Thursday, August 3
The most important of all important things...
I leave Chicago in the morning...it's been 8 weeks.A really good 8 weeks.
I go to Evansville, IN tomorrow...Nashville on Sunday morning...and I'm in Sacramento by Sunday at 8pm PST.
I've been preparing different things for Sacramento and the Church Coaching Solutions conference...one of the things I've been thinking about in my preparation has been 'What are the things that I have valued the most in all my years of ministry, what are the things when I think about what a new church should value should be at the top of the list?"
Here's my initial list...(Tell me what you think. Also, tell me what your words would be)
Story…entering into this ‘unfolding narrative’ that is God’s Word. A story of God and His people, a story of a Father who relentlessly pursues His people from beginning to end, seeking to make us a part of this story by bringing His family back together. It is a story, an unfolding narrative, which must overwhelm every aspect of my life.
Wholeness…Colossians 1- ’we proclaim Jesus so that we may present everyone complete in Him’. I hunger for a community that resembles that perfect balance of grace and truth found in the person of Jesus. I have always desired a complete faith, a faith that goes beyond ritual, beyond religion and is made whole in a relationship with Jesus, His church, and the communities where we live.
Restoration…Jesus wants to do much more than forgive our sins; We believe that God wants to redeem every part of us. He wants to capture our real self—full of flaws and brokenness—and full of hope. He wants to restore the broken pieces that are our lives. Restoration through Jesus is more than a legal transaction; it’s a way of life. It is an ongoing, never-ending restoring of our souls, our lives and the world in which we live.
Authenticity…one of the hardest. A desire to be a community of people who can come just as we are, who are not afraid to be ourselves, to let ourselves be known. Based on the belief that when people see followers of Jesus who are real and authentic, they will see a Jesus who is real and authentic.
Creativity…We are to mirror God’s creativity. We are in truth created to be creators. Being creative is not a waste of man’s time. It is not a waste to pursue artistic or scientific pursuits in creativity, rather beauty, art, and creativity are to be valued, used, and understood as coming from the Creator.
Please pray for me as I travel...
shalom
Mark Nelson at 9:52 PM 5comments
5 Comments
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at 8:53 AM
said... Mark...I leave today for Romania and Ukraine...keep updated on my blog at http://elohimministry.blogspot.com.
God Bless and Safe Travel.
Cameron-
at 12:17 PM
said...
sounds good, mark. just try to avoid the acronym temptation, because SCRAW and CRAWS and WARCS dont really set the right tone :)
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at 11:21 PM
Nicole said... I hope your windy path back to Knoxville is full of blessings. So glad you got to spend 8 weeks here, and even more grateful because we got to meet you, monica, and the kids!
Give Knoxville a big kiss for me when you get there.-
at 9:04 AM
said...
I wish you had a "contact mark" tab or something. :)
This has nothing to do with your post, but Eugene Peterson's new book "Eat This Book" is excellent (half way through it right now). It's about chewing on the bible...literally. I just wanted to recommend it to you.-
at 10:24 AM
Mark Nelson said...
Jeph...I've heard great things about "Eat this book"...I'm buried in church planting books at the moment, but I'll put it on my list, the ever growing, never shrinking list of books I want to read...
By the way...Happy Birthday!