All I can say is wow! Bob Hyatt is central to a New York Times article! Thanks to Stephen Shields for noticing. The topic was the use of widgets in blogging. :)

I am wondering, speculating really, about when the new "young" leaders will step into the forefront of what God is doing. Yes, I know, the day of the baby boomers is not over. In fact, there are some who think there will be another "spiritual awakening" among baby boomers as they get closer to facing their own mortality.

No, I am talking about the "next generation" of leaders, who are now starting to push the ripe old age of 40 pretty good. Those who are coming after Brian McLaren, Erwin McManus, or for that matter Rick Warren. Joel Osteen is a young leader, but he doesn't represent what I am thinking of.

I think I would like to hear more from people like Jordon Cooper, Bob Hyatt, or Kevin Rains.

Do you ever wonder what daily life was like for the apostle Paul. If you read between the lines, it doesn't sound like it was much of a picnic. Apparently there is something about living through trials that strengthens. Just read about Jordon Cooper's life in 2006 to get an idea of what I am talking about. Jordon, you are my hero. May God continue to bless you in 2007.

Bill Dahl at Porpoise Diving Life pipes in with his Best of the Emerging Church in 2006 awards. I am honored to be included on the list. Bill recently finished his book, The Porpoise-Diving Life, Reality for the Rest of Us. Can't wait to read it.

I found this by way of Jordon Cooper's Church of the Exiles site. It is from David Fitch's Reclaiming The Mission blog:

TEN THINGS ANYONE WHO JOINS IN A TWENTY FIRST CENTRUY MISSIONAL CHURCH PLANT SHOULD NOT EXPECT

1.) Should not expect to regularly come to church for just one hour, get what you need for your own personal growth and development, and your kid’s needs, and then leave til next Sunday. Expect mission to change your life. Expect however a richer life than you could have ever imagined.

2.) Should not expect that Jesus will fit in with every consumerist capitalist assumption, lifestyle, schedule or accoutrement you may have adopted before coming here. Expect to be freed from a lot of crap you will find out you never needed.

3.) Should not expect to be anonymous, unknown or be able to disappear in this church Body. Expect to be known and loved, supported in a glorious journey.

4.) Should not expect production style excellence all the time on Sunday worship gatherings. Expect organic, simple and authentic beauty.

5. Should not expect a raucous "light out" youth program that entertains the teenagers, puts on a show that gets the kids "pumped up," all without parental involvement. Instead as the years go by, with our children as part of our life, worship and mission (and when the light shows dim and the cool youth pastor with the spiked hair burns out) expect our youth to have an authentic relationship with God thru Christ that carries them through a lifetime of journey with God.

6.) Should not expect to always "feel good,"or ecstatic on Sunday mornings. Expect that there will ALSO be times of confession, lament, self-examination and just plain silence.

7.) Should not expect a lot of sermons that promise you God will prosper you with "the life you've always wanted" if you’ll just believe Him and step out on faith and give some more money for a bigger sanctuary. Expect sustenance for the journey.

8.) Should not expect rapid growth whereby we grow this church from 10 to a thousand in three years. Expect slower organic inefficient growth that engages people’s lives where they are at and sees troubled people who would have nothing to do with the gospel marvelously saved.

9.) Should not expect all the meetings to happen in a church building. Expect a lot of the gatherings will be in homes, or sites of mission.

10.) Should not expect arguments over style of music, color of carpet, or even doctrinal outlier issues like dispensationalism. Expect mission to drive the conversation.

O AND BY THE WAY … Should not expect that community comes to you …. I am sorry but true community in Christ will take some "effort"and a reshuffling of priorities for both you and your kids. Yes I know you want people to come to you and reach out to you and you’re hurting and busy. But assuming you are a follower of Christ (this message is not for strangers to the gospel) you must learn that the answer to all those things is to enter into the practices of "being the Body" in Christ, including sitting, eating, sharing and praying together.

If anyone out there is interested in this kind of place … join us or another missional church gathering somewhere.

Live music, later hours and chill settings are guiding a “missing generation” back to church.

This article from the St. Petersburg Times says that the emerging church is a "cool" tweak to tradition. Really?

There are many folks attempting to define and describe the "emerging" church. For a laugh you should take a look at the wikipedia definition. Unbelievably imprecise. How postmodern is that?

There are not many who have been observing and writing about the emerging church for as long as I have. When I started Next-Wave I didn't know that it would become a "journal of the emerging church." I was born in 1949, early in the baby boomer generation. I was one of those raised in the 50s and 60s, who didn't trust anyone over 30 and who wasn't particularly appalled by sex, drugs and rock and roll. I raised all of my children as Christians. However in the mid-90s my oldest son was quite adamant that he did not believe in God. When he was 15 this did not seem like too big a deal. However, when he was a senior in college I was more concerned.

