Tag Archives: mars hill church

Preach the Word 2013: Missional Preaching || Alex Early

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bookI’m at the Preach the Word conference through Acts 29 today and as always, posting my notes to the sessions I attend.

Alex Early is the Lead Pastor of Mars Hill Church Ballard. Alex’s session was on missional preaching and how to preach into the culture God has sent us to.

Pastor Alex was the planting and lead pastor of Four Corners Church in Newnan, Georgia before leaving for Mars Hill Church. Prior to church planting Alex has received his Masters in hermeneutics at the London School of Theology, as well as having received a M.Div. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is currently a Doctoral Candidate at Reformed Theological Seminary. Alex and his wife Jana have been married for eight years and have two kids.

Here are some things that jumped out from his talk:

  •  If you want your life to remain unchanged and your church to remain unmotivated or have people sing about Jesus with their hands in their pockets, ignore the bible. 
  • The nature of the Bible is that it takes over our lives.
  • Jesus is called a friend of gluttons, drunks, tax collectors and sinners (Matthew 11:19). That’s how we should be described.
  • No one should ever have a bigger vision for the world than the men and women of God.
  • Who in the city you live in is beyond the saving grace of God?
  • The only hope you have as a missionary is to embrace the reality and reminded daily of the grace of God.
  • The gospel is for those who have been crushed by legalism.
  • The gospel is for the slut and for those who are offended that a pastor would say the word slut.
  • The gospel is for everyone, no matter where they stand or what they do. All of us need the gospel.
  • The gospel is the most inclusive message you will ever hear and so exclusive in how it saves people.
  • The Bible is written mostly by 3 murderers, so don’t say God can’t save anyone.
  • If you anchor your identity in the fact that you are the prodigal that the father has forgiven, living on mission isn’t something you have to work at, but something you work out.
  • If you want to preach effectively or understand grace, remember where you were the night before you met Jesus.
  • As a pastor, I need Jesus as bad as the people I preach to.
  • The gospel is God saves sinners.
  • The mission is very simple: make disciples who make disciples who make disciples.
  • The art of hermeneutics is the art of interpretation.
  • Being a student of culture means understanding it. Understanding why people do what they do.
  • Missional preachers exegete scripture, culture, congregation, self.
  • When you preach, you must have a clear understanding of what the Scripture is and who it is about and who it is written by. Whatever the goal of Scripture is, that is the goal of preaching.
  • If the bible doesn’t provoke you or annoy, you aren’t paying attention. It came to wage war on you.
  • The author of the Bible is always present with every reader.
  • The Bible says God is already on mission and then bringing us into his fold and sending us on mission.
  • All theology is an argument against someone or something.
  • We want to make sure that we are answering questions that the culture is actually asking.
  • Too often people who love apologetics don’t lead anyone to Jesus because they’re concerned about being right.
  • As a pastor, are you provoked by the idols of your city and culture (Acts 17:16).
  • As a pastor, do you know what people love and hate about your city? Do you know who is successful, who is hurting? Do you know the goals and vision of the city?
  • Do you know why people of your city aren’t worshiping Jesus? What are the sins and idols of your city?
  • Start preaching to those people you want to see.
  • Pastors should know what the concerns of the congregation are. How do they feel about war, healthcare, the economy. Who is influencing those in your congregation? What celebrities do they look up to?
  • Elders are to be well thought of by outsiders. Do non-Christians know your elders? Do they like them?
  • Would you say what is on your Facebook status to a room full of lost people?
  • Being around lost people will cost you comfort because they don’t worship your God, they worship their god.
  • Instead of seeing a sinner, see someone who has the potential to change the world for Jesus.
  • The gospel demands you can your reputation, to give up lies to follow Jesus.
  • Being on mission will cost you time as lost people won’t call you on 9-5. Their lives fall apart after 5pm.
  • Being on mission will cost money, being where lost people are will cost money.
  • Being on mission means you’ll need the Jesus who sent you there.
  • Being on mission will never cost you more than it cost God.

Alex’s session was so good for my soul. So convicting.

Preach the Word 2013: Preaching God’s Two Words || Justin Holcomb

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bookI’m at the Preach the Word conference through Acts 29 today and as always, posting my notes to the sessions I attend.

One of the speakers is Justin Holcomb. His topic was an incredibly important theological topic when it comes to preaching: preaching God’s 2 words – law and gospel. Justin used Galatians 3:1 – 3, 10 – 14 as his text.

Justin is a pastor at Mars Hill Church, where he serves as Executive Director of The Resurgence and leads the Leadership Development department. He is also Adjunct Professor of Theology and Culture at Reformed Theological Seminary and previously taught at the University of Virginia. Justin holds two masters degrees from Reformed Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from Emory University. He and his wife Lindsey are the authors of Rid of My Disgrace: Hope and Healing for Victims of Sexual Assault, and he his new book is On the Grace of God.

