Blogs and Articles

“I’ve begun to view the gospel as a verb, not just a noun (“gospeling” each other), and have become more fluent with it. It also helped me think through my own personal story and how it relates to God’s Greater story (Creation – Fall – Redemption – Re-Creation). The tangible experience of gathering to eat weekly and applying Gospel principles with each other was most compelling because I sometimes regard weekly bible studies or meetings as another thing to take me from ‘the stuff of life’. After going through the Gospel Primer with this group, I have the perspective that our family has to eat any way, so why don’t I invite others to join us?”

When you hear the word “discipleship” what do you think of? If you’re like me, your mind automatically gravitates toward some sort of process of helping others mature in their faith. We tend to think of discipleship in terms of a program. Our first thought is often something to do, rather than someone to be. While this mindset isn’t completely off base, it can easily put the proverbial cart before the horse.

Living on mission isn’t very 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…

In less than two weeks, we have an incredible privilege to once again host our 3rd Global Summit where we’re not only flying in most of our Global Partners from around the world (Peru, South Sudan, Germany, Jordan and more), but also bringing in some pretty amazing speakers to inspire and equip us.

As we continue to think about living on mission, Heidi and I have really been challenged to connect more with our neighbors in meaningful ways. When Jesus said in Matthew 22:39 to “love your neighbor as yourself” – what if He actually meant our neighbors?

This is a great (and short) video message on discipleship from Jon Tyson, Lead Pastor of Trinity Grace Church in New York City. (HT: The Verge Network)

“What if Jesus meant that we should love our actual neighbors?”

This is the question authors Jay Pathak & Dave Runyon ask us in their excellent book The Art of Neighboring: Building Genuine Relationships Right Outside Your Door.

I’d encourage you to read it.

In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus is asked about the greatest commandment – and his answer, as most of us know, is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind… and the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”

The Pastoral Team is here to serve and help you find your unique place at our Brentwood campus.

A few weeks ago, Wade wrote a post on “Groups”. In that post, he mentioned three types of groups that are being offered as we step into a new season of change at Fellowship:

Welcome to the Fellowship Leader Resource. We hope that over time this becomes a valuable place you go often to be encouraged, inspired and equipped or to find information you might need. The primary authors will be members of the Pastoral Team, but from time to time there may also be contributions from the Leadership Team, Staff and Elder Team.