook.com. See more like this at robwestbrook.com - adventures of a mississippi church planter.

The Organic Church Makes the USA Today

Rob — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 03:38:58 +0000

It was good to see an article about “simple” or “organic” church on the front page of Thursday’s USA Today. I’m really interested in this movement. The article was a positive one I think. Here’s the link:
Celebrating a Simpler Easter

This post The Organic Church Makes the USA Today originated at robwestbrook.com. See more like this at robwestbrook.com - adventures of a mississippi church planter.

Ed Stetzer’s Missional Family Tree

Rob — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 15:00:32 +0000

Ed Stetzer, the church planting guru, tweeted a link to a graphic some time ago. The graphic is “A Missional Family Tree” from Leadership Journal, and identifies books crucial to understanding the Missional movement. It’s a great little source.

Link: A Missional Family Tree

(via @edstetzer)

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Be the Church

Rob — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 20:08:05 +0000

After Sunday’s service at LifePointe Church I put this on my Twitter Feed:

Don’t just go to church, be the church. Church is not something we do, church is who we are. Be the church tomorrow as much as today.

We’re doing a message series called FRESH, where we’re looking at ways to begin again fresh in our Christian life. Sunday’s topic was “ReFresh Your Mission,” where we thought about our call as missionaries in the context we find ourselves everyday.

In much of our southern culture, church is a place, a time, and events. One of the challenges of any pastor or church in the Bible Belt is moving our people’s thinking from “doing church” to “being the church.” Our emphasis is on the missionary or “missional” aspect of our lives, where we’re always looking and praying, “Lord, let me see what you see.”

What are some ways you’ve found that help you understand and practice your missionary calling? Are you still wrestling with the idea that church is more than an event?

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Think Long

Rob — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 11:30:00 +0000

Mark Batterson, pastor of National Community Church, in Washington, D.C. is one of those guys that just seizes my attention. His books, like Soul Print and Primal really speak to me and my circumstances. Here’s a video of Mark talking about thinking long.

What do you think of what Mark said? Are you willing to “think long?”

This post Think Long originated at robwestbrook.com. See more like this at robwestbrook.com - adventures of a mississippi church planter.

Old News Article about One of My Africa Trips

Rob — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 23:09:47 +0000

Somehow I stumbled across an article a local paper published after interviewing me about an African mission trip. Thought I’d share it and also give myself a link to the article to preserve the link. The interview was done after my first Africa visit, in 2005. The link is below.

Enterprise Journal: Africa Mission Trip

Posted via email from RobWestbrook.com

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A New Approach?

Rob — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:37:03 +0000

Take a look at the video below. Think this should be a new church approach to the community around us?

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Amory MS Demographics

Rob — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:00:07 +0000

A church wanting to be on mission in their town will want to know how their community is shaped economically, racially, and in many other categories. If you’re curious about our community, Amory, Mississippi, here a quick little chart generated at the website zipskinny.com. Very interesting, wouldn’t you say? See anything that stands out or surprises you? Leave a comment and we’ll talk about it.

Market Research and Demographic Information (education, marital status, median income, occupation, racial diversity, age) for ZIP Code 38821 in AMORY, MS

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Velocity 2010 Summary

Rob — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:47:46 +0000

Last Monday and Tuesday, several of us from LifePointe Church made the trek to Cumming, Georgia, for the Velocity 2010 Conference. Velocity was presented by churchplanters.com and hosted at Mountain Lake Church.

Instead of giving you a play by play, I’ll give you a summary of what moved me most. While all sessions and speakers brought something to the table, the two most significant times were the sessions by Alan Hirsch and Rick Warren.

While I had heard of Alan Hirsch, I was not familiar with his focus. But from his session, I see that his heart is for recovering the ways of the early church, or, as stated in one of the title of his books, The Forgotten Ways. Alan most challenged my thinking and gave me much to consider for the future.

Rick Warren used his one hour session just to speak wisdom to the church planters and leaders there. All he said was epic. His heart for church planters really shined. I loved listening to him and wished he had continued for several more hours. Rick takes a lot of heat from all sides but he is the real deal.

The Velocity 2010 conference was well worth the time and travel. Just having some of the LifePointe guys with me and seeing them light up was worth it all. I’m looking forward to the conference in 2011.

This post Velocity 2010 Summary originated at robwestbrook.com. See more like this at robwestbrook.com - adventures of a mississippi church planter.