Blogs and Articles

FSM Peru Team Demolition God By: Caden Nance Peru Trip Round Two! That’s what I called this trip since I had gone last year. Having some experience gave me confidence—I…

On November 7-11, a team of five folks from Fellowship Brentwood and Franklin piled into vans and drove over 12 hours to New Bern, North Carolina to help the community…

My trip to Guatemala with Fellowship Student Ministries was nothing short of everything I needed. The Lord led me on this trip through wanting to serve. I had a time…

The country of Croatia has a special place in my heart. The country is a desert desperate for water—the Living Water. The countryside is beautiful and the people there do…

I get mixed responses when I mention that I oversee “missional living” at Fellowship. They usually fall into three categories. Sometimes I can read the response immediately in someone’s expression of confused curiosity that seems to say “What on earth is missional living?” Understandable since missional has been defined in so many ways. Or a smile that communicates resonance with the idea of living ‘on mission’ – and I’m guessing they might have read some recent blog posts or books or listened to a podcast that’s defined it in a palatable way.

Joining Jesus on His mission doesn’t have to be complicated – it really just means living intentionally, with the heart of a missionary – and with the Gospel at the center of all that we do. A common fear and misconception is that missional means “additional”… Additional activities, appointments, responsibilities, serving opportunities… Filling up the calendar with more stuff. That perspective can easily start to feel like a heavy burden of duty that induces guilt, rather than a Gospel-centered lifestyle that results in purpose and joy.

This last week, we talked about the concept of gospel listening. The art of paying attention to the patterns in God’s greater story of Creation – Fall – Redemption – Recreation in each of our own personal stories.

This has been particularly convicting to me – because I’m finding out just how bad of a listener I can be. Too often I’m more concerned about telling someone what I think, or fixing a problem rather than hearing gospel patterns in someone else’s story that would allow me an opportunity to speak good news into their life.

In America, we often consider ourselves “blessed,” but maybe we need to re-think the concept of “blessing.” When things are going well for us physically or materially, the words “God sure has blessed us” roll quickly off of our tongues without a second thought. But what about when circumstances are difficult? What about when things do not go as planned? What about when we suffer a staggering loss? Do we consider such times a “blessing” from God? Our African brothers and sisters serving with ALARM do just that. This type of thinking sounds backwards and upside-down to most American ears, but Scripture backs it up.

I love driving into Nashville. A pretty incredible city with so much to do, see, explore and experience. Live music on Broadway, movies and plays in the summer at Centennial Park, the Grammy-winning Nashville Symphony, great restaurants in The Gulch… and our boys LOVE spending hours at the Adventure Science Center. But the reality is, in almost 17 years living here, I’ve rarely taken side roads to get into the city. I almost always take the interstate. 15 min from Brentwood and I’m in the city. And this might sound like stating the obvious – but I’ve never figured out how to get on the interstate without using an on-ramp!

When we become a believer in Christ, we are given a new identity – as a disciple, a follower of Jesus. Not based in what we do – but in who we are. It’s truly a “new way of being.” And as my fisherman friend does with fishing, Jesus has called each of us to reorient our entire lives around our identity as followers of Him. Not long ago, Mark Irving wrote a great post on the DNA of Discipleship – the intersection or overlap of three essential elements: Gospel, Family and Mission. I’d really encourage you to read this post. As we find ourselves where these three circles intersect, our new identity as a disciple on mission becomes more clear.