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Brian Spahr is a 4th year MDiv student at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg. After graduation in May 2008 he plans to start a new Church community in Charlotte, NC. This site exists primarily as a place to think out loud and engage in conversation about all kinds of things that are involved in discovering how to be the Church.

Old Church Model ‘Killing the West’ -Journal Article Review

Old Church Model ‘Killing the West’ | Christianpost.com
This is a pretty light article… simply reporting on what is being said a conference in Texas, but there is a challenging quote from Leonard Sweet. He says, “The “Achilles’ heel” of the church is the practice of attractional Christianity. “It’s all ‘come and see’ and not ‘go [...]

Five Streams of the Emerging Church - Article Review

The emerging church is a challenging “movement” to define. In fact, most involved in what is labeled as “emerging” would argue that it is not a movement at all, but simply a conversation. Add to this the organization “Emergent”, which has become a prominent voice in the conversation because of their published works, [...]

Technology and the Church

I am very interested in the use of electronic media and technology in the church. Yesterday I came across this short bog post that sparked a few thoughts.
Click Here for the full post.
Mark Batterson is the Sr. Pastor at National Community Church in Washington DC. They are a large multi-site church that meets in [...]

What do we value?

I came across this article today: Former Denny’s declared landmark - USATODAY.com
Basically there is a building in Seattle that is being protected from demolition because a local preservation organization fought to have declared a local landmark… and succeeded. It turns out that the architecture of the building is in the “Googie” style, which [...]

What tools have you found useful?

I’m always curious as to what folks are using to keep there lives in order or to work more efficiently or things that are just functional and cool.  These can be online tools, gadgets, whatever.  What do you use and how do you use it?

Defining Missional and Organic

This was a helpful article from Alan Hirsch
http://www.christianitytoday.com/smallgroups/articles/smallgroupmissionofgod.html
He offers some good clarification of over-used (yet often misunderstood) terms. IE:
What does the term missional mean to you?
Well, that’s one of those very difficult terms because it’s so widely used. But for me, it primarily refers to a church that organizes itself around the mission of God, [...]

I’m a cartoon!

Just found out about an interesting web tool(?) called bitstrips that is actually quite versatile in creating avatars and then building comic strips. I’m not sure what use I really have for it, but it sure is fun to think I can be a cartoon any time I want.

The Plan So Far

My last post was a brief spot about vision. As much as I am an idealist when it comes to what the vision of the Church should be, I know that there are some practical realities I have to prepare for. It is important to lead with purpose and direction while remaining open [...]

What is my vision for the Church?

I think this is the question I get the most when people find out that I want to start a new church.  “What is it going to look like…how are you going to do things?”  I’m never quite sure how to answer this question.  Sure, I have some things that I value and a lot [...]

Was anyone else disturbed by "The Big Give”?

Last night we watched Oprah’s new show called, “The Big Give”. The basic premise is that 10 people are traveling around the country and each week they are given a task that involves helping someone in need. This part is good…I’m all for helping people. But then here is the kicker. [...]

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