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Tools & Trainings for Organic Church Movements
Issue No. 24 02.27.2009
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We are in the afterglow of the 2009 CMA Conference. It was  an awesome time to be gathered together with saints from all over the world.
When we were first thinking of what the theme for the
conference should be about, the release of Neil's new book came to the
forefront. So we titled it "Organic Leadership." But as the year
progressed, we started to hear something different from the Head of the
Church. The message became so stirring that we could not ignore it and
it reshaped our entire conference.
We started to restate the theme
to- Organic Church...So What? ...This Changes Everything!
The idea is that once the barriers that separate the clergy from the
laity and the secular from the sacred are removed, what can happen?
This is an intriguing question that, once pondered, can lead us to a
rather robust imagination with real implications.
We're not just
talking about more and better expressions of church, although certainly
that will be the case.
We are talking about transformed lives that
bring transformation into every area of society.
We selected speakers and organized workshops around this idea. What
could happen if the Kingdom of God is released to its fullest potential
in the hearts of people in all the domains of society? What sort of
creations will be discovered? What sort of cures could be released? How
could people of the world, whom Jesus loves, be better cared for and
educated?
Some of you were there, and many of you weren't, but this is where we will continue to be focused in the coming season. The world is changing fast and we must be seeking life transformation!
Glad to be with you on this journey.
Press on,
Mike Jentes
Church Multiplication Associates // CMA Resources
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 UPCOMING TRAININGS
Iowa City, IA // Story 1
March 6-8, 2009
Online Registration closes Sunday March 1
Seattle, WA // Story 1
March 27-29, 2009
Early Bird Discount ends March 6
Phoenix, AZ // Story 1
April 24-26, 2009
Trainings in the planning stages for 2009:
- Atlanta, GA // Story 1
- Dayton, OH // Story 1
- San Diego, CA // Story 1
- Mobile, AL // Story 1
- Chicago, IL // Story 2
Other Organic Church Learning Opportunities
The 4-1-1 on the 4/11 Team of Ephesians 4:11
Friday, March 13, 2009
@ California State University at Long Beach
Trainer: Neil Cole
For information contact the CMA office
Exponential Conference 09
Neil Cole will be presenting
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Featured Resources
 Organic Leadership: Leading Naturally Right Where You Are
by Neil Cole
Just Released!
Neil Cole is one of the founders of today's organic church movement, which has given rise to thousands of churches around the world. Here he builds on his previous work, offering insight on church leadership today.
In Organic Leadership Cole addresses:
� How the church has carried on for far too long with faulty leadership ideas, without questioning them
� Shows how healthy and growing disciples can emerge naturally as leaders in God's kingdom
� Presents simple leadership development practices to raise up homegrown leaders from the harvest for the harvest .
� Introduces us to real-life leaders who exemplify the ideas he presents
Grow more leaders for a greater harvest!
 Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church by Reggie McNeal Just Released!
Reggie McNeal's bestseller The Present Future is the definitive work on the "missional movement," i.e., the widespread movement among Protestant churches to be less inwardly focused and more oriented toward the culture and community around them. In that book he asked the tough questions that churches needed to entertain to begin to think about who they are and what they are doing.
In Missional Renaissance, he shows them the three significant shifts in their thinking and behavior that they need to make that will allow leaders to chart a course toward being missional:
(1) from an internal to an external focus, ending the church as exclusive social club model; (2) from running programs and ministries to developing people as its core activity; and (3) from professional leadership to leadership that is shared by everyone in the community.
 The Monkey and The Fish: Liquid Leadership for a Third Culture Church
by Dave Gibbons Just Released!
Our world is marked by unprecedented degrees of multiculturalism, ethnic diversity, social shifts, international collaboration, and technology-driven changes. The changes are profound, especially when you consider the unchecked decline in the influence, size, and social standing of the church. There is an undercurrent of anxiety in the evangelical world, and a hunger for something new. And we're sensing the urgency of it.
We need fresh, creative counterintuitive ways of doing ministry and church and leading it in the 21st century. We need to adapt. Fast. Both in our practices and our thinking.
The aim of this book is simple: When we understand the powerful forces at work in the world today, we'll learn how something called The Third Culture can yield perhaps the most critical missing ingredient in the church today-adaptability-and help the church remain on the best side of history.
 Church Leadership: Following the Example of Jesus Christ
by Lawrence O. Richards & Clyde Hoeldtke
This book clearly spells out the scriptural implications of the
present rule of Christ in the church and the calling of church leaders
to be, first of all, servants.
As the body of Christ, the church
is basically an organism, not an organization. This fact is full of
implications for the way the church organizes itself and the way
leadership functions in the church. No book on church leadership has
become as controversial as this one. Nor is there a book that spells
out so clearly the scriptural implications of the present rule of
Christ in the church and the calling of church leaders to be, first of
all, servants. This is must reading for pastors, elders, church staff
members, and students preparing for ministry in the church.
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Featured Article
The Word Became Flesh & Walked into a Cocktail Party
from Matthew Perry
 "Do you like blackcurrant martinis? I can also make mango." Dennis stood in his kitchen with a bottle of triple sec in his hand, a martini shaker in the other, and a bottle of Vodka sitting on the counter. Honestly, the question had taken me by surprise; not because of the offer of alcohol, but because of the context in which it was asked. Dennis had just been baptized.
Would we? Could we? The unexpected merger of things I once considered sacred and secular was taking place before my eyes. What surprised me more than this head-on collision was my response that came out so naturally that it caught me off-guard.
"Yeah, we'd love some - uh - martinis. Make 'em blackcurrant! Thanks, man."
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