Food For Thought: Snowmaggedon Edition
Every week here at Pursuing Glory I try to bring together the best posts I’ve found that will equip the end-times church to operate in her God-ordained destiny. These are the best blogs, articles, books and other resources related to our purpose here at this site. Feel free to visit, comment, and make use of the resources found at each site.
This week finds me pretty much snowed in my house, with the news predicting 8 to 12 inches of snow. There are a lot worse things that could happen. I got to play with some of the most fun kids I know. There’s nothing quite like spontaneous, fun, free time with the family. If only I didn’t have to shovel first. And now, on to the links:
If We Have Been Raised With Christ
One of the traps we fall into frequently is letting the things of Jesus distract us from actually knowing and following Him. Quincy at Christ the Center takes a look at Paul’s instruction to the Colossians and how we can reclaim the wonder of simply knowing Christ.
One of the downfalls of making the transition into an organic church setting is that we can lose focus on our Master in the process. That’s why I love this post by Mercy and Wolfgang Simson at While We Slept. Being some of the original house church thinkers, they’re still finding themselves longing to know Jesus. I think you’ll enjoy this post.
This post by JD at Missiologically Thinking focuses on taking time to reflect on everything that you’re doing to increase Kingdom fruit. Getting this sort of macro-level thinking to happen frequently is important as we move forward in the days ahead.
Keith at Subversive1 shares about his journey into loving the poor more effectively. This is one area I think house churches are particularly well suited for.
Plant Churches Like a Missionary, Not a Pastor
One of the errors I see many rushing into is the tendency to think that just by planting a church, the lost will automatically get saved and discipled. Dave writes at the Resurgence about the need to be a missionary while planting a church, and not getting sucked into pastoring a group of only saved individuals.
Photo Credit: Design Probes – Food for Thought by centralasian.
Why You Come To Pursuing Glory
Welcome to post number 199 here on Pursuing Glory. You may have noticed that I haven’t blogged here recently, mostly because I’ve been wanting to do something significant for the 200th post. Normally, I’m not a big numbers guy, so I wouldn’t make a big deal over the 200th post, but for whatever reason, reaching that post number has got me thinking about the direction of the blog, who comes and reads what’s here, and what God intends to do through this blog. All of this is motivated me to take a look at my top posts and ask this question: Why do people come and read this blog.
Looking at the stats is a little telling. The number one post here on the blog is "A Summary of the Lakeland Revival." Undoubtedly, this blog post came out during the final months of the Lakeland Revival when controversy was beginning to swirl and so many came looking for information about what had happened. But I also think it speaks of the desire in the body of Christ to truly experience the power of Christ not only in our own lives but in the lives of the lost and dying. This post is significant because you come here believing God desires to pour out his Spirit in a dramatic way that awakens the nations.
The next most popular blog (which is really shocking to me) is called "Mark Driscoll Kicks Terry Virgo’s Butt." This blog recaps Mark Driscoll’s visit to New Frontiers and points you to the blog posts of both Mark and Terry. I’ve been totally shocked by how many times this page has been viewed. What is even more shocking to me is the fact that about half the traffic comes looking for information on Driscoll and half comes looking for information on Virgo. What’s driving those hits, I believe, is a sincere desire to experience and understand true apostolic leadership. Both of these men represent significant movements of believers around the world struggling for the truth of the Gospel to be presented to a lost and dying world. I believe some of you come because you’re hungry for the kind of Christianity where apostolic leadership is welcomed and encouraged.
"While We Slept" and "Wolfgang Opens A Webshop" are two other high ranking posts that feature Mercy and Wolfgang Simson. The content of these posts announce Mercy and Wolf each opening up a presence on the internet. I believe that these posts are visited frequently for the same reason that "Mark Driscoll Kicks Terry Virgo’s Butt" gets traffic. However, Mercy and Wolf represent something different as well. Mercy definitely has a prophetic anointing resting on her life. Wolfgang is definitely an apostolic leader in the body of Christ. But both of them also represent the growing house church movement that is developing all over the world. I’ve never discussed the house church movement in a very structured way but this blog definitely has become a place to discuss the shift going on in many peoples’ hearts to a more relational form of Christianity that meets in homes. I believe some of you come here to catch a glimpse of this transition that is taking place across the world.
Another post that gets some pretty significant attention on this blog always seems to be "Red Moon Rising Quote #2." This blog is a quote that came straight from the book "Red Moon Rising," which chronicles the birth of a prayer movement in Europe that challenges young adults to live lives of extravagant devotion to Jesus in the context of prayer and service. I know people come to this post because of the quote, but I believe that throughout the body of Christ there is a hunger to live lives of deep prayer and consecration to Jesus. I believe you come to the blog because you know that the move of God that is coming will be supported by a revolution in prayer, both individually and corporately.
Finally, Stuff I’m Reading has always been a significant page on this blog. This blog is significant in a way that is different from all the other posts. This page is all about me and what material God is using to grow and mature me. And in a way, I think this page is popular for the same reason that posts like "I Win (And Proof That I’m Not A Bad Sport)" and "Because She’s My Valentine" remain popular on the blog. If I can say this without being self-centered, I think a lot of you come here to stay caught up with me. This to a large degree was and is still the purpose of the blog. As I’ve slowly moved over to Facebook and Twitter, a lot of that personal "what are you doing" sort of content has slipped out of the posts here. However, in my attempt to focus in more on the blog again, look to see more of this as we go on. I’ll explain that later.
So this blog has a lot of people showing up for different reasons. But I believe that God is going to raise up a move of the Holy Spirit marked by radical signs and wonders, lead by seasoned apostolic men, who are extending the Kingdom through prayer, evangelism, and house church planting. I call it “this thing,” and if you’re interested in seeing where it goes, stick around. We’re in for a fun ride.
While We Slept
For those of you who enjoy stuff from Wolfgang Simson, his wife Mercy has started a blog that captures their life together. The Lord also gives Mercy strategic dreams for the body of Christ. If you’re interested in her blog you can check it out here.
Cluster Map
Pursuing Glory 