Grace Covenant Church

Sereena and I are back in Los Angeles, having spent the weekend in Midland, Texas with Pastor Morris Brooks of Grace Covenant Church.  I preached and Sereena sang on Sunday.  GCC is a church plant which meets in a local Christian school.  I met Morris at the Shepherds’ Conference in Los Angeles in March and discussed with him the ministry of The Shepherd’s Bible College.  His interest in ministry training in New Zealand resulted in this visit.  We are excited about the partnership that is being established between Grace Covenant Church and The Shepherd’s Bible College through The Master’s Academy International.

Grace Community Fellowship

This past Sunday, I preached at Grace Community Fellowship in Georgetown, Texas.  GCF is pastored by an old friend from my seminary days, Larry Loden.  Here is a photo of us with the Lodens in front of the church.  I was also privileged to minister to the highschool group on Wednesday night.

Lakeside Bible Church

Sereena and I had a wonderful visit to Lakeside Bible Church, in Montgomery, Texas last weekend.  Our friends Ken and Kelli Ramey, Adam and Lisa Tyson, and new friends Bob and Barbara Ramey were tremendous hosts who spoiled us with great fellowship and wonderful hospitality.

At Lakeside, I preached at two duplicate morning services and also ministered in the high school group at a third morning service. Enfield, the Resolved worship band who arrange great Christian hymns for contemporary worship, were leading worship on this day. They also led a worship concert in the evening. We were extremely impressed with their hearts of devotion and wonderful example of selfless worship. We were able to hang out with the band members (John and Lisa Martin, David, Wil, and Ryan) in the afternoon and even discussed a potential visit to New Zealand.

The Lakeside congregation of around 400 were so attentive during the worship service and sermon.  That comes as a result of the faithful teaching and preaching from Pastor Ken Ramey, author of Expository Listening.  Ken, his wife Kelli, and Adam Tyson (Lakeside’s associate pastor) are all travelling to New Zealand in June next year to minister at Impact Bible Conference 2013.  We are really looking forward to it!

PS. We also enjoyed an hour on the water on Monday.  Here's a cute photo of Ken and Kelli with whom we enjoyed sweet fellowship.

Berean Bible Church

I preached and Sereena sang at Berean Bible Church on Sunday.  What a privilege to return again to a church that faithfully supports The Shepherd’s Bible College every month through The Master’s Academy International.  I first met the elders of this church six years ago and quickly developed a deep love for them and the congregation in Arroyo Grande, CA.  It is always a blessing to visit and encourage the saints at BBC.

Pictured are Rodney and Mary-Jane Morabito (Rodney is an elder at BBC), Mark and Lori Britten (friends from LA who traveled with us), me and Sereena, and Erik and Angel Swanson (Erik is the pastor at BBC), with their daughter, Olivia.

Dissertation Update

In my doctoral research, I have been studying the impact of technology on sermon-listening. It used to be that a listener and a preacher had to be in the same room in order for the preaching event to take place. In Jesus' case, a hillside or shoreline would suffice. Today, that's not the situation. A listener can experience a sermon via cassette tape, CD, DVD, MP3, Internet connection, live-streaming, YouTube, multi-site venue, and virtual church worlds. Some people even attend online church via an avatar which they create, dress, and give a personality all of its own. Future technological advancements will only increase the possibilities.

The point of my dissertation is to connect Christian fellowship with sermon-listening. The two cannot be separated. And yet technology makes it possible to do just that. But is technology to blame? Or is it a deeper issue? I think it is the latter.

I think that we prefer to listen to a sermon alone because we've succumb to the secular attitudes of the day—individualism, autonomy, self-will, anti-authority. We simply don't like the idea of accountability. But that's what fellowship is—a community-oriented effort to become more Christ-like in the context of loving care and encouragement.

We have allowed our secular culture to affect us so much that even if we're sitting in church with other Christians listening to a sermon, we still listen alone. When was the last time you discussed sermon application with someone after the sermon? When was the last time you prayed with someone about their sermon application? That's the measure of our commitment to actual Christian fellowship.

I think that a slow change has taken place in the church over the past one hundred years. We haven't noticed the change. But we need to consider its implications. How we can re-establish genuine Christian fellowship that is solidly connected to the sermon experience in the context of the church?

Doctor of Ministry Update

Well, I have attended the all the seminars and completed all the coursework.  The past three years seem to have flown by.  Thanks to everyone who has been praying for me.

On Monday, Sereena and I embark on a three-month writing sabbatical to Los Angeles in which I hope to finish the final requirement of the D. Min. programme—a doctoral dissertation.

My subject is: Listening to Sermons as a Community.

The focus will be on how to maximise the Sunday sermon experience by connecting it to genuine Christian fellowship.  Let me explain. . .  I think that in our individualistic postmodern society, the church has fallen prey to the idea that spiritual growth—via listening to sermons—is a personal journey which we all take alone.  This individualism is evidenced by the huge interest we take in the popular 'pixel pastors' whose sermons are readily available online, and are enjoyed from the comfort and distance of our own homes.

Of course, there are some benefits, but there are down-sides too.  Here's one: I think we have learned to bring that individualistic sermon-listening mindset into the church.  The result is that when we actually come to church, sit and listen to the Sunday sermon, we listen to it alone, never thinking that maybe we have a responsibility to respond to the sermon as a church, not just as an individual.  I'd like to encourage the church to rediscover the vital link between genuine Christian fellowship and the Sunday sermon.

So that is the project.  Let me know your thoughts and comments.

Please pray for me.  I am a little nervous, not knowing just how I will go, sitting in the library all day, every day.  Sereena will be there encouraging me.  Please pray for her too :)

Impact 2012 Memories

The Impact website has been updated.  The audio recordings of all the Impact 2012 sessions have been uploaded.  They are now available for free download here: Impact Audio Downloads

And here is the official 2012 Impact Bible Conference slideshow.  Enjoy the memories:

 

The conference theme for Impact 2013 is A Dynamic Body: The purpose, priorities, and practices of the local church.  Our main speakers are Scott Ardavanis and Ken Ramey.  Kelli Ramey will teach the women's seminars and Adam Tyson will return next year to lead the youth and youth leaders seminars.

Please let us know if you have any questions about Impact or ministry in general.  We are here to serve you and hope to continue our ministry to you even between your visits to us.

Thanks for making Impact so special this year.  And again, please let us know if we can serve you in some way.

New Semester: New Beginnings

With the end of one semester comes the beginning of another. During the month of July, The Shepherd's Bible College takes its mid-year break. Now is the time to be making plans for a new lineup of courses beginning 31 July.

Our Hastings campus hosts both midweek and weekend courses. Take a look at these options . . .




Our Auckland location hosts weekend block courses in Greenlane. Here are the weekend options . . .
 

To enrol in any of these courses, click here.

Donate to The Shepherd's Bible College

Auckland Block Course on Preaching

This coming weekend, I am teaching an intensive block course in Auckland on expository preaching.  Please be praying for a great impact on the preaching ministries of the students in the class.  Then on Sunday (13 May), I will preach at Auckland Bible Church (www.abcchurch.co.nz).  Please be praying for that too.