MarkO, or should I say Mark Oestreicher of YS has some valid comments on strategic puking, I mean strategic planning. Follow this LINK and read his take on what some churches are stuck in, and what really is NOT working.

" planning is more about asking the right questions than it is about predicting the right answers."

Where do we find in any of the OT or NT canon, information about a great oracle or crystal ball, that allows us to know the future?

"You are fed up with words, and I don't blame you. I am nauseated by them sometimes. I am also, to tell the truth, nauseated by ideals and with causes. This sounds like heresy, but I think you will understand what I mean.

It is so easy to get engrossed with ideas and slogans and myths that in the end one is left holding the bag, empty, with no trace of meaning left in it. And then the temptation is to yell louder than ever in order to make the meaning be there again by magic. Going through this kind of reaction helps you to guard against this. Your system is complaining of too much verbalizing, and it is right....

The big results are not in your hands or mine, but they suddenly happen, and we can share in them; but there is no point in building our lives on thispersonal satisfaction, which may be denied us and which after all is not that important."

- Thomas Merton

from Keith Drury, professor at Indiana Wesleyan University, about why boomers have a tendancy to resist the emerging church. LINK

I know that a lot of us are not in Michigan. Those us who are, there is something cool coming to Grand Rapids. Conerstone Univ is hosting a disscussion on the emerget church. You can check it out here. Register online too if you want. Brian McLearn is coming as well as some others. Luch comes with it. My Senior Pastor, Dave Perry, wanted me to pass this on to you. As you see, I thought is was a good idea. It comes with lunch, which Dave gives it 4 stars. If you guys come, we can sit together and talk with our mouths full of our 4 star lunch. check it out.

I wasn't able to go to NAC(North American Convention) of the Church of God, but I have heard and read some promising things, no doubt. I was most excited to hear that Reggie McNeal threw down on Monday night. Here are a couple quotes,

"i'm not here to help you do church better, because most of what we're doing is not going to matter. tweakin' this sucker is not gonna get it done"
"God takes attendance by asking, 'who's missing?' and there are a whole lot of somebody's missing--whole generations missing from our churches"
"just bless people--you're more likely to see people open up through blessing them than trying to convict them"

I also heard that McNeal compared fledgling church movements, or THE CHURCH, to the Pharisees souring God's intent, WOW.

here is the LINK to watch that sermon streamed online. Thanks to Ken Oldham for the info.

PBS diddy
The Emerging Church, Part 1

And from the evolving Wikipedia definition of The Emerging Church . . .
Chris Seay - “It should be clear we are championing the gospel and missional values, not what (some) describe as ‘ministry intentionally influenced by postmodern theory.’"

In the aftermath of a recent leadership summit, Emergent has appointed Tony Jones national coordinator. His appointment has drawn a mixed reaction from the blogosphere. Rev. Jones graciously speaks with Next-Wave. Link