"[The next day] I got about seven emails, basically telling me how unbelievably disappointed they were in The Village Church, that a man would be smoking his cigarette on the porch as they came in on the Lord's Day... you see what we're doing down there?"
Matt Chandler preaches the gospel in the center of the evangelical world, and faces self-righteous fundamentalist "older brothers" as a majority demographic. What does it take to preach the gospel to these people? How do we call people towards the gospel rather than moralism?
Here he illustrates the problem with a story of an ex-con visiting on Easter and smoking cigarettes on the steps of The Village Church.
(4 minutes, download clip or full sermon here; notes are here)
(Chandler loads the gun ...
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Tags: moralism, self-righteous, fundamentalists, problems with evangelicalism, preaching to fundamentalists, older brother, what christians should believe, dallas boot camp, the village church, texas, dallas, church planting, is it wrong to smoke cigarettes, is it wrong to smoke
It is with very heavy and sorrowful hearts that we share with you the passing of Acts 29 church planter, Thomas Young.
Thomas Young planted The Sanctuary Fellowship near Houston, Texas. He was a friend, encourager, and partner in the gospel with many of our men. In a moment of weakness and darkness, Thomas chose to end his own life.
The Sanctuary has posted updates at their website:
A marital dispute arose between Thomas and his wife.
Thomas made a bad choice in how he sought to settle it, and during the dispute, took his own life.
He was life-flighted to the hospital, but did not survive.
His wife and three children are with friends, family and church leadership, loving and supporting each other.
the funeral will be Thursday, December 3.
Please pray ...
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At Acts 29, we emphasize family as the pastor's first place of ministry, and part of our assessment includes deeply probing into the health of marriages and family. Many men have no idea what it means to pastor their family, so we started asking our guys to share what it means to love their wives and children.
Rick White (CityView Church, Fort Worth, TX) talks about what it means to love one's wife well - and addresses the misunderstood 31st chapter of Proverbs.
&nbs...
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Rick is not new the the Network, but you may not know who he is yet. From The Village Church (as in Matt Chandler), Rick White planted CityView church in Fort Worth, Texas. At the Houston boot camp in September, Rick popped by the green room to answer some questions for our slightly wobbly camera (apologies! think: MTV).
In this clip, he tells us three ways he struggled as a church planter in the early days. Good words from an intense dude for church planters and leaders, or those who aspire to be.
*The talk Rick mentions in the video is "Idols in Church Planting" and is found here.
And, on November 17-18, Texas Acts 29 members and candidates are invited to CityView Church to be hosted by Rick White and his team for a Regional Training. Jeremy ...
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Posted in: Meet a Church Planter
Tags: elder process, eldership, churches, advice, help, struggles, texas, fort worth, keller, cityview church, rick white, idols of church planting, church planting, acts 29
More churches are being planted with Acts 29, but also, existing churches who share a love for Jesus and seeing new believers, and planting more churches are partnering with us more and more. Chuck Land's church is 7 years old, and has already helped plant 5 churches. We are blessed to work alongside Chuck and Crossbridge Church.
Acts 29: How did you become involved with Acts 29?
I have many friends in A29. It was through these friends I was encouraged to join the network to be apart of what God is doing in planting Gospel-centered missional churches.
Acts 29: What have been the biggest benefits of being in the network?
1. Friends: It was very lonely for me in the early days of planting. I found that other guys were planting were either not really ...
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