Here are some things that jumped out in his talk:

  • It is important to understand how law and gospel relate as both are from God. 
  • If we mess up the relationship between the law and the gospel, we are corrupting the core of the Christian faith.
  • When we miss this, we miss the core of the gospel.
  • We know from Scripture that Christ died to set us free.
  • Christ fulfilled the law perfectly.
  • Christ was raised from the dead for our justification.
  • We have been set free from the bondage of sin, the fear of death. We are called what Jesus was, pure and perfect.
  • The gospel has no condemnation.
  • Thesis 1: the doctrinal contents of the Holy Scripture, both of the Old Testament and the New Testament are made up of two doctrines different fundamentally from each other – the Law and the Gospel.
  • The law condemns and the gospel comforts.
  • The law is everything that commands, the gospel is everything that promises favor in Christ.
  • The problem is not with God’s law, but with us.
  • The law directs and the gospel delivers.
  • The 10 commandments are the summary of the law.
  • The law can’t heal what it diagnosis.
  • The law of God is perfect, true and righteous. It is holy, right and good.
  • The law can do nothing to create what it commands (Romans 7).
  • The function of the law is not to generate obedience, grace is.
  • God’s law and God’s gospel are two different words with two different functions.
  • The law tells us the truth but fails to convey the power to fulfill what it commands.
  • The gospel is the good news is that Jesus’ burden is light and there is no more “no” as that went to Jesus on the cross.
  • The gospel reveals God’s goodness, his mercy and his benefits.
  • Jesus took the law very seriously. He came to fulfill it, not abolish it.
  • Jesus summarizes the law in Matthew 22 by telling us to love God with all of us and love our neighbor as yourself.
  • Jesus commands love of God all the time.
  • Jesus doesn’t just summarizes the law, he intensifies it. The sermon on the mount (Matthew 5-7) is a great example of this. “You have heard it said…”
  • Jesus goes past the outward evidence of obedience to get to our heart.
  • Jesus’ call to be perfect is to give up what we worship so we can worship Jesus.
  • Thesis #2: Only he is an orthodox teacher who not only presents all articles of faith in accordance with Scripture, but also rightly distinguishes from each other the Law and the Gospel.
  • Law and gospel go together and in that order.
  • When we use the law to look good, it isn’t to get what Jesus gives us.
  • We can’t have the law without the gospel, but we can’t have the gospel without the law.
  • Forgiveness means never bringing it up.
  • Don’t replace the ministry of the Holy Spirit with law or exhortations motivating the human spirit.
  • Your goal in preaching is not to motivate someone.
  • Exhortation is not yelling or shaming.
  • Thesis #3: Rightly distinguishing the Law and the Gospel is the most difficult and the highest art of Christians in general and of theologians in particular. It is taught only by the Holy Spirit in the school of experience.
  • The only appropriate response to law and gospel is repentance.

Great opening session.

Preach Better Sermons || Mark Driscoll

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bookI’m watching the online conference Preach Better Sermons today and wanted to share some of the learnings I picked up. One of the speakers is Mark Driscoll. Mark is the founding pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington, and is one of the world’s most downloaded and quoted pastors. He and his wife, Grace, co-authored Real Marriage, which became a #1 New York Times best seller. His audience, fans and critics alike, spans the theological and cultural left and right. He was named one of the 25 most influential pastors of the past 25 years by Preaching magazine in 2010, and his audio sermon podcast is regularly #1 on iTunes’ Religion & Spirituality chart and has been among the Top 50 of all podcasts at times.

Here are some things that jumped out from his segment:

  • It’s impossible to take the Bible and not see mission. 
  • Being sent is everywhere in the Bible.
  • God’s people are on mission to see more people become God’s people.
  • People showed up at your church, they expect to hear from the Bible.
  • To preach to men you have to say hard things.
  • Churches have this opportunity to teach men how manage money, be married, raise kids, work hard. Nowhere else will teach them all that.
  • Let God speak through your personality and who you are.
  • Give yourself grace to find out who you are and grow into who you are meant to be.
  • There is a difference between a flock and an audience, shows the difference between a pastor and a speaker.