I did everything in my power to "get him saved." I took him to evangelistic churches. I preached to him. I witnessed to him. I gave him books. It was upsetting that years of Sunday School and Christian education had failed to bring him "into the fold." I tell you all of that so that you will understand my motivation. I became very interested in evangelizing what I thought of as generation X. In 1995 I accidentally became a pastor and by 1998 I had closed a church and was waiting on further orders from God.

It was around that time that I asked my friend, Rogier Bos, to design and start Next-Wave. I thought it was going to be about reaching Gen-X. Instead, it was all about postmodernism, post evangelicalism, terms I had never heard of, but that Rogier was very familiar with because of his thesis work and his exposure to Leadership Network.

I started Next-Wave because I was discouraged. In my opinion, the Builder generation did a poor job of evangelizing the Boomer generation. I was seeing the Boomers make the same mistakes our parents had made. Putting down music, clothing, hairstyles and other cultural accouterments that have absolutely nothing to do with the life of the spirit or with being a Christ-follower. I didn't see much happening in the group I was associated with at the time and in Christianity at large to reach young people.

However, it wasn't long after starting Next-Wave that I became aware that I had no reason to be discouraged. I saw that God was raising up young leaders around the world who wanted to reach their peers. They were experimenting, risking, sacrificing and struggling to do what God was calling them to do. In other words, I saw the next generation's church "emerging."

One thing that was very clear is that this was not an organized effort or "movement." But that God was doing something from a grassroots level, all over the world. Even today when you Google "emerging church" in the News section you get some pretty odd responses.

Of course, it is now time to relabel this thing that God is inspiring, this thing that God is doing through those he has called to minister to their younger non-baby boomer peers. It is no longer "emerging" because it has "emerged." We can see it now, for sure. Why in some ways, it has become copyrighted, trademarked and branded! Critics are making a living from criticizing it. Publishers are making money by publishing about it.

Do you see the progression I am talking about here: Gen-X to Postmodern to Emerging to _________ ?

Here's my question, what will we call this thing in the next few years, for having once emerged, a thing can no longer be emerging.

I hate to even provide a link to this website, Pyromaniacs. The baby boomer in me loves their graphics! But then I read Phil Johnson's October 25, 2006 post entitled "Fed Up.

In that post he flays both Rob Bell and Mark Driscoll, identifying them as from the emerging church "movement." The interesting thing is that both Rev. Bell and Driscoll pastor large churches. Bell's church, Mars Hill Bible Church was planted in 1999. Driscoll's Mars Hill Church started in Seattle in 1996. Both of these young ministers are pastoring churches that are ministering to their peers.

When I talk about their peers, I am talking about "young adults," you know the group that is nearly missing in action from the baby boomer churches? And yet baby boomer Johnson doesn't wait long to label these preachers as follows:

"Bell's message is not only unbiblical; it's anti-Christian." "...The result is not merely trivial: it's flat-out heretical. And in more ways than I care to enumerate."

...Driscoll's smutty language and preoccupation with all things lowbrow are inappropriate, unbecoming, and dishonoring to Christ."

Here's what I have to say to you Mr. Johnson, who died and made you the arbiter of heresy, bibicity, anti-Christianity, etc? Here's a biblical quotation for you:

1Judge not, that ye be not judged.

 2For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

 3And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Matt. 7:1-3 KJV via Biblegateway.com

I have some bad news for you Mr. Johnson, the people who attend the Mars Hills that you have criticized in your post won't ever attend John MacArthur's church. They would not be able to relate to his teaching or his theology. Should they, therefore, never hear the bible taught and be encouraged to follow Jesus? For I can guarantee you that Rev. Bell and Rev. Driscoll are teaching the bible, to the best of their ability and with all of their flaws, and they are encouraging their listeners to follow after Jesus.

You know how I define the emerging church? It is the church that will be around after you, Mr. Johnson, and I are dead and gone. Our generation will pass from the scene and we will have to answer to God for how we communicated his loving gospel to our own peers. These young men, Bell and Driscoll, will come along, maybe 25-30 years later and will give their own account. From where I sit, they aren't doing too badly.

Via Sivin Kit: You might be emerging if... This is just too good....:) And Andrew Hamilton adds to it with You too might be emergent...

For McLaren's response click here >>>

Resonate's Greenhouse has published a Church Planters Reading List containing the choices of a number of emerging church leaders and theologians. I perused the list carefully and it looks pretty good. Here's my advice, don't get too bogged down in reading, books don't plant churches, people do. :) I discovered the list via Jordon Cooper, who is one of the brains behind Resonate.