Monday Morning Mind Dump…

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  • So many things I’m thankful for right now and blown away by
  • Can’t believe we’ve been at Magee on Sunday mornings as Revolution Church for 6 weeks now
  • We continue to have more guests than ever before and the excitement among our churches continues to grow and the expectation that God is moving continues every week
  • We’ve been in our new house for 8 days now and it feels like home
  • We’ve already met almost half of our street and had some great gospel conversations with people
  • We were definitely more strategic in our thinking about where we moved this time around and it is showing
  • Yesterday was a great day at Revolution
  • I took the last 2 weeks off from preaching because of our family’s move and I’m glad I did
  • Forgot how much energy moving takes
  • Grateful for the way Mike and Dave stepped up and how well they did
  • If you missed yesterday, you can listen to it here
  • You can also listen to Mike’s great sermon on Ephesians 3:1 – 13 here
  • Really excited to preach this Sunday on Ephesians 4:1 – 10 and look at what separates the churches and people that God uses from those that don’t get used and consequently, cease to be worthwhile to the movement of the gospel
  • Got an advanced copy of Mark Driscoll’s new book Who do you think you are to blog a review for, really excited to dive into it
  • As a pastoral team, we spent some time this past week in Los Angeles with the elders of Mars Hill Church and learned a ton in terms of being a multi-church movement
  • Really excited to continue to move forward in this way
  • Our MC starts tomorrow
  • The break was great, but I’m really excited to jump back into the rhythm of MC’s
  • If you haven’t gotten into one yet, stop waiting
  • Enough of what is going on, time to jump back into sermon prep
  • See you at Revolution on Sunday

[Image Credit]

Prophet, Priest & King (Dave Bruskas)

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Today, me and the rest of our pastors are at Mars Hill Connect Day. Really enjoying the time with the team and what we’re learning. The second session was with the Network Pastor of Mars Hill Church, Dave Bruskas.

Here are my notes:

  • Jesus loves his church
  • Jesus holds the title of Senior Pastor
  • This is not a personality profile or spiritual gift assessment
  • The goal of triperspectival leadership is How do we as a team lead the church well?

If Jesus is the Senior Pastor of the church, how does that play out in the life of the church?

  • Jesus leads his church through 3 primary functions: prophet, priest, and king

Ephesians 4:11 – 13 

  • Jesus doesn’t just give gifts to leaders, he gives gifted leaders to the church he loves
  • Jesus gives leaders to the church so that in collective unity would know Jesus, we get full knowledge of Jesus when Jesus gives gifted leaders to the church so that He can lead the church
  • Jesus leads his church by giving his church gifted leaders, so that those gifted leaders might proclaim him so that the church in unity grows

Ephesians 4:15

  • We grow up in truth through love

Application

  • Leaders help people move in the direction of becoming more like Jesus
  • No one man can best fill all the offices of Senior Pastor Jesus
  • Leading the church on mission with Jesus is a team project
  • You have everything and everyone you need to reach everyone God wants you to reach
  • Your leadership team is most likely imbalanced or incomplete if you are not making progress on mission
  • The best way to build your team is to key off of the lead pastor
  • Your team will progress from prophet, to priest, to king
  • The best team is the one that best reflects the leadership of Senior Pastor Jesus

The Call to Stewardship (Sutton Turner)

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Today, me and the rest of our pastors are at Mars Hill Connect Day. Really enjoying the time with the team and what we’re learning. The first session was with the Executive Pastor of Mars Hill Church, Sutton Turner.

Here are my notes:

  • It’s all about Jesus
    • 2 Corinthians 8:9
    • Hebrews 4:14
    • 1 Peter 5:4
    • Everything that we do is all a response to what Jesus has done
  • Governance
    • Jesus is our senior pastor
    • Board of advisors and accountability
      • Approve budgets
      • Hold elders accountable, pray for the elders, they pastor the executive elders
        • Ask about the elders marriage, how their kids are doing
      • Executive compensation
      • Approve bylaws
  • Executive elders
    • Strategic decisions
    • Day to day oversight
    • Prophet, priest, and king
  • Full council of elders
    • Alter doctrinal statement
    • Approve Board of Advisors nominees
    • 60+ current elders
  • Advisory committees
    • Board of elders
      • 3 executive elders + 4 elders at large
      • Annual audit and budget process
      • Review audit
      • Senior ministry council
        • Oversees all ministry at mars hill
        • 3 EE + Executive directors
        • Ministry oversight
      • Leadership council
        • 3 EE + Lead pastors
        • Input on new initiatives & policy changes
        • Approve new elders
  • Executive Pastor
    • The executive pastor must complete the lead pastor, not compete with the lead pastor
    • Executive pastors love Jesus, love the church, and love their lead pastor
    • Guys that burn out as lead pastors, they are doing things that God has not gifted them to do and someone needs to step up and do those things
  • We are one church and we’re 14 churches
    • 2 Corinthians 8:13 – 14
    • Take the abundance of one church to offset the need of another church
    • The amount of staff a church gets is based on how many people attend, not based on money
  • Sowing and reaping
    • 2 Corinthians 9:6
    • Matthew 28:19
    • Core Four – this is what Mars Hill focuses on
      • Sunday services
      • Equipping & Training
      • Leadership development
      • Community
  • Stewardship
    • 2 Corinthians 8:20 – 21
    • Stewardship starts with Jesus
      • We give because Jesus gave
      • Jesus calls us to be good stewards
      • How are you doing?
  • Stewardship of people
    • Budget based on people, not church affluence
    • Staffing based on people, not church affluence
    • Compensation based on responsibility and external studies
    • Leadership development